Stories in Stone, Memories of Twilight

by TDR

“a sea without a shore”

Stories in Stone
Memories of Twilight
By TDR

“a sea without a shore..”

The tumult roar of a sonic rain boom echoed along the canyon and through the trees before slowly fading away like the massive ring of color over head. AppleJack looked over Rhede, wondering if the magic that was released would have any effect on him, she had seen the rain boom do some rather impressive things in the past. She bites her lip noting the spread of the black marks in his flesh had yet to cease.

A snap of a dry branch and the glimpse of a scarlet form from the corner of her eye sent AppleJack to her hooves in a instant, standing protectively over Rhede readying her self against an attack. She blinks easing from her stance as she got a better look at who came from the trees.

Velkorn could have easily been mistaken for a zebra god at that point. Her black and white coat was now black and an almost terracotta red mix of dried blood and bodily fluids. AJ stared, not entirely sure what to say considering the zebra had only been gone ten minutes. How had she gotten to be this much of a mess?

“Velkorn ya'll alright?”the orange farm pony asks pensively. “ Ah'd ask what happened tah Scarlet, but ah have a feeling ain't none of that yer blood. Ah sorta wish it was paint and yer trying tah impersonate my brother though.”

“There may still be a white spot or two on the back of my head, but as for Scarlet, I doubt she is dead.” Velkorn sighs. “ Gods are quite hard to kill, this tends to be the norm, but it will take her approximately two hours to heal herself now, particularly with her own limbs piercing her form.....”

“Ah'll take yer word for that.” AppleJack looks down at Rhede. “ Did tha best ah could with him, his wounds ain't too bad ,but he's been poisoned like Mac was. I couldn’t find any of the stuff you need fer a cure in yer bags either.”

“This was something I knew to be true, but for it I do not know what to do. I do not have anything I would need, it would take a few hours to even collect the flax seed.”

“So what now?”

Velkorn doesn't respond as she simply sits down hard next to Rhede running a hoof over his mane.

====================================================================

“That bucking zebra, I’m gonna show her what a slow death really is.”

Scarlet groans softly, slowly lifting her head looking about the woods only to find it was gone.

The earth pony mare blinks in surprise looking about the vast expanse of what seemed to be stars. She flails as she tires to stand, floating about in the either trying to find purchase to stand or walk normally.

She sighs as she fails to do much more then send herself spinning around a little, after a few tries she manages to right herself , but her sense o unease at this place only seemed to have grown. Something felt off about this place, something felt like it was missing.

The mare's ears perk up hearing voices arguing, she shifts her gaze around trying to figure out the source, though she sees nothing.

“This is unacceptable.” spouts an angry female voice.

“Not our problem, you took too long getting ready and we lost her. This ones the secondary candidate.” mutters a tired sounding male voice.

“I wanted the alicorn.” snarls the female voice again.

“Yeah well, she's a head on a stick right now, so unless you wanna show up already dead, yah need to let that one go.” complains a voice that Scarlet was sure she had heard before.

“Not enough of the ones that would be problems have been removed. Now Discord is even back, that beast will give me no end of trouble.” states the angry female.

“He is weak, the only threats that truly remain are the Love cursed pair, the sun Princess and the current corrupted Loyalty.” mutters another male voice.

Scarlet looks up as the pattern of stars shifts near her. Her eyes strain trying to make out the shape before realizing all she was viewing was a massive hoof, the limb of the creature stretching up and beyond her perception.

“There is also Forgescale himself if his son manages to wake him. That dragon will likely be trouble too.” states another female voice that Scarlet was sure was the same as the Silver Script.

“this is all a pain, can we just get this all over with?” mutters a tired sounding voice that grates like a dragons.

“It is almost done Teal, be patient. This is the perfect time for what is needed, if you do not take this opportunity another may never arrive that will be this perfect. “ states the voice that had been trying to placate the angry one.

“I still have some issue with this. Particularly with this one nearby, I do not trust him at all.” comments the one that sounded like the Silver Script.

“If I had known this was your end game I wouldn't have tried so hard to screw you over.” snaps a weedy sounding voice.

“Well there is that at least Jade. Though there is still the issue of we have no reason to trust you in this.”
comments the angry female.

“No you don't, and I get why I wouldn't be any where near the first to try this out ,but why the heck are you first in line?You're even newer to this than I am.” whines the one called Jade.

“Because she planed most of this, right down to your interference Jade. She set up a good many things to gain this chance and she is the only one of us prepared to do anything about it, despite her current protests.” mutters the first male voice.” We can do this without you if need be, though it will be easier with your cooperation Jade, do we have that?”

“Like I said Gray, had I known this was the end game you could have gotten my help a great deal earlier. This is what I’ve been trying to do for years now on my own. So as long as you don't try and screw me over, I’m in.” Jade states.

“Good. It seems the newest godling has decided to join us as well. Do what you need to and get started.” Gray states.

“Unacceptable, the least that you could have done is find me a unicorn, a lowly earth pony? I might as well deal with a zebra.” snaps the angry mare.

“I take offense to that mare. Keep in mind it was my knowledge and the actions of another zebra against this earth pony that gave you the opportunity to do anything at all. Do you understand how hard it is to get a earth pony into this place.” growls another refined male voice.

“Purple has a point. Besides she is a Cursed Laughter, the madness will stick with her, but the power will stay with the body. You can shape the form as you like with that.” responds the Silver Script.

“Fine then, but I will not endure the pain of a change, she can return to her body for that .”

“Easily done.” comments Gray.

==============================================================

Claymore was pissed, while this was a normal state for him lately there was an actual reason this time. Everything was falling apart around him, when this should have been the height of his victory. He was finally going to pay back that dragon for what she did to his face and then grab a couple more mares for his own amusement. A god should have a decent harem after all.

Now it seemed Trixie had not been as broken in as he thought and with the shield down this place would be swarming with Guards any moment. His issue with the dragon could wait until he salvaged this situation or at least managed a hostage or two.

He pauses on one of the ruined rooms the dragon's body had punched a hole though running a hoof over his chest where the blast of magic had hit him. There wasn't any pain as he had come to expect after the ritual, but it was very itchy.

He presses his hoof harder into his fur trying to briefly sooth the annoyance when what sounds like a rip of fabric reaches his ears and a foul scent wafts into his nostrils at the same time.

He lowers his gaze lifting the hoof he was using to scratch with, a large clump of his hair and skin dangled from the end of his hoof. Claymore's eyes widen as he looks down seeing a patch of rough gray leathery skin where the chunk had torn free. He swears tossing the lump of fur aside and storming into the main hall, Trixie would be paying double if she was responsible for that magic attack as well.

He storms into the main hall his gaze taking in the problems. The shield that held the hostages was gone, they were all free of the wire and currently exiting the front doors of the building in a rush. All of the bandits he had left to watch them were down, likely victims of that magical burst that hit him. A number of them were staggering back to their hooves, though likely not in time to do anything. Trixie was with the hostages, out cold and draped over the back of the gray earth pony mare who had caused so much ruckus when they first got here.

He snarls starting to charge after the fleeing ponies when a blast of magic slams into the side of his head sending him stumbling. He whips his head about seeing a white unicorn at the top of the stairs, her horn glowing as she readies another blast of magic, behind her a yellow pegasus cowered.

“Give it up you foul oaf, you've already lost.” Rarity's voice booms. The mare prances a bit and smirks as she whispers to the pegasus.” Ooh I’ve always wanted to say something like that.”

“Um Rarity, not to ruin your mood, but he looks mad, maybe you should have hit him with something stronger?” Fluttershy points out as Claymore roars, charging up the stairs shrugging off a second blast from the white unicorn.

“Oh dear, that was one of my best... perhaps running would be proper.” Rarity admits running away, and further up the stairs to the second floor, Fluttershy flying rapidly along behind her.

Claymore charges after the pair knocking a bandit over the railing to land with a sickening crunch on the floor below.

Rarity dodges another few bandits climbing to their hooves ignoring the screams as the ponies were destroyed by the mad earth pony behind them in his pursuit as she scrambles up the stairs to the third floor..

Rarity glances back seeing Fluttershy floating in the middle of the open room up by the ceiling, Claymore however was ignoring the pegasus and was baring down on Rarity.

“Rarity look out!” shouts Fluttershy rather quietly.

The unicorn yelps skidding to a stop as she nearly gallops out of the broken third story window. She turns to run the other way only for Claymore to be right before her bringing his sword around. Rarity screams raising a shield as quickly as she can.

The massive blade slams into the glowing magical barrier, warping the edge of the shield before shattering it. Rarity screams as her shield breaks, the cry cut off as the blade connects with her chest, while the force of the blow was greatly reduced by the shield, it was still enough for the dull blade to slam into her chest and fling her out though one of the shattered third story windows.

“Rarity!” screams Fluttershy.

“You Asshole!” shouts a cloaked figure as he manages to make it up the stairs in time to watch Rarity be flung out the window. “ We had a deal, our lord wanted that mare alive!”

Claymore roars turning around suddenly and driving his massive blade through the cloaked ponies head and then through his back and stomach, spilling the stallions guts on the floor and pinning his head to his now exposed spine.

“I DON'T GIVE A SHIT WHAT YOU WANT!” bellows Claymore. “This is about ME! And no pony fucks with me!”

=====================================================

Luna frowns at the small gathering of Guards, nurses, and Big Mac staring at her. She had come into the hospital to bring Pipsqueek to safety before heading out to hunt Nocturne again. Her first mistake it seems had been ordering a pair of confused 42nd trainees to accompany her as she searched for Nocturne. She completely forgot she did not look like she normally did.

“Think she hit her head?” a nurse questions.

“Might be a changeling who didn't get the story right.” responds a Guard. “ I' mean even the cutie mark is different, very close, but still not the same. The aside from the blade instead of the moon there’s a slight tinge of coloration difference.”

“How would you know that?” questions another Guard.

“Well when you've had throne room duty as much as I have, you can either count tiles or watch the royal flanks all day. And I already know there's fifty three thousand two hundred and sixty six tiles on the floor.”

“Perv.”mutters a nurse.

“Eeeyup” replies Big Mac.

Luna slaps her face with a hoof, making a mental note to change the positioning of the guards in the throne room, or at the very least stop holding audiences with her subjects while standing. “I do not have time for this, Nocturne is still out there and she needs to be stopped.”

“No one is doubting that miss, however you should probably calm down and take a rest, let one of the doctors have a look at you...” a nurse placates.

“I AM NOT ADDLED!!”Luna growls,” Fine I shall hunt for Nocturne myself.”

“Some one mention Nocturne?” a voice calls out as a griffon and a pegasus pony saunter in to the waiting room of the hospital. The griffoness had a wide grin on her beak and the stallion was humming something that sounded like 'we are the champions' to himself, a rather bloody sack dangled from the griffons side as her blood coated gauntlets clicked on the floor tile.

Luna looks back at the pair curiously.

“So do you think we can collect the bounty, even as Guards?” Breezy questions.

“Heck no. I'm not turning this in. I'm having this thing stuffed and mounted and I’m putting it on my wall at home.” Dusty states.

“You really want to see that mare's mug for the rest of your life?” Breezy mutters.

“I can make it wear silly hats every day.....”Dusty Cackles.

“Okay now that is creepy” mutters Breezy.

