//------------------------------// // 1-8 Perseverance // Story: Renegade // by Slendy //------------------------------// "-the exiiiit!" Sora finished crying out before his face met slate, sliding across the ground with a groan. Behind him, Astra yelped while thrown from a similar gateway to the Stepping Stone, only old and coated in forestation and moss. She landed atop Sora's back with a cough, both groaning from the unpleasant travel. "Okay... mark that as something I never want to experience again." "Ugh... stars are everywhere." Astra's head spun before she flopped to his left, trying to regain her sense of direction. "Fuuuu - ack!" W was no better, colliding with a half-broken pillar, sliding down its remaining length with a whine. "I think I crushed my tail... and my horn." Her fingers rubbed the right horn tentatively while her tail slithered out from under her stomach, resting against the ground. "Guess we made it." "Barely, my stomach's in my throat and I don't think it's supposed to be there," He muttered, shaking his head. "Guess we can't complain, we did just cut our travel time in half." Stretching out his aching body, Sora took in their surroundings. "Easy for you to say, you don't have fucking extra body parts to worry about," W grunted, still soothing her horn after wacking it off the pillar. Then she patted her chest. "Guess the extra padding has other uses, heh." They stood within the shadowy remains of an old temple or church. The roof was gone, replaced with very few cracks in the forest's roof. The forest had retaken its rightful place among the ruins, their source of light were the many vibrant, bioluminescent plants and small creatures that gave off a colorful glow. Despite the rough entrance, the trio took the time to admire the sights of a world forever bathed in darkness. "It's like an endless night," Sora murmured beside W, the two in awe over nature's spectacle. "I always wondered if places like this existed in our world, never would have imagined coming to another would mean I'd get to see it." "Guess there's a silver lining to all this," W said in an almost unrecognizable voice, it was soft and tender, even if only for a moment. Clapping her hands, the mercenary took point on a fallen slab of concrete. "We should probably find us a place to set up camp 'till we know where to go from here," Her hand rested on her chest with a knowing smirk. "Take it from the girl who lived in ruins, no one likes unwanted intruders." "Right, I'll check the outskirts for anything," Sora decided "I'll go too," Astra said rather quickly, hopping alongside the Aasimar who got a stern look from the Sarkaz. "Look after her, Wing-Boy." Assuring her with a nod, the pair took off through a collapsed wall while W threw off her bag and launcher to assess their surroundings for a safer spot to set up shop. "Not much here but rocks I guess..." While W worked on creating a small firepit she winced from how her tail moved. Carefully she adjusted how it sat against the ground before continuing her work in peace, the hooves and feet no longer in earshot, giving her a momentarily lapse of serenity to hum her body's theme song. "Wonder what Astra wanted from Sora? Guess he is nicer than me, not much Astra can learn from a girl who only ever smiles in the face of anarchy, guess I can thank this body for that." Her mirthless frown was very indicative of that. "Sora... wonder if he likes me?" To say her chest didn't fill with worry it was all a front would be a lie. While distracted, a metal shadow shifted with the grace of wind, every movement calculative, stalking up on the back of the mercenary lost in her own thoughts. A large item rose, an almost invisible haze shifting across the shaft with lingering flakes of embers. In one, large breath, the figure lunged down from a small ledge above, by the time W noticed, all she saw were flames. On the prowl for any hostile creatures, Sora took point with his silver sword, hacking down any vines and shrubbery that obscured their path forward. Astra admired the sights of a world thriving in the dark, and for a second she wanted to simply explore with the Aasimar who too shared her enthusiasm for adventure. However, she had to tell him something away from W's sharp ears. "Do you like W?" "Huh?" He caught her words perfectly, it was the timing that made him stop to address the filly. "She's a little abrasive but I get that, I think she's a nice person under that persona of hers." Even in this new lighting, Sora could see he was being analyzed by the Seer. "Why'd you ask?" Astra pulled herself up onto a lopsided pillar, using it