Chapter 96- War of Equestria: Part V
Even after seeing it, Celestia and Luna still couldn't believe who was before them. They both remembered him during their younger years long before Luna's banishment, but after a few thousand years, they'd thought him to be long dead. Instead, that same stallion stood there, not looking a day older than the first day they'd met.
"H-How are you...?"
"Still alive?" Nuck finished, glancing back at Celestia with an amused smirk. "Because I'm me."
Clearing her throat, Celestia calmed herself and recovered some composure.
"That isn't very much of an answer," she said.
"Maybe not, but it's the truth," he said with a shrug, before returning his attention back below them. "Quite the situation those ponies are in."
Luna sighed and walked up along Nuck's right side with a frown. "We do not know what has happened. The Elements of Harmony should've worked on Inferno, but he seems to instead be in a rage."
"Is that why you're here? To assist Twilight and the others?" Celestia asked, walking up along Nuck's left side.
Nuck shook his head. "No."
Taken aback, Celestia looked at Nuck with wide eyes. "'No'? But why?"
Looking down, Nuck watched as Twilight and her friends were battling with Inferno off the side of the Applebreaker, before his eyes turned towards those on the ground.
"She doesn't need my help, Celestia," he replied, gesturing to the army of ponies fighting below them. "But those ponies do. Besides, young Twilight Sparkle already has the weapon she needs to defeat Inferno, should she choose to use it."
"You mean her friends, right?" Luna questioned.
"No, Luna. I'm talking about something else."
"So you won't help Twilight, but you will help our ponies?" Celestia asked.
"That's right."
"So you're willing to help our little ponies," Luna noted. "If that's the case, then why did you wait so long to reveal yourself instead of helping them sooner like I did?"
"Much like Celestia, I don't tend to directly involve myself unless I believe it to be necessary. If I did, then ponies would become too reliant on me instead of trying to fend for themselves."
My life as Trotter, Appleloosa Ranger notwithstanding, he mentally added. Besides, I like to keep a close eye on my descendants. It's also nice to see that two of my greatest granddaughters have found and embraced each other as family, despite them being distant relatives. Although, I have a feeling that the pink one knew who I was when she first saw me.
"Even so," Celestia began, "we could've used your help much sooner. Many ponies have already lost their lives, and I don't like having to see more of them die."
"It's a shame too that if you were to get involved with your magic, Tia, it would do little to help due to you holding yourself back, or you accidentally scorching the earth with your magic, thus having a repeat of the Changeling Kingdom," Luna added. "You also admitted it to me that it's also the reason why you lost to Queen Chrysalis during Shining Armor and Cadence's wedding. While she did become a lot stronger thanks to her feeding off of their love fore each other, had she been fighting you at your full power, she would've failed miserably."
"Really?" Nuck asked, glancing to Celestia with a raised eyebrow. "These times of peace have made you go soft, Celestia. I would've thought that you would've maintained that level of control you hade over a thousand years ago."
"Please don't underestimate me like that," Celestia calmly said. "You of all ponies know of how cautious I have to be when using my magic like that."
Nuck paused for a moment before giving a single nod. "I suppose so. But that's enough of that. I need to go and help those ponies before the pellets' magic wears off."
Before Celestia or Luna could say another word, Nuck leaped off the cliff. Soaring down to the battlefield, he rolled into a flip before extending his back right leg and proceeding to lead with it into a divekick. Picking up speed with his descent, Nuck sped downward as his form was now accompanied by a high-pitched whistle. Seconds later, he entered the battle with his entrance being him divekicking clean through a dragon's skull, and impacting the ground with enough force to create a rather large crater.
Standing back up, Nuck brushed some of the dirt off of his vest and hat before his eyes turned up to a nearby dragon who was looking down at him with wide, fearful eyes. Moving quickly, Nuck jumped up into the air to be at eye-level with the dragon. Unfortunatly for the dragon, before it could utter a syllable, Nuck spun around and roundhouse kicked the side of the dragon's head, decapitating it and sending it flying before it collided against the head of another dragon and knocking it out cold.
Surprised by the newcomer, most of the fighting around them ceased as both armies turned to see who this pony was. But, while none of the ponies recognized him, every dragon who's eyes fell upon him immediately stepped back away in fear and spoke in hushed, fearful voices.
"King Slayer."
"Volcano Bucker."
"Roundhouse Executioner."
"Godsmack."
"Wait, you mean like the band?"
"They were named after him!"
As he stood there proud and tall, the area behind exploded into flames. Not expecting that to happen, Nuck turned his head around to look back and see that several salamanders were the reason for that happening, thanks to their fire breath. As they approached, Nuck frowned before the salamanders all leaped at him. With a sigh of disappointment, he spun around with a roadhouse kick that caused them all to explode from the force of his kick, turning each of the salamanders into red bloody mist that settled down without a single speck touching Nuck.
"Now then," Nuck began, standing on his back legs while cracking his forehooves, "would you like to do this the easy way, or the hard way?"
Having heard the stories behind his legend, and having seen him kill two of their fellow dragons with just a single kick, twenty of the dragons who'd stopped to watch slowly raised their arms and placed them behind their heads, indicating their surrender. However, the other thirty, who were a bit younger than those who'd surrendered and either didn't know or care who Nuck was, charged from all sides at him.
