MLP: FiM
Piercing the Heavens
By: Calm Wind
Chapter 37:
“Hello my boy! I apologize for such a late meeting…” Fancy looked at his watch as Soarin trudged into the throne room. “I guess nine at night isn’t so bad, it could be worse… How are—” Fancy Pants stopped the instant he saw the look on Soarin’s face.
Soarin had been summoned for magic training… and he was clearly not amused. Fancy stepped aside as Soarin trudged in. He looked toward the throne to see that Luna was not present.
“Where is Princess Luna?” Soarin asked with a hint of annoyance. Fancy cleared his throat as he walked over to Soarin. He used his magic to both pull a handkerchief out of his suit pocket and wipe off his monocle.
“I’m afraid the Princess had other guests to attend to tonight. It’s just you and me…” Fancy paused, looked up to the ceiling, and around the room. “Actually, I’m going to assume that Discord is watching too.”
“NUH-UH!” A voice echoed from every direction.
“Yes, he is definitely watching,” Fancy huffed, but then smirked. “I’m sure he will honor the agreement though… right?” Fancy blinked and waited a few seconds. There was no response. “I thought so.”
“Whatever, can we just get this over with?” Soarin snapped. Fancy reclined slightly at Soarin’s tone.
“Still feeling a bit negative, I see…” Fancy lifted an eyebrow. “To be honest, that might be helpful. I was planning on returning to our offensive magic lesson from the other night, if you remember.”
“Yeah, yeah…” Soarin diverted his eyes as he stepped up to Fancy. “Bullshit about me having a destiny and… whatever the other crap Luna said was,” he grumbled.
“Yes, quite right…” Fancy just went along with it. Soarin was in an extremely bitter mood and he had no idea why, nor did he wish to pry. “Now then… first we—” Fancy stopped again. This time thought in realization. “Oh, dear me… I believe I forgot something important.”
“What?” Soarin said with little actual interest in his voice. Fancy turned to him.
“I just realized that I’ve brought nothing with me to act as a target. We don’t want you breaking anything now as we practice…” Fancy rubbed his chin.
“OH?!” A voice echoed from the ceiling. “Do I sense somepony is in need?” Discord slowly materialized in front of Fancy. Fancy grinned at him.
“What took you so long?” Fancy smirked as Discord lifted an eyebrow at him.
“Oh, come now Snazzy Pants…” Discord hovered right into Fancy’s face. “You actually expect me to believe you planned for me to volunteer all along?” Discord swung his tail around and brushed the tuft of his tail back and forth along the top of Fancy’s head. Fancy’s smirk grew slightly larger.
“What if I said ‘yes?’” Fancy’s smirk turned into a confident grin. Discord flattened his brow.
“I honestly don’t know what to believe with you…” Discord backed away from Fancy. “After the stunt you pulled on me, I feel the need to actually be cautious with you about. Be honored it is not something typically practiced by a god of chaos,” Discord lowered himself to the ground and stood before both of them. Fancy turned back to Soarin.
“Alright, now as I mentioned to you before, in order to use your magic for offensive purposes, you must be able to harness the negative side of magic, the destructive side. For that, you simply do what you’ve already done… only slightly different,” Fancy stepped to the side of Soarin and faced Discord. “You focus on something before you, recall the magic sensations, and focus them on the target,” Fancy finished with a nod. Soarin blinked.
“That… doesn’t sound any different from what I’ve already been doing,” he said with a slight grumble.
“Oh, a one dimensional way of thinking!” Discord spoke up. Both Soarin and Fancy looked towards him, but Discord had been replaced by a single black line. “At least try to think two dimensionally!” He stretched out into a perfectly flat image. He bounced his eyebrows up and down, making squeaky noises with them before inflating back to his normal shape. “Every force in this world has a positive and negative side. It doesn’t have to be magical. It exists on all levels…” he snapped his fingers and a hammer appeared in his hand. “You give a pony a hammer… what can they do with it?” he snapped his fingers in his other hand and a small model of a house appeared in it. “While one pony may use it to build…” he wound up with the hammer and smashed the hammer against the model house, breaking it to pieces. “Another pony may use it to break,” the hammer disappeared and he let the scraps of the house fall to the floor. “One pony will learn to fight to hurt others… another pony will learn to fight to defend others,” he wiped his foot on the floor and the pieces of the house disappeared. “Magic is one of the easiest things methods of separating positive from negative… because all you really need is good control over your emotions.”
