To Set the Sun
Raven groaned as she got to her hooves. Everything hurt, like she’d been hit by a teleportation beam that hadn’t bothered putting her back together quite right. ...Which was more or less accurate.
“Ahh… welcome back to the waking world, Raven Inkwell. You’re just in time to say goodbye to your beloved, here.”
Raven rolled her eyes. Did I ever sound that ridiculous? “How fortunate for me then…” she trailed off, a bit of snark dying on her tongue as she looked around. In the sense that the place was dimly lit and filled with pods, it wasn’t unlike her old hive. ...It was even moreso in the sense that those pods were occupied.
Changelings being stuck in the pods though… that was new.
“What… am I seeing?”
As she looked to the source of the voice and the brightest spot in the room, her eyes narrowed. Celestia was bolted down in a half open pod, sideways. It resembled nothing so much as a combination of an examination table and a restraint. Again… exactly what it was. She could turn her head but not lift it allowing her to look at Raven. Her eyes were wide, surprise and a bit of fright. Raven couldn’t really blame her.
The Oni-koru leaning over her had looked up with a flat-toothed grin. The extra eye in his forehead continued examining Celestia as the two more normally placed caught and held Raven’s gaze. Seven fingered hands, three each facing the opposite direction to the other four, braided oddly in front of his wide chest. “Our first successful sacrifice… as soon as we can tunnel through the protections the Seraphim have placed upon her, of course. It will be easier with the younger alicorns, untouched by our old enemies. But my manners! We haven’t met. I did lobby to receive you in the castle at Canterlot, as I have received our other captives. I am General Hashmalum, the Warden. I was most pleased to receive these new test subjects… perhaps you’d care to tell me how best to proceed with them? ...I am in favor of pulling the wings off first.”
“You have an alicorn on your operating table there, and you’re asking about these others?”
He tilted his head to the side, and his third eye focused on her, sending a chill down her spine. “Well, I have little say over how to proceed with her, you see. We will tear apart her soul, and the aether she has connecting it to her body. All three are important, of course… and there won’t be much left of any of them after the process is done. That’s rather why I need your help, you see.”
Raven shook off her fear, replacing it with anger. The changelings in the cocoons were a mockery, even if they were no longer her hive… “...Your master offered her to me after you’d taken what you needed. Did he lie to me?”
Hashmalum laughed quietly. “I do believe that offer expired when you threw a knife at his face.”
“Oh please, he’s a draconequus; a knife in the face is a minor inconvenience. Will. She. Survive?”
The Oni raised a metallic looking eyebrow as the third eye looked back down at Celestia, who still stared silently at Raven, as though pleading. “Unlikely. With the base of her power removed, she will no longer be able to contain the power of the sun. She will burn, from the inside out. A pity, really. The first artificially created being this world knew under the Seraphim’s ministrations. I would enjoy comparing their work to the Demondim’s. Sadly, I’ll have to settle for her sister, assuming all goes well.”
Raven snorted. “And assuming you can get Discord back. Good luck with that.”
Hashmalum smiled coldly. “That is progressing as we speak. The master goes for him, just as the Map brought you to us. ...Although not perfectly, it seems. Caedum and the others should not have been here. I cannot account for their presence.”
“How terrible for you. It’s only a matter of time before they breach your defenses, and you’re just chatting away with me, surrounded by these former subjects of mine. Tell me, is Thorax among them?”
“Well, my dear, I have to wait for the probe feeding liquefied aetheryte into her spine to do its work. It’s a delicate process, very painful I’m told. But if I go too fast it will simply kill her body and her soul will escape. Too slow and she will adapt and expel the corruption before it properly takes root. This is an alicorn, and one who is actively opposing my actions. A pity I couldn’t get the younger sister. So much more frail, I think.”
Celestia shook, trying to free herself, to no avail. Raven ground her teeth. She was tired of feeling weak. She’d taken so little from Celestia all this time, and she was regretting it now. Only a matter of time before this maniac put her in a pod or worse.
“Careful now, you’ll damage the needle. Ah! But you asked about Thorax. You know, the changeling we sent to report in for their hive when Twilight Sparkle asked everyone their status was quite protective of him. It was a simple matter to get him to lie for us, so long as we spared this specimen.”
