//------------------------------// // Chapter 17: Tittering // Story: Avatar: Legend of Diamond Tiara. Book 4: Immortals // by Jeweled Pen //------------------------------// “So, what’s the plan?” Button asked as they galloped forward. “Burn as many of them as I can, Luna freezes what he can, you bury what you can and then we run for our lives,” Celestia said. Luna, however, didn’t say a word. It had only been a matter of time before this happened, but there were too many of them. The three of them couldn’t hope to hold them off as well as Tittering. No, even together he wasn’t sure they could fight Tittering. Even before she’d gained whatever powers being one of Silver’s generals had granted her she had been incredibly dangerous, he didn’t like his odds in fighting her. He didn’t know how many they’d be able to distract in the end, nor how much of a difference they could make. Hopefully whatever time they’d make would be enough to allow others to escape. That still left their escape. Once again, he supposed they would have to depend on Button’s aid. “Sooo, not that I dislike this plan,” Button said. “Buuuuuuut--” “There are some caves to the north,” Luna said. “If we head that way, perhaps we can disappear into them. But the chances of us making it there are quite slim. Even if we do make it to them, there’s no guarantee we can hide there. While they don’t have any earth benders as far as I am aware, they outnumber us severely and spirits like the changelings are quite durable. Even if we brought the caves down on them we couldn’t guarantee our escape.” “We’ll be fiiiiiine,” Button said, puffing out his chest a bit. “I’d never let you down, Luna.” Celestia gave a light snort and rolled her eyes. “Gotcha. So, as I said, blow them up and run for our lives.” “Indeed,” Luna said, his eyes narrowing on the approaching, buzzing swarm of pony and changelings. He could see Tittering near the front, being pulled on a chariot by a pair of changelings. “Sister, if you could draw their attention?” His horn glowed for a moment and he drew water from his canteen, forming a small ball of water overhead. “Ohhhhh, with pleasure!” Celestia said before forming a small, red orb of fire above her horn. She compressed it to about the size of a grape before sending it flying up into the air. It grazed Tittering’s chariot before erupting into a massive ball of fire. Alas, when the flame cleared the chariot it was only slightly singed and the unicorn inside it was hidden from view, only popping her head out a moment later. On the positive, the swarm HAD stopped for a moment. “Go!” Luna yelled, galloping north. He glanced up in time to see Tittering’s eyes fall on them and then see her start motioning to her soldiers. He could hear the buzzing of the changelings already getting louder. They made it only a few steps before a changeling landed directly in their path, blocking the way. Said changeling was then sent flying when the ground underhoof shot up, sending them flying through the air. Luna glanced up to see a small pack of changelings diving down at him and his sister. “Sister!” “On it,” Celestia said before doing a quick spin, forming a small tornado of flame and sending it spiraling up into the air, scattering the spirits. Luna glanced back towards the rest of them and frowned. While they’d stalled the assault and a large amount of changelings, as well as Tittering herself, had changed directions to follow them, the majority of the forces were still heading towards the main camp. He prayed to the stars that the little bit of time they’d bought would be enough for others to prepare to fight back. Either way, there was little he could do now aside from focusing on keeping himself safe. ------ Button didn’t like this at all. He was used to running for his life and almost dying, fine. It came with being one of the friends of the Avatar. A perk, some might call it. He wouldn’t, but some might. But he did NOT like the idea of being captured again. Worse, he didn’t want to be turned into a toy again. He loved Silver, really, he did. But that had been just awful and he didn’t want to be helpless and trapped a second time. Even if he did get captured with Luna it wouldn’t be fun at all. The buzzing was getting louder behind him. He dug his hooves into the ground with each step, sending rocks and dirt flying behind them scattershot, trying desperately to slow down their pursuers. If only they were on the ground, then at least he could see them through earth sensing. Well, he probably couldn’t as well, but he might be able to a little bit. He glanced back and let out a yelp, nearly tripping over a small root but managing to keep his balance. “Careful!” Celestia yelled back at him. “S-sorry!” Button yelled back. But it was odd. The changelings and Tittering were gaining on them, but not nearly enough. He’d seen how fast those changelings could fly. Only a hoofful of them were breaking off from the pack and racing towards them. Why? Were they scared? Were they-- Button’s eyes went wider