Hecate's Orphanage

by BlackRoseRaven

The Glorious Effigies

Chapter Fifty Two: The Glorious Effigies
~BlackRoseRaven

Freya skidded backwards with a curse, blood running from the slashes across her face as her tattered mane floated around her. She grinned gamely all the same, however, her single eye glinting as she refused to look away from the Primordial floating lazily back and forth in front of her in spite of the roars of chaos around her, trying to distract her.

The Primordial tittered at her beneath the iron mask that covered its features, two of its arms crossed over its lithe breast, and its other two limbs tracing strange gestures almost erratically through the air. Three eyes, black as night and filled with burning red fire, stared at her hungrily, the creature licking its oily lips as it said delightedly: “Just look at you! Look at how fun you are!”

Freya spun her swords at her sides before bringing the three blades up into ready positions, Tyrfing crackling with energy on her back as she replied calmly: “Why don't we see just how fun I am, creature?”

The Primordial laughed, and its long, coiling body swam through the air as it twisted violently around in several large circles, the fins over its scaly wide flexing as it exclaimed: “But half the fun is keeping you alive while all your friends are made dead!”

The Valkyrie grimaced slightly, unable to resist allowing her eye to flick to the side to where Sombra, Moonflower, and La Croix were desperately attempting to hold back the earth elementals that were savaging them from all sides. And in that moment, the Primordial lunged, long-clawed hands reaching out on arms that were stick-thin but concealed terrible strength-

Freya slashed her swords out to either side, but the Primordial caught two of them in her upper hands and clapped her lower pair around the the serrated blade of the third, grinning coldly. “Nice try, girl, but-”

The Valkyrie snapped her horn forwards, unleashing a tremendous blast of energy and force that sent the Primordial crashing backwards as the mare's swords scattered in every direction. She leapt forwards through the ripple of static energy, baring her teeth as she slammed her hooves in a savage tattoo into the stunned Primordial before it could regain its balance.

The creature shrieked as Freya drove her down with the series of blows before her serpentine body was seized around the waist and slammed to the ground under the weight of the Valkyrie. But the creature reacted with savage instinct, snapping her tail upwards as she slashed out with her own cruel magic in the same moment, knocking Freya bonelessly into the air as powerful winds tore across her body and lightning shocked through the Valkyrie's nerves.

The Primordial screamed as she launched herself into the air, her long body-tail snapping behind her as she crashed into Freya, seizing into her before flinging her savagely towards the ground. But Freya managed to recover in midair even as a miniature cyclone of cutting wind whipped around her and lightning sizzled through her frayed nerves, the Valkyrie landing with a crunch on her hooves as she looked up with a grimace as the Primordial dropped down in front of her.

The monster shoved almost nose-to-nose with her, snarling as its claws flexed, long, almost invisible hair crackling around the Primordial's head with static electricity as it hissed: “You think you're cute, don't you?”

“No, but I do know that I am far better than you, beast.” Freya replied fearlessly, and the Primordial hissed before rearing violently back as it brought up a claw.

But Freya stood, unafraid, and the monster's claw trembled in the air before the Primordial leaned slowly down, studying her intently in the midst of the chaos and the battle as she asked with sudden curiosity: “Now why aren't you flinching or squinching or whimpering? Can't you hear the chorus of all your friends dying?”

“They aren't my friends. And they aren't dying, either.” Freya retorted, as she glanced purposefully off at where her team and the other two groups of ponies were struggling against the earth elementals, but slowly but surely, it seemed as if the tide was slowly turning in favor of Decretum's forces.

The Primordial only smiled, however, slipping suddenly behind Freya and grasping her shoulders with one set of hands as the other claws scratched slowly down her plated back, Freya glaring back at the creature as it cooed: “Oh, maybe not right now, not quite yet, but there's so many rats, dear... and so little meat to eat-eat-eat!”

Freya shrugged the creature's grip off, and the Primordial laughed as it sailed suddenly up into the air, her tail slapping lightly against Freya's face before it spun around on itself, grinning coldly down at the Valkyrie. “Now tell me, what do you think, darling? What are the odds, what are your bets, what do you believe is going to happen here?”

Freya only narrowed her eye before she snorted in contempt, then she looked up at the Primordial before saying coldly: “The only thing I'm sure of, monster, is that between you and me, you will be the one to die.”

The Primordial laughed at this: a softer, more dangerous sound than before as it leaned slowly down through the air, coiling back and forth on itself before she whispered teasingly, as she reached down to stroke a single claw under Freya's chin: “And what happens when you're a hundred percent sure of anything with chaos?”

“What happens when you're a hundred percent sure you're a hundred percent sure?” Freya responded coldly, fearless in the face of the monster, and the Primordial scowled at her before Freya smiled thinly. “This.”

Her three swords flung themselves into the air and hammered one after the other into the creature's back, making it scream in agony before Freya lunged forwards to bury her horn into the beast. But before she could finish it with a blast of holy energy, a massive burst of wind and lightning erupted from the Primordial, knocking her crashing backwards to bounce and roll painfully over the ground until she managed to regain her hooves.

The shockwave tore through the ranks of the fighting soldiers and elementals as well, sending chaos through their ranks. As a second powerful boom tore through the air, many of the earth elementals gave up the fight and fled in all directions, their yelps and shrieks drowned out by the roars of fury from the Primordial.

The beast snarled as it twisted back and forth on itself, its body crackling with electricity as it twisted back and forth through the air. The Primordial hissed, the swords still buried through its back crackling with static as it zigzagged through the air like a vengeful shark, its eyes glowing with hatred as it roared: “Cheater! I'll destroy you for the Prime!”

