//------------------------------// // Test your might, PREPARE TO FIGHT! // Story: Heroes rise in the darkest of times.... // by Airoe //------------------------------// Location: Canterlot Castle Forgotten Halls. Hero Retrieval: Successful. Time: 5:38 p.m. As one, all three portals flared, and the respective Princess and Hero stepped out of them, Cadence and The Warden, Celestia and The Wanderer, and Luna and the Dragon Born. All three princesses converged on each other, greeting one another warmly, while the three Outworlders studied each other. Veskia the Khajiit pulled down her hood and mask again, revealing her face, to the shock of Adrian and Sarah. Adrian pulled back his hood, revealing him to be an elf while Sarah just stood there, rolling up the left sleeve of her jacket, revealing a dull grey glove on her hand, connected to a strange device that covered the rest of her lower arm up to the elbow, with a dimly glowing blue screen. The princesses watched the thre curiously, and cautiously. Adrian broke the silence by moving between the two, the females unmoving. He then stuck a hand out to each of them. "Adrian Valroth,Grey Warden. Pleasure to meet you both." Sarah blinked before grasping the hand before her and giving it a firm shake before letting go. "Sarah Rogers. Lone Wanderer." Veskia rolled her eyes before following suite. "Veskia. Dragon Born." Adrian grinned and took a step back, studying both the women, while the Princesses watched on in silence. "Dragon Born and Lone Wanderer, huh? Sounds more mystical than my title. Any who, it seem that YOU, Ms.Rogers," Sarah blinked at the elf, "Obviously do not know our species, and I don't know Veskia's. I'm an elf, a mage by trade." Veskia grunted. "I am a Khajiit. Mostly related to cats due to our appearances and inborn ability to see in the dark. Anyhow, shall we get down to business?" Sarah and Adrian turned with her to stand before the princesses. Celestia walked up and nodded. "Very well. I am Princess Celestia, for the two of you who don't know. This is my sister, Luna," She motioned to Luna with a nod of her head, Luna bowing slightly, "and my niece, Cadence." Cadence just waved. The three heroes smiled and introduced themselves one at a time. Luna stepped forward, about to say something when the portals shut on themselves, and the sound of someone rapidly approaching coming from the still open hallway. Cadence looked to the three bipedals. "Quick, hide!" Sarah didn't need to be told twice. She bolted over to the nearest wall and blew out the torch before crouching against it, almost unnoticeable except for those with the most trained of eyes. Veskia did the same, dragging Adrian along and holding him against the wall silently. Luna was impressed with how the two women could hide so quickly, and so well, even with another with them. A guard, clad in gold armor, burst out of the hallway, panting heavily. "Your...Your majesties....The city....Under attack....Shadows....At the south....Elements....Spotted there as well." Celestia and Luna looked to each other with wide eyes. Cadence ran up to the guard. "Get me to Captain Armor, NOW!" The guard saluted and led the way, the both of them vanishing in the corridor. Sarah came out of the shadows first, pulling a cylinder out of the back of the rectangular part of her strange weapon, inspecting it, and slapping it back in and pulling a small lever into place to secure it. Veskia came out with Adrian, loading her crossbow, and giving Celestia and Luna a good look at it. (To save time and my sanity, here is a pic.) Adrian stepped closer to the princesses, pulling his hood over his head. Veskia did the same, and pulled up her face mask. "Your majesties, I think it's time we see what we will be fighting." Sarah grinned under her fedora. "And kick their asses to kingdom come while we're at it!" Veskia chuckled at the woman's obvious enthusiasm. "Save the murderous intentions for the bad guys, yes?" Sarah shrugged. "Hey, if I can help it, I-" Adrian clapped loudly, causing them to stop. Luna nodded and teleported them out of the room, and up to the balcony in her tower, giving them a full view of the city, and the ability to hear the fighting, and screams, coming from the south end of the city. Sarah ran to the edge and looked down, a frown on her face. "We NEED to be down there, NOW!" Adrian stepped next to her, is staff on his back, arms crossed. "They'll definitely need us." Veskia loaded her crossbow with an orange tipped bolt. "And by Talos we shall." She turned to Luna. "How close can you get us?" Luna grinned at her sister, who was staring at the carnage below. "Close enough, but perhaps it would be better if the sun was up fully, no?" Celestia blinked before igniting her horn, the sun rising to its highest point, making the sky light up as if it were seven in the morning. The three heroes, momentarily stunned, each quickly prayed to their own gods to wake them up if this is a dream. Luna ignited her horn next. "Be careful, and save as many of our little ponies as possible please." In a flash, all three of them were standing on a rooftop near a train station, pure chaos down below. Pony guards in golden armor wielding spears and swords were holding a fading line, letting regular civilian ponies get away. Six of said civilians were in the middle of beings made of shadow, hundreds of them, like they were told, finding for themselves pretty well. Veskia snarled at this all the same and pointed to them. "I will get them out of there. You two assist the guards!" Adrian and Sarah nodded before leaping off the roof and into the streets below. