Chapter 15: The Demon Inside of Me (pre-read, unedited)
Chapter 15: The Demon Inside of Me
Pre-read by: Jman796
“What is this?”
Chrysalis had always liked to pride herself on fearing very little. The tree pony tribes she saw as little more than a food source for her changelings, and her initial invasion of Canterlot had proved them to be next useless at defending themselves, even when they were working together.
Given their fire and tough scales, dragons usually posed a some threat to the hive’s safety, but the sheer numbers of the hive’s warriors could overcome such a threat without too much trouble.
Griffins she regarded as winged rats, what with their lacking of any magic beside the passive kind in their wings. They were near no threat to the hive, even with their claws, as they were often found only in small flocks of three or four, or by themselves. But then again she’d rarely ever encountered them, what with the hive being so far south of the Griffinian border.
But this pale creature, Sephiroth… his very voice scared her.
There was just something about it that rubbed her carapace all the wrong way. It was monotone, deep, and devoid of any sense of emotion whatsoever, and yet it carried the suggestion of something dark and cruel in every possible sense of the words; something that you knew you didn’t want to annoy, much less challenge.
If that wasn’t enough to unnerve her, then his eyes were. Zack’s, perhaps like those of all members of SOLDIER, had glowed a bright blue in the dark of Canterlot Castle’s hall. Sephiroth’s were likewise glowing as he stood in the low light of her throne room, the last green flames of the spell having now winked out of existence and taken with them most of the limited light… but his were a pale cyan rather than blue in colour, with their dark pupils more slit-like then round, similar to that of a dragon.
They too betrayed no obvious emotion to the changeling, and that small fact was sending an uncomfortable large shiver down Chrysalis’s back. A changeling’s greatest strength was the ability to know their food source’s emotions, and thus be able to react accordingly. But Sephiroth was like something akin to a bare slate; unreadable.
To top it all off, he looked like something that would’ve made Nightmare Moon’s skin crawl. His armor and hairless skin, or what she assumed was skin, were both pale white like one of Canterlot’s marble garden ornaments. His long mane was somewhere between grey and silver, and his overall attire was as black as her own exterior.
And then there was his sword...
“I take it you are Sephiroth, then? ” she asked calmly at last, eyes flicking between the SOLDIER and the massive sword he was holding.
Sephiroth’s face seemed to twitch behind his long silver hair, but he otherwise remained completely still and silent, his pale skin making him look very much like a statue. If he was at all confused, then he was doing a very good job of hiding it.
Chrysalis took it as a sign to continue, and gave a small incline of her head. “Forgive me, I am Chrysalis, Queen of the race of Changelings,” she motioned over her shoulder. “And this is Discord, the Spirit of Chaos and Disharmony.”
“Charmed,” Discord said, remaining as far from the towering form of Sephiroth and his sword as possible.
“And we have summoned you here in the hope that you may aid us in our plight.”
“Aid you?”
His voice remained as cold and emotionless as before, but Sephiroth’s cyan eyes were no longer lingering around the room or inspecting Discord. Instead, they had locked themselves firmly on Chrysalis as he said the words, their piercing gaze prompting an uneasy step backwards from the changeling.
Given that his face was still virtually unreadable, she couldn’t tell if he was curious or annoyed at her request; she hoped the earlier.
“W-well, yes. Help us,” Chrysalis answered, quickly recomposing herself. Knowing just what kind of power she was playing with, she did her best to be respectful. “Allow me to explain the situation, just so you understand. An old enemy of yours, Zack Fair, happens to have been pulled into our world recently, and in that short time has managed to become our enemy...”
That seemed to catch Sephiroth’s attention. “Zack Fair is your enemy?”
“Sadly, yes, but I will go through that in a moment,” the changeling admitted, resisting the urge to roll her eyes and hiss out the admission. “Anyhow, through his memories...”
She motioned to the cluster of green crystals in the center of the room, which with a quick spell began to play through the memories she’d stolen during her second assault on the night of the Gala; Chrysalis swore that Sephiroth’s features tightened upon seeing them.
“I learned of you and your victory against him the last time you two fought, so I have brought you here in the hope that you would aid us in getting rid of Zack. I myself have tried to destroy him, but because he’s so powerful… well, it seems that he’s a problem that only you can deal with.”