“Bah don't tell me you didn't consider it.”Dusty snaps as Breezy shrugs.

“Let me see.” Luna states snatching the bag from the griffoness despite her protests, and tearing it open to look in, her eyes narrowing though she lets out a sigh tossing the bag back to the aggravated griffon.

“What's the big idea lady, we worked hard for that!” Breezy complains.

“It is one less thing for me to worry about. Now then, no you cannot collect the reward, as members of the Guard it is your duty to stop the criminals, not bounty hunt. No you may not keep the head as a trophy as no matter how foul the enemy, it is not allowed. Now that that is out of the way, I need you two to track down General Silvertail, Major Rose, General Pelt, General Velkorn, Miss Applejack, Miss Pie, and Miss Dash, make sure they know what has happened with Nocturne. Also inform them that General Kaisur and Miss Sparkle have already gone to Canterlot and that they should follow when able. Tell Major Rose to secure the town and send any he can spare to Canterlot.”

“Wait, wait wait, who the buck do you think you are?” Dusty questions. “ And when did the Major make General? Is that even a rank anymore?”

“She thinks she's Princess Luna.”Nurse Redheart sighs.

“Eeeyup” Big Mac confirms.

“You're a little short to be a Princess.” Breezy points out.

Luna twitches grabbing the griffon and the pegasus with her wings and yanking their faces to hers as she snarls her eyes flashing as green cat like slits briefly as she speaks..

“Listen here you two, we have had a rather bad day as it is, and your insistence on being thick is only making the situation worse. If you do not do as you are ordered immediately, we shall ensure, with all our considerable power, that the next years of thine life are spent wishing you were back in the advanced training under General Kaisur and Major Rose. We will personally ensure that you are subjected to the training that General Kaisur, yes General, I know this as I promoted him to that rank myself, and myself created for ourselves and mine sister if she should choose to get off her rump. The General's insistence of making you two his special friends shall be doubled and you shall rue the day you ever though about thinking about becoming a Guard. Now we shall not repeat ourselves again. You will find those ponies. You WILL tell them to go to Canterlot, and you WILL make sure that Major Rose hears this order. Are We clear?”

The pair seem to be sweating profusely staring into the angry pegasus's eyes.

“Ummm sure.....” Breezy mutters.

“No problem.” grumbles Dusty. “But how would we get any one there half the troops are ground bound?”

Luna curses a bit at that consideration letting the pair go.

“Couple of ambulance flying chariots in the shed out back. Dash pulls up from time to time when there's an emergency and they need some speed tah get some where.” Big Mac comments. “ Should hold a dozen or so apiece. Not much, but yah ken have yer pegasus fly and pull floating unicorns. Might get a couple score there like that.”

“There you are, now use that. Now go before I get mad again.” Luna grumbles trying to return to proper speech after her outburst.

The pair rush out the door just as quickly as they came in and Luna sighs.

“Thank you Big Macintosh. “

“Eeeyup.”

“I need to be going, would you do me a favor Nurse?” Luna states fanning her wings a little.

“Errr I guess. What is it.” Nurse Red Heart questions wondering if there was any tranquilizer she could get to fast enough if the pegasus turned mean again.

“The colt I brought in. Ensure he is well cared for, his parents...... well they will not be coming for him.....” Luna winces.

The nurse sighs looking back at the double door leading deeper into the hospital.” He's not the only one. I'll do what I can.”

“I can ask no more.” Luna mutters trotting out the door to begin the flight to Canterlot.

======================================================

Celestia lands heavily on top of a pedestal, muttering lightly to herself about the added weight she felt being the armor and not the extra desserts from the kitchens.

For a place that seemed to be the start of most of the troubles the garden, it was rather quiet. The smell of smoke and charred flesh however hung heavily in the air. She looked over the gardens spotting a few smoking black chard bushes and a number of spots that seemed to be on fire. Following the spots of destruction with her eyes she spotted a few bodies of what appeared to be changelings. She didn't think her own power would have been enough to send them all the way out here, let alone burn things on this side of the castle.

A loud roar draws her attention to movement at the edge of one of the gardens multiple interior borders and she hops off the pedestal opting to gallop rather that sluggishly fly over there again. She did not have to go far, running into the large clearing that contained the statue of Forgescale, she came across a battle.

A large red dragon was currently being swarmed by changelings, Celestia recognized the beast as Silver Claw, though how had he gotten here?The last reports had him in Ponyville. Even if he had flown in while the attack was going on a bright red dragon was not something that should have been missed.

A number of changelings that milled around the dragon finally notice her and turn charging at the armored alicorn. The Princess largely ignores them pondering Silver Claw's arrival and why he had not tried to wake his father yet. The changelings leap for her only to be met with a arc of flame as her horn lightly glows turning the attackers into ash before they even reach her. She narrows her eyes amping up her power and turning the short arc into a massive wave that blackens the grass and crashes down atop the dragon and the changelings.

There were a few rapidly cut off screams as some of the changelings managed to dive out of the way , only getting singed or injured by the magical fire. Celestia sighs as the fire begins to flicker, glad at least one such problem was dealt with.

Her eyes widen as Silver Claw rises up from the flames,shaking off the ash of the changelings that had been covering him.

“Do you think you can burn a fire dragon pony? You are a fool!” Silver Claw snarls his maw snapping open and a blast of white fire bursting forth setting the very ground ablaze and smashing into the armored princess like a tidal wave. The bushes and decorations nearby burst into flames from the sheer heat produced by the dragon's breath weapon.

Silver Claw snorts snapping his jaw shut, at least one of his problems was now dealt with, of course he still had no idea how to free his father, the unicorns aura magic was not something he could preform.

The clack of bone against bone draws his attention to the shimmering heat and smoke left in the wake of his attack. A white mare covered in skeletal armor stands unphased in the middle of the path of flame glaring at him, her armor glows orange from the heat though it seems undamaged as well.

Celestia chuckles. “ You think your paltry flame can harm the Goddess of the Sun? Now who is the fool Silver Claw?”

The dragon roars lunging at the Princess only for a massive bolt of lavender energy to fly from the edge of the charred field knocking the dragon out of the air sending him crashing to the ground.

“I will not allow you to touch Princess Celestia.” states a very tired, but determined looking Twilight Sparkle.

“You again? Is there no end to the interruptions stopping me from freeing my father?!” Silver Claw bellows suddenly, staggering forward and screaming out as a spray of blood erupts from his back between his wings. The dragon spins his claws reaching back trying to grab what hit him. Celestia blinks watching the massive dragon flail, the gray form of a unicorn planted between the beasts wings, teeth gripped tight on a star metal blade embedded in the dragons back.

Silver Claw whips his tail up striking the pony , though not before the unicorns hooves shatter a number of scales on the dragons back . The gray pony sails through the air teeth still gripped tight on the Waning Moon, he braces himself for impact only to be caught by a glow of golden magic and turned to be set lightly on his hooves by Celestia.

“I think perhaps this is the first time I have actually been glad to see you are well Kaisur...... That IS some one elses blood covering you right?” Celestia questions.

“Why do ponies keep asking me that?” Jer'rahd growls looking over to Celestia, curiously regarding the armor.

“I needed to borrow this for a while, I do hope you don't mind.” the Princess mutters trying to ignore Twilight staring at her as well.

“Looks a, umm, little tight Princess.” mutters Twilight a bit red in the face.

“Looks better on Luna.” grumbles Jer'rahd before he turns and rushes at Silver Claw again.

================================================================

Rarity whimpers, her chest and head hurting far too much for much more than that. She couldn't ever recall having been hit that hard, nor having her magic broken since she became an adult.

Rarity whimpers again feeling the wind blowing through her mane and the stinging pain where the blade had connected against her chest. She felt particularly lightheaded, that coupled with the pain made her certain she was not dead at least.

She feels herself starting to descend, her eyes opening a little to see the ground start to rush up towards her, the blow having flung her from the window and nearly clear of the music schools front lawn. Unfortunately that meant she was likely to land on a cobble stone road, she shuts her eyes tightly briefly trying to focus on a spell though not even able to draw on her magic after the shock of her spell shattering. If she survived the impact, this was going to hurt, a lot.

She flinched as she hit, the air rushing from her pained lungs, body tensing up. She expected a rather large amount of pain from the hit, though aside from having the breath knocked out of her she didn't seem to be in any... well, any more pain at any rate. She was certain she might have a few cracked ribs and was certain one of her forelegs was broken...wait why did she feel like she was rising?

Her ears perk hearing the faint flap of wings and she opens her eyes once again, the ground was no closer than it had been, in fact it seemed to be getting further away now. She blinks noting a gray foreleg under her and she could feel another under her lower back, she turned her head looking up and into the draconic face of a familiar, and exotic handsome, if you were into the scales thing, Lunar Guard.

“Are you alright Miss Rarity?” Lion Heart questions.

“Wha?” Rarity stammers, wincing again as she opened her eyes too quickly.

“Should I take that as a yes or no?” the half dragon chuckles. “ Princess Celestia told us to make sure none of you got hurt. I doubt she will be happy to see you did get injured.”

“Really?” Rarity frowns a bit at the rather sad lack of romance or drama in that bit of fact. Still should couldn't complain about the rescue, she did wish there had been a little more to it than just orders however, the was no dramatic flair to that. Perhaps she could play up the fight with Claymore a little bit.

“Besides...” Lion Heart continues and Rarity notices that his black scales turned slightly red, from what she assumed might be a blush. “You did say you wanted me to come by so you could fit me for a suit. I couldn't let anything happen to you before that ,could I?”

Rarity pouts a bit then laughs a little wincing as it hurt her chest. “ You are terrible at flirting aren’t you?”

The blush on his scales deepens and the unicorns smirk widens, this might be a salvageable dramatic rescue after all.

“Well I haven't exactly had a chance to practice that sort of thing between trying to run Gallopagos and Guard training.” Lion Heart mutters. “Hold on now, I'll get you to the medics and go back for your friend.”

“Well, I suppose I will just have to help you practice then when you come for that suit.” Rarity smiles.

===============================================================

Claymore glares down at the yellow pegasus before him curiously. Blood and gore dripped from his blade as a number of the bandits came after him when he killed the cloaked pony. Their various parts lay scattered across the third floor. He was moving down to the second floor to take care of a couple of the unconscious ones there when the yellow mare moved in front of him.

He blinks lightly tilting his head as she stared at him, wondering what the heck she was trying to do. The glare she was giving was quite intense, though aside from confusing him there didn't seem to be anything too it. Did she think if she glared hard enough she could be a cockatrice? Least she wasn't dangerous, might as well make the stupid bint one of his hostages. Even if they didn't negotiate for her release, he could have a last bit of fun before having to fight off the guards and what ever else was thrown at him. If only he didn't itch so bad.

“What the buck are you doing mare?” Claymore finally questions sighing and shoving the pegasus out of his way with a hoof wondering if she had gone mad.

“It.. it didn't work?” Fluttershy stammers staggering to the side from the shove. She winces as Claymore crushes the unconscious pony with his sword before turning back to her.

“What didn't work? What the heck were you trying to do?”

“But it always works.... unless......” Fluttershy turns her head ears flattening to it as she looks at the earth pony as if seeing him for the first time.” You don't feel bad for anything you are doing, do you? Not a single regret for all this killing?”

