//------------------------------// // XXIV - Megalovania // Story: Pony Fantasy V: Exodus of the Void // by GMBlackjack //------------------------------// Silence rang throughout the Everfree Forest. The very air shifted and contorted with the faint sound of a droning bell. Pinkie and Exdeath’s eyes were locked, and neither moved for the longest of times. Exdeath did as was asked. Wordlessly, he released his hold on Fluttershy and the others. The mares fell to the ground, exhausted, barely conscious. “Well…” Exdeath said, uncertainly evident for the first time in his voice. “This is new.” “You’ve never pushed me to the breaking point before.” Pinkie grunted, twirling the knife in her hoof. “Well then.” Exdeath summoned his spear to his hand. “You think you can take me?” “YEAH!” Ifrit roared, appearing beside her. “FEEL THE HELLFIRE!” “Not today.” Pinkie said, reaching into herself and somehow removing the Summoner’s crystal. Ifrit looked hurt - but vanished instantly. Pinkie tossed the crystal towards her friends. “Today I fight alone.” Exdeath relaxed a little. “I see you’ve gone irrational. This match is predetermined in my favor.” “Yes.” Pinkie said. Then her eyes narrowed. “But you know what? BUCK the rules. I’m going to do what I want, and no amount of impossible event boss is going to stop me!” She began to shake violently. “What does that even mea-“ “THIS.” Pinkie roared in a voice wholly unnatural. She was in front of Exdeath before he could react, the knife growing to the size of a spear and slicing him from all angles at once, piercing right through the magical blue armor. The flurry of blows tore Exdeath into a dozen pieces, the armor falling to the ground in a puff of shadow. Pinkie cackled, a psychotic grin on her face. “HA!” “I know not where you have obtained the newfound power…” Exdeath droned, assembling his armor back together with his mystic shadow. “But I know it is not enough.” He did a backflip, driving his spear right through her body. He quickly discovered that it was a dummy made entirely of dynamite. It exploded in a shower of pink, sending the blue humanoid flying into the air - where Pinkie was somehow waiting with a hammer made from the skulls of the fallen. “Time for some due revenge!” Exdeath noticed that one of the skulls was wearing Maud’s legendary helmet. He found himself mildly pleased by the news that she was dead, though he had little time to comprehend the significance of the helmet before the hammer pounded his head into his body. Exdeath laughed, landing on his feet and his head reforming into its regular shape. “I must applaud you Pinkie, I haven’t had an actual challenge in a while!” Pinkie’s nose pressed against Exdeath’s face, her grin unchanging. “You should be scared.” She rammed her hoof through his armor and threw him through the Everfree Forest, creating an entirely new clearing with her power. Then she was behind him, stabbing him with all the bloody knives his body could hold at any given time, then twisting them. Exdeath yelled in rage, leaping into the air and burning all the knives off with dark fire. “You…” He tried to speak. “NO TALKING!” Pinkie laughed. “TALKING IS RESERVED FOR THINGS WITH SOULS AND PARROTS!” She produced a scythe from nowhere and cut him in half with it. As he was reforming, she grabbed a nearby tree and shoved dropped it on him. He tore through it with a simple fire spell. “You are losing your reason-“ “News flash: I never had it!” She disappeared in a puff of confetti, reappearing in the air covered in strange pink armor. She curled into a ball and steamrolled into him, all the while glowing with pink energy. Then she grabbed                   from the sentence and impaled Exdeath with them. Then she punched him from every direction simultaneously, causing the words to fly out of him and land a bit to the right.                            