//------------------------------// // Shining Armor VS Statice // Story: An Interesting Arrival // by Moongaze14 //------------------------------// Shining Armor VS Statice The battle began with a furious blast of magic from Statice’s horn. The green projectile flew across the room to hit Shining Armor, only for it to be absorbed by a magenta force field. “I suggest that you give up,” Shining Armor glared at the green stallion through his force field. “There are very few things that can break through my shields.” “Let’s prove that theory!” Statice bellowed as he lighted his horn with magic. This time, he used a levitation spell to pick a large bookcase, throwing it at the force field surrounding the white unicorn. The furniture broke with the impact against the shield, scattering several books across the room. Some of the books were burned or torn apart by the collision and Shining Armor looked upset upon seeing their condition. “Those were special editions!” he snarled at Statice. Like Twilight, he had a special passion for books, particularly those of military history and strategies. He spent a lot of time, money, and effort in locating rare books, so watching them get destroyed a few seconds after the fight got started angered him. “You were right,” Statice smiled mischievously, feeling some small pleasure in annoying his adversary. “I can’t break your shield, but I can use it to break your stuff.” Shining’s white fur took a shade of red as his anger reached his limit. He lighted his horn, opening a small hole in his shield to shoot magic blasts through it. Statice yelped as a magenta blast nearly struck him and quickly used another levitation spell, this time to use all of the office’s furniture as a shield. “You’re not the only one that can shoot through his shield!” Statice challenged as he used a Permeability Spell on the bookcase that was acting as the center of his improvised barricade. The shelf had a wavy greens spot of magic that marked the success of his spell. He grinned with anticipation as he imagined Shining Armor’s reaction when he sees the true power of the spell. “I don’t see you doing anything!” the Captain roared as he kept shooting through the hole on his shield. To his surprise, a green blast flew through the bookcase without hurting it and continued flying straight at his shield. Out of instinct, the white unicorn closed the hole in his shield to reinforce its defensive power. He was fortunate enough to have done so as the blast was harmlessly cancelled against the surface. “Tough scumbag,” Shining growled. As much as he hated to admit it, the green unicorn was a troublesome opponent. He was the most difficult adversary that he had face so far, excluding the crushing defeat Sombra gave him at the Crystal Empire. Sombra had access to ancient evil magic but Statice was quite nifty with magical spells that were not registered in the archives on Equestria. As a Royal Guard, Shining Armor was tasked with learning all combat spells, including the illegal ones, but none of his studies mentioned anything about a spell that allowed magic to phase through objects. Statice, on his part, was constantly shooting through and above the bookcase. He was growing frustrated upon seeing that his tactic failed to work. It irked him that Shining Armor had switched to a more defensive approach and was waiting for him to waste his magic before going back to the offensive. “You may be the best shield user in Equestria, but you’re not the only one I’ve faced,” Statice silently mouthed to Shining Armor as he remembered previous sparring matches with his friend and fellow bounty hunter Digitalis. He would have probably lost the fight by now if it weren’t for all the experience he collected thanks to those daily combat sessions that he had with Digitalis back in his darker days. He closed his eyes to remember any of his previous magical sparring matches with Digitalis, trying to remember all the lectures his friend gave him regarding combat magic. Suddenly, a memory reached into him... “You’re going to have to do better than that, Statice!” “I’m not losing to you!” Statice replied as he fired a magic blast from his horn. The recoil of the spell sent the foal a few feet back as he shot. Much to his dismay, the green bolt of magic struck a gray shield that didn’t seem to budge from the impact. “Is that the best you got?” “I’ll give you my best!” Statice cried as he kept shooting magic at the shield. It took about four more shots before the foal grew tired. He was about to shoot another blast but his opponent beat him to it when he turned off the shield and shot at him with a gray bolt of magic. The colt cried out as he was hit by the blast, grunting as he landed on the floor. He rubbed his chest, which stung a little because of the spell, before he looked up at his opponent. He was a teenage colt with a green coat, purple mane, and icy blue eyes. His cutie mark had the numbers 0 and 9 to symbolize his talent with numbers and his high intelligence. Digitalis kept an encouraging smile on his face though his gaze was calculating and pensive as he was evaluating his best friend’s progress in the fight since their last session. “How did I