Ultimate Equestria

by Leo Pachino

Chapter 054: Battle of the Skies (Part 4)

“We did it…” Rainbow Dash said, shocked.

She and the other ponies looked down the hole Korsan’s body created and saw the raging seas below. Anti-magic poured down the hole, vanishing upon impact with the white waves. Whatever trace Korsan might’ve had left on the ocean would be gone.

“We did it.” Twilight replied, even more shocked.

“We did it!” Pinkie exclaimed.

Everypony leapt into the air and cheered. They have finally done it, they thought to themselves. The battle was over, and Korsan’s army had been defeated. Pats were thrown around the group and ponies praised each other. They reminisced about their previous experiences, thinking about all the wacky things that brought them to this moment.

“Hey AJ,” Dash said. “Remember when you and I were fighting the pirates, and when we got a cannon and threw it onto a bunch of them?”

Applejack replied, “Sure do! Hey, Fluttershy, that was a special trick you pulled with the other pegasi in the quarterdeck.”

“Thanks.” Fluttershy humbly replied.

“You can say that again! It saved me and some of our friends.” Pinkie cheered.

“Speaking of friends… Princess Celestia, Princess Luna, what’s going to happen to them?” Rarity asked.

“The pirates?” Celestia asked.

“The ones that helped us; November, Nitin, Yin, Yu, the ones with us,” Sweetie replied.

“Well…” Celestia took a moment to think before actually answering Rarity’s question.

The surrounding pirates, that once served Korsan, leaned in to hear the princess’s answer. They were nervous, but obviously had a backup plan to flee on the spot.

“Can we be let off free?” Maurice loudly asked, not bothering with subtlety.

“Considering you are most likely wanted in several countries…” Celestia started.

“I never messed with you guy-” Maurice quickly stated.

“Perhaps for punishment, you all can serve lightened jail time, maybe even just community service. It’ll take a while for your amnesty to be official, after all.” Celestia said.

“Really?”

“You are all heroes of the entire world. I’m sure the world is thankful of your efforts.”

“…Sure, I can live with that.” Slasher replied.

“Wait, what about Thieves’ Hold?” November asked.

Nitin promptly asked, “What about that Craig stallion?”

“Craig?!” Dash exclaimed in an immediate wave of panic. “As in Craig Y’ol Timber?!”

“…Yes.” Nitin replied.

“He’s here?!” Dash exclaimed.

“Yes.” Nitin blankly said.

“Oh, no-”

Suddenly, a wood stick smacked Rainbow Dash in the head before falling on the floor next to her.

“Ow!” Dash groaned.

“Hehe, looks like he already found you.” Twilight giggled.

“Twilight,” Spike nervously called to her.

“What is it Spike?” Twilight asked.

“Are you alright?” Spike asked, pointing to her body.

“Huh?”

Curious of what he meant, Twilight examined herself. She soon discovered that her purple fur was now tarnished with a veil of red and pink. Her flesh was covered in bruises, cuts, and light scars, all especially noticeable around the hoof she stuck into Korsan. It was a messy sight, quickly followed by the sensation of pain that accompanies it.

“Oh, it’s just a flesh wound, nothing to worry about.” Twilight moaned, holding back the pain.

“We should get onto the other ships. This airship will hit water at any minute now.” Luna calmly replied.

“Quite right,” Celestia nodded.

“Oh yeah, we’re falling. Heh, never noticed.” Jarvis dumbly said, just now realizing their situation.

---

The remaining ponies on The Perfection boarded the surrounding ships. With the aid of pegasi and unicorn magic, the ponies were able to safely leave the slowly falling airship. One by one, Celestia, Luna, Cadence, Rarity, Applejack, Pinkie Pie, Applebloom, Sweetie Belle, Scootaloo, Philomena, Juliana, Spike, Yin, Yu, Slasher, November, Nitin, Cecil, Maurice, Jarvis, and the rest of the pirates that helped overthrow Korsan left The Perfection, with Twilight on deck monitoring above.

“That’s it everypony. Keep it single-file, no shoving, keep all of your weapons sheaved, no stealing, make room for others,” Twilight announced.

“Twilight,” Celestia called out, hovering above the line.

“Celestia,” Twilight replied, turning to Celestia.

“I’m sorry I only left you and your friends with the SS Raindrop. I didn’t know you would need so much help.”

“It’s fine. None of us knew something like this was going to happen. And besides, it probably was better that we went alone.” Twilight said.

“Is the SS Raindrop still in good condition?” Celestia asked.

“…It served well.” Twilight cryptically replied.

Princess Celestia humourously rolled her eyes, knowing what Twilight implied.

