The Phoenix King

by Turtlehaus

Chapter 66: Battle for Naught (Part 2)

The Mad King felt the grip of the Elder Dragon Char tighten around him. It's claws pierced through his hide, interlocked, and almost fused with him. There was no pain to be had, the Mad King stared at the image of himself with the pane of glass. The young fool that had allowed his Kingdom to come undone, to allow an Orc to make a mockery of his pride, and knelt before a dragon from weakness.

"What I've done?" The Mad King hissed.

This reflection only stared back him now. It infuriated the Mad King, having to look this pathetic pony in the eyes. Struggling against the claws, trying to divert his gaze from his reflection. The Elder Dragon growled along with the Mad King efforts to move, snorting in its distaste, but refusing to allow the Mad King to move an inch.

"What have you done?"

Slowly the reflection repeated itself over and over again. Increasing in volume with every word it spoke. It's tone was changing, it was becoming fearful, almost horrified as it was now shouting the words at him. The eyes within the reflection exploded with fire, the body peeling away, the shrill cries of agony of the reflection filled his ears. His reflection was consumed within the inferno, collapsing into a pile of ash, before the fire died away completely.

The Mad King tried to step forward to inspect this ash ridden pile of his own reflection, but found himself unable to do so. Struggling against the claws of the dragon, the Mad King could not draw himself from its grasp.

"Let go!" The Mad King commanded.

Try as he might, the Mad King could not budge a single claw. His struggle only tired him. His eyes fell back to the pile of ash where he found himself locking eyes with his father. A claw of the dragon had twitched, drawing itself slightly from the Mad King's hide, reacting to the sudden overwhelming feeling Scorch had at seeing his father again.

The Wise King Phoenix offered Scorch his hoof. Instinctively, the Mad King tried to reach for it, but found himself unable to move his arm beneath the Elder Dragon's crushing grip. A new found fury had filled Scorch, wildly trying to wrench himself from the dragon's grasp, but failed over and over again. The darkness slowly crept in behind the Wise King Phoenix, slowly surrounding him as it garnered his attention and drew him away from the Mad King.

"Father!" The Mad King cried.

His words fell deaf to the Wise King. It followed the darkness away from Scorch, much to his dismay. He shouted to his father again, watching the darkness begin to consume him. The Wise King started to struggle, attempting to rid himself of the darkness, but it would not let him go. Fire shot from the Mad King's throat, threatening the darkness, cursing it, trying to free himself to reach his father, but he could not. The Mad King watched the darkness drag his father into the abyss, leaving him alone again.

Fury swept through the Mad King, demanding the Elder Dragon to release him, but was met with its silent refusal. His eyes were met with another pony this time, one that he knew very well, one that had followed him to the ends of the earth. His Glow stood before him, her eyes full of fear and pity.

The words for help were caught in his throat. His pride refusing to let him show any weakness, and yet Glow seemed to know all the same. The Mad King watched as his Queen struck her hooves against the pane of glass that separated them, silently calling out to him, trying to break through to reach him. Scorch could see movement in the darkness, anger filling him once again at the thought of the darkness returning.

"Stay back!" The Mad King cried.

Glow continued to strike the pane of glass to no avail, her hooves chipping from each hit, her face filled with sadness and on the verge of tears being unable to reach him. The Mad King watched as his Queen's face slowly began to change to fear, her eyes leaving his to look over her shoulder. Lightning broke across the sky, the Storm churning a ways off in the distance. Flaring her mane, the Mad King watched Glow turn her back to him to face it.

"No!" The Mad King shouted.

Glow gave Scorch once last look over her shoulder. Her face wracked with grief and pain. She bolted off towards the Storm, amidst the angry cries of the Mad King commanding her to stop. The Storm crashed down upon her, swallowing her in the darkness, and leaving the Mad King alone once again.

A tortured cry broke out from the Mad King, using all his might to move from the dragon, but gained only an inch from its grip. The Mad King collapsed upon the dragon's claws, breathing heavily, gritting his teeth from what he was forced to see. He kept his eyes to the ground, refusing to look up again, not knowing what else may be waiting for him.

"I forgive you."

These words gave the Mad King a start. His head lifted to see Smolder staring at him. His son's face wracked from pain, but a small smile all the same. The Mad King watched as his son turned away, leaving him once more, just like he had in the cave. Before the Mad King could speak, the world was suddenly filled with the echoes of his own words.

