//------------------------------// // Encounter // Story: The Slash of Thunder // by ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ //------------------------------// The sun was just disappearing , Blazing Streak and her friends had been working hard to hone their skills in battle all afternoon, and Blazing was feeling tired. Her legs ached from the constant training. It wasn't easy, but it needed to be done. She kissed her wife goodbye as she and her other friends, aside from Fluttershy, walked down the hill, exhausted looking. She turned to face the timid mare, who was shifting nervously. "Um, Blazing?... I don't.. want to, um, fight." Fluttershy stuttered. Blazing Streak sighed inwardly. "It's okay, Fluttershy, this is just practice, no one is going to get hurt." She tried to reassure her. "I-I know but I didn't mean just now, um, I don't want to hurt anyone." She finished, sinking down. Blazing thought for a moment. "But what about the last time we all fought together, I saw you ripping one of them... 'shades' to pieces." She pointed out, remembering the name Twilight had given to the dark pony creatures that Night Whisper had conjured. "Yes, but those weren't real ponies, they were just dark magic." At that she started to shiver, probably at the memory. Blazing nodded in understanding. She put a hoof to her chin in thought. The only alternative to fighting is healing. That is, if she wants to help. "Ok, if you don't want to fight, would helping the doctors care for the injured suit you more?" At that, Fluttershy brightened up. "Oh, yes, I'd love to. I just hope I don't let you down.." She replied. Blazing Streak shook her head. "I'm sure you won't ,'Shy. After all, you've been looking after all kinds of animals for years, this wont be much different. We can get you some training at the hospital, they won't mind, if we tell them it's important." She soothed. Fluttershy beamed and nodded. "That would be delightful! But, um, in the morning, it's getting late and I need to tuck my animals in for the night." Blazing Streak smiled with relief at being able to go to bed and rest with her wife. she nodded. "Okay then, Night, 'Shy." "Night, Blazing." Satisfied with the day's work, Blazing Streak also headed home, wobbling in the air slightly from exhaustion. She got to a high altitude, so she could glide. The sun was slowly sinking down beyond the farmhouse, Blazing smiled at the sight of the orange tint that spread across the acres of trees and the barn. It was a welcoming sight. She spotted something at the step of her door, it would have been completely invisible in this light, if it hadn't been for the trademark Stetson that rested on it's head. Blazing Streak smiled fondly. Pitching her nose down, she let herself freefall, closing her wings to reduce air resistance. the usual flame cone started to generate in front of her speeding body. "Firefly! Yer fallin' too fast!" Blazing Streak heard her wife shouting up to her with a frightened tone in her voice. She could see the ground rapidly approaching. Now! She snapped her wings open, feeling the full force of her momentum pushing against her wings. The joints ached a bit, but she kept them open long enough to slow her fall so she could land and do a forward roll to prevent injury. She came face to face with her wife's frightened face. "Hi!" She exclaimed, smiling. Applejack frowned and hit Blazing Streak's arm. "Ow! What was that for?" She noticed a playful gleam in the farm pony's eyes. "Don't scare me like that again, y'hear?" "Uh.. heh, sorry!" she rubbed the back of her head awkwardly. Applejack looked at her for a moment before chuckling lightly. "Ya look a mess there, sugar cube!" Blazing Streak realized that she was covered in dirt. She shrugged, scraping it off her shoulders with her hooves. "Yeah, I'll have a shower in a bit." She stretched, suddenly remembering her fatigue. "Ugh, I'm worn out, blocking you, Rainbow Dash and Thunder Slash's punches is more exhausting than I thought, and I knew it was going to be tiring." She stated, managing to stand on her stiff legs. "It's the most exhausted I've been for a long time!" She shuddered, remembering the aftermath of Night Whisper's death. Her legs had felt like they had been ran over by a train. She had to have Applejack give her a massage to get comfortable so she could sleep. She hadn't forgotten how good that massage was. She was snapped back into the present by her wife. "Firefly? Yer starin' inta space a bit there, somethin' up?" She shook her head. "Uh, nah, just remembering something." She yawned and headed inside. "Heh, ya really are a bit wobbly there, sugar cube. Take it a bit easier next time, ya hear?" Applejack told her, stepping up to steady the tired Pegasus by pressing up against her. "mnh.. Thank's AJ." Blazing said. "I think I'll just get a shower n' go to bed, just about ready to fall asleep on my hooves." She decided. .