This has been a long time coming, but it's finally here. Enjoy.
The following scene takes place after the griffon caravan has come to Duskfields, at the very end of the previous update. The griffon caravan has probably come, but not left yet.
and
As Dusk falls on the Fields of the small town, a lone pegasus, clad in his armor, a sword at his belt, rushes along the road from gates to the office held by the newly made Baron Temperance.
No pony was there to see him, however, it seems though some careless mistake, no pony had been scheduled to guard the gate tonight.
The pegasus arrives at the door, and bangs upon it, hoping the noble pony kept the same late hours now that he always had before. He is rewarded by shuffling of hooves and the door popping open. Temperance peeks out, looking somewhat concerned. “Flamberge? Is something wrong?”
Flamberge wore a troubled look on his face, he was dirty, there were specks of what might have been blood on his armor, his brow was coated with sweat.
“Lord Temperance, I was just attacked, outside the walls, by... things. They were like discordians, but... but different. I killed them, but as baron you need to see them, now,” he says, his voice giving away contained panic.
Temperance looks even more concerned, and steps outside, shutting the door. “What? How-how can I help? Where are the other soldiers?”
“All will be clear when you see them, milord, come with me, we must go now,” says Flamberge.
Temperance wasn’t at all comfortable with this, but if he needed to see it, he wasn’t going to ask questions. He had an image to live up to now. He gallops after Flamberge, doing his best to keep up. “What happened exactly?”
Flamberge quickly leads Temperance out of the town out the gate into the woods, “Like I said, sir, I was out patrolling and was ambushed, they looked like ponies, but they were twisted, with bizarre features, bat-wings and tentacles, I think they might be cursed...I don’t know, just that they tried to kill me. They are all dead now, and I looked around, there are no more around, but I need to show them to you. This is your town now, you need to know what’s out here.”
Temperance was growing more and more convinced he didn’t want to see this, but he trusts Flamberge’s judgment. “Alright, just show me where they are,” he says, following Flamberge. Already he was feeling a bit winded. He really needed to work out more, or spend some time in the fields with Morning Dew, or something.
Flamberge leads him deep into the wood, far from town, as the dusk turns to night, the only light coming from the full moon, which hung in the sky, though it was obscured by the branches of the dead looking trees.
“How... how far out... were they?” Temperance asks between huffs. “Do... do you normally patrol this far out?” They could get surrounded out here. They really should head back.
“We’re almost there,” assured Flamberge, the sound of running water could be heard, “Just in this clearing up ahead, by the stream.”
Temperance nods and keeps trotting after Flamberge, since that was all he could manage at this point. “Okay, but let’s make this quick. I don’t like being this far out at night. Maybe we should have brought the others?”
Flamberge reaches the edge of the woods and step to the side letting Temperance come up beside him, when reaching the clearing Temperance sees nothing unusual, just some rocky ground and a stream.
The white stallion looks around, thoroughly confused. “Where are they? Did some scavengers get the...” His sentence is interrupted as Flamberge throws a hoof into Temperance’s jaw with all of his considerable might. Unexpecting the blow as he was, Temperance is knocked clean from his hooves. He lets out a startled cry and clutches at the spot where he’d been struck. They were under attack! “Help!” he shouts, wanting to say more but stopping when his jaw explodes in pain.
Flamberge leans over the now prone baron, placing his left hoof to his lord’s throat, then striking the baron across the face again, causing his skull to hit hard upon the rocky ground.
Temperance manages to catch a glimpse of Flamberge just before he struck him again. The pain wracking him was enough to deal with, but he has no idea what’s going on now. He tries to bring his hooves up to protect his face, but in his daze he can scarcely tell which way is up.
Flamberge keeps one hoof on Temperance’s throat, keeping him pinned, but still able to breathe, barely. “Four years! Four years I did as I was told! I worked so hard! I gave everything for this town, and it was all for NOTHING! The king rewarded you! YOU! You are nothing, nopony, a worthless sniveling spineless worm.”
Temperance coughs and gags at the pressure against his throat. He can taste blood in his mouth, though he’s too scared to check if all of his teeth are still there. The last few seconds were so sudden he was still reeling, but he manages to say, “Wh-what?” He coughs again, which sends pain radiating through his bruised skull. “Fl-flamberge, wh-what a-a-are...” he trails off into an involuntary moan.