do?” Statice asked nervously. He always got nervous when his best friend and surrogate brother evaluated his performance. “Well your magical power and control has increased,” Digitalis nodded his head approvingly. “You were capable of using ten consecutive blasts whereas the last time you were only strong enough to do six.” “Nice,” Statice grinned in delight at how much he improved his limit. His smile vanished when he saw Digitalis frowning at him. “But you’re also becoming a little arrogant,” he lightly chastised the colt. “Why did you just rely on blasts, Statice?” “They’re my strongest attack,” Statice reasoned, not sure what was so bad about using them. “You could have levitated some objects to throw at my shield,” Digitalis gestured to a large rock next to them. “That rock over there looks big enough to do more damage to my shield than any of your blasts. With your skill with levitation, I am sure that you could have thrown the rock to my shield without wasting any more magic.” “I guess I got obsessed with my blasts since our last training match,” Statice avoided looking at Digitalis in embarrassment. He felt bad for pushing his best friend to educate him so much. “Speaking about your blasts, we have to find a way to improve your control,” Digitalis gave Statice a concerned glance. “Every time that you shoot a magic blast, the recoil pushes you back a distance. That’s not supposed to happen. You should remain in place when you shoot.” “I put a lot of magic into the blasts to make them stable,” Statice admitted bashfully as he looked at the ground. “I don’t know at what concentration of magic the blast will be stable, so I add a little bit more magic when I shape them. If I put too little magic, the blasts vanish before they can hit something.” “We’re going to have to work on that,” Digitalis rubbed Statice’s mane. “But right now, we have to teach you more about tactics in battle. Did you notice what I did throughout the fight?” “You hid inside your shield,” Statice sorely pointed out. “How does that count as a tactic? Isn’t that the same thing as running away but with you getting beat up at the end?” “Yes,” Digitalis nodded his head, ignoring Statice's low opinion about his strategy. “I conserved my magic reserves while you wasted yours futilely trying to destroy my shield. Once you deployed most of your magic, I went on the offensive. Always attack your opponent when they are at their weakest.” “Yes,” Statice nodded his head. Whenever Digitalis gave him advice, it was best to follow it. That was how he managed to make it so far since he left home. “Okay,” Digitalis wrapped a foreleg around the colt’s neck as he led him into the road. “We’re going to take a lunch break and do some studying. Afterwards, we are going to work out in your battle skills until you learn to do this tactic well.” “Got it,” Statice smirked challengingly as he promised his best friend to defeat him after lunch break. As he kept going on and on, Digitalis took his time to give Statice suggestions on how to better fight his opponents in a magic fight. “Alternate on the spells wisely,” he advised. “Don’t just randomly shoot magic. I want you to think carefully on what spell is better suited for the situation. If you need to defend yourself, use a shield. If you don’t have enough magic for blasts, use your levitation to throw anything at your disposal. Make sure to always save a little bit so that you can teleport away if the enemy is too strong.” “Okay,” Statice agreed as he munched on a daisy sandwich. He didn’t like daisies, but it was the only good flower that was available at their current location. The good thing about talking with Digitalis was that it took his mind away from the taste of daisies over bread. “Remember these suggestions, Statice,” Digitalis looked at the colt pointedly. “You may have to apply them later in life.” “Thank you, Digitalis,” Statice mentally said to himself. He once again resumed his assault, but this time he switched from magic blasts to his Permeability Spell during his frenzy. As the spells struck his shield, Shining Armor was confident that he was going to win the fight, failing to notice that a little part of his shield was turning green instead of its usual magenta. Statice was sweating from his exertion. As much as the Permeability Spell was affecting Shining’s shield, there was still the fact that it was too thick to have full effect on it. The difference in raw magical power was clearly in Shining Armor’s advantage as he was in better shape than his rival, who was now panting and struggling to keep on fighting. All he needed to do was endure some more attacks and then Statice was going to be too exhausted to fight back during the counterattack. “I need to save energy!” Statice scolded himself for carelessly wasting too much magic fighting Shining Armor. “I guess I’ll have to settle with what I’ve done with the shield and hope for the best.” The green stallion levitated all of the books inside the bookcase that he was using as his shield. The green aura that was surrounding the books was focused on the ends of every book. The magic around them was supercharged and then fired forward into the magenta shield. Seeing this