The Bill-inning

by EmperorDalek

Chapter 34

Past Sins

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While Celestia tends to her kind.

Helping them recover after the Cybermare invasion, Kami stands by himself on a cliffside.

His arms folded across his chest, while staring out across the landscape.

Frowning at the destruction that their battle has wrought.

It will take time, but Equestria, with the right aid, should be able to recover from this…as it has so many times before.

As much as I wish it wasn’t so, every world has seen war…but Equestria, I think, has seen the worst of it. Demons, gods, even aliens have contested this world for millennia…but every time the Equestrians endure and overcome the threat.

Chuckling softly, he lowers his gaze towards the crowd of Equestrians moving away from here. Heading towards safer places to recover from this incident.

I almost admire them. Their ability to adapt to whatever threat comes their way is remarkable.

His slight smile quickly deteriorating into an enraged frown.

Meanwhile, Celestia is flying in the air above.

Leading the relief effort when she looks up towards the mountain. Spotting Kami standing on the cliff along the mountainside.

His cape blowing in the wind while surveying the destruction.

She turns towards a passing Pegasus.

Extending her hoof out towards him. Stopping him in mid-air.

“Excuse me, but there’s something I must see too.”

“Of course, your Majesty.”

The guard replies with a bow.

Smiling friendly to the guard, her smile shortly drops when she looks back at Kami.

Turning into a frown as she hovers in mid-air.

Her golden aura re-igniting, as she flies towards the mountain…

Opening his eyes again, Kami finds himself standing atop a mountain, -

… Though, the landscape before him isn’t Equestria!

Behind him, there is now a large hole in the ground that’s he just crawled out of.

His ripped and torn clothes hanging off him.

Bloody bruises and injuries cover his entire body.

Only to be meet with the sight of burning fields, towers of fire bursting forth from the ground and shooting up into the sky. Intense bursts of lightning are coming down from the sky and striking the ground, causing it to crack and rip apart.

A city engulfed in flames crumbles into a large ruin.

The ground underneath the city cracks open, which causes fire to erupt from the vast crevices!

“Kami!”

A voice calls out to him from the city.

Crying out in fear as everything around him is being destroyed by the intensifying inferno raging across the planet!

“D-don’t worry! I’m coming!”

However, as he holds two fingers against his forehead, a shockwave passes through this part of the planet.

The ground surrounding the city cracks apart and forms a large enough hole to swallow the whole city!

The city vanishes, as one side lifts up into the sky, before falling into the crevice!

“KAMI!”

A final agonizing cry for help calls out to him.

“NOOOOOOOOO!”

Gritting his teeth, Kami tries to use the Instant Transmission again, -

*Bzzt*

ZAP!

…only for him to suddenly stand motionless!

His hand shakes as it strains to keep touching his forehead.

He slowly lowers his head and then stares down towards his chest noticing a gaping hole there!

He attempts to look behind him, but only manages to catch a glimpse of a figure in a dark cloak whose outstretched hand is pointing two fingers towards him.

The figure grins as Kami’s arm finally hangs limp beside him and it gleefully watches Kami drop to his knees.

Kami catches himself with his other arm and supports himself.

The figure chuckles softly to itself as it hovers closer to him, gently planting its three-digit feet on the ground.

It walks up towards Kami while watching him struggle to stand back up as he clutches his chest injury.

Chuckling softly, the cloaked figure walks up in front of him.

It holds its arms behind its back while staring down at him.

Kami slowly raises his head and looks up at the cloaked figure’s face.

Its tail bangs against the ground several times, while the figure glares at him angrily.

Extending, and wrapping its tail around his throat causing it to smirk evilly again, it calmly raises two fingers to its forehead.

“N-no-!”

*Bzzt*

His plea, though, falls on deaf ears as he and the cloaked figure vanishes, re-appearing in a ruined room where several space pods have been prepared.

The cloaked figure releases its tail’s grip on Kami’s throat with a huff and smiles as it drops him to the floor. Kami grunts from the pain.

Kami manages to turn himself over onto his back, staring up towards the horned figure towering above him.

He growls angrily through gritted teeth as the figure chuckles softly to itself.

The figure looks up, then around the room.

“Sounds like she’s about to blow, 'my Lord',” he says in a mocking tone, “I’d say you have seconds before she blows, and in your condition your only hope is the pod behind you if you want to make it off this rock alive!” he says pointing towards the space pod.

It’s feet and tail gently hanging down as the figure lifts up into the air.

Kami watches it hover away from him, and it then raises its fingers to its forehead.

“Choose!”

*Bzzt*

As soon as the cloaked figure vanishes, Kami is left alone in the hanger.

He sits down on the floor panting, and the entire room around him begins shaking intensely.

Cracks in the floor rip open to expel horrific flames as the walls and ceiling are collapsing all around him.

While watching the raging inferno seep into the room, he stares back inside the space pod.

He clenches his eyes and quickly jumps into the space pod, hurriedly pressing buttons, which launches the pod up along a tunnel.

The pod traverses the tunnel until it erupts at the surface and shoots up into space!

Panting softly, Kami presses several buttons on the display.

The display screen shows the planet behind him, and the deteriorating state it is in!

Everywhere across the planet, towers of flame shoot up into the sky and intense lighting ravages the surface.

He notices something close to the planet on the screen and presses a button that makes the screen zoom in on a large spaceship in orbit above the planet.

