"Well, so are you. You take more lives than me, without as much as half my sense of humor. So how'd you go about raising yours?"
Silver frowned slightly. "Nightshade is not my first child. I had a son, many years ago. I raised him to be kind. Generous. Loyal. Honest. To find the joy in life. True Equestrian values. They did him no great service when Kine rebels murdered him and his mother and burned our home." He stared at the ground. "I swore I would never marry again. And then I met Winter, and she gave me my daughter. I promised myself that Nightshade would not meet the same fate as my son. So I taught her to be strong. Brave. I taught her everything she needed to survive anything this cruel world could throw at her, and she took to the lessons like nopony I had ever seen." He chuckled bitterly. "I may have made a few errors in judgement along the way."
"Silver..." Asmo put his hoof on his shoulder, showing signs of empathy for a change. "Sorry, pal. I didn't know. That sounds... That sounds rough."
"It has been almost nine hundred years," Silver replied. "I have moved on." He opened a bag and pulled out a strip of dried meat, then offered the bag to Asmo. "Beef jerky?"
"Thanks." Asmo snatched the strip of Jerky with his hoof and took a bite. "I keep forgetting. You hate cows, too."
"Never met a kine I could trust. Fun story. One tried to kick Midget Horse once in front of me. It... didn't end well for the cow. Broke its leg. Ate it. Absorbed its memories, as you do. Learned they're raised to be pieces of *squee!*. In fact. In the big boss battle coming, if an army of cows offered to fight by my side, I'd tell that army of cows to buck off." Asmo finished off the rest of his jerky, violently, as if to give the bovine race the hoof.
"That," he replied. "I've heard of that somewhere. Must have been some years ago; I remember seeing a shady-looking stallion in town selling it. Maybe it's an extra bonus that I didn't buy it?"
As Fauststein prepared to take the stage, the army prepared for battle. The ballista were loaded and pointed at the sky. The massive, ten foot bolt were tipped with specialized drill bits designed by Blackheart's Black Forge company, and use by diamond dog miners to extract gems from even the hardest rock. All four princesses, along with the Element bearers, were having a meeting in the royal tent. If they hadn't broken into song yet, they would soon.
"Blackened. We need to prepare. I can feel, he's almost here." Azrael floated his sword over to himself, stepped outside, kicked up a rock from the ground and gave his sword a test swing, cutting clean through it. Satisfied, and determined to kill this snake, he whistled out for his brother. A large flame briefly appeared next to Azrael, and then disappeared, revealing Belial, standing atop scorched earth. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "Ready for one last big fight, babe?" Maya asked Skydust before grabbing her sword in her teeth and heading outside to join the growing army. "I'd hoped to leave the bloodshed behind when we retired," Dusty answered, following at his wife's side. "But sure. One final battle." ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "This pussy-ass snake thinks it can take us out, it's got another thing coming," Raven ranted under her breath, bolting out the door and flying high upward to scan for approaching enemy forces. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Navaja pulled his hood up over his face and hopped to his hooves. "Everypony seems to be getting ready. Y necesito una cartera nueva. Ready, Doctor?" ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Outside, many of Navaja's groupies spread out, a few of the robed figures joining each army. They would be ready to attack from any angle. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "Sounds like ponies are getting ready." Asmo stepped outside and summoned a tentacle behind each catapult, readying to initiate the bombing. "Hey, Silver. If I die, track down Saber... and tell her to go *squee!* herself!"
"Du Du hast Du hast mich" ********************************************************************* The band took the stage and began playing mere moments before sentries cried out the warning. Apophis was coming. ************************************************************************** "Du Du hast Du hast mich" ************************************************************************** Silver flew out of the command tent, meeting the princesses halfway. "Wielders of the God-killer blades, to me! Prepare yourselves! Activate the shield! All troops gather beneath! Night Guards! Defensive formation! Protect the sword-bearers!"* ******************************************************************* "Du Du hast Du hast mich" ***************************************************************** Nightshade grabbed the Chaos blade and flew out to meet her father. She'd seen the snake already. She knew what to expect. The others did not. ******************************************************************** "Du Du hast Du hast mich" ********************************************************************** Cries of terror and disbelief arose from multiple ponies when the snake god came into view. He was fully a mile long, and at least six hundred feet wide at the head. His body was pure black, with a skin of obsidian. Cracks covered the surface of his body, and a fiery red glow came from within. Surrounding the snake was his army, borne aloft by his power. A thousand windigoes. Ten thousand pony wraiths. Two dragon wraiths. An army that would, if not stopped, lay waste to Equestria. ************************************************************************** "Du Du hast Du hast mich Du hast mich Du hast mich gefragt Du hast mich gefragt Du hast mich gefragt und ich hab nichts gesagt" ***************************************************************************************** Unbeknownst to all but the ponies who had planned it, Apophis had traitors beside him. Hidden among his ranks were the thousand changelings that had infiltrated the army outside the Crystal Empire. Princess Twilight, standing between Celestia and Luna, shouted out "THORAX! NOW!" ****************************************************************************************************** "Willst du bis der Tod uns scheidet Treue sein für alle Tage Nein! Nein!" *************************************************************************** The changelings, Thorax among them, all dropped their disguises at once. Working in pairs, each group chose a single wraith and attacked without mercy, slaughtering the creature, and then dove for the safety of the shield. Most made it, and nearly five hundred wraiths dropped in the first attack. ************************************************************************* "Willst du bis der Tod uns scheidet Treue sein für alle Tage Nein! Nein!"