and he reached out with his bending, struggling to sense the ground ahead of them. There it was. Enchanted water in the ground. Had they known that they’d flee towards the caves? Was this a trap? “Celestia, Luna!” “What now?” Celestia asked before turning and sending up a small blast of fire, barely pausing to right herself once more and continue galloping forward. “Enchanted water!” Button yelled. “Ahead of us, it’s a trap!” Luna came to a sudden stop, so quickly that Button slammed into him and nearly sent both of them toppling. The prince quickly steadied himself before turning around to face their pursuers. “I see. Then I suppose we have no choice. We must make our stand here.” “What?” Celestia asked. “You can’t be serious.” “If we go where Button can’t bend, we’ll stand an even smaller chance of success,” Luna said. “Because our chances are sooooo high now,” Celestia said before turning to face the swarm. “But fine. I guess this is it, huh? Its been fun.” “Don’t worry, dear sister,” Luna said before digging his hooves into the ground. “She likely won’t kill us. Just steal our magic and add it to her hoard.” “You never know,” Button said sheepishly before turning towards the swarm and bracing himself. “Maybe we’ll get a chance to talk to Silver. Get her to stop all of this?” Luna and Celestia just gave him a look that, for once, was incredibly similar. Overhead the swarm gathered, buzzing around like an angry hive of bees for a few moments before spreading out in a wide circle around them. They then dove down, surrounding the three ponies in a wide circle. They didn’t charge forward, though. “So, uhhh, what are they waiting for?” Button asked nervously. “Should we start attacking, or…?” “They’re just changelings,” Luna said softly. “I know,” Button said. “No, I mean they’re JUST changelings,” Luna said. “There’s no ponies amongst them. They’re not even transformed.” Suddenly the buzzing stopped as all of the changelings went still, their wings having ceased all movements. The three tensed up before the swarm began to part and General Tittering slowly walked towards the three. “I really must say this is quite the little surprise,” the general said. “I expected some fighting but I didn’t think you three would come running at me like that. Here I thought we’d have to use the ponies we captured as bait to get you, yet you all but turn yourself over to me. Hilarious,” she said, an amused grin on her face. “Come on, there’s got to be something else to this, right? What’s the punchline?” “Oh I’ve got your punchline right here,” Celestia said, glaring at her. “Why don’t you try fighting me without your spirits and we see how good you do?” “I mean, that’s kind of the plan, silly,” Tittering said with another light giggle, a hoof covering her mouth. “It’d hardly be worth bragging about if I didn’t take the three of you down myself, now would it? Where’d be the glory in that?” “Ah, I see,” Luna said, his eyes narrowing. “I never would have taken you for the glory hoarding type. Perhaps serving under Silver has changed you? Or were you just a good liar?” “Oh, I’m an incredibly good liar,” Tittering said with another light giggle, waving her hoof around. “You have nooooo idea. Now now, no need to get so uptight. After all, I’m not going to hurt you. Much. You’re just going to go into a nice little prison cell and have your magic drained by Discord. Isn’t that such a nice, delicate little punishment?” Button dug a hoof into the ground, his eyes narrowed. There was no way she intended to just fight them like this, did she? There were a lot of changelings here… But that meant Tittering was the only bender here. If they could disable her then escape would be possible. Without the enchanted water there wouldn’t be anything to stop him from dragging them all underground and escaping. “Come on, you all look so serious,” Tittering said, waving a hoof. “Just because your whole world is being torn apart and left in shambles, isn’t so bad. I mean, if anything you should be thanking me.” “THANKING YOU?!” Celestia asked, stomping a hoof down and making a small blast of fire spread out from her. “You betray us, you capture our ponies, you torture them, you--” “All under orders,” Tittering said. “If you have a problem with it, take it up with my boss. Well, if she was interested in listening to anypony,” the unicorn said with another giggle. “Just imagine, you could have had one of those really uptight, super boring serious ponies taking over. All ‘dehorn’ this and ‘poison’ that. I can’t tell you the number of ponies who’ve already tried to slip poison into my drinks or catch me unawares. The Water Nation seems to almost breed such nasty little thoughts, doesn’t it? But you two would know all about that, wouldn’t you?” “HEY!” Button said, taking a step forward. “That’s not true! Celestia and Luna are amazing ponies! What the Water Nation did in the past isn’t their fault! They--” “Yes, yes, Water Lord Rarity has been trying to undo some of it, now hasn’t she?” Tittering asked