Chapter Four: What swords are really for
“In the name of Princess Twilight, I order you to lower your horn and stand down!”
Puzzled, confused and surrounded by ponies of the Royal Guards, Keldeo slowly backed away from the commanding officer, only to stop after noticing he was literally encircled by lances.
“Woah, take it easy there, sir,” Keldeo smiled nervously, raising a forehoof up in surrender, “I mean you no harm.”
“I said STAND DOWN!” ordered the head guard, igniting his horn.
“I am standing down!” retorted Keldeo, “Unless you want me to lie on the ground, on my back with my legs held high!”
“Sergeant! Sergeant, wait!”
Starlight Glimmer blinked in from her teleport with the group that was in the room earlier and galloped towards the surrounded Pokemon, pushing her way through the crowd of ponies (and other creatures).
“Sergeant please, he meant no harm from what he was demonstrating earlier!” she called out, panting after squeezing through the crowd.
“Headmare Glimmer?” the Royal Guard Sergeant held out a hoof, gesturing the guards to lower their pikes, “Do you know this unicorn?”
“Yes. He’s… Um… He’s a… New exchange student from across a different continent,” Starlight lied, grinning nervously.
“I am?” puzzled Keldeo.
“He is?” Ocellus and Yona asked in unison, only to be shushed by Smolder.
The unicorn sergeant raised an eyebrow at Keldeo, “He doesn’t sound so sure of your claim, Headmare.”
“He is suffering from amnesia, sir,” replied Starlight confidently, “Something to do with an accident with teleportation through a portal. You can ask Nurse Redheart if you want the details.”
All eyes turned to the nurse in question, who took a while to register that all the attention was now on her. “Oh! Um, yes!” Redheart finally said, “He is currently unable to remember details from his land of origin, as well as suffering several injuries which surprisingly healed rather quickly.” She then gave Keldeo a disapproving glare, “His stunt to leap off a recovery room window however was not condoned or approved by neither me or the staff; something that I would much like to discuss with him after this.”
Made aware of the nurse’s intention, Keldeo’s ears folded as he gave a nervous smile. “Hehe… Oops?”
The sergeant gave a sigh in surrender, “Fine, I’ll leave the colt in your hooves, Ms Starlight Glimmer. But if he causes any more trouble, I will have no choice but to detain him. I have my plate full enough as it is patrolling this town and I would appreciate one less disturbance to worry about.”
Starlight gave a nod in agreement, “I assure you, sergeant, it won’t happen again.”
As the guards made their exit and the crowds disperse, Keldeo approached the group, “Listen, thanks for covering for me-”
“YOUNG COLT, WHAT WERE YOU THINKING?!!”
Now Keldeo was preparing for a lecture that somehow his body seemed to remember instinctively, which made him wholly unprepared to the enraged little pony nurse’s admonishment; resulting in him tucking his tail between his legs, his ears lowered and his entire body ducking down.
“What in Celestia’s mane were you possibly thinking, leaping off an open window several hooves from the ground?!” Redheart continued to berate, “You could have reopened a wound! You could have broken more bones! Or worse, you could have-”
“Nurse Jo-… I mean Redheart,” Keldeo stammered, “I’m fine, really. My wounds are fully healed and there’s no way that height could hurt me so long as I land on my hooves. All Pokemon are actually quite durable from-”
“YOU ARE MISSING THE POINT KELDEO!! You are a patient in recovery and should therefore stay in bed til we say you are fit enough to leave!”
Starlight gave a knowing nod, “Nurse Redheart is right, Keldeo. What you did, not only could you have hurt yourself,” she pointed to the tree he blasted, “you could have hurt others.”
Keldeo stared at the felled tree. That… That could have been someone. Anyone. A person, a bystander, a kid. He hung his head low in shame. “I… I’m sorry. I wasn’t thinking, I… I have no excuse.”
“Well, so long as you’ve learned your lesson, all is forgiven,” smiled Starlight, giving him a pat on the shoulders. She then leaned closer to whisper, “Don’t feel too bad about it. In truth, I did way worse.”
“Dude, I don’t know about you guys, but that was totally awesome!” sneered Smolder, “Could you do that trick you did with lava instead of water?”
“Ah, no,” Keldeo replied sheepishly, “I’m a water type, not a fire type. I could only do that with water.”
‘Was that how he managed to swallow all that water from the glass like it was nothing?’ thought Redheart.
