Band of Five Attributes

by Dragonborne Fox

Chapter 5- Of Blazing Lightning (edited)

An orange stallion with a flaming red mane tied back with a ribbon was walking the streets of Ponyville. Everywhere he looked, he saw....things dancing about in the shadows. Mocking him, angering him. His scarlet eyes kept catching things darting about. Momentary glimpses of things exposed by the moonlight, glimpses of things otherwise concealed. Things....that looked oddly familiar. But he did not go to every nook and cranny to find those things. No, he had to go to this place called the Carousel Boutique. He heard a friend was there. He walked slowly, dauntingly. He was missing half an entire hind leg, as a crash amputated that leg. He had a silly wooden stick in it's place! The bandages on the leg were still visible. The pain, the suffering, the tears, all there.

If only the pain would stop. If only the shadows ceased mocking him.

----

"Rainbow! Rekka's here and he's hurt!" A mare's voice shouted from the floor below. Rainbow had spent the night at the Boutique, and from the horror in the calling voice, things were already looking bleak. Rarity and Rainbow ran to the first floor of the boutique and they saw a stallion standing next to Yuuki. He was orange with a scarlet mane and once more matching eyes. He had a blue cap on his head, and another rectangular device on his left foreleg. But his right hind leg was partially missing, replaced by bloodied bandages and a wooden stick for support. His mane was tied back with a white, ribbon-like object. He looked...weak, hungry, tired. In fact, he even looked as if he cried.

Rarity fainted. The sight of a pony with an amputated limb was as bad as being knocked upside down into a wall by Nightmare Moon.

Rainbow ran to the kitchen, and quickly returned with a few sandwiches. Yuuki helped him sit down, and once given the sandwiches he wolfed them down. His face turned sour when he realized he'd eaten daisies, but didn't seem to mind too much.

"Rekka, tell me what happened," Yuuki said, her tone of voice more than telling everyone she was on the verge of crying. Her ears were flat.

"A Q-hybrid attacked me. I crashed into the ground in a way my leg is now useless." He replied, wiping a few crumbs from his mouth. He grunted and clutched his leg stump in pain.

----

"Tenmei, Nagare, Koto! Wake up! We need to go to the Boutique!" Spike shouted, banging a wooden spoon against a cooking pan.

"Why the Boutique?" Tenmei asked, rubbing a hoof on his eyes.

"I think your other friends are there! I hear there is a pony missing a leg!" Spike replied, dropping the spoon and pan.

In that instant, all three rushed out of bed and down to the first floor. They ran out the door like bullets from a magnum, Koto being carried by Nagare. They galloped madly in the direction of the Boutique, but then stopped to a halt. Twilight and Spike soon did the same, albeit with teleportation. Standing in front of them was a creature that was a cross between a man and a motorcycle. He was attached to the motorcycle at the hips in a sitting position. He looked furious, as if intent on running them over.

"A blasted Q-hybrid?!" Tenmei shouted, materializing his crossbow and standing effortlessly on his hind legs.

"Nagare, get Spike and Koto to the boutique! Tenmei and I will deal with this thing!" Twilight shouted frantically, her horn still glowing.

"Watch it, missy, 'cause I eat unicorns for breakfast!" The hybrid shouted in response. His foot moved onto the paddle and he pushed on it, and he was about to go full throttle and...

BAM!

A fast blur of grey and purple hit him smack in his face, shattering the glass of the helmet he wore and knocking him to the ground on his side.

"NOBODY MESSES WITH REKKA WHEN I AM AROUND!" A mare's voice shouted, imbued with absolute fury. Nagare did not bother to move, despite Spike literally pulling his leg. Tenmei turned his head to his right.

Nagare could tell his jaw dropped.

Twilight gaped.

Rarity and Rainbow had brought the other two ponies who suffered from the crash-landing. A mare who was light purple with a darker mane effortlessly ran on her hind legs, using them to juggle a grey and purple ball in the process!

On Rainbow's back sat an orange stallion with a scarlet mane. His leg was replaced by a wooden stick, and he had an object like a gun on his flank.

"Yuuki!" Tenmei, Koto, and Nagare shouted in shock, seeing her impressive feat.

The Q-hybrid got up for round two. He was more than pissed now. He turned on full throttle and rushed toward Yuuki.

Both combatants were going at each other at a terrific speed, neither being hindered at all! Yuuki's ball grew into a house-sized rolling behemoth. With all her might, she kicked the mammoth ball and flattened the hybrid. It then returned to normal size.

The hybrid literally faded away. No trace of him existed besides the imprints he made in the ground.

----

"How'd they get here?" Twilight asked, putting a hoof to her chin.

"I don't know, but I do know that one wasn’t friendly." Rarity replied with an un-ladylike grunt.

"We need an explanation." Rainbow chimed, slamming her hooves on a table.

The mares were at the table, save for Koto, who was helping calm Rekka down. He cried nonstop, he needed the comfort. Tenmei and Nagare were also helping.

"Must there be some other force at work bringing them here? The way me and my friends were brought here?" Yuuki asked aloud, crossing her forelegs.