• Published 8th Jan 2013
  • 4,399 Views, 722 Comments

Dovahshy May Cry - Draconis187



Fluttershy has disappeared, heralding the fall of Equestria as the Changelings invade. The yellow mare has returned after a year of absence to set things right but the Changelings are just the beginning.

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Face to Face

Dovahshy May Cry
Face to Face
Author: Draconis187

The next day, The Wub and Cello was in a dire state from the previous night’s festivities. There were overturned tables, faint moans of bellyaches and even worse headaches as a light plum coloured Earth pony got to her hooves. Berry Punch just looked around herself as she hobbled out the door, avoiding the various prone forms of the ponies as if she were in a den of manticores.

“Lightweights.” She scoffed as she turned back to see Vinyl’s head on top of her turntables, looking directly at her. “One heck of a party Vinyl.” She said loud enough for the white unicorn to hear.

Vinyl managed a small wave and one of her big grins before collapsing behind her station as she was exhausted from hours of endless playing… the ten bottles of high grade whiskey that lay near her had nothing to do with it. The Mane 6 and Nyx were somewhere under the piles of sleeping ponies. Vergil on the other hoof was sat on the only chair that had not been thrown across the room… nopony was drunk enough to attempt that when Vergil was sat on it.

“Hey AJ, you dead?” Dash called out from under Carrot Top, Roseluck and Aloe.

“No, Ah’m not dead.” The farm pony replied as she got out from under Snowflake and Lotus.

“Ow, my head.” Twilight complained as she found her hooves. “What hit us?”

As Twilight observed the area, she saw a sight that made her gasp. In a heap were Legion, Rebel and Bon Bon… in their Changeling forms! Lyra got up and looked just as shocked as her.

“Help me get them home, please!” She mouthed from across the room, evidently panicking.

Twilight and some of the others that managed to crawl out from under the bodies and grabbed the snoozing Changelings. The run through the town was simple enough since the whole town was still inside the club. As they went through the town, they bumped – quite literally – into Berry Punch.

“What is that?” She said, groggily giggling as she ran her hooves over Bon Bon’s holes in her forehooves. “You know what? She kinda looks like Bon Bon.”

“Berry Punch, you're drunk. Go home.” Dash said as her head felt like she got bucked in the head by Big Mac. Berry Punch only continued her rather shaky walk back home… if she could remember where home was.

At Lyra’s home the group shut the door with a small and closed the blinds while some of the others went upstairs with the Changelings. Rebel and Legion were actually sleeping downstairs while they were staying with Bon Bon and Lyra. Lyra had the group slowly place Bon Bon in her room while Lyra had the other two Changelings use her room.

After navigating various books on human myths and anatomy, alongside some strange dolls that Lyra insisted were action figures, the group managed to place Rebel and Legion on opposite sides of the bed. Their snoring sounded like somepony was literally sawing logs with a rusty saw. In a way they looked rather peaceful… until Rebel passed gas. Lyra only laughed as the others scrambled for the ground floor.

“Lyra, how can you live with such a health hazard?” Twilight complained, covering her nose with her hooves. “I just considered using one of those magic blades to plug him up!”

Lyra only continued to giggle. “I lost my sense of smell years ago when I got ill as a filly. I couldn’t hear out of my left ear for a month before I got better but my nose never recovered. Every smell is dulled to a point where I can’t tell the difference between any of them.”

“Well, I'm sure Bon Bon is glad about that, that smell she had about her was positively repulsive.” Rarity complained.

“Why did their illusion fail?” Nyx asked, using a brush she found in Bon Bon’s room to fix her bedraggled mane.

“It takes constant concentration to keep up the illusion. Even while they sleep a part of their subconscious makes sure that the illusion is maintained.” Lyra explained, sat in that strange position she has she laid back on her navy blue couch. “We know very little about the Changelings’ physiology and biomechanics but I’m not the pony to go and find out. Maybe after I find a way to Earth.”

“Lyra, would you please not blabber on about those humans again?” Bon bon’s voice called out as she came down the steps The Changeling had turned back into her cream coloured counterpart as she shook her head at Lyra. She grabbed her head with her hoof as the illusion dissipated again. “Oh blast it!”

