Canterlot was in shambles. The roads were filled with rotting corpses, the railroad had been destroyed, and just from the initial estimate, the guard suffered a fifty percent casualty rate, with about half of those casualties being fatalities.
Surprisingly, though, that casualty rate only applied to the guards and civilians within the castle itself. Outside the palace, there had only been a few deaths, the most notable one being the death of Lieutenant Angel Feather.
Even with all the chaos, destruction and death, though, Canterlot still remained in the hooves of the Equestrians. Work crews could already be seen clearing away the debris caused by The Moon’s Ascent, and rescue crews had already been dispatched to find anyone who had been trapped or injured by the monsters that had wreaked such havoc upon their fair city.
One such crew was heading up the stairs of one of the palace’s many towers, hoping to find someone alive up here. What they found, however, was nothing short of horrifying.
“What are…”
“I’m gonna be sick…”
“Who would do something like this?”
Oddly enough, there was very little blood and gore. Just bone, all arranged into some sort of macabre covering over the door. Four skulls stared eyelessly out at the collected ponies, promising nothing but death beyond the portal.
“I… I don’t think there’s anyone behind this door to save, sergeant,” one of the privates said as soon as he had managed to get his stomach back under control.
“We still have to check, private. We’re still missing an Element of Harmony, and she may be behind that door. As… horrifying as that may sound,” the sergeant said as he stepped closer.
The soldiers all nodded at that, then stepped forward to begin dismantling the grisly ward on the door. The moment that one of the soldiers touched the bones, though, there was a bright flash of green light, which temporarily blinded the guards. When their vision came back, they saw that whatever had held the bones up had disintegrated, leaving the door unbarred and waiting for someone to open it.
“Uh... “ the soldier at the front said intelligently.
“Everypony back! It's probably booby trapped!” the sergeant said as he rapidly retreated from the door. His soldiers quickly followed suite, all except the one at the front.
“Private! Move before you’re-”
“Sir, I think someone’s behind here. She’s… she’s crying…”
“Soldier, I don’t care if it's the lost queen of the Crystal Empire that’s behind there! You move your butt, or so help me…!”
Despite his commanding officer’s orders, though, the private still reached out, turned the handle, and pushed. With an ominous creak, the door opened, revealing the chaos inside.
The room had once been a spare bedroom, or maybe an observation room of some kind, but all it was now was a mess. Broken furniture littered the room, and a large amount of blood had been smeared everywhere. There wasn’t a single sign of life, except for a small, quivering ball of something that was hiding underneath a cloak under the bed.
None of the soldiers said anything as the private entered the room, made sure to avoid the puddle, and crouched down next to the bed. “Miss? Are you okay?”
The bundle didn’t respond at first, choosing to peek out from under the cover, only to eep at what she saw. “N-no… please, not more… no more soldiers…”
The private glanced back towards his troop, and for the first time, noticed the glare from his commanding officer. He ignored it, though, in favor of trying to comfort the scared pegasus under the bed. “Don’t worry, there aren’t any more traitors around. We’re not going to hurt you, honest.”
The yellow pony poked her head out just the slightest bit more. “P-promise?”
“I promise. We’re only here to make sure you’re okay,” he said with a warm smile. “If you’d like to come with us, I’m sure your friends would like to see you. They’ve been worried sick.”
“O-okay…” she said, shivering a bit as she crawled out. As soon as she stood up, the rest of the soldiers gasped when they recognized the young pegasus.
It was Fluttershy, the Element of Kindness.
“Can you tell us what happened?” the private said as he gently led her out of the room. She seemed dead to the world, her eyes staring at a point a thousand miles away as she and the soldier left the room and passed by the bones on the floor.
“I-It was a huge wolf. It… It had huge claws, and teeth… and… and...”
“Shh… it’s okay, the wolf can’t hurt you anymore, we’ve caught it,” the private hushed to her.
