Who Dares
Proofread by TehSporkBandit
The reverberation of the thrown-open door echoe to the highest vaults and bounce off the sheer marble pillars lining the massive hall. Lashing wind sweeps inside with a howl of rage through a massive rent carved through the bank of implacable stained glass windows. A twisted mass of black iron seeping liquid smoke spills in from the shattered walls leaving heaps of ruined masonry and a carpet of shattered glass scattered across the room. The storm barge’s angular bow carved a sixty foot wound in the wall and knocked down three thick pillars before coming to an abrupt halt against a fourth. It left behind pouring eldritch smoke that is casually whisked back outside from the empty windows and reclaimed by the rapturous winds.
On your left rises a massive stepped throne of carved white marble backed by brazen censors wafting fragrant clouds of myrrh. Ensconced upon the monarch’s seat is the frail frame of Princess Twilight Sparkle. Ulf, the great cloaked figure garbed in burnished mail and a blood red mantle, unsteadily rises from all fours on the lowest steps of the alabaster throne. He is bleeds from his nose and has several gouges across his face, almost certainly inflicted by shards of flying glass and bits of splintered masonry.
“Twilight!” call five voices, including your own.
You hurry forward, crunching the coloured glass underfoot as Ulf staggers to his feet. Before you step closer, he emphatically raises a hand and bellows, “Be still!”
The mad rush halts at the man’s ringing voice. He draws his blade and unslings the shield tossed across his back, it displays the image of Twilight’s cutie mark emblazoned on the surface. The sight stops you for a moment as a shiver of recollection pulses in the back of your mind.
A roiling roar rumbles in his throat, far removed from the shrill cry of the wind. “You violate sanctuary, the palace of the Queen-between-lights?” He bellows, flecking spittle in an incandescent rage.
“Hold it, Skins!” A familiar husky tone calls out. From the tangles of twisted metal and crumbling piles of stone, a lean, athletic pegasus bulls through the wreckage in a tatter of fluttering cloth that streams from her wings like pennants.
“Yarr, what did you want us to do Captain Dash, sir, ma'am, sir?” Pinkie Pie emerges behind her, several garish bands tied around her brow like a pirate.
Flanked from either direction, Ulf turns his shield towards Rainbow Dash while flexing his grip on the sword pointing in your direction. A greater clamour rises behind you from a rising cacophony of stamping feet and thrashing wings. The Gremlins are coming.
“Get the door!” You call out and take a step forward.
“Got it!” Applejack and Rarity, muscle and magic, slam the door shut and not a moment too soon. A harsh thud hammers behind you as the door violently shudders under a sudden impact.
You turn to regard Ulf, staring at the bulky warrior casually perched on the lowest steps at the foot of the throne. He is surrounded, outnumbered, and deprived of his magical support. “It's over, Ulf. Give us Twilight and that'll be the end of it!”
Twilight mumbled groggily as if drugged. “Be still your Majesty,” Ulf whispers back to the Alicorn, “I’ll deal with the desecrators.” Twilight’s forelegs begin to tremble as she weakly tries to rise, only to slump back in her seat.
Ulf turns his attention back to you and Rainbow, “Why would you would take away this chance to enshrine Universal good throughout all the land when we are so close!? It would benefit every living soul in this world and countless others!” Ulf points across the hall with his sword, and then at both of you again. While you fear a trick, you take a quick glance back across and see a shimmering brass mirror opposite to the throne. It looks almost like a sun disc, plain, practical, and ordinary.
“'Benefit every living soul'?” Rainbow spits out a confused indignation, “Hah! Yeah, pull the other one.” She waggles her forehoof, “You've got dead Unicorns and you kidnapped our friends. Yeah, I got some proof that says you're a total nut!” She points to Rarity who shrinks back behind you. Something else seems to bleat and call through your brain.
Deja vu?
“Drop it and back off!” Ulf calls as Twilight shivers and convulses. You finally get a better look at the Unicorn and in moments, you wished you hadn't. The princess's fur has no healthy shine to it, it's well-brushed but her skin seems to stick to her bones with each and every rib showing through her coat. Her limbs look atrophied, almost wasted and thin with blackened rings encircling a hollow face.
