//------------------------------// // Chapter 8 : A Battle for Harmony // Story: The Legend Of Harmony: The Eternal Eclipse // by Radiant Eclipse //------------------------------// That was the moment of the rising action of this one of infinite others story. It has literally reached the next step of development. Never fear. I know that you have waited for this since the beginning, so without any further delays, I will tell you about the following events; my first fight with the bearers of the Elements of Harmony. The day I thought my last spark of hope perished along with my legacy. ======== “Before this is over, I will show you the true power of dark magic!” Ray jumped back on the crystal, standing with two hooves on it while looking balefully to the group. He cramped his right hoof and a sudden squall slashed the ponies and Spike’s body, their hair streaming out behind them. His magic energy channeling in his hoof, colored in dark purple with a bluish grey veil and twinkling particles, a sphere of pure darkness formed itself in it. It was so powerful that it caused the squall and even little pebble stones and crystal shards to vibrate on the floor. Especially Twilight could sense that the authors did at least not displayed fancifulness when they described the magic power Ray possessed. He jumped high into the upper area of the cave and like he would throw a baseball, he catapulted the magic projectile at the group. “Disappear!” He shouted as the magic missile detached itself from his hoof and gained extreme velocity when a magic impulse made it dash in the direction of the heroes. To their shocking surprise, the projectile split in midair into at least a dozen smaller beams that flew in different angles towards the group. Ray saw nothing but a dusty, greyish-blue explosion that covered a quarter of the vault up when the projectiles hit the ground. Dust clouds streamed sideward and the dispersed dust affixed on the ground again. “Looks like they were just regular ponies after all.” He assured himself with confidence, not fearing any unpleasant surprises while still floating in the air. But his naive self-assurance turned out to be his doom when a familiar blue Pegasus blew the dust in front of her with her wings away and careered wrathfully to the black colt. “Here you have ‘something more’!” Rainbow Dash shouted out her war cry. She glared at him, but she was way too fast for him to react and holding a hoof ahead, she crashed into him, making him suffer the ache from a painfully powerful uppercut. She smirked, feeling the elating sensation of victory, while Ray groaned with pain and anger, slowly falling back to the ground. Rainbow Dash turned around quickly to see the humiliated opponent, but everything she saw was a purple flash. Suddenly, she felt a cold breeze at her back and a purple light shined behind her. She turned around and before she could act, horror began to grace her fact as her self-confidence faded away as quickly as it came. Then she felt nothing but a severe pain in her chest; the pain of a horse kick strong enough to shake apples from trees, maybe even uprooting it. It was Ray who has teleported himself behind her and used the kinetic energy of a twisting to kick her with full power with his hoof ball. Rainbow Dash groaned with pain, but she clenched her teeth and bore the brunt, unable to move and slowly falling to the ground. Though Fluttershy’s sight was diminished because of the dust particles, she could recognize the blear figure of a Pegasus and instinctively, certain that the figure was her best friend, rushed towards the falling figure and caught it. “Ouch! That hurt…” Rainbow Dash complained about her pain in Fluttershy’s arms. “Thanks Fluttershy.” “You can count on me.” She replied gently while helping her up. Eventually, Ray understood why his opponents survived his attack when he saw everyone else standing in the distance of the explosion-radius. Twilight must have teleported everyone away; and Rainbow Dash must have been on a higher level, maybe even taking the blast wave for an instant increase of speed. “Not bad; not bad at all.” He commented about his adversaries’ actions. “Though compared to your precious princesses, you are still nothing more but phonies.” He smirked at the group and they in return looked angrily back at him, but then he proceeded the fight. Still hovering above the heroes, a dark magic aura gathered itself around him. “Playtime is over!” He shouted slightly jokingly, as he would enjoy the battle he was in. In an instant, being a projectile himself, looking like a blazing pony-shadow in a purple cocoon, he dashed at lightning speed towards Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash. Getting rid of the stricken foes firstn´, was, so was his opinion, the best thing to