Memories of the Stone

by WanderingPony

Chapter 15: Elements of Judgement

Twilight Sparkle knew only two things- first, Cadence and Shining Armor had saved the day, second, that they were plunging to the ground before she could do a thing to stop it. A frantic half-blind teleport had gotten her close enough to throw a bubbly wave of magic as the the two suddenly dove off the edge of the now-broken balcony,and she had heard them crash into the general area where she'd thrown it. Dim starlight and the glow off her horn were the only light, Celestia's sun having found it's way below the lip of the stadium. She stood atop the rubble pile, sweeping a cone of magelight across the spot where she estimated the trajectory of her fall. Given the angle of deflection and taking into account her brother's reduction in velocity from....from...

Her heart briefly skipped a beat as the glow found three bodies on the ground- black, white, pink. Liberal spatters of blood shone wet on the gravel the three were lying on, but Cadence and Shining were at least breathing well. A moment to get the distance, and...

A clawed fist punched through the sheet of stone she had balanced on like a winged goat and wrapped itself around her barrel. Suspended in midair, Twilight squeaked as the claw began to close, squeezing the air out of her lungs with stunning force...only to have the grip relax as the digits loosened and fell away. Burned away. As her hooves found themselves on solid ground, she followed a warm red glow...

Rainbow Dash was already moving as Twilight Sparkle teleported, but even the fastest flier in Equestria has can't warp space-time for instant motion. She easily managed to make it to Twilight as she lit her horn, and was a barely a wing-stretch away as the Kindred lifted the little alicorn off her feet. Bringing her hoof up in a Neighponese-style flying punch, she smacked her hoof into the thing's wrist.

Time slowed. The ruby lightning bolt on her Element ignited, and the hoof carved through un-natural flesh and bone without visible effort. Surprised by the lack of resistance, Rainbow Dash crashed and tumbled head-over-tail down the other side of the rubble hill, leaving blackened scorch marks as she rolled. The red sparks left behind from her strike became all-consuming flames, stripping the claw to blackened sticks of bone, then crumbling even them to ashes in it's hungry search for fuel. Untouched, Twilight Sparkle flopped onto the slab to catch her breath.

"Whoooooooa. That was some AWESOME KUNG FOAL. Like, triple-double black belt awesom-"

The Element of Loyalty began to spark and crackle like a raging forest fire. Cerisan eyes began to dance with an inner flame, and an angry switch of her tail scorched a line in the dirt.

"-e TO PURGE THE LAND OF IT'S SINS WITH THE RIGHTEOUS FLAMES OF JUDGEMENT!", her voice cracking mid-sentence and developing a severe case of Canterlot Royal Volume. Effortlessly flipping herself back in the air with a single hoof, she hovered in mid-air, fulminating in place.

Still rediscovering the joys of oxygen, Twilight's ears flattened from the deafening roar that smacked her square in the face. Eyes watering from the spike of painful sound, she shook her head to clear the last echoes of "JUDGEMENT....JUDGEMENT..." out. How did she manage to do that seconds after closing her mouth, anyway?

A green glow briefly drowned out the crimson radiance from Rainbow Dash, then did it again a second later. All other thoughts vanished as a burst of adrenaline surged through her mind, turning her head to see...

Sombra, standing renewed and all too lively over a greying stallion and a white-muzzled alicorn with streaks of faded color in her pinkish mane. Ebon shards dotted both of their coats. Dancing over the unicorn's head was a discarded spear, glowing crimson as Sombra set it to jabbing and striking at the empty air.

"YOU KNOW, THE ONLY THING SWEETER THAN CONSUMING ALL THAT STRENGTH FROM YOUR FINE, FINE STALLION OF A BROTHER? MAKING THIS ALICORN BITCH WATCH ME TAKE TWENTY YEARS OF HIS LIFE TO SERVE HIS BETTER, THEN LETTING HIM WATCH ME DO THE SAME TO HER."

The spear flashed arrow-straight at Twilight's heart...and she found herself falling to one side as a tremendous impact rattled every bone in her body. All she could see was....orange?

