//------------------------------//
// Fight like a BOSS (or, a queen) 
// Story: War of Another World's Conquest 
// by bearcat 
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 She was ready for this. However it turned out, she would buck and kick these invaders to a flat mushy pulp whether she could fly or not. And if this Stack Simple couldn't return her wings, he could be the first to taste her hooves.

Rainbow Dash thought maybe she should get Big Mac to do some farrier work for her first, if it turned out she wouldn't need to save the weight that shoes represented. She also promised to take baths more often; the dust she was eating while carrying her wings was really starting to annoy her.

More than having to carry her wings, that is.

The blue and gray sergal waved the ponies forward, and explained "I have found cover not but a few minutes into the forest. Chalk will not write on the ground, so I will make a ring with pebbles. Please, come help me find and lay pebbles."

Weird guy, this Stack. Rainbow hadn't seen the chalk used before but heard Twilight say his magic needed 'components.' More time wasted but Dash was determined. She had napped in Hell, she would collect pretty pebbles for the wingless gryphon.

She noted the guards were not hovering. They were carrying almost nothing in their slim saddlebags so they must be trying not to show off their lack of injury in front of her. If she wasn't busy carrying a load in her mouth she would have told them it was no insult. She felt bad but that was no reason for them to walk.

She didn't know why it needed to be in the forest any more than why he needed pebbles. But a giant circle was made on ground that had been magically cleared of vegetation. The forest canopy made shadows disappear; everything was in shadow already.

"Please, Rainbow Dash, set your wings down, and lay yourself inside the circle where those two branches will point to you." Stack indicated the cut limbs, at noon and three if it were a clock. She would be the thing connecting them, he explained.

As she complied, he whipped his head around and up, at the sun. Or where the sun should have been. He must be able to tell Celestia was starting the laser therapy. "Gotta hurry, huh? Survivors will want revenge on us soon. S'okay I want some of that myself." She said as she laid her belly to the ground to wait.

He focused on her, those yellow eyes boring a hole into her back, then softening as he began to walk around the circle, on foot on either side of the pebble line. She heard a noise that could have been distant chanting, or his belly growl at the nuts he ate, or maybe he was humming a tune. Dash didn't know, didn't care. I want to return your wings This was it, then. The monster would prove his faithfulness.

He held his left -- paw? out, towards her back, and the right paw glowed with magic as he levitated her wings and carefully untied them. They floated over her back now, and her weather-patrol trained senses could feel the static charge. Find yourself in the wrong place now, and lightning would course through a pony's tiny body, in search of Earth.

"Rainbow Dash. How do your wings belong?" huh?

She glanced up at her limbs. "Well, not like that. See those feathers? The ones sticking out above my ears? They need to be above my tail." The wings rotated but in the wrong axis. Clearly something was taking all his concentration because it wasn't that hard to see. "No the part that attached to ME goes down. Twist to your left. Or right I don't care just don't attach them backwards." She looked more closely. "Which they are, now. See the one over my left shoulder? That's my right wing." They obediantly changed position. Straight down, and she'd be a pegasus again.

"Rainbow Dash, I need you to do a thing. Straighten your wings. They must be attached straight on." The hay? Her wings were being levitated she couldn't ... oh.

Slightly annoyed at how often he called her by her full name when hay you wouldv'e been fine, she commanded her shoulder muscles to lift, and told her wings, as if she had any, to point to the sky. "OK Stack Simple I'm telling my feathers to point straight up. Those are the ones that are actually over my tail right now."

The wings didn't actually straighten as they came down, but her stubs were tingling something awful from the static charge as it got closer. Phantom pains began to shoot through her; every nerve in her nonexistant wings screamed in agony and she had to grit her teeth to command them to stay straight.

Suddenly the lightning hit, and without her wings she couldn't dodge. Out of pure instinct she flapped her wings furiously -- and they smacked together in front of her! ouch she thought. Regaining control of her faculties she again straightened her wings, and they obeyed this time. Now pain, true pain of her own wings, flooded her with weariness.

so cold...

She didn't see when the bipedal thing lowered his arms, but she heard him call out to the guard ponies, although she thought she was losing concsiousness. "She is in shock, but it is done. Help her and keep her warm she will need time to recover." Turning back to her, he again used her full name. Dash gritted her teeth. "Rainbow Dash, you may fold your wings; they are yours to fold now."

