Blood Brothers To The End

The view from the carriage was horrifying to say the least. Looking out of the window, the two brothers, Lewis and William, could see devastation and destruction as the Princess' carriage circled high above the city of Canterlot. What were once white and gold manor houses and apartments, were now smoke, ash and rubble. The guard towers leading into the city were gone, no trace left. Several business' were demolished, only the signs left behind were proof they ever existed at all.

"Oh my god, its terrible." spoke William silently.

"It is." said Lewis, his body slowly tensing as he watched anthroponite after anthroponite get crushed and melted from the hydra.

On the way up to the city, the Hydra had began firing beams of fire from the two heads in the center of its body. One of the beams barely missed the carriage they were in.

"How can we stop it?" asked Lewis, turning his head to Celestia and Luna, who were sat opposite them with grim looks on their faces.

"We cannot kill it, that's for certain. Hydra's have the ability to regenerate any part of it body at will. It cannot truly die. This is because it has a very large, magic infused heart. This heart beats 48 times faster than a ponies, and this coupled with the magical energy infused into it, means it can rapidly heal any part of its body." Celestia murmured, her tone dark, her face brooding. She had dealt with this hydra many a time, but this time, it was early.

"So cant we take out its heart?" William said in response.

"No We cannot, The creatures heart is encased in an organic substance that is harder than the crystals beneath the city. In order for thou to tear out the creatures heart, thou would need strength no pony has ever achieved and an immense amount of magical power to boot. We are afraid, it just is not possible to kill." said Luna, her tone filled with despair.

"No we cannot kill it, but we can slow down its regeneration. For some reason we cannot fathom, a hydra cannot regenerate properly if all heads are severed at once. It extends it regeneration process by many hundreds of years. That's how we've been dealing with it before, but not without heavy casualties." as Celestia said this, a large beam of super-heated fire, came roaring past the carriage, shaking it off course.

"Your highness" shouted a royal guard piloting said carriage "The magical crystal keeping the carriage afloat has been hit, it wont stay airborne for much longer, your grace."

"I understand sir, keep us in the air a little longer!" Celestia replied, shouting over the noise of the carnage below.

"So what can we do to help?" asked Lewis "We have our new powers, perhaps there's something we can do?"

"Perhaps, dost thou know battle strategy, if not then perhaps you can work with the ground team to cut off the heads." Luna said, almost as if she didn't expect them to do anything.

"We can help we swear!" said William, desperate to prove his worth.

"Alright, but we don't want you getting hurt, will you be okay?" asked Celestia.

"Of course, with this power i'm sure we can help turn the tide of the fight!" replied William, his voice filled with vigor.

"For thou sakes, we hope so." said Luna her tone neutral, and her focus on the Hydra.

Lewis looked out the window once more to see fire, and devastation. Then he remembered the knowledge transferred to him by his book.

"Celestia, i need some time to read through my book. How much longer can the pilot remain airborne before needing to drop you to safety?" asked Lewis, his mind continuously formulating idea after idea.

I believe we can stay up for maybe, 10 more minutes." replied after quickly surveying the magical crystal buried in the floor of the carriage with her magic.

"That should be  more than enough time." Lewis replied, his mind had come up with a plan, and it involved their new powers.

Lewis leaned over to William and whispered the plan into his ears. William stared straight ahead, eyes wide, mouth in a perfect o shape.

"OOOOOOHHHH, i get it!" said William, the plan making sense in his young mind "I can do that easy!"

"Good." said Lewis  "Then the first step is..."

Lewis closed his eyes, for a second the rune on the back of his hand appeared, turned purple, and vanished. When he opened his eyes, they were no longer gold, but an eerie misty purple.

"This should work just fine." He said.

"What did you do? What happened to your eyes?" asked Celestia, slightly worried he had hurt himself.

"Its just the Night-stalker spell. It allows me to see specific things that i register as necessary through walls and other objects, i can track specific people or objects as long as i can remember what they look like, i can also see in the dark and rather easily track movement. My mind is sharper than even yours Celestia." Lewis spoke with a sly grin.

Celestia could tell he was being truthful. They had an unspoken connection, and she knew from his eyes that everything he had just said was true.

Lewis moved over and yelled out to the guard.

"Hey, can you flip this thing upside down?!"

