//------------------------------// // Ch.6, Dark Melvain // Story: The Chronicles of Summer Rain, Vol. 8 -- Dark Melvain // by shysage //------------------------------// The next day was warm and sunny. I brushed Cel's hair again in the morning, as she got ready for Princess stuff. We took our time. Cel said her agenda for the morning was pretty short. 'Princess Celestia' was free maybe mid-morning, and so we decided to take a leisurely walk around Canterlot. We just took our time, it was very nice... again strangely familiar, but nice. We were soon back to the Audience Hall, and started inside. Mildred quickly walked up with the younger mare, and both bowed. This would be Princess stuff. My Stallion and I backed up quietly, and let Cel take care of her poinies. Mildred mentioned quietly "Princess, she was caught in the room again..." Cel got this very dissatisfied look on her face, then spoke. Cel didn't raise her voice, but she was clearly concerned. "Child... Have we not talked about this? What could happen if the guards didn't recognize you? What are their orders? The younger mare put her head down, then said quietly "Kill on sight..." It was quiet for a minute. Then the mare tried to continue. "But Princess, I talk--" SCREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE.... This loud cry came out of nowhere, as a large, Black bat flew in quickly, directly at Cel from behind. The mare saw it and screamed immediately, but it was too late for Cel to even turn around. I almost turned into a people, but decided against it. But a few seconds more, then everypony WOULD see what a Phantom Alicorn looked like... My amazing Stallion... He kicked the huge door for the Audience Hall closed behind Cel, and the bat hit that solid Oak door very hard, then fell to the ground. One of the guards walked up and quickly killed the bat with one stomp of his huge hoof. Mildred walked the crying mare away, trying to comfort her fear. Princess Celestia, well Cel, looked at the dead bat in silence a minute, then shook her head slowly, side to side, then she spoke. "A crazed bat... That's Dark Melvain's signal... Intended not so much to wound, just to terrorize..." It was quiet a minute. Then Cel spoke again... "He will be here around dusk..." This event changed the day substantially for our girl. Cel spent a few hours with her guards, discussing the upcoming 'contest'. Well, it was really insurrection. Cel told us later that she did not say anything about the Phantom Alicorn, and simply deflected questions about her losing to Dark Melvain. They discussed this possibility, but Cel mentioned he would probably take Equestria over, and start killing other ponies if this happened. Any plans at that point would be futile. A little while after her meeting with her guards was done, she, my Stallion and I went for another walk. At one point, Cel asked the guards to give us some room, and we all hugged together. Then she told me how she wanted things to go. Her guards would form sort of a semi-circle around behind their Princess. We were to stay ponies, but find a spot near one end of the semi-circle. This would put me to Dark Melvain's side. Cel said the contest always started with Dark Melvain moving the 'spot of collision' into the center of their magical beams. Then he would slowly try to push that spot towards Cel. I was to stay a pony until that spot moved to half the distance beween the center and Cel. If it got that far, which Cel felt would happen shortly after they started, at THAT point, I should intervene as quickly as possible. Cel reminded me the 'contest' would probably start at Dusk, and so would mostly be in the dark, so I had a certain advantage, but I also needed to avoid hurting any other ponies. And Cel warned us Dark Melvain was a vicious braggert, and would taunt her a lot. Cel wanted us to ignore that as best as we could. Our discussion was done, so we resumed our walk, and the Sun was setting over Equestria when we headed back into the Audience Hall. Cell had the lighting in the Audence Hall reduced substantially, so we could at least see sooner as we went outside into the dark. The three of us just sat together and hugged on the top of the platform... ...and waited... "PRINCESS!!!" Dark Melvain shouted. We all heard his voice. If you could yell and sneer at the same time... Cel said later that he probably had uncloaked in the middle of the meadow in front of amazed guards... Cel said quietly to us "I will head out. Follow me by maybe half a minute, then get into position when the rest of the guards move." Our brave girl headed slowly out the Audience Hall door, to 'stand in the gap' for Equestria... Cel walked slowly towards her foe, then stood where she felt appropriate. He was maybe 50 feet away. As we headed out next, we heard her ask "Can I take a minute to arrange my guards some? Dark Melvain laughed LOUDLY with disdain. "OF COURSE! THAT WILL HELP A LOT!" he bellowed, then he laughed some more. The guards moved as Cel had indicated, and we joined them, and ended up to Cel's far left. Still, we had to be very careful