The pain... oh, Goddess, the pain!
--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---
“Throwin'!” Applejack called out before she hurled a storm grenade toward a particularly troublesome group of enemies. The burst of lightning and thunderous boom dazzled anyone not looking away.
Jynx hurled a silvery ball of magic into the air that rained down shards of sharpened ice on the enemy while Flicka teleported around the battlefield, firing down from rooftops with her shoulder mounted rifle. Vinyl poured a gout of flames from her horn, incinerating any in its path. Fluttershy and Parry tried to save another life. Pinkie Pie had acquired a chainsaw from god knows where and had a few Dratali on the run.
Then... it went silent.
The ponies peaked their heads up, searching.
“Did we get 'em all?” AJ asked.
“Stay on your guard,” Jynx replied, “I don't see anything but... Oh horse apples. I'm feeling magic and it's not from a pony.”
“One of them adept fellers?”
“Stronger... a lot stronger,” Jynx squinted in focus, “It could be one of those Archons Twilight spoke about.”
The ponies stood back to back, scanning around for signs of the spell caster. The quiet was unnerving. It was like the whole world was holding its breath. AJ caught a flash of light out of the corner of her eye. She couldn't think. All she could do was move.
“Down!” she hollered as she drove her shoulder into Parry, knocking him out of the way of the silver blade. She gasped as the weapon buried itself into her abdomen.
“Applejack!” Perry managed to roll under her to catch his future sister-in-law.
The unicorns in the group erected a joint shield as quick as they could as the crimson robed figure showed himself and began pummeling the shield with spells.
“Why?” asked the colt.
“Oh, mercy that hurt,” the farmer moaned, “Ah ain't gonna let Applebloom's fiancé get himself killed if'n Ah can help it.”
“Don't talk,” Fluttershy advised, tears streaming down her face, “Save your strength.”
“We can't keep this up!” Jynx cried, “He's powerful, and knows exactly how to attack a shield. We have to get out of here!”
“Keep the shield up!” ordered Flicka and flickered out of the shield.
The others looked in shock as the nomadic unicorn engaged the Archon in single combat.
“I-I-I can't,” Fluttershy stuttered, “I can't treat this here... she needs a hospital.”
Why am I always so useless?
She was starting to hyperventilate.
I can't even save my best friend.
She looked over at Flicka fighting that... thing.
Everypony else has been fighting to save the world and all I've done is let them die. I can't even heal them right. I'm just too afraid... I'm afraid.
Flicka teleported around the mage, casting spells at point blank. She was moving so fast the Archon could do nothing but hold his shield. It was only a matter of time before-
As the nomad teleported again, time seemed to stop. The Archon's hand was already pointing in her face, his mouth curled into a sick smile. A flash of light was all she saw.
“No!” an ear splitting yell shock the air as a yellow and pink blur shot past, colliding with the reptilian caster. The others stared, jaws hanging, “Take Applejack and get out of here. Get her to a hospital.”
“We're not-”
“Go!” bellowed the pegasus. “I will not let anypony else die!”
The others' bodies seemed to make the decision for them. Jynx took the wounded farmer and took off with the others, leaving the animal loving mare behind.
“What are we doing?” Jynx asked nopony, “Why are we just leaving Fluttershy behind?”
“Cause...” Applejack said weakly, “We don't wanna be caught up in the hurricane.”
“What? You're delusional from blood-loss. The weather is perfect.” Jynx assured her
Applejack smiled, “Ah ain't talking about the weather.”
--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---
I... can't fight it... much longer... please... someone help...
--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---
The great beast skidded to a halt only to get right back up again. Spike let out a frustrated growl. He knew he couldn't keep this up. Even after all Force-Mag runes he used, the cyborg turtle-dragon kept getting back up, as if it were pillows that hit him. If he had more time to prepare, he could have learned more than the growth spell and force magnification. There was a spell he saw that drained the target’s energy, making them tired and sluggish. He wasn't sure if if it would work on a cyborg, but he wished he had it anyway, just in case it did.
Come on, Spike, you were raised by the smartest pony in the world. You should be able to think of something. Argh! Something other than stupid math. What the hay can math do fo...
“That's it!” he exclaimed as a plan formulated in his mind. He turned back to the abomination with a grin on his face, “Come at me bro.”
He did.
Fast.
Both claws working, Spike made two runes that hovered in the air. The purple dragon rolled out of the way as the beast plowed into floating fire. Kicking off the ground, he dove at the monster and latched onto his shell. As fast as he could, he inscribed another three runes before the turtle-dragon flopped onto his back, nearly crushing the scaly warrior.
