A Soldier's Orders

by Animatorsnake

Tourist Arc: Ch.11 - It's Brawlin Time

Author's Note:

I may have rushed this story, so there might be some mistakes that I may not noticed. So if you feel to say anything I should change, simply comment; every little thing helps.

“PLEASE SOMEPONY! ANYPONY! HELP US!” screamed Twilight. After running from the factory, we were surrounded by another group of thugs. Trixie was unconscious, I was too weakened to defend myself or Trixie… and Dark… Dark… Oh Celestia… please somepony… anyone… help us… please…

30 minutes earlier, Manehattan, Abandoned Factory

CRASH! That was the sound of a 300 pound minotaur being tossed through thick window panes, from three stories high. I watched Tricky’s “muscle”, laying on the floor of the factory, possibly with almost all his bones fractured, luckily he was still alive… though I think I should worry less about him and on our situation more.

“You sonna of a...” said Tricky. “GET THEM!”

The two stallions that were blocking the door rushed toward us, but like lighting, Dark appeared in front of them and in an instant… they had the same fate as the same who was tossed out the window. Dark grabbed the unicorn by his horn, throwing him at Tricky; he then dodged the pegasus and grabbed both his wings. Placing his boot on his spine, he pulled tightly on his wings, and pop, Dark pulled the pegasus’s wings… now Dark didn’t pull them out, all he did was simply pull the wing muscles… though… it’s still painful.

“AHHHHHHHHHHHH!” screamed the pegasus henchman.

Before the pegasus could continue to scream, Dark placed his hand on his muzzle stopping his screaming. With a quick turn, he thrown the pegasus, as he flew across the room into the door that led to the stairs. Ironically, somepony opened the door, which caused the pegasus to collide with whoever opened the door; making the two tumble down the stairs. Whilst this happened Tricky gotten the unicorn henchman off him. “Don’t just lay about. SET OFF THE ALARM!” shouted Tricky.

The unicorn stood immediately where he removed a painting, revealing a switch. Pulling the switch with his magic, a loud blare of sound activated. Everypony in the factory and within it’s surroundings went to full on lock-down mode. Dark looked at Trixie and me, whilst grabbing a leg chair.

“Come on girls, we’re outta of here!” said Dark.

“Don’t need to tell me twice,” I said, following behind.

“Not yet...” said Trixie. Trixie turned to face Tricky, showing how unhappy she was with how the deal went… and so, she unleashed that frustration to the nearest thing… or in this case, pony. “Trixie has some unfinished… business.”

Tricky stood where he was, unafraid of Trixie… though, I think it’s not a wise idea to anger a unicorn, especially somepony like Trixie. “Oh? What are you going to do, hmmm? Show me one of your… parlor tricks?” said Tricky, tauntingly. Tricky began to laugh, insulting Trixie even more… though, before he knew it, Tricky was levitating off the ground.

“Oh no no no no… Trixie’s got something else for you… now your a lucky pony because I never do this to my audience. BEHOLD, THE GREAT AND POWERFUL TRIXIE SHALL TURN THIS, FEEBLE SILLY PONY… into a potato,” said Trixie, grinning.

“What!? You can’t do that, your bluffing!” said Tricky.

Trixie began grinning widely, suddenly Trixie sent a surge of magic into Tricky. A puff of smoke appeared where he was, and in his place… was a potato. “WHAT DID YOU DO TO ME!?” screamed Tricky. A talking… potato.

“Why a simple parlor trick of course, what else? Now, enjoy your form,” said Trixie, in a sing-song voice.

Trixie followed behind us, smiling all the way down the stairs. I have no idea where Trixie gotten to use such a powerful spell, but it seems she’s been studying some powerful spells, that’s for sure. Once arriving down the flight of stairs, a pony rushes at Trixie. “TRIXIE LOOK OUT!” I shout, warning Trixie.

