Chapter 291 - The Final Battle
The throne room, it certainly didn’t look like the way it did before.
The torches along the wall were replaced with foreboding red lights, like hellfire. Rustic pipes ran across random parts of the ground. Small centaur armors facing each other lined the walls leading to the throne. Electricity crackled through the wires that lined the walls in between each light. The throne itself was empty, except for…
Oh, no way…
The staff was sitting on the throne, highly deformed and glowing violently. That bastard really pushed it to its limit. But then, where was Tirek? Did he run away? Was he the type to do that? There was really only a two parter to work with on his personality that you never gave it much thought if he’d try to run when coming so close to victory. “Uh, where did Tirek go?”
“Who cares? That’s the staff, right? I’m gonna go grab that thing and-” As Smolder began to bolt off to grab it, Chrysalis growls harshly as she stomps in front of her.
“Hold it right there! After everything we’ve been through, how could you so mindlessly even attempt to think that it isn’t some sort of trap?” Chrysalis looks over at the staff, and points beyond the throne. “The last time I was here, Tirek had a security room behind that wall. He’s no doubt in there, waiting for us to make a mistake.”
“That doesn’t surprise me. Anything here can be a trap.” Sandbar said as he looked at the loose wiring. “Geez, he needs to call an electrician. Or is he using twittermites to power everything? Woah, what if the trap is releasing a whole load of twittermites?”
“Yeah, I don’t think it’s that.” Grubber said as he investigated one of the centaur armors, poking it. “Nothin’. What do you think, Tempest?”
“My guess? The throne itself is the trap. One could say Tirek may be in one of the armors, but they are too small for him. If I understood a little more about what the staff is capable of, I might be able to come up with a plan.” Tempest said as she gazed at the staff.
“Then fear not. I will, as the youth say, ‘take one for the team’.” Neighsay said as he began to walk up towards the throne. His horn was lit up, sending some sort of light across every object, wall, and floor surrounding him as he walked.
“Woah!” You rushed up towards him, tugging back on his cloak. ”What are you doing?! We haven’t figured out what the trap even is yet!”
Neighsay looked back at you. He tugged his cloak away from your hooves, then smiled gently as he gave you a pat on the head. “Dear Anon, young little Anon. I’m no fool, simple traps such as this are nothing compared to my intellect and magic. And besides, I do believe it is my turn to contribute something to this group. Nay, it is my duty even. For you see, Anon, I was wrong. I was wrong to use you to further my own ends. I was wrong to look at these nonponies and think lesser of them. I was wrong to see Twilight as a nuisance to the EEA. I was wrong about so much…” Neighsay sighed as he grabbed hold of you with his magic, and gently brought you back into the group. “I’m sorry, Anon. And I am sorry to all of you too, every single one of you.”
“W-what?! Woah, hey. Don’t say stuff like that, okay?! Just come back, we can figure this out to-Huh?!” As Sandbar took a few steps to try to call back Neighsay, a barrier came upon the group, preventing them from advancing. Neighsay just looked back at all of you with a nod, and continued towards the throne.
Chrysalis just shrugged. “I’m okay with this.”
Goddammit. You knew he was going to fuck up and get himself hurt… Or worse. You bashed your hooves at the barrier, trying to get the guy to listen to reason. “Chancellor! Don’t do it! This is why we came with everycreature in the first place! Remember? The whole ‘elements dream’ prophecy thing? Don’t do it!”
Neighsay said nothing more as he approached the throne. He just stood there as the light of his horn flashed a few times ahead of him. He then looked left and right, staring at the centaur armors for a moment before looking back at the throne. At first, he almost reached for the staff. But then he stopped. He grabbed his cloak with his teeth and took a few steps back as he tossed it… Through the throne?!
It was a hologram?! And a violent one at that. The whole throne and staff lit up and disappeared as lightning continually blasted up through some sort of panel on the ground. Neighsay just stared at the bursts of power in front of him until finally it all fizzled out. Neighsay then looked back at all of you. “It was indeed a trap. And you say there’s a room behind that wall?”
Woah…
Chrysalis herself seemed rather impressed. Both you and her know there was no way his magic could detect a mechanical hologram. He just managed to figure it out naturally. “Yes, there is. Impressive, Chancellor. Now, can you remove this barrier? I have a centaur to obliterate.”
“Of course, of course. Now that the final trap has been dealt with, it is most prudent we face-Hm?!” Before Neighsay could remove the barrier, one of the armors on his right side suddenly rushed towards him, trying to grab him from where he stood. All of you gasped with fright, thinking he was hurt or snatched. But suddenly, Neighsay magically appeared behind the armor, staring at its backside with a harsh glare. “You almost had me, but I knew a fiend like Tirek would have more than one simple trap. Anon! I call to you, is this an armor brought forth by ethereal forces? Or more of this technological nonsense?”
“Does he mean ghost armor? It doesn’t look very ghostly to me.” Silverstream said, staring at the armor. “Shouldn’t it be all spooky and scary?”
