//------------------------------// // Chapter 10: Conflict at the School // Story: The Adventure of the Apex Legion (Old Version) // by DeffBwade //------------------------------// What's going on? Why did someone just scream right now? Did someone get hurt? Did someone get killed? A lot of thoughts were rushing through my mind right now as I flew to the school. What could have caused that screamed? As I got closer and closer, I was able to hear even more screams. The noises eventually led me to the buckball field. Ponies were running, ponies were standing still most likely out of fear, and ponies were fighting. All because of the creature in the middle of the field. The ways I could describe it were that it was bipedal, it looked like it was made out of shadows, its eyes were glowing white, it was about twice the height of the ponies, and it had thin, razor sharp claws. It was fighting off several ponies, including Headmare Twilight, Professor Dash, Professor Fluttershy, and Professor Pinkie. Well, actually Professor Fluttershy was kind of on the sidelines, afraid to fight. There were two other ponies fighting the shadow creature. The first was a unicorn mare with pink fur, bluish purple eyes, a purple mane and tail with a teal stripe on each of them, and a cutie mark of glimmer coming from a star. She was Starlight Glimmer, the counselor of the school from what I heard, and holy crap was she quite the fighter. She was dishing spells here and there, almost as adept as Headmare Twilight. The second one...boggled me. She was an alicorn just like Twilight, and had white fur, purple eyes, a mane and tail consisting of blue, pink, and green, and the sun as her cutie mark. But many thoughts ran through my mind the more I looked at her. First off, her mane and tail looked like there was an infinite wind making them flow. Second, she was fucking tall, about as tall as the shadow creature. Third, she was wearing regalia that royalty would wear, including a crown. Just who is this pony? "Gah! This thing just doesn't know when to quit! Where did this thing even come from?" Professor Dash explained. "Yeah! This shadow meanie ruined the buckball game! And just before the cheer squad were about to perform. I was really looking forward to that!" Professor Pinkie complained. "No matter how many spells I cast, this thing won't stay down," Counselor Starlight said. "Same with me. What about you Princess Celestia?" Headmare Twilight asked as she looked at the white alicorn. Princess Celestia? There's another princess? That would explained the royal regalia, but why she does look a lot different from Twilight? "Maybe it's because she's older than her?" Maybe. That would explain the height difference, but what about the floating hair? I don't feel any strong breeze that would that. And I swear to God, if the answer is magic, I'm gonna- "AAAHHH!" "RAINBOW!" That scream of pain, followed the collective of other screams, interrupted my thoughts. I focused back on the fight. What I saw...was Professor Dash, on the ground, clutching onto her side, wincing in pain, and a long gash, almost like...a claw mark, running horizontally across her side, as well as a wing that looked dislocated in many places. Blood was oozing out of the gash. The shadow must've gotten a hit when she tried to dive bomb it. Looking at Professor Dash's wounded body...it brought to memory of when I first arrived in Equestria, and my encounter with the Timberwolf. How I was barely unable to move, and I was in constant pain. I couldn't do anything other than watch my enemy's next move. I felt...weak...helpless...and on the brink of death. The shadow creature started to slowly approach Professor Dash. "LEAVE HER ALONE!" screamed Headmare Twilight. The group of ponies, even Professor Fluttershy, tried to charge at the creature. Its response was to dig its claw into the ground, before a multitude of spikes erupted from the ground and surrounded the ponies, trapping them and prevented them from moving any further. The creature got up and continued its advance. "RAINBOW DASH!" "NOOO!" "DASHIE!" "HEY! LEAVE HER ALONE MONSTER!" The shadow monster stopped its advance at that last one and looked up. I turned to where it was facing and saw that a distance away was a pony that looked around my age with a face of determination, yet with a little fear still noticeable. I wouldn't blame her though. She was an earth pony filly with light orange fur, a short orange mane, with one side falling down and the other tied back, and tail, orange eyes, and orange eye shadow. I couldn't see her cutie mark due to the outfit she was wearing. It was clearly a cheerleader outfit, purple and cyan in color, and sparkly looking. It looked nice. Professor Rarity's piece of work obviously. The pony walked closer to the creature. What is she doing? She's going to get herself killed. "You heard me! Leave Professor Dash alone you monster!" she said. She had a Valley girl sort of accent, if that makes sense. This girl's got some guts. The worry came back to me and skyrocketed when creature continued its advance, but this time its focus wasn't on Professor Dash's wounded and downed body. But instead on the girl. My fears were confirmed when it walked over Professor Dash. The filly's fears slowly came back to her as her pupils shrunk and she slowly started to back away. Time seemed to slow down as the shadow creature got on all fours and started running at the filly. No! I can't let this happen! I can't...no...I won't let her die! I quickly put on my mask and hood and, using what remaining stamina I have left, I sped towards the filly. I could hear the cries from the ponies trapped and see the girl moving her hoof in front of her faced as she turned away, waiting for her inevitable death to come. Time slowly started to come back as the creature came closer and closer at a fast pace. But I was faster. The creature raised its claw up in the air and brought it down, but before it was able to spill some blood, I impacted with the girl and tackled her out of the