The demon lord wasted no more time with talk. Dust billowed and stone fragments arced into the air, the demon somersaulting frontwards at the Justicar. It pulled out of its aerial roll with its arms spread and claws splayed. It was a dark shape against the sun directly overhead. Desrium leaped backwards, a beat of his golden wings putting more distance between him and the demon when it crashed into the ground again. There was no pause in its attack; it thundered onwards on all fours, ramming into the armored being and sending him skidding backwards. The ponies behind him, Twilight, Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy, scattered as the brawl neared them. Desrium saw the terror in their eyes from his peripherals.
He dug his boots into the ground, dredging up ruts in the rock, sparks leaping from his feet. The demon’s charge slowed as Desrium sank farther into the gorge. The devil scoffed and stood up on its legs. It raised its arms overhead, cupping a hand in the other. “For something with glowing eyes, you aren’t too bright in the head, are ya!?” the demon joked. Not even a few seconds later, the blow came down viciously on Desrium’s head. The ground split, dust was thrown up from the cracks. The Justicar had disappeared into the ground, only the glow of his eyes and wings visible from beneath the rock. The others looked on in horror.
“Heh.” the demon smirked.
The ground broke apart further when Desrium erupted from below, chunks of rock thrown into the air. A sabaton was sent into the demon’s chin, knocking its head upwards. He swung the Lance around, aiming for the demon lord’s throat, but the beast grabbed onto the spear behind the twin blades before they could strike true. It swung its arm around, tossing the Justicar aside. His body spun around at a diagonal as he went, thudding down on the ground in a crouched stance a short moment later, one gauntlet pressed against the stone. The fingertips dug into the rock as Desrium slid backwards, his cape fluttering at his side, his eyes locked onto the lord. As soon as he stopped moving, he broke off into a sprint towards his enemy. The ground shattered wherever his boots landed as he closed in on the demon lord.
The ground turned to powder in his face when the demon launched itself at the side of the gorge. Desrium swerved himself about, drifting across the bottom as he saw the devil land. It then started to run down the sheer wall, once again targeting a pony. It was Twilight this time and she held fast. Her horn glowed pink as she sent blasts of magical energy into the demon. They struck the demon lord’s red hide and burst. All they did was cause lines of smoke to trail the fiend as it came at her unperturbed.
With a look of shock, she threw herself back and beat her wings, haphazardly flying away from the demon. A light blue blur came by and pulled her out of the way when the demon lunged at her, its claws scoring across nothing.
“That was a close one, Twilight!”
“Thanks, Rainbow Dash. Desrium was right about not knowing what we’re facing here… my magic didn’t even make it flinch!” the alicorn said. When Rainbow Dash set her down away from the demon, she looked at it worriedly. She couldn’t even hurt it with magic, and as far as she knew, Desrium had no magic. How was he ever going to win this fight? Was the demon correct in saying the Justicar had no chance?
The demon fell to the ground with a tremendous thud. A tremor rippled outwards from it and the cracks in the ground spread out in a web-like fashion. It spun on its heels to look at the two ponies with murderous intent. It was going to charge after them again when a sharp pain shot up along its side. The demon arched its back and roared to the sky, hands clenched. It looked over at what caused such agony and saw the handle of the spear sticking out of its midsection under its arm.
“You f—!” was all the demon could utter before Desrium plowed into it at unbelievable speeds for something wearing heavy full body armor. The others gasped when the sound reached their ears. It sounded like a thunderclap when the armored warrior made contact with the demon. Desrium ripped the blades of the spear out of the demon with one hand while delivering an unforgiving blow to its jaw with the other. The demon skidded across the stone several tens of feet, holding onto the side of its lower jaw. It was hanging off to one side at an odd angle.
Twilight smiled. ”No,” she thought, ”It is far from unbeatable!”
The devilish fiend looked up at the armored being a fair distance away. The Justicar stood, spear held in both hands, looking at it with that unchanging glare, eyes glimmering. The demon growled with rising ire. It jerked its jaw back into place with the snap of bone. It scowled as it assumed a low stance, muscles rippling. In the next instant, it was barreling towards the winged warrior. It was no longer concerned with the ponies now; it wanted the Justicar’s head. Preferably, removed from the rest of his metal body.
