Chapter 65
“Protect Sprinkles!” Nova bellowed as she dodged the incoming bolts, yanking and pulling the other mare around as she did her best to keep them both from getting hit.
“Comms are down too!” Nightstreak yelled as he put his PDA away. “They’re completely blocking us here!”
Louie growled as he scanned the area, his eyes finally locking in on some of the shooters.
“Six buildings down, fourth floor, left side!” he yelled to the others.
Nightstreak looked in that direction, knowing he wasn’t fast enough to reach them before being zeroed in on. Unless…
“Louie, throw me!” he yelled as he dodged the incoming bolts.
The large bipedal dog blinked a few times, then laughed, “oh hell yeah!”
With a bit of flair, Louie back flipped over some bolts and landed on the ground, holding his hands together by his knees. Taking his cue, Nightstreak flew right at him, landing on him so that one of his hooves was placed into Louie’s hands.
Roaring loudly, Louie flung him hard towards the buildings ahead, “alley-oop!”
Nightstreak rocketed towards the building, crashing into the room with the four Inquisitors.
The shooting lightened up enough for them to breathe as they began to maneuver their way down the street, knowing Nightstreak would catch up.
The mare was letting out screams each time Nova yanked her around, doing her best to keep her safe. If those bolts hit one of them, they’d be incapacitated immediately.
Five Inquisitors suddenly appeared on the roofs of the buildings around them, causing Louie to growl.
“Great,” he glanced at Nova, “we need to get you two out of range of their jammer so you can get her to safety.”
The five armored ponies above them jumped off the building and landed around them, advancing very slowly on them as the bolts stopped flying at them.
“Big mistake, boys,” Louie laughed as he flexed his chest muscles, squaring up with all five of them at once. “Shoulda stayed up there, where it was safe.”
“Get on the ground,” one of the Inquisitor's ordered through their mask, causing Louie to smile.
“Sure, which one of you will make me?”
They were not playing around as they all dashed forward at once, planning to overwhelm him and arrest him.
Little did that know that this was Louie’s preferred way of fighting.
As the first pony reached him he dashed back, slapping them right across the face, shattering their helmet and sending them skidding across the ground.
“One!” Louie gleefully yelled as he dodged an attack from one of them and then sprang forward, catching two of them with his outstretched arms. He pulled them both into himself and jumped into the air. With much more flexibility than he should have he spun around in the air and slammed both of them face first into the ground, embedding their heads in the ground.
“Three!” he laughed as he turned on the last two who were being a bit more cautious of him now.
He didn’t wait for them as he began to walk forward, taking on a very imposing demeanor. It had the desired effect as the two Inquisitors began to back up, a bit fearful of this massive dog man.
As Louie got within striking distance, he stopped, smirking. Then much faster than they could react, he struck a pose.
This confused the two officers, but before they could do anything, his hand suddenly shot out and grabbed one by the face. “Up you go!” and with that he tossed the pony into the air, where he was slammed into by Nightstreak as he returned to the group. The Inquisitor was sent flying through the air and slammed through a wall, out of the fight.
“Four,” Louie said calmly as he towered over the last Inquisitor.
The stallion looked up in fear and then raised his hoof and shot himself in the chest with one of the paralyzing bolts, knocking himself out voluntarily.
“Huh, alright then,” Louie muttered as he turned around, being mindful of the buildings around them. However no more bolts came towards them, which worried him.
Nightstreak landed next to him, looking just as worried. “I took out at least ten of them, but there’s still plenty in the area…”
They looked to Nova, who was standing above Sprinkle, doing her best to keep the mare safe.
“We need to-”
“So the rumors were true, there is a dog Brony,” a very stern and frightening voice called out as another Inquisitor stepped out, this one not wearing a helmet.
“Ah shit…” Louie muttered as he saw who it was. “Chief Strawell, we meet again,” he called out to her, turning to face her as she walked down the street towards them.
“We have never-” she stopped herself, an amused smile over taking her face. “Barehoof’s arrest, you were the little dog, weren’t you?”
“Eeyep, that was me,” he laughed, walking towards her as well.
“Release your hostage immediately, and this will go better for you,” she demanded as they stopped a few yards away from each other.
“Hostage?” Louie asked, raising an eyebrow. Then he realized who she meant. “Wow, lady, you’re way out of the loop here. That mare is not our hostage, she’s our witness.”