Spike rolled to his feet, inscribed two runes in the air and grabbed one in each claw. A massive claw attempted to become intimate with his face. He quickly ducked under and slapped a rune on the back of the deadly limb. The other was placed on its thigh as he dove away. The second he regained his footing, two more runes were made, the placing of which was done for him as another enormous limb swiped at him.
“Whoa, thanks dude.”
Another charge, another couple runes lit the creatures body. After fifteen runes adorned the shelled horror, Spike no longer risked losing track of it thanks to the light it was giving off. Finally, twenty glowing runes made the behemoth look like Hearths Warming and Nightmare Night had an ugly mutant baby.
“Alright, here it goes!” Spike hollered and charged. His left claw inscribed a strength rune on his right as it burst into emerald flames. With a powerful stroke of his wings, he launched himself forward. At the last moment, he hit the ground rolling underneath, and rose up with a powerful uppercut. The strength rune tripled his punching power and the twenty runes increased the force by two hundred. It was like being punched six hundred times by a dragon straight up into the sky. The freak rocketed up higher and higher, until Avol's gravity could no longer hold it. It hurtled through space with a silent roar.
“Yeah! It worked!” Spike celebrated his victory.
He watched the sky for a minute to make sure it didn't fall back. When he was sure it was on a one way trip to nothingness, he let out a sigh.
“I need a-” whatever he was about to say was lost as a pair of rockets slammed into his side.
--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---
I... I'm sorry... I can't control it...
--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---
Feather Duster had rushed to the tower room when she heard the screaming. As if waiting for her, the moment she opened the door, an explosion threw her against the wall. Stone and wood soared through the air, as the tower was torn apart by the blast. The maid pushed the door off of her, worried for the mare that was in the room. She struggled to her hooves and froze. The pony that stood in the ruins of the tower was like something out of a nightmare. It was a shade of purple so dark it was almost black. Its draconic wings flexed in the sunlight.
“M... Miss Sparkle?” she ventured, hoping she was wrong.
The monster turned toward her with a sadistic, hungry look and shot toward her. The Nightmare slammed the maid against what remained of the wall, pressing her hoof into the poor servant’s neck.
“Show me your blood,” the demon hissed as she reared back her metal hoof.
Feather shut her eyes, unable to watch the end. When the Nightmare was about to strike, it stopped. This wasn't the one they needed to kill. It released the mare and turned away. There was one that needed to die before any other...one they wanted to suffer by their hooves. The dark pony exploded into the sky, leaving the quaking, terrified mass behind.
--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---
Celestia looked up at the imposing alicorn standing over her, with an angry scowl across her old, wrinkled face. Her gray mane was matted and disheveled, no longer flowing majestically in a non-existent wind.
The undead alicorn grinned down at her and gave a mock bow, “Oh your highness. You seem a bit under the weather. Maybe you should take the rest of the day off. Don't worry, I'll take care of all your little ponies.”
“You...” Celestia had difficulty even speaking, “I thought you wanted to rule, not destroy.”
“Hmm? Oh! You mean my Dratali allies?” Xander laughed, “Nothing more than puppets. Tools to use for my own purposes. Once I drain your precious little sister, they will follow me or I'll destroy them. Luckily, they're religious fools. It's easy to manipulate those that see you as a god, but I don't have to tell you that, do I? You've been manipulating your subjects for centuries. Ignorance is bliss and your ponies are oh so blissful.”
“I protect them.”
“You stifle them!” he roared, “They're weak because of you. They outnumber the Dratali, somehow had prior warning, and have the home advantage. Despite that, they struggle to repel their enemies. The Griffons are already driving them back without Alliance technology. They're better off without you... or they would have been, if your pathetic student hadn't gotten in my way. I would have lead Equestria to a brighter future, but now I’m going to kill every last pony... and I'm going to make you watch. And after this world burns, I'll move on to the rest of the galaxy and conquer it.”
“You're a monster,” the fallen princess wheezed.
“Yes,” Xander agreed, “I truly am.” He let out an evil laugh that was cut short by a purple and red mana blade slicing through his neck.
“Your voice irritates me,” said a twisted voice.
Xander groaned as the bone and tissue reformed, connecting his head back to his body.
“Well, you survived our little encounter Miss Sparkle,” the magic thief shot her an angry scowl, seeing the black coat and leathery wings, “And gave into the darkness a second time.”
