The Stone Chisel Way

by King Genesis

No Strangers & Pupils

Author's Note:

While I was writing this chapter, I decided to turn this into something more dramatic and graphic.

I'm thinking about rating this M instead of T, because this chapter has graphic violence and deaths. Tell me if it's better to change the rating or not in the comments.

Thank you.

Arc II - Chapter II - No Strangers & Pupils

"No."

Everyone looks at Flash Sentry now, who has a red aura around his horn. Something bad has happened. "What? What happened?" says Spike.

"Brave Position..." says Flash Sentry. "I think he sent me a red aura... I'm trying to communicate with him... but doesn't answer... come on."

Everyone now, inside Tartarus, waits for Flash Sentry to say something while his horn is still glowing red. "We can go to the west," says Twilight.

"No," immediately answers Flash Sentry. "Stay here. You need to look at the South, Princess. Big Stomp, lead the team. I'm going to the west."

"But..." stutters Big Stomp. "Alone?"

"No... Kennedy, Shining Warrior... come with me. All of you, stay here and look for them on the South... and take care of the Princesses!"

Flash Sentry and two other unicorns, Kennedy and Shining Warrior, get mentally prepared for what it's happening in the west and they teleport themselves there, using their magic.

They clearly don't know what happened out there.

---

"There we go."

Golden shining armours can be seen far away, and Chrysalis, Tirek and Cozy Glow, despite they are still shocked at how Tenebris decided to end Brave Position's life, are still conscious they will fight anyways because they have to defend themselves. Stone Chisel and Discord, on the other hand, don't know what to do, and that's why Tenebris gets in the middle, protecting them from the guards. "What?" shouts Chisel. "You are going to take care of us?"

"Of course! If you die or get jailed, who I'll be laughing at?"

"Oh," replies the robber, a bit surprised. "Um... thank you... I guess?"

But now, all of the golden royal guards are there and looking at what's happening. "BRAVE POSITION!" shouts one of them. "JUSTICE WILL PREVAIL US FOR AVENGING YOU!"

The pegasi get their helmets off and start flying around, while Tirek, Chrysalis and Cozy are defending themselves with their own magic. At that moment Cozy realizes something: "Wait! My magic... it's normal!"

"You said unicorn magic... and I gave you that. Besides, I would never give my power to fillies."

Now she has a puppy face, showing disappointment, looking at the ram. "But..."

"Defend yourself and stop whining if you wanna live."

Royal Pegasi also start hitting Stone Chisel from behind, but Tenebris gets them out of there by throwing them away with his magic. Meanwhile, Royal Unicorns and also Starlight are fighting against Tirek and Chrysalis, but the night ram gets in the middle and creates only worse tension between the two sides. "Hello." A unicorn shoots a beam at Tenebris, but surprisingly the ray turns around and hits him back, something that shocks every pony. "You wanted the big one? Here you..."

They didn't even let Tenebris finish his sentence at the moment they decided to attack. The unicorns and Starlight start fighting against the ram and his allies, while pegasi are still flying, only to hit them from behind... even against Stone Chisel.

"YOU'RE GOING DOWN, STONE CHISEL!" shouts a pegasus after hitting him, so the robber tries to take cover, moving his trembling hooves in the air every time a pegasus gets near him, but thinking no one can understand him at this moment.

"I'm a prisoner, don't hit me, help!" he shouts to various pegasi, trying to set both Discord and him free, but no one is listening to him. They know who Stone Chisel is and they know he's really good at lying. They won't fall on his game again. "NO! I SWEAR I'M NOT LYING! HELP!"

And at that moment, two pegasi crash him to the ground and start beating him up, so Stone Chisel, on his mind, thinks there is no other way. He has to stand up to defend himself. He doesn't want to hurt them, but at the same time, he has to get them off.

Tenebris is about to get the guards out of Stone Chisel, but there is something else that calls everybody's attention: a pegasus grabs Cozy Glow from behind and decides to take her away, out of the fight, something that makes the little alicorn mad, and that's the moment where everypony moves their eyes to that scene. Tirek and Chrysalis, who are still defending themselves from unicorn magic and pegasus' attacks, and also taking advantage of this to consume some love and magic for free, look at how the Pegasus is flying further and further, and that's the right moment where Tenebris starts what he has been waiting for all this time.