The pony that attempted to jump Trixie was sent flying when Dark thrown what looked like another pony. Both the stallions began tumbling into a pile of boxes, causing the pile to collapse. I stopped from any boxes from falling on any one of us, but I became vulnerable when I did this. Sneaking up behind me was a minotaur, grabbing me by the wings and lifting me in the air. He then tossed me into Trixie, where we both found ourselves helplessly on the ground. “Ohhhh,” I said, groaning.

“Where did you come from?” said Trixie. “Well next time… warn Trixie when you do that.”

Before I could retort, the minotaur stood before us; he clenched his fists, ready to bring the pain… but some things don’t end the way you expect. Suddenly, when the minotaur released his fist, Dark grabbed it in mid-throw. He then began to flung the minotaur to an oncoming horde of stallions, ready to rush us. “Why don’t you mess with someone your own size!” shouted Dark.

The minotaur was sent flying, then a loud crash was heard. Dark then helped Trixie and I, but the battle wasn’t over yet. More and more of Tricky’s henchmen began to flood the factory from all directions, earth ponies, unicorns, pegasi, and minotaurs, all ready to handle an alicorn, an illusionist, and a soldier. Not my strangest day, but I rather be dealing with Pinkie’s random acts than this.

“What’s the plan now?” asked Dark.

“Plan? You tossed that minotaur out the window and began tussling with every single one of these criminal like it’s normal for you, and your asking what’s the plan!?” shouted Trixie.

“Say’s the one who turned that guy into a potato,” said Dark. “I think what I do wasn’t so bad to what you did.”

“It’s only temporary, I learned that spell and it says it’ll last for a few hours or so,” said Trixie, pouting.

“Can we please focus on the giant crowd of thugs right now, please,” I said.

Right when I finished, all hell broke loose. Every single one of Tricky’s henchmen began to rush toward us, deciding to just dog pile us than to send one of them, at a time. “GET THEM!” shouted one of the henchmen.

As one henchman pounced forward, Dark grabbed him by the leg and swung him down; he then ran forward, barreling through them all. Trixie though dropped a smoke bomb disappearing… while I was left to teleport or fly in the air. Watching below, Dark punched, kicked, grabbed, smacked, until every single thug in the factory was either left in a pile of broken bones or broken pride. I wasn’t being careful because, I found myself surrounded by four pegasi. “Nowhere to go now, princess,” said one pegasus.

“Let’s catch her! Maybe we can ransom her for bits,” said another pegasus.

“Are you an idiot, why ransom her when we can keep her!” shouted a third.

“Alright then it’s settled, we’ll keep her and that’s final!” shouted the fourth one. “CHARGE!”

All four pegasi flew right to me, where I teleported and all for crashed into each other. I teleported by Trixie, where she was busy fighting another unicorn. Deciding to help, we both send the unicorn into a pillar… that was a mistake. Causing the pillar to be knocked over, the whole factory began to collapse. Pieces of the roof began to fall to the ground, as more and more pillars began to wobble loose, falling into the ground with a thunderous sound. All of Tricky’s thugs ran out, with one thug carrying a potato which was Tricky. “YOU’LL PAY FOR THIS!” shouted Tricky.

Dark, who was busy still fighting more of those thugs noticed everypony running. As we were also about to leave, we heard a scream. “HELP!” screamed somepony. Looking where the scream came from, apparently we were followed. One of those paparazzi ponies must of followed us and was currently caught under a pillar. Her wing was stuck, and one of her legs was broken, with the factory about to collapse… except there was something else that we forgot.

“WE NEED TO HELP HER!” I shouted, running to the mare.

“BUT THE FACTORY WILL COLLAPSE SOON, NOT TO MENTION THE LARGE PILE OF AMMUNITION THERE!” shouted Trixie, pointing toward something. Looking I saw what Trixie was pointing at; in a corner of the factory was a large pile of weapons and ammunition, possibly brought from other lands. Gun powder, cannonballs, and other volatile objects were there… and if this factory were to fall on top of it all… oh Celestia no.

