Thread 53: Stories 31-43

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>??
"??"
'Changeling'
[ChangelingS]
~~

'DIG FASTER!'

They mostly ignored him, far too focused on the spot directly below them as they scraped, shifted and dug with everything they had.

'Come on! This has to be the spot! This has to be!'

>What does?

He flinched at her voice. Her drained, barely there voice.

His Queen and the lavender princess of Equestria did not land so much as fall to the ground, barely able to stand between the two of them. Her eyes were half lidded as she regarded him, yet he felt no less intimidated.

Nervously, the soldier changeling bowed in respect, nose so close to the dust it burned his nostrils.

'M-majesty, following reports we have from witnesses and a hasty calculation of the fall distance, this is where the traitor 32 was last spotted. Him and...'

She immediately turned away from him, eyes now focused entirely on the ground below.

>...Excavate them faster.

'We are going as quickly as possible, Majesty! But most of us were taken over and subsequently drained by the infection, we're... we aren't in the best of shape.'

She nodded in understanding, but there was something else in her eyes.

Something worrying.

[HIVEMIND DAMN IT!]

All three froze at the voice, and the subsequent growl of frustration from more than a few of the changelings.

[This one's solid!]

[It must be a chunk of the castle that got caught up in the mushroom!]

[Well, come on, someone shoot it!]

But they couldn't.

They all gathered around the stone slab, directly above exactly where they were sure they would find their brother, and each gave it their best.

But no beam, no matter who fired it, could so much as crack it.

They tried to bend it away with poles, they tried to shift it to the side, they even tried digging around it, only to have it collapse further and threaten to trap anyone who went alongside.

"Move aside!"

Twilight stepped forwards, horn already sparking as she took up the reigns, and fired upon the slab with everything she had.

It didn't so much as chip.

She collapsed, unable to stand, and the truth became undeniable.

They couldn't get past it.

'Majesty.'

His sad, regretful tone said everything.

'I'm sorry... we can't get them out.'

Her expression was worryingly blank as she stared upon the slab. Not so much as a twitch in her face.

"C-Chrysalis?"

Without a word, she turned around, and started to walk away.

"C-CHRYSALIS! You can't just walk away!"

But she did. She kept walking further off.

"Chrysalis! We can figure out-"

The Queen cut her off when she spun on a dime.

And took their breath away when she suddenly charged.

CRACK!

Everyone winced as they watched her ram her head into the stone, a painful sounding noise ringing out as she collided.

She grunted when she saw she had not even dented the slab, and once more turned away. She made it further out this time, and for a second all wondered if that had been her last hurrah.

That question was put to rest a second later.

CRACK!

Again.

CRACK!

And again.

CRACK!

'M-Majesty! You can't-'

A hoof shot out, holding him in place and preventing him from moving to help his Queen. A stern, unblinking look from Twilight told him everything.

"...She needs to do this."

CRACK!

He couldn't help but flinch at the noise, or wince painfully as he watched the streams of blood travel down the sides of her face as she once again stepped away, wobbling on unsteady steps as she did so.

CRACK!

The chitin on her horn was starting to fracture. The skin on her cheeks was starting to split. The look on her face was that of pure pain.

But she didn't stop.

CRACK!
CRACK!
CRACK!
CRA-GUGK!

That sound.

That wonderful, wonderful sound.

The joyous song of rock crumbling.

She tore at the split stone with a frenzy, tossing away bits and rocks of all sizes in every direction, ripping a hole in the earth.

And into that hole, she dived.

Face first into the darkness, she went.

All held their breath, and waited.

~I WANT TO LIVE!~

Finally... she returned.

Crumbled dust and stones fell away as she crested it like an ocean, silent in her frustration as she rose up.

Three bodies in tow.

The one she had gripped had lost consciousness the instant they had emerged, and the she held seemed as if they had never woken up at all.

But they were alive.

They were all breathing.

They were alive.

And they were free.

>Get a stretcher.

They wordlessly followed her simple, emotionless command, having to pry the one she gripped away as the Queen struggled to let them go. Soon, they were all loaded up on makeshift 'stretchers' that was little more than sticks and cloth, and ready to be taken away.

>Wait.

They all froze, all of them, as she walked over to a particular body, standing over it with a regretful gaze.

>...I'm sorry I didn't do this the first time.

Her voice was quiet, far too quiet for any to hear.

Any save for Princess Twilight.

And had he been awake, 32.

With a wordless signal, they were carried off, every changeling wondering what she had said to the traitor who tried to kill her.

"They'll be fine. You got them out this time."

Her words were comforting, easy.

But the Queen had no reaction to them.

Instead, she simply turned, and walked away.

"Where are you going?"

She didn't answer. She just kept walking with a stern purpose in her step. Looking for something.

What, the Princess had no clue. But she had a purpose, a direction.

And, it may have been a trick of the eyes, but Twilight would swore she walked ten times lighter than she had ever seen the Queen before.
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>Fleetfoot
"Soarin'"
~~~~

>WOOOOOOOO!

"...W-woo..."

>WOOOOO HOOOOOOO!

"Yay? You're happy because I'm not a screeching, infected monster anymore, right?"

>UNF BABY YEAH! UNINFECTED!

"...Damn it."

>WHOLE ZOMBIE APOCOLYPSE GOES OFF, AND YOU KNOW THE WONDERBOLT WHO DIDN'T GET CHOMPED!? MOTHERFUCKING FLEETFOOT, THAT'S WHO!

"I hate you so much."

>CAN'T TOUCH THIS!

"You left me behind you dick."

>NOT MY FAULT I'M FASTER!... OH! WAIT! IT IS! CAUSE I'M AWESOME!

"Hate."

>WOOOOOOOO!

"...We need to get to work helping them dig everybody out. Or... actually, you do, I can no longer see straight, I am noticing."

>UHN UHN UHN!

"Am I delirious, or are you hip thrusting."

>UNF!

"...I need to go lie down a bit..."

>WOOOOOOO!
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>Coco
"Lucky Strikes"
~~~~

>TWO CAKES! I PROMISE! I JUST HAVE TO FINISH DIGGING!

"Coco, for the last time, she isn't going to hold you to that-"

>I AM GOING TO MAKE A CAKE AND SHE IS GOING TO LOVE IT LIKE WARM SNUGGLES ON A COLD MORNING, YOU BUNNY KISSER!

"...I can never tell what you mean by those..."

>But first I have to help dig!

"Well, yes, we do have to do that first, but-"

>And THEN, I am going to make the most giggletastic, wubby-lovey, MMpopingly good cake the world has ever SEEN! I promised two cakes for not getting eaten, and even if I have to step over a hundred wobbly pillows than by the bouncy castle of happiness she is going to have it!

"...Okay, you know what? I'm not even going to argue. I'm actually probably going to get my ass fired for accidentally forcing a civilian into active military work, so you know? Who even cares."

>Dig'a dig'a diiiiig'a!

"I mean... you had full access to the armory, and saw our battle plans, and now know our patrol routes...."

>Gonna dig the sunshine down!

"...I am so fired..."

