• Published 14th Sep 2012
  • 3,145 Views, 39 Comments

Tartarus Infernum - Sunderbraze



When the Gates of Tartarus are destroyed, Celestia must assemble an elite team to protect Equestria.

  • ...
2
 39
 3,145

Chapter 17 - The Blood Legion

**********

Though the Tartarus citadel was several miles from the crater, a great burst of wind from Rainbow Dash's final attack on Nagamina washed over the fortress, knocking almost all of its inhabitants off balance.

Farclaw was nearly blown off of the citadel's great staircase, and even Haakon's intimidating serpentine guards slid across the floor, pushed backwards by the gust. Unaffected, the Blood Prince furiously stood from his throne.

“WORTHLESS MERCENARIES! I GAVE THEM MY BLESSING, AND THEY SQUANDERED IT!”

Trembling with rage, Haakon approached the edge of his citadel, fixing his eyes upon the fading storm clouds that had been created by Dash’s hypersonic tornado.

Maelon slithered across the citadel to Haakon's side. “…My princsssse,” he hissed. “We sssstand ready to ssssucceed where the foolssss failed…”

Having narrowly avoided a fall from the winding stairs, Farclaw entered the citadel and bowed at Haakon. For a moment, the prince said nothing, leaving Maelon, Farclaw, and the other scaly creatures to watch him in silence.

“Send word to the lieutenants immediately,” Haakon finally ordered, still gazing at the crater. “We will meet them head-on. They will fall against the might of the Blood Legion.”

“…W-w-what of dey f-f-forbidden art, mah prince?” Farclaw stuttered nervously, as Maelon and the other scaly guards slithered away. "W-what we do...?"

“DO YOU DOUBT THE LEGION, PUP?” Haakon bellowed, turning and looking threateningly at the raptor.

“N-nevah!” Farclaw begged, bowing his head in terror.

“They will find it difficult to use their petty tricks in this fortress,” Haakon replied, walking past the quivering scout and looking down at his grand fortress. “Every single stone has been blessed by the Trask Hierophant... YOU STAND UPON HOLY GROUND. DO NOT FORGET THAT!”

Farclaw shuddered. “Y-yessah!"

“Should they lay a hoof in this citadel, they will become stains upon my floor,” the Blood Prince continued menacingly. “AND THEY WILL KNOW TRUE PAIN BEFORE THE END!”


**********

“…How’d they get these durn things on’n the first place?” Applejack complained. Several yards to her left, Ragehoof silently shook his head in response. They, along with the rest of the Elite, were trying to pry apart the broken armor of the unconscious Zentnor Collective.

Following a last-minute request from Starswirl, Rarity had used the Element of Generosity to shield the eleven unconscious Zentnor from their fall when they were hurled from Dash's hypersonic tornado. Though they were gravely injured, she successfully kept them from dying.

Like Starswirl, Rarity had used Ironmane's elementium crossbow bolt to get through their magic-resistant armor—the same vulnerability that had been their downfall had subsequently saved their lives. Once Nagamina had been defeated, the Elite had gathered their unconscious foes in the center of the crater.

Though Ironmane's crossbow bolt had managed to puncture their armor, it still proved very difficult to remove.

“...What are your plans, once these husks have been removed?” Luna asked Celestia—even the two princesses were working together to pry apart the armor of a brown-pelted Zentnor stallion.

Celestia took a break from hopelessly pulling at the armor. “I sent word to Captain Steelwind of Fillydelphia when I saw that the tide had turned,” she explained. “Once we have stripped them of Haakon’s enchantment and their armor, they should be easily contained by the city’s prison…”

“It would be safer to send them to the moon,” Luna suggested. “Better yet, should we not try to restore Tartarus’s imprisoning capabilities?”

Celestia sighed, gazing at the white mountain citadel in the south. “For the Zentnor, no… If we can remove this armor from them, they will no longer be remotely a threat..."

“You would try to rehabilitate them…?” Luna asked, raising an eyebrow.

“Yes,” Celestia declared. “They are normal ponies under this armor… And despite their wonton destruction of property in Detrot, they are not murderers…”

“At the very least, they should be interrogated about the origin of this strange armor,” said Luna, watching Aeon and Soarin’ lose their grip on a Zentnor’s armor and go flying backwards.

“Captain Steelwind can be quite persuasive,” Celestia said, briefly snickering under her breath. “It would not surprise me if she convinces them to divulge before our mission is complete.”

“Our mission,” Luna repeated, gazing towards the southern end of the crater. The mid-afternoon sunlight gleamed against the white fortress on the edge of Mount Tarus, only the top of which was visible over the rim of the crater.

“What becomes of Tartarus once it is retaken?” Luna continued. “Are we to turn it into a prison once again?”

“As I’ve said,” Celestia sighed. “We haven't a clue where to begin… In spite of everything, Discord seems well-versed in magic that goes way over our heads…”

“Is that respect I hear in your voice, Celestia?” Discord asked in shock.

**********

The two sisters immediately stared at the source of his voice, which appeared to be the unconscious Zentnor between them. A tiny projection of Discord walked around from behind one of the armor’s tall spikes, wearing an upside down pair of sunglasses. He leaned against the spike casually, grinning at Celestia.

“What of you is there to respect?” Celestia hissed at him quietly, trying not to draw the attention of the others. The last thing the team needed was another visit from the infuriating draconequus.

“That’s more like you,” Discord laughed, lifting his sunglasses and looking at her amusedly. One of his sunglasses’ lenses popped out of its frame, landing on the ground below and exploding with a little crack.

“...Are you able to restore the dilation field within Tartarus?” Luna asked him quietly, pointing her head at Celestia but locking her eyes on Discord.

“Certainly not,” he replied, lowering the single-lensed pair of sunglasses back onto his face. “Seriously, do you pay any attention to what I say? My old friend, the remote control, is the one who paused it for me…”

“Remote control?” Celestia asked, raising an eyebrow at him.

“I recall,” Luna clarified. Discord’s shifty eyes traveled towards her. “You mentioned the name Tre’zan…”

“Bravo!” replied Discord, applauding her. “Give that mare a medal!”

“Where is this… Tre’zan now?” Celestia interrupted his applause.

“Oh, he could be anywhere,” Discord chuckled. The other lens of his sunglasses popped out and landed on the Zentnor’s armor, exploding and leaving a small black smudge on it. “It's been such a long time… He might be underground though, if you’re willing to dig him up!”

“You disgust me,” Celestia spat, wrinkling her nose at the thought of exhumation. “Be gone.”

“Wait,” Luna interrupted, lowering her head towards Discord. “You wanted Haakon imprisoned as well, do you not? Help us...”

“My dear Luna, what is it you think I’m doing here?” Discord laughed, pulling the lens-less sunglasses from his face and taking a bite out of their frame. With his mouth full of chewed metal, he continued, “I’m helping you just enough to make sure it’s a fair fight. Mmph… That way, whoever loses, I win!”

“Surely you do not expect us to let you remain like this once we have triumphed?” Luna asked, looking at him threateningly. “You cannot hide like this forever... Were we not preoccupied, we could track you down...”

“That isn’t much incentive for me to help you, is it?” Discord asked, swallowing the remains of his sunglasses and looking at her with a serious expression. “Sure, I could deal with Haakon with a snap of my fingers, but why do that when he can deal with you for me?”

“I thought we were dealing with Haakon for you?” Celestia asked in confusion. “Just who do you want to win?!”

“Me!” Discord laughed, his translucent body beginning to fade away. “And things are going just swimmingly! Good luck with Haakon, dearies! I’ll be rooting for me!”

**********

The two princesses paused, their eyes still fixed on the spot where Discord’s miniature projection once stood.

“...His goal is to confuse us,” Luna finally declared, resuming her attempts to remove the Zentnor’s armor. “If we dwell on what he says, he will continue to win.”

“He seems to be watching our every move,” Celestia added, hopelessly assisting her. She lost her grip on the spiked armor, sliding backwards and landing on her back. “…Ugh…”

Luna giggled, quickly covering her mouth with a hoof and trying to conceal her amusement.

