Author's Notes:

This i possibly, by far, the most insane chapter yet. Brains were fried in its making.

Among the infinite expanse of the immortal immaterium, four realms were occupied in a perpetual war, a game fought for no purpose but the continuation of utter chaos.

Few had the will to resist the lures and pleasures surrounding the palace of the Dark Prince of Excess, the knowledge or wit to locate the Hidden Library in the endlessly shifting mazes of the Changer of Ways, or the fortitude to last long enough to traverse the putrid, spore-choked flora of the Plague Lord’s garden.

But the mightiest lived elsewhere. Across a plain of broken corpses, past godlike walls toiled on by the souls of warriors who perished in sleep, across a seething moat of boiling blood, and atop a continuously-growing mountain of bleached-white skulls, the Blood God reigned, seated atop the legendary Skull Throne.

Watching him in utter hatred, the sixth god was among the mortal realm, in exile for his life from the crimson king. He had made his little base in an abandoned home in a lonely corner of the Imperial province of Ostland, near the border of Kislev. Despite the dilapidated exterior, with a snap of the fingers he had made everything inside to his fancy, which was absolute chaos.

Furniture was arranged on the walls and ceiling, falling and shifting whenever they felt like it. The sink was overflowing with hand sanitizer, and the carpet was crawling with squeaking slippers, nibbling on bags of bacon bits.

However, today Discord was especially downtrodden, sitting upside down on a couch floating upside down, scribbling a mile a minute on parchment.

“I could lead nurglings onto his throne. That’ll make a nice mess when he sits down again… No,” He frustratedly balled up and threw away the sheet. “The Changeling’s already done that. How about…”

He began writing again. “Hmm…”

His pencil suddenly burst into flames, and torched the entire stack of papers.

“Dang.”

He looked back to the hair-thin plasma screen TV on the wall, where the visage of Khorne seemed especially joyous, laughing down at his firepit.

What’s he laughing at? Discord wondered. “I swear I’ll come up with something so grand, even An’ggrath will be laughing at you…” A banana popped into existence in his lion’s paw, shaking and ringing as he held it up like a telephone.

”Who is this who seeks my council?” a voice on the other line said.

“Yo, Zigg-ay! How’s it been, my bruthah?”

“...It cannot be. Discord!” Tzeentch laughed in disbelief. “When Khorne boasted that his warriors had shattered your petrified form, I thought you were gone for good!”

A black respirator mask suddenly appeared on Discord’s face, accenting his breathing with heavy hooo-purrr sounds. “I find your lack of faith disturbing. You know it’s gonna take a lot more than a busted statue to do me in. So now, I’m thinking of some way to get back at Big Red for coming after me for so long, and I want you in on it, too.”

Discord shoved his claw into the banana, shoulder-deep, and a moment later was met by another hand grabbing and shaking it.

“The Reign of Blood is over at last.”

“Now that’s what I want to hear!” Discord’s claw came back covered in banana guts, which he shook off. “I’ve already got a draft. It involves the chief director of the Pentagon, a gorilla suit, and a dump truck’s worth of putty!”

“Should I tag Slaanesh along as well?”

Discord flicked himself in the forehead. “Of course! How could I forget the guy! This is gonna be just like old times, and I gotta tell you, It’s good to be back in the game—”

His thoughts were interrupted by a knock at the door. “Oh, I’ll call back in a minute. Pizza’s here! Ta-ta!”

”What’s a pizz—”

Pop!

The banana burst like a soap bubble. Discord teleported before the door, counting a paper clip, a bottle cap, and other miscellany in his paw. “Seven, eight, eleven... Just enough!”

He threw the door open. “I swear, if you guys ate a slice on the way here… again…”

He trailed off to stare slack-jawed, dropping the junk items to the floor where they exploded into balls of confetti.

Beyond the door was a vast throng of over two hundred men, women, and ponies, many carrying the banners of Undivided. At the very front stood a stallion bearing the star of chaos burned across his face, looking up at him sourly, and a beaming pink filly standing on his back.

The latter squealed with delight when she saw Discord standing in the door, then vanished and reappeared in a pop of pink smoke before the draconeqqus’ face.

“Did we do good, daddy?!” she exclaimed happily.

Discord’s face blossomed into shining elation. He grabbed the beaming filly from the air and pulled her into a hug, eliciting a sound much like a squeaky toy. “Yes you did, Screwball! You worked so fast!”

A loud coughing interrupted him, and he turned to find Davenport glaring at him crossly.

“Oh, uh… You too,” Discord frowned sheepishly.

Davenport grumbled, but straightened up smartly before the Lord of Chaos. “Many of them were already cultists of Undivided. Miss Lulamoon here was not, but she was very quick to accept our offer.”

Said mare proudly stepped forward at the acknowledgement, as if her worn, faded and moth-bitten hat and cloak were as royal vestments and she were a queen. Her blue coat was weathered and marked by several small scars, though still shone with a smooth sheen that spoke of dutiful and laborious attention to her appearance. She flicked her silver mane to the side, then gave Discord an arched smile which mirrored the sharp gleam in her deep lilac eyes.

“The Great and Powerful Trixie wanted freedom and power, and she got it,” she said. “She avoided following the Ruinous Powers, as Trixie is her own mare and will not be bound to anything; but you don’t care about what your followers do, do you?”

“Well, it wouldn’t be chaos if I were telling people what to do!” Discord grinned.

A device labeled ‘hypocrisy-meter’ popped into existence beside him, its needle shooting to maximum. Discord materialized a hammer into his claw and smashed it into a million pieces.

“Eheh… right,” he muttered, then threw the hammer into space, and flashed out of existence.

One of the flag bearers felt the pole of the banner suddenly gain an odd, fuzzy texture, looked up, and—

“Ah!” The man fell to the ground in shock.

“Hello, everybody!” Discord shouted out gleefully. “Pleased to meetcha!”

A unanimous gasp took the crowd, and the mass of people quickly moved away into a wide circle around him.

“Pick yourself up, man!” Discord yanked the fallen man onto his feet. “This is the first day for a new chapter for all of you! Tell me,” a hearing aid horn popped into his ear, “why did you come here?”

“Um… To be free of Imperial rule?”

“Freedom? Well, you came to the right place!”

Discord flashed again, appearing in an inquisitor’s garb just beside the man and slapping handcuffs on him. “I can see how you fear every day that the Inquisition’s going to break into your house and cart you away.“

Again he blinked, holding a baby in his arms. “Or that they’ll take your little bundle of joy away, just for being five minutes late to have the priest yell in your face about how you're not worthy to live!”

“Wh-where’s my baby?!” a woman’s voice cried out.

“Whoops.” Discord snapped his fingers, and the baby vanished from him to reappear in her arms. “Let’s pretend that didn’t happen…”

A conveyor belt of tiny people being fed into a meat grinder materialized for all to see. “You’re forced to fight for causes you don’t agree with, for reasons you don’t understand, and you just...” He took a deep breath with his lips at one end of a rolled up bundle of tissue paper with some green fuzz stuffed inside, “Want to be rid of it all.”

He laid his claws on a chestnut-coated mare, and turned her around to look into his yellow eyes. “What’s your fancy, little lady? What do you like most in the world?”

“Well, er…”

“Come on, now, don’t be shy. I don’t bite.” His single fang glistened brilliantly.

The mare chuckled nervously. “Well, I love fish, and I’ve always wanted to live by the sea.”

Discord hummed thoughtfully, then snapped his fingers. “Now how do you feel?”

She wiggled her body a bit, and frowned. “Not any different at a— oh!” She felt a little tickle in her ear, then a little clownfish popped out and swam in the air around her head.

“Don’t stop there!” Discord grinned. “Think of another one!”

The mare concentrated, and out of her ear swam a little trout. Its dumbly-blubbing mouth landed a wet kiss on her nose.

“Oh my goodness!” she laughed.

“And what about you, down there?” Another flag-bearer looked up to find the star on the tapestry had been replaced by Discord’s visage, grinning down at him. “What tickles your funnybone?”

“I’ve... always wanted to play the violin ever since I went to my first concert in Altdorf, but I could never afford the instrument.”

