Battle Ready

by D101 Reviews

Chapter Seven: Night-Watch

Chapter Seven: Night-Watch

Battle leaned over the library balcony, looking up at Luna's moon, rubbing sleep from his eyes. Another night without sleep. The nightmare he had had was more or less the same as the one he'd experienced the previous night. This was not an unusual occurrence. Often the same terrors crept up on him in his nightmares. Still, this never happened on consecutive nights.

He sighed and looked over his shoulder at the door back into the library. With a shimmer of silver magic he locked it behind him. Battle sighed and rolled his neck and shoulders as he planted his hands firmly on the railing before him. With a quick, steadying exhale, Battle vaulted over the balcony railings and dropped like a stone to the street below. Landing in a cat-like crouch, Battle straightened up and turned up the collar of his dark coat and started down the street.

Ponyville, Battle noticed, was nearly just as active at night as it was in the day. In the light of the moon he could just about make out a vivid pink blur in the distance, bouncing from rooftop to rooftop. Battle paused as he watched Pinkie cartwheel through the air and drop into the chimney of Sugar Cube Corner. He thought little of it, already growing used to the pink mare's antics. As he wandered through the town he heard the distinctive 'wubs' of Vinyl Scratch in one of the town's clubs, accompanied by the cheers and whoops of the ponies dancing to the DJ's music.

Battle rolled his neck and looked around. When he was certain no one was nearby he broke into a sprint, racing towards a nearby building. He jumped at the wall and scrambled up, grabbing the second story window ledge with one hand. Raising his other hand to grab it, he planted his feet on the wall and pushed up the wall and managed to grasp the edge of the roof and pulling himself up onto it. He raced up the slanted roof and over the other side, leaping to the next roof when he reached the edge.

Battle felt a smile creep across his lips as he raced from rooftop to rooftop, enjoying the speed, the freedom and the challenge. Granted it wasn't much of a challenge but it was a way to spend an evening. Even if somepony were to see him, they would assume he was Pinkie simply being Pinkie.

Battle paused when he reached the roof of the town hall. He took a deep breath in through his nose and laid back on the roof, placing his hands under his head and closing his eyes. Though he couldn't find peace in his sleep, it was a small comfort to him that he could find a rare moment of peace while he was awake.

A scream pierced the night.

Battle sat bolt upright, ears twitching, trying to figure out the source of the cry. It came again, louder and clearer, easily traceable. Battle leaped to his feet and jumped from the rooftop and landed in a roll. He raced through the streets, towards the source of the screams. If somepony was in trouble, he may as well come to their rescue. He sighed at his own apathy. He really needed to get some proper sleep one of these nights.

He slid into the alley where the screams had come from. The houses that bordered this alley were so close that the roofs blocked out the light of the moon from above, making the shadows between them almost absolute. Battle's horn began to glow as he stepped into the darkness, bathing him in a silver light. He could hear movement deeper in the alley and quiet whimpers. Battle's horn glowed brighter as he stepped further in. The sight that met his eyes was one of eerie familiarity.

A mare was lying curled on the ground before a stallion, eyes wide and filled with tears. It was not this that caught Battle's attention however. The stallion's eyes were blank a black clear white, devoid of iris and pupil. Curved markings as black as ink that twisted and turned, almost like they were a single living entity, lined his face and his bare arms. His Cutie Mark pulsed with a dull, evil red light and his horn has a series of dark, cracks set into its surface.

Battle's eyes widened at the sight. He had seen this before. This transformation, this vile corruption of a pony's mind and soul.

The stallion looked at him, his black eyes narrowing by a fraction. Battle took a step closer, his own eyes locked into the stallion's blank ones. He was vividly aware of the knife he held in one hand.

"This doesn't concern you," the stallion said, his voice laced with a darker, venomous tone.

"I think you'll find it does," Battle said, his voice filled with melancholy. "And for what it's worth, I am truly sorry for what has happened to you."

"Your words mean little to me," replied the stallion. Battle turned his attention to the mare.

"Go," he said simply.

She nodded and scrambled to her feet, rushing past the stallion and out of the alley past Battle. The stallion scowled but let her be. He stared at Battle, his Cutie Mark glowing brighter.

"You have some nerve interrupting my... feed," the stallion chuckled.

"I'll give you one chance and one chance only," Battle said harshly. "Let that pony go."

"I already did didn't I?" the stallion scowled.

"Not the pony I was talking about," Battle replied.

The stallion raised an eyebrow and smiled.

"Well well," he said. "Somepony in Equestria has knowledge of the Sins."