Desrium was above it before it even realized the Justicar had beaten his wings. He came down on the monster’s shoulders and it reared up immediately, momentum alone keeping it moving forwards. Desrium slashed the demon across the back of its neck and it let out a blood curdling scream. It threw one of its hands backwards, backhanding the Justicar off of it before twisting around to face him. Desrium was on his feet for a fraction of a second before the demon lord was upon him, knocking him onto his back and wrenching the spear from his grasp.
“What irony!” the demon boomed as it held the blades over Desrium’s face. It thrust them down and the armored being caught the spear behind them. The demon let out a guttural noise as its strength fought against Desrium’s, both refusing to surrender to each other.
“Such filth as you has no right to lay hands on the Lance of the Justicar, the Dawnmother’s gift!” Desrium roared with many voices along with his own. Gone was his impassive monotone, what came out of the armored being’s mouth was a roar that rivaled a titan’s.
Another booming noise echoed throughout Ghastly Gorge. The armored being kicked his boots into the demon lord’s abdomen with such force; the larger adversary was sent flying backwards in an arch, its hold on the Lance broken. Desrium flipped forwards onto his feet, eyes shining so brightly that tendrils of red extended several feet from his eyes, writhing with his immense wrath. The ponies were stunned by this turn of events. The one that swore to protect them looked as savage as the monster he fought!
“You have made a grave mistake, demon!” Desrium boomed as he stowed the Lance away in his robe. He was marching over the demon lord, the devil barely supporting its self on all fours when Desrium sent the tip of his sabaton into its chest. The hulking creature was knocked over by the attack, wheezing, flaming blood gathering at the side of its mouth.
“Look into my eyes and know that the depth of the Dawnmother’s fury is inverse to her capacity for compassion, and spread word to your rotten ilk of the Justicar who did this to you!”
“What happened to acting in the name of justice?” the demon snarled defiantly.
“This is justice!”
Desrium hooked the demon’s top jaw with a hand and hoisted it up level to him before delivering a callous backhand, sending it back to the cold hard stone floor. The demon lord groaned, but in spite of its pain it would not stop fighting. Not now. It roared as it stood and spun around. There was a reverberating thud when its huge fist smashed into Desrium’s face, knocking the armored being off his feet and sending him crashing into the wall of the gorge. The others cringed.
“You are no different than I, Omen!” the demon yelled to Desrium, who was embedded into the rock opposite it. “You can pretend to love your god all you wish; nothing can take away those centuries of torment you instilled in the world of the mortals!”
“What do you know of me, filth?” Desrium spat in response as he tore his limbs from the rock, thin sheets and pebbles crumbling all around him. The demon laughed a hateful laugh.
“Did you never think of those who were watching you ever since that fool dabbled in our sorcery? When you were born a bastard’s birth, a spawn rejected by the natural order of things, us demons – the ones you owe your life to – paid close attention. We saw you squander those precious first years away trying to be at peace with the commoners.” The demon lord assumed a runner’s stance once again.
“But then you made us proud that fateful night… giving into your base instinct, corrupting a mana well and sinking an island nation; cementing yourself in history as the Blood Omen when you reached the land of Aster and started your reign of terror!”
The demon kicked off, dust and debris trailing it as it hurtled at the Justicar. With a powerful swing of an arm, the demon sent Desrium back into the wall of the gorge, driving him deep into the earth. “How the mighty have fallen, being a slave to your pathetic god! The Dawnmother is nothing!”
“Brave words, demon.” There was a flash of crimson from the humanoid indentation in the stone. Desrium broke out of it, a blur, with one hand clutching one of the devil’s horns as soon as he got beside the enemy. He kicked the demon in the back of its knees, making it fall backwards. He then dragged it by the horn before twisting his arm. He snapped the horn off at the base and the demon lord howled before Desrium turned around and stabbed its pointed end into the side of the demon’s head. He nailed it in with a savage kick, completely shattering the demon’s jaw in the process.
“I do not deny the atrocities that mar my past, but by the Dawnmother’s grace I have been given a chance of redemption. It is more than you and your foul kind will ever know.”
