The Sons of Dominus
Upheaval: Reckoning
Chapter 50: The Sons of Dominus
The fight between Gravitas, Terrato, and Black Rose, proceeded wordlessly. For Terrato, it was mostly because he didn't have anything else to say to Gravitas. It was also partly because he was far too busy fighting for his life.
There was nothing flashy about Gravitas’s fighting style: nothing graceful, clever, or even thematic. He wielded Atrox, a round pillar of white stone, ten feet in length and half a foot in diameter, with both brutal power and ruthless efficiency. The famed Atrox possessed a simple enchantment: it shattered protective barriers it struck, rendering nearly all magical protections useless. Like Celestia, Gravitas was a master abjurer and diviner, who favored using his spells purely for defensive purposes. He was covered in magical shields for both mind and body. He was also in a constant state of true sight, allowing him to pierce most illusions.
Gravitas also moved like an alicorn half his size, twisting in the air and lashing out with hooves when the fight got in close, and maneuvering the massive Atrox with ease. Terrato admired that simplicity. Gravitas specialized in fighting one way and forcing his enemies to fight his way.
Against this formidable array, Black Rose had very little to work with for an attack. She flew at a distance, knowing that all it would take was a single strike from Atrox to shatter most of her bones.
Terrato himself abandoned any magical shield he had. When Atrox swung at him in an overhead smash, he rammed his shoulder into it. Instead of the crunch that came when flesh met stone, Atrox flew back with the thud of hitting diamond-hard hide. As expected, Gravitas took this sudden resistance in stride. It was doubtful that this was the first time he was going to wield Atrox against a skilled transmuter.
Gravitas’s answer to this defense proved simple enough: he swung harder. Atrox spun and dipped before smashing into Terrato’s side. Herd-forged armor plates crumpled against the blow. While Terrato’s reinforcement held true, the force hurled him through the air, nearly slamming him to the ground before he could recover and gain some lift.
“This isn’t what we agreed upon, Black Rose,” Gravitas said. His voice was even, more stern disappointment than indignant fury. Even as he was talking, he closed the distance between the two of them. A faint green sheen emanated from Gravitas. It was a dimensional lock big enough to encompass Black Rose so long as Gravitas chased after her.
Despite being chased down, Black Rose’s tone remained confident. “Certainly not, General. After all, I never agreed to anything. I said I was going to do something and that was it.” She dipped a shoulder in time to narrowly avoid having her wings torn off by a swing from Atrox.
Gravitas was about to swing again when Terrato gathered a small cloud of dirt from the surrounding air and sent it to swirl around him. His true sight useless against physical obscurement, Gravitas fell back. Black Rose quickly regained her distance. His “ally” safe, Terrato gathered the dirt into three dagger-shaped clumps, hardened them into diamond and stabbed. All three struck Gravitas’s shield and bounced off.
‘Sixth’s bones, how strong are those shields?’ Terrato surveyed his options. Even Celestia would have a difficult time breaking down Gravitas’s abjuration work, he had no chance. Even with Celestia’s stolen power, Black Rose would need a lot of time to figure out Gravitas’s defenses, time that the alicorn general wasn't giving her. Overpowering them would be his best bet. Black Rose seemed to have come upon a similar conclusion. She had charged up a sunlight spear and was waiting on him. A combined attack would stand a better chance of collapsing those shields.
Terrato had pondered it for a while now, but he still wasn't sure if he was impressed or insulted by Black Rose’s use of his eldest sister’s signature attack spell. Unlike the steady radiance of Celestia’s version, Black Rose’s sunlight spear crackled like a mixture of sunlight and lightning. Arcs of energy fluctuated wildly, an outward sign of the dangerous dance Black Rose did along the edges of gathering as much power as possible and a fatal explosion. Her sunlight spear was imperfect, but he had to admit that its imperfection had its own beauty to it. He concentrated on his own spell. Now was no time to be distracted by his former student’s accomplishments.
Gravitas was well over fifty feet away. The dimensional lock emanating from him prevented any teleportation, including his, making it impossible to just appear next to him for an attack.
Terrato did so anyway.
He didn't need teleportation. All he needed was a page from Gravitas’s strategy. A couple of flaps from his magically strengthened wings brought him within inches of Gravitas. Atrox was too large and too far away to swing at him from this distance. His magically hardened hooves were not. He slammed one against Gravitas’s face. The shield jarred him from hoof to shoulder, but the impact sent Gravitas flying towards Black Rose.
The sunlight spear connected with a brilliant flash...too brilliant, even for a sunlight spear. It took a while before the dazzle disappeared faded. When it did, Gravitas was already charging Terrato. When Atrox struck what should have been flesh, however, all it encountered was a cloud of sand.
Terrato swirled around Gravitas, then reformed above. His front hooves lashed out again, smashing Gravitas’s –still protected- back. It was difficult to tell if he was making any progress with breaking them. Was he feeling less resistance, or was it all in his mind? Atrox struck again, only to pass through the same cloud of sand.
