With a heavy sigh, Celestia charged her horn and blasted the wooden scarecrow creatures barreling down on her. All four of the rickety, animated figurines were promptly sent flying, crashing several dozen feet away in a lifeless heap.
“Truly, is every living thing in this land inclined to attack on sight?” The solar princess sighed as more souls leaped from the destroyed enemies and infused into her body. She stretched and cracked her neck, grateful for the infusion of fresh energy. If nothing else, it seemed she wouldn’t have to worry about exhausting herself from the constant battles.
“If they weren’t, then our presence here would not have been needed. We know not what drives them to violence, be it to enslave us to the undead curse, to protect their territory, or perhaps because some higher power, Manus or otherwise, orders them to. The Great Lord commanded only that we try to stop things from getting worse.” Ciaran sighed as she followed behind. The ground rumbled as a great giant, attired in, or possibly made from, carved stone armor rose and slowly approached, wielding an even more enormous axe. Celestia gave it a disarming smile, silently asking it to please just let them pass. She then sighed again as it duly ignored her and proceeded to raise its axe for attack.
“Then please accept my utmost sympathies and condolences.” The sun princess quietly replied while throwing up a barrier. The giant’s slow overhead swing bounced harmlessly off the magical shield, and Celestia gave it another reason to step aside by blasting it like she had the scarecrows.
To her rising concern, this didn’t have as much of an effect as before. The giant took the blast, shook it off, then made to smash its axe into the alicorn again. Celestia spread her wings and took to the air, hitting her opponent a second time with magic and grimacing how it’s solid stone body remained resolutely unaffected. Ciaran made to intervene, but the sun princess held up a hoof.
“Wait, if magic isn’t going to work let’s try something a little more rudimentary.”
The giant turned and slowly swung its axe to swat the bothersome equine out of the sky. Celestia ducked under the weapon, landing on the ground and taking a deep breath. As the giant hit nothing but air, she kissed the golden metal shoes on each of her front hooves, then subjected her enemy to a rather brutal one/two punch.
Despite being safely behind the alicorn, Ciaran still winced along with the giant, the latter stumbling back as cracks spread out from the area where it had taken the blows of Celestia’s hooves.
“I may look like a typical fragile monarch, and my mannerisms may suggest that I’m at the worst a bit kooky and mostly a pacifist.” The white alicorn sighed as the stone guardian regained its balance, looked down at the chunks falling off its body, then went on the offensive again.
“But I neither got nor kept my position as the ruler of Equestria for thousands of years just by playing nice. If you’re going to throw the chips down and expect me to fold…”
Celestia cast a different spell, snagging the guardian’s axe in her magic as it fell towards her. The stone giant paused in confusion, then almost fell over as its weapon was violently wrenched forward. A short tug of war ensued between the two combatants, until Celestia spied an opening to turn around and introduce her back hooves to the giant.
“You’re going to be sorely disappointed.” She said while tearing the axe out of the crumbling guardian’s hand. It moved to reclaim it, but she simply hefted the heavy weapon with her magic and swung it at its previous owner, reducing its head into tiny chunks of gravel with the blow.
Ciaran stared wordlessly as another resident of Oolacile literally fell to pieces under Celestia’s honed combat prowess and tactful use of all four of her legs. The alicorn blew some dust off her shoes and snorted in lament as she stowed the axe on her back.
“Again, I apologise for the brutality, your ladyship. Even if I have no choice, that was unbecoming behavior.” Celestia said with a bow.
Ciaran turned in amazement at the humble gesture.
“You fight as any warrior of this land should, pragmatically and without hesitance, and yet still show remorse for your fallen foe afterwards?” She asked aghast.
Celestia reacted with puzzlement.
“I kill only when I have to. If I must do so to every creature we come across then so be it, but that doesn’t mean I feel good about it.” The alicorn replied. “I prefer the more standard approach of disarming a situation with humor, then negotiating an agreement over cake and tea.”
Ciaran cocked her head, her eyes alternately widening and narrowing behind her mask as if finding Celestia’s logic was too alien for her to comprehend.
“What land is this you come from, where one need not live by the mantra of ‘kill or be killed’?” The assassin asked as she gestured for Celestia to follow her down through the woods.
“A place far different from yours, in both good and bad ways.” Celestia sighed as more scarecrows emerged from the trees ahead, followed by more stone guardians. “Good in that I don’t have to deal with all this strife just while taking a leisurely stroll…”
Ciaran drew her bow and helped the princess take out their enemies.
“Yet bad, because… well, if our fight with Manus was any indication, we are far too used to peace and happiness to be prepared for more dangers of this caliber.” Celestia dipped her head. “We barely managed to hold our own against Tirek.”
Arrows and magical bolts were hurled relentlessly as the wooden and stone enemies, reducing them to splinters and piles of rubble respectively. Souls erupted en masse from the charred corpses and infused Celestia and Ciaran with fresh energy.
