Chapter Seventy Two: Carnage And Mire
~BlackRoseRaven
Stars twinkled in the skies above as Thesis approached Ponyville, Protelea grinning eagerly as she hurried quickly along beside him. Kismet was at his other side, but the death entity was refusing to speak to him, and it hurt the Replicant in a way he hadn't expected.
Behind them was a sea of soldiers: grinning Nibelung dressed in hide armor, many of them carrying rusted, chipped weapons, their fur thin and patchy and their eyes glowing and malevolent with Helheim's poisons. Dullahan marched calmly alongside skittering, ticking Soldier Drone shapeshifters and expressionless Worker Drones, and there were several Clockwork Ponies in the mix as well. Demons and undead abominations filled out the rest of the ranks, some controlled by parasites like Protelea's Necrotrophs, the more-intelligent ones simply throwing their bids in with Thesis, rewarded and empowered by the concentrated Clay of Prometheus in return.
And he had brought other 'friends' as well, who were lurking in the forest to the eastern side of the small village, poised to move in and strike. Tyrant Wyrms laughed at him and mocked him, but they were programmed to obey him all the same. He only hoped he wouldn't be forced to use them. He wanted this to go as smoothly as possible without resorting to any crueler strategies, after all.
Thesis glanced up at the clouds overhead, and he frowned in distaste before calling clearly over his shoulder: “Release the Thunderbirds!”
Dullahan turned towards massive iron cages being dragged along by groups of Worker Drones, the gray, pony-shaped creatures not flinching even when a large demon stepped on one and crushed it by accident. The headless knights opened the cage doors and rasped orders and threats at the cyclopean birds until one of the flying golems finally gave a shriek and leapt out of the cage as its wings unfurled, a Dullahan flailing wildly as it was hefted into the air by the steely avian before the headless knight was flung through the crowd, demons laughing loudly at the folly of the soldier.
Thesis sighed even as his Thunderbirds leapt from their cages to take over the sky, shooting forwards to tear apart the clouds and begin to circle above Ponyville like vultures. Thesis looked grimly up at this, and then he strode forwards before wincing and staggering when floodlights burst into being, blinding him for a moment even as he shielded his eyes with a foreleg as Protelea hissed and Kismet only calmly gazed through the field that was now lit up as bright as day.
“Take your pigeons and get the hell out of here before I come out there and kick your ass!” shouted an amplified mare's voice that Thesis didn't recognize, and the Replicant scowled at this before gesturing to his army to hold their positions, and then he strode towards Ponyville's gates.
“Parley! Send out someone to negotiate! My army is vastly superior to your forces, I will overwhelm and destroy your little town with ease, but I am still willing to discuss terms of surrender!” Thesis shouted clearly back, and there was silence for a few moments before the Replicant began to smile as the gates opened slightly... and then he frowned in surprise as a Draconequus leisurely strode out, his arms spread, a calm smile on his features.
Thesis recognized him, mostly due to the fact the creature was wearing a prosthetic limb. The Replicant bared his teeth at this, leaning forwards and asking with disgust: “And what is this? Where are Luna Brynhild and Scrivener Blooms, or the other Valkyrie reborn, Celestia Freya! I demand to speak to one of your leaders not... not some pathetic patchwork doll!”
Discombobulation only shrugged, halting and bowing deeply as he replied politely: “Well, in the words of the great philosopher Jagger, 'you can't always get what you want.' But we're starting off on the wrong foot here: you can call me Bob, and I'll be your negotiator for this evening. I don't see this lasting very long because all I pretty much have been told to tell you is to 'step off,' which is semi-polite for 'go screw yourself, we're not giving you what you want.'”
“Are you stupid, or just blind?” Thesis snarled, striding forwards as his eyes glowed and he rose his head high, glaring at the Draconequus. “You ignorant worm, I should kill you for speaking to me like that after all the mercy I have shown your kind! All I desire is to feel complete... not that I expect your kind to know anything about that, you disgusting pile of scraps.”
“Hey. Hey. Words can hurt, you know.” Discombobulation touched his own chest, looking unperturbed before he pointed calmly in the direction of Ponyville. “Inside there are a thousand people all waiting to step up and defend ponies that even I am proud to call my friends. Inside there is a young, innocent child that you seem to want to sacrifice at the altar of yourself.”
“You... Luna and Scrivener have forced me to take this course of action! This is not my fault, you are the ones who have forced this way... but look...” Thesis gritted his teeth, leaning forwards and imploring: “Give me Luna and Scrivener. They are all I truly require. I will be satisfied with them, my machine can be calibrated to rip the necessary data from their genes and copy their biorhythms onto me and... and I will be complete at last! But if you force me... if you push me... I will kill you all, and I will take the little girl, and I will forgo all kindness in order to ensure that even being forced to used data harvested from corpses, I can still reach completion. But it will be far, far more painful for us all.”
Discombobulation shook his head slowly, and then he said softly: “Fool. Thou shouldst not have been old before thou hadst been wise. Unless, of course, you want to end up a mad old king wandering around blindly, screaming and broken and just not at all in a good way. Here, let me quote some more old dead author advice for you that happens to be relevant to this situation: 'get thee hence.'”
Thesis looked up at the Draconequus, and then he bared his steel teeth and said sharply: “Our conversation is over and negotiations have clearly failed. Go inside, and tell your friends that in ten minutes, if Luna and Scrivener are not surrendered to me, I shall send my army to attack in full force. Yes, I see your pretty little town with your pretty lights and pathetic wooden walls, but you fail to understand something: you are nothing but grovelling villagers. I have an army!”
Discombobulation looked calmly for a moment at the Replicant, and then he rose a hand and suddenly grinned, retorting sharply: “And we have a Hulk.”