Glancing up at them, Nuck frowned before he leaped up off the ground towards the dragon in front of him. Landing on its chest, Nuck punched his left forehoof through the dragon's left ribcage before pulling out its heart seconds later. Dropping the heart, Nuck then jumped off of the dead dragon's chest towards the next closest one. Gliding at fast speeds, Nuck struck a fighting pose as he sailed through the air in a flying kick, one that made contact with an armored dragon's armored stomach. Unfortunatly for it, the armor did little in defense as Nuck, still maintaining his flying kick pose, pierced through his armor and scales before coming out the dragon's back a second later without a single drop of blood on him.
The ground approaching, Nuck skidded to a halt as the dragon behind him roared in pain and placed its claws on the two gaping holes in its stomach, trying to keep his insides inside. Not liking having it suffer, Nuck was about to put it out of its misery when a flash of gold descended from above and landed right on top of the wounded dragon's head. Blinking the light away, Nuck approached until he saw Celestia removing her halberd from the dragon's head.
"You were right," she said, cleaning the blood from her weapon. "These times of peace have put me out of practice. However, while I may not have that great of a control as I once did, my skills in close quarters combat haven't degraded so much. At least with this way, I can fight for my subjects without worrying about burning them and the entire area within a fifty mile radius into scorched earth."
Nuck gave a nod and offered a hoof as he helped Celestia back down.
"A good answer," he said approvingly. "Now then, shall we?"
"We shall, but first." Celestia paused as she flew up to be at eye-level with the other dragons. "Hear me, solders of the Dragon Kingdom!" she called, getting the attention of those dragons nearby her. "I am Celestia. Princess of the Sun and Co-ruler of Equestria. I come before you with an offer. Those of you who would lay down your arms and surrender shall be shown quarter and returned to your homes. Of this you have my word. However,for those who refuse and wish to fight... I'm sure you know the answer to that."
"Don't listen to her!" Inferno shouted, having heard Celestia's words while he battled with Twilight and her friends, who were standing near the edge of the Applebreaker. "She's just saying that because her forces are losing. Charge forward and slaughter them all!"
Though most of the dragons who heard him were hesitant about fighting both Celestia and Nuck, most of the younger ones didn't know who Nuck was and blindly followed his orders. Seeing that there were some who weren't willing to listen to her, Celestia let out a sad sigh and raised her halberd.
"I'm sorry to see that," she remorsefully said. "Please, forgive me for doing what I must."
With a flash of light, Celestia teleported herself in front of one of the charging dragons where she raised her halberd and thrust it into the dragon's chest. Plunging it deeper, she soon saw the dragon become lifeless and removed her weapon from its chest. Though regretful for her action, Celestia turned to the next one and was about to fly over to it when Nuck leaped up into the air and kicked up in its jaw, sending the dragon flying skyward until it disappeared past the atmosphere.
"A decent start, but you'll have to pick it up if you want to keep up," Nuck said with a hint of mirth.
Giving a silent nod, Celestia flew off towards another dragon, along with the guards below, who were now fighting back like they had before she and Nuck showed up. Of course, while those who attacked them were put down rather quickly, those dragons who took Celestia's offer and surrendered themselves weren't touched by the ponies. Instead, they were directed off to the side where Luna, despite not being healed yet, stood watch over them with her sword drawn as if daring for one of them to try something.
While Celestia and Nuck were busy helping the guards with the dragons and remaining salamanders, Twilight and her friends were doing what they could against Inferno. After the Elements of Harmony failed to stop him, Applejack returned to the helm to steer the airship, while Twilight began firing blasts of magic at him, and the others mounted one of the cannons on the ship's deck. With them working together, they managed to hit Inferno and dent his armor to the point where it was starting to grind against his other armor plates, reducing his mobility and making it harder for him to move about. But, it wasn't until a stray shot hit Inferno in the eye that Twilight became nervous.
Watching him flap his wings and lunge at them, Twilight called for Applejack to get the airship away, but was too late as Inferno came down upon them with his warhammer. Thankfully, the rest of them saw it coming and abandoned their cannons before the giant weapon smashed against the ledge of the airship, destroying three of the four cannons and causing the airship to tilt. Floating off the deck, Twilight lit her horn and grabbed ahold of Rarity before she could slide off the side, along with Rainbow, who snagged Pinkie up in her forelegs.
"Whoa!" Rainbow shouted in surprise. "What in the hay is this airship made of?! That weapon should've easily smashed right through it!"
"That's easy. Me and Pinks decided to use iron wood on the airships instead of the normal wood," Pinkie explained. "Besides, you know that when it comes to me, nothing but the best will do."
While they had them, and Applejack struggled to get the airship level again, Flutterbat's eyes glowed with chaotic power as she flew up and began to use her Stare on Inferno with the intent of turning him into a newt. To her surprise, though, Inferno closed his eyes and looked away before swinging his warhammer at her, forcing her to stop using her Stare and duck beneath it.
"Don't think that that'll work on me, pony," Inferno snarled. "I've watched you, and I know that despite the chaotic magic you possess, you still require eye-contact for your ability to work on those who you haven't gotten under your control yet."
He suddenly unleashed a torrent of fire at Flutterbat, who quickly flew off to the side, managing to miss the flames, but just barely as the end of her tail had gotten caught by the fire and charred black. Feeling her anger rising from both Discord almost getting killed, and by her tail getting burnt, Flutterbat hissed and was about to charge him when she felt a quick tug on her tail.
