Reclaim the Kingdom (Part 4)
Last time, on Equestria Legends Online:
"Your job is to find the Elements and use them to reach me. There, we will have a fight to the death. If you manage to retrieve the elements and defeat me, then I will allow everyone to log out."
I felt a sense of panic as I realized that I had made a massive discovery: Apotheosis would be transferred to another player after the original bearer of the ability was defeated.
We are all we’ll need to take care of Discord. So long as everyone outside keeps his monsters at bay, all we need to do is blast Discord with the Elements of Harmony and this whole game will be finally over.
“This world, this server, is still connected to the internet… a very interesting place to say the least. Interesting, but the possibilities are perfect chaos; I can easily wiggle my way on to another server of another game, and do whatever I please there.”
Discord just smirked down at us from where he floated, clearly amused, “My, you all are just as eager as you were when we started this game.” He chuckled, “Oh, the irony of it all. You and your friends did all of the work, and yet now we come to the end,” His eyes narrowed in a challenging way, “but who’s end will it be?”
Discord viewed us with a look of smug amusement, “Well, why don’t we get this over with?” With a lion’s paw, he detached his head from his neck, and a target popped up out of his neck on a stick. His dismembered head simply laughed from its perch in his paw, “Hit me with your best shot.”
“You asked for it!” Soul shouted in annoyance.
Neon glanced around towards everyone else, her Element of Magic shimmering in its tiara, “Elements, form up.”
The bearers of the original six elements took up positions at the forefront, closing their eyes and causing their elements to glow as they focused their power, just like they had before against Nightmare Moon. Off to the side, Sky, Dylan, Violet, and I followed suit.
Guess it’s finally my turn to use it. I closed my eyes and channeled my power through to the Element of Courage around my neck. Instantly, I could hear, almost feel, its hum of magical energy.
My element glowed like everyone else’s and immediately I felt a surge of power as mine connected to the others. Our bodies began glowing, and slowly I felt myself rise into the air, despite not even beating a single wing. The power of us ten concentrated together, shining brighter and brighter, until it reached a climax, where no more could be contained and finally-
The hum of power died and the elements dulled, dropping all of us out of the air and dropping onto our faces.
“Gah! Wha-“
Before anyone could realize what exactly happened, Discord was rolling about midair, laughing his head off, “Hahahaha! Oh, ooh, oh, hoh, oh gracious! The looks on your faces were beyond priceless!”
Neon quickly scrambled back up to her hooves, “What did you do, Discord?!”
Waving a claw in dismissal, Discord lounged back on a floating recliner that had suddenly appeared, “Oh, I didn’t do anything, mum-sy. You might want to ask Billy around back.”
Lexus shouted back at him, “Jokes over, Discord! Why won’t our elements work? You cheated and made them useless, didn’t you!”
Discord simply rolled his eyes in amusement, “No, I didn’t do anything to them. You just forgot a tiny little something that could’ve spared you falling on your faces like that.” In a flash, he disappeared, reappearing behind us, “Why don’t I give you a hint?”
In another flash, he donned an Einstein getup with crazy wig, labcoat, and all, “Energy can only be transferred through a centerpiece that can withstand all of the power it is focusing. Thus the focal centerpiece must have the most power out of all the other instruments, otherwise the experiment will fail.”
In another flash, Discord was back to his usual self, though he still wore the wig, “Now, while you puzzle your minds on that one," He scratched the inside his ear, pulling out a jigsaw piece, “Why don’t we really get this battle started!”
Instantly, Discord’s puzzle piece grew twenty times in size, yet Discord still held the corner of the building sized piece of cardboard like a shuriken between two fingers.
“Look out!” Sky shoved Dylan out of the way as the giant projectile was flung right towards them with a flick of Discord’s wrist.
Everyone began moving, having regained their bearings, just in time to have the ground shake beneath our hooves as the giant puzzle piece struck the ground with a deafening blast, before shattering into dust instantly.
“Move in like we did Nightmare!” I shouted, taking to the sky as I shouted towards the others, “Give him no time to attack!”
Everyone else converged on him, whether it was with themselves as they closed in to close-combat range, or with magic and projectiles from the rest who kept to the outskirts. From the sky, I let loose a stream of fire right on top of the draconequus.
But suddenly, Discord retaliated against the attacks from all sides by quickly spinning himself with the speed of a hurricane, quickly batting away every projectile or spell like nothing, the force behind it flinging anybody who was too close to the edge of the platform.
“AAGH!” Violet yelped in surprise as he had been knocked away by Discord, only to find himself slide across the ground and over the edge of the platform, catching it with both hooves as he now hung from the hundred foot drop.
Soul quickly kicked himself up off the ground after hearing his scream, “Hang on, Violet!” He ran to the edge and began pulling his friend back onto solid ground.
