Chapter 34
Danielle didn't feel much like discussing anything with someone who had clearly just murdered several ponies. She snorted, scratching at the ground, but Lilly shoved her with one hoof. She forced her to slow, advancing closer in the calm. There was no way to communicate securely now—anything they said to each other, the monster would surely overhear.
"What are you?" Lilly asked. "I've slain dragons before, but none like you. Did your master leave you out in the sun so long you started to rot?"
Danielle stood just beside her, as straight and brave as she could. The siren kept going—Sunset would surely be sending reinforcements any moment now.
The monster stopped playing with the dead. It rose up onto its hind-legs, stretching more than twice as tall as either of them. A massive creature, all spiked claws and glittering fangs. It had a voice more horrible than any Earthbreaker, a voice that spoke the words of a thousand dead. It was impossible to assign it gender, or even emotion. "The creature you served taught you delusions and lies if she promised you would find safety beneath the earth." It began walking towards them, making no attempt to avoid the corpses of fallen guards and construction ponies as it went. "The true monarch of this planet can find you no matter where you flee in her domain."
"Your master isn't even the shadow of a princess." Lilly did not retreat, instead settling herself in a defensive stance. "Celestia will not allow you to rule over her ponies, no matter what planet they've taken. She will come for us."
Danielle tried to imitate Lilly's stance, though she doubted she would be much use. She hadn't fought before—if she could barely keep up the Earthbreaker thing while she was running, how could she possibly manage while someone was trying to kill her?
The dragon ignored her. "Your princess is away. I waited here, killing, until someone arrived who could give your surrender. You two should do nicely. Submit to me, and your ponies here can serve a real ruler. Resist, and I will keep killing until you finally send someone to give the surrender. It is a very simple arrangement."
Danielle felt the bite of horror in her chest. Was Sunset away? The princess had many missions on the surface, it was true. But how could the dragon know more than she did?
"I have a counter-proposal: I send you to Tartarus, and you die." She charged. There was no restraint now, no worrying about the ponies that might be blocking the path without realizing it. No minimizing the damage she did to the cave or to anything living in it. Lilly rocketed forward in a charge that shook the structures all around them.
Danni ran just behind her, roaring with animal rage. She focused on her shoulders, on the impact she knew would be coming. Lilly was faster than she was, closing the distance in mere seconds. She struck with a cataclysmic crash, shattering sheets of stone and sending the dragon toppling back.
Danielle darted past her, lunging for the dragon's neck. She didn't know anything about pony combat, but she did know that most things needed to breathe. She would take its neck with all the force she could muster in the Earthshaker armor.
The dragon looked frail and helpless, its limbs splayed under the force of the attack and stone dust coating much of it. Danielle didn't expect resistance.
The dragon caught her with two of its claws, both about her shoulders. Just as she was turning the force of her charge into an attack, the dragon rolled under her, turning her own charge against her and slamming her face into the bare cave floor.
Pain exploded through Danielle's stone body, at least for the second she managed to hold it together. Huge claws twisted and ripped at her, and one of her stony limbs tore free with unimaginable pain.
The stone body shattered. It was made to do this—exploding in such a way that the large rocks would blast away from the pilot, and they wouldn't immediately suffocate under tons of rock.
Even so, Danielle found herself back in the dark and the cold of broken stone, her whole body aching from an impact that would've turned a weaker pony to goo.
Instead of Lilly's bemused face to rescue her from the rubble, she saw only a pair of jaws so large they could swallow several ponies whole without scratching them on the way down. "You are all like this." The voice blasted her with rotting air, scattering dust and pebbles. A sharply pointed claw reached in towards her, prying open a chasm in what had been the Earthshaker's torso. "Magic greater than you are may let you pretend strength, but not well. We are not all so easily fooled."
A gigantic hand reached for her, glittering scales only inches away. Was this the way she would die?
Something took the monster in the torso, something that shook the rock around her and sent little pebbles cascading down the ruined slope that had been her spell. "I SAID DIE!" Lilly's voice, though it was completely unrecognizable to her now that she wasn't wearing the armor. There was no mistaking the pony form that rolled overhead, at the same scale as the dragon even if it wasn't quite so large. They rolled together, crushing supplies and half-finished buildings alike as Lilly took the dragon away from her and towards the cavern wall.
Danielle could barely see straight. She was mostly unhurt, as damage to the armor had little impact on the pilot. Even so, she was still dazed. She crawled out of the rubble, dragging herself along the ground. Even that took much of her strength, occasionally stumbling or rolling a few inches.
