An orange Earth pony glanced two columns over. A red unicorn stallion stared at the center holograms, his face a blank mask. The earth pony took a large gulp from the bottle he carried and got up from his seat, moving towards the expressionless unicorn.
Valiant stopped behind Firebrand, raising an eyebrow at the fact that he wasn’t noticed approaching. He craned his neck near Brand’s ear and inhaled.
“HEY!” he shouted, causing the unicorn to snap back to reality. Firebrand whirled his head behind him.
“Valiant.”
The unicorn blinked twice before replying. “Firebrand.”
Valiant hopped over the the back of the seat, landing with his legs sprawled out all over the chair. He rolled his head over and flashed a quick smile.
“No hard feelings?”
“It's fine.” Firebrand waved a hoof. “I went into this knowing I wasn’t going to win. Even if I managed to defeat you, I'd have to go up against Knightmare.”
“That creep.” Valiant rolled his eyes. “At least you aren’t an oversexed breeder changeling.”
“I heard that!” called Knightmare.
Valiant glared at the changeling before turning back to Firebrand. “Anyway, you weren’t threatening to rip apart the fabric of spacetime or some other overly convoluted plot. Sometimes it’s nice to just have a man-to-man fight without any wide-reaching consequences for the universe.”
“What?” Firebrand tilted his head, utterly confused by terms such as 'man-to-man' and 'fabric of spacetime.'
“Sorry, I’m kind of drunk right now,” muttered the other stallion, taking another swig.
“Drunk?” Firebrand asked, before exhaling deeply. “Never mind, I don’t think I want to know.”
“Too bad, I’m talking about it anyway.” Valiant paused. “Or is this about something else?”
“What are you talking about?” Firebrand insisted. “It’s alright. I'm satisfied with the result. They placed multiple limitations on you just to make it fair for us. I'm fine. I’m completely fine.”
Valiant’s lip curled into a smirk. “I’m not that drunk,” he stated simply.
Firebrand let out a deep breath. “...I don't... I don't like the way I died.”
“There’s no shame in death from having a .50 caliber hole poked in you,” commented Valiant. “Now, a nine millimeter, that would be embarrassing.”
Firebrand glared at the stallion next to him, taking heavy breaths in order to console himself.
“It’s not that,” Firebrand explained. “You saw yourself. I have... anger management issues, I'll admit it. I get angry and ‘holier-than-thou’ and I'm not proud of it. I've been like this for a long time.”
Valiant rolled his eyes. Being a Royal Guard probably didn’t help much... he thought coyly to himself.
“And what hurts is that... that's what got me killed.” Firebrand looked down, the stoic serious face dropping. “I got killed, bucking killed, because I let my anger get the better of me... that's just... I feel so... ashamed...”
Firebrand lifted his head, eyes turning red. “I mean, what else would my anger issues cause? Would my friends get hurt because I was too controlling? Oh wait, silly me, THAT ALREADY BUCKING HAPPENED. One of my friends got seriously hurt because I was too arrogant and hasty to realize that he needed my help. And now, I got myself killed because of my..." Firebrand gritted his teeth. “...weakness.” Firebrand spat the word out like it was poison.
“What kind of friend am I?! I get angry and ponies around me suffer! And getting angry now gets me killed as well? This whole thing just makes me feel so worthless!” Firebrand buried his face in his hooves.
Valiant grimaced, not being comfortable at all with painful self-reflection.
“You uh... are the Element of Generosity, right?”
“What’s your point?” Firebrand mumbled, not looking up.
“I read your-uhhh... someone... told me... your story.” Valiant said. “You’re always the first to volunteer to help other ponies when they need it. And my memory’s a little fuzzy, but I’m pretty sure you’ve almost martyred yourself twice. I’m drunk and I think that’s pretty awesome.
“And come on, man, this is a Death Battle.” He threw a foreleg around Brand and pulled him into a half-hug. “How good you are in a fight don’t mean squat about how good of a friend you are.”
Firebrand sighed. “I guess you’re right...”
