Credit where needed: I had a friend help me with Chapter 13 A and B, so the writing style is different. However, even though he typed it out, i approved the work. A little heads up, it's quite confusing at first, but it makes scenes after you read it.
Chapter 13A: Pen Mightier Than The Sword
On a train heading towards Canterlot, Castigate had his right foreleg elbow rested on the side of the window. He watched as his units fill the streets of Baltimare. A smirk formed on his muzzle as he looked at the seat a few feet with him. A brown suitcase was laid on top of the red cushions while leaning to the side on a wooden wall. He flipped his mane to the side and hopped off the seat, then started heading towards the door. Once he got to the door, he closed it so no pony could bother him. Going back to his seat and sitting in his usual position, he couldn't believe how easy it was to take over two cities in one day. He didn't need to waste a second in doing so as he got two of the leaders of the cities to surrender.
'Is everything ready, Blue Asphyx?'
'Yes, sir, we have everything set up.'
'Good, now let's see if those rats can stop me now. Let's proceed as plan.'
'I'm not sure it would be a good idea, sir. What if it doesn't?'
'Don't worry, it will. My ways in winning are always successful. We will both get out of this alive.'
Castigate slowly closed his eyes falling asleep. As darkness engulfed his vision, the sound of the moving train faded away. His hearing dubbed out the roaring engine and raised the sound of his heartbeat. Soon, the heartbeat began to fade away leaving only silence to take over. When he opened his eye, he could hear a strong ringing noise echoing through his eardrums as crumble stones and rocks laid by his side. Getting up from the mud beneath him, he looked around feeling dizzy and confused. A group of resistance up ahead in a barricaded fort were firing magical blasts of water at his units. To his side, a cloak pony was grabbed him and started dragging him to the side as he watched his own men get hit by the blasts of water.
Looking up at the pony that was dragging him was young looking stallion. His hood fell off revealing his dirty green coat and black mane and also his faded blue eyes. The stallion's mouth moved up and down while looking ahead but Castigate couldn't hear those words for the ringing noise dubbed out all of the other noises around him. He could see dangling lanterns from the ceilings and pipes leading straight and back. He closed his eyes allowing the darkness to take over his vision again, but in return the ringing noise stopped and allowed the other noises around him to slowly come back to him.
"Barricade that door!" The young stallion yelled laying Castigate on top of a wooden table. Around him were medics treating other injure soldiers.
Two ponies closed a steel door leading into their large room which looked somewhat like a Custodian lounge. The stallion that pulled Castigate all the way to the room glanced at his fallen commander.
"We need a medic!" He yelled after spotting a large piece of rebar lodged in the side of his stomach.
Blood slide down the sides of the wound as Castigate was breathing slowly at a dangerous rate.
"Where can I get a dang medic!" He yelled grabbing the rebar and Casitgate's chest, trying to ease down his breathing.
"I'm here, is that the commander?" A medic guard asked.
"Yeah, help me get this out of his stomach." He said grabbing the sides of the rebar as the medic quickly held down Castigate's shoulders.
"Ready?" He said, looking at the medic who nodded his head.
When the stallion pulled the rebar out he quickly dropped the bloody metal and pressed his hooves against the commander's wound. Castigate, held down by the medic, yelled out in pain before coughing out blood.
"Quick, we need to stop the bleeding." He said as the medic let go of Castigate and took out a blanket from under the table.
He quickly pressed against the bleeding wound and looked at the stallion.
"We need to disinfect the wound before it gets infected. Hold him down for me as I applied the alcohol." The medic said.
The stallion nodded his head and quickly trotted behind Castigate and held down his shoulders.
"W-what happened?" Castigate asked in an agonized tone.
"You can't talk now, save your breath and worry about breathing." The stallion said as the medic poured alcohol into a clean towel and removed the blood soaked one.
He pressed it against Castigate's wound causing another yell to escape his mouth.
"Just hang in there, we stopped the bleeding, now we need to disinfect the wound."
"It freaking hurts!" He yelled trying his best not to move.
"I know." The stallion said as the medic removed the towel.
He glanced at the stallion and smirked.
"I am going to sew up the wound, just hang in there commander, we are almost done." The medic said laying the towel down.
He took out a sew and needle and carefully attach the dark strings to the needle's loophole. As he started sewing the wound up, Castigate breathing started relaxing as the pain was residing. His wound was numb by the alcohol.
"What happened?" He asked slowly taking careful breaths.