“Hmm…” Discord tugged at his goatee, then snapped his fingers again. “Whistle.”

The man blinked. “What?”

“Oh, you know...” Discord blew a high note, and warbled the pitch around like a mockingbird.

The man blew as well, but out came a far different sound, strong with a wobbling vibrato. “It…” He blew again, sounding off a do-mi-so-do. “I… I can whistle a violin’s sound!”

Discord rolled his eyes and smirked. “Your powers of deduction are worthy of Holmes himself.”

He pointed out among the crowd. “And how about you in row number three, good sir?”

“I’ve always wanted to just be in control of my own life, and—”

“—not hounded by the uncertainty of choosing one god over another?” Discord finished. The man blinked, then nodded.

“I can see where you’re coming from,” Discord continued. “Tzeentch might let you know what’s around the next corner, but then throw you away like a used handkerchief when he’s bored with you. Khorne forces you to keep fighting with threats of burning your soul for eternity if you run away. Nurgle gives you every ailment and malady in existence, so there goes whatever guy or gal you’ve been eyeballing. And if you went with Slaanesh, yeesh. You’d want to bang anything that moves in a heartbeat.”

A few titters and nervous laughs ran amongst the crowd, interspersed with murmurs of understanding and approval.

“You see, everyone, there’s always a catch with the others; live by their rules, or die by their hands. But I’ve always wanted nothing more than for everyone to be a freeman.” He held up a strongly-burning torch. “I merely lift my lamp beside that golden door, and all you have to do is cross it.”

“So what’s the catch?” someone asked skeptically.

“Hmm…” Discord materialized a wine glass in his hand, with a slice of fruit in four different colors hung on the rim. “I guess I do have only one condition.”

He snapped his fingers, and an olive materialized out of nothing to drop into the wine, sending a column of dark red liquid into the air. The column did not drop back down, however, but split into hundreds of tiny droplets, which spread out and upward above Discord’s head. Just as he took a sip from the glass, the droplets as one burst like fireworks, lighting up the front yard of the house with flashes of brilliant color. Discord looked over the slack-jawed expressions of his audience, and smirked.

“Have fu—”

Ring-ring! Ring-ring!

“Oh, jeez… mood killer,” Discord pouted. “You know, I’ll be right back.”

The banner went blank, and Screwball, Davenport, and Trixie vanished, flashing back into existence inside Discord’s house.

“Make yourselves at home, everybody! Got a call to take.” The draconequus flew upside-down and backwards into the living room, Screwball giggling as she held onto his tail with all four legs.

Trixie jumped aside as a table decided to slide across the floor, nestling cozily into the corner. “Why did he grant those other people a gift first?” she grumbled. “Trixie is the one you recommended to him!”

“He will get to you, Miss Lulamoon.” Davenport held out a hoof, catching a bottle of root beer that was hurling itself across the air toward him. “We’ve had a long journey. For now, be happy that we made it this far.”

Another bottle clocked Trixie in the back of the head, then floated around to dangle with the neck down before her eyes. She sighed in exasperation, seized the bottle from the air, and twisted the cap off with her magic in one single wrench. To her credit, she didn’t even flinch when the amber liquid within took it upon itself to float out of the bottle and snake lazily through the air, twisting itself into various knots and shapes.

“As long as I’m righted in the end for all I’ve lost,” she said. “My fame—”

“Which you never had.”

Trixie glared at Davenport crossly. “My home—”

“Which collapsed into a pile of sticks and twine the instant we had met. It still amazes me how you survived out there for so long with nearly nothing.”

Trixie magically wrestled with the snaking drink, splitting off a blob and sucking it in like zero-gravity. “It’s hard to compete when traveling shows hire actual freaks and mutants. Really, they didn’t know what talent they were turning away!”

Davenport chuckled skeptically, yanking Trixie closer as a bowling ball shot through the space where she just was. He tugged her along to walk with him and explore the house. “Trixie, as far as talent, I’ve only seen you make smokescreens and fireworks effects, things a foal would do at a third grade talent show.”

“How dare you call my power mediocre!” Trixie snapped.

In a blur, Davenport grabbed the sides of her head and brought them nose to nose. “But that’s why you came with me, because you know you need help, that you’re lacking.”

“I’ve studied under some of the best—”

He threw her backward, and Trixie barely kept her balance. “For goodness sakes, you couldn’t even make a mud hut! What kind of unicorn can’t mold wet dirt!?”

“Shut your mouth about the Great and Power—”

“And there you go again with the title!” Davenport interrupted. “Why do you refer to yourself half the time in third person?” He poked at his temples. “Take a step outside that citadel of an ego and say, ‘I am Trixie Lulamoon, and I. Need. Help.’”

“I don’t need anypony’s help!” Trixie shot back.

“Then why are you here?”

“Because…” she paused. Davenport reached behind himself and and brought forth a device labeled ‘Bullshit Detector’ and held it up to Trixie. She looked at the idly twitching needle that awaited input. “Because… Because...”

“Yes?” Davenport impatiently shuffled closer.

Trixie sighed, her eyes falling to the floor, and she mumbled, “Because I am Trixie Lulamoon… and… I need help.”

Bang! The detector blasted a plume of confetti in her face.

Davenport grinned and gave her a pat on the shoulder. “There. That wasn’t so bad, was it?”

Trixie glared at him murderously. Grumbling, she took another swig of drink. “The words taste like sand.”

In the den, Discord sat back on his couch, with Screwball curling up beside him. He idly scratched the back of her head with his paw, eliciting a purring like a motorboat from the filly. He reached into his nonexistent pocket, pulling out a small glowing tablet with a picture of a half-eaten apple on the back side. He grimaced at the picture, tapped it and held it up to his ear.

“What do you want, Khorne? …Pff, I’m not telling you where I am!... Oh, yeah, like I’d let—”

“Iz that mean ol’ Big Red aginn?” Screwball piped in.

Discord sighed. “Yep.”

“Tell ‘im ta buzz off!” Her propeller beanie spun about for emphasis.

He put his ear back to the tablet. “Sorry, technical difficulties. Anyways, I—… no, I’m not a coward. It’s just that dying isn’t practical for my ends. …Uh’huh… And why should I care about your girlfriend?”

A giant bloody claw suddenly shot up from the tiny hole in the device, followed by a thunderous roar. “Valkia is not my girlfriend!” It swiped around as Discord levitated it a safe distance away and, finding nothing, it retreated back inside.

Discord casually returned the device to its place. “Okay, okay, fine. Why should I care about your shieldmaiden? ...M-hm…”

Discord suddenly locked up, the color draining from him head to hoof until he was a pure white picture of horror.

Screwball’s face fell, and she worriedly looked over to his shocked expression. “D-daddy...? Are you okay?”

It was some seconds before Discord spoke, his voice coming out shakily through gritted teeth. “What… did you do... to Fluttershy?”

Hell hath no fury like Him, and one of His greatest creations was free. She was a steel and brass giant, runically adorned in the icons of His heraldry. His mark blazoned of fiery brass at the base of her neck. And her legs, which cracked in the cobblestone street, each bore a brass equine skull embedded in the shoulder.

I see now… Why you chose me…

She swiped her claws swept back and forth across the street, easily keeping up with the fleeing, screaming crowds, her nails slicing bodies to ribbons by the dozens. Pegasi scattered to the sky like crows, and the wingless were cut down, naught but chaff to her ten sweeping scythes. Every metal object in the street or nearby buildings it touched, from gutters, wagons, and tools, all soaked into her form like a sponge.

And she was getting bigger.

I am your tool of vengeance, to bring a long-awaited justice to all the animals that were slaughtered unjustly. And these ponies are helping them, aren’t they!

She held put her forelegs in a hoop in front of her, and threw herself on her belly, trapping a dozen victims in a ring of steel. They scrambled to climb over, but on touching her legs, the sheer heat was like trying to scale a wall of burning coals.

She wasted no time, closing that area and corralling them closer to her widening mouth.

Have a taste of your own medicine!

