Bonus Chapter (4.5): Vanhoover Beatdown
Swords, Sorcery, and Shenanigans- Vanhoover Beatdown
One late night in the city of Vanhoover, many ponies were out enjoying the nightlife that the northern town had to offer. Whether it was dining or entertainment or even the chance to just be with friends, they had something for everypony. Tonight though was a special occasion. For the Wonderbolts, it would be a successful show day. For politicians, it depended on what the occasion was and if things went their way. But tonight, it was something different. It had nothing to do with sports or politics.
It had to do with more for caring for those in need.
Tonight’s occasion was a charity fundraiser for St. Clover’s Children hospital that focused on raising money for the foals, fillies and colts that were sick and needed desperate medical care. So far, it had raised over 500,000 bits, courtesy of not just the attendees, but also the ponies that called to donate to the cause. Many special guests were there tonight, including Spitfire- The captain of the wonderbolts herself. But the main highlight of the evening was when Princess Cadence herself made a surprise appearance to help provide a big donation towards the cause at the end of the festivities.
Right now though, it was quite some time after the charity event had ended. Almost half an hour specifically. Some of the guests have stayed behind, but most of them have left to return to their homes, go somewhere else, or head back to the hotel they stayed at. Of course, different ponies had different methods to go to their destination.
Princess Cadence though, had other thoughts on her mind. Thoughts of what occurred before the event tonight.
Being the niece of Princess Celestia was one thing that sometimes drove her crazy. Not because of the unexpected attention she got sometimes… or rather most of the time. But because of her sibling, Prince Blueblood. He was snobbish, Arrogant, Self centered, and just plain rude; seeing himself above others because of his status of nobility. It was also the reason why he never showed up to tonight's event, even though Auntie Celestia asked for both of them to be there.
As she walked back to the hotel she was staying at though, something new caught the Alicorns attention. Something quite… unexpected. A young girl that looked like she was twelve to thirteen years old and was nearby where the princess was standing. She was wearing a black & blue dress that had a short skirt, a white ribbon around the neck, two blue stockings and a small crown on top of her lightish pink hair that looked almost like Cadence’s fur as it stretched down her back. The girl was looking around like she had lost something and was trying to find it.
‘Maybe she is looking for her parents…’ The princess thought as the girl turned her head and saw Cadence. Her Azure eyes now focused as the child turned the rest of her body now. Cadence now noticed that the girl had a small tail that had a heart at the end of it that was the same color as her eyes. But it wasn't the only thing she noticed.
She also saw the girl wearing a ring.
“Hello? Who are you?” It asked politely, holding her arms behind her back in a relaxed manner. Cadence herself was personally surprised by the question. Almost everywhere she’d go, somepony would recognize her. But this time, it was different.
“Miss?”
Cadence snapped out of her moment to think and soon replied to the young child. “My apologies. I’m Cadence. What’s your name, Child?”
“Ciela…” The response came out tense like the Alicorn had somehow struck a nerve. “And please don’t call me child.”
“Oh? Why is that?” Cadence asked politely.
“It’s a long story.” Ciela replied as she pulled up one of her long dress sleeves to look at her watch. The Alicorn looked at her hands now and had a better look at the ring she was wearing. It was stunningly beautiful with an amazing diamond in the center. It looked like something that was bought for a wedding.
Wait a second… A wedding ring?
“That’s quite a beautiful ring you’re wearing tonight.” The Princess praised.
“Why, thank you. Someone special gave it to me.”
“Oh really? Who?”
“The same guy I’m looking for.” The young girl then handed a photograph of who that person was to the Alicorn. It looked like a male, but did not have a horn or wings. But instead, it had blue hair, pointy ears, carried two swords she was unfamiliar with and looked like a protector by appearance.
“Is he your bodyguard?”
“Nope.”
“Butler?”
“Na-da.”
“Servant?”
“Not even close,” Ciela told her, frustrated. “He’s my husband.”
That caught Cadence off guard immediately. “Uhh.. Not to be rude, but how old are you?”
“To be honest…” She replied, taking some time to think. “I’m about thirty… I think.”
"You think?"
“Like I said before, Ms. Cadence, long story. But I can make it simple for you. Have you heard of the saying “An adult trapped in a kid’s body?””