way. I could just barely feel the creature's claw grazing the tip of my wing as time finally went back to normal. With the girl in my hooves, she and I impacted a few feet away, with me grunting at the initial impact, before coming to a stop. Shaking the dizziness out of my head, I stood back up and looked at the girl. Her eyes were still shut tight as fear was still plastered all over her face. When she opened her eyes, they immediately settled onto my masked face. The fear started to slowly diminish as her eyes were sparkling a bit. I raised my mask up, revealing my face, and held a hoof out to her. "Are you okay?" I asked. Her eyes sparkled a bit more as she placed her hoof on mine. "Y-yeah," she simply said as I picked her up. I gave her a smile at that. "I want you to get to safety, okay?" I asked to which she nodded in response. I turned back to the shadow creature before taking out Zer0 while standing on my hind hooves and lowering my mask. In a life threatening situation, the average person's heartbeat can be upwards of 175 beats per minute. The well trained tangoes are able to stay cool. Keep calm. Their heartbeats can be 70-100 beats per minute. "Did you just quote Pulse from Rainbow Six Siege?" Gah! That's not the point. You could probably guess which of the two I'm a part of. I mean, I'm standing up to a creature made of shadows and have claws. I may have skills with a sword and parkour, as well as a small frame, but that doesn't mean I'm able to control my fears. I'm not saying I'm afraid of death or anything...okay I am. I took a deep breathe and pointed Zer0 at the creature. I had to fight this thing, or it'll continue to attack or kill ponies. "Stand down creature," I ordered, "or you will fall to my blade." The creature kept its focus on me and started to walk towards me. It got down all fours again and started charging, but I kept my ground. I dodged out of the way before it being down its claws on me and swiped at its arm, leaving an almost unnoticeable cut on it. It immediately turned and swiped again, but I ducked underneath it. It continued to send slash after slash, and when I noticed it was slowing down a bit, I dodged another swipe and did a quick upwards slash on its torso. It grunted in pain and stepped back a bit. It ran up to me and started slashing again, this time faster than before. I just barely managed to dodge every single one. The more stamina I was using, the harder it was to dodge. I finally ran out of breath and stopped for just a second, and that was enough for the creature to hit me with its claws. I let out of shriek of pain before jumping away. I took a quick look and saw that there was a deep gash on my left fore hoof. I sucked up the pain and stood back up on my hind hooves. It charge again, but I was not prepared for it to just ram into me headfirst. I clenched my teeth in pain as I was flung back a few feet. I landed on my back and looked up just in time to see the creature jump into the air with its claws outstretched. Using my fore hooves for balance, I kicked my hind hooves up and hit the creature in its torso once more. The cut on my fore hoof was practically screaming in pain, but I had to keep fighting. I picked up Zer0 and stood back up. The creature was slowly getting back up. It then sunk its claws into the ground. I knew what was coming, so I quickly sheathed Zer0 and jumped back with a backflip. A split second later, spikes emerged from the ground, with closest one being a few inches away from my face when I landed. I felt the ground shaking a bit, so I jumped away, just in time for more spikes to emerge. Even more spikes continued to emerge, and I kept dodging every single one. They finally sunk back into the ground, and the creature stood before growling in annoyance. I slowly walked closer to it before taunting, "Come on. Come on!" The creature let out a loud roar before charging again, with me doing it as well. It suddenly leapt towards me with its claws outstretched. I quickly got down on my back and slid underneath it, making sure to get one or two hits with Zer0 on it. However, one of its claws managed to cut me once again on my left fore hoof. I let out another scream of pain as my hoof felt like it was on fire. The creature landed clutching onto its chest as it kept hissing in pain. I got up, leaning against Zer0 as my body was in too much pain to properly stand up, both on my hind hooves and all fours. I looked at my hoof and saw that it was coated in blood, two gashes responsible for it. My vision started to become a bit blurry. I had to end this, or else I will collapse to exhaustion and/or blood loss. I focused on the creature to see it slowly getting back up. Using what little energy I have left, I let out a scream and started charging at it. My body was begging me to stop, but that didn't deter me at all. I leapt up and started flying as fast as I could. Once I got close enough, I raised Zer0 up before stabbing the shadow monster where the heart would be located. It only had a split second to look at me before my blade pierced its skin. I could actually see the blade sticking out from the other side of its body. I removed Zer0 from its torso and hopped down in front of it. The shadow monster clutched onto its wound as it stumbled backwards. I looked and saw its claw slowly going the way of Thanos. It was as if the wind was blowing away a black mist. Its legs then started to blowing away, then its torso, then its head. It looked at me one last time with its bright, soulless, white eyes before the shadow monster finally disappeared. The adrenaline has finally gone away and I started to feel the pain in my chest and hoof again. I just barely heard the sound of spikes going into the ground behind, as well as the sound of hoofsteps running towards me. My vision started to get hazy, my breathing started to get more rapid, and I finally collapsed on the ground. The last thing I saw was a tall, white figure before blacking out. Ever get that feeling of deja vu? "Stop quoting characters from video games."