Behind her the terrible battle raged. Lilly was far better at this than she was, blocking strikes with stone limbs and turning her superior weight whenever the dragon tried to grapple her. Even so the outline of the pony quickly broke beyond recognition, the stones becoming rough as each successive blow shattered whole chunks of rock. Only magic held it together even that much, magic Lilly would not have in unlimited supply.
Ponies cowering in other unfinished buildings were beckoning her to their shelters, faces urgent. She ached, her magic felt drained, and she was beaten. Beaten without even landing a single blow.
The earth shook. She looked up to see Lilly go down, one of her stony limbs shearing free as the dragon tore it at a particularly devastating angle. "Such a meaningless waste of strength!" The dragon had both shoulders now, and slammed the stone pony to the ground with a horrific crashing sound. "You denied my master's mercy, so accept her vengeance!"
How could Lilly even keep her form together? She kicked out vainly, but the dragon just curved its body, leaning out of reach.
Where were the guards? She looked around and found only a few, helping the construction ponies around her escape. None fought, and from the ground she could see why. This wasn't like fighting human agents, or even evil witches. The dragon was something elemental, able to kill where it wished.
Their greatest had already been destroyed. Would they be coming with tanks, or trebuchets? Danielle had seen neither in Imperium.
She couldn't just stand there, listening to the monstrous creature bellow, "See what I do to your champion!" The pony body crunched under the grip of its claws.
Something snapped, and the dragon slammed the shattered chunks of Earthbreaker armor back together. A little spray of blood splashed out from within, so far away she could barely see it clearly.
"This death waits for each of you eventually, if you will not submit to Earth's true ruler! It is better to be a slave than know the end of all pleasure that comes with death!"
The dragon rose up again, towering onto all fours. "Bow to the servant of your queen, and she will accept your penance. Ponies were always meant to serve.”
Ponies screamed, fled, and some even obeyed. The dragon had been bruised and bloodied, yet it still managed to stand without even a limp. It noticed her.
"The other one." It smiled again, wicked teeth glittering. "You didn't even strike me, so I think I could be made to forgive." It moved forward towards her, crossing the distance with terrible speed. "Bow. Set the example for your pitiful herd. Show them where ponies belong."
Something broke in her too. Perhaps if she had been a pony, watching something so horrible might've broken her. Most of the surviving construction ponies were already on the ground, their faces low. Would submitting to the monster really save their lives?
Maybe the ponies really were content to win their survival with subservience. Danielle only stood straighter. It didn't matter how long she lived like this, she was still a human underneath. A human who would not bow.
Danielle was clear of the ruin of her armor, though only just. The ground here was uneven, a poor mingling of several different rocks. No good for what she needed. Just a little further back, though, a stretch of granite laid bare by excavators, probably to serve as a foundation. It would be perfect, if she could get there in time.
She ran. Strength flowed up her hooves, filling her to bursting and giving strength to bruised limbs. She repeated the words of her spell as she ran, praying to God that Earth would accept them.
"No mercy for you either then? Watch and see where fighting gets her, ponies of 'Imperium'!"
She cleared the broken patches in a few strides, painfully conscious of the dragon's gigantic steps behind her. If it caught her before she could get the spell started…
There was no fear now, only rage. Rage at this monster, and whatever greater horror had sent it. Frustration that the ponies of imperium hadn't expected an attack like this, or had anything more than a few guards to defend them.
But they did expect it. They have you.
She took the last few meters at a jump, aiming her face straight for the ground like a diver into a pool. Danielle felt no doubt, nothing but complete confidence in the magic burning in her chest. Earthbreaker armor was not meant to be worn again so soon—spend too much time with stone, and ponies could forget that they were flesh. Danielle ignored that warning now, and closed her eyes as she went down.
She didn't strike, but slipped through the rock as though it were muddy water. Help me. The magic raged about her, through her, filling the rock all around her and giving it life again.
There was no struggle to force herself into a different body—somehow she had skipped it this time. Her senses returned, and the dragon was looming just above her, claws prepared to grab and rend her the instant she emerged. She would be torn into pieces before she could even stand on her hooves.
She found something else in the rock with her then, something she hadn't noticed before. How she hadn't noticed while swimming in it, she couldn't imagine, yet with earth pony senses she felt it clearly. A faint, diffuse ore, a few rusty crystals in every rock.
Iron.
Without knowing what she was doing, without even knowing how, Danielle willed the earth to give up its secret wealth into her hands. The shaft of a spear settled into hands she hadn't known were there. Not hooves? How?
