EPISODE 4: A Game of Thrones
*the pawns fall, kings are placed and risen, only to be knocked down again... in the game of thrones... you win... or you die... there is no middle ground* excerpt from the secret book of Bemanl the Fallen
Celestia and Luna stood atop a hill, watching the battle insue below, a few hundered unicorns and pegasi charged forth into the fray, headed for the main castle of this province, yet another kingdom would fall before Equestria's might, but so far they only had a small few provinces under their command, still... it was a start...
Soldiers crashed upon the stone walls, hot oil culdrons poured upon them as firebolts lit them aflame, unicorns levitating bows upon the castle walls launched volly after volly of arrows upon the earth ponies below who were currently protecting themselves under the CATs.
Trebuchete launched several flaming stones enchanted with combustion at the protective walls, exploding upon impact.
Anti seige equipment returned fire, taking out chunks of Equestria's invading forces.
In the beginning, Celestia had been fairly confident, but now... things weren't looking to be in their favor so much...
'But I can't give up...' she thought fervently to herself, the 'princess of the sun' as she had come to be known, flew up high into the sky with the other pegasi soldiers, many of them charged over the castle walls, narrowly avoiding the archers, but carrying a highly explosive liquid in pales beneath them, pouring it all within the city walls, dousing the ponies within.
When Celestia believed that a sufficient ammount of the ponies had been covered in the liquid, she launched a hurling ball of fire within the stronghold's keep, lighting everypony in sight ablaze.
Chaos followed, ranks broke, commanders lost touch with thier units, and burning ponies galloped around looking to put out the flames in panic.
The barring ram crashed through the gate, and Equestria's forces poured through into the chaos, hacking off heads, hurling destructive spells and impailing ponies along their way, soon making it to the very heart of the keep it'self, and as they entered, so to did Celestia and Luna.
Immediately upon entering, everypony saw the ruling lord of this province, but as he stood up with resolve in his eyes, ready to give some sort of brave speech or perhaps even a concede defeat, Luna shot a flying ice spike right into his throat, decapitating him.
Celestia blinked "well... that's ONE way to end a war..." she said shaking her head.
Luna merely shrugged "it's quicker" was her only response.
The sisters finalized control and rule over the new estate and divided up the lands among the higher class of their society before taking rest.
"Tia?" Luna said suddenly, the two of them ridding in a pegasus drawn carriage towards their castle in Canterlot.
"yes?" the elder sister replied.
Luna was quiet for a moment before she finally blurted out "when will this war end?"
Celestia tilted her head, not sure what her sister meant by that "Luna... we just won the war, I'm not sure I-" "YOU KNOW WHAT I MEAN!" Luna burst out, cutting her sister off. "when will it be enough?! when will you be satiated? when will you have conqurered enough lands? when will enough ponies of DIED to make you happy?!" the night princess shrieked.
Before Celestia could stop her, Luna hopped off the carriage and took flight, leaving a very distraught Celestia behind.
"... it's for the greater good..." she told herself... but deep down, she wondered if she truly belived it.
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/
Sherbert floated along the cobblestone streets of the last northern city not unified under the kingdom of Morthal, his ethereal lich form bringing great distress to the many ponies he passed, his bipedal form gliding over the ground like the ghost he was.
But they were more detered by what was following behind him...
With no effort at all, Sherbert flung the doors to the last free kingdom's castle and stormed in with a strange follower in tow.
"what is the meaning of this?!" somepony in the far back screemed, the king Sherbert guessed...
"ah... well... I assume you are the current ruler of this er..." he waved a hand absentmindedly "this place" he said with some detestment in his voice.
The King stood up on all fours "who or whatever you are, begone from my sight or I shall have you beheaded!" at the king's words, his guard stood up, ready to defend him.
The lich laughed "oh my oh my... the poor little king looks upset!"
some of the guards scowled "how dare you speak to the Earl of Memphas like that!" (brownie points if you know where I got that from)
The lich made to roll his eyes, or would have if he had any...
"well then... if you don't want to have any fun with me... then perhaps she can provide some entertainment for you!"
Sherbert stepped to the side to reveal what looked like a chair of some sort, but with wheels on its sides...
The being in it... looked mummified, some sort of equine, but its entire body was covered in bandage wrappings, cloth with various runes and seals etched into the fabric.
The equine's body was also strapped to the chair, forelegs bound to the arm rests with leather sinches and hindlegs strapped to the plate of a chair leg with even more.
Its torso was strapped to the chair seat with multiple chains, alls that was visible of her body was her left eye, a silvery white color that peered into the souls of all within the room.
Sherbert leaned down to where her ear would be "my dear... these ponies want to play with you, doesn't that sound fun?"
a slight bit of excitement seemed to shoot through that piercing silver eye, it squinted slightly in what was probably a sick twisted smile, the eyelids ripped and blood dripped down her face onto the cloth and through her silver eye.
