//------------------------------// // Fighting Back // Story: OC, Oh Crap! // by SmokeShadow95 //------------------------------// Austin's chest heaved with heavy breaths. Still on one knee from the strain he looked up at Twilight. She was a just out of reach, not that he would risk reaching out to her. Whatever Zakir did to him, whatever that powder was, it was messing him up. He could feel it inside of him. It was like there was a raging storm inside of his body and he was doing everything he could to not let it out. “Austin,” Twilight compassionately whined. “IS there anything I can do to help you?” “We,” Applejack said. “Is there anything WE can do to help?” She stood by Twilight with the rest of the girls. They all looked like the were ready to take on the world, like any other time. They had literally done it a few times before. But this wasn't one of those times. He wasn't a part of their world. “Yes,” Austin said seriously. “Get away.” “Gotta admit, not the answer I was expecting,” Pinkie said it for all of them. “Twilight,” Austin spoke directly at her, as if it was just the two of them. “You have to get away. Away from Ponyville, away from the Zebras, away from me.” “No, Austin, I won't,” Twilight pleaded. “I can't.” “Twilight,” Austin grunted. A pained grunt escaped him as another wave of magic cascaded over him. Even the steadfast Applejack as pushed back a few paces by the raw force of the magic. “Twilight, look at me. I don't want to hurt you.” “Um, Twilight, darling,” Rarity said. “I think he may be right.” “Applejack,” Austin said, using a lot strength just to look up at her. “Get her out of here. Get everypony out of Ponyville.” “Applejack,” Twilight fiercely whispered. AJ looked at Twilight just to see tears forming in her eyes. They started running down her face as she spoke. “Evacuate the town, Applejack. Once I know that everypony is safe I'll leave. Until then, I'm staying right here.” Applejack only nodded. She could hardly begin to understand the emotions flowing through Twilight mind right then. But not only was she her friend, she could tell that Twilight was being very serious. More than any of that, though, was the ponies. She looked around at the citizens of Ponyville. Scared and confused, they stood around in a crowd. Zebras stood behind them on almost all sides. It was just like that big zebra said. He didn't want anypony leaving this town. “Alright girls,” Applejack said with determination. “We're getting these ponies outta town.” “How do you suppose we do that, Applejack,” Rainbow Dash asked. “I mean, I'm awesome, but even I can't take on this many zebras. We don't even know what they can do.” “I don't matter,” Applejack nearly shouted. “We gotta get past 'em somehow.” “Lead the way then,” Dash sarcastically offered. Applejack took a a breath. “I will.” She barely blinked before sprinting off. The others had a hard time keeping up with her. She ran for the nearest road that lead outside of town. It just so happened to be the main road to Canterlot. The largest number of zebras were collected there. Along with a great many ponies. Some of them clamored at the Zebrican ranks, trying to get out. Their efforts only got them tossed back on the butts. Applejack stood proudly in front of the Zebras. “Hey! Yur gonna let us leave, ya hear me,” She called out. Her voice shook with an imposing determination. She hoped they wouldn't hear the worry underneath it all. One of the zebras stepped forward a few paces. He was as big as Big Mac was, at least. Was that normal for Zebras? She would never want to admit to it, but she a little intimidated by it. Yet she stood her ground. Rarity and Fluttershy hurried to help as many ponies as they could get back up on their hooves. They backed away from the scene unfolding before them. “You really think you can stand against ze might of the Zebrican Nation,” He boasted. He quickly stomped the ground twice. Within a second every zebra among the ranks behind him had a spear and shield at the ready. “You cannot.” He flicked his tail. The ponies didn't know this, but that was a signal. A dozen zebras behind him, spears at the ready, charged. They parted around him, yet kept their focus on the mare in front of them. Applejack was ready to fight. It wasn't her favorite pastime, but she had done it before. What she didn't expect, though, was for the whole situation to get to this so fast. She froze for a moment, not knowing what to do. Her mind blanked. A crash in front of her brought her thoughts back to her. She could feel the vibrations of the impact in her hooves still. A thin layer of dirt stuck to her coat. She looked up to see her brother. Big Mac strained under the wait of the door. Applejack had actually forgotten. He was helping Daisy fix her door today. Now he had that very same door slammed into the ground in front of her, with a dozen spears sticking into it. “Thanks, Big Mac,” She whispered. “Think you can hold that for a bit?” “Eeyup,” He groaned. Applejack stepped out from behind the door. A few ponies exhaled in relief. The zebra still stood there. He looked annoyed that she was still standing. He sneered at her and turned to glare at his zebras. A new line came to the front, spears ready and aimed at her. “Not gonna lie,” Applejack said to the zebra in charge. “That scared me good just now.” “We haven't even started yet,” The zebra