Upheaval: Reckoning
Chapter 44: A Blade and a Cinder
"There's a gate opening within the Royal Palace itself!"
Celestia's warning left everypony in the Chamber of Elements alert and hesitant. They heard Black Rose clear enough, and they knew that they should be on the defense now. But who was attacking them? And how did one defend against gates that opened within the place to be defended?
"A gate from where?" Luna asked. "Can you tell what's coming out of it? And where is it exactly?"
Celestia closed her eyes for a moment. "From the Eternal Herd," she said. "It's in the throne room. As for what's coming out…I do not recognize them. They're neither alicorns nor enforcers."
"Of course." Luna tapped a hoof against the floor and frowned. "Enforcers cannot harm mortals, so Gravitas is relying on something else. Why hasn't he sent some of his officers?"
"These are advance troops," Celestia replied. "Their leaders will come afterwards. I expect an alicorn or two at best. Gravitas's arrival alone will mire the Council of Elders in a great deal of discussion with the other heavenly realms. I doubt he'd have been allowed to bring many alicorns with him."
"Regardless, the rest of the Legion must be warned!" Vanguard growled. Applejack was about to take his side when he shook his head. "The Elements of Harmony will move as the princesses direct them."
"Be careful, Vanguard Clash," Luna said. When the doors behind him closed, she turned towards the others. "If this is a move from Gravitas, he will go after three things: he will seek to detain both me and big sister, acquire the Crystal Grave, and gain control of the Elements of Harmony." The blank looks that answered her quickly brought another problem to her attention.
"Your highnesses," Twilight said. "Who is this Gravitas? And why is he attacking us?"
"It will take too long for me to tell you in detail, Twilight," Celestia said. "For now, it is enough to know that he is a threat from the Eternal Herd's side."
"That's all I need to know!" Applejack said. "Question is, what do we do to stop him?"
Celestia's expression hardened. "At this point, there is only one thing that can get through to Gravitas and his followers." She tapped the floor forcefully with a hoof. "We fight back. Perhaps, when they see that their 'destroy the mortals' solution is not as easy as they thought it would be, they would be more willing to try other things."
Celestia looked to Twilight and her friends. She now had enough power to get a feel of their ability as the Elements of Harmony and she saw the renewed radiance within them. It wasn't enough to make her confident in their ability to take on the likes of Gravitas or Black Rose on their own, but their improvement did strengthen her hope. Perhaps there was some merit in her brother's methods after all. It was particularly worrying, however, to see that it was Twilight Sparkle who was now having the most difficulty. Out of the six, she and Fluttershy seemed to be struggling the most. "We stay together," she told them.
"Big sister," Luna said, "What about Black Rose?"
Celestia concentrated for a moment. The power of sunlight remained where she had detected it earlier. Something was going on, however. It was now flaring up strongly. It appeared as if Black Rose was using it on something...or against somepony.
Still, Black Rose was behaving like a friendly stranger, waiting by the doorstep until somepony invited her inside. How long was she going to going to keep up this act? Celestia shook her head. No. "Act" was a simple way to look at it. Black Rose showed something different with each encounter. Which was an act and which was her true self? What Celestia did know, however, was that, underneath the gambling and the ruthless manipulation, there was indeed the intention to aid Equestria. "It is likely that Black Rose and her allies will come here to fight Gravitas," she said. "We will not aid them." She paused, her ears perking. "An alicorn just stepped through. Just one." The others looked to Celestia in concern as she continued. "We will focus on driving back Gravitas's forces." She looked towards the doors. "Now, let's head for the throne room. The Legion cannot contain this threat by itself." She flung open the double doors and flew ahead.
"Captaiiin!"
In a blink of an eye, Scarlet Rabbit was flying alongside Vanguard Clash as he galloped towards the throne room. Word had already spread to all legionnaires stationed in the Royal Palace. Runners were sent out to warn the rest of Canterlot and to evacuate and keep the residents safe. "You in fighting condition, Scarlet?" Vanguard asked. "We're up against otherworldly enemies this time."
