The Six Companions
Upheaval: Reckoning
Chapter 55: The Six Companions
Twilight still remembered that Hearth’s Warming Eve when she and her friends portrayed the legendary founders of what would be Equestria. She had nearly fainted alongside Rarity. The Six Companions did more than just discover the land of Equestria; they discovered what it took to bring together three bickering kinds of ponies. They discovered friendship. That made them more than heroes. That made them…
That made them monsters.
The terrible truth assaulted Twilight from nearly every direction. It was in the wails and shrieks of these ghosts circling them like vultures. It was in the cries of warning from her friends and the sinister glow within the rotted skulls of these alien monstrosities.
Princess Platinum waded among them, a mockery of unicorn elegance and nobility, her decadent, fur-trimmed cloak billowing from her like a still-living creature. She was covered in jewelry, encrusted with it in fact. They dangled from her ears with golden hooks, hung from her neck and tail, and wrapped around her fetlocks. Sapphires, rubies, emeralds, diamonds...there was so much that they would have weighed a pony down more than a set of nightsteel. Yet, not even all the luxury could hide the rotting appearance of the pony who wore them. Here was the pony who made a city’s population of slaves dig inside a mountain for her own dark purposes until her oppression forged a seething hatred to last through the centuries.
Floating above and in front of them was Commander Hurricane, his heavy barding cracked and shattered in places. A spectral arrow had all but replaced one of his eyes, while broken blades and spear-heads stuck out of his back, shoulders, and flanks. Both his wings had been hacked off, leaving only tattered feathers clinging forlornly to exposed bone stumps. Despite the grievous injuries, not a single drop of blood trickled from his body. It looked as if Hurricane had died fighting, but the history books said that the Six Companions were all within the Old Kingdom during its last moments. Perhaps, these ghosts took on an appearance reflecting how they had lived instead of how they had died. If so, the violent marks suited the leader of the vicious Graywing Elite well. The pegasus who urged his ponies to prey upon ponies now looked as if he himself had been torn apart for meat.
Pansy floated behind them, directly opposite of Hurricane. If Hurricane’s injuries were brutal, Pansy’s were outright bizarre. Her forelegs looked too big for her. There were stitch marks around the shoulders they were attached. Both her hind legs were that of a lion’s and her wings were scaled like a dragon’s. Her teeth were all mismatched canines, some over-sized, others too small. A long, tattered lab coat, the thing that marked her as Pansy, fluttered behind her. Pansy the mad doctor who dismembered hapless victims and pieced together abominations was now an abomination herself.
At a distance, two more glowing figures were fast approaching. They had to be Smart Cookie and Puddinghead. That meant Clover the Clever was missing. Was she not going to take part in this fight, or was she holding back for a grandiose entrance?
That was a problem set aside for later, however. Platinum was already rampaging among her friends and the other two ghostly companions looked about to dive in. A constant wave of dark purple magic flew from Platinum’s bejeweled horn. Twilight’s shields alone could not have defended all of her friends, but they didn't have to.
The abyss’s bizarre nature allowed Twilight and her friends to evade the blasts. They galloped in every direction possible: up, backwards, down…it didn't matter what incline they took or how fast they ran, they were always met with firm footing. Pinkie, in particular, hopped from one angle to another, always a step ahead of the malevolent light.
The Thorns didn't seem bothered either. With the light coming at them, it was clear that the Six Companions had finally caught wind that they were not fellow servants of “Oceanus”. Lion Court had a confident smile on his face as he weaved through the blasts, combining deft movement with short teleportation hops. Longstride and Sablesteel were galloping along with the rest of them.
Octavia stood on the same spot, playing another melody on her cello. No detection spell was needed to feel the powerful magical energy radiating from the instrument. The blasts flew towards her, only to curve and strike her surroundings. The cello’s deep tones rose even over the pained shrieks and wails from Platinum. They washed over Twilight with such presence that she could feel the music on her coat, like a gentle wave of water. On instinct, she looked to Rarity, expecting her friend to recognize the piece again and explain what it might be doing. A second later, she remembered that Rarity was a dozen feet away from her, still dodging and weaving.
Hurricane pulled a large broken blade from his chest and gripped the piece in his mouth. More shards pushed themselves out his broken body. While Platinum floated towards where they were congregated to unleash her spells at as many targets as possible, Hurricane picked a target and gave chase. That target was Applejack, who was now galloping away from hostile spells and a mass of jagged blades. The implication wasn't lost on Twilight. The Graywing Elite preyed on earth ponies so Hurricane was simply going after his standard fare.
Another moment passed and Twilight realized that she didn't need to know what the piece was. The forms of the first three of the Companions distorted slightly, as if they were being viewed through a haze of heat. She didn't know if they were being hurt, but their frantic floating slowed down a bit, enough for her friends to get their bearings and plan some form of counterattack.
Rarity’s blades flashed across the darkness, making their way towards Platinum from four different angles. They buried themselves almost completely into spectral flesh. Platinum shrieked so loudly that Twilight feared that her ears would soon start bleeding. No blood flowed from the deep wounds, but Platinum herself winced from them and it clearly focused her hostile attention. The next barrage of purple light homed on Rarity in just as many angles.
