A/N: For this next chapter, you're going to want to know the songs "At the Gala" from the MLPFIM S1 finale and "You're Only Second Rate" from "The Return of Jafar."
58: Only Second Rate
COLCHIS, THE BORDER OF OLYMPIC GREECE
As the sun dipped low over the horizon, indicating that Apollo was almost home to Olympus with his chariot, the group of heroes was finally ready to leave Colchis and make for the mainland.
"Are you sure you're feeling all right?" Rarity asked Twilight.
"Yeah," Twilight answered. "I'm fine. In fact, I feel kind of…energized. I mean, I sort of exploded into a whole new power level."
"About this sorcerer," Medea said.
"Um," Fluttershy began, "maybe it's best if we don't talk about – "
"No," Twilight interrupted. "I want to talk about it. I don't want to be afraid to, anyway."
"Do you love him?" Medea asked.
"I…don't know," Twilight answered. "It's complicated. We haven't known each other really long enough for me to call it love. But I've been through a lot with him, and I feel like it's more than just a passing crush. He doesn't feel any of that way about me, that's for sure. I mean, besides the fact that I might have just been a way for him to put off dying, the first time we really called each other friends…someone else had broken his heart, and it's not the kind of person who's easy to forget, either. I guess I care about him a lot…or I thought I did…and I don't want him to get hurt. I still don't. And I wish I could see him again, but…well…if he did know about all this, there's a chance I won't. It's a big multiverse, anyway. We might never cross paths again."
"And if you do?" Medea pressed.
"Then I NEED to talk to him about this," Twilight resolved. "The fact that I made my wish and risked my soul for him isn't just going to go away. I'm still angry. But we're not going to get anywhere if I just lash out at him or give him a cold shoulder. If he shows up again, I'm giving him a piece of my mind, and he'd BETTER listen."
"I wish you luck," Medea said with a sincere nod.
"So, Medea," Hercules broke in. "You were a big help to us. Any interest in coming along with us?"
Medea shook her head. "My goal is still to find a place somewhere in time that I can have peace. But before that, there is something I must do. When Alecto killed my father, she left my people without a ruler. I am the last blood heir. I must protect this kingdom until I can name someone else heir."
"Good luck!" Pinkie Pie wished, grabbing Medea's hand in both her own and shaking it furiously. "And goodbye! Maybe we'll see you sometime!"
"Perhaps," Medea replied. "Though it will next be you who sees me, not me who sees you."
"What the hay…" Applejack started, but shook her head. "Never mind. Okay, we gotta get this show on the road."
"Next stop: Mount Olympus!" Pit declared as the group ascended the gangplank.
The ship drew up anchor and then left the harbors of Colchis. Medea watched it for a time before turning back to face the edge of her kingdom.
They watched her. The people, those who had been subjects of her father. They'd crawled out of their homes and the streets and everywhere else they'd been hidden during the Fury attack. They stood and stared at her. The witch they'd been told to abhor because she killed her brother the prince and fled her kingdom. The last hope for Colchis, who'd vanquished Alecto and whom the royal dragon answered to.
Then the first of them bowed. The rest followed suit until they all bent or knelt before Medea.
"Your highness," the first to bow said.
"I can only hope to earn the right to bear that title," Medea replied for all to hear.
THE SEAS OF OLYMPIC GREECE
Seething, Alecto dove deep into the sea, down to where the light couldn't reach and the waters were black. They had forced her off the throne on land, threatened her with powerful weapons. But that was away from the sea. When Alecto had the sea at her disposal, her foes would be dealing with a very different beast indeed, one that could not merely be punctured by Celestial Bronze.
She began to transform, her body becoming impossibly large, jet black tentacles unfolding like tendrils.
"Rainbow Dash, we're going to need your help getting the ship back through the Symplegades," Twilight ordered. "And whoever's on helm, we should probably get that decided now!"
"Well…" Rarity thought it over. "Perhaps the Symplegades will be enough of a challenge that I can learn more quickly. Besides, with Rainbow Dash adjusting for the wind, there's really not much more danger we can be in at the time – "
"NOOOOOO!" Pinkie Pie screamed.
"What is it?" Zoë asked.
"You CAN'T say it can't get worse!" Pinkie wailed. "That's ALWAYS when it gets worse!"
"Pinkie Pie," Twilight said sternly. "Be rational. Nothing bad is going to happen just because Rarity said – "
The waters rippled violently. The whole ship shook.
"That was not my fault," Rarity insisted from the steering wheel.
The gigantic black tentacles, like that of a Kraken, burst from the water one by one, rising into the air.
"WHAT IS THAT?" Rainbow Dash cried. Weapons onboard were immediately drawn or summoned at once.
Zoë was almost too stunned to answer, but she was the only one that could provide it, so she forced herself to speak: "That is Alecto."
"WHAT?" Rainbow Dash, Hercules, Twilight, and Pit screamed in shock.
"Figures," Cassandra sighed.
Alecto's tentacles wrapped around the ship, threatening to crush it. Hercules, Pit, and Zoë readied their weapons. One tentacle was slashed by Anaklusmos, one scraped by the double blades, and one pierced by several light arrows. The divine weapons seemed to have no effect. The ship groaned beneath the strain Alecto put on it, threatening to snap.
"WE'RE ALL DONE FOR!" Icarus wailed. "WE'RE ALL GONNA DROWN!"
"No," Twilight realized. "RAINBOW DASH! PINKIE! APPLEJACK! RARITY! FLUTTERSHY!"
The other Kentaurides surrounded her. "What's your plan?" Applejack asked.
"We need to use the Elements of Harmony now, or the ship will break!" Twilight insisted.
"But the Elements couldn't stand against her when she wasn't a giant sea monster!" Rarity pointed out.
"What's so different this time?" Rainbow Dash asked.
"I'm a lot stronger now," Twilight stated, and in a flash, she'd changed clothing. Her Mahou Shoujo ensemble had changed to reflect her newfound darkness; her belt was silver instead of gold, and her skirt was no longer black on blue, but blue on black. She raised her staff.
The others changed as well, creating the sphere of light that allowed them to channel their power. A great rainbow surged outward, momentarily covering the ship. As if shocked electrically, Alecto let go of the ship with all tentacles at once. Determined, she made to grab hold of the vessel again.
The rainbow shot directly upward before funneling into a rainbow-colored translucent sphere that surrounded the ship as it sailed. Alecto's tentacles pounded against it uselessly. The Fury kept at it again and again, enraged.
"SYMPLEGADES AHEAD!" Phil called out.
Hercules quickly ran to the ship's helm, grabbing the steering wheel.
"Twilight!" Meg ran towards the Kentaurides, who all hovered off the deck. "Are you all right?"
Eyes glowing brightly with white light, Twilight yelled, "I FEEL AWESOME!" She grinned broadly. "I HAVE SO MUCH MORE POWER NOW!"
Power Alecto could feel as she battered on the rainbow sphere that kept her from accessing the ship.
Hercules turned the helm to just the right position as the ship sailed through the Symplegades. Without Rainbow Dash being free to manipulate the winds, the ship couldn't speed through the clashing rocks, but the sphere did offer protection; the rocks couldn't bend or break it to the ship underneath. Anything on the outside was less lucky.
