“Row, row, row your boat, gently down the stream!” sang a mismatched creature as he paddled his boat through the void of space.
“Merrily, merrily, merrily, life is but a dream!” Replied a white and brown marble coated fourteen year old colt, “I wish Queenie came dimension hopping with us. She would have enjoyed messin' that uptight ol' cap'n an' his crew.”
“I think she would have liked the other Equestria where the girls were changelings. Unfortunately, Pippy my friend, she's too wrapped up in her work to let loose.”
“I know Cap'n, but it's been too long since the three of us was together.”
“Ah, those were fun...” Discord was cut off as a large... metal... turtle... dragon... thing... floated past, “...times.”
“I don't get it,” Pip stated blankly as he watched it pass.
“That's not mine,” Discord's expression became serious, making his young friend very nervous at the unheard of sight, “We need to get back now.”
The draconequus hit a red button and a large rocket rose from the back of the row boat and launched the duo toward home.
--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---
“God damn it!” Seth shouted, the wound in his shoulder screaming in agony as he fired on the enemy position, “Admiral, we can really use more back up! We're getting slaughtered down here!”
“All available soldiers are deployed,” came the reply from orbit, “I'm sorry, old friend, but you're on your own.”
“I respect these ponies’ determination,” commented Raak as he took out another enemy, “But the difference in experience and training is obvious. We won't last much longer if this keeps up.”
He looked at the countless dead ponies that lay scattered across the ground. They were actually holding them back until Celestia was taken out. Once she was out of the way, the Dratali pushed forward, taking more and more ground.
“This is a world full of magic,” Seth said hopefully, “Maybe a miracle will happen.”
--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---
A magenta pole drove itself into a Dratali tank before expanding rapidly, tearing the armored vehicle apart. Shining Armor never thought he would ever be using his shields to harm others, but also never realized how effective they could be at the job. Of course, he never realized how good the crystal ponies were in combat. It made sense, though, as they were originally part of King Sombra's army and were trained for this kind of fighting. The few Alliance soldiers that managed to be dropped in were also a huge help. It was one of them that suggested he use his shields as weapons.
Thankfully, the attacking force wasn't very large and victory was very much possible. Of course, he wasn't counting victory just yet. He was too smart for such a stupid mistake.
“Come on soldiers!” he called, “Drive them back!”
His horn glowed again as he slammed a barrier into the rock several Dratali were using as cover, shattering it and the enemies behind.
--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---
Discord and Pipsqueak stared in awe at the massive battle taking place over their home world.
“Cap'n...” Pip started cautiously, “You sure this is the right dimension?”
“Um...” the mad draconequus pulled out a map, “Yeah... this is right, but what's going... oh...”
“Oh? 'Oh' what?” the colt inquired.
“I'm not sure, but I think a little project of brother's is finished.”
“You have a brother?”
Before an answer could be given, a column of indigo energy tore through a couple ships and passed the pair of observers.
“I know that color magic anywhere!” Pip exclaimed with both joy any worry, “That's Luna! Let's go!”
--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---
“Are you... you?” Rainbow asked a little nervously, offering her hoof to her friend.
Twilight groaned as she accepted the aid, “Yeah, I'm me.”
“Good. How ya feeling?”
“Like a bunch of buffalo decided to practice their tap dancing routine on my spine.”
“Ha! Been there plenty of times,” Rainbow gave Twilight a warm smile.
“Thanks... for coming back, I mean,” Twilight returned the smile, “Did I really threaten to tear your wings off?”
Rainbow chuckled nervously, “Yeah, you kinda did, but you weren't really yourself so don't sweat it.”
“Thanks Rainbow, you really are a great friend. Nice job taking care of Xander by the way.”
Rainbow hovered a few feet off the ground with a hoof to her chest in her regular display of bravado, “You know it. That guy thought he could match the pure awesome that is Rai-”
Her rant was interrupted by a shimmering sword erupting from her stomach. Twilight's eyes shank to pinpricks as she watched her friend fall back to the ground, crying in pain. A familiar evil laugh filled the air.
