//------------------------------// // Decision Making // Story: Chronicles of the Spectrum // by Blue_Thunder //------------------------------// Dash and Fluttershy arrived at almost the same time as each other. Aj had welcomed Rarity first and Twilight last. Sunset was right there with Pinkie being after the first two. Granny and Big Mac helped with dinner while the girls met up in Aj's room. "So, any word from the princess version of me?" Twilight asked, setting Spike down beside her. Sunset opened her book and nodded. "Yeah. 'Dear Sun-" "Wait," Fluttershy asked. "The weather isn't clear enough yet." Aj looked out the window. "Ah mean... Looks a little cloudy..." Twilight waited before asking. "When do you think it'll pass?" "I don't know..." Fluttershy replied. "Best to be careful." "I hear you," Sunset replied. "So, as I was saying, Princess Twilight messaged back with no information at all." She closed the book quickly. Sunset tracked Fluttershy's watchful gaze by the door. "So, since we're still up a creek without a paddle, how do you wanna handle this? I mean, we've only got three of us left, and neither Rarity nor Fluttershy are the fighting type." Fluttershy looked toward the bed beside Sunset. "Fighting is violent... Pinkie?" "I could try, but... exploding candy isn't really a good way of fighting someone. He could just... suck away the explosion," Pinkie argued. "No matter how big." "Even if I were to try," Rarity said, "I'm afraid I wouldn't get far beyond a slap." "So, what do we do, y'all?" Aj asked, leaning against the wall with her crutches. "We tried, an' we lost. Do we just face the music, or..." "Hate to say it... But we should... We ca always try later, if we come up with something. Let's go tomorrow and forfeit while we still have three of us left," Sunset offered. The others nodded her head in agreement. "Well, since we all came here, I can tell you what I've been working on. Hey Fluttershy, the weather clear up yet?" Rainbow asked. "Nope. Still cloudy out there," she affirmed. "Hmm. Well, in short, it's a new series. We may not have our geodes anymore, but we can still make some magic with editing. Like... Showcasing some of our other talents. And we'll probably need help from Rarity, since she's the only real magic user left of us." Rarity nodded in silence. Sunset looked at Twilight. "Even though yours would be better." "Yeah, but hey, that's life, right?" Twilight admitted. The others nodded. Fluttershy sighed in relief. "Looks like the clouds disappeared now. We should be fine." "Good!" Rainbow nearly shouted. "Now, Sunset. Is that really what Twilight said?" "Of course not." Sunset reopened her book and saw Aj's confusion. "We'll explain after this." She looked at the book and read aloud, "'Dear Sunset, I believe you're up against the Lunar Locket. It has the power to create illusions from thin air at an equal cost to the complexity of the illusion. Powerful, but limited. Every full moon, the Locket becomes fully charged by the glow. It reflects how full its reservoir is by the phase of the moon on its front. If ever it becomes a New Moon - the magic within is drained entirely - all of the illusions thus far will vanish. Maintaining an illusion costs next to nothing, but every change will deplete the Locket, however slightly. Princess Luna crafted this item several decades before her banishment. It's unlikely the Lunar Locket has left your opponent's person the entire time you've had contact with him. His self-imposed time limit must be to ensure he has enough magic for the next encounter. If he's being careful, it must mean that the Locket is nearing empty. If you can, I advise pushing harder to get it there. If that is not an option, then... Use what you have left. I have confidence that both you and Twilight can come up with a solid plan for either.' So yeah, we know what it is now, but we don't know how empty the Locket is." "Didn't he show up shirtless for that boxin' match?" Aj asked, confused. "That wasn't him. He was actually the referee. You fought a solid clone. It was slight, but he was also getting slightly bigger every match." Fluttershy replied. "And for his race against Rainbow, he split between himself and and his copy again. I could see his real body was standing near the finish line after the copy took off. Recall at the end how he keeled over? He wasn't out of breath, he was just faking. He wasn't even sweating from having run a mile. As for the boss fight, that was actually him. He just moved with certain... protocols. He rigged it so he would barely win. In all of these fights, he barely won. So he wouldn't use more magic from the locket he needed to." The others just listened to her explanation. Aj was the first to ask, "and how is it ya know all that?" "I can sense his magic. I noticed when his tray disappeared, I could feel him before he showed up in the fields and tonight, I've been letting the others know if he was around by saying what the weather was like." "You're welcome for that. I came up with it before Sunset came to my lab. Thankfully, Sunset came and distracted Shade while she sent the message around to both Dash and Rarity. After Sunset left, Shade came in and took the geode Dash