“Twilight?!” Fluttershy darts forward.
“Rrraaaah!” Ulf takes a halfhearted swing at her, singing through the air with a hiss as Fluttershy leaps away from the sword stroke.
As she springs back, you place a restraining hand on the shivering Pegasus. You gesture at the intemperate man, prodding at the air in much the same way he stabbed his sword at you moments before, “You said you were looking for the five embodiments to find the sixth, the sixth which would herald in a new age.” Ulf stops and listens, eyes still blazing with suppressed fury at your intrusion. “Ideals like honesty, loyalty, generosity, kindness, laughter.” You point at Rarity, “You had one of them in your grasp and you didn't even know it or know why! You were too blind to look for the real signs, you-”
“Silence!” Ulf's shout loosens a few more glass shards from their frame. “I've done nothing but live for those ideals. Like Olaf wanted, like Clover wanted, and like his paragon wanted!”
“Pfft, liar.” Rainbow's one simple word turn's the warlord's face scarlet as he snarls like a wolf. There is a subtle motion, but you catch it: Twilight's forehoof slips forward and nudges Ulf's back, which causes him to stiffen.
The touch quells Ulf's rage, but a burning malice still smoulders around him. His voice is low, gravely, and all too controlled, “Look at me, you pagan horse runt, if you really were a rainbow, I'd walk right over you and get my reward. For now, hold your forked tongue.”
Ulf's growl was still leaving his mouth as Rainbow's mocking laugh rose to meet him, “Bring it!” Springing up from her aggressive stance, the Pegasus takes off with a rattling burst of rushing air, plunging at the Norse warrior.
Your heart skips a beat, but you follow after her with a howl. Storming the throne, Ulf readies his shield and fans it out with the blade poised just behind it. His own scarlet cloak billows in the freezing draft that hisses through the shattered windows like seething malice through broken teeth. A prismatic blur streaks by as a trail left in Rainbow's wake.
Rainbow Dash's flying kick slams against the shield with punishing force, cracking the wood and numbing the warrior's arm as he grunts and stabs out. The spinning blade snaps and twists in the air, sweeping out as the Pegasus recoils and barely avoids the blade from cleaving through her hindquarters. The icicle-like blade slices some of her feathers in two.
Pinkie's ruby-like rush seems poised to run straight into the Norse warrior as he nimbly lifts his shield and draws back the glittering sword in a vengeful arc. It's nothing but a feint as Pinkie springs to the side, opening up a small opportunity for you as she stays on one side and you on the other.
This is your chance. You raise the axe and grip the wooden heft in both hands as the Norse warrior pauses in a half crouched, seemingly open as his numbed arm loses the grip of his shield. It loosely drops in his arm as he flexes his shaking hand and covers it in the cloak.
“Rightly!” The fashionista shouts a warning as you see a pallid blue glow from the back of Ulf’s belt and recognize it as an axe he’d been reaching for when he loosened his grip on his shield. Ulf snatches the concealed blade, flicking it out and towards your throat. You skid to a stop and crane your head back while madly batting back at the hand axe with your own. The deathly edge collides with his weapon in a shower of sparks. The vibrations rush through your forearm like someone had struck it with a hammer. Ulf howls and turns back towards you as you stumble away from a single quick sword stroke that snips by a hair’s breadth from your chest.
The low rhythmic chanting echoes from the hallway, each refrain rises upon a myriad of voices:
“The Day of Destiny approaches, seized from our claws and enacted by the Crystal Eyes!”
“…” Twilight croaks something inaudible and convulses as she tries to rise from the throne.
“The doors!” Fluttershy calls out. Rarity had turned her magic from it for a moment. The blue aura dissipates as Applejack keeps both her forehooves planted on either side of the doubled doors and plants her rear legs against the shiny marble. It was only by a feat of Herculean strength that the door isn't forced open right there.
“Sorry, I'm sorry!” Rarity's panicked apology rings in the throne room chambers as the magical sapphire aura spreads across the wooden doors and metal hinges like a cloth.