said. Another signal went out with a swish of his tail. Applejack knew something was up. She had no idea what was coming exactly. She assumed it was just another dozen zebras. She wasn't sure exactly on how she was going to stop them, however. She would soon learn that she was wrong. It started with a flash of color. She stared down the Zebrican ranks. There black and white coats were a maze of stripes, with only splashes of color coming from what they carried. She could have sworn she saw something. For less than a second, she could have sworn that a zebra moved. Her only suspicion came from a black flash that could only have come from one of their coats. She scanned them all, doing everything she could to spot anything out of the ordinary. But nothing moved. Literally, nothing. All of them, every zebra stood as close to motionless as she had ever seen. It was starting to creep her out. It was unnerving. The only thing keeping her from being lost in a sea of stripes was listening to her brother beside her. His groaned effort and stomping hooves were a welcome distraction. “Applejack look out!” With barely any time to even register what she had said, Applejack's eyes glanced upwards to Rainbow Dash. Dash moved faster than she did, already moving to intercept the zebras. Only now did she realize. Four of them, out of nowhere, had leaped towards Big Mac. His body was pressed up against the door still. A dozen zebra had all their strength on that door, determined to get to him on the other side. Unfortunately, this left him as vulnerable as a little child. Dash flew down with astounding speed and slammed all four of her hooves into the side of a zebra shield. The force was enough to send a wave of dust out and the zebra into the ground. Not even stopping to gloat she bounced back, literally. Her wings curled around her as she flapped them only once to carry her past the zebra. She passed over his spear, in front of his face and connected a hoof with his jaw along the way. This did little other than distract him, but that enough. Dash followed up with a double hoof kick to his back. This zebra ended up on the ground with his friend before he could react. Applejack was in the air as soon as she knew Big Mac was in danger. Four jumped to attack. Dash took out the two in the middle. Applejack firmly planted her front hooves on her brothers back. She knew he could handle it. But she didn't have time to think about that. She immediately spun her body around, not even letting her back hooves touch Big Mac. As she turned in the air she bit down as hard as she could on the shaft of the spear on the left. By the time her body was right she was already in the prime position for bucking. The zebra could see it coming. He threw his shield up, but that didn't help. Not at all. The impact rocked him all the way through. Any momentum he had was gone and he fell to the ground below. He was lucky enough to stay on his hooves. Applejack followed this up by letting her hind legs drop on the side of Big Mac. Still holding the shaft of the spear she slid back, carrying the zebra with her. Turning at the last second and twisting her head down she was able to drive the spear into the ground. The zebra had abandoned it long before, leaping back to join the only other of the four that was standing. She spit out the rest of the spear. She brought a heavy hoof down on it, breaking with an audible snap. “Aww yeah!” Rainbow Dash exclaimed with excitement. “Is that all you got, Zebra assholes? Huh!” “Shut up, Dash,” Applejack breathed angrily. She glared at the zebra in charge. He had an angry smile on his lips. She hated it. “You just attacked mah brother. He didn't have any way of defending 'imself, and you attacked him anyway. Why?” “Because we could,” He hissed back. Now, Rainbow Dash was fast. The fastest pony in all of Ponyville. Hell, all of Equestria. So when she say she knows a thing or two about speed, you can pretty much believer whatever she says. So, when she says that she saw an Earth pony move as fast as Pegasus with the strength of a minotaur and the anger of a dragon, well, you should just believe her. Aww, shucks, Dash. Is that really what ya thought of me? AJ, that's the kinda thing I would make up about a pony. Even if I did make that up, I wouldn't believe it. Not even if I myself told me about it. I still wouldn't believe it. It was just that unbelievable. Does that make sense? It's okay, Dash. It doesn't have to make sense. By the way, when did you get here? I came here with you, Pinkie. I was napping in the corner before your shouting woke me up. Oh, sorry about that. Eh, whatever. Can we get back to the story now, please? Yup. I was ready to go hoof to hoof with them there zebras. But I reckon ah never got the chance with what happened next. The zebra in charge was on the ground before he even knew he'd been hit. A terrible pain in his chest almost made his stop breathing simply because it hurt so much to take even a small breath. His eyes slowly came back into focus. The world came back from shapes and shadows. He gulped nervously as an orange shape stood above him. As much as he wanted to deny it. As much as he wanted to say I wasn't true. This pony scared him. Never before had he seen anypony move the way she did. A throbbing in his chest brought the memories surging back. It was only seconds ago, but