“I'm sure you will.” Freya said ironically, as she glanced quickly back and forth: the remaining earth elementals were being quickly dealt with or driven off by the forces of Decretum, and she couldn't see any hostile reinforcements moving in. But she already understood why, as well: the winds around them was being whipped into a cyclone, lightning and dust and stone shrapnel crackling through the air and creating a cage around the ponies and the Primordial raging above.

“Defensive positions!” Freya roared, and the three teams of soldiers hurried to assemble themselves in front of her, Lancer, Sombra, and Cataskeuastros taking the front positions as the rest of the team fell in around Freya. The ivory mare smiled thinly as the cyclone around them grew into an almost solid wall of wind and debris, leaving them trapped in the eye of the hurricane with the furious Primordial.

Crazed and wounded or not, Freya knew that in spite of all the creature's lashing around, it was paying close attention to them. She could feel it, sizing them up, searching for any sign of weakness, hunting for the chink in their defenses-

Lancer flinched as a bit of dust kicked up over him, and the Primordial lunged savagely forwards, hurtling straight for him-

A wall of black crystal erupted from the ground in front of the ponies, and the Primordial crashed against this, shattering it into dark shrapnel that pelted the ponies even as the monster was knocked off course, ricocheting off to the side and vanishing into the hurricane.

Lancer glared at Sombra even as he blushed deeply, the stallion snapping: “I didn't need your help! Mind your own business!”

Sombra only bowed his head politely in response, before Cataskeuastros said calmly: “Quiet, Lancer. Dinoris, wide area scans. Prioritize chaos particles.”

The strange, bipedal machine beeped several times before it began to whir loudly away, and Peridot shivered as she looked back and forth worriedly, stepping a little closer to Freya as she asked urgently: “What's going on? This thing, it's not like-”

“This is not an elemental. This is a Primordial. Do not be fooled by how it behaves or the way it holds itself: the monster's chaos is only armor.” Freya said calmly, as her eye flicked slowly back and forth: her swords were still buried inside the beast, and she could sense the Primordial's location by the call of her swords. But why hasn't it removed the blades?

She felt it before the Primordial lunged out of the raging whirlwind, her eye flashing as she shouted: “Right flank!”

Moonflower immediately snapped his horn forwards, creating a shield of energy that the Primordial slammed into: another unicorn immediately fortified the barrier with a wall of electricity, but the Primordial ignored the magic completely as she slung herself off the barrier, hissing in frustration as the swords buried through her body gleamed. “Stupid, worthless fleshsacks!”

“The chaos makes her immune to magic! Use physical force!” Freya shouted, as the serpentine entity twisted through the air before lunging viciously at the group again.

Lancer grinned widely at this, then he leapt suddenly forwards, breaking formation as the serpent grinned for a moment, twisting towards him with lightning speed-

And all the same, Lancer was faster, smashing a hoof into the Primordial's face and slamming her into the ground with enough force to make her bounce like a coin. She recovered quickly, trying to lunge back into the air, but Lancer again reacted faster as he landed and smoothly spun around to slam both rear hooves into her face, knocking the Primordial flying bonelessly backwards with a squeal as her mask cracked.

Freya's horn flashed, and strings of light connected from the spire to the swords buried through the Primordial before she twisted and yanked savagely on the creature, making it shriek in agony as it was yanked forwards by the blades hooked through its body.

Lancer slammed his front hooves into the Primordial, yanking it down by the shoulders to slam it into the ground before half-hefting the creature into the air so he could slam his head into her muzzle, further cracking the mask as he shouted: “Come on, hit her hard, boys!”

Sombra flicked his horn sharply, creating an array of black blades that blinked into position around the Primordial as two of the stallions from Lancer's team leapt into action, one of them lashing out with a sword held by telekinesis, the other slamming a steel-shoed hoof towards the Primordial's side.

The Primordial screamed as her four arms lashed out, catching the two stallions before flinging them both away, even as the swords of black crystal shot in from all sides to hammer cruelly into her wounded form. She shrieked again in shock at the blades piercing her flesh, her eyes bulging as her head snapped back, but her claws all the same all lashed down towards Lancer, seizing him him before tearing him away from her body.

She flung the stallion like a rock straight at Freya, but Moonflower swiftly caught the stallion in telekinesis before he grinned and slashed his horn out, shouting: “Get her!”

Lancer shot through the air like a missile, shoving his hooves out to streamline his body before he smashed straight through the Primordial's face, shattering both her mask and the softer skull beneath. He hit the ground hard, gritting his teeth as he skidded to a stop at the edge of the hurricane, and the Primordial tottered slowly on the spot before she gurgled weakly out of the chasm of her neck.

The creature's body petrified, the Primordial shivering violently as it moaned piteously from its severed throat, but Freya's eyes narrowed even as Lancer pumped a hoof and some of the other officers of Decretum relaxed. But Peridot, Sombra, and Cataskeuastros, she noted, all felt the same thing she did, even as Moonflower bragged: “You see, even such a Prime-mortal is no match for-”

“Ready yourselves! You've done your part, now let the mages handle her!” Freya shouted, and Lancer looked dumbly back at Freya, before his eyes widened as a glowing, ethereal arm slowly extended out of the hollow throat of the petrified Primordial.

Immediately, Lancer charged at the statue, leaping up to slam a hoof into it, but he was slapped away by a translucent wing that phased suddenly out of the statue, hitting the ground on his back and immediately hugging himself with a gasp as his body visibly smoldered from contact with the energy. He rolled uselessly back and forth as a sinuous and translucent creature elegantly emerged from the statue's throat, twisting its snake-like body into a sitting position as its gorgeous white wings flexed slowly, then settled calmly on either side of it.

The three-eyed, winged serpent smiled at Freya, electricity crackling around the phantasmal Primordial as it said in a sonorous, echoing voice: “Here I am, Valkyrie. Is this what you wanted to see? Stripped of my physical body, stripped of chaos. Now, only elemental purity: the roar of the wind, the hatred of the thunder.”

