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// 18 - A Duel Of Storm And Shadow pt 1 
// Story: Legends Of Ponyville 
// by mechafone 
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Orea frowned as she huddled closer against Sohl's form. Something felt very wrong. She could see Spark Storm running after them, but she couldn't feel him there. It was like she was just looking at a moving image of him. Sohl began to feel the very same thing, and it made her angry, causing her to dig her talons into the tall nymph on whose back she rode.

"What do you think you're doing?! That hurts!" Ampelus hissed, slowing down so she could turn to glare at the harpy eagle without tripping. Orea was about to explain when Sohl quickly and without warning launched herself into the air, eliciting gasps of shock and admiration from the townsponies that were nearby. While Sohl was still in eagle form, her wingspan was still far bigger than anything most of them had ever seen. "What is she doing?!" Ampelus hissed, now coming to a complete stop as she glared at Orea on her back.

Her niece, however, was now exposed and no longer hidden by the large bird. And Ampelus, as tall as she was, had been hidden fairly well when running with the others, and hadn't drawn much attention. But now that the two of them were alone in the streets of Ponyville, they both stood out. Ampelus' form was hidden by the drapes, but her appearance was questionable.

Orea, while small and visually insignificant, couldn't actually pass for a pony if one were to look closely enough at her. Like her aunt did, she grew natural vines and bright vivid flowers on her body, and her wings stood out, as well. Ponies began to gather around the two of them, natural curiosity getting the better of them. "...We need to go back. I think something's wrong with Spark Storm..." Orea whispered, apprehension and fear starting to bubble up within her.

"Nevermind that, little one, we need to get away from these ponies. Their stupidity may erupt into violence." Ampelus retorted under her breath. She began to move forward, her head held high as she looked down her muzzle at the ponies she would normally call food. Some of them began to follow, whispering while keeping their distance. Ampelus began to feel angry, the vines hidden under her "cloak" writhing with anticipation.



Amacia hummed a little tune to herself. Her spirits had been especially lifted in the last twenty minutes, when she'd first sighted the beautiful sight of the pony town and the castle. She'd just broken the tree-line when she saw a group of ponies headed straight for her. She squawked in surprise as she dove back into the trees to hide. She watched as several ponies of varying colors passed her, a big happy smile on her face. So much life here, so much excitement!

Her happy smile soon turned to a look of apprehension as she turned her head to look towards the town once more. A flying shape emerged from the town, and while she somehow knew that that shape belonged to Sohl, something in her most primal instincts told her to run, because hiding wouldn't cut it. Not when you were being hunted by one of the best trackers in a harpy tribe, and Sohl, while still nearly a mile away, was giving off some very homicidal vibes.

There was no time to appreciate the scenery as Amacia took off at a run, her rough feet and talons digging into the ground and giving her extra speed. While she wasn't tough or a fighter, her strong legs and short talons gave her considerable speed. A born runner, and a rare talent for a harpy. This is so backwards! she thought as she bobbed and weaved through the trees back in the direction she'd come. I'm supposed to find her, why am I running from her? A backwards glance at the enormous bird, gaining ground on her, reminded her. Oh. I think it's because she looks like she wants to kill me.

Amacia ran until her lungs felt like they might give out. It wasn't far, she didn't run that much and was a little out of shape. She dove for cover into some bushes, and laid there, hoping beyond hope that Sohl wouldn't find her. As she laid there under cover, she began to wonder just what she was supposed to say to her if she'd found Sohl first. Would it have to come to this? Would she have been able to convince her that she was needed back back home?

Amacia's thoughts were interrupted when a large claw wide enough to wrap around her whole body pulled her up from the bushed. The chicken harpy let out a terrified squawk and struggled against the enormous talon until she felt herself lifted once again and pressed against a tree. Held about three feet off the ground, she stared as the harpy Sohl stared at her, eye to eye. Amacia's fears were confirmed: Sohl looked pissed.

Sohl stared angrily into the frightened younger harpy's eyes as she leaned in, pressing both clawed hands against tree on either side of the tiny harpy's shoulders, her nails digging into the tree. Finally, she spoke, her voice barely hiding her anger. "Just what the hell are you doing here? You've better have a damn good reason for coming all this way, little chicken."

Amacia stared into what could very well have been her death if she didn't place her next words very carefully. "M-miss Sohl, I-I came here to t-tell you-" she paused to swallow, her breath shuddering in her chest. "U-uh...There's need of you back home. W-we're at war..."