Meanwhile, I dove down from the air with my sword ablaze, ready to strike the smirking draconequus below me. But as soon as I reached him, swinging with all my might, my blade suddenly stopped as it was caught midswing by the white tuft of his tail, like a deformed hand. Discord merely smirked at me as he leaned forward and, snorting loudly, hocked a loogie sea right in my face, which sent me sprawling away in a massive wave of mucus and spit.
“Urk, bleh! Right in my mouth!” I coughed and sputtered as the loogie wave receded from me, leaving me wet, and slightly slimy on the ground on the outskirts of the platform. I quickly stood back out and shook myself off like a dog to get out what I could out of my fur, before glancing back at the battle.
Even though this was the start of the battle, everything had already turned in a completely different direction and was quickly descending towards the turn for the worst. My team attacked Discord with all the coordination and relentlessness that had come from experience in battles together in the past, but that barely seemed to influence anything in this fight.
From all sides, attack after spell after projectile came Discord’s way, yet the slippery draconequus looked to be avoiding everything with the greatest of ease, even throwing his own unpredictable attacks throughout his chaotic movement.
I winced in frustration as I watched Discord conjure a baseball batter’s attire, with a golf club, and smack Lexus out of the air as if he were spiking a tennis ball. Lexus hit the ground hard, but quickly rolled back onto his hooves with spear in hoof, despite his health being knocked down by at least a third.
A frown crossed my face as I watched the battle, trying to figure out, What the heck happened, though? The Elements should have worked! They worked before, during the battle against Nightmare Moon, but why not now? Did Discord sabotage them?
Before I knew it, a flaming, flying chicken coop sped haphazardly in my direction, making me jump out of the way to keep me from getting flattened. With a small glare, I looked back towards Discord, still in the midst of his taunting fight… he looked like he was enjoying himself, which prompted a snort of annoyance from me.
But that was when I recalled what Discord had said after the Elements had failed. Didn’t he say something about a centerpiece or something?
I had barely been able to make any sense out of what he had said, … wasn’t it something about energy… going through a focus point or something of the sort? Let’s see, um… Whoa! I ducked down to avoid what looked like Freddy Fazbear suit that Discord had used as a projectile by kicking it towards someone, which zoomed past me and over the edge of the platform.
It was obvious that there was no safe place to be on this platform.
I started moving about the outskirts of the platform, mostly to keep from getting hit by random projectiles, C’mon! What was it that Discord meant? I assume he was talking about the elements, but what does… energy… oh.
He was talking about the energy from the elements, which would mean… the centerpiece, which focuses the energy, would be the Element of Magic. Was there something wrong with Neon’s element?
…the focal centerpiece must have the most power out of all the other instruments…
The most power…
That’s when I remembered something, a little lesson I learned from my own share of reading fan fiction back in the real world; The real elements of harmony were the ponies, not the necklaces. Their power doesn’t reside in those gemstones; those were merely keys.
Twilight Sparkle, element of magic, was an alicorn, and therefore definitely the most powerful out of the mane six. But our Element of Magic, Neon…
I came to a screeching halt as it suddenly became clear. Thank goodness I did too, because just where I was about to run ahead, a mini- sharknado zoomed past through the air.
Neon’s not the most powerful out of us… I glanced towards my sides, at my wings, I am. I’m the reason why the elements aren’t working.
I narrowed my eyes towards the center of the action, where the others still fought as best they could against Discord. But it was a losing battle, one that Discord was obviously drawing out for his own amusement. Even the sky was starting to grow a shade of green with his giddy, smug behavior.
I muttered beneath my breath, “If we’re going to get out of here, every one of us, then I’ll need to change that.”
And I knew exactly how to… but it wasn’t an ideal choice for me.
I spread my wings and took to the air, searching out for the one player in our team I needed. But I then spotted her, Neon, standing on the other side of the platform as she tried to fight Discord back with fiery green whips of magic. Discord barely noticed it at all though, if any. That was good though. It meant we could carry out my plan without him knowing what we were doing.
Right now it was our only shot at defeating him, and we couldn’t risk it going to waste.
“Neon.” I spoke as I lighted down on the ground near her, “I think I know a way to beat Discord.”
Her eyes widened slightly, “Yeah?”
“I’ll need your help, but don’t draw any attention to yourself or me, no matter what happens, until I say so. If Discord catches on, we’re toast.”
“Okay, what did you have in mind?”
“Just cover me while I set this up.” I quickly opened my player menu while Neon stepped between me and Discord, shield, spear, and magic ready to defend.
I tapped through a few tabs, until I reached the window I was looking for. After adjusting the settings, I pressed the button to send the request.
Instantly, a small window appeared before Neon, her eyes widening larger than dinner plates when she read it.
Shadowflame has challenged you to a duel!
Specialty Rules
-First Blood (1 hit to win)
-Instant Start (0 second preparation time)-Accept
-Decline
Neon glanced back at me incredulously, to which I only nodded, “Hit me as soon as the buzzer sounds. You absolutely need to win, otherwise we lose this chance with Discord’s back turned.”