She looked to Discord for some kind of support, though she saw the floating spirit was about as unnerved as she was.
Upon turning back though, she came face to face with something that scared her far more so than Sephiroth’s voice had. The point of his massive was now hovering a horn’s width above her muzzle, the metal’s razor sharp edge poised down at her, while Sephiroth himself loomed over her like a mountain, cyan eyes drilling into her own green ones.
“If Zack Fair is here… just where is it that you have brought me?” the silver-haired SOLDIER asked. “It was only for an instant, but I remember feeling Zack Fair join me in the Lifestream, meaning that we were both dead.”
His voice still betrayed no emotion, but his sword was telling Chrysalis he was far from happy.
“Y-you are in Equestria, the l-land of ponies,” she stuttered out, not daring to move away. “Ruled over by the alicorns Celestia and Luna; Zack was accidentally brought here by one of their subjects pulling him from this… Lifestream that you’re talking about, probably just as I have done with you.”
Much to the changeling queen’s surprise, the sword blade was removed after a moment.
“Pulled from the Lifestream, and brought to this... Equestria,” Sephiroth echoed, his glowing cyan eyes closing. With his arms spread and his expression, he looked like he’d suddenly understood something that had long been puzzling him. “And Zack Fair serving its rulers as well, how strange that it mirrors what once was… hm, perhaps I can fulfill mother’s dream after all.”
The changeling blinked in utter confusion. “M-mother?” Chrysalis asked. That was unexpected.
“You had a mother?” Discord asked from the background of the conversation, sounding equally surprised, before scoffing. “Tch, she must’ve been a barrel of laughs.”
“My mother was Jenova,” Sephiroth said simply, his face twisting into a look of mild annoyance. “Mother was destined to rule our planet and make it her own, she was stronger and smarter than the others before her. But then those fools, those humans, they came and took the planet from her. They used her to make themselves stronger, to make themselves smarter, but still they were weak. I was to rule in her place, to wield her true power, her true strength… but Zack Fair and Cloud Strife dared to stand in my way, and because of them I was cast into the Lifestream.”
For the first time since he’d appeared in her throne room, Chrysalis tasted something akin to love radiating from Sephiroth, the affection centred around the memory of whoever it was he had called his ‘mother’. Cautiously, she allowed herself to lap up a mouthful.
She hissed and backed away as soon as she tasted it, however. The feeling didn’t nourish her at all, and if anything she found the taste of it utterly revolting.
There was taste of lust in his love, but this was a lust purely for power and nothing else. It was one that would see anyone, and anything, that stood in his way cut down as he sought after his goals; to Sephiroth, no else’s life mattered in the slightest.
All because he believed himself chosen to be some kind of divine ruler.
It was then that his cyan eyes then flicked open, and then slowly lowered themselves until they were at Chrysalis’s level.
“And yet I am here instead, though perhaps that is not a loss, but a gift,” he said, outstretching his arms. “I am the chosen one, and it was mother’s will that she would rule over all, and I through her.”
All Chrysalis saw was a thin line of silver cross in front of Sephiroth, and a moment later both she and Discord yelped as they were forced to duck their heads. The streak of blue energy missed the top of her horn by a hair’s width, and thankfully so, as glancing back she saw the slash carve a deep gouge in the wall of throne room.
Without thinking any further, Chrysalis charged her horn in retaliation, and then fired a bolt of green magic at the former SOLDIER, aiming the spell between his eyes… only for it to be deflected with apparent ease by a flick of his blade, and then blow it’s own pony sized hole in the wall.
“What are you doing?!” she hissed, lowering her head in ready for a fight.
Sephiroth just laughed and raised his massive blade again, though to call it a laugh was a stretch. It held no joviality or happiness in it, only a cold, mocking note of amusement that chilled Chrysalis to the core.
“I will rule this planet,” he answered. “But I will not make the same mistake mother did. I will not allow dullards like you to linger and threaten my rule…” a sadistic smile grew across his lips. “Now tell me, Chrysalis, do you know the true meaning of despair?”
………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
An air of hostility filled the hall as Princess Celestia finished.
With every owner still standing in complete and perfect silence, every pair of present eyes removed themselves from the rainbow-maned alicorn, and, as everypony and dragon sharply turned on their respective hooves or claws, refocused their gazes on the black-haired former SOLDIER.