As soon as she felt the first one stumble and land on her tongue, she snapped her teeth shut. The people were trapped between two walls of fire and the monster pushed them closer, feeding them like wood to the chipper until they were all gone. As she got up, she saw the crowds fleeing into the buildings.

You can’t hide from me!

She immediately launched herself into one of the apartment blocks, breaking through the wall and simply throwing herself around like a bull in a china shop, with the collapse of the structure doing the killing for her.

Snapping the support beams, the whole section caved in in an avalanche of rubble, sending a wave of dust gusting down the roads. For a few moments, there was a relative quiet. Those on the outside slowly emerged from their hiding places. There was just a tremendous pile of dusty, smoking rubble, some unmoving arms, legs and hooves sticking up, caked in blood. Mothers consoled their children, and soldiers formed a circle around the mound.

Cordon off the block!” the captain called to his men. “Get up there and search for survivors.”

The words were barely out of his mouth when the heap of rubble jostled. The metal components of the building sank down, and the pile tented up like a growing mountain, rolling debris down and soon uncovering a creature whose shadow eclipsed all before her, its body seething in steam and flame.

Its jaw opened, and what came out was not a voice, but a horrible, mechanized roar.

Konigsgarten was consumed in chaos. Refugees from the ravaged merchant district milled about like ants in the mazes, demanding answers, safety, only held back by a line of soldiers at the main gate to the palace. Within the palace, Shining Armor hastily strode through the halls with several officers keeping pace around him under the light beaming through stained glass windows.

“I want every pegasus in the city carting out every single metal object they can find! Everything from unused weapons to silverware! Get rid of every solid-shot cannonball, and only use explosive shells! Get every civilian out of the city and seal all the gates afterward! Hannskarl, how many giants are penned here?”

“Two,” the ratty-haired man said. “They’re housed underground, being fitted for combat, and the Wolf’s Head bombard is secure as well.”

“Good. Keep the giants together; don’t let them fight it alone.” Shining looked to the sky, to the clouds, which were quickly darkening and coalescing into a massive vortex. “Pegasus teams are making good progress on the lightning. A good jolt should keep it in one place long enough to bring everything down on it.”

A sudden explosion in the distance brought Shining to look out over the cityscape. Some distance from the already burning merchant district was another plume of smoke rising into the air. Shining mentally calculated the course between where the beast had been and where it was now. His heart skipped a beat, and he snapped off a particularly vile oath.

“She’s headed for the bucking armory! GO!”

Like fleeing spectres, the officers went to their duties. Relieved of his non-magical retinue, Shining lit his horn, which encased him in a coruscating pink glow. In a bright flash, he teleported straight to the Square of Martials, suddenly surrounded by the bustle of the militia and state army. Barrels of gunpowder were being rigged as bombs, sergeants drilled their unicorns in forming shield spells, Hellstorm rocketeers stockpiled and took inventory of their arms, and, as Shining had requested, a team of long-riflemen were checking their weapons on the wide open parade ground.

What he told them still resonated. “If all else fails, go for the eyes.”

“Shining!”

The stallion looked to the bleachers and spotted his wife, waving from a lookout booth high in the breadth. In a short flash, he popped up to her level, and they shared a short embrace.

“Shining, what’s going on? What is this monster?” Cadence asked desperately.

“I’ll tell you and the Imperators together,” Shining replied in a low voice. “Where are they?”

Cadence led him down in the bleachers’ structure, heading towards the sound of a steady, dolorous prayer. They came upon a room where the guests of honor to the field would exchange a prayer before going up to the bleachers. Compared to to the hollow criss-crossing supports of the bleachers, the room was lavishly decorated. Centered on one wall was a relatively small, but immaculate altar bearing a gold statue of a griffon holding a warhammer in its front claw.

Emperor Franz was knelt before this idol, Ghal Maraz lightly pressed to his lips as he uttered a soft eulogy. Four other men, draped in bright crimson robes chanted over him, in a language Shining couldn’t understand, since such words were saved for the most important members of the church.

“Gott mit uns,” Franz concluded.

“Gott mit uns,” the robed men echoed.

At that moment, Nightmare Moon arrived in full battle plate, her armored hooves sounding heavily on the stone foundation.

“Shining Armor,” she said as the clergymen filed past her, “Your arrival is well timed. Do you know anything of the creature?”

Shining took a breath, not confident if he would be believed. “Yes, your highness. It’s Fluttershy. She’s been made into a juggernaut that absorbs metal. I haven’t been able to gather any information as to her limits, but scouts have determined she’s about twenty feet tall at this point, claw to head. By her current path, she’ll reach the city armory in about an hour, two at most. If she absorbs the weapons in there, she’ll be a walking fortress. I strongly suggest we take her alive, because if she dies, her soul merely go to the Warp, the Lord of Blood will be able to manipulate her as he sees fit, and she will be enraged like this forever.”

Cadence and the Imperators were stilled. Nightmare turned a glance to the Emperor who spoke with a perplexed grimace. “Fluttershy? Night-Luna” he stammered to correct, “this is another one of the Bearers of the Elements of Harmony, is it not?”

Nightmare didn’t want to answer, but time was of the essence and she spoke plainly and honestly. “Yes, she is the Element of Kindness.”

“Kindness,” Franz muttered with a dry huff as if it were a cruel joke. “And right now, she is trying to destroy the capital of an Imperial province, killing every human and pony who happens to be in her path for no reason—”

“Actually, my Lord,” Shining cut in. “We believe we’ve discerned her motive is directly related to the mass slaughter of livestock and consumption of meat by humans. Scouts saw her break open every cage in the zoo and slaughterhouse, and smile as the animals ran out; before turning her foreleg into some kind of gatling gun and opening fire on the scouts. She doesn’t care if it’s humans or ponies she’s killing.”

At this, Franz turned to Shining with a hard glare. “Reiksmarshall, how do you know this thing really is this ‘Fluttershy’ you speak of?”

“Because she hugged me once, lord, wishing to be cured of her anger.”

Franz’s only further reaction was an eyebrow twitch before moving in a quick stride down the hall toward the animal pens. “We are deploying, now. Luna, get your sister from wherever she is. She ha been absent for far too long.”

Shining and Cadence re-ascended the stairs, leaving the prayer hall behind. Unnoticed, Nightmare dissolved into a shadowy mist, streaming through the cracks in the woodwork.

Nightmare would go get Celestia, but there was someone she had to meet first.

“Have faith, you…”

Fellblade paced back and forth, his hoofsteps echoing eerily in the wide and empty cathedral. He could hear another crack of an explosion in the distance.

A particularly odd dream had come to him in the strange hours of the night. It spoke in reverence of Nightmare Moon, Luna’s other half. It convinced him of a blessing he would receive by the hoof of the princess, and to meet in the cathedral. She was running late, but he understood, what with the city suddenly under attack.

“Despite the circumstances, I find you here. Excellent.”

He looked to the source of the voice, the windows, where a starry fog started to pour in like a frothing goblet which coalesced before him into the visage of the Nightmare. Fellblade knelt, pressing his forehead to the floor.

“Rise, Fellblade,” she said firmly. “I give you permission to meet my gaze.”

Fellblade slowly released a breath he didn’t realize he’d been holding. He rose to a dignified posture, but still kept his head bowed in deference to her. Nightmare tipped his head up, forcing him to behold her coolly-smiling face.

“I’ve heard great things about you, Fellblade. Captain of the pegasi branch of the Cutiemark Crusaders, who led them in the battle of the Black Pit against the orks, and personally responsible for the capture of Twilight Sparkle. This is why I specifically want you.”

Her mane began to ripple and sway to one side as if in a breeze, splitting off several clouds that swirled and condensed into three armored ponies, each bearing a winged equine skull on the flanks of their suits. “These shall be the greatest of my elites,” Nightmare grinned sinisterly, and began pacing behind their unmoving, stoic forms. “Imbued with all my knowledge in the art of war, and my unparalleled skill in combat. They shall be my Shadowbolts. And I want you to lead them.”

Fellblade’s wings shot open in surprised reflex. He was speechless; his tongue turned to glue, and the only thing that brought him back was another burst of thunder in the distance. “I-I am honored, Princess… B-but I am just a mercenary captain,” he said quickly, “I… I don’t believe I deserve this.”