"I don't need your forgiveness, Smolder! You are fool to think that seek any sort of absolution! Especially from such a stupid, worthless, undeserving pony like you!"

Again the Storm churned in the distance, Smolder charging towards it, just as Glow had done. The Mad King moved to chase after him and found himself falling forward. Snow filled the Mad King's face, quickly melting before evaporating. Pulling himself upright, the Mad King found himself at the edge of the portal, having been freed from whatever it was that had pulled him into his own mind. He stared out at the frozen tundra that lay before him, feeling the wind fan his flames, but he did not move. The moan of the Storm groaned high over head, causing the Mad King to turn towards battle that was taking place far off in the distance now.

"Smolder..."

---

With the Storm nearly pulled from Null, he grasped at the strands of clouds leaving his chest in a desperate attempt hold on to it. An enormous tentacle slammed down hard upon the neck of the dragon, throwing Null violently into the air before falling back down onto its head. Without the Storm to keep the dragon resisting against the giant squid, it was being pulled underground.

“I will not be… denied… my destiny.”

With the Storm no longer able to sustain him, Null reached out towards the flames that roared across the carcass of the dragon and began to siphon bits of fire. All the while, the giant squid was mercilessly striking the dragon over and over again with its massive tentacles to break it apart to pull under the earth. Fighting to take the fire for itself.

Before the giant squid could pull its prey beneath the earth a powerful explosion of dark energy blasted the Elder Dragon to pieces. Kana began flailing wildly from the burning dark magic, flinging the burning remains of the Elder Dragon it still clung to across the world. From the black fire Null rose from the pit, hunched over, having exhausted much of the light he had absorbed.

Staggering his way from the open pit of the giant squid, Null retreated back to where the failing remnants of Castle Naught still stood. Hundreds upon thousands of Echoes raced past him, racing towards the light that washed out from the massive portals. A passing Echo slammed in Null’s shoulder, knocking him easily to the ground. Whatever light that still clung to him was dwindling away, fear was all that kept Null moving towards the abyss and distancing himself from those that sought his demise.

From the other side of the vast ocean of mangled Echoes, Sapphire and I stood against the horde having witnessed Null’s desperate attempt to save himself from the giant squid. With the Storm being stretched contained by the Obelisks’ power, Null was vulnerable and the thought on everypony’s mind was ending this nightmare.

Having witnessed Null’s desperate attempt to cling to life, I found myself wondering how long Null had been alone with the Storm. How long it must have fed off of him, influencing him, just as my father had done to my brothers. I noticed Sapphire stepping up alongside me, her face looking rather determined, if not steeled for the coming battle.

“I have to reach Null, Sapphire.” I said.

Sapphire flared her wings out, clouds of frost wafting from her feathers, looking elegant and fierce all at once. “I’ll help create a path through these monsters and give you an opening to finish him once and for all.”

My flames quickly surrounded me, my flash step having become more precise and controlled then it had been earlier. Perhaps it was due to this sudden awakening I had experienced, that my fire was no longer straining to reach this power, but whatever it ended up being I knew in my heart I felt stronger.

“I’ll cut through the middle and break right. It will keep us out of reach of the giant squid. Just stick close to me and don’t do anything stupid.”

I walked up next to Sapphire, bumping her flank with my own. There was a small hiss from our ice and fire having touched. She looked rather surprised by my playfulness.

“Like what happened back in the cave?.” I asked.

Sapphire’s face was slightly flushed. I felt her flank bump against mine, her head turned away. It was easier than saying all the things we already knew, how much we wanted each other to stay safe, but this way was easier. The Echoes were breaking off in four separate directions, flooding towards the open portals. Far behind us was the portal to the Ashen Fields. Together Sapphire and I brought our fire and ice to the peak of its power. The tentacles of the creature Kana flailed in the air above, slamming down against the fields, crushing beetle and Echo alike. In a flash the two of us had raced off towards the swarm of Echoes, giving Sapphire the lead as her ice stretched across the fields before exploding into vicious icicles that skewered the Echoes in place and forcing the rest to branch off. A flick of her wings, Sapphire’s ice had doubled in size violently expanding outwards and creating a cavern like path for the two of us to cut through. As I followed Sapphire in, I knew that I was still keeping secrets from her, that I would destroy myself trying to stop this Storm, but somewhere deep down I started to understand what my father must have felt when he faced the Elder Dragon alone.

