Chapter XXI: An Offer I Can't Refuse

"So, that's why I needed to fight you guys. I can't go home until I get the Mane 6 safe."

We're down to the final two, Ripperjack and Razor Dash. Penumbra said they were the most difficult enemies I have to face and somehow, she said that Razor Dash was holding a grudge against me. Lusty added that Razor Dash was a lesbian, and because I was here; they thought that I was grabbing all the mares (Now, why in the wide, wide world would I even do that?). So, she was bound to get me and she won't stop at nothing just to get my blood spilled on her hands.

"Interesting, a ring that contains light energy inside? Fascinating, I must know more of it." Penumbra said in awe.

Helena added, "So the ring did all the work for you?"

"Not exactly, because I have to try to find a way to activate that specific emotion/lantern. Like for example, I caressed Helena because I felt sorry for her. And I conquered my fear of failure and Penumbra conquered hers."

"OH NEAT! A ring that could do anything!" Dahlia spoke in excitement.

"I wouldn't say that it would do anything. The ring has its limits. I once had a healing factor which made me pretty much immortal but when I wore the ring, it removed it for being far too over-powered."

Penumbra asked, "What more abilities do you have, Ryan?"

"Hmmm… Let me see here, the last time I used some of my powers was: Super Strength, Increased Agility, and Electricity and Fire coming out of my hands. The OTHER ones were too much for me so they were removed, like the adamantium claws, teleportation, healing factor and the super speed."

"Interesting, how powerful do you think the ring has?" She asked more questions.

"It's a lot more powerful than I expected, considering in our world; this ring was just a fantasy. But is considered "The Most Powerful Weapon in The Galaxy". But without the other Lanterns unlocked, I can't get to its max power yet."

"What colors have you completed?"

"Lustyshy: Violet which is Love, Dahlia: Blue which is Hope, Helena: Indigo which is Compassion, and You; Penumbra: Yellow, which is Fear. There are other colors I haven't yet unlocked and I have to defeat some enemies to activate it."

"Which is who?"

"Ripperjack: Black which is Death, Razor Dash: Red which is Rage. The other ones like Orange with Avarice, Green with Willpower and Finally, White which was the powerful of them all, LIFE."

"How fascinating…"

"Guys, we're here. I'll be facing Ripperjack now."

"Best of luck, Ryan!"

"Thanks, I'll need that."

The farm was eerily too similar to Sweet Apple Acres, despite that it has grey apples and some rotten to go with. I remember a quote back in my world, "I can say without a doubt, that there are an infinite number of universes. Some are just like our own… but for one or two significant events, exactly the same."

Yeah… that makes sense. Except I'm not in a parallel world, it is the same dimension but a some kind of parallel world in the far-end corner of Equestria. Weird…

I continued to walk and knock on the house of Ripperjack. But first things first…

"Twilight, we just can't lose hope here! We gotta escape this somehow!" Rainbow Dash exclaimed.

The 6 ponies were still trapped in chains inside a dungeon by Dark during Ryan's brawl with the rest of the Night 6. Just like when they were imprisoned by Nightmare Rarity, an old familiar feeling washed over them… The feeling of losing hope.

"I…I… I can't, I just can't. The chains are unbreakable and magic proof. We can't escape!"

"Now, now darling; How could you say that? We have outrageously gone through various challenges in our journey as friends! Remember that time when we got trapped in a book and because of teamwork, we made our way through with our imagination?" Rarity spoke

"Yeah…"

"And don't forget about th' time we tried to fight Nightmare Rarity. You're the one that gave us hope, sugarcube! Ya' darn did it!" Applejack added

"And OH! How about the time when Chrysalis came back and then you used your magic like 'PEW!' 'PEW!' and then there was a big explosion 'KABOOM!' and then you saved us from those icky green pods?! That was so amazing!" Pinkie shouted.

Rarity added, "You see, Twilight. You're the heart and soul of the team, and without you, we wouldn't even know how valuable friendship is! Don't worry, we'll figure this out."

