(20) [The Battle of Wethoof, Part I] All Dogs Go to Heaven
CHAPTER THE TWENTIETH
ALL DOGS GO TO HEAVEN
~THE BATTLE OF WETHOOF VILLAGE, PART 1~
Stars.
For the first time in my life, they gave me no comfort. There was no solace to be found in the glittering dots of light that freckled the skin of the night sky. Luna's moon, round and bright, bathed the world in a silver gleam, hauntingly beautiful, yet distant. There was a fiercely alien beauty about Equestria that I had come to know and love, but tonight I could not appreciate it.
I had the distinct sensation that the stars had quieted from whatever conversations they held, and had turned their attentions towards the land. They were watching, now, holding a collective breath. The celestial audience had fallen silent and still.
I wrapped my toga closer to my body, and tightened the straps holding it flush. Despite the warmth of the previous day, and the presence of the typical rainforest thermals, the air was chilly tonight. And the pace by which we were traveling didn't help, either.
Beside me, Ginger Snap hunkered low to the floor of the chariot, pulling the black goggles over her eyes and adjusting the straps of her own apparel. The mare had fallen into a tense, brooding silence that I was more than happy to keep. Then again, I couldn't be much else than silent, now could I?
Hah! Mute jokes. I make myself laugh sometimes. Oh, wait...
Popper and Blueback, attached to the front of the chariot side-by-side, had not said a word either. I don't blame them. There is always too much to think about before a battle. Usually regrets. Loves undeclared, risks never taken, efforts wasted. That same old song and dance. What would you have done differently? What would you have done the same? The prospect of death has a habit of doing that to a man, regardless of his station.
The floor of the chariot tilted towards the forest floor. The pegasi spread their wings and banked into a glide. We were descending. Our destination appeared below, an enormous, ragged clearing, swampy and faded. The moonlight bleached the mud and murky water the color of bones. A massive willow tree dominated the very center of the swamp, with thin, dangling tendrils that whispered as the wind blew through them.
This was it. This was the hydra's nest. Somewhere in the swamp, they lurked. I could feel their presence; malevolent, primal, predatory. Were they watching us, too?
I mentally reviewed my mission, morbidly debating whether or not I'd be killed and eaten now or at the wall.
The plan was simple, as the best ones tend to be. We would first ignite everything we could. That would get the hydras' attention. Once they had been roused, we were to lead them through the forest to the gauntlet with a trail of fire. The unlit bonfire there would serve to keep them in place while the ponies opened up with the catapults and the airship bombarded them from above. And then, the charges should go off, annihilating the survivors completely. Our role was critical. Failure is not an option.
The chariot clipped the tip of a twig with a wheel. We were coming in for a landing.
With a soft thud, we landed on the outside of the swamp, rolling along the very edge of the forest. The sounds of the night life rose up to meet me. Crickets chirped, frogs peeped, and in the distance, an owl hooted. Nearby, a bubble of muck rose and popped, releasing a powerful, fetid odor that smelled peculiar mix of unwashed gym socks, really sloppy farts, and a generous helping of roadkill.
I wrinkled my nose in distaste as I hopped out of the cart before it stopped moving, landing on all fours and carving trenches into the peat as I ground to a halt. I stood upright and surveyed the swamp. My hackles stood on end. Something about this place was inherently wrong, much like the feeling I'd had in the Greenclaw den. This must be a hotspot for more of that corruption that'd been seeping up from Tartarus. Good thing we sealed up the main hole.
I heard the squelching noises of hooves landing in the mud somewhere behind me - Ginger had dismounted. "Go," she barked to our fliers, "be ready to lift us out of the gauntlet. We won't be long." The pegasi nodded and took a few running steps, before taking off once more and sailing away over the moonlit treetops.
I was once more observing the swamp when I felt something strike my back. I toppled over and rolled, claws out, ready to defend myself. Instead, I found myself staring into the fierce, scowling visage of Ginger, pinning me into the filth. Great. My toga had just been cleaned! I squirmed under her. She pressed down harder and leaned forward.
"What the buck was that back there?" Her voice was low, her eyes narrowed in suspicion. "Why is a dead diamond dog appearing to us? Why can we see him? I want answers, and I think you know something. So start. Talking." I bared my teeth at her and tried to rise. She planted hoof on my throat and shoved me back down. I instantly went limp, the pressure on that particular spot triggering a deep psychological terror in me. This was where my voice had been taken, where my life had almost bled out.
"I'm just as clueless as you are!" I managed to respond with a free claw. "I've never seen a ghost before in my life!"
"No. Ever since you've showed up, things have gone from bad, to worse, to outright freaky. And now, the dead rise! The dead, Echo!" she hissed. "You're connected to this somehow."
A figure loomed up behind her, tall and proud in the moonlight. A gust of wind rippled his coat, and his vest clinked softly as the gems in the pockets knocked together. As are you, kin-of-my-kin, came an eerily familiar voice that resounded in my mind rather than my ear.
At once, Ginger whirled off me and advanced upon the specter. "You," she hissed. "You're supposed to be dead! Go back to wherever it is you've come from. There is nothing for you here!"
I cannot - no place to call home I have. The caves of my sires reek with evil. Our spirits have no place there anymore. Mosspaw, the mighty leader of his pack, bent down to her level. You drank the river of shadow, and yet live on. You died and returned from the clutches of the blackwater. Behind them, I facepawed, finally recovering from the shock of Ginger's hoof and the appearance of a ghost. Of course! I should have known better than to drink from the Styx...but I hadn't known it for what it was. And you as well, pup. This is why I appear to you. His voice cut through my thoughts, making me shudder.
"Leave us alone," Ginger growled, taking another step forward, her horn bursting into flame. I winced. Even from my position on the ground, I could feel the heat. To his credit, Mosspaw didn't flinch, or even look away. "We have nothing to offer you."