--...--...---...--...--. "Of all the things I expected when going into the shower, you joining me definitely wasn't on the top of the list." Blazing Streak stated, blushing hard as she settled in the covers of her bed. Applejack, who was blushing equally deeply, was already lying beside her with a content, half lidded expression, staring into Blazing's eyes. "Heh. 'S always better when ya don't expect it." She joked. Blazing smiled like Applejack was. She got closer and moved a strand of her wife's mane from her eye and left her hoof on her cheek. "I love you" She whispered, slowly drifting off for a well earned sleep. "Ah love you too, sugar cube. Sleep tight." Applejack replied, kissing her on the forehead. .--...--...---...--...--. All around her, ponies clashed, blades gleamed as they slashed through flesh like it was paper. Heart pounding, Blazing Streak snapped her head around to see blood spilling into the air everywhere. The air was pierced by shrieks of pain and fury. What's going on? Suddenly, a large brown Stallion lunged at her, barrelling her over onto her back and pinning her with a hoof, raising a knife in his other towards her. Her instincts kicked in, she swiftly lashed out with her right hoof, catching the attacker's face, before blasting him with a powerful bolt of fire. He rolled off and lay motionless on the ground. Blazing Streak walked over to him to inspect who he was, but as she got closer, the body faded into nothing, only leaving a trail of blood as a sign that he had once been there. What in tarnation? She took to the air to get a better view at what was happening. The first thing she saw was a gigantic horde of angry looking ponies, big and small, growling and lashing out with knives and swords at others. Looking up, she saw something that made her heart stop. The mountain, it's peak had blown off, lava was flowing down and the ground was separated by crevices. That means this is... Her breath came in shorter and quicker as she realized what was happening. "How nice to see you again, Blazing Streak." She whipped around in the air to see a black Unicorn with a purple mane and ferocious purple eyes that could bore a hole in your very soul. Shock rippled through her. "Night Whisper!" the Unicorn just laughed. He was floating, much like Blazing Streak was in her last dream. his eyes held such ferocity and hatred, whirling around in purple pools of insanity. "That's me! You should have known you would never get rid of me so quickly! You're lucky this is just a dream, other wise you'd be dead on the floor right now." He scowled. Blazing Streak stared into his furious eyes with despair. "Dusk Shadow... Are you in there? What have you done?" The Unicorn flinched slightly, but then chuckled. "You should know better, Blazing, ol' pal. You think such a pussy old Unicorn like him could do any of this? No, I'm not him." "Then where is he?! He became you, I don't know how or why, but he did, I know he must be in there somewhere!" She shoved a hoof into his chest. "I'll assure you that he was obliterated before he even made it to Tartarus. We couldn't have such a weak minded pony fighting for us. After all, that's how Faint could change him so easily, and corrupt his mind to the point of breaking. He was crippled mentally, his resentment for you weakened his mind, made it vulnerable to Faint's corruption. But, he had potential, Faint saw a spark in him that wasn't in many other ponies. He found fury, anger that plagued his heart and drove him on, anger when he woke up, and when he slept. So, Faint latched onto this spark, and increased it, nurtured it, grew it and built it up until poor little Dusk couldn't hold it all in. He became me, day by day, he would see me in the mirrors instead of his usual self, until one day, his heart gave way completely." The Unicorn moved his head closer, his expression fierce and full of anger. He continued; "That anger, that resentment for you was passed down to me, the despair and jealousy of being ignored while your parents spent all their time looking after you, not even glancing in my direction. And all because I wasn't 'special' like you, I couldn't do the things you could. They were so proud of you, they watched you grow up with smiles on their faces and didn't even look at me! I could see it in Daylight sky's