Chapter 3.9 - Fallen Angel
Star Swirl watched Zenai drop, the words of her apology still on her lips. Star Swirl's telekinesis took the zebra's limp body in its grasp before she hit the floor, her magic scanning her injuries.
She... Star Swirl scanned her again and again, praying, hoping that in a moment there wouldn't be a hole where her brain stem used to be, that her heart was still beating, that every organ wasn't simultaneously going into shock. That Zenai wasn't...
A stun grenade exploded overhead, Star Swirl screaming in pain and shock as she dropped Zenai sprawling and her own legs collapsed under her. She heard Dust Kicker grunt in pain, looking round to see him struggling to aim with a bloody hole in his chest.
Then she looked round at Nazir and her body reacted all by itself. She teleported forward and came out of it with a kick that propelled him straight through the plaster wall behind.
He came out of the wreckage rolling, his heavy pistol discharging against Star Swirl's shields. Her rage only built higher as the bullets bounced uselessly away, feeling the deep well of radiation stored at her heart. He had no idea what an alicorn could do. He had no idea what SHE could do.
He didn't stick around to find out, running to the side and darting down a side corridor. It took Star Swirl a second to disengage her shield and follow, running full tilt into a range of complex, twisting passageways. She expanded her senses and found him just a short way ahead, her horn bursting with power as it plowed a huge hole straight through the wall in front.
Nazir looked up in shock as she came straight through the smoking rubble, drawing up his pistol once more. It discharged with a crack but Star Swirl simply summoned her spear and struck the bullet aside, a stunning blast of her horn numbing Nazir's jaw and her telekinesis tearing the gun from him. He staggered back with a note of fear, grasping for his saddlebags... Star Swirl slammed him back with the full force of her telekinesis, plastering him against the floor, "Do you have any idea what I'm going to do to you?!"
"Revenge?" He chuckled weakly, still trying and failing to look confident as he lay defenseless before her, "What would your friends think of you, eh?"
Star Swirl shivered, trying to lock down the well of feeling within her before it overwhelmed all sense. But all the same... she just didn't know how to process this information. That after all they had done, all that they had fought and bled... "Zenai was my best friend... and... she's dead." She gasped, feeling a mighty weight where her insides should be, "You... killed her..."
"Kill me, and you'll never find out who hired me for the hit."
Star Swirl's head jerked up, "Somepony... paid you to kill her?"
He grinned, "Somepony paid me to kill her in front of you."
"WHO!?"
"Oh no, not until..."
She levitated him into the sky, everything within her screaming for revenge. He was a fool to try and reason his way out of this. She probed with her magic, found his nerve endings, and twisted, "TELL ME!"
"GGAGHH!"
"TELL ME!" She leaned forward with eyes glowing a sickly green from the radiation burning within her, horn flashing to cook his flesh with bolts of stinging electricity. She eased the pain for a moment to look him in the eye, "Who hired you! NOW!"
He stared in utter fear now, his arrogance melted away, "It... it was Starhammer... he wanted revenge..."
He couldn't hide the twitches, the hesitation, the excessive blinking, "YOU'RE LYING!"
"No, please!"
A disturbance ahead forced her to look up, eyes narrowing as a beefy young zebra emerged from just down the corridor. He drew up a heavy machine gun and opened fire, Star Swirl's shields enough to save her from damage but not enough that she could do anything to keep Nazir from shrugging out of her telekinesis and getting away. She watched in frustration as he ran towards the zebra and safety, suddenly pausing to turn and slip something from his saddlebag. He gave her a cruel grin as he twisted and hurled it at her, "It's been fun kaz'an, but allow me to leave a parting gift."
The satchel charge landed at Star Swirl's hooves.
...
Star Swirl knew she should have considered this more. Should have thought about the consequences. But thinking was just something she could not do right now. The only thing that didn't hurt was action. So she took action. She took action as the explosion tore through her shields, as the roof collapsed down upon her. As she saw Nazir flee from justice with a grin on his face. She took the action she had been warned against a hundred times, because it was the only one who made sense at the moment.
