Sixty-three
Year 506, Desert Isle
Scootaloo
Scratch, Dinky and Luna looked to each other, confirming to each other that they had nothing else to add. We had been listening to their story for hours, and the sun had gone below the horizon. One by one, Applebloom, Raphael and Cole had dropped out of the storytelling, their point of view dead. Luna had joined in when the first Civil War came up, as she had lived through it personally, but dropped out after the point at which she was sealed away.
That left only Scratch and Dinky, recounting the points of view of Doc and Derpy, the points of view of the two surviving creators of Equestria.
"So... What happened next?" Sweetie Belle asked.
Scratch shrugged helplessly. "That's as far as the dreams have gone so far. And they got really hazy towards the end, otherwise we would have given more detail... But we're only a few years from the present now; I think we've been shown what we really need."
I frowned. "I don't follow. We know where he came from, but how does any of that help us kill Discord?"
"He's got a weakness." Applebloom said knowingly. "He knows it too, hides it in plain sight. Xekora didn't know back when he fought him, only Derpy might've."
"It's the sword." Raphael concludes. "The one that used to belong to Leeroy, and to Applebloom's brother. One of the ingredients used to forge it gives it the kind of power to kill something like Discord. That's why he's never let it leave his side if he can help it; because it's the one thing that can finish him."
"Keep your friends close, and your enemies closer, I guess." I said thoughtfully. "Alright, that makes sense. But how do we get it away from him to use it?"
"That, we'll have to figure out on our own." Scratch answered with a sigh. "I guess looking to the past can only get us so far."
"We might be able to get some help, too." Alex offered. "Cole and I know where the tower is, and if we can find Dirk and Xekora..."
"Dirk, maybe." Sweetie Belle replied. "But Xekora's gone. Died to finish off Celestia six years ago."
"I see... I'm sorry."
"It's alright. Besides, you're right. If we can figure out where that Dirk guy went- some place called Hermuda, right?- he'd be a big help."
The sound of distant cannon fire echoed through the clearing. Looks were exchanged. I glanced at Applebloom. "If they don't kick us off the island after this, I'll be genuinely surprised."
"We'd better leave after this anyway." Scratch said sharply. "But we've got to deal with this first!"
I nodded and drew my spear. I hoped against hope that this was a pirate attack, but deep down, I knew the truth; the Order was back for another round.
Our group of ten rushed into the village, weapons ready. The local militia seemed to have a similar idea; a small group of soldiers dashed past us towards the port, and we followed them at a short distance. The port was buzzing with activity, civilians rushing panicked from the danger, and soldiers fighting against dark forms. It was the Order, all right. One large battleship was anchored a short distance from port, but another was alongside it, bearing a flag depicting an animal's claw, and the two ships were exchanging canon fire.
"The Fighting Beasts!" Angel exclaimed. "They must have tailed the Order ship here!"
"We could sneak aboard while they're distracted." Scratch offered. "We can't do much else from here, they'll just keep throwing dark forms at us."
I nodded. "We'll have to be quick if we don't want them destroying our ship, but we could do it."
"Maybe a few of us should bring it back to port afterwards, and assist the local militia." Raphael offered. "If so, I volunteer to return."
"I'm going." Sweetie Belle stated. "I've had enough of these people. If they want to get us, fine, I'll meet that challenge. But hurting innocent people along the way? They have to pay for that."
I nodded again. "I'm going too."
"I'll return." Angel said. "A scythe is good for shadow forms, but not so good against a skilled fighter with a sword."
"They don't have a field medic here yet." Dinky pointed out. "I'm going to stay and help the injured soldiers."
"Anyone else hanging back?" Scratch asked. No one answered. "Good. Dinky, you should go help them. The rest of you, let's move! We're going to have to fight our way to our boat!"
I lunged forward without another word, driving my spear through one of the dark forms. Scratch leapt past me, battle discs ablaze, and sliced another in half. Applebloom charged forward on my other side, batting aside a strike from one of the beasts with one sword and cutting it through the middle with the other. I stepped forward, blocking a hit, and Raphael spun around my side and smashed the form with a burst of energy. Sweetie Belle stepped towards another, spun on one foot and swiftly destroyed it with a blast of light.
Alex dodged around a lunge from an approaching beast, slashed its legs to disable it, and decapitated it with his second crescent blade. I dashed forward on a gust of wind, wings carrying me just above the ground. A creature dove at me, claws eager for battle, but I batted it aside with my spear and stabbed it while it was stunned.
The docks were just ahead now. There were only a few shadow beasts on the dock itself, most milling about further in town. Several bursts of fire and light from Sweetie Belle and Scratch dispatched them as we approached. I leapt onto the boat, and Scratch shortly followed and grabbed the wheel. As soon as the others were on board, I untied the rope keeping the vessel bound do the docks, and gave us a strong boost of wind to push us out into the open water. Scratch pulled the small ship into a hard turn, and as soon as we were facing the attacking warship, our engines roared to life.