>DIIIIIG!
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>18
"Cadence"
'???'
~~~~~

>HA! HA! HAHAHAHAH! TOLD YOU! I SO TOLD YOU!

The pony she shook feverishly didn't really know what to do. She certainly felt so much happier now that the creatures had returned to their old states, that was easy enough.

But she still felt uneasy.

>WHAT!? WHAT!? WHO SAID IT!? WHO SAID IT!? ME, HONEY BUNCHES! MEEEEE! I CALLED IT! MY MAIN MARE AJ ROCKING THAT DINOSAUR AND BOOM! TWILIGHT FOR THE SAVE! WHO SAID IT'LL BE FINE!? OH! RIGHT! THAT WAS MEEEEE!

Eighteen was practically dancing in the middle of the rubble filled hallway at this point, all but bouncing while dragging Cadence along out the gaping hole and into the ash filled streets.

>WOOT! WOOT! WOOOO!... Woo!... woo... hoo! Yeah... yep...

She had never felt more awkward in her life than in the time when every single pair of eyes of those excavating out any still trapped in the ash looked upon her.

>... A-hem... woo.

Nervously, she grabbed Cadence, and shuffled away.

>...Woo...

'Eighteen! CADENCE!'

>TWILIGHT YOU BEAUTIFUL MARE!

She openly tackled the princess, at last releasing Cadence from her pulling as she did so.

>YOU! MY MARE! THIS IS MY MARE RIGHT HERE! SAVING THE DAY!... Well, you and AJ riding on a giant monster.

'...AJ on a who say what now?'

>...Giant monster? Thing that tried, and failed, to hold up that thing?

'I was up above it, I couldn't see through the cap of the mushroom head. Is that what stopped it for a second?'

>Uh.

'What giant monster did Applejack ge- OH MY GOSH! You mean Spike!? She somehow got Spike to fight off the infection!?'

And thusly, her record for 'most awkward feeling in the world' was summarily topped after merely a few seconds.

'...What?'

>Well, I mean, Spike was involved in this... in a way...

'Eighteen, you're not making any sense.'

>I uh... I feel like Applejack should be the one to explain this... but I also realize that you are going to put it together the minute you see Chitania running around, so-

'WHAT!?'

>Whoops.

'WHY IS CHITANIA HERE!?'

>Ask Applejack? She was the one riding her.

'APPLEJACK *RODE* CHITANIA!?'

>Well, yeah, so I assume she had something to do with her beating up Spike, since she didn't look mad-

'SHE DID *WHAT* TO SPIKE!?'

>...I feel like I'm revealing a lot of information I should not, but feel silly because obviously you deserve to know this. Conflicting.

"W-where's Shiny?"

Both jumped at the mouse-quiet whisper that had come from the thus far silent mare.

"Where... where's Shiny?"

>You know what? That is a good, good question. Because I have got a great many, many wonderful things I wish to do to him for being amazing. I am in a very, very 'Shiny' mood. Please to direct me, and dear Cadence, to your brother, and then do your best not to... stare...

Her heart sank as Twilight shakily pointed behind her.

Where the stalk of the mushroom had been.

'He... he was-'

A pink hoof shot out, grabbing hold of the princess by the head.

"Where... Is... Shiny..."

'He got caught up in it when it first formed, it... it totally consumed him.'

A weak, feeble hoof suddenly let her go, and without warning Cadence tried to walk away.

>OH NO YOU DON'T!

She ducked down, sliding her head under Cadence's barely standing frame and slipping the pink mare onto her back before running forwards.

>We're gonna go find him right now, you hear me!? You stop thinking whatever it is you are thinking because he is FINE, and I am going to prove he is fine and we are going to dig him up and then get on a train and we're all going home and WE ARE ALL GETTING CAKE AND THEN WE ARE GOING TO A BEACH OR SOMETHING AND IT IS GOING TO BE A FUN TIME! OKAY!?.... OKAY! NOTHING! ELSE! BAD!

"...S-Shiny..."

>IS GOING TO SNUGGLE YOU AND GIVE YOU WIFE-HUGS BECAUSE HE IS FINE!

How she could sound so sure, Eighteen had not a single clue.

...But she was thankful at least someone didn't have that creeping, uneasy feeling in her chest...

"Shiny..."
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>Fluttershy
"Dash"
'Pinkie'
[Rarity]
~~~~

>...Um... I'm happy I'm not crazy anymore to, but-

"Shhhh... just shhh..."

'No words now.'

[Just group hug.]

>Oh, um... okay... hugs are nice.

"..."
'...'
[...]

>...I don't want to break the mood, but what exactly am I covered in?

"You don't want to know."

