//------------------------------// // Chapter 8 // Story: Project Ascension // by TheMyth //------------------------------// Being hit by several square pounds of water wasn’t something anypony had been expecting that day, but nonetheless that’s what happened. Twilight and Shining Armor were the ones hit, and went sailing over the rest of their party in an impressive bound. Applejack was the first to react, rushing in, but a jet of water came up out of the ground beneath her, slamming into her stomach and sending her up into the air. “Kids, go to a safe distance,” Pinkie told the three youngest members of the rescue party. They nodded and ran for cover. White paid them no heed, he summoned several orbs of water over the remaining members of the group. Luckily, they all managed to dodge. Pinkie was the next to react, whipping out her party cannon and letting loose a blast. Out came not confetti, or glitter, but what appeared to be pink cake frosting. Another orb of water burst right through it, sending the sticky substance in all directions. Another blast saw ice cream emerge. Again it was deflected. A third ball of streamers did the same. “Okay, are you honestly expecting to hit me?” he said, annoyed. “No, but I am expecting to distract you.” This sentence registered in his brain a split-second too late, as a recovered Applejack hit him in the side with a powerful buck. Staggering sideways, he didn’t recover in time for a second strike. He went tumbling, but rolled right back onto his hooves. Applejack charged forward as White summoned a jet of water once more. She dodged to one side, only to be hit by another jet to the first’s side. White’s triumph was short lived as Twilight took the moment to return to battle. A blast of magic came forward, but more streams of water protected him from the unicorn’s attack. But only that unicorn. At that moment Rarity, forgotten because she stepped back at the beginning of the fight, marched in and lit up her horn. White summoned more streams in an attempt to block, but it failed because what Rarity cast wasn’t an offensive maneuver. A bright flash blinded White’s eyes. He yelled in surprise and pain, covering his eyes. This left him wide open for a right hook from the fashionista. Stumbling back, he suddenly hit something hard. He opened his eyes, adjusting to the light in time to see he was trapped in one of Shining Armor’s shields. “Let’s see you escape from that!” White smirked. “If you insist.” At that point, several pounds of water pressure erupted from him, hitting all sides of the shield. The pressure was too great, and the barrier collapsed like broken glass. White landed on his hooves, but Twilight decided to shoot a beam of magic at him. He was quick enough to dodge it, sending a stream of water to her. On impact she flew to the wall and yelped in pain as she fell to the floor. “No hard feelings,” White said to Twilight as he charged towards her, enveloped in water. Before he could reach Twilight, he felt something collide at his side and he was sent flying to the other side. Once he got his bearings right, he saw Applejack charging towards him and bucking him straight in the face. His hooves came up to his face and he started groaning as he was rolling on the floor in pain. “How’d ya like that, ya li’l varmint!?” White gave an honest answer: he slammed an orb full of water directly into the farmpony’s face. As Applejack stumbled back, he got to his hooves in time to dodge an attack from Rarity. He slammed a hoof against the fashionista’s face, sending her to the ground. Twilight was up next, tossing every offensive attack she could think of. White either dodged them all or blocked. Eventually he got another strike, sending Twilight to the ground. What he did next was especially cruel. He summoned a stream of water and sent it directly at Twilight. It forced itself down her throat, entering the wrong pipes and causing her to choke and sputter. “Stop!” Shining Armor yelled, running toward White with murderous intent. Just as he was about to tackle him to the ground, however, White jumped straight in the air. As he stumbled to a stop, Shining Armor realized too late what White’s true intent was. The evil unicorn knew full well he didn’t have the time to successfully drown Shining’s sister; he just needed one of them to charge in blindly. He looked up to see White summoning more water from his hooves. He pointed straight down at his foe. “Thirsty?” With that, Shining Armor was slammed in two directions, above and below, by a violent barrage of water. The captain of the guard felt his bones bend, and he felt his organs about to pop. Once it was over he fell to the ground, moaning in pain. “Aww, you’re still alive... well, you’ll stay down for the rest of the...” A blast from the party cannon stopped him. It didn’t strike, he managed to avoid it, but it annoyed him nonetheless. “Okay, you...” White