“Precisely,” Fancy pointed to Discord. “The difference between casting positive and negative magic is comes down to the emotional level. Tell me…” Fancy smirked. “Has practicing magic been more difficult lately? You’ve seemed slightly bitter about something these last two lessons.”
Soarin just narrowed his eyes slightly. Discord failed to hold in a laugh.
“That’s a yes!” he chuckled. Fancy blinked, waiting for Soarin to answer his question.
“Yeah, it hasn’t been working too well,” Soarin admitted while narrowing his eyes further towards the chuckling Discord.
“We are in luck then!” Fancy smiled. "The easiest way to learn a certain magic under a different emotional control… is to already be immersed in that emotion. I’m sorry to hear that something is troubling you, but here and now it’s actually working to our advantage! Amusing, isn’t it?” Fancy chuckled. Soarin didn’t find it amusing in the slightest, but he played along.
“Just tell me what to do already…” Soarin complained.
“YES! Keep that attitude!” Fancy chuckled. This situation was very backward, but apparently it would work. So Soarin listened carefully. Fancy motioned towards Discord. “So… as I said, in terms of calling forth the magic and aiming it, the fundamentals remain exactly the same. When you throw a negative emotion into the mix… the mental shift actually changes the form of the magic. Instead of an incredibly fast… near invisible transfer from horn to target… the magic will expel violently from the horn in the form of a focused beam that is slow… at least compared to how fast calm magic flows.
“Well, are you going to love tap me or what?” Discord spread his arms out and wiggled his body around. Fancy furrowed his brow, smirked, and turned to Soarin.
“I shall demonstrate…” he bowed to Soarin.
Fancy turned and faced Discord. He set his hooves firmly on the ground, and his smirk turned upside down. Fancy gritted his teeth and his magic sparked to life on his horn. It didn’t swirl… it sparked. There was a sharp difference in how the magic manifested in his horn compared to what Soarin had seen. Fancy angled his head down and a sharp beam of purple magic fired from his horn. Discord reached a hand up, primed his middle finger beneath the pressure of his thumb, and flicked at the magic beam. The beam diverted back towards Fancy and slightly upward, flying over Soarin’s head before dissipating.
“Heh, show off…” Fancy chuckled as Discord yawned and stretched out. Fancy turned back to Soarin. “As you can see, the magic traveled slower… and was thicker to the point where it was visible. Whenever you use magic to lift or move things, there’s really an extremely tiny ribbon of magic between you and the object.”
“But…” Soarin lifted an eyebrow. The magic blast wasn’t necessarily slow. It moved quickly, but Discord had more than enough time to prime a ‘defensive’ tactic. “How effective is a slow beam of magic? I can fly about ten times faster than that…” Soarin commented. Fancy patted Soarin on the shoulder.
“There’s more than one way to manipulate the beam. Because the beam is so thick and concentrated… simple movements can have an impact on it,” Fancy glanced back at Discord to see him doing jumping jacks. Fancy turned back and winked at Soarin. “Like so!” he suddenly spun his body towards Discord and whipped his neck and head forward as his magic sparked upon his horn. The magic shot from his horn and an incredibly fast speed. It smacked Discord right in the face and caused a small purple explosion on his face. When the smoke cleared from the blast, Discord was standing still, glaring at Fancy without his beard or eyebrows. He was holding them in his hand off to his right. He carefully reattached his facial hair before scoffing.
“Sneaky pony, this one…” Discord rubbed his snaggletooth back and forth along his lower lip.
