The unicorn mare clutching my back somehow managed to keep her hooves gripped tightly to my armor plate. The three large golems immediately hopped forward trying to use their claws to slice me up. I hopped back keeping her away from any harm seeing that she was their goal. All I had to do was take out these maverick stand ins. I quietly charged up my buster causing the unicorn to flinch from the glow but keep her hooves attached as tightly as possible.
“Keep your ears pinned. This will be loud.” I muttered as my buster came up ready to fire. Several of the unicorn guards that were there also attempted to fire what I could only assume were stunning spells since none of the magic actually affected me.
“Use actual magic attacks you idiots! Stop holding back!” Flint screamed only to notice that the beams did absolutely nothing to me.
“X, all magic from the seven visible unicorns had only reached three hundred and fifty joules of energy release. They literally do not have enough magic to harm us. My own speculations are that the constant use of golems has made their magic study lesser for it. Use this to your advantage and rout these jerks.” Nana informed me through the comm link.
With a quick grunt of agreement hidden as me jumping onto one of the maverick like golems I forced my buster against the singular eye and released the third level shot of a pink wave of energy. The sudden influx of energy speared through the body of the rogue golem shattering the genm used as its eye and cracking the rest of its body to pieces. The claws that had tried to reach for me fell limp at its side leaving me to jump off while the two golems ran into each other trying to catch me.
“Still attached?” I asked as sternly as possible. The ponies in the area were visibly scared as I had both destroyed one of their golems without even trying and broke through their magic without even trying.
“Yes. Thank you gol - I mean X. Please be careful. The pegasi guards seem to be planning something.” The unicorn hissed the last part as my motion detector was instantly calling my attention right above me.
I quietly charged up again but I decided that something bigger was needed. I switched my weapons turning the blue parts of my armor purple.
“Look! It's changing colors. Watch out stallions, he'll change colors on you.” Flint snickered as several of his fellow guards finally gathered their spines and charged at me.
The pegasi and golems all charged forward, one pushed on by bravado and the other out of inability to ignore orders. I pulled the unicorn mare to my chest and held her with one arm. I raised my free arm and a sudden tornado was summoned all around me that the enemy soldiers flew and ran directly into it respectively.
The sudden cyclone caused every single pony to freeze. I had suddenly summoned a cyclone which sent the pegasi flying in random directions, crash landing into other ponies or the very landscape dotting it with broken bodies and gouged out tracts of land. Luckily, no one died but several were incapable of getting back up.
The golems were a bit hardier than the ponies as they locked their gem claws into the ground as the tornado started. The energy in the tornado had caused several scratches to appear on the golems bodies. I pushed the unicorn back on my back as she looked over the destruction that was wrought.
The very landscape had been torn due to sheer force of the wind. The gouges were all in a circular pattern around my body and the unicorn now had that windswept look though her eyes were wide in shock as well.
‘Oh, right... just created a tornado from my weapons system. Nana, any suggestions would be good right now.’ I quietly thought as several ponies I looked at were now reflexively flinching whenever our eyes met.
“X, as much as I am able to handle most situations, this is far out of my own specs to figure out. Cinnamon would have a better grasp on the medical and psychological side. All I can say is that you need to roll with it. Showing any signs of not knowing what you are doing is a chink in your armor that Discord will eventually use against you. Keep them close to the vest.” Nana explained as she brought up some more thaumic signatures from the pegasi attackers.
The pegasi were all showing thaumic signatures that actually dwarfed the unicorn soldiers. Strangely, the magic they wielded was more potent which just confused me until I noticed that none of the pegasi were visibly wounded. At most the worst injuries were from those that had spinning eyes from the tumble. The readings seemed to show that most pegasi were expelling over five hundred joules of energy.
“Stop fearing him and get that blasted pile of scrap archanotech and send it back to the scrap heap already!” Flint yelled out as he kicked a few earth ponies into action.
I quickly switched my weapon changing color to yellow. I quickly charged up as I dashed away from both the guards and the golems who had started speeding up towards me. Every slash of their claws came at shocking speed, if I had been human still. What would have been an impossibility was now the norm. Their speed was merely an inconvenience with the senses I now had.