“Bon Bon, you should be sleeping. You know that alcohol does to you. The three of you would have caused quite the scandal if everypony else hadn’t passed out from the party before you did. And if anypony did see you, they would most likely brush it off thinking it was the alcohol causing it.” Lyra said, walking up to Bon Bon and helping her walk to the rest of the group as the Changeling leant against her.

**** **** **** ****

“Oh yeah!” The red leather coat wearing demon hunter, Dante shouted as he shot five Hell Prides from above as they tried to get away.

A part of the area was consumed in flames as Nero sliced at some Scarecrows with his Red Queen blade. Scarecrows were basically mismatched sacks that resembled humans in body structure, stitched together and filled with a number of demonic bugs that animated the limbs. Several of them had a long blade on either their one arm or one leg.

“That the best you got?!” Nero taunted the Scarecrows as he shot one with his double barrelled revolver: Blue Rose. “That’s one way to get yourself shot!”

“Focus on getting to the Hell Gate, Nero!” Trish shouted as she fired Luce and Ombra, pelting a Vanguard with so many bullets that they replaced most of its body structure.

“I heard you the first time!” Nero shouted back as he grabbed a Hell Sloth and threw it into the air with his Devil Bringer where Dante showered it with bullets until it collapsed into a dust pile as it hit the floor.

“Now this is fun!” Discord laughed as he turned the floor into hot pink coloured cotton candy, causing several of the Seven Hells and a couple of Vanguards to become stuck in it.

The cotton candy was so sticky that the Vanguards found it nigh impossible to teleport out. Discord gave a small chuckle as the demons struggled to escape. The demons flailed wildly, trying desperately to hit him with their weapons.

“Cotton candy isn't meant to be like glue! This makes no sense!” Nero shouted as a Hell Pride fell over and was essentially drowning in cotton candy.

“Sense?” Discord replied with a bewildered expression. “Where is the fun in making sense?”

He then raised his scythe into the air and luminous orange clouds congregated around the area. Discord gave the demons a snide smirk as he snapped his fingers. The clouds then started to rain large globules of flaming yellow custard, each as large as Celestia herself. The globules either set the demons on fire or it shattered them from sheer force alone. As the rain continued, he made sure that the custard missed his allies.

He sat on a chair, floating just above the floor and conjured up a spoon and bowl which caught a – still flaming – lump of custard. “Nothing better than custard flambé, wouldn’t you agree?” The others just ignored him as he ate the fiery dessert.

The black obelisk still towered over them, still an intimidating distance away from them. They still had to traverse through most of Fortuna’s still destroyed streets and over the ‘corpse’ of the False Saviour. This was a being of stone, powered by condensed demon souls and made to resemble Dante’s father, Sparda. A human tried to use it to destroy every demon in existence despite he became one himself in order to achieve his goal. Nero destroyed it using his Devil Bringer in a massive battle that resulted in Fortuna’s now desolate state.

“Oh, come on! Don’t you have something better to do? Like knitting?” Nero complained at a bunch of Scarecrows appeared to bar his way.

**** **** **** ****

“There are a lot of these Dremora. Unlike anything I’ve seen before.” Baral noted as he used his Dwemer Repeating Crossbow of Paralyzing to take out some strange flying creatures that tried to bar Odahviing’s flight.

They were red in colour, had beak-like faces, bat-like wings and legless bodies. The other thing was the fact that their red colour came from the very blood they were comprised of.

“YOL TOOR SHUL!!” Odahviing Shouted, breathing a column of fire at the Blood-goyles. They seemed to ignore the fire and continued to attack.

“Odahviing, try another Shout!” Baral called out as he fired several Ebony bolts at the Blood-goyles, causing them to turn to stone and fall to the ground before shattering upon impact.

“FO KRAH DIIN!!” Odahviing Shouted, this time his column of ice froze the Blood-goyles into their statue forms, causing them to fall to their end.

“TIID KLO UL!!” Baral used Slow Time and pulled out a second Dwemer crossbow, firing on the large number of Blood-goyles around them as they flew towards the obelisk. “They don’t seem to like crossbow bolts and cold weather!”

They didn’t seem to be making much headway as their numbers were replenishing as fast as they were being taken down. Baral was beyond angry at their attempts to stop the two of them and began to rant.