Sohl stared at Amacia with rage in her eyes. She had grown accustomed to living in Equestria-no, with Spark Storm and with Orea. It didn't matter where she was, as long as those two were with her. She loved Orea, she loved being with her, she loved having her in her head. Even more than that, she loved Spark Storm. She loved teasing him, she loved fighting with him, she loved knowing all his secrets, and she loved being a source of comfort to him.

This of course was where Amacia came in, to tear all of this away from her. Sohl knew that returning home meant discarding that warm coat of love and affection and forgetting all of it, because if she went home wearing the scent of weakness, as harpies called it, she would be torn to pieces by her peers. To go meant to harden her heart; to stay would be ditching her duties and calling vengeance down on Equestria, tearing it apart until her sisters found her.

With a shriek of rage, Sohl turned and swung Amacia through the air and threw her, sending the much smaller harpy flailing gracelessly until she bounced off the ground and came to a skidding halt as she clawed desperately at the ground to slow her momentum. Finally free of the much bigger harpy, Amacia clawed her way up into the nearest tree, trembling with both fear and relief, relief that she'd gotten out of that situation with her life. At least, for now.

Amacia watched as Sohl began pacing back and forth along the forest floor, her breath coming out in sharp, agitated huffs. Sohl finally turned around and faced Amacia's tree, let out an enraged scream and swiped at the tree's trunk horizontally with a foot. Her long talons made quick work of the thick trunk, and with the one swipe the cut area separated into four different sections. The tree, now unable to support itself, toppled down erratically, with poor Amacia still in it.

Sohl continued to pace back and forth, angry growls issuing from her, her feathers bristling straight out against her arms. Amacia, sticking her head out from the branches of the fallen tree, had never seen such an angry harpy, especially one as dangerous as Sohl. If she had any sense about her, she'd had made a run for it, or a fly for it, but she doubted she'd have gotten far. The taller harpy had a terrible sense of bloodlust about her, and Amacia wasn't about to give her a reason to unleash it on her, so she sat and she waited.

Finally, Sohl noticed the smaller harpy there in the tree, then stomped over, a low, raspy growl escaping her throat as she reached down, grabbed the tree's branches and with a very unlady-like grunt, began to lift the tree from the ground until Amacia fell from it's branches. Sohl grunted once more and tossed the tree on it's side with a loud crash. Amacia backed away from the taller harpy in panic until Sohl reached down and grasped her shoulder to still her. She knelt down in front of Amacia, her eyes narrowed, but now with an unnerving patience.

"How long do I have?"

The sudden question caught Amacia off-guard. She swallowed hard and fiddled with her hands as she quickly calculated in her head. "Uh...w-well, counting how long it took to get me here, and how long it'd take someone of your speed to return...about a week?"

Sohl frowned, her piercing gaze seeming to look past Amacia now. So I've got a week left...to say goodbye. She grit her teeth, barely suppressing a quiet, strained sob. She lowered her head, obscuring her face from view as tears of despair filled her eyes.

Amacia stared in wonder at one of the toughest harpies she'd ever heard of showing tender emotion. Just how much had she been affected by living here among ponies? How much had she changed?...How was she going to go back, face her sisters, and not be ripped to shreds? Amacia began to understand now why Sohl was so angry.

Amacia smiled and put a sympathetic hand on Sohl's shoulder. She was beginning to see that Sohl wasn't so bad. The look that Sohl gave her immediately made her regret thinking that Sohl's crying was an invitation to touch her. The smaller harpy gasped and began to move away from the murderous glare Sohl gave her, but the punishment for looking upon a harpy during her moment of weakness never came. Instead, all of the anger seemed to drain away from the bigger female. Instead, a look of faraway sadness lingered in her eyes for a moment before she finally stood, and took off into the air without another word.

As the eagle harpy flew off in the direction the ponies from before went, Amacia blinked with confusion as she sat on the ground. "...So, do I just wait here, then?" she said to no one in particular.



Spark Storm narrowed his eyes at the unicorn standing before him. He just didn't understand it - when the unicorn had asked if he could join the fighters, Spark's words had been clear: "Of course you can. You're in a bad place, standing beside that alicorn. She's lying, she's using you!" And then the young colt acted as if Spark had insulted him and returned to Shimmering Oasis. He could only guess what more lies and half-truths she fed him then, but he looked ready to murder.