"I've had enough of thi-" the Earl started, but before he could finish, one of the lords at his table shrieked "B-BLOOD!" he chucked the cup forward onto the table and indeed, there was blood pouring out from it.
All of the other Earl's guests looked into their goblets to find that all their drinks had been turned to blood.
The torches on the walls erupted with fire, blazing high into the sky.
"what is this dark sorcery?" the king shouted, just then, one of his vasaals vomited, clenching his head before lunging on one of the servants and snapping his jaws at her neck.
"wh-what in tartarus!?" one of the guards yelled before signaling for the rest of them to help him restrain the mad stallion.
The whole time, Sherbert watched the chaos with a sick entertained smile.
"Isn't my love fun to play with?" he said with a raspyness in his voice.
Then, the Earl's own son began digging his forehooves into the table, grinding in the words 'the gods are dead the gods are dead the gods are dead over and over until his hooves bled, and even then he continued.
The Earl looked around horrified, even his dogs cowered in fear before suddenly attacking eachother with ferocious hunger, ripping off chunks of eachother's bodies.
"ENOUGH OF THIS BLASPHEMY! YOU HAVE NO POWER HERE, DEMON!" The Earl's HIgh Priest exclaimed, he trotted uneavenly on two legs while holding the symbol of one of the gods in one hoof while the other made divine signs in the air, stalking towards Sea Sprinkle's mummified form.
The lich frowned 'hmm... another cleric...' he thought that he might need to interveen, but as the priest stepped close, Sea's peircing gaze locked onto him and suddenly his holy symbol burst into flames, scorching his hoof.
"aaach!" he shrieked as the sigil of his faith melted on the ground, but Sea wasn't done with him yet, the priest found his gaze locked within the witch's and suddenly the priest's eyes went blank, he sat very still for a moment... then burst out screeming with a deafining roar of terror.
Falling to the ground and rolling back and forth in agony as he clenchd his head with his forehooves.
The Earl shook with horror and fear, his vasaals began running throught the castle to escape the madness, and the guards flew out the window to gather the armies.
Sherbert rested his head on the witch's bound one, stroking her swaddled face lovingly as he stared amusedly at the chaos unfolding before him.
"hm? what's that dear?" the lich asked as he leaned his hear down to Sea's covered mouth.
...
"ah... well... if you want to end the fun so early then..." Sherbert said as he sighed.
Giving a shrug, the lich used his dark majiik to release the seals on the swaddles and break the chains before ripping the cloth away.
Sea's body mutated and devolved into a depraved monstrosity; the Earl's eyes widened in horror, the now arriving soldiers froze and gawked in disbelief.
"WHAT THE BUCK IS THAT THING?!" somepony screemed.
The only words that the Earl could utter were, "...by the gods..."
They were his last words.
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/
Jupiter sat sighing as he contemplated the many kingdoms he'd conquered, alls that was left were the northern wastes along with some new expanding kingdom in the midwest, Eque-something...
Suddenly the god-king jumped, his subconcious clicking as something hit him.
"it... it's... I don't belive it... I FOUND HIM!" he said giddely, his mind locking onto the last Alicorn life force in the world.
'huh... funny... it's in... aproximately... that Eque-something place...'
Jupiter smiled 'well... I do belive I know where my next conquest lie...' he thought giddily before heading throughout the palace into another room, coming to face just the dragon he was looking for... unfortunately he was currently in a heated discussion with his wife.
"ingrate!"
"pompus bitch!"
"useless reptile!"
"uncomglamaeratory cretin!"
Violet recoiled "uncom-what?"
Crimson smirked "so you aren't as smart as you previously thought hmmm?" he sneered.
"fillies fillies please, you're both pretty can we move on to more pressing issues?" Jupiter chided casuing both his protogé and his wife to blush.
"heh... sorry dear" Violet said with a bow.
Crimson gave her a last snort before tilting his head towards Jupiter "appologies"
"good... now then... we have a war to prepare for" he said with a rueful smile.
Crimson goraned "another one?" this earned a growl from Violet, "how DARE you?! he is the KING! who are you to questio-" "stuff it, I grew tired of you a while ago" Crimson cut her off as he shuffled away on all fours.
Violet was left gawking an sputtering incoherant nonsense.
Jupiter just rolled his eyes and sighed.
"well.. at least this one will be entertaining..."
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/
Sherbert sat within his throne in his black castle east of Morthal, he contemplated the maps and indeed, he now had all the northern territories under his control.
It was now time to move on to bigger and better things!
He shifted through the map and his sight lowered to the southern kingdoms, the map was freshly updated, showing that there were three major territories.
There was his own, then Equestria which comprised of four kingdoms, and then there was the southern sandlands, which comprised of most of the provinces and were all ruled over by the 'god-king'
Sherbert chuckled, "well... guess I'll just work my way down..."