You do. You may yet redeem us. I crawled to my paws, warily approaching Ginger's side. Mosspaw regarded me with interest, before looking back to her. An alpha is bound to his pack. When I lost myself to the blackwater, they suffered the same. They, as well as you and the Snap-ponies, suffer for my weakness.
"You...you're behind what's happened to my father? All this time!" Ginger seethed, bristling like a flame-colored hedgehog. "I'll kill you!" she roared, lunging forward, seeking to gore him through the eye. Mosspaw shimmered for a split second, and Ginger passed right through him.
Your strength is wasted. Save it, kin-of-my-kin. I am already dead. The diamond dog's glimmer went away as he turned to address the mare, who was standing behind him now, eyes wide in disbelief. We are in limbo, cannot pass on to the Long Hunt. We cannot move on.
Of course...that's always the reason the dead can never pass on. I should have seen that coming."What does your unfinished business have to do with Ginger and I? And why now, of all times?" I asked him in wonder. The little scientist inside me was squee'ing with delight as I observed the spirit perform a feat of selective permeability.
He looked at my words for a moment, then at me, with sadness in his eyes. I cannot read, he said.
"Echo wants to know how that could possibly have anything to do with us," Ginger spat, taking out her frustrations on the ground, stomping a deep hole into the muck. "And now? We have much bigger problems to deal with tonight than a few dead dogs who got themselves lost!"
You are the only living Greenclaws. Frostycorn, you, and the silent one here are all that is left. But further that number must be taken.
"WHAT?!" Ginger and I exclaimed at exactly the same time.
Sensing my confusion, he addressed me. You carry my spear. By rights, that puts you in contest to be alpha. Outsiders are allowed the challenge. You are technically a member of my pack, however distant your breed. He turned to Ginger. You are the pup of Frostycorn. You are a packmate by blood.
"...And my father?" Ginger asked.
He is my hunting-brother, having earned his place through living alongside us for many a year, and is now the alpha of our clan, or he would have been, had he taken up my fallen spear. It is our way. Mosspaw nodded sagely. The pack cannot go until an alpha rises. There must always be an alpha. This is known.
"And that means one of them has to die..." Ginger said slowly. She looked at me with hard eyes. I swallowed nervously.
No. Mosspaw stepped between us. Death is not part of this rite. He will not take up my spear. The pack will remain in limbo. For his defeat, I wish only. He paused, hesitant. But...there is one who would see him pass on to join us. For tonight, he passes beyond salvation. These hydras, and worse, are the spawn of his madness. The ice his heart had become has begun to crack.
"Who wants to kill my father?"
One who loves you both. Another voice sound into my mind. Soft and lilting, like the sound of a harp being plaid. A beautiful unicorn mare stepped out from behind Mosspaw, as if she had been hiding there all along. She had a gleaming ruby red coat and an twirling orange mane and tail. Fierce green eyes beheld us with warmth and pride.
Ginger made a choking gasp, and fell to her knees.
"M-mother..."
Disarray once again found himself perched at the roof of the world. Peering down from the heavens, the former Prince of Equestria repressed a shudder. Something was wrong. Something was brewing.
"But what?" he asked himself.
There was a presence in the air tonight. It felt alien, distant. Worse still, it felt hungry. Disarray thought back to his younger days, long ago, in hopes that they might reveal some forgotten answer to him. He strained his ears absently.
He started suddenly, and whirled around to the south-east. His ears were now at full attention, swiveling this way and that, like sonar dishes. There had been something, on the very edges of his hearing. There was no denying that. He focused once again, holding absolutely still.
There! It was a...buzzing.
Disarray felt his multi-millennial heart stutter in his chest. He knew that sound very, very well. He shifted his hooves.
The sound of wings once again sounded from behind him as their users alit on the cloud, some way behind him. He quickly spun about. "Cousins! We don't have much time!" he cried.
"Disarray? Why are you so upset...?"
"...The night is young and beautiful. Enjoy it. Truly, Aunt Luna outdoes herself."
"There's no time for that!" Disarray went to them. "Do you hear it? Towards the gap in the forest, far to where I face."
They turned, each wearing an identical frown. Their ears shivered as they concentrated, like he had done himself not moments before. Then, as one, their eyes widened in a look of horror and realization.
"The swarm approaches...!"
"...We must alert Celestia!"
"No time!" Disarray repeated. "We must deal with this ourselves." The others exchanged a nervous glance. "Oh, you've got to be kidding me. Are you two Scoota-I mean, chicken?"
They narrowed their eyes at him. "We have good reason to be..."
"...our foe has not been seen in many a generation. They could only have grown stronger."
Disarray sighed mightily, weighing his options. The presences of the swarm would certainly thrown things off down on the ground. Innocent ponies would very well perish if the threat were not dealt with. That could not happen. He might have forsaken his crown, but he was still compelled to watch over his former subjects.
So. It has come to this, he thought. They had already asked him for it once. There was little time for bartering now. "Stand with me and defend our subjects...and I will return to Canterlot to seek out my Mother, as you have wished of me." As much as it pained him to say, she deserved to see him again.
Still, it brought a smile to their faces. "We shall fly with you, cousin..."
"...For family, and for Equestria."
Two powerful downstrokes from each sent them into the air, gracefully hovering with barely any effort.
They twisted as one, and turned to the direction of the noise. Disarray coughed and frowned. "They shall come. And when they do, we shall be ready." Disarray scanned the skies. "Tell me, can you two do that...thing you do, down so close to the equator?" he asked them. They nodded solemnly, eyes fixed on the horizon. "Good. That will level the playing field for sure. I ask that you begin preparing for the attack. I have preparations of my own to begin."
