//------------------------------// // Release // Story: Paranoia // by Valorousspectre //------------------------------// Chapter eleven: Release Darkness…. Demonheart awoke to the starry night sky above the treetops of the Everfree Forest. Sitting beside him as he turned his head painfully was the white and blue Dum Kat. His glowing green eyes were sympathetic and he mewled pitifully at him. “Art thou hurt noble one?” Demonheart groaned as he sat up and tried to ease the pain from his head and neck, the stiffness of his muscles and the fog in his mind. “Ugh… Paladin? Be that you?” The cat’s paw raised and a smile grew across its face. “Aye Noble one, Tis indeed. Thou hast been here far too long.” His wings stretched out in an effort to stretch the aching muscles. He grunted in pain from the effort before responding. “Prithee, How long?” “Thou wert here for one rotation of the sun and moon. Thou hast slumbered for a full day and a half.” Demonheart fell silent as he stared at the cat in shock. “One full day!?” “Aye noble one. And a half.” Demonheart grappled with this possibility even as he grew still, forgetting the stiff muscles sorely needing action. “But… If I hath been slumbering one day… when didst thou arrive?” The cat shrugged. “I watched thee be rendered incapacitated. Wouldst that I be capable of preventing this act, Thou knowest I would have done so. Thy slumber was necessary in accordance to a power well beyond mine own.” Demonheart swallowed, concerned. “And… what of the one whom struck me down?” The cat’s ears twitched. “Long gone. My many and sincerest apologies. Thou must understand. One’s actions kept thee alive. Thou wouldst have perished otherwise. One saved thy life this day; therefore our debt to thee is repayed. No longer must I follow thee for a chance to return thy favour that thou payed unto me. Our heart is free to wander as we wish. Dost thou agree to this?” Demonheart flinched at his words and sighed disconsolately. “One understands old friend. We do recognize a debt repayed, thou no longer needs follow us.” The cat smiled smugly, purring loudly. “Excellent.” ~*~ “Are ya sure he was in the forest? Ah looked, but Ah couldn’t find him anywhere.” Fluttershy gulped nervously and nodded. Skuld, in all her terrifyingly lethal form, stood before her. Behind Fluttershy stood her friends, Spike and Angel, who looked decidedly worried. They all did, but none more so than Angel. Twilight had seen Fluttershy take down a full grown bear without a problem, she was positive she could handle one Manticore. The presence of the others however… Twilight had taken the liberty of, after ages upon ages of research, perfecting and utilising her animal speech spell, and so was perfectly capable of communicating with the horde of lion like creatures before them. Even now she could hear them muttering to each other. Many of them favoured Skuld in the battle, simply from looking at the timid little Pegasus mare. She certainly didn’t look like a fighter. “The little pony will not last five minutes.” “Five? You are generous. I say she won’t last two.” Twilight shuddered as she listened, trying now to drown them out. “Fluttershy, are you sure you can’t just wait for him to come? I mean, I have faith in you, but…” Twilight hesitated. From the chatter going on with the Manticores, she had pieced together that Skuld was quite the distinguished warrior from the tribe. Hunting and sparring were her past times and she was almost constantly picking a fight. Her father led the tribe, which Twilight found more than a little cliché, and she’d known Demonheart for some time. Fluttershy looked back at Twilight and forced a smile. “It’ll be okay…” Twilight was not so certain. “Shy, I know you’ve taken care of creatures before, but Skuld is a fully grown Manticore with a serious grudge against you. You won’t tell us why, and that’s your affair, but she’s not just going to be wildly swinging. Manticores seem to be quite warlike, and that’s liable to come out in some sort of training, which you’ve had no chance to witness before. This is dangerous Shy.” Fluttershy shrugged nervously. “There’s nopony else who can do it… They wouldn’t let Applejack or Rainbow fight for me, and I won’t let you. I don’t want to fight… I don’t like violence…” An angry sounding snarl directed at her made Twilight look to the leader. Contrary to the sound of his voice, he looked tired, frustrated and disapproving. Skuld didn’t seem to care for her father’s thoughts on the matter, but rather was too busy impudently staring down Fluttershy. Twilight listened to what the old Manticore had to say before swallowing hard and looking back to Fluttershy. “He… He asked if you were ready. And he apologised for Skuld’s actions.” Fluttershy nodded. “I… I am.” Twilight relayed this to the Elder and he made a gruff sound of consent before speaking to Twilight at length, Twilight relaying his information to Fluttershy and the others. “Rules of Engagement. Okay, you’re not meant to permanently injure your opponent, attempts at a fatal strike will be made or the contest will be over and the opponent will win. Attempts to unnerve your opponent will be seen as bad form and may lead to disqualification…” She went on with more, seemingly useless rules. No doubt they were important in their society, but most of it was relating to the scorpion tails, claws and fangs. Things a Pony simple didn’t have. She relayed them anyway so the others knew the rules before prudently stepping back out of the circle that had formed around the field of combat, looking worriedly to Fluttershy just as the elder Manticore, mane shot through with grey, roared the begin and Skuld snarled and leapt forward, paw outstretched, claws thankfully retracted. ~*~ Demonheart was annoyed. He’d spent the past fifteen minutes trying to find a way past the apparently invisible wall before him. He’d pushed, shoved, swore at, cajoled