Chapter 14
Every party needed a few pranks. That was Celestia’s own private mantra.
After centuries of suffering one boring formal event after another, the sun princess had seen it as her own civil duty to try and inject some fun into each gathering of ponies, just something to generate excitement, a difference from the norm, or at the very least a hearty chuckle.
This was what she had originally hoped had been the cause of the sudden explosion that had rocked the Royal Palace to its foundations, and upon racing to investigate the source, she hoped even more that it was just a jape that had gotten out of hoof. Granted seeing a giant demonic monster stomping around the flaming ruins of her sister’s private garden made it hard to NOT immediately assume they were under attack from a new threat, but Celestia could be forgiven for at least trying to remain optimistic.
“Luna! Luna, where are you?” The white alicorn cried, gasping as the monstrous creature turned its horned visage to her. She charged up a magical attack and blasted it in the face, only to then watch in horror as it simply shrugged off the blast, then brought its weapon up over its head and slammed it into the floor. She was only barely able to get up into the air as a shockwave of fire was sent hurtling towards her.
“Tia! *cough* Tia, over here!”
Celestia looked and gasped in relief at the sight of her sister standing with the other party guests inside Shining Armor’s protective barrier. Fluttershy was busy trying to keep the pets from running amok, Applejack had the unconscious DJ on her back and her Stetson over her mouth to avoid breathing in the smoke, Twilight was trying to divert the creature’s attention, as was a glowing butterfly overhead, by firing at its back, and everyone else was just trying to avoid getting incinerated as the garden burned down around them.
“Luna! What in the name of our mother happened here?” Celestia demanded as she dodged a swing of the creature’s weapon and flew to join her sibling inside the barrier.
“I…honestly I have no idea. One second everything was fine, then suddenly the dance floor erupted in fire and this behemoth appeared from the flames!” The moon princess replied. “Aside from that, your guess is as good as mine as to what it is and where it came from!”
“Thou need not concern thineselves with blind guesses. I recognize this atrocity all too well.” Seath glowered. “It is called the 'Demon Firesage', a repulsive spawn from Lost Izalith that carries what knowledge remains of the ancient fire arts. As to how it comes to disgrace us with its presence, I am gripped by several suspicions, but shall refrain from voicing them until we are not in imminent danger of death!”
The demon charged at the ponies. Twilight, Cadence, Luna and Celestia all tried to stop it with their magic but again it just shrugged the blasts off.
“If thou knowest of this beast, Seath, then might thou at least tell us how it can be defeated? Our power is proving disturbingly ineffective!” Luna cried.
Seath nodded as he summoned a crystal shield to reinforce Shining’s barrier. The demon crashed heavily upon both defensive fields, beating upon them with its weapon as the ponies all cowered in fright.
“Its chaotic nature is too great to be countered via magic. We must strive to follow thine guard’s example and weaken it with physical attacks, then burn it to cinders!” The dragon instructed…to everyone’s combined puzzlement.
“Uh, Seath, it’s already on fire! What good will burning do?” Rainbow Dash asked.
“That which gave it strength is also its weakness.” Seath explained, getting even more bewildered looks. “Strive not to question its nature, equines! Just take advantage of it if thou desires to avoid the fate of the hollowed!”
The firesage spread its wings and flew into the air, as if to try attacking from a new vantage point.
“Well I can handle giving it a good pounding at least. Dashie, if you could get it down on the ground again I’ll show it what I picked up at boot camp!” Shining Armor declared while shrugging off his jacket.
“Say no more!” Rainbow Dash spat on her front hooves and rubbed them together as the unicorn dropped his barrier and let her make a counter-charge at the beast. It attempted to smack her aside with its weapon, but ever the aspiring Wonderbolt, Dash adjusted her flight path and slammed into the firesage’s chest, knocking it for a loop.
“And while she gives it something else to focus on, we’d better try to get to safety.” Twilight decreed. “Discord, have you cleared a path to the stairs yet?”
The chaos god appeared in a flurry of white chemical foam, wearing a shiny red firefighter’s suit, a gas mask and a giant extinguisher tank strapped to his back.
“Just a little bit longer my dears! The flora is proving remarkably keen to keep burning, even after I put it out. Probably due to them being a bit dry. Luna should really have a word with the gardeners about watering this place more often!” He replied to everyone’s disdain.
“Well please try to be quick! It’s getting uncomfortably warm in here!” Rarity hacked. “And I always thought fire was such a beautiful aspect of nature!”
“All beauty hides danger. It is only the illusion of control and limitation that holds the latter at bay.” Seath replied as he raised his catalyst and launched a barrage of homing soul masses at the demon. It did the job of distracting it long enough for Rainbow to get into position for another charge, this one to properly floor the bloated monstrosity.
“Get ready Shiny, I’m sending this thing’s plot back your way!” The cyan Pegasus warned as she shot herself like a torpedo into the firesage’s chest. The flames surrounding its skin proceeded to cook the mare like a roast, but the force of impact proved enough to stun the demon and send it crashing back onto the ground.
“Alright, now if only I had something sharp to fight with…” Shining Armor looked to the guards that lay unconscious around him. They’d done their job well of immediately reacting to the threat, but had discovered just as quickly that their training hadn’t quite prepared them for the ferocity of a being borne from the inferno itself. Their bodies lay scorched and their spears and blades had either been smashed or incinerated.
“Prince Armor!”
The unicorn turned to see Seath blow into his hand, forming a jagged pastiche of a sword with his crystal breath. He handed over the weapon and Shining took it in his magic.
