Chapter Ten: Destiny, Part 2.

"It matters not how strait the gate,
How charged with punishments the scroll,
I am the master of my fate:
I am the captain of my soul."
William Ernest Henley, Echoes of Life and Death.

***

The two mighty warriors held the clash for a long moment, struggling against each other, each trying to gain an upper hand, before both blades disengaged as one and they truly began.

His first swing sliced through nothing but air, the Alicorn dodging backwards, lashing out with her own blow as she did so. He ducked her swing, before bringing his blade up to block the overhead blow she followed up with, gritting his teeth as she pushed, trying to force him to the ground. He bent his knees, letting her think she was pushing him downward, and then suddenly he sprang, leaping into the air and delivering a crashing overhead of his own that she barely blocked, forcing her off balance. While still in the air, suspended, he pulled the blade back and stabbed forward, but she parried deftly even from her off-balance position, before stepping into a guard and lashing out, exchanging blows with him as Excalibur met her glaive in mid-air.

This was all nothing but a test of their skills, he knew. An exercise of their respective blade work to see exactly how the other fought. He found himself - oddly enough - surprised. She was more restrained, more cautious than the Solamina he had killed, as though being on ground other than her own robbed her of some certainty, but it only made her more dangerous. Her blows were more considered, she took less risks and was consequently harder to keep off balance. She had come expecting to fight an equal, and she treated him as such instead of letting him get any advantage through her complacency.

He found himself smiling, though for the life of him he didn't understand why. He was enjoying this fight.

Maybe that’s proof that I really am damned, he thought idly.

He landed back on the ground, swinging as he did so, though again she blocked it. This time, he held the block, channelling his power through Excalibur, and suddenly the blade flashed with energy and he pushed. Solamina was blasted backwards, rolling as she landed in a heap.

Growling, she stood up.

“As I should have expected,” she said with a growl. “They brought you here to destroy me, and destroy me you might yet. But you shall not find me easy to put down, little man.”

“Of that, I never had any doubt,” he replied evenly.

He raised Excalibur, pointing the blade at her, and a bolt of energy shot out, impacting her. There was an explosion, and dust blew everywhere, obscuring his sight for a moment. He paused, and then moved Excalibur up, blocking a sudden crashing overhead that had been meant to cleave him in two. He ducked out from under the blow, lashing out as he did so, and then took a guard stance as Solamina appeared from the dust, battered but unharmed.

“Clearly,” she said, “you require a special touch.”

Her horn glowed, and suddenly a bolt of energy flashed, smashing into his chest and bearing him backwards. She followed this up with more bolts, one after the other in quick succession.

There was an explosion.

***

Twilight Sparkle looked up at Sam Lake, who was frowning at the battle, uncertain what to expect. The duel was… impossible. It was like watching to forces of nature meeting - every time their blades met, there was a flash of light and a sound like mountains collapsing. The physical toll this battle was taking on the surrounding buildings was clear - dust and small bits of debris were shaking from the buildings nearest Sam and Twilight, and the masonry around Solamina and Elliot was being broken apart more and more by every single blow.

“What the hell are we waiting for?” someone yelled, bringing a gun up and firing at the swirling melee. There was no discernible effect, and the man frowned.

“D’you really think shooting would work?” someone else called out. “Have you seen this?!”

Sam shook his head - truth be told, none of them had had any idea just how powerful Solamina was. The ponies had rumours about the power Celestia could bring to bear, but there was just too little intel. Now they saw the full extent of what they had been facing… and it was terrifying. Sam glanced down at Twilight and could see her wide, fear-stricken eyes, tears gleaming in them. He hadn’t thought of how traumatic this must be - to see the mentor she had loved transformed into… that.

“We should evacuate from this position,” she said softly. “If he fails, these… things will start moving again.”

“If he fails, we’ve lost, simple as,” Sam replied simply.

“Maybe,” Twilight admitted, “but you and I haven’t come this far by not being prepared for the worst.”

