//------------------------------// // Ch.6 I Didn't Start This Fight... // Story: Equestria: Darkness Rising // by Shocks //------------------------------// "Maria! Duck now!!!" She did not bother to think, following the order with little concern for the outcome. Ducking forward, she felt her backpack be sideswiped, and barely noticed the thick blade of a spear pass her. She faltered slightly as she recovered, putting on a fresh burst of speed to keep her pace above that of her pursuers. "Get back here monsters! You ca-aaahh!" She barely caught the end of the voice before it was silenced by a loud boom, followed by a muffled clanking farther away. With no time to look back, she charged forward, her backpack swaying at her rapid pace. Her lungs burned for oxygen as she absorbed what little air she could between breaths. Her eyes scrambled to her surroundings, jumping at anything that moved. There was much to see. They were everywhere. Behind them, in front of them, in the skies, on the ground. They swarmed around like an angry bee hive, with intent to kill. Literally. If this was a dream, it was now a nightmare. Everything had gone to hell in a matter of moments, things had occurred that she couldn't explain, and now she was running for her very life. One fact she fought to get out of her head remained as she ran. It was her fault. What she did, whatever she did, had caused this. It was her fault. Between her fear and worry, the crushing guilt was eating her inside. This made her more and more willing to listen to the strange thought in her head, her own voice almost purring to her. "Let me help...Let me help" "Maria! Duck now!!!" He yelled toward his friend, his blood running cold as the pegusus dived toward her. Heeding his command, she ducked just in time, the spear attached to the pony's armor cutting just into her backpack. He mentally breathed a sigh of relief, as she recovered quickly, continuing her flight ahead of the other two. He did not waver in his continued sprint, knowing full well of those giving chase behind them as well as ahead. Speaking of which, their brazen attacker had recovered from his miss; looking to cut into him and his remaining friend. His eyes quickly averted to his shorter friend who was dramatically different. He was leaking an almost black fire. Literally it was coming out of him, flowing across his body before wisping away into the air. Logically, it was impossible. Human bodies weren’t capable of such feats. However, what he deemed logical had near completely shattered in these few hours. "Get back here monsters!" His head snapped to the suddenly charging pegasus, its muzzle contorting into a very human like scowl as he ran towards the duo, as Maria was already well ahead. He knew immediately that avoiding the pony at this range was near impossible, especially accounting the pursuers around them. Somehow though, he wasn't entirely afraid, his gaze shifting to his friend(?) Jon, who was cocking his arm back, a small black orb forming in his palm. Not a second later did he thrust his arm forward, the small orb hurtling toward the oncoming pegasus. The guard spotted this oncoming attack, but with his current pace set, he would not be able to stop in time. Cole watched in utter shock as the orb contacted the pony directly in center mass, completely sending the pony flying like a rag doll into a building several meters away. The consequent boom that the attack caused spurred Cole to return his attention to the front; they still had a long way to go to escape the city. But as he ran, he could feel his faith inside crumbling away, leaving a very hollow, empty feeling. How could someone explain this? Logically it was impossible! Scientifically, it was possible....evolution could... no. What he witnessed back there could not be explained. What happened to his best friend. What was happening to his other friends could not be explained logically. He tried to focus on his running, careful of his strides, even as a voice, a thought, whispered inside his head. "Let me help....Let me help" "Maria! Duck now!!!" He heard Cole yell, and spotted one of the pegasi diving toward Maria. He grit his teeth in anger as he saw the pony diving toward his friend. They think they can hurt his friends too? After what they did to his brother? No. He wouldn't allow hat. However, Maria had already avoided the flying pony's attack, the guard only managing to cut into her backpack. The guard skidded on the street as he attempted to recover from his failed strike. Maria recovers well from her sprint, still staying well ahead of him and Cole. Her atheism was admirable. She had the best chance of making it out of the city as long as... "Get back here monsters!" His anger flared as he spotted the same guard as before attempt to charge them again. The gold clad pony sprinted forward, directly toward him and his friends. He sneered. Now. Now he would show him the error of his ways. He felt that same feeling as before we'll inside him, his body heating up as he felt something form inside his left palm, something powerful. He saw the oncoming pony. He felt the power grow in his hand. He resists the urge to laugh, this was going to hurt. A part of him was unsure if how he knew this, but the other urged him on, begging him to make this pony pay. And so he did. Thrusting his arm forward, putting all his power as if hurling a baseball, he flung a small black orb at the unsuspecting pony. He smiled as the pony's face contorted into shock, surprised at this oncoming attack. He mentally laughed. Fool. The pony stood no chance against the orb as the minute it contacted