Friendship is Scaleless

by Limescale

Chapter 48

“Okay, if you could just open your mouth for a moment, Sif? Please?” Twilight hesitantly asked of the giant wolf. Sif tipped her head down, staring first in puzzlement at the tiny equine, then in cynical caution at the likewise dubious looking Seath.

“Sif…” The Chosen Undead said in a gentle yet firm tone. The wolf looked to her, her gaze softening at seeing the pleading in her honorary sister’s eyes.

“I know you have as much reason to distrust the dragon as anyone else… but at the same time, I know his student isn’t cut from the same cloth. If she says you have to do this to be free of Artorias’ final charge, then you can at least trust her on that.” The warrior said. Sif looked back at Twilight, then let out a tired exhale as she lowered herself to the floor and opened her enormous maw.

“Thank you.” Twilight lit up her horn and peered into the deep cavern of teeth and muscle. “Okay, now what did Fluttershy say about wolves? Oh yeah… okay, so I count… 42 teeth, 20 in the upper jaw, 22 on the lower. Yeah that’s normal enough. All six incisors look nice and sharp… same for the canines… tongue is a decently healthy shade of pink, throat is… erm… throat is…”

Twilight narrowed her eyes as she cast her light further into Sif’s mouth. She rubbed her horn and cranked the intensity of its glow… then when that failed to fix her issue, she grabbed her catalyst and cast a light spell.

“Throat is… well, I can see the part right after the jaw line… but no matter how much light I shine there, I can’t see anything after that. It’s just… black… like there’s nothing beyond…”

Sif coughed slightly and several wisps of black vapor bloomed from the void to waft around Twilight’s face. She jerked her head back and stared in mild shock at the inky gas rising from Sif’s mouth. Seath let out a slow exhale as he grabbed for one of his books and flipped it open.

“T’is as expected, then. The Abyss hath made itself a new home within the flesh of this beast. From the planted seed did bloom a great darkness, just as in Oolacile many a year ago.” Seath rubbed his chin as he sized Sif up in comparison to his own status, then turned to gaze at the giant greatsword propped up by the wall. “Such behaviour doth corroborate mine own studies on humanity, as doth this wolf’s unusual size and age. Most fascinating.”

Sif growled if that was meant as some sort of insult. Seath just glared at her until she lowered her head again.

“What do you mean?” The Chosen Undead asked. Seath looked to the book in his hand, slowly turning the pages and adjusting his glasses as he read.

“Thou states to have set foot in Oolacile once before, during the time it was consumed by the Abyss. Prithee, what did thou witness while there?” The dragon asked. The Chosen Undead thought it over.

“I saw… darkness, devouring all in its path like some starving beast. I saw buildings, forests, people, all being slowly swallowed up by some black essence.” She said. Seath nodded as he retrieved a quill.

“And from where did this essence come?” He asked.

“A void… like a cavern leading deeper and deeper into the earth itself, filled with nothing but darkness… and…” The female’s eyes widened. “Humanity… there were sprites… made of pure humanity everywhere….”

Seath nodded again as he began scribbling an addition to the book.

“And here again mine findings art proven. Humanity, that which feeds the bonfires and holds back the curse, is more a paradox than any can imagine. Where a soul embodies light, life, and control, humanity embodies the opposite. Theorise did I that, if left unchecked, it would expand and threaten all… that, without control, it would run rampant and consume all in its path....”

The dragon looked up from his scribbling.

“Thus the monstrous appearance of Manus, if he be indeed the source of the Abyss, is also explained… truly intriguing indeed.”

Twilight screwed her face up as she processed what her teacher was saying.

“Well, wait, that actually makes it sound more like the way souls behave, from what I’ve seen. You said yourself that souls and fire are analogous to each other… and just like a wildfire consumes and destroys all in its path if left uncontrolled, you’re saying humanity does the same?” She asked Seath. He in turn raised an eyebrow, then pursed his lips in thought.

“T’is possible… though such is a connection I hath not yet entertained…” The dragon replied. Twilight nodded as she summoned a roll of parchment from her saddlebags and a quill of her own.