>...Okay...
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>Silver Spoon
"Filthy Rich"
~~~~~

>So... they saved the world.

"Yep."

>Think DT was involved?

"Oh, indubitably, my little pumpkin is so smart."

>...Yep. Guess she is.

"And quite talented too!"

>Very talented.

"And just a bundle of pure goodness from the very tips of her hooves!"

>...Going to have to contest that.

"Oh, pish posh."

>If you say so. So... uh... any chance she's going to come back and let us down?

Thoughtfully, Filthy Rich looked over to the strange substance his daughter had used to stick them both to the ceiling in order to 'keep them out of her way', and regarded it for a long moment.

"...I like the view."

>Yeah, kind of figured our odds were that bad...
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Finding strength in hard times to keep on was, she felt, one of her better qualities.

The eldest Princess of Equestria kept this shamefully prideful and touch egotistical thought in mind as she pushed, and pushed, and pushed. Putting those long white legs to work as she dug herself straight up, the only direction she could hope would eventually lead to safety in some form.

How she was still functioning, she had no idea. The drain on her had been positively nightmarish, more than once she had simply wished to give up on life entirely, several times she felt bitter at her subjects and wished to demand they get a taste of the pain just so they understood what they put her through, frequently she even found herself full of hate for everyone of them.

But without the twisted thing to sap the very love from her heart, she knew this was all silly now. Now, without that thing taking that away from her, she desired nothing more in the world than to get up, and see their faces once more. It drove her on, pushing her, filling her weak and empty body with the fire she needed...

To finally push her nose through those ashes, and taste air once more.

She could not see her subjects, or any of her friends, but she could see the sun. One look upon it told her everything. The threat was gone.

They were safe.

"S-Shiny... we did it."

She pulled his limp body above the ash cover, at last able to look upon him. She had never let go as she had sought the surface, never once even considered it, no matter how he weighed her down. Every bit for herself, she fought on for him.

"We did it..."

The burning in her eyes had very little to do with the painful ash. The shortness of breath, even less so.

There he was.

...Withered, like a dried husk.

"N-no... no..."

He wasn't moving.

She couldn't even see him breathing.

All she saw were his closed, dessicated eyes. His weak and limp body. His scraggy and straw like hair. It had taken from him.

Far, far more than it had taken from her.

"N-no... Shiny... Shiny wake up. You can't do this to me. Not like this. Not now. We won."

She softly cradled him, weak legs pulling his slack head closer to her chest.

"We all made it out. We're alive, can't you see we're alive? You... You can't..."

She didn't feel him stir.

She didn't feel him breath.

She didn't even feel a heartbeat.

"...No... no..."

She could call upon no magic to heal him, not even in this desperate time. She could find no power in herself to call upon it and save him. She was as weak as the day she was born. She could do nothing.

"...Let... let me save him."

She did not know to whom she called, to whom she spoke. All she knew was that someone, somewhere, needed to save him.

"Let me... let me give him what he wanted before. Let me ascend him."

Nothing.

She could do nothing.

"He's earned it... he has to have earned it..."

Even still, he would not stir.

"...Take it."

Her enshrouded golden hoof tilted his head up slightly, pointing his face to hers.

"I have enough left for you... take it."

Softly, she bent forwards, and kissed him on the lips.

...He did not so much as twitch.

"Why... why can't I..."

The tears came, those of desperation, of heartbreak.

"Why can't I save you... don't leave me like this. Not now. Not like this... please... Shining..."

She tried again, harder this time.

"Come back."

Nothing. Still nothing.

"SHINY!"

A feeling of pure elation overtook her at that voice.

Cadence, that beautiful, beautiful niece of hers. The Princess of Love.

If any could heal him after this, it was her.

The pink pony shoved herself off the changeling carrying her, breaking into a sudden, reckless run as she neared them. She wasted no time, practically ripping the stallion from her hooves and letting out a gasp of horror at what she saw.

"S-SHINY!? WHAT HAPPENED!? WHAT DID YOU DO!? WHAT DID YOU DO!?"

Celestia found herself slightly hurt at the insinuation, but the powerful thought in her mind cast that all away.

"It drained him of love, you have to-"

Her horn exploded with a bright pink energy.

And then fizzled out right before their eyes.

"NOW!? YOU'RE DOING THIS NOW YOU USELESS THING!?"

She smacked her own horn in frustration, but no matter how she tried it would not reignite.

"FINE! I'VE GOT THIS!"

She spun her husband's limp body around to face her, and gave him the most passionate, heartfelt kiss any of them had ever seen.

He remained still as a stone.

"W-what... what...."

She tried again, somehow surpassing her previous efforts, so much love behind her that all who watched could not help but be taken aback.

He didn't even shift.

Heartbreak, pure, indescribable heartbreak was the only word that came even close to relating to the look on the pink princess's face at that moment.

"LET ME TRY!"

The changeling who had carried her held no shortage of desperation in her voice as she pulled the white stallion away from the grief-stricken mare, wasting no time before bringing her lips to his in a passionate, fiery lock. Her horn positively burned as hot as the sun as she tried to force the love magic from her body into his.

Not a drop sank in.

Not even a drop.

"...NO! NOOOOO! YOU CAN'T! YOU CAN"T NOW! NOT NOW! NOT NOW!"

She devolved into heaving sobs, dropping his body and shuffling back as if he was suddenly covered in poison, entire body wracking as she looked upon him.

There was a deathly, horrified silence that passed through the other two mares as they all looked upon his still emasculated body. A disbelief, more than anything, that this could be happening. They found themselves unable to process it, unable to understand what this truly meant.

They doubted they would have ever moved from that spot.

Were it not for the loud, shrill cackle, that is.

"That's not going to work."

Chrysalis was slow as she walked to them. The smile upon her face chilled them to their very bones. The mixture of the off-sided grin and twin streams of green rolling down her battered nose and slightly concave cheeks looked like something from a horror story, brought to terrifying life.

She was almost leisurely as she approached them, as gentle as a mother as she hooked her hoof under his chin, and pulled rose him before her.

"You have to do it like this."

She was gentle, caring, soft as she leaned forwards, and connected with him.

A strange white mist flowed from her lips into his as she held his head tightly to hers, wisps moving as if they lived and sliding right into his mouth. Her eyes closed in a strange feeling as she remained with him, never letting him go.

Not even when he gasped, and his chest heaved as the air filled his lungs once more.

Her grip was unbreakable as he took the air from her, limp body shaking as feeling once more flowed through every nerve. She never relented, even as her own body began to shrivel, green hair taking on a sheen of grey and a body already looking recessed taking on the appearance of one positively emasculated.

His eyes flung open, looking to her with absolute shock, hooves unsteadily raising as if to pry her off. But he could not. Not until every last bit of the white mist flowed from her, and into him.

With that done, at last, she pulled away. Closed eyes fluttering open and looking into his stunned, bewildered eyes.

"...I owed you that one..."

The grin never left her, not even when she fell to her side, and into blissful unconsciousness.

"...So.... that's what chocolate and happy tastes like."

He joined her shortly after. His brief excursion into the world of the waking taken away from him as quickly as it came.

"SHINY!"

But even as his wife caught him, and feared it had all been in vain, she breathed easier not a moment later.

He breathed.

He was alive.

...They were all alive...

Not a one of them had a dry face as they looked upon him. In relief, in joy, in so many indescribable emotions. Emotions the tallest princess found she could only sum up with a few words.

"He's alive..."

Tears pouring from her eyes, his wife gently held him close.

"...I want to go home now..."

Eighteen laughed, a forced, choking, yet somehow still light laugh.

"Then lets go home."

There was a hesitance to her.

Only broken when Cadence let go with one foreleg, and reached out to her.

Quickly, Eighteen joined her in the embrace.

Shortly afterwards, the Celestia found herself pulled in as well.

And finally, even the prone, unconscious body of the Changeling Queen joined them.

"...Home..."
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The glass felt warm against Pommel's aching side as he lay next to the trampled ashes that served as Brahmos' remains. His breaths, such as they were, were ragged and uneven, his body aching in an unyielding throb that pulsed nothing but agony through the entirety of his being. His right eye had swollen shut, his tongue poked around through his mouth to find that he'd lost one of his front teeth. He was almost certain he'd incurred a concussion.

'Nah, no way,' The voice of 32 chimed in his head, 'If you did, I don't think I would be able to talk to you...or maybe I'd be talking even more. Y'know what, I don't think you need me right now, so I'm just gonna be quiet.'

"Thank you..." Pommel mumbled, tapping each hoof on the floor to ensure his legs were still working.

"You can thank me when I'm finished patching up your bloodied carcass," Doc replied as he knelt down next to him.

"Fuck...off...." Pommel muttered, managing to turn his head towards the earth pony in time to see Daw and Rat bolt towards him, kneeling down next to Doc.

"Lad...I can't believe it!" Rat's voice resided in a strange happy medium between astounded and exasperated, "Y-you killed him! You actually killed that rotten bastard!"

"Loud..." Pommel groaned, then suppressed a yelp as Doc began to feel out the injuries on the guard's bruised and battered body.

"Nothing broken as far as I can see," Doc noted, "That's lucky...I can probably patch up the cuts, but you're not going to win any beauty pageants after this."

"Good to know..." Pommel shook his head, looking up and locking eyes with Daw, silence hanging in the air between them for a few moments.

"Ya did good, Pommel," Daw finally replied, "Ya took a beatin', one I wish I'd have been able to take instead but...thank ya for killin' that bastard. I'm sure Evergreen an' th' rest of th' poor souls he's sent to th' grave are happy to have seen him gone."

"All in a...day's work," Pommel flashed her a grin before wincing as Doc probed another injury, "So...uh...that one guy still have Evergreen's head?"

Daw looked over her shoulder, "Yeah."

"Make sure he knows...he keeps it safe...or I kill him myself," Pommel nodded, "The rest-nngh! Can you knock it off!?"

"Knock off cataloguing the litany of injuries you've acquired? I think not," Doc grumbled, "A lot of my tools were abandoned at the walls...I can stop your bleeding, but a full on healing...that would take time."

"Time we don't have," Pommel slowly began to stand, his body protesting every movement, "Brahmos was only one problem of two and the other..."

Pommel looked up; high above them all, at the very top of the tower, the jewel, once black as night glimmered and shone with a discomforting crimson light.

"It's only going to get more powerful."

"What do ya propose, lad?" Daw asked, tilting her head.

"Uhm...s'cuse me," A voice poked through the conversation, leading the four to look at the pea green and extremely beat up stallion leering at them from nearby.

"...you're still alive?" Pommel asked incredulously.

Guttersnipe glared, " 'course I'm alive! I'm a survivor I am! Now I don't wanna rain on your parade, but all ya little stunt did was make ya lord'n master over the DIAMOND DOGS o'Barkbados, I ain't gotta do shite, neither do the rest of us!"

Pommel's answer was cut off by Rat advancing on the earth pony, "Oh no, Snipey, my friend, we wouldn't dream of ordering YOU around, no no no, not you!"

Snipe's eyes went wide, he began backpedaling towards the doors, "N-now Penny Pincher-"

"BILGE RAT!" Rat shouted, "MY NAME IS BILGE RAT! IT'S THE NAME YOU DROVE ME TO AND IT'S THE NAME OF THE STALLION WHO'S GOING TO KILL YOU! YOU SWINE! YOU FILTH! STAND STILL AND FACE ME LIKE A MAN!"

"C-c'mon, mate! Remember the good times? You the noble cap'n, me your loyal first mate? 'ave you forgot-HURGH!"

The earth pony stumbled back as Rat's head connected with his chin.

'KILL'

The voice boomed into Pommel's head, making him wince and causing him to gather every bit of fortitude he had to not fall to his knees.

'KILL'

"Nngh...RAT!" Pommel shouted, "Get away from him!"

"No dice, lad, I've waited too many years for this to turn back now!" Rat's eyes were fixated on the stumbling earth pony as he advanced.

