//------------------------------// // Chapter 74 - For Ponyville // Story: Quest For Harmony // by destinedjagold //------------------------------// A powerful echo of clashing metal erupted after Apple Bloom and a unicorn stallion clashed swords. Apple Bloom pulled back with a back jump, but her tactic of letting the stallion stumble forward from the force he was putting on his sword didn't work, for he was using telekinesis to hold his sword. The earth mare cursed mentally for missing the obvious, and blocked his attack before it touches her bare coat. Electricity danced in the air horizontally and shocked the mare's foe. She turned her eyes to the side and saw Sweetie Belle had casted a lightning spell. She didn't waste any more time, and struck her sword to the unicorn's throat and immediately pulled it out. Apple Bloom nodded her thanks, and Sweetie Belle smiled, but she yelped after two pegasi stallions landed to both her sides. “Wait—!” Apple Bloom yelled, dropping her sword from her mouth, but she stopped after one of the stallions, who was familiar to them both, patted the startled Sweetie Belle's head. “Nice work, kid,” Cloud Strike said with a smile. Sweetie Belle nodded her thanks awkwardly as Apple Bloom picked her sword back. “I already told the pegasi about you three. It's easy for us to spot you with your capes.” The other stallion pulled out his sword and took flight towards a battle close by. Cloud Strike stared for a moment before returning his gaze back at the two crusaders as a slightly-burned wolf passed by. “I doubt I could convince you three to pull back, but be careful.” After the two nodded their understanding, Cloud Strike flared his wings and took flight. Apple Bloom brought her sword on her hooves and stared at Sweetie Belle. “Speaking of which, where is Scootaloo?” --- “Gah—!” Scootaloo yelled as the ground a few inches before her erupted from a unicorn's mana beam. The explosion sent her flying back towards slightly-burning debris of wood. She coughed and spat blood as she squirmed her tired and battered body out of the debris. Panic started to cloud her mind as three armored unicorns with fiercely-glowing horns approached her. It would have been easy to get out from the debris, but she couldn't think straight, even worse that the two of the unicorns lifted their swords with telekinesis. The swords swung towards her, and the pegasus cringed as she closed her eyes. A green lance swung in front of the crusader, blocking the swords' path. Startled, the unicorns turned their heads in unison and saw a fierce wave of green hellish fire began to swallow them. The three unicorns screeched from the burning sensation as they ran away to recover. “You alright there, Scoots?” asked a familiar dark-purple armored earth pony with a brown coat as he extends a helping hoof at the shocked one-winged pegasus crusader. “They're coming back!” a purple baby dragon yelled on the back of the armored earth pony as he swung his lance, batting the fired mana beam that was aimed at them. Scootaloo snapped out of her daze and accepted the hoof that pulled her back to her four hooves. “Gold Blitz,” she began as the three unicorns surrounded them, “what are you doing back here?” “No reason,” the earth pony smiled. “Just decided to have a walk through town and all.” He smiled at the frowning pegasus beside him before leaping towards a unicorn. Spike waved his lance, and the unicorn awkwardly blocked it with his sword. Gold Blitz ran towards the unicorn and slammed his helmeted-head against the unicorn's armor. --- ‘Ponyville isn't really my home,’ Gold Blitz thought as he ran through the thick lines of trees in the Everfree Forest. He jumped high to avoid thick roots that blocked his path, managing to jump over them even though the weight of both Spike on his back and the dark armor he wore added to his weight. ‘Nor is this world my home,’ he thought as he saw the blue bird up ahead, who was guiding him towards town. The bird made a sharp turn, and the armored earth pony followed suit. “Gold,” Spike yelled as he made effort not to lose his grip around the earth pony's neck, even though he was jumping up and down, and his rear was starting to feel numb for pounding against metal. “This has to be your craziest idea yet! Aaaahhh—!” He yelled nervously as Gold Blitz jumped again. As soon as the pony landed his hooves on the forest ground, Spike's chest and stomach slammed