A Catastrophe of Two Ponies
Chapter 24: A Catastrophe of Two Ponies
Celestia sighed as she prepared for the next pony to bring their grievances forward. The Day Court was every bit as tedious as it always was. It was the usual selection of nobles airing petty grievances with each other or with commoners that they believed had slighted them. Occasionally there was something more interesting, like a researcher asking for a grant or a businesspony presenting an interesting conundrum. But, for the most part, Celestia was forced to play mediator for arguments that ponies seemed unwilling to settle unless she provided the final word on the matter.
All of that ended when the doors to the throne room slammed open and a wide-eyed Luna came rushing in at a gallop, a very flustered steward following in her wake, clearly upset about this interruption to the routine.
"Tia!" shouted Luna, "Look to Ponyville!"
Celestia shot to her hooves and immediately rushed to find the nearest vantage point that would allow her to view the small town. She had to leave the throne room itself and find a balcony hanging off the side of the castle that overlooked the whole valley. Behind her, her Guards closed ranks to keep the audience and petitioners from following her.
As she reached the balcony, Celestia looked at the distant town, her eyes trying to discern what had Luna so agitated. At first, it was difficult because the town seemed to be surrounded by a shimmering haze, the likes of which normally occurred during summer heatwaves, but were much rarer during Equestria's (intentionally) mild springs. That isn't heat, she realized, It's power! It was the kind of effect that could only be produced by a convergence of pony magic...in enormous quantities. It was power enough to actually disturb the air around the town to such an extent that the light of her sun was warped and bent. Furthermore, the effect was enormous, encompassing the town to such an extent that the effects were visible from here in Canterlot. Under normal circumstances, it would have taken dozens, if not hundreds of magically active ponies to produce such an effect.
Silently, she went through her memories. She wouldn't be surprised if this amount of power involved Arkenstone in some way. If anything, he was probably one of the sources for this effect. But even he wouldn't have been able to cause a disturbance this large on his own. That meant that there had to be another pony, at least, who was close to matching him in power. She remembered the intelligence that Cadance had gathered from her interrogations of the captured Cult Solar members, putting it together with Shining Armor's deductions that whatever the Cult was planning would be coming to a head sometime around the middle of spring. What was happening was fairly clear then.
"Princess...your court-" said her steward, who had followed her to the balcony.
"Is canceled," said Celestia, cutting him off, "This is an emergency situation. Summon Shining Armor at once."
It took a few minutes after the steward scrambled off to carry out her orders, but Shining appeared in a flash of rose-colored light right next to her. "You called, Your Highness."
"I am going to Ponyville," said Celestia decisively, "I will fly there myself."
"I'll need ten minutes to assemble an escort for you," said Shining.
"You have five," said Celestia, her tone becoming curt, "If they are not ready by then, I will head out myself, with or without assistance."
Shining clearly wanted to protest, but he knew that Celestia was more than willing to follow through. The only reason she was willing to wait at all was probably so that the Guards would be on hoof to handle the aftermath of whatever was happening in Ponyville at the moment. "It will be done," he said, teleporting away in another flash, leaving Celestia to stew and wait.
"It's no good,"" said Dr. Stable as he looked up from the Storm Front's broken body, "Under these conditions, the best I can manage is basic first aid."
"You can't even set their bones?" asked Twilight.
Stable frowned and turned his attention back to the two mercenary stallions lying on stretchers near the barn's entrance. "Not under these circumstances. These aren't simple breaks. I believe there may have been some severe fragmenting from the impact. Even now, bone shards might be perilously close to important veins and arteries. I would need to perform a full-depth scan in order to assess where they are, which isn't possible in an environment like this. Furthermore, I may very well have to use surgery to move them safely."
Applejack and Flitter both got a little paler. Flitter looked close to fainting, whilst Applejack was doing her best to keep from grabbing Stable by the collar of his overcoat and shaking him back and forth while demanding he do something.
Twilight nodded in understanding. A full-depth scan used magic to map the inside of a pony's body so that it could be examined by imprinting the image resulting from the scan on a photographic plate. However, the scan was susceptible to outside interference, particularly from ambient environmental magical energy. Under these circumstances, Dr. Stable would be lucky if he got anything more than a blurred outline of the patients. As for surgery...while it could be performed in the field, it could only be done very roughly and required a certain degree of training and experience to perform safely. While Dr. Stable was an excellent doctor, he was trained to work in a fully-functioning hospital and a clean environment.
Wait! thought Twilight, What if I could provide that! In her mind, she carefully began to run through her options. It would be harder, more difficult than even the mass teleport she'd managed a few minutes ago. But she thought it might be just within her means, especially if she was able to appropriately apply her ring to the task. It would be tricky for sure, but she thought she could manage it.
"I have an idea," she said, "We need to clear a space."
"What are you doing?" asked Stable, looking at Twilight inquisitively.
Twilight was already issuing instructions to Applejack, Flitter, the nurses and orderlies, getting them to move supplies and patients out of the way to clear as large a space as was possible around the area near the barn's door. Once that was done, she had Red River and Storm Front moved to the center of the space.
"I'm going to give you what you need," said Twilight in answer to the doctor's question, "Pick out the nurses you're going to need for this operation, along with all the supplies you might need."
