//------------------------------// // Chapter 15 // Story: Only One Speck of Dust // by TheMareWhoSaysNi //------------------------------// Twenty against two was not really what could be called a fair battle. From time to time, he had to admit he had regretted sending Soarin to provide assistance to the two mares. Their call of duty had dictated them this resort, even so having a call of duty sometimes demanded to take decisions which escaped a certain military logic. One of the trick that had helped Caramel to keep going was to think about Applejack. Each time one of the stallions came nearer, all it took was for him to think that one of them wanted to lash out at his precious marefriend and he felt exhilarated. His blows never had been so precise, so much filled with aggressiveness. He had been mocked for his height. He had been called a fool too many times. Maybe they thought they were best just because they were a larger herd and they were taller than him. As if he had been chosen to be a part of this Council out of sympathy or benevolence. That was not how things were working. He had passed his Warrior Test like the others. He had trained hard, even harder than all those who were with him. Master Crimson Moon had beaten him, forced him to skip meals… He had deserved his appointment. And he would show them. The fever of the struggle had been so gut-wrenching, between his need to prove his worth and his fear of what could happen to Applejack if he did not manage well, Caramel had ended up forgetting all the rest around him. All that mattered was the kicks and the strikes he gave, the fighters falling at his hooves. Was not his real nickname Thick Bare-Hooves? Their wrongs had been to nitpick him on his own field, his area of expertise. It had not been very clever. They probably had not made serious inquiries before, thinking they were nothing but pawns. They had been attacked in order to stop them from helping the two most important mares of the organization. This was what was happening when the neighbor’s game was underestimated. Bluff was not always the right strategy to win. With only one kick, he got rid of his last opponent. The latter crashed against his fellows without even a shriek. Too easy. He resisted the urge to go to him and to ask him who he was thinking was a fool now, aware of how childish this would be. He looked all around in order to see how was doing Big Macintosh. There were no doubts the tall stallion would have taught them right. Generally, those in front of him were not overconfident. In fact, it was rather amusing when aware that in everyday life, he was shy and obliging. Well, alright… He was successful with mares and had an amazing little black book for a stallion so reserved. In reality, he had not much to do for that. They all willingly throw themselves at his hooves. Caramel’s surprise was big when he did not see Big Macintosh busy fighting. If he had not helped him, he had thought that was because he had too many things to do. He really did not think he would find him lying in the snow with bruises and wounds. In a few gallops, he met his friend who was barely standing back up. The convenient side of his red coat was that scrapes were easier to conceal. Applejack would probably freak out if she saw him in such a state. He asked him if he was okay while hating himself for stating a fact once again. He could not be okay in these conditions. It stuck out a mile. Yet, scarcely irksome, he said his usual “eeyup” before looking all around him. All. They all had them to the last one. It had not been easy and Big Macintosh had received as much as he had given yet they overcame them, despite it all. They probably were not the most trained of all warriors, however one of them had been smart enough to launch the attack that had got the best of him. After that, it had been a walk in the park to beat the hell out of the tall stallion. “You did very well.” “Didn’t I?” Caramel answered with a blink before changing his mind. “Sorry… I didn’t mean to be a smartass. Well, I don’t know what’s on your mind but now we’re rid of them, I thought that would be a good idea to check up on Applejack and Rainbow Dash.” Of course Big Macintosh had been thinking about them. He felt really bad to have let his little sister go on her own while everything might have told him this was a trap. It was the same thing with Rainbow Dash… Without their silly decision, she would never had gone to find Applejack. The ambush would have probably happened anyway. But it would have been different. They would have gone through it together. Nevertheless, during his fight, another mare had often come to his mind. She was all alone all the time. Yes, it was her job. All the same, nothing indicated that if a trap had been planned for them all, she had escaped it. He did not know whether the others cared about this or not. What was sure was that he had decided to care. “Go and find Applejack. Soarin’s probably with Rainbow Dash.” Break. Although resigned, he still had troubles dealing with the piece of information. “I’m goin’ to check on Pinkie Pie.” Caramel rose a surprised eyebrow. Since when Big Macintosh worried about Pinkie Pie’s well-being? Not that he never showed any interest in her. They were getting on fine. But never before had he felt the need to know how her watch was going. Maybe something had happened between them. No, it was impossible. Not Pinkie Pie. She was not like those mares that were head over hooves for him, most of the time she did not care about the stallions around her, choosing cakes over male sex. And she already had a very special somepony, if he was not mistaking. Some kind of itinerant entertainer… ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Something had happened, it was certain. As if after adding a missing piece in a mechanism, it set off again fast-track. This was unnatural. Ponies, after losing so much