The Battle of Wethoof Part 2
Second Arc: Delay of Game
The skirmish at the guard’s compound went poorly, but apparently we had won. Most of the friendly guards were just barely comin back to the world of the conscious, most bore healthy lookin new bumps on their heads. The rebels were all chained up and put in the jail cells where they couldn’t do anymore harm.
I sat with Toni outside, enjoyin the beautiful day that had started off so poorly.
She had chased me around the yard for a while after my little comment about her and Quick, but when she finally caught me and pinned me to the ground tears started flowing.
She now sat next to me on one of the benches balling her eyes out and askin me what to do.
“I love him Bronze! But I know he doesn’t love me back. Besides, I’m too young to be in love. Daddy said he didn’t meet mommy until he was two hundred. Everyscale else before that had been just a sore left on his heart.” She was leanin against my side where my arm should be, cryin into my brown fur.
I pushed her gently away as to look in her eyes.
“You probably don’t see the way he looks at you. The tender way he cares for you, and his need to always be around and protect you all point to one conclusion…” I looked deeply into her eyes, the tears subsidin a little, “He loves you Toni. Everyone was just waitin for the time when you two would tell each other.”
She smiled a little, still feelin in the slumps.
“Besides, if he doesn’t love you, I’ll bop him on the knoggin.” This elicited a giggle out of her, and forced the rest of the tears away from her eyes.
“You’re right Bronze! I’m a big girl now, and I need to take what I want.” She went to get up, presumably to chase down her griffin.
“Now, let’s not be too hasty. The only reason he’s not here with you right now is because he’s out defendin you. When he gets back you can give him a talk.”
She grudgingly agreed and sat back down.
“How does a little food sound to you? The dining hall is still full of food that went uneaten today.” She perked up at this, and nodded her head furiously.
“Ok. You stay here and keep an eye out for any more bad guys.”
I stood from the bench and made my way into the hall. There were plates scattered around from the rebels who had ditched at the last second to join their friends. Food was still sittin on them, although given the weather and flies, was probably bad by now.
I sighed and looked around the cabinets for somethin me and Toni could snack on.
I opened one and let out a silent ‘sqee.’ I pulled out a bag with the label “Golden Delicious: Apple Family Farm, Ponyville.”
I opened it up to find at least a dozen of the heavenly fruit inside. I pulled one out and gave it a bite. Its sweet nectar poured into my mouth. I unwillingly let out a grunt of pleasure.
“Hey Toni, I found some apples!” I yelled to get her attention. When silence was my only response I got a little worried.
My adrenaline kicked in, along with my dragon vision. I strained my ears to hear if anything was wrong, faint scuffling was
the only sound that found its way to me.
Hesitantly I made my way to the door, forgettin about the bag of treats on the counter. Slowly pushing open the door not to make a sound, I peered outside.
Out in the yard were nearly fifty rebel guards and civilians. The friendly ones were being stacked up in the corner, their bloody bodies thrown there without second thought.
So we’re killin now are we? I thought.
Immediately I thought of Toni and scanned the yard. All of the rebels were walkin around stealthily, tryin to find the minotaur that had bested their friends. My eyes fell on two of the brutes draggin an unconscious, but unbloody Toni into one of the private quarters.
Once they disappeared into the doorway, and saw a sign that hung from it that read, “Do not disturb,” I may have lost my shit.
I let lose a mighty roar, havin had my primal instincts kick in. Bargin through the door like a wild bull, head down and horn out, I plowed into several of the rebels without second thought. I continued my run, makin a B-line for the door Toni was behind.
The rebel guards must have gotten over the shock of my entry, and were actively workin on bringin me down.
Pegasi flew around my head like bees, Earth ponies attempted to get in my way, only to be gored by my razor sharp horn. I didn’t dare look behind me at the thrall of angry ponies whose friends I had just killed. All I cared about was gettin Toni out.
Just as I reached the two steps that led to the door, a red aura enveloped my arm.
I roared in protest, rippin my arm out of some unicorn’s telekinetic grasp. Just as my arm was free, another aura, purple maybe, grabbed ahold of my leg. Before I could react, the red one was back on my arm. Then a yellow one around my chest. After a minute ten different magical grasps held firm on my body, stoppin my progress.
