Light's Darkest Form

by Fateful Pony

Taking Dragon Isle

“So what’s the plan again?” Derpibra shouted above the sea winds.

Optix turned about as Daischtert soared towards Dragon Isle, only minutes away. “We go in, and we launch a head-on assault. We’re dealing with Dragon Priests and Archmages, so their magic may be a tough things to combat.” She made sure to equip her M249 Light Machine Gun, slipping in the box magazine and chambering the first bullet. “But we are the perfect fireteam. Those bastards are too busy worshipping lizards to care about mounting up for an attack from us.”

Daischtert cackled at her statement.

“Wait,” Twilight said. “What would bullets do against mages?”

“You’ll see.” She scoffed.

-->><<--

Daischtert landed upon the lush jungled islands of Dragon Isle, and the fireteam dismounted.

Sanctus was training within the courtyard of the castle, and spotted the group upon the final swing of her greatsword. “So… it’s you, grey pony.”

“H-hi.”

“Don’t greet me you fool!” Sanctus snapped. “Our King… dead! And you just suspiciously disappear afterwards, no closure! Then you show up months later alongside our own enemy!?”

“Listen Sanctus, I can explain-”

“Bastard! I don’t need you to explain yourself to me. My sword will paint this island red with your essence!”

Derpibra gulped. She’s much better than me in the arts of the sword. And this time, I don’t have a shield this time, He thought as he retrieved his blade from the pink scabbard.

Behind Sanctus appeared mages and paladins. “Alright idiots! Stand tall! Cut this filthy cur down where he stands.”

Optix jumped out from behind a rock and shouted, “Eat lead, bitches!” She opened fire as both sides clashed in a flurry of blades and axes.

Derpibra was engaging three targets at once. A horizontal slash from a paladin headed in his direction. Derpibra parried the blade, and shoved her back. Sanctus jumped in and took a wide swing at him with enough force to slice a boulder, but he was swift to duck. Counterattacking with a brutal uppercut, he sent Sanctus flying backwards. To his right, a huge mare charged at him with a battleaxe with a blade the size of his head. She went for a vertical slice, but Derpibra strafed to the left. He forced the axe haft down with a hoof, and chopped it in half. Then, ponies began to surround him. Feeling a sense of extreme danger, his winged flared, and his magic exploded in a torrent of white magic, sending dozens flying backwards.

“You good on ammo Optix?” Rainbow Dash shouted from the sky, ready to perform a sonic rainboom close to the ground.

Optix dropped the box magazine and threw her helmet to her left, knocking out an incoming enemy. She revealed her luxurious golden mane, underneath it being a… horn. “I got magic bullets! Hey, fucktards!” She shouted towards the offending crowd. “I’m a Celestia-damned unicorn!” She summoned a grenade and pulled the pin. “Fire in the hole!” She tossed the grenade, then covered her ears.

*BOOSH!*

“Haa!” Derpibra’s chest puffed out as he transformed into a Super Saiyan. His purple mane shook under the force of his enhanced strength. “Hehe… although the power increase is unnecessary… it still feels nice!” Holding his Blade of Hearts by the hilt, he readied it with a dark purple magic, and shoved the blade into the ground, causing the soil and sediments to erupt with a bright red aura, forcing a crevice to form along the ground. The magic sent his enemies into the sky, then coming crashing down after the crevice shut moments later. “Woah, that was sick! I can get used to that... I guess I’ll call that… Black Grasp!”

“That energy was… sinister feeling, but it has a hint of good in it.” Twilight said. “Anyhow, this skirmish is done. Do you all remember what’s next?”

“We hit the Inquisition at its heart. Our next stop is the castle, once we get in, we take out any in our path, and claim the castle as ours.” Optix explained as she grabbed her helmet. “Then we move up the mountain and take on Magnus.”

“Good. Hopefully the fight ends as quickly as it did this time. Alright everypony! Let’s move!”

-->><<--

The doors of the castle burst open in a flash of white magic.

“Optix, why didn’t you tell us you were a unicorn?” Rarity questioned.

“Long story! I’ll explain when we get back!” She summoned a flashbang and tossed it in. The slight clanking of the metal canister, then it flashed in a bright white color. “Breach and Clear!”

Derpibra surged his magic, then fired a volley of explosive magic blasts into the Great Hall. After the assault, the furniture and structural integrity of the castle was left lackluster at best. The dust settled, and injured ponies were strewn about the floor.

“We gotta empty out this place!” Optix commanded. “All the way to the top! Let’s move!”

The storming of the Keep took just under an hour for the fireteam- Daischtert guarded the outside doors to prevent escapees while everyone else made short work of any encounters. There were small explosions, mostly from Optix’ flashbangs and occasional fragmentation grenades. After the deed was done, everyone made their way towards the top of a tower just barely poking above the Keep. Daischtert spotted them, then advanced toward them. Once he arrived, he planted a pole in the center of the tower with a flag branded with an omega symbol colored black on a gray background. It flailed within the winds as they picked up speed.

“Perfect! New territory established.” Optix soluted. “Awaiting further commands!”

“Go up the ruined mountain which used to be Magnus’ sanctuary.” Twilight explained. “We stop whatever ritual may be bringing him back, then this fight will be over.”

Optix looked towards the sky, and slowly pulled off her gun range shades, muttering, “Mother of Celestia…”

“What’s wrong?”

“Reinforcements!”

There had to be at least one dozen dragons within the sky, headed straight for the army of ten. Pegasi soared and unicorns rode upon the dragons’ backs, readying spells and incantations.

“Are those guys Dragonriders?” Derpibra asked.

