Adding to the Bestiary
Mirage flew as fast as her wings could carry her, and yet it still felt like it was taking forever. She watched, helpless as that big black hole cut the still-moving Dancing Bunting neatly in two. The portal itself – for Mirage’s magical senses clarified what it was quite clearly – was still growing and immobile. She didn’t need to think about what was going on, she could guess easily enough; an Isekai card’s magic had been activated in a way it wasn’t meant to, and now a door to who knew where had been opened.
But she’d deal with that later. Rarity. The two halves of the airship were beginning their plunge. She couldn’t get to both of them, so she made for the closest one and prayed.
Aiming for the interior, she took stock of the situation. There were three ponies, two clinging to rails on the top deck and one in the remains of a large room in the lower deck. That last one had colors she was intimately familiar with, which was all she needed to make her decision. She darted in, landing on a wall that was rapidly making the transition to being a floor. “Sunset Shimmer?”
Sunset, hanging on to a bolted-in desk like her life depended on it, let out a shout of surprise at her abrupt arrival. “What the fuck is going on?” she screamed over the howling winds.
Well, there were worse questions to ask. “No time! Come on, I’ll fly you out.” Mirage’s less feathery doppleganger offered no arguments, readily allowing herself to be picked up and carried into the open air. “Where’s Rarity?”
Arms wrapped tight around Mirage’s shoulders, the wide-eyed woman looked at the ground that wasn’t all that far below them. “She was on the other side of that black wall! On the—” Shrieks of twisting metal and cracks of splintering wood drew their faces to the remains of the airship as it impacted in the middle of a cotton field. Dust and dirt and debris flew high and wide. “Rarity was still on that thing!”
A hideous pit opened in Mirage’s gut. Her first instinct was to scan the wreckage, but the impact cloud soon obscured her view. She told herself that Rarity was too strong a mare to die from a simple airship crash. She’d survived one already, after all. Even so, she resolved to head down there right away and—
Something rushed through her. No, not her. It was a wave of magic, or at least something related to it. Mirage felt Sunset flinch and knew then it wasn’t just her imagination. On instinct, she turned to face the portal. She was just in time to witness something emerge from the darkness.
They were small, no larger than an above-average dog. They were also hideous. Brown monstrosities made of claws and teeth and carapace, many of them smacked the ground and promptly stopped moving, but the majority of their number got back up and shook off the fall. Mirage could only stare at the creatures, realizing how familiar they were from her past excursions in video games. “Oh, Celestia, no.”
Sunset squirmed and wrapped her legs around Mirage’s waist as if to keep them as far away from the creatures as possible. “W-what are those things?”
Nearly a hundred of the menaces swarmed beneath the portal by the time the flow ended, and as soon as their initial confusion passed they began to spread out, moving in lightning quick leaps for nearby Little Longhorn. Those townsfolk who had come to witness the ongoing events began to scream and open fire.
Mirage let out a hiss and started flying towards the fray. As much as she hated to admit it, Rarity was going to have to take care of herself. “Zerglings.”
“Whoa, wait!” Sunset squirmed as if to climb higher. It was making her really hard to hold. “Don’t bring me over there, I’m unarmed!”
Shit, she was right. Mirage swooped over the swarm, igniting her horn to send a rending laser across the unexpected battlefield and slicing into at least a dozen monsters. “You know how to fire a gun?”
“I’m only any good with rifles,” Sunset admitted, sighing with relief when Mirage landed well past the fighting. She stepped back, brushed herself off, then gaped when the alicorn produced from thin air a rifle almost as big as she was. “Whoa.”
“BOSUN FN92,” Mirage declared, thrusting the weapon into Sunset’s hands. “A bit overkill for what we’re fighting, but thematically appropriate.” She materialized a satchel and dropped it at Sunset’s hooves. “Ammo. Figure it out and help or get somewhere safe.” A single sharp flap of the wings and Mirage was headed back to the fight.