“Okay, so just going on that line of thought for a moment… humanity is needed to keep the bonfires burning, and the bonfires are basically like the life source of this world. That suggests humanity is itself a source of life, or fuel at the most… yet it exhibits very different effects when used by itself. It restores bodies to normal, mends wounds, increases stamina, basically it’s like an antithesis to the typical effects of fire…”

Seath cocked his head as the alicorn’s chatter got increasingly animated.

“So if a soul is analogous to fire, being made of light, heat and energy… does that mean humanity is a counterpoint? A sort of dark soul?” Twilight furrowed her brow as she took a moment to actually read through her own thoughts. “Or does that sound too insane to be possible?”

Sif and the Chosen Undead exhibited a shared look of pity that Seath’s influence was clearly rubbing off on Twilight, just like it had with the dragon’s other students. Seath, however, looked even more intrigued, and perhaps a little awed at the alicorn’s logic.

“Madness and possibility need not exclude each other, moreso as I recall certain words Manus did impart to me… present yet forgotten, on the fateful night in the Kiln… of another soul discovered in the flames…” Seath curled his head down as he delved deeper into his musings. “Yea… merit there may be, both wondrous and terrifying, to thine words, mine student.”

Twilight blinked in surprised, then blushed slightly as Seath nodded at her with subtle approval. Deciding she needed to nip this increasingly disturbing conversation in the bud, the Chosen Undead spoke up.

“So, will that help at all in saving Sif?” She asked. The wolf rose as if presenting a challenge, and Seath promptly accepted it by walking up and grabbing Sif’s head in his hands.

“Perhaps. If Twilight speaketh the truth, then a solution I may have…”

Seath pried both of Sif’s eyes open, checked her nose for discharge, and then looked inside her ears. The wolf growled more and more threateningly as she was poked and prodded like a lab specimen, eventually leading to Seath letting her go and turning to grab another book.

“The Repair sorcery, an art dedicated to manipulating Lordran’s distorted time flow… so effective it proveth on inanimate objects, yet ne’er hath it been tried on a soul…”

Seath flipped through the second book, scrutinizing a certain section and taking a deep breath. He dropped the book on the floor, allowing Twilight to get a look at it.

“Always t'was miracles that did boast of the power to heal. Oft I thought to challenge the claim… before the Primordial Crystal did at last reveal its secrets to me… bless me, but for a single breath, with the immortality of my brethren…” Seath hunted in cabinets and drawers, while Twilight sat down and began reading the book. It detailed Seath’s hypothesis that the healing miracles essentially copied the mechanics of the Repair sorcery, manipulating the flow of time to reverse the damage done to physical matter, with the only difference being what sort of matter that manipulation was applied to, and what medium was used to channel it.

Turning the page, Twilight read that Seath had several experiments planned to test this hypothesis, only the planning trailed off after a few paragraphs into… some manner of jumbled, angry gibberish… followed by some violently scrawled ranting about how it was a waste of time as Seath had achieved immortality via other means, and thus had proven himself superior even to the gods themselves! Twilight looked to the other book her teacher had been reading and then discarded, finding it too was half decently and engrossingly written theorem, and half mad, sadistic ranting, another confession of how far Seath had descended into insanity before turning up in Equestria…

And… chillingly… rather similar to how her own notes sometimes looked when one of her own experiments didn’t yield the desired results, and she got frustrated trying to figure out why.

Twilight promptly shut the books and shoved them aside, her body shivering terribly as Seath finally found what he was looking for.

“Here it is.” The dragon declared, withdrawing a rather bizarre looking object. It bore the long, staff like structure of a catalyst, however, each end was mounted with one or more brass bells, suggesting it might actually be a musical instrument of some manner.

“When first did Oolacile reveal its own findings of mine art, how they had merged the purity of the soul with the ferocity of the dark, I did seek to know what potential such marriage could unlock. Mine channelers did scour the lands for those who practiced this new manner of dark magic and bring them to my attention.” Seath snorted as he shook the strange object and listened to the melodious chime of the bells. “T’was to my great surprise when not a sorcerer answered mine call, but a cleric.”

The Chosen Undead knitted her eyebrows.

“A miracle user came to you to talk of sorcery?” She asked dubiously. Seath responded with a scornful glare.