“Ha, ha,” Celestia laughed sarcastically, rolling over and standing back up. She brushed the dirt off of her pearly plated armor..

“There must be a simpler way of going about this,” said Luna. She stared at the Zentnor in front of her for a few moments, and then looked around at the rest of the Elite. They were not having much better luck.


“If you’d just wake one of them up,” Ragehoof muttered at Twilight, as she re-paralyzed the victim he was attempting to disrobe. “Give me five minutes with him and we’ll know how to get these tin cans off...”

“It doesn’t sound like you plan on asking nicely,” Twilight replied cautiously. “I’m sure we can figure it out e-“

**********

“Ah-hah!” Ironmane shouted triumphantly—the armor on his Zentnor victim suddenly dislodged itself with a series of rapid, mechanical clicks.

“Good goin’, sarge!” Armor exclaimed, galloping to his side and studying the dislodged armor carefully. “…Wait, how in Equestria did you do that?”

“The armor’s locked together by a clockwork system behind their forelegs, sir,” Ironmane replied, pointing a hoof at the thickly geared section he had exposed while trying to remove the armor. “Looks like they just have to clop their front hooves together three times in a row, and it just falls off!”

“Are you kidding me?!” Dash whined, hovering over Nagamina’s unconscious body. “That’s all we gotta do?!”

“Heh, looks like it ace,” Spitfire laughed, lifting Nagamina's front hooves and clacking them against each other three times. A series of clicks echoed through her forelegs, and the spiky armor separated into five pieces—the helmet, the body, and the four legs. The armor also seemed to loosen, allowing it to slide off.

Spitfire effortlessly removed each section, tossing them into a pile off to her left. Following the same process, the Elite disrobed the remaining Zentnor in a matter of minutes.

“So all we had t’do was hit’em in their hooves three times?” Applejack asked in confusion. “Ah don’t get it, how come they didn’t come off when they were punchin’ the livin’ daylights outta us?”

“The locking mechanism’s pretty complex,” Ragehoof replied from off to her left, studying one of the armored leg pieces. “They only activate when they hit their own hooves together three times, consecutively... It’s pretty genius, I bet Anvil would’ve... ugh…” He trailed off.

“What’s that, partner?” Applejack questioned, walking over and looking at him curiously.

Ragehoof closed his eyes in annoyance, tossing the armor piece over his shoulder. “Nothing,” he huffed, turning around and starting to walk away. Applejack cautiously placed a hoof on his black shoulder plate.

“Y’know, if somethin’s botherin’ ya, we’re here for ya,” she told him, smiling. He paused, staring off into space for a few moments.

“…Some other time,” Ragehoof finally said, continuing to walk away. Applejack’s hoof slid off of his shoulder and landed back on the ground.

“Ah really do worry ‘bout him sometimes,” Ashton said, walking to Applejack's side and watching Ragehoof with her. “He looks like he's got somethin' mighty big botherin’ ‘em…”

“Ain’t no doubt about that,” Applejack agreed. “Ah wish he’d just talk a little more…” The two ponies watched their teammate start sifting through the pile of Zentnor armor along with Aeon.

Overhearing their conversation from above, Soarin' landed to Ashton's right. “Y'know, he might not anything nice to talk about,” he commented. “I heard a few things about him when we first met the Brotherhood…”

“Like what?” Applejack asked curiously—she and Ashton turned towards the Wonderbolt.

Soarin’ ducked his head and leaned towards them. “…Like, when he first became a potential, it was because he killed three adult dragons," he whispered cautiously, ensuring Ragehoof wouldn’t hear him.

“He what?!” Ashton yelped—Applejack jammed her plated hoof into his mouth to silence him. Mumbling out of the corner of his lips, he continued, “…dragons ain’t nothin’ to mess with!”

“Didn’t you lasso one?” Soarin’ chuckled. "I swear I heard about it in a magazine-"

“T’was a teenager,” Ashton gulped quietly, when Applejack removed her hoof from his mouth. “Jus' a ‘lil bigger than you an’ me… Adult dragons are almost as big as that Lagos fella!”

“Ah've seen a big'un up close once... Can’t imagine how he did it,” Applejack added quietly. “Or why, come to think of it… Dragons ain’t nice, but Ah sure wouldn’t go pickin’ a fight with one jus' for the hay of it…”

The trio’s conversation was interrupted by a sudden cheer from Aeon, who had just pulled a glowing glass syringe from one of the suits of armor. “Just look at this!” he exclaimed, holding the syringe up to the sunlight.

The orange liquid within was glowing eerily, forming little clots and bubbling lively.

“What’s this, now?” Starswirl asked excitedly, floating to Aeon’s side and observing the container. “It’s resonating with magical energy… But it’s a liquid of some sort?”

“Nagamina said something about, uh,” Dash told them, trying to remember what the furious Zentnor had rambled about. “Stim packs or something like that, before she went all super-mare on me…”

“Magically enhanced medication?” Aeon guessed, allowing Starswirl to levitate the syringe of orange liquid out of his hooves. “CNS stimulants, no less…”

“I’ve heard of this being done for medical uses, but never for combat,” Starswirl told him, as Celestia approached from behind. “I’d like to take a sample for the professor and I to study.”

“When the Fillydelphia City Guard arrive, I'm ordering them to take the armor and stimulants to Mareheim,” Celestia replied. “They must be kept separate from the Zentnor in our absence… When our mission is complete, by all means, head to Mareheim and study to your hearts’ content.”

“Fair enough,” Starswirl shrugged. “…Any idea when they should be here?” Aeon and Dash started digging through the pile of armor, pulling the syringes from the neck sections of armor.

“A matter of minutes,” Celestia told him, gazing at the northern horizon—three gleaming dots in the sky were flying towards them, already approaching the rim of the crater.


**********

“Atten-HUT!” Captain Steelwind roared, flying above one of the three golden chariots that landed in the center of the crater. The pegasi guards that pulled the chariots skidded to a halt, saluting her and standing at attention.

“Captain,” Shining Armor said, saluting her respectfully.

“Captain,” Steelind replied, returning the salute. She turned to Ironmane, who stood next to him. “Sergeant.”

“Captain,” replied Ironmane, saluting as well.

“Captain,” Celestia chimed in, approaching Steelwind and nodding her head.

“Your highness,” Steelwind replied, bowing in return. From several yards away, Ragehoof scoffed at their formality.

“Please take the prisoners to Fillydelphia’s holding cells,” Celestia ordered—the captain quickly motioned to the pegasi guards in front of the chariots. They detached themselves, saluted her, and immediately flew towards the pile of unconscious Zentnor.

Each of the prisoners had small scars where Ironmane’s crossbow bolts once stuck into them. Cadance had surgically removed the bolts, healing them enough to close their wounds, but not enough to cure their paralysis.

“They’ll be out for a good couple’a hours,” Starswirl cheerfully explained to the guards, as they shackled the Zentnor’s legs and carried them towards the chariots.

“The Collective’s armor is to be taken to Mareheim,” Celestia continued. "Along with the contents of this bag. As of their delivery, they are to become classified."

Steelwind nodded curtly in acknowledgement, accepting the white saddlebag full of stimulants from Aeon and ordering her remaining guards to start collecting the armor.

“This is precious cargo,” Aeon explained, handing the bag to Steelwind. “Please treat it carefully…” She nodded at him, placing the bag in the front seat of the chariot while the guards dumped the Zentnor's armor into the back.

Having loaded the Zentnor and their armor into separate chariots, the Fillydelphian guards re-attached themselves to the chariots, preparing to take off.

“Thank you, Captain Steelwind, for your speedy response.” Celestia told her. “Dismissed. Fly safely!”

Steelwind saluted the princess once more before turning around. “You heard her highness, you pigeons!” she roared, motioning for them to take off. "Get going!" They started galloping hurriedly towards the south, taking off and circling around towards the north.

“Captain,” Steelwind said calmly, turning to Armor and Ironmane once again. “Sergeant.”

“Captain,” they replied at the same time. They saluted each other, and Steelwind took off after the three chariots.

Celestia ordered the team to form up, and she initiated another inspirational speech.