to follow Sora at chin level. "W likes you too." That made him miss a swing, lodging his sword into a tree trunk. "Sorry, I'm distracting you." "N-no, it's fine, bad handle," Yanking it free he pressed forward. "She... likes me?" "Mmhm, not because you're a human like her, but... you make her feel safe," Astra explained, skipping onto another pillar ahead, sliding down its length. "W cares alot about me, I like her too, but I'm scared the mean ponies might hurt her and I can't do anything, not... like this," She looked at herself before lifting her head to Sora's neutral expression. "She confides in you, she can be safe around you without that worry." This small revelation left Sora speechless, rather, it brought about an old memory that tugged at his mind. A twelve-year-old Sora sat by himself in the Royal Gardens, it was always very quiet there, and none of the mean Noble ponies could bother him with their hateful words, even after Celestia warned them, they'd find ways to crawl under his skin. He really liked it when ponies would stand by him but that didn't stop anything from reaching his ears. So he came out to watch Equestria from the edge of the cliff, somedays he let himself fall, stretching out his divine wings from the ether to simply feel happy. "Hey, kid, whatcha doing out here by the edge again?" That voice! Spinning around, Sora quickly wiped his eyes dry to see the red unicorn facing him with an almost neutral expression, wearing an outfit more suited for a person, or pony, on the road as some form of a bounty hunter. Cliffheart. Noticing the stains on the young boy's freckled face he grimaced. "Same ol' stuck-up ponies, picking on kids these days..." "I-It's fine, M-mom threw them out quickly after f-finding out." Sora sniffed, turning back around to the sky. Then something blunt whacked the back of his head. "Ow~!" "Seriously, that one was on you - turning away from a hunter," Sora's glare met the smug grin on Cliffheart's muzzle before his magic spun his staff through the air. "You've got to grit your teeth kid, bite back against them otherwise you'll just be another stepping stone for them." "B-but then they'd be r-right, t-that I'm..." Sora was again struck on the head lightly by the staff. "Stop doing that!" He pouted, making the crimson pony chuckle. "There we go, biting back feels good, right?" He admired how the meek child's scrunched-up face lifted again, but his eyes were far too honest. "Look, anypony can be a 'monster'. Griffon, Dragon, Changeling, you name it," Twirling his polearm, the blunt end tapped to Sora's chest. "But we've all got a choice - be a monster or be the guy that fights monsters, some agree, some don't, you just have to be willing to stick by those like you and believe in them and yourself." There was a stretch of silence as Sora digested Cliffheart's words before the hunter cleared his throat, scratching his nape. "Geez, I sound like my Master, ugh - come on, kid-" His magic formed into an imitation of a human hand, waiting for Sora to take it. "-Show me your fangs, or I can just keep hitting you 'till you do, heh." "-hey, Sora?" Astra's voice snapped him out of his trance to look upon a small cobblestone staircase curving off to the right toward an ancient array of pillars and archways. Astra stood around the middle, pointing a hoof down to the courtyard ahead. "There's a fire here." "What?" Confused he followed the dark filly forward toward the source of a crackling noise amongst the trees. There, nestled dead-center in the ruins was a campfire, although something was off, both with its appearance and the atmosphere. Carefully, Sora drew one of his swords, keeping Astra close to his legs while the pair approached the fire, looking around. "This... isn't a normal fire - and there's no one around too." "It feels... hollow," Astra's fur shivered, pressing her closer to Sora's calf. "In the fire, something is burning." While that was obvious she was right, not wood but... a sword embedded itself in a small pile of ashes at the base of the fire, not a speck of timber in sight. Upon closer inspection from the pair, the black sword wasn't even burnt by the flames at all, funneling the embers up the length of the blade. A coiled sword. The beating of Sora's heart stopped - pupils the size of pins before stumbling back. "O-oh no..." "Sora?" She felt a rush of panic slam into her soul, soon, her own worries began to bubble to the surface. "I-Is this bad-" He turned sharply, the color drained from his face. "W!!" Neither hesitated while making their return to the Stepping Stone, shoved through bushes and branches in an effort