//------------------------------//
// Chapter 5: Air's A Bit Funny, Ain't It? 
// Story: Unshackled Charge 
// by Zoura3025 
//------------------------------//

Tincture felt uneasy as she walked into town one day. The weather was clement, and it was surprisingly warm for a morning so close to the winter season. Something just felt off to her.
A groggy Bottle would take her place at the hospital; the mare had slept fine, but had woken up late. She sat behind the front desk of the hospital, before she heard the sound of a booming voice from outside.

"Bring me the one they call Tincture!" Shouted a stern mare's voice.
Bottle's ears shot up, and she shook the last traces of sleep from her face.
Bottle's eyes widened as she got a look at the perpetrator; a tall unicorn, coloured a deep pink like the early morning sky, with a long crimson mane. The earth pony almost mistook them for an Alicorn due to their size, but the lack of vestments the stranger was wearing displayed a lack of wings.

Bottle had a hunch she knew who this was. "What do you want with her?" She asks in a more or less neutral tone.
"That is none of your concern, mud filly," The stranger huffs, slowly approaching Bottled Lightning, "You will tell me where she is. If you do not, I will bury this town in an entire freeze season's worth of ice," She hisses.
Bottle's hooves sparked lightly. Just before she was about to retort, she heard Tincture's voice from behind her.
"Why must you seek me!?" The smaller unicorn asks, tears welling in her eyes, "I left you so I could pursue a better life! Why must you… You… Haunt me!?" She screams, her voice half-panicked to tears.
The stranger snarled, "You chose your path the second you crossed mine," She hisses, "For your insolence, I will see to it personally that you burn in tartarus, you ungrateful wretch!"
A large blast of light erupted from the tall unicorn's horn, showering bolts of white hot magic at Tincture, who shielded herself, but was still thrown back from the sheer force.

Tincture winced, screeching to a halt on her hooves, tears beginning to stream down her cheeks, "Please, for the love of Celestia, leave me alone, Miasma!" The smaller unicorn cried, firing back her own blast of magic.
Miasma snarled as she raised her own shield. "Attack me? You're rotten to the core," She hissed. Before she could launch another attack, the unicorn roared in pain as blue lightning scraped up her side, knocking her to the ground.
A fuming, seething Bottle was standing to her side, "You have 10 seconds to leave, before I hurt you like you hurt her," She snarls.
Miasma snickered, "That's all the time I need, stupid mud pony," She sneers, her horn lighting up.

Angel's Kiss would peek out from behind a stall in the market, having been drawn to town by the loud noises of magic, that had been audible all the way from the farm. She squeaked as she watched a massive blast of light engulf Tincture. As the blast faded into twinkles, Angel darted in to catch an unconscious Tincture, passed out from shielding herself.
"TINCTURE!!" Bottle screamed, staring down the tall unicorn before her. All at once, Bottle felt herself become overwhelmed with emotions. No, not emotions. That implied she felt more than one.

All the earth pony felt was rage; incomprehensible fury, directed at the scourge of a unicorn before her. Bottle screamed, dropping to her stomach as an aura of lightning stretched from her; dozens of "arms" of electricity, springing from her as if they were being ripped out of her body. The stripe of her mane lit up so brightly, it looked as if it were electric in its own right.
Bottle shot to her feet, engulfed in a chaotic whirl of furious lightning. She slung her hoof, crashing a wake of bolts over Miasma's side. The unicorn screeched in pain.
"You!" Miasma hisses, "I will make an example out of-" She was cut off as another cascade of electricity was thrown at her, and she shielded herself to block the blast.

Bottle didn't stop. The electric "arms" coming from her torso stretched towards the shielded unicorn, as if they were magnetized to it. Bottle threw blow after blow of electricity. Her stamina didn't seem to exist anymore; every bolt she hurled crackled like an entire storm, splashing across the shield as if it were a starving creature trying to hunt its prey.
Miasma couldn't catch an angle of attack. The bolts were too plentiful; too persistent. She could feel the energy ripping away at her shield, trying to find any opening. Then, a smile crept across her face. She grinned as she dropped her shield, taking the persistent arms of lightning into her horn. She laughed as she slung her head back, throwing the earth pony up into the air.

