//------------------------------// // The Captain and the Magister // Story: Twist Ending // by Rrazz //------------------------------// Twist Ending Chapter Seven: The Captain and the Magister ______________________________________________________________________________________ Panic gripped me as the two ponies glared at me; the unicorn’s face was still hidden, though I could clearly see the snarl on Nightblade’s face as his wings spread, ready to take flight at a moments notice. “How did he sneak past the perimeter?” The hulk of a pony growled his head turning towards the unicorn for a moment, before focusing back onto me. I gulped, the only action I seemed capable of doing it seemed. I fought and struggled to get my limbs moving, to spin around and bolt, but I found myself still remaining firmly rooted to the spot, petrified as the pegasus started to march forwards, each heavy hoof step causing a slight rumble to follow in his wake. “You’re the human the master spoke of? I can’t say I’m impressed.” For some reason, I stepped forward, rather then back towards the stairs which was what my mind was screaming at me to do. Instead, I advanced a few paces into the room, closing the gap between myself and the hulk of a pegasus as he glared at me, if I could see his face, I assumed it would be with an expression akin to disappointment or annoyance, given I wasn’t going to be much of a challenge for him. “I never was good with first impressions.” I stated, my voice wavering slightly and sounding quieter then I’d have liked. But hell the fact that I could move my tongue at all was a miracle; the fact that I hadn’t taken one look at Nightblade and run away screaming bloody murder was another. For some reason, I held my ground, even as the shadow bolt closed within five or six feet of me and halted, goggle obscured eyes boring into my own. “You made a mistake coming here alone human.” He briefly glanced over his shoulder. “Finish the spell, we can’t waste anymore time.” “What spell?” I asked, ignoring the jab about being alone in favour of hearing what their goal was. I couldn’t see much past Nightblade, but the ominous green glow told me enough, the unicorn was up to something. Clearly my intervention had done little to slow them down. “The master needs an army to conquer Equestria, were providing him with one.” I heard the unicorn state proudly. It chilled me to the bone just how pleased she sounded, almost like she was enjoying what she was about to do… “And you need Twilight, as a mana battery for this?” I asked, my eyes remaining locked with Nightblade’s. So far he hadn’t attacked me, which gave me the opportunity to confirm this was going where I thought it was, and with luck think of a way to halt the spell before they succeeded. “Her magic is far superior to mine…” The mare said, her tone shifting from excited to annoyed, she didn’t like being second to anyone it seemed. “She refused to help us, so we’ll just take what we need by force.” Given I wasn’t much of a threat; I wasn’t surprised they were willing to explain their plans, might as well tell me everything before they killed me. Or maybe that was just bad writing on my part… “Uh huh...” I acknowledged her words, my eyes briefly flicking away from the shadow bolt and darting towards the unicorn, she had her back to me and faced Twilight, and her horn glowing a brilliant, almost blinding green, with just a faint edging of purple. Twilight was on the ground, squirming and fidgeting slightly even in her unconscious state. Clearly this was very uncomfortable, or even downright painful, I felt my heart cracking at the realization that –again- I was the one to blame. The ritual would likely kill her if I didn’t do something to stop it. My gaze shifted back to Nightblade. But what could I do, he would stop me if I just tried attacking the magister, not to mention she could probably put up a fight, especially if it was who I thought it to be. Magister Stargazer, second in command of the Nightmare’s army once it was summoned, which was mere minutes away. Damn it! Where the felfire was Applejack and the others! If they were here we could probably do something! I risked a glance over my shoulder and back towards the stairs, nothing behind me. I turned back and realized the pegasus captain was gone, I blinked in surprise, stepping back a pace, I glanced about uneasily, where did he- My ears perked up at the faint sound of flapping wings, my eyes bolted upwards, just in time to locate the pony as he grinned down at me, Instinct kicked in and I threw myself to one side and towards a pillar, just in time too, as he suddenly dove towards me, crashing to the ground where I’d been a second before with a deafening crash, stumbling, I risked a glance over my shoulder and watched, awed and terrified as electricity crackled across his hooves. A second later his head whipped around and focused on me once again, I simply spun on my heel and bolted, not stopping until I made it to one of the pillars that lined the massive chamber and pressed my back to it. Panting heavily, sweat running down my face, I finally took a moment to breathe, and think. I was alone, I had a pegasus with lightning hooves trying to kill me, and a spell capable of