To Hunt a Beast

"What...what is this power?" Northern asked, almost whispered as she felt the energy in the air.

"This is the power of your father," Viscarias replied, a sense of admiration in her voice as they watched, "This is the power that my mother once sought to control, the power that Discord sought to destroy, and the power that Sombra sought to use for his own personal gain. Peachy described the process of how he obtained this power as 'hollowification', or the merging of his good side and his evil side into something higher. This form, his werepyre form, is possibly the strongest he has and his spells are not to be underestimated."

"Am I mad?" Celestia calmly replied, her sword raised as ponies gathered around Eclipse, "I'm devastated that our barrage of spells didn't take you down, but I guess we can make due with what we have. Now that your true power has been revealed we can truly begin, as Luna calls it, the 'beat down'."

Eclipse stood there as magical chains wrapped around his legs and bound his wings to his sides, pinning him to the stone on the top of the fortress. Copper landed next to Celestia and slammed her metallic leg onto the magical track that led to the chains that were wrapped around Eclipse, large stones pinning the magic to the fortress. Before the stallion could react the chains ignited, flames building as the ponies that were to fight them vacated the top of the fortress in time for the magic to explode.

"Quite explosive," Sunset commented, her magic allowing her to walk on the few clouds that were left around the fort, "I had no idea that we were resorting to such extremes to fight Eclipse."

"It's all or nothing," Luna replied, her halberd at the ready, "We need to use every trick in our arsenal if we are to defeat Eclipse and maybe even use some of his own tactics. Whatever we do we need to be ready, otherwise we might be in trouble."

As the smoke and fire cleared they got a visual of Eclipse, but where they expected him to be injured or even burned to the point of not being able to use a limb they were disappointed. He emerged from the flames completely unharmed, the flames spinning around him for a second before disappearing in a matter of seconds. The area surrounding him was ruined, stones crumbling into dust and falling back into the abyss of the ruined fort. Only this time Eclipse held a sword with a blade on both sides in his right claw, which hadn't been there before the spells had been unleashed on him.

"Come and get me," Eclipse taunted, taking to the skies as Wisdom immediately followed after him.

The two clashed again, sparks flying in rapid succession as their weapons met again and again, though while they fought Wisdom noticed one blade wasn't in use. Luna came up right behind them and swung her weapon right at Eclipse's back, getting caught by the second blade before it could wound him. Before either could move Eclipse spun his sword and disarmed them, the spear and halberd falling to the ground as his own separated into two blades. Eclipse spun around and lightly cut into the two of them, reconnecting his weapon as the two stumbled closer to the ground and their weapons.

"HEY. ECLIPSE!" Chrysalis shouted, her copy spell at the ready as she stood to the stallion's right, "Over here."

"Ah, your attempting to copy my spell," Eclipse said, turning to face her as he pointed a claw at her, "In truth the version of my spell that you have all seen is not the most powerful. Allow me to show you the true power of my Cero."

Black energy, surrounded by a eerie green glow, gathered in front of his claw, an orb forming within a matter of seconds. Those that were watching couldn't believe what they were seeing and refused to believe that there was an even stronger version to his spell. The original spell was dangerous and destructive, but if Eclipse had developed the spell even further there was no telling how powerful the spell had gotten. Chrysalis and Eclipse fired their spells, silence descending on the entire battlefield as the two beams connected.

Chrysalis' light green beam shattered upon impact with Eclipse's pitch black beam, which got closer and closer to the fear ridden changeling. The former villains knew the power of Eclipse's spell, but the thought of it hitting a home run was enough to make her body lock up against her will. When the beam was a couple of inches away from hitting her she suddenly vanished and reappeared behind Eclipse...with Discord standing where she had been. The resulting explosion tore open the ground in a fury of stone, dirt, and frozen grass. Darkness hung in the air, lingering after the intense explosion brought about by the more powerful spell Eclipse had developed, no doubt leaving a giant crater in the ground where it hit.

"Cero Oscuras," Eclipse said, observing the damage his powered up cero had caused, "or my 'Black Cero'. A spell capable of leveling mountains and splitting ground wherever it hits. The damage it does to the body could be critical, but I doubt you suffered very much Discord."