A vampire trotted up to him.
"yes?"
"... she hungers..." was all he said.
Jupiter sighed, his wife's new form was astronomically more powerful but... it had a price...
"very well... head to the soul cairn and gather some more 'food' for her..."
the vampire bowed before leaving.
The lich once again sighed, but this one was of melancholy... 'Sea...'
a tear would have escaped his eye if he had any...
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/
Celestia rapped her hoof on Luna's chamber door "Luna..."
no response.
"Luna... please..." once again there was no answer.
Celestia huffed, anger now replacing her regret as she teleported inside Luna's room.
"really now Luna, this is heavilly foalish and..." Celestia began, but her speech was cut short as she witnessed an atrocity being commited, in the center of the room, Luna was practicing witchcraft rituals
"LUNA!" the white Alicorn shouted in disbelief, causing the night princess to jump.
"TIA! have you ever heard of knocking?!" she said as she frantically shuffled the dark scrolls and unholy spell tomes under her bed.
Celestia stared gaping, trying to formulate some sort of coherent response; she wasn't allowed one as a messenger pegasus rushed up behind her.
"your majesty! there is an emissary from the southern kingdoms!" he said frantically, at the same time, another messenger sprinted up.
"your majesty! a representative of the northern wastes has arrived!" he got out pantingly.
Celestia looked between the first messenger, then the second, then Luna, and then at the floor.
"... tell the northern messenger I will be down shortly, and you, tell the emissary that my sister shall address him soon."
both messengers bowed before rushing back to the respective council rooms.
Celestia sighed heavilly, feeling the three centuries of her age catching up with her, then she looked to her sister "when this is all said and done... you and I shall have words" she said somewhat coldly before stalking out of the room.
Luna looked at the ground with a guilty expression on her face, knowing that there was to be trouble ahead...
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Celestia huffed as she arrived in the bright council room of the sun.
"ah... just the ruler I was looking for" a dark grey pony with silvery hair and red eyes spoke as he sat in one of the floor cushions around the council table, there were also several chamberlins and a few greater Lords who unsteadilly watchd the eery pony before them.
"and who might.." Celestia began, but paused as her evil detection flared at the sight of the representative.
Celestia's voice boomed throughout the council room "I WILL NOT HAVE A FILTHY VAMPIRE IN MY PALACE!" she roared with such might that the room shook, and the lords cowered under the table.
The vampony dug his forehoof into his ear as if comforting it from the pain of the loud noise "such a boisterous mare, you certainly get your point accros though, and so shall I" he began as he cleared his throat infront of a seething Celestia, "the great death king of the north gives you an ultimatum, quite simply, surrender the provinces of Equestira to his rule or die" he said nonchulantly.
Celestia narrowed her eyes "oh he does does he?" she said as she trotted menacingly towards the disconcerned vampire "well here's what he can do with that offer" she said sweetly before lifting the vampire up with her majiik.
"HE CAN SHOVE IT UP HIS REAR!" she screemed as she encased the vampire in a ball of sunlight, roasting him into ash as his screems of agony filled the room.
Celestia was left huffing as adrenalin shot through her body, it wasn't until after she'd calmed down that realization dawned on her, "... assemble the genreals..." she said calmly to the rest of the terrified ponies in the room.
"NOW!"
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Luna trotted through the hallway towards her room, still fired up from the ridiculous offer that the emissary had made.
"Sister?" Luna heard from behind her, she turned to see Celestia trotting up.
"oh... hello Tia..." Luna said quietly as she scuffed a hoof in the dirt.
"so... how did your meeting go?" Celestia said with a half hearted smile, hoping that there wouldn't be two kingdoms going to war with Equestria.
Luna looked away with a blush as she nibbled on her hoof, a telltale sign that she'd did a baaaad thing.
"Luna..." Celestia said a bit more serious now.
Luna dropped her head in shame "I... I may have... uh... ripped him in half, reanimated his corpse and sent it back to the southern kingdoms with a 'buck you' message?" she said as she lifted her head up with a sheepish smile.
Celestia's eye twitched with a fake smile on her face "ah... well... ok then... just checking... ha ha..."
'this isn't going to end well...' she thought to herself.
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/
Sherbert was floating along the dead guarden of his black castle when he saw a pegasus flying overhead, raising a rotted brow in curiosity, he focused his aura sense more acutely when the pegasus overhead dropped a sack infront of him before flying off.
Sherbert stared at the sack for a few seconds before opening it up with his majiik, within were the ashes of the representative he'd sent to Equestria.
"well... I suppose that sums it up doesn't it?"
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Jupiter saw the doors to his chambers fly open as his guards ran in with horrified faces, the god-king stood up with a cocked eyebrow until the emissary he'd sent to Equestria trotted well... more so crawled with the upper half of his body into the hall, rotting zombie guts pouring out of him as he reached the steps.
