King of the Dead

Versa’s face twists and contorts as she strains against my hands. Her eyes are wide and wild the moment she realizes she can’t push me back. “Raiden! We do not have time for this! Zaran is right outside and we can end this now!”

I release her hands and boot her as hard as I can in the stomach. She goes flying back and slams into the stone wall. Her eyes frantically scan my body. “How...how are you this strong!?” Her voice is full of confusion topped off nicely with a dash of fear.

I casually stroll out of the room and stop in front of her. My arms hang at my sides, begging me to end her the way she’s ended the lives of so many of our people. There’s still a glimmer of restraint on her face. She stops slumping against the wall and stands up straight, doing her best to act like she’s not terrified. Her posture is perfect, but her hands shake ever so slightly, ready to defend herself at a moment’s notice. My blood was fire, my hands were lava and for the first time in my life, I’m completely unstoppable.

The thirst for destruction starts driving me wild. Even if I smacked Versa through a few walls, we could easily rebuild. Her hands twitch and her eyes search the hallway for something to distract me with. She finds no one and nothing, just like my time being in that cage in the yard. She had murdered Captain Magnos for telling the truth about me. A man who had single-handedly assured our victory against the Og Nag. Though we fell eventually, his tactics combined with Lucretia’s shield improvements had given us a fighting chance almost overnight.

I still stare into her eyes; those cold, green eyes. The veins around her sockets pound hard with every heartbeat. Her jaw bulges slightly from her clenched teeth. My face was solid and emotionless, but my eyes told her everything about what I was going to do next.

“Raiden…” She mumbles nervously. After a few more seconds of silence, I cock an eyebrow.

“What, you’re not going to try to convince me of something? Last I remember, you never gave any of us a chance, why should I give you a chance? You say I should stop since we can end this right now, but consider this: why didn’t you stop with me with the Og Nag at our doorstep? We got hit hard and fast, lost most of the city, pushed them out and you decide then is a great time to torture me?! Hell, the only reason we even held on that long, was due to my command decisions and yet you want me to wait?!”

The moment she opens her mouth to spew out more excuses, I grab her chest piece and hurl her through the wall behind me. She flies back into the room we were just in. She flails her arms to catch her balance then whirls around angrily.

“Raiden! Enough of this! Our enemy is outside! We can square up later!”

I let out a loud snort and roll my eyes. “You mean later when you have the upper hand because I’m worn out from killing Zaran? Do you think I’m stupid? It’s bad enough the pig gets an element, but you get away completely free of all your crimes? Yeah, no. I’m not having that.”

She clenches her fists and throws a lightning/fast punch at me. As her hand soars towards me, I see a small candle in the room. It flickers, but almost as if it was in slow motion.

I easily catch her fist in my hand and hold it. Before she can give me a right hook, my hand is already up. I block it and give her my own haymaker. The candle flame is somehow stuck bending over, while gradually moving upright. Versa gets sent into the next three rooms that had nothing but a few barrels and sacks in them. She groans pitifully and tries to get up. I pause at the hole she’s made and watch stone bricks fall like feathers in the air? I tilt my head in confusion and snag one midair. It felt just as heavy as ever, but how could stone fall so slowly?

Then the strangest sight catches my eye. Celestia is at the door, flapping her wings. She moves just as lazily as the bricks. Her eyes take several seconds to blink and she swings into the doorway. I look down at my hands which move at regular speed, same with the rest of my body, yet everything else seems to take forever. Celestia needs almost half a minute to look down at Versa, cover her mouth with her hoove and then look over at me. Her voice is disturbingly deep and she gradually waves her hooves at me frantically.

The bricks hit the ground immediately and the candle flickers wildly. Celestia’s eyes are wide and petrified. “General Raiden! Please, there is no time for this!”

I squint my eyes and turn my head slightly away from her while keeping our stares locked. “What was that just now? Why was everything moving so...sluggishly? Was that some kind of time spell?”

Celestia blinks at me, her face going from complete fear to bewilderment. Versa groans as she gets off the floor, nursing her neck with her right hand. “Nothing is slower, your brain speeds up to keep up with the elemental power. It happened to me when I saved you at the battle at Base Ponyville. It’s just your perception. Your body is so much stronger and faster, that the element increases your brain’s cognitive intake to compensate. That is the only theory that makes sense. Otherwise, your speed would be useless as you would simply dislocate your own arm from swinging too quickly to stop yourself, or go sailing across the ground from running too fast.”