“Be merciless with thine strokes, make it bleed!” Seath ordered. Shining looked a little put off by the demand but then reasoned he probably didn’t have an alternative. As the firesage rose to its feet again he threw himself at its giant form, braving the searing heat to bury his blade in its flesh. Glowing molten lava slowly flowed as the beast finally found itself subjected to an attack it couldn’t ignore. Turning from the pegasus still flying around, it tried to launch another wave of fire at Shining, but the unicorn showed his aptness as a soldier by vaulting over the flames, then darting around behind his opponent to stab it in the back. The demon belched flames as it grappled helplessly to remove the offending intrusion, then, when Shining yanked the blade out, it staggered as more of its molten blood leaked from the wound.
“Can you try tripping it up? I need a shot at its neck!”
Though she was wilting from the heat, Dash steeled her nerves and zipped down to grab one of the demon’s fat limbs. Unfortunately, despite its wounds, the demon seemed to cotton on to the mare’s plan and jumped into the air just when it was too late for her to alter her aim. Instead of knocking down her intended target, Rainbow Dash instead found herself crashing into Shining Armor, sending them both skidding a good six feet or so across the ground. As if to mock their plight further, the firesage then turned daintily in the air and let itself fall back to earth, crushing both ponies under its enormous rear end.
“NO! SHINING! DASH!” Twilight cried. Her horn ignited and began spraying magical bolts wildly in her rage. “Get off them you fat bastard! Let them go!”
The horned demon almost looked like it was laughing as the magic impacted harmlessly against its skin, though it nevertheless rose to its feet again as it couldn’t very well continue the fight from a sitting position. In the crater it left behind, Shining blinked as light returned to his world, then groaned as he registered the pain of several broken bones.
“Oooogh…oh that hurt!” The unicorn grimaced as he rolled over and beheld a very black and smoking pegasus next to him. “Dash! Dash are you okay?”
Coughing and moaning from her own injuries, Rainbow Dashed cracked open an eye and shuddered violently.
“I’ll be…*cough*…fine…provided you do me one favor: *cough*…tell me what just happened….*cough*…is not what I think just happened. I am….*cough* never going to be able to live that down…”
Shining chuckled weakly. “Well neither will I….ergh…let’s just agree to never speak of it.” He checked which of his limbs were still functional, then grabbed the pegasus by the nape of her neck and pulled both of them out to safety.
Seeing her friend and her brother were alive but severely hurt, Twilight made a mad dash to aid them, a mad dash that the demon promptly cut short by smashing its weapon into the ground before her. The alicorn promptly tried to halt her advance as fire surged upwards to form a wall of scorching heat, but inertia and physics proved a cruel mistress as she skidded right into the inferno.
“TWILIGHT!” Came the new call of alarm as the flames hungrily enveloped another pony. Celestia and Luna made to rescue their fellow princess, stopping only when a giant soul arrow shot through the air over their heads and beat them to the punch by burying itself in the demon’s chest. It stumbled back from the force of the attack allowing Seath to fly in and snatch his student out of harm’s way.
“Twilight…” The dragon uttered as he tore the mare’s burning dress off and smothered it under one of his tentacles. The alicorn proved her durability by rolling around to likewise extinguish any other flames on her and then sat up.
“Owww….*cough*...sorry, I guess I didn’t…*cough*…think that through entirely.” The lavender alicorn despaired. “Shining…*cough*…Dash…”
Seath looked behind him to see the aforementioned equines had used the distraction to reach a small ornate fountain on the other side of the garden.
“They live thanks to thine efforts, but thou will need to do more to ensure their passage to safety.” Seath turned to survey the status of their opponent. The soul arrow had opened another gaping wound in its body, but it was still managing to stay on its feet and fend off the other ponies. “The magic of thine princesses doth prove insufficient to fall this beast. I will need thee to aid me in using sorcery to kill it instead.”
Shrugging off the pain of her minor burns, Twilight struggled back to her hooves.
“Okay…I’ll…I’ll do my best.”
She looked to the ashes of her dress and levitated her catalyst up from it into her mouth. Seath rose back to his full height and spewed a stream of white crystal breath at the firesage to get its attention.
“As we practiced. Hit it with soul masses while I bestow something to sap its energy.” The dragon ordered. Biting down on the golden staff, Twilight concentrated hard on charging it with energy. With her eyes tearing from the heat and the smoke, she targeted the behemoth and nailed it with two more balls of blue mana right as it made to lunge at her. The demon fell to one knee as again it found itself unable to just shrug off this new form of assault. Seath saw to it that it would truly know how much the tables had turned by launching another stream of poisonous black fog at it. The firesage hacked and roared in agony as the mist did its work, though it would take more than just making it sick to put it out of commission.
“Okay I think that’s done it. Everyone if you could please organize yourself in an orderly line and follow the lit path, the exit is just this way!” Discord instructed as neon blue lights appeared on either side of the extinguished foliage.
“But Shining Armor and Rainbow Dash are still stuck on the other side of the garden, with that thing in between!” Applejack cried.
“Let us handle that. Just get yourselves upstairs and tell the guards to bring the hoses so we can put the rest of these fires out!” Celestia ordered as the demon slammed its weapon into the ground, pulled itself upright and then triggered another explosion around it. All three princesses dug in their hooves as the shockwave threatened to send them all flying. Seath likewise gripped the earth and grabbed Twilight as he braced himself against the blast.
“Again student. Hit this beast with all thine might!” He darkly commanded. Twilight winced as the heat of the explosion aggravated her burned skin, but she duly forced two more balls of mana from her catalyst and sent them hurtling at her opponent. It raised its arm and grunted as the soul masses seared its own hide, then it grabbed its weapon with both hands and swung it full force at the dragon and the pony.
