“Like wha-” I stopped mid sentence due to the thing approaching the castle.
“Bladesong, how long till Ogre is ready?” Atlas asked, looking up.
“Ten minutes.”
“Stryder, you’re needed at the battle front.”
“You got it! Give me a sec!” came a disembodied, feminine voice.
Out of the sky came a projectile from outer orbit. Once it got close enough, four pieces broke away revealing a rather slimline, light armored titan dropping down. It had interesting looking optics on the top left and top right of its torso and a missile pod different from Atlas’.Once it made impact, the titan got up and pulled out a rather boxy weapon from its back. It then ‘glided’ backwards to the castle opening Atlas was standing in front of at a rapid pace. “What’s the plan Atlas?”
“The plan is ‘Keep Away’. That bastard over there cannot reach the castle. I’ll see what I can do about the Chapter Master.” Atlas said as he turned to the gate. He looked at the Mane Six. “I would suggest that you six prep the Elements.”
They nodded and Twilight’s horn flashed. The elements were now sitting next to them.
The large skull-helmeted Reclusiarch burst out of the underbrush as if he had stumbled across a root or something. Another marine seemed to burst out of the brush with him, his adamantine sword lit up with a blue fire as he brought the tip down to try and pierce the Reclusiarch’s armor.
“Get ready. On my mark.” Atlas dashed towards the door and ran out to meet with the two space marines. Atlas aimed a well placed shot hitting the blade of the adamantine sword away from Alhardir.
The massively bloodstained visage of the Chapter Master’s helmet turned slightly to view Atlas with a low growl.
“That’s right, I’m your target bub.” Atlas dashed forward and fired at the Chapter Master’s shoulder armor giving the Reclusiarch a little bit more leeway.
The bloodstained marine let out a roar as he began to charge at the Mech, “In the name of Empress Luna! I shall purge the Heretic in fire!”
“Alright girls, get over here quick!” Atlas goes to throw a punch at the Chapter Master. All the while Stryder is going about holding the other Voidling abomination at bay with ‘her’ Quad Rocket Launcher and Cluster Rockets.
A strange blue flame coursed its way across Astelan’s fist as he met Atlas’ punch, Delivering a fiery punch of his own.
Both fists met in an explosion, kicking up dust. When the dust settled, there wasn’t much damage on Atlas’ arm save for some scorch marks, a missing finger, and a bare arm where the armor once was. All of a sudden a heavily charged mist emanated from Atlas, creating a visual inhibitor. ”Do it! Here! Now!” Atlas yelled back to the Mane Six.
“You got it!” Rainbow yelled. The elements hummed as the magic charged and fired.
As the forefront of the Harmonic blast comes close to contact, Atlas dashes out of the way, leaving Astelan in the wake of the blast.
With the sound of rending metal Alhardir drives Astelan’s sword through the Chapter Master’s leg, pinning him in place so that he couldn’t dodge the rainbow harmony death beam.
Slowly the charged mist dissipated, revealing the forms of Reclusiarch and Chapter master.
A loud clank sounded out as the Chapter master fell forward and landed face-first onto the ground. Alhardir began to shakily stand. “Thank you all…” He rasps out.
“Of course, it is what friends and comrades do, after all.”
“Glad you guys are happy but I am still dealing with ugly over here!” Stryder bellowed.
Alhardir nods a little. “You guys go, I’ll keep those beasts from entering this section of the castle as well as make sure that rainbow didn’t kill the Chapter Master.”
“Alright,” Atlas grips his rifle once more, “we’re on our way Stryder. Let’s move!”
I muttered under my breath, “That was.. boring to me.”
“When you have a plan, some things tend to be.”
“I know. Now um, what are we doing this time.?” I asked, So I know how bored I’ll be.
“How about dealing with this guy!” Stryder retorted as ‘she’ dodged another strike.
“Okay, you guys got this or?” I asked, looking at Atlas and the elements.
“This guy is thick skinned! My rockets aren’t doing-SHIT!” A blur resembling Stryder flys over my head, tumbling across the ground.
