Captain Phoenix Wave was struggling to hold on to the elderly dragon’s broken horn. He couldn't remember why he had thought that riding on a dragon’s head was a smart move. He should have known something was wrong when the dragon had smirked evilly upon his request. Scales were quite slick, and, coupled with the wind and the constant movement of the dragon head, it was amazing that he had not fallen off to his doom over a dozen times during the frantic flight from Hourglass to the battle they were about to enter.
Half of the dragons, who were not transporting unicorns and earth ponies, broke off and bathed the Nameless in a rainbow of dragon flame. The other dragons circled around to find a safe place to drop the Hourglass Guard off, while also getting closer to the remaining members of the army from Equestria.
DraGoNS HelPinG PrEY!!! tHen You shALl ShaRE THeiR FATe! The black and red dragon roared in anger.
Captain Phoenix Wave ignored the Dark One’s rant. What he couldn't ignore was what he saw. It looked like the Equestrian and Allied Griffon forces had suffered from a particularly devastating rout. He could even make out some ponies fleeing from the battlefield. Normally, that would be considered desertion and those caught could find themselves working the ‘rock quarry’ for a long time for doing that. However, he had seen the meteorite that fell from the sky. The shock of the sight of the meteorite caused one of the dragon’s wings to lock up, almost losing more ponies; if this was enough to shock a dragon this much, he could hardly blame the others for running.
After not even a full minute of being bathed in dragon's fire, the Nameless One roared again, and a sphere of black flame pushed back the other flames. A golden flame pierced through the black orb and hit the Nameless One hard in the side.
YOU! The black and red dragon eyes locked onto the Dragon Keeper once he recovered from the unexpected attack.
“Yeah, me!” He of Hourglass snapped. He shot out another stream of flame laced with golden harmony at the Nameless One. While he was doing that, he summoned a magical sword and shield. There was retribution to be had, and he was going to let out all of his rage at this monstrosity that claimed to be a dragon.
Phoenix Wave finally pulled his gaze away from the dueling dragons. He needed to focus on finding Celestia or Luna, as only they had a chance at bringing order, and quelling the fears of the remaining ponies on the battlefield. He finally found Celestia in the middle of a group of ponies. He had missed her several times, as her usually easily identifiable features - namely white, almost glowing white, fur, and rainbow flowing mane and tail - were gone. Her fur had become so dirty and matted that, if it wasn’t for the fact that everypony alive knew she was white furred, he would have thought she was a light tan pony. Her mane and tail, which were normally described as flowing in an invisible wind, were limp and lifeless.
With a silent signal, the dragon Phoenix Wave was riding dropped low to the ground. As soon as they reached a low enough altitude, he took a running jump off the dragon. As he hit the ground, he rolled before continuing to run at a full-on gallop. The dragon kicked up dust and ash as he flapped hard, quickly regaining height.
A random pony praised the Hourglass Guard captain’s appearance, saying, “Thank Celestia you made it; we would not have lasted much longer…”
Phoenix Wave ignored the pony as made his way to Celestia to address her. “Take a moment and regroup your remaining forces. The Hourglass Clan will take the lead until then....”
A series of roars interrupted him. Both Celestia and Phoenix looked up to watch the dragons, still deep in battle.
As he watched He of Hourglass hammer the Dark One with an onslaught of spells and fire, he noted, “Or maybe just He of Hourglass…” He knew He of Hourglass was pissed, but even he was shocked at what he was seeing. It would have shocked him even more if it wasn’t for that meteorite earlier.
“Wait, captain.” Phoenix Wave, who was already moving away, stopped, turning to face the solar alicorn. “Please, go help the Bearers.”
Phoenix took a second to go over what Celestia was requesting. He originally planned to directly attack the dragon himself, given that his flame powers were actually able to hurt dragons. The more people that could cause injuries, the higher the chance that they could incapacitate the dragon, opening him to being destroyed by Harmony magic. He knew He of Hourglass would not be able to push the attack for too long.