Celestia looks over at Versa. “Oh that’s right, you have an element as well, I nearly forgot. Where is Hurrand? Does he not also have one?” I point at the hole in the outside wall without taking my stare off Versa then chuckle and cross my arms. Celestia’s mouth hangs open.

Versa grumbles angrily as her eyes glance at the giant hole Nightmare Moon had made. “Hurrand is fine. From what I’ve seen of his shield, it activates when he’s in danger. It’s even smart enough to decelerate him when needed so he doesn’t get whiplash or a concussion. I do not know where he is, but he will have to walk back. He is not as connected with his element as we are.”

I uncross my arms and grin hungrily at Versa. “Well Celestia, if you don’t mind, Versa and I were having a delightful conversation we need to finish.”

Versa’s eyes bulge and she gets into a ready position. “Are you serious?! You still want to do this!? You are a child!” The loose pebbles and stones around me start to clack wildly against the floor. That familiar burning sensation starts coursing through my veins. Celestia looks between us with terror. She gets in front of me and holds up two hooves. “Wait, Raiden! Luna is injured badly! She needs you!” My mouth snaps from an evil grin to complete horror. Celestia’s hair flutters slowly in place. I hover off the ground and fly through the hallways. It was as if the power in my veins knew what I wanted and how I wanted it. Operating on pure instinct, soaring through the corridors was as familiar as swinging my sword.

With a quick glance behind me, Versa is in pursuit but she’s staying back a ways. I twist and wind through intersections with ease, making sure to fly high enough not to collide with anyone’s head. Ponies and humans look up in shock as I sail by surrounded in a red glow with a brief trail of red behind me. The throne room still has a mix of dead or wounded Taraskans in it. We will have to vote on whether they get traditional funerals or are left outside with the Og Nag.

I skid to a stop at the double doors and Celestia appears next to me in a flash of yellow. She holds up a hoof uncomfortably. “Raiden...please hold on for just a moment.”

I shoot her a nasty glare. “You expect me to wait here while Luna is-”

Luna is shouting at Zaran from outside and she certainly doesn’t sound hurt. I turn and look at Celestia with a mix of annoyance and confusion. Celestia bites her bottom lip for a moment. “I apologize General Raiden, but I...may have fibbed a bit to end your current engagement.”

Zaran’s irritating voice comes sailing in from outside. “Are your little friends not coming out as well? Don’t tell me they’re all tired from that tiny little fight, are they?” I clench my hands and before I can burst through the doors to kick his teeth in, a hand clamps on my shoulder. My fist almost collides with them until I see Lucretia’s exhausted face. Her eyes are filled with worry and her hair's a mess. “Sir...I think Zaran wants us all out there. He must have known it could easily come down to all of us jumping him at once. He has to have a plan for this.”

I take a step back and she keeps her hand where it is for a few seconds.

“Are you telling me that I finally have power, I can finally join the fight instead of just swinging a sword and you’re telling me to stay out of this?!”

Emeris walks out of the corridor to our left. He removes his helmet and has an uncomfortable look on his face. “Raiden, I know you want to fight, but this is what Zaran wanted, remember? He wants you to get angry and lose control. It’s how he draws power from you. I don’t fully understand how it works but everything has lead up to this moment. Starswirl warned us this would happen.”

The muscles right under my eyes twitch wildly. “You expect me to sit here while she’s out there?!” I yell, motioning to the outside.

Lucretia crosses her arms and nods sympathetically. “That could easily be why he did what he did to Daruk, to draw her out, knowing you’d follow. If literally anyone else was out there, you’d probably be willing to stay back, just not for her.”

Surprisingly, Celestia walks up to me with a look of calm on her face. “Raiden, Luna is more capable than you know. a very capable mare, she’s more of a warrior than you know.” Celestia puts her hoof on my chest. “I’m asking you to please trust her. She’s furious, but she’s not foolish. She knows exactly what she’s doing.”

I stare into Celestia’s eyes and unclench my fists. Was Zaran really this craft or was I just predictable when I get angry? Celestia removes her hoof and nods. “Please follow me to our throne room. there is something I’d like to show you.” She looks behind her at Shining Armor, who despite his fight with Nightmare, still stands as if he’s ready for another skirmish even with his hair being a complete mess and dust caked into his hair.

“Shining, please prepare the Aegis Shield. We’ll need it.” I almost stomp as I follow Celestia.

“Are you seriously going to tell me that while Luna puts her life on the line out there, fighting Zaran, that we’re just going to hide behind a shield?!” Celestia inhales but keeps her composure as we enter the throne room.

“Raiden, as I’ve mentioned before, there is much to alicorns you do not know. I will explain in a few but I’m pressed for time. Please trust me.” Celestia’s horn flares and a massive metallic orb rises out of the floor, as if it existed in a dimension apart from ours.

