The very ground shook as the two superpowers collided again and again. Xander was still adjusting to the power he stole from Celestia, but he was still much stronger the Twilight. Regardless of their strength difference, Twilight was much more skilled. Obviously a result of her fighting almost constantly over the past year.
Xander once again found himself on the receiving end of a magic blast, slamming him into the ground. He thanked his indestructible body as once again the blow would have killed him. This pony wasn't holding back.
“Get your ass back up here so I can beat you some more,” Twilight hissed.
“You can't win. Twilight. I can't die.”
“Then I'll make you wish you could!”
Twilight fired a powerful lightning bolt at the undead alicorn.
--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---
Rainbow Dash made her way toward the Ponyville Hospital with a weakened Celestia in her hooves. The princess was heavy and it slowed Rainbow's flying, so taking her to Canterlot through a battlefield was a very bad idea. The only other hospital nearby was the one she tends to spend a part of her weekends at. Her journey finally ended as she landed in front of the building and collapsed, panting for air.
“A little help!” Rainbow called.
Instantly, four orderlies rushed out and, out of habit, started trying to examine the rainbow pegasus.
“Hey, not me, the Princess!”
They stared dumbly until RD's words registered. They looked at the wrinkled, gray maned alicorn in wide-eyed disbelief.
“W-what happened?” one of the medical staff finally managed to ask.
“She's been drained of her magic,” Rainbow said solemnly.
“No...” all four of the orderlies gasped in horror simultaneously.
“Hush now,” Celestia wheezed, “I'm not dead yet.”
“Get her inside, now!” one of the doctors barked.
The shriveled sun ruler was rushed in quicker than even the prismatic pegasus could follow. Dash dropped to her haunches and sighed. She needed to catch her breath after carrying the princess all that way with her wings wrapped in metal. Her wings needed a rest, so she released the straps and let the blades fall off. She stretched her wings, reveling in the freedom.
“Rainbow? What are you doing here?” asked a changeling.
“Ruby?” the changeling answered the pegasus' question with a nod, “The princess got... hurt... What about you?”
Ruby tensed up, nervous, “Uh... Rarity got hurt...”
“What?” Rainbow Dash half shouted, “How?”
“One of the Dratali that was sent here to take the town hostage somehow slipped away and hid in the pantry of Sugarcube corner,” explained Ruby.
“And Rarity found him?” Rainbow ventured.
Ruby shook her head solemnly, “No... Sweetie Belle did. She's... she's dead Rainbow. He killed her and stabbed Rarity in the eye.”
“What?” the cyan mare asked in disbelief, “No... this isn't funny, Ruby! This... oh Celestia, no...” she didn't even try hiding her tears.
“Move!” called yet another familiar voice, “Injured dragon coming through!”
“Dragon?” Rainbow whispered, fear evident in her voice, “Spike! What happened?”
“He was hit with two of those explosive rockets and was chased through the Whitetail Woods by aliens,” answered the showpony.
“Spike? Are you okay?” Dash asked frantically, running alongside Trixie as they went inside the hospital.
“I... I'll be fine, babe...” mumbled the drake, “Just need a... whazit called... nap... yeah...”
“Rainbow?” Ruby held Rainbow back by her shoulder, “Let the doctors do what they do. Come on.”
Rainbow let her changeling friend lead her out before speaking again.
“First the princess, then Rarity and Sweetie... oh goddess, Scootaloo and Applebloom are gonna be crushed... now Spike,” Tears were falling freely from the pegasus' eyes, “How many of my other friends are hurt or dead?”
Her worry and fear quickly turned to a righteous fury. Without another word, she went back to where she landed with the princess. She glanced at her wing blades for a moment before moving past them and taking Celestia's mirror-like blade in her hooves. She gave it a few practice swings standing on her hind legs. Satisfied, and with Excalibur in hoof, she jetted back toward the distant battlefield with a fire in her eyes.
--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---
“Fighter units, pull back to the cruisers. Firefly, I'm not sure what kind of upgrades your fighter got, but give our guys cover.” Admiral Gibson ordered.
“Copy that. Firefly moving to cover,” Firefly complied.
