//------------------------------// // Chapter 8: Swap places // Story: Avatar: Legend of Diamond Tiara. Book 4: Immortals // by Jeweled Pen //------------------------------// Prism groaned, his eyes slowly opening. He tried to spread out his wings and instantly regretted the motion, the bandages wrapped around them stopping them from moving and sending bursts of pain through the damaged limbs. “Ow ow...” he whispered. “YOU IDIOT!” Blaze roared, stomping her hooves down besides the bed. He glanced over to his annoyed wife looking and gave a small smile. “Hey honey...” he said with a sheepish smile. “You look as radiant as ever. Your mane looks extra orange and fiery today.” “And your mane looks like a lemon that’s been left in the lab after one of Alicity’s ‘accidents’. You’re lucky you’re already in the hospital bed or I’d put you in one. What were you thinking?” “Oh, you know. Heh… ow. I distracted him, didn’t I? And stuff? So… totally worth.” Blaze let out a frustrated growl. “You truly are your mother’s child. You should--” The door to the room opened and Daring, Scootaloo and Ironwing ran into the room. “You idiot!” Ironwing said the moment he was in. “Already told him,” Blaze said with a light chuckle. “Did you tell him it was--” “Was about to,” she cut him off, before glaring at Prism. “That was reckless. What in the world would possess you to fight him like that?” “He was my student, weird powers from Discord or not, I figured I could take him,” Prism said with a cringe, before shaking his head. “He was OUR student,” Blaze snapped. “Still, a bit of extra power wasn’t enough to beat me. I just--” “You just ran into him like an idiot. The generals have who knows what extra abilities from Discord. You cannot just run in like that. You know this!” “I know, I know, I’m sorry,” Prism said with a weak smile. “… Did I at least look cool?” “GAHHH! I swear! You’re just like your mother!” “… I mean, you did look pretty cool,” Daring offered, earning a glare from Ironwing and Blaze as well as a snort from Scootaloo. “What? He did. Besides, I thought he’d be fine. He did train True, right?” Prism closed his eyes. “I… did. But that whole thing was kind of weird.” “Yeah, he is a general,” Ironwing muttered before walking up to sit by the bed. “Who knows how much strength they’ve gotten from Silver?” “It’s not… that...” Prism muttered before, slowly, stretching out his hooves. “There’s more to it than that.” Blaze sighed and leaned in, shaking her head. “Yeah? What?” “… Just… I’ve been fighting air benders since I was a kid. Buck, mom trained me. There isn’t anypony better than her. I KNOW a good air bender when I see it.” “And?” “… He was not just good. His power was incredible, yeah. But there was a lot of… he was skilled. Very skilled. His precision, his movements. Everything. They were perfect. There were no flaws. It was like fighting my mom again,” he muttered. “No. It was… different than that. He was better than my mom. Well. Almost as good. Maybe a little off point. She would have had trouble, that’s all I’m saying.” Ironwing frowned, tapping a hoof on his chin. “Wait… you trained him, right? How good was he back then?” “He was… good. I mean… he wasn’t anything super special when I got a hold of him,” Prism muttered. “Blaze?” “He was good enough to be a Wonderbolt, but he was hardly a stand out amongst us,” Blaze said with a sigh, shaking her head. “I trained with him enough, I’d know. There were a few times he pulled off some impressive stunts. But nothing like you used to do.” “Exactly,” Prism muttered, shaking his head. “He’s not… he was nowhere near this good. It was like...” “You think he was as good as your mom, then? Really?” Ironwing asked, closing his eyes. “Maybe...” “Rainbow’s cutie mark is in the Air Immortal. If… True is able to draw from that, if he has access to your mom’s skills...” Prism groaned and closed his eyes. “Yeah. That's what I’ve been thinking.” “Well… buck,” Scootaloo muttered. “The Earth Immortal has Applejack AND Applebloom inside it. The Water Immortal has Rarity and Sweetie. If their generals can draw on ALL of their abilities now, too?” “Yup...” Prism sad. “Bad enough we don’t have them to help us fight. But if they’re actually against us?” “Good thing we’ve got an avatar then, huh?” Daring asked with a light chuckle. “Though we’ve… got some bad news, Prism.” “What now?” Prism muttered with a groan. “Don’t worry about that right now,” Ironwing said quickly, shaking his head. “For now, you need to recover. You’re still healing and--” “Just tell me,” Prism snapped, glaring at the stallion. “Things are already bucked to the skies, what else could be going wrong?” Scootaloo sighed and then glanced to Blaze, who nodded. “Very well. Blaze, you’ll want to know this too. Metal Orchard is under siege.” Blaze’s eyes widened. “W-what? We need to help them! We--” “Are staying here for the time being. The last thing we need is to draw all of our forces to the Earth Kingdom. If the immortals team up? There’s no way we can defeat them like this. We have to trust them to deal with this.” Prism let out a soft groan, but nodded. “I hate to admit it, but you’re right. But what if they get Big Mac, Octavia and Vinyl?” “We’ll be even worse off,” Scootaloo said with a nod. “But there’s nothing we can do to help them right now. All we can do by rushing in is make things worse. So we have to wait here and do what we can. Aid the war effort in whatever way we can, without getting ourselves captured. We need to come up with a plan to take down the immortal here. They damaged the Water Immortal, so it can be done. A plan is being worked on for it now, hopefully we’ll have something soon.” “And what about me?” Prism asked before trying to sit up, only to have Blaze put a hoof to his chest. “You need to rest,” Blaze said firmly. “What? But--” “We won’t be making a move until everypony, including you, has had a chance to recover. You aren’t the only pony to get hurt by this assault,” Blaze snapped. “With those changelings of theirs, we’re already outnumbered. We’ve already lost a sizable percentage of the Wonderbolts as it is. We can’t afford to make a move while so many are laid up in