//------------------------------// // A Bout Before the Gods // Story: Tales of the Battle Foals // by Sirdubya //------------------------------// With their arsenal ready, their strength at its peak and their morale burning like Celestia’s sun, the Battle Foals smashed and blasted through wave after wave of enemies to reach the tower where Skadi hid and Crazylocks was imprisoned. Somehow, every fallen enemy seemed to gain them strength rather than expend it, and the foals were more than keen to use this momentum to their advantage. It got to the point where the droids’ survival instincts must have kicked in and told them that it was hopeless to even engage their intruders. Just before they reached the base of the tower, Fire Fight noticed that they were one short. “Hey! Where’s that other Shadewalker?” “Don’t worry. I sent him on a little mission of his own while we handle the hard part.” Shadow Shroud said. “At least it’s the fun part!” Frostbite said as he popped his knuckles. He soared fairly high above the foals and blasted any interception points that could be used by the robots with ice, erecting walls of ice barring their routes so that the foals could safely reach their destination. Once they did, they were met with a door that was extravagantly designed in such a way that one would know right away that it was important. Standing on either side of it were more statue of the bizarre beings that must have built it, and branded onto it was an odd series of three symbols next to each other. The first was shaped like a right side-up horseshoe, the next looked like a paperclip if it’s two halves were bent apart, and the last was a triangular arch with no bottom and a line running through the middle. Frostbite jammed his claws in between them and tried to force them apart, but they were locked tight. “Allow me, darling.” Quantum Tech said. She used her railgun to create a magical cord between her and the door. Using her magic and her glasses, she hacked the lock within seconds, allowing the icy drake to slam them open. “” Frostbite’s roar powerfully echoed throughout the interior, signaling the Battle Foals’ siege and rallying them to attack. They charged into the tower with determination that Valkyrie’s hero ancestor would have been proud of. Immediately before them was a flight of stairs that they began ascending. “KNOCK KNOCK, SKADI!!” Valkyrie shouted. “Hope you don’t mind us letting ourselves in.” Shadow Shroud said. A loudspeaker came on. “Oh, not at all! MAKE YOURSELVES AT HOME!!” she bellowed. The foals were expecting a full on assault wave of drones or some kind of security system, but….nothing. All the foals passed by were metal sculptures and seemingly painted pictures of the extinct civilization along with convoluted maps of the ancient era that they lived in. The eerie silence put the foals on edge. “Not gonna throw away any more of your toys, huh!?” Turf War taunted. “Oh, don’t worry about that right this minute. When it comes to entertaining my guests, I love throwing them a little surprise.” Skadi said. “We’ll be ready for it!” Air Slash said. “AND YOU BETTER BE READY TO HAND OVER CRAZYLOCKS AND HAVE A S*** TON OF ARROWS PUMPED DOWN YOUR THROAT!!” Bullseye shouted. “A lovely fantasy, but I’m afraid I’ll emerge victorious in this bout! I’ll have you ground into fuel for my minions!!” “For someone who says she’s a good hostess, ya sure do like throwin’ around threats.” Kickback said. “She wants us to reach the top… Keep your wits about you.” Zebota said. Heeding the words of their resident mystic, the Battle Foals continued their ascent up the seemingly endless flight of stairs, knowing that Skadi was toying with them somehow. Even the somewhat omniscient Shadow Shroud couldn’t pick up on anything ready to ambush them from the shadows, but she kept her senses sharp. After what felt like an eternity of climbing, the foals ran into another door. Quantum was ready to hack this one as well, but it just opened for them, putting them a little more on edge. Outside was a large courtyard-like area that was completely empty apart from four statues in each corner of the square-shaped area. The sky above was colored by the eerie red lights of the city. “This totally isn’t a boss room…” Spiral Galaxy said. “I….probably should have carried all of that water up here….. Crap…” Tidal Wave said. “Be careful, everyone…” Fire Fight said as he slowly walked into the apparent arena and motioned for his comrades to follow when he determined that the coast was clear. When they did, the door behind them suddenly slammed shut, startling them. The loudspeaker came on again. “Welcome…to your last stand.” Skadi hissed. “Just give up already, Skadi. We’ve proven we can beat you and your army of robot butlers, so just hand over