The villagers were reacting quickly, forming a line of defenders along the street. Their weapons were wildly mismatched and they weren’t acting with any sort of discipline, but at least they were fighting back. Against a mere hundred Zerglings, that was more than enough. Mirage lit up her horn for another strafing run—
—then winced as another pulse of magic sent her reeling. A few hard flaps allowed her to pull up and out of danger, and her attention went back to the portal just as something new popped out. It was a trio of big, white, ape-like things. Cursing under her breath, Mirage flew closer and quickly recognized them for their three beady black eyes. “Trolls. Skyrim trolls. How’d we go from sci-fi to fantasy so quickly?” She aimed and fired, filling one of the monstrosities with lead.
Another pulse as she flew under the portal. She flipped to face upwards just in time for a swarm of big, orange balls to fly out, each sporting tiny, flailing arms and hideously grinning faces. One went straight for her, prompting her to blast it with a fireball. It emerged from the flames even bigger.
“Oh, right.” She threw up a shield just in time for the monster to detonate in her face.
Rarity had been indescribably lucky that none of the initial wave of creatures noticed her among the cotton plants. She had intended to stay low and get away from the portal over her head, up until she spotted Mirage flying past and spraying bullets into one of the ape-like white things. She’d stood up, preparing to call out, but the words died on her lips as the alicorn came face to face with an orange ball of flame that literally exploded in response to her magic.
Gritting her teeth and trying not to think of the soreness in her limbs and back, Rarity started for where Mirage had landed in another field. She got two steps before a guttural roar and fighting instincts sent her rolling sideways through a crop of unripe cotton. She felt the wind of ape-thing’s arm sailing by her shoulder. So much for a stealthy egress!
She came to her hooves with both guns at the ready, flinching as the creature’s howl sent spit flying at her face. “Forgive me if this is uncouth,” she answered back, “but dear Luna your breath stinks!” Two rounds from each gun sent the thing staggering backwards, but didn’t put it down. She watched in horrid fascination as the bullet holes slowly began to heal themselves. “Now however is that supposed to be fair?”
The thing answered by stepping forward and reaching its meaty arm back for a punch. She took aim, prepared to shoot it in its middle eye. She didn’t get the chance as a familiar pulse sent her reeling and ruining her aim. With a yelp, she danced backwards and just barely out of reach, the hair on the brute’s knuckles brushing the tip of her muzzle.
And then something landed on the creature’s back, a horrid monstrosity of muscles and exposed bone and snarling groans. One of those exposed bones came down like a knife, piercing through the white ape’s shoulder. It howled and spun, attempting to dislodge its assailant as more of the mutated abominations landed in the area. They shrieked and approached on shambling, misshapen limbs, eyes wild and unspeakable forms twitching.
“Merciful Luna in the Exalted Stars!” Rarity backtracked, sending bullet after bullet into the creatures’ bodies. She staggered them at best, and soon her guns were empty. “What Discord-blighted realm could spawn something so hideous?” One of the monstrosities stood on gangly legs and raised its scythe-like arms to strike.
A thin beam amputated the arms just above the shoulders, along with the freak’s head. It fell back, shrieking and gurgling, then Mirage was there to send it flying with a two-legged kick. “Don’t aim for the bodies,” she cried. “Their limbs, hit their limbs!”
“Mirage!” Relief flooded through Rarity’s every vein as she finished reloading. “I thought that explosion might have killed you.”
“Says the pony who just survived another airship crash.” Mirage was a blur of magic and bullets, taking down the foul things with shocking speed. She came to an abrupt stop, and all the monsters around her collapsed in lifeless heaps. “I got Sunset out. She’s back in the town.”
“That’s wonderful, darling, but it doesn’t help our current circumstances.” Rarity punctuated the statement by putting a few more rounds in one of the white ape things as it was trying to get up.
Another pulse, this one sharper than before. The two ponies grimaced as their horns throbbed, then looked up. The portal promptly spat out a dozen flying, reptilian creatures with long beaks and leathery wings. The creatures emitted long, low-pitched calls and started for the town, from which arose more screams, smoke and gunshots.
“Pterosaurs.” Mirage facepalmed. “It’s sending out pterosaurs. We need to close that thing. Like, now.”
“I’m all ears regarding a method,” Rarity replied, taking a moment to breathe now that nothing seemed to be coming for them. “Also, we should probably get out from under that thing before it drops something else on our—” Another pulse, quick and acute.