Firstly, he has to get rid of those who are trying to put him down. A pink unicorn with purple hair along with other guards, bam, he pushes them away so strongly Starlight Glimmer crashes into the ground, almost getting out of the forest. Now, secondly, he gets the pegasi out of Stone Chisel and finally, he has now... to focus on his victim. The gem is trembling faster and it hurts, but all he requires to stop this torture is a bit of concentration... he knows the finale of his decision will be gloriously evil. "TENEBRIS!" shouts Tirek. "Help us! They are everywhere and also took the filly away..."

He has to concentrate while looking at his target. His blue pupils dilate for a second while his body starts shaking because of the gem. The pegasus who is taking Cozy Glow, that filly which is now trying to get out, punching him and using her magic to hurt him, will be his first real victim in three...

...two...

...one...

"You're going back to Tartarus, you filly!" shouts the pegasus, laughing.

"What are you laughing at, you dork?" she shouts, trying to get off him. "YOU KNOW WHO ARE YOU TALKING TO?"

"Yeah... Cozy Glow, the whining, cry-baby fi---"

POP!

And suddenly the pegasus stopped talking that second, only to get followed by silence and fear coming out from all the fighters. Cozy Glow is the first victim of this situation, realizing her whole body is covered in a red liquid, while the colt lets her go. She looks above her to look at what happened, just to identify who was the bad colt who did this...

...only to find out he has no head, but a bleeding amount of nothing.

She doesn't say anything and almost crashes onto the ground until she saves her own life by floating with her own magic. She even moves aside and looks at how the body falls into the dirt, making a sound she won't ever forget.

BUNK!

Then, Tirek and Chrysalis look at its leader, surprised at this, and decide to stay next to him in silence. Stone Chisel, on the other hand, is behind them, looking at Discord with a face full of concern. He can't even breathe well because of how graphic was that.

The Royal Guards turn around and look at their friend's body next to Cozy Glow, who is still floating in her own magic and hasn't moved from there since. She's in shock. Tenebris is the last ram standing, filled with sweat and finding out his neck is burning due to the gem, giving him an indescribable pain he can't ignore so much. "So..." says Tenebris, looking at his neck and hiding his wounds. "Ouch... so... who'll be the second?"

The royal guards, while looking at their friend's corpse, realize this won't be an easy battle... but that doesn't mean they will give up. They are fighting there for the Princesses... they won't give Celestia, Luna and Twilight to these bastards. "You are going to rot in Tartarus, you fool!" shouts one of the Royal Guards, and this time everybody starts attacking them all at the same time. Some unicorns even start running onto Cozy, but she flies back to the forest only to hide behind Chrysalis and Tenebris, who are trying their best to don't get hurt by the guards.

Tirek, Chrysalis and even a shocked Cozy Glow covered in red are sharing, at this right moment, only one thing: They have to get these guards off them before somepony hurts them. Stone Chisel, on the other hand, is trying to get the pegasi' attention to be saved, although he already knows nobody is believing in him, and Discord is just lying on the ground. Tenebris, the evil ram, is a special case, too. He decides to get behind his allies while looking at his neck, which is still burning. At that moment he hears something inside him.

"Do it... like you did with the warriors of Gusty..."

"Rushkwa... it hurt when I blew up that head. If I do it, I will..."

"My soul will keep you alive, dear... do it for me, for the community..."

"Please, Rushkwa... give me... your strength... do it with me..."

Stone Chisel dares to take a look at Tenebris, and realizes there is a sound which reminds him of something burning. Once he approaches the dark blue ram, he finds out there is steam coming out from inside the necklace. Discord also finds that out and the robber asks him. "What is he..."

"I have no idea." The gem is trembling so much it's even changing its colour from red to a clear brown. "But... the gem... TENEBRIS!"

The ram doesn't even listen to Discord by the time his neck starts bleeding because of the grave, deep burns the gem are occasionating on his neck, but he knows this much pain, so much sacrifice will end up in something good. He shouts so loud the trees around him shiver, getting out the cold mist inside his body with something else on it: A small, light blue orb that is surrounding the mist starts flying over the Royal Guards. "Feel... feel what you have done to me." it says.