to cut as much time as possible between them and W's location. Scratches stung their faces while they ran and made hasty turns but with their adrenaline on high neither noticed, seeing a flash of bright orange from afar through the vibrance of the dark forest. Sora helped Astra climb over a large lip toward the wall, the pair scrambling up to peek through the large hole in the wall to inspect the surrounding area. There wasn't much to see at first, or until W came flying past Sora's eyes straight down the middle of the building, two knives intersected against a large, blazing sword as it stuck vertically, slamming her back into the ground on her knees. The tiger orange veil on the hilt drawing back the coiled blade to its owner. W was smiling madly, discarding her broken knives in favor of one inverted in her left, and her grenade launcher in the right. "Hahaha, been a while since I felt actually threatened, and by a pony no less!" This was no ordinary pony, W could feel it clearly with every stroke of that sword. It was a unicorn decorated in badly worn and charred armor, vibrant embers crackled and popped across its armor, flaking off in a silent breeze behind it. The greatsword was charred black, blazing hot with a strange, coil of metal twisted around the blade. Completely fixed on the fight, neither noticed Sora or Astra spectating from afar. The unknown pony adjusted his stance accordingly. "For a beast-" The blade's hilt was poised high, the tip of the sword low. "-your survivability is admirable." Not another word passed as he rushed W, a column of flames rushing from his left hoof to force W into the path of his sword. She leveled her sights and unleashed a large payload that struck the sweeping blade. Through the smoke and flames, the sword grazed a few strands of hair while W skipped back, carelessly dropping a grenade and its pin. She dived under a diagonal cross of the blade, moving away from an explosion that tossed the knight to her right, another stream of fire gushing from his hoof like a fountain of volcanic slag. W hissed as some stung her skin but otherwise was able to retrieve one of her mines, tossing it to where the ruined knight landed, another explosion flinging the impervious knight sideways. To her surprise, the knight recovered by embedding his sword into the ground, slinging his hoof around the handle so that his back hooves could buck W's forearm, shoving her back while the blade carved a line of fire toward her, building heat and friction in the edge. Narrowly she slid out of the rising slash, diving over a cross-slant that left her on the defense, tossing several knives from her belt, though that did little to halt the monstrous knight from wrapping his magic around her ankle, flicking W across the hall and into a pillar with an unpleasant 'slap'. Slumped, the knight steadied his approach toward her form, careful to stay out of her reach while ensuring she wasn't conscious. "Hmm... what are you exactly?" While pondering on this notion, he quickly brought his sword high, swishing down for Astra to gawk in fright at the sight of the blade's metamorphosis. It was thinner and had elongated into that of a spear. Drawing back, he charged with the intent to immobilize W who's eyes snapped wide, performing a handstand to hop over the reach of the spearhead, pressing her boots against its length to kick the pony in the helmet, rolling away from the wider arc of the weapon. "So you were bluffing." "No shit sherlock." W huffed, not wanting to spare a moment to chat before the knight charged a current of gold light into his left hoof, static and random bolts discharged while the energy manifested into a small spear of lightning. With a thrust, he tossed the bolt skyward, and W was frozen for a second out of clear stupefaction. The lightning bolt scattered into a dozen replicas, descending upon W who rushed behind a pillar, evading them stream of electricity that tore through the concrete, the blast almost taking her legs out from under her while wrapping her tail around her waist. Turning to her target she almost lost her stomach as the spear was caught between her hands by the shaft, keeping the blade out of reach while sliding back on her heels, biting her cheek. The knight huffed and drew the spear down, discombobulating W enough for the knight to shorten his spear, the embers scattered like roses, unveiling the scimitar through flames and ash. And yet, W froze, eyes wide and mouth ajar with only a single phrase to say at that moment, perhaps the most delicate words she's spoken to date. "You're the one from the convention..." A subtle tilt