Celestia had a point in that the Bearers needed protection, as the Elements took time to work, and none of them had true battle experience, not to mention that only two of them were capable of using spells. With the massive drop in ponies available (alive and not injured) it left them vulnerable, and prone to fall under attack. At least, it still left him able to attack the Dark One.
“On it.” Phoenix agreed before quickly teleporting near the Bearers. He had seen them earlier, while he was searching for Luna and Celestia, and had been hoping that maybe one of the elder alicorns would be near them. Unfortunately, they were not.
It was a good thing he did that, as the Bearers were, at that moment, surrounded by a horde of ‘lings. They were doing alright, for the moment, but it was clear that it wouldn’t stay that way for long, as he could see that their movements were sluggish. Furthermore, as long as their attention was on the ‘lings, it wasn’t on the Dark One. He knew that all three harmony magics would be needed to take out the dragon. Everyone, with the exception of the Bearers, Discord, and He of Harmony, were really only there as support or distractions…
He of Hourglass was finding harmony magic harder and harder to work with. He was going to need to back up and let others press the attack while he rested a moment. He backed up, the silent signal for the other dragons to rush forward again.
Instead of rushing forward, Quartermaster suddenly fell out of the sky as if he had been hit. Scorpion, who was assigned to fly and attack with Quartermaster, angrily followed. He was ticked that he had to follow what he was now assuming was a coward of a dragon. Quartermaster managed to adjust himself just before he crashed to the ground.
Scorpion landed heavily behind Quartermaster. His rage was so high, and he was about to let Quartermaster know this, when Quartermaster started roaring in pain and anguish, tears flowing down his snout.
Quartermaster, brother, what is wrong!? Scorpion temporally shook off his rage, it being replaced with concern. He had seen his clanmate fall from the sky for no apparent reason. It made no sense for the dragon to be roaring in pain and anguish as he was. He would check Quartermaster's song, but the battle field was was too noisy to allow him to check.
Quartermaster did not answer. All he did was scream and slam his fists to the ground, fire leaking out of his maw. Unfortunately, this caught the attention of the Nameless One.
YOu sEe His PAin DON’t YOu?
He of Hourglass glanced down at his clanmates. He didn’t know why he listened to the Nameless One, but he did. What he saw confused him.
PaiN IS fOr THe WeAK.
Yes, weak… He of Hourglass growled in anger at the actions of Quartermaster and Scorpion. They are suppose to be fighting, not cowering like pon...prey.
He didn’t dwell on it much more than that, as he needed to focus on his task. From that moment, as far as he was concerned, he had no clan. No clan mate of his would abandon the revenge of the death of Alicorn Keeper before they even attacked once.
The battle then proceeded, and, as before, the gathered army took turns attacking, with the now added benefit of the Dragon Keeper and his dragon allies. Quartermaster never recovered from whatever had knocked him from the sky, and Scorpion could do nothing but panic over what was going on. He tried a couple of times to get his soul song magic going, but he struggled to get it to even start, much less stay going.
Luna was preparing to attack the Dark One’s back when, in a flash, the dragon had not only turned around to face her, but also spewed a condensed blob of black flame at her. She only had enough time to gasp in surprise before she was hit squarely in the chest.
“LUNA!!!” Celestia screamed. She dived after the falling form of Luna, black flames still licking her body as she fell. She knew that if she didn’t catch her, Luna would not live, as all of her feathers had been burned off, so she couldn’t slow her decent, even if she was conscious.
Celestia managed to grab Luna in her magic, just feet from the ground. Unfortunately, she was going too fast to make a clean landing. She hit the ground hard and blacked out for a few moments. When she awoke, Luna was lying crumpled nearby. Celestia slowly made her way to her sister. She knew she had cracked a few of her ribs during her rough landing, so she had to be careful or risk passing out. Still, she needed to get to her sister and tend to her injuries.