"Why!? Why would he pick you over me!? He didn't even trust you with the bucking real reason Duskfields exists! HE sent you here to DIE. I'm not going to leave Duskfields in your hooves, I'm not going to let you run us to the slaughter!"
Temperance spits out a little blood and moans again, thankful for the moment that Flamberge wasn’t hitting him anymore. “..die? What... we... we’re farmers...”
“Farmers! You still don’t get it do you? You are BAIT! Duskfields is bait for the Discordians, and I’m going to make damn well sure this bait is not going to be swallowed up whole,” Flamberge says, as he presses a bit harder on Temperance.
Temperance squirms and clutches at the hoof on his throat, gagging. Flamberge had lost his mind! He was going to kill him! He twists as far as he can to try to get his hindlegs beneath the imposing pegasus and bucks for all he’s worth to dislodge him.
Flamberge flaps his wings and lifts off into the air, as Temperance kicks, then comes crashing back down, his hooves slamming into Temperance’s stomach and chest, ribs cracking under the assault. “You aren’t getting out of here, Temperance. This is for the good of Duskfields, for the good of all pony kind, you must be removed from power.”
A fine spray of blood exits Temperance’s mouth as his ribs buckle and crack. He opens his mouth to scream, but only a choked gag comes out. Once again he tries to shake Flamberge off, but his motions are weak and stiff.
Flamberge lifts the broken earthpony from the ground and slams him into tree, holding him upright, “I’m going to kill you here Temperance, then, then I’m going to go back to town, and when your fate becomes known and your title passes to your lovely daughter, I’m going to step up as regent. And who would argue? I’ve done such a good job leading our military, forming our militia, who better to lead? Then, the next to go will be your pretty little wife, then your sons, then your daughter, and when there are no heirs left... Duskfields will be mine, as it was always meant to be.” Flamberge delivers another crushing blow this one to Temperance’s pelvis region.
The panic surging through Temperance reaches its height when he hears something about his family, but any hope of breaking free or reasoning with Flamberge ceases to exist when the next blow strikes him. The sound of several bones snapping like twigs under his hooves was drowned by Temperance forcing a scream, peppering Flamberge’s face with droplets of his blood.
Flamberge turns, throwing and discarding the broken earth pony towards the rushing water. He tumbles against the rocks, twisting his shoulder and landing in an awkward position on his back. Temperance shudders from the overwhelming agony wracking his body, letting tears drip freely from his eyes and blood from his mouth and nostrils.
Flamberge walks over to Temperance, kicks him in the spine with one rear hoof, then says, “Pray to your gods Temperance, you’ll be meeting them soon,” as he drags the pony toward the rushing water.
Temperance whimpers, but is too weak to resist being dragged along. Instead, he does exactly as Flamberge recommends, begging the gods to save him, or at the very least his family. When he cracks his eyes, he sees an ominous red off in the distance. Through his bleary vision, he can’t tell if it’s just blood running down his face, or worse.
Flamberge however can clearly see that another of those accursed red dust clouds was heading right for them, “Time’s up Temperance.” he says as they reach the river side, Flamberge forces Temperance’s head under the water, drowning him, and smashing his face to the cold stone riverbed.
The broken stallion just accepts his fate. He tries to hold his breath, but his crushed ribs won’t let him take more than the tiniest breath. The impact against the riverbed agitates his injured jaw, and the new explosion of pain is too much for him to handle. He drifts off into merciful unconsciousness. From the corner of his eye, Flamberge can see that the red dust cloud is drawing nearer and nearer with each moment, and will be upon him very soon.
Flamberge waits as long as he can, trying to make sure the job was done, however, after a few moments the cloud is nearly upon him, he curses and bolts upwards into the sky, above the cloud, allowing it to run over Temperance, he waits to see what will happen, from a safe distance.
Temperance groans quietly as the world around him slowly begins to reform through the blackness and fog encroaching on his vision. For a moment, he can't remember where he is or how he got there, or why he was in pain. He nearly blacks out again as he tries to take a deeper breath, and his body explodes in agony. When he realizes his face is underwater, he rolls to the side to get to the air. Every inch hurt so badly he couldn't
stand it. Even breathing was nigh unbearable. He tries to scream. He tastes blood.