Crazylocks and turn yourself in!” Fire Fight ordered. “HAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAAA!!!! You seriously believe I’ve shown you all of my tricks!? I haven’t even used my trump card!!.....until now….” A flash of lightning boomed in the sky, and in it silhouette was an ominous shape that then leapt down into the arena, hitting the ground with a resounding thud. When all was calm and the foals could get a good look at it, it was a huge mech that was shaped like a weird yet strangely believable cross between a spider and a frog, but only it front pair of legs had hands. It simply stared at the foals tensely, as if to size up prey. “Impressive science fair project, darling.” Quantum taunted. “Why thank you.” Skadi said. “I can hardly to demonstrate its capabilities, especially on a stage just in view of the gods.” Another flash of lightning crashed as she said that. “OBLITERATE THESE HAPLESS BRATS, SURT!!” The robot, apparently named ‘Surt’ lifted its hands, and they suddenly burst into flames. It let out a metallic roar not unlike the mecha lions before leaping towards the foals. “SCRAMBLE!!” Turf War shouted. They all dispersed just in time for Surt to strike the ground, creating a shockwave of fire that Fire Fight had to catch with his magic in order to prevent everyone from getting incinerated. He tried to crash the inferno on top of Surt, but its abdomen inexplicably produced a torrent of water that fizzled out the blaze in seconds. “What the!?” Fire Fight exclaimed. “Hehehehehehehehe…. I told you it was impressive, didn’t I?” Skadi hissed. “The data I managed to gather combined with your friend’s ability to seamlessly shift between physical form allowed me to bestow Surt with the capability of making even the most extreme changes to his battle tactics and arsenal. You can thank her when you’re all in Tarturus!!” Her statement was further evidenced when Surt’s hands stopped blazing and morphed into cannons that resembled Quantum’s railguns, and magic turrets emerged from its hind legs and abdomen. It strafed around as it rapidly fired at the foals, who bobbed and weaved furiously around the incoming barrage. “Works for me!” Tidal Wave said. He used the water dispersed by Surt and caused it to spike up from the ground in an attempt to impale its armor, but to no avail. He then decided to draw all of the water to him and form it around his lance into a blade that he used to parry the magic blasts away as he charged towards Surt. “SPIRAL, BOOST ME!” “UP YOU GO!” Spiral called out. She used her magic to create an upward gravitic thrust underneath Tidal Wave that launched him above Surt. All of the magic turret focused on him, but he dove down and wove the water around himself and manipulated it in such a way that he jetted through the air and sliced the turrets off one by one. “That’ll teach you!” Tidal Wave was about to jet back to his friends when Surt suddenly constructed a metal hammer and swatted him away like a fly. “ARGH!!” He slammed into and tumbled on the ground like a ragdoll. “TIDAL WAVE!!” Spiral shouted. “I’m on it!” Greensprout said. She rushed towards him with almost no regard for the railgun blasts. Air Slash wasted no time getting between her and them and absorbing them in his swords. “FALL TO ME, MACHINE!!” Air Slash shouted as he launched two magic blades at Surt. The mechanical menace quickly reconstructed its railguns into swords of its own, each absorbing the electromagnetic magic blades. “What!?” Surt raised its swords and discharged the electricity into its severed turrets, which then morphed into mini versions of Shrapnel that charged the foals. “Hmph! Repulsive imitations!” Zebota said as he charged nature power into his tomahawk. “Shrapnel, keep his attention!” His wooden titan roared to the sky above them before leaping towards their foe. He dodged Surt’s sword slashes as he slammed into its bigger hind legs on occasion to try and knock it off balance. “BATTLE FOALS, ATTACK!!!” Fire Fight’s order beckoned another fierce crash of lightning from the sky as the young warriors launched a full on assault on their adversary. From the sky came a hail of golden arrows and ice blasts courtesy of Bullseye and Frostbite while Kickback, Quantum Tech and Spiral Galaxy hung in the back and blasted the beast while fending off the mechanical mini Shrapnels, whom Zebota focused on with his empowered tomahawk chopping through them like soft wood once he used magic glyphs to hinder their movement. Fire Fight, Shadow Shroud, Turf War, Air Slash, a healed Tidal Wave, Valkyrie and Frostbite surrounded Surt and attacked it directly with all of their strength and determination, but their enemy seemed to inherit their agility, and it made an effort to perform a deadly dance with its many