How Vasto Lorde was going to go... · 2:25pm Feb 8th, 2015
Okay, so first off I'd like to thank all my readers for liking, favoriting and commenting on this.
I'd also like to apologise for being a complete and utter asshole to each and every one of you that had to put up with my goddamned lazy ass when it came to updating, as well as apologise to Tattered Ribbon, NightShadow76 and spetsnaz pinkie pie (Even though the last one (No offence intended) essentially had Dante (Dante's Inferno, hell of a game but holy fuck it's kinda disturbing...) with Shinigami powers...) for receiving your OC files and never getting around to finishing them along with everyone that contributed to the Filler Arc.
Next up, how the next few chapters were going to happen over the filler...
Firstly, Tattered Ribbon (the OC, not the member) is finishing up playing nurse for the twenty-seven survivors of the Changeling Massacre, when Tenshou drops by with another three or four. Small flashback where a small backup force of two-fifty attempt to ambush a 'sleeping' Tenshou... Y'know what? Just read what I had down, saves me explaining.
Thirty minutes earlier.
<Alright, everyone ready?>
A series of confirmations followed.
<Alright, attack on my mark. In three…>
A small force of Changelings, using their camouflaging magic, silently crawled along the walls and ceiling of a large cave in the side of a mountain towards their target; a thin, Minotaur-like being, clad in strange black robes, that sprawled lazily against a large boulder that was cut into a vague throne shape. The solid black within the eyes of the bone-like mask, as well as the regular breathing and lax hold on the strange black sword, assured the Changelings that it was asleep.
<Two…>
The Changelings, numbering a mere two hundred and fifty, shook off any notions of fear and focused on the hate they held for this creature and what it had done. Most were disciplined enough to keep a lid on that hate and anger, and were quick to over short words of comfort over the Hive-mind to those who weren’t. However, one still lost control enough to allow a low buzz of aggression from his wings.
So focused where the Changelings at reprimanding the less experienced over making any noise, they failed to notice the clawed hand that held the sword tighten slightly.
<One.>
As one, the Changelings braced themselves to pounce on the monster and bring the vengeance of Arachna, the Changelings deity of war, upon it.
<ATTACK!>
The commander launched herself at the ‘slumbering’ creature, followed by the rest of her comrades.
Thus, she was the first to see as the creatures vivid yellow eyes casually open.
And the first to be impaled upon his free hand, the black claws surrounded amidst a spray of chitin, blood and brain as it stabbed through her head like a spear through tissue paper. Flicking his arm to the side, the corpse flying into the far wall with a solid smack, Tenshou prepared to use his sword to clear the air ahead of him only for a mass of Changelings to slam into his arms in an attempt to restrain him, while more attempted to strike at his chest and head to make him suffer.
Instinct smirked as Tenshou continued to sleep; it was time he had some fun, after all.
Jerking his chest, neck and head forward, twisting the latter slightly, an unfortunate Changeling, had it lived, thoroughly believed that the diamond-shaped teeth of the mask’s mouth were the Gates of Tartarus, coming to swallow him.
And the darkness between those teeth was the last thing the Changeling experienced.
After that, it cuts back to Tattered calling for help for the half-dead Changelings, which is unknowingly overseen by Rainbow who's still calling bullshit on Twilight for apologising. As Tenshou heads back to his cave, Garble attempts to sneak attack him... which was essentially a Isshin-Ichigo moment cameo, complete with reactive backhand and a confused Tenshou wondering what the hell happened for his arm to jerk.
Unfortunately, that was the only one I managed to dig out of the writing room...
The rest of the ideas I'm just gonna copy-paste, it's essentially what I'm doing anyway...
Filler #2 Negotiations over tea
Celestia notes the unrest in the residents of Ponyville regarding Tenshou. Thinks of a few ideas before settling for tea (have to wing these) and biscuits and/or crumpets. While deliberating, spots Sweetie Belle and remembers the filly’s bravery. Asks Sweetie if she’d like to come to a tea party with herself and Tenshou. Sweetie wants to do have tea with the Princess, but is scared of Tenshou. Celestia proposes they ask Rarity to come along, which Sweetie agrees.
