In The Kingdom Of Hope [Concluded]

Blade wasn't just going to sit there and watch as the other took care of the monster. It was knocked off balance and it was not getting a single chance to reclaim it. Once the creature was hit by Celestia, he created a small platform from himself and zoomed over to the backside of the creature as Fearful took the front. He aimed his spear for the center of its back and focused for a few moments before launching into its backside after Fearful finished her first attack, hoping to hit the spin. After it made contact his magical girl returned as he tugged it upwards and hopefully provide both damage and a distraction.

Luna was somewhat grateful to be given something, though was not pleased at all the snorting she had to give and take. Still, if it took such crude methods to convey her points then she would have to. With the mace she would be able to do something at least, though something flatter would have been better. She moved to try and lever the mace into a gap between its skin and its plating. She could not find a spot, but made one rather easily. The whole effort would prove to be futile, with the constantly shifting creature causing the mace to slide from its spot several times before she grew frustrated enough to cease.  

The rear was a likely place to be poked, but the creature had no tail it could use to try and catch Blade's blow. There was no acknowledgment of any pain as its rear began to sting from the blow. As a response, both sides of the guard were flanked by flames that pushed out towards him. Mittere funneled the flames away on one side, leading them towards the creature, which had little effect. It would still be up to the stallion to defend his other side.  

The creature didn't need to have reach in order to hinder Fearful's getaway. A circle of magical fire appeared underneath the creature to entrap the two mares underneath her. This kept Celestia pinned underneath her, focused more on protecting herself. Fearful was so obviously bold as to not be deterred from her course of action, so the creature was struck by the lance in the chest. It natural drew a less the positive reaction from the creature. It once again strengthened itself, healing all the minor damage to itself easily, but struggling with pushing back the impalement. Diurnae knelt this time as he cast the same spell yet again, wanting to help Fearful, who had made the largest amount of damage. It would keep it from recovering as fast, but more deceivingly large blows would be needed to stop the creature.

Fearful danced through the fire, smirking as her own, white flames deflected it, before allowing her momentum to carry her out from under the belly of the beast, scrambling to a halt next to her. She raised a hoof, reinforcing the spear, before raising an eyebrow at Celestia, though she said nothing.

Taking several deep, though unnecessary, breaths, Fearful closed her eyes and raised a hoof. "Gawain, Galahad, Arthur..." she mumbled, a trio of ice swords bursting from the ground and punching into the creature, so it was effectively pinned from each direction.

Sugary would now offer Luna a spear now instead when he saw what she was going for. She didn't even have to ask him, he just wanted her to keep putting in the effort. As for him, he still kept the weapons on standby, for when the creature unleashed magical fire, he'd focus on trying to weaken that by raising dirt from the ground around it as his power coursed through it. A wall of dust to protect Fearful, Celestia, and anyone else close enough to the flames as he took aim for any vulnerable points showing up...

Blade didn't like the fact that he wasn't doing anything to the creature and much less that there were two things of fire racing towards him. He quickly moved back as one was redirected and with the other hitting fire for the moment. Blade didn't have a weapon anymore and was left with his magic once again. He quickly thought of the ice spikes that Mittere shot originally after shooting down the idea of just blasting it with magic. He created about four constructs shaped as large spikes and shot them into the fire circle, hoping to hit the creature inside of it and prepared himself to move once again.

The creature was not going to fall for the tricks Fearful was using a second time. Summoning weapons made ponies look weaker than they were. She’d thought ponies were weaker than they had proven to be. These were for real, they wanted to actually kill her, and the thought was something to make her panic. No obvious move was given as a response as the creature allowed itself to be impaled. It could not be killed by simple attempts to restrain her, though there was those that could. She lowered the flames used to guard herself, no longer needing them to restrain the mare she had wrapped herself tightly around. Celestia was unable to struggle away from the weight of the creature, and so Fearful had taken out one of the combatants for her.

All of Blade’s icicles hit without interruption, though they landed as pinprick holes in the creature’s natural armor. Completely ignorable damage, as they had been when Mittere had tried the same. the final one to connect did get an interesting reaction. It hit along a similar, though different seam between the skin and the armor that Luna was trying to pry. As it hit the creature shivered, squirming on her sharp restraints at what she had prepared to feel, though never came. Cold. Cold. Cold. She’d forgotten it, but the prick that could easily have been something else made her remember. She’d melt all the ice this time.  

