Tardy
"Why do you want to join Starfleet, son?"
"Because I believe the good die young, sir; and I don't want to disappoint anyone."
Artie barely had time to summon his staff before they came for him.
Starla held back for now, letting her soldiers do the dirty work on her behalf, and frankly if there was one saving grace about this situation it was the fact that Starla was holding back, saving her strength for the fight with Twilight and her friends.
If she'd pitched in then Artie would have given even less for his chances than he did right now.
Dyno and Myte came from the right, explosions erupting from the tips of their fingers, their faces - what he could see around their visors anyway - set in eager expressions of anticipation.
Do you just like to fight or did I do something to annoy you specifically?
Buddy came from the left, he hadn't summoned his whip yet but it was surely coming; if he'd wanted to attack from range he wouldn't have needed to quit the rocky ledge.
Green Sickle came straight down the middle, descending right on top of him, a scythe in his hands ready to cut Artie in two.
Artie bared his teeth. Well alright then. Let's do this.
His staff materialised out of the ether just in time for him to bring it up to block Green Sickle's downward stroke. The force of the blow jarred upon Artie's arms, the shock running through his body like a tremor in the earth. The larger pony pressed down upon him.
Artie retreated, letting the scythe slam into the earth before him. His attention was already turned to Dyno and Myte coming in from the right. He lashed out, slamming the stip of his staff into Dyno's gut and making him recoil with an 'oof' of pain. Artie hit him again, bringing his staff upwards and into Dyno's face before turning on Myte with a solid whack to the side of the head. He-
"Leaf Swarm!"
Artie tried to jump backwards out of the way, but he was a fraction too slow as Buddy's leaf-shaped projectiles struck him up and down the side, exploding in a shower of green blasts. His armour took the worst of it, reducing the explosions to mere stinging pains, but it was still enough and in so many different places to make him wince.
Buddy had summoned his vine whip by now and he lashed out with it, Artie turned away but the blow still caught his ear and raked down the side of his face. He could feel warm blood starting to trickle down his cheek.
Dyno charged at him, fists flying. His moves were solid, fast, technically proficient but unimaginative, a series of pretty basic punches that Artie could fend off with his staff easily. It was only the fact that he stood there and kept them coming with no respite that kept Artie on the defensive, blocking punch after punch with his staff one after the other.
Wait, where's Myte?
Artie glanced up to see Myte above him, using his explosions to propel himself like a rocket over Artie's head and down behind him, open palm outstretched.
Myte's grin was viciously triumphant. "Boom-boom flare!"
Dyno retreated as the explosion flowered forth from the palm of his brother's hand, slamming into Artie's back like a dozen hammers. Even the armour couldn't take the brunt of this, and Artie cried out in pain as he staggered forwards.
Forwards to where Green Sickle was waiting for him with a sideways slash that might have disembowelled him if he hadn't gotten his staff up just in time to block.
Artie hadn't wanted to use his powers, hadn't wanted to turn his abilities on those he'd fought beside, but if he was going to last more than a few seconds in this fight he didn't have much choice. He threw out one palm right into Sickle's face. "Paint Bomb Barrage!"
A deluge of paint bombs erupted from Artie's hand and straight into Green Sickle's face, blasting him backwards in a shower of red explosions that obscured him from Artie's view.
Artie leapt leftwards, staff whirling as he descended upon Buddy Rose. Buddy's whip cracked through the air towards him, but Artie caught it on his staff and coiled it around the metal. Buddy was still trying to free it as Artie landed right in front of him and cracked him on top of the head. Artie's staff whirled in his hands, lashing out at Buddy with one, two, three blows, driving him back and then sweeping his legs out from under him. He-
"Quasar beam!" Starla yelled, right before a beam of pink energy leapt from both her hands to slam into Artie's side. He yelled in agony as the explosion hurled him backwards, pin wheeling through the air to land face first on the ground. He could smell the smoke from his burning armour, feel the fiery feeling of pain in his side as it stomped and kicked for his attention, he could feel a dozen or more sharp stabbing pains in his face from shards of visor buried in his skin; he guessed he was lucky that they'd missed his eye.
His breathing came in a series of deep gasps as he struggled to his feet, using his staff to push himself upright.
Starla emerged from out of the smoke, a white, almost ethereal form emerging from the fog of war. By the gods she was magnificent. So proud, so strong, so luminous. The way she held herself, the sublime confidence of her carriage...he could understand why Lightning had fallen for her so hard.
She stared at him with cold disdain in her sapphire eyes.
By her sides, her hands clenched into fists.
Then she went for him.
He blocked her first punch with his staff, but that had been a mere feint to allow him to knock the staff disdainfully out of his hands with her second blow. She delivered a precision perfect roundhouse kick to his face so fast he couldn't even think of blocking before his face was snapped round and he was staggering backwards with a gasp of pain. He could taste blood in his mouth as Starla pursued him, hand outstretched as she reached for his morpher.
She was too fast, before Artie could intercept her she had closed her pale fingers around the device, ripped it from his waist...and crushed it in one hand.
Artie's staff and armour disappeared into nothingness, and Artie collapsed to his knees as a wave of exhaustion him him, the weariness thad had been siphoned off by his armour and connection to the Grand Ruler hitting him all at once like an oncoming train. A wave of blackness threatened to envelop his mind even as he tried to shake it off. He had to keep going. He had...he had to give them more time.
Starla's mouth was framed into a sneer of disappointment. She flipped her hair contemptuously, and then turned away. He wasn't worth her time.
She'd weakened him enough that the rest should be able to take over again.
Gotta get up. Gotta-
Myte hit him from behind for the second time, only this time there was no armour to take the brunt of the explosion that seared across his coat. His wings felt as though they were being flash-fried, he could smell his coat burning, he could feel the pain, oh, gods, the pain it was so much. There were tears in Artie's eyes as he fell forwards, and a whimper of pain escaped his mouth.
He felt Buddy's whip coil around his neck, and then Artie was gasping, choking, flopping like a fish on a line, writhing on the stony floor of the cavern as Buddy tugged on his whip, tightening it around his throat.
Artie gasped, and choked, and through the tears of pain in his eyes he could see Buddy, his expression hard and his eyes hooded, choking the life out of him.
Green Sickle raised his scythe overhead, and this time there was nothing Artie could do to stop it.
The scythe swept down.
There was a white gold blur that resolved itself into the figure of a pony, a stallion standing between Artie and his enemies, arresting the scythe's progress with a single hand.
"Sorry I'm late," said Lightning Dawn.