began, before Pinkie fired again. White dodged, then summoned a jet of water from where Pinkie was standing. It engulfed the pink pony for a moment, putting her out of sight. When it cleared, Pinkie simply fired again. Just before the ball of confetti struck him, he realized Pinkie had somehow been quick enough to scoot herself and the cannon back. The party favors covered him as he stumbled across the ground. Shining Armor, who had been even more resilient than his opponent had given him credit for, took the initiative and jumped in the air, covering himself in an aura of magic. White saw him coming and rolled out of the way, with Shining hitting on the ground next to him. A violent shockwave erupted from the spot that Shining landed on, and a miniature crater was formed where he stood. White got back on his hooves and shot a few more streams of water to him, but Shining kept blocking them with his shield magic. “Think fast, boy!” White shouted out to him as another stream of magic hit him, but instead it curved and was heading straight to Twilight. Shining immediately shot the stream with his magic and he turned to White with livid eyes. Another aura of magic formed around him and he galloped towards White, who was shooting streams of water at Shining. It was no use, the water simply bounced off of Shining once it made contact with his aura as he sped up his gallop. He collided with White, and the magical aura exploded, sending both ponies flying in the opposite direction. “Shining!” Twilight gasped, and she quickly caught her brother with her magic and landed him safely next to her. “Oh my gosh!” Twilight panicked at the state her brother was in, with number of bruises forming on his body and his coat burned from the explosion. She immediately cast a spell on him that enveloped his body with a soothing aura and the wounds started healing, though very slowly as she was no nurse. “You gotta pay attention to your enemy first, nerd!” Twilight turned to the voice of White and a ball of water slammed against her frame, causing her to skid across the area. Luckily she cast a spell on her that acted as a temporary shield, though her concerns grew when she saw White make his way towards her. He summoned more balls of water and sent them towards her, but she was quick at her hooves in dodging them. Applejack saw her chance and decided to act. She ran up to a surprised White, and quickly slammed a hoof against his face, which caused him to stumbled slightly. Another hoof hit him again on the other side of his mouth, making him recoil from the strength of this earth pony. She reared herself up and bucked him hard on his muzzle, sending him flying and landing on the floor hard with his hooves massaging his face. She looked down upon him and let out a ‘hmph’ as her nostrils flared in disgust at the pony before him. As White was rolling on the ground in pain, the other decided to charge at him with full force. She got close enough to trample him before a ball of water hit her, sending her on her back. The sadistic unicorn smiled as he rose to his hooves. “You know, for a backwater hick, you’re pretty--” The sound of the party cannon firing stopped him, He spun out of the way of a ball of chocolate cake and flew towards Pinkie, jets of water erupting from the ground. He ended up right next to her. “Don’t you touch her!” Rarity yelled, dashing toward them. “You bru--” At that point, water erupted all around him, sending the two mares into the air. “Like it?” he mocked. Another shield formed around him. He saw Shining Armor, smirking heavily. “Cute trick, but haven’t you learned...” As it turns out, he had. Shining tightened the shield, squeezing White into a ball. Cursing, he summoned his water to break free. He was out in seconds, but it was all the distraction needed. Shining ran forward and smacked him with a hoof. He went tumbling back, only to be hit by Applejack. He fell into a blow from Twilight, who blasted him on the ground. “Oh, that’s it!” he snarled angrily. His body began to shimmer. Then, suddenly, water emerged from him. Water that took the shape of a unicorn stallion. It was White in body shape, but made entirely of liquid. Another came, then another, then another. They spread around the arena, dozens sliding around. “Let’s see you dance with these.” The water forms came charging at the group, who took up defensive positions. One form came up to Pinkie and she fired her cannon to it, but it absorbed the cake and was unharmed. “Hey! That’s not fair!” she yelled out as she shot more cakes at the form, but it was to no avail at all. Applejack just bucked the forms, only to have them regenerate and she started to become extremely tired. Rarity came to her rescue as she shot some beams at the forms, but they were ineffective due to regeneration. Shining and Twilight fought their way to their friends, as Pinkie came dashing