When Alecto felt the two halves of the rock coming together to smash against her, she quickly transformed, but not before her squidlike appendages were all quite scraped indeed from the rocks. She sped back into the direction from which she had come, now resembling a humanoid again. She knew she was leaving a trail of blood in the water. A few interested sharks came sniffing, but she swatted them away with blasts of Dark magic.
Behind the Symplegades, Alecto surfaced, levitating above the water. Her scraped skin dripped blood. She watched the ship slide through the Symplegades, the rainbow keeping the rocks at bay, and then saw the rocks close once the ship had passed.
She knew better than to follow. She had to get to Hades, to find healing for her injuries. However, she was pleased all the same. She hadn't had the pleasure of crushing the ship. But after what she'd managed to do by distracting the crew, she wouldn't need to, and perhaps had condemned them all to a worse fate.
The rainbow ceased when it was clear Alecto was no longer attached to the ship. It had begun to flicker anyway. The Kentaurides hit the deck, tired.
"Well, I'd be happy not casting spells of that level for quite a while," Rarity muttered.
"Are you KIDDING?" Twilight was hopping up and down. "That was such a rush! I've never felt anything like that before! All this power inside me just waiting to come out and do big things!"
"Twilight?" Rainbow Dash couldn't suppress a laugh. "You're acting like Pinkie Pie right now."
"WOOHOO!" Pinkie Pie cried, bounding up and down just because Twilight was doing so. Then she stopped. "Heyyyyy, wait a minute! There can only be ONE Pinkie Pie around here! Are you an impostor?"
Twilight settled herself into a standing position and laughed. "No, Pinkie. I'm not an impostor. Well, at least the worst is behind us."
"DON'T EVER SAY THAT EITHER!" Pinkie screeched.
"Calm down," Meg told her. "We already went through this once. What are the odds of bad luck happening because we called it twice in a row?"
"Really, really high!" Pinkie informed her.
A single voice was suddenly heard; it pierced the air, echoing against the sky.
"That's the most beautiful thing I've ever heard," Fluttershy said.
"Me too," Pit agreed.
More voices joined the first in chorus, forming chords of note patterns that seemed too beautiful to be possible.
"It's…gorgeous," Twilight said.
"Wait…" Hercules realized what was going on. "NO! DON'T LISTEN! IT'S THE SIRENS!"
"Alecto distracted us!" Rarity wailed. "I'd completely forgotten about them!"
"It'll be okay," Twilight said, "so long as we don't listen! I'm going to get us something for our ears so we can't…hear…" She suddenly stared out toward the horizon, towards the source of the song. "Them…" Her eyes glazed over.
The sirens' chords mingled in the air, weaving around each other, knitting into a tapestry of sound, until it was all anyone could hear, just their music. And to certain onboard the ship, the tune became slightly familiar.
"On this island," the sirens began, "on this island…"
Fluttershy gazed out in wonder as the song spoke to her:
"On this island,
In our garden,
You're going to see them all.
All the creatures,
You'll befriend them on this island!
On this island.
From the phoenix
To chimaera
They'll love you big and small!
You'll become best friends forever, right here on this island!"
The sirens continued to sing to all who heard: "All your dreams will come true,
Right here on this island,
On this island!"
Applejack heard a tune just as enticing.
"On this island,
We will eat them,
All your appletastic treats!
Hungry sirens,
We will pay high,
Honeyed apples, apple sweets!
And we'll give you all our drachmas
For the apple family!"
To everyone, the sirens sang, "All your dreams and your hopes,
From now until hereafter!
All that you've been wishing for
Will happen on this island,
On this island!"
Rarity was positively starstruck as the song played to her ears:
"At the gala,
Your one true love,
I will meet my Rarity!
I will see you oh so regal
On this island,
On this island!
You will find me,
Your true soul mate,
And gallant I can be,
I will treat you like a lady
Forever on this island!"
To everyone, the sirens gave another chorus: "This is what you've waited for,
To live in peace forever!
You shall all swim in your dreams
Ever on this island,
On this island!"
Rainbow Dash heard a verse all her own in her head:
"You've been dreamin',
You've been waitin',
To fly with all the best!
Show off your skill,
Your daring tricks,
Spinning round and having kicks!
Perform for crowds of thousands.
We'll shower you with diamonds!
We'll see you as the best,
Right here on this island!"
The sirens chorused again: "All you've hoped for, all you've dreamed,
Your happy ever after!
Finally will all come true
Right here upon this island,
On this island!"
Twilight was entranced with a siren song spun just for her:
"On this island,
With your best friends,
Is where you're going to be!
We can teach you brand new magic,
New things to learn and see!
It is going to be so special,
Time just for you and we!"
Again, the sirens called out: "Happiness forever
On this island,
On this island!"
Then Pinkie Pie heard the call for her:
"Come here unto our island,
For it is the best party!
And the one thing we are missing
Is a pony named Pinkie!"
At that moment, midverse, Pinkie gave a great gasp upon hearing her name. She was so overjoyed, she couldn't help but burst out into song, completing the verse herself:
"Yes, I am the best at parties,
And my friends here will agree!
We'll be playing!
We'll be dancing!
WITH ME RIGHT ON YOUR ISLAAAAAAND!"
The veil suddenly lifted. The siren song was blocked out, driven from everyone's mind. The voices were still audible, but just as background noise. Fluttershy looked around to find that she'd dove overboard the ship and was treading water, trying to swim toward the sirens. She gasped in horror.
Similar gasps and outcries were heard. Twilight, Rarity, Rainbow Dash, Applejack, Pinkie, Pit, Zoë, Hercules, Pegasus, Phil, Meg, Cassandra, and Icarus were also in the ocean, trying to swim in the same direction before they'd all woken up, so to speak.
"H-how did we get out here?" Fluttershy gasped.
"The sirens must have…taken control over us completely," Hercules guessed, looking back at the ship. "We dropped anchor and dove overboard!"
"Who KNOWS what kind of trouble we'd be in if Pie hadn't overloaded the system!" Phil pointed out; the entire group turned to swim back.
"Speaking of which," Pit said, "how did that even WORK?"
"I have no idea, and I don't care," Phil grumbled.
"Pinkie Pie…kinda breaks all the rules," Twilight suggested.
"Hmm…" Zoë muttered. "I have heard tell that some mortals possess voices of more perfection than the sirens. It is a rare gift, something to happen to one in a million."
"Ya do got a nice set of pipes," Applejack told Pinkie.
"PINKIE PIE SAVES THE DAY!" Icarus cried. "And, more importantly, she saved Cassandra from a horrible fate!"
"Wishing I could take my chances with the sirens right about now," Cassandra muttered.
When the group reached the ship, those with wings helped those without get back on board. Rarity was grumpy as she was soggy. "I'm all wet," she pouted. "My coiffure!"
"That's the least of our worries," Meg told her.
"So what did everyone hear?" Twilight asked. "I heard the sirens singing about learning magic and being with friends."
"That ain't what I heard," Applejack replied. "They were gonna buy all my apple treats and give me enough money to send back home to my family."
"My one true love was there on that island!" Rarity added. "Or so they said."
