Coco, Bentley, Penelope, and Murray watched from inside the Sacred Cavern where the weapons had been forged. Wadjet was struggling to maintain the River of Time, but she was able to divert a small amount of her power to let the group watch the battle as it unfolded...even if she was only able to give an aerial view on the section of the River of Time that was on the roof of the cavern. It was a little disorienting at first, but the group had found the easiest way to handle it was to lay down on their backs and stare up at it, treating it like a movie. However, as they watched, one thing became clear.
Sly and Carmelita were outmatched.
"The only thing they've got going for them is Seft hasn't figured out how to fight such small opponents effectively yet," Bentley pointed out worriedly. "He'll figure it out before too long...probably long before they manage to break off that scab so they can actually hurt him."
"Assuming he doesn't just dedicate two claws to covering the wound once it's opened," Penelope muttered worriedly. "He does have six. Easy enough to spare two for defense when he's only fighting the two of them."
"Isn't there any way we can help them?" Murray pleaded worriedly. "Can't we go out and attack...as a distraction, if nothing else? We...we could throw big rocks, or get ropes around his limbs!"
"Pretty sure his divine power would make him immune," Coco pointed out sadly. "The rocks would just bounce off, and he could probably pull us all right off the ground with one limb...and there's no way we could anchor any machine we could come up with...and if we can't contribute, we're just in the way."
"Get Godslayer camels from that Crazy Hassan guy?" Murray asked desperately.
"He already left," Penelope pointed out. "Said something about Void Camels and satisfied customers and just...vanished, tent, stock, and all."
"Well can't we get weapons or something?" Murray demanded angrily. "I can't stand just sitting here!"
"That why lying down!" Deik-Beck offered humorously, startling a few chuckles.
"Without a weapon forged of the four metals, we couldn't even faze him," Coco pointed out sadly. "We just...have to watch and hope Mom and Dad are good enough..."
As the group watched in silence, they saw Seft go down...only to climb back up and seize Carmelita.
"Mom!" Coco gasped out in fear as the image - and the River of Time - wavered.
"Thissss isss bad..." Wadjet hissed out as she struggled to maintain the River, and keep it from overflowing its banks.
"We have to do more than just sit here!" Bentley snapped out. "Isn't there any of that metal left? An arrowhead would be enough!"
"Just the fragments I...fed to Deik-Beck..." Coco spoke up thoughtfully.
"Is that enough metal to make him a weapon?" Penelope asked hopefully.
"But even if it was, what could he do?" Murray asked thoughtfully.
"Not much," Diek-Beck allowed softly. His optics blinked, and glowed red. "But I can do more," he said in a very different voice, one almost familiar.
Everyone spun towards him in shock. "D...Diek-Beck?" Coco gasped out, afraid.
The optics blinked to normal. "I love you," he said in his normal voice. The optics blinked to red. "I'm sorry." Diek-Beck raced over to the Divine River, then turned back...one optic normal, one red. "Goodbye," the two voices said together...before he threw himself into the Divine River.
"Diek-Beck!" Coco called out despairingly...only to watch in awe as the Divine River blazed with sacred light that was almost blinding. As everyone turned and shielded their eyes, a metal figure erupted out of the light to plunge into the vision of the battle.
The vision wavered briefly as the River of Time stilled. Wadjet stared up at it, blinking. "...didn't ssssee that coming..." she muttered in surprise.
He descended from the sky, wings folded as he built up speed. He would only have one chance to inflict enough damage to turn the tide, and he would only get close enough if he came in with the sun at his back, where the light shone off his metal feathers like new, hiding him in the glare...and as fast as possible. He hadn't had wings for a while. There was a very real chance he wouldn't be able to pull out of this dive...but if it worked, then it would be worth it.
Even if they hated him evermore after this - something he could not blame them for - his family would live. His choice was made. For good or for ill, he was one once more...a page in the Cooper Legend once more in the sky.
"...and the only thing that stands in my way is the two of you!" Seft bellowed as he began to crush Carmelita.
"Not quite," he declared calmly, remembering his voice. Spreading his wings, he blotted out the sun...then shifted so light reflected off his living metal feathers straight into Seft's eyes. He drowned out the Scorpion King's bellow...with Clockwerk's hunting shriek.