“Do you think this body matters?” the evil spat, “You can destroy it a thousand times over and I'll simply make a new one. My soul isn't bound to this body! It's bound to universe itself! I am a god!”
A sense of hopelessness filled the lavender warrior. His body was completely and utterly destroyed, and yet, here he stood as if nothing happened. She looked back to her fallen friend, her teacher's sword still in her back.
“You insolent ponies aren't worth conquering,” said the creature that was once a pony, “I'm going to do what I should have done already.”
His horn lit up with magical energy as he took off into the air.
“Twi,” Rainbow managed to speak, “Don't... give up. If anypony... can beat him... you can.”
“I... I can't...” Twilight couldn't look at her friend, “You heard him, he doesn't even need a body...” A look of comprehension came over her. Twilight weaved a spell, and in a flash of light, a metal cylinder appeared beside her. She was glad she marked the Lux Abyssi before launching it into space. She quickly opened the container and pulled out a datapad. She began searching through the device, “I... I think I know how to beat him!”
“You better hurry,” Rainbow said with a pained wince, “That doesn't look good.”
Twilight look up at her enemy and gasped. He was gathering a scary amount of mana. Whatever he was planning, it was big.
“Do what you gotta do,” Rainbow said as she struggled to her hooves, the ancient sword still embedded in her body, “I'll... gah... buy you some time.”
“Rainbow, no!” too late, Twilight tried stopping her injured friend.
The pegasus took off into the air. Her was speed diminished, but still fast enough for her to slam head first into the alicorn. The sudden, unexpected impact broke Xander's concentration and his spell fizzled.
“You stubborn little bitch!” he growled, “Don't you know when to die!”
“Not... really,” Rainbow panted.
--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---
Luna barely had the strength left to keep her air spell up. She contemplated one more attack. It would eliminate a few of the threats to her subjects, but it would also kill her. Luna closed her eyes.
Their lives are worth more than mine. She reasoned with herself.
With her resolve steeled, she got ready to cast one last spell...
“Luna!” a voice called.
She opened her eyes to see an unusual sight. A small row boat was making its way toward her with two very familiar figures on board.
“Pip, Discord!” Luna's voice was carried magically to her friends, “What are you doing? It's dangerous here!”
“What's going on?” Discord asked.
“Twilight returned and brought some new friends,” Luna explained, “Unfortunately, so did Xander.”
Luna gave a brief explanation of everything that was happening.
“So, these guys are the good guys, and those guys are the bad guys?” Discord asked pointing out the Alliance and Dratali respectively.
“Yes, and we could use your help.”
“Alright,” Discord cracked his knuckles, “I don't have a lot in me after all the inter-dimensional vacationing we did, but I think I can do this.”
With a snap of his talon, he created a shockwave that spread out over every ship. Where the Alliance was untouched, the Dratali were not so lucky. Nothing seemed to have been happening at first, but then one by one the enemy ships stopped moving and fighting. Soon holes started forming across the hulls of several ships. Inside, multicolor clouds could be seen swarming through, eating everything in sight.
Luna suddenly recognized the clouds, “Are those parasprites?”
“Metal eating parasprites,” the draconequus specified, “And now... goodnight.”
Discord promptly passed out.
--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---
Admiral Gibson watched as the enemy fleet was inexplicably torn apart from the inside. He wasn't sure what happened, but whatever that shockwave did, it only did it to the Dratali. It took a few seconds for the old sailor to gather his wits again. There was still a battle to be fought.
“All captains, send everyone you can to the surface. They need help down there now!”
The Admiral watched as drop ships detached from every ship and head to assist the soldiers on the ground.
“We have a chance,” he said.
“FTL signatures!”
Gibson looked to the screen with a touch of fear. His fear melted away and a grin replaced it.
“On second thought, we have more than just a chance.”
The Alliance reinforcements had finally arrived.