"I guess you could say that," Battle said. "I also know that the Sins cannot posses a pony with a will of their own. Which means you no longer have your own will." Battle's eyes narrowed further still. "Which means you must have died."

For a moment the markings flickered and the stallion stared at Battle with his own eyes.

"Help me, please," he begged.

"There is no help for the dead," Battle said, hanging his head in sorrow.

The markings on the stallion returned and his eyes narrowed as he leaped forward, raising the knife to slash at Battle. Battle stepped sideways and the stallion blundered past. He kicked the stallion's legs out from under him, causing him to fall to the ground on his back. The stallion glared at Battle as he knelt by his head, right hand pressed against his Cutie Mark. Silver binding's pinned his arms to his sides, forcing the knife to clatter to the ground. Battle sighed.

"I'm sorry you had to suffer this fate," he said sincerely. The stallion looked at him with vehemence. Battle ignored the hatred that he was regarded with and concentrated on the spell he was casting. It was a complex enchantment designed to banish darkness and evil from a pony consumed by its vile embrace. The only true way to save one from the corruption of the Sins.

Battle's horn glowed brighter still, the silver aura that enveloped it spreading down his neck, over his right shoulder and down his arm to his hand. The stallion stiffened as the magic touched his Cutie Mark. The black markings on his body began to writhe like serpents in agony and the cracks on his horn glowed white hot. Battle's eyes screwed up in concentration as he began to purge the stallion from the evil that had possessed him.

The markings began to disappear, wafting off of the skin in a dark mist and the cracks began to heal. The red glow that covered his Cutie Mark began to fade too and soon the stallion was looking at Battle with his own eyes once more. His breath caught his his throat, his eyes widened and sweat began to pour from his skin.

"What... what's happening?" he chocked.

"There's no easy way to say this," Battle sighed. "You're dying... again."

"How can I be dying again?" the stallion asked, eyes wide with fear.

"Because someone made you an offer," Battle explained. "In your final moments someone offered you another chance to live. Which you accepted, unaware of the price you would have to pay."

The stallion's eyes widened.

"I... I remember," he whispered. "Oh Celestia. What did I do?"

"Nothing that harmed any pony else as far as I know," Battle said. "You're free now, that's the main thing. What's your name?"

"I'm Crew Cut... I run the local salon," he said.

"Nice to meet you Crew Cut, I'm Battle Ready," Battle said smiling.

"I'm scared," Crew whispered.

"That's understandable," Battle sympathized. "A fear of death is natural when you have so much to live for." Battle's eyes narrowed slightly. "But it should not come at the cost of who you are. Better to die free than live enslaved."

Crew Cut nodded slowly, his breathing becoming shallower and shallower.

"I saw you," he whispered. "In his mind. He's... he's looking for you."

Battle stiffened slightly at that.

"I know," he murmured. "And I'm sorry you had to see whatever horrors he has in store."

Crew looked at Battle, took a final shuddering breath, and was still. The lights in his eyes faded. Battle released the bonds that had held him and bowed his head.

"Live long," he whispered, "Die proud. Requiescant in pace Crew Cut."

He got to his feet and left the body of the stallion behind. It would be discovered soon enough he knew. And besides, it was disrespectful to move the corpse of a fallen warrior without the families permission. Though Crew Cut was not a warrior, he had had the strength to fight through the evil enchantments that corrupted him. That was something to be admired.

Battle looked up at Luna's moon as he stepped back out into the street. If ponies were already falling under the spells of the Sins, his worst fears had already been realized.

Wrath was free.

Comments

[IceQB]

Mistake in the description. Check it and change it, will ya? :)

[D101 Reviews]

2697868 Uh, I don't see a mistake... maybe it's cuz I'm a piss poor editor XD

[IceQB]

2697891

Contains Antrho ponies.

Edit: another mistake

knows all too well.

^ knows it all too well

[D101 Reviews]

2697906 Thank ~you~! See? Piss poor editor.

[IceQB]

2697916 ahah xD well.. GL with your story. I uh.. don't do Anthro. However, if you do have a non-anthro story, feel free to send it to me to pre-read first. Just PM me or something.

[PhycoKrusk]

If you need a pre-reader/editor, I'm available, and your chapters are generally short enough and have enough time in-between them that there shouldn't be any scheduling problems.

[D101 Reviews]

2698587 Thank you for the offer It seems I may need an editor/proofreader... seeing as how I don't read through my work before I publish it

[PhycoKrusk]

2698625
It's not even that, necessarily, as much as it is you don't notice your own mistakes. This is why it greatly benefits authors and programmers to have someone else look over their writing/code. Because issues that you gloss over (because you wrote them) might be noticed by someone else.