Terrato hardened the particles, turning them from mere sand into a storm of tiny diamonds. His whirlwind engulfed Gravitas, slashing away from all directions.
“You've developed a lot of fancy tricks with the toys you have, Prince Terrato,” Gravitas said. A burst of powerful dispelling magic erupted from the alicorn general, shunting Terrato into his original form. All he had was a second to look up to find Atrox flying end-first towards his face. Dispelling, however, only forced him to revert to his original form. It did nothing to prevent him from him from shifting again. Though not enough for a full transformation, that moment was enough for him to reinforce the bones and muscles. Atrox struck him full on, flinging him back. “You have the reflexes of a proper Herd warrior as well. I wonder how much stronger you could have been if you had spent your time wisely instead of catering to the whims of a deluded, doll-playing diplomat and a filth-covered filly who lifts her tail for the firstborn’s tendrils?”
Terrato's head was still ringing when he recovered altitude and position. “I had thought you were above taunts, Gravitas,” he said. “I suppose I shouldn't expect much from a pony who sends mortal assassins after his princess.”
Before Gravitas could say anything, two sunlight spears struck him in succession. These ones were bigger than Black Rose's previous ones. Terrato looked away from the flash. Despite being a good distance away and his reinforced hide, the intense wave of heat that rolled from the explosions proved very uncomfortable.
“Do remember that you have two opponents, General!” Black Rose called out. She pouted when the blast cleared and revealed Gravitas still unharmed. “I admit, even I’m becoming impressed now.”
“We’ve wasted enough time,” Gravitas said. His horn began to glow. It wasn't the flash that heralded a burst of magic, but the steadily increasing radiance of a building spell. The very air around them rippled with abjuration magic. For a single moment, a hint of worry crossed Black Rose's face. It was gone so quickly that it seemed more a figment of Terrato's imagination.
A crushing weight fell on Terrato. He flapped his wings hard, but some invisible force dragged him inexorably from the sky. Out of the corner of his eye, Black Rose plummeted as well. He slammed into the snow-covered ground with enough force to send stones and earth flying everywhere. The impact knocked the breath out of him and banged his head so hard that stars burst in his vision. His teeth slammed into each other and his head rang as if it had a dozen giant bells lodged inside.
It wasn't just the impact that hurt. Even though he was already on the ground, Terrato was still being forced downward. It felt as if he had a mountain range sitting on his back while another one was tied under him. It was a battle just to draw breath, let alone stand up. He tried melding into the soil, only to find that whatever was pushing down on him was also preventing him from casting anything. Above, Gravitas's steady wing beats grew louder.
“Where will your stubborn pride lead you, Prince Terrato?” Gravitas asked. “You do not have what it takes to break my spell. Will you ask me to finish you off? Or will you stay silent and wait until you and your rebel student are crushed?”
‘How about I beat this spell and crush you?’ Terrato couldn't actually say the words with all the strain on him. He couldn't move an inch and some cracks were starting to spread underneath.
“Stubborn silence, I see,” Gravitas said. “When you get back to the Eternal Herd, your highness, set aside some time to meet with me. Of the three of you, you are the one that can still be salvaged.”
The weight was increasing. Terrato couldn't breathe. He willed his magic forth, but Gravitas’s suppression proved too strong. He was going to have one embarrassing story to tell his sisters should they return to the Herd at some point if this continued.
A flash of familiar magic halted Terrato’s thoughts: Necromancy. It was the one school of magic that he didn't encourage in Equestria beyond the simple process of using mana batteries. Even he didn't dare use more than the simplest spells most of the time. Necromancy was…a filthy sort of magic. Celestia never could abide by even the sight it. It was dangerous, it encouraged a reckless approach to acquiring magical power, and its failures were particularly virulent for both its caster and the environment. He had no intention of allowing Necromancy to take deep roots in Equestria.
Of course, Black Rose was the exception.
It was Black Rose’s necromancy rippling through the air at the moment. She had proven herself adept in wielding negative energy with that void knife. Her use and creation of mana batteries and stasis clones, as well as her successful revival of her soul-trapped officers were all testaments to her mastery of life force manipulation. The Ascendancy Ritual itself was a highly-complicated necromantic feat, with many components gleaned from the Sixth Ascendant’s notes.
The ripple grew stronger and stronger. Gravitas’s hold wavered, enough for Terrato to stand up through colossal effort. The break in Gravitas’s abjuration begged the question: how was Black Rose doing this? He looked towards his former student and found his answer.
Several enormous mana batteries floated around Black Rose, enough to blow up all of Canterlot and everything in a two mile radius around it. No naturally occurring mana crystal could be as big as these.
“My prince…”
Black Rose’s mental voice was strained and difficult to make out. That she could even get a spell out despite Gravitas’s suppression proved just how powerful a boost she was getting. ‘Black Rose,’ Terrato thought. ‘Just how many ponies did you harvest to create those?’
‘Five hundred spread evenly into four batteries, gathered since I first conceived this plan. A necessary step as the general is proving at the moment.’