Sure enough when the smoke cleared there was a crater in the ground, one that could have been a whole mile long, but the figure that stood there appeared to be injured. Discord emerged from the smoke, but it was clear by the open wound in his leg and the cut to his eye that the spell had definitely wounded him. He gave Eclipse an evil stare as chaos gathered around his claws, as if he was thinking of striking back at Eclipse.

"It is good to see you survived," Eclipse continued, tilting his head just a bit, "but that is to be expected from the God of Chaos. Now come, show me what you are all capable of."

Then Tick's cannon hit him in the back of the head, which was due to Wisdom bringing his friend up behind Eclipse and whacking him quite hard with it. As he tumbled out of the sky, heading for the hole in the fortress yet again, another wave of sound hit him square in the chest and forced him right into the ground. Before he could even do anything multiple beams of solar and lunar energy collided with the fortress from above, tearing apart the foundations with ease. Most of their group was already clear of the fortress, so they wouldn't get caught in the blast radius of the explosions and watched for their foe.

"There is no way he escaped that unharmed," Luna commented, having regained her weapon and now stood by her sister, "Despite everything we know about him I seriously doubt that he managed to somehow avoid that barrage without some sort of wound or even a cut to his being."

"Seeping crest of turbidity. Arrogant vessel of lunacy! Boil forth and deny! Grow numb and flicker! Disrupt sleep! Crawling queen of iron! Eternally self-destructing doll of mud! Unite! Repulse! Fill with soil and know your own powerlessness!" Eclipse's voice chanted from the whole, "Hado Number 90, Kurohitsugi."

The sky around Celestia, Luna, Cadence, Twilight, and Sombra blacked as they were encased in large cubes made out of what appeared to be darkness. Before any of the other members of their party could even move the cubes shattered and the captured ponies hit the ground hard with several cuts across their bodies. Chrysalis and Discord, one scared out of her mind and the other wounded to where he was useless, were in no condition to continue fighting. It was up to Wisdom, Peachy, Tick, Sunset Shimmer, Tonto, Copper, and Clank, most of whom knew the power of Eclipse first hoof by now.

"So, now it falls to my friends to defeat me," Eclipse said as he stepped out of the ruins, "So, will you all stand against me and try your hoof at defeating me? Or will you flee before the power I wield and leave me in peace?"

"We fight," Wisdom shouted, sound and darkness mixing into a tidal wave of magic as Peachy and Tick used their skills together and pushed Eclipse back yet again, "Stall him while I get my things."

"Easier said than done," Sunset Shimmer sarcastically said, magic at the ready as they faced Eclipse, "Sometimes I wish I had stayed home with my friends and never came back here."

Before anypony could respond Eclipse burst out of the smoke, his sword moving quickly and easily being blocked by Tonto's weapon, a spear made by Copper. The mare responsible for arming the entire group sucker punched Eclipse in the stomach, cracking the armor he was wearing and wounding him in the process. She had spent years making additions to her body, but the leg was specially made to help her wound Eclipse and she was pleased to find a crack in his armor. Eclipse growled and separated the second blade, bringing it down on her and being stopped by what appeared to be some sort of shield that shocked him back.

As he lunged at her, ignoring the other ponies around him, she shifted to the side and slammed her hoof into his armor again, this time making the crack spread even further. Copper knew the weaknesses of the armor Eclipse was wearing, seeing how she spent time with all sorts of metals, and figured a couple of well placed strikes would destroy the armor in no time. One other thing she had done during the last three years, one thing that she hadn't told anypony at all, was she had replaced some more parts of herself in anticipation for this fight. Something struck Eclipse in the chest, causing him to back up and stare at his foe.

Copper had modified her hooves to match her metallic leg, giving her a complete set of dragon claws, and gave them a shield generator that gave her the shield that stopped Eclipse's attack. Her once messy tail unraveled to reveal a long, metallic dragon tail with what appeared to be a scythe type head at the very end of it and three small spikes on it. She had spent time making herself more like a dragon then her pony self, giving her a deadly weapon to use against those who came at her. At the moment it meant she had something that could possibly harm Eclipse, but that remained to be seen.

"Are you kidding me?" Peachy said, surprised by Copper's transformation, "Since when did you have so many metallic dragon parts on yourself? Its almost like you wanted to be a dragon and not a pony."