“Magic is a very malleable essence. Especially when it’s in a dense form such as this,” Fancy explained as Soarin took in what he just saw. “One can easily—”
“I dare you to try that again Fancy Shmancy!” Discord suddenly yelled. Fancy turned to see Discord wearing two boxing gloves while prancing back and forth, a black tattoo pattern appeared on his face. “My defense is impregnable! I will eat yo’ children!” he said in a very high voice. Fancy lifted an eyebrow and shrugged before leaning in towards Soarin.
“One can easily bend the beam as well… with very simple movements,” he whispered with another wink. He whipped back around, repeating the same motions and firing a fast beam of magic towards Discord. Discord held up his hand again, but Fancy suddenly yanked his head up. The beam bent and shot straight up. Discord blinked and followed the beam with his eyes. Fancy swung his head down, causing the beam to arc and drop towards Discord. Discord scoffed and merely put his other hand up in the air… but Fancy wasn’t done. Fancy took a deep breath and squinted while puffing air into his cheeks. The beam suddenly scattered into eight tiny beams which all angled out and moved around Discord’s hand, before combining again and shooting directly into Discord’s face, leaving another small explosion.
When the smoke cleared, Discord’s head was missing. A moment later, it popped out from between his shoulders with a slightly miffed look on his face.
“There are many ways to manipulate it… as you just saw,” Fancy motioned towards Discord while smiling at Soarin, who was beyond impressed once again. “Aside from controlling it, one can also control the amount of power through pure focus of will… along with the strength of the emotion,” Fancy turned back to Discord. “No tricks this time my friend,” he assured him.
“I’ll believe it when I see it…” Discord did not sound very amused. Fancy was the one mortal pony Discord was legitimately wary of.
“Observe…” Fancy nodded to Soarin as he placed his hooves again. “I can make it very small…” only the tip of his horn sparked and a beam roughly an eighth the size of the previous fired out. It struck Discord in the chest and dissipated with a tiny POOF.
“Pfff…” Discord scoffed.
“Or…” Fancy suddenly glared heavily and grinded his teeth together. He reared back on his hind legs and the magic crackled and popped intensely around his horn. He thrust his body down, slamming his hooves against the floor as he angled his horn straight. A large beam of magic about a foot and a half in diameter, fired fiercely from his horn. Discord’s eyes widened slightly and he quickly thrust an arm forward. The blast collided with his palm and Discord grunted while taking a single step backward. The magic split off in multiple directions from Discord’s hand, creating tiny beams and popped against the floor, walls, ceiling, and a few helmets of the Royal guards. “You can put a lot of oomph behind it,” Fancy smiled at Soarin as Discord shook his hand out from the shock. Fancy sighed heavily and sat down. “Of course… putting a lot into it can be a little taxing on the body. It’s hard to unleash magic on such a scale consistently.”
“So…” Soarin contemplated as Fancy caught his breath. “It’s the same… but I have to be angry?”
“Correct,” Fancy nodded.
“I can do that,” Soarin nodded. He was frustrated. VERY frustrated. It would be easy to vent… and to make it even better, he got to take his anger out on Discord.
“Give it a go…” Fancy motioned towards Discord as he took a deep breath and exhaled. “I’ll be watching… just… be careful on your first couple of attempts. Nothing too strong,” he suggested. Soarin nodded as he set his hooves and readied himself to give it a shot.
Nothing too strong? Soarin wasn’t going to make any promises. He was pissed.
Soarin locked his eyes on Discord and glared. He saw Fancy glare in a similar manner, but Fancy was emulating his emotions. Soarin was actually angry… but apparently it would help. He wasn’t a unicorn, he didn’t know how it worked, but he wasn’t going to doubt the word of Fancy Pants… not after how many times he had gotten the better of Discord.
Without losing his focus, Soarin closed his eyes and relaxed his body, letting the magic sensation grow and collect in the center of his body until it poured towards the horn. It was different. The magic flow seemed… hard. It moved fiercely within him instead of smoothly. He struggled to hold his body still as the magic shot through him and towards his head. The false horn released a brief flash of blue light, followed by glowing harshly and small sparks flowing from the base. Soarin grunted as the sparks slowly made their way from the base to the tip of the horn, but stopped half way.
