Chapters Flaming Halberd stood there, staring off into space. He wasn't accustomed to war, most of his life it had been during peace time. But this was different, after Celestia was cast out of Canterlot and Final Ascension took power, the entire world was a much darker place. His personal guard kept everyone out of Canterlot, which now was surrounded by glowing blue crystals growing out of the ground. The rest of Equestria was patrolled by securi-droids as he called them. They were simple rectangles with one eye, two arm cannons, and treads. They attacked any pony who disobeyed Final Ascension, and would also attack at the slighest provocation, they were more of bullies than security.
Flaming Halberd used to be a member of Celestia's personal guard, now he was just another pony finding themselves in the unfortunate circumstances of the current era. He sat up, and started to get dressed. Final Ascension required all ponies wear a special collar, it had a red light in the middle, if you tried to leave the areas you had access to, it would shock you, and alert the Secui-droids of your location. They'd drag you back to the city you came from at best, and sentence you to death at worst. It was a chilling thought.
Flaming put his shirt on, trying to make it hide his collar, but it wasn't doing much good. He shurgged, and sighed. He opened his front door, which was starting to come off it's hinges, most of the city was in disrepair. He walked out into the open air, and smelled the decay all around him. He say the ponies walking, their heads hanging down, they were in despair. They looked helpless. All of the life and purpose was knocked out of them by this oppression at the hands of Final Ascension. Flaming couldn't help but wonder why no one has done anything to try to stop him, or it, or whatever it was.
Flaming walked into town square, all of the TV screens in the area suddenly flicked to a shadowy figure, which was assumed to be Final Ascension, he had on a gasmask with several wires sticking out of it. Suddenly an alert sounded. "The Master shall begin speaking, everypony's attention is mandatory". Suddenly a firm but muffled voice came out "Hello my subjects, I assure you, that the recent events are to all of your benefit. My rule has brought so many advancements, and it will continue to. I will bring Equestria into a new age of enlightenment." He continued to talk but Flaming just kept walking. He saw a mare who had dropped her suitcase. He went over to her, but a securi-droid came over and tased her, she fell over flinching.
Flaming, out of instinct, grabbed the droid, and ripped it's eye socket out. It glitchily bellowed "Stop, YOU'RE VIOLATING VIOLATING-Viol-Sto-Stop-Violating" then it shorted out. The mare thanked flaming, but he had to run, now the droids would be looking for him. He quickly thought back to the service tunnels that had initially been put in when Final took power. They weren't used anymore and connected most towns in Equestria.
He ran to the closest sewer grate, and jumped into it. Securi-droids swarmed the town center, but he was gone. Flaming dropped down into a damp puddle of...what appeared to be some kind of murk. Probably water that has been there since the purification plant was destroyed. Final had made sure that in order to get water, cities would have to do so directly through him. Flaming walked over to a door, he recognised this, this was the door he wanted.
The door was made of steel, and it had a blue light in the center, it was standard for getting into the access tunnels. Suddenly he heard "SCANNING: SUSPECT IS AT ELEVATION -15 DEGREES". He opened the door and ran inside, it closed automatically behind him. He had to run, he looked for a place to go, these tunnels twisted and turned, which seemed to be his sole advantage at this dark time in Equestria's history.
He ran to the closest side tunnel and hid in what appeared to be an air duct, he heard the door opening and the treads of securi-droids. "SCANNING: SUSPECT NOT FOUND". He heard them head off in a different direction, the sound of their treads fading. His hooves were trembling at this point. These droids were relentless killers, and nothing more than that. His breath was unsteady, and slightly echoed through the vents. He crawled down the vent, and decided to see where it led.
It took him a while, he was crawling through the air ducts, past fans, and other things. He could head the noise of the treads above him from the securi-droids that were no doubt pursuing him. He was just trying to get somewhere, it didn't matter where he was going, as long as it was away from those droids.
He kept crawling, and eventually found the other end, it led to what looked like an air regulation system. He opened the panel and crawled in. He saw a panel that appeared to control the air distribution system over the entire city. He walked up to the panel. "This is great, finally, I can put an end to this mayhem" he said. Flaming put his hoof on the panel, and suddenly, to his surprise, a bright red light flashed. And suddenly from behind him, a voice bellowed
" I have you right where I want you" followed by a quick laugh in a deep muffled voice.
"Who are you" Flaming replied. He turned around, and looked for the source of the voice. He clenched his hooves tightly.
"Coward, come out so we can fight, Stallion to Stallion!". Flaming said with a taunting tone in his voice.
"Now now, have some patience, why don't you? I'm sure you will have your chance to take a swing at me some day". the voice replied.
