Act IV: Climactic Collisions
Chapter 11: Phantoms of the Past
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Corey hopped back a few times, allowing Slayer’s magical tendrils to chase him. He remembered that Slayer generally attacked from a range, if he didn’t have the element of surprise that is. Corey was a bit caught up in keeping his eyes on the encroaching energy, and didn’t notice until it was too late he had been backed into an alleyway.
Letting out a quick breath of exasperation, Corey’s horn lit up, runes appearing around his forearms. His visible hands rapidly darkening in color, Corey began to rush into the sharp energy, batting them aside with his forearms as they tried to snap at him. However, when the tendrils made contact with his skin, they simply bounced off as though Corey’s forearms were made of steel. Corey made his way into open road again, Slayer retracting his tendrils.
“If that’s all you’ve improved, you might as well surrender!” Slayer barked, sweeping his left arm towards the ground. A chill entered Corey’s awareness, and he turned, seeing a large construct descending on him, mouth ready to bite at him. Green flaring around his arms and horn, Corey turned, catching the thing’s jaws before it could clamp down and holding them apart. Leaning back for a moment, Corey sprang forward, allowing his enhanced strength and the momentum to push it back.
The creature dug its claws into the road, creating small grooves.
“On the other hand, don’t,” Slayer said, “It’s better this way.”
Corey looked up, seeing another shadow creature, an ugly thing with wings, diving down. Corey leapt back, only to turn back to see a third which resembled a deformed bull. Its head was lowered, and it was running for him from Slayer’s position. Runes formed around Corey’s feet, and he took off, allowing the bull to go through air as well.
Using his enhanced speed, Corey ran along the side of the buildings, making rapidly for a rooftop.
I need to get higher up to take care of the one with wings! thought Corey, eyes trailing backwards to keep an eye on the creatures as they followed. As he refocused forwards again, Corey grunted in shock.
“You’re mine now!” Slayer shouted, throwing his hands forward. Corey leapt off the building, letting the tendrils stab the space where he was. Corey couldn’t breathe real easy, though. Something quickly crashed against his side, causing him to gasp as he found himself hurtling towards the road. He looked up, seeing the winged creature’s tail moving back into place. Then, he looked back, realizing he was heading towards the first creature’s head—it was rushing to get under him.
Taking in a quick breath to steady himself, Corey raised both hands, bringing the heels of his palms together as runes swirled around them. He thrust his arms downwards, letting a green laser fire from it. The attack served two purposes: launching Corey backwards and into the air, and blowing the creature’s head off as it got into position.
Corey flailed a bit as he went through the air, watching the creature he’d just blasted crumble into ashes. Corey quickly checked behind him, and launched another quick blast through the air to ensure he landed on the roof. As he recovered, Corey took in his surroundings again. The two creatures were rushing at him, and Slayer was turning to face him, a pool of magic at his feet.
I’m not going to get anywhere at this rate… Corey quickly put his eyes towards the sky. There was the sun, shining brightly as ever. An idea struck Corey at this point, one he hadn’t had the opportunity to use in a while. He lowered his gaze back towards Slayer and closed his eyes, putting his fingers to his face, green runes appearing.
Slayer let out a scream as he thrust both arms out at Corey, a swarm of sharp tendrils reaching hungrily out for him. The winged creature began to dive at him as well, and the bull creature began to rush towards the base of the building. Corey moved a little, only enough to ensure there wouldn’t be shadows the creatures could hide in.
Letting out a battle cry of his own, the runes around Corey’s fingers changed to a yellow-white color and a moment later, a blinding light shone from his body, ripping forth for quite a while throughout South Canterlot. The light hit Slayer’s dark magic—the constructs and the tendrils, and disintegrated them on contact.
Slayer let out a sharp grunt as he recognized the spell, shielding his eyes before he could be blinded.
“I’m not as simple as Lyon!” Slayer snarled. As the light died down, Slayer turned back, only to find Corey was no longer on that building top, “Now where did you run off to!?”