“This is the Orb of Sight. Through it, I can see anything in the kingdom I wish. However I can only focus on one thing at a time and it takes longer the farther away something is. Basically I use my magic to move it around the world, it doesn’t just find whatever I ask. From here, we can watch the fight without being bystanders.”

My foot is going up and down so hard, I could almost drill a hole through the floor. As Celestia’s horn flares, we clearly see the entire scene against the orb’s shiny surface as if we were actually there. Zaran and Luna stand there talking. Neither of them showed an ounce of fear.

Emeris shakes his head. “God I can’t imagine the amount of fear she has to be holding ba-” Luna flaps her wings and in a flash of magic is sailing towards Zaran. Numerous small beams erupt from her horn. Zaran’s eyes glow red and he ashes to the right, narrowly avoiding the beams. Luna doesn’t give him a second to breathe, as she’s on his tail. He can barely avoid her magic, as he darts to the left and right, using his magic to levitate himself at high speeds.

Dirt goes flying into the air, leaving a few foot-wide holes in the ground. Zaran turns around and rockets through the air with Luna hot on his tail. He stays a few feet above the ground, so any dirt she kicks up acts as a temporary smokescreen. My eyes stay wide and glued to the orb. There was no telling how this fight was going to go down. Zaran was weakened but he’s no pushover. Luna was one of the most powerful creatures on this planet with a scalding hatred for him. It was anyone’s guess at this point.

They start curving around a mountain and Luna is sending beams at him at least twice a second. Each shot is dead on, forcing Zaran to dodge both her and the trees ahead of him. The shrubbery that gets in the way, goes up in flames immediately. In their wake, numerous trees are almost completely enveloped in fire. Luna’s body picks up a blue glow and she smashes through trees with ease, while Zaran zigzags through them, barely able to stay ahead of her. Their faces were frozen in expressions of complete concentration.

Suddenly, Luna banks up and gets above the trees. She groans and her horn flares while glowing. After a few seconds, she lets loose and the beam is as wide as her body. It digs across the ground, uprooting trees and sending them flying. Zaran banks away from the mountain at high speeds. He has to keep the trees intact as they’re his only cover from Luna getting a clear sight on him. His face strains in agony as he has to dodge and keep an eye on Luna at the same time. Luna sweeps the path ahead of him, so Zaran banks right at the last second, doing a full right turn at such speeds that it was probably hell on his body.

Her beam barely missed him and turned the path he was going into ash. She groans again and her horn flares. Zaran has to whip around and stay in the small forest that was being consumed by fire. There wasn’t enough visual cover to the next large group of trees. Ironically, his lack of cover from her was due to his own damn war. It was poetic justice at its best.

Luna takes another few seconds to charge and stops in midair. I turn to Celestia. “What is she doing?! She can’t stay still with him!” Without looking at me, Celestia slaps on a devilish smirk. “I assure you Raiden, Luna is a very capable mare. Trust her. She knows what she’s doing.”

As my hands start shaking, Lucretia hugs my arm. As I look at her, she gives me a sympathetic nod.

“Raiden, Luna’s been fighting with our forces. She’s not some frilly princess. Give her a chance to prove it.” Emeris clamps a hand on my shoulder and we go back to watching silently.

Luna rears back in mid-air and lets her beam out. It’s twice as wide as before and travels at blinding speeds. Instead of hitting the forest directly, she carves a nice, big circle at the perimeter of the forest, making sure a ring of fire makes its way inside. Zaran has nowhere to go but through a huge plume of smoke and out of cover. Luna doesn’t wait for him to escape though.

Emeris chuckles in astonishment on my right. “She’s got him right where she wants him!” He cries while patting my shoulder eagerly.

She flies up another fifty feet or so. She points her head towards the sky, spreading out her four legs and her wings. The palace starts to rattle as her horn glows along with the edges of her wings. Her face scrunches in agony. A ball of energy appears in front of her and grows rapidly. It’s a perfect sphere with blue lightning arcing across its surface. Blue smoke starts rising from it and before long, it’s ten times her body mass. With a cry of effort, she slams both her front hooves into it and an arc from her horn collides with the sphere as well.

It rockets towards the forest as fast as either of them could fly. As it nears the fire, nearby trees get pulled into it and obliterated. It sucks up all manner of shrubbery and rocks. The moment it collides with the ground, the entire forest is pushed outwards in a monstrous explosion. At the point of impact, there’s an initial shockwave that sends everything flying out in a tidal wave of debris.

