Heat Death

by ScottTrek

The Distant Sound of Drums (Part 5)

(Tellos War)

Twilight gritted her teeth as she and the Shadow's magic pushed against each other. Their coronas of arcane power crackling and sparking as they repelled like two poles of a magnet. Despite the Shadows continued taunting Twilight still had no idea who he was. The Shadow kept talking like this was the clash of two ancient rivals but as much as she tried to wrack her brains, as much as one could in the middle of a life and death fight, it just didn't seem to come to her.

"Playing coy are we my dear?" The Shadow snickered sending sickles of psionic power spraying out from the surrounding towers. In her minds eye Twilight could hear the shrieks of the enslaved Tellos as she batted away the attacks with arcs from her iridescent wings.

"What can i say," Twilight grunted, jabbing back at The Shadow with a spear of azure energy, "I've killed a lot of shadowy assholes over the years, your just not that discernible. Are you?"

The Shadow smiled sickeningly and held his hooves up in apparent surrender. Twilight blinked in surprise but kept her spear levelled at him. "perhaps you don't know me. But that doesn't stop me from knowing you. For example you would never do something that would willingly put people in danger... say... billions of lives in held hostage?"

Twilight's eyebrows furrowed, then narrowed in disgust. "Fail-safe death rune?"

"Tied directly into the entire Tellos hive-mind. How did you guess?"

"It's what I would do, if were a evil mad-mare trying to put the good version of me over a barrel."

"You were foolish to come here Princess," The Shadow snickered. Inky tendrils emerged from his body and stroked down Twilight's body. Twilight flinched but held still, dissipating her spear as she did so. "You should have brought one of your family members you haven't gotten killed yet. Alone? You don't stand a chance against me."

Twilight bowed her head, then came up grinning. "How very typical, creatures like you never seem to see it."

"What!?"

"I'm never alone!"

At that moment four shapes detached themselves from the ceiling and dropped towards The Shadows mechanical harness. Solar Spear, Jupiter, Helm and Zephyr each intercepted one of the great conduits connecting The Shadow to the Tellos's towers and before he had a chance to react wrenched them free.

The whole room burbled as pulses of activity began to stir within the towers. Twilight surged forward ready to smite down The Shadow...

"NO!" The sickening sound of a body being driven through metal rent through the chamber. Jupiter screamed but was cut off with a wet crunch. Twilight reeled back, a spike of black glass driven deep into hey eye socket. Even her enhanced vision had barely seen the Shadow move. "YOU DO NOT WIN THIS SPARKLE!"

Twilight tried to move, tried to stand, but whatever was in her eyes was draining her power like nothing she had ever experienced before. "I think i just did." She grumbled back at the raging Shadow, spitting blood in his direction.

"I AM THE SHADOW! THE ONE WHO HAS HAUNTED YOU SINCE THE VERY BEGINNING! I WILL NOT BE DEFIED IN THIS MANNER! I WILL...!"

As The Shadow stormed Towards the prone Twilight he was suddenly slapped round the face by a blue tendril. More tendrils spewing forth from from the Tellos's towers quickly entangled the Shadow, and as he tried to slash himself free he found them sheathed in a glowing magic that threw his darkness back and burned his body.

Twilight rolled on the ground to look past him. Emerging from the crumpled towers came four ponies. Their broken bodies merging and wrapped in Tellosites, surging with the fusion of two great magicks into something entirely new.

"Hey jackass!" Techno-Solar-Spear yelled "No-one talks to my Princess like that!"

The Shadow gave a small squeak of fear.

With that the entire weight of the Tellos hive-mind came crashing down onto the Shadow. Twilight smiled briefly then passed out, wondering if this was the day death would come for her.

---

“... So yes, that’s more or less the story of your kinds progenitors.”

“That was... a little more violent than i expected... all in all.”

“I suppose.” Twilight placed aside her empty mug and sat fowards peering at Aurora. “But you can see my issue now right? Why the plan has to be this way?”

Aurora was sat at Twilights desk, looking at the historical data banks. She was logged in using Twilights own passcode, the maximum level of acsess, and the terminal was displaying the same events Twilight had just described. “I... I understand...” Aurora murmered, eyes searching through the details one last time. “It’s... it’s the right thing to do.”

“Is it?” Twilight asked, voice tinged with anxiousness.

Aurora looked at Twilight then to the other terminal screen; the one displaying Twilights plan. The moment seeming to stretch into eternity. “Yes it is Twilight. Nopony would say otherwise.”

“hmmp.” Twiligy smiled warmly, “I thought you might say that, still...”

Twilights thought was cut off as the floor shook. The structure of the ship groaning in protest as distant explosions shook the superstructure.

“Is that part of the plan?” Aurora squeaked.

Twilight turned to her, fear flashing in her eyes. “No... run!”

Comments

[Phantom Night]

Damn, you just keep the updates coming, nice.

[ScottTrek]

8870724
I’m trying :D

[Illuminutter]

8870737
You are certainly doing a good job, keep up the good work.