The Primordial paused, then simply glanced to the side, her eyes flashing: Moonflower was blasted off his hooves by the thunder of magic, gasping in pain as the energy was stolen from his body by the lightning that coursed over him. Freya snarled, snapping her horn forwards, but to no avail, as the serpent simply deflected the golden fireball with a look.

A moment later, both Cataskeuastros and Peridot were suddenly blasted to the ground by twin arcs of lighting that erupted out of thin air, but their mechanical companion was beside them in a moment, whirring loudly as it created a forcefield of energy around itself and them, nullifying the Primordial's magic.

The winged snake turned its eyes back towards Freya, smiling coldly as the hurricane still whirling around them began to grow darker and more ominous. Lightning crackled through the walls of ripping wind as the creature said kindly: “I'll give you a chance to fight. It's more fun that way, and I owe you, too: you got rid of that uncomfortable prison. Now I will better be able to serve the Prime when he arrives. We of the Jarsongildi are so eager for the Prime's arrival...”

“What? What are you talking about?” Freya asked sharply, while at the same time she quickly stepped forwards and touched Sombra's shoulder. The stallion understood what she wanted immediately, shifting ever-so-slightly towards La Croix, who quickly hurried over to Moonflower, and at the same time, passed on the silent message through the ranks of the other soldiers, the forces of Decretum reassembling themselves as stealthily as they could.

If the Primordial noticed, she clearly didn't care, smiling mockingly over them before she laughed loudly, powerful wings flapping once before the translucent serpent simply floated lazily into the air, replying airily: “Fine, if you want to waste precious seconds talking, we can do that. But it won't be very long before the winds become an electrical storm... and not a single one of you will be able to survive that.”

The serpent paused, then focused its three eyes on Freya, smiling coyly as the Valkyrie only continued to look grimly back at her. “We're going to reclaim the universe. It was ours, not yours, goddess. You banished us, and you shattered us into millions of stray pieces that were poisoned by the chaos of Ginnungagap, but we have adapted. We have evolved. We have taken what once made us weak and used it to become strong.”

Freya glared at the Primordial as it coiled slowly on itself, before the creature's three-eyed, derisive gaze cutting into her as it stated calmly: “Thokk will free the Prime from where you and your kind banished him. We will take back this universe, and we will establish our order and our control as is our ultimate right. This time, no one's going to take us alive. The time has come to make things right.”

Freya snorted in contempt at this, and then she retorted: “Your kind were neither creators nor conquerors. All you've ever been, Primordial, is dust and wind with too high an opinion of itself.”

The Primordial laughed, the sound long and sonorous, before the translucent serpent simply gestured lazily with its tail at the slowly-closing walls of wind as they crackled with deadly electricity. “Says the pack-mule who is about to fry. You and your fellow horses can't hurt me with your magic. What can you hope to accomplish?”

“Wind is the weakest force in nature. It is nothing but lies and deceit, breaking against the earth and sowing rumor and lies more often than it spills truth.” Freya retorted, and the Primordial narrowed its three eyes before Freya stepped forwards and said coldly: “I am not afraid of you.”

“You should be.” the Primordial serpent replied softly, as its tail coiled slowly downwards, twisting around the petrified remains of its physical body, the long appendage teasingly stroking over the haft of one of her trapped blades. “What's that old saying? The sword is the soul?”

Freya bared her fangs, before she gasped as the Primordial's tail crackled with electricity as it seized tightly around the handle of one of her blades. The Valkyrie fought to stay on her hooves, swearing under her breath as the Primordial leaned forwards with a cruel smile, the winged serpent whispering: “I have so much pain to pay back you and your kind, foolish goddess.”

“Trap her!” Freya shouted suddenly, and the Primordial began to smile thinly before her eyes bulged in shock when a black bubble appeared around her.

Her eyes locked on Moonflower, and the stallion gasped as electricity crackled over his body, but he glared furiously back at her, holding his own under her onslaught: and as the black bubble of magic was fortified by the powers of the other unicorns, it took on an almost-solid consistency, blinding the Primordial to the outside world and cutting off its magic.

The entity roared in rage inside her magical prison, and the electrical storm crackled and thundered with her fury, the swirling walls of wind closing in faster around them as they rumbled with the Primordial's hatred. But even as the Primordial's painful lightning continued to sizzle over her frayed nerves, Freya was able to shove herself up to her hooves as she snapped: “Moonflower, crush her!”

Moonflower gritted his teeth as his magic wavered between focusing on the bubble and calling up a new spell, but Cataskeuastros' eyes flicked immediately towards him as he said quietly: “We will hold the barrier.”

“You are not alone, Moonflower!” Sombra added quickly, as he rose his horn high as the purifier on his back whirred loudly before he snapped his horn forwards, black lighting hammering into the sphere and sizzling over it before the globe of magic rapidly crystallized, muffling the furious roars of the Primordial trapped inside. “We will do this together!”

The bipedal robot whirred loudly as if in agreement, before it clicked several times as the forcefield vanished from around the ponies it was protecting to instead reappear around the crystalline prison, adding another layer of fortification to the barrier.

Moonflower hesitated only a moment longer before he withdrew his magic, trusting in the other unicorns to hold the barrier in place. The walls of lighting and wind were closing in fast around them now, the lightning so fierce that it was leaving jagged, black scars in the earth and disintegrating stone, and the hurricane so savage that it had ripped up the earth beneath the wall of wind, leaving the ponies trapped on a quickly-shrinking platform.

Moonflower focused on the space inside the prison of black crystal, gritting his teeth as he called up all the magic he could before he snapped his horn forwards, the air reverberating with the shocked howls of the Primordial serpent as a singularity tore open in the center of its cage.

