Chapter 36: An Awkward End...
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As far as Azure could see, his new opponent and him were more or less evenly matched. For each blow he landed, his opponent would get one back, and for every laser he fired, his opponent would use those wings of his to blow magical, icy gusts of wind at him. Azure quickly rushed in, unicorn and batpony bumping hooves in an unfriendly manner, and managed to catch his opponent with a hoofpunch to the inside elbow. Whatever that'd be for a pony, anyway.
The batpony landed a haymaker to Azure's face, sending Azure landing on his back. Azure rolled out of the way of the hit to the ground, and managed to land a back-kick to the pony's jaw, once more magically charging it to amplify its power. The batpony was lifted into the air, but quickly recovered with its wind. Azure heard the batpony's wings shuffling fast; something he'd picked up on during the fight.
Azure looked up, the cold wind blowing toward him. He quickly put up a shield, dispersing the wind about throughout the area, ice shards going everywhere. He dropped his shield, but his opponent had moved between firing the attack and now. Azure checked around, but the batpony caught him looking the other way by slamming into his ribcage with both his forehooves extended and hitting him into the tree.
"Where were you looking?!" taunted his adversary, backing off as Azure recovered. Azure's horn lit up, his eyes still glowing the cyan color. The batpony turned around, aiming to once again use his chest gem to use his magic, but Azure shot off a few laser bolts, which the batpony dodged with ease.
"C'mon, you're going to have to do better than that!"
"Really?" Azure's horn was still glowing, and his opponent had a momentary look of confusion on his face. It soon changed to pain, however, when the easily dodged lasers changed direction midair and struck the batpony in the back. Off-balance, the batpony began falling towards the ground like a wounded bird. Azure quickly rushed up to the batpony, using the gravity spell to his advantage. He executed a jumping kick, managing enough velocity to hit the batpony away from his original landing zone.
The batpony hit the ground with his forehooves, sliding backwards a few yards on them before finally coming to a rest on his feet. The two fighters took a short breather, before the batpony began hovering again.
"Not bad..." the batpony commended. "Homing lasers, huh? Fine." He flew backwards, slightly up into the air. "Let me show you another cold wind, then..."
"Winter was over months ago!" responded Azure, "I'll bet you think your leader's a visionary because he promised longer winter months..."
"It's not even close to that at all," the batpony snarled, "Somepony such as you wouldn't understand a vision like his!" His wings began to flap violently, but there was no cold wind, at least, not immediately. Suddenly, the batpony's wings began to glow bright white, and a few moments later, it looked like the space right in front of the pony's wings distorted.
The compressed air came down on Azure like a hard rock, forcing him flat on his stomach. It didn't cause a cut like the previous wind did; it was a huge wave of compressed, frigid air that bore down on him and the ground beneath him, causing a small crater to form where he was now lying down, trying to recover from that last attack.
"Tch," Azure grunted, moving his legs, "Must have touched a nerve..."
"You're darn right!"
Azure gasped. He had just gotten back on his feet when his opponent smashed his head to his and began forcing Azure to slide back. Azure eventually managed to get control of the struggle, and the two were once again evenly matched. However, the batpony's wings began to flap faster again, and Azure already knew it was coming. He erected a magical shield, backing off as the second wave of compressed air came rushing at him. While he didn't feel the chill, the kinetic force behind the wind definitely wasn't mitigated any by the frontal barrier; it fissured, and small chips of it flew off and disintegrated into the air as Azure slid back, his hooves scraping along the dirt painfully.
The unicorn channeled magic into his horn, firing off another laser which the batpony was forced to take as he was flying at him. Azure quickly did a gravity-spell assisted jump, coming down on the pony's back again. This time, it was the nameless batpony who was forced to the ground. However, Azure didn't have time to celebrate; in a few moments, the batpony righted his wings, and slapped Azure with each wing, forcing the unicorn to back off.
Azure quickly warped backwards, not even bothering to question how he'd managed to teleport to safety as his opponent recovered.
"You're right about one thing, though," Azure said, "About me. I don't understand what your boss wants; but I do know I don't want to understand it. What kind of visionary would foalnap ponies?"
"It's not just any ponies we're wanting!" said the batpony, "I'd elaborate more, but surely you should be able to figure out at least as much as who we're targeting..."
"You can't mean..." Azure started, but the batpony finished for him.
"That's right..." The batpony ended his sentence for him, "Those Bearers you seem so intent on protecting..."
"But why do you need them?!" Azure said, "You aren't some misguided harmonic extremists! I can tell it just by looking at you!"