to them too. Together they were encircled by the forms and White looking triumphantly at the back. “Shining, I got an idea!” Twilight said to her brother, who looked at her for a brief second before turning to the forms. “What is it?” “Form a shield around us when I say ‘now’, ok?” “You got it.” White had no idea what they were planning, but he just rolled his eyes. “Let’s just end this,” he said nonchalantly as the forms came in closer. “Now!” Shining activated his shield, but before it reached the ground, a trail of lightning escaped Twilight’s horn. It traveled at the speed of light to the forms and to White, who standing still buzzing for at least five seconds as he was being shocked with his other forms in the process. Once it was done, he collapsed to the floor, with his legs twitching and his coat burned slightly thanks to the electricity. The water forms dissipated and the water began to evaporate, leaving White behind. White groaned as he got up... only to fall back to the ground. He looked at his right hoof and saw it turning into liquid. Crying in shock, he looked all over himself as he began to leak, so to speak. “No way... I can’t... lose!” As he spoke these words, his body became water entirely and it evaporated in the air. The group looked on in confusion and horror at what just happened before them. “Did he just die?” Shining asked out of the blue as Twilight walked up closer to the site where White had been. She looked at the floor, and frowned slightly before looking up at her brother. “Seems that way, whatever magic he was doing, it came at a price,” she said to him as she walked back the others. Spike came running to her, and she caught him in a hug. “Mom! Are you ok!?” he asked his mother, as he looked up to her with moist eyes. Twilight just smiled warmly at this sight, and she blinked once before grinning at her son. “It will take more than one insane pony to take me down.” “Hate to break up the tender moment, but Scootaloo’s still out there,” Shining Armor pointed out. “And whatever was put into that unicorn was likely put into her.” The group tensed up. “What do you think we should do, Twilight?” Rarity asked. Twilight nodded. “We better all go to the palace. We can get patched up, and I can find something that can help me lock in on the tracer spell on Rainbow Dash.” “And we need to find out what that maniac did with my soldiers," Shining noted. "We better get moving. “Scoots!” Scootaloo looked up at Rainbow Dash who sped from the door to her bed’s side. Scootaloo however looked away as she shied away from the presence of the cyan mare. Rainbow was confused by this gesture and prompted to place a hoof on her, but it was shook away as Scootaloo’s body moved further away. “Scoots? It’s me, Rainbow! I’m here now!” She hesitantly looked at Rainbow, and she could see the concern in her eyes. Rainbow’s expression turned from concern to horrified as she gasped at Scootaloo’s form, and Fluttershy looked away. Scootaloo wanted to shed tears, but all she could do was clench her teeth as her tear ducts were dried out. Suddenly, a pair of wings and forelegs encircled the weakened filly’s form. She felt herself shake, but it was not her moving. The tremors were coming from Rainbow Dash, as she sobbed into Scootaloo’s mane with her feathers forming a cocoon for the two of them. “I-I’m so sorry, Scoots!” she muttered as she raised her head and opened her eyes to reveal bloodshot eyes that could only display sorrow and guilt. Scootaloo looked into her eyes but Rainbow immediately shut them and buried her head in the filly’s mane as she sobbed further. She did not care of her image as a pony who never cried, nor did she care if she was to be called out for it later on. The moment she laid eyes upon Scootaloo was the moment she realized just how much she had failed her. What made it worse was that none of her friends blamed her for it, and something inside told her that Scootaloo would forever hate her. “W-what have they done to you?!” she whispered as her tears landed on top of the filly’s head. Scootaloo’s lips quivered as she felt the warm embrace of Rainbow Dash. It was as though it were an eternity since she felt caressed like this. She heard a yelp coming from the door and was held by another pair of wings as Fluttershy joined in hugging Scootaloo. Newfound tears were present in her eyes, and she lowered her head into Rainbow’s chest. Fluttershy looked at Rainbow, both of their eyes bloodshot from tears that have left their eyes, and they both looked down upon Scootaloo, who only tried to worm her way out after seeing the two mare’s pair of eyes stare at her. “Scoots?” Rainbow began to speak as she still held Scootaloo, but felt her moving and trying to force her way out. “What’s wrong Scoots? You don’t need to worry, I’m here now and-” “Y-you must think I’m a freak!” Rainbow and Fluttershy gasped as Scootaloo spoke