Sombra's eyes tightened as the others focused their magic as much as possible, trying to resist not just the roiling rage of the Primordial inside as it slammed itself back and forth against the magical prison, but the immense power of the black hole that was eating away at reality itself inside of the sphere.

Freya smiled grimly as her eye narrowed, focused on the roil of energy inside the prison and the staticky emotions of the Primordial inside. It couldn't break or pass through so much focused magic, and even if it couldn't be directly harmed by even Moonflower's powers, the black hole would all the same swallow up the Primordial and crush its energies out of this reality and into the Void.

The storm was tightening around them. Freya could feel the lightning lashing at them, the wind ripping at their bodies. Loose armor plating and unsecured equipment were being tugged off their bodies and into the whirlwind, and Freya could feel her torn braids and tail being yanked towards the ruthless cyclone, the Valkyrie gritting her teeth before she ordered: “Focus your magic! Crush her out of reality, it's now or never!”

“I... I've never...” Moonflower gritted his teeth, and then he nodded sharply once as he felt lightning lick up one of his hind legs, leaving a sizzling burn as he leaned forwards and shouted over the roar of the wind and thunder: “Don't let the barrier break!”

Moonflower leaned forwards, snapping his horn down, and reality quaked around the sphere, Sombra leaning forwards as he fought to maintain the orb of black crystal, even as it cracked and ruptured violently. Energy sizzled and thundered around the orb, as inside, the black hole contracted even as the pull of power magnified, and the Primordial howled in horror as its long body was yanked into the singularity.

Moonflower gritted his teeth so hard they nearly cracked as blood burst from his nose and ran from his eyes, but he could feel the struggles of the creature was it was yanked slowly into the singularity that was crushing it literally outside of reality-

Moonflower suddenly dropped forwards and vomited blood, before he felt the magic wavering wildly: he was going to lose control. And even as he felt La Croix and Sanctum both steadying him, he knew the singularity was going to either become self-sustaining or it would rupture and create a massive backlash... and either occurrence would annihilate all of them. There was only one thing he could do.

The black unicorn looked up through the blood, ignoring the roars, the winds, the storms, the compassion, the orders, and his horn pulsed before he leaned forwards with a wordless cry of pain and determination as he threw all his strength into one last, desperate burst of magic.

The pull of the black hole suddenly decreased, allowing the Primordial to slip free as it hurled itself forwards, smashing into the badly-damaged barrier of magic and crystal with enough force to shatter its prison. For a moment, the winged serpent posed triumphantly, its three eyes glaring down at Freya with hate and vengeance, before these widened in shock as the black hole violently expanded to treble its size, almost completely engulfing the translucent serpent before it suddenly imploded.

The thundering cyclone around them whiffed out almost instantly, leaving them in a strange state of peace and silence as, for a moment, the Primordial's head and a single piece of outstretched wing remained floating in the air. Then, both of these translucent remains flickered before they dissolved as they fell towards the ground, the Primordial giving a soft, despairing sigh even as its remains faded entirely from existence.

Moonflower collapsed, but La Croix was immediately beside him, a needle popping out of the bracer he was wearing as he muttered: “This gonna hurt, mon ami, but you done earned it now, idjit.”

The black unicorn shifted weakly, before he arched his back and cried out in pain as the Loa stabbed the needle into the side of his neck, his eyes bulging as he stiffened up before wheezing loudly when the needle was withdrawn just as quickly as La Croix grumbled: “Oh, taisse-toi, you big baby.”

Moonflower mumbled weakly, then smiled awkwardly up at the zebra, who rubbed at the back of his head before he gave a quick nod in return. Then they both winced when Freya said sharply: “On your hooves, we don't have time for your slack!”

Peridot stepped quickly over to Moonflower's other side, her horn glowing and providing him energy as she used her magic to accelerate the stallion's healing, while at the same time she helped lift him back to his hooves with La Croix.

“We should rest for a moment. Haste will only-” Sombra started, but he was cut off by a snort from the Valkyrie as she looked moodily at the empty space where the Primordial's petrified remains had once been, and Freya's now-missing swords.

“It's injury enough that we lost so much time and energy to the meddlesome beast, and insulting that my swords are gone to the Void with its remains, and will have to be resummoned.” Freya said moodily, glowering over at Sombra. “We need to pick up our pace, and there's no more time for lagging, excuses, or idiocy. And aye, I'm talking to you, scrap-licker.”

There was a derisive snort from above, and several of the ponies looked up in surprise to see a sentry orb circling slowly above their heads, Auriculos saying distastefully from the orb: “The electrical storm has badly-damaged all your Mission Drives. Feel fortunate that I care enough to come and check up on you. Maintain position while-”

“No, we move forwards. We don't need these useless toys, anyway.” Freya said moodily, reaching up to grasp the device strapped to her upper leg before she tore it loose and tossed it to the ground. She stomped on it to emphasize her point, leaning up challengingly as she said coldly: “The situation has changed but the mission has not. We know our jobs. See that you accomplish your own.”

Auriculos snorted from the orb, and then Seneschal's voice said hurriedly: “Some of the Mission Drives are likely still salvageable! Even if we lost the data, one or two might be able to reconnect to the uplink after a hard reset, and we can continue to use them to communicate.”

“Fine. But we're not out of danger. I can already sense other foes moving in towards us now that the Primordial is dead. Get on with your own jobs, so we can do ours and I can protect these runts.” Freya answered coldly, and a snort and grumble came from the orb before the glass sphere quickly flew away.

The Valkyrie rolled her eyes, and then she turned her eyes back towards the assortment of ponies gathered in front of her, studying them for a few moments. She surveyed them as some of the ponies removed their Mission Drives, while a few of the others adjusted theirs: Freya personally didn't care what they did with the little toys of Hecate. She had never been fond of 'gifts' that were really just another way for their self-proclaimed overlords to track them by.