“However, you are a clearly a stallion of faith, and, if what you have just said is what your heart speaks, then humbleness as well, and knows your place. That is what I want in a captain; deference and loyalty.”

The Shadowbolts parted, and Nightmare Moon held out a hoof to him. “Come.”

Fellblade’s legs shook as he stepped before her and was enshrouded in her starry mane. He soon found himself calmed in this shimmering haze, tiny blips of light passing through his vision like white lightning bugs.

“I… I am ready, your highness.”

Nightmare snickered, and shook her head ever-so-slightly. “I assure you, you are not.”

A fiery burning rushed through his entire body, starting in his head and flooding downward. His mouth creaked open and he choked in a silent scream until air finally found its way and his cry came out as music to Nightmare.

“Ask not the sun why she sets,” she sang softly, “as day to dark does duly turn.”

Fellblade’s pupils narrowed, becoming dragonlike, slitted. The feathers rapidly molted off his wings, exposing growing finger bones.

“One simple truth she dare not speak: Her light can only blind and burn.”

His coat paled to a blue-grey. The skin of his wings expanded into wide leathery flaps.

“No mercy for the guilty. Bring down their lying sun.

“Blood so silver black by night, upon their faces pale white.”

Fellblade’s teeth thinned to carnivorous tips, and tufts of extra fur grew at the tips of his ears.

“Cruel moon, bring the end. The dawn will never rise again.”

The guard had changed twelve times so far; three times a day in front of this one door in the palace. It hadn’t opened in that time, and the Solar Guard stood as silent sentinels for its occupants.

The clank of steel-capped hooves drew near. “Guards, step aside.”

Their gaze drew to the source of the voice, Nightmare, and they quickly parted to either side of the door. There was another figure with her, a noctral dressed in onyx-black plate, flexibly-segmented and with a rooster tail of a dark blue crest on his helmet.

Nightmare telekinetically threw open the doors and entered. Her equerry remained outside, taking position between the gold-armored guards.

Nightmare’s voice spoke into his mind, Remain here until I return, Fellblade. And remember, as long as you have a shadow, the Shadowbolts and I are there.

The sunlight, coming in through the windows cast his shadow across the wall behind him. He glanced back, and there were five shapes, the tallest of them giving a nod before they all merged and took on his size and shape. He then returned to a proper posture and thought of what he would write in his letter of resignation to Babs and the Cutiemark Crusaders.

Inside, Nightmare quickly spotted Celestia before a central circular desk in the library. Her head was craned back, her eyes glowing a bright white as she stared into the ceiling. The book before her shone a golden light and as Nightmare looked on it, Luna’s memories began to bubble to the surface. With a flick of the hoof, she shut it, cutting off the light and Celestia threw her head down, gasping and holding her aching head. Nightmare gave her a few moments to gather her senses before speaking.

“How long have you been here? Trying to contact your mommy and daddy?”

A hateful scowl looked back, huffing weakly. “Don’t you dare... say anything about them... or I’ll strike you down where you stand.”

“Now, now. They’re technically my parents, too. You didn’t succeed, I take it?”

Celestia rested her head in her hooves, putting a sorrowful look on the book. “They’ve… The Dark Gods cut off the Ley from realspace. I can’t reach them.”

Nightmare’s first instinct was to drive that nail a bit deeper, but a sudden, sickening feeling struck her inside. Her venomous smirk fell, and she nervously scuffed a hoof at the floor.

“Why are you dressed like that?”

Celestia’s sudden question snapped Nightmare back to the moment. “Ah, right. You’re clearly not aware of what has been transpiring. It would appear that one of your lapmares from so long ago has finally succumbed to the Ruinous Powers.”

Celestia’s eyes shrank to beads, and her breath froze in her throat. “Which?”

“Fluttershy, it looks like. She’s the size of a war mammoth, and is rampaging through the city almost unopposed. I was to come and…” she swallowed hard, “request your assistance, but it seems you’re in no condition to be of use.”

Celestia slowly but steadily got on all fours. “Is the city being evacuated?” she asked.

“As we speak.”

“Then I’ll help there.” Celestia groggily trudged to the library doors, carrying and locking the seal on her magic tome.

Nightmare looked on the book much of the time she was just behind Celestia. That same gut-wrenching sickness welled up again.

My parents, too…

Then she looked to Celestia, the bane of her existence, the thing she was made to dispose of, but couldn’t. Celestia was right there, so weak she could barely walk straight. I could be rid of her right now... but… She wanted to punch a wall to release this pent-up anxiety. She couldn’t play her usual games, her bids for power. Perhaps the only piece left of her original purpose she could find was in the Lunar Cult. But even then…

What do I have left?

“You seem much less bitter,” Celestia said, again plucking Nightmare from her thoughts. “I noticed you’re somewhat reluctant to use your more stinging language. Perhaps Luna’s more kind manner is beginning to peer through?”

Nightmare huffed a laugh. “You think I would regress to be as weak as her?”

“I wouldn’t call it weakness, but that she wanted adoration and love, not fear and compliance.”

“Well, I am not Luna,” Nightmare sneered.

“But you will be again, soon. The moons will be apart again and, I hope, you will consider a lighter hoof.”

Nightmare dismissively rolled her eyes and made another link with Fellblade who trotted behind her. As they left the library. Go to the cemetery on the city’s outskirts and wait for me. I will disclose your duties there.

Yes, your highness.

Her equerry gradually slowed his pace, putting distance between himself and the alicorns, and quietly diverted down another corridor.

CRASH!

Big Macintosh smashed the door of the room where the band’s confiscated arms and supplies were held in the dungeon. Lyra slipped in, carrying three zombie heads, and taking them to three similarly-decayed and putrid, headless bodies.

“Umm…” Lyra looked back and forth quickly between the two most identical ones. “Which one is whose?” She put down two heads and held Braeburn’s head close to one. “Bite twice if it’s yours.”

Clack, clack.

Lyra fit Braeburn’s head onto the body’s neck. The veins of his spinal cord melded with those of the body, the flesh melted together, and fully cracked his head into place. Each leg gave a twitch, and the stallion laughed as he stood and rolled his neck. “Whole again! Ha-ha!”

Lyra did the same with Applebloom and Applejack, then took to her weapons, muttering to herself. “Midenheim’s reckoning has finally come.” Then she spoke up to the others. “Here’s the plan. While Fluttershy is going berserk up there, we make an attack on the Temple of Ulric. If we corrupt or extinguish the Eternal Flame, we do the Evershosen’s work for him. We’ll have killed the god of Winter!”

Vinyl crudely thrust a syringe into her own neck, depressing the pump and pouring the solution into her veins. She gasped and clenched as the fantastic burn took root and spread through her whole body. Over a week of withdrawal, finally undone. “We… nyagh... have to find Octavia first!” she said. “We’ll need all the help we can get.”

They went on about the plan, and Applejack was very uneasy. I’m really one of them now… ain’t I?

“I didn’t hear ya give me an answer, AJ,” said Braeburn, with a grim furrow in his brow. “Y’all joinin’ grandpappy Nurgle’s family, or not?”

Applejack hesitated, a cold unsteadiness in her breath. Her juggernaut brother nudged her in the side, the seething embers in his eyes faded slightly in concern. “C’mon, sis. Don’t make it more difficult than it has to be.”

“And Apple Bloom gave herself up a long time ago for her cutiemark,” Braeburn added.

“Uh, guys...” Apple Bloom cut in. “I think Lyra put my head on backwards.” She tried to take a step forward, but stumbled onto her front with a wet thud. Braeburn picked her up, locked his jaw over her head in a vise, and twisted it right around in a loud crack.

Going back to Applejack, Braeburn asked again. “Well?”

“You didn’t give me a choice, Braeburn. You pretty much tortured me with makin’ me feel all a’ this.” She gestured to her the whole of her mutilated body.