"Are you crazy?" Replied the guard "We'll die!"

"No we wont, trust me!" Said Lewis, his face determined. Its shook the guards resolve.

"Alright, i trust you." he said, before flipping the carriage slowly.

Below them, the Hydra was still firing beams of fire at the surrounding buildings. Suddenly, one of the heads looked up and noticed the carriage, roaring in frustration at having some, small object buzzing around its head. The other heads, stopped and looked the same way, and then, began firing beams of fire at the carriage.

"Oh horesapples!" cried the guard, veering to the left, the carriage still turned on its head. The guard had narrowly avoided two beams, and was sweating in panic.

"Whatever thou plans to do, thou better do it fast!" cried Luna, desperate to get out of the sky.

Lewis turned and grinned at Luna. He knew what to do. he turned to William and nodded, William then proceeded to grab two corners of the roof of the carriage, and then rip it open.

"What are you doing?" screamed Celestia, Her face contorted in fear. She obviously wasn't expecting that.

"Alright the, time to go William!" shouted Lewis over the sound of the air being torn apart by the vacuum.

William and Lewis, grabbed hold of the edge of the newly formed gaping hole, and flipped out. Celestia's screams of panic, dissipated into nothingness as the two fell from over 15,000 feet down towrds the ground. The two yelled over the howling wind.

"Are you ready William?" Shouted Lewis.

"Always! I trust you!" replied William, a smile on his face. He trusted Lewis with his life, and he was about to put that faith to the test.

"Then lets go!" shouted Lewis.

William then proceeded to shift his cloak back into the large, scaly, flame covered wings he had received from the book and spread them wide. Now with the wind under his wings, he tilted them back, and immediately vanished from sight. Lewis turned around in midair to see William, soaring at high speeds down at a 45 degree angle towards the Hydra. He watched as William breathed in deeply and then breathed out at full force, a stream of orange flames spewing from William's mouth. The flames reached an immense length, although it wasn't meant to damage the Hydra, it was meant to distract it, and it worked. The Hydra turned all of its heads to the source of the heat, and seeing another dragon like creature, ripped it's attention away from the city, and focused entirely on William.

Lewis had been right, the Hydra's natural instincts were similar to lizards and other carnivorous animals. Its dominant nature, meant that, should another creature that seemed similar in strength appear, Its natural instinct to challenge said creature would arise. The Hydra had shifted into domination mode, and was now trying to fight William, to prove its dominance.

"Yes, it worked!" whispered Lewis to no-one in particular as he continued to fall. Thanks to his Night-stalker spell, he had already calculated the speed in which he was falling, the height he was currently at, and the angle he would have to be at in order to land safely.

"Welp" said Lewis "I suppose i should do my part now." and with that, Lewis flipped back round to face the ground.

He had been waiting to try this power out since he had learned about it from the book.  He focused all his mental energy on the name of the spell...

BLOOD DESTRUCTION

The rune on the back of Lewis' hand appeared on and with a brilliant red flash, it grew in size. It encased Lewis in the light and then vanished. Lewis' skin crawled. He could his his blood literally boiling beneath his skin, it was the most excruciating pain he'd ever felt. His mind went blank from the pain.

If you were on the ground looking up, you would see and massive Hydra, easily trumping the castle in size. A small flaming creature breathing fire, and of to the far right, a small red light, falling at incredibly high speeds. This red light would then proceed to explode in red electricity, the sky itself covered in crimson, as the red light convulsed and exploded again and again in violent brilliance.

Lewis could feel his skin tearing apart as the lightning erupted from his hand. suddenly, the pain vanished. He opened his eyes and saw he was on the ground, a crater easily the size of a football field around him. The buildings he had destroyed when he landed, lay in ruin around him. He could see his reflection in some broken glass. His physique had changed, his body even more toned and defined than before. His once brown hair and fur, was now a deep maroon red. His face and arms were covered in strange, dark red, tattoo like lines and symbols. The spell had worked. He had transformed. He could however, still feel his blood boiling beneath his skin. Lewis turned to face the Hydra. It was time to show them what he was really capable of. Lewis kicked off of his Left foot, and immediately vanished from sight. what had actually happened was, he had so much strength in his body, kicking his foot had launched him into the air.