“Aieeee!” Twilight screamed as Seath pushed her out of harm’s way. “Seath….*cough* I don’t think this is working! I can’t…I don’t know if I can do it!”
Nursing a bleeding arm from where the bladed weapon has sliced a fair chunk of his skin off, Seath cursed silently.
“Now is not the time to falter, Twilight! Thine sibling and friend remain in danger! Thine fellow princess’ domain burns around thee! Woulds’t thou truly cower and run with so much at stake??” He asked in aggravation as the demon pulled back then drove his weapon into the ground again. Everyone found themselves hitting the dirt for a third time as searing magical energy was blasted at them from every direction.
“Please, Twilight…ergh…thine aide is needed by all!” Seath pleaded weakly as he picked himself up and created another bed of spikes between him and the firesage.
Twilight looked to her fellow princesses, all of whom were tied up with either herding the others to the stairway or trying to find a way to reach Shining and Rainbow that didn’t involve getting uncomfortably close to the demon. Above them the Moonlight Butterfly continued to blast away for what little good that was doing, but thus far it was obvious that she and Seath were in the best position to stop things from getting worse. Though her body ached and burned, the alicorn forced herself to her hooves and picked up her catalyst again.
“O-Okay. See if you can distract it, I’m going to rescue my brother and Dash!”
Seath nodded and fired another soul spear at the demon. It leapt to evade the attack and kicked up its legs in an effort to flatten the dragon under its bulk. Said dragon wasted no time in reminding it that he too had wings and could easily engage it in the air.
Dodging fallen trees and burning bushes, Twilight managed to cover the distance between her and the fountain, relief momentarily dulling her pain as she saw her loved ones attempting to tend to each other’s wounds.
“Shining! Rainbow!” The alicorn dropped her catalyst and hugged both in turn. “Are you two okay?”
Shining tried to move his back leg, and grit his teeth as the effort sent daggers of wrenching agony shooting through him.
“In a manner of speaking. Don’t think either of us are in a position to walk out of here under out own steam, but we’ll heal.” The unicorn said, putting on a brave smile.
“Yeah…physically at least. Pridewise….” Dash winced terribly, not from the severity of her burns but from the humiliation of how they’d been accrued. “Pinkie promise me, Twilight, when we get out of here not one word about how I got so beat up. Shining was in danger, I fought hard and true, and just took too many hits. At no point was I flattened underneath a flaming pair of buttocks!”
Twilight found the will to laugh.
“Not one word, but only after we get you out. Hang on a second.” She turned to the fountain and sighed with regret. “Luna, please forgive me.”
The alicorn lit her horn and blasted the spurting pony statue into pieces, unleashing a geyser of water from the pipe underneath it. More of the burning foliage was slowly extinguished as water rained down on it from above.
“Okay, now comes the hard part.”
Grabbing her catalyst, Twilight lit up her horn and levitated both her brother and her friend in her magic. Her knees buckled from the weight, but her determination to see them both to safety made her force herself to remain standing. Slowly she wobbled back towards the stairway, trying to stay out of the way of Seath and the firesage as they clashed in a mid-air duel.
At the top of the stairs, those who were not needed in the fight were breathing much easier. The palace guards had thrown open numerous windows to vent the smoke from the garden and were now hauling hoses from the water mains outside to lend further assistance.
“Well…*cough*…I guess this is why it’s not always a good idea to end things with a bang.” Pinkie panted as she yanked out an enormous fold out fan and rapidly began cooling her face with it.
“Speak for yourself! Oh it’s going to take me ages to trim all these burnt ends from my mane…perhaps longer if we have to go back down there for a second rescue!” Rarity cringed as she fussed with her singed locks. Ironically she seemed more troubled by having had to run from the danger than the damage done to her flawless perm. “Do you really think Twilight and the princesses can handle that monster without us?”
“Probably. *cough*…I saw that they’d already knocked half of its health bar off before we fled, and there were incremental damage stats flashing all around its body. Shouldn’t be too much more of a problem.” Pinkie smiled weakly. Beside her, Applejack frantically checked Winona and Vinyl for injuries, and whinnied with immense relief when her dog licked her face in gratitude, followed by the DJ patting her hoof to show she was likewise fine.
“Did we at least get everyone else out safely?” The orange farm pony asked.
“I think so. Gummy, Owlowicious, Tank, Angel, Dedmau5, Vinyl, Spike, Discord and Opal are all here…” Fluttershy commented as she ran off a mental checklist.
“And Queen?”
“Sorry?” The butterscotch pegasus asked.
“You didn’t mention my darling Queen! She is among the group right?” Discord asked with alarm. Fluttershy quickly counted everyone up again, and trembled when she came up one short.
“I…don’t see her anywhere…” The pegasus meeped.
“No…no! Oh she must still be lost somewhere in the garden! Hold on my darling, I’m coming!” Discord flew back down the steps into the scorching inferno. Silence held momentarily as everyone processed what just happened.
“Right, to Tartarus with this! I’m not going to sit around up here waiting for the worst to befall my friends!” Rarity threw off her dress and brushed back her mane. “Probably going to be spending a week at the hairdresser’s afterwards but I’ll cross that bridge when I come to it!”
The unicorn charged back into the fire as well, much to everyone’s growing shock.
“You know, Ah gotta admit: as annoying as that girl is about being so prim an’ proper, she sure ain’t no dirty coward.” Applejack sighed.
“Isn’t it wonderful?” Spike swooned as guards came charging back with the hoses. “Well seeing as I’m immune to fire anyway I’m going back to help her.