“Yet you DID hold your own?” The masked assassin asked. Celestia flexed and cracked her neck, feeling glad for the souls rejuvenating effects yet also rather guilty that she’d had to shed more blood to obtain them.
“Well, some of us did. I and my fellow princesses had to make a lot of sacrifices, and it very nearly ended up costing us everything.” The alicorn sighed before straightening herself up again. “But yes, we managed to defeat Tirek...thanks in part to one very significant and special pony of mine.”
Ciaran cocked her head at the solar princess’ inflections and wording, her hands clenching as she recognised both as being far too similar to how she herself would speak of a similarly important soul.
“And this… special pony… where is she now?” The assassin asked. Celestia looked longingly around the forest.
“Somewhere around here, aiding Seath and Aurelia in trying to make some good of the situation.” The white alicorn sighed.
Ciaran clenched her fists tighter and nodded to the great rise of the coliseum in the distance.
“Then we must make haste. There’s something else you’ll need.”
Ciaran broke into a run, weaving through the trees to where a stone bridge lead to the entrance of the grand stone structure. Celestia galloped behind her, keeping pace with the assassin’s nimble stride as the two entered the coliseum. Despite the other terrors stalking the land around it, the scene inside remained untouched. All the black ichor, the blood stains, and the other signs of the Chosen Undead’s vicious fight with Artorias were still present, ready to instill a fresh sense of despair to all who laid eyes upon them.
“Make use of the bonfire, if you need to. It’s presence might be yet another affront to our Great Lord, but so long as it’s here…” Ciaran stoically commented as she slowed upon approaching the blazing flames in the center of the arena. Celestia noted the heat seemed to instill a sense of peace in herself, but for Ciaran, it just made her look more pained.
With a resigned sigh, the masked warrior walked past the bonfire to where a small headstone had been erected, graced by a single white flower and a blazing ball of black flames. Ciaran dropped to her knees, bowing her head and clasping her hands together in a prayer of some manner. Whom she prayed for, Celestia could only guess, but given how strained her voice sounded as she whispered words of forgiveness and remorse, and how her body trembled as if trying to maintain its composure under some great sadness, the alicorn gathered it was someone dear to her.
Celestia closed her eyes and tried not to think of what might be if her worst fears for Twilight came true… if she was to find herself in a similar position, having to mourn the loss of her fellow alicorn...
Her dearly appreciated and treasured fellow alicorn…
“While I don’t wish to interrupt, if this is indeed a monument to someone you’ve lost, would offering my own condolences help at all?” Celestia asked as Ciaran finished her prayer.
“What’s done is done. While I am pained by the loss, it is better this way than how it was before.” The warrior reached forward to scoop up the black soul. “Here is where the Knight Artorias met his end, having been corrupted by the Abyss, and made to do its bidding. His final charge was perhaps the cruelest form of torture: to stop Aurelia, his own student, from ever leaving this place. That he failed, and was at last released from the Abyss by Aurelia’s hand is perhaps a testament to how well he, we, trained her… and perhaps also a form of bitter mercy from the gods.”
Ciaran rose, turning to Celestia. “Aurelia gave me this, so that I could pay respect to his memory. Whether I deserve so kind a gesture is another matter, but now I see there is a better way to accomplish the aforementioned.”
Ciaran held out the soul to the alicorn.
“If you seek to be reunited with Aurelia, then return this to her. She’ll know what to do with it. She needs it more than I do now, if Lordran’s horrors are spilling into other times and other realms.”
Celestia looked at the soul, then to Ciaran. The gears in her head slowly turned towards realization, and the gravity of the assassin’s request became terribly clear.
“And what if I refuse? Not to spite you, but because I intend for you to give it to her?” Celestia queried. “If you are who I now think you are, meaning this Artorias was thus both who you say and who I think, then I would be remiss in leaving you here simply to perish.”
Ciaran stared aghast at the alicorn.
“I have failed our Great Lord Gwyn, failed Artorias, failed my own charge...how...how can you say such things?” She demanded.
Celestia lowered her head, fixing her gaze through the eyeholes of the assassin’s clean white mask.
“And you think I have not likewise faltered? This special somepony of mine is one I too have let down and failed, more than once at that. Doesn’t mean I have to thus sacrifice my life as a means of atonement.” The alicorn declared.
Ciaran clutched the soul of Artorias closer to her bosom, willing its heat to stoke her own resolution.
“Aurelia… has her own misgivings about me. Rightfully so at that! She… I… it’s better that I not step in and risk making her existence more of a mess than it already is!” She argued.
Now Celestia looked at her with a very sharp edge of disappointment.
“Aurelia said that in order to not fall to the Darksign curse, one has to remain motivated, to have a cause to keep going. Originally, her cause was to link the flames, and hope doing so would fix everything. But now she knows that to be a lie. What do you think will happen to her now? What is there to keep her from going hollow?” The alicorn asked.
