Big Mac', Rainbow and Pinkie stood and stared as Halius's hand began glowing brighter and brighter. The blue aura that engulfed it was an intense turquoise. The High Elf smiled when he looked up to see the three pairs of eyes fixed on him.
"Now you'll learn the true reason Golam selected me for his team!" His hands glowed a few moments longer before Halius unleashed his spell.
The ground all around him and the ponies suddenly froze in a thick layer of ice, and three huge creatures that looked as though they were made of ice appeared.
"How do you like my Atronachs*? Halius asked sarcastically.
Big Mac' glanced around with a bit of worry in his eyes. "Now since when has magic been able to do somethin' like this?" He asked shakily.
"I'm not sure, but I think we should worry about those... things... that are coming this way first!" Rainbow yelled, pointing at the frost atronachs that were shambling towards them.
In a flash of pink, Pinkie was gliding around on ice skates that the pink pony seemed to pull out of nowhere. "This is AWESOME!!! I love ice skating!" Pinkie screamed with joy as she slid in circles around the walking ice sculptures.
The atronachs swung aimlessly at the pink pony, but she was moving too fast for them. Rainbow looked on in amusement as their friend slipped back and forth between the three giants.
"Hey, Big Mac'?" Rainbow nudged the red stallion.
"Eeeyup?" He answered.
Rainbow gave a mischievous smile. "You think we can take those things down while they are distracted?"
"Eeeyup." The stallion replied. "I doubt Pinkie even realizes that she's got their attention, but if she keeps this up, it wouldn't be a problem at all."
"Alright then! Let's get 'em!" Rainbow lifted herself into the air and took off towards the giants with the farm stallion close behind.
The cyan pony flew directly into the closest atronach, smashing into its chest. The atronach stumbled backward a little, and the blow left a crack down its center, but it was relatively unfazed. Rainbow, on the other hand, laid on the ground holding her head.
"Ouch! I don't remember ice being that hard..." She laughed a little as she staggered to her feet.
"Come on, Rainbow. Aim fer their legs." Big Mac' said as he dashed past the dazed blue pony.
The red stallion bucked the atronach Rainbow had knock over in his leg, shattering it with an explosive crack. The atronach fell to the ground, and then began crawling towards Big Mac'. Mac' felt a gust of air fly by him as Pinkie zoomed by him and jumped into the air, slamming down onto the head of the crawling atronach. The sudden collision of ice skate-to-head crushed the wounded atronach's head entirely, causing the spell over the heap of ice to break.
"Damn you! You little ponies just don't give up, do you? Fine, if my atronachs aren't enough for you, I'll go one step further!" Halius announced as his entire body began glowing with the same blue aura he'd had when he first summoned the atronachs.
The two giants that were still standing suddenly dissolved, and the ice that had formed their bodies swirled around Halius. Slowly, the bright blue ice layered itself all over Halius's body. The ice started taking the form of a suit of armor as it built up, and blades - or rather, very sharp-edged ice shards - appeared on each of his forearms. His fingers were encased in ice that came to a point on the tips, and they looked like menacing claws. The armor lifted Halius up so he was as tall as one of the atronachs, and the only part of him it didn't cover up was his face.
"This is my ultimate spell! It took me years of practice and many failed and painful attempts, but I finally got it right. I call it the 'Armor of the Titan'. Let's see how you deal with this!" Halius's face contorted into a twisted smile as he readied himself for the battle that was to come.
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Twilight shook her head as Captain Pride tried again to take down one of the Dremora, and again was tossed away by the demonic creature. He'd been continuing this cycle for about ten minutes now.
"Captain, don't you think there might be a better way of dealing with these two creatures?" Twilight was a bit annoyed that Iron had kept up an obviously failing plan.
"But... I almost... got him... that time..." Iron said between breaths. "They've got... to be wearing down... by now..."
The Captain began yet another charge, but Twilight grabbed him with her magic and dragged him back over to her.
"Would you just listen to me! It's obvious that these things are very skilled fighters, so a direct approach isn't practical!" The purple unicorn said. "Just look at Rarity! She's no where near as strong as you are, yet she's holding off the other creature on her own. Just watch what she's doing. I'll handle this one for a moment." With that, Twilight sent a wall of magic towards the creature Iron had been fighting, knocking him backwards to give her some time.
