Act 4 Chapter 22
Act IV: Climactic Collisions
Chapter 22: The Inherited Will
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Corey looked to Norma with wide, inquisitive eyes. Norma, seeing she had his attention despite Discord’s protests, slowly began to gather some magic to herself. Though he would make a wonderful addition to her battery, Norma hardly had the magic to spare even for that. What she did have enough magic to spare to do, was kill him. And once she did, she’d have both of her orbs yet again. All she had to do was keep talking.
“That’s right… Break that orb, and you’re stuck in this world forever,” Norma said, “I could tell from the start you were never truly at home here. You fought to distract yourself from the crippling reality that you were here for good… Now, at the very end, you stand to be the hero you wanted to be. But can you say that’s a life you want?”
Corey remained silent, but his eyes were still on her.
“And if you stay here, you’ll remain a hero, with your new friends, living in peace… but for how long? Can you really say that you’d enjoy this life? A life filled with despair, trying to be the voice of hope? Can you truly handle that kind of responsibility? Or would you rather go to your home, returning with the knowledge you could be a hero, and live on just fine like that…?”
The runes covering Corey’s hand finally vanished, his eyes seemingly wide with fear and despair, and Norma sneered.
“Don’t you give in!” Discord warned, “Not right now at the finish line…”
“Too late, Discord,” Norma muttered, “He can make his own decisions… and I think he made it…”
Norma suddenly jerked upright, the claws on her scaly arm glowing with red-white magic. It was a sign she was nearly drained—this would likely be her final spell regardless for quite a while—but if this worked, nothing else mattered.
“Such a fool you are, tormented by indecision!” Norma shouted, “You can’t decide, can you!? I’ll send you somewhere where decisions aren’t needed to be made: your grave!”
With a scream, Norma began rushing for Corey, aiming her claws at Corey’s throat.
“Is that right?”
Corey’s question didn’t fully resonate with Norma until he had already moved, tucking the orb under his bad arm for the moment so he could grab hold of her wrist, moving out of the way. Norma’s eyes widened, and she looked into Corey’s composed ones.
“You think you’re going to play your way out of this one? After all that you’ve done, you really think I’m going to let you have this back for even a second?! I know what’ll happen if I free those you’ve trapped, and quite frankly, I’ve come to accept it!” Corey shouted.
“B-but… you… This… I…” Norma stuttered, looking deep into the eyes which were filled with nothing but scorn for her.
“In fact, I’d accepted being stuck here quite a while ago…” Corey said, “Your former teacher told me everything I needed to know about this already! And quite frankly, I don’t think my needs stack up to your prisoners!”
Corey threw Norma’s arm back, sending her off balance. She continued to look him in the eyes, even as she staggered back.
“And if I do become a hero that needs to be on call… it’s just something I’m going to live with. Better to live with that than with the knowledge I just damned my friends to more suffering at your hands!” Corey shouted, “Consider this a taste of the despair you tried to give us today, Norma, and accept this simple fact…”
Corey moved forward in a blur, tossing the orb high into the air. Norma’s gaze momentarily followed the orb, but soon returned in front of her as Corey came forth with his glowing left arm.
“YOU’VE LOST!!!” Corey screamed at the top of his voice, punching forward with all his force, straight into Norma’s chest. Norma felt and heard several cracks and pops yet again as her ribcage re-shattered under the force of the attack, and this time, there was no coming back from it. Her vision blurred and darkened, and the last thing she felt before losing consciousness was her back hitting a hard surface.
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Corey slowly returned to a normal standing posture, keeping his gaze upon Norma. Her signature had finally fallen to the state that Slayer’s had been when he last saw him. She’d live. While Corey wasn’t sure if that was a good thing or not, once he broke her orb, it really didn’t matter. Corey turned around, seeing the orb falling from the sky above, and raised his hand. The orb was caught in his telekinetic hold, and he floated it over to himself, staring at it.
“Sorry, John,” Corey muttered to himself, “But this was something I knew was coming. I’m ready for whatever this decision entails.”
His light aura finally faded, and his eyes returned to their normal coloration. Green runes swirled into his left hand yet again as he took hold of the orb.
“We’re just going to have to make the most of it, like usual…” Corey said, “And hope that whatever comes next, will be something far happier than the past few weeks.”
Taking in a deep breath, composing himself, Corey slowly began to apply pressure to the orb. Magic began to leak out of it as it began to crack under Corey’s hand.
Mom, Dad, I’m sorry. Take care of yourselves. Ivan, Leo… I hope you two are doing okay. I don’t think I’ll be able to see any one of you back home again. I just want you to understand… I was left with no choice. If I went home… I’d be killing tens of others to do it. So please… just understand why I did what I am doing right now. The same goes for you, John…and everyone I’ve met here!
Corey’s hand finally closed around the orb, smashing it to pieces. The chunks of it crumbled to the floor. For a few moments, nothing happened. Then, winds began to pick up, red lightning crackling all around. Portals began to open all around Corey, and from within, ponies of all kinds, all wearing robe-ish outfits similar to Norma’s and Esper’s, began to fall from them. They began to appear all around the park, all looking very tired and disoriented from their experience.
