“So you can understand me, then?” I hoarsely responded, “And just what do you intend to do with yourself up here? Do you really think someone like Grogar is going to actually stay true to his...its word?”
“That thing can do whatever it wants to this forsaken world--hopefully not destroy it, though. There has to be something left for us. In any case…” He pushed me away which caused me to fly back a few meters. “I want a rematch. No--a proper match. As brave as you try to act on the surface, you’re a coward who hides behind his badge for the sake of what you think is right. Me? I know what I’m doing is wrong, but at least I’m not afraid of doing it.”
I skid to a stop on the dirt path, and gazed up at him once more. To be quite honest, I couldn’t refute all of what he said. Killing him ahead of time was absolutely a display of my own tactless mentality. However, what I wouldn’t apologize for, was my beliefs.
“It’s true. Doing the right thing isn’t always so clear-cut and easy to figure out,” I said, “But that doesn’t mean I’ll stop trying. Even after all of my mistakes, I’ve still got too much to live for just to throw everything away.” I tilted my neck left and right to properly stretch. “So come at me with everything you have, Svengallop. You want a proper battle? Then let’s cut the words. Come at me with all you got.”
And so it began.
The winged Svengallop flew straight at me, likely for a tackle to the ground. But put up enough resistance in order to counter it.
I used my forelegs to grab onto, and hold him there. I tried to go for his neck, but the amount of force he applied prevented me from being able to deal lethal damage. “Rrrgh!” The dirt beneath my hind legs slowly sunk into a crater as I was pushed back. I could already feel an excess amount of stress on my shoulders. Not only was his natural earth pony strength amplified, but the wings granted him even more agility. Just how would I deal with this?
“The strength you were born with will only get you so far,” he snidely cut at me.
My efforts would be cut short by a swift grab. With all his might, Svengallop flung me straight upwards--into the air like a rocket ready to leave the atmosphere.
“Wha--shit!” I panicked as I saw the ground grow further and further away from my perspective. This was absolutely horrible. I needed to get rid of those wings as fast as possible so that we would be on a level playing field.
That’s when I realized that I had been thrown high enough to reach the clouds in the sky. From the corner of my eye, I could see Cozy Glow still fighting for herself just a bit across town near the Boutique alongside a few other ponies.
That’s all the motivation I needed, really.
I focused. In a few seconds, I knew Svengallop would fly up at me and follow up with another attack. The key issue with his newfound abilities was that earth ponies simply weren’t built for flight--even if he managed to overcome the problem of lift, there was simply no way that his control over wings would match even the least average of pegasus.
So I decided to use it to my advantage in an all-or-nothing approach.
WOOSH!
The red and black demon of smoke flew up through the clouds with his jaws out, ready to sink them into my face.
I held up my hoof and blocked his attack. “EGH!” The pain of those jagged, sawtooth edges that drilled into my limb shot right up into my brain. I had to hold back a scream of pain as I led the next part of my counterattack into motion.
Since he bit down on me, we couldn’t be separated unless he ripped his teeth out by force. I used the momentum of his own flight against him, and swung around until I planted my hind legs into his back.
Then, in a bout of sick karma, I sunk my own jaws into one of his wings. “RRRRGH!” With all that I had, I pulled and pulled some more. I could hear the slow tear of flesh rip away from his body.
CRUNCH!
In response, I felt his teeth sink into my hoof even more. It hurt like hell. Literally. Like a dozen hot knives being shoved right into my skin with their saw-like edges that punctured my cells on an individual level. I could feel tears fly away from my face, but eventually, I could hear one of the wings rip clean off. I knew it. No matter how hard he tried, no alterations could truly make you ascend.
“YAAAGH!”
The demon pony released my limb from his grip as he screamed. His pain tolerance was a bit lower than mine, so I had the advantage in that regard. Yes. I knew that we would immediately start to plummet back down towards the earth as soon as he stopped flying, but it was a risk that I needed to take.
But before I could bite off that other artificial demon wing, I was elbow’d right in my gut.
“ACK!” I shouted, and could have sworn I saw a few drops of blood fly out of my mouth. In a last-ditch effort, I tried to wrap my undamaged hoof around the base of the wing to pull it out of its socket.
I had no idea if I was successful since Svengallop threw me back down to the ground.
The dirt path in front of the farm had come on too fast, and before I knew it, I was smack-dab in the ground.
SPLAT!
...I wasn’t dead. Because I could still hear faint voices.
“Ms. Cheerilee! Look out!”
“Thanks, Applebloom! Never thought I’d be fighting alongside one of my students and yet…”
“Are you kiddin’? Yer super cool the way you fight!”
I was down, but I had to get back up...until that is, I felt a shooting pain in my back.