//------------------------------// // Opening Act - Law // Story: Where Harmony Ends // by Kenny //------------------------------// Oh, you silly filly! What could go wrong? The Pink Pony I can't stay much longer... The Mists of Time call for me to rest and recover, but such a period will be too long. The mare convulsed upon the ethersteel spear, being impaled and mortally wounded, but still going strong. The ponies looked on in horror, as blood poured from the entry and exit wounds; twin waterfalls of crimson blood, flowing unceasing. Law looked in with horror as the creature he had caught with his weapon screamed a bloody, torturous murder at him, sliding further along the shaft, trailing blood and bits of muscle as the wickedly barbed shaft tore at her. "What are you, demon!?" The Griffin God, called Beast by his foes and allies, took great delight in the torture and suffering of his foes. It was part of his curse. To see another such of himself, however, shocked him to the point where his thoughts ran clear- only for a moment. Then the mare tore herself off the spear. He looked into the multicolored eyes; one a deep, emerald green, cold and blazing with white fire. The other a colorless, bleached thing, tracking him where it should have been blind, flaring with eldritch power. This was not Discord's work. This was of a scale beyond him, to make a mortal unkillable, even by the weapons of a god. Before his eyes, wounds cursed to bleed and remain unhealed sealed themselves back together. "Ah will rip your throat out!" It growled at Law. And it performed a leap towards him, murder in its eyes. Where Harmony Ends The party of seven gathered on the hilltop. Twilight had worn Spike out with his stressing over her mental well-being and thawing Rainbow Dash from the ice-cube the day before, so she left him behind. It was better that he didn't place himself in danger. Twilight, of course, arrived precisely on time. Her arrival was synonymous with a step out the door; such teleportation came easy to her now. She was quiet. Collected. Confident. Surprisingly, Rarity and Applejack had arrived before her. Perfectly acceptable. Rarity was snoring lightly, a blindfold on and sprawled out along her 'fainting' couch. Her mane was disheveled, messy, but Twilight had seen the mare work before and knew Rarity would be able to fix it easily. Though, not without complaint. A picnic basket lay next to it, as well as a pile of assorted clothing. It was unremarkable, which was completely unlike the fashionista. The farmer, on the other hoof, looked like she had gotten no sleep. She stood, swaying, very much in the early stages of her sleep-drunk state from Applebuck Season oh-so-long-ago. Her fears and worries weighed on her, mentally fatiguing her even further. She seemed to have grown subtly paler, and much to the lavender alicorn's shock, my spell had progressed further- both Applejack's internal magical circuits were enveloped by the foreign spell, and her mind snared completely into the spell's effect. Her mane and tail were an unrecognizable, unbound mass of see-through hairs. Twilight watched worriedly; she could take no action for fear of her friend's well-being, and how she might need to adjust the plan to account for her friends' faults. She blamed herself for her friend's condition. Rainbow Dash arrived, not noticing the unicorn and earth pony's exhaustion. "Oh yeah, I'm pumped for this next adventure; just another chance to prove my awesomeness," the pegasus over-loudly proclaimed. The sudden burst of sound startled Rarity off her couch, eyes wide and looking for danger. Applejack's reaction was worse; in a move unfamiliar to all of them except Dash, she proceeded to jerk awake, and attempt to uppercut the low-hovering mare. Dash, being just THAT awesome (and not at all on edge), dodged successfully, calling out, "Sheesh AJ! Watch it, will ya?" Applejack just gave a nervous twitch and mumbled an apology. Fluttershy gasped, arriving just as the mare turned her head and made eye contact with the animal caretaker. She called out, in signature Fluttershy style, "Um... Applejack, um... If you don't mind me asking, but... Can you see alright? One of your.. uh.. eyes.. You suddenly have heterochromia..." Twilight stiffened, quickly blinking in front of the farmer to examine her closely. Rarity, now fully awake, just shared a confused look to Rainbow. Applejack let out a slew of curses I will not dare to repeat. After all, they all apply to me; I most definitely don't want you to repeat them. Where Harmony Ends The steel splintered, and broke apart. Celestia, Solar Goddess and Princess of Equestria, was freed. She looked at her faithful, closest subjects of the current time, and her sister. Celestia, Discordic Triumphant and She Who Brings Day, collapsed. Then they heard the rattling laughter. And Law ripped off the Sun's wings. "Don't hide from me, Discord," the Griffin God rasped, "I've managed to bring about the end of the world- even if I can't get you, nothing short of Chrona and Harmony and Void can save