Chapter Nine: Destiny, Part 1.

"You know the key strategic weakness of the human race? The dead outnumber the living."
Missy, Doctor Who: Dark Water.

***

"Fire!"

A hail of bullets lashed out from the defensive line, cutting through the oncoming horde of... whatever the fuck they were. The bodies seemed to be incredibly resilient - the only time a body would fall would be when it was literally shot apart by the firepower arrayed against it.

Solamina's newest Guard had been unleashed upon the defenders of London. Ponies and Humans alike, each marched like machines towards their goal, possessed of a singular purpose that bound their empty shells to this plane. On they marched, never wavering, never stopping. No matter the amount of bullets that pierced their armour, they kept going. Only when they had been obliterated by Walter and his men did they have no choice but to fall. Even then, however, the rest of the horde would continue on, undeterred by the missing Guard.

The horde did not feel the cold steel against their open decaying flesh or even the lucky bullets that went through them. Their eyes remained unfeeling hollow sockets in their head. Sam wondered how the human souls would feel if they could see their bodies attacking their own kind, baring the blasphemous crest of the Solaminan Empire. Would they break down and weep for humanity, or would they scream in vain for the horde to stop?

Resistance, PER, BDF, Solaminan Soldier, it made no difference. All the Guard that now stalked the battlefield had fallen in the war only to become Solamina's personal puppets of the damned.

"What the fuck is keeping them standing?" someone yelled.

"Shut up!" Walter yelled from further along the line. "Keep firing!"

Sam sighed as he brought his own rifle to bear, the high powered Lance rifle punching through bodies like they were nothing - and yet still, they kept coming, almost unstoppable. Blank faces stared at them, marching in unison towards the defensive line even as more firepower was levied at them, tearing through armour and flesh.

"Keep firing!" someone yelled, and Sam felt a wave of revulsion as another one of these… things exploded into its constituent parts, torn apart by small arms fire, the limbs still twitching somewhat.

"They just keep going!" he heard True Grit yell from somewhere.

"We need to hold!" Sam yelled in return. "We fall here -!"

He never managed to finish saying what would happen if they fell there, for in that moment an explosion blasted apart part of the barricade near him and knocked him clean over, throwing him ten feet through the air. He landed heavily, gritting his teeth in pain, before opening his eyes. His vision, blurry though it was, seemed mostly unimpaired, but he could hear nothing but ringing.

He could see the ruin of the barricade as soldiers - mostly Clads - ran to try and shore it up. And then he saw those damned Cobalt-armoured monstrosities marching over the barricade like it was nothing, and engage his men in close quarters. growling, Sam pushed the button that pumped his system full of stimulants, and his hearing and vision suddenly snapped back into focus. Dropping his rifle and drawing his sword, he stood, moving into a guard stance.

"Hold that line!" he screamed, and then he charged.

***

Rainbow looked down, scowling at the battle as it went on. She could see the horde of those… zombie things advancing on the defences, but she couldn't see any end to the force. It stretched on through the streets like… she didn't know what.

"They're gonna get torn up down there!" Lightning Dust commented grimly.

"They'll hold," Rainbow said, more from hope than certainty.

"There's no way we need to be up here, boss," Swift Strike said over the comms. "I don't see a thing!"

"We need to cover the sky in case of Pegasus assault," Rainbow said with a grimace. "'Sides, what can we do down there that the Clads can't?"

There was no response to that. Rainbow kept her eyes peeled. Truth be told, she didn't expect there to be any sign of any Pegasus forces - they'd have known.

"Contact!" she heard Lightning Dust yell. "We have a contact inbound! Grey Two, Grey Three, confirm!"

"Confirmed, Grey Lead!" came the harsh voice of Dew Drop. "Ah, buck - it's an Alicorn!"

Rainbow's insides turned to jelly. "Confirm presence of the Tyrant, Grey Three!"

"That can't be her, the Tyrant's white, not blue…" Lightning said. "Wait, is that -?"