The pair rocketed away into the heavens, where they would begin focusing their energy. With skill, and a little luck, they would be able to halt the advance. To turn the tide, however, Disarray would have to resort to drastic measures.
Disarray tugged at his mustache. "The things I do for love," he mused. Then, he grimaced as he concentrated his magical power, a band of light slowly tracing the spiraling lines of his horn. The former prince groaned with the effort; it'd been a long time since he'd done this. When the light reached the very tip, it condensed, before racing back down his horn and into his head, passing down his neck and settling in his chest, where it burned like a miniature sun.
Disarray repressed a groan of pain as he felt the spell take hold. Deep, deep inside him, the magic began to take hold of his essence, and pull. He felt it begin to concentrate in two spaces, each the opposite of the other. And then, the hybrid was split down the middle, a sharp blast of energy pouring fourth from the gap.
He ceased to exist at that moment.
Crack!
Two forms now stood face to face on the cloud.
A pale gray alicorn, with a straight, white mane, clad in a thick, multi-colored robe, stomped his hoof. "Let us be frank with each other," he said to the second figure. "For tonight is no time for petty squabbling. We must be two, but work as one, if we are to see our subjects through this. The spell will wear off soon."
His counterpart, a draconequus, with a purple dragon's head, feathered spine, two white bear-arms, two lobster claws, an ostrich leg, a lion's paw, and a kangaroo tail, stood at ease. "Oh, I concur. But I have to ask - isn't talking to oneself considered a sign of insanity?" he asked coyly. "Also, who gets to keep the name this time around? I think I should, because you had it last time."
"Fine...Disarray."
Disarray snorted with amusement. "Don't be such a stick in the mud...Entropy.
The only features the two had in common were their eyes, one pair glittering with mischief and humor, the other's with calm and focus, and each sported a glimmering, rainbow mustache, which shifted in a non-existent wind.
Entropy growled in response. At this, Disarray held up two bear-paws in a gesture of peace. "Oh, hush, Mister Crankyhoof. I may be our embodiment of chaos, but I could never let harm come to those I care for. After all, even Father never killed innocents, and protected his subjects from all but himself. We will smite our foes with with zest! With vigor! With righteousness! With chocolate milk!" He clacked his lobster claws once, and a massive warhammer appeared in them, which he rested jauntily over one shoulder. "And with the Banhammer. Can't go wrong with the Banhammer!"
Entropy rolled his eyes. It was going to be a long night.
Daring Do shuddered to herself as she felt her hooves press into the wooden planks of the floor, the rising of the ship making her feel heavy. The airship's dark hold was somewhat drafty, despite the ponies packed into it, and the sensation of flying by anything other than her own wings made her feel uneasy.
The Mercy II was moored to the barracks by a long rope, and tethered to her sister ship, the Mercy III. Those who could not fit into the first were berthed into the second. A skeleton crew tended to each. They had instructed the civilians to stay down below. This didn't rest well with Daring Do, however. She was beginning to crave the outside, where there was room to spread her wings and sky over her head.
The instructions hadn't seemed to stop the mayor, though. As soon as the ships had started to rise, the stallion had gone abovedecks.
"If he can do it, what's stopping me?" Daring muttered to herself. The answer, of course, was nothing. To that end, the explorer pressed her way through the crowd of ponies, and began climbing the stairs. Nopony bothered her - they were too busy with each other, huddled together in groups as they murmured soft words to frightened foals.
The hatch to the deck wouldn't open at first, but soon yielded to a solid buck, and was promptly blown open by a roaring gust of icy wind, the likes of which Daring hadn't felt since her expedition into the Himallamas, the highest mountains in Equestia. She stuck her head out, and gasped at what she saw.
The ships were surrounded by a bellowing, seething whiteout.
The deck was coated in a thick cloak of snow. The wind howled mercilessly, stinging her cheek with sleet and tiny hail. A nearby crew member was completely encased in a block of ice. The look on his face bordered utter astonishment. "What the buck...?" Daring asked nopony in particular. She hopped out of the hatchway and landed on the slippery deck. She could see that a similar fate had fallen the Mercy III. "What's going on here?"
A shape moved across the sister ship's deck. Daring felt her blood run colder than the ice beneath her hooves as she recognized it. The figure turned and grinned at her, revealing row after row of shark-like teeth nestled inside its great, blue muzzle. A long prehensile tail, ending in a paw, dropped the frozen crew member it had been dragging. The golden collar about its neck was scuffed, beaten, and now embedded with a great, black gem that seemed to absorb all light that touched it. The two snow leopards padding across the deck beside it hissed at her, hackles arisen. She could recognize that figure from anywhere - it had been plaguing her for years, after all. "No...that's not possible!" she whispered. The explorer twisted round and swiftly brought out her trusty whip. She was going to need it.
When she turned, a streak of cloud spun off from the storm and swirled about in front of her, swiftly coalescing, condensing, gaining shape and form...the form of a pony. Two ice-blue eyes, coldly lit from within, opened in the figure's head.
Daring repressed the urge to panic. Years of experience were the only thing that prevented her from hurling herself into the air and attempting to brave the howling wall of hail and sleet. She whirled around. The hold was still safe! But the hatchway suddenly blew back down, and was rapidly covered in a sheet of thick ice, moving as if it was alive.
The pony finished forming.
"For the greater good," said Mayor Frost Snap, as his horn lit up a sickly white.
Coconut grunted as he heaved the last boulder into the catapult's ammunition slot. "Yer all good ta go, lass! Best of luck to ye!"