“Friend Keldeo strong like yak too,“ said Yona with an approving nod, “Smashed rock like it was nothing! Are all creatures as strong as Keldeo from where Keldeo from?”
“I’m… not really sure to be honest,” replied Keldeo, “I can’t remember much, but I do know that there are Pokemon far stronger than me like the Legendaries.”
“What are these Legendaries you mentioned?” asked Ocellus, curiosity clear in her eyes, “Are they similar to Equestria’s Alicorns or are they variations of deities you worship in your world?”
Keldeo paused at that question, “A bit of both? I’m not really sure. Also, what’s an alicorn?”
“Ahem!” Redheart interjected, clearing her throat, “While interesting a conversation this all might be, I would like to take Keldeo back into the hospital for a thorough check up.” She turned to the Pokemon in question with a stern look, “You young colt are not to leave without a clean bill of health. Is that understood?”
“Y-yes nurse,” Keldeo nodded.
As they made back for the Hospital, Ocellus paused to look back to the unseen horizon. Those three are taking too long. What is holding them?
Gallus hated being underground. Underground meant darkness, lack of air, and closed spaces. He was doing all he could to not have a panic attack right then and there. Getting captured by Diamond Dogs was bad, but getting captured and dragged underground into some creepy series of tunnels with armed guards everywhere the size of fully grown limb ripping walking dog sentients? That was very bad.
None of the captives knew how long they were walking for or how deep they were going. Whenever they acted too slow, their captors would whack them hard to keep moving. Thankfully, none of the students had gotten the taste of their wrath, but that didn’t keep them from looking worried and fearful of their lives.
Finally, their journey came to an end when they arrived at some kind of large steel room with various levels connected by stone carved staircases. However, what caught evercreature’s attention were the large steel cages that looked not only disgusting from dirty looks and smells, but sharp with small barbs that were on the bars to prevent other from touching it.
“Get inside! All of you!” one of their captors ordered as evercreature in chains looked in disbelief. Growling, he grabbed a frightened Silverstream and shouted, “I said move it!”
Gallus growled as his friend was shoved into one of the cages and whimpered upon hitting the ground. She soon curled up into a ball and began sobbing into her wing. “You can’t do that to her!” Gallus shouted but he was soon grabbed by the back of his head feathers and dragged into the same cage as Silverstream while Sandbar was also pushed in. The guards that were captured with them were unable to put much of a resistance as they were shoved in or smacked with their guards' batons before forced inside and locked the cells shut.
“You can’t hold us here! We’re students of Princess Twilight’s School of Friendship!” Sandbar cried out.
“Yeah! You dogs are clearly out of your league if you think you could just keep us in here!” Gallus shouted.
“You two be quiet, like that pink one there!” one of the Diamond Dogs slammed the cage they were locked in with a baton, “If you won’t be in your best behaviour, we’ll make sure to find other means of shutting you up, no matter what the Big Boss says!” With that, he left to continue his patrol while others stood guard with their sharp spears and swords.
Gallus and Sandbar turned to Silverstream who was now quivering in the corner of the cage. “No, not again. It’s the Storm King’s army all over again!” she whimpered as she curled into a ball, tears falling from her eyes.
“Silver! Silver, look at me!” Gallus rushed over to her and held her cheeks with his talons as he stared into her eyes trying to comfort her. It broke his heart seeing her look like this, so scared and helpless, and if he was being honest he felt like having a panic attack right now. But that wouldn’t be of much use to him or his friends here. They needed to remain calm. “I know you’re scared. Believe me, I am too. Being cramped in this cave is not exactly helping me here, but you need to calm down. We need to be strong here, alright? Can you do that?”
Silverstream nodded with a sniffle, “Hmmhmm. Okay.”
“Okay, good,” the griffon let out a sigh of relief as he wiped the tears off her eyes. “Can you stand up?”
“Y-yeah, yeah I can.”
As Gallus helped Silverstream up, Sandbar tried bucking the bars of the cage, attempting to break it open to no avail and winced when the barbs nearly broke his skin. If not for his tough earth pony magic it might have hurt worse.
“It’s no use, kid,” one of the captured guards held in the cage across them called out. She shook her head, “These bars are too strong for you to break out. Hay, I can’t even use magic to break them, let alone teleport. These Diamond Dogs aren’t dumb.”
Sandbar stopped bucking the bars with a snarl, “We can’t just do nothing! We need to get out of here! Why are they holding us here?”