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Battle: Initiated Location: Canterlot Objective: Save all innocents. Hero: Veskia the Dragon Born Veskia looked around, and found a large park to her left. She pulled down her face mask and took a deep breath. When she spoke, her volume matched that of the Royal Canterlot Voice, but was unheard over the screaming and carnage behind her. DURMHEVIIR! Her throat burned slightly, something she was used to. Several purple circles began forming and spinning in the center of the park, and soon, a large dragon with grey scales materialized, and took in his surroundings before noticing Veskia. When he spoke, his wise, aged voice nearly shook the buildings nearby. "Greetings, Thuri. May I ask where you have summoned me to?" Veskia shook her head. "No time to explain, old friend. Behind me are creatures, made of Shadow. Slaughter them and only them, nothing else, until the Soul Cairn calls for you once more, understand?" Durmheviir chuckled. "So be it. For my freedom, your wish is my command!" And with that, the dragon took to the sky. Veskia watched as Durmheviir flew over her and started to thin out the horde of monsters swiftly with his flaming, purple breath. Not to be outdone, she turned her head to the side closest to the train station. 'Need to move for this to work...' Grinning, she pulled her mask back up and sprinted, jumping roof top to roof top, tand then to the very edge of the horde. She could no longer see the ponies, but her mind calculated this wouldn't reach them. She set her Crossbow down and readied her inner magic outward, into a black and purple ball of energy. Chuckling, she took another deep breath, and waited a moment before yelling at the top of her lungs, "FUS-RO-DAH!" The result blew back all of those directly in front of her, disintegrating the bodies into piles of ash. SOme of the horde turned on her, thinking they had found something else to kill. Veskia fed power into the little ball of magic in her hand before throwing it. The ball expanded upon impact, and out of it stepped a being completely made of ice. Upon seeing the shadows attacking its master, the Ice Atronach ran straight at them, smashing through them easily. Meanwhile, Veskia picked her crossbow back up and studied the area as her conjuration fought off the attackers. She was standing near the train station, the sound of some form of elecricity, and other elements reaching her ears from the line, which was now holding, and even pushing back. With a mischevious grin, she looked to the sky and yelled again. "Durm! To me!" The dragon landed next to her seconds later, causing the ground to shake violently. Veskia was used to it, and kept her balance before hopping on Durmheviir's neck, where it and the head meet. "Get me to those ponies in the middle of the fighting! I'll get them out, cover you cover us!" Durmheviir launched into the air once again. "Very well Thuri, but know that my time is running short, we must end this!" Veskia grunted as he dove at the ponies, and at the last possible second, turned upside down, letting Veskia fall off at a safe height, before righting himself and taking to the skies with a mighty roar. Speaking of righting, Veskia spun through the air gracefully before landing in the middle of the group, causing them to gasp. Vesia nodded to them, aimed in the direction of the train station, and fired her crossbow. The resulting explosion from her explosive bolt blew several of the Shadows up, and sent some others flying. She then stepped forward, in front of the ponies, ignoring their glances and colors. At this point, her throat was heating up from the shouting. 'Once more at least please, once more before my limit...' And with that, she let out another familiar yell. "YOL-TOOR-SHUL!" As she let the mighty yell go, it turned into a swirling inferno, catching and incinerating any in its path. Soon as the way started too clear, Veskia turned to the ponies, seeing a barrier up. 'A ward? Clever!' She motioned to them, then the station. They all understood, and dropped the shield before the group teleported away. As they did, Veskia found herself surrounded by the remaining Shadows, at least a hundred of them. That is, until a quarter of them were killed off by a blizzard that came from nowhere. Another quarter falling to red lights and strange sounds turning them to ash, and the final two quarters being taken care of by the guards and Durmheviir before her dematerialized before everyone's eyes. Sarah and Adrian came running up, panting heavily. "Dragon Born, eh? From that thing I saw, and what you were doing, I'd say that sounds about right!," Said Sarah, stuffing a new cylinder into her device. Adrian pulled out a blue vial from a pouch at his side and downed it quickly with a sigh. "Indeed. That was something else." Veskia shook her head and cleared her throat, trying to hide her current discomfort. "And what kept you two?" Sarah and Adrian both looked to each other before smirking and shrugging. "Well, ya see....." ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Battle: Initiated Location: Canterlot Objective: Aid Guards in defense. Heroes: Sarah the Lone Wanderer and Adrian the Grey Warden Soon as the two jumped off the roof, a guard was thrown past them and into a nearby wall. He fell to the wall, striied slightly, before finally losing consciousness. Sarah pulled Metal Blaster off her back and shouldered the modded laser rifle while Adrian pulled out his staff. Together, they both charged towards the fading line of what seemed thirty something pony guards. The Shadows they were fighting were grotesque monsters, looking like something had stitched them together and given them weapons. Sarah quickly snapped to V.A.T.S., where time seemed to stop, but really just slowed down for her. Unknown to everyone else, her Pip-boy gave her quite a few perks, including a Heads Up Display which displayed her heart and pulse rates, and an estimation of how much damage she can