Trial and Error

by Kiernan

Chapter 11: Smells Like Victory

Chapter 11: Smells Like Victory

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Akaitora had never run quite this fast before. Gravity was effecting his motions, causing him to kick up dust during wide turns, and on a more narrow turn, thrust him onto the wall of the building, running at top speed just beneath the window frame. Passerby cheered, or tried to stand back up while holding their breakfasts down, depending on how close he had gotten to them. But Akaitora couldn't see or hear them. All he saw was the speck of light he had marked Rainbow with, who was speeding through the air just faster than him, and all he heard was the throbbing of his heart as at raced, trying to keep from imagining exactly what sort of situation Twilight had found herself in.

He reached the alleyway Rainbow had stopped at, and skidded to a stop, his tracking spell worn off. He looked into the alley, and saw Twilight, cowering inside of what looked like an anti-magic field, on the other side of a wall made of three other ponies, all stallions, two unicorns of blue and white, and a red pegasus, and surrounding them was a normal barrier, not one of the complex, mechanized barriers that Akaitora had set up. One of these was impenetrable by anything that tried to break through it.

"We heard you had florins," said the pegasus. "We'll be taking those off your hands now."

Akaitora couldn't believe his ears. He knew how valuable florins were, and a pony that had one wouldn't go around without a bit of protection. Twilight didn't have any florins, though. Only he had any left, outside of the collectors. But these thugs didn't know that. They were picking on a librarian who had very little money, if any. But this was not what struck Akaitora the most. What struck him the most was that he recognized the voice.

"Hey, Bloodstain," said the blue unicorn, looking back behind them. "We got us some spectators."

"Well, we'll deal with them later." said Bloodstain. "Right now I just want those florins. Keep the barrier up, they can't breach it. Nothing can."

"You wanna bet!?" shouted rainbow, crashing against the barrier, making a thudding noise with every hit. "You... Let... Her... Go!" she shouted with every strike.

"Rainbow, Stop!" shouted Twilight. "It's impenetrable!"

"I don't care! I'm not leaving you in there with those thugs!"

"You don't have to," shouted Akaitora, magically pulling a chunk of metal from his cape pocket and magically throwing it at the barrier. Upon hitting the barrier, it froze in place, the barrier fading around it, then coming back as the blue unicorn pushed the barrier back together with his magic, but to no avail. He ran out of energy, and the barrier fell. "You should have paid better attention in school, Frostbite! Bronze is a magical insulator!"

Rainbow, no longer hindered by the barrier, dove at Frostbite, knocking him off his hooves. His body struck the ground, unconscious after expending most of his energy.

Akaitora, on the other hoof, drove himself toward the white Unicorn. "It's time to drop the charade, Tundra!" He yelled, swinging his hooves at the unicorn Tundra avoided most of the swings, and pulled a knife out of his vest pocket, swinging that instead of hooves or his horn. Akaitora leaped out of the way, avoiding the swings as Tundra turned back toward Twilight.

Rainbow, having given up on beating the unicorn to a pulp, turned her attention to the pegasus speeding at her. He had taken the opportunity to gain some air for a strike at the blue mare half his size. Just in the nick of time, Rainbow dashed out from underneath, only to be blown away with the force of the impact. She righted herself, staring him down for a brief lapse in time, then charging, full force. Bloodstain merely chuckled, and planted his hooves firmly on the ground. Rainbow leaped into the air, turning her body to prepare for a kick. She went flying past him though, and into the wall as he dematerialized in a white light.

The flash was enough to temporarily blind Akaitora, who felt his skin open as the knife glinted across it with him unable to avoid it. They weren't deep cuts, just enough to cause his footing to falter. When the light wore down and his vision cleared, he was on the ground, and only Rainbow and Twilight could be seen, the former of which was stuck with her rear hooves planted in a wall, and the latter of which was lying on the ground, with no anti-magical field surrounding her. A voice called out form one of the nearby rooftops, drawing their attention.

"It seems we can't stay any longer. It's been fun. You can keep your florins for now, but we'll be back later. Won't we, Akaitora?" with those last few words, Bloodstain looked directly at Akaitora, and smiled. In the next instant, another flash of light from Tundra's horn, and the three stallions disappeared into thin air.

"What the hay did he mean by that?" Rainbow asked, managing to pull herself from the wall. "And why did they trapyou, of all ponies, Twilight?"

"I don't know," said Twilight, pulling herself to her hooves. "They just pushed me into this alley and demanded that I hand over all my florins, or the bits I had received for them. I think they were looking for you, Akaitora."

"That still doesn't answer my other question. What did he mean when he said he'd be back, and why did he mention your name, specifically?"

"Well," Akaitora began, "Several years ago, I was classmates with two of them. Frostbite may be weak with spells, but he's good with a lock." He limped over to where Twilight was, trying to stay off of his right rear leg. "As for Tundra, he was always one of the most powerful spellcasters anyone in the neighborhood had ever seen, even at a young age. He never talks, though, and he never experimented with spells, at least that's how it was last time I saw him."

"And the Pegasus? What about him?" asked Rainbow, landing over by Akaitora and Twilight. "He knew your name, so there's got to be a connection there."

"Actually, I've never met him, but the name and voice sound familiar. I'll have to think on that."

"Then how did he know your name?"

"I'm not sure. I know someone who might though, and I intend to get an answer on that tonight."

Comments

[Balancer]

I knew his brother was bad news, he probably told the thugs were to find twilight....OH NO fluttershy was left alone with him...

[Kiernan]

90245 Hold there, don't jump to conclusions (at least not without a hop and a skip first). There's still a bit of the story to go... Okay, I'm not even half done. But you can't just say that my characters are one-sided. There have to be dynamic characters inside and outside of every story.

Think about this. Before he showed up at the castle, what did you know about Usutora? Containing all that information, and the fact that Kai's been locked away for ten years, dos a character change? does a war that I'm making up right now change the characters? Think on that while I go get some coffee.

[Balancer]

90264Well...he was good with locks, I'm sure Kai's reaction to seeing his brother and the comment about not removing anything from the castle implys he is/was a theif, thieves tend to hang around with thugs and thugs showing up close to Usut's (yes that's my nickname for him) appearance could imply that he either lead them to Ponyvill, therefore he should not be left alone in a castel with Fluttershy, or he is running from the thugs and is hiding at the castle.

This wall of text was brought to you by the wacky process I use as logic

[Kiernan]

90274 Please use Usu, It's shorter, and makes more sense. You see, Akaitora means Red tiger, and Usutora means Pale tiger (I know, he's not red, but his parents saw a fighting spirit inside of him. too bad he was fighting for something else, eh?). Tora is the dividing line, so either go Usu or Kai.

Anyway, yes, Usu was a thief, but you don't know why. And yes, thieves do typically hang out with thugs, but you miss the line between burgling and picking pockets. Third, You're assuming way too much. It may have been that they saw Rainbow dealing with the collector, and they tracked her back to ponyville. It may have been that they were around Ponyville, and they saw Twilight hand Rainbow the florins (far more likely, seeing as how the other version would have them going after Rainbow.

And I just ruined a line from the next chapter.

And finally, learn to spell.

[Balancer]

90304Btu waht cuold pssobliy be worng wtih my spllenig...sorry will quietly wait for the next chapter

[ScootaLewis]

"magically pulling a chunk of metal from his cape pocket and magically throwing it at the barrier."

No need to repeat "Magically".

[Kiernan]

90792 Sorry, my editorial staff must have missed that one.

[SunStone]

Liking it.