Panic began to rise in her as she got to Luna. Now that Celestia wasn’t so focused on catching her, Luna’s injuries looked life threatening. Her wings were more badly burnt then she had initially thought. Not only were the feathers burnt off, but she could see spots that were burnt to the wing bones. Besides her wings, there were large patches of the fur on her body that had been burnt completely off. Various cuts that oozed blood adorned her stomach and side. One of her legs was bent back, clearly shattered.
“Luna?” Celestia whispered while lightly shaking Luna. She got no response. “LUNA!”
Celestia’s panic began to rise as she proceeded to try and get Luna to awaken. She leaned in and tried to hear a heartbeat. When she found none, she started to do CPR.
“COME ON! LUNA!” She screamed, tears already falling down her muzzle.
Discord flashed nearby and put his lion claw on Celestia's shoulder. He had seen Luna fall, and the subsequent rescue by Celestia. The moment that Luna was hit, he knew that she was dead. The attack was very similar to the one that hit Sentinel, a spark dragon, and, as such, if he didn’t survive, there was no way Luna would. A simple scan told him that, sadly, he was right. “Celestia… She’s gone…”
“Luna… sister…” Celestia whispered sadly as a single tear fell from her muzzle and onto the muzzle of the blue alicorn. She knew that Discord was right, as much as she didn’t want to believe it. Discord always had a limit, a line he would never cross, and, even in the midst of his madness, would never joke about death, nor mock the dead.
She slowly got up and, as she did so, Discord backed up in fear. At first, he was just going to give her some space, but he soon backed up further. Celestia's mane and tail had become a literal inferno and her irises had darkened to a blood red. Discord gulped; he had not seen her this angry since he initially fell to madness.
you THiNk YOu cAn USe FiRe agAInsT a dRaGon!? I aM FiRe. i AM deATH. The Dark One snarled at the now fiery alicorn.
I am thief… Discord thought darkly. He was ticked that the dragon had killed Luna, but he knew better than to get in the way of an enraged Celestia. He also knew that even an enraged Celestia would not be able to kill the dragon, but he hoped that whatever Celestia did would hurt, and hurt bad. With that in mind, he readied himself, as Celestia flew like a rocket at the Chaos Bringer. He was going to add his Harmony magic to her attack.
She was so focused on the Dark One that Twixt’d and his griffons had to bank away from her to avoid being caught in her fury. The dragons stopped and hovered in shock at seeing an alicorn with a mane and tail made of actual fire. When Celestia slammed into the Dark One, it released a massive explosion, followed by a shockwave that nearly knocked any fliers still in the air to the ground.
Ooh tHe RAge! ToO BaD YOu ARen’t A DraGoN, oR YOu miGHT havE GotteN The poWEr boOsT NeedED to TruLY HuRT ME! The Dark One laughed, angering Celestia even more. The flames of her mane and tail flared up even more, and the light from them became so brilliant as to be like the sun itself.
Celestia roared her rage at the dragon and came at him a second time. This time, Discord could not help, as he could not even see anything. The brightness was too much, and he had to shield his eyes. But, as she slammed into the dragon a second time, the target of her rage was suddenly nowhere in sight.
Celestia looked around, trying to figure out where the dragon went. There no way that her attack had vaporised the demon dragon. The one place she had not had a chance to look was directly behind her. The sound of movement behind her caught her attention, but, before Celestia could react further, she found herself caught inside the tail weapon of the dragon. The inward facing spikes stabbed her all over her barrel, and she screamed in pain.
In a mirror to the duel between Sentinel and the Nameless One over Baltimare, the Nameless One had, in the middle of Celestia’s onslaught, managed to slip away without anyone noticing, and had reappeared behind her.
LiKE I saId… AnD NoW, LikE aLL PREy… With that, the tail and Celestia went up, causing more shrieks of agony before he flung his tail downward, releasing Celestia as he did.
“CELESTIA!” Twilight screamed and tried to rush forward even as Applejack and Rarity tried in vain to hold her back.
Twilight broke through them like they were not even there and ran with all her might to get to Celestia, completely forgetting that she could just as easily teleport to her, and that she was running towards the dragon. All she could think of and dwell on was her mentor, her idol, falling from the sky in a streak of red.