“It is time to move upon Tartarus, and end Haakon’s threat once and for all!” she ordered, receiving a series of cheers in response. “Remember what we’ve learned—we can win without bloodshed!”

“We will charge the fortress head-on. Do what you must to subdue Haakon's soldiers,” Celestia continued. “Starswirl, Twilight, Luna, and myself will deal with those that have been defeated.”

“The paralysis spell,” Luna quietly clarified for the confused Twilight.

“Let us bring down Tartarus, once and for all!” Celestia continued, her voice booming over the cheers of the Elite. She began to walk towards the south, spreading her wings. “RIDE!”

The Equestrian Elite followed her lead, galloping and flying towards the southern end of the crater.


**********

“FEAR IS OUR ALLY, AND THEIR ENEMY,” Haakon bellowed. His black, leathery wings suspended him high above the greater fortress of Tartarus, and he was addressing an army of thousands below.

Crowds of strange creatures comprised the Blood Legion, and each race numbered in the hundreds.

“THE EQUINES ARE FEW IN NUMBER, AND THEY RELY ON THE FORBIDDEN ARTS,” continued the Blood Prince. The cheers of his armies subsided into a cacophony of nervous mumbles upon hearing him mention the forbidden idea of magic.

“BUT THIS FORTRESS IS HOLY GROUND, AND YOU ARE THE WARRIORS OF THE BLOOD PRINCE!”

The nervous hissing and muttering faded away into roars and cheers once again. From the mountainside beyond the fortress walls, a flock of gargoyle-like creatures with brown, leathery wings took flight and screeched at Haakon from below his altitude.

“THE BLOOD LEGION HAS NEVER BEEN TRULY DEFEATED, AND IT NEVER SHALL BE,” Haakon bellowed supportively. He paused for a moment, scanning the armies below with his glowing orange eyes.

“LOOK AT ALL WHO STAND WITH US! REMEMBER WHY WE ARE THE GREATEST ARMY IN THE WORLD!”

His eyes traveled to a section of comprised of roaring and screeching velociraptors. Their scales ranged from dark blue to dark green, and some of them were clad in ornate wooden armor.

Haakon opened his hand and indicated them. “THE VELOCIRAPTORS OF THE JADE ISLES!”

The armies roared loudly in acknowledgement of the raptors, as the Blood Prince looked down to indicate the brown, gargoyle-like winged creatures that were flocking below him.

“THE CUNNING WYVERNS OF THE OBSIDIAN MOUNTAINS!”

Bellowing supportively, the swooping wyverns flew into a V-formation, circling the cheering armies once before returning to the mountainside to watch from afar.

Haakon turned his attention towards a bleating section of orange, tusked, pig-like creatures. Their muscular bodies rivaled bulls in size, and their ivory tusks were jagged and sharp.

“THE UNSTOPPABLE PANBOARS, OF THE BOAREAN TUNDRA!”

Among the armies, one crowd of creatures was making a different sound from the others—Haakon next acknowledged the barking crowd of demonic dogs. Their fur was either dark blue or dark red, and their white eyes glowed faintly.

“AND THE ARDENHOUNDS, OF THE SCORCHED LANDS!”

“ALL OF YOU, BROUGHT TO ORDER BY THE TRASK HIEROPHANT, HAILING FROM ABBADON'S DEPTHS!”

Following this acknowledgement, the cheering creatures of the crowd fearfully backed away from the crimson, serpent-like guards of the Blood Prince. Following Maelon’s lead, the six Trask did not cheer in excitement, but merely bowed their heads respectfully at Haakon.

“ABOVE ALL, REMEMBER WHOM YOU SERVE,” Haakon told them, materializing a massive mace in his left hand with a CRACK of orange magic. “I AM THE BLOOD PRINCE!”

“SOON, ALL OF THE EASTERN KINGDOMS WILL TREMBLE UPON HEARING MY NAME… HAAKON!!”

The army below him whimpered for a moment, bowing their heads fearfully. Some of them resumed their cheering, but several worried shouts began to echo through the crowd.

“Dere!” Farclaw shouted from among the crowds, pointing to Haakon’s side. “Dee-mon! Dee-mon!” Shouts of “Demon!” began to ripple through the armies.

“Bravo, my friend, bravo,” a mischievous voice said from Haakon’s left. “Such an excellent speaker!”

**********

“YOU!” Haakon roared, swinging his mace furiously at Discord. The applauding projection momentarily distorted as the mace passed through him, leaving him unharmed.

“Aye, it is I,” Discord laughed. His image suddenly increased in size drastically; he scaled to nearly three times the size of Haakon, and the fearful armies below began to whimper.

“THIS DEMONSPAWN WILL TAUNT US NO LONGER,” Haakon bellowed. “IGNORE HIS PATHETIC TRICKERY! HE KNOWS THAT IF HE SHOWS HIS TRUE FACE, IT WILL BE CRUSHED!”

“Oh, stop with the dramatics,” Discord told him, snapping his fingers. Haakon’s mace turned into a large rubber mallet with BAM inscribed on its face in goofy lettering.

“Say what you have come to say, fool,” Haakon spat, incinerating the toy mace in his hands with a shimmering burst of orange fire. “The Trask Hierophant will find you soon…”

“Oh, I’ve nothing big to say,” Discord giggled, rotating weightlessly in the air over Haakon’s armies. “Maybe just a little hello and goodbye. I’m merely… passing through, as it were.”

“Everything you do has some twisted purpose behind it,” Haakon replied angrily. “Do you think you can fool us again?!”

“Oh, not this time,” Discord replied, decreasing in size and placing a cupped claw over his mouth as he approached Haakon’s ear, whispering into it. “Celestia and her little ponies will beat you easily, I know that. I have no need to imprison you any more, you see…”

Haakon listened angrily as Discord continued to whisper into his ear.

“Bah! COMPRIOMISE!?” the prince roared, jerking away from Discord and glaring at him angrily. “We will DESTROY them, and then we will DESTROY YOU! YOU WILL NOT HIDE FROM US FOR LONG! THE TRASK HIEROPHANT WILL FIND YOU, AND WE WILL CRUSH YOU!”

“Suit yourself,” Discord laughed, slowly fading out of existence. “Your loss!”

“IGNORE THE DEMON’S WORDS,” Haakon bellowed at his armies; they slowly resumed their cheering.

“MAELON, TRACK THE DEMON! THE REST OF YOU, TO YOUR BATTLESTATIONS! SOUND THE BELLS!”

“THE EASTERN KINGDOMS’ CHAMPIONS WILL MEET THEIR END!”


**********

“What’s that?” Dash asked curiously. She and the Equestrian Elite had exited the crater, and entered a wide grassy courtyard. Bells were chiming from the fortress in the distance—its walls were tall and thick, and the afternoon sunlight gleamed upon its white stone.

“Never mind that, what’s that?!” Aeon asked nervously, pointing at the inner gates of the Tartarus fortress. Like the former Gates of Tartarus, the gate was a single section of wall mounted upon a hinge.

The gate was rotating open, causing the ground to rumble as stone grinded upon stone.

“Haakon’s armies approach!” Celestia shouted, narrowing her eyes at the small figures beginning to flood from the gates. “CHARGE!”

Celestia resumed her flight, leading the Elite along with her as they began approaching the hundreds of strange creatures under Haakon’s command.

“Heads up! Catapults!” Starswirl shouted to the team—he indicated several large wooden mechanisms on the citadel’s walls, each of which were readying chunks of white rock.

“AVOID THEIR PROJECTILES!” Luna boomed as well. She barrel rolled out of the way as the trebuchets began launching rocks high into the air—the other fliers of the Elite took evasive action as well.

Shining Armor raised a mobile shield around the team, but one of the chunks of rock sailed through it effortlessly and crashed into the grass behind him.

“Scatter!” Celestia called out worriedly. “The stone of the fortress resists magic! Avoid it!”

Armor dropped his shield, and the earth ponies and unicorns of the team split off into different directions, assuming a line formation and leaving wide gaps between each other.

“...I cannot demolish their fortress from below,” Terra called out to Celestia and Luna. “The earth around the structure does not respond to my call!”