he felt like he might lose it if he didn't remember it now. She was in front of him before he even saw her move. Time stopped for an instant. Just long enough for him to see her eyes. Mere inches away from his own. Even from his homeland tales of the ponies of Equestria were told. Kind, cheerful ponies. Strong in magic, but lacking in the might to use it. They had so many ponies in this land, and most of them would never have held a weapon in their lives. And yet this orange pony before him showed such an awesome display that even he would reluctantly admit fear. Such raw anger and rage. Such honest emotion. He didn't know that ponies could be like this. And the next thing he knew he was having trouble breathing on the ground. He tried to move, to stand. More pain in his leg told him to stop. A glance down told him why. Shards of wood jutted from his leg. At least a dozen shards of varying sizes stuck out from his leg. Minor panic set in as he raced to figure out what had happened. Was this some kind of shrapnel? Had something around him exploded? His mind raced as she stared at this scene. His panic escalated when he figured it out. The shards in legs, they had paint on them, and it was not the pain of anything in this town. “My shield,” He weakly muttered. “I bucked right through yer shield,” Applejack said coldly, “And I will buck right through you if ya ever threaten my family again, ya hear?” “Applejack, calm down, now,” Rarity nervously chuckled. “You're beginning to scare me.” “Yeah,” Dash admitted. “That's kinda cold, especially for you.” “I'm just being honest with him,” She replied to her friends, not taking her eyes of the zebra. An incredibly uncomfortable silence descended upon the whole area. Only the labored breathing of the zebras on the ground escaped into the air. This lasted only moments in reality, but much longer for them. None of them knew what to do next. The zebra in charge was injured, and Applejack was intent on making sure he stay that way. Because of this, the rest of the ranks of zebras didn't know whether to push on the ponies or not. Meanwhile, none of the ponies could decide if they wanted to attempt an escape. They wanted out, they needed to get out of Ponyville, but crossing Applejack's path caused them some unease. Her new attitude was frightening to many of them. This silence filled the air, only being broken by the sounds of hooves. ===== Tessla knelt next to Zecora. He gently placed his hand on her neck, careful not to aggravate her wounds. A smile forced its way out. He couldn't help but be happy that she was okay. He thought for sure that she was dead. “Zecora,” He said, holding back some tears. “My friend,” She wheezed. “This is the end.” “NO! No, Zecora! Don't say that,” Tessla begged of her, pleaded with her. “Not for you or I, not just yet,” She told him. “The end of the battle with the brother you just met.” “You want me to stop fighting Zakir,” Tessla affirmed. “I can do that. I can do that.” “Tessla!” Tessla took one last look at Zecora. She was breathing. She was alive. He was happy about that. He looked up. A pony was standing not to far away. On top of a hill about twenty feet away, just outside of the area where all the madness of the fight went down, stood Ditzy Doo. She looked worried. “Tessla,” She cried out again. “We need your help.” Before he could ask who a small number of pony came up behind her. He only knew a few of them, and he knew even less of their names. In fact, the only one he could actually name was Nurse Redheart. The rest appeared to be doctors and/or patients. They must have come from the hospital. “Ditzy,” He called out from his place by Zecora. “What is it?” “It's Ponyville,” She said, rushing towards him. “The zebras won't let anypony leave.” “How did you get out, then?” “Hospitals have a lot of exits,” Redheart answered half joking and out of breath. “We slipped out before they fully locked down the place. We heard something going down over in this direction and followed the noise. Found you, duking it out with the big zebra over there.” “Good thing you stayed back then,” Tessla said. “Wouldn't have done anybody any good if you had gotten hurt.” “Speaking of hurt,” Redheart breathed out. “How's Zecora doing? What happened?” “Zakir threw these needle things into her neck,” Tessla told her, careful not to touch any of the needles in question. “She went down seconds later. I thought she was dead. She didn't move. It didn't even look like she was breathing.” Nurse Redheart did a very quick checkup of Zecora's body. Mostly, she was just looking for any more injuries, no matter how small. She was very gentle in how she handled Zecora's body and especially her neck and head. “Near as I can tell, it could be some kinda paralyzing toxin,” She reported. “She doesn't have any other injuries that could cause any of this, so whatever happened it must've been those needles. Did you get hit by any?” “Don't think so,” Tessla answered. “Even if I did, I'm fine. I can still move just fine.” “Seeing as how I'm not in the hospital and I have no authority here, I'll just have to take your word for that,” She said. “Now that we've established that you are healthy enough to stand you need to get back to Ponyville.” “Where do I even start,” Tessla muttered to himself. From the direction of Ponyville a brilliant flash of light erupted into the sky. A