The Deepest Magic

by ChronicleStone

Chapter 9: Unfinished Business

Outskirts of Foalumbus
April 7, 6:37 AM

“Sky…”

He heard his own name from off to his right. Casting a quick glance in that direction, he saw Twilight lying prone on the ground. Her eyes were glassy, and her mouth hung open in surprise. She looked exhausted, and she had obviously been in a fight, but the fact that she was alive came as a huge relief to him. However, the field was littered with the forms of her friends, all unconscious…or worse.

He inclined his head back in Lily’s general direction. “Lily…make sure that Twilight is alright. And I need you to help her make sure that the others are alright, as well.”

“What about you?” Lily asked.

He leveled his eyes his enemy several dozen feet ahead of him. “I’m going to buy you the time to do it.”

“Alright. Just please be careful.” She hadn’t argued with him, which revealed her confidence in him, but also her own realization that this was his task to perform. He took comfort in that.

We all have our parts to play. This is mine.

“You’ve become quite the magician,” the Chimera said in that haunting set of voices. “You’ve also become quite the masochist, coming back just to get thrashed again.”

He felt Lily behind him, waiting to move until Sky had managed to draw all of its attention to himself. “You’re sadly mistaken if you think I’ve learned nothing since our last fight.”

It snorted in amusement. “You obviously haven’t learned to stay away.”

Sky was not amused. “And you obviously haven’t learned to leave my friends alone. I’ll give you one chance to leave Equestria. Anything that happens after that falls on you.”

The Chimera snorted. “We think we can live with that,” it retorted, licking its three sets of lips. “Too bad you can’t say the same.”

Sky sighed. “I expected no less.” He snorted defiantly as he stretched his legs out into a crouching position. His face was set in a strangely neutral manner, but his eyes were filled with an intensity that seemed to well up from the deepest depths of his pupils. “Consider this your farewell party.”

“Oh, you sound so—”

Whatever the Chimera had planned to say, Sky never heard the end of it. His mind barely registered the beginning. Because before the Chimera had managed to say the word “sound,” he had surged forward, flashing and sparking along the way, bringing his rear hooves together in a kick that drove the Chimera head over heels along the ground. He spread his wings as straight as he could, and as his magic power rippled across their edges, he felt as though each wing was a weapon, a blade forged from a bolt of lightning itself.

He stood his ground as the Chimera rose again to its feet. Upon its foremost head, a smile rose as it rubbed a paw against its cheek. “Not bad. Is that all you’ve got?”

He looked down on this creature, this…menace…and for a split second, he felt the rage rise in his brain. But he quickly suppressed it, reminding himself of what Luna had told him. I don’t need the hate. It can keep it. I’ve got something better.

He glanced out the corner of his vision, where he could see Lily helping Twilight to her hooves. Spike was struggling to stand as well. I’m honestly surprised to see him here. I wonder if he came willingly.

He brought his focus back to the task at hand. He needed to buy them time to regroup. “Why don’t you come over here and find out?” he challenged.

“No thanks,” it replied, smacking the ground with its paw.

Sky was in the air almost immediately, wary of the Chimera’s power over the ground. Not a second later, a boulder burst from the location he had been standing and shot straight towards him. He barely managed to get his hooves positioned beneath himself to avoid taking the impact in his gut.

He clenched his teeth as the strain on his knees rose dramatically while the enormous stone launched him into the air. Fighting through the pain, he contorted his body backwards and caught the air with his wings, slowing his ascent. Then, with a mighty heave, he kicked against the rock, sending it hurtling back towards the Chimera.

The monster raised one of its six eyebrows, as if the danger did not concern it in the least. “Did another pony teach you that?” it asked. “Because that certainly looks familiar.” As the boulder approached, the Chimera draped itself in its black cloud. And just before impact, Sky saw a neon yellow blur rocket out from the cloud and speed through the air.

He barely managed to keep track of it before it raced right at him. He managed to duck just in time to avoid taking the full brunt of the impact, though he felt the speedy pegasus clip the tips of his wings, sending a shot of pain through them.

