//------------------------------// // Chapter 12 Part 2: Stygian Strikes // Story: Sundered Universes // by Super Ponyman //------------------------------// (Equestrian Skies) Stygian always loved flying, he loved the wind rushing past the Pony of Shadows's long, black, ghost-like body and his ethereal black mane. He envied the Pegasus and Alicorn for the ability to fly so well... but that would have to take a backseat to his master plan. Ripping apart Canterlot's defenses in order to let Midnight move in for the kill... If she ever got moving that is!!! The voice of the Pony of Shadows spoke to the Unicorn, who had landed his shadowy body to hide from the sun, since Celestia could see everything under the sun's light. The voice said in a loud growl, "What are you doing Stygian? We do not need to hide from the Alicorn, the sisters would flee, screaming in terror, at a mere glimpse of us, just as the people of that small village you called home did... Hollow Shades." Stygian replied with ire in his voice, "Well I'm hiding from the sun since Celestia can't see us in the shadows. On the subject of Hollow Shades, they were scared of me at first, until I cursed their minds to obey me and Midnight. Did I do well on that? The Pony of Shadows's voice replied with satisfaction, "Yes, that was rather impressive. You did that all without my influence... tell me, where did you learn that spell?" Stygian replied, his voice filled with an unnatural pride, "From a Unicorn named Starlight Glimmer, she said to me that "She needs somepony to pass on her knowledge", she was a strange unicorn... it back fired for her as I immediately used it on an artifact that she found, the Alicorn Amulet. When She returned to Twilight, was a extremely helpful mole in the Castle of Friendship. She was feeding me information, and she didn't even know it! Hah-Ha!" The Pony of Shadows laughed, "Excellent work, my good half! Setting a pony used mind control under our own was brilliant! How did you find the Alicorn Amulet?" Stygian mentally smirked, "Let's just say I went to the right Manehattan museum on the right day of the year..." A large Red Earth pony was passing by, a cart of apples trailing behind him. Stygian smiled, it was Big Macintosh! As the Pony of Shadows could only get so small... he could only really shrink down his shadow to the size of Big Mac for a little while before he returned to his massive form... But that didn't mean that he couldn't mold into the cart's shadow! So as soon as Big Macintosh went under the shady tree, Stygian's Pony of Shadow form slipped into the shadow of the cart, where he gave a near-silent evil laugh... It wasn't quiet enough as Big Mac stopped dead and said, "Hello? Is somepony there? I jus am deliverin apples to Canterlot. If ya want one, ya are more than welcome to take one. It is jus five bits." All Big Mac heard was the sounds of birds and the soft rustle of trees. The large Earth Pony sighed, "I guess it was jus the wind..." Stygian silently cursed himself for indulging in his ego, and made himself more careful as Big Mac trotted towards the capital city. (Canterlot Castle, The Guardians Room) Burning Star slowly came out of his bedroom the following day and wiped his eyes, which were crusty with a salty eye crud. Down the hallway, out came another pony that was a little irksome to him, and Burning Star let in a curse he had almost snapped aloud. Firestorm was annoying to Burning Star. He was intrusive and rude and obnoxious. But the reason why he hadn’t already lashed out at him was because he remembered what Noble Blade had taught him about self-mastery. What room did Burning Star have to criticize others about being rude and intrusive when he had so many flaws of his own? But that didn’t mean that he couldn’t see it in others. Noble Blade may love him like a brother, but not Burning Star. He already had the token annoying teammate in the form of his own brother, Thunder Fury! Firestorm by then had already spotted him and had came nearer. “Oh, haloo, Borning Stor,” he said in a ridiculous foreign accent. “How ore jou today?” He didn’t have time for this, he had to get ready for his inevitable showdown with Midnight Sparkle. “I was doing fine until you came along,” Burning Star grumbled, and turned away. “Well, dat vas rude.” Firestorm flapped up into the air just for fun. “But--get zis--I won’t say the same about jou.” “You know, Stormy” Burning Star observed, “we’re like the two ponies least likely to get along, and yet you’re still following me. I want to keep my emotions in at all times, and you just let your emotions out whenever you feel like it. You are nearly the complete antithesis of me." “Well, we’re different in nature, but does that mean I can’t get along with you?” Firestorm turned over so he was lying on his stomach in the air. “There’s like, nothing you want to do with me. At all.” Burning Star