Into Oblivion

by ChaosZero460

Chapter 7: Purge

CHAPTER SEVEN
I remember I when I was a little colt, I used to love playing with modeling clay. Never was much good at it though. I'd get this awesome idea in my head, but when it was time to turn my thoughts into reality, it never came out right. I just couldn't make it look like I wanted, no matter how hard I tried.

So after awhile, sometimes a few minutes, sometimes an hour to two, I'd get fed up and mash it all into a big ball. I'd start over with a clean slate. All that work and planning, for nothing. The end result had failed to meet my (probably too high) expectations, and as a result, I decided to just start over again instead of trying to improve what I already had.

It took me until just now to realize it. Equestria is Blackout's clay. He's not satisfied with the way it's turned out, so he's starting over. A clean slate. And I'm his hooves.
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They both awaken to a loud knock at the door which prompty swings open, not waiting for an invitation. Bruiser walks in, the stout blue stallion takes a sniff and winces.

"Ugh. Smells like low inhibitions and poor long-term planning in here."

Onyx rubs his eyes and groans as the sunlight hits his face. Angel gives an agitated moan as she uncurls from around him. The black pony sits up in the bed, the sheets and blankets a wrinkled mess from last night's escapades. Hopefully the neighbors hadn't heard too much, although he was fairly sure half the hotel was aware of their actions. Angel was not a quiet pony, by any means.

"What time is it?" he says, voice rough and gravelly.

"Time for you two horn-dogs to get up. It's quarter past nine, we gotta get back to the base now." Bruiser replies.

Angel Fire sleepily opens her eyes. "Why, what's going on?" she says mid-yawn.

"I'll explain on the way, just get out of bed."
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The Iron Guild ponies stand in the commons area, nervously looking to one another as Blackout stands in front of the six Royal Guard unicorns and pegasi. The golden armor shines and gleams in the clean white light from the overhead lamps, they all have the same emotionless scowl on their face as Blackout reads the parchment.

Blackout. I have been far more than patient with you, I have allowed you to operate your guild in the hopes that by granting you a small amount of freedom, you and your followers would see that we can coexist in peace.

But I now see that's not the case. I have been willing to overlook many of the things you've done, but the wanton murder of innocent ponies, the murder of my subjects, will not be tolerated. If you insist on leaving a trail of death wherever you go, then you leave me no choice.

My Royal Guard will escort you to Canterlot, where we will sit down and discuss terms and agreements like civilized ponies. However. Should you refuse this final act of mercy, I will be forced to take action. You and your Guild shall be declared official enemies of the kingdom, and susceptible to all that title entails.

Give yourself up peacefully, and we can end this conflict without further bloodshed. You call yourself a pony of ideals and fairness, this is your chance to prove it.

-Princess Celestia

The midnight-black cybernetic alicorn chuckles heartily as he drops the scroll to the ground. The ponies all grow more nervous, the Guard continue to glare at the mechanical pony with indifference.

"Well, isn't that sweet. I'm flattered the good princess took time out of her busy schedule just for little old me." He takes a menacing step towards the Royal Guard. They stand their ground, despite being slightly fearful of the cyborg monster in front of them. "So why don't you deliver this little message to her."

His horn erupts in a blinding red flash, striking the lead three unicorns. They give a horrifying scream as they explode, sending a red geyser of sticky, stringy gore flying in all directions. The unicorn guards stare in horror, covered in the entrails of their fellow guardponies.

Blackout's bladed silver wing cleaves down over one of the pegasi, severing the head in one clean stroke. The adjacent pony barely has time to react before the wing's edge sinks into his skull with a sickening squelch. The tall metal-clad pony turns to the sole remaining pegasus guard, the floor a lake of crimson.

"You tell her..." He approaches the trembling white pegasus, whose fur and hooves were stained by his comrades "not to insult me by only sending six guards. If she wants me, she can come get me herself."
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"Wait, so the idiot just declared war on Equestria?!" Onyx shouts as they gallop out of Fillydelphia, a cloud of brown dust in their wake.

"Basically. Blackout sent out a Code Nine early this morning, I didn't get it until a few minutes before I woke you two up" says Bruiser, his thick heavy hooves pounding deep hoofprints into the path.

"Code Nine?"

"It's one of the Guild's methods of communicating with it's members, done by hiding encrypted messages in public radio broadcasts. There's different codes that mean different things, by using them Blackout can effectively issue orders to all the Guild's members all over Equestria" Angel says, flying overhead. Her wings give a sharp, metallic wail as she soars low over the ground.