“No. Why should I?” Claymore laughs. “Most of these bastards deserve it and the ones that don't still do for annoying me.”

“I see. I suppose there is no choice then.”

“Yeah, yeah, keep talking to yourself I have a dragon to finish off.” Claymore mutters almost having for got the reason he even came here, he must have been addled by that blast he was forgetting the important stuff.

“Mister Claymore, let me tell you a story.”

“What?” he stops looking back at the pegasus though she ignores the confused stare and starts talking any way.

“A long time ago I left Cloudsdale to come live in Ponyville. A year or so after I started working with animals an epidemic hit the Everfree Forest, infecting hundreds of the critters that lived there. It caused the animals infected with it to lash out and attack any thing that came close to it, not for food or territory but just because it was there. If an animal some how survived such an attack, it too became infected. Vets worked tirelessly for a cure, but they could not find one, the best they could do was a vaccine that prevented the uninfected from getting it. But that still left a lot of animals infected that had to be dealt with.”

“Right, yeah yeah, tragic stuff, get to the point mare I am getting bored here.”Claymore snaps.

“The animals infected Mister Claymore turned on everyone, friends, mate's, even their children. It's how I came across Angel Bunny after his mother..... The animal's had no regard for their own safety and simply destroyed anything they came near. Much the same as you do Mister Claymore.”

“Ehhh?”

“The sickness was called rabies Mister Claymore.” Fluttershy shivers remembering that, tears already in her eyes. “ We found there was only thing that we could grant the infected, those of us who were willing did what we could to end the suffering. You are the same, a rabid beast Mister Claymore. There is only one sort of Kindness I can give you to end the suffering.”

==============================================

Wind Razor stirs, wincing as she feels her bones start to knit from where the impact with the ground shattered them. She shifts trying to move her self up right gasping in pain. She opens her eyes looking down, a fair sized rock had smashed into her lower legs pinning them against a larger slab of stone that her back was against.

She grumbled trying to move her claws to push t away only to feel a sharp pain in her fore claws and her wings as she tried to move them. She looks up seeing a blue crystalline blade driven thigh her fore arm and left wing pinning them to the rock she was against. Turning her head she saw her right arm and wing were the same way.

She curses attempting to turn to smoke to get away only for the magic to fail due to the crystalline blades piercing her.

“Oh good. You are finally awake.” states a tired sounding voice. “ I was hoping I hadn't finished you off with that. I'm not any where near done with you yet bird.”

Wind Razor snaps her head up seeing Starfall, still clad in the golden armor, standing on the other side of the rock trapping her rear legs.

“What the buck are you trying to do here mare?” snaps Wind Razor struggling against the weapons pinning her.

“Killing you painfully.” Starfall climbs onto the rock trapping the griffons legs. “ This. this is for Loc.”

The pegasus lashes out, slamming into the griffons face and chest, armored hooves ripping gouges out of Wind Razor's flesh, shattering her beak and rupturing an eye. The attack continues relentlessly until the griffon blacks out.

Wind Razor wakes spitting out the taste of blood in her mouth whipping her head about her body healed though she was still pinned to the rock with the armored pegasus before her.

“Three minutes huh? Good, that means I don't have to wait long. This is for Wisp Wind, my brother.” Starfall states without a hint of emotion.

Another serious of savage blows tears the griffon apart and sends her back into darkness.

Wind Razor recovers and wakes lifting her head.

“For my father.” another rain of blows follows until blackness takes her.

The griffon wakes.

“For my Mother.” a flurry of hooves til blackness.

Wind Razor stirs.

“For Starshine, my little sister.” the sound of iron shod hooves impacting flesh until darkness.

Wind Razor wakes.

“For my sisters mare friend, Stormsong, I really didn't like her, but that's not the point now.” another series of blows and blackness.

“By Celestia, what the heck are you doing?” states another voice as Wind Razor wakes.

“For Cloud Dancer. You never managed to lay a claw on her, but you tried.” states Starfall laying into the trapped griffon again.

Wind Razor wakes.

“Seriously you need to stop her!”

“Considering the situation Miss, I see no reason to do so.” states a male voice. Wind Razor lifts her head spotting the Guard that gave her so much trouble standing off to the side with a bandaged cyan pegasus next to him.

“And this is just for me.” Starfall snarls slamming her hooves hard into the griffon crushing ribs and collar bone, fracturing the griffons skull and tearing ligaments and muscle.

The griffon stirs again.

“Seriously just stop.” a mare that looked more like a mummy shouts struggling against the guard.

“She killed your friends too. Do you not want revenge?” Starfall mutters.

“Yes, but... not like this , I couldn't do this.”

“That's why I am doing it. I can do it. This is for Gilda.” Starfall responds glancing back to the trapped griffon before her hooves strike flesh again sending the pained griffon into darkness.

Wind Razor wakes.

“I can't say I have ever seen this much blood.”mutters Peach Blossom.

“Just stop already.” whimpers Dash.

“This is for Pinkie Pie.” Starfall responds again laying into the prone griffon, feathers fur and gore soaking the armored pegasus.

Wind Razor Blacks out again waking to see the back of a bandaged pony trying to push back the armored Starfall.

“Enough.... I get that your mad, but this is torture.... “

“This is what she did to me and my daughter. This is justice, payback. She never managed to physically hurt us but she took away everything we had. This is the only way I know to make her pay for that.”

“This is still wrong. Just …. please stop already.....”

“Why?”

“I don't want to see any one else suffer because of this... there's been enough of that......” Dash whimpers .

“You think this is enough … I am not even getting started. “ Wind Razor growls. “ This shit is your best and I’m still standing. Sooner of later I’ll get out of here and I’ll be on you like a fly on stink all over again. I don't care if I have to wait for this damn rock to erode away to dust, I will find you and any family you have and rip you a fucking part. I will have my damn trophy and there's not a damn thing you can do about it! So come on keep hitting me not like that means a damn thing any way, I'll come back, I’ll always be back.”

“This is what you are trying to protect here Rainbow. “ Starfall sighs. “ This scum doesn't deserve any mercy or pity.”

“Doesn't mean your not suppose to give it... or at least try. How is what you are doing now better than what she did, she made other suffer and now you're trying to make her suffer... She doesn't even care....”

Starfall looks to the laughing griffon then down at Dash lifting a hoof and looking at the blood soaked armor. She sighs again letting the armor slip from her form and back into the amulet of Honesty about her neck. She reaches down running a hoof though the cyan pegasus's mane with a sigh.

“Alright. You're a better pony than I am Rainbow.” Starfall turns trotting over to Peach Blossom and pulls her saddle bag from his back.

“You alright Captain?”Starfall questions looking at the slashes across his chest and the blood in his fur.

“I've had worse.” Peach Blossom Chuckles. “ Not many, but I’ve had them.”

Starfall nods pulling something out of the bag with her wings moving back over to the struggling griffon with a last look at Dash.

“I suppose it is time to end this. But only because you asked Rainbow, I could have gone on for a couple days.” she lifts the sheathed dagger up with a wing drawing the weapon before the griffon, watching the birds eyes go wide at the sight of the blade.

“And finally. This is for Rainbow Dash.” Starfall states slamming the star metal dagger into Wind Razor's chest.

=============================================================

An explosion of green flame erupts around the massive form of the tank. The giant creature screams out in pain before it's lifted bodily into the air and flung back over the walls of Canterlot to tumble down the mountain side, leaving a spiraling trail of green flame behind it.

Cadence winces looking down at the crowd scanning for shining Armor. It didn't take her long to spot her husband, the unicorn, and every other defender of Canterlot had seen what happened to the tank, though Shining was glaring up at the laughing form of Sombra as the half dragon floated away on a a swirling mass of black smoke.

“Seem's my love is in a bad mood. I am sure she has some choice words to say to you and your wife colt. Have fun with that, I have a Princess to destroy.” Sombra smirks soaring off over the shield dome towards the garden.

Cadence looks up to where the flame had come from seeing a multitude of dark spots in the air rushing towards her shield with a much larger form in the middle flickering green flame.

Chrysalis glares down at the field of battle and screams out launching bolts of energy down on the defenders as the rest of her swarm dives down to attack

“Oh Fuc.....” the pink Princess starts then glances down at the three fillies around her. “Fuzzy chicken......”

===================================

Apple Jack grits her teeth looking down at the crying zebra and the mess that was Rhede Pelt. This was a bad situation and she had no clue what to do at this point, the only one who did was a mess right now and Apple Jack was having a hard time even getting her to say anything.

“Look we gotta do something we can't jus let him die here.” AJ shouts pacing.

“Even if we knew where to find what we need, there are only the two of us, we do not have the speed.” Velkorn mutters.

“At least it'd be something, we ain't gonna be sitting around waitin fer him tah die!” the earth pony snarls.

“Then go do what you think would be best, I will stay with him until he goes to his final rest.” The zebra mutters brushing a hoof along Rhede's neck flinching lightly at the earth ponies labored wheezing.

Apple Jack was about to grab the zebra and shake the fool out of her when something cold and wet hit her nose. The farm pony winces and whips her head reaching a hoof up to rub her nose. She growls ready to start fussing at Velkorn again when something drifts across her field of vision and strikes her nose with a cold wet plop once again.

The farm pony snorts wiping off her nose looking to the side and watching something else drift by and land on the ground. She lifts her head up as she spots another then another, before she raises her head staring skyward.

“Velkorn..... “

“I have said I am not going anywhere Apple Jack, just leave, I will find my own way back.”

“Shut up a moment and look up.” A J snaps.

Velkorn slowly lifts her head, eyes narrowing as she notes the bits of white floating through the sky drifting down from a massive collection of gray clouds far above them. Velkorn winces as the bit of broken sword metal around her neck tugs into her fur brushing along her skin feeling like an ice cube.

“It ain't supposed tah snow for another coupla months, we jus had the harvest. What tha heck is going on?” Apple Jack questions.

A loud piercing whinny causes both of them to whip around to look back at the clearing.

The massive form of a gaunt snow white stallion larger than even Big Mac stood in the center of the clearing, a light dusting of snow covering the green grass where he stood. Another series of high pitched cries fills the air as at least two dozen more of the gaunt creatures emerge from the clouds galloping out of the sky to touch down in the clearing, flurries of snow descending with them to settle over the trees and grass.

The first one that landed approaches the pair, glancing to Apple Jack though focusing on Velkon.

The Windigo bows it's head to the zebra and the others that landed follow suit before it speaks.

>>”Greetings Queen of the Zebra's. It has been many summers since our last meeting. We have felt you pain and we have come to offer you our aid.”<<

======================

A white hot breath of flame burst from the dragons maw impacting an even hotter arc of fire lashed from an white alicorn in bone armor. The spell and breath weapon collided in mid air causing an explosion of flame that scorched the air and sent sparks and burning cinders around the garden like rain.

Celestia narrows her eyes lashing out with another lance of flame disintegrating a changeling that was sneaking up on her student while she made sure the dragon's breath weapon did connect with the pony who was fighting the beast.

Jer'rahd and Twilight both looked exhausted yet neither said anything about it, nor seemed to give the slightest inclination they were even tired.