She had absorbed enough radiation that she glowed in normal light conditions. It was time show them all what an alicorn could really do.
Her head tore through concrete and steel, horn carving towards the sky as she kicked aside chunks of rubble and barged her shoulder through the outer wall. She saw Nazir fly, tumbling down the tide of debris dislodged by her advance. He recovered just in time to see her advance on him, his face a perfectly satisfying look of utter terror as her hooves shook the ground. Power surged off her body, eighty feet tall and crackling with dark energies.
The stocky zebra from before opened up with his heavy machine gun, Star Swirl wincing as a couple of rounds hit home. A full body shield was impractical at this size so she erected a partial shield instead, the wounds quickly healing as she turned her head and used her telekinesis to bring a large chunk of rubble down upon his head. The zebra disappeared from view, a trickle of blood from underneath attesting to his fate.
"Hit her you foolz! You can't exactly MIZZ!"
Star Swirl turned as Nazir rustled up more of his mercenaries, firing upon her with a mix of rocket launchers, heavy rifles and small arms. She tanked a couple of shots before expanding her wings with a shockwave that knocked them all flying, charging forward and slamming her hooves into the hapless mercenaries. A single kick at this size tore free vast chunks of earth, the mercenaries not even standing a chance. Her horn flashed with the fury of suns, it's increased size allowing her to fully command the balefire within her. A group of snipers squatting in the ruins ahead learned this the hard way, vaporized as she swept a beam of glowing energy across their position. A whole building ahead collapsed as the shockwave expanded outwards, Star Swirl shielding herself from the rubble with her telekinesis.
Her eyes then swept across to Nazir, messing around with some rocks as Star Swirl was distracted with his followers. She adjusted her eyes to magnify her vision, easily spotting the satchel charges he was placing underneath the ground.
So he thought he was clever? She expanded her magic, using it to trigger the charges prematurely. His eyes went wide as the charge at his hoof activated.
Her ears rang, shaking the numbness off and avancing forward to view her handiwork.
"Ugh... uh... agh..." Nazir gasped as he lay bleeding upon the rocks, his body torn apart by the explosion. His hoof reached out desperately for his gun as Star Swirl's heavy hooves shook the floor, Star Swirl taking it in her telekinesis and hurling it away. He looked up at her furious expression, cracking a smile, "You little bitch... they sure didn't tell about thiz..."
Star Swirl leaned her head down, horn already crackling with energy arcing barely inches away from him, "Tell me what I want to know or I'll show you what it really is to suffer."
He gasped a chuckle, "You think that'z enough to make me betray my employer?"
Star Swirl sent a wave of pain lancing through his hooves with barely a moment of effort, watching him scream with grim satisfaction, "I was implanted with a star demon, I now possess all her knowledge of how to modify ponies to my will." She loomed closer, horn stabbing nearer and nearer to his chest, "I can carve off your hooves, stitch your mouth shut and render you able to derive sustenance from radiation! You'll lie there a very long time, a miserable, broken cripple!"
He laughed, something sparkling in his eyes as he looked past her towards the sky, "Too late... look, the sun's out."
She frowned in confusion as she looked up, the sun indeed continuing to shine through the clouds above. But as she watched it the sun did indeed seem to get brighter, the light shifting...
A beam of intense, blinding fury shot down, slamming into Star Swirl with such fury Star Swirl swore she must have just been hit by a megaspell. Nazir was vaporized mid laugh, it all she could do to keep herself from the same fate. Her shields failed quickly despite the balefire she fed into them, instead pumping magic into her skin to resist the heat and impact. She shrank her body back to it's original proportions to better ride the energy downwards, slammed into the ground with bone shuddering force...
Ungh... she was still alive...
"She killed the boss, get her!""