I quickly tried to lift the beam with all my magic, with the help of Trixie, but no luck. The beam was too heavy to lift, that and dust began to appear from the sudden destruction of this factory. Unable to focus from lack of breathing and vision, we couldn’t help this mare… well, not us but maybe someone else. Dark pushed us aside, placing both his hands underneath the metal beam. “GO! I GOT THIS!” shouted Dark.

“We can’t leave you here! We’ll help t-”

“I SAID GO!” shouted Dark, interrupted Twilight.

I was unable to argue with Dark, so I teleported Trixie and I outside the factory. Running to safety… it happened like a blur; the factory exploded. The explosion took us off our hooves, sending both Trixie and I flying in the air, where we met face first to the ground.

I don’t know how long I was unconscious… but it felt like hours… Disoriented, I moved my head, looking around I saw Trixie where I moved to her side. Touching her with my hoof, she was alive… but unconscious. I picked her up, and placed her on my back… that’s when I looked back… the factory was… was… gone. All that remained was a column of smoke, with a pile of rubble at it’s base. “Dark…” I said.

I wasn’t sure if Dark survived that explosion… but I need to get out of here as quick as I could. I ran… well more like a limped but ran nevertheless, at first it was quiet… than I heard hoof steps behind me. I knew who was followed me, so I tried running into an alleyway… but it was a dead end. When I finally turned around, it was some of Tricky’s men… which one of them was Tricky himself, who wasn’t a potato. “Your lucky one of my men knows how to disable spells, but your not so lucky now… are you,” said Tricky.

Tricky and his thugs slowly began to surround us… I was too hurt to try doing any advanced spells… and I couldn’t fly in my condition… so I screamed. "PLEASE SOMEPONY! ANYPONY! HELP US!” screamed Twilight. I felt so cold… it was probably because I was bleeding on my forehead and back… I think some shrapnel must of flew and hit me when the factory exploded… The color from my eyes are disappearing… everything is going black and white… I… I hear screaming… and… … … somepony else? … Dark?

Present Time, Manehattan, 11:05am

Trixie woke up, looking around she found herself in an alleyway. She smelled like blood… that was when she noticed something strange… it was wet… and… warm. Feeling something heavy on her lap, she looked down; it was Twilight who was bleeding on her. Trixie immediately picked up Twilight, trying to wake her up, placing one hoof where the blood was coming from. “Twilight! TWILIGHT! WAKE UP! WAKE UP!” shouted Trixie.

At first Twilight didn’t move… but then something shifted… and then Trixie melt breathing on her neck. Twilight fidgeted, slowly opening her eyes, she began to weakly look at Trixie and her surroundings. “T-Trixie? W-where are we?” asked Twilight. “Where is… Dark?”

Trixie sighed happy that nopony was going to die during their little adventure… well assuming no one did. “Trixie doesn’t know, the last place we saw him, Dark stayed behind to try getting that mare out… Speaking of which, how did we get here?” said Trixie. “I remember a loud explosion then, the ground...”

Trixie rubbed her temple, both throbbing and a headache from waking up. Twilight looked around, also noticing her wounds though nothing major, could be a problem if they don’t find help soon. However, what was truly noticeable was the noise coming from outside the alleyway. Helping Twilight to her hooves, Trixie carried her outside the dark alleyway. “What’s going on?” thought Twilight.

Reaching outside was something… surprising; apparently Dark’s mission to rescue that reporter that was trapped under the beam before the factory exploded… was alive. Not only that but she called the authorities, and convinced them to come to the worse parts of Manehattan. A crowd had come to the scene of the factory’s remains, and many of the surrounding thugs and criminals had dispersed from the area. Nopony noticed Twilight or Trixie, until the reporter had spotted the two leaving the alleyway.

“PRINCESS!” shouted the reporter, rushing toward Twilight and Trixie.

When the rest of the crowd heard this, they too spotted Twilight and came toward her, but after noticing her wounds, they kept a meter distance away from her, fearing they may do more harm than help. With Manehattan’s police, firefighters, and ambulance in the area, they helped out with anypony who may have been injured in the incident. One doctor went to check Trixie and Twilight wounds, when the reporter came by to see them. “I’m so glad your already your highness. When I saw you, I simple followed when you and your companions came to this part of town. What were you doing here?” asked the reporter.

