Stories in Stone
Lost Empire
By TDR
Holding out for a Hero
[ Crystal Empire, train station 1620 hours. ]
“Wow this takes me back.” a figure hooded in a red cloak that covered it's form states. The general shape of the figure was that of a pony, the voice clearly of a female though it didn't seem steady, like it was trying to choose between two or three different voices to speak with.
“Takes you back? How?” asks another figure near the first. This one was clearly a pony and obviously a mare as well judging by how the form fitting scale mail armor was on her. The scales making up the suit seemed to be mimicked after hydra hide, though the coloration was a bright red that bordered on neon. She wore a knights helm that covered her face with a hole in it which a mint green horn protruded. Her voice came through muffled due to it, but her words were clear. A simple spear rested at her side. The shaft was two ponies long and made of the same metal as the blade. The blade itself was long and wide, looking a little bit like a flat pointed shovel rather than a typical spear blade. A strip of red cloth was wrapped around the shaft just under the blade and the ribbon like material whipped in the breeze and against the ponies armored back.
“To the last time we fought together.” the hooded pony comments.
“Wow that's been a while. Almost ten years when the Changelings invaded. Neat to see them helping us now. I guess even enemies can be made friends. Twilight might have been onto something with that whole friendship studies thing of hers.”
“Ten years? I was talking three years ago in Prance.”
“Oh that. We weren't fighting together then, we were fighting against each other because you flirted with that stallion in front of me.”
“That was the waiter, and for the last time I wasn't flirting.......” The hooded figure chuckles at the attempt to rekindle an old argument.” Do keep in mind who I went home with and that both of us got kicked out of the country for that.”
“And that cemented my position as a Potential Disaster rank one.” The armored pony chuckles. “Kept the standing even after retirement.”
“Well it's not like they could give me a rank like that or acknowledge that I exist half the time.”
“Oh you know you love being thought of as the calm, every suffering one of our relationship Bon Bon.” the armored pony laughs.
“I suppose you are right Lyra... or should I call you Crimson Tornado in that get up.” Bon Bon smirks under her hood.
“I still don't know how that name stuck, killing that bog serpent was literally, the first thing I did in the Guard.” Lyra snorts.
“The Guard does like giving out nicknames.”
“ How come you don't have any cool nicknames. Just that Sweetie Drops code name.”
“That was given to me after I obliterated a target with a barrel of gumdrops.”
“OooOOOOh... I wanna hear that story, how come I haven't heard that story?”
”Cause I'd have to kill you.”
“Lame excuse.” Lyra notes as she glanced towards the end of the street. A single pony rushed down the road towards them. A blue mane with a streak of white in it billows from under her Guard helm as the unicorn charges down the street towards the pair.
“There's Colgate. Or do we call her Minute?” Lyra asks.
“Doesn't matter at the moment. If she's here that means it's show time. Best get into position.” Bon Bon adds.
“I've been in position the whole time.”
“In the middle of the road?”
“You see the darnedest things,” Lyra chuckles watching as a whole swarm of slathering clones rushes down the street after Minute. The unicorn teleporting as she ran, just barely keeping ahead of the monsters. Though that was the point of what she was doing, Lyra thought she was cutting it a bit too close.
Bon Bon lifts a hoof, a line launching from inside her billowing sleeve, the hook on the end caught on the edge of a roof and yanked her upward.
“Hey are those my panties!?” Lyra yells up as she looks up after the ascending mare.
“I'm not wearing panties.” Bon Bon yells back.
“That's even better.”
“Perv”
“Your point being?”
Lyra pushed off the ground with her fore hooves, her armor chiming as she rose onto her back legs, snatching up the spear in her front limbs and spinning it before leveling the weapon at the approaching horde.
Minute ran past the armored unicorn, her hooves skidding across the wet stone and puddled water as she came to a stop just in time for a wall of water to splash against her chest and spread out over the street.
The way behind her was clear in the single breath it had taken her to turn around. Nearly invisible wires hung every where across the road dripping with water and Lyra was a good four pony lengths from her starting point, her body soaked as she tried to dry off her spear.
“So how many more of the stupid things do you think you can lead into this death trap?” Bon Bon called down from the roof to Minuette as she winds up some of her wires.
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[ White tail Woods 1630 hours ]
Explosions and fire filled the air as the ships cannons blasted all around the group, driving the attackers back into the treeline. The Trolls fell back screaming from the fire, the Tireks all raised shields and barely noticed the attack though they still fell back towards the crater as the clearing that the group was in was suddenly widened by cannon fire. The Elk scattered vanishing into the forest though a swarm of arrows emerge from the trees along with a number of bags of powder to douse the fires caused by the explosions. The arrows were fired at everything, though most of the bulk of the fire seemed to be towards the trolls. The screams of the mad beasts were telling in how deadly the shots were.
The Timber wolves barely noticed the arrows striking them, though they avoided the fire.
The clones were swarmed by the troops dropping from the ships, though a massive figure leaps down from the ship landing with a thud between the Elk and the five ponies. Luna barely flinches at the hard landing that cracked the earth under her hooves. She yanks her legs free of the ground, her wings fanning out as the Waning Moon and Brilliant Dawn were drawn , the blades nearly screaming as the light of the eclipse set both of them glowing with crackling blue and gold fire. A score of arrows fire towards the Astral Queen, though they barely were across the field before they were little more than sawdust from the attentions of the twin blades.
