//------------------------------// // Chapter 13: The Day of the Beast // Story: Actually, I'm Dead // by Wave Blaster //------------------------------// It’s all like an echo I keep hearing in the back of my mind. There’s something big approaching me, roaring like a raging beast as it gets closer. Its force is terrible. I’m holding as tight as I can when it finally unleashes its fury upon me-- us. I’m not alone when it happens and that helps me to not be totally overtaken by fear. But in the end it’s all useless. I feel my grip slipping. I look around me, pleading for help. It doesn’t matter though, the beast will get all of us. Its force finally rips me away from them, tossing me through the air like a ragdoll. I can’t even tell up from down and all I know is panic. Twilight squealed in fright as she fell back, hugging Spike close to protect him. Her horn flared with magic at the same time she squeezed her eyes shut. An instant later came the sound of a heavy body impacting her conjured shield hard and then the beast’s roaring filled her ears once more as it tried to attack her through it. Spike clung tightly to Twilight’s barrel and whimpered, his talons digging in. Twilight hardly noticed as she scooted them both back against the wall, away from the beast. A new sound, the rending of magic against magic, forced her to open her eyes. The creature was still on the other side of her shield, but it was clawing savagely at it, marks of dark magic trailing over the protective lavender screen, where its claws were. The beast stopped its assault and looked at Twilight. They stared at each other for a brief moment, and the fire dancing in its red eyes told Twilight that the beast was going to make her regret stopping its attack. Its muzzle opened in an angry snarl, pointed fangs visible now that its lips were pulled back, and it raised a paw to attack the shield again-- *Zapp… Bang!* A beam of bright blue, near white magic blasted the creature, sending it crashing into a pile of stored scientific equipment. “Flee, Twilight Sparkle!” Princess Luna’s voice boomed as the alicorn landed in the middle of the room. “Leave the vanquishing of monsters to those best suited for it!” Twilight could only nod in response, her heart was pounding against her ribs as she tried to gather her scattered thoughts. Part of her noted that Luna’s stance -- legs wide, wings flared, and horn lowered -- was a fusion of ancient pegasus and unicorn fighting stances. Another part hoped that her equipment hadn’t been damaged by Luna’s attack. The biggest part, though, was still reeling from the recognition of her attacker. Twilight Sparkle was still frightened of what she saw in the creature that just attacked her. Of who that creature was. Finally having regained enough concentration to think straight, Twilight cast her focus upwards and to the main floor of the library, her mind instinctively racing through the necessary calculations. Just as the teleport spell snapped into existence around her and Spike, she caught sight of the monster roaring and jumping at Princess Luna from the shadows. Twilight’s aim had been too high, causing her and Spike to fall and land in a heap on the main library floor instead of materializing on it instead. She shivered as she hugged Spike closer to her. Twilight swore to herself she would never, ever, leave Spike alone or unprotected again. “Twilight, Spike!” Princess Celestia called for her, turning around. She was standing before the closed door to the basement, Twilight’s friends all around her. “Are you alright? What happened? Where is Luna?” Needing to swallow first before speaking, Twilight looked at her friends and mentor with a look of pure horror. Out of pure inertia, she told them. “We found what happened to Trixie. Luna’s in the basement with it now.” This new creature tosses me around too, and I don’t like it! Once again, the echo in my mind tells me of a memory I don’t remember. I’m in a place of pure air and nothing else. My hooves touch nothing as I sail through empty sky. For a fleeting moment, I think it’s heaven, but then I begin to fall. I realize that I’m falling, and somehow I know I’m going to die. I want to cry, I feel sadness, but not at dying. The image of those around me before is now gone and there’s no one near to me. I’m going to die alone and I can only cry for one last time. I have never been this afraid. All I can see before me is rock. The creature roared with rage and hatred at the Princess as it lunged at her. Her parry was smooth and instinctual, despite not having seen proper use in over a millennium, and she guided the creature into a hard impact against the wall. Glassware on a nearby shelf fell over the beast’s