//------------------------------// // Sleight's Greatest Performance // Story: Sleight the Mystifying and Extraordinary // by Bluecatcinema //------------------------------// Red Eclipse's army began their march towards the Changeling village. Several of them were carting along more cannons. "This is it, troops!" Red roared. "We're gonna crush those filthy bugs under our hooves! Take no prisoners!" The assembled ponies cheered. As they trotted down the path to the village, they found something unusual blocking their way. A swathe of blue petals covered every for the next few yards. "What is this stuff?" Red frowned. "Who cares?" One of the bolder stallions in his army declared. "Let's keep moving!" Several others followed in his wake. Red, on the other hoof, stood his ground, knowing that something was amiss. As the ponies charged through the petals, one suddenly saw their hooves expand. Another had his tail spin like a rotor, carrying him upwards. "What's going on?" Red snarled. "P-p-p-poison joke, boss!" Twitch gasped. "They covered the whole path with it!" "Then we'll take another path!" Red declared. "What about the others?" Slice pointed out the afflicted ponies. "Leave 'em." Red growled. "They're useless right now!" As they followed another path, Red stuck to the rear, so as to avoid any other surprises. It was a good move, as the next path was dotted with hidden pitfalls and puddles of Changeling slime. Many more of his army wound up dropping into the holes, or getting stuck to the ground. "They're trying to weaken us." Red growled. "But it's not gonna work! We keep moving! And all of you, watch your step!" Up ahead, the Chrysalis, Sleight and Wizel were watching from the tower. "I must say, Wizel, nice touch with the flowers." Chrysalis chuckled. "Thank you, your majesty. Hard to believe there were so many of them growing in our own marshlands." Wizel let out a laugh. "All our tricks and traps oughta even the odds a little." Sleight noted. "But we're still going to have quite a fight on our hooves." "They're coming!" A sentry called, seeing the horde approaching through a telescope. "Okay, this is it." Sleight declared. "Send every battle-ready Changeling to meet them." "And what will you be doing?" Wizel asked. "I'll be getting ready to do my part." Sleight told him. "Trust me." "I trust you, Sleight." Chrysalis smiled. "Good luck." "Same to you, Chrys." Sleight smiled. Before long, Red Eclipse's troops stormed the village, and the Changelings stood ready. Chrysalis stood at the front of the gathered fighters. "Still here, queenie?" Red smirked. "Fine. On your head be it." "Changelings, defend our home!" Chrysalis yelled. The battle began. The Changelings that were suited for battle were quite powerful, requiring three or four of Red's own forces to overwhelm them (Char could handle five). "Yeah! Cry zzzome more!" Char roared, as he morphed into a minotaur and cleared a crowd of them. Chrysalis and Wizel flew above, firing blasts of magic at their foes. For a brief moment, it seemed like the two sides were about even. But then... "Ready the cannons!" Red ordered. Twitch led the rear flank in unloading their cannons. Chrysalis spotted them from above. "Oh, no..." She gasped. "F-fire!" Twitch ordered. The cannons erupted their ordinance at the Changelings, scattering them with each hit. "It won't be that easy!" Chrysalis fired another beam, destroying a cannon. "Step aside, morons!" Red growled, taking control of another cannon. He swung it in Chrysalis' direction, and fired. Chrysalis dodged, but not quickly enough. The explosion sent her crashing to the ground. "My queen!" Wizel gasped, diving to catch her. Once he set her down on the floor, he was rammed by Dice, knocking him down. "Nighty-night, grampa." Dice sneered. With that, the battle quickly reached it's end. The warriors (even Char) were beaten, and the civilian Changelings were rounded up in the town square by Red Eclipse and his minions. Red Eclipse had Chrysalis brought before him, captured by Slice and Dice. "You stupid little piece of filth." Red spat in her face. "That was quite a fool-hardy move that you pulled back there... trying to render my stallions useless?" "I tend to disagree." Chrysalis smirked. "It worked, didn't it?" Red stifled a growl. "Yes... but only on a small portion of them." He declared. "As you can see, I still have enough stallionpower here to raze this land of all inferior species." "I think not, Eclipse." Chrysalis shot back. "Oh, and how do you intend to stop me?" Red snorted. "Your Changelings are powerless against my army. No good amount of shapeshifting or magic weaving can change that!" "I intend to do nothing... Sleight on the other hoof..." Chrysalis said cryptically. "Sleight?" Red sniggered. "As in that wizard I beat up three days ago? He's still around?" "Yes and he is going to see to it that you never lay harm upon my children again!" Chrysalis announced. "Is that so?" Red sneered. "Tell me, your majesty, why do you continue to resist? Why do you continue to have faith in such a fool like the wizard?" "Because I believe in him, and so does every Changeling here." Chrysalis told him. "And they won't stop... Sleight is the wizard, and he will defeat you!" "You filthy slimy c-" Red raised his hoof. "Boss! Look up in the sky!" Twitch