Much to his surprise, though, this had the opposite effect on the shell shocked pony. “I-It didn’t hurt me! It saved me from the soldiers! Why did it save me from the soldiers!?” Fluttershy said, her voice becoming increasingly more hysterical. “It… It killed them! They wanted to take me away, and it killed them all!”
“Shh… It’s okay, we understand. Let’s get you some hot chocolate and get you to bed, it’s been a long day…” the guard said as his unit fell into line behind him. With a confidence that they did not feel, the whole troop started their long trek back to the main part of the castle, leaving behind the macabre room of death.
* * *
Captain Knight Breeze sighed in frustration as he entered the morgue. This part is always the worst… he thought as he reviewed the many, many tables sporting the bodies of the dead. This wasn’t all of them, just the small portion of the guard that they were able to examine in this room. The rest were either on their way, or were being stored at a secondary location until the ponies had had time to process them all.
That was just the defender’s bodies, though. The undead were all being burned without exception. The necrokings had already shown that they carried an incredibly virulent magical disease, and it would have been counter-productive to allow it to spread through the city.
However, as Captain Breeze looked over all the tables, he couldn’t help but feel as if something was… off. There were only supposed to be guard bodies in this room, but there were just so many…
“Ah, captain, good to see you,” Doctor Geraldt the mortician, a large griffin with dark grey plumage and black fur, said as soon as he noticed Knight Breeze. “We were about to begin taking the armor off of the first victim.”
“Was he one of ours?”
“Yessir. He was one of the first victims of the wolf; Private Longshot from ponyville. He and his friend were both gotten, though his friend suffered a far more… gruesome fate, to be honest,” the mortician said as he began to take off the helmet.
Captain Breeze winced painfully at that. The private had come from ponyville? That’s just great. His town is destroyed, and not even a month passes before he follows.
The griffon reverently removed the private’s helmet, then began working on his breastplate. As the mortician worked, Captain Breeze couldn’t help but feel as if he recognized the private. Almost as if he had been a friend, or something. It’s just the illusion on the armor. All the Solar Guard look like that, so I’m probably thinking it’s one of my buddies.
But as the plate finally came off, and the illusion keeping the private’s coat and hair regulation colors fell, Captain Breeze couldn’t help but gasp in recognition.
“Is there something wrong, captain?” the griffon asked curiously.
“Y-Yeah. There is. At least, I think there is. Geraldt, could you be so kind as to check the inside of the ‘private’s’ left foreleg?”
“Certainly, captain. There appears to be some minor contusions starting from his pastern to his knee, as well as… some kind of tattoo directly on the knee. It looks almost… tribal, though I am unfamiliar to its design or pattern.”
Captain Breeze’s face became stony at those words. With a quick trot, he drew closer to the table and took a look at the tattoo. One glance was all he needed to confirm his suspicions. “Doctor, I want you to drop what you're doing and help me search these other ‘soldiers’ as well.”
The doctor looked up in confusion at that. “Sir? I assume you’ve seen this before?”
“Oh, yes, I’ve seen it before. I’ve been fighting the bearers of this mark for the past eight years,” Captain Breeze said grimly.
* * *
“This cannot continue as it has, sister,” Princess Luna said with a grimace as she looked over her sister’s lab equipment. “These beasts are too powerful, and we are but two. The only reason they haven’t completely destroyed us yet is that they do not appear to be united.”
“I know, Luna. That is why I feel it necessary to ally ourselves with the few that are trying to prevent this disaster,” Celestia said as her horn gently glowed over the longspear that the creature Ammon was so fond of using. It had been recovered along with the rest of his weapons when the broken and battered lizard had been found by Applejack. Honestly, Celestia would have rather had the hero here as she conducted these tests, but he was far too injured to even remain conscious, much less be of any help. That being said, she did not feel the least bit uneasy examining the lizard's equipment. After all, he had told her guard that he was willing to share with them the secret of his powers; all Celestia was doing was getting a head start.
