Chapter 4: Battle against the Dead
Jupiter quickly found the ponies he was looking for. There were four of them, all ponies he had hoped never to see again. The older of them, an earth pony with a grey coat and a black mane, walked up to Jupiter and smiled a friendly smile that made Jupiter want to throw up.
"Well, hello Jupiter. It's been a while hasn't it? How are you doing?" Jupiter glared at the earth pony.
"Leave now Grey Hoof. Don't think I won't kill you, and if you harm Rose in any way, so help me-"Jupiter didn't get the chance to finish as Grey Hoof started laughing. "What's so god damned funny you son of a bitch?!"
"You think I'm just going to leave without my daughter? You as a father know what it feels like to lose your precious little baby girl. You do know that if an earthbound spirit like her dies a second time, they go straight to hell, right?" Jupiter's rage only grew with Grey Hoof's arrogance.
"Don't think for a second that I'll hand Mitta over to you, you sick fuck! And just for you pissing on my feelings as a father, I'm not letting you leave here in one piece!" Grey Hoof chuckled at Jupiter's threats.
"Now, you don't seriously think I'm just going to let you do what you want, do you?" Grey Hoof's body began changing. His hoofs turned into hands and feet and his body and head changed into that of a human with grey skin. "I've spent the last millennium as a Lord of the Dead, a being that's almost godlike in power. What can you possibly-"He didn't get the chance to finish as Jupiter launched himself at him.
Jupiter grabbed Grey Hoof around his waist and took off into the air. He entered a back flip and when he started descending, he threw Grey Hoof into the ground with enough force to make a crater and blew away the ponies that had come with Grey Hoof. Jupiter kept picking up speed as he kept descending and pulled back his fist. He struck Grey hoof as he made impact with the ground and the dirt shot up.
Before the dirt had fallen down, Jupiter was sent flying by Grey Hoof kicking him into the air. Jupiter spread out his wings and almost instantly stopped, only to be hit by a beam of darkness from Grey Hoof. Grey Hoof jumped towards Jupiter and uppercutted him in the stomach.
Jupiter grabbed Grey Hoof's arm by the wrist and elbow and twisted his body so he was in a horizontal angle with his legs behind Grey Hoof. He then kicked him in the back of the head, sending Grey Hoof into the ground. Jupiter brought his hands together above his head and thrust them down and fired a beam of light and darkness that hit Grey Hoof and caused a powerful explosion.
Jupiter descended and walked to the crater. Grey Hoof slowly got up and glared at Jupiter. Then, he smiled a sadistic smile and started chuckling. The chuckles soon turned into maniacal laughter.
"What the hell is so funny now?" Jupiter asked as he glared down Grey Hoof. Grey Hoof stopped laughing and pointed to the horizon. When Jupiter looked at it, he saw the moon rising. When he turned back, Grey Hoof's body had become completely black. His teeth turned into fangs and his eyes stared glowing red. A pair of skeletal wings shot out of his back and a horn of bone shot out of his head. "Well… fuck"
They both flew up into the air. There, Grey Hoof launched another beam of darkness at Jupiter that generated a powerful explosion that could be heard all the way to the Crystal Empire. Jupiter fell head first to the ground and when he tried to stand up, Grey Hoof dropkicked him, sending the dirt flying and forming a huge crater. He picked up Jupiter by the neck and punched him in the face, generating a shockwave that scattered the dust away and sent Jupiter flying. Grey Hoof appeared behind Jupiter and did a spin kick that sent Jupiter flying back towards the crater where Grey Hoof again dropkicked him, sending him back into the crater that became even deeper.
"So this is the power of the mighty Jupiter? I honestly can't see what Mitta saw in you." Jupiter slowly got up and grabbed his arm that had become dislocated, and popped it back into place.
"You know, I ask the same thing sometimes." He said before launching himself at Grey Hoof. Grey Hoof put his arms up, ready to block a blow to the gut. Jupiter flapped his wings, elevating him so his knee struck Grey Hoof's head. He placed his hands on Grey Hoof's head and spun around and kneed Grey Hoof in the back. He kept the motion going and lifted Grey Hoof of the ground with his leg and threw him, causing Grey Hoof to roll into a tree. He stood up and Jupiter punched him in the stomach hard enough to break through his skin. Grey Hoof hunched over and threw up blood and Jupiter grabbed his head and smashed it against the tree several times. Grey Hoof suddenly started chuckling. "What's so fucking funny now?" Grey Hoof kept chuckling.
"We're exactly the same, aren't we?" Jupiter raised an eyebrow. "Just think about it, we both have no problem to destroy what gets in our way. And we would both do anything for our family." Jupiter glared at Grey Hoof as his chuckling evolved into laughter.