of the scimitar's descent and both found its edge lodged into the slabs beside W's foot, herself still staring down at the armored pony in shock, his own hidden under the helmet. A long, almost unbearable pause passed before the knight spoke, voice remaining aged and wise. "How do you know of that?" "Because I saw you," W murmured, pointing to the blade at her foot. "You bought a replica of that Coiled Sword. You're the Soul of Cinder, aren't you?" Now that she had the pieces in place, the fire, the changing weapon, and the lightning spears all made sense it was almost laughably obvious. "It's really you... I... I never would have thought..." "Me neither," His sword reverted to its original state while leaving it buried in the ground. "...I see now, something is amiss, less you really are a monster toward these kind ponies." "Tch, kind my ass, tin man." She chuffed before noticing Sora and Astra peeking out from their hiding spot. She was about to say something before noticing the cracks webbed up the edge of the pillar, and the bits of rubble crumbling from the unstable ceiling above. Without thinking her body moved of its own accord. "Get down!" Her hand shoved them aside in time before the ceiling collapsed from her fight, effectively trapping the mercenary who cried out from the pain flaring from her leg. The dust settled again, displaying W who's right leg was pinned beneath the concrete, trapping her for whatever else was bound to fall due to the chain reaction from the crumbling ruins. "W!" Sora rushed to her aid, sinking his sword under the stone to wedge her leg free, even as she winced from the relief of pressure from her limb. Up above, the rest of what remained as the ceiling shifted and split, eventually collapsing under the lack of support. Astra closed her eyes, cupping her ears in fright while Sora refused to look up and simply did all he could to pry W free with his sword, herself attempting to shuffle out against the pain. "Hyrah!" A single, blazing streak of iron tore through the concrete above, raining rubble and debris upon the group while a heat blast threw the larger chunks far from their sight. The Soul of Cinder landed with a grunt, sheaving his sword while moving alongside Sora to help free W with his magic. "So this is where you ran off to, Prince." "S-seriously? Him too?" W glared weakly at the embarrassed Sora who tried to smile reassuringly, but by now she was far too caught up with her injury to care. "Fuck... ah." It wasn't broken but clearly sprained while she attempted to stretch it out flush against the floor. "W..." Astra shuffled over to her, looking a little misty-eyed for the injured Sarkaz. With a strong grin, she patted the filly on the head, allowing her to sit by her side while refusing to visibly show her pain. "I didn't see it..." "It's all good, kid, next time we have to wander through ruins, can we not?" W sighed, leaning up against a slumped slab of concrete to face the silent knight and the timid Sora. "You boys want to start talking? May be down a leg but I can still kick your asses." A bluff but anything to keep up appearances while Astra rushed to grab a few things from their bags to help W's leg. "R-right, um, if I'm honest, I-I didn't know Cinder was back in Canterlot." Sora's poor argument didn't subdue W's dark glare while she awaited a decent answer. "I wasn't, I was informed of, 'The Beast of the Everfree' while exterminating creatures out in the Badlands, had I known it was another Displaced like ourselves I'd have shown some restraint." That drew out a laugh from the silverette in question. "Aww, afraid to disappoint the Royal Guard if you killed me?" Her sickening coo forced out a long sigh from Cinder. "...I apologize, Miss, I... was ill-informed," Looking back at the crumbled ceiling he elaborated. "What monster would risk her life for the innocent the way you did? No, something is terribly amiss, perhaps the Abyss has risen once more?" "Seriously? He gets the Abyss and you get a Necromancer? What the fuck, Merchant?" W was appalled, allowing her head to slump against the concrete while biting her lip from whatever Astra was doing to help lessen her leg's injury. "Since I'm, you know, stuck like this, want to share your story? Got nothing better to do?" Cinder took a moment to consider her words. For the longest time, Sora was the only other Displaced, and now another sat before him, possibly with more to offer, and who happened to have seen him that fateful day. "Was she that girl with the hoodie?" "My real name is Kaid, and over forty years ago I was once a regular human being..." To Be Continued...