“Come now Twilight, maybe we should let them… uh, continue…” Rarity trailed off as the mane six slowly entered the room, observing the “drab” décor, only for her eyes to land on Faust.
“So, not only have you risen against me, but you DARE see me as an obstacle?!” The ancient sore-looser raged, keeping still as possible with the swords and gun aimed at her.
“Yes.” Was Luna’s cold reply, watching as Faust began sweating, the army of blades inching closer to her face. “I will not ask again. WHERE. IS. CHRYSALIS!!!!!”
“P-Princess Luna!” The mane six shouted, but the Wargess ignored them, instead drawing the attention of myself and my army. The mares shrunk under said attention, Fluttershy cowering behind her friends.
Most in the… I guess, pack, glared or equally whimpered themselves away from the ponies. This wasn’t good. What happens when a caged animal finally gets loose, and their captors return? They rip and tear. And ponies were one of the weakest races out there. These six wouldn’t last a second against my Wargs.
With a flick of my hand, a five-foot wall separated the Wargs and hapless ponies, leaving myself to speak with the equines. “Get out. Go home.”
“B-But the Princess-“ Argued Rainbow, hugging a sobbing Fluttershy.
“Will be fine. She can look after herself. You however, in this situation, will die.”
“Is tha’ ah threat?” Applejack pushed forward and gritted her blunt teeth, stepping in front of me as she glared upward.
“A warning.” I sighed, pinching the bridge of my snout. “With the time passing, my opinion of your race drops. How can you all be this stupid? From now on, my expectations for you ponies will be set to the lowest margin.”
Every pony present gasped.
“You have done nothing but hurt yourselves and others. You speak of friendship as if it is some religion, even dare to preach it. But it is nothing. Nothing but a fleeting hope that barely keeps your ideals alive.” I spat and glanced over the wall to the cowering Priests in the corner, listening with mild interest. “From what we witnessed here, the raising of the Warg army was a test? You didn’t want a mindless slave, but the personality intact. You wanted your ‘goddess’ back. You substitute the real God for an idol, whether it be Faust or Celestia. Pitiful.”
“B-But the Prin-“ I snapped back to the ponies, shutting Twilight up.
“Luna has done nothing but her best to help this country, and you just want to through her away and get Celestia back right?” A bout of nods, but suddenly putting their heads on a swivel and shaking them. I knew what it was they meant. They wanted Sun Butt back but didn’t want to tick off the army of fire-breathing giants. “Like I said; pathetic.”
“Go home, where it’s safe~.” I ended my sentence with a sickeningly soft tone, erecting a shudder from the mares as they teleported back to their ride.
“You let them go?”
“Why?”
“These guys locked us in cages, and they did nothing?!”
“The Mane Six always sucked.”
“Are you serious?!”
This and more was heard from the Wargs, all eyes ending on me. Taking a long breath, I let out a sigh.
“I know that the ponies hurt you, but they were kept in the dark until recently. They have done nothing to deserve your anger. When this is all done, I’d like to get everyone back home to get patched up and fed. We can worry about misgivings at a later date.” I waved toward the Priests, my heart dipping into darkness. “But if it’s an outlet you all want, they’re the ones you want. Kill them however you wish.”
At my order, the pack was unleashed. All ponies in the room were torn and shredded, several seconds passed as I walked up to Luna’s side.
“I thought we were supposed to live peacefully as Christians.” A sense of worry emitted from her face, ignoring Faust’s rant about how she was going to make us pay. But in silver or copper?
“They forfeited peace when they shot first.” I then glared at the alicorn, making her shut up. “I’m being nice right now, so your tiny brain can understand. Where is Chrysalis hiding? And if you don’t tell us… well, I won’t stop Luna from tearing you apart.”
“I think I’d just prefer to shoot her head off and be done with it. Haven is the objective, not getting vengeance.”
