My Little Pony Fan Fiction ❯ A Walk Among Spirits ❯ Chapter 13

The steel door opened and Skyline was thrown into the room by the stallion. The door slammed shut before the stallion walked away. Skyline groaned as he got up and sarcastically said, "Geez, could you be any more gentle?" Skyline stood up and groaned in pain. Partly because of how he landed and partly because of all the food in his stomach.

"We didn't think you'd come back," Scootaloo said as the three fillies walked over to check on him.

"Yeah, what happened?" Sweetie Belle asked. Their question seemed to anger Skyline as he grunted

"Short version: I battled a mare that could grow vines and afterward I met the Professor," Skyline explained. He wasn't in the mood to play twenty questions with the fillies.

"Really? What she look like?" Apple Bloom asked.

"I don't want to talk about it," Skyline said as he lay down in the middle of the room.

"Come on! Was she hideous; was she beautiful, does she have blood stains on her coat? You had to have been to The Clinic, what was that like?" Scootaloo pressed.

"I said I don't want to talk about it!" Skyline roared. Scootaloo jumped at his outburst and slowly backed away. Skyline sighed, "I-I just want to be left alone right now." Scootaloo turned to her friends and Sweetie Belle simply shrugged not knowing what to do.

Sometime later, the four trays slid through the doggy door. The three fillies took their trays and began to eat, but Skyline didn't take his. He was still full from all the food he'd eaten when he met Nip Tuck. Just thinking about her made his anger boil. The thought of her ruling Equestria and experimenting on his friends and family angered him. At first, when he heard her plan, he thought she was nuts, but when she mentioned experimenting on the Royal Guard. He thought of his father, he thought about his father going through the same thing he went through. No Pony should go through this. Especially not his mother and father. The more he thought about it, the angrier he got.

He tried to push the thought out of his mind, but all he could think about was what could happen if she got her hooves on them. His anger turned into worry. Ever since getting trapped here, all he wanted to do was escape. However, if they did somehow escape what then? Nip Tuck seemed to have enough Ponies trapped here that she could just find another general. Sure, he could tell his father and they would storm back here and stop her, but she did mention she had very loyal staff. It also seemed that this Viper mare was loyal to her as well. How many other Ponies had she brainwashed to make them fight for her? He'd already seen two Ponies with unique abilities. The Royal Guard wouldn't be a match for any number of these Ponies trapped here.

There's also the fact that she could just choose this Viper mare as her general and storm the castle. Again, the Royal Guards would be no match for an army of these Ponies. Celestia and Luna would put up a valiant fight, but in the end, he didn't think they could overpower them. Nip Tuck would rule and everypony would be subjected to experimentation. He would have to make a decision: escape and allow her to continue experimenting on Ponies until she found a general or stay and fight tooth and nail to stop her.

The three fillies finished their food and placed their trays in the front corner of the room, but Skyline's tray hadn't been touched. Apple Bloom picked up his tray and brought it over to him, but Skyline turned his back to her. She was about to say something, but Sweetie Belle stopped her. Apple Bloom returned to her friends and they did the only thing they could to pass the time. Charades.

Skyline lay there and contemplated on what to do as the fillies played. On the one hoof: he and the three fillies could escape and tell his father about what Nip Tuck was doing, but if he couldn't stop her. Then she could storm the castle and rule while experimenting on the Ponies of Equestria. On the other hoof: he could stay and fight. Killing anypony Nip Tuck considered a general. The thought of killing another Pony didn't excite him, nor did it make him feel good, but he knew it had to be done to stop her. However, the three fillies would be stuck here for a long time and soon miss their families. Even worse, they might be sent to The Arena. There were pros and cons to each decision. Was that what it meant to be a stallion? Each decision caused you to lose something? Skyline had to do something and in the end, he knew he'll lose something along the way.

A few hours later the light clicked off. The three fillies went to their corner while Skyline still lay in the middle of the room. He stared into the darkness of the room. He had come up with a plan, but he didn't know if the three would be on board with it. He sighed, closed his eyes, and let sleep take him.

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The bull made of red mist skidded back as the sphere bounded towards Skyline. It stopped and the thick fog it was made of unfolded into a three-banded armadillo. The armadillo looked up at Skyline before it turned its attention to the bull that was digging its hoof into the ground. The armadillo folded back into the sphere as a hologram of a clock face appeared above it. Skyline didn't recognize any of the symbols on the clock's face. The hand started to spin before it stopped on a bright yellow symbol. The hologram of the clock faces shattered as the sphere started to spin. Lightning started to swirl around the sphere as it began to spin faster.