Cadence nodded as the two of them started to walk. “A few times actually.”
“Well, when I first arrived here with my husband, a spell was casted to where I looked like a young girl with no way to reverse the effects.” Ciela explained the best she could. “And don’t even get me started on the fact that we were accidently sealed in stone-.”
“Wait, what-!?”
“Like I mentioned before, long sto-.”
Right before the young girl could finish her sentence, the two of them heard the sound of shattering glass from a nearby street. Ciela looked in the direction that the sound came from before moving down the sidewalk to get a better look. Turns out, the glass shatter was from when somepony dropped a bottle of whiskey from their apartment balcony in a drunken stupor.
“Maybe we should go someplace else. Have any ideas, Princess?”
“Yeah, I-. Wait… How do you know I’m a Princess?”
“You have both a horn and wings, and from what I remember, you only see Alicorns as part of royalty.” Ciela pointed out the folded wings with one of her free hands. “Not to be rude, but it is kind of obvious.”
“Point taken.”
The two girls left the premises quickly, hoping to not attract any attention. But as they were soon going to find out, attention comes in many forms from different ponies.
Few moments Later
“Oh, you have got to be kidding me!!” came the holler from a male unicorn named Prince Blueblood seconds after Ciela entered Cadence’s hotel room. “Why do you do this to me, Cadence?!!”
“Do this to you? You’re the one that’s overreacting.”
“Overreacting!?” The stallion responded. “You brought in somepony off the street!! Who knows what hole this child crawled out of!!”
“Cadence, is your friend here always a…” Ciela asked as she looked for a chair to sit down in. “ …What’s the word?”
“Jerk?” Cadence asked, closing the door behind them.
“I was going to go with Jackass but whatever works.”
Blueblood himself took offense to the comment. The Unicorn was going to give her a piece of his mind until Cadence pulled him to the side. The princess began to explain Ciela’s “Situation” to her brother, piece by piece. However, he didn’t buy it.
“That is most Ridiculous story I have ever heard of, Cadence. What proof do you have to prove her story is true?”
“She has a wedding ring on her finger. What more proof do you need?”
Prince Blueblood grunted, not satisfied. “For all we know, this mare could’ve stolen it… And I thought my troubles with the human girl two weeks ago was a problem.”
That’s when Ciela got curious. “There are other humans here?”
The comment had both the Unicorn and Alicorn look at her in disbelief. Not only was the question off, but there was now a new question that drifted in the air. What was Ciela. She did not have any features that resembled a pegasus or a unicorn. But the tail made the two have doubts that she was an earth pony.
“Yeah, but the only one I have personally seen is the fire girl. They’re five other that are in Ponyville I believe but I honestly could care less after-.”
Before Blueblood could finish his sentence, dark blue fire covered Ciela’s hands as they formed a pair of gauntlets around her hands. Another motion had her left hand grow three times it’s size into a huge gauntlet as it grabbed Blueblood around the shoulder.
“Watch your mouth, pretty boy!! You only had a bad experience because you treated them like trash!” Ciela then let go, dismissing the gauntlets she once had as she looked at the prince again. “If you treat them as equals, they’ll possibly do the same. Now, do we have an understanding?”
Blueblood gritted his teeth and was still defiant over the topic of “Humans”. Additionally, he was partially stunned over how fast the previous events were and how some street rat like this child could possibly have magical abilities like what she had just demonstrated. “How could you know what they’re like-?!”
“Because I’m human.”
Cadence’s eyes widened over Ciela’s last statement. Blueblood was also in shock too. Over the course of the last few weeks, she had only heard rumors and seen photographs of these “Humans” that have been in Equestria the past few months. The Alicorn had never met one in person… until now.
“I’ve been here for god knows how long and I have two children stuck at home and who knows what happened to them. That’s why I’m trying to find my husband Luke so we can try and refocus from where we left off and find a way to go home again-.”
Turns out, as luck would have it, the one she was looking for wasn’t that far away.
Five Minutes Earlier
Across the street from the hotel, a convenience store called “Spells and Snacks” was getting close to closing time. The owner- A mare by the name of Candy Crush -was thankful for it almost being this time right now. Beside the one individual in the back looking at the book section, the store was almost empty. Still, the one fellow that was in here looked… odd. Still though, her attention was not to be focused there as she heard the bell nearby the door ring.
