Golam laughed quietly to himself as a surge of confusion played out in front of him. Halius just stood and smiled. Ra'zaan was less amused about the situation.
"Girls! This is no time for panic. The spell is done. There's nothing we can do about it right now." He said, sounding a little more annoyed than he had intended.
The six ponies all stopped and looked at him with worried faces. "What are we going to do then? If what you said earlier is true, then we just lost almost all of Ponyville!" Twilight yelled.
"They're not lost. They are just under Golam's control." Ra'zaan hadn't turned to the ponies at all. His eyes were fixed on Golam. "This is the man you want if you want your town back, girls. Calm down. Now. Your panic will only serve to hinder us."
"He's right you know. You won't get anywhere the way your acting now, little ponies. Halius, keep them busy. You know what to do. I'm going to check on the others." Golam smiled and walked away.
"Where do you think YOU'RE going?!" Rainbow screamed as she started off towards Golam. Applejack grabbed onto her tail.
"Thank you, Applejack. Calm down, Rainbow. We'll have our shot at him. Until then, Golam has left us a little challenge for us to deal with." Ra'zaan turned to the High Elf. "Before we begin, my name is Ra'zaan. Your's?"
"Not that it will matter soon, but the name's Halius. Now, I'm going to even this fight up a bit." Halius said confidently as he motioned for somepony to come out of hiding. Out from around a corner came a very familiar, well built red stallion. He galloped to Halius's side.
"B-Big Mac'? What're ya doin' with him?!" Applejack looked at her brother with a mixture of confusion and anger, releasing Rainbow from her grasp. Ra'zaan tried to explain.
"He won't answer you, AJ. He's under their spell now." He said.
Applejack shrank down a bit, but her eyes still seethed with rage. Halius, meanwhile, was forming a spell in his hands. His hands glowed purple for a moment, then suddenly two ghostly human spirits* appeared at the left and right of Big Macintosh, who'd positioned himself in front of Halius.
"Aren't my creations wonderful?" The High Elf asked, pointing at the two spirits. They had on light armor, swords and shields, but it was impossible to figure out what the equipment was made of. "Only one more thing I need now." Halius thought aloud. In one hand, a bound sword** appeared. In the other, his hand glowed with the power of frost.
Ra'zaan had seen enough. "Three of you guards come with me. Captain, you stay with the girls, alright?"
The captain simply nodded, but Rainbow and Applejack had other ideas.
"We can't just sit back and let you handle it! Where's the fun in that?!" Rainbow growled.
"Yeah, we're gettin' in on this here fight too ya know!" Applejack added.
Ra'zaan grinned. "I know, but I need you six and the captain to go farther into town and find out what were going to be up against, alright?"
Both ponies sighed, but they knew Ra'zaan wasn't going to take a no for an answer. Instead, the captain and the six ponies ran off towards the center of town. Halius made a move to stop them, but Ra'zaan and the three guards that stayed with him blocked his path.
"Oh, no. You'll deal with us first." He turned quickly and shouted to Twilight and friends. "Keep moving! I'll catch up!" "So much for trying not to bloody my blade." He thought to himself as he turned back to face a very annoyed Halius.
"Don't underestimate me, cat! The three of you! Get them!" The High Elf snapped as he motioned for his three 'minions' to move in for an attack.
Big Mac', the two spirits, and the three guards, who consisted of two pegasi and a unicorn, clashed into battle. That left Ra'zaan and Halius alone.
"Looks like it's our turn now, Halius." Ra'zaan gave a malicious grin as he charged straight at the mage.
Steel grinded against shade as Ra'zaan's katana collided with Halius's bound sword. Neither side budged for a moment. Then Halius shot his frost spell under their clashed swords. Ra'zaan jumped back in shock, frost crusting his abdomen. The warrior shook it off, and quickly moved out of the way as the unicorn guard was sent flying through the air by a strong buck from Big Mac'. Ra'zaan again charged at Halius, who was by this point already anticipating this action. Halius froze the ground under the Khajiit, who slipped and landed flat on his back.
"Argh! Damn you!" Ra'zaan snapped as he stood back up.
"What's wrong, Ra'zaan? I thought you were a better fighter than this. It's somewhat disappointing!" Halius mocked.
