> Soul Nomad and the Equestrians > by Devourlord > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- > Prologue : The End of One Story, The Beginning of Another. > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- *Epic Chapter Opening Music (Read title while song plays)* ____________________________________________________________________________________________ Soul Nomad and the Equestrians By Devourlord Prologue: The End of One Story, The Beginning of Another ____________________________________________________________________________________________ "An evil person is like a dirty window, they never let the light shine through." - William Makepeace Thackeray Equestria, Canterlot Castle In the evening light, the setting sun shone in the windows of the castle. The halls of the castle empty, no servants, or anypony else to speak of. Save for a pair of figures. The Princesses of Equestria, Celestia and Luna, stood in silence watching the horizon to the north, where the Crystal Empire laid. Just a few days earlier, Celestia had sent her prized student, Twilight Sparkle, along with her five friends and dragon assistant Spike, to face another enemy of her past, the tyrant of the Crystal Empire, King Sombra. Celestia seemed to be frozen in thought, unmoving and stoic as she would have appeared to her subjects. Luna broke the silence after a while of staring at the horizon. "Art thou worried?" Luna asked turning to her older sister. Celestia snapped out of her trance-like and looked at her to her younger sister. "What...? I'm sorry Luna..." she apologized. "My mind was elsewhere..." "Art thou worried?" Luna asked again. "About your student and her friends?" Celestia turned away, closing her eyes and letting a small sigh slip from her lips. "I'd be lying if I said I wasn't..." spoke the Princess of the Sun. "Why do you worry?" Luna asked. "Thy student and friends have defeated Discord, Queen Chrysalis and even Nightmare Moon." Luna shuddered at mentioning her dark alter ego. "They surely will succeed against King Sombra." "I know but-" Celestia began to say but was cut off as a massive explosion of light erupted forth from the Crystal Empire. The two Princesses' attention snapped back to the horizon. The light began to fade away revealing a rainbow colored aurora in the sky. "They did it" Celestia muttered happily, a smile forming on her face. "They really did it." "See?" Luna smiled back. "Thou had nothing to worry about. " "I suppose my worries were misplaced." Celestia spoke, her smile turning sheepish. "Should I have the artists get ready to prepare the new stain glassed window?" Luna asked Celestia as she turned to leave. "Yes, Luna" Celestia answered, still smiling at the aurora. "I see a bright future for Equestria, and the Crystal Empire." She levitated the black book that once belonged to the legendary unicorn Star-Swirled the Bearded in front of her. "She's ready for her next step." Celestia thought. Celestia would later wish she could've believed those words for a bright future, because even as they spoke, a new threat loomed on the horizon; one greater than any their world had ever seen, one that would push the magic of friendship to its breaking point... Haphnes, The Maize Forest Hundreds of light-years away from the peaceful land of Equestria was a scene that would make most sane beings void their stomachs at. Dozens of bodies of the freshly slain laid in piles across the ground, the forest floor covered in a shallow sea of blood. The massive corpse of Raksha, the last of the three World Eaters, was slumped against the trees, his eyes cold and lifeless. In the middle of all of these rotting corpses stood a red haired male human, covered head to toe in a fresh layer of blood. His name was Revya, better known to the world as the dreaded Devourlord, a being who had brought an unimaginable amount of death and destruction upon the once somewhat peaceful world of Haephnes. A hollow wind blew across the now silent battlefield. "Is everyone...dead?" the Devourlord asked in a monotonous tone with a hint of curiosity. "Hehehe. Yup. Not a single one left." responded a rough masculine voice in his head. The voice belonging to Gig, Haephnes' fouled mouth Master of Death and Revya's, as Gig called it, "soul mate", mainly because the two had shared the same body and soul for a little over a year. "...I see." the red haired human responded while he looked down and nudged a dead body with his boot. "That takes care of all the annoying insects. Nobody left to bother us. You satisfied?" the god asked casually. "Oh, don't tell me you're all lonely now." Gig said in a teasing tone. "..." Silence was the only response to Gig's taunt. "Hey, I should be more than enough company, right?" the Master of Death asked. "You and me, together forever, till the end of time! Haahahaha!" "..." Once again only silence from the Devourlord. There were no more souls around to consume anymore, as far as either of them knew, and Revya had gotten hungry after the battle. There was only one soul left. *Ba-dump* "Hm?" Gig felt something. Something wasn't right. *Ba-dump* "Wha?!" the Master of Death exclaimed. *Ba-dump* "Hey, kid...what you're doing?" Gig asked a bit nervously. "!!" "Hey! Hey, what do you think you're doing?!" the god asked in a panicked tone. Gig suddenly realized, much to his horror, what was happening: Revya was living up to his title and was devouring Gig's soul. *Ba-dump* "No... No! You can't! You can't eat me! Not after all of this!" Gig said in a very panicked voice. "Wh-Why? How can yo-ughalughalbh!" Gig fell silent as the last of his soul was absorbed into Revya's. *Ba-dump* *Ba-dump* *Ba-dump* "The power..." the Devourlord muttered insanely. "(...Heh heh heh heh heh...) Everything before this was nothing. (...Mm ha ha ha HA HA HA HA!) So I can't summon anyone anymore. Now I'm all alone. (...Heh hehaha Ha Ha Ha Ha HA HA HA Ha ha heh heh heh Ha HAHA haHA...!)" Well, he was almost all alone. In a small pocket dimension, two gods, one male and one female, looked upon the now seemingly unstoppable human. The woman turned to the male god and began to speak. "Drazil...by consuming Gig, this soul has attained the power of an Overseer." the goddess spoke to the male god. "And the path to the other world is still open. At this rate, both worlds..." She trailed off. The male god, now identified as Drazil, spoke up in his deep voice. "Indeed, Haephnes. We must make contact." As the Devourlord began to walk toward the portal to the world of Drazil, a female voice began to echo everywhere around Revya. "Devourlord...Devourlord..." the voice called gently. The Devourlord stopped and drew the Onyx Blade from it's sheath and looked around warily. "Who's there?" he called out. In a flash of light, a young woman with green clothing and green hair appeared before the human. "I am Haephnes, god of this world." the woman answered. "What do you desire?" she asked the madman. Revya sheathed his sword. "Nothing" Revya answered simply. A second figure appeared before the Devourlord, this one was male, clothed in red robes and had a head full of blue hair. "And I am Drazil, god of the other world." He frowned at Revya. "The power you've gained rivals even our own. But with such power comes a certain obligation. You have to stop this senseless destruction." "No, I don't want to" the Devourlord sneered. Haephnes took a step forward with a look of concern on her face. "Don't you understand? Our two worlds might disappear completely! And you along with them!" Revya shrugged his shoulders. "Fine by me." A guilty look crossed Drazil's face as he turned to Haephnes. "...Haephnes, I'm sorry... This is all my fault. I planted the seeds from which this disaster grew." "So what?" Revya asked folding his arms. Haephnes sadly shook her head. "No... it's my fault. My words... They couldn't reach this lost soul." "Yeah, sure." The Devourlord answered sarcastically. "Then there's nothing we can do." Drazil remarked as his frown deepened. "We have only one path left to us." Haephnes nodded grimly. "Very well... if that is our only choice. That which rules all... Ashur! Please grant us your divine grace!" "..." The Devourlord stood silent as the two gods drew in power from around them and raised their hands level to him. "Power...!" The two gods shouted in unison. A surge of lighting bolts struck from the heavens directly down upon of Revya, resulting in a massive explosion that rocked the battlefield. "We must use this power to stop the evil!" Haephnes and Drazil spoke at the same time. The dust from the attack settled and showed that not only was Revya alive, but the attack had done nothing to him at all. "Just try it." The Devourlord said leaping into the air and hovered above the two World Rulers. He pointed the Onyx Blade at the gods. "Demon Blast!" Revya roared. Dark energy gathered in the black sword and surged forward and slammed into the gods, knocking them to the ground. "How...?" The World Rulers questioned in unison, unbelieving in Revya's overwhelming power. "Even without Gig...!" "Demon Blast!" Revya shouted again. Another wave of dark energy smashed into Haephnes and Drazil. The ground below them began to fracture and split. "Ahh! The world!" the gods yelled together in painful tones. The entire world seemed to tremble and shake from the attack. "Demon Blast!" The Devourlord fired another blast. "Into nothingness...!" Haephnes and Drazil shouted in despair. Massive fissures split the earth and the ground crumbled. Revya channeled even more power into the Onyx Blade and unleashed one final attack. "Demon Blast!" Revya shouted at the top of his voice. A final blast of dark energy slammed into the World Rulers. Huge chunks of land sunk into the earth and the fissures spread across the planet's surface. "Ashur..." Haephnes and Drazil asked weakly. "Is this...is this what you wanted?" The Devourlord only gave them a wicked smirk. "It doesn't matter. It was fun." The two gods faded away in a flurry of flames, leaving nothing behind, not even their souls. Another maniacal laugh began to slip from Revya's lips. "Heh heh heh ha ha HA HAH AH HA HA ha AHA Ha ha ha eh..." However, Revya's victory laugh died out as he looked around, seeing the planet begin to shake violently. Without it's god to support it with life, the world of Haephnes was on the brink of self-destruction, and he was still on it. The ground cracked and swelled under Revya, intense heat from the fissures surged forth as the planet broke apart and exploded sending millions of tons of rock and debris into the vast coldness of space. The Devourlord could only desperately cling on to the piece of land he was standing on as it hurtled into the upper atmosphere. The human shakily stood and began to leap from chunk to chuck with no clear destination in mind. Not paying attention to where he was going, a rather good sized part of the planet sideswiped him, throwing Revya onto his back on a nearby rock. Through his dazed vision, he looked up to see a large piece of land floating directly towards him. "Ugh..." The Devourlord muttered. "And today was going so good too..." The giant rock smashed into Revya's chunk of land head on, shattering both rocks. Where a normal human would have been nothing more than a bloody red paste on the pieces, the impact merely caused Revya to lose consciousness. His body began to float away from the remains of Haephnes, and unfortunately, was headed in the direction of a certain equine populated planet we all know and love... End Prologue "Hero" Stats Devourlord Revya HP: 76,267 Lv. 2,376 ____________________________________________________________________________________________ > The Cast of Characters > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ____________________________________________________________________________________________ Soul Nomad and the Equestrians The Cast of Characters ____________________________________________________________________________________________ Devourlord Revya: The main character and villain of our story. Rejecting the path of the hero, Revya forged his own destiny and now finds himself in Equestria after causing the destruction of the worlds of Haephnes and Drazil. Revya wields the mysterious Onyx Blade and consumes the souls of those he kills to become stronger. His brutality in battle is matched only by his sadism and complete disregard to all other forms of life. Will he be the one to finally bring the magic of friendship crashing down for good? Only time will tell. Gig The Killer of Kings, Destroyer of Worlds, Most Hardcore Asskicker to Ever Walk the Planet, and probably has a dozen other titles he goes by. Known for being sarcastic, loud, and overly rude to just about anyone he meets, Gig was sealed away for two hundred years for his rampage through Haephnes and was later fused to Revya to take down the three World Eaters. The two decided against that plan and instead rained death and destruction down upon the world of Haephnes. Revya later forcibly consumed Gig's soul to increase his own power. However, recent events have resulted in the reaper's resurrection and no one is entirely sure why... The Mane Six (From left to right: Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, Twilight Sparkle, Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Rarity) The six ponies chosen to wield the Elements of Harmony. These six friends were brought together to defend the kingdom of Equestria against the forces of evil. Though they've had their ups and downs, the group has always tried to remain tight-knitted through the toughest of times. When confronted by the world destroying Devourlord Revya, will their friendship truly be enough to advert disaster and end his destructive rampage? Princess Celestia and Princess Luna: The Co-Rulers of Equestria. They guide their country with firm but gentle hooves. When Revya's arrival in Equestria threatens the peace that they've worked so long to create, they decide to send the Bearers of Harmony out to stop the Devourlord. Their intentions seem good enough, but is there more to the Princesses than meets the eye? > Chapter 1: A Tragedy in the South. Enter: Devourlord Revya! > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- *Epic Chapter Opening Music (Read title while song plays)* ____________________________________________________________________________________________ Soul Nomad and the Equestrians Chapter 1: A Tragedy in the South. Enter: Devourlord Revya! ____________________________________________________________________________________________ "Friendship multiplies the good of life and divides the evil." - Baltasar Gracian Equis, The Crystal Empire Fireworks exploded in the sky of the Crystal Empire. Crystal Ponies cheered and danced in the streets in a party that had lasted for hours. Their joy was for good reason. The evil King Sombra, tyrant of the Crystal Empire from over 1,000 years ago, had been destroyed by the purity of the Crystal Heart. Thanks to six brave mares and one baby dragon, the Heart was returned to it's rightful place in the courtyard beneath the castle. The Crystal Empire, Castle Banquette Room In the Crystal Castle, the banquette room was abuzz with activity. Crystal Ponies chatted quietly and laughed. Tables were lined with all sorts of foods, from fruits and vegetables to sweets and sugary drinks. At the table near the middle of the room sat Twilight Sparkle, Applejack, Rarity, Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, Spike, Princess Cadence and the now Prince Shining Armor. Spike had been gorging himself on bowl after bowl of gems. The Crystal Ponies had said it was the least they could do to reward him for helping return the Crystal Heart and Spike wasn't about to say no to free gems. Princess Cadence looked around at the ponies gathered at the table and smiled warmly. "I want to thank you all from the bottom of my heart for helping to restore the Empire to it's former glory." she said happily. "Aw... shucks, it was nutin' Princess." Applejack said bashfully. "Really though..." Rarity spoke up. "It was all thanks to Twilight and Spikey Wikey here for helping stop that brute King Sombra." She patted Spike on the head who in turn blushed through a mouthful of gems. "Yeah!" Rainbow Dash exclaimed. "Spike and Twilight totally...!" She trailed off as she looked at Twilight. The lavender unicorn was fidgety and looked troubled. In spite of the joyous occasion, her mind was on other things. All of her friends could guess what was going on with her: the test Princess Celestia had given her. Twilight was suppose to be the one deliver the Crystal Heart back to it's pedestal, but even after finding the secret entrance to the tower in the throne room through use dark magic, defeating her worse fear of being removed as Celestia's student, and climbing up a seemingly endless flight of stairs, in the end she was trapped by King Sombra's dark crystals and was forced to pass the Heart to Spike. "Hey! Equis to Twilight!" Rainbow called to Twilight. "Huh...?! What...?!" Twilight looked up at her friends. "Oh...sorry girls..." "Are you still going on about Princess Celestia's test?" Rainbow asked. Twilight looked away. "I can't help it...I didn't deliver the Crystal Heart back..." "Twiley..." Shining Armor began. "You did absolutely everything you could have possibly done, and probably more. I'm sure the Princess will understand. Besides, does it really matter who brought the Heart back? The important thing is the