Chapter 10 - …people get hurt… (part 2 of 3)
Chains rustled. A metal claw shot out of the darkness and latched itself to the back of Laplace’s head.
“LAPLACE! WE ARE FAR FROM DONE!”
The chain tightened on the demon’s skull.
“GET OVER HERE!”
Laplace was dragged through the darkness head-first. Before she could try to work up any magic, another cold metal claw pierced into her back. She screamed in pain as the metal claw broke through her ribcage.
“Remember what I told you?”
The claw inside tightened around Laplace’s most vital organ.
“Yours…”
The claw ripped out of Laplace’s back, releasing a torrent of the demon’s blood and sending Laplace to the floor.
Zircon held her bloody claw, Laplace’s heart still beating. “…for mine.”
An immediate eruption of Zircon’s black magic sent Laplace flying. She hit the ground face-first, skidding across the floor.
A solid beat pulsed in Laplace’s veins once again as she pulled her head from the carpet.
She just stole our heart!
That bitch!
Zircon stood tall, her eyes now tainted green, sinister with purple magic streaming from her eyes, and a black light sealing up the cut along her chest. She stamped her hoof and the magic dispersed, revealing her body in full.
“Much better!” shouted Zircon. “I told you what would happen!”
Laplace’s strength, heart, and anger returning to her, the demon rose to her hooves and yelled with blind rage “You little, son of a-”
Zircon shot out one of her metallic claws, the magically charged limb soared through the air and grabbed the mare’s snout.
“Boop,” Zircon quickly said.
Black crystals jutted out of Laplace’s body. Hundreds of tiny little black spears shot out of her body. The demon’s eyes went wide with pain. She tried to scream, but Zircon’s grasp would not break.
“And this is the part I didn’t tell you that would happen.”
Zircon’s dark magic flowed into Laplace through her claw. Black crystals sprouted from the claw, spreading like a plague all across Laplace within seconds. Laplace only managed a single muffled shout before the crystals consumed her entire body from head to hoof.
Zircon waited for several deep breaths, all the while watching Laplace for a sign of escape from her crystal tomb. A sign that never came.
“And that’s how you skin a demon cat,” Zircon smiled. She straightened, and like the flip of a switch the dark magic pulsating around her instantly vanished. Her eyes and the hue of her horn returned to their natural colors. Zircon let go of the demon and the missing limb returned, clicking into place. The metal claws retracted, becoming four hooves once again.
“You know, part of me wanted to fight you going all out. Really, I did. I wanted to beat you into the ground for what you did to Night Light. But this will do.”
Confident with her success, she walked up to the crystallized pony and smiled. “You know, Nighty was a friend. Knew him since he was a foal. Good guy. So was his father, and his father before him. Such an impressive family.”
With a flash of her horn, Zircon summoned a crystal by her hooves. It grew two feet in length before breaking off from its base, making an impromptu lance.
“Pity you had to ruin all that."
Zircon grabbed the lance in her hooves and jammed it into the midsection of the crystallized Laplace.
“And now, we’re done. With my anti-magic, all that power seeping into you goes as soon as it comes. And without that power to heal yourself, you’re as mortal as anyone else… so when you die this time, we won’t be having a repeat the last time I killed you.”
A thought occurred to her and she began to chuckle to herself.
“You know, it’s funny. You brought this upon yourself. You really did. When you attacked me and my sister when we were just fillies, you drove me to learn how to counter magic-users like yourself. When you destroyed my eye, I got a new enchanted one which helped me see that power source in your forehead. And then when you ripped my heart out, I turned your own magic against you I took yours and it showed me exactly what you really were.”
“If you didn’t do this to me, I never would have figured out how to kill you. But then again, this is me we’re talking about, so of course this was going to be the result one way or another.” She tapped Laplace’s crystal tomb, smiling before walking away.
“I would say see you in hell, but I’m never going there. Goodbye Laplace, and good riddance.”
A job well done, she began to walk to a fallen, broken bookshelf. Alright, that’s done. I suppose all that’s left now is to see if Leeroy’s completely dead, or only mostly dead. Sancty would be grateful if I saved him, and then he’ll have to let me examine that so-called demon’s corpse—
Zircon stopped in her tracks.
Wow, I just made myself sound totally whipped. Bah, it’s for Sancty. He’s totally worth it. Zircon smiled, thinking about Sanctus as she reached the broken bookshelf. With her magic, she threw the ruined piece of furniture to reveal the crushed form of Leeroy sprawled out on the blood-soaked carpet.
Zircon’s horn glowed brighter and purple magic began to bubble and spark from her horn. She set one of her metallic hooves on the hippogriff, allowing her dark magic to seep into the paladin’s body.
“Oh goodie, you’re only mostly dead,” Zircon said as she stood up on her hind legs and rubbed her forehooves together, black magic sparking like electricity from them.