“Was for your own good, AJ. You believed in a dyin’, meaningless concept; life.” He spat on the floor as if the very word was poison. “We were all gonna die sooner or later, everything we build up in life, poof! Done when you kick the bucket. But now, we’re waltzin’ with death ‘cross the prairie.”

His words did little to comfort Applejack. He hugged her with one leg. “I swear, I’ll teach you to love this. We’re showing the living the true form of immortality.”

“Not if I get to ‘em first,” Big Mac said smugly, rubbing his nails together like knives.

”La-la-la-la- I can’t hear you!” Vinyl shouted into her sonic cannon, right in Lyra’s face. “I’m louder, so I’m right! We’re going for Octavia first!”

Lyra held her hands over her ears, almost pressing with enough force to crush her own skull. At Vinyl’s first pause she tore the weapon away from her momentarily. “Fine! But what if you die as we get there?”

“Then I’ll die knowing I was coming to save her!”

Curved halberd in hand, Lyra went to the door and rolled her eyes. “Oh, get a room.”

The others followed her to the dungeon stairs and up through the empty structure. It was quickly getting hotter, and beyond the exit, a thousand score homes were aflame. Amongst the firestorm, the golden tongues whipped into the air, carrying smoke into a blackening sky.

Vinyl whistled, “Wow. Flutters sure knows how to clean house.”

“So which way to Octavia, O great navigator?” Lyra said mockingly.

“Uh…” Vinyl looked down one way, then the other. “Eenie-meenie-miney- this way!” She went darting to the left, shouting at the top of her lungs, “I’m coming, Tavi!”

Braeburn stopped Applejack and Apple Bloom as they started to follow. “Wait a second. Looky there.” He pointed to a gangly man limping out of one of the buildings down the street, moaning in pain, but a thin smile on his soot and blood-caked face that he escaped the fire. “First lesson, making zombies. Easiest thing in the world, ‘cause all you gotta do is bite ‘em!”

Braeburn immediately charged at the man, who screamed and hobbled away not nearly fast enough before being tackled to the ground. Braeburn quickly pinned under the weight of his bloated body and a leg on the man’s neck.

“Mister, don’t struggle. This’ll just take a minute.” He tore away the shirt over his shoulder, exposing bare flesh, and glanced back to make sure Applejack and Apple Bloom were looking. Applejack was, albeit reluctantly, and blocked Apple Bloom’s eyes with a hoof. “AJ, you let the little one look.”

“She doesn’t need to see this, Braeburn.”

Apple Bloom pulled down her sister’s hoof. “Actually, I’ve seen Big Mac and Braeburn do a lot worse than just killin’ somepony.”

“Huh?”

“Yeah. You shoulda’ seen ‘em ‘fore we showed up in Mordheim. They was eatin’ people, wearing their skulls, and I gotta tell you, it was fun!”

Fun… fun… fun…

It took Applejack several moments to process what her sister had just said, looking straight forward in disbelief.

“Aaa-haagh!”

Applejack’s mind-clog was broken by the man’s scream as Apple Bloom had her mouth locked over his shoulder.

“That’s it, Apple Bloom!” Braeburn cheered. “Sink your teeth deep!” Apple Bloom bit harder, thrashing her head back and forth like a predator trying to rip a chunk of meat off a kill. The man kicked and howled but Braeburn’s hold on him was unbroken. “It’s a good burn, idn’t it, mister? Stop strugglin’; we’re doin’ you a favor!”

“Apple Bloom!” Applejack shot forth and yanked her back, wrenching her mouth off the man, along with tearing off a good bite of skin. “What’n sam hill’re you doin’!?”

“A little late, AJ,” Braeburn chortled as he inspected the deep bite gash and hugged the man tightly. “Congratulations, sir! Welcome to the fold!” He didn’t respond, but convulsed in Braeburn’s hold, his face twisting in shock and pain. “Let me just make you comfy while you wait for it to take hold, and I promise you, you’ll feel better than you ever did in yer life!” Braeburn leaned him sitting against a pile of rubble with his bite wound already beginning to blacken and putrefy.

“Apple Bloom, what have you done!?” Applejack berated.

“I just gave him what we got, didn’t I? It makes you immortal, right, Braeburn?”

“Absolutely.” he nodded sharply. “Just look at ‘im now.”

The man wasn’t moving. Not even his chest showed a sign of breathing, and his eyes were glassy, looking up into the sky without blinking.

Applejack pointed to him like the elephant in the room.“Y’all gone daft?! Look at ‘im; he’s dead!”

“He’ll be back. It just takes time. While I’ll admit he won’t have the mental facilities that we do, he’ll still be fit as a fiddle once he’s up again.” Braeburn trotted past his kin. “Now come on. We’re fallin’ behind the others. And Applejack, the next time we come across a straggler, I wanna see you bite ‘em like they’re the juiciest apple you ever darn saw!”

“Ah don’t think I can bring myself to kill an innocent.”

“Just remember, we’re doin’ ‘em a service. Repeat after me. ‘Pain is joy. Death is life. Death stalks us all.’”

Applejack repeated that under her breath, and took a backward glance as they went down the burning street. The man was standing again, his head lazily craned back, his jaw slack open. His bitten shoulder was completely consumed in blackening necrosis and infected veins bulged under his skin.

Kivsin kept his cool under Rarity’s shield dome. The whole time she and Spike were talking, he was thinking of every way he could do them in once the shield dropped. He couldn’t hear their conspiring after Rarity added a silencing layer to the dome.

Which one should I go for first…? he thought. The dragon, obviously. How strong are those scales?

He looked at his claws, examining the bony nails. “I can probably get through that. I wonder what dragon meat tastes like.”

i… Ki-n...

Urrgh... what is that?

Kiv...in, what are you thinking?!

Twilight! he thought elatedly. He jumped up and pressed his face against the shield like a foal getting ready to smash the window of a candy store. They’re right there, Twilight. Help me get through, and I’ll be free!

Kivsin, you are not killing our friends!

His claws balled into fists. Why not? Rarity has me trapped like a pet under here, and Spike viciously attacked Octavia!

She was trying to break his wrist! You’re not thinking straight with me in your head. I need you to keep it together!

I’ve never been more calm!

Rarity felt Kivsin pound his fists against the shield and screech at her and Spike in seething hatred. “He’s really getting restless. And we still don’t have anything.” She rubbed her temples sorely grunting. “This shield… mmff…”

Spike was just about to speak, but a flash materialized a scroll before him which fell into his outstretched hand. He checked the stamp design, and frowned.

“It’s from Cadence,” he murmured.

He undid the ribbon and rolled it open. The writing looked rushed. Spike read it over, and raised a brow in confusion. “It says the city’s being evacuated because there’s a giant metal monster on the loose… What in the...”

He looked back to Rarity who was quaking in fear, then slapped her hands to her head and shouted, “Oh no… no, no!” She lifted the silencing layer on her shield and nearly screamed to Kivsin, “Fluttershy’s gone mad!”, to which his hate froze to fear. “You remember her now, don’t you?!”

Kivsin remembered back to that day she had him in her claws, on the verge of squeezing him until he popped. And Twilight too saw his thought, that face of absolute rage.

Kivsin, it’s over… We’re going to be found out. But… We can help stop this; please, I need you to work with Spike and Rarity. They’re still your friends!

“Kivsin,” Rarity said worriedly, “I know you’re better than this. You’re a good soul. We need you to help bring Fluttershy to heel.”

Kivsin stared at the ground, his eyes shifting back and forth.

Where are they?! I want more! I NEED more! MORRRE!!

Five hundred tons of iron and anger plodded down the empty street in search of victims. That couldn't be all of them; in an entire city, she figured she’d only seen a few thousand. Fluttershy was now the height of a two story house, and left massive craterous footprints in her wake. Her claws were wet with blood, and she still felt so thirsty, regardless how many she ate or how much blood ran across her tongue.

She rounded a corner, and spotted a great throng crowded before a wide open gate.

They’re ESCAPING!

She arched herself into a racing stance and, literally tearing up the road under her claws, broke into a sprint down the pathway. The sound of this rolling thunder reached the evacuees, and they immediately began forcing their way for the gate. The narrow ramps down the plateau's slope couldn't take the volume, and those who lost their footing tumbled over the sides like trickling water.