“Discord mentioned that the fortress was enchanted with anti-magic,” Luna replied loudly. “That will complicate things greatly…”

“Then they shall be struck from above!” Terra declared, breaking away from the others, increasing her altitude, and baring her teeth furiously. Storm clouds began forming throughout the sky, darkening the battlefield below—lightning began flashing as soon as they formed, followed by rolling thunder.

“Cadance!” Celestia ordered, adjusting her flight towards her niece. “Stay with Rarity, as before!” As soon as Cadance nodded in acknowledgement, Celestia zipped back in between Starswirl and Luna. “Luna, you and I will incapacitate those defeated by the airborne team! Swirly, take Twilight and handle those from the ground team!”

“You got it!” Starswirl cheered excitedly, dropping his altitude and hovering alongside Twilight as she galloped. He relayed the plan to her, and they altered their course to follow after the spread-out ground team.

Continuing to dodge projectiles from the trebuchets, the Elite closed in upon the assembling armies in front of the gates. As they got closer and closer, they saw that the first wave of opponents was comprised entirely of hissing velociraptors.

“Up and over the walls!" Aeon ordered the airborne team enthusiastically, increasing his altitude. "Let's take out those trebuchets!" He led the other pegasi high into the air, over the trebuchets' missiles, and towards the fortress’s airspace.

“Aww yeah!” Dash whooped, rolling to the side and plowing through one of the trebuchets. It exploded into a flurry of splintered wood and roaring velociraptors, leaving rainbow trails behind them as they fell.

Celestia, Luna, and Terra followed after the airborne team. Lightning was threateningly jumping from cloud to cloud, but it did not strike the Elite—instead, it followed Terra's explicit commands and struck the velociraptors manning the walls.

“Doc, we got incoming!” Soarin’ shouted from Aeon's right. “Bad guys, three ‘o clock!”

“Move to intercept!” Aeon ordered, adjusting his course to charge at the flock of wyverns rising from the mountainside. “For Equestria!”

The airborne team collided with the wyvern flock amidst flashes of bright lightning, as the ground and magic team charged into the velociraptors’ ranks below.

Still strengthened by leftover energy from Luna's glyph, the ground team began plowing through their enemies. The raptors’ scathing claws and razor-sharp teeth sent sparks flying in every direction as they struck the Elite’s armor, but they left no marks behind.

When Applejack bucked her foes, she sent several at a time sailing through the air, knocking the creatures into their allies behind them. Ragehoof charged in a straight line through the crowds, bashing his way towards the gates.

Ashton had lassoed one of the raptors, and was using his excess strength to swing his foe around, striking dozens of other raptors with him. Ironmane had drawn his own crossbow in one hoof and the golden Chinobi crossbow in his other, launching a flurry of bolts into the crowd.

One of the velociraptors paused, staring at his comrades as they were steamrolled by the Elite.

“…Nuh-uh,” Farclaw said, turning around. "Da pony too powahful!"

“This isn’t so bad!” Twilight cheered, firing a violet wave of paralyzing magic at the raptors that had been plowed through effortlessly. The energy washed over them, leaving them motionless in its wake.

“In chess, you always send your pawns first!” Starswirl piped up, telekinetically lifting several raptors from the ground, slamming them together, and tossing them off to the side. “Let’s split up and get closer to the gates! You take the left, I’ll take the right!”

Twilight nodded at him determinedly and galloped off towards Applejack and Ragehoof. She started lifting injured raptors from the ground, dropping them into piles before dousing them with tsunamis of paralyzing magic.

On the opposite side, Shining Armor had drawn his massive polearm, and was using it to bash through multiple raptors at a time as they charged towards him.

“Twist your waist when you swing!” Ironmane bellowed to him. “Don’t just aim for them, aim through them!” Armor paused, looking at the sergeant with a questioning gaze.

Ironmane grinned for a moment, finishing his statement. “…Sir…”

“You got it, sarge,” Armor laughed, his horn glowing purple—he charged his polearm with magic, causing the force of each swing to greatly increase as he resumed plowing through the enemies’ ranks.

Applejack had bucked her way straight to the gate, and was the first of the team to get a good look inside. Hundreds of raptor reinforcements were running towards her, and they were now being reinforced by the demonic-looking ardenhounds and the intimidating orange panboars.

“What’n tarnation are those things?!” she asked, bashing away several attacking raptors. “…Uh, Twi! Lil' help!”

Hearing her friend’s call amidst the roars and shrieks of the raptors, Twilight teleported across the battlefield, rematerializing next to Applejack.

“Any idea-“ Applejack paused to buck a pair of approaching raptors away “-what those things are?!” Worriedly looking at where she was pointing, Twilight gasped at the horrendous-looking creatures heading their way.

“…The orange things, I think they’re panboars!” Twilight said, recalling a book she had once read on exotic species. “But I have no idea what those… dogs are!”

“Let’s jus’ call’em mutts, then!” Applejack declared, charging into a swarm of the barking creatures.

Pinkie suddenly hopped next to Twilight. “They aren’t pound puppies, that’s for sure!” she added cheerfully.

“They ain’t wh-uh oh!” Applejack’s question was cut off as she tried to intercept a raptor heading straight for Pinkie. Applejack managed to knock him away, but another raptor jumped over her and lunged at Pinkie.

Pinkie turned around, and the raptor ran straight into her tail—his charge was completely halted by the fluffy pink mass.

“…What da-“

The raptor’s wide-eyed surprise was ended abruptly; Pinkie’s tail puffed itself back out, sending him flying into a crowd of his comrades behind him. As they toppled into each other, an audible sound of collapsing bowling pins accompanied their fall.

“Steeee-rike!” Pinkie cheered, bouncing away from the pair.

“Did she jus-“

“She did,” the clueless Twilight responded, telekinetically tripping an attacking raptor and teleporting away from another. Floating in the air, she called down to Applejack. “Remind me to ask her how she did that!”

“Alrighty then,” Applejack replied, fixing her hat and standing defensively as a panboar charged at her.


High over the fortress, the airborne team had a significant advantage over the wyverns. Rainbow Dash, Spitfire, and Soarin’ were taking them down with tremendous ease, and Celestia and Luna were ensuring that the fallen did not get back up.

Dash was using pure speed and momentum to plow through her foes, while the Wonderbolts disabled them individually with precise strikes to their wings, backs, and necks. Aeon was scooping chunks of storm cloud from above, and was hurling them at the wyverns, causing them to get electrocuted.

“No, Dusky, wait!” Fluttershy said worriedly, flying behind the vengefully cawing phoenix. “You shouldn’t fight, it’s too dangerous!”

Dusky opened her mouth wide, ejecting a stream of shadowy purple magic from it—it struck a wyvern in the chest, causing it to roar in pain and start spiraling towards the ground.

She turned towards Fluttershy, cawing twice and chirping a few times.

“…Haakon did what?” Fluttershy gasped—Dusky nodded at her. “…Okay, I understand… please be careful, though…”

Dusky cawed determinedly, beating a wing against her chest before swooping downwards and sinking her talons into the back of a raptor that was approaching Rarity—she lifted him off of the ground and dropped him out of the sky several yards away.

“Thank you, Dusky dear,” Rarity said in relief, fixing her outfit. “That brute was trying to eat me!”

“Raptors are c-carnivores…” Fluttershy yelped nervously, hovering next to Rarity.

“Oh, I know how to deal with the likes of them,” replied Rarity, narrowing her eyes at a trio of raptors that had dodged Ironmane and were now approaching her. “Try to eat me again, I dare you!”

The trio of charging raptors never made it to her—a wyvern from above slammed into them forcefully, leaving a trail of rainbows behind.

“No, no, Rainbow,” Fluttershy squeaked upwards to Dash, though she was already fary beyond hearing distance. “Please don’t hit them so hard…”

Princess Luna swooped towards the ground, firing a swift wave of stunning magic at the wyvern and the three raptors.

“Um, princess,” Fluttershy said, flying over towards her. Luna slowed down, averting her attention towards her yellow teammate. “C-can I heal them? Rainbow is hurting them a lot…”

“If you must, child,” Luna’s booming startled her. "Do so with caution..."