“If I had to guess,” replied the guard who looked carefully at the cage bars before noticing how many levels were in this room and how many cages there were in number, “I would say these cages are being used to hold a lot of creatures. Creatures who happen to be disappearing over the past few weeks or so. Probably even more.”
Silverstream gawked, “Y-you mean, the missing creatures over the past few weeks… They've been abducted?!”
“Well, we are, so I guess we are just another addition to the list of victims,” the guard snorted as she gave a kick at the cage’s bars.
“B-but why would they abduct anypony in the first place?” said Gallus as he leaned closer to the bars closest to the imprisoned guard. “Didn’t Professor Rarity already deal with these bozos?”
The guard shook her head, “No idea.” Then her ears flicked towards the sound of a rusty door slamming open with a screech. “But I think we’re about to find out,” she said with a frown as a large group slowly approached them.
Gallus, Sandbar and Silverstream watched with wide-eyed horror at the sight: Ponies of all races and ages, chained together were herded into the empty cages by Diamond Dogs who were barking orders and brandishing batons to intimidate their prisoners. There were other creatures imprisoned as well; a few griffons, donkeys, changelings, even fellow diamond dogs who were slouched lower than their towering counterparts.
“In the cages, maggots!” barked the head guard as he slammed a baton on an empty cage’s iron bars, “Get in before we have to bring Big Boss to deal with you animals!”
“Please, mercy!” pleaded one of the incarcerated diamond dogs, “Rover is one of you! Why do this to poor Rover?”
“Shut up, mutt!” The head guard bashed his baton on Rover’s back, causing him to collapse while pulling other prisoners to the ground with him. The diamond dog let out whimpers of pain as he struggled to stand up. “You!” the guard pointed at the ponies who fell with Rover, “Pick up the runt and get in the cell, unless you too want a beating!”
Without another word, two ponies shouldered the crippled diamond dog and dragged him into one of the cages. The door slammed shut behind them, causing them to wince.
Looks like that answers that question, Gallus thought bitterly. These weren’t the same type of Diamond Dogs that Professor Rarity had dealt with all those years ago. Those had been morons. These guys are serious.
All the other prisoners soon followed suit with their fellow comrades in chains. Their faces swollen with exhaustion and despair as they slowly crawled inside their designated cells. More than one had cried, especially the younger ones. The newcomers watched with absolute horror at what was before them.
“You sorry, pieces of dirt better be working on the mines faster next time! Or else you’ll get double the shift and no water or food or bathroom breaks! In fact, half rations for you all on your next shift!” One of the Diamond Dog guards growled which made the workers wince.
“Slaves?!” Sandbar snarled at the diamond dog guards, “How dare you! Princess Twilight will have your flanks in Tartarus for this!”
A baton slammed into Sandbar’s hooves that were holding the bars of the cage, causing him to yelp and wince in pain.
“The Princess ain’t here, little pony,” sneered the perpetrator, “Here you will slave away til you drop dead.”
“Curious, you have a clean bill of health. No fractures, no scarring, not even a bruise. You are definitely not a pony that’s for sure.”
Staring curiously at the protruding wires and gizmos connected to a monitor, Keldeo sat on his haunches awkwardly, discomfort clear on his face. Everycreature (with the exception of Nurse Redheart) grinned in amusement, holding off their giggles to the Pokemon’s predicament.
“Does your kind usually recover from injuries quickly?” asked Redheart as she was studying an X-ray scan.
“Every Pokemon can, provided certain conditions, medicine, food, drink, items or moves,” answered Keldeo as he winced from another instrument attached to his chest area.
“Keldeo, if it isn’t too much trouble, could you tell us what exactly is a Pokemon?” Starlight Glimmer asked, curiosity evident on her face and a levitated quill and parchment nearby.
Keldeo’s face screwed in thought of an answer, “Pokemon? Hmm, I guess that's a hard question to ask. We're not exactly a race since there is a wide variety of species of us, all in different types, shapes and forms. Many of us look animalistic or plantlike, others look like inanimate objects or earthly material such as rocks and gems. I wouldn't even call us animals since we are capable of thoughts and feelings. I honestly never thought about it. We're just… Pokemon. Always have been and always will be."
“Well that’s a bummer,” Smolder muttered, “A whole bunch of species labelled under the same title with differing appearances made of different material.” She paused to do a double take as a thought came up, “Hold up, did you say there are Pokemon that look like gems?”
“Um, yes.”
“And before you leapt out the window, you said that there are dragons in your world, right?”
“Yeah, Dragon types. Why?”
