Hey, guys! Nimrod here, and here we are in the Final Boss Fight for my fanfic. It's amazing I've actually gotten this far. In the past, I'd try writing something, but I almost NEVER finished, so I am excited. Okay, okay, I don't wanna keep you, but just know that, while Watson's doing the big part, the others'll have their hooves full too. Read on!
"Racer?" Watson asked in disbelief. The massive gray pony, wearing his royal armor and his ostentatious helmet, turned and sneered at Watson.
Ah," he snidely remarked, "I was wondering whose teleport I felt earlier. So it was you?" He opened his mouth to continue, but Racer had to leap to the side to avoid the fireball that Watson threw.
"I can't believe you!" Watson screamed as he cast a lightning bolt at the Earth Pony. "You're Malice's Grand General! Her second-in-command!" Another fireball crashed into the wall behind Racer. "SHE TRUSTED YOU!" Racer sped forward and slammed into Watson, sending the smaller unicorn sprawling.
"I told you," Racer shouted as he reared up, "never to say her name around me!" As he slammed down, Watson disappeared in a flash of green light. As soon as Watson vanished, Racer himself was slammed down into the floor. Before he could retaliate, the General was slammed into the wall by a massive gust of wind.
"How could you!?" Watson screamed as he fired spell after spell at Racer. "She trusted you above everypony else! You were her closest knight, her closest friend! How could you betray her!?" Watson fired another spell, but Racer deflected it and fired a spell of his own at Watson. The tan unicorn didn't expect this and was sent flying by a globe of magic. Watson tried getting up, but found himself pinned by Racer.
"I am no traitor," Racer growled. "That red bitch betrayed her country, her calling, when she let you go four years ago. She's the Princess of War, but she's been playing the Peace game for far too long. I joined the knighthood seeking glory in battle. As she is unwilling to go to war, I will." Racer sneered as he continued, "First I will take over my wonderful Shetlands, then your precious Equestria will be put to the torch. Then, bit by bit, the whole world will bend knee to me. With this magic under my control, not even the alicorns can stop me."
"Wait," Watson said, "You've been using magic? How can you use magic? You're an Earth Pony!"Racer sneered again and shook his helmet off his head. Watson gasped in shock. Instead of smooth gray fur, there was broken stub of a horn. From how the stub looked, it must have been a magnificent horn.
"Was broken off as a conscript," Racer chuckled. "Could still use magic, but it was easier to pass myself off as an Earth Pony. Not even she noticed." The gray pony laughed as he lifted Watson with his magic and slammed him into the nearby wall.
Luna looked up at the darkened sky and red sun in terror. It had been over a thousand years, nearly a thousand and a half, since the last time she saw this sky. That time, Luna saw Celestia, radiating with the power of War, descend onto the capital city of the Eastern Minotaur Kingdom. Houses were incinerated, the water in all the aqueducts evaporated, even the stone walls of the castle itself melted into slag. To this day, only scattered villages remained of the once proud kingdom.
Luna did not sleep for nearly a month after that horrific event.
"Moon Princess," a voice rasped next to Luna. Startled out of her trance, Luna turned and saw a Changeling Queen before her. Not Chrysalis, but one of the other ones.
"Moon Princess," the Queen rasped again, "My people will leave now. It doth appear that our aid is no longer necessary."
"We are thankful for what aid thine subjects gave us," Luna bowed her head. "When things settle down, I will talk to my sister about granting Changelings land outside of the Badlands."
"That would be nice," the Queen smiled. "We three Queens take our leave now. Our subjects are sated, both for blood and for emotions. Fare thee well, Moon Princess." The Changeling Queen flew off, followed by a black cloud that was undoubtedly her swarm. Luna sighed and turned back to the flaming city. The battle neared its' end, but would there be a city left by that point?
