Daring Do and the Hand of Doom

by Unwhole Hole

Chapter 80: Ascension

Then, all at once, they came to the end. The termination; the nexus. The place where Absence was waiting for them, and where the vandrare was to be born. If it was able to see them, it did not seem to care. There was no field to block their path as Carillon’s soldiers had observed; the entirety of the machine that they had come to fight was now quite deceased.

Only the core remained. When Daring Do and Rainbow Dash reached it, they were forced to stop on the ledge of the chamber that it had generated for itself. Absence had carved away a sphere, although at one point it seemed as though it had contained inordinate quantities of strange, makeshift equipment. A few long arms of vicious surgical equipment were still protruding into the center of the sphere, but most of them had corroded away or been broken apart.

In fact, all of it was breaking down. Tremendous quantities of the machine were dissolving into long channels that seemed to drift through space. Their constituent components were being broken down into fundamental pieces, or perhaps even fundamental elements; they ran toward the center of the room and into Absence.

She was no longer a pony. She stood on two roughly digitigrade legs, and had two hands that were held at her side. One was the Hand of Doom; the other was an incomplete, skeletal thing that almost looked like it. The only part of her skin that was still visible was her head, put roughly where the vandrare’s head would eventually be, at the top of its form. She looked to Rainbow Dash as though she were being swallowed by metal and strange quasi-organic growths. Her eyes were wide and empty, but the eyes within them were mindlessly alert.

“Absence!” cried Rainbow Dash. Absence did not look toward them- -but the thing within her did.

Rainbow Dash hardly noticed. She extended her wings and flew toward the ledge that led to the center of the sphere- -but was stopped as the air in front of her suddenly rippled with orange light.

“OW! DANGIT!” Rainbow Dash pulled back, and the air continued to ripple. “Two-color Lyra was right, there IS a barrier thing!”

Daring Do put her hoof against it and watched it ripple again. “I don’t think this is her.”

As if to punctuate the truth of her assertion, Dulcimer- -or rather a copy of himself- -was thrown against his own shield spell and more or less splattered into small streaks of orange magic. Rainbow Dash cried out both from surprise and sudden nausea.

Daring Do suddenly understood what was happening, even if she could not see it completely. Exactly what Absence- -or what had once been Absence- -was standing on was not exactly clear. It looked something like a rock, but was smoother and less even. Some parts of its still connected to her spine by a system of flexible cables. What stood in the bottom of the sphere, though, was not lit. There was nothing but inky blackness; or, for all Daring Do knew, an actual black fluid.

If there was a surface, Dulcimer moved along it, travelling almost too fast to be seen. Several of him charged at once, each as fast as lightning and each dressed in full gold armor as well as elegant magical gear. All of them drew long, curved swords behind them, prepared to strike.

Just before they did, they merged into a single Dulcimer and attacked from behind. Absence lazily raised the Hand, and a pale green-colored shield spell appeared round her. It not only absorbed the impact from Dulcimer’s magical sword but destabilized it, causing a powerful feedback explosion.

By the time the wave hit, though, Dulcimer had already teleported. Absence lifted a finger, and Dulcimer reappeared- -across the sphere, nearly sixty feet away from her.

“Dulcimer!” cried Daring Do. Dulcimer looked at her and surprise- -and fear- -crossed his face. “Drop the shield! We have a way to stop her!”

“I can’t,” said Dulcimer. He spoke softly, but some spell made him intelligible nonetheless, even at a distance. “This is the last line of defense, the only thing keeping her contained- -if it falls, we lose everything.”

“You can’t fight her!” yelled Rainbow Dash. “Get out of there!”

“You do have that option,” said Absence. She had copied his spell- -or more appropriately, hijacked it. Or maybe it had been hers all along. She wanted Daring Do and Rainbow Dash to hear what she had to say. “Dulcimer Heartstrings. Turn away. Leave this place. Take what is left of your knights and depart from me. You will persist, perhaps until her mission is complete and beyond. Stay here and there is only one outcome.”

“And let you lay waste to Equestria?”

Dulcimer fired a spell form his horn. Even through the shield, Daring Do could feel the heat. The spell rendered as a system of beams that spiraled in every direction before hardening into razor-like blades. One of them struck Absence in the shoulder. The rest stopped inches from her, held in place by whatever hideous arcane magic the Hand of Doom still remembered. Then, in an instant, she absorbed them, just as she was absorbing matter from the machines around her. The one in her shoulder left a gaping hole- -a hole not in her own body, but in the machinery that surrounded her. Within less than a second it had healed entirely.