“While I do agree with you, I still feel it unwise to trust these beings,” Luna said, her eyebrows furrowed together in worry. “Even this, ‘Ammon,’ may prove untrustworthy. How do we really know that all he said was the truth?”
“We don’t, though we do have evidence to support his good intentions,” Princess Celestia said, not even looking up as she made a few more notes about the weapon in front of her. “He clearly means us no harm; otherwise, I do not think he would be quite so eager to throw his life away in our defense,”
Luna nodded in agreement. “I am not saying what he has done does not deserve our praise, just that we need to exercise some caution. Let’s say, for the sake of argument, that he is telling us the truth. As benign as he is, he is still an unknown agent; this, ‘Lady,’ could be pulling his strings without him even knowing it. Who knows if she hasn’t rigged some kind of killswitch or failsafe should he rebel?”
Celestia sighed in resignation. “I agree. That is why I am taking the time to study him and his equipment. Should his master manipulate him against us, I feel it important to know exactly what we’re dealing with.”
Princess Luna drew closer at these words, looking curiously over her sister’s shoulder. “And what have you discovered so far?”
“While I haven't finished every test, I have made a few interesting discoveries,” Celestia said as she levitated the spear in front of her. She then turned towards a wall, twirled the spear a little bit, then launched it at the stone masonry of the room.
The spear stuck.
“Impressive,” Luna said with a nod. “Some sort of honing enchantment?”
“Strangely, no,” Celestia said as she gestured for her sister to inspect the weapon. “It’s edge is no more sharp than a normal, unenchanted weapon, albeit one that is kept in peak condition.”
Luna approached the weapon, her mouth turned down into a frown. “Then… how is it so firmly embedded? The blade is more than a foot long, and part of the shaft is inside that wall.”
“Lucky shot,” Celestia said as she yanked the spear free.
Luna looked at her sister, a half grin on her face. “Come, now. Do not keep secrets from me. How did it really do that?”
“The spear’s path just so happened to follow the exact trajectory necessary to find the exact structural weakness that would allow it to penetrate the wall,” Celestia said as she put the spear back down on the table.
“Do you mean that… it will find the most deadly rout every time? All on it’s own?” Luna asked, somewhat horrified.
“...There’s no way of knowing without a… live subject, but i do not think so,” Celestia said as she stepped closer to the wall. She then put out a hoof, lightly touching the hole in the wall. “If it did, it would have found the weakness that would allow the spear to pass through, while taking the wall down with it. No, what I believe it is doing is mimicking a keen edge spell through the use of probability. The weapon will hit where the wielder intended, but will still accidentally find a way to slip through even the toughest of armor, or the thickest of scales.”
“...And I take it that’s also how it keeps its edge?” Luna asked dryly. “Because the edge never encountered any real resistance...”
“It doesn’t dull or chip. Or, maybe, it hits just so, so that the strike actually sharpens the blade.”
Luna gave a low hum as she stared more intensely at the spear. “That is a fearsome weapon indeed. Armor would be useless against it.”
“Not so. While the weapon does use probability to its advantage, that doesn’t make it perfect: The weakness must exist in the first place.” With that, Celestia summoned her helmet and, after picking up the spear again and setting her helmet on the table, thrust the spear at the top of the helmet with considerable force.
…
“Impressive,” Luna said as she looked under the table. “You not only passed through the table, but part of the stone floor as well. I believe that only the friction on the sides of the blade and the shaft stopped it.”
“And yet, my helmet still deflected it. Though, if I had been wearing it-”
“The spear might have accidentally skipped off, and pierced your jugular,” Luna finished the thought for her.
“Now you’re getting it,” Celestia said as she began withdrawing the magical weapon from the table. “It is a finicky enchantment, though. It does not seem to always work, and when it does, it never works the same way twice.”
“...Is it only on the spear? I know he has more weapons than that, but-”
“I’ve already ran a scan on the others, and it seems that each of their magical signatures are not only identical, but linked. They are all, essentially, the same weapon,” Celestia said as she set the spear back inside its magical circle. “The weapons have more properties than that, but for now, that is all I’ve been able to discern with what little time I’ve had.”
