//------------------------------// // Chapter 72: The Holder of the Blade // Story: The Life of Penumbra Heartbreak // by Unwhole Hole //------------------------------// The shots of a crystal autocannon rang out, and ponies cried out in surprise as they were overwhelmed with the results of the pre-packaged, compressed spells. Piwancha immediately ducked back under cover as the mages among them fired back, their beams of magic cutting flecks free from the fallen wall of crystal that she and Holder were hiding behind. “By Proletius’s beard,” she groaned, ejecting one of the crystal cartridges from Zither’s armor and replacing the next. “Why couldn’t he just build it to fire normal bullets?” “What are bullets?” asked Holder, with a devastating depilation spell zipping just past his left ear. “Trust me, you would rather not know.” Piwancha reengaged the system. While as a knight she was of course trained in the use of every manner of heavy weapon, she would have greatly preferred a sword- -of course, with no horn, there was no way to hold it. So autocannons it was, as primitive as they were. She sat up, opening fire on the Equestrian forces only for spells to come whizzing at her from behind. Several struck her in the back, rebounding off her borrowed armor. “We’re surrounded! Time for plan B!” “We have a plan B?” “Yes! Hold on!” Holder did as he was told, grabbing onto Piwancha’s heavy power armor. He then squealed prolifically as she charged headlong into battle. Taken by surprise, the Equestrians had no idea what to do. The first among them was the least fortunate, receiving a power-armored hoof square to the snoot. The two behind him took autocannon spells to their respective rumps. More spells came flying, and Piwancha shielded herself with her front hooves. The spells penetrated her armor, cutting through the front legs. It would have been crippling if she actually had legs beneath the armor. Something thudded in the distance. Piwancha saw that it was support from professional mages; an artillery strike was inbound. She rolled to the side, but was hit by the blast. Holder was knocked free. “Holder!” Holder rolled and bounced a few times before coming to a stop. He stood, rubbing his head, looking somewhat dazed- -just as a Pegasus swooped down, accelerating hard for an aerial strike. “LOOK OUT!” The Pegasus punched Holder square in the face- -and immediately cried out in pain as his own wrist was dislocated. Holder was not even pushed back, but the Pegasus was stopped in his tracks. “GAH!” he cried, holding up his now floppy damaged wrist. “What in Celestia’s name are you made of, rocks?!” “Well, you are what you eat, maybe?” Holder then punched the Pegasus in the chest. He was sent flying backward with such force that he bowled over an entire group of earth pony guards. “Oops. Sorry!” The ground suddenly began to rumble. Piwancha and Holder looked at each other. “That wasn’t me,” said Holder. “At least, I don’t think it was.” A dark shadow passed over them. Both slowly looked up and found themselves staring into the empty eye-sockets of an enormous dragon construct. “EEP!” cried Holder, falling to the ground. “DO NOT WANT!” Piwancha turned to it, leaving herself open to Equestrian attack but not caring. The Equestrians were fleeing in terror, leaving her to devote her full attention toward firing on the construct. Her tiny crystal autocannon did precious little against such a beast, though, and with neither her sword nor her magic she had no hope of victory. “Holder! You have to run! I’ll hold it off!” Holder looked up. “But- -I can’t leave you!” The constructs skeletal claw tore across the open battlefield. Piwancha managed to dodge, but her power armor was far too heavy for the appropriate acrobatics. It was not designed for her combat style at all, and she was at a serious disadvantage in just about every possible way. “One of us has to make it out of here! GO!” She turned to him as she loaded her last ammunition crystal. “Build your rock farm. Be happy.” She screamed a mighty battlecry and charged the dragon, leaving Holder all alone. Except that the dragon had no concern for an unhorned knight. She was not its target. Her presence had no potential impact on the direction of the battle or the fulfillment of Luciferian’s prophecy. Holder, however, did. There were precious few instruments in the mortal world capable of defeating a god. The Black Blade was one of them- -but