“Is this not your wish?” she asked, even as Dulcimer teleported behind her and struck with a powerful beam that she once again deflected apathetically. “To upturn the ruling powers of the Equestria? For a new ruler to defy the eternal alicorns? Or did you actually believe the nonsense you taught us about hierarchies and rights to rule?”

“Replacing one god with another is pointless!” cried Dulcimer. He slowed, but was not out of breath. In fact, Daring Do did not see him breathing at all.

Absence turned to face him. “If you believe her to be a god, you misunderstand her role. Regardless, that is the world you chose. Where immortals devour immortals in an endless line of succession.”

“Ponies are meant to rule themselves!”

“So you aimed to create chaos that would give rise to tyrants as often as golden queens. You sold yourself to an ideal rather than to your Code. Who are you protecting?” A thin smile crossed her face. “Or have you forgotten the face of your mother that badly?”

Dulcimer’s face contorted with rage but he did not lose composure. Daring Do, oddly enough, understood. Wizard battles were mostly talk as one party waited for the other to either lose focus or attack. Yet Absence seemed incapable of the former and unwilling to do the latter. Daring Do did not understand why.

Slowly, though, it occurred to her. The vandrare was not sentient, at least not in a way that ponies could comprehend. It did not see a need to bother with Dulcimer. It considered him too insignificant.

“I created this mess,” said Dulcimer. “I’m sorry. But I’m going to end it.”

Absence only stared, and then laughed softly.

Dulcimer closed his eyes. The glowing armor that surrounded his body suddenly vanished, but at the same time, the shield surrounding the center of the room grew thicker and deeper in color until it was almost opaque.

Daring Do suddenly ran forward and pounded on it. “NO!” she cried. “Dulcimer! STOP!”

“I designed this spell to eliminate Celestia herself,” he said. “I had a long time to think about it, but I decided I could never bear to tread that path. I wanted the violence to stop, the war to stop. But I suppose I don’t have that luxury, do I?”

“Both of those will be accomplished when the vandrare awakens,” said Absence, softly. “There will be nothing left but ash and THE CREATOR.”

The whole sphere suddenly shook, nearly toppling Daring Do over. Rainbow Dash caught her. Dulcimer’s horn ignited with light that was no longer orange but pure white. Even through the shields, Daring Do could feel the radiation.

In her life- -which she considered relatively long, especially in her line of work- -she had met many mages. Most- -or at least the most pompous or the most powerful- -were unicorns. In that time of knowing many wizards, sorcerers, and magicians, Daring Do had found that unicorns tended to gain power as they aged. It was probably a matter of both experience and biology, and she had never bothered to consider what proportion the two might exist in.

Carillon was far older than any normal unicorn, and she was just over five hundred. Scarlet Mist, though not a unicorn, was at least eleven centuries old. Dulcimer’s age was nearly ten times that.

The magnitude of the spell corresponded quite well with his age. Daring Do almost had to duck and cover her head from the force of the radiation as the whole of the sphere filled with blinding white light. All of it centered around a sphere of pure energy projected around the end of Dulcimer’s horn, roughly the size of his own body. It was a tiny, nascent star.

The flame of the orb arced outward in vast prominences, screeching with energy. Absence stared at it blankly. Perhaps she no longer cared. Rainbow Dash, though, did. When she saw this spell, she did not know how to feel. Her first odd, strange thought was that Twilight would be really, really impressed. That was just a cover, though, for the conflicting emotions beneath: that if a spell like this worked, she would not need to use the Spear- -but that Absence would meet the same fate either way. The thought of it made her excited, and that excitement in turn made her feel exceedingly guilty.

Then, all at once, Dulcimer released the spell. It shot through the air in a single beam, followed by a plume of violent fire. It was not unlike an unfathomably more powerful version of the spell that Carillon had used against Scarlet Mist.

Absence did not dodge, because from the moment the spell had begun the thing inside her had understood it. Although it could not speak, and its only thoughts revolved around hunger and perverse enjoyment of destruction- -and of course the horrible black thing that even at that very moment loomed over them all- -it understood magic. It had already comprehended the spell, and knew that reacting with a counterpsell was pointless. The outcome was already preordained.

So instead she simply raised the Hand of Doom. As the spell reached her, she extended its pointed index finger. The entire force of the spell suddenly concentrated at that point- -and did not go an inch farther.