"So what does a Code Nine mean?" Onyx says, his three metal hooves and one flesh give a strange rhythm to his hoofsteps.

"We're fucked, everypony get back here now" Bruiser says.
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The two stallions trudge through the skeletal trees of Howling Forest, barely conscious. The crescent moon denied them useful amounts of light, the night sky bleeding into the inky blackness. Howls and barks were heard all around them, Onyx noticed it would have been pretty Celestia-damn creepy had he not been well beyond the point of exhaustion, and therefore, caring.

Only Angel Fire remained at full alertness, flying with the aid of jet-powered mechanical wings was, shockingly, less physically demanding that galloping for an entire day. He couldn't help but feel a little jealous, and also, a little short-changed. A real unicorn could have just teleported back. But no, all he could do was blow stuff up. While undeniably useful in certain situations, he found anti-magical firepower pretty damn useless for anything else. He'd sliced open his pillow the night before, still not used to a foot-long dagger coming out of his skull.

Mercifully, the steel entryway to the Guild falls into view, a faint glimmer of moonlight on it's surface. Onyx's robotic eye glowed red, cutting through the dark like a laser as they approach. A deep thunk resonates through the forest as the heavy metal door slowly winches open.

They clumsily, breathlessly descend the stairs, it took immense effort to not misplace a hoof and tumble down them like a barrel. The two ponies standing guard at the door punch the control panel, sealing them off once again. They plod along down the endless hallway, the lights on the roof blurring together. Onyx could lie down here and now and sleep like a log. His stumps where his body met the prosthetics ached and burned, his face was wet with perspiration, and his back was sending a constant, dull pain throughout his body.

Although he suspected that may have been more Angel's doing than the mad-dash back to the compound. Good lord, that mare was insatiable. Onyx was sore in... other areas as well. Watching her walk, he suspected she might be feeling a little over-exerted too. With everything that she'd made him do to her, he was surprised she could even move.

They arrive in the commons area, easily a hundred ponies, all augmented by machinery in someplace are standing there.

"Are these all Guild members? I thought there were only a few dozen of us..." Onyx says, looking out at the crowd.

"At any given time, nearly half of the Iron Guild is dispersed across Equestria on assignment. It's not very often Blackout requests everypony assemble back here, he doesn't like us being one single target." Angel Fire walks into the mob, the ponies in her path give her ample space, clearing out of the way like a shark entering a school of bait fish.

She approaches Blackout, giving a salute. "The mission was successfully completed, sir."

"Good, good. How did our newest pony handle himself?" he replies, attention focused on the readings and information pouring into his ocular implant.

"Like a pony well beyond his current experience" She answered, immediately realizing she was accidentally referring to his performance in the hotel room rather than the assassination, but grateful that they coincided. Angel Fire did her best to hide the light blush that fell over her face.

"Guess there's a little bit of Steel Shadow left in there after all" Blackout comments, closing out the flood of information swamping his vision. "Do me a favor and get everypony in line, will you dear?"

"FALL IN!!!" Her voice shook the walls of the large, hangar-like room. Ok, so, probably the entire hotel heard them.

Blackout blinks twice, rubbing his ears. "...thank you, Angel Fire."

The ponies snappily form lines, the enormous commons area almost failing to be large enough to house them all. The metal alicorn takes to the air and flies to a central podium.

"First of all, I commend you on the speed of your return. The three remaining teams should arrive tomorrow morning, so I will trust you to pass along the message." He looks out at the sea of cyborg ponies with his biological eye as well as his robotic counterpart. "Princess Celestia, has kindly offered us a chance to turn ourselves over. To surrender. She extended an olive branch to us, in the hope that we would accept her offer. But you know as well as I do, this was a branch wrapped in thorns. We all know what fate will await us should we turn ourselves over to Canterlot."

The crowd buzzes with energy. Hoofs stomp, tails swish, teeth clench.

"We will not lie down and die like a sick dog. If the Princess wants our lives..." His horn erupts in red energy, it burned like fire on the long silver horn. "SHE'LL HAVE TO COME AND TAKE THEM HERSELF!!!"

The room explodes in a roar of cheers. Onyx looks around, these ponies were screaming in agreement to open war with the entire kingdom?! He looks down at the polished metal floor, the glow from his eye reflects off the ground. He didn't sign up for this. Well, technically, he hadn't signed up for anything, but this? He could tolerate the reanimation and the cybernetic implants. He could live with killing ponies that deserved it. And with time, he could even get over losing everything he ever loved. But this, he knew deep in the pit of his stomach, there was no possible way this would end well.
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Onyx lied on his cot, the itchy blanket pulled halfway up his torso. The room was completely full, the number of ponies in the compound meant that a second room had to be opened up to accommodate them all. Despite the deafening amount of snoring filling the room, he had no problem falling asleep. He was out before he even hit the pillow.

