Secrets of Pardise Falls Part 2
One would expect Fleur to be the epitome of beauty in her true form. They would hear of her incredible power and in their mind would picture something akin to an angel, with a flowing white gown and golden mane. Her head would be adorned by a stunning halo of light and she would sprout wings so majestic even Celestia would be green with envy.
And they could not have been farther from the truth.
A guardians true form directly coincides with how they died, and Fleur’s death was not an easy one. It was slow, painful, and more than anything gruesome, and her true self reflected that perfectly. Most of her body wasn’t visible on account of strange bandages that wrapped around her entire frame, but what could be seen was scarred and more often than not charred black. Most of her mane remained wrapped tight under the bandages, barely poking out the sides in a few small tufts. The bandages couldn’t hold it all, so some of the very bottom of it spilled out over her shoulders. Aside from that, the little bit that was visible was a dull ashy gray. Her red eyes seemed to sink into her skull, and her now broken horn was as twisted as the branches on an Everfree tree and riddled with holes. If I looked closely enough I could see just a bit of her new cutie mark sticking out. It looked like the front of a pony, with the legs raised in a position that reminded me of somepony begging for help. The legs were black and surrounded in harsh flames. It’s eyes were hollow and empty, it’s mouth hanging open in a mixture of fear and desperation.
As ugly as she was, nothing was quite as terrifying though as the bandages themselves. At first I thought they were just simple pieces of cloth, but the longer I stared the more I realized just how wrong I was. The bandages had a slight pink tint added in with the natural white and seemed to move at her will. The ends of the bandages, the parts that weren’t tied off, were constantly on fire and whipped around her like she was caught in a whirlwind. One of these loose ends accidentally grazed me a bit, and while the flames didn’t hurt me, I was shocked by their texture. The bandages were rough and seemed far more durable than regular cloth. That’s when I realized what they really were. Those weren’t flaming rags wrapped around her, it was SKIN. Almost vampony white skin that wasn’t covered in the least bit of fur.
Needless to say, Fleurs true form was terrifying. In comparison I looked like a cheesy movie prop and Fluttershy probably looked like a plush doll.
I watched as she took off in a run, heading straight towards the wall of monsters. I stood my ground, ready to attack any that might get passed her. At first I thought I’d be doing quite a bit of work, but I soon found myself rather bored. Fleur was handling the situation just fine on her own. Wave after wave came from the sea of monsters as they tried to break through her defense and each and every one found themselves falling by her hooves.
It was a horrifying beauty. Her bandages whipped through the sea of beasts like tendrils, each one whizzing about in a blur of motion as they would surround an entire section of monsters before lighting aflame and incinerating everything left inside.
Her body moved fluently through the ocean of demons as she danced a ballet of death. Flames shot forth whenever she demanded, blighting her foes with harsh burns that melted their skin and seared their bones. She danced with a bloody grace to the tune of her enemies screams, turning her body this way and that as she dodged and parried her assailants, occasionally breaking the rhythm to move in for a kill before backing up and repeating again.
She jumped, she spun, she flew through the air. Her body seemed weightless and her powers seemed unstoppable. Lord Everfree had told me on several occasions that Fleur was special, even among his guardians and that I shouldn’t feel upset or intimidated when I was around her. Now I could understand why. Canterlot was being saved in a literal blaze of glory, and she was doing it single hoofedly.
On and on she continued like this, rarely letting even a single one pass her by. The few that did were often so wounded they died of their injuries long before I had the chance to strike. With little else to do I turned my head behind me to see the state the ponies were in.
They… were not quite as enthusiastic as I was.
Aside from Celestia’s personal guard, almost everypony was looking at Fleur and I in fear. With my heightened senses I could hear their whispers. Ponies wondering if we were truly on their side. If perhaps we were really just bigger stronger monsters getting rid of the weaker ones so we could have them to ourselves. Of course, any that mentioned that had more than a few others reminding them that the one doing the fighting was none other than THE Fleur De Lis, though that seemed to do little more than heighten their paranoia further.
I tried to ignore it. This was the exact kind of thing we guardians had been trying to avoid for the past one thousand years, yet here we were, doing our very best to save the capitol of Equestria. I tried to imagine how my life would be like now. There was no denying what I was, no trying to hide the truth. All of Canterlot had seen us and knowing their rich and snooty nobles they were going to demand an explanation for why all of this had happened and realizing that only made my mood worse.