Her eyes flicked open, anger focusing her through the pain and concussion. After everything, still they tested her? Still they DEMANDED punishment? A minotaur charged out of the smoke with his heavy rifle readied, Star Swirl not even rising as she used Celestia's spear to cut open his torso and tear out his lungs with her telekinesis. The next zebra to emerge was briefly distracted by his gurgling comrade and took a horn blast to the face, powered by raw hatred it took off half his face. She finished him off with a single stab of her spear as she charged out, clearing the dust from the air with a blast of telekinesis, "WHO, WHO WAS IT!?"
Three zebra stood around her, the first down before he could even react. His head rolled away, the zebra beside him finding her gun batted aside by the end of Star Swirl's spear as she brought it back round. The zebra desperately ducked away from the spinning blade, only for Star Swirl to drive forward and impale her through the eye with her horn while she was distracted.
The final zebra attempted to run, Star Swirl hurling her spear through the air to nail him to the floor. He begged pathetically as she came forward, only angering her more, "She wanted to live too, did you give her a chance?! And she was worth a hundred of you!" She slammed her hoof down, breaking his neck with a sharp crack and letting him slump as she drew her spear back out and flung the blood to the ground.
Her magic alerted her to more life signs, mostly grouped in the building straight ahead. She brought her wings to her side, concentrated her shields in front of her and advanced forward at a slow purposeful pace. Every part of her vibrated now, powered by purpose and understanding. Was this what harmony felt like? To know exactly what you were, and what the world should look like?
She burned off her excess body fat, using it to construct new proteins. Her eyes she adapted for telescopic sight, muscles repositioned for greater agility in close combat. The Goddesses' clumsy work she perfected into what it should have been, pure and completely designed for purpose.
A rocket flew at her, Star Swirl flinging it away with a blast of telekinesis. A zebra sighed up with an anti tank rifle, Star Swirl teleporting to his position as he fired and driving her spear down into his back.
And in front of her was the building she had seen, the bottom floor occupied by former showrooms now loaded up with munitions and supplies, surrounded by dozens of terrified looking zebra and minotaur in mercenary colors. Star Swirl advanced forward, ready to finish this...
But... they weren't even armed. She saw the carts set up beside, saw the medical bands on some of the mercenaries... these were non-combatants, support staff. Star Swirl hesitated, then dimmed her horn. No matter what, killing them was...
A zebra drew a pistol and fired, the bullet easily deflecting off Star Swirl's shield. Her eye twitched, horn spinning round and firing a blast that tore his side away and sent him crashing into a toppling heap of boxes. The others all screamed and scrambled for their own weapons, Star Swirl wincing as a heavy bullet cut across her forehead, "GAGH!"
They had made their decision then. Star Swirl snarled in anger and used her magic to find the triggers on the weapons and explosives within the building. Her magic charged, hotter and hotter... and then she trigged it with one final burst, grenades, mines and missiles all detonating with a roar. A moment later and boxes of chemicals ignited, incandescent balls of flame tearing through the dust and smoke as everything within was wiped from existence. The building came down with a crash, toppling some of those nearby in one destructive shockwave.
They were dead, they were all dead. She had... done it...
Her eyes flicked up. No. She saw several figures flying away from the ruined building, desperate to escape the destruction. She almost let them go, but then she saw the griffon. That smug, familiar face, grinning down at her.
Star Swirl shattered the ground beneath her hooves as she flung herself into the air, magic and radiation sparking out around her as she located her enemies.
Only four. The first was a zebra, opening fire on her from a pair of frail bloodwings. She span around his fire, the spear of Celestia carving him in half as she blasted another zebra from the sky with a flaming horn blast.
Heavy machine gun fire rattled against her shield, Star Swirl looking up to Arick Grimfeathers just beyond her reach. She gave a scream of rage and soared straight at him. He shouted something, lost to the wind. The wind battered against her form, all sound lost to her as she closed...