Could it be a robot? Did Tirek even know what a robot is? “Just blast it! It doesn’t matter what it is, it's just some stupid armor! You can do it!” Like damn, Neighsay had this in the bag. You didn’t expect him to handle himself so well.
“‘Blast it’ it is! Away with you, monster!” Neighsay aimed his horn true, and fired a gigantic blast of magic at the armor.
The armor raised its arms to block the blast, holding its own as it slightly slid back against the onslaught of power. You all began to cheer for Neighsay. Surely this was the last hurdle you all needed to cross to finally bring Tirek down. Except…
Wait…
Neighsay all of a sudden looked pained, and seemed like he was trying to stop his attack as the armor suddenly began to gain ground. Something even worse, the armor plating began to pop off, one by one, revealing a black obsidian armor, scaled with volcanic red and yellow tips, within itself. The horns from the top of the armor burst, revealing glowing black ones. The back of the armor flew off as four pistons raised and sank within the armor, surrounding some red generator at the center of the backside. And as Neighsay fell to his knees, the helmet broke off, revealing the truth of the armor.
Tirek was within the armor within the armor. His body size was that of when he had no other magic within himself, and his face, it was full of cybernetics. He had a robotic jaw, a red lens for a right eye, surrounded by wires going into his forehead. Whatever you all were staring at, it was suddenly crushing Neighsay. This Tirek then walked over to the fallen unicorn, and lifted him by the neck as he looked into his eyes. The barrier had fallen at this point, but you had no idea what that was or how to approach. Though, it became more clear when the being said “I gave you a choice. Now your magic is my power and you will face destruction.” before tossing the limp unicorn into the wall, cratering it slightly as he slumped to the floor. He then turned towards all of you with a smirk. “Welcome, one and all, to your doom.”
What in the fuck?! What just happened?!
“Neighsay! Oh man, this isn’t good!” Sandbar said in a panic.
“We help him! We can’t leave Chancellor on ground!” Yona said as she began to get angry, ready to ram right through Tirek.
“Stop! Wait for the proper time to strike! We need to figure out what we’re dealing with.” Tempest said in urgency as she jumped in front of the young six, putting them to a halt.
“Tirek? What did you do to yourself?” Chrysalis looked upon him, with awe and disgust.
“Hm…” Tirek stopped for a moment, and looked at his own armored hand. Even he seemed disgusted with himself. “This? As much as I hate to admit it, this was a final form of desperation. In my research to find out how to manipulate Deus Ex Machina, and seeing how much destiny seems to loathe those with true ambition, I made the necessary changes to the trials to try to trap you all within these walls, as it seemed any information that exists doesn’t seem to be attainable with my searches. But alas, if I had learned anything from my last venture, I soon realized that it would not be enough. But what could I do? The staff’s power had already been stretched too thin.” Tirek’s mechanical eye then looked upon you. “...But then I realized something. What if destiny came from magic? What if there was a way to squeeze the last of the staff’s usable power upon myself? To make myself better in a way that used something other than magic? I used the last of the time dilation I placed myself in to research anything from the human world that would do the trick. And that’s when I found it, cybernetics, to become something called a ‘cyborg’. You give up your own power, your abilities, your strength, your very being in trade of a body vastly superior to your own. This was the result of my research! Of course, even with everything I gave up, this armor is… or was, at ten percent capacity. But as you can see, it can absorb magic and convert it into power just the same. Behold, my cybernetic armor, the Midnight Castle! Its very name signifies the change from a day of magic, to a day of technology. Technology will become the forefront of my new world! And-” Suddenly, Tirek hears a yell, prompting him to stop as he looks back.
“SHADDUP ALREADY! TAKE THIS, CHUMP!” Grubber had once again taken the initiative. He had snuck up, climbing the armor without notice, and had his electric gloves equipped as he jumped up to smash them onto the generator on Tirek’s backside. But the moment he came close, something went wrong. A red blast of electricity came out in a burst towards him before he could land his blow, shocking him greatly as it sent him flying up then down onto the floor, smoke pouring out all over his body. “N-ngh… I’m toast.”
Tirek snickered as he looked back at the fallen hedgehog. “...As if I’d let that happen again.”
“Grubber!” Tempest screamed out, her stoic demeanor finally broken as she stared at Tirek with a rage. “You monster!”
“Hm, so there is a way to crack that little shell. Well then, show me what youSDGASFDFDNGAAAA!” Suddenly, Tirek is sent reeling back, sliding across the ground, as a giant fist smashed into his face.
All of you looked up to see a giant minotaur with burly arms and fists. It was Chrysalis, already ready to go. “Forget her, Tirek, your fight is with me!” She knew she couldn’t blast him with any magic, should she suffer the same fate as Neighsay. That armor, it was too dangeorus to hit it with any magical shot. Tirek may look like he was in his base form, but he may be more dangerous than he ever was before.
Tirek steadied himself as he brought a hand to his face. Shards of his cyber-eye were falling off the mechanism, revealing a black and red wired eye behind it. “That was a cheap shot…”
“Who cares?” Chrysalis said as she stomped towards him, ready to slug him once more.