Dulcimer saw this, and realized what was occurring- -but only partially. He, like the thing that would become a vandrare, understood magic as well- -but not nearly as completely. If age correlated to a wizard’s power, then Dulcimer’s nine millennia were nearly infinitesimal in comparison to the uncountable years that the vandrare- -and the identical vandrare before it, and the one before that, and so on, all of them forged from races and species that had since become quite extinct- -had existed.

So Dulcimer increased the amount of magic in his spell, focusing it and refining it. He adapted and changed it, modulating it to the possible spells that his opponent was using to block it. All of it predicated on the assumption that it took equivalent force for Absence to stop the spell. It never occurred to him that Absence was not stopping it at all.

Rainbow Dash stared at Daring Do, wide eyed. “Didn’t Flock say that it ABSORBS magic?”

“Yeah,” said daring Do, her mouth suddenly dry and barely able to form words. “He did.”

Absence continued to stand. Dulcimer had begun to realize that something had gone horribly wrong. This spell had been designed to challenge a god, but whatever Absence was becoming was no god. It would never rule Equestria, because it had no need to. It likely could not even comprehend the need to rule.

But it was too late now. This was his only chance. There was no other way to stop it. He saw Daring Do behind him, and her Rainbow-maned not-daughter. Perhaps they had a plan, but, in Dulcimer’s mind, it could not possibly succeed. Not if even he could not defeat his own creation.

So he increased the power, giving it everything he had. The magic pouring from his horn expanded, but at the same time began to change colors. The orange became tinted with deep violet that swirled and glittered as it raced toward its target.

Absence felt the difference, but it was of no consequence. She smiled.

“Grandmaster,” she said. “It seems you’re run out of magic. You’re begun to draw directly from your phylactery. If you continue this spell, you will…” she purposely drew the pause before the last word out as long as she could. “…die.”

The shock struck Dulcimer like no spell or blow could. Fear crept into his resolve. The one fear that had always been his greatest weakness, and the one he had sacrificed so much to be able to escape. He realized that she was right, and in that moment of weakness, his spell faltered. It collapsed around him, taking the shield surrounding Absence around with it.

The floor below him was melted and charred, but somehow the room was completely and utterly silent. Absence lowered her finger, but not the Hand.

Dulcimer collapsed. Daring Do ran to him- -out of adventurer’s selflessness only; she did not particularly like him- -but Absence stopped her with a slight shake of her head. A motion exactly like the kind that White would sometimes make.

“What now?” asked Dulcimer, not looking up from the ground.

“She has not manifested. But she is already consuming mass. So you will become part of us no.”

Absence opened the Hand, as if reaching, and then turned it over. Space distorted over the tips of her fingers as she copied Dulcimer’s spell- -and improved it.

A tiny black sphere erupted over her hand- -and the whole world suddenly started moving.

Daring Do cried out as she was suddenly pulled forward. The floor- -or what passed for a floor, as it seemed to be largely a network of flat pieces of abandoned catwalk- -was oddly slick, and she began to slide.
The only thing that stopped her was Rainbow Dash’s quick reflexes. Rainbow Dash dropped from above, the tip of the Spear igniting as she stabbed it deep into the ground. She then wrapped her hoof around Daring Do, and Daring Do held on to her, even against the immense gravity-suction of Absence’s spell.

Dulcimer was not so lucky. He was closer to the event horizon, and the force on his body was exponentially greater. He cried out in surprise and dug his hooves into the ground. His horn flickered, but his magic had been entirely depleted from his last spell.

He looked up at Daring Do. She saw panic in his eyes, and he pleaded. “Please!” he wailed. “Please, save me! Don’t let me die, I’m not ready! All this time- -all this time and I’m still not ready to go!”

Tears welled in his eyes, and Absence closed her fingers tighter around the black sphere. Dulcimer suddenly screamed. A hideous tearing sound filled the air as his skin ripped and was flayed from his body- -all while his hooves still held on.

Rainbow Dash immediately turned and spilled her oats, if only from the sound and from what she expected to see. Daring Do, though, stared transfixed and fascinated. Perhaps she had known it on some level, although not consciously. How he had been strong enough to fight Sweetie Drops even without his power-armor, or how he had managed to live so much longer than any unicorn could. Seeing him without skin explained it all in one gruesome instant.