The door opening soon caught her attention. From the sounds of it, seven colts and a mare entered the store based on the sound of their hooves. But when he turned to greet them, a green flash set off the panic button inside his mind. Changelings… in his store!? Even their queen that disguised herself as Princess Cadence was here!!?! Dear Celestia, what did she do to deserve this?!
“You know how hard it is to find a shop like yours open this late?” The queen asked as one of her drones pulled out a handgun and aimed it at the store owner. Now Candy Crush regretted not having some kind of weapon to defend herself with behind the counter. Before the cream colored mare could even speak, Chrysalis interjected and silencer her. “Now now…… we’re not here for your money. Just some “other” necessities.” Turning to her henchmen, she gave one simple order in the sharpest of menacing tones.
“Search the store for Spellshards, Now!!”
Like the drones they were, they complied with their queens orders. Spellshards were crystals that stored a dense amount of magic and came in different colors and sizes. In this stores case, the snack and refreshment machines were using these crystals to provide flavor & taste, heat & warmth to some treats and cold to the drinks that were sold in the store. Vending machines were also powered on shards since it helped control the flow of expended electricity. Immediately after being told, the changelings began to tear apart and dismantle the poor mare’s store piece by piece. But amidst this, one curious drone happened to noticed the individual in the back of the store.
For some reason, it looked like he wasn’t aware of anything that was going on. Instead, this customer looked like he had his head absorbed in a book and barely paid any attention to his surroundings. A robbery was going on and he was ignoring everything!? That had to change.
“Hey, put your hands in the air.”
No response……
“Sir?” The drone tried again. Nothing worked the second time around. Maybe a little bit of a threat would work better. Taking the weapon he was holding in one hand and having his other open hand channel magic, the drone poked the creature in the shoulder and finally got his attention.
The Dark navy haired individual turned to see a stallion that resembled a gang member. Cap, chains, and everything. “Can I help you?”
“What are you, blind!?” The disguised changeling aggressively spat as he tightened the grip on his hand blade. “Don’t you have any idea what the hell is going on right now?”
“Hold on… Are you trying to rob me?”
“What does it freaking look like!!?!”
All that intimidation got the blue haired punk to do was laugh to himself. Whoever this guy was had horrible acting skills. “It looks like to me that you aren’t who I think you are.”
In one swift movement, his sapphire eyes glowed viciously as he disarmed the drone and broke his arm in the disarm. The pain caused the changeling to not hold his transformation as he shifted back to his normal form seconds before being sent through the store with a powerful jab kick to the stomach. As the glass shattered, the customer holding the history book set the novel down and swiftly appeared outside. His face grimaced upon looking at the physical appearance of his attacker.
“Good god, you’re a handful. At least my eyes could see through Illusions and disguises.”
The changeling was grasping onto his broken arm as it staggered to it’s hooves and let out a loud shrieking hiss. For a moment, it looked like it was trying to be predatory. But it wasn’t. It was actually a call for backup. Soon, almost all the drones from in the stores and a lot more from the surrounding alleys and from under the sewer covers began to swarm around the one attacker in the Dark Navy blue coat outside the store and in the streets. There were literally hundreds of eyes staring at him.
“Well Sh*t. Looks like I literally kicked a hornet’s nest.”
“WHO DARES TO ATTACK MY CHILDREN!!?”
The bellowing voice was followed by a furious Chrysalis bursting out the door. Her raging emerald eyes gazed upon the sapphire eyes of the bipedal creature and his appearance.
“And here comes queen bee.”
“Who the hell do you think you are!?”
The man shrugged. “You tell me, Swiss Cheese. Normally, you would say your name first before making idle threats-.”
“SILENCE!!” The Changeling interrupted him. “You are in the presence of Queen Chrysalis you arrogant little twit… One false move and all my soldiers here will show you no mercy!!” The queens gesture was threatening, but the man in the coat wasn’t buying it at all.
“Yeah…… you would sound a lot more intimidating if you were actually… you know, intimidating.”
Chrysalis’s ears twitched. Her anger was bubbling and getting close to boiling over and spilling out like a hot kettle. “Grr… Are you mocking me!?”