against the pony's armor. “Ugh... This is far worse than the description of how a rodeo ride feels like...” the purple dragon groaned. Gold Blitz laughed nervously as he saw the edge of the forest. Sounds of lightning, mana beam, and metal started reaching his ears. “Sorry 'bout that Spike,” he panted as he skidded to a stop after he rushed out from the forest. His smile vanished and he stared nervously yet seriously at the burning town of Ponyville. “But we have a town to save...” The blue bird flew above him as it stared at the town. Spike climbed off of the pony's back, and stared at him for a moment, his dark-purple armor reflected the baby dragon's worried face. “But Gold, you could die here!” Spike reasoned, and he then stared at the burning town. “And you said it already that this isn't your home or your world or whatever!” He turned back at the pony, who still had his eyes on the town. “I thought you wanted to see your real brother again!” Gold Blitz took a deep breath and sighed before turning his head to the baby dragon, who stared at him full of worry. “Spike,” the pony spoke with an angry tone, “at first I thought everything in this world is just a fantasy, but everything's real...” he trailed off as he returned his gaze back at the town. “You're real, and you're my brother.” He shrugged. “Not by blood, but that's not the point.” He turned back to Spike with a confident grin. “You're real and you're my bro. So what does that make you?” Spike's features drooped, even though it felt really nice that Gold Blitz accepted him as his brother. “I just don't want to see you get hurt...” “Hey,” the pony patted the baby dragon's head, “I survived Xelene's attempts of killing me.” He then suddenly frowned. “I still don't know how you survived though, but,” he smiled, “what's important is that you lived.“ Gold Blitz shook his head and settled his gaze on the town. “The only problem I needed to fix back in my world is the cloud problem. Now that it's settled — I think, — I want to help you have a better life here in this world.” Spike looked down on the ground. He really didn't like the war, and the chaos and pain this brings to everypony around him, but he also don't want to... “Even if...even if you'd get ki—” A brown-coated hoof tapped his mouth, disabling him from talking further. Spike gazes back up and stared at Gold Blitz's calm-yet-nervous brotherly smile. “I'll try my best not to.” He brought his hoof back on the ground and stared at the town. “Anyway, we shouldn't delay any further...” The pony then hopped in place twice, and cracked his neck. “Remember the plan?” Spike nodded, and he was about to climb back on the pony's back, but instead, he walked in front of him, which confused the pony, and hugged him. It took the pony a while to recover from his startled state before he wrapped a hoof behind the dragon's neck to return the hug. “I still think it's a stupid and crazy idea, Gold...” Spike murmured as they ended the hug. He walked to his side and climbed up on his back. Gold Blitz simply shrugged. “Meh, you'll get used to it.” And soon, the armored earth pony galloped towards the chaotic burning town as Spike spat green fumes of fire on his claws and formed a rather long lance, and stared at the closing town as he wished mentally that things wouldn't end so badly. It was the blue bird's turn to follow suit. --- Gold Blitz slammed his head at the unicorn, throwing him back slightly. Grunting, the unicorn flared his horn but a mighty wing pounded his face. Yelping, he jumped back, and fired a mana beam to the sky after a green lance struck his head from his lower jaw. Gold Blitz stared — shocked — as the unicorn took his last breath, the mana beam slowly becoming thin until it was gone, the light slowly leaving his eyes, and the blood slowly flowing and boiling down on the green fiery lance. “That's the last of them,” Scootaloo said as she turned her head back, staring at the two unconscious unicorns laying on the ground. “I'll finish 'em off—!” A bright flash made her turn her attention back. “Gyah—!” Gold Blitz shouted as he was pushed by a fierce beam of mana. He crashed towards a burning wooden house, and the beam exploded, wrapping his crash site with thick black smoke. Spike and Scootaloo shouted his name in panic, but as Spike ran towards him, Scootaloo turned her head and saw a lone armored unicorn with a fiercely glowing horn, and was walking closer