Iron hated taking orders from Twilight, but he knew she was trying to help. He glanced over at Rarity and, to his surprise, she wasn't fairing very badly at all. She was sending baseball-sized rocks at the Dremora with her magic, which the creature easily deflected. But something was odd. She had I much larger rock - about the size of a watermelon - behind her, and he couldn't figure out why she didn't throw that one. Then he realized what she was doing. With each rock she threw, she inched it lower and lower. Before long, it appeared that Rarity was aiming for the Dremora's legs. But what Iron noticed was that, with the creature guarding low, he left his head completely exposed. As soon as the white pony knew the creature was focused on guarding his legs, Rarity lifted the watermelon-sized rock and flung it as hard as she could at the creature's head. The Dremora tried to guard his face, but he wasn't quick enough on the draw and the rock smashed his face directly. The demonic-looking creature hit the ground with a loud thud, and laid lifeless. Rarity had out-smarted the Dremora, but the expense of so much magic had taken its toll on her and she collapsed.
The Captain ran over to the heaving unicorn on the ground. "Rarity, are you alright?"
"I'm... fine... Darling..." She said quietly. "...Just ... a bit... tired..."
The Captain started to ask another question, but was cut off by an arrow the flew so close to him it knocked his helmet off. As if on instinct, Iron grabbed Rarity, threw her onto his back, and darted for cover.
"So close! How could I miss such an easy shot?" Ysura scolded herself.
Twilight looked over at Ysura after knocking the remaining Dremora back again. "You didn't miss; I saw it heading for The Captain and did my best to knock it off course with my magic. It almost got him anyway..." The purple unicorn said proudly.
"Oh well, you won't get that chance again!" Ysura said, pulling back her bowstring. "Take this!"
The Nord sent a barrage of arrows toward Twilight. The purple unicorn put up a magical wall, and held all of her concentration to keep it from breaking under the strain of the arrows. This, however, put her in a vulnerable situation. The Dremora got back up and ran at Twilight screaming in a foreign tongue. Twilight was powerless to stop his incoming attack...
'CLANG'
Twilight glanced over, and in front of the rampaging Dremora's sword stood Iron, with Rarity still on his back. He'd blocked the demonic creature's blade with his own, but the creature was overpowering him. The Dremora bashed and slashed at Iron's small steel sword, and the Captain was starting to show signs of wearing out. They were pinned there, stuck protecting their unconscious friend as both Iron and Twilight slowly ran out of the stamina needed to keep up the fight.
They were losing...
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Applejack let out a high pitched scream as she barely dodged the menacing claws of the werewolf. In one fluid motion, it had jumped from where it was straight passed her, clawing at as it passed. It's dark, cold eyes came into contact with the emerald green of Applejack's as it landed. The beast growled angrily for having missed it's target.
"Whoa... that critter is fast..." Applejack thought out loud.
"Is that even the mage anymore? His eyes seem so empty compared to the fiery eyes Kynan had shown..." Fluttershy commented.
Applejack wasn't really worried about the beast's eyes at that moment. "Well, we'd better figure somethin' out before we get into... look out!" Applejack cut her sentence off as the werewolf darted from where he was standing directly towards Fluttershy.
It missed, however, and instead grabbed onto an unsuspecting Derpy, dragging her from her aerial location straight to the ground. She yelped in pain as the full weight of the hulking creature landed on top of her. The beast raised it's paw to swipe at the shaken gray mare, but was interrupted by a sharp pain as Applejack slammed herself against it with the full extent of her strength. The werewolf was sent tumbling across the ground, and when it came to a stop, the beast let out a loud grunt.
"Y'alright, Derpy? That critter din't hurt you none, did it?" Applejack asked the wobbly mare.
"I'm... fine... just a little... dizzy..." Derpy glanced over at the beast. "How can we beat something so fast?"
Applejack looked worriedly from Derpy to the creature. "Ah'm not too sure, but we'll have ta wing it for now. Look out, it's gettin' up again!"
The orange farm pony dashed towards the beast, who took one look at her and began pouncing towards her. The werewolf lunged forward with it's arm out-stretched, aiming for Applejack's head. The earth pony ducked at the last moment, but the beast still smacked her favorite stetson hat off of her head. The creature gave a satisfied snort before realizing he'd missed the orange mare. Suddenly, he felt himself lift off the ground as Applejack bucked the werewolf in his stomach, knocking the wind out of him.
"Gotcha, ya big varmint! Um... uh oh..." Applejack said as she noticed the beast was falling back towards her. She had no time to get out of the way.
After Applejack heard the thud of the massive creature slamming to the ground, she opened her clenched eyes and noticed she wasn't under the werewolf after all. Actually, she wasn't even on the ground anymore.
"You okay, AJ? That creature didn't hurt you, did it?" Derpy mimicked what Applejack had said a few minutes before with a smile.
The orange pony smiled a little. "V-very f-funny, Derpy. Mind p-puttin' me d-down? Ah'm not v-very good with h-heights."