Faster! FASTER!

She was nearly upon them, gunning the final sprint like a runaway steam train. She heard an eagle’s screech—

And then her face hit the pavement.

She completely lost her footing, skidding on her face and belly like a crashed meteor, overturning carts, digging a scar in the earth, and coming to a grinding halt in the middle of the scattering crowd.

“Up!” Franz shouted.

Deathclaw flapped his great wings and jumped off the monster’s head, taking off at building-level. Franz looked back and saw that Fluttershy was already getting back up, dust and pieces of debris rolling off her frame. Several holes opened in the palm of her claw as she raised it to point at them, and a moment later they belched several seething shots of fiery energy in quick succession.

Franz pulled Deathclaw’s reins and veered down another road, the rounds sizzling past to explode on another building. Six cannons and two nine-shot hellstorm launchers were waiting on this street. His mount landed just behind them, and all stood by.

“Explosive shells loaded?” he called to the gunnery captain.

“Primed and ready, sir!”

Franz looked back down the street, the narrow corridor he expected the easily-baitable Khornate to charge down. The massive footsteps grew closer, and the crews tensely readied their smoldering wicks. He let them mutter amongst themselves, sharing words of comfort and fear.

“I heard it ate everyone in the merchant district,” one said despondently.

“And that it shrugged off the black powder bombs,” added another.

The captain firmly put his hand on the crewman’s shoulder. “There isn’t a problem a cannon can’t fix.”

Crash… Crash… Crash… CRASH!

An entire section of the rightward buildings collapsed in an avalanche of plaster and dust. Out of the cloud, Fluttershy came to a halt only after smashing into the buildings on the other side of the street.

Franz’s grip on his hammer tightened and she shouted quickly, ”Cannons, FIRE!”

The men jumped at the guns and the cannons blasted away first, all six striking the giant directly. She merely grinned at their futile fire as the cannon balls disappeared, absorbed into her metallic mass. She lifted a hoof, and—

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

Deep holes tore open like bombs under her skin, blasting chunks of steel off of her. She screamed in pain and took but one step at them when Franz shouted again,

“Fire!”

The hellstorm crews lit their rockets, and the shortened fuses screamed to life, streaking fifteen pounds of explosives each to their destinations. Fireballs erupted from the impacts, shattering rivets and joints, and enshrouded Fluttershy in smoke as she fell back against the city wall.

Franz kept his eyes and ears open, hearing Fluttershy’s movement in the cloud. There was suddenly a flurry of movement, and she burst from the cloud, running down the street, away from the line of guns.

The artillerymen whooped and cheered. Franz wiped his brow in relief, then turned back to the captain.

“Make note and send it to the reiksmarshall; explosives are effective.”

Ash and cinders began to rain from above as the fires burned, barely controlled by the efforts of pegasus weather teams bringing rain who, despite their strenuous efforts could barely stop them from spreading. Here was where an iron wrath had already torn through. The street gutters ran with steaming warm blood, and bodies were still being carted out in piles.

Shining Armor paced back and forth atop one of the few standing buildings, a good vantage point from which he oversaw the arrangement of the capture zone. The two humanoid giants, inbred and slack-jawed, were hidden behind two structures. Four cannons were arranged to each radial street, and a company of man-portable hellstorm launchers propped up their rockets on the launch rails. He glanced up at the dark and dangerous sky. A tremendous store of lightning was waiting to be unleashed, suspended right over the center of the zone. Shining had some peace of mind in the fact that Cadence was quickly brought out of the city, and had allowed Spike to participate in the plan.

Speaking of Spike… he thought. The very dragon touched down beside him, taking a couple of stumbling steps before fully regaining balance and tucking in his wings. Another figure accompanied him in a cloak, much larger than any stallion he’d seen.

“Spike,” said Shining, “Who’s this?”

Spike looked very uncomfortable, and forced himself to speak. “They’re going to help us.”

“Well that’s good, but who is it?”

“It’s Twilight,” Spike said bluntly, biting his lip.

Shining cocked his head in confusion. “Twilight? You can’t be here! Spike and the pegasi are going to lead Fluttershy here!”

“I think I can hold my own against an overgrown windup mare.”

Shining's brows raised in surprise at the throaty, masculine voice that came from under the hood. “Spike, I thought you said this was Twilight?”

“It is,” the dragon squeaked. “And Kivsin.”

“Her bat pony friend?” Shining rattled his memory, and what he gathered certainly didn’t have claws as he saw under the cloak.

“Take the hood off,” Shining ordered. “Nopony’s close enough to see your face clearly.”

The figure sat and with long, taloned fingers, pulled the hood back off a vicious, wrinkled scowl, bristling like a cache of swords with teeth.

“Shining, before you say anything,” Spike started, “He’s pretty well in control of himself, and—”

The reiksmarshall grabbed Spike in a telekinetic grip and furiously jerked him down to his level. “Spike, what is going on?!” he muttered through gritted teeth.

“T-Twilight was experimenting with how Warp energy makes mutants, so she possessed Kivsin. They’re in the same body.”

Shining released him, and sat, massaging his temples in frustration and utter disbelief. He cast a glance to Kivsin, who spasmodically rolled his neck, softening his baleful gaze. “What else is wrong with him?”

Kivsin wiggled his fingers and toes like he’d just discovered them then and there. “Did I do it?” He gasped, putting a claw to his mouth. “I can talk. I’m in control!”

“Did they just switch out?” asked Shining, to which Kivsin’s body nodded.

“Yeah. I’m sorry you have to see us like this, but then again I didn’t predict the current circumstances. Kivsin’s not in his right mind, so he’s not likely to listen too well. We’re here to help Spike. What’s the plan?”

Shining put aside the disturbed butterflies in his stomach to point a hoof down below. “This is where we’re going to trap Fluttershy. We’re going to lead her under those clouds, and the pegasi will shock her to hold her in one place. The hidden giants will pin her down, and if that doesn’t work, we’ll be forced to blast her with artillery until she can’t move.”

“That’s good,” said Spike. “But how do we get her attention without getting too close?”

“The pegasi that will be with you will throw fireworks at her; big ones. We just have to get her back here, and zap!”

Kivsin had another bout of twitching, took a threatening step toward Shining, and he suddenly shouted, “I don’t need their help! I was once a bodyguard to King Sombra himself! I am the Blackguard, and I’ll draw that beast my own way!”

And with that, Kivsin tore his cloak off and launched into the air, leaving the others behind to gawk at his rapidly retreating form.

“Damnit!” Shining cursed. “Spike, if you can’t stop him, at least keep up with him. We need a little more time here.”

Spike quickly nodded and took off as well.

Kivsin, what are you doing!? How did you force me back?

Your brother insults me, Twilight, thinking I need help from lesser ponies.

Did you at least listen to the plan?

As much as I needed to.

He touched down at the empty Wizard’s Guild, and navigated the halls to the lab.

Why did you come back here?

Fluttershy likes animals, right?

Uh… yeah. Why?

Kivsin sniffed his way through the building, perturbed by the inexplicable number of mutilated, crushed, slashed, or burned bodies everywhere.

What happened here? Twilight’s voice asked in a horrified tone.

Kivsin took another breath, sorting out the many scents; kerosene, brimstone, and rotting meat. Vinyl Scratch has been here. Macintosh and Applejack, too.

It came to Twilight quickly. However Fluttershy managed to get above ground, the others had come through the giant hole she must have left.

Most of the bodies have slash marks, so Macintosh must have been in first. He continued following the ongoing wreckage. They used Macintosh as a shield. If I remember right, he wears the Blood God’s collar, so all magic that came his way was deflected. The wizards were powerless against him. There was an especially dense pile-up of cadavers before one of the destroyed doors. Here’s the lab.

The lab was largely unscathed, save for the crate that once contained Octavia, now in a hundred pieces and empty.

Did… Spike and Rarity remember to get Octavia out of here? asked Twilight.

I’m not sure. If she escaped, we’ll need to deal with it later. I know her scent. For now, it’s one thing at a time. He gave a few more sniffs and found the goat carcass, still resting under the central table.

