CHAPTER 5:
Apocalyptic Combat!
War vs. Death
High noon had arrived on day two of the Battle Royal. With Discord and Famine's match at its end, all in the coliseum looked to the balcony where Grimveil and Shank Spear sat, waiting to hear who the next victims would be. Both Luna and Nyx were among those who silently waited for Grimveil's announcement, but to the pair’s surprise, they were joined in their seats by another alicorn: Celestia. She was still dressed in several bandages, but was looking much better than the night before.
“Celestia!” Luna exclaimed with relief. “You have recovered!”
"Yes, it seems Grimveil doesn't want any of us to be laid up in bed for longer than needed. So, what have I missed?" Celestia asked.
"This tournament has gone to hell,” Nyx answered. “Famine of the Apocalypse Ponies nearly killed Discord by causing him to starve to death. She just... drained him of all his energy. Now he's in the infirmary and Grimveil’s deciding the next match."
Celetia turned to glare at Grimveil's balcony. "And how much longer do you-"
"My friends!" Grimveil bellowed out, cutting Celestia off and drawing the cheers of his army. "Let us continue the tournament. After Famine's decidedly one sided defeat of Discord, it is time for us to see a pair of ponies who are not only on equal standing, but often go hoof in hoof. The next bout shall be between War… and Death!"
Everypony in the coliseum looked over at the Apocalypse Ponies, eager to see what their reactions were. War and Death, however, maintained their silent expressions. The two ponies strode into the arena taking their places as the audience leaned in, eager for the bout they were about to see. All was silent, no pony dared breath. Then Grimveil rung the starting bell, and before even a second had passed, an explosion in the center of the arena rocked the entire coliseum.
The battle between War and Death had begun.
Twilight and the others were still in the old library, sitting silently as they absorbed the reality of their situation. Grimveil was none other than the ancient tyrant of Equestria, Malicious Shadow. It didn't matter what had befallen him after he was defeated last time, he was back with a vengeance, and he was starting it off with his favorite form of torture. Upon finishing her reflection of the scenario, Twilight began to pace around the library.
“Well, we know who he is….but what now?” she asked herself. “This information is useless unless we can get it to the Princess.”
“And on top of that, how do we even beat this guy?” Rainbow Dash also asked. “Sure we know who he is, but the book said nothing about how he was beaten last time. Just that it took a lot of other alicorns to do it.”
“Perhaps the Elements of Harmony are what we should use,” Rarity intervened. “After all he was very quick to stop us from using them back in Canterlot.”
“Rarity has a good point,” Twilight replied. “The Elements may be the key to his defeat, just as they were to Nightmare Moon.”
“But what good is any of that if we can’t even get around that barrier?” Applejack included.
“What if we used the Elements to punch a big hole in it?” Rainbow Dash queried. “Would that work?”
“It’s too risky.” Twilight replied. “Even if it would work, I’m sure those alicorns guarding it would probably kill us before we could even get close enough.”
“Well then what choice do we have?” Applejack said. “Doesn’t really seem like we could sneak in either.”
“Then let’s take advantage of this library. It’s full of old books. I’m sure that somewhere in these pages there’s a spell or something that can get us past that barrier.” Twilight said confidently.
“Ugh, more reading?” Rainbow Dash complained. “I don’t think my eyes can handle it.”
“Come on Rainbow! Princess Celestia needs us! Times wasting!” she exclaimed, pushing Rainbow Dash towards a bookshelf.
Rainbow glared at the bookshelf before looking back at her friends, who had already started searching the library for ancient spell books and similar works. Rainbow Dash picked up a book off one of the lower shelves. The book seemed to be about basic spells and enchantments. Not really something that would contain a spell to get around an all-powerful barrier, but Rainbow Dash was fed up with reading, so anything would work for her. She lazily flipped through it, scanning the pages. As she approached the end of the book, she began flipping faster, eager to get this reading over with. Just as she hit the last page, she carelessly flipped too hard, and ripped the page right down the middle.
Before Rainbow Dash could even say ‘Oops’, a bright glow of light covered the library. Every statue within the library began to emit a bright golden radiance.
“W-whats going on?” Fluttershy squealed in horror.
"I don't know." Twilight replied worriedly.
"Hey, I just want to say, it wasn't me." Rainbow excused, the torn page dangling off her hoof.
Twilight snatched the paper from her grasp. "Rainbow, what 's that?"