“How about the Diamond Eye?” Celestia asked.

Twilight instantly gasped, realizing that she had forgotten why she and her friends even started this journey.

“One quick second, I’ll be right back!” She quickly replied.

Immediately, Twilight took off into the quarterdeck while the last ponies boarded Celestia’s airship.

“Alright, start pulling out! Twilight will catch up to us.” Celestia announced.

---

Twilight searched through the slowly decaying treasure room. She wasn’t going to leave The Perfection until she found the Diamond Eye. As she searched, Twilight noticed that large amounts of the treasure had already either been claimed by her pirate friends or fallen into the sea, indicated by the massive holes in the floors and walls. However, in the back of her mind, Twilight was sure that the Diamond Eye was still here.

Continuing to search deeper and deeper into the vault, an eerie feeling tingled in her spine, as if there was something behind her. In the massive and dark room, it felt inevitable that somepony was hiding here. Twilight shrugged the feeling and continued to search. Eventually, Twilight found the two massive diamonds in the back of the room.

She picked them up with her magic and turned to the door. As she headed for the exit, the eerie tingling returned, stronger than before. As she stepped out of the vault, a white blur suddenly passed in front of her.

Twilight jumped back and reached for an antique sword on the floor. A red aura surrounded the long blade and flung it out the vault through a hole in the wall.

“What the-” Twilight gasped.

“Stay.” A familiar mare’s voice commanded from behind Twilight’s ear. When Twilight tried to look behind, she was stopped by a small dagger pointed at her throat. Frozen, Twilight examined the levitating blade. She noticed the groove designs and the red aura surrounding it. They were the signature blades of one pony and one pony alone.

“Maria?” Twilight asked behind her.

“I said stay.” The mare repeated herself.

Slowly, Maria emerged from the unseen corner of Twilight’s vision and walked in front of her. Maria looked and acted greatly different from the last time Twilight saw her. All over her body, face, mane, and tail, were bruises, cuts, and matted fur. Maria’s eyes were glazed over, bloodshot with glowing magic. A trail of red and black liquid extended from Maria’s limping hoof and into the vast darkness behind.

As Twilight looked closer, Maria’s eyes could be seen behind the glaze, darting all around, terrified.

Horrified, Twilight asked, still at the dagger’s end, “What happened to you?”

A voice chuckled in the darkness in response, “Don’t you recognize this? Doesn’t it look familiar to a certain spell?”

“Korsan!” Twilight roared.

From the dark corner behind Maria emerged Korsan, limping towards the pair of mares. Although seriously battered, Korsan remained just as pretentious and villainous as he’s always been the past weeks.

“How did you- …You climbed the outside of the hull, didn’t you?” Twilight asked.

“Cleve-”

Korsan groaned midway through his taunting. He grabbed his back piece and shredded cape. His throat croaked in agony. As Korsan moved his claws into the light, Twilight saw that they lines up perfectly with the cuts and scars Maria had on her body.

He did this to her.

“What did you do to Maria?!” Twilight demanded.

“An exercise of my magic prowess is what I did. I taught Hans the ability to control bodies beyond your own with mind spells. Of course, Maria’s will needed to be broken down for it to work. It definitely serves well though when your suit is busted and you need a little help. Impressed?” Korsan asked.

Hans then walked out of the shadows. His horn glowed the same sickly colour that Maria’s bloodshot eyes bore. He was controlling her. He and Korsan were manipulating Maria after subjecting her to absolute horror and torment.

“You tortured her?! Let her go!”

“You should be glad. If you hadn’t messed with my cannon, Maria would’ve ended up being Swiss cheese. Don’t worry, the pain has mostly vanished In fact, to Maria, it probably feels nice, being put down into submission after such naughty behaviour.”

“You’re a monster!”

“So I am, but not for long. After seeing Princess Celestia and Luna, you know, born alicorns, in action, I am certain that they’re magic is powerful.”

“No…”

“Oh yes. Come with me!”

---

“Where is she?” Luna grumbled.

She and Celestia looked over The Perfection from their now distanced battleship.

“It’s a big ship. I’m sure Twilight will find what she’s looking for.” Celestia replied, trying to calm her sister down.

“I know, but I’m getting this bad feeling about this. Something doesn’t sit right.” Luna replied.

“What do you mean?”

“Did we actually see Korsan plummet into the ocean?”

“No, there was wood flying everywhere.”

“Exactly, what if he-”

“Don’t worry, Luna. Rainbow Dash gave Korsan an absolute smackdown! I’m confident that Korsan wouldn’t be able to pull off something like-”

“Attention alicorns!” Korsan’s voice roared from The Perfection’s deck.