There was nothing but silence around him for a few seconds, Slayer scanning his surroundings. His ear suddenly twitched, prompting him to turn; he’d just heard a footstep…
And felt a punch sock him directly in the jaw as he turned his head to face behind him. Slayer was momentarily dazed, but managed to recover. There Corey was, retracting his fist. Slayer moved to attack, claws of shadow forming on his fists, but Corey moved in a green blur out of the way of the errant stabs. Wait… he wasn’t just dodging…
Slayer halted his attack, focusing his magic to form a cushion made of dark magic over his torso as Corey’s attack took form—the one that caused a kinetic explosion. Corey’s fist hit the cushion, but when the magic took hold, Slayer felt himself be lifted from the ground, the cushion over his torso giving way to the attack, causing him to cough.
Slayer quickly recovered, weaving a net of dark energy behind him to catch him. When he landed, the net deconstructed, pooling at his feet like a thick liquid.
“Were you holding back?” Slayer asked.
“No more than needed,” Corey shook his head, stepping up to take Slayer’s place atop the building, “I’m not trying to kill you this time. I’m going to end this as quick as possible.”
“Bah!” Slayer swiped his arm, the pool of dark magic splashing up a bit, “You couldn’t defeat me without giving in to your killer’s instinct before!”
“That was then,” Corey said.
Slayer quickly swiped his arm with a huff, sending two tendrils up at Corey. Corey stood still for a brief moment, then suddenly vanished in a green blur. Slayer blinked in surprise, but turned to see Corey within a few steps, one fist at the ready. Slayer smirked, letting a bit of the pool at his feet swirl upwards into a shield, blocking the punch.
There was green light on the other side, and suddenly, Corey’s opposite fist crashed through the shadows, knocking the wind out of Slayer as the punch crashed into his stomach. Then, Corey’s foot slammed directly into his snout, actually knocking Slayer over. Slayer landed, stunned. Corey hopped backwards a few yards, making a little distance, his left arm contracting back to normal size.
“I see…” Slayer said after a couple of moments, standing up, “So it isn’t all bluster. However!”
For a moment, the glow that coated Slayer’s horn extended to his whole body, and the pool at his feet extended. Corey prepared himself, but was barely able to finish adjusting his footing when two shafts of magic blasted at him. Corey managed to move his body, but he wasn’t quite able to cast his magic quick enough before, one after another, he received a cut into his right shoulder and another to the left side of the ribcage, blood splashing forth from the new wounds.
Working his arm rapidly from the jacket, Corey soon found himself ditching it, as a few more tendrils stabbed at him. Corey managed to vacate the area, but his jacket wasn’t so lucky, being punched full of holes. Corey squeezed at his right shoulder with his left hand, feeling the pain.
“You’re still the same naïve foal you were back north!” Slayer shouted, “You still don’t have a chance of beating me without losing something you hold dear!”
Corey’s posture altered at this point, and he stood straight up. “Is that right?”
Slayer paused for a moment, wondering what Corey was getting at. Corey’s horn lit up, and runes shone around his left hand. His palm glowed against the wound, and when Corey moved his right hand to the wound on his side, Slayer’s eyes went wide against his will.
He…healed it!? Slayer asked.
“I have to admit, you might be right,” Corey said, runes now appearing around his right hand. “That part hasn’t exactly changed. I’m still worrying too much when I really don’t need to. I can sense the rest of you are on the way, and now I’m worrying if Twilight and the others are able to handle it.”
Slayer snarled at the mention of the newest princess’s name. He should have guessed—she was his motivation even back then. “Her, huh…”
“But I shouldn’t be worrying,” Corey removed his hand from his side, and sure enough, that wound had been healed as well, “We’ve all spent the last month getting ready for today. They can handle themselves. I need to concentrate on the battles I’m in.”
Corey got into his ready stance, taking in one final deep breath. “And that’s what I’m going to do.”