A massive lizard creature landed before them with such force that it shook the earth from under their boots. It stood at least three times Mirage’s height, all muscle and thick scales, with narrow eyes of menace and a mouth full of teeth that looked the epitome of sharp. It reared up on its hind legs, let out an earsplitting roar—
—then exploded in a gory spectacle of blue and red flames. Rarity and Sunset both covered their faces as blood rained down. When they lowered their arms, they were greeted by the furious, white-eyed glare of a black kirin coated in flames, her path from the Dancing Bunting’s wreckage marked by a line of charred field. “There you are!”
Mirage spat a curse and spread her wings. “She’s gone nirik?!”
“I have no idea what that means,” Rarity admitted, moving to circle Autumn Blaze, “but I can tell you she’s really powerful!”
“She just blew up a deathclaw with one shot, I think I got that!”
Ignoring Mirage for the moment, Autumn Blaze turned to snarl at Rarity. With a thrust of her palm, she sent blue flame roaring! Rarity leapt aside, rolled, and came up running as the stream of searing heat scorched her tail. “A bit of that fire you’re so good at would be nice right about now!”
“You don’t fight fire with fire!” Mirage let loose with her weapons, a stream of bullets headed right for the rampaging nirik. This proved pointless when a wave of heat swept between them. “Damn it, how is she doing that? It’s like the flames are solid or something.”
Rarity used the distraction to slide to a stop and remove the sliding magazine from Ruby Heart. While the bullets levitated out one at a time as quickly as she could magic it, she got ready to fire on her latest and most important opponent. “Just keep her busy! I’ll—” Another pulse made her magic falter, the bullets she’d been levitating dropping to the ground. For a split second, Autumn’s blaze winked out, but it came back before either Rarity or Mirage could capitalize on the opportunity. “What now?”
The answer came in the form of a resounding thud as a giant, green, tentacled monstrosity landed right behind Autumn. That its every inch was covered in slimy, squirming appendages was bad enough, but what really made Rarity feel weak in the knees was a gargantuan mouth filled with row after row of serrated teeth that stretched across the plant-like menace’s entire body. With a sickening squelch, the bulky entity lifted itself up and back on powerful tentacles and sucked in a long, heavy breath.
“Fuck!” Mirage flew right past Autumn, avoiding her renewed stream of fire, and dove for Rarity. “Don’t let it breathe on you!”
Rarity watched in wide-eyed horror as a green and purple miasma flooded out of the creature’s mouth. It spread across the cotton field like a flood, the plants instantly wilting and shriveling wherever it touched. Before she could respond, Mirage had caught her and carried her safely away.
Autumn Blaze responded very differently, her entire body becoming coated in a thick layer of flames as she dove straight into the beast’s open maw. It let out a hideous groan, tentacles thrashing as smoke billowed from between its many teeth. The tentacles at its back twisted, curled, blackened, then finally exploded outwards. Autumn stumbled out, still covered in fire but otherwise appearing none the worse for her act of seeming suicide. She looked up at Mirage and Rarity and let out a roar of challenge even as the beast collapsed behind her.
“I hope you’ve got some ideas,” Mirage called over the noise of battle all around them, “because I’m more than a little intimidated right now.” She corkscrewed sideways to dodge a blast of fire, unheeding of Rarity’s yelped protest.
“I appreciate the rescue, but I’d recommend you put me down first!” Another pulse accommodate her request, the force of the prolonged sensation making even Mirage’s flight hard to maintain. They landed, stumbling, in the cotton field, Rarity pulling Mirage down so that they were covered by the remaining plants. “Let’s try to stay out of her sight for a moment so we can think.”
Mirage followed her, wings tucked tight and body kept low, as above them passed a flock of white, birdlike creatures carrying spears and possessing what might have been halos. “Thinking is all well and good, but if we don’t stop this soon the town’s going to be wiped out, to say nothing of what’s going to happen to the rest of this world.” She winced as a gout of blue fire seared the land a few feet behind them. “And I don’t think Autumn’s going to let us go without a fight.”