With a scream and a flash of magic, Faust teleported away, returning with Twilight in her grip. The bookworm held by the neck, flapping her wings uselessly as her face turned blue.
I gritted my teeth. While I still didn’t like Twilight, I didn’t want her to die. “Let her go Fau-“
Luna rushed forward, her spear swiping at the taller alicorn’s neck. Faust dodged, but just barely, throwing the gasping Princess of Friendship toward the Wargess. Luna caught her in her Chroma, setting her down on a nearby stone and rushing the undead alicorn with vigor. “You really think you’re all that? The valiant alicorn who lead her ponies to prosperity? Ha, don’t make us laugh!”
“Your kind are a disease that needs to be stomped out! I will not stop until it is done!” Faust countered, grabbing a Priest and using him as a shield.
But this time, Luna just sliced him in half. “Have you looked in the mirror? You really think you’re strong enough to take out an entire species, that as of now, two are hunting you through this crowd?”
“Wha-?!” Too late, in her hurry to dodge and elude Luna, she ran right into me. Not sparing any talk, I grabbed her by the neck and waist, and hoisted her over my head. Taking a knee, I brought her down, her back cracking against my thigh. Faust let out a bloodcurdling scream, unmoving as she fell to the floor. “W-Why?”
I snarled as I stood, glaring down at the broken alicorn. How could she be this dense? But then again, ponies have always been dense.
“Because you made my life a living hell.” Luna sneered, using her magic to hold her spear at Faust’s throat, her hands slowly gathering electrified gold and it peeled off the walls. By the time Faust was begging for her life, Luan had constructed a golden sword twice her own height. “I’m sending you to the Judge, and He’ll condemn you, so you know all the sins you committed against me throughout my childhood!”
Faust gritted her teeth, stowing her pleading as she tried and failed to sit up. “A-ARG… And… how do you know you won’t be judged, huh? You think you’re special? You’ll be joining me there after death! You’re no better than me!”
Luna shook her head, a small sadness entering her eye. “Because I asked for forgiveness, you didn’t.”
“I-I-I want to ask!!” The alicorn now wept in desperation. She wanted to live, and she didn’t care how she did it. Whether it be by darker magics, or by trickery.
I circled around to look her in the eye. I didn’t see any sincerity, no commitment. I only saw an animal begging for her life, and she was lying to get it.
“I-I’ll give you anything you want! Gold, silver! Anything! Just save me!”
Nostrils flaring, I lunged and snatched the alicorn by the back of the head, angling her so I was snarling in her face. “God can’t be bought! But lucky for you, the spirit is eternal. So, you in and of yourself, won’t officially die. You’ll just be dead to the Lord as he casts you down into Hell, as with all who defy Him.”
Faust looked ready to snarl back, her eyes welling up. “T-Then I’ll drag y-you down with me!”
“Not likely.” With that, I thrust my arm down and smashed her head into the floor. I stepped back to watch her twitch and peal herself off the ground, glaring at me with a bloodied nose.
“You’ll pay for—”
“I’m still here.” Luna’s voice had dropped to subzero temperatures, her spear coming around to rest below Faust’s chin. The Wargess then pulled her lightsaber from her belt, handing it to the alicorn via her magic. “I will not kill anyone unarmed.”
“P-Princess?” I blinked, having forgotten that Twilight was still here. I turned to see her shrinking under the looming gazes of the pack.
“Do you all plan to kill her for something she didn’t do?” I asked the crowd, momentarily glancing over the bloodied room and still-warm bodies. “Because if you do act on it, I will break your arms, regardless if our bones are said to be as hard as dimond.”
The gathering of Wargs let out an audible gulp, a few stepping back.
“But she did nothing, nothing to save us! None of them did!” I tilted my head to see a tan Warg parting the throng, his green and blue eyes set on me. His hateful gaze occasionally occupied by Twilight. “They left us to rot.”
“If you don’t like how I run things, then leave. I won’t stop you.” We had more important things to deal with than this!