Five hundred sacrifices. Terrato reeled trying to imagine his former student harvesting five hundred ponies over the years. He thought he understood the sort of monster his indulgence created. How naïve.
“Beloved, listen. I can dispel his hold for a short time at the cost of all this power. It falls to you to finish him off. Will you really let the deaths of five hundred ponies go to waste?”
‘You’re the one about to waste them. The two of us working together couldn't put a dent in his defenses, Black Rose, what sort of finishing blow are you talking about?’
“Gravitas may pick his battles poorly, but he’s right about one thing. You do have a stubborn pride. Are you going to keep this charade up until you are destroyed and Equestria is left at the mercy of Gravitas or Oceanus? Sky Mirror Lake is a gigantic pool of grudge, a pretty veneer to cover the rage of thousands of drowned ponies condemned by the mare they thought was their great leader. Gravitas doesn't even realize it, but he is in necromancer territory. This fight was over the moment he decided to choose this place as his battleground. All you need to do is to stop pretending.”
Great arcs of energy flowed from the four mana batteries towards Black Rose. Ever the gambler, she was making her move without consulting him. Gravitas had sensed the building energy. His suppression magic increased, but Black Rose still held on. Any hesitation on Terrato’s part now would doom both of them to defeat. ‘No!’ part of him shouted. ‘I will not use that grudge! I will not survive this fight by relying on the remnants of Oceanus’s miserable cult!’
A second line of thought, calmer and more pragmatic, answered. ‘Gravitas is too strong. I cannot beat him in single combat. Black Rose is using her emergency plan. If this passes me by, another one won't appear.’
A powerful burst of dispelling exploded from Black Rose. All four mana batteries turned gray and shattered into fine dust. The suppression magic lifted and Terrato's magic came on command. Above, Gravitas reeled momentarily. There were only seconds between this dispelling and Gravitas renewing his attack. Terrato grit his teeth and began.
Gravitas was about to recast his suppression when a shadow covered him completely. Terrato raised his gigantic foreleg and smashed several hundred pounds of reinforced muscle and bone into his foe. Gravitas’s shields held true, but the impact sent him soaring into the walls he had erected around Sky Mirror Lake, smashing him through them as if they were made of twigs and leaves. He emerged from the other side and continued to hurtle through the air until he reached the lake.
Terrato didn't need to fly over. He shifted to normal size and waited. Black Rose’s teleportation spell carried both of them instantly to where Gravitas had righted himself. Black Rose didn't say a word to him in that instant between moving from one place to another, but her message clear enough.
“Are you ready?”
When he emerged above the very center of Sky Mirror Lake, his answer was still no.
It was just as he and his sisters had feared. As the centuries passed, Lexarius's seals allowed magic from the Old Kingdom’s capital to slowly leak out. Apparently, Chrysalis and her changelings had done their best to conceal this. It couldn't have been too difficult. He and his sisters had been blindly confident in Lexarius’s work. There was no hiding it from him now. The grudge from all who drowned in the Old Kingdom had pooled within Sky Mirror Lake. A necromancer of sufficient skill and power could use it to flood nearly all of the Heartland in death and decay. One who wasn't would be consumed. Even Black Rose didn't dare. This pool of raging grudge would swallow her whole and spit her out as a necrotic abomination for her trouble. Skilled as she was, this was her limit.
Not so for Terrato.
A long, long time ago, when he was still an idiotic colt eager to make a name for himself beyond “thirdborn” or “Celestia’s little brother”, he had delved into the art of Necromancy as deeply as he could.
“His majesty named you well, your highness. As the soil in the mortal world absorbs the dead and nourishes the living, so do you easily wield the forces of life and death. I cannot help you. Already, you are a better necromancer than I ever hope to be.”
Learning that Animus Arcem, as did most alicorns, had little to teach him only made Terrato more enthusiastic. The gift for this school was a rare thing, even within the Eternal Herd.
Terrato’s time in this world, showed a different side to this talent. It wasn't merely Celestia’s disapproval that curbed his enthusiasm or the progress that ponies from the Old Kingdom had done with it. He had taught the art to his student, then turned to it when so desperately wanted to “keep” her. The results haunted him to this very instant. If that wasn't enough, and it was more than that, there was only one other pony within the Herd who had this potential since the Sixth Ascendant.
The rush of power nearly drove Terrato off-balance when he weaved the grudge into his magic. It was so easy to lose control. The grudge had a near-sentience of its own, a will to inflict its agonized existence on everything. He could use this on Wolvengard. Forget the pact. Fenrir would be expecting the Legion. He wouldn't be expecting a wave of foulness to decimate his land. By the time he would realize something was wrong, his own subjects would be gnawing on him. When Wolvengard was a barren, frozen wasteland, Ursinium would be attacked by a horde of undead wolven. After that, Ophidus would drown in a tide of undead wolven and ursans. Equestria would be free of enemies.