Sparky laughed and gave him a chipper (yet twitchy) wave from where she was perched on the siege engine as the pegasi team shoved the last of the cloud-borne catapults away from the earthworks. Other ponies, mostly pegasi, manned the weapons, with a smattering of strong earth ponies and unicorns, each equally cloud-proofed. Silent as a feather hitting the floor, the ponderous construction drifted into place by the others, ringing the gauntlet like a grim assembly of judges, ready and waiting to bring their collective justice down upon the damned. The superdense clouds they rested upon occasionally released a small crack of lightning, such was their sensitivity.
Coconut rolled his shoulders. Silence had fallen over the gauntlet now. Beside him, Captain Tythus stood as still and implacable as a granite mountain. Other soldiers were spread out over the embankments, four deep, and over three-hundred abreast. On the southern wall, Sargent Baritone gave the all-clear signal. Atop the eastern wall, Sergeant Cloud Nine repeated it. As the final catapult assumed its position, Sergeant Sparky completed the trio's gesture.
They were ready.
Pennants fluttered in the breeze. In the sky, ragged patches of white chased each other through the stars. Coconut forlornly gazed at them. The clouds looked like they were fleeing. That sounded like a good idea right about now. He wasn't a fighter. He was a cook, for Celestia's sake!
But he knew what he'd signed up for. He watched as the two airships containing the town's population began to slowly rise, tethered to the barracks on the other side of the wooden wall. Coconut turned his gaze west, the distant treeline. That's where they would come from. He shivered, and it wasn't from a sudden gust of wind.
"Frightened?" Tythus' voice was surprisingly tender for once. The captain, while usually soft-spoken, usually carried a certain bite to his words that made ponies listen.
Coconut hesitantly nodded.
"'You may fear the end and whisper goodbyes, but know that all pass to run the same skies,'" the captain said.
Coconut's ears pricked up. "Where'd ye pick that up, sir?"
Tythus cracked a warm smile that spoke of a golden age and happy memories. "An old friend...one I believe I'd given up all hope of ever seeing again. If fate sees me through this" Then, he turned back into a statue, as hard and expressionless as a chunk of marble.
"How?" Ginger wailed. "Why? You shouldn't be here. You don't belong with them!" She had finally given into her to her shock and grief, still collapsed on the ground, great sobs wracking her body.
The beautiful mare bent down and nuzzled her daughter gently, brushing away a stream of tears. I am one of them, Ginger. Your father brought his family into the clan. Because of him, I cannot move on, and neither can you or the silent one, should the worst occur.
The ghost of Mosspaw and I stood a few yards away, solemnly watching the scene. I wanted to help her, to swallow up the poor mare in my arms and tell her everything would be all right. But you can't help everyone all the time. Sometimes, they need to help themselves.
This was one of those times.
"I...can't! This isn't..." the younger mare gasped, fighting back another wave of sobbing.
Frost is a good pony. But if he is allowed down the path he has chosen, many more innocents will pay for it. The specter's voice was but a whisper in my mind. I fear he has already begun his plan. The silent one's companion is in grave danger, as well as lives of the townsponies The hydras, while a terrible threat, are not your real foes tonight.
My...companion? And the civilians? But they were all on the ships...with...oh no. Oh, no. No. NO. NO. HE WILL NOT TOUCH A SINGLE HAIR ON HER HEAD!
I felt an almighty rush of heat well up from my chest. My hackles, already risen from the atmosphere of the swamp, stiffened to such a degree that they pushed up the armor from my back. My breaths deepened greatly, until I felt like I was growling with every exhalation. My claws sank in and out of the mud as I instinctively kneaded the ground. Something happened to my eyes, a sharpening of vision, of focus. The surge of heat in my guts threatened to boil over to my mind, but I firmly smashed the wave of anger against a wall of cold calculation.
I don't get angry. I get even.
"But...everypony's counting on us! We swore an oath!" Ginger said as she shuddered, successfully bracing against yet another surge of emotion.
"We'll take care of the hydras. But we aren't stopping at the gauntlet. We're going to put him down." My cold fury seemed to lend my characters a stark luminescence. I looked at the swamp and snarled, my fingers flexing tightly into fists.
The silent one has heart, Mosspaw observed. He will make good alpha.
I strongly doubted that. I had no desire to lead a pack. I wanted nothing more than to see the world, but it seemed that the world had other plans for me. Regardless, if I must lead, I will not lead the Greenclaws. A new pack will take their place. If I must lead, it will be on my own terms.
You must do this, Ginger. Both of you must stand and atone for his sins. You give us hope, my love... the mother's voice drifted off as she began to fade away from existence.
"No! Come back!" Ginger cried, trying to wrap the figure in her grip. For the briefest of an instant, she encountered resistance, then passed through the wisp, landing in a heap in the mud. She lay still, ragged breaths shaking her entire body.
I approached her and knelt beside her, reaching out a tentative paw. In a blur of motion, she sprang up, radiating with heat and fire, her mane flickering and dancing like flames.
Ginger let out a long, wordless yell, and shoved past me to the edge of the swamp, where she arched her back, magic crackling along her body, before releasing a terrible emerald blaze of heat from her horn. The wave of fire issued forth in such a powerful gout that it made a flamethrower look like a candlestick in comparison.
This was more like standing next to a fighter-jet engine.
On full throttle.
Unbelievably, the reeds and grasses were almost incinerated in the hellish assault, and the only thing that completely withstood the tide was the solitary willow tree, it's weeping branches lighting up and shining like a twisted reflection of a Christmas tree. The fire spread quickly, and Ginger didn't let up on her magic; the stream of energy was constant, and if anything, increasing.
She stopped only when four monolithic towers of muck and filth broke the surface, each capped with a bellowing, roaring hyrda head, and that was only to take a deep breath from her cry and to adjust her aim, shifting her blaze straight into the gullet of one of Big Momma's mouths. The hydra matriarch shouted her defiance to the stars, and they seemed to shake and shiver with fear.