I knew exactly what was going to go down. The nobles would ask for our true identities, they’d find out the history of the guardians of the Everfree forest, They would immediately blame us for not doing our jobs and allowing the massacre to happen even though we’re here risking our lives to protect them, then, assuming the princesses can stop them from starting a pony hunt to track us down and kill us all, they’d ask that the forest be made off limits and have guards stationed around it so that no more children could get turned into guardians, thereby making my masters life that much harder and allowing for an event such as this to happen much more easily only that time there wouldn’t be anypony to save them.
I smashed my hoof into the ground as I groaned in frustration sending a pillar through the skull of one of the monsters that managed to make it past Fleur. The delightful squelching sound it’s inners made helped to calm me, but only a little. I wished I could go out to the dawnwoods and round up an army this size of manticores. Slaughtering them would certainly make me feel better, for a while at least. Alas, I was stuck here defending ponies that three years ago wouldn’t have even looked my way simply because of my species. I couldn’t wait for all of this to be over so I could go back home to the forest.
“I’m sorry young lady but we can’t let you out there! It’s suicide! Just stay in the barrier where it’s safe!” I heard a guard yell behind me.
“Please let me pass! She’s my friend I haven’t seen her in years! She’s not doing much at the moment just let me speak to her please!” Was that? I couldn’t believe my ears. I turned my head towards one of the voices, slamming my hoof into the ground as one of the monsters got to close. There she was, one of the regrets of my old life struggling against the hooves of a guard.
“Let her through. She won’t get hurt.” I said to the guard before turning my attention back in front of me to the monster horde. I could hear a hoof hitting metal, no doubt the sound of his hoof hitting his helmet in salute. After that came the clip clop of pony hooves stopping just beside me. “Diamond? It’s really you isn’t it?”
I stood silently for a moment as I watched the ocean of beasts. This time two monsters got passed fleur. I stamped a hoof into the ground to impale the right one, before sliding it across the ground and sending another spike off the first pillar to get the second. Their cries of anguish were music to my ears. “Hello Silver Spoon.”
“Diamond it IS you!” she cried. Three years apart and I could still tell that she was about to pull me into one of her awkward hugs. I tapped the ground quickly, shooting a spike up in between us. I had put my past away a long time ago, and she needed to understand this.
“Silver Spoon, I know you’re happy to see me, but you have to understand, I’m not the same Diamond Tiara who disappeared all those years ago.” I pushed the spike back into the ground. “I died in that forest Silver, and became what you see now. I’m a creature of the Everfree. There is little difference between me and those beasts attacking the city. All of this that I’m doing right now,” I said as I killed another one, smirking as I watched it squirm. I hadn’t gotten an immediate kill blow with this one so it suffered a bit before finally dying off. “Doesn’t phase me in the slightest. It’s just a job to me. The chaos, the mayhem, the killing, it’s all just a normal part of life. This is what I am now. A monster, just like them.”
I never turned to look at her. I didn’t need to. I could hear her heartbeat, the blood pulsing through her veins, the quivering of her lips. I could smell the salt as her eyes began to tear up before she spoke. “You’re not a monster Diamond. Monsters don’t feel bad if they hurt others. That’s what you told me when we picked on the CMC way back when, remember?” It was true. That was what I said all those years ago. It was my way of justifying my actions. So long as I could still feel some amount of guilt for what I had done, then I wasn’t REALLY a bad pony. And I did feel guilty about bullying the others. Not nearly as much as I should have, but I did.
Things have changed since then though.
I turned my face to Silver Spoon, giving her a dead and emotionless expression. “Who said I did?” Silver Spoon took a step back at this, evidently thoroughly surprised by my comment. It was true to. When I think about it I really COULD kill anyone and not care one way or the other. Not because I truly didn’t, but because I’ve become what Lord Everfree likes to call ‘blood-simple’. Basically I’ve just let killing become… second nature. It’s not new to me anymore and I’ve had to do it almost everyday these past three years. For me killing was no different than breathing. It was just something I did. Something I had to do. Sure, killing a brainless monster is different than a pony, but not that much different. They both have a head to smash, or a heart to pierce, or some weak spot I can exploit to end their life, however I may go about that. Just because one has sentience and not the other doesn’t really mean much when putting a pillar of hard rock through it.