“That’s very thoughtful of you, Fluttershy,” Rarity added, as Luna flew back into the air.

“I wish we didn’t have to fight in the first place…” Fluttershy replied sadly, powering her Element and sending a stream of pink magic towards the quivering wyvern.


Twilight teleported out of the fray and floated next to Starswirl, catching her breath. "...If the raptors are just the pawns, what’re they?!” she asked worriedly, indicating the ardenhounds and panboars.

“More pawns,” Starswirl laughed, conjuring a plastic bone and tossing it into a crowd of ardenhounds below. Several of them barked excitedly, piling onto the bone.

“Puh!” spat one of the dogs, jerking his head away and tossing the bone out. “It’s fake!”

“Oh tha’s jus’ wrong,” another Ardenhound barked. “Who did dat?!”

Starswirl burst into laughter as Ragehoof charged into the confused dog pile, sending them flying in every direction.

“Quit messin' around,” Ragehoof shouted up to the wizard, lifting one of the ardenhounds and throwing him towards a charging panboar—the two creatures collided forcefully.

“Such a spoilsport,” Starswirl huffed, sending a wave of blue magic towards the ground—it harmlessly dissipated upon striking the engraved stone floor. “Whoops, forgot about that!”

“How is the entire fortress resistant to magic?” Twilight asked him curiously, firing a jet of powerful purple energy at one of the walls—it barely left a mark.

“It isn't as potent as the Zentnor’s armor,” Starswirl mused, carefully observing the charred spot that Twilight had struck. “If it was, your magic would’ve never reached the wall. Still, it seems like the stone itself is enchanted with an anti-magic spell!”

“I think Canterlot’s school of magic is built like that,” Twilight said, recalling the dozens of stray spells she had accidentally blasted the roof with. “Isn't there a way to get around it?”

“Whoever cast the spell has to deactivate it,” Starswirl explained, shrugging. “That’s interesting, because Discord said Haakon’s armies fear magic-“

“Ah’m gonna need some help down here!” Applejack interrupted from below—Twilight and Starswirl quickly lowered altitude and floated behind her, looking in the direction she was pointing.

The panboars, raptors, and ardenhounds that had previously been flooding from the depths of the fortress had stopped, making way for two large figures that were obscured by the lightning.

“Ah, finally!” Starswirl cheered. “Looks like he’s sending his knights!”


“Doc!” Spitfire called out, planting her hooves into the spine of one of her foes. “They might need some help below!”

Aeon tried to reply, but he was in the middle of a dogfight. He paused and hurled a hoof full of storm cloud at the oncoming wyvern, striking its wings and causing it to veer away from him.

“Look at the size of those raptors!” Soarin’ added, pointing a hoof down below. Aeon swooped over to get a good look at what his teammate was pointing at.

Significantly larger than the rest of the army and clad in wooden and ceramic armor, two raptors were stomping their way towards the ground and magic team. They had assembled defensively several yards inside the fortress’s gate, and were sizing up their approaching raptor foes.

“We’ll help them out as soon as we clear the skies,” Aeon ordered, pointing a hoof upwards. "We have to keep the enemy's air support from reaching the ground!"

Many wyverns were still pouring out of the mountainside in staggered waves, flocking at high altitudes before swarming towards the airborne team from above.

Without having heard Aeon’s discussion with Spitfire and Soarin’, Dash zoomed past them and into the flocking wyverns above. The second she reached the flock, she broke the sound barrier, sending hundreds of disoriented, rainbow-struck creatures spiraling in every direction.

“You should’a stayed on the ground!” Dash cheered, exiting the flock and banking around at a wide angle, preparing to plow through them again. “This is too easy!”

Without warning, a powerful bolt of orange magic streaked from the citadel of Tartarus, striking Dash precisely and sending a surge of energy through her body. Completely paralyzed from the magical attack, her wings locked up, and she started spiraling towards the courtyard below, leaving a trail of glowing orange smoke behind her.

“Ace!” Soarin’ shouted fearfully, swooping in her direction. He tried to intercept her before she reached the ground, but she slammed into it forcefully, forming a small dirt crater in the grass.

Spitfire and Aeon started to follow, but had to quickly break away to intercept the oncoming flock of wyverns.

“No, no, no, no, no!” Fluttershy cried, flying as quickly as she could to join Soarin' at Dash’s impact point.

“That’s not good, princess,” Rarity said to Cadance, pausing their advance through the fortress gates and staring worriedly at the crash site.

“What’s wrong?” Cadance asked, taking wing and hovering to get a better view. "She's taken worse than that, hasn't she? Fluttershy will have her up on no time."

“It's not the crash that bothers me, princess,” Rarity explained nervously. “That magical attack that struck her… I couldn't absorb any of it. It felt like nothing hit her…”

“Don't worry, Fluttershy’s got her covered,” Cadance urged, pulling Rarity into the fortress. “They’re gonna need our help inside!”

“Y-you can fix her up, right kiddo?” Soarin’ asked Fluttershy frantically. She was pouring pink energy into Dash’s unconscious body, but only her bruises were healing. Her frazzled mane and twitching wings did not return to normal, and she did not regain consciousness.

“I… I can't… What am I doing wrong?!” Fluttershy cried out, focusing as hard as she could.


**********

“How much meat ya think dey got on dey bones?” one of the enormous raptor lieutenants asked the other.

“Whaddya say we find out, bruddah?” he replied, drool leaking from the edge of his mouth.

“...Ain’t nothin’ good ‘bout no meat-eaters,” Ashton mumbled quietly, readying a rope.

“Applejack, you and Ashton handle the one on the left,” Armor whispered to her. She nodded and started trotting away as he turned towards Ironmane. “Sergeant, you and Ragehoof flank the other one from the right… I’ll keep his attention on me, hit him from behind.”

“Yessir,” Ironmane replied. Ragehoof mock-saluted him, and they started subtly moving into position as the large raptors continued to approach them.

“Ooohh, look’a dees,” said the raptor on the right. “Dey tink dey gonna trick ahhhss…”

“No trick, pony,” hissed the other raptor. “It be feastin’ time!”

The two raptor lieutenants charged at the Elite—Applejack took the attention of the left one, and Armor took the attention of the right. Before Ironmane and Ragehoof could get into position around their enemy’s side, their foe swung his tail forcefully and knocked them backwards.

Every time Armor swung his polearm, the raptor parried it with his claw and kicked back at him.

“Save your energy,” Starswirl told Twilight, who had started readying a spell to assist the ground team. “Their armor’s enchanted with the same spell as the fortress…”

Twilight growled in response, exhaling angrily through her nose. She dissipated the spell she was preparing, and watched helplessly while her brother was kicked around by the raptor’s clawed feet.

“Too much bone on ya,” the lieutenant laughed, swiping at Ironmane and Ragehoof with his tail and knocking them away yet again. “We get riddah all dat!”

“Bring it!” Armor growled, shielding himself with a small dome—the raptor’s clawed legs scratched the shield, failing to reach the captain within.

“Ah be right baaack,” the raptor cackled—he hopped over the shield and lunged at Pinkie Pie.

“Hi there!” Pinkie gushed, waving at him. “Bye there!”

With a CRACK of blue magic, Pinkie dematerialized, and the raptor’s lunge ended with him crashing into a wall. Seizing the opportunity, Ironmane fired both of his crossbows at the raptor’s back, and Ragehoof charged at him.

“You were expecting me to rescue you, weren’t you?” Starswirl chuckled, suspending Pinkie in midair as the raptor lieutenant was struck from behind and sent flying. She giggled innocently.


“She has been struck by a very strange type of magic,” Luna explained, examining Dash’s frazzled mane. “...She will survive, but as long as the caster of this spell wills it so, she will remain disabled…”

“Isn’t there anything we can do?” Soarin’ asked worriedly, watching Spitfire, Aeon, and even Dusky struggle to keep the wyverns at bay.

“Stay away from the citadel,” Celestia replied, staring at the highest point of the fortress. “That’s where she was struck from. Some powerful foe awaits us there…”

“Is it Haakon?” Luna asked her sister, as Soarin’ nodded and took off to assist the others.