Over a dozen new statues of changelings lay scattered about Twilight as her horn glowed brightly blasting the bug creatures every time there was a clear shot. Celestia knew that some of the more lethal spells would use less energy than the stone gaze spell, her student knew of them she was sure, but twilight showed no desire to use them.

Kaisur had lept right back into close combat with the dragon though he kept his sword gripped between his teeth rather than wield it with magic. He continued attacking with sword swings and hoof strikes leaving silver Claw's forearms and body covered with cracked scales and bleeding gashes. None of the wounds were life threatening, but the gray unicorn seemed more focused on avoiding attacks than landing anything heavier.

Celestia had quickly taken note of how he was fighting and that he did not raise a shield of any kind and opted to counter the dragons own flame with her own to protect him. She suspected that blood and the burnt fur around his horn had something to do with it, both were signs of magical burn out, though she had no idea what could have caused it.

A loud roar in the distance gave Celestia pause as the cry reverberated across the city before it faded into the distance. It sounded like the tank, though she knew not what could cause a beast like that pain enough for it to cry out like that.

Her gaze was off the combatants for only a heartbeat , though that seemed to have been enough as a scream of pain and rage snapped her attention back to the fight between the dragon and the pony.

It was raining blood.

A thick spray of crimson liquid and red scales spurted from a rent across Silver Claw's chest, the wound was deep enough that some of the dragons ribs were visible, and the slash ran from the dragons belly all the way up to it's neck. The dragon tumbled back falling over his own tail and crashing to the ground from the force of the blow a fine red mist filling the air.

Kaisur lands heavily back on the ground from where he jumped though he staggers barely managing to remain upright. Both warriors it seemed had taken that cry as distraction enough to attempt a killing blow, it seemed only speed had kept Kaisur from being the one felled ,though he was not unscathed.

The gray pony's left side was awash with blood, exposed muscle was clearly visible where his flesh had been skinned off from the dragons claws. The wound was no more than n apple wide but it ran from Kaisur's shoulder all the way down to his cutie mark. The shield with the knight's chess piece in the center was no longer on his body, but rested on a section of flesh that had been flenced from him and remained connected by little more than a bloody strip of skin in his hind leg. The flap of skin was long enough to lay partially on the ground hanging off the bloody unicorns side.

For the unicorns credit he had not cried out though Celestia could see the strain on his jaw as he bit down harder on the blade. The dragon twitched still and the pony started forward towards him dragging the strip of skin along the ground as he moved to finish off the beast.

“Well now seems I have interrupted something rather spectacular here. While I noticed something before, my love did consider you something special there colt. I have seen ponies collapse from a quarter of what you seem to have been through. Of course I am also intrigued by your little mare friend there as well.” A calm baritone voice interjects.”Might I assume that the blast of power that was displayed earlier was from you? The energy you are displaying is remarkably similar.”

“Sombra!” snaps Celestia.

“Ah buck, not you again.” grumbles Jer'rahd. “I can only handle one rogue god at a time.... Take a number or something while I finish off this sack of shit.”

Sombra chuckles as the smoke condenses atop the stone form of Forgescale. “Unfortunately I cannot really do that. Interestingly enough that 'sack of shit ' as you call him is a relative of mine. A half brother as it were.”

“For crying out loud is every thing in this era related somehow?”Jer'rahd curses. “How bad did Rhede buck up the bloodlines?”

“What?” Sombra questions taken aback a little by the response. “It seems I am missing something here.”

“Not important.” mutters Twilight. “Though your claim makes sense considering all that I have read. Though it seems your mother did quite a number on you and your wife.”

“Ahh, educated as well. Tis nice to see that not all history has been buried.” Sombra chuckles.

“I know the situation you are in and I might be able to help you finish that cure you are looking for. But you have to stop this attack.” Twilight pleads.” Hasn't there been enough done?”

“Ahh and the truth of it comes out. I like you mare, but this cannot be stopped. Solar Flare and Canterlot must fall, as must the Crystal Empire and it's usurpers. Too many wrongs have been done for there to ever be any sort of peace between us. At least while Celestia lives. Perhaps if Flare was no longer the ruler we may have come to an agreement, but there is too much bad blood now. Besides I doubt she would allow my father his freedom.”

“Lies..... my father would never consort with a lesser creature to produce the likes of you.” wheezes Silver Claw.

“And ponies say I won't die.” grumbles Jer'rahd his gaze shifting between Sombra and the fallen dragon as if debating which to go for.

“Believe what you like brother, I am unsure what sort of noble purist bullshit he filled your head with , but if he himself truly believed that then she caused him far more harm than she ever did me. If able brother, I suggest you leave, I offer the same to the attempted diplomat and the warrior here. I respect both of your convictions and give you this once chance to depart. Stay and I will see you ended like the rest who rule here.” Sombra states.

“As if I would do that.” Jer'rahd grumbles.

“I will not leave the Princess.” Twilight responds.

“As if I will let you destroy anything else here Sombra.” Celestia growls.

“I refuse to accept THIS!” screams out Silver Claw sitting bolt upright his chest wound leaking flame as he fires a blast of white fire at Jer'rahd.

The unicorn dives out of the way crying out as he yanks open his wound further, the dragon wastes little time lashing out with his claw, a sickly yellow ray launching from it and striking Sombra. The half dragon turns to smoke in a instant though as the ray strikes him he solidifies and falls tumbling off the back of the stone dragon.

Jer'rahd rights himself rushing the dragon but not before the beast fires a second ray at Celestia.

Twilight cries out diving in front of the blast, though it passes through her with no effect and strikes the Goddess of the Sun.

The dragon coughs up a gout of fire mixed with blood falling back again before Jer'rahd even reaches him, though a wide grin crosses his fanged maw as he drops.

“Now be good little mortals and kill each other off....” Silver Claw rasps with his last breath.

=================================================

The snap of bone and the pop of flesh fill the forest as the mass of body parts formally known as Scarlet, writhes and squirms on the ground showering the area with blood ,an excess shed fur and bits of meat. Reality warps and shapes around the wretched form, birds and squirrels nearby are snatched from the trees by unseen tendrils and pulled towards the writhing mass, small bodies being pulped and ground to mash before being pulled into the writhing body and added to it's mass.

Through it all the mind of Scarlet was trapped in the body, experiencing the shift. Her vocal cords had been magically seized leaving her to silently endure the insane amounts of pain that was going through her form during this baleful polymorph of her body.

A set of equine legs finally fully forms under the mass that Scarlet is barely coherent of as they flail no where near under any of her control, the limbs struggling to run in several directions at once, though doing little more than sending the writhing form tumbling down an embankment to splash at the edge of a small lily choked pond.

The magic keeping Scarlet silent also prevented her from blacking out or going mad from the pain, forcing her to endure the anguish. Held fast in the grip of the specter that had forced her back here to suffer this torment.

Eventually the pain subsides and tormented pony managed to push herself up to her hooves, chest heaving as drops of sweat and blood fell from her form. She glances down watching as her black fur slowly brightens turning to a pale sky blue, her formerly red mane growing longer and becoming a mix of lavender and amber.

A stab of pain runs along her forehead traveling down her spine to her back and spreading out from the middle of her spine. She manages a noise, little more than a croak as her head drops as the new pain subsides, her vision blurred some as she lifts her head. Her gaze meets a unfamiliar face in the stillness of the pond. Lavender eyes stare back at her from where her green ones once where. A pale blue horn emerges from the center of her much narrower and slender head. The flutter of wings sounds as she staggers back from the pond her head turning to to see a massive pair of blue feathered wings spreading from her back, though before her worn mind can comprehend what was happening she was yanked out of her body again and back into the strange void of stars.

“That will do. She is a rather strong one, her mind is still mostly whole.” explains the Gray Grimiore.

“That matters little to me. I have what I need now. We simply need to wait for the conclusion of the battle or at least until an opportune time.” the angry female responds.

“The Sun Goddess, and the Love Cursed King have been depowered, One of the cursed Loyalty’s is no more, the other is badly injured. The Moon Goddess has yet to regain her power. Of the new cursed ones there is only the zebra still alive.” mentions the Silver Script. “Now would be the time to strike. ”

“No, not yet, Discord and Crystal are still unaccounted for. Solomon is not weak even without being a god. I would be proud of that if he was not such a problem to me. He can still be an issue. The Element's of Harmony have gone missing as well, and I do not know what to make of the Windigo's presence.” mentions the angry female.

“They owed the former Element of Compassion a boon, likely it will be wasted on saving the life of the earth pony she desires. They are not a factor here.” replies the Gray Grimiore. “ But you are correct about the others. A little more caution will not hinder the plans.”

“And the Elements of Harmony themselves?” the angry mare questions.

“They are where they need to be, quit freaking asking about them and get yourself ready, I’m tired of this sneaky crap.” snaps the Red Tome.

“Are you sure of what you said earlier Jade?”

“Not one hundred percent, but there appears to be a bit of a cool down time on them, I noticed it when Nightmare Moon returned and they were used, and I noticed it again when they were used against Discord. Back to back uses of the full power of the Elements of Harmony is not possible.” the Jade Scroll states. “ Not unlike how we are limited in the number of subjects we can alter by how many of us there are.”

“I still do not trust you.” The Silver Script responds.

“Nor do I.” interrupts the angry female. “ But I know that statement is truth from my own research into them.”

“So what do you want to do with the mare's spirit?” questions the Purple Pamphlet.

“I don't care, if you have a use for her then she is yours, I have what I want now.” the angry female dismisses.

“Good.”

Scarlet looks up as one of the massive shapes that had towered above her in this place seems to contract shrinking enough to form what appears to be a lavender hued spectral zebra. The zebra regards the earth pony mare curiously with glowing amethyst eyes. The translucent form of the zebra still towered over her by several stories ,but at least she could make it out at this size.

“My apologies, I needed to adjust myself so that I might have contact with you. You are a interesting one little assassin. You hold a wealth of information in your head that I would like to have.”

“What the buck are you things?” Scarlet snaps.

“Irrelevant.”

“What the hell do you want with me? What's going on?”

“The others want nothing more to do with you and the second part of that question is also irrelevant.”

“Then what do you want with me.”

“Information.”

“What, you want secrets or something? I can tell you what I know so long as that gets me out of here.”

“You do not have any information that is worth the price of an escape from this place. Most of what you know is trivialities of an group that was eliminated a thousand years ago. None of it is important.”

“Then what the heck do you want?”

“Everything.”

“You just said.....”

“Indeed, what you know is not valuable, but you likely know things I do not, even if it is little more than what color your former leaders undergarments were. It is something I do not know and there for I want it.”

“If it's not going to get me out of here I’m not telling you anything.”

“Ahh I see, you believe because I am talking to you that you have something to barter with. No no, this is merely a formality to ensure that I know how you would act in this situation. I have always been a glutton for knowledge, any kind of it I could, anything I did not know I needed to know no matter how small. But to be honest, I have no need to speak with you anymore to get what I want. I was merely curious to know your reaction.”

“Then what....” Scarlet pales, her ears flatten to her head as the giant zebra grins. It's mouth stretching far to wide for it's face and showing a set of teeth that would be more fitting on a shark. She tries to run in this void of stars ,though her legs do little more than flail. The spectral zebra cranes it's head down jaws closing over the spirit of the earth pony, snapping closed with a sickening crunch.

========================================================

Rhede sighs to himself floating listlessly in a black void spotted with stars.

