Chapter 35: The Final Curtain Call.
Princess Luna winces, her half-broken body collapsing next to mine. "How fare thee, dreamer?"
"Better than you." I laugh darkly, turning my attention from her to the dragon, Bahamut, that stands between us and Jenova. "But, if this doesn't work..." I turn my eyes down the the bangle, where the two Materia maintaining Bahamut's summoning still glow brightly. My eyes then pass over one more Materia, simple and Green. My head is already spinning slightly from the exhaustion, but...
"Have thee yet another trick left?" Princess Luna asks, seeing my eyes linger on the gems.
"Maybe." I reply as I shift myself into a sitting position. I take her twisted wing and gently place it across my lap, the Princess masking a wince at the pain, and begin trying to make use of the Restore Materia. It's slow, my mind barely able to focus, my body not having much energy to give now after summoning Bahamut, but the glow of the Cure spell eventually begins to eminate from my palm as I run it just above the broken limb.
"Restorative magic as well?" Princess Luna asks, surprisingly cheerful despite our situation. "So the completed building doth offer greater protection, after all."
I hesitate before replying. "I don't know how much I'll be able to fix, but..."
Bahamut roars, snapping our attention away, its stomps echoing through the gorge as it charges ahead. It lurches forward, bringing its right claw down like a fist against its smaller adversary. There's a green burst of light and a pop as the dragon's claw smashes into the ground, the distorted form of Jenova apparating back into existence behind it with a second pop and burst on the back of Bahamut's neck.
Jenova coils its legs around Bahamut's neck, the limbs' length extending as necessary with a nauseating squish and popping that's audible even at this distance. It throws its weight forward, pulling Bahamut's neck and entire body back as the dragon loses balance, toppling onto its back with a roar as its head and limbs thrash against its neck's captor. Digging its claws into the ground, Bahamut throws its entire body forward with a heave, forcing Jenova to release its grip to avoid being tossed forward itself. Jenova's legs return to their usual length and shape with another round of pops, crunches, and squishes, and it turns its back to us to face Bahamut as the Great Dragon King rises back to its feet.
"The creature art but toying with us, even now." Princess Luna observes as Jenova rushes along the ground at Bahamut, only to be smashed against the side of the gorge by Bahamut's tail. "Mayhaps its arrogance shall undo it."
I hadn't missed it, either. When Jenova topped Bahamut onto its back, it turned up to us and smiled, giving up an easy opportunity to attack us directly to continue its attack on Bahamut instead. I turn down to her wing again, trying my best to keep the Cure spell going at whatever rate I can manage. "When I'm done, run."
She scoffs. "Thou believest the Princess of the Night would flee from battle?"
"We need Celestia." I reply plainly, the exhaustion from the magic seeping into my voice. "If Bahamut falls, you can't defeat it alone."
There's a crash as Jenova rockets out from the wall that Bahamut's tail smashed it into, slamming into Bahamut's stomach and sending it toppling back into the stream with a splash, though the dragon's body is too large to fall inside. "And thee, dreamer?" Princess Luna asks, her voice softening.
I let out another dark laugh. "I'll be fine." I take a deep breath, focusing myself to continue pushing through magical-based exhaustion. "It likes to talk. I'll ask it if it wants to trade cooking recipes or something."
Princess Luna's own dark laugh is cut off by another draconic roar as Bahamut rolls, taking hold of Jenova in its claw and forcing it under the stream, trying to suffocate it. The water around Bahamut's claw, in turn, wells up, flowing along its arm until it reaches the dragon's head, encasing it in a sphere of water, visibly pressing down into it. Bahamut gasps for air but soon turns its attention down to the stream where its claw still holds Jenova, its mouth open. It pulls its hand from the stream as a fireball erupts from its mouth, bursting through the water sphere and down into the stream, an explosion erupting, sending water and chunks of rocks in all directions.
