//------------------------------// // Chapter 16: Battle Ready // Story: Rise of the Element Gang, Book 3: Heroes United // by Power of Six //------------------------------// Chapter 16: Battle Ready After just finished watching a ballet performance from some of his dancing buffalo, I noticed a large gathering of my Paraserpent minions on the other side of town. My curiosity and anticipation piqued, I had sped off to investigate and was very pleased at what I saw when I arrived. The Wielders of the Elements along with the elemental quartet were being completely surrounded by my army, standing ready to fight, while they stood ready to eat. As such, I was overjoyed at the sight of it. Not only would it allow me to see if the Paraserpents I had now bred were an improvement especially with my survivor Black Fang leading them, but it would also completely eliminate the Elements of Harmony for good this time and leave what is left of the Element Gang powerless against me. I was a little concerned that the girls no longer appeared under the influence of my magic, but that didn’t matter. I had just proven that chaos could beat friendship and that certainly wasn’t going to change after Black Fang and the others were done with them. My eyes sought out Dusk, where he seemed to be trying to look brave, but just came off as scared out of his wits. It truly was a shame about Diablo, but I would manage nicely enough without him. I noticed that the stones around his neck appeared to be glowing more brightly, all of them in an odd yet unique color. So it looked like Fore Sight wasn’t entirely wrong then and once again I considered the possibility if Dusk found out what he really was… But what were the chances of that? I’d already won and established my new chaos capital in Ponyville, this just being a last vestige of resistance that—once crushed—would show all others that fighting against me was nothing more than a foolish and dangerous waste of time. At least it would be entertaining to watch. Getting a good spot in the sky, I conjured up a couch, some popcorn, a soda, and a large foam finger with a number banana inscribed on it, settling down to see how this would unfold. Dusk’s view “Well, this is just great.” Leon said in annoyance and worry as we were corned to the center of a surrounding black mass of serpents. “We finally get the girls back and get your necklace ready for action and we get cut by a bunch of Paraserpents on their way to the only things that can help us!” My eyes traveled over the Paraserpents as they slithered and coiled around us to cut off any routes of escape. If I had been scared before, now I was absolutely terrified. I could feel the eyes of every single one of them boring into me, cutting right through me to expose my fear, bring it right to the surface, and paralyze me so that I would be a prime target for their sharp fangs and ravenous hunger. “Watch for their fangs.” I warned everypony. “They’re full of Black Blood.” “Black what-now?” Applejack questioned. “Black Blood.” Twilight spoke up, explaining to her. “It’s the kind of blood that comes from a Kishin, the kind of creature as Diablo Nightfall.” “And these guys poison ponies with it?” Rainbow Dash asked. “They do, but it’s worse than any poison that can be dished out.” I told her. “One bite from any of them, you’ll be driven to insanity, more than the influence Discord had shown.” “So don’t get bit, got it.” Rainbow said. “What do we do?” Dog said as the monsters stood between us and retrieving the Elements. “These things are blockin’ our way to the library.” “I’m thinking.” I said as I tried to figure out what to do. “I’ve never so many of them. Might be difficult fighting them in such close quarters.” “Hey, is it just me or do these guys look different?” Shield put in as I paid attention to the appearance and behavior of these Paraserpents. “Don’t look as different as those last three, still.” “Yeah, it’s not just you.” I told him. “They’re definitely different. They seem… fresher, sharper… unlike Black Fang who had been hindered by a thousand years of exile.” “Well, whatever we are, we can’t let them stop us.” Twilight stated. “We need to get to the Elements! Scatter!” My arms and legs hurried to comply, scrabbling away as fast as I could away from the jaws that snapped at the spot where I had been standing seconds before. I could hear it, slithering and hissing behind me, but I didn’t stop to look back, running for dear life down a nearby alleyway that would take me away from the main bulk of the horde if I followed it. The passage was too small for the beat to follow through, which snapped at me again as I ran, the jaws whizzing past my head. I turned and saw the beast raise its head to strike again when a blast of purple magic struck it at the nape of the skull. Its eyes glazed over and it toppled forward, crashing to the floor. I looked past it to a house and saw Twilight standing atop it, her horn glowing and her eyes urging me to run as fast as I could. I nodded in thanks to her, giving her an encouraging smile from courage I felt and set off again, pumping my arms and legs like pistons. I had to stay safe, for her. And I would do anything for her. As I scrambled out of the alley, I began using my powers as I entered a battle against a few Paraserpents, glaring at them with Fire Dragon eyes. With the use of my metalbending, sharp claws, fire breath, and what was left of my super strength and super speed combined with all my knowledge of combat, I was able to handle my own. Although I wouldn’t be able to keep it up, especially since I couldn’t use my magic to create at least one shield. With so many of them, I would need to find a way out of this swarm and get everypony else out of here too. I was just hoping they were able to keep their own through all this. As if on cue… “Get back! Back, you fiend!” I heard a well-spoken voice order. When I looked, I saw my cousin Rarity nearby, backing away from a leering Paraserpent, placing herself between