Luna opened her mouth to ask more, but stopped when she heard the bookcase behind her creak open. She turned to see Captain Star Blaze enter the room. “Princess Celestia, your guest has arrived, and is currently awaiting your attention in your waiting room.”
“Ah, thank you, captain. Please tell him I’ll be right along,” Celestia said as she started to remove her lab coat.
Luna glanced at her sister, an appraising look in her eyes. “Guest? I thought we were leaving the day-to-day details to our stewards.”
“This is not a political appointment. While I was in Vanhoover, I met someone who offered their assistance in dealing with the plague,” Celestia said as she swept past Luna. “Because of his help, we were able to cure the plague much faster than anticipated.”
Princess Luna grinned as she fell in line behind her sister. “I must admit, that cure you sent worked wonders, and saved so many lives. I would like to thank this stallion myself.”
Celestia just shook her head at that. “He’s not a stallion. He’s one of them.”
Luna shot her sister a look at that. “Another one surrendered?”
“Indeed. He didn’t even fight, and he appears to be harmless, though that is always a suspect assumption with these creatures,” Celestia said as she reached out for the waiting room door. “I must warn you, though. The creature’s appearance is, by far, one of the most frightening of any we have encountered. However, his demeanor is quite pleasant, so I would suggest a calm approach to him.”
“Do not worry, sister. I know how-” Luna started to say, but stopped short when Celestia opened the door.
Sitting on the couch was another one of those things, but far creepier and more sinister-looking. Like all of the creatures, this thing was bipedal, though it was far taller and spindlier than any they had encountered thus far. It wore a long, black coat that went down to the midpoint of its calves, which was fastened in the front by large, black buttons. Its legs were covered by a set of black trousers, and on the ends of its feet were a pair of thick, black boots.
In one of its gloved hands it held a large, black, wide-brimmed hat. In the other, it clutched a doctor’s satchel, though it looked rather worn and beaten, as opposed to the pristine appearance of the rest of the creatures clothes.
As intimidating as its dress was, it was the creature’s face that really caused Luna to pause. The creature’s coat had some kind of cowl which covered the back of its neck and the top of its head, though it did not cover the face in the slightest. The creature had a long, narrow, grey beak, with two slits on top to allow it to breath when its mouth was closed. above that beak, Luna could see a pair of goggles, their dark lenses completely obscuring the creature’s eyes.
As soon as the door opened, the creature looked over towards the two sisters, its emotionless face betraying nothing that went on inside its head. “Ah, the Sun and the Moon make their appearance,” he said, his light tenor of a voice masked in an accent that Luna couldn’t quite place. The creature stood up and, surprisingly, dropped into a low, sweeping bow. “My master sends his regards, and hopes that you will make the greatest use of my abilities.”
The creature then stood upright again, carefully putting the hat in its hand on its head. “Now, if you ladies would care to lead me to your sick and injured, I would be most grateful. I have much work to do.”
I'm waiting for Luna to get the report on how the wolf was only attacking the imposters.
Also, Also, will this new arrival be like SCP-049 or will he have original traits?
7004015 Completely original traits. He only looks like an SCP.
Ammon as a crit-oriented class? More plausible than it sounds at first.
Fitting that there would be a plague doctor to help with the plague. The moment you said it had a beak, I thought of the previous description and its medical affinity, and put the pieces together. And I love it, because Darkest Dungeon taught me well the worth of a heroic version of these guys.
(And if anyone is curious, Ammon behaves like a halfway between a Jester and a Hellion from that game, with a bit of Grave Robber.)
7004018 Okay, it's rather hard to tell at times, with the SCP making the Plague doctor look somewhat...commonly connected, you now?
But now, the only thing I can picture him having in ways of abilities, healing not included, is like that of the Crowfather enemies from Bioshock: Infinite
oooo...fascinating...whose is he? As in, who does he belong to?