"You really think I give a rat's hairy ass about how similar we are?" Grey Hoof stopped laughing and stared at Jupiter in shock. Jupiter simply started to grin. "What, you didn't seriously think you could affect me like that? Let me tell you a secret." Jupiter leaned in to Grey Hoof's ear. "I'm more of a psychopath than you." Jupiter then pulled Grey Hoof away from the tree and smashed him back into it with enough force to break the tree. Then, he grabbed Grey Hoof's horn with his free hand and broke it off. Grey Hoof screamed in pain and Jupiter stabbed Grey Hoof with his own horn in his left eye. He threw Grey Hoof on the ground and stomped the horn deeper in his head.
Grey Hoof grabbed Jupiter's leg with both of his hands. Then, the ponies that had come with Grey Hoof jumped at Jupiter. Jupiter spread his wings and razor sharp wind cut them into pieces. Then he pointed his hand at Grey Hoof with his palm facing the undead pony. A combination of light and dark energy began gathering in his hand that he shot Grey Hoof with.
The blast that it generated was strong enough to be heard to The Republic of Dragons. There, the President was sitting in the congress building when the explosion was heard. He looked up from the papers and smiled.
"So, you finally made your move Jupiter." He then went back to work.
Back in Utopia, Jupiter was sucking in the energy that was released from Grey Hoof's dying body. Grey Hoof's red eyes flickered in and out and he could hardly speak. The final stream of energy was sucked into Jupiter and he turned to leave.
"Wait" Grey Hoof managed to get out. Jupiter stopped and looked down on him. "How… how can… you…" Jupiter smiled a sadistic smile.
"You really want to know?" He asked. Grey Hoof barely managed to nod his head. Jupiter leaned in close and whispered to him. "You might have power similar to a god, but I was born from one." Grey Hoof stared at Jupiter as the red light in his eyes died out and the last thing he saw before his body nearly instantly rotted away was Jupiter's mocking and sadistic smile.
Jupiter stood up and kept smiling at the rotten corpse of Grey Hoof until something hit him.
"Shit, Mitta!" He took off, not noticing the grey coated pony with glowing eyes smiling at him before she disappeared into thin air.
When Jupiter reached the balcony he had taken off from, he immediately rushed to Mitta. When he got there, he saw that while she had changed due to the curse, she was still hiding under the blanket. He smiled and walked up to the bed.
"It's ok Mitta, it's just me." Mitta slowly peeked out from under the blanket. When she saw Jupiter, she stood up, letting the blanket fall of her body. Jupiter's smile faltered when he saw her cursed body with red eyes, black coat and blood red mane and tail. He walked up to her and stroked her head. Mitta leaned into his hand and Jupiter embraced her. "Sorry I took so long dear." Mitta proceeded to nuzzle Jupiter as she cried.
"Is… is he gone?" She asked, the fear she felt clear as day. Jupiter pulled back and kissed her forehead.
"Yeah, he won't bother anyone anymore." Mitta smiled and went back to nuzzling Jupiter. Mitta eventually pulled back and looked at Jupiter with longing in her eyes.
"What have you been doing all these years? You seem so different." Jupiter smiled and sat down next to her and wrapped a wing around her.
"Where to begin?" Mitta looked at Jupiter with a smile.
"Luna already told me some of the things that have happened, like how you founded your own country and the war with Equestria." Jupiter looked at Mitta and smiled and proceeded to nuzzle her head. Afterwards, Mitta looked at him with a sad look. "Why did you ban equines?" Mitta regretted asking him as she saw how his gaze hardened.
"I had to protect myself." Mitta simply looked at him with confusion. "After Luna became Nightmare Moon and was banished by Celestia, Caelus came to the castle. Celestia told him that I had corrupted Luna, and he believed her, probably didn't help that he hated me with a passion, and he attacked me. I hardly got away with my life. He sent out soldiers to find me so I ran away from Equestria. After about a hundred years I founded Utopia. Utopia was involved in several wars for about 300 years and there forth was of no interest for Caelus. When the wars stopped, I put a ban on equines to prevent Caelus and Celestia from finding me. It wasn't until recently that I learned that Cealus had vanished and Luna had returned." Mitta looked at Jupiter, unsure what to think. Jupiter quickly read her mind and found her thoughts in total disarray. He smiled and embraced her. "But now's not the time to think about that. We need to focus on the future." He pulled back and lightly stroked her cheek. "Our future." Mitta leaned up and kissed him. They stayed like that for a while until Jupiter sensed a presence he hadn't sensed in a long time.
"Now where is it I ended up now? I swear it's been getting harder and harder controlling this teleportation the last few weeks. I haven't even been able to puff into the castle." Jupiter and Mitta looked at Discord as he appeared in the room. Mitta then looked at Jupiter and saw anger in his eyes that she hadn't seen since he placed the curse on Sunny Town for Grey Hoof having the town kill their daughter.
Discord noticed the high level of killing intent and turned to look at whatever was emitting it and froze when he saw Jupiter. "Jupiter! He, he, hey, how've you been? I haven't seen you around." He said nervously. Jupiter clenched his jaw and launched himself at the god of chaos.
"Discord!"