He snapped his fingers and vanished in a crackle of green light, and Thesis had enough time to glance up in surprise before both gates were suddenly shoved open. The Replicant was left simply staring in stupefaction at what he saw, managing out only a single name: “Vallation?”
Shiny strode out through the gates, a snarl on his features and curved wall of energy protecting his body as he glared fearlessly out at the army in front of him. And mounted over his back, counterbalanced by enormous weights and a massive ammo box that the Clockwork Pony carried with ease thanks to his almost all-steel body, Parsimony was already whirring, the Vulcan cannon gearing up before he leaned forwards and roared.
It was swallowed up by the sound of the gatling gun beginning to fire, Thesis staggering backwards and covering his face as bullets tore scratches through his hide and ricocheted off his body, Parsimony tracing back and forth as casings fell in a rain around Shiny. Bullets tore through the ranks of ponies behind him, Protelea screaming and leaping to the air as Kismet only calmly stood with his steel hands laced in front of him, ignoring the rounds ripping smoking holes through his cloak while the more-physical soldiers behind him yelled and panicked, breaking their formation.
Shiny slowly began to step backwards, teeth grit in a grin even as his entire body quaked from Parsimony continuing to fire, concentrating the Vulcan cannon's bullets in the area around Thesis before the Clockwork Pony gasped and staggered backwards as he finally released his telekinetic grip on the trigger of the massive weapon. At the same time, Nibelung hurriedly dragged the gates back closed, while Cowlick grinned widely over at the metal stallion as he dropped his head forwards, shield vanishing from in front of him as he wheezed loudly.
“That should give the bastard something to think about.” Cowlick muttered, and then she rose the megaphone in one hoof up and roared through it: “We're right here waiting for you, asshole! Take all the time you need to change your panties!”
Thesis looked up at this provocation, trembling violently even as the scratches over his scales healed, and then he bared his fangs in a snarl before stomping a hoof against the ground and glaring over his shoulder when Protelea nervously touched down. “Take your Necrotrophs and wait for the army to draw out the soldiers, then attack from the western flank. Get that filly. I don't care how you do it... kill them, torture them if you have to, then bring as much of that child as you can. She doesn't have to be alive. I just need enough pieces of her to extract her genetic information.”
Protelea licked her lips at this, giggling loudly before she flew back into the army, and Thesis breathed hard in and out, then his eyes turned to Kismet and he snapped: “You! Go in with your Reapers and start killing them. Start killing them all. Kill them all!”
“No.” Kismet said quietly, and Thesis looked stunned as the death entity slowly rose his head, standing calm and dignified as he laced his metal hands together behind his back. “I won't do it. You may destroy me if you want to, child, but for all the power you do hold over me, you still cannot force me to take part in mass slaughter and genocide. I may not be able to stop you, I may not be able to help the ponies who deserve it, but I can at least deny you my aid and the aid of my kindred.”
“You... you're supposed to my friend! Help me!” Thesis almost screamed, losing all coherency and calm to utter rage as he spun around, stomping his hooves childishly, and then Kismet strode suddenly forwards and reached down to catch the stallion's shoulder, squeezing it gently.
“I am trying to help you.” the death entity said quietly, his glowing eyes locking with Thesis' own desperate gaze. “Goodbye, Thesis.”
With that, Kismet straightened and vanished, and Thesis trembled before he snarled slowly as he turned his eyes towards his army of uneasy soldiers. He stared back and forth over the chaotic, disordered lines, an then he trembled violently before leaning forwards and snarling: “There are maybe a hundred capable ponies inside those walls. There are thousands of you! Concentrate your efforts on swarming this side of the village, tear holes, bring down those gates! Demons, vault the walls! Dullahan, phalanx positions and protect the Workers while they bring the rams and explosives forwards! And first come, first serve: I don't care what you take, I don't care what you do, but you bring me the corpses of Luna Brynhild and Scrivener Blooms! Now go!”
Thesis' army roared and swarmed forwards, and Thesis turned around to glare towards Ponyville before a cruel grin spread over his features as he ordered in a cold voice in a terrible language: “Rise, servants. Your master commands it. Find our little brother. Kill him.”
Amidst broken, gnarled trees that had warped just from the presence of the two enormous, terrible creatures that had slipped their way into this forest, glowing, emotionless eyes of sapphire malevolence opened. Twisted, cruel grins spread over the features of the Wyrms as they both rose their heads, both massive and ponderous and terrible, beginning to smash and tear their way through trees like icebreakers driving their way through a northern floe. But one of them was even larger than the other, even more malevolent, as it mocked openly: “We do not march for your sake. We march to play with our little brother. You are nothing but the adopted orphan.”
Thesis bared his teeth, looking away before he shook his head sharply and brought his eyes coldly up, breathing hard before he stepped backwards and vanished, not bothering to stay and watch as his army surged against the walls of Ponyville, promptly meeting resistance in the form of bolts, bullets, and boiling oil.
Inside the walls, Cowlick grimaced and looked up as Shiny anchored himself at the ready in front of the gates. Pegasi were already taking to the air to keep the Thunderbirds at bay, and other ponies were firing both guns and spells towards the metal birds while the soldiers stationed atop the walls used the floodlights to their advantage, keeping the creatures attempting to climb the walls blinded while they knocked enemies loose from the wall.
Then Cowlick cursed as several clearly-hostile demons simply appeared out of nowhere past their first line of defense with mocking laughs. Shiny began to turn... except the invading demons then hit their second line as Morning Glory stomped the skull of one of the Wrath demons under one hoof, snarling: “Worthless maggots, do you have any idea how war is fought?”