'KILL'

"No...no no no..." Pommel's body shook, taking a step forward, almost falling against Daw.

'KILL'

Guttersnipe was nearly out the doors, he gaped in fear as the unicorn stepped closer.

"DOGS, RESTRAIN HIM!" Pommel shouted, lurching forward, "STOP RAT!"

"What-!?" Rat's progress was immediately hindered by his forelegs being grabbed on either side by the dogs, "L-lad! Why!? Why would ya do this to me!?"

"Heh...heh heh heh, good lad, Pompom!" Guttersnipe quipped, his face slowly splitting into a grin as he crossed the threshold of the door, "Always knew you were a good sort, never doubted it for a sec-"

His next mocking remark was cut off as a blur of feathers dropped from the sky and buried its claws into his spine, the scream of his harpy assailant and himself became mere echoes in a matter of seconds as the beast flew away.

"...oh, good reason," Rat said, eyes wide.

'KILL'

"Close the doors...close the doorsclosethedoorsCLOSETHEFUCKINGDOORS!" Pommel shouted, the sounds of hooves on the golden ground of the city heralding the impending arrival of the aquatic beasts that had menaced them all before.

The pirates, for their part, braced their bodies against the doors with all they had, slamming them closed as the first finned head began to crest at the top of the stairs. Rat was released from the grip of the Diamond Dogs, stumbling over to join Pommel, Daw, and Doc, brushing himself off.

"Not a word," He said matter-of-factly, "I'm in a whole new dimension of pissed that that damnable bird stole my revenge from me, anyone that makes a crack about it's going through this floor."

"So lad, we're right back where we started," Doc quipped, giving the door an appraising glare, "Except now, our doors are being beaten down by a far more implacable foe."

"We can't run," Daw grit her teeth, "Fightin'll be a bloodbath even with us havin' Brahmos' lot on our side."

"Why not just put the lad front and center?" Shoals asked from where Daw had sat him down to rest, "From what you told me, the beasts won't touch him."

"Yeah, but it's not like they won't try to wait us out," Pommel sighed, sitting down, "How long do you think the door can hold?"

A great force crashed against the door, nearly knocking the pirates braced against it onto their back, Pommel caught sight of a great body behind the doors, a massive eye the size of a cart's wheel regarding all within the room with a hungry desire.

"Not long," Doc said flatly.

The next instant the men at the door were sent flying, their bodies sailing through the air and crashing down to the floor, allowing the fish ponies and harpies to flood in, at their head another of the massive alpha harpies. Letting out a screeching roar, the beast and its underlings advanced upon the pirates, fangs and beaks presented and ready to tear flesh from bone.

'KILL'

"NO!" Pommel shouted as the pirates around him began to draw their weapons, his eyes fixed at the harpy's own, "Not them...not. Them."

The creatures stopped in their tracks, all regarding him with questioning eyes.

"You don't kill them, you understand me?" Pommel unsteadily walked forward, "Not one of them. You're not in danger from them anymore."

'POWER. FUEL.'

The words boomed inside Pommel's mind, insistent, like a parent losing patience with an unruly child.

"Oh don't give me that, you're slaughtering them by the dozen outside this city," Pommel growled, ignoring the confused looks his one-sided conversation with a bird was garnering.

'UNECESSARY'

"I beg to differ, and I'm still the only guy you can use for your little plan aren't I?" Pommel looked around, "You said I'd do, well you've got about twenty pairs of eyes in this room, do you see anyone else that'll do? Because guess what..."

His horn glowed, the axe that Brahmos had thrown at him flew across the room...

And pressed itself to his neck.

"If you don't leave them be and let them go, I will drag this thing across my jugular and leave you to pick up the pieces, won't that be nice?" Pommel glared at the harpy.

Silence hung in the air for a few moments, the tension as palpable as the rusty taste of blood in Pommel's mouth. The pirates nervously clutched their weapons, the beasts gnashed teeth and pawed the floor.

'THEY. GO. YOU. STAY. SUCCESSOR.'

"Deal," Pommel said plainly, catching a sideways look from Daw.

'COME. TO. ME.'

"Disperse your animals and I'll be up in a jiffy," Pommel moved to turn away, but the alpha harpy roared.

'NOW.'

"...you know this may come as a surprise to you, but us flesh and blood people, we have a habit of wanting to say goodbye," Pommel gave the beast a glare, "Now you take your damn creatures back to where they came from. I will join you, but not one second before, got it?"

The alpha harpy hissed, but turned away, the other creatures following suit.

'RUN. AND. THEY. DIE.'

"Of course..." Pommel glared as they left, letting out a sigh as the final monstrosity lurched its way out of the chamber.

"Lad...what did you tell that thing?" Daw stepped forward, "What did you do?"

"The devil I made a deal with came to collect," Pommel answered, turning an eye to his companions, "I made him at least give me time to say goodbye."

"What!?" Shoals growled, "You can't be serious!"

"I am," Pommel replied, stonefaced, "You all need to get out of here while you still can."

"Are you fucking nuts!?" Rat's face was a mask of incredulous surprise, "That thing wants to do something with your head and you're just going to let it in happy as Larry?!"

"It's either fight and die with this thing having free rein to go wherever it pleases or give you guys a chance to get out of here and warn someone before it can do real damage," Pommel glared at him, "I'll convince it to lower the city and let you out, get to Equestria, tell the Princesses what's going on, they'll kill this thing and it'll all be fine."

"You realize how batshit that plan sounds, right?" Daw asked, "You can't honestly think we're going to just let you-"

Pommel's embrace made the pegasus go wide-eyed, a hush falling over protesting voices all around as they watched the white guard pull the pirate against him, forelegs wrapped around her. Daw's face went from surprised, to distraught, to a sudden look of recognition, to finally a determined glare as Pommel released her.

"We're going," She said flatly, turning away from Pommel and walking towards the open doors.

"What!? What do you mean, Jack-" Rat was cut off with a penetrating stare by the bandanna wearing mare.

"We. Are. Going," She told him, "If you want to live, you'll follow me."

And she was off, the remaining pirates gave looks back to Pommel, who was already in the act of climbing the stairs.

"Lad!" Rat called after him, "Promise me you know what the hell you're doing!"

"I am!" Pommel called back, turning towards the stairs again with a sigh, "At least I hope I am..."

The climb to top of the tower was as arduous as he’d expected it to be, every single inch of his body protesting violently against each step taken. His mind raced as he got closer to the top, stopping only to give himself a small breather before climbing up another flight.

‘A bold move,’ 32’s voice mused in his head, ‘Tell me, what if things don’t go according to plan.’

“Can’t say,” Pommel replied in a mutter between breaths.

‘Oho? Do tell me why, my friend, I’m hurt, do you not trust me?’

Pommel resumed walking, another flight closer to what he hoped would be the end of this ordeal.

“Because I’m not entirely sure if I’m crazy...or that thing is using you to talk to me.”

‘Hmm, good point, I taught you well. But wouldn’t it already know what you’re intending to do if it was?’

“I’m already leaving enough to chance, I can’t afford any more risks.”

‘Tell me, if this goes to hell and you do have to rely on them getting to Equestria, do you think they’ll remember you as a hero?’

“They shouldn’t, I’m not.”

‘Centuries of folklore say different.’

“I don’t care about folklore or myths or legends-”


‘Says the stallion climbing a tower to dispose of an evil beast locked away in a gem.’

“-I’m doing this because no one else is here to do it. Everyone else would have won this fight by now. Spike could have shot down Brahmos without a problem, 77 could have disguised himself and slit his throat without him knowing, 42-”

‘I get it, but they’re not here, you are.’

“My point exactly.”

‘So you’re not a hero, but you’re doing a hero’s job.’

“Exactly.”

‘Well, have fun dying a second time! Or saving the world! I’d prefer the latter, but you know what they say, pray for the best, expect the worst!’

The sun’s warmth was welcome on his hide as he came face to shining surface with the gem.

‘SUCCESSOR.’

“Gem monster,” Pommel nodded to the colossal mineral in question as he winced, “You’re looking a lot more sinister since the last time I saw you.”

‘MAGIC,’ The booming voice intoned, ‘JOIN.’

“So, the same process as before then?” Pommel tilted his head, “I zap you, you pull my mind in?”

‘YES.’

“Fantastic,” Pommel spared one last look out towards the walls of the city, where the pirates were hopefully at the ready, then lit up his horn and blasted the gem.

Then everything went white.

----

The walk back to the walls had been a tense one, with conversation conducted in terse whispers that barely rose above the echoing sounds of hooves, paws, and claws on the golden bricks that lay below them. Daw could feel eyes boring into her from all directions, both hungry glares from the eyes of the beasts keeping watch over them and the venomous glances from her crewmen. Doc kept himself close, jaw set with a pointed emphasis on not speaking up, meanwhile Rat had being doing most of the aforementioned whispering, questioning her sudden acceptance of Pommel's maddened plan.

For her part, Daw had kept silent until the mob of pirates had made it to the Regret, still leaning against a building close to the walls. A few of the crew began the laborious task of climbing onto the ship, but Daw cut them off.

"No, we can't leave without our cannons," Daw said with authority, "I won't have us escape this hell just to get destroyed by some Johnny Cutthroat's broadside, aye?"

There was a morose mumbling of agreement, and the crew set out for the top of the wall. Daw's wings flapped as she took off with the rest of the aerially inclined survivors, alighting on the battlements above and surveying what remained of the battle. A niggling thought in the back of her head asked to search for Evergreen's body, but it was surpressed in short order. Now was not the time to mourn him, although a curious eye thankfully told her the diamond dog from before had taken Pommel's threat not to drop the former captain's head to heart.

"Right," Rat grumbled as he and the rest of the earthbound crewmen made it onto the wall, "Let's see about getting those cannons onto the shi-"

Rat blinked as Daw drew in close to him, her tone low, her voice urgent.

"Check the cannons to see how many are still ready to fire, the ones that aren't get loaded onto the ship," She whispered.

"And...the ones that are?" Rat raised an eyebrow.

Daw sighed grimly and looked to the tower.

"Aim them at that damned thing."

----

Pommel floated weightlessly in the expanse of whiteness, his thoughts feeling like they would venture out from whatever hole in his head they could find and float away into the ether. He felt placid, peaceful, at ease for once in the days that had passed before that damn giant changeling came along and brought him to the sea. His mind wandered considerably, as adrift as he had been on his flimsy little raft in the middle of the ocean, he pondered the fates of his friends and companions, of Equestria, of his family.

Then he shook his head and glared.

"Okay, you bastard, that's all the freebies you'll be getting out of me, now where are you?" Pommel growled.

'BELOW.'

Pommel blinked, looking down to find something had definitely changed. Where once was white expanse was now a swarm of twinkling balls of light circling in a loose orbit around the slightly more impressive new feature:

The colossal blot of crimson colored pulsating terror floating below. A singular black oval cutting across the top and regarding Pommel as a myriad of tentacles snapped out from the monstrosity to harpoon the spheres that encircled it. Pommel watched in petrified terror as a stream of the same spheres, now dull and their movements lethargic, emerged from the top of the pulsating mass. They floated past Pommel, giving the unicorn a perfect view of their contents.

"Bodies..."

Inside each and every one of the spheres was the curled up form of a person, be they a pony, a gryphon, a diamond dog, or any other species Pommel had encountered. They floated past in what appeared to be a less than peaceful slumber, eyes closed, almost fetal in their poses, one of the bodies catching Pommel's eye.

"Gag Reel," He grit his teeth as he watched the camerapony turned pirate float away, he turned back to the creature, "What have you done to them?"

'FUEL. DRAIN.'

"The hell does that mean!?"

'NOT...FOR...YOU...TO...KNOW...'

"Great, we're on to full sentences," Pommel sighed, "Next you'll be hooked on phonics."

'MOCKING?'

"A little vitriol is good for a partnership," Pommel shrugged, "As intensely screwed up as this is."

'HORN. JOIN.'

"I did," Pommel blinked.

'HORN. JOIN.'

"I DID," Pommel reiterated emphatically.

'SUBMISSION. COMPLETE.'

Pommel gulped, "A little early for that, no?"

'JOIN. POWER. COMPLETE. SUBMISSION. SUCCESSOR. CONQUER.'

