The Alicorn Warrior

by iAmSiNnEr

Act I - Chapter 5 - Breaking the Chains

The cafe was relatively quiet after Gusty Serenity left.  A couple of other ponies showed up to place orders, and some kitchen help showed up as well.  Nopony bothered the six mares and the dragon, though—save for Cold Cuts, when he delivered their food; it all smelled really good—and asked if they’d like anything else.  Their answer had been no.
Eventually, Starlight broke the silence.  “So, who all wonders if Twilight is actually going to show up?”
Pinkie looked at her incredulously.  “Well of course she is!  She said she would!  And you know, breaking a promise is one of the fastest ways to lose a friendship…”  She inhaled dramatically- and then a young mare from a nearby table bounded over to say the last word with her.  “FOREVERRRRR!”
Starlight looked at the strange mare.  “Uh…  Who are you?”
The mare blinked.  “What-?  Oh, me?  I’m Serene Peace.”  She took a deep breath and turned to Pinkie.  “Were you imitating the Great Sparkle?  I love it when she does that!”
Starlight couldn’t help but notice when a mare, passing their table on her way in, used a purple hoof to draw her cloak just a little bit tighter when she heard that.
Pinkie blinked.  Applejack spoke.  “Imitating the Sneaky Sparkle?” she asked.
“Uh, no, not the Sneaky Sparkle, though lotsa ponies call her that.  She’s the Great Sparkle to me.”  She had a lot of energy in her, definitely.  “It took absolutely forever for ponies to figure out not to promise to beat her in the Arena because every time they do…”  She stopped herself, and seemed to deflate, almost exactly like Pinkie Pie.  “...  Ponies usually complain about me explaining,” she muttered.
“Ah, no, we won’t,” Starlight announced quickly, and at least a little bit distractedly; the cloaked figure had disappeared somewhere, and she couldn’t figure out where.  “What happens?”
This brought Serene Peace back to her alarmingly Pinkie-like energy levels.  “Oooh, ooh ooh ooh!”  She bounced up and down.
Pinkie joined her.  “It’d start with the contestant being all ‘I promise I will beat you’,” she told Serene.
“How’d you know that?” Serene asked, tilting her head.  “I mean if you’re asking…”
Pinkie shrugged.  “A hunch.”
“Don’t mind her,” Starlight informed Serene.  “She does that to everypony.”
Serene giggled.  “Hey, I do it too!  Sometimes.  But then, the Great Sparkle would be like ‘You know, I wouldn’t advise a promise like that.  You don’t know if you can keep it’.”  Her serious face made even Fluttershy giggle.  “And they’d be like ‘Well, of course, I can keep it!’  And the Great Sparkle would be like ‘You know, breaking a promise is one of the fastest ways to lose a friendship’...”  She trailed off, then leaned to the side and put her hoof up, to make an aside.  “This is where she beats them down in three seconds or less, wins the fight, and poses over them.”  Then she straightened up again, took a deep breath, and spoke with Pinkie.
“FOREVERRRRR!”
Then all three of them smiled.
And the third one, a cloaked figure with a mask that had just appeared next to Serene, shrugged.  “Though I would argue that I was imitating Pinkie, not the other way around.”
Serene froze for a half-second, before turning to Pinkie.  “P-Pinkie?  Like, Pinkie Pie?  The Great, the Wonderful, the-!”  She stopped to take a quick breath.  “The amazing party pony and friend of the Great Sparkle?”
Pinkie nodded, bouncing in time with her constantly increasing rate.  “Yes!  That’s me!”
Serene immediately clasped Pinkie’s outstretched hoof and shook it harder than Applejack had shaken Twilight’s when they’d first met.  “Woohoo!  You’re my role model!  I wish I could be like you, and move to Equestria, and throw parties, and-!”  She went silent out of what appeared to be excitement.
The cloaked figure shrugged.  “Well, why not, Serene?  Unlike me, and your mom, you weren’t banished.”
Serene gasped, whirling to stare straight into the hood.  “Uh…  Who…?”
Twilight Sparkle removed her mask, smiled, and reached out to put one hoof to Serene’s lips.
Serene spent a few seconds alternately vibrating and wobbling and finally settled on a more sedate pattern.  “Why?  Ponies that were born out here can’t enter Equestria, even if they weren’t banished themselves.”
“Because you were born in the Canterlot General Hospital three years before your mom was banished,” Twilight answered.  “I know, I was there.  Celestia wanted to show me something.”  She shuddered.  “And…  when she banished your mom…  she didn’t banish you, even if you were teleported with her.  I was there for that too.  So she can’t go back to Equestria, and I can’t, but you can.”
Serene blinked, jaw articulating for several seconds.  “So…  why are you here?  I mean…  you don’t normally start chatting…”
Twilight shrugged again.  “To catch up with old friends,” she stated.  Then she hugged Serene lightly with a wing.  “And of course, it never hurts to make new friends, either.  Even if I’m not using an alter ego this time around.”
“Speaking of alter ego,” Applejack scowled.  “How come you ended up fighting in that arena?  Ah thought you were more the studying sort.”
Twilight smiled.  “Funny story, that.”