Sam looked down at her, and though he hated it, he knew she was right. They’d lost too many people already - this position would never hold against Solamina herself, let alone the hordes she had brought with her. They were standing eerily still all around the camp, their blank eyes just… staring. For whatever reason, they’d stopped their attack. Probably the sake of intimidation, or drama, or both - God knew, Solamina wasn’t immune to the lure of a show. By that same turn, Sam knew that they’d become the same lethal killing machines they’d been before she arrived.

Still, Sam hesitated to simply… go. An old quote from Lord of the Rings came to him - “faithless is he who says farewell when the road darkens.”

Me and Dave read that book together.

“You get everyone out,” he said quietly. “I’ll stay.”

Twilight narrowed her eyes. “You can’t help.”

“The Iron Clads were made to help,” Sam countered. “And I’m sure as hell not just going to stand here and watch him die.” He paused. “He’s my friend.”

“Maybe once,” Twilight said. “But not this him.”

“Well, he’s as near as I’m likely to find,” Sam said.

Twilight sighed. After a moment, she turned to one of the soldiers standing nearby.

“Can you please signal the evacuation?” she asked. The soldier nodded, before dashing off. In response to Sam’s questioning look, the little violet mare sighed and smiled.

“I’m sure as Tartarus not just going to stand here and watch you die,” she said quietly. “You’re my friend.”

Sam held her gaze for a moment, before nodding and smiling.

“Thanks,” he said sincerely.

“Wait!” called out a familiar voice. Small Mercy, out of breath and covered in the blood and dirt of the fallen soldiers she passed, glared at Sam and Twilight with more determination than the two had seen in her before. “If you are going to help Elliot then count me in.”

Sam chuckled and the trio were off.

***

The explosion cleared, the debris slowly dissipating. The Avatar coughed, before pulling himself up, the injuries on his face healing up. He could feel her presence, but he couldn’t see where she had gone.

“Is hiding something you enjoy doing?” he asked, calling out to her. “Or are you just afraid of me?”

“I am afraid of nothing, little Avatar of a dead race!” her voice hissed from behind him, and suddenly he felt another impact on his back. Using a hand to front flip, he spun around and brought Excalibur to guard, and found her facing him again, glaive held in a high-guard.

“You’re sure?” the Avatar asked. “Apparently, I’m quite a monster, you know. But you’d know all about that, wouldn’t you?”

“You killed me once, where you came from,” she hissed, and suddenly a small smile came upon her face. “But… when you did that, you were… different, weren’t you? You… you are different, now. Are you ashamed of killing me?”

“I am ashamed only of the lengths I went to,” the Avatar retorted. “I disgraced myself by killing you with stolen power and foul magicks, and taking them for myself.”

“Without them, though, you know you haven’t got the power to defeat me,” Solamina chuckled. “And even if you come within a mile of victory, the magic in you will consume your frail little human body. It’s something of a conundrum, isn’t it?”

“The only conundrum, Tyrant, is the question of how to shut you up!” the Avatar snarled.

She laughed at that. “Why, by killing me. If you can.”

Growling, the Avatar sprang forward, swinging his sword, only for the glaive to meet it. There was a resounding clang and a shockwave flashed out, smashing the masonry of the surrounding buildings into rubble. The Tyrant smiled smugly, before breaking the clash and stabbing forward. The Avatar parried the blow and riposted, but she leapt into the sky, before coming in with an overhead swing.

He brought Excalibur up to block the blow, another shockwave reducing more of London to wasteland. With a sudden snarl, he pushed her away, before his entire body glowed. A shockwave flared out, and she was thrown into the sky. Her wings flared out, and she was still in the sky. Her horn glowed, but the spell she sent at him was blocked, the energy splashing out and melting parts of the surrounding concrete. She landed in front of him, before charging, her blade swinging again.

***

Rainbow trotted up to her squadron. They had landed a few moments ago, and she was anxious to see if they were alright. They were huddled in a little group near the front line, watching the duel between - and here Rainbow had to suppress the urge to run away in terror - between Solamina and the armoured figure. Twilight and Commander Lake were there too, the Iron Clad officer’s arms folded as he observed the fight.

As Rainbow approached the team, Lightning Dust saw her and trotted to meet her, concern on her face.