it and a terrified Fluttershy who had her eyes wide and her body crouched low in utter terror as Leon shielded her. The serpent lunged, but Rarity jumped, raised her rear hooves, and kicked it square in the face, knocking it away with a blast of wind supporting the kick. As this one fell back, three more came to take its place, surrounding them with Rarity raising her hooves in preparation for an attack, trying to keep her eyes on all of her foes. Hearing a battle cry, I watched as Leon charged in, making the trio turn their heads to him before they bared their fangs and slithered to meet him. Rarity, taking advantage of their turned backs, jumped up again and used an air blast to smack two Paraserpent hard around the back of the head, knocking them to the floor in a daze. Leon managed to blast one way with a stream of water. Gathering around Fluttershy, the two then began working together in protecting her. Two more came at them and, after managing to defeat the ones attacking me, my mind slowed the world to analyze their attacks. Hard scales surrounding the body, giving tough armor to protect them. Mouths were open to expose their Black Blood-filled fangs and allow them to attack, leaving a possible weakness for the softer insides, but that might be too risky. Snakes could dislocate their jaws to allow them to swallow their food, so maybe the joints were weakest in that area if one were to strike them with enough force. I spotted a nearby rock, grabbed it, and sent it whirling at the jaw of one of them, hoping their anatomy would be roughly the same as a snake. It hit the jaw joints with a loud crack, making it rear back and hiss in anger. The second, I struck with my fist, managing to some damage by using my metalbending on my claw to cover it and negate the resulting opposite force. The force from my attack was enough to make this one halt as it was sent reeling back into its fellow, making them both sprawl to the ground in a heap. Before they did anything else, Rarity and Fluttershy galloped over to me and gave those snake a couple of hard kicks to the head, putting them into a daze. “Dusk, excellent timing.” she remarked as I canceled my metalbending. “Boy, I’ll say.” Leon said as he came over. “Thanks for the assist.” “Thanks for protecting my little sis.” I said to him in return before speaking to the pegasus who seemed a lot more relieved now. “Are you okay?” “N-n-no.” she stammered. “But… I’m better now I’m with you three.” “Don’t worry, we won’t let them lay a single fang on you.” Leon said, giving her a reassuring smile. “Yeah, though we need to get moving.” I said. “Those three will recover soon and it won’t take long for more to arrive once they know where we are.” “An apt suggestion.” Rarity nodded in agreement. “Any ideas as to where?” I took a quick look around our general area and spotted a hill not too far away from where we were standing, high enough to give us a good defensible point. “Come on, up to higher ground!” I said, pointing to it. “We’ll gain at least some kind of advantage.” The three stayed close to me and we started to gallop in the direction of the hill, traversing through the streets of Ponyville, the sounds of more slithering reaching our ears as we picked up some more followers. It wouldn’t be good to turn and engage them for that would just delay us and allow more time for further Paraserpents to arrive. We just had to hope we were fast enough to stay ahead of them before they reached the hill. I started to consider our combat capabilities from the four of us. I knew most about the Paraserpents and I knew that I could put my mind to quick work on the field, finding exploitable weaknesses and things that would give us an advantage. Rarity, despite her ladylike stature, had proven that she possessed strength and resolve enough to hold her own against them. Leon was quick to strike and had long-ranged elemental abilities. Perhaps there would be some way to combine our individual strengths to give us an added edge. Fluttershy in contrast looked like she wasn’t going to be doing much fighting as she was too timid to even raise a fist. Me, Leon, and Rarity would just have to make sure she didn’t get hurt. We’d just reached the foot of the hill when two more of the monsters slithered out and cut us off. The individuals who had been following us had now caught up, totaling their numbers to five, enough to surround us and prevent us from running away. Now we had no choice, we would have to stand our ground and fight. I may not be physically able as much as I used to before Diablo, but I would at least have some backup with Rarity and Leon by my side. Glancing back at Rarity, I noticed her smirk before I heard the sound of her magic being used and turned to have a quick look at what she was doing. Using her skills as a fashion debutante, she levitated the canopies of some nearby apple carts up to the three of the monster’s heads, whirled them around and, in a flash of light, had caught their heads in large, red and white sacks, effectively blinding them and preventing a clear attack. Leon then got out his cannon and took aim to finish them off, allowing me to return my attention to my own foes. Lucky I did or I wouldn't have seen one lunge directly at me. I quickly ducked under the attack, noticing I was underneath his jaw, and snapped a fist upwards. I didn’t put enough strength into the punch, however, and it just ended up making it angry, pulling back, and hissing with displeasure. The other glanced at me, smiled maliciously at me and started to encircle me, fangs glinting and eyes shining. “Issssss that the bessssst you can do, Dusssssk?” it asked mockingly, a tone I recognized. “Black Fang!” I said to it, giving it a good glare. “See Discord gave you some backup.” “Oh, them? They’re jussssst a new batch that my masssster put me in charge of. By the way, how’sssss your neck? Ignoring that comment, I tried to keep my eyes on both Paraserpents at once in case one should decide to