Rainbow Dash - 19th of Megan, 17 EoHRainbow Dash - 19th of Megan, 17 EoH
Flame Geyser Swamp - Equestria
I’d always liked White Tail Woods. It’s one of my favorite places in Equestria. Perfect for camping and fishing. Nothing but awesome old growth trees with a huge Redwood grove in the middle.
You haven’t lived until you have seen a tree so big it could become lawn furniture for everypony in Equestria. If they were not a protected species, I would have carved my home into one of them.
Initially I’d planned on dropping everypony off in White Tail Woods to establish a base of operations. It’s not too far from ponyville, meaning I wouldn’t need to speed everypony around all the time. It’s got lots of grasses that are nutritious so we could live off the land if necessary. There are no big predators that think you’re a pretty tasty fried kebab.
It’s a nice place.
Problem is, well, it’s close to Ponyville. Which is currently occupied. How close? Well, with the Everfree Forest fully in control of the enemy, it’s the next obvious spot to take. I’m not exactly a commander or anything, but since they can safely pass through the Everfree, they can strike at Baltimare and Canterlot. If I was going to attack Equestria, I’d want to take out the Capitol and a major trade port.
But the train runs through White Tail woods, which is on the opposite side of Ponyville from the Everfree. So if you don’t secure the forest then the ‘enemy’ could use it as a base to hit your flank and they have that quick way to get supplies in and wounded out. The railway. So before you could attack Canterlot safely, you need to take the woods so that you don't get stabbed in the butt while laying siege to the city.
If I could think of that, so could anypony. And think of it they did. White Tail woods had been SWARMING with demons. I could only hope that the Gaian’s would be okay in their compound. Sure, it was well defended but… There’s that old Thestral saying, ‘Even the best stone can only slow the enemy’.
They didn’t have time. Hay, Equestria didn’t have time. Cuz the enemy had like, infinite soldiers. Right? I mean, it was Tartarus. So that meant that they had every evil soul that ever lived and died to work with. I think.
I never payed much attention to the History of Faith classes in School.
So instead I took everypony to the Flame Geyser Swamp. Yeah, not the best choice. But it was close to Ponyville, just a little way south. It was also a place where the ground shot flames at you, the dense trees could become impassable at times, and lots of monsters swarmed all over the place. Which would make attacking us in there pretty hard.
Yeah, those were drawbacks for us too, but we needed to stay alive. As far as I knew we were the only ponies in the position to take down the enemy leader. And while that probably wouldn’t end the invasion, it would be a good first step.
On the other hoof…
I stopped running, dropping Alter and Lotus gently off on either side of me in the middle of the small clearing I’d managed to find in the middle of the woods. The soot stained trees arched overhead, forming a decently good roof over us to hide us from the air, and we had lots of thick brush to protect us from the areas around us.
Alter blinked in surprise as she finally spent enough time outside to notice her surroundings.
“Woah, okay… Yeah… Think we’re a bit late to save this patch from the hell invasion,” she said sadly, ears drooping in distress.
Lotus shook her head quickly. “No, this is just Flame Geyser Swamp. Dash, why are we here? It’s absurdly dangerous,” Lotus asked, honestly confused.
“So, we’re in a fire swamp? Awesome!” Alter said with a grin, a grin that looked like it was intended to hide some nervousness.
Oh yeah… Oops.
I rolled my eyes. “What, a costumed vigilante, a succubi, and a wizard can’t handle a few manticores? This is the best spot near ponyville that’s not swarming with demons right now. I checked. Even counting the fire.”
Lotus nodded, seemingly satisfied. “Can we survive here for more than an evening? I do think I could fight off most creatures here, but there are many of them. And while fighting, a manticore or a chimera is one thing, fighting six of them in one night is another. And what if Trodoons are around here? Their venom will definitely harm the two of you and if you die I can’t do anything on my own.”
I rolled my eyes. “I got one of Sky’s emergency campsite kits, and Alter is great with protection spells. We’ll be fine after setting up camp,” I explained with a smug grin.
Alter hummed, “Well… We will be fine assuming my magic works here. Your super speed works just fine here but magic's laws can be different. Let me just…”
Alter held up one hoof, looked at it, sighed, shook her head slowly then wiggled it experimentally for a moment before nodding in satisfaction. “That will do as far as gesturing goes. Let’s see... Garjzla,” she intoned, a small bale of pale blue light manifesting above her hoof after the word was spoken.
Alter nodded happily. “Magic works! We’re fine.”
“You need to speak your spells?” Lotus asked curiously.
“Absolutely! I could do it in my head but um… Telepath. Stray thoughts from me, or those around me could disrupt the spell if I don’t speak it aloud. That could be disastrous,” Alter admitted with an grim dip of her head. “It’s a personal quirk of mine. Not all casters need to use words. Nor does the language matter. I just use the one I use because it’s cool.”
“How disastrous?” Lotus pressed.
“I could kill myself very easily. Dash has told me what she knows of Equestrian magic, your kind is much safer, and uses different underlying rules. I presume that the ethereal tether back to my home universe is what permits my own magic to function here… That or you're laws of magic can be utilized in multiple ways. Do you know?” She asked hopefully.
“I’m afraid not,” Lotus said with a sympathetic frown. “I didn’t learn sorcery. There are different ‘schools’ of magic, created by what method you use to harness power, but I don't know if the laws themselves are mutable or flexible.”
“We can ask Twilight later,” I interrupted. “Right now we need to get you two up to speed on our base’s location.”
“Oh, fuck! Right. That’s important,” Alter laughed apologetically. “Go ahead.”
“I used to be in the Filly Scouts, and we went camping here once,” I began informatively. “When you can keep the predators at bay there’s only three dangers you need to keep in mind. First, the flame spurts. Those are easy, there’s a quiet popping sound before each one. Keep an ear out and you can avoid them.”
Alter blinked, her face showing honest surprise. Confused, I continued with my warning.