“Ah!” Soarin’s eyes snapped open and released all the air from his lungs. The magic quickly receded and he dropped to his legs while panting. “What? That was…”
“Different? Yes,” Fancy slowly stood up and walked towards Soarin. “It felt like it was thrashing about within you?” he asked. Soarin blinked and looked to him.
“Yeah… did you keep something from me again?” Soarin grumbled as Fancy chuckled.
“My boy… I’m merely trying to teach you magic as if you were a young unicorn experiencing it yourself. If I told you everything that was going to happen there would be no thrill, would there? Your magic is something you discover more than it is taught. Try again. This time brace yourself. The magic will jump about, but don’t let it get the better of you. It’s all a mental battle, remember that.”
Soarin rolled his eyes. He was getting SO TIRED of being left in the dark about things, but if this was how learning magic was supposed to be, he’d deal with it. He took a deep breath and focused on Discord again. He went through the motions, calling forth the magic and feeling the different sensation of the magic bouncing about in his body. This time he was expecting it and he held strong. The magic sparked to life in the false horn and this time covered the length of it quickly. Soarin instinctively bent his head down and aimed it towards Discord.
“WHOA!” Soarin yelled as the blue magic fired from his horn. The beam was wider than the one Fancy first demonstrated with, and his aim was a tad off, but the most surprising factor was the recoil. Fancy had held himself steady, but Soarin nearly lurched back three steps upon firing.
Discord shifted himself into the path of the inaccurate beam and held out his hand. The beam smacked against it and he quickly closed it around. The beams energy dissipated with a small POP and Discord pulled his hand back quickly.
“YEOW!” he cried out while shaking out his hand. He looked at it and back to Soarin. Soarin’s magic wasn’t quite the same as a normal unicorn’s apparently. That stung when it really shouldn’t have. “Hmmm…” Discord eyed Soarin.
“Whoa…” Soarin blinked as he regained his hooves after the small stumble. It was an interesting feeling, almost as if he was releasing his anger in the form of magic, leaving less of it behind. It almost felt good, like a weight lifting off his shoulders. Soarin had the strangest urge to do it again.
“Do it again. Put more behind it,” Discord ordered. Soarin was surprised. It looked like his magic actually hurt Discord to stop it.
“Okay…” Soarin shrugged as he readied himself again.
Discord locked his eyes on Soarin. Something was… off about the magic. Discord was aware that the magic Celestia had used on Soarin was of forbidden dark necromancy origin… but it shouldn’t have hurt… even if it was just a little sting.
Soarin recalled the magic and reared back slightly. The magic was even more jumpy within him this time. He slammed his hooves down and fired another beam of magic. This one was a little bigger than the first. Discord reached his left arm out, this time bracing himself a little more. The beam smacked into his hand. He winced and he skidded a few feet backward as the energy exploded against him. He shook his hand out again and glanced at Soarin. Soarin was panting… there was a very faint glow coming from his body… and appearing in his eyes. Something was definitely amiss. Discord’s curiosity got the better of him.
“Give it a lot more. Show me what you’ve got!” Discord beckoned as Fancy looked between them in confusion.
Soarin had plenty of anger to spare. Discord wanted more? Oh, he’d give him more! Soarin repeated the process, but this time tried to mimic Fancy’s moves completely. He reared back as he grinded his teeth together. The magic surged in him again. This was the third time he had felt the increased magic activity. He felt like he was gaining control of it… but the sensations… it wasn’t like with the other magic. The pure force behind it with the emotions of anger made it feel strong. Like it was expanding within him and growing stronger. It made his body tingle. He most certainly wasn’t expecting it. The magic suddenly seemed to be listening to him as he prepared to slam his hooves down.
“RRGGHH!!!!!” Soarin growled. A dark blue glow began to surround him. It slowly turned into an aura that swirled fiercely around his body. The same blue light began to shine from his eyes.
“What the devil…?” Fancy stepped back.
Discord’s eyes widened slightly. He had seen this before. It was the same aura that surrounded and boosted Soarin back when he was squaring off against the Shadowbolts. Discord snorted and glared as he cracked the joints in his fingers and put his arms up to receive whatever was coming.
