Act IV: Climactic Collisions
Chapter 19: Determined Power
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They had their numbers, they had their friendship, and they had their collective strength. And yet, even with all that at their back, even with their enemy fighting alone, Norma still managed to hold her own. Every attack, every charge, Norma matched it head on if not surpass it one way or another. Even with everyone fighting as hard as they could, Norma showed no signs of slowing down.
Fluttercruel was in close range, swinging her mace as hard as she could without losing control over it. Each swing, though, Norma would manage to move around it. The spikes passed within centimeters of her body each and every time. And with each dodge, she did she’d just continue to hold on to that smirk, one that Fluttercruel wanted to wipe clean off her face—or, not so clean in this regard. And through her efforts, through her frustrations, Fluttercruel finally seemed to make contact, but not in the manner she wanted.
“Looks like you’re running out of steam,” Norma said with a chuckle, her hand placed firmly on the mace, totally unharmed, “You won’t be needing this anymore!”
The mace began to glow bright red and crackled with runes as Norma quickly backed away. Fluttercruel understood quickly and tossed it into the air. It spun upwards until finally making contact with the ceiling and erupting in an explosion of fire. The heat and light emanating from it caused Fluttercruel to shield her eyes and face, something she’d come to regret. In that moment, she was struck in the abdomen and launched away, her body colliding with a pillar before stopping.
Unfazed by the explosion, John charged through the dispersing flames and closed in on Norma, clawing at her with sharpened talons. But while his swings had the strength to deal some real damage, he didn’t have the speed to make it matter. Norma merely danced between his strikes before closing in. With a magic charged punch, she struck him in the chest and John barreled backwards. Maybe it was the addition of magic, or maybe he was simply that damaged. Either way, that strike hurt more than he’d expected.
Rarity and Applejack ran around John, the unicorn’s hand coated in more stone from the surrounded area for a large fist. Rarity brought it down with all her strength, her fist slamming on the ground as Norma avoided it. Applejack then jumped over Rarity, using her shoulder as support for another jump. Swining around, Applejack managed to land a kick to the side of Norma’s head, causing her to stumble. Applejack then followed up with a punch which also connected.
Her next punch, however, was stopped, her wrist and forearm held strong by Norma. By twisting Applejack’s arm and pushing down behind her knee with her foot, Norma managed to force Applejack down to a knee. Finally, she released one hand and charged it with magic, bringing it down over Applejack’s head. However, just as she managed to block one of Applejack’s punches, her own was stopped. Her arm was suddenly ensnared in two hands, and two legs soon wrapped around them as well. Her arm was soon pulled to its limit.
Rainbow had managed to sneak up on Norma and now had her in an arm bar, and she wasn’t letting go.
“Why you little…!” Norma’s grip loosened for only a moment, but it gave Applejack the time she needed to reverse her hold. With both her arms pinned against her will, she was wide open for Rarity’s attack. Rarity brought her stone fist up as hard as she could and struck Norma square in the stomach. Both Rainbow and Applejack let go just as Norma was struck, sending her flying up and away. Rainbow was not content to leave it at that; launching off the ground, she flew after Norma, slamming her knees into her just as Norma collided with another pillar. The force was enough for Norma to spit up blood, but she wasn’t done yet.
She grabbed on to Rainbow by the collar and slammed her forehead into the pegasus’s skull. Rainbow was dazed from the blow, and Norma used this to grab on to her and rode along as Rainbow fell to the ground. Rainbow hit the floor with Norma on top of her; she swore she heard something pop.
Norma rolled off of Rainbow and stood up quickly, seeing a mass of yellow soaring in her direction. Fluttercruel, though weaponless, still had a means to fight. She rammed into Norma and the two struggled to grapple as they rolled about. But through the struggle, Fluttercruel found a pressure point, and jabbed into it with two fingers. Norma’s body suddenly seized against her will, and with this, Fluttercruel threw her weight and slammed Norma into the pillar again. After grabbing Norma by the mane, Fluttercruel pulled hard on it, only to slam Norma’s face back into the rock.