these words. Rainbow shook her head in disbelief and Fluttershy placed her hooves over her mouth as it lay open. “Scoots, what are you talking about?!” Scootaloo looked up at Rainbow’s shocked face and only mastered a glare for a second, “You must think I’m a freak now because of this horn!” she shouted at her, though she coughed as her voice became hoarse from all the screaming she had done that day. Rainbow was not going to stand for it. Her shocked face turned into one of pure determination, and she drew in the filly closer to her. She felt a sudden chill from Scootaloo’s shackles as her frame was now pressed against hers, but she ignored it because of what the filly needed right now. “Scoots, I don’t know what they did to you... but I promise you we’ll fix this and you’ll be back in Ponyville... back home,” Rainbow Dash said softly to her, as she stroke the filly’s mane that had become dusty from Celestia-knows-what. “Right now, you need to tell me, where can I find the keys to your shackles?” she asked the filly as she looked down on Scootaloo. Scootaloo lowered her head slightly, “Well, that Black and Blue are always close to that Bloodwing jerk... so they may have the keys on them,” she explained to Rainbow as she was listening intently to Scootaloo’s words. “I’m not sure about the others, but there is a yellow pegasus who works here,” she explained further, but she saw the scowl on Rainbow’s face as she mentioned Yellow. “I don’t think Blaze has them cause-” Rainbow’s ears perked up at Scootaloo’s words, “Wait! Who’s Blaze?” she asked Scootaloo as she leaned towards the filly’s head. “T-the red one. He says that’s his real name... he was in here earlier...” Scootaloo answered Rainbow, who became slightly worried at this news. “Did he hurt you?” Rainbow Dash demanded as she placed her hooves on the filly’s shoulders. Scootaloo shook her head, “No, he gave me water... and ice cream...” Scootaloo replied, letting off a small smile at the sudden kindness he did. A silence followed after that. Fluttershy looked at Rainbow, who could only frown at the filly’s information. “Well... we still shouldn’t trust him. I’ll go find Bloodwing, and then we’ll get you out of here. Fluttershy, you stay here with her. I’ll be back.” And before Fluttershy could stop her, she flew off. Rainbow Dash turned and weaved through the hallways, staying toward the ceiling and as quiet as possible. She was determined to find the keys and get Scootaloo out of this forsaken place as fast as she could go with the Sonic Rainboom. Just as she turned around another corner, however, she was assaulted by a bolt of lightening that sent her to the floor. Twitching in pain, she looked up, just in time to see two more bolts coming at her. In a flash she flew back, dodging the two bolts. She wasn’t surprised to see who was responsible. Cantering towards her, was a familiar yellow pegasus mare with a malicious grin that emitted a murderous lust in its wake. “You!” Rainbow spat as she took a defensive position. Yellow was beginning to snicker softly which slowly became a hideous cackle as she flicked her head backwards. “Well, well, what do we have here?” she asked in a false cooing tone. Rainbow’s nostrils flared as she stomped her front hoof, ready to attack her opponent. “Where are Scootaloo’s keys?” Yellow just closed her eyes as she chuckled at the question thrown at her, “Aw now, why must you try and take her away? I’ve gotten kind of attached.” she sneered at Rainbow as she licked her lips. Rainbow glared with the utmost fury at Yellow as her temper was rising, “She’s my Scootaloo! Now gimme the keys or else!” Yellow grinned as she waved her hoof in front of her, “Tsk tsk tsk...don’t you remember? You kicked her out like a piece of trash. She’s our property now!” Yellow said as she looked upwards dreamily and smiling sickly. “The things we’ll do to her-” Rainbow threw a punch at Yellow, but she was too quick and dodge it effortlessly. Rainbow’s body began to shake uncontrollably as wrath took control. “Listen, you little skank!” Rainbow spat, “You’re not hurting her anymore! I’m not letting her stay here any longer... and I’ll take you down if you come in my way!” Yellow just closed her eyes as she shook her head with a devious smile,“Of course! You’re the hero, so you have to rescue her.” she said as she looked up to stare into Rainbow’s eyes. “Although...” Yellow charged forward and attempted to strike Rainbow with her hooves that were energized with lightning, but Rainbow backed away fast from her reach. A large blast of lightning suddenly shot from her body, travelling towards Rainbow fast. She barely had time as she rolled to the side to get out of its way. Yellow stared down at the alerted Rainbow as her wings furled and lightning shot out of them, hitting and cracking the walls around her, “...I’m the villain, so I will have to kill you right here and now!”