//------------------------------// // (REWRITE) Bringing Down the Sky // Story: Dying Embers // by MrSpartan //------------------------------// Author's Note: I have, due to some valid points made, rewritten this chapter. What the happens and the end results are the same as before but HOW it happens is different. The exceptions are Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy. Sooo...yeah. Also many thanks to Book Smart for Editing this and soon the other chapters too. Enjoy. The fighting began. Six of humanity’s best Crusaders of Fire vs. Equestria’s Elements of Harmony with the undead abomination and his relics of destruction vs. the ‘holier than thou’ minor goddess of the sun. Each of them were facing their opponents, sizing them up, while Luna got stuck with the rest. At least she had the Equestrian military to back her up so she’d be fine…probably. Applejack had hoped for a peaceful solution to this mess but wasn’t in the least bit surprised when the two legged creature hadn’t cooperated. Now here she was, facing off against one of them who had orders to tuck her in for a dirt nap. She saw that this one (the one Illitheous had referred to as White Strike) wasn’t a magician. He wore only a red and orange pair of slacks that were elastic at the ends near the ankles; no shoes either, unlike the others. His body was incredibly toned and muscled, even more so than Big Macintosh. Scars were scattered across his body. He had no visible hair, even on his head. Applejack could already tell that she was in for a fierce tussle. White Strike readied into a defensive stance while thinking, I will not fail my master. “I will honor you with the first move,” He offered. Applejack felt a competitive smirk grace her lips. “That’s mighty sportin’ of ya’ll, under the circumstances.” “I have no vendetta with you personally. I simply do as Master Illitheous commands so that we may have a home once more.” White Strike said. “If’n ya’ll are tryin’ to make me go on a guilt trip, it ain’t gonna work.” AJ replied. “I believe its still your move.” The unarmed man emotionlessly stated. The orange mare could feel herself sweating nervously while thinking of how to approach this guy. Oh buck it! Applejack charged head on with the intention of tackling this bad guy down quickly. White Strike’s body moved like water as he shifted his weight, pushed her forward and tripped one of her back legs all in one fluid motion. Applejack grunted as she crashed muzzle first into the dirt and cobblestone road. She pushed herself up and looked back at the martial artist. He was finishing a windmill motion of his arms then returned to a defensive stance. He put his arm out and moved his fingers in such a way that communicated “try again”. The farm pony and Element of Honesty felt a blush of humiliation blossom on her cheeks. She galloped up to him, slower this time, and gave a buck aimed at his chest. She was much stronger then she been a month ago and the wind whooshed away from the strength behind the double backward kick. Unfortunately the buck missed by a wide margin as the warrior arched his spine backwards while still keeping his footing. He hastily ducked under her follow-up kick and launched an onslaught of his own. Two double fingered jabs hit Applejack in the right back leg followed by an iron solid punch to the exposed belly, causing her to tumble away. The punch hit harder than Rainbow Dash crashing though her barn. The earth pony resisted the urge to revisit her lunch. She moved to try a different attack but found herself falling instead. She looked to see what had caused it. Nothing seemed wrong. The mare tried to get back up but only fell again. “What the hay?” she complained. The scarred martial artist moved closer while explaining Applejack’s sudden impairment. “Do you know why they call me White Strike? They call me that because, unlike the other warriors who draw blood or cause bruising with their weapons, I strike at your nerves leaving a clean kill.” He was uncomfortably close to AJ who was still struggling to stand up properly. “That numbness in your rear leg is because I have severed its connection to the rest of your body and spirit. Now we will see how well you can fight with only three legs instead of four.” This is real bad! _ _ _ _ _ Twilight Sparkle was ready for the human in front of her. She had gathered from what little she could gleam from fragmented reports and findings that humans were a creative and aggressive lot with a special talent for holding grudges. Supposedly they could be peaceful and cooperative but the odds of that being the case with this group had been a long shot at best. The human, or Homo Sapien if you wanted to get technical, before her was called Terran if Twilight’s memory was correct. He had short black hair on his head and face and he wore a lightweight robe of red with gold trimmings. He was younger then the others as far as Twilight could tell. Being the talented unicorn that she was, she immediately was aware of the aura of various magical energies swirling invisibly around him. There wasn’t a doubt in her mind that he was a very talented wizard, not unlike her. Terran had the same impression surge through his thoughts, though the purple unicorn only had one class of magical aura about her, a maelstrom of astral energy. I can’t disappoint Master Illitheous. I’ll make him proud, Terran thought. Twilight Sparkle took one last shot at diplomacy. “Do you and I really have to fight? Are you absolutely positive we can’t just work this misunderstanding out by talking? I’m sure we could come to SOME sort of agreement, don’t you think?” Twilight pleaded