A metal hoof reached out and dug into the steel floor. Somehow, Dulcimer managed to progress forward, if only by an inch. Complex mechanisms stirred in his body and artificial muscles compressed and strained, dragging him forward. The parts of his body that were not exposed were plated in thin mithril armor, but even that was being pulled away by the force of the spell.

A strange connection formed in Daring Do’s mind. As she watched the pony-shaped machine- -a relic from a bygone age, infinitely more advanced than the modern robots and AIs that even the greatest Questlords could hope to assemble- -she could not help but think of Fuzzypoof. Except that where Fuzzypoof had at least maintained some aspect of her organic being, Dulcimer had failed at even that. Every part of him that had made him a pony had been replaced, until all that remained was the thing on the floor slowly crawling toward Daring Do even as its body was torn apart from behind.

Yet the eyes were the same. They were artificial, of course, perhaps being carved from two single pieces of flawless carnelian or some other gemstone- -but they were expressive to the point where it was impossible to tell. They stared up at Daring Do, pleading.

“Please,” he begged. His skinless robotic mouth was a mass of moving mechanisms and teeth, at once horrid and mesmerizing. Slowly, he managed to extend one robotic hoof. By this time, most of the lower half of his body had been decomposed into individual parts that followed several streams back to Absence. He reached out toward Daring Do, but she could not reach back. She knew what he was.

The fear did not leave his eyes, but something inside them understood. They fell as his hope was crushed. By this time the decay reached up to his chest.

“You’re right,” he said. “I suppose it’s better this way. Nine thousand years, and I wasted it. But it was too long. I really did forget her, and what it all meant.” He looked up at Daring Do. “I’m sorry.”

Before Rainbow Dash could stop him, he released himself. His body instantly broke into thousands of fragments, and Daring Do watched as he was torn asunder.

Until she saw it.

A single large piece, just smaller than a pony’s head. A large, dark mechanism, marked by a single large, violet crystal. Even as the numerous cables that were connected to it were torn away and torn apart, that part remained stable, refusing to break down even in response to the devastating spell.

Daring Do did not hesitate. She did not even think. Her hoof dropped to her side and she drew her whip. It snapped outward in a wide arc, flying into the field. Immediately she felt the pull, as though it had suddenly grown in weight by several hundred pounds- -but the spell could not destroy it, and even the force of the spell’s gravity was lessened. The whip, after all, was from Flock’s collection; it was immune to magic.

For a moment, though, she was not sure if the end would reach its target in time. There was only one chance, and if she missed, Dulcimer would be gone for good. Even though the weight of the whip, though, she felt the end suddenly wrap around something, and she felt the sudden weight. It had snagged the piece with the crystal.

She pulled. Even without being asked, Rainbow Dash pulled two. The weight was immense. Had it been anything larger, they both would have been pulled in along with it. Hauling Dulcimer out whole would have been an impossible task even for fifty ponies, let alone two. But only that one piece really mattered.

They tugged and pulled, and in an instant it suddenly gave way. The piece came flying toward them, just as the spell behind it collapsed. Daring Do caught it and was nearly knocked over by the force. The violet crystal felt warm in her hooves, and seemed to vibrate with energy. She had seen this type of magic only twice before, and twice before she had been forced to shatter crystals exactly like this.

Rainbow Dash stood back, both from exhaustion and from an instinctive repulsion from the crystal. The amulet on her neck seemed to agree with her.

“Wh- -what is that?”

“His phylactery.”

“His what?!”

“Phylactery. He was a lich. Is a lich. A technolich.” She looked up at Rainbow Dash. “Wasn’t it obvious?”

“Um…”

“So he survived,” said Absence. “How nice. But in all honesty you should have let me consume him. He cursed with eternal un-life. I’m told it’s an agonizing state of being.”

Rainbow Dash straightened herself. She pulled the tip of the Spear out of the ground and held it out. The glow faded and vanished, and the end snapped closed.

“Absence,” she said. “I won’t let you hurt ponies. I just can’t.”

“Then you’ve misunderstood my role, Rainbow Dash. Or do you think I want this? Never mind. It does not matter, anyway. His magic provided her with enough fuel to begin the genesis. In less than a minute, I will no longer exist.” She paused, and her voice lost its airy, arrogant tone. “But,” she wavered. “Please. Please listen. My warning still applies. She holds no grudge against ponies. Leave. Run. Hide, in the farthest reaches of Equestria. Do that and you might be safe.”

“And the ponies who don’t run and hide?”