“You can’t really mean that…”
“I can and I do, Silver. Listen I know this is hard for you to hear, but I died in that forest. Literally. I fell on a sharp rock that impaled me through the stomach. I was dead. D-E-A-D. Dead. I was kept alive for a few moments while Lord Everfree tried to determine if I wanted to live or not. In the end I decided I did, but there were prices to pay. I have duties now, responsibilities. I’m not even a pony anymore. I’m a guardian, a completely separate, albeit undead, creature.”
“Now don’t get me wrong, I’m not about to go murdering ponies willy-nilly, and it’s not like I have to meet some sort of ‘kill this many things in a day’ quota. I just have a job to do, and I’m doing it. And I’ll be doing it for as long as I live, which assuming I don’t die, could be a very very long time.”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean that technically, so long as I don’t get murdered or fail at meeting the requirements of being outside of the Everfree forest for too long I could technically live forever. Although that’s very unlikely. Most guardians die an often times gruesome and painful death after about twenty years.”
“That… that’s horrible.” Poor Silver Spoon, she honestly looked like she was going to be sick. Well I wasn’t about to lie to her. I treated her like crap in the past and even if our friendship was most likely going to die, assuming it wasn’t already dead and unsalvageable in the first place, I could at least start to make it up to her now. And one of the quickest and easiest ways to do that is with true hearted honesty. At least, that’s what Lord Everfree taught me.
“That’s life.” I said, impaling the skull of a monster that had been writhing on the ground without half it’s body for sometime. I had just let it lay there wiggling and wailing for a while believing it would just die on its own. Guess it needed a little help.
“Silver Spoon, I would like to talk to you again. Really I would. I know I’m a monster now but if it’s possible I’d like to be your friend. A proper friend this time, not an abuser.” I raised my hoof to stop her as she started to retort. “Don’t say I wasn’t because I was. I used you constantly to make myself feel better and I apologize. I’d like to start over one day. Not today obviously. In fact I doubt it will be any time soon. I still have to complete my training, and I have no idea how the world is going to react to the existence of guardians. It’s quite possible I’ll be hunted, and this may be the last chance we ever get to speak. So with all that being said, I hope that you can forgive me, both for being a horrible friend in the past as well as for this.” She looked at me confused for a moment as I turned my head to one of the guards, gesturing towards Silver. He walked over to her, picked her up, and began carrying her back to the palace as she screamed in protest. To be honest I didn’t want her to go. If one of those things got passed Fleur in good enough condition I was all but dead and I did NOT want to die alone. But there’s nothing I could do. I couldn’t keep Silver with me just so she could comfort me as I died, assuming she didn’t die as well. That was just selfish.
I was pulled from my thoughts when I noticed something eerily peculiar. It was… quiet. The sound of burning flesh and monstrous roars of fury were nowhere to be found. I turned my attention completely back to the horde, confused as I saw the beasts had all stopped attacking. Fleur was backing up towards me slowly, never taking her eyes off the monsters in front of her.
“Tiara,” she said as she came up next to me. “What’s… happening?”
“YOU’RE asking ME? You’re the experienced one shouldn’t you know?!” Fleur shook her head. Here eyes, normally an emotionless mask in this state, seemed troubled. And anything that could give Fleur even a moments pause was something that could probably kill me in seconds.
The monsters had all stopped moving, looking towards the flower in… was that fear? Were the monsters of the Duskwoods… afraid? Fleur and I turned our attention to the flower as well, crouching low in battle stances and ready for almost anything.
Keyword: almost.
Fleur and I watched in horror as a giant whirlwind whipped up from the center of the flower. The monsters in the city started shrieking in terror and began to run, fly, slither, or whatever it was they could to get away. In the end though it was futile. The wind picked up in strength growing stronger and stronger as entire building were ripped from the ground and sucked up, taking the monsters with them. The ground tore to shreds as entire city blocks were ripped from the ground and swallowed leaving large empty pitfalls in the city that lead to the valleys below. Once the monsters had all been consumed the whirlwind stopped. Silence reigned until suddenly the ponies behind us began to cheer. I could hear them whooping and hollering all the way from here. The poor ponies actually thought this was over however I looked at Fleur and her eyes held the same terror as my own. This was only beginning.