nodded. “We are totally different, you and I. We’re incompatible. It’s like I’m like fire, and you’re like water." Firestorm looked disappointed. “Well, actually, I think we’re both like fire.” “Yeah, but I’m more like a raging fire. You’re more like a…” “A what?” The Alicorn of Fire smirked, “A smaller...more annoying...guttural kind of spark.” “All right, look--” Burning Star cut him off, his voice slightly raised. “I can literally burst into flame on the spot and use the very essence of it to my whims, Firestorm! I am the master of the element of fire! And you...you, what, you can use flamethrowers and you look like your head’s ablaze. That’s it.” Firestorm tried again to get his attention, “All right, LOOK--” “Okay, okay, I’ll admit, you’re at least good in a fight.” Burning Star threw up his hooves in exasperation. “But is there anything about you that’s better than me?” Firestorm asked him, “How about flying?” Burning Star gave him an incredulous look. “Flying? Don’t you know who you’re talking to? I am the alicorn of--” “The Alicorn of Fire, I know. But the strength of an alicorn isn’t on flight. It’s more on having all-around abilities in magic and flight and earth pony strength. There’s no particular part of an alicorn that’s stronger than the other. But my strength is on flying. What do you say? A race?” Burning Star smiled. “A race it is, Firestorm. Come crawling back to me when you’re beaten into the ground so hard you have to dig your way out.” “Rude much?” Burning Star threw his hoof with all the strength he could muster to the back of his head, intending on knocking him to the ground on his face right there, but he was stopped by something hard grabbing on to his arm. It was Firestorm, holding his hoof there in midair with his right arm. His face registered annoyance. “Look here, Burning Star. I’ve put up with you, just like you’ve put up with me. But unlike you, I’ve managed to not lose my temper at you. I’ve put up with it to make you feel good about controlling me, and to make me feel good about helping build you up. But it looks like it’s having the opposite effect on you. So let me talk to you straight to your face.” Burning Star tried to wrestle his arm free from Firestorm’s grip, but Firestorm was too strong to allow him any wriggle room. It scared him, just a little. Burning Star was stronger than a normal pegasus. Right? “I’m sick of being treated like crap all the time.” Firestorm was looking more serious now than he had ever been before. “I’m okay with being funny, but the moment you think I’m some kind of lesser being, just because I want to make others laugh and I don’t want to make others feel bad, then that makes me want to make you feel bad. No more of that. I’m better than that.” “Well then, What prompted this?” Burning Star asked in wonder. He could ignore the pony holding his hoof back, if it meant he could concentrate on what was actually happening. “You forget something about me. I’m a warrior.” Firestorm’s voice had dropped. “I fight not only for what my country needs me for, but for what I believe in. And what I believe is that you shouldn’t think of me like I’m some inferior being. Be better than that. Be my friend, Star. Don’t be my enemy. Because if you want to be my enemy, then I’ll treat you like my enemy.” “You honestly think you can beat me if we got into a fight? I've been trained by one of the most dangerous beings on the planet.” Burning Star asked incredulously, with his hoof still being held up in the air. “What is it with you and fights?” Firestorm exploded suddenly. “Fighting isn’t everything! I don’t have to fight you to treat you like my enemy.” He looked dead-on into Burning Star’s eyes. “I can always just abandon you. When you need my help, when your life depends on me to help you get out of a life-or-death situation, I can always just say no to you and leave you to die at the hooves of somepony far worse than you.” It scared Burning Star to hear those words come from the mouth of Firestorm, of all ponies. He was supposed to be the ridiculous one, the comical one in the group. Could he really abandon Burning Star? And why was it that he suddenly cared whether he did? “But I won’t abandon you, Star,” Firestorm continued. “Because you can’t bring the strength together to push me aside, Or because if you did... I would roast you alive like a Hearth's Warming Eve Turkey?” Burning Star guessed. “No. It’s because I’m better than that,” Firestorm said flatly. “Because I’m not stupid enough to ignore the fact that friendship and unity is what will make me strong. But tell me, Star, do you know that? Do you know that friendship with ponies you don’t like is what makes you strong? That instead of obeying your natural inclination to hate them, you instead choose the courageous option and love them?” Burning Star's mane began to smoke, “Who do you think you are. Noble Blade? Stop