“Alright, Sancty,” she muttered, “let’s make sure you don’t lose one of your paladins.” A black aura surged all around Zircon, amplified by traces of yellow magic, the spell reaching its zenith. “Iron Fist! Dark Resurrection!” she shouted, bringing her mechanical fist down upon Leeroy’s exposed chest.
Black magic emanated all around them as it began to transfer into the paladin. Zircon held her punch against his chest, seeing the visible impact she made undoing itself as the spell did its work.
Heh-heh. I wonder what they’re gonna say when I tell them about this. The expressions on their faces alone will be worth it.
The spell ended, and Zircon retracted her metallic hoof from the ex-corpse. The second she did, Leeroy’s body instinctively gasped for air, coughing to free his airway.
Zircon smiled as she went from bipedal back to four hooves. Her green glowing eyes vanished, leaving pulsating yellow in their place. With a little grin, the elder witch began examining the young paladin’s body. As much as she enjoyed the view, there was something that perplexed her.
“How are his wounds healed? That wasn’t supposed to heal him. How much magic did I put into that—” Zircon felt a boulder falling on top of her heart. “Fuck!” She clenched her chest, falling over to her knees. Every fibre of her being screamed in pain. Her eyes, tainted yellow, bulged from her skull. The witch’s body shut down. Any and all ability to concentrate or think was now gone.
Which was exactly what Laplace had intended.
Laplace’s crystallized tomb shook. A vile yellow light shone through growing cracks in the black crystals With scream and a final burst of strength, Laplace broke free, stretching out her wings and forehooves, the crystal tomb meant to hold her shattered into a thousand pieces.
“THERE!” shouted the demon of canterlot, her coat a glimmering white, with clean draconic wings and not a single injury on her being. Spotless, all except for the single jewel in her forehead.
She turned to Zircon and trotted over to the fallen witch, who was struggling simply to look at her. Laplace grinned with the widest smile on her face she got close and leaned in, Zircon’s and Laplace’s beaming yellow eyes meeting.
“That hurt, you know,” Laplace said. “That hurt a whole lot. It felt kinda like THIS!” Laplace gave her a vicious kick. Before Zircon had stopped rolling, Laplace’s horn was already bright with magic.
The witch quivered as the yellow magic flooded her body. It beamed from her eyes and shone from inside her prosthetic hooves.
“Aww, am I putting too much of my power into you?” taunted Laplace. “I’m glad you liked taking the magic from my heart. I have a lot of magic to share, and through your—well, my old heart, I can share as much as I like. So much that it’ll make you… pop.
For a split second, Zircon’s face was covered in shock.
“So,” Laplace said, lowering her head, “how does it feel, bitch? All that power coursing through your veins? We bet it hurts. It hurt when I first felt it, too. It only took me a few centuries before I got used to it." Zircon let out a shout of pain as an even stronger pulse surged through her. Laplace closed her eyes and licked her lips at the other mare’s agony.
“We thought you said you could handle us?”
Another wave of energy shot through Zircon, bolts of pure magic arcing over her body, light shining from her metal limbs. She thrashed, rolling and screaming in pain as she tried to think of something, anything to save herself.
It only earned Zircon a swift kick to her stomach.
“How much of that power do you think you can take?” Laplace laughed. “I can promise you, it won’t be enough!” Zircon’s limbs crackled with magical energy, sparking like a thundercloud.
Laplace just chuckled, watching her for a moment longer as her spasms intensified. When the glow reached blinding levels, she leaned down again to whisper in the witch’s ear.
“This is the part where you go boom.”
The explosion that followed was deafening.
The library shook.
Flash fell to his knees as the entire library rattled, books fell out of their bookshelves all around him, and the chandeliers above rattled. Looking up, he saw what had been an explosion yellow, rising high into the air above the bookcases, scorching that part of the library’s majestic ceiling.
The hell was that? he thought. On second thought, scratch that, I don’t want to know. I need to get out of—!
An alien hoof wrapped around Flash’s neck, throwing him to the floor. Said set of smaller, but vastly stronger hooves pinned him to the ground.
“Now!”
He recognized the voice. That mare who was with Shining Armor earlier. Bon Bon, he thought her name was. Yea, that’s got to be it—
“Sweetie Drops, he’s him,” said another voice. A unicorn stallion with a dark gray coat and a even darker mane.
Or maybe not.
“She’s fooled you before!” Sweetie Drops shouted back.
Before she could say more, the stallion interrupted her. “I know my stuff, Miss Drops. It’s him and not her.”
Then from the corner of his vision, he another figure, a familiar white and blue stallion joining them. “Seymour, Bon Bon, that’s enough,” said Shining Armor. “He’s not Laplace.”
Ok, is it Bon Bon or is it Sweetie Drops? Couldn’t she just pick one name and go with that? For a paladin she sure does smell really nice—
It was at this moment Flash pondered if he actually enjoyed being horse-handled by a mare like that, and whether he should continue his train of thought. He wisely chose ‘no’ to both of those.
