//------------------------------// // Define: Omnipotent // Story: TiM: The Truth in Meanings // by Twidashforever //------------------------------// Chapter 13 Define: Omnipotent Tartarus The battle was more of an endurance test for Twilight. She had the power to defeat multitudes of these enemies. The stamina? That was another story altogether. Fortunately, Rainbow had enough energy for the two of them. Using the trick she learned back in Ponyville, Twilight was able to siphon off the extra energy emanating from Rainbow. Rainbow was enjoying herself unlike ever before. Every beat of her wings sent waves upon waves of these shadow creatures to their deaths. She had never flown as fast or as hard before in her life. With the added benefit of not suffering from fatigue, she was unstoppable. All too soon, the battle came to an end. After thirty minutes of hard fighting, their enemies were defeated. Those on the edge of the battle ran; those in the center died in droves, from either Rainbow's wings or Twilight's magic. Soon Rainbow and Twilight stood over the last of the shadow cult, their self-proclaimed leader, Thanus. “Kill me then. I failed Cronus and accept my fate.” “We don’t want to kill you Thanus. Like I said earlier, we seek an audience with Cronus. Not this violence, this was your doing,” Twilight answered. Thanus just glared at her, “You can’t be serious. After all this, you do not seek my death?” “No, you numbskull,” Dash said. “We’re here to find the master of the reaper, not to kill anyone. You idiots just gave us no choice.” “Cronus does not command a reaper.” “Wait, if your master Cronus doesn’t command the reaper, who does?” Thanus never got a chance to answer. At that moment Twilight’s magic vision went haywire. One of the mountains had made it to their location. Both ponies too distracted by the battle to notice the huge creature approaching. “The power… the power, it’s off the scale.” Rainbow looked up at the newcomer in their midst. It was a living mountain in size, with forearms the thickness of buildings. Made completely from rock, its face had a look that said it was angry at the destruction in front of it. With both Rainbow and Twilight distracted, Thanus made his escape. “You fool! You should have killed me when you had the chance! Now the living God Cronus will seek revenge for what you did to his most faithful servants!” With a speed that should have been impossible for an object his size, Cronus stepped on him, ending the life of his ‘most faithful servant’, Thanus. Twilight stared on in shock; she had not seen the foot come up, but in the blink of an eye, Thanus was gone and the mountain was several hundred feet closer. Rainbow looked unimpressed. “He’s not that fast, leave him to me.” She took off after Cronus, her new speed allowing her to close the distance before Twilight processed what she had said. “RAINBOW, DON’T!” It was too late; Rainbow engaged Cronus before Twilight's words left her mouth. Rainbow flew fast; she was faster than Cronus, but only just. Flying around the creature, she drew on her Wonderbolt training. Every few months a dragon would come to Equestria and the Wonderbolts would be sent as the first (and hopefully last) line of defense. They trained in dealing with creatures this big at least once a week. The key was not to try to defeat it, but make it reconsider the effort. Their plan usually worked, once you annoy a dragon enough it would leave, seeking easier prey. This mountain, this Cronus, was much, much bigger than any dragon in Equestria; but Rainbow was faster than any pony in Equestria. The plan should work all the same. Zooming around Cronus’s head for the seventh time, Rainbow could tell stage one of the plan was working like a champ. Cronus was definitely getting angry. She had the creature’s attention, good; on to stage two: Making it spend its energy. Twilight could only look on in horror as Rainbow flew around the creature. She could only view Rainbow’s moments by the after image left behind during her fight. Such speed was impossible for her to track normally. Much to her anguish, Cronus was getting closer with each and every swing. She could not tell if it was due to Cronus increasing his speed or if Dash was getting slower. The latter should be impossible. Dash had tried several times cutting the monster with her wings, but each time they barely made a scratch on his body. Twilight wanted to help, but at the speed the combat took place at; the risk was too great at hitting Rainbow. It was not long before Cronus grew tired of this little cat and mouse game. This small gnat had dared attack the great and mighty Cronus! Unthinkable! She had to pay for daring to think herself a worthy enemy. He readied his breath, and blew with all his might. Rainbow was surprised. The attack was completely unexpected. Most dragons had to inhale before using their flame breath, giving some sort of warning. This monster did not. The wind easily achieved one thousand two hundred plus wing power. Dash was able to avoid it, but only just. Sadly, Cronus had been expecting that and his fist slammed into her with all his might. Twilight looked on in horror as a blue meteorite slammed into the ground near her. “RAINBOW!!!” Twilight screamed her name and ran as fast as she could to her friend. The crater she made on impact was still smoking from the heat of the energy released. In the center was Rainbow’s limp and damaged body. It did not take magic to know that every bone in her body was crushed. Her nose pushed in, leaving her face flat. Her eyes liquefied in her skull. Only her wings looked unharmed. The Two golden