5th: A Fateful Plan…
Of course, the confrontation was as inevitable as it was about to take disastrous proportions. An endless time ago, long before it had gotten banished into the mirrors, the being had been a hunter with nothing less than a whole galaxy for a hunting range.
But as said, that was over long since. It was condemned to haunt every existing reflection in the universe, to forever linger and vegetate at the edge of subconscious perception. More than half crazed by that unbearable, according to rules of reality almost impossible sort of existence, the creature only had had one choice to escape her eternal fate. To flee to another universe. It had been a lucky coincidence, perhaps even more unlikely than being banished behind the mirrors.
And in this new universe there were new rules life had to stick to. It was a universe where a form of energy existed that made the impossible possible. That energy was, of course, magic thought the being hadn’t had a name for it.
The process of absorbing magic through the surfaces of the mirrors had been long-lasting and exhausting but eventually the creature had been able to change her powerless state of existence.
But finally, finally she -for according to her own definition the being was indeed female- was able to manifest herself in a single mirror for a limited amount of time instead of just lingering in the background of each and every of them. But she never was free for it would have taken a much greater power to free her.
And this time, fate was kind to the imprisoned huntress. She had not tried out her new abilities for long when she sensed an enormous source of energy. The mysterious new arrival had to have a vortex-manipulator, no doubt. And after the huntress had found a mirror from which she could lurk on that particular pony, she was sure that this Valor Edge was hiding even a much greater power than just a manipulator. She had to get a grip on that force at all costs for she hoped that Valor’s power would equal the power of the one who had once imprisoned her. And if, no, when she was finally free again she would use the vortex-manipulator to return to her home universe and take her cruel revenge.
Time for a new hunt!
The first assault was for the vortex-manipulator or rather the poor unicorn who had the bad luck of laying her hoof on it. The scarecrows were a simple trick of molecular animation, nevertheless it was humiliating that Valor and the other ponies could get rid of the quite easily.
So she fell back to another trick: To psychic warfare…
Though she could no longer smell it, she saw the despair in their victims’ eyes when she revealed her intention to lay this land to ashes. And she knew Valor would now willingly step into each trap she wanted to set up. All she needed to do was to issue an ultimatum to him and he would never dare to break it.
Everything went according to plan, well, maybe except one thing: Valor had covered his sword again so the huntress couldn’t observe him anymore. And the vortex-manipulator was brushed. It didn’t reflect enough.
But that was nothing more than a last bit of pointless rebellion, she guessed.
For before one hour was over, Valor Edge stepped in front of a mirror one more time…
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It was not hard to guess for Valor, how the filly had imagined the outcome of this macabre little play. She had ordered her mindless puppets to set up a large old-fashioned mirror and Valor only had to track down her scarecrows to find her. The straw-ponies guarded an old barn. Of course, where else could she get from all the material for a brand new army of puppets?
None of them tried to stop Valor, as he trotted by with his head lowered. Again, why should they? Valor was coming to their mistress willingly. One could easily see how hard this walk was for Valor but as he finally stood in front of the mirror, he was perfectly calm again.
He indeed was a worthy opponent, proud and with dignity even in defeat.
Valor Edge quickly inspected himself in the mirror. Then he squared his back to look a little less tired and waited. At his glance his image vanished and the reflection of the filly took its place, smiling at Valor with a mean grin.
“At last we face each other fairly”, Valor stated and looked at his opponent. An earth-pony filly, small, with grey coat and dark brown mane she wore as a simple ponytail. Strange and even a little irritating was the red balloon which string the filly had tied to her right hoof.
“And at last it seems that you decided to surrender”, the filly replied.
Valor’s right eye narrowed unwillingly but he didn’t allow any stronger reaction. He immediately forced himself to relax his face again and put up an expression of half-hearted interest.
“Let us say, my curiosity got the best of me”, he responded calmly. “For I am very keen of knowing what thou want with me.”
“Curiosity killed the cat.”
Valor had almost moaned. He tried to remain tranquil in the face of almost certain death and now the villain tried to provoke him with proverbs?
“Never mind”, the filly continued. “Are you really that much interested in what I’m up to, hmm?”
She sounded honestly puzzled. And maybe a little uncertain? In any case, she didn’t stop tang.
