A Dangerous Sparkle

by David Silver

3 - On the Block

Spike hopped down from Twilight as she lowered her head. Her horn shone with purple-hued power for just a moment before her spell launched in a brilliant flash, striking the chest of one of the riders. The strange creature gave a grunt of pain as he was pushed clear of its mount and crashed to the ground in a heap. The mount circled around, looking confused, but did little else.

The other rider bore down on the lavender alicorn, driving his spear at her. Spike snatched out at the weapon, grabbing it in two claws and giving a hard wrench. Proving his enhanced physique, he pulled the rider clear of its mount and tossed him to the ground. He released the spear, as surprised as the rider was at his performance. The dismounted figure quickly scrambled to its feet, while the other remain where it lay, seemingly subdued by the arcane blast. With the sound of metal on leather, the standing enemy drew a sword from its belt. Its stance was clearly bipedal, not unlike Spike the majority of the time.

"You fight harder than expected," said the figure, unexpectedly using words they could understand.

"You can talk?" said Spike in surprise, "Why'd you attack us in the first place?"

"You don't need to talk to be sold. Pretty little hybrids sell for a lot," he explained with a deep and masculine-sounding voice. He pointed his sword at Twilight, who scowled at him with rising anger.

She stomped her right hoof, "Well that isn't happening," she huffed at him. "Your friend is already hurt. Go help... him? And leave us alone."
The figure glanced towards the fallen figure of his companion, "If it was just me, I would be returning home a loser today. Fortune smile on me, I am no loser." He grinned, showing off his unclean teeth. Even as he finished speaking, a rain of arrows fell from the sky, landing all around Twilight and Spike. Spike thrust out a hand quickly, blocking one arrow that was coming at Twilight's side. The arrow bit into his flesh -- though not as deeply as it should have -- and fell free, leaving a thin cut.

They were suddenly surrounded, as more of the intimidating figures emerged from the tall grass on all sides.

The one who had spoken before crossed his arms, looking quite confident, "Now, you surrender, or we sell your fur instead. Lay down on the ground." He pointed to the grass-covered ground, "Nice and slow."

Spike whispered, "I can take 'em! These jokers aren't any match for your magic and my awesome brawn."

Twilight could see at least twelve of the creatures, including the one speaking to her, "I'm not sure about that Spike, and I don't think teleporting will work twice."

Spike opened his mouth to respond when an arrow landed beside him. Their interrogator snarled, "Enough talking. Which will it be?"
Pouring all her energy into an emergency spell, Twilight suddenly shouted, "Stop!" and a field of her power washed out over the field. Unlike her friends back at the Two Sister's Castle, not all of the figures were caught in the freeze, though most were. Spike surged into action, drawing up to his full height (though that was not changed much), and charging the first mobile creature he could see.

Twilight didn't have time to watch Spike fight as three arrows came rushing at her. With a toss of her head, she deflected two of the arrows aside. The third eluded her magic and plunged painfully into her withers. She staggered in place, eyes watering from the pain as she turned to face the source of the lucky arrow. A quick blast of her power knocked the strange creature to its knees but didn't incapacitate it, and its friends were already firing fresh arrows. She saw Spike barrel into one as new agony told her she’d been hit again.

Spike was a monster, tearing into the creature with claws and teeth while scarcely seeming to notice sword or arrow turned on him. Twilight smiled with pride, watching him vacantly. She could feel blood soaking her coat, and her strength was fading, but it all seemed so far away. She shook her head, trying to regain focus. She couldn't just stand there and be useless! With dizziness starting to settle over her, she decided the best thing she could do was get out of the way. She looked out across the grass and focused on a point in the distance. Willing herself to be there, she barely saw the flash before she sank into the embrace of unconsciousness.

Spike was holding his own quite competently, but as Twilight lost her hold on the waking world, her magic faded with it. The formerly-frozen assailants could suddenly move again, and were swift in surrounding him, swords drawn. Fearing the worst, Spike lunged forward, dragging one to the ground. The others quickly closed in and beat him down despite his hardened scales. He heard one of them talking in their strange tongue. Another angrily replied, then there was darkness.

----

Twilight's dreams felt strange. Perhaps it was due to Luna's absence, but they were fragmented and scattered. She found herself reflecting on the peaceful life she had just a day before, and the uncertain future ahead of herself. Somehow she knew that Spike, her longest friend, had been hurt fighting for her, and she wept into the whirling vortex of her subconscious -- at least until she was suddenly seated at a table, gleefully devouring a pack of muffins as her friends sang “Happy Birthday” to her. Pinkie grabbed her cheeks, interrupting her gluttony, "Hey, Twilight. Sorry to interrupt, but your dream is ending."

"What?" asked Twilight, forgetting it was a dream for a moment of bliss.

"Sorry, but it's true. We're waiting for you back home!" exclaimed the pink party pony before she abruptly faded away along with the rest of the dream.

Twilight jerked awake as she was doused with cold water. She sputtered and shivered, but realized after a moment that someone was talking about her.

"She is a prize catch, with rare blood. See how she has wings and a horn. She is disease free, and in good health," said a familiar voice. As Twilight focused on the source, she could see the monster that had taunted her before. He was standing in front of a pony. The pony was dressed in some kind of chain armoring. The pony wore an expression of neutral coolness, despite the pleading look she gave him.