"You really think so?

"Darn tootin'!"

"Yes we do, darling."

"Heck yeah!"

"YEAH!"

"But how will we tell Ryan about… Fluttershy?"

"I guess he has ta' know about her."

Suddenly, an unknown voice called out to the six. "H—…*bzzzzzzzzt!* Hello… *bzzzzzzzzzt!*G-Guys..."

"Huh? Who's that?"

"Ooooooohh, a ghosty voice. HI GHOSTY VOICE!"

"Twilight, it's me. Can you hear me?"

"*gasp* Ryan! Ryan, is that really you?!"

"Yeah, it's me. Listen, I'm down to the final two of the Night 6. You'll be home free after I defeat the last one, don't worry."

"EEEEEEE! RYAN I MISS YOU SO MUCH! ARE YOU OKAY?"

"Yeah, I'm fine Pinkie."

"Ryan, I don't think you can trust Dark after from what you did to her."

"And I don't think I really can. I was hoping that all of you would've escaped by now."

"Don't worry, we got a plan." Twilight assured.

"We do?" Rainbow Dash asked.

"You do?"

"We will eventually, just trust us."

"Okay then, I trust you. Where's Fluttershy? I can't sense her presence."

Then there was a moment of silence. "Twilight? What happened to her?", there was still silence.

"Twilight?!"

"Ryan… Dark… transformed her; she made her evil with dark energy inside her. Right now, Dark convinced her that you lied to her, betrayed her. Now she's dead-set on killing you!"

"SHE WHAT?! How do you know all this?"

"I overheard Dark talking to her bodyguards. She wants to use her in case you defeat the Night 6 to prevent you from ruining her plans."

"God damn it, Dark… She has gone too far. Now it has to stop! Right now. If you guys escape somehow, we'll meet at the castle grounds."

"Okay. Take care, Ryan."

"Take care, inform me about Fluttershy if something bad happens to her. I'll be fighting now." And then the connection was cut.

"Come on, girls. We need to—"

"Oh lookie here! I found a key suspiciously lying here on the ground! EEEEEEEE!"

"Well, that escalated quickly than I thought…" Rainbow Dash sighed.

"Come on, Pinkie! Unlock the chains so that we can meet Ryan."

"Okie dokie lokie!"

"GOD DAMN IT!" I shouted in anger. Dark has gone too far in her actions. HOW COULD SHE TURN FLUTTERSHY INTO AN EVIL KILLING MACHINE!

"This is crazy, I can't fight her. I… just can't fight Fluttershy."

"Ryan, you have to. Sometime, you have to sacrifice one life to save thousands. Thousands of lives are more important than only one." Penumbra spoke.

"No… *sniff* I just can't fight her. I love her too much to do that." I began to tear up.

"There there, Ryan. You just have to believe that everything will be okay. But this is life, and this proves as your greatest challenge yet."

"You're right… I have to do this, for her. And even though it hurts me more than it hurts her, I have to save my people."

"That's the spirit, Ryan! Now, go in there and fight Ripperjack!"

*Knock* *Knock*

The door opened and I saw an unfamiliar face at the front door. "Hello, sir. I am here to see Ripperjack, is she here?"

"Eeyup." He spoke. He must've had a limited vocabulary, which explains it. He invited me in the house and I took a sit on the couch. The house seemed nice enough to compare Dahlia's and Lusty's. Nevertheless, I feel comfy on this couch.

While I was waiting for Ripperjack, I thought of a way to fight Fluttershy without hurting her. Wait a minute… Could it be that she is one of the 9 opponents? Max said to go with the flow and the next opponent after Razor Dash could be… FLUTTERSHY!

Then the only smart thing to do is depend on what my ring would do to her.

I saw Ripperjack with a tray of pie gripped by her mouth and trotted towards me. "So, you must be Ryan, eh? Ahm Ripperjack."

"Nice to meet you, Ripperjack."

"Care fer' some pie?"