Derpy grinned sheepishly and set Applejack down on the ground. The farm pony shook herself and picked up her hat, setting back in place on her head. She jumped when the beast stood back up, seemingly unfazed by his ordeal.
"What can we do to beat this thing?! That buck had all the power Ah could muster behind it!" Applejack did a visible double-take. She took a couple of steps back as her eyes again met with the deep yellow that was the werewolf's eyes.
"Uh, girls? Ah think we need a new plan. NOW." Applejack said.
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Golam stood with both of his swords colliding with other blades. On his right, he was holding off Ra'zaan. On his left, he held off Nadene. The two were swinging like maniacs, furiously slashing left and right at the evil Dark Elf. Golam, while blocking every wild swing, had a bored look on his face.
"Is this really the best you two have? I must admit, I'm somewhat disappointed. Especially of you, girl." Golam yawned.
The evil mage side-swiped Ra'zaan in the Khajiit's gut with his foot, pushing him away. He then turned his attention to the Dark Elf at his left. He swung his right sword around and began mercilessly bashing against Nadene's dagger. She blocked the attacks, but with every swing she was pushed farther and farther back. She glanced back and noticed that they were rapidly coming up on a building. The shadowy side of a building, to be more precise. Golam kept on swinging, seemingly unaware that they were approaching a building. As soon as her foot stepped into the shadow, Nadene vanished into it. She reappeared on the wall, above where she had been standing, but to her surprise, Golam wasn't there.
"Did you really expect that to work, girl? I am the one who taught you how to use the shadows, after all." The evil mage said as he appeared next to Nadene.
Golam slammed both swords straight down in an arc. Nadene countered the attack, but the force of it threw her into the ground. As the dust cleared, Nadene could be seen with her body indented about six inches into the soft dirt.
"Nadene! Damn you, Golam!" Ra'zaan yelled loudly.
The rogue, satisfied he'd effectively finished his niece, turned to the Khajiit with a smirk on his face. "Aw, what's wrong, Cat? Did you really think you could beat me after fighting my subordinates? You are the biggest fool I've ever met."
Ra'zaan lost his temper. "Oh yeah? Is that right? That scar showing through the hole in your robes says something different!" He snapped.
"That injury was a fluke. A lucky shot. My mind was focused more on finishing our portal to this excuse of a world back then. You have my full attention now, Khajiit." Golam grinned. "That armor of yours is nice, but it won't help you against me!"
Golam tossed his left-handed sword to the side and lit his left hand with a bright electric hue. He sent it directly towards Ra'zaan, who's armor would only amplify the shocking effect.
"Ahhhhhhh!" The Khajiit said as the electricity flowed through him. "Fine, you asked for it!!"
The warrior undid his electrified chest-piece and removed it, followed quickly by his gauntlets and grieves. His clothing that Rarity had made him shined brightly in the sinking sunlight. He placed his sword back in its sheath and ran at the Dark Elf with his glass dagger.
Golam laughed. "You think you can hurt me with that little blade? You've obviously got a screw loose."
Golam got ready for what he thought would be an easy take-down, but the Khajiit was surprisingly fast without his armor weighing him down. In fact, he was downright acrobatic in his movements. Ra'zaan ran directly towards Golam at first, but quickly swerved right and ran up the wall. Golam swung around with his sword and sliced at the feline fighter, but the Khajiit pushed off the wall in such a way as to direct himself, completely upside-down, above Golam. As he was flying over the Dark Elf, Ra'zaan sliced down with his dagger and sliced the arm Golam hadn't been using, disabling it. He landed a few feet away, on his feet.
"You think I'm not capable of fighting with out armor, Golam? When I was just a kit, I had to be a thief just to survive. Even in my early years as a mercenary, I went out without armor with stealth-killing in mind. Don't ever underestimate me, mage!" Ra'zaan said cockily. He was trying to keep his anger down so he could keep that strength boost hidden as a last resort.
"Don't think you've won anything yet, you insufferable cat! I'll skin you alive!" Golam bellowed loudly. He was clutching his arm in a green glow, sealing the wound. He grimaced when he realized why the Khajiit had attacked that arm. The muscle in it had been sliced through, and the mage couldn't move it an inch. It would take a much longer healing spell to fix it. "Oh, you're going to pay for this, Khajiit!" he bellowed.
Meanwhile, Nadene's eyes slowly opened. She sat up and looked over to see Golam standing only a few feet away from her. He was looking the other direction. She quietly reached for her ebony dagger. If she could catch him off guard, then she might just get her revenge after all...
