Blueshift Dreams pt 3
Sunset was immediately on the back pedal, blocking hard, heavy strikes from her opponents Glaive with her sword as much as possible. Before the fight had started, she’d made sure to shift to her Well of Radiance ability tree, so every so often, she’d find the time to charge and throw her grenade to heal herself, however one thing became apparent after the very first strike against her.
She was woefully, helplessly under prepared for this fight.
“Even so young, you can still counter me, my little Phoenix,” Riven said as a compliment, “You are my first actual battle, truth be told, but I can see why my cousins and siblings endeavored to give Lightbearers the challenges they wanted and Wished for. Your Light gives you so much strength… but you have no will to USE it!”
When Riven said this last bit, the clearly not-pony being lobbed what looked like a grenade behind Sunset before shoving her headlong into a wall of crystals that had sprouted up from the impact of it. As the Iron Lady struck the wall, the crystals shattered, causing Sunset to shout in pain as the shards dug into and through her armor.
“I d-don’t even know what the hell is going on!” the mare cried out as Riven allowed her to catch her breath, “What have I ever done to you?!”
“Nothing,” Riven replied, “I am simply giving you a taste of what Midnight will be capable of. If you cannot handle me going easy, then HER darkest half will end you in less than a second. Your Ghost will not be able to help you, either, Little Phoenix…”
Staggering to her hooves, Sunset’s eyes widened as she shifted to her Attunement of Sky and quickly dodged out of the way of Riven’s sudden downward strike. Putting some distance between them, Sunset also drew her bow, nocking an arrow and letting it fly with as much precision as possible while on the move. The arrow struck home, hitting Riven in the ribs, but not doing much more than annoying the other being.
“An excellent shot,” Riven said as compliment, “But you are not fighting to kill.”
“I don’t want to fight!” Sunset snapped back, “There HAS to be a way to not fight anymore!”
“A naive dream,” Riven snorted harshly, “The Deep will not have any such notions of peace.”
The false-pony surged forward at a pace most Hunters would have been jealous of, forcing Sunset to dodge out of the way once more, quickly swapping to Traveller’s Chosen and rapidly firing off as many rounds as she could before tossing a Fusion Grenade at Riven. The grenade stuck fast to Riven’s ribcage before exploding, sending the being sprawling on her side, but otherwise mostly unharmed.
“Bait and switch,” the not-pony said as it stood up, inspecting the damage to her form, “A useful tactic, and one that would work wonders against Midnight. Her mind is far more straight forward than mine.”
“Who the hell is Midnight?” Sunset asked as she lowered her sidearm slightly, “You’ve said that name twice now, but I don’t know anyone by that name!”
“You will,” Riven replied with a shrug of her shoulders, “And she will know you far more intimately than you think, child.”
The being hefted her glaive upon her shoulder and leaned on it slightly, looking more relaxed than anything before sweeping her hoof around the area, as if wanting to point out something.
“The Deep will Take us all, and there will be nothing the Sky can do but watch as all it made is laid to ruin. Personally, I have no interest in anything the Deep and Sky do simply because a being such as I will continue to exist so long as there are Bargains that are unfinished…”
“That STILL doesn’t explain why you attacked me or what you’re testing me for!” Sunset yelled, frustrated at the non-answers and half-explained things.
“Indeed,” Riven said with a mocking half grin, “I suppose we’ll have to continue and see if we can’t wake something else up…. O Phoenix Mine.”
Riven charged again, the sudden burst of energy from her movements cracking the floor underneath her as she swung her glaive up at an angle, aiming for Sunset’s barrel. An instinctive flap of her wings brought the young mare out of the way of the slash itself, but not the follow up strike of the pommel of the glaive coming from the opposite side as Riven continued the lunge.
This went on for a little while longer before, frustrated and angry, Sunset bellowed out, “ENOUGH!!”
Darting forward, a determined glare on her face, Sunset drew her Dawnblade and brought the full fury of Solar Light to bear against her foe. Riven, a little taken aback by the yell and the sudden aggression started back pedaling herself, the Glaive barely able to block the strikes from Sunset’s fiery blade. Eventually, Riven needed to use her own wings to put some distance between her and her opponent’s wrath and flapped a good distance away. Sunset just swung her sword and sent energy flying towards the not-pony.
“Excellent!” Riven crowed out, “Use your Light! Let the Storm overtake you!”
Deciding to not answer back, Sunset just flung another blade of energy at Riven before her Light blinked out and she drew Subtle Calamity again, nocking another arrow and letting it fly at the retreating form of her foe, her aim true as the arrow hit one of Riven’s wings, dealing considerable damage to it and making the being shout in pain.
“An excellent shot!” Riven said as she stood tall, her left wing folded tightly against her barrel as she inspected the arrow sticking out of it. The not-pony brought the blade of her glaive up and then down on the protruding shaft and broke it easily. Then, with a hiss of pain, she opened the wing to its full length and pushed the arrow through, the half that was stuck in the wing clinking on the ground a bit.
“W-what the heck…?” Sunset asked as she watched the not-pony examine the wing once more and give it an experimental flap.
“You used your ability…” Riven began, “Now it is MY turn…”
“Sunset we need to be careful,” Philomena chimed in, “That thing is giving off all kinds of Dark energy and I have no idea how to counter it! I can bring you back as many times as it takes to stop it, but you can’t rely on your Super ability all the time…”
“I know, ‘Mena, but I’m running out of options here…” Sunset hissed back, wanting to keep Philomena out of the worst of things. The mare let loose another arrow, but went rigid as a wall of the same crystals went up in front of Riven just before the projectile hit its target. A sound like a glacier moving came from behind the wall and a burst of energy Dark and cold enough to swallow the sun shattered the crystals.
“As I said… My turn…” Riven said with a wicked grin, a staff of Dark ice floating beside her.