bed. Right, Scootaloo?” “Exactly.” Prism sighed and closed his eyes. “Right… how many were lost to this?” “… Less than we would have if you hadn’t made a move on True,” Blaze admitted. “We lost three more to the immortal, but we did our duty. You should have grabbed one of us to come with you, not ran off alone.” Scootaloo nodded. “The result could have been far worse. We were lucky. But we’re still on the run. We have ponies on constant patrols, keeping an eye out for any sign of Discord’s forces. We’re keeping the skies filled with clouds for the time being, but our forces won’t be able to keep these clouds up forever. On the up side, our ground forces have now been fully extracted. The Air Nomads now have nothing more than pegasi in their borders. It’s… not an ideal situation, but it’s the best we can do for now. But Prism, please listen to Blaze. You’ll get your chance to fight back, eventually. For now, we need to recover and plan. We--” “Need to wait for Diamond, I know,” Prism said softly, shaking his head. “I still don’t like it. True was my student and--” “And is not your responsibility now. He is all of our responsibility. Running off and doing things on your own is how we end up in situations where we need you and don’t have you. On that note. While, what you did was brave, if Blaze HADN’T come in to save you when she did, we would have lost you as well.” “If I hadn’t run off when I did, True would have intercepted the refuges. I had a split second to move, I made my choice,” Prism muttered. “You should have signaled me,” Ironwing said. “I thought I could take him alone, they needed you against the immortal.” “Judging by the shape you’re in now, you needed me against him.” Prism sighed and pulled the blanket up over his face. “I’m sorry, okay? I won’t run off on my own again, okay? I know it was reckless, I shouldn’t have gone alone. Thank you for saving me, Blaze. Can we stop the ‘pick on Prism’ hour, please?” he asked. “One last thing,” Blaze said firmly, before smiling. “How badly would you have scolded Diamond if she’d done something like that?” “I’m not her teacher anymore. Mom took over.” “The position defaulted to you until we find out what happened to her,” Blaze said firmly. “So, what would you have done?” The pegasus groaned. “Scolded her. Fine. But that’s not the same as… I’m sorry. I’ve learned my lesson. Okay?” “Good,” Blaze said before getting to her hooves. She glanced over to Ironwing for a moment. She then turned and started to walk towards the door. “Scootaloo? Daring? Do you mind if we go and work on that thing for a bit?” Daring glanced up. “Huh? You mean the… oh. Right. Right right. You two have fun now! Don’t kill each other!” she called before racing out the door ahead of the air bender. Scootaloo sighed and rolled her eyes. “Don’t kill him, Ironwing. Bye,” she said, before trotting lightly after Blaze. Once the two were alone in the room Ironwing rolled his eyes. “Your wife is subtle.” Prism snickered and shook his head. “It could be worse. You know, last time it was you in the hospital and me worried sick.” “You could have died, you know.” “Doubt it.” “You might have never flown again. You wing was broken in two places.” “They have good healers here.” “I had to help haul you here, Prism. Your chest was partially caved. You almost died.” “And yet I didn’t. What’s this about, Ironwing?” The stallion sighed and turned, leaning his back against the bed. “I feel… guilty. I guess. I should have been there, by your side. But I wasn’t. You ran off like a… well, an idiot.” “I know, I--” “You ran off like your mother.” That made Prism freeze. “You know how that turned out. You know what happened.” “I’m not--” “You are like her. You’re cocky, arrogant, a pain in the rear. You’re good, but you’re not perfect. You can make mistakes. Do you think I don’t notice that? That was why you and I were a team for so long. Why--” “That was then, this was something I had to--” “Deal with on your own? Like Shining Blast?” “… He wasn’t as--” “You don’t know what he’s capable of. You don’t know what the immortal is, either. They have more than just your mother’s mark in them. They have power, control, precision. They are far, far beyond just normal ponies now. Taking them on by yourself is nothing more than reckless arrogance.” “I was--” “You almost weren’t. You should have brought me with you. Or Blaze, even. Somepony. If Blaze hadn’t taken him by surprise, you might be dead now.” Prism let out a soft groan. “I’m sorry. It’s just… I thought I had it handled, I--” “You’re your mother’s child. But Rainbow is gone. The Air Nomads need every Wonderbolt they have. You’re not just putting yourself at risk when you get hurt. Just… next time… don’t. You need someone to watch your back.” Ironwing lightly tapped his hooves on the ground. “And… maybe… I need someone to watch my back. Sometimes. Too.” “Wait… what? You mean...” “Last time I almost died. I needed YOUR help to get out of the city before Silver got there. In that turmoil, I could have been killed by any number of…” Ironwing trailed off, before giving a sigh. “The Wonderbolts are in shambles. Most of the few remaining ponies in the Shadowbolts are in hiding. We have to use every edge we have. And you and I are...” Prism sighed. “Just like old days, then?” “If we work together, even your mom would have a rough time against us.” “She’d have probably still kicked our flanks, though.” “Probably. Your mom was merciless.” “But… fine. I wouldn’t mind that. I guess. Kinda. Maybe. It… About mom. I didn’t mean to--” “You didn’t try to break anypony’s wings before flying off to do something stupid and reckless. You’re not your mom.” “Thanks.” “You’re just an idiot.” Prism frowned. “Gee, thanks.” “Anytime,” Ironwing said before getting to his hooves. “Get back to your hooves when you can. We’ve got a lot of old techniques to work on.” “I will. About the Metal Orchard. Do you think they’ll--” “They’ll hold out as long as they can,” Ironwing cut him off. “We… just have to hope that whatever Diamond has planned, whatever she’s working on, will pay off in the end.” “What do you think the chances are of that happening?” “I’m willing to take that gamble.” “Good enough for me.”