Suddenly, an immensely loud BANG! shakes the base. It sounded as if Celestia herself was knocking on the base door. Onyx snaps awake, realizing that may be what was actually occurring. All immediately awaken and pile out of the cots and pour into the hallway to confront this unknown threat.

BANG!

Onyx follows the rest of the ponies outside, not fully awake and in a daze. It took him a few seconds to realize what he was even doing.

Agonizing screams are heard down the hallway in the commons area, followed shortly by an eardrum-rupturingly loud roar.
GGGRRRAAAAAAARRRGGHHH!!!!!!!!

Some of the ponies stop in their tracks, the rest continue to find the source of the noises. They spill out into the huge empty room, what they find nopony expected or can believe.

Onyx stares in complete disbelief. There was no way, he had to be dreaming. This couldn't be real. There couldn't be one of those here.

A dragon, a massive red creature of legend, stands in the center of the room, the ceiling barely providing clearance for the beast. The scales shine like rubies under the lights. Charred piles littered the floor, with shiny metal limbs and components sitting atop them, relatively untouched. The fleshy, flammable ponies they were attached to failed to prove as resilient. A quick count showed at least 20 ponies had been incinerated by the fire-breathing monster.

"Holy shit..." the remaining ponies slowly begin backing away as dragon's vertical pupils fall on them. The beast takes a step, a deep thud resonating in the hollow space. Onyx stares into the reptilian eyes boring right through him, he tried to turn and run but his legs refused to work. Perhaps there was an issue with the wiring or servos.

GGGRRRRAAAAAAARRRRGGGHHH!!!!!!!!!!!

Hey, would you look at that. His legs worked again.

They bolt down the hallway as a massive column of fire surges down the corridor. The wall of flame is funneled down the hall, leaving the fleeing Guild members only one option: run faster. Onyx hears the ponies behind him let out horrible screams, the sounds of ponies being burned alive. He was tempted to turn and look but stopped himself. He feels the intense heat singing his flanks, burning his tail.

He looks over and sees Bruiser standing in a supply room. "In here! Quick!" The seven remaining ponies run inside, Bruiser slams shut the metal door. They hear the whoosh of the passing flame, followed by more screaming. Onyx pants heavily, swishing his tail and extinguishing the small blaze that had started.

"How the hell is there a FUCKING DRAGON in here?!" one of the ponies screams. He was a dark red pony with a silver horn just like Onyx. He only had one mechanical limb, the lucky bastard.

Suddenly, Onyx had a horrible thought. "Wait, where's Angel Fire?"

Bruiser looks at the closed door with a troubled look on his face.

"Y-you don't think she'd take it on by herself, do you?"

"She'd take on Nightmare Moon by herself" the crew-cut stallion replies.

Another whoosh of fire surges past, they can all feel the radiant heat from the metal door. "I gotta get out there..." he says.

Bruiser's eyes shoot wide. "What?! Oh no no no, you aren't going anywhere. Not while that thing is turning the hallway into a crematorium."

"I can't just leave her out there by herself!" he shouts with unexpected intensity.

The cobalt stallion stomps his hoof, they all can feel the room's interior heating up like an oven. "And you think you're gonna do her any good when you burn alive? Do you even know how you're gonna kill it? This ain't some pretty-boy unicorn, this a dragon. I don't know if Blackout himself could do anything!"

"So what, what do you say we do?! Stay locked up in here and get cooked?!" Onyx yells back, beads of sweat beginning to roll down his face.

"No, but I would wait for a better plan than 'run headfirst into a swirling inferno'!" the large pony shouts. He takes a second to catch his breath and regain his composure. "The next room down, it's the HVAC hub. If you can get to it, you'll be able to use the air ducts to get to the commons area."

Onyx thinks for a moment before deciding on a course of action. "Alright then." He starts for the door, placing a mechanical hoof on the latch, the almost glowing metal would have burned his skin in an instant. The rest of the ponies watch in silence, the air becoming heated to the point breathing was painful.

"Onyx" he hears Bruiser say. The robotic eye turns to the stallion. "Just don't die, alright?"