A loud moan poured out from the flower, silencing the ponies behind us. It wasn’t the scream that normally came from the monsters I was used to. Instead it seemed more of a cross betweens a lions growl and a whales call. It continued for a long time several minutes in fact, before finally fading. Seconds ticked by slowly as we held our breath in anticipation.
Suddenly there was a loud crunching sound, immediately followed by shaking. Not just the city, but the WHOLE MOUNTAIN was rocked from whatever force had caused the sound. Then it happened again, and again. Fear fell into all of our hearts as sat in silent confused terror.
And then it happened. Another black flower sprouted from the mountain top. But this one… this one was different. It wasn’t like the roses I’d seen before. This one was shaped more like a lotus blossom, it’s pitch black petals a stark contrast to it’s otherwise smaller white brethren. Just like the rose it opened slowly, it’s petals falling onto the mountain top, a large black hole in the middle.
After a few more seconds of silence and bated breath, something came out. The first thing I could see was what appeared to be two claws and a crocodiles head. It seemed so tiny and weak that it almost made me laugh.
And then came the rest of it.
Pulling itself out of the cavern I watched as it’s short neck gave way to row, after row, after row of sharp fangs each the size of a building. What should have led to a stomach came to be a massive mouth the size of several city blocks that dripped great globs of saliva all over the ground as it seemed to make a loud gurgling sound. That mouth then gave way to a long snake like body with a set of wings and two strange deformed spheres in the middle along with four extra legs before finally ending in a long tail. My eyes widened as I turned my head ever so slowly towards Fleur, my body quivering as I looked for some sort of assurance that we were going to be alright…
Fleur just stared quietly, not even acknowledging my gaze, before falling to her flank as she sat in wide eyed horror. It was then that I knew, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that we were completely, totally, and royally screwed. I turned my head to the guards behind me, reeling slightly as my heightened senses caught the scent of several ponies who had messed themselves. I didn’t blame them. A few years ago I probably would have done the same.
Even though I knew it was pointless, I wanted them to believe they had a chance. Wanted them to live a little longer. So without a single other thought I shouted “EVERYPONY TO THE PALACE!” They looked at me, then to the monster and back to me before taking off for what they hoped would be safety. But there was nowhere safe. Not from that. The look on Fleurs face told me exactly what that thing was. It was the worst that the Everfree had to offer. A creature from the heart. But not just any creature, a true being of corrupt darkness that no guardian should ever have to face. It was because of these that my master needed guardians. It was because of these that he had so little time to handle other issues. These creatures of destruction, these masters of death and bringers of horror, were what my master fought to keep contained inside the darkest depths of the Everfree.
And that destructive monster was now free here in Canterlot… if you could even call it that anymore. “Fleur?” I called.
“Yes?” She had regained her composure at this point and was now watching it carefully to study it’s weak points.
“Are we going to fight this thing?”
“Of course.”
“Are we going to win?”
“… not likely.”
“Think our deaths will be painless?”
“Given our durability and the body structure of this creature… no. I have a feeling it’s going to try and eat us and when it does our tenacity will keep us alive to feel every one of those teeth ripping us apart for at least a few seconds. It’s going to hurt… a lot.”
“Oh goodie…” I said, rolling my eyes and crouching down for a fight. Well if I was going to die, at least I could go down swinging. It wasn’t like those other ponies would get that chance. If Fleur and I didn’t find SOME way to kill this… well those ponies would just have to hope that Celestia and Luna got there in time.
“So, who should do the honors? You or me?” I said to Fleur with a raised brow. She never answered, choosing to raise one of her flaming appendages and shoot a ball of fire at it instead. Not enough to do any real damage, but more than enough to get it’s attention.
The beast turned to us and let out a guttural roar. Fleur and I nodded to each other before taking off in its direction. Without hesitation Fleur shot into the air, using the blazing rags like ropes to grab onto buildings and launch herself forward. I dashed straight towards it performing any necessary maneuvers to traverse the now hazardous terrain.