The words slammed against Pommel's head, making him wince.

'JOIN.'

Again.

'POWER.'

Again.

'COMPLETE.'

Again...he started to notice something.

'SUBMISSION.'

"Nngh...why do you have...to ask?" Pommel gritted his teeth.

The words stopped.

"...you...you're not powerful enough yet, are you?" Pommel panted.

Silence.

A small smile began to quirk his lips, "You can control these animals...these monsters, but they're simple, they can't think like a person can..."

A great roar broke the silence, rattling Pommel's mind, smashing against his consciousness like a battering ram of sound...

Yet the gates held.

"You can't, can you?" Pommel panted, wincing, "You're a wolf prowling around a cottage, you can pound on the door, you can howl at the windows, but you can't get in...unless someone opens the door."

A growl from below, he allowed himself the tiniest of smiles.

"Am I right?"

'YES.'

"Well...this got interesting didn't it?"

'SUBMIT. OR. THEY. DIE.'

"Nngh...now come on," Pommel grimaced, "No need for that...I think you'll find my terms pretty easy to agree to."

The silence that followed seemed to urge him to continue.

"All I want are some answers," He said simply, "How about we start with your na-"

The beast screamed, a highly pitched screech of rage and fury.

'NAME? BIND. DEFINE. TRAP.'

"OKAY! Okay, yeesh, we'll skip the name..." Pommel grimaced, "Didn't know it was such a sore spot."

'ANSWERS.'

"I just need three, what are you, what do you want, and most importantly..." Pommel gave a smirk to the creature.

"What's your offer?"

'ACCEPTABLE. PREPARE.'

"Prepare for wh-" Pommel's question died in his mouth, as the massive creature pulsated once more before shooting out a wave of energy from within itself...

And then things went...weird.

Darkness. All was darkness, and it was beautiful.

He-no, no he was not something that would not be constrained by a mere gender.

It, much better, firmer, he's and her's were nothing more than whispers in the wind. No, it was the closest thing the petty existence it found itself in had to even describing what it was.

It knew the void well, for the void was its home, its stronghold, its paradise. It oozed and flowed through the inky blackness, its mass incalculable, its power unquestioned. It was all and all was it.

Then there came the lights, the infernal lights. They came in droves, swarms, they flew about like like...Bumble Bees, yes yes, that is the proper analogue. Clumsy, slow, blind, they seared its body where they crashed into it. It despised them, but soon found they made for a delicious and empowering meal when enveloped within itself. The lights were devoured by the dozens, encircled by its mass and choked of all their life.

It dined on them for time untold, hunting them, catching them, eating them all.

Then...something changed. One swarm it tried to waylay as it entered into existence from wherever they came from -in truth it did not question the origins nor the purposes of the lights, only that they lent him power when devoured- and attempted to take them all. It spread to envelop them, crush them before its might but...they did not disperse in an attempt to save themselves, they came together, closing in, consolidating themselves and then-

Light. Light that exploded out from the cluster, no longer a meager flicker but a vast and shining wave that burned it...

Fragmented it...

And pulled it into the most excruciating state imaginable:

Existence.

====

Pommel howled in pain as his mind resurfaced, causing him to thrash about in the expanse. His mind burned with an ungodly hybrid of a fever and a hangover.

'NEXT.'

"Fffffuuuuuck..." Pommel groaned, "Not so loud, that hurt!"

'ANSWERS. NEXT.'

"Gimme a second...Faust on high-"

'FAUST.'

"FUCK!" Pommel cradled his head, shaking it and trying not to whimper.

'FAUST. NEXT.'

"Wh...what about her?"

'NOW.'

"No wait for the love of-"

His consciousness felt like sand slipping through fingers he didn't possess, and then it wasn't his consciousness at all.

====

Pain.

All that it knew was pain.

It was once a creature of unimaginable dimensions, a beast with free reign over its kingdom of void and space.

Now it was singular, of constrained dimension, of defined form.

It was all her fault, it knew it, all of it knew it.

Yes, all of it. It was singular but it was many singulars. When it was fragmented, it took many forms, forms that were scattered across this new state of disgusting existence. On this world alone it had taken on a quartet of forms, no longer united in mind, but united in purpose.

It, the singular it that would recount its history, was a creature of the ocean, a massive mashing together of serpent and cephalopod that glided beneath the tumultuous oceans of this infant world so much like it had in its old home. Schools of fish fled from its approach, tidal waves and hurricanes were born from its wake.

It had the powers of a god, the rest of it as well.

As did their enemy: The Alicorn.

They despised her with every speck of hatred they could muster, for she was a being made of the very light that had fragmented them at the start of the universe, a creature of pure and unbridled creation that populated the planet with all forms of beast and being, spreading out from primordial birthplaces to run rampant like a growing infection on the face of the tumor the Alicorn called 'Reality'.

She smiled a haughty little smile when she saw them, ignorantly calling out to them. She presumed to fly alongside it when it surfaced, speaking of its treachery against the void as though she were a proud parent rather than the architect of horrors that she was. It invariably lashed out at her, sending her flying away with an infuriating giggle. But then there came the insult that made it, all of it, realize she could no longer be suffered:

The Names.

She presumed to name it, to name each of it. Constraining them not only with prisons of flesh and bones, but with terms, descriptors, the final prison that they could not bear.

And so there was war, the four of it against the Alicorn and all her works.

It crafted great storms that smashed against continents, that flooded coasts and ripped squealing creatures from their fragile dens and nests. It tore the oceans apart with riptides and whirlpools that dragged whales down and drowned them in their own habitats, that beached fish by the school's worth. Even when the seas were rendered barren and lifeless, it was not done, for then it merely clawed its way onto land and joined the rest of itself in their vengeance.

It beheld the Three-Who-Were-One cover the land in sickly purple ooze, drowning those it could and draining the will to live away form those it merely grazed.

It saw the Volcanic King turn mountains into fountains of hellish destruction, spewing forth a rain of molten death near and far, choking the skies above with a miasma of thick ash.

The Fury In Yellow sped across the land in a blur of death, sentencing all it bit and stung to a death of drawn out and protracted agony.

All these things it saw as the four of it rampaged across the Alicorn's creation, readying themselves to march upon their enemy herself.

But it was she who found them first. They had seen her cruel mockery, weathered her insulting proclamations and her living terrors. But all of it, every single bit of it paled in comparison to her rage.

She fell upon them all, eyes white, wings flared, horns glowing with ethereal power. Together it could have stood a chance...but it was now only four fragments facing a whole. They were culled before her might, it was sent hurtling away, far far away to crash in the midst of a great jungle. Its lifeblood was draining from its body, it thrashed on the ground in a broken heap, and it knew that The Alicorn would come for it soon to finally destroy it for good...

It needed to escape...it needed to hide...it needed...a vessel...

And as its lifeblood soaked the earth, it found it, deep below amongst the ores and soil...

The Gem, a hiding place away from the wrath of its enemy, but one too small to fit the entirety of its magnificence inside. But with the Alicorn bearing down upon it, there was no choice.

Thus the fragment became a fragment.

====

Pommel's hooves clutched at his head, his body heaving with every ragged breath.

"Nngh...f...g..." Words refused to come to his mouth, eyes shut tight as he tried to regain his sense.

'WOLF? DOOR? WINDOWS?'

"Fff...yeah, you're still just a wolf at the door, doesn't mean the howling isn't a pain in the ass," Pommel slowly opened his eyes, "Anything...else?"

'PONIES. COLTEC. CITY. REVENGE.'

"Kind of a...long history, don't you think?" He winced, a fear starting to take root in the back of his mind, if this took too long, his new 'friend' might notice what a certain group of somebodies were doing.

'TIME. MEANINGLESS.'

"Nngh, yeah, but...I'd rather just...get on with it, you know?"

'ACCEPTABLE. BEGIN.'

"Wait aw fu-" Pommel braced himself as best he could, before his world became nothing but a flurry of images, rapidly smashing into his thoughts, he felt the weight of a millenia trapped beneath rock and soil, weakened to even a shadow's shadow as compared to what it once was. Every attempt to escape met dismal failure, for his strength waned to the point where even contact with the wretched world beyond eroded at its power like acid.

He saw the first rays of sunlight that broke through to his resting place, he felt their warmth against the gem's surface. Soon the architects of it escape made themselves known, the primitive unicorns that one day be known as the Coltec had been digging for precious stones to offer in trade to their enemies for mercy, instead they had found a savior, overlord, and enslaver all in one.

Centuries of history was crammed into his head, the lives of thousands of ponies manipulated through whispers in their minds. The gem was cut and shaped through magic, magic fed into itself and created output at near ten fold, and from it was born miracles as the Coltec rose from squalor, building, expanding...

Conquering.

Flames danced across his vision as the Coltec spread throughout the land like a swarm of enraged ants, bringing all those they did not slay back to their resplendent capitol to -with luck- work as slaves in the fields and mines. Those not as lucky were sent to the gem, sacrificed to feed its strength, their magic devoured in its quest for power, with every pony creating a stepping stone towards its former glory.
He found himself observing an altar beneath the gem, one that held a struggling pegasus upon it. Surrounding the pegasus stood a circle of unicorns in the raiments of priests. As one, their horns were lit, reaching out with their magic to the gem as another unicorn entered with a bird held within the grip of a telekinesis spell.

The bird was placed onto the pegasus' body and the lights of the priests' horns intensified in their brightness. Suddenly, a bright beam of light erupted from the gem, piercing and enveloping both bird and pony, the silhouette of one slowly sinking into the other and beginning to transform it, increasing the wingspan, reforming the muzzle into a wickedly sharp serrated beak, and the hooves becoming horrible claws as feathers broke out past fur and hide. All the while the screams of the pony slowly morphed into the horrendous creature that thrashed against its bounds as the light died away, revealing the grotesque form of a Harpy lying on the slab.

The unicorns looked to one another, nodding in approval of their magical feat, soon Pommel found himself watching the same actions repeated, melding earth pony with fish. The Coltec flourished, a vast empire that sought only to add to its splendor through the power of the Gem. Miracles became a common occurrence within the capitol, defended by its army of hybridized monstrosities. The Gem’s subjects soon began to believe themselves deserving of an even more glorious seat of power, and thus they began to build…

‘CITY.’

They brought the Gem with them in a grand procession, taking it to the sea and using it to call from the depths a great beast, made docile through the Gem’s control. The unicorns built a grand city on the back of the beast, turning mere stone to gold, a bright shining monument to their tyranny. Content with their vanity, the Coltec took the Gem to the tallest tower and drove the beast far into the ocean, leaving behind trusted governors and acolytes to send tributes to the new grand splendor of the Golden City.

The power it had expended was great, but the short term loss was merely part of the plan.

Whispers, whispers in the ear of the most powerful and malleable of its followers. Flourishing the sickening feelings of love and attraction, creating families, bloodlines, lineages, breeding the populace of its empire like the once-Equine creatures that followed their whims. They grew and grew, its power increasing at the pace of a frozen snail but...

It soon found what it wanted.

'CHAMPION'

Yes, a champion, an agent through which its powers could be enacted under the guise of mere mortal strength. A child of nigh-unlimited magical potential, guided by the same whispers that allowed his birth. The child received the best training, guided and groomed to be the key to the Coltec's domination of lands even beyond its already grand empire. The years grew slower, as the macro became micro, as all things became dependent upon the colt's destiny. Finally, the time came as the colt became a stallion, an occasion that not only the Gem, but the entirety of the Coltec had sought after.