you!" The Griffin was different. He had abandoned all appearance of regalia, instead burned and charred by Solar Bindings; the black and crisped flesh still yet pulsed with venomous life, feathers all brownish-black; the crown plumage broken and scarred, eyes flashing with true madness and an indescribable pain. To look upon the god was now to see a creature half-cooked alive. And to still call it alive was a cruelty in its condition. Celestia's beautiful snow-white wings dripped blood onto their owner, as Law summoned forth his crude Power Circuit hook. He quickly impaled the wings on the end of the hook, no care and no ritual this time; he did not want Celestia's essence at this moment. Just her power. Unlike Luna, Celestia had the self-control equal to the madness that was Discord at his height of self-castrated insanity. I need not expand on that statement. "I know you're here Discord," Law hissed, "I can feel your essence here, trembling. You've finally found somepony stupid enough to take your essence, didn't you? I sure hope you told them quite clearly what it meant. Maybe I'll let you live just to see this mortal lose their sanity, and their light by your very nature!" And he dove at Twilight. Where Harmony Ends It's getting harder to remember the events as they change and warp around my involvement... I am afraid, dear friends, that it may be very segmented from this point on. Perhaps after this particular chain of events... Law scrabbled away from the mortal. Unbecoming of a god, I know. After he had worked so hard to defeat Discord and his pitiful motley crew of allies, despite their impressive rally and performance, there was one last guardian to defeat. If it should even be called that. With his own rule turned upon its head, Law could not take flight, and he could not simply declare her to be dead. Violating his own essence took long enough, Harmony alone knows; all the loopholes and backdoors needing to be crossed kept him occupied for the better part of half a century. The raging mare charged towards him recklessly, and Law doubted that it even noticed the fact that he had just killed it several times over. Discord looked on with appalled expression, he noticed. Law confirmed his theory that this was not Discord's work- not only was he unable to power such an incredibly powerful enchantment strong enough to warp the very state of a creature not himself, but this new Discord would have lacked the ability to do so. Her inhibitions had not yet been lost to time. Dodging several punches and bucks, Law tried another tactic- he parried a wild buck, jumped forward on one claw, and spun with the leftover momentum, cleanly decapitating the demon-pony. A look of surprise crossed its face. The defeated bystanders all let out a cry of despair. Satisfied that nothing mortal could survive that blow, enchanted or no, Law turned to end this struggle. He alone would stand against the Legions of Void. He needed no other. He was Law. He was- With a solid crack, Law smashed into the pitted earth. To his shock, the pony had somehow regenerated from what should have been an instant death, preventing such an action. There was even less equinity in its blazing eyes now. His shock locked him in place as a hail of blows rained down upon the corrupt god; first, his forelegs, then his hindlegs. All four of them pulverized in that single instant of shock. Desperate, Law attempted to call out his power- defining the world immediate him, only to have his beak smashed inward by an impossibly hard blow. Where Harmony Ends Twilight pulled Celestia to herself from wherever in the Earth she lay. There was not enough time to seek her out in an easier and less costly faction. With a mighty heave of magical muscle, multicolored ropes, string, thread, and cable were birthed from the hilltop. They soared high into the ground, and reality bent for a moment, folding and yielding before Twilight Sparkle, also called Discord and Spirit-Queen. The earth held fast, before with a great sound like a roar, Celestia burst from the ground wrapped up all pretty-like. Sparkle couldn't resist it. "Dear old Celly," she taunted, "you've gone and made yourself more boring by becoming a statue- let's get you out of that metal and liven you up, shall we?" The dress slowly reformed as she summoned the Princess, and as Twilight spoke, it fluxed to gold-gray. The mare herself looked like a statue ribbed with veins of gold. The dress flared shades of crimson as Twilight began to unwrap the enclosure upon Celestia; Luna began to help too, weak as she may be. Twilight was the one with power, but Luna still had her finesse; a touch of magic in the right place made the overall cost drop greatly. Overhead, the early-afternoon sun trembled with the release of its master- and the one scythed within its depths, raging and growing close to freedom. Where Harmony Ends -- Applejack Ah could feel it. Ah don't know if the others could, though it didn't matter. That motherbucker who cursed me was here... Watching us, especially. Voices scream at me; run