Under Lunar Wings

by JP HACK

Chapter 05: Conflict

Under Lunar Wings

Chapter 5: Conflict

By : JP HACK

Edited by : JP HACK

Provider of internet : The nerds

“If you hurt someone or someone hurts you, the same red blood will be shed. It hardly seems like a path, because it is a very thin and and narrow path that slowly makes its way through. The prejudice that makes people fear each other makes blood flow so very easily. This is a path towards a very real sun, not some empty wish.” - Book of conflict, Volume one.

Location: Lunas chambers.
Time: Around midday

Luna stood high before her two subjects, after she settled everything with the palace guards, she went back to silently judging them. One was a Pegasus. His name is Lance Skyslicer. A little advanced in years but he had a slim physique and light green coat. His dual crossbows mounted on his wings that were attached to a skeletal wing brace showed some signs of damage, though it looked like he only used one of them most of the time. His red, orange and yellow mane and tail were singed everywhere, including on his his cutie mark, which was a crossbow with wire outline of wings. He didn't look like he cared though about his looks in front of royalty.

The other was an earth pony mare. Hammerheart was her name. Her brown coat and multi-shade purple hair was just as singed. Though she on the other hoof tried to do something about it as she stood before Luna. Her cutie mark was a wrench and a yellow potion. Luna stared at them with a puzzled look for a moment.

The night princess ushered for her guards to leave the room and then told the daytime guards to send for repair ponies to fix the damage of the door. She realized that there was still a huge wall rendering any privacy useless in the meantime. Her horn glowed and formed a bubble on the wall blocking all noise and trapping them in the room. She turned her gaze towards the 2 pony's.

"Okay. Now that we have some privacy." Luna's royal demeanor and stance disappeared instantly as she scowled with her wings spread out, "Mind telling me what the Faust happened?!" Lance spoke up without moving a muscle,

"Well, princess," Luna flinched from that, "We were doing fine at first but the enemy is more powerful than expected. And is gaining more power by the day."

"Yeah. If it was not for Nova we would of been killed." Chimed in Hammerheart. "Not only is she getting more daring but is now using lethal force against us." Luna put a hoof to her chin in thought.

"This is most unexpected. So give me the short version. Why did you come back without my dear Nova Blade?" Lance then flexed his wings but then retracted them instantly with a yelp from sharp pain. His wings made a screeching noise from the braces, and it looked like he was not gonna be flying anytime soon. Hammerheart looked at him with concern but he put a dismissive hoof up towards her.

"Princess allow us to explain what happened two days ago. Might as well get some popcorn cause I'm giving you the long version because the short one is boring."

"Lance...really?" Asked Hammerheart as she stared at Lance with a perplexed look.

"Hey I'm not going anywhere fast in my condition." He flexed his wings again making him flinch in some pain. "Besides your heavy. You nearly took out my back!"

"Hey are you calling me fat?!" Hammerheart barked back in surprise.

"Well considering it took us nearly 4 hours to get here or more than double the time than usual, you do the math."

"Why I oughta," her power hooves activated with a high pitch whirl and she faced Lance, "kick your flank for saying that to a mare!" Luna watched as Hammerheart edged closer to Lance Skyslicer. Lance rolled his eyes and turned to Luna ignoring Hammerheart.

“Luna please, do you want to hear the story or not?”

“Fine.” She looked at Hammerheart with a hard stare. “Come on Hammerheart, you should know Lance by now. He didn't really mean it, so stop being like that.” The sound of power hooves powering down in a fading whirl was heard. Hammerheart trotted up to one of the couches and sat down.

“Fine, Its not like I was really gonna do anything. Just get on with it.” Seethed Hammerheart. She then busied herself with removing some of her saddlebags and her power hooves. Lance then as well took the opportunity to sit down and relax. Luna waited patiently for everyone to get better but she was running on the more impatient side. She wanted to know what happened to her student. Once Lance Skyslicer was finished taking off the wing braces along with Hammerheart’s stuff as well, they sat in front of Luna. Lance then raised a hoof and spoke.

“Well, allow me to start. Your student is an idiot.” Luna didn't bother to flinch. Neither did Hammerheart. Instead they just said nothing for a moment.

“Glad we can agree on that, regardless. Here is what happened...”

Location : Outskirts of Fillydelphia, West Industrial district.
Time: A couple of Hours before the events of chapter 1. Around 11 PM.

Nova Blade, Lance Skyslicer, and Hammerheart were all trotting down the road. All of them in their prime. Nova Blade had his armor shining and nearly blending with the darkness around him. His axe glowed on his back which sported the symbol of the axe on his armor even though it covered his cutie mark. Hammerheart was carrying a saddle bag with some light armor as well and had on her power Hooves, while lance was trotting with them at a lazy pace with his wings and crossbows folded. He had some light white armor that looked like it was smoothed out for speed and aerodynamics.