Absence did not answer. Rainbow Dash took that as the only answer she needed.

She held the Spear, and moved her hooves across the hilt, just like she had seen Commander Hurricane do in her visions.

“I’m sorry, Absence,” she said. She sniffled slightly, but did not care if it was embarrassing or not. She wished this could be as epic as it always was in her fantasies. Instead, it just made her feel terrible. “But I have to do this.”

Absence once again did not answered. Rainbow Dash took a deep breath, and the dial in her chest clicked. Then it began.

To Daring Do- -or to any outside observer- -the entire fight seemed to take the barest fraction of a second. To both Rainbow Dash and Absence, though, it seemed to drag on for far longer. Minutes, hours, or even more than that; it was impossible to tell. At that speed, time tended to lose both its meaning and its significance.

Rainbow Dash shot forward, the Spear of Extinction igniting white in her grasp. It almost seemed to be pulling her along, driving her. She could feel its strength inside her, powering her wings to force herself forward through the air like a rainbow-tinged bolt of lightning.

Absence, of course, perceived this. What little of her brain remained was that of a Pegasus, and one that had been perfectly crafted for genetic perfection. Even without the forming vandrare in her head, she was able to see Rainbow Dash coming.

She raised the Hand, drawing on the internal magic and technology that hummed within it. The matter she had absorbed manifested again. At first, it was only pieces; random bits of metal and wood that had not yet been converted into whatever they were meant to become. Rainbow Dash twisted and rolled, dodging these with surprising ease. Deep down, Absence was not only impressed but in awe. No pony she had ever seen could fly like that; even she, with all her training, could not.

Yet Rainbow Dash had to be stopped. The Hand willed it. So it responded, almost on instinct- -or perhaps as a result of a thought process that had become so advanced it was indiscernible from a mindless, reflexive response.

The spell condensed, and the matter changed, transfigured into something more. The junk made of steel and copper merged and converted, forming slabs of unbreakable metal far harder than diamonds. With a cry, Rainbow Dash raised her Spear. The blazing tip sliced through the blocks as if they were made of soapstone. The vandrare did not comprehend. Absence would not let it.

It still reacted, though. Perhaps still only instinctually, yet a strange thought came to her mind, one that made little sense. She saw a crystal tree, one that could neither be approached nor defeated as evidenced by countless eons in an unending cycle- -a tree that screamed in pain and impossibility as its body was hacked apart by alien picks.

The vandrare summoned a different spell. Several domes formed around Absence. She was not a mage and did not fully comprehend the magic that formed them, but knew that it was complicated, far more than a normal pony would be able to summon. Far more than anything at all should have been able to summon.

Performing the spells necessary to break the shields should have taken millennia- -but the spear that Rainbow Dash held was not quite magic. It operated on the same principals, but was something else entirely, constructed by an Exmoor pony who had thought that unicorn magic was pointless and obtuse. Rainbow Dash might have agreed, if only in action: she pointed the Spear forward and cut her way through the shields, shattering each one as she passed.

It slowed her down, and some of the later ones nearly stopped her. The Hand raised, preparing an attack- -something that was oddly difficult for it, as contrary to its appearance the being it would become was highly unfamiliar with combat of any kind- -but Rainbow Dash pushed forward, breaking through the last of the shields with a roar.

Another spell immediately activated, a byproduct of the magic used to produce the final shield. The feedback of it failing created several chaotic eddy currents, which manifested as a sudden and powerful electrical storm. The wind buffeted Rainbow Dash hard, nearly knocking her off course. She struggled against it, but the wind was too inconsistent. It only grabbed her wings and twisted her, driving her sideways and off course. She was losing momentum rapidly.

Strangely, though, it felt familiar- -and suddenly Rainbow Dash remembered why. She almost laughed, or would have if she had time. She pulled her wings tight against her body, giving one final thrust. Outside, a sonic rainboom had just occurred, although Rainbow Dash was concentrating too hard to notice.

The end of the Spear was now feet from its target. The vandrare had reacted, and the Hand had raised itself, intending to grab the Spear. It was moving far faster than any being with normal reflexes would ever be able to move, but the gesture was pointless. Both of them knew that Rainbow Dash was too fast, that by the time it reached her she would have already met her mark.

Absence stared up at her. Their eyes met, and for a moment Rainbow Dash could see the pony within. A pony who was seconds away from being consumed entirely. Absence neither smiled nor frowned. She simply closed her eyes. She had known exactly how this would end, and what was coming- -and she had accepted it.