Rarity peeked over the fields. Autumn Blaze let out another cry of frustration, stomping around and spitting out flames every which way. Ducking back down, she led Mirage away from the rampaging nirik. She knew the alicorn was right, yet she also knew they had to focus on one thing at a time. But what to do first? Protect the town? Fight the monsters? Deal with Autumn? She swore under her breath and finished changing out Ruby Heart’s ammunition, then switched Silver Lining to a cylinder with enchanted bullets. “We need… We need… There’s too much going on. I don’t know what to prioritize.”
The little pony in her head was running circles now, stuck in a full-on panic. Rarity rubbed at her necklace and struggled to keep calm, but the more she thought the less confident she felt. Little Longhorn was about to be inundated in a wave of monsters and flames and she had no idea what to do about it!
Mirage saw the dawning despair gradually taking over Rarity’s features. The sight brought about a certain, distinct clarity. In this world, the Bulletproof Heart was Queen. She knew what needed to be done, when to do it and how. She could fight bandits and politicians and whatever else this world could throw her way.
But the things they were facing weren’t of Rarity’s world. They were alien, with strange abilities and unknown intentions. Beings of menace and horror and nightmares. Rarity didn’t leap from world to world for fun, she was a creature of this one.
That meant that, in this situation, Mirage was the expert. She would have to take the lead. Nopony else could.
Countless strategy sessions in countless games came to mind, a quick but thorough review of all the seemingly insurmountable odds she’d taken on in countless video game worlds. Wincing at another pulse of magic, she grabbed Rarity by the shoulders. “Look at me. Look. Our first priority is Autumn Blaze. We take her down.”
Rarity blinked at her forceful tone. “B-but what about the town? We need to help them.”
A stream of blue fire came far too close for comfort. Gunshots and screams filled the air. More monsters were spat out of the portal. Mirage ignored all of it in favor of keeping her voice even and Rarity’s attention on her. “The town will never be safe so long as that portal is open, and we’ll never close the portal so long as Autumn is going nirik. We take her down, we figure out how to close the portal, and then we mop up whatever monsters are left. It’s the only way.”
The alarm in Rarity’s face steadily faded now that a solid course had been offered to her. The worry wasn’t gone entirely, but at least now it was back under control. “Okay. Autumn, the portal, then the town.” Her gaze hardened. “Any ideas for step number one?”
Another pulse made them both wince. Somewhere nearby came the twisted shriek of a nirik. “Come out here and take what’s coming to you, you cowards!”
Mirage glanced warily in the voice’s direction, a chip forming in her certainty. “Not really. If nirik in this world operate like nirik from my old one, then fire will only make her stronger, wind can’t blow her out, and she’ll just melt ice.”
Rarity frowned in thought, raising up slightly to get a look over the cotton plants. Ducking back down, she grimaced. “She’s running out of field to burn. We’ve got seconds. You need to go all out.”
Go all out? Mirage cocked her head even as she set up a shield between them and the direction of Autumn’s voice. “How do you mean?”
The look Rarity gave her was one of grim displeasure. “Remember that beam you used to down the chancellor’s airship?
Oh, that. Yeah, it was powerful. Pure, unfiltered magic tended to be that way, and Autumn certainly wouldn’t be able to defend against plasma like she could the more common elemental stuff. Even so… “That’s potent magic. I don’t know how much damage it will do.”
“You’ll have to control it,” Rarity told her, flinching at another pulse and the sound of some fresh abomination roaring its arrival. “We need Autumn alive.”
Alive? Mirage was just about to question that when a searing heat swept over them. She whipped around to see flames licking at her shield. They faded after only a second, leaving nothing between them and the black, fiery-eyed nirik. Her lips twisted into a wicked sneer. “Found you!”
“Do what you have to, Mirage!” Rarity bolted sideways, already opening fire. Autumn’s flames shot up between them, one shot bursting into a mass of ice and the other sending crackling lightning every which way. The nirik returned fire with small fireballs that spat and blue and red sparks and exploded wherever they landed, some splashing violently against Rarity’s hastily raised shield.
Okay. Mirage took stock of their position. All out, but keep her alive. You can do this, Sunset. Wings spread, she flew in the opposite direction Rarity did, circling to ensure with absolute certainty that the town was not in her line of fire. She risked a glance towards Little Longhorn and cringed at the sight of smoke and the sounds of pained, furious, and vicious cries. Was all of that her fault?