Zack’s heartbeat doubled in an instant.
In an instinctual response, he took an uneasy step backwards and allowed his right hand to reach for the grip of his Buster Sword. He highly doubted it was necessary, but his arm’s muscles twitched and tensed in anticipation of drawing the massive blade all the same.
Some of the looks he was receiving appeared to be simply curious, while some were questioning. Some, perhaps, even showing glimmers of what he guessed was outright distrust.
“Zack, I want you to listen to me,” Celestia went on after a long moment, taking a slow step forward. “If you have any idea why Chrysalis would want such a thing from you in particular, no matter how trivial it might seem, I need you to tell us.”
“My sister is right, Zack Fair,” Princess Luna put in. “There is something that either Chrysalis or Discord see in your blood that is useful, and right now you have to let us know what it is. Otherwise we all risk being unprepared for our next encounter with them.”
The dark alicorn spoke while nodding in agreement with older sibling, as if to emphasize their combined desperation, as well as the severity of their present situation.
Zack, though trying to do so subtly, just huffed and shrugged his armoured shoulders.
“Look, I don’t know for the life of me why Chrysalis would want my blood,” the SOLDIER groaned at last, relinquishing his grip a little on Angeal’s sword. “I’ve encountered that bug-queen once, once, and that’s it. And that was for less than a minute at most.”
If the snorts, groans, and face-hoofs were anything to go by, that was apparently the let-down answer nopony wanted to hear.
“Well… what about all your strength, and all those blowy-upy spells you have for that matter?” Rainbow Dash challenged after a moment. “There’s no way Chrysalis wouldn’t want those for herself.”
The pegasus spoke as she abruptly jumped into the air, flew over, and crossed her hooves in front of the former SOLDIER’s face, as if demanding an answer on the spot.
Her friends, while she sat hovering in line with Zack’s head, collectively winced and shivered at the thoughts that her words gave rise to; Chrysalis with that kind of power wasn’t something you’d even try and joke about.
“As much as I hate to agree with dear Rainbow, Zack, she has a point.” Rarity stated firmly, with Applejack and Twilight also nodding their approvals of Rainbow Dash’s thoughts. “That does seem like a rather reasonable explanation.”
Zack, however, just shook his head. His building frustration at the situation, combined will the still minor present hang-over, now seemed to be threatening to combine and form into a throbbing headache.
“It’s a nice theory, I’ll give you all that,” he said flatly, a gloved hand tracing its way through his black locks. “But even if she wanted my skills that kind of thing’s impossible; Chrysalis would need a large amount of either Cetra or Jenova cells, plus a source of Mako, neither of which she can acquire in your world… as far as I know anyway.”
“Um, what’s a Cetra?”
Zack glanced over just in time to see Twilight, with her cheeks flaring an unusual shade of crimson, suddenly shrinking into the floor under the collective ‘are you kidding?’ type looks she was getting from Spike, her brother, and the other elements.
He also swore he heard Rainbow growl the word “egghead” under her breath, and Shining Armor mumble something like “Twily, priorities”.
“Hehe… sorry,” Twilight mumbled, the lavender mare apparently finding her hooves suddenly rather interesting.
“I’ll tell you when we have time.” Zack offered.
His words quickly earned him a flat look from both Shining Armor and Spike, as if they were both asking something along the lines of ‘you’re actually trying to encourage her, aren’t you?’.
The resounding thud of a golden shoed hoof meeting the marble floor though, courtesy of a mildly agitated Princess Celestia, resounded down the length of the lavish hallway before the conversation could go on any longer.
“I ask you all, please; can we not wander form the subject at hoof?” Princess Luna spoke first, her tone and dark-eyed glare, despite no longer being that of a deranged Nightmare Moon, sending cold shivers up even Zack’s spine. “I don’t think I need to remind you all how dire this situation is?”
She didn’t, but just to emphasize her point, the princess cast her muzzle back over her shoulder, and motioned to the massive golden vault that stood directly behind her and her sister... the vault still with its mighty door hanging open freely on its hinges.
Her expression softened a little after everypony, SOLDIER, and dragon began nodding furiously.
“Good,” she went on, her eyes affixing themselves on Zack again. “Now then, Zack Fair, you say you have no idea why Chrysalis would want such a thing from you. Is that the truth?”