"Fluttershy! Come back!" Twilight called, letting go of Flutterbat's tail.
"Let me go!" she demanded, eyes shrunk with anger. "He's going to pay for trying to hurt me!"
"But you need to come back here! You can't stay out there alone like that or else he'll- look out!"
From her peripheral vision, Flutterbat saw Inferno's claw making a sweep for her. But, despite her seeing it coming, she reacted too slowly to it as Inferno swiped Flutterbat back down to the airship, causing her to bounced off of the deck from the force behind her impact. Concerned for their friend, Twilight and the others all ran over to her, but became distracted when Inferno suddenly threw his warhammer at the airship. Feeling Applejack lower the airship to dodge it, they got over to Flutterbat and began checking on her while they ignored the giant weapon that spun high above their heads. Casting a scan spell over her, Twilight and the others sighed in relief when they found that while she had a small fracture in her wing and a sprang hoof, she was otherwise just unconscious. However, that moment of relief was quickly dashed as a pair of giant red claws grabbed ahold of the side of the airship.
Seeing Inferno peeking over the ledge, Twilight felt the airship tilt as Inferno began dragging it down and holding it closer towards him. Realizing now that Inferno had thrown his warhammer as a means of distraction and getting them to lower themselves, Twilight was about to tell Applejack to pull up when she saw Inferno's right claw reaching out for them. Without her being able to teleport herself and the others out due do her being this far into her pregnancy, Twilight quickly tossed her friends out of the way with her magic and put up a barrier around her, just as Inferno's claws surrounded her and clamped down hard on her barrier. Now at a high risk of getting crushed if her barrier were to falter, Twilight put all of her focus into maintaining it while Inferno released the airship with his left claw and brought Twilight up in front of his muzzle.
"You know you can't stay in there forever," he growled, squeezing the barrier and causing Twilight to grunt under the pressure.
Turning his back to the airship, Inferno held the claw holding Twilight up high for all to see.
"Ponies of Equestria! Hear me!" he boomed, causing all fighting to cease as every pony and dragon's attention was now on him. "Cease your fighting right now, or I'll kill Princess Twilight!"
Gasps could be heard as the ponies actually took a look at what was in the purple orb he was holding, now realizing that it was Twilight inside her own barrier. While most had become worried for her and her unborn foal, Shining was practically fuming and would've more than likely had gone into a Rage Shift if the Rage Pellet hadn't done that already. However, despite his overwhelming urge to go try and save his sister, Shining managed to keep his hooves rooted in place. It also helped him too that Cadence, having noticed his body's subtle twitching, placed a hoof on his shoulder to try to calm him and encourage him to not do anything stupid and reckless. Even Celestia, Nuck, and Luna weren't making any moves. But, probably most surprising reaction out of all of them was Spike, who, instead of sweating and nervously biting his clawnails, was emanating a low growl with a very faint magical glow shining between his clenched fangs.
Seeing their pause to act against him or his army, Inferno smiled to himself inwardly while maintaining his stern look on them. Not even the Shadow Wraiths made a move. Pleased with how things were turning out, he chuckled and brought the claw holding Twilight back down beside his head.
"Good to see that you ponies are willing to listen," he said. "Now then, Celestia, I want you leave your weapon and come up here where I can better see you."
Keeping calm, Celestia planted her halberd into the ground and flew up to be at eye-level with Inferno.
"I'm here. Now, what is it that you want?" she asked, despite having a good guess as to what it was.
"I'll get straight to the point. In exchange for Princess Twilight life and that of everypony else's, what I want, Celestia, is the immediate and unconditional surrender of Equestria."
Celestia remained silent as her guess had unfortunately been proven correct. However, her silence was a mistake as she heard Twilight yelp as her barrier began to crack under Inferno's grip.
"Don't take too long, Celestia," Inferno taunted. "Princess Twilight doesn't look like she has much magic left to spare."
Eyes moving away from Inferno, Celestia frowned, seeing Twilight squinting as beads of sweat began to run down her head from the pressure she was under. Knowing that Twilight couldn't teleport out, nor be teleported without putting her and her foal at risk, Celestia's teeth clenched as she started to weigh her options. With time short and the lives of so many in her hooves, Celestia shut her eyes and bit back her tears.
"Please forgive me," she quietly pleaded.
Having come to a decision, Celestia looked up at Inferno and opened her mouth to reply when a motion from Twilight caught her eye. Glancing back to her, she saw her reaching back with her forehooves and grab the Death Reaper scythe off of her back. Eyes widening, Celestia watched as Twilight raised the scythe high above her head and bring it down hard on Inferno's claw between his thumb and index claw.
Roaring in pain, Inferno's claw opened up on reflex, accidentally letting Twilight go and allowing for her to fly quickly over to Celestia's side. Cradling his claw, Inferno looked at it and saw a scythe with its blade plunged completely into his claw. Growling, Inferno grabbed the scythe with his left claw and pulled it free from his right before flicking it in pain. Quickly recalling the lack of an alicorn in his grip, his head shot up towards where Celestia and Twilight were, the latter of which having been laid down on the former's back to rest.
"Don't think that just because you got away means that this is over," Inferno threatened, "because I'm-"
Inferno cut himself off as he felt his legs being locked in place. Grunting, he tried to move them again, but found them to be uncooperative. Looking down to see what the problem was, Inferno was confused as he saw nothing restricting his movements.
"What?" he asked himself.