As she pelted the beast with flames from above, I took off at a run, hoping to attack it from below. Turns out just getting to the beast proved to be a problem. Whole buildings would crumble in the blink of an eye, and the streets would suddenly give out below me forcing me to jump lest I fall to my death. As I came up to the beast it swiped at me with one of it’s claws. Slamming a hoof into the ground, I summoned a wall of spikes to stop the blow like an idiot. It smashed through the wall of stone, only barely slowing down, and threw me into a nearby building.
Luckily I wasn’t too terribly injured from that. Turning my gaze back to my opponent I watched as it’s body began to writhe and convulse. Suddenly threw up filling the streets with a disgusting purple slime that seemed to burn everything it touched like acid. I slammed my hooves down once more summoning spikes to propel me forward as I jumped up, somersaulting through the air before finally landing on the ground in a roll. I ran a little further before sliding to avoid one of the claws. I was lucky that the acid like substance seemed to harden. I quickly picked my pace back up, rolling under the behemoth before quickly standing on all four hooves. I looked up into the beasts maw before slamming my hooves on the ground and raising spikes all around me and into the beasts sensitive mouth. Something I’d come to learn, it doesn’t matter how tough a monster is on the outside, the inside is always weak.
The beast roared, flailing about in the air as it raised itself on its four hind legs. Its open mouth screaming and raised for the world to see. Fleur took this opportunity and lashed out with a massive wave of flame, scorching the beasts already torn up mouth. This angered it even further, causing it to flail around before falling over the ground. As it fell I rushed away afraid of being crushed. Just before it hit the ground I put all the power I could in my hooves and jumped, which for a guardian is a pretty good ways.
As I leaped onto one of the street carriages I fell through causing my foot to get jammed. As I took a moment to pull my self free I heard the whistling of wind. Looking up I saw that it had recovered somewhat and one of the beasts massive claws was coming at me. By then it was too late. The scaly palm the size of a house slammed into me full force and launched me through several buildings. I opened my mouth to scream but no sound came out as my body tumbled through stone and wood.
I didn’t stop until I reached the actual mountain side, leaving a nice Diamond Tiara sized crater in the side. My whole right side was alight with pain though it was quickly subsiding as my healing factor kicked in. I crumpled onto the ground, heaving as I tried to right myself.
A roar sounded through the air ripping my eyes off the street. Fleur was barely managing to hold it back. She shot flame after flame yet it did little more than singe the beasts skin. She flew through the air dancing all around it as she attacked it relentlessly. Eventually realizing her flames weren’t going to help her in this fight unless she could get a good attack into its maw, she switched tactics and began using her bandages to fly her all around the city. I quickly figured out what she was doing and ignored the pain in my legs as I jumped in to help. Slamming my hooves into the ground I erected huge pillars all around Canterlot. Fleur seemed to take the hint and began swinging from those. As she passed by me through the air she tipped her head towards the beast letting me know to slow it down. I nodded in response and took off.
With each step I took I forced small pillars into it’s claws. All it really did was annoy it, but it got it’s attention off Fleur and that was the point. It looked at me and roared, clearly quite angry. I ran even faster. To anypony else I would have been nothing but a blur, but to me the world was clear. I had my heightened senses to thank for that.
I rammed my hooves into the ground, brining up a cage of spikes all around it. They wouldn’t hold it for long but that was fine. I started moving my hooves across the ground commanding smaller spikes to fly out from the sides and impale the beasts wings. This angered it just like I hoped and it began thrashing about. I started pummeling the ground, smashing my hooves into the already cracked concrete like I was in a boxing match. My hooves turned to blurs as attacked the ground and through it the monster. Spikes grew with every slam but they couldn’t hurt the monster. Each time my rocky pillars would slam into it’s scales, only to break into pieces. All I could do was slow it down, make it stagger a bit. But that was all I needed to do.
Suddenly the beast gave out a mighty roar, turning around at speeds that shouldn’t be possible for something that size, and slamming me with its tail. I was sent flying through the air only to crash into the Palaces barrier. Those evil little ponies! I was protecting them and they were excluding permission for me to get through! Well… maybe not ALL of them, but there was enough that I couldn’t pass it. After pulling myself up from where I’d fallen on the ground, I shot them all a death glare, causing many of them to back up in fear. For once after coming back, I was happy I had that ability. If I lived through this, somepony was going to pay, big time.
