//------------------------------// // Chapter 5 // Story: War in Equestria: The Tale of Bright Blade // by Michael_Ravencroft //------------------------------// A/N: For those of you worried about the fate of some your favorite background ponies, don't worry none of them will be harmed in this chapter, though there will be some casualties. Thank you all for sticking with this story so far, and now without further ado, chapter five! Chapter 5: Siege of Ponyville, Rise of a Hero High above Ponyville a cyan pegasus floated in the air, her eyes stared out into the distant horizon, a look of worry filling her face. "I don't know what I'm seeing," shouted Rainbow Dash, "There are dark storm clouds, but the sky where the clouds are they're turning red!" "How can that be," asked Rarity. "That's weird," said Pinkie Pie. "You think that's weird, those clouds are getting closer, and so is the red sky!" Rainbow Dash was right; the red sky was getting closer and closer to Ponyville. Everypony gasped as the bright blue sky was now dyed crimson red, Rainbow Dash lowered her altitude and watched the red pass over Ponyville and stopped just shy of the Everfree Forest. Then came the clouds, dark and ominous, rumbling with thunder. The clouds blacked out the sun over Ponyville, too thick for sunlight to penetrate. "What in tarnation is goin' on here," said Applejack. "W-we need to get out of here," said Bright Blade, his voice sounded like it was miles away. "I think Bright Blade's right you guys, we should leave," said Spike. Rainbow Dash flew down to meet her friends, then hovered about ten feet from the ground. "I don't know what's going on, but let me see if I can move the clouds out of here, cause between you and me they're kinda creeping me out." With that said Rainbow Dash zoomed up into the air, she flew higher and higher, but something started to happen. The clouds began to rumble, lightning arced from one spot to the other. Rainbow Dash wasn't even fifty feet from the clouds when a lightning bolt shot out in her direction, Rainbow Dash did a barrel roll to the right just in time to miss the deadly blast. The lightning bolt ended up hitting a house, setting the roof on fire. Rainbow Dash, unfazed, continued on. The clouds let loose another lightning bolt; Rainbow Dash dodged it, then another bolt, and another. Soon the clouds were unleashing lightning in rapid succession, each one aimed right for Rainbow Dash. With all the lightning Rainbow Dash had to fallback, the odd thing was that the further away she got, the less the clouds fired its lightning. Rainbow Dash landed on the ground, panting and sweating from dodging so many lightning bolts. "I've never seen lightning act like THAT! That was crazy!" "It was like the lightning was aimin' right fer ya," said Apple Bloom. "That's impossible," said Rainbow Dash. "Geez Rainbow Dash, what did you do to make the clouds so angry with you," asked Pinkie Pie. "Clouds are only made of water, they're not alive, so there's no way clouds can aim lightning," explained Rainbow Dash. "I don't know about that look," Spike pointed at Rainbow Dash, her mane, tale, coat, and wings were singed, "and there's that." Spike pointed to the places on the ground where the lightning hit, the points of impact were not too far apart and all in the same area as Rainbow Dash was in the sky. Then came the rumbling, the citizens of Ponyville could feel it under their hooves. "A stampede," the citizens thought. But they were wrong, out in the distance a dust cloud was heading their way. Everypony felt a chill down their spine when they saw dozens upon dozens of red twinkling lights shining from the dust cloud. When the dust cloud cleared they all gasped in horror at the sight. Manes and tails made of black fire, coats blacker than night, blood red eyes, sharp teeth and dripping fangs, Daemoni. They brayed and snorted wildly, galloping at full speed, smashing into anything that was in their path. "WHAT IN THE NAME OF CELESTIA ARE THOSE," shouted Rarity. "We need to run, NOW!" shouted Bright Blade. He wasn't the only one who had that thought; many of the pony citizens began to run for their lives. A few pegasi tried to fly away, but were quickly shot out of the sky by the same lightning that almost killed Rainbow Dash. The group watched in horror as pegasi fell out of the sky, charred and smoking, crashing into houses and shops. Rainbow Dash almost broke out into a full wail, seeing her fellow pegasi being killed one after another; she bit back the tears and kept going. Fluttershy, Applejack, Pinkie Pie, and Rarity formed a circle around the Crusaders in order to keep