before giving another small wave of her hoof. “But that poison runs deep. Though, maybe I’m wrong. After all, Rarity was one of the last Elements of Harmony. Perhaps you two were intending to take up that mantle?” “The elements were destroyed,” Luna said bitterly. “We all know the tales.” “Yes, yes,” Tittering said dismissively. “But that was then, silly. Who knows? Maybe this new Avatar intends to try and bring them back. Do you think you two would be part of them? Because I’ll be honest, I have been thinking about it a whole lot.” Button glanced around at the changelings, the swarm unmoving. He wondered if they even really understood what they were talking about. “Now, I think it’s pretty clear to see who Diamond’s friends would be. Button would be laughter, I imagine Acrylic would be loyalty. At least, judging by what I heard. Now, you two? I’d say, ohhhh... Celestia, you could be generosity if half the rumors I’ve heard or true. Luna, I figure you’d be honesty. You could hardly be kindness, right? But I’m curious, do you know who the last one is? I’ve been betting on Prism, but is there somepony else I don’t know about?” “First of all,” Luna said, his voice slightly tense. Button imagined he wanted to deck the mare just as bad as his sister did, but he kept his voice and movements as calm as ever. “As I said, the Elements of Harmony were destroyed.” “So was Discord, but she’s here in a new body, isn’t she?” Tittering asked. “So long as the Avatar exists I don’t see why those can’t make another grand appearance. Wouldn’t that be hilarious?” “Second of all, I doubt any of us fit into those designations,” Luna said. “Except, perhaps, Button Mash. He is quite amusing.” “You think I’m funny?” Button asked, his cheeks getting a little hot and his heart pounding a little quicker, not just from tension this time. “Come on, humor me,” Tittering said with another light giggle. “Maybe I’ll go easy on you. Who’d be the sixth? Button, you know, right?” “I mean,” Button said softly. “If, ummm, I had to guess… I’d say… Celestia would be loyalty, Acrylic would be honesty, Luna would be generosity. He dates me, doesn’t he?” Tittering started laughing harder at the joke, tears in the corners of her eyes now. He didn’t think it was THAT funny. “But kindness, ummm… of Diamond’s friends? Uhhhhh… I guess Silver.” “Oh come on!” Celestia said, turning to glare at him. “Seriously? Even if the Elements of Harmony DID still exist, you can’t just give one to her. Here we are about to fight her general and you STILL think she’s nice?” “Would Acrylic truly be honesty?” Luna asked. “And it’s hardly me being generous when I enjoy our company together, Button.” “What?” Button said before shrugging. “I don’t know, that was just a guess. Maybe it’d be none of us. Diamond knows a lot of ponies now, but that’s just who I think. Besides, Silver was always really kind before. I’m sure once this is all over and we get Discord out of her, or whatevers messing with her, she’ll be just as kind as ever.” Luna gave a soft sigh and shook his head. “I truly wish I could host the same boundless optimism you do, Dear Button.” “Somepony has to,” Button said with a small smile, only to pause when he realized something was strange. There wasn’t any more giggling. He frowned and glanced toward Tittering. Tittering wasn’t even smiling anymore. In fact, she looked borderline furious, digging a hoof into the ground and gouging out a bit of dirt. “You think. That the Avatar of Discord. Is KINDNESS?!” Tittering asked, her voice almost boiling with rage. Button took a single step back before quickly nodding. “Y-yes? I mean, Silver was always really kind to--” “That’s not FUNNY!” Tittering said before her horn began to glow and water was drained from the plants near them, hovering overhead. “But FINE. I guess there’s no need for jokes anymore, is there? How about I show you some of the KINDNESS of Discord, if you want it so badly?” “Hey, way to go,” Celestia said. “I don’t think I’ve ever actually seen Tittering get mad before.” “W-what? What’d I say?” Button asked with a light squeak, taking a small step back. “Sorry, I--” “Wasn’t sarcasm,” Celestia said before a smirk formed on her lips. “I mean it, good job.” Tittering raised a hoof and the changelings took to the air, flying back from them. The orb of water overhead then turned a dark, purple color before three small tentacles of poisoned water lanced out towards them. “Don’t boil it!” Luna yelled before diving to the left. “Buck, I know!” Celestia yelled back at him, going towards the right. Button tapped his hooves, lifting a small wall of stone in front of himself before sinking into the ground. The wall crumbled from the assault a moment later, but he was already gone. Tittering barely moved, her eyes flickering between Celestia and Luna as one came from the left and the other the right. The three lances of water retracted back into the orb, swirling overhead before three tentacles of poisoned water shot out at Celestia. Celestia stopped and leaped