Saros

by shortskirtsandexplosions

The Ashes of Consus

Myrk was lying painfully in the middle of the rusted platform. With trembling hooves, he slowly and deliberately slid the canister back into his saddlebag. He forced the canvas container shut and—wincing from his burns—rose slowly to all fours to face his opponents at the bottom of the Imperial Battery shaft.

Stellar's violet eyes became hard as daggers. "Don't pretend those freakish ears of yours don't work, former Captain!" He sneered and spat, the mana spheres of his armor flickering with emphasis. "Give me the beacon or I'll introduce you to the smell of your own, roasted flesh!"

"I would rather die than let you have the last sliver of Luna's good spirit," Myrk hissed.

"You are already dead, Myrk!" Stellar barked. "You have betrayed the Empress and all that her Lunar Kingdom stands for!"

"The Princess betrayed herself the moment she became an Empress!" Myrk howled back, just as fitfully. The guards behind Stellar trained their blades on the sarosian as he glared and shouted, "The moment Nightmare Moon took over Luna, her respect for all universal Harmony died! And so has the holy oath that my forbears and I had sworn to her since the Fall of Discord!"

"We dwell within the remains of our Holy Father Consus!" Stellar furiously retorted. "We are surrounded by the very same ashes that Luna has been charged with preserving for millenia! So long as you live in her domain, you are charged with abiding by the absolute law of her Empire! This has worked for our civilization over a thousand years! Who are you to challenge that?!" Stellar pointed an angry hoof at Myrk's saddlebag. "And what could you possibly gain from the implementation of such a heretical device?!"

"The four holy alicorns must know what has happened to their sister!" Myrk exclaimed. "They must bear witness to her anguished spirit and come back from the deep cosmos to usher her back to the land of the sun!"

"In five decades' time, Luna will have amassed the power to return to Equestria and exact harmony herself!" Stellar retorted.

Myrk shouted, "In less than a single decade, she can be transported home for Celestia to exorcise with the Elements of Harmony!" He glanced in desperation at the other soldiers' faces. After a breathless gulp, he stammered, "It is almost the eve of the thousandth year since our Princess' banishment! She must return home, as prophesied! How are we helping her by turning at each other's throats? What benefits us to enslave thousands and exile sarosians to the furthest depths of the moon?! Do we not wish the same glory for our beloved Luna?! Are we not all brothers in the worship of her divine brilliance?"

Stellar took a step forward, his gaze hard and vicious. "You are no more my brother than a piece of discordant excrement. If I'm still alive by the time Nightmare Moon returns to Equestria, I'll personally make sure that the putrid ashes of all your kind are thrown back through the Gates of Tartarus where you belong."

Myrk took a fuming breath. His sonar detected the galloping bodies of the two dozen unicorns descending upon their platform from above. "So be it." He began flexing his wings. "But if you forsake harmony, you invite chaos upon yourselves."

"You should speak of chaos," Stellar grunted. Then, with a smirk, he tossed over his shoulder, "Lieutenant!"

Razsaleen immediately tossed a vial full of dust in Myrk's direction.

Myrk's black eyes twitched at the sight. He made to fly away, but it was too late. The lunar ashes draped over his body. Then—with a transmogrification spell—the Lieutenant solidified the powder into dense crystal that bound Myrk's wings tightly to his spine and sides. The sarosian winced and struggled, flailing helplessly in the middle of the platform.

The other two guards stood at the ready. Stellar shuffled past them.

"Careful," he warned. "Even flightless, he's still as agile as ever." Stellar trotted several intimidating steps forward. "Let me finish this." As he spoke, a low hum filled the air, echoing off the metal grates of the platform below. His horn sparked brightly, and blue bolts of magical electricity shot into his two mana spheres. The two glowing orbs lifted out of his armor, and several spiked runes laid into Stellar's breastplate hovered up in a cloud of blades. They rotated like the floating spikes of twin maces around the pair of ominous, levitating globes.

Myrk was beginning to sweat heavily now. The crystal rope grew tighter, and he hacked forth a painful exhale. Glancing across the platform, he saw Razsaleen standing dead-still, concentrating hard to maintain the tight, telekinetic spell.

"Got a steady grip, Lieutenant?" Stellar asked as the death spheres rotated around him.

"Y-yes, sir," Razsaleen managed to say through an evident migraine. "Now's a good time to finish him off."

"See that you suffocate him while I do." Stellar held his breath, pivoted on two hooves, and flung his horn forward. There was a bright strobe, and soon both spheres came screaming in Myrk's direction, the tiny runes twirling in orbit about them like whistling daggers.

Myrk ducked low. One sphere of knives sliced above him and he rolled to the side just in time to avoid the second orb, which carved a deep gash out of the sheer metal platform with a spray of sparks. He hopped up to his hooves, looked behind him, and barely had time to leap to the side as one of the spheres returned. A sharp rune sliced at a length of Myrk's cloak, exposing more of his skin to the burning light. Myrk hissed and limped towards the mana batteries, trying to catch a breath, but the crystal rope coiled even tighter around him.

Across the way, Razsaleen gnashed his teeth, struggling to tighten the bindings' hold. Stellar's leering face blocked Myrk's sight of the Lieutenant as the Captain gave the spheres another telekinetic toss. "Raaaugh!"