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Ysura smiled at the worn-out unicorn behind the magic shield. The Nord had been firing arrows over and over, and the signs of wear and tear could clearly be seen.
"What's wrong, little pony? Can't keep up?" Ysura laughed.
Twilight glared at the mage through tired eyes. "Shut...up..."
The purple unicorn and Captain Pride had held this position for more that ten minutes straight. Twilight held off arrows while Iron blocked oncoming swings from the one remaining Dremora. Iron had cuts and bruises all over himself, and was breathing heavily. Rarity, weak from expending too much magic, laid on his back. She was awake, but couldn't do much more than talk.
"You two... can't keep this up... forever..." Rarity said slowly. "You have got to do something soon!"
"Do you think we don't know that?! We're pinned, if you hadn't noticed!" Twilight's anger was beginning to get the best of her.
Rarity glanced down and spotted what she was looking for. "Captain, you still have your shield!"
"Yeah, but it's usually just for decoration because I can't hold the sword and the shield at the same time... wait a minute..." The Captain face-hoofed.
Rarity smiled weakly. "Are you thinking what I'm thinking?"
"I sure as hay hope so! Twilight, swap places with me! I think I can handle the arrows." Iron ordered.
"Twilight hesitated before answering. "Alright... I hope you know what you're doing!"
In an instant, the Captain dodged a swing from the Dremora and swapped his sword with his shield. He positioned himself in front of Twilight, and she then let down her magic wall. The purple unicorn whirled around and blasted the Dremora with a powerful force-push of magic, flinging the demonic creature back and causing it to drop it's weapon.
"Yes! It worked! Did you see that, Captain!? Uh... Captain?" Twilight turned around, only to see Iron, with his shield in front of himself and Rarity, being pushed back by an unending hail of arrows.
"Little... busy... right now... Twilight!" Iron said, barely holding on to his shield.
Twilight looked around, and spotted the Dremora's sword lying out in the open. She lifted it with her magic aura and flung it, point first, towards the Nord's bow. Caught off guard, Ysura gasped as her bow was ripped from he hands and carried off away from her.
"What?! Where did that... oh by the Nine..." Ysura yelled as she realized where the weapon had been thrown from.
"Thanks Twi... I owe you one..." Iron said, gasping for breath. At that point, he didn't really care about being formal like normal. His shield looked as if it had been struck with a hammer a few hundred times.
Ysura roared with anger just then, causing everypony, including the dazed Dremora, to turn and look at her.
"Oh, that's it! I'm going to reduce you persistent little creatures to ashes!!!" The raging mage screamed as both of her hands ignited in an intense flame.
The now-unarmed Dremora walked to the Nord's side, and she handed him a steel dagger out of her pouch.
"Kill... them..." Ysura hissed.
Iron set Rarity down and threw his battered shield to the side. He drew his sword and charged straight towards the Dremora. Sword met dagger as the Captain stopped the Dremora in his tracks.
"Take that damn mage down, Twilight! I'll handle this creature until you do!" Iron said around his sword's hilt.
The purple unicorn simply nodded and darted towards Ysura.
"I'm ending this! Burn, you little pest!" The Nord yelled, pulling one hand back and readying a fireball.
Twilight grabbed the mages hand with he purple magic aura and stopped the attack. Ysura pulled back her other hand to fire from that one, and Twilight didn't have time to stop her. She closed her eyes and waited for the attack to come.
She heard the fireball hit something, and opened her eyes to see. In front of her stood Rarity, holding the Captain's shield out ahead of her with her magic. She'd blocked it with the battered shield, and the shield fell in two shortly after the fireball impacted it. Before Ysura could attack again, Rarity latched her own blue-aura magic onto Ysura's free hand, and together with Twilight they lifted the mage into the air and slammed her into the ground, pinning her there.
The Captain disarmed the Dremora easily, and quickly decapitated it. After he was finished he glanced over and saw his two unicorn partners on the ground, collapsed and panting, with an unconscious mage in front of them.
"You got her! Nice job girls!" Iron yelled happily.
"Yeah... I just hope everypony else is doing okay..." Twilight said sadly.
'Rarity looked up in the direction Fluttershy, Applejack and Derpy had run off in. "Yeah... I hope they're okay too..."
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Applejack dodged left and right as the massive beast flung itself at her in every direction. The fight was going nowhere fast. It was all she could do to keep from being nailed by the creature's giant claws. Derpy and Fluttershy hovered a few feet off the ground and a few meters away, trying to think of a plan while Applejack kept the enemy busy.
"W-what are we going to do, D-Derpy?" Fluttershy asked worriedly, watching her friend play chicken with the werewolf's claws.