be done. “Look out!” the bigger group warned the two Pegasi and in the last second, Rainbow Dash was able to hustle herself and Fluttershy, luckily avoiding his attack by a hairbreadth. Her swift reflexes saved both from harm, as a meter wide meteor crater was all that was left from the spot of impact. But Ray rebounded immediately, like the impaction with the solid ground did not hurt him at all, and in less than a second, he impacted with the ceiling, only to rebound again and dash towards the group of Twilight. They dodged his attacks by jumping away, but Ray behaved like a Bouncy ball that never lost his energy, constantly slamming into the ground and the walls, making them look like a long-range combat drill ground. However, there was nothing they could do than constantly avoiding his devastating attacks and trying to ride the situation out, but they knew they did not have the stamina to do this for good and all. When Twilight Sparkle was separated from her friends, Ray seized his chance to dispose of the powerful and gifted bearer of the Element of Magic, so he brought his movement under control by performing a rising arch and he dashed towards Twilight while the ground under him was torn open, only because of the energy of his dark aura. Twilight did not display fear and it was not her intention to dodge his attack. She was willed to stand her ground and face the mistake she was prepared to atone for. “Fool! This will end it!” He bawled self-confidently at Twilight, but she was not impressed at all and only focused on her magic energy; preparing to counterattack his fell assault. By the skin of one’s teeth, he would have crushed her, but because Ray underestimated the magic powers of the purple unicorn, the only thing he hit was a magic shield she created in front of her in the last second; so powerful that it even absorbed the shock of Ray’s impaction with it. Unfortunately, realizing that Ray did not ricochet, she is beginning to lose her energy as Ray continued to drill into her magic barrier, emitting sparks like a buzz saw. “Come on, Twilight Sparkle! Show me what the Element of Magic is made of!” He yelled at her provokingly, but she endured as long as she could. Ultimately knowing that defending would do nothing but leading to her doom, she gritted her teeth and gave everything she got to raise Ray with a simultaneous levitation spell. Her horn glowed brightly like never before; and to that effect, her magic energy was used up just as excessively. Still, knowing that it was her responsibility, Twilight gave everything she got and slowly lifted him up above her head. “W-What?” He wondered surprisingly about the purple unicorn’s impressive strenuous effort. In her final demonstration of strength, she slightly angled him up, but then, Twilight ended her spell casting immediately, causing Ray to bounce up and, because astonishment inhibited his focus, he slammed in the ceiling with his back to it with such a velocity that he created a crater in his shape. While Twilight was heading to her friends who congratulated her on her amazing accomplishment, gasping for breath and recovering her power, Ray’s seemingly unconscious body detached itself from the ceiling, leading him to fall fifty meter and smashing into the solid ground. When Twilight heard the sound of the impacting of Ray’s body, she turned around and beheld her opus, not feeling good at the thought of having fought a pony; still, her ace in the hole seemed to have become true. She had defeated him and now, they could seal him again into crystal. Furthermore, in her opinion, it was very quick and surprisingly easy. She turned around and all of a sudden, she was petrified with horror. She stared right into the blood-freezing, devoid eyes of the Harmony’s precarious enemy. She could only breathe shallowly, slowly creating a small distance between her and the dark creature that stood in front of her, but before she could react, Ray once more started to converse with her. “So… there is more behind you then just imitating Celestia and Luna. Who are you anyway?” Twilight swallowed once, but then she plucked up courage and faced him. “What you see is what you get. Just a pony that protects Equestria and her friends.” “I see; and admire your fortitude, but you know, I can’t let you live. Your days of protecting are coming to an end.” She just stood there, petrified by the black colt as he pressed one of his hooves against her forehead. She could feel the algid magic aura that gathered itself around Ray’s hoof, ready to be used to finish her off. She could feel it, her end was neigh. She could only hope that her friends and the princesses would finish the job. She closed her eyes and prepared herself face whatever is going to happen to her. “How dare you threatening Twilight!” A