Ciaran’s breathing grew labored as that pristine pony face inched closer. Despite maintaining her relatively calm air, Celestia’s voice and eyes were brimming with disdain, a confirmation that yes, there was a very powerful, and now rightfully angered soul burning beneath the simple white visage.
“What do you think would honestly keep motivating a soul the most? The simple need to survive? Or the knowledge that those they cherish still wish to make amends? To apologize for their wrongdoings and try to rebuild their relationship?” Celestia intoned, narrowing her gaze as Ciaran let out a strangled exhale.
“And so yet again my oath to the Great Lord falters under my own primordial needs.” She said bitterly while glaring at the solar princess. “You truly want me to abandon my duty here? To flee, and let the Abyss consume this place?”
Celestia shook her head.
“No, if Manus is here then we indeed need to stop him first. Assuming we can do that though… yes, you’re coming with me and sealing this breach that exists between you and Aurelia. It’s my duty, as princess and diarch of Equestria, to see that souls aren’t separated when they need each other the most.” She replied.
With a defeated sigh, Ciaran stored the soul of Artorias in her own pack.
“Were it not a blasphemy, I would almost decree you wiser than Gwyn to uphold such moral.” The assassin said.
Celestia smiled.
“Like I said, this isn’t my first rodeo. I’ve been down this path before, and know what does and does not work, though I thank you for humoring my insistence.” The alicorn took a more worrisome inhale and put her helmet back on. “Now let’s do what we came here to do, then take our leave of this dreadful place!”
***
“Hmm, looks like this last one is in pretty deep. Going to have to dig around in your flesh a bit to get it out.” Discord commented as he surveyed the extent of the pegasus’ arrow wounds.
Despite her teary eyes, and sweat matted mane, Fluttershy nodded in acceptance.
“Would you like something to bite down on?”
The pegasus sniffed and nodded again. Discord snapped his tail and a long sheet of some expensive looking cloth appeared in the air before him. He made a circular motion with his finger and it rolled itself up into a tightly wound bundle.
“No doubt Rarity would have some words to say about gnawing on Saddle Arabian silk, but if you’re going to endure the pain I don’t see why I can’t at least try to make you comfortable.” He replied while handing the bundle to his patient. Fluttershy blushed.
“I’ve… I’ve had to perform similar surgery on manticores who fell into thorn bushes, wolves who have the broken antlers of deer stuck in their hides, and even an eagle who somehow collided with a tree in a way that stabbed one of the branches through its wing. They… ngh… they bore the pain as I healed them… grgh… I can do the same…” She swore.
Discord arched one of his eyebrows and gently pushed on the protruding arrow shaft. Fluttershy’s eyes promptly flooded with fresh tears as she fought back a scream of agony.
“You sure about that? Come now, Fluttershy, there’s a time and a place for going against your nature…” Discord pulled out a pocket watch. “And it was roughly two hours ago when you looked ready to gut Gwyndolin like a fish because he gave me a split personality.”
The chaos god looked at his patient in what seemed to be genuine shock.
“I have to wonder, if I hadn’t said anything, would you actually have ended that gender confused squid boy’s life?”
Fluttershy blinked, then dipped her head forward, trying to hide her face with her mane.
“Yes, well, you don’t have to answer if it’s not something you want to talk about.” He said, offering the bundle of silk again. Fluttershy sheepishly took it in her mouth and chewed hard on its soft texture as Discord dug out the last arrow.
“Ngggghhhhmmmmmmfff!” The pegasus cried as there came the expected sting of ointment being applied to her wound, then the painful tug of Discord suturing it closed.
“Nearly finished, just bear with me.” The chaos god soothed as he guided the needle and thread to efficiently sew the mare’s flesh back together. “And there we go!”
Scissors raised themselves to snip the thread, and the chaos god pointed to a bandage, which promptly unrolled itself and dressed the injury. Fluttershy spat out the bundle and raggedly gasped for air.
“Right, I think we both need a little something after that.” Discord snapped his tail again and a pot of tea with two cups and condiments appeared on the floor. “Two spoonfuls of honey as usual?”
Fluttershy nodded weakly and wiped her eyes as Discord prepared her cup.
“Th-Thank you. I’m… I’m sorry.” She meeped. The chaos god gave her another arched eyebrow.
“For what? Really, Fluttershy, what do you have to apologise for?” He asked while handing her the cup. Fluttershy did the head bow again as she accepted it.
“I… you’re right, I acted out of character back there.” The pegasus sniffled. “It’s just… after seeing you hurt… you’re right… I wanted to… to...”
She blinked fresh tears, making them spill down her cheeks.
“Then after I heard what he did to his sister… to Priscilla’s mother… Faust… I know I shouldn’t, but I want him to suffer so badly…” She whispered.
Discord cocked his head in confusion.