body, shattering against its skin, but it didn’t seem to hurt it. The creature made another pass, only to be greeted with a shod hoof that dashed it against the floor and then flung back with another burst of magic. “You are outmatched, creature,” Luna taunted as she circled it. She waved her great wings out at her sides, twitching and darting the tips to try and fake out her opponent. “We are Luna Vigilans, Princess of Equestria.” Being back in a fight, despite the gravity of it, brought Luna back to the old times. “We consider your ilk little more than sport.” The good times. Curling its lips and lowering its horn, the creature before her growled. Its claws dug into the floor of the basement and it launched itself at Luna, snarling and lashing out almost blindingly fast with its claws. She was faster, kicking the abomination and then discharging a concussive blast over it. The beast didn’t yield, so Luna repeated the move again, hitting it with a back kick and a second blast of magic. Seeing an opening at Luna’s turned position, the animal roared again and threw itself at her. But Luna was counting on it, and let the last concussive charge of her horn go off behind her, hitting the creature in the chest and making it fall to its knees. “You are indeed a worthy opponent,” said Luna as she shook out her mane. “You fought well, but We have more than enough power for you. Yield now and end this quickly.” Giving only an angry snarl in response, the creature shook out its mane and head before staggering back to its hooves. Luna backed off, her wings out for balance once more. She lowered her horn to meet the creature’s own. She was expecting another charge and was caught nearly totally off guard by the lightning bolt of magic sent her way, parrying it into a shelf of books and causing them to explode. The creature's following strikes were wild and unfocused, barely different from an animal kicking the air in a tantrum. However, despite the blasts simplicity and savagery, they were terrifyingly accurate, as each one of them found its way to Luna. It was almost as if the attacks were being guided by something more than instinct. The beast’s attacks were still chaotic rage, but its magic felt colder and more focused. The wild dark magic proved to be too much for a single shield, and the beast was shooting too many and too quickly to avoid them all. Luna was quickly forced to start using a series of ablative shielding spells, letting each absorb a strike and shatter before another was cast to take its place rather than trying to sustain a single shield against the withering assault. Slowly she began to give ground to her opponent. *Fwoosh* Red and purple flames flared up around Luna, causing her to lose sight of her opponent. A simple swipe of her own magic was enough to clear the flames, but doing so did not reveal her opponent. Luna spun, looking for where the creature could have gone. She did not see it on the ceiling and had the beast not cried out as it attacked her, she would have been caught completely unaware. As it was, she only had enough time to dodge partly out of the way and none to call on her magic. The two went down in a tangle of limbs, the alicorn coming out on top. The demonic figure slashed its claws for her neck, catching only her ethereal mane instead. Luna’s return strike connected squarely on its ribs, but that did not seem to faze the creature. It tried for her neck again and she blocked it again with a foreleg, using it to pin down the creature’s own. She did the same with the other when it tried to swing for an attack. Being smaller than she, it managed to catch her off guard by driving a hind leg into her gut, almost dislodging her. She could feel the slashes where its claws raked across her belly. Making sure to keep the forelegs pinned, she used her wings to lift her back half up and then brought her rear hooves down hard on the monster’s rear legs, pinning those to the floor as well. The creature didn’t react in pain like she expected it would after that kind of a blow. Instead it glared up at her, her face close enough she should have been able to feel its breath. The creature then reared back and drove its head forward in an effort to gore Luna’s eyes with its horn. She managed to jerk back in time to avoid being stabbed, but the creature’s head still slammed against her muzzle. Her teeth rattled and a lance of pain shot through her head as the bones of her nose broke under the impact. Pressing its advantage, the creature hit her over and over, driving her off it. It was more luck than anything that she avoided losing an eye to it. Head reeling, Luna took a final kick from the creature’s hind legs, receiving another deep cut