Celestia cocks her head to the side. “Shining! First shield! Now!” she yells nervously. The palace walls shimmer with light blue energy. From the orb, we see a sphere of magic engulf the exterior of the palace.

The actual explosion from Luna’s attack comes only a second after the shield goes up. It’s a dazzling, deep purple. The palace rocks so hard, we’re almost thrown to the ground. All the trees get sent flying and a lot of them collide with the palace shield. Dirt, rocks, ground, everything is tossed so high, they could hit birds.

Then we see a strange blue sphere get flung from the epicenter. Zaran skids across the ground for a few hundred feet, bouncing powerlessly against the soil. All he can do is keep his shield up as he snaps trees in half and plows through boulders helplessly. He slides across the ground and stops while laying on his side motionless.

Emeris stutters in confusion. “Wait...Zaran’s shield is blue like Hurrand’s now? I thought all of his magic was red.”

Shining runs into the room and gives Celestia a nod. Celestia’s horn flares. “Luna, phase one is complete, head to phase two.”

Lucretia, Emeris and I turn and stare at her. “What’s phase two?”

Celestia doesn’t take her eyes off the orb and says nothing.

Luna pants in the air and takes a few minutes to compose herself. The moment Zaran twitches a leg, she launches towards him with wings spread out. Her face is a mix of rage and eagerness. She sails through the air so fast, some of the smoke from the explosion gets drawn in her wake. Right before impact, Zaran opens his eye and dashes forward. Luna lands where he was with a violent stomp, kicking up ground.

Zaran dashes back to her and sends Luna flying with a powered kick from his hind legs. Luna rolls across the ground like a ragdoll and my mouth hangs open in horror. She’s able to right herself with her wings and skids across the dirt with all four hooves while facing Zaran. She rockets towards him and barely misses his face with a punch from her right foreleg. Zaran leans back enough for it to miss, but she follows up with a kick from her right hindleg and sends him back several feet when it connects with his jaw.

Zaran regains his composure and dashes at Luna with a flurry of blows. Luna crouches low to the ground and leaps back twice, dodging the first few punches. She leaps into the air backwards as Zaran’s hit collides with the ground. She banks to the left by just a few feet to avoid another punch from Zaran who goes soaring past. He turns around to face her and gets a double hind kick to the chest. He leaves a small trail in the ground as he rushes by helplessly.

Luna soars over to him with a punch at the ready. Right as she gets to him, Zaran is covered in a red glow. He teleports back a few feet to avoid the hit. Ther moment Luna misses, he teleports forward again, tucks his hind legs to his chest, and as he rotates himself around, he sends Luna flying back with a double kick of his own. Everyone in the throne room groans as she hits the dirt hard and lays there for a second.

Zaran is on all fours but he’s panting heavily. Luna gradually gets up and there’s blood trailing from her scalp down her cheek.

Lucretia shakes her head in frustration. “That stupid magical dash of his. How do you avoid something that quick?”

Luna, without a drop of hesitation, flies forward and tries to connect a punch. Her horn flares furiously and leaves a trail of magic behind her. Zaran teleports upwards just a few feet, then back down, slamming his hoof into her head then kicking her across the ground. My stomach flips upside down as Zaran gets in a second kick into her midsection, sending her launching into the air. He’s on her in a second but she flaps her wings and takes off. Blood trails out of the corner of her mouth and she clutches her ribs with a foreleg.

She banks left and right as Zaran starts sending his own dazzling red beams at her. He fires half as fast as she did, but each one comes within inches of hitting her even as she dodges religiously. She banks to the left and then the right, but gets hit in the wing and starts to go down after a scream of pain. I slam both my fists on the orb and scream in protest. Celestia looks over at me with an uncomfortably angry stare. “Raiden, please! You must control yourself! Luna knows what she’s doing!”

I get off the orb and stare daggers at Celestia. “She’s getting the crap beat out of her! We have to help!”

Celestia purses her lips. “Raiden...please. Trust us.”

Lucretia takes my arm again.

“Raiden...we can’t go out there anyways. This is what he wants. We have to let them try.”

I go back to staring into the orb as my greatest enemy slowly murders my greatest love. I can’t resist covering my face with my hands while peering through my fingers.

Zaran trails her perfectly and a small ball of energy starts appearing in front of his forward. He narrows his eyes in concentration as the wind makes his mane flap wildly. Right as he leans his head back to let loose, Luna flares her wings to stop herself and before Zaran can slow down, she’s already behind him. He has a spare second to open his mouth in shock as he’s hit with a blue beam and sent into the ground.