away! they say, protect your household, kill all the creatures you see, flee for the distant hills, carve flesh and bone, don't ignore us! Surrender to us! Ah ignore them. They're nothin' more than a pain I intend to make go away when I beat sense into the Timelord fella'. They can't see it. The skipping... One moment, a griffin is before us, and Ah'm attacking in a blind rage, others we're just gettin' together... He's close. When he reveals himself, Ah'll make him fix me. And again... The time skips again.... Where Harmony Ends -- Chrona The thread unravels from both my mind and view; I will step in, now. No more time for tact. Twilight's eyes widened at the sudden attack, only for them to widen further as a rainbow-colored barrier sprung into existence. It was not hers; it was a construct of Harmony. Something had activated the Elements from the Tree of Harmony, somehow... All her friends were blown away from the perimeter, leaving them at the hilltop's edge and immobile- Luna alone managed to stay near Twilight. The Spirit-Queen looked at her friends, realizing they too had been affected by the sudden activation. Rainbow staggered, her form glowing and leaving afterimages following every action. The athlete would have likely loved the effect outside of their situation, but there was no time to. Pinkie Pie squealed with her own lucidity- her eyes glittered with secrets revealed and knowledge gained, if only for a time. Fluttershy stood straight in front of her, confident and unyielding. How odd. Rarity seemed content to look down at the forgotten pile of clothes. She murmured something about "Uniforms..." and they all disappeared. The magic enveloping her horn had taken on an ocean-blue color, close to but not quite her natural mana pool. Applejack, though... She remained unchanged. Twilight could feel Honesty being rebuffed by my spell. Law let out a cry of outrage. He drew from a deeper power. Become Undone! Rainbow shivered. Here was the voice of the one that had banished Celestia; resonant and kingly, irreconcilable with the rasp used before. The shield shimmered at his command, but remained. So too did the mares endowed by the elements. "Element of Magic, you will not deny me my prize! I will have Discord, even if I have to kill a million Bearers! Face me, guardians." One Aggressor, One Defender. None Shall Escape. Mercy, Face Me! Fluttershy was yanked forward on unseen force, and Law raised himself up. Celestia's sun flickered slightly, as Law glowed with the mix of Lawmaker Magic and Solar Magic. Fluttershy struck fast, unhesitant, only to be blocked by a readied claw. She dodged to the air as Law struck back. The Elder God didn't appear to really be trying. The others stood in shock seeing Fluttershy act without fear; Luna quietly commented, "Somepony's activated the Elements' War Function, but... Who is old enough on our side left able to do so?" "I didn't think even I could do it if I tried," Twilight replied. Law struck Fluttershy a crippling blow- her left wing had been broken and folded awkwardly against her side, and she was knocked backwards into the dust. "Do you resign, Mercy?" Fluttershy only had one option left to her- the Stare. She made eye contact, and mentally pushed. He seemed to waver for a moment before laughing. "I had not known any remained capable of Lawmaker's Gaze. I shall test you, mortal." Then Law returned his own Stare. Rainbow started laughing on the side, as the two opponents just Stared at each other. "Of course Fluttershy would get the easiest fight, I mean, reall-" A sharp crack cut her off as one of the colors surrounding Twilight shattered like glass. Fluttershy limped away from the fight cowering before the amused eyes of the god. "Weak," he said. Twilight tried to cast something, anything, but it seemed the barrier worked both ways. The outside world was untouchable to her. Joy, Face Me! Pinkie bounced forward from her position on the hill top. "Hi, my name-" She ducked as a claw swiped lazily through the place her head was the instant before. "-is Pinkie Pie! What's yours?" The Griffin God snarled. "The whine! Make it stop!" "I have nooooo idea what you're talking abou-" She jumped away from the accelerating griffin. "Rarity is the that likes to whine and complain! I just like to party, do you? Huh-huh-huh?" Pinkie nimbly danced around the Griffin's swipes and punches, all of them faster than the previous as his annoyance grew. "I know Discord's not the nicest of ponies, but can't you just let it go, Griffy ol' pal? I'm pretty sure Twilight's sorry on his behalf!" She patted Law on the head. He was swinging at empty space. SILENCE! Pinkie opened her mouth to reply, but nothing came out. She looked surprised, then took a fist to the face. Joy's layer broke beneath the subsonic-speed blow, as its power moved to sustain Pinkie's life. The Party Pony went flying, blood streaking out from her crushed snout, and she landed atop Twilight's protective bubble, before sliding off and landing next to Luna, still. Rainbow snorted out a burst of agitated air. "Bring