“Where the plan’s that simple: I’m stuck in a mirror. In all mirrors, that is. It’s boring and lonely and I hate it. So I’m going to break free. I found this world and it’s full of energy, so I had hoped…”
The filly fell silent and for a single moment all villainy and mockery had left her face. But Valor had barely time to notice it when she got to her best again.
“But everything I could gather wasn’t enough. I need more energy, more power. I need your power. And I gonna drink it in ‘till I get out of here!”
Two scarecrows stepped forth and flanked Valor to sustain him. He didn’t struggle.
“I don’t care for this world. I may even leave it alone if it’ll weather, who knows?”
The filly looked at Valor with a dreamy smile as she imagined how it would be to finally be free again. But then, her face twisted with anger. “And I gonna use the vortex-manipulator and find the one who did this to me! And. I. Will. Make. Him. Pay.” she spat.
“Unbelievable”, Valor gave vent to his bewilderment. “So that is it? The world is endangered by a stubborn child who is moping for being grounded?”
It wasn’t polite and by sure not appropriate at all but Valor couldn’t help but to laugh about the absurdity of the situation.
“Silence!” the filly snapped only now truly resentful. “You have no clue! I’m no silly child, I’m the daughter of a family of mighty hunters, who…”
“The Family of Blood, I know”, Valor interrupted her and for once took the wind from her sails. “The foolish hunters who left a trail of ash and sorrow because they wanted to live eternally and who got punished for their arrogance and cruelty with an eternal life in limbo. Come to think of it, how could somepony like I not know the story? And I must say you deserved your fate.”
“How dare you?” the filly shouted at him but Valor hadn’t finished yet:
“So now thou are trying to get a hold on my might –which thou not even grasp in the basics- to mess with HIM again, whereby thou understand his might just as little. This conflict is at best bound to end in the same way like last time! At worst -and that is much more likely- thou aren’t able to control that energy thou long for and eradicate the whole creation by trying to!”
“SHUT UP”, the daughter roared. The scarecrows began to rustle as if a storm wind was blowing through their rows. Valor noticed each of the filly’s puppets by now being inside the barn. Their mistress had in her anger summoned every last of them. Oh, good…
“I don’t care how many universes I destroy! I want my revenge!”
Valor now got in desperate straits but he still tried to remain calm. For he still hoped he could appeal to his opponent’s mind and reason.
“In the name of everything sacred”, he conjured her. “End this stupid game ere it turns to a disaster!”
But his words fell on deaf ears, for hearing the hard and unadorned truth from Valor’s mouth hat driven the huntress to rage beyond every reason.
“Why”, she hissed. A well-nigh insane smile distorted her childlike face. “Why should I quit when I’ve already won? If you won’t hand me over your power willingly, then I’ll squeeze out every little drip from you!”
Valor Edge shook his head in resignation. “I really had hoped it wouldn’t come that far. But I should have known… They never listen…”
He rose his head and looked the evil filly straight in the eyes, a frightening flash in his eye.
“What’s that supposed to mean?” the huntress hissed, but again Valor had managed to startle her. Said shook his head for another time, yet a ghost of a smile appeared on his lips that equaled the rage of his opponent in dangerousness.
“Thou are not the only one with a plan.”
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6th: Solitary or Together?
One hour earlier…
Valor angrily stomped the ground with his hoof. He always fought to protect the innocents. But yet those he met on his way always got in danger because of him. Even here, where everything had seemed so peaceful. That was fairly the reason he travelled alone: He could only protect others if the stood away from him.
“Valor, what should we do now?” Twilight asked, almost as if she had picked up his thoughts.
The swordstallion turned his head and said: “You are not going to do anything.”
The others were dumbfounded. “W-what do you mean by that?” Twilight demanded to know.
“That filly, that… that being, it’s after me. You all are in danger as long as you are with me. Hence you shall leave me alone and I shall face this foe all by myself.”
“No can do, partner”, Applejakc replied. “Some friends we’d be to bail on ya!”
“Oh, for heaven’s sake, Applejack!” Concern made Valor’s voice sound louder than he had intended. “This is not about friendship! Twilight was attacked for just having once talked to me!”
“Actually I don’t think this is right”, the lavender unicorn objected. “The filly said something about a… um, vortex-manipulator.”
With her magic she grabbed something golden from her saddlebag.
“I’d been attacked when picking up this one. Could this be what they were after?”