"..." Jupiter didn't really know how to respond to this until the zombie spoke with Luna's voice, a very unflatteing message filled with obsenities not befitting of a princess, at the end the zombie burst into dark blue flames and was reduced to ash.
"well!" Jupiter said, a bit stunned "that was er... interesting... I think we have our answer..."
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Luna marchd with half of Equestria's army southward to a lagre open grassland, very unsure of this plan.
Equestria's forces were small already compared to the other major empires, but splitting them in half to meet each of the invading forces?
Luna shook her head increduously, but she needed to stay foucused, especially now that her army was arriving infront of their opponants.
Luna saw the god-king's own army which vastly outnumbered her own by 70 to 1.
The night princes gulped, things were NOT looking good...
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Celestia arrived with her own half of the army in the boarder to the northern wastes, but what she met... she was not expecting in the least...
There was indeed a small army of vamponys and skeletons and zombies, but they were few in number and hung far back from two beings approching the day princesses army.
Celestia reamained on guard, expecting some sort of trick from ponies who would incorperate vampires.
But there were no tricks from these two strange beings, one of them floating along the surface of the snow, a large scythe held behind his back and bipedal form swadled in black and red robes, face rotting flesh and eyes empty sockets.
Next to the lich was another being wrapped up in swaddles and restrained to a wheele chair, the being within it had only one eye exposed which was currently closed as if the being were sleeping.
Celestia narrowed her eyes "you must be jesting..." she said dryly.
The lich smiled his twisted rotting smile as he floated behind Sea Sprinkle and pushed her wheel chair up until they were ontly thirty paces from Celestia's army, her unicorn battlemages in their enchanted robes and warrior pegasi suited up in steel platememail holding as many weapons as their apendages would allow.
And then Celestia saw it, the sealing runes on the handicaped ponie's badages, imaculately strong seals meant for binding god-like beings.
"what... what is that 'thing'" she gestured at the seated pony.
Sherbert chuckled, then he leaned his head down on his wive's bound one and ran a boney hand along her jaw line, "awaken my love, it's time to come out and play" he whispered into where her ear would have been.
A silver eye shot open and immediately teh front line soldiers of Celestia's army were paralyzed with fear, then one of them attacked the pony next to him, attempting to bite his throat out.
"what?!" Celestia screemed, but to her right, another pony went mad, his back seeming to fold in on itself as he landed on it with his legs flipped around in a disturbing manner, he launched himself at a random soldier causing more chaos in Celestia's ranks as they scuffled around to either avoid or attack the mad-stallion.
Celesita had had enough, she looked towards the demonic being and shot a beam of light, but her attack was blocked by the lich who rose a black majiik barrier.
"ah ah ah! why ruin the fun so quickly?" The lich said mockingly, then he turned towards his wife "hm?... are you sure?... but the fun's only just begun... well if you're certain..." he mumbled seemingly to himself.
Celestia attempted more attacks, hailing down fire lightning and clerical light.
The first two were easy for the lich to block, but the last was quite a bit tougher, he could unerstand now why his wife wanted to fight her solo; this Alicorn seemed like she'd offer quite a bit of entertainment.
protected under a black runic barrier, the lich worked his majiik to dispell all of Sea's bindings and then... her true form was unleashe.
Celestia's eyes widened in horror "wha...what...ARE you?!"
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Luna sliced through yet another opponant with the bladed armor on her wings, she levitated another pony and ripped him in half.
Things were going very badly for her, hundreds of her soldiers were being impailed, bludgeoned, and sliced apart.
one of the generals fell at Luna's feet "M'lady... I don't... think... we're winning..."
Luna's eyes cast along the dying army around her, they were horribly outnumbered and outmatched...
Luna fell to her kneese "n-no...no..." her yes scanned across the corpse of those who had followed her orders into death, the faces of ponies who depended upon her decisions.
"no..." anger welled up inside her "we will not fall this day..." black majiik fuled inside of her as she rose, her horn began to glow "WE WILL NOT FALL THIS DAY!" with a blast of unholy light, all those of her armies who had fallen suddenly began to rise, their herbevorious teeth forming pointed fangs.
Pegasi found their manes turning black, their feathered wings becoming bat-like, Unicorns rose as liches and earth ponies became flesh golems.
The god-king's army found their confidence unerved as these undead hordes began plowing through their forces like a manticore through shrubbery, sundering their tanks and devouring most of them alive, some even having their souls raptured.
In the far back, the god-king himself along with Crimson watched from afar, entertained by the battle thus far.
Until now that is.
"hmm.." Jupiter mused "i suppose we will get some entertainment after all..." smiling, he stood and began stalking towards the now evened armies, but more specifically, towards Luna.