As the earth pony guards finally caught up I pointed my buster out and released a large wave of electricity that surrounded me and shot out. Unlike the games where the hardware was only capable of showing a two dimensional plane of existence the electric spark charged version fired a wave of electricity that surrounded me and shot out at my foes but couldn't travel vertically. The electricity paralyzed several guards and actually reached out fifty feet from where I stood. That included several of the unicorn guards that were just in range of the wave.
“What the buck…? What the BUCK ARE YOU!” Flint cried out when he looked upon his fallen troops and the two remaining golems.
The electricity had several extensive effects on the golem bodies. The electricity arced through their systems cracking several crystals within their bodies making them crack and hiss from what looked to be magical damages. The shell was completely shattered causing spider web fractures to course through their bodies while the claws had fallen off completely due to said shattering. As quickly as they had proven to be the Crystal Empire’s ace in the hole, I proved to be much deadlier.
“My name is X. I would hope you would remember it.” I spoke calmly to the pony who seemed to be the leader and lifted my buster towards him changing it back to my original colors.
With a stifled snort he stomped his left foot down causing two of his most fervent guards, a pegasus and an earth pony, to charge forward. I changed targets and fired two stunning shots at the two. Any living creature was immediately hit with stun shots and nothing higher. When I put them both down I turned back to that grey earth pony only to note that he had fled. Lowering my buster, I checked on my passenger only to find her clinging frightfully to my back.
“Holy buck… I made a huge mistake. This golem is so damn dangerous. I know I wanted my home destroyed but this… this is too much.” The unicorn mare muttered completely out of her mind.
“Let her vent X. Poor lady, she must have seen something so traumatic.” Nana tutted as she looked over my vitals. “You are still in good health but those weapon usages have partially depleted Storm Tornado and Electric Spark. They are still usable but limited on ammo for now.”
I merely nodded and looked around the field. There were still several ponies that were unconscious on the ground so I decided to be a bit more proactive about my actions. I quickly gathered what turned out to be fifteen guards - seven earth ponies, three unicorns and four pegasi - and put them in one location.
The mare was still lost in her muttering she of how dangerous I was as I pulled any of their metal weapons apart and forced it with my bare hands into a clasp to keep them all together. It took a few attempts but I managed it through sheer grit. The metal was strange and seemed to have been forged much differently than I had ever seen. While there was the normal tempering of each weapon there were strange additions to some of them. They were also releasing a small thaumic signature that was almost negligible but when I got close enough the sensor actually recorded it.
After looking over my handiwork and checking my weapons once again I turned my attention to the unicorn mare on my back. She was still muttering things out of fear and regretting what she had done in life which was kind of weird. I wasn't going to do anything bad to her but her words seemed to be switching towards praise or sheer terror when it was about me. Eventually I had had enough and decided it was time to wake her up though I knew I had to be somewhat gentle about it.
“Miss. I think it's over. You can calm down.” I quietly tried to placate her to the best of my abilities. The guards I had captured were still out leaving only the two of us still conscious.
“Forgive me Faust for I have sinned against your great plan. Oh Faust I'm gonna almost die again.” The mare whimpered and sobbed almost uncontrollably. I couldn't physically shock her back to controlled. My hand was made of metal and even at the lightest tap I would probably knock some teeth out.
I lightly grasped her head in both hands and forced her to look me in the eyes.
‘Oh Faust. Oh Faust! Oh FAUST! He's forcing me to look into his yellow and red - what!? They're - they're green… but his eyes were… I don't understand.’ Concerto stared blankly into his eyes seeing something so different than she had seen before.
They were kind looking eyes. Worry seeped out of them but the malice and sheer audacity she had seen when she last peered into the eyes of madness were gone. Those vestiges shattered by a new sight. They still looked strange but no longer did she see the end of the Crystal Empire as she once though would be better. Instead she saw the end of Corundum and the cruelty he brought.
“You're eyes… are green…” She dumbly stated still a bit dazed from all the excitement.
“Look miss… uh… unicorn. I need you to please calm down. I'm just trying to help you out. So I want you to tell me who you are that they wanted you so badly… and now you're staring into my eyes.” I sighed as I felt both sides of my mind come to the agreement that we need to ease ponies into meeting me. I was actually kind of dangerous as I looked back at the remains of the golems I had destroyed. Strangely with their hollow structures in their arms and legs I could understand why it happened.