Luna pants heavily as the wound on her head is pouring worse than before. Her left wing where she got hit, starts twitching and she’s forced to settle on the ground. She stares savagely at the small pillar of dust Zaran made where he impacted. It’s the most tense few seconds of my life. Just how bad was Zaran hurt?

She keeps staring when a small, red beam comes piercing through the dirt cloud. It nails her in the shoulder and she’s flung back in a scream of agony. He takes slow steps towards her while looking around in the air. “Celestia, are you really going to let me kill your sister? Are you going to abandon her again just like you did when you sent her to the moon? Is that just how sisters work on your world?”

Celestia’s lips pucker angrily and her eyes burst open but she says nothing. Zaran narrows his eyes and grumbles. He stops over Luna, who lays on her side. Zaran goes back to looking around.

“I know full well you wouldn’t just leave her out here and walk away so that means you have to be watching from somewhere with some form of remote viewing magic. I’m also willing to bet that Raiden The Coward is probably right next to you as well. Tell me Raiden, just how fiery is your relationship with Luna?” He turns back to her and a large beam of red energy surges out and plows into Luna repeatedly. She screams as red flame surrounds her body. Her legs flail helplessly and my fists clench.

Emeris and Lucretia both gradually grasp my arm in theirs. My mouth trembles and my body starts shaking.

Lucretia’s soft but cautious voice dances in my ear. “Raiden...you have to stay calm. I know this is hard to watch.”

I turn from the orb and drag both her and Emeris with me. They dig their feet into the floor and it does nothing to slow me down. I reach the doorway and it’s surrounded with a yellow barrier. After turning around, Celestia glares at me with a mix of frustration and terror.

“Raiden! If you go out there, Luna will die! Give us just a few more minutes! I know this is brutal but you must listen to what I’m saying to you!” There’s something suspicious in her tone. I’m about ready to lose my lunch when Shining appears in the doorway.

“It’s ready, Celestia!” Celestia’s eyes bulge and her horn flares.

“Luna! The shield’s ready!” I run back to the orb in confusion. The shield around the palace becomes almost completely solid and the inside gets dark. Everyone in the room except for Celestia looks around nervously.

As we turn back to the orb, Zaran looks down at Luna with a cocked eyebrow. He’s send flying as a massive blue explosion erupts from Luna. Zaran’s body gets engulfed with red energy to stop himself. As he looks up, Luna is on all fours. Her horn flares and her body is obscured by blue magic. When it fades, all her wounds and blood are gone. We stare at the orb completely perplexed.

Luna smirks arrogantly. “Oh Zaran, you are so adorable. You think you’re such a genius and it never occurred to you I was using illusion magic to fake my injuries? I’m an alicorn for crying out loud!” Luna points to the palace with her foreleg without taking her eyes off Zaran.

“And that shield around the palace? That’s not for you, that’s for me. Now I don’t have to hold back. By the way, you hit like a foal.”

Desp[ite the shield, the ground starts shaking again, but this time we’re all forced to sit down. Random bolts of blue energy erupt from Luna’s body and collide with everything within a few hundred feet. Trees explode, dirt and rocks are kicked hundreds of feet into the air and the sky starts to become cloudy. The moon shines so brightly, it’s like a white bonfire across the landscape.

Every loose item near Luna rapidly travels upwards and vanishes out of sight. Emeris looks over at Celestia.

“What in the hell is she doing?!”

Celestia slaps on an evil grin.

“We alicorns have special abilities simple unicorns don’t have. There’s a limit to how much power our bodies can handle at a given time. We discovered that by using our magic to increase our bodies, we can output much more power than normal. We call this Ascending. It is not something we ever speak of.”

Lucretia cocks an eyebrow.

“And you didn’t just do this from the start because…”

Celestia stops grinning and gives us a very serious stare.

“Because if you do it wrong, you can kill yourself very easily. It is difficult to fight and stay ascended at the same time. If she loses concentration just for a moment, her body can explode from the sudden lack of support. This is an absolute last resort. After this, if she can’t kill Zaran, she will be out of commission for quite some time. She could very well permanently sever her ability to use magic all together.” Lucretia stares at her blankly.

The landscape is a mix of deep, dark shadows and overwhelming white light. A strong wind blows in, tossing the random fires around. Luna’s eyes glow white and her mane gives off an ominous dark smoke. As she grins, her white teeth stand out against the darkness. Zaran looks like he’s almost ready to shrink into a corner. Luna’s voice sounds strangely doubled.

“Well now Zaran, don’t tell me you’ve lost the fighting spirit have you?”