Immediately, the two alicorn princesses looked over to saw Korsan, Maria, Hans, and Twilight, standing at the end of an outstretched plank. Twilight was completely wrapped in metal chains and three anti-magic straps were tightened around her horn. Korsan and Maria were hunched over her body, each with a dagger at her throat. Hans stood at the base of the plank, watching over and controlling Maria. Celestia and Luna gasped upon the sight, prompting everypony else on board to see what’s going on.

“Twilight!” They all exclaimed.

“Maria’s been taken over by Korsan and Hans!” Twilight yelled back, trying her best to explain the situation.

“Let her go, Korsan!” Celestia demanded.

“Turn me into an alicorn!” Korsan replied, shaking his shuttering hostage. “Do it, or else this little beauty’s gonna have her gizzard cut out! And don’t think about pulling anything fancy. I know every conceivable spell in the world. I know how to execute each and every one, so I’ll know if any funny business goes down. I just need a suspicion of something being off, and I and my puppet will kill Twilight!”

“You’re mad!” Celestia exclaimed.

“Isn’t it always the case? Hey, Twilight, how about you sing a song for us?”

“Celestia!” Twilight screamed. “Don’t give into his demands!”

“Ohohoho! Looks like somepony’s dying for some drama!” Korsan manically taunted, cackling in the storm.

“Celestia and Luna will never give in! I’d rather die than let you destroy the world!” Twilight retorted.

“Hahaha! So what’s it going be, Princesses?” Korsan asked. “You have about twenty seconds before the anti-magic completely drains from my suit, and if you don’t comply within the second afterwards, Twilight’s head is going to be mounted on Dane Jonas’ Locker at the bottom of the sea!”

“Don’t-” Before Twilight could reply, Korsan shoved his tattered cape into the hostage’s mouth.

“Tick-tock, Princess Celestia and Princess Luna.” Korsan taunted before counting down. “Ten… Nine… Eight…”

“No!” Celestia screamed.

Her mind overheated as she tried to decide. Both options had disastrous consequences that will surely affect the entire world. The terrified eyes of Twilight beamed into Celestia’s soul, silently screaming for her to both not let her die, yet die at the same time.

“Seven… Six… Five…” Korsan counted.

“Luna!” Celestia exclaimed.

The two alicorn sisters looked at each other, seeing each other’s mortified faces. They looked back at their ponies, only to be met with the same response from all of them.

“Princess Cadence?” Luna asked.

“Four…” Korsan continued.

“I don’t know! I’m just as lost! I’m not a born alicorn! I don’t know what to choose! Twilight’s about to die!” Cadence rambled.

“Three!” Korsan now screamed.

Celestia turned back to Twilight.

She fanatically muttered to herself, “What do I do, what do I do, what do I do?!”

“Two!” Korsan roared.

“…”

“One!”

Finally, Celestia made her choice.

“Fine, Korsan! Luna!”

Instantly, Celestia and Luna aimed their horns at Korsan. Their horns glowed and sparkled, exactly what Korsan wanted. A white and black aura surrounded Korsan. It gently lifted him into the air and enveloped his body. A flash of light shone across the sea as Korsan’s form turned into a star of light, blinding everypony.

The raging storm circled above the star. Lightning converged onto the star, zapping it with dozens of bolts per second. Electricity rapidly sputtered around the aura. Sparkles of white, black, and electric magic pulsated from the star and soared through the air. Rain gravitated into Korsan’s being, soon followed by The Perfection. It was like a gluttonous black hole had been unleashed.

The pegasi flying around scattered away from the star, narrowly escaping the growing gravity. Twilight watched in horror as she saw the black outline of Korsan from below his transform. She watched as his body deformed and slowly grew. A small horn emerged from his skull. Sheer mass and muscles sprouted across his flesh. The remnants of his machine suit shattered into thousands of metal bits and orbited the aura along with the rain and parts of boat. The air vibrated with the low rumble of power accumulating in this star, as if the entire fabric of space and time was about to rip in two.

From the manic star of energy and magic, Korsan’s voice echoed out across the world. It was deeper, booming, and dominant, roaring in both pleasure and pain.

“Yes… The power… The absolute power! Must… Have… More!” Korsan said.

“He’s an alicorn now, pull out!” Celestia yelled out.

If they could pull this off just correctly, Korsan would only have a minimal initial spike in power. After perhaps thirty minutes, Korsan’s alicorn power would even out, leaving him a weaker alicorn compared to even Twilight and Cadence.

But, as Celestia and Luna attempted to pull out of the spell, a hellish electirc beam burst from Korsan’s star and hit the two. The beam held them in place and forced them to transfer more magic. The small white star immediately expanded into a black, yellow, and white black hole of magic.