“Possibly...”

“Fluttershy, stop expending effort. You cannot restore her on your own.”

Fluttershy looked up at Luna, several tears leaking from her eyes. “I-I promised D-Dashie I’d w-watch her back…” she sniffled, wiping one of her tears away.

“We will keep her safe,” Celestia said reassuringly. “Please, child, the rest of the team needs you!”

Fluttershy gulped and rubbed her face with her forearm, drying her eyes and taking flight. As soon as she was in range, she began channeling a stream of magic towards the other pegasi.

Suddenly, the amount and brightness of the lightning above began to intensify—Terra was increasing the power of the thunderstorm, willing the bolts to hail onto the wyverns from above.


**********

Ashton and Applejack were faring well against their raptor opponent, but a threatening sound chorus of barking and bleating from the citadel stairs distracted them.

“That don’ look good,” Ashton commented concernedly, watching a thickly-armored panboar and a black-pelted ardenhound charge down the winding stairs.

It was two more lieutenants of the Blood Legion—Haakon had sent them to reinforce the raptor lieutenants.

“This is gonna get messy,” Starswirl muttered to Twilight. “Go help the lovebirds with these guys—I’ll get the raptor off their backs!”

“The wha-?” Twilight asked, as Starswirl dematerialized. He reappeared between the raptor lieutenant and the two earth ponies, seizing the raptor's attention and leading him away.

Twilight looked down at Applejack and Ashton for a moment. “Oh!” she thought, grinning in realization. “He's right! They're so cute-“

The charging panboar lieutenant suddenly crashed into Applejack, knocking her into the air. Though he skidded backwards from the impact, he dug his hoof into the floor, snorted angrily, and charged at her again.

Twilight snapped out of her moment and evaluated the situation—Applejack was taking little damage from the panboar's charge attacks, but Ashton didn't have an Element, and the ardenhound lieutenant was closing in.

Quickly teleporting to Ashton's side, Twilight conjured a small violet shield around them. The ardenhound dove, running into the shield with a smack.

“T’ain’t that somethin’,” Ashton laughed, watching the dog’s demonic face slide down the shield.

Twilight lowered the shield and fired several bolts of magic at their foe, but her attacks careened harmlessly off of his jet-black fur—offensive magic seemed to have no effect on him.

"Rope him!" Twilight gasped, backing away from the angry dog. "Hurry!"

Ashton tried to lasso the ardenhound, but he jumped off of the ground and pounced on Twilight, knocking her down and gnashing at her throat. Before the dog could figure out he couldn't chew through steelweave, Twilight managed to teleport away, floating out of his reach.

"Gotcha!" Ashton exclaimed, managing to lasso the dog's hind leg as soon as Twilight was clear. "...Erm..." He tried to use the lasso to trip him, but tugging on the rope did no good—the ardenhound charged and pounced on him faster than he could pull the rope.

"...Drat!" Twilight thought, firing another spell at the dog's back as he gnashed at Ashton's armor. It had no effect. She tried to teleport Ashton away, but the dog's magic-resistant hide seemed to keep her spell from reaching him.

Noticing that Ashton's rope was still tied to the ardenhound's hind leg, Twilight seized it telekinetically and tried to pull him away, but the dog's powerful jaws were still attached to Ashton's neck—she yelped and released the rope before she caused any harm.

Twilight considered charging at the ardenhound, but she knew that wouldn't end well. Running out of ideas, she started searching frantically for someone that could help.

Applejack was busy dodging the constant charges of the panboar, Starswirl was preoccupied with one of the raptors, and Ironmane, Ragehoof, and Armor were still locked in combat with the other. Rarity was busy strengthening Ashton against the vicious attacks of the ardenhound, and Cadance was busy healing her.

“Oh, pick me, pick me!” Pinkie gushed, from several yards behind Twilight. "Right here!"

“Wha-?” Twilight turned around confusedly.

“Throw me! Go go go!”

“Pinkie, are you s-“

“DOO-IT!!”

Twilight rolled her eyes and lifted her armored friend into the air, positioning her to strike from the side.

“PULL!” Pinkie ordered excitedly, curling into a ball. With an explosion of purple magic, Twilight launched her towards the ardenhound that was attacking Ashton.

To Twilight and the ardenhound's surprise, Pinkie somehow continued increasing in speed, turning into a blurry ball of bright blue energy as she plowed through him.

“CANNON-BALL!” Pinkie cheered, her voice fading rapidly as she flew towards the far back of the fortress. Conserving nearly all of her momentum, she rebounded off the wall into a collision course with the charging panboar lieutenant, tripping him before he could reach Applejack again.

Not noticing who saved him, Ashton quickly stood up and bucked the confused ardenhound in the head before he could recover. Dazed and disoriented, he whined in defeat and collapsed on his side, his eyes rolling.

“Ah’d say this’un’s wrapped up,” Ashton chuckled, using the lasso to hogtie his foe’s legs together. Turning around, he noticed that the rest of the Blood Legion lieutenants—as well as the Elite—had completely stopped fighting.

Instead, all eyes were following a pink-and-blue blur that was bouncing from wall to wall, like a pinball with unlimited momentum. They were completely baffled by what they were seeing—Pinkie next collided with the head of the raptor lieutenant across from Starswirl, knocking him out and sending him flipping backwards.

“I’ve got a new plan, team!” Starswirl laughed heartily. “Let’s throw Pinkie at our enemies from now on!”

“Ah think Ah can get behind that’un,” Applejack chuckled, as Pinkie slammed into her opponent’s legs and tripped him once again.

Ragehoof used Pinkie's distracting attack to his advantage—he bucked the confused raptor lieutenant across from him with all his might, knocking him to the ground. As soon as he was down, Ragehoof kicked him in the head several times, brutally knocking him out.

"Whoa, dude," Armor said, pulling Ragehoof away with an aura of violet magic. "You got'em... He's down..."

"Filthy meat-eating freak," Ragehoof muttered, spitting on the ground. "...Just one left to go..." He glared angrily at the panboar lieutenant, who was already backing away fearfully. His eyes were fixed on Pinkie as she continued to hurdle through the air.

"Give up?" Twilight laughed, narrowing her eyes at the panboar and grinning. "You can surrender!"

The lieutenant looked over at her, and then back to Pinkie, gulping. He was obviously considering it.

“Enough of thissss,” a threatening voice hissed, barely audible over the rolling thunder from above. "Archon, sssstrike her down..."

A bolt of orange magic suddenly shot out of the shadows beneath the great staircase in the back of the fortress, striking Pinkie with deadly precision as she flew through the air. She uncurled limply and skidded across the fortress floor, sending a shower of sparks flying from her armor.

**********

Pinkie ground to a halt at the opposite end of the fortress, lying motionless except for an occasional twitch of her legs. Like Dash, she had been completely incapacitated by the mysterious blast of magic.

All eyes turned towards the source of the attack—the shadows below the great staircase. Maelon and the five Trask Hierophant slithered out of the darkness, side-by-side, approaching the Elite.

“An’ jus’ what’re you s’posed to be?” Ashton asked, backing away cautiously.

Maelon answered by launching another powerful bolt of orange magic at Ashton's face, causing his messy red mane to frazzle and his entire body to vibrate in place for a few seconds. He collapsed, still twitching uncontrollably.

Applejack galloped to Ashton's side, but they both suddenly dematerialized in a CRACK of blue magic, reappearing next to Ironmane, Ragehoof, and Shining Armor.

“Shields up!” Starswirl frantically shouted, teleporting Pinkie to them as well. "These guys are ours!"

Armor nodded and hurriedly conjured a purple shield around his five allies.

“So these are the rooks, huh?” Twilight asked curiously, landing by Starswirl's side as he lowered to the ground and approached the Trask.

“I was thinking bishops,” Starswirl mused, sizing up the serpent-like creatures. “The rooks didn’t last long.”

Twilight grinned in acknowledgement as he indicated the hogtied ardenhound and the surrendered panboar, both of which were fearfully watching the Trask slither past them.

“You are ssssentenced to death for practisssse of the forbidden artssss,” Maelon hissed. "Prepare to die..." His scaly hands began to glow with a threatening orange aura, as did the other Trask's.