with a puppy eyed expression. She really hated how this was all playing out. There needed to be more logic and less passion right now. From what she read humans weren’t like trolls or hydras. They could be reasoned with like anypony. The young human prodigy sighed. “I’m sorry but… I promised our master that I would do whatever it takes to get a better home free of problems like the one your princesses’ mother forced ours to.” “So you do have a home?” Twilight asked, still searching for the whole story. The arcanist briefly looked down before saying “I wouldn’t exactly call it that. Home invokes a sense of security and belonging.” His fists balled up as he steadied his will. “No more will we be forced to live in a dying land. We will start anew by re-envisioning our old glory. That is his dream. That is why we follow Illitheous, and that is why if he gives me an order I’ll follow it. I know everything he does has good reason. Now fight or perish!” He punctuated that final sentence by shooting a beam of blue energy towards the purple mare. She teleported out of the way at the last second. Twilight found that the teleport was much harder than it should have been. The beam made contact with a door to a house behind her, making it instantly shatter to pieces. The unicorn glanced back to see the spell’s effect. That spell had been a freeze spell, and a potent one at that. I’ll have to be careful. He’s just as talented as he felt and twice as deadly. She dodged again, the normal way this time, as Terran conjured swords and hurled each at her with enough telekinetic force to make them almost seem a blur. Twilight proceeded to block the rest of the keen-edged projectiles with a greater force field spell. When Terran ran out of blades he mentally checked for another spell to cast. He took a second too long as Twilight cast a bolt of lightning. It was only so much that she was sure it would knock him unconscious. She didn’t want to really hurt him. The bolt made contact but he managed to absorb it with a steal magica ward in his hand. He felt his magic return and cast a more powerful version of an incantation called Orbs of Acidic Destruction. His eyes quickly flashed as he performed the proper mental exercise and tapped into his reserves of mystical energy. The dangerously talented youth held high his arms as five floating green spheres congealed out of the air to surround Twilight. It was a spell she had never seen before. The mare wisely enveloped herself in two layers of protection. One was a personal ward of magic canceling that cast her body in a reflective white. The second was a bubble shaped force field that would hopefully halt the orbs. Terran swung one arm down. One of the green balls of disintegrating acid dived at poor Twilight, leaving behind a ghostly green trail in the air behind it. Although the wards protected her greatly they didn’t keep her entirely safe. The human continued to swing his arms and the globs of acid were now hitting her like a like an angry swarm of hornets. The outer barrier shattered like glass. Now her second defense was beginning to weaken under the merciless assault. The orbs now started to leave the occasional gooey burn mark as she strained to keep up the ward. She couldn’t concentrate enough to cast a counter spell and her mana was draining with each hit. This is bad. _ _ _ _ _ Rarity wasn’t entirely sure she could fight this drab bohemian and win. Her training for this face off had been far too hard for her liking, but with Twilight’s encouragement and patient help the fashionista had managed to learn many different illusions. It had been tough getting her to adapt her magic talent from making dresses to creating false sensation to the senses and mind, but it had been the only school she could learn in a sufficiently short time. At least now she wouldn’t be helpless. Her human foe was dressed head to hoof, er, foot, in gray robes that had cuts in certain spots to allow utterly unhindered movement. His face was hidden by a cowl and hood that could be removed to allow his face to be seen if he desired. He did have a rather fashionable gray cape, in Rarity’s opinion at least. The only skin exposed was the area around his eyes. Right now they were staring daggers at her that made her want to scold him for being so rude. No words were spoken between these two. Rarity didn’t feel like conversing with such a mean looking creature that clearly had no taste in fashion or common courtesy; and the Nechronomancer had absolutely nothing to say to an enemy that would soon be under his command as an undead thrall. He was standing across from her when he fluctuated like a mirage and disappeared. Rarity’s jaw almost dropped. Her eyes widened as she urgently looked to see where the dangerous thing had gone. Then a skeletal hoof burst from the road just in front of her. Rarity let out an ear piercing scream of fear. Spike had been right after all. It was a zombie pony! Worse still was the other five that dug their way out of the dirt after. Thankfully for her one of the few offensive spells she learned was specifically useful against any dark magic. Necromancy certainly counted. Unfortunately for her it could be used only twice a day before it needed to be recharged. She cast the ray of purifying light on the zombie pony closest to her. Its fiery eye sockets burned out and the remains crumbled to dust. The other zombies, although slow, used that time to get close to her. They closed in and took bloody bites out of her. Then the Illusion of Rarity vanished. The spell canceled out from the physical interference. The zombies all scanned their surroundings. They