//------------------------------// // Apocalypse // Story: Unnoticed Threats // by smirker //------------------------------// Doctor Whooves, Jones, Modules, Kinetic, Inertia, Solubility, Solvent, Solute, Graph, Storage, Data, Daylight Dimmer, Starburn, Joker, Darwin, Cassius, Walker, Runner, Sprinter, Raging Tornado, Earthquake, Tsunami, Meteorite Hellfire, Tao, Gunslinger, Archer, Kinkaku, Ginkaku, Feral, Soul Medium, Paladin, Arcana, Robin, Night Witch, Red Baron, the residents of Dreaming Paradise, the residents of Nature Valley, Mother Nature, Spirit, and Demonicus gathered together and looked at the pictures of their eleven targets, "Here are the ponies we have to take down, Ophelia, Supernova, Cotton Candy, Watermelon, Violet, Fireball, Freeze, Rosencrantz, Guildenstern, Fortinbras, and Claudius." Doctor Whooves stated, "Where would they be now?" Kinkaku asked, "I'm guessing they're most likely still at the town Jones found them." Arcana deduced, "It's been years since I went there, I'd be surprised if they are still there collecting horns." Jones remarked, "How many severed horns would they have there now?" Robin questioned, "Considering Jones was a toddler when he met them, it's possible they might have all one hundred now." Meteorite Hellfire deduced, "Will we be able to return the horns to their victims?" Tsunami asked, "Unlikely, when a unicorn loses a horn, that's usually it, there is no reattaching it." Data replied, "Oh." Tsunami stated while looking down, "Let's get going, the sooner we stop Claudius, the better." Demonicus said, "I agree, seeing what Claudius is capable of and what he appears to be, it wouldn't be surprising if he's stronger at night when the moon rises." Mother Nature added, "Let us go then." Spirit stated, and Archmage Astral Plane teleported everybody. Everybody arrived at the place where Jones first encountered Claudius and his followers, they looked around and he saw the horns were no longer on the trees, the wooden structure of the four horses were also gone, "Looks like they left after all." Jones commented, "Let's check and see if they left anything behind." Robin stated, and they did. Everybody checked the town and found nothing, the unicorns cast spells on the pitch black room with the red candles for anything that could be hiding, "I'm not finding anything." Tao reported, "Me neither." Soul Medium replied, "Hey, Joker, what does it say in that book of yours?" Arcana asked, he opened it and read, "The cult left this place a long time ago and went back to their hometown, they continued their actions there and have already gotten twenty five unicorn horns of the four colors they need, the ceremony to summon the four horseponies will commence on the next blood moon and they are waiting for it." Joker explained, "Anything on Claudius?" Paladin asked, "Nope, as always, his actions are not recorded." Joker answered, "Strange, I wonder why that supernatural book has no effect on him." Paladin stated, "Not the time, we need to focus." Sprinter reminded, and they continued searching. Solubility, Solvent, Solute, Darwin, Raging Tornado and the air ponies, Robin, Master Nocturne, the Pegasi from Dreaming Paradise, Night Witch, and Red Baron flew around and looked for any clues and watched for any oncoming danger, "Nothing over here." Robin reported, "It's clear over here, too." Night Witch replied, "Any of you find anything?" Raging Tornado asked, the air ponies shook their heads, "It seems this place is barren after all." Master Nocturne remarked, "I'm seeing signs of that as well, there doesn't seem to be anything here." Red Baron responded, "I agree. Doctor Whooves, can we leave?" Solute requested, "Hold on, the others down here are not done checking this town and its surroundings." Doctor Whooves answered, "That reminds me, have any of you detected anything strange about the pendants?" Earthquake asked, "They seem to be enchanted, don't know what it was when I scanned them with my magic though." Darwin answered, "Me neither, if I had to take a guess, it's enchanted with magic or energy from another realm that can only be accessed by a certain type of power or spell that only Claudius knows." Arcana responded, "Did you find anything, Spirit?" Runner asked, "A little, there seems to be traces of Claudius' powers in them, they're dormant, but once when the four horseponies are summoned, they will activate, I don't know what will happen afterwards." Spirit explained, "How about you, grandpa, did you find any realms with creatures like Claudius?" Walker questioned, "No, I think Claudius might be one of a kind, I haven't seen any members in the Anti-Spirit cult like him either." Sprinter responded, "What is he then? It seems like no one has any idea on who he is, what he is, or where he came from." Paladin commented, "None of us know, but what we do know is he's dangerous, and he can't be detected with magic, technology, or whatever other methods the other realms use." Ginkaku remarked, "You have any idea on what he is, big brother?" Archer asked, Gunslinger shook his head, "You?" Gunslinger questioned, "No clue, but hearing about him is scaring me." Archer responded, "I think all of us are