Bottle sailed upwards, her voice gone; all that was left were bestial noises, even as she landed with a harsh CRACK of one of her hooves splitting on the stone road. Bottle didn't care. She watched the unicorn wind up a blast of magic, whipping her own lightning into a broad, flat shield. She blocked two beams. Then four. Then six. Then, a massive blast knocked her back, splashing the lightning off her body and sending her tumbling back.
Angel would dive in to catch her, and Bottle would return to her feet, meeting Miasma's gaze.

Miasma was panting. She didn't understand. This earth pony seemed to be exhausting their magic slower than she was!
Miasma's lowered guard was quickly punished. Bottle slammed her front hooves into the ground, sending a cascade of lightning through the earth. It ripped through the ground, erupting into a flow of bolts that blasted the unicorn skyward.
Bottle roared as she threw bolt after bolt at the tumbling unicorn, who cried in pain as she was shocked over and over.
The unicorn managed to right herself in mid air, however, throwing a flurry of light at Bottle. In her panic, Miasma missed most of her shots, but a few of the whistling blades managed to draw blood. Once again, Bottle hardly flinched. The earth pony's mind was too overloaded with mortal rage to even process the pain.

Miasma sneered as she landed, barely having time to put up her shield before a large lance of lightning was whipped at her. Miasma winced as she watched the bolt barely pierce her shield. Miasma realized, all too late, she had angered the wrong pony, but she was now determined to take the ball of lightning and rage with her.

Tincture would slowly stir from the stand Angel had hidden her behind. She stood up, her eyes wide as she watched a furious Bottle face down her old teacher. The one who had robbed her of so much of her life and freedom…
She watched as Miasma was thrown to the ground by a blast of lightning. Miasma wouldn't take much more of this; it was really impressive she'd lived as many shocks as she did.
Tincture felt conflicted. She couldn't let Bottle finish the job; that would have made both of them lower than Miasma was.

She closed her eyes, and fired a powerful concussive bolt at Bottle, who was blown to the ground and stripped of her furious aura. "Stop!!" She shouted.
Angel would quickly dart off to try and hold back Bottle, who was already standing up, electricity still sparking from her hooves. "Bottle!" Angel cried, trying to get her friend's attention.
Bottle didn't verbally reply, but hesitated in the panicked hug of her friend, as her vision finally cleared enough to see the crumpled unicorn being approached by Tincture.

Miasma wheezed as she laid on the ground, now bound to the stone floor by chains of a dim pink light.
"What do you want, insolent filly?" Miasma sneered, twitching from the occasional pangs of electricity that had infested her body.

Tincture looked at her with a cold expression. "I left you because I swore to myself that I was better than you; that I could surpass you. Not necessarily as an alchemist, and definitely not as a sorcerer, but…" She took a sharp breath in, "I can surpass you as a pony. If you were me, you would have already killed me. You do not consider me worth your breath. Likewise, I no longer consider you worth my time," She states, her horn lighting up, "When you awake, you will be comfortably lodged in one of Canterlot's prison cells. I do not know what will happen to you after that. All I know is that this is my final report on how I have truly surpassed you, in the only way that truly matters."
Miasma hissed in angry denial, screaming obscenities as she writhed against the chains. However, Tincture would calmly step forward, touching her horn to her teacher's side, and all at once, the larger unicorn would be blinked away.

Bottle had finally calmed down. She looked at her hooves, including the cracked one. "I-I… I don't know what happened," She murmurs, "All I saw was… Red," She says, her voice fading to a whisper, leaning against Angel some.
Angel blinked, "You saved the day, Bottle… Tincture's okay because of you," She promises, voice gentle.
Bottle looked up at Tincture as she approached, wincing a bit as she's hugged from a second side.
"Thank you," Tincture says, voice shaky as she tears up, "Thank you so very much…"
Bottle's front legs dropped limp as she fell back into Angel, eyes closing.
The unicorn and pegasus froze as the earth pony went slack in their arms, but were reassured by the only other sound on the road: Soft snoring.

Tincture blinked, "I can only imagine how much stress she put on herself," She commented, slowly letting go and sitting back.
Angel was going to say something, but then caught a glimpse of Bottle's flank. "Wait, look!" She exclaims, pointing, "She finally got her mark!"
Sure enough, adorning the gray mare's flank was a mark of a bolt of lightning erupting forth from a bottle, shattering a hole in the glass as it did so.
Tincture smiled softly, "She finally found herself," She said gently.