discovered Rarity posing on her hind legs near one of the two story houses with a foreleg covering her mouth as she yawned. “Come now boys, is that all you’ve got? I’m disappointed.” Rarity said playfully. The undead shambled to her with surprising speed. Then Rarity gave a tiny little tap on the building. She had noticed, thanks to her amazing eye for detail, that it was missing a great deal of its foundation due to some earlier fighting. It creaked as it slowly began to lean. Its shadow blocked out the setting sun as it fell down on the horrid monsters. Their red eyes widened, one of them quietly muttering “Mother.” *SPLAT* The white and purple mare petitely giggled. “Oh was that me? I really must be more careful.” As she finished speaking, a pair of big shale crafted hands sprouted from the ground and seized the poor fashionista. Only her head and neck were out of its clutches. The human nechronomancer shimmered into reality again. “You should be more careful. An old lady like you shouldn’t be out alone. It could be deadly,” growled Dails Assent. Rarity gasped deeply,”I, whaa…did you just call me OLD!?! I’ll show you old, you brute!” The unicorn struggled valiantly against the shale formation holding her and even squeezed a couple inches out. Dails Assent’s gloved hands glowed florescent green before beams of that same unholy magic arced out and began sapping Rarity of all her energy and (unknown to her) quickly went to work ageing her. This is horrendous! _ _ _ _ _ Pinkie Pie sat on her haunches with a smile. She looked over at the other standing across from her. It was the axe wielder who Illitheous called Gua. He currently wore an open faced helmet while his body was encumbered by leather armor. There was iron affixed to the spots that didn’t require mobility. He was fairly in shape but he seemed kind of old in Pinkie’s opinion. He had no facial hair, but he was more wrinkled than the others her friends had to deal with. In his gauntleted hands rested two identical pristine battle axes. The head of each was forged from rare blue steel, named so from the special creation process that used bits of silver and malachite, which formed an icy blue metal. They were single edged and a diamond shaped cut-out in the head to allow faster swings from reduced weight. The grips were made of pinewood with a brace of common iron zigzagging down it to resist war related breakage. A single sapphire was set in the base of the grips. He had each axe raised forward and to the sides in preparation for the duel. “Whenever you’re ready kid,” Gua calmly stated. Pinkie just kept smiling before saying “Okey-Dokey-Loki Gua!” Gua was taken ever so slightly of guard by that. How did she know about the Old God of mischief? That religion was long dead after some un-seen Ragnarok and it was strictly very old human knowledge. The small equine in front of him should not have known about. The veteran axe wielder benched his curiosity about that though in order to clear something else up. He was still in an offensive posture as he spoke “Look kid; don’t call me by my name. We’re mortal enemies and it’ll be easier for us both if we regard each other as such. You’re no fighter I see so I’ll try to make you passing quick, alright.” Pinkie Pie motioned with a hoof as she talked “Aw. We could still be friends. You don’t have to have to be a big old meanie pants just because that scary guy told you to. I’m good at these things and I can tell you’re actually really nice.” Gua lowered his weapons and raised an eyebrow in trade. “How old are you kid?” The party pony turned her head and closed her eyes as she made a shooing gesture with her hoof. “That’s not important. But what is, is that you be my friend so we can get past the conflict of the story and go straight to the party I’m going to throw at the conclusion. There’ll be caaaake,” she said those last three words in a particularly happy sing-song tone. Her head and outstretched neck popped up behind Gua’s shoulder after he’d blinked. “And streamers too! It’s not a party without streamers!” she continued. By the maker how did she get there?! Shouldn’t have dropped my guard. She tricked me before launching an attack. Won’t happen twice, thought Gua. The pair of family axes of his was swung as fast as the man’s muscles could muster but the mare had already moved to a different spot now. “I was so not tricking you. I really really mean it!” She said. A yelp escaped Gua. She was a teleporting, mind reading, witch of some kind. “You know mister monkey man I’m not actually a mind reader. I was just reading along with the story, see? I’m just your friendly neighborhood Spider M-uh Pinkie Pie,” Pinkie said while pointing in a seemingly random direction. The axe wielder wasn’t looking that way though. He had been fooled by her supposedly harmless nature once. It would not happen again. He swung his family axes with deadly accuracy, but she was already to his right. The air she had previously occupied was all that made contact with the heavy blades. Pinkie had a sad pout with large watery eyes. Gua had a frustrated scowl with sweat causing his face to reflect the waning sunlight. Gua made sure his fluid and powerful swings didn’t use all of his energy. He now was wise to her out of sight teleportation trick, but no matter how focused on maintaining eye contact he was…no matter how much he tried to keep her in the contact zone of his weapons…he just, kept, missing. He yelled his frustration between swings. “Why” Swing, “Cant” Swing “I” Swing “Hit You!?” Swing Pinkie maintained her masterful avoidance of his attacks while shouting back. “Because” Miss “The