that power came at a cost. Without a host, it was only a piece of harmless rock. So by Luciferian’s logic, the host must be terminated to assure Daybreaker’s victory. The dragon raised its sword, a diamond blade twice the height of a building. Piwancha saw this, but also saw that its target was not her. She swore under her breath, as this foul beast was ruing her chance at noble sacrifice. Then she saw that it was aiming for Holder, and all thoughts about nobility and sacrifice evaporated. As hard as he was, he was still a mortal pony, and the best he could hope to do was cower and quiver- -or to defend himself and be lost forever. She ran to him, just as the sword began to come down, drawing on the full power of her ancient ancestor’s power-armor. The whole world seemed to slow, and as she reached him, she threw him out of the way, intending to take the blow herself. The blade fell- -and stopped. Piwancha had fallen to the ground. She looked up, and saw Holder standing above her, his terrible red eyes staring down on her with a look of absolute hatred- -and a profound, uncontrollable hunger. He had fallen to one knee, and the dragon’s crystal sword had come to a halt against the side of the gleaming Black Blade, braced by both of Holder’s front hooves. “Holder, no...” “Why?” asked a voice. Although it was spoken from Holder’s mouth, it was not his. Piwancha shuddered at its sound. “Why do you show this one kindness, meat? He is capable of only endless destruction, across all eternity and to the end of time itself. What is it you have to gain?” “I...I love him.” “And he, you. Which is why devouring your soul will please me so greatly. His pain amuses me, if only slightly.” Holder- -or the thing which now ruled him- -then turned its attention to the dragon. With barely any effort, he shifted his sword, parrying the blade. It plunged deep into the ground beside them. “But this...this THING. It has no soul, and that which binds it to this realm reeks of the Holy Mother. Which means it has no value.” Holder tilted to one side, slicing the dragon’s diamond blade in half as it tried to pull it back out of the ground. It stumbled backward, and Holder raised the Black Blade, preparing for a lethal strike. Before he could attack, though, a radiant beam of divine light struck the dragon’s chest, vaporizing directly through it and igniting the remainder of its crystal and bone to ash. Piwancha lifted her head and looked behind them. She could feel the hope draining from her as she saw the source of the beam. There, slowly marching behind them, was a burning white goddess. Daybreaker had arrived. Her scorched eyes scanned the scene, monumentally pausing on Piwancha, immediately knowing her as one of the primal enemies of ultimate Harmony. One of the few who remained after the last purge. But when her eyes fell upon Holder, they narrowed, because she recognized the weapon he bore- -or the weapon that bore him. “More soulless creatures,” growled Holder, slowly marching toward Daybreaker with absolute disregard for the danger. “So utterly pointless. I crave PONIES. Not foul reproductions.” “Then you are free to leave, heretic.” Daybreaker lowered her horn and leveled a blast directly at Holder. Holder responded, his blade moving faster than Daybreaker’s beam could travel. It struck the hardened obsidian edge of the Black Blade and was reflected infinity within it. Holder was pushed back, but his hooves dug into the ground. With his extreme earth-pony strength amplified by the Black Blade, he held his ground, continually absorbing Daybreaker’s power as it was produced. When Daybreaker finally paused, the Black Blade had been heated somewhat but rapidly cooled to its normal state. It- -and the host attached to it- -were undamaged. A strange expression crossed Daybreaker’s face. She had encountered something unexpected, and was unsure what to do. “My power is drawn from the sun,” she growled. “How dare you defy it?” Holder smiled a vicious smile that did not belong to him. “I existed before all the stars of your universe. And I will exist long after each and every one of them has gone dark. I bring my master the gift of eternity. The life of a star is but a dim flash compared to ours.” By this time, more of the Equestrian forces had begun to gather, bolstered by the presence of their twin leaders. The guards had fully surrounded Holder and Piwancha, and spears and horns were pointed at them from every