Due to their crystalline shape being forced to have a cavity it compromised the strength of the material. The crystal that made up the shell was extremely brittle most likely refined by magic. Nana had sworn after they were destroyed that three thaumic signature reaching fifty thousand joules each was released when I destroyed the three but were snuffed out after my weapons had struck them. I didn't ignore it out of paranoia at that point. Discord could have tampered with them beforehand or even strengthened them and underestimated me. I didn't even want to acknowledge the thought that there were other creatures at work with these golems.
“You're eyes… are green…” The unicorn stated though she sounded dazed.
“I suppose… I haven't really been able to see myself yet.” I quietly muttered as I let go of her face and let her stand on her own four hooves.
“Um… yes… right… sorry. I just… well I just got a little panicky. This has been the second time you've saved me.” The mare gratefully smiled.
‘Saved you? What?’ I was glad that I had turned off my emotions because confusion was the only thing I was feeling at this point.
“It has to be Discord, X. He has done something in your name.” Nana posited bringing the sensors up to their fullest. He hadn't been within range and he still wasn't in range. He more than likely didn't know about the sensors since he was genuinely surprised when I shot him. There were other reasons I didn't have him in range but he was still able to watch me.
“X? X are you there?” The mare waved her hoof in front of my eyes causing me to refocus on her.
“What? Oh right, you're fine now then? So… care to remind me what I did that made you such a nervous wreck?” I coyly grinned though I felt nervous. It was too bad that I couldn't actually feel like I was nervous or maybe it was better that I couldn't.
What followed was most likely an over dramatization where I single handedly wiped out an entire battalion of weak golems and freed her and several other prisoners of war whose only crime was defying Corundum’s word. I knew immediately that this was Discord’s doing. It was obvious since he was the only one to ever see my weapon in action albeit being victim to it. The problem I was having was figuring out why he did so. Discord, if his name was to be taken literally, was chaotic to a fault. Things he did, by Starswirl's account, shouldn't make any sense. This did.
I was a threat, albeit, an unknown quantity at this point to him. I could hurt him though in hindsight I only had my buster output at fifty percent at the time. Perpetrating a false attack in my name would be sensical to see what I was capable of. It made sense yet it didn't make sense with what my newest friends, I hoped, had told me. After a while I just placed the questions on a lower setting putting the bare minimum of my computing power to analyze it.
“That doesn't sound like something I would do… “ I muttered under my breath to break the explanation the mare was given which remains need me of something. “What is your name actually? I'd rather have something to call you rather than unicorn mare.”
“Ah yes. Charming aren't you X?” She groused with the brushing off of her tale though I figured out the parts in between. Still she composed herself and stood as regally as a pony could while covered in mud and grass clippings. “You may call me Mon Amour Concerto, last princess of the Crystal Empire and rightful heir to the throne.”
“Neat.” I bluntly stated in a neutral tone. I was impressed I suppose though her state left me very skeptical. Still, if she was who she said she was, then I was halfway done with what the ponies wanted me to do to help them.
“Neat! Is that all you have to say about me!?” She cried out a looking a little appalled at my reaction.
“Sorry. You sound the part but I don't know you beyond your name. Royalty doesn't mean much to me if I'm out to stop someone like King Corundum.” I answered somewhat truthfully. As far as I knew it royalty meant absolutely nothing in the long run to me.
If I was to be more blunt than I was I would have just shrugged and ignored the title. Royalty were like dominoes in a sense. Each one toppled the other in a never ending cycle of succession. Some were badly placed sending the row a skewed while others kept the row going fine.
“I suppose. Still a little respect would be warranted… please.” She nearly broke down into tears. I rubbed the back of my back letting my hand glide over my helmet and over my eyes rubbing the tension as far away as was possible. She had had a rough time I'm certain.
“Very well Princess?” I got an enthusiastic nod and sighed in relief before continuing. “As much as I feel you've had a rough day I think it's time we got you cleaned up.”
She squeaked and climbed into my arms hugging me in joy. I really didn't want to think of what those monsters did to Concerto if I could help it.