Everypony froze in total horror, their jaws dropping and their trains of thought derailing on the spot. What was this entity Tartarus that had been unleashed onto the world?

“He knows magic absorption?!” Cadence exclaimed.

The black hole collapsed in on itself, condensing into a solid black figure at the center. The being, barely resembling an alicorn, shifted around in place. It slowly moved its limbs and examined its own body. A pair of bloodshot eyes opened from the being’s face, with the center of its pupils burning with burning energy. They looked down the onlookers, paralyzing them.

The ascended being looked down at the now exhausted princesses. It had drained every ounce of magic they had on them. It then looked at Rarity behind them. It looked down at Hans, also paralyzed. Maria then came into view, now free of her binds and wobbling around the deck.

The being finally saw Twilight, looking back at it, scared and horrified. But another emotion was sensed: fury. Even though the being exponentially more powerful and magically capable than Twilight, she was ready to fight.

The black being once known as Korsan dove down the deck and bolts into the quarterdeck. The back section of The Perfection immediately then exploded in a massive fireball. Fire and debris blasted all over the area, only to stop in midair and fly back. Massive metal beams and spiked bars sprouted from the destroyed area, reforming it, corrupting it.

The almost alive metal structure corrupted the rest of the airship, transforming The Perfection into a spiked behemoth of mishmashed metal and wood. Electricity and lightning flew and danced across the entire structure, like it was all some demonic battery.

The cannons on board burst from the sides of the ship and were turned into mechanical tendrils, flinching and taking aim at every living thing in sight. The masts remaining shattered in the middle and fell into the ocean below. Ten massive caped wings burst from the sides of The Perfection. With one flap, the entire vessel jumped high into the air.

Entire lengths of the hull broke away into separate tentacles, reformed by the being’s terrifying infection. The hull parts reformed into six incredibly long razor blades of electricity, spanning a hundred metres in length. The bow of the ship blasted off and revealed a massive cannon that replaced the interior of the entire metal and wood body.

Finally, The Perfection’s transformation ended with the quarterdeck. Electricity and magic lifted and formed various metal parts that came together to form a head. The floating metal head looked like Korsan’s, but was much more monstrous and mechanical.

Korsan’s voice roared from it, “I am reborn… I am perfected… And I am going to perfect this world… No matter the costs… I am the Judge… Jury… Executioner… I am Korsan… Perfected…”

Korsan’s head rose and sent a metal screech into the air. The screech blew away the surrounding ships with its sheer power. The storm above grew even more furious than before. Twilight, still wrapped in her chains, could only watch as one of the massive electric swords raised into the clouds above her.

It dropped down, aimed right at her skull. However, just as the blade was about to hit, Rainbow Dash soared in and shoved Twilight out of the way. The two ponies tumbled to the middle of the deck. The giant blade struck the side of the deck, creating a shockwave throughout. As Dash then proceeded to free Twilight from her bindings, Celestia’s battleship pulled over them. Pinkie Pie, Applejack, Rarity, Fluttershy, Slasher, November, Nitin, Cecil, Maurice, and Jarvis were teleported on board with the help of Cadence.

Rainbow Dash and Twilight were quickly surrounded by their friends, quick to help.

“What are you guys doing here?” Twilight asked as she climbs to her hooves, surprised of their audacity to hop onto the monstrous airship.

“You think some giant mechanical monster is going to get the best of us?” Applejack confidently replied, though a small sense of nervousness was also present in her voice.

“This is practically a Tuesday.” Pinkie Pie said.

“Let’s teach this guy a lesson!” Rainbow Dash roared.

“As scary as this is, we’re probably going to deal with worse things in the future.” Fluttershy said with optimism.

“This may be crazy, all of us doing this, but it seems to work for Korsan.” Rarity said.

“It is better to die trying than to run away.” Cecil declared.

“Here, here!” Maurice cheered.

“And besides, there isn’t really anyplace to run away to.” Jarvis bluntly said.

“For friends…” November spoke.

“For family…” Nitin said.

“For freedom, happiness, and justice to all!” Slasher exclaimed.

Twilight looked at the eleven heroes surrounding her, side by side. An overwhelming sense of confidence and pride rose in each of them as they stood before their mighty foe.

Standing at the ready alongside her friends, Twilight looked back at Korsan, staring back at her back. She knew that inside that mechanical head was Korsan, now an almighty alicorn who was thirsty for blood. The battle of the skies may have ended with Korsan being thrown under, but the battle for the fate of the world still remained.

It wasn’t going to be easy, but with her friends, Twilight knew anything was possible.

“Bring it on, Korsan.” She said.