No time to think about that. Autumn Blaze. She was what mattered right now. She landed amongst the bodies of zerglings and necromorphs and turned to face Autumn dead on. Though the nirik hadn’t moved, she was not inactive, shrieking as she fired twin streams of flame from her black hands. Rarity was now entirely on defense, putting everything she had into a shield and visibly sweating from the effort. Now or never.
Control it, Sunset. Wings billowing out, pale light emanating from her body, Mirage called upon the powers her alicorn form possessed and focused it all into a single point between her hands. This won’t be like the airship. The magic built and built, making her mane flutter in the wrestling winds. This won’t be like Tempest. “Hey, you!”
Autumn, not letting up her attacks on Rarity, looked over her shoulder. Pupil-less white eyes widened at whatever she saw, and she promptly turned to face the new threat.
Mirage gained a wicked smile as a line she’d always wanted to try came to mind. “Taste the sun.”
The beam was as big as Autumn was, threatening to engulf her entire body in red and white plasma. The nirik threw up her flames and fired back, the two forces meeting only a few short feet from her outstretched hands. To Mirage’s shock, the nirik was able to hold the beam back, if only just. But Rarity had said Autumn needed to live, and this steady blast of magic wasn’t all Mirage could do. She poured more energy into the beam, and soon the convergence of plasma and flame began to drift Autumn’s way.
Autumn grit her teeth and braced her legs, as if to physically push back against the barrage. “I am not losing to you! I won’t let you stand in the way!”
Then Rarity was there, Ruby Heart aimed at Autumn’s head from just outside the pulsing heat of the combatant’s magic. Yet she didn’t fire. Instead, in that firm and commanding voice that Mirage had become oh-so familiar with, she declared, “You can’t defend against her and me at the same time. Stop this, Autumn. We don’t have to be your enemies.”
“No! I won’t stop now! I’ve already sacrificed too much!”
Abruptly, Sunset felt it. Another pulse was coming, but the wind-up was slow. Steady. It pulled back on her like the waters before an approaching tsunami. Something was about to come through the portal, and whatever it was, it would be big. “Rarity!” She cried over the sound of her ongoing beam. “We don’t have time for this!”
Still, Rarity didn’t shoot. Even as a powerful wind began to pick up, even as the heat of the fires and plasma slicked her forehead with sweat, she held back. “What’s so important?” she called to Autumn. “Why are you fighting so hard? You’re causing nothing but pain for everypony involved!”
“I know!” Tears sizzled on Autumn’s cheeks. She lowered her head and pushed more flames against Mirage’s beam, even as her arms and legs shook with the effort. “I know that, but I had to do something. I had to try. There’s no going back now!”
Mirage could feel the pulse coming. She looked up at the portal, saw it ripple. If the pulse came while she was still casting this beam, who knew what would happen? “Rarity!”
“I just wanted to get my voice back!” Autumn shook her head and snarled even as Mirage’s beam edged closer. “Why did you have to stand in my way?”
Rarity blinked. She lowered her weapon and stared at the nirik as if seeing her for the first time.
“But aren’t you speaking to me right now?”
White eyes widened. Autumn’s jaw dropped.
Then she twisted and fell, cutting off her flames. Mirage’s beam screamed past, just barely missing her and cutting a long trench through the field before being frantically cut off. Autumn hit the ground as a kirin, orange and smoking and staring at nothing. Mirage almost collapsed from the sudden end of the contest.
“I can speak.” Autumn clutched at her throat for a moment, gaping up at the sky. “I can speak.” Joy washed across her features and tears built in her eyes. “I can speak!”
The tsunami struck, the sheer force of the pulse knocking every creature in the vicinity to the ground. Mirage looked up and gasped at the sight of a massive claw stretching out to grasp at the air from the darkness. It was covered in sharp black scales, the four talons ended in wicked, golden claws. She raked her brain in search of a name, but her long experience with exploring the worlds of video games failed her.
Whatever this thing was, it was beyond her knowledge.
“Oh.” Autumn’s words were faint amidst the chaos, but somehow perfectly audible. “What have I done?”
