Even though Bravado hated Sebastius Mareton more than he hated anypony, their fates were inalterably bound at the moment. So he couldn't help but have a feeling of sinking dread when Doctor Zerato arrived.
And for the first time ever, he found himself wishing Sebastius Mareton the best of luck.
Sebastius picked up the fallen ice dagger and pointed it at Doctor Zerato. It looked puny next to the battle axe, not to mention that it would be no good for blocking. The blade was so sharp that the battle axe would cleave right through it and still strike Sebastius Mareton.
"Stah awah frm meh!" Sebastius growled through gritted teeth.
"Yet another reason why us horned equines are superior!" Doctor Zerato said, making a dramatic gesture with one hoof. "You see how I can both wield an enormous battle axe and deliver monologues, while you-"
Sebastius threw the dagger at Doctor Zerato.
Doctor Zerato ducked with a small shout. The dagger flew right past him towards Bravado.
Bravado cried out and swerved his head to one side, and the ice dagger embedded itself in the stretcher up to the hilt.
Sebastius rolled his eyes at Bravado briefly and then skipped aside to dodge a swing from the battle axe.
Well, that was Sebastius' only weapon gone. How was he supposed to defeat a unicorn now? He'd only managed to kill Deborah Nagridge through the element of surprise, and the fact that he'd slipped a magic-inhibiting potion into Nagridge's tea a few minutes before.
Oh, wait.
Bravado twisted his head and managed to grab the ice dagger with his teeth. It came out easily, and he went to work on his leather straps. They all parted easily. Now it was two against one.
Had Sebastius missed his throw on purpose?
Made sense. Sebastius usually had eerily good aim. Bravado had seen him throw the Golden Ring of Fire, Frisbee style, past three rotating blades, between two crushing walls, and onto an impossibly tiny spire several yards away, where it came to rest. Even Daring would have been hard pressed to make a similar throw with her hat.
Bravado passed the dagger to the guard on the stretcher next to him. Then he leapt onto Doctor Zerato's back rodeo style.
With a flash of light, Bravado found himself teleported up in the air, where telekinesis bashed him against the ceiling again and again.
Okay, that hadn't exactly been his most brilliant idea.
"You idiot!" Sebastius Mareton shouted from the ground.
Green telekinesis grabbed Sebastius and started shaking him back and forth.
"No, Sebastius, you are the idiot," Doctor Zerato said.
From his vantage point on the ceiling, Bravado could see the one guard cut himself loose, then quickly turn his partner free also.
"I offered you everything!" Doctor Zerato said. "Wings! A horn! Ultimate power!"
Half the ponies were freed from their stretchers now.
"And you rejected me!" Doctor Zerato continued. "Why? For stating a simple fact! For attempting to empathize with your plight!"
All the ponies on stretchers had been cut loose. They arranged themselves behind Doctor Zerato, arming themselves with various scapulas and daggers lying around.
Sebastius slammed into the ceiling next to Bravado. He laughed slightly. "Do you think that hurt?" he demanded. "I've endured far worse things than that in the past few days alone!"
"Oh, but the point of the exercise certainly isn't to hurt you," Doctor Zerato said. "Nothing of the sort. I will go through with my experiment. But before that…"
A guard had freed the creatures in the cages. Both of them loomed over Doctor Zerato, but he was too focused on Bravado and Sebastius to notice.
"Do you have any last words?" Doctor Zerato asked.
"Nope!" Sebastius said cheerfully. "What about you?"
Doctor Zerato blinked.
A pony standing behind Doctor Zerato seized him by the shoulders and spun him around to face his enraged, liberated victims.
Doctor Zerato just stared at them in horror.
And then they fell on him.
The spider pony struck at Doctor Zerato with his talons. Ponies hacked at him with their knives. The legless griffin, held in the air by the long necked pony, struck with his beak.
"Ha, did you catch that, Bravado?" Sebastius asked, turning to look at his brother. "His last words were 'Do you have any last words'! Ahaha, I've always wanted to do that!"
The telekinesis holding Bravado and Sebastius in the air started to fizzle.
"Guys?" Bravado asked, but the ponies on the ground were too busy getting their revenge to pay attention. Bravado slowly came away from the ceiling. Then he started free fall.
But just as he began to fall towards the floor that was littered plentifully with sharp objects, he felt a pair of wings brush past him.
Right past him.
Bravado hit the ground and felt something sharp penetrate his chest. He lifted up and looked at it. Sure enough, he'd just stabbed himself with a dagger close to where the heart was.
Daring Do gave a cry of dismay. Bravado flipped onto his back. Daring was fluttering near the ceiling, with Sebastius Mareton clinging to her.