"Now that would be telling..." the batpony said, "But right now, our focus has shifted. I'd explain more, but it all depends on how Torpal is doing in Canterlot..."
" 'Torpal'...?" Azure questioned. However, he soon refocused. He'd had better luck trying to understand Pinkie Pie's more rambunctious antics, "Never mind, forget it. I'm not going to waste my breath wondering what you're up to. You'll all be captured one of these days..."
"We'll see about that..." the batpony countered.
"Azure!" The feminine voice momentarily lowered Azure's guard as he turned to see Twilight, having made her way back to him. And with her...Applejack?!
"What are you two doing here?!" Azure called back, "This isn't exactly a safe place to be right now!"
"What're you talkin' 'bout, partner?!" Applejack shouted, "It ain't safe anywhere in Ponyville with them monsters runnin' about!"
"We came to help!" Twilight stated, "Even though...I didn't think you did..."
"This guy isn't taking out my magic, I should be able to take him..." Azure's ear twitched, his ear picking up the rapid wingbeats. He turned, to see the batpony's wings glowing a bright white, flapping so fast they looked like what humans would describe as helicopter blades.
"Big words..." the batpony sneered, "But let's see..." He began to hover just a bit, until Azure was just out of range of whatever he was doing. "How well you can handle the frigid air!!"
Azure realized almost instantaneously where he was aiming for. It wasn't meant for him; it was meant for--
His body started moving on its own...
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Both Twilight and Applejack stood ready as the batpony used magic. It didn't take long for them to get over the shock of him using magic in the first place, but the speed of the attack...They couldn't have reacted quick enough to counter, and by the time they realized it, it was too late to dodge. Worse still, it was apparent the attack was only meant for one--
A blue pony suddenly appeared in front of them, directly in the path between the tornadic-looking spell and...Applejack?!
"A-Az?!" Applejack stuttered out of shock.
"What are you doing?!" Twilight called out in confusion and fear.
"Defending a vow..." Azure barely had enough time to say before the attack was on him. Applejack and Twilight quickly jumped backward to safety, but Azure was caught in a tornado--both of the mares could feel the cold wind just stirring around them, and both could clearly see Azure was in pain, not only being buffeted about by the sheer force, but within a few seconds, nicks and cuts were covering Azure's body.
Twilight momentarily forgot what Azure said; this was her coltfriend being savaged by what looked like a razor tornado. And his opponent? Laughing, maniacally.
"How's that? Still think playing the hero is worth it?" the batpony asked, in the air, a good ten yards back. "That spell won't stop until one of you surrenders, or..." He sneered, letting his statement trail off for emphasis.
Azure's eyes opened against the current, and his horn lit up again. Twilight saw it before she felt it-the color of his magical glow changed to orange, and the cool wind began to dissipate in favor of a gentle heat radiating onward, and upward.
"What?!" the batpony growled, now seeing what happened.
Twilight got it; it was in a book she read back when she didn't care about friends: "Wind spells...they are strong against earth, but their weakness...is fire!"
"Twilight?" Applejack asked.
"The heat given off by any one spell forces most wind spells to dissipate via convection; plus, oxygen is required for a fire..." Twilight responded, paraphrasing what she'd learned. Now that Azure was out of the tornado, though, she could see his body was littered with small cuts. None of them were life-threatening alone, but had he remained in the tornado for as long as the batpony said...
"You said you were the cold second wind for your boss..." Azure said, his horn still having that orange glow. "So why don't I have a warm front blow away your blizzard?!"
"You little...!" the batpony said, his wings flapping violently once more. He sent out another tornado, this time aimed directly at Azure himself.
"Didn't you already see elemental affinity just take precedence?" Azure asked, immediately running straight towards the tornado.
"A-Az?!" Applejack called out, clearly concerned. All Twilight could do was watch; hoping to herself the fire Azure was carrying would help him out.
And it did; the tornado still left a few cuts, but the tornado completely vanished after Azure began to manifest the fire spell: two gentle tendrils extended from the orange glow and began spinning like a slow-moving fan. A few seconds later, as the batpony hovered in what looked like shock, Azure shot off a large orange fireball straight up at the batpony, which made contact, and engulfed his body, burning him. He fell to the ground, clearly injured from that last attack.
Twilight and Applejack both shared a sigh of relief as Azure turned around, breathing just a little hard; the fight did appear to have taken its toll on him. Azure gradually stepped towards the defeated batpony, and Applejack and Twilight did as well. The cyan colt was the one who spoke first, being the closest.
"It looks like your boss has lost his second wind..." Azure commented.