some words “What in-“ Pinkie wasn’t done yet - she produced a chainsaw that glowed with the blood of millions, hacking Exdeath with it from all angles. “What in indeed my dear Exdeath! Perhaps it’s a CHAINSAW in your CHEST. EVER THINK OF THAT?” Exdeath roared. “ENOUGH!” He stood tall and raised his fingers, trapping Pinkie in the ball of lightning. “You have proven yourself-“ He realized she wasn’t in the lightning prison. “What in bl-“ Exdeath suddenly found himself in a lightning prison, the power going right through his armor. He shouted out in pain, breaking the imprisonment with a simple burst of shadow energy. He raised his hand. “WHERE ARE YOU?” “Here!” She said from atop his hand. “You really should look at what you’re holding more often, you bastard.” She giggled. In a cold rage, he tore her limb right from her body. She turned out to be another dummy, this time stuffed with a strange white substance. “FIRE IN THE HOLE!” Pinkie yelled from several yards away. She pushed down on a lever that ignited the white explosives. Exdeath was surrounded by a cloud of impossible explosives. “HELL YEAH!” Pinkie yelled. She stood proud, her gaze unwaveringly fixed on Exdeath’s position. He stood up shakily from the explosion. “What… What is this?” “This is raw emotion.” Pinkie announced. “This is the power of a friend. A sister. A mother.” She glanced at the terrified form of Fluttershy, her grin softening into a smile. “The power of a mare who has run out of bucks to give about the rules.” “Are you daring to suggest that you could have always done this?” “Of course. If only I disregarded everything I held dear. But you know what? The stupid RULES got Maud killed. The stupid RULES said that Fluttershy wouldn’t get any more time with her mother. The stupid RULES said that there was no way I could fight you and win.” Her psychotic grin returned, her long hair whipping in the breeze. “So perhaps you can understand.” “Not in particular.” Exdeath said. “I understand defying me. I don’t understand holding back when I doomed the previous world. There was much more cause to do this then, Pinkie Pie.” Pinkie laughed. “Evil Cannot Comprehend Good. You, my friend, are a slave the rules.” She shrugged. “Eh, you don’t need to understand me. YOU JUST NEED TO DIE.” She appeared behind him and actually started trying. The very fabric of spacetime warped around her, focusing into a point deep inside Exdeath. A miniature nova went off inside him, spreading his armor far and wide. As it was reassembling, Pinkie stamped her hooves, causing all the trees nearby to alight in a powerful pink fire. Each and every tree focused it’s fire onto Exdeath’s form with a burst of energy. He struggled to move from the onslaught. Pinkie floated into the air, smiling a smile of death. She raised her front hooves above her head, collecting a sphere of pink energy in them that quickly exceeded her own size. “Hey Exdeath! I WANNA SEE YOU SMILE!” The sphere of energy impacted into Exdeath, engulfing the nearby area in a tremendous discharge of energy. Then she produced a legendary sword from the aether and tossed it at Exdeath’s weakened body, the blade going right through his skull. “This… THIS WILL NOT DEFEAT ME!” Exdeath yelled, standing to his full height once more. As he removed the blade from his head he pointed at Pinkie with the other hand. She felt her insides begin to heat up. “Oh my, you’ve targeted me with gigaflare, whatever shall I do?” “NOTHING!” Exdeath said. “None can survive the buildup of heat that tears them apart from the inside!” Pinkie’s mane lit on fire from the heat that expanded from inside her, and her very flesh began to melt off her bones. Her smile remained, even has her entire pink body flowed right off her skeleton. Then the skeleton laughed. “Nice try!” “While that is extremely impressive, it’s not done yet.” “Oh I kn-“ Pinkie’s skeleton itself exploded, sending bone dust everywhere. Exdeath’s illusions of victory were short-lived, for he saw the pink flesh and bone fragments slowly coalescing into a pink blob that formed back into a fully-healthy looking Pinkie Pie. He realized with some aversion that she hadn’t bled at all. “Does reality not apply to you?” He demanded. “NOPE!” She answered, standing on her hind legs. “LOOK AT ME! I’M A FREAK OF NATURE! WALKING ON MY HIND LEGS-“ Then one of her legs began to distort into a pixelated mess, causing her to fall to the ground. Exdeath cocked his head. “What’s the matter? Burning out?” Pinkie’s body began to contort into impossible shapes, her form not seeming to match up with reality anymore. Exdeath also noted that a few of the nearby trees seemed to be having the same problem - looking like they were far too smooth, rough, or angled in an impossible shape. “…Ahahahahahhahahah! I see now! You don’t break your rules because your power is unstable!” “Damnit.” Pinkie muttered, trying to stand on her glitching legs. “I… I’m not going to make it out of this…” She began to tremble in anger, her form slowly