“I’ve killed the immortal World Eater in the land of the dead! I’ve ended a several year old civil war! I’ve stopped ancient evils from blocking the sun and shrouding the world in darkness! I’ve even stopped the very first Dragonborn! I refuse to let creatures that look like the back end of a Frost Troll stop me now!” Baral screamed at them. They weren’t really fazed with the Redguard’s accomplishments but their reaction only spurred him on. “For pony!”

“FO KRAH DIIN!!” Odahviing used another Frost Breath Shout, freezing more of the Blood-goyles as the two continued to fly towards the obelisk they were spawning from, killing them as they did so.

**** **** **** ****

“Sorry everypony.” Legion apologised he gave everypony a round of warm drinks to help deal with the hangovers. “None of us thought we would get that plastered.”

“He’s right, we would’ve caused quite the ruckus if somepony saw us.” Rebel agreed as he laid on one of Bon Bon’s couches with a cup of coffee in his magical grasp. “It might not taste like much but boy does it help a hangover.”

“There was one pony that saw us carrying you.” Twilight murmured. “Berry Punch.”

“Nopony listens to what she has to say.” Bon Bon giggled. “She’s drunk too often for anypony to take her seriously.”

“Well, everypony knows that.” Twilight commented. “She has so much alcohol in her system that I’m sure it must have replaced her blood by now.”

“It wouldn’t surprise me in the least if it were true.” Dash commented with a smile. “I've never once seen that mare sober. It’s probably a curse to her.”

“Well, that aside.” Twilight said, trying to change the subject. “Are you three ok now?”

“We’re fine Twilight.” Bon Bon replied as she and the other two Changelings assumed their pony forms. “Thanks for the help though, I know Lyra would’ve found a way to get us home unnoticed but thanks all the same.”

“You are most welcome.” Twilight said before taking another sip of her coffee.

The group left Lyra and Bon Bon’s house after finishing their drinks. The streets were filled with ponies experiencing varying cases of hangover and alcohol poisoning. Some crawled across the ground, trying to get somewhere to cure their hangovers. The group was at least cured of their hangovers and had nothing planned for the day since they were only going to be leaving the next day once the Griffons have repaired their airships.

“How about we do some training outside Fluttershy’s cottage?” Dash suggested. The group looked around and gave each other a nod.

“Well I would like to learn how to use these magic swords better.” Twilight remarked, creating two magenta coloured blades before making them shatter out of existence to emphasize her point.

“I think that would be alright.” Fluttershy commented as she looked at the group.

“Then it’s settled.” Twilight said with a grin. “Go get your weapons and meet up at Fluttershy’s cottage in one hour.”

After an hour the group had rejoined at the meadow Fluttershy used to train Pinkie and Dash when she gave them their weapons. Nyx looked nervous while Alastor was arcing with lightning, eager to begin. Rarity had just finishing curling her mane so it wouldn’t wind up in her eyes when she fought. Fluttershy had Beowulf ready while Applejack had her hammer over her shoulder. Dash had Nevan out and ready, her one hoof ready to pluck the lightning strings at a moment’s notice.

Twilight flexed her legs, her horn emitting a faint glow as she readied the sword spell. Vergil had his hand over Yamato’s handle, ready to begin. The air around them was deathly still as anticipation began to build among them. They each caught the eye of their chosen opponents: Nyx vs. Twilight; RD vs. AJ; Fluttershy vs. Vergil and Rarity vs. Pinkie Pie. They all nodded at each other and in an instant, the sparring match began.

Applejack’s hammer and Nevan’s scythe collided with each other before a small cloud of bats flew up and swarmed Applejack’s face, causing her to lessen her grip on her hammer. Rainbow Dash saw this opportunity and swung Nevan in an underhoof slice, knocking the hammer out of Applejack’s hooves. As Rainbow grimaced in her little achievement, Applejack backflipped and caught the hammer in her hind hooves before using her momentum to slam it into Rainbow’s side.

“I don’t want to do this Twilight, especially not against you.” Nyx said nervously as her ‘mother’ summoned eight magenta blades that began to circle around Twilight’s body.

“I know Nyx, that’s why I’m your sparring partner. We both want to learn something. You need to learn how to release Alastor while I want to see if I can use these blades defensively as well as offensively. Won’t it be fun?!” Twilight gleefully replied, barely able to contain her excitement before giving Nyx a more serious look. “We’ll take it slowly, ok?”