"You haven't won yet..." the batpony said, getting back to his feet. "Nor have you!" The second part of his statement was directed at the Bearers. He then glared directly at Azure, a very small smile on his face. "Have fun now..."
His wings flared outwards, and as they did, they sent out an alarmingly large gust of wind that knocked all three of the ponies back. Azure, Twilight, and Applejack could only look up into the air as the batpony began to take his flight, injured, but clearly still able to move about.
"You were lucky..." the batpony said, "But, we will meet again..."
Azure watched the pony the whole way, waiting for him to try to get in a parting shot. The parting shot came, but in a way Azure did not expect.
"Have fun being Celestia's lapdog in the meantime," he said, "Protecting those precious elements of hers..."
"What?!" Azure called out, completely caught off-guard from the revelation. How do they--?
The other mares had said it at the same time he had, but as the batpony flew away, laughing, Azure couldn't think of what to say right away.
That task I was given way back when...? Azure thought to himself. Just what are they--
"What did he mean by that?!" Twilight asked. Azure turned, seeing two very confused mares.
"Honestly, I don't know," Azure decided to half-lie and hope Applejack didn't pick up on it right away, "Probably the kind of guy that loves to indulge in conspiracy theories regarding the royalty..."
However, internally, he was troubled by what he heard come out of the batpony's mouth.
How long have they really been watching? Was this pony more briefed than the others; was he a spy? Azure thought, I can’t believe he would know about...that job...
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Back in Canterlot, the Royal Guard was still fiercely ongoing with the shadow ghouls, while Shining Armor, their captain, Crimson Blitz, Virid Strategem, and Silver Espada all focused on their leader, no doubt the one orchestrating the attack this time around by providing the portals directly into the city. All of them had clearly taken some damage from the battle; their opponent, a surgically modified pegasus, had given them the slip for the moment. Though they had gotten used to his tactics by now, it was still hard to predict where he would show up next.
"Surrounding him didn't work..." Virid noted. As team strategist, he had been counted on to formulate a winning plan. However, with his opponent's insanely erratic attacks, he hadn't been able to formulate one quite yet. A red exit portal appeared on the floor just underneath his jaw, and he leapt back to dodge.
"Hurry up and figure it out, Virid," Blitz called out, dodging another portal charge by the hair on his mane; "This has gone on way too long..."
"I know!" Virid called out, closing one eye in focus as he tried to recall his opponent's battle style, and what he could do as counter-attacks. Images of the battle replayed in his head repeatedly, dark blue entry portals, red exit portals, redirection...teleportation...
Shining, meanwhile, kept his eyes peeled, and his horn lit up, levitating a semi-large piece of debris. The head guard's head turned and he saw a red exit portal just forming there. He quickly lobbed it, nailing the pegasus between the eyes cleanly as he came out from the portal. This stunned him long enough for Blitz to do what he did best--a rush shoulder charge into the pony's side, sending him to the ground. The pegasus actually seemed grounded, the wing on that side folded up in obvious pain.
"Why you..." he growled, melting into the ground. Blitz's own horn lit up as the pegasus began melting into the ground again. The pony quickly sent out a bolt of lightning into the portal after him, and the dark blue entry portal closed.
When the red exit portal reopened, however, Blitz was surprised to find his own spell coming back at him from the seven o'clock position, nailing him in the side. However, the pegasus was nowhere to be seen.
"He keeps vanishing over and over again..." Silver noted, his echolocation nearly useless against this particular opponent. All of a sudden, his ear twitched; noticing a sound he hadn't quite noticed before. Under the screeches of dying Shadow Ghouls, victory yells of the Royal Guards, pandemonium all around, and even the clopping of hooves on the ground as the others tried to anticipate his next move, there was a low hum coming from directly behind him.
Shining quickly got a visual, "Silver! Behind you!"
"That's all I needed to hear..." said the blind unicorn, leaping around midair and blasting a compressed sound wave as he faced the warning direction. The off-guard orange pegasus was taken by surprise, his ears momentarily comprimised from the sound wave, in addition to that.
Silver's ears can probably pick up something we can't... Virid took note of this development. He likes to charge around, redirect projectiles if he knows they're coming. So...
"Why...you..." The orange pegasus said, hearing nothing but a loud buzz, "You'll pay for that!" A dark blue entry portal appeared above him, and he managed to hover up into it; his wings clearly not as clipped as they were thought to be.
"Alright, I have it!" Virid said, "Captain, Blitz, Silver, stand back-to-back with me. We'll cover all positions; Silver, use your ears..."