Applejack watched as jets of water were directed at the flames, slowly pushing them back down the stairs.
“Ah’ll just wait up here. Lungs are still burning from the smoke inhalation.” The orange mare coughed.
“Lie down, I’ll see what I can do to help till the doctor gets here.” Flutteryshy pulled the pillows off a nearby couch and began constructing a makeshift ER for everyone.
Back downstairs Twilight was on the verge of adding to the list of rescued souls. Though her legs and her horn ached from having to carry two fully grown ponies, and her eyes were stinging from all the smoke, the stairs to salvation loomed closer and closer. She could hear the scuffle of hooves rushing down them, the rush of water and the sizzle of flames finally being stamped out of existence. Just a few more steps and…
SMASH!
Twilight was promptly floored, as were Shining and Rainbow from the sudden earthquake that shook the ground beneath them. She attempted to rise, and was then pinned by the impact of a very heavy weight landing on top of her. Scrambling for freedom, the lavender alicorn pulled herself out from under the great burden, then gasped upon seeing said burden was none other than her teacher.
“Seath!” She cried as the dragon rolled off her and clamped his hands over a smoking stab wound in his left side.
“Erghh…fool….fool am I to have not seen that! Loathsome demons and their underhanded tactics!”
He made to get up and continue the fight, only to then roar in pain as molten lava dripped down onto his body. Looking up Twilight silently screamed as the firesage positioned itself over the dragon and her friends, then let itself fall butt first to see that no one would be retaliating against it any time soon.
“Nooooo!” Twilight wailed as the demon rose off his flattened opponent and turned its attention to her. She looked down at the ground, searching desperately for the catalyst she’d dropped after being thrown off her hooves. The firesage raised its weapon in an effort to spear the alicorn like a shish-kebab, only to grunt as it felt something light and bothersome hit it in the back. Whirling around, it cocked its head as Discord sprung up, holding a joke mallet with a spring mounted boxing glove inside it.
“Hi! Sorry to interrupt your little rampage, but I think you’ve had enough fun for today hmm? Not to mention there’s someone very dear to me still trapped down here so if you could please knock it off with all the butt smacking and setting everything on fire, I’d really appreciate it!” The dracoequus commanded. His opponent growled as if wondering what manner of insanity it was hearing, then it grunted again as more magical blasts deflected off its hide.
“Do as he says! I can forgive whatever misunderstanding has lead to your attack on us but we do not wish for any more harm to come to anypony!” Celestia ordered. Beside her the Moonlight Butterfly warily charged up shot as an additional threat. “Let us get our injured to safety and see about mending you. We do not wish to prolong this pointless fighting.”
The firesage groaned as the momentary break in combat allowed it to remember it had several gaping wounds that were bleeding profusely, coupled with the effects of Seath’s poison fog that was slowly sapping its health. It again turned to the sun princess as she cautiously approached.
“Please, put down your weapon and we will do what we can to help you!” Celestia ordered. The demon firesage glowered at her, its arms lowering to hand by its sides as it considered her offer.
It then took one look at how close she was and promptly threw itself at her in a suicidal lunge. Celestia frantically tried to back out of reach upon realizing the sudden change of fortune, but the demon proved too fast to evade.
“CELESTIA!” Twilight cried again as yet another of her loved ones was crushed underneath several tons of flaming bulk.
“Sister!” Luna and Cadence promptly tried to blast the demon off. It retaliated by smacking both princesses with its weapon, sending them crashing into a nearby tree.
“You’re not really listening are you?” Discord glowered as he summoned a giant bowling ball and prepared to throw it at the demon. It rose and turned to put him down too.
Underneath, Celestia groaned as the weight was lifted, leaving her burned but still alive. The demon paused it registered a cough by its feet. Seeing the sun princess still drew breath it raised its weapon and made to impale her upon the black shiny blade.
“Stop it! STOP IT RIGHT NOW!” Twilight promptly charged at the demon, too filled with anger to worry about her own safety. The demon whipped around and tried to skewer the pony as she closed in, only for her to vault over its lunge and grab its weapon with her mouth. It seemed an impressively stupid move, considering the alicorn couldn’t really cause any damage with her flat teeth, and she risked burning her face off by being so close to the demon’s flaming skin. Nevertheless, Twilight clung to the beast for dear life as it stumbled about, violently jerking its arm to try and shake her off. Seeing an opportunity to deal his own blow against the monster, Discord kissed his bowling ball.
“Celestia, Luna, Cadence, Faust, and all other deities of this world, may I please score a perfect strike and not hit your fellow princess in the process.” He prayed before rearing back and hurling the ball. It rolled fast and straight across the scorched earth, nailing the demon in its bloated gut and giving it cause to drop like a thousand pound sack of wet cement onto the ground.
“Huh, looks like someone around here does still like me after all.” The chaos god mused as Twilight took advantage of the fall and wrenched the weapon out of her opponent’s grasp. The firesage scrambled to stop her, but with remarkable nimbleness, Twilight flew out of his lunge and bit down hard on the wooden staff.
“This…ends…NOW!” She growled as her eyes suddenly lit up with burning blue energy. As her opponent struggled to get back to its feet an entire maelstrom of black orbs burst from its staff and hammered the demon like machine gun fire, filling its hide with more holes than a swiss cheese. Molten blood spilled plentifully around it to form a lake of glowing hot death, yet once the barrage subsided the firesage still thrashed as if not even this could get it to stay down. With a final, anguished cry, Twilight dive bombed her opponent, driving its own weapon through its chest.