Jenova launches from the stream not long after, taking to the sky, its body becoming small as its leap takes it above the top of the gorge's cliffs. With a wingflap that sends gusts along the gorge's path, Bahamut takes to the air in pursuit, not allowing Jenova to make distance. Bahamut weaves in the air, dodging a beam of green magic from Jenova and grabbing the monster again, this time in both claws. The dragon somersaults through the air with Jenova in its grip, gaining speed and centrifugal force before tossing Jenova back to the ground below with a thunderous impact. Dust fills the air around the impact site, Jenova's body partially buried into the ground. After a second, it begins rising, but unlike before, this rise is slow, its spindly legs a bit uncertain as they dig into the ground to right itself.
"Looks like something finally got to it." I comment, as Princess Luna begins to squirm next to me.
"We should also be fighting!" The Princess declares as she tries to pull herself up to her hooves, only to collapse back down. "Thy dragon hath an advantage. If We could assist..." She tries to move her wing, only to wince, the damage still not repaired.
"Just let me finish this so you can get your sister." I say, my concentration wavering for a moment at concern for the collapsed alicorn, but I'm able to keep the Cure spell going through the ever-growing haze of exhaustion. Though, my head beginning to swim. "If Bahamut can still fight when she gets here, then..."
"To flee with Our tail between Our legs to Our Sister over such a miserable foe..." Princess Luna's pride sounds more wounded than her body at the thought.
The sky lights up, the gorge glowing orange with the light of fire as Bahamut rains a hail of fireballs down on Jenova. The explosions displace enough air to make both the Princess and myself turn our heads, eyes squinted shut at the force of the blasts. As the rain of fire ends, we turn back to see Jenova, still standing, encircled by flame as it protects itself in its spherical shield, flames trailing up a few of the curved sides.
A new wind blows, accented this time by Jenova's glowing eye, the flames extingushed by a powerful gust. It raises its arms in front of it, moving them in a way that's reminiscent of molding clay, and the winds grow in intensity. Soon, its goal becomes obvious, rocks, dirt, and stream water being picked up in a vortex that begins extending into the sky, up to the clouds. With a flick of the monster's arms, the twister races down the gorge, its body aimed directly at the dragon in the sky, catching it in its vortex.
Bahamut's wings beat, attempting to resist the twister, but soon the high-speed winds prove too much as its flung away, smashing into the side of the ravine and falling until it collides with the ground below once more, the vortex of wind dissipating. It shakes itself off and quickly rises to its clawed feet, undeterred despite Jenova already rushing across the ground on its spindly legs for its next attack. Bahamut punches at the monster with its right claw, Jenova catching the draconic fist in its left hand and somehow matching the attack's force as its legs dig deeper into the ground. Bahamut swings in with its left fist as well, Jenova catching it in its right, and the two are left pressing their weight against each other in a show of might. Bahamut, however, doesn't allow the stalemate to continue, opening its mouth to unleash another fireball, forcing Jenova to break the stalemate and leap to dodge.
The opportunity isn't lost on the Great Dragon King, which again leaps into the air after the spiderlike nightmare, using a vertical spin to smash the creature out of the air and back to the ground again with its tail. This time, Bahamut follows Jenova back to the ground with a dive, using one leg to stomp down on the creature and pin it before it can recover. It stomps once, then again, then a third time, each hit accentuated by the pained cry of the abomination below it. A fourth stomp, however, is blocked by Jenova's rounded, green shield.
Bahamut cries out as its assaulted from the side, the crumbled bits of rock and debris from when the twister sent it crashing down now slamming into it from the side, wrapped in Jenova's magic. Jenova's angered howl accentuates its freedom, the rocks that collided into Bahamut being pulled back, reshaped into two giant boulders. Jenova swings its right arm forward, and the boulder on the right swings forward with it, connecting with Bahamut's stomach. It pulls back and swings its left arm, left boulder following the left's arms motions just as the right boulder does the right arm. Like giant boxing gloves, it clubs the dragon again and again, not allowing it to regain its wind as its forced to collide again and again with the ravine wall.
