Chapter 75

“No Luna, you can’t talk it out with the bad guys,” Odio sighed. “This isn’t Equestria where everyone is just misunderstood”

The princess of the night hummed as she looked at her controller she had levitating before her. “But I am sure that Sephiroth is just angry that somepony betrayed him in the past, he can’t be that bad”

“Oh if you only knew what he did later,” Odio sighed. “Go talk to the depressed guy”

“Which one?” Luna asked but was responded with chuckling. “What is so funny?”

Odio stopped laughing, “Oh you weren’t making a joke? Not poking fun at the fact that half the characters seem to be dead on the inside?”

“N-no,” Luna looked back at her game, she slowly hummed before looking back at the tower of games that Odio amassed. “I would prefer to play something with a love story”

Odio made a gagging noise, “As much as I dislike your choice, you will spend ages trying to look for a story with depth but for most of the good bits you need to buy DLC”

“DLC?” Luna looked at Odio. “What’s that?”

“Downloadable content,” Odio groaned. “I forgot that ponies are lacking in technology that actually does something cool”

Both the gamers stopped to turn around as Dave stepped into the room, he was covered in dirt and his shirt was covered in cuts. Odio moved his fog to hide the games and television but Luna got up and hurried to Dave

“What happened?” Luna asked as she neared the human

Dave brushed past the alicorn as he began laying out the pieces of crystal across the bed. “Odio, can you cut this piece in half?” He pushed a large chunk of crystal to the edge of the bed before turning to Luna. “I am fine, I mined this crystal and these cuts healed easily”

“Your head looks a little better,” Odio floated over to Dave, inspecting the faint marks of where Dave’s head was cut. “Do you want me to check and see if your brain has repaired itself?”

Dave paused, “The brain won’t heal if it isn’t necessary”

“Wow mystical…” Odio rolled his burning eyes as he sighed sarcastically. “In English please?”

“The missing part of my mind is coming to join back with this part,” Dave tapped his head as he began arranging the crystals again, he picked up a long piece before he set it aside from the others. “Simply put, the other piece of brain wasn’t destroyed so it is trying to reconnect with my piece”

Odio froze, “So Harvest is still alive?” The fog flashed red as Dave nodded. “I should have known this would happen, we should get Adamas to fly out and burn it properly this time”

“Nopony is doing anything to Harvest,” Dave frowned at the fog, “Now will you please cut that crystal in half”

“Why should we fight the creature that intends to harm you?” Luna asked as she glanced at Odio. “We can end this now”

Dave turned to glare at the princess, “If you touch Harvest then I will never forgive you, I have one chance to make things better and I am not going to have you or anypony else fuck it up for me!”

Odio narrowed his eyes at Dave as Luna recoiled from being yelled at, the alicorn backed away from Dave before turning away and leaving the room, her head low as she quietly left. The black fog hovered closer to Dave as it made sure Luna was out of earshot

“What is up with you? You knew I disliked the princesses but I never thought that you would have wanted to get rid of them like this to make me happy,” Odio hummed as Dave slowly picked up the long piece of crystal

“I am not doing this to make anypony happy,” Dave gripped the crystal with one hand as he held his other hand just away from the surface of the crystal. “I am doing this for survival,” Dave groaned as his mark glowed again and the crystal shattered, leaving a long crystal sword in his hands

Odio whistled, “Neat party trick! When did you learn that?”

“Dave doesn’t resist magic, he can resist anything he chooses,” Dave pointed the blade at Odio. “You once placed some of your energy into a small crystal… I need you to put everything into this armour and sword”

The black fog chuckled, “Talking in third person? Wow you must be messed up from your accident”

“I can make the armour without you, I just assumed that you would have wanted to help Dave put things right,” Dave glanced at the large pieces of crystal before glaring at Odio. “Will you cooperate or will I be forced to take what I need?”

Odio lost his smile as he extended his fog around the room, “Who the hell are you and what have you done with my best friend?”

“I am going to save your friend because I am just the instinct to survive,” Dave gripped the blade tighter. “Will you help me?”

“Fuck. You.” Odio snarled

“So be it,” Dave’s mark glowed bright again as his arm shook, Odio’s fog began crackling in deep red and flashes of white, his yell was deafened as his fog turned into a thick tar and fell to the floor. “For Dave’s sake I won’t destroy you, but I can’t let you interfere,” Dave dipped the tip of his sword into the tar and the black goo began to flow into the blade, filling it with a dark red as thin wisps of fog flowed from the hilt

Dave held the sword over the chunks of crystal and large sparks of red electricity danced between the stones, the bed caught fire and the crystals turned black as Odio slowly filled them. The human pulled the blade away as it turned to a dark crimson

“Now, I can make everything better, I need you to make this armour now,” Dave talked to the burning bed. “I just need time, you can help Dave if you just give me time, and I will allow you to enter certain parts of my mind so you know I am telling the truth”

One of the smaller chunks cracked and split as it turned into a helmet. Dave placed his arm into the fire and picked up the helmet, it was made of long ridges that only left two thin slits for eyes. The inside had a few wisps of black fog that latched to Dave’s head as he slipped his head into the helmet