Rainbow looked down at the parchment in her hoof. "Oh, this... it's just a page I might have accidently ripped out of a book."
"You WHAT!?" Twilight yelled.
Before another word could be said, the glow from the library suddenly expanded, increasing itself to a blinding flash. The six ponies, who had shielded their eyes from the light, slowly opened their eyes to find themselves back in the old castle.
"What happened? How'd we get back into the throne room," Pinke Pie spoke as she turned to where the doorway had been. "And where did the door go?"
"Darn it!” Twilight screamed in anger. “Princess Celestia must have put a protection spell on the library that kicks everypony out if something gets damaged. Now we’ll have to go back to Canterlot and search through all those books again.”
“Hold on there Twi, none of us have gotten any real sleep in the past couple days. It’s probably best if we just head back to Ponyville and catch up on our rest and all before we start digging through books again.” Applejack said with concern for the group.
“Yeah, you’re right Applejack. Let’s head back to Ponyville.” Twilight replied, letting her exhaustion take over. All six of them then slowly made their way back to Ponyville.
The thick smoke from the explosion was finally clearing, revealing War and Death standing in the midst of the aftermath. In the second that the bell had rung, they launched towards each other at frightening speed and impacted in the center, unleashing the previous explosion. They were once again staring at each other across the arena. Neither of them said anything, not even making a sound. They silently glanced back at each other, as if they knew what the other was thinking.
Celestia, Luna, and Nyx had reared back from the explosion, but were now leaning their heads in to see what was going to happen next. If these two alicorns could cause a massive explosion in under a second, then this match was sure to be destructive.
The tense silence between War and Death suddenly ended as they launched at each other again. Instead of clashing like they did before, they each dodged to the side and unleashed a barrage of assaults. War launched fireball after fireball, varying in size and strength. Death met War's barrage with one of his own. He launched spheres of black mist, which swirled and pulsed around a glowing, white core. Each of War's fireballs clashed with a one of Death's spheres. In the impact, the flames of the fireball were devoured by the mist, each projectile canceling out the other. War and Death dashed and darted around the arena, launching attack after attack from their horns.
Yet, finally, Death was able to get ahead of War, launching a dark sphere that War wasn't able to counter with a fireball. He was forced to dodge, ending his volley of attacks. War, however, used his dodge to roll into a new attack. War engaged in a head-on charge at Death. As he ran, his entire body became wreathed in flame, resembling a meteor. Death followed suite by changing his direction as well, charging, wreathing himself in the shadowy mist.
The two collided in the center, their auras clashing and mixing, unleashing a large spreading veil of fire and shadow. Everypony spectating, Grimveil included, ducked as the wave screamed across the coliseum, ripping and cracking into the masonry. The two apocalypse ponies were now caught in a deadlock, their horns pressing up against each other as they tried to push each other down. In one strong push, however, they each launched backwards into the air. Being airborne, they now adjusted their tactics.
They swiftly circled each other, unleashing quick barrages at each other. The match had pretty much been mirrored up to this point, as each alicorn seemed to implement the same exact battle tactic as the other at the same exact time. This changed as War began to fly upwards and overtop of Death. War stopped his quick ascent and charged up a massive amount of magic in his horn. Death launched a few quick shots of black mist, but they were to no avail as War unleashed a massive fireball downwards upon Death. The fireball absorbed the black mist and continued its descending path. Death couldn’t dodge, as the fireball was as large as the arena and gave him no horizontal room. His best option was to quickly drop to the arena floor, and prepare for impact.
The fireball struck the ground and unleashed its fury. Massive waves of fire and gale force wind were sent cascading out towards the crowd. Luckily, Grimveil had quickly cast protective barriers around the viewers as well to shield them from the flames. The heat, however, managed to scourge through, forcing everyone to duck once again to evade the heat.
As the fire and wind settled, War looked down through the smoke, trying to see what had become of Death. Before the smoke could clear enough; a large shot of black mist blasted up through the smog, and struck War square in the chest, sending him skywards. It wasn’t a devastating blow, but it was enough to make War tumble through the air. War flared his wings to end his spinning and recover, but when he looked down, Death had disappeared. He then noticed a shadow falling across him, and when he looked up he saw Death hovering above him, wings spread and hind legs curled like springs.