"I enjoy being a pony," Copper growled, stopping the swords as Eclipse pushed her back a few inches, "but I am a tinkerer and I am known to fiddle with my machines. I gave myself a weapon, the claws and this tail. Now Eclipse, let's dance."

She spun around and kicked him square in the chest, breaking a hole in his armor and pushing him back in a single instant. Without allowing him time to do anything she wrapped her whip-like tail around him and flung him into the air, following without a second wasted. With another punch to the armor she sent shards flying throughout the air, the entire suit ruined to the point where he was going to have to discard it soon. Even as Eclipse corrected himself Copper spun around and struck him hard in the chest once more, causing him to shoot down to the ground.

Waiting for Eclipse to land was Wisdom, who was wielding some strange metallic suit that seemed to combine the power of himself, Peachy, and Tick into one being. Before Eclipse hit the ground Wisdom struck him hard in the space that Copper had opened up, likely breaking several of his ribs in the process. Then he released a barrage of blows, breaking what little remained of his armor and cracking even more of his ribs then earlier. It seemed that in his werepyre form his instant regeneration ability was either disabled or they were hurting him to the point where it couldn't keep up.

Eclipse stopped and settled on the ground, staring up at Wisdom as magic surged around his front right leg and he stood up straight, his chest armor falling right off. The magic seemed to control the wind, seeing how it spiraled into a large sphere that seemed to shake the ground all around Eclipse. Wisdom knew he was up to something, but he remained unworried as he gathered something similar to what Eclipse was doing, only his was made of darkness and sound.

"Screw this," Northern said, stretching her wings as she watched them fight, "When those two spells collide it's going to be the death of everypony near them. I am not going to let either of them die for something so stupid."

Before Viscarias could stop her Northern took off, flying as fast as she could towards the fight. She didn't know how she was going to stop them from literally killing each other and the rest of their friends, but she had to try something. Her magic was like a normal changeling, so she had to think of something as she neared them and what appeared to be a very shaky ground. The two magical spheres were giving off some dangerous energies and she feared she would be too late to stop them. Just as she landed the two sprung into combat, completely unaware that she was between them, so she flung her hooves up at them in hopes they'd stop if she touched them.

"STOP!"

As soon as the word left Northern's mouth purple lightning arched around her hooves and jumped at the two of them, a screeching sound piercing the air as the two were suddenly stopped. Surrounding the two stallion's was a sphere of purple energy, one that allowed them to see out and allow others to see in, as their attacks withered away into nothing. Everypony was surprised, never had they seen something that could stop a battle crazed Eclipse and his opponents in their steps with such ease. She looked up and saw the sphere's wondering how she had managed to stop them if it wasn't one of her father's tricks.

"You possess such a fiery courage," said a voice as Celestia, still covered in closed cuts, landed near them, "one that burns enough to allow you to stop such a heated battle. You, Eclipse, need to stop fighting and return to your ponies and your family."

"Plus we need to have Peachy and Tick cured," Wisdom said, looking at the spear in his hooves and piercing the ground with the sharp head, "I can't do it anyway. I said I could bring myself to kill when the need arised, but now that I'm so close to doing it I cannot bring myself to kill you Eclipse. You can dislike me for doing all of this to you, but I will not kill you."

"And I respect you for that," Eclipse replied, coughing as some white substance worked it's way across his chest where the armor had been, "Its going to take some time, but my instant regeneration will heal all the broken bones and scrapes that I've received during this battle. Now, let's see about removing those curses from my friends."

Eclipse simply touched Peachy and Tick in their foreheads, causing a black substance to emerge from their heads as their bodies violently shook. He caught the substance in a nearby stone from the ruined fortress, which he immediately destroyed to be rid of the two curses and restore his friends in seconds. The changes surged through the assembled ponies, the vampires and werewolves losing what made them monsters and returned to their original forms. Overall the sight of having his friends restored brought a smile, and quite possibly a tear, to Wisdom's face.

"Aww..." Peachy whined, missing her wings already, "but I liked being a vampire."

"Come on guys," Eclipse said, bringing his daughter closer to himself, "Let's go home before we all freeze."