---

The portal of the Ashen Fields had revealed everything at once. A giant squid beating down an inflamed corpse of the Elder Dragon with countless ghoulish creatures and beetles stampeding across the barren black sand with storm clouds wailing overhead being pulled from a single being. It was a lot to take on the first glance, although the sudden flourish of flames several miles out had gotten everypony’s attention.

“This all looks so deliciously chaotic!” Discord exclaimed.

Princess Luna looked about, hoping to catch a glimpse of her sister, Twilight Sparkle, or any pony else. A small spark of light caught the corner of her eye, the familiar color of Princess Celestia’s magic mixed in with those of Twilight’s. It was safe to assume that they had not fallen prey to the dangers of the Void just yet.

“Soldiers of Phoenix!” General Horizon shouted.

Hundreds of flame pony soldiers straightened to attention, manes flaring with fire, knowing that the battle was just about to begin.

Flare, being acting Leader of the Academy, had to step aside to allow Ray to act as their commander. While some of her own flyers were in the mix, many of them were soldiers first before being brought over to the Academy and being placed under her own supervision. In times of crisis, Ray would supersede her in all things military related, but things did not strain their relationship. In fact, Ray had approached Flare in private to ask for guidance in what sort of strategy would best suit this particular battle. The title of General had only humbled her to seeking out those who she felt most qualified to the task she had been appointed to and sought to better herself.

“These fell deeds of darkness will run at the light of a flame pony.”

Ray’s words had every flame pony soldier striking their hooves into the ground, firing up their already blazing manes.

Princess Luna, along with Princess Cadance had already flared their wings, ready to take flight while Shining Armor positioned himself near Nightshade, Cosmic, and Peanut.

“Stick together and don’t go off on your own.” Shining Armor warned them.

“We’ve done crazier things than this.” Cosmic pointed out.

“This is certainly up there.” Peanut remarked.

“It’s the weirdest, that’s for sure.” Nightshade added.

“We’re here to get Smolder and everypony out in one piece. So don’t go trying to be heroes again.” Shining Armor tacked on.

Nightshade looked over to see that all three of them were looking his way.

“Why are you guys looking at me?”

“You’re the one getting married you dolt.” Peanut remarked.

“If you get killed, Belle will murder the rest of us.” Cosmic replied.

“So do us a favor and keep your head down.” Shining Armor concluded.

While their words seemed rather annoyed, if not exaggerated, it was clear to Nightshade that none of them wanted him doing anything reckless. With his recent engagement, their priorities had shifted on what was important and that had suddenly fallen to him. Each of them had their own special somepony to come home to now, but it appeared that Nightshade had become the scapegoat for everypony else’s worry in the attempts to hide their own.

Flare took her place beside Ray’s side, watching her dawn her grandfather’s helmet once more.

“We cowered at the power of the Mad King, ran from the wrath of the Elder Dragon, and our King had to protect this Kingdom in our place.”

In unison the soldiers grunted aloud their frustration at this fact, wanting nothing more than the single chance to rewrite this narrative forever.

“We’re getting our King back and no Storm or paper mache dude is going to get in our way!”

Flare could not help but roll her eyes and smile at her remark. While it wasn’t all that authoritative, but it was Ray through and through. It was several years to early for Ray to be speaking with such experience, but gave it more heart than any long winded speech she could have prepared.

“To the King!”

The thunderous roar of hundreds of hooves pounded the dirt. A wave of fire surged through the portal, racing across the black sand, and racing towards the swarm of Echoes stampeding towards them. Light from the army of flame ponies brightened the world considerably, revealing colors that had remained hidden in the shadows. Hundreds upon thousands of hues of multicolored rocks seemed to lay beneath the black sand, hinting at what the world once was and what it could be again.

The Echoes were no longer under Null’s control, or the Storm for that matter. All that was left was a desire for light, a desperate hunger for it. It perhaps even made the Echoes even more dangerous as the very light they sought was so close to them now.

Battalions of ice ponies had veered off from the group, creating large ice walls to block off the hordes of Echoes from branching off. It forced them to come head on with the rest of the Frozen North armies that cut through the Echoes lines like scissors gliding through paper.

General Hearth, temporarily back for active duty, stuck close to his younger brother Coal and his nephew Warrick. While his heart still felt young and wild, he had lost a few steps over the years and a couple more with his battle with the Orc. Even with his cautious approach to his fire breathing, Coal seemed to pick up on his limitations rather quickly and focused his efforts in aiding his weak sides. Warrick on the other hoof was young and had plenty of steps to spare. He. Faced the brunt of the Echoes, defending his family with the tenacity of his father and the courage of his uncle, but most importantly the fury of attacks that stemmed from his mother.