The demon groaned something in response. Desrium bent over and grabbed onto his fiendish foe. He lifted the demon over his head as he stood, the ground beneath him buckling and breaking. With a roar, Desrium swung the demon around. Once, twice, three times before driving it into the stone face-first and then dragging it across the gorge. A trail of the lord’s flaming blood formed behind him, the yellow-orange light visible amidst the grime and grit that followed him.
Desrium stopped running and shifted his weight to one foot, the ground heaving in response. More breakage, more puffs of dust and stone fragments shooting upwards. The armored being swung the demon lord overhead by its legs and dropped it onto its back in front of him. Its body was broken, several cuts and gashes leaking flaming fluids. Desrium stamped on its mid torso, pinning it down, and then took its arms in his hands. With a ravenous growl, the armored being tore the demon’s limbs off, the flesh fraying and blood spilling from the gaping holes in its body. He threw the arms aside and looked upon the demon. For the first time, it read the warrior’s emotion. It knew his hate.
“You’ve won… this time…” the demon rasped through its demolished snout. “But I will be back. We always come back. You cannot protect them forever and this realm will belong to the demons.”
“I won’t have to protect them forever, and your kind will never have the chance to harm them ever again,” Desrium countered. His eyes were gradually reverting to their normal state, his voice already a monotone once more.
The demon lord widened its eyes at the certainty the Justicar spoke with. Its last thoughts in the realm of the living were of how the Dawnmother’s warrior intended to make sure of that. Thoughts interrupted when Desrium drew his weapon and sent the twin blades of the Lance into the demon’s skull, right in between the bony crests over its eyes. The demon seized up then, dead.
He pulled the spear out of its body and stepped off of its flesh. The body was already beginning to dissolve into a flaming sludge, the light of the fire reflecting off the dark gray surface of the Justicar’s armor. He stood there, immobile, for quite some time. His red eyes stared at the blackened spot that was once the demon lord, all that was left of the fiend after its body burned away into nothingness. The group of ponies and the zebra cautiously approached him, their faces uncertain and wary.
“I am sorry that you had to see that,” Desrium said to them without making any eye contact. He was not surprised when they did not say anything to him in response. He probably wouldn’t have said anything to himself after witnessing such unbridled brutality either.
The silence between them remained for a while longer, outlasting the magical shield that the elements created. It was then that they heard Spike calling out to them, though they were not quite able to understand him.
“The deed is done,” the armored being stated, “the demon has been banished from your home, and all that is left now is for me to leave you as well.”
“Are you… alright, Desrium?” Twilight asked him. She looked more concerned than wary now that she was sure that she was speaking to the Desrium she knew from the library and not the monstrous thing that showed itself before.
“I do not feel pain, princess Twilight,” Desrium answered. “I don’t feel anything.”
“I reckon that she didn’t mean alright in that way, Desrium,” Applejack said.
Rarity nodded and added, “Are you alright on the… inside?”
Desrium turned his gaze away from the scorched stone to look at them finally and said, “You should not bother yourself with how I feel.” Changing the subject, he added, “Thank you again, all. You have proven invaluable in my mission; I would not have found the demon in any timely manner had it not been for your assistance.”
“I don’t think he’s alright,” said Rainbow Dash skeptically.
“There is one last thing I must ask of you all,” Desrium replied. “You have done so much already, but there is a chance that your magic might be sufficient enough to send me back to Tyrbenetus.”
“How do you figure?” Twilight inquired. “I don’t have any spells that could do anything like that…” She looked over to Zecora and asked her, “Do you know anything like that?”
“I am in a difficult spot to admit that I do not,” the zebra replied sadly.
“I may be able to facilitate the means on my own,” said the armored being, “but I will need the energy that your magic will provide.”
“But why are you so eager to leave, darling?” Rarity asked. “You just got here last night! Surely you would want to stay to meet the other princesses and be recognized for your actions today?”
“You haven’t even gone to one of my parties yet!” Pinkie Pie exclaimed, leaping up to look the Justicar in the eyes and floating there for a short time while she put on the poutiest face she could manage.