The pink-maned, neon yellow pseudo-pegasus paused in its flight, looking rather satisfied with itself. “We can see why you enjoy being a pegasus so much,” it said. “We have personally come to enjoy using this one.”

Sky was unamused. “Don’t get used to it.”

The Chimera-pegasus stared him down with a smug glare. “Care to see how you stack up against another pegasus? We’re rather eager to see how that would turn out.”

He didn’t respond. He was too busy trying to focus on what he was fighting for, rather than what he was fighting against. “Left speechless?” it continued. “Well, then, let’s just get started!”

It was heading right for him again. He tucked his wings and turned into an evasive dive, spinning as he avoided the attack. He quickly unfurled his wings and caught the wind underneath them, and, with a powerful push, he took off.

His pursuer wasn’t far behind. But Sky knew that he could leave this thing in the dust. He had been flying for years, and he had always been heralded as a great flyer by everypony he had gotten to know. He was at home in the air. More than that, he had been blessed with magical abilities that could augment his already impressive flying skills. The Chimera, on the other hoof, may have been flying for a grand total of a week, and it wasn’t made for the air. It was an earthly creature. It stood no chance against him. He could reach Canterlot before this thing could cover half that distance.

But how would that help him?

He steadied his pace and opened his awareness to where the Chimera was. He caught sight of it behind him on his left. He could see by its behavior that it was fighting to try and catch up, but the gleeful look on its face indicated that it had every intention of doing so.

“Now, now, don’t try and escape,” it shouted. “There’s no use trying to run!”

“Who’s running?” Sky replied. “This is just a leisurely stroll for me. Don’t tell me you’re having trouble keeping up already?”

He gradually moved to his left to position himself directly in front of the Chimera. Behind him, he could hear the grunting and straining of the Chimera as it worked to catch up to him. And it was catching up. But he could tell that it was taking so much effort, that it could focus on little else.

Which was the opening Sky was waiting for.

Flattening his wings, he turned into a smooth one-eighty, slowing dramatically but never losing position in his flight. And just as he completed the turn, he saw the surprised face of his enemy within reach of his front leg.

“Hey there.” Sky hauled back and planted his hoof into the face of the false pegasus, causing it to careen wildly past him as its momentum carried it on its new trajectory. Sky didn’t hesitate a second. Spinning around again, he caught up to his out-of-control adversary and delivered a powerful downward flip kick to its midsection, redirecting its path into a beeline for the ground.

Determined to press his advantage, he broke into a nosedive, chasing after his target. As he reached it, he thrust out his front legs, catching it squarely in its shoulders. His eyes locked with his counterpart’s, and he held its gaze as they descended, as though the Chimera could not look away.

Sky slammed the Chimera into the top of a shallow hill, raising a cloud of dust in the impact. He stood over the body of the neon yellow pegasus, who coughed and sputtered. Sky pressed it back against the ground and lowered his head to within mere inches of the Chimera’s face. “Never try to chase a pegasus,” he advised. Then, with a growing intensity in his eyes, he whispered, “I’m coming for you.”

“Then come on and beat me, if you think you can,” the Chimera hacked.

Sky’s face darkened. “I wasn’t talking to you,” he said forcefully. “I’m talking to them. I’m coming for them.”

He focused into the Chimera’s eyes…and looked deeper. He looked past the hatred, the thirst for destruction, and the love of chaos. He saw past the almost impenetrable blackness of the Chimera’s mind, until he found it. He saw it…dozens upon dozens of tiny pinpoints of light, smothered by the darkness, but alive as ever.

“All of them.”

The Chimera sat perfectly still, held captive by Sky’s penetrating glare. For a few strange moments, it was as though the creature had been purged of its destructive instincts and was perfectly innocent and as amicable as anypony could hope.