“I take it that this is just another walk in the park for you, Warrick?” Coal asked.

“No - Yes.” Both the General and Coal’s son had answered him together.

The agreement came from his son, while his older brother was beginning to look winded from the excessive fire breathing.

“A different day, a different enemy, but I’m not the same pony as I used to be.” General Hearth remarked. “This is a young pony’s fight now.”

“It will make a for wonderful bedtime story for your niece and nephews.” Coal pointed out.

Several Echoes had come from a split in the earth, flanking both Warrick and Coal. Hearth aimed a blast of fire at these creatures but found himself choking on smoke. A gleam of metal reflected from the fires of Coal and Warrick, streaking across the flanking Echoes cutting them in two and dropping to the floor in a heap. Summer had magically appeared near her sword with her father coming over to thank her.

“Wonderful shot, sweetheart.” Coal praised.

General Hearth smiled to himself, neither Coal nor Warrick had seemed worried over it, in fact they seemed perfectly calm as if knowing that some pony had their backs. It wasn’t his job to uphold the family name anymore, the the legacy of Hearth was in good hooves with Coal’s family, and that his family might just need him to be their Uncle rather than their hero.

“You doing alright, Uncle Rick?” Summer asked.

“Rick?” General Hearth asked.

Coal placed his hoof on Summer’s shoulder, motioning his head towards the shifting battle with the Echoes off in the distance.

“We’ve got things under control here, sweetie. Find Princess Sapphire and get her out.” Coal told her.

Summer nodded to her father, giving him a one armed hug before disappearing on the spot again. General Hearth walked up alongside Coal, watching Warrick lead a charge with his fellow ice pony soldiers to break the line of Echoes. It wasn’t hard to see that Coal was visibly worried for his children, but smile of pride broke out across his face.

“Warrick,” Coal began. “having to you leave behind all those years ago had taught me a very hard lesson. One about having to let go of those I care about.”

General Hearth knew what Coal was feeling. He had buried it deep down after his own wife had been taken from him. It burned at the base of his heart, fueling his fire, but now it seemed to have cooled after all these years.

“But until recently, letting go of those who matter to me have a way of surviving on their own and finding their way back home anyways.”

With the battle shifting further away from them, General Hearth seated himself next to his brother taking a moment to let this all sink in.

“I’m not sure if I like being called uncle Rick.” Hearth mumbled.

Coal smiled sitting alongside him. Knowing that his brother always gave him an out when sharing things close to him, because it was so very important to Coal that his brother saw him just as strong and unshakable as he was.

“You’ll have to tell that to Lily, your shy little niece was the one that started calling you that.” Coal replies.

“Well in that case I rather quite like being called Uncle Rick.”

---

Summer leapted out of the swing of Kana’s tentacle, covering her face from the rock and dirt it broke up. With so many ice ponies surrounding it, Kana’s attention was focused on the only light it could reach in the form of Summer, Warrick, General Hearth and Coal. The ice ponies were attempting to freeze Kana solid, to prevent it from struggling anymore, as Sapphire had done earlier, but having tasted the fire of the Twins the giant squid fought for every inch it could muster.

Princess Sapphire was just on the other side of the giant squid, facing down the Echoes and attempting to reach Null with Smolder. Even with Lord Tundra and Lady Frost present within the fight, Summer felt that her place should be beside her friend. Unfortunately, there was the problem of the giant squid that had decided that she and her family would make quite the meal.

With the army of flame pony soldiers striking at the heart of the Echoes, Kana could feel the warmth of their fire against the ice coating its body. A thick secretion of acidic slime swelled across Kana, melting the ice quickly, forcing many ice ponies to retreat from the harmful ooze. With a massive swing the giant squid whipped its tentacle, splattering it’s acidic goo across the fields. Summer was one of the many unicorn ponies that preemptively conjured a shield to block much of the goo from reaching the other ponies far from the battle.

Their magical shield held fast, the acidic goo appeared useless against magic, but the issue was moving the creature to a place where no pony would get hurt by it. The focus necessary to coordinate their joint effort in moving the ooze had Summer planted in her stance. Unable to move while concentrating her magic, the giant squid saw its opportunity and whipped its tentacle towards the small morsel of light.