Both razor-sharp weapons hummed Myrk's way, converging on him. He ducked one sweep, dodged a second, and tried deflecting a third throw with the blades of his right horseshoe. Only two runes bounced off, while three more sliced through to his forelimb. With a spray of blood, Myrk stumbled in reverse and had to fall straight back as another diving sphere skimmed the surface of his chest. He landed on the platform with a full stretch of his belly exposed to the glow of the mana batteries. Under a cloud of smoldering flesh, he rolled over and curled into a groaning fetal position. Tearing, his black eyes again caught sight of Razsaleen, but then he heard the hums of the spheres sailing towards him once more.

"Squirmy bastard child of Nebula—stay still!" Stellar hissed. His violet eyes reflected the spheres as they sped towards Myrk faster than ever.

Myrk knew he had two breaths—three at most—before his lungs couldn't summon the strength to stretch anymore. With nimble limbs, he kicked off the ground and shot straight up. The two spheres collided beneath him with a rattling splash of their orbiting runes.

Stellar and the other two guards looked up.

Myrk gripped onto a metal railing with his fangs, swung on it, and propelled his body towards the hapless form of Razsaleen.

Stellar gnashed his teeth and flexed his telekinetic muscle.

The spheres flew up at Myrk and collided just in front of him. The concussive blast of the glowing orbs knocked Myrk back.

The sarosian slammed hard on his haunches and rolled backwards until he landed against the edge of the mana crystal batteries. His vision was blacking out, and he felt his ribs bending painfully inwards from the pressure of Razsaleen's binds. Mryk knew that he had one breath left to give. In the midst of this nightmarish haze, he made out the murderous shadow of one of the two spheres screaming straight towards his skull.

Myrk's black eyes pulsed. His throat tightened. Bravely, he flung all four hooves forward and towards the orbiting daggers of the incoming ball. With the final breath left to give, he pitched his head forward and let loose an enormous banshee shriek. The remaining oxygen cleared his crushed lungs, but he managed to shove all of the lacerating runes out of their telekinetic orbit of the sphere. Able to grasp the globe safely, he coiled his muscles and bucked the thing back at full force.

The naked sphere sailed across the platform and collided with its glowing twin. The second orb was knocked violently towards Captain Stellar on a blind course. Gasping, Stellar dodged to the side, but immediately wished he hadn't. He turned and watched in horror to see where the runaway ball was sailing.

Razsaleen's body jerked. He vomited forth a fountain of crimson as his lower half was eviscerated. As he fell into his own juices, his eyes rolled back in their sockets and his horn violently blinked out.

The crystal rope around Myrk's body transformed back to ash. He instantly flung his wings out, inhaling sharply as strength returned to his form. Glaring, he stood up and grind his hooves.

Shocked, Stellar turned, frowned, and flung both spheres at him yet again.

Taking wing, Myrk easily flew over the projectiles, swooped down, and aimed two bladed horseshoes at Stellar's skull.

Stellar's horn grew brighter as he unsheathed his scimitar and deflected Myrk's attack. He shoved the sarosian away as the spheres soared back in a return formation. Myrk ducked under the orbs, slashed at Stellar, deflected his scimitar, headbutted him, dodged the orbs again with a jump, forward-flipped, and slashed straight down. The sarosian's horseshoes scraped across Stellar's helmet, knocking the Captain down onto his flank. Right at that time, the two guards rushed Myrk's sides and grabbed him. With a furious scream, Myrk simply stretched his wings out, knocking the guards away. He took to the air just as the balls returned.

Stellar looked up, gasped, and flashed his horn in time to stop the bladed mana spheres just centimeters from his muzzle. Panting, he looked straight up to see his target making a break for the nearest ventilation corridor, and the lunar surface beyond. With a growl, the Captain ran towards the edge of the platform, trailed by the two glowing spheres.

"Clear the platform!" Stellar howled, galloping over Razsaleen's corpse.

"But sir! At this rate—"

"Clear the platform and then follow me!" The Captain shouted, perching on the platform's railing. His two spheres glowed hotter than a blue sun, vibrating with mana overload.

The guards saw it, gasped, and scurried down the nearest set of stairs.

"Nnngh!" Stellar leapt clear off the edge of the platform. With impeccable timing, he sent a huge discharge of unicorn energy into the twin spheres. They exploded in a bright nova behind him, and the shock wave of mana surged into his airborne body, giving him an unnatural boost. While accelerating, a furious and bruised Stellar emptied his last vial of dust, conjured a managlider, and roared up the tiny corridor to get within biting distance of the wounded target.

Comments

[Csquared08]

Stellar is really quite determined to take down Myrk.

[Yami Vizzini]

Stellar? More like "Prime Enforcer Shell"-ar!

[AppleTank]

Those screams sure are useful. I wonder what the cooldown is.

[FOXTrot2]

"Nnngh!" Stellar leapt clear off the edge of the platform. With impeccable timing, he sent a huge discharge of unicorn energy into the twin spheres. They exploded in a bright nova behind him, and the shock wave of mana surged into his airborne body, giving him an unnatural boost. While accelerating, a furious and bruised Stellar emptied his last vial of dust, conjured a managlider, and roared up the tiny corridor to get within biting distance of the wounded target.

What is it about the Characters in Autraeoh that JUST. WONT. STOP?

I swear, "fighting beyond all mortal limits" is a staple of their fractured world.