//------------------------------//
// Chapter 18: Legionnaires Forward! 
// Story: Caverns & Cutie Marks 
// by TheColtTrio 
//------------------------------//

	Fluttershy stared at the turn list: only four names were on it. “Combat, Support, Magic, and Bandit Chief? What’s that mean?”
“Oh, I know!,” Pinkie Pie shouted said, bouncing in place. “Since there’s so many ponies fighting at the same time, we’ve been split up into groups! Me, Purple Stripy, and AJ are the combat ponies, Patchwork, Fluttershy, and Dashie are the supports, and Twilight, Minty, and Marshmallowity are the magic users! The ones in a group move at the same time!”
Rarity balked at her new nickname. “Please tell me that’s not going to continue.” A vein in Purple Heart’s forehead pulsed as he glared at Pinkie Pie.
“Stripey?” he growled. “What am I, Tigger? Is my top made outta rubber and my bottom made out of springs?”
“Uh,” Light Patch looked at the grid and the circle around him on the ground, “what? What is this? Whats going on?” Purple Heart looked at his friend questioningly. Then recognition dawned on his face.
“Oh yeah,” Purple Heart muttered. “You didn’t get into a combat situation… Basically, the grid is a baseline for distance, you can’t move out of the square during somepony else’s turn, and movement is free range as long as it’s your turn.”
“Right, Warhammer movement. The circle is my base and the grid is rule of thumb distance.” Light Patch nodded and glanced at the turn list. “I guess that means you first,” a grin spread over his face, “Stripey.” The vein pulsed again.
“Meh you,” Purple Heart snarled, looking to where Twilight and Wits End lay prone behind the Bandit Chief. “First things first. We should probably get them back up.” He turned to Pinkie Pie and Applejack.
“Which of you wants to deal damage while the other two grab them?” Purple Heart jerked his head at Twilight and Wits End.
Applejack sighed, unhitching her lasso. “Ya’ll can get them. I’ll see if I can’t keep this overgrown crabapple still.” Purple Heart nodded in affirmation.
“Sounds good,” he decided, turning to Pinkie Pie. “Wanna race?”
Pinkie Pie grinned. “You’re on! I’ve never thrown a rescue party before, but no-pony beats Pinkie Pie at any kind of party!” Purple Heart grinned in return, looking to Light Patch.
“If you would be so kind?” he prompted. Light Patch raised an eyebrow but shook his head.
“Okay, sure.” The pegasus stallion took a deep breath and screamed out as fast as he could, “Three two one go!”  Purple Heart, Applejack, and Pinkie Pie took off towards the Bandit Chief at a dead sprint. Applejack twirled her lasso as she ran and launched it at the Bandit Chief as Purple Heart and Pinkie Pie darted past towards Twilight and Wits End.
“Hog Tie!” the orange earth pony bawled as the lasso encircled and tightened around the Bandit Chief. The large pony glared at Applejack but didn’t react beyond that.
“First!” Purple Heart and Pinkie Pie declared, hauling their respective comrades to their hooves.
“Rainbow, how about you give some long range fire support to Applejack? Fluttershy and I will go heal up Witty and Twilight,” Light Patch said. Rainbow Dash gave a quick nod before flitting off the ground and drawing her bow.
Light Patch and Fluttershy quickly made their way over to their injured comrades, ignoring the sound of Rainbow’s Tri-Shot. “Which one’s hurt worse?” he asked once over to the two.
Fluttershy arrived first, looking over the two wounded ponies. “I think they’re just shaken up,” she said, holding a hoof to Twilight’s forehead. “Um, I helped some of the town guardsponies when we were being attacked. All you have to do is use the… heal skill, I think?”
“Right.” Light Patch nodded then moved over to Wits End and began the check. “Sanka ya dead?” he asked before finishing. He figured both he and Fluttershy had succeeded in in the skill checks because of the color returning to their friends’ faces.
Wits End groaned, opening an eye. “No mahn,” he groaned, glancing around. He saw Fluttershy helping Twilight regain her balance, and turned to see who had helped him. His face fell as he looked at the face of his pegasus friend. “Now, why couldn’t you two have switched places?” he deadpanned, brushing the dust from his robe.
“Mostly because Fluttershy was faster and beat me to Twilight,” Light Patch responded, turning to face the boss. “But, I was also afraid that Twilight would induct me into the pony space program.” He paused and then rubbed the back of his neck. “And uh, sorry. I kind of took it too far. You can beat me up later.”
“Later being the operative word,” Wits End muttered, looking over at the bandit chief; bound and punctured by arrows. “Right, big bad and ugly decided to play dead and bowl us over. We in combat?” Purple Heart nodded, looking back to where Applejack stood with Rainbow Dash slightly behind and above her. The bar above the Bandit Chief was slightly smaller but not by much.
“Where’d you hit him?” Purple Heart asked, directing his question at Rainbow Dash.
“Shoulder,” Rainbow replied. “It didn’t do much damage.”
“So I noticed,” Purple Heart said, turning to Wits End. “Up for some magical shenanigans?”