The pods moved under an unseen force; Raven couldn’t even sense any magic being manipulated. A larger pod came to the fore, containing the hated traitor. She looked at him a moment, at the fearful expression on his face as he recognized who stood before him. She grinned, allowing her fangs to replace her pony teeth. She’d made her decision. “I see. Very well then. I will take your master up on his offer.”
He shook his head; his third eye focused on her the entire time. “I told you, it has been rescinded.”
“Ridiculous. I couldn’t accept back then; I had nothing to bargain with. But I do now.”
“You are no stronger than an average unicorn, little one. As a changeling queen you have increased capacity, but much like the king floating before you you have squandered it.”
“I was biding my time, you fool. You think ponies wouldn’t notice if I simply drained Celestia? With Shining Armor there were reasons for him to be out of it, and no reason to suspect changelings. Things are different now-”
“Because you failed.”
“Yes, I did. And I finally got her to reveal why.”
Celestia, who had been watching her intently, goggled at that statement. “Raven-” she said weakly.
“Chrysalis!” Raven corrected, projecting hate. “You refuse to speak it, just as you did when you found out! I begged you to use my true name, but you wanted Raven… you wanted a pony! You refused me. Just as you did when you told me about the power of the sun within you! How it weakened me in our duel, even when you refused to use your full strength for fear of harming your precious little ponies!” She shouted angrily. “They’re all that matter to you!”
“How interesting…” Hashmalum said, looking between the two with delight. “I would hear more of this…”
“Oh I’ll tell you everything, of course,” Raven continued, grinning evilly. “I’ve waited for the perfect time to turn on her, after all. And seeing Thorax here before me… oh this is TOO perfect!”
“I have not granted him to you; he is a valuable test subject.”
“All the better. By all means tear him apart while I watch. But first… allow me to remove her defenses for you.”
All three of his eyes went wide. “A changeling queen’s power…” He muttered quietly, considering. “Yes. Yes, brilliant! The Seraphim’s gifts are based in their love of… hah! It’s perfect! And she’ll be all the more broken and bitter when it’s done! A perfect sacrifice! My dear, the master will welcome you!”
“And with that… she’ll be spared? I want what’s left. The price for my help, lest I turn the sun itself against you.”
“Of course, of course. I would be suspicious if you asked nothing else of me. A changeling’s nature is greed, after all.”
She chuckled. Our nature is deceit… fool. “Indeed so. I have ever wanted it all…” She sauntered up to Celestia, savoring the moment.
“Chrysalis… please… don’t do this…” Celestia pleaded, a catch in her voice Raven had never heard before. A worry.
“Hush now, lover… you should be thanking me. I’ve just secured your survival.” Her horn lit, a dark, poisonous looking green. “If you behave yourself I won’t even have to alter your mind afterwards… much. You might learn to enjoy it.”
“No… this isn’t… AHHH!” Celestia broke off in a scream as Raven’s magic enveloped her.
Hashmalum looked on, all three eyes focused. “No tricks…” He grinned as he watched the process. “No, none at all, hahah! Taking the very essence of her connection to the sun, to Solise of the Seraphim. I didn’t think you could do it.”
“I’ll show you ‘average unicorn’, you arrogant… geh…” she stumbled back, feeling a roar of power and fury coursing through her. Oh horseapples...
USURPER… YOUR SOUL WILL BURN…
Hmph… hello, Solise. Nice to meet you… enjoy your new home.
UNWORTHY FOOL, YOU WILL DIE FOR YOUR BETRAYAL…
We’ll see… but you’ll doom this world to get me, so maybe take it slow.
YOU DARE MOCK ME?
Obviously.
IT IS NOT MY ANGER WHICH WILL KILL YOU! YOU ARE UNSUITED TO THIS BURDEN! YOU WILL DIE!
Eh, always wanted to go out on top. I mean I’d have preferred on top of her, but...
“Channel… channel cold aspected… aether…. Chryssie…. Hurry…” Celestia whispered, black blood leaking from her eyes… the aetheryte being expelled?
“What would that accomplish?” Hashmalum asked, confused, stepping over to examine Raven while his third eye stayed on Celestia. “And are you trying to help her somehow? Has the aetheryte already addled your…” he blinked as he felt a shift in the mana of the room.
A massive shift.
Raven’s magic broke off, the entirety of the power of the sun’s connection contained within her. Before it could begin slowly incinerating her, an explosion of icy magic erupted around the table that held Celestia, throwing Raven and Hashmalum across the massive lab.