“So this is being dead huh? Kinda boring.” the earth pony sighs looking around again hoping to see something different.

“Well no legions of hot mares running about ready to be mounted by me so this clearly isn't paradise.

He looks the other way in the void.

“On the other side of the coin, no fire and brimstone or big burly stallions looking to mount me, so this clearly isn't any sort of punishment or hell for my crimes.”

“RHEDRIC PELT!” shouts a familiar voice.

Rhede whirls about rather haphazardly, winding up staring into the face of a older, angry looking little earth pony mare. The large earth pony yelps flailing as he tries to get away from the much smaller pony

“MAW?!?! WHAT THE BUCK.... by the stars this is hell.....” Rhede mutters the last.

“WHAT WAS THAT COLT?!” Maw hollers her voice booming louder than he ever recalled the Royal Canterlot voice sounding

“Gah, nothing, nothing, umm yeah. Hey Maw, hehe long time no see.... sooooo, how yah doing?” Rhede chuckles sheepishly.

“I'm dead you idiot, how tha buck yah think I’m doing?” Maw glowers.

“Ummm, not so good then?” Rhede mutters.

“Pfffft, shows what you know. Paw's here too ,jus like he was when ah first married him, non stop for days ah tell yah, that stallion is a beast. Ah ken look like ah was when we first married too, gets him all going, can't keep his hooves off mah flank at all.

“Ow, ugh, alright Maw, waaaaay too much information there, do stop please.”Rhede whimpers rubbing his fore head as his mother cackles . “Alright so what now, do I just find some light to go into or something?”

“Pfft, nah, what yer gonna do is tell that Apple mare you've been hanging out with she needs tah get her flank tah Canterlot. The manure is about tah hit the fan.”

“Yeah right, I’ll get on that as soon as I magically recover from several gallons of rare venom being pumped into my blood stream by a psychopathic trained assassin.” Rhede snarks. “ Velkorn couldn't even cure this nonsense, I hope she had the sense to get the heck out of there before Scarlet came after her at least.”

“Yep, yer still the same idiot I raised, not sure where I went wrong with you, at least Fox had the common sense tah marry the two mares he brought home. Kinda a odd ceremony, an ah spent more time trying tah stop the girls family from nicking the good silverware than enjoying the festivities, but it worked out. He had both them mares fat with foal in a matter of months. Even Wolf did better'n you an that zebra are doing. Where's my grandbabbies Rhedric?”

“After all this time that's what you have to say to me? No yelling at me for what I did, no complaints about getting turned into a statue? You want to know why Velkorn and I haven't hooked up yet?” Rhede stares in disbelief then laughs. “Well nice that somethings haven’t changed.”

“I know you boy and I was starting to know her. You feel jus as strongly bout that mare as she does bout you, other wise you wouldn't even be tryin tah push her away. Yah'd just hit it and quit it as it were.”

“Please stop trying to use slang Fox came up with. Not that it matters, I’m dead now so it's a moot point. This was what I saw in that vision, I died and left everyone else behind in a worse situation because I was gone.”

“Remind me tah track down tha one who showed you that and kick his flank, it's a big after life, but it ain't big enough ah can''t find some pony ah wanna have words with. Yah stopped that rapist from gitting her and you dropping did a number on her an she did a number of that assassin. Course that demented mare ain't any one's issue no more, ain't even anything left fer me to thrash right proper fer what she did tah Jer'rahd.. But yah still need tah tell AppleJack tah get ta Canterlot.”

“Maw I know that poison and I know Velkorn doesn't have enough a cure made, besides with this much poison it would take a lot more than the cure she knows how to make to deal with this much poison.”

“Pffft really? Think ah'm fibbing? Tell yah what colt, I'll make a bet with yah on that.”

“You bet? Hah,... fine Maw, when I win you won't mention you and Paw's …. exploits around me … ever.....”

“I ken agree tah that. An if ah win you marry that zebra mare. An get me a coupla granbabbies.”

“Hah, this is a sure bet sadly. Probably the first I ever won against you...... wait..... you don't make bets..... You always said gambling was for fools.”

“Not quite, ah said only fools gamble when they don't know that they're gonna win.”

“So, wait......ahh crap.” Rhede blinks as the stars seems to fade around him his mothers face fading along with them.

“One last thing for yah Rhedric.” Maw smiles softly. “ Ah ain't proud of all yah done, but ah ain't disappointed in yah neither.”

“Best I could hope for I suppose.”Rhede chuckles. “Love yah Maw. See you again, though hopefully not anytime soon.

------------------------------------------------------------------

“Git that cloud ready fer another strike like she said, everyone else git clear.” shouts AppleJack.

Rhede could feel hooves shoving into his chest with timed compresses, a pair of lips press to his suddenly exhaling warm air into his mouth and forcing him to turn his head coughing violently,the motion sending a wash of pain through his body that made even his fur hurt.

“Oh buck...... that better have been a mare kissing me or there's gonna be issues. “Rhede gasps coughing heavily really wishing he could go back to where he was where there was much less pain.

“By Celestia...... ah didna think that was gonna work. “ Apple Jack states her voice quaking.

[“Don't move Rhede, try to remain still.”] Velkorn stammers. [“I did not think we were in time, your heart had stopped.”]

“Do I still need to hold onto this Thundercloud?” Starfall questions.

“Best keep it around a bit in case he relapses. Still wanna know where ya'll Windigo got all this stuff so quickly.” Apple Jack responds.

>>” Wind Serpents were native to our lands, watching over our children we readily found how to purge their venom. When we arrived, we saw the markings of the serpents sting and some of us scattered to gather what was needed. We were unsure the aquatic serpent was truly of dragon blood as he claimed but he was willing to allow us some of his blood so long as we treated his wounds from his conflict with the strange bug creatures. The rest was all in the forest caretakers home.”<<

“Damn it Maw. “ mutters Rhede. “ That's cheating.”

“What did he say?” comments Rainbow Dash.

“Never mind... Apple Jack you need to get to Canterlot, like now.” Rhede mutters through grit teeth.

“What... Why?” AJ questions.

“Maw said so. I don't plan to argue with her....” Rhede grumbles.

“Maw? Yah mean yer mom? Isn't she dead?” Dash questions.

“Makes sense to me, seems our little group makes it a habit of seeing dead ponies.” Starfall sighs. “I was told to make sure Rainbow Dash makes it there as well.”

“I suppose I could carry Miss Apple Jack if Captain Silvertail is willing to carry Miss Dash.” Peach Blossom points out.

“No offense there, but ah ain't a fan of being carried no where least of which all tha way up tah Canterlot.” Apple Jack snorts.

>>” Might we suggest this device be used to convey you all to the Summer lands capitol?”<<

Rhede opens one eye hearing the crunch of wood and metal as a large enclosed flying chariot with a large red cross painted on the side of it's white walls is nearly dropped into the clearing.

“A hospital chariot?” Rainbow Dash gasps. “ How did you get one of those?”

===============================================

The little mare screams into the clouded sky as Big Mac, Nurse Redheart, Dusty, and Breezy stare in the direction the ambulance chariot had gone in the falling snow. The trio looks to the clouded sky then down to the thick path of snow and frost covering the ground with wagon tracks and hoof prints in it.

“Was that a Windigo?” Breezy finally questions still ignoring the small nurses ranting.

“Eeeeyup” states Big Mac.

“Did it just steal one of the hospitals chariots?”questions Dusty.

“Eeeeyup” states Big Mac.

“This is still not the weirdest thing we have seen today.” grumbles Nurse Redheart glancing to the main building as a black crystalline spider skitters along the wall..

“Eeenope.” states Big Mac.

=============================================

>>”We believe this is a situation where that is a question best not asked.”<< the Windigo responds looking a little sheepish.

“Alright then... some one help me into that thing and lets get going.” Rhede mutters finally managing to concentrate enough to reduce the pain to a dull roar.

[“You should not be going any where.”] Velkorn grumbles. [“You are in no state to travel right now, what happens if your heart stops again?”]

[“I suppose I will have to wake up to a pretty mare kissing me again, almost enough for me to hope it happens.”] Rhede snarks watching Velkorn's face turn red.

“What the heck did they say?” Apple Jack questions and both she and Dash look to Starfall.

The pegasus mare simply rubs her temples with her hooves as Peach Blossom coughs lightly pretending he didn't hear though secretly taking notes in his mind.

“Nothing of importance I assure you.” the pegasus stallion responds moving to position himself to help Rhede up. “ If you are going to get moving you best do so now. I'll head into town and try to find the others. If you two are needed then they likely will be as well.”

“We already sent Rarity, Bleu, and Fluttershy to Canterlot. Pinkie Pie is well..... Twilight, Luna and Jer'rahd are the only ones left that we need.” Starfall states.

“We cannot leave here just yet, Scarlet and Bloodtail are still alive I bet.” Velkorn chimes in helping Rhede up, pressing lightly against his bandaged side.

>>” The apprentice and the destroyer have both gone already to Canterlot. We have seen the Night ruler of ponies already making her way towards the city. We have seen no sign of the assassin, and we were warned away from the dead speaker by the child of the sun.”<<

“I have no idea what that means for the most part, but I like the sound of some of it. Everyone into the cart!” Starfall shouts.

========================================================

“Mare I still don't know what you are on about, but I think you really need to shut up and get out of my way now.” Claymore snarls shoving a hoof out to push the pale yellow pegasus away.

Fluttershy steps out of the way with out letting the stallion touch her though she moves back in front of him again blocking his progress down the steps..

“I am sorry about this Mister Claymore.”

“I SAID MOVE!” the earth pony screams around his sword grip, swinging the bloody blade at the mare with the flat, looking to knock her aside, this was one of the ones he wanted after all.

Claymores eyes widen as the pegasus flits above the blade swing with a flap of her wings, dodging the attack completely.

“I.. I can't promise this won't hurt a little.” Fluttershy says a great deal of sadness in her voice.

“STOP BEING SO DAMN CREEPY!” he lashes out again not bothering to try and simply knock her aside this time. His sword smashes through a display case shattering the stone pedestal and sending the broken glass splintering to the ground. His blade drags across the tile floor carving a rent in the stone as he readies himself,confused on how he missed again.

Bleu stumbles into the building sporting a large bandage made out of a ruined curtain, that at least for the moment was staunching the blood flow from her shoulder.

She glances up seeing the wide arc of Claymore's sword swinging over the edge of the second floor railing sending rubble down to the ground below. The dragonling sighs moving as quickly as she can to the stairs and up towards the fight wondering who the damned earth pony was attacking now.

Claymore roars again his blade ripping apart the railing and the ground around him as he swings wildly trying to destroy the mare and those unnerving eyes. He stops suddenly, panting and looking around the cloud of dust not seeing any sign of the yellow mare.

“What the buck?” Claymore mutters turning his gaze to follow along the blade gripped in his mouth as he hears hooves clack against the metal.

His eyes turn upwards watching the yellow pegasus trot down the flat of his blade and place both her hooves on either side of his head.

“I am sorry.”

There is was a sudden snap as her wings jerk outward with a gust of air and a sharp pain along his back before the mare releases his head and floats back up into the air.

“What the buck was that supposed to be!?” Claymore begins, though the words don't escape his mouth. His gaze lowers from the flying mare and he notices that he can see his tail and his back fully. He also can see the troupe of Royal Guard's flying towards the window. Though why was he staring at his own back..... oh....