Derpy watched too; there had to be something they could do. "Maybe... we can trap it?" She suggested.
"B-but how? What could we use?" The canary mare asked.
"Well, Applejack could try to use her rope... Should we try it?" Derpy looked down at Applejack, who was starting to show signs of tiring after keeping up with the impossibly fast creature for so long. Derpy looked at Fluttershy, who nodded.
"Hey, Applejack! Try to tie him up!" Derpy yelled to her orange friend.
Applejack swerved to dodge another slash from the beast. "Hogtie 'im? Ah'll try, but this critter's got a problem with stayin' still!"
The farm pony whipped out a rope from Celestia knows where and tied it into a lasso. She waited until the werewolf was almost on top of her, then jumped into the air, throwing the lasso as she did. The rope wrapped around the beast's huge head as Applejack landed on the ground. She yanked with all her strength, but the creature was too strong. It grabbed the rope and yanked in it's direction, dragging Applejack towards it. The werewolf grabbed the poor, dizzy earth pony out of the air and slammed her to the ground.
"Applejack!" Derpy screamed as she saw her friend nearly broken under the force of the beast.
She and Fluttershy dive-bombed the creature, knocking it off of their friend. Derpy flew after the tumbling beast while Fluttershy checked on Applejack.
"Oh my gosh... are you alright, Applejack?" Fluttershy looked her friend up and down, inspecting her for any injuries.
"Ouch! Aw, don't you worry yerself over little ol' me, 'Shy. Ah'll be fine. Stay back here. Ah'm gonna go help Derpy, alright?" The battered orange pony looked over towards her gray friend, who was swooping and swerving around a very confused and enraged werewolf. "Stay safe, 'Shy. Derpy and Ah can handle 'im, Ah'm sure..."
Applejack shook herself and then darted off towards where Derpy was fighting the angry wolf. It's focus was on the sky, so the farm pony had an opening. She positioned herself beneath the hulking monstrosity and bucked it straight into the air. Before the creature could so much as figure out what had happened, Derpy swooped around and body-slammed it into a tree. The gray mare, out of breath from fighting alone, flew down and landed next to Applejack.
"Thanks, AJ. This thing is fast, but isn't very bright!" Derpy laughed.
Applejack's face was expressionless. If she was feeling anything, there would be no way of knowing. "Ah'm pretty darn sure we ain't done with this thing yet." She said disdainfully.
As if on cue, a howl came from behind several trees as the werewolf came crashing through. The two ponies looked at each other and then back at the beast. Derpy started lifting into the air and Applejack turned to flee, but the creature was too fast, and it slammed its full weight into both of the mares. The werewolf pinned them to the ground and began savagely clawing at them. Fluttershy looked on in horror as her two friends were scratched and clawed and beaten.
:"Hey, you! Leave my friends alone! What do you think you're doing, mister?!" Fluttershy said, coming out of her hiding place.
Applejack's stone-cold expression turned into a mortified one when her shy friend came out of hiding. "Fluttershy, RUN! Get out of here before it --- oufph!" She was cut off by another slap to her jaw as the massive creature looked up at the flustered little pegasus that had yelled at it.
It jumped off of Derpy and Applejack and ran mindlessly towards the canary-yellow pony. It growled and panted and ripped up the ground as it ran.
"Fluttershy, look out! That thing'll tear ya apart!" Applejack said, watching helplessly as the werewolf came closer and closer to her friend.
Fluttershy, on the other hand, was surprisingly calm as she waited for the beast to get to her. Well, calm wasn't really the word. Furious would pretty much cover it. The mindless creature bounded aimlessly towards her. Fluttershy closed her eyes.
Twenty feet away...
...ten feet...
...five...
'YIPE'!
The loud whine was heard from several miles around as the wolf's eyes met those of a very angry Fluttershy, as the look in them was one of almost hypnotic effect. The werewolf had stopped dead in its tracks and was now paralyzed with fear from just the mere sight of this shy little pony's eyes.
---
Deep in the recesses of the wolf's mind, a thought occurred. "W-what in T-Talos's n-name IS th-this p-pony?!?!" Kynan thought, seeing all that had happened since he'd let his inner beast out.
---
"Way to go, Fluttershy! How do we always forget she can do that?" Derpy asked happily.
"'Cause she don't have control of when it happens! Thank Celestia it happened when she needed it to!" Applejack was both excited, and angry that her friend had taken such a risk. "Oh, well. Grab that there rope, Derpy. We got ourselves a wolf to hogtie!"
After about five minutes, the farm mare and the gray mare had the still-paralyzed werewolf tied up nice and tight. They looked over at Fluttershy, only to see tears in her eyes.