“Oh no no no no no no no………… pfft, yeah.”
“THAT’S IT!!! CHILDREN, MAKE HIM PAY FOR INSULTING YOUR QUEEN!!!!” With that motion, all the drones began to swarm and close in on their target. The creature quickly grabbed the two weapons that was on the back of his waist, unsheathing them as a mark began to glow on his hands.
“Big Mistake.”
Ciela now began to feel a familiar warmth and glow around her hands. She saw a symbol that resembled a star bursting apart. Cadence herself noticed it glow the moment she heard glass shatter and shots run out in the street below. The human ran to the balcony outside the hotel room as she gritted her teeth and now looked ticked.
“Oh god, why did he decide to do this outside!!?”
Before either Cadence or Blueblood were able to say anything, Ciela channeled the gauntlets around her hands and she jumped from the ledge . The two royals now watched in horror as they saw her target below.
A massive swarm of Changelings.
KLICK!! KLACK!!! BANG!!!!
“FLICK SHOT!!”
The first move that was made by the unknown figure was him jumping backwards and firing two shots from his weapons that ricocheted off both the left and right sides of the surrounding changelings and turning some into piles of green cinders. Chrysalis herself was taken by surprise. The weapons on appearance looked like two combat blades. She did not expect them to function like firearms. Both of the blades had a sapphire hue on them while the rest of the weapon looked different. One had a black grip while the other was pure white. As some more changelings tried to corner the being, all he did was just look up and grin.
“Heads up.”
Without warning, a black shadow covered the five changelings that crept towards him. Just a few seconds later, a giant gauntlet slammed into the ground and destroyed them while it sent a powerful shockwave that blew another twenty or so to collide into the nearby buildings. A new fighter had entered the Arena. When Chrysalis looked at her, she honestly thought that this was some sort of sick joke.
“Luke, what the hell did you do this time?!”
“Hello to you as well, dear.” The gunslinger greeted his companion. “This is what happens when you try to protect yourself from a robber in disguise.”
“What the hell is a little girl doing here!!?” Chrysalis snapped as her troops reorganized themselves in a different attack pattern. Instead of surrounding the Duo in a circle, they all lined up in a massive head on force. “Just why would somepony your age decide to be out in the middle of the night?”
“Hey, Watch it!!” Luke snapped. “You don’t know who the hell you’re talking to!!”
“Oh yeah? Surprise me.”
“My wife.”
And now inside her mind, Chrysalis had basically see everything. A twelve year old girl married to a 32 year old stallion-.
“At least being turned into a child gives me a reason to have fun while beating the Sh*t out of these bug like… things.”
“Changelings, Ciela. They’re called Changelings.”
“Really? That sounds like a 1960’s X-men Character.”
Okay, now Chrysalis had heard everything. “By the freaking hive, Just what the hell are you two?”
“Humans.” The Duo replied in unison.
Chrysalis gritted her teeth, memories of her encounter with the Burning Crusader flashing back inside her head and anger flaring in her eyes. “Okay, I’ve heard enough!! Kill them and bring their corpses to me!!! I have other business to attend to!” With a green flash, the queen disappeared as the Swarm began to charge straight at them with weapons and magic in hand.
“Uh… Ciela? You think we can handle this?”
“Not exactly what I thought about us spending our anniversary, but screw it.” The Brawler told her partner as she cracked her knuckles. The sword-gunner smiled as he clicked back on his weapons and prepared for combat,
“Hehe… That’s my darling. Til death do us part then.”
Just coming out of the entrance of the hotel, Cadence watched as the Duo gracefully fought side by side each other with each one of their attacks in synch with one another like two dancers in a ballroom. Switching sides with one another to keep pace with the horde of bugs that kept on charging and fighting them with Swords and Sorcery. Ciela’s gauntlets and Luke’s guns glowed with a starlight enchantment that looked like a white seal. This allowed them to strike harder and faster while their attackers aim and attacks were weakened. It was a symphony of two souls locked in combat.
“Ciela, duck!!” Luke called out, motioning a movement with his weapons. It served as a visual cue for the Fighter so she could stay out of her husband’s line of sight as he performed a special attack that conjured three sets of blue orbs that were composed of Hellfire (Appropriately named “Flame of the Devil”). Firing each orb; the balls of flame exploded on contact and set a few unlucky changelings on fire, burning them to a piles of ashes. Another skill followed afterwards where Luke aimed his weapons towards his enemy and fired off multiple shots at once.
