//------------------------------// // Chapter 9 Ira // Story: Militis Corde // by Sanguine Eyes //------------------------------// Ira She stood in her majesty, her armor let off the golden glowing runes of imbued power millenia old. She didn’t need to bring the armor, nor the Dawnguard but her heart hardened, and she needed this if she wanted respect herself as the defender of Equestria. Celestia had no doubt that Ordos Sanguinius would somehow know what she did and how she went about it. Her heart begged her to stop, but her mind stood firm on what she had to do to be the leader of her nation. “Tyrin… She’s a changeling…” Her eyes didn’t stray or vary from the cold stare at the griffon. “Her very method of sustaining herself is harmful. She feeds from you… She’s dangerous, if not now, then when she is older.” His talons balled into a fist and harshly smashed into the floor shattering the wooden planks. “YOU WILL NOT TOUCH HER!” His eyes narrowed into slits of pure rage against her golden fiery glare. “She steals nothing from me! I feed her my love upon my own volition.” He moved forward making the elite Dawnguard snap into position, levying their spears at him ready for anything. “Tyrin… please… don’t make us use force… I don’t want to do this…”Her voice remained calm and authoritative. She hated every second of this, but she knew what would likely happen if she did not stand firm. His body trembled with rage and his beak clenched shut as his narrowed eyes flooded with inky darkness and instantly began dribbling down his cheeks and onto the floor. “If you so much as touch her, you will have to kill me first. And you damned well better kill me… She is my daughter… and I will NOT forgive… I will kill and kill and continue killing until she is back in my arms… That is what I did to that hive, and it’s what I will do here.” She flinched internally, she knew well at the sound and tremble in his voice, he was not exaggerating. “Please Tyrin, just let this happen. I don’t want to harm you or her, and my finest will try and find a solution to make her safe, for you and my nation. I know the love you feel for her, but I have to think of my nation first… The security and welfare of thousands cannot be put at risk for a single individual…” “You are not changing her, nor will you touch her…” He glared up at her menacingly and her eyes emulated the calm before the storm as she released the power within her, churning and shaping it. “Please… don’t make me kill you…” She hid the shiver and pain, the gall that she had to speak such words to push her authority forward. His eyes lit up and oozed the vicious black fluid as his saliva too turned dark with his deepening voice. “You know the terms Celestia...Your move…” Her heart cried out and she hardened herself, casting the doubt and pain from her. She needed to do what was best for her nation. “I am sorry Tyrin… I swear to you, I will not have her harmed if I can help it.” She looked to the stairs and started forward. Her heart darkened as she spoke the command. “Guards!” The Dawnguard, the two she had brought in were melee experts, exceedingly powerful magical grip on their spears, their armor too was enchanted and boosted their already impressive combat capability. But this was not something they had seen before. It was like a flash, at once his paw contacted right over her first guard’s eyes in a heavy kick that sent him flying into the wall, then nearly through it. The spear tumbled through the air, free from the guard's magical grasp.”Tenaci!” Celestia watched in awe as the weapon instantly shot to his waiting talons which seized the hilt firmly as his other set of talons sank into the floor. ”Incisura!” Instantly the ground in front of him burned with a sharp line which snapped into a flawless circle around the second guard already spinning as he hurled the weapon at Tyrin with a masterful blast of telekinetic magic. But the circle had finished forming and it became clear that it was a lot simpler than it had looked. The pony quickly sank as the floor gave out under him dropping him a twelve inches. The spear soared true and would have ended Tyrin upon impact, but the the dark flames and sparks, Tyrin’s stolen spear began to shift and change, burning and changing shape as it intercepted the flying weapon and knocking it clearly out of the way. Again, he flashed forward towards the remaining guard just barely regaining his balance. His talons scooped under the pony’s chin and grasped not his throat but his jaw and with a blasting force of pure brute strength he threw the guard overhead into and then this time through the wall. Standing in front of Celestia who was forced to turn around and address him. He glared with pure hatred, his chest heaved and his form darkened even further. The air grew cold and the blade he had taken grew to a sickly black color, unrecognizable from its original master crafted Equestrian form. “Is this really what you want