A sudden thought struck Valiant and he smiled. “I know what will help. Let me introduce you to something I like to call tequila.”
"For the last time, Arrell, he's not you!"
"Then why does he have the same name as me?!"
"I don't know, RLYoshi's not creative enough to think of a variety of names?" Yah-Shee instantly shut up, looking around as if expecting to be struck by lightning any second now. "...okay, that was close. Let's just start the battle, okay?"
Arrell grumbled something, but sat down by his microphone. Yah-Shee did the same, cleared his throat, and started. Next up in our bracket, we're going to be witnessing a duel of elements!
And no, not the Elements of Harmony. That already happened, Arrell added in.
We have Arrell Ragnarok, the Windigo with video game powers...
...and Dark Lightning, the ponification of a thunderstorm!
Here, we're starting to get into characters appearing in multiple stories, not all of which are by the original author, Yah-Shee warned. To make sure we get only correct information, we will be contacting the creators of each character like this and asking them which story is to be considered their "main canon". Anything from other stories that contrasts with the main canon story will not be taken into consideration, but everything else will.
He's Yah-Shee and I'm Arrell! ...the announcer guy, not the Windigo!
Yah-Shee glared briefly at Arrell before continuing. And it's our job to analyze their weapons, armor, and skills to find out who would win an Equestrian Death Battle.
Species: Lord Windigo (formerly human)
Occupation: Styx's chess piece for the Chess Game of the Gods
Capable of limited ice control
Has various abilities taken from video games
Strength increases when angry
Formerly a human brony named Max, Arrell was summoned to Equestria by Styx, the goddess of hatred. Upon arrival, he was transformed into a Windigo, but not quite the type from legends.
Arrell is much smaller, weaker, and more pony-like than the Windigoes we know of, thanks to being so young. And his power suffers for it!
Unlike full-grown Windigoes that can cause blizzards with little effort, Arrell only has limited control over cold and ice. He cannot create it, but if he has access to ice that already exists, he can manipulate it to an extent. He can also freeze water if he so desires. However, as stated in the first tournament battle, ice isn't exactly that good a weapon. Fortunately for Arrell, he isn't forced to rely on a single element. Styx granted him various video game-related powers and abilities that he becomes capable of using over time.
He has a voice attack that works like a "FUS RO DAH" from Skyrim, a bubble shield taken straight out of the Halo series, and Din's Fire from The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time! ...oh, and he also has saddlebags with infinite holding space, but that's not important!
In addition to his abilities, Arrell wields an axe, which he obtained after killing Bloodbath, its former owner. However, ever since acquiring the weapon, he has yet to actually use it, so how much it helps him is currently unknown.
But still, it's an axe! Enough said.
Due to his short time in Equestria, Arrell has yet to fully master his powers as a Windigo. He can fly, manipulate ice as stated before, and is completely immune to any effects that cold, snow, or ice may have. Unfortunately, under normal circumstances, those are all of his abilities.
...you said, "under normal circumstances".
That's because Arrell is known for being cheerful, goofy, and...kind of annoying. Kind of like you.
Hey!
However, that appears to be little more than a mask to hide his depression and anger. And when Arrell gets angry, he gets strong. Once enraged, Arrell acquires several more abilities, such as being able to bring together all the cold air in an area to freeze the ground, or even turn an entire lake into ice and move it around effortlessly. His physical strength and endurance also skyrockets, allowing him to keep fighting despite taking hits. However, this does not mean he is invincible; he simply hides the pain and doesn't react.
And this isn't even his final form! Get really under his skin, and he goes even further! The "evil" inside of him, which is actually his own anger sealed away, gets released and takes over! His body grows in size and he can suddenly form ice out of nowhere! He's practically godlike!
Not quite, Arrell. While his strengths and skills increase to astounding levels, it comes at a cost: his sanity. Once he transforms, his only focus is to hurt and kill whatever made him angry, showing no mercy to those in his way. Even though it's an amazing feat to kill a few hundred Windigoes without breaking a sweat, it's also horrifying. Take into account how he had an emotional breakdown just from killing a handful of ponies and was reluctant to kill just one after calming down.