"I can't believe you!" Malice hollered at her younger brother. Nephronopht cringed as Malice continued her tirade. "How could you just teleport Watson away? He was still clearly sick from the long teleport! He needed to rest, then we could all have gone to the ruined palace to-"
"There wasn't time!" the Prince of Pestilence interrupted. "For all we know, that King could have bound Liam by now! Watson needed to go there immediately so he'd at least have a chance to stop him!"
"What about the rest of us?" Ditzy's gold eyes glared, almost perfectly focused on Neph.
"Yeah," Thom joined in, "why not teleport us too?"
"The days of fighting have left me weary," Neph replied. "I could only teleport one, and the rest of you ran off before telling me what was happening." The doors shuddered as Celestia's magic slammed against them. "Besides, I think we'll have our hooves full dealing with this immediate danger."
"True," Malice admitted through gritted teeth. "With Celestia going Solar Flare in my city, we need to calm her down while a city remains." The doors shuddered again. "May our parents be granting mercy to anypony caught outside." The nearby windows exploded, raining glass on everypony.
"Hold on," Thom said as he removed his helmet. With his markings shining bright, the Earth Pony Psychic said, "I've got an idea. I'm heading outside."
"What!?" Redstamp finally spoke up. "You off your rocker, Thom?"
"I'm sane as can be," Thom said as he continued removing his armor. "I don't think I can calm her all the way, but maybe I can get a single calming thought into her mind. If I can manage that, perhaps you guys can take over."
"But what if she attacks you?" Saria asked worriedly.
"She won't," Malice explained. "Even in this state, she should recognize friend from foe. I am, however, worried about any injuries you may receive from collateral damage." A monster tried worming its' way through the window, but the blood-red fire from Celestia kept it from getting too far.
"I'm aware of the risks," Thom nodded, now wearing nothing but his padded under-armor, "but I can't just sit here while Celestia torches everything in sight." Looking at everypony barefaced and determined, he finished, "I will do this." There was silence for several moments. Even Celestia's rampage seemed to quiet down until Malice nodded and unlocked the door.
"When you're ready."
Watson struggled to get to his hooves and deflected on of Racer's spells, but had to dodge the stampeding General. For nearly a half-hour, Watson exchanged spells and blows. Watson was bleeding from a dozen wounds and Racer's once-pristine armor sported the dents and gouges of well-aimed spells.
"You are better than I thought!" Racer exclaimed. "Maybe killing you will be worth the effort!" Watson replied with a scream and a massive magic bolt, which nearly left Racer bereft of a foreleg. Racer, in turn, delivered a spinning kick, sending Watson crashing into a column. Before the small unicorn could recover, Racer shot a blast at him. This blast shattered the column behind Watson and left the unicorn reeling on the floor.
"Still alive," the grey unicorn whistled. "You're sturdy, that's for sure." As he walked to the prone Watson, he continued, "You know, you've actually been good practice for my fights against the alicorns. Death won't kill them directly, but he should keep me alive long enough to finish the deed. I'll kill the Lady first, then Celestia, then all the others. Although, the Lady is easy on the eyes." As he neared Watson, he gave a lecherous smile. "Maybe I'll keep her alive. A king of my caliber needs a good concu-"
"NO!"
Watson leaped to his hooves and swung his bent horn at Racer. As he did so, green magic shot out like a sword blade and slashed through Racer's armor. Racer stepped back as he felt his chest receive a large gash. Watson pressed forward and slashed again. And again. With each successive slash, more and more of Racer's armor was removed.
"I won't let you touch her, you monster!" Watson roared as he kept slashing. "I won't even let you get near her!" He gave one more slash before Racer caught Watson's magic blade between two shield spells.
"Ooh, did I hit a nerve?" Racer asked. "How could I hit a nerve talking about the Lady? No, you couldn't be…" Racer nearly laughed. "By the gods, you're in love with her!" Keeping Watson in place with his magic, Racer unsheathed one of his leg blades. "That is the single most idiotic thing I've ever heard! You think you have a chance?" He pulled his foreleg back, ready to strike. "You think she'd ever return your affections?" Racer thrust his leg forward, but only cut air. Watson had leaned to the side at the last minute.
