Memories of the Stone

by WanderingPony

Chapter 10: Rescue Me

"Twilight honey? Ah think we ain't quite up to this kinda hoofwrasslin match...", Applejack managed to get out as she wobbled back to her feet. Rainbow Dash gently lifted a shuddering, terrorized Fluttershy back into a twitchy hover as the stars stopped getting in Twilight Sparkle's eyes and resumed circling around her cutie mark.

The little alicorn shook her head until the circling stopped and replied, "We aren't here to fight Sombra...we're here for them." She pointed to the limp forms of battered ponies scattered in every direction, "The Princesses are distracting Sombra while we get everypony out of here...then we can do what we need to."

Behind them, a green beam of magical fury tore another gash in the already ruined stadium wall. Five stories worth of seats came tumbling down in a cloud of dust.

"Applejack, Rainbow Dash- find everypony you can that's trapped out in the seats and get them to where I can see them. I'll teleport them here to me, then safety. Rarity, Pinkie Pie- get the ones down here. Fluttershy, I need somepony who can take care of them if they're badly hurt and tell me whether they need a real hospital or just time to sleep it off. You're with me. I'll keep anything from Sombra-" as a purple crescent of force slashed from Twilight's horn to splinter an incoming bolt into a harmless cloud of magical smoke- "from getting in the way. Now, GO!"

The Elements scattered across the field- Applejack easily kicking off the ground, clearing the bottom railing for a lap around the devastated seating. Rainbow Dash dove and wove through the tunnels and inside paths (although thanks to the many holes, some of those were more "outside") in search of victims. It didn't take long- Applejack and Dash were hollering in seconds as they dragged limp ponies off the ground and into Twilight's line of sight, where a Come-Hither Charm reeled them in like fish on the line. Rarity hoisted bodies with a pinched lip and looked like she was about to lose her ladylike charm all over the dirt (with lunch), but never stopped laying them on Pinkie's back- who from Herd-knows-where had found ROLLER SKATES and was delivering the injured to Fluttershy without so much as a jostle. The yellow angel of mercy was rattling out orders to Twilight in a steady, soft tone that would have been adorable had it not been describing things better seen on "Canterlot Mercy Emergency" instead of a sporting event, sending her chosen to the train station, Crystal Waters Of Healing Emergency Room, or patching a broken and wrenched body herself before nodding to Twilight to get them to safety.

Five minutes. Ten. Fifteen. The stadiums wounded and disabled occupants melted away into glowing twinkles and smoke under Twilight's horn. Fluttershy had reduced Rarity's party dress to dozens of tattered bandages with her teeth and staunched an equal number of wounds with them. The six ponies had managed to save nearly thirty unfortunate souls who would have been hell-bent for Kratos the Glue-Maker otherwise, leaving most of the stadium clear of anything save rubble, King Sombra, and two wrathful goddesses attempting to send the wretched fiend straight into the Pasty One's torments.

Almost unnoticed in the rescue duty, two frustrated mayflies tried to make themselves noticed in a battle of the gods...

---

Big Starlight was smoking. No, literally- a solar blast from Celestia had refracted off Sombra's shields and left his armor scorched and his mane more than a little crispy on the end. Orange Wedge had a blackened scar across the top of his helmet from a near miss, and a hodge-podge of dents where an exploding support pillar had nearly punched a dozen holes into his guts. As it was, his withers were a mess of bruises. Neither had managed to get closer than fifty yards before random projectiles and explosions had forced them to veer off.

"I can't get a clear shot!", bellowed Starlight as he rolled around another cloud of rising debris.

From a hole in the wall, something proceeded to take a shot at HIM. Forks of lightning stabbed from a crumbling sewer grate, narrowly missing the pegasus and leaping to run along a shattered length of rebar, chunks of concrete spitting away from the metal as it heated red and sagged. A massive eye glared as two stubby claws waved in frustration.

Orange Wedge didn't even think. You don't think when flying fast, you do...and passing by the hole, he whipped his spearpoint across the ocular nightmare trying to flame out his wingman. Screeching, the ahriman fell away from it's place, only to be replaced by a swarm of smaller demons rising on bat-winged fury.

"Awwwww, FLAMING HORSEAPPLES WITH A CHERRY ON TOP!", screamed Wedge as five very eager imps lined up behind him. Corkscrewing into a desperate evasive maneuver, Wedge looked back to see his bogies pointing claws glowing with black magic. Stadium benches flew into the air on wings of flame as the demonlings tried to track the erratic guardpony, chittering and screeching imprecations after the pegasus. Thankfully, their aim was poor...when a spearshaft from behind lumped their noggins as Big Starlight returned the favor of getting the flak off his wingpony.

Another arc of lightning missed Starlight as he left his hoofprints neatly engraved atop an imp's skull, leaping clear of the fiends...and the storm tore into the imps instead. Sparks jumping from one flapping menace to another, the tight group of Somba's minons wailed and convulsed, then tumbled towards the ground, crumbling into flecks of black ash as death claimed their un-natural forms.

"DID YA SEE THAT, WEDGE?"
"DOES THAT COUNT AS AN ACE?"
"BUUUUUUUUUUCK YEAH! WOOOOOOOOOOO!"

A seven-foot blade of volcanic glass cut the conversation short as it bobbed Wedge's tail, the owner having clawed his way from under the seats to try and chop the guardsponies into Salisbury Horse-Steak. A squad of Kindred boiled up out of the hole, more imps clawing over in each other in a blood-crazed frenzy as they joined the chase...only to have the bull-like head of a tauri butt them in all directions. Levereing it's massive bulk onto something solid enough to support it's weight, the thing bellowed a challenge and began tearing out pieces of the stadium to hurl into the air.

Looking at the angry mob of hellspawn, the two winged maniacs met each other's eyes.

"Strategic withdrawal, Big S?"
"ADVANCE FOR THE REAR, PRIVATE WEDGE!"

They made for a gap in the rubbled wall, Hell pursuing them with dripping maws and hurling every element of pain (and chunks of rubble plus at least twenty different kinds of very creative curses) it could find.

Comments

[Zennistrad]

Big Starlight and Orange Wedge are Biggs and Wedge. Can't believe I didn't notice that sooner.