...And Orgran proceeds to punch the god in the face. "WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING YOU FUCKING IDIOT?! Don't you know a soul-chain when you see one?! Could you at least consider that maybe he wasn't speaking bullshit?"
"So you're saying my wives don't love me too." He said to Orgran with a glare as he shook his head and just left.
Orgran was having none of it and hit him in the back of the knee. "I'm not saying that but if you don't shut up and listen to me, not that asshat, I'm gonna cut off your bedroom activities permanently, and I'll curse it so you can't grow it back!"
"Did you hear what he said he is the one that corrupted Shining, said my wives did not love and killed every living thing on this planet."
"And so your solution was to get yourself corrupted so the new dark Talion could then walk through that door only you can open and then doom your Equestria to becoming a wasteland and possibly having your corrupt self join up with Circe for some unholy evil power couple? Talion, haven't you figured out what he is yet? Fully what he is?"
"What is he then, a mass murderer the person who rid an entire planet of life causing genocide and almost extinction-oh wait he has done all those things and more," Talion said.
"Talion… he's you, or rather, born of everything negative about you, not just Corruption but things you refused to think about, your rage, your stress… your doubts, this being has not lied once because he speaks the doubts you had but refused to acknowledge, the possibility that Cadence might have lied in order to get closer and take revenge, the possibility that Tempest's brand influenced her emotions. These are doubts that would be in anyone's mind, but you had a way to forget those doubts and push them out of your head. You can't beat this foe because he is as much a part of you as you are a part of him. I've seen this kind of trial before, the idea is not to fight him, but to take a page out of the Ponies' book and accept him, work to turn him around, and if you can do that, not only can you work to put these doubts to rest, but you can also ensure your corruption will no longer be a problem, as you'll have befriended it."
I looked to see him clenching his fist as dark magic wrapped around it and his sword was soon wrapped in dark energy as well his magic was going unstable I lunged for his arm and merged with him trying my best to keep it stable. "Orgran if you don't calm him down we are all dead if his magic goes wild here it will destroy this dimension," I yelled.
Orgran seems to gain a hard look in his eye, which becomes a steeled expression. "Sorry Anna, but just calming him down isn't enough, he needs to see the truth, if he can't he'll just repress all this and try to kill Noilat again." He then walked up to in front of Talion. "You've been shoving every negative feeling into him since day one, every upwelling of anger, every burst of hatred, envy or distaste, the doubts of what is true or not, the fear of Circe, and he knows it all comes from you. Yet even from his own twisted perceptions, what does he do? He tries to help you, he fills your pocket dimension domain with darkness and death which in turn powered you, provided corpses to help empower your army. Yes, he went about all of this the wrong way, but for something spawned from pure negativity, that's an achievement. Look, I'm not saying to forgive him from the get-go, that's impossible, what I'm saying is to accept, not reject, this part of you to find balance within… and he's actually willing to try, despite how he's been acting, he has been sincere when calling you 'brother', so he does see you like actual family."
I managed to get him stable but it was still difficult to control his magic "I can feel every one of their souls you know that right.?" Talion asked.
"And you think he doesn't? Talion, put yourself in his shoes, you woke up, having a bunch of anger and paranoia that was not your own but from somebody else, stuck in a dimension and forgotten about like garbage, then the one time you meet the person who you are linked with tries to kill you. To be honest, he's been pretty tame considering the circumstances, anyone going through that would probably end up a raging beast."
"And the souls he used to decorate himself," Talion said.
"As I said, he's not been in the best mental state considering his introduction into the world, in all fairness he probably wasn't even self-aware when he influenced Shining like that, and the souls he was covered weren't really in pain… I think they were just freaking out for the most part… okay, why the fuck did you strap pony souls to yourself?"
When we turned back to Noilat, he was a lot smaller than before, and the air in the world smelt a lot less dead, and he kept muttering to himself. "I'm not nothing, I do exist, I'm seen, I'm heard…" This was repeating over and over.
"...Holy shit he was keeping them to remind himself he was a real thing, that's just sad."
I could feel Talion calm a bit.
"Yeah, okay, it's obvious now that this isn't some dark overlord, this is just some spirit that didn't know how to handle all the rage and fears it was getting, this is like serious psychotic break shit."
Talion was completely calm now and was taking deep breaths. "Anna why did you even bring them here?"'Talion asked.
"I just wanted to show them the battle you fought here," I said.
"And then I ended up seeing Noilat in the past fight while no-one else could because I saw his painting in the temple."