"Sure thing. But I guess, whatever its inside shouldn't kill me… Right?"

She nodded, I grabbed a knife and sliced a piece of the pie. But before I could even eat the pie, there were MAGGOTS crawling inside of it.

"Oh no…" I thought.

I refrained from hurting Ripperjack's feelings, so I didn't have a choice but to eat it. No matter how fucking disgusting this is.

"*nom nom* Mmmmm… Delicious!" I lied. I gagged a bit from the maggots in my mouth, thinking about it makes me wanna puke so hard.

"Why thank you, rottencube! It's made with a special ingredient o' mine. And I see you met mah brother, Big Windows! You can call him Big Win if you want to." As she was turning around, I saw the opportunity and spit out the pie outside of the window. It horribly traumatized me.

"I…*hurl* don't know what rottencube means. But you're very *gag* welcome!*

"So, ya' ready to fight?"

"Yeah… I think I'm ready."

"Come with me, rottencube." She said as I stood up from my seat and followed her. We eventually ventured outside towards the barn. I have a feeling that she's similar to Applejack but with rotten apples as fruits. AND THE ELEMENT OF DEATH.

"Alrighty then, let's do it while the night's still young." I whispered. We stopped at the doorstep of the barn when suddenly, the door opened to see a negative version of Applebloom.

"Hiya mister! Mah name's Applewither."

"Uhhh… Hi, Applewither? Nice… name. My name's Ryan."

"Umm, Applewither… Can we go in?" Ripperjack asked.

She nodded, we entered the barn and I saw a variety of weapons on the walls. Different types: Swords, knives, maces and the list goes on.

"Choose your weapon. When you're finished, let's fight." She instructed. I looked at some of them, neither one of them suits my style. But only one caught my attention…

"This one…" I said.

"That? That's just an old felling axe, rottencube! You can't possibly use that in battle!"

"I can… and I will."

To show her what I meant, I spun the axe with my hands with incredible speed and agility. I kept spinning and spinning the axe to add more momentum to it.

"You're just spinning the axe! Now, how would that—"

*CRACK!*

"*huff* *pant* *huff* Never… underestimate me"

"Did you just…"

"Yeah… I did… split this wood in half…"

"IN ONE SINGLE STROKE?!" Penumbra shouted in utter awe.

"Yeah…"

"Ah have never seen such strength before in my life… How'd you do it?"

"Hey, if you have something that caught your attention, you know that you'd do the same."

"Okay then, rottencube. Let's go outside, keep the axe if you want."

"Alright…"

We went outside of the barn and got into fighting stance as soon we are ready. The wind breezed through my hair as I focused on Ripperjack, getting prepared for the upcoming attacks…

Suddenly, she grew a scythe on her tail. "What in the…?" I said unbelievably. I saw that she grew impatient of the waiting and charged at me…

I tightened my grip on the axe…

*KTAANG!*

She lunged at me with great speed but was never fast enough for me. I blocked her scythe before it could even slice me in half.

"You sure do know how to use the axe, Ryan…"

*KLANG!*

"You trying to taunt me, Ripperjack?"

*KTANG!*

"No, but I do want to kill you Ryan!"

I recoiled back when suddenly, Ripperjack summoned some kind of minions. Guess the axe could be useful after all.

"I AIN'T STUPID, RYAN! I CAN SUMMON THOUSANDS OF THE UNDEAD AND KILL YOU WITH IT!"

"I doubt that. Bring the pain!" I taunted. I stand against 50 of those undead ponies, but none of them would stop me from reaching Dark.

"50 against one? Let's even out the odds, shall we?"

Then the undead charged at me, a whole heap of them running towards me. Whatever shall I do?

*SLASH!*

*SLASH!*

*KRRKKK!*

*More sounds of heads and body slashes*

Swinging… Endless swinging of a weapon, endless spilling of blood, endless killing… How does this have to go on?

How long can I take this road…

*SLASH*

…this path of righteousness?