Empire was saved." Twilight smiled slightly taking comfort in her older brother's words. "Yeah, I guess your right..." "Twitcha Twitch!" Pinkie suddenly exclaimed. Her entire body began to shake and tremble, so much she fell out of her chair and bounced across the ground. "Um...What's happening with Pinkie Pie?" Cadence asked hesitantly. "Oh that?" Twilight responded. "That's her 'Pinkie Sense'" "Pinkie Sense?" Shining asked. "Yeah... I tried to explain it once, but I had to give up because there's was just no understanding it perfectly." Twilight said while inwardly cringing. That had been a really bad day for her. She had tried science, magic, and machines to try and explain the mysterious "Pinkie Sense" and the only thing she got in return was a number of heavy objects dropped on her head, and a really close encounter with a hydra. She continued. "It pretty much means whenever her tail, or body in this matter, begins to twitch, it's means something is going to fall or drop out of the sky. But, I've never seen it this bad before." "Yeah!" Pinkie shouted suddenly standing up. "This one's a real doozy!" "How doozy...?" Fluttershy asked, almost afraid of the answer. "This one's a super mega colossal massive uber gigantic incredibly HUGE doozy!" Pinkie shouted quickly before beginning to twitch again. "A super colossal massiv- what?" Shining asked befuddled. "Don't question it darling, none of us do." Rarity said to the confused Prince. "Well, where's it gonna happen?" Rainbow asked. Pinkie twitched her away across the floor over to the balcony overlooking the Crystal Empire. She grabbed the balcony to steady herself and stood up. "It's headed towards Equestria!" She called. "In fact, it's right there!" She called again while pointing a hoof towards the sky. Twilight's ear perked up. "Wait... WHAT?!" She jumped out of her seat knocking it over and galloped over to the balcony, followed by the other four Elements of Harmony along with Cadence and Shining Armor. Pinkie's statement was true. High above the skies of Equestria was what apparently was a small blood red meteor burning across the sky. It was beginning to slowly descend towards the Elements of Harmony's homeland. Staring at the "meteor", Twilight felt a horrible chill ripple down her spine. "What was that?" She thought to herself. "Why did I shiver at that?" "What tha' hay is that thang?" Applejack muttered looking at the strange meteor. "I-It looks's s-scary...I don't l-like it..." Fluttershy whimpered quietly. "So what?" Rainbow asked casually. "It's just a meteor." "Just a meteor?" Twilight asked breaking out of her stare and slowly turning to Rainbow. "JUST A METEOR?!" She questioned loudly. "How can you not be worried about a METEOR?!" She yelled at Rainbow. "Hey!" Rainbow said holding up her front hooves in defense. "Chill out egghead. I mean really, look at it, its just a small meteor." Twilight took a deep breath and calmed down. "It doesn't matter how small it is, a meteor hitting the planet will still do damage, and that's generally a bad thing." She said lecturing Rainbow. "Really, Rainbow Dash." Rarity said in a scolding tone. "You should be at least a little concerned for the safety of Equestria." The ponies looked back and saw the "meteor" was disappearing from the their fields of vision and had sunk below the mountains. A moment of silence followed the meteor's disappearance from view. "See? Nothing happen-" Rainbow began to say to her friends before a soft explosion was heard in the distance followed seconds later by small shockwave vibrated the castle. The castle's windows and the glasses on the tables shook slightly. After a moment, Pinkie stopped twitching and stood up. "Doozy's over!" she said happily. Pinkie, AJ, Rainbow, Rarity, Fluttershy, Spike and the royal couple returned inside, leaving Twilight standing alone on the balcony. She continued to look on towards Equestria with worry evident in her eyes. Ten minutes earlier, Revya's location The Devourlord still floated unconscious through the vastness of space. It was impossible to tell how long he had been drifting since the destruction of Haephnes. Despite his unconscious state, he continued to tightly grip the Onyx Blade in his right hand. His body was covered in numerous cuts and bruises, most likely from the occasional collisions with small space rocks. Revya continued on his journey until the planet of Equis came into view. It's gravity began to lightly pull the Devourlord into the planet's atmosphere. At the same time, the madman was finally beginning to come to his senses. As Revya began to plummet through the upper atmosphere, his body began to catch fire due to re-entry, but thanks to the power granted through all the souls he had consumed on Haephnes during his planet wide rampage, his body was unharmed. "Ugh..." Revya groaned as he plummeted towards the planet. "...What the...?" He looked around to see himself on fire but somehow not burning, and also hurtling towards what looked like a desert and a probably not soft impact with the ground. "Oh...today's just getting better and better, isn't it..." He muttered sarcastically to himself seconds before impact. The Devourlord slammed into the sandy ground, kicking up a massive cloud of dust and sand dozens of feet in the air. Compared to being crushed by a massive rock, this was something Revya could manage to stay conscious through. Revya staggered to his feet and clutched his head while looking around at the impressive crater his impact made. "Okay...where the hell am I?" the Devourlord asked out loud. He paused for a moment expecting a snarky comment from Gig to echo through his head but then remembered the Master of Death was gone from his mind. In a single leap, he jumped out of the crater and landed on the sand. Revya could see nothing but desert in the distance. "I'm hungry..." Revya muttered as he closed his eyes and reached out with his power. It took only a few seconds and then he could sense it: about dozen or two souls in the north, a fine meal for him. Revya had no need for real food, souls were his only needed nourishment. He clutched his stomach as his hunger had become madding, he hadn't eaten for so long, or at least he thought he hadn't. The Devourlord began to advance in the direction he felt the souls. "...Heh heh heh heh heh..." Revya chuckled darkly. "More souls, more power..." And Celestia help whoever would come across him... Four hours later, present time, The Friendship Express The Friendship Express had left the Crystal Empire a few hours earlier and was en route to Canterlot, capital of Equestria. The train clicked and clacked across the tracks as it steadily approached its destination. In the fourth train car were the Mane Six and Spike. Fluttershy and Rarity sat quietly discussing about planning more trips to the Ponyville Spa. Pinkie Pie was sitting with a notebook in hoove, no doubt scribbling down new party ideas. Applejack and Rainbow Dash were hoof wrestling to pass the time. Spike laid napping on top of two bags full of gems. He had stuffed himself to the brim with gems at the banquette and had to be carried back to the train. The Crystal Ponies gave them the two bags of gems to go. As for Twilight, she sat staring out the window while resting her head on her front hoove under her chin. She kept thinking back to the meteor that they had seen a few hours ago. "What was that thing?" she thought intensely. "It couldn't have been a normal meteor, I've seen meteors before. And also, I've never got a chill looking at them." Twilight smiled slightly and recalled when she lived in Canterlot Castle while studying under Celestia. The two of them would sometimes stay up into the late into the early morning hours to watch the occasional meteor shower that would sometimes pass over the skies of Equestria. They were always beautiful but none of them were ever red. A woozy groan nearby broke Twilight from her train of thought. She looked towards Spike, who had finally woken up. "Ugh...too...many...gems..." Spike groaned as he slowly rolled off the bags and fell on his face. Twilight couldn't help but giggle at Spike's situation. His antics never failed to cheer her up. Spike sat up looking at Twilight. "Oh...hey Twilight." he muttered as he stood up. Twilight's smile faded away as she returned to her window staring. Spike folded his arms. "Really? Are you still bugging out over the test?" *Thud* The two of them turned and looked in the seat behind them to see Rainbow Dash having pinned Applejack. "Aw yeah! Rainbow Dash 1, Applejack 0!" Rainbow cheered. "No way! Ah want a rematch!" Applejack replied angrily. "You're on AJ!" Spike and Twilight turn back to continue their conversation. "It's not just that anymore Spike." She spoke still looking out the window then turning back to Spike. "It's that meteor as well." "I thought we decided it was just a meteor." Spike said. Spike knew Twilight had a tendency to blow things way out of proportion, but deep down, he too was uncertain about just brushing off the meteor. "But what if it isn't?" Twilight replied. Spike sighed, walked over and climbed up into the seat next to Twilight. "I felt something Spike." "Felt what?" her assistant asked. "I'm not sure..." Twilight said hesitantly. "As I looked at the meteor, I had this feeling of...dread." "Are you sure it wasn't something you ate?" Spike asked questioningly. Twilight rolled her eyes. "Yes, Spike, I'm pretty sure it wasn't something I ate. ...It was a genuine feeling of dread and...terror..." she added in slowly. "Well I think-" Spike was cut off by a bell and a mare's voice coming over the intercom. "Attention all passengers. We have be arrived at Canterlot Station. Please collect all of your belongings and begin departure from the train. And thank you for choosing The Friendship Express." "We can continue this discussion later Spike." Twilight said getting up and putting her saddlebag on. She sighed deeply and began to walk towards the exit. "Right now, I have to see Princess Celestia..." Twilight's friends watched her exit the train and quickly followed suit. However, the sight waiting for them outside the train was quite unexpected. Equestria, Canterlot The seven of them could only stand in shock as dozens of Royal Guards rushed around. There were no stuck-up nobles or anypony else besides Guards for the both the Day and Night shifts galloping around. Pegasi Guards rapidly flew from tower to tower and there were fully armed and armored guards at every street corner and battlement as far as any of the Mane Six or Spike could see. If they didn't know better, they would have thought Canterlot was preparing for another invasion. "What the hay is going on?!" Rainbow exclaimed to nopony in particular. A guard approached the stunned group of ponies and one dragon. "Miss Twilight!" he said stopping in front of Twilight. "Their Highnesses has been awaiting you and your friends' arrival. I am to provide you with escort to the Throne Room." "Thank you." Twilight replied to the guard. "But do you know what all of..." she gestured around her. "...this is?" she questioned. "To be honest..." the guard said sheepishly rubbing the back of his head. "....I'm not really sure. Princess Celestia only said to put Canterlot into a state of emergency for the time being." He turned away and began to leave. "But I'm sure the Princesses will be able to answer any questions you may have. Please follow me." The group exchanged worried glances and galloped after the guard. Canterlot Castle, Throne Room The Princesses stood in the middle of the room looking over a scroll that had been delivered to them by the Royal Guards only a short time ago. Deeply troubled looks were plastered to their faces as they desperately read and re-read the scroll over and over in the hopes that the information they had were looking at was all just a horrible mistake. After the fifth or sixth reading, Celestia closed the scroll and sighed in defeat, knowing the information wouldn't change no matter how many times she read it. "This is very disturbing news..." she told her younger sister. "I know sister..." Luna said solemnly. "...What should we tell them?" "We should tell them the truth." Celestia answered. "Lying will only make things worse and if we did, they would eventually find out through somepony else." At that moment, the double doors to the throne room opened and the Mane Six entered, followed by Spike who was obviously putting a great deal of effort into dragging the twin bags of gems behind him. The guard that escorted them closed the doors behind them. "Princess Celestia!" Twilight called as the seven of them ran up. "What's happening? Why are there so many guards? Wh-" She was cut off by Celestia raising a hoof at her and immediately fell quiet. The Princesses exchanged glances and turned back to the group. "There has been an...incident in Equestria." Luna said in a hesitant tone. "An incident...?" Rarity asked. Princess Celestia nodded slowly in confirmation. "I take no pleasure in saying this...but..." She looked directly at Applejack who in turn looked back with evident worry in her eyes. "Appleloosa...has been completely destroyed." > Chapter 2: Seeing the Past: The Destruction of Appleloosa! > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- *More Epic Chapter Opening Music (Read title while song plays)* ____________________________________________________________________________________________ Soul Nomad and the Equestrians Chapter 2: Seeing the Past: The Destruction of Appleloosa! ____________________________________________________________________________________________ "Where there is mystery, it is generally suspected there must also be evil". - Lord Byron Canterlot Castle, Throne Room The throne room was silent for several moments after Celestia's announcement. The ponies were stunned into silence from hearing the grim news. "...Appleloosa...d-destroyed...?" Applejack asked as her eyes watered up. "...Ya mean..." Celestia's face fell at seeing Applejack tear up. "I'm so sorry Applejack..." she said quietly. AJ felt all the strength just leave her body and collapsed on the ground and began to sob uncontrollably. Her six friends looked on with sympathy at the cowpony. AJ was one of the toughest ponies they knew and to see her completely break down like this was shocking to say the least. Fluttershy trotted over and embraced Applejack. "Shh... It's alright Applejack, it's going to be all right." She spoke softly, comforting AJ. Twilight looked back at Celestia. "What caused this Princess?" Twilight asked. Princess Celestia sighed and looked at Twilight. "To be honest..." the Princess said reluctantly. "Neither Luna nor myself are sure Twilight." "Maybe is was something to do with the meteor." Spike suggested. The Princesses looked over at Spike in surprise. "Wait." said Luna cutting in. "Thou saw the meteor as well?" "We all saw it all the way from the Crystal Empire, Princess." Rarity added in. "Twilight said she was thinking about it the entire ride back from the Crystal Empire." Spike told the Princesses. "More like, I couldn't stop thinking about it." Twilight spoke up. "Why was that Twilight?" Luna asked. "I told Spike that when I looked at the meteor... I had this deep feeling of dread and terror..." Twilight said hesitantly. "That's the same feelings the two of us had Twilight." Celestia said to Twilight. "I've never felt such a deep sense fear like that before in my entire life..." Meanwhile, Applejack was finally beginning to get herself under control. She wiped her eyes, stood up and took several deep breaths. "Feeling better?" Fluttershy asked softly. "Not really..." Applejack muttered sadly. "...But ah'm gettin' there..." The two of them walked over and joined the group while they were discussing the situation. "Shortly after the meteor landed," Celestia began. "There was a number of explosions in and around the town." "Plus, we also sensed a incredibly powerful surge of dark energy." Luna added in. "Not even King Sombra's aura was this dark..." Celestia continued. "We sent out a large group of Royal Guards to survey the damage and search for survivors." "Did they find any survivors?" Twilight asked hopefully. "Only one." Luna spoke grimly. "He was trapped under the wreckage of a saloon. Two guards brought him back to Canterlot, and he was sent to the Royal Infirmary for treatment." Applejack finally spoke up. "Maybe he saw what caused this." The Royal Sisters exchanged looks again and nodded. "I suppose we could ask him." Celestia said. "Provided that he's regained consciousness." The nine of them exited the throne room and headed towards the Infirmary and hopefully, answers. Canterlot Castle, Royal Infirmary The Royal Infirmary was one of the earlier additions to Canterlot Castle. It was heavily damaged during the Changeling Invasion and had to be repaired over the course of several weeks. The Infirmary was mainly used for guards who were injured in training, or suffered injuries out in the field. At the current time, the only occupant of the ward was the lone survivor of Appleloosa. The Mane Six, Spike and the Princesses entered the Infirmary and saw one of the doctors standing facing away from them. He was a pale orange unicorn with green mane wearing a white lab coat which slightly covered his Cutie Mark, which was a roll of gauze. He was holding a clipboard up with his magic and apparently was deeply engrossed in the information on it. "Hello, Doctor Gauze." Celestia said. Gauze