strike, the world slowing as my mind started to analyze the situation. How was I going to take both of them on at once? What was left of my super-strength wasn’t enough to take them down at their weak point or get them much into submission. I was too weak for that and they had armored scales protecting them. There had to be something else I could use. I thought desperately, straitening my hat again… Hold on, my hat combined with something else… I remembered seeing Twilight use a softness/hardness spell in one of her study sessions to make a pillow as hard as a rock. It was a relatively simple spell and I remembered the theory of how to perform it. If I could just pull it off… it was worth a try. I took my hat off, casting the spell at the same time so that the hat was briefly consumed by a flash of light, the Paraserpents coiling closer towards me. “Here, hold this!” At the same time as I shouted, I threw my hat, hearing it whizz towards my first target. I actually laughed as I heard a loud smack as the hat, spinning like discuss, struck the new Paraserpent in the head. The trilby then ricocheted off it to Black Fang, striking it on the back of the head and making it fall forward, eyes unfocused and a lump forming slowly on its head. The new one had barely recovered before it hit him again and sent him to the ground on top of Black Fang, both of them dazed and knocked out. Satisfied with my work, I levitated my headwear back and placed it back on, removing the spell and returning it to its normal state, nodding in approval and tipping it to the serpents along with a small apology at having to hurt the new Paraserpent. Not really much to Black Fang. When I turned to Rarity and Leon, their own foes were down on the ground and they stood triumphant, an eyebrow raised in at my actions, Fluttershy seeming a little more relieved. “I suppose that's one way of doing it.” she remarked, kicking a serpent as it twitched a little. “Talk about a hard hat.” Leon chuckled. “Come on, let's get up to higher ground.” I said with a smile. “I notice.” Rarity said as we ran. “Notice what?” I asked her. “That though you seem to abhor violence,” she answered, “you can still be intuitive in a fight regardless.” I shrugged at this. “Sometimes, it’s necessary to fight for what’s right. That’s what I learned. The arms are fair, when the intent of bearing them is just.” “There you go with Shakesmare again.” she noted with a smile. “Yeah, he does that a lot.” Leon said to her. “You know me.” was my only reply, pushing myself up the hill. “Come, once more unto the breach!" “Follow your spirit and, upon this charge, cry ‘Harmony for us! Equestria! And Princess Celestia’!” Rarity finished boldly. As we started to climb up the hill, the sky began to darken up ahead with a distance rumbling of thunder. Minutes later, chocolate rain began to pour from the heavens, soaking us within seconds. I looked down at my chocolate-soaked fur and tail and shrugged. It would take more than some liquid sweets to stop us in our fight. We left the five snake bodies behind us and galloped up the hill, well aware that even more were crawling in to take the places of those who had fallen. Dog’s view Me and AJ reacted quickly to Twilight’s order, sprinting away as fast as we could with AJ jumping over the body of a Paraserpent, her years of competing in rodeos paying off, landing gracefully on all fours and galloping away with me as fast as she could, us trying to put as much distance between us and it as possible. However, we were surrounded again by at least eight of the critters, hissing and spitting at us. Must’ve thought that we were intimidated, perhaps a little scared at the sight of these monsters about to eat us, even trying to feed off the fear, as they had with suffering and pain, like Dusk told us they did. Well, we were going to show them that members of the Apple and Fries families don’t scare easy, especially not to a bunch of over-glorified, belly-crawling creeps. As I dealt with two of them, one of them lunged at AJ, but she jumped right above its head and landed on the body of the beast. It turned to face her just as she kicked it hard in the head, knocking the daylights out of him and sending him to the ground with a thud. I managed to take care of one by using my freeze breath to place his head in an ice cube before bucking him away. I turned and saw another one coming up behind her. “AJ, look out!” I yelled as she turned to see it try to sink its fangs into her, but she dodged aside so he bit into the scales of his buddy, making him howl like a dog at the moon and shattering his fangs faster than a frozen candy apple. She answered this insult to injury with a punch followed by another kick from her rear hooves, so that he too was knocked out cold. Speaking of cold, I managed to beat the other Paraserpent jumped over and making an ice path on the ground, the snake slipping and sliding right in his buddy before I froze them both in ice. With that done, I then went over to AJ. “Nice job, AJ!” I said as the two of us shared a hoofbump. “Thanks, Dog.” She said to me before we got back to back as she taunted the last two. “Come on fellas! I got over twenty years of applebuckin’ and over ten first place ribbons in every rodeo under my belt.” “And I’ve been kickin’ behinds like yours for years. What you got?” I added, giving the same taunt. “Die, ponies!” one screeched, lunging and missing as we dodged it. “Sorry, sugarcube,” she told it “but we got no intention of meetin’ the big pony in the sky today.” Splitting up, we each took two of them. As I was able to keep my own, I watched as AJ charged at another of them, which was coiled right up to the sky, and kicked him three times like she would if she were kicking apples out of a tree. With it screeching, it finally topple to the ground like chopping down a tree, but without the cry of timber. Bucking a Paraserpent behind me, I was pretty sure my jaw dropped from seeing all that even as AJ nodded to herself. Once