“Scans indicated she was physically beaten many times. I can't say whether or not anything else happened but I can safely say that she recovered well. Most likely from sympathizers who still valued the crown. I'm limited on topographical data X but there should be water nearby.” Nana informed me as I carried the now content Concerto off for the water source.
I took one look back at the guards I captured. The metal seemed to be far too strong for any of them to break but I went back towards the unicorns and conked them on the head when they seemed about to wake up. Concerto cheered slightly though from the wince I could tell she was just being polite.
“Let's get you cleaned up.” I gently spoke as I traipsed off with her cradled in my arms. Apparently I was treating her like a pet which just felt weird on so many levels.
Discord looked down on the battle… and was slightly impressed. Only slightly of course, since he would never admit that X actually looked to be a competent player.
Nevertheless, Discord quietly dragged two of the golems from their resting spot to examine them closer. It wasn't everyday that someone would see that much destruction in the span of their lifetime. At least not at this point in time. Peace was the big commodity for the most part and any militarization was very low key and usually pertaining to natural disasters. It was monotonous at that point which was almost worse than boring. It was the same.
Discord scoffed as the thought spitting it out of his body and burning it with a puff of flames from his mouth. He quickly turned back to his project and looked over the golems noting all the structural damage that came from the first to fall.
The blast entered through the head and melted through several arcane circuits leaving a smoldering wreck of wires and crystal. There were other strange baubles within but nothing too important. The entrance and exit wound were slagged and the intense heat had somehow turned the edges to glass keeping the wound centralized. The blast had been contained though he couldn't tell how much power went into one shot. Discord slowly rubbed the small scar that was still left behind as his eyes hardened on the mangled form of the golem. Ignoring the phantom pains he turned his eyes over to the other mangled forms and smirked.
There were few things that could surprise Discord so thoroughly and this turned out to be something. The arcane circuits were fried in ways that didn't seem possible. With most ponies, pegasi especially, being partially immune to lightning strikes the voltage from the weapons X had used were actually some of the most potent ways to electrocute something it had ever seen. It was beautiful and almost drew a smile to his face. The problem came from the energy that was used especially from the artificial tornado that suddenly appeared then stopped.
Each weapon that was used was laced with small amounts of magic. It was miniscule and almost negligible but it was there. No one, not even Starswirl, could have found it. The thaumic signature started to affect his chaos magic forcing it to back away until he flooded the sections with his magical essence. Order had been introduced into his weaponry and all Discord could do was smile widely.
Flint had been running for hours at this point followed by several of his guards that had not been sacrificed.
“Sir! We lost so many of our soldiers. What are we going to do?” One particularly young guard whined.
“Shut up! Shut your Faust damned mouth!” Flint roared as he rounded upon the hapless guard causing him to quiver on the spot.
Flint was beyond livid. They had failed and his own plans were now in jeopardy with Geode. Without an ounce of remorse he punched that same guard sending him sprawling on the ground a bloody mess.
“Pick him up and let's get out of here. Nopony speaks… got it.” Flint growled out causing the last of his guards to quietly fall into line.
One of the unicorns lifted the hapless guard and carried him as the entire group traveled back to their makeshift camp. Geode had to be informed and Flint was certainly not looking forward to it.
So for the next couple of minutes every single pony traveled in silence hoping not to draw Flint’s ire anymore. None of them wanted to handle it as the first guard had. After trudging back, weary and defeated, they all went their separate ways. Flint stared on on his own endeavors and the tent where Geode stood.
When Flint walked in the tent something was completely off. The room was covered in tree sap and several mushrooms dotted the wall sticking around in weird positions. One strangely looked exactly like the outline of Concerto with her cutie mark carved into one of the caps.
“Geode?” Flint gulped as he felt goosebumps prickling down the back of his neck sending his mane to stand up. There were a few things wrong with the scene.
“Ah, Flint, you've returned. Where is my prize?” Geode harshly whispered though the jovial tone was unsettling. He stepped out of the shadows revealing a very strange looking stallion.