eyes, that he didn't have the same fatherly pride in me as he did in you, he stared at me with eyes as dull as a cloudy day. So after you came looking for me and I sent you here, I decided I would follow you, and take everything you came to love here away from you, so you know what it feels like! And if I have to kill a thousand soldiers to get there, then so be it." Night Whisper finished, gravely. "What?! So you went as far as killing our parents, attacking an entire world, just because you were JEALOUS?!" Blazing Streak yelled, rage blinding her. Night Whisper only scowled at her. She could feel her muscles tensing up, her pelt started to ignite. "You would do the same if you were discarded like me, we are alike, anger runs through your veins just as much as mine!" "WE ARE NOTHING ALIKE! I WOULD NEVER DO ANYTHING LIKE YOU DID!... What are you accomplishing, what are you gaining by doing this?! A sense of achievement?! Just ask yourself, is it worth it? The pain, the death, the fear you strike on innocent ponies, who have done nothing to wrong you?!" Blazing continued, flying closer to the Unicorn's scowl, gritting her teeth as she tried to calm herself down. "It will be worth it once Faint sees what I've done, when I've slaughtered you and your petty little 'friends'. Not even you could stop me now, with this power I hold. I will stand by his side and reign hell down on anything that gets in the way of killing you." He retorted, glaring with pure hatred at Blazing, who almost lost it. "You will not harm my friends, I'll make sure of that! Now tell me who Faint is!" she demanded. "You'll find out, sooner than you'd like." He didn't give her any time to press him for answers as he vanished with a dark, greeny-blue flash. Blazing Streak was left staring in rage and bewilderment at where her old enemy had been floating moments before Faint? What did he mean? Is that really why Dusk Shadow was corrupted? .--...--...---...--...--. "Firefly? Firefly, wake up!" Blazing Streak opened her eyes to see a worried Applejack staring at her. "Wha...? Applejack?" She rubbed her eyes. "Ya'll looked like you were havin' a mighty bad dream there, sugar cube." Applejack explained, concern lacing her voice. "I did..." She went on to tell Applejack what happened in her nightmare, by the time she reached the end of the story, she had started to tremble with anxiety. Her wife was quick to pull her into a comforting hug, nuzzling the back of her neck. "It's okay, sugar cube. It's just a dream, he ain't here, not yet." "H-he will be though. And what's worse, the thing that corrupted my brother will be. Applejack, what have I done?" Applejack flinched. "What do ya mean, sugar cube? Ya haven't done anythin' wrong." "Yes I have, all of this is my fault, I was the thing that stole my parents' attention from my brother, if I had kept my powers to my self, non of this would have happened! I spent all my life training myself so I could kill Night Whisper, when he had the right to be just as angry at me!" Applejack broke the hug, keeping her hooves on Blazing Streak's shoulders. "No, Firefly, It aint your fault. No one can blame you fer who ya are! Ya'll were born with these powers, so you have the right to tell whoever you want. If he's jealous, that's his own fault and he should'a dealt with it himself! Not take it out on others." She asserted. Blazing nodded with a smile before going in to hug her wife again. After a long moment, they settled back down. There was no need to go back to sleep - dawn light had already started to shine through the gaps under the curtains. They lay together, Blazing Streak resting her head on Applejack's chest. "Ah just cant believe all that's been happenin' recently, Who'd have thought that Granny, among other ponies could just come back to life like that, as if nothin' had ever happened? Not that Ah don't like it, Ah don't love Granny Smith, but this ain't normal." "Hmm.." Blazing Streak murmured absent-mindedly. Applejack glanced down at her. "I don't think we'll be able to handle this on our own. six of us may be enough to fend off entire armies of 'shades' but those aren't real, intelligent ponies, which I have no doubt will be able to fight better. We need more ponies to fight with us." She decided. Things were looking grim, Blazing Streak now understood the danger that they were all in. The problem was, who could she find that would be willing to put their life on the line? Princess Celestia and Luna had thousands of soldiers that would without question. But would she order her soldiers into such a tough battle? Of course she would, Equestria depends on it.