him, it rapidly condensed, before exploding outward, sending the guard flying into a nearby building with an all to satisfying clang of dented armor. He smiled again, noting the rather pleasing feeling as his enlarged canines moved against his other teeth. All the while happily obliging that thought in his head. Make then pay... Make them pay!! "BBBFF!" The desperate cry resonated across the crystal square, amplified by the mare's new ability to dip into the famous royal Canterlot voice. The alicorn rushed over to the fallen stallion, concern for her sibling evident as she skidded to a stop, eyeing his still form with heartbreak. "BBBFF? Shining?" She whispered, lowering her head closer to her brother, taking not of the large dent to the front of his armor. Her eyes shrunk to pinpricks as she noticed the dark crimson that was beginning to stain her brother's once well kept fur, slowly spreading around the impact, some even leaking onto the crystal street. The world around Twilight crumbled as she watched the slow drip of her brother's blood, his very life essence leaving him. Her legs wobbled, they couldn’t support her weight anymore. She fell on her rump, stunned with what she was seeing. 'Sugarcube?" Applejack spoke softly, Twilight looking up at her with tears in her eyes. Her friends had gathered around her, ready to comfort their friend. Twilight couldn’t bear to look at her friends, bringing her attention back to her fallen sibling. "Applejack...he's...I-I think...” She couldn’t say it. She couldn’t. "He is breathing!" Fluttershy spoke suddenly, leaning in for a closer check. Sure enough, a faint exhale escaped the injured stallion's muzzle. She knew though that this was not good, he needed to be seen by a doctor very soon. "Twilight, he needs a hospital" Fluttershy spoke as tears of joy ran down Twilight's cheeks. However, this joy was replaced by anger, as she looked up to the very creatures that did this to her brother. They weren’t getting away with this. "Girls! Formation now!" She shouted to her friends, who gathered together at the cry of the alicorn. Each of their necklaces glowed brightly, as they lifted off the ground, slowly rising into the air. Maria was slack-jawed as the six ponies with necklaces began to rise into the air for no particular reason. In addition, the strange necklaces they wore actually began to emit a powerful light, almost reaching a blinding level. As they rose, she realized the remaining ponies around them were beginning to retreat, though they kept their spears angled at them. Panic began to set in as she felt, literally could feel something coming from the six ponies. Cole was staring wide eyed, not noticing he was slack jawed as well. Vince and Jon looked on with mixed expressions of shock and worry. A rumbling seemed to grow across the crystal square as the ponies reached a point in the air, the other five positioned around the lavender one. Suddenly, she opened her eyes, blank orbs of powerful light. The rumbling reached a crescendo as the six were enveloped in a sphere of light before an honest to god rainbow erupted from the center of the orb, arching into the sky. The friends watched the rainbow automatically as it launched into the sky before it seemed to reach its arc, and began its decent back to earth. Directly towards them. "Oh shit!!" Vince yelled, his instincts screaming at him that this was very bad. Maria and Jon watching the rainbow, immediately forced against their restraints, desperately trying to break free like an animal caught in a hunters trap. Cole could only stare. Time seemed to slow for Vince as he looked to his friends, his brother and one of his closest friends struggling to escape. He watched his best friend simply stare, like a deer in the headlights. He didn’t like what was coming, somehow, he knew that. He needed to get his friends out of here. At any cost. "We need to move! Move Move Move Move Move!!!" He felt something stir inside him, an before the rainbow could crash down, three thick black tendrils erupted from his body, slamming into each of his friends and throwing them away from him. As the tendrils collided with their bodies, the chains that held them evaporated into dust, as if never there. However, this would not spare him. He looked up. The rainbow came down. He heard a scream. It wasn’t his own. Cole tried to collect himself as he stood up. Luckily, his backpack had taken most of the fall when he was hit. What did I even get..? It came back to him in seconds and his head immediately snapped to his friend’s former location. His blood ran cold as he spotted a stone statue standing where his friend had been. The statue sported its very own stone backpack, each detail perfect in all aspects. Its arms were raised as it tried to cover itself from some kind of attack. Cole didn’t need to be told what that was or who that was. It was Vince. His best friend was the statue. No way. It’s impossible. It’s not possible!!!!! "Oh my god" he heard Maria whisper next to him, her hand covering her mouth. "Bro?" he heard Jon weakly ask. The three could not tear their eyes away from what was once their living breathing friend, now nothing but lifeless, cold stone. That’s when they noticed the ponies began to descend, and they watched in shock as their hoofs touched the ground again. Each was breathing slightly heavy, as if exhausted. Then the lavender one opened her eyes, spotting the trio still there. She rotated between shock, surprise, and then anger. She pointed a hoof at them and roared, "Get them!!" That’s when they realized they still faced a legion of armored ponies. The guards