“You might wanna let him go before he starts to enjoy that, Miss Drops,” Seymour Guise said.
Sweetie Drops rolled her eyes and let go of Flash. The paladin and the slightly embarrassed stallion both got to their hooves quickly.
Seymour walked up to Flash, eyeing him from head to hoof. “Hmmm, strapping. Glad to see you’re alive, Mr. Sentry. I’ll be blunt, it’s time to go.”
Flash hesitated as deception crawled into his mind. Was this them? For all the tricks Laplace had pulled on him before, this could be another elaborate ruse.
“Don’t be scared, Mr. Sentry, we’re not an illusion. I promised you I’d be getting you out of here,” Shining Armor said. “And I don’t break my promises.”
Regardless if it was or wasn’t, it wasn’t like it’d make things any worse than they were already.
“I appreciate that, Captain Armor, sir. Do you know where everyone else was taken?”
“From past experiences, most likely they’re in her lab,” said Shining Armor.
“She’s gonna be mad at you guys setting fire to her library. We need to get them before she does,” Flash said. “How are we gonna get them back?”
“We are. You aren’t.”
“Seymour,” Shining turned to the gray stallion, “take Flash out of here. I know the library’s layout, Bon Bon and I will gather the hostages and bring them out and we’ll meet you at the entrance.”
Seymour raised an eyebrow. “You sure about that?”
Flash knew he had to do three things: First, escape. Second, get help like Captain Armor. Finally, get his friends back. Shining Armor, on the other hoof, only wanted that first part. For that, he could send Flash, the weaker solder back outside where he would be safe.
Flash knew nopony would blame him for not going back for his friends. He was in a horrible situation with a demon he stood no chance against. Laplace was unstable, and for all he knew they were already dead and she didn’t tell him. There were a thousand reasons why he should just get out as soon as he could.
Celestia damn it.
He supposed he was stubborn like that. Chivalry and loyalty. He wouldn’t leave his friends behind. Unlike his father, he wouldn’t abandon those close to him.
Flash turned back towards Shining Armor. “Sir, let me help.”
“Denied, soldier,” answered Captain Armor. “I’m not risking anyone else.”
“She’s got my friends. We don’t leave ponies behind, and I’m not leaving my friends behind. Sir, let me help. She’s got four hostages, there’s four of us and the trip out would be—”
“I can use my magic to pull them," interrupted Shining Armor. "I made a promise I’d get you out. I am not going to tell your parents how I failed to protect you."
“Look, sir, I’ve been in this nightmare for days now, and I am not leaving empty hoofed or with my tail between my legs. She’s been messing with me for all this time. I’m not gonna let that she-demon win.”
Shining Armor closed his eyes.
Seymour spoke up. “Take the help, Shiny. He knows what he’s getting into. You know I’m not a fighter, and right about now any help is good help.”
Shining Armor looked at Flash, the solder he said he would save. Like father, like son, I suppose. The paladin captain sighed.
“Fine,” Shining Armor said, rubbing off any insecurities before assuming his normal tone. “Okay, here’s what we do. Seymour, keep your senses out for her. Bon Bon, stay in the middle. Sentry, you take the rear, I take point. You all understand?”
“Yes sir!”
When Laplace opened her eyes, she felt cold concrete against her face.
It wasn’t something she should feel, as last she could remember she was standing right next to Zircon, who had just exploded.
It took her a moment to remember how explosions work, and a second moment to realize that her head was deeply embedded inside a concrete wall. The shadow mare’s head rose out of Laplace’s back to survey the damage.
Note to self: Do not stand next to a ticking time bomb. Even if it means we can’t gloat.
We’re not that invulnerable, you know.
What? I like to think we are.
If that hit the source, we might have been hurt.
Bah, if a sword can’t hurt us, why would an explosion?
Not the point. We can’t take a risk like—
Wait, What is that?
Oh no…
Laplace pushed against the wall, her head making an audible ‘pop’ as it came out. Floating in the air, Laplace turned around, and gaped.
“Oh, stars damn it!”
Zircon lay in a crumpled heap, her body partially charred but intact. Her prosthetic limbs, on the other hoof, were now scattered across the library in tiny broken pieces, leaving Zircon as nothing more than a torso, a head, and the little nubs of what was left of her legs.
“Oh, come on!” Laplace landed back on solid ground and ran up to Zircon’s body to examine her.
“What the crap?” Laplace shouted. “How is she still in one piece?”
“You’ve got to be kidding me,” she said back to herself. “There’s supposed to be body parts and blood everywhere! Mr. Fury was supposed to find her torn to shreds! Not buriable!”
“Exactly!” replied Laplace to herself, staring deep at the witch’s body. “Seriously, what the hell? We blew her up. How did it kill her but not explode her?”
Laplace sighed.
“At least we managed to kill her.”
Zircon coughed smoke into Laplace’s face.