from its claws, and was knocked off. Ancient training kicked in and she continued to roll away from the beast, trying to put as much distance as possible between them, so she could regain her senses. The beast lashed out, catching the trailing edge of a wing and ripping out a pawful of feathers. Luna sprang to her hooves and lit her horn, barely managing to conjure a dome of magic over her before her attacker reached her. It rebounded off the shield and roared angrily at her, then swiped its claws at her. Dark magic crackled over the shield in their wake. Luna panted and shook her head, doing her best to try and regroup. I hate this, I hate being here. I only wanted answers, but no one gives them to me. Then, I try to defend myself from the hurting light and I’m attacked. I only wanted to know what I am! I want to tear this one to shreds, but it’s too quick. My first attempt is met with pain. I know pain, I’ve felt it before. None since my ‘birth’, but I remember it from the echo behind my mind. The last memories that it holds from before are terror and pain. There was rock and then there was pain, so much pain. I could feel myself falling, my body racked by more and more pain as its fall was slowed by rocks and outcroppings, but never stopping, only falling further. This is how I died, I know it. The further I fell, the more pain came, but the less it seemed to hurt me. I remember my eyes closing and the darkness taking me. I don’t feel pain anymore, only anger. I’m going to make sure everypony knows it! It had been a very long time since Princess Luna had experienced the physical pain of battle, let alone being on the losing side of it. While she was experienced fighting monsters, those in the dreamscapes rarely seemed to hit this hard, and never managed to fight her on equal terms. Her gut ached from the deep cuts she had been given, and her muzzle was soaked in her own blood. Trying to wipe it away only brought a fresh eruption of pain to her. “It seems We underestimated you,” she told the creature as it paced outside her shield. “You’re not just some manner of raging animal after all.” The creature stopped its pacing, its burning red eyes locked on her. For the first time she was finally able to get a good look at it; eqiune shaped, even if standing like a predator. It was larger than most ponies, but still slightly smaller than Luna herself. Its four limbs were clawed, not so different from a griffon or dragon. There was a matted mane of wild hair but the tail it had was long and whip like, more dragon than pony. At the center of its breast Luna was able to make out a pattern in its coat, the hairs a different color, much like stripes on a zebra. The shape was something that had become all too familiar of late. The Alicorn Amulet only had one bearer. Luna refocused on the creature’s eyes. “Trixie? Is that you? Can ye understand Us?” The creature’s tail slapped against the floor once, its hardened tip making a clack against the wood of the tree. It pawed at the floor, claws scraping, then opened its mouth. Luna was expecting it to talk, but instead it made a sound akin to a barking cough. Luna was about to try speaking to it again, only to be cut off when the creature lowered its head and unleashed a massive blast of magic against her shield at point blank range. It fell like a hammer blow and rocked the Princess of the Night back on her hooves, almost shattering her shield in the process. Had she been any less than an alicorn, it likely would have. Now that she knew what to look for -- and had a few scant moments to do so -- she was able to recognize the base essence of unicorn magic wrapped up in the underlying dark magic that could only be the Alicorn Amulet. There was a familiarity to that darkness but she didn’t have time to contemplate on it further as her shield was about to give way. Instead of letting the shield collapse on its own, Luna pulled it down on her own while simultaneously dodging to the side. Trixie’s beam of magic continued now unabated, lancing through and destroying several pieces of Twilight’s scientific equipment. Again. Now that she knew this was Trixie she was fighting, Luna was having to quickly change strategy. She would have to subdue her opponent, not kill or destroy her. Tia had told her how she had defeated the Amulet during her encounter in the hospital. With luck, the same strategy would prove successful here. She just needed to be able to cast the required spells. With her opponent distracted, not realizing she was on the move again, Luna threw several restraining spells around Trixie’s legs, sending her face-first to the floor when they were pulled tight and cutting off the searing ray of magic. “Thou must stop