Time passes as he writhes in the grip of agony, unable to scream, move or even whimper. He can't tell how long he had laid there, but what he could tell sent a chill down his spine, as much as it could feel anything but pain. Everything around him was cloaked in a
red haze. Even distracted as he was, he knew what that meant, and he tries again to stand to find his ruined shoulder and crushed hip utterly unable to support him. He only manages to shift slightly before he once again has to fight to remain awake from the all consuming pain. Gods, he'd give
everything to his name to be free of it.
“Temperance?” a mare calls to him. He can't turn to face her, but shortly the slate gray mare steps into his vision. “Temperance, what happened?” Initially, he's convinced that he is hallucinating from the pain, but she was
there. Virtue.
He again tries to speak, but his words are distorted and choked by the blood in his throat.
Virtue sits squarely in the middle of his vision. She frowns and shakes her head slowly. “My, my, look at what you've gotten yourself into, little brother.”
Why wasn't she helping him? He desperately tries again, managing to do little more than mouth a plea for help.
His sister mocks him with exaggerated surprise. “Help you? Wow, I never thought I'd ever hear
you ask
me for help.” She turns her nose up at him. “You're a big stallion. You can take care of yourself, right? Isn't that what you told me back in Coupledye?”
Tears begin to cloud his eyes. “Pl...ple...”
Virtue begins examining a forehoof, turning it around to get a good look at it from all sides. “I dunno. I mean, if I help you, then that just proves you couldn't do this without me.” She watches him squirm, and her indifference melts away to pity. “Oh, alright. Let me see what mom and dad think.”
Sure enough, a dark gray stallion and snow white mare appear at either side of Virtue, looking down at their son with a remorseful demeanor. Temperance drifts in and out of lucidity, too confused to really know what was going on anymore, but he knew his family was here, watching him suffer with an apparent lack of care.
“So, mom, dad, Temperance thinks we should help him. What do you think?”
Ward hangs his head and looks aside, but Faith takes a step forward. “Help you? Son, we
tried to help you. Just like your sister here. We tried to keep you from coming out here. We tried to get you to come home with us when you had the chance, but you didn't listen.” She pats Virtue on the back. “Why couldn't you listen, like your sister does?”
The tears were flowing freely now. Why? Why were the just letting him die? And why were they saying these things? Was this how they'd all felt about him?
His father looks back up. “And we tried to get you to not marry that tramp Morning Dew.” He looks behind himself. “Isn't that right?”
“It is,” Morning Dew says, stepping into view from the haze. “You should have listened to your parents Temperance, they had your best interest at heart all along.”
The pain was almost numbing now. He can scarcely feel his limbs as he begins to weep. Now his
wife was here to just mock him as he died. As much as he'd loved her and his family, this was what they were going to do to him?
“Loved me?” Morning Dew scoffs. “Well, I guess I had
you fooled then. You really bought that sappy story about me
poisoning you into conceiving Mountain Dew, didn't you?” She chuckles. “No, no, she's not your daughter. I just saw an opportunity and snatched it up. When we drifted apart, I needed a reason to get back together with you, so I hit Flamberge up. He's a
real stallion, by the way.” She grins. “Anyway, it worked out just great. I married the guy who became baron, so I'm set for life.”
Mountain Dew peeks out from behind her legs. “Yeah, I don't want you as a daddy. Mommy says my real daddy is big and brave and strong, and he's not afraid of anything!” She points and giggles. “And he doesn't cry like you!”
Honor and Daybreak poke their heads out from behind their mother and nod as one. "Yeah, we don't want you as a daddy either."
Temperance can't take anymore. He breaks into silent attempts at sobbing, spattering the grass with specks of blood with each agonizing heave. Even his children hated him. Everypony hated him, and he never knew!
Faith steps forward again. “You're a terrible son. You defied us, married a godless whore, and threw away everything we've ever taught you.”
Between his failed attempts to wail in emotional and physical anguish, he whimpers a distorted, “'m sor...sorry...”
“Sorry? Sorry!?” his mother shouts. “
Indeed you're sorry.
Everypony is sorry when it's too late. And you know what, son?” She crouches near him, narrowing her eyes. “It
is too late.” She stands and returns to the rest of his family, which turn away one by one and disappear into the mist once again.
Temperance's heart sinks. He can do nothing but cry and wait for death to take him. His limbs were lifeless and cold, and every breath brings up more and more blood. Why, dear Amug, wasn't he dead yet? He begs anyone or anything listening to come and release him. If the gods could hear his prayers now, he would repent a thousand times for his wrongdoings and beg for them to take him from this suffering.