--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---
“No, no, no, damn it. Gotta work fast.”
The not-quite-a-unicorn began reading through her personal notes. Step one, sever right arm, or in my case right foreleg. She detached what was left of her prosthetic. Done. She struggled to ignore Rainbow's cries of pain. Tears formed in her eyes at the sound of her friend's torment.
Step two, magic circle. Twilight's horn shot out arcs of energy, scorching the needed pattern into the ground around her.
Next, weave the spell... oh shit. The mana needed was twice what she possessed. I... I guess I have no choice.
“This is gonna suck,” she groaned out loud.
She poured every ounce of magic she had into the weaving until she had none of her own left. With her own reserves dry, she opened herself to the mana rich world around her, drawing in energy. The pain started almost immediately. It was like someone had replaced her blood with magma. Her heart felt like it was going to explode from how fast it was beating.
The circle shined with a brilliant white light as she fought through the agony to craft the spell. Arcs of lavender energy erupted from her body, dancing around her. Slowly, agonizingly so, the energy began to weave itself along the stump of her right foreleg. The ghostly light began to take the shape of a phantom limb ending in a wicked claw.
A cyan figure landed hard some way in front of her. Twilight let a few tears fall for her friend before locking her eyes on her target. The undead alicorn was still hovering above, looking down at Rainbow and didn't see Twilight. The lavender mare launched herself at the distracted monster, gaining altitude with every beat of her leathery wings.
“Xander!” she yelled. She wanted to see his face when she ended him.
The false alicorn turned just in time to see the magical claw plunge into his chest. His body was instantly reduced to ashes, but it wasn't like the last time. This time, in his body's place was a grotesque, pale specter, Twilight's magic claw still buried within. Twilight glared at the ghost as black fire suddenly engulfed him, burning his very essence. He let out a blood chilling wail as all he was was burned away in hellfire. Twilight watched with a strange mixture of hatred, joy, and pity as the evil creature simply ceased to exist.
With its job complete, Twilight released the spell, letting the magic flow from her. A smile spread across her face as she plummeted back to the earth, and her overworked heart finally gave out and stopped.
Pure awesomeness....no other words can be said...
RAINBOW NOOOOO
I had loads of fun reading this fic, but i gotta say that while it was awesome all the way till the big battle, the series of snapshots that follow it make me feel like i'm just browsing trailers instead of reading a story. A bit more focus on the individual characters or ignoring said characters fully for the sake of keeping the flow would really make the difference.
Also... Rainbow Dash.... giiirl, you made a classic dumbass expendable hero mistake....
Deus ex Machina Parcel Service - when the day has to be saved on time and within budget!
And I totally pegged using the book's spell to rip Xander's soul out of his body. Lucky she had that rune on it . . .
There should be a "tragedy" tag on this if you plan on killing so many of the main ponies
2652444 Four I think you miscounted.
Dashie.... NOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!
Otherwise, good chapter and stuff. I also liked the way how you've stopped Xander. Too bad Twi had to die in the process.
So Rainbow got stabbed and Twilight used a magical spell that was extremely powerful and caused her to pass out.
Yeah, they better not die.
Incredible.
I think this fits several characters well:
Heart monitor: BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! Beep. Beep. BEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!
I feel like you just are executing characters for giggles at this point. I can understand that you want to make it clear that this is the big important battle of amazing battleness, but the tactical use of "OMG XYZ IS GONNA DIE" in more or less the same manner time and time again is just getting a bit... repetitive. Poor show.
2652490 They aren't minor, and don't be so sure. Maybe they live somehow, and maybe more die.
Oh man...Dash and now Twilight possibly dying...I think...I dunno, but I hope Xander is DEAD this time. Lol, maybe the Elements of Harmony can heal them...hell, Twilight is almost an Alicorn, might be a great way to fix them up...
2652462 "pass out" is a rather mild term for heart giving out and stopping, don't you think? That's pretty much dead really.