"I-I don't know if I can manage to hear that again," Silver said, "It was a sound I only picked up just now..."
"Just focus..." Virid said. "Once we absolutely know where he's coming from, we'll all spring our best at him...That should take him down..."
"Alright...I'll do it," Silver said, "But don't make any noise if possible..."
This time, the four waited in absolute silence; Shining not issuing direct orders, Virid and Blitz withholding their bickering, and Silver breathing in and out, trying to hear the low hum. Via echolocation, he confirmed he was just opposite of Blitz in the circle; Virid on his back-left and Shining on his back-right.
His ear twitched, and he focused very hard on it; a low hum. This time...
"Right in front of me!" Silver called out; the others looked, seeing the red portal appearing. The orange pegasus flew through, aiming right for Silver--
Only to be met by a firm, purple field just feet from Silver. His hoof cracked the surface, but it was all the time the others needed.
Silver let out yet another sonic boom attack, this time, specifically aiming to stun the enemy. He covered his ears, wings flapping erratically, eyes closed in pain.
"Now," Virid said, "I'll get him off-guard...Blitz, end it."
"You don't gotta tell me," Blitz said, as Virid took the lead, his hooves already glowing with magic. The helpless pegasus was hardly able to resist, taking the full force of Virid's pressure strike right to his chest, knocking him backwards to the edge of the roof. Seemingly defeated, he began to fall off the roof. Blitz rushed after him, full-speed, leaping off the roof in pursuit, aiming to tackle the chest gem and destroy it.
Before he knew it, he was entering a dark blue portal, entering through a vortex where, for that one instant, he could see where the Shadow Ghouls were being dispatched. However, before he realized it, he had landed back on the roof of the building, leaving a sizable crack in the surface.
"What?!" Silver called out, in disbelief, having felt the disturbance. Shining, meanwhile, dashed to the edge of the roof, Virid closely following.
The pegasus pony was gone.
"Darn it!" Virid said, stamping a hoof on the ground. "He gave us the slip again!"
"Virid," Shining spoke up, "I have a feeling he did a little more than that..."
The unicorns looked around, awaiting a sign that their opponent was going to bum-rush them out of a portal again. After a few tense seconds longer than it usually took, it was apparent the pony had actually escaped in that second, having warped Blitz back to the roof to prevent him from catching him before he himself warped out.
"Alright," Shining said, "I'll go see if I can finish this. Virid, Blitz, you too, Silver, go help out the townsponies."
"But--" Silver began, quickly cut off.
"Silver!" Virid scolded, already levitating him off the ground and unceremoniously carrying him away, "You don't back-sass a captain!"
"Is carrying him away like that necessary?!" Blitz called after them, already leaving as well. Meanwhile, Shining quickly began his pursuit of the portal-porting pegasus, unaware he was already well out of range.
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At Ghastly Gorge, a certain Batpony was landing. He had left his cloak at the scene of the crime, but that wasn't a problem; he had no doubts the organization he was supporting was supporting the right cause; their leader was a true visionary. However, his work in Ponyville was over.
He sneered, his naturally sensitive ears alerting him to a low hum nearby.
"Perfect timing, Torpal...." he growled, as an orange pegasus with heterochromia and a cloak appeared behind him, coming out of a red-trimmed void. The hole closed behind him quickly enough, evidenced by the fade of the hum. "I should hope you're still pouring Shadow Ghouls into Canterlot, like discussed..."
"Don't worry. I even pulled back the Ponyville wave. They should be finishing up with them soon," said Torpal, confirming the batpony's assumptions. "How about you, Noct?"
"Not minding the daylight assault as much anymore; not that I minded it much to begin with," Noct, the batpony, answered. "Anything for our cause..."
"Speaking of which, I think our plan is going to move forward just as scheduled," Torpal continued, "Soon as we get word from the boss that the stone shell has cracked, we can go on home and wait. Inevitably, it will seem this assault was for naught..."
"But they won't know what hits them when the real surprise starts," Noct cackled, "Too bad I won't be able to see the looks on their faces when it all starts going down..."
"Yeah," Torpal said, "But we're all lapdogs in our own way, you know..."
"Maybe," Noct sneered angrily, as though Torpal had insulted him personally, "But there's a difference. I do this by choice. They do it because Sunflank tells them to."
Torpal gave a sigh, "Well, in any case, the achievement of our final cause will be the big payoff, not the cracking of the shell..."
Noct and Torpal cut off their conversation at that moment, waiting for the time to come when their boss would tell them their plan was ready to move into Phase 2...