“Is such so hard to imagine in this twisted, nonsensical world of ours? He sought sanctuary from the Way of White, they who did demand his execution for the perversion of their sacred arts to bolster the finesse of Oolacile’s dark sorceries. I granted him such, and saw to it his perversions, so fascinatingly devious as they were, were preserved when at last the church did march upon these archives and demanded his head. This artifact, this 'sacred chime' as he so christened it, now standeth as his sole legacy, and the means of enacting his dark art.” The dragon held up the chimes. Sif and the Chosen Undead both reacted with disbelief. After a moment, Twilight had to join them.

“You were sitting on a whole new discipline of sorcery all this time, and never let anyone know?” The alicorn commented. Seath snorted ambivalently.

“Widely known and feared as a monster was I, and numerous art mine enemies indeed. The Way of White would make great haste to bolster the forces against me if knew they did I gave them the body of a tainted soul yet still retained his knowledge.” Seath attempted to channel a sorcery through the chimes, grimacing as the spell just fizzled out uselessly. “More so, my mind seemeth too shattered and twisted to harness the needed control over miracles, thus mine efforts to replicate these arts ended, as did so much of my work, in abject failure. Such is why I require the assistance of another…”

Twilight blinked as Seath held out the chimes to her.

“Thou hast made far greater progress in thine studies than any other I have taught, mine student. Thou will recall in our battle against the Demon Firesage, thou demonstrated command of the Dark Bead with no prior instruction, and honed thine discipline in spells no other sorcerer could hope to master, given the short time thou hast learned under me. T’is time to see if yet again thou may leap where others have fallen.” Seath commanded. Twilight nodded and took the chimes in her magic .

“Okay… erm… what do you want me to do?” She asked. Seath nodded to Sif.

“Focus the Repair spell upon this wolf’s soul, search for the light of life that burns amidst the darkness of the Abyss. If the cleric’s tool standeth true to his art, thou shalt be able to craft it along with the Heal miracle, and thus purge the dark from the light.”

Seath pulled out a scroll and unrolled it for Twilight. On it were the instructions for using one’s faith and a talisman to mend wounds and restore one’s health.

“From there, I shall return the dark to the form it once took: the covenant Artorias wielded as the Abysswalker.” Seath said, while taking up his own crystal catalyst and curling his fingers around it.

Twilight locked eyes with Sif, who looked at her with the caution expected of one whose life now literally depended on another.

“I take it this is something that’s never been tried before, and thus you have no idea if it’ll actually work or not.” She said. Seath looked at her reproachfully.

“Will thou stay thine hand… rather, thine hoof, if I affirm such accusations?” He asked. Twilight shook her head.

“No, I’m just making sure if I need to document what happens. If I’m going to be the first ever to take the plunge, I gotta record everything for future reference!” She said. The irritation faded from Seath’s face as Twilight placed a gentle hoof on Sif’s paw.

“Obviously I can’t promise anything… but for your sake, I’ll try my very hardest.” She said. Sif whimpered, then lowered her head in acknowledgement. After having Fluttershy treat her wounds and beg her not to give up, the wolf felt these strange ponies at least could be trusted to have the best intentions.

“Okay then. Here goes.” Twilight stepped back and took the chimes in her mouth. She began crafting the Repair spell as Seath had taught her, focusing it on Sif’s body like one would with a piece of broken equipment. Sif growled and shifted as if in pain, while under her fur a fluctuating aura bloomed forth. First golden, then a faded yellow, then black, then golden again, and so on. The strange light slowly spread across the wolf’s body, swimming in and around itself with the constantly shifting palette. Sif whimpered terribly as the black noticeably seemed to grow more intense with the more it consumed of her body, clearly suffering causing her great suffering. Beside her, the Chosen Undead clenched her hands into fists, forcing herself to remain stationary and not leap to her surrogate sister’s aid.

“Ngh… Seath… let me have the scroll… grgh… I can feel… something… something growing out of control! Agh… it’s killing Sif!” Twilight stammered around the chimes. The wolf threw her head back, but uttered no sound. Indeed, as a great cloud of pitch blackness burst from her mouth, it was likely she either had no air in her lungs, or no voice with which to scream.

Seath let his student take the miracle scroll in her magic. She brought it right before her eyes and hastily read through its instructions. The scroll promptly dropped out of her aura and fell to the ground as Twilight returned her focus to Sif.