In one strong kick, Death sent War careening for the ground at incredible speed. War attempted to slow his descent with his wings, but Death did not allow him. Dropping out of the sky like an eagle in a dive, Death slammed into War, putting his shoulder right in the crook of War's back. This caused War's wings to fail, and the pair collided with the arena floor with earth shattering force.
Grimveil and Shank Spear gazed on in amazement. This was without a doubt the most destructive battle they had seen in ages. Grimveil was enjoying it greatly, but Shank Spear was more reserved.
“Perhaps you should reduce their powers a little bit more, my Lord. They’re proving to be quite a force.” He asked worriedly.
“I appreciate your concern, Captain, but as great as their power is, it’s nothing to be worried about. Besides, they’re both Apocalypse Ponies…they can’t kill each other.” Grimveil replied.
“I’m not worried about them killing each other.” Shank Spear replied. “With such power they could break the barrier.”
“I can understand your worry, Captain, but fear not. My power is far beyond theirs, and everyone else’s in this stadium for that matter. Even combined they could not break the barrier. Everything is completely under my control.” Grimveil said with a grin.
“As you say, my Lord.” Shank Spear bowed and returned to watching the match.
A large veil of smoke and dust lingered atop the shattered arena. Death flew high above, ready for an attack from War, and sure enough it came, but not as death expected. Instead of some massive fireball or barrage of small attacks, a single tiny red shot of what looked like compressed fire burst upwards through the air aimed straight for Death.
Death was high enough in the air to see it coming, and dodged to the side. The shots purpose, however, was not a direct hit. As it passed Death, it decompressed, sending an explosive shockwave through the air that threw Death downward.
War’s assault didn’t stop there. He burst forth from the concealing smoke, wreathed in flame and flying headlong at Death. The pair collided, War smashing into Death and sending him tumbling off in a new direction. War then banked hard and collided with Death again, juggling Death in the air like he was some rag-doll.
“My Lord, I must express my concerns once more. If the Apocalypse Ponies are allowed this much power, then there won’t even be a competition between them and the other contestants.” Shank Spear said to Grimveil.
“I will confess that I have let a great deal of their power return to them specifically for this match, but again do not worry. As soon as this match is finished, I will dull their powers again to make them equal to the others.” Grimveil replied.
Shank Spear didn't reply, turning back to the ongoing fight. Death had managed to recover from being juggled by War. The pair circled once, and then threw themselves at one another again, War still wreathed in his aura of fire while Death once more became wrapped and embraced in the clinging black mist.
Eruptions of fire and shadow burst through the air as Death and War clashed again. War and Death were beginning to wear out, both of them decreasing in their speed. Eventually they had forced each other back down to what remained of the arena floor. Summoning up all of their magic, War and Death charged their horns to full might. Simultaneously, they discharged their magic; War's being an enormous fireball of white flame, and Death's being a large sphere of pure black mist and shadow. The two attacks collided in the center of the arena, their forces pushing against each other. But, as neither was strong enough to overcome the other, they mixed and combined. The result was yet another massive explosion that enveloped the entire arena. Strong gusts and shockwaves of wind, fire, and shadow ripped through the coliseum, forcing everyone to duck. Grimveil had quickly cast the barriers again to protect the audience; however the coliseum suffered even more damage as more of the masonry and stone shattered and burst.
Once more, the audience leaned forward in their seats, eagerly watching as the smoke from the explosion began to fade and settle. They searched for the combatants, expecting them already to be continuing the fight in the smoke's shroud.
Yet, when the smoke cleared enough to reveal Death and War, the pair of ponies were no longer locked in combat. The final attack had been too much for either of them to stand. Both apocalypse ponies had collapsed, too spent from their battle to continue.
"Behold, my soldiers, for you have borne witness to a battle that exemplified the defining, destructive power of the Apocalypse Ponies. Now, the day is growing late, and I’m sure you’ve all had your fill for today. Everyone is dismissed. The next battle begins tomorrow at dawn.” Grimveil turned and exited his balcony as the alicorn soldiers returned to their quarters.
As the rest of the audience filed out of the coliseum Nyx, Luna, and Celestia remained rooted in their seats. They couldn’t believe what they had just seen. The power of the Apocalypse Ponies was far greater than they could imagine. They each wanted to say something, but couldn’t. They were so overwhelmed that they could do nothing but stand in silence. Even when they eventually did leave the coliseum and retired to their quarters, none of them were able to rest. Their sleep was haunted by the nightmares of what could await them in the near future.