//------------------------------// // 16 - Arena // Story: Gladiator // by Not_A_Hat //------------------------------// VEE~~~~~~~~~~~~EEN "Holy crow, was that-" I cut my words short as a long, thin section of the wall we cowered behind melted into slag, revealing the arena. "I thought the tac cannon was busted!" Diligent yelled, referring to the magical breaching artillery we'd used to enter the fortress. We were currently working our way into the arena. We'd managed to avoid getting caught by any group of changelings too big to handle, and had been carefully searching for an entrance. "It was!" I yelled back. The sound of warfare pumped through the gap. It seemed that phase two had started. From what I could see through the slit, without wading through molten rock, the arena was an all out battle zone. "Then I hope that's not our enemies!" Ace added. "ME TOO!" Hawkeye yelled. "Hey, I think we can get through over there!" Ace pointed to where the wall was crumbling away from the beam. We darted forward, moving carefully to avoid superheated rock and rubble. I reached the breach first, and peeked out. Just as I suspected, the arena was full of fighting ponies. It really looked nothing like I remembered. There were dead changelings scattered everywhere. I winced as I saw plumes of red pony blood mixing on the sand with the yellow ichor of changelings. A wide fan of bugs was pressing hard towards a small knot of defenders sheltering in the corner. It was Captain Shining with his squad, fighting like demons, backs to the wall. They were holding. I watched in awe as no more than a dozen ponies held off more than three times their number of bugs, and did it in a calm, collected, and above all efficient manner. They were arranged in a semicircle, backed into the corner of the arena to keep from being surrounded. Six earth ponies held the front line, backed up by three unicorn archers. Three pegasi held the skies, Rainbow among them, falling like thunderbolts on any changeling stupid enough to challenge them. Maybe a concerted effort could have gotten off the ground, but as it was the pegasai simply converged on any bug stupid enough to fly, easily demolishing them. Two medics waited in the back, occasionally darting forward to shore up the line, or take a minute to patch up a teammate. In the very back corner, Shining Armor and Twilight stood, eyes flaring white with magic, dealing death. I could barely tell what Shining was doing. As I watched, his horn glowed and his magic lashed out, quick as an eye blink. Changelings just...died. I couldn't follow, but the insects boiling through the doors and arches weren't moving fast enough to overwhelm them. His eyes would flick from one target to another, there would be a twinkle, and the target would collapse. I whistled silently. Battle Stream was impressive indeed. His lethality made my own skills look like child's play. I was a bit perplexed by Twilight being there. She had come on the mission, but her brother had commanded her to remain in the small outpost we had set up for coordination purposes. I'd watched as she and her brother set up the tac cannon, charging it slowly overnight and firing it off at the beginning of the assault. The beam of incomprehensibly dense magic it produced had screamed through the air, slicing into the wall of the fortress and giving us the entrance we needed. We had all scattered, expecting responding fire. We hadn't been disappointed. A volley of gray magic, moving akin to mortar fire, had rolled across the cannon's position minutes later. Even if Shining and Twilight had wanted to take another shot, the weapon had been smashed beyond recognition. After that, she should have headed to the command tent. I heard the sound of tortured magic, and gulped. The air around Twilight started to twinkle and I yanked my head back, motioning for my squad to hit the floor. They complied instantly. VEE~~~~~~~~~~~~EEN This time the beam didn't pass anywhere near us. I stuck my head out again, and saw Twilight panting from exertion. What had she done? That cannon had been demolished! Unless, maybe...No. Oh no, she hadn't! That crazy purple pony! Looking closer, I saw the shards of clockwork and gems hovering around her. She had! She had re-built the entire mechanism using telekinesis! "That's madness..." I said. "Report!" Diligent snapped. "Phase two is under way. Shining is holding position in the far corner. His squad is backed by two others, and his sister. She yanked the vortex cores out of the tac cannon and is currently operating it by horn. We need to get to them! If they keep this up, the bugs are going to flood this place and we won't have a chance." "That's insane!" Ace yelled. "That's what I said!" I shouted back over the clamor. "I'm not even sure how she got in here, but she's really doing some damage! She couldn't do it without her brother guarding her, but man, does that cannon pack a punch!" I watched in awe as the array of crystals swung around. They started to spin and charge, the magic aura siphoning off into a shot that was much less powerful than the original had been, but still enough to qualify as BFG in my book. "This is our chance!" I yelled. "She's going to hit just to the left of us; it’ll open up a path! We need to go!" Dilligent nodded, and motioned for me to lead us out. I waited for the blinding