“Okay… just gotta… grrrrgh… gotta fight it back…”

Drool ran down Twilight’s jaw as she ground her teeth around the chimes. Sweat soon joined in making her face a soggy mess as she re-attuned her magic, and now an aura of golden energy joined the blue energy encompassing her tool.

“That’s it… fight back the dark… burn it away with the light!”

The black energy of the Abyss that had been wracking Sif’s body flared outward, as if to contest Twilight’s words. With a strangled howl, Sif began to levitate into the air as the primal force of the Abyss sought to completely devour her before it could be stopped. The Chosen Undead’s breath froze in her throat at the prospect that she was going to lose her last family member without being able to do anything…

And then, suddenly, from the very center of the dark, there came a flash of flame. As if fanned by the purity of Twilight’s magic, the one solitary ember began to glow brighter, and brighter… eventually erupting into a brilliant blaze that dashed the darkness away to the extremities of the wolf’s body.

“There! Now if I can just… get a hold of it…” Twilight panted raggedly.

While Sif’s midsection burned with renewed light, her legs, paws and head thrashed in the withering sickness of the dark. Black ichor burned and wrapped itself around whatever parts of the lupine’s flesh it could reach, attempting to re-establish its dominion over her being. Despite being fed by two different forms of magic, the burning light seemed unable to purge the shadows around it entirely.

“Ngh… gah… no… keeps slipping… no… grrrr… NO! Can’t lose it now!”

Sif’s body began to contort in on itself, the blackness encapsulating each limb attempting to merge together, even if it meant bending the wolf in ways her skeleton hadn’t been designed for. Sif violently thrashed and howled as she tried to fight, but to no avail. Her spine curved inwards as her front legs twisted themselves backwards, while her hind ones attempted to wrench themselves out of their sockets by doing the opposite.

“Sif!” The Chosen Undead cried, her eyes tearing up at the sight of seeing the wolf being so brutally tortured. She took a step forward.

“No, wait!” Twilight commanded. “I feel something else… something… grgh… not in her… but in me… it wants to...AAAAAHHHH!”

A third energy materialised around the chimes, neither blue nor golden, but as black as the ichor that was trying to tear the wolf apart, body and soul together. It rose up like a long, dark serpent, striking and fusing with the blackness surging from Sif’s limbs.

With another agonising howl, Sif was slammed down onto the floor again as all fragments of the black ichor were brutally ripped from their last moorings and forced out of her completely by its counterpart.

“Aghhhhh… ngh… there!... I think I’ve got it!” Twilight gasped as the tendril held the violently swirling storm of blackness over her chimes. “Got it, and… wha… what is… AAAAAIEEEEE!!!”

The blackness suddenly turned from a cloud into a spinning funnel, feeding itself back along the tendril to surge into Twilight’s flesh. She threw herself back, landing with a painful crash on her back. The darkness took advantage of her prone state, and wrapped itself around the chimes to began forcing itself through her teeth and down her throat.

“See… grble… SEATH HELP ME! It’s trying to merge with my body!” Twilight cried, gagging around the sudden surge of razor sharp coldness tearing its way through her oesophagus.

No sooner had the words been said that Seath was on his student, his catalyst focusing some manner of new sorcery around the blackness, while his free hand grabbed for the chimes. Twilight thrashed and violently kicked her hooves liked she was possessed. Seath weathered the blows as he corralled the dark infection, containing it within a glowing blue sphere, and levitating it up and away from his student’s mouth. Twilight now sounded like she was trying to throw up as the dark found itself being yanked back the way it came, forcing it to claw at her throat for a fresh anchor point. Growling angrily, Seath pulled at the chimes with all his might, very nearly yanking several of Twilight’s teeth out as he finally wrenched it free from her jaw. With the means of channeling itself into the alicorn now gone, the dark matter seemed to lose all cohesion, dissipating and floating up to join its brethren in the sorcery bubble as Twilight flopped to the side and raggedly coughed up blood.

“Thine estus flask human, quickly!” Seath commanded as he struggled to keep the swirling blackness contained. The Chosen Undead paid another look to Sif, seeing she was lying limply in an aura of almost pure gold. Clenching her fists again, the warrior ran over to Twilight, yanking out her burning flask and pressing it to the alicorn’s lips.