And surrounded by foulness: a barren wasteland to the north, dark foreboding mountains to the west, and a fetid jungle to the south. All infested by undeath, corruption, and grudge. Necromancy wouldn't make things better. It would just make them worse. No, this grudge had to stay here.
The look on Gravitas's face already showed that he understood what was about to happen. “You wouldn’t,” he said. “You are brash, stubborn, and arrogant, but this black, wretched deed is beyond even you!”
“You have no idea how right you are,” Terrato growled. His horn started to glow. Gravitas lashed out with both dispelling and suppression magic. Terrato shoved them aside. “You’re going to suffer for pushing me, Gravitas.”
Black, smoky wisps, the long-hidden grudge within the lake made manifest by Terrato’s necromancy, rose. Gravitas found himself surrounded. For the first time since the fight started, his absolute confidence in his shields wavered.
With all this power to unleash, options emerged. What did a stubborn, genocidal wretch like Gravitas deserve? A horrible, crippling curse? A vile, rotting disease? Should the arrogant alicorn be chopped apart and sewn together with other body parts, then made to serve? Terrato shook his head and concentrated. This shouldn't be something he should even be bothering with! The grudge was imposing itself, picking out some cruel way to be used when all he needed was to neutralize Gravitas. He had to pick something simple. A death spell would do. Snuff out Gravitas’s life here and be done with it. Black Rose would prefer a more permanent end, but this had to suffice.
The wisps gathered into a solid ring of blackness around Gravitas, closing in on him like a great choking claw. Terrato's spell ground to a halt just as he was about to finish it. The circle of darkness trembled against Gravitas’s powerful shields. “Insolent colt!" Gravitas snarled. "It is no secret to that both sons of Sanctus Dominus possess necromantic gifts not seen since the Sixth Ascendant! Did you think I would not have defenses?”
Terrato sweated despite the cold. For what felt like such a long time, he smiled fiercely. It had been a while since he had this kind of struggle. No pact, no having to rely on mortals, no little ponies to scare. “And what kind of defenses are they, Gravitas?” he roared. “A death ward? A magic circle? I’m going to rip your shields apart like paper and see if your soul’s just as fragile!”
More darkness gathered. The ring turned into a jagged, roiling circle of foulness. Agonized whispers and the putrid odor of stagnant water and rotting corpses wafted around and through them. There was no mistaking it this time. Gravitas’s -once unbending- will wavered. The cracks around his shields were spreading. This struggle wasn't going to last much longer.
Black Rose had raised her own wards against the howling mass of grudge building around them. All the grudge within the lake had stirred up a veritable whirlwind of blackness above it. Something flew from past the wall, where his siblings should be fighting, and fell into the water. Terrato had a good idea what it was and he dreaded having to fish it out later.
Gravitas’s resistance pushed back against the ring. Terrato pushed out the distractions and concentrated on crushing the enemy. If this attack failed, Gravitas would not be caught in such a situation again. He had to be defeated here and now.
“In the end, it is just as I had feared, isn’t it?” Gravitas grunted. He was barely audible amidst the angry whispers. “Dominus’s daughters are weaklings and his sons are monsters.”
“It’s amazing how you can insult me, my sisters, and my father with a single sentence,” Terrato said. The ring drew closer on Gravitas's fragile life. "When I send you back to the Herd, you can tell his majesty all about how low you think of his children.”
“So is it a matter of my low thinking?” Gravitas asked. “Look at what you’re doing, Prince Terrato! Look at the powers you wield and the company that you keep! Look beneath us and tell me to my face that your aims are noble!”
“No,” Terrato said. The circle of blackness drew closer. This was like a hanging with the noose taking far too long in drawing tight. Something flew out of the water, some dark thing covered in grudge. It flew towards the wall and towards his sisters. Yet one more thing to take care of. He had to deal with this first. “I am so tired of explaining myself, Gravitas. Everypony disapproves, has a better idea, or a different vision of what Equestria is or isn’t. And I get all of that from the ponies I've aligned myself with. I don’t need more from you.”
The circle closed in. Gravitas’s shields shattered like an egg crushed beneath Terrato's hoof. He didn't need Celestia’s dispelling skill to destroy what remained of Gravitas’s abjurations. He got something close anyway. As soon as he shattered the shields, Black Rose dove in, systematically removing every bit of protection. With Celestia’s magical power, it would have been foalsplay.
Terrato moved in swiftly as well. Black Rose considered Gravitas a problem. That was as much of a goal they shared. Anything else, he had to oppose her. “Stand aside, Rose!” he said.
“My apologies, beloved, but I will not be satisfied with simply sending Gravitas back to the Eternal Herd.” Black Rose unleashed her magic. A crackling aura of both black and golden magical energy surrounded her.
“And the mortals show their true colors yet again!” Gravitas said.
“Be silent!” Black Rose hissed.
For all the time he had known her, Terrato could recall very few times Black Rose had ever shown any anger and those were the times when she was much younger. To see that serene, confident expression on her face replaced by a flash of anger made something inside him jump. The instant was gone as quickly as it had arrived. Black Rose looked almost embarrassed for allowing herself to lose control in front of him.
