A Life To Share

by Dante K Freeman

Too much excitement

Chapter 2- Too Much Excitement

Twilight and Rainbow started to look down the hole, wondering what could be making the quake, “Rainbow, what in Equestria did you put down there,” Twilight yelled to the winged girl.

“Nothing,” she responded, “just a bunch dirt.”

“Oh no,” Fluttershy said as she started to head towards the girls. She began to look down the hole too. “How did this hole get here?”

“Well…” Rainbow was hesitant to answer.

“It’s part of the obstacle course Rainbow made for your birthday,” Twilight was not hesitant to say.

“Twilight, what the hey?”

“The party was a bust anyway, we might as well tell her.”

Fluttershy wasn't sure what was going on but she was too worried right now to care. “Girls this is really bad. Quickly Twilight, I have to tell you…” Before Fluttershy could finish, a massive amount of energy began bursting out from the pit in the form of a powerful red light. As it grew in intensity, something began rising from the pit. The light prevented a clear view of the figure, the girls attempted to look at it, as best they could; it was a man, a petite man wearing a black cloak that seemed to move on its own, having a head of long black-slung-back hair with a small patch of green in the front, almost looking like a curved horn. The red light had been emitting from a series of marks on his palms and forehead, growing until in engulfed his whole body.

“What the hay is that thing,” Twilight said in fear.

“Twilight, that’s the ‘thing’ that I was trying to tell you about before” Fluttershy clarified.

“What!?” Twilight and Rainbow Dash cried

“Last night, when I was in town trying to lead a few lighting bugs that had strayed into town back to the forest, I spotted Princess Luna staring at this very same spotted.”

“What!?” Twilight yelled, “You saw Princess Luna here!?”

“It was her who told me about him.” Fluttershy began to explain, “His name is Minucorn, a dark wizard that Princess Celestia Sealed in Ponyville more than two centuries ago. Every decade, she has to redo the seal, but this year she wasn’t able to come, and neither was Luna, so she told me to ask you to seal him back.”

“Me?” Twilight said confused, “how am I supposed to do this.”

“She told me the spell you needed, but it had to be cast when he was still in the ground. The seal is broken now, it’s too late.”

“Why didn’t she just redo the spell when she was here?” Rainbow Dash argued

“What was the spell?” Twilight asked, ignoring Dash’s question

“It’s called… Light Shell; I think that’s the name she used.”

“A Light Shell, but that’s just a beginner’s spell!”

Twilight’s shout caught the attention of the once docile Minucorn. Now noticing the girls, he rose up one of his marked hands as a red orb began to form in it. Luckily the girls saw the attack coming and got out of the way before it hit. The impact was massive, engulfing the entire courtyard in its energy, and destroying all that it touched. The girls appeared on the far side of the court as the smoke cleared. They looked on in horror as they saw the absolute devastation the wizard caused from only one attack.

“My course!!!” Dash shouted, stating her concern “I worked for hours on that!”

“Really? All that’s happening and you’re worried about your course?” Twilight responded.

“Hey, it was a hard course to make.”

Minucorn was already readying another blast.

Applejack, Big Macintosh, and Apple Bloom had been walking to the party, carrying all of the food, when they noticed the strange event. The sky was darkened into a blood-red shade as the energy of the sorcerer leaked into the atmosphere.

“Applejack,” Rarity yelled as she ran over to the family, a large crystal statue of Fluttershy flying behind her and Spike following, “What is going on here?”

“I have no idea, but I think I can guess where it’s comin’ from.” She looked to the skies and saw the large pillar of light coming from the direction of the Town Hall, “Oh no, come on!” Applejack ran as fast as she could with everyone following in suit, preparing for the worst.

Minutes of running bring the group to the front yard of the town hall. The light pillar was just behind the building.
AJ dropped her crate of food; “Alright, I’m going.” she started toward the back only to be stopped by her little sister pulling her arm.

“Are you crazy?” said Applebloom, “ya can’t go back there.”

“Listen little sis’,” Applejack kneels to Applebloom’s height, “I have to go. Somethin’s just telling me that I need to be there. Big Mac,” she said to her older brother, “Take Applebloom, and the rest, and get in the Hall. I’m counting on you to keep them safe, can you do that.”

“Yup,” Big Mac said, lifting there sister up. “Be careful,” he said as he watched AJ run off with a few extra tagalongs.

“I thought I told ya’ll to get in the hall?” Applejack halted before her shadows.

“And leave you to deal with that thing alone?” Spike said, looking toward the light, “not a chance; we’re going; we have that same feeling too you know.”

“Yes,” Rarity confirms, “something is not quite right. We refuse to let you go alone”

Applejack didn’t argue. “Fine, come on,” she ran again.

“Big Macintosh, make sure that nothing bad happens to that statue,” Rarity called back, understand?” Big Mac aggresses, bringing the statue, food, and Applebloom into the hall while the girls and spike headed for the light.