"Otherworldly, underworldly, bring it!" Scarlet exclaimed. "I've been cooped up in that hospital for so long, I'd charge Fenrir's gullet if I have to!"
"What about the rest of Special Operations?"
"I just flew past Nightcanter and Bad Arc's squads! They were already heading towards the throne room!"
Vanguard pulled out his two-bladed sword and clamped down on the grip. He could count on most of the unicorn magi to be alert from sensing that burst of magic, even if they didn't know what it was. By the time they get to the throne room, they should have a sizeable force to-
"Hey, captain, check that out!" Scarlet hollered, waving a foreleg wildly.
Vanguard looked ahead and spotted something by the end of the hallway.
Something from the end of the hallway shambled towards Vanguard and Scarlet. It looked like a typical-sized earth pony except that it had no coat, only a pale, translucent skin with a pinkish hue from the muscles beneath. Its eyes were bright golden lights, easily spotted even from a distance.
"Stop right there!" Vanguard called out. He doubted that these things would even understand him, let alone prove cooperative. Still, if a fight was going to break out, he would not be the aggressor. True enough, the thing's only answer was to quicken its pace. It had moved in a loping gait, bizarre given its pony-like shape. Vanguard tensed further when over a dozen more rounded the far corner of the hallway and followed the first one.
"So, what do we do?" Scarlet asked, pulling out his crossbow and aiming it.
The eyes of the things flared and their loping gait sped into a near-sprint. Vanguard readied his weapon. "Kill them," he said.
With a shrug, Scarlet fired his weapon, plunging a bolt deep into the skull of the lead creature. A glowing, silver liquid spurted out of the wound, spraying all over the floor as the impact sent it flying into its allies. The other creatures didn't even slow down. Vanguard stepped back as one of the creatures lunged clumsily at him. He swung his weapon, cutting the thing's throat wide open. Silvery liquid poured out of the wound, rapidly pooling beneath it.
"Woah!" Scarlet cried out. "Check that out, captain!"
To Vanguard's horror, the creature Scarlet had shot was back on its hooves. Its bolt wound continued to leak silvery fluid, but it continued to advance. Likewise, the one that he had cut down had also stood up, its head shifting unsteadily on its nearly severed neck. "Stay cautious, Scarlet," he said. "Focus on hampering their movement if they can't be killed." He slashed at another shambling thing, cutting open both its front knees. Silvery fluid spurted, and the thing collapsed.
"You're not even surprised, captain?" Scarlet asked. He hovered just out of reach of the shambling creatures while he reloaded
"I expected troops working with an alicorn general to have some kind of edge," Vanguard replied. He hamstrung a second shambling creature, then slammed his shoulder against another. "I suppose 'unkillable' is their choice."
Even with their legs badly damaged, the things dragged themselves across the floor to get at the two. Both of them fell back to keep from being surrounded and overwhelmed.
"Fire!"
A barrage of bolts whistled past Vanguard and Scarlet, bowling the first of the pale-skinned things into the ones behind them. Vanguard looked behind him and spotted half a dozen pegasus legionnaires reloading. Six earth ponies rushed past him and into the fray.
"These things don't die!" Scarlet yelled at their reinforcements. "Put more bolts into them until they can't stand up!"
"By the prince!" one of the pegasus legionnaires called out. "What's happening to that one?"
One of the fallen things had extended a foreleg, which was wracked with violent spasms. The skin tore off as chunks of bone grew at an alarming rate, shaping the limb into something else. Vanguard's eyes widened as he recognized a crossbow's prow taking shape. A long, thick line of sinew served as a grotesque imitation of a bowstring. Around the creature, three more were doing the same thing. It was only when the thing started to draw back the weapon, using a splinter of bone as a crude bolt, did Vanguard yell a warning towards the others. "Crossbow fire! Take cover!"