of many sharp spears. When Cel felt the guards were ready, she quickly initiated her magical beam, which was bright White, directly at Dark Melvain. Her beam was just as quickly met at the middle by Dark Melvain's beam, which was about as dark Purple as it could be, and still be visible. Dark Melvain was still a pony, but was maybe twice as tall as Princess Celestial. His body was also dark Purple, and the hair of his coat was very shaggy and 'patchy', even bare at some spots. His body also showed frequent, randomly placed, bright flickers of Purple, betraying the magic coursing through his being. His taunting began immediately. It was terrible. It was unspeakably vicious... He never let up... I realized that slapping him hard would be the first thing I did. He would deserve every bit. And with each passing minute, I hoped he would just push the spot over closer to Cel, so I could end this. My girl simply did not deserve this abuse... I backed slowly up a little to make sure I had room to change into a people, and just waited. My Stallion backed up and stood next to me. We later agreed that Dark Melvain was toying with our girl. He didn't think he could ever lose this contest, and was just taking his time, brutally trying to beat Cel down emotionally, before he killed her. We also realized Cel had been through this before, and had become pretty good at ignoring him. My Stallion and I had a hard time ignoring him though... But it was THIS -- Cel ignoring him -- that finally infuriated Dark Melvain after maybe an hour. He only then began to slowly inch the spot of collision towards Cel. This part was just agonizing... I wanted to end this terrible bully right now... But I waited until Cel said. She was the Princess. Closer... Closer... Just a little more... After changing to a people, it took me less then five seconds to spin up my Cutie Mark, and I walked ten steps towards him as I did this. He didn't even notice. In the middle of his angry bellowing... "PRINCESS, COME ON, YOU AREN'T EVEN MAKING ME SWE--" As the Phantom Alicorn, I raised my right hand and slapped him HARD, and he tumbled thirty feet to the side, away from me. Most of the guards gasped immediately. His beam stopped immediately too, and Cel slumped forward, kneeling on her front legs. I didn't wait any longer, and quickly covered him with electricity. This stunned him; he was trying to get up. I was about to slap him again. Without warning, he disappeared. I tried to slap him again, anyway. "Full line, advance" Cel said quickly, and a sea of guards, in a straight line, two spears forward on each side, RAN quickly, far past where Dark Melvain was last visible. Cel sighed. "He cloaked..." she said quietly. Cel explained later that she always suspected he had mastered 'cloaking', making himself invisible. She knew he studied about this a lot before he turned bad. And he usually appeared for these contests by 'uncloaking' in their midst. But this was the first time he felt threatened enough to actually 'cloak' before he felt he was done. Cel smiled as she said that what had happened to him had probably scared him a lot. Anyway, I quickly un-spun my Cutie mark, changed back into a pony, then walked over to Cel, and my Stallion came with me. But all this had happened in the dark. Cel's guards had no idea what they had just seen. Cel told us later she wanted it to stay that way. The less they knew, the less Dark Melvain knew as well. Well, this 'contest' was over. Equestria would live to see another day of freedom, maybe another year, anyway. I think we all hoped that this bully would think twice about trying this again any time soon... Cel's guards were soon gathering around their Princess. Somehow, Princess Celestia had suddenly 'routed' Dark Melvain, and in the dark, no less. That's all they knew. Cel quietly asked my Stallion and I to back to the outer edge of the crowd as soon as they began gathering. Still, we had to be careful of a lot of sharp spear points. Sounding as regal and jubilant as she could, Princess Celestia thanked them all for their bravery and courage. Still, she was cautiously optimistic and said that maybe this would be the last such 'contest' for a while. Then she told them all that she would meet with the commanders tomorrow morning, and they would further brief the rest of the guards after that. At this point, the guards started celebrating, stomping their feet madly and yelling. "Long live Princess Celestia of Equestria" they shouted loudly, over and over again, for some time. 'Princess Celestia of Equestria' walked slowly towards the Audience Hall doors, bowed again, then went inside. Still celebrating, the crowd of guards made their way away from the Audience Hall, back out into the meadow. Their commanders gathered them, congratulated them again, then dismissed them all. It was soon quiet again in Canterlot, as everypony got back to living their daily lives. I think Cel, my Stallion and I were just glad they even could do this. As was usually the case, I doubt anypony else knew how close Equestria had come to oblivion... again...