had me hold on to. So he thinks..." Twilight dipped her hand into her purse and took out Dash's geode. "This is the real one." "Wait... But... you..." Sunset started. "Sorry, Sunset. The two I showed you were fakes." Twilight tossed it over to Dash. "Keep it out of sight until tomorrow." Dash put it around her neck. "Awesome!" she nearly shouted. "So, we still have Dash's power as well. And that should be enough to start something. Sunset?" Twilight looked over. Sunset put a hand to her chin. "Hmm... If we can convince him to at least show he's serious about returning the ones he stole, we'll need to confirm he's actually holding on to them. The real ones, not some convincing fakes." "That'll be easy. If he holds them up, we already know Dash's one that he has is a fake. If Fluttershy can determine their authenticity, Dash runs up and takes them back. That might be all you have time for before he casts another illusion." Twilight looked over at Aj. "With your geode back, your healing should kick in right away, since your power is strength of body." Twilight pushed up her glasses. "What comes next is what we do after..." Sunset and the others looked confused. "What do you mean? I mean... Princess Twilight said something about a plan, but... Twilight nodded. "I might have to take that over, if I may. With all of our geodes in our rightful possession, we might be enough to take him down, since he won't be ready for all of us. If he runs, Fluttershy will be able to track him." Sunset shook her head. "And if he's ready? Unlikely, but if he is..." "Then we negotiate. Give him the fight he wants and taking the next weeks to prepare. I don't like that plan, but if it comes down to decision making on the spot, it is still a choice I'm willing to consider." Twilight zipped her bag closed and gave Spike a pat on the head. "We don't really have any other option." "I say we take our training time," Dash said, punching her palm. "That's what I've been doing this entire time. I know the other me's a winged pony and all, so I've got the same kind of 'feeling' thing that Flutters' got. Not as strong, sure, but I got it. We get our training in, increase what we can do, and hey, if we convince him to give us that month, we post fake videos where it just shows us doing more of the same." "If that works, we'll have the advantage. He may just underestimate how far we can progress in a month," Sunset agreed. "But it won't be all of us fighting." She starts fidgeting with her thumbs. "I know, but at least you can train. I can come up with what you can do to do exactly that. Put her second video," Twilight said. "You will be posting round two, right?" Dash gave a thumb's up. "You bet I will. The fakes, not the real ones. Although, our training hinges on him leaving us alone that whole month." "If he goes for it, then good. If not, we may have to just train in a week. Less advantageous, but we still have the ability to tell if he's watching or not," Sunset supported. "What about me?" Pinkie asked. "What can I do?" "That... is a good question. You explode candy, right?" Pinkie nodded. "Work on remote detonation. Pick up some gummy candy, set it down and try to explode it after a minute. Train to hold off the explosion for at least two hours. Should be a snap to hold it longer after that." "We're gonna be mixing up our partners for these videos, by the way. I went to Fluttershy first, and that was more of a solo act. I wanna go first, but..." Dash paused, looking at Aj. "She might want first takers on that." "Provided we get our geodes back. If we can't get him to reveal them, then we take our losses and deny him the satisfaction of having beaten us all. He wants the fight, otherwise he wouldn't show up." Twilight smiled. "He was right. This is mid-game. Endgame is coming. Soon." Rarity asked Rainbow, "So you have ideas for our training, is that right?" Dash nodded. "What about me? So I know for the future, when it gets to be my turn." "You'll know when we get to it. Yours should be way easier than the rest of ours," Dash revealed. "So, if we get our geodes back, and if we get our month, Aj goes first. If we don't get our month, then Rarity goes first. If we don't get any time, and we just bum rush him, then it's a non-issue. And if we don't get them back at all, then we walk away and that's that. Not that it'll come to that, but still." "Then we're in agreement?" Twilight asked. The others gave their various affirmations. "Good. The field tomorrow. Oh, and Rainbow? Do. Not. Run. You'll give up our first strike opportunity." "Got it. No running. Anywhere." Dash gave another thumb's up. ~~~~~~~~~ First to the field this time was Twilight. She was calm and collected, for being the one to lose not only hers, but Dash's fake geode. Sunset was second, feeling uneasy, having gone her first day with a naked neck since the day she got hers. Aj and Rainbow showed up near the same time, walking the former's speed. She was still recovering from the pummeling Shade had given her, going the longest without her super strength. Fluttershy and Rarity showed up at the same time. Both had just come from the latter's workshop. Work had gotten more difficult now that Rarity had no magic to