The demons that had slipped by were crushed as Nibelung hurried to reinforce the gates as they rattled violently, and Cowlick dug out a loose cigarette to shove into her muzzle before she shouted: “Remember, Shiny, eyes front, let the others worry about whatever goes on behind you! I gotta go get myself set up in my nest!”
Shiny nodded sharply, and Cowlick turned to hurry off, running past the line of soldiers standing at the ready to charge and defend Ponyville once their defenses were breached. As she ran towards the center of town, she passed Greece, who quickly checked the pocketwatch in his hand before nodding sharply to the unicorn dressed in lightweight armor beside him.
The mare nodded sharply, then snapped her horn upwards, sending up a flare of light that signaled several groups around Ponyville, who all immediately went to work. Luna, Scrivener and Twilight left the library; Nibelung shouted orders down to other workers waiting in one of the maintenance rooms below; Celestia and Sleipnir quickly left town hall as Antares moved his group into position from the main square.
The battle had begun, as the players all moved into their positions: and the only thing anyone knew for sure was that it wasn't going to be a long fight, no matter what happened. Too much was moving against Ponyville, too fast: either the army Thesis had brought against them would be destroyed, or they would quickly overwhelm the ponies desperate to defend both themselves and the ponies that the Replicant was so eager to destroy.
Celestia and Cowlick had both decided that if they were going to survive this onslaught, they were going to have to use every resource available to them. That was why Cowlick ensured that not just the town's water supply was diverted into the liquid defense system that had been installed years and years ago during their war with Decretum, but part of the power supply was too.
Water blasted out of hidden sprinklers in the ground with enough force to stumble the Dullahans: even with the almost-acidic purifiers mixed into the liquid, it was relatively harmless to most of the attackers, but the liquid-metal based Soldier Drones literally began to melt from attempting to passing through the curtain of water. A moment later, a Nibelung back in the engineering lab yanked down a lever as the others finished opening the valves that controlled the flow of the water, and there was a loud crackle before most of the power to the engineering labs died, and instead the water defense system surged with electricity.
This drove many of the attackers backwards with howls of pain, stomping and crashing against each other. The wall of water wouldn't last forever, but it at least bought them some time to hurriedly repair and further fortify the gates and walls, and deal with the swarms of creatures that had made it inside. More and more demons were simply turning to smoke or teleporting into Ponyville, but they were quickly met by Nightmares, loyal servants of the night, and Starlit Knights.
Enemy soldiers began to try and find flaws in the defenses: many of these were unfortunate enough to stumble into leg traps, tripwires, and other nasty ambuscades. The Dullahan were barely slowed by even the cruelest traps, while many of the Nibelung barbarians were so far gone from Helheim's energies that they simply tore their legs free or staggered onwards even with metal jaws locked around their ankles, snarling furiously and spitting curses at the 'weakling runts' of fellow Nibelung guarding the walls alongside ponies.
They had a second line of defense, but it was only to be used once one of the gates were forced down: unfortunately, the Worker Drones had already begun using the large cages that had formerly carried the Thunderbirds to form bridges through the electrified water. Nor did the Workers seem to notice the electricity or the water, continuing to try and roll enormous, spiked rams forwards towards the walls and gates to begin breaking them down, Nibelung concentrating their fire on these.
Above, Thunderbirds and the North Wind were tangling with Pegasi and a few airborne demons, trying to keep themselves high out of range and only occasionally sweeping down to attack the soldiers on the walls or in high places. One of these Thunderbirds made the mistake of trying to head towards City Hall, where a large, circular platform had been erected on ugly but firm supports, and was promptly blasted out of the air by a single shot that tore through its eye and sent it plummeting to the ground like a meteor.
It exploded near Antares, who winced as Avalon gritted her teeth, hovering uneasily in the air with a new bladed helm locked tightly over her features. Aphrodisia had her reaper's scythe on her back and lightweight armor on, while Tender Trust was only calmly sitting with her head bowed and a pretty charm hanging around her neck, a gift from Fluttershy to bring her fortune for tonight.
They were supposed to hold back any attacks in this area, by themselves. He knew it was starting to get rough, though: the water defenses wouldn't work for much longer, and after that the gates and walls would be under siege again. He didn't know if it felt like days or only minutes had passed, as Avalon looked up and watched as a streak that could only be Rainbow Dash collided full on with a shape that looked like a pony made of ice and snow, knocking it backwards with a miserable howl and driving it away from the Pegasus it had been chasing down. “I should be up there.”
“You know our orders, Ava. We're all here. We're all fighting, as hard as we can. And you know things are gonna get rough, even if Kvasir keeps his promise and sends some Knights of Valhalla to help us.” Antares said quietly, and then he grimaced as a klaxon went off. Goddammit. “You might be seeing action sooner than you want. That means the water defenses have just gone down.”
Avalon cursed, then looked up sharply as there was a tremendous bang and a series of shouts, overwhelmed by a roar of victory from a crowd. It attracted the attention of several other demons as well, who hurriedly moved to reinforce the gates that were under attack.
Morning Glory stood calmly with Shiny beside her, then she glanced to the other side as Burning Desire appeared in a burst of flames with a wide grin, looking up at her and remarking even as there was another massive blast, the gates in front of Shiny visibly beginning to dome inwards: “What's wrong? I thought you were all about this war stuff, Morning Glory.”
“I am. Let them come to me. I'll deal with them all myself if I have to.” Morning Glory said coldly, as something rammed into the gates again, knocking them partway open, and eager Drones surged through the breach. Yet none of the gathered forces of Ponyville flinched as the Drones were met by a barrage of bullets fired from the Nibelung and ponies that had been forced down from the walls, tearing most of them apart.