only needed one commanding before advancing on the friends once again. The trio could only do one thing. They ran. The crystal princess attempted to gather her ponies into position to power the crystal heart, even knowing full well of the state of her husband. She had heard Twilight's cry. She saw the elements unleash their attack. Somehow, they had only managed to defeat one creature, one of those humans. The other three were escaping. She needed to stop them. They weren’t getting away with hurting her Shiny. "Is everyone in position?" She asked a nearby guard. "Yes princess! The heart is ready!" He saluted. Cadence nodded. It was time to end this. "Citizens of the Crystal Empire!" she called out to her gathered ponies. "As your princess, I call on you once again to use your love to power our city's greatest treasure, the crystal heart, so that we can once again protect the Empire! Use your love for each other! For your friends! For your family! Let that love power the crystal heart and banish the evil that threatens it!" Sure enough, the crystal heart which had been floating lazily at its resting place directly below the palace began to spin more and more rapidly at her words. Now, that the citizens of the empire poured their own love into it; it began to reach a crescendo. Cadence smiled. There was no way those monsters could stop the heart, even Sombra couldn’t. This would defeat them. It would all be over soon enough. The heart was now spinning in a blur. Any second now, it would erupt with power and stop the humans. It spun. And spun. And lost speed. It lost more speed. The gathered ponies watched in horror as they're cities most powerful defense failed to activate, slowly returning to it original pace. Cadence didn’t understand. "What just happened?!" "Cole, were not going to make it, they're everywhere!" Maria yelled as another guard attempted to take a swing at her, only to be blasted away by the transformed Jon. "Just hold on! We can make it!" He cried, looking around in a desperate attempt to save his friends. All around them the ponies were advancing on them; their run had only lasted so long before they were boxed in. They found themselves precariously placed in the center of the crystal street, the armored ponies advancing on them slowly. Let me help..... Maria heard the whisper. Cole heard the whisper. Jon would have too, if he wasn’t continually leaking black flame. Let me help.... "Look out!" Maria cried as a pegasus dived toward the group, all barley ducking as it flew away to make another pass. The ponies on the ground advanced with a mix of medieval weaponry which looked more then intimidating to the trio. Let me help... They grouped back to back. The ponies advanced. The ponies were everywhere. Let me help... Cole gulped audibly. Maria entered a shaky fighter’s stance. Jon looked out with contempt. The ponies would not be swayed. They charged in mass. It would be over in moments. Let me help! "Ok!" Maria and Cole answered the voice together, unsure if it was even real. Before they could utter another word, the sudden feeling of weightlessness gripped them, and they realized they were falling. Maria saw the rich blue sky for only a moment before everything went black. As they fell, Cole had the strangest sense of Deja vu. The trio sat around their hastily constructed campfire, the crackling of the flames the only sounds escaping from the group. Jon watched the growing embers with a blank expression, casually watching as a piece of wood broke in two, only for both pieces to fall into the growing ash pile. Cole too eyed the fire, though his face betrayed a tired expression, the day’s events weighing his psyche down more so. Maria seemed to be the only member who wasn’t staring at the fire, rather, her gaze drifted in between her friends, lingering on Jon more then once. He had the hardest day no doubt. Though, as she continued to watch her friends sit and stare at the fire, as if the world around them didn’t exist; she was still unsure of that fact, she found the inactivity to become rather uncomfortable. Attempting to take her mind of the situation, she gazed around the clearing they have set up camp in. The area was...not depressing, but, not comforting in the slightest. There was some grass in the clearing, though most of the area was exposed ground, offering little protection from the cold. That was another thing. The cold. She hugged her legs to her chest, hoping to conserve body heat. She ran her hands down her unprotected legs a few times; her warm hands welcome relief to the cold appendages. Maria was unclear on how the others were dealing with the cold, but she knew one thing, they were not prepared for this. Most of their actual camping equipment was left at the camp- Wherever that is now... -and their attire had been made for hiking in rather warm weather, not the cold night they now found themselves in. She shivered as a small gust of wind came through the clearing, causing the fire to flicker ever so slightly. Sadly though, neither of her companions even flinched as they stared into the pyre, content to sit and watch. Their actions had begun to frustrate her to no end. "So, were not even going to talk about what happened today?" Maria questioned. She was pleased to get a reaction out of the two, Cole turning to her, a downtrodden look on his face, and Jon; only his eyes moving to acknowledge her. Somehow, she felt uncomfortable at his particular look, the light of the fire casting a dark shadow along his face. Cole couldn’t answer immediealty. What did happen today? Truly? Had they been sucked into a land that seemed to