Night was prematurely turned into day as the garden was consumed by an enormous explosion. Twilight was hurled against the steps, straight into the guards as the firesage’s body was ignited by the power of its weapon. White light burst from its burning hide, surging like a river of pure brilliance into Twilight as the demon finally succumbed to its wounds. As quickly as it had appeared in the garden the monster vanished, leaving its weapon thrust into the pool of cooling magma.
For an instant all was still, as if those present feared the danger had not yet passed. Only one of them actually saw the sign that made it clear; the two words Seath never thought he’d be so glad to see again, burning brightly against the darkness:
Immediately the guards recovered from their shock, grabbed the hoses and resumed putting the rest of the fires out.
“Princess!” Several of them cried as they ran over to the fallen Celestia. She coughed pitifully, but then found the strength to get back to her hooves.
“At…at ease. I’m okay. A little roasted yes, but I’m fine.” The white alicorn assured.
“Same…ergh…same here. OOooh, hell of a headache though.” Luna meeped as she rubbed her pounding skull. The Moonlight Butterfly swooped down to alight upon her head, massaging it gently with its legs as the princess rose.
“Sh-Shining…” Cadence roused herself and gasped upon seeing Rarity was already levitating him up the stairs. “Oh thank Faust.”
She ran over to aid her husband, while Spike picked up the slack by picking up Rainbow.
“Easy there Dash, just need to get up these few steps and Fluttershy will have a nice bed laid out for you to rest in.” The little dragon soothed as the pegasus squirmed and moaned.
“Twice…ergh…bucking TWICE! I got butt slammed by that….that thing twice in one night! Oooooh…this is the worst ever!” Rainbow lamented. Spike bit his tongue and reminded himself that his friend seriously needed medical attention. Giggling at her plight would be rude.
“Well it’s over now and everyone’s okay. Soon as we get you upstairs we can all pretend like this never happened.” He said while glancing to Twilight. Seath was already tending to her, but the alicorn honestly looked like she didn’t need any help. After shaking her head and getting up off the steps she seemed completely unbothered by the patches of blackened fur on her coat, and her legs no longer wobbled from the fatigue of carrying ponies around.
“My student…” Seath cautiously asked, feeling his heart beat faster as Twilight looked at him in blissful relief.
“Seath! Oh Seath!” She hugged the drake tightly, plastering herself to his abdomen. “Are you okay?”
Seath checked his arm, seeing it was now covered in crystallized blood. He gave it a flex and grumbled at the throbbing agony.
“No worse than I hath previously endured. As always estus will mend these wounds easily.” He sighed as Twilight nuzzled into his robe. She seemed so happy that he still drew breath. For the briefest of moments, Seath found his pain vanishing completely, and a strange wetness forming around his eyes. “Thine fortitude in defeating the demon was…unexpected.”
“Indeed. Never knew you had such bloodlust in you, Twilight. Color me impressed.” Discord commented as he turned completely white with a number on each of his body parts like a painting guide. “Any color of your choosing will do.”
Twilight ignored the joke as she caught sight of the blackened magma pool. Releasing Seath she trotted over and swallowed in unease.
“I…did this…I..but how?” She sputtered.
“How indeed. For thine first attempt at casting the Dark Bead spell thine technique was surprisingly well crafted.” Seath replied in puzzlement. Twilight slapped a hoof over her mouth, shivering as a streak of ice shot up her spine.
“Was...was that something you taught her, Seath?” Celestia asked. To her rising worry, Seath shook his head.
“I did not, thus deepens the mystery.” The dragon mused. “A very secretive and ancient practice are dark sorceries. Few are they, even among the most gifted casters, which can summon them purely on a whim.” The dragon mused. Twilight shivered harder as she tried to make sense of her actions.
“I…I don’t know what happened…I just…that thing tried to kill Shining! And Rainbow! And you! And…Celestia…” The lavender alicorn’s legs gave out and she curled up on the ground. “For a moment I just…I was so angry. I wanted to stop that monster more than anything…to make it feel the same pain it inflicted on all of you…it was like how I felt when Tirek used my friends to force me to give up my magic…only…only….”
Twilight hid her face behind her legs, her body shaking like a leaf in horror. Celestia and Seath looked to each other. A short but critical message was silently exchanged, then the white alicorn was leaning down to lovingly nuzzle the poor mare.
“Shhhh, its okay, Twilight. It’s okay. Thanks to you everyone is alright. You’ve done nothing wrong.” Celestia sat down and draped her wings over her fellow princess, letting their warmth soothe Twilight’s spirits. Gradually she ceased to tremble, her ragged breath slowing as she looked up at the larger alicorn. Celestia’s coat was as scorched as her own, her mane frazzled from the heat and her regal jewelry blackened by the flames, yet still the sun princess smiled with that cheery brilliance that just made it impossible for any negative feelings to subsist while in her presence. Shutting her eyes, Twilight tucked her head under the princess’ chin, further sinking into Celestia’s gentle comfort.
“I was so worried. I thought I was going to lose you, to lose everypony I hold dear.” She whispered.
“But you haven’t. Your actions saw to that. I’m here now, Twilight. Safe and sound as you are.” Celestia said, holding her beloved student close till finally Twilight calmed down.
“I still have no idea how I did…that…” The lavender alicorn said, nodding to the remains of the demon firesage. Seath reached over and picked up the weapon it had dropped.
“This may provide some answers.” The dragon replied as he inspected the strange staff. “Fascinating, this is no mere tool of crude fashion. T’is a catalyst, forged from the molten rock of Izalith and imbued with the ferocity of chaos pyromancy. Such heavy and ruthless craftsmanship maketh it ideal for the casting of dark sorceries, yet the material speaks of one I had long thought lost to time and her own disastrous efforts…a soul I once knew as…”
An extremely troubled air overcame the drake. Hearing a rustling behind him, Seath turned to where Discord was frantically searching amidst the burnt foliage.