"They said they had animals for me to befriend and play with in the gardens of their island," Fluttershy said.
"And they told me they were gonna cheer for all my best air stunts," Rainbow Dash stated.
"They were telling me about a huuuuge party!" Pinkie said.
"They said I'd be hailed with fame and fortune, and everyone would love me," Hercules said.
"But don't you already have all that?" Fluttershy asked.
"Yeah," Hercules admitted sheepishly. "I guess I never really lost the taste for it."
"Kid, you're a lot of great things," Phil said, "but humble ain't one of them. As for me? They said I'd train a lot of great heroes…and be surrounded by hot forest nymphs."
"If you weren't part goat," Meg retorted, "you'd be part pig. Anyway, mine was…personal." The sirens had sang to her of love, that someone would await her who would be more trustworthy even than Hercules. She had everything she could ever have asked for in her current relationship, it was true, but sometimes old fears did gnaw at her. The sirens had been able to detect that. As much as she loved Hercules, the sirens had managed to come up with the song of someone who sounded even more honest and true.
"As was mine," Zoë said. The sirens had given her nearly the same song: a love who was greater than Hercules.
"I heard that I'd have a chance to slay a lot of monsters for glory," Pit said rather proudly. "And also that I'd get a weapon that could serve as a blade AND a bow. I only wish."
"As much as it pains me," Icarus said, "I heard tell of a love that would be greater and truer than even Cassandra's perfection. And because of the sirens' evil magic, my heart wavered!"
Pegasus gave an incomprehensible whinny. He'd heard the keenings of a seductive potential mate in the song of the sirens.
"And I heard them telling me…huh." Cassandra was taken aback. "Y'know, I thought the one thing I wanted the most was to get away from crazy people and just live in peace."
"What did they sing to you, sweetums?" Icarus asked.
"They oddly enough didn't sing about him dying, either," Cassandra sighed. "I guess I don't actually want that."
"What did you want?" Twilight asked.
"To have the Amulet of Ourobouros and the Eyes of Truth," Cassandra said, still somewhat surprised. "Basically, they promised me all the power of the Oracle of Delphi."
"Well, that's something you can probably actually get," Twilight said. "You are one of the best seers there."
"Yeah, well, I saw the sun going down for good," Cassandra reminded everyone. "So we should probably do something about that."
"Probably," Twilight agreed.
Rarity took the helm once more with Hercules and Meg observing. By that time, the sun had completely set, returning to Olympus, and the stars overhead provided perfect guidance back to the mainland, letting Rarity chart her way.
"Eh, we've still got time," Rainbow Dash remarked. "How can the sun fall out of the sky when it's nighttime anyway?"
MOUNT OLYMPUS
Apollo pulled the great chariot of the sun into the yard of his palace on Olympus. The chariot itself was a marvel, a great stone vehicle of gray marble tinted with lavender. Four majestic and muscular horses, manes and tails aflame, drew it; the sun trailed in its wake.
The chariot had belonged to the Titan Helios, one of the few Titans forgiven after the clash that had forged Olympic Greece. Helios had been allowed to stay on Olympus, and had even pulled the chariot for a while, but eventually, the honor was given to Apollo instead – an Olympian to do the job designated by an Olympian system. So it was Apollo who drew the Olympic sun to its nightly resting place, not to return until morning.
Apollo cut an imposing figure, tall and muscle-bound with plum-colored skin and even deeper plum-colored hair. He was dressed in crimson robes fastened with a sun-shaped brooch that matched the golden color of his helmet. A silver bow and a quiver were slung over his back. Even his countenance was weakened by fatigue after the end of a long day of piloting the sun chariot. So this majestic god made his way toward the palace only to find his way blocked.
At first, he couldn't comprehend that someone was standing before him. He knew this man wasn't one of the Olympians, but he thought him an Olympian servant, much like Palutena had her winged court. He struggled to place which god or goddess would dress his or her court in the attire he saw – a sky-blue chiton, extremely short to show off the man's shapely legs; a golden brooch fastening the fabric at one shoulder while leaving the opposite shoulder bare; black sandals that laced from his feet all the way to his knees. The man also had hair the color of blackest night, curls tied back into a ponytail with a blue ribbon. Perhaps strangest of all, he only wore one glove, brown, seemingly leather, on his right hand.
"Who goes there?" Apollo asked. "Whose court are you from?"
"No one's," the man remarked casually.
That's when Apollo figured out what was bothering him about this man. "You're a mortal!"
"Wow. You're observant."
"What are you doing here on Olympus?" Apollo asked angrily, drawing his bow. As soon as he drew back the string, an arrow of light appeared in it.
That was his mistake.
The mortal disappeared from view; when he next became visible, he had already punched Apollo in the stomach with his right fist – a feat of hypertime. The blow was magically charged, causing Apollo to reel back and loose the arrow. The arrow itself went wild and planted uselessly in the ground.
The mortal drew a pair of shamshirs – Celestial Bronze – from Hammerspace before disappearing again; Apollo slowed down his own vision enough to see the mortal attempting to charge him from behind. Apollo sidestepped to the mortal's left, grasping the mortal's uncovered wrist and twisting it so that he dropped the sword. The second sword was dismissed, and a column of flame burst toward Apollo's face from the mortal's right hand.
Apollo crouched to avoid the blast and was then surrounded by a whirlwind summoned by this powerful mortal. The cyclone blurred Apollo's vision, and it took him a moment to stand and figure out what exactly was going on.
The mortal was making a break for the chariots.
Apollo drew his bow again, hoping to rid himself of the mortal from afar. His aim was true and the arrow flew toward the mortal's back, where it would have pierced through his heart had the mortal not turned midstep and caught it in his right hand. He squeezed the arrow shaft, which broke, dissolving the arrow.
Apollo strung a cluster of arrows, shooting them all; there was no way this mere mortal could catch them.
The mortal was ready. He pointed at each arrow in succession, smirking as he did so. The light arrows all stopped inches before they would have pierced him. He made a spinning motion with his finger, and the arrows all turned completely around, pointing back at Apollo. As the final blow, he thrust out his right hand, palm toward Apollo, and a burst of dark fire roared forth from it, catching the arrows, giving them a ride on the flames.
The fire and the arrows overwhelmed Apollo. In pain, he dropped to the ground, clutching at each of his wounds. He wasn't hurt fatally, this he knew and thanked the workings of fate for. He gasped for breath.
When he looked up, the chariot was hovering above him, his fiery steeds galloping in midair. The mortal was at the helm, reining the horses in.
"Who are you?" Apollo gasped.
"I almost forgot to introduce myself," the mortal said, letting go of the reins with one hand to give a bow. "I am Mozenrath. And I am now the lord of the sun of this world."
He turned back to the reins and cracked them hard. The horses all reared up, keening loudly, before they charged up into the sky, away from Olympus.
Others had seen. Athena and Artemis rushed toward the fallen Apollo.
"What happened?" Athena asked. Slowly, the others found the scene: Hestia, Palutena, Ares, Zeus…Hera.
"The sun," Apollo gasped. "He's taken it."
"Who?" Hera barked. "WHO HAS TAKEN IT?"
"Mozenrath," Apollo answered.