author” Miss “Won’t” Miss “Let you!” Miss The axe wielder’s weapons crashed down into the ground after that last swing but the pink pony had shifted again, this time to a doorway that led into somepony’s house. Gua saw her go in and was rushing to the doorway. Pinkie realized her mistake when she found the house had no back door to escape through. She was trapped like a cat in a big red hat. This wasn’t how I planned this at all. _ _ _ _ _ Fluttershy was shaking like a pony possessed she was so intimidated. Her knees were like jello. The pitter patter of her frightened little heart threatened to bust out of her chest. Oh what do I do? The little pony thought. Ok Fluttershy just remember what Rainbow Dash taught you. Size up the competition and look for a weak spot. If you don’t find one just charge head on and give it your best. She forced herself to look over the human standing across from her. She’s so big though. On the cobblestone and dirt road across from her was the archer who went by Sheeva. She was tall, lithe woman dressed in chainmail armor. Her well tanned skin complemented her shoulder length black hair. She had a better complexion then most of the other martial fighters in the human troop, but not clearer than the mages who never put themselves at any significant risk of injury if they didn’t absolutely have to. An old, well healed scar was etched horizontally across her cheek. Her beautiful emerald eyes showed concern even if the rest of her didn’t. The archer’s hands were sweating. I can’t displease Illitheous. She mentally stated. Sheeva knew the race of intelligent horse beasts were supposed to be powerful, magic wielding, usurpers. She had seen the point of imprisoning the villagers. They would have run and gotten a more adequate force of those golden plated wearing pegasi before they were ready. Her leader could have ordered their execution, but he had been merciful; instead choosing to imprison them. Not only that, but he had ordered none of the prisoners hurt as they “Did not choose this war even though they deserve it.” In fact, it occurred to Sheeva that the only two ponies who had been truly hurt were the red one who had the nerve to attack Sheeva’s commander on sight and the enemy sergeant who spat in his face. All that had made sense. Slaying the absolutely terrified yellow pegasus, who didn’t even wield a weapon just felt utterly inhumane. Sheeva opened her mouth to break the tension, at least a little. “Uh,” was all she uttered when the most cuddly, unimaginable, adorably, heart-stoppingly, cute series of squeaks emitted from the necklace wearing pony like the singing of angels (and in Ponyville they say that Sheeva’s medium sized heart grew three sizes that day). Fluttershy had been attempting to muster the courage to say she wouldn’t let anypony hurt her friends but when the scary human had said something she couldn’t halt the squeaks. It was an embarrassing reflex of hers when meeting somepony new and startling. Fluttershy hid behind her mane, still shivering in fear. Sheeva slowly reached for the bow on her shoulder. Fluttershy was so scared she couldn’t move. All she could do was close her teary eyes and hope her friends could forgive her weakness. A second passed and she wondered if she was already in pony heaven as she was lovingly embraced by somepony. She opened one eye to see who was hugging her and was surprised to see it was the human. Fluttershy was startled at first. She let out a quiet “eep” which only made Sheeva hug harder. The Element of Kindness soon returned the hug when she realized it was sincere. Human and pony discarded differences in a display of pure friendship. Too bad everyone around them was too busy fighting to take notice. Sheeva quietly told Fluttershy “I’m sorry for the situation we’re all in.” Fluttershy whispered back “I’m sorry we didn’t try harder to be friends.” They still hugged as the sounds of battle and the occasional magic induced explosion surrounded them. Fluttershy’s eyes went wide with concern as a line of thought occurred to her. “You’re not going to be punished for not attacking me are you?!” The caring mare placed her hooves on the woman’s shoulders and was at arms length now. Sheeva’s expression was one of resignation. Fluttershy’s was one of serious concern. “Probably will actually,” Sheeva sadly stated. Oh No! How awful! _ _ _ _ _ Rainbow Dash hovered just off the ground. She looked at her adversary with a suspicious glare. The sword master Kiera offered the same glare. While Rainbow Dash readied herself Kiera mentally checked her equipment like she always did right before battle. Full body heavy drake scale armor? Check Absence of helm to allow best possible field of vision? Check Diamond edged katana? Check Uniquely crafted disorientation bombs for rendering the enemy helpless? Check First aid if hurt? Check. The essentials were all accounted for. Only amateurs entered a conflict unprepared. And back at the human’s forced home, amateurs tended not to live long. I shall never lose. Illitheous needs me to win no matter what! The expert dualist thought. The human and pony stared each other down. Both blond and Technicolor hair stuck closely to skulls from the tense sweat seeping out of their pores. The setting sun was lighting the sky red to their side. It was a scene straight out of a tale of samurai. In characteristic haste Dash was the first to act. She stopped hovering and dropped to the ground. Then, with her best war face on, used her wings, legs and inner pegasus magic in conjunction to charge at the sword master. In a feat of practiced precision Kiera used the gauntleted hand she had