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Norma stood in silence for a moment, taking in the fact that Discord himself was now sitting not too far from her. No matter what he was dressed like, this wasn’t something to be taken lightly. A being of his caliber would easily throw several things out of sync in her plans, if not just stop them entirely in a single breath.
“My, my, it would seem you’ve finally discovered my base of operations,” said Norma, “Too bad you’re too late.”
Discord looked to Norma for a moment and let out a chuckle. His grin slightly faded as he sat upright. “Honey, I’ve known you were here from the start. One cannot simply use magic the way you do without my knowledge. Every moment you’ve used your magic in malice it was like a bright beacon being lit, but I couldn’t quite come kicking down your door at my leisure. Much as I would have wanted to.”
Discord rose from the throne and placed his hands in his pockets. If one looked close enough they would have been able to see the smallest beads of sweat running down the sides of Norma’s head—even she couldn’t hide the fact Discord made her nervous.
“And yet you didn’t… I wonder, could it be you had some motive to keeping such a secret?” Norma grinned for a moment, only to have it fade quickly. Discord had appeared mostly jovial about the whole matter up until that moment.
For the first time in centuries if not longer, Discord looked genuinely upset at the notion.
“Fluttershy, Rarity, Rainbow Dash, Applejack, Spike, and last but not least, Twilight Sparkle,” He took a step closer, “Not to mention their families which you saw fit to threaten so that they would follow your rules. On top of all that, while their coming here wasn’t your doing, you even saw fit to drag two complete outsiders into this whole mess for your amusement. It’s quite strange, actually. About a year ago, I may have considered doing something like that myself. I may have explored other worlds for ways to sow mischief. And who knows how many games I’ve played treating ponies like toys…
“But now, after everything I’ve witnessed, everything I’ve come to learn, I can say with certainty, that I am no longer that kind of creature. The one I am now, isn’t pleased,” Discord took another step forward. Norma didn’t move, scowling in silence, “Your hold on them has also kept me at bay, but you no longer have that hold, do you?”
Norma didn’t say a word, but Discord didn’t need her to. That much was true.
“Which means, there is nothing that can stop me from ending this here and now.” Discord raised his hand, his fingers pressed against one another preparing to snap them. However, before he could make the resounding crack that would end it, Norma finally made a move.
Her body began to shine brightly as did a rune circle that appeared under Discord’s feet. He looked down with an arched brow. “Well now, this is interesting.” He chuckled lightly, even as the runes burned brighter and Norma’s spell grew in strength. Discord remained unphased throughout it all.
“Too bad it won’t work,” Discord snapped his fingers, the rune signs disappearing beneath him in an instant, shattering as though they were emblazoned on a pane of glass. For a moment, Norma looked shocked. Discord grinned in response, dropping his guard for no more than a split second. But it was all Norma needed, and she took her chance. Her runes grew to a blinding intensity as yet another rune circle appeared under Discord, a second one spinning in the opposite direction around the first.
This time, Discord looked worried. His eyes grew wide as he found himself unable to act in time as the runes began surrounding his body.
“It’s too bad,” said Norma, “Too bad you won’t see what I have in store for your friends…”
Discord snarled, snapping his fingers for a second time. This time, for the first time ever in his life, nothing happened. He looked to his hands, then back to Norma as the glowing runes’ light began to engulf his body. The last thing he saw was the strain on her face before the world around him faded to red.
Norma held the spell for only a few seconds longer before releasing it. She dropped to a knee as she took deep breaths.
He was far stronger than I anticipated… Norma thought. After several seconds, Norma’s breathing finally evened out and she stood again, walking to where Discord once stood. With a grin on her face, she knelt down once again, reaching for something on the ground.
“But it was worth it,” From the ash covered ground, Norma picked something up no bigger than the palm of her hand: an orb which seemed to be comprised of magic, and something—or someone, was held inside.
“So tell me, how does it feel to be my prisoner, Discord?”
Within the orb, barely even one hundredth his original size, was Discord. He looked around, tapping the orb at first, taking a moment to stretch.