“And… how is that a bad thing? Guy was messed up, and doing no good trying to lord over this place as its sole god and ruler.” Discord cleared his throat. “And yes, I’m well aware one could draw parallels with my own rule over Equestria, so let’s not go any further on that.”
Fluttershy shook her head.
“No, no! That’s not… I’m not… a good pony isn’t supposed to think those things!” She cried.
Discord tsked and reached over to comb some of the pegasus’ mane from her face.
“Flutters, let me ask you something: what do you think makes a good pony?”
Fluttershy gave him a confused look.
“Think about it. You bear the Element of Kindness after all, what does that tell you about what defines a ‘good’ pony, or a good soul in general for that matter?” Discord pressed.
Fluttershy brushed some more of her mane from her face, her breath slowing as she contemplated.
“Well… a good pony is supposed to always seek the good in others, to look beyond their shortcomings and see the light amid the dark.” She replied. Discord nodded.
“Well, Gwyndolin proved he had none of that left, so you can’t be faulted for failing on that score.” He replied. Fluttershy winced and held her face in her hooves.
“And… and a good pony should always treat everyone they meet with politeness and kindness.” She followed.
“You did that too… or, tried to, at least. Again, the fact it wasn’t returned is squarely down to the other party’s fault, not yours.” Discord said with a huff. “What about aiding your friends when they need help? Standing up to defend them when others seek to harm them? Not submitting to the whims of others, and staying true to your beliefs? Doesn’t any of that fit the definition of a good pony?”
Fluttershy’s hooves fell back to the floor around her cup, allowing her to turn and stare in bewilderment at Discord.
“What about admitting you’re wrong and then trying to make up for it? Accepting your mistakes and learning from them? Forgiving others for their mistakes?” The chaos god continued. Fluttershy’s ears wilted again along with her muzzle.
“I… I’m sorry, but I don’t understand what you’re getting at, Discord.” She said. Rolling his eyes, Discord wrapped his serpentine body around the pegasus and picked up his tea.
“What I’m getting at is that those are all good qualities, and you’re the only one who’s exhibited every one of them. Even Twilight’s fallen short on many counts… as has her mentors, both of them, Seath and Princess ‘Perfect’ Sunbutt.” The chaos god scoffed and sipped his tea. “Even if I wasn’t actually hurt, how many other souls do you think have ever leaped to my defense like you did when Gwyndolin attacked me? Hmm?”
Fluttershy thought for a moment, and came up blank.
“How many would’ve been able to look Sif straight in the eyes after she butchered Trixie, and still try to save her, rather than carve her up like meat loaf?” Discord continued.
Again, the pegasus had no answer.
“If you don’t mind me pressing on a more sensitive topic for a moment, if Gwyndolin had still been there when Priscilla revealed what he did… would you have let that stand? Knowing he deprived a soul of ever knowing their mother?” Discord narrowed his eyes. “Almost like Scootaloo?”
Fluttershy’s despair was suddenly burned away by a pang of fierce wrath.
“What is that supposed to mean!? I… I went back for her! I gave her a home!” The pegasus shouted, shooting to her hooves and staring in rage at the draconequus. Rather than be offended, Discord smiled mysteriously.
“Yes, yes you did, which means you’ve proven yourself to be a better soul than even a god.” He soothed while snapping his tail. Priscilla’s dagger suddenly appeared in the air before Fluttershy’s face. “Though if that touched too raw a nerve, feel free to punish me for it. Truth be told, I like the way your eyes sparkle with fire whenever you get angry. It adds to your prettiness.”
Fluttershy glowered and pushed the dagger aside.
“The point is, you’ve forgiven folk whom, some would say, deserve no forgiveness, accepted when you slipped up, and made every last effort to amend things when you could. Heck, you went so far as to humor my plea for you to never use you element against me, and only turned to violence when your friends were in danger, you feared for my wellbeing, and clearly nothing else was going to work. Please tell me, how can you still believe you’re NOT a good pony with all that in mind?” Discord asked with a knowing flash of his teeth. Fluttershy blinked, and the anger began to recede from her features as she sat back down on her haunches.
“Well… I just… I mean…” Fluttershy’s more worrisome nature began to exert itself again. “He killed Applejack… I thought he killed you… I wanted revenge, but…”
She looked at the gleaming dagger again, feeling both drawn in and repulsed by the shine of its blade.
“Everyone else seems to have adapted to having to kill in order to survive here, so I should do the same… but… I’m… I’m a healer. A caretaker. A mother! I’m not supposed to end life!” She cried.
Discord nodded softly, then leaned in to kiss her on the lips.
“Nor should you, unless there literally is no other choice. That just further confirms you are indeed perhaps the most good out of us all… even if I have you beat for spontaneity and random acts of affection.” Discord snickered as Fluttershy touched her lips. “Oh don’t look so surprised, Flutters. With all you’ve done you deserve that much at least! Perhaps more if you’re open to talking about… well maybe you and I…”
From outside the medical wing there came a sinister hiss, followed by the sound of blades being dragged against the ground towards the door.