“What is this?!”
Raven gasped for air. Fire. Everything was fire. A star burned in her eyes, in her chest, in her mind. She couldn’t… Channel cold aspected… She gathered her will, desperately grasping mana to cast a blizzard through herself. She’d have summoned a glacier if she could. But she could barely move. A hand alighted on her head, and the worst of the heat was gone. Hashmalum looked down at her angrily.
“What have you done?!”
“...What I said I’d-”
Across the room, Celestia sighed loudly. The table was crushed… and her head was down. Her breath froze the ground, billowing out in a coating of gelid air that cracked the metal floor. A single hoofstep cratered it below her. “I’d channeled that for so long I’d forgotten how much it took.”
“...You.” Hashmalum uttered breathlessly. Raven more or less agreed. There was magic… and then there was this.
Celestia shook out her mane, the bubblegum pink strands floated around her head briefly before settling softly on the sides of her face.
Neither of them saw her move before she was standing in front of Raven, ignoring Hashmalum completely. “Keep channeling. It gets easier.” She smiled mischievously. “Use this.” With that she lifted Raven’s chin with a hoof, leaned down, and kissed her fiercely.
It was the first time such a kiss had ever cooled Raven off… and the feeling was indescribable.
Celestia flared her wings and lit her horn. Both froze and shattered, becoming flurries of blessed cold that surrounded the changeling. Raven started at the unexpected event until even more magic infused her as the snowy wind seemed to infuse her form. In an instant, green fire overtook her, reverting her… mostly.
The holes in her legs were gone. Her wings, mane, and tail were pristine and flowing with aether. Celestia smiled warmly. “As you should be, then.”
“I was thinking the same…” she shook her head, unable to contain her awe and not really caring. “How strong are you, to have carried this for so long? You fought almost evenly with me at my highest point, while holding this?!”
“That’s not important,” she replied, shaking her head but still smiling. It morphed into a teasing smirk. “...Do you really still want revenge on Thorax?”
Chrysalis blinked, then laughed. “You keep surprising me. ...I think scaring him half to death was good enough. ...For now.”
“Hmph. We’ll talk about you surprising me a bit later. This was very risky.”
“More than you know!” Hashmalum broke out of his stupor and threw a punch at Celestia. His fist struck clean to the side of her face. And broke.
She looked askance at him, not bothering to turn her head. “This is a nice change of pace,” she said absently, addressing Chrysalis. “I was, after all, born an earth pony.”
“You…” Hashmalum said again, healing his shattered hand to try something else.
“Mm, yes. Focusing on just my vitality, just my strength, without needing to pull the cart, so to speak… ahh, it’s practically sensual!”
“I noticed that,” Chrysalis muttered.
Celestia giggled, a surprisingly cute sound. She at last turned to Hashmalum. “Well then… I do believe you wanted to sacrifice me to make some silly weapon. But I broke your little murder machine, so what happens now?” With a casual looking slap, she knocked him across the room. “And by the way… hands off my marefriend, thank you.”
Hashmalum struggled to his feet as the tower shook again from an attack outside. “You risk the lives of all these captives and more! I can kill-”
He stopped as Celestia stood before him again. Again, no one in the room had seen her move. “Shh… now now… no need for foalish threats. You wanted to see the Seraphim’s first creation, didn’t you? But you don’t seem to realize… I was born, not created. Solise didn’t so much give me power as give me ways to express that power. You see… I’m the strongest earth pony ever born.” She punched through him… slowly. “And I was once a General myself, facing off against the Demondim’s greatest servants. You aren’t fit to clean their boots. And did you know? I won. My Cutie Mark isn’t for my connection to the sun; I had it before that. It’s the light of victory, for all my people to follow.”
Raven snickered. “I’d follow that flank.”
“...Quiet, you.”
Hashmalum gurgled, trying to speak a final threat as Celestia slowly ground her hoof through his chest. “I told you to ‘shush’. Listen now… I had to give this sort of thing up. Solise doesn’t like my violent tendencies. And she wasn’t exactly wrong. I could go over to being a tyrant rather easily… and the scary thing is it would be awhile before anypony really noticed. They do love me so… But… do you think the griffons, and the dragons, left my peaceful land alone all these centuries… just because?”
He choked, coughing blood.
