Tyrant Era: The golem of Carnifex

by The Psychopath

Unknown piece

"Wh-who are you?" Spike stuttered.

There was a large, bipedal entity standing in the flowing black dust of the bent house. While Spike couldn't make out the body much, he could see the head. It was an orange pumpkin burning with orange flames. It was staring at Spike with an air of mockery.

"I felt a disturbance with one of the demons I sent to one of these distraught villages and wanted to check on him. And quite the surprise has befallen my burning orbits. I remember what you looked like fondly. I bent you. Twisted you. Molded you into what I wanted. You were still a baby. Sure, that pony was clingy, but I ripped you from her grasp and walked off as she cried." the biped sighed in satisfaction. "Good days. However," he tensed. ", you are not the 'Spike' that I know. I know for a fact that the dragon that I captured is sitting here at the base of my throne, slumbering peacefully with a belly full of pony meat."

A small grin formed on the side of the pumpkin's mouth as Spike's stomach began to churn in disgust.

"Oh! How rude of me. You asked who I was and I didn't answer. I am Pumpkin Lord." The figure bowed.

"Pumpkin Lord?"

"Now tell me, who are you?"

"I'm Spike," the little dragon said.

He was shaking so much it felt to him as though he were back in the cold embrace of winter, and the glare of this tall being wasn't helping him at all.

"I asked you who you really...I see."

The Pumpkin Lord had, at first, started to grow aggressive, but a thought came to his mind, and he relaxed.

"Tell me, are you accompanying a white pony with a purple mane and tail?"

"What's it to y-you?"

The Pumpkin Lord exploded in laughter.

"Spike? What's going on in there?" Rarity asked.

"Do not worry, pony of the past. I cannot harm any of you through this magic, but I am certain my demons will not be so lenient when destroying you and your golem!"

The figure vanished in a wisp of smoke, obstructing Spike's ability to breathe somewhat. The little dragon hurried outside to warn everypony of the imminent danger.

"Rarity! The Pumpkin Lord is sending demons to attack us!"

"What? B-b-b-b-but what about the medicine?"

"They're still in that place. I couldn't pull them out."

Rarity started pacing back and forth while panicking. Her mane was starting to become frizzy, with strands sticking out everywhere. Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes and glided off the golem's shoulder, stumbling once she reached the ground and wincing in pain.

"Look. Spike will get the crates while you and the golem fend off whatever comes for us. Hm?"

Rainbow's eyes opened wider and her lips compressed inwards. She was expecting Rarity to approve of the plan.

"Okay, but I can't do such things. The golem will have to."

"He can blow things up with a touch. I'm sure he'll manage. Not as good as MY beasts, though," Fluttershy mumbled.

The yellow pegasus was lowered gently onto the ground by the golem, letting the pegasus limp towards the house as best as she could. As for her holder itself, it was waiting Rarity's orders, judging by how it stared at her.

"You need to protect my-I mean 'our' friends. Can you do that for me?" Rarity asked.

The mare looked up at the golem with pleading eyes. Her hoof was also placed on the golem's left leg to add effect. The creature nodded and stepped forward, looking around for signs of any demons. Luckily, for now, there was nothing, but Spike had to hurry. No pony knew what was going to arrive nor in what quantity. Time started to pass in miniscule hops, accelerating Spike and Rarity's breathing. The little dragon was being pressured by Fluttershy who wanted him to be faster. Everypony stopped their activities when two creatures, the size of the golem, dropped down from the sky and landed heavily upon the land. For some obscure reason, nothing was thrown upwards. They simply landed. The two creatures stood upright and stared at the golem with vicious intent. They were off-shoots of dragons. Bipedal in form, with purple scales under their chin and accentuating their eyes and the edges of their fingers. Another thing that came to sight were the tiny stubs on their backs that looked like the remains of wings long since lost. Their bodies were a dark purple color similar to that of a grape, but they weren't as tender, and their breathing was quick and erratic.

Before Rarity could say anything, one of the beasts shot from its position and attempted to bash the golem with its shoulder. Unfortunately, the stone giant was adept enough to see this coming and shoulder met with fist, making the limb of the dragon burst from its joint in a disgusting array of colors. It cried out in pain and fell to a knee, letting its enemy walk towards it for a finishing blow, but the other drake would not have it, and kicked through the golem's stomach. Rocks and stone flew into the town, crushing shades as they walked by, but these shadows went about their business.