'I think I understand now...' he thought to himself, 'why I only could feel the presence of one Alicorn... it's because... you share your soul with another...' he said grinning 'killing is going to be... interesting'
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Celestia smacked into the ground, the giant fleshy pinkish yellow creature having knocked her down with one of its hundred tendrils, the main body of it was 50 feet thick in diameter, the botom was rooted in place by giant clawed lims, it's mass stretching up high above the clouds, its top pluming out like an enemine.
Bits of flesh fell from the mass onto the ground, only to become demons as they hit the snowy surface.
Celestia's forces were being cut down like wheat by the infernal grotesque beings of tartarus, the whole while Sherbert stood back by the undead army watching with amusement.
Celestia blasted beam after beam of holy energy at the giant mass, but each hit only did minimal damage to such a huge creature.
More tentacles latched onto Celestia's limbs and tore them off, the Alicorn fell to the ground and used the remaining ones to lunge at an incoming demon and bite his throat out.
Celestia's limbs quickly regenerated as she rose to fight the mosnter before her, but then a series of small cords from the giant mass extended out as a fleshy body materialized from it in a disgusting slimy goup.
A bipedal pony with hands and fingers now stood before Celestia, the being's back having 6 long puss filled cords connecting it to the giant mass.
What's more, she lifted her silver eyes to stare into Celestia's, the being's body with lith but heavilly toned, her tail and mane hanging over her face were a ghostly grey.
"hhhnnnnnnnnggggg..." the being moaned, its pinkish slimy mouth opened to reveal several rows of seraded teeth.
"IIIIII aaaaammmmm lllleeeegggiiooooonnn" Was all that Sea Sprinkle said before sprinting at Celestia faster than even her vampires could move.
Celestia used every bit of her own super speed to hastilly dodge a few attacks, Sea's fingers morphed into long blades as they slashed and hacked at her.
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Luna hit the ground, Jupiter didn't give her any time to recuperate, he rushed up to her downed body, grabbed her foreleg and yanked her up in the air and slammed her down on his opposite side, then tore her arm off.
Luna tried to get a spell off but Jupiter grabbed her horn and snapped it off before she could, then he picked her up by her neck and snapped it, then jumped up thirty hooves in the air while holding her and slammed her back into a large boulder, snapping her spine.
Jupiter thrust his hand into her chest and ripped out a rib and shoved it into her eye, she swong back with her other forehoof which connected with his jaw with super strength and detatched the hinge of the jaw, ripping it from the rest of his skull.
Jupiter picked Luna's head up and tore it off, then used the few inches of spine on it to impail her head through her heart, then tossed her off the boulder into the ground forming a crater in it.
Luna had scuffled with her sister pleanty of times and had by most pony's standard's more or less died, but this was a whole new level of carnage, her body regenerated from every leathal attack that Jupiter dished out, but her stamina was growing more and more weary with every hit.
Crimson was flying around the battlefield, setting the vampires and flesh golems ablaze with his fire, then diving in to devour the liches, consuming their power.
Luna idly wondered how her sister was faring...
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Sea cut Celestia in half with a bladed arm morphed into a sword for what felt like the hundreth time, her guts fell out onto the snow as she crawled with her forehooves tried to escape, but Sea Sprinkle wouldn't have it, using bladed hands extended by whiplike limbs, she sunk a hookblade into Celestia's back and lifted her into the air like a butcher's pig.
Celestia's blood trickled down her face as her body akwardly regenerated around the bladed hook in her back, but for every limb that she regrew, Sea just ripped it off with tendrills jutting out of her torso.
Celesita could barely stay awake, her stamina had rached its limit, even if her regenration kept healing her body, she was just to tired to fight back after hours of the most intense combat she'd ever experienced.
The white Alicorn was tossed onto her back while Sea lunged ontop of her and opened her four piece mouth "GIVE ME YOUR SSSSSOULLLLL!" Celestia could see faces and eyes at the back of Sea's throat, she quckly grabbed the witche's head with her forehooves to hold her mouth back.
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jupiter was holding Luna by her throat "so... are you goint to tell me who you are? what your story is? hm?" he said as she chucked her mangled body several hooves away.
at this point, Luna's undead forces were very few in number now as the black dragon reduced them to ash.
"w-what does it matter? plrgh!" she coughed up blood, her regeneration was getting slower and meeker.
Jupiter shrugged "well... if you die here and now it matters not... but if you live and not tell well... it would be as if you stabbed me in the back" he walked over to her her stuggling prone form.
"u-unlike y-you, I've never s-stabbed anypony in t-the back!" Luna struggled ot get out.
Jupiter lay down next to her on his side "filly... if you wanna kill a stallion like me, you better stab me in the back... that's the catch" he said with a dark smile
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*you see... honorable ponies...*
Celestia drew a forehoof back and clocked the witch upside the head, sending her flying with immense force.
*well, they die hard...*
No sooner had Celestia risen then had the witch lifted her into the air and impailed her a dozen times over with several tendrils.