defy the very laws of the universe itself? What could he say to that? While Cole was fighting an inner turmoil, Jon's eyes drifted back to the fire, already dismissing Maria and her question. "There's nothing to talk about”, he said plainly, his expression not even changing. The others looked to their sulking friend in shock. He couldn’t be serious, could he? "What do you mean 'there’s nothing to talk about'?”, she looked at Jon, "How can you even say that?” She couldn’t help but feel her eyes mist at the thought of the day’s events. "I just did" Jon replied evenly. Maria felt her teeth clench at the tone he used, he almost sounded smug that he was managing to get to her. After everything that had happened, he had the balls to act so, so calmly?! Hell no. Maria Anita Delfuero does not take that kind of shit. "So, what your saying is everything that happened today just happened?" her eyes narrowed as Jon's met hers," So, us nearly falling to our deaths, blindly walking in a godforsaken cave that could have become our fucking grave, or maybe the fact that we were captured like animals by honest to god ponies?!" She finally stopped, nearly yelling at her friend. Cole quietly looked on, taken slightly aback as Maria tore into Jon, who seemed unfazed by the verbal onslaught. "Or the fact", her fists clenched as she felt her eyes mist more," The fact that they turned Vince into fucking stone! Did your brother mean that little to you? That he just dies and you don’t even bat an eyelash!?" She finished, wiping her eyes with a free hand to prevent the flow of tears. A deathly silence descended on the group, the crackling fire the only noise between the three. Maria continued to try and clear her eyes, but it seemed to be fighting a losing battle. "Damn it Jon, just, just show something" She said between sniffles. Cole looked on in sadness, Maria, one of the strongest willed of the group, had been reduced to tears. He could understand though. Vince and her had had something, but they broke that off a while back. Maybe she still had felt something. "What do you want me to say?" Jon asked, finally speaking up. "You want me to say my only brother is dead? That I’m sad? Grieving? I watched my brother get turned to stone by pathetic excuses for horses. They killed him. Right now? I want nothing more to strangle those six. I could grieve later, right no-" Jon had no time to react to the right hook that sent him sprawling. Cole nearly had his jaw on the ground as he saw Maria standing where she had been sitting seconds ago, fist clenched tight from post swing. His eyes widened as he spotted that change in her, her irises becoming crimson with a light wisp of purple smoke near the edge. Not to mention, the small growing crystals beginning to sprout from the ground around her feet. He nearly jumped when she spoke, her voice seeming to carry an authority Maria didn’t have. "Revenge? Petty revenge?!" she shouted, moving toward the recovering Jon. She loomed over him, a cold fury in her eyes. Reaching down, she grabbed him by the collar of his shirt, and to the surprise of both him and Cole, lifted him off his feet. This was a feat that would have been extremely difficult even for Maria. Although more than physically fit, she would have been incapable of lifting Jon's entire weight with a single arm. "You think Vince would want you do that?" she glowered at him as he struggled in her iron grip, " You think your brother would enjoy you joining him?! Fuck no! Have you even considered what your parents would think?! What...your family...would....think...." As the last words left Maria's mouth, she felt Jon's weight increase more and more; forcing her to put him down. He immediately broke her grip and stepped away. Maria hung her head. Thoughts of her own family began to fill her head, cherished memories rewinding in her mind. She could feel the guilt that she hadn’t even thought about them this entire day. She thought about how they’d react to find out they were missing; they had only meant to go camping for a few days, a week at the most. They had already been out for four days and had been planning on returning the day before. One day. That was all it had taken. She was tired. All she wanted to do was lay down. Ignoring the entire situation with Jon, she walked back to the campfire, sitting down next to the dwindling flames. She brought her legs to her chest once again, this time not out of warmth, but of comfort. She stared into the embers, failing to notice the small trickle of tears down her cheeks. She flinched as she felt a large arm rap around her, pulling her closer to another body. She looked up to find the face of Cole who nodded solemnly at her. He felt her lean into him, his grip increasing on his smaller friend in response. Across from the two, Jon returned quietly to the campfire, not bothering to acknowledge the two, though he did look to Cole as he sat down. The tallest member sighed, running a hand through his blond hair once again. He tried to fight back the depressing air that had begun to envelop the area, the self destruction of his friends waning on him. He looked toward the fire, noting that it would need some more wood soon, if they were going to keep it going the rest of the night. He sighed again. There was so many unknowns, too many to account for. He looked up toward the sky, spotting the rather large moon hanging among the stars. Despite its similar appearance, this was definitely not Earth's moon. Even the constellations were wrong. One thought ran through his head at this moment. One he knew was absolute fact. They were a very long way from home.