“I wish we could continue striving for the same goal, but we part ways here yet again.” Black Rose looked to Gravitas, whom she had trapped in a powerful force barrier. “You don’t deserve the mercy of simply being censured and I certainly don’t relish the thought of spending any time in the Herd with the likes of you.” Arcs of magic crackled around the barrier: teleportation magic.
The whispers that swirled around them were getting louder and more persistent. Wielding so much grudge after spending so long in avoiding this magnitude of necromancy was starting to take its toll. Terrato had to let go soon. He just needed to accomplish a few more things; starting with his treacherous former student.
The first lance of blackness shot out of the whirling grudge behind and below Black Rose. It moved faster than a crossbow bolt, puncturing her shields as a spear would cardboard. She spun in mid-air in a quick flutter of wings, but the strike still grazed her. There was no physical wound. Wisps of golden light seeped out of the gash across one of Black Rose’s wings. Small bits of Celestia’s power were already making their way back to their rightful owner. Without a direct transfer, it would take some time, but the power of sunlight would be restored at last.
A second void strike flew from above and in front of Black Rose. This one hit the mark, piercing her shields and her chest. A torrent of sunlight, a golden beacon amidst the swirling blackness, poured from Black Rose’s chest. She placed a hoof over the wound in some futile attempt to stem the flow of power.
“You must have known I’d get you as well if you maneuvered me to such a place of power,” Terrato said. “Why did you go to these lengths, Black Rose? What have you planned?”
Despite her wound, Black Rose smiled. “Why don’t you start by listening beneath you, beloved? Can you hear it? It’s the Old Kingdom coming to life in anticipation of its master.”
“Oceanus isn’t here!” Terrato growled. He readied another spell, but he was loathe to attack now and prevent her from explaining anything more.
Black Rose breathed heavily as she spoke. “He doesn't have to be. You've underestimated the loyalty that the firstborn has inspired among those who follow him. Even though it was flooded and sealed, even with the failure of the Six Companions, the Old Kingdom still awaits Oceanus faithfully. All I needed was to give it a sign. It was either one of Oceanus’s prime servants or a facsimile: a ruse good enough to convince it that its master has arrived. If Oceanus is not here, then the other son of Sanctus Dominus, wreathed in dark power and commanding ages-old grudge would suffice.”
Still wielding Sky Mirror Lake’s grudge, Terrato realized that it wasn't a matter of being led into a trap, but being forced into one. Black Rose had played him and Gravitas against each other. Something else was stirring within Sky Mirror Lake, something more than this whirlwind of grudge. The whispers turned into a deeper, more audible chant. He didn't understand the exact words, but he knew what they were saying.
“Deep Father…Deep Father…Deep Father…”
‘Wretched things!’ Terrato thought. ‘Can’t you even tell the difference between your Deep Father and some other alicorn?’ The answer, of course, was already clear to him. The wretched remnants of the Old Kingdom’s fanatics had never even met Oceanus. They were guided by instinct, like blind, starving animals. He had a passing semblance and, after centuries of waiting, that was enough for them.
Sky Mirror Lake itself rose up, covering them in a dome of reflective water. As the last of the power of sunlight leaked from her, Black Rose’s smile only widened. “Let Celestia keep her power,” she said. “I've observed her enough these days and I believe she may yet have what it takes to keep Equestria safe. Let her keep the Elements of Harmony and Oceanus’s servant.”
Terrato's eyes widened. Regia Carnifex, the Elements of Harmony, her direct request, Clover the Clever's methods. All ruses. To confirm his thoughts, her gaze focused on him. “I placed my bet on the last pony the Defender of Equestria expected to defend: himself!”
Terrato let go of the grudge. He had to. He focused on a teleportation spell, but whatever magic flowed in within the waters also cut him off from the rest of the world. The waters rose and swirled as the last vestiges of Lexarius's weakened seals crumbled.
“Don’t worry, beloved. We’ll wait for them at the heart of the Old Kingdom. There, we will secure the future of Equestria together.”
The wall of water crashed against Terrato. He beat his wings and flailed his hooves, but the unrelenting, liquid darkness dragged him deeper and deeper into the depths.
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Black Rose... that devious bitch! That is... OH MY CELESTIAL ASS.
Wow! just wow! this story is really taking a turn for the crazy. Great job, dang its 2 am...
Looks cool from the cover art
will read after reading breaking point
Huh...well at least things are about to become less confusing for what it's worth. Maybe. Also this might explain why Black Rose didn't bother including some ursans, wolven or Ophidites(SP?) for her mana gems.
Great chapter! Im a little confused over what actually happened there at the end though.
I love that cover!
Love the new cover art!
Vast necromantic power in the lake, eh? Suddenly I'm wondering just how much of Fluttershy came back from that hit a few chapters back. Zombieshy?
Yep, there goes Fluttershy.
That seems bad.