"Well, what do I do?" Talion asked.
"The simplest thing is to try and accept him, work to reform and redeem him, this problem happened because he was ignored and forgotten while being pumped with negative thoughts, helping him out might allow you to turn him good."
Talion's expression softened and he relaxed he then looked to the ground and just stared into nothing until he said. "I forgive you."
Noilat looks stunned at the statement… then takes a deep breath. "Thanks… sorry about losing it and killing the world you made… if it makes you feel any better I think I killed a bunch of pony nazis when I was doing that."
Suddenly a mark appears on Talion's arm opposite of my own… it was that of a goat skull.
"Wait, did closure with your dark self actually make him your summon?!" Orgran said shocked.
"It appears so but let's go," Talion said and went back through the door.
As we get out, Orgran decides to speak first. "Well that was a stressful situation, now if you'll excuse me…" his eyes then roll back into his head and he falls face first to the ground.
POV Change Eva
I quickly ran up to him and tried shaking him to make sure he was alive only to hear a loud *snore* come from him.
"He fine he is just stressed." Talion said.
"Diggy diggy hole… digging a… zzzzzz…"
"Too bad we never got to see the battle," Anna said.
"Well we got to see part of what was going on, and we still have that recording crystal." Dranlun pointed out.
"But the battle never started it didn't record it," she said.
"What all happened in there and why was he so stressed?" I asked.
"It's a long story," Talion said as he walked by and i saw his arm had a mark on it one that was not there before.
"Cool ink where'd you get it?" I asked
"That as well is a long story I need to sit down can you guys tell her what happened?" He asked.
{Half an hour and one explanation later}
"And that about covers what happened." Eric said
"If you will excuse me i need to return to Talion and show him the crystal Orgran gave me I have had a feeling about it and he might need to see it." Anna said as she slithered away carrying the crystal she talked about.
It was dead silent for a good minute. "Well now what the fuck do we do?" The Dwarf King asked.
"Anyone want to play poker?" I asked.
POV change Talion
"Hey Talion you should see this." Anna said as she handed me a crystal and it felt strange when I held it.
"What is it?" I asked.
"I don't know." She said so for now it will be in my shadow and that reminded me that i still had that Seraphim in my shadow as well I should probably turn him into an undead so I went outside and he was spat out by my shadow.
"AH TALION MY GOOD MAN THERE YOU ARE. WHAT ARE YOU GOING TO DO WITH SARTORIUS' BODY?"
"I was going to turn him into a sentient undead they keep the memories they had in life but have total allegiance to their master." I explained.
Roaring The FHG said "BLASPHEMY, SACRILEGE, DESECRATION, WHERE WILL IT END?"
"What do you mean?" I asked.
"BLASPHEMY BY DOING THE WORK OF A SHINIGAMI, SACRILEGE AND DESECRATION OF ONE OF MY SERAPHIM'S BODIES AND THEIR MEMORY." The FHG explained.
"You have no idea what Circe can do and with the time she has been given during my absence the gate has built enough power to let an army of demons large enough to topple a nation overnight, we have barely been able to stand against them I need every advantage I can get for the upcoming battles," I said.
"YOU SHALL HAVE MY AID SHOULD YOU HAVE NEED OF IT." handing him a warhorn The FHG said "BLOW ON THIS THREE TIMES AND ANY AND ALL MINOTAURS IN RANGE FRIEND OR FOE SHALL COME TO YOUR AID. BLOW IT ONCE MORE AND I SHALL APPEAR."
"Thank you now can I do what I came here to do you can watch if you want?" I asked as I took the horn and placed it in my shadow.
"I WILL STAY TO MAKE SURE ALL THE RITES ARE OBSERVED."
My hand was wrapped in green magic. "normally I could release a mist that could do this but with him being an angel he might require more power to turn." I explained as I touched him and the magic flowed out of my hand and spread though his entire body and he started to have spasms."That's not normal." I said and he continued to as his body continued to spasm and become contorted then his body became shrouded in magic and as it finished it dissipated revailing a black armored Seraphim with six black feathered wings wielding two swords that are strapped to his hip. "You will be my grave knight." I said and he nodded then looked at FHG.
"ALL RITES WERE OBSERVED AND FOLLOWED THROUGH ON."
"I am sorry I failed you." Grave knight said.
"YOU FAILED NO ONE!!!!" The FHG said louder than normal.
"But I was corrupted by darkness and so was the legion you gave me to fight the same darkness." He said.