Something approached from the side and she swept her head around to unleash a horn blast, only to be hit by a firm blast of compressed air that sent her spinning. She tried to regain her balance but was swept up by a cyclone, stinging bullets striking in the sides as she her wings flailed desperately for stable currents.
Her magic flared, shattering the wind against her with such force that that pain ran through her horn. But what was revealed beyond the dying winds hurt all the more, "YOU!"
"Stopth this now." Clear Skies insisted, her deformed features unusually grim as she hovered before her, "I donth wanth to figth."
Star Swirl charged forwards with a scream, her wings angled and the spear of Princess Celestia slashing out. Clear Skies simply moved her wings ever so slightly and she dropped, spinning as Star Swirl passed over her and kicking the spear from her grasp. Star Swirl cried out, reaching for it once more with her telekinesis, "NO!"
"Shouthent rely on weathon in your telekith!" She shouted as she snatched Star Swirl's wing in her back hooves and flung her downwards to spiral gracelessly through the air. She drew her pistols, shooting Star Swirl through both wings, shredding pinion feathers and leaving her struggling for altitude, "And you need thoth work on you'rth flything."
Clear Skies dropped, delivering a kick that knocked the wind out of Star Swirl's lungs and sent her plummeting. Arick soared past, opening his pack and sending a whole bushel of grenades raining down after her. Star Swirl attempted to throw them back with her telekinesis but before she had a chance she hit the roof of the building below and tore straight through it. She did the same to the next floor, clearly fracturing her back and breaking her wings, a moment before the grenades went off as one. The building gave a single whine before falling in on itself, Star Swirl screaming in impotent rage as her broken body fell ever further into a collapsing vortex of dust and stone.
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It was dark, and cold, her broken body racked with pain, her radiation and magic gone. Her mind had long since collapsed into despair and self loathing. She had killed so many, and for what? They had still escaped, Zenai was still dead, and she was... a dying mass murderer. No better than Justicar.
It was better to die now. She... couldn't leave Zenai behind. Not Zenai, not her best friend, not her... rock, in a world of terrible uncertainty. She heard her friend call just beyond the range of hearing, tears running down her face as she prepared herself.
Then the rocks lifted from her shattered body, waves of warmth traveling through her ruined form. The darkened cavern lit up in sunshine light, a healing potion floating by to inject itself into her broken flesh.
She spoke a single word through a ruined throat, "Who...?"
"Oh Star Swirl, I saw what happened and I just had to help." Sweet tones of concern answered, speaking from a beautiful, smiling, kind face peaking through robes of pure white and gold, "I know your pain, believe me."
Star Swirl looked up, desperate for purpose, for direction, "You... know..."
"I walked this land, I saw what it does. Takes the innocent, empowers the cruel." Sunshine Ivory smiled, warm and caring, "I think it's finally time to do something about that."
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Level Up - Level 16 reached
Perk Gained - Grim Reaper's Sprint
You will not stop until they’re all dead. Landing a killing blow will immediately restore all Action Points, allowing the beginning of a new series of attacks immediately.
Trait Gained – Callous
You have been exposed to the horrors of the wasteland and it has made you hard. You lose 2 points of Charisma, and gain 2 points of Endurance.
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Damn Star Swril's got a mean steak in her! Too bad Nazir had a quick death, he deserved much worse.
Sunshine Ivory, what's your game?
As always, great chapter!
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Star Swirl is drunk on rads, and she's always had a bad temper. She was also concussed for the last part.
Still, yeah. A pissed off alicorn is still a terrifying thing, even if it was proven in the last chapter that they're not completely invincible.
And hey, I appreciated getting the chance to show off the Super Alicorn transformation. Used but once in Fillydelphia (where it accomplished very little bar making Littlepip wet her pants) and never seen again, ever.
Sunshine Ivory, what's your game?
Her dialogue never fails in making me feel slimy.