She took a moment to assess her situation, suddenly realized she was in a cage, and huffed with indignance. She could see that her injuries had been treated. She assumed with magic, as there was little sign of any arrows and she felt whole of body again. She frowned at the cage she was in. No bars were going to stop her! She made careful mental calculations to skip free of the bars, but her horn refused to comply, as if it were stoppered with the worst case of a magical cold she had ever experienced.

"As you can see," said the biped, "She is trained in magic. If you buy her, we include the horn collar."

Horn collar? Despite her best efforts, Twilight could not see up to her horn that well, but she could feel something clamped around it. Was it blocking her magic?

The pony replied, "I will consider it." He continued to wear a carefully neutral expression. Twilight was certain he was purposefully repressing any feelings he may have.

The biped shrugged, "Looking for the one 'the gods sent you for'?" he asked in a mocking tone, "If you didn't pay so well, you would be a pain in our ass. Speaking of, you did bring money?"

The stallion nodded, "Of course, and it has been hidden. You will be told where to find it when I am secure with my purchase."

"You don't trust us?" asked the biped with a laugh, "Good, that means you're not stupid. You haven't tried to short change us so far, so we continue to trade, now follow me. You're in for a treat. Here we have a dragon. Our shamans say it is a sky dragon."

Their voices got dimmer as they walked away, leaving Twilight to look after them as she trembled, both from cold and from worry about her friend. At least he had to be alive, if they were discussing selling him. A sudden thought came to mind and she shouted out, "Wait! You can't buy him!"

Another biped that she hadn't noticed behind the cage prodded her with a spear, "Silence. You speak only when spoken to."

She scowled at him, but went quiet. Her words had worked well enough, drawing the stallion and his escort back over to her cage.

The stallion leaned forward slightly, "Why can't I purchase this dragon?" he asked, "I have money enough."

Twilight glanced at the spear-wielding one, who just nodded at her. She took a soft breath before explaining in a nervous tone, "Because he's mine. He... won't behave properly... if I'm not with him." She wanted to mention that it was wrong to buy or sell a sentient being, but the looks she was getting didn't give her much confidence her words would be anything but a waste of breath.

"I see," said the stallion, looking to his companion, "You did not mention the dragon was not properly trained. We will have to renegotiate the price."

The salesperson scowled and began to lead the stallion away from Twilight's cage, "Of course, fair prices for good customers." While he walked, he made an odd gesture behind his back, and Twilight heard her cage being opened from behind. She spun around to see one of the creatures entering. Curiously, this one was unarmed, though two others with spears stood just outside the cage.

"You just cost us money," said the unarmed one as he moved up to her. She backed up until she bumped against the bars, ears folded with worry. "We don't... appreciate that." He emphasized the word that with a sudden backhand, knocking Twilight's head aside and making her vision swim with pain. "You're lucky he's looking at you like he wants to buy you, or we'd have an extended session. We need to keep you pretty." If his stance was any indication, being kept pretty didn't preclude getting kicked in the gut. Maddened and in pain, Twilight reared up, trying to lash out with her hooves. To her credit, she clipped him across the chin, but he was swift to return the favor with a kick to her exposed belly. She collapsed into a ball.

"Don't be a baby," he mocked, spitting on her prone form before leaving the cage. She could hear the door being shut and locked.

Comments

[PrismShift]

Ah ha! So glad someone went and made a crossover with Ponyfinder- we need more Pathfinder/D&D stuff on the site and Everglow presents an opportunity even I hadn't considered. In hindsight it was a pretty big detail to overlook. Looking forward to more- oh, and a dwarf. It simply isn't a proper party without a dwarf, maybe with a cloven sidekick/partner?

[David Silver]

5440638 Glad you like what you are reading so far. We'll assuredly get some supporting characters, after we give Twi a starter lesson.

[Commander Darklight]

WAIT wait WAIT I KNOW SHE IS IN A NEW WORLD BUT SHE WAS QUICK TO THROW AWAY HER MORALS ON HURTING OTHERS or is it more like the equestria in this story isnt like the show plz explain

[David Silver]

5592834 She's fired arcane beams before, the first obvious instance being when she sprayed wildly into the horde of changelings, caring not if any of them were killed in the process.

[Forderz]

5592862 plus, a kinetic blast isn't exactly the most lethal spells Twilight knows. A solid buck from Applejack accomplished the same thing, as did a hoof from Rarity.

If she was throwing energy beams around like she did with Tirek we'd know she was giving it her all.

[David Silver]

5814762 She doesn't have the combined might of all the alicorns at the moment. She doesn't even have the power of 1 alicorn at the moment.

[gakposter]

Why didn't she teleport away? Lol

[David Silver]

6779914 With an anti-magic ring on her horn?

[gakposter]

6780102
Oh, I´m an idiot. Lol

[Chrome Masquerade]

Spike was a monster, tearing into the creature with claws and teeth while scarcely seeming to notice sword or arrow turned on him. Twilight smiled with pride, watching him vacantly. She could feel blood soaking her coat, and her strength was fading, but it all seemed so far away. She shook her head, trying to regain focus. She couldn't just stand there and be useless! With dizziness starting to settle over her, she decided the best thing she could do was get out of the way. She looked out across the grass and focused on a point in the distance. Willing herself to be there, she barely saw the flash before she sank into the embrace of unconsciousness.

Twilight? Twilight?? TWILIIIIIIGHT!!!!!