“Guess it’s my turn,” I said. “Will, Horace. Back me up.”
The two nodded and I ran up the wall, jumping over it, and dropped towards the monstrosity. I landed and spun bringing out Excalibur as I did and the sword connected with it’s side. The monster slid back several feet. Will and Horace fought the other creatures nearby. Will, using his bow, shot them in key places. Horace bashed them with his sword.
“Ogre Titan is ready! Stand by for Titanfall!”
“Heads up Essence!” An iridescent white glow emanated from Atlas as he emptied his mag on the Void Abomination. From above the Abomination came a thundering and a similar drop pod, the four parts of the pod breaking away and revealing Ogre going down straight on top of the Abomination. “SURPRISE MOTHA’ FUCKA’!” Ogre bellowed as he unleashed round after round on the beasts head.
“That’s gotta hurt,” I muttered.
Stryder got back up and fired more rockets at the abomination, dashing back into the fray, emitting a similar glow as Atlas and crushing any Voidlings underneath ‘her’.
Eventually, the beast went down and the Voidlings retreated once more.
Stryder walks up to the space marines. “How’s he doing, Reclusiarch?”
Alhardir looks over to Stryder. “Well… He is alive, the beam only stopped his heart.”
The elements gasped, rather dramatically, I might add.
“That still disturbs me.”
“Why does it disturb you? Ponies gasp all the time.” Luna said, sarcastically. (XD)
Atlas facepalms. “I meant their retreat.”
Luna snickered, “I know. Why does the retreat disturb you?”
“He still has his second heart working though, so when we get back to our Apothecary he’ll be back in fighting condition.” Alhardir finished
I looked at Alhardir, “What the hell is he? A freaking Time Lord?” I asked, rather jokingly.
“Not quite. Would you like to explain this for the others, Alhardir?”
The Reclusiarch gives a small nod. “All Space Marines have a lot of genetic modifications to them to increase survivability on a harsh battlefield, Two hearts being one of the main ones since one can simply pick up where the other left off if one is unable to function, it also helps adjust to high or low gravity situations a lot easier.”
Twilight and the others make an ‘O’ and look back to the Chapter Master.
“And that sums it up nicely.”
I looked at Ogre. “You remember my comment to Wade right?”
“For the most part.”
“Good. Then you know why I mentioned it?”
“Of course.” Atlas redirects his attention to Luna. “Any ways, when it comes down to it, Enemies that know they are outmatched after a wave like that, so they pull back and send in one of their big guys. That shows this isn’t a mindless horde we are dealing with.” Atlas said as he looks off in the horizon.
“It means that there is a ‘puppeteer’ behind their strings.”
Their comments sparked a memory. One of a time long gone, when all the good Influences still lived. I knew someone with expertise in this. “Ripper. The Ripper. That’s your puppeteer.”
“The Ripper? Huh...I’m sorry, but I have never heard of him.”
“The Merchant lives for mischief. Ripper lives to kill.”
“You think that The Ripper is in cahoots with The Merchant?”
“Definitely, he was the second best strategist.”
“Who would be the best strategist, if I might ask.
“They went by the name ‘The Musician’.” I smirked darkly.
Stryder giggles softly as ‘she’ asks, “Do you know them?”
“You do.” I grinned.
Twilight groaned, “It’s you, isn’t it?”
“Indeed it is.” My voice sounded different.
All three Titans chuckled at Twilight’s antics.
“Atlas, You are needed stateside effective immediately.”
“Sounds like that’s my que. You got it from here Ogre. Let’s go Stryder.” “Right behind ya’ brother.” Just like that, Atlas and Stryder walk through a Void Rift, the rift sealing up once the two Titans have gone through it, leaving the last Titan back.
“Lets go ahead and get the Chapter Master inside, see what we can do about his condition.” Ogre said as he made his way back to the castle.
“Did I miss something?” Wade asked, walking out of the forest in his original form.