scared, but we might be able to take him down if we work together." Soul Medium reminded, "Indeed, if we go after him one at a time, then no doubt we will likely lose." Tao added, Feral grunted in agreement, "Me and the others are done checking over here." Commander Lionheart reported, "I'm done over here." Cassius responded, "We're done looking over here." Modules spoke, "Alright, we're done here, you ponies in the sky can come down now." Doctor Whooves stated, and they did. Everybody gathered together and discussed what to do next, "Where do we go now?" Inertia asked, "The town with the scarecrows." Kinetic answered, "I hope nothing bad happens there." Solute commented, "All of us hope things will be fine and we're scared to go, but we have no choice." Solvent answered, "It's alright, dear, we'll stick together." Solubility reassured, Solute smiled, "I'm not sure if our technology will help against a creature like Claudius." Data remarked, "If we can't do anything against him, let's at least try to take down his ten followers." Graph responded, "Yeah, it's probably the most we can do." Storage added, "I think we should get going to that scarecrow village now." Starburn suggested, "Agreed, I'd rather kill those cult members before they can summon the four horseponies." Daylight Dimmer added, "I'd rather free those ten from Claudius' control." Paladin interjected, the others agreed, "We'll see, we'll be going now." Archmage Astral Plane stated, and he teleported himself and everybody elsewhere. Everybody arrived at the town with the scarecrows and they noticed they were all facing them, "I'm getting an uneasy feeling." Archer commented, "Same." Gunslinger added, the unicorns from Dreaming Paradise sensed the scarecrows with their magic, "The scarecrows are infected with some kind of energy, best word I can use to describe it is demonic, it seems these ponies and animals are still alive, too." Archmage Astral Plane observed, "Can we free them?" Tsunami asked, "I'm not seeing signs we can, they seem to have been twisted and transformed by the demonic energy, their minds are warped, too." Arcana spoke, "I thought so, the royal guard who told me about this town said she always felt like she was being watched here." Doctor Whooves stated, "Let's investigate and see if we can find anything here." Demonicus spoke, everybody nodded and split up while Daylight Dimmer and Starburn summoned knives with their hatred magic, Walker, Runner, and Sprinter summoned spiritual swords and pistols, Meteorite Hellfire took her sword off of her back, Gunslinger got his shotgun ready, Archer held her bow, Kinkaku unsheathed her sabre, Ginkaku held his big broadsword, Soul Medium got his spear and shield ready, and Night Witch and Red Baron pointed their spears while flying around. Everybody investigated the town and looked for Claudius and his followers but they found nothing, they saw the sun setting and everybody got ready while the pendants around the scarecrows' necks floated up, four lights appeared on them, the bow glowed white, the sword glowed red, the scales glowed black, and the scythe glowed pale, everybody got defensive and the sky turned dark red while a blood moon appeared, "That's not a natural blood moon." Soul Medium spoke, "Get ready, everybody." Demonicus ordered, and they did. The pendants glowed brighter and one hundred severed unicorn horns floated around the full moon with the twenty five white horns in the upper-left quadrant, the twenty five red horns in the lower-left quadrant, the twenty five black horns in the upper-right quadrant, and the twenty five pale horns in the lower-right quadrant, they spun around clockwise extremely quickly and blurred, images of a bow, a sword, a set of scales, and a scythe appeared and they spun around with the horns, they heard Claudius snickering and his voice echoing, lightning strikes of the four different colors came down and struck the scarecrows, the scarecrows came to life and were they were now covered in black mass with many red eyes and mouths moving around on their bodies randomly, they roared and charged at everybody. Doctor Whooves and the others got ready while the monster ponies ran to them and more ponies and animals came out of unmarked graves around the town, they screamed while black tendrils and tentacles broke, contorted, and reshaped their bones, they began roaring and tentacles with many mouths and teeth came out of their mouths. They ran to them and everybody fought back, Doctor Whooves punched, kicked, and headbutted the creatures when they got near him, Jones shot blasts with his horn, Modules, Kinetic, and Inertia used robotic attachments on their legs' to increase their strength to kick the creatures away, Solubility, Solvent, and Solute flew around and dodged the creatures while kicking them with their hind legs, Graph, Storage, and Data summoned machines with their magic and they shot lasers everywhere, Gunslinger shot everything with his pistols and shotgun, Archer shot everything with her bow and explosive arrows, and Night Witch and Red Baron flew around and stabbed the creatures with their spears. The others watched and they noticed Ophelia, Supernova, Cotton