them safe, Rainbow Dash flew a few feet over head as added protection, and Spike rode on Applejacks back. "We need to make a brake for the Everfree Forest, it's our only chance," yelled Applejack. The group galloped as fast as they possibly could, but quickly stopped when they found their route blocked by Daemoni. They could only look on in horror as the Daemoni cornered some ponies and started to feast on their life force, they screamed in terror as the life was sucked from their bodies. Their manes lost all color, their coats faded, and they fell to the ground lifeless. The group had hidden behind a building, averting the eyes of the young ones from seeing such a sight, but they didn't need to see to imagine what was happening to them. "C'mon, there's nothin' we can do fer them," said Applejack remorsefully. They continued their escape, but everywhere they went there were Daemoni cutting them off, to the east, west, north, and south of Ponyville. The entire town was surrounded, the best they could do was avoid the demonic ponies, but even that was proving difficult. The Daemoni were hot on their tails, chasing them through the alleyways of Ponyville. While running Bright Blade tripped and stumbled around till he hit the wall, Fluttershy saw this and went back for him. The others stopped and were about to turn around and help, but just then a bolt of lightning fired from the clouds and blasted the walls in the alley. The walls came crashing down, cutting off Fluttershy and Bright Blade from their friends. Bright Blade and Fluttershy turned around to see at least ten Daemoni blocking the entrance to the alley, "Bright Blade, hop on my back! I'll fly us over the wall," said Fluttershy. "Fluttershy look," Bright Blade pointed to the edges of the rooftops. Fluttershy gasped when she saw five Daemoni on each side of the roofs. Fluttershy was panicking and started to back up, she felt like curling into a ball and closing her eyes shut and wishing over and over in her head that this was all just a really bad dream. She stopped when she bumped into Bright Blade, jumped and squeaked. Fluttershy looked at Bright Blade, his body still trembled, mane still standing on end, and eyes filled with mortal fear. Something clicked in Fluttershy; she narrowed her eyes, and took a firm stance. "Bright Blade I need you to listen to me closely, alright," Bright Blade gave Fluttershy his full attention, her voice sounded stronger, more confident, "I'm going to distract them for as long as I can –" "Fluttershy, no please don't –!" "It's the only way! It'll be impossible for the both of us to get out of here, but at least I can make sure you get away BB!" Fluttershy flared her wings and gritted her teeth, building up the courage in her heart. "When I say go start climbing, I'll buy as much time as I can!" Fluttershy…no, please Fluttershy! "Alright, get ready!" Fluttershy raked her hoof against the ground and lowered her head into an attack position. The Daemoni growled and bared their fangs, ready to receive their next meal. "HEADS UP!" From out of nowhere a lightning bolt blasted the Daemoni blocking their path; both Fluttershy and Bright Blade's eyes were wide with surprise. "Fluttershy, BB, run now," shouted a voice. They looked up to see Rainbow Dash flying around, the lightning like before was trying to blast her out of the sky, but this time was different. Rainbow Dash circled around the Daemoni on the rooftops then zoomed up to the clouds, the lightning sparked and the thunder rumbled. Then it fired a bolt at the cyan pegasus, but Rainbow Dash was waiting for it, she flew down with the lightning following close behind her. She pulled out of her nose dive at the last second causing the lightning to hit the Daemoni instead, making them explode in big puffs of black smoke. "Like now would be a really good time to get out of there," shouted Rainbow Dash. Fluttershy crouched low to the ground, "Bright Blade get on my back, quickly!" Bright Blade wasted no time jumping on Fluttershy's back, once he was on; Fluttershy took off into the air. They watched as Rainbow Dash continued her lightning redirect tactic, using it to blast as many Daemoni as she could without frying any innocent ponies. Bright Blade and Fluttershy were cheering her on, but their cheering was cut short. A Daemoni jumped from one of the rooftops and lunged for Bright Blade. At the last second Fluttershy rolled to the to right, but unfortunately the Daemoni's front hooves smacked Fluttershy's left wing, it gave a grotesque snapping noise and caused pain to surge through Fluttershy's body. Bright Blade fell off Fluttershy's