Tape jumped at hearing Celestia call him and nearly dropped his clipboard. The doctor hastily turned around to face the group. "Oh, Princess, you startled me..." he said sighing. "How is he doing Doctor? Has he regained consciousness?" Celestia asked politely. "Oh, you mean Dusty Spur?" Gauze asked as he looked to the clipboard. "Well...he's definitely seen better days." He flipped the paper up looking at the next one underneath the first paper. "We managed to patch him up to the best of our abilities, and yes, he is awake." He suddenly frowned. "However, I kind of wish he wasn't." The group was rather surprised at hearing the doctor say that last comment. "What does thou mean when thou says 'you wish he wasn't'?" Luna asked. Gauze Tape sighed and looked up from his clipboard at the group. "He's awake but..." he paused. "Whatever happened at Appleloosa has apparently had an incredibly severe negative impact on his current psychological state." "What did he say?" Rainbow asked her friends. Twilight barely fought off the desire to roll her eyes at Rainbow's ignorance. "It means something really bad happened to his mind." Twilight said to Rainbow Dash. "Oh..." Rainbow said quietly. "I knew that." Celestia looked troubled at hearing this. "How bad is it Doctor?" she asked obviously worried over the mental health of her subject. "Well Princess..." Gauze began scratching the back of his head. "Let's just say Dusty's acting like he just saw something that crawled out of the deepest, darkest depths of Tartarus and leave it at that." "That bad?" Twilight asked skeptical of the doctor's words. "Yes, it's that bad." Gauze Tape replied returning to his clipboard. "Bad er not, we need ta talk ta 'im." Applejack said. Gauze looked up from the clipboard with a look of shock. "Wait, you want to talk to him? Now?" he asked disbelievingly. "You wouldn't be able to get one comprehendible sentence out of him." "We believe that he may have some answers regarding what happened to Appleloosa." Celestia said. "It would be of great help if you could allow this." Gauze looked around at the group and sighed. "I...suppose something could be arranged..." Gauze Tape said hesitantly. He turned to head down the corridor. "Follow me, I'll take you to his room." The group followed the doctor a ways down the corridor, stepping under scaffoldings and around piles of lumber before stopping in front of a door with a window made a glazed glass. "Well, here we are." Gauze Tape announced. He turned to the group. "I'm going to head in first to make sure he's alright. Just a moment please." He levitated a key from his pocket, opened the door and disappeared inside. Several tense silent seconds followed before Gauze poked his head out. "You can come in now, but don't make too much noise... or sudden movements." The group entered the room slowly and gazed over it. The room was rather large, with a pale blue curtain dividing the room, hiding a bed where the survivor laid. Inactive medical machines sat in the corner and there was a window with an amazing view of a majority of the city. In the bed near the window was the lone survivor of Appleloosa, Dusty Spur. He was a pale brown male earth pony with a messy black mane. He was wearing a crinkled blue hospital gown. Fresh bandages covered parts of his face, legs and probably his body as well under his gown. The thing everypony noticed was that his irises were shrunk to the size of pinpricks and they darted all over the room. He was rocking back and forth while hugging his hind legs to chest and muttering quietly and rapidly to himself. Twilight cleared her throat and took a small step forward. "Um...Mr. Spur?" she asked. "My name is Twilight Sparkle and we-" A quiet whimper from Dusty cut off Twilight as he looked around. "M-make...make it stop..." he muttered quietly. Twilight retreated back to her friends. "Make...what stop?" she asked in a confused tone. "The...the..." Dusty stuttered. "The...laughter...make it stop...!" He clutched his head as he tightly squeezed his eyes shut. The group look on in shock as Dusty shuddered and whimpered. They looked to Gauze Tape for answers. "Laughter?" Twilight asked. "Nopony's laughing." "I told you." Gauze said almost matter of factly. "He's completely lost it. You're not going to get anything out of him." "Isn't there any medicine or something of that kind that can calm him down?" Rarity asked. "Well, I can use anesthesia, but it would kind of defeat the purpose of you being here." Gauze Tape answered. "Well..." Applejack began. "What he doesn't need ta answer us?" "What are you getting at Applejack?" Twilight asked curiously. "Ya remember that memory spell ya used on us when Discord changed our personalities?" Applejack asked. "Oh yeah! That spell!" Twilight said remembering the incident with Discord. He had used his powerful chaos magic to change her friends into the opposite of their Element of Harmony so they wouldn't be able to stop him. She had almost given up herself if it weren't for her Friendship Reports sent back to her by Princess Celestia. She had to chase everypony down and use the spell on them to remind them of the good times they had shared and reunite the group. "But would it have the same effect as it did on us Twilight?" Rarity asked. "Well, I think I can modify the spell so we can see his memories, and by extension, also see what happened to Appleloosa." Twilight replied. She turned to Gauze Tape. "If I could be allowed doctor." she added in. "If it will help out with the investigation," Gauze said. "I suppose I can allow you to use this spell on Dusty Spur." "You might as well use that anesthesia on him doctor." Celestia stated. "No point of having him hurt himself or others while Twilight performs the spell." "Of course, Princess." Gauze replied pulling a needle labeled "Anesthesia" out of a nearby drawer. He slowly approached Dusty with the needle hidden behind him. "Now, Dusty, just stay still." Dusty was too busy still quietly ranting about the apparent laughter in his head to notice Gauze stick the needle into his foreleg. Dusty Spur collapsed into unconsciousness once again in a matter of seconds. Gauze disposed of the used needle and turned to Twilight. "Alright Miss Twilight, time to perform that spell of yours." Twilight nodded and ignited her horn. "Alright, here we go." She fired a small pink beam of magic that struck Dusty in the forehead. For a moment, nothing happened. Then a white mist began to seep from Dusty ears and began to form a large cloud in front of them. Images began to appear within the mist... Appleloosa, three and a half hours earlier The group saw that the image that appeared was that of Appleloosa from Dusty's point of view. He was sitting at a bar drinking cider and having a conversation with another pony. "Ah'll tell ya Dusty," the other pony said taking a sip of his cider. "Makin' peace with the buffalo was one of the best things ta ever happen ta Appleloosa." "Eeyup." Dusty replied taking a sip of his cider. "All thanks ta them six ponies from Ponyville." "Hey!" Pinkie exclaimed happily hopping up and down. "They're talking about us!" "Even to this day, they were still talking about your accomplishment there." Celestia stated with a smile. In the distance they all heard a voice in the distance calling out to somepony. "Well howdy!" the voice said. "Who was that?" Dusty asked uncaringly. "Eh, probably just Braeburn welcomin' some tourists er somethin' like that." Dusty's bar mate replied, casually taking another sip. The group heard Braeburn talking again. "Welcome ta AaAaA..." He trailed off. "H-Hey, what are ya'll doing with that?" Braeburn asked in the distance. "What the-?!" Before anypony could ask what was happening, a massive explosion erupted in Appleloosa. Dusty and the other patrons in the bar were thrown to the floor as the windows shattered from the force of the explosion. As Dusty slammed into the floor, the image blurred slightly before clearing up. ""Sweet Celestia!" the bartender exclaimed. "What the hay was that?!" "Ah don't know..." Dusty could be heard saying. "But ah'm gonna find out." He stood up and began staggering towards the door. More explosions rang out through the town, partially drowning out the screams of terror and confusion. The sight Dusty and the ponies watching saw then was best described as just pure chaos. Many of the buildings were on fire and some of them collapsed already, with a majority of the townsfolk running around in a panicked craze. Other more slightly calm ponies were carrying small water buckets in seemingly futile attempt to douse the inferno that was once their home. Another explosion happened nearby and an unfortunate pony was tossed through the air, slamming into the ground and tumbling to bloody crumpled heap in front of Dusty. Rarity couldn't handle the scene and ran to the trash can in the room and emptied her stomach at the grizzly site of death. The Mane Six and the Princesses could only look on in sheer horror as the gruesome scene continued to unfold. Dusty turned to head down the street and saw a group of four stallions point in a direction down the street. "There it is!" one of them yelled. "Ah see it!" another one shouted in response. "What are we waitin fer? Let's get it!" a third one shouted. The group unleashed a battle cry and charged down the street at whatever was apparently was causing this disaster and disappeared from sight. Dusty galloped towards where he saw the group head off to, and as he approached he heard the sounds of fighting, another explosion, and screams of pain from the stallions. Dusty turned the corner only to be stopped dead in his tracks. A pile of flaming debris spanned across the entirety of the road and it didn't look like there was anyway around it. Through the flames he could see barely make out something, something that filled him with dread. It looked like a bipedal creature of some sort and it was holding one of the stallions by his throat in front of it. It raised it's other arm and revealed that it was holding what looked like a broadsword before stabbing the blade through the stallion's stomach. The Mane Six gasped and gagged in horror at the show of brutality while Celestia and Luna looked on with shock. The stallion was casually tossed away by the figure who looked around for more ponies. Seeing none the figure leaped high into the air and grasped it sword with both it's appendages and pointed the blade towards the town. Dark energy began to gather in the sword. "Oh, that doesn't look good..." Dusty muttered fearfully before turning and galloping back the way he came. He didn't go more than a dozen steps before the figure unleashed the power built up in the sword in the form of a wave of dark power that slammed into what was left of Appleloosa. Dusty was tossed by the wave through the air and crashed through the roof of the saloon before coming to a stop on his back facing the ceiling. Loud cracking sounds echoed through the bar as the ceiling began to give way. "...No, no, no, no, no, no...!" he muttered quickly and fearfully while holding out his hooves in a vain attempt to catch the ceiling as it finally collapsed on top of him. Buried under the rubble, neither Dusty nor the ponies watching could see anything. They heard several more explosions rang out throughout the town followed by screams of pain and terror and then finally, silence. A horrible, bone-chilling silence. After the silence, they heard something. It started quiet and then it started to grow in volume. It was laughter. An insane, deranged laugh that sounded like someone who belonged locked away in the padded room of a mental asylum. "...heh heh heh heh heh... heh heh ha ha ha Ha ha ah Ha ha he HA HA HA HA Ha he HA heh Ha HA...!" And it kept going for several seconds before dying out. Then once again, silence. Dusty was terrified and exhausted from the ordeal. The group could see his eyes begin to flutter in a desperate attempt to stay conscious, but in the end he fell into unconsciousness. Several more moments past before something else began to happen. Even in his unconscious state Dusty hear could something else. It was several voices shouting out. "Check over there!" one of the voices yelled out. "Nopony over here!" called back another one. Dusty's eyes shot open. Whoever they were, they were his only chance at survival. "H-Help...!" he called out weakly. "Help...!" "Did you hear that?" one voice asked. "Yeah it came over there by that wreckage." The sound of a hooves coming towards him filled his ears. Several knocks were heard on top of the wreckage. "Anypony there?" a voice asked. Dusty's heart soared at hearing the voice of a potential savior. "Y-yes...!" he called out as loud as he could. "Help...!" The voice could be heard calling out to the others. "Hey!" it called. "We got a live one under this structure!" The sound of several sets of hooves came towards the wreckage. "We got to get this thing off of him!" the first voice called out. "Everypony grab a part of it and get ready!" The voice coordinated the others to other parts of the structure. From what everypony could see from Dusty's point of view, several sets of white hooves grasped under the roof. "Ready?" the voice called out. "1, 2, 3, LIFT!" Several grunts and groans of exertion were heard as the structure was gradually lifted off of Dusty and he was removed from under the roof. From his view on the ground, he was looking up into the faces of at least ten Royal Guards. The guard had a variety of emotions on their faces ranging from shock to pity. "Alright..." one of the guards, apparently the leader of the group, spoke up. He pointed at several different guards in succession. "You two, take him to the chariot and return to Canterlot. The rest of you are with me for recon." he ordered. The leader turned to another guard. Dusty was beginning to lose consciousness once more. He was able to make out one last comment. "Take a letter. We've got a lot to tell the Princesses..." he said grimly. Back in the hospital room, the white mist faded away as the ponies continued to look on in absolute horror. "W-What did... we just s-see...?" Fluttershy whimpered. "...I-I don't know Fluttershy..." Twilight stuttered out fearfully. "What was that creature?" Rainbow asked. "That weird thing with the sword?" Applejack growled, clearly angered at the lack of details. "That didn't tell us nutin'!" Applejack said angrily. "All we know 'bout it is that it walks on two legs 'nd it's got a sword." "Patience, Applejack..." Celestia began, her face plastered with a mixture of understanding, and righteous anger. "Whatever that creature is, it's the one who caused this catastrophe, and it will be brought to justice. Nothing gets away with harming my subjects." The girls had never seen Celestia this angry before, except for their first encounter with Discord in Canterlot Tower. Luna spoke up as well. "We should send a note out to the guards, so they know what to look for." "Good idea Luna." Celestia replied and grabbed a blank piece of paper from an open drawer. She levitated a quill and began to write. To: The 114th Battalion We have partially discovered the identity of the destroyer of Appleloosa. Be on the look out for a bipedal creature wielding a sword. From what we were able to deduce, the creature is extremely dangerous and seems to able to wield a strange form of dark magic. Aside from the general details, we have no further information to provide about it. If it is encountered, attempt to subdue it. We want it alive for questioning, if reasonable possible. If that fails, you cleared to use lethal force as a last resort. From, Princess Celestia The Princess, satisfied with the note, rolled it up, placed her royal seal on it and engulfed the scroll in blue flames, sending it to the guards. Celestia looked out the window towards the desert and sighed. "I just hope that scroll reaches them before that creature does..." she said to the group. The Mane Six remained silent, but as for Twilight, there was only one thought on her mind: "What are we dealing with here...?" > Chapter 3: The Battle in the Desert: The Devourlord Shows His Power! > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- (Content Warning: Contains blood and violence. Viewer discretion advised.) *Epic Chapter Opening Music (Read title while song plays)* ____________________________________________________________________________________________ Soul Nomad and the Equestrians Chapter 3: The Battle in the Desert: The Devourlord Shows His Power! ____________________________________________________________________________________________ "Violence isn't always evil. What's evil is the infatuation with violence." - Jim Morrison Equestria, Two miles north of what was once Appleloosa Devourlord Revya: Level increased from Lvl. 2,367 to Lvl. 2,402 Thick plumes of black smoke continued to rise from the destroyed remains of Appleloosa. Along the dusty path away from the town walked a lone figure, the town's destroyer, Devourlord Revya. The souls from the victims of his attack provided the much wanted nourishment to temporary quell his endless hunger. However, he knew it would return, as it always had since he began down his path of darkness. Revya couldn't help but think back to the days on Haephnes, the destruction he wreaked, the lives he slaughtered without a second thought, and of course all those who tried to stop him. He could still hear their annoying voices yelling at him. "Demon spawn!" "If you focus