Luna didn't thank Sugary. He was probably being paid enough for what they were doing, and giving her a weapon was only the start of being worth his money. She really did hope he gave out surveys for feedback, because she was happy to give some. She ignored Sugary's dust flinging for the present moment as she tried at what she was doing with both of the weapons, one pulling and the other prying at the gap. “Guard,” she snapped at Sugary. “I am making progress. Please stop making my eyes water and attack like before. Please help.” It was a genuine please, even if she was still annoyed with Sugary. It was a stressful time. The opposite of a childhood game then occurred the room filling up with water at the creature's magical behest. It was was abrupt with no slow rise, appearing at the head height of an average pony. Even if it wouldn’t drown out a lot of the ponies, it would be harder to fight in the waves the creature’s slight movement caused. It was not lava, but there was no reason it could not suddenly change to be so.

Fearful paused as she watched Celestia was 'captured' by the creature. Sighing and pinching her snout in annoyance, she grabbed hold of Arthur and pulled it out of the creature, before slamming it into the beast as the water filled the room.

Needing to breath was such a mortal concern, and one that Fearful did not need to worry about as she moved through the water, before muttering a spell to augment her strength, and grabbing the creature with both front hooves, lifting it off of the ground to expose Celestia. "Sugary, dear, retrieve Celestia if you would."

Sugary was annoyed that his tactic proved ultimately pointless as the flames were no more, forced to swim in the sudden waters now, but shock from a sudden formation of rising water, his last memory of someone in immediate peril was Celestia herself still held by the creature who was now likely drowning her up till Fearful tried to lift it, but that probably left both vulnerable under the heavy looking creature.

Far be it from the stallion to chance letting allies meet such a cruel fate as getting crushed and drowned while he gargled something to both Luna and Fearful about lending his aid before he stood on two legs with his arms and his muzzle just above water. Touching the ground, he had the best focus for more Earth magic as the dust soon became mud that would be flung in gratuitous amounts upon the creatures face to try to suffocate it, while another manipulation of mud would be used to try and force the creature's legs apart to release Celestia and have her moved away with it. Mud though it was, it was rather solid on contact as his horn was flaring brightly, water pulsing away from him with the force he was exerting around him. He also looked to be straining.

Blade had only one solution left and he wasn't even sure it would work. He couldn't use magic and sharp projectiles were useless, but heavy impacts and whatever spell Mittere's grandson was using had done significant damage. So, he turned back as the floor began to fill up with water. He lite his horn up to create two fists, both ground the size of his own beyond and shot them down onto the monster's head and simply continue to bash its head.

Luna had enough of being wet already, and the water didn’t help the situation. She didn't make a move on Celestia, or rather was unable to think of anyway she could be effective. She beat her wings and lifted her once more sodden self from the water. She may have wanted a bath, but not one provided by the monster. She landed on the edge of one of the overlooking platforms Celestia had leapt from. She stayed perched on an edge looking to see how the effort to rescue her sister was going.

Mittere was not going to let herself get wet, or let Blade be washed away, seeing as he was the closest pony to her. there was little doubt that he could Since she didn't want to touch him, she teleported the two of them to a platform opposite of Luna. Spreading out offered an advantage, and she probably would not like the smell of wet princess.

The creature did not take kindly to being lifted by Fearful. Instead of just wrestling with the mare, an impossibility due the trying to maintain a grip on Celestia, she used the weapon that creating had lead to her taking as much damage as she had. A white light hit Fearful with a familiar flash. Diurnae’s attempt to get Celestia released failed as the magic didn’t obey him and veered towards Fearful instead.      

Blade's attack beat the face of the creature with no attempt to block, making blood vessels burst and cuts form. The creature’s head still remained strong, though Blade got away with attacking for free. Sugary and the other nerd could try and do what they like to try and damage the creature’s head. Living deep underground was not the best place for air, so the attempt to suffocate it by deprivation of what it hardly needed was futile. Striking the creature’s chest would better serve the same purpose. Instead of responding to the attacks of the guard,  her efforts focused on punishing the annoying pony and the big, warm one. The grasp on Celestia loosened because of the force applied to tear her away. The creature was not overpowered by Sugary's sticky solid leverage, but simply by giving up and letting go of her. Celestia was quick to struggle free, kicking herself away from the creature.and getting properly to her legs and ready to fly.

Her attempts to swat the ponies before they could retreat then came into action. The water began to take on a glow that would prove most inconvenient for those in the water. The creature had a gloat all prepared and ready, but also had a mouthful of mud. A corrosive magic was acting on the water to ‘gently encourage’ that creature be given some free space. To really enforce the zone of no escape onto the two ponies that the trap had provided, the water began to swirl as whirlpools formed with strong currents to fight against.