“Second, the Lightning Sand. It’s like quicksand but dry, and looks like a patch of white ashes. Just don't step in anything flat and white or you’ll sink right to the bottom and be unable to swim out. The grains move almost like water,” I added.
Alter broke out into a grin and leaned to look over my left shoulder. I raised and eyebrow and looked, but nothing was there. Rolling my eyes at her often irritating sense of humor I continued again.
“Anyways, third, there’s a pony sized species of rat that supposedly lives in here and is very stealthy and pretty smart. But personally, I don’t think they exist,” I finished.
Alter continued to peer into the darkness eagerly, and just before I demanded she explain herself, frowned then sat down on the dirt. “Awww, man!” She moaned. “Life failed to imitate art…”
“Okay, like, what?” I demanded.
Alter waved a hoof dismissively. “Eh, forget it. A thing from the first movie I saw almost happened, but didn’t. That’s all,” she sighed sadly.
“Oh,” I said looking over at Lotus to give her a ‘she’s just like that’ eye roll. “Well um, think you can get a camp established for us? If you lay down one of those silence bubbles, then I can set up the motion detectors and stuff in the kit.”
I dipped my head towards the large pack on my back. Carrying it along with these two had been a bit hard, but nothing I couldn’t manage for a few seconds. Heh heh.
Alter nodded and stood back up, stumbling slightly as she went to stand on her hind legs only. “Ack! Gods dammit,” she grumbled. “I almost never do non-bipeds. Right, one silence bubble. Do you have camouflage netting? If I’m going to maintain this ward here all day I don't want to also cloak us. That’s going to eat into more power than I’d like when we have scouting runs to do.”
Lotus’s ears perked eagerly. “Oh! I can do that! I’m actually great with Runes. I’ll just need a little time to write in the dirt and um… I’ll need one of you to bleed on the runes. Or it won't work. I don’t have blood, so yeah…”
“Wait,” I asked with a frown. “If your magic needs blood to work, how do you use any of it?”
“Not all of it, just our version of enchanting. And um… My siblings use harpies for that. There’s… blood farms and… Other things,” she admitted slowly, looking down in shame.
Okay, that’s one I could see feeling ashamed to be related to people for.
“That’s pretty shitty. We’re up to three face-fistings for that prick now,” Alter mumbled to herself. “Right so… Atra nosu waíse vardo fra eld hórnya!”
I felt the rush of wind that her spell created wash over me. It almost felt like flying at a low speed. That was normal, and I expected it. What I didn’t expect was for rays of lavender light to shoot out along the ground from where she was standing and form a fifteen meter wide circle with wedges cut out of it, along with small runes and other odd designs.
“Woah… Okay, so, magic is WAY more flashy in this universe,” Alter exclaimed as she the arcane circle. “Uh… Lotus, can you hide the light from this or should I try again?”
“I can. I’m going to duplicate a patch of forest and stick it here as an illusion… Um, how much sound will get out of the bubble? I could try and make some ‘natural’ noises to help hide us,” Lotus offered.
Alter laughed. “As of right now, anything out of this circle, which now that I think about it, is helpfully defined by the light. Uh, well, yeah. Everything in here is totally muted. A hundred screaming children could be shoving a cat into a blender and no one would hear a thing.”
My eyes widened in horror. “Dude! What the buck? Why would you do that to a cat!?”
Alter blinked. “Uh, I wouldn’t? That was an example of a loud horrible sound you couldn’t fail to notice… Come on, you know I like cats!”
I shook my head slowly in disgust. “Yeah but still that’s… That’s a horrible image,” I said with a shudder.
“She’s right about the sound. It is pretty bad,” Lotus said with an agreeing nod.
A nod which not only said she had heard that before, but enough where it was just a common sound for her.
I winced. “Please don’t say that’s what your ‘dad’ does for a breakfast smoothie,” I begged.
“Okay,” Lotus promised as she trotted to the center of the circle and began to scratch at the dirt. “I’ll just get these runes drawn then.”
My ears drooped to their lowest possible position. Sweet Celestia, no… Why?
“Um, H- he doesn't do that. Right?” I asked with a frown, dreading the answer.
“I promised you I wouldn’t tell you,” Lotus replied calmly. “So I will not. I keep my word.”
I felt my mane standup in a mix of terror and anger. My wife was being possessed by that monster! What the hell would he make her do just as part of a morning routine!?
Alter pushed her glasses down to look over the tops of them at Lotus, her jaw dropping. “Wait, that wasn’t a hyperbolic statement?”
“I promised Dash I would not tell, and she is within earshot,” Lotus repeated adamantly, her face hardening into a look of extreme seriousness.
“I… but- That’s literally cartoonishly evil!” Alter exclaimed, completely dumbfounded as she threw her forehooves up in disbelief. “I’m calling it right now. The man’s a complete fucking lunatic!”
Lotus nodded. “He probably is. I can’t comprehend his motives half the time. I understand that he enjoys causing suffering in others but I’ve not been able to wrap my head around how for as long as I’ve lived.”
“Soooo… He’s completely insane?” I asked apprehensively.
“Well, not necessarily,” Lotus admitted with an apologetic eardroop. “I mean, sanity is defined as ‘behaves in one of the common mannerism for a given stimulus, given your species’. He could be perfectly sane for an Aramenellî. I wouldn’t know. We’re not allowed to interact with them… And I don’t think physics permits them to see us.”
Alter winced. “Okay, four face-fistings,” she corrected. “Just in case he’s sane and just this much of an asshole.”
“I’d say that’s worth more than four punches,” Lotus disagreed, not looking up from the claw-mark-like runes she was scratching into the ground rapidly.
“Oh no, you don’t get it. I have this spell which heals any physical damage dealt by a punch, but doesn't dull the pain. Those are full strength punches with knuckle dusters that should remove teeth, crush bone, and jelly up brains. Which are instantly undone so they feel EVERYTHING and don’t die,” Alter explained with a dark laugh.