it, lame griffin, I'll buck you into next week!" Though I'm pretty sure I'm the only one who could do that. Law's beak didn't open, but the voice called out, Loyalty Approaches! The griffin whirled around and received a wing-propelled hoof to the chest, knocking him airborne. Rainbow was below him again, kicking him higher, then above him, kicking down with as much downward force she could muster with the short time she had before he collected himself. Law was shot into the ground, creating a new crater. "Fast." The griffin rasped. This pony was faster in the sky than him, maybe even on-par with some of the other flight-based gods. Loyalty served this one well. Suddenly the pony was on him again, striking him in the face, disorienting him, low-sweeping his forelegs and aiming to buck him in the jaw. "You've had experience fighting, and you've experienced griffins, but you've never actually fought a griffin, let alone to kill, have you?" Then the buck landed and Law was in the sky again. The pony soared up so fast he could see a mach-cone form around the foremost hoof, which then struck his ribcage. He was in the sky even higher than before. And again the pony slammed down from above, also staying with him as a mach cone formed- this one ready to break. Thunder echoed through the sky as Dash reach Sonic Rainboom speeds and peeled off, leaving Law alone to smash into the hill. Applejack, Luna and Twilight all cheered. Rarity only watched as a claw reached out from the smoking, deep crater and materialized a spear. The sun flared into Rainbow's eyes, causing her to cry out and hover in place- Rarity called out, "Rainbow! MOVE!" Wherein Law's spear tore clean through Rainbow's wing-joint. Fluttershy and Pinkie had their injuries light by comparison. The blue pegasus' right wing was torn off by the force and heat of the blow, instantly cauterized by the red-hot spearhead. Law crawled out of his hole, unharmed. The proud pegasus crashed heavily to the ground, her arrogance and unwillingness to aim for killing blows being her downfall. Law retrieved his spear, before moving to the downed Dash. "You are too soft," he hissed, "Die for your incompetence!" The spear descended upon Rainbow's body, aiming for her heart. Twilight jerked her head, breaking the weakened Loyalty barrier in the process of intervening; Rainbow was grasped by a moving cloudbank and dragged off to the side. Generosity Approaches! Rarity eyed the now-pitted hilltop with disgust. Her Gem-Finder spell, however, had informed her of large emerald deposits within the unremarkable ground, however. Three of the gemstones ripped through the ground where Law stood, spearshaft in the ground, slamming into his body and knocking him aside. Law opened his maw and breathed an unclean, stone-melting black fire; it seemed more of Celestia's power was beginning to be made of use to him. Rarity dodged out of the way desperately, losing her tail in the process- rather than scorching greatly or catching on fire, what was left was simply a slightly singed edge. "This is getting annoying, chicks. They are coming; or can you not feel the first of the Worldenders drawing close? Ignis will not be as merciful as I am. Surrender!" His only reply was more emeralds ripping forth from the earth below him. Then the white unicorn's hoof disarmed him, knocking the spear away, followed by more of the accursed green rocks from below. Law grunted and ignored the pebbles, preferring to lunge forward for the unicorn, who had closed distance by knocking his spear away. Rarity gulped and backpedaled, but not fast enough. Law took a bipedal stance, lifting a screaming Rarity with both claws, before hurling her into the iron-hard barrier, where it flickered, leaving only Honesty as a guardian. Rarity was silent, with labored breathing and bleeding where she had impacted the barrier and been grasped by Law. The concussive force had forced at least 3 ribs into the open, blood pooling in the grass beneath her. The barrier flickered again, as Rarity got to her hooves. Horn glowing a pale, frozen blue, the surrounding air began to freeze over; Law's eyes widened as he recognized the feel of the magic. Ice crawled over her injuries and her eyes seemed to glow a misty white; "Windigo..." the griffin god hissed, taking to the air and dodging the crawling ice on the ground. Hovering in place, he prepared to dive with his spear the same way he had at Twilight. He flew higher, dodging the subzero temperatures expanding below that would slow him, if not freezing him in the mind-numbing cold. Cold Is Heat, the Griffin declared. Then he dived. Rarity began to smoke, the ice within and without scorching her flesh. With a wild scream, she threw herself to the side, the magic of Ice and Crystal fading from her system. Law once more was rebuffed by the one-layered barrier the mare had been fighting with her haunches against. He caught a glimpse of the pony inside. Twilight simmered with impotent rage; even if Law didn't break the barrier soon, her wrath would sunder the Elements' influence