She stumbled out of the circle, and since nopony knew to bring a blanket the two guards threw their wings over her back. Panting now, she watched Applejack limp hopefully to the edge of the circle. Stack was just stretching, as if nothing was going on but that he had gotten out of bed too early.

Finally he noticed her, and waved her into the circle. "Yes, now is a good time. There will be battle soon." Almost through a haze she saw the sergal suddenly pounce on Applejack's good leg, lifting her onto her front feet without warning. "Excuse me." was his only explanation, his yellow eyes now burning a hole into Applejack's remaining rear hoof.

"Ya do know that's the good leg, right? Yer gonna make me a copy right leg for mah left?" There was no response, but that he set her down gently, and pointed to the center of the circle.

Stack repeated the process, walking & humming, and the orange mare's missing hoof began to regrow, then stopped. When his arms lowered, Applejack brought her still-injured leg up to examine. "Shucks. Ah've seen this before. Farm accident pert near took a cousin's hoof off. Was a year I reckon before he had a right hoof again." She tried to rotate the leg, so she could see around the edges of the tiny, wet-looking hoof at the end of her bad leg. "Well, it's all there alright. Should grow back in full in a years time."

She hobbled around to face her rescuer, and thanked him. For his part, Dash thought he looked winded. Her mental faculties were returning but now she was shivering. She heard Applejack apologize to Twilight for having to sit out the coming finale.

Rainbow couldn't hack it anymore. "That's all cute and stuff but can we get back to Celestia's sweet Sunshine? I'm freezing."

The edge of the forest had positive surprises, however. Rarity, Fluttershy, and Big Mac wandering up to them. "Sis!" Big Mac came at a gallop, runing a quick circle around Applejack before almost knocking her over with a hug as he came up beside her. They stopped for a moment while he examined the newly formed hoof. "That looks just like when..."

Dash giggled at AJ's higher pitched "eyup." Rarity and Fluttershy ran to see under the guards' wings, still trying to offer warmth to the shivering blue pony. "Hey gimme a minute they need to see this." The guards folded their wings, and Dash painfully unfurled her own. Unlike poor Applejack she would be fully recovered in a week or two. Mostly. And she could probably fly now so long as she didn't need to do it well.

Fluttershy was gushing about something but she couldn't bring herself to concentrate, though she did return the yellow pony's bear hug that could've crushed an ursa minor.

Rarity excused herself and ran over to examine Applejack. "Don't put any weight on that dear. I've got some extra cloth we can jury rig a bandage until you get something sturdier."

And out of the sky came night.

Rainbow corrected herself, it was just a darkly colored alicorn diving straight for them. Everypony bowed, and she deliberately flared her wings in some attempt at psuedo finery that was just to impress the princess.

"You've done very well, Jack. I'll add my thanks to whatever she's said." The deep silken tones of the regent of the moon flowed over everyone. About the time Rarity had made an end of something that Applejack might put weight on, the possesed sergal, who apparently was Jack instead of Stack, unless the princess had it wrong -- his voice was horrible to listen to -- pointed to the sky. "She's discharged another flare, yes." Luna looked at the sky, not quite as high as the sun. Looking back at the sergal she asked "You will be joining us? You nearly stopped them last time.

He nodded, the earthquake voice rolling his reply. "It was a raiding party not truly an invasion force. To stop this camp's forty some I will need much more magic. But with the two god-kings I may stem the tide. We all will fight.

Rainbow hoped the travel would warm her again. She was still cold.

So they all traveled as fast as they could except fluttershy who predicted she'd be a poor fighter, and Big Mac who couldn't be budged from his sister's side. They stayed to help Applejack hobble someplace safer. The rest headed to the site of the last battle, Sweet Apple Acres' largest barn.

Rainbow Dash could see tiny lightning bolts coming from the smaller chariots, and sometimes the trees would erupt in fire though she couldn't see the coherent light. "Duh." Twilight would have said. "That's what makes it coherent -- none of it is escaping the beam!"

Now that Luna had arrived she was blanketing the treetops with darkness. The strikes through it would be blind but right now that eased the benefit of cover to the pony's side.

Rarity was putting on a cape. Dash had never seen her wear unadorned clothing nor denim. This was unadorned denim that attached at the neck, chest and belly, and draped to the ground. "What's that, your armor? It's gonna get bloodstained, girl!"