It was Ra'zaan's turn to be annoyed now. He roared angrily and lit his free hand with his fire spell. Unlike Halius's frost spell, which hit's the enemy directly for damage, Ra'zaan's could be sprayed on the ground in a wall form...or, as he used it, to make his melee attacks particularly painful. Ra'zaan cast the spell across the blade of his katana, igniting it brightly with a crimson glow.
"You're not the only one that knows magic, mage!" Ra'zaan growled furiously. His anger had begun to get the better of him.
Halius stared at the Khajiit's blade for a second. He'd seen weapons enchanted with fire before, but he'd never seen one actually visibly flaming like Ra'zaan's.
"Clever use of a Fire Wall Spell***, but don't think you've got the edge just yet, cat."
Ra'zaan yet again charged at Halius, this time dodging the frosty ground. Their blades collided once again, but this time Ra'zaan started slashing his katana against the blade of Halius's bound sword again and again, furiously pushing the older mage backwards with a barrage of strikes. From the left, right, and every other direction, randomly Ra'zaan smashed at Halius's sword. Halius couldn't keep up against him, and his focus on keeping the sword solidified started to waver. In one swift slice, Ra'zaan's blazing katana crashed through the magic blade, slicing Halius's shoulder wide. Halius jumped back, wailing in pain, but a healing spell wasn't required. The fire from the blade had done quite a nice job cauterizing the wound.
"You...'cough'...how did you manage to keep that up...? A normal man would have...'cough'...exhausted himself fighting like that!" Halius said, gasping for breath.
"You know nothing of me! My kind does not show their emotions like most other species, but I've learned to tap into my more useful emotions in times of need." Ra'zaan snarled. "You told me not to underestimate you, but it seems you are the one who was underestimating." The Khajiit's normally stone cold eyes shone brightly with a fiery wrath.
"Not...'cough'...necessarily!" Halius retorted and smiled, pointing to the warrior's feet.
Ra'zaan looked down and saw a blue-hued circle with a pattern drawn inside. Ra'zaan knew instantly it was a rune^, but had no time to react. The volatile enchantment exploded in a frosty hail of ice shards, launching Ra'zaan into the air and down onto his back.
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The seven ponies walked quickly through the streets of Ponyville. The whole town seemed deserted. The usually busy streets were empty; no stalls were being tended to, and no noises came from the surrounding houses. The captain, a very muscular, blue-coated, stallion earth pony, was the first to speak.
"I can't say I've ever been to your town here before, but I'm guessing it's not normally this quiet this time of day..."
Pinkie, who was depressed to see her normally happy town so empty, screamed as loud as she could. "Where IS everypony!?!"
"Pinkie, settle down! If they are under mind-control, screaming will just attract unwanted attention." Twilight said quietly. "We don't want everyone knowing where we are then, do we?"
"She's right. We'd best keep moving, everypony." The captain announced. he was being uncharacteristically informal, trying to help the ponies keep clear heads.
They continued walking down the main street, moving ever closer to the center of town. The captain had moved in to lead the group. Little noises became audible as the continued, coming from all around the group, and putting the them on edge.
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Kynan sat looking out of a window of a blue and white house above the group of seven, watching them intently. His face contorted into a grin as they neared the spot where he'd prepared his ambush.
"If my 'team' can take out the stallion in front, the others shouldn't be a challenge at all." He laughed to himself ."That's right, little ponies... just a little bit further..."
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The seven ponies continued down their route, completely oblivious to the danger ahead of them. The noises had grown more frequent, but nothing had come of them yet. Suddenly, two medium-sized, gray-coated stallions busted through a nearby house's door and slammed the captain into a nearby tree. A loud 'crack' echoed from the blow his left foreleg recieved as it hit the tree, and the captain let out a blood-curdling scream.
"Captain!" The six mares cried.
Before they had time to get to him, they found themselves surrounded by almost three dozen other mares and stallions, some carrying knives and others with random blunt objects.