Warrick was already racing towards Summer’s aid, his flash step beginning to spark, but noticed a blue streak nearly at her side. The streak turned out to be a Pegasi ice pony colliding with her from the side, knocking her clear of Kana’s tentacle. The force of the creatures strike broke open the earth throwing dirt and rock into the air.

Bleak rolled across the ground with Summer in his arms. Shielding her from the fallout of earth that rained down upon them. Summer had assumed it had been Warrick or even her father who had gotten to her first, but she would never have guessed who it turned out to be.

“Bleak?” Summer asked.

“Hey, beautiful.”

There was a flutter in Bleak’s heart, having seen his special somepony again. It was quickly filled with fear at the sudden rage that swept over Summer’s face.

Summer immediately kicked Bleak off of her, mane flaring wildly. Her magic was already unsheathing her sword with a wild look in her eyes.

“Now, Summer, let’s be reasonable here!”

“Oh! I’ll be reasonable! In how I cut you into equal portions and dump them on the Frozen Sea!”

Bleak was backpedaling quickly. Bumping flanks with Warrick. Believing it to be another enemy, Warrick spin on the spot and found himself being used as a shield against Summer.

“Hey, weren’t you that one pony who used to run the gambling den back behind-“

Summer’s sword cut through the air, swinging wildly at the Bleak and forcing Warrick to dodge as well.

“Summer!” Warrick barked.

“Move or die, Warrick!” Summer shouted.

Warrick immediately wrestled himself free of Bleak’s grasp before hightailing it away from the two of them. Knowing that a flame pony scorned was no joke.

“Summer, sweetness, you know why we had to break up, right?” Bleak asked.

“Break up? Break up! You dumped me!”

With a magic pop, Summer teleported right in front of Bleak, her sword raised high to cleave him in two. Throwing himself aside he got clear of her swing but bumped up against Coal, Summer’s father.

Coal turned to see who had run into him and almost recognized him. “Aren’t you that one pony who sells magical elixirs for headaches near the supermarket?”

“Hello, sir, glad to see the elixir worked.” Bleak replied.

“I don’t think it did to be honest.”

Summer turned towards the two of them, her sword being aggressively pulled from the ground.

“Everything alright, sweetie?” Coal asked her.

“Sir, if I may be so bold to assume that she never told you about our little break up?” Bleak asked.

“Oh, so you’re the colt Summer refuses to talk about.”

Coal immediately took hold of Bleak’s arm and shoulder before shoving him Summer’s way.

“Best of luck, sweetie.”

With a vicious shriek, Summer lunged at Bleak. Her sword narrowly avoiding his head as it sliced his cloudy mane in two. Bleak scrambled away from her. Bleak was seriously considering running towards the giant squid and taking his chances with it then Summer. It had been sometime since their breakup, it wasn’t all that clean as Bleak would have liked, but he wasn’t about to let Summer give up an opportunity she worked so hard for. Then again, perhaps not talking to her since the split wasn’t the best way to go about things.

“Summer, look, I was a loser! You had your whole life in front of you and I wasn’t going to be the pony that held you back!”

Bleak’s words seemed to register with her. Everypony who knew about her and Bleak had told her how bad a colt he was and how he would be a bad influence on her. Bleak could see that it had bought him a few precious seconds from her magical sword.

“It just wasn’t because of that though. I wanted to be a pony you’d want to tell your friends about, a pony you could introduce to your family to, a pony that you could be proud of. I’ve tried cleaning up my act and I’ve tried playing it straight, because I wanted to be a pony that you could depend on and not be embarrassed by me.”

His own words hit him harder than he thought. Having said it out loud made all the difference then just thinking it. Even as a cadet at the Academy, Bleak wasn’t at a point in his life where he felt like he was worth much.

Summer’s sword dropped to the sand. Her arms coming around Bleak’s shoulders and pulling him in for a hug.

“I didn’t fall in love with you because you were a well put together noble pony.” Summer mumbled. “You were a scrappy, quick witted, silver tongued, rebel that stole my heart on a bet.”

Bleak found himself hugging her back. Feeling the familiar warmth of her flames lick at his icy mane. There was also the cold brush of steel that slowly drew itself across Bleak’s stomach. A nervous shake took him over as the sword seemed to traveling much further south than any bird flew.

“But break my heart again and I’ll carve you up like one of Princess Sapphire’s ice sculptures.”

Winter swallowed hard. “Understood.”

---

Comments

[Night_Striker]

good work keep it upp! and it's been an while

[Stellar_]

Man this is such a good fic.