I had to grab hold of the railing to the side to keep my balance. We didn’t have a moment to waste, and I wasn’t about to complain about the sudden speed. At first, it wasn’t clear if they saw our approach, as the canon fire was directed towards the town we were sailing away from already. But when one of the shots exploded in the water just beside us, the question was answered. Stealth was not on our side. But time still could be.
Scratch pulled us into a sharp turn, aligning us with the side of the much larger vessel. Canon fire still erupted from both sides, half aimed towards the port, half at the Fighting Beasts’ vessel. Without a word, Sweetie Belle slipped on the Icarus Charm, and launched herself upward on her crystalline wings. Luna was quick to follow, and Cole and Applebloom threw and secured a pair of grappling hooks to the deck above. They were the first to climb aboard, with Scratch and Alex just behind them. I followed Alex, making sure he didn’t fall, but he seemed quite able to handle himself despite not being able to see. Raphael gave a quick salute, then took the controls of the boat and gunned its engines, spinning it back towards port. I grit my teeth in determination and continued my climb.
Sweetie Belle and Luna were already engaged in combat with a crowd of shadow forms, light and dark magic firing in unison from the two princesses. Applebloom dashed forward, swords at the ready, and blocked a hit aimed at Sweetie Belle before dispatching the attacker. Scratch spun his weapons in his hands, fire forming at the blades’ tips, and charged into the fray. Alex slid in shortly after him, his crescent blades slicing and swinging somewhat more elegantly than Scratch’s rage-fueled strikes. He and Dinky now had an even more personal vendetta against the Order- having seen their actions from the eyes of people on the inside, they had all the more reason to despise the few but merciless members remaining. Quicksilver, Minuet, Perun and Discord. Alex and Cole had both deserted, and Lenora, Tug and Spitfire were all AWOL as well. Doc was their prisoner, and the rest were dead.
I lunged into the fray, spear raised, and smashed one of the dark beasts in the head. The impact of the blade was enough to destroy it, and I pushed forward further to dispatch the one behind it. Applebloom slid in beside me, blocking a strike, then cross-slashed another beast. I charged and fired a burst of wind in one hand, powerful enough to send several of the creatures toppling backwards. Taking advantage of them being stunned, I leapt forward and attacked them, destroying several more.
“Stand down!” an unpleasantly familiar voice commanded. In the first show of obedience I had seen from the shadow forms, they ceased their vicious counterattack on our group. “Focus all fire on the enemy vessel. Leave these ones to me.”
The beasts shuffled away, leaving only a familiarly framed, black-cloaked figure at the door to the captain’s quarters. His sword, crackling with pink energy, was already in hand.
“You.” Scratch growled. “How could you?! They were your friends! How could you turn on them like that?! How could you kill him?!”
Perun’s face was obscured by his hood, but it was still clear that he was hesitating. “Put it all together, did you?” he replied a moment later. “Congratulations. It changes nothing. They made their choices about what was best for the world, and I made mine. It’s unfortunate that our paths separated, but such is life.”
“Is that your excuse for killing him and wanting to drag me back with you?!” Scratch shouted, fires on his weapons burning brighter.
“The Order seeks to guide the world!” he snapped. “You’ve become convinced that we want to destroy it or rule it with an iron fist, but you are mistaken. The people of this planet wage war on one another, kill each other without cause, kill their own land in the name of profit. They need a guiding hand. And with its gods out of commission and unable to act, who does that leave? It leaves Lord Discord and his loyal followers! Through this bloody conflict that you have instigated, a world guided in the right direction shall be born.”
“Is that why you enslaved me and Tiza?” Cole demanded.
“Is that why Lenora and I were ripped from our home and raised to kill?” Alex added.
“Is that why Discord tried to destroy this world and so many others?” Applebloom chimed in.
Perun seemed genuinely confused by the last question. “Where are you pulling that information from?” he asked, ignoring the other accusations.
“Oh, did you not know?” Scratch asked sarcastically. “Could it be that Discord has been LYING TO YOU?! Open your eyes, dammit! He’s not trying to help anyone, and you’re not helping anyone by following him!”
“Enough!” Perun shouted, and he lunged forward. His moment of doubt had passed. Scratch raised his weapons and blocked a downward strike from Perun’s sword. The scene hung for a split second before the Order agent pulled away and pushed forward with a flurry of strikes. Scratch could do little more than block under his onslaught. I gripped my spear and rushed forward, more than ready to give this guy a piece of my mind as well. It was because of his organization that I had been ripped from my home, because of his leader that so much chaos had reigned in the world. Someone had to answer for that.