Twilight was injured but needed to explain her reasons for coming here, or rumors may spread and make her situation worse than ever. About to speak, Trixie stops her deciding to speak for her instead. “Trixie’s the reason Princess Twilight is here. Trixie need the princess’s help with… a situation happening here. Rumor was there was a dangerous object here that in the wrong hooves may do damage to Equestria, so she asked for the help of Twilight and her… friend,” said Trixie.

“I see… but you do know the Twilight is wanted for… well… for something,” said the reporter. “Either you knew willingly of this… or you didn’t.”

“Trixie did knew, Trixie won’t deny that, but Trixie had nopony else to fall to with this special mission,” said Trixie. “Speaking of mission, what has come to our… third member?”

The reporter raised an eyebrow, not knowing what they meant until her memory resurfaced. “You mean that armored minotaur? No clue; when I woke from being unconscious, I called the authorities immediately of this situation,” said the reporter, shrugging.

“I see...” said Twilight, worried. “I’m surprised that the authorities came all the way here because of a building exploding in this part of Manehattan. We were told that nopony would ever came here, no matter the situation.”

“What you mean princess? I didn’t call the authorities because of the factory,” said the reporter. “I called them… because of that.”

Pointing with her hoof, the reporter’s hoof moved pass Twilight and Trixie. Turning to see what she was looking at, both their faces contorted with an expression of horror and fear. On the walls near the same alleyway that Twilight and Trixie came out of… was the body prints of five ponies. The wall was stained with blood, and scarred of scratches, as if a monster of some sort came by and tore apart whoever it made contact with.

“What… did… this,” said Trixie, her voice near quiet.

“Nopony knows, no witnesses, no clues, no nothing. Luckily the ponies that made this prints are alive… almost alive...” said the reporter, shaking from the sight. “Their bodies had bruises and cuts all over them; their bones were broken form the inside, one had his limbs pulled until he was unable to move anymore. But...”

Twilight and Trixie had stopped eying the nearly destroyed walled, watching the reporter’s lips. “When the authorities arrived… they counted that these ponies fought something really big… and really angry. They also estimated that their were six ponies here recently… they only found five out of six… the sixth pony is missing,” said the reporter.

Somewhere near Twilight and Trixie’s location, Manehattan, 11:10am

Watching both Twilight and Trixie, Discord sniffed turning to face the only witness who actually saw what happened. “Now… since my friend is safe, you’ll tell me where I can find the thing that done all of this,” said Discord. “I was distracted one second and lost where the princess had gone, and had to look everywhere when I saw smoke in the distance. Your lucky that I was able to make sure you weren't in a bad condition… or you’d might had actually died.”

Tricky, coughing some blood was immobilized by the chaos spirit’s magic. Trying to escape, Tricky tried slipping through the enchanted chains, with no avail at all. Discord noticed and sighed, floating toward him Discord crossed his claw and paw together. “You do know I’m the spirit of chaos, your attempts aren’t going to work if you must know. Now, are you ready to talk, or do I need to leave you bleeding here some more?” said Discord, a smile creeping to his face.

“You think… I don’t know who you are… I don’t give a damn if your the princesses! I ain’t telling shit to you,” said Tricky, spitting at Discord.

Wiping the saliva off his face, Discord snapped his fingers. Tricky found himself levitating off the ground, some stories off the ground. Afraid he’ll fall any second, Tricky quickly spoke toward Discord. “OKAY OKAY I’LL TALK!” screamed Tricky.

Discord flung Tricky back to the roof, snickering from Tricky’s reaction. “You should of seen your reaction,” said Discord. “Now… who did this to you?”

Tricky tried remembering what had happened, staring at the tall column of smoke that was his hideout. “It was like a blur… we were surrounding the princess and her companion in an alleyway...” said Tricky, retelling the story.

7 minutes before the authorities arrived, Manehattan

Right before the princess went unconscious… he… appeared.