“You’re alright?” she asked.

“Yeah,” Rainbow replied. “The Squadron?”

Lightning sighed heavily. “Swift Strike is down. Everypony else is ok. No other casualties.”

Rainbow lowered her head sadly. “Dammit. We’ve lost too many.”

“Well, we ain’t losing more today,” Lightning said quietly. “We’ll be going in a few.”

Rainbow frowned. “But -”

“But nothing,” Lightning said, harsher than she might have intended. “Twilight had the retreat order sent through. We’re pulling everypony out.”

“I think we’ll be fine, though,” Rainbow said. “Elliot, this… Avatar, looks like he has things under control.”

“Which means we don’t,” Twilight hissed, more vehemently than Rainbow had ever heard her.

Rainbow flinched a little. “...Twi?”

The violet mare sighed. “Sorry. Sorry, Rainbow, but… First, he could lose. Second, I’m afraid of what might happen even if he wins.”

“We’ll deal with that if he wins,” Lightning Dust said, half confidently and half worriedly.

As they spoke, Small Mercy came up to the group.

“There’s enough medical staff with the retreat operation to nurse them to health twice over. They’ll be fine.” She sighed, the statement seemed partially for herself as well. “We need to help Elliot as much as we… can…”

She trailed off, awed at the fight that was unfolding before them all.

“Which looks like buck all from where I’m sitting,” Lightning Dust breathed out. Her eyes had become fixed on the duel. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen a fight like that.”

Twilight turned to watch the fight as well. “I have.”

“Where?” Lightning Dust asked, frowning in confusion.

Twilight shook her head. “That is a long story, and judging from this fight, we won’t have the time.”

“Speaking of the fight,” Commander Lake said, pointing at the two dueling demigods, “is it just me, or does Dave look like he’s flagging?”

***

The Avatar dodged another blow, breathing heavily. He blocked another series of blows, but one blow nicked his pauldron and he stumbled, before the haft of the glaive smacked into his face and sent him to the ground. Growling, he rolled, dodging another blow, and he pushed off of the floor and lashed out, forcing Solamina to quickly parry. She laughed aloud.

“You persistent little creature!” she said, spinning her glaive in a leisurely fashion. “You just don’t give up, do you?”

“Never,” he growled. “I will never give up, not while I breath!”

He charged at her, bringing his blade down in an overhead swing, before spinning and attacking from the side. She blocked both blows, though the force was enough to force her to step back, and then she stabbed forward again, only for him to dodge it and lash out again, forcing her to jump back - but not fast enough that the blade didn’t mark her. A long shallow gash ran along one side of her barrel.

The Avatar’s eyes narrowed. It wasn’t as bad as it looked.

“Oh dear,” Solamina sighed mockingly. “A shallow little scratch. Whatever shall I do.”

The Avatar growled. I need to puncture something. Even if she’s nigh-immortal, nothing can take a stab to the heart and be completely fine. The only issue is getting close enough...

“Tired?” Solamina laughed.

“No, just thinking out loud. Are you?” he retorted. “Because that scratch is still a scratch. Maybe you’d like a rest, a nap, a pillow and some chocolate cake -”

There was no noise that could be transcribed through an onomatopoeia. There was simply a flash of light and a… a vibration, the sense of something pummeling his armor from the front with the kinetic energy of a speeding train.

Elliot felt himself tumbling through the air, tail over teakettle, until he made landfall in the wall of a building… after, it looked like, being catapulted through the wall of another one. He wheezed as he picked himself up, and his chest hurt. Had he been stabbed?

He looked down, and wheezed out another strangled breath. She must have broken something. His ribs, probably.

Closing his eyes, the Avatar let himself heal, before opening them just in time to see Solamina barreling towards him. Bending his knees, he suddenly launched upwards into the sky, and she passed beneath him, her glaive cutting through air. He landed behind her, before throwing a counter-spell that she barely managed to shield herself from, the kinetic force making her stumble.

“Did I touch a nerve?” he asked.

“My dear Twilight has been telling you things,” Solamina growled. “Oh, I shall have to have words with her.”