He slammed into Seft's chest at full speed, knocking him back several dozen yards despite being less than a quarter of his mass, small enough Seft coul grasp him in four limbs and tear him apart...but Seft wouldn't dare, not with Clockwerk's talons embedded in his wound and pulling.
"You think you can hurt me, Clockwerk?" Seft barked out angrily. "That wound can only be damaged-"
"By a weapon forged of divine alloy," Clockwerk interrupted. "Forged in sacred and unholy fire, cooled in the Divine River..." Panels slid back on his cheeks, revealing two bloodstains. "And linked to the ones who wounded you by absorbing their blood in forging. That was almost too easy to collect."
Seft stared in shock. "Do you realize what you've done to yourself? By spirit, you are nought but a weapon now! One for your ancient foe and his woman!"
"No," Clockwerk growled as his whole body glowed. "For his daughter!" With a shriek, he jerked back...and tore the wound wide open.
Seft staggered back with a bellow of pain. "I will drag you to hell!" he roared as he lunged forward.
Panels on Clockwerk's back opened, and a barrage of lasers and missiles blasted Seft, knocking him back and making him stagger. "It is where we both belong," he snarled out. He then glanced over his shoulder. "What are you idiots waiting for? Loopholes only stretch so far, and I can only hold him for as long as my ammunition lasts!"
Shaking off his stunned amazement, Sly raced forward, deciding to deal with Clockwerk after Seft was down for good. Carmelita rushed in after him, and they both leapt up Seft's body as they dodged missiles, lasers, talons, and pincers as the titans clashed.
Before they made it all the way up, Clockwerk's weapons withdrew. "Damn...one chance left..." With a desperate shriek, he lunged forward and closed his jaw around Seft's face, digging his hooked beak into the monster's left eye.
Seft bellowed in rage and agony...a bellow that cut off as Carmelita plunged into his body cavity and slashed open one lung with the shock-blade configuration of her flail. "I...Impossible..."
Sly reversed his grip on his cane. "That's Coopers for you," he snarled before slipping his hook into the beast's beating heart...and ripping it open.
As the blood burst out explosively, Seft roared in agony as his entire body began to glow. Clockwerk reached in, grabbed Sly and Carmelita, and flew off just before the Fell God exploded, the divine energy expelled into the world as the last trace of his ambition was erased from time.
I always love a good villain redemption.
It's completely in the spirit of FiM, too.
Erased from time? What does this mean for Coco?
Tatsurou, you are a magnificent author.
To make me, a long-time member of the 'Clockwerk is Despicable' camp, actually root for him here...
Bravo!
Course, I shoulda seen it coming, I really should have. You did something similar with Nevarious.
*Note* Comment changed due to poser finding original statement to be too offensive.
Yay, the redeemed Clockwerk survives! Now let's hope he can get that "reformed" part across...
convincing the "spawn" of your would-be assassin to help aid you in defeating a mutual enemy? ...wow, it's been a long time since I've made this reference, but...hey, Rarity/Batmare: I found your new BFF!!
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And Fanfiction craziness too.
Redemption isn't enough. Explosions must be factored in.
love this chapter
So while I worked Easter Morning, a possible idea of a possible Clockwerk quote came to mind. No, I do not expect it to be in the story ever, but it's fun to imagine and share!
"Revenge is the prime ingredient in the fountain of youth. Hundreds, thousands of years, a steady diet of jealousy and hate has kept me alive. Yet, it is a bitter draught and feast that I have supped upon. A pale anodyne for what I lost long ago."
Better than having not loved at all.
faze
Seriously, i've hade to mention that FOUR times today.
Sent probably thought this at the end: "Eye can't believe Clockwerk would do this!"
Remember folks, Carmelita can take anyone's breath away.
And thus Sly gets to the heart of the matter.
Okay, that's funny!
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Oh my gods I love that story!
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Times like this I think 'would Boomstick say? ' 'Welp. Looks like Seft just didn't have the heart for it'
.....I'm not apologizing.
Not even a Goddess charged with protecting and monitoring the River of Time can foretell everything.
