“Make way! Make way for the princesses!”
The command came from Captain Shining Armor, who was standing next to his wife, Princess Cadence. As the chariot pulled by willing pegasi guards landed in the street in front of the Maneway’s white pillars, the crowd of Royal Guard encircling the landing zone stepped back a respectful distance.
The chariot doors opened from the back, and out stepped a gold-shod shoe in a tall white hoof. The rest of the form of Princess Celestia followed the hoof, and when she was fully outside she slowly inflated herself with a breath of cool, crisp air. The morning was cool but overcast by heavy clouds, a result of the pegasi weather teams making the skies unsuitable for flight.
“At ease,” Princess Celestia said to the stiff guards in her motherly voice. She stepped aside to allow Princess Luna to follow her. Her own dark blue shoe made a clopping noise on the pavement where she came out, and three more noises followed as the rest of her hooves hit the ground. Princess Luna spread her wings stiffly, shuffled them, and sighed deeply. “Were it not for the matter at hoof, sister, I would thoroughly enjoy this particular outing.”
“Oh, how I wish that it could be different,” Celestia gravely replied. She turned her attention to Shining Armor. “What’s the situation, Captain?”
“Most of the citizens have evacuated the city,” Shining Armor reported. “Those that haven’t are being herded to the southern corner of the island. The perimeter of the island is secure, and we’ve been acting as sentry duty until you’ve arrived. There’s been no sign of Ironheart yet.”
“What do you know about Ironheart, Captain?” Princess Luna inquired of him.
“Not much,” Shining Armor admitted, taking off his helmet and rubbing the inside of it.
“Hasn’t Twilight told you about him?” Celestia said in confusion. “I would have thought she would have told you everything.”
“I’ve been busy,” Shining Armor admitted. “I haven’t seen my sister much except for yesterday. She’s with her friends helping the remaining civilians get to a safe place at the southern tip of the island.”
“I will go and speak with her,” Celestia said. “Princess Luna, you’re in charge of the Royal Guard. Move out and sweep the city for Ironheart. Should you encounter him…” Celestia took a deep breath. “Do not engage. Pin him down and wait for me to arrive.”
And Celestia spread her wings and took to the skies in a graceful upward arc.
As she departed into the air, one of the pegasi that had pulled her chariot whispered to the other, “Why are we needed, again?”
“I don’t know! But I really need this job!” the other whispered back.
Luna’s commanding tone snapped them back to life.
“Gentlecolts,” she started, addressing the entire assembly of Royal Guards. They all stiffened in their golden gleaming armor. “Let us begin our jobs. Captain!”
“Yes, Princess Luna?” Shining Armor asked of her.
“I want to split these forces into three equal parts and put one part each at the southern end, the northern end, and the western end of Manehattan. Under no circumstances must we allow Ironheart to escape to the mainland. Push his location westward to the ocean shore. Once thou art in thy positions at the north, south, and west ends, I want thee to sweep out and search the city. Every building, every street, every corner. We-I-I mean, I--shall be with the southern end of the city, assisting the guards there. Cadence, thou shalt be at the northern end. And Shining Armor, thou shalt assist thy own guards at the eastern end. Divide thyself into three, then, and to thy positions!”
Luna turned to look down the nearest street, as though Ironheart was already there. Her face was expressionless and grim.
“War has come to Manehattan.”
The Chrystaller building, topped with a massive, gleaming horse’s head, was so high up that nopony could observe the movements going on higher up near the brow of the bowing horse head.
Ironheart had counted on that.
He had seen Princess Celestia fly by without noticing him. It astounded him that she hadn’t perceived his presence there, and he hadn’t opened fire on her then. It wasn’t the time or place he wanted. He had his own place he wanted to fight. Not just because it was stupid to reveal his location now, but because he also wanted to prove that he was equal to all of the armies they could throw at him.
Peeking out from over the top of the head, he could see the entirety of Manehattan in all of its glory. It looked like a little toy map that was printed on a cheap carpet. His attention was focused on the events folding out near the Maneway, near the Bronclyn Bridge leading into Manehattan. There was quite the assembly of pale white, speckled with gold here and there that got into his eyes.
“The Royal Guard,” he murmured. “Let me face the battle without fear. And without regret.”