Burning Desire began to open his mouth, but before he could reply, the gates were smashed wide apart by a wingless dragon that leaned forwards with a furious roar, its features bleeding from battering itself violently into the gate. Plates of metal had been fused across its body and its scales were rotting in places, enormous tubes rudely sticking up through the scale and keeping liquid corruption visibly pumping through its form as it began to scramble forwards, jaws opening wide-
“Allow me.” said a soft voice, and the dragon's head was crushed to the ground as there was a tremendous rumble of force, even as soldiers were scattered in all directions by the shockwave. The beast was stunned, and Morning Glory made a face, not looking back even as Burning Desire stared in something like awe over his shoulder at Selene as the Nephilim calmly hovered in the air behind them, flapping her wings slowly. She seemed unfettered, even as other monsters and Clockwork forces surged inwards around the prone, stunned dragon-beast. “We must not disappoint our friends and benefactors. Exterminate them all.”
Morning Glory cracked her neck loudly as Burning Desire gritted his teeth, and the army of soldiers behind them all raised their heads, ponies, armored Nightmares, Nibelung and others readying themselves as the tide surged forwards; with the gate destroyed, another alarm blared through Ponyville, and Cowlick cursed at this from her high platform on city hall.
Her massive anti-materiel rifle, Artemis, was half-out of its case at one side of the makeshift balcony wrapping around city hall's upper roof, but for now she was instead using a smaller bolt-action rifle as she hurried to the other side of the platform and dropped flat, goggles on her forehead and quickly tilting her head to look with both eyes down the scope as she muttered: “You stupid sons of bitches, come on, come on...”
She fired off a single round that smashed through a Drone, turning it into nothing but silvery goo, worrying for a moment before there was a faint explosion away from most of the action; a few seconds later, the blessed oil that had been dumped in a circle around Ponyville burst into golden flames, rapidly forming a wall of fire that would hopefully buy them some more time. There was certainly a good chance that the walls would catch on fire as well, and possibly part of the town, but Cowlick was more than willing to take things as they came right now: better they burn half the village down than let these monsters start swarming the other gates now that everyone was distracted by what was happening at the northern face.
Then another klaxon went off, and Cowlick's eyes widened before she simply abandoned her rifle, hurrying for Artemis with a curse: more than the alarm that went up, there was the awful, bone-chilling roar that ripped through the air, dredging up memories she wished could have remained forgotten forever as she tossed a single look in the direction the sound had come from and whispered: “Oh dammit, no, they were right!”
Two Tyrant Wyrms smashed their way into the field, six bone pistons pumping away on the backs of both, their mottled gold scales shot through with wild white scarring and bulging, diseased-looking tissue. The smaller had a crown of six enormous, curling horns as it dragged itself forwards eagerly, but the larger one had eight: not just the crown, but a set of massive, ram-like horns that curled up along either side of its muzzle. It was half again the size of the gargantuan, thirty-foot behemoth beside it, and its chest was tighter-drawn against thick ribs that stood out through its scales like a cage wrapped in hide.
Both monsters strode slowly forwards, before laughing loudly and trading clearly-entertained looks when Celestia flew easily above the wall, glaring out at the challengers. She gritted her teeth, looking between the two monsters before the larger one ordered the smaller coldly, in their terrible language: “Go and fight them. Die in the name of the Void. I shall sing your requiem.”
The smaller Tyrant Wyrm laughed at this, then turned and waded eagerly through the field, ignoring the meaningless traps it stomped through as the larger Wyrm behind it grinned cruelly and rose its head proudly, eyes glowing with malevolence. And across the field, Celestia gritted her teeth as Sleipnir climbed up to the top of the wall, then snarled. “Celestia, that...”
“Yes. A Dictator and far, far worse, a Grand Vizier. But the Vizier seems content to watch and likely mock us with the Black Verses.” Celestia halted, then looked over her shoulder and sighed tiredly, even as Twilight Sparkle flew worriedly up into the air behind her. “Twilight, stay back for now. Sleipnir, myself and... my little sister... will take care of the Dictator. Scrivener Blooms will cover us by speaking the Verses. But we'll have to be careful.”
Sleipnir nodded firmly, looking up with a grin, his breastplate gleaming and his kite shield seeming to shimmer with light over his back before he shouted cheerfully, as the Wyrm continued its approach: “I think that is Celestia's way of telling thee 'tis time to put thy plan into action, Luna!”
There was a roar of machinery in response to this, and then a squeal of tires before Celestia shook her head slowly as Luna shot up a long ramp on her motorcycle, Scrivener's forelegs wrapped tightly around the mare and almost-curled overtop her body in terror. The sidecar had been removed, and the boosters were already blazing like rockets, sending the motorcycle streaking into the air like a comet and arcing over the wall of wood and the barrier of golden flames that encircled Ponyville.
Epona sailed down from the sky as Luna kicked the lever back that controlled the boosters, cutting them off as she leaned backwards before the motorcycle's studded tires slammed down in the field, jouncing painfully as Scrivener winced before they shot straight towards the Tyrant Wyrm, which only laughed mockingly at them. And the stallion winced before he quickly leaned forwards and kissed the back of Luna's neck, then let go and flung himself backwards.
He crashed painfully to the field, rolling backwards a few times as Luna swerved only slightly, then she twisted the handlebars hard and skidded sideways to a halt, raising her head and shouting clearly up at the Tyrant Wyrm: “Shall I make thy death swift or slow, monster? Only know that thou shalt indeed be sent back to the Void thou crawled out of!”
The Tyrant Wyrm only laughed again, then leaned down and stretched its head towards Luna as it said softly, sapphire eyes glowing brightly: “Yes, we see you, Valkyrie. But do you see into us? Join us. We shall give you the meaningless power and worthless destruction you crave.”