on your petty desire for bloodshed, you'll lose sight of what's really important." "Why can't you stop doing all these horrible things?" "How's it feel being the most hated person alive?" "Pretty damn good." Revya responded out loud, echoing the same response he gave to that particular voice the first time. "You and me, together forever, till the end of time!" "Well, then I'll just have to snap your neck!" "Did you hate us? Hate us enough, to want to kill us? Kill me...?" "You have to stop this senseless destruction." "Our world might disappear completely! And you along with it!" That last one really bothered him. Haephnes had said that he would disappear along with the world if he destroyed it, but he went ahead and did it anyways and was perfectly fine. Why? Why was he still here? But then again, it was all in the past. Revya broke away from his thoughts long enough to let out a sigh. Now he was in an entirely different situation. He was in a world full of nothing but colorful ponies; a real big step down from what he was used to dealing with. Speaking of ponies, he kept sensing the same good sized group of ponies tailing him for the past couple minutes. They actually thought they were hidden from him. "How long do those morons plan on following me?" he muttered peeking over his shoulder with an annoyed look. On the sand dunes a little ways from the Devourlord's position was the 114th Battalion, an elite branch of the Equestrian Royal Guard that specialized in stealth, who was used mainly for stopping very delicate situations that Celestia really didn't want the public knowing about. And due to the mob mentality most of the ponies had, she definitely didn't want her subjects to know there was an omnicidal maniac running around that was probably going to destroy them eventually. The problem was that Revya had already sensed them from a mile away. "Oh crud...." one of the guards looking through a pair of binoculars at Revya muttered. "What is it?" another guard asked. "I think he sees us..." the guard said in a loud worried whisper. "Is he even the right creature?" another guard asked looking over Celestia's note that had just arrived a few minutes earlier. The guard with the binoculars looked back at the Devourlord and focused on him. "Let's see, a bipedal creature with a sword. Yeah, I'm pretty sure that's it." he responded back. "How many bipedal creatures with swords do you know of?" "Well... I would have to say none." the guard with the note responded. "Exactly." "Hey!" a voice called out to them. "Huh?!" the guards said, surprised at hearing the voice. "I know you're over there, so you might as well come out." the voice called. "Oh, crud!" the guard with the note responded. "He knows we're here!" "So much for the element of surprise..." another guard muttered. "Listen..." the first guard said to the group. "We outnumber him 28 to 1. I think we can take him." "I hope so..." a guard said to his companions. The group of 28 guards came out from behind the dune and begin to advance upon the Devourlord. However, one of the guards turned to one of the newer members of the group, a rookie Pegasus guard named Bronze Mace. "Stay here in case things take a turn for the worse." he ordered. "We need somepony to return to Canterlot to send for reinforcements if the situation gets out of hoof." Bronze Mace shakily saluted his superior. "Yes, sir." He returned behind the dune and just barely peeked above to watch the action that was sure to follow. The group of now 27 guards stopped a few yards from the Devourlord. Some of them seemed rather nervous. There was an air of death and despair around this creature. Revya, himself, remained calm and straight faced, even almost bored. The guards' battalion leader, Lance Greaves, stepped forward toward the Devourlord. "Greetings creature." he called out to Revya. "Why are you guys following me?" Revya asked gruffly. Lance blinked in surprise then regained his professional look. "Straight to the point I see. Very well." he cleared his throat. "We are on the lookout for a bipedal creature with a sword, and you seem to match that description." "So I do." Revya said calmly. "And may I ask why you're looking for a creature like that?" "It's believed that a creature by that description destroyed the town of Appleloosa." Lance replied. "Oh, that stupid little town?" Revya asked casually. "Yeah, it was a pretty boring place. Probably better off like that." The guards all tensed up at hearing Revya's comment and a few began sweating. "So..." Lance began. "You're the one who destroyed Appleloosa I presume?" "So what if I did?" Revya asked back, casually folding his arms across his chest. A few guards drew their spears at hearing that next comment. Some backed away slightly. "I'll take that as a confession." Lance said as he cleared his throat again. "In that case, you are under arrest by order of the Princesses of Equestria for mass murder." Revya cocked an eyebrow at the guards. They really thought they were going to take him in? Even if they outnumbered him, he was stronger than all of them put together. And who were these "Princesses"? He silently hoped they weren't like that crybaby child Queen Diness from the kingdom he took over a while back. The Devourlord drew the Onyx Blade from its sheathe and took his fighting stance as a twisted, maniacal grin grew on his face. The sword ignited with pitch black flames. "You guys have no idea who you're picking a fight with..." he said darkly. "I'm going enjoy snuffing you all out." The rest of the guards drew their spears and a few of them seemed to be a bit unnerved by Revya's sudden change in demeanor. He had gone from calm to bloodthirsty in the matter of a few seconds. Lance Greaves was still unfazed and spoke up again. "Resisting arrest and threatening the Royal Guard?" he questioned. "Well, the Princess's note said we are allowed to use lethal force if you didn't cooperate. So be it." he finished as he drew his spear. ____________________________________________________________________________________________ Victory: All enemies defeated Defeat: Hero defeated - Commence Battle - ____________________________________________________________________________________________ Royal Guards: Lvl. 120 Lance Greaves: Lvl. 150 Devourlord Revya: Lvl. 2,402 The guards began to charge towards the Devourlord with clear intent of destroying this creature who threatened their country. However, Revya seemed to vanish and reappeared behind the group, holding the blood stained Onyx Blade. In the group, an explosion of blood erupted as one of the guards toppled to the ground, minus his head. The guards, originally sickened by this brutality, quickly got focused and broke away from each other and formed a much looser group and surrounded Revya, trying to stay just out of his reach. One of the guards charged forward and thrust his spear towards Revya. The human swung the sword blocking the spear and dashed forward with his own thrust which hit its mark of the guard's chest. Blood burst forth and the guard slowly slumped to the ground, dead. Another guard threw his spear at the back of the Devourlord's head. Without even looking, Revya quickly brought the sword over his head and blocked the spear with the sword's blade. While Revya was blocking, a guard leapt forward determined to drive his spear through the human's twisted heart only to have a hand shoot out and grabbed him by the throat. Seeing this, a Pegasus guard flew into the air and dive-bombed with his spear at Revya to free his comrade. However, the Devourlord swung the guard in his grip towards the dive-bombing Pegasus guard and watched with sadistic glee as the Pegasus guard looked in horror as he impaled his own ally, killing him. Revya swung the body again, knocking the shocked Pegasus guard away as he let a maniacal chuckle loose. "...Heh heh heh heh heh..." The guards looked upon this creature with looks of shock and anger. How could he be taking pleasure in causing pain like this? The guards yelled in anger and four of them charged towards the Devourlord, hate burning in their eyes. Revya threw the dead body at one of the guards, knocking him to the ground, then focused on the other three. A guard swung his spear at Revya like a baseball bat, only for Revya to catch it and snap it like a twig before following up with a upward stab through the guards jaw, instantly killing him and showering the group with blood, bits of bone and brain. The several other guards stopped at seeing this and fell to the sandy ground, vomiting at the brutality. The Devourlord took advantage of this moment of weakness to decapitate the other two guards that had charged at him. The others regained their stomachs and one after another charged at Revya, all looking to kill this maniacal creature before he hurt anypony else. Revya blocked a spear from the left and sliced a guard's front right leg off, sending him to the ground, bleeding heavily. He ducked under another spear and smirked seeing another guard get stabbed by his own ally. Another Pegasus guard leapt at Revya and came directly down at him with his spear. The Devourlord acted quickly and delivered a punch to the guard's ribcage, shattering several ribs and sending him tumbling to the ground as he writhed in extreme pain. Revya took this one step further and stomped on the guard's ribcage and then kicked him away. The Devourlord unleashed a spinning slash with the Onyx Blade, decapitating five guards at the same time, as he smiled cruelly at the carnage. The guards tried to pay no attention to any other deaths and continued to desperately attack Revya, hoping something would eventually work against the Devourlord. Unfortunately for the guards, Revya was starting to get bored with this too easy of a challenge. He suddenly vanished from sight, leaving a group of bewildered guards in his place. Suddenly, one of the guards fell to the ground, a massive gash spewing blood appearing on his side. One by one, the guards began to fall and die. One fell missing his front legs and bleeding out. Another lost his head from Revya's sword. Before long the sandy ground was covered in a fresh layer of blood and corpses of the dead and slowly dying. Revya looked on with sadistic satisfaction at his handiwork before slowly turning to a now very, very unnerved Lance Greaves who looked like he was about to wet himself. He shakily held his spear out in front of him as Revya began to slowly advance towards him, his malevolent and insane smirk still adorning his face. As he walked forward, small blue orbs began to rise from the bodies of the slain guards and surged into the Onyx Blade. Revya immediately felt a new increase in power from the souls as he consumed them. Devourlord Revya: Level increase from Lvl. 2,402 to Lvl. 2,435 Lance shook his head and did his best to try and banish the fear from himself and made a brave, if not very desperate, charge at the Devourlord. Revya took a moment to survey this as the guard charged at him. This guard knew full well he couldn't defeat this him on his own, but still was trying anyways. Revya couldn't tell if this guard was incredibly brave, or incredibly stupid. He decided it was the second one. One swing of his sword later and the guard leader was disarmed of his spear and thrown to the ground. Revya stabbed the Onyx Blade through the guard's shoulder to pin him down and stood over him. "Now then..." Revya began. "...you're gonna tell me a few things about this world." "Go to Tartarus, creature!" Lance spat back. Revya didn't know what or where Tartarus was, but assumed this guard probably just told him to piss off. He twisted the sword in the guard's shoulder causing him to cry out in pain. "I can do this all day." Revya said, casually leaning on the Onyx Blade and increasing the pain in the guard leader's shoulder. Lance clenched his teeth trying to ignore the pain, but it felt like somepony had just driven a hot iron stake pulled fresh from a furnace right into his shoulder. From behind the nearby dune, Bronze Mace continued to look on in absolute horror as his commander was being brutally interrogated right in front of him. Just looking at this creature was made his blood run cold. Bronze wanted to run, fly, be anywhere but here, but his fear froze him in place. He continued to watch the scene unfold. Revya brought his boot up and stomped down on one of Lance's hooves, the sound of bone shattering echoed through the area. Lance screamed in pain, but continued to give the Devourlord a determined glare. "You can make this stop if just tell me what I want to know." Revya said smiling cruelly at the trapped guard. He kicked the guard in the ribs and heard Lance's ribs cracked. Finally Lance couldn't take it anymore. The pain became too much for him to handle. "Okay! You win!" he yelled "What do you want to know...?" Revya smiled at finally getting somewhere with this guard. "I want to know who's in charge around here." Lance hissed in pain and came up with the information. "Our rulers are Princesses Celestia and Luna." "Anything special about them?" "The Princesses are Alicorns, a mixture of a Pegasus and a unicorn. Princess Celestia is responsible for raising and lowering the sun every day and Princess Luna raises and lowers the moon every night. They use their magic to move the sun and moon." Revya gave the guard a suspicious look. Animals capable of moving celestial bodies? Using magic? Then again, it wasn't the most far fetched thing he had ever heard. "Really?" Revya asked unbelievingly. "Raising and lowering the sun and moon with magic?" "Yes...that's all I know..." Lance lied. "They never told me anything else." Revya sighed and pulled the Onyx Blade from Lance's shoulder. "I guess that's it then." Lance sighed in relief at the idea of finally being able to get away from this creature and being free of the intense pain in his shoulder. Revya then stabbed Lance in the chest, and chuckled darkly at the shocked guard. "W-Wha...You...why..." Lance stuttered weakly. "As much as I would love to see you roast to death in the desert," Revya said. "I figure I might as well take your soul as well." Lance knew he was running out of time, and fast. Suddenly, he remembered his ace in the hole. He gathered up his remaining energy and yelled out. "BRONZE MACE! GO! GET OUT OF HERE! WARN THE PRINCESSES!" Revya was confused at why the guard was yelling out but suddenly sensed another soul nearby. A Pegasus guard few out from behind a nearby sand dune and was getting away. Damn it. Revya thought, mentally kicking himself. I was so focused on these guards I didn't noticed that other guard. Pulling the Onyx Blade out of Lance again, the Devourlord pointed his weapon at the escaping Pegasus and fired several small bolts of dark energy after him. Bronze was flying away as fast as his wings could carry him. It pained him deeply to leave a fellow guard behind to die, but he had to get to Canterlot to warn the Princesses of the terrible threat to Equestria. Out of nowhere, several of Revya's bolts of energy struck him. His flight faltered for only a few seconds, but he pushed through the pain and continued on, escaping from certain death. Revya frowned as the guard escaped from him. He turned hearing Lance chuckle weakly at the Devourlord's situation. "Now...they'll know all... about you...and they'll stop you..." he coughed out weakly. Revya's frown quickly deepened as he pointed the Onyx Blade at Lance. "Don't taunt me you stupid horse!" he snarled, unleashing a blast of dark energy that instantly incinerated Lance. A soul emerged from Lance's burnt corpse and surged into the Onyx Blade, but Revya was too annoyed to acknowledge his slight increase in power. Devourlord Revya: Level increase from Lvl. 2,445 to Lvl. 2,461 The thought of being outwitted by a mere pony didn't sit well with the Devourlord, but then again it wasn't the first time he had been fooled. Seeing that now all the guards were dead, Revya glanced back in the direction that he seen the Pegasus guard headed in. "I suppose that's as good of direction to head in as any..." Revya muttered. He sheathed the Onyx Blade and began to head out away from the bloodstained battlefield. Canterlot Castle, Castle Balcony, 20 minutes later Having said their good-byes to Doctor Gauze and leaving him to care for Dusty Spur, the Mane Six, Spike, and Princesses sat on the balcony to plan their next move. Applejack was still in a rotten mood from seeing nothing significant from the memory spell, other than Appleloosa being utterly demolished. On the other hand, her other friends were still shaken from seeing the level of death and destruction from the memory. "To cause that much destruction..." Twilight muttered. "Princess, what was that thing...?" She asked, looking to her mentor for an answer. Celestia sighed in reply. "If I knew, I would have surely told you Twilight. But that, for lack of a better term, 'creature' isn't something I have ever seen in Equestria." "Perhaps the castle's library has information on this creature." Luna suggested. "Maybe the Princess is on to something dear." Rarity spoke up. "Yeah." Rainbow exclaimed. "Maybe it's some new animal that you can take credit for discovering." Twilight gave Rainbow a flat stare. "Oh yes, that's exactly something I would like to add to my list of accomplishments in life, Rainbow." she said with heavy sarcasm. "Twilight Sparkle discovered a new creature that causes mass destruction in its wake." Rainbow shrugged in response. "Hey, I