*KRRRKKK*

I wanted everything to end right now…

Let's try DEATH…

I then recited the oath of the Black Lanterns,

"The Blackest Night falls from the skies,

The darkness grows as all light dies.

We crave your hearts and your demise,

By my black hand, the dead shall rise!"

"GRAAAAHHH!" A black colored aura came out of the ring. It seems that the Black Lantern has been activated… This is gonna be one hell of a ride.

"RIPPERJACK! YOU MUST DIE!" I shouted under the influence of the Black Lantern. Out of nowhere, I feel a sudden strong desire of killing Ripperjack.

"What in the hay…"

I charged at Ripperjack with powerful strength, knocking back most of my surroundings. I raise my axe high into the sky, and then I…

*SLASH!*

…beheaded her. I swung my axe at her cold, pale body several times; Brutally murdering her…

The aura somehow made it into her consciousness. Maintaining her life signs and tapping into her memories.

"Hello? Is somepony there?!" Ripperjack called out.

"Greetings, Ripperjack…"

"Ryan? Ryan, is that you?"

"Tell me, Ripperjack… Why do you love death?"

"Huh? Why do I love death? I searched for days, months, years, and decades trying to find the meaning in Death. Every time I kill someone, I look them in the eye. Like there was something leaving them… a hidden meaning inside, there is more than meets the eye."

"You were simply wasting your own time finding nothing, Ripperjack. There is no meaning in death. Life has a lot of meanings. A whole lot of them as you live longer. And all those years of searching, it was all for nothing. Death ends Life, it means that you ended everything you ever did, see, hear, touch and etc.. You just kept searching and searching until you found something, but turns out to be nothing but empty. In life, you can feel joy, happiness, love and friendship. You will be happy in life, but in death… There is darkness everywhere. And there's nothing you can ever do about it, for the rest of your afterlife. So, I'll give you a choice…

Death? Or Life…"

"NO…*grunts* I'M STILL NOT DONE YET SEARCHING… IT CAN'T BE ALL FOR NOTHING!"

"Death or Life? One choice to change everything… To live in life with friends and happiness or to search all for nothing…"

"No… please…I can't—GAH!"

"Only one choice is all I need…" She then calmed down and then I let her choose.

"I choose… Life…"

"You have made the right choice, Ripperjack. Congratulations, You now have the ability to embrace life. Welcome…"

The Aura dispersed. I opened my eyes and somehow, the ring brought her back to life; healed her of every single major and minor lacerations and her head back in place. I walked towards her and helped her up.

"*grunt* Agh… Mah head is poundin' like a beast!" She spoke while rubbing her head.

"Hey, Ripperjack… Still want to kill me?" I asked, and she shook her head. I gave her a sweet smile while she blushed.

"Here, let me help you up… There, feel better?" I asked.

"Yeah… Thanks… I never thought it to be that way. Death having no meaning, I gave up everything just to find that meaning…"

"You'll find more exciting things as long as you live. Trust me. So, okay… One last enemy to face, thank God we're going to be home… free. Wait, what in the wide, wide Equestria is that?"

I pointed to where I saw something; a mare with unbelievable anger is trotting towards the barn.

"Oh no… It's Razor Dash! And she's really really mad!"

"You better be prepared for her, Ryan. She's the strongest of us all."

"Well then…" I grew a smirk.

"RYAN WILSON! COME OUT RIGHT NOW AND FACE ME YOU COWARD! I WILL NEVER LOSE TO A MARE HOGGER LIKE YOU!"

I charged my ring with the battery. Somehow, I felt the rage in her heart. And it was enough to attract Red Lanterns and try to convince her to join them. Yet, I have never felt this much rage in my whole life… And this proves to be a something more harder than the rest.

I walked out of the house to face Razor. And now I stand before her in front of Rotten Apple Acres.

"You finally come to show, coward?"

"I am no coward, Razor. You underestimate me like the others."

"Let's see about that, shall we?"

"LET'S DANCE!"

We charged at each other with unimaginable strength. Somethings doesn't bode well...