The large earth stallion, Buffer, ran up and bucked the back of my right knee, sendin me into a kneelin position. I was then dragged back into the center of the courtyard for all the rebels to watch. Then Buffer and some of his buddies decided it was time to lay into me.
I received several bucks to the head, chest and even my groin. Just as I was about to black out from the pain, I heard somethin that made my heart stop beatin.
“NO! NO PLEASE NO! AHHHHHHHHH!”
That was Toni’s voice. That was Toni’s cries for help. I had to help her.
With new found vigor I raised my head, despite the beatin I was still receivin from the ponies.
They had killed their own.
I looked into the faces of the ponies around me, their sneers and red eyes burned into my memory forever.
They had taken my friend.
I looked at Buffer, his mane was stuck to his head from sweat, and the swellin on the right side of his face from my fist was
still prevalent.
Now they were goin to try and hurt her?
He gave me a smile, his crooked yellow teeth glarin back at me.
NOPE!
I billowed at the top of my lungs somethin that would be burned into the survivor’s eardrums for all their lives.
“SPIRITUS INFERNALIS!”
Everythin went white for a second. Then, as quickly as it came, the flash left.
I stood from where I was kneelin, and ran to the door that had that despicable sign on it. I kicked it down, findin two scared guards ponies without their armor.
Apparently the explosion had caught their interest, they were about to barge out of the door before I kicked it in. Everyone stood still for a second.
I found my gaze settlin on the white ball curled up on a bed. Her mane was messy, and her head seemed to have a lump on it.
Once the two guards figured out what I had been lookin at, they began to back away.
“It…it wasn’t like that man.” One stuttered out.
“We hadn’t touched her, we weren’t going to. I swear!” The other returned.
I looked at them, fury like fire in my eyes.
“Tree touched her! He touched her when I said no!” the first yelled, catchin the eyes of the other who had his jaw hangin
down.
Maybe because of the after effects of the spell I used, or maybe just because I was the epitome of pissed, fire actually did began to race across my eyes, and down into my hands.
“Dream did it! The mess of a stallion tried fucking her!” The second one, Tree said.
I heard Toni whimper, as did the guards.
My hand shot out faster than a bullet, and grabbed Tree around the throat. Dream tried to escape by flyin under me, only to find a hoof on one of his wings.
Ignorin Dream’s cries of pain I brought Tree to my line of sight.
He had visibly wet himself, and was cryin uncontrollably.
I through him into the ground at my feet, then grabbed his head before he could escape.
I made sure that Dream could see him as I crushed his skull in my hands. He screamed at first, but once a sickenin ‘crunch’ resounded through the cabin, all that could be heard was Dream strugglin to get free.
I twisted my hoof, snappin his wing and elicitin another scream of agony. I lifted my hoof and brought it down quickly on top of his back, snappin his spine, but not killin him.
Kneelin down to get close to the cryin stallion I whispered in his ear.
“To be honest, no amount of grovelin could have saved either of you.” With that I reached down, and snapped his neck like a twig.
I looked down at Toni, still cowerin in the corner.
“Toni, it’s Bronze. You’re safe.” I said, tears startin to well up in my eyes.
She peeked her eyes over her hoof, and immediately jumped into my arms.
“Bronze! Oh god, Bronze!” She cried, snugglin deep in my hug, away from the monsters that lurked in her nightmares.
My chest started to moisten as she wept into me.
“Did they hurt you?” I asked, my own tears slowly fallin from my eyes.
“No. But if you hadn’t come they would have. Thank you Bronze.”
Outside there were shouts comin from some of the unicorns and pegasi that had survived. They must have woken up from their concussion induced slumbers.
“Toni, I need you to find Quick, and Gear. Yall need to get out of town, go somewhere safe. I’ll be right behind you.”
Realization dawned on her face as she saw past my lie.
“No Bronze! Don’t leave me! We can get out together, find Quick and Gear, and leave this terrible town.” Once again she wept into my chest. I shushed her and pushed her to a window that led out back.
More shouts came from outside as the rebels were putting together a plan to take me down.
I broke the window with Spirit Inferno, clearin the remainin glass shards with the dragon scale.
I pushed the weapon into her hooves, makin her look at me in fury.