I landed a solid hit to his side, but he deflected my next attack and delivered a hit hard enough to knock me back. I had caught him with his guard down, but he wasn’t likely to let that happen again. Black smoke began rising from the point of impact, repairing his wound.
“Get his sword away from him!” Cole shouted, then turned. “Applebloom! Heads up!”
Applebloom cast a confused look for a moment, but her eyes hardened in understanding a moment later. She sheathed one of her twin katanas, and caught the sparking blue sword, Cole’s weapon form. He was a Child of Water, the same as Perun, which meant that the pink sword he still held had to be Cole’s sister Tizona.
With the more powerful sword in hand, Applebloom charged forward and pushed Perun back further, exchanging several blows with him while Scratch caught his breath. He wasn’t out of the fight for long though, and after a few moments, he dashed back at the Order agent. I was right beside him, and he soon had three fighters, five weapons to defend against. Up this close, I could see his battle-scarred face beneath his hood, and he was growing angrier.
“We’ve got company!” Sweetie Belle yelled from somewhere behind me. I could hear the sounds of the shadow forms returning, and she, Luna and Alex beginning to combat them. I snapped my focus back to Perun, and, catching an opening, delivered another solid hit to his midsection. With a roar of rage, he jerked his arm to the side, hitting me in the head and knocking me back. I heard a clang as I stumbled back, his sword blocking another hit.
I leapt to my feet in time to block an attack from a dark beast, and I deftly hopped back to give myself enough space to fight. It tried to rush me again, but ran right into my waiting spear. Sweetie Belle’s arrows, burning with light magic, ripped through the air and struck down shadow beasts left and right. But she only had so much ammo. Alex stuck close to her, fending off the beasts that approached while she fired at the forms across the length of the ship. Luna was fighting a short distance away, using bolts of dark magic to dispel the creatures instantly. She had a stronger hold on the dark energy than that that was holding the shadow forms in place, but they still had the overwhelming advantage of numbers.
She saw me fending off against several of the beasts at once, and began picking her way towards me. The ship shook and rumbled from an impact from the Fighting Beasts’ ship, and I was nearly thrown off my feet, but maintained balance and dispatched another of the forms. I blocked another, and a burst of darkness from behind it destroyed the beast. Luna stood just beyond, and quickly joined me.
“We need to end this battle quickly.” she said, short of breath. “We slay one, and two more arise to replace it. We have to defeat Perun and stop more from forming.”
I nodded. We could only keep going for so long, and even if we could fight indefinitely, one of the two battling ships would fall before long. And, hoping it was the Order vessel, we had to be off of it before the Fighting Beasts finished it off. We began pushing towards the main battle, Applebloom and Scratch still holding their own against Perun. But I could see that they had both accumulated a few wounds already, while their opponent was still defending against most anything they threw at him, and healing what did connect. Minor damage wouldn’t cut it with him; we had to hit him with something big to force him to retreat.
Finally cutting through the crowd, I lunged into the battle and deflected one of Perun’s strikes. “Applebloom!” I shouted. “We need the big stuff, now!”
Applebloom hopped back from the battle, hesitating for a moment, then nodded. She set Cole’s blue katana aside and drew her own second sword, then held both parallel before her. I turned my attention back to Perun, but I knew what she was doing. My spear connected with Perun’s blade several more times, before I felt the sting of metal against my side. I didn’t have to look to see that he had drawn blood. I winced, but blocked his next attack with clenched teeth.
Applebloom rocketed forward, her swords glowing with pale blue magic and frosty steam rising from the steel. She had invoked the power of her ancestor Johnathan, Arcmage of Dawn, giving her access to a range of ice-magic and, hopefully, an edge in the battle. Her sword collided with his, and shards of ice burst forth from her blade, striking Perun in the chest. He didn’t flinch at the first impact, but as the blade collided more and more, he began wincing at each icy strike.
He and Applebloom both jumped back, and the warrior farmgirl readied her weapons for a heavier attack. Perun was readying a blast of darkness in one palm, his sword still gripped in the other. We had to do something to get it away from him, but he seemed dead-set on keeping it gripped tight. I raised my free arm into the air, readying a wind attack to add to the mess.
I leaped only a split second after Applebloom did, and Perun threw up his dark energy to block her. Ice smashed against the flow of darkness, the two fighting for control. But my wind slipped behind the wall of black, hitting the Order agent hard enough to knock him off his feet. I saw the sword leave his grip for a moment, before a tendril of darkness wrapped around it and pulled it back. Perun stumbled, ice erupting from the place he stood only a moment before.
He practically roared in anger, rising to his feet and launching himself at me. I blocked his first two attacks, but a quick backhanded strike from his free hand sent me sprawling. I struggled to a sitting position, and soon found Cole helping me to my feet.
