//------------------------------// // Chapter 28 – The Call // Story: The One True King // by JDPrime22 //------------------------------// Chapter 28 “One of the heads of the beast seemed to have had a fatal wound, but the fatal wound had been healed. The whole world was filled with wonder and followed the beast.” — Book of Revelation Bone Dry Desert A steaming locomotive tore its way through vicious sandstorms, a day of unyielding heat, and a night filled with cold that froze to the bone. But it pressed on. The fires in the engine still raged. The conductor, the engineers, and the passengers stayed true to their journey south, stopping not even once so they could reach their destination of New Haven before sunrise. Then, a quick ride through the Wicked Woods, and finally to Mount Aris, home of the Hippogriffs. The passengers from northern Equestria had been looking forward to their vacation for months now, especially after Princess Twilight herself deemed the railway safe for passage into international territories outside of Equestria’s borders. It was a first for a lot of them, seeing the kingdom of the Hippogriffs and potentially the undersea kingdom of Seaquestria, where the seaponies lived. A once in a lifetime opportunity, a vacation they would remember for the rest of their lives. Hardly anypony could contain their excitement, knowing with every passing mile into the dark, lifeless desert, they were that much closer to their destination. Some of the younger fillies and colts gazed out their windows and stared at the stars, whispering and daydreaming to one another. Many of the older ponies took some time to dream in their sleep, to close their eyes and get some much-needed rest before they reached New Haven. Then came the roar that woke everypony fully. Stirring in their seats, with fillies and colts covering their ears to the high-pitched shriek filling the night skies, the many elder equines turned to one another as the cry continued on and on. Finally dying down and leaving the world as it once was. Voices were thrown about, theories and explanations to somehow bring to light an answer to the strange phenomenon. Perhaps it was the train’s brakes, yet they felt no lurch or sudden stop from the locomotive. Maybe an outside force, the sounds of a coming earthquake. But it sounded like no tremor anypony had ever heard before. It sounded louder, stronger, far more powerful. It sounded like the roar of great beast. And to their shock still, a tremor did follow the cry. An earthquake did rip apart the mounds of sand surrounding them. Ponies both young and old that time turned and pressed themselves to the windows, eyes widening in awestruck horror when they witnessed the earthquake in its full, unadulterated, ravaging glory. The earth bounced and rattled, the dirt and sand splitting open to allow bursts of dark liquid to spew forth high into the night sky. Reservoirs beneath the ground erupted as the tremor tore through them, spewing the natural oil out into the open air. And joining the towers of oil were the even mightier towers of flesh and bone. A shell of a leg, bending and rising to allow five others just like it to follow. The jagged, blade-like ends of each leg rose higher and higher, the joints flexing, stretching, to allow the great beast beneath the earth to awaken fully. Outside of the train tracks, just barely missing the escaping train, shrouded in the towers of black oil and raining shards of dirt and earth, all six legs rose to full height. The legs of Scylla sprouted forth from the sands, the creature awakening to answer the call of her new alpha. Riverlands Outpost Bayou The evening star fell further and further, blanketing the marshlands under a bright, orange glare. The swamps and the bayous were alive with thunderous energy, creatures both large and small crying out and flying in various directions as the call of the new alpha Titan washed across the land. In the heart of the marshes, hidden within miles of rivers, dense swamps, and towering willow trees, the lone T.I.T.A.N. Outpost Bayou was on high alert. Catwalks scattered across the waters that led to even more structures and facilities tilted and trembled, the ponies standing upon them gripping the railings so as not to fall into the river. Soon enough, every scientist, every agent, and every guard bearing the symbols of T.I.T.A.N. turned in accordance to the main facility. They witnessed the dark steel bend and crack, thundering impacts only increasing as the seconds stretched on. Sirens were screaming and scientists were fleeing from the center facility, agents rushing in. Those on the outskirts could only watch on in silence. In horror. Unable to do a thing to stop her… With one last push, the Queen MUTO burst from the facility, ripping through the marshlands as dark green water flew forth from her body. Her cackling scream deafened the many ponies around her, leaving them shaken and unable to properly react to the wretched image of the Titan breaking free from her containment cell. Flaming shreds of steel shot out, crashing into the swamps where the fires were doused. Then, they quickly spread again. The decimated facility laid in ruins beneath the rampaging MUTO. And she did not yield, ramming her forelimbs and body into the various other structures and catwalks surrounding her. She destroyed that which tried to hold her, but no longer would she be held. She was called for a greater purpose now. Then, her burning red eyes captured the sight of the pulsating hearts filling the catwalks. The ones who kept her asleep. The ones who kept her contained. Her would-be masters. Her tormentors. The call ensured to the Queen MUTO that she belonged to no feeble master of this world. No life smaller than