Behind the first, many smaller hydras burst forth from the charred swamp, each the size of three-ponies end-to-end, shrieking and hissing and slithering towards her.
By the tree, four other monolithic heads surfaced, letting loose an ear-jarring bellow that may have deafened every living creature in a half-mile radius. This was Big Daddy, the patriarch of the hydra nest.
I wolfishly grinned and ignited the claws on my left paw, smoothly withdrawing Mosspaw's spear - no, my spear - from its holder with the other.
The pack runs with you on this night, silent one, said Mosspaw. From the treeline, other shapes emerged, shadowy and ethereal, but their forms were recognizable as they slunk from the darkness. There were elders and pups, males and females, nursing mothers clutching babes and proud fathers standing by them. One last hunt to lead us on, before the final rest.
I spoke, then.
Not with my claws, but with my throat. The tattered vocal chords strained and shivered, filling me with a sharp pain. The words were softer than a whisper, but their meaning was greater than anything I'd ever said in my life. Five simple words, that realized a deep truth within me that I had been unaware of until this moment.
"I already have a pack."
And then, bursting with feral strength, I charged forward.
"Here they come," stated Entropy.
And come they did. The southeastern sky was flecked with black dots, the air pulsing with the humming drone of a thousand beating wings. The changeling swarm. Unseen for generations. Until now - why?
"Have I ever told myself how much I hate changelings before? Because I do. I really, really do. Oh! Idea! I'll keep score!" said Disarray, as he disinterestedly scratched his scalp, flicking away a wayward scale, which caused the surrounding cloud it landed on to erupt with colorful flowers.
"That's barbaric."
"No, that's fun."
Entropy snorted with irritation, giving his wings a testing flex as he glanced upwards into the heavens, where his cousins were nearly done preparing. "Whatever. I can't believe I'm arguing with myself."
"And losing, at that. I truly am a lost cause." Disarray casually spun Banhammer around, easily gripping it with all four limbs.
They fell silent as the swarm gathered on the horizon. It wouldn't be long, now. All that was left was to wait for the signal.
Disarray cast a glance downward. "Well, well, well. It would seem he's finally made his move," he said, pointing downwards to the town. Entropy followed his claw, and saw a whirling ball of grey and white where the two airships had once been. Snow and hail fell from the roiling mass, as well as an occasional rumble of thunder. "I can hold the fort up here, yes? Oh, who am I kidding. I know I can." He made a dramatic pose. "I must go! My people need me."
With a crack and a puff of red smoke that smelled suspiciously like hot sauce, the draconequus vanished.
Entropy sighed and turned his gaze upwards. He didn't have long to wait. The sky abruptly burst into life; long, wavy bands of light playing across the stars and moon, stretching from horizon to horizon. The lights twisted and whipped across the sky in complex, snakelike motions, green and blue and red and yellow all competing in a riot of color and energy.
The aurora had come to the rainforest.
Entropy spread his wings and took off into the night. The swarm was closer now, he could almost make out the individual figures. He gritted his teeth and focused his magic, determined to meet them with force.
One of the aurora whiplashed out of the sky, colliding heavily with the oncoming tide, knocking some away like leaves in the wind, completely vaporizing others. But there were too many to count, and the strike barely seemed to dent their numbers.
The alicorn accelerated to high speed, his magic aglow, cloak spilling out behind him like a rainbow. He bellowed his defiance into the night, "FOR EQUESTRIA!" and lowered his horn like a lance. At the tip, a small cone of air formed as he went faster still, strong wings pumping furiously.
Two more shapes rocketed out of the sky and took position on either side, aurora trailing behind them in a ghostly wake. As one, they hit the wave like a sledgehammer, tearing deep into the swarm. Entropy shuddered as he knocked changeling after changeling out of the sky, buffeting some with his wings, and impaling a few with his horn. He closed one eye as their strange blue blood gripped down his face.
He could hear the shrieks and insect-like cries as the swarm moved around him, like a school of fish. One attempted to slow his charge, and he responded by taking the creature through the neck with his horn, severing head from body almost completely.
And then, the three were clear, passing into clear skies on the other side. All were covered in bits of chitinous shell and fragments. "Another pass!" roared Entropy. Again, they wheeled about and began to accelerate
Another tentacle of aurora tore down from the heavens and obliterated almost two-dozen in one hit. Entropy braced himself and fired spell after spell into their midst - it was nigh impossible to miss, one simply had to aim in their general direction, and hitting something was all but guaranteed.
The swarm continued on..
Hopefully my other half is having a better time, Entropy thought grimly as the trio re-entered the fray.
Daring Do sprang backwards as she nimbly dodged another lance of ice. Thank Celestia her wing had healed, otherwise she'd have been struck long ago.
She retaliated with a well-placed crack of her whip, but the mayor dissolved into a cloud of icy smoke and avoided the impact. Daring flapped hard, propelling herself into a dizzying spin and barely avoided the retaliatory barrage.
The deck was slippery beneath her hooves, so she had tried to keep to the air. So far, that seemed to be working. Frost was unable to hit her with his icicles as long as she kept moving. But she could only do this for so long, and the mayor pursued her across the ship like a force of nature, unrelenting in the slightest.
And on the sister ship, the source of her nightmares calmly sat and watched. That was the worst part, she reflected, that unnerving stare with those evil, calculating eyes.
A splinter of ice tore off a primary feather. Daring grunted with pain and zipped under its brother and skimmed the deck. Frost solidified in front of her, but Daring was ready. She cracked her whip, and vaulted to the side when his spell fired. Planting her hooves on the icy paneling, she pivoted and bucked him with all her might, catching him on the shoulder as he stepped to avoid the whip. The blow sent him reeling, but before she could press forward, he dissolved and was whisked away by the wind.