“I must admit, it’s far more comfortable than the last one I had,” Discord laid back, floating within the orb as he placed his hands behind his head, “I could get used to this.” Discord let out a relaxed sigh, something that bothered Norma. Even literally in Norma’s grasp, he showed no sign of concern.
“You… you believe they can defeat me, don’t you?” Norma asked.
“Their track record is truly astounding. They do have a habit of putting together wins at the last second. Perhaps it has something to do with their tenacity—something to admire, honestly. But why am I telling you this? You’ll find out soon enough.”
Norma growled in annoyance. Not wanting to continue this conversation further she reached under her cloak. As she placed Discord’s orb within it, there was a faint glow of magic.
His magic is too unpredictable to use… it’s best to just keep him as-is.
Norma stood up again and took another moment to collect herself. The only one she truly viewed as a threat was now unable to interfere, and though Discord talked big, Norma had no doubt her victory was assured. So, without any more hesitation, she made her way towards the exit of the cave, starting her trip to Canterlot.
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Twilight had remained in North Canterlot after Corey left to pursue Slayer. Though she was convinced he could handle it, she could still feel the pangs of worry deep within. She’d wondered for a while if he’d turned off his earpiece so they didn’t hear him, which was fair enough. It definitely just didn’t feel right.
“Has Corey shut off his communicator?” Twilight wondered aloud.
“Might have,” John said, “Don’t worry. I’m sure he’s fine. He’s never sounded that sure of himself in all the time I’ve known him.”
Twilight breathed a small sigh. That didn’t exactly make her feel better about Corey’s decision, even though she’d already accepted it.
“Worry about him later!” Pinkie’s voice came through the line, “We’re seein’ more coming now!”
Twilight flapped her wings after a few moments of consideration, getting into the air to get a better view. Sure enough, when she turned her attention towards the city walls, she could see it perfectly: there was another mass of stone creatures coming along to play.
“I can see them too,” said Twilight. Leaving her communicator on, she raised her voice loud enough for the guards to hear, “Everyone, get ready! There are more of the creatures approaching the walls!”
The guards let out a collective grunt of acceptance and began to make their way to defensive positions. Twilight turned her attention back towards the mass rapidly advancing on Canterlot and began to take her position so that she could protect the capital, readying her magic as she did so.
Now that she was close to where the enemy was coming from, she could see the mass of stone creatures more clearly. And she could see something different about some of them.
They’re in different shapes and sizes… noted Twilight.
“There’s some big ones over here!” Rainbow shouted, “Good! Maybe they’ll be more of a challenge…”
“Don’t waste too much energy on these ones,” Twilight said, taking in the sight of the larger, much-more brutish creatures. Then, Twilight’s eyes flicked, catching the red flash of something being fired up at her, and dove down to avoid it. Still airborne, she turned back to the flood, and began to fire some pre-emptive lasers downward. Other guards with the capability began to do the same.
“Princess, watch out!” shouted a guard, and Twilight looked up to see one of the stone creatures charging right for her. Twilight gasped and closed her eyes, narrowly managing to teleport herself out of the way.
“They have wings now!?” Rarity shouted, having no doubt made a similar observation on her end. Sure enough, Twilight found herself surrounded by a couple of the winged ones, and began to rapidly descend to ground level, hoping that they would follow. However, she found she didn’t need to worry. Two pegasus guards, one armed with a sword and another with a hammer, quickly picked up where she left off. This gave Twilight the opportunity to move up a bit, and began assisting the guards at the walls again.
These creatures definitely aren’t like the other ones, Twilight observed, I’m definitely going to have to be careful with these until I can figure out all their new abilities. Looks like Para Norma is pulling out all the stops today.
Twilight’s face grew stern, determined, as she took in a deep breath to steady herself. The real battle had just begun, and she definitely wanted to be sure she did her best here.
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Though the second wave was much stronger than the first overall, for John, it only meant he had to hit them harder. Each swing still shattered them to dust, each slam ensuring they’d never get up again. But while this battle was still simple for him, there was one thing he couldn’t get off his mind. Corey had announced Slayer’s arrival, which meant for sure that the other remaining prisoners would be arriving soon as well. And yet, the one who John chose to be his opponent had yet to arrive.
