//------------------------------// // Sweetie (rewrite) // Story: The Rise of a Raven // by Chemtest //------------------------------// The stop at the Library of Starburt’s has put us back on schedule, apparently we were out for a day and a half. Sombra smiles as he looks at the city in the distance, “Ah, beautiful Romeus Crete. I remember being here when I was a foal. Known for having the biggest, and only, arena in the world. Louis seems a bit put off as he sniffs the air, “I can sense no happiness, only anger, hate, and pain.” I shrug, “They’re ran by an Orc, must be a warrior society. Anger, pain, hate? Those are promoted, cherished even by them.” I slowly lower us to the ground, and we start to walk on a path to the main city. As we walk to the city, we see sick and injured Minotaurs laying on the path, vultures circle above them and even feast on a few that have already passed. Sweetie speaks up, “Raven, please, stop.” We all stop, and turn to face Sweetie, “We need to help them, they are all dying!” Sweetie demands. I sigh, “I’m sorry, but we can’t. My magic is already low as is from the fatigue field back at Starburt’s, and I need to conserve it for Celestia.” “How do we help them, then?” Sweetie pleads. I sigh, “Short of making the King do it, not much.” Sweetie looks determinedly forward, “Then that’s what we will do! I’ll even fight them for it if I have to!” Scootaloo looks sadly over to her, “Even with the magic Raven gave us you’d be killed.” “I don’t care, I’ll help anyway!” Sweetie says with sureness in her tone. “Raven, let’s go find this king, and if he will not listen, I will defeat him.” I determine my options, “Fine.” And we move on, I sigh, “Sweetie Belle, you’ve no need to attack the King. You forget about who you’re talking to.” I then whisper in her ear, “Commands like that and you’ll have Sombra telling jokes about me being whipped.” Sweetie smiles a little, and whispers back, “Maybe his jokes will have some merit to them, then.” I pull away, and my mind goes into overdrive as I walk. Cadence talked about someone loving me. But Sweetie? No, surely not, impossible. Well, she was always hugging me and has been exceptionally nice to me. But love? I have no idea. I will admit, there is a feeling I have towards her I do not towards the others. But is this love I feel? I’m knocked out of my thoughts as I realize I’m standing at the gates of the castle. I see two guards near the gates, and approach them, “We seek audience with the King. “The King is open to discussion, you may go through.” One guard says as he opens the gate to the throne room. We see the king on his throne, chugging some grog before looking down at us, “Visaters! Daz somtin diffent. And such a odd group s’ well! Speak!” Sweetie steps forward, taking the initiative before me, “The injured and sick on the road, we demand that they be healed and given housing.” The King laughs uproariously, “Oh yeah? You demand, little pony? An what if I said no to these demandz. Cuz I do! No!” Sweetie looks furious, but Scootaloo puts a hoof on her shoulder, “You can’t Sweetie. This is not opinion, but fact, he would tear you apart!” I see Sweetie’s face fall as she realizes the words ring true. I growl, the sadness on her face making me feel a rage stronger than ever before. Not the cold rage against Celestia, not a terrible rage like Brutus, but a hot, right rage to protect one dear to me. I step up, and yell at the King, “Very well then! I, Ravens Breath of Tel’la De Rus, challenge you to one on one combat in the arena to uphold Sweetie’s demands and honor!” Sweetie looks at me in horror, “No, Raven! You don’t have to do this for me! He’ll kill you!” I look over to her with a smirk, “You forget who you’re talking to, my dear Sweetie.” She shakes her head, “I know damned well who I’m talking to! You may be able to make an illusion of yourself popping your head off but you cannot survive going up against one like that!” I smile, “I don’t care if I won’t survive, because I know he definitely won’t. You know not the extent of my powers, but I will gladly use them to protect your interests.” I turn to face the King, “Well!? Are you too much of a coward to fight me!?” The Kings laughter picks up, “Oh! Dat’s hilarious! Very well, let’s go to ze arena den.” He then walks out of the room, and we follow. We soon find ourselves in an equipment room, where another Minotaur waits. He motions to my friends, “Say your last goodbyes to your friend here.” He then turns to me, “Choose whatever you want from the equipment, me weapons from outside here are to