The golem staggered back a few steps and fell. These beasts were still, somehow, capable of piercing its reinforced body. It had already gravely wounded one, but the other was more cunning. It was using more footwork, more cunning. It wasn't enough to avoid its leg getting intercepted and blown off by the golem, launching the beast into a nearby house. The sight intrigued Rarity greatly. While the building exploded inwards with pieces bursting outwards, after a moment, they froze in place and slowly rotated where they had ceased all movement. It was as though they were in water. Her thoughts quickly broke due to the wailing of the beasts that tried to attack them. The armless one tried once more to strike down the golem, but the entity was too much for it. The drake found itself lifted up by its waist, then slammed down into the ground head first. Limbs became limp and lifeless. It was dead.

That didn't stop the other drake from shrieking out, creating some sort of vibrating sound that echoed throughout the area. The ponies covered their ears in pain due to the shrieking intensity of the cry. Seeing its master in pain, the golem stomped towards the drake, grabbed it by its two jaws, then started to pull them apart. Rarity just watched in horror as the beast tried its best to get pulled loose, punching its captor as powerfully as it could. It didn't hold, and a resounding crack caused the fashionista to cringe in pain and turn away. The golem was proud of itself and turned towards Rarity with a look of approval. Yet, she felt that there was something that wasn't right. There were dust trails being kicked up in the distance, and flying beasts were coming from the distance. Quite an enormous amount of them looked like former ponies.

"Oh no! The golem can't fight off that many! What are we going to do?" Rarity panicked.

"We stand and fight!"

Rainbow's audacity was short lived as she gave a light yelp and fell back onto the ground.

"Are you crazy? You two are too wounded to do anything, and Spike is still trying to get what he can from the house."

"He already got a few bags out, so I guess we can leave. They are pretty big, brown bags, after all. So they must be full of supplies."

"Okay then. Come on, golem, we have to leave! Spike! Get out of there. We have to go!"

"But, I've...almost...got it!" the dragon struggled.

"Too late!" the Pumpkin Lord laughed.

"Wh--"

Rarity couldn't exclaim her confusion that the demons were already at the limits of the city. She felt her heart constrict and time flow slowly around her. She was going to die in a world that wasn't hers, and her true friends would never know. Worse, still. She would die and she wouldn't have been able to save Spike or these two twisted versions of her friends. The mare did not notice one of the sprites walking up to the golem with some sort of spiked ball surrounded by a dark, oil colored energy that serpented around the main body. It was the foal from earlier. The giant looked down at it and knelt to the foal, placing a hand over the object. The ball immediately jumped the short distance and sunk into the golem's palm. It immediately righted itself as its body was constricting and changing. Several pieces of its front began to chip into what looked like downward-pointing scales, but they were moving. Its head suffered the same changes, and the scales took on the same, oil color. The giant suddenly grumbled, and all the new pieces of its body opened up. Rarity felt like time had slowed to a crawl. The scene she witnessed would forever stain her mind and eyes. The golem's arms were outstretched, and thousands of demons; both flying and terrestrial, were mere feet away from the group's position. Without warning, a massive quantity of energy was wrought forth from the golem, engulfing the whole world in front of it. Rarity's mind could not discern what she was seeing, and it hurt her. It seemed as though there was no color nor transparency. No light nor darkness. There was but-

"Nothing..." the Pumpkin Lord whispered.

The shade's arms dropped, and it was apparent, by the face of complete shock on the pumpkin, that this was something terrifying to all demons.

Finally, the trembling and destructive blast created by the golem dissipated back into its creator, and the scales all shut with a distinctive clamping noise. The land and town were intact, but all the demons had disappeared.

"H-how..." Fluttershy stuttered.

Rainbow laughed and looked at her friend. "Gee, Fluttershy. I've never seen you in complete shock and awe."

"Not possible. There are only four components to that golem. The books I found said so. Only four! That one wasn't part of the group...unless..."

The Pumpkin Lord's shade immediately faded out of existence, leaving the group to ponder on their own.

"There's more than four?!" Rarity and Rainbow shouted together.

Their eyes were sparkling and they were feeling giddy inside. Who knew just how many segments this golem had and could integrate within itself! Then again, it begs the question of how and why there was a segment in this town and how that little foal knew about it.

Comments

[The Psychopath]

5392521 Who says I'm trying to make him intimidating?

As for the dialogue, it's me trying to display a more realistic perception of things. I'm trying to get back to describing and detailing correctly. Writing fanfiction has numbed me a bit.