Maya and Azrael bolted over to group up with Silver, brave faces on. "Whaddya need uth to do?" Maya asked, tightening her grip on her sword. Azrael looked to be focusing hard on some form of magic. From the south, dark, heavy clouds began to slowly roll in, glowing occasionally with lightning. "Strun ba qo..." ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "FEEL THE POWER OF A THOUSAND SUNS, YOU BASTARDS! HAHAHAHAHA!!!" Asmo broke all the ropes, letting the catapults fire the nuclear brews miles away, straight at Apophis, ready to vaporize any wraiths surrounding him. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ As the nukes were fired off, Dusty closed his eyes and broadcast a message to every one of the Princesses. "Help me. Shield up. Now. Elsewise, the blast will kill us all." He then cast his spell. He was able to spread his shield over the area, but alone, it wouldn't be strong enough to save them from the blast. Raven flew down and landed next to Dusty. Her heart was pounding. She was smiling a crazed smile, the way she did when she leapt off that airship years ago. Fauststein was blaring. Ice monsters. An angry god. And she had gotten laid. This was the best birthday she could have ever asked for. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Belial stayed put, casting a spell on his sword, causing the blade to catch fire. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Navaja exited the bar, taking a deep breath. He was no stranger to a fight, but he may have been outclassed by many of the ponies around him. Still, he had to be brave, for the sake of Equestria. He dashed forward and found a tree to perch himself on. As his robes changed color to blend in with the tree, it became clear they were enchanted. He would sneak attack first group to pass under him.
He pushes his glass aside and sprung up from the stool upon hearing those words. "Then let's do it," he proclaimed as he joined the group that formed outside.
Belial turned his head to look at Blackened, taunting, "You're not about to die in the first five minutes, are you, guitar fixer?"
He smirked some. "Tell you this," he responded, "if there's an afterlife and we kick the bucket in that time, I'll buy you our first drink."
"Silence your pet!" Silver shouted over the roar of the nuclear fires. "Lady Ember! When it is safe, send in..." "Way ahead of you," the Dragon Lord said with a smirk. The air above the shield was still hot enough to melt steel, and the dragons were already in the fight, their massive heatproof forms grappling with the windigos that had shielded themselves from the blast. Apophis had reacted quickly, and had shielded many of the wraiths closest to him. The bulk of the army, however, had burned. Apophis, the invincible god, had lost more than half his army in a matter of minutes. Less than four thousand wraiths remained, and only seven hundred windigos. The dragon wraiths, massive beasts fully the size of the former Dragon Lord Torch, were unharmed by the blasts.
"You say 'if' as you speak to a pony who's seen the other side," Belial replied, shaking his head. "Belial, shut the hell up." Azrael continued focusing on rolling those clouds in. They had been blown apart by the blast, but didn't take more than a few seconds to reform. As they drew close enough, lightning bolts began to reach out, striking and killing groups of wraiths. Belial vanished in a poof of flame, again scorching the earth where he stood. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "That... was bucking awesome!" Raven chirped, prancing in place. "Compose yourself," Dusty warned. "I still sense thousands left." ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Belial reappeared far outside the shield, high above one of the dragons. A master of fire, he could handle the scorching heat. He let gravity take over as he plunged his sword downward, aiming for the dragon's skull.
"Once the wraiths are thinned, the sword-bearers will take their positions," Silver said. "You will each have a squad of Night Guards to protect you, and they will follow your commands. Do NOT waste their lives. The various factions will also be there if you need them. Do not hesitate to call on them." ********************************************************************************************** The dragon spotted Belial above him, and opened his massive jaws to snap the pony up.
Belial saw this as a new opportunity and dove headlong into its mouth, preparing to cut its throat from the inside out. ~~~~~~~ Maya nodded. "You can count on uth, Thilver."