Turning my attention back to the task at hand I slammed my hooves into the ground and brought up a spike right under me, hurtling me towards the behemoth in an attempt to get close enough for my pillars to do anything again. Sure, I could put up pillars all over Canterlot for Fleur to swing from, but those were relatively slow to grow and aren’t that strong. If I wanted them to slow him down, I had to get close so that the rock would be tough enough to actually give him pause. After all, there’s a big difference in smashing through something as tough as steel and smashing through something as tough as sand.
As I spun through the air I heard the sound of cracking pavement. Looking down I saw five big meaty tendrils shoot up. I dodged the first with a flip and the second with a twirl before landing on the third and running a ways. The fourth one came at me at that point but I kicked it away. Unfortunately the fifth one got me, wrapping itself around my body and slamming me into the ground before dragging my body through the concrete of Canterlots streets and buildings, easily breaking everything that healed and then some. Finally I seemed to stop at what was some kind of basement before being pulled up through five floors of what I guess used to be a fancy hotel.
My body battered and broken I could only watch as it pulled me over it’s gaping maw. I looked down into the beasts mouth with a dead look, praying for my body to heal faster so I could get enough strength to break free of it’s grasp. If only I could get a few more seconds…
Just then I saw a flash of red cut the tendril holding me in the air. I was in luck as I managed to regain control of my jaw just then. I opened my mouth, biting onto the end of the fleshy string and twirling it through the air like a whip and grabbed onto one of the many pillars I’d made. Allowing me to swing towards it. I landed on the ground with a roll, and looked back up at the beast.
There hovering in the air was Fluttershy and to my surprise she was carrying Sweetie Belle as well. Perhaps Luna and Celestia told them what was happening in Canterlot, though that didn’t explain why Sweetie Belle was here.
The two flew down towards me with Fluttershy in her true form. Sweetie Belle was quivering in absolute fear as she stared up at the beast. “I-I have… to fight monsters… like those?! For the rest of my life?!” Huh… I guess Fluttershy broke the news already. Well, might as well have a little fun with it.
“Yeah Sweets. Giant monsters. Just like those. Every day. Forever.” I said with a smirk. Sweetie looked at me horrified.
“Stop it Diamond. No you don’t Sweetie. You’ll probably be like me. The worst I’ve ever fought was a huge pack of Manticores.”
“I HAVE TO FIGHT MANTICORES?!” If we weren’t sitting inches away from death I would be laughing hysterically right now.
“Yes but we’ll probably start you off with something smaller, like a cockatrice, or a few parasprite swarms.
“Oh… well I guess parasprites aren’t so bad…”
“You won’t say that when there’s a hundred of them gnawing on your bones.” I replied. The pain was beginning to subside and I was starting to shakily get to my feet. I looked over to Sweetie Belle, her eyes had become pinpricks and were beginning to show the first signs of tears. I couldn’t help but chuckle. Hey, it’s not like I’m lying to the poor thing.
“So Diamond, how do we kill this thing?” Fluttershy asked.
“I honestly don’t know Sister. I’m… I’m not sure we CAN…” This caused Fluttershy to tremble a bit and Sweetie just broke down into tears. Yeah being told you’re going to die tends to have that affect on ponies. At least, I think it does. I don’t exactly have much experience telling that to ponies. I do however, have a lot of experience telling that to monsters. They just get really angry and scream before charging me though so I don’t think they’re a viable source of information on this particular subject.
Suddenly the whole area lit up a bright blue, causing us to look towards the sky. Fleur was standing there, her entire figure lit up with blue flames, her body nothing but a black blur underneath. The bandages that encased her were now heavy black chains that flailed around off her form and crackled with white lightning. She opened her mouth letting out a terrifying screech towards the beast. I had heard of this before. This was Overheat, Fleurs complete form.