And yes, I can't wait for Luna to get the report of imposters.
Ammon's weapons are all bound to the RNG. The crit damage is insane(cough Infinity Edge cough Killing Edge cough). There's another problem with it besides the requirement of there being a weakness to expose: he also has to successfully hit. You can't do critical damage to your target if you miss.
7004018
7004015
Who looks like a plague doctor, which were actual things.
So what's the spear's crit range?
7004181 I asked KB about it because most depictions of plague doctors on this site tend to be based off of the SCP.
Few people make them into their own original creation.
7004181 To be honest, the spear's crit range is approximately whatever The Lady feels like at the time.
Poor fluttershy, I hope she recovers enough to tell everyone the wolf was "helpful" during the whole ordeal. I take it when a champion dies, they die for good and can't be played again in that world or anyother?
The signiture I can make out is EAMNE. And also, it is nice to see that a fellow plague doctor has made it into a story!
Does this help for the picture?
http://surlyermine.com/tag/plague-doctor/
7004729 Yes it does. Thank you very much!
so...the spear is some sort of extremely weakened Gae Bolg?
I think I found the source of your pic
I'm so glad you updated again! Usually your updated are far too few and far between!
Great chapter! A little filler for the most part, but after all the excitement, it needed to be. Good job bro!
Another enjoyable chapter. Good job.
Nice closure chapter. Now for the next adventure and for Ammon to get to know his new allies better.
And that new 'doctor'? Creepy doesn't fully cover him.
7004844 Since I'm not too familiar with fate/stay night, I'm going to have to go with a resounding 'maybe.'
7006140 You're just going to have to wait and see what his deal is.
7004564 You are correct. In most cases, while the soul of the champion is still intact, and could still technically be used again, it's against the rules to field an already defeated champion.
7006566 sorry for the length...
Once Gáe Bolg's name has been called, the cursed spear reverses the nature of causality, the meaning of "cause and effect" in the order of things, to make it so the cause of the "lance being thrust" comes from the effect of the "opponent's heart being pierced" by it. It determines the opponent's fate simply through its use, an always fatal move that pierces the heart with one thrust. It is also possible to activate it without actively striking the heart. It is an attack on destiny itself. The actual action of the thrust is merely a formality, as the lance has already pierced the opponent's heart before the attack has even started. The "result" of "the heart of the opponent has been pierced" is created earlier than it is thrust, while the "cause" that "the lance has pierced through the heart" is generated later. Aside from great luck, it is a technique that determines "if it is released, the opponent is dead." The lance can move at impossible angles, signified by turning into a red beam of light, that always manages to reach its target. Even if he thrusts directly at the feet of the opponent, it will immediately point upwards towards the heart without growing, bending, and or any movement, and if it is thrown from a distance of ten meters, or rather than truly being a throw it will manage to reach the target without fail. This action looks completely normal to onlookers, as if it were already piercing the heart, because rather than truly changing its course, it changes the means to match the result, simply as an action meant to prove the fact that the heart was pierced. It can only be used against living beings, so it would have no particular effect against inanimate objects like rocks or house.
The only way to effectively defend against the attack is to have a high enough degree of luck or divine protection as to be able to alter fate, which would be heightened by also having good reflexive instincts, an auto-resurrection ability, a shield that overwhelms the magical energy of the lance, or, as a countermeasure of knowing it will strike the heart, Even if the opponent manages to avoid it with luck, it still leaves a heavy wound that takes a long time to fully heal.
7006582 Not really, then. With Gae Bolg, it is changing the relation between cause and effect. With Ammon's gear, what happens instead is luck and random chance are changed. Let's say, for example, that Ammon thrusts at someone wearing full plate mail. Well, the nature of matter states that solid objects aren't as 'solid' as they actually appear. Yes, they don't shift and flow like a gases and liquids do, but if you look at anything through a powerful enough microscope, you will notice that the object actually has little cracks and spaces positioned throughout. This is because of how molecular bonds are formed, and a whole ton of other science stuff (Yes, I actually know this stuff, not just making it up, I just don't want to quote everything right here).