Candy, Watermelon, Violet, Fireball, Freeze, Rosencrantz, Guildenstern, and Fortinbras appear in the sky and they floated down, they began shooting spells out of their horns that took on the form of black tendrils and dark crystals that corrupted everything. The others moved away and Tao put up a shield while Soul Medium said an incantation in a foreign language while his voice echoed, dark purple flames appeared on the creatures but they kept coming while unharmed. Kinkaku slashed the creatures while Ophelia and Violet shot blasts at her and she deflected them with her sabre, she swung her sabre around and sent gold energy blasts at them, they teleported around and dodged them while Fireball and Freeze appeared behind her and shot fire and ice at her, she ducked while Ginkaku jumped and swung his big broadsword down, he sent a silver energy blast to Ophelia and Violet and it exploded and they disappeared. Raging Tornado created tornadoes with her mind while Earthquake changed her body into stone and had plants wrap and entangle Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, they teleported elsewhere and shot big blood red blasts that tainted the ground and created more creatures and they shot dark magic everywhere. Meteorite Hellfire swung her sword around to destroy Claudius' monsters and shot fire out of her horn at Freeze while he shot ice at her, Tsunami summoned rain and made water burst of the ground to wash away the creatures, she also shot water at Fireball to cancel out the fireballs he shot out of his horn, she tried washing away all of Claudius' creatures with a tsunami but they tainted the water and it turned pitch black, it rose up while roaring and shot black balls of dark energy everywhere. The air ponies, ground ponies, water ponies, and fire ponies worked together and combined their elements and bodies together to fight off the creatures, the unicorns from Dreaming Paradise enchanted them to make their elements stronger, Arcana shot blasts and deflected all of Cotton Candy's magic with her force field, Paladin went after Supernova and she summoned big blasts with her magic, and Robin went after Watermelon and threw her kunai and shuriken at her while Watermelon teleported around. Darwin teleported after Fortinbras and he teleported away and shot dark magic out of his horn, Darwin shot big blasts at him and Fortinbras held the other creatures around himself to shield his blasts and they got destroyed instead, Cassius appeared behind him and punched him in the back of his head and then turned into wind and moved around while Mustang and the other bipedal ponies arrived to help him, he punched Fireball and Freeze in the back of their heads to stagger them and Meteorite Hellfire and Tsunami hit them with their magic and destroyed them. Portals opened and members of the Anti-Spirit cult appeared and they were corrupted by Claudius' powers, they were twisted and contorted with extra tendrils and bones growing out of their bodies that shot dark red acid that split into smaller pieces and homed on everybody. Walker, Runner, and Sprinter teleported around and slashed them with their swords and shot them with their pistols, they transformed more and fused with Cotton Candy and Watermelon, they began shooting more blasts out and Daylight Dimmer and Starburn quickly changed their swords to crossbows and shot them from afar, Soul Medium said an incantation in a foreign language with his voice echoing and they got engulfed in dark purple flames, Cotton Candy and Watermelon screamed while their bodies and souls got destroyed. Supernova summoned big explosions everywhere and everybody backed away, the fire ponies went through them unfazed and tried to restrain her but she teleported elsewhere, she arrived near Paladin and she punched Supernova with her front right hoof, she grunted very loudly while she got sent flying and slid on the ground while getting buried, she stood up while growling and Robin shot her horn off with one of her revolvers and she screamed in agony while Tao cast a spell and destroyed her. Rosencrantz, Guildenstern, and Fortinbras began combining their blasts together and shot them while Claudius began fusing them together into a three-headed pony, their blasts combined with one another and they shot three blasts at a time, the skeleton of their new body grew bigger and out of their body, it began shooting dark energy out of its three mouths and everybody dodged it, Arcana cast a spell to separate them while Soul Medium shot arrows with his bow and dark purple flames engulfed them, she then cast a spell to empower Soul Medium's magic, the creature shot its blasts at Soul Medium and one of his charms blocked them, the corrupted members of the Anti-Spirit cult ganged up on him and he fended them off with his shield and spear while Night Witch and Red Baron dived down stabbed their spears into the spine of the three-headed pony, it roared and continued attacking and Archer and Feral shot their arrows at it and stunned it while Cassius and Mustang appeared behind it and restrained it, Gunslinger then shot their heads with his shotgun and they exploded, he then shot the skeleton and destroyed the