“No… of course you didn’t think that. I’m glad. I’d hate to have to demonstrate further.” With a blur and a sharp crack her other hoof broke the sound barrier before crushing his skull to powder. She sighed as his corpse collapsed to the floor, twitching once. “Some monsters really just can’t be redeemed.”
Raven shuddered. “I am… very turned on right now.”
“You’ll have to wait, we have more to-”
A third shudder, combined with a loud metal tearing sound, erupted in the distance.
“Ah, and we needn’t do it alone, how lovely!” Celestia said with a grin. “Oh but… I’ll need my things back.”
“No no, you’re better this way.”
Celestia rolled her eyes. “Believe me, I’m not resetting myself completely. I’ve had her blinders on long enough. She and I will be having a very long talk in the near future. But you’re about to burn to death from the inside out. It once took a team of skilled unicorns to move the sun even a bit while I was training up to get used to what you’re carrying. Many of them burned out even working as a group. Right now, you have minutes before you do so literally… as in your organs turning to ash.”
“Oh, well… yes, do take it back then, by all means.”
“Wise decision.”
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New Moon Rising
“Eve?! Twilight?! Starlight?! ...Trixie?” Luna called out from the oddly domed shaped room she’d found herself in.
It was dark, but that didn’t bother her. That they’d been brought here and apparently separated so easily did. It implied they’d been ready for their approach… and while she reflected they’d done little to hide said approach, there was more to it than that. To have such magic ready to strike at them so quickly and precisely as to defeat their defenses… it was worrying.
“You seem concerned, Luna.”
Her eyes went wide, drawing upon magesight to look through the pitch blackness of the room. That voice… it couldn’t be. “Impossible.”
“Impossible that you’re concerned?” The dark voice chuckled. “Well, maybe if you went back to what you were when you were strong. All I see now is the little painter clinging to Celestia’s tail.”
“This is a lie… you cannot be alive.” She looked at the shadow cast in the darkness, a density of magic that gave away his presence.
“Oh? And why not? Because your magicks locked my very essence into the crystals from which I gained my own power?”
“YOUR magic did that, your dependency on them to maintain your hold when you overreached your talents.”
“And like you, I paid for my loss with one thousand years of exile. ...Unlike you, I wasn’t welcomed back with hugs and understanding.”
“What I sought was foolishness, but even I did not seek the enslavement, the complete destruction of free will that you craved… Sombra. Harmony cleansed my hatred and rage, reminded me who I am! For you, a similar power could only destroy you. There is nothing there to save.”
He chuckled, seeming to take shape from being named as he stepped forward. “And yet here I stand. And look where it got you. Your strength destroyed along with your anger… leaving behind a shivering little nothing. And once again… all alone in the night. As you were ever to be. Does it sting, little painter? Knowing that your ‘friends’ have abandoned you? They’ve already escaped. These Oni-koru couldn’t even stop me from taking over this place. They were using my crystals, after all. The very bones of my corpse… or what my corpse had become, thanks to-”
“YOU.” Luna interjected angrily.
“Hmph. Once again you refuse to take responsibility. Small wonder they left you here.”
“Tis a lie.”
“Then where are they?”
She rolled her eyes. “Enough of this. I know not what you wish of me, but I’ll not grant it.” Her horn lit and she teleported before returning to the same spot as the magic was blocked.
He laughed. “Did you honestly think that would work?”
“No, but it showed me where to aim.” Luna fired a blast of energy at a particular spot on the ceiling, damaging the inhibitor behind it.
As she did, Sombra fired a blast of his own, and Luna screamed as her mind was invaded.
“Did you forget my talent, after all these centuries?! Surely not… you were gone for as long as I was… you had plenty of time to dwell on all the friends I took from you! Or wait… you never had any!” He laughed cruelly, the echo of it multiplying through her mind.
He stepped forward as she collapsed, continuing to channel the mental attack. “I wonder what it will be like to have an alicorn pet. Mayhap I can use you against… wait… what are you…?”
Ceasing his advance, he looked on in surprise as dark magic surrounded her. Armor formed on her withers, a black helm atop her head. She looked up, a flash of bright green as a feline pupil narrowed at him even in the near total darkness. “...No…”
A sinister laugh came from the Nightmare. “Muhahahahah… NO? No, did you say, little pony? But this is what you wanted, isn’t it?”
