The Strikers

by Civviq Writer

The Firestone - part V

Snipit saw Carbon first. He didn’t react, though, because he didn’t want to ruin their element of surprise. But Nightshade didn’t miss that small flicker of hope. Nightshade turned to see the newcomers, only to be tackled by a grey blur. He lost his balance and fell.

“What? How did you escape my vision…?” Nightshade said, shocked.

“Oh, never mind that…” He swung out his dagger and lashed at the grey stallion, but he got stopped by one of Double’s guards.

Enerjack moaned and shook his head. His backside was burning.

“Enerjack…” He looked down to the injured changeling, who was looking at him gratefully.
“Thank you…”

Enerjack smirked a bit. “Just don’t ever make me do this again, you hear?”

Swift smiled back and nodded. Suddenly, his ears perked up and he looked around, seeing the grey stallion that was holding off Nightshade.

“Captain Double!” he shouted, surprised. He stood up, a bit wobbly at first, and tried to make his way towards him. Double looked up and quickly made his way towards the other changeling.

“Captain, what are you doing here?” Swift asked him.

When Double had reached him, he bowed his head slightly.
“I have come to rescue you, captain Alias.”

Swift laughed shakily. “Well, you’ve come on a very fortunate time, Captain Double.”
Double nodded and turned towards Nightshade. He narrowed his eyes and barked a command. The two other changelings stopped fighting and retreated, leaving Nightshade confused. “What…” He looked up to see another Changeling stepping towards him. He stood up to face him.

He watched as the changeling took a step forward, readying a special saddle with a motion of his hoof. He pulled out a small, greenish-grey rock out of a pouch and put it on his saddle. The pouches had rocks in them in several colors and sizes. There weren’t many rocks, but most of them were small.

“Surrender and nopony will get hurt…” Double said, his teeth clenched.

“Never!” Nightshade said. He lifted his dagger. The stone was now glowing bright red, redder then it’s supposed to be. Double saw this but said nothing.

The dagger plunged towards him. Double dodged the dagger and flung the stone from his saddlebag towards him.

The small stone didn’t found its target, but it was close. It landed at his feet, erupting in a small explosion of green mist. Mixed with the smoke coming from the small fires that were around their hooves, nopony could see farther than his nose. Violent coughs came from Nightshade.

“What? What have you…? Argh!” Nightshade yelled “You fool! Now nopony can see anything!”

“No…” A voice erupted from the black-green mist, “But we can sense you…”
Double grabbed another stone. This one was a light greyish-blue. Quickly, he put it on the saddle and flung it towards Nightshade. This time, he didn’t miss. The stone hit Nightshade, covering him in blue flames, immobilizing him. It didn’t last long, however. Soon, the stone around his neck turned crimson and bright waves of flames engulfed him, freeing him from the blue flames. The sheer heat also forced most of the green mist away.

“Stop using the stone!” Double roared. “Can’t you see it’s at its peak?”

“What? No!” Nightshade roared back. “What do you know about the stone anyway? I’ve studied it my whole life! You know nothing!”

“That’s not true!” Double said. “I know magical stones, and that stone is at its breaking point!”

Nightshade roared out of anger, and flung his dagger at his opponent. Double stepped aside and in one swift motion, he took out a purplish-grey stone and shot it at Nightshade. A small ‘bang!’ sounded and Nightshades ears rang, the force of the explosion forcing him off his hooves.

“The blaze is under my control! It is the power source of the stone! If I lose control of the stone, I will lose control of the blaze as well!” Nightshade threatened, panting. He clenched his teeth in pain.

“Why are you doing this?” Double shouted, throwing another blue stone at him and a purple one right after.

“I know you are only trying to distract me, you changeling!” Nightshade spat, as if it was a curse. He drew his dagger again and slashed it, hitting Double’s armor with a loud bang and a hiss. It stopped the blow, but Double was thrown off-balance. He fell on the ground with a loud ‘thud’. Nightshade raised his dagger, ready for the killing blow.

