Chapter one- Endings Bring Beginnings.
Princess Celestia, Goddess of the sun, the light that follows her remaining everlasting and radiant.
Princess Luna, Goddess of the moon, solace which welcomes light to aid the darkness.
Princess Cadence, The Princess of love who remains true to her beloved and her kingdom.
And now Princess Twilight Sparkle, The Princess of Friendship, one who has seen the end to every vigorous test presented.
All who have earned the right to rule by absolving difficult tasks throughout their time, proving themselves capable of withstanding whatever threat came to being. Many know them as the Princesses, all given love to by their respected and beloved subjects.
On the other hand,
There are a different specie that many throughout the land not only ponies fear but just about every other being that resides in Equestria fears, Changelings.
They are known to be the apparitions of deception itself, feeding off of the emotion given to them or expressed indirectly.
The Queen, remains an oddity yet still to be fully uncovered and understood. Queen Chrysalis has made herself known to the Princesses and all of Equestria as she, the one who nearly took back Canterlot for her Younger sister. The other four have yet to be known, therefore remaining a complete mystery to anypony and now anyone.
For anyone that ever beholds the other 4, will never be able to tell the tale that they ever did...
Location-(The Ashened hive)
Within the outskirts of Equestria, there is a location so discreet, only the queens and the strongest of drones dwell, no other being knows of its existence. This is where the 5 come together to discuss about their next hunts, or more specifically, their victims. Two are selected by each hive gathering a total of 10, in truth they only pick 7 of the whole.
Two of the five sisters are currently awaiting the other three.
One being Queen Remorse, of the Hydra Abyss Hive, she has a royal blue mane in the style of a chin-length bob with one of her bangs slightly covering her right navy cat like eye. The Queen known for being ruthless that she'll even hunt for her prey personally. The chitin on her body as hard as stone could be used to kill if she wanted to, but that's why she sometimes has others to do that for her. She is one who doesn't favor complication, in other words she lets actions do the speaking when it comes to handling her prey. She is one that feeds off of the sadness one gives through loss of a loved one or the simple cries of a youth that has lost their favorite stuffed animal.
The other is the more gleeful and playful of the bunch, Queen Amber. A beautiful changeling that takes pride ruling over the Pixie wood hive deep within a vast unexplored region outside the borders of Equestria, many Stallion are lured there seeking a being so beautiful that no mare could compare to her, through this journey none are ever seen from again. Her radiant golden mane, which is styled in Layered Locks with a Curly Side Sweep with Feathered Ends. The body of a full grown mare, with the mind of a filly. Yet she feeds off of the fears of others, the most innocent of youth being the victims, or in her case, the fear instilled towards the fighters as they bare witness to the monsters they face and the bringers to their ends.
"Sister!, I'm starving!, Why do we have to wait so long just to feed?!" Said the yellow maned changeling.
"Patience Queen Amber, within the next hour, Queen Chrysalis and Verine should arrive, I'm pretty sure they are just as hungry as you." Remorse answered almost in total disinterest. She too was beginning to sense that she soon will need her fill as well, she just wasn't too open about it.
" C'mon, how 'bout we just summon a couple?, You know?, Like a snack?" The golden maned changeling suggested almost beggingly booping her sisters muzzle.
" Truly you have yet to understand even after eons that we alone cannot since it takes more than two Queens to link this world to theirs." Queen Remorse almost losing her sense of control from hunger wasn't being helped by answering her gleeful sister's questions.
" Awwww!, Why naaaauuut?" Amber pestered," I'm going to start crying if I don't get anything soon!, And it's going to be all your fault!" she said scrunching her muzzle as she planted her chin onto the stone table.
She continued. Amber's crying is more like that of an innocent youth if she doesn't get her way, but then again, it's still the cutest thing to watch even if Queen Remorse fed off sadness.
But unfortunately they can't feed off of each other; that would've made their situation a little less dire.
"Don't worry yourself, I've personally sent a retrieval squad to apprehend 2 more today, just in case Chrysalis fails to uphold her end again,that should be enough to get the ring full of attendees…" Queen Remorse continued,"It's only a matter of time."
"A matzer of time before vat?" Another Queen questioned making her way through the large corridor. Queen Verine, she had just arrived from her hive from the tombs of Narah bringing the scent of old stone and a faint tinge of decay. She had a long white brilliant mane with long layers that had not a knot to be seen which shone like precious silver. Her eyes cat like with her irises giving off a soft white glow the same as the chitin on her back. She was by far the most serious amongst the Queen's, as she felt only the cold presence of diminishing life. She fed off of the pains of others which gave her the emotion of not feeling pity towards her meals. She is the queen that tends to benefit the most since pain has many complex forms. Neither she or her subjects had ever gone hungry since life had sprung into being.
"Ah, Queen Verine, you're early. I was simply telling Amber here that preparations for the arena draw near, nothing more."
Verine made her way to the obsidian like table and sat herself across from the two while placing two additional names to the pile of four. She looked at the two empty seats and then back to the others.
"So ven shall ze other two arrive?"
She asked quietly.
Queen Verine was known for her accent, but many others thought that's what made her unique, she was strong and resilient when it came to facing the raw of the elements. She had seen battle in the early era of Equestria when the ponies led by Celestia rivaled her hive to claim the very capital lands that later became Canterlot and so forth. She had a deep hatred towards the pony folk and vowed to one day wipe them clean from her rightful land, that's what many don't know.
"We don't know when Chrysalis is due, we thought she'd be arrive with you. Hehe, Turns out we were wrong." Amber said giving a small shrug.
"Hmm, i see." Verine replied looking to the two open seats once more.
"Remorse, may i azk you somezing?"
"What might that be? Remorse questioned
"My daughter, she has come zhe age vhere i vant her to be able to fend for herself zhe same as her mother. I vanted to know by your permission if she may join today's retrieval since you are in charge of zhe victimz."
Remorse thought about the sudden request, she must've been joking since sending out an heir of royal bloodline is incredibly risky, especially when it comes to retrieval, nothing is ever expected to go accordingly. She went over the options, one of the 6 currently available names and under the names was their possible retrieval difficulty.
She went over their personal profile to see which ones were psychologically battle ready and which ones weren't.
"Vell Remorse?" Verine questioned.
" Give me a second."
"One!" Amber replied jokingly.
Remorse browsed through the basic folder containing the name, ethnicity, country origin and physical build.
She eyed them reading them to herself.
" Joseph Padilla,17 year old Mexican, 5'9 and moderately built, burly physique, no real combat experience, yet athletic…
Moises Beltran Jr., 15 year old Hispanic, 5'7 low build with some oriental fighting technique on hand, very agile with a moderate pain resistance due to beatings from his father…
Marcus Lampkin, 20 year old African American, 6'0 Very High build and strong physique ,high pain tolerance, athletic yet no combat experience whatsoever except small skirmishes over personal profile, such a shame…
Алексей Василий Иванов-(Alexei Vasily Ivanov), 19 year old Russian, 6'2 Moderately built, expert blunt weapon fighter?, moderate pain tolerance and physique, resilient against freezing temperatures, very interesting.
Alfredo Garcia, 19 year old Hispanic, 5'6 high build and strong physique, amateur San Soo fighter and above average weapon handling, previous kick fighting semi finalist? High endurance and pain tolerance, hmm…
Ky…why is his last name smeared?, Japanese, 5'2 age, 20, expert hand to hand fighter, above average build with high pain tolerance, high endurance level and stamina...hmmm "
She thought about her choices going over them a second time.
"Tell me Verine, how do you want it to go for your daughter?"
Verine simply returned a smile," Vhen you zink of me dear sister, vhat comes to mind?"
Remorse slid one of the names over to Verine who simply held the card in hand upon receiving it.
She looked over the profile considering her option, she cracked a smile.
" He's Perfect.."
(Elsewhere in a quiet neighborhood)
*Beep beep beep beep beep*
"Uughh..where the hell did i put my phone?!" The young adult yelled into his pillow scrambling aimlessly hoping he'd find his cellular device. *Beep beep beep beep* " Ugghhhhhhhhhh.." the alarm had begun to grow more annoying as seconds passed. After about 5 minutes it reverted back to snooze mode.
(15 minutes later)
*Beep beep beep beep* "Ughhhh, Alright where IS IT?!" He said immediately reaching over to his nightstand only to roll off his mattress onto the carpeted floor. The groggy teen was now on the floor almost an inch apart from the device sounding off right under his pants. He moved the set of clothes he had on last night to find the phone had gone off 4 times." Of course.." He slid the lock screen to see he slept in an extra hour," Damn it!, 17:30?! never wake up on time."