Rainbow rockets by, sailing through the air with a flying kick aimed at the brawny man. The Norse warrior flings his shield up and rolls with the hit as the impetuous mare slams into it like a freight train. Despite the deafening peal and groan of cracking timbers, Ulf remains upright while Rainbow’s momentum flings her into the wall in a jumbled heap of feathers.
“…P” Twilight's breathy whisper is still impossible to hear.
The shield had blocked you from view for just a second, and you rush in again, flinging the blade overhand on his blind side. The shining edge skips down his back, shearing through most of the cloak with a dragging torque on your wrist. He yowls in pain, arching his back before slicing at you, though this time you are able to nimbly skip back. Rainbow's assault bought you a much needed distraction as Ulf hisses through clenched teeth.
Images of the twisting, sweeping swordplay enters your mind. A spin, a chop, and a riposte back from veteran warriors fighting for hearth, home, and king on the bloody ships of Olaf's fleet in the far northern seas.
A slash behind garners an arcing swipe low against an opponent.
Luna's imparted vision burns in your mind as you see the Norse warrior's response, flicking up his shield under the Jom's chin and running him through.
You shove yourself back from Ulf, almost tripping over the man's cloak hem as he spins the loosely held shield up. It passes inches from your face as he stabs his sword out from under it. The shining metal snips past your stomach as you bat it away with the hooked head of the axe.
“Washed away in the stream of time, the Day of Destiny dawns!”
The chanting from the hallway picks up with another thundering impact.
Pinkie skips in under the slash, innocuously trodding on Ulf's cloak tail and threading it between his legs.
“…op.” Twilight's voice begins to resonate in your mind as its warble rises.
Rainbow streaks towards the ceiling and dives with the wind at her back. As quick as Ulf is, she is still faster; the shield flairs out as Rainbow rolls to the side and lashes out. It didn't strike him, but latches on to the Alicorn horn around his neck. The cord snaps with a loud crack, “Mine!”
Ulf's reaction is still shockingly fast as the swing that missed Rainbow initially is flung back. It clips her back with a resounding crack, driving her to the ground in a spiral and sending the artifact spinning across the floor towards you like a macabre pinwheel.
“You'll never have the icon!” He lurches in your direction only to stumble haltingly for a moment. Pinkie’s simple trick, wrapping the cloak between his feet, had saved you from the Northman’s sudden charge. He wobbles on the steps and drops his shield completely, it bounces on its rim before Twilight's cutie mark lands face up on the floor.
Ulf's blood-flecked eyes met yours as he twitches with bestial rage mingled with fanatical contempt. He sucks in a breath as you feel your chest constrict with a fledgeling pain. He bellows loud enough to stun you for a moment before lunging at you with a single lurching strike.
His sword flicks out at neck height in a decapitating arc, letting you spin away from it and duck down to avoid the thrumming axe in his other hand. You strike at the sword like a baseball bat as it pings off the sword edge leaving a sizable notch in the blade. Ulf's grunt of irritation is a frightening bass noise as you see the second windmilling axe strike force you back another step. Even as the Norse warrior reaches down to pick up the Alicorn horn, you kick it, spinning it across the floor. The scrape stops with a surprised 'eep' as Ulf follows the sound right up to the scuttling Fluttershy who reflexively kicks it away towards Applejack and Rarity.
“You-”
“Olé!” Pinkie grabs the hem of Ulf cloak and yanks it back, pulling him off-balance as the sword screams towards you in an uncontrolled swipe. The blade bits into the axe haft, lodging fast for a second as Pinkie causes him to recoil. The brutish warrior wrenches the sword down. The strength in his arm drags your arm as the thin slicing edge grazes your upper arm, then draws free with a sickening sound of parting flesh and torn fabric.
You can only gasp, feeling a sharp pain as a rent opens up across your arm, churning your stomach but not stopping the descending blade. You practically fall onto the back of the axe head, sending the sharp blade straight down to the floor, scything down across the very end of Ulf’s foot.