Soarin thrust down, slamming his hooves hard to the ground, and whipping his head forward.
The magic surrounding the false horn expanded greatly as it traveled to the tip… and fired. The beam was ENORMOUS, expanding to at least five feet in diameter as it hurled towards Discord. Discord’s pupils shrank and his ears flopped down.
“Oh… crackers…” he threw his arms out to his sides, the purple, distorted light of his chaos magic surrounding them. He sharply crossed his arms in front of him and a purple sphere of magic encased him.
The giant beam of magic floored against Discord’s shield, engulfing it completely. The beam split and splintered in multiple directions. The royal guards stationed in the throne room all sprang up upon seeing the fierce display, shifting and ducking to avoid the split off beams as they fired uncontrollably around the room. The force behind the blast quickly began pushing Discord back.
“HRGH!!!!! WHAT IS THIS?!?!” Discord remarked as he, a god, was being pinned and pushed along the ground by an impossibly strong magic blast from a mere mortal. Discord shifted his body and braced his legs, trying to push back, but the magic had caught him off guard, and in his current defensive stance, he was powerless. Despite bracing himself further, Discord was pushed back further and further, faster and faster until he smashed against the back wall of the throne room and crashed through it. The castle shook at the impact and a good portion of the wall beside the back door collapsed with it.
Fancy froze in place, his mouth agape, and his monocle sliding off his face as he viewed the new hole in the throne room wall. The guards all stared as well, before turning back to Soarin.
What was he feeling?
What was going on?
Soarin knew this feeling. He had felt it before. He had felt it while fighting Descent… and while fighting Nightshade! It was a feeling that was accompanied by power. A large flow of power.
But this time it was different. It emerged before out of the desire to protect those he cared about. The Streak twins were in danger, being beaten to a pulp by Descent… and the magic awakened. Nightshade over-absorbed power from the energy crystals and only he stood between her and Dash… and the magic came to life to protect her.
This time… he was just angry.
Very angry at himself, angry with Dash for yelling at him, and angry at his inability to fix things.
He… he couldn’t control it…
Using the magic with such negative emotions was making the power grow uncontrollably.
He couldn’t stop it! It was breaking free! He… he liked it.
“Heh… heheheheh… HAHAHA!!!” Soarin found himself laughing, but he didn’t know why. He was terrified… but it felt so good. It was if something else… was taking control of him. It was like his mind was there… and it was being overwhelmed by another mind.
“S…Soarin?” Fancy backed away slowly as Soarin began to twitch and smile menacingly. Small crackles and pops of blue energy sparked from his body.
“I… c-c-can’t...” half of Soarin’s face looked like it was in pain. The other half showed pleasure. “I…” Soarin’s neck strained and his head lurched hard to the left, completely hiding the portion of his face that was in pain. “I…” his head slowly turned back to face Fancy… but now his whole face showed pleasure. “I am in control!” he yelled out, his voice had changed. It sounded like another voice was mixed with Soarin’s. “HAHAHAHAHA!!!!!”
Fancy and the guards watched in horror as Soarin extended his wings and slowly lifted into the air. The glow around him had intensified and his pupils disappeared behind the light shining from his eyes. Soarin turned to Fancy and slowly bared his teeth while releasing a long, satisfied breath. He reared his head back and swung it down, firing a powerful beam of blue magic towards Fancy.
“MY WORD!” Fancy leapt out of the way, the beam singeing the coattails of his suit before it careened past and exploded against the far wall. Fancy tumbled to a halt and frantically got to his hooves. He turned just in time to put his hooves up as Soarin fired towards him. Fancy caught Soarin’s hooves as they were thrust towards him. Fancy’s back hooves ground against the floor as he slid backward under the pressure. Soarin pointed his head down, aiming the false horn directly at Fancy’s face.
“HRAAAAHHH!!!!” Soarin yelled as the magic collected. Fancy mustered his strength and lurched his head to the left just in time as the magic jettisoned from Soarin’s horn. The magic shot over Fancy’s shoulder, but widened to the point where it skimmed over the length of his back.
