The battle wasn't going well.
Gallant was currently picking himself back up after getting blindsided by a surprisingly strong back swing that actually caused the biped to skid across the floor on his rump, Blade Rush was dodging and parrying slash after slash as his foe continued to bear down on him, and Shining Armor was incapacitated, having tried to shield one too many a stab than his vitality would allow. The other unicorn, known as "Pockets" by his Captain, was in the middle of loading another explosive bolt into the crossbow he somehow managed to pull out from under his cloak. Regardless of where it had come from, the crossbow and its devastating ammunition had both bought the group a valuable minute to breathe by downing the beast once already and blowing off its left blade this time around.
"How-" Rush began, jumping backwards to avoid a spike to the face, "Long do we have to keep this up again?!"
"Until the Elements arrive or we kill this thing," Replied a level-headed Pockets, probably because he wasn't currently being harassed by the undead.
"Hate to break it to you," Gallant yelled to the unicorn as he rushed the 'morph once more, hoping to give his pegasus pal a little breathing room, "But this thing can't be killed!"
"Nonsense: if it lives, it dies!" Pockets stubbornly replied, grunting as he finally yanked the string back into its firing position with his magic and hooking it in place.
"But it ain't living in the first place!" Rush protested, ducking another slash just as Gallant threw himself into the beast's back, unbalancing it. Not one to let such an opportunity slip past, the pegasus quickly spun and slashed at his foe across the thighs a few times with his wings before disengaging and gaining some space.
"We'll see about that!" The mage leveled his crossbow at the mass of animated flesh, the freshly loaded bolt eagerly awaiting its chance at glory as its master bellowed, "Fire in the hole!"
And then he fired.
Gallant was still on its back.
Just over a couple minute's gallop away, the Elements and their Bearers were suddenly brought to a halt as Pinkie began spasming again, eyes growing larger than ever before.
"HURRY!" She screeched, bolting off even faster than before despite her body randomly jumping from side to side as it attempted to convey another grim message that nobody wanted to hear. Everypony hastened to catch up in response, though not even fifteen seconds later Celestia felt a dagger of pain bury itself in her core causing her to trip over herself and nearly break her neck on the floor. However, before anypony could slow down to try and see if she was alright she ordered the others to press on.
In her Royal Canterlot Voice.
Needless to say, the Bearers moved even faster as a result: Celestia's Voice is even scarier than her sister's. Scarier than that, however, was what had pained the alicorn mere seconds ago: A large discharge of Chaos.
At the exact instant that Pinkie set to spasming, Discord's mental projection into Gallant's psyche was wincing. You would too if you were in inside the mind of somebody who had narrowly avoided being blown to bits. Seriously, pain conducts well through mental projections, and they attract it like lightning-rods. Not a fun experience, even for an god.Still, it could've been much worse, Gallant could have actually died with Discord still in his noggin, and even the Chaos Lord had no idea what would happen then.
Luckily, 'Cordly's bipedal warrior had managed to push off from the Necromorph before the bolt exploded and shield his face in a manner that made his armor take the brunt of the blast, but he was nowhere near safe yet. Unfortunately refined Somatic Gel can only numb so much pain and repair so much damage before greater medical care is required, and this was most definitely one of those times: Gallant only had three segments left to his RIG's now blood red vitality meter, meaning he was pretty much on his last leg and would probably fall unconscious within a few minutes before bleeding out.
This simply will not do, especially when the lad has so much potential, Discord thought out loud, or as out loud as a mental projection can be when plunged into someone's subconscious. Time to find out what that big red button does!
Indeed there was a big red button floating through Gallant's memories of Pandora, one labeled "DO NOT TOUCH" in big white lettering. Normally the Baron of Blasphemy would've immediately popped that power pinata without a pause to ponder its potency practically upon peeping on it, but there was a piece of information that placed this particular power pinata into the "pop post pondering" party: a pink Post-It note. (Say that seven times fast, Discord dares you to get it right.) This particular pink Post-It note read: "Unless VIPs are at risk."
"Very Important Ponies," Discord had initially puzzled, But he comes from a series of places that lack ponies, important or otherwise...
Now, however, he hit that big red button with absolute joy, having a good idea of what was going to happen based on the memories that he had peeked at while he was puzzling.
Time to watch the fireworks! he cheered, conjuring up a comfy bed of nails and some refreshments to enjoy as the show commenced.
Pain...
Inhale.
Bloody pain everywhere...
Exhale.
Good...
Inhale.
Means I'm still alive...
Exhale.
Alive...
Inhale.
Fuck me, I'm still alive...
Groan in frustration.
Time to get back into the fight...
Inhale, tense up and attempt to move.
Naaaahg!
Collapse, releasing pent up breath.
Nope, no good...
Inhale.
Can't even pick myself back up...
Exhale.
Well fuck...
Inhale.
Now what..?
Exhale, twitching.
Wait, what is that..?
Inhale sharply as a familiar feeling appears.