raising thousands of creatures, pony or otherwise, from their graves to serve as a army for the Nightmare being channelled not twenty feet away. What, the, HELL, was I suppose to do? I couldn’t think straight, my mind simply kept turning over the fact that I was in over my head, that it was best to just make a run for the door and pray to whatever deity would listen that I could make it some place far away from here before any of this eventuated. Somewhere in my head, a tiny voice suddenly cut into my panic ridden emotions and thoughts. Like it or not, I was here, this was real, and I was going to have to play hero. I might not be cut out for it, but people (err, ponies) were going to die if I couldn’t stop that spell. I wasn’t a hero, not by a long shot, but no one else could prevent this disaster. Besides, this was my fanfiction. It might not be going exactly as I wrote it, but it was still my story, I was a hero there, I could be a hero now…right? Well, I could at least try and not get horribly killed…that was a good start. I paused to swallow, my throat dry and making the simple act painful. I cringed, but ignored it, favouring to try and think of a plan to turn this impossible situation around. I briefly paused, holding my breath; the clopping of hooves was growing louder, drawing nearer… Too near! I swiftly spun around just as Nightblade swung around the pillar, his forelegs lashing out to catch me in the chest. Somehow I managed to leap back in time, though even then I felt his hooves scrape against my shirt. “Is this how all of you humans fight? By running away and cowering like a frightened filly,” he demanded, leaping forwards in another attempt to strike me, I swiftly scrambled to one side, the rush of air signalling just how close I’d come yet again. I chose not to respond, instead taking the brief opportunity to put some distance between us. My eyes quickly cast about the massive chamber in hopes of finding something, anything that would prove useful, hell right now I’d settle for a big rock or something that I could throw at him. “Embrace death human, stop running!” The pegasus snarled, leaping into the air, his wings rapidly beating to carry him high into the air. I started to back away, preparing to dodge whatever he had planned. I couldn’t keep dodging forever though, I needed something. I risked taking my eyes off Nightblade for a second to survey my surroundings, pillars, a few old paintings or the like…why was there no weapons here? Wait, I paused, my eyes settling on the far side of the chamber. As the green light from Stargazer’s spell lit up the chamber more and more, I noted something glinting, reflecting the light. Something metal I hope. My gaze snapped back to Nightblade, only to realize he had already started moving, diving on a collision course with me. Again I threw myself to one side, hoping to dodge his sudden charge and make a run for what I hoped was a weapon. Luck wasn’t on my side it seemed, as I’d barely moved an inch before a sudden burst of pain ripped through my chest as the pegasus’ hooves collided with me, knocking the wind out of my lungs, and probably knocked a few ribs out of place in the process. I hit the ground a second later, and tumbled to a half at the base of another pillar a few feet away. I hissed through clenched teeth as a dozen aches and pains sprung up all at once. My ribs felt like they were on fire, it hurt to breath, however little I was doing, my ears were ringing, and I could taste blood. And that was just one hit from this guy…wow I was bad at being a hero. Groaning quietly, I slowly rolled onto my stomach and winced as a fresh wave of pain greeted me. Instead I began pushing up onto my hands and knees, the only pervading thought that wasn’t ‘oh hell this freaking hurts!’ was simply to get up and moving again. If I stopped for to long, the shadow bolt would have an easier time of killing me. I swiftly discovered that I had less time then I thought, as a pair of hooves abruptly slammed into my side, sending me sideways and crashing into the pillar a second time. There was no air in my lungs to cry out with this time as I simply slumped back to the ground, my head connected with the hard stone floor, my vision blurred and began to darken at the edges, all sound was replaced with the rapid pounding of my heart and the dull ring of what I assumed was a concussion. A hazy shadow loomed over me, I tilted my head slightly, doing my best to glare defiantly back at the figure. “Pathetic…I don’t know what the master saw in you.” I heard Nightblade comment, his voice sounded distant and the words hard to focus on. Despite this, I still did my best to glare at him. “Neither, do, I…” I mumbled through gritted teeth, my vision was growing darker, and yet I found myself strangely, calm. Unlike when the fight had started and I’d been panicking, now I seemed perfectly, at ease as I stared up at the pegasus. That knock to the head must have rattled my brains more then I realized. I weakly struggled to move, to get up or even roll to one side before he could hit me again. My limbs felt heavy, unresponsive, and with the pillar at my back, what could I really do? The only way to go was through the pegasus, and I couldn’t do that at