Being a Saturday who doesn't spend the night working out and gaming, even on occasion browse through when boredom hits. That being said playing Dark Souls 3 from 23:00 to 07:00 became a normality ever since he'd finally finished school
He immediately scrambled to the closet going through my locker to pull out a clean set of clothes. In his case just a black tank top, a set of dark blue Levi's, a pair of socks and a pair of Rat boots his younger brother gave him after finishing The Marine corps. Boot camp.
"Hmmm, what else?" He said aloud," Aha!" He said as he made his way to his drawer, he put on some deo and just a bit of Paco Rabanne One Million cologne to balance out the fragrances, girls do love a man who smells good,"Alright that should do it." he said heading towards his door.
As he left he grabbed his bag he prepared last night containing everything he needed for his bike trip, now including his cologne. His bag contained his Colt combat knife, Kevlar gloves, elbow and knee guards, two bottles of water, four small Power Ade's, a small solar panel phone charger and a personal medkit designed by himself!, he even packed a tampon just incase there was a woman involved.
He made his way downstairs from his room ready to head out the front door, right until...
"Freddy!, Where do you think you're going?, Your cousin's 'll be here in 15 minutes to hangout with you."
" Mom, I told you I was going to hit the trail last night remember?, Besides, It's not like they want to hangout with me anyways, well, maybe only Alex."
Right before he touched the doorknob, his hand was greeted by another hand travelling at what appeared to be Mach speed.
"Owww!, Fuck!, Why'd you hit me?!"
"May I remind you of the mess you made last week?, Let's not forget the backyard, It's your turn to clean it." She said sternly in a matter of fact tone.
" Can I clean it when I get back?, I'm meeting some friends I haven't seen a long time, pleeeeease?" he asked almost beggingly.
Alfredo now trying his best negotiable techniques, continues to try and strike a deal with his mother as from under him his younger brother made his way past him with a bowl of cereal in hands. Matthew made his way to the living room grabbing the TV control and plopped onto the couch making himself comfy.
"Hmm, let's see what's on?" He said trying to ignore the conversation going on from the hallway.
He flipped through the channels until he stopped on one of his favorite channels, Cartoon Network. The now happy boy adjusted himself in a more comfortable position knowing this is how he'll spend the morning.
"So how 'bout it mom?, I'm basically cleaning the entire house already." She looked at him with a sly smile building up and slightly punched him on the shoulder," I'll tell your cousin's you spent the night at one of your friends."
"YES!" He said triumphantly reaching for the doorknob
"Wait!, What's in your bag?" She asked grabbing ahold of the handle of his backpack
'Damn it!' He thought, nothing ever gets past mother's intuition.
She unzipped the main pouch just to see what it was exactly he was taking.
"Uhh, WHAT'S THIS?!" She said pulling out the over sized blade from its leather sheath.
"Mom, trust me when I say it's not what you think!" He said turning around to face her.
*BREAKING NEWS*
" This is reporter Ann Kelly coming to you live at the scene of another abduction, Antonio Rivera was last seen going to the grocery store here on the traffic cams right before he was assaulted and taken by the hooded figure seen here. We have reasons to believe these human traffickers may be part of a cult as every hooded figure seen on previous cams wear a distinctive patch on their coats. Let's just hope they are only being abducted as detectives still have yet to find ANY of the abducted …"
"On second thought, I think you should take it, just promise me you'll be safe." Alfredo's mother said worryingly now playing her role.
"Of course mom, I promise to be back by 6:30A.M.!" He said making his way out the door.
Now outside he let out a long sigh knowing now he was free to go as he pleased, but also by the fact he had his weekend chores set out for him.
"Fuck me, man, me and my big mouth." He said heading into the garage to get his bike." Nothing I can do now but put up with it, ah well."
He guided the bike outside and mounted himself onto it," Hmm, let's see…" he said looking through his playlists. He wanted something motivating yet relaxing, so he set his audio on something more industrial and edm." Infected Mushroom it is!" He said using the back of his left heel to kick in the kickstand.
" Alright!, Let's see who's showin' up!" He said peddling it off to high gear leaving a trail of dust behind him.
20 Minutes later...
*Ring Ring! Ring Ring!*
"Huh?" he said clicking the button on his Bluetooth earbuds.
"Hey!, It's Alfredo, who's this?" He asked
"Hey bud, it's Ale, what's your ETA?"
" Hey what's up bro, Don't worry i'm about 15 minutes or so man, taking the bike, why?, what's up?"
Alfredo answered with a bit of huff in his voice.
"Just wondering fagget, don't worry about any of the crew not being there, everyone showed!, now hurry your ass up, John's got something you might like." Alejandro said jokingly, with that being said, Al clicked his earpiece ending the call. Now with more motivation, he doubled his efforts and took the shortest past through the streets barely avoiding collision.
"Fuck you kid!"
"Watch where you're going dumbass!"
"Careful!, shithead!"
Was all he heard coming from the drivers who halted in a screech behind him.
"Shame it's not Mister Rogers neighborhood." he said dismissing their remarks continuing towards his destination.
I made my way uphill only to discover the road had been blocked off at the very top. Obviously a construction zone with a man holding a detour sign waving his arm to the right.
"Oh come on!" I yelled planting my face onto the handlebar.
"Keep it moving kid, you're holding up traffic!" The man said.
"Alright where does this street lead?, i got somewhere to be, and i just don't want to stray off my path."
"Don't worry son, it'll take you no further than 4 blocks off, i guarantee it, now keep it moving!" The traffic worker dismissed.
I had no other option but to simply comply, and going around would set me back only by about half an hour or so. The choice was obvious so i followed the detour further off road hoping it wouldn't set me too out. The road was made of gravel which looks like they just laid it out that very day, so movement on bike was more difficult.
"Fuck it." I dismounted to the right of the road, walking was obviously faster even if the gravel was more loose on the edge of the path. He decided to move a little more inward hoping not to interfere with the slow moving traffic.
*BEEEEP* right before taking another step his bike was hit by a vehicle travelling 30 mph. He was fortunate that was the only thing the vehicle had hit, but still holding onto the handlebar, the sudden change in force threw him off balance knocking him to the very edge of the poorly laid gravel path.
"WHOA!" Alfredo yelled as the path right under his feet gave in sending him tumbling down onto an untouched natural forest.
" Aarrgh! Urgh! Oof!" He hit boulder, branch, and stump rolling down the steep incline consisting of the moist mud mixed with fallen leaves.
Before being able to gain control of his descending direction; he hadn't noticed the pine nearing to him on the way down right before the back of his head made unwelcome contact. He continued rolling down until he landed on a large bed of fresh moss. With the sound of a loud thud and a sudden flash of white, his vision began to dim signaling to him that his conscious will fail him within mere minutes, reaching over to the left side of his torso he'd soon will see why.
"Ughhhhh…" He slowly gasped, slowly bringing his hand in front of himself, blood; It dripped in pools of droplets onto his ripped Levi's. Reaching once more to his side he found the source of the bleeding. " Is that, is that a b-branch…?" a large broken pine branch impaled him as a result on the way down.
"F-fuck, y-you gotta be joking.."he let out a weak cough expelling a small amount of red onto his forearm.
He looked to his left.
Then to his right.
He saw his backpack on his right, thanks to it being an assault pack, he was very fortunate to still have it intact. He leaned towards it trying to grab one of the straps so he can access his medical cache, unfortunately the branch was driven inside him, limiting his movement and reach.
Less aware, he hadn't noticed the more he moved, the more he opened the wound, adrenaline finally kicked in semi-brightly for him abling him to grab hold of his bag,
" G-Gotcha!, now where is it.." he said scrambling through his bag. He opened one of the water bottles and began slowly pouring it onto the wound. He pulled out the med kit and began pouring all of the contents out to see what he could make use of to clean the wound and remove the branch.
Alfredo's vision blurred, he knew his time was short," Don't tell me this is how it e-ends.."
He let out two final coughs, before reaching down and unwrapping the tampon, he leaned back painfully exposing the bare flesh under his skin in order to at least limit the bleeding. Ripping off what was left of his tank top, he balled it and put it inside his mouth biting into it.
Giving himself a mental countdown, he would quickly remove the branch and drive the tampon into the exposed wound.