After pondering it, Flaming realized the voice belonged to Final Ascension. "How are you here!?" Flaming said. "I'm not, but the intercom and cameras in these tunnels still operate" Final replied. Flaming turned back to the panel, seeing that Final had locked him out of the controls. "Damnit!" Flaming said, bashing the panel.
"What's the matter, getting agitated?" The voice replied.
"You won't get away with this!" Flaming said.
"I got away with disposing of your family, didn't I? Oh and don't think you can defeat me, you even get close to me and I'll light your collar up until you can't breathe. "
At that moment, all the pain, and memory rushed back to flaming. He remembered what had happened. The night Final took his lovely wife away from him. Suddenly anger burned inside of his mind. And he got a glistening look to him. He opened one of the side doors in the room and walked out.
When he did, he noticed he was in a forest, it appeared mostly desolate, except for one cabin. The cabin had a dim light coming out from it. Flaming walked up to the door and knocked, any inhabitants outside the cities were considered traitors and thus would most likely be willing to help Flaming's cause.
When the door opened, he saw an elderly Stallion, with a red skin. "Are you...Big Macintosh" said Flaming. "Eeeyup" replied the older voice. "Come on in" he said. At the invitation Flaming stepped inside. "I see you've got the collar still..." Big mac said. "That I do. Wait...what do you mean..still?" said Flaming as he stared at Big mac in confusion. "Wait here" Big mac said, and he walked off to a side room, when he came back, he had what looked like a staff with some kind of stone at the end, it shot out a bolt of light. And Flaming closed his eyes.
When Flaming opened his eyes again, he looked at his neck, the collar was gone. It was on the floor, to be precise. Big mac smiled at him, and nodded. Big mac, went off into the room again, and came back with what looked like an old Halberd, infact, the very same type the Royal Guard used to use. He handed it to flaming, and nodded to confirm what he was to do with it. Flaming headed off towards Canterlot Castle.
He galloped closer, and saw the crystals, they encased the city like a defensive wall, protecting against intrusion. He galloped even closer, and then saw retaliation. Flying variants of Securi-Droids came out, they were familiar to Halberd, they were called Archer-Bots. He looked at them, and when they got close, he gave it his all. His Halberd sliced through their mechanisms with ease. It's been a long time since he had last been in combat.
He trotted towards a watch tower, it was in disrepair, part of it's wall was caved in, he jumped in. Some Securi-droids on the street noticed him and headed towards the watch tower. He looked and saw a bow and some arrows on the ground in the tower. He picked it up and opened fire on the Securi-Droids, he aimed for their optical-sockets. Destroying their lense rended them blind and useless.
They fell, one by one, at the hands of Flaming. He hadn't felt this alive in a long time. He kept on firing, until they all lie on the ground, broken and destroyed. He headed onward, towards the castle. As he headed on the road, he enountered resistance but it was nothing he could not handle. He made it to the road to the castle, there was a roadblock clearly set up to impede his progress.
He found a garage, and opened it, inside was some oil, usually used for slicking spokes. He put it up to the barricade, and lit it. The fire burned down the barricade, and spread somewhat to the castle. This would make for an excellent distraction, Flaming thought to himself. He ran towards the castle gate, and pushed it open.
"You should not have come here" Final Ascension's voice echoed through the main hall. "You will only find death here, if that is what you seek, continue onward" he said to Flaming in a taunting manner. Flaming headed up the flight of stairs, and into a dining room. A noticable hole was in the wall, leading to what looked like a cargo-elevator. He stepped onto it and pressed the controls, the elevator descended below the castle.
When the elevator stopped, Flaming stepped off, and looked around. It appeared to be a lab. It had test tubes, and all kinds of machinery. He looked around, and saw all of what appeared to be Final's work. He found a notebook titled "Immortality". He opened it. It read like this:
"I have finally done it. Those ponies said I was insane, that I was just a crazy old stallion who could never accomplish anything. Well they were wrong! I've done it, finally, I can become with my work, and live forever! Now to start I-"
The rest of the page is ripped out. However the context is distrubing enough that he didn't want to read the rest anyways. On a table, he saw some kind of electrical saw. He picked it up. He thought it might be useful. Flaming saw a large blastdoor with a control panel next to it. Flaming put his hoof on the control panel, and the door Opened.
Ending A: Sparing Final Ascension
Flaming walked up to Final Ascension, Final flinched, but then, Flaming just walked away. He walked out of the chamber. And into the elevator. He presses the button to ascend. Suddenly a voice booms "You have done a great deal, my faithful subject". Flaming recognizes that voice, it's Celestia. "You have done what you were trained to do, to show mercy, and now that you truly understand, I may be free, to once more rule Equestria.".