to Scootaloo. She braces herself as she prepares to dodge the incoming attack, while paying attention to the other two rising unicorns who just recovered their consciousness. --- On one edge of town, Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle worked together to bring down another unicorn. A lightning bolt struck the ground meters from them. Turning, they saw an electrocuted unicorn, and a diving pegasus. The pegasus however, was struck by a mana beam from elsewhere, and exploded upon impact. A thick black cloud of smoke erupted, and an unconscious pegasus fell through the burning roof of a house. Something was starting to brighten on their vision. Quickly, they noticed the electrocuted unicorn was slowly regaining his ability to move. Sweetie Belle quickly summoned mana energy to her horn, chanted the spell in her head, and la— —an explosion erupted from the ground in front of the two crusaders. They both were thrown back, while Sweetie Belle accidentally casted the lightning spell upward, creating a fierce electric field that flew beyond the rooftops, and bent back down, striking anything it touches. Sweetie Belle landed on the ground hard, while Apple Bloom managed to land on her hooves, her blade still on her mouth's hold. The electrocuted unicorn fired a fierce mana beam straight at her. She ducked to dodge the attack, but didn't notice a fierce wave of fire from her side that swallowed her. She screeched through her teeth as she stood up to run away in reflex, but it caused her to be hit by the still-streaming mana beam above her. She was swiftly pushed by the mana beam, and against an iron wagon before explosion and smoke covered her entire form. “Apple Bloom!” Sweetie Belle screamed as she hastily dodges a fierce fire ball from a unicorn. She rolled to the side to dodge another one, and quickly struck her foe with a light electric shock. She was about to run and see how Apple Bloom was, but she sensed a mana beam coming her way, so she turned and countered the other unicorn's mana beam with her own. She gathered her might to try and push the beam, but she couldn't. Suddenly, as if from nowhere, a rope lassoed the tail of the crusader's foe, and was forcefully yanked outside of town. The unicorn hissed as his body was dragged on the ground, and when it stopped, he sighed in relief, only for two powerful hooves to stomp his helmeted head, digging down through the ground with his face first. “How'd ya like that, ya horn-headed freak!?” Sweetie Belle sighed in relief as Applejack grinned evilly at the unicorn under her hoof. Behind her were a few ponies of the Apple family, carrying with them different weaponry of wood and metal. Seeing Applejack suddenly reminded her of Apple Bloom. She quickly turned around and rushed towards a groaning earth pony mare. --- Scootaloo was ready to jump and dodge, but a loud rumbling noise caught her attention, and so were her three unicorn foes. Turning to the source, the unicorns yelped in surprise, but weren't fast enough to avoid the very fast moving wooden wagon. The unicorns were pushed by the wagon, and continued towards the earthy path and beyond. “That'll show 'em,” Braeburn chuckled as a few of his relatives appeared from the direction of where the wagon came from. “Ya okay there, kid?” he asked as soon as he saw Scootaloo's beaten form. A few of the ponies quickly helped Gold Blitz after Spike caught their attention. Gold Blitz coughed and wheezed. He sat down on the ground as he hastily began removing his hot armor. “Ugh,” he groaned after he removed his body armor, “these stupid things, all for Ponyville...” He chuckled weakly, and coughed. “Heh, I didn't do much, anyway...” He coughed again as a familiar blue bird landed on his head. “Just stop talking and concentrate on breathing, will you?” Spike spoke with anger and worry as the earth pony went into a coughing fit. --- Cloud Strike hovered about the burning town of Ponyville. He stared at the retreating unicorns that were still being chased by the pegasi and countless of flying and earth-bound animals. He smiled weakly as a few pegasi flew above town from Pegasopolis, carrying with them a few stormy clouds. The pegasi then kicked the stormy cloud, and the cloud responded by pouring rain down below. As the pegasi started hovering around with raining clouds, Cloud Strike stared towards the War Planes, where the unicorns were already retreating as well.