"Ponyfeathers!" Daring cursed as she watched him reform by the helm. "How am I supposed to keep this up? I can't do anything to him. If I try and fly, he'll just shoot me down once I tire!"
"Might I suggest that you do a barrel roll?" came a voice to her side. Daring spun to see Disarray in his draconequus form, nonchalantly leaning on a massive hammer. "Problem?" he asked her with an almost malicious grin.
"Help!" she cried as the mayor unleashed another barrage from his elevated position.
"Say 'please'," said Disarray, calmly swatting away few a wayward spikes with a lobster claw.
"Please!" Daring screamed, as she felt another pass across the back of her neck as she looped. Too close!
"Now say, 'Please, with a cherry on top.' And sprinkles. I like sprinkles!"
"DISARRAY!"
The draconequus pouted. "Humph! Everypony's a critic." He vanished with a puff of spicy-smelling smoke.
Daring's heart plummeted. With him gone, she was as good as gone. Another hail of ice came her way. She twisted and evaded by the skin of her teeth. Frost's aim was drastically improving.
The mayor dissolved yet again and re-formed not two paces behind her. Daring screeched as he lunged forward, his horn tearing through the meat of her wing, near the base, and she toppled to the deck in an ungainly heap of feathers. No! It's all over now... was her only thought.
Daring rolled over and staggered to her hooves. Without her wings, she was nowhere near fast enough to get out of the way now, but she was determined to meet her fate head on.
Frost Snap loomed over her, eyes aglow with the light of insanity and magic. A cold frown was etched onto his muzzle. "Now you will see what I lost," he murmured almost gently. His horn lit up. Daring winced and closed her eyes-
-A thunderous crash split the air. Daring opened her eyes, and her jaw dropped.
Disarray stood before her, two arms carrying a large dome of glass, plugged with a slab of wood. Inside the half-sphere, Mayor Frost Snap blinked in confusion, tapping the surface with a horn. Disarray shook the thing violently, and the mayor tumbled about inside as snow mysteriously began to fall around him. He slammed the thing onto the deck and planted one ostrich leg atop it, while Frost tried to escape by turning into a cloud again, but was held back by the glass.
"Snowglobe!" he proudly announced.
"Snowglobe!"
Inside, the mayor raged and shouted, but the prison muted him. His horn lit up again, and inside of the glass was rapidly coated with thick, concealing ice.
Disarray stepped off, eyeing it cautiously. "Clever. Can't see what he's up to now. You have to give him credit; the guy may be crazy, but he isn't stupid." He hefted the massive hammer up. "Hey, Frost Snap!" A air of sunglasses appeared on across his dragon muzzle. "I think it's time for you to...chill out!" He brought the hammer down heavily, shattering the snowglobe and the ice beneath it like it was made of wet paper.
It was empty, the only hint that something had ever been in there was a hole cut through the bottom and the decking below.
"Ha-ha! And I was worried for a second that he'd make it easy!" said Disarray gleefully.
Daring Do shook her head as she caught her breath, her wing twinging painfully. "The mayor isn't the real threat. Look over on the other ship." She cringed as she dug up a pile of ice and pressed it to the wound. Her mane blew into her face as the wailing storm continued around the tethered airships.
Disarray looked. "Him? I thought he was dead. Ugh. Why do they never stay dead. Why?"
"Dramatic tension," she dryly quoted him.
"I see what you did there." He smirked, but that was wiped off his face as a cold mist began to rise out of the floorboards in front of them, rapidly compacting into the form of a very pissed-off Frost Snap.
They both scrambled to the side as a wall of hail shot towards them.
A soft rumbling in the distance preceded the hydras long before Coconut could see them. When at last the cry came up, he squinted to find them. The two giants, Big Momma and Big Daddy, appeared to be like small moving groves of trees, their necks towering high above the distant canopy as they trumpeted and bellowed with rage and hunger.
"Here they come!" cried a guard to his left. Who he was, Coconut didn't know.
Two pinpricks of light appeared at the treeline, one purplish-pink, the other a bright green. Like a pair of stars, they raced across the open ground. Echo and Ginger, thought Coconut. The wall of slithering blackness that sped after them had to have been the entire nest.
The stars drew closer. Coconut could make out the trail of fire each left in their wake as they sprinted side by side to their goal, the massive mountain of debris in the middle of the gauntlet, soaked with oils and dried moss so that it might catch easier.
Halfway to their goal, the sky erupted into life.
Great swaths of streaking colors painted the night in a swirling dance of lights and brilliance. From east to west, north to south, the entire starlit sky was awash with beauty. Coconut was stunned - he had never seen anything like it before, he had no name for the phenomenon.
"The aurora?" Tythus gasped, giving the glory a word. "The Lights are here? But...why?" He spun towards the town and growled deep in his throat. Coconut followed his gaze and almost fainted on the spot.
A great swirling ball of clouds now obscured the airships, where the townsponies were supposed to be kept safe.
"Captain, what's goin' on up there?" he asked, his voice no more than a whisper.
"The mayor has happened." Tythus spun back around. "Cloud Nine! Get down here on the double! Send a score of your best fliers up to the ships and stop whatever's going on up there before it gets out of hoof!" he roared to the eastern wall.
Coconut saw a flurry of activity up there, before a group of pegasi shot up and powered away to the maelstrom. One of them streaked towards him. Cloud Nine pulled up in a flurry of feathers, screeching to a halt a few feet away from the embankments, hovering as the captain addressed her.
"Get Coconut to the barracks," he told her. "Coconut, I need you to release everything you see in the holding cells. Tell them that 'Winter is here.' Do you understand?" Coconut hastily nodded. So he wasn't going to be on the walls when the hydras got here? That wasn't so bad.