I took a breath and slipped the pack off my back, setting it down so I could open it and start taking out everything. I’d known about Alter’s face punch of justice for a long time. It was the idea of a cat for breakfast that was still under my skin.
“Okay, um… I’m just going to set up the motion sensors… Pass out the radios. That kind of thing. Based on the sun, we should be able to get to scouting by nightfall,” I said as I took the bag of sensors out from the pack.
“Let’s wait till whenever your ‘witching hour’ is. It will be best to go out when it’s darkest,” Alter proposed.
I stopped, looking over at her with an angry glare, but she cut me off with a raised hoof. Alter slipped off her sunglasses, a symbolic act. She was speaking as herself, not Alter Ego. As her unbuckling pronounceable alien name. The real her.
“Dash, I know,” she said as seriously as anyone could say anything. “I know they have your wife. We’ll get her and we will make them pay. I swear it as your friend and on my honor as a Priestess of Mars. However, we can not rush this. It’s three of us against an army of creatures that are also superpowered.
“As for this specific issue, I can not turn completely invisible with my natural powers. You know that invisibility spells are my bane. You know how I hunt. I work best in the dark. If we don’t all work at our best, we have no chance at all of rescuing Applejack.
“We must wait for the dark of the night. In the meantime, Lotus can fill us in on basic tactics the enemy uses, their psychology, philosophy, physiology, general capabilities, and all the other stuff we need to know in order to beat them. We get that info, then we scout things out. Find where the asshole is, observe him a while, come back here, use that new info to make a solid plan, and THEN we go kick his ass until the meat falls off.
“We move before the dark of the night and we will probably die, and Applejack will remain his meatpuppet. We need to take enough time to do this right. Understood?”
I sighed, tail swishing irritably behind me. “Yeah, I understand… It’s just that… I don’t think you know what it feels like to know your spouse is in pain,” I said, trying to convey even an ounce of my despair.
She nodded understandingly. Tapping the side of her head once. “I can feel everything you are right now. I know. We’ll unfuck this. It’s just going to take a little time,” she promised, slipping her glasses back on.
I sighed. She was right. I had to keep calm and try not to rush things. AJ couldn’t afford for us to buck up.
“Right, let’s get camp set up,” I agreed.
Applejack - 20th of Megan, 17 EoH
Mount Spur - Equestria
I’d never been to Mount Spur before, but I’d always wanted to go. The mountain was something of an Equestrian icon. It appeared on the back of our twenty Bit coins, and well, the park around it was something special.
I may specialize in apple trees, but I still like other trees. Mount Spur was home to the oldest redcedar forest in the world. The whole forest had remained untouched for, well, probably forever! Ancient people had refused to go near the mountain because of a rumor that demons lived in it, and modern ponies had preserved the forest because true natural woods are incredibly rare.
Which is why you’re not allowed to go to the mountain. It’s restricted. Forest rangers and firefighters only.
Which is why even though I was at the mountain because a demon was trying to kill everyone, I was still a little happy I got to see the forest. On the other hoof, it turns out the rumor about demons living here… Kinda true.
We were in a large cave halfway up the mountain, nothing special really. Seen one normal stone cave, seen them all. Until you got to the back. The back of the cave was a single oozing bubbling wall of orange energy.
This portal was nothing like the one Dawn had opened. That one looked like a portal. This one looked like a wound cut into the rock wall. It even trailed wisps of energy as if bleeding.
<Natural portals are fairly messy, yes,> Dawn commented to me. <Amusingly I didn’t need to make them more frightening. This is simply how they turned out.>
Without skipping a beat in the conversation which had been ongoing, Dawn resumed talking to the team of six Imps and one black robed unicorn he’d sent to this cave to scout the portal from this side. To see if a small strike team could make it safe to use.
Because one stallion was single hoofidly holding off all of the Elite Soldiers on the other side.
“I figured Doom would have put more defenses on this side of the portal. He knows I have mortal agents,” Dawn mused, looking at the scrapped remains of three small turrets.
The robed unicorn bowed his head low. “My Lord, the defenses are established within Tartarus. The other side of the portal is very well defended. I believe these turrets were simply to ensure anything which made it past him was slain.”
“Yes, that’s very him… How well is he dug in? Is his mate still with him?” Dawn asked curiously.
“No sir,” the pony replied immediately. “She left when you opened the Ponyville portal. We believe she’s seeking to disrupt it from the Tartarian side.”
<One stallion can throw this big of a wrench in your plans,> I snickered. <Are you sure you’re a threat?>
<That ‘one stallion’ is a freakish aberration. An anomaly,> Dawn shot back angrily. <The son of a Traveler who was saturated in the magics of a realm similar to my own and another Traveler from a universe like the one I wish to build but where humans have managed to continue to survive. Both of them retired to this multiverse. They had a son.
<Of course the son of a Demon Slayer and a vampire slayer, who on top of THAT bloodline has also won my father's favor and a seat at his table once he finally dies is going to be an unwavering bulwark of destruction for things such as myself! Maneuvering around him has always been the plan.>
“It’s a shame we won't be able to establish a second invasion platform outside of Ponyville,” Dawn said outloud, contorting my face into an annoyed glare.
One of the Imp’s stepped forwards. The things creeped me out. They looked like a batpony foal, but with the tiny horns just in front of their ears. If not for the draconic tongue and carnivore's teeth, they would totally look like a pony.
“There is also the portal in Neighpone, sire,” the imp buzzed. “The distance is great, but we c-”
“We’re not angering another country until we number at least one million in this realm,” Dawn said dismissively. “Besides, that portal is beneath a Kaiju nest. Clearing the way would take a few days and I want to engage Canterlot within three days time.
“Speaking of, is our comrade ready to deal with Celestia?”
The hooded pony frowned, lips barely visible within the shadows. “My Lord, I’m sorry, but I am not up to speed on all of our operations. What do you mean?”
