//------------------------------//
// 4: Battle on the Outskirts 
// Story: Tales of Valor - Part 1: Through the Looking Glass 
// by Scribble Script 
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4th: Battle on the Outskirts


All knowledge from Twilight’s books wasn’t helpful in this situation at all. She and Spike were beset by straw-ponies –by scarecrows, for Celestia’s sake! And they lived up to their names and did not only scare crows but Twilight as well.
“Hello, guys”, she tried to talk to the ragamuffins. “R-really funny.”
She tried to overact her growing fear but did a really lousy job.

“What are those things?” Spike whispered. “Do you think they’re…?”

“Don’t you dare saying zombies”, Twilight threatened, but she sounded quite despondent. In the interim the scarecrows had come menacing close.

“C’mon, guys…” she begged pleadingly. Still she had the slight hope this might all have been just a tasteless Nightmare Night prank. But two very good reasons stood against that.

First: It wasn’t Nightmare Night.
Second: It was no night at all but broad daylight.

One of the scarecrows had meanwhile come so close to Twilight the straw-pony could reach for her with a stiff foreleg. The hay that jutted out of the ragged sleeve resembled an openening claw.
Twilight screamed an instinctively fired a magic pulse from her horn. It hit the scarecrow right in the chest. The impact tore apart the cloth and spread straw everywhere around. And yet the tattered, half destroyed ragamuffin kept dragging itself forward.

“Eeep”, Spike squeaked and clung to Twilight. “Twi, do something!”

And suddenly a singing, metallic sound sliced through the air. The torn-apart scarecrow immediately dropped to the ground, cut right in half. Twilight blinked unbelievingly. In front of her a solitary pony had appeared who stood dauntlessly against the scarecrows. It was Valor Edge, the hilt of his sword firmly between his teeth, the blade shining coldly and white in the sunlight.

“Cho I wash right” he growled through his clenched teeth. “Shomshing wash wrong. Well, Mish Kwilight, who are shese misherable figures?”
It wasn’t easy to speak understandably if you had to carry a sword with your mouth and it took a moment for Twilight to realize what Valor had said.

“I… I don’t know”, she stammered.

“Pull yourshelf togesher”, Valor scolded. “Flee or fight, but don’t just chtand ‘round!”
And with that, he jumped forward. His blade sang again and pierced the chest of another scarecrow. For any living being, this wound would’ve been fatal, but this foe didn’t even twitch. Instead it was about to lunge itself at Valor.

Said one dragged and tugged to free his sword and eventually ripped it out of the scarecrow’s side. For a moment Valor and the straw-pony seemed to just stare at each other, then a second pony came to his aid: Applejack buckled the ragamuffin hard with her hindquarters. That kind of buckle was intended for shaking mellow apples of trees and being kicked that hard didn’t benefit the scarecrow at all. Again, it was raining straw. 

Together AJ and Valor made their stand against their foes. The scarecrows were in a way similar to the undead. They had the determination of zombies and were about as dumb as them, if not dumber. Valor had realized that those opponents could only be stopped by ripping them completely apart. As straw-ponies, they had no brain, so they had to be either possessed or remotely controlled. (Valor himself was surprised he knew such a word.)
Their mindlessness was the scarecrows’ biggest advantage for they recklessly threw themselves at the ponies and the baby-dragon. But it also was a weakness. With no self-preservation drive they didn’t even try to avoid getting hit.
Valor’s sword was tremendously sharp and cut like a scythe through limbs of straw. With the first strike a scarecrow fell, with the second or the third it finally stopped as at that point there wasn’t enough left of it that could still move.
AJ's fighting style was even quicker: She only had to buckle a straw-pony really hard once and it literally exploded leaving hay and ragged clothing floating around.


One single scarecrow had until now managed to stumble past Applejack and Valor Edge and attacked Twilight. Again she shrieked and instinctively fired another magic bolt. This time she aimed higher blew the scarecrow’s head apart. Twilight fired again and the second hit ultimately destroyed the attacker.
With her rigor broken Twilight Sparkle finally participated the fight and as she once had the knack of it she took out one opponent after another.

The battle was over eventually. Valor Edge mad short shrift of the last scarecrow, then there were only piles of straw and rags left.  Applejack, Twilight, Spike and he himself were unharmed except few bruises, although quite drained. It only had been the last of a long line of battles for Valor, but for the others it must’ve been a new experience. Judging at least from how full of go they were. That state likely arose from the rush of battle (in another place and another time better known as ‘Adrenaline’).