Oh… You’re good.

He smirked. Thank you.

Kivsin picked up the body in his teeth and carried it out. At the exit of the Guild, Spike landed and, just as he opened his mouth to berate Kivsin, he saw the goat body, and blinked in surprise.

“Huh. That’ll work.”

I’ll never retreat again! To the death! TO THE DEATH!

Fluttershy walked with a heavy limp, liquid fire streaming from the blasted-out craters in her body. Something was screaming in her mind of how she was a coward, how her soul would burn if she fled again.

They can hurt me? Can I heal?

She sat and brought up her claw where the nails’ fingers loosely hung on their hinges. She focused on it, and some of the dents and holes began to pop back into shape. Filling those in, though, made her shrink down several feet.

Get big again… Need metal.

She thrust her claw into one of the buildings. She hadn’t been in this area yet. It tingled as she touched and took in the metal inside, but it wasn’t much, and she didn’t notice any change. When she took it out, however, there were several human bodies skewered on her nails.

Survivors, trying to hide.

She licked them off each nail and glanced around into empty windows. If those were there, there may be more. She raised a claw, and took another swipe at the building, ripping away a rain of rubble, then with both claws, dragged them down the side. The section came down like wallpaper.

It was like kicking up an anthill. People came pouring from the buildings, fleeing in all directions. Fluttershy swept her claws across the street, wiping out swaths of panickers. She picked up a clawful of victims, her grip tight enough that it squashed several like grapes, and scarfed them down like a fistful of chewy-on-the-outside-crunchy-on-the-inside snacks. For some minutes she had this sense of freedom, that this felt so right, and between clawfuls, she stepped on those villains like insects.

A sudden shriek stabbed into her ears, shattering panes of glass and making her slap her claws to her ears. She snapped around to the source, a viciously-grinning noctral, and a purple dragon on the roof behind her, the latter twisting a finger in his ear with a scowl of pain.

“Warn me next time you do that,” Spike muttered.

“Hey, Flutterbitch!” Kivsin shouted, and hurled the goat corpse at her, which stuck on one of the hook-ended tips of her mane. It dangled there by its mangled throat, there before her eyes as the muscle and bone finally snapped and it fell, splattering messily into her claw.

She crunched on the people and ponies that were screaming and banging around in her mouth. She started breathing more heavily, wisps of black smoke streamed from her lips, which soon gave way to waves of flame. She looked up to Kivsin, gritting her teeth, emitting sparks, and then she roared. Spike and Kivsin both felt the tremendous heat gusting up from her white-hot glowing throat.

“Watch out!”

They both jumped apart as a fiery burst tore into the structure between them. The impact sent a geyser of building material into the sky, and Fluttershy, closing the smoking hole in her palm, then threw herself onto the building under them, sinking in her claws and climbing up at frightening speed.

Spike beat his wings and took to the air. “I think we got her attention. Let’s lead her back.”

He and Kivsin swooped behind her, and down the street. Fluttershy jumped down and took off after them, shrieking at the top of her lungs. A titanic stride kept her right behind them, even catching up.

“How do we slow her down?” Spike shouted.

Kivsin glanced to the buildings around them, then turned to face Fluttershy, beating his chest. “Come on, you zoophiliac! Animal fucker! Goat-killer, right here!”

“RRAAAAAAAGH!!”

Kivsin took a sharp left, skimming over the rooftops and as he predicted, Fluttershy came ploughing through the building on the corner. She lost some momentum, and fell behind slightly. Spike followed behind the giant, just high enough to avoid the falling debris.

“He’s leading her off course!” he cursed. But then Kivsin began leading her back to the right, through another structure. Back and forth they went, weaving a zig-zag of destruction. Spike thought of the collateral damage, how many more were being killed. But then, the only other alternative was all of Middenheim being leveled and devoured.

He passed her unnoticed, her gaze utterly fixated on Kivsin, and shouted to the bat pony, “I need to take over in luring her! The soldiers will attack you in the trapping zone!” Kivsin just opened his mouth to respond, but hesitated like he was reconsidering. “Kivsin! Peel off! Let her follow me!”

In Spike’s very next blink, he saw two hind claws slam into his face. She spun off like a clipped airplane, disappearing through the window of another building.

Kivsin! Twilight cried in sheer despair. What did you do that for!? He could be seriously hurt!

A pause followed as she heard his thoughts.

No… No, you can’t! They’ll overwhelm you!

Not if you help me fight! You’re the Steed of Apocalypse, Twilight. Project your true power through me, and we will be unstoppable!

No. I won’t let you take us that far!

But you can’t stop me. Fluttershy still needs to get there!

“Here it comes!”

Shining dashed to the edge of the roof and saw Kivsin shooting down the street, followed by the stampeding monster, straight toward the square.

“Do not fire on the flying mutant!” he bellowed to the troops.

Shining pointed his horn right to the center of the lightning clouds, ready to shoot a signaling beam of magic to the pegasi atop them. The artillery crews readied their guns and rockets, and the giants peeked their heads back down.

Shining noticed something more off than he recognized in Kivsin; a maniacal grin all across his face as he got closer.

Clang!

Two rows of sword-sized teeth snapped just behind Kivsin, not a foot from his feet. Fluttershy leapt at him again, once more failing to sink a bite.

Just a little further. You’re almost there!

The teeth snapped again, nearly taking off his foot. Kivsin shot into the opening, just in time to hear Fluttershy’s stampede become quieter, and quieter.

“NO!” Shining screamed.

Fluttershy had suddenly changed course.

“Oh sweet shit Madame Masque, fuck me!”

Vinyl jumped aside as a rafter collapsed beside her. The others were fleeing in a similar panic as the building caved in behind them. She blasted out the door ahead with her cannon, making a way for everyone to escape, but Big Mac was way ahead, simply smashing through the wall head first. The laggard Octavia was yanked out of the way by Vinyl as the structure caved with Fluttershy’ hounding one of them.

“Braeburn! Help!” Applejack shrieked. Fluttershy snapped her jaws down at her, spearing her teeth through the zombie’s midsection. Braeburn and Bic Mac jumped at her to try to grab her hooves, but Fluttershy lifted her head too quickly.

“Applejack!!” they shouted.

Fluttershy flicked her head a bit, and Applejack slid off her teeth and landed on the edge of her mouth. She looked out at the others, holding out a hoof with her eyes wide with desperation. “Help me! Help m—”

Clang! Fluttershy’s teeth snapped shut around her.

“No!” Braeburn screamed in rage. He tilted his head back, then projectile vomited a blob of acid at Fluttershy’s jaw, leaving a sizzling spot that rapidly turned to rust. “Give her back, damn it! Give me back mah cousin!”

In one shrieking sweep, Fluttershy batted him and Big Macintosh down the street. Braeburn flew straight into a signpost and was impaled through the gut.

Applejack slid across a squirming iron tongue, slick with blood, slipping to the back of Fluttershy’s mouth. As she went over the edge, she held out her hooves, stopping herself above the glowing chasm of the giant’s throat.

“Fluttershy! Stop!” Applejack cried. Tears streamed down her face, vanishing into the depths below.

The esophagus expanded as Fluttershy swallowed, and Applejack lost her grip for a moment, falling five feet before stopping herself. Her hooves left slimy imprints above, where a coating of a dirty orange-brown residue began to spread across the surface, shedding corroded metal flakes.

Applejack morphed her hoof into her tooth-axe and sank the canine end into Fluttershy’s throat. A gust of scalding hot air rushed up and she swung about as Fluttershy screamed and threw her head around with her claws at her neck. Applejack desperately slapped her legs around, smearing as much surface as she could with secretions. Fluttershy gulped again, forcing Applejack’s axe out of place, and she slid another ten feet before stabbing the tooth back and coming to a stop.

Now the heat from the juggernaut’s core was starting to get to Applejack. With few living nerves to feel the temperature, she was likely actually on the verge of frying.