On the other side of the Hall, The group spotted the figure of the dark wizard, now flying farther into the town.
“What in all of Equestria is that?” Applejack said.

“Forget about that, look!” Rarity focused their attention to Twilight, Fluttershy, and Rainbow, all having been knocked out. The group ran over to their fallen friends in hopes that they are alright, and after a bit of nudging… or slapping, the girls finally came to.

“Uhgg… what… what happened?” Twilight said as she awake.

“That’s what we want to know,” Applejack asked, “…what happened here?”

“…Minucorn… Where’s Minucorn?” Twilight tried regaining her senses.

“Who?” Rarity said.

“If you’re talking about that glowing guy, he’s leaving.” Said Spike

“No! We can’t let him get away.” Twilight tried to get to her feet, but couldn’t keep her balance. Luckily, Applejack caught her.

“Whoa there; why can’t we? Who is he?”

“Minucorn…” Fluttershy said, finally awake, “He’s a dark wizard.”

“…and a dangerous one, we can’t let him get away.” Twilight finally got to her feet, Fluttershy following.

“He’s not going to,” Rainbow said, rising finally “not if I can help it.” She bolted towards Minucorn without a second thought.

“Rainbow, wait,” Applejack shouted to no avail.

“She can’t, and we shouldn’t either,” Twilight stumbled and eventually ran after her, “we have to take this guy down before he hurts anyone else.” The others had no time to argue. They started running again in attempts to catch up to Twilight and whatever she was chasing.

Rainbow Dash got into range of Minucorn, “Hey ‘Sparky’.” Minucorn looks toward the noise, “you trying to leave without getting a proper ‘welcome.’” She pulled back her fist and tried punching him, but the shot was just deflected, even though he didn’t move an inch. Rainbow Dash tried a few more times, but all had the same result. She gained no ground, but she refused to give up.

The others arrived in time to see their friend punching away like a mad horse, only for all of her shots to hit nothing but air. After a bit, Minucorn got tired of the display, grabbed Rainbow’s last punch, and threw her over her friends and into a nearby building. The girls quickly ran to the downed mare’s side

After ‘swatting the fly,’ Minucorn went back to what he came for. He raised his hands into the air as he began releasing a large amount of energy that began working its way into the town’s buildings and any pony not lucky enough to be at the town hall. As the now negatively charged energy returned to him, he began absorbing it like a magic sponge. His body started shining brighter as the energy fed his already great power.

“What is he doing?” Rarity asked.

“This is how he feeds,” Answered Fluttershy, “his magic increases negative feelings in any-pony who gets too close. Once they’re at their peak, he starts absorbing the suffering spirit; it’s just awful.”

“Which is why we’re doing this” Rainbow Dash said, visibly wounded from the toss but still flying, “So are you guys going to just stand there or are you going to fight.” She flew back toward him.

“Well, nothing will be accomplished by standing here,” Rarity spoke, following after Rainbow Dash.

“We had better follow too,” spoke Twilight doing the same. The rest follow after her.

Rainbow tried kicking Minucorn as he fed, but her attack was just deflected like the rest.
Rainbow, being swatted again, acted as a sign for Rarity to try and break through the magic field. She focused her magic on the ground Bellow the wizard, lifting a few jewels up and surrounding him with them.

“It’s not exactly common for me to find gems in town. You will pay for forcing me to use them in this way.” She launched the crystal projectiles toward Minucorn, but they just turned to so much dust as they came into contact with his shield. Twilight paid close attention to how the shield bent as the projectiles pelted it, but no matter how it was hit, it never did more than that. Eventually Rarity ran out of gems and the shield looked no closed to breaking. “Impossible,” she says in confusion. Minucorn took the opportunity to grab Rarity in a magic field, lifting her kicking and screaming off the ground before launching her at a break-neck speed. The friends could only look in horror as she flew out of reach. Luckily, Rainbow Dash got back up and flew to catch rarity before she could sustain any serious damage, to everyone’s relief. Spike quickly ran to her side.

“Ok, so gems couldn’t hurt ya, huh?” Applejack walked up next, “then let’s try this.” She grabbed an Apple from the bag she was still holding, launched it into the air and kicked it at an unimaginable speed, hitting the shield with amazing force. Minucorn wasn’t scared of ‘fruit’ so he proceeded farther into the city. “You’ll regret turning your back to me.” Applejack tossed the whole bag in the air, causing all of the apples to fly out. As they came back down, Applejack kicked each with the same force and precision, causing them to explode on top of the
shields surface. Minucorn still paid no mind to the attacks, until he started feeling the force on his back, causing him to turn.

“I get it,” Twilight said as she observed, “Applejack’s hitting the same spot over and over, so it’s breaking down the shield.”