distant sound could be heard with it. Tessla wasn't quite sure what it was, but it didn't sound good. It was coming from the near the center of Ponyville. It was as good a place as any to start. He had absolutely no idea what in the hell he was going to do once he got in, but he could just figure that out later. What was the point in planning anything anyway, when he had the powers of chaos at his disposal? ===== Austin threw his head back, his body arched back as a wave of pressure blasted out from him. A wall of pure energy strong enough to uproot trees crashed into the barrier as he cried out in a losing effort to reign this power back in. Heavy breaths fell from his lips as he collapsed forward. Shaking, he brought a hand up to the barrier. Twilight's hoof met it on the other side. Her horn was glowing with magic. It would be as long as he was like this. She had put this barrier up to help him, to keep this power away from Ponyville, and the ponies in it. Tears fell as the barrier went up. “Austin, I hate this,” She sobbed. “I don't know what's happening, bu-” “I'm losing control, Twilight,” Austin whispered. “I don't know how much longer I can hold it back.” “I won't leave you, Austin,” Twilight shouted. “I won't!” “Perhaps you wont have to, Twilight.” Twilight turned to look. Cadance was walking up to her. Apparently, whatever was going on with her and Chrysalis at the hospital was done. She didn't bother asking her what it was all about. Frankly, at the moment she didn't care. All she cared about right now was the words that she just spoke. “What do you mean, Cadence?” “You think I can't feel how much you care for him,” She asked as she came close to Twilight. “This is love Twilight. And it is stronger than any magic. We both remember my wedding. We know it's true.” “What does that have to do with what's happening now?” “Love can fuel the most powerful spells, Twilight,” Cadence said, turning her head to look at the barrier. “Close your eyes. Focus on Austin. Think about all the things about him that you love. Bring all those feelings to the surface, let them flow out of you. Take those emotions, and then weave them into your magic.” As Cadence was talking Twilight through this, she was casting a spell of her own. It was another barrier spell. It was to go on top of Twilight's. With a calm exhale she brought forth a crystal storm to surround Austin. Shimmering gems of all kinds, shapes, and sizes fell into place around him until a great wall had been constructed around him. It stood taller than every other building in the town with the exception of Twilight's castle. Each crystal was magically enchanted to absorb vast quantities of magical energy. Meanwhile, Twilight's own barrier felt like it was getting stronger than ever, matching Cadence's in power and height. “Yes. I can feel it, Twilight,” Cadence said with a smile. “Cadence,” Twilight said with a breath. “He's trapped in there. How is this love? I can't do anything but lock him in there. How am I supposed to believe that's love?” “Oh, Twilight,” Cadence sighed. “Love is an ever changing thing. It can mean so much. You are doing what is best for Austin, and for all the ponies in Ponyville.” If they weren't talking, they might have heard it. It was small, but it was there. A buildup. A small, high pitched humming that started in Austin's head. From inside the barriers he could feel it rising up. The energy crackled around him, arcing through the air like electricity. This was new. Before it had been waves, rolling off him like water. What was worse was that this new energy came with its own set of pain, beyond the shear effort and strain he was already going through. He screamed out as he couldn't hold back a powerful arc. The timing couldn't have been more perfect. It was almost as if the universe was watching this all unfold and intentionally dicking around with all the rules. Twilight closed him off for the safety of others. He wanted this, but that didn't make it any less hard for her. Cadence reinforced this decision. She gave Twilight the words she had been expecting. She was doing what was best for everyone. Everyone but her. And here is where the universe seemingly intervened. Just as the two of them shared this tender moment, they heard it. A scream. A cry out of pain and strained effort. Neither of them had even the briefest of seconds to think before the crystal barrier right next to them exploded outward. It happened so fast neither could react. It wasn't until after the fact that Twilight even felt it at all. She started to breath again, not even realizing she was holding her breath before. Cadence looked to Twilight. “Twilight,” She gasped, concerned as a thin, but long cut appeared under her right eye. Twilight herself was too in shock to even notice the blood dripping down. Thankfully this was her only injury. Twilight simply stood and stared. Her eyes were locked on the he break in the barriers. It looked like a broken window somepony had thrown a rock through. Austin was on his knees on the other side. His face contorted into a tearful mess when he saw Twilight's. He cried his tears. He sobbed his apology, knowing that it would never be enough. Not for him. “Go, Twilight,” He commanded, and yet with compassion in his voice. “Get as far from her as you can.” “I- I- can't do that,” She murmured through tears. “You must.”