Cloud Nine pivoted and swooped over him, looping her forelegs around his gut. "Let's move!" she said. Coconut stammered something in reply. His brain sank to his stomach as she sped away from the wall, watching as the ground shrank and the ponies became ants.
They passed over the eastern wall, bristling with spears and armor and projectiles. Coconut moaned and closed his eyes. Flying did not agree with him.
Whether it was two minutes or two hours later, he felt solid ground beneath his hooves. The pegasus released him and flew off, straight up.
Coconut looked around. He was at the barracks now, completely deserted. The long, tough rope holding the violent ball of cloud above was tethered around the belltower. From here, he could hear the sound of the intense winds and soft cracks of thunder that the storm kept up.
Gathering his courage, he galloped through the doors. The main hall was eerily quiet, and his hooves echoed loudly in the empty space. He turned into he dormitory wing. The cells were at the end of the hall, the room to the left of Tythus' office.
He threw open the door and looked around. There were two large cages here, in a room that was about the size of the kitchen. They were almost full to bursting with the pirates from before. Coconut could see their leader, that big gryphon, perk up as he entered.
"Well, whaddaya know, boys! Looks like we're getting paid after all!" Griffin the gryphon announced.
"Winter's here," Coconut panted. "The captain...told me...ta tell ye..."
"I know what he told you. He wouldn't have sent you otherwise. See that sword hanging on the wall? Give it here and stand back, colt." The pirate stood tall and stretched his wings. His eyes flashed.
Coconut looked to see his massive black broadsword hanging on a peg. "How do I know ye ain't just gonna try and run off?"
"Because your captain gave me an offer I couldn't refuse." The gryphon grinned unpleasantly. "Plus, he's paying triple what the mayor offered."
That would have to be good enough. Orders were orders, after all. Coconut gripped the sword with his mouth and took it down, struggling with its weight, before passing it through the bars. The gryphon hefted it easily and cried, "Hiiiiiyah!" before swinging it in a deadly arc, the glimmer black blade singing as it cut through the bars. "Let's go, gents! We've got some booty to earn tonight!"
The pirates roared in agreement and surged out of the cells. One of them, a scraggly female gryphon, picked him up in her talons. They sped through the barracks and burst back out of the doorway that he'd come through not moments before. Coconut resisted the urge to heave as they took flight, the pegasi and gryphons that made up the crew carrying the few land-based members in a manner similar to his own.
They whirled around the building, and split into two groups. Coconut could see Griffin roaring out orders like a madpony. The group he was flying in swooped off towards the west, towards the gauntlet, while other began to ascend towards the maelstrom above, silhouetted by the magnificent aurora in the skies.
"Hoooargh...think I'm gonna... hurl..." Coconut moaned piteously as they bore him back to the battle. They cleared the wall just in time to see the battle begin.
The pyre had been lit, purple-pink flames competing with brilliant emerald green ones. Coconut could just barely make out the two figures of Echo and Ginger as they scrambled aboard an awaiting chariot by the blaze.
The hydras rushed through the gap, a great wave of scales and teeth and lashing necks.
Slowly, ponderously, the six great catapults began to fire, their swinging arms steadily increasing speed until their payload became nothing more than a blur, before it was launched into the air with deadly force. Coconut shuddered, almost feeling sorry for the hydras. The boulders they were flinging had been double his size, and he was considered a big pony. The rocks arced high through the air, lazily, slowly as if they were moving through water.
An enormous shadow descended over the field as the Benvolent Mercy moved to attack.
She descended from where she had been circling, so large that she blocked out the light of the stars and the moon and the mysterious aurora. There was a terrible pause, and then her guns roared as one. Coconut could feel his teeth rattle in his skull as the broadside was unleashed.
KRACKA-BOOOOOOOOOMMMM!
Author: I've divided the entire battle into two chapters, because the entire thing was pushing 15k words. The next one's more or less already written, though, so it won't be long! I have a surprise in store for you...let's just say someone you'd never expect makes an appearance.
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first!!!!
now to the story!
MW3 or Reading? Reading wins hooves down!
Rust.
My throat hurts because of all the rapid breathing I did when I saw this.
Perfect way to spend a lazy friday evening rigth here.
DAH! The intrigue! So many references! Excitement levels to the maaaax!
If winter has come isn't a game of thrones reference, I will be thoroughly disappointed in you!
Someone we'd never expect appearing? Haven't you already done that?
But nah, great chapter.
banhammer?!
awesome chpater, very awesome!
Can't wait
And I lost it at snow globe it was to bucking funny
YESH YESH YESH YESH YESH YESH YESH *Fanboy scream* NEW CHAPTER REJOICE dl.dropbox.com/u/31471793/FiMFiction/Luna_lolface.png dl.dropbox.com/u/31471793/FiMFiction/Luna_lolface.png dl.dropbox.com/u/31471793/FiMFiction/Luna_lolface.png
Ohhh I wonder who make an appearance... can't wait!
I am so confused on what is happening at the moment
Something about changelings and hydras and a watterdog
577640
It's a battle, mate. It's SUPPOSED to be confusing.
This is amazing!
<--- my guess
omg!
oh and i wonder who the surprise guest is...
yo, amazing chapter. THis is what we've been waiting for, like the game of thrones' and MLP's second seasons. THIS IS IT! keep goin and stay golden^^
P.S. stay frosty
P.P.S. FUCK THE GREATER GOOD!
P.P.P.S. secret guest? My money is on a certain griffon.
P.P.P.P.S. I like applesauce~!
So. Much. Awesome.
577642 If you say so
Epicness Achieved.
images5.fanpop.com/image/photos/29200000/kill-it-with-fire-random-29296574-256-192.gif
The evil shall be quenched in the eternal fires of Hell!!!!!!