Rarity didn't even look over her shoulder to reply. "Oh don't remind me I can't stand the thought of throwing this away after a single use." She drew a sizable knife from a pack that was now under her cape. Dash suddenly felt naked with no knife, cape, or even enough feathers to take to the air like her escort was doing now.

Spark Impulse was shouting to the charioteers "You may know this but there's two casters under there. So far I can only smell shield spells but keep your eyes open."

Jack levitated a tiny rock, and with his left hand waved with a flourish to the trees. The rock disappeared but Dash didn't see anything else happen. Another rock levitated and now she realized she could see eyes glistening in the light, just inside Luna's darkness that was now protecting the enemy too. When Jack's second rock disappeared Rainbow Dash saw a pair of eyes roll up and away, until they weren't pointing at the light, or them, anymore.

And suddenly they were upon them. Dash couldn't remember which side charged first but the forays and findings had run out and everybody was running, screaming. Twilight would levitate one high enough that their guards could kick it in the head until it stopped moving. Rarity levitated her knife about five feet from herself but when one got closer a lightning bolt escaped her horn. Dash had heard zapping an attacker like that hurt the caster nearly as much as the castee. But the sergal would scream and jerk, outside Rarity's personal safety zone again to get cut by a disembodied knife.

For her own part she kicked one low, then as acrobatically as she could manage she turned, jumped, and flapped to land behind it. She kicked again at the back of the knees. Wouldn't really take one down but Jack bit him in the back of the neck, then with claws glowing slapped his on the back. As the glow died there was a sickening crunch and the assailant stopped moving.

Lotta good I'm doing, here. Yay, revenge.

Twilight seemed to be holding her own with 'push' spells that didn't really damage anyone but it made them land on their rump. One even had a broken tail he was pushed so fast.

So she eased towards Rarity to see if she could be useful there. This one coming at them now was big. His claws were glowing with darkness -- the same deep brown as his eyes actually. Suddenly Rarity's knife shot past Dash, and Dash made a lunge for the dropped weapon.

There was a clash of light as the casters' magic impacted but Rarity was no fighter either. Dash had the knife in her mouth and was charging, hoping to slice open a leg but this was an experienced fighter. The leg closest to Dash came up, toeclaws digging into her muzzle then reaching for her throat. The knife went flying one way, and dash flew back another way.

Enegries still clashing the foot came around, aiming for Rarity's head next. Then suddenly there was a pair of high pitched screams. One from the bushes to the pony's right, another from the attacking sergal, whose claws suddenly dropped their flow of magic as his hand went to his face.

Rarity's spell burned the sergal's face and hand, just as Scootaloo dropped out of a low branch, wings buzzing as she turned mid-air to land as solid a kick as the little pip squeak could, also to the injured side of his face. Dash watched as Scootaloo wisely retreated back to her bushes, where Sweetie Belle could be seen wielding a slingshot.

Rarity said a bad word. Several, in fact.

"What are you [...]* doing out here missy?!? I won't lose you to these things consarnit* Just run your hide back home before I seperate you from your hide for them and run you home in two seperate apple* carts!"
*Dash politely overlooked and translated her words to something slightly more ladylike, but distressed Sweetie Belle didn't feel quite such a need just then.

"Just saving your pretty* horn Sis you're welcome I'm not letting them eat your Celestia Blessed* face just go back to zapping these dogs* in the head!!"

Mentally Rainbow Dash filed some notes. Don't expect Rarity's family to maintain their genteel facade under death threats, and also to scold Scootaloo for exposing herself to this much danger. But for now, "Thanks you little cloud-rat now stay outta our way!" Scootaloo spat a raspberry at Dash just in keeping the current feeling around the cozy family campfire.

Speaking of fire, the next one running at them had a sword, and it was on fire. Enchanted...? Dash had never heard of enchanting swords with fire, and apparently neither had the sergal whose hand was now catching fire, and he, busily trying to drop it. As his right arm came off, fire sealing the wound a giant white alicorn swooped low enough to ask "How's it going, girls?" before hastily swooping back towards the center of the region Luna was keeping as dark as starless night.