Shadow Heart had no words to add before his horn lit up and removed the travelling cloak he wore, fully exposing his dark orange and yellow body. Shadow Heart took a few steps closer to Spark, his horn growing in intensity of darkness as it enveloped his horn. The unicorn hadn't used this power since he'd had to kill that gang, but that feeling still felt fresh. He knew Spark's powers. He knew what they could do, and what kind of damage it could cause. After a moment of concentrating, he finally held that feeling of new, unfamiliar power growing in his horn.

Spark watched in horrified fascination as Shadow Heart's horn began spouting familiar blue, illuminated threads of light. When Shadow Heart opened his eyes to stare Spark Storm in the eyes, the pegasus had only a split second to dodge out of the lines of electricity that shot at him and bowled over the market cart directly behind Spark, spilling it's contents of celery all over the ground.

Spark didn't have time to think about the implications of what Shadow Heart's attacks meant. Another volley of lightning shot at him, but Spark had stopped in a bad spot, directly in front of a pair of sleeping ponies. He couldn't just dodge this time. His wings fanned out and ignited, which caught the wayward stream of electricity. Instead of redirecting it, though, Spark Storm took it like he had no control of lightning. He let out a pained cry and fell to the ground, convulsing and trembling for a moment.

That's what I wanted to see, Shimmering Oasis thought with a smile that bordered on pure bliss. The boy's magic can do more than mirror the powers of another, he actually takes their power and uses it against them. The mighty Spark Storm will fall under the crumbling ruins of his own tempest.

As Shimmering Oasis had been expecting, Spark got back to his hooves, a fierce, determined look in his eyes. He had no time to make a plan of attack; if he waited too long, the unicorn would attack, and Spark didn't have time to make sure that others wouldn't be hurt. The only way to finish this was to take the attack to him.

Shadow Heart was charging up his horn for another attack when Spark Storm rushed towards him. The unicorn scoffed and shot off a bolt of lightning at the pegasus, who simply dodged it. As Spark had been expecting, the unicorn was aiming lower, and his shots simply damaged the ground instead of blasting into the sleeping crowd. He shot again, and once more Spark Storm danced out of the way.

Shadow Heart began to back up as the pegasus grew closer and closer. He'd never seen such an angry pony before, not one with their eyes looking upon him with as much ferocity as the pegasus was. He quickly charged his horn once more and shot off another blast, but this attack was rushed and clumsy, assuring Spark Storm an easy dodge.

Spark ducked and slid under the bolt, and as he came close to Shadow Heart on the ground, he pushed out of the slide and brought his hoof up along the unicorn's chin, decking him with enough force to send him off his hooves and down to the ground where he slid several hoof-lengths, and finally came to a stop on the ground on his back.

Shimmering Oasis merely smiled down at Spark Storm as he ignited his wings once more, preparing to battle the alicorn. She shook her head silently then tilted her head to Shadow Heart, who had begun to stir and got back on his hooves, lightly rubbing his jaw where he'd been hit. He cast Spark Storm an angry look before his horn sparked to life once more. Spark scowled and turned to face the younger pony.

Spark struck first this time. His wings ignited with live energy, thicker threads than before. He shot them at Shadow Heart, who ducked his head and closed his eyes. Instead of being struck down, the dark aura around Shadow Heart's body absorbed the energy, in essence, "eating" Spark's attack. This prompted a look of surprise from both Spark and Shadow, neither having expected the unicorn's powers to be so strong.

Spark Storm took to the initiative once again. If he could prove himself too fast to be hit, then he'd be able to subdue the younger unicorn without hurting him too much. Shadow Heart wasn't about to be taken down so easily, though, and prepared himself. This time his horn lit up with electricity much faster, and aimed a blow at Spark's hooves.

As Shadow Heart had predicted, Spark had little time to react, and leapt to avoid the attack. Using the power he'd kept in reserve from the initial strike, Shadow Heart struck again at Spark Storm in mid-air. Spark had seen this coming, and, taking a chance, released his own electrical energy, hoping that taking the initiative in the strike might have a different result from the first time.

It did. Both energies met each other halfway. Upon contact, the two opposing forces came to a standstill, each pushing against the other. The air began to crackle around the two bolts of lightning as they arched up and down in place, heating the surrounding area with escalating pressure. As Spark Storm and Shadow Heart glared at each other, both pushing harder with their respective powers to dominate the other, Shimmering Oasis began to frown for the first time since the fight began. Something was different; Spark Storm was changing right at this very moment.