ran up to Red's side. Chrysalis and Red looked up, and saw the balloon, with Sleight inside, apparently running away. Chrysalis was shocked. "W-what?" Chrysalis gasped. "I don't understand..." Sazh and the others were just as mortified… "No… this was supposed to be his greatest trick ever…" Sazh murmured. "Did he mention that the trick would be on uzzz?" Char glared at him. Red was silent for a moment... then started laughing. "Oh my gosh... this is so rich." He smiled deviously at Chrysalis. "Well, well, Queenie, it looks like your wizard was all bark but no bite after all. Such a shame too, I was so looking forward to ending his pathetic existence myself... oh well..." He turned to Twitch. "Shoot him down." Twitch gestured to the cannon ponies, as they then fired the cannon at the balloon, destroying it. "NO!" Chrysalis yelled. The Changelings were horrified as the balloon went down in flames. Chrysalis was in tears. "Hmph, not so mystifying or extraordinary after all." Red scoffed. "Y-you s-said it, boss..." Twitch agreed. Sazh was also in tears, as he found the dusty hat of Sleight, and picked it up. He began sobbing into it. But then... "Hey, Sash... don't get my hat wet..." Sazh gasped and looked up, seeing Sleight, smiling down at him. "Sleight!" Sazh gasped. Sleight quickly shushed him. "But how...?" Sleight pulled up a card. "Turned myself into a card and fluttered away." Sleight grinned. "You didn't think I would actually leave you guys, didja?" "No! Not all!" Sazh assured him. "That was one of the greatest tricks I ever saw!" "Ah, but that was just the warm-up act." Sleight chuckled. "The true show is about to start..." Sleight and Sazh slipped away, stopping only to bring the recovered Wizel with them. Chrysalis drooped, defeated, as Red picked up her chin. "Don't be so sad, Chrysalis... you and the rest of your accursed kind will be joining him shortly." He hissed, before turning to the Changelings. "Let this be the final word, you filthy urchins! Your prophecy is dead! Like the wizard who tried to fulfill it! All dead!" Sleight and Sazh got into the machine, as Sazh and Wizel began starting things. "It's showtime..." Sleight cracked his hooves. "The eradication of the inferior lepidopterra metamorphica will begin with the death of your leader, Queen Chrysalis!" Red announced. The Changelings began buzzing in anger and fear. Red turned to Chrysalis, cracking his hooves. "Farewell, Queenie..." He raised his hoof, ready to bring it down upon her. "Any last words?" Chrysalis glared up at him with tearful eyes. "You will never break us..." Red scoffed as he was about to bring his hoof down, then suddenly, there's a big explosion in the middle, as fog began to rise up from the ground. "What the buck?!" Red stared. Then the form of Sleight appeared, though his mane looked ethereal and he seemed to be floating before them all. Illusions of cards were floating all around him. The Changelings and the thugs were stupefied, and Chrysalis was immediately amazed. "Incredible!" Dair gasped. "He really is the great wizard!" Slog yelled. "No, he can't be... can he?" Char stared, at a loss for words. "Fear me not, good Changelings, fear me not." Sleight said in a loud, Alicorn-like voice. "For it is I, THE MYSTIFYING AND EXTRAORDINARY SLEIGHT OF HOOVES!" He brought his hooves up as a fanfare and explosions ensued. "Where did that m-music come from?" Twitch shuddered. "Are you serious? Are you bucking serious?!" Red Eclipse let out a strange half-laugh/half-snarl. "Are we going to do this?! Are you really that bucking stupid?! I have no time for YOUR GAMES, WIZARD!" "This is no game, Eclipse…" Sleight said firmly. "How are you even alive?! I killed you!" Red roared. "Ah, t-technically, the c-cannons did." Twitch corrected. "Hah! You? Kill me? All you did was to allow me to shed my mortal skin, so I could take my true ethereal form as the most powerful Unicorn of all! In this form, I have powers that rivaled that of Alicorns!" "Why you…" Red snarled in a viciously low tone. "HOW DARE YOU DEFY ME?!" "No, how dare you defy me!" Sleight rebutted. "You come storming into my sanctuary, terrorize my ponies, and you had the gall to lay a hoof upon my queen?! Mark my words, mortal, if you do not surrender, you will face my wrath!" "You wanna bet, ya bucking piece of crud?! Fire the cannons!" Red yelled. A cannon was fired, sending it's flaming load towards him, creating a big explosion. When the smoke clears, nothing but fog remained. The changelings were left frightened again as well as Chrysalis. "How you like me now?!" Red taunted. Meanwhile, in a machine that was hidden well in the fog, Sleight, Sazh, and Wizel were operating an odd contraption that was creating a projection of Sleight, who was currently surrounded by crystals, as his cards were floating around him. Sazh and Wizel were manning the controls. "Okay, guys, we need to get it back on, they think they're winning!" Sleight ordered the two. "Sorry, there's a wire loose." Wizel muttered, messing with said wire, "Too bad I didn't date that electrician mare back in Manehatten long enough…" "What happened?" Sazh asked. "There weren't any 'sparks' between them." Wizel joked. They both chuckled loudly. "GUYS!" Sleight hissed. "Right." The two nodded, as Wizel hooked up the wire. "Okay, here