fighting, Trixie!” Luna said as she tried to recall the summoning spell for a restraining ring. It was never something she had used often and her head was still spinning from the blows Trixie had landed. “It is for your own good.” With a roar of primal rage, the creature that was Trixie thrashed and twisted. Her horn flared and her bonds shattered. She was on her hooves and lunging for Luna almost before the Princess had a chance to react. Luna just managed to spin to the side and avoid a direct strike, only to have Trixie catch her outstretched wing in her jaws. It was a solid grip, and Luna cried out in pain as Trixie’s teeth sank in, and then again as Trixie thrashed her head about, breaking the bone and throwing Luna off her hooves and across the room. In spite of the shocking pain, Luna managed to roll with the impact and bring herself back to her hooves and facing her opponent. She was bloodied twice, one wing now hanging useless at her side. She needed to stop her opponent but needed time to do that, and her opponent was proving rather resistant to her magic. She was not as quick as her sister with summoning spells and needed to buy an opening. If her wing were working, she could take to the air and try-- “Air,” Luna whispered as Trixie roared and charged for her. Charging her horn, she focused the most powerful concussive blast spell she knew and redirected it to a spot on the floor. The spell fired the instant Trixie crossed it, launching her up at the ceiling with a speed that Rainbow Dash would have found envious. *WHAM!* The creature slammed into the ceiling with full force and then fell, landing on the floor and bouncing almost as hard. Despite all of that, it was staggering to its hooves almost immediately after landing a final time. Still, the distraction had proved enough for Luna. Her spell went off just as Trixie lunged for her throat, teeth barred and still bloodied from her last attack. “Princess?” Pinkie was the only one brave enough or curious enough to ask. “Are you sure that Princess Luna will be alright?” “Don’t worry, Pinkie Pie,” Princess Celestia answered in a reassuring tone. “My sister’s methods may not be the subtle ones, but she knows what she’s doing.” Even though it had been over a millennium since her sister had last seen real combat, she had given her word she wouldn’t interfere in this matter. Twilight was the only one familiar enough with Celestia to be able to pick up the tenseness in her teacher’s voice. Worried Celestia was not something she had seen often and now she was worried too. The battle in the basement had been raging for a surprising time given one of its participants was an alicorn. The sounds of magic and destruction were clear to all gathered, despite the door to the basement still being securely closed. Twilight was about to suggest that they go assist Luna, that their aid might be needed even if not wanted, when a thunderous bang from the floor itself caused them all to jump. The sounds of battle stopped almost right after it. “Princess Celestia, maybe we should--” Twilight started, only to be cut off by the sounds of heavy hoof falls from the basement steps. Something was coming up. From the sounds of the heavy thumps that carried along with those footsteps, whatever was coming was dragging something else. Although Celestia stood still before the door, the six Elements trotted up besides her and took position at her flanks. She looked at them, about to tell them to take cover, but she saw the determination on their eyes. They weren’t going to cower behind the Princess. They were going to aid her, by her side. That’s how it worked, that’s how it was supposed to be. They weren’t victims, they were heroes. They were the Elements of Harmony, and whatever that may attack them, it would have to face them all, together. The steps grew until they were right outside the door. With another loud bang, the door was kicked open and a blue figure emerged from the darkness of the doorway. “Huzzah!” cried Luna. “We emerge triumphant!” With a heave of her magic, she thrust the unconscious body of Trixie forward, letting it fall to the floor at her hooves. A restraining ring was firmly wrapped around her horn. Princess Celestia, the six elements, and the royal guards all stared at the Princess of the Night. Her crown was gone, her mane was dishevelled from battle, one of her eyes had started to swell shut, and her right wing was not only bloody but obviously broken from how it hung limply at her side. Her other wing was missing a noticeable clump of feathers. “Somepony, fetch Us a cider with which to celebrate Our victory!” Luna wiped her bloody chin upon her fetlock, sparing it a glance. “And perhaps a medic.”