There was a burst of static, and suddenly a giant blue blur zapped past Rainbow, and she caught sight of one of her flyers - it looked like Swift Strike - falling to the ground, shorn in two.

"Buck!" Dark Wing yelled angrily. "What the buck hit us?!"

"Form up!" Rainbow ordered grimly. "Stay calm - whatever that is, it can't be -"

Another flash, and Rainbow suddenly found herself freewheeling through the air, a laceration across her back. Arching in pain, she could barely turn her freefall into a crash landing. She hit the ground with a dull thud, but she had survived at least, though she knew she must have broken a rib.

She looked around - she had fallen at the rear of the camp. She could see supply trucks and transport vehicles, as well as a single tank, old and battered. As she watched, other soldiers racing past her to the front lines, and she couldn't blame them for ignoring her. She groaned as she pulled herself to her hooves, wincing slightly at the pain that shot through her side.

"Grey Rogue is down!" Lightning yelled. "What the hell was that?!"

"Whatever it was, it went after her," Fell Spear put in. "Nothing more on my scopes."

"Dash!" Lightning said frantically over the comms. "Dash, are you alright?!"

"I'm fine," Rainbow said grimly, the pain making her voice crack. "A little beaten up, but fine. Keep in the air - watch out for the Empress. When she shows, get outta here."

"Roger that, Rogue," Lightning Dust said heavily. "We'll - wait, Rogue, watch out -!"

And then the figure of an Alicorn landed nearby in a blur, a dust cloud blowing up around her landing place. Rainbow tensed, unsure how she could hope to dodge the attacks of an Alicorn, and finding herself confused. This mare was definitely blue - but Solamina was alabaster, and Cadence was pink. The only blue Alicorn had been…

And then the dust cloud cleared. Pale, dead eyes stared at Rainbow, and a grimace of pain, fury and torment revealed itself, a low croaking sound crossing the space between them, quiet and yet louder than any sound Rainbow Dash had ever heard. She wore battered armour and an ornate sword floated in her telekinetic grip.

Rainbow felt sick. She backed away slowly, uncertain what to do.

And then the corpse of Princess Luna screamed…

***

Walter Minecroft held his position firm with a shotgun in his hand and a belt of grenades. The horde had broken through, this was the moment he had gone through in his head over and over, ever since he first heard of the undead Guard.

He had to act fast, it wouldn't be long until the horde overwhelmed the Resistance and slaughtered his friends.

How do you fight an army of these things?

With each pulsating heartbeat, the time Minecroft had to think about the attack grew shorter. He couldn't fight them as a solid block of oncoming carnage. That was suicide, plain and simple. Minecroft had to be smarter than that.

With one deep breath, the world slowed down for him. Walter was coming up with a plan of attack. The section of the horde that approached him, readying their spears, aiming them straight at the defenders.

An idea struck Walter.

"On my mark, throw grenades in front of the enemy and continue suppressing fire," he ordered.

His troop did as commanded. A fresh grenade became present in each of their hands.

"Ready….and….now!"

United in dirt and fury, Minecroft's team threw a shower of grenades towards the horde. The explosion of each launched parts of the Guards into the air and conjured up a dust cloud which hid the Resistance as they continued to attack the horde with everything they had.

The mangled corpses of the Guards that had been blown up did not stop. They crawled along on the ground, using whatever limbs they had left to keep going, to pressed on with their goal of the destruction of their Empress' enemies.

"Right," Minecroft said aloud. "That… worked. Ish."

What now?

***

Eleanor dodged a spear, parrying the thrust and lashing out, taking off the offending Guard's head. It was a move she had repeated a hundred times in a hundred different duels, but this time, the offending Guard did not fall, instead bringing the spear around in an attempt at a slash that she blocked before cutting the thing in two. The limbs worked spasmodically, then stilled.

"What the hell does it take to stop these things?!" one of her colleagues bellowed. "They just don't fucking die!"

"Yelling about it won't do us any good!" Eleanor growled, blocking another blow and decapitating the unfortunate cobalt Guard that tried the move. "Just keep fighting and hold the breach!"