Zack, once again, shrugged his armored shoulders. “Like I said before, I’ve only ever met the bug once, so I haven’t got the faintest idea.”
“So even you don’t know?” Celestia responded for the both of them, visibly deflating at his prior answer. “Zack, are you sure there isn’t anything, anything, which you may have overlooked? Something to do with your blood that perhaps you might not think of as even being relevant?” she asked, the white alicorn’s expression and words looking and sounding like she was now pleading for an answer.
It was at those words that Zack’s blood turned to ice. No, she couldn’t actually… could she?
“There… might be one thing.” Zack said at last, his words only coming out in a bare whisper, given how tight his jaw were clenched, though they still instantly caught everypony’s attention. “Celestia, I need to ask you, these spells that Discord stole for Chrysalis… is there any of them by chance that relates to summons?”
“Summons?” Princess Luna asked with a cocked eyebrow and a tilted head. “You mean spells to do with the summoning and controlling of other beings?”
“Yeah, kind of,” Zack went on, rubbing his brow as he hunted for the right words. “But what I’m really trying to get at is spells that… ugh, well, spells to do with summoning someone or something that’s… already dead.”
……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
The former quiet murmurings of everypony, collectively, quickly turned into a rather loud gasp of sickened horror.
All of said gathered ponies’ faces, likewise, quickly warped and rearranged themselves into new expressions at his words, all of them being for the far worse. The cheeks of Fluttershy, Rarity, and Twilight all somehow turned a nasty shade of pale green, the three now looking about ready to lose their lunches in absolute disgust.
Applejack and Rainbow Dash fared a little better, with both managing to maintain something of their prior composure; the two long-time friends jaw’s simultaneously dropped, and they themselves looked utterly horrified more than anything.
Shining Armor, the two Princesses, and Spike, to give a fairly accurate description, seemed to have just been frozen to the spot where they were standing; none of them seemed to be able to move, and, coupled with the fact they’d each paled substantially, their figures now reminded Zack something of living statues.
“Zack, just… what?!” Shining Armor groaned at last, the stallion shaking his head furiously, like his mind had just thrown up mental images he didn’t need nor want to imagine.
Spike gulped and stuttered. “Y-you mean like… z-zombie ponies?”
“Zombie ponies?”
“Spike! I told you before, there’s no such thing as zombie ponies!” Twilight snapped, shooting her assistant an unimpressed glare, while her friends, bar Pinkie Pie, all started at him curiously. “They aren’t real!”
“I’m… afraid I’m going to have to disagree with you on that statement, Twilight.”
Both Zack and Twilight, at the exact same second even, both abruptly turned their attention to a very uneasy looking Princess Celestia, and both suddenly feeling a chill of icy dread build up in their inside them, though each for their own reasons.
Twilight at the very thought of such spells being real, and Zack at what they could possibly achieve.
“P-princess?” Twilight quivered.
Celestia unceremoniously winced at the reaction. “I wish I could say such spells don’t exist, Twilight, but I’d be lying to you, and that is something I cannot do at a time like this,” the alicorn said quietly, speaking as she slowly approached the mare and former SOLDIER, with both her eyes and words carrying nothing but concern, and her horn glowing brightly.
The moment his blue eyes noticed the glow, Zack tensed, and immediately went for his Buster Sword in expectancy of the worst; before he could even grasp the handle, however, the hall’s golden doors boomed shut, sealing the nine ponies, young dragon, and SOLDIER from the outside world.
“It is best nopony outside this room hears this, Zack,” Celestia sighed tensely, acknowledging the uneasy SOLDIER’s obvious confusion before turning to her student. “The kinds of magic Zack is referring to, Twilight, are known as reanimation magic and resurrection magic respectively, depending on the nature of the spell being cast. Reanimation is more basic of the two, and deals with the empowering and controlling of a deceased body; in short, what we know as zombie ponies.”
“Told you.” Spike hissed quietly.
His words gained him a rough shove in the side, and a disapproving glare from Shining Armor
“The other, resurrection, is far more complex and dangerous; whereas reanimation works to simply revive a fallen body, resurrection attempts to bring back a fallen soul. There have, sadly, been cases of unicorns attempting to bring back loved ones lost to tragedy in the past, and that is where this particular magic has its roots.”