2652507
Yeah, I guess. Passing out kinda encompasses everything up to death though, doesn't it.
2652512 For me pass out revolves around fainting and falling asleep involuntarily though. Dying, and to an extent coma isn't a part of passing out. It's where you draw the limit.
2652542 Twilight's first transformation into the Nightmare is as gory as I'll get. I find excessive gore to be unnecessary.
hmm... Atleast Celestia is alive to grieve Twilights death. Can't wait to see her break down. However I doubt Twi's gonna be alowed to stay dead. She's just too much fun of a toy for discord to let go of.
NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!
2652422, 2652396, 2652378, what is with you twilight is also dead you assholes don't you care about her?
2652457, 2652408, 2652401, you are the only ones who noticed that twilight died as well.
Honestly, Discord made me facepalm for two reasons. The first was that he was gone in the first place. He has some sort of antagonistic love for the ponies, so I don't see why he would stay away for long when they are in danger. If this splits into its own timeline before Keep Calm and Flutter On, then why didn't he interfere and save the ponies for himself to play with? If after, why didn't he help at all? He may not hold any love for Twilight, but Fluttershy is a different matter. Fluttershy would have asked him to help in an instant. He didn't leave any means to keep track of them? I don't buy it.
Strike that, I found a third. Firstly (secondly?), the second portion. Since when was Discord nerfed? He has warped the reality countless times, rearranged the laws of physics, and only now he becomes exhausted? He moved the sun and moon like it was nothing! Assuming the sun is the same distance away as our own, it is 92,960,000 miles away. That an (assumed) orbital path of 292,042,453 miles in under a second. That's a kinetic energy of 8.481970598530878e+46, otherwise known as "a shitload". That kind of power was drained from dimension hopping, when we have seen him use power just as great to arrange the molecular structure of objects several times over a wide area? Not a chance.
The last point, the one I had just noticed, is that Discord, along with other characters, seemed OOC. I've noticed a trend that most characters tend to speak and act in similar patterns. Depending on birhtplace, social status, and general demeanor, people talk in different manners, and Discord has most certainly not acted in the matter typical for him. How people talk in books and stories helps us differentiate people in our heads and give them little quirks. Rarity gives people pet names and rarely uses contractions. Celestia speaks in a dignified and official manner, reguardless of the situation. Discord acts like a troll, but speaks with authority and confidence. I don't see these people as different, I see them as the same, just with a different coat of paint.
2652614 I DIDN'T EVEN NOTICE THAT!!! OH MY GOD, TWILIGHT NOOOOOOO
I was going to celebrate this updating on my birthday but then I read the chapter. I has a sadnao
2652617 To address your concerns, Discord didn't know what happened to Twilight. The only reason James/Clyde/Mayhem knew was because their sister, Turmoil told him. Remember, both of them are no longer a part of the order.
Second, He was opening rifts in space-time! I'm pretty sure that takes a shit-load more energy then moving the sun. Also, if you remember, James said Chaos Lords regain energy quite slowly without their Boss. Discord had 1000 years to recharge his batteries the first time. If you look at Keep Calm and Flutter On, this is supported. He didn't do as great of things as before, only smaller things like making animals crazy and levitating the cottage. One could say it was because he didn't want to be locked back up, but would that really stop him? If he had the same amount of power as before, he could have just sent Fluttershy to the opposite side of the world and taken over.
As for the personalities, I try to keep them as in character as possible, but it can be hard a lot of times. There's a lot of situations that they never had in the show that one can only guess how they would react. I admit there are a lot of times that they act similarly, but I never claimed to be a great writer. I'm still trying to get better with things like that. Of course, I have to thank your ass holeness for a lot of that
2652662 I might give you another birthday present. It'll be better, I promise.
2652526>>2652512 technically, cardiac arrest is not death, if shes gotten to quickly enough, there is a chance that her heart can be restarted without any negative repercussions...