“I need to return to my comrades of the Order,” Desrium said to her as she fell back to the ground and to everyone else he explained: “I have found my place in Tyrbenetus fighting demons. It is what I am best suited for. If I stayed here any longer, I would only be a hindrance and a distraction.”
“W- We know that… you aren’t always like that… you know…” Fluttershy said meekly, “All loud and… angry…”
Desrium bowed his head. “Perhaps if things were different I would be more inclined to spend more time with you wonderful creatures. But the fight for Tyrbenetus is never ending. The demons, no matter how many are slain, are always on the attack. Some take millennia to return from the nether, others centuries. The majority of them, however, return within only a few days, perhaps hours even.”
The Equestrians looked upon their visitor somberly when he told them this. They understood the burden the Justicar’s duty entailed. “It doesn’t sound very nice where you come from,” Fluttershy said.
“Or much fun,” Pinkie Pie agreed.
Desrium shook his head. “Not for the soldiers of the Order, no, I cannot say that their lives know many nice or fun things. But if it were not for them, there would be nothing of the sort for the others who call Tyrbenetus home: the few who resist the demons and hope for a time when the land will be free again.”
Twilight scuffed her hoof at the ground and wondered aloud, “Maybe Equestria could help you? If we were able to cross over to your world as you were able to reach ours—“
“I would not dare ask you to join in such a horrid affair,” Desrium said abruptly. “Just as I don’t intend to stay in your world, I intend to spare you of the ravages of the war demons have brought to Tyrbenetus.”
“And how’re ya’ll gonna do that?” Applejack asked.
“I am going to attempt to destroy whatever connection our two worlds share.”
The others gasped at this.
“You mean, you won’t be able to come back ever, ever, forever and ever!?” Pinkie Pie blurted out hysterically.
“It is the only way to make sure that you never face the demonic scourge.” Desrium turned his sights to princess Twilight and said, “When you are ready, I will lead you to the place where I arrived in Equestria. I believe we would have the greatest chance to open a portal there.”
Twilight nodded. “I say we should get to it as soon as possible, then. Girls?” She panned her gaze over the others and they all nodded as well. All of them except Pinkie, who hesitated before joining the others.
“Alright then. We go now.” Desrium started walking over to where Zecora’s sack of items remained. The zebra trotted after him, falling into step at his side.
“I have yet to thank you for saving my life,” she started to say. “It must not be easy, battling such strife.”
“It isn’t,” Desrium replied. “Tyrbenetus would have been long lost if its soldiers abandoned the cause because it was not easy.”
Zecora hummed thoughtfully at the response and said nothing more. She strapped into her wagon while Desrium took the sack in hand and slung it over his shoulder. Afterwards, she grouped up with Twilight and the other ponies and the alicorn levitated them all out of Ghastly Gorge. Desrium followed, the wings fully extended as he ran up the side of the chasm, the tips of his boots bashing in the rock and making their own footholds. He shot up and over the edge of the gorge, landing heavily next to Spike in a crouch.
“Oh, geez!” the baby dragon muttered as he stumbled away, surprised. He grabbed onto the gold and silver rod to regain his balance and realized thereafter that the Justicar had held it out for him. He smiled and said “Heh, thanks for that.”
“You are welcome.”
“I guess I won’t be needing this letter to Celestia anymore, huh Twilight?” Spike asked the purple alicorn. She shook her head.
“I don’t think princess Celestia will know about Desrium until we write about him to her, Spike.”
Spike looked puzzled when he asked, “Why’s that?”
“Because he’ll be leaving forever and ever and ever and ever!” Pinkie cried from behind Twilight. Applejack’s hoof shot out and pulled the hysterical pink pony close.
“Now, now, we don’t know that it’ll work…” the orange pony said, trying to be reassuring.
“But Desrium said that if he can’t go home, he’ll just leave Ponyville and go off on his own! He’ll probably go live alone in the Everfree forest… or go where the dragons go or—“
“Spike!” Twilight accosted the young dragon as Pinkie Pie burst into tears.
“What!? She didn’t know?” Spike replied, folding his hands as he looked at Pinkie Pie uncomfortably.