“Wait, wait, wait, hold on just one moment, if you could,” Starswirl said to Maelon, stopping across him. “If we’re to be executed, we deserve to know the definition of our crimes!”

Starswirl winked at Twilight, subtly nodding his head at Cadance and Rarity. Seemingly unnoticed by the Trask, Cadance had lifted Rarity onto her back and carried her into the air to avoid the Pinkie pinball—they were now hovering behind the unknowing Trask, and Rarity was preparing some kind of spell.

“...I agree,” Twilight added firmly, grinning at Starswirl and looking back at Maelon. “As prisoners of war, we have the right to know our charges!”

Ssssilence!” spat another Trask, to Maelon's left. “Only the Blood Princsssse and the Trassssk Hierophant are allowed to perform magicssss… Punishment for all otherssss iss death!”

“Oh, well then,” Starswirl replied, subtly eyeing Rarity—she had a worried expression on her face, as though she wasn't sure what to do now that she had an opportunity to make the first move.

“Why!?” Twilight pressed, attempting to distract the Trask a little longer. “Present your evidence! You’re convicting us without a trial! The Blood Prince would be ashamed of you!”

Maelon lifted his glowing hands. “Sssssssskkkk!! Diiiie!”

The five other Trask lifted their hands as well, each of which were prepared to release deadly magical attacks.

“...LOOK! IT'S HAAKON!” Rarity suddenly squealed—she hurriedly materialized bright purple blindfolds over each of the Trask's faces, covering their orange eyes. They turned and flailed their hands in confusion, firing deadly orange beams of energy in random directions.

Their attacks effortlessly punctured the white stone of the fortress, carving line-shaped gaps through the floors and walls. One stray beam grazed the top of Armor's shield, causing it to melt with little resistance.

“Such a fascinating school of magic!” Starswirl exclaimed, teleporting Cadance and Rarity away from the flailing Trask and preparing an offensive spell. "Keeping it to yourself should be a crime!"

Following his lead, Twilight prepared an attack as well, but before she and the wizard could fire, Maelon's eyes suddenly glowed brightly and incinerated his blindfold. He snapped his fingers, and the blindfolds on the other five Trask immediately burst into flame.

"...Fire!" Starswirl yelled, shooting a jet of blue magic at Maelon. Twilight fired as well, but her eyes widened as the six Trask simeltanously dematerialized in a CRACK of orange magic—Maelon had teleported them away.

Twilight and Starswirl's attacks dissipated as they hit the fortress floor. “What!?” Twilight yelped—the six Trask rematerialized above her, suspended by orange auras of magic.

“KEEP TELEPORTING!” Starswirl shouted frantically, ducking and dematerializing as the Trask fired again.

Twilight teleported out of the way at the last second—the Trasks' attacks burned a large hole in the fortress floor where she stood moments ago. Rematerializing high in the air, Twilight had little time to catch her breath—two Trask suddenly appeared across from her and fired at her.

CRACKS of orange, blue, and violet magic echoed through the sky above the fortress—their battle had become an aerial teleportation fight—nobody remained materialized for longer than seconds at a time.

“Talk ‘bout bein’ in over our heads!” Applejack commented in awe, watching the teleportation battle increase in altitude into the lightning-filled sky. Each combatant would fire jets of magic at their enemy upon rematerializing, but they would flee before they were struck, and vice versa.

“We should push on,” Armor suggested, collapsing his damaged shield—something about the Trask's strange magic was preventing him from repairing it. “…We’re no good here," he continued. "This is their fight!”

“Let’s go meet this Blood Prince then," Ragehoof growled. Without waiting for confirmation from the others, he started galloping towards the great staircase. Rolling his eyes, Ironmane turned to Armor, awaiting orders.

“Wait!” Cadance interrupted, swooping to Armor's side. “We should wait for the others!”

“We’ll be fine, Cade,” Armor replied confidently, grinning. “We’ll bail out if he’s too much!"

Cadance nervously kissed him on the cheek. Returning the favor, he nodded at Ironmane, and the two of them took off after Ragehoof. Starting to follow along, Applejack hesitated and looked over at Pinkie and Ashton, who were still completely paralyzed by the devastating magic of the Trask.

"Rarity, can ya-"

"Ashton will be safe with me, darling," Rarity replied understandingly, smiling. "Run along now!"

Applejack blinked at her. "How'd she know Ah was gonna say-"

"He's in good hooves! Hurry!"

Cadance landed by Rarity's side as Applejack nodded and started galloping towards the great staircase.

"Aren't they just adorable, princess?" Rarity sighed, watching Applejack catch up to the others.

Fruitlessly trying to cure Pinkie's paralysis, Cadance sighed, "If either of them knew what was going on..."


“Over there,” Luna said quickly, indicating the fast-paced teleportation battle between Twilight, Starswirl, and the six Trask. “Could they be the culprits? They wield orange magic.”

“Go,” Celestia ordered. “Strike them down, and Rainbow will fight again…”

Luna nodded, swooping into the air and dematerializing with a swift CRACK. Celestia turned towards the other aerial battle, in which Aeon, Spitfire, and Soarin’ were steadily beating back the wyverns. They were starting to retreat towards the mountainside; lightning continued to hail upon them from above.

Among their panicked screeches, an ear-shattering roar drowned them out.

“What was that?!” Celestia asked aloud, narrowing her eyes at the citadel. A massive armored wyvern was slowly hovering out of it. Its razor-sharp wings left streaks of white as they flapped, and its tail left a similar streak behind it as it soared.

“Uhhh,” Soarin’ mumbled nervously, hovering by Aeon's side. “…Doc?”

“W-what’s the plan for that one?” Spitfire asked, as Fluttershy hid behind her fearfully. Dusky rejoined them as well, cawing questioningly at the professor.

Aeon stared at the massive creature for a couple seconds before making a snap decision. “RUN!” he shouted, turning around and swooping away—the wyvern lieutenant had started soaring towards them at an alarmingly fast speed.

Spitfire, Soarin’, Fluttershy, and Dusky followed him closely, with their gargantuan foe in hot pursuit.

“They need Rainbow as soon as possible,” Celestia thought worriedly, lifting Dash from the ground with an aura of golden magic and securing her on her back. "...Wait..." As she took flight, she noticed that Terra was not fleeing the massive wyvern lieutenant.

“HAVE AT YOU!” Terra bellowed at the great creature, her eyes turning white. She lifted a building-sized chunk of rock from the grassy courtyard below, hurling it at him. He roared furiously as the rock shattered, breaking pursuit of the pegasi and charging her directly.

“Come, beast!” Terra shouted furiously. Dozens of lightning bolts shot out of the sky, continuously licking the wyvern in the back, but he was largely unaffected. “...Not enough for you?”

The wyvern lieutenant suddenly increased his speed, seizing Terra in his talons and swinging her around.

The ground below suddenly began rumbling harder and harder, until there was a massive explosion in the east—one of the three mountains bordering Tartarus, Mount Bullhorn, had suddenly blown its top.

It began spewing a torrent of molten rocks into the air. Instead of flying in random directions, the glowing stones and debris from the explosion began to gather into a single stream of projectiles—they followed an arcing path towards the sky, increasing in speed before guiding themselves directly into the wyvern lieutenant.

“Is that really happenin’, boss?” Soarin’ gaped in awe.

“…Shyeah,” Spitfire gulped, pushing his mouth shut with her hoof. “She just… She just blew up a mountain…”

“So much power,” Aeon breathed, as Fluttershy nervously watched over his shoulder.

The wyvern lieutenant, with Terra still in his clutches, crashed into the ground. The molten rocks continued to hail upon him. melting on contact and covering him in magma

Terra burst out of his grasp, hovering into the air and looking upon him angrily with her blazing white eyes.

“HAVE YOU HAD ENOUGH?!” Terra bellowed chillingly. “BECAUSE I HAVE NOT!” Lightning and molten rock continued to hail onto the creature from above, and he started flailing around in pain.

“Sister, stop!” Celestia ordered, teleporting to Terra's side. “He is beaten!”