She could already see that it was a lost cause - the enemy were climbing over other parts of the barricade, fighting with the defenders atop the makeshift palisade, and in most cases managing to overcome them.

Suddenly, she felt a heavy impact on her back - a corpse-soldier had jumped on her and was trying to garrote her. Growling, she grabbed at it and threw it to the ground before stomping on its head, breaking it to mush. Nearby, she saw Sam dueling another, this one human, and cutting it in two, before he stepped up to her.

"Well this is fun!" he said with a grim smile.

"Sam, we can't hold here!" she said, gasping for breath slightly from the near-garroting. "There's too many of these bastards!"

"I noticed!" Sam replied. "But there's not exactly anywhere to run to - and I get the feeling they'll chase us to the ends of the damn Earth!"

"Which doesn't mean what it used to," True Grit's voice spoke, and the green Unicorn showed up behind them, his horn glowing and a grimace on his face, beads of sweat running down his face as he sent concussive spell after concussive spell at the undead Guards, blowing one after another to smithereens.

"Well what do we do?" Eleanor asked desperately, smashing another zombie Guard apart.

"We hold," Sam said grimly. "There's nothing else we can do."

***

Rainbow Dash slowly limped away from the screaming figure of Princess Luna. She couldn't believe what she was seeing - all the Element bearers had known that Solamina - that Celestia - had changed from the kind mare they had known when they had first become the bearers of the Elements of Harmony, but this… this was an abomination. This was obscene. To do this to ponies that weren't her sister was bad enough, but to turn her own flesh and blood into an undead warrior for her twisted cause… it beggared belief.

"Luna," she said softly. "Luna, are you still in there?"

The corpse didn't reply, instead growling as it approached Rainbow Dash. Every step it took was accompanied by a sick crack from its neck, where the twisted and shattered vertebrae seemed to be shifting.

"Luna, please," Rainbow said. "You need to -"

The abomination screamed again, a loud, keening wail that tore at Rainbow's ears.She backed away hurriedly, wondering how the hell she was going to be able to survive facing off against this thing.

And then she suddenly found herself bumping into the figure of a human. Quickly turning, she found herself facing a man with greying hair, hard eyes and stubble, his green military coat flapping slightly in the breeze that Luna's arrival had caused.

"You!" she said, eyes widening in recognition. "You're that guy Sam had with him, the guy with the sword and the magic armour and stuff!"

The man looked down at her, and she felt the urge to flinch at the coldness in his eyes.

"Yes," he said blandly. "I am."

He looked back up, focusing on Luna, who seemed to narrow her dead eyes at him. He walked towards the corpse, flexing his hands as he did so. Rainbow watched with morbid fascination as the two squared off.

"Corpse of Luna," the man said. "I've destroyed you before. Don't make me do so here. Flee."

In response, the corpse screamed, its horn glowing as a massive spell built up, before lashing out towards the man. He held up a hand, and suddenly there was a flash of white light…

The spell impacted with an explosion. Rainbow was blown backwards by the force of the blast, and she was fairly certain that she'd cracked another rib from the sheer power of the impact.

"Pony God!" she yelled in shock. She looked up, certain that she would be next, but what she saw was impossible.

The man was still stood there, hand raised to block Luna's spell, but his hair had grown and was flapping in that same breeze, and he was now clad in dull grey armour tinged with bloodstains, a tattered cape flowing from his shoulders. In his off hand he held a sword of dark steel, black marble for a hilt and a single gem set in the center of the pommel. As Rainbow watched, he moved his blade into a guard stance, his expression grim but resolute.

"Corpse of Luna, permit me to guide thee to thine rest," the man said, and he charged at her…

***

She raised her head, looking up from her meditations.

She had been awaiting his arrival. The Heart had shown her that he would be coming, and that she would have to challenge him. It would be a difficult fight, more difficult than any battle she had ever faced. Had she faced him blind, she would have perhaps been overconfident, but now she knew better. This was a warrior that had already challenged her, that had faced a version of her in battle and slain her, taking her power for himself. This was a warrior that was a true challenge. Defeat him, and she would prove herself once and for all a God.