again, AJ showed me just how amazing she was. “Hey, Dog,” She said to me with a raised brow, “you okay?” “Marry me.” Hearing what I just blurted out, I snapped out of it and couldn’t help but blush from what I did. Why did I say that? “What?” she asked, confused. “Nothin’!” I told her, feeling all nervous now. “O-kay.” She said, sounding a little unsure. “Well, these guys sure aren’t…” BAM! “AJ!” I watched as Applejack was sent sprawling to the ground as the snake she had dodged before came around again while she was distracted, swiping his tail at her and knocking her down in a flash. She tried to get back up, but it tighten around her legs and lifted her up, dangling her upside down and up to its face. With her Stetson falling to the ground, I was gonna go help her, but I soon regretted losing focus as one of the snakes I was fighting had managed to wrap around and trap me. As I tried to break out, I watched as AJ tried to wriggle out of her snake’s grasp, but it was too tight and it was getting tighter all the time, squeezing tighter than one of Big Macintosh’s bear hugs. As she glared at it, seeing this made me too worried about her to even care how much pain I was in from my own snake tightening on me. I wanted to go over there, I wanted to save her! “You might have no intention of death,” it hissed, “but it doesssssss not wait for your permisssssssion, pony.” “Oh, quit your hissin’ and spittin’!” she said to it. “Get it over with.” “Assssss you wish.” The mouth opened, the fangs were bared. I thought that was it for AJ… “You hungry? Eat this, punk!” a bold voice cried. A light blue streak whizzed by and I saw Rainbow Dash smack a hoof in its face. Before it could fight back, she attacked it again and again, hitting it multiple times and getting it to lose the coils that held Applejack. Just as it and she fell, she was caught and carried off into the air by Dash. Just then I heard a rumble and looked to see the snake holding me looking at the ground, looking a little confused for a moment. A minute later, something green popped out of the ground next to us and I looked to see a familiar confident grin. “Surprise!” Shield said before he then punched the Paraserpent, sending it flying and making it let go of me. We barely had time to talk when Dash came in with a cloud and said “Guys, come on!” With that, Rainbow picked me up as Shield got on the cloud, the pegasus carrying me and AJ into the air as Shield followed her. Dash set us down in the open market square, handing back AJ’s Stetson which she put on her own head for safekeeping, and Shield came down to join us. I had to guess Dash must have picked AJ’s hat up before she and Shield saved us. Applejack put it back on her own head and shared a hoofbump with the daredevil Pegasus as I did with the daredevil stallion, both of us returning their grins, just as it started to rain chocolate overhead. “Thanks for the save, ya two.” AJ said to them. “Eh, don’t sweat it.” Dash shrugged. “That guy had it coming if he tries anything with my friends.” “Well, really, thanks for savin’ AJ, Dash.” I said to her. “Thought she was a goner for a moment there.” “Yeah, I suppose I was pretty awesome.” she admitted, a smile tugging at her lips. “He means that thing was gonna take a bite out of me, like ya’d munch down on an apple fritter…” AJ said before Shield spoke up. “Then suddenly, me and Dash came in to save the day!” he proclaimed, waving his hoof arrogantly. “No need to thank me, all in the line of duty.” Typical Rainbow and Shield. Me and AJ both rolled our eyes at their cocksure attitude and their own forgetting to remember not to feed their egos and let them swell any larger than they were. It was there that AJ decided it was time to bring them down a notch, starting with Dash. “Cut it kinda close, didn’t ya?” she asked with a frown. Rainbow was taken aback at this. “Hey, next time I might not bother and you can just get out yourself then.” “I was just fine. I was lettin’ him think he had me, then I was gonna hit him good.” “Sure you were.” she said with rolled eyes. “You know, it’s no shame getting help from Ponyville’s most awesome citizen.” “Well, shucks, Rainbow. If ya wanted ma help, ya should’ve said somthin’ then.” “Hey, you know who I was talking about!” “Rainbow, stop, you’re makin’ me blush.” “Okay, when I’m in a fix and need help, you just make sure you only come in at the last minute too.” “I might just do that.” “You do it then!” “I will!” Me and Shield watched as they glared at each other for a few moments, then broke out into smiles. Though the situation appeared grim, we had to try and stay positive. The two girls laughed off their competitive banter as two good friends and athletes would, causing the two of us to smile at them. “Man, is that what we’ve like?” I asked with a chuckle. “Kinda see what Dusk was talking about us.” Shield said to me. “No wondering he has a nervous twitch.” We shared a laugh before returning to and focusing on the situation at hoof. “Right, now we gotta figure out what we’re gonna do.” AJ decided, watching the shadows carefully. “No kidding.” Rainbow nodded. “Did you see where any of the others went? We only found you two out of luck.” “Nope. We all got lost in the scuffle.” I reported sadly. “We’ll find ‘em.” AJ said. “But, right now, we have got bigger problems.” “What do you mean?” Shield asked incredulously. “What’s more important than finding the others?” “How about stayin’ alive to find ‘em?” She suggested, pointing with her hoof. “Oh, yeah…right.” Out of the alleyways, side passes, and even over the rooftops, Paraserpents were coming right to us. There had to be dozens of the nasty critters, all of them coiling and writhing around us like a dark, monstrous ocean in the fiercest storm, their hissings like death rattles and their fangs dripping with saliva and Black Blood. Ready for a fight, the four of us stood back to back, Shield and Dash raising their hooves and loosening their limbs. I could hear Dash growling in her