“Now that you've had your break, thanks to their prattling, let's get ourselves moving.” Freya ordered. Lancer grumbled under his breath, but he quailed when the Valkyrie's eye flicked towards him moodily. “Don't start, boy.”

He looked lamely away, before scowling as Sombra said softly: “We should go back to the original plan. Allow Cataskeuastros to-”

“You are not in charge of this mission, I am. I hope you remember that.” Freya said icily, and Sombra bowed his head politely towards her, which mollified the mare a little before she nodded briefly, her eyes flicking towards Cataskeuastros. “Are you ready to do your part?”

“We are.” the unicorn confirmed, bowing his head politely, and Freya smiled wryly.

“Good. Then you hold back here with the little boy's club, and I'll continue forward with my team.” Freya ordered, and Cataskeuastros didn't argue. For a moment, Freya smiled, then rolled her eye when Lancer suddenly shouted at her wordlessly as he likely realized that she had just been referring to him.

It simply took another sour look from Freya to shut the stallion up, and as he shrank his head between his shoulders again, she said distastefully: “The only thing worse than outright disobedience is a coward's insecurity.”

Lancer mumbled defensively to himself, shifting awkwardly away before the Valkyrie turned her eyes towards Peridot. “I expect you to keep watch over your team, and to take control if you have to. You seem like the maternal type: you should have no problem playing mother and nursemaid to these colts and their little toy.”

Dino chirped as Cataskeuastros remained as impenetrable as ever and Sanctum gave maybe the briefest smile, but Peridot looked fearlessly at Freya as she answered: “I'll look after my unit, Freya. I hope that you do the same.”

Freya smiled slightly, then she nodded once to Peridot before she looked over her shoulder at Moonflower and pointed towards the stained concrete wall of the facility. “I need you to knock a hole in that for us to pass through.”

La Croix gave Moonflower a nervous look, but the black unicorn nodded once before he straightened and took a slow, steadying breath, before he frowned slightly as Cataskeuastros said quietly: “Be careful. There are hostile energies approaching us. They are not elemental in nature, however... they are...”

Freya frowned a bit as the unicorn looked towards the wall silently, as she stretched out with her own powers and finished: “They are not of this world. All the same, anything that stands between us and our objective will be crushed. Breach it!”

Moonflower grimaced at the order, but then nodded quickly as he turned towards the tower, calling up his remaining magic before he snapped his horn forwards. The black fireball wasn't quite as strong as he had tried to make it, but all the same it blew a hole through the stone wall of the facility, even as Moonflower slumped slightly and wheezed as his whole body shook with pain, a bit of fresh blood dribbling from his nose.

“We move forward!” Freya shouted, striding quickly towards the breach: and, without slowing, she easily hefted Moonflower off the ground, the stallion blinking in dumb surprise as he found himself flopped across her back as she continued to both walk and give orders. “Sombra, La Croix, there's no time to dawdle! Cataskeuastros, Lancer, the moment your teams are done here, find the scrap metal and defend them, I have little doubt that once Thokk realizes what's happening, her forces will try and cut the head off this serpent.”

Freya leapt through the hole without waiting for a response, and Sombra and La Croix both followed after her, joining her in a rubble-strewn hallway. The Valkyrie checked either direction before she turned her eyes towards La Croix, and the zebra took the lead without argument, hurrying down the hall as he said quickly: “Ici! Trouble's this way!”

“I'm glad you know what I'm looking for.” Freya said with a wry smile, following quickly after the zebra as Sombra brought up the rear, his purifier humming quietly away as he kept his powers at the ready. She felt Moonflower shift on her back, but her voice was surprisingly gentle as she added: “Rest. You make a fine wall, but I'd prefer you to be a catapult.”

“Just don't throw me at anything, please.” Moonflower mumbled as he shifted awkwardly to a more comfortable position, trying to ignore the huge sword he was sprawled dangerously close to. “I... uh... well, that is to say...”

“Shut up, boy.” Freya grumbled, but she carefully shrugged her shoulders to help the stallion get more comfortable as she continued down the empty halls, looking back and forth as she muttered: “Empty architecture. Hollow. Artificial and soulless... but not haunted. There has never been any attachment here, any life or emotion... this place is a trap.”

“And you walked right into it.” growled a cold voice, and Freya looked coldly up as several pale, strangely-armored ponies approached them: they seemed somehow faded and gray, their colors very faint, their eyes glassy, as if the malice in them was being reflected from some distant source. The gear they wore looked simplistic in design, but the material was a cured hide that Freya had never seen before.

“So this is what Thokk sends against us. Ghosts.” Freya said disdainfully, her eyes flicking over the creatures. She narrowed her eyes as she studied them for a moment, before glancing towards Sombra, before she relaxed slightly when he gave a tiny shake of his head. “Not even Voidborn.”

“The Voidborn have another task. The Cydonifamulai are many and our legions will overwhelm you.” retorted the stallion in lead, his ghastly eyes glaring into hers not with zeal, not with pride, but with a hollow, terrifying inevitability.

But Freya only squared her shoulders and rose her head proudly as she yanked her massive sword free from her back. She kept her stance and strong and her eyes locked on the pale phantasms in front of her: a feat made all the more impressive by the fact she had just knocked Moonflower off her back to faceplant into the ground with a loud yelp, the stallion whimpering from the concrete floor beside her. “No. I do not fear slaves. I do not fear fear ghosts. I do not fear Husks.”

Freya's eyes blazed as she readied Tyrfing, saying proudly, as her horn sparked with magic and her body flexed: “I am Freya, Queen of the Valkyries! And you will cower, you will bend, and you shall break before my fury, worthless scum!”

