Freedom Through Harmony

by Electricut

Chapter Twenty-seven

Chapter Twenty Seven
Manehattan; Apartment Building Floor Six
Applejack

I stared out the window in wonder and panic, watching the brutal battle unfolding on the rooftop across from me. The shadows never stopped, coming to life only to be cut down by the mighty broadsword brandished by the midnight-winged warrior fighting them single-handedly. Is that... Is that Ultraviolet?! I made the connection between this fighter and my second older brother quickly, and soon another thought slammed into my mind. Is Rainbow Dash with him?!

And there was my answer, bolting through the sky towards him, katana blazing with evening light, his unkempt and unmistakable hair flowing behind him. My heart raced as I watched him fall, sword on a collision course with an enemy directly behind his brother. But when the blade connected, I had to shake my head to understand what had happened.

A shockwave of pure energy, running through the whole spectrum of light, erupted from where the sword met shadow. Every single other enemy went flying, all evaporating as they collided with ground or building. More were on the way, of course, but he hauled the weapon forward with inhuman speed, leaving trails of rainbow-dyed light in his wake. Even Vi just stood in awe, watching his little brother obliterate the faceless enemy before they had a chance to fight back.

Snapping back to reality, I dashed out of my room, making for the front door. I planned to make my way to the roof of this building, and grab their attention from there. Realizing I might end up fighting as well, I ran back to the room and grabbed the small hatchet I had snuck in with my belongings. I ran out the door, disregarding my aunt and uncle's attempts to stop me.

I scrambled up the steps as fast as I could, but something made me stop short at the door leading to the roof. Something in my gut was telling me this was a bad idea, and I had never gone wrong obeying these premonitions before. But my mind was still in lockdown, and my heart told me I needed to get to Dash by any means necessary. Nevertheless, I opened the door slowly and quietly.

Standing on the edge of the roof was a figure draped completely in black, rubbing his chin thoughtfully as he considered the battle unfolding. He hadn't noticed my approach, and still didn't as I inched closer. I managed to make out some of what he was saying, as he mumbled quietly to himself: "Interesting... A child with that kind of power, brought out in time of crisis... Heh. I think I'm going to have to change targets. This one's much more valuable to The Order than the Heron child."

He must be talking about Rainbow Dash! I concluded. I gripped the hatchet tighter, and, abandoning reason, silently ran towards him, jumping into the air and slicing down powerfully at his back. He screamed shortly in surprise and pain, rolling to the side and trying to clutch his back. Turning his gaze on me, he glided over to me on a pair of tawny wings, and swung the back of his gloved hand forward. It hit me square in the face, and I went flying across the roof, coming to rest near the other edge.

"Ya-hoo'll pay for that!" He yelled, a more thick accent breaking through in his rage. A golden spear, short handled and wide, flourishingly tipped, jumped to his hand, and his wings flared out menacingly behind him. My knuckles began to turn white with how tightly I held the tiny axe, as he flew towards me. I braced for impact- to roll out of the way at the last second and rend into his cloak with the small, sharpened blade. But as he was about to reach me, a golden form spun between us horizontally, deflecting his strike off course.

She came to rest facing away from the edge, left hand tipping her wide brimmed red fedora to the stranger. A standard issue steel lance was in her other hand, and her golden wings and hair flowed behind her, almost blinding in the twilight surrounding them. "So, I take it you're the one who's responsible for yesterday's incident?" She said between gritted teeth. "The one who got it in his head to try and kidnap my little sister?"

The man threw his arms up in dismay. "For the Goddess's sake, I can't even kill the meddler without someone else meddling in this town!"

"Drop it." She said curtly, brandishing the lance. "I don't feel like listening to you rant on about the faults of humanity- I'd rather make this quick. Take off now, and stay out of this city, and I won't have to kill you.”

“You seem to be confused, girl.” He spat back at her. “I’m the one with the infinite army of shadows, I’m calling the shots! Now back the hell off and leave me to my business, or incur the wrath of the Goddess herself!” He cast his spear to the sky, reflecting the waning rays of light across the rooftop.