Rainbow Dash closed her eyes too. She could not bear to watch.

Once again, Rainbow Dash stood on the western peak of Lyskymm. Except that the ruins that stood at her back, though empty, had only begun their long decline. Had she chosen to look inside them- -something she for some reason could not even bear the thought of- -there would still be plates set out at tables, neatly-made beds, and perhaps some meager food hidden away from when the cold-famine still raged.

The time was different, as was the pony. Though she was Rainbow Dash, she was also named Hurricane. Both were linked, by a gene passed down for millennia as well as the Spear that they both held: Hurricane as she ascended the steps, knowing what was waiting for her, and Rainbow Dash as she lunged toward Absence, knowing equally well what had to happen.

Commander Hurricane reached the top. Before her was a wide courtyard, one that had once been carved beautifully from stone but that was now covered in ice and piles of snow. It was a somber sight to see it like this, and she knew that this was how it would remain for time immemorial. Its beauty had departed with the Empire, and the world had moved on.

A pony was waiting for her. He stood amongst the snow and ice, and for a moment both Hurricane and Rainbow Dash were struck by how similar he looked to it. His shaggy coat was the palest blue, like crystalline, glacial ice. Had it not been for the dark Pegasus armor he wore, it might have been impossible to see him against the backdrop. He did not even look cold.

Hurricane approached him. His intense violet eyes followed her, and she saw that he had a sword scabbard at his side. She also noticed the necklace he wore: a simple piece of tight twine that held a large star-sapphire which had somehow been imbedded into the metal of a single, exceedingly complicated gear. Daring Do did not know what the gear was from, or what the strange white metal it was forged from was called. She had never felt a need to ask, but right now wondered intensely- -because if she did not ask now, her chance to know would be gone forever.

“Commander,” he said, saluting slowly. Hurricane did not know how to feel about that, whether she should be proud that he still showed her that simple respect- -or if one of her closest friends would still bother to be so formal, even when no ponies save for simpleminded demi-peasants were around for hundreds of miles.

“Gigantes,” she said. The name was ironic. It was meant to be. He was nearly a head shorter than her, and she herself- -despite her best attempts to act otherwise- -was not a tall pony. She immediately recalled the negotiations with the unicorns, and how inferior she had felt having to look upward to see into Princess Platinum’s smug face. She wondered if that was how Gigantes had felt, even though he never gave any indication of it.

“The treaty?” he asked.

Hurricane felt her anger flare. History might someday recall the Unification as the most important thing she had ever done, but in this moment, it was the most inconsequential thing she could have imagined. Worse, she could tell that he already knew the answer.

“It is done.”

“I see.” He spoke with a strange accent, one that neither Rainbow Dash nor Hurricane would ever be able to replicate even if they tried. “So it is codified. The three Loyal Races, now together under the eternal stewardship of Celestia’s divine rule.”

Rainbow Dash was surprised at his relative eloquence and his oddly high voice, especially considering how he almost looked like a cavepony- -or, for all she knew, he might have BEEN a cavepony- -but Hurricane was not. In her mind, he was one bony protrusion away from being the world’s strongest unicorn.

“Why are we here, Gigantes? Why Lyskymm?”

Gigantes paused, and looked out over the abandoned city. The city that had once been the capital of an empire that no longer existed. Commander Hurricane had killed it. “Because I loved this place. And I want to remember it. It ought to be here.”

“What?”

Gigantes turned to her, staring with his wide, violet eyes. Eyes that looked so very old. “You know I will never bow to her.”

“You don’t have to. There are provisions, I can negotiate. She’s a forgiving goddess- -”

She was interrupted not by a word or a glare, but by the look in his eyes.

“I am proof that what you say is a lie,” he said, slowly. “But I am glad. There will be peace, prosperity. Happiness. A beautiful world.”

“But no more good fights.”

“Which is good,” replied Gigantes, after a moment. He was silent, and Hurricane knew what was coming. “But,” he said, “this is a world that has moved beyond me.”

“Stop being melodramatic. I will make space for you. Gigantes, how many times have fought togather? How many times have we WON? Don’t bother subtracting, it’s the same number. You’ve been nothing but loyal to me, even after what I’ve had to do. And I’ll be loyal to you until the end.”

“Which is why you need to be here.” His eyes suddenly sharpened. “Because it is time.”