Applebloom winces looking back at a massive thunderous roar as the Storm Cloud drops down bouncing off the earth to stop between the six of them and the Timber wolves. Gang planks and ropes were dropped and larger non flying Changelings and Half Dragons rushed off the ship, fanning out to attack anything that wasn't part of their forces..
“Pip are you alright?” Luna demands, sparing a glance back behind her at her son.
“Fine Ma. Miss Doo's been shot though. We didn't make it to the crater yet though.” Pip reports
“That's fine, get every one on the ship We'll thin the numbers a little before we try to get you there.” Luna's eyes narrow as she whips up the Waning Moon batting aside a blast of magic that had been aimed at the airship behind her. “ What are the Trolls and the Timber wolves doing here?”
“I don't know we never saw either of them until now.” Pip admits noting a pair of Changelings rush over with a stretcher for Daring Doo.
“The Timber Wolves came to help...... don't attack them or the Elk...... they are just confused. The trolls came from the river,down from the mountains following a call to come here.” Applebloom comments, her voice sounding a little off.
“What?” Luna asks.
“Just roll with it Ma, somethings going on with Bloom, but if she says the Timber Wolves are here to help, it's the truth.” Pip comments. “The Elk are just assholes, not evil. If we focus on the other two they might take the hint.”
“Pip, language.”
“Seriously Ma? You're gonna scold me for that at a time like this?”
“Fine, all of you get on the ship.” Luna shouts.
“Sweetiebelle!” A voice called from the ship.
“Holy buck is that Button Mash?” Scootaloo asks looking up at the ship and the brown earth pony waving at the railing..
“EEEEEEEE, it is, he came to save me!!” Sweetiebelle squees bouncing about excitedly.
“Ah gods....” Scootaloo grumbles.” Well we're never gonna hear the end of this. He better propose within the year or she'll be insufferable.”
“All of you get on the ship. I will deal with this.” Luna states.
Pip stared at the ship and the colt atop it before looking over at the mass of Tirek clones and Tirek himself. There was far too much between them and the crater for the ship to make it with out getting torn apart.
The Elk were between the village and the armies.
The trolls had emerged from a river, likely the one they had first fallen into.
The Timber Wolves had come from deeper into the forest, though now it seemed they were focused primarily on driving the Elk away from the fight.
Ma had put herself in the middle of a bad situation to save them. She could have had the ships land on the out side of the ring of attackers and only had to face one direction. She had come in thinking she would need to attack all sides and did it any way.
The ship was laying down suppressing fire as another larger Griffon Battleship circled to land at the edge of the field, a safer location to let the troops off. There was no viable reason he could see other wise for Luna to have dropped down like that save for him, or maybe that Applebloom really was the key to ending this. Something he was supposed to have found out before this. His first mission and first Royal Order were failures.
The CMC had destroyed a ship on his watch and he had failed to get Applebloom to the crater......
“No.” Pip states hooking a fore leg through the ring of his sword.
“What?” Luna asks a bit distracted as she knocks aside another blast from a Tirek clone, the real one was just watching.
“This missions not over yet!” Pip snaps, turning to the others. Applebloom looked confused though both Scootaloo and Sweetiebelle had wide grins on their faces.
“Sweetiebelle get to the high ground on the ship and give us some cover throw what ever you can. Scootaloo can you carry Applebloom down to the crater?”
“Sure, she's not light but......”
“HEY!” Applebloom protests.
“.... But I can manage.” Scootaloo finishes.
“Can you do it fast enough to avoid getting shot out of the air?”
Scootaloo blinks then grins.”Maybe..... Belle you still have that spell you used in ninth grade gym class?”
“ The one I used to feign being sick or the the one I used to flood the locker room?” Sweetiebelle asked.” Cause I was told never to use that second one again.”
“The one you used in dodge ball.” Scootaloo sighs.
“Yeah.”
“Cast it on Applebloom.”
“Okay but you only get about ten minutes with it tops.” Sweetiebelle states.
“Umm hello... I did give an order...” Luna states, being ignored.
“Right, I'll run interference, you make sure she gets there then fly around and make Tirek think you still have her.” Pip states watching as Scootaloo pulls a pair of goggles from her saddle bag, putting them on. One lens was cracked and the strap looked like it had been readjusted. Pip recognized the pair as ones Rainbow Dash had worn, mostly due to the fact the blue pegasus' cutiemark was etched into the side of the goggles.
“Alright that should be enough time.” Scootaloo states.
“Pip....” Luna demands.
“Yes Ma?”
“You did hear me when I told you all to get on the ship... not just Sweetiebelle. Right?”
“Yes ma.”
“Then why are you not on the ship?”
“ Da said some times you have to ignore orders in order to do the greatest good.”
“I am aware he said that, he lives by it when it comes to Tia. But that thing over there knows that he says it too.” Luna growls.
“Yeah and that thing over there knows how important I am to you, He knows you'll put me on the ship and he knows he can take out something that big or get on it to try and take me hostage. That thing also doesn't do well when what he thinks is right or what he plans goes to Tartarus.
“Language....”
“Seriously?'
“Habit.”
“Anyway, we saw that when the CMC took on a clone, he couldn't figure out what to do about it.” He wasn't paralyzed it was just that he couldn't react quick enough, like he's trying to process all the information he has and he can't do it fast enough. If he has time to plan we are in trouble, we have to do what he can't predict.”
“They do have that affect.” Luna admits.
“The last thing he would expect is that you let me run off into combat.”
“Because I'm not.” Luna snorts.
“Which is why I'm going.” Pip yells whipping around and charging forward towards the line of Tireks.