on its own. Law turned away. Discord wouldn't have a chance to do anything so long as he dropped the barrier before critical rage- he knew that point himself. She was close, but not quite there. Honesty Approaches! Where Harmony Ends I stepped out of my own realm at the base of the Tree of Harmony. I split my mind to continue the fragmented tale, as I intervene here. They will need time to defeat Law, and time is the one thing I can provide at the moment. My body flickered. I was not wholly present in this reality, but it would be enough. Twilight Sparkle never considered Harmony's gift in her plans. Few have ever earned it, fewer still used it- the 6 keyed box lay open at the Tree's base. They would thank me later. Maybe. Probably not, they never do. Not enough time, never enough time, they should have found the third key soon had events not twisted as they did. I pulled out the box's contents; a floating set of runes, meaning in the oldest of meanings, Balance. I tapped each Element with a rune, converting the peacetime devices to weapons of war. Then the runes vanished into my realm. Then I took the runes and flew outside to confront Ignis. Every time he comes, to burn Harmony and begin World's End. Each time I have delayed him, only for the Elements to fail their quests. This was the last time. After this, I would be too weak to rollback, and the world would end. It will fall to Entropy or be reborn by Harmony. The end is here. For now. The massive ruby beast looked down on me from the ruin of the Castle of the Royal Pony Sisters. Ancient stone was reduced to dust beneath its weight, and any full-grown dragon was only a shadow of this god. Ignis, Bringer of Fire and Destruction Incarnate just looked at me. His scales glittered with the light of a million cascades of lava, and his girth was such that he could fit only his neck into the canyon- his body could easily hold Canterlot inside. The head peered at me with vicious intellect- his mind only calculated how to best destroy me and the Tree in one action. Ignis' tail snaked into the canyon. Celestia nor Luna could stand before Ignis and call themself equal. Not Discord at his prime, nor Law; Nature was the last to fall from the Army of Unity, and she fell with Ignis. Long they fought, equal and opposite, until Avarice stepped in and tipped the battle in Ignis' favor. Nature hadn't been seen since. "A pony. This is the massive force I felt activate the Elements' Combat Actions. Not even Celestia, not even Luna. A nondescript, albino pony." He paused, cruelly ironic lake-blue eyes scanning me. "You are familiar. An entity I have not felt for eons. A watcher, not an intervening force. Time. Chrona." I nodded. He would catch such a movement even with my relatively toy size. I reiterated the lines I have said hundreds of times before; we both played a script, albeit his participation unknowing. "I will not let you pass Ignis. World's End will not come yet." The dragon's voice was booming and earth-shaking, rolling smoothly from low, gravelly tones to boisterous and lively laughs. He let out a laugh now. "Oh Chrona. You are a fool. World's End comes on my schedule. Not yours- not that I presume you even understand what a schedule is. Time is powerless before me and my kind." I give out a sigh. He says that every time, and it still gets on my nerves! "Challenge Accepted." Time stops around us. I've defeated him the same way for the past hundred rollbacks. I don't have the power for even that anymore. I lunge for the dragon's eye, intent of ripping it out of the socket it rested in. Ignis blinks, and I am deflected away. It seems that this time around, there is a chance for me to lose. Ignis is slow; my being out of phase allows me to think, act, and be all around faster. I cannot leave, though- the instant he realizes I've left, the Tree will be toasted, and no amount of my intervention will allow a recovery. Acting again before the dragon recovered, I drew more my stretched essence into space; I could feel Honesty actively siphoning my magic, reinforcing the protective enchantment layered on the farmer far away. I may not have had enough power to defeat him, but I still had enough to delay him for the Elements to do the work themselves. This will be a messy turn of events, that they must defeat the first Woldender at their weakest. They've done it before. And with that in mind, A large clock appeared over the Dragon. And I say something new. "I will cannot defeat you Ignis. Not anymore. But I will make you wait. You ARE on my schedule now; three months, or seventy-five days. I shall be back." Ignis could not respond. How could he? The beast was frozen with my words in his head, stuck counting down the seconds. None of the others can act without his disruption or success, however, and as such I have also purchased time for all of us. Where Harmony Ends -- Applejack The world is thundering around me. Ah can feel it in the air, ah can feel it in the earth, ah can feel it thrum with the wrath of all things green- it's directed towards the Nature-defiler