Oh yeah...man, he probably hated himself the morning after that...
Arrell's emotional state is rocky at best. His mood swings like a pendulum and never goes beyond simple happiness, depression, or anger. No middle roads, no combinations, nothing. And whatever he feels, he shows to the extreme, proving just how weak and vulnerable he is emotionally.
Speaking of vulnerabilities, let's get into his number-one weakness: fire!
Technically, it's heat of any kind, but yes, fire works as well. Being a Windigo, Arrell is immune to cold, but pays for it with a large weakness to heat. Just being too warm weakens him, and if he is caught in fire for too long, he will melt.
Yet he has a fire attack anyway.
Arrell is witty and unpredictable and prefers not to think up a strategy. Rather, he makes things up as he goes along, thinking fast and acting appropriately to his opponents' attacks. However, he can't always pull this off effectively, and will sometimes make a split-second decision that hinders him rather than helps him.
Still, he's taken down too many ponies and Windigoes to not be considered one dangerous guy!
"Better advice: don’t piss me off. Some ponies did, and I collapsed an entire castle just by waking up."
Species: Pegasus pony
Occupation: Ponyville Library "Book Return Enforcer"
Can manipulate lightning
Extremely fast flyer
Cocky and brash
And so it begins: black and red OC ponies!
...right. So...since Dark Lightning has appeared in various stories, we asked his creator which story to use as his main canon story. He chose Continuing the Dream and its sequel, Life Goes On by Blue Breeze.
We'll be taking information from all stories Dark appears in that his author deems canon, but in the event of any contradiction between stories, we'll be using the information from that story - well, those two stories, rather - as being official! Now, on with the talking!
Dark Lightning is a pegasus pony with a rather large violent streak. After accidentally killing his father at an early age, he lived in the Everfree Forest for several years before moving to Ponyville. While seeming almost like a villain at first, he became less violent and more tolerable around his friends.
Not much, though. Even now, Dark still likes trash talking others and is never not cocky and arrogant!
His short temper often leads to him rushing into battle without thinking, relying on overpowering the opponent as quickly as possible. It's rather easy to anger him, and he doesn't let go of a grudge.
He's got plenty of attacks that he uses in battle, a few of which revolve around - you guessed it - lightning and electricity! He can turn his hoof into a taser, form blades made of lightning, or channel electricity into the ground and shock anypony on the same surface! But his signature move has to be his Lightning Grenade!
The Lightning Grenade is, in basic terms, a large amount of electricity compressed into a ball that gets thrown at Dark's opponent, creating a miniature explosion of sorts. The extreme amount of voltage is usually enough to take down even a larger and stronger foe, but as always, there are limits to Dark's powers. Without a proper conductor, he is forced to aim his attacks rather than just shooting electricity everywhere.
Conductor? I thought we were done with musical OCs!
Not that kind of conductor, Arrell. An electricity conductor. If Dark is standing on a surface such as dirt, wood, or sand, he can't channel electricity into the ground; he has to aim it instead.
Aw...guess Equestria's whole "magic makes everything work" shebang only goes so far.
Indeed, Arrell. Dark tends to be a bit of a psycho, for lack of a better word. He often pranks or outright hurts other ponies for fun, uncaring for their feelings. Rarely does he show a caring personality, and it never lasts long. His smugness and arrogance also puts off ponies around him, leading to various arguments and scuffles. He is also not above playing dirty to win.
Of course, considering this is a Death Battle and all, you can't exactly cheat to win, so...good luck playing dirty, lightning boy!
Dark's personality has gotten him into trouble on numerous occasions. He often tackles challenges that are too big for him to handle, feeling he can take on anything. While this is sometimes true, more often than not he ends up being the one receiving the beating rather than delivering it.