“ARGH!” Fancy cried out as the violent magic ripped the back of his suit to shreds and left a rather nasty burn down his back.
“SUBDUE HIM! NOW!” One of the guards yelled out.
Every guard stationed in the throne room took flight and charged towards Soarin.
“Feh! Weaklings!” Soarin yelled as he tossed Fancy aside.
Fancy was thrown into the air by the simple movement, Soarin’s strength seemingly multiplied many times by whatever was happening to him. After bouncing on the ground and rolling to a painful stop, Fancy inhaled sharply as the pain seared throughout his back. He slowly rolled over onto his stomach and placed all four hooves on the ground. He looked up, squinting his eyes in pain as he saw the guards engage Soarin.
The guards stood no chance.
Soarin was beating them senseless. They were being blown away by strong blasts of magic, tossed aside like scraps of paper, being swung around and thrown into each other. It wasn’t long until their numbers dwindled and the last four charged from different directions. Soarin scoffed and slammed his front hooves to the ground. A wave of magic burst from his body and slammed against the guards, throwing them in different directions.
In less than a minute, Soarin had subdued sixteen royal guards.
“Heh…HAH!!!!” Soarin laughed and turned towards the exit.
Fancy’s eyes widened as he realized Soarin was going to leave.
No. He wouldn’t allow it!
“Hurgh!” Fancy grimaced as he pressed his hooves to the ground. Every inch of motion shot pain through his back, but he fought it. He stood up firmly and glared towards Soarin, discarding the tattered remains of his suit and cracking his neck back and forth. He tipped his head back and slung it forward, firing a strong beam towards Soarin. The beam careened through the throne room and collided with the back of Soarin’s head, releasing a small explosion upon impact.
Soarin stopped in his tracks and slowly turned around. Fancy snarled as his magic sparked within his horn.
“Where do you think you’re going?!” Fancy barked at him. Fancy was actually terrified. Something had possessed Soarin. It was something conjured by whatever magic was being contained within him. Fancy knew full well he could not stop Soarin in this state, especially after knocking out all the posted guards AND Discord. However, Princess Luna was present in the castle. Surely she had felt not only the magical disturbance, but also the castle shaking. All he had to do was hold out and keep Soarin in one place until she arrived… hopefully without being killed in the process.
“HHRRRRAAAAHHH!!!!!!” Soarin roared as he performed the Sonic Blast-Off and shot towards Fancy at high speed. Fancy anticipated the move, and as Soarin closed the gap, leaned back. Fancy’s magic came to life, grabbing hold of Soarin’s arm as it punched over his head, and using Soarin’s momentum to fling him past. Soarin flailed as his momentum was used against him, but did a quick somersault before turning around and firing back towards Fancy.
Fancy turned and fired a quick burst of five small magic beams. Soaring swiped his hooves in front of him, batting away all five as they approached, but they offered enough distraction for Fancy to leap in the air. As Soarin passed beneath him, Fancy collected a large amount of magic in his horn and fired a powerful blast into Soarin’s back. The magic did nothing to him, but the shock forced him to crash to the floor and bounce to a halt.
Fancy landed on his hooves, but stumbled. He had already used one powerful blast during the demonstration… this was the second. Soarin’s magic was being generated my some seemingly endless supply of power… but Fancy’s magic was only his own. He was feeling the fatigue and mental strain, but he held fast.
“Damn you!” Soarin scrambled to his hooves and glared at Fancy.
Art by: mlplover789
“Just a little longer…” Fancy whispered to himself as he panted, covered in sweat and still in a ridiculous amount of pain. He blinked as Soarin shot up into the air and a large amount of magic began charging in the false horn. “Oh… dear…” Fancy stepped back as the magic grew larger and larger. Soarin thrust his head upward and hundreds of thin beams spewed out, all raining towards Fancy.