“Here is my answer.” Luna's soulstone horn glowed, Sting Mk. II launching itself out of the holster over her back before smoothly flipping itself into her front hoof, the mare aiming the rifle straight at one of the Tyrant Wyrm's eyes before pulling the trigger. The single round tore through the sapphire light and sent up a blast of corruption that almost immediately began to turn to stone, the Tyrant Wyrm roaring in fury and wildly snapping its head back and forth as it stumbled backwards before Luna revved the throttle, wheels ripping up the grass beneath her before catching and sending her shooting forwards just as the Tyrant Wyrm clawed at her, roaring in hatred and contempt.
Scrivener looked up with a grin, then grimaced as the Grand Vizier still at the edge of the plains rose its head and ordered: “Empty vessels, full of nothing, fill with hatred... rise and spread your gift of the end to this meaningless struggle...”
The skies darkened and stars above seemed to dim, poisoning the light shining from the moon as the holy fires swayed and lessened. And across Ponyville, corpses of those who had fallen trembled before beginning to glow with poisonous sapphire light, slowly yanking themselves up to hooves and claws as malice and hunger filled their broken bodies.
Morning Glory snarled and looked up as the dragon she and Selene had all but torn apart suddenly convulsed from where it lay brokenly in the gateway, and then it roared, light shining out of its throat as it hefted itself to its claws, blue mist bleeding out of its wounds and maw. It strode quickly forwards on broken legs, jaws lashing down, eyes nothing but soulless fire, but Morning Glory slammed a hoof into its maw and knocked its head downwards into the ground before she snapped her horn upwards, and it screamed as white flames tore over its skull and spread greedily along its body. “Kill them, then kill them again, and continue to do so until they stop getting up!”
Even from where she was hovering, Celestia could see what was going on across Ponyville, and knew that the undead would only spread their infection if allowed to continue. But these hadn't been filled with poison by the Wyrm's breath, even if it was the Wyrm's power puppeting them: they could cut those strings by a faster means than killing the Tyrant Wyrms.
“Scrivener Blooms, interrupt the Vizier!” Celestia shouted quickly as she flew down to him, and the stallion grimaced before nodding, gritting his teeth before he ran straight towards the massive monster in the distance. And without needing to hear the order, Twilight flew after him as Celestia turned her eyes towards the Dictator, who was trying to crush Luna Brynhild as it roared with fury and frustration while she wove back and forth on her motorcycle.
The sapphire mare twisted the handlebars to the side, narrowly missing a claw stomping down beside her, keeping Sting Mk. II held tight in one hoof and supporting the barrel with telekinesis as she aimed behind herself without looking back, pulling the trigger twice to send two more White Matter bullets hammering through the Wyrm's features while she sped away from it. It roared in frustration, shaking its head wildly as chunks of scale turned to stone and the corruption that powered it was further poisoned and weakened, before the Tyrant Wyrm snarled furiously as Luna twisted Epona around in a circle after putting a good distance between them. She leaned forwards, flicking her gun open to unload the empty cartridges and using telekinesis to lock four more rounds in almost instantaneously.
She flicked the cylinder back closed, then revved the throttle challengingly, and the Wyrm snarled at her in fury before Luna felt a shiver, fought not to be distracted as Scrivener's voice rose up, roaring the Black Verses back at the Grand Vizier and interrupting its words. And as she glared at the Dictator, the Vizier turned a horrified, disgusted look on Scrivener Blooms before it leaned forwards, locking gazes with him as it hissed: “Understand what you are.”
Scrivener felt pure malice and agony and psychic pain pumped into his skull, saw images of torture and wrath and hatred and the Void itself, and he gasped as black tears spilled from his eyes, his body flexed, the corruption in his veins boiled... and then he looked back and screamed: “I do!”
The Vizier's head reared back in shock as Scrivener's own eyes glowed for a moment, and as silence fell between the two challengers, the Dictator roared and Luna twisted Epona's throttle to full, massive Tyrant Wyrm charging as Luna's motorcycle sped through the grasses. Luna could feel pain in her body already from the distance she had been forced to keep from Scrivener for this part of the fight, but she knew it was necessary... and they would be together again in only moments.
The sapphire mare rose Sting Mk. II, emptying all four rounds straight into the Wyrm's breast before she simply tossed the rifle aside, seizing the handlebars in both hooves as she leaned forwards and shot like a rocket towards the Wyrm before suddenly leaning back, her forelegs straining as she yanked as hard as she dared on the handlebars and spread her wings at the same time, roaring as Epona went up on a single wheel and jumped into the air before Luna kicked off the motorcycle with all the strength that she could muster.
Epona slammed like a missile into the Wyrm's chest with a distinct crunch: with the scales poisoned by the bullets Luna had fired into it, cracks ripped through the body of the Dictator and made it flinch and buckle, roaring in fury and surprise. It stumbled weakly as Luna flipped and landed on all four hooves, skidding backwards before she fell into a roll, bouncing painfully several times but managing to catch herself on her stomach even as one of her wings twisted.
She looked up as the Tyrant Wyrm snarled down at her, then lunged forwards over the wrecked hulk of the motorcycle, jaws opening wide to swallow her whole-
Sleipnir leapt into the air and slammed his hoof into the side of its muzzle, and the Tyrant Wyrm bit only the earth beside Luna before Celestia crashed down into the Wyrm's skull with a blast of golden flames, crunching in its skull. The Wyrm howled as it snapped its head upwards, trying to fling Celestia off, but instead she used the momentum to smoothly launch herself backwards before she peppered the Wyrm's features with blasts of golden flame.
As it flinched back and forth, distracted, Sleipnir charged over the grasses and rose his shield, leaping forwards and simply ramming as hard as he could into the Wyrm's chest. And like porcelain, its breast shattered as it stumbled backwards with a howl... and Luna was already on her hooves, her spear flicking out of her mane to full size in a burst of blue flames before she flung Prúðbikkja forwards with all her might.