The Husks only stared at her emptily even as Sombra and La Croix squared themselves, before the pale stallion at the head of the group of phantasms said quietly: “Come. Let us show this trifling goddess the error of her ways.”

One of the Husks leapt forwards, and Freya snorted in contempt as Tyrfing swung savagely down, smashing him flat. Before he could recover, she stabbed downwards, and grimaced at the force it took to penetrate the leathery hide protecting the stallion.

All the same, Tyrfing sank deep into the pony-Husk, and the stallion twitched, then simply shoved forwards, and Freya's eyes widened as the sword ripped out the other side of the Husk's body as it ground itself to the hilt of the blade. It caught itself against the handguard, even as it reached out towards her, its chest cracking and tearing and denting inwards with the force it was pushing itself forwards with as it glared at her with ruthless determination-

Freya leaned forwards and snapped her sword out as hard as she could, flinging the Husk free and sending it crashing and bouncing down the hall. It knocked another Husk sprawling, but the rest of the pale equines were fast enough to avoid being knocked over like bowling pins and rush towards the quartet.

Freya swore under her breath as she lashed Tyrfing out, smashing another Husk away as Sombra unleashed a blast of black flames and green lightning burst from La Croix's hooves. But neither necrotic fire nor Loa magic had any effect on the Husks, washing uselessly over their bodies as they charged through the magic and leapt at the ponies.

Sombra quickly caught the Husk that attacked him, smoothly twisting the Husk to the side and throwing him down on his back, while La Croix yelped as he was tackled backwards before he turned ethereal, hurriedly slipping away. Freya snarled in fury as her hooves slammed savagely out as she lunged forwards, Tyrfing colliding with Husks with enough force to knock them hurtling through the air like meteors.

But it was like the broken bones, the skewered organs, the torn ligaments and muscles didn't matter: the Husks recovered in moments and effortlessly charged back into the fray. Freya swore as she stepped forwards, slashing savagely downwards with Tyrfing and this time rending a foreleg from a body before she slapped the Husk aside, and this time, she was pleased to see, the Husk didn't get up quite as quickly, as its severed limb simply disintegrated in a pulse of energy.

Freya kept her eyes on the wounded Husk as she slashed and slammed her way through the pale entities flinging themselves at her: the wound was steaming, energy bleeding into the air as it pushed itself up to three legs before it attempted to stagger forwards.

The creature didn't make it very far before it tottered on its hooves, then simply collapsed as it burst apart into a mist of energy that vanished quickly into the air. Freya smiled coldly at this before she twisted Tyrfing around in a savage cut that hacked off the head of another Husk. The head hit the ground with a dull thud, eyes staring hatefully at Freya as the body stumbled stupidly around for a few moments, and then both dissolved into the same fine mist as Freya shouted: “Rip them open! They're nothing but casings filled with hot air!”

“Like balloons.” Moonflower said dumbly, even as he flicked his horn down and blasted a Husk down the corridor with telekinesis, and Freya was half-tempted to slap him even as her eyes locked sharply on how his telekinesis had affected the creature.

“Use anything solid against them, anything that affects the physical!” Freya ordered quickly, and Somba immediately slammed his front hooves into the ground, sending up blades of black crystal that ripped out of the earth and pounded into several of the Husks, flaying apart their armor and lifting them helplessly into the air.

Energy steamed out of their wounds as Moonflower blinked dumbly before he squawked when Freya aimed a kick into his head even as she continued to slash and rend her way through the Husks, roaring: “Don't just stand there with your hooves on your ass, fight them!”

“My... my hooves aren't near my ass!” Moonflower retorted stupidly, and then he snapped his horn forwards, sending a beam of energy uselessly into the face of a Husk, but the raw force behind the laser of energy at least made it stumble enough that Freya was able to shatter its skull with a strike from the pommel of her sword, making Moonflower wince.

La Croix cursed under his breath as another Husk tackled him, rolling with his opponent before he managed to take the top and pin the Husk under him. The creatures weren't much stronger than your average pony: they were simply all-but-invulnerable, but the zebra put the resistance of the creature to the test as he yanked out a vial before smashing it into the side of the Husk's face, making the pale horse flinch before it flinched as it grabbed at its face, which had begun to melt like wax.

The Loa quickly shoved himself backwards, yanking out another vial of acid before he flung it sharply at another Husk, but it shattered uselessly against the leathery carapace it was wearing, dripping off the armor like water. “I ain't never seen nothin' like this before! I don't think I got anything that can put a hole in 'em!”

“Then aim for their heads instead of their shells!” growled Freya, as she slashed savagely down and almost severed the head of a pale stallion into two halves, knocking it staggering backwards as misty essence vomited up from the horrific wound, and yet the creature kept going, the Husk throwing itself at her and forcing her to slap it quickly down with the flat of her blade. “Cursed draugr!”

“They beyond dead, madame!” La Croix grimaced as he slung a rattling sphere into the ground, and it exploded to release a gooey tar that covered the floor, several of the Husks getting caught in this. Freya's eyes locked on the sight for a moment before she cursed under her breath, angrier at herself more than anything else: she had overlooked something simple.

“And they are no stronger than any mortal soldier! If you can't kill them, trap them!” Freya shouted, and Sombra's eyes widened before he suddenly leaned forwards, the machinery inside the purifier grinding loudly as dark energy bled from his eyes and hooves before he shoved his forelegs forwards with a snarl.

Magic crackled through the air as a devastating wave of black ooze exploded outwards, swirling down the corridor and knocking most of the Husks sprawling as it covered them with tarry corruption that quickly cemented over their bodies. The Husks were left struggling in captured disarray, snarling and uselessly attempting to yank themselves up from the gluey substance as Sombra shivered once, then slowly relaxed.