Filler #3 Discord meets/versus Tenshou
Discord returns from an x long holiday to Las Vegas/Miami. Is initially amused by the events that happened in his absence. Meets Tenshou briefly and immediately becomes a pain in the ass with pranks, much to R.D’s vindictive approval. Finally winds down to visit Fluttershy. Upon seeing the scar and her blind eye, Discord calmly reverts the damage before recognising the frequency of the magical residue (due him being chaos, he is tuned to all frequencies and can match them immediately if he’s met the source). Confronts Tenshou and, after some pleading from Fluttershy, the two fight without attempting to kill one another (much to Instinct’s disapproval). Discord is immediately floored while getting a few good hits.
Filler #4 Vasto Lorde versus Spider Queen!
Chrysalis has become a Hollow and, after consuming the souls of her own soldiers, is heading for the Windigo’s in the far North. Accompanied by the Unicorn known as Crusade, Tenshou has to face down an Adjuchas-level Hollow in the remnants of the Windigo’s city. After a violent battle, Chrysalis is beaten but Crusade prevents Tenshou from consuming her soul. Before leaving, they discover something shocking; Windigo’s are the ancestors to Ponykind!
Filler #5 Tenshou meets Zecora
Zecora, having been on a two week-long trip to gather some rare herbs within the Everfree, returns to her hut after the commotion with the Changelings. When she arrives into town to pick up her usual supplies, she’s understandably shocked at what she’s discovered. Upon asking about the state of the town, and the six heroes that live in it, she gets a slightly vague story behind it and so chooses to find from the source.
... Yeah, the 'Windigoes-are-Ponykind-Ancestors' is actually a shout-out to World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King. During a quest in Howling Fjord, you 'ghost' into the past and learn the Vrykul are Humans ancestors...
Let's face it, Discord ain't gonna let anyone get away with hurtin' 'Shy.
Chrysalis being a Hollow was actually one of the ideas that got solidified prior to being lost; considering she technically died in the mindscape, which is essentially a 'soul-only zone', Hollow Zangetsu basically infected her soul when he killed her. After death, that infection consumed her.
And onto the last thing...
Before I begin, I'll clear something up; Tenshou is actually Zangetsu after Mugetsu... or at least that's how I had it. Since Zangetsu (prior to Thousand Year Blood War) was two sides of a coin instead of two coins, the Hollow Zangetsu dominated the Quincy, forcing him to become the bones with the Hollow becoming the soul. However, a subconscious imprint of Ichigo was basically made to represent the Shinigami of the two halves but was sealed into the depths of the mindscape.
Anyway, Sombra was poking around in the background, picking up remnant Alicorn magic from Nightmare Moon and residual mana/reiatsu from the Hollowfied Chrysalis. He gets caught while trying to steal the Alicorn Amulet, where he fakes defeat and declares a Tartarus Run, which is where the condemned get a chance to be pardoned.
In short, the condemned go to the Gates, meet Tartarus who then tells them how long they have to escape from the realm. If you make it within the time limit, even by a second, you're pardoned. A second slow? Well... considering it's a realm of Hell, I'd say you get the picture.
The catch? Where you start is in accordance to your crime. And each Ring takes a full two days to cross without problems... so naturally challengers will get either equal or less time to than it takes to get to the Gates, though it also depends on Tartarus' mood and the challengers fitness...
For example, a lazy, heavy-set Pony who has to run across the First Ring will get one day and eighteen hours to make it back. That's gonna hurt the Pony seeing as they don't have stamina. Or a fit, healthy pony dropped into the Third Ring will have five days to cross all three.
While meeting Tartarus (see here for the basic outline of how that starts) Sombra manages to drain him of a slight portion before throwing himself headfirst into Hell. After some fast travelling, he channels what power he's drained into Tirek, whom he's been siphoning for. Tirek then steps out and drains the rest of Tartarus' magic along with the Sisters and Discord and declares himself the Emperor. Sombra then reveals how he'd actually 'spiked' the channelling magic before pulling it all out of Tirek and into himself, along with Tirek's life force.
After this, Sombra comments that Tirek was too much of a brutal fighter to understand politics, where he then sarcastically prompts the Sisters into handing Equestria over to him. After some back and forth, Sombra gets tired and simply summons those whom the gathered are attached to; and like that the CMC are now his hostages. He then takes a terrified Sweetie Belle with him into Hell, after which Tenshou appears.