The pegasi swiftly dispersed, letting the bolts fly past them. One unlucky legionnaire took a large bone splinter to the hind leg. The earth ponies slammed into the pale-skinned creatures before they could reload, knocking them down and brutally stomping on them. The stone floor ran silver, but the pale-skinned creatures did not utter a single sound. They twitched and convulsed, slowly getting closer.
Vanguard shuddered as he heard the crunch and snap of bones moving around and the squelch of muscles rearranging themselves. He bit into his weapon's grip tightly as he spotted one pale-skinned creature approaching him. He recognized the still-gaping wound on its neck. His eyes narrowed when he saw that the cut looked smaller. Its cheek bones bulged and stretched into long, curving, blade-like protrusions that pierced its flesh and skin. "It takes more than imitation to get this weapon style down," he growled around the hilt of his blades. He lunged at the thing, ducking its first swipe and swinging his neck from side to side. His blades slashed through its snout, severing muscles that attached its lower jaw to the rest of its head. One of its bone-blades clattered to the floor before it could even swing, and, when it did, Vanguard met its blow with an armored shoulder, sending it reeling back.
"Terrato's broken horn!" one of the earth pony legionnaires snarled. "I'd have killed a dozen wolven with what I've thrown at these things!"
Vanguard looked around him. Their enemies were moving more and more fluidly. Several were covered in thick bony plates where a legionnaire's barding would go. Their hooves had grown to twice the size of a pony's, also reinforced with bone. Another bolt whizzed past him, striking one of the creatures at the very center of its forehead. He followed it up by cutting down the creature's front legs.
"Hey, captain!" Scarlet yelled. "That one's not moving so much anymore!"
Vanguard followed Scarlet's pointing. True enough, one of the creatures was simply twitching in place. A dozen bolts covered its head and shoulders. Its bone armor had been shattered and its crossbow had been pulled off. All four of its limbs had also been broken in several places. "Well, that's one," he muttered. He reared up and brought down his front tramplers on his opponent, snapping its remaining bone-blade and crushing half its face in the process. Two more of the pale-skinned creatures rushed him. These ones swung their bone-blades wildly, flinging red blood at him. A legionnaire limped past him, carrying a badly wounded comrade out of the fray.
"We've got more of them coming in!" Scarlet yelled.
The look of horror on some of the legionnaires with him didn't sit in well with Vanguard. He could see them panting and he could hear his own ragged breathing. A few were down and bleeding. The sight of enemy reinforcements left him wondering where his are.
A bolt of purple magic streaked past Vanguard from behind, blasting several of the pale-skinned creatures off their hooves. He looked towards the source. The color of that magic was familiar…
Shining Armor stood at the head of a squad of unicorn royal guards. His horn was still crackling with magic as he waved a hoof to order his troops to fire. More blasts of magic met the incoming enemy. "Clash," Shining Armor said with a smile.
Vanguard snorted and readied himself for another charge. "Armor," he said.
"W-what's going on here?"
Twilight Sparkle stared at the battle raging before her and her friends. Legionnaires and royal guards clashed with bizarre, pony-shaped…things. Spells and bolts flew through the air echoed by clangs, and crunches. She spotted Captain Bad Arc and his squad in the thick of the fray.
"Captain Nightcanter!" Pinkie Pie called after another Special Operations Captain in the midst of the battle. The high-pitched yell shook Twilight out of her daze.
Nightcanter glanced towards them briefly and grinned. "I'm a little too busy to be foalsitting you today, Pinkie Pie!" she shouted. "Try not to get mangled by these things!" As she finished shouting, one the strange creatures brought down its hooves on her head. Nightcanter's only response was a smile and a gentle shimmer. Another moment passed and the real Nightcanter emerged behind the creature, slashing its throat out with a knife so savagely that its head lolled to the side. Silvery fluid pumped out of the open wound and all over the floor. Pinkie Pie looked away and covered her mouth, her face looking a little green around the edges. Twilight felt her own stomach protest.