As always, great chapter!
Thank you. And as a reward for your loyalty, this is a small hint as to the next chapter, which is already well underway
Well, guess we know who hired Nazir now, scheming, manipulative bitch. Still, she packs a mean punch if her spells can vaporize someone like that.
5600483
She's actually quite powerful. Unfortunately her fights have been A: At Night B: Underground. And she still won the second one.
How will Equestrian and Zebrican history remember Zenai I wonder? Wrongly accused war criminals are rarely vindicated post death. A part of me hoped she could've been saved the same way Calamity had when he suffered high-velocity injection of lead into his brain. But I guess that's wishful thinking. I guess to Zenai, all that mattered to her was that those she cared about knew of her innocence. It remains to be said if her name will be cleared by story's end. But as saw in the previous chapters, many things were claimed to be written by the winners.
We can only hope that thanks to Puppy's dreamscape ability, our band (and especially Starswirl) will be able to have the relief of one final communion with Zenai's soul before she passes. Or hey, this leaves the possibility Zenai may be able to accomplish more in death than she felt she was worth in life, particularly snapping some sense into a power-driven-mad Twilight.
I balked, laughed, and bellowed at Khalid's self assured rant about himself, as if he had it all figured out and he was on top. That upper class air about him, devoid of the true taste of the wasteland that shows how detached he is from the reality of his relevance. 'Princess Luna' was naive, sure. But somehow being labelled as the desperate one feels much more demeaning and insulting, as it feels like it's just a polite word for 'dumb'.
In hindsight, I ended up chuckling at Nazir's self assurance that he had the upper hoof in the coming battle. I can just imagine he and all his mercenaries internal thoughts as the scene progressed. "Pfft, what do we have to worry about an aging coot, a senile pegasus, two cripples and a fat alicorn? This'll be a piece of cak...oh my goodness, Dust's AI operated power armor is back online...oh goodness, Dust can fight just as hard without his armor. Oh jeeze, that blind colt doesn't need his eyes to kill us. Oh god, that bandaged zebra was one of Starhammer's fierces lieutenants. Oh Goddess, that old pegasus is teleporting everywhere and is kicking the crap out of one of our best fighters. Oh Goddess! That Alicorn was the least of our worries! OH GODDESS! NOW SHE'S THE WORST OF OUR WORRIES NOW THAT WE KILLED HER BEST FRIEND! OH G-BBRRAGGLLLBBB...."
Granted, the hired mercenaries put up a challenging fight, given no participant came out clean from the aftermath. I can only wonder that Nazir, that female minotaur and that smelly pony had a long list of feats before meeting their gruesome ends at the ends of our party members.
Okay, good on Starhammer figuring out quickly Nazir lied though his teeth trying to make Starhammer a scapegoat. But I'll believe him enough that his true client hired him to execute Zenai in front of her comrades. Upon finding out who it really was. I can only just wonder what purpose Sunshine Ivory had orchestrating not only the kidnapping, but Zenai's timely.
I can only speculate with Ivory's interest in Starswirl, it may have to do with the alicorn's grief and rage affecting the emphatic star spirit Char. God, what a bitch.
Damn though, Ace Gold's mentor appears to have fallen in the line of duty. Not only has our party used up their guardian angel, they may be truly without guidance where their next step must be. Ace Gold is not gonna have a good day over potentially losing two friends in the span of an hour.
Very harsh but timely intervention Puppy made at the cost of the armor (her physical anchor to the world), colliding Starswirl into the wall to push her out of a killing shot.
Now, I know those three mercenary goons weren't present to observe the massacre Dust and everybody else dished out. But when one of them remarked "She killed the boss, get her!" I was like...yep, that's Fallout npc bravado at its finest.