“Ok, that’s… really, really creepy.” Rainbow Dash shuddered.
Judging by their murmurs of agreement, Dash was voicing what everypony else was thinking.
Princess Celestia nodded. “I agree, and I want to make this clear before we go any further; these are by far some of the rarest, darkest, and most dangerous types of magic in existence, and are hence never even spoken of unless it’s absolutely unavoidable. They are perhaps the evilest forms of magic known to ponykind… but yes, sadly, such spells are indeed very real, and I’ll admit, Zack, that there is a chance that Chrysalis may have gotten her hooves on one or two of such forbidden spells... now, why exactly do ask?”
Reaching up with his hands as everypony once again looked his way, Zack sighed as he ran his fingers through his black locks, thinking as his blue eyes tried to find the individual tails of the plush red carpet interesting…
Lest he risk making eye contact when the one mare in Equestria who could send him to the moon for what he was about to say.
Of all the possible questions and conversations he could’ve been faced with, and of all the potential problems that could have arisen, it had to be this one, and it had to have been brought up by the Princess of the sun herself…
... While Princess Luna, the captain of the royal guard, and each and every one of the elements of harmony were present and listening as well.
“You asked me if there was anything I hadn’t told you, and there is one thing that I can think of. Basically, not too long before I came here I was… used to physically test what was called the Jenova Reunion Theory.”
“The… Jenova Reunion Theory?” Celestia mused aloud.
“Yeah… basically, let’s say it was an experiment… and leave it at that, the rest if kinda unpleasant. The exact specifics of that theory are still kind of a mystery even to me, but I’m pretty sure it’s irrelevant anyway. What you really need to know, Princess, is that for the purpose of the experiment… I had cells from one of the two original SOLDIER development programs, Project S, implanted in me.”
To Zack’s own slight surprise, he’d managed to explain everything clearly despite his jaw being tightly clenched.
Still, long suppressed memories rose to the surface all the same; memories of the countless slaughtered civilians of Nibelheim, memories of Tifa’s venomous declaration of pure hatred for SOLDIER, memories of Angeal’s despair at what he was, of Genesis’s desperation in finding a cure as his body degraded, and Sephiroth’s descent into violent madness upon discovering just how he’d come to be.
All of them stemming from the secrecy that had surrounded SOLDIER’s beginnings.
“Project… S?” Twilight asked after a moment, her voice snapping Zack out of his sudden bout of silent anger.
The young mare’s tone sounded somewhere between intrigue and fear, like she wasn’t sure if she wanted to hear any more of this particular story, and the uneasy facial expressions of her friends also happened to match that theory perfectly.
Celestia, after a long moment of simply looking at him, put a golden shoed hoof to her lips. “And these cells… from this ‘Project S’, they are why you believe your blood is dangerous?”
“Yes.”
“Wait, wait, wait; what does this have to do with zombie ponies and freaky magic?” Rainbow Dash interrupted, frowning like she was trying to make sense of everything, but failing.
“And just why’d ya think it’d be dangerous for that matter?” Applejack asked from beside the rainbow-maned mare.
“That’s the thing…” Zack snarled through his own gritted teeth.
The next few words were perhaps some of the hardest Zack had ever been forced to say. Ever since coming to Equestria, he’d forced himself never to say his name, but fate, as if to satisfy its own sick sense of humour, had pushed him between a rock and hard place with nowhere to run.
“Project S… wasn’t just an experiment. It was a trial that led to the creation the first and most powerful member of SOLDIER who’s ever existed, a SOLDIER first class… named Sephiroth.”
Zack tried to avoid spitting the name Sephiroth without emphasizing his anger, but each of the six element wielders still managed to pick it up.
Applejack and Rainbow Dash exchanged concerned looks. “But if he’s another one you SOLDIERs, why would ya have any reason to be so afraid of him?” The amber pony asked.
“Two reasons,” Zack snapped angrily. “One, because he was far more powerful than either me or my mentor, and two, before my best friend Cloud killed him, he went insane, destroyed an entire town, killed nearly everyone in it, and then proclaimed himself to be the ‘chosen one’ and ruler of our planet. That’s why.”