It scarcely mattered who the culprit was. All the Olympians present, even Apollo, rushed to chariots, readying to follow the sun and get it back to where it belonged. No one questioned the absence of Nemesis. No one questioned that neither Hades nor Eris turned up from the Underworld to witness it.
And no one noticed when Hera steered her own chariot off course, headed in a completely different direction than the crowd.
The rush was incredible. It was even better than Mozenrath had imagined. He soared through the sky at heights probably impossible to survive outside the confines of the chariot. The wind blew coolly against his skin. And behind him, he could feel the heat radiating from the very sun itself. It was all his. No more mere imitations carved in stone. Now he had the most powerful source of light in all Olympic Greece at his disposal.
He was startled at first when Hecate materialized some ways behind him on the spacious chariot. "Is it everything you were hoping for?" she asked him.
"And more," Mozenrath affirmed.
"Not bad at all, I might add."
"Well. I did learn from the best."
"Now are you willing to admit I was right about you switching out of those overplayed robes to something more in vogue?" Hecate continued.
"I wouldn't go for 'overplayed,'" Mozenrath replied, "but I do like this look. I might keep it for a while."
"Good. It suits you. Now, where to?"
"Wherever I can take it and be able to use its powers to the greatest extent."
"Trust me, you've already got so much power just by dislodging it from that stuffy mountain," Hecate informed him. "The world's going to go as dark as the magic we deal in!"
THE ROADS OF OLYMPIC GREECE
The wagon from Delphi was headed toward the base of Mount Olympus when it happened. The dark and starry night was broken by a brilliant, searing flash; the sun rose at a speed almost inconceivable and then plunged out of the sky. What it left behind was a sky completely devoid of light, not even stars.
"IT HAPPENED!" Pinkie Pie screamed. "IT JUST HAPPENED! THE SUN JUST WENT DOWN! FOR THE SECOND TIME TONIGHT!"
"Where do you think it went?" Twilight asked.
Hercules stared off into the direction the sun had plummeted. "It almost looks like it was headed for…"
"The Land of Monsters," Zoë, Pit, and Phil said at once.
"Wh-where?" Fluttershy asked, her very voice quivering.
"The land where Echidna lives with all her children," Hercules said. "It's one of the most dangerous places known in the world."
"So do we go there," Meg asked, "or do we keep going to Olympus?"
"I…I have this feeling we should go to Olympus," Fluttershy said.
"We only have a guess as to where the sun is," Twilight added, "but we do know where Hera is, even if we don't know if she's involved. And if she is, maybe we can get something out of her about where the sun ended up!"
"Then let's go," Hercules decided. "We'll talk to my m…to Hera. And she'll tell us exactly what we need to know."
BARDO, THE UNDERWORLD
When Alecto stormed into Hades' throne room, bruised and bleeding still, Hades remarked, "Well, it's about time."
All the others had gathered. The Gorgon sisters. Tisiphone and Megaera. Orcos. Dark Danny and Facilier. Nemesis, arms folded in the corner. Adonis, armed with sword and shield. Eris, leaning in the curve of the circular window. Echidna, looking in through the window, her children gathered behind her on the banks of the Styx. Pain and Panic cowering near the throne.
"I threw the heroes to the sirens," Alecto told the group. "Hopefully there they will meet their end."
"They probably didn't," Hades said with a shrug, "but that doesn't matter anyway. This is the part where we march up to Olympus, we take the sun, and we – "
"Don't bother," Hera said, storming into the room uncloaked. Most recoiled in shock that the Queen of the Heavens herself was a part of their plan. Nemesis, having been under Hera's orders, just scoffed at the others' surprise. Eris laughed slightly.
"Wait, wait, wait," Hades said. "What do you mean, 'don't bother'? After all we've been working up to, you just wanna abandon the plan? What, did you grow a conscience or something?"
"Of COURSE not!" Hera roared, flinging her arms outward. "I want to see Zeus DEAD! But the sun is not an option for us. It has already been stolen."
"I'm sorry," Hades replied, "but the acoustics in this throne room are TERRIBLE. It sounded for a minute like you said the sun was already stolen from us."
"I did," Hera confirmed. "By a mere MORTAL, no less?"
"But that's not possible," Hades babbled. "The two idiots got a prophecy that – "
"Uhhhh, Lord Hades?" Pain said, realization dawning. "When we heard the prophecy, we just heard that the sun would fall out of the sky and plunge the world into darkness."
"We, uh…" Panic continued. "We kinda didn't actually hear that it was us that did it."
"So…from the beginning," Hades reiterated. "Our big blow to Olympus. The one that was going to knock Bolt Boy off his throne. That was never meant to be done by us. The whole time, we've been working based on a prophecy that some mortal Styx-stain would steal Apollo's chariot."
"Pretty much," Panic confirmed before hiding behind the throne.
All eyes were on Hades to see what he would do. "I…I think I need a minute," he said. "Excuse me for…for just a second, all right?"
He walked calmly out of the throne room. All the way out of the palace. Down the banks of the Styx, some ways away from where Echidna and her family were gathered, to a secluded area. Even from there, everyone who looked out the window of the throne room could both see the light and hear the scream from his anger:
"GAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!"
When Hades finally re-entered the throne room, wisps of smoke were still curling off his skin. "I am NOT going to be shown up by some MORTAL!" he roared. "When I find out who this jerk is, I'm going to kill him, then resurrect him three times so I can KEEP ON KILLING HIM until I FINALLY decide Tartarus is good enough for him!"
"He gave a name," Hera informed Hades. "He boasted it before all of Olympus like an arrogant fool!"
"Don't hold out, babe," Hades snarled. "The name. Now. I need to know who it is I need to reserve that special corner of Tartarus for."
"His name is Mozenrath," Hera stated.
Hades was struck speechless. His jaw dropped. Then he started laughing.
"Um…are you okay?" Stheno asked.
"He's finally gone mad!" Tisiphone jeered.
"I'm sorry," Hades said between his laughs, "this is just…this is just too good, okay? The very kid that we had our eye on, and what does he do?" The jocosity was suddenly gone, and Hades burned bright orange. "HE SPITS! IN ALL! OUR FACES!"
"What are you talking about?" Hera hissed. "We did not have our eye on any Mozenrath!"
"We, as in you and me? No," Hades admitted. "If you'll excuse me, I need to go make a long-distance call. PRIVATELY. The rest of you, I dunno, play Twenty Questions or something until I get back. Hera, you do what you need to do. Everyone else, NOBODY leaves this room until I say so. Got that? And monsters on the bank, NOBODY leaves that bank."
"I will take my leave," Hera stated. "This offers me an unexpected opportunity to use the chains we forged." Without further explanation, she turned and walked out.
Hades marched down into the deepest bowels of the palace, to the darkest basements. Finally, he reached a room that was pitch dark when the door was closed, and the only light was the aura that his own body gave off. Here, he was sure he would be alone to make his call.
Usually, Hades had to resort to Iris-messaging to contact his various cohorts in Olympic Greece and the Underworld. But Maleficent had given him a special spell used to contact the Overtakers. All the Overtakers who could wield magic had learned it. He enacted it then, opening a window between his location and Maleficent's.