“Regardless, let her go,” Strawell again demanded.
“She’s safer with us,” he countered, rolling his shoulder as he prepared for the coming fight.
But Strawell did not engage him as she narrowed her eyes, looking between him and the others behind him. “Explain yourself then, you have one minute.”
“What?” He asked, body tensing as he waited for an attack to come at any moment.
“You said she was a witness, did you not? Tell me exactly what you mean by this,” she said sternly, her cold eyes locked on his.
“Lady, you are too far gone to even grasp the concept,” he countered, but her gaze remained the same, so he let out a deep sigh. “She has information about the wrongdoings of your beloved lord and savior Champion. She’s seen him in the act, killing and assaulting others.”
“I see,” Strawell replied, slowly shaking her head, “any more tall tales you’d like to tell?”
“See? Too far gone,” Louie chuckled, exploding forward as he couldn’t wait any longer for her to make a move.
However she clearly was expecting this. The moment his hand grabbed her neck guard, she gripped his wrist and yanked him down, hard. She had way more strength in her body than he’d thought as she slammed him fast first into the ground, holding him down using his own arm.
But all this did was excite him as he twisted his own body, throwing her over himself and attempting to throw her into the ground, but she moved agilely in the air, like a cat, and landed on her hooves on the other side of him, still holding onto his arm. Not missing a beat he pulled her towards himself as he stood on one knee, getting her into a headlock.
She elbowed him in the gut, which had no effect due to his Ego, so she instead reached up and grabbed his face. To his surprise she used him as leverage as she pulled her entire body up, slamming a back leg right into his face. His hand grabbed onto one of her legs as he stumbled backwards, dragging her with him.
He attempted to throw her over himself so he could smash her into the ground, but she just twisted midswing and broke his grip, saving herself. She then landed flurry precise strikes to his face and chest, causing his left arm to go limp.
“Oh damn, that’s new!” he yelled as his eyes darted to the others, relieved to see they’d already taken their leave, just as he’d hoped they would. He quickly darted back as she advanced on him, trying to get his arm back into action.
“You’re good, I’ll give you that,” Louie said as she stared coldly at him.
With a jerk he got some feeling back in his arm, almost ready to go again.
“Stand down,” she commanded, not even looking a bit tired as she advanced on him. “Do not make this worse than it has to be.”
“Yeah no, I’m not getting killed that easily,” he laughed back, doing a little jig as he readied himself for round two.
“You are under arrest, not being killed,” she countered, shaking her head.
“Lady, for being the Chief of the Inquisitors, you’re really dumb. Do you even know what is really going on here?” he asked, trying to buy himself a bit more time as his arm slowly limbered back up. When she didn’t react he rolled his eyes, “do you even know what Champion has done? Or are you in the dark on all that shit?”
“If you want to talk this much, we can do so at the station, under surveillance,” she offered, trying to at least do this peacefully.
“Like I said, I’m as good as dead if you arrest me, so I’ll take my chances fighting you,” he said as he cracked a few joints, ready to go again.
“Do not resist,” she commanded as she moved in on him much faster.
But, he resisted, hard.
ooo000<^>000ooo
Nova ran down the alleyway, carrying Sprinkle Toppings on her back as she held her rapier to her side with her magic. She wasn’t killing any of the Inquisitors who moved in on her, but she was definitely incapacitating them as best she could.
As for Nightstreak, he was flying above her, easily taking out any that tried to come from above. They were working as a perfect team, thanks to the two years they’d spent together training in the Time Chamber.
She kept trying her horn, but they were still within range of whatever jammer the Inquisitors were using.
The moment they came out of the alleyway, they found themselves in a decently sized parking lot, surrounded by at least fifteen officers.
“Hold on,” she said to the mare on her back as she and Nightstreak dashed forward.
“Freeze!” an Inquisitor yelled, “Or we will-”
He was cut off as Nightstreak used his face as a launching board, rocketing into another officer as everything erupted into chaos.
It didn’t take them long to dispatch the officers around them, since these were clearly not the higher ranking Inquisitors from before.
As the last one fell, the two regrouped in the middle of the parking lot.
“Are there anymore?” Nightstreak asked, breathing a bit hard as he looked around the area.
Nova focused on the area, trying to pick out any more movements.
“I believe we are…” her eyes went wide as they both turned to a different alleyway where they heard the sounds of someone clapping.