“Do Pokemon eat each other?”
“I guess? Some do, some don’t. Depends on the Pokemon I guess, but not all. I mean, I don’t. Why?" Keldeo asked, tilting his head.
The others turned a bit pale as Ocellus shook her head. "B-B-But why do they do that?"
"Because it's how we are?" Keldeo said with a shrug. "Granted not all of us eat meat, and all of us can eat berries, but hunting is normal. Of course, humans eat us too and unlucky humans get eaten by Pokemon, but pretty much most captured ones aren't eaten and become part of their society. Sometimes they act more human than Pokemon."
"But don't you find that morally wrong? It's like your world is survival of the fittest!" said Nurse Redheart, clearly appalled at what she was hearing.
"Um, how is that a bad thing?" Keldeo asked and suddenly everycreature's eyes went wide. "Every Pokemon trains to be the strongest and we want to be strong. We fight each other, we fight humans, and we fight things outside of our dimension sometimes if you count the Ultra-Beasts. We fight because we want to grow strong and if you aren't strong then your life sadly becomes forfeit. At least in the wild and more dangerous areas. Sure the Pokemon captured by humans don't fight to the death, but they still fight to the point that some are able to win wars if need be."
Their world is constantly fighting? That is insane! Could it be? "K-Keldeo, is your world… Is it constantly at war?" Starlight asked hesitantly.
Keldeo thought for a moment. "I don’t think so. I don’t recall. I don’t think I’ve fought in a war, but I might have been in a lot of battles," Keldeo said with a shrug before smiling, "I mean, it’s not like we kill each other on a regular basis, we just constantly fight to grow stronger. Killing is usually between predator and prey, and though uncommon it sometimes happens in a battle. Rarely does death happen due to… insidious reasons.” There was pause from that last line as it unnerved him. What was that? Why did that last bit make my skin crawl?
He shook away his thoughts before he continued, “Besides, even if a Pokemon is killed in a fight, they are eventually reincarnated to try again. That way you can try in your next life to become stronger and live longer."
In that moment, it became clear to everycreature just how alien Keldeo was; both literally and figuratively. Where he came from violence was the norm, even if it wasn't for a life or death situation. Death was accepted so easily and survival was integrated into everyone who lived there. Put it simply, his world follows a warrior culture.
Compared to Equus let alone Equestria, which had known peace for so long and fought only in self-defence, the world where Keldeo came from was, for the lack of a better word, frightening.
“... Perhaps it would be prudent if we changed the subject?” Noticing the mood within the room, Keldeo gave the unsubtle suggestion with a sheepish smile.
Internal sighs of relief mixed with silly grins and chuckles spread within the room. Throughout everycreature’s minds, they were thankful that, of all beings described within his world to end up in Ponyville, it was Keldeo. However, their thoughts were soon snuffed out by the Pokemon’s predicament. With no personal memories and possibly no visible way to return (unless the portal was still open), Keldeo was essentially stuck here.
Not wishing to return to that spiral of anxiety like what had happened earlier, Ocellus complied to the Pokemon’s request of a new subject for discussion, “Actually Keldeo, we’ve been curious; how does your magic work?”
“I beg your pardon? Magic?” asked Keldeo, clearly confused.
“Um yes,” Redheart interjected, “We’ve done some scans on your Thaumaturgical signature and mana pool and noticed it has a different resonance to our magic yet somehow manages to be compatible with it.”
“Pokemon don’t use magic,” Keldeo flatly replied, “I mean, some of us can do move sets that are considered magical; but magic, that’s something out of fairytales and street performers.”
He noticed Redheart’s eye twitch in disbelief. “How do you exist?!”
“Nurse Redheart, please calm down,” said Starlight, attempting to calm the earth pony nurse.
“Calm down?” Redheart went hysterical, “CALM DOWN?! How could I possibly calm down?! No creature could possibly exist without magic! It’s impossible! He clearly has something in him; and if it isn’t magic, what in bloody Tartarus is it?”
That was when the proverbial lightbulb clicked on Keldeo, “Oh, do you mean you can see my Aura?”
“Aura?” All turned to look at Keldeo, tilting their heads in an angle.
“Yes, Aura,” Keldeo continued, “It is the essence of every creature; Human, plant matter and Pokemon. It is what gives us our powers, our skills, our abilities. It is the source of life that makes creation itself. It is also how some Pokemon can attune to other creatures naturally; be it between partners or lovers.”