Valor’s mouth tilted open. The mere view of the golden lighter triggered his mind to explode with impressions. And within the storm of memories, suddenly everything made much more sense. Not only why Twilight had been attacked, but also what the power was, the filly was after. The power of the Vortex, the power of time itself!
And Valor know one vital thing he had forgotten.
“That is my lighter” he exclaimed and then half-voiced finished his last train of thought. “Oh, this makes perfectly sense. I must have lost it at my arrival. How unspeakable stupid of me!”
“I knew it”, Twilight cheered. A touch of excitement was about to return to her. “Then you really were responsible for the hole in the rock?”
“I am not sure…”
“And you also know something about the creatures that had attacked us, don’t you?”
Being honest, Valor Edge at least had to consider that. He remembered having noticed something similar before. A strange movement in a mirror, only visible from the corner of one’s eye. His returning memories told him he had once asked about that strange figure and that he was told a story. In fact he knew the one who was responsible for the filly in the mirror. But now knowing his enemy he also knew he had to even more distinctly keep the others out of it.
“The filly in the mirror”, he explained with some despair in his eye. “I believe it hails not from this world. And it is a threat of the kind I have always fought. But I never happen to anything like it before.
I am really thankful that you want to help me, but I simply cannot let that happen. For my sake no one puts himself in danger!”
He grabbed his sword and stowed it back into its sheath. But then he untied his belt and left the blade laid against a rock. That way the creepy filly could at least no longer spy on him. He had maybe one hour to think of a plan but he just know one thing for sure: When it was about the time vortex, to surrender was not an option.
Valor Edge now turned to leave. But it wasn’t over just like that. Twilight, with Spike on her back, and Applejack blocked his path as he was about to begin his way to his uphill fight. Twilight tapped the other pony’s chest with her foreleg and said firmly:
“You can’t be honestly thinking, we’d let you fight against those… Things alone? Look, I first thought too, one couldn’t simply solve that kind of problems with friendship alone. But by now I’ve learned never to underestimate the magic of friendship. And so shouldn’t you!”
And not less to Valor’s surprise (and to be honest a little embarrassed) he realized she was just about to start singing.
When somepony is in need
Is trying hard doing what he can
Would you try, just give it a chance
You might find that you’ll start to understand
“Um, actually…” Valor tried to object before Applejack and Spike joined in the song.
A true, true friend helps a friend in need
A friend will be there to help you see
A true, true friend helps a friend in need
To see the light that shines from a true, true friend
Valor Edge shook his head, partly to get rid of the peculiar music that had in the meantime begun to play in his head. But it was pointless. More than just that, he got the strange feeling he himself had to sing a stance. So he brought in his own theme:
If you would only understand…
I know the tune of each rock and stone
And I seek what others fear
You all are not meant to stand with me
It would be better just to leave me here
Seen too many deaths with this very eye
Don’t come any closer, I don’t want you to die
I felt all the pain of too many goodbyes
But somehow I will still get by
Just like a tree stands on its own
Reaching for the sky I am alone
I share my path with no one else
All by myself I stand alone
But the two ponies and the small dragon weren’t put off that easily. They briefly looked at each other, then Twilight retorted with another verse of their own song:
Valor you are in trouble
We need to get there by your side
We can try to do what we can now
For together we can be your guide
(“You sure are persistent”, Valor Edge complained but now just half-hearted.)
A true, true friend helps a friend in need
A friend will be there to help you see
A true, true friend helps a friend in need
To see the light that shines from a true, true friend
Valor Edge sighed, but then eventually smiled.
I give in.
Just like a tree stands on its own
Reaching for the sky I was alone
But now I stand with someone else
So shall it be: No more alone
Twilight, Applejack and Spike beamed at him. Valor Edge looked at them one after another. Now his look was again free of despair, calm like AJ remembered it, like it had been before they had accidentally met the scarecrows on their walk.
“I thought I had walked alone for ever since. But that was not true”, Valor eventually stated. “It just had been for too long, so I forgot I once had been part of a fellowship. Come to think of it, friendship may well be magic. Funny, how it only took a simple song to convince me, to toss all precepts of mine overboard…”
“A song?” Spike confusedly asked.
“Well, yes. We were singing, there was music.” Then he saw the others’ puzzled faces. “Ah, never mind.”
Aaand apparently I am the only one who noticed all of us breaking into song just a few moments ago. It may be I do have suffered a slight brain damage.