been holding onto the scabbard with and flicked the blade out a few centimeters. Then, faster then the eye could see, moved her right arm and drew the gleaming blade out to slash at her charging target. Rainbow has nothing if not fast reflexes though. Her brain took immediate control as it registered a dangerous obstacle. It ordered the muscles in her wings to veer her to the left. The human had predicted this fight would end as quickly as it began. She was dismayed as her rainbow-maned foe actually managed to avoid the cut in time. Rainbow Dash skidded to a halt and turned around. Kiera, likewise, turned with her blade still drawn. She had a frown as the counterpart to Rainbow Dash’s smug grin. She put a hoof to her chest while saying, “Hah! Not a scratch on me! Maybe you should give up now and save yourself the embarrassment of losing to me.” After Rainbow finished her sentence, the very tip of her mane fell cleanly off her head from the cut it had suffered. Her expression changed to a wide eyed stare as she looked down to the piece of cut hair, then back to Kiera, then back at her hair, then back again to Kiera. The katana wielding warrior only smiled, then said, “You were saying?” Rainbow frowned. “Fine. You wanna do this the hard way? We’ll do this the hard way!” “Age before beauty,” Jeered Kiera. This time the blue pegasus started flying in circles around her opponent as fast as she could instead of charging head on. Gotta keep my distance from that sword of hers, thought Rainbow Dash. Kiera slashed whenever RD lessened the distance between them a little, but she wouldn’t be making a cut anytime soon at this rate. Dash was just too fast. Kiera noticed the dust was beginning to kick up and encircle her. The wind was getting more and more difficult to resist even with the added weight of her armor. Rainbow accelerated further. “You know what I call this one?” The human female didn’t reply seeing as she was too busy covering her face and trying keep from being blown about like a rag doll. Before she knew it she was no longer able to resist. “The Rainbow Whirlwind!” Dash said. Kiera kept ascending into the sky. She went so high she could just peer over the rooftops. She realized that by the time the rainbow colored tornado the pony had made stopped, the landing would probably break a lot of bones, even with armor. The attack had an exploitable flaw though. The mare had to keep circling her ‘til they were high enough. Kiera pulled three small ceramic balls from a pouch and tossed them out into the surrounding gale. She covered her face as they easily shattered, releasing black smoke. RD stopped and they both plummeted. Rainbow was coughing and her eyes were blinded with tears. The pair landed with the smack of flesh and the clatter of metal. Can’t breath *COUGH* or think straight. The pegasus was curled into a ball and continued coughing in pain. Through her tear-clouded vision she saw the Duelist move toward her. Aww crud. This isn’t good. Just when the battles of the element bearers seemed at a forgone conclusion, the Elements of Harmony softly pulsed once, flooding their minds with images of their past accomplishments, both big and small. The mysterious artifacts knew they were needed now more then ever. They inspired their wielders all in their own ways about how to resolve their present predicaments and increased there innate powers tenfold! Applejack’s body started to glow an incandescent orange and her eyes turned pure green with the splendor one would find in the middle of a spring meadow. She looked down at her bad leg and carefully placed one of her hooves on it. Then she hammered down on the exact spot where she had been hit by the human’s nerve strike. She let out a groan of pain but otherwise didn’t show how painful what she had done had been. With all four legs working again she picked herself back up. Honest confidence now replacing her expression of despair. The human’s eye’s widened but otherwise he kept a black expression. “You’re able to stand. That is impressive; but can you fight?” queried the human. “I’ll do whatever needs doin’ to help those Ah care about! No matter what the hardship! And right now that means beatin’ YOU!” proclaimed Applejack, the magic power within her making her voice echo with each word. The martial artist scowled. “You think you can?” “Ah KNOW Ah can, because I got somethin’ you ain’t.” “And what is that?” “Ah got the right on my side.” The human let out a chuckle. “Our grand master Illitheous would have to disagree with you on that.” “Don’t matter what he THINKS. I can see now that while ya’ll have gone through tough times I also see that what your doin’ now ain’t the right way to go about this. I can tell you won’t stop peacefully, so I’ll just have to buck ya into next week to stop ya, and that’s the honest truth.” White Strike scowled again, adopting an aggressive stance. “We’ll see what the fates have to say to that.” This time the human charged instead of waiting for AJ to advance. She was entirely calm and still. She heard the footfalls on stone and earth. She smelled the aroma of sweat and anger he gave off. She felt the wind blowing through her mane. She saw the opening in his attack. His center of balance was too high right then, leaving his lower body unstable. AJ borrowed the martial artist’s earlier tactic and made it her own. As he got within striking distance the mare ducked low under his double two-fingered jabs and swiped at his ankles. As White Strike fell Applejack kicked him hard in the ribs and he went rolling away followed by a string of pained cursing. The earth pony’s strength was beyond its usual