“No truer representation of the beasts that doth lurk in the Abyss is there than this covenant essence. What price and sacrifice did Artorias make in order to be granted such terrible quarter?” Seath mused as he dropped the chimes and focused on the chaos trapped within his magic. Slowly, he raised his hands and brought them together around the sphere, casting upon it another of the Repair sorcery to reverse it back to the form it had originally taken upon its creation. Beside him, Twilight drank of the healing estus, breaking to let out some more ragged coughs as her throat patched itself back together.

Bit by bit, the swirling black ichor shrank in size, until at last, Seath closed both his hands around it, and clasped them tightly together.

“Ngh… yea… ferocity and mercilessness doth comprise this power, a force intended to push back the same force. How fascinatingly wonderful a paradox.” The white dragon grimaced as blue and black light surged out of the space between his fingers, flaring as if threatening to burn themselves free of their prison… before finally fading out, as if admitting defeat. Blowing the smoke away from his flesh, Seath opened his hands, revealing a tarnished brass ring set with a small black stone.

Swallowing the last of the Chosen Undead’s estus reserves, Twilight rose to her hooves and let out one final, spittle filled hack.

“Did… did we do it?” She said while wiping her mouth. Seath leaned over and presented her with the ring.

“We did, mine student. With this covenant worn upon thine person, a soul will be able to traverse the Abyss without harm.” The dragon said as Twilight levitated the ring up and examined it.

“Wow… we… we actually did it…though for a moment there that really scared me! I thought I was… Sif!” Twilight’s tone changed from awed to alarmed as she sighted the wolf still lying motionlessly on the ground. Stowing the covenant ring in her saddle bags, the alicorn galloped over to check on her. Her heart filled with dread, the Chosen Undead rose and followed.

“Is she… she…” The female felt her voice die again upon noticing it was not sadness etched upon Twilight’s face, but amazement.

“She’s… she’s breathing.” Twilight gasped, pressing a hoof to the wolf’s side, feeling it be pushed out as Sif lungs filled with air. She moved to touch the wolf’s neck. “And… I can feel her pulse. It’s weak, but she’s alive!”

Seath snorted ambivalently.

“Truly one amid the strongest of souls she is, to have survived so much being torn away from her essence, e’en with the healing miracle working to repair what was damaged.” The dragon narrowed his eyes suspiciously as the Chosen Undead fell to her knees, her tears falling with equal uncare as she sobbed in relief. “T’is best to let her rest and recover now. Her long service to Lordran is, at last, concluded.”

The dragon paused upon noticing how the Chosen Undead hugged the wolf, not as one would with one they revered as an idol or mentor, nor a beloved pet, nor a beloved friend. No, her actions indicated there was something even greater being expressed, even though officially that couldn’t possibly be...

“Unless there yet remains some duty of hers, unknown to all but one.” Seath concluded ponderously. The Chosen Undead wiped her eyes and buried her face in Sif’s neck fluff, letting the warmth and the sound of the wolf’s steady breathing instill her with the same sense of peace.

“I’ll get Fluttershy to check on her soon as she’s patched up.” Twilight smiled as the female let go and let out a labored exhale.

“Th-Thank you. I’ll stay here and keep watch till then…” The Chosen Undead replied while turning to Seath. “Unless, you’d rather I not foul the sanctity of your archives anymore than I already have…”

Seath snorted sourly at the comment, yet where before he would have happily thrown the warrior back into one of his jail cells, now his wings wilted and his shoulders slumped in resignation. The impact of what he’d just helped to make happen, coupled with the events of the few hours before that, were proving too overwhelming for him to draw upon any lingering hatred he might still have for the undead.

“Stay thine sword, and respect mine life, as I have that of the wolf. Mine channelers shalt be observing thou at all times.” He said lowly, hearing the footsteps of two of his sorcerers answering the call and immediately rushing in to take up position by the door. All these years, and still at least some small sect of the populace obeyed him out of blind loyalty. For all that had changed, some things truly did remain stubbornly constant.

“For now, there is another matter, and another soul I must attend to.” He said uneasily. Twilight turned, and then galloped back over to her teacher to give him a reassuring pat on the side.

“Indeed Seath, let’s go talk to your daughter.” She smiled.