Noticing something, he zooms in even more and homes in on something above the ship.

It’s a hoverpod, where a horned figure is watching the planet’s destruction.

There is a cold, evil smile on its face from seeing the brightly glowing cracks continue to spread across the planet, -

…just before it turns to the left and stares right into the screen!

“F-frost!”, Kami weakly utters upon seeing those malevolent eyes staring back into his.

He growls angrily through gritted teeth at Frost and gently turns back towards the violently collapsing planet.

Kami quickly presses a button, which shows the whole planet.

In a powerful explosion of bright light, the planet finally explodes!

The screen explodes as a flash of light bursts into the cockpit…!

“Kami!”

Upon hearing Celestia call out to him, his eyes gently open.

“Kami, are you okay?” Celestia asks from behind him.

She gently trots closer towards the silent and motionless humanoid.

Looking back over his shoulders, he shoots her a blank stare.

Completely turning around to face her, his arms are still behind his back.

“Yes?! What is it?!”

His eyes narrow slightly, which gives the impression that he’s now looking at her sternly.

His voice becomes a little darker and is far more menacing than it ever was before.

“I, uh-“ Celestia stutters.

She nervously backs away from him.

“I-I sensed that there was something…troubling…you-“

However, while speaking she interrupts herself and stares into his eyes.

A great deal of anger is built up within them.

“Uh-hum, so I came to check up on w-whether you n-need a-anything!”

As he silently stares back at her, the wind begins blowing through his hair as it starts to grow stronger. It swirls around him like a vortex while his stares back and is devoid of emotion!

A faint but growing rumbling sounds in the skies as clouds begin swirling above him!

The ground cracks apart as pieces begin drifting upwards in the air!

The entire mountain begins to shake fiercely, which sends tremors outwards across the landscape!

Lightning shoots down from the sky and strikes both Kami and the mountainside.

Upon striking him, a large shockwave explodes outwards and washes over the landscape like a tidal wave and vanishes into the horizon!

Lightning shoots across the sky and illuminates the darkness which is enveloping the devastated landscape.

Celestia is unable to utter anything but shocked noises at the figure facing her.

His golden eyes are all that is visible amidst the darkness.

T-those eyes!

A bolt of lightning shoots across the sky behind him, illuminating half his face while leaving the other half shrouded in shadow!

“K-kami!?”

Hearing her call echo in his head, he gently closes his eyes and begins concentrating.

“Huh?” she utters confused.

“W-what is he doing?!” she asks herself, just before the swirling vortex around him suddenly dissipates!

The dark clouds cease swirling, which allows beams of sunlight to pierce them and shine down upon the battle-ravaged world below.

The lightning bolts and ground-shaking stops.

Everything returns to being calm once more.

Feeling the warmth of the sun on her fur again, Celestia opens her eyes.

However, upon looking out in front of her, she is expecting to see him standing there on the edge. However, he is not there.

“W-what, h-he’s gone?!”

“W-where did he go?!”

Quickly turning her head, she looks in every direction.

She searches for Kami, yet finds no trace of him.

H-hold on! I-I’ll just locate his power and find him that way!

She closes her eyes and begins to scan the nearby landscape for his power.

However, to the Alicorn Princess’s surprise, she is unable to locate his power!

“I-impossible!” she says aloud while opening her eyes wide.

“H-he’s one of the most powerful beings to set hoof on our planet! H-how can he just vanish like that?!”

Gritting her teeth, and looking back across the landscape with a concerned expression, she kicks off into the air.

Her aura ignites as she quickly flies back towards her subjects to issue a search command for him!

While flying away from the mountain, her image is reflected in Kami’s eyes as he watches from the very top of the mountain.

He utters a sigh while watching her fly back towards her subjects.

His folded arms are hanging beside him as he turns and looks out across the landscape.

He gently raises two fingers to his forehead, and vanishes in an instant.

*****

Meanwhile, a pool of water in a far-off valley remains otherwise undisturbed with the only sign of motion being the cool breeze blowing across its glassy surface.

However, as time passes, a shadow appears in the water.

Growing ever-bigger as it draws closer to the surface.

An explosion of water breaks the tranquility of the water before a large, furry body collapses to the ground with a grunt.

The figure weakly groans as it raises its head and is breathing unevenly.

It spots something up ahead, and gently extends its arm out in front of it.

Grabbing hold of the dirt, it begins to pull itself forward.

Momentarily stopping due to the pain coursing through its body at even the slightest movement, it clenches its eyes in agony.

Holding back the painful tears from its one eye, it shivers from the cold water on its body.

However, determined to endure, it opens its eye and continues pulling itself forward.

Groaning and shaking from the pain, which its own body appears to be tormenting it with.

It utters nothing other than painful noises as it struggles to pull itself away from the water.

Blood runs down along its body from the many injuries.

Leaving a trail of blood as it crawls away from the pool, it reaches a cave and turns itself around. It leans back against the wall.

Raising an arm up in front of its face, the crippled and badly-injured figure stares at its arm.

Gently lowering its arm back to the ground as tears beginning running down across its mutilated face.

Teardrops fall upon its grossly mutilated body.

Causing excruciating pain as they leak into its wounds.

Author's Note:

Link1 - Frieza's Final Form Theme (THECRAZEBLING)
Link2 - Mass Effect 3 - An End, Once And For All - Extended Cut Soundtrack (N7Infiltrait0r)