glow of the cannon to flash out one more time and broke from the cover of the wall, dashing straight down the corridor of scorched corpses Twilight's artillery left behind. Unfortunately, we were not the only ones who realized what was going to happen. The first thing I noticed, consciously, was my body had decided to twist sideways. My intuition screamed that something dangerous was coming, and I'd been listening to it for too long to not act on it. I watched in fascinated slow motion as a black horn sliced through the air where I'd been moments before. I completed the spin, whipping my hammer up and falling into a battle-ready stance. I locked eyes with my attacker, and had to steel myself to keep from flinching. It was Gash. I didn't know his actual name. I'd fought several changelings in the arena. Most of them had been freshly hatched, with maybe a very small amount of training. The gladiators were a weeding process to some extent. If the hatchlings survived us, they would move on to their new life in the hive. We usually managed to kill about half of them, hampered as we were. Gash, however, was something special to me. The first time we fought, I'd handled him easily. I'd had little experience at the time. Not much, but enough to smack down a new hatchling. I hadn't killed him. It hadn't been worth my time. I'd left him lying on the sand, oozing, while I handled the more dangerous companions he'd been paired with. When he came back to fight again, I regretted that. I don't know what drove him, if it was simple revenge that motivated him, but he kept coming back to the arena. He would improve and return. He would taunt me, laugh at my plight. I honestly tried to kill him, but he never let it get that far. If I was winning, he'd retreat. If he was winning...well, I had some mental scars from those times, even if I was physically healed. We'd faced off a good two, three dozen times. It had always been a toss-up between us, and if he had been anything besides a complete and utter monster, I would probably have enjoyed having him as my rival. At some point, I'd managed to crack his leg. The wound healed but left a deep crater in the chitin, running most of the length of the limb. I started calling him Gash after that. I grimaced as the memories rushed over me. "Go!" I yelled to my squad. "I'll hold him; get to the captain!" Diligent gave me a long look, but nodded and led the rest of the squad past. I locked my brown eyes on Gash's red ones, and held.  I moved in as soon as my teammates were safe, hammer swinging. "So, human, are you behind this?" He taunted me as he dodged. He'd always been fast, both with his feet and tongue. Most changelings never really got the hang of footwork. "Yeah. Yeah I am." I'd never been much for witty banter. Maybe I could give him a reason to get angry? "I came back to crack your skull. Thought I'd give your head a gouge to match that leg." I slipped past another of his strikes and swung wildly at his neck, but he was too good. "Heh, still defiant." He grinned. "I was always better than you, and now I'll prove it. How many times can I kill you today?" "Sorry, not happening." I surprised him with my counter, every ounce of new muscle I'd put on letting me whip my hammer around just a split-second faster than I could have before. It wasn't much, but it was enough to catch him off guard. My unforgiving weapon caught him on the chin, stunning him. "I'm not the same as I was, Gash. I'm never going to be the same as I was. I'm moving on. I'm leaving you behind." I grit my teeth. He recovered in record time. He must have turned his head to soften the blow and keep me from rattling his tiny bug brain. I could see the shock in his eyes, a glimpse of fear. That felt good. I could almost feel flakes of past-me fall off as I fought against my rival once again, under the same sun, in the same place. The things holding me back, regret, disappointment, self-recrimination, fell off one piece at a time as I started to shift into my new pace. My strikes sped up. My reflexes accelerated. I spun and wove, ducked and dove, with accuracy and speed I didn't have until recently. I was moving like an avalanche, my slow start gathering an inevitable rolling momentum. I could see the fear building in his eyes as I gained the upper edge. He was going to die, and he knew it. "What's the matter, Gash?" My flying hammer drove him into desperate positions, one after another. he barely managed to dodge, time and again, but without the guards to hold me off he couldn't afford to withdraw. It was only a matter of time. "Why are you so scared? Aren't I just your plaything, your toy?" I spat in his face, echoing his claims from previous fights. "Are you not entertained?" He flinched for a second, rattled by the venom in my eyes and voice. It was all I needed. I wound up a blow, wider than I should have, but it still managed to connect. My hammer spread his brains across the arena. "GRAAAAAAH!" I yelled, my blood-lust boiling over. I spun, adrenaline and victory propelling me into the next fight. I was about jump in, leading with my hammer, when the Queen arrived and her aura hit me. It was like having ice water splashed on my soul. I froze. I'd raised my instincts to a fever pitch in the fight, pulling on every scrap of intuition and sixth sense I had. Now every single cell in my body