“TRIPLE SHOT!!”
The bullets went outwards in a spray of three shots as the street brawl continued and the Duo continued to try and lower the numbers of the changelings. “My Turn!” Ciela shouted out as she jumped in the air and slammed back on the ground using her “STOMP” ability to crash into the drones and start with her string of punches and kicks. She even had skills where her gauntlets could grow twice the size of their standard look in order to stun her attackers and deal critical damage. As the fight continued, the human slammed her right hand into the pavement below and channeled energy into that hand.
“EVIL CLAW!!!”
Shortly afterwards, a phantasmal claw rose from the ground where the changelings were and sent them flying into the air, destroying a good collection of them with a loud POP! From Cadence was standing though, she saw more bad news as the couple was by each others side again.
More Changelings were coming and they greatly outnumbered them Two hundred to two.
“Luke, this is getting out of hand. We need to finish all of these creeps in one last attack. Got any ideas?”
“You tell me, honey.”
“How about a combination skill?”
Luke’s ears twitched. He definitely liked the sound of that. Plus, the combination gauge he was keeping track of was at full power. “Alright, I even got one in mind!”
With that, Ciela jumped as Luke helped push her into the air. All of their attackers began to close in on the two of them as they each readied their weapons. Once in the right spot, the Duo shouted in unison.
“NETHER SHREDDER!!!!”
Without warning, the magic that Ciela was channeling emerged as a huge claw and chains that immobilized the rest of the swarm as Luke open fired a Barrage of Bullets. The last shot the blade-gunner fired caused an upward explosion of blue magic that caused the remaining attackers to disappear and turn into ash and cinders that blew away with the morning breeze as the sun began to slowly rise to the east. The duo was now exhausted after this battle. They haven’t fought in a long time and with their current situation, they weren’t even at their strongest yet. Ciela and Luke now sheathed their weapons as they turned to each other. “Well, that took care of that.”
“Yeah,” Ciela replied to her husbands remark. “Just what were you doing this whole time?”
“Acquiring information.” Luke told her. “A convenience store I was in had a history book so I thought I take a look and see how long we were trapped in stone for. Turns out, we’ve been away longer than we originally thought.”
The couple began to walk out of the street as Ciela returned with a follow up question. “Oh really? How long?”
“What would you say if I told you a thousand years?”
Ciela’s eyes widened. The statement scared her just as much as it caught her off guard, “Oh god… The kids-!”
“Honey, we don’t even know about this place timewise.” The husband tried to comfort his wife. They did not know how much time passed back home for every day or year they spent in this world, but were worried about the “What-ifs” of certain scenarios. “We’ve talked about it before.”
“Yeah, but I’m still worried. What if we never make it home!?”
“Don’t worry, sweetie.” Luke said. “We’ll make it back home. I promise.”
That’s when he noticed somepony by the hotel looking at them as the sunlight now began to light up the city. Pink fur, mixed color mane and tail, cyan eyes, cutie mark of a crystal heart. It was an Alicorn.
“Cadence?” Ciela asked the mare. “What are you doing out here?”
“I was wondering if the two of you were okay after fighting against all of those Changelings just now.”
“Could’ve been better. But it was still fun to kick their-.”
“Ciela? Who is your friend?” interjected Luke.
“Oh, my bad. Luke, this Cadence. Cadence, this is my husband Luke.” The Two of them proceeded to greet each other properly and introduce themselves. Once that was out of the way, Ciela spoke again. “Now, where were we before the short interruption?”
“You were talking about the changelings.”
“Oh right. Man, I wish that queen lady stook around and didn’t run off like a wuss. What a coward she was-.”
“Wait… Queen lady?” Cadence asked. “You don’t mean Chrysalis do you?”
“That is what she referred to herself as.” Luke replied calmly. Cadence’s mind now freezed up at the thought. What could she be doing here of all places? Proceeding to ask lead to Luke explaining about how he ran into them in the first place and how he saw her carrying a case of shards in different sizes and colors. The Alicorn was even surprised when she heard about how Luke’s eyes could see through a Changeling’s transformation. Cadence though had to give the two of them a quick explanation on what spellshards were and how “important” the were to society.