side. Nightmare Moon, clad in silver, stepped past her sister. “This does not need to end in violence,” she said. “Lay down your blade, and surrender. As Princess of the Night, I grant you one chance at leniency, but only if you comply NOW.” “Superseding me, little sister?” growled Daybreaker. “I gave you a chance to try it your way. We saw how well that worked.” The ponies began to close in. Holder’s eyes immediately shifted from one to the other, not out of nervousness but clearly out of hunger. He had been given so many choices. “Drop your weapon!” ordered one of the unicorns. “Drop your weapon, or we’ll open fire! Please don’t make us do that!” Holder looked over his shoulder. “Pi...” he said. This time he spoke in his own voice. “You have to...go...I can’t control it. You still have a chance….” “No,” she said, standing and opening her armor’s autocannon. She stood with him, even as the Equestrian forces closed in. “I won’t leave!” “But they’ll hurt you! I can survive, but you- -” “Do not defy me, earth-pony! I have made my decision! I will not leave you! Either we surrender together, or we fight together!” She saw the panic in Holder’s eyes, and saw his breathing accelerate. Holder raised the sword. Even Daybreaker took a step back, not sure what was about to happen. Piwancha closed her eyes, preparing for her final battle. It seemed she would meet a noble end after all. Then Holder brought the Blade down, stabbing its tip deep into the crystal ground. “What are you doing?!” he cried, speaking in the high voice of the Blade. “I’m not- -listening to you- -ANYMORE!” He grasped the pommel of the sword and began to pull it to one side. “I don’t want to hurt ponies! I want to live MY OWN LIFE!” “Without my power, you are nothing! NOTHING! Without me, there is only PAIN! You will be ALONE! ALONE FOREVER WITHOUT ME!” “I- -don’t- -CARE!” Holder roared as his entire body strained against the Black Blade, summoning his full strength against it. The Blade began to bend as if it were steel instead of glass. Then, in a terrible instant, the whole of the Empire fell silent. The only thing that could be heard was the sound of shattering obsidian. The circle of Equestrian forces was immediately thrown back by the devastating plume of black chaos released from the blade as its own wielder snapped it. Then it escaped, pouring back to whatever foul realm it had been drawn from. Holder stood for a moment, and he looked over his shoulder at Piwancha. A smile crossed his face as he collapsed, unconscious. “Holder!” Piwancha activated the eject from her armor. It hissed as it opened and she dropped to the ground, having momentarally forgotten that she lacked front legs. Ignoring this, she crawled and wriggled to him. For a moment she was terrified- -but then she saw that he was still breathing. The Blade lay before him, its straight and perfect obsidian form shattered into silent fragments. Holder was finally free. And then a glow was cast upon them. Piwancha looked up and saw the face of Daybreaker. Daybreaker looked down at them and charged her horn. Piwancha pressed herself against Holder, staring up at the solar goddess defiantly. Perhaps it was all over, but they would at least meet their end together. Daybreaker saw this, and paused. Then the glow of her horn faded. “Come, baby sister,” she said. “Time runs short. I do not have time to waste on a pointless earth-pony and a legless, hornless mare. They are not even worth the use of my magic. Guards! See to them, do as you see fit. I do not care.” And with that, she stepped over them. Nightmare Moon followed, but paused. She stared down at them through her quicksilver mask. “Heroism is not quickly forgotten,” she said. “Thank you.” Nightmare Moon passed, and the guards converged. Piwancha was fully expecting a beating, but none came. Several medics arrived, immediately checking Holder over. He stirred, and looked up. Piwancha, still partly legless, was laying beside him. “Did...did we make it?” Piwancha smiled. “I think we did.” Holder smiled too, and it seemed to be the first real smile he had produced in centuries. He reached out a shaking hoof and hugged her. For them, the battle was over, and their fate had been decided. Past them, Nightmare Moon approached her sister. “You spared them,” she said. “Why?” snapped Daybreaker. “Are you going to question my decision?” “Why?” Daybreaker looked down at her sister, sneering. “I already told you.”