“You… you will serve me! I control-”
The room seemed to shatter around him. Everything was replaced with eyes, looking at him. Nightmare laughed quietly, chillingly. “Alone… in the night, you said? You should be so lucky.” Sombra rounded, trying to find the source of the whispering voices. The eyes all stared back, stared through him. “The stars answer to me… but even that shouldn’t frighten you… compared to what I’ve seen between those stars.
“Know you the deepest, coldest reaches between them? Know you the beings that lurk within those reaches?” She walked slowly over, leaning down to whisper huskily in his ear. “...They know you. They whisper to me of you. They know every weakness… every crack in the sad, rotting hovel that is your mind. The crystals will allow them in. And they reach for you now… do you see them?” Sombra screamed. “If you’d left me be, they could not have found you. Alone in the night? They aid me! Every light in the sky is my ally… every light… will burn away your very existence. You. Will. Die.”
He gurgled, frothing at the mouth as he fainted. The image shattered and the eyes vanished, replaced by a familiar starscape Luna preferred to the bland, black ceiling. ‘Nightmare’s’ armor also shattered, and she looked down at Sombra before snorting derisively. “Who forgot who’s talent, again? ...Also, good to have you back, Sidera. But might that have been a bit much?”
Luna blinked, one ear twitching as her old friend talked her ear off too quickly for mortal speech. “I see. Then we must make haste. Can you see where they’re holding the others? ...Unfortunate. Then we shall do this the hard way.”
------------------------------------------
Twilight Sparkle was deeply confused. The cell they’d been teleported into was… laughably inadequate. She and Starlight had had no trouble destroying the shielding blocking the door, and Trixie had picked the lock before they’d even gotten their wind back. “...And should I ask where you learned to pick locks like that?”
“Trixie resents your accusing tone,” the showmare replied, lifting her muzzle imperiously. “...Dextrous telekinesis is essential to a good performance, thank you very much.”
“To my knowledge, other than the incident in Ponyville, Ms. Lulamoon has no record of criminal activity,” Evening Calm noted.
“Trixie’s Ponyville actions were expunged from her record!”
“...Yes, at Twilight Sparkle’s request.”
Trixie blinked. “Oh.”
“In any case, we need to find Princess Luna. I know she’s nearby!”
Starlight frowned. “How do you know that?”
“I… call it guard sense; I’ve always been able to tell.”
Twilight’s eyes narrowed. “That doesn’t make sense.”
Eve turned to her. “Meaning no disrespect, ma’am, but a friend of the Bearer of Laughter-”
“Oh no, you’re not playing the Pinkie card to get out of this.”
“Changeling,” Trixie said simply.
“I am not!” Eve shot back hotly.
“Hey, Trixie’s not saying there’s anything wrong with it. Love and tolerance, and so forth,” she said, waving one hoof in a circle as she rolled her eyes. “But-”
“Hey, you there!”
“Oh right, we were escaping from the Oni-koru,” Eve muttered, turning and drawing a pair of wingblades from sheaths on her hind legs.
Twilight and Starlight facehoofed.
“Help us!”
“...Wat?”
------------------------------------------
Luna barreled through another wall, and past several Oni-koru (who, to be fair, weren’t attempting to impede her). At least one of them had been clapping, she was sure of it. Before long she reached the hallway of cells she’d been looking for. It helped that a couple technicians or the like had given her directions.
Inside an open cell, with half a dozen Oni-koru hiding behind them, she found her friends. Evening Calm stepped forward first, bearing her weapons and with a determined look on her face. “Princess! Is it true you have reverted to your Nightmare self?!”
“Is it true Evening Calm is a changeling?” Trixie called from the back of the room (hiding just a bit behind Starlight, Luna noted).
The expression on Twilight’s face was one worth remembering. A deadpan rendition of the phrase ‘...bucking really?’, if Luna wasn’t mistaken.
“Neither of those are true… unless you’ve been replaced at some point since Canterlot’s attack. Twilight, do you not have a spell for such things?”
“Yep. Cast it, too, but Trixie doesn’t believe me. She has some unusual magic in her wings, and I’m betting I know why, but she’s… and Starlight, say it with me now…”
Starlight rolled her eyes and sighed, but recited along with Twilight, “not a changeling.”
Luna blinked, tilting her head in confusion. “I am missing something.”
“So many eyes…. So many…” one of the Oni-koru muttered from behind Twilight. The young alicorn gently patted the dazed Oni with a wing.