Shadow Heart could see this as well. The bolts coming from Spark Storm's were now different from the ones he used. Whereas the thick threads of light that Shadow Heart had been using were of a solid, consistent hue, Spark Storm's had begun to pulse, as if new energy not seen before had begun to awaken. They were stronger, as well. Shadow Heart began to have trouble pushing back against the pegasus, and soon enough he had to dodge out of the way as Spark's lightning won the fight.

The bolts didn't come down on the unicorn, however. Instead, they began to rise into the air, as if striking an unseen wall. As Spark's eyes had been closed in concentration, he didn't see the twin bolts of lightning begin to curl up into two balls, as if filling an invisible, round container. Finally, Spark had given all he could. He cut off the attack and his wings fell to his sides, sore and burning from the effort he'd put into the struggle.

Spark opened his eyes to see Shadow Heart and Shimmering Oasis both staring not at him, but up in the air. Bewildered, he followed their gaze, and became as confused as his foes. In the air, pushing and whirling in place, were the two bolts. They had formed a pair of electric circles, pulsing and wriggling angrily in place like a pair of translucent hives filled with angry, electric bees.

Shimmering Oasis for once looked down at Shadow Heart in anger. "This is taking too long. Finish this quickly!"

Shadow Heart, taken aback by the angry tone in Shimmering's voice, turned to attack Spark Storm once more, who was still staring in awe at this new seeming manifestation of his powers. Shadow Heart gave no warning as he took this opportunity to throw a well-aimed, if weak bolt at Spark Storm to get his attention. The pegasus didn't even see it coming. The bolt him Spark Storm in the chest. Spark doubled over with a sharp yell of pain, his wings drooping as he temporarily lost motor control.

As Spark fell to the ground from the blow, the two balls of electricity quickly lost elevation. Shadow Heart hadn't been counting on this, as he was still standing directly under them. Shimmering Oasis watched with mild amusement as he realized this and ducked to the ground, splaying himself out with his hooves over his eyes.

When the balls of fiercely churning electricity didn't fall on him, Shadow Heart looked up and gasped as he saw the twin spheres just over his head. Now that they were up close, he could see that both of them were about the size of his body. He doubted very much that he would come out of getting hit with either of them unscathed. Come to think of it, why were they just hovering there?

After crawling away from the pair of large electrical spheres, Shadow Heart's eyes widened as he saw Spark Storm once again on his hooves, wings outstretched towards the heavens. It wasn't often that Shadow Heart saw a pegasus with his wings full out, but he was certain that pegasi wings didn't usually come that big. They were at least twice Spark's body length, and they were in the process of folding down, then out, then in again. Shadow Heart frowned as he noticed the electrical balls following the basic movement of his wings, Spark's eyes wide open as he watched the balls of energy following his movements.

"You hit him with a warning shot!" came the alicorn's voice from behind Shadow Heart. "If you don't finish him now, you will have failed me, Shadow Heart..." The unicorn didn't hear the threat in her voice so much as felt it on his back as she glared at him. Shadow Heart's horn lit up once more, no longer intending to hit Spark Storm with just a warning shot. Why had he hit the pegasus so lightly? He felt as if his resolve were wavering, and he didn't know why. Well, no more playing around. He struck again with all his might, and for all his effort the strike was blocked as one of the balls moved into the path of the attack and completely absorbed it.

Spark Storm went from staring to the twin balls to throwing Shadow Heart and Shimmering Oasis a small smile. His wings twitched, his shoulders rolled. The twin balls maneuvered themselves to hover on either side of him, both humming loudly as the energies stuck inside the invisible walls of their containers whirled with anxious movements.

Shadow Heart stared at the pegasus before him. Never before had he seen powers like these. For the first time in years, he found himself a little intimidated. Not even Shimmering Oasis' psychic powers were this fearful, at least not to him, not in this moment. The unicorn felt himself take a step backwards. This was not unnoticed by the alicorn princess. She frowned, and slowly stood as she and Spark Storm exchanged looks. She might have to step in for this one.



Sorry for the shortness of this chapter. I've had a lot of ideas for the next few scenes, and we're getting closer and closer to the end of this arc. No worries, though, I'm not going to close this out with a gap of six or seven years between now and the canon time-line. Legends Of Ponyville will continue in chapters, this being chapter one. Stay tuned for more action and soon a very big closing event!