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And why would you? I love those guys!
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HEY!!!
Use this guy's quote! It's pretty cool
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I think you mean
Holy crap! That was epic! I actually find myself really liking the character development of Diek-beck/Clockwerk. I love seeing that his love of Coco, is what drive him to save both Sly and Carmelita, and to reveal himself in the process.
Can't wait to see the next chapter.
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Well, of course. Everything, both inanimate and animate, is Made of Explodium.
Edit: Also, I give it even odds that Coco already knew Deik-Beck was mentally partially Clockwerk, and she just didn't say anything.
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It is called 'Chaos'.
I note a lack of red text. Were Diek-Beck and Clockwerk
fusedforged together to remake... whomever they were before the hinted at backstory a few chapters back happened?Hmn. Clock-Beck? I'm thinking Clock-Beck.
Hell yeah.
I'm pleased to see that Clockwerk survived. Coco is going to need her friend/weapon eventually.
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Probably from the point before he fell in the river.
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'Erased from time' was referring to Seft. His ambition is now gone.
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It means, like Dashie in the Technological Techicolor Mare, She is likely either sent Home, or has to be.
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Basically he was deleted from the timeline, there's no possibility of resurrection or time traveling resets....
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It means nothing... Coc's was outside time when seft's timeline was deleted, ergo becoming a living paradox... Most likely the new timeline will be Sly directly finding Coco without the doomsday device plot threatening Equestria....
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Seft's timeline wasn't deleted. It was just a dramatic way of saying "his story has ended".
Curse you.
I can't stop smiling.
My cheeks hurt.
Still love it.
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Aw.... Would have been cool if it had.... (Note to self: ask if we've encountered a case of timeline deletion... Might find something with the latest"reboot"...)
Those in the cave needed popcorn for that ending.
So Seft is now dead. Excellent. Most excellent.
And now comes the part where Coco more than like will become a very sad pony.
Diek-Beck? Deik-Beck?
Which one is it?
There are two kinds of people to TRULY fear Seft.
One is the person that has nothing left to loose.
The other is the one who has made what peace he could with his actions and has accepted that he wont walk away alive.
So, out of all the PWNYs, does Coco have the best pet, or do one of the others bear that honor?
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Ehh..... Close enough.
Hats off to Clockwerk. Pretty awesome fight
8838171 Same here
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I mean, Fluttershy got a massive chain-chomp with the capacity to do large amounts of physical and psychological damage.
Please go full Iron Giant on us and have Deik-Werk rebuild himself...
Awesome final battle with Set, very well done! I do hope Diek-Beck returns and stays with Coco.
Oh man... that, I knew it! Hahahah! I figured this was gonna happen, color me happy it did
Good show!
And the climax did not disappoint. Thus concludes the long arc of Clockwerk, and the denouement of the story follows with a chapter or three about the aftermath and getting back to Equestria.
That was very good battle scene. Darn that I'm caught up. Can I hope that he's forgiven?
From inside the sun, you could see Ra and two young sun gods holding cards.
Each card had symbols, when translated displays all 10’s for Clockwerk’s dive.
Odin crashed his sleigh, Clockwerk distracting him with his ferocity!
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Did you notice that that was one page out of several hundred? Click the "first" button at the bottom of the page. (though like most long-running webcomics, it gets better over time)
If you meant that you had read them all, sorry, but you know as much as me. The story's been discontinued, and I don't know if the authors worked on anything else.
Or you could go look up Schlock Mercenary, if you prefer Sci-Fi.
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Everyone’s a critic.
I was going to make a joke, telling you to capitalize the first letter in every sentence and all that English teacher jargon... but I cannot get over the lack of an emoji for a laughing anime girl. The one where they’re so evil, they can afford to place their hand close to their mouth or cheek. The hero could usually get a sucker punch in if they tried.
i.pinimg.com/564x/87/13/84/87138476ba782fbc17507c05574eb1cc.jpg
EDIT: But they never do! He ha ha~!
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Oh, wow, the "Naga Laugh" lives on!
68.media.tumblr.com/32455c629f3b985cc6542608880c2864/tumblr_nxm253FmIS1r46ugeo1_540.gif