//------------------------------// // Chapter 15: Endless Battle For Them All // Story: Twilily Saga: Past, Present, Or Damnation // by Lighttone GryphonStar //------------------------------// The mighty beam of dark and light magic tore through the cloud as Corruption was sent high into the atmosphere. Cult Race and Selena Moondie stopped their attack and then teleported up to the height that Corruption was at, despite Twilight's complaints about the remaining thousands of mindless alicorns. As the two arrived at the top, their eyes widened upon seeing the burning and torn flesh quickly healing like the attack never happened. “Well you're healing abilities are even faster than mine and no magical residue either, how annoying.” Cult Race took up his stance. “Tell me Cult Race, why now do you turn against me? My son created you and my host took you in when even King Sombra didn’t want you. Don’t tell me it had something to do with that mare Starlight Glimmer.” “No, not really." Cult Race tried to hide the fact that his hands were trembling from Corruptions words. "I just finally came to my senses about you.” “And that is?” “That you are clearly too mad to be a god.” Corruption laughed aloud as he raised his four arms into the air. “Maybe you are right.” Suddenly a great shaking filled the sky. ****** Twilight knocked away more mindless alicorns as she tracked her way through the army. However, she instantly stopped upon feeling the shaking. It was so sudden that even that mindless alicorns were thrown off guard as the rushing of winds through many of them to ground. Twilight stood strong against the winds as she beat her wing back and forth. She had to figure out what the source was. She looked through the sky for several moments until her head went toward the battle above her. Her eyes narrowed to a small object far above Corruption’s hands. Her eyes slowly widened more as the object seemed to increase in size. “No! He wouldn’t… would he?” ****** As Corruption’s arms filled with magic he looked at Cult Race and Selena Moondie. “You two make no sense. I thought you two of all would want fate to be changed considering the hand it dealt both of you.” He looked at Cult Race. “ You, the one created in some lab only to slaughter his creators for calling him a fake.” He looked at Selena Moondie. “And you left to rot in a wooden box when you were just a newborn.” He looked upwards. “The truth is that you two are hated by all, even the devil himself.” “And?” Selena Moondie snickered. “Like it matters, we are killers and monsters. We have been doing what we do best since we were children.” “Yes and just like children you need to be punished.” The shaking grew even stronger, though it wasn’t like Cult Race and Selena Moondie hadn’t noticed. They knew something was about to happen. They could taste it in the air. The want of murder and massacre. Only it was much greater than they expected. Twilight finally reached them as hurricane winds filled the air. “Are you insane Corruption, you will kill your own alicorns?” Corruption looked at Twilight, “Do you really think I care whether or not you three took down a large portion of my army. If I choose, I could force every equine in this country to ascend and bend them to my command. But why do that when at this range not even Celestia can stop it from falling on us.” Cult Race and Selena Moondie looked in complete confusion to his last words until Corruption dropped his arms and pointed up. Everypony looked as their eyes shot wide to the size of it. All looked in horror as a giant meteor descended from space and tore through the skies. “Only seventy miles across, a mealy speck compared to what the princesses lift up daily, but more than enough to wipe Equestria and you cursed equines off the map.” Twilight charged up all the magic she could muster and sent it up to the meteor as she tried to move it with all her might. She managed to stop its movement, however, this would only last until she was out of magic. She had enough to stop it, but not enough to send it back at the same time. She had to do something soon. Suddenly out of nowhere, the unexpected flew through the sky and hit the meteor head on. Twilight looked in shock to see a chain covered scythe tearing into the meteor. “What is that? “Oh, the Chains of Pluto, Sombra’s favorite weapon,” Selena Moondie laughed aloud. “I knew he would send it.” “Impossible, Sombra is dead.” Twilight struggled to stand. “Yeah, but that's not going to stop him from getting in the way of his most hated enemy.” Cult Race reached into the back of his sleeved cloak. Sombra’s scythe sent out massive shockwaves of dark magic as it bent space. Using the distortion it was creating Twilight was able to send the meteor back to where it came from. After that was done the scythe flew down and into the hands of Selena Moondie. “Wow, really Sombra? Okay.” she jumped in joy. “I will use it wisely. It should be useful up until time runs out.” Corruption looked at her strangely. “Time runs out, what do you mean by that?” “Corruption!” Cult Race yelled. “You asked me why I chose now to turn against you.” Corruption looked at him expecting a good answer. “It because now more than ever you have shown your true colors.” “And what is that?” “The colors of a little child whining at his parents.” This angered Corruption greatly. “And why would you think that