“Fucking epic work you two!” Jun yelled out as he entered the area, clapping his hooves as he hovered towards them.
“Jun!” Nightstreak hissed, not expecting to see him here.
“Yo!” Jun laughed, waving at him. “I see you two found that little mare I’ve been looking for. So just hand her on over so I can eat her pretty little brain. Get those juicy memories absorbed before they become a real problem.”
“You talk a lot, copy,” Nova said firmly as she let Sprinkle Toppings slide off her back. She walked forward, coming to a stop not far from the Lance lookalike.
“Oh Princess Nova, nice to see you again!” he exclaimed, bowing to her with a mocking grin on his face. “Champion wants you dead asap. So why don’t you just… let me take a bite of your skull?”
She just rolled her eyes, flicking her blade around herself, “I will warn you, I’ve fought you a thousand times. I know all your our tricks.”
“Bitch, we’ve never fought!” he yelled, seeming to take offense to her words.
“Oh but we have,” she smirked as she tapped her head with her hoof. “My Ego is… pretty interesting.”
She’d never tell anyone how her Ego worked exactly, but it was very unique. It allowed her to enter into a mindscape where she could fight anyone she’s ever fought before, but as an added bonus it also let her borrow memories from others so she could gather more knowledge on an opponent. This made the copies she made in her mindscape act more like the real person she wanted to learn how to defeat.
She could even use it in real time, allowing her to test attacks against an opponent before she actually committed to them for real.
There was also a sub power to her Ego, which allowed her to predict the movements and attacks of an opponent. Of course, it had the draw back of being limited to her knowledge of the opponent. However, she’d gotten pretty good at predicting how others will fight her, so she’s usually spot on.
For Jun, she had plenty of combat data thanks to the others. Not to mention he was an idiot and very predictable.
“I know how your Anti-Ego works,” she said as she raised her back hoof, slicing her sword through the thin thread that was attached to her. “You negate damage by attaching to others. So if I were you, I’d leave. Now.”
“Screw you, skank!” he roared as he flew towards her, eyes ablaze with rage.
“So easy,” she muttered as she simply dodged to the right, stabbing her rapier right into his chest, penetrating his heart.
He screamed in agony as he hit the ground, holding his chest.
This surprised Nova, as she thought a strike to the heart would finish him for good. He’s reacting to the pain, so that means he wasn’t connected to anyone, so how’d he survive that?
“You dirty fucking slutting bitching fucking cunt!” Jun screamed, body exploding with red energy as he stomped his hoof, sending a shock wave of energy out.
She knew what this would do, so she just dashed back, avoiding the power canceling wave of energy.
The demonic stallion saw this and began to roar with anger as he began to slam his hooves into the ground over and over again, sending out wave after wave of energy.
Yet the regal mare gracefully dodged every wave, rolling her eyes. Even if she lost her Ego, she’d still be able to handle him.
Nightstreak was carrying Sprinkle Toppings on his back as he just as easily dodged the waves of energy.
With a roar, Jun finally gave up trying to hit them with the energy, and optided to instead just charge towards her again.
She followed his movements, seeing he was clearly coming in for a tackle. So she just dashed to the right, hitting him with a flurry of stabs, taking both his eyes in the process. Yet he didn’t react as he spun around on her, blind but still locked in on her.
A frown appeared on her face as her blade flashed a few times, cutting his face in half and taking a leg, but he just kept coming. He’s attached to someone.
No matter what he did though, he couldn’t touch her, as each attack just ended in him getting shredded. His eyes had reformed, but she kept poking them out, much to his annoyance.
Finally he stopped advancing on her, instead focusing on healing as he seethed with rage.
“I’m going to eat you…” he promised, eyes locked with hers as she raised her back hoof and cut the thread. He glared as he watched Nightstreak do the same thing to the thread attached to him and the other mare. “All three of you… I promise…”
“This ends here,” she announced as she pulled an item out of her Personal Dimension and rubbed it against her blade, causing it to glow yellow. “Let’s try some Holy damage, shall we?”
He just smirked as he flared his wings and flew towards her.
“So predictable,” she sighed as she saw his obvious path. He was going to try and tackle her again.
With ease she dodged right, sword flashing up. But her eyes went wide as she saw his body following her, not following the predicted path.
Blood sprayed into the air.
