//------------------------------// // Duel // Story: Scarlet // by Skijarama //------------------------------// Everything in the valley was still. Nothing dared to move, or even breathe. Even the dense storm clouds that had rolled over the region held still. It was like the whole world was holding their breath, a silent audience to the duel taking place in the heart of the valley. Lightning flashed across the sky, followed instantly by a near-deafening boom of thunder. Scarlet and Silent sprang into motion. With a flap of his wings, Silent lifted into the air and sped over the grass for Scarlet, his hooves outstretched and eyes burning with determination. Scarlet lifted her swords in front of her as she charged, a guttural battle cry tearing past her lips. In those last moments, before their blades met, Scarlet thought back on everything that had happened up to this point, reminding herself of who she was fighting for and why. In her mind’s eye, she saw a skinny, frail, frightened earth pony filly, covered in wine and mud, looking back at her from the corner of her wine cellar. “For her,” she thought before jumping forward to meet Silent head-on. “For Primrose.” Their blades met in a shower of sparks. The air was filled with the shrill peel of magic and steel scraping against one another. Scarlet dug her hooves in the dirt to hold Silent in place, glaring intensely into his eyes. He stared right back with a ferocity to match her own before pulling back. Scarlet stepped backward as well, dispelling one of her swords and converting the other into a round shield, catching Silent’s next attack. She angled the surface up to lift him over her head while gathering magic on the tip of her horn, ready to blast him into the sky. She had to keep some distance between them, if possible. Silent was always at his deadliest in close quarters. Silent, however, saw the maneuver coming. He grit his teeth and swiped down with his left wing, forcing Scarlet to duck. She felt the tip of the wingblade cutting a few of the hairs from her head, sending a shiver down her spine. With a grunt, she shoved Silent up with her shield. He kicked away into a long, arcing backflip, wings spread wide to be prepared for Scarlet’s coming attack. Scarlet dropped her shield and unleashed the spell gathered on her horn, releasing a beam of trembling amethyst light that tore through the air and crackled with raw power. Silent folded his wings and angled down, evading the beam and landing on the ground. He snapped his wings out again, tensing to charge Scarlet once again, with a furious growl. “Stay down!” Scarlet snapped before stomping her hoof into the dirt and firing off another pulse of magic for Silent’s hooves. He reared up, avoiding the attack, although the cloud of dust it kicked up was enough to obscure his vision. Scarlet took advantage of his temporary blindness. Ignoring the small needle of pain she felt in her horn, she vanished from the grass and appeared in mid-air over the dust cloud. She fired off another beam of energy at where she believed Silent to be, creating another purple explosion. More dust and smoke was kicked up from the force, and the following rush of wind combined with the kickback of her spell sent her spiraling backward through the open air. “Shit,” she grunted under her breath, wrapping her body in magic and pulling up to slow her descent. She kept the fall from being harmful, but it wasn’t prevented from still hurting. She rolled several times, dirt and stray blades of grass clinging to her coat before she rose to her hooves and brought her swords back into reality, holding them in front of her defensively. She turned to face the dust cloud. Silent, now covered in numerous burn marks, shot out of it a second later. Scarlet gasped at his speed just as Silent brought both of his blades down in an overhead swing, knocking Scarlet’s swords to one side, and then tackled her with all of his weight. She became acutely aware of the sensation of flying through the air. She risked a glance down, seeing that Silent was carrying her several yards above the earth. Silent growled into her ear like a feral animal before suddenly flaring out his wings and kicking off of her. Scarlet gasped, her back colliding hard with one of the trees of the flaming orchard. She fell to the ground in a heap, her lungs desperate to replenish their supply of air. Silent pressed the offensive, darting in and thrusting with both wings. Scarlet rolled to one side in a clumsy dodge, her mind struggling to refocus on the fight. She spun on Silent with her swords in a series of clearing sweeps to force him back. He deflected her swings expertly and dove in under her guard; too close to use his blades, but close enough to drive his hoof into her chin in a fearsome uppercut. Scarlet grunted, rearing up onto her hind legs from the force of the blow. She glared down at Silent and dispelled her swords in favor of teleporting backward a few feet, just far enough to dodge the scissoring slash that would have disemboweled her. Silent growled in frustration. “Dammit, hold still!” “Make me!” Scarlet spat in response. She fired another beam of magic at him, pouring more power into it