“Queen? Queenie? Where are you my dear?” The chaos god called. “It’s alright, the big bad blob of burning fat is gone! You can come out now! Oh Queen dearie, where are you?”
Another rustling was heard, and a pale light shone from the ashen remains of a hedge. Chirping in caution the chaos bug emerged from its hiding place, the flames on its back slowly growing in size as it caught sight of the dracoequus.
“Queen! There you are!” Discord cried in delight. He ran to scoop his beloved pet up and give her a much needed nuzzle…only to be stopped by a white tentacle suddenly slamming down on top of the poor insect.
Growling with new wrath, Seath picked the whimpering creature off the ground and dropped it into his hand. The chaos bug tried to burn itself free of his grip, he responded by squeezing it mercilessly till it extinguished its flames.
“Grim death, how foul and loathsome has become thine visage, witch!”
Discord moved to stop the torture of his pet. Ignoring the pain in his arm, Seath drove the blade of the demon catalyst up against the dracoequus’ throat, silently gesturing that he come no closer.
“T’would seem thou owes an explanation to us all, chaos god. Speak with haste, how did this come to be in thine possession?” The dragon coldly demanded.
***
Elsewhere, the Chosen Undead had a new problem. While her resolve to endure had now been restored, it seemed Artorias was only the tip of the iceberg in terms of what horrors Oolacile had to offer. Upon leaving the coliseum she’d found herself in a town that may have, at one time, been rather quaint and pleasant, but now it just reeked of death and desolation like everywhere else. Every possible surface seemed covered in the ominous black ichor, and the only mobile entities aside from herself seemed to be more of the bloat headed monsters. Compounding the tragedy was that the architecture seemed relatively intact, suggesting whatever had laid waste to the region had done so recently, unlike in Lordran where everything had fallen to ruin long ago.
Gripping her twin swords tightly, the female husk told herself to remain strong. As dire as her situation seemed there were still hints that all was not lost. It could not have been coincidence that she’d been dumped in the one place where both her mentors had departed to after she’d been torn from them, nor could it be a mere twist of fate that a third spirit dear to her was also apparently here with them.
Wiping the tears from her eyes, the Chosen Undead focused again on her current objectives. Oolacile might already be lost, but that didn’t mean she was fated to be lost with it, and that also didn’t mean she couldn’t accomplish at least some small measure of good while she was here. Much as Ciaran might have spoken the truth about her reservations, she stilled owed it to her to at least make the attempt.
Ciaran…
The husk paused and turned to look back the way she came. It had felt justified at the time, leaving the Lord’s Blade to grieve alone and contemplate how she’d betrayed her student’s trust…but now that she’d had more time to think about it, the undead was having regrets. Yes she still held a grudge for how no one had come to her defense when Smough had smeared her name and denounced her as unworthy of joining Gwyn’s knights…but both Artorias and Ciaran had their reasons for not wanting to speak out against the friend of their fellow knight, nor reveal the true purpose of them putting their prized student forward to take their place in the great Lord’s service. What’s more the husk had already enacted a fitting retribution on Smough when she’d gone to obtain the Lordvessel, straight up butchered him like the depraved waste of flesh he was, then showed Ornstein the error of his ways in aiding the executioner. Did she really have the right to still hate the Lord’s Blade for a matter that had long since been resolved? What about when she’d been killed and reborn as an undead? Sure it had hurt when neither of her dear parental figures had made any effort to stop her from being dragged from their home to the asylum, but at the same time look at what that had led to. She now was charged with quite possibly the most important quest in history: to link the fires and save the lands from the Darksign curse. As hard and perilous a challenge it had been, it was a far more noble cause than would have been dealt to her had she been kept safe from everything. Not to mention it had finally given her the opportunity she needed to show the teachings of her mentors had been taken to heart.
Once again the Chosen Undead considered going back, to pay respects for Artorias’ death alongside Ciaran, then ask the Lord’s Blade to join her. Even if they were both more than capable of taking care of themselves it seemed wrong to just part ways again right after being reunited. Course, then again, Ciaran had ordered her to proceed without her, meaning turning back would be a direct and deliberate act of disobedience. The husk may have had her reservations, but she still respected her mentors’ wisdom, enough so to do as they commanded. That was partly why she also accepted them always referring to her as their disciple…instead of…
The Chosen Undead violently shook her head. She was getting too lost in her own thoughts, and letting their worry consume her. Ciaran would be fine. Now she needed to make sure that she stayed the same way.
With another deep breath the husk turned and continued her exploration of the town. A few bloatheads scrambled up to give her an unneeded welcome and she duly dispatched them. More were waiting around the next street corner, along with a new version bearing an even more grossly misshapen skull, a catalyst, and some manner of nasty sorcery. They too fell to her blades and she resumed searching the buildings for unopened chests or some manner of armor. Anything to provide a better means of protection than the scraps of leather she was currently clad in.
“Moss, dung cakes, rubbish, broken sword hilt, cracked shield. Sheesh, what a pack rat this hag was!”
The undead turned at the voice, her grip tightening on her weapons.
“Talisman from Allfather Lloyd, useless. Couple of copper coins, worthless. Dingy robes stained with blood, ewww, disgusting! Mmm, a full set of Favor armor…could be worth some souls, though I wouldn’t want to be the servant of Fina that had to die for her to get her hands on it.”
The Chosen Undead carefully descended down some steps, simultaneously hoping the origin of the voice would and would not turn out to be who she suspected it was.
