"Hey Lock, you there?" Thatch called, slightly annoyed as he held the phone to his ear. With his other arm, he kept his truck squarely on the road. "You wanted me to report in, right? Almost there, about 70 miles. We'll be there soon." He smiled. "Make sure to set up something fun by the time I get there, okay?"
As the convoy sped along the open road, it was being watched by a few very familiar people, just behind a hill. Azrael turned to Applejack. "On my signal," he ordered. "Careful where you put 'em. We want them to stop, not crash."
Applejack nodded, and Azrael turned back toward the convoy. A few seconds later, he lifted his arm, and Applejack activated her powers. A few yards ahead of the trucks, the asphalt soared into the sky, barricading them off and forcing them to a halt. As they slowed down, Rainbow rushed the trucks with her super speed, the power she earned at Camp Everfree, and sent her lightning through each truck, just enough to incapacitate the agents inside without harming them or their cargo. With the whole convoy taken down, Azrael soared down to the trucks. He stopped behind one truck, pausing while Applejack and Shimmer came down as well, as their goal was within reach. He pulled out a blade, and sliced through the lock on the back door.
Big mistake.
As soon as he did this, the doors burst open, and tons of spectral shackles and chains tore out of the confines. Azrael took the whole blast, his body getting covered and confined in dark chains, and his blades getting blown a few feet away. As the three girls gasped in shock, they heard a sadistic laugh come from the lead truck. Thatch took this time to exit his vehicle and confront them.
"Come on, you really thought we wouldn't be ready for you after that last attack?" Thatch asked. "So sorry. 'Fraid all your friends are already back at the base. I'm just here to have my fun."
He walked over to Azrael, and stepped down on his chest. "What's this? I thought you had godlike power or some crap like that. Surely someone as strong as you can just break out of those bonds." Azrael struggled, but not much happened. "But you can't, can you? You were never taught how to use all that power, nor did you ever need it. All that stuff you've done, deflecting that Daniel kid's attack's and breaking Lock's shields, that was all your blades. Not sure what those things are made of, but they negate magic on contact." He leaned down to shove his face into Azrael's. "So I thought, 'just throw everything at him so he can't block it all'. And oh how well it worked."
Just then, Thatch was blown away by a massive lightning bolt from Rainbow. "That's for what you did to me!" she snapped.
Thatch just laughed as he slowly got up. He looked to his right, and noticed one of Azrael's katanas stuck in the dirt nearby. He pulled it out slowly, deliberately, and then took time to inspect it. "This is a cool sword, isn't it?" Thatch wondered, taunting Azrael. "Think I'll hold on to this. The perfect souvenir."
Rainbow fired another bolt, only for Thatch to hold the sword in its path. Sure enough, the bolt hit the metal and disappeared. Surprised and angry, Rainbow decided instead to rush the agent. As she approached, however, her body was frozen in place by those spectral chains. Once the shock from this wore off, she realized the blade was held to her arm, just light enough to touch without drawing blood.
"Not that smart, are you?" Thatch taunted. "You should be thankful. See this?" He moved the blade slightly. "If I had wanted to, I could have cut your arm off instead. But I didn't. I'm nice like that."
As Shimmer watched this in horror, she noticed Applejack preparing her powers...as did Thatch. "Applejack, no!" she warned, too late. Her power went off, throwing Thatch into the air, but that was not enough to incapacitate him. As soon as the stalagmite thrust up beneath him, Applejack too was trapped by the dark shackles. Shimmer backed up, only to trip backwards. As she looked to see what tripped her, she found Azrael's other blade...
"Just one left," Thatch noted as he landed safely on the ground. "Come on out, Ms. Shimmer..."
A fireball suddenly flew in from his left, and he struck it out of existence. However, as the flames disappeared, Shimmer rushed in with her own blade, striking Thatch's sword with enough force to generate sparks. He backed off and thrust forward, only for Shimmer to parry and slash back. Thatch barely leaned back enough to avoid the swing, the strafed right, using his momentum to strengthen his swing. Shimmer blocked this attack, but Thatch used this opportunity to try to shackle her. Realizing this, she touched the back of the blade to the shackles to free herself, instantly raising it again afterward to shield herself from his next attack. She responded with her own swing, and a thrust.