Finally, the Chimera blinked, and, apparently regaining its senses, it kicked Sky off of itself. He hovered gracefully a few feet away as the pseudo-pegasus wrapped itself in its black cloud before transforming back into its typical form. But in addition to its regular appearance, the Chimera possessed a new feature: upon its faces, the distinct look of surprise and apprehension was etched. It looked at Sky with looks of utter confusion, disbelief, and, if Sky could have believed it possible, fear.

“What are you doing? If you want to face me, then face me!” it shouted, though it sounded more panicked than commanding.

Sky suddenly felt a calm, soothing sensation in his brain. It settled his nerves and put him at ease. The Chimera was wavering, and, on the other side of the hill, the final stroke was prepared.

“It’s not about you and me,” he said simply. “It’s never been about you and me. I just happened to be the one that was chosen to show you what it really IS all about.” He raised his eyes and caught the gaze of the white unicorn beyond the base of the hill. Her horn glowed as her calming spell draped the area in a serene stillness. “If you’re ready, ladies,” he prompted.

Standing in a circle around Lily, perfectly aligned in formation, the six bearers of the Elements of Harmony closed their eyes and channeled their powers into one. Twilight, who stood at the head of the group, began to glisten and tremble as the force of the Elements built up in her body. Finally, with a brilliant flash of Twilight’s opening eyes, the rainbow-colored beam rocketed from amongst them and made for the place where the Chimera watched from its back. Sky heard a sort of gurgle coming from one of the monster’s heads (he assumed it was the goat head, since it was trapped underneath the body), and the Chimera quickly flipped back onto its legs, apparently looking to avoid being struck by the potent magical attack.

Quick as a flash, with the magical strike impending, Sky darted up behind the Chimera and shoved its foremost face back into the dirt and held it there as best he could. “Oh, no you don’t!” he shouted. “You’re gonna take your magic, and you’re gonna like it!”

Hearing the hiss of the snake’s head from behind, he brought his hind hooves together like a clamp, catching it right under its jaw. He held it as tightly as he could, desperate to keep it from scorching him. The goat’s head turned to face him, and he drove his last free hoof right into its nose.

I just have to keep it here a few more seconds, and it’ll be over with, he thought. It’ll all be over.

His body tensed as the Chimera squirmed to get free. He felt its legs kick as it tried to move even without the use of its heads. Increasingly desperate, he channeled some of his magic energy into the beast, trying to disrupt its movements for just a moment longer.

Then, as the Chimera flailed to break free, his eyes saw Lily, who stared at him, looking more worried than he had ever seen her. It looked like she was about to start bawling at any minute. Sky did his best to calm himself as a reassurance to her that he was alright, when the thought finally registered that she wasn’t worried about how he was dealing with the Chimera.

She was worried about the magic of the Elements.

He looked up just in time to realize that it was literally hundredths of a second until the beam collided with his body, which was draped awkwardly across the back of the Chimera. In that short period of time, his mind came to understand many things: he had no certainty that the Elements would help him enough to emerge victorious, he didn’t know if the Elements would be able to defeat the Chimera at all, and he didn’t know if they would be able to rescue all the consumed ponies. But most of all, he realized how precious every moment he had spent with his friends had been, and just how much he would be willing to give up to have just one more.

This is it.

The magic struck, and everything turned white.

Lily gasped as the rainbow struck the bodies of Sky and the Chimera. The hideous monster on the bottom quickly disappeared into a widening sphere of light, but Sky remained visible for a few more moments. She watched, frozen in horror and despair as his eyes opened wide and glowed with a pure white light, making him look like some kind of otherworldly apparition.

“Sky!” Lily heard the voice of Spike from behind her, calling out towards his friend, now trapped in the impact zone of the magical storm.

Her own voice was stolen away as the radiating sphere of light slowly became enveloped in a dim grey cloud that seemed to pulsate with darkness at its core. As it expanded, she could only watch helplessly as Sky’s form vanished within. As his body disappeared, the last thing she saw was his body as it straightened up and spread its wings, all the while, those glowing white eyes giving him an eerie, ghostly appearance.

And silence fell on the battlefield.