The spear drove on to carve a bloody furrow as it was intercepted by the Element of Honesty- head-first. Barely missing Applejack's eye, the spearhead skipped along her skull and notched an ear to leave the orange cowpony reeling and half-blinded from Sombra's missile.

"I HAVEN'T SUPPED ON THE SOULS OF PONIES IN A THOUSAND YEARS, TWILIGHT SPARKLE. PERHAPS I CAN BREAK YOU AND YOUR FEEBLE FRIENDS, THEN SEE HOW MANY TIDBITS I CAN TEAR OUT OF AN ALICORN BEFORE IT KILLS THEM. IF I OVERDO IT ON ONE, IT WAS SO KIND FOR YOU TO MAKE YOURSELF INTO A SPARE..."

The alicorn scrabbled into retreat, scooting backwards and beginning to hyperventilate as old habits took hold- spinning her mind between panic, nausea, and anger. Rarity, meanwhile had rushed to Applejack's side as she stoically shook a stream of blood out of her eyes and caught her breath. A few drops touched the citrine apple on her Element and vanished without a trace.

The Element lit on it's own accord, faint sparkles of rainbow glitter drifting to the ground.

"Oh, MY GOODNESS! Applejack, he STABBED YOU IN THE FACE!" -Rarity gasped and dabbed a lacy handkerchief against the cut, patting away blood to examine the wound.

Applejack's split-to-the-bone skin flowed like warm orange mud, covered the gouge, and sprouted a line of fuzzy new fur.

"It hain't bad.....bad....ain't....THOSE WHO SPILL INNOCENT BLOOD SHALL FEEL MY PURIFYING WRATH."

Rarity then realized that Applejack had managed to add on a foot of growth while she'd been staring at her face putting itself back together. Lips curled back to show shining white teeth, a stallion-sized Applejack snorted and looked about with a haughty glare.

"Applejack, dear....sweetie....you're....a little scary...."

"ELEMENT PARTIALLY ACTIVE, ADDITIONAL IMPURITIES DETECTED. CLEANSE."

"Why...what...I AM a mite dusty but that's nothing an afternoon at the spa together won't neaten up..."

Applejack reared above Rarity, hooves extended. Covering her head and horn, she managed to scream briefly before the twin hammers struck down with a warrior's bellow of rage.

The Kindred that had been crawling up to Rarity's tail jerked as they bludgeoned the demon about the shoulders, cracks bleeding a white light before the creature became a supine statue any cockatrice would have been proud to call it's best work. Rarity scrabbled as the frozen body fell forward onto outstretched claws...

A second swing of the hammers sent rocky splinters that only had a passing resemblance to a body in all directions.

The *CRACK* of Applejack's hooves against stone snapped Twilight Sparkle out of the daze Sombra's assaults had provoked. She looked over to see her friend looming at the edge of her horn's light, the Element of Honesty glowing as she stomped something with all the intensity of crushing a rattlesnake. No sign of any wounds...Sombra's aim must have been off!

She sighed with relief and hopped back a few inches as the stony pile began to shift, arms and winged backs shaking off the dead weight holding them down and returning to their purpose...killing six little ponies.

The image of what lay on the other side of that came back to the fore. Her brother. Cadence. Sombra.

Ponies were laying there hurt or worse, she HAD to get past these things and save them!

Red flashes of heat and flame licked up from the far side of the reanimating pack of demons, a glimpse of a rainbow-colored tail flickering before it vanished into the crowd. An ahriman soared into the air with it's wings alight, then burst asunder in midair as a prismatic meteor tore through it, turned on it's tail, and plunged back to earth in an explosive report.

"WHATEVER KNOWS FEAR SHALL BURN AT THE TOUCH OF RAINBOW DASH."

And what on Equestria was up with Rainbow Dash and that "Enter the Dracoequus" routine?

The broken tip of an obsidian sword missed Twilight's nose by a hair as she backwinged away from an arm that reached out from the shadows, the dark shapes dancing in the light of Rainbow Dash's flight. Her rump found itself colliding with Rarity's, who was backing away from a wicked curved blade as it whistled back and forth.

A Kindred launched itself over their heads, the scythe menacing Rarity flying. Stiffening into immobility, the already dead body dusted the floor as it burst from the inside out. Applejack's massive hindlegs vanished out of sight, but the sounds of a jackhammer pounding pavement made it easy to track the orange giant.