Hugs and mustaches for everypony!!!!!!
Snowglobe! dl.dropbox.com/u/31471793/FiMFiction/Trixie_lolface_1.png
I'm going to guess the two Alicorns are Borealis and Australis. The northern and southern lights.
As for the special guest I'm going to guess
or Luna.
i2.lulzimg.com/14e928faa8.png
i2.lulzimg.com/14e928faa8.png 525314
It's not her whining, it's her complaining.
Another great chapter.
I'll take your survey later.
il do the test
Read while listening to Octavarium by Dream Theater. So awsome.
I'll take that survey, but damn you if the character death you told me about is going to be Daring
Awesome chapter by the way
Two things; if you read this again listen to Doomsday by Nero its perfect music to goo with the fight scenes. Second Rust are you going to bring in the Traveler or Rust from your other story into this cause if you are that is going to be the F-ing best thing ever.
fuck. yes.
instant snowglobe!
577697 You may be onto something there (with the two alicorns).
As for the special guest... well, you'd never expect someone who's dead to-
Oh. Right.
Hmm, I think I'll guess that it's a new OC. Can't possibly expect a character you don't know exists yet.
...Looke like we got submissive Echo and mistress Ginger this chapter. So she´s always on top (lol)?
577697 Imma guess the annoying Discord.
Echo is pissed! Can't wait to see how he reacts to Daring getting hurt :D Should be epic!
Epic, can't wait for the rest of the battle.
Amazing chapter! I've noticed your story tags are Romance, Dark, Comedy, Adventure, and Human. It's a lot of words and colors to look at. (Not really a lots of words but you get what I mean.) I was at work pondering your story and I thought that FiMFiction should have a story tag, that only some amazing stories, like yours, should be able to use. It would be "True Epic". And this story would certainly deserve it, it has all of the elements. Action, comedy, a connection to the characters, even the romance is done amazingly, although some may think it is light. Every good story has some romance in it without distracting from what it is really about, and any romance you have in your story now or in the future I wouldn't even call shipping, I would just call it good writing.
577697
...you clever bastard. it was the aurora that gave it away, huh? kudos to you...
Well...
I love it. Spotted a few errors, though:
CTRL-F 'A air', supposed to be 'A pair'.
Small errors like that, nothing serious.
Oh wow!!! I've been loving this story since the get-go, one of the best insertion fics out there...but I love Disarray most of all! Seeing him split into an alicorn and a draconequus? Brilliant! Pure brilliance!!!
Best chapter yet, I love to see Echo get all protective over Daring Do, and Disarray pulling a body split was totally unexpected, but greatly amusing.
Can't wait for the next chapter.
577539>>577653
-game of thrones is the shot. I read all five books in three weeks. Also, Disarray was partially inspired by our good friend Tyrion Lannister. Expect quotes in the future. (chopping cocks of and feeding them to the goats!)
577805
-Buck, Rust, Ragdoll, Omnius, and possibly Cloudhammer will all be making appearances in this work, although it must be noted that the two stories ARE NOT canon to eachother. Consider them
alternate realities.
577820
-Nope! Not an OC! But i'll give you a hint. "Star Wars."
578361
-I like to keep things classy. Echo as well, considering he calls himself a gentleman. Ain't no school but the old school.
578538
If you make him Tyrion, I will reach out of your monitor and give you such a bro-hoof you will have to type with your forehead.
578538 Star Wars... wha...
Is Disarray going to summon Yoda or Darth Vader or something?
Also, Omnius is going to show up? And just when I thought this couldn't get more epic...
Might have to read that other story of yours now.
"I already have a pack."
mimg.ugo.com/200902/20530/cuts/scanners_288x288.jpg
Mind Status = Blown
special guest? hmmmmm, the Spanish inquisition. Nobody expects the Spanish inquisition.
I love this story so much. It is such a different and interesting take on a simple concept, yet it is written very descriptively and captivatingly. I guess what im trying to say is that i love this story.
Glorious
Fucking. Glorious.
im all tense in the beginning until you make the mute joke
tension gone
then right back to tension
jesus man!
make up your mind before head explodes
......
as for the ending of this chapter
nicely done
so many things happening at once
it gives you the sense that there is a lot more at play here
which is good
looking forward to more
This is prime quality enough to deserve a Devil May Cry background music throughout the entire battle segment. Keep it up!
578605
I wasnt expecting the spanish inquisition.
google.com/imgres?um=1&hl=en&sa=N&rls=com.microsoft:en-us:IE-Address&rlz=1I7TSNJ_en&biw=1024&bih=732&tbm=isch&tbnid=CwnNI5t5yIuU2M:&imgrefurl=http://knowyourmeme.com/memes/nobody-expects-the-spanish-inquisition&docid=Kca7tBGr_HV-rM&imgurl=http://images.icanhascheezburger.com/completestore/2009/5/3/128858647046824457.jpg&w=500&h=360&ei=cd6tT_2OG4_tggfCjcTDCQ&zoom=1&iact=hc&vpx=313&vpy=192&dur=3430&hovh=190&hovw=265&tx=99&ty=116&sig=112986108865225821827&page=1&tbnh=148&tbnw=197&start=0&ndsp=12&ved=1t:429,r:1,s:0,i:91
I can sum up the wait for the next chapter in one word, "Ffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffff."
WHY CAN'T I LIKE THIS MORE THAN ONCE.
Another great chapter.
My absolute favorite part of this chapter was the comment on the barrel roll.
I think a certain level of subtlety would make Disarray's use of memes more enjoyable, and maybe he could make a few references that even Echo doesn't recognize.
As for the unexpected guest, I'm guessing its Discord. He's such an obviously unexpected guest that no one would pick him!