How a bladed weapon works (any bladed weapon, not just Ammon's), is that the edge finds its way between one of these cracks and forces it apart. In the case of exceptionally strong material, such as armor, you either need more force (or a sharper edge) to split the material, or you need to be really, really, lucky and hit the exact spot were the armor is the weakest. You see, armor, because of the way it is made, has cracks that are much, much closer together, making it harder for weapons to cut through and pierce. So the chances of you hitting that one sweet spot that causes the metal to split like a log are astronomically high. (don't know the exact figures, but I believe it is somewhere up there at 1,000,000,000 to 1 chance.)
What Ammon's weapons do, is they fudge the chances in the wielder's favor. Instead of a one in a billion chance, its more like a one in five. If the weapon can't find a large enough crack, it will skirt along the armor until it does. And that crack can be anything from a tiny crevice in the molecular bonds (as discussed earlier), to where the plate meets the pauldron, allowing the weapon to slip in and do some damage.
And with Ammon's weapons, and with what other abilities they have, sometimes a single cut is all he needs.
7006639
ah, so, minor probability manipulation?
..i say Minor, as full fledged Probability manipulation is flat out within the realm of reality warping (what are the chances all my enemies die right this second, what are the chances of a bag of money falling at my feet, e.t.c)
7006646 Correct. Not major enough to cause reality to warp and distort, but major enough to give Ammon an edge against armored foes.
7006647
so, he has a high chance of hitting that one spot that bypasses armour....
hmm...could it hit that one particular point that holds everything together?
like, hitting that point pierces whatever it is that holds all the molecules together?
7006657 He has a higher chance than anyone else, but not nearly as high. To make armor shatter like you're suggesting, he'd need to roll a twenty.
7006661
hmm...i'm not hearing an "its impossible" though...
...but how does it know what counts? would it only destroy a certain radius? would the entire part of Armour disintegrate? and what would happen if it struck flesh instead of armour?
7006665 It wouldn't disintegrate per se, but it would shatter into a thousand tiny pieces. Also, have you noticed that every enemy he's fought to kill, with the exception of two examples, have been insta-killed with a single strike? (those examples being The Mistress of Shadow, and Avalis the Dragon.) The reason is that, unless he's purposefully trying to spare you (or he's aiming for a non-vital spot, as was the case with the Mistress), the weapon is going to hit something vital, and pass straight through bone and marrow to reach it.
Unless he misses. That's a possibility, since the probability manipulation only affects random chance, not relative skill with weapons.
Anyway, it still worked on Avalis, it's just that he has certain powers that protect him from some of what Ammon has (as you will eventually see).
7006681
I get the idea that by virtue of Luck telling Ammon nothing of his abilities, the other deities are just in the dark as Ammon, otherwise Ammon would have been focus fired into lizard paste.
7007400
7007466
Will e ever find out what Lady Luck is doing so far away from the discworld?
7007515 Maybe.
I had heard of masks like that used during plagues, when it was thought that the smells and bad air were the cause of disease, and so they packed the beak of the mask with flowers to "cleanse" the air with their scent. As a crude filter, it might have even helped a little. People can be very inventive about trying to stay alive while helping others.
7008202 It really is quite facinating, I admit. Maybe that's why I love the plague doctor look so much.
I hope he calls himself Doktor Schnabel.
It only took me 17 chapters to confirm that Ammon's goddess is none other than Lady Luck. I thought it was Lady Luck for a while, but as far as I know, this is the closest the author has come to downright saying it. :P
7008202 Ah the theory of Miasma... Medicine through time, the bane of my history class.
7046996
The riddle in her introduction got an answer. Fortuna. Many seek her favor, some claim to be her friend and those who use her boons, do not always do that intentionally or by calling her name. They just got lucky.