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"Just let him rest, his body and mind have taken on a great deal of stress. He will wake when he is ready." I heard a familiar voice, though muddled as if not nearby.

Upon hearing those words I shot up, remembering the last time I heard something similar. But that had been back when I was first acclimating to the Shackle of Dawn, I had been put in a coma like state for a time after first using its power and a few other times after as well. Without a thought I pulled away the IV and heart monitors and jumped out of the bed, it was a bad habit of mine.

I could sleep when I was dead. "How long?" I half shouted half asked as I nearly pulled the door off its hinges with how quickly I opened it. I was met by four surprised Alicorn, the other three bearers of the bands of power and Cadence.

"Not as long as you would think, compared to some of your other bouts." Cadence reassured. "Just two days."

"You really shouldn't push yourself that hard." Twilight sounded halfway scolding but otherwise glad I was all right. She must have been the one asking about me, I hope she had forgiven me for what I had to do when I escaped Equestria.

"I'm sorry everyone, I felt like I needed to face my copy to resolve things. Now I understand it didn't really make a difference in the end, he died on his own and would have died regardless of our meeting.

"Not all was in vain. In a way you have faced your own darkness by standing resolute in the face of your copy. The ease at which you apparently renounced his ways has proven that again I have been too quick to judge." Celestia did something unexpected, lowering herself in a bow. "I am sorry."

"Its fine, you were just looking out for Equestria." I replied and looked to Luna, having only heard her speak through the wall. "Luna, I-"

"All is forgiven, young one. Though there is a certain Crystal mare who might think otherwise of us leaving her behind."

"Kira, she's-"

"Safe, and recovering." Celestia continued." She wanted to join the other troops but we made her stay and rest to fully recover her strength. It has become a dangerous world to live in of late, I had hoped to spare Twilight from such things..."

"I- I'll be fine." Twilight sounded a little shaken at being reminded of the battle.

"So reinforcements showed?" I asked. "Did we win or lose?"

"It was a victory but not entirely," Celestia answered. "Much was lost and our nations will take time to recover. We are combing every last Island in search of Imperium remnants. Your copy didn't keep tabs on all of them and some made it as far as the Equestrian coast. But his death cast the high-demon out of Equestria, and without its power it will be difficult for any remnants to summon even the lowliest of demons into this world. The imperium will fade away once more, as even this one was but a shadow of the last."

"There is still one problem though," Twilight took off when Celestia stopped. "This Raeleth the gryphons talk about, I read up on him. And if he is even a fourth as large and powerful as depicted there is nothing we can do to stop him from fulfilling his promise."

"Oh, so you know about that..." I sighed. "My copy finished his mission before his death, and I didn't see it coming. I expected him to lead his army into battle, its what I would have done. But I guess he knew that, and managed to find the Pillar of Fate. If what he said is true, Raeleth's fire or no, our world is doomed. One thousand years is the specific number he gave ..."

"It is as I feared," Cadence mourned. " Since the changeling attack on the kingdom and disruption of my wedding I have deeply studied everything about their nature. They were more or less normal, turned into the creatures they are now just by tainting their site of power. They didn't even destroy it and the ramifications were so severe they were felt around the world. These sites are tied to our very existence, and without even one we are doomed to destruction."

"But it's one thousand years!" Twilight objected. "There is so much that could be done in that time, maybe even find a way to stop the end from coming."

"Then we stop Raeleth." My voice didn't hold an offer, it was a demand. "If that scaly bastard wants to finish us off, he is going to have to work for it. I'm going to stop being stubborn and ask for help just this once, but that means things are going to get dangerous for everypony involved. Get Discord and Shining Armor, we take the fight to Raeleth.

"You are going to need directions," Zandria walked around a corner, having eavesdropped on the conversation. "My spy network has the information you need, for a simple price."

"Damn it Lust, I will not-"

"Step back," Commanded Celestia as she took a spot between Zandria and I. "I heard about you, and find it hard to believe your intentions are anything but wicked. The name Lilith ring a bell? She helped me realize something long ago, and I thought she had banished the Sins for good."

"There are still ways for the Sins to take a host." Xane suddenly made his presence known, having been there the entire time, his condition leaving him hard to notice at times. "They are just few and far between. Zandria is half of a soul, and Lust can't touch the other half. The only thing that keeps Lust from taking over is a product of its own schemes."