“Perhaps. They haven’t been deployed in so long it seems. My speculations of them not existing by these numbers were wrong…”

Magic bolts and lightning hailed from the sky, ready to pierce them all.

“Take cover!” Optix used her magic to force everypony behind a solid stone ledge.

Golden lighting flashed, then eventually turned to extravagant thunder atop the tallest mountain on the island.

“What was that?” Derpibra shouted.

“It must be the ritual!” Daischtert said. “That’s Magnus’ thunder!”

The air was full of magical artillery fire and explosions, forcing everyone to stay under cover.

Optix went out and fired her light machine gun into the air, taking out at least a few ponies. Her fire was ineffective against the dragons however, since their scales were not unlike solid metal. Soon, a magic bolt struck her helmet, sending her into a daze. Luckily, the projectile had not penetrated well enough to kill her, but it did prompt her to get back into cover. “We need some more help holding down the castle!”

“I’ll do it!” Derpibra said as his power shouted above the noise of the field.

“What about the ritual?” Twilight asked. “If we take too long to fend off the assault, then Magnus may be stronger if he’s fully restored! And who knows, he may come destroy us first since he might know what’s going on! And by then, we may not even be done fighting off the enemy!”

“But we won’t survive long without his help!” Optix shouted above the fire. “At least we won’t have them on our tails when we do fight him! And besides, we’re under too much fire to move anywhere but inside this castle!”

“Derpibra, what do you think? Stay with us or go stop the ritual? You gotta decide quickly!” Twilight demanded.

Ironically, time seemed to slow down as he thought. Do I stay here and help my friends defend the castle, or stop the ritual? After just seconds passing, he made his decision.
“Magnus might get us either way. If we are gonna die, we might as well do it together!” Giving his magic one last surge of energy, he jumped from cover after the fire ceased, and lifted his hooves to either side of his gray body. He began to generate massive amounts of energy in them before pulling them together to a close. Forming one larger energy sphere, it spurted black lightning that seemed to tear through the sky.

“The Darkness!” A soldier shouted.

“Final Flash!”

The massive beam- seemingly larger than when Derpibra used it against chrysalis- swept all of his opponents away in a blink of black power. However, their enemies continued piling onto the battlefield, ready to reclaim their territory. They seemed to have come from within the forests leading to the mountain. The majority of them were equipped with fine bows, and their arrows were barbed for maximum damage. They aimed their recurve bows high with arrows in hoof, and released an artillery fire of wood and metal, straight towards the castle.

“Take cover!” Optix exclaimed.

Derpibra commenced a flare of energy before shouting, “Aura Burst!”. His magical aura shot out in the form of a bubble, shoving away anything in his path, in this case the arrows. He managed to deflect most of them, whilst the others simply struck the ground below.

Daischtert off in the distance was combating several dragons at once, and he was having great difficulty fighting all twelve dragons at once.

“Hey, you need some help?” Derpibra clamored.

The golden lightning cut through the air again, this time much more potent. A faint dragon roar could be heard for what seemed like miles away.

“Ugh! No! That must be Magnus’ lightning again! Go to the mountain, I’ll be fine!” Daischtert was swiftly punched away.

“We’ll be fine too!” Twilight said. “There’s a lot less resistance down here now! Go, and remember that barrier surrounding the peak!”

“Dang,” Derpibra muttered. “I forgot I can’t fly directly up there. Hey, Twilight! Can you teleport me close to the top?”

“Good idea! Hold still!”

In a flash of purple magic, he vanished then reappeared in a totally unfamiliar location. The land was gushing magma and ash, and the ground had sharp rock strewn about.

“What the…?” He looked up and spotted the peak he was to reach, but it seemed farther than normal. “Twilight!” He stomped his hoof. “Where the heck did you put me?” He shook his head disapprovingly. “Ugh… I’ll scold her later. Why would she even put me this far away anyway?” Deciding to preserve his magic, he spread his wings, released his Super Saiyan form, and flew to his destination. Concerning he was about to fight a god dragon, he would need all of his available strength.

As he soared, the magma shot from the ground, and pumped more toxic ash into the sky. This extreme environmental change prompted him to fly low on the ground, to avoid any heat and stray ash. Also, the opaque smoke from higher in the sky would have disallowed him a clear view of the peak. He needed to know where he was going, and the black smokescreen wouldn’t be so helpful in that.

After a short minute of flight, he reached the trail. From his point of view, the golden thunder that occasionally cracked seemed much mightier and close.

“Better watch my step.” He muttered before landing. He got a lay of the trail ahead, scanning for any dangers that might make short work of him. Deciding after some seconds that him standing around was pointless, he sprung open his wings, and prepared to fly, but they suddenly locked up, followed by a golden chain locking them in place. “What the…?” He struggled to break them off, wiggle them off- whatever might work. But, they were adamant in keeping his flight abilities restricted.

He gave it some thought. Wait, I can fly with my magic! I don’t need these wings! As soon as he brought his magic alight, its strength augmentation was normal, but it wouldn’t carry him at all.
Looks like I’m grounded…

Deciding that any subsequent flight attempts were a waste of energy, he decided the only mode of transportation was his hooves. At this idea, it made Optix’ junky SUV sound like a more appealing alternative, considering the mountain seemed taller and… more volcanic than before. Was this even the same mountain?

The next flash of thunder struck him out of his thoughts and pushed him upwards.

The clock is ticking. If Magnus gets resurrected, that could spell doom for Derpibra and his friends.

It’s all up to him now.

Comments

[Randomizer77]

Couldn't resist playing this song in my head while reading through the battle:

I might play something different while reading the next chapter.