familiar, young voice rang out from near distance, followed by a loud groaning she heard that soon had changed into a familiar voice threatening someone. “Get off me you pesky little pain in the…” A voice yelled angrily that was readily identifiable the one of Ray. Twilight peeped and saw that the black colt was gone; and that her friends were cantering to her while they were cheering someone on. “Yeehaw little cowboy! Ride that bull until it pants!” Applejack shouted encouragement. Twilight gazed at the point where her friends were looking at and saw her best assistant and friend trying to tame the dark pony-like creature. “S-Spike?” “I t-t-t-try!” Spike replied to Applejack, being shaken by the bridling Ray who tried to shake him off, but Spike firmly grabbed hold of his neck. “Are you alright, darling?!” Rarity asked Twilight solicitously. “Yes, I am fine, thanks to my hero.” She enthused over her best assistance. But meanwhile, Spike was in dangerous troubles, because the longer he kept the ride up, the angrier Ray became. “Get along with you!” “In the name of my dragon-code, I will not!” He replied insistently. “Then you will have to bear the consequences!” He yelled at him angrily. Ray stretched his legs, focused magic energy in them and released it all in a jump and with his back to the wall; he smashed into it, with Spike still hanging on him. “Spike!” Everyone else shouted frightened to death. Spike groaned in pain and he lost his hold on Ray’s neck, slowly sliding down the wall hole his body has created and falling to the ground. “Darn. I was so… close…” He said while he lay with his back to the fall, looking at the leaving body of the black colt. “Spikey-wikey!” Rarity cried for him and all of a sudden, in a blind fury, she sprinted to Ray and jumped, trying to hit him with a karate-kick. “I’ll destroy you!” But her rage made her blind and week. Ray was easily able to get on his two hind legs and grab Rarity’s hoof with one of his. “Don’t make me laugh.” He commented degradingly. “Let go off me you brutal barbar!” She shouted furiously at him. “Your wish is my command” He replied nastily. Ray focused his magic energy in the hoof he held Rarity in the air with and a very strong impulse send her flying through the room with a shrill scream on her lips. Thankfully, Ray was not the only pony in this room to be able to use magic and with ease, Twilight levitated the flying Rarity to her and allowed the white unicorn to land softly on her hooves. “Phew! Thanks a million, Twilight. You saved me.” He told her thankfully. “My pleasure, but saved is sort of subjective here.” She responded, instinctively focusing on their opponent. Meanwhile, Ray was surrounded by both Rainbow Dash and Applejack who constantly attacked him with her hooves and other body parts; Applejack from the ground and Rainbow Dash from the air, but he in return laughed about their in his opinion pathetic attempt. “You with your silly hoof-to-hoof combat…” In an attempt to surprise him by attacking him at the same time, Ray grabbed one hoof of each at a time and held both Applejack and Rainbow Dash firmly. “… But do you know what the little difference between you and I is?” He asked her rhetorically as he caught a glimpse of Applejack’s Cutie Mark, immediately understanding what it symbolizes. “You can kick a tree and shake its apples off. I can kick a tree and… hmm… what could be appropriate… crush it into sawdust? Yeah, that should do it.” Thankfully, while Ray was thinking about expressing himself in a proper fashion, the two ponies were able to break away from him and continued with attacking him. “Is talking all you can?!” Rainbow Dash and Applejack yelled at him simultaneously, attempting to crash into him to which he replied with a single smirk. As Rainbow Dash and Applejack continued their rough attempt that was driven by anger, he stayed calm and timed his actions very precisely. Rainbow Dash approached him first and, knowing that she was already weakened, he easily managed to lean sideward and counterattack her, hitting her neck with his foreleg knee. Using this moment of Applejack loosing focus, gazing surprisedly at the vanquished Rainbow Dash, Ray took a small step forward and simply tripped her up, leading her to fall over his leg and roll over the ground alongside Rainbow Dash, ultimately slamming into the wall and laying dizzily and physically stricken next to Spike who was in the process of picking himself up again. “Oh, hey guys.” He greeted the two overwhelmed ponies, still feeling muzzy from the collision with the wall. He helped Applejack up who still recovered from her giddiness. “T-Thanks Spike. Looks like we took the bull by the horns; and it catapulted us into the next fence. Ouch…” Applejack thanked him, still holding her head to regain awareness