hers would ever control her again. So, the MUTO laid waste to her prison. Every inch of the land. She laid waste to her former masters. To the screaming, fleeing ponies before they were crushed and flung into the swamps, never to be heard or seen again. And though she was free, the Queen MUTO instead faced away from freedom and turned towards the darkening horizon. Her heart was turned elsewhere. Turned to the one who set her free. And she followed him. Her king. Wandering Woods The Changeling Empire heard the shriek tear across the skies. Changelings young and old, from every family, emerged out of their tremendous spire upon the world, from the mountain where the last remnants of Chrysalis’ horrific influence stood. But it was no longer her influence. Instead, every jagged end and loveless, sinful edge was replaced with changelings who loved, who cared, who shared that affection with one another instead of taking it. And the fruits of their labors showed, a healthy vegetation sprouting all around the destroyed mountain and giving their home, their kingdom, a loving, beautiful flair. And they were all simultaneously pulled from their peaceful lives in their secluded kingdom, changelings emerging out of the rock and flying into the air. All of them searching but finding no source to the unknown shriek. It came from no particular direction. It seemed to rebound and circle the land again and again, finally dying out and leaving nothing but a piercing stillness, an infectious silence that entrenched the air between each one of them. But that stillness did not last forever. The silence was shattered by the growling earthquake. That was what frightened them. The earth growled as it trembled, like a living being. Like a beast. Curious and fearful and hesitant all the same, the changelings shifted their attention to the distant forest directly east of their empire. The emerging sunlight showered over the Wandering Woods and washed the mounds of earth in a soft, yellow glow. And then they saw a mound tremble. They watched the mound split the earth around it. It rose above all the others. With more seismic growls, with trees and rocks and dirt raining from its hide, the mountain rose up just high enough to pry its claws out of the ground. That very same claw crashed down, pushed hard and lifted the rest of the mighty mountain higher. The changelings were in awe, witnessing what they couldn’t believe, watching from the failing safety of their kingdom as the mountain showed itself for what it truly was. After all these years… After all these millions of years, Methuselah awakened to the cry of another mightier than him, demanding his inclusion in the coming new age. He opened his cold, white eyes beneath the showers of earth falling from his head, opening his jaws to take in the first breath of the new age. Then he released that breath in a rumbling roar that birthed a quake in and of itself. Zebrat Outpost Pyramid A scream unlike any other passed over the world, and settled gently over Zebrat. Titanus Behemoth tore his way out of the pyramid that tried to hold him. His hibernation had come to an end. His rest had finally ceased. He had heard the call of the new alpha and ensured nothing would stand in his way to follow it. Deep in the jungles outside Zebrat, Behemoth was finally free, and not even the sirens from the T.I.T.A.N. Outpost Pyramid could warn the city in time. The day had begun only as any other day in the city of Zebrat. Businesses and merchants offered supplies and goods, one-upping their competitors and offering better prices for their fruits, their valuables, and so much more for the zebras of Zebrat to purchase and enjoy. A tremendous and beautiful pyramid sat in the heart of the bustling city, numerous and smaller skyscrapers and buildings made of stone surrounding the great throne of the great zebra king. It was only after the scream filled the clouds did business and life come to a terrifying halt. Zebras were petrified on the spot, lifting their heads to the skies and to the glaring rays of the sun, but they saw nothing. The crowds of zebras were momentarily frozen in time, not knowing what they were hearing or even where to face. But that was soon made clear. Then, outside of the city and in the middle of a forsaken rainforest, the ancient pyramids trembled and the T.I.T.A.N. outpost erupted in a fiery blast. Earning every heart and every terrified scream inside the city limits. They all spun to face it, seeing the fleeing birds breaking through the jungle trees, watching the rainforest come crumbling down. In a thundering wave that neared their city. Coated in the fires and swinging his flaming tusks to and fro, Behemoth unleashed a guttural roar that every life within Zebrat heard, faced, and cowered before. And then they screamed. They screamed when the Titan breached their home. Breaking through the city outskirts, Behemoth reared low and then rammed into the walls, the buildings, and shattered them in an upward thrust of his gargantuan tusks. Zebras fled in terror as the mammalian Titan swung his tusks across the city, leveling entire skyscrapers in his rampage. Shattered buildings flew forth from his destruction, raining over the streets and blanketing the populace under a cloud of darkness. Nothing survived the wake of the Titan, nothing that was caught under his flailing tusks or his crushing feet. The zebras could only run for their lives, watch on in horror as the Titan left their beloved home as a burning, crumbling masterpiece of devastation. Yet it was not his intention. Behemoth crushed anything in his path, yes, but not out of his own desires. He was given a new lust, one he could not resist. The call of the alpha urged him so, shattered his chains