The sphere suddenly shot towards the bull as a crackle of thunder echoed in the air. The bull reared back and slammed its front hooves to the ground. A thick wall made of earth rose up and the sphere slammed into it. It stopped spinning for a few seconds before it began to spin counterclockwise and tried to dislodge itself from the wall. After a while, the sphere dislodged itself from the wall and bounced back to Skyline as the wall crumbled.

The hologram of the clock face appeared again, its hand rested on the yellow symbol. The hand started to spin again and stopped on a red symbol. Fire engulfed the sphere. It bounced up and down a few times before it shot towards the bull. The bull crouched down, ready for the sphere. Before it could make contact, the bull jumped to the left and avoided it. The bull quickly reared back and stomped its front hooves to the ground again, but nothing happened.

Suddenly two tiger sharks made of a combination of rocks, dirt, and cement erupted from the ground on either side of Skyline. Their jaws open, ready to bite into his flesh. The world suddenly went black and white. The sharks hung stationary in the air as the bull stood in place. The only things moving were Skyline who was slowly backing away from the two sharks and the sphere that seemed to struggle to keep spinning.

After Skyline was a good two to three feet away, the world found its color and the sharks collided with one another and crumbled to the ground. The bull snorted in frustration as the sphere bounced back to Skyline. The clock face once again appeared above the sphere and its hand was on a purple symbol before it began to spin again. It landed on a dark blue symbol. The sphere shot into the sky and began to spin a circle above the bull. The bull followed the sphere before it became dizzy and shook its head. Above the bull, the sphere created a white ring. The inner ring suddenly changed to a dark blue color with white dots. The bull paid no mind to what was happening and dug its right forehoof into the ground, ready to charge at Skyline.

A meteor the size of a house came from the ring and smashed into the bull. Skyline stumbled as the impact shook the ground. The ring dissipated as the meteor began to crack and crumble to dust. Red mist lingered in the impacted zone before it reformed into the bull. It snorted in rage and charged towards Skyline and the sphere. The sphere shot towards the bull and the two collided in the middle. Both skidded backward before charging towards one another again.

The ground began to violently shake as fissures and cracks slithered open. Skyline stumbled and tried to keep himself upright, but fell to his side. More fissures and cracks opened up before an immense amount of red mist shot out of the fissures and cracks. It began to morph and take shape. When Skyline stood back up, his ears bent back as he saw the red mist had taken the shape of a four-headed hydra.

The Hydra was at least two-stories tall; its shadow covered most of the ground. The hydra's heads looked down at Skyline and he saw the dagger-like teeth in each mouth. The ground once again began to shake and fissures slithered open behind Skyline. Skyline once again found himself struggling to keep from falling. He turned around to see an immense amount of white fog erupting from the fissures and cracks. The fog turned into a two-story-tall gorilla. The hydra roared while the gorilla roared back and pounded on its chest before the two monsters charged towards each other.

The two monsters collided with one another as the gorilla punched one of the heads. Another head bit down on the gorilla's right shoulder as it roared in pain and began to punch the head that had bitten into its shoulder. Skyline looked around and surveyed the battle. The cobra lunged at the tiger, but the tiger jumped back and swiped at the cobra's face with its claw. The Dragon speared into the wolf and the two fell back into another building. The scorpion and spider were still in their power struggle not letting the other get the upper hoof. The sphere continued to bounce around the bull making the bull stomp on the ground trying to pin the sphere down.

Skyline turned his attention back to the gorilla and hydra. One of the hydra's heads had wrapped around the gorilla's abdomen and had bitten into its stomach. Two other heads were wrapped around each of the gorilla's arms and had bitten into its shoulders. The final head had its neck trapped in the gorilla's mouth. The ground under Skyline shattered and he fell down a tunnel. He heard the howling of wolves as a figure of a Pony seemed to be lying on the ground trying to free its leg. A second Pony stood in front of the other Pony as the outlines of wolves slowly stacked towards them. The two Ponies were talking but, their voices were muffled. The wolves suddenly lunged for the two and both the wolf pack and Ponies scattered into a blood red mist as Skyline continued to fall down the tunnel.

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Skyline jolted awake and looked around at the white padded room. The light clicked on and Skyline quickly stood up when he heard five clicks come from the door. The three fillies also stood up and waited for the door to open. Skyline knew what was going to happen. A member of the staff would walk in, take Skyline to The Arena, and he would fight some Pony Nip Tuck considered a replacement for him as general. He knew he would have to kill said Pony but to keep her from experimenting on everypony. He had to do it, he had to stop her.

The steel door opened and the chubby tan stallion walked in. Skyline felt his body lock up and he expected to have the stallion pick him up, but to his horror, the stallion walked past him.