“Yes. Quite a lot actually.” I said, looking at him.
With quite a bit of ease, Alhardir hauled the Chapter Master back into the castle. The elements, Wade, princesses, Titan, and I followed quickly behind him.
Turning around I spoke. “We have a moment. I can take Ripper. Alright, I’ll explain how to get the fragments. First, focus then imagine them turning into what you want. Then they will no longer cause harm, got it?”
“... So, we take the void fragments and change them to have different properties, thus ‘filling’ the void?”
“In a sense. All Void is matter, just very… transparent. It’s what everything was made from so anything can come from it.”
“Is it possible to take a fragment and change it into a void storage?”
“Yes.” I elaborated.
“... Simple enough. Now Reclusiarch, could you strip the Chapter Master of his armor so I can treat him.” Ogre said as he propped up his cannon in a corner. I watched carefully, not wanting to disturb either of them.
Alhardir shakes his head, “He’s fine for now, what we need to do is get him back to the Apothecary, since the armor itself can only be removed by specialized servitors. The only part able to be removed without the servitors is his helmet… We even have a healing factor that will make sure he could be ready to fight within the hour as long as whatever you guys hit him with stopped the chaotic influence.”
Ogre gives out a grunt. “Congrats, the Chapter Master took the full brunt of a blast of Harmonic Energy, courtesy of the Elements of Harmony. He should be absolved of the chaotic influence.”
“So you guys-” I was interrupted by a loud crashing noise. Looking outside I saw him, Ripper, ripping, literally, pieces of wall out of my castle.
“Stay back. Take out the Voidlings. Keep the castle safe,” I said, stepping out towards Ripper.
“What are you doing?” asked Wade. I looked back.
“The one thing only I can do.” I stepped out of the room sealing everyone away from this half of the castle.
Other Side of the Castle
Ogre curses under his ‘breath’ and goes to pick up his cannon once more, only to be cut off from a small group of larger Voidlings. “Clever.” One of the Voidlings charge at Ogre, only to be turned into giblets by his fist.
A roar from the Bolt-pistol that Alhardir had sent another of the voidlings nearby back into the void from whence it came.
“Stick together and pair up!” Ogre barked as he launched a salvo of rockets at some of the Voidlings in an effort to get to his cannon.
Wade began another transformation as they fought. Quickly he turned into some sort of black dragon, and started slashing at random Voidlings.
Ogre finally made it to his cannon and grabbed it firing rounds into the Voidlings. All the while there is a Voidling that is circling around to get behind Ogre. Ogre caught sight of a couple Voidlings trying to swarm Shining and Cadence, whom were slowly separated from the rest of the group. A Voidling went to pounce on Cadence from behind, only to be turned into giblets by a round from Ogre’s cannon.
Shining looked to give Ogre a nod when he noticed the Voidling behind him. “Ogre, behind you!” Shining fired off a spell at the Voidling, only to impact Ogre’s overshields.
The Voidling landed on Ogre’s back and went to tear into his circuitry. “Get off me you prick!” Ogre tried reaching over his back and grabbing the Voidling only to grab at air.
Not a second later, Rainbow Dash bucked the Voidling off of Ogre. Unfortunately, the Voidling was in mid swing and ended up clipping Rainbow on her right wing. Rainbow went toppling with the Voidling onto the ground.
“RAINBOW!” yelled Applejack.
Rainbow Dash groaned and went to get up, only to be grabbed by Ogre and brought to his center torso. “Not on my watch!” Ogre said as his pilot hatch opened up revealing the pilot seat. Ogre placed Rainbow into the pilot seat and closed the hatch, getting back into the battle.
“Ms. Dash is still alive, but she needs medical attention. ”
“Bladesong? The hell happened back there! Why didn’t you warn us about this attack?” Ogre asked as he turned more Voidlings into giblets, allowing Shining and Cadence to regroup with the others.
“The comms were being jammed. I just bypassed it a few seconds ago.”
*inside the cockpit*
Rainbow moaned loudly, “Owwww.”