Around them were large industrial buildings that held various factories scattered around. From sugar refining to coal processing. A lot of industry was here creating a labyrinth of roads and railroad tracks. The tall buildings created creepy looking shadows throughout its surroundings from the scattered light poles in the night. Only the sound of machinery was heard, and the clopping of hooves on the hard pavement from the trio reverberated through the buildings echoing the hoofsteps. Ponies were scarce at this hour as it was the graveyard shift. Nopony would want to work this late. The trio walked down an alleyway and then turned towards another main road, then suddenly someone started singing,

“In west Fillydeplhia born and raised, on the battleground is where I spent most of my days. Chilling out, maxing, relaxing all cool. And shooting some Hoofball outside of the school. When a couple of gryphons, who were up to no good, startin' making trouble-”

“SHUT UP NOVA!” yelled Lance and Hammerheart. Nova instantly stopped dancing in song and pouted in annoyance. There was a collective sigh from the earth pony and the pegasus as they walked. After some time, Nova looked at one of the buildings in disgust.

“Are you sure we are going in the right direction?” Piped Nova. Hammerheart looked at him for a moment and sighed.

“Luna told us that our target could be anywhere. There is no specific directions but to just find and capture this cutie mark stealer.”

“Well that's just great. Not only we have a maniac on the loose again, but we don't know anything about he, she or it nor where he, she or it is.”

“Wait a minute. Nova you should know about our target. Didn't you pay attention during our meeting before we left?” asked Hammerheart. Nova just gave sheepish smile signifying that he didn't bother to pay any attention. How did he become Luna's student we will never know. Lance cleared his throat loudly,

“Well, allow me to explain it real quick that even a foal would understand.” He sighed. “It's like this. Our mission is to investigate why there is a case of missing cutie marks here in Fillydelphia before it becomes a national threat. We have no knowledge of who, or what is the cause of this, but we do know that we need to stop it.” Lance spread his wings, making the metal bracing expand with the crossbows flexing along with them, which made a sharp squeal.

“Oh, no. Please don't tell me that I have to lubricate the mechanism again! That's the third time today lance!” Hammerheart exclaimed as she reached into her saddle bag to bring out an oil can.

“Well you can lubricate my mechanism anytime you want hammerheart.” Said Lance back with not a hint of hiding that sexual innuendo. Hammerheart just growled at him for a moment before continuing to grab his wing braces forcably and start oiling it much to Lances surprise and protest.

Nova on the other hoof just didn't care or really notice his friends in there little feud. For he kept trotting along but pondered of what lance said to him. Did he really daze off during the mission briefing? He couldn't remember anything substantial or noteworthy but something did stay into his head,

“Nova Blade, remember to take the cutie mark stealer down, by ANY means necessary.” What did Luna mean by that? Nova mentally scratched his head in thought. The trio walked further into the industrial district, as the buildings were getting larger and more complex the deeper they went.

“Okay, i'm sensing a disturbance in the force.”

“A disturbance in what?” Asked Hammerheart as she still grabbed Lances wings and continued vigorously oiling them.

“Are you a moron?” Deadpanned Lance as he walked with Hammer still grabbing his wings.

“No, I mean I feel something is gonna happen very soon. Just stop for a moment.” Nova, Lance, and Hammerheart stopped in the middle of the street. Nova crouched low and looked around with his eyes. They looked around at the dark buildings. They waited and listened for anything substantial. All that could be heard was the humming of machinery and the billowing of steam from the nearby buildings. The street was dark except for the few street lights creating a chilling feeling. Nova stepped forward and started sniffing the air.

“Hmmm, I smell a smelly smell. Something that is...smelly.” Before Lance or Hammerheart had the chance to bash against the better judgement of Nova Blade, a loud scream was heard in the distance.

“Guys! Scatter!” Nova called out with some new found authority. Instantly Lance Skyslicer took to the air while Hammerheart split off in another direction with a boost from her power hooves. Nova ran for the nearest building. It was a warehouse that was at least 4 stories tall and who knows how big inside. Nova went for the doors that were left open and barged in.

In the warehouse, there were rows and rows of boxes and equipment. The rows seemed to go on forever. Though there was a bright light into the distance on the far end of the warehouse. Nova took out his axe from his back and made sure to grab only the handle with his magic to cut down on the light emitting from his horn. He dashed around like a ninja, moving swiftly around box to box with the greatest ease. He looked up at the ceiling and saw Lance through the skylights above. He looked like he was going for the same target. Nova wondered where Hammerheart was but instead decided to just to continue to get closer to the light.