He of Hourglass hovered in a mixture of shock and rage. The Nameless One had just used the same move that brought down his secondclaw. All he could see was the recording of the final moments of the Alicorn Keeper’s life, and all he could hear was Nameless One claiming that the only way to hurt him was to be filled with rage. He of Hourglass was beginning to believe him, as, even with his strongest harmony-induced attacks, it seemed that all he was managing to do was merely scratch him.
By this point, Twilight had made it to Celestia, who was now at the bottom of a shallow crater. Still oblivious to the danger she was now in, she made her way down. What she saw was devastating. Celestia was ripped to shreds, but what really captured her attention were Celestia’s eyes. Those wonderfully motherly eyes were now dull and sightless, starting up at nothing.
“Celestia…” Twilight sobbed as she collapsed next to Celestia’s body.
The other bearers, who had, against their own better judgement, followed her, could do nothing but add their own tears. The battle was completely lost to them as they grieved. At first, they didn't even notice that Phoenix was yelling at them. Suddenly, all of them felt something hot and sharp digging into their sides.
“WAKE UP!” Phoenix hissed at the Bearers, some of whom were now rubbing their flanks. “If you don’t keep moving and fighting, you will join her in the Pasturelands!”
YeS, FIght And joIn Her! The Nameless One laughed from above them. He was about to spew fire down at them when something slammed into him, redirecting the flame away from the Bearers and Phoenix.
The Dark One recovered quickly, turning to face what had attacked him at the moment of his triumph. It was a familiar dragon to both Twixt’d and Phoenix Wave. The same dragon that had befriended Twixt’d with his stories of the Migration, and had transported Phoenix Wave on his head.
Before anyone could react in any way other than surprise, the golden dragon was slashed, and his wings were ripped off violently. The falling dragon was further ‘helped’ to the ground by the Nameless One’s tail.
WEaK!
Yes, they are weak… He of Hourglass agreed. They are FAILURES! ALL OF THEM! They are supposed to be helping me kill the Nameless One! HARMONY? HA! There is no power in it. He began to dive into the well of rage he had, and found it felt more powerful and comforting than harmony magic ever felt. “Yessss… thisss issss power.” He of Hourglass purred in ecstasy.
NOw You seE ThE TRuTh! The Nameless One laughed as the Dragon Keeper grunted in pain from the coming transformation. REvel IN The PaIn! USe it TO INCrEasE yOuR RagE And PoWER!
Quartermaster and Scorpion looked up, quivering in fear. They watched as their firstclaw began growing, his scales darkening. They knew that the Nameless One had won, for he had convinced their firstclaw that rage would win the day. They also knew that the Nameless One had enough power that a rage dragon, even a transformed one, would no longer be a danger, at least to one as strong as he was.
“What have we done?” Quartermaster whispered, his head falling in shame. He had given his word that he would beat the rage out of He of Hourglass and, in his grief over Sentinel’s death, he welcomed the rage, going against both his word, and what his hatchmate would have wanted him to do. He was the worst hatchmate a dragon could have.
I knEw You WOuLd sEe mY WAy…The Nameless One grinned wickedly as he turned away from the changing dragon. ‘hARmoNy’ Is FOr thE WEaK! HARmony, BuH! LooK WhERE IT goT yOU! bEfORE YoUR DEatHS, i’LL LET YOU in ON a SeCrET: iT cOUldn't eVEN sTop ME the lASt TIme! tO THINK THAT THAT FOolisH CounCil wouLd thiNk it WoULd woRk THis tiMe iS laUGHaBle!
The Nameless One was about to dive down to take out the Bearers when he suddenly stopped, his mouth opened in shock. He looked down to see He of Hourglass’ much larger and sharper spade tail weapon poking out of his chest. He tried to speak, but all that came out was a faint gurgle. His glowing red eyes then dimmed and died out. The Nameless One’s body, now lifeless, went limp and slid off the tail, crashing onto the ground loudly.