back as the two plummeted to the ground; Bright Blade closed his eyes afraid to see the obvious outcome. This is it…! Bright Blade groaned and moaned, and for some reason he felt someponies weight on him. He opened his eyes and saw that he was on the ground; he also saw a cream colored foreleg slung over his body and some light pink mane draped over one of his eyes. A horrible realization came over Bright Blade. "Bright Blade…are you…okay, sweetie?" Bright Blade rose up slowly, his body was in a bit of pain. When he finally got up on all fours Bright Blade turned around and confirmed what he had thought. Fluttershy lay on the ground, her left wing broken, the other one pined underneath her side, but from the looks of it her right wing wasn't any better. She was covered in dirt, and bruised at different points on her body. And yet she looked up at Bright Blade with the same kind eyes as she always did, tears streaming down her face. "Thank Celestia…you're not hurt…are you Bright Blade," asked Fluttershy. "I'M NOT HURT! Fluttershy you're – what happened," yelled Bright Blade. "When we were falling…I-I grabbed you and held you close to me…then I guess we crash landed in the square," she answered. "Can you get up, Fluttershy please tell me you can get up!" "Sorry BB…I don't think I can…" her eyes shifted, Fluttershy seemed to have spotted something behind Bright Blade. "You need to get back to…Applejack and the others…you need to go…" Bright Blade followed Fluttershy's gaze and saw three Daemoni slowly stalking towards them. "They'll be too busy with me…please run," begged Fluttershy. Bright Blade looked at Fluttershy, then to the Daemoni, then back to Fluttershy. His mind was jumbled up; he didn't know what to do. Part of him wanted to obey what she told him, but the other half didn't want to leave her alone. The Daemoni started to get closer, Fluttershy tried to drag herself so that she was in front of Bright Blade, but he could tell that just trying was extremely painful for her. I won't run! Bright Blade turned around, reared up, and brought down his front forelegs hard on the ground. The impact made pain run through his body, still sore from the impact of their crash landing, but he used the pain and turned it into courage. Bright Blade panted hard and stared down the approaching Daemoni. I will not abandon my friend! "Bright Blade…what are you doing…run now!" The lead Daemoni started to move faster. Everypony here is my family! "Go now," pleaded Fluttershy. Applejack, Rarity, Pinkie Pie, and the Crusaders rounded the corner and saw what was about to happen, they all started to gallop towards them, but they were still far away. Rainbow Dash saw what was happening from the sky and flew as fast as she could to help Bright Blade and Fluttershy The Daemoni broke out into a full gallop, its gleaming red eyes focused squarely on Bright Blade. I won't let you take away my family! The creature lunged for Bright Blade; a light began to build behind Bright Blade's eyes. His body started to glow, and in that moment Bright Blades body erupted with golden light. It created a column of light that shot up straight into the air; it pierced the clouds forcing them to open, and then dispelled the red sky allowing the blue sky and sunshine to beam down on Ponyville. Everypony in Ponyville stopped and looked in awe at the pillar of light. The Daemoni hissed at the light and ran to its origin. Fluttershy looked at the pillar and saw the shadowy figure of a small colt growing bigger, and taller. The shadowy figure then began to grow wings, and a horn. The figure opened its eyes and the pillar exploded in a blinding flash of light. The clouds disappeared and the red sky was gone. Fluttershy looked up and was amazed at what she saw, a tall stallion alicorn, with golden wings, navy blue armor that covered his body and most of his head, on its flank was a silver sword with a halo shining behind it. On each side of the sword were three wispy silver strands that imitated wings. His white mane flowed in the crosswinds from the pillar disappearing. The armored alicorn looked down at Fluttershy with his brilliant emerald green eyes. She cringed away as he lowered his horn, the tip of it touched her forehead and immediately she was covered in golden light. The light vanished, Fluttershy opened her eyes and looked at her left wing, "Oh my…" she flapped it, she could flap her wing. Fluttershy felt no pain whatsoever; she got up on all four legs, Fluttershy looked up at the alicorn stallion that towered over her slightly. "Um…thank you, thank you very much," said Fluttershy. The alicorn stallion only smiled