'alright come on focus.' Now sinking his teeth into the cloth.
'3.'
Heart pounding
'2.'
Loudly
'1!'
"NNNGH!"
Fortunately, it did limit the bleeding, using what little strength he had, he opened a couple of granola bars and began chewing three at a time.
his vision now dark, and the chewing weakening, he could hear voices coming from the top of the road.
"Where'd he fall?!"
"Did anybody see where he went?!"
"I told you to watch the road?!"
"Somebody call 911!"
"He scratched my Camaro!"
"Nobody fucking cares about your fucking car!, just wait until the fucking police arrive!"
Soon all was dark, but it didn't seem as if help would arrive as soon as expected.
(hours later…)
"...It's dark...am i still here?"
He looked down and noticed he was covered in minor lacerations and mud, not a very great mix at that either.
"My god, can't believe that actually worked." he said weakly amused.
Alfredo reached into his pocket to pull out his phone revealing a semi-bright screen covered in a crimson mucous.
"Ewww." he managed to work out.
Using his pants, he wiped the phone the best he could in his weakened state revealing 22 missed calls, over 99+ texts, and the time.
" 22:43?...10:43 PM.?!, i was OUT FOR 5 HOURS?!"
Mustering the remaining strength he had, he attempted to stand, he couldn't. He could see through the torn jeans dark purples spotted on his skin. He slumped on the bark of the tree and slid back down to his muddy seat.
"Damn it, when is help arriving?"
"It's not."
A voice resonated from the pillar of wood behind him.
…
Confused if he was possibly still losing blood or if he was just hearing things, he responded," I'm sorry what?"
...Silence.
He let out a sigh of relief hearing no response, he piled all of his medical supplies and put it within his medical pouch and slipped it within his assault pack. He opened the larger pocket to pull out another bottle of water. Still looking down he stopped when an unfamiliar foot placed itself next to his right leg, still looking down he slowly reached for his knife when to his left another shadow stood, not long after, a robed figure stood right in front of him. Slowly drawing the knife from its sheath, he slowly looked up to see who he was dealing with, thugs?, thieves?, or just lowly trouble makers.
His eyes met the shroud of the hooded figure, never had he seen this kind of fabric, this is when he knew he'd seen it before. His eyes immediately darted to the left shoulder of the strange being. That's when he saw it, the patch. Never had he felt fear as he had within that very moment.
"I said it's not, you deaf or are you just failing me?"
The being said jokingly taunting Al in his weakened state.
Alfredo lowered his head letting out what seemed to be a final breath,
" You know we can't let him die, it'd be a waste to let a meal like this simply slip away." The female voice said coming from his left,
" Yeah besides, isn't this one the last one we need for the Queens?" A deep masculine voice came from his right.
"I know how this works you two, how else do you think he fell?, if it wasn't for me this one would've slipped by us, now let's take him back before anyone notices." the hooded figure said grabbing hold of his left arm.
In that instant Alfredo sprung up pulling down the hooded figure and stabbed it in the abdomen.
"You did this to me?!, now you know how it feels.." he said throwing the hooded figure to the left knocking it onto the female then delivered a solid punch to the right figure's face knocking him down. Alfredo quickly grabbed his bag and sprinted to his right leaving the three temporarily incapacitated.
"Grrr!, Aura!, after HIM!" the hooded figure said to the female shrouded in black. " Don't worry, he won't get far." Aura said sprinting after their target..
"*Huff Huff*, where?, how the hell do I get outta this damn forest?!" he said running applying pressure almost squeezing the painful wound shut.
Not even ten seconds running he felt a light tap on his shoulder. Immediately darting forward, he instinctively turned and delivered a painful stab to the air behind him.
"W-what the?,who?!"
"He backs up slowly and sees the gorgeous mare standing right behind him!, ready to pounce." Aura narrated playfully.
He quickly turned again seeing the dark figure standing there before him. She removed the hood from her head giving him full detail on who he was facing, in his case, (WHAT) would be the preferred term. This woman or obsidian beauty had neon blue eyes, silver hair that cut off at her shoulders and sported a silver metallic eye shadow and lipstick.
"You know, you can make this easier for the both of us if you just step aside miss." Alfredo said still on the defensive with one hand on the wound and the other firmly holding his Damascus Colt fighter.
"Sorry sweetie, if you really want to leave so badly, how bout you show me how badly you desire your freedom, nothing personal, but we all have a quota to fill." she said giving a wink followed by a blown kiss.
"Alright then, you can't say i didn't ask nice, babe." Al shot back a wink lunging forward.
"Guess not." she smirked as she drew a pair of twin obsidian like karambits.
Almost immediately after she drew her weapons, she vanished from sight. "Hope your hearing is as good as your current state though, it'll make my job a lot easier!" she giggled sending the leaves flying around him. He saw her closing in seeming close to a blur, she was quick, almost too difficult to keep up with by sight. It was almost instant that he saw her for a split second when he felt a sharp pain shoot through his leg.
"UNGH!" he grunted, looking down he saw her smirk as she sent an upward kick towards his face. He immediately pulled his head back and wrapped one of his arms around her leg clenching her boot and with the other, drove his blade into her stomach.
"Ahhhh!" Aura yelled, she squirmed, using her other leg she delivered a kick straight to his jaw freeing her from his grasp.
He immediately followed as she stood and darted backwards to evade. Alfredo threw continuous jabs and elbows to keep her on edge; unable to land a successful hit from her agile reflexes, he opened his stance and delivered a high kick to her rib cage.
She immediately countered his upward kick with a swift parry sending his leg completely around leaving his back exposed. Using that to her advantage, she pointed the edge and drove her second karambit into his back puncturing his right lung.
"ACK!..." He spat blood and quickly looked over his shoulder trying not to lose sight of his opponent. He immediately turned and delivered a devastating elbow to her temple. She stumbled losing her balance, Alfredo quickly grabbed hold and yanked her by the collar of her black leather tunic furiously driving his forehead to hers sending her backwards. Still unbalanced, she moved evasively away recovering her senses as she noticed Alfredo rushed passed her and yanked the Colt fighter from her abdomen. Now hunched, she grabbed onto Alfredo locking him into an embrace taking hold of the karambit on his back.
Kneeling in pain, Alfredo grabbed hold of Aura's wrist and drove his Knife into her shoulder dislocating it from the socket as he violently tore it from the bone. Both now feeling nothing but adrenaline, they rose to their feet in attempt to overpower the other, each with their weapons pointed towards the other..
"Ngh, l-listen here and make this easier on yourself, giving up is not as hard as it sounds." Aura said not letting go of the karambit.
"Sorry, but givin' up 's not my thing!" Alfredo yelled through his teeth slowly inching his blade to her chest.
Aura took notice and withdrew the blade from his back breaking contact and quickly slashed just barely skinning the flesh off his right collarbone.
"Grrgh! That's IT BITCH!" He yelled enraged, even with the adrenaline pumping through him, there is only so much pain one can endure before fight or flight takes over, in his case, only one option stood..
She delivered a kick to his shin and followed through with another to his ribs, Alfredo grabbed hold of the still open wound on his stomach before she caused any further damage, he timed her kicks and opened himself the moment she was about to connect, he wrapped his arm around her leg, sending her balance towards him. Not wasting the opportunity again, he punched the blade through the center of her chest. She knelt, shocked but not surrendering. Aura attempts for his open throat as she sends her blade upwards only for him to grab hold of her hand. He pulled his blade from her chest and used the back end of his knife to hook onto her elbow for leverage. 'She's losing strength, it's there but i can feel it.''
Alfredo thought as he inched his knife to her neck. She pushed her claws into his face forcing them through the flesh as a last resort, Barely an inch now, he gave a strong push hoping to end this confrontation.
Blood now pouring from his cheeks, both wounded, none have expected what came next..Her palm had slipped and..
*Crack!*
Alfredo looked down to find out that he had punctured her trachea, she probably didn't know blood is very oily to the touch especially when a high amount of pressure or weight scrapes it's glazed surface.
Alfredo still standing, he pushed remainder of the unstained blade further into her causing it to protrude through the backside of her neck. He watched as she bled a fluid which closely resembled that to mercury, with a thud of her knees, she collapsed to her side onto the cold patch of leaves of the forest now lifeless.