He turned his gaze inward to observe all of the security cameras and all the screens in Manehattan. He swept his eyes along the bees-view of thousands of cameras all over the city until he found the cameras he wanted. He selected four of them, and they occupied his view.
Princess Luna was there giving the orders. Luna, more aggressive and less of a tactician than Celestia was. But listening to the plan Luna was giving, he smiled. It was a good plan, actually.
Perfect.
He stood up, atop the horse head’s scalp, and stooped his knees. He then extended them to launch himself off the head on the eastern side, hidden from the eyes of the Guard and the princesses that were undoubtedly with them. His wings folded themselves around him like a cocoon as he went down, spinning like a bullet from a rifle.
The ground rushed at him faster. And faster. The world spun in Ironheart’s vision.
And only a hundred feet before he hit the ground, Ironheart stiffened his curving wings and ignited thrusters enough to make him “bounce” in the air in the shape of a wide downward arc. He landed atop the nearest available rooftop and folded his wings into his back.
Ironheart only gave a passing glance at the faint armies of Canterlot assembled near the eastern end of the island.
In a few short hours, they would meet. He could wait for them for now. He was a patient pony. He was content to let the battle commence whenever he willed it to.
That was how a great pony made war.
“I fear nothing now,” he murmured under his breath. “Fear belongs to those that cannot control themselves.”
He then seemed to speak to the far-off troops about to enter and sweep the city for him. Even though neither party could see the other, Ironheart delivered his address to them and the princesses commanding them.
“Control your fears, then, my enemies, and pluck up your courage. Fear not the anger of your superiors for disobedience, for they are mere mortals like yourself.
“Fear not the wrath of your false gods, for they are false, and can do nothing to you.
“Fear not the sting of death that seeks you even now, for it is swift, and unprejudiced, and comes for everything in the end.
“Fear not the jaws of Tartarus that gape open to receive the filth that you are, for there is something much worse than that awful hell that waits for you.
“No…”
Ironheart’s mind solidified its purpose, and he dilated his eyes until they almost radiated sickness and suffering to anyone close by. An aura of pure menace surrounded him, so tangible it was almost like a toxic smell to anyone unlucky enough to be near him. Death filled his mind like a lustful image.
“Fear me instead.”
Celestia’s roamings through the buildings of southeastern Manehattan took a while. As she passed buildings, tall and silent, she was filled with an overwhelming sense of dread.
What would have been different had she acted sooner? What could she have done? Would she have stopped Ironheart at all? It was hard to say. The what if questions didn’t matter, because the words if only were lies. If was a lie because she didn’t know that her actions would have contributed to Ironheart’s plans coming about sooner. And she also didn’t know that if she had stopped him, that would have been the end of it, making only a lie as well.
She eventually had made her way to the Manehattan Institute of Technology’s front gardens. The air was familiar and carried with it the scent of her student. She had been around Twilight for so long now that she recognized where she was based on intuitive presence alone. Guessing where she might be, she made her way into the spacious building’s hallways after a short climb up the steps and a push of the doors.
She found Princess Twilight, Spike, and the rest of her friends guiding a small family to a large lab on the third floor, where hundreds of others already were. As soon as Twilight closed the door to the lab and turned around to freeze in the presence of Princess Celestia, Celestia smiled reassuringly at her to let her know that everything was all right.
“Ce-Celestia! Y-you’re here!” Twilight said, and the rest of her friends let loose smiles at last. “How was your journey?”
“Quite manageable, Twilight,” Celestia said equably. “How goes your efforts here?”
“Not all that well,” Twilight admitted after a short pause. “There are some people that just won’t leave their homes to come here and stay out of the way. I feel...I feel sad for them. I want them to all be safe, but they just choose not to, even when we see the danger that they can’t.”
Celestia noticed that Twilight’s face was drooping and tired. She looked anguished when she worded the sentence the way she did.
“Is there something you would like to tell me, Twilight?” Celestia asked as a result.
Twilight fidgeted.
“No need to feel uncomfortable, Twilight. I understand--”
“I couldn’t save him!” Twilight exclaimed all of a sudden. “I tried to make him see that friendship was magic, but he didn’t see! He...he couldn’t…”
“Ironheart?” Celestia guessed.