“He still moves,” Terra hissed, covering him with molten rock. “I will end his torment...”

“NO!” Celestia shouted. “We’re better than that! Do not kill him!”

Terra bared her teeth angrily. The wyvern lieutenant continued to thrash wildly against the searing rocks that were covering him, and his entire body jerked every time he was struck by lightning.

Celestia took a deep breath. “...Have we truly come all this way to end up no better than Darkstar?”

“SHUT UP!” Terra roared—the rumbling of the ground intensified, and the mountain exploded again.

This time, the debris and molten rock were not channeled in any specific direction—they pelted the Tartarus fortress and the courtyard in front of it, causing small fires to ignite all over. They even landed in the thick forests on the far side of the Tarus Mountains, sending the local wildlife fleeing for cover.

“Let your power be water, and your wisdom its cup…”

**********

As Celestia uttered those words, a glowing tear immediately escaped from the corner of Terra’s glowing eye. The ground immediately stopped rumbling—the lightning disappeared from the storm clouds, replaced by a steady downpour of rain.

“H-how did you…?” Terra asked weakly, a heavy lump in her throat. “…H-he…”

“I’ve met Dartmoor too, you know,” Celestia replied quietly, using an aura of golden magic to pry open the prison of molten rock that was encasing the wyvern lieutenant. His wings had been burned too badly for him to fly—he crawled out of the glowing shell, scampering across the courtyard fearfully.

“…H-how?” Terra asked again, her voice cracking.

“Have you already forgotten?” Celestia laughed, hovering over to her sister and embracing her. “Students, loyal guards… appreciated advisors. I would still say I loved them, even the ones that have been dead for many years…”

“If they don’t die today… th-they live…” Terra sniffled, closing her eyes and returning the embrace. “I’m so sorry…”

The steady downpour of rain was extinguishing the fires that had been started from the mountain's explosion. Throughout the courtyard and the forests surrounding the Tarus Mountains, the molten rocks steadily cooled, and only a steady stream of lava was left pouring from the top of Mount Bullhorn.

“You know, I didn’t come up with that quote either,” Celestia continued quietly, smiling as Fluttershy healed the gravely injured wyvern lieutenant. “Swirly did.”

“Swirly,” Terra repeated, opening her eyes again. She released her sister and stared at the fast-paced teleportation battle that was continuing to rage, unhindered by her outburst. “Go, help him! Give me the child!”

As suddenly as it had begun, the rain was starting to let up, and rays of light were starting to poke through the storm clouds. Celestia grinned triumphantly, lifting Dash from her back and gently placing her onto Terra’s.

“GO!” Terra shouted, securing Dash. "Help him!"

Celestia nodded and swooped towards the battle, dematerializing in a flash of golden light—as soon as she materialized nearby, Maelon appeared across from her, his hands glowing.

Maelon's eyes suddenly widened, and he screamed in pure terror, dissipating the aura around his hand.

SSSSTOP, FOOLSSSS!” he shuddered to his allies. “...YOU SSSSTAND BEFORE THE GODDESSSS!”

**********

“The goddessss…”

“Goddesssss…”

"...Goddessss..."

The formerly intimidating and ruthless Trask immediately stopped teleporting and bowed their heads at Celestia, who confusedly stared back at them.

“…Yes!” Starswirl shouted, canceling his attack. “That’s the goddess! Pray she spares you her wrath!

“Swirly!” Celestia hissed—he chuckled nervously and shrugged, out of breath from the intense teleportation. The princess rolled her eyes and turned back towards the Trask. “…Why do you call me a goddess?”

They did not respond. They had averted their eyes to the ground, and were bowing in silence.

“Hello?” Twilight said breathlessly, turning her head sideways to look Maelon in the eye. “...Anypony home?”

A furious voice suddenly boomed from the citadel of Tartarus, resonating across the entire fortress.

“WHAT?! A GODDESS?! GET OUT OF THERE, YOU NUMBSKULLS!”

The Trask Hierophant immediately dematerialized with a CRACK of orange energy.

“I think he’s mad,” Ragehoof commented, pausing near the top of the stairs. “We must be close…”

"Hold here," Armor ordered. "There's no way we're goin' in there without backup."

“I WILL SLAY HER MYSELF, THEN!” the booming voice continued. “SLITHER INTO YOUR HOLES, YOU FILTHY COWARDS! THE BLOOD PRINCE WILL NOT BE DEFEATED! NOT EVEN BY A GODDESS!!

“Who wants to bet that's Haakon?” Starswirl chuckled, eyeing the citadel. “…Let’s head up there and see what the hullabaloo is about, shall we?”

“...Our allies climb the stairs already,” Celestia replied, indicating Ragehoof and the others. "...Come."


“Oof!” Dash exhaled heavily, feeling the life being squeezed out of her.

Dash had regained consciousness the moment the Trask had surrendered to Celestia. As soon as Fluttershy saw this, she had seized her friend from Terra’s back, and she was now carrying her in midair, sobbing uncontrollably into her shoulder.

Terra and Aeon followed Celestia towards the citadel. Soarin' started to hover towards Dash, but Spitfire grabbed him by the tail and tugged him along, leaving Fluttershy and Dash by themselves. Dusky cawed happily and perched on Dash’s shoulder, rubbing her face against her cheek.

“It’s… Uh… It’s alright, Flutters,” Dash smiled weakly. “Really, it’s alright…”

Fluttershy mumbled unintelligible apologies into her shoulder. “D-do you f-forgive me?” she asked, finally lifting her face. Her eyes were still glistening with tears.

“There’s nothin’ to forgive, Flutters,” Dash sighed, hugging her back with all her might. “C’mon, let’s get back in the game!” Fluttershy started to let go, but Dash was unable to fly straight.

“M-maybe you’re not ready yet,” Fluttershy suggested, catching Dash before she fell. “Can you take it easy, just for a little while?”

“Can’t… stop!” Dash replied, trying to fly on her own. “Gotta… keep… up!”

“…Alright Dashie, hold on tight…” Fluttershy sighed, carrying her friend towards the citadel.

Dash tried to argue, but she couldn’t form the words properly. Dusky followed along with them.


“Can you say… Hang-over… With a capital H!” Pinkie mumbled, her head spinning. Cadance helped her to her hooves. “…Did I win, though!?”

“You won, Pinkie,” Cadance laughed, indicating the defeated armies around them.

“…Yes, won,” Rarity agreed apprehensively, helping Ashton up as well. She was still appalled to be in the presence of carnivores, despite their surrender. “Come along, dear… This isn’t a good neighborhood to hang around in.”

"Darn' tootin'!" Ashton exclaimed weakly, struggling to remain standing. His red mane was still frazzled.

Rarity rolled her eyes. "You, sir, are a disaster," she sighed, lifting him with an aura of cyan magic and placing him on her back. Nearly buckling under the weight of his heavy armor, Rarity continued to user her magic to keep him afloat.

Oooh, now that we won, can we have a party?” Pinkie asked, losing her balance and falling on her back with a clank. “I’ve still got the party cannon!" she continued, giggling. "Wooo!”

“Save that for Haakon,” Cadance replied, telekinetically lifting the dizzy pony onto her back and leading Rarity towards the great staircase. She assisted with levitating Ashton, allowing them to climb with little trouble.

Hearing Cadance utter the name of the Blood Prince, the cowering armies in the fortress shuddered fearfully.


“He’s right up there,” Ragehoof quietly told Celestia, as she landed by his side on the stone steps. They were several yards from the crest of the great staircase, which led to the heart of the citadel—and Haakon.

“We should wait for everypony,” Aeon suggested, flying to Celestia's side and landing, followed shortly by Terra and the two Wonderbolts.

“Agreed,” Luna replied. "We must proceed with caution." She, Twilight, and Starswirl landed as well.

Several minutes later, Fluttershy, Dusky, and Dash joined; Cadance, Rarity, and their two passengers arrived last.

“Everypony take a moment, and catch your breath…” Celestia ordered quietly. “It seems Haakon wishes to-

“APPROACH, COWARDS,” Haakon bellowed from the citadel. “ENTER, AND FACE YOUR END!!”