was just suggesting." Pinkie began to twitch again. Not as bad as last time, but it was up there. "Pinkie senses tingling!" she exclaimed. "Oh, great." Rainbow moaned. "Where's it gonna land this time?" "Right here!" Pinkie shouted. "What?" Celestia questioned. "Here? In Canterlot?" "It's up there!" Pinkie yelled pointing to the sky. The rest of the group looked up to see that, indeed there was something approaching Canterlot. It appeared to be white and gold, and it was coming in fast. "Is that...a Pegasus guard?" Twilight asked, squinting at the object. The guard flapped his wings furiously to try and slow his descent, but only managed to slow down slightly. "Oh hay," Applejack muttered. "He's comin' right here!" "Everypony, move!" Celestia ordered. The group dove out of the way as the guard crashed into the balcony and tumbled into the room before coming to a stop. The ponies immediately entered to see that the guard was in bad shape. He had several burns across his body, and his armor was singed in a few places. He looked utterly exhausted, like he just flew a marathon. The guard recovered and shakily stood up to see the Princesses before him. "Who are you?" Celestia questioned. "B-Bronze Mace of the 114th Battalion, Your Highness." he said with a small salute. Celestia went wide-eyed for a moment. "The 114th Battalion? W-Where is the rest of your group?" Bronze Mace looked away for a moment as a troubled frown crossed his face before looking back at Celestia. "We found the creature that you asked us to find..." he replied. "Or should I say...he found us." "It's male?" Twilight asked. "Yes." Bronze replied briefly. "What else did you find out about it?" Celestia asked. "He has red hair, red and brown clothes, white baggy pants and a pair of boots, along with a large black sword he carries around." Bronze responded. "And what happened to the others?" Luna asked. "My commander told me to stay back in case things got bad." Bronze replied, his voice starting to crack. "I hid behind a sand dune while the rest of the group confronted the creature. Things escalated quickly into combat." "And then what...?" Celestia asked softly. Bronze shut his eyes tightly as tears began to stream down. "I-It wasn't even a battle..." he sobbed. "It was...was just a...a one sided slaughter!" Celestia took a step back in shock. "What...What do you mean?" "They didn't stand a chance!" Bronze cried out. "That thing just cut them all down!" The Mane Six gasped in shock at hearing this. "He just...killed them all...?" Twilight asked with a disturbed look on her face. "No way..." Rainbow muttered. "That's horrible..." Fluttershy whimpered. Bronze could only nod as a sob escaped from his lips. Celestia stood quietly, taking in this new information. For starters, she knew that every guard underwent a harsh training regiment to make sure they were ready for just about anything that came their way. She also knew that whatever this thing was, for it to have the combat prowess to apparently slaughter an entire battalion of guards was enough evidence that this wasn't some run-of-the-mill creature. This creature was truly dangerous. "I-I know you girls have taken down threats to Equestria before..." Bronze spoke up. "But...that thing...it's...it's completely insane..." Twilight gulped at hearing that comment. "I-Insane...?" she asked. "You...you can't stop that thing..." Bronze said to the Element Bearers. "He'll rip you apart..." "Do you know where he is headed?" Celestia asked gently, kneeling down next to Bronze. "N-no..." Bronze muttered. "Well, thank you for the information you were able to provide us." Celestia said gratefully. "Do you require assistance getting to the medical ward?" Bronze wiped his eyes and shook his head. "I'll be fine Princess, thank you for offering though." he replied with a sad smile. Bronze turned and trudged out of room as Celestia turned to the others. Twilight took a step towards her teacher. "We have to stop that thing, Princess." she said solemnly. "Yes, we do Twilight." Celestia answered. "But not right now." "What?" Twilight asked, "Princess, you know we can handle ourselves in a fight." "That's true, but I also don't feel comfortable sending you six out after this creature yet." Celestia answered. "But-" Twilight began. "No buts, Twilight." Celestia replied firmly. "I know it's hard to sit by and wait, but it isn't the best idea to rush after something that we don't know much about." "I understand Princess..." Twilight answered glumly. "Thank you, Twilight." Celestia smiled. "You seven should retire to your rooms, Luna and I have a few things to discuss." The six mares and one dragon headed to the door and exited the room as Luna walked up to her sister's side. "I see dark times ahead sister..." Luna muttered solemnly. "I know Luna..." Celestia replied. "I know..." > Chapter 4: Calm Before the Storm: The Ponies' Lament > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- *More Epic Chapter Opening Music (Read title while song plays)* ____________________________________________________________________________________________ Soul Nomad and the Equestrians Chapter 4: Calm Before the Storm: The Ponies' Lament ____________________________________________________________________________________________ "In the present world, this technological, psychotic, politicised, nonsensical world, you have to believe that the good guys are going to win! That evil will be banished somehow!" - Rufus Wainwright Canterlot Castle, Celestia's Chamber At top of the central tower of Canterlot Castle was Celestia's personal chamber. It was mainly used as an office of sorts, or a place for her to retreat to when she had a bad day. Today was one of those days. On Celestia's oak wood desk was a simply massive pile of paperwork, mostly funeral arrangements and a number of letters of sympathy to the families of the guards who had been recently killed at Revya's hands. After hearing about the slaughter in the desert, the Princesses had dispatched several small recon teams out into the Equestrian countryside to search for, but not confront, Revya. The Royal Sisters themselves sat in front of the fireplace in the room. Celestia had taken a break from the paperwork and was sipping a cup of tea. Luna broke the silence. "Why didn't you allow Twilight to go after that creature?" Celestia sighed, placed her tea cup on its platter and set it down before staring into the fire. "It's not that I don't believe that she can't defeat this creature, it's that I don't know if she's ready for the harsh reality of such a brutal opponent." "But what about the others she has faced?" Luna asked in return. Celestia paused a moment to ponder Luna's question before replying. "This isn't a threat that she's used to, Luna." the Solar Princess said. "Nightmare Moon only desired eternal night across Equestria-" "Which would have killed every living thing on the planet." Luna interrupted. "Well, yes, but I don't think she thought that far ahead." "Fair enough." Celestia continued her list of past threats. "Discord, as powerful as he is, and the fact that he loves to see others miserable for his own amusement, would never take the life of another for any reason. He's about chaos, not killing." "But this creature seems to be about both chaos and killing." Luna replied. "He attacked and destroyed Appleloosa for no understandable reason, and then killed that entire group of guards." "That's exactly why I'm apprehensive to let her go after this thing, Luna." "You're afraid she will be killed by this creature?" "Yes..." Celestia confirmed. "I love Twilight like a daughter and it would pain me greatly to see her killed over a bad decision on my part, but I have to accept that the kingdom's safety comes first." "I see, and about Chrysalis?" Luna asked, getting back to the list. Celestia grimaced at the thought of the Changeling Queen. The fact that Chrysalis was, at the time, powerful enough to overwhelm her in combat made her uneasy. Even if it was though use of Shining Armor's love, the fact she was defeated by another opponent showed that even the immortal ruler of the sun could be brought to her knees by a stronger force. "I don't think Chrysalis really wanted to kill anypony." Celestia replied. "She only wanted food for her subjects, and watching after one's subjects is always important." "I suppose that's true as well..." Luna muttered. "And Sombra?" "King Sombra, I will admit, was a cruel tyrant who enslaved others and was probably willing to kill to get what he wanted, but you felt that creature's aura, Luna." Celestia replied looking at her sister. "I know..." Luna said quietly. "An aura full of dread and terror, one that stank of death and despair." Celestia suddenly frowned and grit her teeth in frustration. "Why am I so powerless to protect our subjects...?" "You aren't powerless, Tia." Luna said firmly. "I know you care for our subjects very much and hate to see them in this state." "I know Luna, it's just that..." Celestia trailed off. "Ever since we lost control of the Elements of Harmony, we've had to send others to protect the country in our steed." "You're frustrated that we don't have a more active role in protecting Equestria?" Luna asked. "Yes." Celestia responded. "I knew that the threats against Equestria would become greater and greater, and it just frustrates me so much that all I can do is send my student and her friends out to handle them, and pray they return safely..." "But we have our own responsibilities sister." Luna replied. "You know that we have to..." "Yes Luna." Celestia replied to her younger sister. "I have not forgotten the thousand years that I had to burden the responsibilities of both of us. The raising and lowering of the sun and moon were the least of my worries. I don't know how you deal with yours all the time." "You would get used to it after a while. And you know we can't keep our other responsibilities hidden from Twilight forever. Eventually, she and her friends will find out the truth. But back to the matter at hoof." Luna said. "Do we even know anything useful about this creature?" "No, we don't." Celestia responded. "Other than the very vague description from Bronze Mace, we don't know anything about this creature. We don't know his name, age, intentions, or generally anything else about him." Celestia said. "But I know one thing Luna." "What's that Tia?" Luna asked curiously. "He's getting stronger." Celestia replied grimly. "I can feel it." Canterlot Castle, The Mane Six's Room The guest rooms of Canterlot Castle were the equivalent of five star hotel rooms in the human world. Apparently, Canterlot got a lot of important visitors such as dignitaries and rulers of other countries that stayed for meeting with the Princesses. The seven friends were grouped together in a one well sized room with six king-sized beds and a small basket for Spike. Plush carpets covered the floor and a fancy oak cabinet sat in the corner. However, the posh conditions couldn't improve the moods of the Mane Six and Spike. The group was sitting around discussing the potential threat that Revya posed to Equestria. "Okay," Twilight spoke up from her seated position on her bed. "Just from what we've heard and seen, what do we know about this creature?" "He's a real meanie pants." Pinkie announced with a frown. "Mean is an understatement, Pinkie." Applejack said with a scowl. "He's seems purty cold hearted if yah ask me." "And he's apparently very brutish and isn't pleasant in any way." Rarity called out. "And you heard what the Princess said." Fluttershy whimpered. "She doesn't want us going after him, thank goodness." "She said 'not yet' Flutters." Rainbow said as she laid on her back on her bed with her eyes closed and her front hooves behind her head. She sat up with a smug smile on her face. "I don't see what the big deal is. We could probably go in and totally kick his sorry butt with the Elements of Harmony and be done with it." "Princess Celestia has to have a good reason for us not to confront him yet." Twilight said in response to Rainbow's brag. "Yeah, well," Rainbow began. "She's never hesitated to send after guys like Discord and Nightmare Moon before." "Well, this guy ain't Discord, now is he?" Applejack said roughly. "Whoa, chill out AJ." Rainbow said nervously. Applejack heard Rainbow's comment and began shaking with rage and turned to Rainbow. "AH CAN'T 'CHILL OUT' RAINBOW! AT LEAST HALF MAH FAMILY'S DEAD BECAUSE OF THAT THING!!!" Applejack screamed in anger at the Pegasus. The room fell silent after Applejack's outburst. Rainbow gulped nervously and backed away from the cowpony who panted angrily. Twilight decided to step in before the situation grew out of control. "Applejack," she said, picking her words carefully. "We know you're going through a lot right now, and you have every reason to be angry at that creature, but yelling at us isn't going to solve anything." Applejack looked around the room at her worried friends and exhaled, relaxing her shoulders as the anger drained away from her. "Ah...ah know Twilight..." Applejack said sadly. "It's just..." "I know Applejack," Twilight said putting a comforting hoof on her friend's shoulder. "If something like this happened to my parents or brother, I would probably be in the same position as you." "All of us would Applejack." Fluttershy spoke up. "We all deeply care for our families and can understand the pain you're feeling." "Ah just..." Applejack began. "Ah just can't understand why he's doin' all of this... What did we do tah him?" "It does seem strange." Rarity said. "We have this obviously very violent and insane creature that seemed to come out of nowhere." "He had to have come from somewhere Rarity." Twilight responded while getting up and heading to the door. "Maybe we should follow Princess Luna's suggestion and head to the royal library to see if we could find any information." "On what?" Rainbow asked folding her hooves over her chest. "If even the Princesses don't know what he is, what makes you think the library will?" "Well," Twilight said opening the door. "You never know Rainbow, maybe Equestria has faced this kind of threat in the past." "Yeah, but-" Rainbow began. "Well, I'm with Twilight." Rarity spoke up as she headed for the door. "It's probably better to search for information rather than sitting here twiddling our hooves." "I'm in!" Pinkie said jumping up and bouncing to the door. "Ah suppose it's a good idea..." Applejack said getting up. "It would be a good distraction." Fluttershy said and glided over to the door. "But- we- Ugh! Fine." Rainbow said exasperated. "We'll go to the library." She followed Fluttershy's lead and glided to the door. "That's the spirit Rainbow Dash!" Twilight said smiling. "And maybe they'll having some Daring Do books you haven't read yet." "Maybe..." Rainbow muttered as the last of them exit though the door. Canterlot Castle, Hallways A single guard galloped wildly through the halls of Canterlot Castle, carrying a note in his mouth. Sweat poured down his face as he cut corners and barely dodged servants and other guards. He burst through the door leading to the castle courtyard and then galloped over to the spiral staircase leading to Celestia's personal chamber at the top of the castle. "Why couldn't I be a damn Pegasus?" he panted to himself as he climbed the stairs. "They've got it so easy with their wings." Two guards stood in front of the double doors leading to Celestia and Luna. They stood and watched silently as the guard stopped in front of them. "State your business here." one of the guards said. "I have important information to give the Princesses." he said panting heavily. "What kind of information?" the other guard asked. "The Princesses said they did not wished to be disturbed while they spoke of important private matters." "It's information on the creature that attacked Appleloosa and then killed the 114th." the guard with the note said a bit irately. "The creature?!" the guards asked at the same time. They exchanged glances and then nodded. "Very well." said the first guard. "You may enter." He pushed the door open for the guard with the note who hurried in. Celestia and Luna had been continuing their conversation when the guard stumbled into the room. Luna looked less than pleased. "We thought we said that we wanted no interruptions." Luna said to the guard. "I'm very sorry for the interruption your Highnesses but we have word from the recon teams you sent out earlier." The Princesses' eyes went wide at hearing the search teams had found something. "What did they find out?" Celestia asked. "They discovered where the creature is headed next." the guard said solemnly. "And where might that be?" Luna asked in return. "He's headed... for Ponyville." > Chapter 5: The Battle of Ponyville Pt. 1: Devourlord Revya vs. The Mane Six! > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- *More Epic Chapter Opening Music (Read title while song plays)* ____________________________________________________________________________________________ Soul Nomad and the Equestrians Chapter 5: Battle of Ponyville Pt. 1: Devourlord Revya vs. The Mane Six! ____________________________________________________________________________________________ "The battleline between good and evil runs through the heart of every man." - Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn Canterlot Castle, Royal Library The Canterlot Royal Library was considered to be one of the greatest in Equestria, if