"What the..." says Chrysalis, defending herself behind a tree and using her magic, while the flying orb starts creating a bubble, a shield around the guards. The defenders at first think this is just a stupid trick of Tenebris to make them waste time, but they eventually change their minds when they find out they can't get out of that bubble. All of the Royal Guards, pegasi and unicorns, start hitting, firing magic and even trying to break it with daggers and spears but it simply doesn't work. They are definitely locked up inside that bubble.

Tenebris, now realizing the gem's colour has changed from brown to red again, smiles while getting his sweat out of his face and looking at his almost carbonized neck, filled with burns and blood. "Rushkwa... you're so talented..."

The light blue orb flies back to Tenebris and gets inside his mouth, with a thick line of cold mist getting behind. The gem trembles again, changing its colour to brown one more time and burning, but doesn't break and turns into red again, while the postcrystalline necklace is still resisting the ram's anger. "You," says Tirek, now getting out from where he was fighting and taking cover. "You locked them up? They can't go out?"

"Yes... This is what I've done to Gusty's warriors a long time ago."

And with that phrase, both Stone Chisel and Discord feel shivers down their spines. "No!" shouts Chisel, desperately. "Don't kill them... that's unnecessary."

The ram laughs while hearing that, but this time something else makes everything feel completely different. The ones who laughed just minutes ago with the wicked Tenebris, such as Tirek, the Bug Queen Chrysalis and even the filly Cozy Glow... are now silent. Cozy Glow, who is still filled with red blood drops all over her pink body, doesn't even make a sound, while Tirek and Chrysalis only take a long, slow breath, realizing this won't be easy to put up with. "I'm just going to take them for a ride," says the intimidating animal before throwing away, to the skies, the big, light blue bubble filled with Royal Guards, only to approach the dirty, light grey stallion with a piercing on his ear seconds after. "You were saying?"

The robber doesn't even look in his eyes. He just looks at the clear sky. "Sweet Celestia," he whispers. "You murdered them."

"I didn't. I've only thrown them away to the sky. They may land on the top of a mountain... I hope."

"Discord was right..." he answers to the ram, and now trying to intimidate him back, making contact with his fiery, scary blue eyes. "You are insane."

"Insane? More like... vengeful, pony. Vengeful."

"Vengeful?" he exclaims. "You literally exploded some pegasus' head because you wanted to, and that's not vengeful, is genocidal... just look at the filly, she's covered in the blood you spilt, and she's still in shock, guy... her sight is so cold it can freeze a freaking volcano."

The ram smiles. "I've got to admit I like your jokes."

"And I've got to admit I don't like you," replies Chisel, something that makes Tenebris hold his breath for a second.

"That's because you don--."

Boom. Something hits Tenebris' back and alerts everyone. What the ram sees when he turns around is a bleeding pink pony, floating with her own magic. She takes a breath before speaking.

"What you did is unforgivable," she says. "And I'll get all of you back into where you belong... Stone Chisel," she says now, looking and pointing at the stallion. "Now that I'm seeing you, carrying Discord as a slave and staying with bad influences... you have no pardon. You lost your ticket to the Train of Friendship."

Chisel, feeling quite guilty, confesses. "Wait..." he says, trying to redeem himself. "Listen to me... please... you are Starlight Glimmer, right? I did a mistake and this crazy night ram is keeping me as his mul-"

"How curious... are you a pupil of Celestia or what?."

"HEY!" shouts Stone Chisel. "I'm talking, you son of a--"

"Shut up or the only thing that will remain of you is that stupid silver ring you have on your ear."

Now, with that phrase, Starlight changes her point of view. He now changes her main topic from Stone Chisel to that crazy night ram she's facing. "Who are you?" she asks.

"My name is Tenebris the Night Ram and you still haven't answered my question."

"Why would I answer the question of someone who even mistreats his own allies?"

"He?" says the night ram looking at Chisel. "He's not my ally. I'm only using him to carry my prisoner, Discord."

"And why are you keeping Discord away from his own liberty?"