throat, which helped to bolster my own spirits somewhat. All of us were strong, fit, and more than capable of protecting ourselves in a fight. Even if we were outnumbered, we could at least take down a few of them while trying to stay alive. “This is quite a pickle we’re in.” I remarked. “What? You scared?” Shield asked. “Pfft! Shoot, y’all think these legless, dribblin’ baby rattles shake my cage?” I dismissed. “You are sorely mistaken if that's the case." “Prove it then. I bet you I can take down more of these guys than you can.” the daredevil challenged. “You fella have got yourself a wager!” “Let’s go then!” A rush of wind and a loud screech told me Shield got in the fight. I wasted no time in charging to my first foe, jumping up and smacking him hard enough to knock him to the ground. He tried to get up, but I followed up this attack with a kick, propelled myself backwards in a flip, hit him with my hoof again, and landed, smacking him with both rear hooves and sending him flying back into his buddies, knocking them down as well. A few more were brought down by Shield speed strutting by, striking them down before they knew what hit them. I ducked under a beam of red magic one sent at me, running around to dodge a few more and kicking down another one, hitting it hard in the head to make sure that it stayed down before freezing it. As more came around, I once again created an ice trail and tricked them onto it, making them slip and slide into their frozen buddy before I froze them all with him. Looking over to AJ, I saw some Paraserpents closing in around her as she stood over a knocked-out one, where she got a little creative. Running to the end of its body, she clamped her teeth around the down one’s tail and hefted it up with her strength. She started to whirl the serpent around in an ark like she would a lasso, starting off slow but gradually getting faster and faster. She then started to walk among the horde as she spun it, knocking its head into its fellas and sending them flying, using her foe as both a lasso and a club. It was rather great to see this great number of cocky-looking monsters easily brought down by one of their own and by a single pony. Gosh, I do love that mare. Getting back in the fight, I managed to take down ten more with my ice breath, a few bucks, and punches before I looked around to see there was no more. “Hey, AJ!” I said as I walked over to my friend, she tossing her club away and sending it straight into a wall where it landed as a heap on the floor. “Nice work!” “Thanks.” She said to me as we stood with our fur and hats soaked in Discord’s rain. Seeing the group I had been fighting was all taken down, I then took a rough count of them all lying on the ground and turned when I felt a strong wind nearby to see Dash performing one of her signature moves, the Rainblow Dry, catching all of her Paraserpents in a small tornado of hers and spinning them around in it. Soon enough, the snakes shot out of it as they were sent flying while screeching before being finished by fast punches and kicks from Dash. She took one into the sky and blew him up with a Buccaneer Blaze. “Way to go, Dash!” Shield called out as we turned to see he had the group he was fighting tied up into one, big, black ball of squirming snakes. “Ain’t nothing to it.” Dash said as she landed, giving that cocky even though she was just as tuckered out as AJ with all that panting. “Okay, my score’s so far is… nineteen.” Shield said, proudly. “Shoot! Then we’re level.” I told him, making him frown. “We’ll see about that! I’ll take down double that number in ten seconds flat!” “Ya sure? You’re lookin’ kinda worse for wear.” “You’re right, make it five seconds.” “If ya say so.” “Just wait until more of these guys show up and I’ll—AGH!” The fella was cut off as a bolt of red magic hit him and knocked him to the ground. “Shield!” Dash said before she got hit by one too. I barely had time to yell before one struck me, leaving a stinging pain in my side like somepony had spilled hot water onto me. Pushing myself back up to my hooves, I saw yet more of them closing on us. Several went straight for me and I tried to fight, despite my wound and the aching in my limbs begging me to stop. A punch to one and a kick, knocking him down, but I then heard a yell and look to see AJ being attacked by one of those beasts. She threw a punch at it, but it was barely enough to take him down. I could actually hear it laugh mockingly at her. She tried to kick at it, but it then caught her and started dragging her away. “AJ!” I tried to run over to her, but I felt cold scales wrap around my legs and drag me off. I tried to struggle free, punching one in the face as it slithered closer, but there were just too many of them and I didn’t have the strength she had previously. Shield and Dash weren’t doing so well either as I could hear them cry out from being attack. They need my help, but, at that time… I needed their help too. I needed Shield, Dash… Applejack. I did my best to wriggle free, but their grips were too tight, the rain soaking through to my skin. I couldn’t give up… I had to break free… had to… had to… Twilight’s view I acted quickly to my own orders, teleporting away in the blink of an eye and landing on top of one of the roofs of the houses, or rather the foundations because this particular building was upside down. I looked back down at where my friends had been to see Applejack jumping over one of the serpents and sprinting away with Dog, Rainbow Dash rocketing towards the sky amid blasts of magic shooting all around her, Shield dodging Paraserpents left and right, Rarity grabbing Fluttershy’s hoof and pull her away, and Dusk run for dear life down a nearby alley, a serpent in hot pursuit. I felt a great deal of worry and fear for Dusk as I watched him run, only just ducking under the jaw of the serpent, gasping as he did. Though I knew Dusk could handle himself in a fight and that he knew more about the Paraserpents than we did, I still