//------------------------------// // 0-7 Ice in her Veins // Story: Renegade // by Slendy //------------------------------// W, for the second time since confronting the residents in this world, her heart rate was pounding. She had only just fended off an attack on the town again, confronted the Merchant that sent her to this magical world as W herself, and was now facing the country's very authority, the Royal Guard. There were roughly a dozen, maybe a few more by her count, led by a red unicorn called Cliffheart, and he seemed different from your standard commander. Beside her, Twilight watched with a serious face, W had to resist rolling her eyes at her presence. Cliffheart smiled like a hunter toward his injured game, W felt the same way. "From what I've been informed of, you only just recently attacked this town during an invasion by some monsters that seemed to spawn from nowhere, and who is it that we find left standing? You." "If you're implying I'm behind this, plenty of ponies can attest I saved them from the culprit's attempts to kill me and raze this town," W quickly interjected, pointing to the crumpled pile of rock just on the outskirts of the town. "He was commanding them from that rock, he's the very reason I'm stuck in this messed up world, to begin with." He chuckled, not a trace of belief in his eyes while he addressed his guards and Twilight. "Wow, you weren't kidding about this one, Miss Sparkle, she's got quite the imagination, even finding a way to shift the blame to a culprit that, surprise, is nowhere in sight," A few laughed at their commander's mockery of W's testament, she knew they wouldn't listen, not if Twilight was stating the facts. It was her word against 'Princess Celestia's Star Pupil', as bias as you can get, that even the US law and justice system would say 'that's a bit much'. To add, Twilight's head poked forward, tilting curiously to Astra, herself hiding behind W's legs. "Huh? A filly is with her?" Hearing this, Cliffheart's magic came to life, pulling out the two staff pieces that interlocked in his magic, creating a large polearm reinforced with thick, rounded heads on either end. "That creature's taken a hostage..." He snapped, many of his guards activating their magic to draw their weapons in disgust. Seeing this, W casually withdrew her switch, smiling at how Twilight gasped in fright while many of the soldiers halted their advance. "Miss Sparkle, what is that?" "Don't move and you won't have to find out - Astra, say close to me," W whispered down, holding the activation pad high for all to see in her hand. "I've been tossing mines across this whole street to thin the monsters' numbers during the attack, I'm not sure all of them have detonated yet, would be a shame if you happened to be standing on one, right?" Her sinister glare made many skip about and stumble into one another, all afraid of what was merely a silver tongue and a modest amount of ignorance on Twilight's part to sell the tale. "Still, want to act like you hold all the cards? Huh, Captain?" Cliffheart never let his glare fade from W's, holding his staff high to threaten the mercenary. "First you take a poor child as you hostage, and now you threaten the lives of many innocent ponies? Just how low are you willing to go, creature?" "My name is W, Captain." Was her sneer, rubbing the activation button's edge with her thumb. This was bad, had she maybe have gone back to Astra sooner she could have escaped, now the Royal Guard had their eyes on her, finding the Merchant and the reason behind the Infected insurgencies might be strained. Steeling her already taut nerves like wires on a guitar, she sighed out her nose. "We're leaving... if you let us leave, I'll hit the disarm button here-" She poked her thumb at the red-stained key. "-Just leave me alone, and don't come after me - this whole world is a pain in my ass and I don't need to have spears shoved up there too." No one made a move, not even Cliffheart as W knelt down to pick Astra up. "This is wrong... if you truly meant no ill-will you wouldn't behave in such violent ways!" She had heard enough self-fulfilling claims of heroics from the elements, his words were just all white noise to her. "Get back here!" "I'm warning you, get lost." W spat, holding Astra close to her chest as she murmured in the silverette's attentive ear. "Miss Twilight too..." That confirmed W's suspicions. Not just Applejack, all of the elements were tainted, and the Merchant must have been the one to plant that seed of distrust in their auras. They were heroes in Equestria's eyes, most would take their word as truthfully as if Celestia or Luna said it exactly. W had the world against her at every turn. "You threaten the innocent, attack the Elements of Harmony, and even have taken a foal as your captive for who knows how long - you violate our customs, that is reprehensible!" Cliffheart snapped, but again, W bit the bullet and let them say what they wanted themselves to hear, none cared for her word, so why would it matter to speak? "Your country can rot." That