“Feh, but of course, the riff raff of this place has to return right when we’re trying to actually have a moment.” Discord stood up and snapped his tail. An electrified fence flashed into existence around Fluttershy. “Rest up and enjoy your tea, my sweet. I’ll be back after I teach the housekeeping about respecting when there’s a ‘Do Not Disturb’ sign on the door.”
Discord vanished from the room. Soon after there came a less sinister sounding hiss, followed by grunts of pain as the hollow and mutant residents of the archives were subjected to the latest in Discord’s creative range of torturous devices. Fluttershy looked down at her steaming cup, feeling a hot blush rush across her face as her lips still tingled from the completely random, yet strangely sincere smooch.
***
“Rarity, not that I’m complaining about your skills with your hooves…” Spike trembled as the unicorn worked another layer of lather into his scalp. “But I’m pretty sure my head scales can’t get any cleaner than they already are.”
Rarity paused then brushed aside some of the highly piled suds, viewing the sheen of the deep purple and emerald green underneath.
“Yes, well, one can never be too thorough. Especially not with all the ash and charring you had on your clothes and your body.” The unicorn said with a notably worried tone. “Truly Spike, whatever happened to you after we parted ways?”
Spike turned as another maneater clam scuttled out from the other side of the pool. It turned as if to register the other bathing occupants, then just walked away as if deeming them unworthy of its attention. Spike offered it a silent thanks for the backhanded gesture.
“Lots, and lots, and LOTS of fighting. Gwyndolin’s blue meanies did everything they could to stop us from reaching the guy. I did what I could to help us get through the horde, but it wasn’t easy.” He said. Rarity levitated his jacket and stretched it out to reveal the scorched, blackened front.
“And this?” She asked tentatively. Spike blushed.
“Priscilla had a plan when Gwyndolin proved too tough for us… it just needed a distraction, so… well, someone had to throw themselves into his line of fire.” He said, then promptly shied away as Rarity looked at him with an expression of both shock, and disbelief. “Hey, if I can bathe in molten lava without harm, I figured I could take a few magical blasts. It allowed Fluttershy to get close enough to strike, so it was worth the pain… mostly.”
Rarity’s features fell.
“Just like in the Painted World where I thought you’d actually let those dreadful hollow butcher you if I didn’t do my part to keep you safe…” The unicorn took a deep breath. “Spike… back when I left for Firelink Shrine… how much of what I said do you remember?”
Spike thought for a moment, and the redness slowly spread across his entire face.
“Uh, well… you said I was a noble and fearless soul, asked me to come back in one piece… and then… then…” Spike flinched as he felt his face about to ignite from how hot it felt. “Something wonderful happened… I think. I kinda blacked out for a moment, and then when I awoke you were already gone.”
Now Rarity had to blush.
“I worried that might be the case. Well, I shall simply have to jog your memory a bit.” She levitated Spike out of the water, summoning a towel and wrapping it around him. “Spike, if I were to request you be brutally honest with me for a moment...how exactly would you describe your feelings for me?”
Spike looked up, seeing Rarity was giving him a gentle yet pleading expression. Instantly his face went from hot to volcanic.
“I promise I won’t judge, I just need to know.” She soothed, tenderly drying his scales off.
“Well… as I stated, or tried to state after recovering from my greed induced growth, you stand out to me in a way no other pony, or dragon, or anyone ever has. I definitely have a crush on you but… well, over the years we’ve known each other, and what’s happened between us, I don’t know.” Spike said. “You always seem to want a stallion as your special somepony, and I still have a lot of growing up to do… I mean actual growing up. I know we’re friends… but can we ever be more?”
Rarity slowly rubbed the towel down over Spike’s back, giving herself a moment to think as she made sure he was as dry as could be.
“Truthfully Spike, I only went after stallions because I thought that was what I was supposed to do. Like any fairy tale romance, a mare finds her prince charming, he sweeps her off her hooves, and they are forever the life and love of each other.” Rarity sighed. “I do wish to find someone I can love forever, but after the fiasco with Prince Blueblood, Hoity Toity, and several others, coupled with seeing how many other mares and stallions have found their perfect match in a soul of the same gender, I honestly have to wonder.”
Spike’s heart leaped as Rarity cradled his face in her hooves.
“Princess Cadance says that love is love, and that who it’s shared between is completely irrelevant. With that in mind, let’s really try to examine our relationship: you’re always around to help me at the boutique, or to take Sweetie Belle or Opalescence off my hooves when I need time alone to work on projects. You gave me the fire ruby out of the goodness of your heart. Even if fashion may not be among your greater interests, you still try to read up on it and get familiar with it to help me out.”