"Of course not," Watson glared. "She's a Princess, the most beautiful I've ever laid eyes on. I'm a common, short unicorn. To think I really have any hope is a joke. But I don't care." His eyes started welling up with tears.
"I love Malice, and would do anything for her. Even if I have to crawl through Tartarus and into the Chasm itself…" He broke free of the binding magic and stabbed Racer in the eye with his bare horn as he finished, "I'D DO IT FOR HER!"
Racer screamed in agony and stabbed his blade into Watson's shoulder. Watson screamed in pain, but pushed further. Racer then shoved Watson off and threw him away. Watson struggled to get up as Racer continued screaming in pain. He stomped the ground, firing spells this way and that way, anything to try and lessen the pain of his destroyed eye. Watson, meanwhile, slipped on his blood and fell onto his wounded shoulder. He was not getting up any time soon. After a few more moments of Racer's ranting, he glared at Watson with his one good eye.
"YOU!" he bellowed. "You damn Paladin whelp! I'll have your head for this!" Racer galloped at Watson, and the prone unicorn fired a spell, nearly burning off one of Racer's Cutie Marks.
Then the circle shone bright. Both ponies stopped and turned to look at the circle. It shone brilliant red, and electricity of the same color arced across the lines. Amidst the sparks, both ponies could hear a bellow of pain as a shape began forming in the middle. Racer laughed.
"I've done it!" the gray unicorn roared with laughter. "I've truly done it! Death is mine to command! I've won!"
Thom stood in the city square in front of the palace. He stared up at the shining being that towered above him. Celestia, nay, Solar Flare, regarded him with orange eyes.
"Thom," she said with a hot, harsh voice like a desert wind, "what are you doing?"
"My Lady," the black-furred Psychic bowed. "You need to stop." He did a sweep of her mind, but even the first mental shield repulsed him.
"Stop?" the rust-colored Princess asked. "Stop what? Stop defeating our enemies?" She looked around at the city which, despite the past week, was still mostly intact. "There are yet many who doth oppose me. They must be stopped."
"They have been stopped," Thom replied as he tried worming his way into her mind. "Celestia, the battle is over. You need to stop now."
"Nay," Solar Flare said, shoving Thom's psychic probe out. "I cannot stop. I will not stop. For too long, this world hath been divided. I see now. The differing laws made by differing rulers and their differing ideals. For too long, these things have been used to justify war and bloodshed. This world needs uniting. One world, one banner, one Princess. Only when all serve under one flag, when no more enemies rise up to oppose me and mine, will I stop!" She rose up and spread her wings, intent of taking flight.
"Malice! Neph!"
Two beams of magic, one red one violet, shot out from either side of the square and lassoed the war-mad Princess. She struggled as Malice and Neph stepped forward, keeping her on the ground.
"Release me!" Solar Flare roared. "I command you to let me go!"
"Use your skills, Thom Helios Stranglemane!" Malice called. As she said this, Redstamp and Ditzy Do flew up and pinned Solar Flare's wings to her sides. Saria used her magic to slowly morph the cobblestone up around Solar Flare's legs.
"You can do this!" Saria exclaimed.
"Peace," Thom told himself. After that, he said nothing, but his marking shone pure white. No more worming, no scratching at Celestia's mental barriers. All his training, all his skills in Psychic Arts, were being put towards smashing into Celestia's mind. Bit by bit, he broke one barrier, then the next. He knew he wouldn't be able to break them all, nopony could, but if he could get a single calming thought inside her mind, maybe she would be able to take it from there. Bit by bit, a single thought. Bit by bit, a single thought…
Discord was flying fast as he could back to Vermillion. With the stalemate that had happened, he knew that Celestia would take drastic measures. Giving a cursory glance to the red sun and black sky, he gave an involuntary shudder that almost dislodged his three passengers.
"Watch it, pardner!" the blonde, green-eyed Earth Pony in a Stetson hollered.