The following awkward silence then was suddenly interrupted by a pink whirlwind.
“Hi, Pointy!” It was Pinkie Pie. What was even more bemusing, she wore a cooking pot that was barely capable of sustaining her head of curls and had tied together two pillows as an armor of some sort.
“Um, Pinkie” Applejack turned to the party-pony. “Whatcha doin’ here? And why the hay are ya wearin’ a pot and pillows?”
Pinkie Pie bounced up and down on her spot with a broad, satisfied smile. “It’s my knight’s armor, silly. For the battle, or isn’t this the chapter were we fight against the creeheepy scarecrows?”
“Already had that, Pinkie”, Twilight said with an indefinite expression on her face and Valor added: “How did thou find us at all?”
“Just had some ticklish feeling”, Pinkie stated happily.
Valor wound up his brow suspiciously. He bent over to Twilight and whispered in her ear: “Should I question that one?”
She just sighed and answered: “Save the headache and better let it be. Though I must say it’s new to me that there was a Pinkie-Sense for attacking scarecrows…”
“Oh no, don’t tell me I’ve missed the song battle, too! I so badly wanted to hear Pointy sing…”
This time Valor could follow. He knew what Pinkie meant, yet he seemed to be the only one and he didn’t have a clue where she now knew that from. Maybe there was a ‘Pinkie-Sense’ for strange songs…
“Pinkie, could you please, just for a moment be a little less… yourself”, Twilight requested. Her expression ranged somewhere between confusion and frustration. “We have more important things to discuss. For example an action plan. After all Valor can’t just simply turn himself in, can he?”
Said just silently nodded and let his chin rest on his hoof for a while. “Hmm”, he then muttered before saying more clearly: “Actually not a bad idea at all.” And seeing the thunderstruck faces of his want-to-be partners in battle he quickly added:
“This may not be a plan yet, but it is at least a startup. Come on, we have a lot of work to do!”
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7th: … And how to Accomplish It
The eyes of the filly in the mirror had become so wide that it seemed they would come out of their holes any minute. For the Family of Blood’s daughter it was almost impossible to imagine that Valor could do anything to make his stand against her. But in his eye and on his lips she could read that he definitely was of another opinion.
This wasn’t like the expression of the angry god, who had banished her. No wrath, no rage. Valor’s distinction was based on a deep calmness, which almost frightened the daughter even more.
“What’s that supposed to mean?” she snapped. “What kind of plan could you possibly have? You’re alone and don’t have a weapon either!” But she was shouting against her doubts and Valor had very well noticed.
“Thou are mistaking on two important points”, he explained as cool as ice, while stepping away from his captors. For the scarecrows having no mind they could do nothing against it without an order from their mistress.
“Mistake number one”, Valor continued. “Thou may well be right to say I could not win this fight by myself. That is exactly why I have brought reinforcement.”
A strange humming tone filled the air and through the barn door and the cracks in the wood a white lighting began to shine.
“What’s that?” the daughter bellowed. “What have you done?”
Valor looked at her firmly. “Say, do thou know what the Elements of Harmony are? It looks like I have underestimated my new friends. And so did thou.”
The daughter tried to leave the mirror but much to her shock had to notice that she couldn’t quit her manifestation.
“It is plain simple. Thou have been absorbing this world’s magic to get more power. Because of that thou are now bound to the rules of magic. I had the Elements of Harmony to set up a little banishment-circle – or containment field if thou are more into scientific terms. Nothing gets in and nothing gets out, thanks to Twilight Sparkle and her friends.”
The daughter’s mouth tilted open. “You filthy…” She was literally speechless. For the moment it couldn’t think of anything but being trapped.
Until she suddenly realized something:
Didn’t Valor just say nothing was getting in or out of that containment field? That meant Valor also was trapped inside, just as herself. Trapped by the puny, little pony-friends he called to his aid. And without a weapon he could possibly do nothing to withstand her!
The filly leaned forward until it seemed like she’d lay her muzzle against the glass of the mirror and laughed Valor straight in the face.
“You think you’re sharp, huh? But if nothing gets in or out, nothing includes you, as well, doesn’t it. So we’re both stuck in here, I still have my dollies and you got nothing. Nada! Niente! Zero!”
But Valor Edge, despite the biting scorn, remained calm. He had his weaknesses but losing his temper because of other’s pride wasn’t one of them.