The axe blade bites as hard as the sword as a surge of red splashes across the grey floor. You let the weapon go and stagger back, clutching your arm and hoping not to vomit at the sudden intense pain and sickening tide bubbling up your throat. A single look to your left arm shows the fountain of red and the twisted red ridge of parted flesh beneath the tattered cloth.
You look back at Ulf, having partially expected to be confronted with an axehead in mid-swing that would bury itself between your eyes and split your face open. Instead, you watch him drop the weapon to the ground, clanging as it comes to a rest at his foot. The warrior draws back, clutching his calf as the tip of his foot comes off. Your grip loosens on your weapon as your arm seizes up in several eye-watering muscle contractions.
“And on that fateful day…”
Another thundering crack rocks the door back on its hinges with several whizzing ricochets. One hinge breaks clean off as Applejack's hind leg slips in her Atlas-like lean, the weight of the world on her withers.
“...we see the truth at last!
When the Day of Destiny arrives!”
The Gremlins spill in as Applejack finally scampers back towards you while Rarity loops her hoof under her friend's shoulder as support.
Scores of habit clad figures flood in, forming a rough blob of thin sickly imps. A line of malicious zealots stretches from the arched doorway across the glass strewn hall, stopping just short of the shattered windows themselves. Four of the Carrion Lords remain, you can see them as some sort of high chanters surrounded by their procession. The motley robed host brandishes a ragged assortment of weapons from cleavers to crude iron axes, saps, spiked clubs, and hooked window poles.
“Stop!” Twilight's ragged shout silences the hall completely.
The Alicorn had forced herself upright, but now she stands unsteadily. Her hindquarters slump almost uselessly on the cushions while her forelegs jitter with effort. Fluttershy slips forward next to Twilight, the grotesque icon's severed cord wrapped around her foreleg. Pinkie and Applejack both step back, hoof-over-hoof, and draw back to stand beside you.
Twilight just looks to Ulf but remains silent. He breathes heavily, shedding the cloak, “Hypocrites, usurpers, killers, each of you,” he turns to you, rivulets of blood spilling down ruined rings of aged chainmail from the jagged wound torn across his back. Ulf takes an unsteady step forward, swaying awkwardly and mopping away the pink foam from the corners of his mouth. “You. You say you came here to 'reclaim', but you come here to retake only what you had when it served your own devices, and the plans you approve of. What makes you better than me?”
“Well, I didn't murder anypony.” You croak out awkwardly.
The Norseman weakly gestures to the Gremlins, “The body of one of my thralls yet cools on a stone slab, and you dare claim yourself innocent of murder?! Or are 'ponies' and kinfolk the limit of your reservations? Did you not sneak in here when, last we met, I said that I would meet with you again?”
You feel the eyes of your friends and the horde of creatures fall upon you, “At least I'm trying to follow those 'embodiments'!”
“Don't say they didn't give you a title, or was it privilege, perhaps a sum of gold? Didn't the two queens only extend their boons and graces to ponies like themselves? What about the others in this world? Where are the Gremlins, the long-horns, the great serpents, or even the hounds? Where are they in your perfect world?” The room lies still, silence greets Ulf’s question. “ And what have I taken? Nothing! Do you see vast treasures behind me? This isn't for me, this is for the Queen, it's for my people, it's for those striving to make a new and better world under the proper embodiment! I've given my youth, my energy, and all the time I have. Is that not the act of a generous benefactor?!”
The silence lasts for a few moments before Rarity pips up. “Pardon me for saying, but you're doing it for yourself in the end. Your ideal and your… vision, as you call it, are still for you and by you. Its not like we had any say in the matter, and it wasn't for anypony else. If that's generosity, it lacks consideration for those whom you say it’s for.” Ulf blinks and stares daggers at the Unicorn.
You wearily count on your fingers, showing five left, “That’s one down, Ulf. Care to try for Loyalty?”