“Like hel—” He had just grabbed my shoulder before I flipped him onto his back, punching the ground beside his head, a crater spiderwebbing with a distinct crack. Taking a breath, I roared a plume of fire in his face. He screamed for a moment before realizing that he wasn’t burning alive, staring up at me as I loomed over him, breathing out plumes of smoke.
“We can discuss this after we’re done here.” With that, I stepped over him and watched as Luna fought Faust.
But my eyes shot wide in awe and horror as Luna sped about the room at Mach 7. My two seeing holes could barely keep up with her as Faust’s body hung in the air, the mare’s limbs suddenly being relocated to the floor in a bloody heap. Before her lightsaber could hit the ground, the blur that was my lover snatched it and sped back toward Faust’s screaming and limbless body, just seconds from dropping. Luna then dropped down below Faust, spinning her spear before it impaled the alicorn through the chest, her saber arcing upward as the mare’s head was savored from her shoulders. Warm blood sprayed over Luna, her back and head drenched.
“I take it back,” Luna scowled at the rolling head of her undead kidnapper. “You were the exception.”
“Uuuuuuuuhhhhhhh…” I stared at my mate, wondering if I should be cowering in terror or cheering her on. “You ok?”
“A little.” She admitted, slinging the headless corpse off her spear. “But—”
“Alive or undead, I’ll always come back!” Faust’s head shouted with glee, black and purple smoke connecting her torso and limbs, drawing them all back together. Once again, the alicorn stood before us as mine and everyone else’s collective hearts sank. “You can’t kill me! I’m already dead!”
I managed to swallow the lump in my throat. “Yeeeaaahh, we’re going to need something else to kill her.”
“And that would be?!” Luna cried in building panic as Faust slowly sauntered toward us with a sickening smile.
I thought for a long moment before my runes shone in the dim light, Baldur’s voice whispering. ‘The gauntlet? It consumed the majority of the dome’s power, think it has enough space to suck hers in?’
Nodding to myself, I turned slightly to look at my mate and kept an eye on Faust, the mare now laughing like some deranged anime villain. “Get everyone out of here!”
“W-What?!”
“If you want to stay, you can, but everyone else has to leave. I want to kill with Faust properly this time.” As I said this my fur hardened and lava ran like many rivers down my body, runes at full illumination, and white lightening flashing around my gauntlet. Eyes and maw alight in red fire, I smiled at my mate. “This is the first boss.”
“If anything, she’s more of a mini boss.” Luna stated as she spun her spear into an attack stance, a small smile on her face. “Nothing of true consequence.”
“Y-You dare belittle ME?!” Screamed the alicorn, flaring her wings. “I will be your end!”
“I don’t think so.” With that, my runes lit up along with my gauntlet, releasing thousands of arcing light. The uncaged energy blanketed all that was to my right in lightening, causing members of the pack to back away. I watched from the corner of my eye as all within the storm’s reach was slowly turned to dust, thankfully keeping away from the gathered pack. “Go, now!”
“Micah, Roret’s not here.”
I wilted slightly at Luna’s reminder, having all of my focus coming back to Faust as she crafted two swords from her magic. “Then just hang back and watch the show.”
“What about her?” Asked the punk Wargess from before, but I already knew who she spoke of.
“Twilight.” I felt the mare looked my way. “I’ve been very lenient with you. I will say this one final time; go home.”
The Warg from before stepped forward, defiant as ever. “Now hold on! Who said—”
Ignoring him, I rushed forward at almost unmatchable speeds, bringing my two sabers to bear as I clashed with Faust. Blue and gold against purple.
“You think you can kill me?! I’m a god!” The alicorn sneered, struggling not to cry as the lightening scorched her fur and mane.
