//------------------------------// // Chapter 7 - Rainbows Hit Hard // Story: My Little Warcraft - New Friends // by Shin Guyviroth //------------------------------// It was definitely a very satisfying experience for Gai'vahros to visit a new world that wasn't filled to the brim with seething hatred for others, brimming with conflict and total nonstop warfare. He was only just beginning to fathom that this world was so easy going and that he was, perhaps for the first time in a very long time, meeting people-- or rather ponies-- that he could call "friends". He was definitely satisfied that this was not just another world of warcraft. As the blood elf approached the two equine he realized that, while he was comforting the saddened filly inside, they had been watching him the whole time. Gai'vahros felt a bit uncomfortable as they gazed at him, with not one of them giving off their usual splendid cheery smile. He felt that he was about to be reprimanded for something, although his mind couldn't begin to conjure a scenario to which he did something wrong. For a moment the only sounds that could be heard was the creaking of the lightly swinging barn house door and the flowing wind, but neither of them separate or combined could cut through the tension that Gai'vahros was feeling. He had to break it somehow. "I think everything will be okay now," Gai'vahros reassured the two of them with a big smile on his face as he clapped his hands together, giving off a soft thump as the silk gloves patted together. "your little sister is a bit more understanding of her punishment. I hope, anyway." "So, what were ya talkin' 'bout?" Applejack questioned. She was awfully surprised that this creature was able to bring some sensibility to the otherwise rash and headstrong Apple Bloom. Surely the elf had said something rather spectacular if he was able to "tame" the young filly. "Oh, it wasn't an awful lot, my Lady Applejack," Gai'vahros replied in a soft tone, but he didn't mean to patronize the pony. "I just told her about your fear of losing her." The response seemed to garner a rapid reaction from Applejack to the point where Gai'vahros could see it in her eyes that she was starting to imagine that dark reality. "Y-yeah," Applejack began to stutter a little as she tried to keep her attention on Gai'vahros and not on the possibility of losing her little sister. "I guess I never thought of it that way before. Hurt, maybe, but never... y'know..." "I understand fully, my Lady Applejack," Gai'vahros reassured her while placing a hand on her shoulder. Whatever it was he was doing Applejack felt so much solace in it, but it was only a gentle touch on her shoulder. It was nothing spectacular, and yet, when he did so, it felt as though a heavy burden was lifted from her back. "but I think maybe you should be a little lenient of your punishment with Apple Bloom. Don't you agree?" "Hmmm... yeah, I guess you're right." Applejack was hesitant as first, but something about this elf's presence made her feel more lightened up as though just being with him felt securing. It was perhaps this quality that made Apple Bloom think so highly of him. Gai'vahros nodded in acknowledgement before taking his hand off the pony's shoulder. The wind began to pick up a great deal. A huge gust blasted through the acre; crops swaying to one side past a forty five degree tilt. The branched in the trees began to swish around up and down, side to side, something even in circles. The large barn house doors began to swing on its hinges more so but not clashing into the structure itself. Lastly, the small wooden sign that was hanging by a couple of chains began to swoon back and forth like a swing. As the three of them looked up they all noticed a small flying object heading to them at a very fast speed, a speed to which Gai'vahros had not witnessed before, although he did recognize the shape as a flying horse. It was very peculiar to him as he had not seen a pony with wings in this world yet, to which he began to postulate that perhaps there are some similarities with this world and Azeroth. As sudden as it came, the pony stopped almost immediately in front of Twilight and Applejack. The pony was of a bright sky blue colour with sparkling amethyst eyes, a rainbow colour mane and tail, and large feathered wings on her back. The pony seemed to be slightly out of breath, as though she had been flying for hours at a time. "Ah, Twilight," the pony started, exhaling hard as she huffed the name of her lavender friend. "I've been looking everywhere for you! I need your help with something!" "Rainbow Dash, what's wrong?" Twilight tried her best to get a word in edge ways in between Rainbow Dash' frantic and heavily-breathed words. "You sound like you've seen trouble." "Well, gee, that's because I HAVE seen trouble!" Twilight and Applejack reared back with open mouths in shock for a moment at Rainbow Dash' exclamation. "See, I was chillin' out in Cloudsdale-- practicing my moves to show off to the Wonderbolts-- when I noticed this huge, odd shaped hole in the cloud! So, I was hoping you had a