“They never loved you,” someone says from behind him.
Something touches his side, and the cold and lifeless sensation engulfs him. When the feeling begins to return, the pain is gone. He feels an intense urge to cough, which he fights as long as he can for fear of the agony it would bring. When he finally does, he coats the grass with a final mist of fine blood particles, but feels no pain. He tests his legs, and they work. Finally, he looks up to see what was brushing up against him, and his heart stops. A giant skeletal hand is resting against his side, radiating a bright but pale golden glow.
He scrabbles from beneath the terrifying sight and twists to face its owner, finding something equally horrifying kneeling next to the massive puddles of blood where he just was. A serpentine figure five times his height peers back through luminous yellowed eyes. It retracts its hand and stands, and the exposed skeleton of its limbs crack and pop with the motion. Clotted blood cakes its bones, liquids ooze from tears and lesions on its body, and a dull red aura shrouds it. It spreads its bone wings, and takes a step forward.
It was
her. The one from his visions. The one who had demanded he leave or she'd take his and every pony in Duskfields' life. It was
her.
She stops and smiles pleasantly, revealing sharp teeth through a rent in her cheek. “You have nothing to fear from me,” she says, raising her hand up. “Son.”
He wants to bolt in absolute terror. He'd flee and find Flamberge, and they'd kill this... this
thing. But he can't. He is so overtaken in fear, his legs won't move.
She strolls toward him again. “They never loved you. Not like I can.”
“Wh-wh-wh-what?” he squeaks, cowering closer to the ground with each step she takes.
“I don't want to hurt you, son. You've been hurt enough.” Her hand begins to glow, this time taking on the red of the magic surrounding them.
“Wh-who a-a-are y-y-you?” he pleads, still unable to move.
“Why, I'm your mother,” she says, matter-of-factly. “Entropy.”
He shakes his head. “No... no, no, you're not my mother. F-Faith is my mother!” She is nearly upon him.
“She abandoned you, remember?” Entropy says, stopping just in front of him. She kneels next to him again, lowering her face to his. “I'll never leave nor forsake you. Not like the others.”
Temperance hunkers down and covers his eyes.
Anything to avoid looking at this soul chilling monster speaking to him. Time seems to stand still. New tears of terror well up inside him and a tiny whimper passes his lips. What was she going to
do to him?
Entropy raises her glowing hand and cups his chin with it. She gently encourages him to look up, and a warm, calming feeling rushes through him. “It's alright, look up at me.”
He opens his eyes and does as she asks. He didn't feel so scared anymore.
“That's better,” she says, still smiling. She wipes the tears away with a massive clawed finger. “The ponies here have wronged you. You never did anything to deserve what happened to you, did you?”
He shakes his head and sniffles.
“Life isn't fair, is it?” She raises her other massive hand and strokes his mane. “But I can make it fair. I can give you another chance, and a chance to fix this injustice.”
The fear he felt moments before begins to change to smoldering anger. His parents, wife and children hated him. They'd
used him. Used him and left him to die in agony. He meant nothing to them.
Every pony in Duskfields hated him and only saw him as a mean to an end.
Entropy strokes his mane again. “It's going to be alright, my son. All of the bad things that have happened here will be fixed soon. Very, very soon.”
The smoldering inside him explodes into a blaze of wrath. They hated him?
Fine. He hated them too. Every last one of them. He'd show them, too. They might have been afraid to tell him the truth, but he wasn't. When he saw Virtue again he was going to knock that smug look off her face. She thought she was better than him, and she was
wrong. Faith and Ward? He'd show them how it felt to have family cast you aside while you bled to death before them. Morning Dew? He'd beat some sense into her too for misleading him. And Mountain Dew? Maybe Flamberge would like to see what he thought about him pawing his foals off on him.
“That's right.” Entropy stands again. “They're all going to get what they deserve. And it starts tonight. It starts with you.”
Temperance looks up to her, eager to do anything she asks. “What should I do?”
“Flamberge did this to you. He caused all of your suffering, and he's hurt or killed many of my children. Your brothers and sisters. Your
real brothers and sisters.” She gestures a taloned finger toward Duskfields. “Go and destroy him.”
“With pleasure,” he says, scowling. He trots off, then breaks into a gallop. He'd deal with his family and the other backstabbers inside the town later. First, he had to pay Flamberge back for everything he'd done. He clenches his teeth, all but snarling with anger.