It was time.
Twilight stumbled and nearly collapsed when the griffins shoved her into the Arena.
She’d known this was coming.  How could she not?  Once Quick Leash, which she’d learned her captor was called, had realized she’d made a friend amongst the other fighters, he’d started priming her to fight him.
But she couldn’t fight Hard Line.  She just couldn’t.  He was the stallion that had helped her come to terms with her task, come to terms with killing to survive.  That was just the way it was in the Badlands.  One had to kill…  or be killed.  He’d helped her to stop thinking of her opponents as people, but as creatures- not as animals, or even as enemies, as she’d thought of Starlight during that time fiasco- but as monsters.  It didn’t make killing them anymore right, but it made it possible for her to stomach it.
She still had to concentrate to avoid seizing up before- or after- the deed.
And now, they were putting her in the Arena…  against Hard Line.  She couldn’t think of him as anything other than a friend.  She couldn’t kill him.  She couldn’t even fight him, any more than she could have fought Fluttershy.
Her head hung as she listened to the announcer, calling out the battle.  Quick Leash would be up in the top box, with his announcer and a few of his griffin guards.
Yes, it was a battle to the death.  Not all battles were that, as she’d quickly found out- but in a battle to the death, only one walked away alive.
She knew already that it would be Hard Line.  He’d be the one to walk away since he was more experienced.  He had killed ponies before.  He would be able to kill her…  and she wouldn’t- couldn’t- resist.
And she knew Quick Leash would be disappointed by her performance.  It’d be absolutely unspectacular in every form of the word.
Not that it’d matter to her- she’d be dead before long.

It took Hard Line only sixty seconds to march across the Arena and slap Twilight in the face.  “What are you doing?” he barked.  “Fight!”
She didn’t move, ignoring the painful strike.  She was an Alicorn- she couldn’t be harmed by blunt-force trauma.  Or if she could, she had yet to experience a blow that could hurt her.  He had a blade, though, and those could still hurt her.  “I can’t,” she muttered, head still hanging.
He snorted angrily.  “Of course you can!  Now Fight!”  He pulled her blade, a two-foot-long two-edged sword, from her scabbard, and yanked up one of her forehooves to push it into.  She didn’t even stumble, her pegasus magic allowing her to shift her weight faster than she could think.  “Fight!”
She shook her head.  “I can’t,” she repeated.  “I can’t kill you.”
He paused for a second, before punching her in earnest, allowing her blade to fall to the ground.  “Yes you can!” he declared.  “You’ve fought, and killed, before, and I’m no different!  Now fight!”  He struck her again.
“No, I can’t,” she answered indignantly.  “I-!”
He cut her off.  “Getting angry?  Good!  Hold on to that feeling, and FIGHT!” 
“B-but I just can’t!” 
“Listen to me, Sparkle. You have friends to get back to, don’t you? You need to fight so that you can right the wrongs against you and return to them. As for me?” Hard Line spread his wings. “I have no one. Cherish your friends and family before it's too late. I learned that lesson too late.” 
At the mention of her friends, Twilight froze. She had mentioned them to Hard Line as a motivation to return to Equestria and when Hard Line heard, he had started to help her the next day. She never knew what made him decide to help her. Now she knew. 
She could fight and survive because Hard Line was giving her the chance to go back to her friends in Equestria. 
No, not could. 
She would. 
A maelstrom of emotions began to churn inside of her, and she began to feel something rising inside of her. 
No. She would not kill her friend, she would find another way.
Hate for Quick Leash for what he had done to them bubbled to the surface, and Twilight turned to Hard Line. 
“I’m not going to kill you,” Twilight stated. “I was once the personal student of Princess Celestia, not only for my intelligence but for my magic.” Twilight closed her eyes, pausing for a moment, thinking deeply. “There is always another way for those who look for it.” 
Twilight grasped her locked magic. It hurt, but she needed this. She tugged at the magic and she felt the bonds unraveling a little, but they held strong. By this point, the audience was silent, watching the exchange between her and Hard Line, and Quick Leash was demanding why they weren’t fighting. 
Twilight pulled harder at her magic and for the first time in weeks, she began to feel her magic again. After weeks of disuse, her magic had been restored, her mana levels had never been higher. Her magic was a raging maelstrom of power begging to be used, to be released. She gripped it and pulled. 
The magic shot to her horn, the inhibitor rings breaking and falling down to the ground. Her eyes began to glow, and she grinned feverishly. She had gotten her magic back! She glanced at Quick Leash. He was barking and commanding all of his guards to apprehend her. 
“Hard Line,” Twilight declared flatly, prompting Hard Line to look at her. “I want you to help me change this arena for the better. You’ve proven that you are more than capable to do it. Will you?”
Hard Line smiled. “Gladly, Sparkle,” Twilight smirked. “Look out!” he cried out, his eyes fixated on something behind her. Twilight simply smiled and lit her horn. The seemingly lethal arrows that were heading for her bounced off Twilight’s impervious lavender shield and fell to the ground uselessly
“Princess Celestia taught me a few tricks.” Twilight laughed. Ah, It felt so good to have her magic back again! “Being her student, she needed to teach me some self-defense. Without my magic, I couldn’t use those lessons. But now?” She grinned. “I can finally put them to use.” Turning to meet the incoming horde of griffins, she extended her wings to open into a wide, fighting stance. 
“Come at me, for I am not afraid!”