“Ok… thanks.” Nyx hefted Alastor of her back with her magic and shakily placed it in front of her, ready albeit uncertain.

Rarity and Pinkie Pie weren’t moving as the battles around them raged. Pinkie was smiling enormously while Rarity gave one of her small smiles in response.

“Shall we dance Pinkie?” Rarity asked as she pulled out a rose from Lucifer.

“Dance? I thought we were meant to be fighting? Oh oh! Let’s do the Pony Pokey!” Pinkie cried out, barely containing her excitement.

“Pinkie, please be serious darling.” Rarity interrupted, causing the pink mare to slowly lose her smile and pull Kalina Ann out from her mane.

“Ok, I’ll be serious. Just this once.” She replied as her smile degenerated into a small frown. “I’m sorry.”

Rarity got down and placed one of her forehooves near one of Lucifer’s blades. “No need to apologise Pinkie dear. You are just trying to have fun. Now let’s crack on, shall we?”

Pinkie’s smile came back faintly as she hefted the rocket launcher and pointed it at the white unicorn. “Oki Doki Loki!”

Yamato sliced through the point where Fluttershy had just been standing not a second ago. As Vergil wheeled around, he used Trick Up to teleport upwards and avoid Fluttershy’s hoof that was aiming for his chest. She collided with the ground and rolled sideways to dodge Vergil’s Judgement Cut counterattack. As she got back up, Agni and Rudra were firmly grasped in her hooves. The pommels gave a slight grin to their mistress as they erupted in fire and wind, ready to trade blows with the Dark Angel.

Rarity jumped and countered Pinkie’s mini-missiles with several blades, continuing the stalemate they were having. As Pinkie pulled Kalina’s bayonet out of the ground, Rarity saw her chance and threw several blades out and made them encircle Pinkie’s body. As they stopped circling, they struck at Pinkie’s body… but Pinkie fired Kalina at the ground, creating a giant shower of confetti. As the coloured paper settled, Pinkie was completely fine. In fact she was smiling insanely at Rarity who smiled back.

Agni collided with the Yamato, sparks and the odd shot of flame blasting as his brother Rudra collided with the Yamato’s scabbard. Despite being made of lacquered wood, it was tough enough for the demon blade to call home and therefore tough enough to handle Rudra. Fluttershy’s movements were strengthened by the ferocity of Agni’s flames while Rudra helped her moves become as fast a hurricane.

Twilight fired off a few magenta blades at Nyx, who shattered them with quick slicing attacks from Alastor. They were the least serious of the fighters, each not wanting to go all out for fear of hurting each other. Some of the others stole glances at how easy they were being on one another. Dash decided to have a few words after Twilight shattered the blades that she had around Nyx.

“Hey! What the hay are you doing?” She said as she rolled to dodge Applejack’s overhead attack.

“We don’t want to cause injury to each other.” Twilight explained as she made another eight magenta blades appear out of thin air.

The blades formed a ring in front of Twilight to defend herself from Alastor. The hilts were facing outwards as the tips just overlapped each other, forming an iris shield. Alastor shot at the shield but bounced off it. Before Nyx could defend herself against Dash’s accusations, Alastor decided he had enough.

Listen to me pony! Alastor’s voice boomed in her head, making it feel like the Ponyville Express just rammed into her. You are going to be fighting beings that won’t take it easy on either of you!

“Nyx?! Are you ok?!” Twilight asked, her blades shattering as her concentration dissipated.

“She’s fine Twi. Ah reckon that Alastor feller is talking to her.” Applejack commented.

You have such raw untapped power and yet you refuse to use it! Alastor shouted, his voice reverberating in her head. Until you learn to use everything you have, I will be better off as a toothpick!

“But I can’t hurt Twilight or anypony!” Nyx shouted back. The others had stopped their fights as they saw the conflicted Alicorn battle with the Devil Arm.

Empires rise and fall. The ones we care about get hurt despite our best efforts. We strive to protect our loved ones but only when we are prepared to lay everything on the wire, are we able to do something about it. Alastor said, no longer shouting in Nyx’s head but it still pounded from his voice.

“I think I understand. I just want to protect them, to protect my mother, my friends.” Nyx cried, a small tear forming in her eye.