attack, Shining Armor grinned in anticipation. “I’ve got you now!” he yelled in triumph as he opened a hole in his shield and shot through it with a magic blast. Time slowed down as the projectiles flew past each other and hit their respective marks. Shining’s blast hit Statice square on the chest, knocking him off his hooves, just as Shining Armor expected. What he did not expect was for the books that Statice threw at him to explode the second they hit his shield. The spontaneous explosions of the books took Shining Armor by surprise, eliminating most of his focus and damaging his force field. The white unicorn kicked himself for having attacked Statice. He thought that the books were just a levitation spell done out of desperation, so he opened a hole in his shield to attack him. His rash decision compromised the structure of his shield, which cost him dearly when the explosion filled it with several fractures. The white unicorn cried out in pain as he put a hoof on his head, remembering the migraines that he suffered every time that he put a shield to protect Canterlot from the Changelings on his wedding day. He glared at the green criminal, who was groaning in pain and using his Healing Spell to repair the damage done to his chest. “You’re not getting away from me!” Shining Armor yelled as he used his magic to teleport behind Statice to buck him from the rear. Shining’s hooves were met with empty space as the green unicorn sidestepped them and shoulder tackled him to the ground. The white unicorn angrily stood up immediately and charged, leaping at his enemy when he was within range. He used his teleportation again, hoping to hit him from above with a double stomp from his forelegs, only for him to stomp on the floor when Statice rolled to the other side. “Darn it!” Shining Armor glared at Statice. His glare was replaced with a confused frown when he noticed that Statice’s horn was coated in a magenta aura, the same color as his own. This is impossible! Statice’s aura is green. Why is it the same color as my own? What kind of spell is he using? “What happened to your horn?” Shining Armor asked, feeling curious over the sudden change of aura color in Statice’s magic. “I’m using Hacking Spell to absorb your magic from the blast earlier,” Statice bragged as he patted his horn. “Now I know exactly what spells you are going to use against me, if only for a couple of minutes.” “Great,” Shining Armor growled in exasperation. “Now you’re a mind reader with a smart mouth.” “For the record, I’m a spell reader” Statice snarled. “I simply predict what spells you’re going to use by synchronizing my magic with the magic of your horn. Besides, do you think that such an obvious trick like teleporting to attack me from behind would work?” Seriously, he is the leader of the greatest army of Equestria and his idea of a surprise attack is to teleport behind me to kick me when I’m not looking? This guy really needs to learn how to fight dirtier. “You may counter my magic but I still have some good hoof-to-hoof combat training to make up for it,” Shining Armor declared as he assumed a fighting stance, leaning his body forward and spreading his forelegs a bit. “No thanks,” Statice said as he threw a blast Shining’s side. The white unicorn sidestepped the projectile, hearing it break a window behind him. As he turned around to meet Statice, he found that the green unicorn had vanished. “Where did he go?” Shining Armor asked, stunned and confused of his enemy’s whereabouts. “I’m over here,” Statice called out to him. He gave Shining Armor a threatening glare when the white unicorn turned around. His next attack was going to require some cunning if he was to be successful. “Leave Loyal Pawn out of this!” Shining Armor glared at Statice with murder in his eyes when he saw him levitating the private in his aura. “I’ll leave him out of this room, Captain!” Statice responded by throwing Loyal Pawn towards a window. He didn’t bother to look at the unconscious royal guard as his cold eyes were solely focused on Shining Armor. The Captain of the Royal Guard shut his brain from all of his emotions. He charged towards Statice, but then turned around and went in the direction Loyal Pawn’s body was going. He had all the time of the world to capture a criminal, but losing a fellow member of the Royal Guard was not something that was possible for him to do. Once he was within proximity, Shining Armor leaped with outstretched hooves, ready to catch his companion and shield him with his body if the situation demanded it. As he was facing Loyal Pawn, a few seconds from grabbing him in his arms, he was shocked when his subordinate’s body was engulfed in green aura and disappeared from sight, only to pop back next to Statice. The unicorn’s threatening facial features changed to one of childish contempt as he gave him a mocking smile. By the time Shining’s mind realized what happened, his body had already went through the hole that used to harbor his window . He felt the air coming out of his lungs as he landed on the floor outside of his office. He stood up with anger ignited in his eyes, enraged at the trickery, and leaped inside of his office, only to find Loyal Pawn resting