Swift had watched enough. He could not let his friend die. He had to distract Nightshade.
“You feel Anger! Pain!” Swift spat, taking a step forward. He unsheathed Shinigami and rose it to make sure he could fend off Nightshade’s dagger. “And a hole in your pride!”

He made his way to Double and stood between him and the dagger. He lifted Shinigami up and hit the blade, trying to get it away from Double’s throat. The blade was thrown out of Nightshade’s grip. Snipit, who quickly made his way towards them, caught it with his own magic, making sure Nightshade wouldn’t catch it again.

“You know where that ‘hole’ comes from?” Nightshade snapped. “From my brother! He is the one that had caused all this! he is the one that caused me to find the stone!”

He tried to pick up the dagger, but it was firm in Snipit’s grasp. He yelled angrily and stomped towards it, but Double had gotten up and blocked his path. Another stone was ready on his saddle.

“Wolfsbane, that’s his name! Wolfsbane!” he shouted like a madstallion.

“He made me look evil! He framed me, and everybody believed I was a murderer! I’m not a murderer!”

He staggered backwards, his ears slayed back. His eyes were fearfully staring into nothing.

“You know what he said…?” He asked us, his voice growing more and more hateful.
“You know what he said? He said, “I wish you burned in the fires of Tartarus!”

He screamed, frustrated. “It wasn’t my fault, it wasn’t my fault, it wasn’t my fault…”

He looked up, his eyes flickering like mad.
“And now,” he yelled, “I will finish you ALL!”

The stone glowed red first, then pink, and then white. The whole forest seemed to catch fire immediately, and everypony who was close enough felt as if the same happened to them.

“Stop!” a deep voice bellowed. Through the smoke, through the woods, a dark blue, almost black stallions stood. He was wearing a cape with a hood, dark purple manes sticking out. The shadow of the hood hid his eyes. There were several pouches and pockets sewn over his cloak, where several herbs were stashed: both poisonous and healing. His saddlebags carried small pots and other brewing necessities.
“Nightshade,” he said, sounding disappointed, “What have you done?”

“W-W-Wolfsbane!?” Nightshade cried, his ears splaying back in fear. Then, he rose up. “You will not defeat me! You can’t!”

“Brother, you are in no state to fight me,” Wolfsbane said, “And neither am I.”
He took a step forward, while Nightshade took a step back.

“Please, brother, give me a chance, and together, we shall rule Equestria in poison and fire! Please, accept my hoof, and we can finally be brothers again!” Wolfsbane said, the volume of his voice growing.

Nightshade took a step forward, unsure. “...Really? You want to be brothers again…?”

“Yes, yes I do,” Wolfsbane answered. “But I will need the stone to do so.”

Nightshade’s eyes went wide. “What…?”

“Brother, give me the stone,” Wolfsbane said, looking up, “and I promise you, we can rule together…”

“...No…” Nightshade said softly. “No… You aren’t my brother… My brother hates me…”

“I am your brother…!”

“No, you’re not! My brother would never forgive me for what I’ve done - or - haven’t - !” Nightshade said, almost in tears. “You’re an impostor! But how…?”

Now, ‘Wolfsbane’ lifted his eyes. They were neon-blue.

“NO!” Nightshade yelled. “No, this cannot be, that’s impossible!”
He charged at the impostor, but he got tackled by Double who yanked the stone form his neck. He yelled in pain, feeling his power drain. “No, no, no!”
He fell down, unable to move out of pain and fear.

Double held the stone close and whispered something in an ancient language. His eyes glowed yellow, and the stone itself went from near-white, to red, to orange and settled on yellow. The glow ceased and died, leaving the stone in its former glory. The raging fire around them died down as well and the smoke started to clear. Behind Aile, the two foals started to stir. Aile sighed relieved.

‘Wolfsbane’ shrunk, shedding the cloak and the saddlebag to the ground. The neon-blue shimmer around his horn went over his entire body and changed it back to its former color. Carbon sighed. “Much better.”