and bucked the unseeable thing and still it stubbornly held firm. Again and again he struck at the shield, first with his forehooves, then switching to his much stronger hind hooves. Then, out of desperation, a large rock with which he hurled at the shield, hoping to shatter it. Instead, it rebounded with equal force and he only just managed to shy out of the way before it struck the ground where he was standing with a loud thud. Moodily, he sat down and stared balefully at the now shimmering shield. What the..? First he tells me to go face her, now he’s blocking me? At least, I assume he’s blocking me. There’s nopony else that knew I was here barring Paladin, and Paladin would never do such a thing. Even if he would, this is nothing like his power. He considered his options carefully. One. Continue striking it physically. Probability of success is extremely low, maybe nonexistent. Two. Try to fly higher than the barrier. Success has a decent probability unless they’ve surrounded me in a dome or have deliberately made the barrier higher than I can fly without passing out and falling to my death Three. Try to find a gap. Probability is low and it’d take me forever. Who knows how big this stupid shield is. Not to mention if it shifts or changes location or shape. Four… Four was not an option he relished, and he really didn’t want to leave it up to that. Unfortunately, it was also the one with the highest success probability. Oh come now, you know you want to. From deep within the vaults of his mind, the maliciously playful voice challenged him, almost daring him to take the final option. Demon tried to brush off the voice, but it persisted, dogging his thoughts. It’s your only hope to reach her in time you know. The contest has probably already started you know. It’s only a matter of Time♫ “Shut up…” He grumbled absently, looking at the shield as he forced himself to calm down. He had very, very few options available to him, and number four never looked any better, even if he considered its potential temporary benefits. Is it really the only viable option… The question was rhetorical, but he got an answer anyway. Surprisingly, it was a dead serious answer. Yes. You’re too weak and pathetic to break a barrier like that with your silly hooves. You know it, I know it, and all of Equestria, Tartarus and Alencar know it. Alencar was the word that was used in relation to what was loosely described as a paradise for the souls of the dead. A haven for pure souls who needed to wait for reincarnation. Demon was momentarily taken aback by the voice’s use of the word before shaking his head gruffly and sighing. If that’s how it’s meant to be… But I do this my way. You will not come through. Time will tell Pegasus. Time will tell. ~*~ Blackthorn watched as a black and red streak shot across the sky, followed by the sound of shattering glass and a cloud of glittering magic. The remnants of his powerful containment spell broken. He never was much of a magician anyway, not in relation to any of his brothers. He grinned smugly. “Knock ‘em dead for me.” ~*~ Fluttershy was afraid. It was true, Fluttershy had dealt with many an animal. Even things such as bears posed no threat to her. For certain, Twilight had seen Shy single hoofedly take down a full grown bear when it got too big for its boots. She’d seen her take Angel down a peg or two, even some of her friends. The Manticore she’d taken on in the Everfree so many years back had been injured and harboured no ill will towards Fluttershy, and it’d shown through how easy it’d been to treat the poor thing. Skuld, on the other side of the coin, was the complete opposite. Arrogance ruled her actions. Her towering self confidence radiated off of her in waves almost tangible enough to choke on and her contempt for this little pony, and pure hatred for everything about her, was just as strong. Not only that, but she had the instincts of a killer. A predator, a hunter of other creatures, Manticores were some of the most vicious predators that inhabited the Everfree Forest, but only towards their prey. More often than not, a Manticore would leave a pony alone, deigning them either as no sport or simply not good eating. If they were hungry enough they’d attack, but other than that they were normally fairly docile, if scary, creatures. Skuld, it seemed, was the total antithesis of this. She attacked with reckless abandon, then danced out of reach, taunting Shy. Everone watching could see this was a one sided battle. There was simply no competition between Skuld, who fought to injure, and Fluttershy who barely fought with anything but words. The outcome, it seemed, was inevitable. Giving up any pretence of amusement, Skuld snarled and leapt at Fluttershy, unleashing a massive lateral swipe, all claws extended. The paw struck Fluttershy full in the face and, with a gasp from her friends and a few concerned calls, she hit the ground a full four feet away from the angry Manticore. Skuld growled, and Twilight felt her flesh crawl. Her spell was running out by now, so it didn’t translate, but just the mere intent behind that sound was enough to scare her and creep her out at the same time. The Manticores started growling warnings, Twi could make that out, but Skuld ignored them. She crouched, ready to pounce and Twilight, AJ and the others looked on in horror as her legs coiled like springs, ready to pounce on the stunned Pegasus that was Fluttershy. “SKULD!” The collective crowd of Manticores and ponies all universally flinched as the powerful voice thundered into their eardrums. Barely a split second afterwards, the scream of something plummeting through the air at high speeds assaulted their senses once more and a black blur shot from the sky and landed smack bang in the middle of the arena, creating a series of cracks in the dirt beneath the four hooves that now occupied the space. Demonheart had finally arrived.