“Let’s see, what else? Homeward bones, ha! Fat lot of good those’ll do around here. Several bite rings…could be useful…oooh, firebombs! Now we’re getting somewhere!”
The husk stepped around, and felt herself be gripped by anger. There with his back turned to her, across a small bridge leading over a valley, was the top hatted individual that had lead the attack against her in Lost Izalith, the so pompously titled Marvellous Chester!
“Throwing knives, crystalline sword, sorcerer’s trident, talisman of Velka, ridiculously fancy spear of some kind...Cripes this hag had a passion for collecting! Where the hell is the rest of her humanity?”
The Chosen Undead clinked her swords together, prompting Chester to cease digging through her belongings and slowly stand up.
“Well, what apt timing I should ask with!” He turned around, the repulsively smug grin still etched across his face. “I do trust you enjoyed your time with Artorias, my dear?”
The Chosen Undead assumed a combat stance. Chester tsked in lament.
“Guess not. *sigh* Not even a thank you for reuniting you with your dear teacher? How unbelievably rude! Did that masked whore send you after tiring of chasing me herself?” The ghastly figure taunted. The Chosen Undead pointed at the chest surrounded by her possessions.
“What? You want your stuff back? Ah, ah, ah, my dear! Not without some form of compensation first! It’s not exactly been a sunny picnic trying to get by in this place, and you certainly didn’t help by ruining my chance at returning to Lordran! You want your gear back, you’re going to have to pay for it!”
The Chosen Undead stepped forward. Chester stamped a foot in front of her stuff.
“Come now, be reasonable! You’ve no doubt gotten some souls from killing your mentor. How about we strike a deal? 165,000 for half of what’s in this bottomless chest of yours, I’ll even let you keep a little humanity if you show me where you stashed it!”
The Chosen Undead sheathed one of her swords, making Chester chuckle in delight that she’d found his offer acceptable. The subsequent fireball that was hurled at his face told him that wasn’t quite accurate.
“Yeesh! Alright fine I can see you’re a hard nosed bargainer. How does 250,000 souls sound then? Hee hee hee hee!”
Another fireball exploded against the wall right above Chester’s head. He duly ducked and rolled out of the way.
“Okay then, I can still be flexible. 310,000 souls and permission for me to stab you to death at least once. I mean let’s face it girl, you owe me blood for being such a bother!”
The Chosen Undead whipped her arm back and sent a jet of fire at Chester. Sighing in regret, he nimbly evaded again.
“No? Not going to budge? A pity. Ah well, good thing I wasn’t making a request with that last offer.”
The Chosen Undead made to unleash another pyromancy on the grinning jackal, only to stop when she registered several sharp blades burying themselves in her flesh.
“You may have trapped me here a little longer but I’m sure those running this place will be willing to give me another shot at leaving when I bring them your head. Maybe on a silver plate if you happen to have one in this chest!”
Chester executed a low sweep kick, knocking the husk off her feet. She fell hard on the stone ground, her mind still reeling from the agony of the throwing knives sticking out of her body.
“Must admit, I am terribly curious as to how much more pain you can take. You’re certainly setting a new record for still not going hollow, despite being abused harder than a cheap whore on a Saturday night at the gentleman’s club. AH HA HA HA HA!”
Chester pulled out his crossbow and nailed the undead through her chest with an arrow. She groaned and grabbed for her swords. He responded by shooting her again, and again, and again.
“You’re just making this harder on yourself, you know. Give up and you’ll spare yourself the future agony of finding out how much you’ve been lied to by everyone when you reach the end of your quest. Really compared to that, becoming a mindless shell is a mercy.”
Despite being impaled through just about every major area of her body, the Chosen Undead still refused to die again. After having been repeatedly chopped up, stabbed, broken and beheaded by Artorias, coupled with the trauma of having to slay him herself, there was nothing this damn, cackling maniac could do to match what she’d already been through.
Not to mention his incessant monologue was sparking her curiosity as to what the hell he was getting at.
“Ahh one though the leg, and one through the head, one through the breast and one through the…uh…through the…” Chester paused as he felt a worrying emptiness in the area where he kept his crossbow bolts. “Oh fiddlesticks! That’s what I get for not keeping count! Hmmm, would you mind if I borrowed some ammunition from you? I saw you had some lovely lightning bolts that must have cost you a fortune in your…”
Chester broke off again, this time on account of the golden blade that suddenly pierced through his crossbow.
“AIEEE! Very well, I’ll take that as your answer…EEEK!”
The Chosen Undead tore the weapon from his hands. Drawing her other blade, she cleaved it in two then struggled back to her feet.
“OI! That was expensive you harlot! Who do you think you are? Going around breaking other people’s treasured items without their..EEEP!”
Despite the multitude of projectiles slowing her down, the undead husk still found the strength to leap at her opponent. Ironically she now realized that having no armor on allowed her to move much faster and easier, traits she immediately put to use with her attacks. Chester scrambled to evade her blades, then pulled two more throwing daggers out to parry the follow up attack.
“Whoah…WHOAH! Hold on there you psycho! Calm…please, calm down!”
Gold and silver slashed at the aristocrat like the claws of a deadly animal. While he managed to prevent them from sinking too far into his flesh, the short range of his knives meant he couldn’t stop them from opening several bleeding fissures as they sliced across his body.
“Ow! Stop it! That hurts!”
The Chosen Undead silently danced and guided her blades, her focus remaining sharp and strong despite the wrenching sting each movement brought. She drove Chester back to the bridge, saw to it that he was too busy trying to avoid getting carved to slivers to notice the sheer drop into the valley looming closer.