“No need to be impolite”, he said dryly. “Alas, I take from thy statement thou still do not want to consider my request, do thou?”
“Never. Ever.” The daughter grinned.
Valor took a deep breath and closed his eye. “Well then, so we shall continue our tragic play…”
He sighed and then pierced his foe with his glare.
“Thy second mistake then”, he said. “I am by no means unarmed.”
He put his hoof into his pocket and fetched the golden lighter (without even for a second doubting the physical possibility of grabbing something with a hoof).
“Your… Your vortex-manipulator?” The evil filly wound up her brow in wonder, but then her confident smile returned. “That won’t help you anymore. Even if you get away from me, your friends won’t. My scarecrows will tear them apart! With all the straw lying ‘round here I can make hundreds and hundreds of them! You won’t sacrifice your friends just for your own sake.”
Now it was Valor’s turn to laugh but he sounded all but happy. “Thou have been stuck in a filly’s body for too long. Thou lost thine eye for the elementary.”
Valor Edge held up the lighter and dreamily looked at it. “Certainly, if I attempted to flee, it would not do any googd for my friends or Ponyville. Luckily, leaving the circle has never been part of my plan anyway.”
With the other hoof he zipped open the lighter’s lid.
“Sometimes a lighter indeed happens to be a vortex-manipulator.”
With a click the lighter in Valor’s hooves ignited and now burned with a light blue flame.
“And sometimes a lighter is just a lighter.”
Valor’s face was dramatically highlighted by the blue fire when stating his final sentence: “For after all, there’s a lot of hay in this barn.”
And at last, it dawned to the huntress. Too late! While she could do nothing but pointlessly spit with rage in her looking glass and shrieking at her puppets to stop Valor, he set the first scarecrow on fire. The dry straw went up in flames at once. The scarecrow tumbled and set ablaze a second one, then a third and a fourth. The hay in the barn burned like tinder and within no time, flames climbed high everywhere.
The Family of Blood’s daughter had to powerlessly watch as her triumph turned to a disastrous retreat within a heartbeat, as her ambitions and her marionettes burned alike. The destroyer of her dreams, Valor Edge, stood motionlessly right in the middle of an inferno, as calm as if he wouldn’t feel the torrid heat of the flames at all.
And right now the daughter realized, what all the time Valor’s look had reminded her of: It was like looking right into the eye of a storm.
“Now”, Valor said, picked up the lighter again and turned back to the mirror. “Let us shift attention back to the two of us…”
The huntress did no longer look dangerous at all. Gone was all anger and all hatred. Now she felt a paralyzing fear. She cowered and tried to stoop like a foal afraid of an outburst of rage. But that outburst never came. Valor didn’t act from rage or hate. He was no angry god. The hunter-daughter was a peril for this world and maybe for each other and he would stop her for that and for no other reason.
Never had she really been in control of this situation, she realized. Valor Edge seemed to not at all care about what happened to him. If his death was necessary to protect this world, he would die saving it. And because of that, he had outplayed the daughter from the very start. She couldn’t cope with him and that was why she now was doomed to relive the horror of her disastrous past.
And Valor had known it, too. He had given her a chance, had offered her an olive branch and in her arrogance she had spat on it. The hell she saw coming to for her, the flames of tarnation the burning barn had turned into, she had it coming.
“No, please, go away from me”, the filly screamed on the verge of panic. Although she couldn’t really feel the heat she felt the power of the flames tearing at the glass. She didn’t dare to imagine what would happen if the glass would finally burst.
For Valor Edge things had also turned dicey. It was so hard to breathe, every single breath hurt as he had to inhale the hot air and smoke. Despite that Valor tried not to cough and stood firmly. At his back, parts of the barn came crashing down blocking the only way out. Great. Did not plan to use the door anyway…
The filly cowered even more and whimpered. This was the end. No way out this time, not even imprisonment. This time, there was only the great leveler left…
Valor Edge put his hoof to the looking glass. The TICK made the filly wince and sob. She quickly glanced at him and pure fear was in her eyes.
But Valor just showed her a sad smile.
“Well, thou wanted my might, did thou not?” he said and, astonishingly, his voice sounded sad. The filly almost unwillingly had to lift her head and to look him straight into the face. “The power of the Vortex it was, thou wanted. Then look into my eyes!”
And as the flames surrounded them completely, she did.
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