Twilight nodded without saying anything to her. Making up for her silence, Fluttershy came forth to speak next. “Um...Princess Celestia?”
“Yes, Fluttershy?” Celestia asked of her.
“There’s, um, something we forgot to tell you about Ironheart,” she admitted. “Ironheart, well...well, he, um…”
“He’s a machine!” Rainbow Dash cried, interrupting Fluttershy. She was flapping in the air. “He’s an indestructible machine! You’ve got, like, no chance of beating him!”
“I was aware of the fact that Ironheart is a machine,” Celestia said, and her charming voice calmed down the rainbow-maned mare to where she slowly fell back to earth. “I read the Manehattan newspapers. They told me of Ironheart and his mechanical body, and also of his ruthless nature.” Her face then became expressionless. “But tell me, Twilight. Why are you so insistent on converting him to the light?”
“Because--” Twilight started, then she faltered. She looked from side to side, then she whispered, “Because he deserves it.”
“What do you mean?” Celestia asked, somewhat confused.
“Ironheart...well…” Twilight started, then she begun to explain what exactly had happened since the time she had first came to Manehattan. From the time they first met Dr. Brainstem and Case File to where they had been abducted by Amadeus the griffon into the Ultraground, and from the time they found out that Ironheart was a machine all the way to the time they found out his true identity at last. The explanation had cleared up who had stolen the guns from the ruined laboratory in Canterlot, who had killed ponies and griffons in the middle of the night, and what had happened to Bright Mind.
“So…” Celestia breathed. “Bright Mind has been doing it all along...as a result of his mistreatment and his neglect when he was made out of flesh.”
“Absolutely,” Twilight affirmed. “He’s done everything so far in the sake of proving to everyone else that we, as a species...are a dark and fallen race.”
Celestia walked over to Twilight, and the sound of her golden shoes echoed throughout the spacious halls of the institute. “He is almost right,” Celestia said. “We are predisposed to do evil. We are predisposed to harm and to hurt something unfamiliar to us. But,” she said, noticing the confused looks that crossed the girl’s faces, “This does not mean that we are a fallen people. We do terrible things, yes, but we are not fallen because we do our best to rise above that. We recognize that we do terrible things that just come naturally to us, and when we recognize that, it spurs us to do better. To rise above the hatred and fear that naturally becomes us, and for us to do our best to our fellow ponies. To struggle through opposition; to move against your natural state...that is strength. And this means that, as a species, we are strong.” She offered her most warming smile at all six of the girls and Spike. “And you six, because of the hardships and trials you have forced yourself through, are the strongest ponies I know.”
Twilight gave a wavering smile as she wiped away an involuntary tear from the corner of her eye. “Thank you, Celestia,” she whispered. “Thank you.”
“Hey, um...Celestia?” Rainbow Dash asked timidly. She came forward in front of the rest of the girls. “I just wanted to let you know...I once began to think like Ironheart did. I began to think that the only way to keep Equestria safe was to rid it of every troublemaker there. I sympathized with him. I thought he was a pony I should follow.” Her voice got more and more tremulous as she continued to speak, and at the zenith of her sentence, her voice broke entirely. “I don’t want you to be angry at me! I don’t want you to think I’m a bad pon--”
Celestia cut her off by drawing her in closer with a chime of her white horn and draping her arms around her in a motherly fashion. Rainbow Dash’s sentence ended right there, and after a moment of reluctance, she grumbled something, closed her eyes, and hugged Celestia fiercely back. A tear forced itself from the edge of her eye and ran down her cheek in a tiny rivulet.
“You are of great worth to me, Rainbow Dash,” Celestia whispered to him. “You are worth as much as Bright Mind was to me. I still love him, but he must be put away for good. You are stronger than the rest of your friends in that regard, because you were the only one really tempted by Ironheart’s motives and methods, and you resisted anyway.”
“So...we’re good?” Rainbow Dash asked her after taking a ragged breath. From behind her, the sound of a door opening on its hinges made a creaking song in the empty hallway.
“Yes, Rainbow. We are good.” Celestia let her go. “All is forgiven for yourself. Go, and never adopt his ways again.”
The sound of a falling clipboard accompanied her letting go, and the girls all turned to see who it was. Dr. Brainstem was standing there, shell-shocked and still. His white coat was ragged and rumpled, and his green bow tie hung at an awkward angle. His glasses were askew.
