//------------------------------// // Chapter Eighty-five // Story: Freedom Through Harmony // by Electricut //------------------------------// Chapter Eighty-five Eclipse Swamps Spike brought up his knives just in time to parry an overhead strike from the Blade of Light. He made a move to continue the block with one dagger while removing and stabbing forth with the other, but Celestia whipped across and brought all three to the ground before he could make a move. He dodged back quickly as she brought up her weapon and began a series of mad slashes at him, the tip of the blade again and again slicing just an inch from his body. Spike could feel the thrill of war coursing through his veins, the ancient lust for battle buried in the dragon’s very nature clouding his mind. With this came clarity as well, and his thoughts were on naught else but the enemy before him. When Celestia’s next swing came, he used one knife to bat the sword away and pin it to the ground, then lunged forward with his other. The distance between the two was just a hair too far, but Spike did managed to make Celestia flinch and pull herself back. The Goldoan grinned devilishly and spun his weapons in his palms, then rushed forward. ______________ Kyle Pinkie’s fist shot forward, her other held before her defensively. Winona brought up both arms quickly to block. Kyle stood by, helpless to do more, but was analyzing the battle in his head. Pinkie could probably have impaled this girl by now if she were using her spear, and its superior range. But she went for hand-to-hand combat instead. She doesn’t want this girl dead, only to rough her up. I don’t know what this is about, but it seems like Pinkie just needs to fight out this bad blood between her and this Winona person. So... I guess I have no room to interfere. Winona continued to fight strictly defensively, catching each of Pinkie’s punches and occasional kicks on her forearms or simply dodging them. This seemed to be more difficult than one would imagine, as Pinkie’s strikes were coming almost faster than the wolf-girl could block. She was forced further and further back, unable to hold her ground with all the dodging, but began to turn after a few seconds of this. Winona was soon almost backed into a wall, but turned around and sped up in her retreat. Pinkie remained right on her tail- literally- until Winona leapt up at the wall and scrambled up a few feet, using a window sill and some loose bricks and hand-and-footholds. She then kicked off over Pinkie’s head, landed gracefully behind her, and spun on her hand to trip up her attacker. Pinkie fell with a yelp, but brought down her elbow upon Winona’s back on her way down, causing both girls to collapse in the dirt. Winona attempted to roll to the side, but Pinkie had managed to get her pinned down. Pinkie struggled to her feet, keeping one leg and arm on the girl to keep her where she was, and prepared her other fist at her side. She was still practically shaking with anger, but Kyle decided he had better intervene before someone got seriously hurt. He stepped forward half a step with hands raised, and began to say ‘Pinkie...’ but was just a moment too late to stop her. She brought down her fist into Winona’s side, causing her to flinch, but the wolf-girl was trained enough not to show pain. Kyle winced in empathy, and twice more Pinkie delivered solid, unimpeded strikes to Winona’s side. Just as the third punch hit, though, a canine growl escaped from Winona’s throat, and with a flash of golden light, she was able to throw Pinkie off and to the side completely. In her place was now a full-blown brown wolf, slightly bloodied on its side, teeth barred. Pinkie shortly scrambled to her feet, but stayed crouched low. She rubbed some dirt from the side of her face, and raised her arms before her in a ready stance. With another growl, Winona leapt at her. ______________ Rainbow Dash My wings carried me all the way across the distance between Twilight and I, and my sword swung in for a vicious uppercut. The apprentice leapt back not a moment too soon, her hair whipping around her panicked face, and I landed on my feet just before her. Our eyes met, and I knew that she understood the time for rhyme or reason was over. She still seemed extremely unwilling, but her gaze hardened ever so slightly, and her arms raised by her side almost on reflex. I didn’t feel like waiting for her to get ready for me, and swung forward with both hands. Twilight skipped back again, but I noticed an unusual pink energy around her good palm. What the- how’d she do that? She didn’t even say anything! Ugh, that’s probably the skill she learned from her ancestor. Why’s mine got to be such a final-attack deal? I shook my head slightly, unable to do anything about it, and powered up my broadsword with a wind spell instead. I moved in for an overhead strike, but Twilight brought up her hand to stop it instead of dodging again. At first, I thought this was a grave mistake for her, and that this would be over much faster than I had thought, but