and awakened a reborn purpose within him. The only purpose and truth Behemoth knew… Taking back his home. But only if he willfully followed the one true king. Canterlot, Equestria King Ghidorah could hear them answering his call. Standing high above his throne, atop the capitol city within the mightiest nation in all of Equus, Ghidorah finally relented and ceased his roar. But he maintained his position, his wings outstretched and his heads basking under the streaks of gold within his storm, illuminated and warmed by the fires consuming Canterlot. He held his throne atop the world and listened as the world responded. Though he was not omnipresent, Ghidorah nonetheless held a grasp on the world around him. His cry had circled the planet several times. There was not a single life both upon the land or within the seas that did not hear him. Taking a moment to catch his breath, to hold his triumphant position above the fallen kingdom, Ghidorah merely listened. Relished. Felt the responding roars and cries and shrieks and screams echo around the world. He did not see them, but he could imagine them. Ichi, Ni, and San heard their answering roars and cherished the glorious freedom his followers embraced. A freedom he alone gave them. Tiamat broke free from the underwater outpost and attacked Seaquestria, decimating the Hippogriff navy around Mount Aris. Mokele-Mbembe roamed within the Fillyppines, crushing fishing villages and eliciting cries of terror from every local populace. Abaddon rose from the Graymourne Ruins and decimated the T.I.T.A.N. outpost there. He left the ruins even more devastated than before, not a single life from T.I.T.A.N. remaining. It was all burned. All killed. All wiped away. Sekhmet awakened in the ancient pyramids in the heart of the Abyssinian desert, tearing through their stones and rocks and roaring out to the T.I.T.A.N. forces charging from the nearby outpost. Quetzalcoatl had arisen from his temple in Ng’amia, laying waste to the ancient city that once worshipped him. Killing every last creature that once held his name as that of a deity, of an old god returned to them at last. Bunyip destroyed Ornithia, the home of the outpost that tried to contain him. Several miles outside of Sydneigh, Ornithia and its people burned, screamed, were drowned out by the echoing cries of the Titan. Leviathan ripped through the waves in the North Luna Ocean, finally free from his entrapment in the underwater T.I.T.A.N. outpost and taking out his aggression on the closest settlement. Silver Shoals and its inhabitants did not survive. More and more, they kept coming and kept rising. Letting their roars shred the skies and their cries fill the world that once belonged to the old rulers. But their rule had finally come to an end, and the Gods of Old had risen to reclaim their kingdom. Dozens awakened from every continent, dozens more stirring from their slumber in the deepest, darkest oceans. There were no more T.I.T.A.N. outposts. The beasts and monsters they tried to contain were finally free, and the ones they didn’t even know existed had finally showed themselves. Dozens. Hundreds. And so many more. So, so many more. All of them rose forth to reclaim their home. Joining together to follow the call of their new alpha. To join him for his glorious ascension, for a glorious new order. To fight for him. In his elevated rapture, King Ghidorah had knowingly crafted the perfect sword against his remaining foes, and any life who would dare to stand against him… An army to call his own. An army of monsters. Rodan settled himself on the side of the great peak, beneath the shadow of the even greater King of the Monsters. Basking under the image of Ghidorah standing tall and glorious atop Canterlot Mountain, Rodan lowered his head and laid his wings down. Lowered himself to show his master where his loyalty lied. Closing his eyes, bowing before his king. The king returned to reality, dropping his heads and gazing to the blistering hellscape his servant Rodan had gifted him. For so far, below the mountain was the burning capitol city of Equestria. Beneath him, there were still cries of terror, which Ghidorah breathed in like a satisfying aroma. There were still rebellious acts against him, however, the ponies in golden armor turning their steel and their fury against him still. The unruly still lived, trapped within the terror. King Ghidorah flared his fangs and cackled with wicked, unholy glee. With a single flap of his wings, the Golden Demise flew forth from atop the mighty peak and landed upon the helpless, burning city of Canterlot. Rodan followed him. In doing so, he ensured no life, be they Titan or otherwise, would ever rise against him again. He enforced his new rule with a terrifying example placed upon the old kingdom of Equestria. It all began when he rose up, all three necks shimmered a petrifying gold, and his jaws erupted with the shrieks of pure oblivion. That was all it was, all it ever could have been. Oblivion. Ghidorah laid siege to Canterlot, eviscerating entire buildings with his breath alone. His gravity beams tore across the city and leveled skyscrapers, ripping through the streets and disintegrating any unfortunate soul caught within his light. Royal Guards were vaporized or blown backwards from the onslaught of golden lightning. Civilians screamed their last before their bodies were burned to ash. Buildings fell before his might. Feeble equines collapsed and perished to his mere presence. Everything was torn asunder by his cry, by his power, by the king’s unholy will. He set his new kingdom over the ashes of the old, and those who followed him did the same. They brought to light his will, and his kingdom, above all else. Killing all the world to do so.