If either Rainbow or Applejack had anything more to ask, they didn’t dare voice their questions; the sight of Zack and his sword, at the very best of times, was something they and any other pony would consider somewhat scary…
… But to see him standing there, with a hand on his massive sword’s grip, teeth bore in snarl, and glowing blue eyes burning with a hatred that only a true monster could insight… it was something else entirely.
“So then…” Celestia started, only to have her own words die in her throat as all the pieces fell into place, and the blade of fear was subsequently thrust squarely into her gut. “Zack, are you saying that using your blood… Chrysalis may be able to summon this Sephiroth to Equestria?”
Zack nodded warily as he faced her, a gloved hand tensing around the cold metal of his Buster Sword’s grip. “I’m not saying that that’s her plan… but if what you’re telling me about this dark magic is true, then that’s exactly what I’m getting at,” He snarled. “And trust me, if there’s even the slightest chance of Chrysalis bringing Sephiroth here to Equestria, then we need to find and stop her, fast… because if we don’t, and that crazy bug brings him here…” The battle hardened SOLDIER shuddered at the thought.
“You don’t even want to imagine what he’ll do.”
……………………………………………………………………………………………………………
Blood.
Perhaps it was their insect-like appearance that had led to the false belief, but throughout Equestria’s history, many races had held the belief that changelings didn’t have blood running through their veins like others did.
Chrysalis choked out a sad chuckle at the thought, trying to ignore the intense pain coming her punctured side as she did so; if that was true, then why was her hive covered in it?
The very air of the hive now reeked with the stench of death. The changeling queen was still in her makeshift throne room, but she could smell it even from her hideaway high above the cavern floor.
The mangled bodies of her guards didn’t help either.
She didn’t dare look out the doorway to what lay below, but really she didn’t need to. Swarms of her loyal warriors probably now lay as nothing but mountainous piles of mangled corpses about the hive’s floor, with most of them lying in two parts where Sephiroth’s sword had cut through their tough carapaces as if they were nothing. All would have fallen and died in a vain effort to defend the hive.
The intricate structures of the hive itself had probably fared the onslaught no better. Most had no doubt been brought down by wayward sword cuts that seemed to have had slashed through air and rock without effort, the buildings collapsing and falling from the hive walls as tumbling piles of rubble. Chrysalis had watched what had once been a nursery for the hive’s young fall from the hive wall, the former crystalline structure now likely nothing but an unrecognizable pile of stone somewhere in the darkness.
She hissed as another shriek filled her ears from beyond her throne room, the sound of another one of her changelings dying.
Sephiroth was likely in the centre of the hive’s main chamber by now, a dark mountain of bodies rising ever higher around him with every life took. She had seen what he was capable off when everything had initially gone sideways, her guards rushing in to try and help her while Discord snapped out of existence like a coward.
With every stroke Sephiroth’s massive sword sliced through four drones, if not more at times, the metal edge moving so fast Chrysalis had struggled to see it.
From what she could hear, the few warriors remaining were locked in a hopeless one-sided combat with him, her changelings sending bolts of green magic at the pale demon as they frantically tried to avoid getting rend in half; she knew they had no chance of winning, and guessed that her changelings by now new the same.
Still, their sacrifice had given the workers and younglings enough time to escape, and thus the hive could hopefully rebuild somewhere else.
Somewhere far, far away.
“If only the same could be said for me,” she hissed to herself, glaring down at the open wound her side.
Green blood was seeping freely from it where Sephiroth’s blade had found it’s mark, and if not the fact she’d virtually stayed still since receiving it, Chrysalis figured that she’d would’ve been long dead by now. She could already feel light-headedness taking it’s toll on her.
Given that the initial strike had severed one wing on its way out of her flesh, and coupled with the fact that she’d exhausted her magic during the summoning, escape was now impossible.
Her green eyes drifted to the bodies that littered her throne room, and she hissed in her throat as anger began to fill her brain. How could she have been so blind? To think that she could’ve controlled a creature that had bested someone like Zack Fair, and believed itself to be some sort of divine being chosen to rule as it saw fit. Now she had, and for what? To have her kind literally put to the sword in their thousands.
“This… this was my mistake,” she snarled, shakily leaning forward in an attempt to rise to her hooves, jaws clenched in an effort to fight the searing pain. “I’m not going to sit here like die like this,”
“And just where do you think you’re going?”