"HOW CAN YOU FAIL AT WHAT YOU WERE NEVER MEANT TO SUCCEED AT?"
He simply nodded and said. "what do I do now?" He asked.
"SERVE YOUR NEW MASTER WELL."
He then looked to me and drew one of his sword and kneeld with his sword stabbed in the ground. "Geallaim féin duit máistir."(I pledge myself to you master) he said.
"Let's get back to the party and maybe he can teach Eva a few things." I said to them and we went inside.
The party had died down a bit and only a few people remained and I saw Eva and the other gods at a table playing poker and Eva was winning.
At this point Orgran was awake and had decided to make the pot 'interesting' by placing an exact duplicate of his hammer up for grabs.
"Well we saved the day and we had the party what happens now?" I asked Eva.
"Now we plan for our next rendezvous in Orgran's world." Eva said
"That would be interesting to say the least so I guess we should go soon shouldn't we," I said.
"Yeah… I still got things to do back home… but I'm gonna make sure I can be here for our kids, and when I'm done I'm getting the merchant to link our worlds so we can settle down." Orgran said firmly.
"And remember if you ever need help or advice talk to the cheetah to contact me and if you move that door somewhere safe I can come over from time to time." I told her.
"Well you are their Godfather!!!!" Eva said putting down a royal flush.
"Well this is the end of the adventure for today but there will always be more ahead especially for me and what happen to your wings?" I asked.
"I CAN ANSWER THAT, MISS LUCRETIAN HAS SLITS ON HER BACK THAT HER WINGS RETRACT INTO WHEN HER WINGS ARE NOT IN USE."
"I guess that is good to know but now…" Before I could continue I heard the sound of Rainbow dash's voice.
"Hey we had a deal and I want to make sure you honor it!" She yelled as she landed not far from me I almost forgot about our deal to clear Orgran's name I made a few *Deals* to clear his name and one was with Rainbow dash so she does not just report him again.
"And what kind of deal was that?" Eva asked.
"A deal to clear Orgran's name
{Flash back}
Location the guard station
I walked into the guard station and looked at the wanted board Orgran had not been added yet so there was a chance for me to change their minds normal protocol would Rainbow would want to talk to the chief so he could issue a warrant for his arrest.
"I have something I have to tell the chief if he has the time." I said to the receptionist.
The receptionist looks up at me then back down and pressed a button then a few moments later a green light showed up."Go on ahead just take a left at the offices and straightforward it will be there." He said as I followed the direction he gave me and walked into a spacious office it was mostly empty with only one desk and a few boxes around the room the chief was a unicorn in golden armor like Celestia's guards.
He was holding a picture and stared at it sadly."Hello." I said and he nearly dropped it but he caught it and put it face up on the desk."I would like to talk to you about a recent problem between Rainbow Dash and a dwarf." I said and he pulled out a file.
"yes but I have not gotten it ready yet I have been busy lately." He said and I looked at the picture to see him with a mare they look alike so maybe their siblings.
"Who is this," I asked and he looked at the picture again and I could see tears forming in his eyes and they dropped on the picture.
"My sister she was murdered by one of our own that was paid by a criminal." He said and I smiled for a moment then got serious and cast a soundproof spell on the room.
"What if I told you, you could have your sister back," I said and nearly jumped up and hit his hands on the desk.
"How!?" he yelled and I took off my hood and scaring him with my appearance.
"I want to make a deal you forget about the crimes he has done up until now I will bring her back any crimes he commits after will not be apart of the deal so what do you think?" I asked with a grin and he went silent amd sat down only to look at the photo again.
"Deal." He said
"So where is her body? I asked.
"In the morgue right now" he said.
We headed there and he had the file with him and we entered the where they kept her body.
"What now?" he asked.
"Just sit back and watch." i told him and dark mist covered my hands and as it touch the mare she breathed deeply opening her eyes for a moment then passing out.
"Take her to a hospital where she can be checked thoroughly." I told him.
He handed me the file and I burned it with black flames then I walked to find and talk to this universe's Rainbow Dash.
I found her napping on a cloud an I flew up to her.
"Hey." I said she snapped awake almost falling off the cloud then she looked at me with confusion as to how I was flying without wings."I need to talk to you about a certain Dwarf if you don't mind?" I asked and she had an angry expression.
"That psycho? he should be in custody by now." She said.
"Well about that," I said.
"What." She said back
"They won't be doing anything against him anytime soon," I told her.
"But he broke the law he deserves to be in jail!" She shouted.