of everything. “No problem.” He replied friendly. Spiked turned around, so he could help Rainbow Dash up as well, but she was gone and he was shocked by the following event he had to witness. Ray walked on all fours towards his remaining four opponents. “3 for me, nil for thee; Twilight Sparkle. But I intend to whitewash you, so 4 remain for me to subdue” He clarified his point of view cattily. Out of nowhere, Ray began to giggle nastily and without looking in any other direction than forward; he raised his left foreleg to its respective side and channeled magic energy in it. “Where do you think are you going, Fluttershy?” He asked her gloatingly. She stopped immediately when she heard her name, barely 20 meters distance between her and the black colt; and her eyes focused on the bluish grey shimmering magic aura around Ray’s hoof. “Well, kind and friendly Radiant Eclipse.” She explained him good-naturedly as always. “I wanted to console and take care for my friends you have just hurt recklessly, but I know you would not let me, so I tried to sneak around you, but to your compliment, you have a good awareness; and eventually you got me.“ “No.” He replied visibly annoyed. “That was a rhetorical question. I was aware of what you were doing.” “Oh, I am awfully sorry Mister Radiant Eclipse.” She apologized profusely to Ray. “Next time, I will try harder reacting to you properly.” He was once more in bewilderment because of his opponents. He put his hoof down and looked with a raised eyebrow and an expression of total perplexity at the group consisting of Twilight, Rarity and Pinkie Pie. He lowered his left foreleg and raised his right foreleg in a way that it looked like he would serve someone with something. “Seriously?” He asked peevishly callous. “No kidding!” Pinkie Pie replied joyfully as always, but she immediately changed her behavior again and stood strong alongside her two friends. He moaned long drawn-out about the in his opinion unconceivable infantile and goony, though respectful behavior of most of his opponents, smiting his forehead to display his exasperation. “Are you alright?” Fluttershy asked him solicitously. “Have we done anything wrong to you?” A simple sigh escaped his lips. “No. Don’t you worry…” He slowly returned to his former position and once more channeled his dark magic in his left hoof. “I’ll be fine soon.” Ray replied balefully. She squealed with agony, able to feel the cold gust of demise on her warm, soft cheek. She did not know what would hit her, as Ray seemed to have a huge variety of different attacks, though they tended to rather be imprecise, wild and destructive. Was there even a change for her to escape his menacing grip of terror? No, they choose to fight against him; and there was no way out of it anymore. But what could she, a young, innocent and kind Pegasus do in the face of this pure entity of darkness? She did not know, but someone else did. Spike tried to prevent Rainbow Dash’s action, but since he was not able to do anything either and had to reinforce the still shaky Applejack, he was not able to and hoped for the best. Though she got hurt by Ray’s multiple attacks, she knew that she had to swallow her pain and excel herself to beat her. She would not allow him to inflict pain on her friends, the princesses nor anyone else in Equestria or the rest of the world, especially not a certain orange Pegasus filly she had in mind she promised to protect. That fueled her anger, but also her will to surpass Radiant Eclipse. In a desperate attempt to ambush him and protecting her best friend Fluttershy from his truculent attack, she jumped high, opened her wings and dashed towards the black colt. “Take it from me! You will not hurt my friends!” She yelled behind him shortly before she could crash into his back. But Ray was not simpleminded and stood still, especially not when Rainbow Dash announced her attack so openly. Right before she was about to hit him keenly, he put his hoof down and strained his entire body, eventually slamming his hip against her chest, causing her to lose control of herself and bouncing up from his back. But her volition succeeded her pain once again and she opened her wings once more, instantly turning 180 degree and dashing towards the somber colt. “An inveterate Pegasus, huh?” He remarked sneeringly as he blended everything else but Rainbow Dash out and gave her his full focus. Once again, her attempt to successfully attack him failed and she was counterattacked, but nonetheless, Rainbow Dash continued his attack. Again; and again. She would give her eye teeth if she could protect her friends, so she would not give up until her body would stop reacting to her commands. The rest took the time to reunite with Spike and Applejack. Everyone, but Fluttershy, who just stood