take, and, her biggest advantage, Action Points, which lets her put a new spin of accuracy on any weapon. She noticed several guards being overwhelmed, and about to be killed, and put all of her action points on those Shadows. When V.A.T.S. turned off, her body acted on its own accord, aiming and snapping off a total of seven perfectly aimed shots, sending five lasers into each Shadow and disintegrating it. Adrian looked to her device and gawked. When another guard fell screaming, he shook himself out of it and dug through his mental archive of spells until he found the perfect one, one he seemed to be using a lot recently. He bolted towards the defensive line, his staff becoming encased with lightning as he did. Right before he made it to the first pony, he jumped, landing and standing lightly on it's back, much to it's surprise, and fired a large ball of lightning that split into smaller ones upon impact, electrocuting any it touched. He hopped into the gap and snapped off a cone of fire from his staff at the group to his right, and a cone of ice shards to the group on his left. Some of the Shadows were smart enough to come up where he wasn't casting, only to get blasted down by Sarah. The stunned guards, who were suddenly given some moments to collect their thoughts, immediately recognized that these....Things, were on their side. Adrian dispelled the cones, Sarah and the guards charging past with war cries. The guards, now lead by a guard in bright yellow armor and a dome of....cheese?.... tattooed on his flank, the guards snapping off spells and cutting down Shadows while Sarah snapped off shots with her rifle, only pausing her bombardment to swiftly reload and continue her hail of burning death. Adrian grinned, not to be outdone, he charged up and with the line, snapping off spells quicker than any of the Unicorn guards, and healing any of the wounded. After mere moments of this, they heard Veskia shouting, and LOUDLY, only to find her decimating Shadows, with her voice! The group that was sin the middle of the Shadows suddenly teleported behind them, getting escorted away by some of the guards. While this happened, Sarah and Adrian helped save Veskia while mopping up the rest. The guards started cheering and letting forth joyful whoops for their victory. Sarah and Adrian caught up to Veskia, and explained their side of the battle. Veskia shook her head and chuckled. "I think we make a good team. This is a good thing indeed." Adrian nodded. "I couldn't agree more. We may just be able to turn the tide here, and might I say, it's be awhile since I wasted magic that fast!" Sarah chuckled and slung her rifle over her shoulder. "Only wasted three mags. This was a cakewalk!" Veskia looked past the duo to see her Frost Atronach vanish in a burst of lightning before sighing. "Best we return to the castle, no?" They all nodded and made their way through the carnage, asking the guards for directions, which they happily gave, walking towards the castle, each trying to think of where this would lead. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Battle: Victory Location: Canterlot castle Twilight Sparkle and friends. Twilight couldn't calm herself. It wasn't the battle that had her so confused, but what had saved her. That bipedal figure in armor, whose voice was loud enough to rival even Princess Luna's, and the other two she saw before the guards led her and the others away. Rainbow Dash, hovering above the group, was thinking of how she could incorporate that thing's voice into her stunts. Applejack was wondering the same thing along the lines of Twilight, and Pinkie was wondering what kind of party to throw the three newcomers. Rarity was wondering who made that one beings armor, and Fluttershy was wondering why it resembled a cat so much. The group suddenly found themselves in the throne room, with Celestia at her throne, smiling warmly at them. Twilight immediately bolted, her wings lifting from her sides slightly. "Princess Celestia!" Celestia stood from her throne and encased Twilight in a wing hug. "Twilight Sparkle, I am glad to see you and your friends made it here alright." Before Twilight could answer, Pinkie bounced up. "Yeah! We are fighting those freaky thingies, and then BOOM! This thing riding a dragon SWOOPED in and shot an amazing firework at the meanies, then shouted them out of the way for us to get away! Oh and she's new, so I HAVE to throw her a party!" Rarity perked a brow. "Pinkie, how would you know that things gender?" Pinkie giggled. "Wasn't it obvious, with her figure and-" before she could finished that thought, A giddy Luna teleported in next to Celestia. "Tia! Oh, by the stars it was amazing! THEY, were amazing! As soona s they came in, the casualties dropped to almost none, and WE WON!" Luna skipped around in a circle a bit, giggling happily. Twilight looked to her mentor in curiosity. "What does Princess Luna mean? Those things that saved us? Do you know them?" Celestia smiled and chuckled softly. "Come. Perhaps it's better if you actually MEET your saviors." Before she could take a step away from Twilight, everyone's ears, including hers, were assaulted with a yell that could rival the Royal Canterlot Voice. "WULD-NA-KEST!" In what seemed like a whirlwind, the doors burst open, and there stood the three heroes, Sarah and Adrian letting go of Veskia's hands, Sarah collapsing on her rear and fanning her face with her hat to keep from losing her lunch, while Adrian immediately cast a few healing spell to rid himself of his nausea. Luna grinned at them. "Welcome back, and job well done! You were amazing!" Sarah gave her a thumbs up before putting her hat on her head, and Adrian pulling back his hood. Veskia just studied the group of ponies nearby, who studied her in turn. All in all, Awk-waaaaaard....