She spread her wings wide. Soon he would dispose of the body of her late, lamented sister, and she would face him. Then, their fates would both be decided.

And with that thought in mind and a twisted grin on her lips, Astra Solamina Maxima rose from the ground and took flight.

***

Around Minecroft, his own soldiers were being impaled, slashed, mutilated and there was not a damn thing he could do to help. He was boxed in by four of the unholy cretins and using every ounce of power in his shotgun to take them down.

Click, click.

Time to reload. Without any backing fire from his troop however, he was dead. Walter smiled. Might as well do some damage while he was at it. He reached down to his belt of grenades, using his shotgun as a mallet to beat away the Guard.

"No!" roared a familiar voice.

From behind him he heard the clash of metal and the merger of flesh and lead. The sound of rapid breathing got closer and closer, louder and louder, until he felt a force propel him away from the Guard.

Swiftly, he looked up from the dirt. The pack of undead were focused on a new target. A younger, more scrawny soldier, bearing a gash across one shoulder, now stood where Walter once did.

Minecroft shot up to his feet just in time to see the soldier pump every last bullet he had in his rifle into the oncoming abominations before he heard that dreaded sound.

Click, click.

Walter tried to rush to his friends aid but a Guard came lunging at him from the side and he had to bludgeon the once human with the shotgun. Another soldier saw his situation and blasted the walking corpse with a few dozen rifle rounds. Walter and his saviour turned back to his friend.

With a sorrowful grin, the soldier activated the grenades on his own belt and Walter knew it was too late but he couldn't keep himself from calling out.

"Jenkins!" Walter yelled, only to have his cry drowned out by the explosion.

***

She threw a spell at him, and he batted it aside with his sword. Elbow first he smashed into her and the two barrelled into a wall, but a moment later he found himself blown back outward by another spell. Backflipping, he landed on his feet, bringing his sword back into a guard stance as she fired more spells. He batted the first away and dodged the second, grimacing as it blasted a truck apart. And then she charged at him, bringing her sword to bear…

He blocked the first blow, pushed the blade away and lashed out, but she leapt into the air, her wings propelling her upward before she landed behind him, slashing at him. He brought his sword up quicker than sight and blocked the blow, staggering forward slightly, and then lashed out, forcing her backwards again.

"You have no hope, Corpse of Luna!" he declared. "Make this easy!"

The corpse lashed out, screeching, and he grunted as he blocked another blow.

"Very well then," he said grimly.

***

Behind this display of insanity, Rainbow Dash found herself feeling terrified. This was absolutely insane. How the hell was she supposed to be able to do something to help that kind of fight?! Pegasi she had killed. Crystal Golems she had seen brought low with a simple rocket launcher. This, though...

There was another explosion as the corpse-Luna threw a spell at the armoured man, and Rainbow dodged, barely avoiding the backlash.

"Hell!" she said, grimacing.

She growled - she refused to just sit here, whining like an infant. She had to do something to help…

Suddenly, looking around, she caught sight of something that made her grin - if this worked out, then she might actually have the opportunity to make a difference in this bucking fight!

"Soldiers!" she yelled to a few men taking cover nearby. "Need your help!"

"Our help?" one of them said. "Have you fucking seen that?!"

"No, I'm blind!" Rainbow said derisively. "Yeah, of course I bucking saw that, now are you gonna sit there like foals or are you gonna do something to help?!"

"How the hell are we supposed to help with that kind of fight?!" the soldier asked, sounding terrified.

Rainbow grinned and pointed to the tank.

"With that," she said with relish.

***

The Avatar parried another blow, clucking his tongue as the corpse kept lashing out at him. He stepped back, blocked another strike, and then grimaced as she threw a spell at him, blasting him into a wall.

"I don't have time for this," he said icily. He held up Excalibur, aiming the blade at her, power beginning to coruscate along the blade.

Suddenly, the corpse was thrown into a wall, a loud BOOM sounding, almost deafening him. Shaking his head slightly, he looked to see what had happened.