She hesitated, knowing full well what I was doing, but still unsure of the reason why. But she quietly tapped the accept option with her hoof.
Suddenly, as soon as the window in front of her disappeared, a chorus of chimes ripped through the air as a giant banner appeared above us, showing our names and faces, Shadow vs Neon. Giant white letters sprung into existence above it.
Duel Start!
________________________________
doomsquared
For an earth pony, Cordon was fast. His ability, Vortex Runner, let him run as fast as the wind, or as the game put it, ‘ride with the wind beneath his hooves'. Couple that with the fact that he was a big, burly pony and highly proficient with his ax, he was a very powerful player by regular players' standards.
Cordon had this fight against Ezekiel in the bag… or at least… he did, until-
”GAH!” Cordon clenched his teeth as his shoulder flared in pain he had not felt since his last run in with the Haters’ Guild months ago. But this wound made all those others feel like paper cuts in comparison.
Ezekiel laughed with manic glee as he watched the earth pony’s knees buckle below him. Already, Cordon’s health bar was turning a deathly shade of black, slowly diminishing under the wither effect. Meanwhile, Ezekiel’s own health was sitting near the yellow zone.
The orange pegasus hissed in delight at seeing the earth pony grimace in pain, “Finally… All I needed was just a tiny prick, anywhere at all, but you just had to keep running around like an annoying fly, didn’t you?”
As he hovered in the air above the groaning earth pony, Ezekiel took the opportunity to kick Cordon onto his side with a hind leg, cackling all the while, “HAHAHA! Here you thought you’d keep me from finding and killing Shadowflame and his little friends, didn’t you? But soon they’ll be just as dead as you are.”
Grinning savagely, Ezekiel pinned Cordon’s neck to the ground with a hoof, before leaning in close to his ear to whisper, “There is no cure for wither. You’re going to die here, alone, and I’m going to enjoy every moment as I watch you try to deny your inevitable fate.
“You feel like screaming don’t you? Crying perhaps, because you never left this game? Plead with me for an antidote like all the others I’ve killed? Ah, those were like music to my ears, all of them sobbing like saps as they claimed they couldn’t die.”
Cordon remained silent, his gaze slowly shifting up towards the pegasus on top of him. In a quick moment, he activated his ability, which sped his body out from under Ezekiel’s hold, back up to his hooves with his ax at the ready.
He grimaced slightly from the move, the stinging in his shoulder not doing him any favors, but he wasn’t finished yet. Ezekiel gazed back at him, surprised that he could still move that quickly, but Cordon met him with a cold stare, “I came here fully prepared to die…” Out of the corner of his eye, he watched his health slowly depleting. He guessed he most likely had only a minute or two left before he burst into code.
He raised his ax towards Ezekiel, “I came to help my friends and repay for what I did in the past, even if it costs my life. And if I’m dying now-“
Suddenly, it seemed as if the earth pony had vanished. Eyes widening, Ezekiel brought up his sword and buckler to defend himself, just in time for an ax to meet it in a clash of steel that sent the pegasus skidding back against the stone floor on his back hooves.
Cordon pushed with all his might against Ezekiel’s guard until he was pinned to the wall of ice Sharky had made behind him, hooves straining to hold against the strength behind Cordon’s ax. Cordon glared down at Ezekiel as he quickly began to overwhelm him, “- That means I don’t have to hold back!”
Ezekiel knew he would need to finish this battle quickly or get away. This pony was no pushover, and his own odds weren’t looking good if his advantage with the wither effect was no longer keeping him at bay. With a flick of his hoof, the pegasus was able to twist his buckler to redirect Cordon’s ax to the side of him, the weapon crashing into the ice behind him.
As quick as a flash, Ezekiel side stepped Cordon, thrusting his sword towards the pony’s chest with a guttural roar. The pegasus expected Cordon to move out of the way with his speed like he had done all through their fight prior…
… but he didn’t.
Cordon lunged forwards, impaling himself over the tip of Ezekiel’s blade, quickly grabbing the hilt of the deadly sword with his free hoof. Cordon would have scream at the pain of being stabbed in the chest, but he didn’t care to. He bit back the urge to curl up from the agony racking his body, but he knew he couldn’t, not when he was finally at the opportunity he was searching for.
Cordon let go of the sword’s hilt, instead, grabbing ahold of Ezekiel’s arm. Before the orange pegasus could even gasp, Cordon kicked up his speed, causing his other arm, his ax hoof, to fly forward horizontally like a massive gray and silver blur.
A moment later, Ezekiel stared open mouthed in disbelief, an axe buried all the way through his neck.
Slowly, the pegasus’ head rolled off the ax’s blade, falling to the floor with red code matting where it had been attached before.
Everything was silent as Ezekiel tried to utter even a single word, but failed. Suddenly, both the dismembered head and the lifeless body burst into blue code, before evaporating into thin air.