than before. Silent gave off a frustrated shout as he caught the attack on his wings. His hooves dug into the ground, creating trenches as he was pushed back. Grimacing, Scarlet pulled some power away from the attack so she could lift up a stray stone out of the grass. The aura around it rippled with energy before the rock shot through the air at Silent like a bullet. A trail of shimmering purple light was left in its wake, filling the air with a sharp, distorted shriek. Silent’s voice cried out as the stone struck him in the barrel, causing him to stagger to one side. The loss of focus, however momentary, was enough for the blast to slip by his defenses. Scarlet grinned triumphantly as the beam knocked Silent off his hooves and flung him back into a nearby tree. The bark cracked and splintered from the force of the impact. Silent slumped to the ground, groaning in pain. He was already moving to stand, his eyes burning with a fiery hatred that made Scarlet’s heart skip a beat. It was almost like she was staring down a rabid animal. A feral, insane monster. Baring her teeth in response, Scarlet charged forth, her swords manifesting and ready to sever the former-Nightblade’s head from his shoulders. Silent saw her coming and lifted his blades to catch hers in the nick of time. Sparks and rippling energies framed his hateful glare, reflecting in his eyes. With a snarl to match his, Scarlet rose up onto her hind legs and kicked at his face. He ducked his head to one side before slipping into a roll past Scarlet’s strikes. She overextended as a result, her blades slicing into the tree and knocking her off balance. She allowed them to disperse and turned to Silent, trying to conjure a barrier to block his follow-through. She was not expecting him to kick her in the side with his hind-legs, however. Scarlet grunted, thrown to the ground. She rolled onto her back and conjured up a makeshift barrier, stopping Silent’s next strike mere inches before it would have torn out her throat. The pegasus grunted before pulling back to strike again. Scarlet rolled to one side, dropping the barrier just as Silent’s blades reached it, causing him to overextend as well and cut into the earth. Rising back to her hooves, Scarlet fired off an unfocused pulse of magic from her horn, little more than a small, controlled explosion originating from her head. It did the trick, though, causing Silent to blink and step back from the bright light. Scarlet took advantage of the moment to summon her swords and go in for another swing. The two traded blows for several seconds. Scarlet realized with dread that Silent’s form was still far superior to her own, causing her to go into a defensive retreat. The open grasslands soon became obscured by burning trees and thick clouds of smoke that burned their lungs, stung their eyes and darkened their coats. She would have tried to put distance between them, but their environment now was making that far more difficult than it had been in the open. The smoke and fire addled her situational awareness, and trying to take shelter among them would be suicide. Silent would pick her apart in a game of cat and mouse like that. She needed to get back into the open, where she had space to maneuver and get creative with her magic. Alas, Silent got an opening before she could. Scarlet gasped as her blades were knocked wide, leaving her chest and throat completely exposed. Silent grinned and went for the kill. His blades glinted red in the firelight. Scarlet craned her head back as far as she could while throwing up a foreleg in reflexive defense. She bit down on her tongue to keep herself from screaming as the skin of her right foreleg was sliced open by Silent’s blades. Still, she managed to knock the attack up and away from her with that action. Ignoring the blood now flying off of her opponent’s weapon, Scarlet brought her swords up just in time to catch Silent’s follow-through thrust. She grunted, crumpling to one knee under the force of the attack. She realized with horror that she was pinned. She couldn’t dodge like this, and maintaining both of her blades in this position was eating up too much of her power to risk a teleport. If she tried anything of the sort, Silent’s blades would plunge into her, and she would lose. “You about ready to give up, Frost?” Silent snarled into her face, his voice coming out in a low, angered whisper. She could smell his rancid breath mixing with the suffocating fumes of the smoke, and it made her stomach churn. “Face it, you’re beaten! No matter how much you’ve improved since we began this little chase, you were never a match for me in single combat!” He pressed down even harder. Scarlet screwed her eyes shut, pouring as much energy as she could into her blades to keep Silent at bay. He was inches away from her throat now. The only thing keeping him from puncturing her jugular was the thick metal collar of the cloak that Crystal had gifted her hanging around her neck. She grit her teeth and glared up into Silent’s face. His eyes were perfectly clear, but the rest of him was a rippling silhouette, his face cast into shadow by the raging light of the infernos he had started. “I am not going to give