Chapter 9: The Last Stand

“Go into battle, determined to die, and you will surely live. Go into battle, determined to live, and surely you shall die.”

-Samurai proverb

(***)

It was three o'clock in the morning, and everypony had a sense of dread lingering in their hearts.

The White Tails agreed to help the heroes, but with their full army, (numbering at forty) they knew it was a death sentence.

A small force of forty-six Applekotojin soldiers managed to escape the hounds, and a force of four hundred Equestrian soldiers were present as well.

The surviving Equestrian soldiers told the heroes about the outcome of the battle before Cernunnos showed up. According to them, Alduin completely decimated and destroyed the physical bodies of the Serpony gods, and even attacked both armies. The Serponies were regrouping and plan on attacking Ponyville on the morrow, while Equestria lost half of its total armed forces in that battle alone. Last they seen of Alduin, he was heading for the South Luna Ocean.

The heroes called a meeting before the stand, and all agreed that, should they survive the battle, Celestia and Luna will fly to Equestria and rally their forces there.

But now, in the eye of the storm, all the heroes were expecting to die.

The unusually bright Moon illuminated the forest with silvery light and revealed the moving silhouettes of many hounds and shambling corpses of many a brave soldier with weapons in hoof marched forward, their moans filling the battlefield with malice. Three thousand of them were ready to fight and die.

At the front of the very small Equestrian-Applekotojin-White Tail army, a certain pony in samurai armor held up a dark blade.

“Remember the cause, remember the sorrow.

Remember everything that has gotten you this far, then fight. Fight against fate, the destiny of the world.”

Braveheart looked to his right; Applejack, Vinyl, Octavia. Ryoma, Sakura were there, determined to get back home alive. To his left, Luna, Celestia, and Oak Feather, ready to defend their citizens to the bitter end.

They all looked at the approaching army of dogs born from the pits of Tartarus and the moving corpses of their fallen allies. Even half of Cernunnos’s army were living, breathing ponies with weapons and the flayed skins and coats of fallen Equestrian soldiers hanging on them like capes.

“Where did those ponies come from?!” asked Octavia.

“They must be survivors of the battle, who pleaded to live and hunt with Cernunnos so he wouldn't kill them.”

Braveheart turned and looked at his army. All the soldiers had solem looks, and many were praying to whatever gods they knew.

“You are all scared, aren't you,” Braveheart yelled to his army, “you are all afraid of that mass off former comrades and vicious dogs. Don’t be. Be afraid of what the army will do if they get past us. Gather your courage and stand with me.”

He turned to face the eldritch army of the hunt, and pointed his Darksaber at the enemies of Equestria and yelled, “where are you, hunter of the Bloodmoon?”

Cernunnos appeared in front of his army with Lurtz at his side. With a spear in hoof, Lurtz slammed the butt of the spear into the ground, causing the spear to stand on its own. The spear spread fear and panic into the small army as the soldiers noticed the gruesome decorations that adorned the spear.

Braveheart felt pure, unadulterated rage.

Skewered on the spear were the heads of Aether Aegis and Chione. Aether’s tongue hung out of his mouth, and Chione’s eyes were milky white.

Cernunnos laughed, “what will your poor excuse for an army do now, princesses? Your own soldiers, living and dead, work for me now. They see how weak both of you are, and want to hunt both of you down and claim your pelts!”

The living part of the army of the hunt bellowed war cries and hurled insults at the royal pair.

Lurtz joined them, pointing at the spear that held the desendant and the ice goddess’s head, yelling “This will happen to you all! We will strip the flesh from your bones, we will-”

“Hold your tongue!”

“The dead don't speak!”

Braveheart turned to see Luna and Celestia step forward, their eyes filled with unbridled fury.

“Do the dead, raised by the bloody hunter, walk Equis before my eyes?!” Luna said as she drew Moonbolt from its scabbard.

Celestia formed a spear made of pure light, “does the hunter raise an undead army of my soldiers, make them fall in and advance?!”

“For those that has abandoned Equestria, and embrace the false pleasures of the hunter, dare meet our gaze?!” Luna yelled.

Celestia stomped her hoof, yelling, “Equestria will not allow it. I will not allow it! You will be crushed like the vile insects you all are, cowering before our wrath!”

Luna and Celestia roared, “AMEN!!!”

Braveheart took a step back, reeling from the magic energy the two alicorns were generating. This energy soaked its way through the heroes’s army, filling everypony’s hearts with righteous fury and unwavering courage. Soon, the forces of Equestria went from sad and moping dumbasses to the righteous soldiers they were meant to be.

Celestia turned to the army and said, “tell us who you are, soldiers!”