"You're wrong, Inferno. This is over," Twilight tiredly said, causing his eyes to snap up at her.
"What are you talking about? What did you to do me?"
A weak smile met Twilight's lips. "I didn't do anything. But that weapon on the other hoof..."
Looking down at his claw, Inferno was just about to inspect the scythe when the scales and meat on his claws began to fade away, leaving only bare bones behind. Panicking from what he was seeing, Inferno tried to let go of the weapon his claw was holding, but like his legs, it too wouldn't obey him. He then tried to use his right claw, but was met with the same results.
"What's happening to me?!" he bellowed.
"It's the curse of a Living Weapon," Twilight answered, strength returning to her voice. "You went on ahead and grabbed ahold of it without its wielder's permission, and this is what happens. Although, this isn't at all what Nocturne told me would happen. I guess that the curse is different with each Living Weapon."
Eyes wide with understanding, Inferno desperately thrashed about to try and let go of the weapon. Or, he would have if his entire body wasn't locked up. From his neck to his feet, wings to tail and everything in between, Inferno couldn't move. The only thing that he could move freely was his head, but was unable to produce any fire to breath. Fearfully and without any way of stopping it, Inferno watched as more and more of his skeletal arm was exposed. Despite it being painless, it didn't do anything to relieve him of the terror that he felt, even as the curse reached his shoulder and began to spread throughout the rest of his body. Seconds later the curse reached up to his neck, preventing him from roaring as it covered his vocal cords and reached his jaw. Moments later, the curse had swept over his head and past his torso, leaving nothing inside either his skull or his ribs. With no heart of brain to maintain the rest of him, Inferno's body collapsed as the curse continued to finish him off. It took it about thirty seconds by the time the curse had reached the end of Inferno's tail, rendering the Dragon King nothing more than a lifeless pile of bones.
No one spoke or moved as they all stared at the dead king. That is, until the Death Reaper scythe suddenly burst from Inferno's bony claw, and flew straight to Twilight where it settled itself back on her saddlebag like it was before.
"Living Weapon indeed," Celestia muttered, utterly surprised by both the curse it had inflicted upon Inferno, and how it had made its way back to Twilight.
Seeing their king dead, and being confronted by four alicorns, two pony armies, two airships, the Wonderbolts, a few hundred Everfree creatures, and Nuck Chorris, the dragons started raising their claws in surrender. Though it was slow at first, one-by-one the ponies began to cheer as the war had ended in victory. That is, until the effects of the Rage Pellet started to wear off, causing them to suddenly become tired, but not enough to encourage the dragons to take a desperate last attempt at them. That, and the Shadow Wraiths were still hovering around them with their blades drawn.
Seeing her ponies recovering and starting to take the dragons prisoner, Celestia let out a small sigh of relief and glanced back to see Twilight holding onto her half-asleep on her back.
"Are you alright, Twilight?" she asked.
"Yeah. I'm alright," Twilight muttered. "How are my friends?"
"Let's find out."
Steadily, Celestia glided over to the Applebreaker and landed on the deck beside Twilight's friends.
"Twilight!" they all shouted, save for an unconscious Fluttershy, who'd reverted back to her normal pony self.
"How's she doing, Princess?!" Rainbow worriedly asked.
"Worry not, my little ponies," she smiled. "Twilight's going to be alright. She's just a bit exhausted right now."
There was a collective sigh of relief before Rainbow perked up again.
"Oh, by the way, did you hear what I said about what Gunter said about Dark?"
"No, I haven't. Why? What is it?"
"He said something about how Dark is going to die to Light," she said while nervously rubbing a forehoof. "I don't know if what he said was true or not, but I've got a really nasty gut feeling about this, and I don't like it."
"Then we should go to him," Twilight said, trying and failing to lift herself off of Celestia's back.
"Ah don't think that ya should, Twi," Applejack told her, then quickly raised a hoof before Twilight could speak. "You're tired enough as you are, and a few of us are banged up. You and the others should stay here and try ta recover. Ah'll fly this lug over and go get him."
"Not alone you're not! I'm coming too!" Rainbow objected. "Besides, it's just a cracked hoof, and I can stay off of it just fine if I want to."
"Well whatever we're going to do, we should probably do it soon," Rarity voiced. "The longer we wait, the greater the chance of us getting too late to Dark are."
"I agree," Celestia nodded. "But first, Applejack, how are the injured ponies here?"
"From what Ah've heard, none of them are in any serious danger," she replied.
"That's good to hear, but I think that we should relocate them before the airship takes off. In the meantime, Twilight, Rarity, Pinkie Pie, and Fluttershy will remain here in Canterlot Castle while you, Applejack, and Rainbow Dash go find and retrieve Dark."
"Umm, question," Pinkie said with a raised hoof. "How can Applejack and Rainbow find where Dark went off to if they've never been to his old village before?"
"... one moment." Celestia raised a hoof up to the earpiece of her headset. "Captain Iron Guard, are you there?"
"Alive and well, Princess," he replied.
"Good. In that case, I need your help."
"Of course, Your Highness. What can I do for you?"
"We have good reason to believe that Dark may be in more danger than we'd originally thought. I'm sending a group over to recover him, but they'll need somepony to guide them to Stonewall Village."
"I can do that, but what about the troops?"
"Shining Armor and I can take care of that."
There was a brief pause before Iron Guard responded. "Very well, Princess. I will accompany the recovery team."