Geode had never been a good looking pony, something his mother constantly told him. Born with a rust red coat and a stubby horn had left him average looking at best. There was also the problem with his weight getting out of control after managing to get promoted to general during the coup that Corundum led. Nopony knew why he held the grudge against the princess though most suspected that she had ignored him because of his looks. Some would say it was because he was a pompous jerk who delighted himself with sadistic past times which was why he was actually ignored, if the rumors were true. Still he wasn't a monster and merely a jerk.
What came into sight of Flint was certainly not Geode. Standing before him was a tall, actually muscular pony with a bright red coat and a much larger horn. Though even through all that Geode still wore the same smug look and sharp teeth that he had earlier. Something was wrong.
“Forgive me, sir. X reappeared and protected her.” Flint grimly stated standing tall so as to not show weakness.
Geode took it well. Then he started laughing and the body that stood before Flint shifted back to the fat slob of a foal he was cackling like an asylum loon. Magic coursed through him shifting him back and forth leaving grotesque caricatures of the pony that was Geode until he returned back to the muscular pony that was was first seen.
“I wouldn't have expected him to return for Concerto.” Geode calmly spoke looking at his hoof as it still shifted back and forth grotesquely warping to fit with his current form.
Flint wanted to ask how he had become different. He wanted to know why there was a competent looking pony leading them now. He wanted to comprehend what was going on but he wisely closed his mind and ignored everything that he saw. There was not enough cider in the world that would have made sense of the situation. So long as he was calm it made Flint less worried to deal with everything that was going on and was about to happen.
“He was much stronger than we anticipated. He called forth a tornado and shot lightning from his body. We were… unprepared for what he was capable of.” Flint answered honestly. As much as he wanted to place the blame on shoddy information, he had no one to blame but himself for his plan going awry.
“Really?” Geode shouted causing the mask to fall once again as the snarling visage of the fat slob known as Geode came to the forefront frothing at the mouth with impotent rage as the better looking side took center stage once more.
“Yes sir. We are preparing more golems to deal with him.” Flint confidently boasted though he didn't feel as confident as he portrayed.
X had decimated their golems without even trying. Flint had lost hope of actually winning the skirmish after the first golem fell. While they were not top of the line like at the capital, they were some of the prime shock troops that had managed to push back Equestrian forces each and every time. They had also lost fifteen of their troops which had diminished their fifty pony company very deeply. The ones who had come back were still dealing with the whiplash and paralysis that came from the attacks that had incapacitated them.
“Good. I'll be riding out with you next attack. We shall deal with this pest before it gets any bigger.” Geode growled out as he trotted for the tent flap.
When he stepped outside nopony batted an eye at his appearance. This baffled Flint even more since the big change should have been noticed immediately. There really was no way that any of this made sense at all. Nopony saw the two eyes, tinted yellow with red irises, watching the two and giggling at his handiwork.
Stygian was tired. Throughout their endeavors within the jungle they had slain twelve different dragons. The only ones who had managed to escape were a pair of purple dragons that had realized their clutch of eggs was more important than pride. Standing in the center of a pile of dragon corpses doubt started to seep in.
“This isn't what I wanted… “ Stygian whispered as he was forced to look at all the carnage around him.
No longer looking like a pony, Stygian towered over the impromptu burial ground made completely out of shadows. His shadowed wings were extended out as the darkness of what happened seeped into his horn filling him with magic.
“Friend, please understand that this was necessary. These dragons were ready to strike Equestria and decimate it after one pony, Flash Magnus, humiliated them in single combat.” The shadows whispered into Stygian’s head.
“They were taking care of a small collection of eggs!” Stygian harshly answered back stamping his hoof against the ground. The act caused the ground to crack since he wasn't used to the strength.
“It was for the greater good. Something I know you understand. If you did nothing you would have led Equestria into ruin. With this you are a hero. An unsung hero but a hero nonetheless. Thanks to you, you have saved the ponies of Equestria and beyond.” The shadows slyly boosted his ego making certain to use the trigger words that kept him going.
“A hero? Me!? I… I did it right? That was because of me.” Stygian smiled as the shadows reasserted their control flowing back into the cracks that came with a positive ego.
“Yes… yes you did.” The shadows and were as the collection of darkness went over well and the two left the now stained battlefield of slain dragons which peppered the small area within the jungle.
All that was left were echoes and blood.