Luna couldn't help but be impressed with the efficiency of the Alliance Navy. She had watched as ships coordinated to relieve one another in order to give the unicorns a rest. Of course, it wasn't flawless. Two more of their ships had been destroyed, taking more than one hundred of her subjects and over two thousand Alliance soldiers. Still, with the Dratali's one advantage taken away, the Alliance was winning. Luna was certain at least two more of their ships would be lost, but the enemy was losing ships faster. If they could hold out until the reinforcements ar-
“Admiral! FTL signatures detected!” called a Korg woman from one of the consoles to the side.
The Admiral smiled, “Well it's about goddamn time...” the smile vanished when he saw several dozen Dratali warships appear in the distance, “Dear god...”
Immediately, the Dratali began pummeling the nearest Alliance cruiser. In a matter of moments, both the ship's shield generator and the unicorns protecting it were pushed past their limits and their protection failed. Two warheads burrowed deep into the vessel and detonated, obliterating the ship and killing hundreds more.
Luna closed her eyes, fighting back her tears. She had never seen so much death, and doubted Celestia had either. Thousands were dying in the fleet alone, and on the ground must have been worse. She could almost hear them calling out for help before their lives were snuffed out.
“No...” she whispered.
“Princess?” Gibson looked back at the royal, or at least where she used to be.
In a flash of indigo light, Luna was floating just outside the ship.
No more death.
She closed her eyes, focusing on her magic. Deep within herself, a lock was placed on the majority of her vast magical reserves, keeping it at a controllable level. For the first time since Nightmare Moon, that lock was released. The surge of power shook the ship behind her as arcs of indigo lightning danced from her body.
With a scowl, she exploded toward the enemy fleet, gathering terrifying amounts of magic in her horn. Where Celestia fights with grace and precision, Luna fought like a minotaur that got kicked in the scrotum; it may not have been efficient, but you didn't want to be unlucky enough to be caught in her path. The magic she gathered was unleashed in a devastating blast that tore through a cruiser and the frigate behind it.
The dark alicorn dodged and weaved around glowing bolts of charged particles on her way toward the center of the enemy fleet. A squadron of fighters moved in to intercept the incoming princess. Their deadly bolts often coming close enough to singe her fur. It didn't matter, though. There was only one pony that had ever out flown the ruler of the night, and he died over a thousand years ago. Of course she wasn't quite as fast as Rainbow Dash, but she could still fly circles around her and every one of the Wonderbolts at the same time. A few fighters were no challenge, and Luna was quickly behind them, unleashing a torrent of raw magical energy and destroying them with ease.
Her assault combined with the Alliance bombardment once again brought the enemy advance to a standstill. Luna, though she was glad to be helping, prayed the Alliance reinforcements would arrive soon. Despite her massive reserves, she could feel it draining fast. It took an enormous amount of energy to destroy one of those ships, and even she couldn't keep up attacks of that magnitude for long.
--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---
Another powerful blast shook the ground as the undead alicorn was pummeled into the dirt. Slowly, Xander stood back up, laughing of all things. He looked up at the panting Nightmare. He could tell she was exhausted, while he was still running at full. Her attacks weren't even hurting very much anymore. It was time to go on the offensive. As Twilight charged her magic for another spell, Xander launched his own. It tore through the possessed pony's fireball, striking her square in the chest. Pressing the advantage, he teleported above his opponent and swung a magical blade. Twilight instinctively brought up her metal hoof to defend herself only for it to be cleaved in two. The blade was morphed into a spear and thrown at the corrupted unicorn. The amulet around her neck saved her life as the ethereal weapon struck it instead of her heart.
“It seems you're tiring Miss Sparkle,” Xander chided.
“Fuck you!” Twilight groaned.
“Eloquent,” the lich teased as he delivered another bolt of magic.
Twilight dodged to the right and launched a bolt of her own, striking Xander square in the face. She gasped in shock at the grin plastered on the corpse's face.
“It would seem I'm adjusting to Celestia's power quite nicely don't you think?”
“I got plenty more where that- Agh!” Twilight was cut off by the beam of magical energy striking the alicorn amulet.
With an explosion, the amulet shattered launching the unicorn back to the ground. Pain lanced through her body as her senses came back to her in full. Without the amulet, the Nightmare receded... or most of it did. One of her eyes was still slitted, and her wings remained, but her own mind returned in full.
“Well,” Xander scoffed, “Its been fun. Goodbye, Miss Sparkle.”