In the clearing near the far end of the warehouse, a bright light and some screaming along with laughs of someone being maniacal was heard. Nova peered above one of the boxes to get a good look at the situation. Then from out of nowhere someone poked him into his side. Nova stopped himself from yelping and pointed his axe towards the direction of the poking. He stopped when he saw that it was just Hammerheart smiling sheepishly and waving a hoof. Nova faced hoofed for a moment and then motioned her to watch with him.

There in the distance was a grim sight. A unicorn pony with a pink coat and blonde mane, wearing a white cloak that had some arcane symbols on them, was standing in the middle of a fully active arcane circle. The circle itself was moving and rotated on the floor with purple and green symbols and lettering. In that circle was another pony, an earth pony with a orange coat and a green mane, who was being held down in the circle apparently against her will. She yelped and kicked in an attempt to escape. The circle increased with magics and more circles appeared on the floor rotating in different directions. The cloaked pony looked at her handy work and spoke a haughty laugh,

“Hahaha, hold still for a moment and it will be all over!” The pony though in the circle though barely could look at her captor, but tried to scream for help. Suddenly the arcane magics activated and wisps of energy shot towards the pony rising her up into the air.

It engulfed her as she yelled in apparent pain as the magicks entangled her. It grabbed her cutie mark which was a symbol of coals on fire. Her mark seemed to disintegrate into flakes and moved to transfer to her captor whose flank was glowing from her sides, as if she was gaining the cutie mark to herself but her cloak hid what was really happening.

Nova had seen enough. He remembered the consequences of not having a cutie mark and needed to act quickly. This mare had to be stopped at all costs. He turned to Hammerheart who was equally disgusted at the sight she saw and motioned her to get ready to battle. Nova looked up and saw Lance above but this time he inside the building on the ceiling catwalks. The armored unicorn glowed his horn a burst of red like a laser to get his attention and then made his horn glow a series of patterns of light in a specific sequence as if he was communicating through code. Lance only nodded and waved a hoof in confirmation.

The evil enchantress was still grabbing the cutie mark out of her victim when a bolt shot right into her magic circle. The arcane magics swirled and imploded in disruption.

“Hey what is going on!? This is not the time to fail on me!” yelled the cloaked unicorn pony. Another series of bolts hit the ground with much force but were aimed around the unicorn, stopping her movement and severing the connection of her victim. The now blank flank pony started to fall to the ground until Hammerheart swooped and scooped her out of harms way. This lead enough time for Nova Blade to grab his axe and then charge at the cloaked pony.

“So you're the cutie mark stealer!!” He yelled as he delivered a quick and decisive hoof to the face of the cloaked pony. The cloaked pony staggered back in shock and in pain as nova then put his axe in front of him, this time with full power behind it. Lance then swooped down and landed next to Nova and pointed his crossbow at her with his left wing tilting it sideways. Hammerheart was seen off to the side tending to the mare that was injured from the magic circle. Nova seethed with anger,

“By princess Luna’s decree, you are under arrest! I suggest you don't make any sudden movements." He punctuated that point by pointing his axe right at her and pretty close to her face. "Yo Skyslicer, keep an eye on her.”

"Gladly." Lance then pointed his wings at her and then switched his ammo load out to red bolts made of ruby's instead of standard bolts. Nova slowly came closer to the pony on the ground.

"Ah ta ta. That hurt" She got up and brushed herself off to face the armored unicorn and multi-colored mane Pegasus.

"well well well...what do we have here?" She fixed her self up a little more as if she tried to look presentable. Then she looked at Nova for a moment before noticing something,

"Nova Blade is that you?" She asked in a sincere voice. That caught Nova off guard and he almost dropped his axe. Lance meanwhile raised an eyebrow. Hammerheart in the background finished tending to the wounds and burns of the other pony and came over to join Nova and Lance. Nova then let his guard down by moving his axe only a little before answering,

"How do you know me? And what were you doing to that pony?!"

"What do mean, you don't remember me?" Nova looked at her features. Unicorn, pink coat, blonde mane, and white cloak. The little pony in novas head fell down the stairs while trying to retrieve any relevant information about this mare. But Nova in his rare moments of pure genius remembered something.

"Sonata? Is that you?"

"Yes you would be right. But I don't go by that name anymore. Everyone calls me Strife Striker." She took off her cloak and tossed it aside in a showmare fashion. On her flank was complex arcane symbols of a star and with hollow circles at each point. There laid cutie marks inside only two of the circles. One was a wand with a blue swipe. The other was a symbol of coals that had flames around them.