"Thank you, Captain. I'm sending Rainbow Dash down right now to bring you up to the Applebreaker airship."
Making one last call to ask some of the Wonderbolts and pegasi guards to help unload the Applebreaker of the injured and accompany them on their trip, Celestia held Rarity, Pinkie, and Fluttershy in her magic and got ready to leave. Thanking them all for their help and wishing Rainbow and Applejack luck after receiving their Elements of Harmony to return to the tree, Celestia flew off with the four of them in tow, while Rainbow flew down to find Iron Guard. It didn't take Rainbow long to find Iron Guard thanks to his signal flare, and when she got to him, she scooped him up and flew back up to the Applebreaker, which was being unloaded of its injured. It took them a little while, but after twelve minutes of waiting, all of the ponies who needed medical attention had been relocated to Canterlot General Hospital, allowing for Applejack to steer the airship towards the south-east as per Iron Guard's directions.
Light found himself huddled beneath the rubble of a destroyed house as he hid from Dark. He didn't know how everything could have gone so wrong so fast. Despite having so much planned out in advance, everything quickly went wrong for Light. It was especially bad when Dark destroyed almost half of Stonewall Village with the power of a single swing from his sword, leaving little more than a smoldering crater and burning rubble all around. Luckily for Light, or rather, unluckily, the ruins holding the barrier up remained, keeping him trapped in here with Dark prowling around hunting for him.
After Dark brought down his sword and destroyed a large chuck of the village with a single stroke, Light found himself fleeing for his life once more. Despite him having flown away before Dark's sword struck, the explosion was still strong enough that it burnt enough of his primary feathers that he lost his ability to fly. Crashing into the ground and tumbling a few feet, Light hissed in pain as he felt the burning from his wings, but didn't have much time to dwell on them as he saw Dark bursting through a nearby building and charging straight for him. Getting back up to his hooves, Light ran further into town and tried to lose Dark between the buildings, only for Dark to come barreling through the side of one of the houses behind him.
Silently cursing to himself as to how Dark knew where he seemed to go every time, Light noticed the glow in Dark's eyes. Having lived with him and secretly spying on his training, Light knew the sight of Dark's Second Sight and Soul Eyes spells. Now knowing what was going on with Dark, Light ducked into a nearby building and lit his horn. He then created several illusions of himself and implanted each with a soul that he'd "borrowed" from a select unfortunate few. With his decoys in place, Light was about to send them out when Dark burst through the wall and took a swing at them with his Death Reaver sword, hitting one of the illusions while the others and the real Light all split up.
Running after them, Light glanced back to see that Dark had fallen for one of the decoys. Letting out a breath of relief, he ran back to the area of their village that had just been destroyed and took shelter in some ruins, figuring that Dark wouldn't bother to look for him all the way back here. And just to be sure that Dark couldn't track him with this eyes, Light cloaked his body with an illusion to hide his soul, a unique spell that he'd picked up from Aurora's spellbook. Of course, while he did lose Dark and was now hidden from him, he was still stuck here. Despite his failsafe for Dark's downfall being in place, Light would still much rather live to see the fruits of his success.
"Doesn't seem like there's much other choice at this point," he muttered to himself.
"Light! Where are you?!" Dark shouted, his voice echoing clearly across the rainy sky. "Quit your hiding and get out here!"
Several moments of silence later, Dark snorted in annoyance. "Fine then! If you won't come out, then I'll just end this now!"
Spreading his wings, Dark gave a powerful flap and launched himself straight up into the clouds. Seeing this, Light cautiously peeked out from his hiding spot to see what Dark was planning. It took a while, but as the seconds rolled by, Light could see an orange glow coming from within the storm cloud. Moments later, the clouds shrouding it faded away, revealing Dark hovering high within the storm clouds with a ball of magic twice his size hovering just in front of his gaping maw aimed downward. Suddenly filled with a sense of fear, Light scampered out of his hiding spot and made for the hill on the outskirts of town, hoping that he could hide behind the large rocks from whatever Dark had planned.
Up above, Dark found himself consumed by rage as he charged up his magic up. With the power of the Rage Pellet putting him into a Rage Shift, he had little doubt that while this Flare would easily be the biggest he'd ever casted, it would also serve in wiping Stonewall Village from the face of Equestria.
And with that, my past will be forever behind me, no longer there to haunt me, he mentally added.
Pumping more magic into it, Dark watched as the sphere of magic grew to over three times his own size before figuring that that was enough. Letting loose a bellowing roar, the storm clouds dispersed as Dark fired the Flare directly down at the center of the village. As Dark continued to fire the Flare, the beam of fire and magic impacting the ground began to slowly pierce deeper into the earth. Giving it all that he had, Dark gave the Flare one last push and watched as the burst of magic visibly traveled down the Flare until it hit the ground, causing the earth to erupt in an explosion that consumed all of Stonewall Village and most of the surrounding area within the barrier. That is, until the upheaval from the ongoing explosion reached the ruins holding the barrier. Shifting and cracking, the ground the ruins were carved on were destroyed, allowing for the explosion that had been contained to spread outward high above the village in a pillar of fire, along with a shockwave that dispersed any clouds that had remained, or were nearby outside of the barrier at the time.