This incredible burst of speed left a delay, and even in the air, he could hear a sonic boom below him, where had kicked from. Now In the air, Lewis turned his arms behind him, and using magic, he formed a platform that looked just like the red rune on his hand. He kicked off of it once more, this time in the direction of the Hydra. he rocketed towards the Hydra with unnatural speed and just before colliding with its chest, he pulled back his right arm, and unleashed a powerful right jab to its central core.

The Hydra, was a dominant creature, and having a fly buzzing around was annoying, but imagine its surprise when another fly collided with its body at such speed and with such force, that the Hydra was knocked off its feet, and into the mountain side.

"WOOP WOOP!" screamed William as he saw his brother collide with the Hydra. He had always admired his brother, but right now, his brother was the coolest guy on this strange new planet.

"Now William!" screamed Lewis from below.

William looked around in shock, realizing he had forgotten his role, and quickly plunged downwards towards the castle. He knew what he needed.

Meanwhile, Lewis was stood on the ground amidst the wreckage caused by the Hydra's flight. he watched as the Hydra slowly rolled over, and stood up, all its heads, staring him down.

"Ha, didn't see that coming did you." Lewis said, seemingly to the Hydra, to which it roared in frustration.

The Hydra lumbered towards Lewis having completely forgotten about his previous foe, and without hesitation, released several beams of fire towards the tiny figure. Lewis kicked off of his right foot, launching sideways at great speed. Another delayed boom sounded in the background as he practically flew towards the city walls. The Hydra followed. Perfect.

The Hydra lumbered into a large clearing, unaware of William, high above it, holding a large column. He had sharpened it down with his flames to the point that it was almost as sharp as a blade on one side. It hadn't taken him too long, all he had to do was increase the intensity to which the flames burned and narrow the stream, a perfect little laser to slice up the marble with. He had been waiting high above for just a few moments when he saw the Hydra below him. He looked forward to see Lewis, with his hand up. Then, it dropped. That was the clue, with a grunt, William let go of the massive column.

"Oh god this better work." said William as he watched the column drop.

Lewis was watching with grim satisfaction. He has planned this from the start.

Step 1: Get the Hydra's attention.

Step 2: Lure it to a large open space.

Step 3: Allow William to drop the sharpened column onto the Hydra.

It all came to fruition. The Hydra looked up with all its heads just a little too late. The column of sharpened marble came down with a sickening crunch. One by one, all the Hydra's head were severed piece by piece. The column finally hit the ground. every head had been severed. The hydra's limp body slumped to the floor, lifeless. Now for the finishing touch.

Lewis walked over towards the Hydra's body and without hesitation ripped a massive hole in it stomach. He climbed and re-appeared moments later carrying a large, black, pulsating sphere.

"Lewis, what is that?" asked William as he floated down to the ground.

"This is the Hydra's heart." replied Lewis, a grin on his face.

"But Luna said you cant remove its heart?" said William, confusion across his face.

"Yes you can. Its simple, you just have to calculate the exact force needed to rip the organic cords connecting the heart and the body. Simple." Lewis replied almost as if he didn't care.

"Is that.." came a familiar voice.

Lewis and William turned to see Luna and Celestia gliding down to them. They must have returned to the castle and began making their way to the two as soon as they arrived.

"Impossible..." whispered Luna "No-one has enough power to cut that out!"

"That's where you are wrong your highness." said Lewis.

"My brother is so cool!" shouted William.

"Well, i suppose we should head back to the castle." said Celestia.

"Hang on." said Lewis.

The two brothers began to glow. Lewis' symbols disappeared, his hair returning to brown. His iris' became the sky blue they were always meant to be. His ears and tails tucked themselves away, seemingly into nowhere. The same thing happened to William. His horns dissipated into nothingness, his wings vanishing into the cloak they were before. His iris' returning to a similar blue, that his brother had. The two brothers were back to normal.

"But how?" said Luna "thou can shift between forms?"

"Of course!" said William.

"Well then, lets go back to the castle, there is much we must do to repair the city." said Celestia as she began walking in the direction of the castle.

The four of them reached the castle after walking through wreck after wreck, Celestia comforting any pony she came across. They were now standing in the castle's lush court room.

"So..." said Celestia slowly, she seemed both shy and scared "Would you like some tea?..."