“...Ah,” Luna said, grimacing. “My apologies. I destroyed the inhibitor for my cell before calling upon the fullness of the Nightmare to deal with Sombra. The area of effect was perhaps larger than I intended.”
“Good thing the detention block here has its own shielding,” Twilight noted blandly. She turned to the Oni behind her, particularly the young looking one who seemed most shaken. The girl couldn’t have been past twenty summers yet. “But see? She’s not going to summon evil space demons to eat you. It was just a nightmare to deal with-” her eyes went wide. “WHAT?! SOMBRA?! HE’S BACK?! How? Why? When? What?!”
“Calm yourself, Twilight Sparkle. After subduing him I eradicated his form with some help from Sidera’s knowledge of destroying the crystal formations. While I cannot promise he is gone for good, he should not be able to take another form without Oni-koru assistance. At this point, I doubt he’ll get it. The former commander of this Spire had already gone missing, and those left were at odds over what to do when he began taking over.”
“That doesn’t answer… wait, the corrupted aetheryte… some of it is… ew.” Twilight grimaced, looking nauseated.
“Oh that’s disturbing,” Starlight muttered.
“...What is?” Trixie asked.
Luna facehoofed.
------------------------------------------
Mastering Chess
Maegren laughed himself out quickly enough. “You surprise me, boy! You travel here with them only to send them away at the last moment?”
Aiden shrugged, carefully manipulating the aether within the arena he’d created. Maegren was absurdly strong, and despite his seeming ease, well-guarded. It was a testament to his own training and growth that Aiden could even use magic properly this close to the monster. “What was I gonna do, leave without em? They’d have just followed me… and joined this fight at the worst time.” He smiled fondly. “Even wrote Rarity an ‘I’m going off to die’ kind of letter for them to find. Lull them into a false sense of talking me out of it.” He shook his head. “They’ve got better things to do than sully themselves facing you.”
“As though they’ll escape it.” With a casual air, Maegren lunged, a broadsword appearing in his hand halfway through. Aiden deflected it with an open palm as he spun away from the attack, and a kick knocked away Maegren’s follow up. The Oni raised an eyebrow. “As I recall, you weren’t that fast… and you didn’t fight unarmed.”
“Ah, well… Kirin destroyed my bastons, and I don’t have the tech to fix them here. ...Now that I think about it, Twilight or Celestia probably could have done it. Eh, hindsight, am I right? Oh hey, let me ask you a question though.”
“I have time. Those barriers of yours must be taxing. Soon enough they’ll drop and I can reach into your little pocket world and retrieve our guests of honor. Then the real fun begins.”
“Right, yeah… fun is good. But do you know the total force transmitted from a freeway overpass falling at terminal velocity?”
Maegren’s eyes went wide just before said object landed on him from ten feet in the air, travelling at…
“Well, maybe a little above usual terminal,” Aiden admitted from behind an energy shield he’d put up. "I’m working with gravity magic and really enjoying it. Not to mention I think these Cutie Marks have made portals easier.”
With a snarl and a blast of energy the displaced bridge was destroyed and Maegren floated up from the crater he’d been driven into from the impact. Aiden grinned. That cost you two percent. ...And me five. Let’s see who can recover more quick-
His train of thought derailed in favor of jumping the tracks to get out of the way. Maegren’s haymaker passed through empty air as Aiden stepped away, bending space to speed his apparent passage through it.
“Oh? Not quite a portal… but something even faster?”
“Short range though… definitely a work in progress.”
“And that’s how you’ve condensed the magic in those barriers as well. I see. But when you die, they fall.”
“Eh, you think that, but… I’m not here to buy time. No way in Hell the girls would just step outside the barriers and go on to the Spire… even if that would be a good play.”
“Then what’s the point?”
“Ah… that’d be telling. But… let’s just say… if you strike me down, she’ll become more powerful than you can possibly imagine,” he said with a lopsided grin. “...And at this point you’d better, because I imagine she heard me borrowing that line I’m going to be in real trouble for it.”
“You really are a fool!”