Nova, Lance and Hammerheart all gasped in shock. She had two cutie marks? Strife then smiled smugly at the three warriors of the night. Nova looked the most disgusted and smacked his axe on the ground, firmly planting it in.

"Sonata. Please tell me you're not the one stealing cutie marks?!"

"I told you NOT to call me by that name anymore! My name is Strife Striker! And yes I'm the one stealing cutie marks.”

“What? Why? And why Strife Striker?” Nova asked while tilting his head in confusion. Lance and Hammerheart both backed off a bit to give Nova some space. Strife grit her teeth before responding.

“Isn't it obvious? After you left the orphanage from being picked up from Luna herself, I was left alone with all those idiots back there. I was picked on, spat upon, and worst off I was made to do lewd things which caused me everlasting strife and anguish that would never go away. So ever since I left I traveled the world and studied everything I can, I learned many things and what made me...”

Lance and Hammerheart looked at each other in confused looks. Lance whispered to Hammer,

"Is she monologuing?" Hammerheart only answered with,

"Yeah she is, and it looks like was Novas fault again. Somehow this does not shock me not one bit at all.”

"...and cutie marks have this sort of power that allow me to get what I want. That's why I vowed to take over Equestria to remake it into my own image! Ha HA! So nopony has to go through what I went through ever again. First I grab some cutie marks, then go after the elements of harmony, and after that I take over the princesses to rule all of Equestria! So what are you gonna do Nova? Try to stop me?"

"Of course I have to stop you. You just vowed to take over Equestria! I can't let that happen." Novas horn glowed and he gripped his axe, pulling it from the ground and placed it sideways in front of him. "Don't make me hurt you sonata but even regardless of our previous friendship, I will not hesitate to stop you," his voice turned dark, "permanently." Lance in the background whistled in praise. Hammerheart said nothing but silently turned her power hoofs on. Strife made her horn glow and yelled out,

"Fine. You and your friends will aid in my takeover by providing the rest of cutie marks that I need!" She shot a bolt of energy towards Nova who deflected it off to the side. Nova yelled out to his friends,

"Lance full aerial support and Hammerheart take that injured pony out of here, once you're done I need you to assist me in taking down Sonata!"

"I told you not to call me that!" Strife yelled. Lance took to the air while Hammerheart quickly moved towards the still now semi injured pony. Strife this time made her horn glow a different color than from her normal pink glow. She shot a flurry of newly magicked burning coals towards Nova while at the same time the cutie mark of the burning coals on her flank glowed in which she was taking power from. Nova struggled to deflect the flaming projectiles but made them scatter around him in series of fast swipes with this weapon.

Strife only got more angry at Nova and charged in for close combat. Nova stood still for a moment and tapped his hoof twice on the ground. Strife didn't take the hint of anything that was about to happen until suddenly a bolt shot right in front of her and exploded. She staggered back in surprise as the red flames engulfed the area between her and Nova.

Nova took the opportunity and leaped through the flames and bashed Strife with his helmet. He got slightly singed as some of the flames burned any exposed skin but landed a clean hit to her side. She staggered for a bit and then regained her footing. Strife seethed with pure anger now.

"Fine. No more giving you any mercy. I was going easy on you Nova. Should've known that you would of been trained in the Lunar Combat Techniques." She stepped back a couple of steps.

"Wait you were serious about actually trying to capture me?" He twisted his axe above him and kept it floating in that position.

"Of course I am! Now hold still while I capture you and take your cutie mark!"

"Well isn't this a nice reunion were having?" Nova sarcastically remarked. Strife then leaped into the air and then shot another series of energy bolts at Nova at blazing speeds. Nova yelped in sudden fright and then ducked behind one of the many boxes around the warehouse. Lance saw what was happening to Nova and quickly shot off another series of bolts towards Strife from above. Strife saw it coming though and activated a quick shield in time to deflect it before returning back to firing at Nova. Energy bolts ripped up the surrounding crates and boxes splintering them into pieces everywhere. Nova still kept backing away while blocking any energy bolts with his axe in rapid succession. He then turned and bolted towards the interior of the building. He called out towards lance,
"Lance! Didn't Luna say any means necessary to take her down? Does that mean I have to...ugh...kill her? I actually don't feel like bringing her down due to the past friendship in all."

Lance from a distance called out, "What? Do what you think necessary, are you acting stupid in a fight for no reason?!" He yelled as a clicking of an ammo change was heard coming from his crossbows.

“But I kinda don't wanna.” He said with a pleading voice as he pouted and started running back towards strife with his axe in tow.