The stallion glanced at him and sighed.
"As we were proceeding to the mayor's building through underground. It appeared that they knew of our plans and had us ambushed. They blew up passage behind us and the explosion trapped most of our troops on the other side who were now left to fend for themselves. The passage we were on was probably worse than theirs. They had a fortified barricade ahead of the sewers and were gunning out our soldiers left and right. The water knocked a lot of them out. For you, you were hit hard by a blast of magic knocking you back into some debris. That's where you got that piece of metal lodged into your stomach."
"How...the plan was well made. How did those fools figure it out?" He asked shocked.
"Trust me, I don't know. I wish I did though." The stallion said.
"Sir, the wound is done. I suggest you be carried out through the exit to the hospital, the exit back to the sewers aren't looking so good." The medic said after he finished the final piece to sealing the wound up.
"Darn it, alright Blue, can you carry me out of here?" Castigate asked.
"Yeah, medic, get as much soldiers as you can and tell them to fall back. After that, destroy this room and our escape passage. We don't need any followers as it is." Blue said looking at the young silver coat green eye medic.
The medic looked back and frowned.
"Negative, I'm sorry sir." He said causing shocked expressions to form upon their muzzles.
"What do you-
"What I mean sir is...we are going to hold them back. Even if we destroy the passage, they will know where to find you. We will hold them down to the end." The medic said.
Castigate looked left and right at his fellow soldiers who gave him the same expressional answer the medic gave. They were not leaving, they were going to stay and fight, providing time for him to escape to safety.
"You are all crazy, you know that right?" Castigate asked smirking.
"We know that, sir, now go, we will hold them down." The medic said as Blue lifted Castigate upon his back.
"May Darkfire's honor be bestowed upon you all for your courageous valor." Castigate said as Blue got to the exit.
"No, sir, Lord Darkfire's honor won't mean anything to us, it is your safety and honor that makes us want to fight. It's been an honor." The medic said closing the steel door.
Blue lowered his head before looking up ahead at the dark tunnel passage ahead of him.
"Hang on, sir." He said as Castigate nodded his head, holding tight to his neck.
Castigate continued to look back at the steel door that was becoming too small to see. Eventually, the darkness shrouded him and his vision but the sound of hooves running on water was heard.
"We need to end this now, I need to figure out who gave these rats intel on my plan and we need to find the mayor and force him if necessary to surrender." Castigate said as he struggled standing on to the ground while holding onto the side of the bed.
They finally made it to hospital and while that, blew up the passage behind them. Right now, they were inside an engine room. A few soldiers guarded the entrance while Blue helped Castigate walk towards the large map of the city pinned to a bulletin board.
"Right now, we need to know how we are going to win with a wound like that." Blue said, setting him down by the side of the wall.
"I'll be alright for a week. I just need to not run a lot." Castigate said patting his wound gently.
"So, who do you think betrayed us?" Blue asked sitting down next to him. He took out a cigarette from his cloak pocket and a lighter. Flicking the lighter, he lighted up the cigarette and took whiff. Castigate looked at him shocked.
"What are you doing?" He asked abruptly.
"Smoking a cig." Blue answered calmly.
"You shouldn't smoke that here." He said.
"And?" Blue asked looking at him with an apathetic expression. "I haven't smoke in two weeks during this operation, so lay off." He said taking another exhilaration from the cig.
Castigate sighed looking up at the ceiling.
"We are so close." He said looking at Blue smiling.
"Are we?" He asked looking at the ceiling.
"What do you mean?" Castigate asked looking at him confused.
"Are you okay, sir?" One of the guards asked causing Castigate to look at him surprised.
"Yeah, just a wound, nothing to worry about." He answered as the guard look at him worried before turning back and proceeding back to his regular position.
"Time is wasting away, soon the cold will brush over and our chances in taking over this city would be impossible. These ponies are the masters of the cold night. After all, this is by far one of the cities called-."
"I know, I think I have an idea." Castigate said causing Blue to look at him with an expression of amusement.
"And what is this plan?" He asked.
"The rooftops, they are all consistent on staying in the sewers and streets that they are not aware of their rooftops being open. If we can travel two clicks to the north, we could reach the mayor's building." Castigate said smirking.
"That way, not only will we be able to take over Baltimare, we will be able to take over Fillydelphia because the mayor from that city is there. It is nice how we interrupted a national holiday for those two cities." Blue said squishing the cigarette to the ground. He got up and helped Castigate up. "So...what are we waiting for, sir, do you need my help getting you over the rooftops?"