not the known world. Containing books from everything to Alicorns to zebras, there was nothing that the library didn't have. Well, almost nothing. The Mane Six and Spike were scouring the library for any information on the current threat to Equestria, and finding less than what they expected. Spike was darting from shelf to shelf, the countless times he had re-shelved Twilight's library had allowed him to quickly scan the countless rows of books, grabbing ones that looked promising and delivering them to Twilight before going back to repeat the process in a different section. Twilight herself had torn through book after book, but she had become frustrated at the lack of information on the current threat. "Ugh! This is hopeless!" she groaned as she levitated and skimmed through four books at the same before placing them down on the other side of the table. "None of these books say anything about this creature!" "Yeah, well..." Rainbow Dash said sitting on top of a book shelf. "I don't want to say I told you so, but... I told you so." "Not helping Rainbow." Twilight said, annoyed at the situation. "Well maybe if yah got off yer flank and helped look, we might actually find somethin'." Applejack called out to Rainbow. "But I did look!" Rainbow said defending herself. "It's not like there's a book that says 'The Big Book on Destructive Creatures That Blow Stuff Up.'" "Well, ah bet ah could find something on the creature before you could." "Is that a challenge?" Rainbow asked, her competitive spirit ignited. "Yup, unless yur scared of losing." "You're on AJ!" Rainbow said leaping from her perch and flying to the nearest shelf to continue her previous search for information. Twilight sighed and shook her head in disbelief. "Turn a tedious and boring task into a competition and Rainbow Dash will do anything. I should probably remember that for a later time." she thought to herself. While the friends were still looking, a guard entered the room and cleared his throat loudly. "Oh, hello." Twilight said looking towards the guard. "Do you need something?" "The Princesses have requested your presences in the Throne Room, immediately." the guard said solemnly. "Oh?" Rarity asked. "What ever for?" "They didn't say, but apparently it's of the upmost importance you go see them." "We'll be right there." Twilight replied. She turned around to face the others. "Okay everypony we-" she stopped short at the sight behind her. There was what looked like a wall of books about the height of about three ponies tall. She could hear Applejack and Rainbow Dash arguing on the other side. "Ah got more than you did." "No way! I got way more than you did!" "No ya didn't!" "Yeah I did!" Twilight, who was aggravated enough at not finding anything useful during this trip to the library, really wasn't in the mood to listen to a "Did Not, Did Too" argument and used her magic to pull the two ponies through the wall of books, causing it to collapse into a pile. "You two can figure this out later, but right now, Princesses. Throne Room. Now." Twilight said releasing Rainbow and AJ from her telekinesis. "Fine." they both said at the same time. The rest of the Mane Six quickly filed out of the room and headed off to the Throne Room for a meeting with the Princesses. Canterlot Castle, Throne Room "So, we don't have a choice anymore do we sister?" Luna asked Celestia as the two of them stared at the stain-glass windows depicting the various triumphs of the forces of good over evil. Celestia sighed and shook her head. "No, we don't Luna." Celestia said solemnly. "As apprehensive as I am, they're going to have and go defend their hometown. Asking them not to would be cowardly." The door to the room opened as the Mane Six and Spike entered the room. "You wanted to see us Princesses?" Twilight asked. "Yes..." Celestia replied. "We have grave news to share with you." "What is it Princess?" Applejack asked, "Thanks to a recon team we sent out earlier, we've discovered the direction the mysterious creature is headed in." "We've discovered that he's headed towards...Ponyville." Luna finished. "WHAT?!" the Mane Six yelled out together. "He's going to tear the town apart!" "What about Sweet Apple Acres!?" "My boutique will be ruined!" "He'll kill all the innocent animals!" "Now everypony calm down." Celestia said sternly. The room instantly fell silent. "I know I said before I didn't want you six facing this creature yet, but seeing as the loss of life would be massive, and the town also being your home, I will permit you to pursue this creature..." "Alright! Let's go kick his sorry flank!" Rainbow Dash yelled. "However." Celestia continued, silencing Rainbow. "Since time is of the essence, I shall teleport you all back to Ponyville. I want the six of you to confront the creature, but attempt to not engage in combat with him. You may do battle with him once Luna and myself retrieve the Elements of Harmony and send them to you." "Understood Princess." Twilight said. "Alright, I wish you all the best of luck." Celestia said charging up her horn. "You're going to need it." A flash of light later and the Throne Room was empty save for the two Princesses. "Do you think they can handle him?" Luna asked. "I hope so Luna, I hope so..." Equestria, Outskirts of Ponyville The dirt path leading to Ponyville was silent, save for the clomping of leather boots. The animals had hidden and watched as the red-haired terror of Equestria strode past, his presence instilling fear and terror in the small creatures. Revya didn't really like the world he found himself in that much. It was too colorful and full of weaklings. Nothing really seemed enough to threaten him and those he had fought left him feeling unsatisfied. Revya had also discovered his relentless hunger for souls was returning once again. He sniped a few unlucky animals that failed to hide from him with some bolts of dark energy from his hand and consumed their souls but felt only a small increase in his power. It also did help sate his hunger for the time being. Devourlord Revya: Level increased from Lvl. 2,461 to Lvl. 2,485 "More...I need more..." he muttered and closed his eyes to search for more powerful souls. He felt a large number of souls just a mile or so ahead and some of them were rather strong. Revya smirked insanely and continued on the path towards the town, where a showdown between human and pony would soon occur. Ponyville, Golden Oaks Library A flash of light engulfed the inside of the library, leaving six disorientated mares and a baby dragon in its wake. Turns out long range teleportation tends to do that to those who aren't used to it. Twilight shook the dizziness from her head and immediately ran to the window to survey Ponyville. The town seemed peaceful enough. Ponies sat at the outdoor café chatting and enjoying their lunch. The marketplace was busy with ponies engaging in hardcore negotiations for food and other goods. Derpy flew from house to house delivering the mail and small fillies and colts were playing a game of tag. "Okay, it looks like he isn't here yet." Twilight said turning to her friends. "So we're just suppose to sit around and wait?" Rainbow asked. "Until the creature shows up, Rainbow." Rarity replied. "Then we're suppose to stall for more time until the Princesses send the Elements to us." "Oh, so we're suppose to have a nice conversation with him?" Rainbow asked sarcastically. "Maybe ask him not to kill us?" "That sounds like a good suggestion." Fluttershy said timidly. "No, the first thing we're going to do is warn the town about the creature and have them hide indoors until we handle the situation." Twilight said to the others. "But the most important thing is that we need to keep everypony calm. We don't need the whole town running around in a hyped craze." Twilight continued. "Applejack, you go warn your family at Sweet Apple Acres. Pinkie, you go tell the Cakes and warn the area around Sugarcube Corner. Fluttershy, you can go warn the animals around Ponyville. Rainbow Dash, you can keep a lookout for the creature, but remember not to bother him. Rarity and myself will warn the area around the library and the market. Everypony got what we need to do?" "Sure do." Applejack replied. "Look for the creature, got it." Rainbow said. "And not fight him." Twilight reminded. "Yeah, yeah I know." Rainbow replied. "I'll go warn the animals right now." Fluttershy said leaving the library. "I'm on it Twilight!" Pinkie said bouncing out of the room. "Alright, let's go Rarity." Twilight said to the white unicorn. "What about me Twilight?" Spike asked. "You can come with us Spikey." Rarity replied. "Sounds good to me." Spike replied as the entire group exited the library. With the group split up, it took very little time at all for the entire town to learn of the impending danger that loomed before them. Before long every door was locked and barred, every window shut and boarded up, the market was closed and every doormat mat removed. The ponies met outside the library after the town was warned. The only one missing was Rainbow Dash, who was still on lookout. "So how did everything go girls?" Twilight asked the others. "Mah family's hidin' in the cellar at the farmhouse and is safe. Ah also grabbed mah lasso" Applejack replied. "The animals have hid far into the Everfree Forest away from Ponyville, Twilight." Fluttershy said happily. "The Cakes are hiding in the cellar of Sugarcube Corner and everypony else is hiding inside their homes." Pinkie said smiling. "And the market is cleared on our side." Rarity finished. "So all we have now is to wait for Rainbow to tell us if she sees the creature." Twilight replied. "Ah just hope she listens tah what ya said Twilight..." Applejack said unsure of Rainbow's status. "TWILIGHT!" The ponies looked up to see Rainbow hurtling towards them, and barely slowing down enough to make a clean landing. "Rainbow, what happened?" Twilight asked worriedly. Rainbow gasped for breath and looked up at her friends. "He's here." Ponyville Revya had finally arrived at the town that he had sensed a mile back. His bloodlust was roused at the thought of another slaughter, but as he walked into the town, Revya noticed that something was wrong. The entire place seemed empty. Walking into the town square, Revya didn't see a soul in site. A tumbleweed randomly rolled past him. "Where the hell is everyone...?" he muttered looking around. Not wanting to search, he focused his power and reached out around him. Nothing. Not a single soul. But then he felt it. There were six very strong souls up ahead. They made the guards he killed earlier seemed like insects. "Well, it's about time..." Revya said walking forward towards the source of the souls. Ponyville, Outside Golden Oaks Library "He's here? The creature?" Twilight asked Rainbow. "Yeah, I saw him walking around the town square. He was probably looking for ponies." Twilight turned to Spike. "Spike, I want you to wait in the library. We don't want you getting caught in the crossfire." "Alright Twilight, just be careful." Spike said as he retreated into the library. "Ah can't wait tah make that varmit pay fer what he did tah Appleloosa." Applejack said angrily. "Remember AJ, we're just suppose to stall for time." Twilight reminded Applejack. "Yeah, ah know but-" Applejack was interrupted by the clomping of boots ahead of them. Revya turned a corner and paused at what he saw. It was a group of six ponies standing together facing him, and none of them looked happy to see him. Doing a quick look he saw that the group consisted two unicorns, two pegasi and two ponies with neither horns nor wings. The pegasi were a butter colored one with a pink mane who looked very nervous and the other was a cyan blue one with a rainbow mane who looked pretty angry. The earth ponies were a pink one with a curly darker pink mane and an orange colored pony wearing a cowboy hat with a blonde mane tied in braids who looked PISSED. The other two were a white unicorn with a somewhat stylishly curled purple mane and the last one, whom Revya assumed was the leader of this band of misfits since she stood ahead of them all, was a lavender colored unicorn with a dark purple mane that had a pink streak running through it. Twilight on the other hoof looked at the creature who apparently had been causing all the havoc and chaos across Equestria. He looked no older than 18, with a head of red hair. Just as Bronze Mace had described earlier, the creature had a sleeveless collared red button-down shirt on and what looked like a leather toga of sort that was trimmed with gold. He also wore a pair of leather gauntlets that went up past his elbows. His pants were white and baggy and stopped just above his ankles and on his feet were leather shoes as well. Twilight also noticed the long black sword at Revya's side, the one he no doubt used to cause all of this tragedy. It gleamed dangerously and seemed to just absorb all the light around it. But the thing that terrified Twilight the most about this creature was just his presence. The aura of death and terror she had felt earlier was magnified ten-fold with Revya actually standing right in front of her. The two sides stood in silence for a few moments each eyeing each other up before Revya finally spoke up. "Who are you suppose to be?" he asked. The ponies looked surprised that this creature had actually asked them a question and didn't just start trying to kill them like he had apparently done with everything else he had come across. Twilight stepped forward and spoke up first. "I am Twilight Sparkle, personal student of Princess Celestia." she said, proudly putting a hoof to her chest. "There's that name again." Revya thought to himself. "Celestia." "I'm Rainbow Dash, fastest flier in Equestria!" Rainbow announced. "I'm Pinkie Pie!" Pinkie said bouncing up and down. "I'm Rarity." the white unicorn said. "And who gave those horribly ugly clothes?" Revya gave Rarity a blank stare. She was about to fight him and the only thing on her mind was how ugly his clothes were. "Who knew ponies had an idea about fashion?" he thought to himself. "...or clothes in general for that matter..." Twilight gestured to Fluttershy, who was hiding behind Rarity. "This is Fluttershy." The orange pony with the cowboy hat and braided mane stomped forward. "And ah'm Applejack." she said. "Ya varmit..." she muttered quietly. "Who are you?" Twilight asked. "If you have a name that is." "...Revya." the Devourlord replied simply. "Revya?" Rainbow asked her friends and Revya. "What kind of name is 'Revya'?" "It's better than Rainbow Dash." Revya taunted. "Hey! My name is awesome!" "Enough!" Twilight yelled. "We know your here to attack Ponyville, but this is where your reign of terror ends." "Oh really? Why's that?" Revya asked with amused curiosity. "Because we have friendship on our side." Twilight announced proudly. "...What." Revya asked flatly. "Our friendship has allowed us to overcome every obstacle we've come across." Rarity called out. Revya stood dumbfounded for a moment. Of all the things he had seen and heard today, that one really took the cake. These ponies had apparently defeated threats to their kingdom before with nothing more than friendship. No violence, no bloodshed, and apparently, no death. That was where Revya had to draw the line. "...heh heh heh heh heh..." he chuckled. "Heh he ha ha ha ha ha...!" The ponies gulped at hearing that laugh. It was the same one that they had heard during the memory spell a few hours earlier. "he HA HA HA HA HAH he HAH HA HA ha AH HA AH HA HA HAH!" "Hey!" Rainbow shouted to Revya. "What's so funny?" Revya finished laughing and chuckled out his reply. "And I assume you're going to defeat me with this so called 'friendship'?" "That's right." Twilight replied firmly. Revya merely shook his head in disbelief. "...That would have to be one of the most stupid things I've ever heard ever in my life, and I've put up with some really stupid crap in my time. Friendship is for weaklings who think they need others." he responded smugly. "Hey! Our friendship isn't stupid!" Rainbow yelled to Revya. "Yeah it is." Revya replied. "Heh, friendship, what a joke." "I'll show you!!!" Rainbow said flying at Revya. "Rainbow, no!" Twilight yelled vainly. ____________________________________________________________________________________________ Victory: All enemies defeated Defeat: Hero defeated -Commence Battle- ____________________________________________________________________________________________ Devourlord Revya: Lvl. 2,485 Twilight Sparkle: Lvl. 563 Pinkie Pie: Lvl. 347 Rainbow Dash: Lvl. 412 Applejack: Lvl. 513 Rarity: Lvl. 317 Fluttershy: Lvl. 303 Revya stood calmly with his arms folded over his chest as Rainbow approached. He raised his left arm as Rainbow got closer and once she was just in front of him, he casually swatted Rainbow away. Rainbow went flying to the left as she bounced once against the ground and slammed through the front of a building, causing the front part to collapse. The rest of the group could only look on in shock seeing Rainbow being easily repelled by Revya. "RAINBOW DASH!" Twilight yelled and turned to Revya in anger. "I guess this means we have to fight him..." "This is gonna be fun..." Revya chuckled darkly. "Compared to those guards, you should be easy." The rubble of the building exploded out as Rainbow flew at Revya again. "Eat this loser!" Rainbow said swinging her hoof at his face. Revya left hand shot up and caught the hoof, stopping Rainbow