before me. The voices screaming bloody murder within are silenced by this deep, rythmic beat... And above all else Ah can still feel the odd clarity brought forth by mah Element. The time skipped again. For a moment Ah see a massive beast in a familiar forest; then I'm slowly walking towards Law. "Ah will ask you one question, and you better answer me straight." Law was sweating. Though with Rarity's magic quickly fading, it was still overly-warm, and the Sun appeared to be throwing ice down at the hilltop. A tear rolled down mah eye. Ah didn't know which one, and it don't matter. The earth called out for vengeance upon from the being bearing it before me. "If you bring all this pain to the Elements of Harmony, how will you protect Harmony as a whole?" Law paused for the moment. "I will protect it because I have said I shall. And my word is Law." Ah hardly felt the spear slide into me. Where Harmony Ends -- Shade of Chrona Twilight burst from the restricting bubble as Applejack fell; a hail of chaos moved in her wake as the dress forming around her held only black and veins of gray. Colors inverted, red sky and yellowed grass, the earth was covered with layers of blood, oil, sweat and water, clouds boiled and dirt surged as raging rivers. Tears streamed from the enraged mare's eyes; a grief and rage against the one who had dared to enter their lives and so brutally declare them worthless. She slammed into Law with a speed that would have made Rainbow proud; and the mare tore into the griffon with weapons pulled from the air. If Law had his spear, then Discord's claw and glaive would service to alleviate her pain, as she the claw swiped with frenzied speed and the glaive blocked Law's counterattacks. "Consequence and Reward are already out, Discord? You're too serious!" Law taunted, before scoring first blood as Twilight failed to completely dodge his swipe at her face. "Stop doing this- you're doing it wrong!" A voice within Twilight hissed, but she ignored it in her emotional outpouring. Hack-Slash-Hack-Slash, was her only real conscious thought at the moment. Law really brought out the worst in Discord; be it actually Discord, or his reincarnation's personality. Then she made a fatal mistake. She over-committed a swing with the glaive, letting go of her defense, and Law parried the two to the side and struck the unprotected goddess. It hovered for a moment at Twilight's dress, the colors all whirling and concentrating on the point to be pierced, before freezing and being broken as the spear passed through cloth, magic, flesh and blood. Twilight fell, the wild outpouring of chaos reeling back into the mare with an audible snap! She landed in the dirt, as Law cried out in exuberant victory. Discord Falls; The Victor Consumes the Loser! Celestia looked on from her perch. She had retrieved her sundered and decayed wings, but had not touched them since. She watched as her ponies fought and fell. Her power was diminished, and Law may not have absorbed the right to use Solar Power, he had absorbed her long-built energy reserves. She could see quite clearly how the effect showed, with his long-lasting and exceptionally massive Lawmaking. She watched the scattered Elements; each was siphoning off the power of their own Element, at such a great distance, to sustain themselves subconsciously. Applejack had already staggered back to her hooves, and.. Shouldn't she be dead? Applejack lunged for the griffin god as he dove for the killing blow upon Twilight. Wild-eyed, Twilight drew upon her basest ability; Chaos. Victor Is Undecided, Flight Is An Impossibility! The Lawmaker's Voice called out, warped and distorted by the Chaotic Magic forcing it out. Law froze midair, and plummeted like a rock, and turned his spear upon the charging Applejack. Where Harmony Ends -- Applejack It hurt. By Luna's black plot, it hurt. Ah would like to say Ah was in full control while taking all of the Griffin's attacks, but that'd be a lie. Ah was trying to figure out how it hurt so much, yet Ah had failed to die. Mah hooves move seperate mah internal anguish; another pony moves them. Mah voice screams out with the pain Ah feel, but Ah cannot close it. The voices in mah head are pleased with this turn of events. Honestly, Ah didn't expect to turn out smashing the face of a griffin into the green earth, but somethin' in me just snapped when he tried to kill me. And Ah won't lie in regards to this fella'. Ah enjoyed giving the 'Law' its just deserts; again and again, right forehoof up, right forehoof down. Ah'm finally able to stop long after the griffin god stops moving- the pain and rage and wrath is gone, now. Ah look at the others; Twailight's disbelief, Luna's shock, RD's approving look masking a subtle fear. Ah feel the skips cease, and Ah know he's comin'; that pony who gave me the rage and the pain. Twai gives a cry of alarm, and Ah can feel a blazing shard of ice enter into me. Today doesn't like seem it wants to work out. Death. Will. Know. You! That's when the clarity fell away, and the pain grew even greater. Somethin' was