help her. Pinkie showed up last with a dozen cupcakes for her friends to share. When the school bell struck four, Shade stepped out from the veil of darkness they had grown accustomed to seeing him appear out of. He crossed his arms, ruffling the tee he wore, bearing some shiny swirl on the chest pocket. He wore jean shorts cut off at the knee and a pair of running shoes. "Thursday. You have today and tomorrow, and only three of you remain. Who will be sitting out the final day, I wonder?" "That depends," Twilight started, stepping forward. "You say the fights have been fair, and we'd like to believe you. But how can we trust you?" "You just have to. that easy." "No, you have to give us more than that. Or, we'll just go home and settle with our losses." Twilight looked to her friends, who appeared to be content with her choice. "Yeah?" "Nah, it ain't gonna be that easy, Twilight. I will have your geodes and the collection will be complete. I just need three more." "But that's provided you beat the rest of us, right? Trophies don't mean anything if you don't earn them," Dash argued. "That is true." "And we still have the opportunity to beat you and take yours," Rarity added. "Now hold on. That's getting ahead of yourself," Shade countered. "If you beat me at all, you'll be earning your geodes back first. You would have to beat me twice to be considered the victors." "Twice? Because we're supposed to take your word you'd give us our geodes back should we win? How can we even be sure you'll keep your word?" Sunset asked. "So far as we can tell, you're a cheater. Using cheap tricks and gimmicks to get us to part with our geodes." "You parted with them yourselves. I just made it easier on me and you by taking them myself." He paused. "But, if you need proof, then here." He reached into his side pocket and pulled out the four he's collected so far. "See? Happy now?" Fluttershy looked them over from her distance. "It's easy to make fakes though. Twilight did it, in less than a day, right?" "That's right," Twilight admitted. "It didn't work, but it sure looks convincing." "Sure does. If I didn't know any better, I'd say he has four genuine articles, not just three." That was Fluttershy's cue. Dash picked up on it and flashed a grin, disappearing in a burst of color before appearing again at Twilight's side. "Wait... What?" Shade asked. He looked at his hand and saw there was just the fake geode he took from Twilight's shelf. "Hang on..." "No hanging on. We can do this one of two ways." Twilight accepted the geode Dash retrieved for her. "You can either leave us alone, or we can come back to this another time." Rainbow handed out the rest of the geodes. Aj dropped her crutches and hobbled as she put hers on. Soon, she felt invigorated. She stomped the ground and picked up her crutches. "What do ya say, girls?" "Back in business!" Sunset triumphed. "Now hold on..." Shade tried. "Okay, okay... Ball's in your court. What do you want?" "Leave us alone," Twilight ordered. "Can't do that," Shade argued. "Then give us your artifact," Twilight tried again. "Can't do that either. I give it up, then all of the spells I've cast will go away." Shade folded his arms again. "Then give us time to train and then ou can have your beloved fight," Dash interrupted. "We need ten weeks." "You get no more than two," Shade countered. "Then if that's your limit, we will save us both valuable time and cut it down the middle. 40 days. That's five and a half weeks." Twilight inputted. Shade was quiet. He thought a few moments. "Fine." "You are to act as though we have a restraining order against you. During school hours, you can go about your daily school life all you want. But after hours, you do not come within two miles of us. Any of us. We will know." Twilight continued, "Further, because we have our geodes, we are tied. If any of us get any funny business, we will withdraw our deal and bear down on you with our entire ability, and rest assured, not even you will walk away unscathed." Shade nodded. "You have your 40 days. We will meet back here after that time. And don't think I will go easy on you this time around. Facing all of you at once will test my abilities to their max." "Then we are in agreement." Twilight walked forward. Shade followed suit and held out his hand. The two shook on their newly forged contract. "Starting tomorrow, since we're still here." "Sounds fine to me." Shade made the motion he would if he were tipping his hat. He disappeared into his black portal. Fluttershy confirmed he was gone. "Well, we got our month and some. That means Aj's up first," Dash solidified. "With 40 days, and seven of us, we would still need a rest period, so how about every 5 days, we work on another of our abilities," twilight calculated. "Aj? How are you feeling?" Dash asked. "Better than ever." "Good. I'll be by tomorrow to work some things out with you. And I'll bring Rarity since she's second. Rarity?" Dash looked over at her. "What is it?" she replied. "I know you're not all that strong, so this'll work nicely. I am gonna need you to show up in some work clothes. Remember: function over fashion. We want you to at least look like you're strong." "I'll see what I can do."