“Did you see that?” Twilight’s voice fell over itself with excitement. “I didn’t know I was capable of casting that kind of magic!”

“Exactly! You were like… And then the other pony was like… And then…” Spike was so excited he couldn’t make a proper sentence. Only Applejack, as always, was more indigenous.

“Where’d that damn things come from?” she panted and tried to pull some straws out of her mane. 
Valor Edge was just about to respond, when suddenly another voice cut him off.

“I think this my prompt.”  The voice was clear pitched like a filly’s. But there was none in sight. The three ponies and the dragon looked startled at each other.

“Who are chou?” Valor hissed through his clenched teeth. “Chow chychelf!”

The clear voice giggled. “Aw, c’mon! Don’t tell me you can’t see me! I’m right here.”
That sounded almost as if the filly stood right next to him, Valor thought. Something in her voice gave him the shivers. His right eye’s view darted to and fro hastily as he tried to make out the voice’s origin.
“Staring in your face", the filly laughed. “Boo!”
An indistinct scream of terror slipped out of his mouth and he dropped his sword. The blade fell to the grass and Valor squinted bemusedly. What he’d seen in the reflection of his sword for a blink was absolutely impossible.
But there was no doubt: From the polished, specular surface of the blade two dark eyes stared at him. That eyes belonged to the only particularly visible face of a filly. But they weren’t a filly’s eyes for their look was cold, impersonal and mocking.

“Took you long enough” said the face on the blade. “Finally we meet.”

“What are thou?” Valor asked, still bemused.

The filly in the reflection completely ignored his question, instead she said: “Did you all like my toys? Brother of mine told me how to make them.”

“Yeah, I will die laughing.” Valor kept a straight face. 
AJ, Twi and Spike also bended over the sword to see who Valor was talking to.

“Getting to the point” Valor now demanded. “Twelve animated scarecrows, all but subtle. Quite an effort for just a single unicorn.”

A high, clear laugh came for a reply, but something in this laughter sounded twisted. “What a killjoy you are.”  And again the tone didn’t match the childish words. “And why would I be after her?”

Confusion spread on Valor’s face for a second and vanished for terror. “But if not her, then who… Oh… Oh, dear…”

“You’re not the sharpest tool in the shed, are you? Or did you honestly expect no one would notice you? After you hit the stage like that last night?”

In fact, Valor didn’t know what he’d expected especially since he didn’t remember how he had ‘hit the stage’. “So, what do thou want with me?” he snarled.

“Plain vanilla.”  Despite the words there was nothing childlike left in the voice, but only icy coldness. “I want your vortex-manipulator and the incredible power you hold in your hands… hoves!”

“Did she just say ‘hands’?” Applejack asked with her brow wound up.
“Did she just say ‘vortex-manipulator’?” Twilight wondered instead.

“So” Valor replied with false calmness and missed to hear the other ponies’ questions. “For why are thou thinking I would turn myself in just like that? I must say, thy scarecrows not impress me much.”

But the mirror-being wasn’t ruffled that easily.
“So my dollies aren’t dangerous enough for you? I’ve been taking in the energy of this world for a year now. I can make new puppets. How many of them can you stop? A dozen? One hundred? I will send thousands of them and they will lay this land to ashes until they get you! Sacrifice yourself or sacrifice this land and its good and innocent ponies! Your decision.”

Valor stood like a pillar of salt and said nothing.

“Aw, has the great hero lost his speech?”  The creature seemed to deliberate. “Or do you maybe think this planet isn’t worth being saved? Maybe you’re right…”

“Shut thy mouth!” Valor spitted. Threaten the innocent definitely was a way to drive him mad. Really mad.

“Did I hit a nerve?” the filly in the mirror mocked. “So what’s the what, you surrender or not? 
Or do you need more time to think about it?”

But Valor was self-possessed again and kept silent.

“Come on, take your time, I’ve been waiting for eternities, so what’s an hour more or less? I am in every single mirror so don’t dare trying to fool me. You will know how to find me”, the filly continued with false generosity. “And finally a well-meant advice: Do yourself and the world a favor and don’t make me come and get you!”

With this last threat the eyes vanished from the reflection. What was left were two ponies and a little dragon, who were frightened though they had only understood half of all. And one more pony who now understood elementary better than before. And who hence was even more frightened.


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