Twilight materialized a shimmering lavender blade with her magic and sliced down the first griffin. 
Yet, when she brought the blade scything down, she couldn’t help but feel a tinge of guilt that trickled through her heart. She felt bad, terrible almost, but the griffin had made that fateful decision to work for Quick Leash. But what if that griffin had a family? 
She hesitated.
No. She couldn’t hesitate now.
This was a matter of life and death. 
She shook that merciful thought out of her mind and focussed on what Hard Line had taught her. No, she couldn’t take any chances. The next griffin she saw was knocked down to the earthen ground with an intense magic bolt. 
By then, the main horde was on her. Concentrating deeply, she cast a spell that she grasped from the distant depths of her memory and shoved it to the back of her mind in a frenzy. A huge explosion of magic burst from her horn knocked all the griffins in a five-meter radius unconscious before they even hit the ground.
Using her magic, she severed the next five griffins’ windpipes in a heartbeat, causing them to collapse onto the ground asphyxiating. Twilight was careful not to get too immersed in the killing and instead concentrate on her magic, else she might have stopped at the horrendous sight of what she was doing.

Not that she had the time to ponder over her morality, as another wave of griffins came rushing forward to apprehend her.
Gathering magic in her horn, she threw a fireball onto the next group of griffins, trying to ignore their wailing screams as they were burnt alive with mystical embers. 
She then modified the air currents around them and caused the air in some places to solidify. The griffins heading straight for her smacked their heads into these solid blocks of air with a loud thud and fell unconscious before even having the slightest idea of what actually hit them. 
Twilight had to give the griffins credit. Even after she had killed or injured so many of their friends, they kept on coming. She remembered a lesson from when she was younger. Griffins were fiercely loyal to their friends and if one was killed, others would definitely seek revenge. Even now, more griffins were flying over from one of the entrances. 
Hard Line was by her side, cutting down the griffins that got close to her as she was slinging spells into the mix of griffins and the unicorn guards who had finally arrived. A horn sounded, the harsh klaxon sound blasting across the arena. The griffins started to retreat behind unicorn barriers into a tight formation. At the sight of this, Twilight stopped casting spells. It would only waste her mana blasting against the shields as there were too many unicorns holding the barrier. 
“What now?” Hard Line asked nervously. 
Twilight analyzed the situation. 
“I can’t try a frontal attack… and there are unicorns who certainly know what they’re doing, so I can’t just try to dismantle the shield by modifying it. Although… yes!” Twilight exclaimed.
Twilight closed her eyes and concentrated. Her horn began to glow in anticipation as she cast a spell. 
The ground behind the formation began to rumble and gather into a huge ball of stone and dirt. The griffins screeched in fear and scrambled to get out of the way. The unicorns holding the shield tried to run. 
They had forgotten something. 
There was no barrier behind them.
The ball fell and rolled towards them with an avalanche of rock and rubble. Crushing several of the griffins that failed to get out of the way, the ball scattered the otherwise orderly formation, causing the barrier to dissipate. 
Hard Line grinned. 
“Now, that’s more like it!” he yelled, believing that they had emerged victorious against all odds
But suddenly, the griffins began to back up towards the sides of the arena. “What are they-” Hard Line began. 
“So you thought you could try to break free of my arena?” a voice spoke from above. Twilight looked up and her eyes narrowed. Quick Leash landed down on the arena floor with a loud thud and glared at them. “So you thought I became the master of this arena without fighting?” he scoffed. “Now, you will see what I can truly do.” 
Slowly, he drew his sword out of its scabbard. Runes glinted along the handle as  it radiated magical rays from its surface
“Oh, no...” Twilight whispered as she felt her resolve slipping away from her soul.
“What is it, Sparkle?” Hard Line asked. 
