//------------------------------//
// Hot Pursuit 
// Story: Forged Anew 
// by Vermillion Prose 
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The limited castle staff (Twilight had never wanted many servants), fled and hid as the terrifying ebon bipedal sprinted faltering through the estate, searching for the exit through intense disorientation. Though his body had recovered most of his wounds, the unconventional means of his revival left even his enhanced cognition disjointed.

The crystal walls around him were dazzling and confusing, and so many of the doors and halls looked the same. His sense of direction clashed with what his eyes were telling him, though eventually he managed to determine he needed to head down after passing a window with a spectacular view of a quaint village of too many vivid colors. 





As her guards poured from the room in pursuit, Twilight had galloped after Hesperos, who had immediately made for the swiftest route to the castle foyer. Twilight expedited things the moment she caught up with him, cutting him off and powering her horn before he could question or protest. An actinic pop and flare of magic heralded their translocation to the main castle door, which remained resolutely closed despite the couple of terrified castle staff who had fled there. Either they had been so terrified they had not thought to open them, or otherwise wise enough to attempt to trap whatever was loose within the castle.

Twilight paced nervously, hearing the strange echoes of her guard shouting to each other in distant corners of her home, but thankfully no roar of guns. Hesperos had assumed a ready sentry position the moment they arrived, pistol and sword stowed in favor of leveling his bolter towards the castle halls. His aim panned slowly back and forth, awaiting any sign of the quarry.

They both snapped their attention to one of the adjacent halls as the sound of discharging bolts boomed off of crystal walls.





Confusion reigned as he fled. He had managed to knock a couple of his pursuers out cold, acquiring their bolt pistols. He had also succeeded in  avoiding the others as he closed on what he hoped was the exit, although the sharp clip of hooves on gemstone floor had dogged his evasion tirelessly. If he was not in such dire straits he would have admired their tenacity.

Two more had come around the corner, their sorcerous ways plain as they erected a barrier of light before them as they came. None had yet used their pistols to engage him, which was curious. It strongly suggested they wanted to subdue rather than destroy him. Until he had ascertained the truth of the situation, he would at least return that small, cold kindness.

With pistol in hand, left and right, he whirled towards them, firing on the shield they had erected. It flared and flickered as the bolts exploded against it, the shield shattering into glittering motes of light caught in the breeze of their passing. Both guards staggered, the feedback from so violent a sundering of their spellcraft lashing them with feedback. By the time they had recovered, the Salamander was gone.





The first warning Hesperos had of the Salamander’s arrival was the roar of twin bolters, a round caroming off his right pauldron. The second impact against one of his greaves only occurred because he had forgone evasion to interpose himself between the Salamander and Twilight. The Salamander relented only as his magazines ran empty, the suppressing fire from before leaving him little to work with. As such, before Twilight could cast any spells, the Salamander charged, stance low and arms wide and ready to grapple.

Hesperos dropped the boltgun on its sling, allowing it to slide behind him as he lifted his own hands to capture his opponent’s. Even with the weight of his armored form, the impact of palms forced him back a step, boots squealing briefly against the floor. He used the motion and the leverage he had to twist the Salamander around and press him towards the wall. He threw his leg up in a knee kick that impacted square in his target’s ashen abdomen, eliciting a grunt and growl from his opponent.

Both continued to struggle before a Royal Canterlot Shout rang out, freezing every pony in the castle and even a couple outside.

“ENOUGH!” Twilight bellowed, horn blazing into life and suspending both supermen in the air. She leveled a stare at each in turn, eyes alight with power.

“You will both sort this out like mature adults or so help me I’ll banish you to the moon!”

Both stopped and looked at each other, Hesperos as expressionless as usual, and the Salamander cross and confused. Hesperos simply shrugged and offered a nod to his opposite, as if to say, ‘your move.’

The Salamander swallowed thickly before grudgingly nodding at the little horse witch currently holding him in an iron ethereal binding.

“There. Now was that so hard?”

She ignored the muttered curses of the Salamander as she towed both astartes behind her back to the study.