“Twilight!” another new voice asked, growing closer.
“Rainbow, get Celestia and get out of here,” commanded the nightmare.
“Oh, did somepony tame her demon?” Xander chided.
“No way!” replied the cyan mare, “I'm not letting you fight him alone!”
“He's mine to kill. Now go away,” Twilight glared daggers at her friend, “before I tear your fucking wings off!”
Fear crossed the pegasus' face. She could see by the look in her eyes that her corrupted friend was one hundred percent serious. Rainbow Dash wasted no time in grabbing the drained Sun Princess and her fallen sword, taking off toward Canterlot.
“Hmm,” Xander grinned, “Maybe not as tame as I thought. This should be interesting.”
“Tell me,” Nightmare Twilight turned toward the lich, “Can you regenerate if I eat your heart?”
“I honestly don't know,” Xander smirked, “Why don't you come try?”
Taking the invitation, Twilight charged.
And this is where the story *really* starts . . .
This will end in a sacrifice for Kali, I just know it will.
Twilight will go "KALI MA!" and rip out Xandors heart.
Shit's about to go down!
Nightmare Twilight vs. Xander. Round One. FIGHT!
wow. Nightmare Twilight is harsh.
dis gon be good!
2528903 2529250
Agree, I read many fanfics, and in all of them princesses are useless, it happen so often that it gets really annoying for me, I do not care that many autors are afraid to use Celestia or Luna because they are powerful Alicorns and can break balance of the story, but COME ON, right now in every fanfics Celestia and Luna are less useful then Princess Peach in all Mario games.
If there is anything I learned from season 3 finale, is that Alicorns/princesses are not born but turned after passing some sort of challenges, they are not gods, but they are sages, so I am really tired that in almost every single story Celestia or Luna not only do not help, but when they help they go down easy.
2547189 Hundreds of Dratali soldiers and adepts get sliced to pieces before someone finally get's her with trickery, and she went down easy? Between the two princesses, Celestia would be the one that could be taken down easily just like this. Her love for her subjects can be easily exploited.
I feel sorry for that Archon that is facing Fluttershy. I truly do, he will know the true meaning of PAIN!
2547213
Well, in this story she take many soldiers with her, I must give you credits for that, but if you compare her to how much ponies from mane 6 do, it is not much, and in others stories they go down without even giving a fight at all.
Also, why it is Celestia or Luna who weak-point is exploited, why none villain ever decided " how about I take one of mane 6 as hostage and tell other ponies from mane 6 to surrender and give elements of harmony or I will kill her ", I am sure that as much as Celestia will surrender when her subjects life's are on the line, any pony from mane 6 would surrender if one of they friends live was on the line, but of-course it must be Celestia who get defeated with hostage situations, never any pony from mane 6 ( just saying ).
2547213 I think Luna is the weaker one when it comes to emotional issues, though.
Think about it, her jealousy lead her to wage war against her own subjects and eventually she fell to her sister, who reluctantly banished her to the moon for a thousand years. Said sister survived it (mostly) okay, while Luna came back as bad or worse than before, with 1000 years to work through her issues wasted.
I could see LUNA falling for the same trick much more easily than Celestia, though in a straight-up fight scenario, I think Luna would have the edge, dirty tricks notwithstanding
Umm... I'm just going to withhold my responses to this chapter until after the next update. I think I need time to figure out my position on all of this. Until then, carry on as normal!
~Sparky
2547242 Not really. Luna's more powerful, but doesn't have experience fighting. Celestia, however, protects her kingdom personally and has a lot of experience... just not fighting with others.
2547245 Oh, you're probably going to hate the next chapter.
2547213
She does seem rusty but considering she faced Discord... its a bit meh the way Xander got her. One thing seems off, not the Celestia one mind you, the fact that Xander keeps getting smarter and smarter just to fill the role of a good villain. He most certainly is, but its just a tad weird he goes from evil to evil genius able to trick all them immortals just like that.
I can barely wait to see what will happen next
2547247
Yay! Someone who sees the sisters from my perspective!
(Hmm.. I wonder if I can cause another 'brotherly-love' argument in the comments of this chapter as well... )
~Sparky
2547259 Not if you recall his background. He was Celestia's lead scientist, so he worked with her directly. That means he knows her quite well, including her weaknesses.
2547254
HA! Hate Anything you write?! Doubtful. I'm just exhausted already, so I'm having issues figuring out where things are leading, and what I think will happen. (More than likely going to reread this story a few times over before its done.)