Not so well, as it turned out. The dismembered sergal was injured but furious and still running, mouth agape and looked wide enough to swallow one of them whole. Even a tiny rock from Sweetie Belle's slingshot didn't slow the beast.

The boulder did.

A quick look revealed that Jack was floating. Kind of like when the elements were channeled through her except she could float anyway. And there weren't any elements. He was just floating, looking extremely pissed off. Wherever he pointed, a boulder five feet across would leap from the ground and fly towards his target. There was no screaming; the mountain called Jack had spoken. Splat, then nothing.

Both the princesses came to land behind him about twenty feet, and the remaining sergal were just inside the trees, now twenty or so feet in front of him, and he was floating higher, glowing ... not just his claws but all of him bathed in a pony-magic aura.

There was a small earthquake. It kept going however so Rainbow decided to screw this earth-pony stuff, missing feathers be cursed. Floating two feet above the ground she didn't feel the earthquake but saw her friends drop, trying to stay stabilized.

There was a caster sergal, who threw a lightning bolt at Jack. No effect. He didn't even blink. He did start screaming, however.

"I am Prince Jack, King-Under-the-Mountain, regent of the Rocks! I deny you passage, and decree the rocks shall henceforth no longer stay beneath your feet, but COVER YOUR GRAVE"

Rainbow saw the earthquake become more focused, concentrating on the dozen remaining sergal. Two trees, all the sergals, and various shrubs and small woodland creatures not smart enough to run screaming at the first smell of blood, dropped. Like a rock, in fact. An amalgam of soil and boulders were all that was left of the army now.

Dash looked to the princesses, and saw something she had never seen before. Celestia, facehoofing. Luna just seemed to have smelled something rotten, or maybe somebody made a fart joke. By farting.

Not floating now, Jack was panting, but turned around to express an apology. "I'm sorry your highness. That was not planned. Nor expected. I did not intend it to be so."

Celestia, face still in hoof, accepted his apology with the one eye she could have still seen him with. "Yes prince, I believe you. Nothing to be done for it now, really. Welcome to the family I guess."

Rainbow stopped hovering, as her wings were starting to hurt already. And she'd lost two feathers just with that workout. She looked again at Jack Chipple. Gray upper half, with lighter gray more visible in front and dark prominent in back but still everything everywhere. Blue feathers, skinny little tail, giant claws. No pony. No prince, thought Rainbow, although Blueblood was nearly a monster so who was she to say.

"Uhm, what just happened? He looks like a sergal to me." Twilight, ever the investigator, Dash thought to herself. Meanwhile she scanned the treeline for more movement, but didn't see anything.

Luna, eyes never leaving Jack, explained "The greater portions of pony magic are only available to royalty. It's been done that one alicorn would steal regency from another, not unlike what I" She faltered, bit her lip. Dash looked back to see her continue. "What Nightmare Moon did. Steal regency of the sun so Cellestia here couldn't do anything about it."

Jack added, somewhat sheepishly, "When I reached for a greater flow of pony-magic, forcing it to come to me with my own imported magic, I somehow created a new position of royalty. As Prince Jack, I am the regent of the rocks. Fortunately, rocks aren't asked to do much." He stood as tall as his could, and stared into the forest. "Duties or no, I am king under the mountain. I can feel their footsteps upon my ground. There are" he paused dramatically, held his breath and lowered his chin to his chest, then spoke again. "three hundred more. They are almost to the ocean. Moving this way, so they must have come primarily across the ocean."

Dash didn't see the sudden change of expression, as the fearsome toothy maw gained an impish grin. She only half heard as he said "I have new spells granted my new status!"

She did however hear when Celestia started to say "Oh good g" and turned, blocking both her eyes with her hoof. Luna had summoned a darkness about her.

All Dash did, was close her eyes. She was blinded.

When the pain of standing next to the sun itself (or so it seemed to her) had passed she looked again. Now Luna was facehoofing, as Jack was missing, of a sort.

There stood before the assembled crowd, an alicorn. Tall as the princesses he was a slate gray, with obsidian hooves and sandy colored mane & tail but his wings were the white of polished marble. His cutie mark was probably a mountain, tho it looked from here like a few pebbles, and surrounded by a golden ring. His voice no longer the washboard gravelly sound but clear as a yodeller's and resonant with a joy of life, Jack spoke.

"We pony now."

"Yes, prince. I can see that."