“PIP!” Luna yells feeling a spell being cast behind her before there's a yelp and a blur of green fire flashes over her head.
Luna bites her lip watching Scootaloo and Applebloom roar past. She could stop them. She could easily grab them and yank them back onto the ship. She really should in fact, but for some reason she wasn't, she was going to let them do what they wanted to and hope that Pip was right. There was always hope.
Another small force of Changelings rushed forward after Pip, the smaller creatures quickly changing and becoming exact copies of the white and brown spotted earth pony.
She could hope. But she could also hedge her bets a little.
===================================================
The screaming of the now ultra light mare below her was barely heard as Scootaloo snaps her wings forward. Applebloom's weight was barely a tenth of what it had been, though Scootaloo needed to adjust for the mare's wind resistance and flailing.
“Applebloom tuck your legs up and keep your head down. Curl into a ball if you can.” Scootaloo cries out gaining a bit of height in the air.
“Ah'm trying. Ah hate flying, ah can't feel tha ground....” Applebloom yelps.
“That's kinda the point...” Scootaloo states.
Scootaloo sighs as she narrows her eyes. Her bright green wings had attracted quite a bit of attention below. And while the Elk were being kept busy y the Timber wolves and Luna's forces, the clones had noticed her and a few stray shots of energy from them were launched her way. Easy stuff to dodge.
“THAT MARE, DESTROY THAT ONE!” A Tirek with broken horns bellows, pointing at Scootaloo and Applebloom.
“Oh buck....” Applebloom mutters though Scootaloo just grins.
“well this is gonna get interesting. Sorry in advance Bloom.”
“For whaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!” Applebloom screams as Scootaloo's wings flare even brighter, a quick whip of the feathers of green flame sent the pair shooting through the air like a cannon shot. The sudden momentum ripping Applebloom's ribbon from her mane and letting her long hair whip free behind her.
Scootaloo barely noticed as a cannon volley from the ship roars past her from behind slamming into the front line of Tireks, just before Pip and a horde of other Pips meets it. The earth pony was ducking and dodging among the clones, letting the Changelings handle the brunt of the attack though his blade was whirling around his hoof or tail with each move he made, slashing at any clone trying to shoot at her and disrupting the spell. Scootaloo only managed to keep tabs on him by the odd weapon he had.
Green shields of energy started forming between her and the crater, often without warning a mere apple's breadth from her face. A instant flick of her wings sent her in a completely different direction each time one formed before her. A trail of fire was left in the sky as she zig zagged around the shields as the popped up often stopping dead in the air and going completely backwards to avoid getting boxed in.
She shuts her wings off suddenly letting the momentum carry her down towards the ground after a near miss with a blast of energy. Applebloom's screaming coupled with a triumphant roar was quickly changed to even more screaming and loud cursing from the amassed clones.
The air around her was filled with explosions, beams of energy and green shields. Nothing so much as singed her fur. A shout from Applebloom made her take a glance back.
At least thirty glowing balls of light were following hot on her tail, crackling with magic and matching her every move. What's worse the spells seemed to be gaining on her.
Scootaloo grins wider looking down at the, formerly yellow, pale green earth pony she was hanging onto before she dropped into another dive with a flick of her wings, dropping into the midst of the Tireks.
The pegasus mare ducked under more spells, sweeping strikes, and attempts to grab her or Applebloom. The clones that got closest to her came away with burned hands, if her wings left anything behind but ash. She dipped lower, Applebloom's hooves brushing the ground before the earth pony yanked them up wincing at the speed they were going. Scootaloo darted between the legs of the clone army setting a number of them on fire and causing the spells following her to slam into some of their casters.
A massive hand came down on her, nearly grabbing her before a brown spotted form intercepted it sinking a blade into the arm before running up it to smash his hooves into the monster's face before leaping off into the chaos again.
Scootaloo gave Pip a brief smirk before she was pouring on more speed. She finally broke free into the open air over the crater soaring over the end of the river and the waterfall that they had been swept over a few days ago. She glanced back again seeing a score of the missiles still on her tail. She winces a little as Applebloom's weight suddenly returned.
“Sorry again Bloom, but you're too heavy.” Scootaloo yells dousing her wings and spinning in place to shove Applebloom upwards into the air. Her wings ignite again and she snaps up into the air back towards the magic missiles back flipping over them before she soars straight down towards the bottom of the crater. Applebloom screams at being thrown, her upward arc rapidly turning to a free fall though all the magic attacks follow the fire winged pegasus.
Scootaloo glances back at all the energy blasts tailing her.
“Good, they are all following me. That's a relief. It would be embarrassing to have to go back after I tossed her like that.”
The pegasus pours on even more speed, the air around her screaming as a trail of fire begins to follow behind her, leaving a line of green flame that laps at the air and sets the side of the cliff on fire. She drops like a stone fired from a sling shot, pushing her self ever faster even as the ground approaches her. The missiles behind her were still gaining, though a few of them were caught in the fire trail she left and exploded sending a shower of rocks and dirt down after her as well as they blasted chunks out of the cliff face.
Scootaloo spins suddenly her hooves striking out at the wall as if she was galloping down it, her wings flaring out, easily four times their normal size, her body looking like a flaming V down along the side of the cliff as she left a wall of fire behind her.
Less than two pony lengths from the ground she kicks off the cliff face, her wings whipping hard as she changes direction ninety degrees, skimming across the ground, her face a mask of pain as she fights the G-fore she was going against trying hard not to black out. This turn was done far faster than she had ever gone before and the strain she felt from the sudden direction change made her scream out as she tore along the blackened earth at the bottom of the crater, setting everything behind her ablaze in green fire as she weaves between the dead trees before rising sharply.