reasserting itself. Her psychotic grin vanished, to be replaced with a scowl deeper than any scowl had a right to be. The area around her lit on fire. Exdeath, for the first time in his existence, felt true fear. Pinkie grabbed him by the neck and shoved him through a layer of reality. “LET’S TAKE YOU ON A TRIP SHALL WE?” They appeared on the first world, by the kingdom of Uniforge. They saw the City of Man almost completely rebuilt, towering above the landscape with its awe-inspiring glory. “How have you-“ “AGAIN!” Pinkie rammed him through the wall of reality once more, appearing in a burned down forest where another Exdeath was fighting an old man who just wouldn’t die. Exdeath was frozen. “What-“ “AGAIN!” Pinkie yelled, throwing him through the wall once more. They appeared in a world where the grass was green, ponies walked around in a small village, and a crystalline blue castle was seen overlooking the town. Pinkie rammed Exdeath right into that castle. Exdeath roared. “HOW HAVE YOU ACCESSED THE VOID!?” “I ALWAYS HAD ACCESS!” She yelled, ramming him through the wall once more. “I ALWAYS HAD ACCESS TO EVERYTHING! SURELY YOU NOTICED THAT I KEEP PULLING ITEMS FROM NOWHERE?!” Exdeath realized they were floating in space. “How have you done this? Tell me!” “Silly Bastard!” Pinkie shouted. “IT IS MORE THAN THE VOID. IT IS MORE THAN YOU COULD EVER UNDERSTAND.” She drove him through the wall again, this time appearing in the street of a suburb. Through a window, they could see a man typing away at a computer. “What?” “You have seen the great answer Exdeath!” Pinkie drove him through the wall again. “Now spend the rest of your miserable existence trying to figure out what the hell it meant!” Then she grabbed him. “TIME TO DIE.” She appeared next to a volcano and dropped him in. She appeared next to a star and threw him in. She appeared in a particle collider and let him have it. She appeared in a space warp and tor him to shreds. She devoured him at one point. Exdeath stood on the white plane of nothingness. “What… What is happening?” “I am.” Pinkie said. “I should have been dead by now…” Exdeath started. “I should have been dead by now! HA! AHAHAHAHAHAHHAH!” Pinkie backed up. “…What? What?” “YOUR RULES STILL CONTROL YOU!” He stood up. “You can’t just simply kill me can you?” They appeared back in the Everfree Forest. Pinkie’s eye twitched. “Can’t just kill you? Of course I can!” She raised her hoof. Exdeath held his arms to wide. “Go for it!” She touched him. He ceased to exist. Pinkie laughed. “HA! TAKE THAT UNIVERSE! TAKE… TAKE…” She looked at her hooves. They were slowly fading away. “Oh no….” “Pinkie!” Everypony yelled, running for her despite their weakness. Rarity tried to heal her and Fluttershy embraced her in a hug. Pinkie drooped. “It’s… It’s no use. I’m fading. I’m going to go away…” Twilight bit her lip, looking at the now halfway transparent Pinkie. She couldn’t think of a way to reverse whatever this was - she hadn’t even the foggiest idea what was even going on. “I… You did it Pinkie. You won.” “I did…” Pinkie said. “But as soon as I’m gone he’ll be back. I’m the only thing keeping him from existing.” She began to cry. “I… I couldn’t do it.” “Don’t you say things like that.” Fluttershy said. “You saved me. You helped me as much as you could. You… You let me be with you.” Pinkie tried to smile, but her hair didn’t poof. “I… Thank you Fluttershy.” She began to cry. “I… I’m sorry I couldn’t save myself!” “Sh….” Fluttershy said. “It’s okay…” “Take the summons.” Pinkie said, sniffing. “They’re yours now. You’ll take good care of them.” Fluttershy’s eyes widened a bit at the responsibility, but she nodded. Pinkie shook rapidly. “Everypony! Fight Exdeath until your dying breath! Do not let him destroy everything we’ve sacrificed so much for! There is still hope - he has not completed his plan! Destroy him!” She locked Twilight in the eyes. “You. Become the leader you need to be.” “ME?!” “Yes. You.” Pinkie trembled. “Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Rarity… Never let go of your family. Ever. For any reason.” She was almost completely gone. As she vanished, she cracked one last smile. “Looks like you girls have a gift for you.” In Pinkie’s last moments, she saw a light appear where the Life Crystal had been moments before. It shimmered, and then rushed into Fluttershy. “SPIRIT OF LIFE: KINDNESS!” Pinkie yelled. They were her last words. She was gone.