was all she had to spit back in their faces. Twilight, on the other hand, wasn't going to let it slide. "Grr... NOW!" That word set W off, wrapping her cloak around Astra's form while something slammed into her back, flinging the controller from her fingertips while the Royal Guard fanned out to surround the two, some keeping the citizens that had come out of hiding back. "To hell with you, Crash!" W flipped, kicking the prism-colored mare off her shoulders in time to find a burning sensation wrap around her wrists and ankles. It was magic, and a stronger bind too. Noticing four ponies held her down, two for each bind, and nearest Twilight and Cliffheart, the pair pulled Astra away, a guard helping to keep the filly back as she struggled. "No, I'm with Miss W because she's my fri- mphm!?" A hoof quickly silenced her, which alone drew a furious glare from W's eyes, face twisting in rage. "No, you leave her alone!" Not a soul cared to listen. Twilight sighed, using her magic to lift the detonator before crushing it into pieces. "I'm sorry, but if she's found some way to possibly drug you or hold you captive over something we can't let you go," Her words were honest and sincere, but W only felt how much it satisfied the little rat at how angry it made the Sarkaz female. Soon, the guard began to pull the filly away as she tried desperately to move and speak, words screamed under his hoof. "Once we've locked her up we can help you, I promise." "Come on, stop it, don't hurt her!" W thrashed, attempting to break their magic but to no avail, compared to a singular unicorn's levitation spell it was far more resilient. The Guards saw this, one stomping before W to deliver a strong kick to her side, forcing out a small swab of spit from her throat. "Draw your weapons and keep the monster from moving!" Bladed polearms were brandished toward W, herself genuinely terrified as many ponies gasped and looked on fearfully. Why... why didn't they say anything to help them? Couldn't they see Astra's innocent? Stepping closer to eye W directly, the smug look on Cliffheart's face boiled her blood. "There's no way you're escaping this time, beast." "You're a scumbag!!" He hesitated but held his ground, slamming one of the heads of his staff into the earth beside her face, seeing the shock and startled flinch in her bound movements. "Hmph, it's over, give up." Were his final words. "I'm so glad you arrived in time to study her before she could escape this time," Twilight smiled graciously at the Captain, himself rubbing the back of his nape bashfully. "Ah, it was a risky idea but I didn't want to just rush in based on third-person experience," He patted his forehead. "I used to work on the basis of studying your prey before moving in to fight, being too reckless is a faulty choice, even as a Royal Guard." Twilight nodded in total understanding of his methods, glancing at W's bound and defeated form. "She's extremely crafty, I honestly hope Princess Celestia can forgive me for not capturing her sooner but she's almost always found a way to slip through our hooves." Meanwhile, W's whole world drained of color down to pale imitations. "You mean... all of this... was planned?" The many moments of their battles played out, the chases and traps, and schemes foiled again and again. "She fought with me to learn and study me so she could get into good graces further with her Teacher..." Then her mind flooded with that of the Merchant. "And the Merchant ensured to twist the tale, to keep them from ever understanding me, to depict me as this world's true enemy despite the monsters - the ponies are too naive to see past black and white so none are saying anything, those that do might be treated like Astra and believe I tricked them!" "Even this capture was planned against me, to ensure they caught only my malice and carnage and not the ponies I saved, that I risked my life for!" W felt it, she caught glimpses of eyes watching her but in the heat of battle her senses were gone, solely to fight and to kill, she must have looked like a monster on a lustful hunt. Her fingers were bent, shaking as she dragged them back through the mud, anger, and embarrassment wracking her brain. "I don't understand... why the Merchant wanted me to suffer like this..." Fire was burning in her heart, cast by her soul. "I didn't come to this world because I wanted to, HE summoned me here, so why is he doing this to me!? To all of them!?" "What a horrible fiend, to think it took that poor girl hostage." "Why even bother letting it speak such foul words too?" "It's a monster!" "A freak!" "Why even capture it, Princess Celestia herself should just banish it forever!" "It should have never left that awful forest!" She was shaking, placing her head on the ground in complete despair, "Graaaaaah!!" Slamming her forehead back into the dirt, the hot sensation trickling down from her brow didn't do a thing to phase her. "I just... can't take it anymore..." "Here, let's use a dispel charm to ensure nothing malicious is afflicting her," That made W's head snap