creature. The bodies of Ophelia, Supernova, Cotton Candy, Watermelon, Violet, Fireball, Freeze, Rosencrantz, Guildenstern, and Fortinbras turned into black streams that floated up into the moon, they divided into four sections and began changing color, a portal opened and more corrupted members of the Anti-Spirit cult appeared, everybody got ready to fight but became surprised when they saw the harpies, vulcans, and onis appear with them. Alexia, Adetokunbo, and the other harpies threw their bladed boomerangs around and attacked up close with their spears, Elder Hephaestus, Diana, Hera, Athena, Echidna, and the other vulcans fired their pistols, rifles, and automatic weapons while attacking up close with axes, sledgehammers, glaives, broadswords, and spears, and Champion Lucius teleported around while using his hand-to-hand combat skills along with his electrified telekinesis and his fire and lightning magic, the red onis attacked with their mace-whip hybrid weapons and fire magic while also ripping the creatures apart and crushing their skulls with their bare hands while the blue onis used sabres and katanas and lightning magic while using hand-to-hand combat attacks that targeted a body's weak spots and pressure points. Several of the ponies stopped fighting and looked on in shock and disbelief at seeing the onis gang up on their enemies and rip them apart while collecting their skulls as trophies, Claudius' creatures began attacking them and Genghis appeared and held them off with his various weapons, everybody got overwhelmed and Joker wrote in his book to give everybody extra weapons and armor to fend off the many creatures. The souls of the creatures flew up into the moon and the unicorns from Dreaming Paradise realized what was happening, Walker, Runner, Sprinter, and Spirit tried to take their souls but Claudius' hold was too strong and he overpowered them easily and the souls went into the blood moon, it turned white, red, black, and pale, they heard four deep male voices laughing and four alicorn-like ponies wearing black cloaks came down, one was white and holding a bow and wearing a crown, one was red and holding a sword, one was black and holding balancing scales, and one was pale and holding a scythe. The four horseponies rode down and began affecting the world, the white horsepony began destroying settlements and spreading illnesses while shooting everybody in his sight with his bow, the red horsepony attacked everybody with his sword, the black horsepony moved his scales and made crops wither and die, and the pale horsepony attacked everybody with his scythe and took their souls while every plant he stepped on died, Joker wrote in his book and tried to erase them but it did not work. Mother Nature, Meteorite Hellfire, Tsunami, Earthquake, and Raging Tornado cast their nature magic together to counter the horseponies' destruction while Archmage Astral Plane, Arcana, and the unicorns of Dreaming Paradise cast spells to aid them and enhance their powers, the four horseponies continued destroying everything and the area became desolate. Archer and Soul Medium shot their arrows at the white horsepony while Soul Medium enchanted them with his magic, he had a white aura on his horn and the white horsepony took control of the arrows and made them home on others, he shot thirty arrows at a time and they multiplied in midair and homed on his targets, they also had a pale green trail behind them that made anybody touched by it sick, the red horsepony rode around and he had a trail of fire behind him and burned everything he touched, his sword sent out fire waves that burned everything and made those it passed start fighting one another, the black horsepony moved his scales up and down and all of the plants withered and died while locusts appeared behind him and ate the plants out of his reach, and the pale horsepony killed everything he touched with his hoofs or attacked with his scythe while a green trail shot out of his scythe and killed anything it touched. Everybody tried to stop them but Claudius summoned more members of the Anti-Spirit cult to hinder them, Walker, Runner, and Sprinter changed to their spirit forms and phased through them and tried to shoot the four horseponies but they cast spells to block their bullets and flew and teleported around. Kinkaku and Ginkaku swung their swords around and sent gold and silver energy trails after the four horseponies and they flew and teleported around to dodge them, Kinkaku growled while Ginkaku stayed calm and tried to come up with a plan, the four horseponies shot their blasts everywhere and corrupted everything they touched while the harpies threw their bladed boomerangs and the white horsepony shot them out of the air while the black horsepony blocked them with his scales and the red horsepony and pale horsepony swung their weapons and destroyed them. Champion Lucius summoned red and blue circles on the ground that moved around randomly and the red circles summoned fire while the blue circles summoned lightning, he also tried to hold the four horseponies in place with his electrified telekinesis but they teleported out of his grip. Gunslinger hid behind a house and saw