A metallic clank rang throughout the chamber as Cordon’s ax dropped from his grasp and he collapsed to the floor, Ezekiel’s sword still sticking out of him like a bad bee sting. Slowly, with a grunt of effort and discomfort, Cordon dislodged the offending blade from his chest, before falling onto his back in exhaustion.
With a pitiful toss, Ezekiel’s blade fell from Cordon’s hooves, clattering to the ground beside him.
Cordon could feel his breath becoming very shallow as the pain he felt previously, and his draining health, all caught up to him. With a weak laugh, he muttered to himself, “Hehe, I hope… this was enough. Shadow, Sky, and the others better be darn grateful of what I went through for them.”
In the corner of his eye, he could see his health diminishing near the end of his life. Taking a sword to the chest had definitely taken a number on him.
Slowly, his heavy eyes began to fall shut as he felt the end nearing in every fiber of his being. Everything was turning dark… was this how dying felt in the real world too?
But as his vision blurred, barely a slit of light meeting his eyes, something else came into his line of sight. It was a light blue figure, a unicorn? Cordon couldn’t quite tell.
The figure’s unrecognizable voice spoke quietly through his ears, “You… I see… This truly is a shame, but don’t worry. I won’t forget about you either, once this is over. I promise you this.”
As his words ended, Cordon’s eyes closed shut, and he felt himself fall back into the darkness, only to see a box of red text in his vision.
You Are Dead
Just like every person he had seen pass before him, Cordon felt the final moment of his body disappearing, breaking apart in a single second…
… then nothing.
He was gone.
______________________________________
The moment the duel chime rang, the whole platform fell silent, barely a breath of the wind breezing about to fill the void that had suddenly ripped open on the battlefield. All heads turned towards the duel banner above me and Neon, because of the noise. Even Discord fell frozen for the moment.
And at the same moment, all eyes fell and locked on the two of us… eyes wide and jaws gaping as they saw Neon’s spear already lodged in my chest, having appeared there with a spurt of red code the instant the chime rang. Now all they saw was the Element of Magic having stabbed a comrade in the middle of the final battle.
But as for Discord, he instantly knew what had happened… and the threat it would pose to him. ”NO!”, the draconequus roared, springing upon Neon like a jaguar mid-pounce.
But not before a chorus of ringing sailed through the air, signaling that Neon was the victor of our duel. In that moment, I ripped Neon’s spear from my chest, ignoring the further drain on my life,
“Apotheosis: Transfer!”
Suddenly, I exploded.
Not literally though. A shockwave burst from me, but it didn’t affect anyone in our team, except maybe tossing their manes and tails about in the wind from it. Discord, however, was tossed away like a ragdoll as the shockwave collided with him, sending the chaos spirit tumbling through the air as I felt changes occur to me.
I could feel my body weakening as if its strength was being sapped… no, it was being sapped, but only because unicorns weren’t meant to possess earth pony strength. Likewise, I felt my wings wither away, before disappearing, leaving the sides of my body blank once more. I was now a unicorn again.
But as soon as Apotheosis left me, Neon’s body suddenly began glowing like a bright green flame. Slowly, she began rising up into the air, green coils of magic emanating from her before beginning to rapidly spin about her and cover her entire form. Faster and faster the magic around her whirled about like a vortex, until it all burst in a blinding flash of light.
Everyone shielded their eyes, but only until the light was once again bearable, because all of us were anxious to see what had happened to Neon. The light faded, and we could finally see Neon, back on the ground on her hooves.
Suddenly, Neon’s wings unfurled at her sides, her armor having gained holes its size to accommodate for the change in race. With full on armor, her spear and her tall shield, and her horn alight with flaming green magic, I had to admit, the alicorn looked like a bada**.
With the boost of power that came from being an alicorn, Neon was now finally, without a doubt, the most powerful out of us all. With her as the centerpiece, the Element of Magic, we had all we needed to defeat Discord.
Discord knew this as well. He screamed in rage, “NO!” His blood-lust eyes narrowed in on me, and with a snap he appeared right above me, growling with nightmarish fangs, “You fool. Giving up the power of an alicorn has severely weakened you. What do you think now that killing you will be much. too. easy?”
I couldn’t help but smile slightly at the fact that I had seriously pissed off the ever-so-calm spirit of chaos. Shrugging, I held my sword and shield in my magic, ready to fight once more, “What can I say? It takes some Courage to give away that kind of power. You should have thought about that before you gave us that hint.”
With a yell, I fired two blasts of fire towards the draconequus, which he hastily dodged with serpentine motions through the air, trailing his body by his head like a snake. But he was instantly hit from the side by a hammer, sparking with electricity upon impact.