“Is Jet Set in Canterlot currently?” Dawn asked with an annoyed sigh.
“Oh! Yes, he was there when I left at the very least,” the pony answered immediately, head twitching fearfully.
Jet Set? I always knew he was a bit of a jerk but-
The portal pulsed with a darker shade of orange. The Imps screeched fearfully, immediately running behind any cover they could find. The hooded pony turned, staring in confusion as the darker shade of orange melted to form a single rune that filled the entirety of the portal’s face.
“NO! SON OF A BITCH! NO!” Dawn yelped, his mental hold on me releasing for an instant as he was consumed by terror.
Enough where I could read some of HIS thoughts, and knew why. He was significantly reduced in power while controlling me, that shade of orange meant something was coming through the portal, and that rune was the Tartarian for ‘Doom’.
An armored pony stepped out of the portal, giving me a half second glimpse of battle blackened, dull green, rune carved armor before the chaos erupted.
Dawn quickly threw a shield spell in front of us, a simple flat plane of crimson energy which had half of his energy thrown into it.
The armored pony grabbed the cultist by the throat while still halfway in the portal, then smashed his head into the other’s forehead, driving his horn back into his skull. The cultist dropped to the ground in a twitching heap, while the body fell, the armored figure’s face plate fixed on me, looking, judging.
The armored pony raised a foreleg, a large, blocky, dry-blood red weapon appearing in his hoof in a flash of orange light.
<OH, HELL NO!> Dawn exclaimed the moment my eyes fell on the weapon’s unnatural red-brick-like shape.
Dawn reared up, pushing magic through my body at such a rate it hurt, I could feel him focusing on a teleportation-
The weapon screeched, sending a volley of five separate red laser bolts into my barrel with enough force to throw me head over hooves across the floor.
“Ow…” Dawn and I moaned together, the smell of burnt fur filling the cave.
“This universe's Applejack was evil. That’s a shame,” the pony sighed. “Right, you six Imps, I’m feeling merciful. One quick shot for each of you. Be nice and line yourselves up.”
To my shock, my dimming vision still allowed me to see well enough to see the six terrified imps actually line up as instructed.
<Okay… I could take six more of those,> Dawn thought to himself. <But this meat can’t take anymore. It’s dying… I need to stabilize the- Okay, the body is disintegrating this will take a lot of power. I can take one more hit tops while making running repairs.
<That’s no good. Best just play dead. He didn’t recognise me at my reduced power level.>
Six more shots rang out, followed by the armored pony yelling, “Clear!”
<The buck was that?> I moaned, feeling like my incides were falling apart.
<The Unmaker. A weapon I made to try and kill my sister with. He stole it,> Dawn moaned back. <Good to know it can’t kill me outright. MAN this hurts! I did a good job with it. Probably would have worked on Dusk just fine.>
That was a good name. It fit perfectly.
The portal darkened again, and two more ponies stepped through. No, one pony and an imp!
The imp looked smaller than the others I’d seen previously and had a splotchy white and brown coat of fur, and a happy, playful look rather than the eater and malicious expressions the others had worn. It hovered at the head height of the pony she flew next to, looking around eagerly.
“Wow! It’s not all fleshy-creepy! It’s been SO LONG,” the imp exclaimed.
The pony had on a hooded cloak made from thin black leather decorated in white arcane markings. A bright blue horn stuck out of a slit in the hood made especially to allow the horn to keep the hood up at all times.
Her fur was entirely covered in a dull grey jumpsuit, decorated with spidery white arcane marks and held tight to her body with black belts festooned with pouches. And as she drew closer I could see her cloak had a full mask under the hood. The mask lacked any sculpted features, and was made from a single piece of arcanite with a ruby set in the forehead just above and between her red slit pupil eyes.
<Huh?> Dawn said to himself. <That imp’s got a full, untainted mortal soul and none of my programming. No! It’s a mortal who was physically corrupted but not mentally or spiritually corrupted. How’s that even possible?! I FIXED that bug!>
“Right ma’am, you certain you can close this portal?” The green armored pony asked.
<Doom. His name is Doom,> Dawn corrected. <And don’t think about him, he might be a telepath. If he think’s we're alive still he’ll fire again. I’d rather not spend too much time repairing you.>
“Absolutely certain. I have closed several before,” the robed pony said, her voice deep and echoing despite still being female.
I remembered Twilight once telling me that was a sign of long-term darkmagic use.
This could NOT be good!
Sure enough, the unicorn’s horn blazed with the purple and black aura of dark magic as she readied a spell. Her magic’s aura stretched out, engulfing the portal and crushing it in on itself. The churning orange wound screeched and crackled like a beast in pain as it shrank to a pinprick, only to vanish with an angry hiss a moment later.
“Excellent,” Doom said happily. “It stays closed for a year, correct?”
“Sometimes longer. Regardless, this opening will be sealed long enough to make it useless to the war effort,” the dark wizard said proudly. “Thank you for directing us to the correct exit. I was tired of arriving in the wrong place time after time. Earth and I will be going now.”
“Sure, I need to collect my apprentice and meet up with my wife to reinforce Canterlot. There’s no way Celestia isn’t targeted for assassination. Especially since this universe's Applejack was evil,” Doom said casually, turning and walking past me up the cave before adding. “Oh, and remember. Even one evil deed and I’ll kill you.”
“I recall our deal perfectly,” she replied, also walking up the tunnel. “Our homeworld burned in part because I served the wrong people. You have nothing to fear from me. I don't make the same mistake twice.”
“You’re lucky I can judge a heart by looking at it. I don’t think I’ve ever seen another good aligned Magnus. You two have fun. Stop by Canterlot if you’d like to help. I’ll vouch for you,” Doom said, his voice growing faint as he left.
“Um, Gen? We should probably help them with that,” the imp buzzed.
“We will. But first, a shower. We just spent years in Tartarus, we reek,” the wizard rightfully pointed out. “Shower, vodka, make sure this universe's version of me is dead or never existed, stop by Twilight’s library, let her know we are no threat, another shower, THEN we lend a hoof.”