peak efficiency, let alone while barely being able to stand. He said something else, but I didn’t hear it, the words were to quiet and distant for me to pick up on. A moment later the shadow moved and I blinked, focusing my eyes just long enough to see he was rearing up on his hind legs, fore hooves poised to crash down on my head. My mind briefly toyed with trying to move again, but I knew it was pointless. I really didn’t want to die, but I had few other options. Instead I simply squeezed my eyes shut, and waited for the inevitable. So much for playing hero…or going home. I felt a rush of air run across my face and arms, but no pain or discomfort, just the throbbing ache in my ribs and chest from the previous blows, and the headache from hitting the pillar. I risked opening my eyes after a long moment of awkward nothingness. Everything was bathed in an eerie green glow, including the new shadow figure that was standing over me. It was much a much slighter shape then Nightblade, though it still reared on its hind legs though facing away from me, wings spread wide in what seemed to be an act of defiance, its forelegs were brought up close to its chest, appearing ready to fight. I blinked rapidly, trying to refocus my eyes and fight off the darkness that threatened to engulf me. The angelic creature remained, the green glow illuminating its body nicely. I had to admit, if this was the afterlife, I was impressed so far. Slowly it dropped back onto its hooves and spun to face me, and I caught a glimpse of its face, bright, rose red coloured eyes widening a touch as it stared down at me, the smooth features creasing in a worried frown as it leaned closer, lips moving as it said something, the words were to muffled to understand, but I still picked up on the sweet, feminine voice. It was oddly pleasing to my battered ears. I blinked again, my eyes focusing a little more. Just enough to note the mane that hung around her face and over her shoulders, soaking wet but no less vibrant, even in the green lighting of, wherever we were it sparkled several different colours, a beautiful rainbow coloured mane… Rainbow… Oh heck… I couldn’t stifle a groan as the realization hit me, the pony looming over me jolted back an inch before throwing a glance over her shoulder, her eyes were quickly returned to me though. “Come on, get up!” This time her words actually reached me, though they were still faint and distant. I felt something prod my shoulder, and I winced as the aches and pains from being kicked around suddenly returned full force, resulting in a loud hiss of pain. “Five more, minutes.” I mumbled, earning a harsh glare from the cyan pegasus. “We don’t have five minutes! Get up!” She glanced over her shoulder again, searching the room for something. Suddenly, my mind jolted, realization dawning on me, Nightblade, the spell! When did I forget that? I tried flexing my fingers again, trying to regain feeling in my limbs. Thankfully the numbness was rapidly fading. Wincing with each tiny movement, I slowly shifted onto my side and forced my arms to start moving; pushing against the ground I began to shift onto my knees. Rainbow Dash quickly retreated a few paces, giving me room to stand. Using the pillar as a support, I began pulling myself slowly back onto my feet. Little by little I made it back upright, cringing and wincing as the pain in my ribs continued to pain me, Thankfully nothing appeared to be broken, I’d never actually broken bones before, but I had a feeling it would involve a lot less moving and a lot more screaming if I had. Finally I made it back to my feet, my back pressed against the pillar to ensure I stayed upright. “What happened?” I asked, shaking my head to try and fight off my daze. Finally my eyes were returning to normal, and I managed to steal a glance about the chamber. Stargazer was still conjuring a spell, though now there was a green, bubble enveloping her, another pony, this one orange with a blond mane and cowboy hat was slowly circling the bubble, glaring at the unicorn through the barrier. Nightblade was on the ground, glaring back at a white unicorn who’s horn glowed a dark purple, closer inspection revealed a similar coloured energy enveloping his hooves and wings, binding him in place, a yellow pegasus was now by Twilight’s side, she was trembling and glancing about fearfully, but she refused to move away from her unconscious friend. “When did you turn up?” I asked Rainbow Dash, a weak smile forming despite my aches and pains. About damn time they decided to show up and help save the day. Though I had a feeling this wouldn’t last long. Especially with Nightblade struggling against his magical bonds, Rarity wouldn’t be able to hold him for long. “Just in time to stop you getting pulverized.” Dash responded, a wry smirk forming. “You’re lucky I was here to save you!” She puffed out her chest proudly; I rolled my eyes, though despite myself I still found a smile briefly forming. “I owe you one I guess.” I responded quickly, taking the opportunity of a quiet moment to push off from the pillar. I swayed unsteadily for a moment, before regaining my balance. My ribs were sore and it was still paining me to breath, but at least I was still alive. I had Dash