*but they still die*
Sea ripped Celestia asunder, her head and fore arm and a sliver of her chest were the only things intact as she fell to the ground, the witched hovered over her menacingly
*it's monsters like me who live... and conquer... you see the fight isn't about who's right...*
the witch descended upon Celestia's slowly regenerating form, she just barely managed to raise a holy barrier to defend herself from the witches soul devouring mouth.
*but about who's left... heh, there is no 'judge'... it's allllll about the next day...*
Celestia could feel her barrier weakening, could smell her own death hanging over her, waiting, smiling.
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Jupiter held his hand infront of Luna's exausted face "you see these hands filly?" he stood up, "these hands have taken the lives of a hundred and eleven immortals..."
he turned to her and pointed at his hooves "these hooves have stood before a thousand fools who thought they were gonna kill me" then he outstretched his arms "but my heart is STILL pounding!" he turned around, and Luna took the opportunity to siphon the last of her majiik into her right forehoof, keeping it hidden under her body,
this was her last resort... she didn't even know if this grandmaster spell would work but... there was no other choice...
Jupiter apparently didn't realize as he continued his musings "every time I find another Alicorn I think 'maybe this one's different somehow... special' but they always end up bleeding all over the ground at my hooves just like all the rest..." he shook his head slowly.
Luna felt her body vibrate from the dark energies coelescing in her right forehoof 'just... a bit... more...'
Jupiter looked up to the sky "in the end... it always has the same result I suppose... that invigorating scent... can you smell it on the wind?..."
Luna rose slowly and silently, a large sphere of black energy surrounding her hoof.
"...the air is thin at the point of death..."
Luna lunged forwards with a shriek and Jupiter felt a rippling pain corse through his body, he looked down at a giang black crystal piercing through his back and out his chest, his eyes widened in horror as he reaized what dark majiik this was... the same that he'd used to kill all the other Alicorns... the only way to kill an alicorn... to devour their soul.
"RRRRRRAAAAAAAGHHHH!" energy blasted out from the god-king scaring the landscape around them, beams of energy shooting out randomly striking soldiers from both sides, Crimson looked down from the sky in shock as Jupiter levitated into the air with Luna hanging beneath him, connected by the giant black crystal as it channeled Jupiter's energy into her body.
The souls of one hendred and eleven Alicorns plus Jupiter's own flowed throughout Luna, all that power, all that immortality, all that knowledge invaded her mind and spirit, ravaging her body as it absorbed the esscence of all the immortals ever born in this world.
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Celestia's barrier finally shattered, but before the witch snapped at her with her soul drinking mouth, the Alicorn blasted her back, feeling a strange new strength filling her up, her body lifted into the air as it was raptured with and unfathomable ammount of power.
Suddenly Celestia felt like she was pulled out of existence itself, she looked around bewildered, her body was completely healed and all her energy had returned, she turned to her side and saw Luna there.
"Luna?"
"Tia? wh-what's happening?"
"I... don't know..."
A blinding light interrupted them, they looked forward to a silver city, large golden gates opened as bipedal beings in white robes, glowing with divine light, covered in robes with of white with hoods concealing most of their faces, their maws were flat and lacked any equine features to them.
Their backs were adorned with six outstretched large silvery flourescent pegasus wings with seven light blue eyes on the interior of each individual wing, the eyes had no iris or whited area or lids and small silver puils that moved around to gaze upon there surrounding, their hands and fingers looked like they were made of pure light, as did the lower section of their alien faces not covered by their hoods.
Four of these beings walked towards the Alicorns with not hooves, but feet covered by white a fell voice on the air sung out praises to the divines never once breaking or pausing.
Celestia's mouth dropped and her eyes widened "...y-..y-you're... t-the gods!"
The four celestial beings stood infront of the immortal sisters, the one on the far left spoke with a silky voice that resonated like harp strings.
"yes... I am known by many names, I am Nature" her voice sounded of a female.
The one to Nature's left spoke next "I am known by many names, I am Death" his voice was raspy yet strong.
The one to the left of Death spoke "I am known by many names, I am Balance" his voice was monotonous and lucked any luster or intimidation.
To the left of Balance the last spoke "I am known by many names, I am Birth" her voice was incredibly gentle and flowed like water.
Celestia and Luna didn't know what else to do other then bow.
Nature spoke "rise young ones... today you shall come to stand among us as equals".
both the Alicorns recoiled "wh-what?!" they said in unison.
Balance seemed to grind his teeth before he spoke up "this... was not planned... or expected... but there really is no choice in the matter... it simply must be".
Celestia blinked as she looked to the other gods, "I-I don't understand!"
Luna was to baffled and speechless to do anything other then stare blankly.
Birth placed a hand on Balance's shoulder "it is for the best..." she said gently, but Balance still seemed upset.