“Rarity!” Applejack yelled. She tried to turn sharply and gallop towards her friend, but Hurricane cut her off at every turn. The ghostly pegasus swung his blade in a wide arc, catching the very edge of Applejack’s hat. He followed up with a barrage of broken blades erupting from his hide. With a yelp, Applejack tried a quick turn downwards, but blades came at her from that direction as well.
Twilight concentrated. She needed a shield on Rarity and Applejack. Having them at different directions was a strain enough by itself, but the constant shrieking assaulting her ears and the myriad details she had to be aware of just to keep track of herself, her friends, the Thorns and the Companions, made this frantic battle a nightmare.
The shield around Applejack held strong, saving her from a dozen cuts, if not a complete shredding. The one around Rarity, however, shattered. Twilight gasped. Had she underestimated Platinum’s power? Or had she flubbed her shield in her panic? Rarity was quick-witted enough to not rely entirely on the shield to begin with. She had jumped to one side and rolled, but some of the light brushed past the side of her torso. Platinum’s din could not drown out Rarity's pained cry. When she got on her hooves again, a small portion of her left side, no bigger than a filly’s hoofprint, was covered with glittering crystals. They cracked and shattered into fine dust, leaving a terrible abrasion.
“Help!”
That was Pinkie Pie this time. Pansy had taken to going after her. Sablesteel flew in from behind the other ghostly pegasus, her short blades dripping with glowing white liquid.
Twilight shook her head. So many concerns coming at her from every direction…so many-
Smart Cookie and Puddinghead finally descended on them, adding more into the already chaotic encounter. It didn't take much to tell who was who. Smart Cookie, the unfeeling engineer of the machines currently fighting the Legion was more machine than pony. Her metal parts looked like a horrid skin disease gone out of control, consuming her legs, nearly all her torso and half her face. Her mane and tail had turned into needles and wires, her forelegs were massive pointed things with whirring blades sticking out at various angles. While the eye from her “organic” side glowed with the same malevolent purple light, the eye from her metal side glowed red. Her hind legs were free of sharp things, but they were huge, covered in thick armor plating, and clearly designed to deliver devastating kicks. In contrast to Platinum’s piercing shrieks, Smart Cookie let out a jarring metallic cross between a grind and a buzz.
As for Puddinghead…the mere sight of Puddinghead was nauseating. Some kind of pony-shaped blob of flesh floated towards them. Even “pony-shaped” was stretching it. Puddinghead’s flesh sagged and drooped like a badly-molded pastry. It was hard to even find the stumps that were her legs sticking out from her nearly spherical body. Her cheeks were bulged like that of a squirrel’s. Juices and saliva dripped from her lips. When she opened her mouth, a noxious greenish gas wafted past her rotten, jagged molars.
Unlike the other companions, who all had pieces of bone exposed and showed signs of gauntness, Puddinghead was all flesh. She wore no attire save for a gaudy, battered hat stuck full of ruined feathers and various beadwork. What Puddinghead lacked in attire, however, she made up in odor. Everypony recoiled from the stentch. Even the stoic Longstride wrinkled his nose and shook his head. The musical notes faltered for about a second, but resumed with renewed intensity. The smell of rotten food wafted from Puddinghead: overripe fruit, moldy bread, liquefying greens, and putrid cheeses, all coalescing into a vile miasma.
Puddinghead did not give chase, even as Smart Cookie set her sights on Lion Court and Rarity. The corpulent ghost floated slowly into the fray, letting the foulness of both her sight and stench do its work. Twilight was about to consider Puddinghead as a more passive threat when the ghost's mouth opened wider and wider until her jaw reached her knees. No sound escaped the enormous maw, but disgusting burbling sounds resounded within her belly. Suddenly, both Rarity and Lion Court were struggling to move away from Puddinghead, appearing to be inexorably drawn towards the gaping mouth.
Twilight concentrated on a spell to distract and hurt the ghost. Part of her remained anxiously waiting. ‘There’s one more,’ she thought. A blast of bright purple light, a stark contrast to the malevolent waves Platinum used, struck Puddinghead from behind, making her turn around to see who had dared to attack. ‘One more…come on out, Clover the Clever, and let’s get this fight really going!’
Puddinghead was turning slowly, allowing Twilight to fire several bolts of fire at her. She had listened to the reports given by the Royal Guard about the ghosts of Mount Unicornia. Fire hurt and dispersed the ghosts of the Old Kingdom. She didn't know if the same principle would work on the Six Companions, but it was her best bet.
The bright, arcing trails of white-hot fire that Twilight brought forth were a long way away from the first fireballs she threw back in Bastion City. These were searing lances, crafted for precision and penetration rather than explosions, in case those layers of fat served as some sort of protection.
Puddinghead let out a dry, withering groan, like a too-stuffed pony feeling that last slice of pie coming back up, when the lances struck. The spell slowly burned through her wretched hide. Twilight nearly hopped at the results. Against the mighty Ridentem Malleorum, she may as well had been chucking fireworks. To see an attack produce something other than glee filled her with elation.