upright, seeing the Guard, Cliffheart, and Twilight standing by Astra, herself unable to move or speak, say for when the spell slowly came to life across Twilight's horn. "Astra..." Hopelessness filled her voice, she wanted to move, to make it stop but her arms and legs burned against the abrasive magic. "Wait...!" Everything echoed now, colors reduced to black and white as a strange, burning sensation began to corrode at the corners of W's eyes as the spell was transferred over her body. *Drip* A hitched gasp entered W's throat, both her eyes followed the sight of crystal liquid dripping from Astra's chin, even after the spell was complete, Twilight looked startled at the reaction. "Are you okay? That spell shouldn't have hurt yo-" Her hoof reached out to wipe away the child's tears, but Astra snapped her hoof out, slapping Twilight's away. For the first time, anger filled her eyes, her disdain targetted the two adult ponies standing over her in disbelief. "How dare you..." Astra whimpered, biting her cheek momentarily. "Miss W did nothing wrong, can't you see that!? She never hurt me, used me, or made me do anything I couldn't do!" Yanking herself from the pony behind her she stomped before the two, spite lacing her once docile eyes. "I lost my memories and was so scared and alone but Miss W filled the blanks with kindness, and love that I forgot! She cares for me and all you've done is hurt her back for no reason!" "W-what?" Cliffheart swung his hoof back at the defeated form of W, the woman unresponsive. "But I thought she only took you to get away from being captured, and those weapons, you saw how dangerous they are?" Twilight then added, keeping herself calm to assure the startled filly's mind. "She threatened this town and its residences, no innocent person or creature would do that-" "You did that!? You made her do that because you hated her for no reason!" Astra yelled angrily, teeth bear. "Miss W wanted to find her way home like me, but you took that from her after she saved ALL OF YOU!!" By the time the air left her lungs, the little pony had to take deep breaths to recover, all unaware of the thoughts clouding W's mind. W's word faded to black, more accurately, the whole sun was shut off like a light, leaving her mind to fill with static and distorted noise of metal scraping. ... ... ... ... ... "...A cruel world like this..." Hatred, embarrassment, sorrow, all filled her mind and her heart with a burning desire. "...CaN dIe FoR aLl I cAaAaAaArE!!!" From deep inside W, a razor storm of her hatred manifested, slicing apart the magic that withheld her movements, the layered magic cracking under the stress of a silver whirlwind gathered around her body. "What's going on!?" One bellowed, his magic going haywire. "I-I can't hold the restrains! My magic can't hold onto anything!" Another screamed, blown away by the backlash of colorful arcs, even Twilight and Cliffheart were forced to erect their barriers to brace the sudden storm of silver that minced the earth under W, shredding magic like fabric to a blade. "This... what is this magic, Twilight!?" Rainbow flew back to hide behind the safety of the twin barriers, her wings unable to withstand the windswept like a tornado around W. "I don't know, but it's definitely not magic," That she could confirm, yet the energy she could pick up was extremely similar to the genuine article. By the time the dust had grown still, W eased off the storm, small, metal blades disintegrating around her form, leaving her with her head bowed, a solid, unreadable scowl on her lips, it pulled at her cheeks, displaying her fangs to the petrified ponies that were left completely taken back by her strength. "Everypony, get ready!" "Now, attack it now!" A few Guards charged W who slowly rotated her shoulders, adjusting herself once more. Cliffheart's own eyes widened in horror. "No, stop!" It was too late, the scorching, ember eyes burning through the dirtied, silver locks toward the first Guard in arm's reach. W moved faster, and with the ferocity of a panther, squeezing her fingers around the pony's muzzle until her nails drew blood and a pained yelp as the pony's head was slammed into the ground, splitting the helmet. When she turned, her tail swiped a spear from puncturing her side, snaking her right arm around to crack the back of her palm off his cheek, using her right foot to embed him further into the mud while flicking up the spear, deflecting another and allowing the spearhead to shatter from a magic bolt. Her reflexes were more distinct, moving with focused rage toward the two bumbling unicorns in a low posture, snarling once close enough to yank the first back by his tail, grabbing the back of his head to smash his muzzle through the ground. Lifting him by his back hoof, W swung wide and threw him into the retreating Guard, the two crashing into a nearby wall, the kinetic force knocking them out entirely with a stomach-turning 'smack'. Gradually, W turned to face the two cowering behind their hardlight barriers, not a soul dared to utter a word, as though Celestia