Discord stumbled away, glaring back at the one who had hit him: Violet, standing ready with his hammer propped on his shoulder. The unicorn met his glare with his own, “Payback time. Ever since this game started, you tried breaking our spirits-“
Suddenly, Soul leaped on top of Violet’s hammer, which the later swung, vaulting the dual-wielding former through the air towards Discord. Soul slashed his swords downwards on the draconequus’ neck, which Discord blocked with his hands, temporarily turned into spatulas. Their metal weapons stuck together in the clash, Soul snarled at Discord, right in his face, “But we remember where our Loyalties lie: Our friends, and our families!”
With a grunt, Soul felt himself be thrown back by a head butt from Discord, but with a flip, he landed back on his hooves. Right beside him, Violet raised his hammer to the sky like Thor, shouting, “All of them are waiting,” The sky crackled as storm clouds appeared into sight, dancing with bright yellow sparks, “Waiting for us to come home!”
Lighting struck downwards like the holy wrath of heaven, God’s Spear, striking down upon Discord. The draconequus conjured a massive protection bubble around himself, but the instant the magical attack hit, his shield burst, leaving a stalemate in power.
Discord snarled at them, violently twisting about at the others, as if challenging us to try and attack him again, “Do you honestly believe you’ll win? I have the infinite power of this world! I can make any of you disappear the moment I feel like it. You will never defeat me!”
Suddenly, a giant explosion rocked the skies as a blue sonic boom burst in the air above. In a high-speed stream, Lexus rocketed out of the skies at sonic speed, spear stretched out as he spearheaded Discord through his chest and pinned the draconequus to the ground.
Discord screamed in rage, glaring at the pegasus on top of him. But Lexus quickly delivered a swift kick to his face with a hind leg, muttering, “Enough of your lies, Discord. If you could easily get rid of us, why haven’t you?” He looked down at Discord’s face just in time to see a flicker of worry in Discord’s face, barely noticeable, “Even you know the truth that you can’t win now. You could stand to be more Honest with yourself.”
With a roar of fury, Discord smacked Lexus off of him with his tail, sending the pegasus spinning and then taking to the skies above to regain his hold on this battle.
But he failed to notice the two archers of the group waiting for him. Eclipse pulled back an arrow in his bow, muttering beneath his breath with disdain, “You’ve hurt too many people in this game, and who knows how many back home, worrying for us, and mourning for those who’ve died already.”
Beside him, Siren notched another bolt into her crossbow, finishing Eclipse’s thoughts, “Out of Generosity and Kindness, we’ve put our lives on the line for everyone else. They deserve to leave this hell hole more than us.”
The two of them raised their aims towards the ascending draconequus, channeling the power of their abilities into their shots. Eclipse’s arrow began to glow white at its head, while Siren’s bolt suddenly warped, a small explosive head replacing the tip.
The two archers released their shots, and they sailed up into the air with unmatched precision, until they pierced their mark of Discord’s body.
Siren’s hit the draconequus first, engulfing him in a fiery inferno. Discord’s cry of pain rang out, just as Eclipse’s arrow struck and his gravity magic activated. As if an anvil had been tied to his tail, the Lord of Chaos plummeted out of the sky at terminal velocity, before crashing onto the platform below.
From a small crater in the bricks under him, Discord looked up to find three ponies standing above him, two unicorns and an earth pony. Sky wasted no time in leaping on top of Discord’s chest, eyes growing fully black as he stabbed his swords down into the draconequus beneath him.
Sky ignored his screams as a demonic voice reverberated through his speech, “I don’t need to rely on Willpower to kill you. This is for every. Last. Thing you’ve done to me.” His swords flared and came to life with deathly black aura, which Sky channeled straight into Discord through his open wounds, causing the draconequus to scream in agony.
Cross stood on one side of Discord’s head as Sky poured his demonic hatred through his swords. The sunglasses-wearing unicorn held his hammer at Discord’s writhing head like he were centering to hit a nail into a wall. With the barest hint of a chuckle, Cross raised his hammer, dousing the weapon in the full strength of his magic, “Heh, I don’t need Willpower either; not when I’ve got friends to laugh with-“ With a heave, Cross pummeled Discord’s head sideways with a blow that covered half of the draconequus’ face with red code of a wound.
Discord’s head flew to his opposite side, almost tempting to detach itself from his neck from the sheer force of the blow, right into where Dylan stood waiting, staff raised to strike the oncoming head, “- Friends to laugh with, and a cause to fight for! Titan Arm!”
Dylan swung his staff like a baseball bat, hitting Discord’s face with a deafening crack dealt by the sheer force of the attack. And only a few seconds after Discord’s head hit brick once more, Sky’s power wore off, and the blue unicorn hopped off of the draconequus. After our collective attacks, Discord was left bruised, battered, and limp across the floor of the platform, red scars of code scattered across his body.
Weakly, Discord scraped his upper body off of the bricks, using his paw as a shovel of sorts to peel himself off the ground. But when he looked up, his eyes widened when he saw the ten of us lined up in formation before him, the Elements of Harmony slowly beginning to glow as they had before in our first attempt. Neon the now-ascended alicorn standing at the head of our team, slowly began to rise as her tiara glowed brighter than it had ever before.