Thatch jumped back, and pulled out his handgun. "All right now, missy, why don't you calm down?"
"You're not gonna shoot me," Shimmer asserted, annoyed that he had cheated on top of her fear. "You're 'nice like that,' right?
"I'm not that nice," Thatch shot back, a smile on his face.
He fired...but his bullet didn't land. Shimmer's sword was positioned just right to deflect the bullet, and she wasted no time after this bit of luck. She jumped up, and sent a huge jet of fire down into the ground. Thatch held his blade horizontally with his gun on the metal, negating the fireball as he unloaded his whole clip into it. He was too late; once the fire vanished, Shimmer was nowhere to be seen. Where did she go...?
"You might wanna work on that."
Thatch turned around, and to his horror, Shimmer was leaning over Azrael, sword in hand. "You keep going around kidnapping and shooting people, and all that karma's gonna come back to haunt you." She tapped the blade to Azrael's chains, and they all disappeared in an instant. He got up, and accepted his sword from Shimmer when she offered it. "Whoops. Might be a bit late on that."
Azrael turned to Thatch, raised his blade, and gave him a cocky smile. "I think you have something that belongs to me," he taunted.
Thatch pointed his gun at the two and pulled the trigger, only to remember he had emptied the clip. Azrael took this opportunity to rush him, but Thatch countered with his own blade. As he did this, he reached down to a pouch on his belt, and fumbled it open with the lower fingers of his gun hand. Opening it, he flung a new pack of bullets into the air, ejected the empty clip, and swung his pistol with practiced precision, hitting the new clip in just the right way to load it.
As he did this, however, Azrael used his wings to circle around him at breakneck speed, giving him barely enough time to block the next swing after the reload. He pointed his pistol under the blade clash and fired, but Azrael jumped up and backward to avoid it. His feet collided with the stalagmite Applejack had raised, and he pushed off it to put some distance between him and Thatch. The agent fired at him, but to no avail. Only then did a cruel thought come to mind...
Azrael landed a short distance away from the battle, and turned back to rejoin it. When he did, however, he saw Shimmer in spectral chains, with Thatch pointing his gun right at her. "I think we're done here," he decided cockily. "Put that sword away, or I shoot." Azrael paused for a good long moment, conflict stirring in his eyes. He couldn't let Shimmer, or any of the girls, get hurt, but if they lost this fight, everything they'd done would have been for nothing...
His head fell, covering his eyes with his bangs, and he put his sword in its sheath.
"That's good, now come with me," Thatch ordered. However, once Azrael put the sword away, he didn't let go of the hilt. He just stood there, motionless...building a sense of unease and anxiety in his adversary. Finally, at his breaking point, Thatch decided to cut his losses and pull the trigger...
It was then that Azrael struck. He rocketed forward with his wings, and quickly pulled out his sword into a great vertical swing. It connected; his sword sliced through the handgun like butter. Angered, Thatch swung back with his blade, only for Azrael to counter and jump away. He landed next to Shimmer, and let her loose.
"Thought I'd return the favor," Azrael told her. "About time we called for backup, wouldn't you say?"
Thatch tried to rush them down, but Shimmer fired as much flame as she could manage at him. He held out his sword, but while it negated the heat, the flames kept coming, blinding him and pushing him back. Eventually, however, the fire died down. Thatch saw his opportunity, and raced forward once more...
...only to have hundreds of volts course through his body and send him crashing to the ground. While Shimmer had distracted him, Azrael had flown off to free the other girls. Now Rainbow was back in the game, and she still had a score to settle with the morally questionable agent. She fired off another bolt, but Thatch was ready, and he blocked it with his blade. As soon as he did, however, Applejack lifted a stone from the ground beneath him, hitting him right in the face. Azrael took this opportunity to swoop in, but Thatch recovered too quickly and deflected the blow. As he held the alicorn back, however, Shimmer shot fire at his back, now exposed with his sword entangled with Azrael's. His anger growing, Thatch simply endured the pain as he tried to fight Azrael off.