was screaming 'Danger!', and I had no idea what to do. I started to cower, lost in thoughtless fear at the sudden and overwhelming presence of almost tangible menace that suddenly pervaded the arena. I would probably have been cut down where I stood if the Captain's magic aura hadn't dragged me into the circle of defense. "Wes, pull yourself together!" He yelled. I shook my head, trying to calm my heart, and turned to look. Entering on the other side of the arena was our target, the Queen. She moved into battle with perfect surety, every step asserting control over more and more of the field. Everything I knew about fighting told me she absolutely deserved that confidence. She knew she was the baddest thing there, and she was right. I dragged my eyes away, fighting back my flight instinct. We didn't need to fight that. We had to call in our own help. The plan had worked so far, despite setbacks. "Wes!" Shining was yelling in my ear. "Get back there, and help Twilight with the beacon!" He pointed me towards the empty semicircle the squad was protecting. His sister, obviously exhausted, was trying to piece together the construct we would use to call in support. I glanced up; it needed clear view of the sky. I grinned as Rainbow spun past a changeling, the bladed chains she trailed wrapping around them and shredding lacy wings. We had that under control. I skidded to a stop on my knees next to Twilight, and took over the construction with flying fingers. This wasn't a military issue beacon, rugged and easy to use; this was an experimental prototype, bulky and strong enough for an alicorn to travel through. The higher load capability came with some drawbacks, however. Mainly the fact that it was big, heavy, and needed to be disassembled for travel... I started feverishly fitting pieces together. Twilight sighed in relief and let her field dissipate. I glanced at her. She'd probably strained herself more than she realized, multi-casting and using the tac cannon like that. But the battle wasn't over yet. "Think you have one shot left in that sparkly gun?" I asked. She nodded grimly, and levitated the crystals again. "The big bad just arrived. Buy me a little time." She moved towards the defensive line. "Captain!" I yelled. "Twilight's going to give us one more shot! Can you assist?" "Right!" He yelled back. I grinned, and redoubled my pace. The mechanism was nearing completion now, the inherent magic layered into the metal starting to power it up. It looked a bit like a set of nested gyroscopes. Blue auras flickered fitfully as they began to spin. "Come-on-come-on-come-on...." I whispered, my nerves stretched to the breaking point as I waited for the magic to take hold. Snapping the last piece into place, I stood back. The beacon gave a shrill whine as it accelerated. The noise quickly swooped up through the audible registers and vanished from hearing. Soon only an ache in my teeth let me know it was working. VEE~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ I cast a glance over to the unicorn siblings. They had the tac array hovering between them, pumping out screaming white death. Sparks trailed from the corners of their glowing eyes, floating on the wind like the tears of lightning as they neared magical overload. The gems from the tac cannon, shining and spinning between them, were being pumped for all they were worth. I threw myself flat as one of them exploded with a bang, sending a pulse of power down the line of the beam. They staggered, gasping, and their aura shattered, dropping the rest of the crystals. I looked up. The Queen held  single hoof in front of her. The shield she had summoned was fading, a wisp of smoke rising. The sand around her was molten, glowing red in a perfect arc, but she stood unharmed in the center. "Impressive." Her voice echoed in empty space. It sounded like a thousand insects, all buzzing together. "A moment more of that, and-" The rest of her banter cut off as the sound coming from the beacon swooped back down into hearing, and cut out completely. She glanced towards it, her eyes widening in realization. Luna arrived. What she did wasn't exactly teleportation. It was more like projection of some sort. I tried to dig something on it out of Twilight's memory, but got nothing. It looked cool, that's for sure. Just above the beacon, a cloud spun into existence. It looked like Luna's mane, a rip in space through which the stars were visible. The edges rippled and moved, but the stars held their places. Suddenly, an eye winked in the void. Then another, and Luna stepped through, seeming to form herself out of mist and stars as she did. She scanned the gathered horde, and locked eyes with the shocked changeling queen. "Die," she said. And they did. It was almost anti-climatic. The Dance of the Dark Moon wasn't about looking good, I guess, just about killing as many enemies as fast as possible. There was a deep crackling sound and something like a grid of black spheres flickered into view a few times, appearing and disappearing. Every, and I mean every changeling in the arena except the queen, fell over dead. I whistled quietly. That must have been something from the Path of Void. No-wonder Twilight was so scared of telefragging. How could you even defend against that sort of attack? I looked at the changeling Queen. It could be defended against, because