we go!" The ethereal form of Sleight returned, much to every Changelings' joy and Red's shock. "No… this can't be…" Red hissed. "HA! You think mere weapons have any effect on me?! You cannot defeat me!" Sleight bellowed, "I'm immortal!" He brought one hoof up, as cards began to fly out, fluttering around him. "I'm invincible!" He brought his other hoof up, causing more cards to fly out. "I'm the Mystifying and Extraordinary Sleight of Hooves!" He spread his hooves wide, causing the cards to suspend in mid-air. "And I must ask, Red Eclipse, why do you hate the Changelings so? What drives you to such rancor?" "It's simple, really." Red Eclipse spat. "Only the strong deserve to survive. These Changelings are weak and cowardly. You wouldn't understand. What I do preserves the purity of Equestria!" "Oh, I understand all too well." Sleight sneered. "Your weak mind deludes you into thinking what you are doing is just, when the truth is, you are the one who is impure. Such arrogance. I almost pity you." "I hate you…" Red growled with fury. "SOLDIERS! FIRE EVERYTHING!" He roared, spit flying from his maw. The cannon were set off. Their volley flew towards Sleight. Several cards flew up and became portals. The cannonballs went through, and came out of portals that were pointed at the cannons. The ponies manning the cannons leapt aside just in time, as the cannons were totally obliterated. "What th-" Red gasped, "NO!" "Not so bold without your tools of destruction, are ya?! Now release my queen, NOW! " Sleight ordered. "Never!" Red yelled. "You want her? Come an' get 'er!" "As you wish." Sleight grinned. A card flew toward Chrysalis. When it touched her, there was a flash, and she was within it. "What the-SLICE, DICE, GRAB THAT CARD!" Red bellowed. Before the two cronies could even jump for it, the card was soon pulled into a whirlwind of it's ilk. "Feel free to try and take my queen back, Eclipse… you have a one in... five hundred and thirty-five thousand chance of finding her…" Sleight boasted, crossing his hooves in a superior manner. "This is impossible..." Red gaped. "H-he really is the w-w-wizard!" Twitch gasped. "No, he's not!" Red roared. "All of you, get him!" Red's forces charged at the fog. "Want a little more?" Sleight asked. "Then get ready for the show-stopper!" With a flick of his hooves, the cards that were flying around him were raining down upon them. "You think cards will stop my army?!" Red screamed. "No… but this will…" Sleight smirked, as his horn glowed. As soon as a card hit the first pony charging towards the fog, the pony immediately was sucked into the card, much to the others' horror. "No way!" Gasped one of the soldiers. "That ain't right!" Yelped another. "Did you see that?" Slice gasped. "I don't wanna be turned into a card!" Dice gulped. The soldiers turned tail and ran, but not before most of them became trapped in cards. It wasn't looking good for Red Eclipse. The cannons were destroyed, and most of his men were imprisoned in cards. The rest were running away. "You cowards!" Red Eclipse roared. "Get your flanks back here and kill them!" He then noticed Twitch sneaking away. "And where in the buck do you think you're going?!" He glared venomously at his lieutenant. "Uh... y-ya see.... I kinda w-want to l-live... so..." He suddenly sped off. "You're on your own, motherf-f-f-f-f-f-f-f- " He tripped, then got back up, resuming his run. "You're on your own!" "You son of a-" Red let out a scream of rage. "Fine! I'll take all these filthy bugs on myself!" Red Eclipse charged into the Changeling crowd. Galvanized by Sleight's stunning turnaround, they faced Red head-on, easily overpowering him. "Well done, Changelings!" Sleight smiled. "Now, release him." "Release him?" Slog gasped. "But-" "No!" Char roared. "I zzzay we finizzzh him now!" A number of Changelings agreed with Char, eager to see the pony who terrorized them pay for his crimes. "He has been beaten today." Sleight declared. "Him and his army. Let us not stoop down to his level." "But…" Char muttered. "Silence!" Sleight cut him off, as he faced Red Eclipse. "Hear me now, Red Eclipse. By the power vested in me, I banish you from these lands. Leave here and never return!" "Oh, I'll return!" Red spat. "I'm not done with you vermin yet. Or you, 'great wizard'. You'll be sorry! All of you!" Red turned and ran out of town. The Changelings cheered, their nightmare finally over, as Wizel and Sazh left the machine. Then a card fluttered before them, and with a poof of smoke, queen Chrysalis appeared before them, completely unscathed. "My queen, are you alright?" Sazh asked. "Yes… I am now… thank you." Chrysalis smiled, as she glanced up at the illusion of Sleight. The illusion gave a wink at her. "Let it be known now, for the prophecy has been fulfilled!" Wizel smiled, declaring to the crowd. "Huzzah, the wizard! Huzzah, Sleight the Mystifying and Extraordinary!" "Huzzah!" The Changelings cheered. "Huzzah!" "I knew you could do it, Sleight…" Sazh smiled. "As did I." Chrysalis declared. "I was worried for a moment, but I should have known you'd come through for us. Well done, my wizard." Sleight smiled widely, humbled by their praise, as he stood in his contraption. This was truly his greatest performance. His grandfather would be proud if he could see him now...