Where are you? John thought, anticipation bringing a feeling of restlessness to his psyche. After all this time of improving himself mentally and physically, John wanted nothing more than to put himself to the ultimate test. But with nothing else to occupy him, John could only focus on the targets which put themselves before him, and that’s exactly what the dragon took to. He continued to blow through their defenses, continuing to wreck them, if only to pass the time.
“Norma definitely went all out with these guys, huh?” said Rainbow as she dropped down beside him. Even she had to step it up a notch, something she’d wanted to save for another battle as well. She still had a job to do, however, so both of them had resolved to see it through.
“And it’s only going to get harder from here on out,” John pointed out. It wasn’t exactly an opinion—it was a fact that had held true throughout the whole crisis so far. John didn’t care; all he cared about was making sure everyone would live to see tomorrow. And if he could accomplish that, then it would mean that they’d won.
“Look out!” Rainbow shouted. John quickly turned to see several of the stone creatures pilled together into a makeshift boulder which was rolling down the street. On instinct, John rushed towards the rolling object and met it head on. John found himself being pushed back as he made contact with the ball, but he didn’t give in. He dug deep into the ground, using the claws on his feet as leverage. Eventually, John and the boulder stopped. The creatures began to move, no doubt getting ready to break formation and attack all at once, but John was ready.
John took in a deep breath and unleashed a devastating torrent of flames which engulfed the creatures. The heat of his fire proved more than a match as the stone that made up their bodies began to melt away into a pool of magma. As John watched what used to be the “creature-boulder” turn into a molten puddle in front of him, he saw something else. Through the steam, smoke and glowing hot rock, John finally saw him.
Kronos.
Both looked at one another for a moment, the sounds around them becoming muted as they seemed to size each other up. Kronos, for his part, was wearing a cloak, his head being the only form of identification for him. After their stare stretched on for what felt like several minutes, Kronos finally moved—not to attack, but to make a gesture. He motioned John to follow him, before turning his back to John and began moving down the block.
John looked in Kronos’ direction for a little while longer before moving himself. However, after he took a single step he felt a hand come down on his shoulder. He turned to see Rainbow giving him a stern look.
“You’re going after him?” she asked.
John merely nodded in confirmation.
“You kick his ass, you hear? Because if I find out you lost, then I’ll kick your ass next, understand?”
John held his stare on Rainbow for a few seconds before smiling with a chuckle. “Loud and clear.”
With that, John jogged after Kronos and towards the battle he was waiting for. Rainbow watched as he ran until he disappeared from sight before turning to focus on her battle. But before she could continue, she stopped and looked back with a worried glance.
“Come back safe…” she said, hardly above a whisper before running off to hold off the rest of the second wave.
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“So, this is Canterlot…”
Positioned high above a cliffside, Norma was allowed a full view of Canterlot and the glory of the battle taking place. All this time, she’d watched from the sidelines as previous battles took place on a screen for her. While she may have enjoyed it at the time, it paled in comparison to being in the middle of it all. The clashing of weapons, the war cries of the guards trying to push back the much stronger wave of stone creatures she had created… all of it, was something that merely watching alone could not do justice anymore.
As much as Norma wanted to listen, as much as she would enjoy nothing more than to simply listen to their wasted efforts, Norma ignored her inclinations. There was somewhere else to be—somewhere she felt with all of her being she belonged. She eyed the castle from afar, the castle at the very center of the city. That is where she needed to be, seated upon the real throne, holding all the power that came with it.
“And soon, it will all be mine,” With a sinister laugh, Norma turned around and began making her way down the cliff. She knew very well that deep inside, there would be someone, or several someones, waiting for her. But that didn’t matter to her, just like any and all who had opposed her in the past. Norma would see to it that they were groveling helplessly at her feet, and the princesses of Equestria would be no different.
“Ready or not, Princess, here I come…”