"THE TREE THAT BEARS CURSED FRUITS SHALL BE TORN FROM THE EARTH AND CAST UPON THE BARREN STONES."

And when did Applejack start quoting the Malleus Mareficarum?

Though the two were busily smiting demons left and right, they paid no attention to each other or anything else- and seeking less lethal prey, more and more of Sombra's army went looking elsewhere. Sniffing about, a tauri detected the scent of....

...frosting. It growled loudly and pounced....

...the world turned yellow and sugary.

Pinkie Pie gleefully bucked another pie from the impossibly large depths of her saddlebag and with a flick of her tail, sent it spinning into the tauri's open jaws. It choked and gargled lemon meringue mixed with saliva, leapt blindly at a giggle, and buried it's face in a wall. Stars orbited about the hole.

Ooh, Applejack was huuuuuuge. She always said too many cupcakes would do that, but Pinkie had eaten at least twenty today and hadn't grown an inch. Maybe another half dozen later? The way all the nasty boojums were coming, they must think Sugarcube Corner had the best baked goods in all of Equestria!

Snapping a hoof, three chocolate cupcakes spun like shuriken and gave another tauri a unibrow as they smooshed into it's forehead. Not that tauri had eyebrows, but maaaaybe if you used a lot of makeup...she popped straight up into the air and landed on the demon's back as it tried to trample her under it's cloven hooves.

"Misssster demon, would ya like another cupcake?", she cheerfully blurted into the thing's ear.

Maybe they liked vanilla better...ooh, was that a bit on the ground? Pinkie hopped off her ride as it stabbed it's tail down to smack into the back of it's own head. The massive fiend tipped up, flipped over, then landed with a crushing thump on it's back. Woozily, it licked at the confectionary smears and gave up on the entire idea of fighting the tiny pink thing or anything else for oh...the next year or so.

'Yep, like-new-condition copper bit from the Fillydelphia Mint!", thought Pinkie as she licked the edge of the bit (mmm, coppery) and lolled her tongue outwards to spill it into the depths of her bags.

The senseless tauri's tail whumped limply against Pinkie's chest, barely causing so much as a scratch.

Sadly for the beast, the scratch was right across the balloon-shaped sapphire hanging around Pinkie's neck. It glittered angrily at the touch of the demon, then flashed once like an opening eye. Swirls like a crashing wave roiled the blue of Pinkie's eyes and her pupils dilated, then she trotted over to look the monster right in it's glazed (and battered, and creme-filled) eyes.

"Hey, mister deeeemon? You popped my balloon!"

"CAN I CLEANSE YOUR FACE?"

Confused, upside down and addled, the demon nodded.

"OKIE DOKEY! SMILE!". Producing a red carnation, she fixed it jauntily on her saddlebag and pointed it at the tauri's face.

Clear liquid gushed from the flower and rinsed the fragments of cupcake away....and then a blast of fire-hose pressure water forced it's way down the thing's throat, causing it to swell alarmingly in seconds. With a maniacal grin, she gave the flower a half-twist as the impossible flow of water actually increased, flooding the fiend's lungs until they burst from the pressure. The beast found it's gurgling doom, drowning in the deluge Pinkie Pie had seemingly summoned from nowhere.

The irrational Happy Fun Light in Pinkie's eyes vanished, replaced by a glow that resembled the last glimmers of the sun, shining through a tidal wave...before it dragged you under to die. Wielding her flower like a watery riot cannon, Pinkie Pie began to hunt, flowing from shadow to shadow to lay low demons in a spray of water before leaping on their chests and liquefying the unholy things from the inside out.

The laughter that echoed from the puddle-jumper held not a single mote of fun, though it certainly seemed to be quite joyful every time something stopped breathing. If you could have taught a shark to laugh, it'd probably have sounded like Pinkie in the dark...

Comments

[that1dude]

Drowning demons? Pinkie is hardcore.

[Rakaziel]

*Bearer Wounded* *Emergerncy Override Activated* *Time To Put The Harm In Harmony*

I really like your series! Very well thought out, epically wirtten, and really good.