When he arrives at the top, Celestia is there to greet him. "I am hereby crowning you the captain of the Royal Guard, for your bravery in these times. May your blade always strike true". Celestia knights Flaming Halberd, as he bows to her. He then stands up, and another Royal Guard, brings him his Captain helmet. Everyone in the room has glistening smiles.
Flaming puts on his helmet, which glows with the shining of gold.
Ending B: Destroy him and reheir celestia
Flaming walks up to Final with the Halberd, and cuts the final cord connecting Final to his grotesque immortality device. Suddenly, Final plumps down, deceased. Flaming feels a strange sensation coming over him, as he walks to leave the elevator. He presses the button, and it starts to head upwards.
He is confused, Celestia did not contact him, he thought that all he had to do was destroy the evil and she would return, yet she was nowhere to be found. He looked out the castle's windows. And sighed. He had failed Equestria, he had failed Celestia, and he waited there quietly to die.
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Ending C: Destroy him and annoint yourself ruler
Flaming approached Final with the Halberd, and finally hacked at the last chord holding Final's strange immortality apparatus together. As Final fell limp, flaming let out a laugh. "Finally, Equestria is all mine, now I have the power to rule, all of it is mine!
And no one shall stand in my way!" Flaming said menacingly as he turned to head out to the elevator.
The chamber was quiet, as if existence suddenly stopped. Flaming stepped into the lab again, and looked in the mirror in the lab. The reflection was that of Final Ascension's. He blinked, and wiped his eyes. What trickery was this? No matter, for all of the power in the world was now Flamings, no one could stop him.
He stepped onto the elevator, it creaked. He pushed the button with his hoof, and watched the elevator door close. It slowly rose, he was thinking of all the wonderous things he would do. He would be the new ruler of Equestria, and all of the ponies would be his servants. Finally, the elevator stopped at the top floor. And at the top, was Celestia.
"Flaming, you have failed all of Equestria, I was wishing I'd never have to do this, but you've left my no choice".
Flaming saw a quick flash of light, before everything faded to black for him. Flaming's body lied on the floor, limp, and lifeless.
Flaming walked into a huge chamber. This chamber was so huge, that it was at least half a mile radius. The room was round, and in the middle, on a pedastal, was Final Ascension. He was...strange. He appeared to be a pony on his upper half, he wore a gasmask with wires sticking out of it like he couldn't breathe normal air, and he had some dark black armor on. Below that, he was missing his lower half, in it's place where metal bars and wires connecting him to huge machines in this room.
He was hooked up to four large towers, that glowed with energy, they appeared to be generators, and behind him a large rectangular life support system hung from the ceiling, it was connected to the generators as well. Final was hooked up to the generators with what looked like reinforced metal wiring.
"Welcome, we meet at last, in person, Flaming" Final said.
"You're going to pay for what you've done!" Flaming replied.
"Oh don't worry, I won't be in any danger" Final said, a shield activating around him.
"Dammnit" Flaming said. He tried to run towards Final, but the shield met him and he bounced back. He looked around, at first not seeing any obvious ways to get to Final.
"It's no use, why not give up now? Actually, don't, it'll be more amusing to watch you try and fail, I have all day". Final taunted.
Flaming looked around, he can't directly hurt Final, and then an idea sprung in his head. Final ran towards one of the generators. He saw the wire connecting the generator, the life support, and Final. He took out the electric saw, and sawed through the wire. He heard a loud crash as the generator shorted out.
"What are you doing!? No matter, at 75% power, the shields still fully function!"
Final said with a laugh.
Flaming ran over to another one and did the same, it also deactivated.
"I'm not going to let you do that" Final said. He pressed a button and some Securi-Droids appeared from behind a previously closed blast door. They all swarmed towards flaming, who took out his Halberd and swung it masterfully, chopping all of the droids clean in half. He then went back to his work, and destroyed the other two generators.
As he cut the last generator, he heard a loud noise as the life support system was fried.
"What!? NO!" Final screamed.
Flaming walked towards him.
"Now it's time to get my revenge" Flaming said.
"No, you don't understand, I was, only..trying to do what's right, for Equestria. Please, spare me, I forfeit rule of Equestria to you, please, just spare me.
Flaming walks towards Final Ascension with his halberd in hand.
"You killed my family, and you tormented all of Equestria, I shall decide your fate"
DECISION TIME:
Options:
A.) Spare Him
B.) Don't Spare him, and restore Celestia to the throne
C.) Don't Spare him, and make yourself ruler