He gives a nod. The whoosh of the flames vanishes, he throws the door open and runs into the hellish wall of heat. The walls, floor, and ceiling glowed a faint orange. He holds his breath, knowing the air here would burn his lungs and he was not in the market for more robot organs. He sees the door a few dozen meters away, he gallops towards it as the overwhelming heat bears down on him. His coat begins to smolder as he approaches the sealed metal door. His natural eye tears over, almost completely obscuring his vision. Luckily, the ocular implant allowed him to see where he was going

Further down the hallway, he hears an oncoming roar of flame. He sees a fireball speeding down the corridor, directly at him. He tries the door, but it's locked tight. He pivots up and drives a kick into the door, but to no avail. He tries again, the full strength of his biomechanical legs failing to overcome the locks. The fire closes in, his mane blows in the rush of wind howling past. Frantically, he readies his horn and blasts the door, a blue explosion rips a hole in the thick steel.

He dives through the opening as the flames race past, his back half is bathed in fire as he lands hard on the floor. Onyx groans as he gets to his hooves, smoke rising from his fur. Well on the bright side, he was already black, so the burns wouldn't be too noticeable. "...Onyx?"

The stallion looks up to see Angel in the middle of crawling into the air duct. "What are you doing here?"

He walks over to the large metal tube. "Same thing you are I guess."

She looks him over, taking note of the smoke wafting from him. "You uh, have any trouble getting in here?"

"Nah, no trouble."
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The pair crawl through the narrow vent, there's barely enough room for them to fit. Onyx followed Angel Fire, quite enjoying the view.

"Focus back there" she says.

"Seriously, how the hell do you do that?! Are you psychic or something? What are you not telling me?"

GGGRRRAAAAARRRGGHHH!!!

The roar sounded very, very close. They come to a vent overlooking the main room, the massive reptile is preoccupied with pouring flame down the hallway. Angel's wing slices the vent cover off and she falls out, gracefully and silently gliding to the floor.

clunk
Onyx didn't land as quietly. Both Angel Fire and the dragon turn to look at him. To be fair, the look on her face was more intimidating.

"Nice going."
GGGRAAAAARRRRGGGHHH!!!!!
Angel Fire takes to the air, a jet of flame sweeps across the room just behind her. Onyx takes the opportunity to line up a shot on the beast, aiming for the neck. Truth be told, he had no idea what the most vulnerable part of a dragon was, the things used magma chambers like hot tubs.

He focuses, a bolt of energy slams into the dragon's hide. The blue explosion clears, revealing no damage done. The dragon's full attention falls to Onyx. "...well this ain't good."

Another wall of fire races towards him, he was already in a corner with nowhere to go. Onyx feels himself yanked out of the way, Angel drags him out of harm's way without a moment to lose. "Would you be more careful?!"

"Just distract him for a little longer, I'm gonna try again" he says as she unceremoniously dumps him on the ground.

"I hope you know what you're doing."

"That's two of us" he comments as she shoots off into the air once again.

The massive creature swipes at her, she successfully dodges the attack and attempts to counter with a slash of her wings but it resulted in little more than a paper cut to the monster.

Another blue flash on the dragon's hide fails to have any effect. "Oh come on!" he growls. He focuses hard, teeth gritted and ears back. A bolt of the anti-magic energy, stronger than before, finds it's target but yet again falls short of any damage.

This was ridiculous. This stupid thing had to have more kick than that. Blackout said these things were strong enough to take down an alicorn, yet he was doing little more than tickling the fire-breathing hellspawn currently laying waste to the compound.

Angel Fire dives behind the dragon as a pillar of fire sweeps across the ceiling. The long, spiked tail slams into her like a freight train. She impacts the ground with a hollow thud. The dragon closes in on his downed prey.

"ANGEL! NO!"

Onyx races towards the menace, horn burning the ethereal blue energy. The monster turns to him, the stallion continues on his course, ignoring the fire raining down around him. With a yell, he drives the horn into the dragon's belly. The beast lets out a painful roar that shakes the walls of the torched room.

He pours every ounce of his willpower into the weapon, and fires. He's showered in the legendary creature's blood as the internal organs are torn to shreds by the massive energy blast. The shockwave rips through the dragon's interior, it gives a final gurgling cry as it falls to the floor. A river of red flows from the mouth as the slit-like eyes lose their gleam.

Onyx stands there, the majority of his body matching his dark red mane. He walks past the slain creature and over to Angel Fire. Mercifully, she was breathing, and other than being unconscious, appeared to be relatively unharmed.

Truthfully, he was a little bummed out she had missed that whole thing. There was no way he was doing that again.

He hears metal hoofsteps approach, he turns to see Blackout. He inspects the dragon's corpse before walking over to Onyx. "Well I'll be. You might just make Guild Master yet."