Impending doom was upon them all.
As this was happening Flamberge was keeping watch over the scene from above. He spies that Temperance had managed to get up, and he curses again. He can see something large and serpentine moving in the dust, but it is far too obscured to make out, after a time he hears the voices, he hears this Entropy. He recognizes the voice from his nightmares. As the voice finishes he sees Temperance,
galloping, back towards Duskfields. He could hardly believe his eyes, he rushes after him intending to cut him off.
Temperance continues to sprint back for the town, growling the entire way. When Flamberge gets close, he can see that blood still soaks the stallion’s coat, but instead of the pristine white from before it is now a sickly yellowing color. When Temperance begins to descend the final hill toward Duskfields, he shouts, “Flamberge! Flamberge show yourself! Face me!”
Flamberge swears, unsure what has happened, he looks over Temperance, the coat and cutie-mark are both different now, the scroll now replaced with a bloody tattered bit of paper with a dagger running through it. Despite the changes it was clearly the same pony, the face was unmistakably that of Temperance. It was as if he had been turned into one of the discordants. Making a hasty decision he decides to finish his work now, he dive bombs the earthpony from above, slamming into his spine with all the force he could muster.
Temperance buckles under the immense force that drops on him. His legs collapse and he plows into the ground amidst the sounds of yet more bones snapping. A roar of pain fills the night air as he twists his neck to see what hit him. His eyes go wide and he snarls, “Flamberge!”
No longer out in the woods, far from the town, Temperance shouting his name was not something he wanted, “Shut up!” he smashes a hoof into Temperance’s face, trying to break his jaw.
Several teeth come free with a spray of blood, and Temperance snorts from the impact. He looks back up at Flamberge, wild-eyed. “I’m going to
destroy you!” he shouts. “Entropy demands it!” With a shocking amount of strength, he bucks Flamberge in an attempt to dislodge him.
Flamberge is forced off of Temperance by the blow, mostly due to surprise at the pony’s newfound strength, but aside from some bruising he is unharmed, “Entopy? What the hell happened to you in that cloud Temperance?”
Temperance stands, then staggers as it becomes apparent one of his forelegs was completely shattered in Flamberge’s initial impact. He starts toward Flamberge, glaring at him. “Mom showed me the truth!” he shouts. “She showed me what everypony thinks of me, and everything you’ve done!” He crouches in preparation for pouncing on Flamberge. “Rejoice in the coming oblivion, Flamberge!” He leaps at him.
With lightning like reaction speed Flamberge avoids the attack and strikes back with a hoof, rebreaking Temperance’s ribs. As Temperance falls to the ground, Flamberge leaps upon him, now, more cautious of the stallion’s strength. He begins a barrage of strikes to the stallion’s head and face.
Temperance shouts then gasps with pain when his ribs are crushed again. Each strike to the face removes another tooth, but he doesn’t give in. Temperance bucks and kicks to displace Flamberge yet again, and when that fails, he bites at his hooves. “...die...” he wheezes at his attacker, leaking blood from his mouth again.
Flamberge wraps a foreleg around Temperance’s neck as they grapple, “It’s over Temperance.”
“...not...over...
never over...” Temperance wheezes again, still glaring holes through Flamberge and trying to escape his grasp.
Flamberge twists the discordant baron’s head to the side, until there is a cracking sound as the bone breaks and the muscle rips, eventually leaving the earthpony on the ground, dead, his head twisted around backwards.
Flamberge stands up and examines what he has done, he regretted nothing, but was still grappling with what happened to give Temperance his second life. From behind him, he can hear a faint rhythmic clatter and low chuckle. When he turns, he sees a monstrous draconic
thing sitting on the wall, looking down at him. The monster continues to clap slowly, echoing the clack of bare bone against bone as it does so. “Bravo. Well done, Flamberge,” it says in a feminine voice.
Flamberge looks up at the creature, “Entropy, I presume. What
are you?”
She stops clapping and crosses her legs casually. “Oh, little Flamberge. You stand there and address me so brazenly. You’re not even afraid, are you? You really don’t know what I am, do you?” She makes a cocky smile and leans forward. “If you did know, you’d flee in terror like the others that came before you.”
"I've never fled from anything and I don't intend to start now. What others? There were other attempts to settle here?" Flamberge replies fearlessly.