He snarls and unsteadily straightens his spine, “Arrogant whelp. Your queens turned on each other once before, one was exiled! What loyalty is there in that? You yourself left Smike when you yourself are just as obvious as him. We knew where you were almost every moment of every day, so where is your loyalty to him? I… I have only ever done anything for others. I followed the will of Olaf Trayggvason. I stayed true to that, for everything. It wasn't for me. This wasn't my idea, it was fate! I decide nothing! My oath binds me to that!” Ulf points at you then to Rarity, “You abandoned your 'friend' on the bridge that day, didn't you? You all did!”
“Uh, yeah.” Rainbow starts, dragging herself onto all fours. “But you're just blindly following an idea, if you're forced to do something that's just obedience, not loyalty. You know, sheep work. I never abandoned Rarity, I never forgot about her, and I never stopped trying for her sake. Even if we did have to let her go.” The Pegasus shrugs, “And it's 'Spike'." She looks over to you as if saying 'although that's true, and pretty lame.'
Ulf just growls and looks at you again, then Rainbow, “Wasn't it you two that broke in and terrorized a house of the sick in the northern city? Did you not push them into doing what you wanted? What kindness is that? I am making this new, an equality for all creatures. I'm creating this to last for the ages, to stave off predators like the Changelings, Sirens, Bugganes, and other monsters of the world! I will prevent the destruction of the whole, protection and goodness for all: not protection and consideration for one or one kind! I have killed, yes, but I never did it to sow fear or to loot. I renounced Viking ages ago!”
Fluttershy looks up as she nudges Twilight's under her forelegs to keep the glassy-eyed Alicorn upright. “Um, excuse me? I couldn't help but hear… but don't you think that you might be missing the trees for the forest? If you're not showing the kindness and compassion for one pony, how can you set an example for everypony else? If you can't have compassion for the least of them, then how can you have a heart for any of them?”
Ulf halts, but his resounding growl echoes in the silent hall, “You pathetic, mewling, spawn of a goat.”
Fluttershy looks like she is about to scamper behind the ailing Twilight, but she stands firm and puffs her narrow chest out. “You are a miserable, evil, unkind monster who couldn’t do a nice thing if they forced you!” Fluttershy’s outburst is news to you, but it stops Ulf for a moment.
The Norseman stiffly draws himself up, obviously favouring one side thanks to the wound to his foot and his back, “I would have given them festivals, I would give them great days to follow. I would have given them feasts, rituals, and drink…”
Pinkie hums, “I guess that's a start? Maybe? You know, it's not really all that fun sounding or joyful when somepony is cracking a whip above your ear saying 'Hrrr, yer gerda do what ah' tells ya!” She adopts a weird, deeper accent and pulls a sniveling face with a comic frown. “Anypony can laugh, but it only counts if nopony is forcing you to. Comedy is all about timing and happiness is more than just covering up all the bad things in life. It's about making them better, giving ponies something to look forward to, not just escape from. I’m not going to say you lied, but that’s, well, not exactly true. Is it?”
Ulf grumbles and stretches a hand out, “Never once did I lie. Did your princesses tell you what you were doing here, Angle?” His spittle-flecked words and blood-smeared teeth flash in a vicious snarl. He hefts the sword again as you edge back, trapped with most of the others between himself and the horde.
“Well, ya' ain't doin' what yer’ doin’ with any tact. Sketchin' on walls in fake blood 'n mud ain’t the way to go about it. Yer 'honesty' is lackin' integrity.” Applejack concludes while hopping on top of one of the piles of rubble and crossing over towards Twilight with some caution to keep away from Ulf.
Ulf snarls and rounds on Twilight, causing Applejack to protectively spring between them. “I only ever wanted unity. How could you, of all creatures, not understand that?!” Twilight is the one that can send him over the brink either way.
A few moments of silence passes as Twilight takes several wheezing and ragged breaths. When when speaks, it is hoarse and dry, “Unity can never last if it's in coercion. It's through friendship that it remains possible. It's about all of these things, not just one. You can't push the elements on anypony or anyone, it's up for them to accept. And they might not.”
One of the Carrion Lords steps towards the group and bows low with open arms, “The Day of Destiny dawns. You can feel it, a cold wind blows to carry us forward!” He smiles, showing the ruined fang.
Iblis.