"Yeah, if we encounter some that aren't that far away from the rooftop that we are standing on, I could jump across there. Just make sure you catch me just in case I slip." Castigate said, earning a soft chuckle from Blue.
"I'll be sure not to have you slip from my grasp." He said helping him towards the exit.
"Hopefully this plan would not fail like the last one." Castigate muttered.
Castigate's eyes suddenly open feeling cold air brush through his coat. He looked left and right panicking as he fell to his side. It was raining outside and he was on the ground covered in bruises. Next to him was the ceiling window that led inside to the office room of the mayor. But as Castigate struggle getting up from the ground he glanced to his left seeing a large bulky stallion with a jet black color main and dark eyes standing over Blue, beating him senseless by swinging his hoof left and right colliding it towards the sides of his face. Blue was unable to defend himself as he coughed out blood from his beaten face.
"B-Blue..." Castigate muttered holding on to the side of the ledge of the building before he ran towards the large pony, tackling him to the ground. But the tackle caused them to slide on the wet floor right off the roof. Castigate fell to the side quickly grabbing the ledge struggling to pull himself up. But he felt a strong grip being applied to his right hind-leg. Looking down, he saw the large stallion holding tight onto his leg. His seal up wound started to open up as pain escalated the stallion's body. He needed to be rid of this pony before his grip to the ledge faltered and that pony wouldn't be the only one to fall down to the dark depths below them.
"BLUE!" He yelled.
The pain was too much for him to take as he let go of the ledge by accident yelling. But his yell was dubbed out by the crackling sound of thunder that boomed through the dark raining clouds. Blue quickly slid off the building and grabbed the ledge. He quickly grabbed Castigate's right hoof. The stallion fell into the darkness and his yell was soon silence by the sound of his body touching the ground hard. Blue smirked while pulling him up.
"You okay?" Blue asked taking a cigarette and lighting it.
"Y-yeah, but my wound opened up." Castigate groaned.
Blue went by his side and saw the wound open. He was no medic but he knew one thing how to seal up the wound. He glanced at Castigate and took out his cigarette.
"Keep your voice down." He said pressing the hot head of the cigarette against his wound causing Castigate to yelp quietly.
He muttered in audible curses through his silent pain.
"Sorry, but I am going to burn the wound up. Maybe this will get you around for awhile. Then we could find a medic to patch this wound up." He said. After twelve minutes of burning his wound, he went back to smoking his cigarette.
"Ouch." Castigate groaned quietly sobbing. Looking at Blue he tried to silence his groans. "Look, what happened when I was out?"
"We were ambushed by a pegasus that spotted us from a mile away. He took out the rest of your soldiers and kick your flank pretty bad. He was going to finish the job but I intervene and dang, that dude can kick flank. He was a quick and silent one." He said squishing his cig to the ground and helping Castigate to the window. "Going down...would be suicide with that painful wound on you."
"We can't take the doors, we need to break through the windows through here." Castigate said.
"But-
"But nothing, we have to do this. I am tired of wasting time because of this wound." He said interrupting Blue.
Blue looked at Castigate worryingly before setting him down.
"Hey, what are you doing?" Castigate asked looking at him confused.
"Listen to me, you can't do everything you know." He said. "There are always flaws within our paths. Flaws in which we must surrender to in order to proceed ahead. Sometimes we need to adjust, but we are not all capable of doing everything."
"Sheesh, you sound like-
"Shut up." Blue caused Castigate to look at him shock.
"Excuse me?" Castigate asked.
"You heard me, look at your reflection and tell me what you see." Blue said.
Castigate glared at him angrily before he looked at his own reflection from the mirror and gasped. He was in a total wreck. He knew this was all for the mission and the riches behind it, but the more he look at his reflection. He could see a pony that he very much hated. A pony he swore to destroy. That pony was undeniably a disease to him, as much as he was to him.
"Don't you see? You are a wreck. If you do this, you will most indefinitely die for being reckless. A pony who scams ponies of their profits usually are too smart during situations like this and seeing as you wanting to break through a window just so you could hurt yourself even more, you must be one of the only scam artists to not only be stubborn but also a fool walking up the steps where the dangling looped rope is ready for your neck to cover itself upon." Blue said grabbing Castigate's face and forcing him to look at his eyes. "You are going to die Castigate, if you continue trying to do everything perfectly. Who are you trying to impress with your reckless skills?"