“Hang in there Rainbow, you’re gonna be fine.”
“I hate you,” came another groan from the pegasus.
“At least you are still alive to hate me for that little stunt I pulled.”
*outside the cockpit*
“It might be beneficial to Rainbow if one of you get over here and treat her.”
“Ah think ah can help,” Applejack said.
Ogre finishes reloading and fired several more rounds into the Voidlings. Applejack gets close enough to Ogre that he kneels down and picks her up and puts her into the pilot seat the same way as he did with Rainbow, if a little more gracefully, closing the pilot hatch once more.
“You are a marine, we can slay with just our swords if need be…” The Chapter Master growls as he begins to unsheathe his blade. “WE MARCH FOR THE EMPRESSES!”
The Reclusiarch lets out his own shout in response, “AND WE SHALL KNOW NO FEAR!” as he then drew his blade charging with the chapter master into the wave of voidlings.
*inside the cockpit*
“Alright, what do ya’ need me tah do?” Asked Applejack. “There should be a cylindrical tube with a lever and a nozzle inside that medkit on your left. Take that out and apply that to the wound, it will stop the bleeding. There is some morphine in that kit as well, it will numb the pain.”
*outside the cockpit*
“How many of these things are there!?” Shining called out as he cut down yet another Voidling.
“Just keep fighting! We have to fend them off!” Ogre said as he crushed another group of Voidlings with his foot.
REJOICE! FOR YOU GET TO LET LOOSE YOUR ANGER!” the Reclusiarch shouts above the rapport of battle.
“IN THE NAME OF THE NIGHT!” Astelan replies as his blade vertically bisects another voidling.
Will and Horace took them out nearly as fast as Ogre as they worked together.
“WITH YOUR HATE AS YOUR SWORD, AND YOUR DISGUST AS YOUR SHIELD, MAY NO WARPSPAWN BREAK YOUR WILL!” Alhardir praises as his bolter roars in one hand while his blade stabs into the eye of a voidling.
“GLORY TO THE NIGHT!” with a sickening tear Astelan rips the arms completely off the body of the voidling he was facing.
*inside the cockpit*
“Hang in there Rainbow.” Applejack said as she held onto the slowly separating mare.
“Come on, AJ. Both of us know that I won’t make it.”
“You have to pull through, make your dream to be a Wonderbolt come true.” AJ said trying to hold back the tears.
Rainbow gave a dull laugh. “Lets face it AJ, this world is done for. Equestria is done for. We’re done for.”
“You can’t leave us! We need you! *sniff* I need you…” AJ choked out.
“Hey, Best Friends Forever. Right?” Rainbow asked as she put a forehoof to AJ’s cheek as she slowly dissipated into nothing.
“Right…” AJ said as she watched Rainbow disappear completely into the void.
Applejack put her forehooves down and kept silent. The only thing disturbing the silence inside the cockpit is the dull roar of the core generator of Ogre and the chaos of the battle going on and the occasional dash that jostled the cockpit a little. She slowly turns around and rights herself in the pilot seat, keeping her head down.
Applejack puts her forehooves on the armrests of the pilot seat, not even flinching when the arm straps go around her forelegs. “... AJ?”
*outside of the cockpit
There came an audible feminine wail that came from inside of Ogre as he fired as many rounds into the Voidlings as he could. After Ogre’s cannon went dry he launched a salvo of rockets at another group and dropped his weapon and started getting physical with the Voidlings.
I stepped past the Voidlings who continued to attack the impenetrable wall. Ripper was laughing gleefully at the expense of those on the other side of the wall as I stepped in front of him.
“Oh, Ripper!” I called in a singsong voice.
“What? Some idiot need my help killing off these damn Displaced?” He asked, not even looking up.
I tsked, “Oh come now, you should recognize my wonderful voice, shouldn’t you, brother?”
“Musician. How wonderful to see you, big sister,” he answered sarcastically from his seat.
“I agree, though, the circumstances could be better, couldn’t they?”