Norma glared over her shoulder as she stared at Fluttercruel, runes flowing to the pressure point where the latter was pressing down. A simple spell—a hardening of the skin—and Fluttercruel’s pressure point became inactive, and Norma regained control of her body. Finally able to move, Norma threw her head back and slammed the back of her head into Fluttercruel’s face.
Fluttercruel let go and staggered back, her hand over her face and blood running through her fingers. Her nose had been broken, no doubt about it, but Norma wasn’t satisified with just that. While Fluttercruel was stunned from her nose pain, Norma grabbed her by her mane and pulled hard. With Fluttercruel stumbling towards her, Norma brought up her knee and rammed it into her abdomen, knocking the wind out of the pegasus. Fluttercruel doubled over, gasping for air. Norma looked down on her as she gasped and bled.
“Groveling at my feet, as you should—“ Fluttercruel’s head turned as she stared daggers at Norma. Her body moved again as she threw a punch with as much strength as she had, but Norma was ready. She grabbed hold of Fluttercruel’s fist, then after locking her arm, she slammed Fluttercruel’s face on the ground.
“My, you are resilient, but of course you showed me that in your battle with Silver Talon. I was most intrigued by what she did to her arm… tell me, how did it go again?” Though she tried to fight her off, Norma’s hold kept her firmly on the ground, “Was it something like this?” At that point, a sickening crack echoed throughout the room—the sound of Fluttercruel’s forearm breaking, to be exact. As resilient as she was, even Fluttercruel couldn’t hold by the pain she had just felt surge through her. She let out a scream of agony, which grew louder as Norma put more pressure into it.
“Pardon me, I believe I got it wrong,” Norma chuckled, “Seems I’m going to need some more practice…”
“Let go of her!” Norma looked over to see Pinkie charging towards her. Already, Norma could see the buzzer in her hand. Norma released Fluttercruel, stomping down on her head as she stood up. She waited for Pinkie, her eyes trained on the buzzer in her palm, preparing herself for when the right moment came.
Pinkie thrusted her palm forward, hoping for a repeat of what happened last time, but to her complete surprise, Norma didn’t even try to avoid it, or defend against it. Instead, Norma threw her hand forward as well, and grabbed hold of Pinkie’s. There was a short moment of pause—nothing happened. Pinkie looked down to their hands—something should have happened, but it didn’t. Why was that?
“I commend you, this device packs quite the punch,” Pinkie’s eyes shrank, the buzzer had in fact activate, but Norma’s magic was containing it around their hands, “Care to see for yourself?” She didn’t wait for Pinkie to answer, activating her magic. This sent the electrical current back to its sender, the surge of energy hitting Pinkie hard as the voltage did what was intended. Her body convulsed, but Norma was far from done.
“But, if I may give a little advice, I believe it could use a little more power. Something that can really send a message!” Norma cast another spell, and before Pinkie knew it, her mind went white with a new surge of pain. The voltage amped up enough to make her hair waver uncontrollably. Pinkie could no longer form thoughts to even try to escape. The pain would have kept right on going, had the buzzer not run out of charge.
Everyone was silent, everyone watching as Pinkie’s body, steaming from the shock, stood motionless. Her body fell in what seemed like slow motion, but she finally landed flat on her back. If not for the random twitches of her body, everyone would have feared the worse, but it did not diminish what they’d felt in that moment.
But their response was not in words, but in actions, each making their charge with their eyes filled with burning hatred. One alicorn was no exception. While Corey couldn’t see her face, he could tell from her body language.
“Twilight?” Corey looked down, seeing a magenta ring forming around his body. A barrier formed around him.
“I’ll be back…” Before Corey could protest, she had already moved, teleporting out of sight.
“D-damn it… not this again!” Corey swore.
Meanwhile, the others were on the attack, each trying to assault Norma with a barrage of attacks. Applejack’s kicks sliced through the air with enough force to take one’s head off, but she couldn’t get one to land. With every time she’d missed, Applejack could feel the strain in her legs building. Angry as she was, she couldn’t keep it up much longer, but all reason escaped her in her current state.
But still she tried, and still she failed, up until the very moment where Norma saw her opening. Reaching out, she slammed her palm into Applejack’s throat, the impact stunning her as she coughed up. But that wasn’t all: in Norma’s hand were small pieces of confetti. They came to life and wrapped themselves around Applejack’s neck, effectively closing her airway and beginning to suffocate her.