Fearful once again was forced to look back over her decisions, as they had now led up to the point where she was holding up a creature of an indeterminate species, of an indeterminate age, that had attempted to capture the mare she had raised, and was now over 2000 years old, and was now being attacked magic which she did not recognise. "Oh boy..." she mumbled before the magic struck, curious to see what it would do to her body.

Assuming it did not weaken her any, she would continue to hold the best until Celestia was well free, before dropping it and examining the liquid it had made. Ignoring the corrosive effects entirely, as he body would simply heal at the same rate. She also chose to ignore the whirlpools, using her magic to create a swirl in the opposite direction.

If the spell did have some serious consequences, she would hold the beast for as long as possible, before leaping free of the water.

Sugary was none too eager to feel much of the corrosive effect and tried to burst himself out of the water by pushing some of his magic against the ground, and from there, he'd improvise and conjure a shield to stand on, levitate, and surf it over the whirlpool's momentum. In this way, he was moving, had a good sight of the creature, and was ready to keep attacking sneakily as the creature was still covered with mud on its face. To not be a big disgrace, and put the monster back in its place, he also conjured the remaining spears he had, and flung them all right at the underbelly of it as Fearful let go of it to also impale itself on.

The stallion was a little surprised by the sudden teleportation, but was grateful for it all the same "Thank you". He looked over the water as they suddenly became violent and looked over to the mare beside him. "I need you to grab Diruane if he's stuck in the tide and if he isn't I need you to go on the offensive. Magic bolts might work if they have enough force behind them. If that doesn't work, then you just need to get a little bit more constructive." He said while his attacks slowed down for a brief time as his attention was focused on being saved and having to talk. Once he was done, his force would return and smiled at the small little joke that probably went over the alicorn's head. His next attack would follow with Sugary's with the fists forcing the creature down and simply beat on it as he tried to keep it down.

Mittere was going to retrieve her grandson anyway and did not need to be ordered to do it. He should have been able to do it himself, but he had done a lot for his own capabilities in a short space of time. She of course brought him up to the same spot as herself and Blade. This grouping proved an easy and appetizing target for the creature. Magic worked its way underneath where the were standing, ready the shatter the platform apart. Mittere did not intend for this to be and worked to contain the magic and keep the two stallions safe.  

The magic that stuck Fearful did rather little ostensibly aside from giving a light impact. It did also leave a magical mark that would remain dormant until disturbed. The altered water was a smart weapon, able to distinguish its enemies. Fearful ranked highly among these annoyances, and would be in line to receive punishment like a naughty girl. Dropping ladies was rude. As Fearful swam, she would in fact be healed, and greatly, enough to start the mare’s heart, only to inflict the pain of having it fail onto the mare, burning her chest from the inside.

As cool as Sugary thought he might be, his current contributions would not prove to be effective. One by one, Sugary’s weapons were wrestled away and thrown in random directions. With that threat neutralised, the creature gracefully landed in the puddle she had made of the room. The water cleaning up her face, though it was hardly needed. To retaliate to the not cool dude, the creature simply attacked the surface Sugary had made for himself to stand upon, pulling the shield from Sugary's control and back into the water. Celestia had gotten free now with her wings mostly safe from the wet and enveloped Sugary in order to stop him going under, flying upwards, wings beating in a powerful and slow fashion that to rocked him in her grasp. The princess attacked weakly as she moved to deposit the stallion next to her sister, attacking with a spell functionally similar to Diurnae’s, though with the variation being gravity affected projectiles from above. It was rather weak compared to what she could do, but she didn’t want to disturb the stallion if wanted to try anything.

Fearful blinked as the spell did effectively nothing, before her eyes widened as she felt her heart restart. She wasn't alive of course, but that didn't mean it didn't hurt when it failed. "Oh you absolute bitch," she snarled, before rewiring the nerves around her body so that anymore pain she felt would be turned into pleasure, though it would not reduced her healimg capacity. Turning to face the beast, she augmented her fist before punching it again, her arm disintegrating at the impact.

Water sprayed everywhere, everyone else far away from the impact as Fearful squealed in pleasure, drooling a little before giggling as she watched to see the effect on the creature, one of her wings ready to gesture obscenely at Mittere and her inevitable commentary.