“Why, it’s you,” Celestia said warmly with a smile. “Dr. Brainstem, I believe?”
“Uh…” The doctor blinked behind his tilted glasses before adjusting them and straightening his bow tie. “Um, yes! Yes, it-it’s me, Celestia! I, um...I didn’t know you were coming.”
“I have come to put an end to Ironheart,” Celestia said to him. She addressed him by turning her body to face him, with the accompanying clopping of hooves. “You were a friend of Bright Mind’s, were you not?”
“I...suppose so, your Majesty,” Bright Mind said uncertainly. “Though I don’t know if Bright Mind was a friend of mine. I don’t entirely believe that he knew what friendship was. And he still doesn’t.”
“You were a smart pony,” Celestia observed. “Why did you resign from the project after the lab was destroyed?”
Dr. Brainstem looked nervous, but he curled his lip. “I was so angry with the others for celebrating the death of Bright Mind,” he said with a newfound resolve. “I hated them, and I decided not to affiliate myself with them at all anymore.”
“I missed having you,” Celestia said to him. “You had spirit and a willingness to work hard. Would you like to come back with me as Royal Head Scientist once this is all over?”
“Would I?” he exclaimed. He straightened the rest of his outfit. “O-of course I would! I wouldn’t like anything more! With Count Privilege out of the way, and without us making deadly weapons, I’d love to come back to Canterlot with you!”
A swirl of green suddenly appeared in front of her, and a letter materialized out of thin air. Celestia snatched it before it could hit the floor, and she unraveled it and begun to read. Her purple eyes scanned the paper from side to side, and they bulged once she was done.
“What’s wrong?” Twilight asked, peeking over Celestia’s shoulder. “What’s happening?”
“Ironheart’s been located.”
The girls gasped.
Celestia was now grave and resolute. “Twilight, come with me. The rest of you--” She pointed at Applejack, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, Rarity, and Rainbow Dash, “--must stay here.”
“What?” Rainbow Dash demanded. “But we wanna fight Ironheart too!”
“I know you do,” Celestia cooed. “But this is a military affair. I cannot risk the lives of civilians in the midst of a battle.”
“Beggin’ yer pardon, yer Majesty,” Applejack said solidly, a look of irritation on her face. “But we’re the Elements of Harmony. We may be civilians, but we know that we oughta do somethin’ ta help.”
“And it’s because you’re the Elements of Harmony that makes it all the more necessary for you to stay out of harm’s way. What if Ironheart were to open fire on you? What if you accidentally got hit? What if you got caught in the crossfire? If even only one of you were to perish here and now, then not only would Equestria lose the Elements of Harmony, but the rest of you would be devastated by the loss of your friends. I cannot risk any civilian casualties, even you, when we are going up against a force like Ironheart.”
Applejack still looked irritated, but, seeing the truth in her reasoning, said no more. The rest of the girls and Dr. Brainstem looked doubtful as well, but they said no more arguments to the resolute Celestia.
“Now, Twilight.” Celestia and her student turned away from her friends, with Twilight looking back over her shoulder at her friends. They all looked disheartened by her departure, and Pinkie, Rarity, and Fluttershy had their hooves up in a gesture of farewell. Applejack was doing nothing but disinterestedly examining the lines in the marble floor. And Rainbow watched her go with a longing expression, unsure of how to say goodbye to her friend--perhaps goodbye for the last time.
As Twilight turned back around and walked by Celestia’s side to the distant battle, she was unsure of what her destiny would be at that moment. Would she fall by the steel hands of Ironheart?
Or, even more frightening to her, would she be the one to end his life?
“Be calm, little one,” Celestia cooed to her as they walked. Her own face was firm and grim as she came alongside her. “To Ironheart we must go now. For the future of the city, and for the future of all of Equestria.”
Bridleway rests almost in the exact center of Manehattan. Full of screens on both sides of the road advertising best-selling books, five-star plays, diet soda, sushi, and famous stage magicians, it is the central hub of where most electricity goes in the city. It is composed of an intersection of two crossing roads, where most commuters went on any normal day.
This was not a normal day.