Something inside Hurricane’s chest clenched. She had known- -known for a long time- -but refused to let what she felt inside her gut reach her head, or more importantly her heart. “Time for retirement, you mean?”

Gigantes smiled. He actually thought the joke was funny. Sad, but funny nonetheless. “I suppose,” he said.

“Well you can’t. I haven’t dismissed you yet, and I don’t intend to. You’re still under my command, and I won’t tolerate insubordination. Now. Let’s get off this mountain. I honestly want to see how you managed to get this high without wings.” She laughed, trying not to cry. “I’m going to take you to the new capital, to Canterlot, and I’m going to parade you down the street with the rest of our friends and I’m going to see if I can get Platinum to faint. Come on. It’ll be fun.”

Gigantes slowly shook his head. “No,” he said. “If you had truly intended that, you would not have brought my gift.”

Hurricane’s breath caught. She had, because she had known. Suddenly the Spear of Victory felt very heavy on her back. “But I gave you an order…”

“One I cannot follow.” Gigantes sighed. “Commander. Hurricane. Hurr. I’m old.”

“You’re not old. I beat you by ten years at least.”

Gigante’s eyes flashed. “You have to listen,” he said, calmly. “Because you have to understand. Yes. I look young. That is a gift from my mother. But I am a half-blood. My lifespan is long, but not eternal. I am truly very, very old. Old and tired.”

“Don’t say that. I won’t let you say that.”

“Hurr. The Forever-Sleep is calling me.”

Hurricane winced, her eyes scrunching closed. “Don’t say that!” she cried, causing her voice to echo off the stone of what had once been her greatest fortress. “After everything I did, after everything I just went through! After everything that’s about to happen, the world we’re about to have- -and you have to leave? NOW?!”

“My body is failing,” maintained Gigantes, this time more emphatically. “I already have the tumor-sickness. I can feel it moving through my body, taking everything away from me. Perhaps I would last another month. Or two. Or only a week.”

“The unicorns. They can heal you. Clover the Clever- -” Hurricane’s eyes lit up. “There’s a young mage, an upstart, the one who took the Crystal Citadel. Sombra. He can- -”

“No.” The word froze Hurricane to her core. Gigantes stared at her. “They cannot help me. Nor would I allow it.”

“Then what?!” screamed Hurricane. “What do you want me to do?!”

“You already know that. Soon, my body will be too weak to stand. Too weak to fight. I must take the forever-sleep and pass into eternal disgrace, as is the lot of all. But I must end in a single flash of honor, to light my path into infinite darkness.” He paused, and for the first time looked away from Hurricane. Out of shame. “I am the last,” he said. “The very last. It is my duty, to all of them. I cannot save them, or bring them back, but I can give them one last honor before we are extinct.”

“No. I refuse.”

Gigantes ignored her protest. “I am of Exmoor. I am a warrior, the last of my kind. And I must end the way I lived. As a warrior.”

Hurricane looked up at him. Tears were streaming down her face, but she did not care. Her entire legion could be standing behind her, and she would not have cared. If they did not understand, they were not worthy of serving her. “Why me? Of all the ponies, why me?!”

“Because there are none left of my kind to perform the ritual. And even at my end, there are still few if any ponies in this world who could succeed in the fight I require. You are the only one. The only one I trust with this task, and the only one strong enough to perform it.”

Hurricane looked at the ground. She could not have known that a thousand years later, one of her descendants would find herself in exactly the same position.

“I can’t.”

Gigantes laughed, softly. His voice rattled strangely, as if his lungs were failing him but that he refused to allow that to impede him in anyway. “That is the first time I have ever heard you say such a thing, Hurricane. Even when tasked with negotiating with Platinum and Pudding Head, you never once said you ‘can’t’.”

“That was easy compared to this.”

“You certainly can’t be afraid.”

“Afraid of losing?” Hurricane shook her head. “No. I never lose. I’m afraid of winning.”

“But I am counting on it.” Gigantes’s expression changed. It became softer. “But…perhaps I really am asking too much. But I have to ask. Refuse me if you like, it is your choice. I will not begrudge you. Either way.”

Hurricane took a deep breath. She turned and looked out at Lyskamm. At what had once been a thriving and beloved city, before the creature that Gigantes called “sky-brothers” had arrived. They had taken everything. Yes, new things- - hopefully better things- -had arisen, but it still hurt to look at it. Looking at Gigantes hurt more, though.