The entire army cried out, “we are the soldiers of Equestria! We are the hopes and dreams, the sentinels of Equestria!”

Luna asked them, “what do you all hold in thy hearts, soldiers of Equestria?”

The soldiers answered, “the desire to destroy all threats to Equestria!”

“And what do you offer to the enemies of Equestria?” Celestia asked them.

“A weapon to spill their blood and life, and no mercy to give!”

Both princesses roared, “THEN SLAUGHTER THE ENEMY, WE COMMAND IT!”

The force of four hundred soldiers of Equestria and eighty-six soldiers of the White Tails and Applekoto charged with their vision tinted red.

The hounds and the dead charged as well.

In a furious clash of blades, the battle began.

Braveheart whirled his Darksaber and took the head off a leaping hound. He turned and sliced another corpse in half and stomped on its head, crushing the skull.

He turned and sliced at a living target this time, the soldier dodging the blow. The soldier tried to slash at the right of his body, but the Darksaber blocked- and sliced- the axe head from the shaft. The enemy looked at his axe-turned-stick in awe as Braveheart rammed his horn int the soldier’s throat, skewering the throat, causing blood to spatter all across Braveheart’s snout. Wasting no time, Braveheart lifted his mechanical hoof and punched the soldier in the face as hard as he could, which resulted in the soldier’s face caving in. The soldier fell over with a gurgle.

Braveheart cut down two more corpses and was slowly making his way towards Cernunnos.

Across the field, Luna was also trying to get to Cernunnos. Her flamberge, Moonbolt, was slicing through many soldiers by the group. She parried blows and bucked the dead and the living indiscriminately. No soldier could withstand her fury, no beast could bring her down, and certainly no bloodthirsty god was going to make her kingdom suffer!

Celestia was on the other side of the battlefield, fighting with the main force of Equestrians. Whenever a soldier was going to die, she killed the would-be slayer. When an arrow took a soldier out, Celestia sent a present made of scorching sun directly at them, causing explosions of sunlight across the battlefield. She whirled and whipped her spear of light into the bodies of many a foe who were fooling themselves into thinking they could take the alicorn of the sun in battle.

Applejack and Ryoma worked as a pair, blocking blows and delivering them unto enemy soldiers, their katanas slicing through bodies of the dead and the living. Sakura was taking shots with her steel yumi, nailing hounds in the head. Octavia zipped around the battlefield, tossing shurikens into bodies and skulls. Vinyl Scratch was with her, flinging soldiers off her naginata and using her magic to toss them around like rag dolls. Even Oak Feather was killing like a madmare, using his teeth to tear out the jugulars of many.

But, even with the heroes inflicting great damage to the army of the hunt, it was still roughly even between common soldiers of both armies. The Equestrian soldiers fought their hardest, the hunters still managed to keep up with them in the kill count. Hounds were still taking soldiers out with their packs.

Lurtz was bored by standing there, doing nothing. So he strung his uruk bow and went to work sniping Equestrian soldiers. He laughed as he felled soldier after soldier.

Slowly, but surely, the surviving soldiers of Equestria and their allies were getting pushed into a tight ball. With more and more soldiers falling to the blades of the hunt, it was really starting to look like a last stand.

Soon, Braveheart and Celestia were fighting side-by-side as they were slowly being pushed into the ball.

“I don't suppose you and your sister have anymore pep talks for the soldiers?!” Braveheart said as he used his magic to cause a used arrow to lodge itself in the throat of a hound.

Celestia sent another sun-bolt into a group of enemies that ended them pretty quickly, despite them looking like they got burned in a fryer “Not anything that comes to mind.”

Lurtz then he set his eyes on Celestia.

With a wicked grin, he notched an arrow and took aim.

Then a war horn shattered the air. Everypony stopped to look at the rest of the forest, where the sound was coming from. Emerging from the forest, was King Helm Lunar.

Following him was King Sombra and the crown prince of Nohr, Xander. Behind him was a mixed force of Lunardites, Knights Lunar, and Nohrian soldiers.

King Helm lifted his sword, and gave the order. Immediately, waves of Nohrian Lancers charged.

The army of the hunt was smashed by the incoming wave. The once menacing army was being torn to shreds as knights and Lancers crushed, stabbed and slashed their way through the army of the hunt.

King Helm was slicing through many hunters, and mordhau-stroking everypony he could find.

He had no equal on the battlefield, and was truly a legend.

Then an arrow sprouted from his neck.

The Lunardom/Nohrian army paused as they watched with horror as two more arrow peirced his back.

The king fell over, struggling to stand.