"I..."
He couldn't say it to Blue. He couldn't at all for he knew the actual answer to it. Planning and scamming were two great skills he was known to be good at doing, but there was a flaw behind this. He knew that not all of his Planning and Scamming operations were successful. There were flaws left and right and a few he knew he was not capable of being careful on. But the sole purpose for who he was trying to impress was not the right word that followed its context. Instead, he was trying to show this pony that he hated in the mirror that he was better than him in every single way.
Blue let go of his face and backed away.
"You should think this out before everything goes down south for you." He said but after he spoke he looked at the exit and walked towards it leaving Castigate alone in the rain.
The unicorn got up from the ground and slowly limped towards the exit. He looked back at the window before opening the door and heading through it. As he proceeded down the stairs, he heard a loud siren ringing. He clutched his wound before continuing down the stairs that seemed to be endless. He started hearing a heartbeat echoing from the darkness below.
Sounds of hooves running on wood was heard. Soon they stopped when the sound of a door being heard opened. The sound of footsteps were then heard running on top of the wood. Eventually, they came to a stop when another door was heard being opened.
"What do you want, Castigate?" A rough tone male asked.
"I...I brought you back the quarter. I saved it when I was at the arcade?" A young Castigate was heard.
"You wasted two seconds of my time for that?" The male asked sounding annoyed.
"I'm...sorry." Castigate said saddened.
"Look, if you want to talk to me, you need to wait when I am done with this."
"But you are never done, you barely take a break here to spend time with me." Castigate whined.
"Well, that's life for you. It stalls your time from spending time with your own flesh and blood. You need to understand that it's how grownups are. Someday you will understand."
"But I don't want to understand. I want to stay a colt forever." He said.
"Castigate...come here." The male said.
The sound of footsteps was heard as he walked closer.
"I know that you want to play with me all of the time and I give you the same answer. But you must understand that if I don't do my job then we won't have any place to play in. We wouldn't have anything to play with. We will be on the streets like your mother and sister. Understand that business is the key to keeping you alive and healthy."
"But why can't you at least take ten minutes off of your job and play with me?"
"I wish I could, but even ten minutes is vital. How about this, I promise you that I will play with you and have Jasper take over for a while, just for us?" The male asked.
"R-really?" Castigate asked.
"Yes, I promise." The male said.
"Okay, thank you so much!" Castigate said happily.
"Now go and play, I still need to turn in these forms. The mayor in Baltimare is being a pain in the flank."
"Okay, bye, dad!" Castigate yelled being heard running out of the room, closing the door behind.
"What's going on?" Castigate asked himself as he rubbed his head. "Why is his voice in my head?" He could hear the heartbeat coming closer as he reached the last few steps.
Looking ahead he saw a long straight hallway with Blue waiting at the end.
"B-Blue?" He muttered looking at him confused.
Blue motioned him to continue to come to him. But as Castigate limp-run down the hallway, he could see Blue getting farther away from him.
"BLUE?!" He yelled starting to pick up his pace.
The pain from his wound ripple through his body causing him to fall flat on his face. He groaned in pain holding tight onto it.
"Get up, you are almost there." Blue's voice whispered through his ears.
Castigate got up painfully before he ran towards Blue. But the hall continued prevent him from getting closer to him. It scared him. His mind was shifted into a panic state where pain from his wound was numbed out and paranoia took drugged effect, lacing his mind with claustrophobia. The walls shifted and the ceilings leaked water. The ground beneath him turned into water that was three feet deep causing him to fall into the water. He emerged out of the water yelling for Blue to come and save him, but his voice was unheard. He started paddling to Blue, but the water was rising all the way up to the ceiling. His hooves touched steel as he founded himself in front of a gate. Blue was on the other side looking at him calmly before turning around and walking into a dark room.
"BLUE! BLUE! BLUE, SAVE ME!" He yelled trying to keep himself from submerging into the water.
"When you are always in a tight situation. The best way to avoid choking up is to close your eyes. Take a deep breath and say to yourself in your head. Everything is going to be alright when I open my eyes. When you open your eyes, the trouble you had shadowing you will be forgotten. Because all you have to do is just continue on with your life."
"But...how am I supposed to do that?"
"Planning it...that's the easy part. But the hardest part...is doing it."
"But how am I supposed to do that? I...I am too afraid to continue on."
"Just do as I say. No pony is creating a puzzle for you. They are showing you how they are handling their problems."
"And how are they doing that?"
