The Stone Chisel Way

by King Genesis

Bleeding Hut

Arc II - Chapter VII - Bleeding Hut

"My name is Galloway, and I'm here because Mr LaCrowley needs you."

...

MINUTES AGO

The griffon, with a bag tied to her loin, looks in front of her from the top of a skyscraper to the building surrounded by protestants who want Iron Pick and Poofy Lantern to be sentenced to obligatory compensation for those who were robbed. Besides, because of Tabloid's article relating them to the Surigate, all of the protestants are now calling this public case the Shinygate.

Next to Galloway, there is a dark yellow, male bat pony with a dark mane and red eyes hiding on a tunic, looking at the moon. "And where are those that Mr LaCrowley wanted to talk to?" asks the bat. "There are lots of ponies on the streets."

"They have to be inside the building," replies Galloway. "Cheesecake gave me a gazette with a photo of them both," and then she gets out of the bag a cut photo, surrounded by a black aura of magic. "Yes," she says, looking at a pegasus carrying a photo of Iron Pick. "Yes, they must be there, Light Eater."

Then, both of them look at how a pegasus throws a boulder into a window, crashing it into pieces, and then he flies behind. "Maybe that floor..." says the bat pony. "What about the window?"

"We should enter slowly and from above. You know what I mean, Eater."

"Yeah, yeah... you enter and grab them both?"

"Yes."

Light Eater raises his eyebrows. "Are you sure you can do it alone...?"

And now Galloway rolls his eyes, looking at him angrily. "You don't trust me?"

And at that moment the bat pony feels in a rush. He knows she's tough, too tough for anybody. "I do."

"Uh. I thought you didn't."

"It's OK, I do trust you... it's OK... um... we do it now?"

And then, without answering, Galloway turns herself into a shadow and starts flying to the broken window, with no one looking at her. Light Eater sighs and does the same thing.

---

Tirek takes a look outside the hut but there's no one there. He even turns his back and walks around the landscape which looks at the hut's back but doesn't find him. He says his name aloud one, two, three times. Nobody answers. He's gone. "He's not here," says Tirek while entering the house. "Neither in front of us nor in the back... he is gone..."

"He said he was going to walk, no idea," adds Cozy Glow, raising her hooves. "He may come back."

Discord takes a breath, a longer one than ever. "Ok... now that he's out, we can make the plan before he arrives."

Everyone inside the hut looks at each other through a small campfire Cozy Glow created with her magic, in the middle of an awkward moment. Everyone wants to plan something against Tenebris but no one dares to set this off. "We had one chance on the forest," says Chrysalis. "I told Tirek to consume his magic, and then I could take advantage of taking his love... if he has something of that inside him," she says and then looks to the centaur. "But no. He didn't, such a coward."

"Hey!" he shouts. "Why don't you go and attack him, then? Try it if you are so tough, you bug!"

"Wait," interrupts Cozy Glow. "Are you actually trying to turn on him?"

"Of course!" shouts Chrysalis, angrily. "What were you thinking all this time?"

"But... um..." she replies, but the filly doesn't know what to say. "I don't know," she whispers with a puppy face. "He gave me a horn and helped us to escape but... that time he strangled me... I... I..."

"He almost killed you, Cozy Glow, and I assure you he will kill you soon."

Now the filly raises an eyebrow, confused and also scared. "But why? What did I do to him?"

The God of Chaos only rolls his eyes. "Sadly, nothing, but unfortunately you are a bossy, villainous filly and that's something he hates. We've got to do something against Tenebris and also the soul of Rushkwa inside him before everything gets worse."

"He had the chance!" shouts Chrysalis, pointing at Tirek with a hoof. "He had it and he didn't do it! You coward!"

"Why didn't you attack him, if you are so tough?" shouts Cozy, defending Tirek. "And well, golly, why didn't he attack him?" she says, pointing at Stone Chisel. "He's the one that started it all!"

"HEY!" shouts Chisel, tied to a dark crystal as a stump without hooves. "Firstly, I tried, don't you see?" he says. "I have no fucking legs... and secondly, don't put me in the centaur's decision, you filly! I have nothing to do with him!"

"Oh, come on!" she shouts. "Clearly you are the centre of this whole situation, you started it all! You are the one who set him free! You are the indirect killer of Starlight Glimmer and Flash Sentry!"

Shivers get inside the whole body of Chisel because she can be right about that, and he shouts: "Would you shut up? Don't... don't remind me that again!"