Down the east road, in ranks of ten and led by Shining Armor, the gold-gleaming Royal Guard from Canterlot sparkled and shone in full regalia, filling up the road for several hundred feet back. Shining Armor stood in front of all of them, in magnificent purple armor and with a short sword strapped to his side.
Down the west road, his wife, Princess Cadence, stood in front of hundreds and hundreds of her own Crystal Guard from the Crystal Empire. Their transparent bodies sparkled as any light came upon their faces or exposed bodies. Cadence was in tight-fitting armor as well, magnificently ornamental and ornately spiraled on the edges. Both ceremonial and practical, it was a perfect option. A long retractable pike fit into her foreleg.
Down the south road, Princess Luna stood with hundreds more of her Lunar Guard. Comprised mostly of batponies, the guard was unorthodoxly prepared. More combat-ready than most of the other guards, they held an assortment of hoof-to-hoof combat weapons. From swords to maces, from battle-axes to long pikes, they were all clutching them in one front leg and stood solidly and stoically. But none stood more proud and stoic than Princess Luna, leading in front of them all. Dressed in heavy light blue armor that wrapped all along the joints of her body and covered more than Cadence’s, she held no weapon, but only stared directly ahead of her.
And as Princess Celestia landed in front of a long, long column of more of the Royal Guard on the north road, and Twilight landed next to her brother on the east road, the four princesses gazed upon the middle of the intersection.
In the exact center of the intersection was Ironheart.
Alone.
Passively looking all around him as though he was admiring the sights, he had been standing there on his hind legs for over an hour. He seemed to be unconcerned by the forces that had assembled around him ever since he had been spotted by a sharp-eyed Royal Guard. He had simply waited there, not saying a word at all. His tail slowly whipped back and forth like a contented cat.
When he saw Twilight land next to her brother, however, his gaze traveled to her. His eyes held a saddened, almost depressed look as he let his eyes travel all over her. Twilight was still and stiff as he did this.
“Princess Twilight,” he sadly said. His voice was slower and quieter than ever. He shook his head. “You should not have come.”
“Murderer,” Celestia spat at him with every ounce of revulsion.
“Yes,” Ironheart said, turning to face her next. “Yes. I am a murderer. But, should you kill me now, as you are planning to do, you would be doing the same thing I was doing. Killing murderers, and the filth of the world.”
“Spare us thy words, thou abomination of nature,” Luna stated, grinding her front hoof into the asphalt. “ ‘Tis better for us to be rid of thee by departing thy spirit from this earth than it is for you to be left alive to commit more atrocities.”
Twilight had an expression of concern written on her face. Wasn’t that what Ironheart was doing before Twilight came to Manehattan? His exact lines of reasoning? Ironheart was a murderer, yes, but that meant that the pony that killed him would become like Ironheart. No matter what, Ironheart’s message of vengeance would never die.
Ironheart, however, did not mention the flaw in Luna’s reasoning. He instead only turned to her and smiled. Luna shivered as the unnatural smile reached her.
“This could have been avoided,” Cadence spoke to him. She advanced while still holding the retractable pike in her foreleg’s holster. “You couldn’t have picked this road if you didn’t want to.”
“But I did want to,” Ironheart spoke casually. “Anything to bring the four of you together to prove that I at last hold power enough to concern you.”
Without waiting for Cadence to respond, he made his way on his hind legs to face Celestia. His legs made a clink each time they hit the asphalt. “Now, Celestia. What are you waiting for? Beat me into the ground, and get the standing ovation you deserve for ridding me from the peaceful, lovable land of ponies that hate each other and manipulate them no more than I did.”
“It didn’t have to be this way,” Celestia said to him with wide, warm eyes. “I loved you like you were a son.”
“For all your love, what happened?” Ironheart asked. “For all your claims of loving me, what happened to me? You did nothing to stop the hatred and revulsion that was showered on my head. You did not send them away to keep me safe. You left me alone to take matters into my own hooves. And that, I think, was the greatest thing that could have happened, for without that, I never would have ascended above the boundaries of flesh.”
“Don’t make me do this, Ironheart. Please.”
“What’s the point of bringing all of your strength to Manehattan if you do not use it?” Ironheart slowly asked. “I give you permission to fire upon me, Celestia. Give the command and fire on me, and prove to me, and to everypony else in the world, that I was right in what I believed.”
Celestia’s stance was stoic, although a bead of concern crossed her face.