“Please do not cry anymore, friend,” Desrium said to the pink pony. “What becomes of me should not sour your mood. You have the friends who will be with you much longer than I ever could. Be happy for their sake.”
“But how can I be happy for all of my friends except one!?” Pinkie retorted.
Desrium let his gaze fall to the ground. “I do not know. I don’t have the answer to that.”
The rest of Pinkie Pie’s friends began patting her on the back as she sobbed, not having the answer either.
Eventually, it was Zecora who suggested that the group move on into the Everfree forest. “Hold your sorrow for what awaits tomorrow,” she said as she took the lead. “Being sad means you have time to borrow.”
So the group followed the river back into the Everfree forest, walking down the path much slower than they did earlier in the day. The sky was turning the colors of the late afternoon when they swung past Zecora’s hut and she dropped off her items to be sorted later on. The walk from there to where Desrium first fell from the sky was even slower. It was dusk when the nine came to the site where boulders were sticking out of the dirt, felled branches littered the forest floor and a fallen tree rested off to the side of it all.
“Looks like you had one heck of a party here!” Rainbow Dash said, flying over the clutter and disarray. Pinkie Pie started to sniffle and choke as she fought back another onslaught of tears.
“Don’t say ‘party’, Rainbow dear,” Rarity said, patting Pinkie Pie on the back again.
“Whoops.”
Desrium walked into the center of the mess, where the boulders formed a rough circle. He could feel the energies weakly flowing around him, what he assumed to be traces of Tyrbenetus from beyond some vast, insurmountable gulf. Or rather, almost insurmountable gulf. While the others looked around and conversed with each other, he drove the blades of the Lance into the ground and held onto its rod with both hands. He rested his helm against it and entered a meditative state.
“Inarius, do you feel that?” Desrium asked. He in his mind’s eye was floating in nothing, except instead of an all red expanse; there were clouds of other colors drifting idly around him. Inarius appeared in front of him like a ghost, transparent at first before solidifying into the brilliant golden being that the Justicar was accustomed to.
“I do,” Inarius replied.
“What is it?” Desrium questioned.
“It feels like the magic that brought us here, except much weaker. It is fading, brother.”
“I feel that if we let it disappear, there will truly be no returning to the Order.”
“This could very well be true,” said Inarius.
Desrium nodded. “Then I know what I must do.”
“I wish for the best.”
“Thank you, Inarius.”
Desrium pulled the spear from the dirt when he came out of his trance. The others were looking at him intently. “I told you there was no reason to fear. The Justicar just has a strong connection to his spear,” Zecora said, looking to the ponies.
“We do not have much time,” Desrium said to the group.
“When do we ever have much time!?” Rainbow Dash replied. “I mean, time is one thing we never have enough of!”
“It is a sad fact. Despite living many centuries, time is one adversary I cannot seem to overcome,” Desrium said to her. “Princess?” he asked, looking at Twilight.
“Alright girls, form up and let’s prepare the elements one last time!”
The ponies spread out, surrounding the Justicar in the same fashion as the boulders. Their jewelry started to shine brightly in the evening hours of the day, their light passing through the leaves of the surrounding vegetation. A soft, green glow fell over the site.
“Pinkie Pie,” Desrium said as he looked over to the normally bubbly pink pony. He did not like seeing her so downtrodden, so he reached under his hood and retrieved his hat. He tossed it over to her and it landed squarely on her head, its pointed end falling over one of her eyes. “Be happy.”
Pinkie Pie was taken by surprise at first, but then smiled a small smile in spite of her teary eyes. She nodded and Desrium focused his attention on the magic circulating around him, his wings wafting in an ethereal breeze. Twilight’s crown flashed with a surge of magic, the rainbow reappearing and making its way to all of her friends. It was at this point that Desrium thought about his time in the lobby of the library, where he felt that spark between the ponies. He held onto that joy and happiness as he felt the power around him swell. Twilight’s eyes were glowing now, a solid white. Desrium’s were changing from crimson to violet. It was not long before they flashed blue, streaks of light extending far from his gaze. The field of magic manifested around him, streaks of electricity rippling across it. The lightning was restrained this time, however, spiraling around the armored being instead of striking anything around him.