She didn't stop to think. If she did that, the ponies of Imperium might very well be subjugated before Sunset could arrive. At the very least, there would be much more death than just some guards and an instructor she had come to respect.
Danielle thrust the spear-point out of the rock above her, shoving it with all the strength she had. Rock parted easily, sloughing off like an old cocoon. The dragon was already watching the ground, and moved too fast to do anything more than startle it. The creature fell back, avoiding the force of the blow instead of staying to strike her.
Danielle shattered the ground around her and climbed free like a Titan being born. Her new body didn't have hooves at all, but a familiar set of arms and legs, a familiar torso, and long hair of bright golden rock. She was easily at a height with the dragon now, so much of her mass spread into her old lengthy form. She still had no clothes, though like with the pony body there was no suggestion of any reason to worry about that.
Danielle no longer felt trapped in a body that didn't make sense. She no longer wobbled to stay on her hooves, or threatened to shatter at the mere suggestion of stress. She brought the spear down beside her with a resounding thump, then raised it again and aimed the point at the monster. "Maybe you came here from Equestria, where ponies were weak and submissive. You won't find Earth so easy!"
The dragon righted itself, spiked tail lashing out behind it. Then it lunged, no trace of amusement on its face. Arms spread wide as before, ready to grip her stone body and rip it apart.
Danielle might not know how to fight as a pony, but that didn't matter anymore. She had a human body back, and something sturdy to put in her hands. She could fight.
Danielle feigned a clumsy strike with the spear, only to twist it violently down at the last second, tripping the dragon even as she jerked out of the way.
The monster went down atop an unfinished building, which immediately exploded into bricks and splintered wood. She followed quickly, and before the dragon could rise she thrust the point of the spear into the ruined housing structure. She braced it against her shoulder, slamming it down with all the weight of her own body for leverage.
The dragon screamed and thrashed from within the ruin. Her spear had pierced its chest and sunk into the foundation, pinning the struggling creature to the ground. It screamed so loudly even Danielle felt the pain from within her armor, and something slow-moving and black seeped out from around the spear.
Danielle watched until it finally stopped moving, bracing the weight of her armored body against the spear and holding it firmly in place. Eventually the struggling stopped, and she turned.
Ponies weren't bowing anymore, but cheering. For a few seconds anyway, until the excited cheers turned to shrieks of horror.
Danni turned to see the draconic form rising from the wreckage of the building, the spear still protruding from its chest. The scent of rot was fierce now, worse even than its breath had been. A few splintered bones emerged from the wound as well.
"You see futility. You cannot kill her champions, for we are dead already. Yours, though…" It cleared the space between them in a single leap, arching down on her from above with jaw extended.
Danni went down with a cataclysmic impact, showering the area around her with stone. She felt the pain only distantly though, even as the jaws smashed and tore at her head. The spear pressed to her chest as claws hacked and tore at her with animal frenzy.
She nearly shattered under the impact. Not yet. These ponies didn't have anyone else—her fellow Earthbreakers weren't here, and neither (apparently) was Sunset. If she did not defend these ponies, no one would.
Danielle ignored the pain, ignored the damage to her stone body, ignored the raking claws. Her hands snapped up, catching the dragon about the jaws as they threatened to crush her head and end the spell.
She screamed, and cracks spread through her body from the effort. Whole sections of rock crumbed out from her limbs, but that didn't matter. Danielle shoved, forcing the jaws to open wider. Her head was free, and the dragon's claws were now focused entirely on her arms, scratching and tugging and struggling against them, trying to get her to let go.
She didn't let go. "We won't be your slaves!" The jaw cracked, showering her with more sickly black goo. She surged, and tore the rest of the way.
The limbs stopped struggling.
This time, Danielle smashed the corpse at her feet, and used her own ruined body to crush the dragon's head. She tore it free of the neck for good measure, then yanked the spear free for another strike. She took her time, pacing around the monster until she found the place its heart should be. She stabbed clean through again, pinning the ruined body to the ground.
Only then did her energy run out. Danielle barely made it three steps before whole sections of the Earthbreaker armor started falling away, and she tumbled to the ground in an avalanche of no-longer-animated rock.
It didn't matter. She had done what fate required. Imperium's ponies would stay free.
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Dani is an absolute BEAST.
She's my favorite.
DAMN! THAT WAS AWESOME!!!!
Well, looks like Danni's about to pick up more nicknames for her collection. 'Dragonslayer', at the very least.
I kind of hope Lilly somehow survived that. She was too interesting a character to lose on her second chapter!
Dani, Giantess of Stone, Slayer of Dragons, Human and Equine Fused.