"Agh... Much appreciated." Sugary was grateful to the feathery rescue by Celestia when he needed it, but was becoming very concerned with how the battle was going from what he could see. The creature, by itself, was still fighting and resisting. "This is turning ugly, we're just annoying her... Feathers are real comfy at least."

Even so, he knew the creature wasn't completely impervious, and once he was placed next to Luna, he made a request of her. "Luna, help me get the other guards out quick! We need to regroup!" With the high impact caused by Fearful, the creature should at least be distracted long enough as he began to levitate those that hadn't managed to get out of the dangerous waters yet. He wasn't about to let others fall here, but they also needed their full might.

The mare that approached really was naughty, and committed. As Fearful mashed her leg up against the creature, the ferocity of the hit was certainly communicated. It was not the damage that was impressive, but how much the creature was weakened and dazed by it. Her legs did not take the effect well, slipping and collapsing into the water, mouth and eyes going below the surface. With her head underneath the water, a new substance began to float to the top of the strange water. The pain was emetic, and there was no response from the creature.

Seeing Celestia carry Sugary as she did really dug into Mittere. She was helping, but she could have easily wrapped her legs around him instead. The little bitch probably didn’t even realise what it was that she was doing wrong. That’s what annoyed her, the good intentions and the good actions. She spoke about justice, logic, morals, all that kind of stuff. She did whatever she thought was best to make herself feel good and then called herself ‘good’. It was a standpoint that made Mittere look like the bad for even thinking about obstructing the moral position, or mentioning how she was hurt by it. Why did Celestia have to dress up how much she loved feeling praise and good about herself?! What was wrong with wanting things?! Mittere knew exactly what she wanted: to lower the view of Celestia to something more honest and fitting with how she saw it. She had said nothing to warrant the wing gesture from Fearful, as they had already started at the end result she need not waste the energy thinking of something to say. Her horn was ready as she contemplated the spell she was going to use to make Celestia look so stupid and useless. She cast a circle around the downed creature, which seemed to have done nothing yet, but she glared down at them.

Luna didn't like being told what to do by the stallion. She did like to think the other ponies could look after themselves, but ultimately caved into the annoying stallion’s demand as a way of making things easier on herself. It all was a little late and several of the guards had been hurt or had seen to their own safety in the absence of orders. The princess still plucked at the guards that seemed to be in need, moving and teleporting them where there was space, leaving the ones who seemed to be handling themselves. If Sugary cared so much he could retrieve them, but he had some trust in them.

One by one, the rest of the guards were rescued and their force restored to fighting form once more, but that still left Fearful and the monster as Sugary called over to her, already tugging away with levitation at the ancient warrior. "Hey, if you can't finish it off, stay away! That water's looking real nasty!" He'd let go if she resisted, but he had more to say about the fallen creature. "And can we possibly capture it instead? It's the only thing we've spoken to so far, hasn't it? It might know where we need to go... Or we can try slaying it now."

Fearful watched the beast shudder and collapse, before vomiting into the water. "Well now, bitch, pain doesn't feel so good, does it?" she asked with a fierce grin as her blood continued to drip into the water slowly. She looked up at Sugary, cocking her head and smiling at him. "But it feels sooo good..." she mumbled, though she didn't resist as he started to lift her out.

The moment she was completely clear, she flapped her wings, drying herself off before landing on one of the platforms. "Ugh," she moaned as she returned her nerves to normal, pain arcing through her body. "Well... if you have an idea on how to capture it, go ahead."

Sugary looked to Fearful, and then the others with a serious smirk. "I don't exactly know how to capture it successfully, but I was thinking we wouldn't have to... It's already been knocked out I think. It's not as powerful as it claimed to be if we're standing... So maybe it'll think it's no match for us if we spare it?" It was a gamble of an idea, but they still didn't know where to really go and find the main source of their troubles, so the dangerous creature might be their only easy way to go deeper. "Cut some limbs off, freeze the water around it, whatever works... I just want us to talk to it, but if everyone else thinks we're better off attacking it, then let's get it over with..." He lightly lit his horn, looking at the creature with the intent to slay it still. "... Summer... Phantom... What do you think?"

Blade was against the idea outright. "Sugary, unless this thing was possessed and whatever is spewing out of its mouth is what's controlling it then I really doubt that it will ever talk to us." He paused to think about what he had said, surprised he had even said it himself. He pushed the thought aside. "Best not to risk being attacked on two fronts. So, either we have a scout here to watch it and hope that it doesn't attack or we just kill it." His vision started to become blurry for a few moments. He suddenly felt his breathing become heavy. He had overexerted himself and he had failed to realize that until now.