Snipit helped Warpath stand up. Together they walked towards Carbon.
“Thank you for saving us,” Warpath said, nodding his head. Carbon smiled and nodded back. “It was my duty.” Then, he turned to Double. “And thank you for helping us. It is very much appreciated.”
Double bowed his head. “You’re welcome.”

Warpath made his way towards the whimpering heap of Nightshade.
“Nightshade, we hereby arrest you for your crimes against the Crown.”
Nightshade only moaned out of pain.

“I’d take that as a yes,” Swift piped up. “I wonder if he’d confess his crimes voluntarily, though…” He grinned. “Maybe I should help a bit…”
Enerjack stood up and stretched his back. “Swift, that doesn’t work that way.”
Swift rolled his eyes and leaned close to Nightshade.
“But you will pay for what you’ve done to my friends,” he hissed to him, in his changeling voice, “and I think that I’ll enjoy the taste of your emotions…” He bared his fangs. Nightshade whimpered, broken.

Warpath sighed. “Swift, please leave him alone. We need to deliver him to the court in one piece.”
Swift leaned backwards, disappointed, but not before he’d given another hiss in Nightshade’s direction.

Warpath looked towards Snipit and Carbon.
“I’m sorry I didn’t trust you,” he said. He looked them in the eye. “I know it was wrong of me. You’ve proven that now. Please, forgive me for my foolishness.”

Both of them nodded. “No hard feelings,” Snipit said.

“We understand.” Carbon added.
Warpath sighed relieved.

Aile walked towards them, smiling. Two foals were lying on his back, sleeping peacefully.
“They’ve had a rough day,” he said, “They need their sleep.”

Swift looked a bit worried. “Will they be all right?” he asked the pegasus. Aile nodded. “Their body heat has returned. I guess keeping them warm and letting them rest is the best option for now.”

Swift nodded. “I hope so…” He looked at them, a bit sadly. “I wish I could talk to them…”

Aile grinned. “Maybe, if Warpath says it’s allright, we could drop by one time.”

Swift lightened up. “Really? Awesome!”

Enerjack interrupted them. “Has everypony returned home?”

Aile shrugged. “I don’t know. But I think I should get back now, the Librarians are probably worried sick about Civviq…”

“Well, uh, okay. I guess I’ll see you around, then,” Swift said.

“Yeah, hopefully when the safety of Equestria isn’t at stake,” Aile joked. They shared a laugh. With a last wave of goodbye, Aile left.

“All right!” Snipit said. “Let’s go back to HQ, after bringing Nightshade to Canterlot, of course.”

“May I ask permission to accompany you?” Double asked.

Warpath looked unsure. “Well…”

“Ah, come on!” Swift said. “They won’t betray us.”

“That is correct,” Double said. “I am under his command.”
Enerjack raised an eyebrow. “You?” he asked, surprised. “You’ve got enough responsibility to command?”

“Alias is our prince, to be exact.” Double said. “He…”

Enerjack roared with laughter. “Well that’s something I’d like to hear! Ha-ha! Prince...”

Warpath sighed. “Well, I suppose then it’s okay,” he glared at Swift. “But, yes, I’d like to hear some explanation as well. Having royalty in our ranks does change some things…”

“Uhh..” Swift said, “I, uh… let’s just get back to headquarters, okay?” He flew off.

Even that far in the distance, he could hear Enerjack roar with laughter. Below him was the forest, coated with ashes. Where the fire once was, was a trail of dead and grey trees, killed by the heat. The village, however, had remained unscathed. All the townsponies had gathered at the town square, probably discussing the fire now. Thank goodness the homes were spared. Aile nowhere to be seen. Probably at his own home, or at the library, taking care of Civviq and Wing.

He hoped they will be allright. They probably will.

Author's Note:

Thank you for reading! This was the last of the Firestone arc. Who knows what more will come?

Comments

[HarmoniaTheConfuzzled]

Now all you need is some shipping sequels.

[Civviq Writer]

5646682 Shipping? Between who?

[HarmoniaTheConfuzzled]

Anypony.
All of my not-even-halfway-finished fanfics have a romance tag.
Because I'm a sucker for romance between the characters.