Laplace cried out as smoke wafted into her eyes, instinctively backing away and brushing at her now bloodshot eyes.
Laplace heard a chuckle.
“Heh-heh-heh-heh-heh…”
Laplace’s eyes turned yellow. “What the hell!? You exploded! How did you not die? I blew you up!”
“No,” Zircon said, “you blew my legs up. Which hurt like a bitch, by the way. Do you have any idea how much those things cost me?”
Laplace scowled at her. “What do I care? An arm and a leg?”
Zircon snorted in a sardonic laugh.
“Hey!” Laplace growled through her teeth. “Stop laughing! Don’t you mock me!”
“But you’re so funny when you’re so angry!”
“We won!” Laplace shouted, towering over her and stomping her hoof. “We won, you lost, it’s over! You’re about to die, stop laughing!”
The limbless pony on the ground gave her a flat expression. “Don’t talk down to me, kid,”
The irony only enraged her further. Laplace yelled an incoherent scream, picking up Zircon with her magic and throwing her down in a tantrum.
Despite the pain, Zircon laughed. “Oh you’re cute! No wonder Shining likes to keep you around. You’re like a pathetic little pet. But that’s what you’d want to be, right? Shining’s little sugar bowl? No wonder he denies—”
Laplace stomped her hoof. “That’s it!” Her eyes became pure gold from the magic seeping through them. She rose to her hind legs and pointed a foreleg at Zircon’s laughing, legless body. “I’ve had it with you!”
Magic channeled into her outstretched limb, gathering in a pulsating orb.
“JUST DIE, GOD DAMN—!”
“Caelum Scintilla,” a new voice said, right behind Laplace.
A sphere of sparking, holy energy collided with Laplace’s backside, sending her screaming into the unlit reaches of the library. The sphere was the only source of light until it made impact with the far off wall on the other side of the library, where it burst into a luminous display of magnificent power.
A stallion’s silhouette trotted through the dust towards the fallen witch.
“Ah! About time, Sancty!” Zircon said. “Have a good nap?”
Sanctus Fury walked up to Zircon with a scowl. “I see you let this situation get out of hoof.”
Zircon smiled but spared the laugh. Never the funny type, that sour oaf.
“I really thought you would be able to take her,” Sanctus said.
Zircon eyed her old friend, concerned with what she saw. “And I thought I set my spell to un-stone you completely,” she said, pointing at Sanctus' petrified left hind leg.
“You did. I cut off the spell before it could turn an advantage back into a liability.” He stomped his formerly crippled stone hoof. “Feels good to walk on it halfway decently again.”
Zircon shrugged. “You oughta just do what I did: hack it off and just get a prosthetic—”
“They’re not reliable. You know I’d break every one of them.”
Normally, Zircon would extol the benefits of prosthetics and how they could help Sanctus, but, seeing how her own were scattered all across the room, she did not have the high ground in the argument, literally and figuratively.
More important, she didn’t have the time.
“Thanks for the save, but it won’t keep her down. We've got about a minute before she comes back," Zircon said.
"Go teleport out, grab your backup legs—”
“-Which you were totally right about bringing.”
“Of course I was. You get the kid out of here, get healed up, put those legs back on, and get back here. Understood? ”
Zircon sighed. So blunt, Sancty.
“Yeah, but before I do,” she began, “turns out Clover the Clever's forbidden journals about Laplace were right on the money. Laplace is as mortal as you and me. Same thing with the gem in her forehead — it’s been feeding her all that power we saw and keeping her alive.”
“I see…. So Laplace is mortal after all.”
“More or less. She’s just a thousand-year-old traitor who has a corrupting relic of untold power embedded in her skull.
“Still, that means we can kill it.”
“Isn’t that exactly what you told me last time before everything went to shit when we tried to kill her the first time? Back when Nighty was alive, I had two eyes, and you had four good legs?”
Sanctus let out a hollow laugh. “I suppose so, Zirc-” his smile vanished as the Library shook.
“Zircon, she’s coming. Get going before she can stop you.”
Zircon sighed. “Yeah...”
With the flash of her horn, Zircon teleported from her spot on the floor and on top of Leeroy’s unconscious body and grabbed him with what little she had left of her legs.
“Listen, Sanctus... Don’t get yourself killed, ok? I know you. Just keep her busy until we get back. I can stop her, but I need your power to kill her. Don't waste it before I get back."
“I’ll be fine.”
Zircon glared at the eager old warrior. Worried eyes met his determined gaze.
“I’ll be fine,” he repeated, stamping his hoof. “Go.”
Damn it, Sanctus. Zircon vanished in a flash of light, taking Leeroy with her.
Things are different this time, Zircon. There are no elements of surprise, no princesses to sacrifice one’s self for, and no reason to hold back. I will do what Starswirl and Clover the Clever could not do.
Sanctus heard footsteps and turned to see an angry, burned Laplace walking out of the shadows and into the light, her eyes fixed on him.