As it swings the right-side boulder again, though, a beam of blue light intercepts, shattering it into small rock fragments. "Thou'st forgotten this is no duel, creature!" Princess Luna yells, her horn's glow fading as her breath becomes haggard from the exertion of another spell in her state. She tries to stand again, but fails, again slumping beside me as I keep focused on her wing, the light of the Cure spell becoming dimmer as my mind inevitably gives in to exhaustion. I can't let it, though, not yet, not until this one final job is done...
Jenova turns to us, but is quickly punished for it by a kick from Bahamut, sending it tumbling back into the stream again. It rises up from the water, shield raised to deflect Bahamut's follow-up fireball, charging through the resulting explosion only to be met by a side swipe from Bahamut's tail. Jenova tumbles along the ground for just a moment, quickly able to right itself and dig its legs in as it slides back across the ground, taking to the air with a leap to dodge another wave of Bahamut's fireballs.
This time, however, Bahamut doesn't follow. It lowers itself to all fours, digging its claws and feet into the ground. It spreads its wings, digging the clawed peaks of its wings' crests into the ground as well, bracing itself with all six limbs as it turns its head up to face Jenova. It opens its mouth and takes aim, energy gathering in its throat from the air around it like a red-hot laser cannon, the build-up casting away the darkness of the gorge and bathing it in orange. The air cackles with energy as the power builds up ever greater, Jenova quickly realizing its mistake and placing up a green energy shield, Bahamut's claws digging deeper into the ground. An explosive sound rocks the ravine as the Mega Flare fires, the power enough to force Bahamut to dig his tail into the ground to prevent being pushed back despite all its previous bracing. The canyon becomes bright with the glow of the attack, light cast like an early sunrise as the solid beam of fire and energy tears through the sky, engulfing Jenova and its shield completely. When the beam dissipates, Jenova is gone.
"Such power..." Princess Luna gapes uncharacteristically. "Dreamer, dost thou believe the creature killed?"
"I don't know." I admit, leaning my head against the side of the ravine, slumping against it. The Cure spell dissipates, my mind no longer capable of maintaining it no matter how much I push myself. "I hope so."
Princess Luna finally finds the strength to stand and tries moving the injured wing. While it no longer hangs lamely at her side, it proves unfit to use, an attempt to flap it causing the Princess' body a pained shudder. "It appears We shall need to call upon Our Night Guard to return us to Canterlot."
"Don't complain." I laugh, head spinning as I lean it up to the sky. "At least we get to go back." I move up my left hand to rub my forehead, and notice something. My bangle still has two brightly glowing Materia - Bahamut's Red Materia, and the paired Turbo Magic Materia. With Jenova killed, the summoning should...
The pop of a teleport followed by a guttural roar of pain snaps both my and the Princess' attention to Bahamut, who is now slumped on the ground. Jenova is sticking out of his head, its four legs wrapping into the shape of a javelin and piercing through the hard, black scales. Its body is twisted, burned, some chunks missing entirely - the damage far greater than anything either the Princess or myself had done to it. Yet, somethow, it still lives. Words like 'monster' and 'abomination' don't seem strong enough to describe this thing anymore.
Bahamut crumples, its body beginning to dissolve into the mist-green of Lifestream that all Materia-based spells dissolve into, when the truly monstrous thing begins. Instead of dissolving into the sky as it should, the Lifestream energy that composes Bahamut is drawn into Jenova's pulsing heart-abdomen, eaten just like any other piece of Equestria's Weave. My eyes pull back to the Materia on my wrist, and as more of Bahamut is absorbed, the more the Materia changes color from Red to an empty grey.
Jenova shrieks, and the stubs of leather wings on its back begin to morph, expanding and re-arranging themselves with a cacophony of sickening flesh and bone noises. Its new wings flare upon completion, clawed tips on their crowns, a massive wingspan over twice the size of Jenova's body. Their color is the sickly flesh-brown of Jenova's old wing-stubs, but they're still unmistakable - Bahamut's wings. It gasps, its body shuddering, either from the transformation, or from pain, or from who knows what else, but slowly, it turns its head up, staring at us with its single, cold eye once more. The only positive I see is the heart that makes up its abdomen is no longer pulsing, the thread of Lifestream dissipating back up into the sky. Is it too damaged to continue absorbing the Lifestream and fight simultaneously? In that case, if we had a little more to give, it might be possible, but...