Despite another wave of agony shooting up her side, the changeling’s head snapped around at the voice. She wasn’t sure if the light-headedness was playing tricks on her.
“If I could, I’d probably end you here and now,” she snarled through gritted fangs, glaring at the suddenly present spirit of chaos as he flew into the throne room, who surprisingly looked… concerned? That wasn’t like him. “Where by the great queen have you been?!”
All of her prior anger, however, disappeared when Discord snarled at her and bore his own fangs. That was also new.
“Helping your subjects escape, you foal,” Discord growled back in a bare whisper, quickly floating down beside her. “Now keep your voice down; we don’t want him knowing I’m here.”
Without so much as a word, he went about first investigating the changeling’s bleeding side, and then magically sealing up her wound, eyes all the while glued to the stone doorway.
“Well, you’re certainly lucky,’ he commented after a long moment, still keeping his voice as quiet as possible.
Chrysalis scoffed, and then winced as her carapace was knitted back together. “How?”
“Firstly, our friend seems to have missed anything vital here, and secondly because he must’ve thought you were dead. Otherwise I don’t think you’d still have a head on your shoulders,” he ended by motioning to the dead guards that littered Chrysalis’s throne room.
“You? Being concerned about someone beside yourself?”
“Being the entity of chaos doesn’t mean I’m completely heartless,” he said flatly, apparently catching the look she was giving him. “And by the way, I thought you’d be pleased to know that what our ‘guest’ is dealing with is an illusion of mine… though I don’t know how much longer he’ll be buying it for.”
A small glimmer of hope filled Chrysalis. “You mean…”
“You’ve lost a lot of changelings, I won’t lie. I just thought I’d save as many as I could while I had the chance, seeing as you couldn’t do much.”
The changeling winced as her side was painfully mended back together, though not entirely from the discomfort. Did he have to go and put it like that?
Discord huffed and shook his head. “Enough of that. What’s left of your hive is safe for now, but if we stay here then I can’t say the same thing about the two of us,” he sighed, motioning out the throne room door with his muzzle. “We’ve bitten off far more than we can chew here, Chrissie.”
“I know, and now I have to put…” the shape of Discord suddenly filled her view as she tried to take a step, his mismatched arms crossed and a look of annoyance across his face.
“If you honestly think I’m going to let you go and get yourself killed, you don’t know me well enough,” he motion to her side. “You’re in no state to fight anything.”
“So now what?” Chrysalis asked bluntly, taking the moment to inspect her healed wound; she’d be forever living with a rather large scar across her carapace’s surface, but at least she’d still be living. “Do you think you could stop him?”
“Me? You want me to go down there and confront him? I have some very good friends in Tartarus who’d look like bunnies compared to that… thing.”
Gingerly, he floated down and put his claws around her waist, prompting a confused and slightly surprised hiss from the changeling.
“Now, seeing as you can’t fly, I suggest you try and hold on as best you can. We are getting out of here,” he said. “First we’re going to gather up what’s left of your hive and get them somewhere safe, the Badlands in my opinion, and then there’s somepony you and I need to go talk to about how to deal with this mess we’ve gotten Equestria into.”
Chrysalis gulped. She knew exactly who he was implying, and she didn’t like it one bit.
………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..
Also LikedSimilarAuthor
- Axel IV · 53k words · 257 11 · 8k views
- Flamer_Brony · 22k words · 320 13 · 6.3k views
- Dusk Stalker · 111k words · 602 43 · 13k views
- 0kamaterasu · 15k words · 144 6 · 6.1k views
- ewejam · 8.7k words · 113 19 · 5.3k views
- OhHellNo · 1.7k words · 64 1 · 2.4k views
- ChaosKing · 9.4k words · 6 6 · 413 views
- Nerom_Fencer · 62k words · 46 17 · 3.1k views
Stats
Page generated in 0.387 seconds
Total duration
1,146 users online
2,093,923 hits today, 2,571,732 yesterday
FIMFiction
My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Fanfiction
Designed and coded by knighty & Xaquseg - © 2011-2024
Follow & Support Us
Support us
SubStar
Chat!