on a chair and Statice nowhere to be found. “That was close!” Statice admitted as he was now hiding around the castle, attempting to prevent himself from being discovered by the royal guards. The battle with Shining Armor had been more challenging than expected. It had drained him of most of his magic. He felt a little proud for using the Yoyo Tactic that Digitalis had taught him. First, he pretended to throw something valuable to the opponent, making them go out of their way to protect the thrown object. Then, when the enemy was about to catch the object, he teleported it out of their reach and into his original position; giving him the chance to escape. He felt some nostalgia in using the old trick but sadly he couldn’t use it to his fullest potential when he was running away. He couldn’t afford getting caught after that fight, so he needed stealth to leave the castle. By the stars, if I had faced a unicorn like that back then…I don’t think I could have made it out. It’s a good thing Shining Armor is one of the good guys. I think I wasted a fair share of my magic just holding my own against him. “I’ll recharge a bit,” Statice concluded his thoughts as he opened Hammerspace with his magic. He focused on the portal forming in front of him and retrieved a silver bracelet with a diamond at its center. Dismissing the spell, Statice brought the bracelet to his right hoof and put it on. The diamond at the center of the bracelet glowed unnaturally. The light that came out of it was too different from an average gem. “Focus,” Statice muttered to himself. The light that was coming out of the diamond dimmed out a bit, glowing more naturally. Only a tiny sparkle was now visible from the ring as Statice finished his spell. He lit his horn with magic and was pleased to feel that his reserves had been replenished. “I don’t have enough magic to fight Shining Armor, so I’ll have to use it wisely from now on,” Statice leaned on a wall and crossed forelegs and hind legs in a lotus position as he was thinking for a strategy. “Maybe if I find an exit that is not supervised…” An idea popped out on his mind. “The catacombs,” he whispered excitedly. When Discord showed him the Canterlot Wedding, he showed how the Changelings infiltrated Canterlot through the catacombs. All he needed to do was find the way into them. The only problem was that Discord didn’t show where he was supposed to go. “Maybe an Echo Spell will work,” Statice focused his magic on his horn, releasing green waves from the tip. The waves struck the floor and spread across it. A mental map formed inside Statice’s head for brief seconds before it vanished. He saw what was supposed to be around him and even some small rooms built into the lower levels of the city but he found no catacombs. This isn’t gonna help me. I will have to try again and again until I find a hint. And Canterlot is a huge city. Ugh… “This is going to take more time than expected,” Statice sighed as he focused on his Echo Spell again to find the catacombs. He had a LOT to search in the city of Canterlot. “Darn it!” Shining Armor swore as he watched the mess that was currently his office. How could he let him escape? He had him right on his hoof and then Statice just managed to escape him. Loyal Pawn was alright, but the fact that he was never in danger in the first place and still managed to get used as a bargaining chip annoyed Shining Armor to no end. He was still unconscious, but there was no sign of damage as far as Shining could tell from the small revision he gave him. “Calm down!” Shining Armor told himself as he closed his eyes and followed his wife’s advice. He took a deep breath, eyes still closed, and extended his hoof as if he were pushing his problems away. “Thanks, Cadence,” he whispered lovingly into the air as he felt the tension disappear from his shoulders. Now that he was calmed down, he could think clearly. Statice was not a powerful threat like Chrysalis and King Sombra, but he was still nopony to be underestimated. The green unicorn was weaker than him in terms of magical power, but he was probably more experienced in combat and escape. The way that he used the environment to fight against him was proof enough of his prowess. Evaluate the situation, Shining Armor. You know how strong he is and now you have an idea of how tricky he can be. Now you need to find a way on how to employ that in your plans. “He’s too weak to fight me in one on one, but he is too strong for the regular soldiers,” Shining Armor observed as he checked the damage to his office. Truth to be told, one of the many reasons on why Shining Armor was the Captain of the Royal Guards was because he was the most powerful and skilled in magical power. All of his sparring matches with his fellow guards ended in immediate victories for him. The fact that Statice managed to hold him off for some minutes indicated that the green unicorn would be too much of a treat for an average royal guard. “I better start calling my officers,” Shining Armor stomped a hoof on the floor with a determined expression. “I won’t let him elude me again! In the name of the Royal Sisters, my wife, and my own little sister, I will not let Statice escape this castle!”