Aw shit, son; Terrato just got duped!
...
I feel bad for saying something like that. I am obviously too tired and need to go to sleep if I'm laughing and getting excited like this. Anyway, great chapter! Wonderful development; I had a feeling that Black Rose would pull something like this. Well thought out plans are laced with even more well thought out plans. I'm still wondering what the Infernal Weapon or whatever is all about... I'm also still pissed off at Gravitas for what he said about Luna and Celestia (mostly Luna).
I just cant wait to see the abyssal walker.
Only now realized that the wolves wanted luna because wolves howl at the moon
i bet you that black bitch will turn out to be the winner in the end
I knew Black Rose was up to something, but I wasn't expecting that. Oh geez whats gonna happen to Terrato
Also the imagery of that entire last scene was spectacular, my imagination was totally swept up in all of the drama.
Gah!!! Dat epic cliffhanger... why do I hate and love you for this?
Terrato NOOOO!!!!
My favorite character. WHY????
On a less depressing note, love the new cover art. Finally something good enough to advertise this story!
Yeah, except for the hordes of undead wolves, ursans, and dragons. Do you know nothing of how zombie apocalypses work, Terrato?
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If you're going to quote a line of thought quote its entirety.
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But then where would the humor of taking things out of context come from?
I would love to play chess with her all this scheming and risk taking. Wow, when she wants something she gets it.
There must always be a Lich King in Winterfell or something like that.
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Yes you are.
More yummy alicorn on alicorn action. Nice to see Terrato fight somewhat all out; didn't know he had a thing for transmutation. This leads my brain to bad places, but for the moment I'll just assume he only uses it for combat purposes. Also he apparently is a necromancer. The crazy things those alicorn kids get into when they're young and looking to make a name for themselves. More and more I see the Eternal Herd as some weird ponyfied, celestial version of the Imperium of Man.
Makes me think Pyre Valor is probably just as pissed dead as she was alive, because it sounds like the Eternal Herd is set up identical to the Legion, where a bunch of people have to fight in the military to protect a highly idealized 'safe zone' from a vast variety of deadly external threats so those living in the safe zone can live in an artificial utopia.
Alright, so Black Rose just... did something to Terrato in the place with the stuff. I'm not entirely sure what just happened but I think she forced Big T to get sucked into the grudge... stuff... so it'll control him? And then she controls him? To do things?
Terrato, you're ex is scary. Not even stabbing her with void spears seems to get across to her that the relationship is over.
Well, fun chapter in any case, looking forward to seeing where this goes. Before I go, question I've been meaning to ask: since there's a lot in the way you describe magic use in this story that reminds me of DnD style magic, I've been wondering that if someone (not naming any names here *cough*me*cough) wanted to run a ponified DnD game using this story as a base setting, which would work better in your opinion? 4th Edition, or Pathfinder?
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Last time I played D&D was with v3.5 rules. If it's about the various schools of magic, I still know some stuff. You start talking to me about epic destinies and whatever the cool kids are up to in 4th ed and I got nothing. I don't even know what Pathfinder is.
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Pathfinder is basically DnD v3.75. When 4th ed got made and significantly changed the rules form v3.5, a different company decided just to take v3.5 and streamline it, adjust the classes and rules a bit, but still basically keep it v3.5. At this point I think its more widely played that 4th ed is. Whenever I read a story that even slightly feels like DnD my brain immediately starts trying to stat things out and figure out which system to use.
hehe i kinda lost track of the story due to the choppy reading
can someone fill me in on what is "Dominus" (title of 53rd chapter)
3133636 That would be Sanctus Dominus, the current King of the Eternal Herd and the father of Oceanus, Celestia, Terrato, and Luna (in that order). He's currently recovering from the wound(s) Oceanus gave him during the First Rebellion and will return for the Ninth Rebellion (supposedly) which will cause the 'end of Equestria' (whatever that means) to face off against Oceanus again who will also recover to start the Ninth Rebellion (remember, we've had seven Rebellions so far). The chapter title, one would assume, refers to the fact that both Oceanus and Terrato are both his sons thus the Old Kingdom responded to Terrato thinking he was Oceanus, which was all part of Black Rose's plan...
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You couldn't ask for a better answer than that folks.
Bonus points for bringing up the Rebellions
3134297
haha saying he was the king of the Herd would be enough, but thx though
(these Latin names sometimes confuse me)
I kinda wanted Prince Tomato to unleash the "grudge" onto Equestria's enemies. I would love this fic to take on a zombie-apocalypse story-arch! I'm not saying everybody has to die, but it would be interesting to throw another enemy in the current set of enemies!
So Fluttershy is now a zombie; that should make life interesting.
And Black Rose wanted her and Terroto to get sucked into the old kingdom??? To take it's power and muster it against Oceanis???