"Well, I am also here to offer you a deal," I said and I peached her interest.
"What is it?" She asked.
"I can grant you almost anything you want just say it and if it is within my power I will grant it," I told her.
"Can you make it to where I can get a good hit on his face I know I am not strong enough to fight him?" She asked.
"Yes I can but it will have to for a bit first make something like that takes a bit of time," I said I could easily make something that could hurt him but if things go south I will need him to help Fight Nightmare.
"Fine but if you are lying I will just report him again." She told me and I nodded.
{End of flashback}
"And that is what happened." I said.
"...nothing below the belt and I want her to hear my counter-offer before she decides to clock me."
"What is it?" Rainbow dash asked.
"I am an artist in my craft, whether it being to shape the earth or crafting weapons, while Hearth is certainly not like most of his kind, I picked up some ideas, and with Rintae's help… alright, let me clarify, you're a martial artist and an ace flyer, correct? I'm offering a way to make both of those things more awesome."
"What do you mean?" Rainbow asked.
"Dragonkin are basically a monk-like race, so dedicated to their craft that they refused to wield traditional weapons, instead they honed the skill of enchantment into the molten rock they had as they shaped it, creating gauntlets and boots that channeled their fire magic for massive martial power at melee or range, the same skills can easily be passed on into metal, I'm offering to make you a full Skytanium set of Dragonkin Martial Armor with wings as a bonus. With your unique pegasi magic, I think you'd find it cool for your karate to shoot prismatic fireballs or rush forward with rainbow blades, fun thing about it is since it's all your magic, you can set it all to be non lethal no matter how dangerous looking they are."
Rainbow thought about it for a few minutes. "Fine but if it does not do what you say your in trouble." rainbow said to clarify.
"Ma'am, if I can't get it to work I'd jump into the void itself out of shame, now if you want it to be a soul-bonded work I'm gonna need pieces of your essence, nothing weird, just a couple feathers or hairs." Orgran said, and Rainbow pulled a few strands of her mane and gave them to him. "Alright, be back in a few, come see me if you wanna see the magic happen."
With that, Orgran launched himself back to Ponyville's blacksmith shop using a stone obelisk.
"Well i guess these will go to waste." I said as I pulled out gauntlets from my robes.
Pentil gasps and snatches them out of my hands, cuddling them like a teddy bear.
Legolas started to pout and tear up at this.
Pentil noticed and looked a little guilty, giving the gauntlets to him even though it was clear she really wanted them too.
"I guess Pentil can have them and I can give Legolas something else." I said and I decided to alter the gauntlets a bit and I touched and they dissolved and reassembled into smaller one that would grow with Pentil over time.
"What did you do to them?" Eva asked with curiosity.
" I altered them a bit want to see what else they can do? " I asked her as I took the gauntlets and they grew Eva took them and put the on and suddenly the gauntlets glowed and it covered her body after it stopped she was wearing female wraith armor.
"I feel so-so powerful!" Eva explained
"But… Lego sad! Lego have armor so he not sad no more!" Pentil whimpered.
"Don't worry I have something just for him." I said as mist gathered in my hand and formed a black ring and I put it on and dark mist surrounded me and made armor along with a sword and bow then I took it off and it shrunk in size to fit legolas it will also grow with him and I gave it to him and Eva gave the gauntlets back to Pentil.
POV change Rainbow Dash.
As my curiosity got the best of me, I had decided to see the Dwarf working on my armor.
As I headed in, I heard heavy clangs of metal on metal in a steady rhythm, the Dwarf humming a tune I had never heard before. Entering the forge I saw him, using that giant hammer to hit a gauntlet on the anvil, every strike charged with magic to force the hot metal to shape, then he began to sing in what I was hesitant to admit was a beautiful voice.
"Cold, the air and water flowing.
Hard, the land we call out home.
Push, to keep the dark from coming.
Feel the weight of what we owe.
This, the song of sons and daughters.
Hide, the heart of who we are.
Making peace to build a future.
Strong united working 'til we-" he suddenly swapped out the two finished gauntlets for new metal.
"Fall, the air and water flowing.
Hard, the land we call our home.
Push, to keep the dark from coming.
Feel the weight of what we owe.
This, the song of sons and daughters.
Hide, the heart of who we are.
Making peace to build a future.
Strong united working 'til we fall!" he swapped the finished boots for new metal.
"And we all lift!
And we're all adrift together! Together!
Through the cold mist!
'Til we're lifeless together! Together!"