of an idea like me?” “Oh don’t deny it. There's nothing wrong with acting like a child sometimes. As my lovely wife said me and her have been killing since we were children. So we know them inside and out.” Cult Race pulled out his special weapons. Not his bone knives but something else that sent shivers through Corruption's whole form. “And one thing children love to do best is cheat.” “It can’t be. You had them the whole time. Red blade and blue blade.” In Cult Race’s right hand was a giant red blade in the shape of a hacksaw. In his left hand was a giant blue blade of the same design shape and size. “No, not quite. But these looked pretty damn close, may I present Red Sun and Blue Moon, otherwise known as the Rings of Saturn.” “Hmm, Saturn the Titan of Death.” Corruption stood ready. “Why am I not surprised that you got his attention?” “Indeed.” On that, he charged at Corruption faster than he could even react. Hitting Corruption with one of the giant saw blades as it sent out a shockwave in all directions. Corruption was sent flying back and only barely stopped himself in time to dodge as Selena Moondie swung the scythe toward the direction he was flying toward. After stopping his movement he looked around for Cult Race as he dodged Selena Moondie swings. Cult Race’s hit felt like a mountain had punched him. As he tried to figure how Cult Race had done that he found himself being wrapped in chains from Selena Moondie’s weapon. He struggled as the chain wrapped tighter. “Enough.” He sent out a shockwave of corrupted magic outward which launched Selena Moondie back with her chains. However, Cult Race reappeared and sliced downwards cutting Corruption in half. They looked to victory, but Corruption simply put himself back together like it was nothing. Cult Race swung again, but his weapon was grabbed by Corruption’s hand, “Hmm I see now, your blades are made from Grave Levis. A metal that can be as light as a feather or as heavy as a mountain depending on the amount of magic within it.” “Indeed.” Cult Race jumped back. "But there is more to this weapon than that." He placed the handles together and turned the weapon into a giant throwing star. Meanwhile, Selena Moondie charged from behind with several dark magical attacks. Each one hit head on and diced Corruption to pieces. But just as before he rebuilt himself. Was there no way to kill this beast? Cult Race spun his weapons and charged in for more slicing, while Selena Moondie charged up a massive dark magical attack. "Dark Execution!" she screamed as she swung. Twilight heard this from her battle with the alicorns. She looked up in shock as the attack sliced Corruption in half and kept going until it cut through part the pyramid, just barely missing Twilight as she jumped to the side. Corruption just simply put himself back together just like it never happened. "We will be at this all day," Corruption answered them. "And even if were to go after the one of you that can't regenerate, then she would just resurrect herself. Really this battle is pointless. All I want is to change fate. Why do you stand in my way--" "You're right," Cult Race interrupted him. "But in the end, that is what makes this a battle worth having." Corruption looked down in disappointment. "Fine, let's have fun." He held out his four fists and charged forward and met Cult Race's weapons head on with just his bare hands. Selena Moondie charged in and sliced at Corruption several more time but each time he simply rebuilt himself. In fact, his regeneration seemed even faster. Cult Race flew above and smashed down his blades with a heavy attack that shook the sky. Corruption hit the ground with enough force to create a small crater. Yet he still got up. Cult Race and Selena Moondie knew how long they needed to keep this battle going. In the end, it came down to how long they could survive. Corruption charged back up at them so fast that even Cult Race couldn't see him as he punched his fist so hard that it tore through Selena Moondie's stomach. Cult Race saw this and charged forward, stabbing his weapons into Corruption's back over and over. Corruption just simply ignored it and pulled back his fist as Selena Moondie's stomach spilled open and her blood rained across the sky. Selena Moondie fell and Cult Race charged massive amounts of light magic into his weapons and chopped down, sending two massive slashes over Corruption's body that burned down to the charms. Afterword he backed away and looked down to where Selena Moondie had landed. "Twilight Sparkle!?" He yelled. "Where is my beloved?" "Really? Was it that easy?" Corruption questioned as his burns healed. "What are you talking about?" "To get the fear out of you. You can go after her if you want." Cult Race seemingly smiled and jumped back even further as out of nowhere thousands of strange-looking chain blades rose forth and wrapped around Corruption as he looked in confusion. "And where did these all come from?" Selena Moondie laughed aloud as she rose back up. "You never noticed what my favorite weapons always looked like." Corruption looked down at the strange-looking chain blades and saw they were coming from the bodies of the dead. "Oh, so they are spinal cords. Interesting." He tried to struggle free, but he quickly found that these spinal cords were a lot tougher than they appeared. Selena Moondie charged dark magic into