Battle Ready

by D101 Reviews

Chapter Ten: Research

Chapter Ten: Research

Battle was awoken by someone shaking his shoulder vigorously. He mumbled incoherently for a moment before he sat up slowly, rubbing her eyes on the back of his hand.

"Rise and shine sleepy-head," Nurse Red-Heart said softly, giggling slightly.

Battle nodded and mumbled again, stretching his aching muscles, thanking his lucky stars for a rare night of peaceful sleep. He looked up at Nurse Red-Heart and gave a bleary smile as he rubbed his knuckles into his eyes.

"Morning," he mumbled. "What time is it?"

"Six thirty," Red-Heart said as she hung up her coat behind him. "You've been here all night?"

"Suppose so," Battle yawned. "It's funny 'cause I only put my head down for a second when the rain came."

"Oh yes," Red-Heart agreed, looking out the window. "The pegasus ponies have really out done themselves this time. I was in bed by the time it started mind. How bad was it?"

"Let's just say I think anypony that got caught in it will shrink in the sun," Battle chuckled as he got to his feet. Red-Heart laughed.

"Go on you, get home," she laughed, waving him away. "You look like you could do with some proper sleep. I'll cover for you don't worry."

"Thanks," Battle said, beaming. "I owe you one."

"You owe me two," she called as Battle left.

"What for?"

"For not ratting you out for sleeping on the job!"

Battle barked a laugh as he left through the doors, Rarity's umbrella tucked under his jacket. The sky was still changing from pinkish red to crystal blue, with a few wispy clouds here and there. Despite the intense rain, the ground seemed to soak up the water from the night without turning the roads into a boggy mess. This Battle was thankful for. The last time he'd traipsed mud into the library Twilight had made him clean the entire place from top to bottom.

When Battle arrived at the library he was surprised to see that there was already some lights on inside. Even from this distance, he could see a hive of activity inside of the library. At least four ponies were in there, and the smaller figure Battle could only assume to be a sleepy Spike.

"What the buck is she doing?" Battle muttered as he approached the library door. He twisted the handle and pulled.

A flash of blue and rainbow hair later, and Battle found himself flat on his back with a knee in his throat.

"Oh... Sorry Battle," Dash chuckled nervously.

Had it been any other pony asides Dash or her friends, Battle could have found eighteen different ways to force him/her off of him and deliver severe pain to arms, legs or head, rendering them immobile, in pain and most likely unconscious. As it was Battle merely accepted the hand of apology and climbed to his feet.

"Do you attempt to kill everyone who tries to walk into the local library?" he asked as he followed her back insides.

"Rainbow's just a bit jumpy," Twilight explained. "Can't say I blame her though."

"Why, what happened?" Battle asked, closing the door behind him.

"I will tell you what happened!" Rarity cried from her place huddled on the stairs. "I came within several feet of my death last night!"

Good to know Rarity's still Rarity, Battle thought to himself. What he said however was: "Can someone elaborate for me please?"

"Rarity says she came into contact with whatever's been attacking ponies for the past month," Applejack explained. "Last night during the storm, she said she saw something mighty fierce."

"After I rushed home to the boutique," Rarity said, "I spent several hours recuperating with my dear sweet Opalescence and Sweetie Belle. When the rain stopped this morning I came straight here to seek Twilight's expert help on the matter."

"Why do you need expert help identifying a pony?" Battle asked.

"I'm not sure it was a pony any more," Rarity whispered.

"What Rarity's described to me is definitely not of the norm," Twilight validated. "As soon as the other girls heard about it they all came to help with the research but so far we've found nothing like what Rarity's described."

"We even went to see Zecora," Pinkie added from under a mountain of books.

Battle nodded, familiar with the zebra potions mistress from the the Everfree Forest.

"Hey wait a second!" Dash cried, whirling around mid-air. "Battle knows some freaky stuff about medicine. Maybe he could help?"

"I hardly think my knowledge even holds a candle to Twilight's," Battle said modestly.

"Be that as it may Dash has a point Battle," Twilight said, slowly putting her book down. "You may be the only one who can help us find out what we're dealing with."

Battle sighed and walked over to Rarity, kneeling down in front of her.

"Tell me what you saw," Battle said softly. "Tell me what you remember, what you know for certain happened."

"Well I had just turned into an alleyway-"

"Just the pony Rarity. Just the pony."

"Oh, right. He looked... wrong."

"Wrong?"

"Yes. That's definitely the way I would describe that thing. Wrong. He had these, horrible empty white eyes that just leered at me. And his skin... I could see his veins beneath his skin they were all, green and throbbing."