<Okay. That’s not good,> Dawn growled angrily. <Right. We sit here for a while, recover, then figure out a solution to this problem.>
I mentally smiled, soaking in his anger in a way I was sure wasn't healthy. But damn it all if it wasn’t cathartic.
<What!?> Dawn snapped.
<The whole ‘chessmaster’ thing you have going fits you perfectly,> I answered, wishing I could smile.
Dawn paused, caught off guard by what seemed like a compliment.
<Your plans are as featherbrained as you’d expect someone who thought the world worked like chess would be,> I mocked. <You only think in formulaic patterns and completely forget that in real life, people have friends to help them, and luck always affects the way everything goes. Maybe you should get a five year old to check your plans for you.>
<As soon as I can injure your body again, you will regret that insult,> Dawn vowed adamantly.
He meant it. I could feel the pure hatred in every syllable.
Buck. I’d gone too far.
Rainbow Dash - 23rd of Megan, 17 EoH
Tartarian War Camp, Ponyville Ruins - Equestria
Nothing had ever pissed me off as much as all this wasted time! Three whole motherbucking days, and not ONE appearance by the monster leading these daemons! I have no idea where he was or why, but he was NOT here. I’d even risked a quick sprint through the camp to find him on the second day. Nothing.
I guess it hadn’t been a total waste though. We did learn the layout of the camp. It had been centered around the portal, with a HUGE empty square around it to serve as a ‘gathering area’. Bordering the square were rows of tents three tents deep and with about a hundred and fifty total tents.
Each tent made from black dyed rawhide, the source of which I didn’t want to dwell on. Especially since each was the size of a large house, and painted with a series of runes. Lotus analyzed the runes for us and said they hardened the leather to roughly the same point as stone, while remaining flexible. A fortification charm.
These tents didn’t serve to house the demons, they were mostly holding prisoners. Almost exclusively Harpies, but a few ponies too, and one griffon that I’d seen. On the second night, I’d found out WHY they were holding prisoners.
Lotus mentioned their enchantments used the blood of a living creature. I thought it was ‘as an activator’. Turns out it’s ‘as fuel’. I resolved to free as many prisoners as possible, but well, the odds of freeing any large number were abysmal.
The remaining six tents probably housed weapons. They had been full of crates.
Odd as it seemed, a lot of the smaller things were armed with weapons. Hacking blades. Things which looked like a wood rasp with a long handle. Crushing weapons. Nothing quick or clean.
Lotus informed us that was so lesser demons could conserve energy, and also informed us we should be seeing armor too, but we hadn't yet. A sign which likely meant that Asshole’s elites were not here yet, and that these were normal soldiers.
I REALLY didn’t want to think of the elite version of that twenty pony tall semi-biped thing which I could best describe as a dragon-scale covered saber toothed gorilla with spider eyes.
Especially since the army didn’t bother with any perimeter defenses. They just set a few dozen groups of three of those things to walk in circles around the camp, with about forty meters between each trio. Anything which attacked would have at least nine of those giants beating them into paste.
Anything which couldn’t sneak around unseen. Or hover overhead with a stealth suit on. Thanks Sky!
I peered down at the base from a few kilometers up, squinting through a pair of binoculars I’d borrowed from a shop in Manehattan. I’d have paid for them, but my coin purse was in my cloud house. And sweet apple acres was sort of destroyed. And serving as a training ground for the smallest, and oddly pony-like demons that Lotus called Imps.
Demon babies, apparently. They stay like that till they eat their first soul, then mutate into a more advanced form.
As they were now, they were cannon fodder. Only really good for stealth missions, and blending in with ponies if you gave them a hat. I’d honestly thought they were keeping hundreds of thestral foals hostage when I first saw them.
“Can you see me?” Alter asked quietly, her voice coming through my earpiece with an unusually loud static hiss.
I squinted harder, willing the binoculars to work better.
“Nope,” I replied honestly. “All I see is the big tent flaps.”
“This has to be the leaders tent. I can see a war map on a table inside, and there’s a sectioned off room inside. Uses another flap of leather, with a door. None of the others have something like that.”
I frowned. “I don’t think he will have been in there for a sold three days… Unless maybe he teleports in and out of the tent,” I mused.
“I’m going in. There’s three Furies inside, they have armor… Officers by the looks of things. Maybe I can see their plans,” Alter decided.
I didn’t need to tell her to be careful. I knew she would be.
“I’m in,” Alter whispered a second later. “Take a listen.”
The mic hissed again as she boosted its range, allowing three male voices to come in clearly.
“The wood has been fully secured… Our Lord did not order us to do more than occupy it, but I propose we destroy the railway while it is in our talons. Just in case they decide to run a train through our defenses. There is little sense in allowing them to strike our headquarters,” the first said.
“I agree in principal, but we can gain more from using the rails ourselves. The fools have created rapid access to each of their cities. Why should we not exploit them?” The second proposed. “Far more in line with our Lord’s tastes, wouldn’t you agree?”
“Both those options are excellent ideas, but our role is to advise, not to decide. There shall be no orders given until Lord Dawn returns,” the third said adamantly.
“He has been gone for three days. He’s likely distracted by some hedonistic pleasure,” the first snorted dismissively. “The Equestrians MUST be aware of our presence now. We butchered some of their scouts, and one got away.
“Dawn isn’t here. He can’t make a decision. We can. We WILL be attacked soon. We should fortify our position. If this portal is lost, the war is over.”
“Unless Dawn secured the Spur portal,” the third countered. “Perhaps that’s why it is taking him so long to return. While possessing a mortal body, his power is diminished. It stands to reason that Doom could potentially give him some trouble.”
“Potential nothing!” The second spat. “Neither of you have even seen him. I have. He’s at least as dangerous to our Lord as Celestia would be.”