She tried and tried to pull at the bindings, but she couldn’t get any air, and the world around her soon started to fade away. With her strength leaving her, Applejack fell limp on her knees, everything a blur to her. The last thing she could see was something coming at her: another large blur, but at that moment, she couldn’t think about what it may have been. Simply feeling the last of her strength leave her as her world turned black.
But her time wasn’t done. The blur running towards her saw to that as he sliced through her bindings with his claws. Quickly, he caught her, checking for any signs of life, and let out a small sigh of relief.
“She’s breathing…” said John, but Applejack remained unconscious.
“Pity…” Norma added. John glared at her, his pupils becoming slit.
One more… I can handle it one more time… let’s make it count! John’s muscles tensed as he let his newfound instincts take over, launching off the ground with his strength as he entered his berserk mode. John wasn’t sure how long he could hold out in his current state—whether he would become a rampaging beast, or if his body would give out—but he didn’t care. He charged towards Norma, his speed now much greater than it was last time. It was enough to catch her off guard as John’s claw managed to slice at her skin. Norma began to backtrack as John continued to swipe at her, his claws managing to cause a few more light cuts on her along the way.
Eventually, Norma lost track of her movements, and an awkward step on a piece of storm caused her to slip and fall back. As she fell, John was already preparing to make a final blow, but Norma wouldn’t allow it. Slamming both fists into the ground caused the floor beneath John’s feet to shatter and caused him to fall to the floor below. Norma allowed herself a small sigh of relief, but was quickly met with a blast of magic that sent her away. Norma quickly hopped off the ground to see Rarity charging for her, her horn still glowing from her last attack.
“Even now, you think you can match my magic?” Norma scoffed, “Let me show you our gap!” Norma’s magic flared and three large bolts of energy formed around her. Instantly, they all flew towards Rarity, and the unicorn in question paused when seeing them. Try as she might, she couldn’t think of a way to avoid them, much less block them. In the final moments, all she could do was raise her guard before impact.
Norma watched as the dust kicked up from the explosion began to settle, wondering just what state Rarity could be in after taking an attack like that.
“She may not be on par with you,” Norma scowled as she saw the result—Rarity was unharmed, and Twilight was in front of her, a barrier of magic around them, “But how about we see how I stack up?” The barrier dropped as Twilight cast another spell, every piece of rubble around them floating off the ground.
Each piece then began to glow brightly as they spun into disks of spiraling energy. Then, they each flew forward, soaring towards Norma in a near-unreadable pattern.
She tried to put up her own barrier, but it could only survive two strikes before shattering. This left her only one option: run, and hope to escape the rest. Each time produced a near miss, but the impact made by each piece of rubble was without a doubt powerful. That thought quickly confirmed itself when one managed to hit her in the side, the impact almost enough to cause Norma to pass out. Seeing the danger rise, Norma turned her sights to an exit, thinking she could regroup before making her next attack.
“You won’t get away!” Twilight was not having it; the rubble she was controlling quickly went to work in blocking off any exit, “You’re going to stay here until the end, until you’ve finally been taken down!” With that, Twilight sent off a blast of energy towards Norma. The earth pony was only barely able to avoid it. But while she avoided the blast itself, Norma couldn’t avoid the shockwave.
“That’s showing her, Twilight!” Rainbow cheered. Norma, meanwhile, tried to recover from the shockwave that’d hit her. She glanced over to Rainbow, a single brow arching as an idea formed in her head.
“I see now, even after all your boasting, you all are nothing without your alicorn,” Rainbow was the one who took the bait, giving her a look of annoyance, “No wonder you couldn’t beat Storm Claw alone…”
Rainbow fell for it, Twilight’s calls unable to stop Rainbow from flying over at Norma.
“You wanna bet!?” Rainbow slammed into Norma, the two slamming into a wall and sending up a cloud of dust. Just as Twilight began to worry about what could have happened, however, she saw Rainbow stumble out of it. She then saw Norma shaking her head from the impact, her dazed state exactly what they needed.