Wits End smirked. “I’m always up for shenanigans.” He glanced at the turn list. “Huh, group actions. Neat. We’ll keep him busy this turn so you guys can hit’m hard.” He turned to Twilight. “Sound good to you?”
Twilight nodded, spreading her wings. “I can handle that.” She faced the bandit chief, focusing on the area in front of his face. “Flare!” A flash of light burst before the large pony’s eyes, followed by intense heat, eliciting a scream of pain and surprise.
“Rarity!” Wits End called out, pointing a hoof toward the bandit. “Aim for the joints in his armor! Keep him from moving around in that tin can of his.”
“Hmph.” Rarity looked the chief’s armor over. “As if I could let such an offence to fashion go without punishment.” Steel needles flew through the air, embedding themselves in the chief’s legs and hooves, and causing his grip on the club to weaken.
“And for the final touch,” Wits End said, horn glowing with magic. “Poison Sting!” The stinger shot out, slamming into the bandit’s side. Muddy green bubbles appeared over the bandit’s head, along with the word “poisoned”.
“Yeesh.” Purple Heart whistled. “You aren’t holding back are you?”
The bandit chief’s name ticked to the top of the list. With a roar of rage, he wrapped a hoof around the rope holding him still. Applejack raised an eyebrow. “What in tarnation is he doin?”
“Well, you’ve got him in a grapple,” Wits End observed, “so if I had to guess, he’s-”
The apple farmer found herself pulled through the air by her own lasso, landing in the chief’s armored hooves. He turned, holding the stunned mare like a javelin as he took aim at the cluster of ponies.
Wits End swallowed hard, wheels clicking into place just slightly too late as the chief flung Applejack in the direction of his group. “-Reversing the grapple,” he finished meekly.
Before Light Patch could make any witty remarks, Applejack slammed into him, causing them both to fly backwards, bowling over Wits End and Twilight in the process. Health bars dropped, with Applejack taking the worst of it; bringing her down to half health in a single stroke. “That,” the orange mare groaned, “was not what I’d planned for.”
The bandit chief chuckled, shaking off arrows and needles. “Looks like your precious friendship does more harm than good!”
“And he’s throwing out ironic echoes,” Wits End grumbled, pulling himself up. “That’s my job…”
Purple Heart shook his head in resignation. “I was really hoping I wouldn’t have to do this.” The purple stallion turned to Pinkie Pie.
“How do you feel about flying?” he asked shortly. Pinkie Pie cocked her head to one side.
“It’s fun, I guess.” Pinkie smiled. “Oh!, This one time, me and Twilight flew in a hot air balloon to-”
“Ok!” Purple Heart interrupted. “You don’t take issue with it. Do you have any abilities that could make a dent in him?” He jerked his head at the Bandit Chief.
Pinkie Pie nodded, clapping her forehooves together. “Leave it to me! I use Lucky Stars!” Purple Heart nodded and grabbed the pink party pony with both hooves. Grunting from the exertion, Purple Heart lifted Pinkie above his head and hurled her at the Bandit Chief.
“FOR PONY!” he boomed, charging after the soaring earth pony. “Jan...Ken...Hufu!” The glowing light appeared around his hooves and the two earth ponies rammed into the Bandit Chief with astonishing force that seemed remarkably similar to that of a broadside from a galleon. The Bandit Chief grunted in surprise and pain as he teetered backwards, very nearly falling over. Pinkie Pie and Purple Heart landed beside him hard, making indentations in the hard ground. Suddenly, nine ropes snapped above the heads of the two earth ponies and struck the Bandit Chief likes snakes.
“Nine-tails!” Applejack bawled weakly. “Man, tha’ took the starch right outta me.” The Bandit Chief growled at the two earth ponies as his health bar shrunk rapidly before stopping suddenly.
“I’ll get you for that,” he snarled. Purple Heart cocked his head to one side as he looked up at the Bandit Chief with a piercing blue gaze for a long time. The Bandit Chief shifted uncomfortably.
“What?” he snapped. “Is there ketchup on my shirt?” Purple Heart shook his head.
“Nah,” he replied. “I just couldn’t think of a snippy catch phrase. Oh! That could wo-...nah, nevermind. I really need to work on that.”
Wits End rolled his eyes. “Amateur.”
“Shaddup.”
Light Patch pulled himself off the ground, now that it was he and his team’s turn. “One free starching coming up,” he said, casting a quick heal on Applejack. Light Patch then moved past Fluttershy as she helped Twilight back up and used another healing check to remove the dazing from her friend. 
“I hope that helped some,” the yellow pegasus quietly said.
“I’m just fine. Thanks, Fluttershy.” Twilight looked toward the bandit chief, eyes narrowing at the state of his health bar. “This isn’t working nearly as fast as I’d hoped.”
“‘Course it isn’t,” Light Patch said, trotting backwards so he could face Twilight. “It’s a boss battle. It’s supposed to be nice and drawn out so we can savour every little bit of it,” the pegasus said, passing Rainbow Dash just as she missed a shot at the bandit chief.
“Whatever it is,” Rainbow muttered, “I’d hate to be in the middle of another throwing match like that.”