needed to help him. Reacting quickly, I sent a knock-out spell shooting at it, striking it right on the back of the head and rendering it unconscious. My hazel brown eyes locked on mine in a brief instant after I performed this feat. The gratitude and relief that shone in them was enough to bring a small yet still warm smile to my face and I wanted nothing but to teleport straight to his side and do all I could to keep him safe. Despite this, I knew that would be too costly on my energy and instead I tried my best to convey without words for Dusk to run. He swiftly complied and galloped away, though the smile he gave me was enough to give me added strength. Right, so the rest of us were all relatively safe and those that couldn’t fight, particularly Fluttershy, were at least with somepony who could. I noted that I hadn’t seen Pinkie at all running off with anypony. Where could she be? Was she…? “Ooh, you can get such a good view from up here!” The perky voice was enough to make me jump and whirl around to see the party-loving pony, still with her signature smile. “Pinkie! How long have you been standing there?” I asked incredulously. “About a few minutes.” she shrugged. “I saw you teleport up here and decided to lend you a hoof.” “Oh, well… thank you, Pinkie. I’ve got a feeling I’ll need it.” A loud rustling beneath made me see that yet more of the monsters were closing in towards them. “Come on, we have to move!” “Okie-dokie-lokie!” Pinkie affirmed, following as I jumped of the roof and onto the streets, just as a blast of red magic whizzed by. We hit the street, encountering two blocking their path. Pinkie, looking rather ferocious, bounced up and struck one on the head with her head, a loud clang resounding from the impact. This was followed up by four strikes from each of her hooves, twisting and turning in the air like a gyroscope and sending her opponent crashing to the floor. I raised an eyebrow in admiration, blasting the second right in the face with a spell and running alongside her as he broke out in painful hives on his face. Having her certainly proved beneficial. My thoughts turned to the others as we sprinted through the streets. My quick plan was in the hope that, if we split up and ran in different directions throughout the town, we would divide the Paraserpent’s forces and would be able to manage them easier in the smaller groups rather than the massive horde they’d arrived as. But now our own strength as a group was greatly reduced because we were no longer together and I feared that, even with Pinkie, I wouldn’t be able to handle it, nor would the others. Scowling, I told herself to stop thinking so negatively or it would just make things worse. Use a calm, reasoned approach and she would get through this. As Dusk would say, just have faith and I would make it through. We all would, we had to. Knowing we needed to get to a more defensible location and stand our ground as best we could, I galloped as fast as my legs would allow, searching for anywhere that might give us a hoofhold against our enemies. We soon found it in the form of a street with plenty of places to hide in shops and grooves which for some reason was full of chest-high walls, high enough for us to take cover or to pop out to perform ranged attacks. “Pinkie, take cover over there!” I ordered, reaching the mid-point of the street. Pinkie looked at me in confusion. “Take cover? But there are no beds here. Where am I supposed to get covers from?” “I mean hide somewhere they can’t hit you.” I groaned in exasperation. “Oh, that makes a lot more sense.” She quickly complied, diving into an alcove. I took up a similar position on the other side so that we were parallel to each other. “Do you have your party cannon?” “Sure do!” She whipped out the large metal barrel on wheels and set it on the ground. “So, what’s the plan?” “Right, we hold position here in a standard defense formation. You and I will establish a suppressing fire with cannon and magic respectively, making sure they don’t pass the fixed border point, which will be fifteen meters ahead of us and hold that position until further notice. If they cross that, we’ll retreat down the street and take up a new defensive line elsewhere in the area, keeping them at a fixed distance of ten meters at all times, resorting to melee-based attacks if they breach that limit. Clear?” “Yes! I mean, no—I mean, yes—I mean, uh…” Pinkie touched her chin with her hoof, her brow furrowing. “I think so… wait, who are we suppressing again?” I sighed and slapped my head. “Stay and shoot them with your cannon from here, punch them if they get too close, and run away when there’s too many to handle.” “Ohhhhh!” she nodded. “Well, why didn’t you just say so?” “I did.” I looked up the other end of the street. “Look out, here they come!” Sure enough, great parades of serpentine bodies were writhing up the street. Their eyes were glowing as they prepared their magic, sending a barrage of fire down at our position and forcing us to take cover. “Return fire!” I shouted, sticking my head out and shooting spells down the street. The Paraserpents either didn’t comprehend much of tactical thinking, or just didn’t care, as very few of them made efforts to take cover when I started my bombardment. Thanks to my training from Celestia, I was able to keep them suppressed with a wide variety of spells. Some more offensive spells, like paralysis or knock-back, were more costly than say levitation or hair growth, the latter I used to confuse them before hitting them with something better and bringing them down for good. Now and again, I knew I would have to take cover, either to protect myself from their own magic attacks or to recover my strength from the efforts I was exerting for my own spells. One of them grazed against my leg and I felt as if somepony had lit a fire there. I made a mental note to be more careful, nursing my injury and striking down the offensive creature with a knock-back spell, sending him crashing into a