The apples continued to fly, each warring the shield down more and more. “(Come on, open up)” Applejack thought, watching the shield closely, until finally, it broke. “All right,” Applejack wound her leg back, “Try this on for size,” she kicked her last apple with twice the force of the rest. The projectile flew through the air with immense speed until it finally reached Minucorn’s shield and, effortlessly, flew through, only to be caught in his hand.

Applejack was in shock to see her attack, which could give a dragon a head-ache, caught so easily. The wizard crushed the fruit in his hand, and with the same, began to launch a wave of small red projectiles at Applejack, similar to the apples she through. Twilight quickly opened a shield in front of AJ, but the force was more than enough to break through. AJ jumped back to avoid it, so she wasn’t damaged much, until Minucorn appeared behind her and launched one more energy ball at point blank range. The blast caused her to fly into Rainbow, who was trying to catch her as she did for Rarity, but ended up getting struck by the flying pony instead. They were knocked out, but luckily still alive.

“Applejack, Rainbow Dash!” Twilight looked toward the two, and then toward the rest of her friends. “This can’t go on any farther. I’m ending this now.” Twilight stepped forward, but was stopped when Fluttershy stepped in front of her.

“Wait Twilight,” she said.

“What are you doing?”

“Twilight please, before you attack him, let me try something first.”

“What?” Twilight did not like what she was hearing, “Fluttershy, this isn’t like taming a wild animal. We’re fighting an evil wizard. You could get hurt, or worse.”

“Just trust me; I know what I’m doing.” Twilight thought back to when she trusted her friends last, how it didn’t go her way at all, but still…,
“Okay.” Fluttershy just gave a thanking smile and nod and started towards Minucorn. “(Please be careful)”

Fluttershy flew directly in front of Minucorn and looked his way while he looked back. Minucorn raised one of his hands and to ready another spell. Twilight saw this and got one of hers ready as well. “Hearts…” Fluttershy said in a caring voice, “Hearts Major.” The name seemed to connect with Minucorn, because he lowered his hand and just flew there. “That’s your real name right, born in Trottingham as an earth-pony, but fell in love with magic. That’s why you put that mark on your head, but when you did other ponies started to make fun of you, they called you a freak, and treated you so horribly. It was all of that mocking that turned you into this, right? But they were wrong; you’re not a freak. Stop this; just let us help you, please.”

The friends where surprised to see the way Fluttershy’s words seemed to be affecting Minucorn. As he looked at the kind girl, his eyes began to feel heavy as tears began forming in them. He held out his hand as Fluttershy did the same, showing that she meant him no harm. As Minucorn tried to reach her, something began to go wrong. His entire body began to tense up and the marks on his hands and head shined a violent-red light as his energy began to serge through him. He screamed and flailed as the energy continued to intensify, eventually looking at Fluttershy again, with hate and anger in his eyes instead of sadness. Twilight screamed at the girl “Fluttershy get out of there!” but before she could move, Minucorn had caught her in his grasp.

Fluttershy struggled and twitched as she tried to escape the red energy that kept her stationary. “Hearts… please, don’t let the mark control you…,” as she spoke, Minucorn got noticeably angrier as he started to clench the hand pointed toward her. Fluttershy screamed out in pain, the energy rushing around and through her, tearing away at her from the inside out.

Twilight looked at the horrific scene before her, “Stop this now!” she screamed and rushed him with her horn blazing bright with its indigo aura, “let her go right now!!!” Minucorn saw her coming and swung his arm her way, tossing Fluttershy, hitting Twilight, and sending her back.

The girls had all woken up in time to see scene, and none of them were happy. Rarity and Spike rushed over to Twilight and Fluttershy, but Applejack and Rainbow Dash only looked at Minucorn, a bloodlust in their eyes that they have never felt before. “You… heartless… cruel… BASTERD!!!” Rainbow Dash screamed as she flew back into the sky while an immense electrical field, from inside of her, began to wrap itself around her body, “You’re going to pay for that!!!”

“Don’t think your going in there alone partner,” Applejack said as she grabbed a lasso from her back and ran towards Minucorn, followed by Rainbow.

Twilight was still sitting on the ground with Fluttershy on her lap. She was badly bruised and blood had started leaking out of her mouth, but most of her wounds were internal; too many to be mentioned. Twilight checked her pulse and was scared to feel how weak it was.

“Twilight,” Rarity said as they finally reached them, “Please tell me she’s ok. She’s not…”

“No, but she’s close. Her pulse is slow and she has a lot of internal bleeding.”

Rarity grew even more worried (if that was possible), and Spike just looked in shock. “Twilight, can you do anything for her,” Spike finally said.

Twilight looked up at the battle taking place in front of her. Rainbow flew at intense speed, either crashing into Minucorn or causing small electric twisters around him. Applejack used her legs to attack every chance that she got, not bothering to worry about the magic field. There attacks were doing more than before, but still not that much. “(It won’t work),” Twilight looked deeply into the light given off by Minucorn, “(their attacks can’t do anything… ‘They’ can’t do anything.)” Her eyes grew darker… colder.