Nearly incapacitated, Alfredo attempted to jog but forgot of the blade still buried within the flesh of his leg
"Damn babe.." he uttered stumbling from the encounter, blood continuously poured from the blade still buried into his quad. "You sure put the pain in Pain in the ass." he said removing the karambit from his leg giving off a grunt from the pain.
A slight smile grew on his face as he continued up the path to the main road. "Almost…" he said climbing the steep incline.
"You know sweetie, i really 'hngh' didn't think you'd stab a mare."
His heart froze, he slowly looked over his shoulder revealing that his encounter hasn't truly concluded.
Lowly hunched, she grabbed the handle of his blade which was still buried in her neck," I'd think It's a little too early to conclude this match, don't ya think?" She continued more playful.
'How is it that she's still able to speak?' He thought.
" Yeah, didn't think you'd give up so easily..so how 'bout it." Alfredo added in a tone one without a hint of bluff, but in truth, he was bluffing in his current state. His situation was growing much worse with every movement gradually tearing his previous wound. Aura removed the blade from her neck and held it in a form of a skilled combatant, ready to make the next play more cautiously.
"Well then?" She beckoned shooting another wink.
Al simply stood in place realizing he had already hit his limit. Any further movement would put him in a case of suffering from anaemia, he had already lost so much blood from running and holding off even if it was for a short while.
He held the karambit in the same manner she was, he knew it to be one of the best defensive styles. His vision neared total darkness, he knew even defending was useless, the effort given would yield him no result. He thought about it; lowering his guard, he took a weakened step forward. "You know.." he said slowly making his way closer to her. "I was the kind of guy who always tried to stay within karma's good graces, hoping in turn, i'd be blessed with something that would cloud my worries, or prevent something like right now. Thing is, where'd i go wrong?," He added, coughing out what remaining life remained within him." I was supposed to meet up with some friends not far from here..and i told my mother i'd be home tomorrow at 6 to clean the house.." he continued as her expression only grew more confused as she kept listening," What are you implying?" Aura asked."
Alfredo now was a foot distance from her. He took another step, Aura instinctively acted and quickly drove the blade into his heart. Alfredo let out another painful cough expelling more blood, slowly losing the strength in his legs, he fell forward and rested on her shoulder releasing the blade from his grip.
"L-let them know...I won't be able to hold onto those promises..." he softly whispered to her before his strength finally left him. She felt his final breath escape onto her neck as his body now slowly fell off to her side. With a loud thud, her battle had concluded.
The fight that she had trained her for, the one she had hoped for, was not what she had expected, never had she expected killing to be this painful. Feeling life escape someone's body was horrific. She bore both those aspects now feeling guilt.
The moon's cool light seeped through the clearing of trees illuminating both her and Alfredo. She felt something on her chest she hadn't noticed until after seeing his body rest on the damp soil, 'water?' She thought, at first it could've been the dew from the cold breeze, but focusing her sights to the trail it led to was one that centered itself to him, his lifeless body.
The generous amount of light given by the moon reflected a twinkle coming from the boys slightly opened eyes.
'Tears?!'
Never had she felt her heart weigh down with such pain," Why does it pain me now?" she questioned herself. Now had she realized what it was like, to be like mother.
"So you were able to subdue him?" Aura lifted her sights from the body on the floor to the hooded figure in front of her.
"Yeah.." she replied
"And, you've killed him…"
Silence. Rewarded with only the sound of the crisp night blowing through the forest, the hooded figure removed his hood revealing "Herself" to the hired hand.
"No worry, he may be gone now, but he'll be living once more, now go awaken Tarr, we need to get this one back to the hive before anyone finds us."
Aura hesitant, she left the body and made her way to Tarr. She knelt down and tapped his shoulder, this only rewarded her with more silence. she looked next to the tree where Alfredo had first been found and noticed an open water bottle about half filled.
She grabbed it and took notice of the stray blood splotches on the bark and the dirt where Al once was; the bottle too had traces of his prints marked in mud and blood.
She looked down at her companion and let out a small chuckle.
" You know you look pretty stupid missing your two front teeth you know that?" she said pouring the rest of the water onto his face.
*Cough COUGH COUGH!* "HEY WHAT GIVES?!" He said pounding on his chest.
" Missy over there said we should hurry up and head out as soon as we can, we don't want to run into any of the authorities." She said pointing her thumb over her shoulder to the robed figure 10 yards behind her.
"What of the boy?" He said tracing his fingers over his swollen lower lip.
she then took notice of the bicycle not far from the moss bed that trailed along the pine.
"So care to tell me when 'Missy' will be done prepping?"
"Dunno, but I think we should regroup with her just to make sure we don't piss her off." She said giving a dismissive wave.
Tarr got on his feet brushing himself off as he walked towards the robbed mare. Aura made her way over to the bicycle and knelt next to the frame pulling out her lipstick. Using about half of it, she simply drew out the what she thought would be holding up to Alfredo's request.
"There, now they'll know." She uttered to herself.
" Aura!, WE'RE LEAVING!" Tarr yelled, the flashes of blue and red was something they knew too well symbolizing time was of the essence to make their escape unnoticed.
"Alright!, Coming!" She said high tailing it towards the changelings, upon reaching them; they were all engulfed in a bright green glow that erupted in a burst leaving no trail of them ever being there.
" It came from over here!, hurry I need back up!"
Upon reaching the scene, officers had their firearms at the ready looking for possible hostility. Finding none, they searched and came upon two different boot prints on the mud.
"Hmm, possible confrontation?"
The first officer questioned, " Actually that is most likely what occurred.." A second officer imposed.
Shining his flash light, he gave the scene a whole new setting as it revealed blood and the prints being scuffed across the area.
" Hey guys!, Over here!"
Both officers made their way to the Detective kneeling down next to a pine not too far from them.
"What the hell happened here?" The first officer asked looking at the foot of the tree; A large branch with a large majority of it being covered in a dark red mucus, and a small pool of it with more pairs of feet.
" Possible homicide, one victim, probably confronted by multiple threats, would have been trying to get away before disappearing into the forest probably still hiding. You, call for a search team and have them search the woods.."
"I'm afraid that won't be necessary Detective…"
The officer interrupted.
"What do you mean?, Don't tell me… where's the body?" The Detective implied.
"No, it's not that sir."
"Then?!" the Detective questioned.
"Thing is, we might not even find him at all." The officer said returning an unpleasant look pointing towards the beaten bicycle.
The detective turned, allowing his eyes to skim over the bicycle, nothing looked out of the ordinary. That's until he noticed he had overlooked one crucial mark.
" Goddamn it!, Fuck!" The Detective yelled, kicking the wooden trunk stained in blood.
"Tell the boys up there to get the police tape, and set up a perimeter!" The Detective ordered pulling out a pack of Marlboro cigarettes.
" Yes sir!"
The two police officers left the area leaving only the Detective next to the bicycle.
"*Sigh*, I don't know when this is going to end, and i'm pretty sure i won't be around to see it when it does." He said pulling out a flip lighter igniting his cigarette." But before i see an end to my days, i will have a lead on who's responsible for this.." he said looking at the very same logo that has claimed the names of many.
" I will find them." he said
"One way or another."
(?)
'To die, how could one endure so much to just give up in the end? Choice or not, I hate it, dying young especially. If by any circumstance am I to live, be given a second chance, I will have my redemption, revenge at that. But not being able to see, feel or hear, that must mean I'm too far gone to expect such a miracle. God if you can hear my words…allow me to..'
'Wake up…' a soft voice spoke.
…
'Please rise if thou will…' it continued
…
'Thou may hath fallen but tis not thine final hour, thou'st been blessed with a second wind, now rise verily, thy time is short."
A womanly voice Instructed the young adult in a strong yet welcoming voice.
Alfredo took in a large breath of air before coming to his senses."*Cough! Cough!,ugh, no..This can't be." he sat up almost immediately realizing he had not passed on, or so he thought.
Vision still hazy, he looked around taking in his surroundings wondering where he was now. He knew the area around his home very well but seeing the blinding white and slow gusts of mist blow past him, he knew he was anywhere but home. He slowly rose onto his feet allowing himself to properly stand without feeling faint afterward, the last thing he needed now was collapsing back onto…"A CLOUD?!" He yelled taking notice of the cloudy bundle form and shift around following his movements. He rubbed his eyes with his hands attempting to correct his vision, but no matter the number of attempts, his vision hadn't altered.
"Whoa!, what's going on?!, W-where am I?!" he questioned the disembodied voice refocusing his gaze.