It slammed through the the hail of scale fragments and into the massive, staring red eye that took up the beast's entire chest, the core of the Tyrant Wyrm sending out a thick gush of corruption before Luna arched her back and snapped her horn upwards, and a massive blast of lightning and blue flame exploded from the alicorn tip of her spear. The blast was powerful enough to all but disintegrate the core and sent the spear itself flying out of the Wyrm's body, Luna grinning coldly as she snapped her horn upwards to easily catch the weapon just as it began to whicker past, polearm spinning quickly back to a ready position beside her as Sleipnir and Celestia fell in on either side of the sapphire mare.
The Tyrant Wyrm staggered backwards, then gave one final rasping chuckle before it collapsed to the ground, golden, mottled scales turning dead white even before it hit the grassy field. It shattered into ashes and chunks of brittle porcelain, and all three ponies immediately turned their eyes towards the Grand Vizier as it waded into the battlefield with a snarl of fury.
The plains rippled around the creature as it strode forwards, turning the field to black, toxic mire, but Scrivener couldn't move... didn't even want to move as he looked up and met this creature's eyes, even as vents of blue, toxic mist began to vomit out of the earth, even as terrible, half-formed beasts of mire and sludge began to rise up from the ground around it. Their eyes locked, the two glaring at each other before the Vizier whispered: “Now I shall teach you your place, little brother. Now I shall show you the beauty of the Void, and the miracle that is nothingness.”
Scrivener only snarled, setting himself as the Grand Vizier anchored itself only some thirty feet away, and the stallion was barely aware of Sleipnir, Celestia, Luna, and Twilight dropping into their own positions shielding and flanking him. The two glared furiously at each other and had eyes for nothing else, their gazes locked, Scrivener feeling his corruption boiling in his bloodstream and not even aware that he had turned the ground around him into a solid platform of black crystal that resisted the Vizier's mire even as it spread through almost the entire plains.
And then the Vizier leaned forwards roaring the Black Verses, and Scrivener shouted them in almost perfect time, his voice echoing through the field as Wyrm and Clockwork Replicant dueled each other for supremacy. And as they spoke and chanted to each other, trying to outdo, overpower, overcome one-another, the mire monsters surged forwards and the sea of corruption around the island of the same and yet more burst upwards like waves striking the shoreline.
Sleipnir roared and leapt fearlessly into the ocean of mire, using the shield strapped over one foreleg to ward off a wave that splashed against him before he slammed it into one of the mire beasts, knocking it backwards in a thick gush of sludge. Without looking, Sleipnir half-spun, slashing the shield almost viciously through the face of another monster and sending it collapsing, before a third beast lunged at his back... but before he could so much as blink, Tyrfing lashed down and tore the monstrosity in half, sending it splattering back into the ocean of black ooze around them.
Celestia gave Sleipnir a quick smile and short nod as her smaller golden swords formed around her, and then the ivory winged unicorn drove forwards, blades singing through the air around her and tearing apart any monster that dared approach as Sleipnir smashed and battered mire-creatures backwards, protecting the island as Luna quickly leapt to the air.
Twilight leaned forwards, snapping her horn out and feeding her strength towards Scrivener even as she sent a blast of blue flame rocketing towards the Vizier, but the Tyrant Wyrm barely seemed to notice the attack even as it ripped away a chunk of its shoulder; any more than it noticed as Luna sent blast after blast of blue flames hammering into its features, sending cracks through its golden scales and charring half its face. The Tyrant Wyrm didn't flinch, didn't draw its eyes away from Scrivener as it only roared the terrible Verses louder.
And Scrivener shouted back, but he could feel his voice weakening under the fury of this massive, overwhelming, terrible thing: he felt it beginning to drown him out as he trembled on the spot and aches started to spread through his body. He could feel the corruption in his veins boiling painfully, could feel his mind beginning to twist towards insanity, his heart thudding in his chest as voices screamed through his mind and black tears ran down his cheeks-
He stuttered, and Celestia and Sleipnir both flinched as the Black Verses hit them with full force for a moment, sending terrible, violent images cascading through their minds, assaulting them with pain and malice as they dredged up every bad memory, every bad feeling the two had ever experienced. Twilight winced, bloody tears leaking from one of her eyes, and in the air Luna gasped, but it wasn't pain she felt. No, it was worse: it was like something reached into her, and tried to turn her upside down and inside-out.
Scrivener hurriedly caught up with the Vizier, but he felt off balance, weakened, as the Vizier took a single step forwards with a grin, shouting and almost laughing as it continued to recite the horrible language, and Scrivener shouted back desperately before Luna drove down with her spear... and without even looking up, the Vizier twisted its head to the side, then slammed its own skull against her like a mace, sending her flying down to crash and skid through the corruption.
Scrivener flinched, and the Wyrm overpowered him again, mocking him, driving his emotions up higher as Luna dragged herself out of the mire: but the Vizier wasn't interested in them. It didn't care about any of them, all its concentration on Scrivener as he felt the Verses driving him back, the safe platform of corruption cracking as the Wyrm's sped through it, licked up it eagerly, raced towards him and filled his mind with... with so much anger and hate and violence and...
The stallion looked up with a snarl, desperate, feeling humiliated, beaten back, rejected, like a failure... and without even realizing it, he opened his mouth and began to sing.
The words rang through the air, more alien and unknowable than the Black Verses, carrying through the sky and making the Wyrm mute as it only stared with disbelief. Reality itself reverberated with the Hymn, and the monsters of mire screamed in eerie chorus as Sleipnir and Celestia both turned disbelieving eyes towards Scrivener Blooms.