acting like you think you’re better than me.” “We won’t know who’s better than the other until we race, now won’t we?” It was still on. “All right, then. We’ll go out south of Canterlot mountain for the race. But, um, one question.” “What was that?” He winced a little bit. “Could you let go of my hoof?” As soon as the apple cart passed into the city of Canterlot, the shadow of the cart suddenly disappeared and flew off to another obsolete corner of a building. The shadows oozed across the ground, sliding into the sides of buildings and collecting more shadow material, growing stronger and stronger. Before long, there was enough of his power restored for the Pony of Shadows to manifest himself once more in an unseen part of the city. Without a word, with only a twist of his mind, his body split into three other copies with a squelching noise of gooey, drippy, gelatinous matter. After there were three copies of himself, those also split into two, making six copies of the Pony of Shadows, plus himself. "Kill them all, I must speak with the princesses.” was his single command. The six beasts instantly split from their positions and flew through the city like fleeting memories, passing through walls and spreading throughout the city at random. All throughout the city, they erupted out of the ground from the shadows where they were and fired black, curling bolts of magic at each citizen they came across. Some of the bolts incapacitated their victims, some of them trapped their bodies in the dark shadows all over the place, and some of them even killed wherever they went. There was a sudden pop, and Luna and Celestia appeared in the central courtyard of Canterlot. Upon seeing the massive figure of twisting shadows appear in front of their faces, even the two princesses got scared--just for a moment. Then they steeled their resolve and hardened their stances. “Princess Celestia, we meet at last." The Pony of Shadows spoke harshly. “I have an ultimatum. I hope you consider it... for the safety of your precious ponies." All across the city, for five copies of the pony of shadows, there was either a Guardian of the Sun or a Star Hunter on them. One of them had been slain from far away by Freedom Fighter, shooting him with an energy arrow from his collapsible bow, but there were still five of them that four of them had to deal with. Noble Blade was alone, with two of them next to each other in front of him that he was parrying bolts of energy from. Freedom Fighter, Quickfire, and Hiller were all facing down one apiece, but it was proving to be difficult for them. The battle had gone on long enough already, and they were growing exhausted. Perceiving this, Luna asked, “What dost thou want?” “What do I want? To show you my potential, my true powers over the Shadows.” he answered, slithering in his shadow to their side. “You would be wise to listen to me. I can help you.” Despite being just a construct, The Pony of Shadows was immense, perhaps 12-15 feet tall! Celestia narrowed her eyes. “Explain yourself, fiend." “My message is simple, I wish to attack Midnight Sparkle.” he breathed, his voice was like nails on a chalkboard. “But there is nothing I can do at the moment without your help. For she holds my leash, Allow me to join your ranks, and I will gladly serve you until you destroy Midnight Sparkle and her influence is wiped from this and any other world.” High in the skies, Burning Star and Firestorm were resting on a cloud, searching for a good route to race on, when there came a thump from underneath them. Both of them looked at each other. “That wasn’t you, was it?” Firestorm asked. “No, of course not, my body doesn't make random thumps.” Burning Star curtly replied. “It came from Canterlot, beneath us.” Both of them peered over the edge of their cloud to see plumes of smoke coming from off of the far-distant city. There were clashes and shouts, and they could see the illumination of flames as the pony of shadows attacked Canterlot. “Again?! REALLY!” Burning Star groaned, rolling onto his back. “Another attack on Canterlot? I’m getting sick of this." “So attacks on the capital city are just normal for you back where you come from?” Firestorm innocently asked him. “How were you able to get anything done?” “I have no clue, and I don’t need to listen to this right now. Shut up and let me find out where the trouble is coming from.” Burning Star swept the city with his gaze until he came to the central circle of Canterlot. Activating his horn, he was able to narrow his vision like a pair of binoculars until he could focus on what was going on. Finally, he stopped, and he turned to Firestorm. “Bad news, Pal.” “Oh?” “The Pony of Shadows is down there.” “The what now?” Star explained, “You...you know the energy spike in Manehattan we had to get called away to investigate?” “Yeah.” “That’s him.” “This is too many antagonists for me to put up