“That’s true, but maybe you’ll remember not to leave me in a world like that ever again,” he said, talking of the world he stayed in.
“I didn’t. You stayed by choice,” I scolded.
“Oh shut up. Let’s get rid of your puny little world, I have to go take care of some idiotic little whores on Earth after this,” he rolled his eyes. A second later he flew forward pulling out his weapon, a dual edged sword. I deflected with the Trident and stumbled back. Again he ran me and I deflected. Again, and again, and again.
“I grow tired of your games, sister,” he spat. He brought his sword towards an edge of Void and ripped it further into the world. “Have fun with this!”
Just before he disappeared I successfully nailed him with the Trident in the chest. He threw it to the side, clutched his chest, and disappeared.
I looked at the tear. “What have you done brother… Why? Why?” I felt the tears stream down my face and turned around to the other Displaced.
“Go,” I practically whispered, “If you stay, you’ll be doomed. Please, go, I have to save someone, please…”
“what about the ponies?”
“I’ll save some… I can’t save them all. Whoever I see next, I will save.”
“I shall always be on the look out for others in distress in your world.”
“I’m afraid this world will not exist anymore soon.”
As the battle begins to die down the two space marines cautiously make their way over to the rest of the group, Alhardir is the first to speak as he removes a necklace from his belt pouch.
He holds it out for Essence, “You all fought well, but I have only one item that I can give… A pendant of the Lunar Templars…” The silver necklace was in the shape of the iconic nightmare moon symbol. “If we ever meet again, the Lunar Templars will be ready to fight and die by your side.”
I waved my hand over the pendant and all and copied it while allowing them to contact him.
Astelan nods, “I do believe that my Reclusiarch is right about your power, all of you… Should you ever need the help of the Lunar Templars, raise the pendant and call out for Empress Luna’s chosen sons.”
Luna and Fluttershy walked up next to me. “The others… They’re gone. The Void… It took them all…” Luna’s distressed tone spoke. Fluttershy was in tears. I rested my hand on her head, petting lightly. A small, hexagonal coin brought itself into existence in front of me and fell. Next to it, a small cube, a Lunar Templar Pendant, and a bow and sword.
“I know this may not help much, but we give you our ‘calling cards’. We will always be there if you need help.
“I know… I always know, how could I not? If you need me, which you may, just call out for the Musician. Or any of my names. I will hear it.”
Will and Horace nodded. Will spoke, “We’ll help if needed.” With that, the two men vanished.
The marines cross their arms over their chests, bowing slightly as they mimic the Aquila on their chestplates, “We hope to purge more chaos with you soon…” the Reclusiarch says as they start to fade.
“I wish you luck in saving that person. And if there is no way of salvation…” Ogre’s fist clenched, “there will be hell to pay for the Merchant.”
“No. It was Ripper. The man I once called my brother, who did this. And I’ll take him out personally,” I said as Ogre began to fade from the world along with Wade.
“Wade. I hope you have a better time in your world,” tears blurred my vision, “cause I may never see anyone like you guys again.”
“Well, Essence, see you on the flip-side,” said Wade before he disappeared altogether.
Ogre turned away from me but still kept his ocular on me. “This world may be gone, along with its inhabitants, but it will never be forgotten. If you ever need a shoulder, I’ll be there.” Ogre said as he finally dissipated through the rift.
“Well. I can’t call it Turmoil anymore, can I?” I sniffled. “This world. I suppose I could call it Memoriam. What do you think, Luna?”
The blue alicorn looked up to me. “I-I-” She broke into sobs. The Void drifted over me and I placed my hands on them and focused. They glowed and we began to drift...
Full Dialogue: "Hello? Is anypony there? Cadence? Twily? Princess Celestia? Princess Luna? Tartarus, I would even be grateful if I could get Discord."
Full Dialogue: "Finally, I got through. Thank Celestia! I couldn't keep the Empire safe. I saved as many as I could. I won't be able to hold THEM off any longer."
This is for bits pertaining to Armor. The little cut up part.