Don’t cry! Take me up in your hooves and show me how far you are prepared to go to defend the ones you care for so deeply! Alastor shouted.

“Hey Nyx! Try going against me.” Dash said as she stood ready to fight, holding Nevan in its scythe mode. She grinned at Nyx as she tried to hold Alastor in her left hoof. “Don’t you dare hold back against me!”

Nyx gulped and took a deep breath as Alastor arced with anticipation for the coming battle with another Devil Arm. Was she prepared to give it her all in a simple training exercise? If she wasn’t, would Twilight be disappointed in her? Alastor would be, that was certain but he was just a weapon with an attitude. She faced Dash with an outlook filled with uncertainty but that began to fade as she lunged for the guitar carrying weather pony.

**** **** **** ****

“Thanks for the help Thunderlane.” Trixie said as she just finished checking a few crates of fireworks that her group salvaged from Las Pegasus before they evacuated. She had her performer’s hat and cape on as she felt she needed to wear them, even if for old time’s sake. “Stock count is a pain.”

Celestia had given a section of the gardens to Trixie’s group so they could train with the firework launchers. There were a few types: one consisted of a single tube, the length of which was as long as a train carriage. This was designed for extremely long range attacks and would work perfectly on the Griffons’ airships. The firework they used to fire was the length of two Earth Ponies.

Another one was identical to Trixie’s, designed as a form of crowd control weapon. It incorporated the perfect blend of speed and firepower thanks to Trixie’s impact fuses. The third type consisted of several small barrels arranged in a circle. The fireworks they used were quite thin and short, about the length of a Unicorn’s horn. These were belt-fed into a special compartment that housed the flame to launch them.

“Ok everypony!” Trixie shouted, getting the various ponies’ attention. “We have one day to get you able to use these things properly! Make it count!”

The mares and stallions saluted Trixie as she turned around and left the area. Around the corner she spotted Joystick about to enter a section of the garden that housed the labyrinth. Trixie followed him and saw him enter the green maze. She took her hat and cape off, placing it on a nearby statue. Under her cape was Cerberus, chilling the air with every ‘breath’ it took. With the Devil Arm at the ready, she chased Joystick’s hoofprints through the labyrinth.

The sky was still a very clear blue as Trixie slowly looked around the corners of the hedges that formed the labyrinth’s walls. Luckily Celestia went with a mediocre temperature for the day since the guards were scheduled to train throughout the course of the day and she knew that they could get heatstroke if she made it too hot. Trixie’s ears were on a swivel, turning and trying to hear every possible sound. Cerberus decided to help her out a bit.

Use us. One of the voices said as Trixie almost suffered cardiac arrest.

“Why?” Trixie whispered as she calmed down.

Our senses could aid you in your search. Another voice replied. To Trixie, it made sense that Cerberus could heighten her senses since it did the same for her physical abilities.

Trixie took a deep breath and Devil Triggered. Her every step left behind a small patch of ice as she continued to stalk Joystick through the labyrinth. She stayed on all fours, her ears able to pick up a butterfly’s wing beats from a great distance away and she could even smell the flowers on the outside of the labyrinth. As she continued to search the near endless maze of hedges, a gunshot ran out. Trixie’s heart pounded as she broke into an icy sprint, turning the nearby hedges to ice as she charged through the maze, the odd gunshot ran out before increasing tempo and then slowing down again.

She could hear his pistol on the other side of one of the hedgerows and leaped over it to land on the other side. To her shock, Joystick had his pistol in his magical grip. In front of him was Broken Skies with a variety of clay plates. A short distance away, within the opening of the labyrinth were shards of broken pottery. She had frozen a section of the labyrinth just to find out Broken Skies was helping Joystick train.

“C-c-c-combo breaker!” Joystick shouted as he fired on another clay plate, shattering it into fragments before turning his attention to Trixie. “Problem?”

**** **** **** ****

“Come on Nyx! Hit harder!” Dash taunted as she easily blocked Nyx’s strike with Nevan. “I'm going to fall asleep here, hurry up and actually do something!”

“Oh, I can’t watch!” Twilight cried out to anypony who would listen as the sounds of Alastor and Nevan colliding made her ears flatten against her head.

“Oh, how about I give you a play by play then?” Pinkie Pie cried out happily, bouncing up and down.