be used, with the exception of magic.” The Minotaur walks out, and the others all come up to me, all saying different words of luck. All but Sweetie walk out the room after they say their spiel. Sweetie looks down, “You don’t have to do this, please, we can just leave. I look over to her with a smile, “My dear Sweetie Belle, I have to do this. The Minotaurs outside are dying as we speak, you said it yourself. I know if we left, you’d be devastated, and I cannot allow that to happen.” She then grabs me in a deep hug, “Please come back okay. None of us want to lose you, none want to lose a friend. Maybe... maybe someone more than a friend.” I lean back, and look her right in the eyes, “Back in the Crystal Empire, Princess Cadence told me that someone I knew loved me. Someone I could have a great life with. With what you said earlier today about Sombra’s jokes maybe having merit, it got me thinking. I thought on every interaction we’ve had, and I saw signs in your actions. I have to ask. Sweetie Belle, are you the one Cadence was talking about?” She looks down, undoubtedly with a blush on her face, “Yes, Raven. I like you, like like you. At first it was looks. Ponyville’s colt population is rather lacking on dapper and handsome colts. You were like a fresh apple surronded by rotten broccoli. But when you stood up to Diamond and Silver, I started to actually pay attention to you. Since then, it’s all been the same. You’re intelligent, perceptive, brave. You don’t just sit to the sidelines, but you don’t ever do anything for your own reasons. You always are doing something to help somepony else. You stood up to Diamond after she insulted us, you only went against the Timberwolves because they threatened us, you are only after Celestia because she killed Sombra and threatened us, you beat the ponies at Dodge City because they were hurting Louis, you went after the Idol only after hearing about the state it caused Griffonstone to fall into, even now you are fighting because of me. You always try to make peace before attacking. Whenever you sung and decided to dance with me first, I just felt something click. You’ve always been so supportive and nice to us. And, well, I think I do love you.” I nod, “I cannot claim to know what love feels like. For all my life I’ve felt only hatred and fear, and only a minor acceptance from my minions. Even when I sacrifice myself for the world I could feel people continue to hate me for something I have no control over. I was unfortunate to be a Necromancer, one powerful enough to not die, one whom everyone hated. I kept away from people, and the ones who came after me only showed me hatred and rage. Love has been a mystery outside of my reach, something I know I can feel, but I have no idea what it feels like. Out of all of our friends, you’ve always been the one who’s been the most accepting of me. You always listened, always smiled, hugged me for stuff that was mundane. You showed a kindness to me I’ve never felt before. Now, there’s a feeling I have towards you that I’ve never felt before. Something foreign and strange. It’s not joy or happiness, but something more than both of them. Around you, more than everyone else, this emotion tugs me towards you, and when I’m around you I am reminded of why I don’t want to die anymore. In Tel’la De Rus, I died on purpose, allowed the heroes to slay me and accepted my afterlife with open arms. But when Celestia was bringing down her sword towards you, and towards me, I realized that I don’t want to go to my afterlife anymore. But I want you to die even less. If someone were to swing a soul rendering weapon towards you, I would save you without any hesitation. And if anyone decides to insult you, then I feel a rage towards them like no other.” Sweetie Belle looks up at me, “Raven... are you saying you feel the same for me?” I look her dead in the eye, “Yes, Sweetie Belle, I think I love you too.” She smiles, blush still evident on her cheeks, and leans in. She lightly kisses me, and then leans back, “Raven, will you be my special somepony?” The feel of her lips upon mine, it feels right. It seems so obvious now. My heart tugs at me, and my mind opens up all the way. An entire new part of my brain starts to work, filling me with pure bliss and happiness. I smile, and kiss Sweetie Belle back. I lean back, a smile adorning my muzzle more sincere and genuine than any smile I’ve used before, “Yes, Sweetie Belle, I will be your special somepony.” She smiles, and hugs me deeply once more, “Go out there and destroy him for me, Raven.” I nod, and remember