I remember thinking at the end of last chapter that while it was disappointing that Xander got reduced to tiny bits by RD and Excalibur, but that it'd be even more disappointing if he just got right back up again after that. And then this chapter happened.
The crap?
Twilight just ended Xander in one blow, with some kind of magical claw spell? She's been so incredibly terrified of him this whole time, thinking about him for so long, and yet only now does she conveniently remember there was a one hit K.O. spell in the Black Book?
And she never thought to draw on said book in preparation for a fight for her home world's life until now?
I'm seeing a pattern here, and I don't like it. Ponies suddenly do something incredibly effective, and then I wonder why they hadn't been doing so in the first place. Rainbow Dash doesn't take a few passes with the epic level magic sword, and doesn't think to hand it off to Twilight either. Luna doesn't directly assist her troops until hundreds or thousands have died, despite her sister having been out on the front lines the whole time. Luna even expresses the will to give herself up for her little ponies (kinda dumb, as her living to fight another day would save many more ponies, but I can forgive the sentiment), so it doesn't seem to be about self-preservation.
Then Twilight waits until Rainbow has been (likely) mortally wounded before she's willing to summon the book that could have stopped this fight in the first minute. Twilight is obviously aware that the spell she pulls from the book then exists before she calls the book, and she knows what it's for. Otherwise she wouldn't have flipped right to it. Twilight could have saved many, many ponies by bringing back that book in time to train trusted unicorns in its contents use, or at least saved herself a lot of trouble.
Your ponies are holding back unnecessarily. I can't even explain most of it away as their courses of action becoming unlocked by progressively desperate times, as the Godzilla Threshold got crossed a long time ago when they first heard they were in for a fight with the Dalek Necron Covenant bent on exterminating all living infidels (and then themselves). that, and most of the actions I'm thinking of weren't actually all that desperate. This stinks of a writer making up things as he goes along. I know, however, that you at least have some overarching plan for how you want this story to end so it can then continue in the collab, so that explanation only goes so far. Are you just scurrying to get everything lined up for the sequels? Get all your plot points crammed in there instead of letting it flow naturally?
Unless you have a very moving explanation for me by the end of the day for how you've handled this, I am out of here. This story used to be something special. Most of it still is, as it remains unchanged, but decay around the end like this can really kill a story. The only thing I can think of right now that would almost make Twilight's failure to use the book earlier is if she gets a MAJOR dressing-down after the fact for not using her power to its full potential when the fate of a world was in the balance. Twilight being afraid to really cut loose in her world of cardboard is a well-accepted and practically canon trope, and it's a very reasonable flaw for her to have. Fail to give me a satisfactory reply, though, and I'm downvoting and never looking back. Give me a reason to stay. Give me a reason to renew my faith in this story, please. PM it to me if you have to.
P.S. Didn't Twilight lose a wing when she got powered down? When did it grow back? Or was it ever gone to begin with?
Edit: Looked at the comments after writing this, then reread the end of the chapter.
YOU DID WHAT?!
I'm not normally one to rage, but why in the name of Celestia's hallowed sphincter did you kill her off? If you did, then you killed all of my desire to return to this fic. If you didn't, then why did you stop her heart? Psyche outs like that are wholely unnecessary. You could have just had her pass out like I thought had happened the first time I read through. If she's alive, creating suspense this way is cheap. It might even lose you readers rather than retain their attention. I suppose you could always have somepony bring Twily back as a lich, but that sure as hat doesn't bode well for her relationship with her boyfriend.
I'll try not to let the door hit me on my way out.
2652617This Discord in particular is basically Overlord Flinx's Discord who is much less authoritive than canon Discord.
2652673 Assuming that she survives the fall back down to earth of course. I've met a few people who actually had their heart stop and they got it started in time, so I know. It just seems unlikely is all.