“We’ve got a problem.” he stated.
“Because we didn’t have enough of those already.” I retorted.
He shook his head. “It’s Sweetie Belle. Whatever happened to her last time is happening again. Worse this time. She’s all but depleted the dark forms’ reinforcements, and is fighting with unbelievable power, but we… we can’t control her.”
My eyes darted over to where Sweetie Belle was fighting, and I instantly saw what he meant. She was out of ammo and was fending off the shadow beasts with light magic from her palms alone. None of them were getting close before she destroyed them. But she had adopted the same worrying glow as the last battle, this time more intense. Her eyes were visibly alight even from this distance, and her whole body seemed to have a dull aura around it. Her attacks were wild and uncalculated, full of rage.
“This needs to end, quickly.” I breathed.
“We can’t bring him down!” Cole said in frustration. “We can hold him off, but he just won’t let us get him badly enough wounded!”
Scratch had leapt back into the fray against Perun, but even with him adding to Applebloom’s powerful attacks, they just couldn’t seem to find an opening. Alex and Luna were near Sweetie Belle, finishing off the shadow beasts. There were hardly any left, and I guessed it was because Perun was too distracted to keep more coming. Either that, or they really were in finite supply.
As they finally began to dwindle, Sweetie Belle began pushing through, stalking closer to Perun. I could see on her face that she had no other thought in mind than to destroy him. As she passed by us, she dismissed several more shadow forms with mere flicks of the wrist, powerful light magic erupting from her fingertips and ripping them apart. This magic was more potent than any I had ever seen her use, and it clearly wasn’t normal. She might have had a temper from time to time, but never this unbridled fury.
In awe, I watched her dispel the last of the shadow beasts before her, and she stood facing Perun. Applebloom and Scratch were both weary from battle, and when they saw Sweetie Belle standing motionless, they leaped out of the way, perhaps even a bit fearfully. Perun locked eyes with her, and even he seemed intimidated by her intense, glowing stare.
With a low roar, he rushed forward, sword held aloft. Sweetie Belle didn’t move. But the moment he was upon her, she sidestepped and knocked him to the ground, light magic bursting on impact. Perun was sent tumbling, and Sweetie Belle followed up with a quick succession of light-enhanced punches, keeping him from getting his balance. Her attacks grew more and more potent, light exploding from each impact, until she grabbed him by the hood and yanked him back. His head jerked forward out from its hood, and he let out a quick cough as his collar wrapped around his neck.
Sweetie Belle tossed him backwards with more strength than she should have been able to muster, and followed up with a beam of light that not only pummeling Perun further, but cut a hole clear through the captain’s quarters behind him. The Order agent fell to the ground, battered and bruised, but his attacker wasn’t finished. Teeth barred and body pulsing with sickly energy, Sweetie Belle’s head slowly rolled back, a guttural growl growing in her throat.
With a feral roar, her head jerked back forward, and another beam of light launched from her mouth. I could feel the heat of the blast from where I stood, and it collided with Perun’s injured form a moment later, exploding and sending him flying into the wall behind him and shattering the timbers below. My ears rang from the blast, and Perun lay motionless on the deck. For a moment, I dared to believe he was dead, but his body was enveloped in darkness a few moments later, and he was gone just as quickly. He was still alive, but barely.
Sweetie Belle collapsed in the same instant. Applebloom and I both rushed over to help her, and Luna was with us before long. I propped her head up, but she was already unconscious, drawing labored breaths.
“She’s burnin’ up…” Applebloom whispered. “Scoots, what’s happenin’ to her?”
“I don’t know…” I replied, my voice weak. I truly didn’t. But whatever it was had taken its toll on her. The aura of light around her had faded, but she still pulsed dimly with each weary beat of her heart.
“Is she alright?” Alex was the next to ask.
I shook my head, before realizing the gesture was lost on him. “No. Seems like she burned herself out with that onslaught. She’s unconscious. Breathing, but weak. I don’t know what’s happening.”
He stood, exhaling a sharp, worried breath. He put a hand to his mouth, thoughtfully considering something, before nodding and turning to Scratch and Cole, standing awkwardly a short distance away.
“Bring the boat around. Whatever this is, she needs to be healed, and there’s only one person I know of who can, and will, do it.”
Scratch’s eyes widened with understanding, and he darted over to one of the ship’s lifeboats. I gave a confused look, and while he couldn’t see it, Alex seemed to sense our confusion.
“She’s worked miracles before. Cole, I’m sure you can attest, and Applebloom, I’m sure you can imagine. I don’t know if the Order is still based at the Tower, but we don’t have a choice. We’re going there, because we need the Goddess’s- Derpy’s- help.”
End of Part Three