Every guardian has two forms, at least that I’ve been taught about. Our first or ‘true’ form is the one we normally take during battle and when in the forest we can maintain permanently. For me that’s Vladimare, the one I’m in now. However under special conditions we sometimes unlock a second more powerful form. This form is ‘complete’ and brings out the full extent of our power however it comes at a price. First off it takes time, and special conditions, to charge up, in Fleurs case that’s building up a lot of momentum hence why she was swinging around this whole time. Second it doesn’t last for very long and when it’s used up, you experience what’s called a ‘Burnout’, sapping you of nearly all of your energy and leaving you defenseless and unable to transform for at least a month. Needless to say, it’s a last resort technique, one that very few learn. If Fleur didn’t kill this thing now… it was all over.
Fleur let out another earth shattering screech before disappearing in a flash. My eyes darted around as I looked for her, only to find her above the monsters head poised to strike. She brought her hoof down with unimaginable force, causing the demons head to crash through the Canterlot floor. The monster screamed, it’s head stuck in pavement. In another flash Fleur was behind the beast, grappling its tail with her hooves. She leaped into the air, ripping the monsters head out of the concrete and bringing the whole thing over her before slamming it back onto the ground. It lied there completely sprawled out on its back.
Quick as lightning, Fleur was in the air overtop of it. Reaching one of her hooves behind her like she was winding up for a punch, she threw her hoof forwards, a slew of flames cascading off her body and straight onto the beasts open mouth. She hovered there, alternating between her fore hooves as she fired off blast after blast of intense blue flames. The monster tried time and again to stand, only to be forced back down by Fleurs flames.
I motioned for Fluttershy to grab Sweetie Belle and get back. I stood up on my back hooves knowing this would not be enough to kill it outright. Concentrating as hard as I could I looked for specific elements in the ground. Normally I wouldn’t do this as most times using any one particular type of rock wouldn’t change the outcome of a fight and would just be a waste of energy, but this time I had an idea.
Concentrating hard I drew up all the metal I could find under Canterlot. Copper, tin, iron, the works, before slamming my hooves to the ground. Slowly, large multicolored metal pillars rose from the earth, impaling the beasts gigantic wings and further immobilizing it, though that wasn’t my real intention.
I noticed a very brief pause as Fleur’s attention momentarily drifted to my pillars and I cringed when she smiled, black fangs showing through her flames. As she continued her assault she launched out her chains, wrapping them around each of the pillars. Lightning coursed from her, crackling as it sped down my spikes and right into the monster. Trails of lightning and flame poured out all over the city and everything was set ablaze as Fleur continued her onslaught.
Realizing there was nothing more I could do I sat down to catch my breath. I was exhausted and there wasn’t much time left on the fruits. Two minutes? Maybe three? Not much and not long.
Finally those minutes passed, though I was surprised to find myself still in my true form. Fluttershy noticed my confusion and spoke to me. “I think it’s all these roots and monsters. The Everfree’s influence must be extending all the way here. That’s how I’m in my true form now. I haven’t eaten an apple of discord yet here I stand completely revealed. Can’t you feel it?” I closed my eyes for a moment and felt for the forest. I jumped with a start. Sure enough I could feel the forests presence all around me. It was on the weaker end, as though I was right on the forests edge, but it was still there. I smiled. At least if I died I’d die at home. Both the old and new homes, seeing as how I was in Canterlot.
We heard a sudden crack and whipped our heads towards the monster, mortified by what we saw. Thousands of strange wormlike creatures had appeared as if from nowhere, wrapping around Fleur and electrocuting her. Her flames were useless as every time she tried to burn them away they regenerated almost instantaneously, like a never ending loop.
I looked around trying to find their source. Generally monsters like those have a base, something they’re connected to that serves as they’re real body. Suddenly I spotted it and I almost gagged. Well, looks like I found out what the two weird balls on the monsters tail were. I slammed my hooves into the ground, trying to destroy the sacks, but they were just as tough as the rest of the monster. The very same monster that was slowly starting to recover. While it didn’t recover nearly as quickly as its little worms, it was still growing stronger by the second.
“Fluttershy give me a hand here!” I screamed, pounding my hooves into the dirt. It took a moment for my words to register but finally she managed to catch on and took off into the air towards the monster. Unfortunately her journey was short as some of the worms noticed her and began to lash out. Luckily Fluttershy was a skilled flier and managed to avoid them, but they kept her from being able to get close enough to help me sever the pods. I looked up to Fleur and began to panic. Her flames were starting to weaken, she wouldn’t last much longer, not like this.