“I will forgive the kidnapping as long as you tell the truth,” Odio snarled as he spoke into Dave’s ear. “Why shouldn’t I destroy you now? Your head is inside a crystal helmet which is being powered by a really REALLY pissed off fog of hatred”

“Harvest will come here and kill everypony,” Dave stabbed the blade into the floor as he picked up the other chunks of crystal, the pieces of armour being made as Dave slowly equipped himself. “The only reason it is coming straight for me is because the other part of Dave’s brain is seeking my part… without that purpose then Harvest will continue with its main purpose”

Odio hummed, “I don’t really give a shit about anypony else”

“Dave was going to make you godfather for Luna’s child,” Dave sighed as he pulled on some greaves, he held some leather near the entrance and Odio began fitting the armour. “Dave felt guilty that he was in a relationship with Celestia and Luna, he felt guilty that he loved one more than the other or that he would spend more time with one and neglect the other”

“Why are you telling me this?” Odio asked as he began making large boots and gauntlets. “I would have imagined that you would keep things private”

Dave stopped as he lifted a pair of spiked gauntlets, “I just want to make things better, every time Dave suffered, I suffered continuously”

“How have you hidden your loss of emotion?” Odio poked into Dave’s mind as he investigated. “I saw you smile amongst other things”

“I have memories, creativity,” Dave rotated his arms as he tried his gauntlets. “I remember when to laugh, so I created a laugh, it was only moving muscles and knowing how to change my breathing”

Odio made the rest of the armour before swirling around the armour, “Should I overcharge the sword with awesome fire powers?”

“No… I have a plan for that sword,” Dave looked at the blade. “This armour will be sufficient”

“You may want to get somepony to put out the fire,” Odio hummed. “Also grab a curtain, I wanna make a cape!”

Dave groaned, “Is that really necessary?”

“Hey, if we are going to go absolutely badass then we have to look cool doing it!” Odio huffed as he made some pauldrons and made them crackle with energy

As Dave finally equipped all his armour he spotted the nearby mirror and inspected himself. The armour was all smooth and streamlined, the elbows, knees, shoulders and knuckles all had sharp spikes that didn’t reduce manoeuvrability and basically gave him extra weapons. His helmet was low enough to his large chest plate so that none of his neck was vulnerable but allowed ease of turning

His pauldrons were also spiked out to the sides but they were more for appearance than practicality. He snatched one of the long curtains and Odio instantly made the fabric black, it attached to Dave’s back and only a short length actually brushed the ground

“Alright,” Odio barely restrained his excitement as he moved his power around the armour, causing the surface to go a deep crimson before turning back to the dark purple that it normally was in the caves. “What colour would you like it?”

“It doesn’t matter,” Dave pulled the sword out of the ground as he turned to the burning bed. “Colour will not affect the outcome of the battle, do what you wish”

Odio sighed as he thought, “Alright, I will make the armour… what was Dave’s favourite colour?”

“Shows how much anypony actually cares,” Dave snorted as he left the room, the burning bed soon caught the attention of a guard who ran to get some extra help. “His favourite colour was originally a simple blue… but recently it has become black”

The fog of hatred hummed as he tapped against Dave’s mind, “I’m just going to make it silver, so it looks the business,” Odio pushed his power around the armour and made the surface become silver, a few crackles of red energy bounced between the joints in the armour before fading. “Why do you sound so… grim?”

“If I told you that you were going to die in two days and that nopony would miss you, even though you sacrificed yourself so others could be happy… would you be happy?” Dave looked at the blade in his hand before he made the motion of sheathing it, a black tendril of fog attached it to his waist

“Well I did do a lot remember and nopony thanked me for it,” Odio chuckled. “Although I did kill a certain human and fell out with his marefriends”

Dave stopped to look out of a window he was passing. “Once my role is finished, I am going to fade away… I have to because it is my purpose that I have been blessed with being able to expand on for once”

“Well if you don’t want to fade away then why don’t you do something about it?” Odio swirled curiously as he continued to inspect Dave’s body

“Because I… am meant to keep Dave safe,” Dave sighed as he rubbed his armoured hands together. “I am not allowed to take his place, I am just meant to keep him going, be that little voice of concern in the back of his mind”

Odio remained silent for a moment before another question popped into his mind. “Why do you need this armour? You can kill Harvest in a second with that power you unlocked”

“This armour is only meant to buy me time,” Dave looked at his arm and where his mark should be. “That power was nothing new, it was just the same resistance Dave has used this entire time”

“Oh shit!” Odio realized. “Dave wasn’t resisting magic because he was from a world without it, he didn’t believe in magic so he didn’t accept its power”

Dave nodded, “Exactly, I think that witches and wizards might have existed at one point in human history, but due to their low numbers, less people believed in magic and therefore caused a global resistance to it”

“So it is just one form of magic repelling another,” Odio let out a small chuckle. “There is one thing I want to know about Dave, something that I should really know... what is his last name?”

Dave opened his mouth to respond but noticed something as he looked out the window that overlooked the castle gardens. Strong Shield and Flux were both sat on one of the benches, their hooves resting on top of each other as they sat in silence, enjoying each other’s company

“Everypony knows his name,” The human looked down at the floor. “His name is Dave Shield, and he will never want to change that”