//------------------------------// // Chapter 11: Let The Battle Commence // Story: Dating Of A Godly Variety // by RainbowBob //------------------------------// “Quick, grab him by the shoulders!” “Hold his head back!” “Lemme hit him in the nuts again!” “Wait!” Discord screamed. He held his hands over his bruised and battered face, cowering beneath the gazes of all three Chaos Gods. “What are you guys doing? I thought we were bros?” “As if we’d be bros with such a weak and pathetic, sniveling whelp like yourself!” Nurgle jeered, spitting a toxic wad of decay that melted the floor at Discord’s feet. “Now that you’re buddy-buddy with the Big E himself, you’re nothing to us!” Khorne bellowed. “And not only that, you’re friends with one of these meatsack ponies! Disgraceful!” “And not only that, but this creature is the apparent leader around here instead of you,” Tzeentch reminded him, his arcane fires glowing a ghastly dark blue for but a moment. “You put our name to shame for allowing such a thing to transverse inside your realm, Discord. You are no bro of ours if this is the result of your rule in this pitiful world.” Discord got back up to his feet, hopping from foot to foot while he pulled up his dukes. “Oh, you think I’m just going to let you guys beat me up like that?” He faked some punches and jabbed left to right, his toes on fire as he circled around the three Ruinous Powers. “Well, you got another thing coming! Since this is my realm, the odds are in my favor, so you’re gonna have a pretty—” “Oh, but this isn’t your realm anymore, is it?” Tzeentch asked. The demonic bird of prey turned to Celestia and pointed a single claw at her. “It’s hers. Which means your power is equal to our own in here.” Discord was picked up off his feet as he felt two slimy hands clamped around his arms which were then forced behind his back. “Which also means there only needs to be two of us to take you out,” Nurgle whispered in his ear, most of the hairs on Discord’s face vaporizing from Nurgle’s breath. Tzeentch punched Discord in the gut, which was quickly followed by another fist as Tzeentch started an even pace of pummeling Discord. “Hey, Khorne, you want in on this?” Tzeentch asked. “I believe—ooph—Khorne has—ugh—better things to do with his pre—my kidneys!” Discord screamed, his voice turning up a few notches and then some. Khorne turned away from the three and waved his hand passively over his shoulder. “Nah, I have something better in mind.” Khorne dragged his massive sword behind his back, each step bringing him close and closer to his prize. A sitting duck pony princess who was too shocked by the events transpiring around her to beat a hasty retreat. “I’m gonna kill the Emperor’s girlfriend!” “Wait, girlfriend?” Celestia asked, seconds before she remembered to dodge to the side to avoid getting her head cleaved off. Khorne’s sword smashed into the ground and set off an earthquake, causing the entire castle to shudder and shake at the seams. Cracks ran through the floor like a flood, and the path of destruction of the sword’s fall didn’t just stop where it landed, but continued like a wave across the floor and up and walls and even the ceiling of the banquet hall. Picking up his sword like it weighed less than nothing, Khorne turned back towards Celestia, chunks of the destroyed ceiling falling around the pair like hail. “When I’m done with you, I’ll add your skull to my throne. You should be honored. I’ve never had a pony on there before.” Khorne pointed the tip of his sword at Celestia face, a maddening laugh escaping from within the confines of his skeletal helmet. “But I’ll assure you, once I’m done with this planet, they’ll be plenty of them.” Before Khorne could take a step forward to make good on his promise, he was knocked back by a magical energy bolt slamming right against his chest. Celestia’s horn was aglow with power fueled by desperation and anger. While Khorne was only pushed back a single step, it had set him off balance, so that another shot nearly sent him toppling over. “I’ll never allow you or your kind to hurt my little ponies!” Celestia shouted, her voice booming in the traditional Royal Canterlot Voice. “I’d rather see you dead than allow that to happen!” “Yes! Let the violence feed your power! It only makes mine stronger!” Khorne laughed, taking a running start before he leaped in the air to plunge his sword at Celestia’s neck. She teleported at the last second before his blade could make contact, his sword instead embedding itself in the floor and causing a large chunk of the room to just explode outward into the gardens and courtyards outside the castle, rumble raining everywhere as far as the eye could see. “Let’s see how strong you are after this!” Celestia bellowed, appearing directly behind Khorne, his back vulnerable to her. Building up as much energy as she could muster, Celestia released it in a hellish ball of pure magic, the inferno impacting with Khorne’s back with a force that sent him falling to his knees. His entire body was consumed by flames, his armor fusing to his skin and parts of himself melting to fall into a pool around his feet. Khorne remained on his knees, unmoving. Celestia sighed in relief, a noticeable sweat having formed on her forehead. Relaxing her stance, she chuckled. “Well, that wasn’t as hard as I thought it’d be. I think Geom may have been exaggerating about how tough these guys actually are.” “Actually, no, he was pretty damn accurate,” Khorne replied, getting back to his feet with a hop in his step. The flames that had consumed him before were depleted, leaving his armor a smokey black. His armor itself didn’t look worse for the wear either, it already repairing itself like it was an alive entity. Within seconds, Khorne was back to his usual self, with almost no indication of injury at all. “As for you, I’ll enjoy spreading your blood across all four corners of your world!” Khorne lifted his sword up high in the air and charged at Celestia, slashing and hacking in an aimless pattern to reach her. Celestia herself could only dodge and duck at Khorne’s attacks, his sword so ridiculously big that even with the intensity and speed of Khorne’s thrusts, Celestia always maneuvered to avoid them. After an stab that nearly took off the majority of her head, Celestia growled, her mane once again blazing to life as a large quantity of magic that had been storing up in her horn was sparked to life. “Okay, enough of this!” Celestia poured the majority of her magic into her next attack, releasing it like a damn fit for bursting right at Khorne’s chest. “Let’s see how strong you really are!” Khorne was flung back, his feet digging into the floor. Tiles and cement piled up at the back of his feet, but the God of Blood made no indication of a stagger or of being struck. When he finally came to a rest, he adjusted his sword to rest on his shoulder. He glanced down at his chest, then chuckled. There was a gigantic hole in his armor, allowing a clear view for anyone looking through to see the other side. Celestia could have practically flown right through it with no trouble at all. However, the hole was slowly being filled up, the meat nothing but a dark and twisted representation of the Warp refilling to its proper structure while the armor melted to fit back on the skin. Just like before, Khorne was completely healed, Celestia’s attacks utterly useless against his amazingly rapid healing process. “Stronger than you,” Khorne laughed, taking his sweet time to approach the speechless princess. Swinging his sword off his shoulders and taking a running start, Khorne leaped through the air and readied his blade for the finishing attack to tear the pony asunder once and for all. “And that’s all that matters!”