One by one, the rest of us rose into the air, eyes closed as each of our elements activated, linking to the Element of Magic. Neon, meanwhile, stared down at Discord, a calm look of victory on her face, “Well, Discord, we’ve gathered all of the elements, and here we are. It’s time to end this game!” The grey and green alicorn gave the faintest hint of a grin behind her smile, “I’ve always wanted to say this to you especially, but ‘Friendship is Magic, b(yay)h!’”
Neon shut her eyes, and the power of the elements surged through us. And when her eyes opened, they glowed a brilliant white, releasing all of the energy skyward in a brilliant rainbow of color. As the rainbow of magic pierced the sky, all traces of the chaos above vanished, before it then arched through the air, trailing downwards towards Discord’s beaten form.
Discord laid on the ground, propped up on a claw, trying to claw himself out of the way, but when it seemed useless, the draconequus’ paw raised over him in defense, as if it would deflect the power of the elements raining down upon him, ”NOOOOOOO!
Discord’s form drowned in a rainbow of color as the power of the elements impacted against the platform with all of its splendor, growing brighter and brighter with every passing moment, until finally the Elements released the rest of its power in an explosion; one that spread so quickly, the castle was consumed in its light in seconds, the rest of Equestria in only mere moments.
And in that moment, all chaos was eradicated from the game, all traces of Discord’s reign disappearing from existence.
___________________________________
Cinn breathed a small breath of relief as he allowed his horn to dim, letting the ice encrusting his katana to break off from the blade. Before him stood the six Haters who had attacked him and Sharky, but now all of them were tinted blue with a thin layer of ice covering their bodies, freezing them in place.
Cinn breathed wearily, but he was fine. He had taken a scratch here and there, but he hadn’t suffered any major damage. “Finally done with tha- Wha?!”
Cinn’s eyes widened as a massive white dome of energy came rushing down from out of the ceiling, too quickly for him to react before it consumed him and the frozen Haters in its rapidly expanding form.
Cinn cringed in preparation, a nagging thought telling him he was dead, but when the light faded, he instantly noticed several changes in his scenery.
The first was the fact that despite having been in ruins when he first came into the castle, the entry hall was suddenly back to its pristine form, pure white with magnificent tapestries lining the walls and fine red carpet lining the corridors.
The second was the lack of the tinted light casted by the sky overhead. Glancing towards the open doorway of the hall, Cinn was surprised to see a purplish-red hued sky; this wasn’t one of Discord’s skies. This was the sky of a beautiful sunrise, and just below it, as if to testify its legitimacy, a glowing sun peeked up from behind the mountains as dawn broke the horizon.
“Wait, mountains?” Cinn muttered, “But that means… we’re back on solid ground?”
A few groans behind him made the unicorn instantly whip himself back around, katana drawn once more. As he stood in his battle stance, he was met by the sight of the six Haters he had just fought and frozen, but now they were thawed and sprawled across the hall’s floor.
Great, now I have to- wait… Cinn’s eyes widened in surprise as he caught sight of the back of one of their ears.
It was blank.
All of their ears were blank, devoid of the skull tattoo that had given Discord free control over them.
One of the Hater’s wearily glanced up towards Cinn, a bald, green stallion with only a black tail, weakly mumbling, “C-Cinn?”
Cinn just stared at him, dumbfounded, “You-you’re free?”
The stallion blinked in surprise, “Wait, I’m… free? ” He slowly raised a hoof in front of his face, and upon seeing he was moving it with his own will, a wide grin split his face, tears in his eyes, “I’m free. I’M FREE!”
The other Haters were regaining their wits, and many took the revelation in a similar fashion. All of them were beyond grateful to be free of Discord’s control, they couldn’t even contain themselves. Two guys even hugged each other, even though Cinn, remembering back to his days as a Hater, remembered those two in particular hated each other.
Part of Cinn still hated these Haters for what they had done in the past, how much suffering they caused, but he couldn’t help but give a tiny smile as they celebrated their freedom with absolute joy. After all, he could sympathize with them.
“Well, what do you know about that?” Cinn chuckled, before a frown crossing his face, “But why would Discord release his control of them like that…. Unless…” He glanced about the hall, “Sharky, what do you-“
Cinn felt his words falter in his throat as he realized Sharky was nowhere to be seen. He called out again, looking for any sign of the former admin, “Sharky?”
“You looking for that blue guy who was with you?” One of the Haters asked, approaching Cinn.
Cinn glanced warily at him, still holding tight to his katana, “Yeah, have you seen him?”
The stallion nodded, “After you froze me, I was still able to see through the ice.” He pointed towards the corridor leading up to the tallest towers, “I saw him running that way during the middle of the fight.” He gave Cinn a sincerely confused look, “From what it looked like, the guy seemed like he was abandoning you.”