N-no way... I-I sealed that up..!
Tense up, the feeling spreading.
How is this possible..!?
Start to pick self back up, adrenaline raging through veins, inducing pain.
FUCK ME RUNNING!! NO MOR-
Pain stops, endorphins following, mental aptitude increasing.
N-never mind, I-I'm good... I-I'm really good, actually...
Exhale and smirk a little as hands and knees are reached. Look up at the battle.
N-not just good, I'm feeling great..! Why did I lock this away aga- Oh hell no, you are not getting them while they try to help me!
Break into a sadistic grin, hurling Stasis charge at the enemy.
Fuck yeah! Lets see how you like me now, bitch! Imma fuckin'...... fuckin'... FUCKIN' MAKE A COAT OUTTA YAH!!
Grab your gun. Learn 'em not to mess with a former Vault Hunter the only way you know how: With a jury-rigged shotgun and a smile that'll freeze their soul solid!
The Element Bearers burst into the room to find one red-maned biped struggling to pick himself back up while two guardsponies looked over him, trying to find a way to assist their ally, while a monster writhed on the ground, quickly rebuilding both of its arms and its head.
"Oh my goodness!"
Fluttershy was the first one to break out of her initial shock and rush over to the bloodied biped, her maternal instincts simply not allowing her to stand idly by when somepony was hurt. Pinkie was soon to follow, her Sense-induced jitters making it look like she had a bit too much sugar with her breakfast of cupcakes this morning, followed closely by the rest of the group, all having various degrees of concern apparent on their faces.
"What happened?" Twilight inquired, noticing the smell of singe coming of the wounded man.
"Pockets nearly blew 'im up, that's what happened!" Blade Rush accused, clearly distraught at his newfound brother-in-arms nearly getting blown up by one of his other brothers-in-arms.
"He what?!"
"He was on the brute when I fired an explosive charge at it," The unicorn defended himself, "Wouldn't have been a problem if he had gotten away when I told him to!"
"You didn't give him any warning! You just said 'Fire in the hole' and fired!"
"There it is right there, that's your warning!"
"Not when you fire directly afterward! He probably saw the bolt bury itself in that thing before he even heard you!"
"That's not even possible, arrows don't travel faster than sound!"
"Doesn't matter! You don't pay near as much attention when you're in the middle of a fight!"
"I was in the middle of the same fight I could hear me just fine!"
"Not hoof-to-hoo-"
"QUIET!!" Rarity shrieked, startling everypony, "We have more pressing matters before us at the moment!" She finished in a much more ladylike, yet forceful voice, gesturing at the human who was now on his hands and knees. Despite the lack of medical supplies, Fluttershy was still right there, cooing soothing words into his ear... Which strangely enough was causing the meter on his back to raise slowly, going from three red notches from empty to full and glowing a teal-blue in the matter of several seconds.
"Fluttershy, how are yah doing that?" Applejack asked, ogling the now full vitality indicator with wonder.
"Doing wha-" The butter-coated mare began to ask, jumping from fright when Gallant suddenly swung his arm at the forgotten Necromorph, launching another orb of stasis at it to buy more time, unsettling everypony with the grin that was now plastered on his face.
"Gallant?!" Twilight exclaimed, surprised at his sudden movement and the creepy, "Imma eat your babies" smile he as now sporting. "Are you okay?"
The human chuckled in response, standing up straight and holding his hand out to his discarded weapon. This struck the ponies gathered as strange, wondering if he was expecting it to fly up to his hand out of its own volition without the use of magic, when an orb of crackling electricity suddenly sparked into existence about his hand, causing several of them to jump: They had forgotten about his suit, but he sure as hell didn't. The instant after it formed, it shot beam out that struck the weapon, encased it in a similar orb, and quickly pulled it back into his waiting palm.
As soon as it was in his possession he quickly proceeded to reload it, then messing with some gadgets more towards the firing end of the weapon. A tug here, a push there and a press here, and suddenly parts started moving of their own accord, clinking and clanking until it finally stopped as suddenly as it had started. The end result was a weapon looking of the same overall concept, but with a shorter, wider business end than before. Directly after this he dropped the object and drew his Rivet Gun, quickly performing a similar series of deft movements that left it with a blade almost as long as it was prior attached to the end!
Now done performing his techno-wizardry, Gallant holstered the pistol (having to poke a hole into the bottom of it so the thing would sit properly in it) and picked his other weapon back up, aiming it at his now accelerating foe as his grin grew more fur-raising.
"Come make us whole, motherfucker," He rather cheerily requested as the ponies about him began to move away. While guards were wearily getting into position for round three, the Elements weren't thinking about fighting at the moment, especially when there was a potentially psychotic biped involved. A biped who wasn't moving in the slightest as the Regenerator hurled itself at him once more.
"Look ou-" Dash attempted to warn as it quickly got within striking distance, preparing to tackle the human out of danger if need be. Not that there was any need, that is.