His eyes adjusted and were finally able to take in the view around him. He seemed to be far from what looked to be the surface, truthfully the whole cliche of what paradise looked like.
The beautiful radiant dimmed sunlight pouring through the seams and openings of the clouds not high above; warm air comforting the skin as it slowly blows by, The atmosphere almost too surreal.
"I seest thou hast reacquainted thyself with thine senses." The voice spoke.
"What?, please!, you gotta help me! I have to get home! I don't know what i did to you but hear me!, I'm sorry for whatever I may have done to you, just please take me back." Alfredo's pleads lowering in tone as he realized where he was. Never had he thought he'd see paradise, even at the end of his days he'd thought he'd be with the other guy, guess everyone does get a second chance at some point. He hadn't realized it, but he felt as if all of his worries and dismay had vanished, let alone the smile of awe that took over.
"Whoooa.."
"Art thou well?" The being asked.
"Yeah it's just, i haven't thought i'd ever see this place." he said slightly breath taken.
"When all ponies pass, they all come here to reunite with one another so they are never truly apart, hence holding true to their promises that they will see each other once again."
It was then from a distance that he took notice of a clearing that had been formed revealing a towering gate. Alfredo turned towards the gate to find the being standing there signaling him to approach.
He slowly made his way towards the vast passage until he was now standing before the figure.
He eyed the being which now stood before him rivaling his height just by an inch, not including...the horn. The figure concealed in robes not giving Alfredo much to glance at other than the color of skin she bore as she held out a hand to him, it was that of the darkest blue but not to the point where it was unrecognized.
"Follow me."she spoke, Alfredo grabbed hold of her hand, Suddenly a violent tremor shook the ground almost as if the earth had been split apart. The enormous gates slowly opened revealing what it was that hid behind them.
"What?, Who are these…" Alfredo froze as he saw what had been revealed to him, they were faces, faces of all those dear and familiar to him. She walked him through and slightly turned to face him.
" Like we hath spoken hence, thou hath not perished yet, thou art simply asleep, we're relieving thy burden by reminding thee of whom you are, these are thy memories, we are showing thee of thine greatest accomplishments and moments."
She spoke as they passed many windows revealing old memories, from the days of youth where he'd begun to learn how to walk to the most recent where he'd just shared a protein shake with his spotter. After passing a couple dozen they'd both reached the end to where it showed a final pane, one coated in black.
"Hey, what's this one?" Alfredo asked touching the glass," Tis the day where thou hast fallen."
She grazed the glass with her finger tips showing from 1st person how the scene played.
"So thou hath been abducted."
She said as she took notice of the mark stitched onto the shoulder of the robed being.
"Thou hast quite the strength to fight even after the wound thou hast suffered, thou art quite the resilient one, aren't thee?"
The stranger complimented, Alfredo turned away to hide the building smile before the stranger could see.
They continued to watch up until the silver haired mare made herself known, that's when the stranger froze the image.
"I've seen vast amounts of changeling in my time, but never one with colored hair other than the common, Is this one hers?" She said to herself.
"Hers?" Alfredo questioned. He looked back to the image not having any idea what he was looking for other than the 'Changeling' that killed him.
"Tis nothing, just my mind traversing through thought." She replies.
"Let us move along." She adds guiding Alfredo.
" Shades of people unrecognizable from past times, they spoke but had no identity to present themselves as they were. This continued for what seemed miles until reaching what seemed to be the very end.
This is where many of the faces became visible, all of which were either conversing with others. Too him, all the idle chat was unable to be heard, but he knew they were enjoying themselves amongst the crowds. That's when he saw someone all too familiar, this is when a frightening chill surged throughout his body, he didn't know him physically, but he knew who he was.
"Wait, I've seen him before!" Alfredo said as he went ahead of the stranger heading towards the crowds. He approached the shade and waved a hand to grab his attention," Aren't you... Antonio Rivera?"
That's when the shade's smile died down finally giving Alfredo his full attention," What's he doing here?, Care explaining what's going on here?" He said turning back to face the stranger.
"Everyone thou seest before thee is nothing more than a former apparition of what they'd been, in other words they're…"
"Dead."
Alfredo turned back immediately upon hearing a second voice. It was then that he took note that every shade was now facing him, with Rivera standing In Front just a foot away from him.
" We've been here for a while, some far longer than others, even to the point where they've given up counting the centuries, what you see are those who've been taken from their homes, same as you." Rivera Answered.
Mouth agape, Alfredo had nothing to say, he wasn't sure what to make of the phantom's words.
"To put it simply, slaughtered." Rivera continued as he stepped aside allowing Alfredo to see the vast number of occupants behind him. A field filled with shades and spirits stretching past the sunset all dressed far differently than those who stood next to them. Attire ranging from button up shirts, slacks, jeans, robes, denim, animal pelt, suits, old English fashion even to tattered cloth, this looked as if everyone had gathered to meet at a Halloween party, but there was more to it than that is seemed.
"Wait, so you're telling me that this has been going on since…"
"Since we've been discovered."
Alfredo still confused, he looked around to see the different faces of those that dwelled within this paradise. He saw different ethnicities, shapes and sizes, not one looked the same.
" What are you looking for?, You think him to be a liar?, A deceiver?! Same as the ones who put us all here?!" Another shouted from the crowd.
Everyone started speaking, yelling, each differently explaining the way they died. All the voices slowly becoming nothing but the sound of anger and hatred focused upon him. He couldn't take it anymore, Alfredo clamping his ears shut beholding the expressions of the shades around him, what he hadn't noticed was the way they expressed them, it was not the look of anger or burning hate towards him, no, it was concern.
From the entrance of the gate, the stranger held her hand up lowering the voices to a quiet halt, she made her way past the crowd and to Alfredo.
The undeniable claims of the dead were enough for Alfredo to understand, he just didn't want to see it come true.
" Sees't how their concerns, their pleas, art what calls, tis but a glimpse of what's to come, theys't fear for you, same as the one before they. Wilt thou hearth thine words of wisdom?, Or denounce this opportunity to learn where they hath faltered?"
She said holding her arm out to both Alfredo and Rivera.
Both Alfredo and Rivera held her hand as she turned to both returning a smile. It was then Alfredo received a vision. He saw himself in a ring, a large dirt arena, standing alone, that is until a voice spoke from the right, he quickly turned to see 5 thrones, 4 which were empty only leaving one standing ready to announce the main event.
"My Subjects!, This is the very moment you've all been waiting for!, We will see the sole and final gladiator, Rivera the Ruined, face off against her Majesty's, yours truly's, very own Divine sisters!"
A crowd of mixed faces, ponies? Surrounded the black scorched Colosseum, all of which who were either cheering or booing him. The mixed of different hair colors varying from the color spectrum were also present, but mainly consisted of a teal green.
A loud rattle of heavy chains were heard from both ahead
It was then Alfredo took notice that his left shoulder was missing his Skull tattoo.
.
"Real shit my friend, sad as it is, you're going to end up here, same as all of us. There is really nothing you can do to prevent what's to come." Rivera not pulling any punches, places a hand onto Alfredo's shoulder.
" The only reason why you're here is because they brought you to a world that's not ours, this paradise isn't even ours."
"What do you mean they?, Or or this paradise?!"
"You are no longer home, you're not even dead, fortunately but unfortunately, expect the worst." Rivera finished.
Alfredo one more time looked behind Rivera to the many faces seeing some returning slow nods as if accepting what has happened.
He immediately slapped Rivera's hand off his shoulder," What the fuck!?, You expect me to buy this bullshit?!, What the hell you expect me to do just accept death?!, No fucking way, I'm not letting this thing kill me or whoever the fuck THEY ARE!, You're trying to help me by telling me to accept what's to come?, Is that really the best you can do?! Well fuck you!"
Alfredo said turning his back to Rivera taking off in an angered sprint towards the entrance he came from passing the stranger who held one hand towards the sky above.
"Thou truly art defiant, but this shan't be thine outcome. I hath brought thee here to learn from one's encounters, not to argue and grow feign of words."
The stranger said with a swift swing of her hand towards the floor. Alfredo immediately flew back towards the stranger rolling after he had landed not a foot away from her. The impact was surprisingly soft and cushioned even after landing on his back. He sat up and was welcomed to a hand for assistance, he accepted. Now on his feet and still slightly peeved, she held onto his hand and held out the other for Rivera.