~Sparky
kicking-ass so far.
2547269 Don't say I didn't warn you
2547268
True that. Still, a simple non combative pony being able to mastermind galactic mayhem... meh. Just give me more to read and I'll go away
2547273
Extremely curious now.. Hmm... Whelp, guess it's off to read 20k word chapters about a certain Background Pony in the meantime.
~Sparky
2547214 and then there's 'The Stare'... He WILL be sorry, if not only because of the EXCRUCIATING agony!
2547277 More to read? Okay, here ya go.
P.S. you know he has Dratali military strategist's helping him plot his attack, right?
Eww, I hope she brought some ketchup.
How the fuck is this not tagged Dark?
Come at me bro!
I'd like the Xander scene better, but I'm not too fond of him. His plans are sterotypically evil, they only exist due to massive amounts of luck, and he expects to conquer raw faith, which is impossible. All his deeds, while weighty and importnat, only have that weight due to external forces. His position, plans, and powers were all given to him; he didn't earn them. I don't hate him, I just he would... go away.
2547334 Nothing is really that dark, just one or two moments.
damn Twilght you one crazy bitch. lol
2547348 But that doesn't stop his ego. I'm glad you noticed that about him, though. You're the first.
This should be good.
2547388
I do mean that, but I mean him as a character. All his power, threat, and character development happens off screen. We don't see his raise to power, political maneuvering, or anything that enforces him as a threat. He's hurt Twilight and gained powers, but that happened off screen. It's the difference between fear of reputation, and fear of imagery. Who are you afraid of more, a marine that you know has mud on his shoes and metals on his chest, or some big guy with a lead pipe? We fear the marine, as he has the power and experience to back his threats. We can visualize his threat potential. Xander's raise and threat potential is invisible.
It's stepping on the boundary of show vs. tell.
Go for it Twilight, but don't beat him too terribly bad. Make him suffer and then some, just don't kill him.
Really? No one is gonna make the comment on how the turtle-dragon mecha flew into space?
On the observation deck of The Alliance ship holding Luna
Luna: What was that that just flew by?
Alliance soldier: I... I don't know.
Ok, so casualties: AJ is holding her guts in courtesy of a blade and Spike just ate two rockets (can't really count Celestia since that happened last chapter) (no "in pain" emote for him)
On the list of characters who went bat-shit crazy, we have Twilight rejoining us and we welcome the new addition of Fluttershy
The question on next to no ones' mind is "what the hell is Rarity gonna do next?"
Also, you should make a poll or suggestion blog where we could post what Pinkie is using the next time we see her (Jawbreaker "gloves" is what I'm betting on. Can you guess what she does?)
And now the
mighty OozaruOP Nightmare Mode Twilight finally emerges, and the fight truly begins. Been waiting chapters for this.Calling it now: She initially has the upper hoof, but her bloodlust lowers her WIS score so she fails her perception check and falls for one or more of Xander's dirty tricks. Then, as Xander monologues in preparation for draining her yet again, a revelation crashes into her mind. She feels her friends giving her their energy, and has a new epiphany on the magic of friendship overcoming all odds. This purges her form of evil, and finally allows her to transform into
the true legendary super saiyana celestial alicorn, complete withspiky, goldflowing, etherial mane. She then proceeds to make a speech about being the hope of the universe to LordFriezaXander, and THEN commences to lay the ever-loving smack down.I'm go get me some popcorn.
Also, did Fluttershy just become a nightmare herself? Sounds like she has the right symptoms... If so, everyone is so screwed. At least the Dratali would get what they wanted, though.
If Xander returns as an even more powerful robo-lich, though, I'm going to be disappointed.
2547294
welp thanks for the fic and bout that strategist... mention this things in the fic too! Its great world building just waiting to be put out there.
2547352
Evil alien lizards hell-bent on killing everything? Okay, not particularly dark.
Twilight not-dying? Obviously not dark.
Assault on Dratali base that leaves a lot of nameless mooks dead? Okay, kind of rough but not dark.
Twilight starting to take pleasure in killing? ...
Has-Ka getting his chest blown open? Ouch, tragic but not enough for that tag.
Twilight going full Nightmare and painting the walls of the base with shredded Dratali giblets? Um...
A warship full of people getting blasted apart, and a lovely description of the fear etched on the face of one of the "survivors" (who was awake for a good 10 seconds before she passed out and subsequently died)?
Informative sequences showcasing the deaths/mutilations of far more ponies than necessary to showcase that the Dratali are merciless along with the rest of the planetary assault?