The elation didn't last. When Puddinghead was taking too long to even float towards her, she knew that any attack would not be coming from some kind of physical contact with the ghost. When Puddinghead gaped once more, she expected some kind of powerful sucking force. Instead, a billowing mass of noxious yellow smoke escaped from that rotting maw, along with a veritable river of sickly green and brown goo.
That was all Twilight could take. Her own stomach churned and heaved. The next thing she knew, she was vomiting out its scant contents. If that wasn't bad enough, her vomit floated in front of her as a glob of whitish, clear gunk without any direction to “fall”. Her stomach continued to churn, but there was nothing left to throw out, leaving her throat raw and her knees shaky while a cesspool’s worth of filth continued to head for her. Twilight held her breath and shook her head, trying to clear the tears in her eyes just enough to see where she should be dragging herself to.
“Twilight!”
At this point, Twilight couldn't even tell who that was. She could barely see, her insides hurt and she had to dodge. Whatever gas had escaped from Puddinghead, she must have gotten a whiff of it as her lungs were stinging as well. There was a thick splashing sound, like somepony pouring a tub of mud on a hard floor. For a moment, she feared that she had been struck, but she didn't feel anything touch her coat.
“Come on, Twi, I need your help here.”
Twilight finally recognized the voice: Applejack. She wiped the tears from her eyes and saw the brilliant, golden disc hovering in front of Applejack, stopping the flood of filth. The goo hissed and bubbled, but the shield held true.
“I can’t block everything, Twi,” Applejack said. “That crazy pegasus is right behind me!”
Sure enough, Hurricane had rounded a turn and was descending on both of them. ‘More fire,’ Twilight thought. The magical blaze stirred within her. Necessity wasn't the only thing pushing her for more fire spells. This wretched abyss was so cold and dark, pressing at her from all sides since she came to this place. It begged for a great defiant blaze, a powerful flame to send this foul dark and everything that lived in it scurrying away. She was more than happy to will that flame into being.
Even Hurricane’s single-minded ferocity and hunger waned at the swirling flames that Twilight surrounded herself with. The rush of heat pushed away the foul odors, filling her lungs with warm, fresh air. The glowing light within the ghost’s empty sockets dimmed into tiny points. Despite how dire the situation still was, Twilight couldn't stop a smile from coming. During their climb, she had resisted the temptation to cast spells, knowing that she needed all her energy during the encounters they were bound to have. How long had she been holding it in? It must have been hours, maybe even days. It had to be. She pointed her horn at Commander Hurricane, her smile widening just a bit more as the ghost neighed fiercely and flew backward to avoid the blaze. ‘Not so tough when the prey fights back, huh, hunter?’ She turned her gaze on Puddinghead and unleashed another torrent from the blaze swirling around her. With a groan, Puddinghead also floated away.
Twilight stepped back and surveyed the rest of the fight. She had to assume that, as far as raw magic was concerned, she was their group’s best bet. Both Rarity and Lion Court specialized in the use of mage-blades. Lion Court’s enchantments were likely useless against fanatical ghosts.
Even just trying to place everyone proved difficult. Applejack stood just a few feet away. Twilight was thankful for the protection: less magic to use on shields and more for attacks.
Rainbow Dash and Sablesteel had taken flight and circled Hurricane as soon as he had established some distance between him and Twilight. Sablesteel dove in and out with her short blades, the glowing liquid dripping from them so copiously, it looked like the pegasus’s front fetlocks were bleeding. Rainbow was not using her crossbow. She was, however, glowing brighter than before. That light was no longer just the luminescence bathing them. Something brighter shone from Rainbow’s chest and it was as if this light alone hurt the ghosts before them. Rainbow must have noticed, because she was swooping in with her hooves at every opportunity she got. Hurricane’s neighs of rage grew louder and more frequent as he wheeled about, unable to focus on one target or get back to hunt another earth pony.
Princess Platinum’s shrieks grew louder, angrier, and more pained. Glinting shards of metal flashed around her from seven different directions, weaving through the dark in elaborate, ever-changing patterns. Rarity’s blades danced alongside Lion Court’s so gracefully that it seemed as if she had been practicing alongside the Thorn for years. They slashed and thrust at the fallen, gem-encrusted princess, going right through the spectral flesh several times before flying back to their respective wielders.
Though none of the blades could physically touch her, Platinum recoiled from each strike as if they did. More surprisingly, the bigger blades were not Lion Court’s trinity of swords, but Rarity’s quartet of daggers. At least, they were supposed to be daggers. A translucent, shining image of a much larger straight blade appeared superimposed over the actual mage blade. The furious look on Rarity’s face and the sheer swiftness of those mage-blades showed just how the sight of the pony she portrayed in the past was beyond being a mere outrage.
Platinum’s fury had not gone without damage, however. Rarity’s forelegs were covered with gashes. A few fragments of brittle crystal still clung around the edges of the horrid wounds. A portion of her chest and the mage coat she wore had also crumbled away. Lion Court was still smiling, but his suit showed signs of damage as well and its deep red hue did not completely hide the blood.