It was almost a full minute later that things started to settle down a bit. Thanks to his new full-blooded kirin form, Dark had managed to keep himself airborne and outlast the fiery explosion, along with the rocks and other rubble that had been blasted up into the air. With the dust settling, Dark looked back down at what was once his birthplace, which now looked more like the crater of a volcano, the only clues to it once being a village being the few ruined buildings that had somehow survived, and were now serving as small islands that were poking out of the melted rock.
"And that's that."
Satisfied that his past was now gone, Dark flapped his wings and made towards the shoreline to rest. But, just before he got there, Dark's Rage Shift unexpectedly ended, changing him back into his normal self along with his clothes and crown. Of course, this sudden change also resulted in him quickly loosing consciousness due to magical exhaustion, before crashing into the rocky ground several feet away from the lava.
Dark was slow to wake. He didn't know how much time had passed, but however long it was, it didn't feel long enough. Sore, stiff, and achy, Dark slowly and cautiously shifted his limbs. Noting that nothing was broken, he cracked an eye open and saw his Death Reaver laying just out of reach of his claw. Grabbing ahold of it, he rolled over with a grunt onto his back and looked up at the night sky, having no idea that the barrier had been destroyed.
"Ooouuuccchhhh," he groaned.
"How're you doing?" Nocturne asked.
"A lot worse than I look." Dark paused and glanced to the sword in his claw. "Remind me to never go into a Rage Shift again."
"Agreed. Did you even know what you were doing?"
"I... I-I don't know how to answer that," he unsurely replied. "I know what happened, but I didn't mean it to go so far. It was like all I saw was red and I couldn't control myself."
"And thanks to that, you've destroyed not only Light, but all of Stonewall Village as well. We'll have to tell the other Scaleless Dragons when we get back, and get to work on you getting that under control."
Dark didn't say anything to that, instead remaining silent as he thought over his actions. Even if he did lose himself in a blinding rage, in the end, he didn't just kill his only brother and remaining family member, and the village he was born and raised in, but in a way, he also killed the risen villagers as well, including his parents and sister. Closing his eyes, Dark laid in silence with the only sounds being the bubbling liquid rock nearby. His thoughts lingering, Dark felt tears starting to build. Not just because of Light being dead, but because it was by his doing.
With nopony around him, Dark decided to surrender to his emotions and began to let out a few sniffles. But, before it could escalate any further, the sound of shifting rocks caught his ears. His moment interrupted, Dark rolled around and got back up to his hooves just in time to see Light sliding down on his side towards him, his sword tumbling out of his hoof and resting a few feet away from him.
"Careful, Dark. He's still alive," Nocturne warned him.
Surprised, Dark cautiously walked up to his fallen brother. Getting a better look at him, he saw that he was in pretty bad shape with large sections of his fur being burnt off, his wings reduced to nubs, and the upper half of his horn having been broken off. However, despite all of that, Light's eyes still glared at Dark with murderous intent.
"Don't think that this'll kill me," Light weakly warned. "I can feel the regeneration spell I casted earlier still working. I'll be back in a few weeks, and this time, my master will be with me."
This got Dark's attention. "'Master'?" he repeated. "Is he the one who gave you your magic? Who is he?"
Light chuckled, but it soon turned into a coughing fit. "Heh. He is. He's a being the likes of which I've never seen before. Probably the best way to describe him is that he's a tall and thin demon."
"Sounds familiar," Nocturne commented.
"It does," Dark agreed, acknowledging Nocturne before turning back to Light. "Let me guess. He's black, tall and lanky with a pair of horns and wings, has long claws, and even blacker eyes?"
Light's eyes slowly narrowed. "How do you know about Lord Nil's appearance?"
'Nil'? Well, at least we now have a name, Dark thought.
Having gone without a response, Light snorted as he continued to glare heatedly at Dark.
"I guess it doesn't really matter at this point," he said with a sigh. "So... what're you gonna do now?"
"Huh?"
Light tried to get up, but his body was too weak at the moment to allow for him to move.
"Like I said before, in time, I'll be back to the way I was before this fight started, and when do, you can guarantee that I'll be coming for you and Twilight again." Light smiled weakly upon seeing the look on Dark's face. "So, what's it goin to be, brother? Are you going to kill your own little brother to protect your precious mare or not?"
Dark was on the spot now, once again given a choice that he'd never wanted to deal with. While he didn't want to actually have to do it, even after everything that's happened during their battle, he also didn't want him coming back for him, or worse, Twilight and their unborn daughter. Swallowing the heavy lump in his throat, Dark took a step towards Light, followed by another. It was slow, but soon enough, Dark stood over Light's prone form with sword in claw. Glancing down at the weapon, Dark slowly raised it up and flipped it upside down with the blade now pointing down at Light's chest. Steeling himself, Dark raised his sword higher, ready to finish this for good. Gritting his fangs, Dark brought his sword plunging down... only to stop inches above Light's chest.
Confused by this hesitation, Light looked from the tip of the sword up at Dark, who loomed over him with tears leaking from his eyes and landing on Light's coat.
"I can't... I can't do it," Dark sniffled. "Despite all that you've done, all the ponies that you've betrayed, all the evil acts you've committed and dark pacts that you've made, you're still my brother, Light. I may have lost control and wanted to kill you in my Rage Shift, but now that I'm back in control again, I can't bring myself to do it. I won't kill you, Light. Because whether I like it or not, you're still family, and I won't kill my own family."
Light smirked. "Heh. Figures that you wouldn't do it."