"He speaks the truth," Zandria acknowledged. "Lust may influence me greatly, but in the end it is nothing but a second voice in my mind. The sins do desire the end of all things, just as the demons, but they no longer have the power to enact it due to what they call Lilith's treachery. I on the other claw wish to live out the remainder of my years, rather than have them destroyed by some creature's wrath. And as for my price, I only wish to observe the battle that will decide if I get to die sooner rather than later. The lovemaking is optional, and open to all of you." Zandria winked before turning to leave. "Assemble whoever you may and board my flagship, I will take that as your acceptance." She walked off with a sense of finality, knowing her offer was the best we would receive.

Looking troubled Xane looked to me, waiting until everypony else had left before speaking. "When I touched the pillar of fate I received more than one prophecy. There wasn't time for me to give you both then, but this one might make a little more sense now." Xane paused to remember the exact words. " When the consuming fire devours, a great burden will be placed upon the fated one. Though all may seem lost, know that a shattered fate can be re-written." Xane left me to wonder what the prophecy actually meant, unable to interpret it himself. But I knew I would find out soon.

~~~

The unfortunate destruction of the Haast left us ocean-bound, fighting against the waves in Zandria's new flagship. The further we sailed the worse our vessel fared; the Haast wouldn't have survived these winds anyways. In all our crew was small; five Alicorn, one unicorn, one pegasi, two gryphons, and one draconequus. I would have preferred to leave Sentry behind, confident that everyone else was mandatory for the trip or could protect themselves in some way, but he refused to leave Xane's side again.

"Three degrees to port!" I had to use the royal voice just for Xane to hear me at the helm. I wiped the lens of Twilight's telescope off and continued to stare at the darkened waters ahead. Our ship narrowly avoiding the wet rocky spine jutting from the water. The vessel occasionally scraped against the shallow bottom, as we had hit the strangest patch of ocean I had ever seen. We were knocked about by colossal waves that should be impossible, some sort of irregular bottom that should be causing the waves to break just out of reach. We sailed by another jagged outcropping; this one larger than the first, the boiling heat from around it filled the nearby air with fog.

Looking ahead as the fog parted I stopped in wonder, watching as a wave that seemed to reach for the very clouds blotted out the light. Shaking the stunned wonder I realized what it meant to our ship. "Rouge Wave!!! Shining Armor, Shield, now! Brace for impact!"

We could have survived a normal wave by riding the swell, but this one was too much to risk. A protective barrier expanded out and away from Shining Armor, covering the entire vessel. The dark wall of boiling water crashed against the barrier, the impact staggering, fighting against the barrier for just a moment before beginning to part around us. We watched in wonder as the oceans flowed above, below, and around us. The air inside of our barrier was the only thing keeping us from being suffocated beneath the waves. It was over in an instant, we bobbed back to the surface and Shining Armor collapsed. I might have the strength to do something similar, but he was the only one who could have pulled it off so well. His magic was spent though; we needed to reach where we were going before we lost the capability to fight.

The deadly wave had left the sky and waters eerily calm in its wake, an orange and fiery glow coming from in the distance. A mountainous circle of the same black-ridged spikes stuck out of the water each larger than the last they seemed to surround an island of stone where the glow was emitting from. With the light and heat I would have guessed a volcano, but the black tinted rock seemed too barren to be a fertile volcanic isle. It was as I noticed one of the dark spines gently sway that their significance hit me. "We're here." It wasn't sharp stone or irregular sea floor, but a coiled up body belonging to the dragon supposedly as old as the world itself. And if just the smallest spines of Raeleth's tail were this large the legends had under judged his size... "Head to the center!" I shouted to be heard. I didn't want to dishearten everyone with what I had just realized, but I knew they would come to the same conclusion eventually if they already hadn't.

Xane nodded and adjusted our course.

"Discord, you and I should fly ahead. I have something to ask you about." I spoke quietly, knowing Discord would hear me anyways. "Twilight, take over." I passed her back the telescope.

Getting away from prying ears I looked to Discord. " Tell me the truth, what are our odds on beating Raeleth."