He found Maleficent and Jafar in the midst of a discussion in the Forbidden Mountain library. "Hey, Mal, Jaffie!" Hades greeted.
"Hades," Maleficent replied with a nod of the head.
"To what do we owe this surprise call?" Jafar asked.
"I feel you would not be contacting us," Maleficent added, "were it not a matter of grave importance."
"Y'know why you're better to work with than my idiot brother?" Hades replied. "Because you didn't make a pun out of 'grave importance' and fall over laughing. I'm just sayin'. So, y'know how I was gonna send a big message to Olympus and send them all spinning, maybe even knock a few gods out of commission? Even got Hera back on board? Made a whole big army? Yeah, so it turns out that we had this prophecy that the sun would get stolen. So, naturally, I assumed that meant my faction would be the ones doing it. But as it turns out, that prophecy was about someone else. Someone who just WALTZED IN and stole the sun right out from under my nose."
"Why should we care about your misinterpreted prophecies?" Maleficent asked, annoyed.
"Oh, you'll care when you hear who it was that took the flaming thing," Hades stated, glowing orange at the very memory. "Your boy Mozenrath."
Maleficent gasped. Jafar scowled.
"No," Maleficent said. "It can't be."
"If he's trying to prove his worth to you, he's doing a BANG-UP job of it!" Hades snarled.
"Perhaps that is all this is," Jafar pointed out.
"No," Maleficent said. "I doubt that is the case. I never was sure of Mozenrath's heart, and I do not trust his actions now. In the event that this is, however, an attempt to win our favor…"
Hades and Jafar both waited with bated breath, worrying that Maleficent was going to go soft on them.
"…he must be punished immediately for his accidental transgression," Maleficent finished, and both men in her company grinned. "Whether he acts in our name or not, we cannot have him interfering with our actions. Hades, I expect you to deal with him as soon as is possible, and as ruthlessly."
"Done, babe," Hades said.
"Not just yet," Jafar broke in. "I had hoped not to hear of that arrogant boy again. Now that the opportunity has presented itself, however, it suddenly appeals to me to see him again…"
Now Hades and Maleficent waited, expecting the worst.
"…so that I may finally deal him the killing blow I should have given him the moment he freed me," Jafar hissed.
"BADA BOOM!" Hades cried in joy. "So how fast can you get – "
Jafar was enveloped in a column of darkness, and then he was gone from Maleficent's side. Maleficent smiled as she watched Hades' end of the line; Hades was aware of a second figure materializing beside him in the dark.
" – here," Hades finished. "Y'know, Jaff, the least you could do is let me finish my sentences."
"I believe," Jafar told Hades, "we have an insolent pup to dispose of."
"With extreme prejudice!" Hades added.
Maleficent watched her two compatriots leave the room side by side; the sight brought her joy, to see them working in tandem to eliminate an annoyance. Satisfied, she closed the connection.
MOUNT OLYMPUS
When the wagon crossed the threshold of the base of the mountain, they all felt the change immediately. Twilight was the first to voice it:
"It's like we entered a different world entirely."
"You're not wrong," Phil said, but wouldn't elaborate.
The wagon continued up the mountain path, and all inside began to grow nervous. Even being on the road to the golden gates was iffy for mortals. Beyond the gates lay all the grandeur of the gods…and meant ONLY for the gods unless a mortal wished to taste Nemesis' blades.
The gates loomed on the horizon, glittering…but their shine was marred. Only when the wagon drew closer did Twilight, Applejack, Rarity, Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, Hercules, Meg, Phil, Pegasus, Icarus, Cassandra, Zoë, and Pit see the change that had come over the borders of Olympus. Great chains, the metal bars looped to make each link thicker than two human bodies, were woven through the gates, holding them locked shut. The chains twisted together to form a wall that extended out from the gates and forged a lattice dome that reached far above to cover the realm behind.
"Wow," Rainbow Dash remarked. "Their security system is good."
"That's not a security system!" Pit pointed out. "That's never been there before!"
The wagon rolled right up to the gates. Those inside could barely glimpse, between the gate's bars and the thick chains, what of Olympus – a brightly colored and sparkling territory – lay beyond.
"What does this mean?" Zoë thought aloud.
"YOU!" a female voice boomed, echoing against the chains in the sky. "I had thought the others would return to see this before you would!"
From the other side, Hera stormed toward the gates. Zoë noticed that she had changed her clothing from what she had worn to pay visits to the Garden. She had exchanged her elaborate pink peplos for a deep blue one with white accents, causing a stark contrast against her pink skin. Her golden hair was liberated from its tiara and fixed in a messy bun behind her head.
"What is the meaning of this?" Zoë barked.
"Zeus and his followers have left Olympus to chase the thief of the sun," Hera said, pointing out toward the direction in which the sun had fallen. "When they return, they will find their way barred. Only I can unlock these chains, and they cannot be broken, not by man, god, or Titan!"
"So you WERE in on this the whole time!" Rainbow Dash accused.
"I do not see why I have to hide it any longer," Hera stated, folding her arms.
"But…" Hercules was at a loss for what to say. "Mom, I – "
"I AM NOT YOUR MOTHER!" Hera shrieked, throwing her hands into the air. "You are the son of that whore Alcmene – "
"DON'T SAY THAT ABOUT HER!" Hercules roared, beating at the gate of Olympus with his fists. "She's never been ANYTHING but kind and honest! She would NEVER do this to her own family! And from what I understand, she was NEVER unfaithful. She was tricked!"
"Then perhaps you understand," Hera prompted, "why Zeus must pay for his action. He deceived both you and me."
"Yeah, but why take it out on ALL the gods?" Pit asked. "And why take it out on Hercules?"
"He was the product of that unfaithful union," Hera answered.
"I didn't ask for that!" Hercules moaned. "All I ever asked for was a place where I could belong! A family! I knew that the right choice for me was to stay in the mortal world with Meg, and have Phil and Pegasus for my family. And the more I find true friends there and the more I see of what the Olympians do here, I know I made the right choice more than ever."
"All the better," Hera said, "or Nemesis would have slaughtered you within the first week of your life here. Not even Zeus could have protected you."
"What does any of this have to do with Hades or Eris?" Applejack interrupted. She could sense Hercules breaking with every word Hera said.
"Hades and I share a mutual hatred for Zeus," Hera said. "Zeus has brought nothing but pain to us. So we plan to kill him and rebuild Olympus in our image. Hades was to be king and I to be queen."
"Hades would never let you remain queen," Meg argued. "He would overthrow you too, and put his own warriors on the thrones of Olympus!"
"HA!" Hera bellowed a laugh. "You think I don't know that, mortal? He intends to let me remain queen just as long as I intend to let him remain king! Once he has served my purposes and before he can strike at me, I will gather the rest of the Olympians and condemn him to the Underworld forever, where he belongs! Until then, we will fight Zeus and all who currently follow him, and until then, the chains will not come down. They will be trapped in this mortal plane, unable to return home!"
"You're a monster," Zoë hissed.
"She won't listen," Applejack said. "Now that we know what she's up to, there ain't nothin' else we can do but go find that sun. If we do, we can warn the other gods about what Hera did, and everypony can work out a plan!"