Xander's horn lit up with magical power as he charged a spell he knew would finish the job. He leaned his head toward his downed adversary... and screamed in agony as his horn went soaring through the air in the wake of a multicolor streak. He felt the bony appendage growing back, but much slower than it should have. The former unicorn didn't have time to ponder this before a cyan blur slammed into him, plunging a shimmering blade into his chest, and a pair of furious magenta eyes glared into his.
Xander kicked out with his hind legs, separating him from the furious pegasus. He readied a spell with his newly regrown horn and let loose a bolt of magic as Rainbow Dash charged at him again. He grinned as he watched her barrel right toward it only for her to cut through it with the sword like it was air. He instinctively brought up his right hoof to defend himself only for it to be cleaved in two. The severed limb didn't return to its owner like it should have. Instead, it turned to ash in the air. Xander's eyes widened in fear as he watched the appendage vanish in a cloud. That fear turned to relief when he saw bone and tissue slowly regrowing from the stump.
Xander laughed, “It seems that, even with that sword, you can't-”
His head turned to ash as it soared through the air. Excalibur flashed in the light of the sun as it carved the alicorn to pieces.
“This is for Twilight!” a leg turned to ash.
“This is for Celestia!” another leg was severed.
“This is for Rarity!” His hind legs disintegrated as the ancient blade tore through his abdomen.
“This is for Spike!” the torso was split in two, the right half blowing away in the wind.
“This is for Sweetie Belle!” her blade flashed again and again until all that was left was a coal black heart falling to the ground.
“And this is for everyone else that died because of you!” With a great swing, Rainbow hurled the legendary blade, piercing the heart and embedding itself into the ground.
“Burn in Tartarus you son of a bitch,” she spat as the last piece of the evil sorcerer turned to a pile of dust.
O_O....
...
...ok then
My god... Dash rage...
Awesome Chapter (as usual!)
Whoa. Channeling Samwise Gamgee and Inigo Montoya at the end there.
Sucks for Xander
badass Dash ftw
"Where Celestia fights with grace and precision, Luna fought like a minotaur that got kicked in the scrotum; it may not have been efficient, but you didn't want to be unlucky enough to be caught in her path."
Love that mental image. Luna is best pony, because she fights with the finesse of a brick through a window.
IN YO FACE XAN-HO!!!!
Mmm, ah, yes, Excalibur. "Forged when the world was young, and bird and beast and flower were One with Man - and Death was but a dream."
(No prize for guessing who spoke that line.)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dOOTKA0aGI0
Os he dead yet!?
Twilight needs a medichanic. Too bad there isn't one. But there are medics and mechanics. Kind of disappointing that it was RD and not Twilight who finished off Xander, but I can accept that. Nice song choice as well.
Rainbow Dash used Limit Break: Pegasus Rage.
Rainbow Dash Hit for 9999 damage.
Enemy Xander was defeated.
I can't help but think that Gibson's responce to Luna fighting should have been "Why didn't she do that earlier". I have no problem with her reluctance, but I can just picture the humans feeling a little ticked off.
Also, I wanted Twilight to kill Xander. She deserves it after all she's been through.
Oha.
Remind me to stay on Rainbows Good Side. Well, not entirely unexpected I must say. BUT I do have a feeling that Xander is NOT entirely destroyed. At least if this phylacterion theory is right. But you forgot turning Rainbows Head blond
Jokes aside, nice chapter. Hmm. Why do I have a feeling that Xanders "Soul" if you might call it that way in lack for a better word, might take control of the downed Rarity. I mean her defenses will be extremely weak now, since her sister got killed AND her body condition. Well we will see if I Am right.
The awesomeness of that last part brought liquid pride to my eyes (we totally need a liquid pride pony)
Oh snap. It was about time, even if it was a bit Mary Sue. Considering that's an ancient enchanted blade though, it was to be expected.
2616070
I think you might answer that with the same answer Krillin got when he asked Goku why he did not use the Kaioken earlier to defeat Nappa.
"Cause the technique is dangerous. The tiniest mistake and I could die"...
Or in Lunas case she could turn back into Nightmare moon. So it is a last resort method.
2616070 I imagine he's not dead yet, but he will be severely drained, though Dash would have left by the time he regenerated, and since Twilight is exhausted, would have little trouble finding and killing her
2616131 Yeah, I know that, but I doubt the humans do. I just think it'd be amusing for one them to comment on it.
2616069
Pegasus Rage and only 9999 Damage? Well, there were several swings so more like the Omni Slash or Squalls Lionheart Attack. AGH: Damit, Now you've done it. I will play Dissidia Final Fantasy again. Thanks again.