“Wait, is it anything like… The Fooooorce?” asked Pinkie as she waved a forehoof dramatically.
Keldeo turned to the rest of them with a confused look, “What does she mean by that?”
“Don’t take Professor Pinkie Pie too seriously,” replied Smolder, “She tends to say the most random of things.”
“... I see.”
“Anyway,” Ocellus interjected, “how exactly do you use this Aura? Do you channel it to use your powers like a Unicorn? Are you proficient at using it?”
“I don’t know,” Keldeo replied, “I mean, it’s not that I don’t know how to use Aura or anything, it’s just, you don’t really think about it. It’s like breathing; you don’t think about how to channel or do it, you just do. It just… happens. As for being proficient; I’m not sure if I am. I mean, I know other Pokemon species like the Lucario are very proficient at it due to being fully attuned to Aura.”
“Um, odd question,” Yona raised a hoof, “Keldeo speaks about Pokemon having several species; what species is Keldeo?”
“Well actually, I’m kind of classified as a mythical Pokemon.”
“Oh? Really?!” Pinkie bounced in, “So does that mean you’re some kind of super powerful Legendary being in your world?”
“Not exactly. I’m classified as mythical due to being either extremely rare or one of a kind…” His voice trailed off, “Wait… I’m… no… Hold on… I think there were more of us… Was there? I’m not really sure… I can’t remember…”
“Friend Keldeo, you’re crying,” said Yona.
Keldeo reached the sides of his cheek with his hoof and felt the warm streams of tears. “I… Why am I crying?” He sniffed and wiped the tears with his hoof, trying to brush it off, “I’m sorry, I don’t know why I just did that. I’m pretty sure I’m not a crying Pokemon so I’m sorry if I’ve been doing this a lot lately.”
Starlight reached out a hoof and brushed his mane assuringly, “Keldeo, there is nothing to apologise. I’m pretty certain that a small part of your subconscious still remembers something and you were just subconsciously feeling sadness from whatever it is hidden within your memories.”
She continued to brush his mane til she was sure he calmed down from what is now a regular episode of the Pokemon’s grief. “Listen Keldeo,” Starlight finally said, “I know some ponies who might be able to help you recover your memories. Mainly, Princess Twilight Sparkle who is the ruler of Equestria. She has experience with other worlds and unusual cases such as yourself, so I thought that it might be a good idea to contact her and arrange a meeting between the two of you to see how she could help you out.”
Keldeo smiled as he wiped the last of his tears, “Yeah, thank you. That would be great.”
“Um, Miss Guardspony, how’s your friend doing?”
The captured guard looked up to Sandbar from across her caged cell as she held her colleague’s head on her torso as a makeshift pillow. “He’s not looking so great. That huge diamond to the head really did a number on him.” She then gave Sandbar a reassuring smile, “By the way, name’s Coppelion.”
“Copy… have I told you how beautiful you look?” her fellow guardspony muttered deliriously.
“Oh great, and he’s totally lost it,” Coppelion deadpanned at her colleague.
“Um, excuse me?” a young pegasus colt slowly crawled to the side of the cage closest to Sandbar, “You’re part of the Royal Guards, right? Were you sent here to rescue us?”
“No, sorry little bud,” Coppelion sadly shook her head, “My friend and I were just assigned to escort these three to study a site of a portal.” She leaned closer while being careful not to disrupt her unconscious partner, “Could you perhaps tell us what they’re digging down here?”
“I don’t really know, sorry,” the young colt replied dejectedly.
She turned her gaze to another pony who was listening in. When her eyes met him, he shook his head, “Sorry. All I know is they aren’t diamonds. Just some worthless looking crystals I’ve never seen before.”
“Hey, does anyone know what they’re digging down here?” Gallus called out among the nearby cells.
A collection of “No,” frowns, and shaking of heads followed.
“R-Rover knows what we’ve been digging.”
All turned to the injured diamond dog who was flat on his belly and his head rested on one of the ponies. “Though Rover knows not why they’re digging for them,” he continued, his voice weak from the labour and back injury from earlier.
Silverstream leaned on the cage’s bars closest to the injured dog, “Rover was it? Would you mind telling us what you’re digging down here?”
“Sure, we’ve been digging for Arcanite,” he flatly replied.
This caught Coppelion and Gallus’ attention. “Did you just say Arcanite?” the captured guard asked, worry evident in her voice.
“Yup yup,” answered Rover, “which doesn’t make sense to Rover. Diamond Dogs dig for diamonds, not worthless Arcanite.”