she was still standing. She was about the same height as Luna. The two behemoths stared each other down for a few seconds, until the alicorn broke the silence. "Wraith, self-styled Queen of changelings, We are here to hand down a judgment and a sentence on thee. As Diarch of the Moon, We hereby declare that for thy unlawful acts inside this, Our royal territory, thy sentence is death." Wraith shifted her eyes to and fro, frantically seeking an escape. Finally she hung her head, seeming to accept the situation and turned, baring her neck to the alicorn. "Do it, then." Luna moved forward, lowering her horn for the blow. That's when the fight really started. As soon as Luna was in striking distance, Wraith showed her true colors, lashing out with her hooves in an attempt to catch the princess off guard. Luna was wary though, and flowed past the strike like water moving around a rock. I have to admit, after that, all movement was lost to me. Princess Luna moved like dark mist, Wraith like a killing wind. They fought back and forth in such a fury of blow and counterstrike that just glancing at them dazzled. I blinked in awe at the fight for a second, and then scooped up the beacon, grabbed Twilight and Shining, and dragged them back to huddle in the corner with the rest of the soldiers in an attempt to keep away from the fight. It ended with a scream and a thump. Luna stood triumphant and terrible. Her horn steamed as the power flowing through it cooked off Wrath's yellow ichor. Under her feet, the broken body of her enemy lay dead. She was barely breathing hard. I steeled myself so as not to shudder at the chill of her eyes. "Shining," she called. He stood shakily, still trying to recover from the stress of battle and using the tac cannon. "Yes, Princess?" "Good job. Begin triage. We-I am going to make one last sweep." "Your highness!" Diligent stepped forward, quailing slightly as her gaze landed on him. "Yes?" "There is a changeling from another hive that we discovered locked in the dungeons. I've taken his parole." "Very well. I will spare him for now. Shining, his actions are in your hooves." The captain nodded. She turned as if to take wing, but staggered with the rest of us as a violent tremor shook the whole fortress. A guard snapped their head around. "Those were demolition charges, or my name isn't Blast Radius! Did they plan to blow this place off the face of the mountain?" Shocked realization crawled across the captain's face. "Probably. Twilight, Wes, take Rainbow and get what you can from the Nexus. Everypony else, fan out and retreat! We need to get out of here before this place destabilizes. The cliff isn't going to hold up to much of that. Go!" I nodded to Twilight and took off, dashing as fast as I could for the last place I wanted to see again. "This is amazing!" "That's nice, Twilight. How long do we have left, Rainbow?" "Not long. Those charges are still going off. The whole place will be flattened by tomorrow. Shining is saying we have five minutes to wrap up here, and then we need to grab and go." "This is-!" Both of us ignored Twilight's shocked gasp until we realized that she had frozen again, and was actually not moving. "Twilight, are you OK?" I said, turning towards her until I caught a glimpse of what she was looking at, and froze as well. "Wes? Twilight?" Rainbow shook me and I snapped out of my reverie. "Rainbow, the comm." She hoofed it to over. "Captain." "Wes?" "We've found something important." "Continue." "Have you heard of the Crystal Empire?" "A little." "I think we found it." "Come again?" "Well, not exactly it. But a gateway. It's clearly labeled. We can use it. It's still in working order. Barring the impossible, we can get through." "Wes, I don't care if-" "Captain. When Sombra was banished, he did...something...to the Empire. The whole thing disappeared. No-one knows how. No one knows where." "You and my little sister are not risking your life to find out some where some shiny buildings went!" "Captain when the Empire disappeared, it took four thousand ponies with it. We NEED to know what happened. How he did it. If he can do it again." I could hear Shining's teeth grit across the comm. I knew he hated this, being forced to send some into danger to protect others. It didn't help that everyone was willing to do it. He didn't want to send his sister and friends into danger. That's part of why we were willing to follow him. We meant something to him, and we knew it. But this had to happen. "Go." He grit out. "But if you don't come back with my sister..." He let the threat hang. It might have been irrational, but I knew it wasn't empty. "Yes sir." I handed back the comm and stepped up to the circle. We hadn't found much in the Nexus that we understood, but this was clearly a precursor to our current spells, the sort of thing the beacon we'd used earlier was based on. I touched part of the ring, twisting my fingers into the shape of the rune needed to complete the circuit. With a hum and a snap, the circle activated. Twilight shook herself out of her stupor, and looked at me in wonder. "We're going." I said. "Shining gave it the OK. We need to know what Sombra did. Let's find out." "Me too!" Rainbow stepped up beside us. I nodded, and we all stepped forward into the growing light. A moment of falling, a snatch of song, and blackness followed.