Dr. Stable looked skeptical, but he figured it was better not to doubt Twilight's words. He began to issue orders of his own, having his staff gather all the supplies and tools for a surgical operation. Fortunately, some of that had been brought over from the hospital.
Once he was ready, he nodded to Twilight, who fell into a trance of concentration as she began to prepare her magic. Once again, the silvery-gold band of the arcanasteel ring emerged at the base of her horn, glowing silver-white. This time, Twilight made sure to tap as much of the ring's accumulated energy as possible. It was likely that she would need every ounce of magical power she could spare if she wanted to go through with this.
Once again, Twilight used the ring's properties to actualize her magic to create armor. However, the "armor" in this case covered a much larger area than any she'd created in the past. Rather than projecting the armor around herself, she instead projected it to enclose the space around her, the doctor, his staff, as well as Storm and Red. The shape was a basic cube, the parameters were designed to filter out magical, biological, and chemical interference, while still providing air to breathe. In the center of the space, she also created a raised rectangle to serve as an operating table.
It all took shape just as she envisioned it. As Twilight had expected, trying to cover such a large amount of surface area and enclose an even larger amount of volume with actualized magic was far more difficult than armor that only had to cover a pony's body. It actually didn't drain as much magic as she thought it would. However, as soon as she finished, Twilight noticed that the artificial operating room was already on the verge of becoming undone. If she let her focus falter for even a second, the whole thing would dissolve and they would be right back to square one. If she couldn't keep this up for the duration of the operation itself, things would be even worse if she gave out in the middle of the procedure. l can't afford to fail.
"Remarkable," said Stable, oblivious to Twilight's fragile state, "You actually managed to create such a space here. This is perfect. We'll begin at once."
He immediately set about getting to work, while Twilight put the entirety of her focus into maintaining their shelter against the elements, sweat already beginning to gather on her brow.
From the outside, the operating room looked like a strange white block that had been erected right in front of the bar doors. Applejack and Flitter stared in awe at the structure. "Do you think they'll be alright?" asked Flitter, glancing nervously at Applejack.
"Ah hope so," said Applejack, "This ain't exactly mah area 'o expertise. But Ah think Twi knows what she's doin'. We can trust 'er."
A large red figure leaned around the side of the cube. "AJ, Ah'm gonna need yer help," said Big Macintosh, waving his sister over.
Trying to calm her nerves, Applejack went over to her brother. "What's up?" she asked.
"We met Arkenstone in town," said Macintosh, "He said he's gonna get in the fight. If he does that, there's gonna be trouble, even though we're all the way out hereabouts."
Applejack nodded. "What do ya wanna do about it? We can try evacuatin' farther away, but we can't move the injured and Twi's in the middle of some real delicate stuff."
Macintosh chewed his lip. "We ain't goin' nowhere. But Ah need every earth pony Ah can get mah hooves on. We're gonna need to try and Stand Firm and hold this spot in place."
"Stand Firm!" exclaimed Applejack, her eyes bulging, "Ah haven't practiced that fer a couple years now." She was embarrassed to admit it, but Applejack had never really taken to Granny Smith's lessons the way Big Macintosh had. She supposed she could do it if she tried hard enough. Even if you didn't practice all that much, it wasn't the sort of skill you forgot. But... "Ah'd be surprised if anypony 'round these parts actually knows how to do that."
"It's simple enough," said Macintosh, "If Ah take the lead, Ah think Ah can show 'em all how it's done. We need to pool as much 'o everypony's power as we can."
Applejack nodded. "Ah'll get Bloom. She's been practicin' that a lot after Red taught it to her."
"That'll be a big help," said Macintosh with a sigh, "Ah can do what Ah can, but Ah ain't as good as Granny was."
They both sagged for a second. Granny Smith, being the eccentric mare she was, was prone to wandering off at odd times and returning at even odder times. But, under these dire circumstances, there was something terribly ominous about her absence. The two siblings dearly hoped that she was alright.
"Broodin' on it ain't gonna get a thing done," said Applejack sharply after a second, "We best get to it."
Macintosh nodded. "And soon," he said, the sense of urgency he'd been feeling increasing as, ever so slightly, the ground beneath their hooves began to tip...
The earth groaned. The earth cracked. Deep beneath the ground, things shifted and crumbled. The trees creaked, their wood groaning with strain as though they were beginning to all lean together, all of them leaning towards a single point, where two ponies stood, silently facing one another. Had anypony been near them, it would have felt as though the world itself had shifted. These two ponies now stood at the center of an abyss, seeming rewrite the laws of physics so that, no matter where anything had been in relation to them, where they were now was the direction defined as down. With each successive breath, it seemed more and more like the world itself was being drawn towards them, as though they had become the center of all existence, pulling it inexorably towards them.
One of them, a dark-brown stallion with a pale-green mane, glared at the other with angry gray eyes. "With a presence like yours, I had assumed you to be a fellow master. However, if you are borrowing tricks from unicorns and polluting your art with outside concepts, I cannot help but be disappointed," said Terra Heart, Cardinal of the Order of Celestial Light.
The stallion across from him was normally a beige color with a dark-brown mane. However, said stallion's body had been covered entirely by plates of black armor with gold highlights. Jagged and blade-like, they gleamed in the afternoon sun, which only served to make their edges look all the sharper. The armored stallion merely smiled at the taunt. "Your attitude betrays your ignorance," retorted Arkenstone, Knight of the Dancing Blades, "I had thought the Cult Solar promoted a better understanding of the harmony between the tribes."