“Blast her!” Rainbow shouted, but Twilight was already on it as she fired a bolt of energy towards Norma. With one final shake of her head, Norma opened her eyes to see the blast of energy, her pupils shrinking in fear before it made contact. The blast wasn’t meant to be a killing strike; just enough to ensure that Norma wouldn’t get up. And when she fell from the smoke, limp, it seemed it had done its job.
Twilight smiled, the feeling that it was finally over beginning to swell inside of her. But that feeling shattered with what happened next. Norma’s image began to dissolve into red particles and shreds, revealing something else within. Twilight and Rarity both looked on in shock as they saw Rainbow, their friend, being the one to fall motionless.
“B…but how?” Twilight asked in horror, only for the other Rainbow to begin laughing maniacally.
“Slayer’s spell is quite useful, wouldn’t you agree?” Rainbow, the one that was standing, started to change as well. Her voice and appearance shifted into who she really was: Para Norma. In the time it took for Norma and Rainbow to stagger out, Norma had altered their appearances.
Twilight’s eyes darted back and forth, the realization that she’d just attacked her own friend hitting her like a train. “N-no… Rainbow, I—“
“Look out!” In her struggle to come to terms with what happened, Twilight hadn’t noticed Norma’s next attack. But someone else did, and in the short frame of time she had, Rarity could only think of one way to protect Twilight. Placing herself between Norma’s attack and Twilight, Rarity was struck by Norma’s magic. This finally called Twilight back into reality.
“Rarity!” Twilight called out as she watched her friend, damaged from taking the blast, fell over. Twilight caught Rarity, shaking her and begging for her friend to awaken, but Rarity gave no response.
“Clever girl… used whatever magic she could to soften the impact at the last moment,” At the sound of Norma’s voice, Twilight looked up, but saw that Norma was gone. And as she strained to find her, Twilight felt a cold chill run down her spine, “Seems it’s just you and me now, Princess…”
The voice was directly behind her. Twilight turned her head quickly so she could face her opponent, only to be struck across the face with a hard kick. Norma’s strike pushed Twilight aside and onto the floor, Rarity’s unconscious body finally hitting the ground.
‘Something wrong, Princess? You were much more capable before. Could it be that nearly killing your friend did quite the heavy toll on your mind?” Again, Twilight looked over to Rainbow, Norma playing at her emotions like an instrument, “I wonder what went through her mind, to see someone she trusted attack her… I wonder what she’ll think when she wakes up. That is… if she wakes up…”
Twilight snarled and turned to look to Norma, only for a piece of the ground below her to shoot out and slam into her stomach. The impact knocked the wind out of her and lifted her body a few feet off the ground, only for Norma to punch her back down. Then, it repeated—another piece of the ground slammed into Twilight’s body and knocked her up just so she could be slammed back down once again. The repeated strikes hurt, but Twilight tried to fight through it, her horn glowing as she tried to cast a counter spell. Her efforts came to nothing when she was kicked again.
“It’s funny, really. Not too long ago, you all believes that you could win,” Twilight tried to get up, her new injuries stacking up on top of the ones Storm Claw had left her with—now they started to hurt, “And yet look at you all now… broken, half alive, and at my mercy…”
Norma let out a chuckle, showing just how much she loved this moment.
“Especially you!” With her finger stretched out, Norma fired a thin piece of magic. The projectile struck Twilight in her shoulder, enticing a scream of agony as she grabbed on to it, “I’ve enjoyed dashing all your hopes, but I feel I could do more…”
Norma grabbed Twilight by her mane and pulled her up. “Maybe I won’t kill you at all, or maybe I’ll let you live just a little while longer… to see how much more of you I can break.”
In that moment, something did break, but it wasn’t Twilight. A far off wall crumbled down as John who had fallen out of the room finally made his return. With his one wing broken, John had to take the long way back. But in doing so, he could only now see what had happened while he was away.
Needless to say, he was far from happy, and even Norma knew when to take something seriously. She dropped Twilight and turned her full attention to John. To her, John was now a wounded animal—not just physically. Just like any wounded animal, John was ready to pounce for the neck, and pounce he did. He rushed Norma, unleashing a torrent of fire.