"Of course you do! She trying to do the same to you!" Interjected Hammerheart who came from above the stacks of crates and leaped right on top of strife with her power hoofs digging into her skin. Strife yelped in pain and in retaliation she threw Hammerheart off to the side. Strife's horn glowed, this time directed at Hammerheart, and shot a beam of energy at her. Nova though this time was too far away physically to help Hammerheart so he then flung his axe like a boomerang right in front of beam and made sure to deflect the beam back towards Strife. Strife though moved slightly to the left as the beam passed her and exploded into the distance. Nova galloped back towards Hammerheart.

“I don't think I can do it guys, I really don't want to kill her. Can I just capture her?” He said out loud as he helped Hammerheart up while using his axe to deflect any magic from Strife. Another series of bolts came from above but were green in color, exploded and fizzled with emerald crystals shooting from the ground around Strife, who again blocked it with another shield and jumped away to avoid the crystals coming at her.

“Nova, you are Luna's personal student, You should know what to do. You trained for this for pete sake!” Yelled Lance as he flew above and dodged a barrage of beams of energy bolts from Strife. Hammerheart got back up and galloped towards Strife while Lance swooped down above Hammerheart and fired more bolts to clear a path for her to land a close quarter blow.

Nova watched in horror as Strife this time magicked fireworks, which caused the wand and star cutie mark to glow, and took aim at the pegasus and earth pony. The resulting multi-colored explosion knocked both Lance and Hammerheart back towards the ground hard. Nova looked at Strife as she stood tall and proud of her work. He picked up his axe with his magic and with fire burning in his eyes, he walked slowly towards his enemy while grinning to himself.

“No pony, I mean, NO PONY, hurts my friends!” He shouted. His horn glowed in full power and then his axe started glowing a bright blue entirely. “If I have to end this, I swear to Luna I will end this by her orders!” He charged at Strife who didn't expect him to be suddenly so serious.The Nova she knew was usually lazy and kinda of a jerk most of the time. But now he was a stallion on a revenge mission. She threw up a small shield to block the blows of his weapon. Nova swung his axe and with every blow his axe got brighter and brighter and then on a fifth swing, a visible crack formed in Strifes shield much to her surprise. Strife then teleported behind Nova. Nova instantly flung his axe behind him without even turning around.

*TINK*

He turned around and then saw his axe hit another weapon, but this time made out of pure magic. Strife smiled at him,

“Didn't think I could spar against you? Think again!” She swung her magic weapon low and high to block the strikes of Novas axe. Nova whilst battling called out,

“Lance! Hammerheart! I need you for artillery support! Don't interfere with the actual battle!” Lance who then got up and first checked his wings and cursed to himself in frustration. He looked over at Hammerheart and helped her up.

“Come on Hammer, you heard him. Hes going into his serious mode again, we better do as he says.”

“I guess so.” Hammerheart quickly grabbed a pair of goggles from her saddle bags and put them on and then gave another pair to lance. Lance put the techno magic goggles on, which had wires and gems all powering it. He activated the internal power source and made sure his wings were still good for flying. Once he was ready to go, he gave a salute to Hammer and took off to the air above the many boxes of the warehouse. Hammerheart moved away a safe distance from Nova and Strife as to not be near any rogue beams of magic and then tweaked her goggles. Nova and Strife sparred in a quick succession, but Nova was gaining on Strife, just slightly.

Every blow knocked her back a couple of times and sometimes she was even forced to stop and go on the offensive by shooting simultaneous beams of energy at Nova instead of using her magic weapons. Lance flew out of the warehouse at an extreme speed up into the sky. Hammerheart in the meantime pressed a couple of buttons on the side of the goggles which scrolled down some data.

>Activating

>Syncing with secondary pair

>2.567 GHZ frequency set and holding at 785.3 pulse latency

>Secondary pair synced

>Displaying all information >Active

Hammerheart made a playful grin to herself but then looked on at Nova to see how he was faring. Nova on the other hoof kept sparring with his former friend and now great threat to all of Equestria. Was she really keeping pace with a trained warrior with the power she gained from these stolen cutie marks? It didn't matter now, as Strife took another stance and this time charged Nova taking him by surprise. He leaped out the way, but was met by beams of energy right to his landing zone. A beam of energy hit him and knocked him over. Hammerheart looked in shock and was about move in to help but was stopped when Nova called out,

“No! Hammer, you must *ugh* help Lance, I will hold her off.” Nova got back up and made his axe swing around his entire body creating a shield. He slowly trotted towards strife with his axe in front of him in a low crouch. She shot more bolts of energy at him and even used the firework spell at him. Each attack deflected off his makeshift shield and exploded into the distance making the light glimmer off Novas armor. Hammerheart meanwhile spoke to her goggles which doubled as a HUD and a communicator.