“Help!”
That was Pinkie’s shrill cry once again. Smart Cookie was above her, bringing down a mass of ghostly metal plates and spinning blades on her head. Fluttershy flew towards her, but wasn't going to make it on time. Two of Longstride’s arrows struck true, somehow finding the right gaps where machinery and spectral flesh met. It wasn't surprising once Twilight gave it some thought. Black Rose expected this fight with the Six Companions. Obviously, she had outfitted her Thorns to be effective against ghosts.
Nevertheless, the arrows did little to slow Smart Cookie down any more than the several shafts already stuck to both her eyes. A roaring wall of fire materialized between Pinkie and Smart Cookie. She wasn't the only one who had moved either. A looped silver chain flew swiftly across the darkness, snagging Pinkie around the torso. With an expert yank, Applejack deposited their friend safely next to them and behind the golden shield.
“Thanks, you two!” Pinkie said cheerily. She went back to fiddling with her stone tablet, tapping it with a hoof and giving it a good shake. “Wherever we are, there’s not a lot of ley energy to toss around!”
“Ley whatchamahooey or not, Pinkie, try to not get squished by evil, ghostly machine-ponies!” Applejack said. She continued to scan the chaos, looking for more ponies that might need to be pulled to safety.
Smart Cookie floated around the wall of fire, recoiling when a few tongues of flame came too close. Being next to Pinkie lifted Twilight's spirits a bit, enough to ignore the sickly stink that was crushing her insides. She wiped the last drops of tears from her eyes and concentrated. ‘More fire,’ she thought. The wall was a dangerous obstacle, but the free range of movement that the abyss provided meant that the ghosts easily slipped past it after the initial shock. She needed a more direct and powerful blast. It was pointless just hurting these things. All it did was make them angrier. She needed to destroy them. She needed a powerful enough blast of heat and light to utterly destroy them, one by one if necessary.
Fluttershy hovered just out of Pansy’s reach, the green light of her ruined eye shining brightly and intermingling with the bright rays radiating from her chest. Pansy lifted a quivering hoof and pointed it towards Fluttershy. To Twilight's horror, the end of that hoof split open, revealing a circular mouth full of jagged teeth. The limb shot towards Fluttershy like a striking snake. The light from Fluttershy’s eye glowed even brighter and Pansy recoiled at the sight, but the limb continued its path.
There wasn't a moment to lose. Twilight sent out a great wave of fire to overwhelm Pansy before the limb could strike. The white-hot flames engulfed Pansy, eliciting an agonized scream from the ghost.
And also Fluttershy.
Twilight gasped when her friend cried out and flew back wincing in pain. None of the flames had touched Fluttershy, but the heat was more than enough to hurt her as well.
“Too much fire, Twi!” Applejack yelled. “You’ll light us all up the way you’re going!”
Twilight glanced at the blaze she still had swirling around her. The roaring flames, so warm and comforting when she first conjured them, now looked more like an unruly beast tugging at her measly control. The glare stretched out even to the distance, but the light didn't improve her surroundings. There was nothing for the light to reflect off, leaving them in just as much dark as they would have been if there was no fire.
Pansy emerged from the flames, her mismatched body parts crumbling away at the edges. Twilight bit her lower lip so hard that she could taste blood. This wasn't fair. What was already too much to the point of hurting her friends wasn't enough to destroy even one of their enemies. What could she throw at these monsters that could save all her friends?
A cry from Rainbow drew Twilight’s gaze back to where Hurricane was. A trickle of blood ran down Rainbow’s shoulder, the droplets forming free floating tiny orbs once they dripped away. One of Hurricane’s many blades also dripped the same blood. Sablesteel wasn't unscathed either.
Pinkie Pie had galloped over to Fluttershy, a weak stream of colors flowing from her tablet and encircling Pansy's writhing limbs. Combined with Octavia's disrupting music, the stream slowed Pansy's charge to a crawl, allowing Fluttershy to recover and hover next to Pinkie.
A furious cry from Rarity moved Twilight’s attention away. Before she could see where Platinum’s location was, however, she closed her eyes and put her hooves to her head. Where should she direct her next spell? And what should it be?
“Twilight!” Applejack called out.
Twilight heard the voice loud and clear, but even she didn't even the courage to answer. Applejack was expecting something she didn't have: some kind of plan, some kind of next move to beat back the Six Companions. She couldn't think of anything. A beam of concentrated light maybe? Something like what Princess Celestia used against Caro Artifex’s flesh constructs…no, these ghosts needed to be overwhelmed with heat and light, not cut into pieces. Her brother managed to encapsulate the Crystal Grave to cut off the ghosts its power helped manifest. The Six Companions had no obvious source, but if she could encapsulate them in a globe of magical force, she might be able to make them disappear.
A quick glance around once more easily showed how problematic that would be. Their enemies flitted about in a wild pattern, showing no attempt to work together to bring down their targets. "The Six Companions” seemed more a title of convenience than anything else.