"Whether or not they know of what I have done will not matter," Hera stated as the group turned to leave. "They will fall to Hades and to me. There is no difference you can make!"
All tried to ignore her words as the wagon made its way down the sides of the mountain. The next destination was to be the Land of Monsters.
THE LAND OF MONSTERS, OLYMPIC GREECE
The chariot of Apollo landed in a bare and rocky wasteland bordered by only a few dead trees. The sun actually brought more light to that land than had been seen in centuries.
"The monsters should all be out doing whatever Hades wants," Hecate stated, stepping off the chariot. "If you put up defensive walls, this territory can be yours within the hour, and we can build from there."
Mozenrath followed her. "Perfect. Y'know, it's almost too bad that Xerxes had to miss this."
"I'm sure he won't be too broken up over it."
"If your wolves haven't eaten him."
"I made it very clear to Lukos and Aetos that if one of them eats the eel, they both get fed to Cerberus," Hecate pointed out.
A massive column of pure darkness swirled into existence before both of them; red and blue tinged smoke puffed from it. When the darkness and the smoke subsided, Hecate and Mozenrath each took a step backward in shock, seeing who stood before them.
"Hey there," Hades greeted as he and Jafar took in the scene. Before he could make any other quip, he glowered at Hecate. "So YOU'RE behind this. I should have known."
"Angry, hothead?" Hecate snapped. "We just caused Olympus more grief than you've managed to do since you started building that army to do whatever it is you're doing."
"Hecate," Jafar repeated. "Your bitter enemy, am I right?"
"I hate her ALMOST as much as Thunder Boy," Hades confirmed. "Not the first time she's tried to take what was mine out from under me."
"You do realize, boy," Jafar told Mozenrath, "that by following her command, you have committed a crime against the Overtakers for which the punishment is death?"
"I realize I'm out of the running for the Overtakers," Mozenrath mused, "and I also realize that I don't care. None of you have ever seemed to actually want me anyway. But somehow, I don't actually think I'm going to die today."
"So the kid's got lip," Hades huffed. "Where'd you dig this one up, Hecate? The scrap heap for washed-out sorcerers?"
"I've helped make him into something just as strong as your warriors," Hecate growled. "Maybe even better than some of them."
"Doubt it," Hades retorted. "Anyway, enough with the small talk. You have my sun."
"I don't see your name on it," Mozenrath retorted with a smirk.
"Gettin' real sick of you, kid," Hades growled. "Though something's bothering me. I've seen you somewhere before. Now, where could I have – oh, that's right. Your old girlfriend made a deal with me to save your life. Actually, if this isn't poetic justice, I don't know what is. I gave you more of your miserable life to live, and you just WASTED it on crossing me! That's it. Let's just kill him already."
"With pleasure." Jafar raised his staff.
Mozenrath stamped on the ground before him, and the earth rose in great jagged pillars, making a course for Jafar. Jafar's staff blasted the wall of earth headed to skewer him, and it slowed to a halt just before it reached him. At that, Jafar cackled. "Is that really the best you can do?" He fired a blast of red at Mozenrath, surrounding the young sorcerer's body in bonds of red aura from which he couldn't break free.
"I must admit, your parlor tricks are amusing," Jafar sang, walking towards Mozenrath and slapping him across the face.
"Hey, what," Hades sang, knocking Hecate's headdress to the ground to reveal her three faces. "You got a bunny under that hat?"
Mozenrath clenched his fist, and pure darkness surged through it, shattering the red bonds. He lunged at Jafar, who was unfazed. "Now here's your chance to get the best of me," Jafar sang, grabbing Mozenrath by the gauntlet wrist and flinging him aside. "Hope your HAND is hot!"
"C'mon, kids!" Hades stepped backward, making a beckoning motion with his hands. "Let's see whatcha got."
Mozenrath leapt to his feet, exchanging a glance with Hecate. Then they each formed a plasma bolt, firing; Mozenrath took his shot at Jafar while Hecate took hers at Hades.
"You can try to slam me with your hardest stuff!" Jafar cried, swinging his staff to knock Mozenrath's plasma bolt away like a baseball at bat.
"But your double whammy just ain't up to snuff!" Hades responded, flinging a fireball that burned right through Hecate's plasma in midair.
"I'll set the record straight," Jafar sang, zapping the ground near Mozenrath's feet and making the younger sorcerer jump several feet into the air.
"You're simply outta date," Hades sang, flinging dual fireballs at Hecate that struck her, sending her reeling head over heels; she quelled the burning before it could harm her skin, but the fire left singe marks on her dress.
"YOU'RE ONLY SECOND RATE!" Jafar and Hades chorused, laughing as Mozenrath and Hecate reassembled side by side. After another exchanged nod, Mozenrath and Hecate wordlessly agreed to the new plan. Mozenrath charged Hades, drawing swords in each hand, and leapt at him; Hecate flew toward Jafar.
"Thought her cat would be mean," Hades jeered, blasting Mozenrath out of the air before he could swing either sword. "But her tiger's tame!"
Hecate withdrew from her pocket a crystal, launching it at Jafar, but with one blast from Jafar's staff, the crystal became shards. "You've got a lot to learn about the genie game!" he laughed.
"So for your education," Hades said, approaching Mozenrath so he could stomp on his gauntleted wrist hard enough to make the young sorcerer scream in pain and drop one of the swords. "We'll reiterate."
Hecate summoned swirls of water to surround Jafar, encasing him in an icy prison, which was immediately shattered; Hecate hid her face in her sleeve to avoid the shards. "You're only second rate!" Jafar belted. He strode toward Hecate, boasting, "Men cower at the power…" He held out the littlest finger of his left hand. "In my pinky!" He made a swiping motion with the finger, and Hecate was blasted with more red plasma, knocked to the ground.
"Hey," Hades said, leaning down toward Mozenrath and pressing a red-hot thumb to Mozenrath's forehead, eliciting another scream, "my thumb's number one on every list!" He removed his hand, laughing, as Mozenrath clamped his left palm to his forehead; both swords were now dropped and had dissolved.
"But if you're not convinced that I'm invincible," Jafar boasted, spreading his arms wide as Hecate blasted him with spell after spell, "put me to the test!"
"I'd LOVE," Hades said, removing his foot from Mozenrath's wrist and kicking Mozenrath in the side so that he rolled over, flat on his back, "to lay this rivalry to REST!" He raised a fireball above his head with both hands, prepared to bring it down hard.
"Go ahead and zap me with a big surprise!" Jafar sang on as Hecate fired a bolt of lightning directly into his chest with no effect.
Hades brought the fireball down; Mozenrath threw up his right hand and created a blue shield that protected him from the flames. Thinking quickly, he redirected the blue aura to surround Hades in a cubelike prison. "Snap me in a trap," Hades sneered. "Cut me down to size." He snapped his fingers, and the aura shattered.
"I'll make a big escape!" Jafar cried, sidestepping Hecate's next attack.
"It's just a piece of cake!" Hades sang, sidling in next to him.
"YOU'RE ONLY SECOND RATE!" the pair chorused again.
"You know, your hocus pocus isn't tough enough," Hades taunted, advancing toward Hecate.