them coming, he readied his pistol and saw them ride by him, he came out of hiding and shot them in their backs, they stopped moving for a moment but began running again while they healed and the bullets flew out, they turned around and sprinted to him while he jumped back and onto a roof, the white horsepony shot his arrows at him while the black horsepony sent locusts flying after him, the red horsepony and the pale horsepony cut the house down with their weapons, Gunslinger ran away while doing a lot of acrobatic flips and parkour to avoid their attacks and would turn around to shoot them with his pistols a few times, he ran out of bullets and saw them catching up with him, Robin flew over and grabbed him and pulled him out of danger, she tossed one of her revolvers to him and they shot their guns together, the four horseponies caught the bullets with their magic with and shot them back and Robin grabbed Gunslinger and flew away. Paladin got teleported in front of the horseponies by Arcana while Joker wrote in his book to give her an exoskeleton to wear over her armor, she punched and swatted the four horseponies away and they grunted while flying away several feet, the others smiled while the four horseponies did backflips and recomposed themselves, Kinkaku and Ginkaku sent gold and silver energy waves at them with their swords, they exploded and they grunted loudly and they smiled, the smoke cleared and the four horseponies were gone. Joker teleported out of harm's way and stood behind everyone while he wrote in the book to give everybody more weapons and armor, stronger magic, and robotic exoskeletons to wear to increase their physical capabilities, Doctor Whooves punched the enemies away and went after the four horseponies with a rocket thruster on his back and shot missiles out of guns on front legs, they grabbed them with their telekinesis and threw them back at him and flew back with rocket thrusters in his hind legs by moving them forward and jumped. The vulcans flew after the four horseponies and shot their guns at them and they flew around to dodge them, Kinkaku and Ginkaku sent more energy waves after them and Arcana cast a spell to make them bigger and more destructive, the energy waves caught up to them and they grunted when it exploded on them, Paladin got teleported to in front of them and she bucked them while wearing an exoskeleton to enhance her strength, Demonicus then shot a big red blast out of his horn and then changed to his shadow form and shot red spears at them to pin them to a wall. The unicorns from Dreaming Paradise shot fire, water, earth, and wind magic at them and combined them with the elemental ponies from Nature Valley, Mother Nature, Meteorite Hellfire, Tsunami, Earthquake, and Raging Tornado combined their elemental magic together while Walker, Runner, Sprinter, and Spirit shot light blue spiritual blasts at them, Soul Medium said an incantation in a foreign language to engulf the four horseponies in dark purple flames and Tao cast a spell to enchant Night Witch's and Red Baron's spears, they stabbed them into the ground to mix with the spells of the others and Daylight Dimmer and Starburn swung their swords to send energy waves of hatred magic into it and Kinkaku and Ginkaku swung their swords to add their willpower magic into it, the big wave hit the four horseponies and it exploded on them, they screamed and got obliterated, the harpies, vulcans, and onis fought off the Anti-Spirit cult and other enemies and Mother Nature and Archmage Astral Plane shot big blasts at the blood moon and destroyed it. Everything returned to normal and some of the people cheered, "Don't celebrate just yet, Claudius is still at large." Doctor Whooves reminded, "What happened to their souls, Spirit?" Walker questioned, "I'm sorry, Walker, but Claudius absorbed them, they won't be arriving at the Void to receive salvation or damnation." Spirit responded, "Our realms got invaded by Claudius as well, everything is corrupted like here." Adetokunbo stated, "What? Claudius can travel through the Void?" Jones asked, "It would appear so, none of us know who or what he is or where he's from." Elder Hephaestus responded, "Us onis managed to hold him off a little, we went through a portal that led here after he began corrupting everything." Champion Lucius said, "This is why I wanted Equestria to be full of trained and experienced warriors, not these friendship and forgiving kinds of creatures." Genghis remarked, "So, what do we do now?" Alexia asked, "Wait, Claudius will likely reappear sooner or later." Demonicus answered, "Well, let's back to our hideout then." Mother Nature replied, the others agreed and Demonicus teleported them. They arrived back and the bipedal ponies, harpies, vulcans, and onis looked around, "While we wait, I'd like to see what you four creatures are capable of in combat, especially that big purple guy with the fire and lightning powers." Arcana stated, the others agreed, "Alright then, I guess we can train in the meantime while we wait." Champion Lucius said, the others agreed and everybody began sparring while Doctor Whooves looked at the sky nervously and waited for Claudius to reemerge.