He compliantly walked towards her and grasped her hand,"Rivera we wilt now enter into thine thoughts if thou wilt allow." The stranger asked, Rivera returned a stern nod and slowly dissipated into her hand. She then placed her now free palm onto Alfredo's forehead. Closing her eyes, she whispered a silent chant and opened them revealing a white brilliant glow."Close thy eyes if thou wilst."
He did, upon doing so, he was suddenly drowned in a sea of cheers and scream coming from the crowds, each different either praising him or booing. He looked around and saw the large arena from the Gladiators perspective, the scuffed stone under his feet, the obsidian mile long ring, worst of all, the sight and wretched stench of corpses and iron filled the air. Quickly, he observed his surroundings noticing two scaling gates about 50 feet tall and about 20 wide, each being held shut by chain links half his size thick and rusting. Last thing he did take notice was his right shoulder, he didn't have his skull tattoo.
He couldn't talk either, simply speak in mind,' what's all this?, What's going on?'
"Hear now My fellow subjects!, Behold as we bear witness to the final Gladiator's last breathing moments!" He looked up to see the announcer from the podium, she was sitting on a throne far left from 4 empty ones, she had golden hair and quite the cheery attitude, but for some odd reason she appeared gorgeous.
"Now my Subjects, it's the very moment we have all been waiting for, Rivera the Ravaged!, face off against your highness's, Queens Remorse!, Chrysalis!, Verine!, And Queen Cinder! From both directions, each gate slammed open with blackened insect-like equine drones being the first to charge, behind the swarm of each gate stood two larger ones only being seen by the illumination from their mane's each expressing either an angered state or a violent grin waiting to see the outcome.
"Raaaaaaaaghhh!" He yelled charging towards his enemies to the north gate first, sword on right and shield on left, the numbers heavily stacked against him 100:1 just from one end. He yelled and immediately delivered a shield bash upon making contact knocking three unconscious, each swing he delivered was violent and strong, each equine standing at 3"10 to 4"5. He swung his sword breaking into their armor completely through instantly killing with each fatal blow.
Not letting guard down, he blocked swings of their axes and blackened blades held by their magic swiftly countering and following through with a solid strike from the sharp end of his shield breaking through their chitin and into their vitals. Vision blurred, he took a spear through his shoulder from behind, his focus now redirected towards his new rivals after finishing with north gate. Shield now nothing but dented scrap metal, he neared his enemies and threw it sending it flying like a frisbee with immense strength and precision splitting the skull of one of the drones heads completely off. The body tripped many on the front lines, using this chance to remove a grenade from his vest, he quickly pulled the pin and threw it to the crowd scattering green flesh and shell across the stage and audience.
"Ewww, forgot to mention to the front row, YOU'RE IN THE SPLASH ZONE!, quite a gruesome display by Rivera!" The announcer yelled as the crowd cheered and scrambled to scrape the entrails off.
Rivera now determined, seeing his foes hesitate to approach him, takes this to properly compose and fortify his poise. Appearing to his rivals as lowering his guard, all of 75 of 100 remaining charged at him closing the distance with swords and maces at the ready. "Fuck off." He said un-amused sheathing his straight sword and unwrapped the chain he had wrapped around his waist. He pulled and extended the end of its flattened and Sharpened links overstretching his arm span by 10 feet, he turned and whipped the chain to get it off the ground as he began to spin, lifting it and faced it's bladed chain links towards his intended direction.
"Wh-what in Tartarus is he doing?" The drones questioned slowing their charge, not knowing they were within his kill radius.
Rivera gave one final spin as he unleashed the full unrelenting force of his weapon bringing his hand motion from shoulder to waist severing his enemies from the neck down hooking onto the last changeling drones throat which coiled upward around his neck till the sharpened end cracked into his forehead.
"Ur-ugh.." The drone uttered as the link rattled and cut into the flesh within his skull, knowing not if they had a brain or not. Rivera yanked the gruesome whip using nothing but raw strength which instantly ripped and tore his victims head from his shoulders. Head still attached, he brought it to eye level, It's left eye twitching and mouth agape, looking at the body it was once attached to, Rivera flung the head back to its rightful still standing corpse in a whipping fashion which shattered the skull into two uneven pieces covering himself in the greenish glow of their blood, knocking the body over. Breathing and heaving in rage, he stared at the remaining few with a flame burning in his eyes," What's the matter?!, IS THIS NOT AS EASY OF A MEAL AS YOU THOUGHT?!" He yelled through his gnashing teeth. The remaining few shaken as to what they had just witnessed, turned and ran to the gate in utter horror knowing their fight was a lost one. Rivera flung his chain to the crowd of fleeing changeling, wrapping and coiling itself around one unlucky hind leg. "ARGH!, Please!, Help!"
It begged, none thought to help their incapacitated friend," Oh aren't you lucky!" Rivera spat, with a maddened look," get your ass over here!, we're not done yet.." Rivera spoke with Ill intentions.
He pulled, heaving the changeling closer with each brutal yank, cutting deeper into its flesh," PLEASE NO!, HELP ME!, SOMEPONY!, ANYPONY!" It yelled as it was now at Rivera's feet.
" You know, this is gonna hurt, like...A LOT!" He said stomping his boot onto its back pulling the sharpened chain towards him with immense strength.
"AAAARRHHGG! EAAAAAAAARRHHHHH!" The changeling yelled as he looked back witnessing his leg slowly being torn from his body. Rivera only starred, returning an emotionless expression to his victim, giving a final pull, he ripped its flesh from its hind leg exposing a large bone connecting it to his pelvis. The drone just laid there, hopelessly awaiting his end, Rivera wrapped the chain around both of his fist and smashed his first hand to its bone shattering it into shards.
The changeling's expression was that of sheer horror and pain, mouth open as if it's screams had become inaudible. Tears streamed down the corners of its eyes before it planted its head to the floor. Rivera balled both of his fists together raising them over his head," Blame your queens for this." He said, forcing both chain wrapped knuckles downward onto it's skull, sending chunks and fragments of flesh and shell in several directions both to him and the cracked stone floor silencing it's pain.
The crowd was silent, they didn't expect this outcome, yet as brutal as the ring is, this was far from comfort.
Rivera breathing heavily, focused his attention to one approaching him, more specifically, a queen of the five.
"Bra-vo, you must feel pretty strong and invincible knowing you just killed one hundred...Of my children.." The green hair colored queen hissed.
"But there is one thing you are yet to accept through all your meaningless attempts." She continued slightly grinning.
Rivera stared back at her with a look so vile that even she picked up on its taste.
"You're going to die." Chrysalis finished, the other queens laughing knowing what she meant. One by one, walked towards him.
"Fucking bitch!, you think it's going to be that simple?!" he yelled charging at her ignoring the other three. Chrysalis raised her black sword which was imbued with an emerald glow along the edge, it looked like it was in desperate need of repair, the whole blade was marked with chips, dents, and holes, if anything, Rivera was confident if he delivered an accurate strike to it, it'd shatter leaving her defenseless. The other three queens just held their place and watched as the boy closed the distance, Chrysalis still walking, and Rivera charging only made it seemed like she was mocking his capabilities.
He charged swinging his chain whip as he was knew he could land a strike, he unleashed a powerful throw sending it in a spear like strike, his vision was focused and his senses sharpened, he knew his chain would connect to her heart seeing how her blade was still lowered to her side.
*Chiiing* She swiftly countered lunging forward and severed the length of his chain by more than a half. His heart froze as he turned his attention to the floor, she was not even two feet away, the length of her blade neared his abdomen.
He quickly wrapped the broken chain in a whipping motion around his fist and lowered it before the poisonous looking glow connected.
*CLASH!*
Rivera was sent back rolling, the strike was impossibly powerful knocking him back 30 feet landing on the fresh pile of corpses.
"Th-the hell...The hell was that?" He said regaining his focus, shooting through blurred vision. He rose to his knees quickly noticing she stopped advancing,"Well?!, What are you waiting for?!" He yelled bringing his left hand to unsheathe his sword. Chrysalis grinned, slowly building to a loud laughter,"Hahahaha!, you are completely priceless young one, but how do you really expect to defend yourself using only a chain?!" She laughed as she spun a blood covered chain in hand similar to his.
'Holy fuck..' Alfredo thought as he realized what she meant.
*Thud.* The crowd laughed, same as as she, as Rivera looked to the ground slowly bringing his left arm up to his face. "My HAND!, MY FUCKING HAND!" He yelled holding down tightly to his upper forearm in attempt to stop the bleeding, he looked down and saw the twitching digits of his hand die to a halt. Breathing heavily he stood onto his feet, unsheathing the sword with his right instead.