Zircon, I will kill this monster.
The pair silently eyed each other from across the room.
"Well, hello, Mister Fury, and—"
A blade came down to take Sanctus’ head.
Sanctus spun around, his right foreleg brimming with energy reaching out and blocking Sterling Conduct's claymore wielded by the shadow mare.
Sanctus held his dulled expression as the magic blade strained against the stallion’s enchanted hoof.
No might was enough, for no matter how much force was applied he would not allow the magic blade to cut into him.
"Child, that's not a sneak attack…."
Sanctus rose up to his hind legs, reached behind him and grabbed Laplace’s incoming punch.
"That's just pathetic."
He brought both of his hooves together, swinging Laplace into the sword, the shadow holding the sword vanishing upon impact.
Sanctus winded his stone foot back before kicking Laplace in the snout with the solid rock hoof, Laplace’s skull cracked loudly as she was sent across the library floor once again, crashing face first.
"Did you truly believe that something as blatantly telegraphed as that could work?"
Sanctus went back down to four hooves and began to walk to his target.
“Even a peon could have stopped that."
Sanctus could hear Laplace’s growl as she neared him, the mare’s magic once again surging like a storm about to be born.
“It’s just like everything else about you… weak.”
“Shut up!”
From Laplace’s horn came a blinding light, Sanctus turned away to spare his eyes. The loss of vision wasn’t enough though to allow a beam of magical energy to slip past his senses. Gathering some of his own magic in his right hoof, Sanctus deftly deflected the beam with a swift backhoof.
As soon as the light faded and Sanctus regained his vision, he caught a glimpse of a feral unicorn rushing toward him. Laplace’s twisted horn was brimming with magic and aiming to impale Sanctus’ heart.
“Predictable,” Sanctus said as he lazily waved his right forehoof, casting a string of Lancea bolts that pierced the air and impaled Laplace, pinning her against a bookshelf.
“Again, weak.”
“FUCK YOU!”
“All that power, wielded by a miserable child unable to realize their potential. You have a power nobody can compare to, yet you have no ability to use it. It is just… weak.”
“I SAID—” Laplace lit up her twisted horn and dispelled the magical spears pinning her “—FUCK —”
Only for three more bolts to take their place, impaling Laplace right back to the bookshelf once more.
“You should have seen that coming,” he scolded. “That was right in front of you. You claim to be a fearsome demon, but you’re anything but. You are a petulant child blinded by her own stupidity who has no idea what strength truly is. ”
Sanctus stomped his forehooves into the ground. The floor began to light up, large trails of light snaking around both Laplace and Sanctus. The lines began running up the nearby bookshelves and then into the air. The lines of light then began to take form, bending inward until they made four runes. One on the floor below them, two to their sides in the air, and one directly above them. From all four, what looked like large spears began to protrude from their centers.
“Let me show you what true strength looks like. It will be the last thing you ever see.”
Shining Armor turned to Seymour.
“Seymour, is she here?”
The gray stallion shook his head. “No, Shiny, she’s far away from here .”
“Good. Those three are doing their part then.”
“And if they do it too well?” Seymour asked.
Shining broke eye contact and moved forward. “We can deal with it after.” Shining walked over destroyed bookshelves, half-charred pages floated in the air around them. “This should be her lab. Over these bookshelves, the entrance is down here.”
Bon Bon went next, walking over the rubble. “She left the doors open? You’d think she’d at least barricade it before she left.”
“When she’s panicing or under pressure, she stops thinking straight. Setting her precious library on fire will do the trick.”
Shining stopped at the bottom of the little mountain of rubble. “Outside of the few times one of us talked to her at her cell door, these books we’ve given her are the only other form of respite she’s had since we put her in here. Years of isolation has made her cling to those books. It works in our favor.”
As Flash climbed over the fallen bookcases, the word ‘isolation’ stuck to him. Or more importantly the question of, why isolate the problem. You’re the hero who defeated her back then, Captain Armor. Why didn’t you kill her? Why did you seal a demon of all things away like some madmare in an attic?
You told everyone it was you who killed her and saved Princess Cadance’s life. It made you a national hero overnight and propelled you to the top of our military in a matter of years.
Did you build your entire military career on a lie?
“Captain, if I may,” began Flash. “Why is Laplace here? If she really is the Demon of Canterlot, didn’t you kill her?”
“That’s not a question I’m going to answer,” immediately came out of Shining Armor’s mouth.
“Sir, please, I'd like to—”
“No.” Shining Armor turned around and glared at Flash, his eyes as sharp and serious as his tone. “We’re here. Keep moving and hurry inside.”
Flash flinched and took a step back, holding his tongue.
He must have had a good reason for not killing her… right?
“Yes, sir. I’m coming right—"
Flash looked behind him and saw a great light in the dark distance. A shockwave of air and magic rushed through the library kicking up the loose papers destroyed in the battle. It passed by them like a mighty wind, nearly knocking Flash off his hooves.