"And your mumbo jumbo doesn't measure up," Jafar echoed, turning to Mozenrath.
"Let me pontificate upon your sorry state," Hades sang as he gripped Hecate by the wrist.
"You're only second rate!" Jafar snarled, grabbing Mozenrath by the front of his chiton and lifting him off his feet.
Hecate wrenched her wrist out of Hades' grip easily, soaring toward Jafar, but Jafar sent a bolt of red lightning via his free hand toward her with a cry of "ZABA-CABA-DABRA!" Unlike Hecate's attempts to strike Jafar with lightning, this actually hurt. She was taken aback as she stumbled; how could a genie have possibly come into so much power as to hurt an Olympian?
Mozenrath engaged his slight control on time, entering hypertime long enough to wrestle out of Jafar's grip and charge Hades again with a fistful of fire. But this was only to discover Hades in hypertime as well. "Hades gonna grab ya!" the god boasted as he seized both Mozenrath's forearms. Mozenrath left hypertime before Hades did, and so felt himself thrown backward at a great force and speed; he collided with Hecate, leaving the two of them sprawled on the ground.
Jafar and Hades grinned at each other. They had their victims right where they wanted them.
Seeing this, Mozenrath felt rage swelling inside of him. Remembering when Jafar struck him aside, practically snapping his heart in two. His anger mixed with the darkness he had connected to, surging, becoming something very large like a balloon that had to either burst in its container or be let free to soar.
At the same time, Hecate clenched the dirt with her fingers. This was insult to injury. If she was wiped out here, she would of course regenerate, but she would become even less important than she already was, perhaps lose followers because of her weakness. She was more familiar with how the darkness reacted to anger than Mozenrath was, and so she let it all boil together.
Jafar and Hades stood over their rivals, raising hands and staff high to deal the killing blow, chanting, "ALAKAZOMNIBUS – "
"NO!" Mozenrath and Hecate screamed at the same time, each raising a right hand.
Pure dark fire and a great force of energy struck Jafar, and he stumbled over backward. Mozenrath stared at his gauntlet in awe, surprised that he'd been able to conjure up enough energy to do that.
Hades found himself covered in frost. All his fire was gone. He shivered, trying to scrape the frost off his skin, to get the fire back. He felt as though he'd been buried in a thirty-foot-deep snowbank. Hecate laughed at his pathetic state as she rose to her feet. Mozenrath followed suit. They looked at each other one more time before Mozenrath and Hecate chorused, to the same tune their attackers had been singing, "YOU CAN'T GET BIGGER THAN THE BOTH OF US!"
Jafar and Hades barely had time to register that the tide was about to turn horribly against them.
"So SPARE me your tremendous scare!" Mozenrath roared, blasting Hades with a plasma bolt that sent him to the ground as well.
Hecate snapped her fingers, letting Jafar's robes unravel into barest rags. "You look horrendous in your underwear!" she sang triumphantly.
"And I can hardly wait," Mozenrath sang, his smirk and his confidence returning as he stomped the ground again, causing pillars of earth to rise around Hades, "to discombobulate!"
"I'll send you back and packing in a shipping crate!" Hecate boasted, surrounding Jafar in a sphere of translucent black aura that even he couldn't break.
"YOU'LL MAKE A BETTER LIVING WITH A SPINNING PLATE!" Mozenrath laughed, returning to Hecate's side. The two of them looked at Jafar and Hades, each imprisoned. Then they stood, back to back, raising their right hands into the air, turning wrists so their palms faced each other, building a crackling dark ball of energy that fed off both their auras.
Hades and Jafar each winced, sensing what was coming.
As Hecate and Mozenrath loosed the dark ball of energy, they cried out, "YOU'RE ONLY SECOND RAAAAAAATE!"
The ball of energy grew as it was released, becoming perhaps fifteen feet across in diameter as it rammed into both Hades and Jafar and exploded. When the darkness cleared, the earthy prison was obliterated and the black aura dissolved.
"Did we…kill them?" Mozenrath asked in awe.
Forty feet in the distance, he and Hecate witnessed two figures, one in red and one with a bluish tint, struggle to get up off the ground.
"Unfortunately, apparently not," Hecate groaned, and Mozenrath sighed in disappointment.
Where they'd been thrown by the blast, Hades and Jafar staggered. "Geez!" Hades moaned. "How did they even DO that?"
"They have obviously tapped into the same darkness that gives us our own strength," Jafar stated.
"Yeah, I kinda figured eventually Hecate would catch onto that," Hades admitted, "but the gauntlet brat?"
"This is not a victory on their part," Jafar said.
There was a silence as the two of them tried to believe that.
"We just need to come back at them with a better and stronger punishment," Hades said. "Here's the deal. You go back to Mal and tell her about this…fluke. In the meantime, the fact hasn't changed that the mortal world is in a state of sunless darkness and Mount Olympus is going crazy. I'm going to regroup with my army and figure out how we can use this to our advantage."
"Then I shall see you after the Olympians have tasted their just desserts," Jafar agreed. "Though given that you could not hold your own against a minor goddess and a mortal – "
"DON'T. Start. They wiped the floor with you, mister semi-phenomenal nearly-cosmic. All you're doing is calling the kettle bronze."
"As you say, Hades."
"I've GOT this, okay? Now get back to Mal. I have work to do."
Hades and Jafar each vanished in columns of darkness, headed for completely different directions.
"So how did it feel to humiliate the guy that broke you?" Hecate asked her protégé.
"About as good as it probably felt to knock down the guy that's been stealing your spotlight since the world began," Mozenrath replied with a grin. "Now. About this sun."
They both turned to look at the chariot and indeed the sun. "It's just so MUCH," Mozenrath gushed. "And it's all mine! Nothing can go wrong now."
"You know, there are some people who say that you can make disasters happen to you just by saying those words," Hecate remarked.
"I like to call those people 'fools,'" Mozenrath replied. "Now, I – "
The ground trembled violently.
"YOU WERE SAYING?" Hecate snapped.
They all appeared at once: twenty-four beings who took on bodies structured like those of humans. Larger than life, they stood a hundred feet tall, each of them. They surrounded the sun chariot in a circle.
"WELL, THIS IS THE MEETING SPOT," one of the males boomed.
"No," Hecate muttered, looking up at them all in disbelief. "No…NO!"
"IS THAT WHO I THINK IT IS?" another of the males asked.
"HECATE!" one of the females, wearing a garment of deep blue with what almost appeared to be actual stars sewn in and bearing hair of the same color with the same stars interwoven, cried. "LOOK HOW MUCH YOU'VE GROWN!"
"MOM?" Hecate screamed, looking absolutely terrified.
"What's going on?" Mozenrath asked warily. "Is this your family?"
"IS THAT YOUR BOYFRIEND?" Hecate's mother asked. "HE'S A BIT ON THE SCRAWNY SIDE, DON'T YOU THINK? HE'S ALSO A MORTAL!"
"He is NOT my boyfriend!" Hecate snapped. "He's my STUDENT! The bigger question is, what are you DOING here? You're supposed to be imprisoned or cloistered or turned into landscape or kept under Olympus arrest! ALL OF YOU!"