"Y-YOU!" He yelled pointing the tip of his sword to her,"I'M GOING TO MAKE SURE YOU SPEND THE REST OF YOU DAYS IN FUCKING AGONY!" He yelled, charging in blind rage, adrenaline completely numbing his half severed arm, he swung, slashed and stabbed, missing every hit, she danced through the flurry of his swings, avoiding every intended strike. She wasn't even wearing any armor of sort either, she wore a long emerald dress, with a black lace tied at her waist, the clack of her heels was growing rather annoying to Rivera as he continuously failed to land every enraged swing.
"This my love, has been fun..." She said quickly taking a step back, letting his straight sword be driven into the earth. 'FUCK, CAN'T PULL IT FREE!' On one knee, Rivera attempted to free his sword, stopping the moment he felt her heel press against his chest," But, all good things come to an end." Chrysalis finished with a hiss in her smile as she forcefully kicked him sending him flying backwards.
*CRACK!* *CRICK!*
"ACK!, Urrgh, hnnngh…"
Rivera's expression both shocked and in agony, looked down to the two curved serrated blades that suddenly pierced completely through his armor exiting through his chest. Slowly, he was lifted off the ground feeling his weight progressively rip his lungs. He couldn't speak nor utter a sound, he'd soon drown in his own blood as his lungs continued to fill with it.
"Well well, not so full of yourself now are you?" Queen Remorse mocked, using her strength to keep him off the ground. Still impaled, he was slowly neared back to Chrysalis, coughing, seeing the crimson fluid escape through weakened coughs. Remorse raising him as high as she could as if presenting him as a trophy to the crowd, all who which cheered and chanted at his final breathing moments. Rivera weakly brought his hand up over his head, flashing his blood covered middle finger mouthing the words,"Fuck..You."
Remorse didn't hesitate to cease, she tore one of her blades from his back and forced him to the ground. Rivera in writhing agony, was still unable to yell, she held his right arm forward with her dark blue steel boot and brought her sword downward completely severing his arm from the shoulder. She didn't stop there, she removed her other blade from his chest and turned to his legs. Bringing both blades to her chest, she made a hacking scissor like cut to both of his knees, tearing through his Jeans and muscle followed with a sickening rip of tendon and bone.
"Urrghh.." Rivera forcefully uttered. He could feel the life slowly escape his body. Remorse cared none, Grabbing him by the hair, she dragged his motionless almost lifeless body and brought him to Chrysalis's feet. Remorse drove both her blades back into him like a slab of meat, and raised him forward eye to eye with Queen Chrysalis.
"You've proven yourself both useful and capable, you've managed to feed every last changeling here with awe in your demonstration of will, strength and courage. But, like every other champion, anyone who's ever been forced into your shoes, all die." The other four queens simply laughed at their sister's remark.
" You've also managed to provide quite a delicious meal, giving us every last emotion we needed to live off another day. If it's of any meaning to you, I give you my thanks." She said as she slowly pressed her lips against his cheek, almost as if rewarding him with a gentle kiss." It's not very often that i give my respects to one of you, seems only fair."
She took a step back, and brought the blade to his neck," Now...sleep." She said with a hostile grin as she brought the blade back before bringing it to a full swing.
The world spun quickly for a couple seconds before it halted, being forced to stare at the Queen's heels as I watched Rivera's mangled corpse fall to the floor as vision immediately failed afterwards. All I heard was the echo of her laughter die to a silence.
Alfredo woke from the vision as if he had awakened from a night terror, a cold sweat followed by quickened breaths. He looked over to Rivera seeing him retake his form who simply returned an emotionless expression as he tilted his head towards the robed figure.
"Thou hath made many allies and foes throughout thy lifetime thus far, yes?, but this time, thine finest hour, you'll need to make numerous allies for that is how thou shalt survive in this new world." She said removing the hood that had been concealing herself.
Alfredo's eyes widened at what had been revealed, an embodiment of a human being, no, a hybrid of sort. One whose hair danced softly without a breeze to be felt, a darkened radiance with a lavender outline spotted with constellations and stars within her hair. Her eyes, it seemed to be a trick of the light, but it seemed as if her eyes glowed a dark hue of blue and resting on top, an obsidian colored crystal crown!
"W-who are you?" He asked, completely astonished by the beauty that stood before him.
"I am Princess Luna, Goddess of the night." She said slightly bowing her head.
That's the moment Alfredo knew, he was brought here to accept his coming challenges, though as grim as it seemed, that didn't stop him from kneeling down to the acclaimed princess, same as every other living specter in that paradise. She placed a hand onto his head, he looked back to her," Now it's time." It took him a while to know what she meant, but he simply returned a nod, expecting what's been written in stone.
"Ask for cell 3, if you get roomed in on your own, look for a charred brick, and pry it with something sharp, you'll find some useful gear in there, only meant for one." Rivera said giving a hopeful smile.
It took a moment, before Alfredo was surrounded in a blanket of white, before it fully enveloped him. "Be wary, and make some friends, young warrior." Princess Luna spoke, before Alfredo came to his senses.
A sudden jolt shot through his limbs, all once again linking to his nervous system. He opened his eyes, barely seeing anything.
He felt as if he was laying on a bed made of cut hair feeling a thousand itches cover the left side of his body.
"Ugh...that was way too detailed to be a dream." Alfredo mumbled, bringing his palm to wipe the hay from his face. "Wait, hay?" He added pressing his weight against the makeshift bed lifting himself to a more elevated position noticing the others around him. 'yeah , hay.'
He brushed off the straws which clung to him by their ends, he hated the itchy sensation which pricked into his skin. The others same as he were in small heavily barred cages, not too small to where you couldn't move, but one where you couldn't kneel properly. By the looks of it, it was probably 7 foot by 4 by 3, length width and height that is.
He looked around and being the one in the cage farthest to the right of the room didn't give him much to gaze upon . The large room lit by lowly dimmed lanterns hanging from the ceiling provided poor amount of light but at least he was able to see through the bars. A heavy wooden door just adjacent to the right his holding cell. He turned his attention to his left noticing another male, probably early sixteens or so, waking him up would probably not be wise at the moment. So instead he looked down to himself gazing over his chest, it was expected for him but why?
He wasn't wearing his torn black tank nor the same jeans he had earlier, or was it earlier? He didn't have a shirt on to begin with and his jeans were replaced with tattered leather shorts held up by a thin rope.
Freddy passed his hand over his body feeling the thick stitching over the cuts and stabs that were previously dealt to him. Little to no pain was felt as he did so but the skin was rather darker around the wounds as if dyed with a light charcoal. " Now that looks infected." he sighed slumping to cage door
"Finally awake, huh?" A feminine voice said. Alfredo looked to the direction from where the voice came from and he saw one of the changeling sitting behind a desk simply looking over waving her hoof," Where, am I?" Alfredo said sitting up from the makeshift bed.
"You're in the pit, or in your case, your new home." Alfredo looked up to the being, similar to the one he saw through Rivera's eyes. Except this one was covered in a light black and blue plate armor. The large room lit by lowly dimmed lanterns which hung from the ceiling of every corner of the room.
"You know, you're actually the first to wake up, so you're uh…lemme see here.." She said going through her notes, flipping through the pages with her hooves, all of which of which seemed to have holes of various sizes no larger than a half dollar or smaller than a dime.
"Ah!, Alfredo Garcia. You know, you are preeeetty lucky to be alive ya know." She said returning a smile.
"Huh?" he questioned,"What do you mean by that?"
"The fact that you can still think accordingly after being out for hours is remarkable, also that you haven't been breathing for the past week up until now is far from a miracle to consider that you must have more than just horseshoes and four leaf clovers watching over ya." She continued making her way to the large cage, eyeing him head to waist.
"Was that supposed to be some sort of compliment?" Alfredo said, raising a brow looking over to the peppy creature.
"Ehh, something like that, but something about you strikes me odd though?" She said," Oh, and what might that be?" He asked returning a slightly agitated look, he didn't trust her one bit, how could he?, Her kind would soon bring his end.
"How are you not shocked or surprised at seeing me?, usually newcomers go bonkers the moment they get a glimpse at me, or the fact that you aren't home and in some creepy place?" She asked slightly puzzled.