wings begin folding in upon themselves, wrapping their owner up in a cocoon. Twilight looked down at what remained of her friend, too horrified to speak or even cry. She did not know if she would ever move from that spot, Rainbow almost certainly would not. It was not until she heard laughter that Twilight realized she could still move at all. Cronus was laughing. “FOOLISH MORTAL, NO ONE IS A MATCH FOR THE MIGHTY CRONUS!” Twilight stared at the monster that had so damaged her friend. In front of her was a nightmare made manifest, a God of old, so dangerous that its creator imprisoned it in Tartarus. Yet, at that moment, Twilight despised the thing worse than she ever had Queen Chrysalis. “YOU DARE LAUGH ABOUT THIS.” Cronus looked down; Twilight's voice was louder than his. "YOU, YOU HURT MY FRIEND LIKE THIS, AND… AND YOU LAUGH.” Twilight flew up, not fast like Rainbow Dash had, every beat of her wings was purposeful, each feather released magic energy that extended them several hundred times their normal size, until, at last, she was face to face with the Titan Cronus himself. Twilight’s wingspan put his bulk to shame. “YOU DARE.” Cronus was old when time was young, as the greatest of the Titans, he had unofficial rule of this place. Only by teaming up had the other two kept him in check. Such alliances never lasted longer than it took to stop any plans he might have had. As such, only twice in his existence had he known fear, true fear. The first time was when his creators came to lock him and his siblings in this place. The second was now, face to face with this little alicorn, the power she gave off. The size of her wings, all of it was oddly familiar, yet terrifying. Twilight’s anger took her power to new depths. It mattered not that this creature thought he was some sort of God here. Twilight did not care how much power he had, how big his armies were. All that mattered to Alicorn Princess Twilight Sparkle at that minute was that this monster, this Cronus, he had hurt her friend. Fear has long been known to drive smart ponies to do dumb things. There are many types of fear: Fear of the unknown, fear of those more powerful than you, fear of losing your power. Perhaps it was some or even all of these reasons that Cronus did what he did next. He tried to attack Twilight. Twilight magic vision was as sharp as ever; with her full power radiating out, Cronus seemed insignificant in comparison. She easily saw the attack coming; Cronus’s right fist would be coming at her in three seconds. Forming her magic into a blade, she held it up in front of her. After all, what need is there to do the work herself when her enemy would do it for her? Cronus attempted to punch Twilight with all his might, his right fist blazed out in front of him, aimed squarely for the purple alicorn in the center of those wings. The screaming sounded for miles around. Cronus looked at the remainder of his right arm. It had been cut in half, cleanly through his middle finger and down his arm, all the way through to his elbow, the two sides of his arm hung limply by his side. He stared up in shock at the alicorn in front of him. The blade she had made now clearly visible from the blood running down it. “WHEN A FOOL IS ATTACKING YOU, IT’S BEST JUST TO GET OUT OF THE WAY.” Cronus wanted to scream his denial at that, he was no fool! He was Cronus, first of the Titans! A God! Yet this creature, this pony, she had made him into a fool. There was no known substance that could so effectively cut into the skin of a Titan. Even when they fought each other to the death, the battle would rage on for weeks as they beat each other into submission. For such a creature to so easily disarm a Titan was unheard of; for the first time in his life, Cronus was lost for words. “YOU WILL NEVER HURT ANOTHER SOUL FOR AS LONG AS YOU LIVE.” With that final proclamation, Twilight cut Cronus left arm off at the shoulder. The Titan's scream echoed throughout the land, a voice so ancient, but filled with pain unlike anything it had experienced before. Both other Titans turned and smiled, it seemed someone was finally dealing with their upstart brother, no need to get involved then. Shadow cults ran for their life, as fast as they could to get away from the sound. Whatever could make a God scream; they wanted no part in it. Several thousand miles away, a pony turned and looked in their direction. His coat was the color of blood, with a mane black as night. He frowned and disappeared with a puff of red smoke, someone was going to pay for disturbing his realm like this. Cronus looked down at his missing limb, his left arm was lying at his side, and his right was cut in twain. The creature in front of him, this pony, there was no denying it: she was more powerful than him. As such, Cronus did the one thing he had never done in all his life. Cronus, first of the Titans, God of Tartarus… ran. Twilight was momentarily taken back, as she had expected a lot. However, this was a completely unexpected turn of events. The Titan Cronus was running from her. She was about to give chase. However, a voice she heard below stopped her. “Twi.” It was soft and weak, newborn kittens were louder than that sound. Nevertheless, only one pony ever called her Twi. Instantly her wingspan collapsed upon itself. Her anger forgotten, Twilight dive-bombed into the ground. Stopping inches from impact, she ran to Rainbow’s side, ecstatic that her friend was still there, yet horrified at what that might mean. What she saw astounded her, the wings around Rainbow were healing her body, already Rainbow's face had been returned to its normal condition. As they