2652674 For one, the spell requires A SHIT TON OF POWER, so much that it stopped her heart. The second reason is it destroys ones soul. That's a fucked up thing for anyone. Third, she wasn't entirely herself for the majority of the fight. The Nightmare clouded her thoughts and reduced her strategy to "hurt him a lot". That's a terrible spell (like every other one in the book), and not one that should be used at the drop of a hat. As for why she forgot her fears, a friend willing to give her life so you can beat the guy is a pretty good motivator, plus Twilight had faced things she feared plenty in the show (Hydra, Nightmare Moon).
Luna didn't go out there to fight right away, because throwing around that much power is dangerous to those you're trying to protect as well as those you're fighting. That and I had mentioned she keeps most of her power locked away because she's afraid it'll cause the seal on her Nightmare to break.
And Twilight had two wings. It's the Nightmare eye she only has one of.
TWILIGHT! If Xander isn't dead from this I want you to make him burn for all eternity
2652732 HOW DARE YOU POST A CLIP OF THAT BLASPHEMY !!!
2652737 would you rather it be Vader shouting no?
Oh god, Know your mare is going to be hilarious.
2652614
Twilight is not dead, eeesh. She's like a Robocop-Wolverine-Jedi-Jesus. She's kicking ass, raising from the dead and i'd not be surprised if she'd learn to raise them.
2652758 It's still from one of those evil movies that call themselves Star Wars, so HELL NO
2652692 given that shes one of the stars of the show...so to speak...her probability of survival is actually quite high...
A decently good chapter. All I gotta say is you had better not kill Twilight off. You do, and you and I are going to have some words. Not nice words.
And in regards to everypony whining about OCC and the story progression in general, shut the FUCK up! (See what you did? You pissed me off so much I'm cursing, which I never do.) I mean, for real. Grow a pair and shut up. There is a reason this is Shiro's story. This is Shiro's own tale, set almost completely apart from the canon tale. You guys keep comparing the reactions of Shiro's characters to how you think canon would act and react, and it is wrong. Stop comparing Shiro's story to canon, and canon story lines and canon timelines. Doing so is doing nothing but degrading one of the best stories I've had the pleasure of being a part of (and there have been a lot of those). You whine and complain about how you think canon characters would act without taking into consideration that this tale has almost nothing to do with the canon universe. At all. The most that is the same is the character names, city names, and some of the character's personality. Beyond that, this is Shiro's world. Not Hasbro's. Not Faust's. Shiro's. And if you forget that very important fact, then you shouldn't be here at all. Plain and simple. The idea of a fanfic like this is to very seldom follow along the same timeline or character development as the actual show. No, Shiro's characters are not going to act as they would in canon. No, they are not going to have every single mannerism of canon down pat. Shut up, and move on. If you don't like it so much, leave. No one is going to stop you. Least of all me.
Anyway, Shiro, as always, I await the next chapter.
2652773 then here ya go!
2652774 I know of at least three movies off the top of my head where the "star of the show" doesn't survive until the end, or is killed during the final confrontation. It's way more common, sure but the chance that she doesn't is there.
2652780 thats y i said the probability of her survival was high, not absolute...
only Sith deal in absolutes...
Pinkie! get the hell out of my comments!
awwww!
2652776 It's not so much an AU as it is about 6-7 years after Season 3. It only diverges at the whole "Twilicorn" thing, but you are right in that they wouldn't be quite the same as they are in the show. I don't know about everyone else, but I don't act the same as I did 6 years ago.
2652778 That's better
2652780 But he's still right that her chances are better than others.
I wonder if there were consequences to the spell Twilight used that absorbed magic from the surrounding area? especially when she was out of her own magic?
Did Twilight accidentally alicornicate herself?
2652803
Yes... her heart stopped
2652791 You would know her chances, wouldn't you?
2652787 Fair enough. But wouldn't the chances of RD surviving be higher, given that we don't know that her heart have given up on her.
2652791 Yea, I edited a bit of it after I posted it. Not sure why I called in an AU, when I was sitting there staring at the tags.
2652818 Also take into account that RD and Twi are best ponies
2652822
2652825 I /salute this comment. The only reason I think that Twilight will live is because of this right here.