Claymore's blade drops from his numb lips as the realization that the small petite pegasus had just snapped his neck with barely an effort dawns on him. However he didn't have much time to ponder this before his forelegs give out and he topples forward, body tumbling over the edge of the second floor balcony and plummeting like a rag doll past the broken railing to strike the ruined tile floor below with a sickening thud.

Bleu stumbles up to the second floor in time to watch Claymore's body fall. She blinks in surprise continuing to move closer to the yellow pegasus that was looking over the edge down at the earth ponies body tears running down her face.

“I'm sorry …..” Fluttershy mutters sniffling loudly.

Bleu blinks then growls, stomping as best she can towards the pegasus, shock replaced by anger at the site of the tears.

“STOP THAT NOW! Don't you bucking dare cry for that scum!” Bleu snarls surprising the timid pegasus. “You will not cry for that monster.”

“I'm sorry I ….” Fluttershy blinks as Bleu hugs her with her good arm.

“If your gonna cry, cry for those who suffered cause of him, cry for the ones he killed and tortured. Who lost their loved ones because of him” Bleu mutters softly. “ But never, ever, shed a tear for that one. Ever.”

The yellow pegasus whimpers sniffling a moment before starting to bawl again blowing her nose suddenly in the edge of the curtain bandage wrapped around the dragonling.

“Ewww....” complains Bleu.

===============================================

Shining Armor winces as his shield begins to crack under the changeling queens magic onslaught. Several of the other Crystal Guard had attacked her and opened rather vicious wounds on her, but all of them healed far too quickly and the attackers had barely gotten away from her counterattacks with their lives.

He had moved up to deal with her himself, realizing they couldn’t hurt her, but at the very least he could keep her occupied until Princess Celestia came back.

That plan crashed and burned faster than a Wonderbolt trainee on their first day at the academy, as Chrysalis suddenly stops her attack on his shield, goes wide eyed, and flys off like a shot towards the gardens

Shining curses as the Changeling Queen flees, but was unable to try and stop her due to the number of changelings more than willing to take their queens place in attacking him.

=======================================================

“PRINCESS!? ARE YOU ALRIGHT! “ Twilight shouts rushing towards Celestia skidding to a halt at the sight before her.

The tall white form of the princess remained, though her hair was no longer wavily flowing and was a relatively uniform shade of pink with a number of white streaks in it. Her horn was gone, as were her massive wings. The bone armor she had worn was falling off of her, no longer supported by her magic. And her cutie mark was no longer of the sun, but what appeared to be an oak tree with it's leaves in a fall coloration bright enough to look like it was ablaze.

“Oh dear.” mutters Celestia.

“An earth pony? “Jer'rahd questions. “I figured you would be a pegasus like Princess Luna being sisters after all.”

“There are plenty of cases of siblings not being the same race Kaisur. Though in truth we are not really related. Valkyrie tend to consider any mare they fight wing tip to wingtip with as sisters.” Celestia mentions as she pulls off some of the armor that was hanging from her. “ It has been a long time since I have been like this however.”

“Always wondered why you flew about like a drunken Diamond Dog. At least this explains it.”Jer'rahd chuckles.

“Charming as always Kaisur. Remind me to give Lulu a hard time for actually liking you.”

“Oh good I was worried she actually didn't like me for a while there.”

“Why the buck are you two so calm about this? The Princess... BOTH Princesses, are depowered in the middle of a war, ponies are dying, and every things on fire!” Twilight hyperventilates her voice rapidly rising in pitch... “ I mean how are you even going to raise and lower the sun and moon like this?”

Jer'rahd shrugs. “Two reasons. One Princess Luna seemed more annoyed than upset by the loss of her power so either she knows it's temporary or it's not something that is a real issue. And two if you think to much on the death and destruction, it'll distract you from what you have to do.”

“What the buck is left to do, aside from fight off the entire changeling race and the stars know what else with two depowered Princesses on our side against eight other gods?” Twilight rants.

“There's only one god against us right now.” Jer'rahd states.

“What?”

“Silver Claw is dead, Sombra was hit with the same ray as Celestia and is likely depowered and I am sure the others are already out of the way.” Jer'rahd states staring at the sky.

“How the heck could you even know that?”

“I trust my friends to take care of what needs to be done. Besides shouldn't you be asking your Princess why she's so calm?”

Twilight blinks whipping around to Celestia who simply shrugs.

“As base as he is, he does have a point. We cannot worry about things we cannot change, we can only adapt to them and survive in this situation. “ Celestia smiles. “ Besides, I can still feel the sun and even without my horn I know I can cause it to rise and set. I expect Lulu felt the same about her moon. Though to be honest with how everything seems to work out when dealing with Kaisur, I fully expected some one to attack while we were talking.”

“Looks like she ran into the Wonderbolts before she got to us.” mutters Jer'rahd still staring at the sky as a green blast of flame meets a bright orange arc of fire and several trails of smoke and lightning. He looks back at the strip of flesh hanging from his side and winces. “ Sparkle lend me a hoof for a moment.”

Twilight sputters prancing a bit as she looks between the Princess and the wounded unicorn. “What?!? what is it?”

“Mind putting that flap of skin back into place and maybe magicking up some bandages or something to stop the bleeding. I need to remain on my hooves a little longer and bleeding out is not the way to do it.”

“I am surprised you have not done that yet. There is easily a few gallons of blood on the ground.” Celestia sighs watching Twilight scramble about trying to find bandages.

“It won't let me die this easily. It can't stop the wounds from a god, but it can keep me from bleeding to death it seems.” grumbles Jer'rahd wincing as Twilight's magic gingerly pushes the flap of skin back into place rapidly wrapping the magically crafted bandages around the unicorns middle.

Three pairs of pony ears perk as a scream from the other side of the massive dragon statue is heard and a incredibly pissed off half dragon unicorn scrambles back up to the top of the statue.

“How dare that beast strike me.” snarls Sombra. “One of my own kin, half blood or not, could not the fool see I was attempting to help him?”

“I'm more than willing to hit you a few times too.” shouts Jer'rahd.” I think I’m related to you some how if you're Aviana's kid. Hey Celestia, how many generations back are the Bluebloods connected to this ones mother?”

“From you, I would expect about three hundred generations or more. I never kept track to be honest.” Celestia shrugs.

“You dare threaten me? After I offered you mercy?” Sombra growls.

“You trussed me up like a Hearts and Hooves day present for your lady friend to munch on. Yer damned right I’m gonna threaten you! And I plan to do a heck of a lot more than just threaten. Back me up Sparkle we can finish this here and now with this ones death.” Jer'rahd snarls

“What about Chrysalis?” Twilight questions as a pillar of flame erupts from the earth pony standing behind her. A scream in the air draws the purple unicorn's attention to as smoldering black mare plummeting from the sky to smash into the ground with enough force to make a sizable crater in the scorched soil.

Chrysalis crawls out of the crater, her diaphanous wings burnt to nubs though rapidly regrowing as she stares down her attacker. A pair of Wonderbolts follow after the falling changeling though they bank off seeing the source of the flames that took her down.

Twilight looks back to see the white form of Celestia wreathed in flames returning the stare of the changeling queen,

“Leave her to me, my faithful student. This is not the first time I have faced the head of the swarm without my alicorn magic. Truthfully after my last attempt at dealing with her magically, this way is a better bet.”

“No, this is not how this is going to happen fools.” Sombra snarls. “We will not be sticking around to play into your grand delusions of fighting us.”

Chrysalis looks rather surprised to see Sombra and kicks off the ground buzzing up to land next to him her horn flaring ready to deflect any spells thrown at him.

“Are you well love?” she mutters.

“I will be much better my queen once we leave this place, I do not trust our luck against these three, even in the state they are in.”mutters Sombra.

“Retreating? Smart move, the first you've made today.“ taunts Celestia.

“No, just departing this particular skirmish. After all....” Sombra grins. “ There is another with a more just claim on your head Solar Flare and I would not deny one I already owe so much to of such a pleasure.”

“Who are you...... no.... DON'T YOU DARE SOMBRA!” Celestia shouts.

“Too late.” Sombra 's horn glows brightly enveloping himself and the section of stone statue he stood on. As the magical burst fades Chrysalis scoops him up and takes to the air.

Twilight and Jer'rahd stare after them a moment confused though Celestia's gaze remains on the massive stone form of Forgescale. She shivers softly as a blast of heart radiates from the statue, several flakes of stone splintering and falling from the beasts flank revealing hot red scales underneath.

Both Jer'rahd and Twilight flinch at the heat, backing away from the statue as the heat even forces the Princess back a few steps. More and more of the statue crumbles away as cracks spiderweb through the stone. The cracks run up to the head where a sudden shower of rock and dust erupts around the dragon's face as a massive wagon sized eye opens. The glowing orange eyeball seems a portal to another world of hellfire and blistering death.

The rest of the stone shatters and tumbles to the ground like dust being brushed off an ancient chandelier. The gargantuan crimson form rises from the crumbling prison, it's body towering into the sky as it lifts on it's hind legs, wings stretching out wide enough to blot out the sun. Molten rock seemed to ooze from under the creatures scales dripping to the ground with a crackling hiss as what ever plants had not been blackened by the fires of Silver Claw and Celestia now met their end.

Jer'rahd shudders despite himself, the dragon was easily as large as the creature that Silver Claw had become. Forgescale opens his mouth with a roar that sounded more like an avalanche, or a erupting volcano. He flaps his wings once, the down draft knocking the three ponies off their hooves, sending them tumbling across the garden as a number of statues were blown off their pedestals.

The dragon snarls turning to look at the glowing dome of magic over the castle and opens his maw again.

Celestia shrieks grabbing Twilight by the tail and shoving Jer'rahd ahead of her as she dives into the crater left by Chrysalis earlier as the dragon exhales.

The flame erupting from the beats mouth was not a describable coloration, if not for the waves of heat that were seen one would be unsure if the dragon had even breathed anything at all.

The effect however was clearly visible. There was a barren path leading from the dragon straight to the castle void of anything, no shrubs, no statues, or walls, nothing but the wavering after effects of heat and a multitude of fires burning at the edges of the path.

Cadence's shield thankfully was still intact, another bright red shield had sprung up around it, though that shield had a massive hole punched through it. The glimmering red shield shatters and fades away revealing a cracked and spider webbed pink shield still standing around the castle though even the castle wall on the other side of Cadence's shield was blackened and partially melted.

“Shit.” curses Celestia poking her head out of the hole.

=========================================================

A trail of snow flows behind the ice covered hospital chariot as a pair of Windigo draw the cart though the sky at speeds that impressed even the two pegasus poking their heads out the wagon's window.

“Alright I have got to figure out how they are going this fast... and running too.” Dash states excitedly watching the ground blur far below them as the cart is pulled towards Canterlot. “ This flight takes about twenty minutes at top speed and we're almost there now.”

“I knew the Windigo were fast ,but this is incredible” Starfall responds.

Dash bites her lip looking down at the ground , her body covered in a fresh set of bandages that Velkorn had taken care of before they left.

“Look …. any way thanks for all that back there.” Dash mutters.

“What?”