“I worship the God of Heaven and Earth, and you measure up to Him as a speck of dust does to the universe!” I snarled back, shoving her away as I took a breath, releasing a torrent of flame in her face. As the smoke dissipated, I saw that the alicorn had lost a good part of her face, purple smoke replacing the charred flesh. “And these flames are a paradise to where you’re going.”
Faust roared and huffed with fury, smashing her two swords together as they formed into a ridiculously oversized sword, ten times her own size. With a furious roar, Faust brought the oversized kitchen knife down on me. Only for Luna to come out of nowhere and block it before we could be hit, the blade inches from my horns.
“You have enough scars as it is, I’d rather you not return home with a split head!” Luna snarled at me, her glare softening after I delivered a first-class kiss to her nose.
I grinned as she locked eyes with me. “Even with a split head, I’d come home.”
“ARE YOU EVEN TAKING ME SERIOUS?!”
“What’s there to take serious?” I glared over my mate’s shoulder at the alicorn, looking back to the Wargess for a moment. “You know what… do you want to take her?”
Luna thought for a moment, pushing up with her spear, she leapt up and round-housed the alicorn’s sword through the far wall. With a satisfied smile, she looked back at my gawking face. “No, Haven is my objective, not revenge. You can have her.”
She said the last bit with her interest drained, causing the alicorn she’d once called mother to snarl. “Y-You t-th-think I’m some kind of JOKE?!”
“Maybe.” I smiled simply, dashing up to her and playfully slapping her across the face. The mare flew as if she were hit by ten hundred trucks, flying through the opposite wall as her sword previously.
“Fine then…” Faust mumbled through the cloud of dust, her words somehow reaching me. “…you’ve given me n-no choice, arrogant brat…”
“Huh?” I shared everyone’s confusion.
Without warning, her magic’s aura intensified a hundred-fold, the explosion of magic wiping out almost the entire base, incinerating the pyramid. With the speed of an elder Warg, Faust was on me before I could react.
Faust began to laugh like crazy as she pinned me beneath her hoof. “What did you think all those Wargs were for? Decoration? No, I needed power to get back to the world of the living, and I got all their power! A thousand Warg’s magic flows through my veins!”
She leaned down, her slitted eyes glaring down at me, my bloodied face angling to get a look at her sharp teeth. “So… tell me, little Warg, am I a joke now?!” She ended her question by grinding her hoof into my skull, the pain overtaking me.
I screamed in agony, trying to pry the alicorn off. “G-get… o-off…”
“Make me.”
A sudden crowd rushed the alicorn, the Wargs combined effort pushing her back. The pain left me before Luna helped me up, my eyes opening to see Faust being dragged off by the Nahar mob.
“You slime!”
“Don’t you dare hurt him!”
“Yeah, that guy saved us!”
“You took that power, it’s not yours!”
“It’s mine!”
“Mine!!”
“MINE!!!”
The Wargs clawed and tore the alicorn apart, her decaying body being replaced by purple smoke. Faust screamed and cried for mercy, yet she received none. It soon got to the point that all that remained were her bones, only for those to be shredded as well. And with each plucking of flesh and bone, each Warg seemed to get stronger, their power slowly returning.
Deciding to add a bit of effort, I raised my right arm and activated the gauntlet. The green gem shined like a star as the purple smoke was slowly absorbed.
“NO! NO! NO! NO! No! No! Nooooooo!” Screamed the alicorn as her essence was stripped from her.
But it wasn’t only her power I was taking. The Dome was on its last leg, and as the thin stream of white lightening slipped into the gauntlet, the sky flickered. The shining sun was suddenly replaced with two, the overall warmth of the world increasing slightly, like a soft heatwave. Off in the distance, a floating island drifted below said suns, the sky cast in an orange hew.
With tears in her eyes, Faust’s whimpering cries were reduced to moans and gurgles.
I motioned for the crowd to part. They did so without complaint, parting down the middle as Luna and I walked up to Faust. What lay before us was more a specter than a zombie, a skinny alicorn shaped blob of purple smoke surrounded by cream feathers and tufts of fur. “Everyone back up.”