Gallant was in more than ready for it.
Discord grinned widely as his human host dropped to his back, squeezing the trigger to the weapon now configured as a "Rivet Shotgun" as the viewing screen named it. The result was a sudden volley of high-speed rivets firing off at the same instant and burying themselves into the undead flesh that above. While this certainly didn't do any sort of lasting damage to the regenerating beast, it still did a noticeable amount of damage to it, which was more than what the "Rivet Chaingun" he was wielding prior.
I knew he had more tricks up his sleeve! The spectating Draconequus cheered, slurping merrily on the bucket of popcorn he had summoned like it were some form of smoothie. And he's just getting started too!
And if the thoughts currently swirling through Gallant's consciousness were anything to go by, Discord's observation was the biggest understatement of the century. The button the Chaos Monger had punched had temporarily overclocked the boy's brain, allowing him to think, act and react much faster than he would otherwise be able to, meaning he could plan far ahead into the fight... So far ahead, in fact, that he was currently planning how he what route would take to try and escape Limbo when he died again, because lets face it: He was going up against something that by definition can't die. Not that this bothered the Wanderer any: It just meant he could pull out all the stops and go out in the most badass way physically possible.
Because that's all that really mattered anymore.
Celestia was starting to panic.
After that initial surge of Chaos something was feeling deathly wrong with the air in her castle, and she didn't like it one bit. If it didn't hurt to run, she would have already made it to the suspected source of her trouble: That inter-dimensional being and the monster that had followed him to Equestria. There was no way they weren't tied in all of this.
However, it did hurt to run, heck, it hurt to even move at this point: that stab of weaponized disharmonic energy really had picked a good time and place to nick her. And that's what worried her the most about it: the fact it was so potent, so specialized. Normally a surge of Chaotic energy simply would wash over an area and put the more sensitive beings in the location on edge, possibly change a thing here or there. But injure a pony? That was unheard of.
Meaning, obviously, Discord is somehow involved, The alicorn concluded in a logical fashion, Which is bad. Very, very ba-
"This is for Diaz, bitch!"
Diaz?
Celestia hadn't realized it, but she was now just a short distance away from the hall in which the combat was taking place. Must've been walking while she was lost in thought. Time to see just what was causing all this trouble, right?
Oh sweet mother look at all that blood! Where is he? Where is h- She was shocked out of her train of thought when the biped in question skidded to a stop in front of her, sporting several large gashes that were bleeding rather heavily onto the his armor and her floor. Despite this he was still grinning ear to ear and his RIG was still reading his condition to be at optimum, the flood of chemicals in his bloodstream not allowing for anything else.
"I'm not done yet!" He bellowed, throwing his now empty shotgun to this side and wrenching his sidearm off his leg before using that electrical tether-thing he used to recall his weapon before to hurl himself at the Regenerator by latching onto the wall behind it. The Necromorph in question was looking much worse off than Gallant, what with several bloody dents in its torso and an arm hanging loosely by a tendon, metal rivets visible here and there sticking out of it. Yet it kept on fighting, as vicious as ever.
It quickly became apparent to Celestia after only thirty seconds of watching the ensuing battle that regardless how much luck Gallant had on his side, there was no way he could win: The gashes on the 'morph that she had noticed before were already healing. No matter what the human did, the monster would come out on top when its prey eventually became too exhausted to-
Speak of the devil.
With a sudden downward slash, the Regenerator had rendered Gallant unable to retaliate, not without getting cut in two, anyway. Unfortunately the way the human had blocked the strike left the tip of this opponent's blade mere inches from his face as he desperately attempted in vain to hold back the 'morph's strength. Even worse was the fact he was using the body of the Rivet Gun to block, meaning that there would me no sudden sidesteps to save his life by using the beast's strength against it. Couple that with the fact that his chemical high was on the wane, his vitality meter steadily draining as the adrenaline and other endorphins that had kept him going for so much longer than normal were ebbing away.
In laymen's terms...
... I'm fucked.
Pain returning, fatigue rising...
Dammit, there goes my chance at dying in style! I wanted to get impaled through the back after "letting my guard down" when I managed to down the sucker...
Mental acuteness fading...
And there goes coherent thought...
Muscles screaming in outrage...
No, wait, I can still think clearly... Huh... This must be the pre-death train of thought of clarity and shit normal people claim to get.
Legs about to give way, arms soon to follow...
Neat.
RIG is flaring, beeping out a warning as it reaches two ticks from death...
Well, I guess this was as good a run as any.
Hear the Princess Pony yell something to the others...
At least they got their super weapon thingy here in time.
Lock eyes with the benevolent ruler, smile in acceptance...
Good luck, Mrs. Princess-Pony-Lady-Mam.
Final burst of energy, the final struggle before the trip back...
Hey...
Body gives way, blade descends ever so slowly...
Is that..?
Goodbye life, I'll see you again when I get out of Limbo again...
I-Is that a rainbow..?
Impact.