“Twilight!” Applejack called out again. Her urgent cry was barely audible with all the sounds of chaos that accompanied it. The two of them found themselves at the center of the swirling battle. Twilight focused on Puddinghead, easily the slowest of the lot of them. Closing Puddinghead off may or may not cause her to disappear, but it should at least contain her stench and her caustic vomiting.
Twilight had created shields and barriers before. Shining Armor was famous for his powerful and huge barriers and Princess Celestia specialized in all forms of abjurations. She had learned from the best and it fell to her now to use those teachings. Purple magic enveloped Puddinghead’s bloated form, sealing in the noxious clouds and putrid vomit along with her. The disgusting filth filled the sphere quickly, turning into a mass of sickly yellows and greens swirling in a translucent purple sphere.
“Whew!” Applejack said. She let out a loud exhale and fell on her tail. The golden disc in front of her wavered as she wiped tears from her eyes. “Thanks, the smell was really starting to hurt.”
Twilight didn't respond. For such a languid ghost, Puddinghead struggled mightily against the barrier. The sweat that trickled down Twilight’s brow no longer just came from the flames still around her. She gritted her teeth and poured more magic into the spell. This could be Puddinghead’s last desperate struggles. If she could just hold on, the ghost would dematerialize and they would be one opponent less.
Even while one of their own was trapped, none of the other companions bothered. Not even Smart Cookie, Puddinghead’s partner-in-crime when it came to dominating the earth pony clans of old. It was all well and good at that. Twilight struggled just to keep Puddinghead contained. Instead of waning, as she had hoped, Puddinghead’s struggles increased. The building amount of vomit and foul gasses was pushing the barrier to its limit.
Twilight clenched her jaw that it started to shake. Her teeth ground against each other until it felt that they would start to crack. This was just one ghost amidst so many! Was she really this incapable of standing up to the worst of Equestria’s enemies? Princess Celestia brought them along because they were bearers of the Elements of Harmony. Yet, each time they were faced with a great foe, they struggled and squeaked out things that could barely be called victories. Now, this bloated, slovenly, ghost of a tyrant was proving too much for her? No! She focused even harder, tuning out the chaos of the battle around her. As Puddinghead continued to push out of her barrier, she answered by shrinking it, crushing the ghost with her filth. Her horn crackled with violent surges of purple magic. The barrier was indeed shrinking with Puddinghead still inside it. Just a little more and it was going to be one down in their favor. Just a little more…
“Twilight!”
Twilight cursed at Applejack’s persistent calling. She just needed a little more! Less than a minute and they’d be closer to victory!
“Twilight, look out!”
The warning reached Twilight clearly enough. The seconds stretched out in her hesitation. Should she look? If she did, she was bound to lose the focus needed to complete this attack. Puddinghead would break free and she would have expended all this magical energy for nothing. But…
Something horribly cold touched Twilight’s back and she knew at once she should have acted sooner. She looked up and saw Applejack galloping towards her. ‘Wait…’ she thought. The awful realization dawned on her. How could she have forgotten when she was just thinking about it a few minutes ago? There were only five companions attacking them. There was one more coming and that was…
The cold touch went from a single point on her shoulder to a freezing coil around her torso and a numbing blast of icy chill that dispelled the flames around her. Her spell on Puddinghead broke when something spun her around. “One more…” she breathed. She tried to scream, but the sudden freezing touch squeezed her voice out before she could use it. “Clover the Clever…”
“Twilight!” Applejack shouted again.
Twilight stared in disbelief. She was expecting a hideous ghost, a mangled mockery of a pony just like the other companions. She hadn't expected this visage.
A morass of black tentacles wriggled before Twilight. A particularly long one, as thick as an oak branch, had wrapped itself around her torso while another waved menacingly at Applejack. A dozen smaller ones twisted among themselves like worms. It was the thing the tentacles were attached to that left Twilight breathless. She had thought for a second that Clover the Clever had turned into some kind of squid. Instead, these tentacles were some kind of growth springing out of a huge chunk of glowing ice, the size of a house. How did this enormous thing sneak up on her? Were they all so focused on the five?
Within the massive chunk of ice was the figure of a pony, frozen in a twisted shape that would have been fatal to a living pony. That had to be Clover the Clever, the twice-betrayer who turned on her master and then her companions. Her broken soul was drawn to this abyss in the end.
The second large tentacle also wrapped itself around Twilight’s torso. With her secure, they started to pull her closer to the ice. “A-Applejack…” Twilight could only croak. The numbing cold sapped the strength and magic from her body. She tried a spell, but her horn only sparked feebly.
“Twilight!” Applejack tried to toss her a lasso, but a renewed burst of vomit and gas forced her to gallop to the side.
Applejack’s voice sounded like it was so far away. Twilight made a feeble effort to pry the tentacles around her and accomplished nothing. Another second passed and they were pressing her against the ice. The cold stung her face like a thousand needles. To her horror, the ice yielded like some kind of blob, letting her sink deeper into the chunk without breaking.
“Twilight!”
The cry was hardly more than a whisper. Twilight let out one more sigh, the best she could do as a shout before blackness overcame her vision.
