//------------------------------// // When In Doubt, Fight Scene // Story: Utaan // by Imploding Colon //------------------------------// Panicked gasps and heavy hoofsteps filled the air of east Braum. Keris' and Starstorm's heads spun towards the tavern. With single, bursting wingflaps, they both soared over to the building's entrance. Citizens slumped down in the snow, coughing and wheezing. One group dragged a bloody, beaten stallion through the frosted soil behind them. "What's wrong?!" Keris touched down. "What's happened here?!" "It's... it's the Rogue!" The bartender exclaimed. Keris blinked. "The Rainbow Rogue did this?!" Starstorm exclaimed. "Yes!" A mare nodded. She spun and pointed at the entrance. "She's in there!" Keris rushed ahead in a red-and-brown blur. "Lieutenant!" Starstorm exclaimed. But before Keris could enter through the front— PHWOOOMB! Tongues of flame vomited out. Keris winced, stumbling back and shielding himself with his good talon. Starstorm rushed to his side. Both griffons stood before the front entrance, gawking at the flames. "She can start fires too?!" Starstorm exclaimed. "This isn't the work of our prey," Keris slurred. "There... th-there was a unicorn in there!" the bartender exclaimed. "Fighting her!" "A unicorn?!" "They both came up out of the cellar! I've no clue where they came from! Honest—" Keris turned to face the bartender. "What does this unicorn look like?" The stallion gulped. "Blonde mane... a golden bun. Uhm..." She winced. "Clean coat and a cleaner uniform..." Keris' headcrest drooped beneath his helmet. "My Goddess..." Fwooooosh! More flames erupted from the front entrance. "Dammit to blazes!" The bartender hissed, stomping his hooves. "I'm ruined!" He looked at the Lieutenant. "There's enough alcohol in there to reduce the place to embers in minutes!" "Never mind that!" A mare shouted. "A bunch of ponies are still in there!" "Yeah!" Belched the bloodied stallion from where he lay in the snow. "Including Fuzzy Plots! My favorite barmaid!" His eyes crossed and he slumped back down, unconscious. "Guhhhh—" Thwomp! "Sergeant," Keris hissed, shielding himself from the growing flames. "Go fetch the Commander and the rest of the Talon—" "Already on it!" Starstorm made a running start, flapped her wings, then flew across the village. Swooosh! "For Goddess' sake!" The bartender pulled at his mane as he slumped to his knees. "Why fight here?! Why in my bar?!" "One concern at a time, citizen..." Keris limped sideways, examining every window before him. As soon as he came upon a rectangular pane, he saw fire rising violently on the other side. "Blast...!" Shuffling faster, he struggled to find an alternative entrance. "Verlaxion, I'm praying for an opportunity here..." Inside... WHAM! A floating chair slammed across Rainbow's cheek. "Ooomf!" The pegasus went flying. Her friends gasped, hugging each other in mid-levitation. Th-Thwump! Rainbow landed on the burning tavern's floor and went sliding several feet. "Guh!" She stopped hard against an overturned bench. Soot and ash speckled the floor beside her as she spat up blood. "Grkkk..." A snickering smile. "...that all you got, toots?" FLASH! Golden telekinesis lifted Rainbow Dash up by her throat. "Snkkkkt!" Rainbow's eyes rolled back as she flailed in midair. "Stop... talking..." Longaze hissed from across the way. A huddled group of ponies nervously watched as Longaze suffocated Rainbow Dash, lifting her up until she hovered just beneath the tavern's wooden wagon chandelier. "Your luck has officially run out." Longaze's eyes narrowed beneath her glowing horn. She trained a heavy, glowing current of magic on the struggling pegasus. "I'm here to finish what was started in Red Barge." "What... t-took... you s-so long..." Rainbow sputtered, writhing. "Didn't you hear me?!" Longaze barked. "I said shut up!" Her horn glowed even hotter as the burning air tingled between them. "Once you're down for the count, I'll tear this place to the ground and burrow our way back to freedom!" She spat aside at the flinching citizens. "No witnesses!" "Pssssst!" Twilight hovered up by Rainbow's side. "Rainbow!" She pointed at the stream of magic shimmering between the two. "She's overloading her leylines! A harmonic blast should