blood, wore themselves out and finally collapsed. The wounds he had inflicted her would have weaken anyone. In how she reacted, there was not a lot that seemed to have changed. Again and again, she kept on avoiding him. The difference was that now August Charmer no longer felt the need to provoke her. The feeling he had was that he had to harm her with his sword, to harm her at any cost. The more he dealt energy in a blow, the more the way she avoided him showed nonchalance and agility. Her eyes, yet, were transformed into something mysterious that sent chills down his spine. Her expression was different, he was sure. The room was too dimmed to make him see it completely what the variance was. Maybe it came from their color… Yes, the color of her irises had changed but not only. Wide and expressive in general, they were now narrow and almost red. Their pupils were dilated and it was impossible to understand what she might be thinking. If she was only thinking about anything… Yes, that was it. They now felt empty, like those of a corpse. As if lifeless. It was no longer Rainbow Dash avoiding him. It was him avoiding death herself each time the mare eluded one of his blows. August Charmer shook his head, charging again his huge sword. This kind of things never happened in real life. They were nothing but old pony tales to scare the foals. He probably started to get tired or his mind invented for him excuses to this battle that never really been one. He had imagined that would be a walk in the park as soon as she fell under the shock of his arrow. The Great Rainbow Dash… Not so great if she was able to fall in a trap so stupid, and not to sense such a thing coming. Not so great too if it took her so long to stand back up, to decide to attack. Same thing when he had seen her trying not to fight, doing her best to avoid the confrontation. This arrogant Orange Steel was right. Mares were not meant to occupy higher positions. They were best to care after the foals and to sing lovely songs in lovely parlors. Now he regretted he had such thoughts. She had showed some abilities. She demonstrated a flawless ardor to resist, again and again. In order to wore him out, to try his patience. To attack without hitting was wearier than to harm the target. His breathe, the way he moved… Everything felt heavier. He had thought he was leading yet in reality she was the one driving him up the wall. For all that, he would not allow himself to become overwhelmed. All he needed was one strike, only one, at the right spot inside her stomach or her chest, and he could win. It was no longer the right time for reflections, bravados or even stratagems. To find the right angle of attack was the only thing in his mind now. Here she was in front of him, sweating streams. With this devilish expression he could not help but staring at, although he did not want to believe in what he was seeing. He wanted to rely on the element of surprise. When she would expect him not to attack, he would. Easier said than done. How could he know whether she was expecting it or not? No emotion was decipherable in those eyes like the heart of a wild fire. To stop thinking and to strike. To keep his own promise. Not to keep on searching for how’s and why’s. She would not avoid him endlessly, there was going to be one moment when one of them would be giving in. So, he charged his blade again. This time, his aim was her heart. Too bad if his orders were not to kill her. All that August Charmer was thinking about now was to get over with it once and for all. To get out of the Blaze in which he was and to stop his torment. Once again, Rainbow Dash avoided him. But her sidestep was not like the others. Instead of simply taking off the floor, he saw her catching the blade of his sword between her teeth and pull it towards herself. Thus defenseless, he suddenly understood when he witnessed her getting back the weapon with one strike of her hooves so that the shaft would jump into her mouth. This was what she was looking for from the start – the strike that would allow her to reverse the trend. This time, he was the pony without a sword and she was the one with a sword in her possession. The longest sword ever forged. He stepped back, unable to use his own wings, like paralyzed. His own sword penetrated his flesh, planted between his ribs, and the strike sent him against a brick wall. When she removed the blade, a spurt of ruddy blood discharged on the floor, sketching a macabre and irregular line. His white cloak, now soiled, fell off his body and when August Charmer opened his eyes again, he saw Rainbow Dash flying above him, staring at him with her frightening dead-still eyes. She had let the sword fall on the floor, at a few inch away from him. All it would take was for him to stretch his hooves and he would get it again. As soon as he tried that, pain showed itself stronger, boiling hot, and he had to beat a retreat. One of his organs probably had been harmed, which one he did not know. The mare’s mouth wrung into a nervous fixed grin, like a crooked smile. A sound pierced through her nostrils and she burst out laughing. Not a happy laugh, those appearing when a friend said a good joke. Neither one of these grotesque laughs from villains. No, a sinister laugh. Powerful, it echoed against the walls of the abandoned house and sent more chills down his spine. “Who—Who are you?” he whispered with a quaking voice. The result of his question was to increase the loudness of her laugh. Then, at a stunning speed, she took back the sword on the floor and hit him again and again, everywhere she had the chance to strike. Unable to stop. Before everything became fogyish, however, August Charmer managed to have a glimpse at the wounds he had inflected to Rainbow Dash. The blood he had shed had ran dry and did no longer had its usual shade of red. It was now darker than the sky outside, darker than ink or ebony.