Celestia turned to see Cernunnos with an oversized bow, the only bow that could go through the steel plate armor Helm wore.

Lurtz then fired an arrow at Celestia, striking her in the flank.

As Celestia gasped in pain, Luna, who saw everything, snapped. She spread her wings and launched herself at the uruk, screaming bloody murder. She tackled the uruk and began to punch him repeatedly in the face until brain matter began to leak from his nose. She then gouged out his eyes with her horn, and then used her horn to slice open Lurtz’s abdomen, spilling his guts. She then grabbed his intestines with her jaws, wrapped them around Lurtz’s neck, and began to strangle him with them.

As the icing on the cake, Luna then grabbed her Moonbolt and impaled Lurtz skull to the ground.

While all that was going down, Cernunnos was fleeing into the woods, and was being followed by Braveheart.

(///)

Cernunnos knew that Braveheart was following him, but at the moment, he just cared about getting an away.

Not.

His true intention is as think separate Braveheart from the group. Divide and conquer, or lead one prey item away from the herd.

Cernunnos galloped into a clearing, a clearing that was being bathed in the light of the dawn.

Cernunnos chuckled to himself, noting on how much pain Celestia was in, yet she still is raising the sun.

Braveheart jumped into the clearing, his Darksaber seemingly absorbing the surround light around itself, making the area around Braveheart darker than normal.

Cernunnos turned to face him, his red eye sockets changing to a glowing green.

“Welcome, Hero.”

Braveheart twirled the Darksaber with his magic, “you have a lot to answer for, a lot of pain to give you.”

“You… are so blind. Can't you see what I am, who I am? I'm a god! All the pain in the entire world could not kill me, nor significantly harm me.”

Braveheart shouted, “that is where you are wrong! You are no god, no divine being. You are nothing more than a demon, begging to be released from this morbid existence!”

“Bingo! You favor figured me out at last.”

Braveheart paused, then said “I was right?”

“Indeed.” Cernunnos turned back towards the dawn, “You see, i'm not a god. I am, in fact, a demigod of sorts. I am the son of Hircine, the daedra of the hunt.”

Cernunnos turned back towards Braveheart, “I wanted to be the best hunter in the entire cosmos, to be admired by all… but, I became corrupted by the many paths of evil. My first taste of evil came when I was hunting in the wilds of Skyrim, when I killed my hunting partner over who had the best trophy elk. I then came to this world seeking asylum and forgiveness for that one, evil act. Ponies saw me, and proclaimed me a god. I was filled with the feelings of love and fellowship, so I went along with it. When they found out I wasn't a god, they betrayed me, and burned all the flesh off my face, leaving only skull to this day. In revenge, I killed their families, their offspring, their very lives, made them search for their Lost Worlds. When they begged for death, I killed them. When they begged me to stop, I killed them. So much blood has been splattered all over my hooves and coat that the very gates of Tartarus refuse to open. In the end, it was one warrior that looked like you, my nemesis. One warrior that put me down, but not the way I wanted him to.

Braveheart asked, “what does this have to do with me?”

“You are my end, my undoing, the cleanser. You will purge the world of me for good so that I may know peace.”

Braveheart peiced the entirety of Cernunnos’s plan.

“So, you planned the attack, killed countless soldiers, raised the dead, mutilated bodies and killed a king, just so you could lure me away into a one-on-one duel to the death.”

“Exactly… I am tired of the burden of my sins. I'm tired of all the evil I sowed in the field of pain. The darkness of death is all I seek now… because only a weapon from another universe can truly send my spirit to where it belongs.

Braveheart took the Darksaber in hoof and said, “then I shall return you to the darkness, with darkness itself.”

Cernunnos pulled out his bow and drew back an arrow.

“I will give you one shot. You must kill me before the arrow kills you. If you don't, I will continue to wander Equis and pick off your friends and family one by one.”

He aimed the arrow at Braveheart’s head and yelled, “kill me! Kill me to avenge Aether, kill me to avenge King Helm, for all the souls that were lost today!”

Braveheart charged with his weapon, and Cernunnos released his arrow.

The arrow went through Braveheart’s cheek, and didn't kill him, while Braveheart stabbed the demigod in the chest with the Darksaber.

Cernunnos crumpled to the ground, tears of ectoplasm escaped the eye sockets of the skull.

As the body of Cernunnos disintegrated and was blown away by the wind, Braveheart knelt and cried.

The dawn reflected off the tears streaming down his face.

“You and I are the same!” was what Braveheart shouted into the sky.

“We are just the same.”

Author's Note

I might have butchered the ending a bit.
Let's see if you got the references, and why Braveheart thinks he is the same as Cernunnos. Post what you think below.