"They're moving on."
"Moving on?"
"They're moving on, to the place where they belong."
"A place where they belong?"
"Home."
Castigate opened his eyes finding himself in front of the door Blue went through. Getting up quickly, he turned around and saw that the hallway was short and back to normal. He was confused but calm none of the least. As he opened the door, he saw the two mayors with a few guards glaring angrily at him. Castigate closed the door behind him after he entered into the office. He looked left and right searching for Blue.
"Where is Blue?" He muttered.
"So, you finally made it." The mayor of Baltimare said causing Castigate to advert his attention to him.
The mayor of Baltimare was a mare with that had a blue coat and peach mane tied into a pony-tail. Her eyes were blue. Her cutie mark was a document being signed by an ink pen. Next to her was another mare. She was the mayor of Fillydelphia. Her coat was yellow and her mane was blonde matching the color of her eyes. Her cutie mark was a star with small stars hanging at the ends.
"Where is Blue?!" He shouted holding onto his wound.
"Blue?" The mare of Fillydelphia muttered looking at the other mare.
"I know who he is talking about, don't worry. So, the son of Affluent is finally in our presence, injure and still...unstable. Tell me, how was your pleasant time at your father's hospital?" She asked.
"Tell me...where..." He fell to the ground coughing out blood. "Is Blue?"
"He's gone, Castigate. You won't be seeing him for a very long time. Perhaps forever." She said.
"I...I don't know what you are talking about. What do you mean he is gone?" He asked confused.
"Yes, you are the reason why he is gone. You choose not to move on. So he lost his sole purpose in this world. The world you made for him to live in." She said.
"W-what? What do you mean it's my fault?" Castigate asked looking at them shocked.
"Do you want to know who Blue Aspyxia is?"
"I would like to know how you two even know his name and me, but fine...tell me." He said sitting down.
"Blue Aspyxia is the pony that you created from your own head. He is the pony that you held onto as you slowly slipped away from the good and into the bad. He held you tight, but you couldn't hold him tighter. You continue to let your anger and sin cloud your mind as he did his job, but failed in completing it. Castigate. Blue Aspyxia was you. Your mind and virtue who seek a different way of ruling that was the opposite what you seen in Darkfire's intentions. You...you failed him and so he failed you. He is gone...maybe forever just as I said before. But you might be able to get him back. If you complete your main objective. The right way, the way he would want you to do." She said.
"B-but how?" He asked. "I am in this dang corner where I have no pony else to guide me to." He said slowly sobbing.
The mayor of Fillydelphia softly chuckled and said. "When you are always in a tight situation. The best way to avoid choking up is to close your eyes. Take a deep breath and say to yourself in your head. Everything is going to be alright when I open my eyes. When you open your eyes, the trouble you had shadowing you will be forgotten. Because all you have to do is just continue on with your life."
"But...how am I supposed to do that?"
"Planning it...that's the easy part. But the hardest part...is doing it."
"But how am I supposed to do that? I...I am too afraid to continue on."
"Just do as I say. No pony is creating a puzzle for you. They are showing you how they are handling their problems."
"And how are they doing that?"
"They're moving on."
"Moving on?"
"They're moving on, to the place where they belong."
"A place where they belong?"
"Home."
Castigate looked at her shocked. "Home?" He muttered.
"Home is where you will need to go. Now...to save you the trouble, we surrender our cities to Darkfire."
"But, why so fast. Aren't you going to fight back?" He asked looking at them shocked.
"We would...be we were not only paid to surrender, we were also convinced by the very pony you know a lot about." The mayor of Baltimare said.
Castigate looked to the ground and saw a small puddle of water. His reflection was clear and even though his image was stain of wretched appearance to look at, he slowly recognized the pony. The pony he knew clearly.
"I have to go home." He muttered limping towards the exit. "I have to see my dad."
Castigate's eyes slowly opened when he heard the train making a stop. He looked out of the window and spotted a large mansion up a hill just behind the train station. He looked at the suitcase in front of him and went over to it. When he opened the case he looked calmly inside. A black pen was next to a steel small blade. He picked up the blade and smiled at his own reflection before tossing it to the ground. He grabbed the dark layer of the case and pulled it out and looked inside of it again. What he saw underneath the layer of black cotton...was a quarter.
Explanation: Ok so the chapter is a dream about the battle that happened. However, Castigate has multiple flashbacks of his childhood as he goes on through out the chapter. The chapter ends with him waking up from his dream.