The Avatar growled. “You will not touch Twilight Sparkle.”

“When you’re dead, I shall do what I like,” Solamina snarled. “It is my right! I. Am. A. Goddess! And you are less than apes, less than beasts, for defying Me. I will not even accept your subservience! At this point, you are worth not even that!”

The Avatar growled and threw a spell at her , Excalibur flashing with light. Solamina deflected it almost lazily.

“Time to end this pointless game of ours,” she hissed. And with that, she charged.

Her blows were fast, precise, elegant, and he had trouble catching them all - her sheer momentum and fury had forced him on the back foot, and he had to push himself to his limit just to stop her from skewering him where he stood.

One forward thrust of the glaive aimed at gutting through his stomach forced him to jump backwards, the strike nearly running him through. Another blow narrowly missed decapitating him, and he ducked, before rolling away from a vicious hack. He lashed out, but she caught the strike, and with a deft flick of her glaive Excalibur left his grasp and the glaive’s blade was resting on his throat.

There was a moment’s pause as the two of them regarded one another, neither of them moving an inch from their respective positions.

The Avatar raised his head, sneering at her. “Hesitant, Tyrant?”

She grinned maliciously. “Just savouring the moment.”

“Bad idea!” a voice called out. A sudden crack of something lashed out, and Solamina was suddenly not standing in front of the Avatar anymore. He turned his head, to see Sam Lake standing there, holding a gun roughly the size of a small motorcycle. The Iron Clad dropped the still-smoking weapon before drawing his sword and jogging to the Avatar’s side.

“How goes it?” he asked, looking surprisingly cheerful considering the situation.

“You shouldn’t be here,” the Avatar replied, eyes wide with shock.

“Thought you could use the help,” Sam said with a shrug. “Not seen many fights where having a glaive at your throat is a sign of doing well.”

“That is irrelevant,” the Avatar said with a scowl. He held out a hand and Excalibur returned to his grip. “She will not -”

Suddenly, a roar of pure rage sounded, shaking the very air around them, and suddenly Solamina was standing there, her horn crackling with dark energy as she narrowed her eyes in a glare at Sam. He looked at her with wide eyes, shifting into a guard stance.

“If you were so eager to die,” she hissed, her voice low and dangerous, “all you had to do was wait your TURN!”

Her horn flashed as she unleashed a spell at them, and the Avatar held up a hand - only for a purple shield to materialise first. The spell impacted, and there was a blinding flash of light, and then it cleared, revealing Twilight Sparkle and Small Mercy, standing in front of the two humans.

“Not… today,” Twilight gasped, exhausted from the effort of maintaining her shield spell. “Today… we’re going… to stop you.”

An blue ethereal glow surrounded Twilight. Most signs of exhaustion disappeared. Small Mercy stepped up beside her, maintaining her healing spell.

“Twilight Sparkle,” Solamina snarled. “And another traitor.”

Small Mercy scoffed. “You talking about traitors is ironic. Do you even know loyalty without fear?”

“I'm not here to bandy words with an insect,” Solamina said, her face twisting into a cruel smile. “I’m here to crush them!”

The Avatar held out a hand as if to protect the two Unicorns. “Careful, she -”

But in a flash, Solamina had moved. The blade of her glaive was suddenly buried in Twilight Sparkle’s chest, and the violet mare’s eyes widened in horror at the sight. Grinning, Solamina lifted the glaive up, holding the still-twitching Twilight aloft.

“No!” Sam yelled, brandishing his sword and leaping forward, but a flash of magic from Solamina blasted him backwards. The Avatar moved to intervene, but found himself repelled as well. Small Mercy tried rushing to his aid, but she found herself suddenly enveloped in a golden glow. The blue glow of her horn sputtered and died as she attempted to resist the grip. Solamina glanced at her.

“Goodbye,” she said viciously. With a single motion of her head, she threw Small Mercy into a building, where she impacted with a wet crunching sound, before falling to the ground, where she twitched slightly before finally lying still.

Solamina returned her attention to Twilight, who was still choking out laboured breaths through impaled lungs.