“Give it up, Chrysalis. You lost against me before. You can’t hope to possibly beat me now.” Tirek said in a low growl as he readied himself for a fight, raising his fists.
Chrysalis chuckled at that as she approached him, ready to beat the living shit out of him. “Beat? No, that simply isn’t enough. As a queen, I demand more than just a simple beating. As in, I’m going to fucking rip you apart.” Chrysalis steps forward with a lunging straight towards Tirek.
Tirek easily tilts and shifts to the side, punching Chrysalis in the face and sending her sliding back. He… He was fast. “Ha! Big words for a Queen of nothing! My body isn’t just strong, it’s fast as well. You stand no chance!” Tirek sneered as he speedily kept up with Chrysalis and punched at her. Chrysalis was able to block it, but it still made her step a few steps back as she let out a grunt.
“Dammit, this isn’t goo-eh?!” As you looked on, Tempest was already at your side, gently dumping Grubber next to you.
“Anon, focus! You, all of you, had that prophecy. You all need to figure out how to use the elements quickly. If it holds true, then Tirek should not be able to stop it, no matter what kind of armor that is.” Tempest said as she gazed intently upon the fight. “I’m going in.”
“Wait, Tem-” But before you can even say a real word, she was off to help Chrysalis hold off Tirek. “S-shit…” When you looked back at the six, some of them were already tapping at their elements, trying to get them to work.
“Please, please, do something! We have to save them!” Ocellus cried out.
“Come on, we care a lot, big time, okay! Why aren’t they working?!” Smolder growled as she smacked at her element.
“Wait, maybe Hero Colt Anon knows something! He had the dream too and he’s not even an element! Maybe he’s the one who tells us how it works!” Silverstream said as she looked intently at you.
…Fuck
“Erm, well, you gotta believe in yourselves, your friends, and love, and friendship, and erm.. You have to be brave and know nothing can stop you when you all join together.” You tell them with a quivering voice.
They all stop, and stare at each other. They close their eyes and tense every muscle within themselves.
Nothing.
“Erm, well, that didn’t work. And trust me, I was really believing we could pull it off.” Gallus said.
“Maybe… we’re not wearing the right elements?” Ocellus asked.
Fuck… That was probably it.
Or maybe it wasn’t…
Dammit…
“Screw it.” You look inside your saddle bag and pull out your Starlight Hook, putting in on your leg before you went looking for your wings. “I’m going in, you guys gotta figure it out.”
“Wait!” Silverstream called out, reaching for you
Wut?
“Silverstream, whatever it is, now isn’t the time!” You yelled out at her.
“But, that’s your hero bag, right? With all your hero stuff?” Silverstream asked.
“Sure, whatever, why?” You asked.
“Well, I remember some of the legends kinda saying different things about how you beat the Storm King. Some say you rocketed it up in the air and brought him down in one fell swoop. Others say you turned into a bird and defeated him somehow. I remember it having to do with a bowtie? Yeah, that’s what it was, it said in the legends you were going to use it for something with the professor, your aunt.” Silverstream explained.
“Okay? But how…” Wait.
WAIT…
You quickly went rustling through your bag. And holy shit, there it was.
Already, your sinister little mind began to turn as you looked to Silverstream with a smirk. “Silverstream, you’re a genius.”
“I am? Okay! If you say so!” Silverstream said with a smile.
“Gather around, everycreature. I got a plan.” Holy shit. You might be able to pull a win out of your ass.
As long as nothing goes wrong.
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Now for potential errors:
"(...) on his personality, so you never (...)" (?)
non-ponies (?)
Missing comma after ‘Surely’.
Missing comma after ‘black’. (?)
ten-percent
‘‘(...) with rage.’’ (?)
dangerous
lunge (?)
Either uppercase ‘q’ should be lowercase of second lowercase ‘n’ should be uppercase. (?)
take (?)
Missing dot in the ellipsis.
Uppercase ‘y’ should be lowercase. (?)
it
Missing period.
I might be wrong about some of the above.
Anon: "Fuck the elements, fuck the tree, fuck prophecy, and FUCK destiny, CHAOS WINS BITCH!"
I know its not what's gonna happen, but I'd lose my shit in laughter if it did. Especially imagining how the future seeing tree reacts to it, "I didn't expect you to win this way." "To be fair you don't expect a lot of things from me."
I'm in love with the idea that outta spite alone, Anon eventually just learns how to perfectly shit talk the representation of harmony and make his father proud.
He's dead
Last chapter I said that Neighsay still had a part to fulfill, didn't I? This was his contribution. Good, I'm ok with that. Tempest is up now as a distraction, just to make sure she is included in more that just words.
"Destiny might be tied to magic", MIGHT! Tirek is so sure of this. For him, it is either believing in a gamble, or going completely insane accepting destiny as predetermined. Cybernetics give him opportunities to have some aces under his sleeves. Thigh-mounted lasers, why not? Magic EMP in his skull? Of course! Flamethrowers? Naturally!
The armor is called Midnight Castle, huh? It rings a familiar bell.
Anon being part of that prophecy could be fitting, but seeing that he is the embodiment of chaos??? I don’t know. There’s a lot of stuff here!