“The whole rescue thing and actually listening to me when I told you to stop. I dunno why I did it, I wanted to see her hurt bad for what she did to Gilda and Pinkie , but …. I couldn't watch that.”

“It's fine. I would be more worried if you could handle that sort of thing.” Starfall sighs. “ Princess Celestia made this a very peaceful era. Not perfect, but better than when I came from. It was a lot harsher then. And I was never that nice of a pony to begin with.”

“I don't think so.... you try at least. Unlike that ass you work with.”

“Jer'rahd's been through a lot as well....”

“I know, I read the book.... Look before we get there and do whatever these dead ponies seem to want us to do, I just....”

Starfall glances back from the approaching Canterlot to Dash. “Hmmm.”

“Gah don't look too much into this, but maybe it wouldn't be so bad to have some pony to actually consider family..... Just... never mind....”

Starfall blinks and smiles slightly.

“Well if you want... “

“Yeah sure... just don't go all soft on me again …....”

“I won't.” Starfall's grin widens noting the cyan pegasus sigh of relief. “ So when do I get to meet this stallion friend of yours? I want to meet him before I’m supposed to give you away at the wedding. See if he's worth any sort of grand foals.....”

“GAH! Don't even joke about that!” Dash shouts perhaps about to say more when a horrendous roar fills the air and the towering form of a burning dragon comes into view.

“Can we not catch a break EVER?!” shouts Starfall.

==========================================================

“Are you gonna be alright?' the Guard questions looking at the freshly bandaged dragon.

“Yeah, for now, I've had worse, though Velky is gonna kill me.” Bleu chuckles.”Go deal with the other injured, I’ll live.”

The guard nods rushing off to take care of some of the other wounded hostages. Fluttershy had found rarity and was fretting over her friend, Bleu was actually wondering if she should be scared of the mare or not after what she saw.

The situation didn't look very good. There were very few changelings in this part of the city, but a number of bandits and a few other monsters that were freed from the garden still wandered about. The small contingent of Royal Guard there was enough to discourage any attacks from the roving bands, though a few monsters needed to be dealt with, something Lion Heart proved more than capable of doing. Still there was an army between the castle and the small group, despite the orders to bring Rarity and Fluttershy to the castle there was not much a chance of that happening right now.

Bleu sighs hanging her head a bit. She had shrunk to her smallest size to allow the medic to work on her shoulder and put a splint on her wing though the pain of that wasn't bothering her. She closes her eyes rolling the damaged head of a small stuffed pony about in her fingers not even sure where the rest of it went.

Everything she had brought, all that she had saved had been at the school. She had seen the remains of the glass case, seen what had been done to all the posters and relics of Platinum's life. Even seeing Claymore dead did little to cheer her up at this point, everything she had saved from her sister was gone, and there was no way she would find it all again a thousand years later. It was hard enough finding all she had when Platinum had only been gone a few years.

Still, at least the students were alive, the new generation of musicians could write epic ballads about the events here, if they managed to survive this invasion any way.

The light clack of hooves and a pained whimper caught her attention as a pony sank down beside her looking at the ruins of the school.

Octavia was more bandages than pony, though the mare still carried herself with an air of class that she would be hard pressed to hide no matter what she looked like.

“It seems perhaps this was a ill fated time to open the school.” Octavia sighs. “I perhaps should have waited another week as Vinyl suggested. Here I thought she was simply being lazy again.”

“Not a total loss, I was thinking you can have the students write a song about this. Epic ballad would be a interesting homework assignment for the first week.” Bleu smirks.

“I doubt they will be of the mindset for school work after this.”

“You'd be surprised. Always good to have something else to focus on aside from the bad. Been thinking about it myself, though I can't think of any good matches for, 'the yellow pony showed the villain his own ass.' “Bleu smirks.

“You do seem rather distracted still...” Octavia responds finally notices the doll head Bleu was cradling.“Ahh, I see the issue now. I am sorry.....”

“Don't worry about it. I know you swore to protect them with your life but, heh.. looks like you tried any way. I doubt any of us expected this idiot to show up here. I don't hold you to anything or expect anything....”

“Um, no no, Miss Bleu that is not it.”

“Huh?”

“I apologize for not telling you before, though in my defense I was a bit tied up.” Octavia smiles as Bleu stifles a bit of a chuckle at the pun. “ That is a reproduction.”

“A what?”

“A fake, a copy. All the artifacts that were in the school display cases are copies. Well except for the giant painting, though you did not seem worried about that any way.” Octavia chuckles. “Did you really think I would keep priceless musical artifacts out in the open, protected by little more than a pane glass? The real relics, including what you granted the school, are locked away in a vault.”

Bleu's response was cut off by a massive roar as a fiery dragon rose up near the castle.

“Annnnnd that's our cue to get going,” Bleu mutters.

====================================================

[“So how bad off am I?”] Rhede mutters trying not to shift as the cart sails though the air. More to the point he tries not to shiver as cold air blew in the window the two pegasi had their heads sticking out of. Not that he could complain about the view they gave him though.

[“Quite bad. But you will live. The Windigo's powder had much the same effect on you as it did Celestia. It strengthened your earth pony inherent resistance to poison and as such the remedy seems to be working. You are not out of the woods yet and your heart stopped for several seconds. I managed to revive you thankfully.”] Velkorn lists constantly checking his bandages and basicly fretting.

[“So what now then?”]

[“Hopefully the hospital in Canterlot has some space available, though depending on the scale of the attack we might need to put you else where. If not for the dead telling us to bring the current Element bearers to Canterlot I would have had you taken to Ponyville General.”]

[“Not what I meant.”]

[“Then what did you mean?”]

[“I meant, just..... us.”]

[“Us?”]

[“Yeah.”]

[“I was unaware there was an 'us' Rhede.”]

[“Considering how long I’ve been trying to push you away that's not much of a surprise.”]

[“I was enchanted Rhede, none of that pushing really would have worked any way.”]

[“Yeah, I suppose not. But the magic shouldn't have been strong enough to keep you chasing after me for that long. “]

[“It was clearly more potent than you thought.”]

[“So it seems, so what about now? Still feeling it?”]

[“No, There is something, but it may have something to do with what you did in stopping Bloodtail this time. The verse you spoke in ancient zebra. It was flawless. Even with your grasp of languages you have an accent. It was gone for that phrase.”]

[“I made a mistake once, got into something I shouldn't have and screwed up and someone important suffered for it. I practiced a great deal, hammering out what I should have said in that situation like mantra for a long time. Never expected it to become something other than a bit of penance.”]

[“I see. Still, with how you are, it is a surprise that you did not take advantage of the situation, I doubt I would have minded at the time.”]

[“Every pony misunderstands how I am. I only go for willing mare's, ones in their right minds. That's why I never bed drunk, drugged,..... or enthralled mares. One of my few principles I haven’t broken yet.”]

[“So it would seem. And if I did that sort of thing now?”]

[“Heh, I’d be surprised to say the least. I figured chasing after me so long would leave a bad taste in your mouth. ”]

[“That does not answer the question.”]

[“Considering, how difficult it's been saying no for this long, I would accept. Not like there are any political ramifications to hide behind anymore either.”]

[“You are rather for the coming with all this. A far cry from your normal demeanor.”]

[“Yeah well hiding things tends to get me in trouble most of the time, besides I died for a little there. Tends to change ones take on reality seeing an angel... oh and Maw too.....”] Rhede chuckles wincing a little. [“Still surprised after all I have put you though we are even having this conversation. I figured you would hate me by this point.”]

[“I had a great deal of time to think while I was a statue. Much of the situation made me angry and I still am, but I also had time to consider your perspective on things as well. You are still a good stallion Rhede, despite your flaws and perversions, and attitude.... well, it is a rather long list of flaws. Still, considering what we have been through and what we have done the idea is not without merit. It does not hurt that you are still charming and attractive as well.”]

[“Uh oh, flattery. Why do I get the feeling I am being led into something.”]

[“You are.”] Velkorn grins slightly.[“I think it might be nice to be the one pursued for once.”]

[“Oh really? Think you can hold up against the charm of Rhede Pelt?”]

[“You mean put up with the charm of Rhede Pelt. Jer'rahd has more charm to him than you do.”]

[“Ouch, you sure know how to hurt a pony.”]

[“You have no idea.”]

[“I have a really good idea actually. Seems I will have my work cut out for me then.”]

[“Perhaps not quite as much as you think.”]

“Could ya'll two speak plain pony. Ah can't get mah head around this gobbldy gook ya'll're speaking.” Apple Jack states annoyed as she stares at the pair, sitting further back in the cart.

======================

Pain.

There was nothing but pain.

Everything hurt.

Things with names that could not be thought of, hurt.

Everything hurt, everything felt wrong.

That damn yellow pony.

It was not, to be like this.

Everything hurt, everything, itchy, hurt.......

The body of Claymore twitches, the corpse piled outside of the building with the other bandits by the Royal Guard and left to rot. There were more important things to worry about than a bunch of dead enemies.

The roar of the dragon had drawn every ponys attention to the castle. No one saw one of the corpses rise and twist, skin tearing and sloughing off the body exposing the gray flesh underneath. The neck snaps back around mouth open and panting, baring jagged teeth. It's head dips tearing at the skin of it's legs scratching and biting with enough forces to rip free the limb's flesh, tearing free the hooves and exposing ragged claws.

The creature stares at the mass of ponies and the dragon across the lawn snarling softly and scuttling off, kicking free of the last remains of what it was.

Only one pair of eyes saw the new troll run off. A pair of eyes that memorized the patchwork nature of the creature, saw the four white lines across it's face that were the remnants of an old scar given to it by a small blue dragon.

The pair of lavender eyes narrowed as they watched the creature scamper off into the ruins, heading for one of the breaches in the outer wall. The sky blue unicorn glances back to the others then watches the troll run out of sight before laying her head back down on her hooves to rest.

===============================================================

“I think shit is not vulgar enough of a word to describe this situation Celestia.”snarls Jer'rahd.”Might I suggest using fucked, or conjoining a few words to make up new phrases like,' Demented hamster fucker'. Might I also suggest that you get your fat ass off of me, you weigh a bucking ton!”

The pony princess moves off of the unicorn though she doesn't respond to his remarks as the three climb out of the crater looking up at the dragon.

“Princess what are we going to do?” Twilight shudders.

A few streaks of fire and smoke cross the sky whipping about the dragons face. The beast roars swatting at the Wonderbolts harassing it ineffectively.

“He doesn't seem like he is all there.” Jer'rahd mutters watching the dragon flail about after the pegasi like some clueless beast. “He's acting like he doesn't even know what he's doing. I thought he was supposed to be a brilliant war leader or something?”

“He may have lost his mind. He has been in stone a long time. He could have been awake since he was captured.” Celestia states.

“Can you do anything?” Twilight questions.

“It took both my sister and myself at full power to seal him before. I am no where near full power right now.”

“ You said you can still feel the sun. Nothing has changed there.” Twilight points out.

“This is true.... “ Celestia closes her eyes a moment. “ I still feel the connection to the sun ,but I cannot tap into it very well without a horn.”

“Cadence's shield won't stand up to another attack like that , and I don't know how long the Wonderbolts can keep him busy.” Twilight panics trying to think.

“Damn this is gonna suck.” Jer'rahd mutters.“Alright then. Sparkle I don't suppose you can work yourself up to a frothing rage again?”