“Dude, Arcanite is far from worthless,” Gallus deadpanned to Rover’s response to the mineral in question, “That stuff is legendary grade material. It’s what they used to make more than half of the ancient magical artefacts in the world.”
“How do you know that?” asked Sandbar.
“Princess Twilight’s classes on magical artefacts and Professor Rarity’s on gem variety,” Gallus replied flatly, “I got interested in case we might find rich stuff to sell from Griffonstone.”
“Wait, you’re students from Princess Twilight’s School of Friendship?” asked a unicorn filly.
“Yeah, we are,” replied Sandbar, “We kind of got captured while we were investigating a portal site.”
“Oh boy, this is waaaaay above my paygrade,” Coppelion sighed.
“W-what do you mean?” Silverstream asked, “Is something wrong?”
“Oh, wrong does not even begin to describe the situation,” the guard let out a humourless chuckle, “We’ve got a full scale invasion on our hooves.”
“Invasion?” Gallus raised an eyebrow, “They’re just mining Arcanite; through illegal slave labour, sure, but that’s hardly an invasion.”
“Kid, Arcanite is illegal to mine, buy or sell regardless,” replied Coppelion, “And it has been illegal to mine, buy or sell for the past thousand years due to its tendency to create cursed artefacts and items.” She paused to let that information sink in before continuing, “And wait, there’s more; Arcanite wasn’t mainly used to create magical artefacts. They were mainly used to create and develop magical weapons. Particularly, weapons of mass destruction. Celestia in fact signed a treaty with the Zebras to ensure the ban of Arcanite to prevent that kind of situation.”
“Wait, you mean this isn’t just a get rich quick scheme?” Sandbar quivered at the thought of an alternative scenario.
“This is hardly about getting rich quick, considering they’ve been mining here for who knows how long,” replied Coppelion, “And all that time, they’ve been building up one heck of a stockpile. Chances are, this little mining operation is just the tip of the iceberg. No doubt they’ve been shipping this stuff somewhere to be forged and that there are more mining sites across the continent.”
“And all the while, their mysterious benefactor is making weapons,” Gallus stroked his lower beak in thought as he came to the same conclusion of the guard, “Which means somepony or somecreature is building an army!”
Worry and fear spread across the prisoners who’ve been following the conversation. When they heard a distant clapping that echoed across the cavern that held the prisoners, their fears morphed into absolute terror.
A diamond dog, standing taller and straighter than any they’ve seen before, towered menacingly over the cages as he approached the students, clapping as he went. His face looked more wolf-like than dog, his amber eyes glowed bright under the shadows and his sharp teeth protruded from his closed mouth like a smiling crocodile. He wore a pitch black velvet coat, a feathered hat over his head and on his waist was a belt that carried a sheathed sword.
“Well done. Well done,” he spoke as he ceased his mock clapping, his low voice sounded sickly sweet with a hiss vibrated by a growl, “It appears you managed to figure it out on your first day. Your princess would be proud.” He sneered as he grinned, exposing his teeth for all to see.
“Wh-wh-who are you?’ Gallus gulped, taking a step back from the creature before him.
“Me?” he held a paw on his chest in mock shock, “Surely you've heard about me from my boys by now? But I suppose this is your first day so allow me the introductions,” he removed his hat and gave a polite bow, “They call me Big Boss. I am…” he paused in thought for a second before chuckling in his own self amusement, “the Big Boss; and I welcome you to my humble mining operation, Canterlot branch.”
The other diamond dog guards sneered and chuckled with him.
“Canterlot?” Coppelion stared at him with utter shock, “But we were in Ponyville, how…?”
Big Boss stuck a finger on her muzzle, silencing her, “Tut-tut-tut, yes, you were in Ponyville. Keyword; were. But here you are now, under my humble employment.” Taking a step back, he released her muzzle and turned to the students, “As for why we are here, I’m sure you are all curious as to why we are underneath Mount Canterhorn itself. Easy; underneath the capital of Equestria herself are the caverns that contain the country’s neglected collection of Arcanite.”
“Brilliant alliteration Boss,” said one of the guards.
Big Boss smiled, embracing the praise, “Thank you, thank you. I love a good play with words. Speaking of which,” he pointed at the cage that held Rover, “Bring him out.”
The ponies within scurried away as the guards grabbed Rover by the scruff of his neck and dragged him out of the cage. The injured dog whimpered in pain and horror as he was held out in front of the towering villain.