The fire was deflected with ease, unable to break through Norma’s barrier. But a simple strike from John’s fist was more than enough. Each time John broke through a barrier, Norma would create another, each only able to hold up through a single strike. Each gave her a single moment to plan out her next move. As another punch came, she managed to parry it away, leaving John’s guard open. Using this, she brought both hands forward and shot out a short range burst, knocking John away.
But he wasn’t going to go down, his talons digging into the ground beneath him and keeping him upright. Again, he charged like a raging bull, Norma backing away in order to keep some distance. She shot bolt and bolt of magic at him, John deflecting those he could, and avoiding those he couldn’t. In time, he drew closer, close enough to really matter, and he tried to take his chance. Bringing both his fists down, he cratered the floor, kicking up dust and sending rubble everywhere. Norma fell over in the process.
John looked around, looking for any sign of movement, and he found it. Through the dust, he spotted a shadow trying to stand again. John went off pure instinct, charging towards it with a fist drawn back. John cut through the dust, the cloud dispersing as he ran top speed, allowing him to see just who was in front of him. He wanted to see who he was hitting…
Rainbow!? John’s fist stopped, only mere inches away from Rainbow’s unconscious form. Everything stopped for him, his pupils rounding out as he saw her damaged form. John reached out for her, softly and carefully. Only for Rainbow to be tossed aside by who was holding her—Norma, a wicked sneer on her face, both hands glowing strong with runes flowing around them.
“Weak,” Norma thrust her hands forward, slamming them into John’s chest and causing the runes around them to travel through his body. He didn’t have time to react, not this time, not after being thrown off like that. He could only watch as the runes overtook his body, and the spell activated as soon as he was coated with them.
And then, it was nothing but immeasurable pain, his body burning like never before as all his nerves reacted at once. Norma simply watched as his body jolted from the pain, watching as the dragon screamed in agony. It was a spell that bypassed all of his natural defenses—and the defenses the hide offered him—and attacked his nerves directly. Of course, such a spell took up quite a bit of magic—if not for that, she’d have let it run for longer. But it was clear that he’d reached beyond his limit, his eye having gone white from the pain from the very start.
With a snap of her fingers, the spell was finally released, and John simply stood there motionless. To Norma, it seemed that all his thoughts had stopped, but he wasn’t done thinking…
I failed… He could support his own weight no longer, his body slowly beginning to tilt forward, Corey, Rainbow, everyone… I’m sorry…
Norma stood motionless, wanting nothing more than to see John dead at her feet. But Norma’s guard was down—she was so sure of her victory she relaxed herself… a big mistake on her part.
Just as it seemed that John was about to hit the ground, he moved, one foot stretching out and slamming into the ground behind him. He brought one arm back and focused what little strength he had left—all the strength his body would allow him to channel…
Sorry that this is all I can do! No words left his mouth, only a monstrous roar that echoed as John struck Norma as hard as he could. The impact resonated all through her body, the sound of several things cracking and popping echoing in her ears. For what seemed like forever, Norma was sure she was seeing death. But that moment eventually passed, and she felt the pain of the impact, her body soaring towards the other side of the room and crashing into the wall.
Everything went silent, Twilight looking over to John as he stood there motionlessly. Then, her eyes drifted to where Norma had hit the wall. Her body was stuck to the wall, a darkened wound on the site of impact. For a moment, it seemed like it was over. That hope was dashed when she opened her eyes.
“No…”
Norma let out a cough, blood seeping out the sides of her mouth as she did so.
That was… close… The spot she was struck in glowed slightly, a last-second defensive spell put up. No doubt, that was what had saved her. But it was enough, and Norma was beginning to move again, moving towards the one who’d struck her. And John, having used up all his strength in that last attack, finally fell.
She’d taken more damage than she’d expected. More injuries had piled up as the battle went on, but the most painful was the last attack John had done to her. There was no doubt in Norma’s mind her ribcage was still destroyed from the force of the attack. But with some luck, she’d managed to soften the blow just enough to stay standing. The same, however, could not be said for the others.