“You….you’re not like the ones who came before you. None of them were able to endure like this! What manner of beast did they unleash this time?”
Chester was sounding panicked, his moves slowing from fatigue, or possibly blood loss. As his boot scraped the edge of the cliff he dared himself to look away from his assailant and see the deadly descent that awaited him. The Chosen Undead let him have a moment to shiver from the view before she drove both blades through his gut.
“Hrrrrrrrgh!” Chester fell to his knees as his knives clattered uselessly to the ground. “Okay, you win…please…”
The female husk ripped her swords back out and felt her rage boil as Chester’s blood gushed like a fountain all over the pavement.
“This can’t be….oh please…have mercy…”
The undead considered this, then grabbed the lunatic by his cravat and hoisted him to his feet.
“Oh blessed lords…it’s finally happened….you really are the one!”
The husk stared ponderously at her defeated opponent. Despite his fatal wound, and panicked nature, the grin remained on his pallid lips.
“You’re actually going to do it! End Gwyn’s reign, destroy the gods, and cast everything into darkness! That freak child…that toothy serpent…they have no idea whom they’ve chosen to do their bidding do they?”
For one who was on the verge of bleeding out entirely, Chester still seemed to have a strong wind in his lungs. As the Chosen Undead looked over the chasm, contemplating just what fate did this maniac deserved, he even managed to put it to further use.
“You bastards…..heh heh heh…you promised me freedom….hee hee hee…but you knew all along…mweh hee hee hee hee…this whole world is doomed! Ah ha ha ha ha ha! WAAAHHH HA HA HA HA HA HA!”
The Chosen Undead lowered Chester back to the ground. His rantings were giving her considerable pause for thought, not to mention raising a whole host of questions.
“HA! HA! HA! HA! HA! Hee hee, ha ha. Whoo hoo hoo hoo, hee hee hee...”
SCHHHHLLLLIRRRRK!
Questions or not, the infernal laughing was really freaking her out. She promptly silenced it by driving her blade up through Chester’s jaw, through his skull and into his brain. She shuddered as he jerked from the injury and at last gave up the ghost. Looking over the cliffside again, the Chosen Undead threw her opponent’s corpse into the valley for good measure. Better to let him rot down there than continue haunting her with that permanent, monstrous grin.
With another menace gone from the world, the Chosen Undead collapsed. The adrenaline of the fight had done wonders for helping her ignore her own injuries, but now all those knives and arrows were starting to speak up again, suggesting she do something before she too expired.
Crawling back over to her gear, the husk reached into her bottomless chest and sighed in relief as she felt the smooth, slender texture of a divine blessing pendant. Activating it, she began pulling the projectiles out of her flesh, allowing each wound to heal and close. A quick rest and she’d be back in action, ready to make another rescue, then hopefully get the hell out of here!
Not much to say about this one, aside from uh oh, now I've gone and done it! Twilight's just killed her first enemy and started down a path from which there may be no turning back. 
Will the power of Friendship save her in time from falling to the same fate as her mentor? Or will Seath inadvertently add yet another victim to his tally as things continue to degrade?
Also why is it that most demons in Dark Souls seem to share a mutual passion for smashing folk with their rear ends? Think one of the game designers got a little too personal with inserting their own 'author appeal'?
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First thing I have to say to the chosen undead, you are a disgrace for not looting chesters corpse like some maniac. That is all. Eh I guess it doesn't really matter since once she reloads or wakes up his suit will be lying where she knocked him off. Keep up the good work:)
...
K?
Really, Tis dangerous to go alone? Good chapter but really?
... not sure the zelda reference was necessary. anyway, glad our chosen undead got her items back. and again, please, please don't skip kalameet.
6112245 Kalameet will have his role in this series, as will Priscilla, Gwyndolin, Gwynevere and everyone else whom I can give decent time to. I only ask for patience as they won't show up this instant but later when said time comes.
And also please keep your expectations open. As I've stated before, possibly ad nauseam, things may not work out in the way you're thinking they will.
*ducks to avoid incoming tomatoes and thrown objects*
6112264
The only story that i know what's going to happen is one i'm going to write myself. i read otehr people's work because i DON'T know what's going to happen. that's the fun part. ^^
Just forgive me for getting a little excited about kalameet. i'm a huge dragon nut.
6112593
As am I. Trust me, you'll love what I do with Kalameet when he comes up.
FromSoftware has a demon butt fetish apparently
6137509 /Main/FlatWhat
Why is Discord so weak in this story?
there is no good end in dark souls
That's an useful ability right there...
Hope Twi doesn't fall to the dark side.
The pictures of this chapter (14) are broken. Thought you should know.
s2.quickmeme.com/img/5e/5e2de041591691ebee42f9546c9759df7656d2f7858188e309857b84405d2563.jpg
Or
img3.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20120505031425/random-ness/images/8/83/TakeThis.jpg
OR
26.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lin7aprxXE1qincmao1_500.png
You went there. YOU WENT THERE.
our
6471587
I don’t think he is, at least what I’ve seen so far. He just seems his usual playful self, and not really taking things seriously. As for Seaths threat, Seath doesn’t know Discord and what he can do. Seath isn’t actually a threat to Discord at all, well, maybe if he breathed on him and turned him to crystal (if that could work).
I swear, from what I’ve seen seath is like the same size as (or maybe bigger) then most of the demon bosses I’ve fought in dark souls... unless there’s something that I’ve missed in a previous chapter that addressed his size, i’m pretty sure seath could probably grapple with the firesage demon... but to me it seems like seath is portrayed as slightly bigger then the ponies... dunno if it’s just me.
Seath could of definitely one punched that demon