pulled from me, somethin' important, and Ah can see it as he moves in front of me. Ah unbeatin' heart. Where Harmony Ends -- Chrona Almost there, almost time. Twilight should've snapped and defeated Law by now, or perhaps Rarity managed to delay him with the Soulgrasp Ice. Regardless, he should be out of the way. They will need answers, instructions. The clock is ticking. . The hilltop where I know they have to be at is still standing. That's good. I can feel the Elements' Combat Options fade away on my approach- they sense my presence and purpose. They know I will not harm their bearers, and that I can help where they are unable. All is quiet. I begin a slow shuffle up the hill; my weakness forces me to pull even more of my essence from my own home, and I cannot allow myself to become overcome by sensation- the crunch of the grass beneath my hooves, the defending Sun flashing into my eyes, air whistling past my ears, an unfamiliar taste in my mouth, burnt fle-. Burnt flesh? That's new. There's an overabundance of Lawmaker's magic still here... did they lose? All the times they've battled him, and I had to land the one time they LOSE! Sometimes, Chance just infuriates me. I do suppose I wouldn't be able to have a chance of success without Discord, though. This is my last opportunity, and all my assets are nearly gone. Rounding the top, I feel a visible surge of magical drain as my enchantment entered an emergency state-of-the-art one I can clearly see as Law shook a torn heart around, laughing madly all the while. "Not gods, not demons, not mortals! I am Law, and I declare myself victorious! You were all fools for battling against me." I calmly trotted up to him. Law is an idiot, and I will dispose of him as such. He turned around, and stopped as he realized who exactly I was. It should seem that his memories, or enough at least, remained for him to recognize my aura. "Come now, dearest Law. You know exactly whose strings you dance to." Then I ran an axe through his spine. Applejack began to stir, coming out of her shock-induced unconsciousness; I really should fix her soon, the magic drain is becoming bothersome. The other Elements, Luna and Celestia never having been able to step in to begin with, also came to. Their injuries had been reduced to severe, but no longer immediately threatening conditions. I should be able to fix those too. Now you would think Law might finally be dead after being thoroughly thrashed by Applejack and finally being bisected by me, but Celestia's raw power and his unyielding nature sure did make him hardy beyond belief. My gaze returning to the recovering griffin, I spoke again. "Congratulations Law, you've nearly destroyed the last hope of the world. I hope you're happy." The griffin's eyes widened; he knew that I knew the future if I really tried, and even through his rage-insane mindscape my words rang true. Finish Him! "I do believe you've just decreed your own death. I am sorry. Farewell." With their eyes all upon me, I settled for the simplest execution. I overlaid his possible time frames, and in each one I decapitated Law. In their view, of course, all they could witness was a blur, and the Griffin God, the Beast, Father of Order once upon a time, became rigid with unseeing eyes. He fell down. I know Celestia and Luna could handle the brutality of any other way to kill the god, and maybe Twilight, but I doubted the others could hold their stomachs from such a brutal display. They rather looked on in both shock and awe; that a being who had defeated both Princesses and nearly killed them all had just keeled over, dead. As Law's death settled, there was a shudder across the land, as laws of all kind, be it nature, mortal, immortal became a shadow of what they were- crime would run rampant for a time and tragedies birthed until police force could rally and enforce what had once been divinely supported. A true death of a god stole the essence of what they represented away from the world. Not many happened, of course, but the last I could still feel was my execution of Fallen Soul. ...We can get to that later. Applejack was still alive without a heart, much to the others' surprise. They realized that I had placed an enchantment on her, but I don't think they realized how strong I made it. The mare in question just blinked dumbly at me as I began to reverse the physical states of the Elements; Applejack's heart got returned to its proper place alleviating the magical drain on me, Rainbow's wing simply snapped back into position, Fluttershy's included, Twilight who was really unharmed remained untouched. Pinkie let out a huge grin as her voice returned, obvious by the loud, "HELLO NEW PONY!" she let out; her soul's structural integrity had also been repaired. Then I turned to Rarity. It seemed like she got the worst of the encounter, as she stood loosely with charred coat and exposed bone. That was easily undone. Luna and Celestia cautiously approached from their respective sides of the hill. The Princess of the Sun still had wingless stumps, but the injury