“That’s..that’s a Spellblade, Hard Line.” 
“What’s a Spellblade?” 
Twilight just remained silent, her eyes widening at that legendary glowing sword, as she tried desperately to hold her ground. 
Quick Leash laughed.
“A Spellblade is a blade that absorbs all magic, imbecile.” Quick Leash pointed the Spellblade at them menacingly. “It was in the possession of a griffin before I acquired it. And don’t think I need a Spellblade to defeat both of you,” he smirked. “I don’t.” He spread his wings. “And be grateful I deign to kill you myself. I have not killed anyone personally in ages. If you surrender, I’ll make it quick. If you don’t?” He smirked. “I’ll kill you as slowly as I can.”
“Never!” Hard Line roared and charged. He swung his sword at Quick Leash’s head. Quick Leash just simply rolled his eyes and danced away. Hard Line swung again and this time Quick Leash parried it. 
“Choosing a slow death, eh?. Very good, at least I can entertain the audience for a time,” he spoke. 
In a blink of an eye, he charged forward, executing a flurry of attacks on Hard Line, demonstrating an amazing display of his ability with that mystical weapon. Hard Line’s eyes widened as he backed up, barely blocking each attack. Frozen in shock at the sight of this mythical weapon, Twilight could only watch with widened eyes as Quick Leash bore down on her friend, his attacks virtually impossible to keep up.
“Sparkle! Help!” Hard Line cried out, knowing that it was only a matter of time when he would be surely caught out by Quick Leash’s blade. The sudden shriek for help shocked Twilight out of her daze, causing her to shake herself out of her stupor. As Hard Line parried the sword again, Twilight swung her own magical blade at Quick Leash. Faster than her eyes could follow, Quick Leash spun and parried her blade effortlessly. He smiled gleefully as the blade was readily absorbed by the Spellblade. 
“You were a fool to challenge me, Sparkle. You really thought that your magic was sufficient to overpower me? HA! I think not. ” he shouted, as his blade glowed ever more brightly with the influx of Twilight’s magical aura.  Twilight cried out in pain as her magic began draining out of her at a worrying rate
“No!” Hard Line cried out. He charged, but this time Quick Leash just casually pointed the Spellblade at him. A magical wave of multicolored energy gushed out from the tip of the blade, blasting Hard Line across the arena at a jaw-dropping velocity. 
“HA! Just as much as it can absorb magic, it can use magic too, you imbecile!” Quick Leash yelled. Turning back to Twilight, he pointed the sword at her. “Now, give me your magic! ALL OF IT!” The sword began to draw magic from Twilight’s horn again and she bellowed out in pain as she felt her reserves begin to drain. “When I’m done, you’ll be nothing but a useless husk of skin and bone,” he laughed maniacally. 
Twilight screamed as the pain grew and grew. Despite the immense amount of pain inflicted on her tortured spirit,  she was contemplating plans and thinking of ways to stop Quick Leash. She wracked her mind desperately for a solution, clasping her eyes shut to focus away from the pain that came from without. 
But after several long moments of deliberation, she knew that there was only one thing that she could do. She struggled to her hooves and glared at Quick Leash. 
“You want my magic? Here, you can have all of it.” Twilight stopped resisting against the pull of her magic and allowed the Spellblade to draw the magic from her in spades. 
“Yes, yes!” Quick Leash cried out, “The power coming in...it is incredible!” 
Quick Leash could only grin with delight as his sword glinted stronger and stronger with sudden, random bursts of iridescent energy. The runic inscriptions lit up with an awe-inspiring radiance that almost seemed to shatter the blade into bits.
Yet, after many moments, the blade continued to draw energy from Twilight’s almost bottomless reserves of magical aura. The blade continued glowing brighter and brighter and brighter...
“No, NO! The power is too much, stop! STOP!” he yelled, as a burst of energy contained within shot out in all directions, accompanied by a powerful shockwave that ran through the entire circumference of the arena. In the blinding light, the sword’s structural integrity collapsed into a forlorn heap of metallic splinters that landed serenely onto the obliterated surface of the arena.