“Don’t you dare give up that easy!” She yelled.
“Who said I’m givin up? I just need you to keep this safe for me while I’m gone.”
Toni protested, but eventually succumbed to my decision.
“Fine. But when we come back, you better be alive.” She scowled at me like a child bein put to bed before they wanted to, “We will come back Bronze.”
With that she allowed me to lift her outside of the window where she took to the skies. Although she was encumbered with the weight of my axe, she managed to fly away, too low for any remainin pegasi to see her vanish.
I sighed, then turned around. Several unicorns were gatherin outside of the door.
The last thing I remember was barrelin out the door, catchin the ponies by surprise.
They released their magic onto me, then the world turned black.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Elsewhere
Gear didn’t like the sneaking around, he’d rather just find his friends and leave. Nar-Kuth on the other hand kept pushing him to continue to slink through the city.
Several times they were almost caught by some of the rebel patrols, but managed to hide in the shadows long enough for them to pass by.
“That’s the third time in half an hour we were almost caught. If they are setting up patrols in this area, it means that they have their base nearby.” Gear surmised, irritated at his bad luck.
“Yes I know. Their base is in a gem shop called Bucky’s. That is where we are heading.” Nar-Kuth explained, causing Gear to stop in alarm.
“What do you mean we’re heading to their base?! That’s a suicide mission.” Gear hissed in a whisper.
Nar-Kuth sighed, knowing full well that it may be just that. He and his new unicorn companion had seen several times where the rebels would strait out kill the guards, while the guards would just try to incapacitate. Not only were they outnumbered, but the rebels had the home base advantage.
“We need to cut the head off of the serpent. Most of these civilians and even some guards are just being paid to usurp the command. If we cut off their pay check, they may just reconsider whether the cause is worth dyeing for.” The Bath said.
Gear just grumbled and kept to the cat’s tail.
After an hour or so they came to the market place, and observed the chaos that had wreaked its vengeance on the quiet town.
Bodies of guards and rebels were strewn around the markets, the aftermath of a large scale battle.
“It seems that the guards grew tired of fighting without a chance.” Nar-Kuth said, examining the remains of one of the rebels that had fallen to where they hid in the shadows.
Gear kept back a bit, still appalled by the sight of ponies having been slain by their own kind. He adverted his eyes from
the bodies, and saw their destination on the far side of the plaza where they stood.
“There’s Bucky’s” Gear said, drawing the cat’s attention to the building.
Bucky’s was a relatively small building with a giant pony holding up a massive ruby on its façade. The gem shop had seen better days, considering that half of the left side of the giant pony’s face was gone. Glass from its windows were scattered amongst the street and bodies. Gear could easily tell that the guards had tried to take the place.
For once that day, Gear felt hope. Hope that they might win. That they might be able to walk away from this unharmed.
Then his hopes were dashed.
A distant explosion from the other side of town drew both of their attentions. It sounded larger than the others that had persisted throughout the day as what was left of the unicorns faced off against the rebels. No, this one was different.
Gear felt his stomach drop, but couldn’t tell why. The last time he felt something like this Killian had died.
Wait, did that come from the guards’ compound?
Gear was dragged out of his musings as Nar-Kuth through him into the shadows that hid them from the bright afternoon sun just as dozens of rebels erupted from Bucky’s.
This meant two things to Gear. 1, they heard the explosion too. And 2, the guards had lost their battle to take over the base.
How could all of the guards have lost? Gear thought as he and Nar-Kuth slipped back into the shadows and alleyways.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Elsewhere…Elsewhere
Quick thought this battle was too easy. He had just knocked out another guard, and was shocked to find few left standing.
He looked at the street below him, dozens of unconscious ponies lay haphazardly around. Some worse than others. Flower had come with some reinforcements, and they had turned the tide of the battle.
In total, his team had lost about ten members, all unconscious and fine on the street below. The enemy had lost about thirty of their pegasi. Not too bad, but something was off.
Those that remained didn’t seemed worried that they were being decimated, rather, as the battle raged on they seemed to act like they were gaining the upper claw.
His mind traveled back to Toni. Although it had only been a few minutes since he had left, he missed her already.
I swear if Bronze can’t keep her safe I’ll kill him. Quick thought darkly.