Freya grimaced a bit: it wasn't what she wanted, but... “It will do. Let's move deeper, and cut through the chaff to the heart of this dragon. There's no point in wasting our time cleaning up the mess when an army will be following us in.”

“I do not know if that is such a good idea, Signora Freya.” Sombra said quietly. Freya looked at him coldly, but he only looked calmly, seriously back as he said softly: “Thokk wants us here. I feel as if even now, she is somehow... in control. She has power over worse things than these creatures, and there are no defenses, no swarms of these... 'Husks,' just... what seems almost like...”

“Testing a new toy, aye. I'm not stupid, Sombra.” Freya softened, even as she repeated: “I'm not stupid. And I am not underestimating our foes, even if you seem to think I am.”

Sombra offered a small smile, and Freya nodded briefly before she turned her attention forwards, striding quickly past the ensnared Husks. The others fell in behind her, Moonflower grimacing and limping a little as La Croix looked uncertainly at the hollow, hateful pale stallions as they passed them, the zebra saying nervously: “Well, maybe you be overestimatin' us...”

“I don't think so.” Freya said with surprising kindness, and La Croix looked up dumbly before the Valkyrie gestured sharply forwards with her head, ordering: “Now suck it up and show some fortitude, stallions, or I'll have all of you gelded so you'll at least listen better.”

Moonflower shuddered visibly at this, before he shivered a little as he felt a strange, powerful magic rumble through the air behind him. Freya and Sombra both sensed it too, but when the Valkyrie Queen glanced back at the dark unicorn, he simply nodded once and said softly: “They're drawing the portal forwards. It will have to be defended.”

“Then we'll draw the enemy's attention, and the rest of them can do the defending.” replied Freya with a shrug and a wry smile as she looked ahead down the empty hall. They came to a fork in the path, but Freya's eyes narrowed at the sight of a massive arrow that had been painted on the floor in what looked suspiciously like blood.

She followed the arrow down the corridor, Moonflower and La Croix both nervously looking at the symbol as they passed it, while Sombra only kept his eyes ahead as his purifier rumbled and stuttered away on his back.

They strode deeper through the empty, ghastly facility: the fluorescent light chased away all shadows, but only accented how empty these halls were, how there was so much nothing here, apart from the smeared arrows that had been painted over the walls here and there. There was just dust and sterility.

Something was surreal, magnificently terrible about this place: the emptiness, the graceless architecture, the broken technology that resembled Clockwork World's but somehow not. Freya grimaced as they stepped into a massive, open hall, and she couldn't help but shiver a little at how cold the air was, how desolate the whole place felt, how it had gone from the wild chaos and devastation of the Primordials and Elementals to the hollowness of the Void...

They reached the center of the room, and Freya looked down at the large X that had been painted on the floor, studying it for a few moments before a wooden rattling came from above.

She looked sharply up to see something dropping towards her, before it suddenly caught on the strings attached to its limbs, hanging limply over her head as Freya slowly bared her fangs at the life-sized puppet. Most of it was made from cheap pine and cheaper cloth, but the head was gorgeously and delicately carved from oak, and layered with regal feathers, one of its eyes a beautiful amber marble and the other hollow glass...

“Hello, Freya.” the Odin-puppet croaked, in a bad imitation of the All Father's voice. “Have you come to join the Great Meet?”

Freya opened her mouth, before her eyes widened in horror as more puppets dropped from the ceiling. All bore the heads of animals, but in each and every one, she recognized a former ally or enemy, friend or nemesis, god, goddess, or being of the beyond. And on the backs of many of these puppets, Primordials giggled and laughed, coiling around the toys that they rode down, or slid along the silvery strings suspending them from the ceiling.

And yet many of these Primordials were pale, somehow mechanical in the way they moved. Different from the Elementals and Primordials they had encountered so far, as if they had less will, and were being controlled by some external force...

“Be gone, shadows.” Freya whispered, but the Odin puppet only clacked as its joints twisted on itself and its head wrenched to the side, so it could stare down at her with its beautiful and empty yellow eye.

“We are so much more than shadow, Freya. Look: this is unity. All will unite beneath the powers of Thokk. And all the worlds shall be bound together as one by the strength of the Prime.” The Odin puppet twitched back and forth, as the Primordials giggled and laughed, and the other puppets clicked and clacked applause in their cheap wooden joints, and Sombra, La Croix, and Moonflower fell in formation around Freya, even though they all knew there was no way they could prepare for the onslaught that was yet to come.

Freya stared up at the Odin puppet with her single eye, and the Odin puppet stared lifelessly back before it cajoled: “Join us. Join the Great Meet. Join the Jarsongildi: all these worlds will soon be assimilated as one. You and I both know there is no great truth, no great meaning to life: there is only a transient path of one existence, and then another, with no right or wrong, justice or sin. All of it, pointless. Victories and triumphs that become ashen memories, and failures and pain that rust the soul. But the Prime will take all of that away, and all will become one. These worlds... the worlds of your kind, the worlds of the gods, the worlds of the entities beyond the stars and the worlds of man and woman, of beast and angel and demon... all of them, shall be rearranged.”

Freya shook her head weakly, mouthing wordlessly, before the Odin puppet creaked on its strings, slowly setting down on its feet in front of her and limply kneeling, brokenly raising one puppeted arm on a string as it said: “In the beginning, there was no Midgard, no Heaven, no Hell, no Void, no 'worlds.' There was no 'mortal,' no 'living,' no 'dead.' All of us were only beings of energy: some greater, some fewer. All of us lived in the dreams we created for ourselves, shared, joined, loved one another. Then some of us became Primordial, and some of us became God, and when the Primordials built, the Gods became greedy, and decided to take. The Gods made rules. The Gods made laws. The Gods imprisoned energy in weak flesh, to rule it, to subjugate it.