levels, and White Strike now had seven broken ribs along with numerous fractures. He barely managed to get back up before nearly doubling over in pain. He glared daggers at AJ while clutching his side. The martial artist didn’t like the current situation. Now HE was the injured one and his opponent held the edge in this battle. He was shocked that the Equestrian had enough strength to actually force the chi flow back into working order. It was akin to popping one’s leg back into place. Ignoring his own pain, he moved closer to his enemy and attacked one again, keeping his guard up this time. An impressive display of jabs, kicks, dodges, bucks, and general hand to hoof combat followed. However, while the human finally began to tire the earth pony kept going. It was like she was tapping into an endless supply of energy from somewhere. The human thought this at the wrong moment when Applejack flung a hoof out at his head. Due to his distraction he failed to block in time and received a nose breaking punch to the face. White Strike found himself falling backwards. He now lay on his back while his vision began to blur. White Strike looked to see a beautiful, red-hued sky blocked out by a glowing orange Equestrian wearing a one of those “Elements of Harmony” artifacts he had heard Illitheous mention. That’s when White Strike realized how the mare had suddenly gotten so much more powerful. It was that Element of harmony. White Strike silently applauded his opponent’s skill and trickery while simultaneously shaking his head at the obvious reluctance to do what was necessary to end his threat permanently. She brought her hoof down and he waited to see what the next life would bring. AJ knocked White Strike unconscious with her hoof. She saw the opportunity to end the danger he presented permanently and had even considered it for a second. She knew in her heart though that, if she had done that, it would haunt her and leave her no better then the blacked out fighter below her. She had done the right thing. She knew that her friends would too. _ _ _ _ _ Rarity could feel the life draining away from her and her spirit weakening as black magic exuded from her foe. Suddenly, her necklace began glowing and her eyes changed to resemble beautiful blue marbles. Rarity had an idea that just might win the day. The human master of limited time spells and necromancy noticed the change in appearance but seeing as how the mare wasn’t escaping or doing anything other then struggling he paid it no mind. He could care less if his victim wanted to look pretty before she became his undead slave.. “You know sir,” her voice sounded shaky and with an odd echo to it but Rarity focused solely on using a subtle charm spell and her own persuasiveness to make her sound as utterly convincing as possible, “before you destroy me would you grant me one last request?” The Nechronomancer continued the youth draining spell as he spoke, “and just what action could I possibly be persuaded to perform for an enemy who is mere dust by comparison?” “Why, showing me a display of your superior magic of course. I’m just a novice, not even fit to use the wondrous art of magic. I see that now. But YOU are like an artist painting a masterpiece every time you cast a spell. One little display of your vast magical superiority is all I ask.” She put on her most persuasive puppy dog smile, though it was watered down by her many new wrinkles. The Nechronomancer stopped his youth draining and puffed his chest out in pride. His already massive ego had been stroked and he was more than happy to show off his superiority a bit. “A little display of my abilities is all you ask? I will allow you the largest, most incredible display you will ever witness in you short life!” He turned his back on her and raised his arms into the air. Green electricity exited from his fingertips and showed flashes in the air of places and entities both in and outside of time. Green tinted images of all kinds were shown. A great tentacled monstrosity in the vastness of space, two armies of men riding upon dragons, mushroom shaped balls of fire scorching the land, an entity made only of light and thought, all these things and more revealed themselves to the human. He had backed up a bit to allow more room to cast the admittedly impressive and eerie lightshow. Rarity had used that time to forcibly gather her mana provided by the glowing element around her neck and focus it into her horn. Dails Assent ceased his sundering of time and slowly turned around with a smug grin to finish off his victim. He saw too late what was happening and he raised his hands up to stop it. He barely had time to bring up a small ward spell about the size of a shield to defend himself from the unexpected retaliation. Rarity’s horn shined like a lighthouse. The ray of light she had wielded against the zombie ponies raced out of her ivory horn with many times the intensity it would usually contain. The spell of light simply flowed around the human’s flimsy protection ward and hit him with the fury of a woman scorned. He was blasted off his feet and onto the road unconscious, his robes singed. “AHAH! NOPONY CALLS ME OLD!” the Element of Generosity cried jubilantly, her voice resembling the Royal Canterlot Voice. “Now I just have to go to the others and-“ Rarity’s face changed from triumphant to aggravated. She had forgotten one very important detail. “Just as soon as I get out of these constrictive stone claws, that is.” _ _ _ _ _ Fluttershy was hugging the human archer again when she started to glow like the others and an overwhelming, warm, happy feeling of kindness filled the shy little