As the portals began to disappear, Corey heard the resounding crack of fingers snapping, and he turned, instinctively holding his breath—
Discord stood, now his normal height, stretching as though he just got out of bed, waving the hand he’d used to snap himself to freedom.
“Can’t say I want to do that again,” Discord said, “As for you… try not to leave us in so much suspense next time?”
“Don’t worry,” Corey panted, “That was a one-time stunt I pulled. I just had to give her a small taste of her own medicine.”
“Leave it to the professionals…” Discord shook his head, “Anyway, I’m heading out. If memory serves, I believe the princesses may need my help…”
Corey watched as Discord snapped his fingers yet again, disappearing in a burst of smoke. He then sighed. A feeling began to work its way up his chest, and the corners of Corey’s mouth tugged upwards. His body convulsed as giggles began to overtake him.
Yet, Corey only had the energy to laugh for a few seconds, before he fell over, landing flat on his back, now completely out of strength.
“We finally did it… everyone…” he mumbled, staring up into the sky, feeling the warmth of the sun beaming down on him. He then closed his eyes, feeling a little more than entitled to a nice, long nap.
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Sitting at the highest point of Canterlot, hand over forehead, Discord watched all that was happening on ground level. Guards were collapsing from exhaustion, embracing one another for having survived the battle. Spirits were high, much higher than they had been before this all transpired. Even Discord, chaos personified, couldn’t help but enjoy the warmth of the moment. With all that had happened and what was at stake, he couldn’t blame himself for changing.
Although he wanted nothing more than to partake in the festivities, there was one matter he had to see to first. Standing tall, Discord snapped his fingers and once again vanished in a flash of light, only to reappear in one more location. It wasn’t hard to locate, since he could still tell where they were.
“Sorry to have kept you waiting so long,” Now, he was in front of the two princesses, still imprisoned in stone. The guards that Corey had brought with him had taken them to a secure room several floors down, where Discord was pleased to find the damage hadn’t reached. He stared at them for a moment, reflecting on the irony of the whole situation. Eventually, the tiniest traces of a frown began to form on his face.
“Not long ago, I would have found humor in this. Not long ago, I’d have left you like this a while just so you could see what it was like—being turned to stone. But looking at you now, after all this… I just can’t see the humor in it anymore.”
Discord raised his hand, snapping his fingers yet again and causing sparkles of light to travel from them towards the two statues. At first, nothing changed, but as the magic continued to orbit their statues, the gray began to fade away, as though evaporating from them, leaving behind Celestia and Luna’s normal colors. And as their joints started to loosen, both began to finally regain movement on their bodies. After the stone was finally gone, though, both had nothing to keep themselves up—had Discord not been there, that is.
“Whoa there,” Discord said, supporting both princesses, giving them time to regain their composures.
“Is it over? Did we win?” Celestia asked as she looked up to him, her eyes filled with hope, hope that everyone made it out okay. Discord looked down at her and allowed a small chuckle to leave his lips.
“You tell me,” Discord snapped his fingers, several images appearing around the trio. In them, were what he’d seen before coming to them—the joy filled faces, the fighters standing proud—in general, all the images contained the vision of a hard-earned victory.
Tears began to well up in Celestia’s eyes, joy replacing what had otherwise been dread that had plagued her ever since this whole crisis began. At long last, it was over, something that was very hard to believe at first. But, with time, it finally sunk in, and she could finally accept that at long last, the dark times were over.
“Now, now, no need for tears,” Discord said, offering Celestia a handkerchief. Celestia looked in surprise at the cloth that was now coming out of Discord’s sleeve, but also the surprisingly warm smile on his face. Soon, she too smiled, and accepted the handkerchief to dry her tears.
“You are right,” she said, “I believe now is the time to address the public, and let them know their days of fear are over…” Celestia place one hand around her sister’s shoulder, followed by another around Discord, pulling them both in, “Shall we?”
Both looked to Celestia and gave her a nod. The three then started to make their way out of the castle.
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Esper Wisdom couldn’t believe it. For eons, he and his fellow villagers had spent their time in a strange limbo, their only recourse a spell that even he did not know how it would work. Now, here he was, in the real world once more, able to breathe fresh air, able to hear the sounds and feel the sensations that he hadn’t heard for so long. Yet, as his eyes finally took in the sights around him, of the destroyed buildings and ravaged cityscape, he couldn’t help but idly wonder if it was all worth it.
All around him, his fellow villagers were looking around in disbelief. Their long nightmare had come to an end. They could only stare at the world around them in muted shock, unable to comprehend what had happened. There was nothing but silence—everyone had been too caught up in their sudden appearance in the world to even notice the immediate aftermath of the fight, to look for the one that had brought them the pain they had, or to look at the one who freed them.
Eventually, the silence broke.
“We’re free…” Willow Wisp slowly stood up, wiping his eyes as he looked around, “We’re finally free!”