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Your descriptions of the six companions were amazing, very good fight scene, guess Twilight, Pinkie, and Fluttershy have yet to find their 'harmony power', meanwhile Applejack, Rarity, and Rainbow are putting theirs' to good use.
Has Oceanus finally made an appearance? Or have Terrato or Black Rose been corrupted? Damn you and your cliffhangers...
Finally, this song seems to just keep getting more and more appropriate to the story:
Curse you and your awesome cliffhangers!
3593023
No, the tentacles are Clover the Clever's.
Holy fucking Jesus, my anus was not prepared for this.
Honestly.... Twilight's quite a bit more experienced than you give her credit. At least as you've written it so far. She shouldn't be near this indecisive, passive, and simply befuddled. I also always assumed she was fairly powerful, but apparently not.
How about stopping just uselessly screaming peoples' names and actually *doing* something?
I love so much of this but man I wish Pinkie could actually do something actively awesome in a fight. We get it so close and I keep waiting for it but it hasn't quite happened yet. Come on Pinkie!
Finally!
I was beginning to worry that this story would no longer build up any tension, since almost every "low point" (i.e "where the villains appear to have the upper hand") was resolved in the same chapter where it was introduced (such as the Coldsteel Construct). But not here. This was some good old "OP villains giving our heroes a nasty beating," and there is little hope in sight...
Can't wait to see where this is going...
Blurgh... reading this chapter before dinner was a mistake.
Friggin' Puddinghead.
But other than that, I liked this chapter. There's something I adore about fighting the undead spirits of people you once thought heroes.
whelp another day another cliffhanger that's for sure
aside from that I'm interested in seeing as to how our purple protagonist finally realizes her harmony power, and I'm also again, loving the fight scene
it's ironic how the agents of harmony must face practically their polar opposites
3593023 mmm Ghost in the Shell good choice
Only just realized this is inspired by the Four Kings... Although that fight was far less dynamic and interesting.
Mayhap they'll have to encounter something reminiscent of Manus, father of the Abyss..?
Yikes, each Companion was more disgusting than the last.
So, Twilight finally gets to meet her former idol up close and personal?
Six companions in spirit form
? Delicious power to be fed on! 
.... I think I'll just eat the other ones and destroy that one, it's making me feel ill.
(looks at Puddinghead)
Excellent chapter! Love to see what's gonna happen to Twilight.
3598386
I hope you know, I made that comment almost 2 years ago.
...
Wow, this story has been updating on this site for quite awhile, hasn't it?
I gotta say your descriptions of the six companions definitely takes the cake this chapter.
Each one was interesting and varied, yet all were equally as disturbing as the next.
3599781
What this guy said. All of my agreement.
Flashbacks to Aang losing control and burning Katara are being had.
Also having the American McGee's Alice feels here...
Sorry, but I had to.
Am enjoying this but am still a bit unsure the idea of what's happening; Black Rose has made the ponies of the abyss think Terroto is Oceanus; so he can wield the foul weapon to destroy the Woven, ursas and ophridites, and possibly against oceanus when he shows up. What exactly do the EOH intend to do when/ if they catch up?
Also, shouldn't Longstride have started shooting at the six companions as soon as he saw them, instead of just giving updates to Lion Heart every couple minutes?
3606619
That's not her plan at all. She's lost you in the shuffle, I'm afraid.
It's Terrato, Wolven, Ursans, Ophidites, and Lion Court.
3606619 Since Visiden's being cryptic, here's my interpretation:
Black Rose's plan from the very beginning was to get into the abyss in order to get close to Oceanus in hopes of getting the power of the blasphemous weapon, which is a Throne (Thrones are apparently weapons/give huge amounts of power), in order to take over the Eternal Herd, or something. Thrones for the Eternal Herd (and probably for the other celestial realms) have three spots on them: the actual ruler, their mate, and their child/heir. Black Rose either hopes to become Oceanus's mate or use her position as a mortal pony to get the 'child' seat by loophole (remember all mortal ponies are technically children of Oceanus), either way, she'd (probably) need Oceanus's permission to join him on the Throne.
The reason why the Elements of Harmony went in was to save Terrato from the abyss, since he was dragged in when he awoke the Old Kingdom when he used it's grudge taking down Gravitas.
3608861
I think since the abyss people thing Terrato is Oceanus she thinks he'll take the ruller seat, she'll take the mate seat, and they'll use it to obliterate the woven, ursas and ophridites. My question; what's the problem?
This fight is becoming more and more hopeless, I can't wait to read how you gonna solve this situation
Great chapter, I kept expecting Twilight to do some kind of self sacrifice to save the group allowing her, as the last, to tap into her latent Element of Harmony power. Oh well, there's still time for that to happen I suppose. Assuming she doesn't tap into it now, or die.
I expect Twilight's enjoying being inside Clover, I imagine that she'll have a dream, vision, guide, thing. It'll go something like this.
3.bp.blogspot.com/-aJyJB7kmXfU/UoZ8w_EbVoI/AAAAAAABmVU/wi_YaSr2LdE/s1600/rock_paper_scissors_by_ponykillerx-d6uamxf.gif
Twilight: Thank you spirit guide for your helpful advice I shall now endeavor to destroy Clover The Clever.