“What? No, I mean, maybe, I don't know... I still don't know how I did that before... even then it was a mix of Celestia's light and Sombra's darkness.... He's a fire dragon so that may not even hurt him much any way. I mean Silver Claw lived through it.”

“Damn. Fine then … plan B.” Jer'rahd grumbles his horn glowing a little weakly lifting the Waning Moon and sticking it into the ground at Twilight's hooves. “ Make sure Luna gets that.”

Twilight and Celestia both look at the sword then to the battered unicorn in front of them.

“What are you planning Kaisur?” Celestia questions.

“Star metal will still work on him if any one can get though the heat around him enough to attack.”

“We know that Jer'rahd, but what are you going to do?” Twilight questions shifting nervously as the gray unicorn smirks.

“I'm going to pick a fight. No matter who loses the winner should be torn up enough that you can finish them off before they destroy anything else.”

“ Wait, are you? Kaisur you cannot do that.” Celesta states. “I will not allow it.”

“You're not my Princess, Celestia. And it's not like there's a better plan unless you want all the ponies inside that castle to die when the dragon notices it again. Sparkle, take care of Bleu and the others for me, and you better damn well make sure you are ready to take out who ever wins this fight, that's an order.” Jer'rahd glances back, glaring at the pair of them, his red eye glowing brightly before he turns galloping off towards the dragon.

==========================================================

<”I am against this host.”>

“Not like I am giving you a choice.”

<”Fine then. Give your last command and I shall be free of you. Cursed Magic shall not recover fast enough for her to stop me.”>

“Protect Canterlot and everyone whose supposed to be in it.”

<” Wise wording, but that will only get you so far with me host.”>

“Shut up and do it.”

=====================================================

The thing that rose up behind the dragon out of the garden was as tall as the great wyrm god that towered over the castle walls. At first it seemed a large dragon as well, but as the whirling shadows cleared from it's form the belief that it was another dragon was quickly dispelled. It was longer than the Tank that had been flung from the city, from the tip of its wide muzzle to the barbs on the end of its massive spined tail. Like the Tank, a large carapace covered its back with jagged spikes protruding from it at random intervals. Its legs were very much like those of a dragons though thicker, more muscular, and tipped with wicked claws that were as long as a griffon. More spiked barbs ran along its joints, throat and underside offering protection against any who though to attack 'soft spots'. A large pair horns rose from the top of its head , curving sharply forward and resting just over the creatures eyes. It hung its head low, nose almost touching the ground, the reptilian nostrils flaring and kicking up dust with every breath. The creatures skin seemed to writhe and twist like it was composed of shadows that barely stayed together enough to hold a solid form. The colors of it shifted between a midnight blue, dark gray, a deep shade of purple, and black. It all seemed to blend together and slowly shift along the creatures skin so that no part of it seemed to stay the same coloration long.

Forgescale turned to meet this new threat as the rest of the city fell silent at the monsters appearance. Waves of fear gripped every living thing that could see the creature and more than a few combatants turned and fled from it. The creature paid them no mind as it's maw parted and it screamed at the dragon god.

The sound echoed across the city. It's bellow from atop the mountain was heard nearly across the entirety of Equestria. The cry sounded like a siren mixed in with whistle of a train and the death wails of a score of accident victims merged with the howling of a timber wolf in the dead of night accompanied by baying hounds on a trail.

The cry would haunt the nightmares of the survivors for years, the cry caused soulless crystal constructs to flinch, the cry made many lose hope in anything good in the world, the cry made a mad dragon god pause and take a step away.

The Beast was on Forgescale before the echos of it's cry had faded from the land.

Comments

[sarokcat]

So friggin awesome. now we are really getting into the fun stuff! can't wait to see what happens next

[Pentel123]

Hell of a cliffhanger you are leaving us with. Can't wait to see the outcome.

[MatsuriDream]

So, the Beast is a Tarrasque from D&D? I APPROVE.

[hyperburn3r]

*finishes reading* In my mind:

FIGHT! FIGHT! FIGHT! TOTAL ANNIHILATION IS REQUIRED!

I'm a very violent person at times.

[llDenkerll]

So, next chapter is the last them? And then Epilogues... By the stars, you really know how to get someone anxious.

Still think the beast is stronger then Forgescale, though we shall see this next chapter

[xonxt]

Whoa.. So much happened.
Fluttershy is suddenly a ninja.
Almost all the baddies are dead. Claymore is now a troll. Scarlet... I'm not even sure. That only leaves Blood Tail, what happened to him?
And Forgescale... A battle of the titans is about to begin. I'm gonna grab me some popcorn.

[Sinister Voice]

So.... Forgescale is this ... big, tall, gigantic because he continued to grow while being petrified or is this like Bleu's ability to grow? Or did Celestia and Luna shrink him too when they defeated him?

[Bladelord]

You've all been calling Jer a clever pony haven't you?

[Mayojar77]

Hehe, Claymore is a troll now.

[TDR]

3511181 strange definition of fun... i doubt any of the ponies think so.... well maybe Jer.

3511653 this is a minor cliff hanger compared to some of my others....

3511752 based on, but yes.

3511754 oh dear.

3511777 The next chapter is the end yes. I do plan on 2 epilogues however to clear up some loose ends.

As for the Beast vs Forgescale. The power difference is not that vast..... and natural gods tend to always be stronger than fake ones....

3511785 Not suddenly she always had the ability she just chose not to ever use it.
Yes they are including Scarlet, she's so far gone there's not even an after life for her, soul devoured and all. What happened to Bloodtail as well as the others is coming.

3512529 Forgescale was always big he was considered a massive dragon even by dragon standards, though weither that was due to the draconic size change trick[Bleu is not the only one who knew it, though she is one of the few who can change her color ] remains to be seen. suffice to say both he and the beast are about 20 stories of kaiju right now.

3512715 Nope, now imagine what would happen if i did?

3512971 We knew that was coming when he had a false Element. Scarlet really screwed him over.

[Mayojar77]

3513074 And we're glad she did. No story needs such an unapologetic rapist as a character, even if he is a bad guy.

[hyperburn3r]

3513074
I just remembered part of a Cinema Sins thing done for the Pacific Rim trailer: "Jeagers are dicks to boats," as a jeager uses a large boats like a sword or bat and smashes a kaiju in the face. "Kaiju are dicks to EVERYBODY." Kaiju knocks down a building or something. I don't remember what it was exactly for that clip.

[Zibrony]

soooooooo..... the next chapter should be ready by tomorrow right?

[KMCA]

You almost had Applejack right at the beginning there (AppleJack) and slipped out of using quotes correctly again, bad TDR.

But you're still improving slowly so I shouldn't complain, great chapter

[Leftover of Saikano]

Let's kill all the villains (and possibly most protagonists) during the last 50,000 words of a one million word fanfic! Yeah!
I love Fluttershy doing her thing.
It was great seeing Maw Pelt again. She's great.
I hope you use Nocturne again in the Reign of Night universe, with a somewhat better fate than in here. She seems perfect for one of those cheesy redeption stories no one likes anymore. I can see her as either a Lunar Republic army officer trying to be accepted by her "parents", or as Twilight's token evil teammate, if you decide to go the "mane six vs Luna and the Beasts" route.
And we finally have Forgescale in living flesh. Now we need to decide who would be a good voice actor for him. Even if you seem to have decided his lines would be all growls and roars.
Nice to see you didn't add many things to the description of the beast that clash with the drawing I once did. I don't remember it having been described as having barbs in the underside, but as I drew the beast lying on it's belly, it doesn't clash.

[TDR]

3513143 every story needs some one for the readers to hate. better a villain than one of the heros.

3513349 i will admit to having seen that. and being a Godzilla fan.

3513795 errrr..... no... though i do have 2k words of it done .... but no you can't see them yet.

3514265 trying.....

3514873 hey now i killed plenty of villains in the last story too. Like Andre and Aqua and Onyx Scale and the Order........... errr and Nocturne died last chapter.... umm..... okay maybe i am doing that a little....

Fluttershy was building for a while.

I can say that Nocturne WILL be in Reign of Night. what her fate or goals will be in that remain to be seen however.

I would say Lou Ferigno. He did the roars for the hulk.

The barbs wouldn't be that noticable from how it stands any way. It's more like how you see some frilled lizards have spines along their throat, less of a effective thing and more of a 'don't bite me here i'm sharp' sort of thing..... though this is the beast sooo.....

[Leftover of Saikano]

3514892
I was just exagerating with the first point. It only stands for Memories of Twilight. In the first story you did kill most villains at different points, instead of letting them live for the final chapter like Chrys and Sombra here.
And Nocturne seems to have died in between chapters, not last chapter. Unless she died while Dusty was quoting Inigo Montoya. Or if you count the Nightmare Night special as "last chapter", and she died off-screen when everything collapsed...
Mmm... I don't have a strong point.

[TDR]

3514910 Now that you mention it i should have had Dusty and breezy playing vollyball with her head some where in the bonus chapter.

[KMCA]

3514892 I'm not Yoda, trying is good. Besides I think you just got into your writing

[TDR]

3515206 ....... two years ago.......

[KMCA]

3515219 ... I meant that it looks like you just started writing this chapter and went full out on it, not a trickle of writing of words but a firehose. I know some people really get into it when writing

[Schneaky Verene]

I just looked at the summary page for this after finding its link on the summary of its predecessor. Oh crap. I am on day 4 of Luna's Royal Guard, 38 chapters in, and I find out that the universe I had hoped would be a good day or so's worth of reading is going to take up to TWO WEEKS! I can go through a normal young adult size novel in a matter of hours! I have read four in a day! For each chapter to take nearly an hour to read and then have nearly 50 of them on the first story and just when I suspect that the end might be in sight, have a sequel in the process, already three days long, breaks my heart! How do you write this much?!

[TDR]

3527524 Well it's been about 2 years now since i started. I tend to have a good bit of free time at work and i just go off. Like i said to others though.

SiS:LRG is done
SiS: MoT : is the sequel and is almost finished.
SiS: RoN : is an alternate sequel based on a choice made in SiS LRG [ only have a prologue up for this though.]
SiS: LE is the sequel [sorta] to MoT [also only a prologue]
SiS: MDaD is the Prequel to SiS:LRG [again just the opening.]

Those are all the posted ones thus far

I also have plans to write a story about Jer'rahd's Grandfather and what happened in the first dragon war.

I have plans to do a compliation of short stories about vasrious statues and events of the series that will also be open for other writers to submit things [ SiS: Tales from the Garden.

And then there is the ultimate conclusion of the series SiS: Last Dance.

there's other ideas bouncing around in my head right now too

[White Wolf]

3527658

I read a little of a SIS: R.O.N. and got this thought of Celestia becoming back from the dead and getting her vengeance on those who killed her.

[Elitrino]

Oh.My.God.

I love your stories because ALL OF DAT ACTION!
AND IT'S REALLY GOTTEN UPHILL FROM HERE

And my inner editor screaming at me when i see the typos. TEH TYPOS D:

[Witchery]

Hard to believe the last comment posted here was from eight years ago.

[TDR]

10982140
It's been a long time since i worked on this fic.

[TheCommunistDog]

Well i don’t know why but im almost always cheering for the villains...