The mire rippled... and then became like verdant, black soil, massive, thorny vines ripping up out of the ground and beginning to twine around the Wyrm and spread throughout the field. And Scrivener sang onwards, his eyes glowing, his back arched, gesturing back and forth with his claws as if unaware of the world around him as Twilight shivered and Luna felt both ecstasy and power filling her body before she turned a twisted, cruel grin down towards the Vizier as it roared wordlessly in humiliation-driven fury.
The Tyrant Wyrm tried to leap forwards, and Luna shot downwards, slamming her spear through its forehead and driving its head down towards the ground with the strength of impact. Celestia and Sleipnir both raced forwards, leaping into the melee with the Wyrm as Twilight shot upwards as well, beginning to harry the massive, draconic monster with spells and brute force as the vines continued to crawl up along its body, ripping through scale and not-flesh beneath.
Scrivener swayed back and forth, delirious, barely able to understand what was going on. Even as the light of fire flashed through the world in front of him and mire splashed up in great black tidal waves, even as blue mist vomited out of the earth and the other ponies threw everything they had into trying to drive the Grand Vizier back, trying to rip through the almost-impenetrable cage of bone over the beast's breast to reach its core, Scrivener barely saw. He could only sing. He could only slip deeper into the madness overtaking him.
Luna laughed even as she smashed herself viciously into the Wyrm's skull, driving Prúðbikkja deep again before leaping off when it snapped its head downwards, charging down the back of its neck to attack one of the pistons on its back. At the same time, Twilight snapped her horn forwards, controlling the enormous, poisonous vines crawling out of the earth with terrible ease and snaring one of the Tyrant Wyrm's limbs to drag it downwards.
Its jaws lunged towards the Lich, not noticing Sleipnir leaping with its movements, shadowing its head before he flung himself upwards and smashed an uppercut into the underside of his jaw. Its head whiplashed into the air as Celestia snapped her horn downwards, and a golden meteor hailed down from the sky, smashing into its skull and blowing most of its head apart.
And then the Wyrm roared in fury as it dragged a claw through the mire, sending up a massive tidal wave that knocked Sleipnir, Twilight, and Celestia all backwards in the surge before it splashed down and locked them in place. The monster began to lean forwards, but then it arched its back with a snarl as Luna drove her spear into the back of its neck, eyes and horn glowing as she hissed: “Thou art no different than any other monster I have tamed... thou shall bow to me!”
Energy surged down her spear, and then blasted outwards just above the Tyrant Wyrm's breast, knocking a large, gaping hole in its body as it arched its back with a howl before attempting to shake Luna off. And Scrivener gazed up with a broken, twisted grin on his face, before he stuttered in the Hymn he was still singing as Valthrudnir calmly stepped in front of him, the stallion too far gone to understand it was only an illusion as the dragon said almost politely: “Pardon me, but I have to make a small adjustment to your psyche.”
Valthrudnir shoved his hand forwards, and Scrivener screamed as it seemed to tear through his skull, feeling the dragon clutching his brain, sending energy surging through it as his eyes bulged, and then he gurgled before falling limply forwards. Luna and Twilight both cried out in horror, their bodies convulsing before the sapphire mare fell limply... and was caught in midair by one of the Vizier's claws, stomped viciously down into the mire as the Lich vomited blood.
Scrivener's body shook as Sleipnir shouted a denial, trying to yank himself upwards as Celestia snarled, flicking her horn and crying out in pain as golden fire burst into life over her own body and the mire around her, but continuing to burn it away all the same. And then she looked up in horror as Scrivener's eyes opened, amber and calm, and a smile spread over his features as he leaned up and called clearly to the Tyrant Wyrm as it began to raise its claw to stomp Luna again. “That's enough.”
The Grand Vizier whirled to look at the charcoal stallion, ripping itself free of the already-graying vines as it stepped forwards with a snarl, and then Scrivener... no, Valthrudnir rose his hooves and easily flicked them to either side, and a ramp of mire burst upwards, bridging towards the Tyrant Wyrm's breast even as it rasped: “And why should I obey you? What can you offer me?”
“Because I am your master, and I am offering you a chance at experiencing the miracle of completion.” Valthrudnir answered almost pleasantly, striding leisurely up the ramp as Celestia struggled to force through the mire, and Sleipnir cursed as he managed to rip a foreleg free, desperately attempting to rip himself upwards as the possessed stallion reached the end of the bridge and smiled fearlessly up at the Grand Vizier. “I need access to your Kundalini.”
Without hesitation, the Tyrant Wyrm reached upwards, digging both claws into its raised breastbone and tearing viciously downwards to rip it free from its body, its ribs cracking and shuddering as they seemed almost to attempt to spread on their own.
As bone and scale spilled away and turned to nothing more than brittle gray debris, the massive, staring orb of the eye was revealed, gazing back and forth before it centered on Valthrudnir. All around it, stalks and tentacles of flesh squirmed almost eagerly, as the Grand Vizier leaned willingly forwards even as Sleipnir struggled to free himself, Celestia screamed, and Twilight and Luna only lay senseless.
Valthrudnir only smiled, then easily reached forwards and plunged a claw into the Tyrant Wyrm's core, and even as Celestia tore herself free from the mire with a monumental effort that almost ripped one of her wings free from her body, she knew it was too late. The Tyrant Wyrm was grinning down at them as if in victory, and light was already consuming the body of Scrivener Blooms, whom she had let down, failed, just like she had failed the entire world in letting this terribly-dangerous evil slip its way from Scrivener and leap into the body of one of the most powerful breeds of monster they had ever faced, now or in the past...
And then the light faded as Celestia stumbled to a halt halfway up the ramp... and she stared in shock, mouthing wordlessly. The core of the monster was simply gone, a few sparse ashes spilling down to the ground, and the Tyrant Wyrm itself was turning rapidly gray, pieces of it already breaking off and dissolving into dust.