“NOVA!” Nightstreak roared as he dashed towards them.
“Stay back!” she yelled through gritted teeth, her left foreleg caught in the massive jaws of Jun as he latched onto her neck. If it wasn’t for her leg getting into his mouth, he’d have probably bitten cleanly through her neck.
Jun laughed like a maniac as he clenched his jaws on her leg and neck and began to shake her around like a dog with a small animal.
Using her magic, she forcibly pried his mouth off of her and dashed back, blood pouring down her neck and ruined leg.
She winced as she looked down at her left leg, seeing that it was indeed ruined. The bone was sticking out in a few places, and his teeth had shredded it completely. Summer Breeze would have her work cut out for her on this one, that’s for sure.
Thankfully, her neck seemed to just have a few puncture wounds, but nothing serious.
“Fuck yes,” Jun moaned as he licked his lips, smirking at her. “How’s that for predictable, you cunt!”
She had to admit, he caught her off guard. She had underestimated him, and that almost cost her her life.
Her rapier crackled with Holy energy as she raised it again, spitting some blood out of her mouth.
“Try me again, demon.”
He smirked as he obliged her, flying right at her.
ooo000<^>000ooo
Louie laughed as he stumbled back, his body battered and beaten from the surprisingly very tough mare. She knew way more fighting styles than he did, so she was wiping the floor with him.
But he had to admit, this was fun, despite the situation he found himself in.
As for Strawell, she looked at least somewhat disheveled, her mane messy and her face a bit bruised. Of course, she looked to be handling herself better than him as she walked towards him like nothing was wrong.
All around them were Inquisitors, just watching the fight. So he had nowhere to go, but at least he was distracting them.
“Are you finished?” she asked sternly, pushing her mane back with a hoof.
“I still have a lot left in me,” he laughed as he stood up, looking just as ready as she was.
“You are surrounded,” she pointed out, “even if you beat me, you’re still getting arrested. There’s only one way this’ll end.”
He looked around, deciding it was time for his special move. “Okay, yeah, I’m surrounded. Pretty much screwed. But I ain’t worried.”
She raised an eyebrow at him as the group around them moved in slightly, getting much closer to the two.
“You wouldn’t believe me if I told you,” he laughed as he began to tense up, “I’ve been training for years for this moment, and it will not make any sense, but don’t let that distract you from the fact that in the year nineteen ninety eight, The Undertaker threw Mankind off Hell In A Cell, and plummeted sixteen feet through an announcer's table."
“What are you-” she began, but he suddenly appeared before her, wrapping both arms around her and suddenly launching straight into the sky. She couldn’t break free of his grip as they spun around and plummeted right back to the ground, much faster than they should be able to.
Right as they neared the ground, he readjusted her so that she hit the ground first, cushioning his blow. But that wasn’t all, as the impact of him slamming her into the ground sent out a massive shock wave of rubble and Ego, sending all of the Inquisitors around them flying.
Slowly he rose out of the crater, rubble and debris falling off of himself. Grunting, he climbed out of the hole and stood up, whistling at all the damage he’d just caused.
“Well! We didn’t have the announcers table, but I think I got the point across,” he chuckled, seeing that he’d incapacitated all the Inquisitors as well. “Wicked as fuck. I told John Cena that would be a viable move.”
He began to walk after his friends, but the sound of rubble shifted caused him to stop in his tracks. “Are you serious?!”
Spinning around he saw a rage filled Strawell standing at the lip of the crater, Anti-Ego flowing off of her body, and her armor blown to pieces.
“Okay,” she said in a calm voice, “that’s it. I’m bringing you in, Brony!”
“You’ve pissed her off, Lou,” a woman said from behind him, causing him to smirk.
“Would love to stay and fight some more, Chief Strawell, but frankly, you’re scary as hell!” he yelled as he dove backwards through the portal Bronwyn had opened right behind him, throwing finger guns at her as he did so.
Strawell watched him escape, not giving chase as she knew she’d never make it. Once the portal snapped shut she took a deep breath, calming herself down as her Anti-Ego faded away.
As everything began to quiet down, she could just barely hear some screaming coming from further in the city.
She cleared her throat and fixed her mane a bit as she readied herself, then she took off at a dead sprint, ready to get back into the fight.
ooo000<^>000ooo
Jun screamed and roared as he tried to get at Nova, but he wasn’t making much progress as just a head and torso. She couldn't seem to kill him, but keeping him this way was at least super easy.