“If she is stealing high amounts of spellshards, then she is obviously planning something.”
“For some reason, I smell a plot device-.”
“Shut up, Luke”
“We’ll need to get to Canterlot as soon as possible.” Cadence said to them as she had the couple follow them to a nearby Royal chariot a few blocks away, which took them about fifteen to twenty minutes to get there by foot. “Celestia and Artemis need to hear about this immediately-.”
“Who-?”
“The rulers of Equestria.”
“Wait? You know the rulers?”
“Of course,” came the Alicorns reply as the three of them got seated. “They’re family.”
“Family?”
“Celestia is my Aunt and Artemis is my uncle.”
Both Luke and Ciela stared at each other before looking back at Cadence. Though Ciela spoke first and asked if she was forgetting about Blueblood, Cadence just told him that leaving now was a way to teach him a lesson about respect (Plus leaving him stranded was an added bonus). Then, Ciela asked something different.
“Quick question. Would your Aunt happen to have white fur, pink eyes, be an Alicorn like you and can also raise the sun?”
Cadence’s head nodded. It was the only answer Ciela needed to hear. “Oh boy…”
“Is something wrong?”
“Not really, but-” Ciela’s comment was interrupted when she saw her husband turn around and look towards the southeast. “Luke, are you okay?”
“Yeah… it’s just something I felt. Remember the feeling I get when the kids are fighting each other back home.”
“All the time. What about it?”
The gunslinger adjusted himself as he looked back at his wife. “Well, for some reason, I’m having that feeling right now.”
End
A bonus chapter I came up with shortly after finishing chapter 5. This takes place before the battle between Nicko and Anson miles away in Ponyville during the early morning. Luke and Ciela are the last two characters I'm introducing to this story. They're a strong pair of warriors, but after losing a thousand years ago to Eric, the Duo were stripped back to their standard powers and are back to square one. The rest is self explanatory... If you get it of course.
Music:
Now, please excuse me as I deserve some much needed rest. My brain is killing me xD
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I
this story
The fighting scene was very well-written.
5456781 Thx
5456835 Thx a lot man. I really like it
“Yeah… it’s just something I felt. Remember the feeling I get when the kids are fighting each other back home.”
“All the time. What about it?”
The gunslinger adjusted himself as he looked back at his wife. “Well, for some reason, I’m having that feeling right now.”
End
Also,
This takes place before the battle between Nicko and Anson miles away in Ponyville during the early morning.
…
Idea!
how did i know that Ciela and Luke are Nicko and Anson's parents? just in case spoilers
OMG, Nicko and Anson are able too meet their parents again!
I am crying of joy, I am so happy for them!
They are the parents of the main protagonist. I am calling it now.
5456966
5457192
(Just for laughs)
This is getting interesting.
2.bp.blogspot.com/-2b-cfgVNHe0/UnwxmMPOTNI/AAAAAAAAAy0/sbM3122m05s/s1600/Raven+Blade+Master+Portrait+3.png Can we have a Blade master soon?
5465444 We'll see how things play out
5457192 I agree getting that vibe as well
I read this and am now hooked on Elsword..
5478371 Glad I could help xD
You an Elsword player??
5485909 Yup. Been playing a lot lately with my Asura.
5486066 What's your name on it mines Led something don't ask been a long time since I played it.
5486072 Asura = MyLittleFoxy. I have three other characters which are a Level 55 rune Slayer, Level 52 Lunatic Psyker, and a level 44 Veteran Commander. My Asura is also level 47
Nuuuuu!!! Not even a single Chungo?! T.T
(...)
Okay, I can manage that, but keep my words: everything is better with a Chung...
I'm sensing Luke and Ciela to be Anson and Nicko's parents. Plus, I think Ciela is a Pegasister and is (obviously) aware of what Equestria is. I'm just writing this comment to see if I get it right as I continue reading on (yes, I have not read ahead or anything of the sort).
Anyways this is a gr8 story so far m8 I r8 8/8 shrek wud B proud.
6630296 Your questions will be answered as you read on
Well, I can see how both Niko and Ciela get pissed off every time someone calls them short!