I'm tellin' allovya that Xander ain't dead yet. If he was any decent super villain, than he should obviously have a fall-back plan in case something like that happens.
2616156
Well I stick to my Taking over Rarity Idea for now.
Think about it. Her mental stability is shattered now cause of her sisters death. So it would be easiert to take over her mind. But it is all in Shiros hands. So I will wait for the next chapter.
I would just do a Dragon Slave again on Xanders ashes just to be absollutley sure ;)
He should have died slower.
Seriously, if my Internet kept going out I would go all Rainbow Dash on them as she did Xander
Daaaayum girl, Rainbow totally stole your thunder there Twilight. No hard feelings, eh?
Luna just went into badass space warrior mode, didn't she?
i.imgur.com/vPPyv.gif
2616099 there is, I shall now implement it.
encrypted-tbn1.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQO43op2dnESkxmBC7qeE9SPzHip8GLmv5GSlalpDH0wdkhGruw
And look! they even make it now!
encrypted-tbn1.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcSQmJKXnK_1crZSmH4xh5gG7W_1XXDpk2pFptcsMUsLnhCIHtkp
2616149 MWAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!
But yeah maybe I should go back and specify its 9999 per hit finishing with a crit for double damage.
Team super ass kickers GO!
2616179 Well, aside from Epilogues and whatnot that Shiro may or may not have planned, technically Rarity is in my capable hands, now. At least, for the colab itself.
Anyway, awesome chapter. Totally loved Rainbow saving the day.
Dash just became 200% more AWESOME!
You have the worst Internet connection of anyone I've ever heard of.
2616517
Ah shoot. And it was such a nice theory. Imagined allready all the possibilities which would go with such a mind control. The problems the rest of the main 6 would have to fight Xander in this form and so on....
Well... But I still doubt that Xander is gone for good. That would have been too easy. Even with a weapon as powerful as Excalibur.
2616554 Precisely. Either way, I'm sure you and every other reader will find yourself pleased with what I do have planned for Rares. Shiro has only given me one stipulation, but so long as I follow that I have completely free reign.
Another awesome chapter, AND you link to the most badass cover artist of all time!
Dayum, Dash.
PLEASE tell me Xander stays dead this time, cause this battle is growing dim for me.
2616559
Well. Allready have an idea what could happen with Rarity, but I won't mention this theory. Well. Let it come, I am very curios what your group has planned at all.
2616626
Doubtful since he IS a lich. Sure they destroyed his CURRENT vessel. But I doubt that made it yet. He will return in another form for sure.
Go Rainbow! Booyah!dl.dropbox.com/u/31471793/FiMFiction/emoticons/misc_Rainbow_dealwithit.png
2616033
Hey Hyperion. The Bucephalus is better than you.
2616637
2616626
Excalibur is a sword that's meant to kill the already dead. On the other hand, Xander's a lich, and they can survive without a body so long as their phylactery is intact.
...
attack was super effective!
2616849
oh fuck you XD nice ref to starcraft dude lol
I have so much catching up to do!
Incoming rant. It has a point, though.
What, praytell, was the point of the zarking amulet? We could have just handed Excalibur to RD and given her a running start, rather than have Twilight go through an excrutiatingly painful transformation that took loads longer than the first one only to achieve the same lackluster results.
I'm ok with Excalibur being great at killing liches and other undead. I'm even mostly ok with direct magical assault against a lich being pointless and him regenerating from a single cell. Why, though, didn't Twilight attempt to copy his power drain? You've made a point of her being able to replicate any spell she sees, and she witnessed that spell from Xander quite personally. Draining his magic seems like a perfectly sadistic, bloodthirsty, and power-hungry thing for nightmare Twilight to do.
How Twi could have defeated Xander is beside the point, though. My real point is this: You made this whole build-up about nightmares and the Alicorn Amulet. There was a trip back in time to school Celestia and chill with Star Swirl the Merlin in order to create said amulet from a piece of Twilight's tainted horn. Then you had her put on the amulet, which was supposed to suppress the latent nightmare inside her so she'd be safe to live around and maybe give her a power boost. This began a lengthy and painful transformation process, which process you called back to to build tension over multiple chapters.