Without hesitation, Fancy turned and ran. The swarm of magic bolts thundered to the ground, pelting the ceramic tiles of the floor apart as they followed close behind Fancy. Fancy dared not stop nor even turn to look. He could hear the explosions right behind him, so he forced his body through the pain and galloped like he had never galloped before. He ran a wide circle around the throne, making sure not to go near any unconscious guards to avoid any of them being struck by the endless stream of magic projectiles. He stole a glance at Soarin as he fought to stay ahead.
Soarin had his eyes fixed on Fancy. As long as he was focused on him there was no way Fancy would be able to counter. He had to find a way to sneak an attack into a blind spot, but he didn’t have the convenience of time to focus and bend a beam.
But there was an alternative… however it wouldn’t work unless he had his front hooves free. By the looks of things, Fancy would have to get… well… fancy.
Fancy charged towards one of the walls of the throne room, the hellfire still raining behind him.
“HRGH!” Fancy put all of his strength into a jump and leapt at the wall. He reached all four of his hooves towards the wall, ready to kick off. Right before he did though, he angled his horn down and fired a blast of magic at the wall right beneath where his hooves touched. He pushed off right as the blast exploded beneath him, propelling himself into the air. The rain of magic from Soarin fell behind as Fancy flew through the air. With his front hooves now free from the ground, Fancy held them in front of his face, focused his magic, and angled his horn at them. The magic gently extended from the horn and collected in his hooves, creating a ball of magic roughly the size of a basketball.
Fancy locked his eyes on Soarin as he passed the ball of magic into his right hoof, Fancy pulled his right arm back and threw it forward with a bit of a twist in his hoof. The ball of magic launched towards Soarin, but took a wide curved arc to the side as it approached. Fancy quickly curled up his body and encased himself in a small magic shield as the magic bolts caught up to him and pelted against it as he landed roughly on the ground.
The ball of magic curved all the way around Soarin and turned towards him, approaching from behind. Soarin was focused on Fancy, but he sensed something. He canceled his attack and turned just in time to swipe a hoof out and swat the ball of magic away.
Fancy uncurled from the ground, stood up and aimed his horn towards Soarin, fixating on where the false horn would be once Soarin turned around. He collected all the remaining magic he could muster without blowing his brain to pieces, focused it in his horn and fired it in a sharp, fast beam.
Unfortunately, Soarin turned back around faster than Fancy had anticipated. Soarin reached a hoof forward.
With one final effort. Fancy squinted his eyes shut, inhaled, and puffed his cheeks out. The beam split into four smaller beams, all sliding right past Soarin’s extended hoof, before re-combining and firing directly into the false horn.
“AAAAAAHHHHH!!!!!!” Soarin’s head reared back as Fancy’s magic exploded in his face, the bulk of the force centered on the horn. Soarin fell limply to the ground, landing roughly on his back.
Fancy blinked as he saw Soarin hit the ground. Did he actually do it? Attacking the horn was a gamble, but it worked…
“Ohhh…” Fancy’s legs wobbled and he plopped on the ground. He fought to keep himself conscious. His body was in pain and his head hurt, but at least he stopped Soarin… right?
“YOU…”
Fancy’s head shot up and his eyes widened as the glow reappeared around Soarin’s body. Soarin slowly stood up from the ground and shook his head out. He sharply turned to Fancy, glaring with all his might and magic slowly collecting in the horn again.
Well, that was it. Fancy had done what he could, but it seemed he could not hold out long enough for Luna to arrive…
Soarin’s eyes glowed brightly and he angled the horn towards Fancy.
“HEY!” A voice came from the other side of the throne room. Soarin glanced to the side and Fancy’s eyes snapped to behind the throne.
Discord was standing in the freshly blown hole in the wall. He was glaring towards Soarin and his chaos magic was sparking in his arms, horns, and eyes.
“IS THAT ALL YOU’VE GOT?!” Discord shouted, diverting Soarin’s attention to him. Discord lifted off the ground and shot towards Soarin while gathering more chaos magic around his body.
“RAAAHH!!!!” Soarin turned and fired the large collection of magic at Discord instead. It was of the same strength and intensity of the blast that had initially knocked Discord out of the picture… but this time Discord was ready for it. Discord pushed all of the chaos magic into his arms, causing bright, powerful auras to surround both of them. The blast smashed into his outstretched hands and was instantly scattered in all directions.