“You claim to serve the Goddess?” The woman carried on, advancing slowly. “The very same that family stories say my ancestor met in person, and was blessed by before his final battle? This is the Goddess you claim to turn against me?” The man froze, her words taking him by surprise. Picking up the pace, she raised her lance to the sky as well, and shouted to the heavens: “Cards of Fate, guide my Hand! Chaos Suite!” A dull red energy began pulsing with light at the end of her weapon, and with a flick of her hand, a small object flew towards the black-cloaked man.

He jumped back, dodging away from the projectile, but it landed harmlessly on the ground. I stared from behind the woman, confused. It appeared that what she threw was nothing more than a single ivory die, nothing you wouldn’t find with a normal board game. But a small light now shone from it, projecting a square of four dots- what the die had landed on. The energy on the end of her weapon flashed to a bright blue, and she kicked into the air, ready to charge at the now on-edge enemy.

“Hey, Kid.” She addressed me. “You wanna get out of here? This is going to get ugly real fast.”

“Not happenin’.” I said simply, facing him with weapon held at the ready. “I’m fightin’ for my friend, and this guy was gettin’ ready to take him just like you said about your sis. I’m not lettin’ him get away.”

“Fair enough, but do you know how to use that thing? Can you actually fight him?” I answered by tossing the axe into the air, catching it backhanded, and jumping into a battle stance. “Works for me. Just don’t get hurt, alright?”

I nodded, hoping I was doing a good job of hiding my apprehension. “Name’s Applejack, by the way.” I said, managing to keep my voice level.

“Creiddylad. Now brace yourself!” She spun her weapon before her as the man charged forward on the wind, hacking and slashing away with lightning speed. Creiddylad’s weapon was obviously much more powerful with her spell in place, but she just didn’t have the opportunity to hit him- it was all she could do to make sure he didn’t hit first. I ran forward and joined in, standing close to her to let her deflect his attacks at me, while I tried to find a chink in his guard. I swung down on him hard, deflecting the spear from its complicated but specific path, giving Creiddylad an opening to hit him once. He jumped back, jolted slightly by the energy of her attack.

The blue energy began to wane, becoming smaller as the remaining power began to condense. Running towards him, Creiddylad swept up the die again, casting it behind her. This time, it landed on three, and a green light formed in place of the blue. I guessed that the number the die landed on determined how powerful the energy on her lance was- and the higher the number, the stronger the attack. I couldn’t guess how it worked that way, though. I’d seen a few techniques that powered up weapons with energy before, but never one that was based entirely on chance.

She didn’t slow as she approached the enemy, and I rushed up to assist her again. He was working faster now, however, and began gaining ground as we were forced back away from his blade. Creiddylad was now on the defense, unable to keep up with him, and her energy wasn’t enough to counteract his speed. Soon the two of us were approaching the edge, and neither could break away from him this time. I had to work furiously to block several hits he aimed at me, and once the blazing golden spear had managed to slice my arm, leaving a shallow but bloody gash on my left shoulder and nearly cutting the arm off the shirt I wore.

My foot reached back for somewhere to step, but met only air. Oh man, we’re already to the edge! I managed to place my foot back on the roof, but I barely had any room to move. Even worse, the enemy saw my stumble, and began diverting his attention to me. Grimacing, I blocked another hit from his spear, but the impact was enough to knock me off my feet just slightly- and it was just enough to send me falling over the edge.

I screamed, trying desperately not to look down. I was already pretty scared of heights, and it didn’t help that I was falling six stories to the hard stone ground below- surely enough to kill me. Time was either dragging on painfully, or my mind was working ten times as fast as usual (or both), because I had only fallen a single floor by the time these thoughts had run through my head. I saw just below me an open window, though it was too far for me to reach. I closed my eyes, ready for the end, ready to finish the fall and be done with it...

Something slammed into me, hard, and we flew straight through the open window. I collided with the ground hard: winded, but mercifully alive. The thing that had run into me suddenly lifted, standing up and getting off of me. I opened my eyes and rolled over to see, and my breath caught immediately.

Standing over me, facing towards the window, outlined brilliantly in the remaining light, katana still trailing its rainbow light, stood Rainbow Dash.