“Meaning not a lethal threat,” the first countermanded.
“No, not without a lot of luck on his side. Which he always has,” the second continued. “With how long Dawn has been gone, I believe he was slain, or gravely injured. As such, we only have so much time until the army fragments as we all grab for our share of power.
“How much fun is that? None! We should strike now and get a few cities worth of slaughter in before the others tear the army to pieces.”
“None of this talk!” The third snapped. “We will proceed as if our Lord is alive and well. Which means maintaining this camp until-”
A massive burst of static and a crackle of flames thundered in my ear. I winced, dropping a few meters out of the air as the sound exploded in my ear.
“My Lord!” The three exclaimed as one.
“We were beginning to fear something had happened to you, sire,” the first voice said, sounding honestly relieved.
“Something did,” Dawn replied angrily.
I flinched. I don't think anyone else could hear it, but I could. I could hear the other person in AJ’s voice. The suppressed accent. The hatred… It hurt to hear.
“The Spur portal is inaccessible, for the time being,” Dawn continued. “Doom decided to come through during my inspection. We had a fairly decent battle, but I emerged on top.”
“M-my Lord! You slew him?” The second asked, reminding me of the hopeful way Pinkie would ask if there would be snacks.
“No. But I forced him to retreat,” Dawn laughed proudly. “Unfortunately this meat was nearly destroyed in the process. It took me several days to get it working again. He’s grown powerful enough to use the Unmaker.”
“If only you could have killed him… Even with the portal closed it would be a great victory,” the third voice sighed.
“Were I not possessing this pony, I would have. Not even Doom can stand up to the Lord of Tartarus,” Dawn boasted in a way which made me snicker.
That was a boast which said ‘I got my plot kicked’.
“However, he still holds the Unmaker. Herilgroz, retrieve my currass from my palace. That should render his weapon useless. Without it, I would have killed him even with the restrictions on me at the moment,” Dawn ordered. “How are our forces? Can we attack Canterlot later today as planned?”
“Yes, My Lord. The troops are-”
My earpiece crackled again, the sound vanishing for a few seconds in a way which made me worry Alter had been spotted before her voice came through in a whisper.
“Dash, the big bad is still hurt! I can sense it passively, and my glasses show his ethereal form is wounded. He’s recovering quickly, but as it is right now, he’d be fighting with a ‘broken arm’. We should strike within the next four hours!” Alter urged.
I blinked. Hurt? “How is he hurt? Do you mean AJ’s injured? How badly?” I asked, tail swishing with worry.
“No! HE’S injured. The actual spirit within AJ is damaged. It’s healing, but the energy pattern is disrupted at the moment. We will not get a better chance than this, he’s down to roughly my power level but that won’t be the case in a few more hours,” Alter elaborated. “We strike now!”
I grinned as my heart filled with pure glee at the thought of destroying that monster at long last. But, Alter’s speech from a few days ago turned the heat down just a bit as I remembered the need to do this right.
“What about the plan? You were only near him for a few moments. Did you get enough information about what he’s afraid of?” I asked hopefully.
We HAD to stick to the plan.
“I did,” Alter whispered happily. “He’s afraid at the moment, I could detect it passively. This ‘Doom’ guy is favored by Dawn’s father, like, the dude will die and become a god damn Einherjar!”
I blinked. “Um, a what?”
“... Nevermind. Point is, he’s terrified that his father may have been watching Doom during their fight, and his dad could just annihilate him right now. There’s also a deeper, more primal fear which I can layer on. I even got a mental picture of what dad looks like. We can proceed,” Alter confirmed.
I nodded, the grin returning in full force. “Okay! And, could you tell how he’s controlling AJ, right?”
“Yes. It’s a standard possession, just more solidly bonded than typically possible. If we wear him down some, I can exorcise him,” she confirmed. “Are you in position? I’ll lure him out of the tent and then we can begin.”
“Yeah. I’m ready,” I said, relishing the rematch which was right at my hoof tips.
I’d almost completely kicked his ass while tired and hungry. I was full. I was awake, alert, and ready. Alter could distract, I could launch the beatdown to end all beat downs, all while getting firesupport. He was going DOWN!
“Starting distraction,” Alter whispered her voice deepening slightly as she switchiched to intoning a spell. “Ietdar moi eom draumr!”
I didn’t even need the binoculars to see the brilliant blaze of purple light erupt in front of the command tent. The arcane fire had to be fifty meters high! My pegasi eyes were more than enough to see the flames flow upwards as her illusion spell took shape, forming a twenty meter tall humanoid figure.
None of its features could be seen under a suit of armor which came right out of an old castle. The forearms, feet, and legs were covered completely in overlapping plates of once glorious armor which was battered, rusty, and stained to the point of looking like it was right on the point of being scrap metal. The tattered chainmail hauberk which covered the upper arms, chest, and the skirt which was now little more than scraps of chain, was equally battered and old, but not rusty due to being a shimmery greenish metal that was clearly not iron based.
The face and head was hidden behind a simple cylindrical bucket-like helmet with a gold t-shaped decorative piece covering the face, with a few holes for breathing through, and two simple slits. The outfit was completed with an old, ragged cape made from the preserved skin of an animal of some kind, with the fur still attached. The white fur cape was the only part of his armor which wasn’t stained, remaining gleaming white even at this dark hour.
A sword formed in the illusion’s left hand. The sword looked new. I’d never really liked swords, but this one… This one looked special. In a way a warrior would appreciate at least. A long icicle shaped blade, a simple cross guard, a black leather wrapped handle, with the only decoration being a red stone set in the pommel.
And the twinkling gleam of the blade which hinted at it being made of something special.
“DAWN!” The illusion bellowed with the voice of something incapable of backing down. “FACE ME!”
The entire camp froze in place, then in one instant, every last demon turned towards Alter’s illusion spell, drawing weapons or flexing their talons. Only to stop, freezing in place as if ordered to be a statue.
A heartbeat passed. Then a second one.