“Nonononononono! It can’t end like this! It can’t! We were SO CLOSE!” I screamed pounding even faster at the dirt. Suddenly the tendrils from before erupted out of the ground wrapping me up and paralyzing me, though now I could see that the tendrils and worms were one in the same. I was really starting to lose it. If Fleur died… no. That can’t happen. I wasn’t going to die. Not today! I haven’t even become a full fledged guardian yet! And I just got my first little sister! It can’t end this way! It can’t!
And then, just like that, a miracle happened.
It was a song. A beautiful song that seemed to possess an almost demonic quality, like it had come from the voice of a fallen angel. It washed over all of Canterlot, spreading its sweet melody all across the remnants of the mountain city. I looked towards the monster and its minions to find that it had stopped fighting, as though it had fallen into a deep sleep. Fleur and I broke away from our bindings. As she continued her assault I looked behind and was completely shocked.
There stood Sweetie Belle singing this lifesaving melody, but it was not the Sweetie Belle I knew. The purple in her mane had turned a bright sparkling neon blue and the pink had been given the same effect. Her coat seemed brighter, but had a strange shine to it and seemed more slick and oily. She wore a pure white toga tied around her by a strand of golden rope that seemed completely drenched in water that pooled on the ground. Her hooves bore small brown leather shoes that laced up in the front. Upon her head sat a gorgeous laurel wreath. The wind picked up for a moment, throwing up her toga and allowing me to see that her cutie mark had been turned into a dented bloody harp, as though it had been used to bludgeon somepony. All in all, Sweetie Belle looked absolutely stunning… except when she opened her mouth. Her jaw was lined with thin razor sharp teeth that surrounded a forked snake like tongue.
“Diamond look!” Fluttershy shouted, snapping me out of my reverie. I looked back over to the monster as Fleur blasted it again and again with her flames. Suddenly she stopped and placed her front fore hooves together. She began compacting all of the flames and lightning that was zipping about her body into a single concentrated ball. The ball grew and grew until it was about the size of a beach ball. Then Fleur pulled it back and threw it as hard as she could towards the beast. A single wall of bright blue flames erupted and engulfed a good fifth of Canterlot. The light shining from it was blinding, forcing me and everypony else to look away.
We remained like that for a good half a minute before the light decided to die down. When we finally looked back we sat in awe. The monster was gone leaving nothing but a smoldering charred hole in the floor of Canterlot. Fleur suddenly reverted back to her usual super model self and began falling from the sky. Fluttershy quickly took wing and flew over to her, catching her before she got hurt and bringing her back to us.
I sat down, my jaw hanging open. We won. We actually won. It had taken a miracle, but we’d won. I looked over to Fluttershy, who gave me a gentle smile as she tended to Fleur. Looking around I noticed something strange though. Smoke was beginning to rise from the roots that had covered the city. Slowly but surely the remnants influence of the Everfree was beginning to die, though whether that was because of the monsters death or my masters work I wouldn’t be able to tell you.
Wait… if the Everfrees influence is receding…
Suddenly my whole body froze and slumped over. I realized that everything was numb. I couldn’t feel my other limbs at all. Looking down I noticed the blood pooling underneath me. My old wound had opened up. But this didn’t make any sense. If I was technically in the Everfree it should have taken at least a day for my wounds to open. Did I make a mistake? Did I do something wrong? I opened my mouth to try and scream for Fluttershy’s help but no sound came out. I sat helplessly as darkness overtook me and prepared for what I was sure was deaths not so sweet embrace.
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- The Orange Nebula · 1.1k words · 36 2 · 1.4k views
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This is awesome. Good job, the story is great! I would like some more of it, please!
~Ever
You forgot the Sweetie Belle tag.
~Ever
4522269
Horseapples, you're right!
Demon slaying vampire earthbender...that so needs to be a series or movie.
Would I be correct to say that Lord Everfree is your OC?
I am here to point out things and be correct.
~Ever
....
what's going on.... WHATS GONNA HAPPEN.!?!! Oh geeze I'm gonna go sit on a corner