Fluttershy tried to swallow again, but her throat seized up and she started coughing, hacking, and puffing out clouds of rusty dust. It started to show on the outside, too, as brown veins grew across her neck, chin, and chest like an invading weed. The instant they reached her forehead, she gripped the sides of her head, shrieking like a banshee in pain and crying brown tears the consistency of tar. Fluttershy threw her head back, screaming to the sky and letting out a plume of brown dust, before her voice choked out and her joints rotted to a standstill. She went silent, still as a statue in horror, the only sound being the low creaking and groaning of her huge frame.

Inside, Applejack started climbing the rough, corroded walls for dear life, stabbing her canine into the walls and hauling herself up. The slow breaths of the giant blew a heated wind at her back as she ascended. She yawned, wondering how in the world she could possibly be getting tired if her body didn’t need sleep anymore. Each of Fluttershy’s weak breaths sank Applejack deeper and deeper into sleepiness. The next time she put a hoof up, it started to stick. So did her other legs, and it wasn’t long before she couldn’t move any further. The warmth was so comfortable. Her eyelids felt so heavy. She couldn’t keep them open any longer.

Kivsin landed on Fluttershy’s nose, sinking a claw between her brows for balance. He didn’t understand why the soldiers didn’t attack him, give him an excuse to gorge himself on their blood, and he chalked it up to Fluttershy. “You can’t pay attention to what’s right in front of you, damn beast?”

It’s over, Kivsin. Just, please try to get out of here. They’re coming.

The imperial giants were plodding down the street with stony clubs in their hands, and pegasi were already arriving, circling the giant and the mutants below.

“Get back! Back off!” Vinyl swung her sonic cannon at the imperials, who slowly advanced in a porcupine of spears and halberds. The giants’ great stride brought them looming over the mutants. Vinyl hauled her weapon up and shrieked a cacophony of noise straight at it, causing it to bring its hand to its ears to try to block it out, to no avail. It then reached down and plucked the weapon right out of Vinyl’s claws, the facial component still attached which lifted her along with it.

“Mmmff! Mmmmmffh!!” Vinyl mumbled loudly around the device.

“Let her go, you smelly clod!” Octavia yelled, wrapping her tentacles around the unicorn’s haunches to pull her away—only to be lifted off the ground as well. Vinyl finally managed to undo the mouthpiece, and she and Octavia both fell into the giant’s other waiting hand, which immediately put its thumb right over Vinyl’s face.

Braeburn cracked his head around to vomit on the wood at his back, but was obstructed by the sight of a rifle bore at his back with a scowling pegasus at the trigger. Braeburn grinned at the futile threat, but then saw another gun be put to his forehead. “Raise it up,” the pegasus said to another. “Anything less than the destruction of the brain, and it won’t die.”

Big Mac had Apple Bloom lying on his back in the saddle dip cut out of his body. “Keep yer head down, ‘n don’t let go,” he growled, keeping his eyes on the soldiers.

Apple Bloom whimpered, “M’hm.”

Big Mac held up the whole street, playing the soldiers’ fear by feigning charges at them, who he stood taller than at the shoulder. In one round, he went among their long polearms, snapping several under his claws and between his jaws. Lyra held the other end as a perpetually burning figure whom none could touch.

“Forgive me, Changer of Ways, for I have failed you so quickly,” she mumbled, then shook her head. “No. You knew this would happen. It’s all part of the plan, isn’t it? We get captured again, then… something…” She looked up to the blue-grey monster on Fluttershy’s nose who looked to be silently arguing with himself.

Just let me indulge a little! Kivsin screamed to the daemon in his head. Just ten heads! Seven?

No! We’re giving ourselves up before you end up giving the soldiers a reason to attack us. You’re looking at Shining Armor right now! You see he and the soldiers aren’t hos...tile… no, no, don’t you dare!

Kivsin ferally climbed to the top of Fluttershy’s head and shot a targeting glare toward Shining, who had his eyes on the troops surrounding the mutants. I’ll give them a reason to die by my hand! I don’t need to take orders from anyone anymore! Not King Sombra, the Druchii, or you! I’ll never relinquish your power from me, and I. Will. Be. FREE!

In a powerful flap of wings, he launched himself toward Shining.

NO! Twilight’s voice screeched.

In the next instant, a sharp pain in his side like he’d been hit by a truck caused Kivsin to lose sight of his target. He shot his furious gaze towards the one who had tackled him in midair; a silver-armored, purple-scaled dragon, roaring in anger.

Kivsin only caught a split second glimpse of the ground before he was flipped around, and hurled across through the air to smash through a window. He banged and rolled across the apartment floor, crashing through furniture like an avalanche. He finally came to a stop, lying prone and half-buried under a pile-up of broken chairs, tables, and other assorted items.

Twilight groaned. I… I felt that… Ugh…

Spike came through the window and strode across the room, hissing a fog of dark smoke between his gritted teeth. He drew his sword, held Kivsin’s head down, and aimed the blade for just under his chest.

“Don’t make me wish this kills you.”

He began to thrust it down, but a pair of kicking legs sent him reeling back. Kivsin threw himself free of the rubble, and by the time he was up Spike had righted himself as well.

Kivsin, please! Twilight’s voice begged urgently, Please don’t do this. He’s our friend!

Both he and Spike began to circle, each staring the other down, searching for a weak spot in their stance.

Iwant to kill him, so I’m going to kill him. You help me fight, or we both die! Now!

Kivsin beat his wings and took a flying leap forward, screaming in bestial fury as he launched straight towards Spike.

Stop!! Twilight screamed.

Kivsin’s eyes suddenly flew wide with shock, and he dropped from the air like a brick, creating a sizable divot in the wooden floor inches away from Spike. The dragon hopped backwards in one fluid motion, holding his sword at the ready.

You’re completely out of control, grunted Twilight. You may have… gotten power from me. But… I can take it back!

Kivsin’s claws slapped onto his face, digging their fingers into his skin. He screeched an earsplitting pitch, shattering mirrors and what glass that wasn’t already broken, as his own claws dug knuckle-deep, and started to pry his face apart. One half of Kivsin began to turn a luminous yellow.

Like a splitting cell, one head became two. The one with the horn began calling on its lavender magic to aid as she planted her claw in the floor and tried to drag herself away. Spike immediately stepped forward and tried to help, placing a claw on each half of them and pushing them apart.

They were finally separated at the hind hooves. Kivsin convulsed and gasped as if in dying throes, his face fixed in a rictus of shock and pain.

The hand of a giant, bearing Shining Armor came to the window and deposited him inside. He briefly nodded to the mentally-deficient creature, which grunted deeply in response. He trotted over to where Spike was trying to keep Twilight awake, and went to Kivsin to do the same.

“Spike, what in the world happened back there?”

“Kivsin just finally snapped. He was going after you, and just a minute ago I bet he was fantasizing about killing everyone else.”

“And what, they just separated?”

“It’s the only way I can describe it.” Spike gently slapped Twilight’s cheek as her eyes fluttered and faded. “Come on, Twilight, stay on this side.”

She coughed up black droplets onto her lips, and her fangs began to slowly extend. As she stared into Spike’s face, her eyes instantly grew wide and she lurched up at him, hissing with widening fanged jaws. He immediately clasped his claw over her mouth and tried to hold her down.

“Shining, I think she’s losing it,” he said quickly. “Get her some blood, enough to drink.”

Shining propped up Kivsin’s head with a dislocated chair cushion, and rushed to the window opposite the view of the militia. The ground was running in blood there, too, and with the guidance of his magic, it flowed up the side of the building, into a crimson ball that he opened the window to let in.

“Shining, it’s getting worse!” Spike said urgently. Twilight snapped her fangs viciously at him, struggling against his grip on her horn.

He carried it over to Twilight and let a thin stream of blood run down her tongue. She lapped it up greedily, straining against Spike’s grip as she tried to lean towards the source of the red fluid. Soon enough, her eyes stopped flashing with hatred, and her rabid growling turned into a low moan.

“The Emperor’s going to want to talk to all of us,” Spike said worriedly.

“I know,” Shining muttered back. “But let’s focus on keeping these two alive.”

“Doesn’t the Inquisition deal with daemonology?”

At that, Shining’s breath seized in his throat.