She turned back to him. She stared into his eyes. They were violet. She had always found those eyes beautiful. The color was exceedingly rare in Pegasi.
“So,” she said, “this is how it has to be, then?”

Gigantes nodded. “Yes,” he said. “There is no alternative. Draw your spear, Hurricane. And if you can, strike me down.”

Hurricane sighed. She was weeping, but quietly, barely feeling it through her resolve- -and her unending loyalty.

“So be it.”

She drew the Spear. It hummed to life at her touch, the blade igniting white and then flaring with luminescent rainbows that matched her mane. She felt the rush of its energy flowing into her, and she lifted it.

Gigantes drew his sword. A simple, common earth-pony sword. Hurricane smiled, because of course that would be the weapon he chose.

She lunged, closing her eyes as she did. Then it was over. She landed on the icy stone behind Gigantes. He stood for a moment, and then fell. There was barely a sound. Just a light “pompf” of his fluff, and the clatter of his armor.

Then silence- -until it was rent by Hurricane’s screams and sobbing. This was a state that she would never have allowed her legions to see, let alone any pony- -save perhaps for Gigantes himself, who would have understood. Except there no longer was a Gigantes. There was no one to see her cry. She was all alone.

This continued until she was quieted by a sudden warmth. She looked out over the ruins of her destroyed city, toward the eastern peak. The sun was rising, illuminating her with tears and snot running down her face.

It came to greet the dawn of a new age- -and to look upon the final destruction of the one before it.

Rainbow Dash understood. She finally understood, and knew what needed to be done. She gripped the Spear of Extinction, the Spear that had never once betrayed a pony who trusted its master- -and changed her grip.

The white of the tip suddenly ignited, trailing a plume of glowing rainbow light. Rainbow Dash, likewise, felt as though she was glowing form inside. Energy was pouring into her, and back out again into the Spear. Her body and the Spear could both handle the force, but nothing else could. The vedmak amulet around her neck cracked and shattered, and the moonstone in the dial of her chest cracked and split. It stopped ticking, but it did not matter. The Spear had taken over its function, and Rainbow Dash could almost feel its creator watching her- -and she wondered if he would approve.

Her grip suddenly shifted on the Spear. She twisted in the air, and just as she reached Absence she slammed it upward with all her force. The blade screamed as it cut through metal, penetrating its true target.

Absence’s eyes went wide, and her mouth froze in a silent scream. She crumpled backward, pushed by the force of the impact. Rainbow Dash landed behind her, skidding to a stop and catching her as she fell.

Behind her, she heard the clank of something metal, and then silence. The sound of the Hand of Doom, now severed from Absence’s body, landing on the cold, hard stone of the floor below- -and then lying still.

“Absence! ABSENCE!”

Absence was not moving, and through all the metal that had overgrown her body it was impossible to tell if she was even breathing. Rainbow Dash began pushing on the metal, tearing it away. Doing so was surprisingly easy; with the connection to the Hand severed, the living technology had begun to die and collapse. It broke away like dry, ancient twigs.

“Absence, come on! Come ON!”

Absence- -now mostly freed from the metal that had overgrown her- -suddenly gasped. She opened her eyes, and they were her own. She cried out suddenly and felt over her body, feeling the metal that covered and integrated with her body- -and in the process completely removing the dry, lifeless steel that made up the rest of her left front leg. She did not even seem to notice, and in fact seemed to gladly tear it away as soon as she could get a grip over it, until all that was left was an empty space.

“What…where am I?” she looked up again, her and eyes widened. “Rainbow Dash!”

She suddenly leaned upward and hugged Rainbow Dash tight. It was a strange hug, because Absence only had one front leg and was exceedingly weak- -not to mention that Rainbow Dash was not normally the hugging type- -but she hugged back.

“I’m sorry,” sobbed Absence. “I’m sorry!”

“Come on, it’s not your fault. What counts is that you’re okay.”

A flutter of wings passed behind Rainbow Dash. Not large wings, like those of a Pegasus, but those of many small birds. Rainbow Dash turned her head, knowing that Flock had of course picked this time to come out of wherever he was hiding. She was preparing to brag to his face that she had found another way- -but then saw the expression on his face and her words caught in her throat. It was an expression of perfect, abject terror.

“You didn’t,” he whispered. Then, louder, as a shrill scream. “YOU DIDN’T!”

Comments

[KeePony]

Uh oh either she destroyed the hand and Flock was trying to get it. Or the hand still working.

[AppleTank]

oh dear