"Move out of our way!" Rainbow said, body-slamming one mare in front of her, who's forced flight in turn knocked down two others. The rest of the seemingly mindless group ran at the six mares, slashing and bashing as they ran. Twilight used her magic to form a rubber-like wall that repelled the attackers. The brain-washed ponies immediately got back up and began running back at them. Applejack bucked the first mare that reached her in the chin, launching her straight into the air and down onto two stallions that had been behind her. Pinkie was bouncing from one mare's head to another. She looked like she was having fun rather than fighting, but the mares didn't see it that way as one by one they had hooves bounce on and off of their faces. Even Rarity got into the battle, throwing random objects at them with her magic. The only one of the group that stayed back out of the fight was Fluttershy; she was cowering in the center of the battle.
"Fluttershy, what are you doing?! Help us!" Rainbow yelled, knocking back another stallion.
A light 'squeak' was all Fluttershy could muster.
"Come on, sugarcube! We need yer help here too!" Applejack said, dodging a knife quickly.
Another 'squeak' escaped her as she hid behind her forelegs.
"Don't worry about her right now! Just focus on keeping yourself safe and getting through this!" Twilight commanded. They had much more to worry about right now.
Rainbow ducked and dodged as she knocked stallions and mares back, but they just kept getting up.The six elements of harmony were tiring. The fight had already taken close to twenty minutes. They were fighting well, but there were just too many. A rather large blue stallion suddenly hit Rarity with a devastatingly strong buck, sending her flying through the air and into a nearby house's wall.
"Rarity!" The other five yelled in horror.
A canary yellow blur flew past everyone and slammed at full speed into the blue stallion, who flew through a house's wall. Seconds later, the yellow pegasus pony stood above Rarity.
"Rarity! Oh my gosh, are you alright?" Fluttershy asked the very disoriented white pony. Rarity had a light trickle of blood flowing from a gash on her head.
"I-I'm fine darling." She stammered, visibly shaken. "W-was that you who j-just knocked that nasty stallion through a wall?"
Fluttershy blushed. "U-um, when he h-hit you, I j-just kinda lost it when you g-got hurt... I... I'm s-sorry..."
"Fluttershy, that was awesome! Were did that come from?!" Rainbow interrupted, still fighting against three stallions.
"Nice job Fluttershy! You taught that meany-pants stallion a lesson!" Pinkie announced with joy, landing on yet another mare's snout.
Fluttershy's new attitude and willingness to join the battle gave the six ponies a renewed burst of strength, and they all began pelting the mind-controlled mares and stallions with everything they had. In less than five more minutes, all the six the ponies had left in front of them were almost three dozen unconsious ponies, and the two stallions that had knocked the captain into a tree... Or rather, they would have those two left if the captain hadn't beaten them nearly to death after they put him in a pain-powered rage. His left foreleg was bloody and twisted, but he wore a disturbingly happy smile.
"So, anyone else hungry, or is it just me?" He smiled wickedly, his nostrils still flaring from his rage.
The six elements stared at him for a moment before shugging off his less-than-sane comment. They were all pretty tired, both physically AND mentally. As everyone caught their breath, they heard a noise come from behind them.
Kynan was clapping slowly, now standing in front of the blue and white house he'd been in. "Well, looks like I underestimated you little ponies." The Breton said, smiling. "You dealt with those worthless excuses for fighters pretty well, but now you have me to deal with! Get ready, 'cause here I come!"
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Halius was fighting to keep calm. His breathing was irregular and his shoulder pulsed uncontrollably with pain.
"Damned Khajiit, he almost had me there for a second. I've got to keep calm..."
Ra'zaan was... in pain. A lot of pain. He was staring straight in the air, and he felt like he never wanted to move again. He couldn't look down to see what was causing the immense pain, but he didn't have to. He knew from what he'd been hit with that the pain was most likely caused by large ice shards. Feeling started coming back to the Khajiit, and he looked up. sure enough, he had two icy spikes in his chest, with one being to the right of his heart and one below it. Another one was in his left shoulder, and one was in his right thigh. "I've got to get these things out, but if I do, I could bleed to death..." He thought to himself. He saw that Halius was leaning against a tree, facing away from him about twenty-five feet away. His wounded shoulder wasn't bleeding, but Ra'zaan could tell it was hurting him quite a bit by the way Halius was clutching it. "That bastard must think I'm dead...Better try to heal up quick..."
Ra'zaan slowly reached into his pack and brought out a glass vial - a healing potion. The warrior removed the ice shards and quickly brought the vial to his lips and drank the potion as fast as he could, wincing at the taste a bit. The holes formed by the ice started sealing up almost immediately, and Ra'zaan soon had the strength to pull himself up off the ground.