THAT. WAS. AWESOME.
7548382 She most likely did die. Starscribe is running XCOM rules now. ANYONE can die. As exemplified by the implied death of princess purple smart. It does add a lot to the immersion factor. This is war, and nameless red shirts dying don't make for it's horrors.
Anyway, humans showing that no matter their furry cute bodies, they are still Alpha Predators. And no dead dinosaur reject is going to change that.
Oh boy now this story's version of the Nephandi are coming out of the woodwork to remind people why we can't have nice things.
7549022
No. Absolutely, unequivocally not. This story has nothing to do with TCB.
Hm. It seems that generations of ponies born and raised on Earth become hardened, and can tap into a reservoir of adrenaline. Similarly to how purebred humans can. But it seems that they can tap into their human form for combat, as it is more able. I wonder if she kept it. Or if others can do it too.
7549066 Thank the lords...
Poor Lilly... Died without another word.
Also, some awesome music to go with the fight:
Certainly something new that I look forward to reading in future updates. Quite an awesome story you got here and you're doing it justice so far.
7549022, what did make you think so?
As I predicted before, Equestria's actions are justified. Bringing magic to a world that didn't need it, taking away bodies people lived with for years and fighingt about human governments? "Well, that's okay, since Nightmare Moon is running a conspiracy and already enslaved everyone. We just want to save poor refugees!" — story impies. Let's see how this will go. I think that if our crew that couldn't decide will found out who are they fighting against then... Then their faith in Equestria will harden and, as a result, any questions like "whether we should stick or go?" will fade away.
And for TCB, 7549022, well... No matter what Starscribe says, there are some foggy moments. You know TCB propaganda posters? The ones that [REDACTED] made a long time ago? "The fault was never yours. Go home. Go pony." — one of them stated. Suspisiously suitable for Friendly Fire (even more suitable than TCB, where it was just a propagand, I think), isn't it? After all, humans in Friendly Fire are somewhat ponies and it wasn't their fault that they gave their abilities away, while Equestria offers (well, offered) them to go pony and, after that, to go "home' since these humans are refugees from Equestria. Coincidence? Maybe.
That... was AWESOME! Danni may be my new favorite character! Dayum!
Neon Genesis Earthangelion?
shows himself out
Goddamit Starscribe, stop making sympathetic characters with the filespan of just a few paragraphs. My heart can't sink any lower.
7549660 TCB?
This is how the dragon died.
Don't worry, everypony! Just fetch agent Avery, and she'll explain how this is clearly the act of an innocent and benevolent government agency who only wants to protect and save people and just happens to make some slight mistakes due to a lack of information. Isn't that obvious?
Humanity for the win!!!
7548382
7548391
How about "Danni, of the titanstone knuckles"?
7549660
fucking thank you
I thought so. Humans make far better battle-mages than ponies. They're better at fighting, better at fury, better at refusing to die. If they really want to get things cooking, they should call on human archetypes, not ponish ones.
Let the ponies teach the concepts of magic, then humanity can take them and make them their own. For humans are oh so creative in matters of warfare, magic will make these dreams reality.
i.redditmedia.com/d88NEQDQKZopGFv2fm_I8LT30BDB89CLHNdo8R5W360.jpg?w=511&s=6c6c487753592d2218d4f05efffdfb3e
And when the war is won, and all debts paid, Equestria must come to terms with what they've unleashed.
i.redditmedia.com/oPgj_KZOvMo89DHK5LAFsE4507yjKONptqDRuYblap0.jpg?w=574&s=d54910cfc4e349f83eb19a054d6bbec0
7947437
We'll just rely on the aliens that are trying to conquer the world and remove our humanity, to save us from the bad guys.
Hmm....
Statements like these are why im starting to hate the equestrians in this story
Yes! just yes. **** yhea! This is why i keep reading despite not liking whats going on because i know you'll find a way to turn it around into something awesome.
I was desperate for a bit of "**** yhea humanity!"
7774455
No no no.
"Ready to activate Gypsy Danger."
Danielle is the coolest fucking person in this book, though I'm a little bothered that she's still identifying as human in a moment like this.
10456133
Main issue is just that it doesn't seem how magic should 'work'. If her essential nature is still human, she should not have turned into a pony. The human form is described repeatedly as 'a powerful illusion', not some kind of true transformation in a Child of Mine or Ars Magica sense. That's fine I guess if the idea is that identity is purely psychology, or performative/habit-based, but that's the kind of reasoning we use in real life specifically because there's no evidence that the soul/magic exists.