The insult, however, isn't complete. Jenova outstretches its hands in front of it, and a familiar orange begins to build up in the space between its palms, again casting a glow along the gorge. The creature grins wider than ever, clearly reveling in the irony of what it intends to do, despite the current state of its body. The buildup isn't as large as the original, perhaps due to its condition, but I suppose it doesn't need to be.
"Dreamer." Princess Luna says, limping slowly forward, her eyes locked on Jenova as the air in front of it cackles with power. "Let it be said not that the Princess of the Night cannot meet fate with head raised." She pauses, releasing a breath as she takes a final combat stance. "We apologize for bringing thee on such a fool's errand."
Apologize? She hadn't brought me on anything I didn't already intend to do myself. I should be the one apologizing for being hard-headed when she believed the enemy was something besides Sephiroth. I don't know different that would've made things now, but...
The orange beam fires, again dispelling the darkness in the gorge as a midnight blue wall rises to meet it. Maybe its an effect of exhaustion, but the clash of Mega Flare and shield seems to happen in slow motion. The shield bends and distorts, Princess Luna's horn growing ever brighter in an attempt to keep it together and push back the blast. However, after a moment, one crack begins to form along its center, then two, then four, multiplying ever more as they reach further along the shield's surface. Her horn's brightness intensifies further, becoming pure white as the power radiates past her magic's distinct colors, her eyes glowing to match. The effort, however, proves vain as the shield finally shatters, the Princess' horn sparking with magical feedback. Though, instead of falling or wincing from the pain, she stays true to her word, throwing her head up proudly to face the remaining brunt of the oncoming blast.
...Only for the blast to again be blocked by a second, pink shield, whose conjuring is complimented with the pop of a teleport. Now, two familiar unicorns of lavender and azure stand between the Princess and the blast, the former's horn aglow with magic as the shield tries to press back the attack. It buckles and ripples, cracks forming along this one as the last, but after a moment, the damage stops spreading, and as the attack stops, the shield stands strong, its owner panting from the effort.
"Too much... teleporting..." Twilight gasps, trying desperately to regain her breath. She's clad in the aged armor we retrieved with Shining Armor, the shiny midnight blue pieces reflecting the green glow of the Lifestream above in the absence of the night's natural light sources.
Princess Luna's power finally dissipates from her eyes and horn as she surveys the cause of us not being deep-fried. "Miss Sparkle! Miss Lulamoon!" Her voice is filled with concern. "Why have ye come here? This creature is..."
The Princess, however, is soon cut off by an enraged Trixie, who, surprisingly, is also wearing the leg and chest guards from the armor set with her cloak placed atop, though the helmet is missing in favor of her signature magician's hat. "We're here because of this dumbass!" She declares angrily, turning her back on the abominable, planet-eating death-arachid and marching up to me like a whirlwind, the glare in her eyes enough to cast away my magical-based tiredness. "Didn't I just fix your messed-up head? What would possibly make you think running out here by yourself was a good idea?"
I look at her, dumbfounded. Her language makes it clear - this isn't the anger of The Great and Powerful Trixie, the strongest unicorn in Equestria, but of Trixie Lulamoon, the unicorn that had exposed an important part of herself to a once-bitter rival in order to help me get back something important of my own.
"You know what?" She continues. "Just sit there and don't say a damn thing! I don't want to hear it!" Her hoof moves up to her chest, drawing my eyes, revealing the inlaid gem of the brooch that normally holds her cape together is gone, replaced by a single piece of Green Materia... the one I'd given her on the train before running into Twilight and Applejack at Dodge Junction. "Just sit there, and let Twilight and I handle this thing!"