A celebration followed, one that brought forth citizens from all over the Coltec’s Empire. They came to celebrate the ascendance of the boy who would become their ruler, their leader, their King. Long into the night the Coltec drank and reveled in the streets of the city, and it was in the dead of night the whispers entered the chosen one’s mind, growing louder and louder...

'COME.'

Until they were a boom within the young stallion's mind. Slowly he traveled through the city, promises of power dancing within his mind. He ascended the tower step-by-step, the promises growing greater and greater until he stood before the great gem that had made his entire life possible. The gem that bade him do a single thing before their power could be fully joined.

'SINK.'

The chosen stallion gave it no thought, his mouth contorted into a wicked, power-hungry smirk, he joined his magic with that of the gem and ordered the great beast his city sat upon to fall beneath the waves in an instant, leaving the harpies to fly away, the fishponies to swim in a newfound kingdom...

And for every single Coltec besides himself to drown in a waterlogged hell.

The souls exploded out from below, fueling the gem, preparing it for its return, to run rampant across the world in a new quest for vengeance against Faust and those who oversaw her vile works.

Unfortunately, there was one thing the Gem hadn't counted on, and that something was in all his training in magic and sorcery, the boy who would become his agent of destruction had possessed a singular glaring flaw. A flaw that manifested itself when he, lost in despair as the enormity of what he had just done, pitched himself over the side of the tower.

He couldn't swim.

"W-wait...you mean to tell me you make an island city on the back of a giant crab squid monstrosity and you forgot to teach your chosen one how to SWIM!?" Pommel broke in, exasperated, before being cowed by an angry hiss, "Okay, okay, your story, I'll let you tell it."

Sadly, that was that, done in by a cruel ironic (and more than likely Faust-driven) twist of fate. The creature within the gem had no recourse but to figure out a new plan. Until then it allowed the harpies and fishponies to fly away to form their own dens away from the city, allowed the great beast the city stood upon to rest, and conjured the perpetual storm that would be known as the Nightmare Tempest, leaving it to its own devices forevermore...

"Until we came along," Pommel completed the though, shaking his head.

'SUCCESSOR.'

"Why me though? I am NOT chosen one dark messiah material here," Pommel grimaced, looking himself over, "I mean, I nearly got killed by a diamond dog in a stupid hat before I even knew this place existed."

'YOU. WILL. DO.'

"What, am I just the best of a bad situation?" Pommel quirked an eyebrow.

'YOU. WILL. DO.'

"Eh, beggars can't be choosers I suppose..."

'JOIN.'

"Nngh! Not yet, asshole, one last thing...what in the holy high hell am I supposed to get out of this deal? I mean, my friends live, yeah, but if I refused and offed myself, you'd still be out a chosen one unless you picked a lackluster unicorn from the pirates," Pommel glared, "Your crab and the other monsters can only take so much punishment, especially with you expending all your magic keeping them under your control. So I ask again, what's in this for m-"

He felt it in an instant, a sudden surge of energy within his body, collecting within his horn, a feeling of power he had never felt before, as though he could destroy Brahmos with a single thought. Visions assailed him, visions of him sitting upon one of the thrones in the chamber at the base of the tower, holding court over the city, waited on fore and back by captured concubines of every shape and size he found pleasing, wealth surrounding him in great glittering piles.

He would be powerful. He would be wealthy. He would want for nothing as the Golden King that would Conquer the World.

"Let me...let me out..." Pommel said hollowly.

'WHAT?'

"I need...I need to see the city..." Pommel's voice echoed in the expanse, "I need to see...what I could rule..."

The gem rumbled, but acquiesced, leaving Pommel to regain his place in the world outside, rising slowly towards the small wall that had failed to keep the stallion before him from falling to his death. A foolish mistake that had given him this opportunity. An opportunity...

"Heh...heh heh heh..." Pommel's sneer of disdain began to fade as the enormity of it set in, "I could...I could have it all, couldn't I? I could guide this city, steer it, conquer nations and feed you entire populations. I could become as powerful as the Princesses, as dashing as Shining Armor, I could rule this world under you..."

He could feel the power still building in his horn, he closed his eyes.

He'd never have this opportunity again...

"I could do all that..."

So what was he waiting for?

"Or...I could do this!"

Without another thought, he blasted the biggest, brightest, most pronounced blast of light out over the city.

'WHAT. DID. YOU. DO!?'

Pommel looked back at the gem and grinned, "Signed our death warrants, you octopus fuck!"

----

The light shone bright out over the city, a beacon that caught the attention of both the beasts that prowled it and the pirates assembled on the wall. For the former, it was a distraction for the latter it was a sign.

Daw looked over at the line of eleven cannons they'd set up, disguised as a queue to be lowered back onto the ship. The pirates manning them glanced back to her, waiting for an order.

"Damn it, lad..." She shook her head, her gaze dropping to the ground before rising again to meet those of the crew, "Fire."

As one the cannons fired, launching their ammunition towards the tower. The cannonballs sailed through the air, smashing into the top of the great spire. Together the pirates looked on as the tower's uppermost reaches slowly began to crumble, the levels below buckling under the new instabilities.

"If that doesn't kill the damned thing nothing will," Doc growled, turning to Daw, "We need to get out of here."

"How the hell are we going to do that?" Shoals spoke up, "Jump off the side of the damn doom-crab?"

A piercing shriek cut through Daw's answer, followed by a rumbling bellow as the ground began to shake.

"Holy hell, look!" Rat pointed out at the city as forms began to fall from the sky, the screaming and thrashing bodies of Harpies tumbling from the sky above to smash in broken heaps on the ground.

"Whatever we did, it seems to have had at least some kind of effect," Doc looked down to the Regret, "I advise we get on the ship while we can."

"Doc you read my mind," Rat replied urgently, nodding for Barksby to grab up Shoals over his shoulders and waving for the other pirates to follow.

Daw didn't move one way or the other, her eyes remained fixed on the tower, her teeth gritted together. A million thoughts ran through her head as she watched for some sign...any sign of life.

Bronze Pommel was not a hero, he'd told her that so many times since she'd met him. He had called himself a coward, a mere guardsman. Despite all his valor, all his acts, he had maintained that he had never been and never would be a hero...

So why was she about to let him die like one?

Without another thought, she kicked off from the wall, a bolt of speed and velocity amidst a rain of falling bodies.

"Be alive," She whispered, "For Faust's sake let him be alive!"

----

Pommel's vision blurred as he laid on the floor of the now extremely damaged tower, he was bleeding, that much he was sure of, even if he wasn't entirely sure he could move his neck. He took ragged breaths as he willed himself towards the center of the tower, fighting through the pain to shake his head and clear his sight.

The tower was swaying back and forth with the wind, errant golden bricks and a single cannonball littered the floor and there was not a trace of the gem to be found save for a single trickle of crimson floating up from the central hole.

'It's wounded,' 32 mused, 'But not dead. I think you know what to do.'

Pommel poked his head over the small wall, looking down to the passage below. The gem had fallen with the roof, wedging itself further down inside one of the holes below. Hairline cracks had formed along its surface, leaking a steady stream of dark red vapor into the air, a vapor that did not wave about on the wind but seemed to shudder and writhe as it rose up and evaporated into the sky above.

Gritting his teeth, Pommel reached out with his magic, dragging the cannonball over towards the hold, lifting it up to the ledge.

'NO!'

Pommel's head shot back as if he'd been smacked with the hardest uppercut in his life. His teeth rattled, his mind became nothing but an incoherent scream of rage, purely beastial demands that he cease what he was doing, that his soul would be forfeit if he even tried to deliver the killing blow. But more than all else, there was a demand to know who was he? Who was he to deny It Its vengeance? Who was he to undo millenia of plotting, of manipulation, of conquest and selective breeding? This was a piece of a creature of untold age and power, who was he?

"Just a gardener," Pommel whispered, then slammed his body against the cannonball, sending it tumbling down the hole and onto the gem...

The gem shattered.

And hell broke loose.

A torrent of crimson exploded out from the hole, accompanied by a scream that made Pommel's ears feel as though they were going to bleed, and a single, final vision.

Death.

Death everywhere.

Harpies falling from the sky in swarms to lie broken upon the ground.

Fishponies writhing beneath the waves and in the streets, choking for air that would not come.

And the Guardian, the gigantic beast that slaughtered its way through Brahmos' fleet, its giant brain finally feeling the weight of eons upon it, its legs buckling, its heavy body sinking beneath the waves as it roared in pain.

'AND...NOW...'

Pommel's brain felt as though it had been thrown in a kettle of boiling water.

'YOU!'

Pommel screamed and fell to his back, smashing his head on a golden brick, and everything went dark.

----

Canterlot Castle burned around him, an acrid stench of smoke filling his nostrils as he ran. He wore rusted and ill-fitting armor, his once pure white coat was now dirty and the skin covered in rough ugly scars. He ran with everything he had, muscles burning as intensely as the inferno around him. Something in the back of his mind caught up with the rest of his body, making him blink and slow his pace ever so slightly.

“Wait...why am I running…” He asked, looking around.

Then a crimson tentacle smashed through a wall to his side and missed him only by a few inches.

‘DIE.’

“GOOD REASON!” He yelped and resumed running, everything flooding back.

‘DIE.’

Behind him, something lurched, more than likely the tentacle’s owner, and the telltale sounds of falling masonry told him he really did not want to turn around.

‘DIE.’

“No thank you!” He shouted, eliciting a roar and another flail of a tentacle that whipped wind past his tail.

The chase lead him through seemingly endless hallways, his tiny yet quick form struggling to keep ahead of the gigantic monstrosity that dragged itself along the ground behind him. The aquatic beast roaring in increasing frustration and rage as it tried desperately to catch him.

“Don’t let him dictate your battlefield,” 32’s voice, faint, but somehow clearer than before, came from somewhere Pommel couldn’t see, “There’s an end to these halls, but you have to find it.”

Pommel grit his teeth, surging forward, fighting hard not to stumble, not to slow and be devoured by the beast’s final desperate attempt at petty revenge.

‘DIE.’

There was a way out.

‘DIE.’

He had to find it.

Tentatively he spared a look towards the side, the fire all around him rose towards the windows but a white light shined through each one, lighting a cycling of the stained glass windows he had seen so many times as a guard in Canterlot. He glared in concentration, knowing that he was hedging a lot on what appeared to be a guess...

‘DIE.’

But either way, it was better than listening to that over and over.

“OH SHUT THE HELL UP!” He finally shouted, stopping in his tracks, he turned to face the creature.

The beast that stood before him was just as it had shone itself in the visions, but different in an strange almost unplaceable way. Its mighty hide was cracked, bleeding out the same wavering smoke-like vapor that had been dissipating in the air, it was missing an eye, leaving behind only a vacant hole, skin flaked away from its tentacles, showing cartilage and bone. It regarded him with the most hatred Pommel had ever seen from any living being, the pure and undiluted hatred of a being that had stood to take everything, to bring forth an age of tyranny and destruction under its mindless rule, only to have had it taken away by one of the same creatures it had used as pawns.

He lit his horn.

The beast lunged.

Magic contacted with glass, shattering it. Pommel braced himself and made a jump for it.

He fell.

He fell...longer than he expected to.

His eyes opened as the wind whipped past his head, looking up at where he’d come from. Canterlot Castle was...above him, upside down and still in flame, debris falling away from it as he plummeted into the sky, it seemed.