“You… were my student,” she said. “As near to me as a daughter. How can you have betrayed me so?”

Twilight scowled at her, before using the last of her strength to hawk and spit in the Alicorn’s face. Solamina scowled, before her horn glowed again, and suddenly Twilight Sparkle was obliterated. One moment she was there, the next there was a flash of light and she was gone.

***

Up until that point, Rainbow Dash had been hovering, watching the duel with baited breath as her friend rushed out to face the Tyrant. As soon as she saw that, though, Rainbow Dash’s wings stopped fluttering, and she dropped.

“No,” she whispered.

Along the line, the soldiers who had been caught up watching the fighting suddenly reacted - some of them fired at Solamina, around whom a softly-glowing shield appeared that simply repelled the bullets. Others simply yelled profanity.

“That BASTARD!” Lightning Dust screamed. “Cele - Sola - you… I…”

“NO!” Rainbow Dash was screaming. “Come on, Twilight, come out! You’ve gotta be teleporting out of… Twilight! Where are you! You have to…”

“She’s not coming back,” Lightning Dust said, one foreleg over Rainbow’s barrel. “I’m sorry, but we have to get everyone out!”

“She killed my friend!” Rainbow yelled.

“And she’ll kill us if we go after her!” Lightning Dust yelled, holding Rainbow in both forelegs. “And that wouldn’t very well make her happy, would it?”

“She was my friend,” Rainbow whispered. “And now she’s… she’s…”

“I know,” Lightning said, and she hugged her friend tightly, closing her eyes against bitter tears that seemed to be coming of their own accord. “I know.”

***

There was a moment of utter silence at the scene, as the Avatar looked in horror at the bloodied tip of Solamina’s glaive as she lowered it, her eyes staring almost wistfully at the bloody smear that was the only mortal remains of Twilight Sparkle. She hadn’t trusted him, and she had been right not to, but nonetheless he was here now because of her. She had, in some way, granted him a second chance.

Suddenly, a battle cry sounded, and almost faster than should have been possible, Sam Lake charged again at the Sun Tyrant, swinging his sword at her in a vicious arc. Almost lazily, Solamina blocked the blows, a tired but amused look on her face. With a growl of his own, the Avatar charged as well, ringing Excalibur to bear. Frustratingly, though, Solamina seemed to be easily blocking his blows as well, that same amused look still gracing her features.

Sam brought his sword around in a hard hack designed to decapitate her, but she blocked it, before redirecting his blade to knock a stab from the Avatar off course. Sam, growling, attacked again, and with a lazy riposte, she knocked the Iron Clad Commander’s blade from his hand, before cutting at his right arm, nearly severing the limb. With a flash of her horn, he was blasted backwards again, slamming into a wall with a thud. The Avatar gritted his teeth, and suddenly swung his own blade upwards, trying to knock her glaive away from her to clear his path - only for her to follow it, flapping into the air and bucking him in the face, sending him stumbling backwards. She landed gracefully, before spinning and, with a burst of Earth Pony strength, kicking him across the street, where he fell to the ground with a thud.

The Avatar spat blood from his mouth, glaring murder at the Tyrant. She… she…

She was a murderer. A Tyrant. Hers was the fire that had burned away a world, enslaved billions, and caused more misery than anything else in Earth’s history. There was no known punishment in the history of the human race to account for her crimes.

The Avatar stood up slowly. His body was glowing with a dark, crackling energy. His armour, dented and torn, was repairing itself, and around his head a helmet seemed to be forming, covering his entire face save for two purple-glowing slits where his eyes were. Excalibur crackled with energy. Solamina approached until she was stood opposite him, her eyes wide in surprise.

“Tyrant,” he said, his voice tinged and distorted as he brought his blade to a high-guard, “I will kill you.”

She raised her glaive to match his stance. “You will try.”

He shifted his stance slightly, and then charged again.

Author's Notes:

Hey guys. :-) It's been way too long since I updated this, but I decided it was time to do this.

A great big thanks to The Void - who by now should really have a great big co-writer credit on this story - and the stellar Doctor Fluffy, both of whom helped make this chapter really special.