"IT'S KIND OF A LONG STORY," Hecate's mother said.
"Well, start talking," Hecate ordered. "AT MY LEVEL, PLEASE."
The newcomers looked amongst each other, then shrugged. They all began the process of shrinking to the size of humans.
"I'm going to ask you one more time," Mozenrath reiterated. "Who are they?"
"You know how Hades released the four second strongest Titans after Kronos and used them for the attack on Olympus?" Hecate asked.
"Yes…"
"These are the rest of them. The Titans."
"I thought ALL the Titans were supposed to have been defeated by – "
"I did too. The other Olympians have kept them under lock and key since the days of Legend. They have a sort of name for them. Old Ones. They were young during the days of the Great Chaos, before the days of Legend. They don't have the same respect for laws that Olympians do."
"So this is not a good thing."
"What tipped you off: the fact that they're ancient beings even the Olympians are afraid of, or the fact that two of them are my PARENTS?"
"Much better!" Hecate's mother cried when she'd reached human size. She rushed at Hecate to envelop her in a tight hug. "My widdle witch girl!"
"Get OFF me, mother!" Hecate growled, trying to struggle free of the Titan's grip, but her mother's hold was of extreme strength.
"Let her go, Asteria," another Titan interjected. He appeared to be made of rock, with plates of skin that cracked to show red lava bubbling beneath.
Asteria sighed, letting go of Hecate. "But, Perses – "
"SO I CAN GET A TURN TO HUG OUR BABY GIRL!" Perses embraced Hecate tightly.
"DAD, NO," Hecate snarled.
Another Titan, a young male with light brown hair and sporting golden armor complemented by a golden laurel headband, approached the chariot of Apollo. "I haven't ridden THIS for an eternity!" he remarked; his voice echoed strangely. "It will be good to take the reins again!"
"I think you're confused," Mozenrath said sternly, stepping in between this Titan and the chariot. "This chariot is MINE."
The Titan flicked a hand, and Mozenrath was flung backward, over the chariot, with great force; Mozenrath felt as though a cement wall had been thrown at him. He landed hard in the dirt, leaving an imprint.
"Helios, no!" another Titan – female, pale as marble with hair to match, clothed only in a flowing and diaphanous skirt from the waist down – cried.
"Did you all just come here to embarrass me and beat up my student?" Hecate growled.
"Actually, no," Perses said. "We were all gathered to meet here before we waged war on the Olympians to gain our rights to the cosmos back! Well, almost all of us. Kronos and Atlas were…indisposed."
"Really?" Hecate asked. "And who exactly gathered you? I know you didn't all just up and decide this on your own!"
"Of course they didn't," Eris said, sliding into view casually. "To find and release all of these Titans took quite a long time."
"So it was you," Hecate accused. "You wanted to bring chaos to the world by letting the Titans have a chance to take it back!"
"Well, I wanted to." Eris laughed. "But I couldn't. Not on my own. I just provided enough distractions to keep Hades busy so he wouldn't notice any of this."
"So who is responsible," Mozenrath growled, standing shakily, "for this INTERRUPTION OF MY CONQUEST OF THE SUN?"
A bright flash of light shimmered in the center of the group. It grew until with a POP, all everyone present could see for a moment was white light. When the whiteness faded, the answer to Hecate and Mozenrath's questions stood there.
"TA-DAAAAA!" Discord cried. "Hmm…I don't remember inviting Hecate and the sorcerer. Oh well! It's more fun when things DON'T go according to plan! Allow me to introduce myself, as I don't believe we've met. I'm Discord."
"Discord…" Mozenrath tasted the name before storming toward the draconequus with his right fist blazing. Discord snapped his fingers, and Mozenrath was bound in an unbreakable coil of…strawberry licorice.
"Why Titans?" Hecate asked angrily. "Why Eris? What are you even trying to accomplish?"
"Well…" Discord looked away from her, staring at nothing, grinning. "It's kind of a long story…"
Chapter 58
· The "kraken" is Alecto's canon "boss battle" form from GoW Ascension.
· The siren song is meant to be done to the tune of "At the Gala" from the MLPFIM ep "The Best Night Ever." However, I switched out Twilight's and Pinkie's verse order to make it go the way I wanted.
· One of the concepts I've recently wanted to play with is whether female seductive spirits like sirens can seduce women as well as men. I ultimately decided to go more for an interpretation where the sirens can offer more desires than just sexual/romantic, but I still did want all the women to be entranced. I plan to go deeper into this concept later.
· I honestly had no idea how to get them out of the siren dilemma. And I wrote this on the very day I read storytelling advice that said "coincidences to get characters into trouble are good; coincidences to get them out of trouble are lazy." However…the Pinkie Pie voice thing IS something I wanted to use as a plot point; I just didn't plan on hinting at it this early. And no, Pinkie isn't the only one in the multiverse with a voice that's even more pure than that of a siren…
· Here's one of the places I kick GoW canon in the face. They make Apollo and Helios the same character. I want them to be different so I can have Apollo as my Olympian and Helios as my Titan. So my Apollo is the HTAS design and my Helios is the GoW design. And this involves a little retconning of both of them to make it work.
· HEL-LO FANSERVICE CHITON. That blue chiton actually is one based on an HTAS ep – can't remember the name – where Zeus turns himself into a mortal so he can try and understand Hercules' life. I remember thinking WOW, THAT SKY BLUE CHITON IS SKIMPY. And I knew I had to put it on Mozenrath.
· So…how many people did I fool into thinking Hades would actually be the one to take the sun? Mozenrath's wanting of the sun is a call back to the ATAS ep "Lost City of the Sun," where a magical object that acts as the user's "own personal sun" is something he values incredibly. In the Olympic realm, he could get the real thing!
· Part of the reason I didn't have Hades get angry at Danny losing to the Amazons is because I didn't want to detract from THIS tantrum to end all tantrums.
· I realize Hades and Jafar are getting along here a lot better than they do in "Arabian Knight." Oh well. They're a fun duo.
· And there you have it: Hera and Hades have been working in tandem since the beginning AND planning to backstab each other to implement a more personal regime since the beginning.
· The song that Hades, Jafar, Hecate, and Mozenrath sing while fighting is "You're Only Second Rate" from the Aladdin sequel "The Return of Jafar." Aaaaaaall the way back during the Corona arc, I had a mental image of the four of them dueling while singing that song. I am SO glad I was able to pull it off here.
· I did borrow a little bit from "Once Upon a Time" – the concept stated in "The Miller's Daughter" that magic grows stronger when driven by emotion, and that if you become angry enough to kill, you can create more destructive spells.
· SURPRISE! TITANS! Okay, their appearance came off a little more last-minute-plot-devicey than I'd hoped. Believe me…I had this planned for quite a while.
· Asteria and Perses are Hecate's parents in mythological canon…well, probably. Myths never can agree on stuff like that. Perses' design comes from GoW but his personality is my invention. Asteria is COMPLETELY my design.
· You also see Helios (GoW) trying to take the chariot…and his ability to knock Mozenrath aside after what he did to Hades and Jafar should give you some idea of how powerful Titans are compared to everyone else. The Titan who cried out to Helios is Eos, also based on the GoW design.