something. I pull a giant stuffed Ursa Minor from it’s pocket dimension. I smile as I give it over to Sweetie Belle, “I won this back in the Empire. And, well, it’s a gift. For our future, after Celestia lays dead.” She takes it in her own magic, and looks over at the clock, “We’ve kept the crowd waiting. Put on you armor and grab your weapon Raven, and I will shout your name when you win.” She walks out, allowing me to peruse the weapons. I search, until I find a nice bronze staff laying in it’s own dust. I pick it up, and swing it around a bit. I smile, think about who I’m using it for, and walk out into the arena. The arena is about as big as Ponyville town square, the craftsman ship that went into it obvious. I see the King dressed out in full bronze armor, with a giant claymore in his hands, and looking suprised that I picked up nothing but my cloak, “Who is youz who’s faced me vit no armor?” I smile, look over to where my friends are sitting, and shout back, “I already told you, Orc. I am Ravens Breath, and I will not allow you to insult Sweetie’s name!” And we have time to prepare, him by testing the weight of his weapon, and me by planning. The announcer comes on, “Welcome to Romeus Crete’s arena! In one side is Ravens Breath! To defend his lady’s honor, and to get us to help the injured Minotaur outside the city! The other side is our King defending his decision to leave them, and his mighty honor! Combatants ready? Let’s begin!” The king charges me instantly, I wait. He gets close, I wait. Even as he stabs forward, I simply stand there with a grin. His sword pierces all the way through me, going through my front and being embedded into the ground behind me. I can hear every voice in the crowd gasp. I hear one specific shout from Sweetie, “Raven!” I look over to Sweetie, and give her a calm smile. I turn to face the King, and give him the same smile, “Oh, you have no idea how much this hurts. Thought you could take me out with a simple blow like that? Running me through with a simple bronze sword? This pain I feel? You’ll feel ten fold for making Sweetie Belle sad.” I raise the staff with my magic, and smack him on the head with it. The bronze staff breaks, and sends him sprawling to the ground. He staggers up again, only to be grabbed by a skeletal hand. I start to move forward, forcing the claymore into my body even more. I push myself forward as I reach the hilt, forcing it through my body as well. I move forward until I’m right in front of him. I spit in his face, “Fuck you, you insufferable Orcish cunt.” I punch him right in the face with all my surpriseing strength, “Think you can just kick down my damned door and allow youself in?” I punch him once more, “That you can just forsake my hospitality and not have a bite to eat?” I summon up the pain I felt from the stab wound, and I growl in his face, “That you can make my dear Sweetie Belle sad?” His eyes seem to clear with recognition and he looks at me, “Necromancer?” I narrow my eyes, and summon up my magic. My rage at him giving me enough as to make him feel the pain I did multiplied by then. His screams of pure pain and agony wash over the arena. I lean in very close to his ear, “Now, you’d better help those Minotuars, or I will make the pain worse.” He yells out, “I am defeated! I surrender! I’ll help the damned Minotuars!” With that said, the announcer cuts back in, and I drop him to the ground, ”And in a shocking twist Ravens Breath takes the entire claymore and then defeats the King! This is truely unprecedented!” I turn around and walk back into the equipment room. I’m met with yet another deep hug from Sweetie as soon as I enter. She smiles, “You could’ve told us you could do stuff like that!” Scootaloo mearly smiles from the side, “Is there something we should know about you two?” Sweetie backs away, and blushes once more, “Well, Raven is now my... special somepony.” Sombra looks at me, and laughs a tiny bit, “Nice job, Raven. Sé que los inmortales necesitamos algo de felicidad.“ “If it make’s Sweetie happy then I’m in full support of it.” Apple Bloom comments. “Think I could feed of that love if I’m in need?” Louis asks. Sweetie and I blush, yes, even I can be embarrassed. I look up, and try to guide the topic away from that, “So, who’s ready to return to Ponyville?” Sombra laughs, and walks out of the room with everyone else following. Other than Sweetie. We turn to each other, and Sweetie gives me another kiss, “Thank you for doing that, and for helping those in need.” I smile as we head out, “Definitely worth it, especially for you.”