my sword stopped moving much too soon. Twilight smirked, and I saw that the energy had protected her hand entirely, and she had successfully caught the blade on its way down. I gave her a mixed look of surprise and anger, and pulled the sword back shortly. The wind energy giving me much greater speed, I followed up with a series of slashes, slices and stabs, all blocked by Twilight’s handheld energy. Growing more frustrated by the second, I leapt back and rocketed forward towards her on a gust of wind. Twilight wasn’t able to just bat away that one, though her energy was able to take the brunt of the hit. Still, it was enough to knock her off her feet and onto the ground, her magic dispelled. I skidded to a halt behind her and did a quick about-face, my sword held high. Twilight scrambled to her feet a moment later, muttering the words for a weak fire spell as she did, and popped back into her battle stance to face me. Her eyes still seemed reluctant and pleading for me to give her a chance to explain, but I still wasn’t in the mood to hear it. I stalked forward carefully, while Twilight backed up at the same pace, throwing the fire from her palm at me and calling up more. As the first approached, I spun my sword once and sliced straight through it, dissolving the attack. I continued like this, blocking every attack, and the only result of her efforts was that part of the blade of my sword began to glow orange with heat. Twilight chanced a quick look behind her, and continued her retreat, though she stopped trying to hit me with fire. Instead, she began muttering some other words under her breath, and while I couldn’t tell exactly what she was saying, I could guess that it wasn’t going to be pleasant. I elected not to let her finish, and charged forward with my lightly-heated sword. She sidestepped quickly, only managing to avoid the sword by an inch or two, and continued her incantation. My sword slashed at her a few more times, and each one she was just barely able to dodge. The last one cut through her clothing across her side, but didn’t hit her skin. At last, her spell completed, Twilight held up her good hand, and it began to spark with electricity. She grimaced and thrust her hand forward. The lightning arced towards me, and I held up my sword to block on instinct, too late realizing what a stupid idea that was. The spell hit, and the spell traveled through the steel of my sword to my hands, sending shockwaves of electricity rushing through my whole body. I was paralyzed for a few solid seconds, and dropped to my knees as the shock began to wear off. My entire body felt numb, and while my vision was pretty blurry, I could see that Twilight wasn’t moving. After a moment, she began to speak, as though from a great distance. “Dash, please, just end this.” she said. “I understand you’re upset, and so am I. I promise I’m not your enemy... I’m not even going to be mad at you, if we just stop this pointless fighting before someone gets seriously hurt...” “S-shut UP!” I yelled, my own voice a little fuzzy as well. Everything was still tingling, so forming words was difficult, and I didn’t bother saying anything else. I began to rise to my feet, vaguely aware of my broadsword in my numb palm. Twilight got back into a defensive stance, but didn’t move to stop me as I tried to stand. However, just as I was struggling off the ground, I became aware of a soft melody playing nearby, probably on guitar. A moment later, a very familiar voice joined in. _____________ Eclipse Swamps Celestia dodged out of the way just as Spike’s dagger shot forward, slicing into the space she had only just occupied. Her multicolored, pastel hair flowed behind her, distorting the pure white of her body armor, and the Blade of Light rose quickly behind her for another attack. Spike’s ears rang, and he could feel the adrenaline tightening its grip on his mind. He continued to lance forward, dancing around Celestia’s blade with knives spinning around him. He grinned menacingly when he heard the satisfying grinding noise of metal on metal. His knife had hit home and cut across her armor, and even if it didn’t do anything, it still might help make her sweat. She scowled at him as he swung past, and picked up the speed herself, her huge white wings flaring out behind her and blotting out the light of the sun. She launched forward again, swinging her weapon in mad arcs, and Spike continued to evade gracefully. The vicious and deadly dance between the two continued for at least half an hour straight, both darting away from the other’s strikes while sneaking in their own. The Queen leapt into the air and sliced down for a mighty jump attack, the tip of the sword cutting close enough to cause Spike’s eyes to involuntarily cross, and it shortly slammed into the ground at his feet. Spike audibly growled, gripped his knives, and dashed forward. Celestia didn’t have time to re-ready her weapon, and was only able to sidestep out of the way with even less room than she had given Spike. He skidded to a halt behind her, and her eyes