backwards, sending out a burst of fire from her hooves to increase her momentum. The three tentacles sharpened their ends, flying at her and picking up speed. She slammed both her front hooves down, causing an explosion of rock and dirt to fly into the air and hide her from view for a moment. Luna swirled his own water into a small rope, flicking it out and striking at Tittering’s back legs. The general leaped up and back, swirling her horn in a tight circle and causing the orb to retract its tentacles a moment later, then forming into a thin, purple saber. It slashed out, cleaving through the rope, only to gather the water severed from Luna’s attack into its own. “Now now, prince,” Tittering said. “I’d expect you to do better than that. Hee hee, I’m not some--” Her words were cut off when she landed and suddenly the ground seemed to spread out under her. She let out a squeak before falling flat on her face, only to roll away quickly to avoid a sudden pillar of stone that tried to fall on her. “Heyyyy! That wasn’t very nice!” she objected before sliding back to her hooves. A moment later a smile formed on her lips. “It was pretty clever, though.” Button popped out of the ground a moment later besides Luna. “Thanks, I’ve been practicing.” “It shows,” Tittering said before pulling back to the left, narrowly avoiding a blast of fire from Celestia. The princess leaped at her, hooves aflame while she tried to land a blow on the general. Tittering flicked her horn down and the poisoned saber came down at her head. Celestia didn’t waver, instead spinning around and bucking out with both her back hooves. Tittering managed to duck under the kick, but fire erupted from them, sending the two flying away and causing the blade to only hit the ground before collapsing into a pool of poisoned water. Tittering skidded to a stop, only to dash back when a hail of ice spikes came flying at her. “Hey hey hey don’t you think you’re--” She glanced back and let out a yelp as the ground turned to spikes behind her. She yelped and leaped back, over the spikes. The spikes then shot up. Her horn glowed and she disappeared right as the spikes struck. A moment later she was over by her puddle of poisoned water, regathering it with her bending. “Wait, what?” Celestia asked. “Since when could you do that?” “Ehhhhh, a while now,” Tittering said before stretching her neck. “Ohhhh, I think you actually grazed me with that one, pretty good. I must be getting slow in my old age, hee hee.” She reached back and let out a hiss of pain before knocking a small jagged rock from her side. “Wayyyyy too slow. Ow.” Button couldn’t look away from the wound, though. There wasn’t any blood, instead there was just a strange, white mist over it that flowed over the wound and then closed it back up. Sealing the wound over. “Ummm, I’m not a unicorn so I wouldn’t know, but Luna? What was that?” “I’m not sure,” Luna said softly. “I’m not familiar with any spell like that. It’s not water bending healing. Chaos magic?” Tittering gave a light giggle before stretching out a bit and forming the orb of poisoned water overhead. “Mmmmm hm. I’m just full of surprises, aren’t I? I--” Her words were cut off by a sudden explosion from the camp. She whipped around and her eyes narrowed. “For buck’s sake I was having fun! Go make sure they don’t blow themselves or anypony else up. All of you, go! I’ve got these three handled.” There was a momentary pause before the changelings turned in the air, buzzing loudly before taking off towards the explosion. Button wasn’t sure, but he couldn’t help feeling something was off. The changelings had always tried to confuse and distract them, using their disguises to hide themselves and bewilder them. But they hadn’t done any shapeshifting this time. All they’d done was watch them in silence while Tittering fought them. Why was-- “Button!” Luna snapped before shoving him aside. He yelped and rolled, drawing up a small wall of stone in time to block the narrow spikes of poisoned water. He looked over to see Luna narrowly weaving around, the poisoned shards raining down on him. All it would take was a single one and who knew what they’d do to him? Button rolled to his feet and saw Celestia trying to get a blow on Tittering or draw the general’s attention away from her brother, but the water bender seemed focused mostly on the prince, dashing around and weaving around the princess’ assaults. Well, at least he could make that a bit harder for her. He jammed both his hooves in the ground, forcing all of his anger and frustration at the mare out. The dirt in front of him turned to magma, before spreading out across the ground towards Tittering. The unicorn let out a yelp when suddenly she was surrounded by it and unable to take a step back. She ducked under Celestia’s hooves, only for the princess to spin around and manage to land a quick double hoofed buck to the chest, launching her into the air and making her poisoned water splatter to the ground. Button slammed both his front hooves down and