wall, head first and unconscious. Pinkie too prepared her party cannon, keeping her head low and aiming the barrel, her face screwed up in concentration. Once she was done, she lit the fuse and popped out her own head, a cocky grin on her face. “Eat confetti, you hissy sissies!” With this proclamation, her cannon fired and there was a loud squelch as one serpent was hit in the face with a cake. "Oops… or you can just eat that." “I’ll cover you while you reload!” I yelled, putting down additional spells on Pinkie’s side of the street. “Okay, I’ll be quick!” I had barely fired off one spell when she yelled: “Done!” “Wow! That was quick.” I remarked, returning to my own side. “When you forget about a party and have to do something last minute, it’s good to be quick.” She did a rather scolding expression. “Which is annoying, 'cause I don’t like forgetting about parties. How can I? I’m the party pony.” She shrugged and fired off her cannon again, wrapping up three of them in confetti bonds and sending them wriggling to the ground. She quickly reloaded and fired again, the next shot sending out balloons that popped with blinding flashes and rendered a few unable to see, firing blindly and actually hitting some of their own. Random, but helpful. Twilight thought, finishing off the remainder with my magic. We continued our defensive offensive, breaking cover whenever there was a lax in their firing of magic, trying to keep them down and away from us, though more seemed to keep slithering out of the shadows with no end in sight. After I cut off one of their access points by summoning and slamming a door in their faces, I thought it was time to get a little bold. Reaching into my magic, I teleported into their midst before they knew what had happened. Catching them by surprise, I mowed them down with magic, paralyzing, knocking out, or knocking back any within range. Teleportation spells, however, though I’d gotten used to performing them recently, were still enough to give me something of a headache and, compounded with my constant use of spells, I knew I couldn’t stay here for long or else I would be vulnerable. Just one more and then I would teleport back and… ZAP! I was knocked off my hooves and felt the burning pain from the blast that hit me. Before I could get back on my hooves, I felt something constrict around my body and squeeze, looking up into the malicious face of a Paraserpent as it licked its mouth and glared hungrily at me. There was no warmth in its gaze, no pity or compassion, just hunger and the beastly rage of an animal. Oblivion. But I wasn’t going down that easily. I only felt a stab of fear for a brief moment, got control of myself and glared back at it. “I don’t think so.” Right in the face, I hit it with my own blast, making it drop me and topple over to the ground. I hurried back to Pinkie, who ridded her of pursuers by shooting more confetti at them and wrapping them up. I dived behind the nearest wall, recovering my strength and making a mental note to never ever try that again. Now, they were starting to become more numerous despite my efforts to thin out their ranks. I was having to punch and kick them—as well as use my magic—whilst Pinkie did likewise, even resorting to using her cannon as a club. No matter how many we knocked down, more just arrived to take their places, and now others we had beaten were recovering and rejoining the battle. “Pinkie, retreat!” I dived out of cover, shooting off spells as I went, Pinkie wheeling her cannon along. We kept up fire, steadily backing down the street and holding them back long enough to try and make our escape. The party pony stopped in the middle of our retreat, whipping out a small metal can with balloons painted on it. “This oughta hold them back.” she whispered, pulling out a metal pin. “Twilight, you might wanna cover your ears… and the rest of you too.” “Pinkie, what is that?” I asked as she tossed it at them. “You’ll see. Quick, magic bubble!” she yelled, leaping next to me and looking scared. I conjured up a magical shield that would protect us from harm, but I was still confused as to why. “Wait, so why do I need to…” BOOM! With a fiery explosion combined with the honk of a party kazoo, the can exploded next to a nearby shop. The force of the combustion, which sent confetti streaming everywhere, was enough not only to send over half of the group flying, but also caused the foundations of the store to collapse and crushed a few more of them, the rest of them slithering away in fright and shock. I could actually feel it shake her force field from the power. The smoke cleared from the explosion and I cut off the shield and stared incredulously at Pinkie Pie, who looked disappointed. “Pinkie, what in the wide world of Equestria was that?!" “Party grenade.” she said simply. “I brought a bunch of them before we left my place, figured we might need them.” She frowned at the store she had destroyed in the process. “Too bad. That was the Dream Art store.” “What… never mind, how did you get those?” I demanded. “Why didn’t you mention them before?!” “I made them myself and I didn’t think it was important before.” Her gaze returned to the rubble of the art store. “I liked that store. The mare there is a really good artist and her paintings are really, really good. I hope she won’t be too mad.” I stared at her in amazement and disbelief. “All that’s happening and you’re worried about one little art store?!” “What? It’s a good one and she’s a nice mare.” Pinkie smiled her bright little smile, which became a scream. “Uh-oh! More nasties!" “Right come on.” I was about to run off when I spotted a nearby stone arch and hatched on an idea. “Pinkie, how many of those grenades do you have?” “Oh, plenty. Why?” “I’ve got an idea. Quick, give me a few.” Pinkie handed over three of the explosives. “Right, can you hold them back for a while? I need to set these up.” Pinkie patted her cannon. “I’ll do my best, just don't take too long. Good luck, Twilight.” “I won’t and