The rusty, battered tank was aiming at the corpse, its battle cannon turned to face her. He could see Rainbow Dash waving from the top of it.

"Go get her!" she yelled at him.

Grinning despite himself, he brought Excalibur down and threw a ball of power at the area the corpse had landed. There was a large explosion, dust and rubble thrown everywhere, and he breathed out, feeling suddenly tired. He hated this feeling, the feeling of no power left.

He walked forward, intent on putting the corpse down if she hadn't been.

Suddenly there was a blur of motion as a blue figure raced at him, and he found himself knocked to the ground, the corpse-Luna stood atop him, screeching in primal rage. The tank round had blown her guts out, and one leg was trailing from sinew. Bone was exposed from the power of the explosion, and half her face was a bloody ruin. As he watched, she brought her sword up and stabbed it through his shoulder. He yelled in pain.

"Abomination!" he yelled angrily, ignoring the stabbing pain in his shoulder and focusing on his rage. He sat up, grabbing the corpse-Luna's head. "You will fall!"

He clenched, and could feel the bone start straining beneath his grip. Her horn glowed as she built up a spell.

"Find peace!" he yelled, straining.

To his horror, her mouth opened, and a croaking voice spoke, sounding strained, broken, livid.

"There… is… no… peace!" she croaked, sounding pained and horrified and tormented and enraged, all at once.

He grimaced, feeling her skull beginning to give. "I hope for your sake you are wrong. Goodbye."

With a final heave of effort, Luna's skull imploded in his grip. The corpse's limbs began to spasm and twitch uncontrollably, and then he shoved, pushing the body away from him with a scowl, where it settled.

"Corpse monstrosity," he murmured. He looked over to the tank, where Rainbow Dash was staring with a look of shock at the horrific explosion of gore. He raised an eyebrow and pulled the sword from his shoulder, before dropping it.

"What the hell are you?" she asked, eyes wide.

"The Avatar of Albion," he said quietly. "I am the one who was summoned by Twilight Sparkle."

"Oh, so that spell worked?" Rainbow asked, sounding almost blasé. "I… gotta admit, I was expecting something… about twenty percent cooler."

He chuckled, almost in amusement. "Well, I'm sorry to disappoint."

He turned his head to look in the direction of the barricade. The sound of battle could be distantly heard from the barricade - screaming, the clash of metal, gunfire...

"Excuse me," the Avatar said quietly. "I have business to attend to."

He began walking in the direction of the barricade.

***

Sam dodged another thrust and asked into the brain of the offending corpse-Guard, the thing spasming slightly before he wrenched the blade out and decapitated it. It spasmed - once, twice - and then he kicked out, sending it sprawling to the ground.

All around him he could see the defence wavering, soldier after soldier falling to the zombified horde. He considered falling back but dismissed that idea - pointless plan. He didn't know if this was it, but he'd be damned if he gave up before he was dead.

Another one of the zombie-soldiers charged at him, and he brought his sword up to cut through the thing, cutting it in two. The sundered parts tried to move, and then expired. Another brought a spear to bear and charged at him, but he parried the blow and lashed out with his fist, pulverising the thing's brain.

Suddenly, a bolt of purple energy lashed out, incinerating a clump of the Cobalt Guards that had been clambering over the wall. A second bolt lashed out, vaporising more.

Twilight Sparkle growled as she fired more bolts of magic off, her eyes narrowed in disgust and hatred at the horrors Solamina had perpetrated.

"Sparkle!" Sam yelled, waving an arm. "Good to see you!"

She nodded at him without speaking, then sent more spells out, killing more and more of the Guards. With her help, the barricades seemed to be a tiny bit clearer, like there was something resembling a chance.

Even so, this was a losing battle - Sam could tell. There were more of them - always more. He couldn't even tell how many…

"Warriors of Albion!" a new voice called out, and Sam's eyes widened as he recognised it, "this is not your end!"