"Sorry, Bravado!" Daring Do cried. "I was aiming for you!"
"Much… appreciated," Bravado gasped. "But how…?"
"Swinn and Dell," Daring said, descending to the ground. "Sebastius, let go of me this instant."
"Why?" Sebastius said. "Not having fun?"
"All right, break it up," Storm Talon said, waving his claws at the ponies mobbing Doctor Zerato. "I think it's safe to say that he's (censored) dead, all right? So find a less (censored) pastime!"
"Who are you?" the horned zebra asked.
"Oh, Daring, Storm Talon," Azure Lightning said, his face lighting up in recognition. "Hello again!"
"What happened to your wings?" Daring Do asked, shoving Sebastius aside once they were on the ground.
"They, they…" Azure Lightning's eyes widened in horror. "Aureli!" He fled the room, grabbing a vial of potion as he went.
"Bravado," Storm Talon said, leaning over the gray earth pony. "(Censored), that wound doesn't look good…"
"I'll be fine," Bravado said.
"No you won't; you're dying!" Daring Do said. "Sheesh. Here, Swinn and Dell explained about the… about the…"
A clattering sound caught her attention. Both she and Bravado looked at Doctor Zerato's body. When the ponies had backed away, something had fallen out of his lab coat. It was a silver cup that gleamed with an eerie blue light.
"What." Daring said.
"That's the Miracle Chalice!" Sebastius screamed. "How the hay did it get here?"
"Oh, I found that old thing a long time ago," Bravado said casually. "And I sold it to Doctor Zerato because I had been desperate for cash at the time and his was the best price I could find at short notice. Really wished I could have gotten a higher price, but the government wanted a bribe right then and there…"
"I should have figured," Sebastius grumbled. "No wonder Doctor Zerato had those super special healing potions. He's been making them with this thing. And I should have realized that." He huffed angrily.
"You found the Miracle Chalice already?" Storm Talon shrieked. "We've been wasting all our (censored) time in this (censored) country?"
"Sorry, I didn't know you were looking for it," Bravado said. "It's not like the Miracle Chalice is the only treasure in the Ko-Mara temple."
"But you could have told us at some point!" Daring shouted.
"Oh, are archeologists supposed to tell each other when they have an adventure?" Bravado said. "Then I wish you'd told me about Krastos before I'd woken up in his flesh eating termite farm!" He winced. Screaming made his chest hurt more.
"I thought Krastos was dead!" Daring Do said. "But that stupid doctor- this chalice has a limited number of charges! We could have lost the formula for this potion forever!"
The spider pony whimpered. "But… but…"
"What about us?" the legless griffin finished.
Daring paused. "Well, well…"
"Come with us to Equestria," Storm Talon said. "The doctors there work all kinds of magic, literally."
Daring Do nodded. "And we only need one or two samples of the potion anyway. I'm sure we can make it work okay."
"I'm sure Princess Celestia will agree to prosecute Doctor Zerato if the Marabian guards are still (censored) scared of him," Storm Talon said. "He's harassed Equestrian citizens now. So let's bring that (censored) doctor to justice. Along with Sebastius…" He looked around the room.
Sebastius was nowhere to be seen.
"Stupid, stupid, stupid," Storm Talon hissed.
"D-daring?" Bravado said.
"Oh, my gosh, what am I thinking of?" Daring said, crouching next to Bravado. "Quick, bring me a vial…"
"N-no, that's not it," Bravado said. "Daring, let me die."
"No!" Daring Do cried, wrapping her hooves around Bravado's neck. Tears appeared in her eyes.
"I d-don't mean… forever," he said. "Silly." He smiled at her. "Just for half an hour…" His vision blurred, and he closed his eyes slightly. "I want to see my dad again," he whispered.
His breathing stopped. A second later, he floated free of his body as a little white ghost again.
The ghost of a young mare materialized before him and gasped. "Rodolphus! Come quick!"
"Well?" Daring said when Bravado opened his eyes again.
Bravado shook himself a bit, getting used to the sensation of having legs once more. He was in the same room, but it was now mostly empty; some of Doctor Zerato's victims had fled, while those who had been more mutilated were waiting outside. Storm Talon had started to work out travel arrangements while Bravado had been dead. Doctor Zerato had been revived, given a bit of potion to suppress his magical powers, and locked in one of his own cages for transport. The only creatures left in the room at the moment were Daring Do, Storm Talon, and the young pegasus fillies, the latter of which were busy polishing the Miracle Chalice.
"I… I have a question first, Daring."
"What?"
Bravado took a deep breath. This was going to sound silly.
"As a pony who's died and been told that he was going to hell…" He gulped. "How do you get to heaven?"