"Is everyone alright?" Seymour was the first to speak.
Flash was next. “What the hell was that?!” He exclaimed looking to his captain. The anguish and frustration on Shining Armor's face told Flash he knew exactly what it was. And whatever it was, it wasn't good.
“Is that what I think it is?” Bon Bon asked.
“It’s Sanctus all right, and it seems like he's going all out,” chimed in Shining Armor.
“Wait,” said Flash. “Sanctus… as in Instructor Sanctus Fury? I mean, I know he use to be one of the strongest paladins back in his day, but didn't instructor Fury retire and get out of the guard years ago?”
“More like forced out. My predecessor, Captain Platinum, forced him to retire after the Demon of Canterlot incident crippled him. He told me that he already lost my father, and didn't want to lose another friend. Becoming a training instructor was the only comprise that stubborn ass would accept."
"So then why did you let him come here now?" asked Flash.
"I didn't have much of a choice," the captain answered. "He was here the second he got wind of what happened. No force in Equestria was gonna keep him away from getting his rematch with Laplace.”
“At least he brought that witch with him,” Bon Bon said. “If what I heard was true, she kinda just dropped everything for him."
“Ponies seem to do that when Sanctus calls on them,” Shining said to that. I swear, that asshole has more control over my soldiers than me.
"Look out!" Seymour shouted, pointing his hoof to the air.
The trio looked and saw a flaming chandelier heading right for Flash.
"Oh damnit, not again!" Flash shouted. Refusing to collide with a second chandelier, he bolted out of the way… and stopped seconds from crashing into a second magic wall.
The chandelier crashed into the Shining Armor's impromptu barrier, it shattering into burning pieces of debris.
Then came three flying bookcases, each in a different degree of burn into they too shattered against the barrier.
Flash, Bon Bon and Seymour held their breath. Shining maintained his magic shield for another minute, all of them on guard for more incoming objects. When the coast was clear, Shining dropped the shield.
"Was... that them?" Flash asked.
"Yeah, and they're both pissed," Seymour said. “just teeming with hatred. We oughta hurry before their rage blows this whole library up.”
Flash was the last to enter into the dimly lit room.
He saw Shining Armor head off into the darkness, sliding between objects, then watched the captain reach for a small switch on the wall with his magic.
With a click, the magic lights above them turned on and Laplace's laboratory was illuminated in full. The place was filled with glass vials and boxes, loose paperwork scattered about.
The tables were covered a plethora of scientific instruments and apparati. A hot plate was still burning thanks to a self-sustaining magic spell, beakers bubbled with various substances, and an apron was lazily draped on a fallen statue. In the far corner were paper notes and a chalkboard filled with notes and complex equations that were way beyond Flash’s comprehension, complete with an open filing cabinet, the source of the loose paperwork.
"Oh wow, she wasn’t kidding when she said she had a lab. How long has she had this? How did she even get this?"
Seymour sighed. "For a while. She tricked us into giving her the materials before we realized what she was aiming for. Like all that sand."
"Sand?" asked Bon Bon.
"Yeah, that’s where all this glass came from." Seymour answered.
Bon Bon scratched her head. “What does sand have to do with making glass?”
Flash jumped at the chance to answer. “Glass is made by superheating sand. My mom’s done that before. I use to help her and my grandmother with glassmaking when I was a colt.”
Bon Bon stared blankly as she contemplated glassmaking for a good ten seconds. “Huh. You learn something new every day.”
“Hey, Seymour,” said Shining Armor, “you said you wanted to see her notes. I found them. We may not have a second chance. Hurry over here with your camera, I'm sure there's something Cadance wants to see here."
Seymour rushed over, smiling. "So glad I brought it today.”
“Bon Bon, Flash,” Shining Armor directed, “grab Laplace’s hostages and make some space.”
Flash saluted. “Yes, sir!” He turned to Bon Bon. “Ok Miss Drops, where do we start searching?”
“Searching?” Bon Bon said. “We passed them on the way in.”
Flash was greatly confused as Bon Bon headed back toward the mess they passed coming in.
“Huh? What are you—” Flash’s jaw dropped when he realized what the fallen statues truly were. He ran back to the stone figure and tore the apron off to reveal the face of his former marefriend.
“June!” Flash shouted. His eyes darted all over her petrified body, scanning for damage, cracks, anything. Oh thank Celestia, she’s okay. Looking to her side, he saw his best friend on the floor next to her. Luckily, the stone body of Steel Wings was also intact. Both stallion and mare were in equally good condition.
Flash turned to the sound of glass breaking and saw Bon Bon flipping one of the long tables and pushing another out of the way.
“Drag any unbroken statues over here,” she ordered. “We need to make some room for the spell circle. Then grab Seymour so he can draw the runes.”
The library was covered in a cloud of smoke from Laplace’s attack.