Each of them, one by one… the unicorn who shared her magic, the dragon, and the Elements of Harmony themselves… they had all fallen. Even John’s last desperate attack couldn’t take her down. But Norma could tell that they were not dead. That was a good thing—she was not letting them have it that easy. With them broken physically, now she could take her time breaking each of them in any way she saw fit. And her first target was John—the one who had by far done the most damage. Slowly, she stepped towards him, a slight limp in her step as she drew closer.
John’s eye refocused as he looked up at her, but it was hard to see when blood was running down over it, blurring his vision. He could still see the intent in her eyes. He tried to move, but it was no use. The last of his strength was gone—there was nothing more he could do but watch and wait. Norma raised her hand, her runes glowing, distorting to reflect the madness in her mind. Norma’s eyes made contact with his single remaining eye.
“Seems you lost something in your travels, dragon. Tell me, how would it feel to have parted with another?” Her runes quickly rushed to her fingers and her nails grew out with sharpened tips.
“Actually, don’t answer that,” she said, raising her hand, “I want to find out for myself.” Norma then charged, her hand spearing towards John’s head, towards his remaining eye. John prepared himself for what would come, only for luck to shine on him, if only partially. A blast of magic flew over him, colliding with Norma and forcing her away from John. He couldn’t see where it came from, but he knew who had saved him.
“Well, well, seems you have some fight left in you after all, Princess?”
Twilight was breathing heavily. She was in no better condition than anyone else. But somehow, she was up again, even if she was only on one knee.
“Stay away from them… all of them!” Twilight commanded, before blasting another bolt of magic towards Norma. This one, however, was swatted aside by Norma, the earth pony beginning to walk towards Twilight now.
“That’s a good look you have there, Princess,” Norma referred, of course, to the look of utter hatred on Twilight’s face—hatred that had been earned through all of Norma’s actions. All of what Twilight had been made to witness—each of her friends broken and tossed aside by a single mare. Only once had she hated another with such a passion, but even that level of hate didn’t compare to what she was feeling now. But for every ounce of hatred Twilight glared at her, Norma enjoyed it.
“Too bad it won’t matter…” Norma stomped her foot on the ground and sent a trail of runes around Twilight, the runes causing the floor around her to shift until it was coiled around her like a snake. The coil tightened around her, increasing the pressure and causing Twilight to grunt in pain. But that wasn’t enough for Norma. No, she wanted more… she wanted to hear Twilight scream, and Norma wanted to make sure she got everything she wanted.
With the sound of her body slowly being cracked, and her blood seeping from her wounds, Twilight could no longer hold it in. Eventually, she let out a scream, and it echoed through the ears of all those conscious enough to hear it.
“Music to my ears…” The coil finally let up and Norma dragged Twilight towards her, “But the song won’t end here, no, I intend to make more music out of you, and I will enjoy every minute of it.” Another spell was cast, and thorns began to slowly grow out of her bindings.
Twilight watched as they grew, beginning in the portion of the coil that wasn’t making contact with her, but slowly they were beginning to grow closer, their extended spines threatening to pierce her body on contact. Twilight squirmed in her position, trying her hardest to break free, but she couldn’t muster the strength. All she could do was breathe heavily as she saw the spikes getting closer, and brace herself for the final moment.
And it hurt just as much as she thought it would. The spikes finally began to pierce into her skin, and her wails of agony only made it worse.
“That’s it! Sing for me!” Norma called out, “Cry for help, if you please! No one’s coming for you now!”
At that moment, Para Norma was more sure of herself than she had ever been. But… at the point where her victory party should have began, Norma quickly discovered how wrong she was.
“Enough!”
The voice boomed through the room, a bolt of green magic zipping towards Norma and impacting with great force. Not only did it manage to blast her away, but it also freed Twilight in the process. With her bindings and the pain finally gone, Twilight fell over, holding herself up on her arms as she panted heavily. She then looked over to an amazing sight…
Corey, who had been all but broken himself when she came here with the others, was now standing on his own. His hand was steaming from the attack he used, and his body, all his wounds… they had healed—and if they hadn’t, they were starting to.
“Alright… Norma…” Corey said. Norma stood up, staring at him with equal parts rage and surprise. Corey’s magic then flared into an aura of green flame—stronger than he’d shown before, “It’s time for round two!”