Author's Note:

Yeah another short chapter this time (if it's not too weird to call a 4,000 + word work 'short), but again I figured there didn't need to be much more than the actual scene of Sif's impromptu Abyssal exorcism. Having Twilight face the actual power of the Abyss, and nearly lose to it again seemed like a decent trigger for an upcoming point where she and Seath will experiment how else sorceries can be combined with miracles, pyromancies and pony magic.

Now as to whether this means Twilight is in fact going to be the originator of the Dark Souls II art of hexes, I haven't decided yet. I know some readers take issue with me referencing the second game but seeing as the events of Drangleic will come into play soon, I'm afraid I have to. On the flip side, however, DS II's lore does state that hexes are basically just an evolution of DS I's dark magic arts, so Twilight isn't really uncovering new ground so much as she's just following the lead of what's already been made possible by other sorcerers. Going to have to think some more on how much of an impact what she just did in this chapter will ultimately have down the line.

In the mean time I only hope Sif escaping death once again brings a smile to a few folks. It's the Christmas season now, so I figured I might as well show some mercy to a fan favorite again. Just hope no one hates me for letting the wolf live while the waifu suffers.

Stay tuned, I shall do my best to have a chapter full of even more feels done and ready for the holiday itself!

Comments

[Sigmacipher]

In the mean time I only hope Sif escaping death once again brings a smile to a few folks. It's the Christmas season now, so I figured I might as well show some mercy to a fan favorite again. Just hope no one hates me for letting the wolf live while the waifu suffers.

Considering the nature of Sif's possesion...best news I've heard all week...other than Deadpool going up against Pinkie Pie in Death Battle....

[MEGA LM ShiroHige Pony]

I'm still think that about you putting DS 2 stuff on this story (and yes, i'm playing THAT crap on the 360, if i get an XBO by christmass, i'll gonna play DS 3 :D), but Sif is alive, so... well i'll let oass that... for now x'D

[kalash93]

I'm a simple man. I see Dark Souls, I read.

[Sage Probo]

Dark Souls is love. Dark Souls is life.
The great wolf lives. There is no strife.
(Yeah, it worked waaaaay better in my head.)

[Black_Knight]

I don't have problem having DS II reference and mechanics coming over this story. I know the second isn't the popular one mostly because it wasn't the same team who made it, but their definitively some connection with the first.

Still waiting till a definitive version of the third comes out on PC, but I would like to know what you folks think about the third, even a trilogy compilation, eventually coming out for the Nintendo Switch.

[aidenmc3]

So twilight used dark magic to corral the abyss, to fight against it, so that the abyss could be used to fight against the abyss. Triple paradox! So if the heal miracle deals with manipulating time, is it possible that the highest ranked and scarred cleric knights looked horrifying, with patchworked bodies of new flesh surrounded by old, from the wounds? Or could it be that if you were able to manipulate time you could in fact live forever? Is that what seath was thinking before he decided on the primordial crystal? Very strange.

[Limescale]

7784791

So twilight used dark magic to corral the abyss, to fight against it, so that the abyss could be used to fight against the abyss. Triple paradox!

She's not so much fighting against it as subduing it back into a controllable/inert form. Dark Souls lore states the Abyss is formed from what is basically an untamed explosion of humanity so presumably the Covenant of Artorias works by acting like a weakened form that helps bolster one's resistance to the effects, sort of like how a vaccination shot works by inserting weak viruses into your body so your immune system can learn how to fight the stronger variants.

I agree it is still a bit of a paradox, but then again fire in the Dark Souls world is able to both hurt you and heal you in equal measures so it seems paradoxes are part and parcel of the place. Certainly they're part of the MLP universe to boot.

[mastermenthe]

I am imagining a gui window in dark souls listing "pony magics" in the spell catalogue.

[fractalman]

7787797 ah, gotcha.

[fractalman]

Going to have to think some more on how much of an impact what she just did in this chapter will ultimately have down the line.

well it seems to me that some of what she did could help reignite the flame so...

[a3boy]

7793846 Yes, the element which makes anything so good, not even bacon can make it better.

[Mark Pecan29]

7783565

Considering the nature of Sif's possesion...best news I've heard all week...other than Deadpool going up against Pinkie Pie in Death Battle....

*Midir rages*