Arick continuously mocked Fluttershy throughout their confrontation. And it's quite satisfying to see him suffer continuously throughout for his trouble. He'd be an idiot to verbally demean Fluttershy in the event they meet next time. While nothing would bring me great pleasure seeing this griff meet an explosive end like his compatriots had, I know that he may be one of the last living evidence to prove Zenai's involvement (or lackof) in the boiling tension between the NCR and Zebralands. Still, it's going to be mighty shameful and scandalous when word gets out Regina's relative was one of the real instigators of the conflict. Should Regina try to cover this up will be the one confirmation I need to hear to support the NCR needs to come to an end.
Well...if there's one consolation to be had...Starswirl's burned all her pudginess away to accelerate her healing! Should've been an additional trait added in the footnote.
Damn though Sunshine Ivory, of all the political players who's going to bite it when Red Eye cuts all the strings to tie up loose ends, she's the one I look forward to see every mote of her plans falling apart. And it says a lot when I hope the likes of Starhammer and Silent Steel, for all their horrible traits at least walks out of Red Eye's machinations with their lives intact.
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I can only wonder that Nazir, that female minotaur and that smelly pony had a long list of feats before meeting their gruesome ends at the ends of our party members.
These guys are indeed infamous, highly trained, and tough. I knew they weren’t just some raiders to roll over and die. Still, I wanted the chance to show off just how dangerous the team is when they work together. Dust Kicker underestimates just how badass they are, him, Easu and Star Swirl are capable of taking on whole teams single hooved.
Unfortunately this was also an opportunity to show that the heavy hitters on the team certainly aren’t invincible, especially when they get stupid. I planned early on that Dust Kicker and Fluttershy would be the last ones standing after this, just because Dust Kicker at least often tends to be overshadowed by his magically powered teammates.
Poor Ace though. His major problem emerges once again, that he’s trained all his life fighting in a ring, with a referee. He’s also got a Hit Girl like issue that though he’s agile and hard to hit, he’s still short and skinny and at a massive disadvantage against a larger, equally skilled fighter.
But when one of them remarked "She killed the boss, get her!" I was like...yep, that's Fallout npc bravado at its finest.
In fairness she did just get smacked pretty hard, and was looking a wreck even before that. Unfortunately I think it made her more dangerous. Star Swirl and Char are both somewhat hesitant fighters even when they try to go full out, but deprived over their better judgement and operating on instinct they’re damn scary.
While nothing would bring me great pleasure seeing this griff meet an explosive end like his compatriots had...
Small little titbit from my production process, he almost did. I wavered back and forth on the possibility of this being his final end for a long time, but for various reasons decided to let him escape this one.
I did not let him escape a righteous beating though. In many ways he’s Fluttershy’s nemesis, and she deserved this.
Note how the little prick completely fought contrary to Dust’s advice in the previous chapters and tried to wrestle a pony, rather than keep his distance and bleed her out?
Well...if there's one consolation to be had...Starswirl's burned all her pudginess away to accelerate her healing!
In fairness she’s (as you could expect) been losing it since she was with Star Hammer, when she started training again. In fact being this skinny actually makes her less effective (especially stood on a mountain), but she needed some mass to work with.
Trait Gained – Anorexic
We can kinda see your ribs. You lose one point of Endurance.
Damn though Sunshine Ivory, of all the political players who's going to bite it when Red Eye cuts all the strings to tie up loose ends, she's the one I look forward to see every mote of her plans falling apart.
I kind of want to reach through the monitor and bitchslap her myself. Unfortunately I have to rely on my screw up characters to do it.
Oh when that little manipulative little heartless monster of a mare gets what's coming to her, I am going to smile. Lady is truly the greatest ally of pain and misery after all, did rob the world of Midnight Dreamer's chance of becoming part of harmony and all that. Add everything else, amazed no one has noticed how black and twisted her soul must really be.
I want to like this story, I really do. But I cant. So much bullshit is happen. Luna's death was completely dumb. So was Zenai death.
To many plot points, too many loss ends.
Like I said, I really want to like this story, I just can't.