Then we see that the transformation yielded a result that ran completely counter to the amulet's purpose. It's hard to believe that an artifact created by the most powerful and experienced mage in the history of ever, except maybe Yen Sid, the princesses, and their parents, would fail so utterly. We then proceed to have Twi boringly metaphorically ram her face into a brick wall without causing any lasting damage, and then you have Xander break the amulet and Twi is left with a presumably useless wing and one nightmare-flavored eye. That last bit didn't even make much sense to me.
And then we have Rainbow Dash, a mare with a few days of combat training at most, take the magic sword she'd had in her possession since Celestia went down and hack Xander to tiny, presumably dead bits. When a trained soldier with the power of a nightmare didn't leave a scratch. Why didn't they just do that in the first place instead of having a huge build-up to a payoff that never happened?
And Luna can breathe in space, so that's cool I guess. Why wasn't she out there blowing up ships from the get-go? Celestia was on the front lines from the start, and you've mentioned that Luna is the more direct and brash of the two sisters. It makes tons more sense tactically to frontload power into your opening salvos (once you've calibrated your guns, at least), as it means less return fire.
This chapter made me angry. I'd been hoping there was an actual point to the Nightmare quest chain, but it looks like your reward is clothes. Clothes that are non-functional, and look awful besides. I guess Twi's half-nightmare state somehow means she won't be going full-nightmare again, so that's some small consolation. I still feel cheated by that storyline, though, and I'd been looking forward to its going somewhere.
This story has been amazing up until the Dratali attack on Avol was announced. These last few chapters, though, have been massively disappointing to me. I came to this story because Twi and her space buddies were being awesome. Another chapter this frustrating and disappointing, though, and my fave here is gone and my thumb goes from up to down. Terrifying, I know. -_-
I'm sorry for the rant. I only ever do this for stories I care about, if that makes you feel any better. If you can make the nightmare plotline actually go somewhere that required the amulet to fail like this, or make it turn out that it was working as intended, then I might just take all of my butthurt back. I'll be waiting for you to pleasantly surprise me.
Unfortunately if his heart wasn't the phylactery(Which I doubt it was) The Necromantic Lich known as Xander will revive again, most likely on the Dratali homeworld. Using Dungeons and Dragons Logic here, plus it would make for a great surprise in the next story. Also because He is a Lich, Xander can't really possess any of the living bodies and has a long journey back to his base of operations for his regeneration. Though I have to admit, Rainbow Dash cutting that bastard down to size was really satisfying.
2617258
See this? Read this. I agree with everything he says.
This whole chapter was one huge anticlimax, and not in a good way either. I won't remove my fav our change my thumbs up, but if that whole nightmare storyline doesn't start going places fast then I likely won't stick around much longer. I mean, I can tolerate you including one of my most hated ships, but butchering what is supposed to be the most climatic moment of the entire story is unforgivable, and something I'd strongly recommend you go back and fix.
With hope,
Toxic
finally someone used exaclibur. seriously 'sword cuts through enchanments'
2617258
As far as I can tell, here are some answers to your rant:
1. Although Rainbow Dash didn't have much experience in battle as Twilight, Xander was more used to Twilight's method of fighting (aka magic) and was also prepared for the onslaught that Celestia would give him. This gives RD the advantage of surprise from Xander. Also doesn't help for Xander that RD was in fury mode, which I imagine to be a different version of Twilight's "flaming fury" mode.
2. The story with Twilight did go somewhere. She did go back in time to gain her nightmare, and she was able to somewhat control her nightmare. She also gave enough time for RD to bring Celestia to the hospital, which was a Duex es Machina in itself, saving Celestia's life (supposedly). This result also implies that going evil, even temporarily or half-way, will not work in the end because even with her nightmare powers, Twilight was unable to defeat Xander. It took the power of friendship and the righteous fury of RD to defeat Xander (supposedly).
3, As for Luna's play-style, although she is more of a brawler than Celestia is, remember that she isn't as powerful as Celestia. She does have power over the moon, but the moon is significantly less powerful to use than the Sun. Plus, she doesn't want to use her nightmare powers, even if it might win the day. She is a brawler, but she is also smart as well. Going all-out on the opening attack is not what one wants to do. The opening attack might be the decoy or the throwaways of the opposing army. The smart thing to do was to wait to go all-out when the important figures are at the battle, which is EXACTLY what Luna waited for (when the reinforcements came in for the Dratalli).
Although I do see why those points can be made, they can be declared null and void if thought about.
Once this arc is over will the next begin right afterward or will there be a break period in between?