“It’s best not to think that hard about it,” 32 said from beside him, falling with him as though he’d materialized out of thin air, “Believe me, you’d have an easier time trying to lasso the wind than figure out the mechanics of the subconscious.”

“Am I dead? Did this whole thing end with my luck finally running out?” Pommel asked over the rushing gusts that brushed past them.

“If you were I think we could have found a better afterlife than perpetual sky-diving,” 32 looked around, “No no, what we have here is our dear friend’s last little bit of spite, it’s trying to overload your head and take you into oblivion with it. My advice? Don’t let that happen.”

“No shit!” Pommel gazed up at the upside down castle, specifically the window he’d burst out of, and the wall around it which was rapidly developing cracks, “What do I do?!”

“We’re dealing with a fragment of a fragment of a fragment,” 32 replied, “And a dying one at that, remember what I taught you and you’ll be fine.”

The wall broke away, the entirety of the beast fell with it, and undulating and thrashing as it fell towards them at a rapid pace.

“Ok, something I didn’t teach you, DIVE! DIVE! DIVE!” 32 angled himself downward, his body dropping at a faster rate, Pommel following suit to match him.

They fell together into the sky, faster and faster with the creature on their tails, Pommel grit his teeth as he could feel the air behind him move with the incoming mass of the creature, he bowed his head, his speed growing even as the monstrosity came closer and closer.

He spared a glance backwards, finding the great form of his pursuer growing even more distorted than before, its entire body up to its head a burning away in a jet black vapor. It reached back its singular remaining tentacle to smash him.

‘DIE-’

And it blew away, its physical form burned away into the darkness.

“It...it’s gone,” Pommel let out a breath, relaxing at last.

“Ha, fantastic,” 32 grinned, “Now it’s just a matter of getting back down.”

“Down?” Pommel blinked, then found his fall impeded as he stopped in midair.

“Give my regards to your one night stand,” 32 said casually, alighting on a cloud, “And try to be careful with the hammock.”

“What are you talking abou-” Pommel’s question was broken off as he began falling again, this time in the opposite direction.

His limbs flailed as the rusted armor flew off him and he found that below was not the castle, but the City of Gold, sinking once more beneath the waves. The city grew closer and closer and Pommel saw the true destination of his fall: A single ship nimbly piloting its way through the thoroughfares on the encroaching waves.

“The Regret!” His eyes went wide as he fell to the great ship’s deck.

Then all was quiet.
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________

>Screwloose
“High Roller”
’12’
=======

>BULLSHIT!

“Wooooo….”

>I… I was almost there, I had it, I freaking HAD it! And then, BAM, it just… just… GAH!

Nothing but pure rage and vitriol escaped the maniacally mental mare, who was fuming so badly that she probably failed to notice that her stump of a leg had completely regrown itself, not a single hair out of place.

“G-go team… we made it… we actually made it….”

Out in the now deserted hallway was where High Roller lie on his back… exhausted, bewildered, and covered in a sea of ash and the unconscious bodies of de-fected ponies.

Feebly, he lifted a hoof in the air and gave it a slight wave.

“Can I… c-can I get a high-hoof over here? Anyone? C’mon now, don’t leave me hangin’….

‘Well, I would. Totally. Best high-hoof ever given, I’d give it. But I’m still stuck to this table and-’

Another growl of frustration left Screwloose as she slapped a sanitization tray onto the floor with a noisy clatter.

>This could have gone places… It was all right there in front of me, it was teaching, and I was learning, deciphering….

Her gaze, gaunt and stricken, swiveled to the piles of ash gathered in front of her door.

>…But now it’s over… it’s dead.

Growing increasingly worried and anxious as the seconds ticked by, 12 watched as Screwloose idly licked her lips.

>So. This is what defeat tastes like. It’d been so long I’d forgotten this bittersweet tang…

‘Defeat? Screwloose, I… what in the hell are you talking about? How’s this a defeat? Look around you, we’re alive! We survived! Neither of us lost ourselves to… to whatever the hell those spore things were! You even got your leg back! It’s over, this nightmare is over! Defeat is no longer a word right now!’

It was with a long-taught patience that Screwloose merely pinched the bridge of her nose with a hoof, sighing terribly.

High Roller coughed a laugh, expelling ash from his throat.

‘What? What is it?’

“Heh… Remember when I said Screws was cra-… insane? Remember that? To understand why she’s upset, you’d have to step into her twisted world, pal.”

‘I’m both mentally unwilling and physically unable to step anywhere, let alone into that mind….’

>Probably for the best, perv. Not many can handle a glance into my mind. Except maybe your Queen? Maybe. We should really look into that when I eventually meet her. I hear talk of mindzotzing, that she’s a good zotzer? There’s a theory that needs testing….

“Screws, you’re rambling, it’s okay to lose. Not everything has to be captured within a little jar to be dissected later.”

>BUT I HAD IT!

Fed up, 12 let out a yell of his own.

‘WHAT DID YOU FUCKING HAVE?’

>Codename: Ashes to Ashes… I already had the labels and everything picked out, which samples I’d study, which ones I’d inject you with and on which day….

‘…’

>It was so beautiful… horrifyingly so. An organism that could effortlessly overthrow the host’s consciousness and implant its own, even go so far as to grow new appendages and even replace lost limbs… such a startling recovery rate… even the Princess herself needed a few days to recover from a bullet to the cranium….

Step into her twisted mind.

He had to step into what made Screwloose Screwloose to see things as she saw them.

Which meant….

‘You… Screwloose, you were planning on getting infected from the start of this… weren’t you?’

Again, High Roller chuckled, deciding to stay limp.

She continued as though the question hadn’t been asked.

>In order to study… one must give time, resources… themselves, if the need arises. Learn how it works, experience the strength of the unknown for yourself, that’s how I work, it’s what I do, it’s… but I took too long, got overzealous… I got lost in trying to figure out the origin and not the control switch, if it even had one….

“Which it didn’t.”

It took every ounce of herself not to lash out at the proverbial carrier pigeon for his ignorant comment.

>How can you know that? How?! We didn’t even have an iota of the time it’d’ve taken to study it properly! So what it nearly took over the entire continent and then some, any idiot with half a brain could’ve figured out how to stop it!

‘If it was so easy then why didn’t you…’

The rest of his sentence died away into nothingness after just one glance at her emotionless, wide-eyed face, tilted ever so slightly in his direction.

For the first time since he’d known her… she truly looked deranged.

For the first time, she looked like she belonged in that straightjacket.

For the first time… he was afraid of her.

‘No… there’s no way you… that you actually knew-’

>I knew about six hours in, perv.

Someone might as well have punched him in the gut for all the impact her admission had on him.

He blustered, fumbling over words in his shock.

Rolling her eyes, Screwloose used her newly mended limb to step on a switch in the floor, a switch that slowly began to tilt the occupied operating table back into its original position.

She approached his head, meeting his disbelieving stare with one of impatience.

>Yeah, I knew. Like I said, it doesn’t take a genius to figure out how to combat hostile sentient organisms if you study their patterns… but it DOES take a genius to craft a method we can use to turn a blight into a gain. But that takes time, which is what I wasn’t afforded because of mass hysteria. Tch….

All he could utter were the same two words.

‘You knew….’

>Your needle stuck, perv? What could I have done anyway, huh? What? I’m a faust-damned earth pony, you get that? I don’t fly, I don’t have any magic- I have to CREATE my magic, I have to test and study and document, strengthen my brain. You won’t see me leading the charge into enemy territory but you can damn well bet I’ll be the one supplying the ones doing the charging.

She leaned even further down over the bound Changeling, the tips of their muzzles almost touching.

>What it would’ve taken to stop Ashes to Ashes was beyond me, it was something only ponies of alicorn-level could accomplish. So to that end I did what I could, I tested, used myself as a guinea pig, I wanted to figure out a way to OWN this before they stopped it… but apparently, Twilight Sparkle and your Queen got tired of seeing everyone fall.

‘H-how do you know it was-’

>Because I have a brain that I exercise daily.

High Roller couldn’t contain a snort at that.

>Twilight is one of the smartest minds in Canterlot… but she’s also young and emotional and prone to sporadic episodes under stress. Knowing that, it’s easy to surmise that she wouldn’t be out in the battlefield during all of this, no, the carnage would break her. She’d be the one safely tucked in her lab, feverishly trying to fashion a way to fix this. The Solar and Lunar princesses themselves, now they’d be out there fighting.

She dragged a gentle hoof down the side of his perplexed face.

>And as for your Queen, that’s just an educated guess. I’ve studied your blood, and I’ve studied this things composition. It could change and alter its appearance just as you and your kind can. Twilight would’ve figured that out as well.

‘So… you… you’re not upset over getting infected, or losing your leg, or me getting infected… you’re upset because you didn’t get the chance to somehow turn this thing into a possible boon for Equestria.’

He barely got out the last syllable of ‘Equestria’ before her lips touched his, briefly, a passing brush.

>Exactly.

Another switch was stepped on out of view. The shackles holding 12 were opened and the table itself shifted sideways, tossing him to the floor.

>It just makes the blood in my veins burn… we could have reengineered this, manufactured it, streamlined it and turned it into a biological weapon, created the best possible defense against whatever else may come! And now we’ll never get the chance, never know what could have happened because we let fear trump logic….

As the table sank back through the blood-saturated floor, 12 climbed to his sore, numb hooves, staring at the sullen mare.

He actually felt pity for her. Fucking insane her methods may be, the end game still lay rooted in protection.

‘Screwloose, I… look at that pile of ash behind you. I think we already know what could have happened. Because it did, it did happen. For all the science in the world, nothing will ever be able to trump the unsettling terror of watching someone you care about be reduced to whatever the hell those zombie things were out there. Twilight wasn’t thinking about the future, she wasn’t concerned with trying to figure out the enemy’s patterns, she was only thinking about her friends and how they were being converted into what they fought against….’

It was a surprise to not only Screwloose but 12 himself when he staggered up to her and threw a hoof around her in a hug that spoke of things he didn’t quite understand.

‘Go with Snake Eyes. This room is no place for a bird to spread her wings. Forget all the benefits and fancy bells he tried to lure you in with. Just think about this: being caged up in here leaves you with no say in how things are done. With this Ashes to Ashes epidemic, you could’ve spoken with Twilight and asked for some time to for your studies. I’m almost positive she would’ve said ‘hell no’ but regardless, more room out there than in here.’

Slowly, he released her, the faint traces of a smile etched onto his lips.

‘So, you know what you have to do… right?’

What she had to do were two things, one of which he couldn’t bring himself to say.

For her sake, she had to go with Snake Eyes to wherever the hell she was needed… even if that meant leaving him behind.

>…

And she knew it.

The room seemed to be oddly sucked of its air in wait for Screwloose’s answer. Even High Roller, down though he was, twitched an alert ear in her direction.

>…Yeah. I’ll go.

The tension faded and High Roller smirked.

“Fucking. Finally. Good going, per-”

>But… before I go, I haven’t been legally discharged from Nurse Redhearts care yet.

When she began to smirk, a tingle of hope and disbelief caused 12’s heart to pump.

>I mean, if I left now I’d be on the run who knows how long, and how can I have the freedom to work while constantly watching my back?

“Oh for crying out loud, why do you have to make everything so damn difficu- so are you going or staying? Which is it?”

>Staying, Snake Eyes. For now. I don’t want any loose ends following me.

“Same old, same old, why am I not surprised? What do I tell the boss, then?”

There was a moment of silence as Screwloose sauntered past a rather pleased 12, her bluish-gray tail lifting to caress the Changeling just under his chin.

>Mmmm… Tell the old fuddy-duddy that I’ll be home for the holidays!
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________

NCOMAKE!

During the attempt to resurrect Shining Armor
~~~~~