Terra snorted angrily, the force of his exhalation actually blasting a wave of dust away from the earth. "I will not justify your foolishness with anything further," he said, "Especially since you insult the Order so brazenly with that name."
"Beaten dogs ought not to bark so loudly," said Arkenstone.
"I was not beaten!" snarled Terra, "That demon was at my mercy."
"Perhaps, at the end," said Arkenstone, "I admit that he lost the fight. However, for the briefest of moments...he surpassed you, didn't he?"
Terra stiffened, flinching as the sharp movement agitated the blackened cut seared along his left haunch, just beneath his cutie mark. "He didn't..."
"But he did," said Arkenstone, "It was only an instant, but in that instant, he pierced your defense and managed to leave his mark upon a pony who should have been, by all rights, invulnerable. It was because, in that instant, he actually transcended the limits of body, mind, and spirit and reached the plane of true mastery."
"Ridiculous," hissed Terra, his breathing quickening, "You're lying. Such a thing isn't possible...not for a demon..."
"You're right about that," said Arkenstone, his smile widening, "Such a feat is indeed beyond 'demons.' That's what upsets you, isn't it? If you were to actually acknowledge what Dawn Lightwing had done, you would have to acknowledge the truth..."
"Shut up..."
"You would have to admit to yourself that Dawn Lightwing is no demon, that he is a real pony..."
"Shut. Up..."
"And if you acknowledged that, you would have to acknowledge an even worse truth; the truth that you are here on the basis of a delusion; that everything you had done up to this point, all the harm you'd inflicted, all the pain you'd caused...was in service to a lie."
"Shut UP!" roared Terra, his body blurring into motion, his hoof flashing out as he closed the remaining distance between himself and Arkenstone in an instant.
Even though Terra was coming straight at him, Arkenstone didn't seem to react. Instead, his tail flicked idly. Around his body, no fewer than six ebony blades, their edges outlined in gold, appeared in the air around him. They were visible for the blink of an eye, but accelerated so quickly that they simply seemed to vanish back into thin air as they lanced out to intercept Terra's charge in the space directly in front of Arkenstone, converging on the incoming stallion.
This time, Terra made no attempt to dodge the blades, Instead, his hoof swung out to meet them directly.
In the next instant, the two stallions vanished in an explosion dust and dirt that rocked the earth around them, sending rippling tremors that made trees sway and groan, made buildings shudder, and shattered windows throughout Ponyville. The impact rocked Ponyville to its foundations.
"Holy Horseapples! Sweet Celestia's Unshaven Fetlocks!" yelled Applejack, her hat flying off her head as the first of the tremors reached Sweet Apple Acres.
"AJ!" snapped Macintosh, whipping his head around to glare at her, "Language!"
"This ain't the time to be prudish!" Applejack snapped back, sweat running down her forehead as her hat landed on the ground behind her, "We're in deep pig slop now."
Biting down on the stalk of grass projecting from his mouth, Macintosh fought back an angry retort. For all that it annoyed him, Applejack was right about the situation. It was bad. They'd rounded up every earth pony from town, save those that were members of the hospital staff (or hospital patients, for that matter). Even with Macintosh using his magic to help coordinate their efforts, the other earth ponies, Applejack included, were just too inexperienced to mesh their magic together fully. They'd managed to hold back the first of the tremors, but they could all feel the growing tension in the earth itself. Those two stallions were only just warming up and, once they really started going all out, it would be little different from unleashing an earthquake in the middle of Ponyville. The meager protection that they'd managed to scrape together thus far wasn't going to cut it.
"This ain't gonna do it!" said Applejack, an edge of panic creeping into her voice.
"What are we gonna do, Mac?" asked a worried Apple Bloom, looking up at her brother.
Macintosh sweated as he looked for the words to rally his sisters and the townsponies. Trying to think of what might raise ponies' spirits, he looked towards the one pony who specialized in raising ponies' spirits.
Pinkie Pie gave Macintosh an enigmatic smile. "It'll be okay Macky," she said with an easy grin, reaching over to gently pat Coco Pommel's shoulder as the apprentice designer sweated next to her, "That's what my Pinkie Sense tells me." Beside her, a worried Mayweather simply stared straight at the town, her bright-yellow coat looking strangely pale.
"It sure as shootin' is gonna be okay," called a familiar voice, drawing everypony's attention as a wrinkled green mare strode confidently into her midst, "Ah didn't raise no quitters and Ah know this town ain't gonna quit on us either."
"Granny!" cried Applejack and Bloom in unison.
"Where've ya been?" demanded Macintosh.
"None 'o yer guff," said Smith curtly, giving Macintosh a sly smile, "We've got a job to do."
Granny Smith paused to take a deep breath before booming out in an authoritative voice. "LISTEN UP EVERYPONY, 'CAUSE AH'M ONLY GONNA SAY THIS ONCE!" Once she was sure she had everypony's attention, Granny smiled and continued at a more reasonable volume. "If we're gonna hold back these tremors, we're gonna have to think like trees. Our magic is like roots, ya sink 'em into the earth and hold fast." She looked around, smiling at the assembled earth ponies. "Ah know a lot 'o y'all are worried. Ya've got homes, ya've got things ya value. Ah'll be honest, they probably ain't gonna come through this in one piece. But...what matters is already out here with us; the ponies we love, our neighbors, our friends, our families. If we don't protect them, then it ain't gonna matter if a single plank or nail survives back in town. We ain't got time to worry 'bout that, ya need to focus on what needs protectin'."