I flexed my wings, getting ready to dive bomb. I had to hit hard enough to deal some damage, but not too hard or I’d kill AJ with the impact… A tricky thing to judge but-
The tent flap drew back. Dawn stepped out, AJ’s missing legs still replaced with the shimmering red magical constructs. He looked amused.
“Nice try, but we don’t talk to one another in Equish, mage,” Dawn laughed. “How do you want to die? I don’t want to use that method.”
BUCK! No, wait! He was still distracted. Come on Dash, work out the angle of the dive and get the first hit in!
“I WILL NOT SULLY OUR TONGUE SPEAKING TO YOU!” Alter bellowed through the illusion. “YOU ARE TO COME WITH ME. THIS ENDS NOW!”
Dawn rolled AJ’s eyes. “Knowledge of the Old Religion to the point of knowing what dad looks like, coming to challenge me one on one, not realizing we have our own language… I’m guessing Luna,” Dawn laughed. “Let’s just peel back that illusion, shall we?”
AJ’s eyes glowed red. Alter’s illusion ripped apart, strips of lavender fire peeling back and flying away like wood siding in a hurricane.
NO! I had to go now, but I still hadn’t worked out exactly the right-
The illusion ripped away. Alter stood still on the ground where the illusion’s right foot had been. She’d shapeshifted.
The form she took was slightly taller than me if I reared up, at least, the portion of the body which was held upright. She’d become a slender faceless figure in a pale yellow tattered cloak which seemed to flow and meld with the writhing mass of tentacles which writhed on the ground beneath the fabric like a sea of squids.
I was pretty sure she’d used that shape for a Nightmare Night costume last year.
“KILL IT!” Dawn ordered, immediately surrounding himself with a blood-colored shield.
BUCK! I waited too long! But at least I could hit him hard as I wanted now.
I dove down, extending my forehooves, time seeming to freeze as I hit my top speed, slamming into the shield hard enough to hear it shatter beneath my hooves, immediately corkscrewing in order to fly back up and not hit him directly. With any luck, it would look like Alter had just willed his shield to explode.
“This place is mine. You should have gone home when I demanded it,” Alter intoned, using her telekinesis to glide forwards towards Dawn as if hovering just above the ground.
A trick which got me every time she used it since her telekinesis didn't’ make things glow like a unicorn’s did.
“Skölir garjzla!” Alter intoned, the light around her dimming, rapidly becoming a solid black orb.
I flinched. Wow, I forgot how good she was at scary!
“You’ll bring my dad down on us both, you Voidborn idiot!” Dawn shouted, rearing up to throw a barrage of crimson spears of light into the inky black void Alter had created. “A million souls to the fiend who kills it! We have minutes before it’s spotted!”
The demons rushed for the bubble, screaming gleefully as they packed into an impassable wall of flesh in their haste to try and kill Alter. Her tentacles lashed out from the darkness, smashing into anything which deared to get too close, coiling around each thing they hit before making them vanish into the darkness with a gurgle.
A pinprick of light formed within the globe of darkness as a lavender blade stabbed out towards Dawn in retaliation for his spears.
I twisted in the air, turning around and streaking back towards Dawn, one hoof extended to punch through the energy leg, racing as quickly as I could to strike just before the stab would connect.
I smashed into the magical prosthesis with a sound like a hammer beating crystal. Dawn flew backwards, slamming into the tent with a dull crunch, most of the magical limb dropping off and vanishing, leaving behind a jagged fractured stump.
Ah ha! The limbs were some kind of energy crystal! Which could be damaged! And since they were not a part of AJ, I could target them no problem.
Dawn snarled and stood back up, the limb slowly growing back as he stomped a rear leg down, causing the ground beneath Alter to erupt in a series of spikes!
Her darkness bubble kept up with the spikes, making me thing she’d been impaled for one horrifying moment before her telepathic voice entered my head. <Dash, I can’t fight a whole army and an Omega level mage for long… Hurry up.>
I knew what she meant. It was a little counter intuitive, but she wanted me to deal more damage per hit.
I turned around, waiting for another opening. Alter would provide them as quickly as she could… I knew she wanted to keep up the illusion that her strikes hit with stupendous force. If I just attacked out of the blue it would give the game away.
<Break those other limbs!> Alter ordered urgently. <They draw a ton of power and I can feel his injuries slowing down the regeneration! Forgetting that just because you can run one high power spell all the time doesn't mean you should. Classic tactical blunder of the super powerful.>
I watched as Alter slid forwards, moving the cloaked section of her body out of the globe of darkness, leaning just far enough of of the edge to be seen.
“This place is mine. Those who live here are mine. It has always been, it will always be,” she intoned, several tentacles snaking out of the darkness to drop the mangled, twitching bodies of a half dozen demons in front of Dawn.
At the same time, another thrusting rapier-like energy blade lanced out of the darkness, speeding towards Dawn on a lethal trajectory. Towards AJ on a lethal trajectory.
I dove, aiming for the hind legs, knowing I could shatter them easily now. The blade raced forwards even to my eyes while moving at my top speed. AJ WAS GOING TO DIE!
Love and hatred exploded from my chest. I grit my teeth, pushing myself as hard as I could, wings burning, joints scraping. The lavender needle's point sliced along AJ’s fur as I plowed into her, knocking her body upwards, the force of my shoulder’s impact breaking a few ribs as I threw her out of the path of the blade, the shot piercing a hole in my rear left leg instead.
I clenched my teeth to prevent myself from screaming in pain, hearing the explosive crack as the hardlight legs shattered as my other shoulder and side plowed into them, with only a little speed lost.
<You hit me!> I yelped, directing the thought at Alter.
<Fuck! I’m sorry! This form is very complex and fighting off these foot soldiers is taking a LOT of concentration. Are you dying?> She replied.
<No. I’ll live. The limbs are gone. Don’t fire again. I took the shot for AJ,> I explained, moving as far upwards as I dared, incase even more things went wrong.