“No thank you Pinkie.” Twilight responded as she covered her eyes with her hooves.

“Aw, but I make such a good commentator!” Pinkie complained as she joined the others. “And Nyxie strikes at Dash with an underhoof slice. But Dashie blocks it and counters with the scythe in a sideways slice of lightning and battyness!” Somehow Pinkie found a megaphone and decided to give a running commentary anyway.

You seem to have forgotten what I just told you. Alastor complained.

“I didn’t forget, but I can’t hurt my friends just to train.” Nyx replied as she rolled out of the path of Dash’s Distortion attack as a cloud of bats and a flash of lightning flew past her.

Without willing to sacrifice, you will never be able to unleash our combined potential. Alastor said with a deep sigh.

Nyx could feel his disappointment in her. She realised that he allowed her to use him as he saw something in her that she refused to see. She knew the last time she went all out nearly killed her. If she did something like that again, she might never get the chance to go home and be with her Twilight ever again.

The pain Nyx knew her Twilight must be in with her being away from her real home began to crack her subconscious as she became conflicted. Would she let go and give Dash everything she had? Or would she simply give up and try to go home? No, Twilight raised her better than this. She raised Nyx to do her best in everything she did. She refused to let her down.

Yes! That’s it, keep going! Steel your resolve and find strength in it! Show the world why you choose to fight and defend those who care for you with every fibre in your being! Alastor spurred Nyx on, his blade arcing more ferociously with each passing second.

Nyx’s mane began to take on a more ethereal aspect as she looked back at the battle against the creatures that attacked Ponyville while she was Nightmare Moon. She wanted to help them no matter what… and she was prepared to die if it ensured their safety. Alastor fell out of Nyx’s grip but flew back into it, as if to reassure her. The weather began to turn terrible as dark thunderclouds congregated over the group.

“Come on Nyx!” Dash shouted, looking as the arcs of lightning from Alastor got stronger and more frequent.

A single lightning bolt shot down at Nyx’s body from above with enough force to leave a small crater. Nyx though, was unharmed. She looked around her as the group’s jaws dropped, shell-shocked at her new appearance.

Her mane resembled Luna’s in shape and nature but it maintained its original purple colour. Lightning arced through it, sometimes making random pictures out of the stars in her mane. She had a chestpiece that had a small dragon’s head in its centre. The chestpiece covered part of her forehooves, her shoulders and part of her neck in plates of individual pieces of metal interlinking with each other. The armour was steel grey in colour while a thin sheet of metal covered her head. It covered her upper jaw and was open around her eyes, allowing her to see without issue. The pauldrons on her shoulders were in the shape of her Cutie Mark and had the same colours. Alastor itself didn’t change much in form except its blade was placed by a single bolt of lightning, jolting slightly in excitement.

“Is Nyx still ok?” Twilight asked as she only felt the ground shake from the lightning bolt due to her hooves still covering her eyes.

“Nyx looks rather dashing don’t you think?” Twilight heard Rarity’s voice had a hint of awe in it and she opened her eyes, only for her jaw to crash to the floor.

Thi- Is- Is that my voice?” Nyx seemed rather shocked at her transformation as she noticed her wings took on a more draconic aspect while each third upper tooth became sharp and triangular in shape as they hung over her bottom lip.

Come on! Don’t get distracted now! It’s just getting good!” Dash shouted, standing in her Devil Triggered state. She used one of her fingers to give the age old ‘bring it on’ sign. Nyx hesitated for a second before she gave a toothy grin, showing her bottom row of teeth suffered the same fate as her upper teeth except the pattern was reversed.

**** **** **** ****

“Sir, the 23rd and 98th Fleets are reporting full functionality to all ships!” Bloodwing’s helmsgriffon said, saluting the Admiral and handing him a report.

“Very good. Gilda, get in here you pathetic wretch of a niece!” Bloodwing screeched.

“I’m coming you old slob! Keep your feathers on before you go bald again!” Gilda shouted back as she reached The Arbiter’s bridge. “What’s up?”

“We’re ready, go get your friends.” Bloodwing said as he handed Gilda the report the helmsgriffon just given him.

She skimmed over it and smirked. “Right then you lame git, I’ll be back now.” As she walked out The Arbiter’s cargo hold, she sighed before lifting off. “War. War never changes.”