Fancy looked up in alarm as the blast split and a stray beam careened towards him, but a purple dome of light encircled him, as well as all the fallen royal guards. Discord’s horns were still alight, generating shields around the rest as he pushed against the blast.
The initial impact had slowed Discord down at first, but he slowly regained his movement, pushing against the unimaginable force of the dark magic Soarin was throwing at him. Slowly but surely, grunting and straining, Discord closed the distance between the two of them. The throne room was being torn to pieces. The small, splintering blasts smashing against the floor walls and ceiling, knocking down tapestries, pulling down shingles, blowing out parts of the stained glass windows, and pulling up floor tiles.
Discord pushed and pushed, slowly shrinking the beam he was fighting against as he neared its point of origin. He stood a mere foot from Soarin, and with one mighty push, reached forward and forced ALL of the magic back into the false horn… and clamped his hands over Soarin’s head. The chaos magic in Discord’s arms shot over Soarin’s body, surrounding him completely. It forced every last bit of the dark blue aura back into Soarin’s body.
Soarin stood still for a moment, eyes wide and body shaking.
“Oh boy…” Discord leapt back and ducked to the ground.
“AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!” Soarin cried out as an incredible shockwave propelled from his body.
“AH!” Rainbow Dash yelped as she suddenly sat straight up in bed. She blinked even thought it was pitch black in the room. She quickly reached a hoof over to her chest. Her heart was beating furiously.
What was that? She hadn’t even fallen asleep yet. One moment she was laying in bed, the next she was tossing and turning as if she couldn’t shake discomfort, and then BAM! For a moment it felt like her heart was going to rip from her chest.
This was… familiar, but not something she had felt. It had been described to her. She immediately made a connection.
“S…Soarin?”
Discord barely held himself down as the force of the shockwave surged against him, Fancy and the guards were thrown against the walls, and every single stained glass window in the throne room completely shattered, raining to the ground in thousands of small pieces.
Fancy covered his head as the glass shards rained down, but luckily Discord’s shields were still up, protecting him from any painful lacerations.
With all danger out of the way, Discord’s shield around Fancy faded and Fancy slowly looked up towards Soarin.
There was a trail of smoke rising from Soarin, and Discord was standing over him. Discord was looking over Soarin carefully, his eyes narrowing and a quiet growl escaping between his teeth.
Before Fancy could gather himself or say anything, Discord reached down and snatched Soarin up off the ground. He held him underneath his armpit and snapped his fingers on his free hand. He disappeared with Soarin in tow.
A few seconds later, the front door to the throne room swung open and Luna burst into the scene. Her eyes instantly widened as she frantically looked around the throne room, taking in the nearly destroyed state it was in.
“WHAT?!” Her voice boomed. She glanced all around, eyeing all of the guards until her eyes landed on Fancy. She leapt towards him.
Fancy glanced up towards the door. Three pegasi entered and froze in shock as they looked around, but before he could do anything else, Luna slammed to the floor directly in front of him.
“WHAT HAS HAPPENED HERE?! WHERE IS SOARIN!?”She demanded.
Fancy braced himself as the Royal Canterlot Voice forced him back to the floor.
Honestly? He had no idea where to start.
Discord appeared out of thin air in a dimly lit hallway. Before him was a large set of double doors with two pegasus guards standing in his way. They flared their wings out.
“Halt! None are allowed to—”
Discord snapped his fingers and the two guards were forced off to the side, transformed into parrots, and put in large gold bird cages. They immediately began squawking loudly as Discord stepped towards the door.
“Save it!” Discord snarled at them as he pressed his free hand firmly against the door. As it opened, an extremely bright light shone from the inside. Discord snapped his fingers again, and a pair of sunglasses appeared over his eyes.
He waltzed right into the room, which appeared to have nothing inside it besides the incredibly bright light. Discord walked to the center of the room, dropped Soarin on the floor, and looked straight up into the light, glaring angrily.
“You have A LOT of explaining to do… Celestia…”
--- To Be Continued ---