"We've got to help them!" Applejack said. She had uncoiled her chain and whirled it. Twilight didn't recall seeing her loop the end, but it already was.
"No," Celestia said. "If we insist on starting with the rank-and-file, Caro will bury us in a mountain of flesh. If we strike her down, they will all fall dormant."
Applejack looked at the princess, her lips twisting. She put away her chain, however.
Twilight looked at her mentor, not quite sure how to feel at the moment. It felt strange to hear Princess Celestia advocating striking down anything. Indeed, ever since the mention of this Gravitas, the change upon the princess was obvious. Obvious and unnerving. "Princess, what are these things?" she asked.
"Flesh constructs," Celestia replied. "I know the pony who would use such things: Caro Artifex, the worst of Gravitas's lackeys."
"I've never met that pony before, big sister," Luna said.
Celestia smiled wryly and intoned a spell. Golden light gathered at the tip of her horn. "I envy you so much in that regard, little sister." A brilliant ray of light burst from Celestia's horn, neatly slicing through several of the flesh constructs and leaving a clear passage through the crowded hall. There was no sign of blood or any fluid save for a brief sizzling. The constructs, even the ones cut perfectly in half, crawled around, still trying to fight. "Legionnaires, keep that path clear!" Celestia took to the air, slicing her way through the battle.
Twilight expected the legionnaires, ponies who had served only Terrato all their lives, to hesitate at Celestia's bold orders. Instead, they gave a rousing cheer and plunged into the path, driving the flesh constructs back and leaving the way open. There was little time to marvel at the sight, however; Celestia flew ahead, leaving her and the others to follow.
They pushed through the battle and went through a few more hallways. As they came closer to the throne room, the fights grew thicker and more gruesome. Bodies littered the floor, with some even piled up, as the fights continued to rage. The floor was slick with blood and silver fluid, making galloping across it dangerous. In one instance, Twilight's hooves failed to find any traction, and she nearly slid into a pile of still-convulsing flesh constructs. It was only a timely pull on her tail by Celestia that kept her standing.
As they reached the last hallway before their destination, a new problem emerged. They had reached the area where the invaders had taken control. There was no fighting here, only a long, steady stream of flesh constructs making their way towards the contested sections of the Royal Palace.
"We have to go through!" The tip of Celestia's horn began to glow again. Before she could finish the spell, however, an arrow flew past her, piercing the knee of the closest flesh construct. Several more arrows followed suit, each one finding a home in a limb or an eye.
Rainbow Dash looked at the arrows, her eyes widening. "Longstride!" she exclaimed. She looked behind them, towards the confused mass of fighting. Twilight looked as well, but she didn't see anypony with a bow. What she did, however, was just as surprising. A pegasus rounded a corner that they just passed. At least, she thought it was a pegasus. As it neared, she noticed the blades attached to its wings, the stinger-like contraption on its tail, and the insectoid mask.
"Sablesteel…" Pinkie murmured. She stepped towards the pegasus. Jaw set and resolute. "Sablesteel, I-!"
Sablesteel said nothing as she flew past, a whirlwind of toxic blades. She lashed out at different directions, a vile green liquid splashed where she cut, melting flesh, even bone.
Rarity whipped around, blades ready. Twilight flinched when one of them flew towards her, whizzing just past her cheek. "Stop right there, Lion Court!" she demanded.
Twilight looked behind her. Why was Rarity acting out? It was just Lion Court. He's always been there to help- she stopped. No, that wasn't true. Why did she even think of it that way? Rarity was right. This was another Thorn!
"I'm impressed," Lion Court said. He also had his blades out, a particularly wide-bladed one had blocked Rarity's weapon. "You spotted me when I didn't want you to."
"I have an eye for detail, Lion Court," Rarity said. "You used the same spell on me twice, so I noticed the small things that made a suggestion not mine."