Death sighed and spoke up "yes well... to make matters simple... you, and by that I mean your kind, the Alicorns... were created specifically to rule over the other three races and keep them in line... but now..." he looked to Nature uneasilly.
Nature nodded "you two... or rather you one, as you share a single soul, are the only Alicorn left" she said matter of factly.
Celestia frowned "share a soul?"
Nature nodded again "yes, an experiment that we attempted in order to deteer Jupiter from killing all of the other Alicorns but... well it seems the plan worked a little too well..."
before Celestia could respond, Balance spoke back up, though he was clearly unhappy it couldn't be detected through his monotone voice "one Alicorn cannot rule over all the ponies of the world, but now that is how it must be until another is born... strong as we made you... even the living immortals cannot rule over an entire world by themselves."
Celestia was silent.
Birth spoke next "you... well... will need the indominitable will and power of a true god in order to govern and protect the mortals of the entire pony race"
Celestia was still silent, she had no idea how to properly respond... how does one respond to being told that you will become a god?
Celestia nudged her sister and the two of them bowed "I...we cannot properly express our gratitude for this peerless gift" she said.
Balance curled his lip in annoyance "no you can't" which earned a turned head from Death "it's not that bad..."
Balance turned to him in anger his voice growing louder but still having the same pitch and tone "we can hardly trust eachother with divine power let alone these ponies!".
Celestia became very curious at that cryptic remark but held her tongue.
Death let out a "hmmm" in agreement but shook his head "regardless, the ponies must be united and we cannot disrupt the scheduel of Alicorn births, you know what that would cause..."
Balance tunred away heading for the golden gate "I will NOT be a part of this!" and as soon as his glowing form touched the top of the stairs, he dissipated into an ethereal smoke that billowed into heaven.
Luna felt like she was standing in the room while her parents fought, it was a very awkward and uncomfortable feeling, she didn't like it.
Birth put her hand under Luna's chin and lifted her up "there there foal... it is non of your concern" she said in a motherly tone.
Death 'ahemed' to gain every being's attention.
"let us er what is the mortal daying? get on with it yes that's it"
the three gods stood next to eachother and raised their hands, palms facing outward.
"WAIT!" Celestia cried, shocking both the gods and Luna.
"please... I have so many questions..." she pleaded, her thirst for knoledge growing as she realized that these beings held the secrets of the universe.
Nature smiled "do not fret young one, all of the gods can enter this place at will... it may be harder to leave but since you were born as being of flesh and blood it should be no trouble for you... we will have time to talk in the future, infact I think it is unavoidable"
Celestia relaxed at that and nodded meekily like a little filly.
The three gods resumed and charged divine energy through their hands, blasting a beam of purist light.
XXXXX
Only a split second had passed on earth, one minute the witch had seen Celestia lift into the air, and the next she was floating their, radiating with power, her mane and tail were now a flourescent pink with small sparlkes in it, and they bilowed as if some invisible wind blew within them.
Celestia's eyes glowed white as she lifted Sea and all of her giant mass into the air, then emploded the huge body into a 20 foot diameter sphere of crushed flesh.
Sherbert's eyes would have popped out of his head if he had any, as it was he flew up to Celestia in an attempt to strike her with his dark majiik.
Celestia didn't look at him as he was halted in the air by a strange light, then he was thrust into what had become of Sea, he felt divine energy beyond that of any cleric encase him and his wife.
In panic he looked to Celestia's awesome might, her regal form glowing with golden god-like energy.
"wh-...what ARE you?!" he shrieked.
Celestia foated higher into the sky, holy light bombarding down upon the lich.
"I AM CELESTIA! GODDES OF THE SUN!" the witch an and lich exploded as sunlight mixed with godly energy burst from their center, cascading the light down to the battlefield, the demons cowered and the undead roasted and were reduced to ash,
the few surviving pegasi warriors who were mortally wounded now found the strength to stand, their injuries majiikally regenerating from the warmth of the light filing them with new hope, with new power!
a strength grew within them, a holy pure strength, their platemail turned gold, their manes white, their stamina came flooding into them with a strange new power.
They felt a command within them, bringing tears of joy and righteousness to their eyes, a mighty command that gave them the strength to rise! to FIGHT!
the pegasi grabbed their weapons and launched at the demons with inequine speed and strength, decapitating them and slicing them to shreds, impailing the abominations and ripping them asunder,
not a single unholy being was spared under the wrath of the new paladins
XXXXX
Luna rose above the armies, her once turquise mane was now a long midnight blue with stars flowing throug it and her tail, and both billowed as if by an invisible wind blowing through them.
Luna slowly looked down at the cowering forms below her "I AM LUNA! GODDESS OF THE MOOON!" her mane stretched out into a blinding darkness, a darkness that consumed all of the soldiers beneath her.