Taking another deep breath, Smith gave one last encouraging smile to the ponies around her. "Now it's time to do this here thing. Ah'll show ya how."
Stepping into the center of the group, Smith closed her eyes and reached out. Every earth pony felt her presence. It reached down into the earth like a massive taproot, sending out smaller roots off to each side, meshing together with the power of other earth ponies. She drew them together and wove their power into a network that spread across the entire farm. Together, the earth ponies sank their will into the earth. Together...they held firm...which was just as well, because the battle outside of Sweet Apple Acres was picking up steam.
Terra's hoof met Arkenstone's blades, which crossed together right in front of him. Shifting his posture, Terra changed the angle of contact so that his hoof collided with the flat of one of the blades, knocking it into the other blades and sending them off-course. The blades bit into the earth, splitting the ground, cutting lines through dirt and stone that went on to slice nearby trees in two.
His first obstacle out of the way, Terra surged forward through the cloud of dust created, his hooves feeling the presence of his enemy in contact with the ground. He slammed his attacking hoof down into the ground, focusing the force of impact up from all four of his hooves and channeling it along his spine before directing it out his shoulder as he slammed that part of his body into the area where he knew Arkenstone was.
Arkenstone met Terra's attack head-on, colliding his armored shoulder with Terra's unarmored one. The jagged edges of his armor bit into Terra's skin, in spite of the magical reinforcement Terra was using on his flesh. However, the surge of kinetic energy rushing out from Terra's attack met Arkenstone's and pushed the bladed edges of the armor away. Arkenstone shouldered the full impact of the blow with his armor. His hooves dug into the ground and a shockwave seemed to blast out behind him, ripping apart the ground, including one of the cobblestone paths through the park, toppling a couple of lampposts as well.
Arkenstone took a deep breath, sounding almost relaxed, in spite of the fight's intensity. Lifting up one forehoof, he slammed it back down into the ground. Terra's instincts gave him the briefest of warnings as he leapt back. Where he had been standing were countless rocks and pebbles, the remnants of the larger pieces of stone that had been underneath the two earth ponies and had been shattered in that last exchange.
A thicket of black blades erupted upwards, practically filling the space that Terra had been occupying, throwing more dust into the air as they went. Terra backpedaled frantically away from the attack. Arkenstone barreled through the seemingly solid mass of blades, shattering them like they were made of cheap glass. The fragments of those blades seemed to mix and mingle with the dust already in the air, drawing it into themselves before growing and extending into new blades that then seemed to leap of their own accord towards Terra, flying point-first like spears.
With a growl, Terra planted all four hooves into the ground, embedding them into the earth, nearly all the way up to his fetlocks. Drawing in as much power as he could, he lunged forward to meet the attack head on. Rearing up on his hind hooves, he used his forelegs to bat away the incoming projectiles, often breaking them to pieces in the process, aiming for the flats of the blades to avoid cutting himself on the edges that he knew would be able to bite into him, even with how much power he had already drawn into himself.
He wasn't quite fast enough. Terra had focused his attention on the blades coming straight at him. However, there were others coming at him from outside angles. They weren't as dangerous since they weren't at risk of hitting any of his vital points, so Terra prioritized them less than the blades that were coming straight at him. The ultimate consequence was that a small number of blades cut into his flesh, striking glancing blows that sent thin ribbons of blood dancing through the air.
Having escaped the barrage, Terra dropped, slamming his forehooves into the ground with earthshaking force and bracing himself as Arkenstone closed in. Terra's eyes widened when he saw that Arkenstone was wielding yet another sword in his hoof, this one twice as long as either of them. He brought it straight down in a single stroke that nearly cut Terra in two. However, Terra managed to avoid the attack by leaping to the side at the last possible second. He actually felt the blade's edge clip a few hairs from the ends of his tail and saw the cut actually extend past the reach of the actual blade out of the corner of his eye. The cut drew a line across the ground, reaching all the way to one of the park's public restrooms and splitting it apart.
Lifting the blade up out of the ground, Arkenstone swept it sideways at his opponent. Terra danced back, his body skipping across the ground like a stone off the surface of a pond, taking him well out of the way of the sword's stroke. However, Arkenstone simply reversed the motion of his swing and released the giant sword, flinging it straight at the dark-brown stallion, who dropped his body to avoid being impaled and then grunted as the sword cut a line down the entire length of his body in its passing. The sword continued its flight, slamming tip-first into the ground outside the park and digging a long, narrow trench.
Terra went back on the offensive. As quickly as he'd retreated, he now advanced at an angle, actually cutting across in front of Arkenstone, who had been expecting Terra to come straight at him. For a moment, Arkenstone paused as his nose and ears tried to regain their fix on his enemy. However, Terra didn't give him the time he needed. Once again, Terra slammed his forehooves down, this time channeling the entirety of the motion's power through his body, putting every single muscle along with way into the motion to further magnify the attack's power as he kicked out with his hind legs in a terrific buck. His hooves slammed right into Arkenstone's side, heedless of the blade-like edges of the blind stallion's armor. The focused force of the strike shattered those edges along with the armor itself upon contact. Arkenstone's armor seemed to break apart like brittle fragments of eggshell as he himself was thrown through the air on a path which paralleled that of the sword he had just thrown.