Following that is a semi-short battle that is revealed to be in Sombra's favour; due to absorbing the Alicorn's magic, and thereby their connections to the Sun, Moon and Hell, along with theirs, Tirek's and Chrysalis' combat abilities and Discord's Chaos magics, he's constantly dishing out hits that are forcing Tenshou back. Grabbing at Sweetie Belle, Tenshou makes his escape but not before a stray bolt hits her.
Outside, it's revealed that Sweetie Belle's soul is actually trapped in Hell because of the magic used on her. Enraged, Tenshou 'unlocks' the Ichigo subconscious inside him and, after a short discussion revealing who he is, breaks off his mask and releases his whole strength, not just his Hollow side.
Following that, Zangetsu battles Sombra once more in an epic clash that spans the whole of the Nine Rings of Hell, during which both force themselves into becoming stronger, Sombra by consuming the energies of the dead and Zangetsu by going Bankai, and eventually into Saigo. It all ends dramatically with Zangetsu using Mugetsu to put Sombra down and forcing him to release all of the energies he's gathered and returning to their rightful owners, including Sweetie Belle's soul returning to her body.
During the catch-up outside, Sombra attempts one more sneak attack, only to be dragged into the Palace of Hell by King Ragnorok himself, whom made an appearance as a Red Shadow during Twilight's sealing. It's then revealed that, eventually, Alicorns become one with their charges, as evident by Ragnarok becoming Hell and his wife Ascendant becoming Heaven, with the two being the parents of Tartarus, Celestia and Luna prior to their merging. During this, Twilight notes that Zangetsu hasn't returned from Tartarus yet, which leads to Ragnarok searching but finding no trace of the Hollow.
The epilogue then shows Ponyville slowly returning to its version of normalcy, despite the changes (such as the window walls for the Hospital). In Tartarus, the Raven appears before an enslaved Sombra, stating that he will be taking back what was stolen... which leads to the horn on Sombra's head being ripped out and broken, revealing a white shard that is then absorbed into the Mask over Raven's face and beak. A short flashback then shows how Sombra tricked Raven during his first Tartarus Run, stealing the shard after having Raven ambushed.
Meanwhile, Zangetsu returned to Ichigo after the Fullbring arc, though he suffers from amnesia during the period he was stuck in Equestria.
... So, that's how the story was gonna go. Looking at it, I now consider myself an utter dumbass for thinking this could fit into fifteen - sixteen chapters with weekly updates on top of work.
And now, for the announcement; I'm dropping FimFiction. Not gonna delete the account, there's some stories I may turn up every other week to read, but other than that I'm out.
I also said in a blog a while ago that I had some story ideas, so I'm just gonna drop the MLP related one here; if you see one you like, go ahead.
Avatar: Last Airbender/Korra C/Over: Four teens find themselves stranded in the same clearing of a forest, despite all of them dying in different ways; one in a fire, another by drowning during a flood, the third during a landslide and the fourth was thrown by a hurricane/cyclone. They eventually discover their abilities and a common interest: they're all fans of Avatar:ATLA and/or Korra. After brainstorming what they know/remember, they begin practising with their bending. At some point, they are discovered by Ponies and are invited to Ponyville.
And I know at this point I don't really get a say, but I'm gonna put a few rules/guidelines down;
The Firebender is emotionally controlled, but still aggressive, a hair-trigger temper and a loner.
The Waterbender is graceful, and an experienced ice skater.
The Airbender is sarcastic, humorous, and all around a smartass.
The Earthbender is stubborn and challenging, leading to constant arguments with the Firebender on things... like the fact that said Firebender doesn't want to go to a party.
Other than that, stories yours.
Anyways, that's me.
Catcha,
Phoenix.
well.. i thought it sounded like a good story...
oh well...
i hope you have a nice life outside of fimfiction..
i hope Mewtwo is able to write up t your level..
2781436 Yeah, my main problems were with how to deal with how I'd portrayed Twilight and Co. along with Luna; I dug my grave waaay too deep with that to be able to fix it with a decent flow.
I actually do have a decent life outside of FimFiction, I just had a partial one inside it.
Eh, everyone has their own level of writing. Mine's just slightly above average, if you'll believe it.