A shockwave lashed out, knocking dozens of the Cobalt Guard down, vaporising several. Surprisingly, the shockwave didn't so much as harm a hair on the heads of the soldiers around the Cobalt Guards.

And then he arrived. His battered cloak flew around his shoulders, his armour, dull as it was, seemed to glow with an inner light, and his eyes burned with righteous determination. He walked out, his sword moving like a blur to block spells as they flew in, thick and fast. He held his sword up to block another spell, and then in a slashing movement another shockwave lashed out, dislodging more of the Cobalt Guards.

"Flee!" he yelled. "Run, corpses and demons! Flee to your Demon-Empress and tell her that if she wants me, she'll have to come for me herself!"

He brought the blade down, where it impacted the ground with a loud smash and a flash of light. When the light cleared, the Cobalt Guard… had stopped. None of the zombified soldiers were moving - they were stood stock still, staring blankly ahead at nothing.

There was a long moment of silence, and then cheers started running up and down the defensive line from the battered survivors.

"He stopped them!" someone yelled.

"He did it!" someone else called out. "They've stopped!"

Captain Sparkle closed her eyes and bowed her head, her expression one of relief. It was echoed by everyone and everypony around her - soldiers could be seen hugging one another.

"I don't believe it," Sam whispered. "You… you stopped the zombies…"

The armoured figure looked at him, frowning slightly, and Sam's smile faded, being replaced by a stricken expression.

"You… you did stop them, didn't you?" he asked softly.

The Avatar said nothing, instead walking towards the barricade. Sam followed him, and Sparkle followed, frowning slightly. The Avatar vaulted the barricade, and began walking past the corpses… which moved aside for him, forming a ring of silent watchers in the centre of the broken city.

Sam, stood atop the barricade, could only watch in horror as the Avatar walked to meet the figure now stood amongst the Cobalt Guard. Next to him, he could hear Sparkle take a sharp inhale of breath.

The figure was an Alicorn, alabaster coated and golden armoured, with a flowing multicoloured mane flowing behind her. Held in a telekinetic grip was a glaive, ornate and ancient.

"No," Sparkle whispered. "It is her…!"

***

The Avatar reached the centre of the empty ring that had been cleared for them both. He held his sword at rest, narrowing his eyes at his enemy.

"Hello," he said to her.

"Greetings," Astra Solamina Maxima returned, inclining her head. "You must be the warrior I sensed."

"I am," he said. "I already know who you are."

She smiled, a cold, cruel thing.

"Would you act as champion for this little island of misfits, traitors and the last of a dead world?" she asked softly.

"Yes," he replied. He frowned. "You don't… recognise it, do you?"

"Recognise what?" she asked, raising an eyebrow.

"You and I are of a kind," he said. "The chosen holders of greater powers. Save perhaps that you have been more honest to yours than I was to mine."

She narrowed her eyes at him. "Ah. Now I see."

There was a momentary pause, in which Solamina shifted her stance slightly. When she spoke again, there was an odd timbre to her tone, one that was all-too familiar to the warrior she faced.

"You and I have met before," she said, narrowing her eyes at him.

"I slew you then," he commented idly. "But that was when I was a different man."

"And you took that power for yourself," she said softly, her eyes narrowed.

"I did," he replied, sounding sad. "Though I will not say my actions bring me pride."

She snorted, looking unconcerned at the fact that she faced a warrior who had slain her before.

"I suppose you believe the power you stole will avail you," she sneered.

"I believe nothing," the man said truthfully. "Save that I will do my utmost to stop you."

She smiled, and her glaive spun once, as she flexed her telekinetic muscles. In return, he raised his blade into a two-handed middle-guard, narrowing his eyes slightly.

"So then," she said. "Shall we begin?"

"For the fate of this world?" he asked.

For the fate of this world," she repeated.

There was a momentary pause as the two stood, waiting for some hitherto unspoken signal, and then as one their blades moved, faster than lightning, and clashed…

***

Author's Notes:

Apologies for the fact that this took ages to get up - I've been... well, doing a lot of stuff.

Cheers to The Void for his input.