the spinal cords, while her personal chain blades were wrapped around her gut to hold everything in. She sent massive amounts of dark magic through Corruption's entire form and he was shocked more and more as the space within his body was twisted like clay in her hands. As that was happening, Cult Race readied his strongest spell. He placed his weapons together in a different form. This time the blades were facing the same direction as he pulled them back like an arrow on a bow. "Eternity Spell, Fate's Arrow." A giant arrow of pure light magic formed and shot forward. As he did that Selena Moondie charged her own strongest attack into the scythe as she swung it down toward Corruption. "Eternity Spell, Slice of Destiny." Both hit head on sending a giant shockwave of light and dark magic in all directions as it spread across the entire battlefield, knocking even Twilight and the alicorns off their feet. As the shockwaves cleared Corruption tried his best to rebuild himself but lost track of the enemies. This was it, as Cult Race flew down at high speeds and up close as their eyes met directly. This was the range he had been waiting for. Now that their eyes met, the Glare was now in effect, "STOP!" Cult Race shouted as time stopped around him and Corruption. ****** As time stopped above the pyramid, down below within it time continued as Celestia fell to the ground as her battle ended. She reached to her shattered trident as blood slowly leaked from her wounds. She tried to keep going, but it was obvious to all, she had lost. Freak Show, despite now missing his right arm, looked in victory as he walked toward Celestia. Each step he took was louder than the last until he finally stood above her and readied to finish it with the demonic left claw that his God had gifted him so many years ago. “It’s truly cruel that our relationship should end like this.” Freak Show gritted his teeth and he raised his gladius higher. Celestia looked up to him with tears. She raised her hand to him, trying to stop him. Freak Show’s eyes narrowed and he swung. However, he was stopped mere inches from her neck as he sensed an all too familiar form of magic. He looked toward the stairway and saw ‘F’, the very creature that had sent Twilight into the past, Freak Show’s future self. “I knew you would be here,” ‘F’ spoke with a coughed. “The centuries haven’t been kind have they?” Freak Show retracted his gladius and laughed at the frail body of his future self. “No, you don’t look so bad,” ‘F’ smiled at his past self. Freak Show walked over Celestia and towards ‘F’. “I did everything our God wanted.” “I know you did.” “And yet you turned against him.” “I know.” “WHY?!” he shot corrupted magic at him, but ‘F’ blocked it. “Because he is no god. He is a deceiver, a monster.” “HE IS GOD!” He continued to shoot more blast at ‘F’ as they moved closer to each other until they were right in front of one another. “There is no way that beast could ever be God.” They stopped their movement upon ‘F’ saying his final words, “A god would be kind to his creation. Not cruel!!” “LIAR!” Freak Show roared in anger as he attacked his future self, knocking him to the side with magic from his horn. Celestia looked in tears as ‘F’ skitted across the ground. She tried getting up, however, she was stopped as she saw ‘F’'s eyes. She didn’t need words to know that he was going to handle this alone. Freak Show walked over with corrupted magic swarm around his claw. ‘F’ rose up and punched him in the face, yet as his fist made contact the ground shook. They all looked in confusion at this for a moment, before Freak Show returned the attack with a slash to the face with his claw. ‘F’ fell back slightly as the ground shook again for an unknown reason. ‘F’s tail spun out of his cloak and grabbed Freak Show by the leg and swung him around. As the ground once more shook, Freak Show used his own tail to grab the cracking ground and pulled himself free. Freak Show rose up slowly spat up some blood. He stopped for a moment and looked the blood on the ground. “Tell me, how is blessing us cruel?” He rose up slowly and turned around to face ‘F’. “Answer me!” He demanded as corrupted magic surged out from his claw. ‘F’ looked to Freak Show, first to the demonic claw and then to the missing arm that Celestia had taken just before his arrival. “I lost that arm to in that very battle with Celestia, that you just had. Past affects the future.” Freak Show raised his claw over to the open wound on his right side that had been slowly bleeding.  He used his corrupted magic to seal the wound shut. Once he was finished he looked to ‘F’ right hand as it hanged out of his cloak. Noting that it was white instead of yellow. “Well, of course. That is how time works? After this day I will get another arm.” “But the future can also affect the past.” ‘F’ raised his arm up to his cloak. “How? That’s impossible….. Isn’t it?” ‘F’ tighten his grip on his cloak and looked Celestia for a short moment before returning to facing Freak Show. “Here, let me show you how as well as show you what this blessing will bring you.” On that, ‘F’ pulled off his cloak to show them what he looked like. His head was covered in scars, his entire left side, including the left side of his face was completely gone. Instead the flesh on the left was shriveled and twisted muscle that barely held together. His left leg was