“So Mister Fury, how’d you like that one? Did you enjoy eating your own words, or has death left you speechless?” Laplace chuckled. “It was fun while it lasted, you old bag of bones, but it doesn’t matter if you’re protecting someone or just going all out—we beat you all the—”
A glowing lance tore through Laplace’s chest. The twisted mare gritted her teeth and ripped it out, tossing the magical construct aside. She looked down at where the smoke had been but saw nothing but the burning chandelier she had thrown earlier.
“You should focus more on making sure your opponent is dead instead of gloating.” Sanctus said with clear disapproval, standing on a bookcase behind Laplace.
“Then allow us to change that!” She hurled the smoldering chandelier with her magic.
The old paladin leaped sideways, dodging the chandelier as it went flying off into the distance. His hooves shone with ethereal light as they held him fast against the wall.
Laplace growled and slung a fireball at Sanctus’ position. He jumped off the wall and onto the nearest bookshelf. He jumped again onto another bookshelf as another ball of fire hit and consumed the one he had landed upon.
“Impressive attack. It might have actually hit me if you knew how to aim.”
“Shut up!” Laplace screamed as Sanctus jumped away from the third fireball. Once again, the demon’s flames engulfed only a bookshelf and not her intended target.
“Continuing the same plan isn’t a very intelligent idea. Surrounded by books yet you seem to have learned nothing."
Damnit! I can’t hit him! The bastard keeps moving! Why can’t we hit him!
Laplace gritted her teeth as she continued her failed assault. “Stand still!”
About what he was saying, he did have a point. We should change tactics.
Whatever, let’s just make him eat his words.
“I said stand still, you miserable bastard!”
The bookshelves all around Sanctus lit up. Sanctus dodged again, out of the corner of his eye he glimpsed the shadow mare behind him gathering magic about her horn. He spun his hooves around and blocked incoming blast, it knocking him back on the bookshelf.
His hooves caught the bookshelf, the spell on his hooves ensuring he wouldn’t fall. Looking back at Laplace he saw her channeling up her own magical blast, all while her shadow copied her exact movements. Both mares fired streams of magic out of their horns at Sanctus. The stallion reared up onto his hind legs and extended his forehooves to block.
“Clipeus!” Sanctus shouted, two large magic constructs in the form of bucklers appeared at Sanctus' sides blocking both of Laplace’s beams.
The bookcase he stood on rumbled. He looked up and saw the ceiling coming closer as he rose.
“PANCAKE TIME!” Laplace shouted as she threw the bookcase Sanctus was standing on into the ceiling. With the mare’s twin assault unrelenting Sanctus only had a moment to react.
“Let your shield grace us!” Sanctus crashed into the ceiling, the bookcase he was standing on smashing into him. All of it crashed against a shining, white barrier.
The shadow mare vanished and Laplace’s eyes twitched as she saw Sanctus' barrier, blazing with the sigil of Celestia.
THAT MOTHER FU-
Wait, he’s hurt...
Laplace chuckled. Sanctus Fury was standing on the ceiling, little spell circles tethering his hooves from falling. The unicorn crossed her hooves and floated up to him.
“It seems not even your worthless goddess can truly protect you against me!”
“How’s that splinter feeling jackass!?”
Sanctus noticed he was bleeding. Broken pieces of wood were embedded in his flesh. The biggest stuck in his neck. Not deep enough.
“It’s just like every other attack of yours.” Sanctus pulled the wood out of his neck. “Weak.” Sanctus then crushed it in his hooves. “Hope destroying all those books was worth that minor scratch.”
Laplace gritted her teeth. “Well then, how about this!” She hurled another bookshelf at the paladin.
“Magna Clypeus!” A giant magical shield materialized around Sanctus’ right forehoof. With a swipe the shield crashed into the bookshelf, backhoofing the thrown object and sending it flying away.
“Tisk tisk, just wood? Still weak!” Sanctus sighed “Can’t you think of anything better?”
“Of course we can! The things we can do far outdo anything you could do back in your prime! It’s kinda obvious that we’re stronger than you, you old piece of shit! ”
“I’m waiting for you to prove it, child! Cause everything you’ve thrown at me is just... weak—”
“STOP USING THAT FUCKING WORD!” Laplace blared. She grabbed another bookshelf in her magic, within seconds it ignited in unholy flames.
“We are not weak!”
She threw it at him.
“We are powerful! All powerful!”
With his oversized magic shield, Sanctus knocked the burning bookshelf aside just like the other, sending it flying far away. Just in time to see another heading towards him.
“We’re stronger than a piece of crap asshole like you!”
Sanctus rose his shield and met the attack head on, both bookshelf and shield broke against each other scattering into pieces. More wooden splinters cut into his flesh as Sanctus held his ground on the ceiling.
“We destroyed you once!”
Sanctus saw the next blazing bookshelf incoming. With no means to stop it, he dropped from the ceiling and began to fall. The heat of the bookshelf cauterized his open wounds as it flew over his head.