Spike felt the heat start to dissipate, to be replaced with a lighter flame of sudden hope as Rarity levitated his jacket again.
“And then of course there’s what you’ve done here… namely throwing yourself into every fight for the sake of keeping me, Twilight and everyone else safe, with no regard for your own well being. Truly Spike, how many other stallions, or ponies in general, do you think have shown that sort of dedication?”
Spike’s jaw dropped open.
“I… well… I mean there’s tons of books on the great mare and stallion heroes of Equestria… but even so… does this mean?” He said, only to feel like he was about to faint again as Rarity kissed him on the forehead.
“Perhaps you are still a bit too young, Spike. Perhaps it’ll turn out your feelings for me aren’t as strong as you thought…”
Spike’s hopes were dashed, both by the words, and the clack of maneater clams approaching from the other side of the breeding pool.
“But given our lives could end at any moment while we’re here… honestly, what would you prefer? To play it safe and never know if we actually could be a couple? Or to take the plunge and… well just see what happens?” She asked while hugging Spike to her chest. He felt amazingly warm… possibly on account of how hard he was blushing. Still, it was heat that stoked the fire in Rarity’s heart, giving her the bravery to stare at the encroaching clams and ask if they were really going to intrude upon such a tender moment.
“Well… I… erm… when you put it like that, I can’t really say no…” Spike trembled as he was assailed by the smell of Rarity’s coat. She’d taken the time to give it a light spray of perfume, letting it carry just the right hint of lavender along with her natural clean and pretty scent. Spike felt his head swim, thoughts of his greatest ever dream at last coming true driving him wild.
He was only saved from collapsing into another love induced blackout by the clatter of human skulls spilling from the mouths of the clams.
“Though could we perhaps discuss this somewhere else? Kinda getting creeped out by the walking appetizers here.” He said as one of the creatures closed the distance and lowered its head as if to ram the two. It stopped upon sensing the ward of the amulets on both their beings and retreated after a moment.
“Erm… yes, indeed.” Rarity sighed and glowered at the creature. It just gave another threatening nudge, silently hinting it would squash her flat in an instant if she provoked it. “Perhaps I can redo your outfit with some of that lovely Xanthous fabric while we discuss what to do next…”
The two hurriedly took their leave to another section of the archives, leaving the maneater clams to kick the door shut in their wake so no one else would be hogging their breeding pool.
***
“Mmm? Now what’s this? Another witless warrior come to disturb my focus?” Vamos ceased his hammering as he detected the impact of a body hitting the floor outside his shop. With a dusty exhale, the skeleton turned and lumbered over to the hole he’d previously knocked through the wall, finding himself staring at a broken mess of what appeared to be a hollowed out pony… or rather, a unicorn… dressed in a fur lined cape… with a conical hat drifting down from above.
“Oooh? Well, there’s a new twist. Usually it’s only the two footed idiots who come here to die, or bother me with pointless rabble.” Vamos stumbled over to the equine. “You look like you’ve still seen better days.”
He poked the unicorn with his smith hammer, clicking his teeth in amazement when it stirred.
“Oooogh… oooh… has… has Trixie reached the afterlife yet?” The unicorn pulled her head up and looked around. “Urrrrkkk… of course not… ugh… not even the warmth of a bonfire this time...”
“Well you’re in pretty bashed up shape for sure, but you clearly still have some wits about you.” Vamos stepped back as Trixie struggled to her hooves. “Don’t suppose that means you have need of my skills?”
Trixie turned, and her dark eye sockets promptly went wide at the sight of the skeleton.
“Oh… ngh… oh no.” The unicorn assumed a very shaky combat stance and lit up her horn. “Stay back! Trixie has no cause nor time for another fight. Not after getting blown to smithereens by those stupid screaming exploding heads… again, and again, and again!”
Vamos cocked his head and let out another dusty groan.
“Look, lady, I know my appearance ain’t anything to fawn over, but let’s not be trying to cause trouble here. I’m Vamos the blacksmith, and I just work in this place. You need smithing done, come step into my shop. You wanna waste what few embers of life you got left in that husk of a body, turn yourself 90 degrees to bother those wheel heads approaching us.”
Trixie’s ears twitched at the sound of feet and sharp metal edges dragging themselves across stone towards her. She turned and felt her body grow even colder as several skeletons mounted in giant spiked wheel contraptions emerged from the darkness.
“Oh… buck… please… no…” Trixie backed away as the skeletons stopped to get a look at her, then promptly curled themselves into their wheels to start rolling towards her at speed.
“No, no, no more! Trixie can’t take any more!”
The skeleton wheels charged towards her regardless. She turned to run, but then felt herself trip and fall over, her legs still too damaged from the fall to move quickly. Vamos watched in disappointment as yet another soul’s demise played out before him like so many others had before...