“Rover, Rover, Rover. You’ve been a bad boy, haven’t you?” Big Boss sneered as he looked down on the injured creature who was now on his knees whimpering.
“You told them the secret of what we were mining for, didn’t you?” he circled around Rover as tears poured from the diamond dog’s eyes.
“And you know what we do to bad dogs here, don’t you Rover?” he spoke with a low growl behind Rover who now froze in silence as Big Boss whispered into his ear; “Bad dogs get put down.”
Without another word and in a blink of an eye, he drew his sword and stabbed it into Rover’s back. The diamond dog screamed and howled in pain and agony. The guards who held him released the scruff of his neck, dropping Rover to the ground face first. He gasped, the sword still embedded on his back as he twitched, almost paralized from the pain. His agony did not stop as Big Boss held the sword firmly and twisted it around his back, grinning menacingly with a sadistic satisfaction. A garbling noise came out of his voice as he coughed out blood trying to scream. The horrific sight continued until finally Rover stopped twitching and fell limp before the crowd.
Muffled screams from some of the young prisoners were heard while some of the grown prisoners covered the eyes and ears of their juniors. A sadistic chuckle was heard across the cavern as the abducted felt a thrill of dread and horror at the cruel sight.
“Well, that was fun,” Big Boss said gleefully as he dislodged his sword from Rover’s corpse and began cleaning it, “Boys, take the trash out for me.”
“Will do, Boss,” two of the guards saluted as they picked up poor Rover from the ground and made their exit, unfazed by the death of one of their own.
“Now then, you three,” Big Boss pointed at the cage that contained Gallus, Sandbar and SIlverstream, who were hudling each other and unable to look away from the terrifying sight with eyes wide open, weeping with fright. “If I recall correctly, you’re students of the Princess of Friendship’s school of Friendship, am I correct?”
They nodded silently and without hesitation.
“And correct me if I’m wrong, but you wouldn’t happen to be three of the six that dealt with that issue of some crazy pegasus’ scheme to take away magic, would you?”
They nodded again.
“Which would mean,” he gave a gasp of mock surprise, “you’re the students that shared a connection to the Tree of Harmony, aren’t you?”
Again they nodded with Silverstream giving off a quiet whimper.
He held a paw over his eyes and with a dramatic flare that rival’s that of Rarity, spoke vehemently, “Oh, that won’t do! That won’t do!! We have brought into our midst the future figures of influence of Equestria and possibly all of Equus!! Oh, what are we to do?”
A brief pause, followed by one of the guards who raised a paw, “Um, take them upstairs and hold them for ransom, Boss?”
He turned to his minion, grabbed him by the face and playfully slapped one of his cheeks. “I knew I could always count on you boys,” he spoke gratefully with his usual dramatic flare and leaned in to kiss him by the cheek with a, “Mwuah!!”
“Aww Boss! Boundaries!” the same guard complained, wiping the kiss off his cheek.
“Oh pish posh, you know you like it. Take them upstairs to the FOB. We’ll see what they’re worth once we complete a background check.” And as though nothing had happened, he skipped his way out the chamber's entrance whistling merrily.
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My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Fanfiction
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Oops indeed Keldeo
I know you still excited to learn that you got some of your attacks but you got to remember you're still recovering
Ah there it is there's the reference and yes I think in the movie he did meet Nurse Joy if I remember correctly it's been a long time I seen the movie I really want to watch it again
Oh dear she's having PTSD
Ohhh that explain what happened to the ponies and creatures being disappeared I thought it was the Shadow Pokemon was involved but probably getting ahead of myself I still
Wow it looks like karma really hit hard on Rover knowing how it feels to be kidnapped by his own kind
And there is a darker side of the story how Pokemon and people in that world eat which I guess that's the circle of life
Keldeo turned to the rest of them with a confused look, “What does she mean by that?”
“Don’t take Professor Pinkie Pie too seriously,” replied Smolder, “She tends to say the most random of things.”
Trust me it's Pinkie Pie there's sometimes you can't question her what she does
Somewhere in his deepest conscious mind I think he's remembering the other three Pokemons Cobalion, Terrakion, Virizion. Poor guy
What a sadistic twisted creature man I was not ready for that I mean I did remember seeing your tag says death but I wasn't expecting that so fast
11260941
Actually, I think he's remembering his parents. If I remember right, a forest fire in the Moor of Icirrus caused Keldeo to get separated from them, before the Swords of Justice came to his rescue.
