Equustale

by neorenamon

By shifting into his God of Hyperdeath mode, Asriel also shifted the battle from Equestria to a place where only souls exist. A private battlefield where few can interfere. But unlike a normal battle against this force that Asriel turned into, he realized that Discord was still able to move.

"I'm mildly impressed," said Discord as he looked about, "but you're still wasting your time if you think it's enough to take down the likes of me."

"We'll see about that," replied GoHD, "Feel my Angel of Death Attack!"

A serious barrage of small fireballs emerged from his fingertips as they swarmed in the direction of discord. While they were automatically locking onto Discord's soul, they couldn't come back if they missed. Discord was pretty good at evading so the majority of the attacks did miss.

"This is thrilling!" called out the King of Chaos, "No one has ever provided me with such a challenge before!"

"I am glad you're amused," replied Asriel.

A black heart floated before the GoHD.

"Chara?" he asked, "Is that you?"

"Yes," she replied, "You can't beat Discord like this. Not without absorbing my soul."

"NO!!" he yelled, "I promised I wouldn't do that again!!"

"It's alright!" she assured him, "I'm not dead so you can give my soul back when you're done with it! Just like the way you released all the human and monster souls when you became the God of Hyperdeath the first time! I promise I won't suffer this time!"

"Still, will one human soul be enough?"

"I hope so," she replied as he took her soul and absorbed it into his GoHD form.

"Ugh," grunted Discord, "All this mushiness is making me a little queasy. I'm so glad I don't need anyone for my powers."

"We are stronger together!" shouted Asriel and Chara as one.

"Then just you prove it!"

They unleashed a barrage of Angel of Death so great that not even Discord could avoid taking multiple hits.

"I've never been so hurt before in my lives," muttered Discord, "You should be proud that you've done what no other has before this point."

"Yet you have been defeated!"

"Only because those Princesses used a power that I never faced before!" he retorted, "You have no such power over me!"

"The stakes are different now, arrogant one! We fight not to erase our timeline and start over! We fight not because we don't want to be left alone again! We fight because our friends need us!"

"Oh, again with the Friendship thing!" moaned Discord, "I'd swear you're just trying to bore me to death!"

They launched another Angel of Death attack against Discord.

* HP: 999

Discord looked up as he asked, "What the heck is that?!"

"The remaining strength of your soul!" they replied, "We've weakened you enough that now it can be measured!"

He snorted, "Big deal. That seems like a pretty big number to me."

The next Angel of Death attack was weaker than the one before.

* HP: 799

"Well it looks like you're running out of coal... or whatever it is you're running on now," hissed Discord.

"Then we shall use the rest of our power to defeat you!!" they swore as a giant beast skull formed over their heads, "REVISED HYPER GONER!!" A massive beam erupted from the mouth of the skull that was so wide and tall that it was impossible to avoid by anyone it targeted.

"ARRGGHH!!" screamed Discord.

* HP: 399

"If we can keep this up, we'll defeat Discord!!"

But their magic was being drained so quickly that no one was sure they could keep it up.

* HP: 199

"The King of Chaos... cannot be destroyed!!" he swore.

* HP: 99

"Please!" called a voice from somewhere nearby, "Don't destroy Discord!" It was the voice of Twilight Sparkle's soul. "Even he doesn't deserve that fate!"

"Are you willing to let him get away with what he's done to you?!" they asked, "For what he's going to do to you?!"

* HP: 49

"He spent a thousand years as a statue!" she replied, "I think that covers his past punishment! Show him mercy!"

"I'm Discord!" he retorted, "I have no need to be shown mercy and even less need of anypony to speak up for me!"

* HP: 24

"See?!" replied the GoHD, "He is without remorse or regret about anything he's ever done!"

"But even the worst person can change!"

* HP: 12

"The worst person..." they mused, "The worst person can change?"

"Why should I change?!" retorted Discord, "I have no need to change!!"

* HP: 6

"You would rather die than admit you can be wrong?!" asked Twilight.

"I would rather die free than live as a slave!!"

* HP: 3

"No one wants you to be their slave!"

"You want me to be a slave to love!" he cried back before he paused, "I mean friendship!"

* HP: 1

They stopped the attack.

"You cannot force friendship," she replied, "You cannot make someone love you. It's not slavery. It's liberating."

"So... what do I have to do?" he asked somewhat meekly.

They released Chara's soul as the world returned to normal, but something was very wrong once the world returned to focus. Asriel was missing. In his place, there was but a single yellow flower.

"Oh no," it moaned, "I'm... I'm... FLOWEY AGAIN!"

Frisk and Chara ran up by them.

"It's alright," said Chara.

"It's not the same this time," agreed Frisk.

"How can it be different?!" moaned the flower.

"Because I can see the magic returning to you from the environment," she replied, "When you're gained enough of your magic back, you'll return to Asriel. I swear."

"I thought... I was over this... forever..."

"FLUTTERSHY!!" called Twilight, Rainbow, Rarity, Applejack and Pinkie as they rushed over to surround their returned friend.

"But who would want to befriend someone like me?" asked Discord quietly.

"HMM!!" moaned Celestia.

"Mmm," agreed Luna.

"Oh, I forgot about them," he replied as he snapped his talons and freed both the Princesses and all of the Royal Guards.

"Take him before he changes his mind!" shouted one of the guards. They advanced on the chimera en masse.

"STOP!!" called Celestia and Luna as one.

So the guards stopped.

"I will be your friend if you give me the chance," said Celestia as she walked up.

"We would be your friend as well," added Luna as she followed.

"I would be your friend," said Fluttershy as she walked up.

"I would too," added Twilight.

The others of the Mane Six made agreeing sounds as they walked up too.

"As an ambassador from the Underground," said Flowey/Asriel as he touched her ankle with a leaf and Chara touched Frisk's shoulder, "We would like to be your friends as well."

'Thank goodness the Great Papyrus isn't here,' mused Frisk among themselves.

They chuckled at the joke that no one else heard.

"Oh darling!" moaned Rarity as she looked at Chara, "You clothing is positively destroyed!"

"I feel like I need a bath too," she agreed.

"Well don't worry, darling," she replied, "I'm sure I'll have more clothing made for you by morning. I promise."

"It's fine," purred Chara as she leaned in to give Frisk a big wet kiss on her cheek, "I'm sure I can amuse myself... for one evening."

The environment began returning to normal all around them.

"All of that chocolate rain," moaned Pinkie, "and not one dollop of whipped cream! NOT ONE!!"

"Y'all go on bout the strangest things there, Pinkie Pie," muttered Applejack.

"EEYUP," agreed Big Macintosh as he walked up to the group.

Another pink alicorn walked in from a flight into Canterlot.

"So, did I miss anything?" she asked as she walked up to Shining Armor.

"Oh, nothing important, darling Cadance," he replied as he kissed her on the lips.

The Princesses and the others found other 'interesting things' to look at while the two of them kissed each other passionately before them all.

"Ah..." sighed Celestia, "To be the Princess of Love..."

"There is such a thing as decorum, big sister," replied Luna.

Celestia noticed that Chara had swept Frisk back enough that only her arms held her up, and was proceeding to give an equally passionate kiss to the blushing woman herself. Frisk braced herself by wrapping her arms about the chest of Chara and embracing her tightly in reply. One of Frisk's legs was loosely wrapped about Chara so that her lower leg was just under her buttocks.

"It seems to be... catching."

Flowey sighed as he sat in his pot on the ground. "Please let me go back to Asriel soon," he muttered to no one in particular.