The missiles couldn't make the same turn at that speed and peppered the bottom of the crater causing an massive explosion that took out a massive section of the ground and more of the cliff face, sending both crashing through the room of the underground cavern below the crater.
Scootaloo soars back up killing her momentum and easing the strain on her wings. She turns in the air as she flies up past the falling and screaming Applebloom flying back down along side her to grab the Earth pony again, changing directions to glide over the tops of the burnt out trees.
“I AM NEVER BUCKING FLYINGWITH YOU AGAIN!!” Applebloom screams.
“That's nice. Where do you want to go. I've got to go be a distraction.”
“Put me down on the giant stump over there. That's got to be the Yggdraisl's”
The stump she spoke of was huge. Ponyville and then another large settlement could easily have fit on top of it. Scootaloo wondered how any one could have even chopped the thing down. Looking at the massive weathered trunk one could see the black tat like icor along the nearly hollow inside. Scootaloo knew very little about trees, but it seemed the black mess was some kinda rot, with a much of the interior covered in the black,likely the tree would have fallen on it's own eventually. Or maybe that was where Tirek had oozed out.
Scootaloo lands setting Applebloom on the wood as she works the kinks out of her small wings before igniting them again.
“You better figure out what you're supposed to do fast Bloom. The Tireks were taking down a lot of attackers. I need to get back and make sure Pip is okay.” Scootaloo states
“So you do care about him?”
“None of your business.”
“It kinda is, he's my cousin.”
Scootaloo remained silent for a moment. “ I need to go, you be careful.”
“You too.”.
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Tirek was annoyed. Grated that was not an uncommon state since the loss of his cloud fortress.
The majority of his smart clones had been drawn out here at the feeling left by that damn zebra's ability. An ability that was currently screaming and directing his attention to the fire winged pegasus ripping through his ranks.
Several of his memories put her name as Scootaloo, part of the Cutie Mark Crusaders, a level 3 Potential Disaster Rating. The one she was carrying was called Applebloom, another member of the crusaders.
None of that, save the PDR, meant anything, and since the three were separated, that didn't mean anything either. The pegasus was carrying the earth pony some where in a hurry, and he didn't want that to happen.
Of course stopping the mares was proving harder than it should have been. The agility displayed by the orange one surprised him and was far beyond anyone whose memories he had, had seen. Celestia had even made a brief study of the wings and found out nothing beyond they appeared to be the mares talent. While they came about from dragon flame they were closer to lightning or as Twilight put it foo fighters and ball lightning.
He was so distracted by the mares in the sky dodging all his clones attacks that he didn't know there were ponies among them until a number had already fallen.
Tirek drops his gaze as a white and brown spotted colt turns another of his clones to water. Then another.... no wait... that wasn't the same colt.
Looking around there were dozens of the small pony darting around When one was delayed by a clone a second came up to distract the clone so the first could dart off again.
These were ambush tactics. Hit and run. And the form that was taken was that of one of Kaisur's sons.... Why would Luna …..oh right. The CMC and Pip had run off on an adventure for their senior class trip, he had briefly seen them when he arrived here. Some how they had wound up here, the burning wings of the pegasus were proof enough that the group was here some where, which meant Pip was here.
But why would Luna send her son into this? Looking over at the mare he could tell she was worried, and given how she looked when she first arrived it was not because of him. Tirek slams his hoof down to the right suddenly, the massive limb smashing down onto one of the Pips, green icor and black chitin exploding from under his massive hoof. He regards the mess briefly noting Luna's wince.
Changelings.
He shouldn't be surprised, but that still meant that the foal was some where in this mess and she was trying to hide him. As if he didn't have enough to worry about with the other forces gathered.
The Elk were beneath his notice. A pathetic race that barely had enough numbers left to viably breed a new generation let alone be any sort of threat. Still one did not stand against him and survive and these creatures had done so twice. They were next on the list.
The Timber Wolves were unexpected, particularly since they only seemed to be going after the Elk and the trolls so long as one of his clones didn't get in their way. While they were ripping into the trolls they were only subduing the Elk or making them run off. Odd, but irrelevant.
Luna's Changeling, Griffon, and Half Dragon army as well as the two warships worried him more than the others, and even they were nothing.
The trolls however were what gave him pause. He didn't call them, and given how the mad beasts were attacking anything that moved that wasn't another troll hinted that they were being directed. Trolls never fought side by side unless something stronger forced them too, or they were being controlled, and there was only one thing that could do that in such numbers.
What was the Gray Grimoires plan here?
The Book of Orbsah had to know that the Trolls would be little more than a nuisance to him. Was it making another play that Tirek wasn't aware of? Simply showing that he wasn't gone? Or was he actually attempting to help Luna in defeating him?
Given how the Trolls had no real focus he expected it was something in the middle. Like the book considered him an after thought. Something to keep busy, but not enough to devote any real energy into fighting.
He was being snubbed by a book that hung around with Trolls.
That was just insulting.
Glancing up he noted the pegasus returning . He looked to one of his subordinate clones and gestured for him to deal with her.
Luna was going to do something and he needed all his power for when she did.
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Luna was freaking out.
She was was also extremely pissed.
There was also a small part of her that was quite proud, though the other two parts rapidly tried to quiet that part.