Tyrin?...” Her eyes lit with golden fire as her power swelled. It had been hundreds of years since she had to command her full power. She honestly didn’t know if she could get this far, but she could feel much more inside her. The long since abandoned golden wrath that she had released on so few, it was a weapon that she knew she needed, but a weapon she did not want to use. “No, but clearly somepony wants it…” He hefted his weapon and piled on the black flames, forcing more and more of his unnatural power into the weapon. “I don’t want this Tyrin, nopony does…” The click sounded firmly, the gold and ivory polearm popped off her armor and folded into its form, glowing with golden light, she stood ready wondering if she should call in the rest of the Dawnguard. “Daddy?” Instantly the power within then both flicked like a candle in the wind. Celestia tried to stabilize her magical flow, she had hardened her heart just enough to know she could subdue him and take her. But she didn’t know if her heart could handle any child, no matter its lineage having to be involved in such violent affairs. She needed to do this, but the very last thing she wanted was to watch the little changeling die in a fight between herself and Tyrin. “Oh… Iris… me and your father are just having a disagreement… but we came to a conclusion…” She could see the fear in the little changeling’s eyes. But with the soothing power of her magic, she reached out and spoke in sweet tones. “We just want to have you over at the castle… come. Don’t worry… it will be fun…” She offered a warm smile and could feel the magic seeping into the young mind drawing her forward, a childhood dream of spending a night in a castle building up in her eyes. But then the blade punctured her back. The runed armor was enough to keep a meteor from harming her, but the dark blade just barely punctured and all at once, Celestia’s golden rage returned. Her wing flapped once and tossed Tyrin back. But he caught himself and his power flared even greater. His voice rang out in desperation and anger. “RUN! GO AND I’LL CATCH UP! GO, YOU KNOW WHERE!” Her little hooves clattered and she popped out the back wall in a fresh hole. Celestia opened her mouth to spout orders but Tyrin was on her instantly. Her blade battered and clashed with his as he forced himself between her and the little changeling’s escape. “You touch my daughter and you die….” His power flared and the darkness returned with a vengeance. His beak opened and his voice growled out the single word which appeared to make everything worse. “Exsuscito” His power flared to an excessive level, sickly tendrils of power reached out, not just over his feathers and fur, but across the floor. The power thickened and grew into grotesk growths which formed to bone like structures over his limbs until it reached the base of his skull, spreading into a hardened caprace like an actual skull. Celestia had her golden armor, Tyrin had whatever this was. The power burst from him and kicked out the doors and windows. The remaining Dawnguard stood in formation, ready for anything that could spill out into the yard. Their urgent glares brought Celestia back into the moment and with a deep breath she deeped as far as she could into her reserves and drudged up the fullest extent of her power, something she had not truly done since she ended ten thousand lives in her battle with the Ordos Sanguinius. Golden fire instantly replaced her normal magical aura, and while it coated her wings and body, she added the final touch, the fiery halo forming over her head stated her divine right to rule and protect the nation of Equestria. She could feel the remnants of the wound on her back healing and the two locked eyes. As the power surged through her like the sun itself, her mind wandered for a precious moment, she didn’t want this, but she needed to do it. Iris panted, bolting through the trees and brush she knew the spot was around here somewhere, but she didn’t really get a good look at it, she just knew it was vaguely around the Everfree and Sweet Apple Acres. Her little hooves could only take her so far so fast. She had dropped her disguise and buzzed her little wings as fast as she could, she was not a strong flier but she knew she could certainly go much faster with wings and hooves. She had seen the guards, heard Tyrin’s voice. It was over, he could take the hive by surprise in a perfect environment, but against the princess of the sun, in the open? She sniffled and her jaw clenched almost certain she would never see him again. But she would wait until she died of starvation. Tyrin was her father, and even if every pony in Equestria would turn her in to the royal guards or kill her on sight, she would wait for him. Her heart sank in utter fear and despair as she impacted what she knew immediately was a pony. She looked up to see the bland features, a red scarf, glasses, a small cart. She was exhausted, even if this pony