//------------------------------// // Chapter Five // Story: What doesn't kill me... // by LucidTech //------------------------------// Spike turned corner after corner with panting breath. The castle, for all the things it got right, was still an extremely confusing place, though Spike blamed at least part of his confusion  on himself for not coming here more often. Ever since he moved out of Twilight’s care… he hadn’t really gone to see her much. She was kind, sure, but more often than not she could be a ruthless task master when she got wrapped up in one of her projects. So… it wasn’t like Spike was avoiding her, or so he said to himself, it was more that he didn’t want to go out of his way to see her some days. Most days. The pang of guilt was drowned out as Spike finally arrived at the room he’d been looking for from the start. He was just in time to see an oversized purple sword swing down like an executioner’s axe on Letha. She had her shield up and caught the blade on it, fighting against it even as the sword was pressed harder and harder against it. With a very unwomanly grunt, she swung her shield out and forced the sword away. It recoiled heavily, and Twilight stumbled as her magic was pushed out of her control, leaving its owner wide open for a counter attack, and Letha seemed to consider it for a while. Instead Letha stood up straight and attempted to mask the heavy breaths that were echoing out of her helmet. “You come to my home, Vampire? And you think I’ll let that STAND?” Twilight’s voice was bellowing through the room. The sword swung down once again, and it was blocked, once again. Twilight pulled it up of her own accord this time, glaring angrily down at her opponent. “I have friends here! I will not let you hurt them!” She brought the blade against the shield again, only for the same result to play out as always. Twilight swung and swung and swung the blade, anger growing with each attack. “WHY. WON’T. YOU. FALL!?!” Each word punctuated by an attack. Spike tore his eyes away from the battle, looking for Fluttershy. Amidst the scratched and chipped stone he found her, in a corner near the door, crying silently as she gazed on in fear. He knew the look on her face. She would have traded the world to bring this fight to a peaceful end, she would have sacrificed to avoid it all together. But right now, right here, she couldn’t do anything and it was tearing her up inside. So she stood there, helpless, hating herself and hating the circumstances that led here, but not for a moment hating her friends. Spike wasn’t sure if he should comfort her or not. He didn’t even know if he could comfort her at all. So he simply waited by the doorway. Twilight fell silent as she judged her opponent, understanding that brute force would not break the defense. As she did, Letha addressed Spike, her eyes never leaving her opponent. “I told you to watch after my kids. Why did you leave them to come here?” Spike could hear the sound of fatigue creeping into Letha’s voice, but pretended not to notice. “I left them with Rarity, she’ll look after them. I needed to come here and try and help.” “No what you-” Letha dodged a beam of light that darted across the room with ridiculous speed. As a similar beam passed by in the next instant Letha caught it on her shield, and the magic shattered to pieces. “What you needed to do was stay with my children. I did not leave them in Rarity’s care, I left them in yours and if you can’t do a simple baby sitting job then-” “Don’t talk you my ex-assistant like that!” Twilight shouted, a battering ram appearing from thin air and ramming into Letha’s chest piece. Letha crumpled from the blow, folding over the blunt end of the battering ram until it smashed against the wall. Letha collided and the wall seemed worse for the wear than Letha did. She looked ready for another, but the battering ram remained in place, pinning her to the wall. In vain she tried to move it, but to no avail. “Do you yield this fight?” Twilight shouted across the room, weariness hiding behind her words.         “Fight?” Letha said with a light joking tone. “This isn’t a fight.” She placed her hands on either side of the battering ram, a strange purple light dancing across it’s surface. “This is a sparring match at best.” The battering ram exploded, shards of wood flew into the air and landed in a circle around ground zero. “I promised I wouldn’t fight you. So we’re sparring is all.” Twilight looked on in surprise.         “Magic? I hadn’t thought-” Twilight’s voice trailed off and she looked at her opponent with a glare. “Whatever you call this battle, you can not win. You will surrender or you and all you love will die.”         “Twilight!” Spike shouted, shocked.         “I will not lose my friends Spike! I will protect all of you, even if it means the deaths of intruders!”         Fluttershy spoke up with an indignant tone, angry that her friend would even suggest such a thing. “She has children here Twilight, do you intend to kill them too?” Fluttershy's tone was extremely bitter, and it was enough to catch Twilight's full attention. The aggresive anger seemed to fade from her face and the familiar demeanor that Fluttershy knew best made itself apparent. Twilight glanced uneasily between Spike and Fluttershy. “She has… children?”         The rustle of armor from across the room drew the attention of everyone there. Letha’s hand rested lightly on the hilt of her mace, not yet drawn. “You think yourself a protector and you assault a would be ally? You think yourself so certain and you rush into battle on assumptions alone?” Letha looked to the ground for a moment, taking a shuddering breath. “Perhaps we have more in common than I thought.” Letha’s gaze moved to Spike, then to Fluttershy who’s tears seemed to be ending, and finally to Twilight. “I offer you peace one more time Twilight Sparkle. Should you deny it, we shall see how YOUR protections fare.”         It was a loaded question, and it held a far larger threat than a simple mace. Twilight gazed at the armored figure below, on edge about the violence that the words promised. She wasn’t sure if she wanted to put trust in such a figure. She was also vaguely aware that that was extremely hypocritical of her, since the battle had started with an attack from Twilight, and not from her foe. The air was tense as Twilight judged the character of her opponent, but it was broken with a simple call from the doorway. “Mom!” All eyes snapped over, and watched as two small bipeds ran into the room, followed very shortly by Kiri and then Rarity. “Mom you’ve been in here FOREVER!” Said one of the girls as Letha’s hand moved away from the hilt of her mace. She was picked up by her Mom and balanced on her shoulder. The girl looked between Twilight and Letha, picking up on the tension that was still moving between the two. “Mom what’s going on?” “Me and Twilight Sparkle were negotiating for that house that you were talking about. We were just discussing the payment for it.” “Aww, you have to pay for it? Last time you just helped out a bunch and got it for free.” “Yes, well, new lands I suppose.” Letha responded easily, tickling her daughter’s belly and making her giggle in response. “Actually.” Twilight said, an idea coming to mind. “If you’re in the business of paying with favors, I do have something that I need help with. We can discuss it at length later, and if you decide that it's something you aren't comfortable with, then I’m sure we can work out something else for payment.” Letha looked at Twilight in silence, off put by how good it sounded. She tried to pick up on the catch, but came up empty. So she sought another source. “Can I trust her Fluttershy?" Letha said, glancing side long to the pony. "You know her better than I do.” “Of course!” Fluttershy practically shouted, happy things were finally working out for the better, happier still that the fighting was over. Realizing, however, the volume that she had spoken at, she promptly fell into much more familiar words. “That is, I would trust her with my life Letha. Anyday.” Twilight smiled at the words, a bit of pride and a bit of thanks filling her heart. Letha nodded a thank you and looked back to Twilight, taking her daughter from her shoulder and placing her lightly on the ground. She was silent for a moment longer as she stood back up to full height. “I accept your offer Twilight Sparkle, and thank you for your time.” “Of course Letha.” Twilight said with a genuine tone, and a smile of kindness. “And thank you for your time as well.”