“What? I just have faith in my friends. I mean, if that’s my weakness I’ll take it-”
He dodged again as Maegren appeared behind him, thrusting for his kidneys. Aiden stepped past the blade towards his opponent, grabbing at the sword arm near the wrist. As Maegren wrenched it away with superior strength, a mass shadow enhanced punch struck him in the side of the face, cracking his jaw and rocking him sideways. Aiden spun low, sweeping his legs before a second spin brought a foot into the back of his head, just at the base of his skull. Aiden put everything into that strike, and sent Maegren flying into one of the barriers. He bounced off heavily, hitting the ground and rolling to his feet clumsily.
Before being hit by a car.
The vehicle, a 1986 Honda Civic, had seen better days. But it went out in a blaze of glory as Aiden smashed it into Maegren at close to sixty meters per second. Regrettably, it didn’t explode. “Stupid reliably engineered vehicles…” Aiden muttered. Then he ducked as Maegren appeared behind him again with a decapitating strike. Aiden spun vertically on one foot, planting the other on Maegren’s chin and sending him flying up and backward. He stopped in midair, a few feet below the upper barriers that kept him from escaping. He blurred, and Aiden caught his plunging blade inches from piercing his eye. Maegren pushed forward, slowly overpowering Aiden…
Before a parking meter nearly took his head off. Aiden caught it out of the air in a telekinetic grip, swinging in a wide arc that Maegren easily avoided, before stepping in a puddle of heavy gravity aether. He tripped sideways and the second swing of the parking meter smashed into the side of his head, driving him into the dirt. Gravity increased, cratering the ground as he was pushed down. He yelled, sending a burst of aether out and blasting Aiden away. The Esper rolled to his feet with little difficulty, shaking off the discombobulation in time to perform another barehanded parry and counter, smashing a jab into Maegren’s throat.
The Oni staggered back, coughing and snarling as a whirlwind of defensive magic surrounded him. His coughing became laughter.
“I don’t seem to be able to outfight you, boy. Why is that?”
“I dunno. Get good? Seriously you were always kind of garbage in a close up fight. Hence the barriers giving us a small area to work with. I could have made it a lot bigger, but this range suits me more than you.”
The Oni chuckled. “The truth is, I had wanted to beat you at your own game. I did the same with Garken in Canterlot… and was winning at first. He’s become weak while you’ve gotten much stronger. ...No surprise really, given the sheer number you’ve killed.”
Aiden grimaced, rolling his eyes. And now for the psychological portion of our fight. “Yeah no, let me stop you there.”
“Even more than Paladin Williams… you slaughtered hundreds of us.”
“Yeah… again, soldier… enemy soldiers… sorry you invaded us and killed my family and stuff. We good?”
“You shouldn’t have even existed.”
“...Is this like a youtube argument?”
“Do you know why our kind stopped using heavy technology in the war? ...Caedum believed it was to stop pointless deaths among your civilians. But my king did not agree for that reason. ...He had no desire to awaken more Espers.”
“Given the ass kickings we handed his warriors I can see why.”
“Fool! Those victories are Caedum’s fault! He was Grand Marshal! He fought in ways that gave you chances to win.”
“He fought in ways the Articles of War wouldn’t call to execute him for. Genocide isn’t usually a goal you want to go for if you call yourself civilized.”
“You hold us to your lowly standards?”
“And yet he passes… you don’t. ‘Lowly’, he says…”
“You are nothing more than an accident! A stroke of luck that awakened a spark of power within you! And you think to-”
“That spark started here, dumbass! It was the return on the bravery and sacrifice of the volunteers who came here to help the friends they would have to leave behind. ...The same people I can help now, thanks to that legacy. An accident? Not even close.” Aiden rolled his eyes. “I think you were expecting someone younger if these are the arguments you had prepared; I should have brought coffee with me.”
“No… you shouldn’t have dropped your guard!”
Aiden winced as voices screamed in his mind. He staggered back, shaking off the effect of the mental attack he’d been expecting since the fight began. He gasped for air, trying to shore up his defenses and kick out the invasion.
No avail. Maegren was simply stronger, and this was a brute force contest with no finesse or skill advantage to capitalize on. If he hadn’t been lulled, perhaps...
Pain. Aiden screamed as, once again, Pravus’ spear pierced his guts. Another through each leg, one through his lung and then his shoulder. He was coughing blood; he couldn’t breath. He screamed again. NOT REAL… PUSH IT ALL AWAY… YOU ARE NOT ALLOWED-
Really, darling… what do you think you’re doing?