A low crunching of rocks and splashing of leftover puddles, underpinned with a low, malicious laugh, makes both Trixie and I turn our attention back to the 'thing' approaching us slowly. "Ah..." It takes an intake of breath, savorring the situation. "The little unicorns are here now, too. I'll be able to elicit a bit more despair from my vessel before I toss it away." Despite its damaged state, abdomen unmoving and wounds unhealing, it's finding perverse pleasure in taking things slowly.
Trixie quickly leaves my side and runs forward, taking a stand to Jenova in front of the others, Twilight now at Princess Luna's side. "And you," her anger only seems to intensify at the creature in front of her, "you just talk too damn much!"
In reply, it laughs, a shoulder-jostling laugh much like Sephiroth would use. "Oh, blue one," it speaks with a false sweetness, "shouldn't you run along now, before you get hurt?"
"No." Trixie stands her ground, glaring daggers at the monster before her. "I'm not running away again."
Jenova lets out a low, amused snicker before disappearing in the flash of a teleport. She reappears in front of Trixie with a pop and a flash, unleashing a downward punch directly at the unicorn's head. The punch, however, instead meets another pink shield, Twilight's horn glowing, face wincing slightly at the impact as the barrier wobbles, cracks, but holds strong. Trixie, meanwhile, doesn't even flinch, eyes locked directly with those of the creature in front of her.
"Didn't you hear me?" Trixie asks, voice low, before raising into a yell backed with the glow of the Materia at her neck. "I said I'm not running away ever again!" The air around them fills with small, orange balls of light as Trixie's spell manifests itself. They converge in a single, fluid motion on Jenova, all exploding simultaneously in a powerful Flare spell that launches the creature back the way it came. The gust of fallout from the explosion sweeps through the ravine, blowing Trixie's hat off her head.
Trixie steps forward as Jenova raises itself off the ground, its one visible eye glowering. The Materia glows again, and twisting spires of rock erupt from the ground around Jenova, a Break spell trapping it between the rocks and lifting it off the ground. "You think you're so big, messing with everypony, don't you? But it won't work, not this time!" Trixie declares confidently, not letting her eyes break away from the monster currently trapped in her spell. "I may not actually be the strongest unicorn in Equestria... but I'm not alone anymore, either!"
The Materia glows again, a Tornado forming itself around Jenova's rock-prison, breaking it apart and hurling both the rocks and the monster contained inside into the far wall of the gorge, sending them falling into the stream below, water billowing up from the impacts. "No matter what happens, I'll always find a way to keep going!" She declares, and I clench my right fist against the ground. That had been what I told her before she used the memory spell back in Canterlot, hadn't it?
Jenova bursts up from the stream with a leap, but another glow of Materia and the Freeze spell solidifies the water around it into a spire of ice. Jenova flails its body around, trying desperately to break itself free of the ice as Trixie continues her advance. "I may rely on them more than I'd like, but my friends rely on me, too! When things seem impossible, I'm the one that helps them keep going! That's the thing only I can do, and it'll take far more than an eyesore like you to take that away from me again!" Her declaration is punctuated with a stomp of her hoof and another collection of gathering, orange orbs, coalescing into another Flare spell that explodes, sending Jenova's body through the ice spire and into the wall behind it, embedding it in the rock.
Trixie pants as Jenova's legs reach out from the indentation of itself on the cliff, breaking itself free with a squish of flesh and a crumbling of rock fragments falling from both its body and the crater. She holds her ground as the creature launches itself at her, though, a pink shield rising as Jenova thrusts one of its spindly legs at her like a spear. The shield deflects the hit enough to allow Trixie to jump to the left, but shatters. Jenova attacks again, prompting Trixie to jump back to the right, this time a shield of midnight blue buffering the hit for her. Trixie stomps both her front hooves to the ground alongside the Materia's telltale glow, another rock spire erupting from the ground and smashing into Jenova's body from below, sending it toppling back into the stream.