One other thing I thought of totally irrelevant to this chapter; if Venguard has as good of smell as you make him out to, he should know that both AJ and Twilight want him withoun't being told, cause they'd be releasing estrogen around him. He should know that smell pretty well by now with all the times Night Canter has hit one him. So he'd be knowing they liked him from the get go,
(not that you've really said that he doesn't know, but it does make you wonder what his plan is putting both of them on his squad, unless he's still making up his mind.)
P.S. I find it a bit disturbing that in 2/3 fights; the only way for the good guys to win was to resort to the 'dark arts'/ compromise their morals.
Lol
...Huh...
I'm not even sure what happened at the end there.
y u no do more proofreeding
3166235 I know, it was so anti-climatic, think of all the interesting world building he could've done in Ophitus! But, now with the benefit of being totally caught up, without spoiling anything, it would've distracted from/delayed the actual plot from really getting going (and what twists its has!).
Visiden has said when he's done with the third story he'd open up the universe, letting people who want to write sidefics do so, if you feel he hasn't done Ophitus justice, that's your chance.
Someone has been playing dark souls >.>
Ornstein and Smough with the spear and hammer duo. One dies and the other gets larger from their power. Black Rose uses sunlight spears. Yeah, Dark Souls is everywhere in this thing.
3134297
The very fact this story has so much lore makes me annoyed at Equestria Daily.
'Where's Aslyum?"
"Oh well, nothing I'm reading.'
I bet it's the fact the cover hasn't been updated.
Sorry, Equestria Daily is pissing me off right now.
3178279 eh, that'll happen, just enjoy the feeling of supremacy over the non-Upheaval reading masses
EQD always keeps the first story's cover art, its like that for every fic, not to mention Visiden make the Twilight staring pic the cover art here as well (go look), though I do have to agree, cover art can make or break a story.
Um, just gonna say, Diamond Dust is a type of snow, not powdered diamonds
3183441
Why is diamond dust snow called diamond dust? Is it not because it resembles very tiny, dust-like diamonds? So what's your beef with calling an actual cloud of very tiny, dust-like diamonds "diamond dust"?
3183539
Actually, I believe it is called diamond dust because of the way it sparkles, but I digress. I would have no beef with it if you had clarified it a little bit better. The way it currently is has Terrato assault Gravitas with a flurry of snow. Pretty, but ineffective and not quite what you were intending.
P.S. Don't you think that the Dark Souls references might be getting just a tad ridiculous? I like Dark Souls as much as the next gamer, but I think you might be utilizing it a little bit much.
P.P.S. Minor complaints aside, I am excited to see where the story goes next.
3183575
It does read as if Terrato was attacking with snow...if you were reading this chapter in a vacuum. Otherwise, why would you assume this when he has repeatedly shown preference for stone and metals, has transmuted stone into diamond in Breaking Point, and would obviously make his particles harder to deal more damage?
P.S. No, I don't think so.
P.P.S I'm glad you like it so far.
3183648
I suppose it's because the term diamond dust generally refers exclusively to the snow. Also, I may be nitpicking because an OC I have been designing lately is an ice themed pegasus named Diamond Dust.
I gotta say Visidane, you've written one of, if not the most fascinating fanfics I've ever read. If MLP wasn't a "thing", this would hold its own as independent fiction, I think.
Damn, Terrato really needs to stop being a high horse when it comes to Black Rose's tactics. Twilight, to. Nobody else seems to have really internalized the severity of the situation they're fighting against, or really consider each other to be on the same side here.
Some people have called the villains of this story sympathetic. I can't even see them as the villains, especially compared to the heroes. Twilight wanting to kill Black Rose over stealing the power of Celestia, for example, seems staggeringly petty, since it was a non-lethal act against the pony responsible for the division of Equestrian and centuries of political executions that, I dare suspect, has resulted in far more fatalities than the 500 ponies Black Rose sacrificed for the sake of preventing Equestria's subjugation. And that's not even counting the additional losses on the battlefield suffered by the Border Land's for the sake of Celestia's walled garden. She may have been instrumental in Equestria's survival so far but it's obvious that ponies could do better.
Hell, Black Rose would probably make a great Princess of Equestria. She's one of the few ponies in the story so far who really values Equestria's welfare and freedom from alien powers more than anything else, and is willing and able to do whatever it takes to get the job done. I hope she makes it out of all this okay.
3204302 I'm pretty sure Black Rose is Too Cool to Live so expect her to die in some ironic way, probably by Oceanus. In one of his blog posts Visiden has said that Reckoning will "conclude both Black Rose's and Gravitas's arcs", so make of that what you will, considering Gravitas just got obliterated.
All of your points still stand, 500 isn't that large of a number considering how large Equestria must be, though I guess it's just small enough to not trigger A Million Is a Statistic sort of response. Black Rose really is one of the best Anti-Villians/Magnificent Bastards that I've read (falling into the catagory of type 3)
3206662
Maybe. The destruction of her body does not mean death in this story. For a mortal, it's more analogous to being exiled, and for an alicorn, it's just being sent home. Which means that this chapter may in fact be the first time Black Rose has ever done something that the Eternal Herd might justifiably consider unforgivable, since it is the first time she has ever actually killed anyone.