Aiden gasped for breath. He was staked to the tree, just like the nightmare… exactly like it… the colors of the world around them... this was inside his head. Maegren was there… larger than life, longer claws, bigger fangs, ...but instead of looking more powerful he looked frustrated, a devil that could not torment its victim.
No real surprise. Aiden couldn’t move, but his mind was already clear.
Did you honestly think I would let you treat him so? Rarity’s head tilted as she stepped forward. Joyeuse swept across the glowing spears, shattering each to nothingness and freeing Aiden. As he fell onto his hands and knees, he found Joyeuse’s hilt under his right hand.
Impossible… Maegren said… or thought. You’re just a figment of his mind… his memory of you. ...His sad love for a creature even less than himself. Sickening…
Rarity burst out laughing. Oh my, cut to the quick! Your disapproval fills me with determination. And you see you’ve erred… I’m not a figment… I’m the part of Rarity that connects us, just as part of him lives within me.
Lies…
Not at all, bastard. She grinned at replacing her usual form of address for something more appropriate. After all… he’s never seen this form…
With that light surrounded her before exploding outward, leaving… what Aiden imagined Rarity might look like if she was about half alicorn, half 80’s hair band lead. Might be a bit much…
Oh hush, darling, Harmony goes big or not at all.
Aiden chuckled as Rarity fired a blast of energy at Maegren too massive to dodge. He put up a shield… but that same energy was harmless to Aiden.
And that shield was spread too thin to stop Joyeuse. Maegren snarled as Aiden drove the blade home, twisting as the damage caused Maegren’s shield to collapse. His form dissipated.
Thanks for the assist.
Of course, darling. ...This doesn’t mean you’re forgiven for this mess.
Heh. Well, you’re the part that can explain to the rest what happened, so… ehh, I don’t expect forgiveness anyway. We never did, that wasn’t what mattered. You took the same oath, don’t forget.
I won’t. She smiled. Time waits not for man or pony. Go.
Ma’am, yes, ma’am.
Aiden opened his eyes to behold a staggered and heavily breathing Maegren. He was a bit worse for wear himself and tried quickly to pull himself together, but… “...Shit!” He spun, realizing a fraction of a second too late to dodge that the Maegren he saw was an illusion.
The sword pierced his chest, missing his heart by the fraction of an inch he’d managed to deflect it with his late reaction. A trail of aether bled off his hand through the blade, just in time to prevent a fatal strike. Made it. Aiden thought, smiling inwardly. Thanks, love. I owe ya.
Maegren grinned evilly down at him. He was only slightly less winded than the illusion had been, but there’d been enough for this final attack.
“Again… to a damn tree,” Aiden muttered, noting himself stuck.
Maegren laughed. “Like the bug that you are. Still, a fine effort, boy. You’re nearly worth remembering. Certainly worth finishing quickly. I’m so eager to see whether your precious Rarity lives up to your promising words.”
“You’re not man enough for her… I wish I could watch her prove it.”
“Heh… pity you’ll be busy being dead. One final request though, if I may. One final curiosity to satisfy.”
“I think that works the other way, doesn’t it?”
“What was Plan A?”
“Eh?”
“A. You said ‘Plan B, girls’ before sending them off to wait for you to die. The plan seemed to be ‘fight until I killed you’ and hope that you weakened me enough that whatever nonsensical power boost your little mare gets will be enough to finish me.”
“Ahh. Yep, that was Plan A, alright.”
Maegren blinked, then raised an eyebrow. Then both eyes narrowed and he twisted the blade. Aiden didn’t seem to react. “No, you fool! Plan A! The first plan you wanted to use, was-”
“Exactly what you described,” Aiden interrupted, grinning. He held his hand out behind him, palm up.
A white hoof came out of the air to slap into it.
“What?!” Maegren cried as Aiden vanished. He had just enough time to notice that his sword’s blade had been crushed down to almost a needle’s width by intense gravity magic. ...A needle’s stab which, to a First Generation Esper, would be barely an inconvenience.
Before he had time to ponder the implications, the enclosure was filled with every color of the rainbow. And well before the sound of the shockwave could reach him, a pair of cyan hooves smashed into the back of his skull, the same spot Aiden had weakened earlier.
Had it been possible to hear from his position within a crater nearly the size and depth of the arena’s height, he might had heard Rainbow Dash from where she hovered above him, forehooves crossed over her chest.
“B! FOR ‘BACK OF THE HEAD’!”