Luckily, the side of his body that hadn't been damaged by Terra's attack was what came down when Arkenstone hit the ground, the unbroken armor breaking off and seeming to strip away as Arkenstone bounced into a roll, managing to twist his body so that he was facing back the way he came, sinking into a crouch. As Arkenstone had expected, Terra had immediately turned and pursued, coming hard on the heels of his own strike as he closed the distance between them with blinding speed.
Terra's eyes widened as he closed. The dust that had been thrown up by Arkenstone's landing was coalescing about the blind stallion's beige body, surrounding it with black and gold again as Arkenstone's armor reformed before his very eyes. Arkenstone met Terra's next attack head-on, slamming his champron into Terra's unarmored head even as all four of Terra's hooves smacked the ground in unison, channeling all that force into the most powerful strike a practitioner of the Mountain Root could bring to bear.
On certain levels, a pony's body was unsuited to the martial arts, particularly hoof-to-hoof combat, in sometimes unexpected ways. Quadrupeds faced challenges that were not an issue to bipedal species, like minotaurs. When a biped punched or attacked with its arms, it still had both its legs on the ground. While, to some, that would be a naturally unsteady posture, for bipeds, it presented no real issue at the basic level. The fact was, a biped could strike without sacrificing the base stability of their stance. However, for quadrupeds, like ponies, who spent their lives upon four legs, their posture led to different problems. Lifting one's hoof to strike meant that the attacking pony had one less hoof to stand on and had, as a consequence, weakened their stance. A pony rearing up to strike with both of her forehooves or turning around to buck with both of her back legs weakened her stance even further. If she took an attack from an unexpected angle while in such a position, she was easily at risk of being thrown off her hooves. Furthermore, for martial arts like the Mountain Root, where power was drawn from contact with the ground, lifting one or more legs to attack meant reducing the number of points in contact with the ground, which meant that a certain amount of power was lost from the overall attack. Depending on the technique being used, part of that power could be made up by the motion of the technique itself, such as for a perfectly executed buck, but that would not match the power that might be generated if a pony could somehow paradoxically execute a buck without breaking her rear hooves' contact with the ground.
The second advantage that bipeds had over quadrupeds in martial arts was in the generation and transference of power. Bipeds augmented the power of their forelimb strikes by rotating their body and using the spine as a fulcrum, adding centrifugal force to the strike. For ponies, such a motion was awkward and ran counter to their natural posture. The ponies who could execute such techniques were primarily limited to pegasi, who could perform what would normally be an almost impossible motion thanks to their ability to freely alter their orientation via flight. However, for most other ponies, power was instead transmitted along the length of the spine, which was the secret to a particularly powerful buck or Terra Heart's shoulder strike. The former was still burdened by the fact that two hooves were no longer in contact with the ground. The latter required that the energy of the attacking pony be diverted at a slight angle in order to channel it out the shoulder. Either way, some of the power of the technique ultimately went to waste.
However, the ultimate strike of the Mountain Root, affecting the rather underwhelming name of the Four-Point Strike, addressed both of those issues. In the school of the Mountain Root, it was often the final technique taught to the art's students, not because of its incredible destructive potential, but rather because it was a double-edged sword that required a full understanding of the fundamentals of the Mountain Root itself in order to execute safely. Done incorrectly, the technique was just as capable of killing the wielder as it was the wielder's enemy.
The first issue was addressed by altering how the attacker struck. Rather than lifting a hoof off the ground, the attacker instead stepped down with all four hooves simultaneously, putting the full power of all four of her legs into the motion. Because of that, the full power of the user's capability was channeled into the strike itself, with none being lost to a lack of stability. The second issue was addressed by not offsetting the point of impact. Rather than shifting the flow of power off to the shoulder, the user instead channeled it out through the one extremity that had the dual qualities of being perfectly in-line with the spine and not being used to support the attacking pony's stance...the head. Thus, the Four-Point Strike was, in appearance, a slightly unorthodox headbutt. However, it was a technique designed to channel the full destructive potential of a pony's body, along with all their magic, into a single strike.
Once again, Arkenstone's armor, which had only partially reformed, shattered under the force of Terra's attack, skin of Arkenstone's head meeting Terra's own as Terra's strike broke through the armor unimpeded. A ripple went along the armor forming along Arkenstone's body, causing it to break apart once more. The plates settling across his haunches blasted into scattering fragments that sprayed out behind Arkenstone in a hail of shrapnel. The barrage of fragments tore into a row of houses just behind the Knight, shredding walls into pieces and bringing some of those houses down with an ear-splitting crash.
Arkenstone's eyes opened slightly, giving Terra's gray eyes a view of his featureless white orbs. However, in Terra's peripheral vision, he saw the fragments of armor that had been forming over Arkenstone's shoulders, which had been broken back into a black dust by the impact of the attack, turn into twin black whirlwinds that then extended into a new array of spinning blades that now slashed at Terra from either side, threatening to sever his head. Terra pulled back, barely managing to yank his head out of the way as the blades meshed together like the teeth of a pair of gears between him and Arkenstone. Once again, the line of the cuts extended far beyond the edges of the blades, gouging new lines in the earth, forming an X-shaped mark in the ground between Terra and Arkenstone.