Light Patch shrugged, stopping close by his friend Purple Heart, causing ‘Magic’ to move to the top of the list.
“We need to be more creative about how this works,” Wits End said, looking around the battlefield. “Anypony see anything we can use for extra environmental effects?”
After a quick glance, Twilight pointed a hoof toward the chief. “There!”
Wits End blinked. “That’s the guy we’re fighting. We cannot use the guy we’re fighting to fight the guy we’re fighting.”
“Not him, smartalec. Behind him!” She pointed again toward the pile of bandit bodies behind the chief. “If we can bring that down on him, it’s gotta do something, right?”
“If you can’t get it this turn, I’ll make a go for it next turn,” Light Patch said, mentally kicking himself for not having been looking for that kind of environmental shenanigans already.
Wits End frowned. “It’d work, but I don’t have anything that’ll work on a large enough scale.”
Twilight sighed, “I don’t either, and if we don’t do it now, he’ll definitely move. Maybe we can-”
“I’VE GOT IT!” Rarity screamed, sending a flock of startled birds to the sky outside the battle zone. Numerous pairs of eyes turned toward her as she pulled herself out of her ‘I have an idea’ pose. She cleared her throat, making a broad sweeping gesture toward the other ponies. “Light Patch, dear, do you remember what my class is?”
A look of horror flashed across his face. “Uh, uh….” His eyes darted around and he noticed the Bandit Chief raise an eyebrow. “Hey, it’s not like I knew there would be a quiz based on it. Uh, Needle Sniper?” he tentatively asked.
Rarity’s gaze narrowed. After a moment, she turned to Applejack. “Applejack, dear, do you remember what my class is?”
“Manipulator, weren’t it?”
“Exactly! And does anypony know what a Manipulator does?” Purple Heart shook his head, looking around before his eyes landed on the Bandit Chief.
“You got any idea, gargantua?” he asked. The Bandit Chief twisted his muzzle in irritation.
“What do you think, pipsqueak?” he growled. The obligatory vein pulsed once before Purple Heart turned away.
With a grin and a flip of her mane, Rarity turned toward the pile of bandits. “They make ponies do exactly what they want!” Her horn shined brightly, her magic encompassing the bandits. Several of the bodies began pushing and climbing the others, causing the whole pile to start wobbling violently. “And she always gets exactly what she wants.”
The bandit chief looked up at the pile of his former underlings, now toppling down on him. “Oh you little b-” His last words were drowned out under a wave of ponies and their surprisingly heavy armor.
Light Patch began to lightly clap. “Okay, I’ll admit, I’m impressed. Not exactly necromancy, but it’ll do.”
Wits End winced. “I’m having terrible flashbacks to how we lost our last fight.”
“A good fashionista always draws inspiration from her life, darling,” Rarity explained smugly as the chief’s health bar dropped sharply.
After a few seconds the pile began to shift and wiggle slightly. Suddenly a familiar hoof shot from the pile. Without a warning, Light Patch stood on his hind legs and, in a shrill voice, screamed, “Rise Lazarus, Rise!” The grey pegasus then began to laugh maniacally as the bandit chief continued trying to get unstuck from under the pile of ponies. After a few moments, he’d managed to clear the pile out around him. “Behold, Mares and Stallions,” Light Patch said gesturing to the now exposed Bandit Chief. “The greatest show unearthed.” Light Patch began to laugh again, along with a few of the other ponies present.
The bandit chief turned to the grey pegasus, his anger clearly etched in his face at the mockery. Faster than anypony could have expected, he closed the distance between himself and the grey pegasus. In a fit of rage, accompanied by a roar of ‘Shut up!’, he brought his head crashing down onto Light Patch’s face. Above both heads appeared the words ‘Critical Hit’, along with a small fanfare. Both participants staggered backwards and fell over. A second fanfare played and the word ‘Congratulations!’ appeared over the boss’s form as small wisps left the boss and disappeared into each of the ponies as the list faded away. Fluttershy rushed over to Light Patch; to her relief he was still breathing. After calming down a little she, began to bandage him up.
Wits End looked between the two knocked out ponies. He trotted over to the bandit chief, poking him in the side of the head with his sheath. Satisfied that he was truly defeated, he knelt down next to where Fluttershy was treating his grey friend. “I knew you had a hard head, Patchy, but this is a new level.”
Purple Heart looked down at the grey pegasus, an amused grin on his face.
“You sir,” he chuckled. “Are one crazy bugger. I salute you. Next time though, try not to leave us without a healer. Just in case.” Twilight looked at the Colt Trio with a puzzled look on her face. Yep, she thought, These ponies were definitely crazy.
A light fluttering sound caught Fluttershy’s attention, and she looked up just in time to see a small piece of paper alight on Light Patch’s stomach. She picked it up and noticed it had three holes punched in it along the bottom. Along the top read the words, ‘Crit stand. Get ten crits and get the Jinx skill free.’ She looked at it for a few seconds, confused to its meaning. Giving up on understanding it, she absently shoved it into one of Light Patch’s pouches before returning to bandaging him up.