with!” Firestorm flopped down on the cloud, fluffing it up and down like a pillow. “I agree, but we will address that later. There appear to be other copies of him throughout the city,” Burning Star continued, observing the miniature set of Canterlot below him. “Our friends are holding them off for the moment, but we need to help in some way.” “Good.” Firestorm got up and stretched his wings. “Let’s kick some booty, then. How would you want to go about doing it?” Burning Star thought for a moment, then slowly said, “I can conjure up a Star Strike. That could destroy the principal copy of the Pony of Shadows, destroying his other copies and putting him in a coma--” “Hang on,” Firestorm interrupted him. “What the heck’s a Star Strike?” “It’s a meteorite strike-esque kind of attack that I came up with. Copyright Burning Star. I can strike him with all the force of a meteor from the heavens. You know the file you watched when I blew Firebrand off the face of the world?" Firestorm nodded, "THAT was Starstrike? Is it really that destructive?" Burning Star shrugged, "Well, yes and no. The first time I used it I was unable to control it, now that I am more mature I can concentrate it down to a more contained size." He asked the Alicorn of Fire, "Why do you need a name for it?” “So that I can scream it at him as I do it. You know, anime style." “Why the heck would you do that? Screaming an attack just alerts them to whatever you’re planning on doing, and offers them a chance for a counterattack.” He pointed at himself. “I mean, look at me. Do you see me yelling out the name of every single convoluted attack I ever do? What do you think I’m in, a frickin’ comic book?” “If the attack is powerful enough, a counterattack isn’t going to make a difference.” Burning Star mentally groaned. “And perhaps saying the name of the attack helps you keep in mind what kind of attack you’re going to do to the other guy.” “So the more powerful the name, the more powerful the attack?” “Well--” “So if I were to do a Sonic Flameboom at somepony, but I call it the “Fluffy Bunny Love Tap,” then will the attack get diminished because the name’s not cool enough?” Hold on, Back Up... Sonic Flameboom? “In a way, it seems like it’s better that I call it the “Fluffy Bunny Love Tap,” because then when people hear how he died and they say he died because of the Fluffy Bunny Love Tap, then they’ll laugh him into an ignominious silent rage from the afterlife itself.” “Hold on,” Burning Star said before he could say anything more. “What’s this about the Sonic Flameboom?” “It’s a name I came up with for myself for when I break the sound barrier.” Sound barrier? Even Burning Star required effort for that to happen, usually he ignited his wings and used them like rocket thrust, and the way Firestorm said it made it sound like he did it regularly. “You came up with a name for that? You're a Frickin’ hypocrite.” “All right, look, there’s a difference between describing your attacks and yelling them aloud at your opponent whenever you fight because you think that’ll improve your attack!” Burning Star snarked back, “Says the pony that makes whooshing noises whenever he swings his swords.” Firestorm chuckled. “Touche.” “If we could combine ourselves together, we could create an entirely new attack to demolish the Pony of Shadows right where he stands.” “You remember what we were talking about earlier?” Firestorm asked. “About how if I really wanted to, I could always just abandon you when you need my help?” "No! No, no, no, don’t do this, Storm! You’re better than this!" Burning Star wildly thought out loud. “I’m not going to do it. I’m going to stick with you anyway,” Firestorm said. “Because I’m not petty enough to take revenge on a single pony that wronged me in exchange for the destruction of thousands of lives.” He grinned wickedly. “What do you want me to do?” “I must join you,” the Pony of Shadows slithered. “Do it, and your reward shall be beyond imagining.” “Trickster!” Luna shouted. “Thou shalt not deceive us so easily! Thou art a villain that is attacking our city for little other reason than to gain our attention!” “Must you be so rude?” he asked. “You’re making this difficult.” Shing shing shing Three long spears of feathered metal flew from behind the princesses and sank into the flesh of the pony of shadows like gelatin. A figure leaped up from behind them and landed on her hind legs, spreading her wings out like a fan of metal. Crimson Mane then folded them back with a shuddering sound, and lept at the Pony of Shadows without another word, her front hooves crackling with electricity. The Pony of Shadows shot out his arm and it elongated into a wide-bladed black sword, and swing it at Crimson Mane as she hurled at his face and begun to slash at him with her wings. She had leaped over his massive sword and had spun her wings like a massive fan in his gelatinous