"I'll keep that in mind when we duel again." Lion Court knelt briefly towards the princesses. "For now, we are here to fulfill our joint defense against Gravitas. My mistress sends her regards, your highnesses."
Rarity looked as if she was about to follow Lion Court, but a stern look from Celestia stopped her. "We will deal with the Thorns later. The longer we take to deal with Caro Artifex, the more ponies will be hurt and killed by these things."
All of them moved on, slipping past the openings left for them by Black Rose's thorns.
Finally, they reached the throne room. Six hulking monstrosities guarded the doors, each one the size of a minotaur and covered with layers of thick bone plates. Their spike-covered hooves looked big enough to crush a stallion with a single stomp. Despite their ferocious appearance, they did not attack when the group approached. Instead, they parted while two of them opened the double doors.
"The adaptive body modification is taking longer than expected to begin," somepony said from the other side of the doors. "Repeated bone armor formation is also taking its toll on the already limited regeneration. The harder they become to hurt, they easier they become to kill."
Twilight frowned at that. It sounded like somepony speaking her notes out loud. She peered into the throne room as soon as the giant flesh constructs started to push them open. To her outrage, she spotted somepony sitting on Princess Celestia's throne. She ran in as soon as there was enough space between the doors to squeeze through.
The alicorn mare sitting on Celestia's throne had a nut brown coat, and a mane that looked like a constant stream of bluish-white sparks blowing from the back of her neck and head. She rose, standing a couple of inches shorter than Celestia, and smiled. "Good, you've arrived," she said. "Undamaged too."
"Caro Artifex," Celestia said. She looked around, eyes narrowing. Twilight already knew why. Several dead royal guards and legionnaires had been placed in neat piles around the corners of the throne room. Some of the smaller flesh constructs were tending to them, removing barding, setting aside weapons, even cleaning the spilled blood. "Why have you done this?"
Caro descended the steps. "Orders," she said as if the slaughter was a chore and nothing more. Twilight grit her teeth, spells already going through her mind. She glanced at the others: Rarity had already pulled her blades out, Applejack, her chain.
"Did the Council of Elders authorize this?" Celestia asked. The princess's tone surprised Twilight. She had expected her mentor to be furious at the sight of these dead ponies. The calm was…disconcerting.
"The Council ordered us to secure Regia Carnifex and the Blasphemous Rift. As for the royalty, we were supposed to work with them. Unless they resist. In that case, we were told to execute Princess Luna's old sentence and detain both Princess Celestia and Prince Terrato."
"You've made no effort to work with us at all!" Luna said. "The first thing you did upon gating here was loose these things upon us!"
"The mortals struck first," Caro replied. "They attacked as soon as I arrived."
Luna spoke through grit teeth. "You're lying."
"It's what my official report will say. I am so glad to be able to field-test my constructs like this. The mortals are putting up a good fight. By the time I exterminate the ones here for 'attacking' me, I should be able to make enough adjustments to prepare them against Oceanus's troops." Caro's horn glowed blue as she pulled a small glass bottle seemingly out of thin air. "Now, Princess Luna, I happen to have some specially prepared liquid enchantment here. A single dose and you'll be censured quickly and painlessly, without damaging your mortal remains." Her eyebrows furrowed as she touched a hoof to her chin. "The data should be interesting."
Luna's horn flashed dark purple.
"Luna, wait." Celestia placed a hoof on her younger sister, drawing a confused look from Luna.
"Big sister, this alicorn just asked me to kill myself so she could experiment on my body!"
Celestia walked over to one of the piles of dead legionnaires. "Gravitas only sent you, Caro? He's being complacent."
"He trusts in my ability to defeat Princess Luna," Caro replied. "We know that the Elements of Harmony are not yet ready. We also knew that it would be Prince Terrato who would meet with the general. I do hope he proves to be civil. I need to discuss a great deal of necromantic theory with him. As for the mortal who stole your power, she will not be coming here. The general has sent somepony else to deal with her."