But if he can avoid getting hit early on, chances are he'll pull through in the end! He's a fast flier, apparently even faster than Rainbow Dash, which makes him a tough target to hit! Anypony that takes this guy on had better be ready for a real fight, 'cause he's not going down easy!
"Well, when you're dead and burning in the pits of Tartarus, I'll be able to do whatever I darn well please!"
Alright, the combatants are set! Let's end this debate once and for all!
IT'S TIME FOR AN EQUESTRIAN DEATH BATTLE!
The black and red pegasus soared over the canyon, finally coming to a stop on the edge of one side's cliff. On the other side, his opponent sat similarly close to the edge, playing Tetris on some kind of device he made from magic and ice.
"Hey! Frosty!" Dark Lightning called, catching the Windigo's attention. "We gonna battle or not?!"
Arrell looked back at his game, shrugged, and kicked it to the side before standing up and looking across the gorge at his foe. "About time you showed up. I was on my sixteenth game!"
"Shut up!"
With the command given, Dark flew across the canyon, aiming right for his opponent. He hoped to get the advantage right away with a quick tackle, but he was taken off guard when he slammed into a translucent dome instead. Flying back a few feet, he saw that Arrell had activated his drop shield, and had yet to even move.
"All you're gonna do is tackle me?" the Windigo taunted from inside the shield. "What are you, a Rattata?"
Dark pauses. "A what?"
Rather than answering, Arrell just dropped his shield and jumped at the pegasus, pulling him down to the ground and slamming his head into the rocky earth. Dark finally pulled out of his grip, slightly disoriented, and began charging a Lightning Grenade in his hoof. Arrell's eyes widened and he turned to run away, but the pegasus threw his weapon before he could get too far away.
While the Lightning Grenade didn't hit him directly, Arrell was still flung a few feet by the explosion, and grunted as he got back on his hooves. Dark smirked and flew in, grabbing his opponent in a chokehold. Taken by surprise, Arrell was unable to dodge, and Dark began strangling him.
"This...is way too easy," Dark chuckled. "What's wrong, didn't spend enough time warming up?"
An idea came to Arrell's mind. Warm up, you say?
The pegasus felt the area suddenly get a lot warmer, and with a yelp, he was sent flying a few feet away by a wave of flames. Arrell staggered to his hooves, coughing and trying to fill his lungs with the air they desired. While he tried to recover, Dark got back to his hooves as well and began channeling electricity into the ground. Arrell fell back to the ground as the electricity coursed through his body, grunting in pain.
Dark chuckled and pulled out two Lightning Grenades. "I repeat what I said earlier." He launched the two balls of electricity at Arrell, smiling as the smoke from their explosion obscured his view of the Windigo. "Way too easy."
After a moment, the smoke began to clear, and Dark's smile faded. The familiar drop shield was up again, once more protecting Arrell. It vanished, and the Windigo glared daggers at his opponent.
"You're right. That was too easy." Arrell stomped the ground. "How about I give you a better challenge?" He inhaled deeply. "FUS RO DAH!"
Dark was launched backwards over the edge of the cliff by the voice attack, barely catching himself with his wings before he hit the ground. He started flying back up, but upon looking upwards, he saw his opponent dashing down to him with a giant axe in his mouth. Barely dodging the blade, he stared incredulously at Arrell, who flew into the air at his level after missing, still wielding the axe.
"Where the hell did you get that?" Dark demanded.
"From my saddlebags," Arrell responded casually, gesturing to the blue and yellow saddlebags on his back.
"And where'd you get your saddlebags?"
"From my saddlebags. I swear, I have to go through this whole Abbott and Costello routine with everypony..." Arrell shook his head pitifully, then charged at Dark once more. He swung his axe, but was far too slow, and the pegasus easily avoided it and shoved his hoof in his foe's side, electrocuting the Windigo for the second time.
However, Arrell didn't react to the electrocution, and just turned to bash the handle of his axe in Dark's face. He succeeded, knocking the black and red pony backwards. Apparently deciding his weapon was more trouble than it was worth, Arrell stuck it in his saddlebags, somehow fitting it inside. He then unleashed another round of Din's Fire, but this time, Dark was ready for it, flying upwards. The flames still reached him, but he was far enough away that they did little more than warm his body.