Only, unlike before, this time something else dropped onto the ground between the skeletons and Trixie. A glowing blue phantom, decked out in a mishmash of bandit and cleric attire that plummeted to earth like a sack of bricks, and caused the wheeled skeletons to upset and veer out of control. The phantom gave a pained grunt as spikes tore through its body… giving it a painful prelude to the long curved gravelord sword that was then driven through its back by a descending mass of pink and red.
“YEEEHAAA!” Pinkie cried as her blade sank through flesh, muscle and bone, consigning another enemy to the great hereafter. “Sephiroth, eat your heart out!”
The limp haired mare hopped off her latest kill as it vanished into nothingness, leaving another stone eye, which she scooped up and kissed for good luck.
“Hee hee hee hee hee! And now I have 30! Oooh, who says mass genocide isn’t fun?” Pinkie collected her sword and made a grand show of wiping the blade clean. “Mmm, must have more! More death, more blood! MORE SOULS!!! Ooooh, you never feel truly alive unless you’re killing something!”
The mare spun her maniacal gaze around the floor, grinning in a most sadistic way at the crashed skeleton wheels.
“Ooh, are you a new type of enemy? Are you weak to toxins? I want to play with my new toy some more!” Pinkie popped the hilt of her sword in her mouth as the skeletons righted themselves and rolled towards her. Giggling inanely she rolled out of their way and sliced them as they passed. The bone wheels hit the opposite side, turned, and tried to impale the mare on their spikes again. This time, they thought to charge at her from more than one direction, meaning that while she was able to cut one down, another still ended up running her over.
“Pinkie!” Trixie cried as the pink pony got several new holes in her hide. As if to mock her plight, the souls from the slain skeleton wheel infused themselves through the gaping wounds.
“Eeeeerrgh… hee… hee… heh… ow.” Pinkie giggled in a weaker voice. Blood oozed down her jester outfit as she slowly pushed herself back to her hooves. “Yeah yeah… go ahead and try. Go on, kill me again! I’ll just keep coming back!”
The wheeled bags of bones curved around and came at the mare a third time. She stood up and spread her front hooves wide while chomping on her sword.
“Hee hee, I can do this dance for as long as it takes to cut you down. To bask in your dying breaths, your final twitches… ooooh hee ha ha ha… oh, I’m going to make you all suffer sooo much!” Pinkie grinned, her eyes opening so wide they were practically falling out of the sockets. The skeleton wheels came at her, she swung her blade with all her might.
The wheels tore her barrel to shreds, ripping her guts out and twisting them around the spikes as the skeleton rolled back into the distance, veering off course and crashing again as its torso went flying off onto the wall.
“Pinkie…” Trixie said in a choked sob. From where she lay in a growing pool of her blood and innards, the pink mare let out a mirthful gurgle.
“Heh… heh… oh Trixie… just you wait… I’ll… be back… shortly…” Pinkie’s head flopped lifelessly into the gore and she vanished, leaving a glowing aura in her blood. Trixie felt the urge to vomit, then felt even worse when her stomach reported it was both empty and non-functioning due to her hollowed status.
“Well, that was… different.” Vamos mused. The remaining skeleton wheel turned at his voice, and made to roll at Trixie. She turned to stare at it with eyes that so wanted to break down in tears, yet couldn’t.
Vamos helped her save face by stepping in and smashing the wheel with his hammer.
“Oi, you mind? I’d like to see if I can get any trade out of these two before you send ‘em back to the flames!” He spat as the skeleton went tumbling head over heels over spokes and shattered wood, ending up in a broken mess against the far wall. “Sorry bout that, been a while since I last had any real work, and you’re the first fresh thing that’s happened by, since that warrior left to find the Gravelord’s tomb.”
Trixie just sat back on her haunches, just staring at Pinkie’s blood stain.
“Like I didn’t have enough problems trying to get down here… getting killed over and over again… and she’s just losing her mind…” She trembled.
“Mmm, that tends to happen when you venture down here.” Vamos replied. “Why are you down here anyway? I’d have thought Lordran’s wildlife had more common sense than to venture down to where only the dead are welcome.”
Trixie stared at the skeleton in exhausted anger.
“Trixie is not wildlife! She’s… she’s… ugh…” The unicorn’s head sank into her hooves. “She’s an undead trying to make some good out of her predicament… trying to rescue some soul that… that Nito guy said was trapped down here.”
Vamos cocked his head.
“The Gravelord still lives?” He asked. Trixie nodded. “Well, rattle me bones, that’s even more unexpected. Hmmm…”
Vamos looked to the bonewheels as they vanished in a flash of fire.
“Don’t suppose you’d be willing to toss a few souls my way? Could buff that sword on your back up a bit with some enchantments.” He offered as there came the clink of freshly resurrected enemies closing in on their position. “At any rate you’ll last longer in my shop than out here.”
Trixie surveyed the shadows moving in the darkness, promising that her troubles were only going to grow worse if she continued on her quest.