"I see." Celestia bent over the piles of weapons, neatly stacked next to the dead bodies, and picked out a sword with her magic. The point had been shattered, but the rest of the weapon was still intact. "You have no respect for the mortals, Caro," Celestia said. "As such, you do not belong here. I'm going to censure you now." She picked the sword up with her mouth.
"Really?" Caro said with a chuckle. "I'd be worried if you still had your power, your highness. You used to be the princess of sunlight. Right now, you're just the princess of ci-!"
Celestia took exactly two steps. Twilight, for some odd reason, felt compelled to count them. Two steps, then leaped. The next thing Twilight knew, Celestia was already standing in front of Caro Artifex, her head low and turned to her left. The sword she was holding was faintly bathed with golden light, a light that formed a blade-like shape past the sword's metal, making it appear as a very long sword of radiance.
Twilight shook her head. A second passed before she remembered that she should breathe. The motion should be simple enough to understand. Princess Celestia had leapt towards Caro Artifex and slashed with her sunlight-enhanced sword. The simplicity belied the impressiveness in that move. Her mentor jumped such a great distance with no support from her wings. Not even with a running start. I happened so fast that nopony so much as winced at the killing blow.
Caro Artifex had not moved from her spot. She stared at Celestia, her mouth wide open and her eyes bulging. She looked down towards her chest.
Twilight also looked towards that spot. A clang resounded throughout the throne room as the lower half of Caro's breastplate struck the floor. On the alicorn's chest was an enormous cut, a blackened horizontal line that stretched from one shoulder to the other. No blood dripped from the wound. Instead, thin wisps of smoke escaped from it. Behind Caro, an enormous, crescent-shaped cut had sundered the stairs leading to Celestia's throne.
Celestia spat the sword out. The light faded from the weapon as she let go. "When you get back, tell the Council of Elders that I will do the same to any alicorn who comes here with the same disregard for mortals as you have," she said.
Bright light burst from Caro Artifex's wound, her open mouth, and her eyes. She pitched forward, her knees buckling under her. By the time she struck the ground, she resembled nothing more than a burnt-out shell.
When she finally tore her eyes off the sight, Twilight looked around in alarm, expecting an outraged attacked from all the flesh constructs in the room. None of them moved. After a while, she mustered the courage to grasp one of them with her telekinesis. Encountering no resistance, Twilight tipped one over. The flesh construct collapsed into a moldering heap, turning into clumps of dust in a minute. She looked around and saw the others doing the same.
"Well, that takes care of things," Applejack said. She looked warily at the princesses. The rest of her friends did the same.
"Big sister," Luna said.
Celestia turned to face them. The stern look on her face made all of them stand up straight. "We have to go," she said. "Terrato has gone to negotiate with Gravitas, but it is plain to see that there is no negotiating with that fanatic. He must be censured from this world before he destroys everything."
"Big sister, if we go to Sky Mirror Lake to attack Gravitas, what of the Elements of Harmony?" Luna looked towards Twilight and the others. "If we leave them here in Canterlot, Black Rose will take advantage of our absence."
"We are taking them with us."
Luna raised an eyebrow. "And take them that much closer to the Blasphemous Rift? I agree that Gravitas is the worse threat, but we shouldn't just ignore Black Rose!"
Celestia looked over to the burnt out remains of Caro Artifex. "It seems that ever since I lost the power of sunlight, everypony has been underestimating me," she said. She smiled slightly. It wasn't the sort of reassuring smile that Twilight was used to seeing. "Black Rose thinks that she is the only gambler in all of this. I can place bets too. We've been on the defensive for too long. This is why she has had so much space to move around." The smile disappeared and her eyes narrowed. "We will censure Gravitas and call her bluff. Let her try to open the seals. She will lose this game she loves so much."
"Princess…" Twilight felt herself smile. Her mentor's confidence was inspiring.
"Black Rose gave me but a cinder of the power of sunlight," Celestia said. "This cinder will spark the flame that will burn her plans away."