I felt my injured leg hanging limply beneath me. Yeah… It was completely disabled. A vital muscle had been totally severed, for sure. I wasn’t going to be able to stand any time soon.
I looked down, and cringed at the fact that I could see the ground below through my leg. That was a cauterized bit sized hole.
This should hurt a LOT more… I’m in shock, aren't I?
“You falter, demon,” Alter mocked, leaning further out of her bubble. “I can sense your weakness.”
“This body is broken, true,” Dawn replied with a living glare. “But I’m more powerful than you’ll ever understand!”
“Power? You haven’t seen power. Come out of there and I will show you,” Alter baited.
… Wut?
T-that was her plan!?
THAT WOULD NEVER WORK IN A MILLION-
“Atra eka huildr du Vættir!” Alter intoned.
Oh! Duh! The spell she used back when we fought that guy who could turn intangible in order to touch him!
Her body shimmered lavender as magic coated her from head to toe, before she turned translucent, clearly density shifting. In the same instant, two tentacles came lashing out of the darkness, both of them plunging into AJ’s chest and out the other side.
I winced. I knew that it wouldn’t harm AJ, but that still looked gruesome beyond belief, and I knew that her passing through you felt like touching dry ice.
The tentacles coiled around AJ in opposite directions, then pulled. Sparks of red magic flared up as the two enchanted limbs pulled away from one another. The sparks grew brighter, more intense, until all I could see was a blazing red spot of plasma, like the tip of a welding torch.
Alter roared with effort, straining to pull as hard as possible until suddenly her limbs flew apart, AJ coiled in one, a jet black earth pony pony held tightly in the other! AJ screamed and immediately went limp, passing out. The black pony hung limply from her grip, conscious, alive, but seemingly ill.
“I… I but… You’re a mortal. I can feel you now… How?” The black stallion moaned.
“Fuck you, that’s how,” Alter grunted, smashing him into the ground with a savage whipcrack of her tentacle.
Dawn didn’t seem to be any more phased by the blow. But his eyes narrowed, burning a bright red as magic filled them.
“Ah… You’re her! The sister I banished from this world,” Dawn groaned. “I curse you. May the home you came to know be forever lost to you.”
Alter laughed. “Bitch, please! You think I can’t dispel a curse? This is my tenth one! Later,” she said, letting go of his injured form before vanishing in a flash of lavender light.
Good. AJ safe now. Mission successful! Now I could-
I screamed in pain as fire spread down my injured leg.
Oh. There it was. Don’t fall out of the sky… Make it to camp, don’t fall out of the sky, make it to camp….
I limped my way through the air as fast as I could with my leg on fire. I could feel myself fading in and out as my body finally started to react to the injury itself, the shock having worn off almost completely. I had to make it to camp… If I didn’t the demons would find me and I’d probably become Dawn’s new meat puppet.
Legs might not be vital to flying, but not being in burning pain definitely was a huge part of proper flight. I barely managed to make it to our camp in the clearing. Only spotting it thanks to the locator charm Lotus made for us making the camp glow bright white from the air to our eyes only.
I barely hit the clearing, plowing into the dirt roughly as my leg refused to hold and I stupidly tried to land rear hooves first as pain had me reverting back to rookie instincts.
“Ahh!” I hissed, a fresh wave of fire shooting through my leg as it slammed into the ground beneath me.
“Oh shit!” Alter exclaimed from behind me. “That's a way worse hit than you made it sound like! Let me tend to that.”
“AJ first,” I said as I pushed myself up into a sitting position. “I know her ribs broke.”
“I set them. That’s all I can do. I’m not a healer, I just know the one quick fix spell,” Alter said as she rushed over to me, apparently back in the pony form she invented.
“Wait… You can’t regrow her legs?” I asked dizzily.
“No, sorry,” she apologised.
“Buck,” I groaned. “I thought maybe your alien magic could do that… Now we need to go BACK to Ponyville.”
“What? Why!? We should get Applejack to a hospital immediately!” Lotus declared from out of view.
“Because Lily was in Ponyville, his clinic is still standing, and he’s the best doctor in Equestria,” I explained, reaching down to hold my leg with my forehooves to try and sooth the pain.
Lotus stepped into view from behind the tent, staring at me in shock. “Doctor Lily is a stallion?” She asked.
The pain got worse. I slumped over, the world fading into blackness as I passed out.
Jet Set’s town house, Canterlot - Equestria
23rd of Megan, 17 EoH
Jet Set stood stooped over the eboney desk housed within his study. Normally the desk was left uncovered to show off the hoof carved zebrican platinum inlay set within the desktop, but at the moment it was covered in a small array of exceptionally expensive alchemy equipment.
Not that the gray furred stallion had yet done more than light his bunsen burner and begin to boil a pot of a herb so rare it was thought to be long since extinct. Even with his wealth, he could only afford to make this one single batch of concentrated bolstering oil. Without it, the poison would have no chance of working, and another method would have to be found.
Jet Set smiled happily to himself. The others had forced him to abandon his art while infiltrating the Equestrian nobility. Ironic, since his first three wives ‘tragic deaths’ had been how he’d built up his wealth to begin with.
A sudden flash of red light illuminated the room. Ears raising in panic, Jet Set immediately knocked the recipe book from his desk to conceal it.
“Ah! Oh now look at what you made me do! I’ve told everypony a million times not to teleport into my personal chambers!” He whined to cover up the intentional action with an air of ‘accident’.
Jet Set turned, his upset glare becoming a happy smile upon seeing the jet black red eyed stallion standing in his room. “Oh! My apologies, your Lordship. The poison will be ready in mere hours.”
“Jet Set,” Dawn said hoarsely. “There’s been an incident. I lost control of Applejack. I need a mortal body immediately. Celestia’s death can be postponed. I just need you until we can recapture one of the six.”
Jet Set’s smile deepened. “Sire, it would be my pleasure!”