Though, reflecting on this fact does raise questions as to why various characters have responded the way they have to various ponies' "deaths," since it's not as though, for example, all of the ponies Black Rose has killed were irrecoverably lost to oblivion, as happens to people who die in our own world. This leads me to suspect that life in the Eternal Herd must be pretty bad for mortals, if sending a pony there is a monstrous act.
But then that just raises questions as to why none of the royal alicorns have made a serious effort at universal immortality, so as to prevent literally every pony ever (up to Black Rose's ascension) from suffering that fate eventually. As is, "murdering" a pony just sends them there a few decades earlier.
3206901
Well now, that's easy enough to find out. Just go to a funeral where the deceased and the people attending believe in an afterlife. Ask them why they even bothered. There's no loss here. After a few decades, they'll all be meeting up! They should just save the money and spend it on something else.
3206901 Now that you bring it up, its a wonder that murder is illegal in cultures that believe/really have perfect afterlives.
As for your point about why there hasn't been an attempt to make every pony immortal is this segment from Breaking Point:
Though this could just be him trying to stop their souls from crossing over rather than making them immortal, though that was also covered under the sixth rebellion when Terrato almost allowed Black Rose to become immortal.
3206972
Not really, no. Studying that sort of thing will only tell you about how the common conception of the human mind as a unified whole or as internally consistent is... incorrect, to put it lightly. I'm thinking primarily of Terrato and Celestia. Your proposed question would indeed be reasonable, if it were asked of people who had personally visited the afterlife and could easily visit again if not for the fact that they've been indicted there. I suspect that few people would be able to maintain any sense of spiritual wonder or awe towards anything that involves so completely worldly a concern as that.
3207076
I had forgotten about that. That does show that ponies do in fact go to the Eternal Herd when destroyed, because the Herd can collect intelligence from them. I was starting to wonder if maybe, contrary to various assertions, ponies die when they are killed. That also points out how it is reasonable to expect that they would be subject to censuring, since they're still natives to the Eternal Herd by descent if not by birth.
Hmm, actually, this is really interesting! The fact that they do get sent to the Eternal Herd may be taken as a point of proof that they're essentially alicorns with a heritable degenerative disease called "aging." When it inevitably destroys their body, the exact same thing happens to them as happens to any alicorn whose body is destroyed there: they're censured back to their native plane and can never return to the one they were destroyed in. There is nothing fundamentally different between the death of a mortal and the censuring of an alicorn! Indeed, it leads me to wonder if a pony who traveled to the Eternal Herd without dying first could be cured of their mortality (as presumably happens when they get there the usual way), and then travel freely between worlds on account of not having to have been censured, which is apparently the only thing that normally makes such a thing impossible.
You're way too smart for this fanfic, AstralRunner. You're obviously more at home in philosophical discussion with all the members of that site you linked. I don't know what you're expecting from me or the story.
Regardless of what happens after death, the sudden ending of a pony's life is still a loss; a loss worth grieving for and worth being outraged at. Life in the mortal realm still has to count for something. The life they have built in this world, the loved ones they will be separated from, even for a short while, is a terrible thing to lose. Otherwise, what is the point of defending Equestria? Why not be swept away by Oceanus? Why not be "solved" by Gravitas?
3207303
Appreciating the inherent irrationality of the human mind is hardly advanced material. Really, it's entirely consistent with the mortal reactions to death. I'm just confused about the alicorn's feelings on the matter, since they are now fighting to avoid sending the population of Equestria to the Eternal Herd despite being perfectly content to watch many times that number be sent to the same place over the duration of their rule without any indication that they considered this a problem. Either all of those accumulated death's weren't a big deal, in which case they're currently making a huge deal out of nothing, or else they were, in which case they've failed their subjects many times over before now and plan to continue failing them indefinitely into the future, and nobody seems to care.
The question is, as you say, "Why not be 'solved' by Gravitas?" Well, my own answer would be, for Equestrian freedom from the domination of the Eternal Herd, which they would be under if they were sent to the Eternal Herd. (A particularly ambitious Equestria might even try for the recovery of Equestrians currently trapped in Herd territory.) At least, that's my impressions as to why that would be bad. The problem is, the only living ponies who have shown anything but utter revulsion towards the idea of solving the aging problem, and hence the long-term issue of mortals being constantly exiled to the Herd, have either renounced the idea after only trying it for one pony they had personal affection for, or are currently trying to avoid being killed by everypony else who is ostensibly fighting for the same thing.
Though, this isn't say that I'm not enjoying the story. This is just one point; I am looking forward to how you wrap this up, since I'm sure it will be a fun read regardless of what happens. Certainly, the story so far has led me to some amusing speculations. Up till this chapter, when she captured/obliterated Gravitas rather than censure him (sound policy, since now he can't give a report regarding his own demise or other useful intelligence) I wondered if Black Rose might destroy any alicorns, then go to the Herd and destroy them again, thus establishing that you can, in fact, explode twice.