It bursts back out with a curdling, enraged howl unlike all the others it had made so far, using Bahamut's stolen wings to fly itself away from the water before it can be trapped by another Freeze spell. The gorge becomes again flooded with the pulsing sound of its abdomen, beating like a heart racing as Jenova begins to pull itself away from the fight with its newfound aerial abilities.
"Trixie!" I yell out, slowly trying to get myself back to my feet by leaning against the side of the gorge. "Don't let it-!"
"I know!" She cuts me off as another Tornado slams into Jenova's body, forcing it back to the ground. This time, however, the glow of her Materia doesn't cease, and more Tornados begin to form, ravaging their way along the gorge in seemingly random directions.
"Trixie!" Twilight yells, galloping closer to the fight from her position next to Princess Luna. "You're losing control of the magic! You have to stop soon!"
"No!" Trixie yells back adamantly, her horn glowing, her magic wrapping around her single piece of Materia. "I'll control it! No matter what happens, I won't let this thing escape after what it's done!"
I begin to slowly walk closer myself, using the gorge as support for my drained body. Jenova attempts to escape again, only to be intercepted with another powerful Flare spell, more erupting in the air like bombs even after Jenova has toppled back to the ground. Its next attempt is also foiled, two more rock spires pinning its stolen wings against the ravine wall, as more erupt from the ground like a small forest of rocks. The Materia, meanwhile, glows ever brighter as the spells become more and more untamed. As I get closer, I can hear a small cracking sound, the sound of something beginning to snap apart. Is the Materia being pushed so hard it's beginning to shatter? Trixie's eyes become white, just as Princess Luna's had in her final stand against Jenova, and Twilight's had when she stood up to the duplicate Sephiroth in the Crystal Caves.
"Trixie, you need to stop!" Twilight yells, pleading. "If you don't stop, your-"
"I know what happens next, Twilight Sparkle!" Trixie cuts her off. "So etch this into your mind! This monster shall become a footnote in the final performance of
"The Great!
"And Powerful!
"Trrrrixie!"
She rears up onto her hind legs, much as she would during a performance, and I'm forced to place my arm across my face to cover my eyes, the light coming from both Trixie and her Materia becoming a pure white. My mind is rocked by the sound of a series of thunderous explosions, the fallout winds strong enough to blow me back off my feet as I lean against the wall. My ears buzz, my hearing temporarily missing as the light finally dissipates and I'm able to open my eyes again. It takes me some time for my eyes to adjust back to the darkness of the night-time, star-less, moon-less gorge, but once they do, a quick glance to where Jenova was pinned reveals something best not described. The only important thing about it is that it's finally stopped moving.
I scan my eyes around, trying to find the others. It takes a moment, but I soon find Twilight standing over a familiar, cloaked figure on the ground, shaking it in a panic with her hooves. It's distant, like she's on the far side of a tunnel, but I can hear Twilight calling Trixie's name as she shakes the magician. Princess Luna is standing over her as well, her horn awash in blue magic. I pull myself to my feet again, and begin stumbling over to them, the remnants of exhaustion disappearing from my mind even if my body resists my every command. Trixie...
As I get closer, I can hear Twilight and Princess Luna talking more clearly.
"Trixie! Trixie! Wake up!" Twilight turns her head up to the Princess. "Princess Luna, do something!" The panic in Twilight's voice makes me find the strength to stumble faster, tripping and falling once as I make my way closer.
"We have summoned Our Night Guard, Miss Sparkle." Princess Luna replies, her voice solemn but determined. "We shalt sequester Miss Lulamoon to Ponyville for aide. There is no time to go further." She closes her eyes, releasing a deep breath. "She hath saved the life of a Princess of Equestria this night. We shaln't fail her."
I'm finally close enough to get a good look at Trixie's unconscious form, on her side against the ground. The Green Materia acting as her brooch is still pristine, reflecting the magic of Princess Luna's horn as it continues emitting its sustained call for aide. I scan over the rest of her body, and...
Trixie, what have you done?