11260960
Ohh I mean it's been a long time I seen the movie and everything and I guess he was pretty young back then when he was training with the swords of justice
Ok wow you were not kidding when things got really heavy okay so back at Ponyville it looks like Keldeo got in trouble with the guards but good thing Starlight came to the rescue and told them this was a misunderstanding and hopefully the excuses of being an exchange student from a different country which it did come down the guards and they let him go for now but he's getting scold at by nurse red heart telling him he's still not recovering and leaping from a window was not and ideal and he apologized for all that and they all went back to the hospital and check out his injury and remarkably he made a full recovery he explained about the history of the Pokemon and how they're raised they fight and humans catching them but also becoming allies but also friends as well and help each other to battle to become the best like no one ever was and starlight and the some of the young six and nurse red heart not only confused and shocked and a little bit terrified how the world is I guess they depended magic and the protection really so much that they never have to worry about something like that well unfortunately this is when things got worse meanwhile back with the other young six who got captured by the Diamond Dogs including the guards and took them into the cage until they are needed but to the horrifying Discovery there are numbers of ponies and creatures were also captured and that must be the ones who were kidnapped and disappeared and a familiar Diamond dog Rover also got himself caught and treated like slave as well which sandbar did not take it very well and Gallus trying to calm down silverstream of her panic attack knowing that he's also having a panic attack as well but he has to be strong for her and sandbar but apparently they want to know what in the world are they even doing down here apparently Rover explain about the diamond dogs are looking for a rare item called Arcanite and apparently it's one of the rarest item you could ever find in Equestria and apparently it's very dangerous what the guard Pony said that can create weapons mass destruction if anybody gets ahold of that that's why it's illegal to sell it to anybody with something that dangerous and apparently whoever that was showed up and it's a bigger Diamond dog but he looks a little intimidating and he called himself the big boss he was impressed that these kids figure this thing out but unfortunately they had help with that information and Rover took the blow for it the big boss killed him without any Mercy knowing to the fact that not only he's a kidnapper and Arsenal it but he's also a murderer that he will be the most dangerous ones here in Equestria and it looks like it really scared the kids I just hope the others knows what's going on before it's too late well I guess we'll find out next time
11260956
Truth be told, I took inspiration from Ladd Russo from Baccano
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64.media.tumblr.com/17a5b94c7f9a50fb476c3716457707ad/tumblr_oyn1a6N74z1vqvql8o1_400.gifv
Keep in mind that he’s from another world, Redheart.
Okay I’m going to point out a mistake that’s too common among Pokémon fans. Both the singular and plural spelling of any Pokémon’s name is the same. So in this example it would be one Lucario or many Lucario. The same applies to the word Pokémon itself (one Pokémon, many Pokémon).
Wow, that went 0-100 real fast!
11261179
Oh, thanks for pointing that out. Correcting now
Wonder how shock they'll react when they learn that all Pokemon basically hatch from an egg including Keldeo himself? Sounds like a trip to the Dragon lands are in order. Would also be neat to see him beat up a gang of dragons to show how strong he is too (Garble should be thankful he is Smolder's brother).
11260913
Don’t watch it. It’s garbage.
Wow! Big Boss seems like he’ll be a superb villain! I imagine having a voice like Alan Wesker from the Resident Evil series.
11269299
I watch this movie a long time ago and I liked it I mean sure it was a little rush but I sort of liked it it was something different
11269304
To each their own.
11269326
Exactly
11269299
I wouldn't say it's the best, but it is hardly the worst.
11269301
Y'know, thinking about it, you might not be far off from what I intended.
so, when's the next chapter
11293537
On the works (just like everything else).
Interesting story.
Gosh Dam!
That just got Dark Quick
But I love the story so fare.
Month 3
11351620
I'm almost done, I swear!
It's some fantastic work. I'm actually quite envious! The whole thing just reads so clean and thorough.
I haven't watched Friendship is Magic in forever, I think I might've stopped at season 3-4ish? Still, the way it's written, I don't even feel like I need to watch it to understand a major part of the story. That's some expert level storytelling. Especially love the dialogue, as I have trouble crafting organic and genuine conversations myself.
Also really like the attention to detail on how Keldeo uses his moves and where from his body they come from. When writing crossovers it's especially hard to keep every little detail from both series intact, and so far you've managed to do it perfectly.
I'll definitely have to give your other stuff a read and keep an eye out for this one. Cheers!
11351761
Honoured that you like it.
Is that a Treasure Planet reference?