you too.” I galloped towards the arch, hearing Pinkie’s cannon fire off again. Once I reached it, I set quickly to work. Using my magic, I dug them into the ground at the foundations of the arch in the place where they were most likely to do damage. The Mayor wasn’t going to be happy about the extent of damage to public property we were causing, but this would hopefully be worth it. Once they were set up, I signaled Pinkie to lure the Paraserpents down the alley and under the arch, which wasn’t exactly difficult as they weren’t too bright and they didn’t seem to suspect anything. As soon as they were close enough, I used my magic to pull the pins out of them and waited. That last one had exploded after five seconds, it wouldn’t be long now, and then they would be crushed by the collapsing stones. But they didn’t go off. Over six seconds passed and they failed to detonate, the giant black snakes still working their way along, hissing angrily, their red eyes glowing like fire. I was starting to panic now. They couldn't take on this many of them in such an open area. “Pinkie, why aren’t they working?” “Sometimes I make them wrong… I guess those were duds.” she said sadly. “Oh, boy…” I groaned as the Paraserpents closed in on us. I hoped the others were faring slightly better. Dusk’s view Atop our hill, me, Leon, and Rarity were doing our best to hold our ground against the never-ending swarm of Paraserpents, soaked by the chocolate rain that cascaded from the skies above. We had a good spot to hold now and we just had to make sure that we kept it. I moved my eyes from one to another of the two that had targeted me, backing up until I stood back-to-back with Rarity, Fluttershy cowering nearby. I began to devise new strategies against them, anything that would give us an advantage against them. I would need to move in sync with my partner, making sure the two of us watched each other's backs, almost like our dancing sessions, only much more dangerous… Wait that was something! It sounded far-fetched, but it was worth a try. “Leon, give us cover.” I told the water elemental before offering my claw to my cousin. “Rarity, may I have this dance?” The mare stared at me like I had gone mad. “Dusk, while I am flattered that you would ask, I am your cousin and I hardly think now is the best time for that sort of thing!” I held out my claw again. “Trust me.” She appeared to consider, nodded, and took it. The instant she did, with all my strength, I whirled her around, sending her hooves smacking into two of the snakes that had been getting a little too close for comfort. Rarity, looking quite surprised, got my message and adjusted herself to this new fighting strategy. As Leon took aim and shot down some of the Paraserpents, the two of us then proceeded into our faster, more violent waltz, spinning and whirling each other at our foes in a circle for as far as our individual strengths would let us. This strange imitation of dancing continued on and it was quite effective in a sense. Whenever one of us spotted a Paraserpent getting too close, we would then swing or spin the other in such a way that we struck them and essentially watched each other's backs through this. Dancing and spinning, remembering all the lessons we’d had together, me and Rarity kept this up as long as we could. We soon reached the limits of our stamina, let go of each other's hooves, panting from the effort but many more of our enemies knocked down as a result of our dancing. “Well… that was quite exhilarating.” Rarity’s eyes widened a second later. “By Celestia, I think I’m sweating!” “It’s either that… or the rain.” I panted. “You did… well, Rarity.” “You too… darling.” she replied, wiping her forehead. "I think you’ve definitely…taken our lessons to heart.” “In a sense, I suppose.” I nodded. “Right, there’ll be more coming soon. We have to…” “AGGH! Help!” I whipped around, my stomach clenching with fear at the sound of Fluttershy’s screaming. She was being dragged away by her rear hooves by another Paraserpent, trying desperately to get free, her forehooves scraping on the patchwork ground. “Flutters!” Leon said as he got ready to take aim at the pegasus’ captor, but was talked by another Paraserpent before he could fire. “Rarity, go help Leon!” I said before I began hurrying towards Fluttershy. “Fluttershy, I’m coming!” I reached out to grab her hooves when I felt something wrap around my legs. I was suddenly yanked to the floor before I could do anything, watching helplessly as my friend and considered sister was dragged away, her screams echoing in my ears. Even when I saw my captor was Black, the situation was far more terrifying to me than the hideous monster that now had me trapped in its coils, unwilling to release me no matter how much I struggled. “Dusk! Hold on, darling, I’ll–AGH!” Rarity too was now being wrapped up in their wicked coils, striking out in a panicked fashion. “Unhand me at once! Get away, get away!” I too was starting to panic. My friends were in danger, I had to help them. I tried again to break free, hitting its body as hard as I could, but my strikes were pathetic and did virtually nothing to hinder it. The coils were wrapping tighter and tighter around my body, constricting my airways and crushing my bones. I cried out from the unbearable pain, losing what little strength I had left and despair clouding my mind once more. I can’t do it. I thought with despair. I’d failed to protect them, failed to help them and now I was about to pay the ultimate price for my failure. How could have even hoped to stand against the power of chaos? How could I have even begun to consider such a thing? I was no hero… no fighter… I was worthless… That to me was even worse than the horrible red eyes that were now locked on me, the fangs that glinted against the darkened sky, drawing ever closer to sink into my flesh. This was it… the final end… “All that lives must die…” I whispered, gazing into the jaws of infinity. “Passing through nature to eternity…”