"What else Rarity? What else? There's more you want to tell me."

"His Cutie Mark!"

"Yes? What about it?"

"It pulsed with this tragic, evil red light. It looked positively ghastly. Like the marks on his skin."

"What kind of marks? Were they in some kind of pattern?"

"No, they were just these black, pointed curves on his face and skin, like the most garish of tattoos but... they moved, like they had a life of their own."

"Anything else?"

"Nothing I can say for certain... no, that's all I can remember."

Battle straightened up and turned to Twilight.

"I think... I may know what Rarity encountered," he said haltingly.

"Really?" Twilight asked breathlessly. "Just from that?"

"Just from that," Battle said. "What Rarity saw last night was a pony, but not a normal pony."

"What do you mean, not a normal pony?" Applejack asked.

A book flew across the room and landed into Battle's hand. He began to rifle through the pages before he came to one he found relevant. He held the book open in one hand and showed the page to Rarity.

"Something like that?" he asked.

Rarity looked at the page and pointed excitedly at it.

"That's almost exactly it!" she exclaimed.

"Thought so," Battle said simply. "Count yourself bloody lucky your hear to tell us."

"What do you mean?" Twilight asked. Battle put the open book on the table.

"Rarity encountered a pony under then influence of some kind of superior negative possession," Battle explained.

"Superior negative what-now?" Applejack mumbled.

"Possession," Battle repeated. "A very complex and dangerous branch of dark magic. Possession spells are designed to exert one's will over another pony and take them over."

"Horrible," Rarity muttered.

"It is," Battle agreed. "The type of possession that's happened here however is a very rare, very powerful and very forbidden form of the art, and guarantee's complete and total control of the target."

"What's the catch?" Dash asked.

"The target has to be dead," Battle said. "That's why the spell is so taboo. It requires the reanimation of a dead pony beforehand for the possession to take place."

"You seem to know a lot about it," Twilight said quietly. Battle shrugged.

"If you're thinking I practice it I take some small degree of offence," Battle replied. "Beside I have none of the knowledge, skill or power to make the spell work. I do have the knowledge of what to do if someone is attacked by someone under this sort of possession."

"What do you mean by that?" Rarity demanded.

"The spell imbues its target with certain advantages," Battle explained. "The green veins you saw is an indication of acidic blood and enhanced strength. If you had seen a unicorn you might have noticed a series of cracks in the horn? That means the magic of that pony has been twisted and warped to suit a more, nefarious purpose, and on the wings of a pegasus there can be found a series of spores on the wings, signalling some kind of animal-like adaptation. All of them however have a venomous bite and if not treated quickly, the venom can be lethal."

"Wow," Twilight breathed. "So if Rarity had been bitten by that thing...?"

"She would have most likely died," Battle finished bleakly.

"My goodness," Rarity gasped. "I had no idea. If it hadn't been for that mysterious individual I might have... might have... I have to sit down."

"Whoa whoa whoa!" Dash cried as Rarity sat down again. "Mysterious individual? Are you telling us this knight in shining armor guy is real too?"

"I think we should focus on finding the possessed pony," Twilight said.

"Wouldn't bother," Battle replied, already tidying up the library. "Most likely the body has been returned and the next time something like this happens it'll be a different pony. And besides the spell only works on the recently deceased."

"So we have to what, set up guard in a place where people are near-death or something?" Twilight tried to make some ind of plan.

"We could but you'd have to find a place where ponies are near death," Battle said. He pressed a hand to his forehead and shook himself.

"You okay Battle?" Spike yawned.

"Fine," he replied, rubbing his shoulder. "Just, kind of tired."

"So you're telling us it's a fools errand to try and stop these attacks?" Twilight said slowly.

"Look," Battle said sharply. "I commend you for trying to help Twilight, I really do. But if you really want to stop these attacks, you'll have to stop focusing on the puppets and start focusing on the puppeteer, which to be honest I wouldn't recommend anyway as whoever or whatever it is, is most likely powerful, dangerous and evil."

"We've fought powerful dangerous and evil before now Battle," Twilight chuckled. "I think we can handle it."

The girls all gave collective agreements. Battle ground his teeth together but held hi tongue as he put another handful of books away. He knew all about the Elements of Harmony and their victories over Nightmare Moon, Discord, Queen Chrysalis and King Sombra. While the four of them may have seemed difficult to Twilight and her friends, Battle knew that the six Elements of Harmony were out of their depth here.

Magic, Honesty, Laughter, Loyalty, Kindness and Generosity could only go so far against Pride, Gluttony, Sloth, Lust, Greed, Envy and Wrath...