"What's wrong, 'Shy? Ya gonna be okay, sugarcube?" Applejack asked calmly.
"Yes... I was just SO worried when you two got pinned... I'm sorry for worrying you, AJ... You too, Derpy..."
Applejack looked at her shy friend and smiled. "Ah, shucks. Don't worry yerself too much about it. Ya did a great job, after all!" The orange mare grinned.
Derpy glanced over and laughed. "Yeah! We'd have been goners for sure if it wasn't for you, Fluttershy!"
The shy pegasus blushed. She looked out in the direction the rest of her friends had gone. "I hope the others are doing okay, too..." She thought to herself.
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Big Mac, Rainbow and Pinkie just sat, dumbfounded by what they were seeing. The towering, armored version of Halius was extremely intimidating, but He hadn't moved since he changed. He just sat there, watching them quietly, waiting for them to make the first move. In the distance, a sound of pure fear was heard.
"What was that?!" Rainbow asked, whipping her head in the direction it came from. "Isn't that where Applejack and her group are? I wonder what happened..."
"You should be more focused on what's going on around you!" Halius said, firing a frozen spike from one of his ice-coated hands.
Rainbow dodged quickly, then glared at the mage. "Hey! That was a cheap shot!"
"Ya should have been payin' attention, Rainbow." Big Mac' said dryly.
Rainbow's glare then found a new target. "Hey, who's side are you on?!"
"Enough bickering! I'm going to finish you three as quickly as possible!" The old mage moved surprisingly fast, and was upon them in mere seconds.
They were caught slightly off guard, but dodged just as he slammed his fist into the ground, causing a frozen explosion of ice and snow. Pinkie, ever carefree, chose to ride right back to where she'd been and preceded to taunt the frustrated mage.
"Hehe! Missed me! Come catch me, meany mage!" The party pony laughed as she skated right behind Halius.
Halius was furious. "Damn it! I'm not as slow as those mindless atronachs, you little annoyance!" He growled as he swiftly swatted the pink pony off her feet and into a frozen rock.
"Owwie, that hurt! Why do you gotta be so mean? You should cheer up and stop being so evil! OOOOOH! I've got an idea! How about a song! Those always cheer people up!" Pinkie sucked in a huge amount of air before starting. "You've gotta shaaaare! You've gotta caaaaare! You've gotta..."
"Enough! By the Nine, your voice hurts my ears! Do you ever stop talking?!" Halius asked, holding his hands to his ears.
Rainbow took this opportunity to strike at the frozen mage. "Take this, you over-sized popsicle!"
Rainbow collided with the frozen back of Halius's head and slid to the ground. Halius didn't budge. He turned to her and booted her away with a merciless kick to the blue mare's ribs. She slid several feet before coming to a stop and coughing up blood.
"Pathetic! Your feeble attacks will have no effect on me! My armor is impenetrable!" Halius laughed maniacally.
Big Mac' ran to Rainbow's side as Halius turned his attention back to Pinkie. Pinkie was dashing back and forth on the ice, dodging flying shards of ice.
"Rainbow, y'alright? Can ya stand, or do I need to carry ya now?" The red stallion asked sarcastically.
Rainbow glared at him. "I'm perfectly... capable of standing... by myself... thanks!" She snapped between breaths. The kick hadn't done much more then knock the air out of her.
"Alright, then. Pinkie seems ta have the mage's attention fer now. What do ya think we can do ta beat 'im?" Big Mac' asked, staring at the icy titan.
Rainbow thought about his question a minute before answering. "I'm not sure, but one things for sure. If that thing doesn't have a weak point other than his face, we're not gonna win this..."
Big Mac' looked at Halius carefully while Pinkie kept his attention - or more accurately, rage - fixed on her. The mage's frozen body was not only faster than his normal one, it also looked as if there was no flaw in it all. Just as he was about to give up, something caught his eye.
"Ah think Ah've got an idea... Ya trust me?" He asked to blue pony next to him.
Rainbow rolled her eyes and nodded. "Of course. What's your idea?" The pegasus asked.
The red stallion pointed towards the mage's shoulder. "Look. Remember the cut Ra'zaan gave 'im? If you look at it, it has a crack where his skin was sliced from before."
"If that's our target, we just need to catch him off guard. Let's call in the secret weapon!" Rainbow smiled, pointing at Pinkie, who was sliding blissfully across the ice. "Pinkie!"
Before the two ponies could even take a step towards their overly-energetic before she was almost nose-to-nose with Rainbow Dash. "Yeah, Dashie? What's up?"
The red stallion and the blue mare quickly explained their discovery before the frozen giant came into earshot.