Daring Doo and Sweetiebelle were on the ship, the scouts she had flitting about in the sky to give her an over head view of the battle confirmed that Applebloom had made it to the Yggdrasil and Scootaloo was on her way back. The pegasus had caused no end of havoc with her abilities and Luna was quite impressed. She made a note of it and had the Changelings she left in the Crystal Empire relay the information to Shining Armor. The relay back told her that Spitfire was there too and nearly throttling the Changeling she left for more information on her daughter.
Starfall and Rainbow Dash needed to watch out, or the young mare might just surpass them. No rainboom, but a wall of green flame nearly two leagues in length that was still burning against the side of the cliff and in the open air. That was power she had not expected.
There were still some clones attacking the Crystal Empire, but right now it was mostly clean up. Every pony was more concerned about what was happening here in White Tail Woods.
Because this is where it would end, one way or another.
Pip was another matter. He had rushed into the fray in what she thought was a blind attack, but he had been correct, a number of the Tireks had hesitated when they recognized him, and by the time they decided to attack he was already in their ranks. It didn't hurt matters that at least two score of Changelings had followed him, and all of them adopted his form. She knew which was the real Pip and happily noted that he was staying clear of the hornless Tirek.
That was the real one and he was just standing there, occasionally shouting orders though he kept glancing behind him to the crater.
Luna herself wasn't doing much either. She was waiting for him to make a play so she could stop it and him, but so far all she was doing was deflecting some shots at the ships, and that was only by moving one of the swords she carried, she had cast nothing of any note yet though she had a few spells ready to go and the blades were both screaming for blood.
The bloodthirsty feeling from the weapons confused her when she had first felt it, but she also felt the resistance from the Brilliant Dawn. The blade knew she was not it's master, yet it also seemed to know that both it's creator and master were down and such Luna would have to do. The Waning Moon on the other hoof knew who she was and the few times before when she took up the weapon it had been because of Jer'rahd being incapacitated. And the events that followed were almost always filled with violence. She could feel that the pair didn't like each other, but the rage was focused on Tirek and it was taking a surprising amount of concentration to simply keep the whirling blades on the defensive instead of lashing out on their own. Perhaps it had not been Jer'rahd who had saved her from Nocturne, either that or his will had been enough to make the weapon act on it's own.
Luna remembered before, that Twilight and Jer'rahd had both said that their blades seemed to have personality's of their own. Now that she could feel emotion and she felt it from both weapons she knew their beliefs were true. Both blades bore the souls of warriors, spawned either from their long connections with their owners, or in how they were forged. Given that the dragon smith that forged them was long gone from Equss she likely would never know the answer. That Forgescale had only been able to destroy, while his father had been able to craft things such as these swords was unbelievable.
The memories barely crossed her mind for an instant, but that alone was enough for an explosion to rock the very ground she stood on.
Looking past the Tireks and their shields, a massive plume of earth and rock was rising rapidly into the air.
The plume of earth rose high enough to intercept a blur of green fire, who crashed right into the rising earth and didn't come out the other side.
================================================
Pip flinched as the ground shook under him, cracks forming on the ground as the cliff side exploded behind the massed clones.
One of them had been watching Scootaloo come back and when she was nearly here, he had cast something into the ground, and the earth before him had launched itself into the air along with some trees that had been growing by the edge.
The fire winged pegasus had tried to veer, though the sudden eruption happened too quickly for even her reflexes and she was surrounded by debris. He had seen her slam into the dirt and then into the side of a rock, her wings going out at the impact.
“Scootaloo!” Pip screams out galloping towards the edge of the cliff as time seemed to slow around him, the plume starting to reach it's apex and beginning to fall along with the mare.
This was stupid.. this was damn stupid, why the buck was this his plan, there was no chance he was gonna make it.
There was even less of a chance that he wasn't going to try to save her.
The small pony lept up, his hooves slammed into the back of the clone that cast the spell,he charged up the creatures back and kicked off it's face with both hooves soaring into the air, leaving his sword behind embedded between the creatures eyes.
He didn't even look back as the clone turned to water, his hooves made contact with a uprooted tree and he rushed along it galloping over the wood as the tree and the debris started to fall. He lept up off the tree hitting a rock and bouncing off that to another, bounding up the rubble tossed by the explosion even as it plummeted towards the floor of the crater far bellow.
He didn't stop, shoving through loose soil and using his smaller size to bound up the pillar of rubble to where he saw an orange form tumbling down with the rest of the rocks.
Kicking off a tree he managed to leap up onto the rock she hit and scrambled up over it to grab her before leaping away from the rock slide with a massive kick off the bolder he had climbed up. His eyes stung with the dirt he plowed though. Looking up he could see that they had already fallen nearly half way down the cliff, well out of range of his mothers spells and it was doubtful that any fliers could get here before they hit.
Pip glanced down at his hooves and the mare held against his chest as he fell backwards, she had a large cut on her temple, though she was breathing. Well at least for another half league any way, he doubted he would be much cushion when they hit at this speed. Though he could hope for that at least, that she would survive the impact..
Yeah, this was a stupid plan. His Da would likely chastise him for letting emotions fuel his actions.... or maybe he would understand. Da was strange like that.
Looking past her he could see that he had kicked them fully clear of the falling rocks and trees from the avalanche. There was that at least, they wouldn't be buried.
He closed his eyes waiting for the impact wincing at the thought already. Why the buck did he jump off a cliff to try and save her...... oh right he had a thing for her...... well maybe a bit more than that if he was willing to leap to his doom. Infatuation maybe? Granted maybe it really was love, also why was his mane wet?