book or something that could help us figure out what caused it." "This sounds pretty serious," Gai'vahros said from the side, to which Rainbow Dash took a glance at hm. She was considerably cautious of the elf for a moment. "If you wish, I can--" "Hey… it's YOU!" Rainbow Dash' eyes took a turn from contemplation to one of hostility. "You're the one who made the hole in Cloudsdale!" With utmost intensity, she threw one of her forelegs forwards, pointing harshly at the blood knight who, to his credit, didn't know what she was accusing him of. "What are you talking about?" Gai'vahros questioned her with a half-smile and confused eyes. His facial expression showed a look of confusion. "I've no idea what this "Clouds Dale" is, and I sure as hell can't blow things up. I can't even place bombs at the right door." "You can't lie to me, vandal; I'd recognize that stupid pointy mane anywhere, and those ridiculously large shoulder pads!" "Hey, large shoulders are the fashion, and I certainly don't--" however, before Gai'vahros could finish his verbal reprimand of Rainbow Dash' insults, he was suddenly struck with a fast and strong flying kick from the agitated pony. Her hind leg ploughing straight into the elf's abdomen, sending him flying backwards several meters onto his back before he slid to a sudden halt. "Rainbow Dash, what are you doing!?" Twilight stepped forwards with a shocked look on her face. "Gai'vahros couldn't possibly have done it; he has no way to get there!" "I know he did it, Twi," Rainbow Dash responded with determination to deliver justice to the fallen blood knight. "the hole looks exactly like this guy! How else would I recognize him?" "Ah… good shot," Gai'vahros struggled a bit, placing a hand on where the blue pony had kicked him. The gold plating wasn't damaged or dented despite so much of the force being prevented by it from damaging his own body, although it still winded him for a moment. "but if fighting you is the only way to make you listen, then--" as he was about to finish his acceptance to her challenge he reached the left side of his waist for his weapon, but realized that he hadn't any of his equipment with him. "Damn it. Well, I've no need for weapons to best you, horsey." Gai'vahros certainly noticed his opponent's rash nature, so taunting her to attack head on was an apt strategy. "Whad'ya say to me!?" Rainbow Dash began to become flustered from being taunted by the rather cocky elf, narrowing her eyes. "You ain't getting up after this one!" Rainbow Dash charged forwards with great speed with a foreleg stretched out to deliver a powerful blow. "Kneel down." Gai'vahros wanted her to do exactly this, and quickly pushed his hand out, open, palm facing towards the rushing pony. Suddenly she stopped in her tracks, where she floated a foot or so off the ground before dropping onto her flank. With his powers of the Holy Light Gai'vahros used his spell, "Hammer of Justice", to stun the pony, keeping her from acting for a few moments. "Ugh… H-hey, what's going--?" for a moment Rainbow Dash was dazed as the sudden concussive force caused her eyesight to dazzle and blur. "And repent." as holy energy began to surge through the outstretched arm of Gai'vahros and into his hand, he closed his fingers quickly into a fist, causing Rainbow Dash to be struck by a surge of light although it was not harmful by any means. The blood knight's "Repentance" spell caused Rainbow Dash to enter a meditative state with her head dropping down as her eyes closed. "Gai, what in tarnation did ya do to Rainbow Dash!?" exclaimed Applejack, rushing over to her sleeping friend, looking across to her face. She sounded angry and yet concerned for her friend as well. "Don't worry, I've only put her in a meditative sleep," Gai'vahros walked towards the two of them who were only a few meters away from him. "though I'm rather confused; she recognized me because the shape of this "hole" is the shape of me? Surely I couldn't run through a wall without killing myself." "Oh, Gai'vahros, Cloudsdale is… well, made out of clouds," Twilight corrected him as he began to wonder how he would run through a brick wall. "it's located a little bit outside of Ponyville, in the skies." "Ah, I had a similar experience back in my world, within the realms of the Vortex Pinnacle and the Throne of Four Winds," Gai'vahros began to understand while reminiscing some of his recent activities. "ah, good fun…" "So, Gai, you're sayin' that you didn't make no hole in Cloudsdale, and yet Rainbow Dash recognizes the hole was made by your body? You ain't lyin' to us, are ya?" Applejack was dubious about the situation; there was no way Rainbow Dash could have recognized him by any other means, but Gai'vahros seemed sincere in his denial. "I honestly don't know what to tell you, my Lady Applejack," Gai'vahros said with a small shrug of his arms and shake of his head. He was just as confused as the rest of them. "If I decided to run head first through a city made of clouds, I'd remember something like that. However…" "Do you have something in mind, Gai'vahros?" Twilight was more or