widened with anger. Her hand came up to feel her cheek that had narrowly avoided being sliced open, and her fingers came away with a small amount of blood. Spike grinned devilishly. It had only been the most glancing of hits, but he had made her bleed, the first blood taken from her in more than five centuries. Her eyes flared with fury, and a mighty light spell came to life on her sword. Spike merely rolled his head to crack his neck muscles, daring her to attack again, then took a jump back. His fists slammed together when he hit the ground, and a huge, inhuman roar echoed forth from the bright light that engulfed him shortly afterward. When the dust settled, Celestia was left facing a large purple dragon almost twice her size, still jeering at her with barred teeth and wild eyes. With an enraged battle cry, the Queen shot forward and attacked. _____________ Kyle At the last possible second, Pinkie dropped down a full foot, and uppercutted the wolf in the chest. Winona yelped in surprise and tumbled back onto the ground, but rolled to her feet promptly and stood off against Pinkie again, growling menacingly. Kyle had had enough, and didn’t want either to be hurt any further. He stepped forward and held out his arms, separating the two. “Enough! Enough of this! Both of you, just calm down!” The two remained where they were, panting and out of breath, glaring at each other from beyond Kyle but not making a move to attack each other. “Look. I don’t know what happened between you two, but there’s nothing to be gained from killing each other, alright? Can we please just make an effort to talk it out?” A long few seconds passed, but eventually Pinkie lowered her fists. Winona transformed back into human form by the same flash of light that had turned her into a wolf, and she stood facing Pinkie wearily. Pinkie looked away for a moment, then simply muttered ‘I’m sorry’. Winona nodded, and took a step forward. “I understand, Pinkie. You have every right to be upset, and... I just want to do what I can to make things right.” Pinkie didn’t move for a moment, but then walked past Kyle with her head down. She looked up to the slightly taller wolf-girl, paused for a moment, then offered her hand. Winona smiled and took it, and the two shook hands, almost as though they hadn’t just been fighting. ______________ Rainbow Dash I was helpless to do anything but listen as the heron song echoed through my dizzy, electrified mind, a duet of gentle strings and the beautiful voice of Fluttershy. Almost at once, my rage began to subside, and every time the thought of getting to my feet and attacking Twilight occurred to me, the thought was replaced by the pleasant music and a soft golden light. At last, the song completed, and I felt totally complacent, but was also confronted with a sudden wave of guilt. I had let my emotions get the better of me again. In all likelihood, Twilight really was innocent, and I had just tried to kill her. I felt someone help me to my feet, and my senses slowly began to return to me. Fluttershy’s arm was around me, keeping me from falling over again, and I was able to see a fourth figure standing nearby to Twilight. As my vision returned to me, I made out that he was carrying the guitar that must have accompanied Fluttershy’s song, and wore the black cloak of the Order, something I was getting distressingly used to seeing. He had sandy blond hair and dusky gray wings, and I guessed that he might have been a heron himself, and had the same powers as Fluttershy. Twilight continued to stand silently, defensively, across the field from me, eyes wary but concerned. The presumed heron boy stared me down cooly, and seemed ready to jump in to stop me if I tried anything again. I turned slightly, and saw Fluttershy giving me a pleading look. “Please, Dash... stop this. Twilight didn’t betray us, I would feel it if she had.” “As far as you can trust the word of a member of the Order, I can say she was in the swamp the whole time.” The boy stated. “Besides, if she went to the capital, don’t you think they would have had their crack-team of medics fix her arm?” I was left without a comeback. Twilight chanced moving forward slightly and speaking, but I was no longer in any shape to attack. Weary and guilt-ridden for jumping to conclusions, I didn’t see any point in continuing this battle. “Dash... as I said, I’m not going to hold this against you. Our town is about to be attacked by Celestia without provocation, and I’m just as angered about it as you are.” “Our...?” I asked, my voice wavering. Her saying that was just about the final nail in the coffin for me. She nodded. “Our. I don’t know if I can fight alongside you, but I know now that I do not belong with Eclipse. This is my home now. At the very least, I will remove myself from the conflict entirely. But I would like to do what I can to help prepare for what is coming while we wait.” I sighed, and managed to stand without aid. “I... Alright, alright. I’m sorry. But Twilight, listen. I... I don’t think it’s even safe for you