Valthrudnir flexed Scrivener's claw slowly, and then he almost curiously looked over his shoulder, asking distastefully: “What is it, Valkyrie? Because if there are no further pressing issues, I believe we should grab the two foolhardy mares and drag them into that chaotic arrangement of hovels you like to call a 'village.'”
Celestia mouthed wordlessly, and then the Tyrant Wyrm shattered apart into a cloud of dust and a rain of porcelain that fell all around them, and the ivory mare half-expected to see Valthrudnir himself, or some other terrible, impossible thing when the mess cleared... but instead, the Jötnar strode out of the cloud in the body of Scrivener Blooms, stating with derision: “Oh please, you don't think that I would deign to place myself into the body of a Void-sucking parasite? They are marvelous puppets, to be sure, but that is all they are. Puppets. I would no more seek refuge inside one of them, sewn together from so many scraps and all bound by the Clay of Prometheus, than I would try and skip out of this plebeian's disgusting but serviceable body to a suitcase.
“Now hurry up, Valkyrie. Fetch your so-called sister and the Lich, the longer we spend out here the more likely it is we shall attract the unwanted attention of Thesis.” Valthrudnir continued acerbically, turning his eyes moodily towards Ponyville and studying it with distaste. “And I do not believe either of us want to test ourselves against him.”
Celestia only mouthed wordlessly for a few moments as Sleipnir finally manged to rip himself up from the ground, and then the ivory mare suddenly snarled and strode forwards, seizing the charcoal stallion by the shoulder and spinning him around as she leaned down and snapped: “If you hurt any of them, Valthrudnir, I will hurt you. Do you understand me?”
“Better than you have yet to realize.” Valthrudnir retorted, then he looked nervously back and forth. “Don't make me repeat myself. Nihete... Scrivener Blooms... is currently indisposed, and that is what has rendered both your precious simulated-daughter and Brynhild in their states of abandon. If you truly desire to help them, then you will do as I say and we will leave this place before Thesis understands that we are presently vulnerable!”
There was silence for a moment, and then Celestia nodded shortly before turning her eyes towards Luna, since Sleipnir was already carefully pulling Twilight out of the mire. The ivory mare hurried over to the sapphire winged unicorn, carefully working to pry her free from where she had been crushed into the mire as Valthrudnir visibly relaxed a little, sighing a bit before he frowned moodily when Celestia asked quietly, without looking around: “So you're afraid of Thesis. He won't obey you, like the Tyrant Wyrms apparently still do.”
Valthrudnir laughed quietly at this, shaking Scrivener's head slowly before he reached up with a claw... and grimaced as he only patted armor, sighing tiredly and settling grumpily back into place as he responded: “You're right, but for the wrong reasons. As I'm sure you've noticed, the Tyrant Wyrms also follow a programmed hierarchy... and while Thesis is high upon that list, who else do you think has the authority to control Tyrant Wyrms?”
Celestia turned a surprised look towards the stallion, then she gritted her teeth and looked back down towards Luna, carefully lifting the freed sapphire mare with telekinesis to settle her over her broad back as she asked quietly: “And you couldn't have informed us of this before this battle, then? Although I suppose that would have ended whatever sick game you were playing before you could have all your fun.”
“Oh no. It's more complex than that... Nihete has the acknowledgment of the Wyrms, but he could not override an order given by Thesis... until now.” Valthrudnir smiled calmly as he held up a claw, flexing it slowly, and Celestia glared as she turned around, hefting Luna's spear with telekinesis and half-tempted to shove it through the stallion's skull on the off chance she could drive it into Valthrudnir and somehow miss doing any harm to Scrivener Blooms. “You can thank me later.”
“I'll thank you by not killing you.” Celestia replied curtly, striding quickly towards where Tyrfing had fallen. Then she looked up with a grimace as there was a loud explosion, before gritting her teeth in disgust at the sight of demons and Nibelung she instinctively recognized as being the enemy starting to spill around either side of Ponyville. “We need to move quickly. It looks like Thesis is going to try and smother the village... I don't think he intends to force the gates open anywhere else, but rather to cut off any chance of escape.”
Valthrudnir only grimaced, then stumbled on his hooves and claws before growling and muttering: “Pathetic, idiotic quadrupeds. How can your races think themselves so intelligent when they still haven't evolved past being forced to constantly jam their snouts into one-another's rumps?”
Celestia only shook her head slowly, then she glanced up as a glint of metal caught her eye, striding quickly across the field towards this even as Sleipnir began to hurry towards the gates, not needing to be told. Valthrudnir groaned as he followed after Celestia, saying disgustedly: “Oh come now, Valkyrie, surely even your ignorant mind can put off having to investigate the shiny object on the ground in recognition of the dire straits we are in-”
“A Valkyrie leaves no weapon behind. Not even a dangerous toy like this.” Celestia said softly as she managed to grip the object that had caught her eyes with telekinesis, and she tore it out of where it had been entrenched in the sea of mire with a slight smile, the gun floating quickly over. It was caked with sludge and grime, but all the same Celestia smiled before glancing over her shoulder and quickly tucking it back into the holster on Luna's back. “Now hurry, Valthrudnir. Clumsy quadruped or not.”
“I believe my choice of words was 'pathetic' and 'idiotic.'” Valthrudnir said icily, and Celestia sighed as she began to run forwards, the stallion staggering along behind her as Valthrudnir's amber eyes glowed with apprehension, looking back and forth before he grimaced and glanced up as there was another loud explosion and a terrible roar, trying his best to hide the shiver that ran through the possessed stallion's frame. Even if the were working together and had stopped Thesis' Wyrms, this battle was far from over yet.