His musings were interrupted by one of the last pegasi darting from his left and colliding with his back right leg. Although nothing was broken, it still hurt like hell.
Quick turned swiftly, following the pony away from the markets.
The hunt was on, and both knew it.
Quick inhaled the ponies scent from the winds that whipped around his beak. Although there was no rainclouds, but the precipitation form the surrounding forest allowed for Quick’s breathing to be labored more than usual. But that wasn’t going to stop him, his prey was in his sight, and he was gaining on him.
Quick barely caught the change of scenery around him before he saw the pony, who had tried to catch a quick look behind him, smack into the large skeleton that sat on the outskirts of the town. The griffin pumped hard with his wings, coming to a stop before befalling the same fate as the pony.
Quick looked down at his prey, finding that the Pegasus was still conscious, if only barely.
Dropping next to the pony, Quick walked over to him, wary of any hidden attacks that may come from the downed pony.
The scent of blood reached the predator, nearly sending him into a frenzy before he reigned his instincts in.
These are ponies, not food. He reassured himself.
He noticed a small pool of blood surrounding the pony’s head. Quickly he approached him, finding a small crack in his skull. From experience he knew what this meant.
Soon the swelling in the brain would start to hemorrhage, sending the pony into unconsciousness, and soon death.
There was nothing Quick could do, except watch as the pony shivered from an unfelt breeze, and cough raggedly.
The pony’s blue eyes met his, and Quick found nothing but sorrow hidden in their depths.
“I’m sorry.” The equine managed through his coughing fits. “I never intended for this to get so far out of hand.”
“What are you talking about, no one’s died yet.” Quick said apprehensively.
“Soon they will be.” Another coughing fit wracked his feeble frame. “We were just fallowing orders. I saw the bag of bits tossed at me, and let my greed get the better of me.”
All Quick could think about was Toni. Was she in danger? Would the ponies kill one of their own just because she traveled with outsiders?
“What’s happening? Who paid off the guard?” Quick demanded.
“I don’t know his name. He had a serpent’s eye burned onto his cutie mark. He demanded that if Quick Beak was ever to be seen again, he needed to be killed. When we saw you enter the town, with those yellow markings of yours, we knew what the serpent would want. This whole coup, the killings that are about to happen, is because of you.” Once again Quick saw the pony shake uncontrollably, before fluttering his eyes.
“HEY! Don’t you die on me! Why would an entire town go to war just because I killed a pony all those years ago?” Quick yelled, only to find that the Pegasus had closed his eyes, and stopped taking in breaths.
Quick shakily got up, his instincts going crazy.
Toni! He thought.
With one mighty flap of his wings, Quick shot into the sky in search of the one he loved.
He flew like a bullet into the town, towards the barracks where he had left her with Bronze.
What he saw made his heart skip a beat.
The complex was in ruin. Dozens of bodies littered the ground, reaching out from a focal point near the middle of the training field. Several looked like charred bones rather than the remains of ponies.
Quick saw several unicorn guards and a couple pegasi circling one of the residential buildings that served the officers.
Some were dressed in gold armor, while others were plain civilians.
“Rebels.” Quick growled under his breath.
The guards were shouting orders to the civilian members, trying their best to stay organized.
Quick noticed the stack of royal guard bodies by one of the walls, and its distinct lack of a giant minotaur, and white and
blonde pony.
Maybe their safe. Quick though, only to catch a white blur shoot out of the back window of the building the rebels were guarding.
Quick shot like an arrow towards the escapee, determined to catch up with her. He managed to stay on her tail as she flew fast and low down alleyways.
As Quick gained on her, he noticed tears streaking before her. Angered and confused, Quick yelled at her to stop.
When Toni heard the familiar voice calling to her, she slowed down to a stop. She tried to wipe the tears away in vain before the one she cared most for caught up to her.
“Toni! God Toni are you ok?” Quick asked.
She turned around, only for the faint sound of a large explosion to echo down the alleyway.
The Pegasus erupted into tears. She dropped the axe, and was soon enveloped in the embrace of a griffin.
“My god, what happened?” Quick asked.
Toni explained everything to him through sobs that tormented her.
When she was done, Quick was crying too.
They sat there a while, comforting each other for the loss of their friend.