did their work, more of Rainbow was being released from the cocoon. “Dash!” Twilight jumped down the crater and wrapped her friend in her hooves. Twilight knew that Rainbow would not feel the hug, but it made Twilight feel better to do it. “Did you win, egghead?” “Yes featherbrain, I won.” “I knew you could, sorry about worrying you, that bastard was tricky. Tell me, is he still alive?” “Armless, but yes he is still alive. I was about to rectify that situation, but then I heard your voice.” Twilight started crying again, the realization that she might have never heard Rainbow speak again hit her hard. “I’m glad you let him go.” “But Dash!” “No buts, Twi. Every time we do something here, there are repercussions. He seems important, who knows what would have happened if he died.” Twilight was back to hating logic, again. “Don't forget our mission Twi. You heard Thanus, Cronus commanded no reaper pony. He was not the God we are looking for.” “When did you get so smart, Rainbow?” “Too much time around you, I guess.” Twilight laughed at that. She stayed with Rainbow while she healed, Twilight was impressed at the speed Rainbow’s wings were healing her; she estimated that Rainbow would be able to walk in about thirty minutes, and back to full in an hour after that. Unfortunately, they did not have thirty minutes; they did not have one. Spaced evenly around the crater, six Death-Guards teleported into existence, each bearing a striking resemblance to the Grim Reaper that Twilight encountered back in Canterlot. Armed with magic spears, they pointed them at the two ponies in the center. “Interlopers, prepare for extermination.” Twilight was already sick of this place, she did not want to fight anymore, and she did not want to risk trying to move Dash. Twilight was too exhausted by her earlier fights to deal with these six and with Dash in her hooves, she would not risk drawing strength from the downed pegasus. These ponies would have to wait. She threw up a miniature shield spell around the crater. The Death-Guards started attacking the shield, each blow would have been sufficient to give a Titan pause, and yet, they did not even scratch the shield. ‘Keep trying numbskulls, we're not going anywhere.’ After a few minutes, the lead guard stopped the attack with a wave of his hoof; he turned and looked at Twilight. “Why are you here?” Twilight just stared at him, “Really, the first thing you do upon arriving is tell me you want to kill us, then now that you finally figure out that ‘that’ isn’t going to happen, NOW you decide to talk?” “Yes.” Twilight gaffed at this, “Maybe I don't feel like talking now.” The guard just looked at her impassively, “You obviously do not belong here, yet you have power, real power. Whatever your goals are, I doubt spending forever beating up on Titans is amongst them. So I will ask again before leaving you and your marefriend to your fate, why are you here?” Rainbow responded to that, “She's not my marefriend.” “If you say so; just answer the question.” It took Twilight a minute to form words; the blood she would normally use for such things as speaking and comprehending having ran to her face. As soon as she could, she managed to recant their story. “We come seeking the master to this place. An ‘accident’ occurred in Equestria and the Grim Reaper was killed, I've come here with Rainbow to find the master and seek a way to restore balance to the natural order.” “Oh, is that all? Why didn’t you just say so?” “Because the first thing you did was try and kill us,” Rainbow replied. “Details child, details. Wait here, I will go inform the master and see if he will meet with you.” Like that, he was gone. The other five guards kept watch over the crater, not that Twilight felt any safer with them there. She refused to drop the shield, unwilling to trust them even a little. After a few minutes Twilight resigned herself to simply holding Dash. Wherever the lead guard went, he was in no hurry to get back or more likely, whoever this ‘master’ was, he was in no hurry to get here. One thing he said really stuck with Twilight. He had called Rainbow her marefriend. Twilight had never thought of Rainbow that way, but what really was a marefriend? If she had to define it: Marefriend n.) A mare who you are romantically involved with, a mare whom you have strong feeling towards. Rainbow was her friend, so that got a check. She had strong feelings towards her, maybe more than she had towards any of her other friends, so that got a check. Romantic involvement? That box, she could not check. Romantic involvement was a two way street, and Rainbow already said that they were just friends. For the first time in her life, that seemed to hurt Twilight. She started squeezing Rainbow a little tighter. Twenty minutes had passed; Rainbow wanted to get up but the death grip Twilight held her in refused to let go. “Ah, Twilight, you mind letting me up now?” “Sorry Rainbow.” “No problem.” At that exact moment, the guards around the crater started chanting all at once. “The master is coming, the master is coming, the master is coming….” The first guard teleported back to his spot, he looked at the two ponies in the center of the crater, “The master will see you now.” The six guards spoke in union, “Presenting the Primordial Deity: TARTARUS!” Several yards away a red earth pony teleported in, leaving a flash of red smoke; his mane was as black as night, and his eyes shone with hellfire. Slowly he made his way to the crater, his very presence collapsed Twilight's shield. “So Gaia, what was so important that you rescue this one from her Elysium while breaking every pact we have?”