“Now, all of that will be fixed. Thokk will gather all the fragments and powers of the Gods, and the Prime shall retrieve all the Primordials and their kin. Together, they will break the bonds that were placed upon us. We will all be energy again. 'Physical' will again be nothing but a word, a contemporary notion. We will be free of our bonds. And isn't that what you want, Freya? To be free? To be one with all those you love? To never again lose someone you care for? To have me, to have your brother, to have your children, again?”

Freya snarled, before she looked sharply to the side as a horse-headed puppet suddenly dropped down beside her, hitting the ground with a thunk before it clacked and pushed its way slowly up, head lolling back to stare at her as the puppet whispered: “Hasn't it been too long, my other half? But we can be together again...”

Freya trembled violently, staring at the puppet of Freyr for a few moments before she slowly closed her eye. She lowered her head, breathing quietly in and out before her body gradually relaxed, and then she looked silently up, past the puppets, past the snickering and laughing Primordials, past these hollow ghosts and lies and deceptions as she said quietly: “I think, finally, I understand. What do you want? Do you want me to apologize? Because I am sorry. That word is meaningless now, after all these years, but I am, all the same. But you cannot take revenge on the entire world for the way we made you suffer.”

Thokk's quiet laughter echoed through the room as the puppets rattled and clanked, as the Primordials shifted and snickered and a few clapped mockingly. Slowly, the puppets all began to rise back towards the ceiling, falling limp and lifeless as the Primordials vanished from their backs and strings, and Freya looked calmly up to watch as the witch approached, rubbing her hands together in front of her as she replied easily: “Oh, you always were so sweet and kind under that hard bitch facade you worked so hard to put on! Jerk with a heart of gold, isn't that right?

“But for your information, Freya, I'm not doing this just because of what you and yours did. I'm doing this because of prophecy, because of story... because all of you believed so much in a few tall tales, that you did some very unpleasant things to me.” Thokk seemed to be smiling under her mask, but there was a fury beneath her playful tone, a bitterness, a rage, a hatred that chilled the ponies to their bones as Freya only gazed solemnly, sadly, at the approaching witch. “You can't go against your nature, even if it's prescribed to you only by the words of others. You spend long enough telling a lie, and it becomes true. If the priest accuses his daughter of being a whore long enough, eventually you know that she'll go ahead and justify the accusation: words can hurt, you know.”

Freya opened her mouth, but without stopping, without slowing, Thokk suddenly sliced a hand out, and black energy ripped through the Valkyrie's throat, her eye bulging as crimson exploded from her neck and she stumbled backwards before crumpling to the ground, choking weakly as she stared miserably up at Thokk. “But it's not about the words, not really. It's about the actions you took. It's about the lies. I am the result of what made me, Freya. And now the pied piper has come home to take his fair share of the pie.”

Thokk reached up and stroked over her mask as if to steady it, as La Croix hurriedly knelt beside Freya, but the moment he began to reach for his satchel, Thokk pointed at him and blasted the Loa away with a howl of agony, his body bursting into flames. He rolled wildly back and forth as he hit the ground, before there was another short series of sharp explosions as the chemicals and baubles throughout his cape and satchel caught flame, sending the Loa flying bonelessly through the air.

Sombra's eyes widened as Moonflower shouted a denial, before he snarled and spun forwards, beginning to lash his horn down, but his attack became a dead fall, crashing flat into the ground as all the energy was drained from his body in an instant, his horn sizzling and steaming as Thokk put her hands on her hips as she continued to approach. “Please, sweetie. Dark magic against a witch? Next time at least try something original.”

She stepped on Moonflower's face as he stared weakly up at her, gasping weakly for air as his body shook, before the witch reached out without looking and shoved a finger against Sombra's muzzle. She didn't even bother to turn towards him, the hollow stone eyes of her mask seeming to be locked on Freya, the feeling that came from her almost regretful as she watched the life steadily drain out of the ivory mare's throat. “Don't do anything stupid, and you'll live a little longer.”

Sombra stayed still, looking up at Thokk before he said quietly: “Please reconsider this. I do not know you, I do not know what happened to you... but how will destroying us fix the past? Occhio per occhio, dente per dente... what will you do when we are all blind, and toothless?”

“Then, sweetie, we shall all be equal.” Thokk replied almost gently, before she flicked her finger across Sombra's nose and clenched her hand into a fist, and Sombra gasped as the purifier on his back exploded, knocking him flat on his stomach in a hail of shrapnel and gore that flew harmlessly around Thokk before she witch said calmly: “Now, if you'll excuse me, I have a few things to take care of before I annihilate Decretum and kill two annoying upstart bitches with one stone.”

Thokk spun around on her heel, striding away before she snapped her fingers out to either side as Sombra shivered and struggled to resist the corruption boiling through his body. He growled low in his throat as he looked up to see portals ripping open in reality, low Elementals pouring in through these rifts and eagerly beginning to approach the fallen, beaten ponies.

Madness flared for a moment in Sombra's eyes as hellish energies began to leak from them, but as he staggered up to his hooves, he forced himself to breathe, to straighten, to not give in to the desire to charge headlong into the throng. No: instead, he stood, taking up position over his fallen companions as he vowed that if this would be his last stand, then he would die fighting as the stallion he had always striven to be, and not frothing and snarling like a beast.

And the beasts and animals laughed as they rushed down upon the king who stood final guard over his friends, an immovable cliff in the face of an unstoppable tide.

Comments

[Mira Starlight]

OK, Thokk's actually starting to get a bit scary now.

[BarrenBaron]

In either this chapter or the last you said Moonflowers black hole trebled In size, pretty sure that's to be tripled.