“Wha-what?” gasped Terra, staring in shock at his opponent. That blow should have completely smashed Arkenstone’s skull. Instead, Arkenstone didn’t even looked dazed. A cut had opened on his forehead and was now bleeding down his face, but that was the extent of the damage.
“My version of Reap What You Sow,” replied Arkenstone with a smirk as the blades crumbled back into dust. Already, his armor was reforming yet again, “It’s good for you that you struck before I’d finished rebuilding my armor or you would have received the full force of your strike in return.”
Terra, unwilling to let his adversary get the upper hoof, surged forward, determined to keep Arkenstone from reforming his armor completely. Once again, all four of his hooves hit the ground as he thrust his head towards Arkenstone again. Instead of meeting him head on, Arkenstone instead sidestepped the strike. Terra turned to attack again and Arkenstone turned with him, circling around each other until they had switched positions. Arkenstone slammed his armored hooves into the ground, throwing up a spray of dirt and stone. His power surged through the debris, which suddenly became a literal wall of swords that then seemed to surge upwards and collapse over Terra like a wave.
Terra threw himself away from the barrage of swords, jumping backwards. From behind the blades, Arkenstone swiped his hoof along their hilts, the action sending them surging after Terra in an action that was eerily reminiscent of water cascading over the ground. Terra fell back, swatting the swords away when he had to. The literal tide of weapons forced him back into the ruins of the first house that had been torn apart in the aftermath of the previous exchange. The blades hacked through what remained of the walls, gouging out chunks of wood and slicing through supports. The remainder of the house began to collapse.
To Terra’s slowly growing horror, the attack didn’t end there, as the fragments of the house now buzzing through the air like angry hornets crackled with the power of Arkenstone’s magic and became blades as well. From the collapsing walls and ceilings, still more swords emerged, all of them thrusting at Terra as he continued to backpedal away from the onslaught. Desperately, Terra threw himself out through the wall, only to find that the debris that had been thrown into the air as a consequence of the house’s collapse had now become blades as well, plummeting towards him in a rain of swords.
Unable to do much else, Terra threw himself into the next house along the line and saw the cycle repeat itself over again as the swords created from the pieces of the previous house cut into and through the next house, turning the pieces of the second house into swords as well.
It was horrifying. Terra, initially disdainful of Arkenstone for having turned to magical concepts from other tribes, had never conceived that an earth pony could fight in such a fashion. Arkenstone’s power was like a malevolent virus, spreading across the battlefield. Everything it infected became a new sword for Arkenstone to throw at him, each one humming with intense, focused killing intent, as sharply honed as the edges of the blades themselves. Every one of them was capable of piercing the magical reinforcement of Terra’s body and biting into his flesh. Some spun end over end through the air, others hurtled themselves at him like arrows and spears. The chain of attacks seemed unending as it chased Terra through one house and then another.
How can he be so powerful? marveled Terra. Finally, he found an escape, throwing himself into the street and out of the seemingly endless line of attacks, leaving what remained of the houses he and Arkenstone had just torn through to collapse in on themselves. The blades dissolved into useless fragments as well.
However, Terra found no respite. Even as he had been evading Arkenstone’s continuous attack, Arkenstone himself had been pursuing by running down the street that ran parallel along the row of houses. When Terra emerged out into the street, Arkenstone was already there. At some point he had ripped a post from a white picket fence around one of the yards. Inhaling sharply, Arkenstone seemed to take in the object’s scent before power crackled around it. The fencepost became yet another massive blade that Arkenstone swung sideways at Terra.
Rather than avoid the blade, Terra closed in, stepping inside the radius of the swing and catching Arkenstone’s arm with one foreleg. The jagged edges of the armor bit into Terra’s skin, but didn’t cut deep. Terra slammed his shoulder into Arkenstone’s chest and kicked off his remaining hooves, launching the two of them across the street and into one of the houses the other side, breaking down the wall beside the door. Arkenstone hit first. This time, however, his armor did not break upon impact. They hit the floor, Arkenstone back-first with Terra on top, already raising his hooves to press the attack, actually intending to pummel Arkenstone with rain of stomping strikes with all four of his hooves.
Arkenstone didn’t give Terra the chance, kicking upwards with all four hooves. They slammed into Terra’s barrel, impacting his ribs and stomach. The force of the attack propelled Terra upwards, sending him flying through the ceiling of the first story, then the second story, through the attic, and, finally, through the roof of the house itself.
Terra turned his motion into a graceful backflip. Angling himself so that he was facing straight down, he kicked out with his back legs, seeming to push off of the air itself. He accelerated drastically downwards, following almost the exact same path down that he had taken up. His hooves crashed through the roof, then the floors of the house, further widening the holes he'd made during his ascent, as he descended back down towards Arkenstone, who was still on the first floor of the house. Arkenstone had already created yet another array of blades, angled upward. Whether he had been planning on firing them up after Terra or had been waiting for Terra to come back down was unknown. However, Terra’s sudden descent didn’t seem to disrupt Arkenstone’s movements in the slightest as the blades themselves lunged forward to meet the descending Terra.