"Okay! You can count on me!" Pinkie cried as she spun around to tease Halius some more.
"Let's go!" Rainbow yelled as she flew off towards the mage with Big Mac' close behind.
Halius's face gave away everything he was feeling as he dealt with a fast, ice-skating pony at his feet, a blue pony dive-bombing him from the sky, and a big red stallion slamming into his feet. "Argh! Damn you little annoyances! Get away from me!" He screamed as him punted Pinkie away from him.
"Now!" Mac' yelled as he delivered a devastating buck to the back of the only leg Halius was standing on during the kick.
The mage hit the ground with a loud thud. "I'll get you for that!" He went to turn and attack the stallion responsible for his collapse, but suddenly he felt a sharp pain in his right shoulder. "Wh-what?!"
Rainbow had come in at nearly sonic speed after the mage had hit the ground. Aiming directly for his already-wounded shoulder, smashing the damaged ice in front of it.
"There's no way... Damn you Khajiit! You ruin everything!" Halius roared into the sky, realizing his older wound had caused a flaw in his armor. "Don't think this is over!" He said as he grabbed Rainbow Dash and squeezed her, effectively strangling her.
Though Rainbow's attack itself had only damaged the area around the mage's shoulder, the armor started to disintegrate completely. Halius's face suddenly turned to one of fear. He stopped strangling the cyan mare and pulled her close to him, holding her by the neck. He formed a frozen knife with his magic and put it to Rainbow's neck, facing Big Mac'.
"Don't ya hurt her! You're finished anyway, so why not come peacefully?" Mac' said, beginning to plead with the mage.
Halius smiled darkly. "I'm leaving this place. There's no way I'm getting captured!" He began backing up slowly, away from the farm stallion. I might even let her go after I get out of here!" The mage gave a vile laugh.
Big Mac' looked on helplessly as Rainbow was carried off. Then suddenly, something caught his eye, and he smiled.
"There's one thing ya fergot about, mage." Mac' said calmly.
Halius didn't catch his meaning. "...And what would that be, then?"
Mac' laughed. "Her."
That was the only thing that escaped Mac's mouth before a fluorescent pink hoof connected with the back of Halius's head. The pink pony on the other end of it had a very serious look on her face before she'd hit the mage, but, as both she and Halius hit the ground and Rainbow got free, her normal attitude returned.
"It isn't very nice to threaten ponies like that, silly!" Pinkie said to the groaning High Elf on the ground.
Halius went to get up and run, but felt two sets of four hooves land on his back and force him back to the ground.
"Oh, no you don't! You're not going anywhere!" Rainbow yelled victoriously.
The three ponies tied up the disheveled and defeated mage before sitting back down and catching their breaths.
"That was hard! I wonder how the others made out..." Pinkie said happily, as she and her two friends looked off towards where Ra'zaan and Nadene had gone.
"Ah thought Ah heard voices! Y'all made out all right too, huh?" A familiar southern female voice suddenly appeared behind the three ponies.
It was accompanied by the sound of three sets of hooves and something being dragged. Pinkie, Mac' and Rainbow turned to see Applejack, Fluttershy and Derpy walking towards them, dragging a strange looking animal.
"Ah'm not even gonna ask. So, y'all have a hard time? We sure did." Mac' said with a huff.
"Yeah, this big critter here gave us a good run-around. We got im' though, thanks to 'Shy."
"Yet another familiar voice piped in as she finished. "You all made out okay! Great!" A certain purple unicorn called.
This time, six heads whirled around to see Twilight, Rarity and Iron walking slowly with their opponent in a magic bubble much like the one Kynan had been in, but a bit weaker.
"Everypony made it! This couldn't have gone any better!" Rainbow yelled with delight.
"Not everypony." Applejack said with concern in her voice. "Ra'zaan and Nadene are still out there."
"She's right, girls! Oh, and a... guys..." Twilight smiled sheepishly at Big Mac' and Iron,who were the only two of the nine that were stallions. "We'd better go find out how those two are doing. Let's go."
All nine ponies, with the defeated mages in tow, turned in the direction Ra'zaan and Nadene had gone off in and started off towards them. They knew if anypony was capable of defeating Golam, Ra'zaan could, but worry was clearly visible on everypony's face as they walked.
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Nadene inched closer and closer to Golam, who still had his back turned to her. She was being sloppy. She wanted her payback. Dagger in hand, she jumped at the seemingly distracted Dark Elf. Golam moved just out of reach as she was about to slice him though, and Nadene landed on the ground in front of him.