dead in her tracks. "Too weak." Revya muttered. His right hand curled into a fist and them slammed into Rainbow's stomach, knocking all the air out of her. Applejack galloped up to Revya and immediately bucked him as hard as she could in his stomach, only for it to do nothing. Applejack got a kick to her stomach in return sending her tumbling back to the others, with Rainbow being flung after her. Revya drew the Onyx Blade from it's sheathe and took his fighting stance as the ponies watched the sword ignite with black flames. "Alright..."Twilight said. "Let's all attack him at once." "Sounds good..." Applejack coughed out, shakily standing up. Rainbow flew up above the field of battle to look for an opening as the others charged forward. Pinkie reached behind her and pulled out her Party Cannon and aimed it at Revya. Pulling the string, Pinkie launched cakes, balloons, streamers and various other party supplies flew at Revya who simply slashed through all of them. Revya charged forward and swung his sword and launched a wave of dark energy from the Onyx Blade at Pinkie who just barely managed to leap out of the way. The Party Cannon was destroyed in the process by Revya's attack. The Devourlord suddenly lurched forward and planted a strong kick directly into Pinkie's face, sending her skidding across ground before ending in a crumpled pile. Rarity and Twilight took a further back position and began fire bolts of magic at Revya. Revya turned and blocked them with the Onyx Blade, occasionally swatting a few away that managed to get past his defense. Seeing Revya was busy with Rarity and Twilight, Rainbow saw her chance to attack and flew the human once again. "She really doesn't quit does she?" Revya thought as he glanced in Rainbow's direction. "Well, let's see if I can ground her." Revya watch the next magic bolt head towards him and using the Onyx Blade, swung his sword and directed the bolt of magic towards Rainbow. The bolt struck Rainbow in the face, causing her to crash to the ground. As Revya prepared to launch his next attack, Fluttershy suddenly darted in front of him. "YOU!" she yelled in his face. "YOU LEAVE MY FRIENDS ALONE!" However as Revya looked up at her, her anger suddenly melted away and in its place, fear took hold. Staring into Revya's cold eyes, Fluttershy could see the power that radiated from them. His eyes were like that of a demon. They looked empty and hollow but behind them she could see they burned with sadistic insanity and a bloodlust that could never be satisfied. She was so focused on his eyes, she failed to notice Revya swing the Onyx Blade around and was struck in the jaw with the hilt of the sword, sending her tumbling away. "This is starting to look bad." Twilight thought worriedly to herself as Fluttershy was knocked away. "It looks like he's not even taking us seriously. He's just taking us apart like we're nothing." "Ah've had it with you, ya no good varmit!" Applejack yelled charging at the Devourlord. She turned and bucked him again, only to feel her hooves collide with the Onyx Blade. She barely managed to pull away as she felt Revya's counter swing grazed her side, leaving a long shallow cut in its wake. "Why are you so fired up?" Revya asked swinging the sword at Applejack's head, only to miss as she ducked under the blade. "Why am ah so fired up?" Applejack asked harshly. "You killed half mah family!!!" "When did I do that?" "When ya destroyed Appleloosa!!!" Applejack yelled back. "Oh..." Revya muttered. "Heh heh heh...well that sucks for you doesn't it?" AJ grit her teeth angrily and charged at Revya. "AH'LL KILL YOU!!!" "You can try." Revya remarked as he charged at Applejack. Applejack reared back to buck him again, but Revya had caught on to Applejack's tricks. He sidestepped her attack and stabbed forward with his sword towards her side. Before the sword made contact, a pink bolt of magic from Twilight struck Revya in the face, causing him to stumble back. "Oh, right. I forgot about those two..." Revya thought rubbing his slightly burned cheek. The two unicorns glared at the Devourlord as he looked back at them. The rest of the group came over and joined Twilight and Rarity. "...Okay...he's a lot tougher than he looks..." Rainbow told the rest of the group. "We've got to try and get that sword away from him." Twilight said to the others. "If we do that, we might have a chance to actually hurt him." "Ah'm on it Twilight." Applejack said grabbing her lasso. Applejack threw the lasso towards Revya and managed to catch on Revya's right wrist. "Ha! Ah got ya!" Applejack cheered. "Actually..." Revya said smirking. "I got you." He yanked the rope and sent Applejack hurtling towards him. He cocked back his left hand and punched AJ square in the jaw as she approached, sending her crashing back into the library's outside wall. Revya ripped the rope off his wrist and ran at the group again, looking to finish them off. Thinking quickly, Twilight decided to take matters into her own hooves and charged at Revya as well, while beginning to charge up her horn with magic. "I've got to stop him now before he hurts anypony else." she thought to herself as the distance closed between the two combatants. Revya pulled back the Onyx Blade and thrust the sword forward, aiming for Twilight's head. Twilight dodged the stab and slid in close to Revya with her horn pointed right at his chest. "What the-" Revya began to say. Twilight finished charging up power into her horn and unleashed a massive blast of magic point blank into Revya's chest. A huge explosion erupted from the area as all of Ponyville was shook to it's foundations as the attack continued. As the dust settled Twilight noticed Revya wasn't in front of her anymore. He was laying in a pile of rubble that was once a building. Twilight collapsed to the ground as the others ran over to her. "It's...over..." she panted out. "That was AWESOME!" Rainbow cried out. "You showed that brute!" Rarity replied. "It was all 'BOOM!'" Pinkie said leaping in the air. However, a noise began to echo out from the rubble. It was a sound that they didn't want to hear again. That insane laughter. The Devourlord rose to his feet as he chuckled darkly. "That tickled." he sneered. "...You've got to be kidding me..." Rainbow said unbelievingly. "That's...impossible..." Twilight panted out. "I put everything...I had...into that attack..." "My turn." Revya said smirking as he raised the Onyx Blade over his head. The sword charged up with a large amount of power and Revya swung the blade at the group, sending a massive wave of black energy surging towards the group. "Oh." Rainbow said. "Buck." Applejack finished. Twilight attempted to summon a force field but couldn't find the strength needed to create one after have used up most of her magic in her last attack. The wave of energy slammed into the ponies, every one of them yelling in pain as the attack barraged them with Revya's dark power. Twilight could practically feel the sheer levels malevolence and darkness that rippled through the attack. Eventually the attack stopped and the group fell to the ground, beaten and burned from the brutal attack. The area was a mess with black flames licking the ground and most of the windows were blown out from the pressure of the blast. "That's it? You're finished? What happened to all that big talk about 'friendship'?" Revya asked mockingly. "How pathetic..." "This is bad..." Fluttershy whimpered out. "Twilight..." Applejack asked weakly. "Tell me ya got a plan..." "I...I don't know..." Twilight panted out. "He's too...strong...it's no wonder the Princesses didn't want us going after him..." Revya raised his sword once again and pointed at the group again as it blazed with black fire. "I'm going kill you losers just for wasting my time." he smirked. Inside Golden Oak's Library The entire library was a massive mess. Most of the books had been knocked off the shelves, a few pieces of wood had crumbled from the ceiling and the ground was covered in broken glass from Revya's last attack. Spike was cowering fearfully under a table that shielded him from most of the debris. "I wish I could do more than just sit here like a coward." Spike thought bitterly to himself. "But...Twilight is probably right. I would just get caught in the crossfire...and probably end up dead...or worse..." He gulped at thinking about the possible consequences. Out of nowhere, another flash of light engulfed the inside of the library and in it's place was a large light blue ornate chest. Spike glanced around nervously and creped out from his hiding spot to approach the chest. Opening it, he saw six golden pieces of jewelry. "The Elements!" Spike said in awe. "I got to get these to Twilight and the others." Scoping up all six at the same time, Spike ran to the upstairs' window and looked out upon the sight that laid below. Back outside with Revya and the Mane Six The Mane Six could only lay fearfully watching Revya charge up what would probably be the killing blow for them. "Oh sweet Celestia." Twilight thought fearfully. "He's going to kill us!" "Time to say night night!" Revya said manically as the sword's flames blazed stronger. Before Revya could fire his attack, Spike's voice came from above them. "Twilight!" The ponies and Revya looked up to see Spike holding the Elements of Harmony in his hands. "The Princesses just sent the Elements! Here!" Spike said tossing the jewelry down to the ponies. The ponies seeing the Elements quickly rose and put them on and then faced Revya. "Okay girls..." Twilight said. "We've probably only have one shot at this, so let's show Revya what our friendship can really do." "Yeah!" Rainbow cheered. "We're gonna give ya what fer!" Applejack said angrily. "Let's do it!" Pinkie cheered. "Okay..." Fluttershy said quietly. "Let's hit this brute hard!" Rarity cried out. Revya lowered his sword at seeing this. He was confused at the sight on these ponies seemingly finding their second wind but quickly got over it. "So you have some fancy jewelry, big deal." Revya sneered at the ponies. "It's not going to make a bit of difference against me." "Yer gonna eat them words ya monster!" Applejack said. "AJ focus." Twilight called out to her. Elements of Harmony: Lvl. 2,455 The group closed their eyes and began to focus the Elements' power while Revya stood with an expression mixed between amusement and confusion. "What the hell are they doing?" he thought to himself. "They're just standing there..." The wind began to pick up as the group began to rise into the air. Twilight's eyes suddenly shot open glowing pure white as the all Elements glowed with power. "Oh look they're putting on a little light show for me." Revya chuckled at them. The Mane Six didn't respond as the Elements' power built up more and more before a shockwave of rainbow energy surged out followed by a rainbow surging from the group and soaring high into the air above Ponyville. "Okay...that's one hell of a light show..." Revya admitted. "But I don't really see what that's-" Revya was cut off as the rainbow fell over him. It felt like he had just been hit by a load of bricks tied to the front of a speeding train. The Devourlord suddenly felt a enormous surge of pain ripple through his body and his head. His body felt it was on fire and his dark soul raged against the purity of the attack. Revya yelled in pain and felt his knees buckling against the power of the Elements. However, Revya began to focus and began pushing back against the Elements' power with his own. It was an epic struggle as Revya's inner darkness very gradually pushed back the Elements' magic. After what seemed like an eternity, the attack ended and Revya dropped to one knee, panting heavily. The Mane Six couldn't see what was happening but assumed the attack had worked as Rarity, Applejack, Pinkie, Rainbow and Fluttershy collapsed to the ground and passed out from the strain of using the Elements in such a weakened state. Twilight managed to stay conscious for a moment longer and smiled weakly seeing Revya drop down before losing consciousness. Revya wasn't in much better shape. His entire body was racked with intense soreness. His head pounded with a splitting headache and he clutched his chest as his black soul burned fiercely in his chest against such a powerful blow. It hurt to move but very gradually he rose to his feet. "I'll...kill...you...losers..." Revya snarled as he attempted to lift the Onyx Blade up, but found himself lacking the strength to do so. He could barely raise the sword off the ground. "Ugh..." he muttered. "Whatever...I can just kill them later...maybe after a much needed nap..." Revya turned away and looked around briefly for a means of escape before spotting the Everfree Forest nearby. He began to trudge towards the forest and, after some difficulty, sheathed the Onyx Blade. As silence fell over the area, Spike peeked very slightly out the door after Revya had left and looked around at his unconscious friends. "I'd better get them inside before that maniac decides to come back..." Spike said quietly as he walked over and began moving Twilight inside the library. 10 minutes later in the Everfree Forest Revya trudged sluggishly through Everfree Forest, using the trees as means to steady himself. His head still pounded with a brutal headache, his chest burned like a bonfire, and all he really wanted to do was hopefully sleep it off. "Those damn ponies..." he muttered. "I would've killed them if it didn't hurt to move so much. They won't get so lucky next time..." As he stumbled along, something caught the Devourlord's eye. He saw what looked like an abandoned castle. It was rundown, crumbling and overgrown with vines and weeds but it seemed like his best and only option for means of a place for a safe recovery. Revya staggered towards the castle as quickly as he could and entered the structure. He looked around the entryway and picked a random door in the first room and found himself in a somewhat impressive bedroom. There was a large bed in the corner and various pieces of wooden furniture laying around on the floor. Old books were scattered on the ground and looked like they hadn't been touched in hundreds of years. Revya untied the Onyx Blade's sheathe from his outfit and let it fall to the ground with an echoing rattle as he walked up and collapsed on the bed. It only took moments before he finally allowed himself to fall asleep. But as Revya would soon learn, the Elements of Harmony hadn't let him go unscathed. His dark past would soon begin to come back to haunt him once again... > Chapter 6: A Surprising Reunion: The Most Hardcore Asskicker Returns! > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- *Even More Epic Chapter Opening Music (Read title while song plays)* __________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Soul Nomad and the Equestrians Chapter 6: A Surprising Reunion: The Most Hardcore Asskicker Returns! __________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Things We've Learned From Soul Nomad and the World Eaters: Gods of death tend to be really cool. The Everfree Forest, The Ruins of the Castle of the Two Sisters A warm breeze blew through the empty halls of the once great Castle of the Two Sisters. Ever since it was abandoned after the battle between Princess Celestia and Nightmare Moon over a thousand years ago, the castle had fallen into a state of ruin. Much of it was overgrown by the Everfree's uncontrolled plant life and many of the passages were blocked off by rubble. Not to say the castle wasn't a great place to hide and recover one's strength like a certain being was currently doing. The Onyx Blade still laid ominously on the floor where Revya had casually thrown it after his arrival. As for the Devourlord himself, he still laid sleeping on the dusty bed that sat in the corner of the room. It wasn't the cleanest choice nor was it the most comfortable, but it was probably better than sleeping in a tree or on the ground. His chest no longer burned and his pounding headache had mostly gone away. Revya turned over in his sleep as more voices from the past came to haunt him in his normally empty dreams. "You just... have no conscious!" "...I'll kill you... I'LL KILL YOU!!!" "You're not really the same anymore... are you?" "You're really living this up, huh? Your eyes... they're not even human anymore." Revya covered his face with his leather gauntlets and rubbed eyes as they opened slowly. The voices were beginning to seriously get on his nerves. They always seemed to be trying to instill guilt in him for his horrible accomplishments. So what if he killed thousands of innocent lives? So what if he destroyed his home world? So what if he- "Having trouble sleeping?" came a teasing voice. -was hearing a very familiar voice. Revya quickly sat up on the dingy bed and looked around the room at hearing that voice. At first he had believed it was just his imagination or maybe someone else was with him he didn't know of. He was right about the second one. "...No...it couldn't be..." he muttered quietly. "Couldn't be what?" said the voice coming from the area around him. Revya paused as the voice echoed through the room. It took only a minute before he recognized it. It was a voice he thought he would never hear again. The one that he first heard over a year ago on that fateful day when his life changed forever. It was the voice of a dead man. "G-Gig...?" Revya asked hesitantly. "Heh heh heh... yup. The one and only, badass extraordinaire!" "Gig, you're