The entire house exploded out outwards from the impact of the two stallions meeting, taking out the walls of the houses adjacent to it. From the center of the explosion emerged what seemed to be a miniature hurricane as Terra Heart and Arkenstone continued their fight; this time at close range as they exchanged flurries of strikes and blocks. This close in, Arkenstone had no room to bring his swords into play as Terra kept the fight close, knowing that allowing any opening to form between them would be fatal. However, Arkenstone made no attempt to disengage from infighting and met Terra, hoof for armored hoof.
Scootaloo grimaced and grit her teeth as she fought to maintain altitude. She'd figured it wouldn't be too bad to carry Dawn. He'd carried her plenty of times in the past. However, as she flew, she grew conscious of one very important fact. Dawn was heavy. She supposed it was a consequence of his continuous training having developed some very dense musculature. It made sense. But that didn't change the fact that it was difficult to remain steady while trying to balance the burden of the unconscious colt on her back.
Still, she was almost there. Once she reached Sweet Apple Acres, she wouldn't have to worry about carrying him anymore and could actually worry more about helping him. He still needed that magic transfusion to boost his internal reserves.
Looking down, Scootaloo noticed a purple and green figure making his way down the path to the farm. Spike! What's he doing out here? He should be at the farm already.
Much as she wanted to fly down and satisfy her curiosity, Scootaloo remained focused on her primary task and carried on towards Sweet Apple Acres and the barn that was being used to house the patients from the hospital. It made sense to go there after all. Dawn would probably be hanging out in the hospital...again...when all was said and done.
Landing was a tricky task. The extra weight of Dawn's body made it hard to work out how much effort she needed to put into slowing down before her hooves hit the ground. Scootaloo stumbled as she touched down, but managed to avoid going into a tumble and kept Dawn safe on her back.
"Please!" she shouted, seeing some nurses already coming out to meet her, "Help!"
Next chapter: The battle's epic conclusion.
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My body is ready!
Holy Hell. But Granny's alive, yay!
Holy shit your fight scenes are epic. Wreck his face Arkenstone! Seriously though, you ever thought of trying to publish something? I'd buy it in a heartbeat.
ARKENSTONE IS JUST AS BADASS RIGHT NOW!
ohSHIIIIII
the battle reminds me a lot of the fight in this trailer
Granny is tough, and man do you like to drag out a fight.!
Ponyville's gona be utterly devastated after this. Couldn't they have tried to drag the fight out to the quarry or something?
Once it gets out that it was the enforcer for the Cult Solar that attacked, the Cult's going to be effectively over. Celestia will have all the reason she needs to storm the door of every temple, and with the time Swift brought, might be in time to at least stop the activation of the artifacts.
But... for dramatic sense, I doubt they will be in time for that, so it will come down to finding and stopping Morning Glory directly before he finishes whatever experiment he's running.
He's on the ropes!
Also, Granny Smith, what chu doin? You's dead.
O.O DAMN! THIS IS THE MOST EPIC FIGHT EVER!!! So far in the story anyway. Damn Arkenstone don't play around does he? I hope Dawn will be ok though. Also
one other thing
GRANNY STILL ALIVE! YAY!
oh thank god! granny is alive. you love to make us wait don't you? great chapter
You sir, are a fantastic writer. Have a moustache my good man
Ha, I knew it! Arky's so tough, he can take on this Terra Heart guy with his eyes clos- ...wait...
Something tells me Terra is going to be faced with Celestia after he is beaten, and he will snap when she reprimands him and thus... he will either perform a pony version of Seppuku or maybe try to kill the 'demon illusion' Celestia but will fall, when he is killed by the knight Arkenstone...
I have a feeling that after this Celestia will no longer turn a blind eye when it comes to the Cult and once word gets around that the Cult would do something like this they're going to have a hard time justifying themselves.
5871330
Oh dear lord, I hope that happens!
5871113 I doubt terra's is
5871330
I'll take that bet.
I think I figured it out. Granny Smith is actually the spirit of Equus, Mother Gaia (Equus?). She can't technically die and has be helping guide the ponies since the beginning of time. Tia and Luna are actually "foals" of hers that she created a long time ago to give all her little ponies something to look up to.
Also, I keep reading Terra in this voice:
Ah yeah, Granny kicks ass!
)
The princesses finally get involved! Huzzah!
Arkenstone's blades rather remind me of Gaara's sand from Naruto (I remember when that wasn't utter garbage
I've never had a fic that updated so regularly so often that I enjoyed like this; I shall be very sad when it inevitably comes to a close and I have to await the next installment in the series.
5871113 That's what you think
Wow...you are such a terrific writer! I can't write descriptions of any kind, but you not only write a perfect battle scene, but bring the real world horse anatomy into it as well.
All of my yes!
this is true glory
ct.fra.bz/i58/2/8/2/f_91fcc2a167.jpg
I think you might mean 'barn'
5871424 Does that make Arkenstone Scottish?
AND WHO THE HELL IS THE SPANISH PEACOCK?!?!??!
I want to ask Terra how that Whoopass taste.
The wave of blades for some reason makes me think of World War Z when the zombies started climbing over the walls and into the city. They literally looked like a flood of death running through it.
Ya know... After Morning Star's further characterization, I've had the inkling that Terra might have a heel-face-turn. Perhaps it isn't too late.