be enough to cause a cascade failure and knock—" "Less... words... snkkkkt-egghead..." Rainbow wheezed, turning bluer. Twilight rolled her eyes then pointed at Rainbow's neck. "Just touch the pendant, for Celestia's sake!" "Easy... p-peasy..." Rainbow flung a limp hoof over her ruby lightning bolt. Harmony pulsed bright and ruby from within. Longaze sensed the ripple of energy in the corner of her vision. "Huh?" She looked straight up—and immediately regretted it. POWWW! Her condensed magic was shoved back into her. "Ooomf!" The secretary found herself barreling backwards and through a stack of firewood. Th-thuddd! "...!" Rainbow Dash fell. Instinctively, she flung her forelimbs upwards—grabbing the wagon chandelier by her fetlocks. The mare swung, caught her breath, then released her grip at full momentum. Surrounded by flames, Longaze stood up. A shadow appeared over her. "...?" She looked up into a pair of leg-dropping hooves. WHUD! Longaze slammed against the wall. Burning curtains lapped against her body, catching her neatly-pressed suit on fire. "Augh! Aaaaaaaugh!" Yelping, the blonde mare thrashed, struggled, and finally stripped herself of the singed article. Her eyes widened as she felt a violent tug on her tail. "Jee, I'm flattered." Then, with a grunt, Rainbow pulled Longaze's tail. She body-slammed the unicorn chest-first against the tavern floor and wrestled her from behind. "But you're about to get flattened—" "Another spell incoming!" Twilight shouted. "H-huh?" Rainbow blinked as she felt the two of them encased in magic. Twilight winced. "It's a levitation spell—" Fwooooooosh! Longaze flew the two of them straight up and towards the ceiling. "Oh come onnnnnn—!" SMASSSSH! The citizens on the first floor tilted their heads up and winced as they saw the two plow up— —and into the second story above, leaving a gaping hole behind them. Both combatants collapsed on both sides of a bedroom. Smoke and ash filtered up through the wooden floorboards, forming a dense haze in the chamber. "Mrmmff... kaff!... hckkkkt!" Rainbow Dash wheezed, sprawled out on all fours. "Celestia I hate fighting unicorns." She gasped as she was yanked up from behind. Longaze glared as she telekinetically lifted the pegasus in front of her. "Then give up already!" "Yeah..." Rainbow limply reached aside, felt around, and lifted a tall mirror from atop a vanity. "...about that." SMASSSSH! She slammed the thing full force over Longaze's skull. "Aaaaaaugh!" The unicorn stumbled back, her face cut and bleeding in several places. "Hah!" Rainbow Dash landed in a squat. "Not so pretty now, are ya?!" "That's telling the hussy!" Rarity spat. "Rrrrgh!" Longaze shook the cobwebs off and summoned another pulse through her horn. "Careful, Dashie!" Pinkie shouted, ears wobbling. "The creep's reloading—" "Not today!" Rainbow galloped at full force. "Raaaaaaaugh!" She rammed hard into Longaze as— SMASH! SM-SMASH! —the two went sailing through wall after wall, reducing the rooms of the tavern's top story to dust and debris. After plowing through the third straight wall, their momentum finally ended. The mares spilled out into a hallway above the stairs, collapsing across opposite sides of a mountain of fresh debris. Coughing from the increasing smoke, they struggled to get back on their hooves. Meanwhile, flames climbed up the walls with blazing orange tongues growing... spreading... "Commander!" Starstorm shouted. Seraphimus and Sarda spun, blinking. "What is it, Sergeant?" Starstorm hovered above the group. "The Tavern! Northeast side!" She pointed with a trembling claw. "You must come quick!" Seraphimus blinked. "Where's... Lieutenant Keris—?" "Verlaxion spare us..." Sarda suddenly gasped, his eyes following a fresh trail of smoke. Ponies stood in tight clusters, their voices coalescing into a worrisome murmur as they watched the smoldering plume. "... ... ..." Seraphimus' charcoal eyes glinted. "The Rogue..." She whistled shrilly in the air. Windburst and Raptr saw her gesturing from afar. In quick bursts of speed, they joined their griffon companions, violently streaking northeast towards the source of the violent, burning fiasco. Sarda stood briefly alone, his muzzle agape. "... ... ...Goddess, what have I brought to this town?"