"Not that simple, is it?" Azrael mocked, shifting his sword slightly to reference the blade. "These things are good, but they can't make you invincible. Gotta know how to use 'em, where your attention's needed most. And that appears to be...everywhere right now? Think that's right."
Another bolt from Rainbow broke the clash, allowing Azrael to push him further into the flames. Enraged, Thatch called forth his power, trapping all of them except Azrael. Or rather, Azrael was able to free himself.
"Enough of this!" he snapped, his sadistic cockiness making way for frustration and rage. "I've had just about enough of you, of all of you!"
He lunged forward in one last desperate attempt, only for Azrael to parry the blow...except the blades slid along each other. Though the white alicorn had never intended it, Thatch felt the smooth black blade slide through his flesh. It missed his right lung by a mere inch, but it hit...something else. He couldn't tell what it was, had no idea what would even be in that area of his body, but without it, he felt his strength draining. Azrael pulled the blade out, cleanly, leaving Thatch on his knees. Despite the chest wound, he was still conscious, aware, and very enraged. He reached out to try one last time to ensnare Azrael...
Nothing. The power he had wielded since the blast, the spectral shackles that could contain anyone...was gone. As he tried again, his attention was drawn to the edges of the battlefield, where the three girls were getting to their feet after their chains had disappeared on their own. A cold realization fell upon him: the blade that could negate all magic had pierced him right where his body had stored its new power. It had negated his core magic power...permanently.
As the three girls drew close, Azrael leaned down and took his other blade from the now broken Thatch. "I'll be taking this back now. Thanks for the good time, though."
Only now, as things calmed down, did Fluttershy come down from their overlook hill. "I-is everyone alright?" she wondered, only to be horrified by the wound in Thatch's chest. "What did you do!?"
"Oh that? That just happened," Azrael answered as he put his swords away. "Mind patching him up?"
"What!?" Rainbow shouted. "After everything he's done!?"
Azrael looked down on Thatch. "Eh, I wouldn't hold a grudge," he replied. "He's not gonna do much to us anymore."
Fluttershy finished patching the wound. For how serious it looked, there wasn't much to heal. "So, uh, now what?" she asked quietly.
Azrael walked up to the driver seats of a truck, and pulled the key ring out of the driver's seat. He brought it to the back, and found the key that opened the cell in the back. "Take the other keys and throw them away," he ordered. "We're gonna keep him in here for a bit, see if he can direct us to our friends. Under no circumstances will any of you hurt him." He cast a warning glance at Rainbow, who sulked in response.
"Guess we have some things to talk about," he told Thatch as he picked him up and dragged him into the dark enclosure.
Azrael left the truck visibly disappointed as the moon began to rise on the horizon. He walked off toward the hill where their attack had started, and Shimmer followed him over. As he reached the hill, he sat down and took a deep breath, seemingly letting all the disappointment out with the exhale. Shimmer decided to sit down next to him, and watch the moon rise.
"I'm guessing it didn't go well?" she asked.
"He's too stubborn. Not gonna tell us anything," Azrael replied. "Saw that one coming, really. Still worth a shot, but we don't need him to talk. Really, why would he?"
"So, what are you gonna do with him?" Shimmer wondered.
"I'm letting him go at dawn," Azrael answered. "I think he's had enough. Any more punishment would just be cruel."
"A heart of gold," Shimmer noted. "Never would have expected that from you when we first met."
"Well you saw how my life was before," he told her, drawing his sword to the moon. "It's easy to train someone to use a sword, to destroy, when they have no idea what it means to take a life. It's a lot harder to pull them back once they finally feel that loss. I...I don't want to be a warrior, a destroyer. If I can help it, I would rather not use these blades to destroy." Shimmer smiled at this. In the short time that she had known him, he had become a knight, a paladin, who fought to protect others without ever intending his enemies any real harm. Though they went about things differently, he would faces the darkness of the world just as she and her group of friends would.
"I've been wondering," Shimmer began as she stared at the jet black blade, "where did you get those swords?"