Opening his eyes and looking up he nearly drowned as he buried his face into a large glob of falling water. He blinked as darkness enveloped them as they fell through a familiar hole in the bottom of the crater, his last kick off had shoved them both far enough that they were back in the waterfall where they had first entered the crater and found the underground city.
“Not again!” Pip laughs right before they hit the churning water below for a second time.
====================================================
The Waning Moon and Brilliant Dawn had ripped through everything between Tirek and her, decimating shields and clones alike before the Changeling giving a relay overhead told her they had both fallen into the water fall.
Luna paused a moment for a breath before ordering her scout to go down after them. As it was however she had torn through the line enough to come face to face with Tirek himself.
“I see we meet again Princess.” Tirek sneers his shield managing to block the Waning Moon from taking his legs out from under him.”Though this time I am very much awake.”
The clones were lesser creatures, and the strength of his shield showed that. Either that or the blades felt their masters powers in him and were hesitant to rip though the shields.
“Nice trick with making yourself a Changeling to keep me from taking the powers of the sun and moon. But it's not going to work. Twilight Sparkle studied the bugs and I know their weaknesses. I also know a number of spells that can change the forms of the gods themselves. Thus granting them a cutiemark and making them easy prey for me. I must admit ponified Griffons and Diamond Dogs are quite tasty. The spells only useful on gods however as anything less takes more energy to change then I get back.” Tirek explains.
Luna growls thinking the damned monster just liked the sound of his own voice. She lashed out with the blades a few more times, even casting a quick disruption spell to little effect aside from making a larger area around the two free of fighting.
The majority of her forces were now mixed in with the fighting, the roar of the cannons showed that the rest of them on the ship were busy as well even if they were not fighting trolls and Tireks. Luna had kept her army back from attacking the Timber Wolves and Applebloom had been right, the great wooden creatures had ignored the Changelings in turn, and with them going after the Elk, that left her swam to deal with the real threats.
“I suppose you are wondering why I am telling you this? “
“ I was under the impression you might like the sound of your own voice. Or you're channeling Twilight Sparkle, she enjoys long winded and boring explanations.” Luna states
“Yes well....” Tirek stammers. “It is more that I know about your little hive mind and how it can transfer emotions along it so that even one of your bugs is near a source of power you all will feel it. I expect you left a number them in the Empire to feed off the heart and grant you a near limitless supply of energy. And all the gathered power feeds through you at some point like a central hub....”
A few more attacks met the same result as Tirek's shields held, though Luna could see cracks in some of them. Even Jer'rahd at his best had a limit and this monster was just copying him.
“Get to your point so I can cut off all your arms and legs before mounting you on the wall and naming you Art!” Luna snarls doubly upset that some Changlings memory was full of bad jokes and she had tapped into it.
“Simply put Luna you don't just absorb love and one of the Griffon Gods I took had a delightful fear spell as his power. Let me show you.”
The monster screamed and everything else followed suit.
=============================================
Again Tirek was relatively disappointed.
The fear spell worked spectacularly.
Changelings, Griffons, Half Dragons and Elk either froze in place quaking with fear, or ran around in a screaming panic.
Unfortunately neither the Trolls nor the Timber wolves were affected by the spell.
Fortunately with the Elk incapacitated the Timber Wolves turned their full attention on the Trolls rather than his clones.
Unfortunately his own clones were affected as well.
Fortunately, as predicted Princess Luna was stuck before him shaking in fear herself. While even the spell cast by a god could have probably been shaken off by the mare, the effects of the spell running through every Changeling she was connected to were hitting her with an amplified backlash even she couldn't easily fight off.
Damn there was Sparkle again.
Unfortunately, the twin blades she had been swinging around were still swinging around her. Luna's magic had been cut off, but the weapons themselves had only grown brighter and were still spinning around the mare on their own ready to block or kill anything that came near.
Fortunately all it took to free his clones from the thrall of the spell was a simple counter spell cast on them to deafen them temporarily. The clones thus freed either started killing the attackers, freeing others, or added their own fear spells from Twilight's memories to bolster his own expanding the area of effect. A small group of them had started to focus on putting as many shields around the stunned goddess as they could, trapping her in place in the event she shook off the spell. It would give him time to deal with her. Transformation magic took longer than he liked but the power that mare had would be his at last.
Even the air ship far above was simply hovering there with a few griffons and changelings flying free of the deck, and the one that was on the ground had stopped shooting.
Waking his army was a minor set back, but so long as the spell was going on he could wipe out everything save Luna and then face her with the full force at his disposal.
=========================================
Sweetiebelle stood on the deck of the ship staring over the side at the others.
The massive scream had filled the air and sent every one into a panic. Right now the only ones on the deck with her were Button, who was huddled over a large case he had been carrying, and five changelings who were trying to hide under each other.
Sweetiebelle noted the fear spell and rather than be affected by it, was annoyed by it. There was a rhythm in the spell that was almost it's own dance, but it held no tune and to dance to this music would mean acting like a fool and running around blindly.
Sweetiebelle sighed at the magic, then she smiled.
“Button Crystalis Mash!” Sweetiebelle yells suddenly.
Button yelps stumbling to his hooves looking around in a panic before glaring at Sweetiebelle. The mare strode over to him looking down at him as he struggled to shake off the spell and glare up at her. He pulls the pair of head phones from around his neck dropping them over his ears before he managed to rise fully to his hooves and glare at her.