*static* ~ “Lance, do you read me? Are you in position?” ~ *Static*

*static* *Gurgle* ~ I need 2 more minutes before I break the stratosphere! Tell Nova *static* to stall for a couple of more minutes!” *static*

*static* “.. You know for a former Wonderbolt, your flying is bad. And you should feel bad!” *static*

*static* “Shut up Hammer!” *static*

Hammerheart pressed another button and the goggles showed Lances stats, as he was flying, in the glass before her eyes.

>Connection specific DNS suffix >Active

>Displaying current information > 10 Second Refresh rate

>Coordinates 39.9522° N, 75.1642° W

>Speed 87 MPH

>Altitude > Adjusting to Default Psuedo Interface > 10+ Miles above sea level.

Hammer quickly realized that Lance needed more time. She looked over to Nova who was still fighting in a spar with Strife who seemed to get better at fighting as she went on.

“Strife demands, I mean, I demand that you surrender before its too late Nova.”

“Not even in your dreams!” He swung his axe and this time did not hesitate to use the sharp end to attack. He lunged forward and then leaped into the air and had his axe in front of him doing a large arcing chop.

“Hassan chop!”

Strife dodged at the last second when his weapon impacted the ground which made a large crater spreading cracks through out the concrete floor and making more of a mess inside the warehouse. Hammerheart meanwhile called out to Nova,

"Nova, Lance needs about 1 minute before initiating his attack. Can you handle her for that long?" A series of swipes and bashes of magic sounds passed through the warehouse. Many boxes of equipment broke and scattered into many pieces from the resulting energies scattering about. Apparently when unicorns fight, they fight! Strife relentlessly continued to pelt him with swipes from her magic weapons.

"I will be *bonk* fine Hammerheart. Just let me know when hes ready while you guide him." Hammerheart gave a quick salute and related some quick numbers to Lance. Nova though kept swinging his axe madly to block and retaliate towards Strifes own magic weapons. His axe kept glowing a full bright glow but Nova had his trick up his hoof.

He brought his axe close to him and touched it with his hoof which activated another spell to his weapon. Magic energies flowed into the axe and then condensed to the center jewel of the weapon. The axe then lounged at Strife and then exploded to create a full vortex of fire energy towards her. Strives eyes went tiny as she saw what was incoming and in her fright she then dropped all her spells and activated her strongest shield.

*SMASH!*

The energy that was apparently gained from each swung of Novas axe unleashed a torrent of energy against her shield. She struggled to maintain a grip on her magic but held it together as the energy passed around her. The energys subsided and Novas axe fell down to the ground as Strife stood there panting and out of breath as the magics stopped. How did she stop my Panic Attack? Nova cursed to himself for a moment before reeling in his weapon closer and planting it in front of him. Strife staggered a bit from the overuse of magic but then regained her composure as well

Hammerheart looked on at the dual. She knew that Nova was expelling a lot of magic power in a relatively short period of time. That was not good or smart on his part. But strife was just as tired but showed no signs of lack of magic power. Nova looked at Hammerheart for a moment.

"Is Lance ready? Cause I can't do this all day you know!" He then went back to stare at strife. "And strife. How did you do that thingy with the coals earlier?" Strife then fixed her hair to make herself more presentable and smiled.

"The great and powerful Strife. Ughhhh, damnable cutie mark is making me speak just like her!" She cleared her throat, "Its the individual power of the cutie marks that allow me to do these spells. As most pony's don't know that there is an unlimited untapped power that resides within them. Why do you think it takes forever to get your cutie mark in the first place? The magics have to develop along with your special talent. In turn whatever the cutie mark is, I can attack according to the type of cutie mark and create a spell from it." She lowered her head and growled, "Now hold still so I can take yours!"

"You don't even know what mine is!" Nova retorted. Strife shot another flurry of energy bolts at him while even shooting fireworks spells simultaneously now. Nova again deflected them with some difficulty but made his axe move just as fast and called out to Hammerheart who was still tinkering with the goggles and marking way points for Lance.

"Tell Lance to aim for the building. And tell him to do it now!"

"But that's suicide! What are y-"

"Just bucking do it already!" He yelled at Hammerheart as he struck against Strife's magic shield and twirled around to get to a better position. Hammerheart spoke into the goggles,

*static* “did you get that Lance?...*static*...aim for the entire warehouse. *Static*.

Lance only thought of the worst possible outcome for that plan but didn't even bother to care about novas safety. If he wants to die its his problem.