"He might not be willing to," Suddenly, the right half of Dark had turned black and his right eye had turned red, "but I don't have such reservations. You may be Dark's brother, but you're no brother of mine."
With Dark tired and weak, Nocturne had little trouble in surfacing. Now in control of Dark's right half again, Nocturne raised the sword in his claw back up while Dark closed his left eye, regretfully accepting of what was to come.
"This is for my sister Aurora you little traitor."
No ties to hold him back with, Nocturne didn't hesitate when he brought the Death Reaver down on Light, who's eyes widened fully as the blade was plunged through him. Choking and coughing on his blood, Light didn't get a chance to say anything else before the sword's blade became shrouded in darkness and quickly dissolved his body into black mist in seconds.
Knowing that sound, Dark knew that it was over with, and that Light was truly gone this time. Hesitantly, Dark cracked his eye open, and when he did, he immediately glared at what was left behind.
"Light too," he muttered.
"It would appear so," Nocturne agreed, returning Dark's right half back to him and retreating back to the sword. "This would explain why he became so powerful and hateful all of a sudden."
Gritting his teeth in anger, Dark glared at the black feather that laid where Light had previously been. While he took some comfort in knowing that there was a reason behind Light's actions, it didn't change the fact that this Nil had corrupted his brother like that. Snarling, Dark took a step and with his sword still shrouded, he thrust the tip of the blade down on the feather, causing it to hiss like an angry snake for several seconds before it finally dissolved into nothing. With his brother now gone and the thing corrupting him destroyed, Dark looked around , believing that the barrier had just now dropped. But, before he was about to leave, his eyes fell on the sword his brother carried. Letting out a heavy sigh, Dark reached down with his left claw and picked up his brother's sword.
"I swear, Nocturne, if I ever find this Nil guy, I'm going to make him regret ever setting hoof in Equestria."
"As will I," Nocturne said. "Don't forget, Dark, that it's because of him that both Sombra and Light became what they were, and I want to make him pay for it."
Nodding in agreement, Dark took a step forward towards the direction he'd parked the airship Celestia had lent him. However, a few steps later, Dark suddenly fell to his knees and dropped both swords as his claws clutched at the cold pain in his chest.
"Wh... what...?!"
Rainbow and Iron Guard stood near the bow of the Applebreaker as they flew closer and closer towards the glowing area within the mountain range.
"Are you sure that's where we're supposed to be going?" Rainbow questioned again. "I mean, I know that he told us where his village was, but I didn't think that Dark's village would be this far out here in the middle of nowhere."
"Yes, I'm sure," Iron Guard curtly replied. "I'll never forget the mess that I saw this place in... although, I will admit that the bright glow wasn't there last time."
Thanks to a few directions that Pinkie had relayed to Applejack through their headsets, they were able to get a bit of extra speed on the Applebreaker, which resulted in them getting to their destination just after sunrise. And while Iron Guard did remember the area where the village was, he was also silently grateful for the large glow that practically shown like a beacon to them, even in the early morning sunlight.
Eager to get this over with and get some sleep after such an exhausting day and night, Iron Guard waited in anticipation as the Applebreaker closed in on the last mountain top in their way. However, once they got past it, such thoughts faded as he and Rainbow looked below in awe.
"... okay, I know that I just asked this, but are you absolutely sure that this is the place?" Rainbow asked again. "Because I don't think that Dark's village was in the middle of a freaking volcano!"
"This isn't right," Iron Guard said. "Something is wrong here."
"You're darn tootin' something's wrong," Applejack said, having let Braeburn take control so that she could come up and join Rainbow and Iron Guard.
"But I don't understand. I know that this is where Stonewall Village is supposed to be, so where did all of this come from?"
Applejack looked curiously at Rainbow. "Do ya think that Dark coulda done this?"
Rainbow looked over the area before shrugging. "It's tough to say. I mean, I know that his Flare spell is super powerful and all, but to do something like this might be a stretch?"
"But don't forget that Shinin' Armor also gave him one of them Rage Pellet things," Applejack reminded her, getting a nod in return.
"... in that case, yeah, this might've been Dark's doing after all."
"If so, then we'll have to go lower and look out for any signs of him," Iron Guard told them.
"Are ya sure about that?" Applejack questioned. "Ah mean, could Dark even survive this?"
"From what the princesses have told me, Dark is part dragon, so he'll be immune to lava like dragons are."
Relaying the message to Braeburn, the airship descended closer to the surface of the lava, but not close enough to start overheating the engines or the crew inside the airship. Once they got to a safe height, some of the pegasus guards and Wonderbolts that had accompanied them flew off in pairs to search for Dark, while the others stayed on the airship.
"So how long do you think it'll take them to find Dark?" Rainbow wondered.
"It's hard to say," Iron Guard said. "These searches are unpredictable. Sometimes they can take hours, days, weeks-"
"Captain Iron Guard! We found Prince Dark!"
"... or it could take them less than a minute," Rainbow smirked.
Rolling his eyes, Iron Guard put a hoof up to the earpiece in his helmet. "Very good. How's his condition?"
"..."
"Well?"
"What's up with the suspenseful silence? Just answer him already!" Rainbow impatiently barked into her own headset.
Seconds continued ticking by with no reply from them. It was starting to get to the point where Rainbow was ready to fly off and find out for herself now. Even Iron Guard was becoming impatient with them.