"You're pitiful. Did you learn anything from your training?" Golam was standing over his niece with his sword raised in his good hand. "You've outlived your usefulness to me. Now I'll send you to the Divines!" He swung his blade down towards Nadene.
She barely rolled out of the way in time to dodge the attack. She got up quickly and ignited both her hands with electricity. Golam, noticing this, sheathed his sword and ignited his own hand with electric energy.
"Nadene, what are you doing?! We need to work together!" Ra'zaan yelled to the young Dark Elf.
Nadene glanced at the Khajiit for mere seconds before looking back at the target of all of her rage and sadness. "I want to deal with him alone, Ra'zaan. Please." She begged.
The Khajiit shrunk back. He didn't want to get in her way. Nadene fired her electricity from both hands while Golam only used one, and the attacks collided together in the center. Being equal in power, the two sides seemed to be at a stalemate.
"I... won't... lose... to you!" Nadene said, throwing all of her power into her magic.
The magic flowing from Nadene slowly started moving towards Golam, pushing his flow back.
"I've got you now!" The young Dark Elf woman said.
Golam's face remained blank as she pushed his magic further and further back towards him. It inched slowly along, coming closer and closer. Nadene had a huge, malicious smile spread across her face. Suddenly, showing his full strength, Golam gave a single push forward with his hand, and his power dwarfed that of Nadene. The evil mage's electricity completely destroyed the flabbergasted Dark Elf's stream of magic, and she was hit directly with the complete force of Golam's shocking attack. Golam held her in the continuous flow of energy for several moments before dropping her where she stood.
"...And that is the reason the apprentice never challenges the master." Golam laughed. He then turned to Ra'zaan. "Well, Khajiit? Still think you can beat me?" He grinned.
Ra'zaan stared at the lifeless body of Nadene. The only thought running through his mind was "Please don't let her be dead...please don't let her be dead!" With his eyes closed, the Khajiit lifted his head and pointed it towards Golam. His eyes opened slowly, and the fire in Ra'zaan's eyes could have matched the power of Fluttershy's stare.
"You have no concern at all for who or what you hurt to get what you want, do you?" Ra'zaan roared. He drew out his katana again and continued. "I'm going to show you just how much you've screwed yourself over with that philosophy, Golam!!!"
Ra'zaan charge at Golam with everything he had. Golam fired stream after stream of lightning at Ra'zaan, but the Khajiit dodged each and every one. The mage whipped out his own katana and locked blades with the Khajiit, and sparks flew from their connecting swords. Golam glanced into Ra'zaan's eyes while they held this position, and quickly wished he hadn't. What ever he'd done, Golam was sure he'd awoken an emotion that had laid long dormant. Ra'zaan, on the other hand, already knew what it was. Pure, uncontrollable hatred. Golam swung his blade again, smashing it against the Khajiit's and pushing him back.
"Well, now I know why Khajiit never show emotion. You fools don't even have the mental strength to control your emotions once they're out!" A hint of fear that was in the evil mage's eyes quickly dispersed before Ra'zaan could see it.
A noise behind the mage and the Khajiit made them both spin around, only to see something that completely caught Golam off guard. Nine ponies carrying three now-conscious but still bound mages.
"Ra'zaan! Are you okay?" Twilight asked. When she saw the look in his eyes she stopped dead in her tracks and already knew the answer.
Golam stared in disbelief for a moment. "How could you have possibly defeated my subordinates?!"
"It doesn't matter! Your fight is with me, Golam! All of you, stay out of this!!" Ra'zaan roared with enough volume to rival the Royal Canterlot Voice.
All nine of the ponies backed up a few paces and looked on in confusion and fear as the Khajiit and his enemy turned back towards each other. Ra'zaan gripped his sword as if he was ready to destroy anything that got in his way. Golam smiled.
"Fine, you want to wrap this up as fast as I do, so I won't hold back anymore!" The mage said. Golam's sword began to spark with electricity as he combined his magic with the blade. It glowed an intense electric blue aura and he held it out for all to see. "Let's see what you can do, Cat!"
Ra'zaan smiled and licked the edge of his blade. His left hand ignited and he lit his sword much like he had done in his battle with Halius. But something was definitely different. Instead of merely glowing a fiery red like it had before, the blade turned completely white hot and red flames visibly reached out from the katana.
"I'm ready when you are, Mage!" The Khajiit roared.
TO BE CONTINUED
Atronachs* - Conjuration ability. This spell summons one of three types of elemental creature, each with its own look. Ice, Fire, and Storm are the three types. Obviously, the scene with Halius using them as a suit of armor is completely of my own design and absolutely not part of The Elder Scrolls. It sounded pretty cool, though, right?