They did so as I watched Faust’s misty form look up at me with pleading eyes. “Please… don’t…”
Balling my aching fist, I shrugged off Luna, standing before the fallen alicorn. Eyes narrowing and sparking, fur slowly hardening.
“…please…”
White lightening and flame arched around my right arm, runes shining as my fur snapped into natural armor. I raised a shaking fist above my head. “Detroit…”
Everyone looked at me oddly.
“…Delaware…” My voice became rough and louder.
A few eyes widened and jaws dropped.
Breathing deep and long, my fist reached its peak. “UNITED… STATES OF…” Then, with all my might, with every ounce of power within me. I brought it down. “SMASH!!!!”
A hurricane of power followed my fist, like six thousand trucks, the resulting wave crushed the ground below and everything on it. A crater erupted below my feet; my body suddenly suspended in mid-air. With that wave of power came a torrent of lightening, reducing the area within my melee range to ash. Faust stood no chance against the onslaught.
All that remained of the alicorn in question were the feathers of her once glorious wings, the scattered dust of a civilization. A bygone era.
Blinking myself out of my stupor, I noticed that a cloud of dust had risen around me, hiding me from the others. My body aching, yet I still wanted to be at least a bit dramatic. So, I kept my eyes alight, and fur hardened, runes flaming as the last of the gauntlet’s power flickered out. The dust receded to reveal a stunned crowd, all eyes wide and jaws slack. I inwardly smiled at their reactions.
Swallowing the dry air through my cracked lips, I smiled like the devil himself. “Next?”
The resulting cheer could be heard from Canterlot and back.
-=The Everfree=-
STUPID, STUPID, STUPID!!
Not only were there more mouths to feed, but the pony population had also entered another riot! The ponies… I honestly didn’t even want to think about, but they were too numerous and instrumental to ignore. If they stopped working, paying, and over-all living, then their entire economy would crash! And in result of their panic attack, they would be living in the slums and streets! Didn’t exactly want that, it would only add to the problems.
Luna had requested Twilight’s help in wrangling the ponies in, which (or course) she brought her friends along to help. My internal groaning intensified. THEY ALREADY HAD ENOUGH TO WORRY ABOUT WITH THEIR FAMILIES AND LIVELYHOODS ON THE LINE! “SMARTEST” PONY IN EQUESTRIA MY BUTT!!!
Then there was the issue of housing for the Nahar!
Though it had been a week since freedom, the Wargs had looked to me to provide. Instead of chopping down the forest to build houses, we decided on hunting the slight overpopulation of monsters and made tents from their hides. Seriously, I was honestly surprised at seeing how many of them inhabited the Everfree. Plus, it helped that Aesc gave us his blessing on the matter.
And speaking of the Elemental, we were just arriving in his grove to request his assistance once more. The Great Tree loomed over the large clearing; the once tall pit it had sat in reduced to rolling hills of snow.
“Greetings, Aesc, King of the Everfree.” I almost shouted up to the Elemental, flanked by Luna, Damian, and four other Wargs who were not my usual escorts. The others had stayed to help construction and hunting. Winter had come, and the world reflected that fact with foot deep snow and howling winds.
“Greetings, my friends.” The Elemental’s warm and booming voice almost rattling his naked branches, a yawn escaping him. “It would seem that I require even more rest, but before that, I shall help you in any way I can. You’ve helped me get the predator population under control, so I feel that I owe you an act.”
I nodded in thanks before Luna rested a hand on my shoulder, silently asking me to let her make the request. I nodded again. The Wargess stepped forward, the collar of her dress fitted with the formerly undead alicorn’s feathers, creating a wide plumage that only added to her beauty.
“We request that you seek the location of our daughter, Silver Haven.”
“As your friend, I shall do this!” Aesc laughed with no small amount of vigor.