combatants. “” Valkyrie unleashed her ancestral light, ready to eradicate her foe with the golden light of the Valhalla. At one point, Surt slammed his hammer down, sending out a forward shockwave that the foals dodged at the last second. While it was still down, Fire Fight and Shadow Shroud took the opportunity to strike. Fire Fight used his blazing magic to flame slide to one side of the titan while Shroud used her natural agility to rush over there. Fire Fight rocketed into the air and meteor kicked into Surt’s head, causing it to lift its hammer up and giving Shroud the opportunity to multi-slash the hammer’s handle at lightning speeds, slicing it in two like a tree and causing the broken hammer to crash to the ground. The two attackers made their retreat. Surt tossed the hammer piece out of the arena seemingly out of frustration before launching a barrage of guided missiles at the foals. When they were within close enough proximity to one another, Frostbite froze clusters of them together and spiked them at it, causing them to detonate and damage Surt’s armor. He then exhaled a vast amount of ice that froze its legs down, and he crashed himself into its abdomen, creating a huge hole that started sparking. However, before the icy drake could retreat, Surt managed to smack him into the ground with one of his swords. “OOF!!” Frostbite hit the ground violently, and Surt was about land a lethal blow when Kickback shot into a little crack in its wrist. The electrified bullet got caught in an important circuitry, causing a malfunction and the hand to explode, the sword along with. Surt glanced over at Kickback, who just calmly pointed his smoking gun at the robotic titan, ready to take another shot if need be. Surt then tried slamming his other sword into Turf War, but he blocked it with his shield. The reflective force of his hammer allowed him to struggle against the crushing force of the enormous construct until he was able to muster enough strength to smack it with his hammer, parrying it away and weakening its structural integrity enough that Air Slash could swoop in and dice it like sushi. Valkyrie went in for the kill and surged forward with her sword ready to impale Surt…..when it suddenly activated some kind of Valhalla light of its own. It exploded into a burst of orange light that made it look like it was ablaze and even conjured a new set of swords that Valkyrie had to parry away. Surt then suddenly jumped on top of a wall. It stared down the foals before blasting a torrent of fire throughout the entire arena. Despite taking its most extreme eradication protocol, Surt’s sensors still detected the foals, and it soon became clear why. Fire Fight focused all of his mental might on the engulfing inferno, protecting his friends from being incinerated. “HRAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!!!!!!!” The rest of the foals watched in awe as their leader form the raging inferno into a massive serpentine dragon in the likeness of his Cutie Mark. “ROOOOAAAAARRRRRR!!!!!” Fire Fight flame jumped straight into the air and did a flip kick that caused his draconic flame to crash into the wall perching Surt just as the mech jumped clear of the blaze onto an adjacent one, the former being destroyed as though it were caught in a volcanic eruption. Surt seemed to be losing stamina despite still being in its berserk mode, but all seemed to be at a stalemate. ***** Skadi watched the clash unfold on her screen and seethed with fury against the group of young warriors, children who were complete strangers bar Valkyrie that shouldn’t have been a threat, but were sent by some cruel prank of Fate to thwart her. Even her most powerful creation was at a standstill against them. “Nrgh!!! WHAT RIGHT DO THEY HAVE TO RISE TO SUCH HEIGHTS!? WHY DO THEY DARE UNDO ALL OF THE BLOOD, SWEAT AND TEARS I’VE PUT INTO MY DESTINY!?!?!?”she exclaimed. She took a deep breath and calmed down. “It matters not.” She leered over at the stasis tube where Crazylocks lay dormant, unable to combat the psychotic hag. “So long as I have their little pet hostage, they’ll waste away at their stamina and give out eventually. After that, I’ll have all the scientific potential I could ever ask for. Hehehehe…. If only those foals could realize they’ve actually expedited my agenda…” As Skadi resumed her viewing of the fight, the stasis tube began cracking. When she looked over, she was horrified to see that Crazylocks’ horn had sprouted! Slowly but surely, the tube began experiencing serious malfunctions. In sudden fell swoop, the tube exploded, and Crazylocks landed on her hooves. She looked up at Skadi, who could see a hellish hatred burning in the filly’s eyes. Her words, however, struck terror in the hen’s heart. “I’m….done….being…..a LAB RAT!!!”