"But it's the truth!" she shouts, with her eyes wide open..

"SHUT UP, I SAID!" shouts Stone Chisel. "You are so freaking annoying I bet your parents left you because they couldn't put up with you!" And with that, he expects Cozy Glow to answer him in a worse way, but something calls his attention when he finds out he actually shut Cozy Glow's mouth. She freezes in her position, flying inside the dark hut, while everyone is looking at her. Then, out of nowhere, a sob is heard from somewhere, and the filly starts crying, sobbing lowly while tears are rolling down her eyes. Everyone gets surprised at how the evil, manipulative filly starts sobbing, and Stone Chisel feels bad for that. "Um... I didn't mean to hurt you, sorry..."

"You... you meant it!" she whines while crying. "You... don't you ever talk about my parents again!" then, she stops flying with her wings, cleaning her tears while everyone looks at her in silence. "I had enough with my daddy forcing me to do things..." she whispers something that makes her cry again. Stone Chisel doesn't know what to say, and he nods his head trying to calm the whole thing down. He knows what to say.

"Hey, um... to be honest, my father also forced me to do things," he says, rolling his eyes, remembering past times.... "You know, when I was born, he was obsessed with making me the new owner of his company and took me to these boring dinners with the worst kind of ponies just to introduce me to that society. He knew I didn't want to do what he did... but he still forced me to enter, and that's why I left my house..." he says, and then he sighs, trying not to fall into his tears. "I only wanted to be some kind of... photographer."

Cozy Glow, surprisingly, stops crying and approaches the stallion with no hooves. "Wait, the..." she whispers to him. "The business colts?"

And at that moment Stone Chisel's eyes almost get out of their orbits. "Business colts of Manehattan?!"

She feels a lump in her throat. "Yes."

"Oh, shit..." whispers Stone Chisel, rolling his eyes. "Jet Set, Upper Crust, the Oranges, Gladmane, Hoity Toity, Prim, Suri... I know almost all of them and they are a-holes, but the cherry on the top is and will be my father."

"Your father?" thinks Cozy. "And who's him?"

"Iron Pick, owner of Shiny Picks Gem Company and the most selfish stallion I ever met."

And the filly gets surprised. "My father... my dad was a friend of him... um... after my mommy left..." she says, holding her tears. "He forced me to go with him to Iron Pick's dinners... until, well, I left home and went to Ponyville."

"And your father never cared for you, isn't it?" says Stone Chisel, looking at her. "You know, Cozy Glow, I reencountered with my father only once, and it was only because I felt guilty about leaving him and my mother and I decided to include him in a partner's project, but that... fucker didn't even say my name or recognized me. He completely erased me from his life, so.... you are not alone in this... at least somepony else went through your hell..."

Cozy Glow stops crying but doesn't do anything else. She still feels overwhelmed. "As my father did with me," says Cozy Glow. "Golly... he completely forgot about me..."

"So..." says Discord, turning around. "You have just admitted your parents were involved in the Surigate."

Stone Chisel remembers when he told his parents he did the right thing on the trial. He didn't even mention his parents during interrogations and even inside that court, but now... what can he lose... he has nothing to lose. Nobody's gonna change if he says the truth. "Yes," he says. "Stolen Bag and I came across him and my father had the idea of the gems," he says, and then he snorts, furiously. "He only did it because it gave him money..."

The God of Chaos gives him a smile. "Finally you admit it, Stone Chisel. I knew, my crazy mind told me they were just right behind you on all of this... but now, you know... can we go to the main thing, please?"

"Please," says Chrysalis, nervously. "What can we do?"

"We should wait and remain calm and silent... until we arrive at the Crystal Empire."

"Are you crazy?" says Tirek. "Why don't we do it now?"

"Look who's talking!" shouts Chrysalis. "The one who didn't try to."

"OK! OK! Don't go back to that, would you? If we keep fighting, we're gonna lose time. Tirek, if we do it now, he'll break us. We have to do it on the Crystal Empire because he's going to get distracted while looking at how everything has changed."

"And how are we going to attack him?" asks Chrysalis.

Discord looks at his hands, trapped within the boulders. "He may destroy everything once we arrive, but the gem is still on his body so he can't use all of his power and destroy everything in seconds. He may blow up crystal ponies with magical beams, and we have to make him blow up these boulders I have on my hands so I can get free and, in that right moment, we can start attacking him... the only problem is... we need a crystal bait, and also... we have to do it before he breaks that necklace..."