He or Hourglass lifted his head to the sky and roared triumph. The flame that accompanied the roar darkened from green to black, his scales further darkening, along with his sparks. He was becoming a carbon copy of the Nameless One.
No one else cheered. True, the Nameless One was finally dead, but at a massive cost, and now, there was a spark rage dragon. A dragon that clearly was just as strong as, if not stronger than, the Nameless One. A dear friend and brother, now lost forever in rage and anger.
For Twilight, it was worse than the pain when Spike chose. Then, there was still a hope for something to remain, if only a glimmer of what once was. This time, there was no salvation, and there was no hope. He of Hourglass had told her as much. She suddenly mentally recalled that conversation.
“What is wrong?” Twilight questioned as she saw the almost depressed way Golden DragonHeart carried himself. “You seemed more troubled today than normal.”
Golden DragonHeart was silent for a while, clearly debating whether or not to tell her. Twilight had an inkling of several things that could be going on, but she wouldn’t know for sure unless he told her. Out of respect, she wasn’t going to push any further than that simple question. She knew that if Golden DragonHeart followed how Spike would answer this kind of question, pushing hard would only result in him lying and deflecting. Neither would allow her to be able to help him.
“I’m scared.” He finally admitted.
“Yeah…” Twilight sighed. “The prospect of having to fight dark magic incarnate would put anyone at…”
“NO… YOU DON’T UNDERSTAND…” Golden DragonHeart shouted, scaring Twilight. He flinched before his expression softened. “You don’t understand… Part of me wants to become a rage dragon… I like the rush, the feeling of power…”
Golden DragonHeart’s admission shocked and horrified Twilight. To think that he would ever even contemplate wanting that to happen. Then to go farther and say that he was wanting it… She felt sick. Golden DragonHeart did nothing but look down in shame.
“Do you know the final stage? What it does?” Golden DragonHeart finally asked, not looking up.
Twilight said nothing, only dumbly shaking her head. She, of course, did not know. How could she know? Of course, whatever it was, it was… well, it had to make everything before it seem mild. How else would he speak on the final stage of rage growth?
“All memories are destroyed... just like at a Choosing…” He whispered as he slowly turned around, and the image of the Hourglass Council faded out.
Twilight needed to do something, anything… even if that meant killing him, so that Spike’s and He of Hourglass’ memory would not be tarnished by what he was becoming. She knew that neither would truly want this, no matter what He of Hourglass had said about it.
“If it ever comes to that, will you be able to do what needs to be done?” Sentinel asked again.
“I… I don’t know… I mean I...” Twilight finally stammered out. She didn’t want to think about, much less say aloud, what she knew might happen, and what she would have to do if… if He of Hourglass… She couldn't keep thinking on it, as it was too painful.
“If he ever falls to rage you must kill him.” Sentinel stated with no emotion, like he was merely ordering lunch.
“I… I… I…”
“Pray…” Sentinel whispered sadly. “Pray that we will never have to do the unthinkable…”
Twilight now understood the pain that Celestia went through, just prior to her banishing Luna to the moon. Except this time, there would be no banishment, only a death sentence… for them both. For him, a physical death; for her, it would be her heart that would die.
The biggest problem now was that the Bearers and Discord were the only ones left on the side of Harmony that had any real power. The strongest Keeper was now on the side of darkness, and everyone was losing all hope. Most of all, Twilight, who knew that now she would have no choice but to kill her brother, didn’t think she could do that, especially not now, as all she had left to support her were her friends. Celestia, who she looked at as not only a mentor, but, if she was honest with herself, she also saw her as a second mother, was gone. While Luna was not as influential on her life as Celestia, Luna was still important, and she, too, was no more. Discord and her were friends, but not very close, given Discord’s immaturity. Finally, she could not look to Sentinel, her counterpart as He of Hourglass’ clutchmate and brother, as his death had been the trigger for He of Hourglass’ final descent.
He of Hourglass roared again as his features continued to became more sinister.