there in utter shock as she saw how her best friend was beaten up by a young colt that barely even move. A single tear collected itself at the underside of her eye, slowly flowing down her cheek and shattering on the ground into millions of pieces. But then, there was no trepidation, no lugubriousness; only incensement, contempt and her natural protective instinct. “How dare you…?” She mumbled furiously, as she took a steady step towards the black colt. In the meantime, Rainbow Dash was in serious troubles, as he countered everything she tried. Every attempt was futile and she knew that. There was only one last hope, one last chance to successfully subdue Ray. “Alright Ray, time for me to finish this.” She told him relatively quiescently, as she flew to the height of the destroyed ceiling and turned her head into his direction. She bristled with anger, but then took a deep breath and banished all her wrath, leaving only cold, but pure focus for her last hope. Rainbow Dash opened her wings another time and she careered with an incredible velocity towards her opponent. She compressed her body as much as she could and instantly, a cone of light made itself around her, with her head as the cone end. “What is that?” Ray wondered himself surprisedly about what Rainbow Dash did, something he could not even dream about. The closer Rainbow Dash was to Ray, the more tapered and blurry her body seemed to become, like she would gain more and more speed. Was that her goal; a special technique of her? Ray did not know, but he was sure that no matter what she got, it would not be enough, especially when she was as tarnished as she was. Rainbow Dash screamed out her war cries to show that she would never fear Ray and that she would never stop. He recognized that, but nothing than a cackle left his mouth. Like Ray was used to do, he got up onto his hind legs to display his self-proclaimed dominant position, but also to have elbow-room to attack Rainbow Dash. Her war cry rang in his ear, but he did not care. Just before Rainbow Dash struck him, he snuffled unimpressively and he brandished his arm like a whip, hitting the side of her face and ending her attack. “How dare you?” A familiar, beautiful voice whispered angrily in the distance. Rainbow Dash groaned with pain, but very quietly since her body repudiated every order of her mind. Her friends screamed cries of dismay, but for her, everything was silent as she hurtled past his body without control of her own wings. But Ray was not done, as he knew she might recover sooner or later, so he oriented towards the hammered blue Pegasus and he raised his right hoof in her direction, forming a magic projectile in it to finally give her the finishing stroke that would release her from all the pain she had endure. He saw it as an act of mercy; and he even looked quite sadly as he starred into her wide opened eyes. “What a waste…” He mumbled funereally, but determined as he build up the energy to catapult his blast attack. “How dare you!?” An enraged voice yelled from his side and as he heard the sound of galloping, he turned around, feeling the sudden sensation of a shocking, dragging pain in his belly. He felt that he lifted off the ground, as the object that hit him would drag him diagonally away from it. He could not move, only glimpse at the causer of his achiness; Fluttershy, who had slammed her side into his body and used her wings to fly slightly upwards. Her usual friendly expression was gone; and only wrath and assertiveness graced it. The others gazed taken aback at Fluttershy’s action; and even Pinkie who intended to catch Rainbow Dash lost her focus for this unbelievable event that occurred. Twilight comprehended that this was probably their last chance. They had to make this moment of weakness of Ray count. Like when they fought the hydra, Twilight run in front of the rest and gave her command. “Now or never!” She yelled at her friends with an encouraging voice; and seeing that Rainbow Dash recovered control of her body in midair, like her body was healed by the initiative they ponied up, saluting flimsily to Twilight’s command, the rest was more motivated than ever before in this particular, seemingly hopeless struggle. Fluttershy fell on the floor and Spike hurried to bestead her, but she was fine, still thanking him for his friendly care. Resting, they beheld the attack their friends imposed on the black colt. Ray slammed into something massive, but not rocky like the wall. It was pitch black and he was curled up, like he was in some sort of box; a box of cast iron. “Where… where am I?” He asked himself, still plagued with the feeling of dizziness because of Fluttershy’s strong ambush. “Party-canon hold!” Pinkie’s voice rang out from somewhere behind the wall. “Party canon?” He wondered in