"The necklace..." says Tirek. "You mean.."

"If he breaks the necklace the gem will get off him... and we can't do anything after that. He has my powers and the Bewitching Bell's. Even I can't do anything against him, so we have to hurry up."

Everyone gets scared at how honest sounded Discord. If he breaks the necklace, all of them can't do anything to him, even the God of Chaos. However, there's something else that hasn't been clarified there. "And what if we defeated him?" says Chrysalis. "What are you going to do to us after that, Discord? Huh?"

Now all of the villains start hesitating because of that. "Yes," replies Tirek. "You need our help but once we get rid of him you will call your pony friends... isn't it, you brainwashed?"

The God of Chaos only sighs and rolls his eyes. "That's something we can't care about now. Villains or not, we have to be united to bring Tenebris down before he breaks the necklace."

"Sure, but," says Cozy Glow, cleaning her face. "That doesn't mean we'll get those boulders out of you so easily."

"You have to destroy them to make Tenebris lose." No one says anything, and Discord speaks again: "Look. If there's something more powerful than all of us, and even Tenebris, is destiny. No one knows what's going to happen after we defeat Tenebris and what's going to happen between you and me. Only destiny knows. The only thing we need to care about and do now is to stop Tenebris on the Crystal Empire before he does something else, and after that... destiny will drive us. I know you want to bring the ram down and I want it too. Done?"

Pure silence again while the Legion of Doom takes a look at each other. From the desperation of Tirek and Chrysalis, to Cozy Glow's shocking tears and Stone Chisel's loneliness, everyone agrees on something...

"Done."

"Ok... the only thing I need is a crystal pony bait, to put it between Tenebris and me, and I know who will be."

Another awkward silence in between until everyone finds out who Discord is talking about. "OH NO!" shouts Chrysalis. "I won't!"

"Please, you are the only one who can--."

"NO! I WON'T PLAY THE MEAT FOR YOU!" she shouts. "Me? As a bait for the ram?"

"You are the only one who can turn into other creatures, Chrysalis. You are a changeling."

"Yeah," interrupts Stone Chisel. "You turned into Cadence and almost ruined a freaking wedding... I bet you can distract him like a crystal pony."

"SHUT UP, YOU!" she shouts. "Don't you even say one word to me!"

"I agree with him," says the God of Chaos. "He doesn't have to attack you. You will only have to be in front of me... just a simple distraction. He fires his beam, you take a step aside and the beam goes to my boulders... and then they crash and we can fight him."

The queen rolls his eyes and starts shaking her head. "I don't know," says Chrysalis. "I don't know, Discord."

"You don't know what?"

Everyone jumps because of the shock while Tenebris gets inside the hut, getting illuminated by the small campfire Cozy Glow did. No one says anything and doesn't attack anyone. Cozy Glow hides behind Tirek and doesn't even look at the ram, while Chrysalis takes a step behind. Discord and Stone Chisel only close their eyes, waiting for their fate. However, Tenebris only chuckles and says something else: "My apologies for taking so much time. I was walking with Rushkwa in the forest... what were you talking about?" he says, lying on the entrance with a wide smile, looking at the campfire.

"Nothing," says Chrysalis, jumping. "We were talking about... uh... talking about how we were going to attack the Empire the next day."

"Well," says Tenebris, raising his hooves. "That's something we should work with once the sun rises. I only want to look at the moon now, in silence. Would you?"

"Sure," says Tirek, at the same moment Tenebris stops talking. Pure silence appears in the middle again, while everyone is looking at each other and then at Tenebris looking at the moon. Did he hear something of what they talked about? Will he attack them now? No, he clearly said he didn't attack by the moonlight... Would he attack them by the sunrise? They have to do something...

"Cozy Glow," says Stone Chisel in the most awkward moment, something that calls everybody's attention, even Tenebris. The filly gets out of Tirek's back and raises her hooves while flying, confused. "What's the name of your father?"

Now she gets surprised. "My father?"

"Your father."

"Um... Trustlight."

Stone Chisel only chuckles while looking at her. "I knew him on a meeting... what an asshole."

However, Tenebris is not only looking at the moon but also listening to a voice from his inside. "You've heard them, Tenebris. Wait until you take a step on our lands. Make them fall on their illusion... and then kill them all. No remorse, no mercy. For me. For you. For the lands. For our community.

Tenebris, listening to this, only nods his head, slowly. He will kill them all tomorrow.