Ironheart, annoyed with the absence of anything happening, took a long cylinder off his hip, tossed it in the air, and caught it. The instant he caught it, every single guard crouched down in a battle stance, and the one single sound was deafening and echoed around the tall buildings on all sides.
Ironheart looked amused. “Well, now. It seems like some of your guards want a fight, now, don’t they?”
“Do not force my hoof, Ironheart.”
“You’ve already forced mine.”
“What do you mean?” Celestia asked, giving a little gasp.
Ironheart only gave a small shrug and drew out another small cylindrical object from his flank.
It was a timer.
Counting down from only a little over thirty minutes.
“The Manehattan Project is underway to detonate,” Ironheart said, slowly and serenely. “I would advise you do something about it now, before you melt in the heat of the bomb.”
Celestia drew her lips into a tight snarl and ignited her horn in a long yellow sword on top of her forehead.
That was the automatic signal for Princess Luna, Princess Cadence, Shining Armor, and Princess Twilight to ignite their own horns in long, shimmering bars of color. The guards, glittering in their golden armor behind them, all leveled their halberds in one single swift motion so Ironheart was at the center of a crossing of blades.
“Now.” Ironheart threw his right arm to the side and ignited his sword with a loud, heavy buzz. He flurried it in front of his face in a mock salute, and his left arm folded open and out to show a thin-barreled Gatling gun in its place. He beckoned with his sword, an eerie smile gracing his flexible metal features. “Shall we begin?”
And all four princesses opened fire on him at once.
The white sword swirled around him so fast that it looked like he was in the center of a force field. The four bolts of colored energy struck the white area around him, deflected off into nearby display screens, and exploded in bursts of electricity and color.
Ironheart stopped swirling the sword, and, in the space of the next half second, spun around while loosening the restraints holding his metal feathers to his wings.
Twilight, Shining Armor, and the princesses saw the feathers coming in time, and put up their own shields with their magic.
The Royal Guard accompanying them, however, didn't.
Feathers ripped through the front lines of the Royal Guard on all four sides like the pattering of raindrops, and guards dropped to their knees and stomachs as the feathers tore through their armor like they were made of paper. Shining Armor drew his sword with his magic, and the hilt, coated in a pink aura, flurried around his head in an elaborate motion. “Don’t back down!” he commanded. “Hold him here!”
“CHARGE, MY SISTER!” Luna cried, and sped forth to meet Ironheart at the center.
Before she reached the center, however, he was already there to meet her, cleaving his sword downwards in an unstoppable strike.
Luna avoided the strike by swerving her head to the side, ignited her horn, and fired directly into Ironheart’s face. Ironheart let his head fling backwards from the strike, allowing his leg to be brought up and clutch Luna as he leaned backward. Ironheart twisted his hips to the side and slammed Luna down into the asphalt so hard she lay in a small indented crater.
A steady stream of golden energy hit him in the face and forced him to bend his head. Princess Celestia was keeping the laser’s energy up, unrelenting and fierce.
Ironheart put his sword in front of the golden beam, however, and the yellow laser reflected off the white blade and hit the side of a theater. Ironheart angled the blade, and the laser slowly carved a diagonal scar in the side of the theater until it hit the pavement and threw up a flurry of rocks and dirt.
Cadence and Twilight released their own lasers from their own horns to either side of him. Ironheart’s wings deflected the beams and sent them into the ground, causing burning scars to appear in the ground. For a few moments he was trapped in between the three beams from Cadence, Celestia, and Twilight, and it looked like they might have pinned him down.
But he flared his wings out, sending the beams hitting it out in wild directions, and he lunged to the side, avoiding the laser Celestia was putting out at him, and he jumped and whirled to the side to meet Captain Shining Armor’s swift sword strike.
The sword met against his Infinisteel skin and slid off the side in a shower of sparks. Ironheart, driven by momentum, backhanded him, and he flew off to the side and hit the pavement so hard a bump appeared on his forehead, right next to his horn. He lifted his head up, looking dizzy and hurt.
Ironheart drew his sword arm back above his head and got ready to deliver a blistering strike to him while he was lying on the ground. But before he could, a navy blue aura enveloped his arm and held it back. Princess Luna had recovered from being slammed down and was now holding him steady for Princess Cadence to react.