It might just be a "few" moments, but they're setting one hell of a tone
2547401 Him hurting Twilight didn't happen off screen. It was very much on screen. Yes most of his rise wasn't, but that's because it either happened before the story, or among the Dratali. Since it's through the perspective of Twilight , and more recently other good guys, it HAD to be off screen
2547460 In the words of William T. Sherman, "War is hell"
2547496
Most people would probably consider that a good reason to tag it.
2547247 Not sure what in canon you're basing the "no fighting experience" on for Luna, she waged a multiple year war on Celestia and Equestria in general, I'd call that experience. As far as canon goes, the intervening years were mostly peaceful, and most soldiers do gain some rust after a while, let alone 1000 or so years.
If you're looking at fanon, most describe Luna as the one with the fighting know-how and Celestia as the one who knows the ways of politics and diplomacy, which meshes well with the available canon to their characters. They did both win against Discord with the help of the elements, and if you extrapolate canon a bit, Luna would be the 3 more aggressive ones (Loyalty being a cornerstone of most military for instance) while Celestia is the more peaceful or diplomatic ones (I have never seen her without Laughter, and most times she has either Kindness or Generosity paired to her too).
Though I agree Celestia has badass potential, Luna still fits more into the "wildly swinging Excalibur" mental image I have based on what I've seen of both her and her sister, but would be JUST as vulnerable to the same dirty trick if the right pony was used
2547581
That's not canon either. The only thing that's canon is that Luna refused to lower the moon, and Celestia banished her. It could have been years, months, or even a few hours. After that it WAS peaceful... why? Think of all the dangers in that world, yet ponies never see them. Why is that? Because Celestia fights for her ponies so they don't have to. Just because Luna threw a tantrum (Luna is still best princess) doesn't mean she can fight.
calling this right now. luna gonna turned back into nightmare moon and help twi and twi gonna be her alicorn self to kill this dick......by sending into the sun. lets see how he can recover after all his cells are burned.
2547496
I like those kids of moments. Then again, I read way too much military sci-fi, and from what I've found, the best authors give the dead stories. A paragraph or two to describe why someone is fighting before their life is snuffed out gives the dead an identity and thus, an impact.
All you really need to do is give the Dratali some moments like that, too. In my opinion at least.
2547601 then buy your logic the incident involving luna should have simply been a footnote in history. it would not have made any books if there hadn't been an actual fight. there is every reason to believe luna is just as much a warrior as celestia. the moon itself has a connection with hunters and battle. too say one princess can't fight well the other is a fierce warrior seems like your being partial. luna helped fight discord and sombra the first time they fought them. it's fully reasonable to say luna can fight well enough.
2547802 An immortal demi-goddess being banished for a thousand years would NEVER be just a foot note in history, even if it was a five minute confrontation. Besides two beings as powerful as that wouldn't need to fight for long for it to leave an impression. The reason I say Celestia is the fighter is because to me, she seems over-protective and wouldn't let her sister put herself in harm's way. As for Luna fighting Discord and Sombra, she simply used the Elements with Celestia. That doesn't mean she fought though. The mane 6 purified Luna, but only Twilight actually confronted her.
mmmm, good 'ole delicious heart of Targ!
Oh my.
Things are not looking too bright. To be honest I dont see the silver lining anymore.
I think it will probably run this way:
Twilight kills Xander by destroying his heart (probably eating it). As a reaction the Dratali start to retreat.
Then Nightmare Twilight turns against Celestia and her friends. They however manage to get through to her with encouragement allowing Twilight to get back into control for a moment. Then she informs them what to do. Her friends find a surrogate pony or human to fill in the role of the Element of Magic and together they are forced to banish Twilight into some distant star for an unspecific amount of time. At least till the next generation of element bearers can bind the Nightmare within her.
And this is just the better solution. The worst would be Twilight dying, either by herself to protect her friends or by her friends.
Whatever the case will be, this is not going to end in sunshine and rainbows.
Not this time.
2547247 that's like saying a wide reciever would be a good quarterback because he won't drop the ball. One aspect of his entire skillset is better than some others, but not the ones pertaining to what makes one skilled at a job.
Celestia is a great diplomat, protecting her kingdom with words and treaties (assuming canon and majority of fanon) with as little violence as possible.
Luna faught her so hard she had no other option but to banish her using the elements.
Not saying you're wrong to assume a fighting Celestia, but I'd see Luna as an equally powerful force