brought the sun down to rest solely in the woman's eyes. A fire was burning brighter within her orbs, she passed as more of a demon than a monster, hell's fire crackling in her eyes. In seconds she was upon Twilight's barrier, tearing her arm through the forcefield with enough force to shatter it like glass, the fragments leaving gashes across her bare forearm as the fingers hooked around Twilight's horn tightly, suppressing the magic as it sparkled and fizzled out. "Twi!" Rainbow leapt to her friend's aid in an instant, W didn't even acknowledge her, allowing her tail to swipe around to leave behind a long, bloody gash across her cyan cheek, flinging the pegasus back onto the earth. Of course, Twilight retaliated only to scream in pain, feeling the woman's hand twist the horn atop her head. "L-let her go - ack!" A foot to the pathetic pony's muzzle silenced her, knocking her entirely. "I told you..." Yanking the mare at an angle to stare directly into W's eyes, she felt only a righteous fury penetrate her soul. "I'd raze this town...!" Terror and tears sprung from Twilight's eyes, seeing the callous smile pull across the mercenary's face, a cackling laugh bellowing from her lungs like a hellish jackal. W tossed Twilight aside, blocking the sturdy slam of the polearm with just her forearm, keeping it from striking her nape. Sucking a breath through her nose, W grabbed the staff from his telekinetic hands, pulling out her grenade launcher before pointing it directly at Cliffheart's barrier, the payload of shrapnel and fire webbing the hard light. She threw the staff of his far enough away that his magic couldn't retrieve it, watching helplessly as the woman loaded another M32, unloading the powerful blast against his magic, chips falling out of place at the corners. "I just wanted to go home..." Through the black cloud, the wide muzzle of the launcher was pressed to the surface of his shield, startling him from his stupor to eye the wrathful woman, seeing the distasteful look in her eyes. "But... you sick bastards... you made Astra cry!" Her finger pulled back on the trigger. "Wai-!" *BOOSH!* Red glass was scattered around Cliffheart, himself falling in a heap against the building wall behind him, coughing and hacking up poisonous air while he watched as the woman slung her weapon behind her cloak again, her hand bloody and lacerated by the backblast. That same, crimson hand grabbed his mane, tugging him forward for her to grind his muzzle into the dirt, hearing him groan in discomfort. "Feel like listening now, rat? Huh, come on, I'm all ears!" W giggled cutely, picking him up by the crown to punch him square in the jaw, tossing the cocky stallion to the ground under her, using her heel to press against his breastplate. "Fanatical!" One kick. "Arrogant!" Then another. "Runt!" The third made Cliffheart gag. "'Protectors of Equestria', you can't protect shit! And when you do you can't even see the flaws in your own code!" Her heel dented the curvature of the armor, hearing him cough hoarsely. "You wanted a monster, then here ya fucking go," W withdrew two dark grey items with a grid-like pattern across the exterior. Both her thumbs slipped into the rings, raising them toward the town she despised, this whole world that deserved to burn at her hands! "Let this remind you, never to get in my way again!" She never lost her star-crazed smile, plucking out the pins to toss the grenades down the street. Those present soon ran for their lives, others had to barricade themselves behind objects for fear of not escaping in time. "Pfft, ahahaha...!" Two large plumes of smoke soon came cascading from the smoke grenades, providing W with the chance to make her escape, tossing Astra into her arms while leaping up onto a nearby rooftop, not hesitating to make a mad dash for the Everfree. "W-W!" Astra gaped in fright over her well being, only to receive a confident smirk and wink as per usual, that alone putting the young filly's heart at ease. "You're okay... I-I'm..." Tears welled up in her eyes, sniffing before W brought her close to her chest, nuzzling the little pony while hopping down to hide in an alleyway, allowing to pegasus Guards to sweep on by. "Shh, it's okay... I don't blame ya," She snorted. "That damn Sparkle screwed us over big time." Much as she hated this world, hated all of them so much she could happily pull out their innards and decorate their burning down like Christmas decor, she already knew who her enemy was. "That Merchant... when I find him, I'll make him regret picking me!" In the dusk of the alleyway, Astra looked up at W, seeing the distraught glow to her red aura. Reaching up with her hoof, she rubbed her bruised cheek tentatively, offering a tiny smile through misty eyes. "There-there." That alone made W chuckle motheringly at the filly's innocent and quiet voice. "Aren't you sweet to a merc like me?" Tucking Astra under her cloak, W grinned competitively, her heart bursting with satisfying revenge. "They'll come for us now." So she intended on giving them a show. To Be Continued...