Cinn’s brow furrowed, skeptical, “He… abandoned me in the middle of a fight?” Cinn frowned in thought, “But why?”
Something didn’t seem right. Sharky was one of the most powerful players in the game, except maybe Shadow or Sky. Why would he run from a fight like that? Maybe he went to help that guy, Cordon, with Ezekiel, or maybe he went to help the others fight Discord… but then why would he leave Cinn to deal with the Haters without even telling him anything?
Cinn couldn’t help but feel a twinge of skepticism in his gut the more he thought about it. Something just seemed wrong to him. Glancing towards the corridor the former admin had supposedly run through, Cinn muttered to himself, “Well, there’s only one way to find out.”
_________________________________________
As the light of the elements faded, I felt the ground beneath my hooves again as we were gently dropped from the air. Our eyes quickly glanced about, but one quick sweep of the platform indicated that Discord was nowhere to be seen. Not a trace of him was left.
But then, a clear white banner appeared overhead, blaring with trumpets of victory:
Congratulations! You have defeated Discord, Spirit of Chaos!
If eyes could see music, that would have been the most beautiful melody in the world.
We immediately erupted into jubilation!
“WHOO- HOO!” Cross screamed to world, “Granny, I’m coming home!”
Soul joined in with him with hearty laughter, “Here I come, beer! YAY, BEER!”
The others weren’t quite that rambunctious. Siren proceeded to glomp Sky in a tackle hug, screaming, “We did it! We did it!”, before shoving her muzzle into his in a kiss.
Eclipse on the other hoof, just settled for a sigh of relief, letting his legs collapse under him as he sat to rest, a wide grin on his face.
Everyone’s own reactions were everywhere in the middle or so. Heck, I felt as if a huge weight on my chest had suddenly evaporated, so much that I just wanted to take to the sky and take it all in… though my bare sides itched slightly as if to remind me not to go jumping off the cliff just yet.
Instead I just opted to give Dylan, who happened to be next to me, a bro-hoof, which he met with an air of awesomeness.
Lexus nudged Neon with a wing as he trotted up beside his girlfriend. She nuzzled him in turn while Lexus spared a glance at her own new wings, “Hey, not bad! Wings really do suit you, little miss alicorn.”
Neon giggled before giving him a half-lidded gaze, swaying her lower half a bit as she ruffled her feathers, “Oh really~”
Instantly, Lexus stared wide eyed, his wings popping out on either side of him like flagpoles.
Neon completely broke down in laughter, “Hahaha, wing-boner!
Blushing slightly, Lexus quickly folded his wings, pulling Neon in close, “Whatever. I’m just glad we finally reached the end. We both survived together.”
Neon smiled warmly, moving away from the embrace just enough so Lexus could see it, “Yeah… we can finally be with each other in the real world.”
The two of them just stared at each other lovingly, with all the affection silence could convey between them. Dreams of a future together seemed to be becoming more and more like the true reality.
Neon giggled, “Well, I guess we can logout now-“
Suddenly, without warning, ice spikes erupted from the ground, like the gaping maw of beast with razor sharp teeth, surrounding Neon. The alicorn let out a yelp, Lexus gasping in surprise as the ice quickly encased Neon, freezing her solid in an ice block in an instant, her look of shocked surprise frozen in time.
“Neon!” Lexus cried, banging on the ice holding her with a hoof, a look of panic across his face.
I, and everyone else, instantly tensed up, the ice’s appearance shattering the mood of celebration in the air like a hammer meeting glass.
“What happened?”
“Neon!”
“What’s going on? I thought we beat Discord!”
But from the stairs that emptied out onto the platform, a chuckle echoed out, a cruel voice causing everyone to go silent, “Please, you don’t believe I’d let you all leave this world that easily, did you?”
All eyes, except Neon-cicle’s for obvious reasons, turned towards the voice at the stairs. But as I looked, the person I found standing there made my breath catch in my throat.
Sharky gave everyone a smug grin, his horn aglow with the same frost coating Neon, not an ounce of amicability in his gaze, “I must thank you for taking care of Discord for me. Now with that traitorous pawn out of the way, this world is finally mine!”
Thanks for reading!
-Shadowflame
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you messed up on that second quotation mark
make it whiskey and deathsticks and you have cass
Dammit! I was hoping I was wrong about that hunch as to why Sharky was still around!
ze battle is neigh
well.... I did not expect that
i3.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/original/000/797/343/1a0.gif
5973484 I suspected it. I figure Discord was supposed to be his cat's paw to get rid of the other Admins while he pulled either a Kayaba or Oberon. Of course, he might be more a Red Herring or Rebelling pawn... Considering the organizational structure of the Haters...
5973517 Sweet Celestia what happened to your face! We need a medic!
5973539
as ive stated already, no idea what that analogy means
Wow, I kind of didn't see that coming. I had a feeling Sharky could be the bad guy considering he was supposedly dead in the real world. But, what? The desire to know what happens has escalated even more!..... Uh, Cinn?