Entropy studies the pony. “I’m starting to think perhaps I was wrong about you, Flamberge,” she says, standing atop the wall and flaring her wings. She glides down to the ground. “Yes, very wrong.” She shrugs as she starts toward him. “The others? Where do you
think the ‘discordant’ ponies as you call them came from? Or the griffons? Or zebras?” She sneers. “For
centuries you’ve been invading my lands.”
"You created the discordians?" he questions looking up at the giant.
“Now you understand,” she says, strolling toward him. “Though my brother and sister had a hand in it too.”
"There are more of you, disgusting things?" he asks his eyes wandering over her exposed bones and rotten flesh.
She stops halfway to him. The air of cool she maintained until then begins to vanish with a scowl. “It’s funny how a few centuries can make you forget,” she says, obviously restraining rage. She raises her hand toward Flamberge, and there is a flash. All around him, he sees thousands of creatures like her, but smaller. Closer to his size, and with all of their flesh. They run and fly away from ponies who slay one after another. Even the infant sized are run through with spears and swords, and screams and moans of the dying drown all other sounds.
“Four hundred years ago, your kind nearly wiped mine out. The draconequuses.” She clenches her fists and starts toward him again. “The ponies and griffons sought to destroy all of us. But you could not kill me and my siblings. Even now our collective hatred for you drives us on.”
"And you've been corrupting ponies ever since? Well then, I will say this, unless you and your siblings wish to wind up like the rest of your foul race you should leave our lands. This forest isn't yours any longer." Flamberge replies.
Entropy bares her teeth and dismisses the illusion with a swipe of her hand. She then gestures as if grasping something, and Flamberge feels an invisible hand wrap around him. He is pulled toward Entropy, where he stops just in front of her face. “You think it’s that simple, do you? Four hundred and fourteen years ago you
did kill me, but that didn’t stop me. You can’t kill what’s already
dead.”
She hurls him at a nearby tree, which he slams into while still bound by the invisible force. “You think this forest is yours?
Yours? It was
ours long before any of you set hoof or claw in it! You came and killed us, and think you can just take it!?” Her entire body is wreathed in flames for a moment as she lifts into the air. “You will not have my lands! If you don’t leave, you’ll end up just like all the others that didn’t!”
Flamberge struggles against the invisible force, but finds himself unable to move. He looks up at her defiantly. "You're afraid of us Entropy, even a foal could see that. If you weren't you'd have wiped us out years ago instead of letting us gain a hoofhold. You aren't nearly so mighty as you claim."
The flames circling Entropy die out, and the rage she expressed disappears. She hovers in the air silently, again studying Flamberge. “You think so, do you?” She returns to the ground and approaches Flamberge, then kneels next to him. “I know why you’re here. Why do you think I’ve been waiting so patiently?”
"You... know? Then, why? What are you planning?" Flamberge demands.
“You’re all so short sighted. You and the griffons. You think that you will come and destroy us, but you’re wrong.” She grins. “You will all join me. Including the armies sent to stop me.” She strokes Flamberge’s mane with a massive hand. “You know, you remind me so much of my brother Mayhem, back when he still went by the name Zeal. Loyal to whatever he believed in and afraid of nothing.”
"You'll turn the whole army!? That many discordians could... No. I'll not let that happen, beast, so long as I draw breath I'll fight you. I'll stop you." Flamberge claims defiantly.
She stands and waves her hand over Flamberge, releasing the field holding him down. “So much like him...” she says in an almost mournful tone. “When you too come to serve and love me like the others do, you’ll understand.” She turns back toward Temperance’s body. “Then this will all finally be over.”
Flamberge returns to his hooves and says, "I'll never join you," as he draws his blade.
“They always do,” she says, stopping next to Temperance’s body. “Always.”
"Why show yourself now Entropy? If you hadn't we'd have continued right on with the plan and you'd have our armies at your command. Or are you going to kill me before I can leave here?" Flamberge questions circling the monster in a defensive stance, ready to fight at a moments notice.
Entropy silently looks over Temperance’s corpse, as if deep in thought. Without looking up, she says, “No. You’re more useful to me alive than dead. Whether your armies come or not.” She kneels next to the dead pony in front of her, and runs her claws gently down his side.
"Useful? I've killed more of your damnable spawn than anypony here. How am
I useful to you?" Flamberge asks forcefully, still on his guard.