“AND WE WILL AGAIN, ASSHOLE!”
That voice came from below. He looked down below him and saw the shadow mare, brimming with purple eyes, transforming into a giant dragon, countless rows of jagged teeth opened wide as the dragon’s head rose from the ground to consume Sanctus whole.
Sanctus closed his eyes, sparks of magic forming in his right hoof. “Málleum Dei!” A radiant holy energy engulfed from his hoof, the hairs on his coat stood on end.
“And I will put you back in your place!”
Sanctus reeled his sparking hoof back and thrusted it into the shadow dragon’s maw. Light and shadow clashed.
“Take this!”
“Ok everyone, stand back,” Seymour said. Each of Laplace’s four stone hostages stood in the center of a great spell circle.
Light began to emanate from the lines etched in the floor as Shining, Bon Bon, and Flash watched the spell activate. The rescue party held their breath as the light traveled from the lines and into the four petrified soldiers. The light increased in intensity, becoming even brighter until the magic exploded in a blinding sunburst.
When their eyes readjusted, they did not see four statues, but four ponies.
In a flash, Flash dashed to them. “June! Steel!” Flash cried out, relieved to see his friends alive…or would have if Shining Armor hadn’t grabbed Flash’s tail with his magic.
“Hold it,” he said. “Give them a moment first.”
Flash relented. Instead of rushing to his friends he approached them slowly.
On the floor, Flash saw the red mare Laplace had impersonated lying next to Steel Wings decked in his tattered armor. The other two groggily got to their feet, flexing stiff muscles as their worlds returned to them. June was standing, clutching her head as she came to, the brown stallion Castle Crest was doing the same, just faster.
“Celestia, what was the number on that train?” June muttered to herself as she stretched her neck, awakening from her stone slumber.
“June?”
“Flash?” June asked. Flash stood in front of her. “What the shit is going on?” was June’s first question. “What was that thing? Where are we?”
“It’s a long story, soldier,” Shining Armor said over Flash. “Right now this is a rescue mission and it’s time to get going.”
“Steel!” June was the first to notice, seeing the injured pegasus at her feet. She looked back to Flash. Before she could voice her question, Seymour answered it for her.
“It’s ok, they’re not dead. But they’re both hurt and we need to get out of here,” Seymour said.
“Yeah, I get that,” June replied.
As the stallions approached them, Shining nodded towards Flash to help June while he walked up towards the brown stallion.
“This way,” Flash said, giving June his hoof and walked her away from the circle.
“You’re Castle Crest?” Shining Armor asked the brown stallion. “Don’t worry, we’re here to help.”
“Thank you, sir.” Castle Crest saluted. “Thought we were gonna be petrified forever.”
“Petrified? That’s what happened?” June asked. “Who Cockatrice’d us?”
“Remember how Conduct told us to be quiet?” Flash said.
“Ahh, that was why,” June said. “So, when are we getting payback on the bastard who did that?”
“We’re not. Captain Armor wants us out of here right now.”
“Captain Armor?” June exclaimed. She immediately looked around, and saw said captain talking to the brown stallion from before, her brain suddening registering his flank as the one and only Shining Armor’s. June leaned into whisper to Flash, “When did sexy shield get here?”
“About a day after you got turned to stone. I’ll tell you the story when we get out, ok?”
“Sounds good to me.” June smiled. “Let’s get out of here.”
Flash turned around, but before he could walk to the exit he felt June’s tug on his tail.
“By the way, Flash...”
Flash turned his head around. Without warning, she grabbed him and pressed her lips to his. At that moment, the Flash’s whole universe ceased to be—his mind went blank as she moved deep into the kiss, teasing out his tongue for just a moment.
Abruptly, she broke the kiss. “Consider that a little preview for tonight~” she said, cheeks brushing. “Now let’s get out of—”
Everything shook.
What felt like a great earthquake knocked everypony off their hooves. Books fell from their shelves, and beakers bounced off the tables and shattered on the ceiling as they hit the floor in pieces.
“Is everyone alright?” shouted Castle Crest.
“What the hell was that!” Seymour exclaimed.
Shining Armor rose to his hooves, his head in the air, horror in his eyes.
“Sir?” Flash asked.
Shining Armor ignored him.
“Shining?” Seymour turned to his captain, only to receive a blank stare.
Shining Armor’s gaze turned to Bon Bon. “Paladin Drops?”
“Your orders, sir?”
Chapter 10- people get hurt - End
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*scratches head* Is this a repost of an older chapter? I swear I've read this before...
7644361
Slightly. I broke up the old versions of this and the next chapter, rewrote parts of them, DBZ Kai'd it, cut out the 6kish i didnt need and mashed them back together. The chapter after it (part 3, formally part 4) got unpublished for some more editing ( and to make sure all of my changes are in line with it) and it and a new chapter after it are next.