up,” Scarlet growled in defiance, trying to push back and force him away. He held firm, taking full advantage of her awkward angle to keep her pinned. She grunted and braced herself as well as she could. “I will not let you touch them again!” Silent hissed out a low, frustrated snarl. “Funny. I don’t recall giving you a choice in the matter!” he snapped. He applied even more force, causing Scarlet to crumple entirely into the dirt under the force. “You cannot stop me. I am going to kill you, Scarlet Frost. And then I am going to kill that stupid boyfriend of yours…” “Leave Lens alone!” Scarlet snapped, a surge of adrenaline pulsing through her veins. She pushed back against Silent with all her might but was unable to gain any ground. “And then,” Silent went on, undeterred and grinning with the delight of a sadistic lunatic. “I am going to make Primrose watch as I strangle the life out of her mother. I’ll let her watch me finish what I started.” “No!” “And then, finally…” Silent’s voice dipped into a chilling whisper. “I am going to kill the child. I am going to make her scream, Scarlet. She is going to scream, and cry, and beg for mercy… and then she is going to join you in the grave.” Magma burned through Scarlet’s veins, her pupils expanding to let her see her enemy in all of his wretched detail. He smirked down at her, his eyes glowing red in the light of the fire, like those of a demon. In those orange orbs, she saw the bloody reflection of Primrose’s body the night she had almost died.  “You…” Scarlet seethed, her heart hammering like mad against her chest. Her eyes narrowed, twitching sporadically. Her muscles burned, not just from the strain of the battle, but now with hatred and an unquenchable desire to end the creature that was pinning her down. “You will never lay a hoof on her again…” Silent chuckled quietly under his breath. “Is that so? And how are you going to stop me?” Scarlet shoved back up against him. Silent let out a surprised gasp from the force as she finally managed to gain some ground. She rose back to one hoof, pushing Silent’s blades back with her own. “Simple…” she snarled. Her heart was fire. Her blood was rage. Every fiber of her being was giving everything they had for one purpose, and one purpose alone. Energy began to pool on the tip of Scarlet’s horn, expanding into a condensed sphere of unstable amethyst energy. Silent’s bravado faded as he stared into it, his jaw dropping open in shock. Scarlet could see the artillery blast reflected perfectly in his eyes, and for a moment, the demon was replaced with a pony afraid of his imminent death. “By taking you with me,” Scarlet finished. Silent immediately kicked back, trying to retreat and put as much distance between himself and Scarlet as possible. Too slow. He had barely even made it a yard before Scarlet fired the shot. The kickback was far greater than she was expecting, throwing her off her hooves and into the air with a pained cry. Then the explosion went off. Scarlet screwed her eyes shut, her throat going raw as she screamed. Searing heat washed over the entire front of her body, and she knew for a fact she had caught on fire. A deafening roar and rush of wind accompanied the heat, pushing her higher up and back several dozen feet. She fell like a flaming meteor, crashing into the grass and rolling along for several seconds before finally coming to a rest. The rolling had managed to put out the flames, at least, but the agony they left in their wake was very present. Gasping rapidly for breath, Scarlet took a moment to acknowledge the surprising fact that she was alive. A point-blank artillery explosion like that wasn’t typically something one would survive. “The kickback must have given me enough room to survive the blast,” she theorized before moving to stand. She hyperventilated, her body screaming at her in pain. Her chest and forelegs were both devoid of fur now, the flesh underneath left wrinkled and blackened from the flames and explosion. Blood ran freely down her barrel, and she knew she had broken more than one rib in her landing. She lifted her eyes to look at the results of her suicide attack. The shockwave had knocked her out of the orchard. A sizable crater had been punched into the ground, around fifteen feet from end to end. Purple flames licked angrily around the edges, sending plumes of smoke to join those of the forest fire that consumed the orchard. For a moment, all was still. Scarlet took a deep breath before backing up. Was it over? Had she got him? She wanted to believe he was dead, incinerated by the blast. “But if I survived, he could have as well,” she thought to herself with a grimace. “I need a body before I can be sure.” As if on cue, movement caught her eyes. Looking up into the smoke, she could just make out the definitive silhouette of Silent’s body hovering there. Scarlet let out a heavy sigh, feeling very tired all of a sudden. Silent remained stationary for a few more seconds, no doubt using the smoke for cover as he checked himself over for any other injuries. Scarlet grimaced, taking the chance to call on her magic and lift the collar of her cloak from her shoulders. Whatever Silent was doing, he wrapped it up