pegasus. Fluttershy realized that the Element was giving her courage and strength to defeat her foe, except she didn’t really need it. An idea lit up in her head like a lantern. Maybe I can use this to help! she thought. “Wait, I know how to make it look like you decided to attack me and just lost instead of not fighting.” Sheeva gave Fluttershy a befuddled look. “How exactly?” “W-we fake it,” she explained. “But that wont work. If I use my bow it could still accidently hit you. Besides I already told you I’ll receive the punishment I deserve for disobeying orders.” “We won’t need to use the bow, if I just happen to knock it away.” Sheeva caught on quickly. “And if I just happen to be too busy fighting with you to get it back.” “Then you won’t get in trouble.” Fluttershy smiled happily at the thought of her not having to fight and the nice human not being punished for doing the right thing. Sheeva thought she could hear a faint “squee” when the shy pegasus grinned. The human reached to her shoulder where the bow was, scaring Fluttershy in the process. “W-what a-are you doing?” the canary yellow pony asked. Sheeva held up a lightly armored leg and brought the comparatively brittle bow down hard. *SNAP* The broken bow dropped to the ground at Sheeva’s feet. “Making it convincing.” Sheeva answered. Fluttershy put her hooves to her mouth “I’m so sorry. I didn’t want you to have to break your belongings.” “It’s fine. Now hurry! Before the others notice.” Fluttershy puffed out her chest “All right. Let’s do this.” What followed was a unique interpretation of the most epic slap fight in history! _ _ _ _ _ Gua entered the dark house the pink menace had escaped to. He immediately noticed there was only one window near the entryway where he now stood. There was no back door to speak of. Perfect. He thought before realizing something else. Wait a minute. Where’d she go? The house was only two levels tall and consisted of three rooms on the ground floor. The dual axe fighter hadn’t seen her escape (assuming the quirky witch couldn’t traverse through solid walls) so she had to be hiding in here somewhere...or setting up an ambush. The man’s footsteps made creaking sound as he put pressure on the old wood floor. The window was his only source of light. His common sense was tingling, telling him something bad was about to happen. Then he heard footsteps, no, HOOFsteps, along with stifled laughter coming from the room above him. Axes still in hand, he slowly, cautiously, moved to the bottom of the flight of stairs. It seemed unforgivingly dark and foreboding. No sound except for his own breathing stirred from the dark corners of the house. He made his way up the steps, wood creaking all the while, expecting the walls to crush him or for some unholy abomination to leap from the ceiling onto his back, but no such thing happened. At the top of the stairs he saw only the darkness of the attic and a few beams of light making their way through some holes in the thatch roof. There was still no ambush and no sign of the pink Equestrian. The aging veteran let out a sigh of relief and turned to leave. Guess she escaped after all. Don’t know what I was so worried about. “SURPRISE!!!” Gau screamed at the top of his lungs as lights came on and Pinkie Pie threw confetti in his face. He stumbled backward into the wall behind him. Unbeknownst to either of them it suffered from a severe case of termites. The warrior’s heavy armor and weapons worked against him. He tumbled through the weak excuse for a wall and crushed a cart on his way to meet the cobblestones. The helmet he had worn had been jostled loose in the fall. It knocked his head hard enough to force him to black out, despite the cushioning within. Pinkie Pie looked through the hole in the wall at Gau, an expression of disappointment adorning her features. “Aww,” she groaned. “I don’t think he liked the surprise.” _ _ _ _ _ As the sword-master neared the prone pegasus something very surprising happened. Rainbow Dash was not only getting up, she was glowing with magic energy and bits of lightning crackled around her necklace. At first Kiera wondered if her knockout bombs had somehow misfired or if she didn’t pack enough of the irritation substance. Then the human saw Dash was opening tear filled eyes that now shined with an eerie incandescence. The winged pony was standing defiant through sheer determination and the considerable boon granted by the Element of Loyalty around her neck. I won’t lose. I won’t let down my friends. I won’t! Rainbow Dash thought to herself. She couldn’t rely on her eyes and she had some trouble breathing still, but her other senses worked fine. Her opponent had gone quiet in order to take advantage of her sightless condition but heavy plated armor, no matter what it was forged from, always made noise. That noise was picked up by Rainbow’s keen ears. Pegasi were known for having the best eyesight of the three races but their other senses weren’t exactly dull. Kiera came at her fast and strong, but she was already flapping out of the way. About a foot off the ground she avoided the swift cuts from the human’s blade, narrowly dodging some of them by mere inches. The entire time Rainbow Dash had a small smirk with her eyes still closed. Growing tired of the deadly game of tag, she performed a few dives that were intended to mock and aggravate her opponent. She was using her unaffected sense of smell when flying higher up to get the gist of where Kiera was. The female stank. It was like the odor of a fully grown dragon. Kiera was getting tired now. She had swung her sword and missed countless time and it was showing. Just