bewilderment. “Aim! Fire!” She yelled joyfully and with that last syllable, she pushed the button on her canon and alongside with lots of confetti, Ray was shot diagonally into the air. He screamed loudly, unable to regain control of his situation as he could not figure out what was going on. The only thing he saw in front of him, as he fell dawn, was the silhouette of a pony. As Ray reached the position where Applejack stood, she strained her hind legs and released all her energy in one, incredibly forceful horse kick into his belly that send him flying right to where he came from, above Fluttershy’s and Spike’s head and away. A physical pain he never felt before flow through his body, but this was not the end of his ordeal. Rarity, as a talented Martial artist, jumped into his direction and karate kicked him powerfully into his back. Another groan caused by the inflicted pain escaped his lips as he fell down. “Spike!” Twilight shouted at him to gain his attention when she began to channel magic energy in her horn. He understood. As Ray fell from the air, Spiked rushed expeditiously towards him and he drove his head against his chest, making him fly in the direction of Twilight. “What you can do, I can do as well.” She said confidently. Shortly before Ray would crash into her, she performed a spell she adapted from him. A magic impulse flung him into the direction of the hole in the ceiling. Heading in his direction, Ray was not able to do anything. He was shocked by what they managed to do and the pain benumbs every pone in his body. He made a fatal mistake. He underestimated him and took too long to get rid off them; and now, he would have to pay the price for his arrogance. Something he swore to himself in his mind that won’t happen ever again. The blue, bright summer sky blinded him, but he could eventually catch another silhouette of a pony. A pony with wings that color intermixed with the color of the blue sky. First he thought two rainbows would prettify the sky, but then he understood. “R-Rainbow Dash?” He wondered, but his thoughts vanished as he could feel the sorest of all pains; indignity. Ray was able to feel a single hoof in his belly. He grabbed hold of hindleg with both his fore hooves, with all the remaining power he had. He gazed upwards and saw the serious, cerise eyes and her slight, confident smile of the pony he thought he had beaten up fit for the hospital, but though she looked extremely chipped, she was able to use her remaining power to turn the tide for her side. “I told you I would not just sit around and let you do whatever you want.” She explained him seriously, before he closed his eyes, lost grab on her leg and fell to his doom. Rarity and Twilight Sparkle used their combined magic power to levitate all the dust and crystal shards into one, relatively soft pile Ray slammed into without his awareness, as it seemed like he lost consciousness. The group united close to the pile. They were tarnished, some of them bruised and covered in dirt, but they were alive and together. Combined with the overwhelming sensation of a triumphal and deserved victory, they could do nothing but to smile, in the face of what they have accomplished. They looked at the defeated Radiant Eclipse whose stomach was covered in the dirt. They taught him a hard lesson, but he was breathing and would probably recover soon. No matter how much they execrated him, no matter how much they feared them or what he had done to them, they pitied him. What was he more than a broken, blind and empty shell of his former self? He suffered for what he is; what he does. So much that he eventually lost all hope and was blind to all they offered him. A new chance; a new live; a new spark of hope. A light in his own, eternal darkness. They never felt good when they had to act the way they had to. Neither the banishment of Discord, nor witnessing the presumably destruction of Sombra, no matter what they did, left the ponies and Spike with a languorous felling, though they easily digested it because they had each other and the will to protect Equestria and its inhabitants. And what had their enemies? Nothing. And Radiant Eclipse was no exception. At least they were able to reform Discord after a while; a thought that made them smile every now and then in the darkness they sometimes have to face. Twilight Sparkle sighed and turned to her friends. “Better gonna use the Elements of Harmony to banish him into crystal before he wake up, right?” They nodded and prepared themselves for their final strike. The elements began to glow in a white, luminescent light, like they always do. Then, a pebble stone rolled down the pile the black colt lay in, caused by only a very slight, slow motion. ======== This was not the end, only a victory that would lead to the next chapter.