“What the?” said one of Tricky’s thugs. One of my men felt something on his head, he wasn’t sure what it was but it felt… sticky… Looking up, he wasn’t fast enough to scream when something grabbed him, all we heard was the clatter of his weapon fall. We all turned, seeing that one of us vanished, immediately fear came to us all.

“WHAT THE!? WHERE DID CORKSCREW GO!” shouted another thug.

Out of nowhere, we saw something run by one of my men. Like a blur, it grabbed another of… dragging him into the shadows. At first we heard grunting… then silence; all my men began to run of the alleyway without me. “WHAT ARE YOU DOING! GET BACK HERE” shouted Tricky.

I went to follow, but… I heard the screams… by Celestia, the screams. I heard the sound of bones being snapped, the loud crash of one of my men being thrown into the wall. I slowly turned and approached the princess…

“This is all your fault,” thought Tricky. “You and your stupid sense of what’s right and wrong. I don’t give a damn if your some, all powerful being… your nothing… but a stupid mare.”

I raised my weapon, ready to send it crushing her head… when I felt something light about the club in my mouth. I turned my eye to face this reason… and I saw Tartarus itself. Standing behind me was a creature… from neck to toe, armored in a pure black armor… but it’s face… there was nothing but a dark flame, eyes blank, nothing but white. It stared at me… then instantly, it grabbed me by my neck, causing me to drop my weapon. It slammed me into the wall, nearly breaking my spine; I coughed some blood. I was afraid… no not afraid… it felt as if death itself was here to judge me of my sins… it leaned in close, and spoke.

“Your fear… your anger… your greed… you stench of it...” said the dark figure. “...Feed, me, more...”

Suddenly, the figure moved it’s hand onto my face. It clutched hard on my face, and I felt it… it slowly began eating away my life, piece by piece. I thought I was going to die, but I heard the sirens. The figure dropped me, and it flew up into the air in a puff of shadows. Right before the authorities could get me…

“You found me, and now where here… you interrogating me, and I talking like I’m some kind of story teller,” said Tricky, smirking. “Want to know anything else?”

Discord eyebrow raised slightly, not showing signs that he believe Tricky the slightest. “So your saying… some shadowy figure… ambushed you and your thugs… and tried to eat your soul?” said Discord, inquisitively.

“YOU THINK I’D BE LYING ABOUT THIS KIND OF SHIT! I HAVE THE BLOODY WOUNDS TO PROVE IT!” shouted Tricky.

“Of course I believe you, I am a master at deception. What I don’t believe is that this mysterious creature didn’t finish you off,” said Discord. “I would, considering somepony like you tried to kill one of my friends.”

Tricky gulped, not wanting to mess with the spirit of chaos. Before Tricky could speak, Discord placed his claw on his muzzle; after removing it Discord continue to speak. “Now that I’m done with you… I don’t need you,” said Discord, smiling. “Toodles.”

In a puff of smoke Discord disappeared, at the same time Tricky’s chains dissipated into smoke too. Left on the roof of a random building, Tricky contemplating his life right now. “...From now on… I am not going to deal with all-powerful beings… ever… again,” said Tricky.

Somewhere…

“I hunger… so hungry… must, have, more...” said the dark figure. The figure walked down the alleyway, watching from the darkness, ponies minding their own business. “Nothing… nothing to feed on...”

The dark figure was about to vanish… until he stopped. Sniffing the air he smelt something, the same smell he smelt from the six ponies he encountered in the alleyway, gifting that strange energy. He saw a carriage with a red plus symbol on it, zoom by, with some ponies inside it. The dark figure stared at the carriage until it disappeared in sight; licking it’s non-existent lips, the figure following the carriage through the darkness, like it hawk… it chases it’s prey. “Fooooooood,” said the dark figure.

Something dark has awoken, searching for something… unique in this world. Twilight and Trixie injured and confused are sent to Manehattan Hospital, both in custody and in the care of Manehattan’s doctors and nurses. Discord follows behind, watching to see what happens next… but what really doesn't make sense is…

...What happened to Dark Armor, and where is he?