Tenebris doesn't doubt his answer. "I need someone to be my personal punching bag," and immediately after answering that, he starts playing his game again. "I'll tell you something... from my own point of view, you look exactly like somepony who is waiting for her mentor Celestia to send another task just for you... tell me," he says, laughing. "Did you make any friends?"

Starlight gets a bit shocked at how blunt sounded Tenebris' words. She's confused and surprised by what's going on, so she does the first thing which comes to his mind: her horn starts glowing up. "I'm afraid it's no time for me to answer your questions."

"Oh, trust me... it will be."

"STARLIGHT!" shouts Stone Chisel and Discord at the same time, while Tirek and Chrysalis are looking at them. "GO AWAY!" he repeats, but Starlight, instead of doing the best for her, decides to fight all of the villains on her own. Sadly, once she approaches Tenebris to attack him, the night ram hits her with his horns and stomps her to the ground with his body. Now the unicorn is lying on the ground, bleeding and hurt.

"You silly... you feel so powerful with that horn... I can turn you into the weakest pony in just one second." And in that second, Tenebris raises one of his hooves and fastly steps on Starlight's horn two times, breaking it in pieces. The unicorn shouts because of pain and fear, something that makes Tirek and Cozy Glow look at each other. The centaur knows it's time to soften the waters because, for him, this is getting out of hand a bit. "Hey, why don't you let me consume her magic... After that, she'll be useless."

Chrysalis also adds sauce. "I'm hungry for love too. Could you lend me that pony?"

And last but not least, Cozy Glow stutters something while cleaning her hooves from the blood and smiling at the ram with a blush: "And I need... to exact my revenge."

The three of them are waiting for a yes, but sadly, Tenebris only answers:

"Stand back."

Cozy Glow gets behind, and now Tirek and Chrysalis look at each other, thinking about attacking him "But..."

"Stand. Back."

Tirek thinks about consuming the ram's power when he turns around and looks at both Cozy Glow and Chrysalis. The Bug Queen nods her head, trying to tell him he has to do something, but the centaur decides to take a step back when he takes a look at those fiery blue eyes, making him think it's not a good time to do it. Stone Chisel also tries to do something, getting near the ram and Starlight, looking for a way to stop this but he is pushed away so strongly gets crashed against a tree. "I'll tell you what I think about pupils."

A second later, Discord finds out the ram broke a big tree branch which he is handling perfectly, pointing it at Starlight, while the gem starts trembling again. The God of Chaos, desperate, jumps onto Tenebris and gets him away from the pony, taking a tied Stone Chisel with him, but that only worsens the situation, when he looks the branch is falling down... right where Starlight is staying.

Stone Chisel tries to do something to stop it, so he gets up and runs to save her, but once he passes by her broken horn, the branch crashes onto the ground and a grave sound is heard.

...

CRASH!

From one second to another, everyone has red on their skin and fur. Stone Chisel is the first one who takes a look at what has just happened and finds out the big branch is standing on the ground... with its bottom buried in Starlight's body. The robber, feeling so shocked, confused and guilty, only reacts in one way. He feels a flame inside his throat that comes out in only one word:

"NOOOOOOO!!!!!"

The scene is so shocking even the villains, Tirek, Chrysalis and Cozy Glow, run to Starlight to verify if she is alive or dead. Stone Chisel touches her face with her hooves, figuring out if she can react to him or not. Discord, who turns around and doesn't say anything, looks at Tenebris with pure hatred. The ram, on the other hand, only stands up and looks at how the branch ended up impaling the innocent pony's body. "Thanks, Discord. You made my plan simpler."

Discord thinks about attacking him, but decides not to do anything... what can he do? He can't defeat him, he can't shut him up. He can't do anything with the boulders on his hands and tied to an earth pony. Chrysalis even approaches her ears to Starlight, just to verify if she can hear something from her. "She's..."

"She's alive," whispers Cozy Glow, still with her face and loin covered in pegasus blood. "She blinked... Sweet Celestia, she's still alive... we... we can cure her and use he-"

Crack. Tenebris has literally snapped her neck using his magic. "We won't use anybody, did you hear me? Everyone who dares to stop us is dead. Keep that in mind, all of you."

And at that moment the villains start discussing with the ram. "You really wanted to..." stutters Chrysalis. "...Im... Impale her with a tree branch?"

"Yes."