*static* “10-4, Lance Skyslicer over and out.” He leveled himself while flying high above the ground. He looked at the little HUD of his own goggles which displayed the altitude which read 76,032 feet. He sighed with slow breath and muttered,

“He better know what hes getting into.” And then tucked in his wings. He free falled towards the ground quickly gaining speed. A cone of air was forming around him and once he got to a certain speed he spread his wings back and out in a V shape. This time he activated both of his crossbows and turned his bracing's to make the crossbows move in a different orientation and switched to a different bolt loadout.

The bolts he selected were now black and had silver feathers on their ends. He hoped that this was not gonna be a waste of expensive ammo. Doing a Side Kicker Bolt Shower was a tough skill to learn as is and could be done only once in awhile. He unloaded all his ammo by firing as rapidly as he could while he himself was going nearly 189 mph in a straight down nose dive. He streamlined his body to go faster than terminal velocity. The bolts fired and seemed to almost go no faster than he was going, until the enchanted bolts suddenly burst into flames rocketing towards the target which was the building far down below. The bolts looked like a stream of missiles all going for the same place. He then banked up and put a hoof up to his goggles.

*static* “You have almost 20 seconds to impact, you better get out of there Hammerheart!” *static*

Back on the ground Hammerheart, turned and bolted for the nearest exit. She called out to Nova who was still fighting Strife.

“Nova, 15 seconds!”

“About time!” He abandoned the fight and swung his axe around him before making it stop directly on top of him. Strife only momentary stared at him in shock before she looked up, and it was too late.

“Have a nice day!” Nova mockingly said as his axe glowed this time purple and spun directly above him.

*BOOM!*

The bolts that Lance Skyslicer fired hit the top of the warehouse impacting with a great force. A fireball erupted illuminating the night sky for a brief moment. The warehouse imploded and collapsed in on itself in a spectacular fashion. Debris and building material flew around everywhere causing thousands of bits and damage to any buildings nearby.

Lance meanwhile arced back towards the ground and spotted Hammerheart galloping away from the explosion and wreckage. He focused and then sped off to meet her in a near free fall as if he used his wings only when it was necessary. Hammerheart turned around a corner of an adjacent building and kept running from the debri cloud. Lance pulled up next to her.

"You think Nova is okay? Why did you think he wanted the building destroyed along with him and Strife?" Hammerheart looked at him with sad eyes. She cared for Nova but didn't really show it.

"I really don't know. That stallion can be such a moron sometimes." She pressed another button on her goggles.

>Activating night filters

>54% Intensity

The scarlet colored goggles displayed everything around her like it was daylight, outlining the buildings and making distinguishing markers automatically. Lance did the same thing and looked back towards the wreckage as the dust cleared. A silhouette of a pony was then shown but was not clearly visible from all the flames and dust.

"Hammerheart. I think I see something."

"Nova?"

"I hope so."

Lance took off and landed in the middle of ground zero scanning the area with his own goggles. Flames and broken crates thrown about laid everywhere. Some rubble shifted off to the side catching his attention. Lance pointed a hoof towards it,

"Hammerheart check over there." Hammerheart only nodded and jumped higher than a normal pony would with her power hooves, to propel herself. They don't call them power hooves for nothing. She landed with a thud and started looking around.

Suddenly the ground shifted as Hammerheart got closer and a series of curses was heard. The rubble started to fly around in random directions making Hammerheart jump back. Novas axe shot up from the ground spinning in a quick succession followed by Nova himself who was talking out loud to no one in particular.

"Now limb splitter didn't I tell you that it was a good idea?" The axe then swung back like a boomerang and Nova caught it with his magic. He stared at it for a moment before his face turned red in frustration. "What do you mean I'm an idiot? We took out Strife!" The weapon fidgeted in mid air. "Shes what?!" Nova looked at Hammerheart and Lance who were now standing and staring at him with confused faces. He didn't pay them any attention but stared towards the far end of the ruined landscape.

Some rubble in the distance shifted upwards until it exploded out sending shrapnel in random directions. Strife emerged out of the rubble while holding a damaged magic shield around her that was flicking from emanate collapsing. Everyone's jaw dropped. She survived a building falling on her? No unicorn other than Nova is strong enough to do that so...How? Nova wanted to consider these questions but was still in too much shock to care. Lance clicked in another set of ammo to his mounted crossbows while Hammerheart crouched low in preparation to attack.

Strife let out a loud growl and looked at the trio. She considered leaving and finding other cutie marks instead of messing with Nova and his friends. But she put those thoughts straight to tartarus and opted for the "destroy all pony's" option. She focused on her horn creating both her cutie marks to glow. With a smile she reactivated her magic power reserves.