"We're sorry for the delay, sir," one of them finally spoke, "but we needed to check for a pulse... and talk down this weird talking sword."
"That's fine," Iron Guard huffed. "Now then, what's the prince's condition?"
There was another pause before the guard spoke up.
"He's gone, sir."
"Wha... what do ya mean exactly?" Applejack fearfully asked.
"... I'm sorry, but we were too late. Prince Dark is dead."
"Are you sure? I mean absolutely sure?" Iron Guard cautiously asked, ignoring the pair of gasps from behind him.
"We're positive, sir. He has no pulse, he's not breathing, and despite him being near the lava and being part dragon, his body has gone cold."
Iron Guard slowly shook his head. "You two remain where you are. All other units, return to the airship. Mr. Braeburn? Please pull the ship over. We've got a body to return home."
Hearing their sullen confirmations over the headset, Iron Guard looked back and let out a heavy sigh at the sight of Applejack and Rainbow comforting each other.
Princess Twilight's not going to like this.
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*Sighs* had a feeling that LIght had linked them together, if HE died, then Dark would die.
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Meh. By the end of Next chapter someone will figure out to stab him with the sword and he will be fine. This isn't the first time he has died. That's why it was done so long ago when Dark got sent to the EQG World, to let us know he can cheat death with his Living Weapon.
Nope don't believe it... He will be back.
Also I need an update now... Thanks
The Death Reaver can still talk, so I'm betting that Dark's soul is still anchored to this world through it. We just have to wait for Aurora to hatch and breathe life back into his body.
Is this how it's going to end? Please tell me this isn't going to end in Heartbreaking tragedy. Nothing grinds my gears more than reading something for hours and there is no happy ending
What the f**k
I thought I smelled some kind of Soulbound or something like that in your last chapter. I hope they can save/resurrect Dark from this cheap move
Finally that plothole is dead, way to slow for my taste
7960623 You and me both. I can create like 60 accounts just to downvote this if it comes to it.
Hmm... cold, painful feeling in his chest?
...
Could this possibly be his "Death" Flame-Sac? Also, if it was that numbing that he went unconscious, that might mean he is changing in some form. So he's probably not dead, more likely, he is in a metamorphic-like state, changing due to the output of power he endured.
They have friends with the power over life and death I'm not worried. Eggs and Living weapons for the win. I thought for sure that lights weapon was gonna pull a living weapon *gotcha* on dark. But the reeeeeeal question is will saving one also bring back the other. Welllllllll guess we'll see next chapter same bat time same bat station.
7960628 did you gloss over the black feather in lights chest? Means your hatred should be directed at neil not light.
No... no, no, NO! It can't end like this!
7960737 Hmm Theories, Theories...
I now get the "...I'm losing a brother," part. If Light died, which he did, he would lose a brother, Dark. Even if he lost or won, Dark would have died. I'm not sad, nor disappointed. I'm just really, really sickened by you Garuda. Not for killing Dark, but for two other reasons. One, making them both lose the fight. Two, either making Twilight become the primary protagonist or have Dark revived from the dead by some other worldly being or some other, non-realistic and MLP: FiM way. Thank you Garuda. Thank you.
7961573 One word...Aurora.
The Chuck Norris parody was fun, but OP is OP. Seriously? I'm sorry, but an OC self insert being stronger than the Goddesses of Equestria and needing an opponent equally as OP has kinda soured me on this. I'll finish reading it if it's not too much longer, because the writing style is mildly enjoyable, but I'm about at the end of my patience for this. Please, feel free to down ore. Just my 2ยข.
7961740 It's nuck choris, and they already had an OP weapon that would just require the king to pick it up without permission, which he did. So.. your argument is invalid..
7960573 yeah, the Living Weapon is infused with his own Soul, he can use it to jump start his own life again.
Such a big plot twist. whats next, we wonder?
Well, good, Light is dead. But wow, what a plot twist! I can't wait for the next chapter!
Is it just me or is it a reference to "Hellsing Abridged" ep 5?
Ps.I also don't think that Dark is dead, or at least he is not completely (resurrects is still available) dead, but i more worried about something else, let's hope that it's just my paranoia speaking here.
7966517 Well, I personally count on the classics
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because The Power of Love
Nay, i just enjoying someone almost dying unexpectedly and then boom they come back undead.
7966818 Yes. Yes it is a reference to Hellsing Abridged.
boom, and the monster appears out of nowhere and kills everyone
7961740 You do realize that the introduction of Nil is going to make this story longer right?
7969337 yup, hence the comment that I may not stick around for it all. OP is fun for a while, but OOC Luna and beyond god level OP gets old pretty quickly.
hmm heart attack? really? what an way to go orrrrr he just comes back when death rever gets in side off him again..........
or on some weard reasion dark is just in an coma that they don't know the efekt off and his heart is still...............
7969881
If I remember correctly either one or two chapters ago, Light said something about taking Dark with him.
Case in point, fuck Destiny Bond!
Now that Inferno is dead it would be cool that the dragons have like some hundred year test of something to get the next king because Inferno are his only descendant and Spike would win it and become the dragon king. Also because of Dark's Death Reaver containing part of his soul, can't you just stab him with it to jump start him again?
8143180
Probably wouldn't work; the fragment of Darks' soul in the Death Reaver went back into him when he was stabbed through the stomach with it in the Equestria Girls-verse, so there's no remaining Dark-soul fragments to jumpstart him again.