“Not my husband,” Cadence snarled at him as she marched in front of him. “Don’t you dare harm my husband!”
And the retractable pike in her foreleg shot out as she put her arm out to the side. And she raised it and swung it with all of her might at his neck.
The pike embedded itself in the joints of his neck. Ironheart straightened his neck, and the pike unstuck itself. He grabbed the shaft with his left hand and snatched it out of Cadence’s grip. He twisted his hips around at an unforeseen speed and threw the pike directly at Princess Luna.
Luna evaded the pike as it stuck itself in the ground next to her, but only barely, and the aura holding his sword arm back disappeared. Now free, Ironheart swung the sword at Cadence’s horn. The only thing that prevented Cadence’s horn from being shorn off was her abrupt ignition of it as the sword struck the tip. The aura surrounding the horn stopped the murderous plasma, but Cadence’s face was strained.
An explosion on his back between his wings made him spin around, kicking Cadence back hard as he did so. Twilight had tried to get his attention by firing a single heavy magic bolt into his back. As Ironheart narrowed his eyes and smiled at her, however, her expression turned from determined to fearful.
“Twilight,” Ironheart said simply. “You don’t have it in you.”
“You’d be surprised!” Twilight retaliated.
“So do it already,” Ironheart demanded out of her. “Come up with a way to harm me.”
A whining sound made Ironheart turn curiously. Celestia had risen into the air as her magic was building up in a sphere of pure energy on the tip of her horn. As soon as it had reached its zenith, she landed like a meteorite and slammed it into the ground.
A shockwave rippled towards Ironheart’s position, who, even after leaping in the air to avoid the wave of asphalt rolling his way, was thrown back by the sheer amount of force present in the shockwave. As he flew away, he fired a small explosive missile out of his shoulder directly at her.
Celestia’s impromptu shield held the explosion at bay.
But Ironheart didn’t focus on the explosion he had sent her way.
He instead focused on Cadence, whom he had been flung backward into.
His foot connected with her face, and Cadence went sprawling. Ironheart kept himself atop of her as she fell, and he drew his left fist back and pummeled Cadence’s face so hard the back of her head slammed into the pavement. Cadence lifted her head up weakly to see Ironheart flurry his electric sword above his head, ready to strike.
Cadence could only ignite her horn.
The war pike she had flew directly in front of her just as the jagged sword came down.
The pike just barely caught the murderous plasma, but as Cadence levitated it, keeping death from approaching, the specially-reinforced war pike began to crack from the point of impact.
Ironheart could sense Princess Luna charging up another spell from behind him. Just as Luna was done and was about to fire, however, he jumped off of Cadence. And the spell fired, now with nothing in the line of fire except for Cadence.
Cadence took the full brunt of the blow, and she was rocketed backward into the brick wall of a theater. Bricks exploded outward from the point of impact, and there was only a hole where she had been flung into.
Luna gave a cry of anguish and rushed to the hole where Cadence was. Twilight was stiff with fear.
But Celestia wasn’t.
Celestia was furious.
Ironheart whirled around to look her in the eye, seeing two of the three real threats occupied. He threw his sword out to the side and stared Celestia in the face without another expression. His grip around the sword hilt clenched even tighter.
With an expression of absolute rage, with clenched teeth and narrowed, furious eyes, Celestia ignited her horn, and Ironheart’s ribs were illuminated by a bright yellow light.
Celestia pulsed her horn.
With the sound of tearing metal and squeaking bones, Ironheart’s ribs clenched like the fingers of a fist. Ironheart bellowed and dropped to his knees, clutching his chest and coughing. His sword had rolled away.
He almost didn’t have enough time to see it coming.
Celestia, imbued with enhanced magic, had charged at him at the speed of a freight train and had almost rammed her long horn into Ironheart’s sternum. The only thing that had stopped it was Ironheart’s grip around her forehead near the base of her horn. The force of her impact had pushed him into the asphalt like he had crashed into water.
That close to each other, with Celestia lying atop of him, the both of them could see each other’s furious expressions. Their wrath transcended that of ordinary ponies. They were two unstoppable titans, titans of the sun and of steel. Each with nearly limitless power.