"Nova. Your Cutie mark!" She yelled. Nova looked back at his flank to see.

"What? where?!" Said Nova in a panic. Strife disappeared in a flash and appeared in front of him to his surprise and the shock of Hammerheart and lance. She quickly hoofed him in the face to confuse him and grabbed his entire body in a magical grip. Lance quickly shot bolts aimed for her head but where deflected off from her shield she magicked up at the same time she was gripping Nova. Hammerheart charged towards her and pounced with her power hoofs. She hit another shield and bounced off from it creating a bunch of sparks but didn't damage it. Strife then looked to her side and threw another close range magic firework. It exploded right in front of Hammerheart and Lance who didnt get away in time. They both flew back and landed hard on the ground.

Strife turned her gaze back at Nova who was struggling to free himself from her grip.

"Any last words before I take your cutie mark. For who knows how Much power I would gain from it?" She licked her lips in anticipation. She stilled her hoofs on the ground which then sprung up the same arcane circle from when she was using before. Nova struggled and tried to use his axe with his magic, which was floating by itself near him, but her magic didn't let him grab it. Strifes magic fought off his magic in an unseen game of tug of war. Nova had ran out of options.

He was careless for being an idiot and not setting up an anti-teleport spell. The magic of Strife proceeded to trap and tug at his armor which would reveal his cutie mark. Nova had to escape or everything he had ever worked for would be for naught. He yelled out to his friends in near panic,

"Guys, back to Canterlot! We regroup there and think of a plan." Strife frowned at him.

"Not thinking of leaving are you? You're trapped. How do you plan on leaving huh?" She taunted. Nova only smirked before erasing all emotion from his face. He closed his eyes and murmured an unknown language.

"Helmano Tos regano, Exccenden yon fasten, blink ratora!"

Strife raised an eyebrow as he said that and held him in her spell. Suddenly Nova opened his eyes which now where purple and there were wisps of magic flowing out of them to the sides. His horn glowed a dark bubbly purple as he took his axe near to him with the same greenish purple magic. Strife struggled to contain him as he was fighting her on a different level. Her grip lessened until suddenly a blinding light came from Nova himself.

A large column of energy blasted up from where Nova was and shot up into the air severing all the magics of strife and throwing back her far away. The beam of light illuminated the night sky once more but could easily be seen from miles around. She skidded to the ground and tumbled a few times. When she got back up she realized that Nova Blade was gone.

"What in Equestria?" She looked for novas companions but they seemed to be gone too. Until she heard screaming above her. She looked up and saw Hammerheart yelling in fright as Lance flew off into the distance with her on his back at great speed.

"They ran away? Pssh, that's no fun." The alarms and sirens of a fire brigade were heard getting closer along with the sounds of a lot of pony's coming to the scene. Strife licked her lips in anticipation once more with a sultry smile,

“Mmm, more victims. This should be interesting...” Her horn glowed and she disappeared in a flash.

Location: twilight's basement
Time : 2 pm

"...and that's what happened.” Nova Blade looked around at his audience. Applejack had a straight face on, Fluttershy shivered in fear while Pinkie Pie was dancing around with glee. Rarity and Rainbow Dash looked at Nova with some new found respect. Twilight on the other hand tried to process all this information. She thought of so many things that needed answering in quick succession, Nova was princess Luna's personal student? How did he know dark magic? Since when does Luna have a personal student? Does Celestia even know? Was it dark magic as he described it or was it different than what the princess taught me? Argghhh, this is making my brian hurt. Twilight stepped closer to Nova who was still in the chair half tied up.

"Well that's certainly interesting. But I still don't believe you." As soon as she said that the basement door busted through and shattered in a million pieces. Everyone stood there in shock and backed up a bit looking up at the entrance to the basement.

"Why couldn't you just knock?" Asked Hammerheart as she poked her head through while holding crystal which resembled a note pad.

"Nah, cause its cooler to do it this way!" Said lance as he trotted through and then hovered in place. He looked at Nova being held down in front of the mini interrogation scene along with the frightened mane six and pointed with his hoof while looking back at Hammerheart,

"Wait till Luna hears about this though."

End of chapter 5

Reader has gained
+10 STR
+2 DEX
+7 LUK
-1 INT

New Skill Learned
Power Reflection - Take 20% of total damage and reflect back 80% to the enemy only 20% of the time though

Combo Attack - You gain power with every hit of your axe, after you charge up 6 blows you can unleash the “Panic Attack” which does 1000% damage. Can only use this attack when you have 6 charges.

Author's Note:

Authors notes: Seriously for my first fan fiction I still have no idea what I'm doing. Any advice will be greatly appreciated.