"That's not going to work..."

The changeling queen let out a wicked, evil smile.

"You have to do it like this...."

~~~~~

Confused, Twilight walked to where she had heard they last saw Eighteen and Cadence was headed.

"Guys? Are you over here? Did you find Shiny? Guys, I-HOLY SCIENCE CLACKER BALLS ON A DESK!"

From the pile of bodies, a very confused looking stallion's head popped up.

"...Twilight? Why are you in heaven?"

"I'M NOT!"

Slowly, he looked down to the writhing masses, and all the... noises they made.

"...I beg to differ..."
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________

NCOMAKE!
>Pommel
"Daw"
~~~~

>WOO! I'M FINALLY COMING HOME!

"Hope the world hasn't changed too much for you."

>Oh please, what's really going to happen in the course of, what, a couple months?

"..."

>...what?
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________

omake
>AJ
"Guard"
~~~~

>KEEP DIGGIN', WE GOTTA-

"I FOUND THE TREASURE!"

>... The wha-

"I found the dinosaur bones!"

"I found the hidden map to Marelantis!"

"I found the secret door that lead to Luna's stallion-cave!"

>HER WHAT!?

"WEEEEE!"

>Stop swimmin' in it!

"CHOKEY THE ASH MAN! WAS A JOLLY COUGHY SOUL!"

>STOP MAKIN' SNOWMEN!

"ASH BALL FIIIIGHT!"

"TEE HEE!"

>...Glad most of you are resignin...

"YAY!"
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________

>Pinkie
~~~~

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nVMCUtsmWmQ

>WOO! ZOMBIES WENT DOWN AND WE'RE STILL KICKING! Everyone made it out okay and now we're prepping for happier times!
>NEXT TIME! More fallout gets swept away, and some more gets brought right back up! Old friends meet again! Will everyone still be covered in dust? Is applejack going to face mass resignation? Is Pommel finally coming home? And most importantly, can Mayor Mare find a clinch to 'take care of' what happened in the hut that tells no secrets?

>FIND OUT NEXT TIME! SEE YOU THERE, AND MERRY CHRISTMAS
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________