"Why didn't you just snap her neck and that's it?" asks Tirek. "That would have been... much simpler."

And at that moment... two orbs come out of Starlight's body. A green one, which Tenebris gives to Chrysalis, and a pink one, which is given to Tirek. "I've seen you consuming love and magic, so eat them if you want. It's this pony's being. And please, let me enjoy the moment. Breaking necks turn into something repetitive over time. Let's go." He turns around and leaves everybody with a lump on their throats, such a big lump they can't even swallow Starlight's being. That wasn't a villain's behaviour... that was directly a psychopath, so cynical it makes Chrysalis, Tirek and Cozy Glow look at Discord for the first time trying to ask him, with no words, what are they going to do with him. Discord only nods his head, proving his point. "Hey, Discord... I'm afraid we will have to change the mule. Look at this fool's face."

Stone Chisel is the one that's having the worst of it. Taking charge of its guilt due to Tenebris' liberation, he is just lying on the floor in a defeated, Walter White-esque position, looking at nowhere, thinking about nothing, crying with no tears, dying with no death. He is starving on the inside while staying next to Starlight Glimmer's soulless, impaled corpse.

Cozy Glow hits him in the face with one of her hooves, but he doesn't react. He's lost. Lost and dead on the inside.

...

"Don't you ever go back to stealing, Stone Chisel. That's bad. That's wrong. Stay with me. Here you will be treated like a king..."

"Yes, Mr LaCrowley. I promise I won't ever steal anything again..."

"Stone Chisel... Stone Chisel... what have you done?"

...

---

At the same time, Flash Sentry, Kennedy and Shining Warrior arrive at the forest. "I've got to apologize," says the leader talking to his partners. "I thought they were going to be on old Grogar's lair."

"I mean, BP always starts for the smallest places..." answers Kennedy. "But don't worry, we understand why you started there. I'd also hide in Grogar's Lair if I was a fugitive. I mean, it's a really cool place."

Then, they hear a shout from nowhere which alerts them, and the first thing they look at when they arrive is that there is a pegasus lying on a lake of red, outside the forest. All of them, desperately and in silence, look at it. "Oh no..." says Kennedy. "Oh no. Oh no."

"Oh..." says Flash Sentry, wordless. "Shining, please, check him... we need to know if it's BP. Either he is or not, we must send him urgently to a hospital or another cureplace."

"Sure," says Shining Warrior, once he gets nearer the mysterious pegasus, but once he touches and gets the helmet off him, his blue skin fades to white. He's completely frozen.

"What?" shouts Flash. "What ha---"

All of them look at the pegasus's body and nobody says anything until Kennedy speaks. "He..."

"He has no head."

At the same time, something else stops near them. Once Kennedy turns around, he looks Rainbow Dash and a couple of pegasi arrived. "Sorry," she says, with her eyes closed. "We've got some delay because we sent others to the sou..."

And then she looks at the dead pegasus and remains silent. Flash Sentry is the only one who reacts to it after this: He shakes his head, looking to the Forest. "Whoever did this... is not a normal villain... but pure bloodthirst."

Comments

[GrandAdmiral MitthRawN]

Nice built up even his allies are done with him also nice comparison to villainy and psychopathy.

[King Genesis]

10489466
Thanks for saying that! I appreciate it.

[Pete100]

Twilight is going to kill Tenebris, and if she doesn’t kill him she’s killing someone.

[King Genesis]

10489481

[Pete100]

10489496
Is that a scared twilight?

[King Genesis]

10489546
I would say a shocked one, not frightened.

[Pete100]

10489560
Really?

[King Genesis]

10489573
By now.

[Pete100]

10489599
I guess

[Ocellus The Changeling]

Crack . Tenebris has literally snapped her neck using his magic. "We won't use anybody, did you hear me? Everyone who dares to stop us is dead. Keep that in mind, all of you."

And at that moment the villains start discussing with the ram. "You really wanted to..." stutters Chrysalis. "...Im... Impale her with a tree branch?"

"Why didn't you just snap her neck and that's it?" asks Tirek. "That would have been... much simpler."

Wow, no mercy for Starlight. Didn't know she would die this early

[King Genesis]

11046572
Sadly it happened...