face. The pony of shadows roared and fired his horn in a downward strike, but Crimson Mane caught it along the edge of her metallic wings. The force, however, still pushed her down to the ground, and the Pony of Shadows raised his sword and plunged it into the earth like a stab to the heart. From the massive puncture, deadly shadows rippled out like a shockwave, seeking out Celestia, Luna, and Crimson Mane. Celestia quickly ignited her horn and a beacon of light emanated from her forehead, incinerating any shadows that travelled along the ground. Luna ignited her own horn and took control of the rest of the shadows, forcing them to redirect into a nearby wall, which exploded in a shower of rubble. And Crimson Mane took to the air again, spreading her wings like twin swords and crackling electricity from her front hooves. The Pony of Shadows saw this and morphed the sword stuck in the ground into a massive spiking spire that redirected itself and pointed forward at all three defenders of Canterlot. And the spire fired forward. As it shot forward, faster than the response time of any of them, it elongated the spikes on the end, splitting off into fractals that seeked out their targets with ruthless efficiency. As they impacted against the chests of all three of them, the tips flattened so they spread all over their torsos and held them down for a finishing blow. The pony of shadows stepped forward, ignoring the sudden glint of something orange high up in the sky. “I told you, Celestia, that you would be wise to listen to me.” Luna snapped at the dark beast, "We do not negotiate with terrorists! Especially not somepony like you!" The Pony of Shadows smiled, his many sharp teeth now visible in his maw. "Them your existence ends here. After you are gone, Midnight is Next!" (Start the Song) And the orange glint caught his sight again, and he looked up, annoyed. High above his head, something was falling at a speed that shouldn’t have been possible. It was shrieking as it hurtled downwards like a flaming meteor, but there was something helping him attain that speed. As it came down, even faster than the Pony of Shadows should have anticipated, it shouted, “SONIC FIRESTRIKE!” And it slammed into the upturned face of the force of darkness. From where he struck, a massive flaming ring expanded at a diagonal angle, tearing into the ground from where it touched. The form of the black shadow disintegrated on the spot from the explosion of bright light that had just occurred, and all across Canterlot, all the forms of the Pony of Shadows had instantly disappeared as well, to the astonishment of those that were fighting them. The small form of the diminutive pony inside the Pony of Shadows form was thrown backwards at a ridiculously fast pace, and a kilometer-wide crater of roaring fire was there in place of the overwhelming force of darkness that had stood there only a few seconds before, and a giant pillar of fire visible for miles erupted from the ground. Celestia, Luna, and Crimson Mane had been blown back from the explosion as well, and were even now getting to their hooves to prepare for whatever had landed. They were all aware of the absence of the attacking forces now; no noises came from the city except those of the flickering flames of destruction and the cries of the injured. From the crater’s edge came forth a woozily stumbling orange pegasus with a red and orange and yellow mane. “Whoah,” he mumbled. “Yelling the name does make a stronger attack.” “Firestorm!” Celestia cried, rushing over to her own guard and hugging him like a lost child. “What happened? Where’s Burning Star?” “Ho dup,” he said, holding up a hoof. “Let me try to see straight for a second.” He waited for a second, then said, “Okay, I’m good now.” He took a deep breath. “Me and Burning Star were going to race in the air above Canterlot when we saw that the city was going to be attacked. We debated for a while on the schematics of naming attacks and the uselessness of using them while attacking, then Burning Star had an idea. We both ascended to a huge altitude, then we both hurtled down at a normally unattainable speed. Once he had gained enough energy for a Star Strike, he ignited his horn and poured the energy he had into my attack, and I went down with the combined power of a Sonic Flameboom and a Star Strike. I bashed the big bad baddie in the face, and, well…” He indicated his surroundings. “You can see what happened there for yourself.” “You didn't answer the question, Where’s Burning Star?” Luna asked. “Over Here,” came a voice, and they all turned to face the alicorn of fire, who was limply flapping in the air, his mane alight, but sputtering like a old engine. He took a deep breath, red in the face. “Hoo boy, I forgot how much that takes out of me, that took a lot of energy to move that much power to your trajectory, Firestorm.” “It took a lot more power