less the middle person in this mystery. She had no reason to take sides or suspect anything, especially without seeing it for herself. "I do, although…" Gai'vahros paused for a moment as he began to contemplate on his own scenario as to how he caused the hole. It was far-fetched but he couldn't rule it out considering it was his only lifeline at this point. "I can't say for certain unless I see what has happened myself. How far is Cloudsdale from here?" "From the outskirt of Ponyville? About a few minutes, but you can't get there without wings. I can make us up a few potions to give us what we need to get there, though." "Oh, no need to bother yourself in making me a potion, my Lady Twilight," Gai'vahros held out a hand in a gesture of consideration. "I'll be able to get there myself. You just need to give me a few directions." "But, Gai'vahros, you don't have any wings, and all of your equipment is still missing." Twilight was baffled as to what Gai'vahros was harping at, not noticing anything on him that would suggest he could fly. "Hah, I'd almost forgotten about that, but watch." Gai'vahros placed his hands together as though beginning a prayer and, with a sudden wave of his arms to the side, four bright luminescent wings, entirely of light, formed on his back behind his cape. Almost reminiscent of a butterfly, the top wings were a bit larger than the bottom ones, which pointed downwards as opposed to the former pointing upwards. All four wings gave a slight flap forwards, flicking forwards what was similar to gold dust before remaining stationary, pulsating a radiance of light every second. "Well I'll be," Applejack was the first to speak, astounded by the power of the elf and the beauty of his light-touched wings. "you're just full of surprises, ain't ya?" "Hah, I'll say," Twilight couldn't help but agree with Applejack. "but… shall we leave Rainbow Dash here?" "Oh no, of course not," Gai'vahros gave a small chuckle before turning to the sleeping pegasus. As he approached her his wings began to fade, dissipate into glittery shards of light. "I think she's ready to snap out of it." The elf stretched out his hand and, with his index finger, prodded Rainbow Dash' forehead, watching as it rocked back and then forwards. "Uh… ah…" Rainbow Dash sounded considerably groggy although that was just the usual effects of being hit by a Repentance spell. Her eyes slowly opened, though her vision was still blurry for a small duration, looking on as Gai'vahros' smiling face came into focus. "W-what happened? What did you do to me?" Rainbow Dash was much calmer than before as she began to speak to the blood elf, although that was mainly because she felt a bit dizzy. "Well, you needed to cool down for a little," Gai'vahros said with a hint of humour in his voice. "but we're going to go to this Cloudsdale place and try and figure out what caused the hole and, if it was me, how the hell I managed to do it." "Pfft, sounds like another excuse to go and make more holes!" Rainbow Dash couldn't help but still feel inclined to suspect this person of malicious intentions, although she began to understand that, if Twilight and Applejack were going along as well, he wouldn't get away with it. "Well, fine then. But I'm coming with you, too!" "I wouldn't have it any other way, my Lady Rainbow Dash." Gai'vahros said, walking away towards Twilight and Applejack. Rainbow Dash grumbled as she blushed a little, not being called a "Lady" before, or at least very rarely. "So, my Lady Twilight, shall we get back to your place and start preparations?" "Sure thing, Gai'vahros," Twilight nodded in agreement, turning back towards the fence with the others following suit. "By the way, what are you missing from your belongings? You said all of your equipment went missing, right?" "Yeah, that's right," Gai'vahros responded while trying to recall what was in his bags. "well there's two swords, a shield, my hearthstone, my jeweller's kit, a pickaxe, my surveying equipment, my cooking supplies, my fishing rod, my pet stone, and my mount stone." "Dude, you carry all of that stuff with you, like, all the time?" Rainbow Dash was surprised that he could carry so much stuff in one bag. "Doesn't that tire you out?" "I don't understand," Gai'vahros turned his head back to the pegasus. "that's not an awful lot. I usually carry a second change of clothes too, as well as some other things. I usually carry a few tens of stuff." "That's a LOT of things," Rainbow Dash couldn't help but feel some sort of admiration for the blood knight, but she wasn't about to admit it. "but you said you were missing a few stones, right? I picked up a couple at the scene where the hole was, but I left them back at my place in Cloudsdale." "Oh, really?" Gai'vahros had a rather large smile on his face that some of his equipment was beginning to show up sooner rather than later. "If I could have them back, my Lady Rainbow Dash, I'd be most grateful." "Chyeah, when we get the hole patched up first," Rainbow Dash huffed, with a blush on her face again as well as an irate expression. "and don't call me "Lady"!"