Snarling, Ironheart furiously, strugglingly, brought his leg up underneath Celestia’s chest and made it rest directly under her chin. Then he straightened his leg at the speed of a freight train..
Celestia’s face was in the way.
Crunch
Celestia was thrown off of him as her head was snapped back and she smashed on her back on the pavement. Ironheart weakly got to his feet, only to see, across the intersection, that Shining Armor had his hoof raised above his head, and all the Equestrian armies were paying attention to him.
Shining Armor sliced his hoof down, and the armies charged him from four directions at once.
Ironheart opened his hand, and his sword flew back to his glowing white palm. He whirled in a circle as his left hand opened up and to the side, and a long gun barrel poked out to replace it.
“Put up a shield!” Twilight cried, and Celestia, hearing her, put up a glowing yellow bubble.
Ironheart opened fire when they were only a few yards away.
The sound of firing bullets sounded like an electric drill as he fired in all directions, spinning around and throwing his tail out like a whip. Dozens of the Royal Guard dropped dead almost instantly with blood pooling out of irreparable wounds in their chests. Their dead bodies began to pile up on the asphalt, making it harder for more to keep coming.
But come they did, clambering up the limp bodies of their fallen comrades, only to get hit by bullets strong enough to kill a wild rhino. Limbs went flying over each other’s heads, blood went spurting out of multiple holes all over their torsos and heads, bodies went spinning like tops to the ground. Still they came on, with determination all the stronger in them to rid the planet of the plague that was gunning them down.
Celestia’s face displayed pure anguish at the sight. Already blood had seeped to the sides of the street and began to empty into the sewer drains there. Celestia pulsed her horn once more, and Ironheart was now in the middle of a yellow bubble. “Fall back!” Celestia said. “Open the way for the spellcasters!”
The Royal Guard, seeing no progress being made with their current attempt, withdrew as one. As they retreated, Twilight could see the bodies of scores of the guard. Limbs had been hacked off and lay in shallow puddles of bright red liquid. Entire bodies lay unmoving all around Ironheart like some sort of unholy aura. Ironheart’s gun barrel was smoking, and he was panting hard while holding a hand to his chest. His chest was still compressed by the clenching that Celestia had inflicted on him.
Lifting his head up, Ironheart noticed the hundred-odd spellcasters from the Crystal Empire step forward and ignite their horns as one. He saw them all crouch down, making a solid wall of pony after pony ready to fire their best spells at him.
“I’ll only be able to lift the shield for a few seconds!” Celestia cried out to them. “Make your shots count!”
The shield around Ironheart disappeared.
And every single unicorn spellcaster groaned as every last laser was fired.
But not fired by the spellcasters, oh, no.
But by Ironheart.
Singed and cauterized holes had appeared like magic in their heads and stomachs, regardless of how much armor they had equipped. They all swayed in their spots for a few minutes, then fell as one body to the asphalt. Ironheart’s wrists had small pointed stubs poking out, and they had small pointed guidesights on the top. The tips were glowing a bright red, and were whirring as they cooled down.
Celestia’s mouth had dropped open. Twilight was paralyzed in shock. Ironheart hadn’t displayed that amount of technological progress before. How had he been able to replicate the power of unicorn lasers?
“No,” Ironheart said to the street full of dead bodies simply. “No, I will have none of that.”
He turned around to regard the surrounding guards who had leveled their halberds and spears in fear. His clenched ribs were unfolding like an opening fist, and within only a few seconds, they were back to normal. He lazily stretched forth a hand, and his fallen electrical sword flew back to his hand like it was connected by a line.
“Princess Celestia,” Ironheart murmured. “You are outmatched. Your forces are decimated.” He raised his voice to speak to the rest of the guards that massed in front of him, with Celestia and Twilight at opposite ends of the mass. “Make peace with whatever god you worship now, for this is your final hour.”
He took a single step forward, and the entire mass of gold-plated guards swiftly retreated. The faces of the Royal Guard had changed from confident at first to deathly serious, and was deteriorating rapidly towards terrified.
“But,” he continued, his voice as calm and collective as ever, though his face displayed uncontrollable lust and fury. “Know that I still possess mercy, even at this time. I will award you a hero’s death.” He ignited his sword directly in front of his fiercely scowling face, and the blade made a dark shadow on the sides of his cheeks and forehead. “Prepare.”