was of too deep a nature for me to easily fix. Out of the corner of my eye, both Twilight and Applejack glared at me. Where Harmony Ends -- Shade of Chrona Chrona stood, the albino stallion with diamond-clear eyes, watched them all. "Chrona. That has to be you." Celestia's voice rang out in the silence, tired and older than ever before, her once proud and steady stance drooping and submissive. "You have never stepped in before; I had not known that you could even manifest here, let alone with genuine form..." The Solar Princess was the image of Time pressing down on the elders and immortals, the long-lived and gods. Her voice came out in a disbelieving wbisper. "Why now, Chrona? Why now, long after Harmony's armies have fallen, long after terror and evil and corruption arrested us? You have power equal to that of Harmony and Entropy, I know that all the foes we have faced are nothing to you... Why now; what is so different? Why not when Nature fell and Harmony was scattered? Why not when Discord unleashed havoc across the land? Why not when my own sister-" Luna winced. "went against us?" The stallion flickered, immaterial and physical at the same instant. He spoke with the same tone. "How do you know what I have seen Celestia? I have always been there, just that you never saw. Just imagine how you could manipulate the world, Celestia, if you knew all the future and past and present, just imagine what you could do if you were able to relapse time to bring about the perfect ending. Just imagine. I am older Celestia, older than time itself, with centuries and eons spent in time undone. I have made myself here because of the desperation to come. Nine hundred ninety-nine times I have twirled, twisted, shaped the events to come. All have ended in disaster. This is my final play, nearly all my strength gone. I may have once had the power you speak of, but no longer." Twilight spoke up, as an alarmed sound and exclamation point rose up over her, "So you are here to help us? Why did you curse Applejack then- how is that helping! Whatever alternate futures you put into her have hurt her!" Chrona shook his head. "You have no idea what I did to her, do you?" "All Ah know is that ya better fix it before I decide to do to you what I did to Law!" An angry Applejack spoke up, unsteadily moving to her hooves. "And leave you to die? I am afraid you're out of luck dear, the only imaginable way that you could've had a beyond-fatal wound like that would be if the Element of Harmony's Combat Option reinforced what I placed on you. Undoing it now would most likely create a feedback and kill you instantly." "An' the time skippin'? Is that also a part of yer 'gift' to me?" Chrona peered closely, then staggered back as if something just occurred to him. "Damn the Elements. Damn all of them. Damn my own stupidity, too." The Entity personifying Time, and all that it entailed slowly, very slowly, put a hoof to his face. "I would love to tell you what exactly is going on. But I can't. I'm sure Celestia knows why." Celestia, who had regained control of herself, now looked at Applejack; a look of horror grew across her, then was quickly suppressed. That reaction in turn made all the mares slowly drift towards the farmer, unconsciously attempting to protect their friend from possible danger. "I thought so. Go ahead tell them." "Aside from why the Entity of Time refuses to explain his actions, I can tell you this. Ponies have long since adapted to the magic in their systems... be it excess, or deficit. I remember when Discord created the changelings, oh so long ago by stealing all the magic from their systems. Sombra himself carried an overabundance of shadow magic, becoming one himself. The Crystal Ponies in the Crystal Empire have an even mix of both earth-attunement and crystal-attunement Alicorns, obviously, a large but evenly spread mix of the three earth pony, pegasi, and unicorn magics. It appears that the enchantment placed on Applejack has overcome her natural magical resistance to subversion, and as with all other ponies, her form is adjusting to the new mix..." "Applejack, when Discord brought you into my realm, I settled to start my intervention there. For all the times I have replayed and retried the series of events to come, I have not once fully stepped in. Now I shall. I started with you, but it appeared that in my haste, I didn't ask for your permission. It's too late now. You already have all the tools you will need; the memories of the farthest reaching, and failing Applejack of the alternate timeline, the regenerative properties now a part of you, and whatever you may become will assist you in your task. Yours is the hardest task, and the first one to be completed. All the others will receive gifts of their own and guidance. You, I must dismiss now." All the ponies present bristled immediately. The Elements were being split up. Chrona summoned forth Balance, and before any could react (or their time simply slowed), the farmer was surrounded by a whirling column of runes and pale-white light. And she was gone.