to thank for that, apparently… She was about the last pony I expected to save my skin. “Thanks…I mean it.” I said after a moment, a genuine smile forming for a second, regardless, I wasn’t going to argue, being alive beat being a bloody mess on the floor. “Forget about it.” The pegasus responded, rolling her eyes at me before moving away to join the others. I remained in place for a long moment, studying the situation around me, Nibhgblade was tied up for the moment, though how long Rarity’s magic would hold I couldn’t say, hopefully they had a plan to get out of here before the Nightmare’s minions regained their footing. Pushing off from the pillar, I slowly limped towards Fluttershy and Twilight, the former shied away slightly, her face vanishing behind her pink mane, though she refused to back away from her friend. “How is she?” I asked, gingerly sinking into a crouch next to the pair. Now that I was closer, I noted she was looking, duller then usual. I couldn’t say pale as that wasn’t the case, but it seemed as though the sheen in her purple coat was faded, the colours seemingly bled out of her. “I th-think she’s okay…” Fluttershy mumbled slowly, I leaned forward slightly, straining my ears to hear her. “She doesn’t look hurt, and she’s still breathing.” I nodded along with the pegasus’ words, only half listening as I studied her friend. That tearing in my heart returned tenfold as I studied the purple unicorn, my vision blurred again and I quickly blinked to clear it, not realizing until a few moments later that something wet and warm was rolling down my cheek. I quickly wiped it away with the back of one hand and mentally shook myself. This might have been my fault, but what’s done was done, I couldn’t change that. I glanced over my shoulder, my eyes focusing on Stargazer as she fought to maintain her shield. …Maybe I could. I quickly stood and started moving across the chamber. “What do we do with these two?” I asked no one in particular. “You might have halted the spell for the moment, but the masters plans are already in motion. You cannot stop us!” Stargazer snapped, her voice strained and muffled by the bubble she was projecting. Despite this, I could still feel the defiance in her gaze as she glared at me. “It’s six on one, your better of giving up.” The unicorn glanced back and forth between us, seemingly weighing her odds. I guess she came to the same conclusion I did as she finally lowered her head, the magic enveloping her horn fading, as did the bubble. Slowly, Applejack and Rainbow Dash began to close in, inching forward slowly, ready to pounce if she tried anything. Which, naturally she did. I blinked, and suddenly her head bolted upwards, fixing me with a death glare as the glow returned. “This, isn’t over!” She snapped, the two ponies reacted faster then I did, diving forwards to grab her. Too late, a blinding flash lit up the room I looked away for a second, and when I turned back, she was gone. My gaze snapped around to focus on her companion, but Nightblade was gone too. “Damn it!” I cursed. So much for changing fate… “Well…what now?” Rarity asked, no one responded for a long moment. “Twilight’s been through a lot, I think its best we get her to a hospital.” I said, my gaze returning to the pony, she was still horrible dull in colour, if I didn’t know any better I’d say Discord had been influencing her again, she wasn’t quite that faded yet, but a good amount of her colour was gone. I bit my lip, she wasn’t looking good. “We need to get her back to Ponyville. I don’t think she’s going to last long without help.” Hopefully the ponies knew the way back to town… _________________________________________________________________________________________ Edit: Oh wow, I just realized I totally forgot to include Pinkie Pie in that final scene >.< I reference her being there but I never directly put her in the story...gah! Oh well, my bad... And another chapter done...I guess. Again, not confident about this one. It kinda feels a bit rushed to me :/ Plus my usual perfectionism is kicking in and I want to rewrite huge parts of it >.< But oh well, I hope its good. Inspiration hit and I pretty much wrote the whole chapter over the course of two days (The past week or so being me trying to write it and scrapping the previous drafts) I do have a few, unsure bits in this chapter, namely, I'm not sure if its possible for a unicorn to 'siphon' the magic out of another pony no matter how powerful they are. But I decided to go with it for now, figured it can't hurt >.> Plus I'm not sure Rarity would really be able to use magic to incapacitate Nightblade especially given he's a lot stronger (Physically at least) then her. Again though, I wrote it out and thought, 'just roll with it' If its wrong then my bad, I'm still rather inexperienced when it comes to MLP...need to watch more episodes :P Enough rambling! I hope you all enjoyed :D Next chapter will be along soon enough I hope and it'll be longer too, sorry this one is kinda on the short side, but I wasn't sure if I should keep going given the main bulk of the chapter is done at this point (Really all that was left is the trek back through the forest which I was probably going to gloss over anyway for the most part.