Granny still alive and kicking? I must say I wasn't quite expecting that - though I guess it's possible she simply passed out with time, without actually draining her life force, and Terra simply walked away without doing anything to her. That said, I'm still worried about her chances - she just recovered from an exertion that probably put her pretty close to the edge, and now she is throwing herself back in the proverbial fray, having to shoulder the defense of the farm? After all is said and done, I can see the strain catching up to her for good ...
As for Arkenstone and Terra, that was a most impressive fight scene, probably the best one you have written yet. The imagery was especially powerful when Terra was crashing through the houses as he retreated, while all the dust and debris around him kept turning in to blades of varying shapes and sizes and kept coming at him from all sides.
That was suitably epic and the description of Arkenstone's power as a virus that slowly spreads out and takes over the battlefield was pretty chilling - and certainly badass enough for a Celestia's Knight who carries the monicker of "relentless". Sooner or later, Terra will fall.
As for how the two of them match up, things seem to be as expected on that front - Terra has an edge in raw strength, but not by that much - not enough to overwhelm Arkenstone. And since he seems to be somewhat of a one-trick-pony in that regard, he doesn't seem to have any real answers to Arkenstone's flexible and unorthodox fighting style. I can hardly wait to see the conclusion and Terra finally going down, it should be one heck of an epic finish.
5872109 I personally am glad granny made it. She has quite the interesting character in this story and i would have been sad to see that go.
Furthermore I completely agree. There is a large chance that Terra wouldn't kill her because of sentimentality no matter how much he would want to deny it.
5871255
She's probably operating on pure willpower.
"Ah don't care if ah'm dead, I still got work to do!"
I freaking LOVE Arkenstone's fighting style. And I love how it combines the teachings of more than one tribe. Kind of like in the Avatar series, where the most powerful techniques blend teachings from more then one form of bending.
And yes, 5871185 , I also imagine Arkenstone's flurry of blades looks like Master Xeahanorts mastery of all the keyblades left behind from the keyblade war(s?).
Sooo... Celestia (and possibly Luna) is on the way. Which means she can put an epic end to an epic fight.
Like 5872042, I'm also hoping for a parallel with the first story, where Celestia is able to break through to a follower of the cult. Terra would be a very powerful ally, and something that wouldn't change would be his devotion to serve Celestia. It's the biggest weakness of the cult, but Celestia doesn't have the time to personally confront every single one of them.
If not a complete change of heart, I'm hoping for at least getting something like with Steel, where she has an ongoing crisis of faith.
It's nice to see Granny Smith back on her feet. I was worried you might actually kill her off. Her plot armour isn't as thick as some of the other characters.
Although, 5872109 is right, her exhaustion could catch with her later on.
Speaking of plot armour and ominous things in this story:
What the hell are you doing with Spike!?!
It's nice to see him being referenced to every now and then. You do a better job of gently reminding us of his existence than even the show itself.
However, I can't help but notice that Twilight could (should) have just teleported to the Golden Oaks library, grabbed Spike, and teleported them back to safety. It's entierly possible that she forgot, or had to focus on the patients, etc.
But that simply makes me woried. Why else would you consistently remind us of Spike? Why are you delicatley pointing out that Spike is still in Ponyville?
Where Arkenstone and Terra Heart have moved thier fight...
Spike's gonna get hurt isn't he?
If that's the case Celestia might need to protect Terra Heart.
Because no matter how exhausted she might be, Twilight will find away to vent her rage and grief at the pony responsible for almost killing Spike.
Let's be honest, being caught in the collateral damage of this fight would leave Spike dying, if not dead.
I imagine a brown clod of dirt with some light green blades of grass growing on it...
No pots this time.
wow if this was just the warm up will ponyville still be standing?
talk about power.
I am thinking the closes way we have to this kind of power out put Is a ef5 tornado and that will be on the low side of the scale.
Harts Fire
attack, the skin of Arkenstone's head
I didn't think she was dead. After all, a 'limp body' doesn't mean dead.
Oh, so now she takes action! Too little, too late.
5871330 5871422 I hope Celestia kills him.
5872109 It's like watching SSJ Goku against 100% Freiza, the bad guy has the muscle, but that's ALL he's got. And because we know that, we also know the hero's gonna win, and that just makes the villains futile struggle and inevitable breaking, all the more, sadistically, enjoyable.
5872420 The scary bit is that sounds exactly like something she'd say and do to.
Well, Terra dies.
Are we going to have a double release today?
Terra vs Toph. I want a Terra Heart vs Toph Beifong death battle. I don't care when, and I don't care how, but I want it.
Edit: Thinking about it, Arkenstone vs Toph would be just as good if not better considering that they're both blind.
half of me is OH MY GOSH YES
and the other half is just
wat
wat
hahaha that's funny NOW QUIT WITH THE MARTIAL ARTS LECTURE AND GET BACK TO THE FIGHT
you have no idea. HE USES THE POWER OF TEEEEA
6451642 yes
yes
yes
how did i not think of this before
yes
Holy frak! Arkenstone's power is beyond compare. If this was a videogame Arkenstone would be so BAMF!
I am going to Ponyville," said Celestia decisively, "I will fly there myself."
"I'll need ten minutes to assemble an escort for you," said Shining.
"You have five," said Celestia, her tone becoming curt
best line in this chapter yet