The few vampiric pegasi left felt a new strength rush through their body, a new darkness that willed them to stand, to feed!
vamponies sprinted through the unholy darkness, their blood red eyes seeing perfectly in their night mother's cold embrace, they laughed maniacly as they ripped through the enemie's forces, the soldeir's screems filling the empty black night that descended upon them.
blood ran like a river on that battlefield... in the end... all was silent in the cold blackness..
Crimson watched horrifed at the large dome of darkness below him, there was noway he'd stand a chance against that kind of power, he could practiacally smell the god-like escence eminating from Luna.
"this battle is over..." he said grimbly before flying off towards Balmora
XXXXX
The dragon arrived at the palace within the sandy dunes, unsure of what exactly his plan was... did he even have a plan? probably not...
He waddled in, many lords and nobel mares stared at him bewildered that he was here but their god-king wasn't.
Crimson ignored them all as he wadled up to the throne, upon which Violet was sitting.
"oh! I'm guessing things didn't go over so well?" she said nonchalauntly.
Crimson huffed through his nostrils "Jupiter's dead if you even care"
everypony in the hall gasped in disbelief, the god-king dead?!
Violet looked a little put off but regained her composure "well then... it's time for the heir to succeed" she said snotilly.
Crimson tilted his head "I... didn't expect you to so... relaxed about this... but yes it is time"
Violet smrirked and hopped up to trot over to her son "now Kernal will rule" she said with a twisted smile as she patted her young colt on the head.
Crimson's eyes shot wide, then narrowed in anger "I am the heir, not him and you know that!" he shouted.
Violet huffed "do you share Jupiter's blood? I didn't think so, you have to right to rule" she waved a dismissive hoof at him that said 'shoo'
eye twitch... Crimson stalked towards her, guards stepped infront of him, but he swiped them aside with one swing of his hand like they were rag dolls.
"wh-what are you doing you fool!?" Violet cried.
"something I should have done a long time ago you popmus bitch" and with that, he snapped her up in his jaws before she could get off a single spell and sliced her in half with his gem grinding teeth before snapping up the other half and swallowing her.
everypony in the hall was both horrified and terrified at the same time.
Crimson looked down to the young colt, his nursemaid snatched him up in her hooves "please! he's just a foal!"
The dragon dre in a breath and incinerated them both in fire.
Crimson then turned to the other ponies in the hall "anypony else have any objections?"
the room was dead silent.
The dragon stalked throgh the hall "Grenwall!" the chancellor rushed up to him nervously "y-yes cr-I mean your h-highness?".
"send word to the minor lords to prepare peace offerings when Equestria's forces arrive" he commanded, the chancellor quickly bowed and sprinted off.
One of the generals found the nerve to speak up "w-what do you mean peace offering?!"
Crimson stared at him "if they can kill Jupiter and his entire army do you think any of us stand a chance? I won't let innocent ponies be sacrificed in a futile attempt at a last stand, this war is over, we've lost"
he looked to the ground before adding "and you know how the game of thrones works... take out the leader and their army... then kill all those with enought status to take the leader's place... I suggest all you lords of greater power to gather your belongings and forces and flee to the farthest corners of the earth and make yourselve's scarce."
He then headed for the doors "these are my first and last commands as ruler of Balmora" and with that, he spread his wings and took off flying outside of the room and through the palace out their doors and into the sky,
now he would find some remote unheard of mountain to hole up in... maybe try to live amongst dragon tribes... as long as he stayed out of the world of ponies, he'd be fine... he hoped...
but a strange feeling in his gut told him that he still had a part to play in this game... but he'd avoid it as long as he could
XXXXX
Celestia and Luna arrived back in canterlot, a very small contingent of angelic pegasi in golden armor, and demonic pegasi in onyx armor following close behind.
Everypony within the city came out to greet them, against all odds, they had managed to win! they had survived the armies of the northern wastes and the southern sands!
Celestia looked to her sister with a solemn expression, now everything seemed so petty... the lives that had been lost, the political 'favors' even Luna's dark majiik practice, it all seemed trivial now... now that they would quite litterally rule the entire world...
Celesita looked over her subjects and spoke with a booming voice "the war is over! all war is over! no longer shall ponies be pitted against eachother! all shall gallop under one banner! and my sister and I shall serve as PROTECTERS OF THE REALM FOR ALL TIME!"
Now Luna spoke "let us rejoice now! mourn the lost, but cherish those who remain! for now life shall continue in peace and love! let us all build a new society! a new world where all shall co-exist under one nation! REJOICE!"
the ponies cheered and screemd their joy, it was finally over... the great world war... was finally... over... a new era had begun... an era of peace...
or so they thought...
END OF EPISODE 4!
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AN: wow! only four chapters and it feels like I've written sooo much... but there's more to come! now we're getting to the juicy parts of the story!
oh and sorry about no clop in this episode, but there will be in the next one promise!
REVIEW IF YOU LIKED!