"Do you want us to stay on or not!" the alabaster unicorn asked.
"Sorry!" Discord called back. "This whole situation is making me very uncomfortable!" He turned away from the sky and looked at the three ponies flying around him. A blue Pegasus flew to his left, and a canary-yellow one flew to his right. In front of him was a lavender alicorn who wasn't always an alicorn. Further ahead, Discord could see smoke rising. "We're almost there, my little ponies! I can see the city now!"
"Why couldn't you have just teleported us all there!?" the usually-cheerful pink pony said with a serious tone.
"You try teleporting after fighting for days on end!"
"Enough!" Princess Twilight hollered. "Discord, just fly level and we'll handle things when we get there!"
Watson stared at the middle of the magic circle. Standing there, calm as could be, was a tall, lanky alicorn. His fur was flat white, like bleached bones. His pale yellow eyes in their sunken sockets looked between Racer and Watson calmly. He was gaunt, looking almost emaciated. His horn was bare bone and slightly curved downwards, similar to a scythe. His mane and tail were wispy and translucent, almost invisible in the darker chamber. His wings, instead of feathers, were made of dozens and dozens of interlocking bones, giving the illusion of feathers.
Mauso'Liam, the Prince of Death, was here.
"Looks like my time has come, brat," Racer smiled. "The rise of the True King has come."
"For a while, maybe," Watson glared. "Don't you know? If you do this, the world will end. As in, forever. Controlling him will make the world go extinct, and even you will eventually die."
"I know that," Racer smiled, the pain of his destroyed eye almost forgotten. "I'll be making the most of what time I have left." Leaving Watson wide-eyed in disbelief, Racer trotted over to the alicorn and sneered, "Death, so good of you to come."
"I cannot remember why I came, though," Death said with a clear, almost chipper voice. "I know there was a reason, but it is not coming to me."
"Bah," Racer chuckled as he magicked his helmet back. "I'm sure it'll come to you eventually."
As Racer engaged the alicorn Prince in small talk, Watson charged up what magic he had left. He gave a frail smile. He felt that familiar headache, and his horn remained quiet. Neither of them could sense the buildup of magic. He spared a bit to scry Racer's body. Since Death was bound, he had to have the Focus on him. Moments before the scry came back positive for Necromancy, Watson figured it out. It was, in hindsight, completely obvious and unoriginal.
Racer's helmet. That gaudy, flamboyant waste of metal was the Focus.
"So," Racer asked, "think you could do me a favor, Death?"
"Oh sure, sure," Liam replied. "What do you need?"
Racer gestured to Watson as he said, "Would you be willing to kill that Paladin for me?" Liam nodded and looked at Watson, then looked around the room like he was expecting somepony else.
"What is it?" Racer asked. "What are you looking for?"
"You wanted me to kill a Paladin for you," Death stated.
"Yes," Racer acknowledged.
"There is no Paladin in this room."
Racer made a surprised noise of dissatisfaction as Watson went into action. Using a bit more magic, he ripped Racer's helmet from his head and threw it high into the air. Almost immediately after that, Watson fired a single bolt of dense magic at the helmet with enough force to send him sliding back. Time seemed to slow down as the bolt approached the flying helmet. Fifty more feet. Forty. Racer turned up to look at the missile. Thirty feet. His eyes widened in shock.
Twenty feet. Ten feet. Five.
The bolt struck the helmet dead-on. The explosion of magic blinded everypony for a few moments, accompanied by a loud roar of rending magic. The noise quickly ended, and before the blindness ended, Watson could hear the tinkling of metal against stone. When his vision returned, the helmet was gone. Scattered around the chamber were shards and fragments of the gaudy headwear. It was obliterated.
"No!" Racer screamed. The Prince of Death shook his head, as though he were waking up.