“I’ma kill ya, eat ya, fuck ya up! Just let me get me legs back!” he roared, but she just rolled her eyes, removing more of him as she prepared to make a run for it.
“Just tell me when to book it,” Nightstreak said as he stood behind her, the mare on his back clearly wanting this to be over with.
“Almost ready,” she assured him, getting ready to remove his head so it’d take him longer to regenerate.
“Party of three, your booth is ready,” Louie called out as a portal opened right next to them.
Nova couldn’t help but laugh as she turned her head to the portal and the smiling dog man, “amazing work, Lou. Nightstreak, get Sprinkle through the portal now.”
He gave a nod and began to walk past her.
Now ready to go, she raised rapier, preparing to cut his head off, but something flew across the ground and latched onto her leg, causing her eyes to bulge.
“RUN!” she yelled, but it was too late as her body spun on the retreating Nightstreak and her blade flew forward.
The mare screamed loudly as her rapier pierced through her throat, causing everyone to react at once. Louie sprinted out, going for the Ego attached to Nova, and Nightstreak tried to move faster. But her floating rapier just followed him and sliced the poor mare in half, causing her to fall off of him, dead. The rapier then flew for Nightstreak, but that was when Louie cut the Ego attached to her and then grabbed her, springing into the portal as it snapped shut, leaving the dead mare and Jun behind.
Jun just roared in anger as Nightmare slowly strolled up, hands behind his back as he took on a more bipedal form
“Hm, good job, Jun, you let them get away,” he remarked as he stopped over the dead mare. “If I hadn't come along, this one would’ve gotten away. And you know what that’ll mean for us.”
“Shut up, asshole,” Jun growled as he reformed slowly.
It was at this moment Strawell ran into the area, coming to a halt as she took in the sight of all her unconscious Inquisitors, the two talking, and the dead mare.
“What happened here?!” she asked sternly, knowing who these two were, but still not happy with what she was seeing.
“I did your job,” Nightmare declared as he spun on his heels and began to walk away.
“Who killed the hostage?” she demanded, walking over and kneeling next to the corpse.
“I did,” Nightmare said as he stopped walking away, but not turning to face her. “That mare was a danger to everything, just as bad as a Brony. Probably worse. Why? Are you upset at this turn of events, Chief Strawell?”
Her left eye twitched as she looked at Jun as he reformed, his own eyes ablaze with fury. She took everything in and weighed her response carefully.
“We did our job, that’s all that matters,” she said in a cold tone.
“Good girl,” Nightmare chuckled, continuing on his way, whistling a strange tune.
Strawell stood up firmly, eyes locked on the corpse before her.
This isn’t what she’d signed up for. This wasn’t justice, nor was it right.
Watching the demonic form of Jun wither around as he regrew his limbs just added to her thoughts.
Doing an about-face, she turned and walked over to her men, deciding to focus on her job for now. She’d deal with everything as needed later.
ooo000<^>000ooo
Nova slammed her good hoof against the ground, angry tears streaking down her face.
“I killed her…” she spat out, causing everyone around her to move back awkwardly. All those expect Louie as he leaned down next to her, placing a hand on her shoulder.
“No, Nightmare killed her. He just used your sword to do it. YOU did nothing wrong, he snuck up on us,” he tried to assure her, but she just shook her head.
“I should’ve seen it coming… I DID see it coming, I just didn’t react fast enough.”
“We can’t all be perfect all the time,” he countered, squeezing her shoulder. “We need to move forward, Nova. We have a lot to do, and we need you there guiding us.”
She clenched her eyes shut as she gave a nod, knowing she couldn’t have a breakdown right now. So she pushed herself up, wiped her face and regarded everyone around her. “Thank you everyone. Can someone go retrieve Summer Breeze?” she asked as she wiggled her ruined leg.
Nightstreak gave a nod and took off to find his sister.
“Everyone else, proceed to the next part of the plan,” she commanded, causing everyone to salute her and take off to do their required task.
Then she looked at Louie, giving him a forced smile. “Thank you, Luke.”
“Ah don’t mention it, I’m always here for a friend,” he said as he gave her a thumbs up. “Now if you don’t mind, tell Summer to check me over as well.”
With that, he released his Ego and passed out due to the massive injuries he sustained during that fight.