"Ahem. I think you're forgetting something, Halius." Ra'zaan mocked.
Halius spun around and met the eyes of what he thought was a dead man. From the look of Halius, he hadn't recovered at all in the short half hour Ra'zaan had been out.
"Y-your d-dead! I k-killed you! How are you still s-standing?!?!?!" Halius stammered out.
"You let your guard down Halius. Now I think it's about time I end this." Ra'zaan said, taking slow steps toward his enemy. "Always make sure your foe is dead before turning your back to him." He smiled.
"G-get away from me! Golam! Nadene! Someone!!! Help me!" The old mage begged.
"No one's coming to help you Halius." Ra'zaan was now directly in front of the mage.
He drew out his sword yet again, though by this time the flames had extinguished. He lifted the blade above Halius's head, ready to swing straight down. The weakened mage, who's magic hadn't had time to recharge, was powerless.
"Please! Let me go! Please!!!" He begged.
"It's to late for that, Halius. It's time you join the Divines." Ra'zaan said, a deep, malicious smile crossing his face.
Ra'zaan stared at the mage a few moments longer, and pulled the blade up to the highest point he could. His sword arched straight down towards Halius.
...two feet away...
...one foot...
...half...
'CLANG'
The loud noise startled Ra'zaan. In front of him now stood a tall, thin figured Dark Elf woman in front of Halius. She'd blocked his downward swing with a small ebony dagger. The Khajiit jumped back and took an offensive stance.
"Oh, what now? Who in the Nine Divines are you?" The bemused warrior asked.
"My name is Nadene! You sure did a number on this poor old mage, 'Kitty-Cat'! What do you have to say about that?" Nadene said almost cheerfully.
Ra'zaan looked at the young Dark Elf curiously. "How did you get in front of my blade so quickly? No one was anywhere near me when I started the swing..." He questioned.
"My personal favorite ability is teleportation, my friend. But aren't you being a bit rude? Most people introduce themselves before questioning a lady!" Nadene gave a mock pout.
"Ugh, fine. My name is Ra'zaan. Now, teleportation? You got in front of my blade by teleporting? But you couldn't have had any idea where we actually were..."
"Well, that's easy! When I make a friend, I always learn their certain presence - their aura, if you will. That way I can just teleport straight to that! To answer your next question, it was just coincidence I arrived when I did. By the way, your WELCOME Halius." She said almost like she knew this would be Ra'zaan's next question. It was going to be, but the Khajiit backed off.
Halius, at this time, was still leaning on the tree. He had only recently become aware that he was still alive, and had started listening quietly. "Y-yes, um, th-thank you v-very much, Nadene..." He stuttered.
"That's better! Now, Mr. Ra'zaan, I do believe that red stallion over there has business with you!" Nadene said happily, turning around and rushing to Halius. "Bye-bye, 'Kitty-Cat'!"
"No, wait!" Was all Ra'zaan could muster before Nadene and Halius vanished in a purple flash. Ra'zaan sighed and turned to what Nadene had pointed at. His eyes widened as he saw the three guards badly beaten on the ground, and Big Mac' facing him. The two spirits were no where to be found, most likely defeated before the guards had fallen.
"Let me guess, now I get to deal with you, huh?" Ra'zaan said pointing at the stallion.
"Eeeeyup." Was all that came from the red stallion.
"Great. At least I don't need to worry about this one talking me to death... Here we go!" Ra'zaan whispered under his breath.
TO BE CONTINUED
(Ghostly human spirits* - Summoned via conjuration spell, spirits like these can take several different forms. Most are used to protected their summoner.)
(Bound Sword** - Sword summoned via conjuration spell. Purple in color, it mimics the properties of an actual sword, but a large amount of focus is needed to keep it solidified, so it can only be used for a set period of time.)
(Fire Wall Spell*** - Name pretty much covers it. It is sprayed on the ground and walls to block enemies. It can't ACTUALLY be used on weapons in the game, but it sounds awesome, right?)
(Rune^ - A symbol that can be placed on the ground as a trap of sorts. Used in fire, ice or lighting damage spells, it explodes when anyone but the caster or his/her friends walk over it.)