“There is one more tiny obstacle after this one,” Summer stated, no longer afraid of being little more direct. “I think...whatever you do from now, you will be fine.” The illusionary mare smiled, finally having reason to. She'd chosen well to attach herself to Sugary, who had used her well. “My presence shall be gone soon. I will try to leave you with the answers I am sure that you want.”
“If you have such a plan, enact it!” Luna snapped. Her patience for the stallion was rather low at this point. A complicated plan was not needed at this point, and Mittere seemed to be enacting her own plan regardless. If it was one thing the mare could be trusted to do it was to be tenacious after the point all other had gotten tired of things.

Celestia did not want interrupt Mittere with her spell. She felt it would only exacerbate things further. This was fortunate as it played into her plan for events. “She will flee soon,” the princess stated, causing a wave of recollection to pass over her sister. “We have already planned for that. If it stays until it perishes or flees to find another fate the awaits it, we win. Thank you all, we no longer have to burn hot out of fear.”

Mittere nudged Blade forcefully with a shoulder, wanting to spark some trained instinct in the guard to be alert and push through while they had the initiative.Despite her intent, Celestia just speaking was enough to trigger Mittere enough to cast her spell to exhaust the downed creature.  Celestia of all ponies had basically given her the go ahead and kill something and that was one order She'd happily take from the princess. Within the circle she constructed, heat and pressure built, exploding in a flare. The shield faltered, shrinking around the creature, pressing it under the water more. Safety was not going to be found there as the strange water began to boil, reaction nastily to heat and magic. The heat and the water peeled away at the creature’s natural defences, skin shedding and armour thinning as layers had been broken through. Mittere was still unsatisfied, since she had had to shield the room from her spell. She still chose to give herself a moment's rest with dignity, wanting to save herself for any unresolved business with Celestia.

Sugary, of course, watched as Summer took care of the monster herself, letting out a small sigh as he took a breather "Oh well... It was a long shot anyway.", but that still left several thing to think about when Summer spoke to him, actually being very direct despite everything, and Celestia's own words felt rather sudden to him yet oddly similar as well. What did either of them know he didn't? He'd be sure to ask as he watched where any of the water might flow to if there was a gap somewhere. "Phantom... Celestia... Do either of you know where we're going or why?" He had a distinct suspicion, and then he asked Blade as well. "Sir Blade? Do you know?" He thought that, perhaps, he might not be the only one with a voice in their head.

"Enough," Fearful spoke, and though she said it quietly, the word carried enough force to reach the ears of every pony there. "Mittere, you would condemn such a creature to death, simply because you can? Despicable..."

Launching herself into the air, Fearful flew in front of the creature, flapping her wings gently as she hovered in place in front of it. "You do not wish to dir, do you? I will offer you mercy, just this once, in exchange for your willing surrender. You will not act against us, directly nor indirectly, and you and I shall have words at a later date. But you will survive if you accept my offer. And do not try to double-cross me... those that do sorely regret doing so." She smiled gently at the creature, and if it accepted her offer, she would dispell Mittere's spell. "Perhaps you could tell us where the one we seek is...?" She asked quietly.

Mittere didn’t have the time to care about Fearful’s dealings. She was only condemning her because she wanted the creature alive for her own reasons she was sure. Fearful had not shown any signs of mercy that she had seen, and had boasted about being a monster, killing a creature that had attacked them. Though she was pissed ay Fearful, she stopped the spell as the mare flew near the creature. She was displeased, but only jostled Blade once more with slightly force as she fumed.

The creature didn’t say anything, but did stand. The new red flush of her skin was easily visible on her legs as they shook, fading a little as they firmed up after finding a comfortable place to rest their weight. The creature shook their head. “I will not let my weakness be our end. I am the one you want, and I do not want to die!” Despite the barking, the creature had yet to provide any bite as it let its strength recover. “You’re not going to tame me with a kind smile after what you’ve done.”

“We are where we need to be,” Celestia said. “Our half of the struggle is here.” Half was a generous size, though it was a division of two. “For now, just pray that Fearful enjoys some success in uncovering the one that we do want. I don't mean to keep you in the dark, I think ponies should always be informed. I just have not found a great opportunity to outline things on detail. Most of it is past its use. Maybe during dinner you can get the full story as I know it?” She smiled tiredly at him, though tried to inject it with some energy.