in response, he then turned his attention the Daemoni who were keeping their distance. They continued to hiss and growl, baring their teeth at him. The armored alicorn narrowed his eyes and flared out his wings. "With strength unmatched I sing this song that might and magic be as one…" the ponies all looked at him, they recognized his voice, "...Shine you light upon the land..." while in the sky Rainbow Dash saw something, a star twinkling almost as bright as the sun. "Let evil's wrath be undone, mystic sword Excellion!" The star shot down from the sky in a white flash of light and landed a foot to the right of the alicorn. The blade was alabaster white, it shined like it was made of crystal instead of metal, and the guard was a golden elongated U, a design was etched on the guard an eight pointed star with wings on both sides. The hilt was wrapped in brown leather, and the pommel was a diamond shaped spike. "Alright, then who's first?" The alicorn used his telekinesis to lift the sword out of the ground, he grabbed the hilt with his mouth with the blade pointed right, and then he proceeded to walk slowly toward the Daemoni. The closer he got to the Daemoni, the more they backed up, by now the square was filled Daemoni, but none of them paid any attention to the nearby ponies, they moved with him studying the alicorn, looking for the perfect moment to strike. Applejack and the others ran to Fluttershy's side. "Fluttershy are you okay," asked Applejack. Rainbow Dash joined them on the ground, "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I saw you get hit, but I couldn't get to you guys in time and – how the hay are you not hurt!" "It was him, he used his magic to heal me," said Fluttershy, keeping her eyes on the alicorn. "I don't understand, who is that stallion, and where is Bright Blade," asked Apple Bloom. "I think, that alicorn is Bright Blade…" everypony did a double take at Fluttershy, and then turned to see what the armored alicorn was going to do. "No way," threw in Spike. Bright Blade stopped walking, he waited patiently, fully alert. One of the Daemoni got impatient and decided to attack Bright Blade, their first mistake. In the blink of an eye Bright Blade disappeared and reappeared five feet behind the Daemoni that tried to attack him. The Daemoni's head was severed, a delayed reaction to Bright Blade's fast slash, it then dissolved in a puff of black smoke. Bright Blade widened his stance, his eyes shifted from one side to the other, looking at each one for any sign of attack. The Daemoni bellowed and growled, then charged at Bright Blade. Bright Blade kicked two Daemoni with his hind legs sending them flying backwards; he then used Excellion to cut three Daemoni in one slash. Bright Blade then flipped the sword so that the blade was pointed left. More Daemoni attacked, Bright Blade jumped and spun around three times, cutting them all down in a spiral of death. Bright Blade threw out his forelegs and punched two more Daemoni. Infuriated the demonic ponies bum rushed Bright Blade; one after another they piled on top of him. In a burst of light the Daemoni went flying in every direction as Bright Blade took off into the sky, wings unfurled, his body glowed with a powerful gold aura. Bright Blade scanned the area; many of the Daemoni were clustered down below him. Perfect, he thought. Underneath Bright Blade a magic circle formed, in the center of the circle was the same symbol as on Excellion's guard. Runic symbols littered the inner and outer perimeter of the circle; the writing was white while the symbol in the center and the circle itself were gold colored. Bright Blade flew higher into the sky till Ponyville almost looked like a tiny speck. Excellion's blade glowed, and with that Bright Blade nosedived straight for the circle. "What's he doing!" shouted Rarity. Shooting Star Strike! Bright Blade went through the magic circle, and on the other side emerged a hundred white streaking lights. The lights zigzagged in different directions, but all were aiming for the square down below, more specifically the Daemoni. One of the lights pierced one of the Daemoni, and then another, and another. Soon all the streaking lights were attacking Daemoni, at the end the lights gathered together to form an alicorn body. The light shattered and Bright Blade burst forth, like a butterfly emerging from its cocoon, he skidded to a halt on the ground, when Bright Blade looked back all the Daemoni exploded into a collective black smoke. The black smoke rose then faded away, nothing was left of them. Bright Blade panted hard, with the Daemoni gone Excellion vanished in