"Alright, enough of this!" Dark declared, pulling out two more Lightning Grenades. "Double Lightning Frag Grenade!"
"I don't think so!" Arrell retorted, inhaling. "FUS RO DAH!"
The two balls of electricity were knocked off course by the shout, though Dark himself avoided being hit. The grenades flew off to the side, each one striking one side of the canyon walls with a large explosion. This broke off and loosened several giant rocks around the edge, causing them to fall down towards the fighters.
"...did you do that on purpose?" Arrell asked nervously.
"No. Did you?"
"No."
"Well...crap."
As the avalanche ensued, the Windigo and pegasus found themselves forced to dodge falling rocks as well as each other. Dark tried to use the situation to his advantage, bucking Arrell into the path of a falling rock, but he just turned his drop shield on again and the rock bounced off harmlessly.
Flying out of the shield's range, the Windigo tried to use another voice attack on the pegasus, but ended up missing completely when he was distracted by dodging another falling boulder. His voice attack ended up instead launching one of the rocks at the side of the canyon, knocking several more rocks loose and uncovering a hidden cave.
Seeing this shelter open, Dark flew towards the cave, reaching it before Arrell could. He pulled out another Lightning Grenade and, seeing the Windigo flying straight at him, threw it right at his face. He grinned, waiting for it to hit and explode.
Except Arrell just veered to the side, letting the grenade pass by him before going back to his original flight pattern. He tackled Dark, causing them both to roll farther into the cave. They struggled for a few minutes until Dark got the upper hand, standing over the Windigo with a blade of lightning at his throat.
"And so the spider catches the fly," the pegasus announced. "You honestly weren't that much of a challenge. All it took was a couple explosions and an avalanche. So much for the Master Chief of Equestria." A smug grin crossed his face.
Arrell, previously looking defeated, suddenly glared.
"I."
Dark yelped as a sudden kick to his stomach knocked him to the side, and his blade dissipated.
"Hate."
Arrell stood tall, his body growing in size slightly as he ignored his various wounds. He glared down at Dark, who looked genuinely scared for the first time in the whole battle.
"SMUGNESS."
Dark turned to run away, but he slipped on the ground and fell on his face. The rocky floor had become covered in a sheet of ice. Arrell galloped up to him and grabbed him, turning and slamming him against the wall. Dark tried to form another Lightning Grenade, but Arrell smashed his hoof against the wall, destroying the grenade before it could form and breaking Dark's front leg. He dropped his opponent to the floor, snapped his wings to prevent an escape, and pulled his axe out.
"Say hello to my little friend," he hissed before bringing the blade down, removing Dark's head from his body.
As the head rolled away, Arrell sat on the ground with a sigh, his body returning to normal. He stayed still, conscious but unmoving, as though in deep thought.
K.O.
Avalanches and lightning and axes, oh my! Hahahaha!
Despite a poor beginning thanks to his lack of normal fighting skills, Arrell managed to pull through in the end thanks to his power increase upon getting angry. Even without any ice around to manipulate, his video game abilities were enough to survive for a while, until Dark's usual arrogant personality pushed him over the edge.
Dark tried to take Arrell out right away like he normally does, which would've been a good strategy if not for that icy bastard's unpredictability! Shields, flame waves, and axes? Who the hell expects a Windigo to have any of those?!
Surprisingly, Dark would've won if Arrell hadn't gotten angry. Lightning generates heat, and thanks to heat being one of Arrell's prime weaknesses, he would've been taken out easily with only a few Lightning Grenades if any of them had made contact. But Arrell has shown fast reflexes with his drop shield in the past, and thus was able to block just about any grenade he couldn't simply dodge.
Looks like Dark wasn't able to secure the win...digo!
The winner is Arrell.
Next time on the Equestrian Death Battle Tournament:
Who will win? Who will die? Find out next time!