Discord
Follow us
Twitter
MLP: Friendship is Magic® - © 2024 Hasbro Inc.®
Fimfiction is in no way affiliated with or endorsed by Hasbro Inc.®
Awesome chapter! Good to see the new chapter love this fiction. I am quite surprised she manage to evade death by Sephiroth but heck even he makes mistakes. I like how this is going. Perhaps Chrysalis will finally experience the Magic of Friendship if the others help her undo the biggest mistake she will ever make. Look forward to future chapters!
Happy Reading and Discussions All! Be Well Friends.
4234701 I know this is old, but did you know that the little red squiggles under some of your words mean they are misspelled? You can right click them and Google can give you a list of correctly spelled words that are close to your word. Just a friendly tip.
(Celestia knows how much I use it...)
a new chapter ? th08.deviantart.net/fs70/200H/f/2013/334/6/9/is_it_christmas_yet_by_maddzee-d6w6s4a.png
I hope you still completed this it just get my interest
IT LIVES!
And it looks like Chrysalis and Discord have learned the hard way WHY Sephiroth is known as the One-Winged Angel of Death.
Luckily, Zack and the Equestrians are already basically on the same page, so when Chrysalis and Discord show up on their doorstep, they'll more or less be able to go, "Let me guess. You tried reviving Sephiroth."
Woohoo! Glad to see this again.
I think it was ok that you let Chrissie live, loosing so much of her hive will take a lot of megolmania out of her no doubt. She might actually reflect on her actions, and focus more on taking care of any survivors rather than take over the world schemes.
Chrysalis needs to stay alive. She has to fix her own mess.
And anyway, if she can use 'Resurrection', she's a white mage.
4435832 lol ikr I can see Celestia grinning at Chrysalis upon her arrival and being all "So Chryssie what did we learn today?" Heck I would say it lol. Be well friend.
replygif.net/i/811.gif
Okay.
Wow, been awhile, glad to see that this is still going. Really excited for the epic clash between the Mane 6 and Zach vs Sephorath. I know it will be a bit of a wait but the fact that it will still happen at some point still makes me happy.
4440036 Ok then, fair enough about the materia, it does make sense but I would say that most people that would want to read this would have played Crisis Core or know the FF7 universe, but I see your point. As for the characterisation, that's good to hear.
That's all I've found so far. Changes highlighted in red and underlined.
4452221
Thanks mate!
Yeah despite still looking like a a rough draft this chapter was entertaining if nothing else. Sephiroths demeaner was pretty damn spot on, this was very entertaining chapter.
4487824 Because I read more than one story, I suppose.
4498073
True. I guess it all depends on the fics you read, plus (when this was originally started) the only episode he featured in was the Season 1 final, which... didn't exactly expand or build on his character.
-nods head- me gusta. Zack is best pony.....er........nevermind that.
Defeating me is meaningless. No matter how many times i fall, your darkness keeps calling me back.
---
Yeah. He is like one of those few good villians that cant stay dead. I guess not even death wants him XD
Why does this have a gore tag, but not a dark tag?
5508880
The dark tag is a little... tedious for me, so I wouldn't use it unless I was sure it was needed.
For me, the dark tag is for stories with/that explore a central dark theme, like suicide, death, self harm etc.
Three years... do you have any plans to update further? I was really enjoying this! It's made me want to play Crisis Core again, although I'll have to get a new PSP since my friend lost mine. For all the typos, you tell a damn good story, and I really want to see this brought to a satisfying close. I really hope you can make that happen!
5515387
Aww, I had hoped I didn't reach the end. I hope you will continue, since Final Fantasy VII: Darkness in Equestria has unfortunately been cancelled.
And FYI, the Dark tag is used to let readers know that uninhibited fighting, gore and death or anything referring to the aforementioned will be in the story and not shown in the actual show. To put it simply, this story is most definitely Dark Tag material.
For example, Metroid Equis: Duality and The Equestrian Wind Mage: Season 2 is Dark Tag due to fighting, gore and death.
Jesus man, I really hope you keep writing this story. Its been a really good read so far and itd be a shame to never see it finished.
Continue the story
NOOOOOOOO!!! When I first started reading this I didn't think it would be that good but after a few chapters I started to really like it and now I have to wait!!?? WHYYYY!!??
8893443
Zack kinda seems a bit too angry and out for blood too.He was always the guy to have an upbeat attitude and wanting to be a cool hero.
More of this plz
Author hasn't been online for 8 years. I think someone needs to pick this story up and do whats happening to C&C