---

"Who?" asks Iron Pick, angrily.

Galloway only rolls her eyes. "Mr LaCrowley wants to talk to you about Stone Chisel."

Now Iron Pick raises the roof. "Tell Mr LaCocky I'm busy right now in the middle of a company meltdown, and if he wants to talk about that colt... tell him to come to me, not me to go for him... did you listen, you bitch?"

Poofy Lantern now pushes her husband away. "You say that colt one more time instead of saying his name, and I will personally fire you from the company..."

"You..." he shouts. "Don't you dare to put me away from the empire I rose... you stupid---"

Iron Pick, about to jump onto his wife, gets thrown away by something while getting surrounded by a black aura. He crashes against his own desk, breaking it in half. Galloway, on the other hand, enters the office and spits Iron Pick in the face. "I told you, moron," she says. "Don't curse me. You won't like it, I said..." she chuckles. "And look at you now, lying in the dead empire you rose, which has been recently destroyed by yourself. Next time you open your mouth I will get that tail of yours straight up your butthole."

Poofy Lantern checks out her husband, lying on the broken desk. "You mother..." whispers Iron Pick. "You..."

"Um... excuse me?" someone says from outside. Iron Pick, Poofy Lantern and Galloway look at the one who said it. A blue earth colt with curly light blue hair, which looks like Cozy Glow's, and purple eyes demonstrate selfishness. "What's going on here? Iron Pick, who in the world is this griffon and why did you let her enter? Is she a protester?"

"No, I'm not," says Galloway. "And you dare to take a step, you will be a brand-new pegasus flying out from the window."

However, the colt doesn't care. He just raises his hooves. "I don't care... do whatever you want to him. I've been waiting to grab his shares from Shiny Picks and take the company for a long time."

"Fuck you, Trustlight!" shouts Iron Pick, with a certain tone of pain, not even moving. "Fuck you!"

He only chuckles. "Thanks, Iron P---"

"Fuck you and your daughter too!"

Now Trustlight shuts his mouth, something that calls Galloway's attention. "I don't know what are you talking about," says Trustlight. "I don't have any daughters, Iron Pick... not like you and your son."

"Woah," dares to interrupt Galloway with a smile, laughing and looking now at Poofy Lantern. "Another colt who doesn't want to recognize his sons?"

Poofy Lantern, despite being in shock, still answers: "He's Cozy Glow's father."

Now Galloway, surprised, opens her pick. "WOAH! That's what I call a plot twist!"

"POOFY!" shouts now, Trustlight, while Iron Pick slowly gets up with some bruises on his loin. "Why are you relating me to that criminal?"

"The criminal you raised," answers Poofy. "The criminal you brainwashed."

"Don't dare to talk to me about criminals," he says. "Your son suffered the same destiny."

"But at least I tried to help him..." she says, with a lump in her throat. "But he left... all because of colts like you!"

But then, out of nowhere, Iron Pick jumps onto Cozy Glow's father and starts punching him, so Poofy Lantern tries desperately to separate them. Galloway, on the other hand, is only looking at the fight, chuckling. "WOULD YOU HELP ME?" shouts angrily the pony, trying to separate her husband and her partner.

"Wait!" shouts Galloway. "I wanna see who wins."

"COME ON!"

A sigh after rolling her eyes. "Damnit... Ok," she says, and a second later both stallions get inside a magical tornado and get inside Galloway's bag. It was so fast that Poofy Lantern didn't even take a second to guess what has just happened.

"What the..." she whispers. "You... you killed them."

"No," she replies. "Relax. I only put them inside the bag with my magic."

"YOU KILLED THEM!"

She sighs. "Uh, come on... I've already told you!"

"YOU KILLED---"

And then Poofy Lantern is the third one who gets inside the bag, being interrupted by a magical tornado which absorbs her while the black mist is entering the bag. Just a second after doing that, the griffon turns into a shadow, with the bag inside, and goes away from the office, entering a hall inside the building. Light Eater is there, as a shadow. "Your vigilante work is done, Light," she says. "We've got to go."

"And where are they?" asks the bat pony, confused. The griffon sighs while flying away, passing through the walls with no problem with her partner.

"You know, Light Eater, despite I didn't like it at first... your idea of the bag wasn't so bad."

And when she said that, Light Eater laughed aloud...

Comments

[Pete100]

Wait, is there a rouge bat pony?

[King Genesis]

10527490
Yup, Light Eater is his name.