"Ah yes," he said, "now I remember." Liam glared at Racer and said, "You sought to control me, and killed hundreds for the sole purpose of baiting me." His wings stretched towards Racer, looking less like wings and more like skeletal dragon hands. "It is high time you paid for your sins, Racer Greyflank." Racer was paralyzed with fear as the bones in the wings unfolded further, shooting out and going around the General, forming a spherical cage connected to Liam's back. Racer was lifted off the ground and moved over the middle of the circle.
Then Watson noticed the rumbling. The ground shook slowly at first, then quaked violently, bouncing the unicorn up and down. Suddenly, the floor in the middle of the circle exploded downward, like a sinkhole. Instead of soil, there was a swirling blackness, joined by a roar as the air itself was sucked into the hole. Along with the wind, everypony could hear a multitude of voices, all crying in agony.
"W-what is that?" Racer asked. "Tartarus?"
"No," the Prince of Death replied. "There will be no hellfire and brimstone for you. No, you go deeper. Into the cold, dark prison that is the Chasm." He stepped towards the hole. "You, who sought to command me, must be prepared to be claimed by my power. And all who dabble in that twisted magic, I send here."
"No," Racer shook his head and pressed against the side of the cage. "Not there. I don't want to go there."
"You sought to take away my freedom to choose," Liam said. "I am simply returning the favor."
Racer continued shaking his head and saying his denial. Liam took another step and hung his wing-cage, with Racer in it, over the pit. Suddenly, a bone from the cage was sucked in. Then another. Racer was able to give one last cry of fear as the cage fell apart. His cry continued as he was sucked into the dark void. In a few seconds, his scream faded, indiscernible from the others.
Racer was sent, body and soul, into a place worse than Tartarus.
Liam turned to look at Watson, his wings slowly reforming. Watson, weakened from blood loss and magic exhaustion, could lay there and look at the Prince with dim, bleary eyes. He knew what would happen next. Raising a foreleg best he could, Watson nodded his acceptance.
All of a sudden, Watson felt himself get lifted up and surrounded by warmth. He looked down and, even with his blurry vision, could see vivid red fur around his chest. Looking up, he saw a red-and-black blur with two blue spots on it.
"Malice?" He weakly whispered.
"I will not let you take him," Malice growled.
"I was not going to," Liam said. "He was touched by that twisted magic, but he did not dabble in it. In my eyes, he is innocent. Farewell, Sister." Liam walked over and hoisted Elder Carneade's body onto his back and, in an instant, the Prince of Death vanished. The hole suddenly closed up and expelled the air that was sucked in over the past few minutes. The resulting gale would have blown Watson across the room had Malice not tightened her grip on him. After a few moments, the wind died down, and there was silence.
Watson slowly turned to look at the circle and the hole. There was no trace of the hole, but the ground around where it had formed was rent upwards. The blood from the circle remained, but there was no glow, no aura, nothing. The circle was destroyed, and Death would forever remain free.
The small unicorn slowly looked back up at Malice. She was little more that a straight-red blur by this point, but Watson could tell she was smiling.
"My Lady."
"Foolish Paladin," Malice said, sounding further away than she was.
"Technically," Watson weakly said as he closed his eyes, "I retired four and a half years ago." Then he passed out.
Okay, what'd you think? Not bad? Not good? Hope you at least liked it. Anyway, I know I said I wouldn't have the Mane Six show up directly, but I couldn't think of any other way to deal with a Nightmare of CELESTIA. Anyway, for anyone wondering why I worded Thom's psychic probing the way I did is because I am a big fan of the Lensman novel series, so I borrowed a bit from that.
Well, one more chapter to go and this tale will be over! Now, quick question for everyone, and I mean EVERYONE. What should i do after I'm done with this? Should I...
A: Write a fanfic for a different fandom?
B: Write a fanfic that consists of one-shots pertaining to any plot-holes in this fanfic? (ie explaining how Thom is known to Clopone as "Young Valerius.")
3: Write the kinda-sequel fic that's been bouncing around my head?
D: Write some other ponyfic unrelated to the Paladins?
E: Point out that there was no "C" option?
You guys tell me what you think. I'll be here. ^^ See ya next time!