Trixie: The Great and Powerful Trixie was the winner of that duel.
Twilight: Whatever.
well that is not going as good as she had hoped
Hm. Either I caught the update too early, or the newest chapter does not show up...
3648980
Same, was all excited, and then I couldn't find the chapter!
3648987
That, or it got posted and deleted! Which begs the question... why!
3648980 ...what did you do to the chapter
3648994
I kidnapped it, and forced Visidane to turn the shipping to AppleDash!
3648991
I think that's the only possible explanation
i.imgur.com/4WhOzBt.gif
The funny thing is that when I checked the feed here it said the latest chapter is 81 words, which seems very strange. Even stranger, the chapter link there is password protected.
Apologies, everyone. Stupid mistake on my part. I was writing down the chapter and I pressed publish instead of edit. I had to immediately press unpublish before anyone saw anything, but alerts must have already been triggered.
It seems I accidentally discovered a weird way to abuse a feature and end up on the feature box. Again, my mistake, I'm sorry.
3649608 Yep, that's exactly what I thought had happened, considering I jumped on the update so fast I actually got to see what you had written (It was good by the way!) and immediately realized you were either trolling or the update was a mistake and when it wasn't listed on the main page it had to be a mistake.
3616292
It wouldn't work that way. From what I gathered over the course of the series, there can only be one ruler on the throne, until he/she dies or gives his throne up willingly. If I'm interpreting it right, that would mean, that the throne is currently 'soulbound' (WoW-Reference) to Oceanus. So to use the throne while he is asleep, she would have to occupy the child slot. Otherwise she would have to join Oceanus, as he awakes, in order to backstab him one day.
Of course this is all conjecture, so don't flag me if I'm wrong.
3593023
Seems a little too upbeat for a fight against unholy sins against creation. I was thinking more along the lines of...
3649003 sounds good to me AppleDash good ship
3650328 I didn't really mean it for the chapter, more for the story/series as a whole.
Visiden you troll, you got me excited for nothing
When somethings strange. And somethings weird. Who you gonna call y'all? Ghost Busters!
Hee hee. The lasso will be vindicated by the next episode! ;)
3649003
reading part two now, so far so good................
i am having a hard time comprehending why that wolven ATE the older one............ seriously, why did he eat her? kill her i understand, eating her jsut means that whatever sickness was growing in her is now in his body. by instinct most mammalian breeds do not consume their own kind except from desperation. the reasons why are numerous. how would devouring another wolven become accepted in a pack based society like theirs?
as a continuation of how the elemetns broke, i was about to chew my own foot........ then decided that it did not covnince me otherwise. true it was not chaos but in a sense it does seem that it was unlikely to happen. Celestia used the elemetns of harmony to defeat nightmarem oon, to seal her away, and she was using them when she and luna were at the worse case of disharmony. yet they elements sruvived none the less. and it is clear that through the mane six the elements work far more efficiently, so much so that they curedl una where celestia could only contain her. so how could the elements break under the use of far better operators and in a situation where the harmony was only slightly off?
still feels forced........... slightly less forced but forced none the less. still, not the worse idea of the elements being taken out, but still leaves a lot of questions.
also kinda questioned some of the reaciton with those executions. expected celestia to have more rage in her over it all. especially from pyre's fate. she may not have most of her power but i doubt that would stop her if her heart was moved enough.
though it is starting to make me think celestia was rather right about it all. or that she made a horrible mistake letting terrato get involved. he became a true tyrant and while i can understand the need of having some fear of death in his men, he is so unyiewlding i cannot help but detect a hint of immense insecurity. it seems less like he does what is necessary and more that he lacks confidence in being a leader beyond military concerns.............. i do kind of like it but i can't but feel he needs someone to put hims in his place.
3675476 Because it shows the brutality and the honor(?) of Wolven society, Hasrok promised to eat Regiskra if her vision proved false back in chapter 8 of BP, and it was proved false considering the majority of their army was destroyed and they didn't conquer Equestria. So he ate her as promised, their society is one of might makes right. Also, it was never mentioned that Regiskra was sick, just old.
3675513 Remember, Upheaval isn't canon beyond season 2, so the tree of harmony doesn't exist. Celestia, Luna, and Terrato brought the EoH with them when they were sent to kill Discord. As for the
elementsjewels breaking, yeah it's a rather flimsy plot device I have to admit. But you see, Luna wasn't involved as far as it seems in the story in banishing her and Nightmare Moon, it was just Celestia and Terrato wielding the elements. Again, this is only conjecture but I think the elements are only able to purge NMM from her host if the host wants her gone. When Celestia and Terrato originally banished Luna they had either: kill her, banish her, or turn her to stone (a fate Celestia would never wish upon her sister). When the Mane6 used the EoH on Luna and Pyre they both wanted NMM gone, thereby leaving the host unaffected. Also: 'a little disharmony'? Twi has jealousy issues with Applejack, both in regards to AJ being vice-captain and involving Vanguard. Dash still has huge guilt over Applejack basically dying. Pinkie especially was worrying about 'what am I doing here on the front lines, I'm useless' while that would also apply to Fluttershy too I guess. So I'd say that's a bit more than a 'little disharmony', but I do have to agree VV could have come up with a way to make it slightly more believable, but considering this is a story built on contrivances and coincidences I let it slide.3675743 I guess what really shocked Celestia about Pyre's execution is the fact that Pyre wanted to die, plus the fact that she was in front of a crowd of legionnaires while de-powered probably also made her more cautious.