Daring didn't answer for a moment, then looked to Storm Talon for help. Both Daring Do and Storm Talon were Christians, although Storm Talon was rather unconventional on that front.
"That old song and dance that I'm sure you've heard before," Storm Talon said. "First, admit that you're a sinner in need of salvation. Then, trust that Jesus Christ can save you from your sins. Then, pray and accept him into your heart. I'm sure you've heard it seventeen thousand times."
"But is that it?" Bravado said. "You don't… well, Daring doesn't act like regular ponies. I mean… d'oh, what else do I have to do? Go to church? Celebrate Christmas instead of Hearth's Warming? What else does God want?"
"Nothing," Daring Do said. "Well, not exactly. It's like being in love. If you're in love with somepony, you don't say things like 'So how many dates do I have to take you on before we count as boyfriend and girlfriend?'"
"Reading the Bible and going to church is a good start," Storm Talon said. "Things'll clear up. But I have to say that God probably doesn't want you to stop what you're doing. You've helped many ponies in ways you may never fully understand. God just wants you to do it for his glory, not your own. It's God who made you strong."
It was weird hearing Storm Talon talk without using a bunch of swear words. But preaching the gospel and using vulgar language seemed contradictory.
"O…okay…" Bravado said. "So… right here, right now?"
"Sure," Daring said. "We can help."
Bravado sat up and folded his hooves into a praying position. He closed his eyes.
"I don't know what to say," he said.
"It doesn't matter," Storm Talon said. "Just so long as you're talking to God, not to us."
Bravado searched his heart.
"Um, God… I know I never thought I needed you before… and I know I've made some stupid mistakes, but I've tried my best to be good on my own… but that isn't good enough." He gritted his teeth briefly. "And I feel like right now I'm only doing this so that I won't go to hell… but I need you, and, I've seen the things you've done for creatures like Daring and Storm Talon and my mom, and so… if you want my life, I guess you can have it, because… I'd like to see if you have some magic left over for me." He smiled. "I'm sorry for all the bad things I've done. They were wrong and I'm sorry. I believe that Jesus is real and can save me from my sins. And I'm ready to accept your gift." He bowed his head a bit deeper, then looked up. "Well?"
"Amen," Daring said, hugging Bravado tightly. "Wow, Bravado. This is amazing."
"Yeah…" Bravado sighed. "I am so going to visit my Mom after this."
"Ruby will be real happy to hear it," Storm Talon said.
"Oh! Speaking of which!" Bravado rearranged into a more comfortable position. "I have messages for you all from Rodolphus and this other pony."
"What?" Storm Talon said.
"When I was dead for several minutes just then, my dad's ghost came and visited me. Him and this other ghost, an earth pony mare. I didn't know her and she didn't really have time to give her name. They were both frantically telling me things before it was too late. And I had to reassure my dad that I'd talk to you about salvation. He was pretty upset about that part."
"What did they say?" Daring Do asked.
"Let's see… well, there was a bunch of stuff Rodolphus wanted me to tell my mom, of course, and then he said 'Tell Storm Talon that I miss it when he calls me Rhody.'"
"He said that?" Storm Talon said, shocked. "But he hated that nickname! I stopped calling him that out of respect for the dead, and now he wants me to take it up again?"
"And then the pretty mare said…" Bravado turned towards Daring. "She said 'Tell Daring that it isn't her fault'."
Daring Do blinked. "Wait, what did she look like?"
"I couldn't really tell you exactly," Bravado said. "She didn't have any color; none of us did. But she had a short, cute mane and a cowpony hat."
Daring gasped and tears appeared in her eyes. "Zapapple Tock."
"Who?" Bravado said.
"Daring's best friend when she was little," Storm Talon said.
"But she was a Tock?" Bravado asked, remembering the vengeful Winchester Tock he'd met earlier.
"Just continue the story. I'll tell you later," Storm Talon said.
"And then Rodolphus…" Bravado hesitated. "He said 'Tell Daren… actually, tell all the Do family…'"
"Yes?" Daring Do asked, recognizing the message for her father and her family.
Bravado shrugged. "He… he couldn't finish. He just suddenly burst into tears."
"What?" Daring and Storm Talon said.
"And that girl… Zapapple… she wrapped her front wisps around him and rocked him back and forth, whispering 'It's okay' and then Rodolphus said 'No, it isn't okay. It's my fault. It's all my fault.' And then, well, you woke me up." Bravado looked regretful.
Storm Talon and Daring didn't say anything. They just looked horrified.
"What?" Bravado said. "Does that mean something to you?"
"There are no tears in heaven," Daring said slowly.
Bravado felt cold. So this was all a lie? He'd just made a fool of himself praying to a nonexistent God to go to a place that didn't exist?