"Honestly, don't know," he replied, lowering the sword to inspect it. "I've always just had these, ever since Charade made me who I am. He never said where they came from. Maybe Charade had them, maybe I was holding onto them when he took me. I doubt I'll ever know, and frankly, I don't need to. So long as they continue to serve me well, that's all I need from them."
"You...really don't care about your past?" Shimmer wondered again.
Azrael turned his gaze to the rising moon. "Maybe I would, if things were different," he told her. "If I had left that bunker to find nothing for me in the world above, perhaps I would have tried to pursue my past to fill the void. That's not how things turned out, thankfully. I found people I could connect with, people I could protect." He turned back to Shimmer. "I don't need a past...because the present is all I need." Shimmer realized what he meant, dropped her jaw in surprise...and then simply smiled back.
"Finally, I have found my queen!"
Suddenly, the ground beneath them erupted into flames. Azrael was blown clear of the burning ring, and when he looked back, there stood Baphomet, holding Shimmer close to him.
"I thought you died!" Azrael shouted, drawing his katanas.
"And die I did," he explained, "but the concept of death no longer applies to me. I shall remake this world in my image...with my beloved queen by my side." He brought his demonic hand to Shimmer's face to touch her lovingly, terrifying her so much more.
"I won't let you hurt her!" Azrael shot back, but he didn't have time to act. Another ring of fire shot up beneath him, too wide and constant for his swords to negate, and he lost consciousness as his body burned. As soon as the flames receded, he teleported away with his prize, leaving the other three girls dumbfounded as they only now arrived at the scene.
A few hours later, at midnight, their anxiety had reached its peak. "Please tell me he's okay," Rainbow inquired to Fluttershy, who was tending Azrael's wounds.
"He's stronger than most, but he's not invincible," Fluttershy reminded him. "Even with my help, it will take him a while to recover."
"Ah think we've waited long enough," Applejack interjected. "It's good ta help 'im, but Shimmer's still out there. 'Bout time we started lookin', with or without 'im."
"And where do you suppose we start looking?" Rainbow asked dryly.
"What makes you think he'll have any better idea where ta start?" Applejack retorted.
"Girls, if we could all calm down..." Fluttershy advised.
Just then, Azrael finally woke up. Surprisingly, he smiled, but this smile was different. It still conveyed a sense of cockiness and hope, but there was a small twinge of pain too. He got up off the ground, and started walking away.
"Hey! Aren't you gonna help us find Shimmer!?" Rainbow yelled at him.
"She'll be fine," he answered.
"Oh really?" Applejack shot back, offended. "And where do ya think you're goin'?"
"Back to where this whole mess started," he answered. "That's where I'll see her again."
As the girls tried to revive Azrael, Thatch sat silently in the pitch black confines of the truck cell. He closed his eyes, not like they were much use here, and chuckled painfully. So this is how those little magicians felt, he realized. I almost feel bad for them. Almost.
Out of nowhere, the cell doors flew open, blinding Thatch with the moonlight. The doors quickly closed again, but he knew someone else was in the truck with him. "I thought I told you to @#$# off," he snapped, thinking his visitor was Azrael.
"Sorry, I'm afraid this is actually the first time we've met," Charade replied, pulling out a card and making it glow. The faint purple-pink light made his face look ominous. "I came here looking for a little girl. Trixie Lulamoon. Yet I arrive to find your whole convoy empty. I highly doubt the fools outside would just let anyone they knew run off. So I have to ask..."
He thrust the card into Thatch's neck, and the glow turned a dangerous red-orange. "Where. Is. My. Daughter!?"
"You know what? You @#$# off too!" Thatch shot back.
The card did not explode. Instead, Charade summoned another card, and thrust it straight through Thatch's chest, embedding it in his lung. "I'm not going to ask you again: where are you keeping my daughter!?"
"S-she's...at the base...where you...used to live..." Thatch caved, his answer punctuated by his ruptured lung. "Please...don't..."
"That's all I needed," Charade told him flatly. He took the red card, and stuck it in his mouth, before teleporting away. Thatch had a short, anxious moment, before the card stared flashing, quickly getting faster and faster. Thatch had time for a last muffled scream, before the card silenced him...