With his final hums he takes the batch of red hot armor pieces and gently lowers them into the water, steam hissing as the metal cooled.
"You know just staring silently from just outside the room is a bit rude, unless you're in silent awe, in which case please continue."
"What were you chanting?" Rainbow asked.
"It's not really a chant, it's a work song, one of many I've learned to remember, it's said singing a song with a steady rhythm helps when you need to hammer at a steady pace."
"That is interesting so when will it be done?" I asked.
Suddenly I found the Dwarf pressing a button on his stomach and lowering his goggles, the armor peeling away and shifting to reform into a white lab coat. "Well now I need to saturate the armor with magic to ensure it's working." he then, like something I'd expect in a sci-fi movie, pulls out a ray-gun and starts shooting at the armor, cackling madly.
"So is that it." I said as he finished shooting.
"NO!" he declared, now back in his normal attire. "There is one important thing we need to do, to truly make it complete, and I want to entrust you with this last part."
"What do I have to do?" I asked.
He held out the completed looking armor pieces to me, the hairs forged into the metal adding prismatic patterns that were flush with the shape, and the feathers adding an almost scale-like pattern, the gauntlets and boots were articulated at all the right joints, and the wing parts seemed to cover only the main limbs while long wires stretched down in a pattern, longer than my feathers. "I want you to name it."
"I will call it Rainbow Melee" I said.
The armor glowed, and he handed the pieces to me. "Try it on."
I put them on, and the wings react, a prismatic energy field emerged between the wires, acting to direct the field around my feathers. "That is part of the enchantment I like to call the 'Absolute Defense', the armor itself will react to any threats and protect you from them even if you aren't aware of them yourself, like so." he winds up a kick I didn't notice until the last moment, yet my body moved on its own, dodging out of the way then kicking him in the nuts. "GAH!! I would like to point out, in order to ensure it doesn't do things you wouldn't be comfortable with, the armor's consciousness is an imprint of your own mind."
"That's weird to say the least." I said.
"It's better than leaving it on random chance and risk your armor becoming a pervert."
"So this is it what else can it do?" I asked.
"That's what it does on its own, essentially the armor is directly tapping into your natural magic, while it's not as effective as a unicorn horn, you're able to direct the energy into weapons or projectiles, your mind choosing how they form. If you want a ranged attack, simply imagine you're punching out a fireball, or throwing your fist into the distance, as you make the action… try it on that scrap armor over there."
"Well I guess you held up your end of the deal and I will uphold mine." I said.
"Thanks… it's not just punching though, kicks and even slashing with your wing will have the same effect, also imagining weapons will cause them to form BUT! I have a warning for you."
"What?" I asked.
"This armor is based purely around intent, whether in rational thought or not, you will need to learn an extreme amount of mental discipline to safely use these for non-lethal combat, because no matter if you truly want to or not, if in your anger your thoughts turn to killing your target, your attacks and weapons will be lethal and will risk actually killing them."
"Ok." I said and we left the blacksmith.
"Oh, also the moment I noticed you watching me I've been casting a spell called 'Teacher's Pride'."
"What's that?" I asked him.
"Well instead of telling you, why don't you tell me what the difference between Raw Arcanite and Refined Arcanite is?"
"I don't know." I said.
"Why don't you guess?" he grinned.
"Raw Arcanite makes magic and refined directs it." I guessed.
"Exactly! I bet you're wondering how you knew that, right?"
"How?" I asked.
"Well happy Graduation day Miss Dash, you now officially know everything about forging and metals at the level of a Dwarf."
"That's AWESOME!" I said nearly screaming.
"Yep! You're now able to handle maintaining your armor set, and it's official!" he had the biggest smile on his face as he yelled out in public. "RAINBOW IS A FORGE NNNNEEEEEEERRRD!!" before disappearing into the dirt.
POV change Orgran
I popped like a fucking daisy in front of Talion and he had something in his hands in his left a small bag and he has something else in his right. "Hey Tallywacker! What's shaking?"
"Nothing just with my undead not as infinite as I thought I came up with new soldiers these.?" He said as he show me the bag and it was filled with black marbles but they radiated dark magic.
"I thought the Blood Pit became a replacement for raw corpses when your dimension realized how much of a finite resource, so it's just propagating a massive culture of living cells to constantly kill and form new undead, the dark sacrificial method of doing so also calling upon all those dark demon creatures." I said.
"But there are no living cells for it to replicate since there is no longer life in that dimension I was thinking of a plan to restore life there as well but have not worked out all the details." he said.