caused a pillar of dirt to rise up behind the flying Tittering. She slammed into it with a pained grunt, before the dirt wrapped around her and then collapsed, slamming her into the ground. For a moment there was silence, the three staring at the collapsed general, her eyes closed and partially buried under the rock. The white mist was slowly oozing out from the binding, though. “Is she healing again?” Button asked. “Is she unconscious?” “If she’s healing she’s not fighting,” Celestia said before turning and galloping away. “The changelings are gone! Let’s go!” Luna stared at the general, his eyes narrowed. He gathered the little water he had left into a blade of ice, only to launch it at her head. “Luna!” Button yelled. The blade landed an inch past the collapsed unicorn’s head, lodging in the stone. Luna turned and galloped after his sister, Button trailing behind him. Button kept glancing back, but he didn’t see any sign of pursuers. Still, they didn’t stop galloping until they couldn’t gallop anymore, steam rising off their bodies as their pace turned to a slow, exhausted trot. But they’d done it. They’d made it out of there. He couldn’t believe it, they’d escaped. “We… we did it,” Button said softly. “We beat her. I can’t believe it. We--” “We didn’t beat her,” Luna said. “We didn’t need to kill her to beat her,” Celestia said. “We knocked her--” “She wasn’t unconscious,” Luna said. “She was faking it.” “W-what?” Button asked. “Why would she fake it?” “I don’t… know,” Luna said softly, occasionally glancing back. As calm as his expression was, there were those small signs of worry that Button was getting ever better at picking up. “Something about this seems off. Whatever Discord’s power has done to her, its given her new abilities she certainly didn’t have before. That weird healing. Teleportation is a powerful magic that very few water benders can do. Few unicorns can do it. On top of that, she made sure we were the only ones fighting her. She dispersed the non-changelings first, then dispersed them the moment the opportunity presented itself. More than that, though… her poison bending.” “What about it?” Celestia asked. “Our aunt ensured that I was well versed in it, even if I dislike the art itself,” Luna said. “That was certainly poison bending. But it was incredibly weak. Distilled. It looked deadly, but it was nowhere near as powerful as it could have been. There was more water there than anything else.” “So, what, you’re saying she let us go?” Celestia asked. “Set us up to win?” “Possibly,” Luna said. “Either Tittering has something else in mind for us or…” “Discord’s Generals aren’t as loyal as we all thought,” Celestia said, finishing the thought with a sigh. “How are we going to test this theory?” “I couldn’t say at this point,” Luna said. “We won’t know until we know how many other members of the resistance escaped. Even then, it’s possible that Tittering is planning something else. A general of Discord’s is not to be underestimated.” “If any others escaped,” Button said softly, occasionally glancing back. He didn’t like it, though. His earlier unease was back with a vengeance. Something felt so very, very wrong. As much as he would love for it to turn out Tittering wasn’t entirely a bad pony, he couldn’t help feeling like they were all missing something. “Do you think there’s anything to what she said? About the Elements of Harmony returning?” “Doubtful, but possible,” Luna said softly. “Until the Avatar returns from her journey, however, there isn’t much we could do pertaining to that.” “Oh great,” Celestia said with a groan. “So, what, you think Tittering is hoping the Avatar will come back and fix all of this? That we’re supposed to be the new elements?” Luna merely gave a shrug. “For now, I could not say either way. All I know is, like it or not… Tittering let us go.” “I still think we just kicked her butt,” Celestia said confidently. “Nice moves, Button. You’ve gotten a lot better.” Button’s cheeks turned redder. “Well, I uhhh, you know. I’ve been practicing.” “Admit it, you just wanted to show off for your coooooolt friiiiiiiiend,” Celestia said in a teasing tone. Button’s cheeks turned dark red and he stumbled a little, his gaze lowering. “M-maybe a little.” Luna glanced back towards him and gave the smallest hint of a smile. “Well, I for one was quite impressed by your talents, Button. Ignore my sister, she is merely jealous that she wasn’t as impressive.” “Hey!” Celestia snapped. “I was INCREDIBLE!” “Of course you were,” Luna said calmly. “But you are always incredible. At this point it is to be expected and hardly as impressive.” Button blinked a few times before he snickered and walked a little faster so he could walk besides Luna, leaning against him. “Well, I hope I keep managing to go beyond your expectations, then. I’d hate to not impress you.” “Oh Dear Button,” Luna said with a soft, whispy sigh. “I doubt you could ever leave me less than impressed.” “Gaaaaaaag,” Celestia said, sticking her tongue out and rolling her eyes.