to collide with the frickin’ thing itself,” Firestorm replied, jerking a hoof behind his head at the flickering crater. (End the song) Burning Star ignored him and flew over to the crumpled form of Stygian against the wall, he picked him up with his hooves and pointed his sharp horn against his neck. “So, Stygian. Thought you could destroy the princesses while I’m in Canterlot, eh?” Stygian made no response. Burning Star shrugged and ignited his horn, and black fiery chains materialized out of the tip and wrapped around the limp form of Stygian like so many slithering black snakes. Crimson Mane came over next to Firestorm. “Who are you?” the voice behind her mask asked with disbelief evident in every syllable. Firestorm, even though he was exhausted, flicked a hoof nonchalantly, almost falling over in the process. “Oh, I’m just...frickin’ Firestorm...you know? Jusss a guy...tryin tado was right…” Crimson Mane’s mask displayed no response, but she did tilt her head incredibly. “Do you always talk like this?” “Of course not,” Firestorm said, clearly and legibly. He shot an annoyed glance at Crimson Mane. “Just go along with it.” He went back into his other slurred and tired voice. “IIImmm frickin’ tiiired, and I don’t wanna talk right now, And I’ll…” He intentionally toppled over onto his side, breaking his speech. “Shoot,” he muttered. Crimson Mane turned back to Celestia. “This is your professional soldier? I see that the requirements in the past were really lenient.” she asked with disbelief, this time incredulously instead of with awe. “What kinda stupid question is that?” Firestorm asked, still lying on the ground as stiff as a board. “What else would I look like?” Crimson Mane shook her head, letting out a sigh. Firestorm finally got back up onto his hooves. “Oh, uh, by the way, I didn’t catch your name. Who’re you?” “Crimson Mane,” she curtly replied. “That’s all you have to know for now.” Firestorm scratched his chin. “That sounds suspiciously like a pseudonym or an alias of some kind to protect an identity.” “Oh, you want to see what’s under here?” Crimson Mane asked angrily, pulling her mask off with a swoop of her metallic-coated wing. She indicated her face violently. “Here! Get your satisfaction now, since I've heard Quickfire doesn't have the guts to show his face." Firestorm saw the face underneath her mask and didn’t flinch. “Okaaay. So, what should I be scared of?” “She is a futuristic version of a filly in Ponyville named Scootaloo,” Celestia gravely explained. A moment passed. Then Firestorm raised an eyebrow. “Okay. So what? A grown-up child. That’s pretty cool. Good for you, I guess. But who’s Scootaloo? I’ve never been to Ponyville before. Why should I be shocked at that news?” Crimson Mane exchanged glances with Celestia. “He’s honestly not shocked at all?” “Not a bit,” Celestia confirmed. “That’s strange,” Crimson Mane mused. “Everypony else I’ve revealed myself to has been shocked beyond belief. Guess that is a result of time travel?" “That’s because they’ve known this Scootaloo you speak of,” Firestorm supplied. “Not me.” “You aren’t shocked at me. That’s...actually pretty shocking,” Crimson Mane admitted. She shrugged. “Eh... Can’t win ‘em all.” By then, the rest of the Star Hunters and the Guardians of the Sun had arrived in the central courtyard of Canterlot. Most of them were banged up and scratched in many areas. Noble’s armor was dented on his front, and the sword he held in his hoof was dripping with dark shadowy material. Quickfire’s mask was knocked off, exposing his lone dead eye. Freedom Fighter was suffering no new scratches that Celestia could see, and Hiller’s long scratches and indentations were slowly thickening over with new skin. Noble Blade, seeing the crater, asked without any sign of strain from battle, “Firestorm? That was you, right?” “Yeperee,” Firestorm said with every ounce of seriousness. “That was me.” “You rhymed, nice.” Hiller commented, pressing on his shoulder to pop it back in place. It slide back with a audible squish. “I did?” Firestorm asked, sounding genuinely surprised even though he knew it perfectly well himself. “Moi werd!” “What was that?” Luna asked of him. “What was what?” “Those two last words you said.” “My word. But pronounced in a funny way.” Firestorm twirled his hoof up in the air and waltzed extravagantly away from Princess Luna. “You know this by now, Luna. I’m a little loony.” He sidled up to Celestia. “So what do we do now?” Firestorm asked her casually. “Well, We wait,” said Burning Star, coming over with Stygian in chains. “And we see if there’s a follow-up attack. With all our forces combined, we’re strong, but...we need more than what we have here. I’ll send out word for help via magical communication, hope that maybe Twilight of my world or even my friends in the Masters of Nature can get to your world in time, but even that may not be enough.”