Rarity was at her side and pulling her up in an instant. “Something you better be able to fix! I don’t know what you did with my card, but you have to reverse it.”
Autumn stood on wobbly knees and stared at Rarity as Rarity had towards her mere seconds ago. “I… I don’t… I-I was only…”
Rushing up to them, eyes on the arm grasping through the portal, Mirage said, “Whatever you’re going to do, do it fast!” She gripped her guns tight, somehow certain that they would provide little aid against whatever was coming.
“I’m sorry! I was j-just…” Autumn pressed her hands to her ears and trembled, all the fury and fight she’d had long gone.
“Autumn Blaze!” Rarity dropped her guns and shook the kirin by the shoulders. “Get a grip on yourself! You are the chancellor’s right-hand mare, a kirin he put absolute faith in for doing the things he needed. You were the brains of his outfit! Use those brains to calm down and think about how that portal was opened. You’re the only one who knows what you were doing!”
A jaw so massive it could have eaten the Highwind as a snack emerged from the portal, but it came to a jarring stop. Mirage felt weak; whatever it was, it was too big for the portal. Maybe that would be enough to keep them safe.
The jaw retreated, only to be replaced by a second black claw. It joined the other in gripping opposite sides of the portal and pushing. Unable to take her eyes away, Mirage shouted over her shoulder, “Now would be a good time!”
Autumn looked up at the portal, orange face a few shades lighter. Her eyes shifted back and forth in a rapid dance as she thought. The portal inched wider.
“The card!” Autumn whipped around to face the two of them, fear plain in her features. “The card was the focus of the magic, and Sunset took it away. If we can throw the card into the portal, things might stabilize and it’ll close.”
Rarity looked up at the portal. Its expansion was agonizingly slow and horrendously fast at the same time. “Are you sure?”
“No,” Autumn admitted, shoulders sagging. “But I can’t think of anything else.”
With a nod, Rarity turned to Mirage. “You’ve got the wings. Go find Sunset and pray to whoever will listen that she still has my card.”
Tearing her gaze from the horror above them, Mirage asked, “What about you?”
Grabbing Autumn’s hand, Rarity tugged her towards Little Longhorn. “We’ll help fight the monsters. Go!”
With a nod, Mirage opened her wings and launched, headed straight for the town. She only hoped Sunset was still alive.
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Well, I guess that's one particular "expected" result when you punch a hole though x-many layers of the multiverse.
So it looks like the Autumn's muteness wasn't a ruse then and she was just that blindingly-pissed that she was interfered with.
Sunset seemed rather undisturbed from meeting her other self. My guess is that it's a mix of Mirage being partially obscured through whatever armaments and the immediate and absurd life-or-death situation taking higher priority. She'll have a lot more questions later.
One-liners are very important.
Trying to think of what the creature that Mirage doesn't have a name for is. My guess is that it has something to do with FFVIII and VI.
11544928
If you don't utilize "Daredevil" in the next chapter I will be disappointed in you. Unless you use something more thematically appropriate, I suppose.
All that amd no creaper. Shame
Been playing FFX myself. It was nice seeing these guys.
11544947
That's a heck of an ask. It'd had better be pretty grand and out there for something like Daredevil. 444 is already just barely thematic enough because of the blues guitar though all the interworld-techno-fuckery kind of balances the rest of it out. We'll just see how deep the craziness goes.
I may have kinda missed out already on earlier opportunities to link some of the more thematically accurate songs from the cutscenes but there also hasn't been a whole lot of downtime in the story...
11545120
Eh, I suppose that's fair enough. In truth I'm mostly just glad to see someone else out there who enjoys the Ace series.
...
100%-ing that game was a trial, though. My multiplayer skills in AC7 are rock-bottom.
11545120
Taking this opportunity to thank you. You've reminded me that AC7 has a kickass soundtrack that, Daredevil aside, I completely took for granted back when I was actually playing the game.
11553344
IMO Ace Combat is a series in a bit of a weird position where it simultaneously does and doesn't get widespread recognition for its soundtracks. They sure came out with a good one for AC7, though. Definitely up in my top favorites with ACZero and AC5.