dead." Revya said quietly. "You can hear my voice, right?" "Um...yeah...?" "Then I'm not dead, am I?" Gig replied, a bit annoyed. "I ate your soul." Revya muttered. "You shouldn't be here...I-I'm probably just hallucinating..." "Oh yeah, thanks a lot for reminding me about that horrible experience, soulmate." Gig replied with the last word spoken quite sourly. "Turns out for that second part that it ain't that easy to get rid of a soul that's been bound to you." "Oh really?" Revya asked malevolently. "Well, I got rid of you once and I'll do it again." "Um... kid? That's not a good idea..." Revya ignored Gig and began focusing on his soul to purge the unwanted entity from him once more. Not even a few seconds later, a fresh wave of searing pain surged through Revya. A shout of pain exploded from his mouth as he rolled from the dingy bed to the floor, clutching his chest. A moment later, the pain subsided and the Devourlord propped himself up on one arm. "W-What was that?" He stuttered out. An exasperated sigh came from Gig. "If you had let me friggin' explain before you tried to get rid of me, I would've told ya that our soul is different." "What are you going on about now?" Revya spat as he sat up. "Look kid, I'm gonna break it down for ya here. While you were taking the train to Slumberville for the first time right after we fought Feinne, I did a little poking around in your soul. Turns out, the old hag only did a half soul fusion" "A half soul fusion? Why would she do that?" "She probably meant to un-fuse us after you took down the World Eaters. And then she'd stuff me back the sword until the next time I was needed." "And you wouldn't want that." "Uh, duh!" Gig stated obviously. "Of course I wouldn't want that! That's why in the beginning, I tried to complete the fusion and kick your soul out so I could take your body for myself." "You were going to get rid of me?" Revya asked somewhat angrily. "Kid, I flat out told you in the beginning I was gonna get rid of your soul, but because of the old hag and that Crimson Tear she used, I never got the chance to." "...And you're telling me all of this just now." Revya said deadpanned. "Why did you keep it to yourself?" "You were having so much fun blowing stuff up, and I didn't want to ruin your fun, heh heh..." Revya just silently doubted Gig's last statement and let the matter drop before changing the subject. "So, how did you come back?" "...Actually... I was hoping you could answer that." Gig remarked. "Wait, you don't know how you came back?" "No, I don't. Do you have any idea? "Not really..." Revya stated quietly. "So what happened to you?" "Ya know... I'm not actually too sure myself. After you devoured my soul, everything went pitch black. It kinda freaked me out because it was all quiet and crap for a while. Then I saw it. There were all of these little blue-white glowing orbs everywhere. Thousands of them." "Souls?" Revya questioned. "Yeah, and the freaky part is that I could hear them. I could hear their screams of pain and shouts of anger." Gig explained. "All of those souls you've eaten? They're still in there, alive and aware." Revya pondered this for a moment. It did explain the voices he heard, and maybe with Gig back, he'd only have to deal with one annoying voice in his head again. Gig continued. "I was stuck there for a while before I felt something pulling on my soul. Then everything went white and I felt myself back in your body. I tried moving around but then I found out I can't control your freaking body anymore when you're out-cold! Something happened and our souls have gotten twisted together by some outside force." Gig commented. "In other word, my soul comprises half of your soul. I've literally become a part of you." "Wait, what?!" Revya asked. "Yeah... it's that bad. But don't just take my word, go ahead; look inside of yourself." Revya listened to Gig and then focused on himself. After a moment of searching, he saw that what Gig had said was true. Instead of two souls bound together, there was only one soul. His and Gig's combined. Revya took a moment to mull it over before speaking again. "What does this mean?" Revya asked quietly. "Were you not listening?" Gig asked irately. "We're. Freaking. Fused. Together. As. One. Soul! The fusion is complete and we're stuck like this!" "I know what you said, but why? Why is this happening?" "How the hell should I know? You were the one living it up with all my powers." Gig said. "Well, you don't seem to be really mad since I kinda sorta destroyed you." "I can't really say I hold it against you." Gig replied. "I mean, yeah, I'm still pretty friggin' pissed about it, but it's what I was planning to do in the beginning of our fusion. Of course, when you turned out to be a cold-blooded murderer with a desire for total genocide, I guess I kinda forgot about it. So... I really shot myself in the foot there because I didn't see how strong you were becoming." "So once again, another not-so-rare lapse in judgment from you?" Revya asked mockingly. "Hey!" Gig shouted. "How the hell was I supposed to know how strong you were?" He huffed. "It ain't easy measuring the exact strength of your soul when it's fused to someone elses." A moment of silence passed between the two before Gig spoke up again. "I do want to know, though." Gig said. "Why did you eat my soul?" "Maybe it was because of all the stupid crap you were doing finally pissed me off enough?" Revya replied smartly. "You got rid of me because you got pissed off at my antics?" Gig asked incredulously. "Name three times I did something stupid." "Okay..." Revya answered. "How about taking a hostage that we didn't want nor needed?" "Well, that was an opportunity to maybe get some leverage." "What about all the times you didn't tell me what you were doing when you had control of my body?" "I didn't think you'd cared enough to know." Gig replied. "You wantonly used my power even though it put your body in danger of possession by me." "Fine." Revya remarked. "What about when you stupidly renamed Orviska the 'BFF Empire'?" "Hey! I thought the name was working fine!" "Everyone said the name sucked." "You didn't." "I let you name it that only because I knew you wouldn't drop it, and if I named it, I'd never hear the end of it." "Fine, whatever. But... I have to admit though, you made things fun again. You know, going around killing shit and raising hell everywhere you went." "You mean YOU made things fun again." "What are ya talking about?" "If I remember correctly, YOU were possessing MY body for weeks at a time. All I got was a few hours to kill stuff." Revya explained a bit sourly. "I was picking up where I left off." Gig said defensively. "It's kinda hard to destroy stuff when ya don't have a body anymore to do it. " "Yeah, yeah...of course you were..." "By the way...I love what you've done with our castle." the Master of Death replied dryly and was apparently looking around the room. "It really says gloom and doom with a hint of hopelessness. It's a bit cliche, but it works." "...We're not in Orviska, or even on Haephnes for that matter." Revya responded. "Wait, we're not on Haephnes?" Gig asked. "What happened to Haephnes?" "Well, after I took your power, I blew it up, along with Drazil." Revya replied simply. It was just a statement, like one had just swatted a fly without second thought. "You blew them both up...?" Gig asked, clearly impressed. "Well, damn. Can't do much better than that I guess. Just wish I could have been there to see it." "Yeah, after I killed everyone, there wasn't any point to keeping the worlds around. That and I didn't really feel like killing every single living being on Drazil individually. It was easier just to destroy it and be done with it." "So where the hell are we anyways?" "You wouldn't believe me if I told you." "Try me." Twenty minutes of explaining later... "Ponies." "Yeah." "We're in a world...full of nothing...but ponies..." "Yeah." "...and they apparently worship friendship like it's a friggin' religion." "Pretty much." A moment of silence passed before Gig spoke again. "...How hard did you hit you hit the ground earlier?" "I knew you wouldn't believe me." "Well, the whole thing just seems really freaking weird to me. I mean, we've dealt with some crazy stuff, but ponies and friendship?" Gig said before finishing with a groan. "I haven't even been here for a hour and I already hate this friggin' world." "Well, that makes two of us." Revya agreed. "Alright, now that that's taken care of, on to more pressing matters. Do we have any hotpods?" Revya resisted the urge to face palm himself. Of course with Gig around again, he knew would eventually have to address the issue of hotpods. Revya already knew the answer but really didn't want to tell Gig based solely on the fact that Revya would have to listen to Gig whine and complain about it. Gig had mentioned during the time that they had occupied Orviska, he had ordered that every single solitary hotpod that was within the city be delivered to the castle. Apparently, this happened while Revya was asleep and couldn't berate Gig's obsession with the food that the Master of Death had claimed was the "snack food of the gods." After a moment to gather himself, Revya spoke one word. "No." "What." "...Yeah, there's no hotpods..." A moment of silence passed as Gig processed this new information. "Huh, he seems to be taking this better than I-" Revya thought before being cut off. "WHAT DO YA MEAN THERE'S NO DAMN HOTPODS?! HOW CAN THERE BE ANY WORLD IN EXISTANCE THAT DOESN'T KNOW THE GLORY OF THE HOTPOD?! I CAN KINDA ACCEPT THE PONIES AND FRIENDSHIP PART, BUT NO FREAKIN' HOTPODS?!?! WHAT KIND OF CRISPY HELL HAVE WE LANDED IN?!?! THIS IS ABSOLUTELY, COMPLETELY, AND TOTALLY BULLSHIT!!!" Needless to say, Gig wasn't taking it well. At all. "...You don't have to yell, I'm right here you know." Revya said, clutching his head trying to stop the ringing from Gig's voice. "THIS HASN'T REALLY PUT ME IN A GOOD MOOD KID!!!" Gig roared in anger. "I'm pretty sure we kind find some hotpods or even hotpod seeds, maybe." Revya replied calmly, trying to stop the returning headache that he had just rid himself of earlier. "Okay, so what you meant to say is: you don't know if there's any hotpods." Gig said panting heavily. "Yeah, let's go with that." After giving himself a moment to calm down and gather himself, Gig continued his questions. "I just gotta know... How the hell did you lose to a bunch of colorful horses?" Gig asked. "I didn't lose, Gig. I was kicking their asses for a while. Then they got lucky and hit me with some kind of weird rainbow attack." Revya replied annoyed. "And they're not horses, they're ponies." "They hit you with a weird rainbow attack?" Gig asked with a chuckle. "That's pretty girly if you ask me. What else did they do? Sing about love and friendship? Maybe they gave you a necklace of flowers?" he asked in a teasing tone. "Or maybe they-" Gig was cut off as Revya slammed his fist into a nearby wall causing it to crack and crumble. The wall fell apart and a rush of air kicked a cloud of dust up in the aftermath. "Shut up." Revya said solemnly. "Okay, okay! Jeez, take it easy kid." "Gig...it actually hurt." Revya replied seriously. "It was something actually capable of causing me immense pain." "Something other than the fact that you were trying to pull your own soul apart earlier to try and get rid of me again?" "..." Revya remained silent at Gig's point. The reaper continued speaking. "Huh, well still, that's gotta be some pretty powerful magic to hurt you. I mean, you once took a freakin' lightning bolt to the face and you made it out alright." "Well, yeah but this was different..." Revya replied, thinking back to the battle. "They had these six pieces of jewelry with them. Five necklaces and a tiara. And they used them to attack me with that rainbow." "Jewelry? What the hell kind of weapon is jewelry?" "I'm not sure. They called them the 'Elements'." "So you got blasted with a rainbow shot from a bunch of jewelry called the 'Elements' wielded by six colorful ponies?" Gig asked. "That pretty much sums it up." Revya said, finishing his explanation. "Didn't you try, oh I don't know... moving out of the way?" Gig asked. "The only reason they managed to hit me with it was because I was foolish enough to let them charge it up..." Revya replied. "...And... I didn't think it would actually be able to hurt me." "Well there's the problem. You didn't take them seriously enough." "When have you ever seen me take an opponent seriously before?" Revya asked. "...Good point." Revya stretched out his arms and stood up from his spot on the floor before picking up the Onyx Blade and reattaching it to his tunic. He strode over to the window in the room and glanced outside into the forest. "So...what's next?" Gig asked casually. Revya already had something in mind: Revenge. It was time to pay another visit to the six ponies he had fought. "I'm going to find those six ponies and turn their pathetic miserable lives a living hell." Revya said as his tone turned darker and more unhinged with each word. "I'm going to personally kill them in the most brutal way I can think of, and even if they beg for mercy, I'll slaughter all of them. Then I'm going to take that armpit stain of a town and turn it into a smoldering crater. Heh heh heh heh..." he finished as an insane chuckle slipped from his lips. "Whoa, kid." Gig muttered. Gig knew that Revya was never really sane since their fusion. On Haephnes, he was the most mentally unstable of their band of misfits and the most violent and sadistic as well. The fact that in mere minutes after their fusion, Revya had slaughtered everyone he knew in his village, including his former best friend, as well as later consume the Master of Death himself, made Gig slightly nervous. When he had his own body long ago, Gig had killed and destroyed thousands of lives as well without a second thought, but Revya seemed to be on a whole other level. He was willing to go to any length to cause others misery and once Revya set his mind on something, well, good luck on trying to deter him from it. The Devourlord had proven that he was worse than anything Gig was at one time. It's was the reason why, that deep down, Revya was the only one who Gig was actually afraid of. Of course, Gig would never admit it. "...So... we're gonna blow some shit up? Maybe make a couple heads roll while we're at it?" Gig asked, to confirm their plan of action. "Hell yeah." Gig rejoined the party! Gig's bio was added to the Character Sheet. Go check it out after you get done reading! As Revya turned to leave and began walking towards the door, he passed in front of a mirror that he hadn't noticed before that had been leaning up against the wall. He couldn't remember the last time he had seen his reflection and paused when he saw it. While he seemed to be relatively normal, something caught his eye and he leaned in for a closer look. To Revya's mild surprise, a few streaks of gray were running through his normally crimson colored hair. He reached up slowly and brushed his hand through his hair a few times thinking it was dust, but the streaks remained. "Huh... weird..." Revya muttered under his breath. "Hey!" Gig called out, breaking Revya concentration. "When your done admiring yourself, can we get a move on? I want some freakin' action already!" "Yeah...let's get going." Revya said as he turned away from the mirror after giving one last look. Revya walked away and reached the front door of the castle and opened it up, revealing the Everfree Forest. The sky was still blue with the slightest indications of the approaching dusk. As Revya exited the castle, the area fell silent, as if the very forest itself was in fear of the Devourlord's presence. Revya began to walk away from the castle along the same dirt path that led him there as Gig spoke up. "This world doesn't exactly strike me as being colorful. More like...dark and depressing." "We're in a dark forest, what do you expect?" "Fair enough." Another moment of silence pasted before Gig spoke up again. "So, you do know where you're going, right?" "Not really, but if worse comes to worse, I can just level the whole place to clear a path." "So why not just get it over with?" "Because I'm going to take a more quiet approach this time." "But that's boring!" Gig groaned. "You're suppose to charge in and start blatantly chopping heads off!" "I think the townsfolk were all hiding the first time I got there. That, or they somehow evacuated the entire town in the matter of a few minutes." "So why didn't you just blow the whole town up and be done with it?" "It's no fun if I don't get at to at least see my victims suffer and squirm in fear of me." Revya replied casually. "But you destroyed Drazil because you didn't want to deal with it." "Well...yeah...but that was an entire world and this is just a small town." "But... that doesn't make sense!" "Destruction isn't suppose to make sense. It's only fun when it's senseless. You should that better than anyone Gig." Revya smirked. "Oh come on!" The Devourlord and Gig continued to talk/argue as they made their way along the path. The once fierce predators of the forest could only watch from the relative safety of the bushes as the he strode past. Revya could sense their presences but made no attempt to attack them. They simply weren't worth his time. He had bigger and more important targets to think about, like six mares that he just couldn't wait to take his revenge upon...