3675865 The whole 'Windigos feed off of hatred and then are defeated by friendship' was made up for the sanitized Heartland version of the story. The Windigos are actually Oceanus's corrupted(?) enforcers, like what the Equi Igni were, who broke themselves off from Oceanus (apparently it's hard to tell where master ends and enforcer begins or something) and in the process drove them mad
3675865 Apparently VV took the 'pegacorn' route with Cadence, wings and horn, but just ordinary mortal level power. There's a throwaway line in there somewhere about Cadence, Blueblood, and the rest of the royal nieces and nephews being the children of some 'vaguely alluded to alicorn', who assumingly mated with a mortal.
I don't know what you guys are talking about. The Elements of Harmony did not break.
3678961 pegacorn route with her?.......... lame. seems a lot of people give her gruff for seemingly being useless. fairly sure she is not a major combatant.......... not to mention she shoved out an entire army of mosnters with help from shining, though as he had no magic left it was probably mostly her..... might have been more interesting if he tried to DO something with it. like cadance's existence was far more and an enigma. that she is somehow a alicorn born from mortals. it would not be a problem with continuity since, well, the ponies were born from alicorns......... that or make it that she is actually celestia's daughter or something and she is something between the divine and mortal, all the power yet seemingly not the lifespan.
the disharmony between the element bearers is not quite as comparable as what likely was going on in celestia as the sole wielder in that case. they may have had doubts but they were still standing together.
technically all fiction of born of some level of convenience. it is also the story starts.......... finding ti hard and harder to accept certain things though. dislike the idea that half the mane six are only alive because of the Black Rose's mechanizations. some of them i can gree with, but others i question............ i do like the idea that the mane six being out of their league though, but considering the fact they are supposedly prime examples of their breeds large and large they should still be able to hold out to some extent. not to mention that it is in this canon that they managed to fight of a ravening horde of fanged monsters. maybe not as bit and violent as wolven, but they were both flying, had fangs and magic too. sooo........ would expect them to have a certain level more competence. the convenience only lasts so long till it just becomes contrived.......
then again maybe i feeel slightly spoiled from reading immortal games. the author of that story kinda set up the mane six with powerful ablities that just seem totally natural for them to have. it took advantage of attributes that they had in the show and basically weaponized them........ ironically pinkie pie kinda functions like Sable in this story, using a bunch of weaponized gadgetry, though she does not use poisons.
though i did kinda question them being immediately that competent, then again they were not going into typical warzones at the beginning and kind worked their way up.
i've re-read the entire story
and i noticed something
the chapters after the big fight with Gravitas seem a little bit ... shallow
maybe because after the action packed battle (which was the most epic thing so far) the story felt like reaching its climax. but after that battle we a very detailed and long descriptions of the old kingdom and how the Elements are "ascending to the depths", it was very anticlimactic and slow paced
oh well every story has its ups and downs,
cant wait for the 9th rebellion <3
3678961 also with the cannibalism of the old wolven bitch, i meant that she might have been carrying diseases that only wolven can catch. not to merntion her meat would, in fact, not provide that much sustenance at all. whatever nutrients he needs, he will not get from another of his race. largely the reason why carnivores feed on herbivores more often than other carnivores. they know by instinct the herbivores have what they lack.
caught up on the rest of the story, and i do feel lsightly..... shrugs. it is a good story, but as said some parts are rather forced in some ways. largely the itneractions between blck rose's elite and the mane six. i have a hard time accepting that they all would be able to kill the mane six without effort. regardless of how inexperienced they are, they have proven that they are scrappy if placed into a combat situation. getting actual martial training would make them even stronger............ still trying to figure out what exactly black rose is up to with her 'tests' and having her men itneract with the bearers. that is slightly itnriguing if the payoff is good though.
also............ feel conflicted on the alicorns. i can accept them being powerful in magic and dangerous............. cannot accept them taking hits without consequence. it eliminates tension and is more a dbz element, one i despised. it would show that Gravitas was simply more skilled and powerful if he could actively avoid or resist injury rather than getting hit without repercussions........... hope he wasn't a better indication of what alicorns are like............ not to mention that is all inconsistent since celestia, with little more than a wisp fo her powr returned, slew a full powered alicorn in an instant.
least it isn't as bad as what i saw in Immortal Games. alicorns could have theri heads torn off and they would regrow, at least some of them could. least in this case if their heads are removed they actually DIE from it.
do like some of the other stuff. the founders of euqstria being far darker than originally thought. even the origin they had for the changelings, them once being far more benign beings but twisted by corruption.