the only thing left of his left side and it was even his previous leg. Instead of it being a dragon leg, it was a poorly attached spider leg. But the worst was yet to come. On what remained of his chest were several giant holes of tore flesh as sand-like blood poured in large amounts from these holes for each step he made. Freak Show back away in horror as ‘F’ walked to him. “You see. This is our blessing that…. our God gave us.” The more Freak Show looked to more sickened he became. Suddenly bile rose from within him. He grabbed his mouth as bits of bile pushed its way out of his mouth. “Oh…” ‘F’ smiled. “You can still puke. I can’t even eat.” He reached into one of the holes in his chest and pulled out more blood colored sand. “This is my blood. It keeps pouring, despite the amount that I have already lost being way more than my body could possibly ever hold.” He reached in deeper and pulled out a strange machine from where his lungs would be. “I can’t breath!!” he roared. “We are immortal, yes, yet we still age. We are unkillable, yet we can’t heal. THIS IS NOT A BLESSING!!!!” Freak Show’s teeth gritted as he charged right at ‘F’, refusing to hear another word. He hit him over and over, and as each punch made contact the ground shook once more. He continued to punch him, not notice the ground around warped in form. Celestia looked in horror to all of this, yet her heart flat out stopped upon seeing the ground warping around them. She fell slightly as sweat replaced her tears. “No, he not planning that?” She looked up to ‘F’ and saw a different smile now on his face. It was the face an of pure content. Her eyes widened and the tears returned. “No… Don’t do it!” On those words ‘F’ did the unthinkable. He embraced his past self in a tight hug. “Do you even know what you are doing?” Freak Show looked in confusion as he easily tore his claw through ‘F’'s chest. “I am ending this cursed blessing.” ‘F’ held tighter. Suddenly they both felt an even greater shaking around them. It was so much stronger than the other shockwave. But it was at that point that Freak Show realized that the ground was never shaking, it was time that had been shaking this whole time. “What is happening?!” “You see Freak Show in truth, time doesn’t like it when past and future selves collide. It’s impossible, there are just too many variables and equations it has to work out. So to ensure this never happens…. It removes the variables and equations.” At that moment the shaking stopped completely. Moments later a crack in time formed between them, slowly sucking them in. “We will be removed from history, what we have done will stay in effect, but every memory of us will vanish from all once we are gone. In doing, future change past. My future in removed by us.” “No!” Freak Show roared aloud as he struggled to free himself. ‘F’ looked at Celestia as the crack grew bigger. He spoke with tears, “I will always love you Celestia, but you need not love me anymore. You need to move on… without me.” The crack tore them apart, piece by tiny piece as Celestia looked with tears. “SUNFIRE!” On those final words, they were gone, and Celestia lost every memory of them. Once they were gone, the crack closed itself and the memory of it even opening vanished from all minds as well. Celestia didn’t move a single muscle for several moments as her brain tried it’s best to adjust to such a big change. Tears had stopped flowing, and even the horror was slowly vanishing from her mind. Her fists clenched closed and reopened in fast and gittery succession. Her face leaned upwards to the sky. Despite the tears she had before, her mind now seemed about as blank. Finally, her fist stopped clenching and her face fell back down. She leaned forward more until her face was on the ground. She stayed like that for what seemed like eons. She didn’t move a single muscle, she barely even breathed. She stayed utterly quiet. Soon Realta walked up to her. He placed his hand over her shoulder. His hand glowed for a short moment and in that moment, Celestia’s tears return once as she let out her emotions. After a few moments, he pulled away his hand as her tears stopped and all memory of Sunfire vanished from her mind. Celestia’s eye weakened and her muscle was saying no more as she fell to the ground. Realta backed away as a samurai-like figure approached from behind, “Do not worry, she is alive. We will wake her once the mission is over--” Instantly he was stopped as an incredibly cold wind wrapped through the pyramid and filled even crevice. The wind stopped, in fact, everything stopped as incredibly loud crackling shockwave filled the sky. ****** Up in the sky, Selena Moondie and Twilight trembled in utter shock upon seeing the massive force of movement. They were left completely speechless to what just happened and almost frozen in any voluntary movement. A bloody beaten corpse reached to them as it fell from the sky. Twilight slight shook from her shock and spoke, “How?... How did he break the Glare so easily?” ****** Second Author's Notes: Well, that just happened. Anypony wondering how he did it? It may not be as hard as it appears to be. The next chapter is coming soon. This Saturday, 9/23, Chapter 16: The Weakness Of The Glare wiil go up. Comment down below an ideas on how the Glare maybe be broken or how about how much you enjoyed this chapter and the end of Freak Show.