................
.....Uhhhhhh, I'm not sure if this is good or bad for you to not be speaking.
......... I think I got a new person to hate and kill........ I wonder who will be the best ice warrior.
Uhhhh, Cinn? You ok?
Maybe, depends on what I hear from our 'friend' Sharky. Although I won't be optimistic, and expect the worst.
R-right. I guess if Sharky is behind the actual imprisonment of the players, then you get to fight the real culprit this time.
*Eye twitches as he seems about to lose his cool* FFFFFFFFUU- *gets knocked out with a special item*
Nope, you are not swearing this time, for Skyan's sake, and possibly Shadow's. Good luck with the climax dude, and I hope to see all the group make it, and hopefully Cinn....... Unlike....Cordon.
5973620
poor cordon, he may have been a butt when he was an alicorn but he died honorably
th05.deviantart.net/fs70/PRE/i/2012/323/b/e/royal_salute__by_lightningtumble-d5lk77x.png
5973620 I saw that coming. A program doesn't do anything more than what it's programmed to, and Discord was programmed to be a manipulative traitor... but originally not with the power to let others die.
Think about how many psychopaths in SAO already used NerveGear for evil deeds...
And here we can see it following the same pattern again, just with the Psychopath being smart enough not to reveal himself instantly.
5973620
SHARKY!!!!
I WILL RIP OUT YOUR NONEXISTANT SPINE AND SHOVE IT SO FAR UP YOUR F
KING ARSE YOU'LL BE SPITTING OUT VERTIBRAE FOR MONTHS!
For once in my life, I agree with Phoenix on this... God have mercy on Sharky's soul
COME ON MISFITS! TO THE CASTLE!! WAAAAGH!!!
5973776 #BadNasusQuoteWhichIsUnaccurate
The cycle of life continues, we will live, and he will die.
5973620
I can not stop laughing.
.....
RIP Cordon...
.....
*sigh* The next fight will oppose the Elem--
no.....
What?
The next fight is YOUR FIGHT CINNAMON !!!
Ah.......brimstone, bloody gemstones it seems Sharky was the big baddy after all. Cinn to the rescue!! Kill that bastard!!!
HAH I KNEW IT!!!!! off to the next book n my list till this one gets another chapter...
I KNEW ITTTTTTT
5994465 I would call it a parameter based AI, it's given an environment to work in with a set of limitations and rules to follow
before I read this story, I'm going to guess that from what the description says that this story is pretty much the pony equivalent to SAO or sword art online. if it is then no surprise there cuz SAO was my top favorite anime for a long time
6004224
Yeah, but I made sure not to do anything to make it seem too much like a "copy and paste" story.
Heh heh heh... Here we are, finally at the end. Luckily, Shadow told me about Sharky being the real bad guy months and months and months ago, so that wasn't a surprise.
5973620
Indeed, it's too bad Cordon wasn't able to make proper amends before he died. Maybe Sky would've been a bit less of a douchebag towards him then.
......
Sky? Where's that snappy remark I'm expecting about you not being a douchebag?
......
Wait, are you actually too busy grieving to defend that pride of yours?
......
C'mon, you're pathetic. Say something.
......
Siren loves Cinn more than you.
......
Cinn would actually kick your sorry ass in a duel.
......
You're too stupid to figure out Zelda games without the internet.
......
...Sky?
......
Sky?!
......
SKY!!! ANSWER ME you sack of shit!!
......
SKY!!!!
......
SKY!!!!!!!
[/Kappa]
6054336 Umm, do you think we can help?
hacked sword. I'm sure Sharky would love to feel the pain.
Don't look at me, I'm sharpening my blades before the battle with Sharky.
Ok, one; you don't know the future, so you may not duel Sharky like you expect. Two, you can't sharpen a sword like you think in the game, its just a buff. And three, come on, Sky is your friend.....well, more like a competitive friend? Rivals? I seriously don't know how your friendship with him is.
Respect, good enough?
Umm, I guess?
Good, now let me add as many 'buffs' to my sword as possible. Oh how I wish I would have kept that bast
Oooookaaaaay........Any way 'I' can help S-, I mean, Dark?
6054449
hold your horses, I haven't forgotten about R63 yet.
6055757 *Both Ray and Cinn look at Shadow with a raised eyebrow.* When did I mention R63 in my previous comment? I know I said it before, but I didn't here.
6056077
Uh huh, right. You just happen to adress Shadow as 'Dark'. I assumed you were subtly implying the name, Dark Ember, which I bet you were.
6056465 What? No, I was trying to address our Sky, seeing as we got two at the moment.
Even I would get a bit confused from having two people with the same name.
So I called him Dark seeing as that's his other username. Although, I don't think we have come up with a way to tell the two of you apart when calling you.
Just call your Shadow like you always do, and I'll call mine Flame.
But you don't call him like that in the story.
This is not the story!
OK, OK. Geez.