With this, everypony who had lived in that village erupted into cheers, the sheer euphoria of their sudden freedom more than enough to finally get them to shake it off. For a short while, at least, they’d be caught up in the moment before finally returning to their senses, remembering what had happened.
Esper knew it already—it had been eons since they were last around. This was not the Equestrian capital he remembered. Their homeland may well have been lost to the sands of time, and they didn’t have anywhere to be. However, there was time to rebuild.
Esper continued to look around, and his eyes soon fell on Corey, the one who had decoded and activated the spell. Then, a ways away from him, collapsed against a wall, was the shell of a pony. Esper sighed, moving through the celebrations without being noticed. It wasn’t long before he was standing less than five feet from the pony who damned them all to their prison.
Para Norma… Esper thought. She was so hard to recognize now. Her body had mutated, and she hardly resembled a pony anymore. Esper didn’t quite know what she had gotten into during the battle, much less since he last saw her in person, but as her teacher he couldn’t help but feel a little responsible for it all.
Just how did you wind up like this? How did it come to this? After eons, even now, I cannot understand why things went so wrong… Now look at you. Your very body has been altered to represent who you are inside… Esper closed his eyes, shaking his head, letting the memories of the younger, seemingly more innocent Norma wash over him for last time.
Were you always like this, from the start? Or did you snap one day trying to just get stronger? I do not know, and I highly doubt I’d get any answers anyway… Esper thought, Certainly not from you, at least.
Esper finally allowed his eyes to open, and he looked up towards the sky above. Let this be the last time this ever happens. A third reign of terror from her, and I do not think we’d be able to overcome her that time.
At that, Esper sighed again, and turned away from Norma. He could feel only the tiniest chill from her, but she definitely wasn’t getting up for a while. His gaze fell upon the prone Corey, and he sighed. He was out too, wasn’t he?
I suppose I’ll have to wait to thank you for all you’ve done, but you had a hard time with that decision you made, didn’t you? Esper released another sigh. For now, take your rest. I dare say you’ve earned it.
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Though Corey hadn’t been gone long, it didn’t take everyone long to catch their breath and try to follow where he went. They didn’t really have a lot to go off of—beyond where he first went after running off, so anything they did may as well have been a guess.
“He couldn’t have gone that far, could he?” Applejack huffed.
“If I could fly, I’d go up in the air and look for him,” Rainbow shook her head, wishing right now it didn’t take so much out of her (and the others) to just get to this point.
“Just where’d she land, Corey…” Twilight said, “Knowing you and what you can do, you went right to her…”
The group began to search in silence, looking for any sign of life in the otherwise deserted (and destroyed) city. Any sign that Corey’s fight was somehow continuing, or that he was trying to find them. Just… anything at all. And they got one, in the form of a quiet rumbling at first. For a few moments, everyone stood tense, wondering what that was. However, as the seconds passed, they understood what the noises were.
“Cheering…” Rainbow said, being the first to spell it out, “That’s cheering!”
“I think it’s coming from…” Twilight said, “There’s a park not too far from here, if I remember right… follow me!”
With Twilight taking the lead, everyone began to take chase. It wasn’t long before they saw the source of the cheering: tens of ponies who they definitely knew weren’t in the city at the start of the day, all wearing outdated-looking clothing or robes, exchanging hugs and cheering for a single thing: freedom.
“Who are all they?” asked Rarity, looking around.
Twilight blinked, details of the story Corey had relayed to her coming back now as she realized what she was looking at. “They’re… they’re the villagers Norma kidnapped eons ago. They’ve been freed!”
“And on your right, is the one who saved them,” John said, pointing. Everyone looked, seeing Corey flat on his back, eyes closed as he faced the sky. It wasn’t long before the others began to move towards him, Twilight reaching him first.
“Corey,” Twilight said, sitting down next to him, leaning over him to see if he was okay, “Corey? Are you okay?”
There was a brief pause, before Corey let out what could be best described as a deep snort and a deep breath together—or, a snore Twilight and the others hadn’t heard for a long time. Twilight flinched slightly, while Rainbow shook her head and snickered.
“I guess that settles it,” Rainbow said, “And you know what, I agree. I think we all could use a nice long nap after all this!”
Twilight looked down to Corey again and sighed.
“At least it’s finally over…” she said, smiling to herself.
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It had been the longest two months of their lives. Many times, it seemed that it was going to end, but with their bonds and their determination, they pressed forward, overcoming even those who came from the depths. At last, their combined power brought them the end they desired. Those involved could return to their relatively peaceful lives.
While rebuilding following the crisis was going to be another matter entirely, the group finally could breathe easy, knowing that the last prisoner had been defeated, soon to be recaptured and re-jailed.
However, there were still a few questions that lingered afterward, ones that had to be asked. What would the astral ponies do, in this new world, this new era? What would the cost of victory truly be?
And what would Corey and John do next, now that their way home was sealed forever?
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Woo! That darn arc is finally over XD Sheesh that fight was dragging on. Hard earned victory. Nice moment for Discord though.
Fucking Goku... The defenders win the game.