had ten carts, Iris knew she would not get away. His cough brought up more blood pooling under his chin. The magic had fragmented and shattered, much like his ribs. No amount of wrath and power within his darkness was able to keep the solar matriarch from tossing him around like a rag doll. To his credit, he put up an immense fight, and five of the eighteen remaining guards were all that was left standing. He was sure he didn’t kill any of them, but they were either unconscious or simply out of the fight through severe injuries. It wasn’t them but Celestia’s goddess like power that had shattered his ribs, dislocated his wing, and hyperextended his left arm. He watched weakly as the hilt of the gold and ivory weapon impacted in the puddle of blood before his eyes. “I am disappointed in you Tyrin. You hurt my ponies, put my kingdom in danger, and wasted my time.” He struggled to get his paws and talons under him but her hilt lifted form the puddle and pressed down on the back of his neck. “STAY DOWN!” Her voice growled and echoed with what felt like endless divine power. He choked and groaned under her, even more so as her power helped pin him. A pillar of golden light over his position like a giant pin sticking through him and keeping him secured to the ground. “You’ll live, but you will pay off your crimes and foolishness. No question about that. But first… we need to know where you sent Iris…” She pressed harder on the back of his neck and he groaned painfully. He coughed and the bloody spittle mixed with blackness of the dark magic within him added to the puddle. “.. G… Go to hell…” “Funny you should mention that… If I don’t turn you over to the Ordos Sanguinius, you’ll likely be spending a great deal of time in Tartarus… But if you are going to be difficult… I won’t play along. I’m sure you can tell, but I am done being gentle… “ She turned to the guards who were carefully laying out and treating the rest of the Dawnguard. “Get the ritual memory crystals… we are taking the information directly…” Another surge of anger and desperation flowed through him, but she reminded him of his place with a little more weight and more focus on her magical pillar of light. He groaned loudly and the talons of his good arm splashed down in the puddle. His voice rasped and he painfully lipped words up at her. Despite her harshness in the moment, she was still Celestia, she was still the kind and loving ruler of the land. Grinding her teeth she leaned in and offered her ear to his pained voice. “I… told you… you had better kill me…” Her eyes opened wider when he rolled to one side, forcing her weapon to slip. Power within him flared one last time, giving him just enough to act one last time. His knuckles impacted Celestia’s knee with a loud crack. Her focus instantly lost in the flaring pain she crudely brought her weapon to bare and suddenly she could not see. The dirt and blood from the puddle beneath his beak made a thick and sickly mud which still clung to his talons after throwing a handful of it into her eyes. But he was already in the trees fighting the shock as the remaining power braced his ribs and forced his wing back into its socket while righting his hyperextended arm. The last of the magic burned fast like dry kindling. He brought just a fraction of it to his mind to seek out Iris through the dire pain. The rest held his fractured body together. And so it was, his ravaged body creaking and on the verge of outright failure as he blasted through the forest. He rapid closed in on flickering spirit. So small and fragile, had he not been the the very last fraction of his strength his speed would have been redoubled when he saw the fear and shock in the flame of her spirit as he closed in. Panic and fear shot through him as he saw another spirit there near hers. Gasping and growling he burst through the brush mere seconds from his daughter. He tried to slice another piece of his power to form a weapon, but it was not enough. In desperation and the last of his wrath, he yanked the last fraction of magic holding his body together and formed a blade, instantly hugging Iris to his side and levying the blade at his foe that he could not even see. “I… will..n…” Blood seeped from his body at an alarming rate as his senses rapidly evaporated. She was there, in his arms. But his life was fading faster than he could sense. He wanted more time, silently, in the precious moments it took for his body to fall to the ground, he begged the darkness within to give him just a little more, he would give anything, pay any price, his life, his soul, anything if it meant he could hold her, if he could only make her safe. But just like that, his body hit the cold wet forest floor and the last of his life flickered out with the magic. He saved her, and now he gave her the very last of his life to keep her safe. All he could do now, was hope the darkness listened and hope that his sacrifice could keep her from perishing.