"Just being near to this creature I can feel his archaic might. Chaos magic might help, but enough to hurt him will leave me vulnerable. Not much could level this playing field. One thousand years is but a short nap to this creature, he will not bother sparing the world so a few short-lived moments can be had by lesser creatures. He can feel the world suffering, and will snuff out its light forever to let it rest in peace. He has already begun. The glow you see is Raeleth burning his way to the planet's core. He is holding back the oceans with his body, and when he reaches the core Raeleth will let the waters flood into the gap."

"Bearing this band of power I always expected to die by fire, but if he smothers the core it looks like its going to be ice... Its not much comfort, but thanks for the truth Discord." I replied. "Ill just have to find a way to make this work. If not... yeah, how about we just say ill figure this out. Anyways, I think its time to let this asshole know we are here." Gathering my magic I let loose a large blast, shattering one of the stone like spines that was one of Raeleth's tail spikes. Small shards and boulder sized chunks dropped away into the waves.

The ambient noise of his flames immediately cut away, a low growl replacing them. His coiled shape shifted, with the thunderous sound of a rockslide gaps appeared in the mountainous structure as Raeleth slowly uncoiled to see what had struck him. The ship almost tipped over as his tail slipped through the water past it, his colossal size causing waves with just small motions.

"Hey fucker, you know how much I've done to keep my friends safe? Do you even know how much shit I've dealt with, how many times I've put my life on the line?" I blasted away another one of his spines, a larger one this time. "Way too much to let some asshole like you take them away from me just because he feels like it."

Celestia flew up to join me, " Equestria will not fall on my watch. My kingdom... Our kingdom," Celestia amended as Luna and Twilight joined her. " Will thrive until the end.

"The crystal Empire will fight until its last breath, it will not accept defeat!" Cadence assured.

"We can find a way to save this world, if you only give us the chance." Twilight tried a different, less hostile, approach.

A deep and rumbling voice spoke as a gargantuan head swung into view, a giant eye squinting to look upon the insignificant specks floating in before it. " I knew from the beginning of creation that I would see its end, this world grows tiresome in its demands. I have razed everything more times than I can count. New life springs forth from the ashes every time, always sprinting headfirst towards demise. In the last hundred thousand years the creatures have even begun trying to bargain with me to spare them, but this is the true end. If I spare you or not the world will crumble, everything you know to be true will betray you, and everything will die agonizingly slow."

As Raeleth spoke heat bled from his maw, the hot sulfurous drafts washing over us. Just his gentle breath was enough to push us through the air; we fought to stay in place as he continued. "My pity for your kind has caused this, I should have wiped the world clean again the moment you learned to lust after power. The demons once banished stalk the land once more, one of the Sins counts itself among you, and the Pillar of Fate lies in ruin. There is no bargain, no plea you can make to change my mind. If you dare oppose me, this hour will be the time of your death." Raeleth didn't appear sorrowful, even though his choice had been weighty, I could tell his mind was made up.

"I kind of like it here, so I'm going to put this nicely." Discord began radiating chaos magic, the great dragon rearing back faster than I thought possible for something of his size. "DIE!"

"What- what is this?" Raeleth growled out through gritted fangs.

"The tree of harmony has plans to live a little longer," Discord grinned maniacally, vines exploding from the clefts between Raeleth's scales.

"Discord has some explaining to do... Twilight muttered with a full-faced blush.

"Agreed." Luna spoke, "Though I feel like I am missing part of my memory, a certain sister is also in question." She glared at Celestia who did her best to avoid eye contact and look blameless, failing miserably at the latter.

The vines began to shrivel from the heat emanating from the dragon's body, but they continued their task, multiplying rapidly. With a life of their own the vines began tearing into the ancient dragon's scales, causing the time worn and massive slabs to crack and crumble. Time had been a harsh foe for the beast, his once gleaming scales now brittle and grey; they shattered away under the effort of Discord's magic. Realizing the danger Raeleth opened his maw, a hissing rush emitting forth. In moments flame was jetting forth to burn away the clinging vines. As his flames danced over bare, scaleless, flesh he stopped to cry out. Gripping at some of the vines with his fore-claws he tore them away and resumed his jet of flame, this time far more intense, burning away the thorny vines before they could do more than strip him of his scales.

Flames rushed down around us as Raeleth spewed them haphazardly, each of us throwing up a magical barrier to protect ourselves, but down on the waters below we watched in horror as Shining Armor's shield sputtered out moments after it was made...

Author's Note:

~ Thanks for reading!

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