"Hmm, you mean something like this?, ahem. OH MY GOD! WHAT ARE YOU SUPPOSED TO BE?! WHAT ARE YOU GOING TO DO TO ME?!, PLEASE! STAY AWAY FROM ME!...like that?" He yelled jokingly.
She giggled," Yeah, haha, like that." Returning a smile. Alfredo looked at the lock and then back at her." Mind letting me out now?" Freddy said grabbing the lock through the rusted bars.
"Sorry!, can't do that, well not until my superiors come." She said swaying her tail as she made her way back to her desk." Buuuuuut." she said returning a playful smirk
"But?" He questioned adjusting his position.
"I'm pretty sure we can work something out before anyone shows up." She said happily sticking her tongue out. Freddy didn't like this, knowing those words never led to anything good.
"How bout showing me some love and i'll let you out for a bit?" She said lightly tapping the tips of her hooves on her desk in an adorable fashion.
"Yeah...No can do, don't know your interests nor your intentions." He said focusing his vision to the wooden door to his right instead.
"Awwwwww, come on, it's a simple request, a little sugar never hurt anypony." She said resting her head on her hoof. Freddy looked back to her raising his brow," How bout I have your name and I'll consider it." He asked in complete disinterest.
"Alright Alfredo, the name's Firefly, guard and keeper of the lower pit, sooo, how bout it?" She said leaning towards him from her desk.
"Yeah, no, thing is, I can't bring myself to do that." Freddy said returning a kind smile. She made her way to the bars and placed herself within his line of sight," But you promised!" She said puffing her cheeks. "Noooo, I said I'd consider." He quickly answered. She slumped over the bars in an almost cat like fashion.
"C'mon Alfredo, don't be like that." She said sitting In front of him.
"Open the cage first." He continued.
"No."
"Yes."
"Nope
"Yeah.
"Nu-uh.
"Guess we're at an impasse then." He said turning his attention back to the door.
She admittedly felt defeated, she hadn't eaten in over a week, she needed to eat before she ran out of energy or worse." Alright you win!" Running to her desk, she brought a large key ring with her. She scrambled to unlock the door, but the keys were hard to hold on hoof." Gah!, gosh darn it! " She said almost angrily dropping the keys after failing over a dozen times.
"Here, let me see those." He said reaching for the absurdly large set of keys," Okay!, but no funny business." She said carefully taking a step back. Freddy swapping from key to key as each failed to unlock the cell door. Until finally, with a click he'd unlocked the door.
He crawled out and stretched, satisfyingly realigning his muscles.
Firefly eyed the being, slightly amazed by the humans toned features, strong legs, and the fading scars around his abs and pecs. But one thing did it for her though, it was his smile, it formed the moment he pulled his arm across his chest; relaxing his triceps. His warm smile seemed comforting yet stiff like a chilled Merlot. He looked over to her noticing she was staring, instead of saying anything he just went about himself. 'She doesn't seem to be a threat for now so why bother being on the defensive.' Alfredo thought.
"Okay!, Now for your end of the deal!" She quietly shouted stomping her hoof. Freddy looked over and made his way to the changeling who cautiously stepped back falling on her rump, he knelt. "So what is it that you meant by sugar?" he said pulling her front hooves, helping her back on her feet.
She looked at him with a slight amount of discomfort rethinking what she said earlier," What I meant by 'sugar' was a heartfelt nuzzle, one that is both close, no no!, VERY close and personal, that way, I can get the maximum amount of love from you without sacrificing comfort." She said in a matter of fact tone holding her head up high.
He couldn't make out what it was that she was really wanted, so instead, he threw out a suggestion before doing anything, better safe than sorry, right?
"Soooo, basically, you want to spoon?" He said placing his elbow over his knee. He noticed her head tilted to the side meaning she obviously never heard of the word used in that fashion.
It was quiet for a moment before Alfredo broke the silence," To put it simply, you want me to hug you from behind?" He clarified. Her head shot back followed by a mild blush, as she started to fiddle with her hooves,"Th-that's not what I had in mind but it may seem more efficient in receiving love, I m-mean it's not like you're planning on doing anything else...right?" Firefly asked still slightly flustered. Freddy walked over to her and sat himself just a foot away from her.
"*Sigh* Alright, let's get this over with." Freddy said laying her to her side,"W-wait!" She yelled covering her face," I d-don't think I'm comfortable with this.." she said looking over her shoulder making eye contact with Alfredo," Look, Firefly, I'm just doing what you asked me to do,don't worry i'm not gonna take advantage of you." He said returning a chuckle. Her eyes slightly covered by her hooves, hiding the growing pink glow that covered her darkened face."J-just do it then!"
'You know, now i'm not sure about this.' he thought as he laid himself next to her. The grey cobblestone floor was very cold considering he didn't have a shirt or his jeans, just the thin pair of brown leather shorts. He scooted himself closer bringing his arm over her in attempt to hug her, she shivered slightly not from the cold, but considering she was getting very nervous as his arm wrapped around her upper body.
'Mmm, H-he feels warm, this isn't so bad..' She hummed as his chest pressed against her back. Alfredo felt a slight tingling sensation imbue his chest, more specifically his heart.
"Say, you're not slowly killing me are you?" He said looking over her shoulder.
" Of course not , what you're feeling is acceptance, you're giving me love willingly therefore in turn you feel the amount expressed by the tingling sensation, but oddly enough, only you humans can feel this." She said looking back with a soft smile.
"What do you mean by that?, can't you guys feel the love given to you by others of your kind?"
He asked laying himself back down.
"You see, we can feel the emotion given off by another pony, but not another changeling, we changeling are, how you say, incapable of providing for one another." She added." The fact that we are only able to feed off the emotion of another pony or human is still odd, it doesn't even have to be expressed directly but the closer one is to a changeling while expressing a specific emotion, the more they are able to acquire from said individual."
"Wait, you feed off more than just love?, or what?" Alfredo questioned slightly confused as he looked over the details of her chitin.
"No of course not." She giggled," I only feed on love, i'm no hybrid. Thing is, there are more than one kind of changeling. There are actually five different kind of changeling, My Queen's are the ones that feed off love, Queen Amber's feed on The fears of one, Queen Remorse's feed on sadness, Queen Verine's drones feed off of pain, and lastly, Queen Cinder, she uh, she's quite the scary kind but her kind feed off on one's anger. In the arena though, there is bound to be a lot of that."
She finished with a slight trail of concern in her voice.
"Something wrong Firefly?, for a sec it sounded a bit as if you were worried." He said pulling her tightly to him.
"I dunno, maybe if there were more stallion, you guys wouldn't have to go through all this, you know?, it hurts, knowing that you never get to see any of your friends a third or fourth time." Firefly said turning herself completely over to face her donor.
"Thing is Firefly, i'm most likely never gonna see the ones I love now, so if anything, we're both on the same boat." He said booping her on the nose.
She giggled from the sentiment,'You know, I think this one is actually friendly, wouldn't hurt to consider her as a friend.' Alfredo sighed feeling her head nuzzle against his chin.
(Five minutes later)
Firefly gently broke the embrace slightly pressing her hoof against his chest," Aaaaah, that's much better!, It's been forever since I've felt this full." She cheered happily skipping over to her desk as Alfredo followed.
"If there is anything I can do to make your stay here any better, feel free to ask me, well, only in secret because then i'll get in big trouble if anyone finds out." She said looking at him with big worried eyes.
'God that's cute.' Alfredo looking down to her brilliant blue glowing eyes.
Alfredo made his way over to the opposite direction of her and rested both his hands on the solid wooden desk." Where are we going to be held?, to me this is crucial information Firefly, it would help me if you could have me assigned to a certain room if that's possible." Alfredo said giving off a change of attitude, Firefly looked left and right almost comical as if someone was there to begin with.
"Well, we would assign you each individual cells if that's what you're asking, Why?, you have a preference in location.?" She whispered. "Something like that, which cells are open as of now?" He asked leaning a bit closer to her," Uhhhh, all of them?" She said trying not to giggle, honestly she tried her hardest not to, in a way, it would only seem insulting to laugh knowing why the cells were currently vacant.
"Right...Well, by any chance have the cells already been assigned?" He said tapping his finger on the wood.
"Actually, they are only assigned when you guys are sent to the main level of the pit, then commander gives numbers from there, but if you want, I can see to it that you are put in the one you want!" Firefly said happily bouncing in her seat.
"Good, cuz I have a really good feeling 3 is going to be my best bet.".