“Sure...considering what I went through to get down here, what’s a few more extra minutes of this nightmare?” The unicorn bleated.
***
“And so that’s why we’re here chasing Nito, while our friends are doing… Faust only knows what with Seath.” Trixie concluded. Vamos nodded with growing enthusiasm as he hammered away at her Astora sword.
“Sounds like things have truly gone pear shaped, end of times upon us and all that. Huh, never thought I’d see the day.” The skeleton replied chipperly. “Add to that this lovely ember that warrior woman got me, and I might be in danger of actually getting excited about something for once….”
Outside the shop, there came the sounds of wheels rolling across stones at speed, stopping short when there came the slice of metal cutting into their structure, and cleaving them apart.
“And there’s your pink friend, fresh from the fire and having a ball with her new prey. Well, at least one of you seems to understand how you’re supposed to behave down here.” He chuckled as there next came a clash of weapons deflecting weapons, followed by a groan as another blue phantom rolled through the hole in the shop’s wall.
“I swear this isn’t anything personal, cupcake… hee hee…”
The hollowed Pinkie trotted in with fresh blood dripping from her sword.
“But if you’re going to walk around with a moniker like ‘Krack is lyfe’, yeah you really have to die. Right now!”
The phantom made to get up as Pinkie’s sword came down upon it. It tried to roll, but the portly, heavy armor it was wearing made the move very awkward, and not at all fast enough to save it from getting cleaved in two.
“Ha ha ha ha! The sound of a razor edge through flesh is so harmonious. Ooh, I should slap this down on tape! Pinkamena’s Master Massacre Mix!” The mare giggled as she stabbed the fallen body again and again, only stopping when it vanished, leaving another stone eye.
“And that makes 31! Heh, heh, heh… oooooh.” Pinkie picked up the eye, then turned and looked at Trixie’s utterly terrified expression. “Ahhh, but again, we’re freaking out those of a more fragile disposition. Fine, fine, I’ve had enough fun for now. You can have the wimp back!”
Pinkie wound back one of her frontal hooves, and delivered a devastating blow to her own face. Her sword, along with a hefty amount of blood, flew from her mouth as her withered mane suddenly blew back up into the best possible facsimile of its usual style. The mare let out a pained gasp as her darkened eye sockets flexed and seemed to widen with new vision; a wholly disturbed and scared vision.
“Owww… ngh… ergh… wha… what? What was I just… oh Faust…” Pinkie looked at the blood stain of her fallen foe, clasping both hooves to her mouth. “What was I just doing???”
Vamos snorted dust out of his nasal cavity.
“Quite a number on a hapless foe is what you did. Not sure why the sudden shock though, that’s how one typically conducts themselves down here.” He replied as Pinkie looked to her sword and promptly backed away.
“I didn’t… I mean… I did, but… she… how many did she kill this time???” Pinkie cried, before gasping again at Trixie’s hollowed state. “Trix… she didn’t… please tell me she didn’t…”
Trixie let out a long exhale.
“No, this is the result of Trixie trying to cast a force miracle at some skeletons, then getting blown up by one of their exploding friends into one of those stupid statues that shoots out spikes.” She glared. “Might not have happened had you been there to help me!”
Pinkie’s lips quivered as her eyes scrunched up as if trying to fill with tears.
“I… I… oh, I am so sorry, Trixie! I just… she… Faust, I don’t know! I can’t hold her back like usual!” She wailed.
“Nor should you. Seems she’s quite apt at getting results.” Vamos mused. Trixie harrumphed as Pinkie threw herself at her, hugging and apologizing constantly.
“Are you at least… well… normal now? You’re not going to try to attack me next?” The unicorn demanded. Pinkie let go and held her hooves to her temples.
“Uh… yeah… yeah she’s… wow, she’s gone! I don’t even hear her laughing like normal...” The pink mare’s expression went from despairing to strangely enthralled. “There’s actual silence in my head? I never thought… wow.”
Vamos sighed as he held up the freshly re-forged Astora sword.
“Well, I’m done honing your blade, so you’re free to go and get yourselves killed again… unless… hmph.” The skeleton shouldered his hammer. “You two swear things are going completely to ruin in the Tomb of Giants? As in proper chaos and utter collapse of whatever order remains in this place?”
Trixie cautiously accepted the sword.
“Probably?” She said. Vamos nodded and walked over to a wooden box overflowing with helmets and armor pieces.
“May be the only chance I get to break the monotony here then, and you two won’t even make it past Pinwheel’s little hiding place without some help.”
Trixie narrowed her eyes disdainfully as Vamos pulled out a regally golden helmet with viking style horns on the sides. He gave it a quick polish with a dust cloth then put it on his head.
“Get some humanity in you, and let’s go see what’s got our Gravelord’s robe in a twist. If it’s the end of the world as we know it, then I aim to enjoy every damned second to oblivion!” The skeleton blacksmith cheered.