Desrium ascended from the forest floor with the ponies, channeling his energy into the Lance. Golden light overtook all other sources; a second sun on the threshold of dusk, when the first’s last light still hung on the horizon.
”Goodbye, all,” he thought as he felt the bindings of reality beginning to slip from their holds. The light around him began to ripple and warble, distorting as the power in the Lance increased. There was a blinding light when the vortex opened around the Justicar. It subsided, revealing the same colorful rift that dragged the Justicar and his demonic opponent into Equestria. It hung just below the canopy, making the trees rustle and sway as it pulled them towards it.
Desrium entered the rift, his golden light being consumed by the portal. The ponies watched in awe as he disappeared into the light from beyond, blending into the overwhelming cyclone of color. All of them except Pinkie Pie, who tossed something up into the portal and waved goodbye to her metal friend.
As Desrium flew through infinity back towards his home realm, he twisted himself around to look back at the entrance. Everything beyond it was fading to white: the point of convergence. He waited for that moment where he couldn’t see Equestria at the other end of the tunnel before releasing the power in the Lance in a discharge of pure magical energy. It spread out in all directions and the tunnel of color destabilized, the rings of energy dispersing around him. In an instant, Desrium found himself fighting to outrun a darkness chasing him as the portal fell apart. It was as if the outer fringes of the tunnel were being burned by an invisible flame that only blackened the walls in between realities.
His eyes flashed as he soared towards the other end of the tunnel, using his store of magic to fly faster through the ethereal landscape. The darkness did not trail far behind him, but it would not overtake him either. He flew into the point of white light at speed and everything became nothing. And from nothing came everything, the cavern beneath the stronghold with the abyss directly below him as he fell from the ceiling. His eyes were red as he descended, using the wings of light to glide over the seemingly bottomless drop. He was circling the edge of the pit when he saw an object drop from the portal seconds before it dissipated.
He tilted his wings and intercepted its fall, catching it in one hand before angling his way towards what remained of the stone floor again. He inspected the object in his hand. It was a somewhat small box given flashy wrappings and a bow. A most peculiar thing to have fall out of a portal, no doubt. When Desrium landed he stuck the Lance into the ground and undid the bow. He tore the wrapping paper and opened the box, finding a pleasant surprise inside. It was a gold chain not unlike the one Septimus gave him, but instead of a vitorite talisman, there was a pendant. A golden spear in the form of a jewel cut, in the style as the jewelry that the ponies wore. Desrium took the chain in his hand, resting the pendant on his palm. He looked at the cavern ceiling, where the portal just was and said, “Thank you, Pinkie Pie.”
He gingerly set the box down on the ground and took his hood off. He put the chain around his neck, tucked it into his robe so that it would stay safe and put the hood back on. He took the Lance of the Justicar back in his grip and started to walk towards the black metal stairs in the distance ahead. He assumed they would take him back up to the stronghold above.
After climbing the steps and walking through deserted passages, Desrium came to the main hall where the dragon’s corpse remained. He crossed it and jumped over the body, landing outside of the black fortress. There, he saw robed figures prowling. They were not demons, however. Their robes, deep purple in color, rippled like they were the fabric of shadow. All that Desrium could see of them beyond that were their eyes, which glowed a variety of colors depending on the individual, like the stars at night.
The closest one to Desrium met his gaze and held it for several moments. The two warriors said nothing to each other over the span of that time. Though they served the same deity, the paths they walked put them at odds with one another.
“May the Dawnmother light your path,” Desrium said in spite of this. The other warrior nodded tentatively.
“With both the sun and the moon,” the shadowy warrior replied.
The forbidding stronghold behind the Justicar disappeared into a blast of energy then, casting him too into darkness. He turned around to see the last of the explosion vanish into the night over Tyrbenetus. The fortress stood no longer, leveled by the reclaimed defense towers. All that was left of it, the last sign of its existence, was a glowing crater filled with slag flowing towards the pit in the cavern.
“Moria is good,” Desrium stated.
“All the time,” the shadowy warrior agreed.
Tin Man End