-=Meanwhile=-
“And you’re certain of this?”
“Yes Alpha, we’ve analyzed the drug, and the results are… not in her favor.” The Wargess bowed to her Alpha, a prime specimen of a male. Tall and muscular, Alpha Uur put all in his pack in their places with a swift hand, but the middle-aged leader was not above helping others.
Uur hummed to himself, stroking his chin of murky fur, pale wings rustling. The white streaks of fur that covered his eyes narrowed with his brow, said bands of pearl extending down and stopping at his palms. “Are the effects fatal? Anything of serious or deadly note?”
“No, the only effects she will gather from the extraction, while it will need to be slow, will only be a temporary illness and possibly her muscle mass deterioration.”
“That last one sounds unpleasant.” The Warg’s electric blue and silver eyes narrowed with his comment, his brow arching. “Should we notify the High Alpha about this?”
The nurse hummed in thought, playing with her cheek. “To avoid penance, yes, I think we should. I don’t think it’d be wise to hide something like this from the High Alpha. He would be very cross.”
“Yes… the blind one wouldn’t take kindly to being kept in the dark.” Uur found himself almost cringing, stopping before his third Delta could see his weakness. “Especially considering what his mate would do to m-us at the next Taalth.”
“That would be bad, sir.”
“’Bad’ is an understatement.” The Alpha huffed, leaning back in his recliner. “Anything else that I should be notified about?”
The Wargess shook her head. “No.”
“Then you may go Ashii.” Uur waved her off, reaching across his desk to grasp a pitcher of heavy wine. Upon hearing the door close, the Alpha poured himself a class and turned to look out the large window.
The view was nothing overly special to him, the five moons overlooking his beach-bound city, the ocean’s waves reflecting the pale glow. Raising his goblet, Uur took a sip. “I look forward to meeting you, little former princess…”
His white tipped ears twitched at the creaking of his study’s doors opening. He didn’t even bother turning to see who it was as a pair of thin arms wrapped around his neck, encased in grey fur.
“Ah, what year is that?” Purred the silky voice of his female, her left cheek nestling him.
“19605, a favorite vintage of yours.” Uur allowed himself to smile, nuzzling his mate back. “Couldn’t sleep Harha?”
The female’s face came into view, the sight of her already a familiar one to him, but to others… well, it was said that her appearance could drive demons away. The Wargess grinned as her scarred muzzle scrunched up, a mess of overcooked muscle that leaked wisps of black smoke, speckled with tiny flickering arcs of her power. The right cheek was burned to point of fur growing no longer, leaving behind a large patch of charred flesh that stretched up her ear.
“No. The bed’s too cold without my sweet badger.” Her golden and green eyes gleamed in the lamplight, her smile gracing her features as she nuzzled him further. She suddenly gained a knowing look, the type that only a well-informed Mistress would have. “Are you thinking about our little alicorn guest?”
“Yes… having your spies keep an eye on my activities again?” The Alpha male raised a brow, taking another sip. “Are you trying to peek at what I have stashed away for our anniversary again?”
“W-What?! N-No!” Harha stuttered, trying to hide her obvious blush through a frown, only to crack, snuggling her mate’s ear. “Now why would I even do that if our centenary is weeks away? It would be foolish to do so. No, I just wanted to know what you plan to do with her? Plan to hire her as a slave?”
“An alicorn, as a slave?” Uur hummed in thought as his mate worked her way around the chair, coming to sit gracefully in his lap, cradling his head all the way. “It would definitely speak volumes about my political power… but it would be pointless. A superior topic would overshadow my activity. As you know, the Nahar’s heirs have returned… and their new Alpha is…”
“Trouble?”
“No… hardly an Alpha at all. From what my spies tell me, he only awoke once.”
“And in order for him to be recognized as a true Alpha, he would need to be awoken again. Possibly three times.”
“Yes… either he will grow or fall under the High Alpha’s eye.”