“I thought I told you never to use my middle name.... only my Mom does that when she's mad.....” Button shivers.
“It got your attention didn't it. Do you know what this is?”Sweetiebelle waved a hoof, having to yell so the pony could hear her. The roar was still making the pony tremble, but the effect was muted.
“Chaos, us losing? A fear spell...... a fear spell with a audible component, what looks like a semantic component and …... .” Button states as the realization hits him.
“I need a rhythm Button. What have you got?” Sweetiebelle grins.
Button returns the grin darting to the front of the ship and slamming down the case smashing a hoof down on the button atop it.
The pony sized case rapidly unfolds, easily six times it's size with a speaker system that was double even that. It had a DJ table, a group of massive speakers what looked to be a built in keyboard a number of mics and everything that a sound tech would need for one heck of a show. The set up covered the forecastle deck of the ship, several speakers even spilled over the sides of the ship magically clamping to the side as the sound system secures itself in place. Despite the sudden envelopment of the front of the ship by tec, there was just enough space on the prow for Sweetiebelle to move and be seen.
A perfect stage.
She glanced over at Button who had taken off his headphones and slapped them along with another few pairs on the Changelings that were huddled near by.
“Button what are you doing?” Sweetie asks looking back at him.
“These guys are musicians. I was talking to them on the trip here. That's Carol, Aria, Shanty, Ditty, and Melody. Princess Luna actually brought them just in case something like this happened. Teacher was right. It's just like Dullahan.” Button grins as the Changelings behind him struggle to shake off the spells effects.
Button rushed back over to the sound booth shaking like a leaf from the spell but doing rather well to ignore it as he powers up the system tossing Sweetiebelle a mic. The Changelings stumble forward looking at what was going on clearly confused when Button dropped a pair of mic stands before them. He glances up to Sweetiebelle on the prow of the ship with a grin.
“One rhythm, with back up singers, coming up.”
Button starts a tune playing it from a crystal. The song that started playing through the speakers felt oddly right for the situation, a low hum of a guitar before a piano beat starts as the volume rises.
Sweetiebelle recognized it immediately as Platinum's Cosmic love. A wave of horror flashed across her mind coupled with a an image of her body flying through the air to impact a great black wall that had split open to let all manner of horrors through it.
“NOT THAT ONE!” Sweetiebelle yells back causing Button to mash down on the stop button with a jerk. Sweetiebelle looked out over the battlefield, the noise having drawn the attention of a number of clones that had been freed, and of the hornless Tirek himself.
“Just give me a random beat quick.” Sweetiebelle yells back.
Button fiddled a bit before a simple baseline starts up of guitar and drums. A few seconds later a piano starts up and a drum crash is added.
Sweetiebelle twitches a little at the beat, the words of a song forming in her mind. Her horn starts to glow brightly. The five Changelings with her suddenly start what sounded like a chant, though it was little more than the five of them keeping time with the music with little more than doo doos, and ahh ahh.
It was perfect, and more than enough for Sweetiebelle..
“Where have all the good ones gone
And where are all the gods?
Where's the street-wise Mare-do-well
To fight the rising odds?”
The effect was nearly immediate. There were shouts behind her as the crew that had fled the ship paused in their attempt to escape before quickly turning about and rushing back towards the ship, diving into holds and open hatches. The Storm Cloud shuddered as the engines roared, barely heard over the blasting music that the sound system was putting out.
“Isn't there a white knight, a strong fiery steed?
Late at night I toss and I turn and I dream of what I need”
The ship rocked as it lifted off the ground suddenly, a blast of magic striking against the armored prow as the ship lifts. Had the craft not moved the blast would have slammed into Sweetiebelle and the sound system. As the craft rose she glanced back to Button who cranks the volume knob higher.
“I need a hero!”
I'm holding out for a hero 'til the end of the night
He's gotta be strong
And he's gotta be fast
And he's gotta be fresh from the fight”
The ship soared upward forcing Button, Sweetiebelle and the Chorus of Changelings to grab onto something before they fell back down over the deck.
“I need a hero”
The Ship leveled off over the battle field and the cannons roared, the firing falling into a perfect rhythm with the song. A hatch flips open in the deck and a griffon climbs out tossing a number of cables towards Button. He took a glance at the cables then the Griffon, though the crew bird was already ducking back below the deck. Button grabbed the cables plugging them into the sound system, the music and Sweetiebelle's singing growing even louder as the ships com suddenly started broadcasting her voice and the music across all frequencies and through the ships own speakers. The hull thrumming along with the music.
“I'm holding out for a hero 'til the morning light”
Button glances longingly at a bright red button under a small glass bubble though he ignored it working on keeping the rhythm steady. The changeling singers all seem to get into it more following Sweetiebelle's lead and adding their own back ground vocals to support her singing.
“He's gotta be sure
And it's gotta be soon
And he's gotta be larger than life
Larger than life........”
The cannons roar again as the ship takes a sudden sharp turn, a blast of magic tearing off a number of railings, but again the ships Captain's actions had saved the musicians from getting blasted for a second time. Button darts forward wrapping a cable around Sweetiebelle's waist and connecting her to the sound system and the ships deck to hold her in place as she climbs up onto the jib boom. He does the same to himself and the changelings, though their wings were keeping them in place better than his spare aux cords.
“Somewhere after midnight
In my wildest fantasy
Somewhere just beyond my reach
There's someone reaching back for me”
Bellow the effects were not instantaneous, though they were no less impressive. The warriors who had fled were returning quickly and the ones who were frozen were back into the thick of it seemingly doubling their efforts. In trying to take out the Trolls and the clones.