Then he remembered something.
"Wait, wait, wait," he said. "Sebastius specifically asked Rodolphus- not now, after we died in the prison theater- if the afterlife was the way Rodolphus had always said it was. And Rodolphus said it was. And I don't think he was lying."
"Rodolphus was a horrible liar," Storm Talon said thoughtfully.
"But he's not in heaven," Daring Do said. "And yet he can't have been wrong about how to get to heaven…"
"Maybe he isn't dead?" Bravado said.
Storm Talon stared at him incredulously. "Except for the fact that we did, indeed, find the body, and it was half rotten, I'd almost be willing to consider that."
"I know this sounds unbelievable, but I've been wondering about it for a while. When we were in the prison theater, Sebastius and I both died, and so did two guards. I became a ghost and so did Sebastius, but the guards didn't. And when the ponies here were talking about when Doctor Zerato killed them, they described death as feeling different to them than it had to me and Sebastius. So… maybe this is some kind of spell we don't understand?"
"That's really weird," Daring said. "I'd have to ask Tabby about it…"
"One of the guards thought it might be a family curse," Bravado said.
"A what?" Storm Talon said, recognition in his eyes.
"A… family curse?" Bravado said.
There was a pause. Storm Talon looked thoughtful
"Bravado," Storm Talon said, "did you, by any chance, see this other ghost when you were dead? A huge earth pony with a spiky mane-"
"Winchester Tock?" Bravado said.
"Yes! You saw him?"
"Yeah, after we died in the prison theater."
"What was he like?" Storm Talon asked. "Did he say anything about me or Daren or anything?"
"Oh, well, he was too busy attacking Sebastius with a huge scythe to make good conversation."
"Oh." Storm Talon leaned back. "Makes (censored) sense, I guess."
"Yeah, I was wondering how a pony so violent could have a relative that was Daring's best friend," Bravado said.
"Winchester wasn't always (censored) like that!" Storm Talon snapped. "He just started sliding… and… and none of us (censored) noticed in time to stop him." He sighed.
"But how did you know he'd be there?" Bravado said.
"Oh, well… did we ever tell you about the Great Intellect?"
"That… creature that was holding Daren Do prisoner all these years?" Bravado said. "Yeah, I remember what little you told me of him…"
"Well, the (censored) Great Intellect had been worshipped as a god for a long time up in the north," Storm Talon said. "And where there are (censored) gods, there are temples; where there are temples, there are magical artifacts; and where there are magical artifacts… there are archeologists. When I was younger, and Daren, Rodolphus, Winchester, Ghoul and I were a team of archeologists together, we investigated one of those censored temples. Well, Rodolphus and Winchester both picked up a (censored) cursed artifact at the same time and got hit with a (censored) powerful spell… nearly killed them. So we sorta left immediately and rushed them to a hospital without actually bringing any (censored) treasure back, but that wasn't important. They lived, and the (censored) curse seemed mostly gone, except that they still had this mark on their hooves…" Storm Talon picked up Daring's forehoof and rubbed the part of it below the knee. "On the front, there. Sometimes it wasn't visible, sometimes it would suddenly act up and the (censored) mark would reappear and the pony it reappeared on would feel (censored) pain. Roudolphus said it was a feeling so cold that it crossed over from feeling like fire…"
"…back to feeling like cold again," Bravado said in awe. "That's what Winchester's scythe did- what touching the blade felt like."
"Really?"
"And… hold on, I have a mark there, too," Bravado said. "I mean, you can't see it. It only becomes visible when I'm standing in temperatures below zero, which, of course, I don't do very often." Both Storm Talon and Daring Do knew full well that Bravado hated the cold.
"Sebastius also has one," Daring said. "I saw it in that mansion, when we were fighting over the Shadow Heart gem and it was changing the room around us to try and make us go away. The Shadow Heart turned the room into the Arctic for a moment, and I saw a mark."
"Stop!" Storm Talon said. "This is too (censored) much! You mean that Rodolphus Mareton and Winchester Tock are still alive?"
"And Zapapple Tock?" Daring Do said.
"Well, as best as I can follow this conversation…" Bravado said. "Well… yes."
The silence that followed wasn't that silent. Bravado could almost hear the mental gears ticking.
"Wait until we tell Daren," Storm Talon said.
"We need to learn more about the Great Intellect," Daring Do said. "We didn't search hard enough last time."
"We're going to be busy," Bravado said thoughtfully.
"What? Are you coming?" Daring Do asked. Even though Daring and Bravado were very good friends, they rarely went on adventures together. They would always turn into silent competitions.
"Of course I'm coming," Bravado said. "He's my dad."