a display of sparkling particles. "It's – It's over," said Pinkie Pie. "Looks like it," responded Applejack. "Fluttershy, are you sure that's Bright Blade," asked Sweetie Belle. "After seeing all that, I'm not sure anymore. The Bright Blade I know is little and doesn't have wings or a horn," said Fluttershy. "Or was that tall," added Scootaloo. "Well at the very least we gotta thank the guy," Rainbow Dash looked at the alicorn stallion, his armor gleaming, and eyes still intense from the battle. "So, uh, who's the lucky pony who wants to thank him?" Apple Bloom, Scootaloo, and Sweetie Belle gave each other a nod. The Crusaders broke from the protective ring of the older mares, before Applejack and Rarity could say anything the three fillies were already a couple feet away from the alicorn. Cautiously they went up to him, the alicorn was panting hard, the fight having taking its toll on him. Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo nudged Apple Bloom forward, she grunted in protest but reluctantly spoke to the alicorn. "Um…we, uh…" Apple Bloom took a deep breath, "Are you Bright Blade," she blurted out. The alicorn's head rose up; he swallowed hard trying to catch his breath. "Apple Bloom…Sweetie Belle…Scootaloo…You guys alright," the alicorn's stomach started to growl, which surprised all three of the Crusaders. "Sorry, do you think any of those cupcakes made it through," he asked. "Bright Blade it is you," all three fillies said in unison. Overcome with joy, Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo jumped up on him. Surprised, Bright Blade fell over with his three friends hugging him. "Guys it's really Bright Blade," shouted Scootaloo. The other mares came over to see, and the Crusaders finally let Bright Blade up. They all inspected Bright Blade's new form, especially Rainbow Dash, who was particularly interested in his wings, and Rarity who couldn't help but stare in wonder at his horn. "I don't understand dear, how did this happen," asked Rarity. "Duh – isn't it obvious," everypony looked at Pinkie Pie, genuinely thinking she knew, "Bright Blade is an alicorn, but disguised himself as an earth pony for a long time, waiting for just the right moment to reveal himself!" Pinkie Pie got in Bright Blade's face, "So how long have you've been a secret hero," asked Pinkie Pie. "Um…uh…" Bright Blade didn't know how to respond, although when he thought about it does anypony really know how to respond to anything Pinkie Pie says. "Well whatever happened to him one thing is for sure, thanks to Bright Blade the entire town was saved," said Spike. Just then all the ponies who were hiding from the Daemoni started to come out. They all whispered and kept their distance upon seeing the mysterious alicorn, but their fears were quickly fading thanks to the other ponies gathering around him. Soon the square was filled with ponies each coming up to thank Bright Blade for what he had done. Bright Blade only chuckled out of embarrassment and nervousness; he wasn't used to being the center of attention, especially heroic attention. "Thanks, thank you everypony," said Bright Blade. "Look," shouted somepony. Up in the sky a purple hot air balloon started to descend down in the square, "It's Twilight," said Bright Blade. Bright Blade excused himself through the crowd and made his way towards the balloon, his excitement was peaking, and he couldn't wait to see Twilight. Hopefully she can tell me what's going on with me, and what those things were, thought Bright Blade. The balloon landed near the statue in the square. Twilight quickly jumped out of the balloon, her horn glowing with magical energy. "Twili –!" a violet beam of light shot past Bright Blades face, he quickly stopped moving and saw that it was Twilight who fired the blast. Bright Blade was confused as to why the mare who had taken him in, who had treated him like a little brother, just shot at him. "Who are you, and what did you do to Ponyville," yelled Twilight. "Twilight wait, I know I look different, but I swear it's me Bright Blade," said Bright Blade. Twilight raised an eyebrow in confusion, "Bright…Blade…I don't know any alicorn named Bright Blade!" Bright Blade, through mysteriously transforming into an armored alicorn warrior, and wielding a magic sword called Excellion, defeated the Daemoni and saved Ponyville from total destruction. But upon Twilight's arrival she immediately attacks him, and goes on to say that she doesn't even know who he is. What could be the cause of this, and is this the last of the Daemoni threat? Find out in the next chapter of War in Equestria: The Tale of Bright Blade.