and came flying out of the smoke cloud, hooves outstretched. He didn’t look much better off than Scarlet. Half of his face was covered in a grotesque burn that wrinkled the skin and made him look almost like a hideous ghoul. Scarlet glared at him before launching her collar at him in much the same manner as she had the stone from before. Silent’s eyes widened, and he fanned out his wings in an attempt to break his speed and swerve around the improvised projectile. He was too slow, and the collar met his face with a loud metallic clang. Silent spun through the air, falling head over hooves several times before crashing into the ground a short distance away. Scarlet gave off a quiet huff and went to advance on him, summoning her swords again. As battered as she was, she still had enough strength to fight. Silent dragged himself back up to his hooves, panting heavily, much like Scarlet was. He glared up at her and snapped his wings out aggressively. Scarlet noticed that one of them was devoid of its blades. Her artillery blast had covered the majority of his left side in ugly burns and open wounds. “Ballsy move, Scarlet,” Silent got out between breaths, glaring at her intensely. The raging inferno of the orchard painted his right side in flickering orange light, contrasting with the dark burns that smothered his left. “I am impressed… you are like a mother defending her child, aren’t you?” Scarlet huffed, spreading her stance. “What were you expecting?” she demanded. “Unlike you, I have something to protect, and I will die before I let you take another child away from me!” Silent blinked, his eyes widening. “Another…?” he echoed. He stood still for a moment before closing his eyes and lowering his head. “I see… so that explains it.” “What?” Scarlet asked in curiosity. Silent lifted his gaze to meet hers again. The murderous madness was gone, replaced, even if only for a moment, by the sympathetic stare of an old friend. “I saw the foals’ books you had in your home after you left, Scarlet, and I saw a name I did not recognize in an old journal entry you hid from yourself. I suspected you had a child, but I never knew what happened to them…” Scarlet paused, the fire in her veins quieting for the moment. She allowed her swords to disperse. “...She was everything to me,” she muttered, her eyes drifting closed. “My one chance at making up for my mistakes, to give the world something beautiful… and she was murdered right in front of me.” Silent hummed quietly. “I see… had I known that at the beginning, we might have avoided all of this,” he admitted before raising his head. “For whatever my opinion is worth, Frost, I hope she is at peace.” Scarlet sighed before summoning her swords again. “She is… I know she is.” The two stared each other down for several seconds. Then, without a word, not even a sound, they charged at each other again. Their blades clashed, showering them both in sparks as their duel resumed. Scarlet soon lost herself to the motions. Thrust, cut, slash, block, parry, dodge, counter… over and over again, the pattern repeated itself. The step-by-step movements began to blur together for Scarlet, leaving her body to act on its own. Their battle carried them closer and closer to the entrance to Sanctuary, back to the very hill where she and Lens had parted ways. Her muscles ached with exhaustion, her breath came in heaving gasps, and her body burned from her myriad injuries. Still, she fought, giving her all, her very soul, to keeping the stallion before her from taking away the filly and stallion she cherished above all others. Alas, one of them had to give out before the other. With one last cry of effort, Scarlet came forward, blades high over her head for a final strike. She brought them down onto Silent’s guard, sending sparks flying in every direction. They glared deep into one another’s eyes for a moment. Silent knocked her swords aside, and they vanished with barely even a sound. That was it. Scarlet had no strength left. She barely even had the will to offer up a quick grunt when Silent’s hoof punched into her burned chest, sending her sprawling to the ground. She tried to stand. She tried so hard, but she just couldn’t find the strength. Silent took several deep breaths, his posture sagging from exertion. He slowly approached, his wings dragging limply along the ground behind him. “Ha… I am… I am truly impressed, Scarlet,” he said before coming to a stop by her side. She looked up at him, her eyes barely able to keep him in focus. Silent lifted his wingblade and pointed it at her barrel, aimed straight at her heart. “You fought well…” “So… this is it, then?” Scarlet thought to herself, seeing the moonlight reflected in Silent’s blade. “Downed by exhaustion and stabbed through the heart… hmph. I can think of worse ways to go…” She closed her eyes to await the end. “I have many regrets… but the biggest one of all is not getting to see you two again… Sharp Lens… Primrose… please… live on. Be happy…” “SILENT, STOP!” Scarlet winced, opening her eyes as the voice of a certain earth pony filly sliced through the air. With what little strength she had left, Scarlet lifted her head to see Primrose and Lens sprinting toward her.