like the other elements Rainbow Dash was being provided with a near limitless and admittedly unfair amount of energy. Not only that, but her inner pegasi powers were amplified to an extreme. Rainbow finally stopped foaling around and flew high into the air until she was out of sight to anything stuck on land. At first Kiera wondered if the cocky Equestrian had flown the coop. Another minute passed and nothing happened. Then, the human duelist observed a large, rainbow colored shockwave expand outward and throughout the sky. It was beautiful. It was so awe inspiring that Kiera almost failed to notice the tiny black dot moving at an impossible speed toward the ground. At first she thought it was bird. Then she noticed the rainbow trailing behind it and how it was not just heading for the ground but for her specifically. The human, not knowing how what else to do and wishing she knew defense magic, bolted for the cover of an old abandoned building. “What the fu-.” The booming explosion that followed demolished the entire building. A rainbow colored mushroom cloud hurled splintered lumber and the sword-master back several feet. She was lucky she hadn’t actually made it inside the building or she would have wound up as a red mist. Instead she only was tossed straight through another house, before bouncing on the ground a couple of time before finally coming to a stop. Rainbow Dash had flown as high as she possibly could before performing an enhanced sonic ground boom. She was satisfied with the amount of damage and she had inflicted to the human who wasn’t moving anymore. She was about to fly away and help the others, but hesitated when her nagging conscious made her think of her opponent. She sighed heavily and flew over to check and make sure the baddie was still breathing. After discovering she was and that she wasn’t too dinged up thanks to the metal plating, Rainbow flew off. With her glowing bright form and bright magically lit up eyes she flew away, leaving a magnificent trail behind her. She was determined not to let her friends down. _ _ _ _ _ Twilight struggled to keep up her failing barrier as the acidic beating continued. Just when all hope seemed lost. Her title-sake element filled her with an extra burst of magic that was not possible for most magic users. Her eyes turned florescent white, and her body was covered in a blindingly bright white-lavender. Her barriers returned tenfold and disrupted Terran’s spell in the process. “I’ll never let down my friends!” Twilight Sparkle’s voice was magnified, laced with the power given to her by the Element of Magic. “And we will never give up!” Terran yelled back. His voice notably lacked the power and certainty of his purple counterpart. His dark eyes shined with mystical energies as he cast his own spell. Twilight’s eyes shined bright lavender in a mirror image of magic power. “Earthen Dread!” the young wizard bellowed. The earth at Twilight’s hooves burst open like a flower bud. Jagged rocks and magma went for her with deadly earthen fury, yet they were no threat to the strength of the Element of Magic’s arcane defense. Terran tried another spell. With a series of hand gestures, ice enclosed the unicorn. Not a second later the ice shattered with the unicorn still unharmed inside her arcane barrier. The human’s breathing was ragged. His magic was nearly depleted and he had used nearly all of his top spells. His most powerful spell would likely kill him if he cast it with such a low magic level. So instead he cast his next best spell in a desperate attempt to win. “From coldest winter and burning fire let destruction rain with hate and ire!” The unicorn looked up to see a mass of deadly energies. From the swirling elemental forces was shaped the head of a Dragon. Its scales formed an inferno. The eyes were an endless black void. Its teeth were of lightning. The air around it held all manner of smaller spells orbiting like the planets. It raced to her in order to perform its apocalyptic crescendo. The Element of Magic’s powers only increased in the face of this unparalleled aggression. “FOR EVERYONE I CARE ABOUT, I WILL NOT FAIL!!!” The monster-of-a-spell’s jaws shut around Sparkle’s barrier like it was a gumball. The resulting eruption obliterated a smaller house that was too close to it, as well as the surrounding landscape. Terran fell to his knees, his energy far past empty. He smiled in triumph until someone tapped his shoulder. He gazed to his left and saw that the purple unicorn was right next to him! Had she teleported? But, I saw her get swallowed up by my attack. Terran thought to himself. He looked back to where the unicorn should have been. The dust started to finally clear away. There in the center of the magically created crater was what looked just like his opponent in the same force field. The image was an illusion however and started to fade away. Twilight had never even been there when his incantation had hit. The tiara on her head finally stopped glowing and so too did its bearer. The mare looked at the human. She was both impressed and horrified at the magic she had just witnessed for herself. It was magic created solely for the sake of war. She noticed his eyes were beginning to glaze over. Terran swore he saw not gloating or murderous victory in his opponent’s eyes, but worry for his wellbeing. Confused as to why, he drew a breath and gasped out, “I don’t understand. Why don’t you…ki…” He blacked out and crumbled to the ground. Twilight stared at the human with pity for but a moment before the sound of the battle still going on brought her thoughts back to the present. I have to help the others.