here. Let’s look at the facts that I used to rationalize my rage: Celestia’s attacking with inside knowledge, and you’ve been here for almost six months now on her leave. Now I understand you had nothing to do with this, but if people see you walking through the town now, they’re going to draw the exact same conclusion, and you’ll be in trouble. They’re desperate for someone to blame.” “Oh, I... I hadn’t thought of that...” she said, eyes downcast. “But... I still want to help here. I can’t just leave yet, not when I still have friends here!” I held a hand to my head, trying to steady my thoughts. “Twi... it’s not like we have many options to work with. Ah... If you’re going to stay here, you’re not really going to be able to do much in public, and there’s not many places we could hide you. The... the best we could probably do is pretend to take you prisoner, but not show anyone your face in case they decided to harass you. You’d have to stay there under some kind of surveillance most of the time, but you’d be close enough at hand that you could be filled in on what the latest is. And by the time Eclipse’s army rolls around, you could either take up arms with us or slip out in the chaos. I’m sorry, Twi, but that’s the best I can do.” The girl sighed heavily, and took at least a full minute to answer. Finally, she spoke up in a small voice: “A-alright. I’ll do it. If this is the only way... I’ll stay with you all until the end.” _____________ Eclipse Swamps Celestia rushed forward and sliced at Spike's side, and in his larger form he was helpless and unable to avoid it. However, the normally fatal hit was little more than a scratch on his scales. He snarled and released a jet of flame from his jaws, narrowly missing the Queen and singeing a few of her wings’ outer feathers. She swung around his other side, cutting a large gash across his back, and continued to glide around him until she was near his front. Spike lashed out with his bare arm and caught the Blade of Light before it could hit him again. With Celestia stuck trying to retrieve her weapon, Spike reared back and unleashed another wave of fire upon her, and she was forced to dodge out of the way and release the sword. With an ungraceful snarl, she pulled her hands back and quickly charged up a large sphere of fire and light magic, almost a solar-flare like attack, and launched it point-blank at the Goldoan. The blast hit him square in the chest, and was enough to knock his massive frame back a few feet. He lumbered forward again, preparing another flame deep in his throat and holding up his arms defensively before him. The Blade of Light lay on the ground between the two combatants, until the Queen dove for it, scooped it up, and lunged forward at Spike in one fluid movement. He caught it between two palms, and struggled to keep it a distance away from himself. The sword slipped closer, and Celestia adopted a devilish grin. She quickly launched a blase of light magic forth from the blade, striking him hard in the chest. Two more followed in quick succession, and Spike was forced to release his grip on the weapon. Celestia followed up with several more hard-hitting slices and uppercuts, cracking and rending aside countless violet scales. Blood spilled, and Spike was forced to revert back to his human form in order to staunch the bleeding. The Queen didn’t slow, and continued to assault Spike with the blinding speed of her weapon, and while Spike blocked as many hits as he could with his daggers, he was taking serious damage. At last, Celestia leapt back, flared out her wings, and slingshot towards him. The sword arced behind her, and in one vicious strike cut straight across his chest, cutting fatally deep. Spike was launched back several feet, and collapsed in a heap on the ground. He didn’t move to get up. “Let that be a lesson, and a statement, Goldoan.” The Queen said icily. “This is what will become of your cute little resistance, each and every one of the fighters who thinks to stand against me. Let despair fill your heart before you leave this world.” With that, her wings flapped mightily, and the Queen soon disappeared into the distant sky. Spike coughed, blood rising to the surface, and cursed himself. I waited too long. I pushed to hard... I sure hope I have enough energy left for this one... last... With difficulty, he reached into his pocket, and retrieved the scroll he had written earlier in the day. With another curse, he realized he had left something out, and with an extremely shaky hand, he scrawled a few more words at the bottom of the page. A few words began to pass through his lips, and the paper began to glow. For some time, he had been learning the words to this one spell, the one that would allow him to send messages from place to place, and now on his apparent deathbed he would be using it for the first, and last time. Holding back another cough, he was able to finish the incantation, and the page was sent on its way. Spike gave a weary smile, then dropped his head to the ground, motionless. END OF PART THREE