The draconequus brushes her hand along the dead pony once more and stands. “You’re strong, but blind to what happens around you.” She lowers an open hand at her slain ‘son’ and adds, “I didn’t even have to raise a finger to get you to kill him. I merely stirred the waters you’d already set in motion.” She finally looks over to Flamberge, and coldly says, “Innocence proves nothing, doesn’t it? I could leave this town to you and you’d destroy it in civil war all on your own.”
"I did only what I had to do, for the sake of Duskfields. Like plucking the weeds from a field sometimes one must destroy to create something worthwhile. I wouldn't expect a beast to understand," Flamberge says though his words ring hollow as if he had trouble believing them himself.
“Whatever it takes to soothe your conscience,” she says, narrowing her eyes. “Only after you’ve been the weeds do you understand what it’s like.” She relaxes. “Destroy Duskfields yourself, or don’t. Bring your mighty armies, or don’t. No matter what you do, I’ve won.”
"Your siblings, this... Mayhem, and the other, where are they? Why did you come alone?" Flamberge asks fishing for more information while watching her movements.
Entropy cocks her head. “Mayhem and Anarchy are both near and far, as they always are. Just like me. I am alone, because like with any family, after enough time passed they grew to despise me, and I despise them. They don’t understand...” she trails off.
"And do they want us gone as you do?" Flamberge questions.
“Dead,” Entropy replies simply. “Mayhem would have killed you all the first day you set hoof here. Anarchy would likely still be torturing you all to death.” Her face hardens as she speaks.
"And yet I seem to still be breathing, why? Are you holding them off? You said they despise you." Flamberge continues milking Entropy for as much information as he can.
“We try to stay out of each others’ way, but sometimes it does take personal intervention,” she says, again barely containing anger in her voice. “As much as I hate your kind, at times I hate them even more.”
Flamberge thinks for a moment, never letting his eyes leave the monster before him, “Your...children, they try to take ours. One nearly snatched my daughter, and a filly named Saffron was taken. What are you doing with her?”
She points at Temperance. “The same I did to him. I showed her what it really meant to be among your kind, and how I could do so much more for her.” Entropy smiles at him. “She loves
me now. And just like Temperance, she will do anything I ask of her. Just like Crossbow would have, if your wife had been a bit slower.”
“You make them love you, then send them to die for you against our walls, pointlessly? You sicken me,” Flamberge states.
“Pointless? Allow me to answer your question with one my own,” she says. “What purpose did murdering Temperance serve? You say it’s to preserve your existence, but we both know that’s not true, is it?”
"It's true enough," replies Flamberge.
Entropy smiles. “A convenient cover you told your wife, but I know the truth. I heard everything you said.” She starts circling Flamberge at a leisurely pace. “You just
hated him, didn’t you? When you heard that the king favored him over you, you let it get the best of you. So you killed him. Just like you’ll kill his wife and children.” She stops and smirks at him. “Did I mishear that part? Or will taking the lives of children preserve you somehow?”
Flamberge seethes with anger, but can’t deny her point, “Shut your mouth, or I’ll knock out your teeth!”
She chuckles and resumes pacing around him. “Flamberge, you’re one of the most easily manipulated ponies I’ve ever met. You’re dominated by your emotions and anger. You let them drive you to murder today. What’s next? How long until you hit Crosshair? Oh, again, I mean. Or Crossbow? Or Claymore?” She grins. “Will you be happy when you’ve put one of them in the hospital? Or killed them? You’re well on your way.”
Flamberge's eyes burn with hate, he leaps at her, his blade flashes in the moonlight. It strikes nothing as a crack of displaced air meets his ears, followed by another disembodied chuckle.
Back on the wall of Duskfields, Entropy stands with a smile. “So easily predicted. I told you when we last spoke that I would give no more warnings. So, instead of a threat, this time I will give you a promise.” She extends her hand. “When we next meet, you will all submit to me. Including you, Flamberge.”
In front of his eyes, Flamberge sees a dead beetle float from the grass. “And not even
death...” The beetle twitches and shudders, then flies away. “...can save you from
me.”
With another crack and flash, Entropy is gone.
Flamberge looks back at the still corpse of Temperance, then walks back to town.
This is not the end of Duskfields, and I have planned accordingly. What happens to Max and Lightning Runner should be completely unaffected, and the fort will continue on. Convalescence will rule on their matter, as before.
Author
Topic: Duskfields (My Little Fortress) (Read 47837 times)