Many of the clones were still frozen in fear and made easy targets, though even in the short time that the fear spell had been in effect many of the attackers had been killed or injured by the Trolls or the clones that had been awakened. Luna's swarm had gone from having superior numbers to being evenly matched at best and outnumbered now at worst.
The spell had done a wicked job in decimating Luna's forces.
“Racing on the thunder and rising with the heat
It's gonna take a Power pony to sweep me off my hooves”
To look out over the field now, if not for the bodies it would seem that no one had fallen at all with the nearly tripled ferocity of Luna's forces. Spells raged as the Guard forces pushed back against the clones and trolls, forcing them to go on the defensive once more.
With the aid of the Timber Wolves the Trolls were being decimated where before they had only been fought to a stand still.
From the tree lines arrows rained down again, though this time their targets were Triek's and Trolls, it seemed the Elk had figured out who the real threats were at last.
“I need a hero
I'm holding out for a hero 'til the end of the night
He's gotta be strong
And he's gotta be fast
And he's gotta be fresh from the fight”
Luna couldn't be seen with the number of shields piled up around her like a jagged dome. With Tirek as close to her as he was she was probably still getting hit with the brunt of the spell.
The Captain evidently noticed this too as the ship was turning towards her. Button made a not to fault an' I told you so' over the pegasus later.
“I need a hero
I'm holding out for a hero 'til the morning light
He's gotta be sure
And it's gotta be soon
And he's gotta be larger than life”
The song turned to a break down of just music as Sweetiebelle caught her breath her face wide with a smile. She looks back to the others, a path laid out in her mind of what she was going to do from this point on. She turns back looking out over the crater seeing a small red dot atop a massive tree trunk. Sweetiebelle hoped Applebloom could hear this, or if not, that she at least wasn't hit with the spell.
“Up where the mountains meet the heavens above
Out where the lightning splits the sea
I would swear that there's someone somewhere
Watching me”
The ship rocks with repeated impacts as the underside was blasted with magic fire, bits of wood flying up around them as several of the Tireks where blasting the ship while others protected them from the attackers with shields.
“Through the wind and the chill and the rain
And the storm and the flood
I can feel his approach
Like the fire in my blood”
The Changeling chorus echos the last line as the air bag above them suddenly is hit, a ball of fire enveloping it and snapping loose a number of guide wires making the ship tilt crazily as it started to spin out of control as more spells struck it.
Sweetiebelle barely even paused.
“I need a hero
I'm holding out for a hero 'til the end of the night
He's gotta be strong
And he's gotta be fast
And he's gotta be fresh from the fight”
The ship clips the top of one of the trees as Captain Breezy fought for control. The airship listed to the side heavily with a groan that the music couldn't drown out as the spiraling got worse.
Button could hear the Captain, Breezy screaming in rage from the bridge as he fought to keep the ship airborne.
“I need a hero
I'm holding out for a hero 'til the morning light
He's gotta be sure
And it's gotta be soon
And he's gotta be larger than life”
The ship takes a few more solid impacts as it is steered away from the crater towards the woods behind where the Elk had come from, the ship breaking apart as it spiraled through the air knocking the tops off a number of trees
“I need a hero
I'm holding out for a hero 'til the end of the night
He's gotta be strong
And he's gotta be fast
And he's gotta be fresh from the fight”
Button grits his teeth holding on tighter to the sound system as the whole world whirled around him. Sweetiebelle and the Changelings were doing their best to keep upright but they were straining in the cords he had tied them down with. The strain didn't seem to reach their voices at all.
“I need a hero
I'm holding out for a hero 'til the morning light
He's gotta be sure
And it's gotta be soon
And he's gotta be larger than life”
The jerk of the ship as it hit something a little thicker than a tree top sent the whole thing pitching forward before the Captain yanked it backwards to keep the prow in the air.
“I need a hero
I'm holding out for a hero 'til the end of the night”
A massive blast slams into the side of the ship as it finally falls through the trees. A few chorus's of Ooo's from the Changelings are heard before another massive explosion lights up the darkened sky as the forest where the ship went down erupts into a pillar of fire sending bits of gas bag and wood flying high into the sky as the song goes silent.
===============================
Tirek cursed his arm still raised from casting the final shot.
It wasn't over.
He still had control of this, his clones were pushing back the defenders again. All he needed to do was cast that spell again now that the meddlesome mare and her song were put down and he could wipe out everything once and for all.
Ending that nuisance forced his hand and made him stop the fear spell briefly to blast the ship out of the air, but it was over. A momentary lapse wouldn't be enough for Luna to get free, not with as many shields were trapping her.
A sharp pain in his arm snapped his eyes down to his upraised hand.
Or at least, to the fountain of black blood where his arm from the elbow down should have been.
He roars, backing away pain his eyes widening as Luna stood before him still, her mane whipping wildly specks of green floating behind her where she had ripped through the shield and the clones faster than the magic could dissipate. A number of his clones that had been trapping her were still looking around confused as they were already in three or four pieces but the magic keeping them from turning into puddles hadn't realized they had been killed just yet.
The Waning Moon and the Brilliant Dawn both dripped black icor. Glancing down he didn't even see his severed arm on the ground, just giblets of his flesh and a growing puddle of his own blood.
“I don't have to hurt you to stop you.” Luna snarled as the two blades snap to either side of her, splattering the ground with more of his blood as she advances on him. “But I am going to enjoy doing it any way.”