Tales of Valor - Part 1: Through the Looking Glass

by Scribble Script

6: A Story's End

8th: A Story's End

To speak with Rarity’s words, this was the worst possible thing. Twilight had never imagined a plan could go that terribly wrong.

Valor had asked her how strong her magic was and she had admitted to be experienced and skilled in magic (after Spike had already bragged about her being the most magical unicorn in Equestria).

Then Applejack had stated that they had the Elements of Harmony after all. And Twilight had told Valor, what the Elements were. At least what Twilight thought they were.

Surprisingly Valor Edge hadn’t seemed to be too curious about them for he stated that at the moment he only had to know if they could use the Elements to establish a banishing circle.
“I know for sure one thing”, he had explained. “Nopony can use magic without playing according to its rules. So if our enemy uses magic to appear in a looking glass, we can most certainly contain it within a magic field. If it cannot jump, we can possibly defeat it.”

And according to Valor’s plan they had surrounded the barn once Valor had lured the scarecrows in. Applejack desperately had wanted to join Valor. She had realized that the evil filly had chosen her old barn for headquarter and now wanted to ‘thrash the straw’. But Valor wouldn’t allow that. He insisted on the execution of his plan.

Twilight had indeed been a little proud. Under her lead the six Elements of Harmony enhanced her force field and built a shimmering dome around the barn.
In Twilight’s head Valor’s warning still had echoed: “Never ever step out of your circle! Always remember that I am the bait and you are the trap. Uphold your spell at all cost!”

So Twilight and her friends had done, even as they had heard the filly shouting out loud from inside the barn. She had hold her friends back, even as AJ and Rainbow had insisted on helping Valor Edge. But then the unthinkable had happened. Valor hadn’t told them everything about his plan, Twilight realized. He said he’d try to reason their enemy and if that wouldn’t work he said he’d deal with her somehow. But apparently ‘somehow’ involved setting the barn on fire. And still there was no sign of Valor coming out. Flames stroke out of the wood and smoke curled to the sky and against the force field. First bars came crashing down.

Rainbow Dash was the first to neglect Valor’s advice. She jumped towards the barn and thus interrupted the circle. The force field collapsed.
“We gotta do something!” Rainbow shouted and tried to fly to Valor’s aid. But Applejack grabbed her tail with her teeth and held her back.

At that very moment the intermediate floor over the door collapsed giving off sparks, blocking the door. Now there was no way out for Valor Edge.

“There’s nothing we can do”, AJ breathed, tears in her eyes. “Darn it Valor. Why did ya do that?”

The barn had become his pyre.

The six ponies looked at each other all of them in different states of shock. In the end there was nothing any of them could do.
They had to stand and watch in horror as the now unbound flames stroke towards the sky. Twilight and Rarity, still in position just stared at the fire. So did AJ and Rainbow ignoring the withering heat. Even Pinkie Pie had felt silent. And Fluttershy lay on the ground, her eyes closed, and cried for Valor.

But suddenly, Twilight felt something. It was like a distant voice in the air, an ethereal melody. The fire changed. Its roaring vanished replaced by the strange music. Golden rays broke out between the yellow, red and orange of the flames and they heard the sound of glass shattering.
“The golden light!” Twilight exclaimed. “There it is. I was right all along.”

And before she could notice that her excitement was very indelicate, the now golden flames burst into a bright, blistering explosion of light. For a moment, Twilight was blinded by that light and couldn’t see anything.

“Well, that came unexpected.” Twilight recognized Valor’s voice. “But who am I to question the results.”

“Valor? But how…? We… You…” she stuttered. Valor Edge just stood there and smiled, yet he should have been…

“Dead?” Valor completed her thought. “I am not easy to kill. Many a foe had to learn that the hard way.”

At that moment a rainbow-colored flash tackled him to the ground. “You idiot”, shouted Dash. “We were worried about you!” She boxed Valor Edge on his shoulder

Valor freed himself from Dash and struggled up again, though his legs seemed to be a bit weary. “Ouch, hard hoofpunch Rainbow”, he said gasping. “I guess I deserved that one. Simply not used to having friends again who worry about me. But I am alright.”

“But you really shouldn’t be”, Twilight objected. Not that she wasn’t relieved to see her friend unharmed. But the strictly logic-based part of her mind complained that it was absolutely impossible for anypony to escape that fire at all, much less unharmed. And that she said.

“A little parlor trick”, Valor waved off. Then he laughed as he saw the wary looks of the others. “No, really, not a thing to worry about. I am no vengeful spirit or something.”
He became more serious again. “But more important: It is done. The filly in the mirror poses no threat anymore.”

“So, did you… kill her?” Fluttershy asked anxiously. Her eyes went wide.

“Actually, no”, Valor Edge said soothingly. “I did not kill her. I was prepared to do so, but a little surprisingly something else worked out.” He shrugged his shoulders. “She wanted to the power of the Vortex of Time. Hence I gave her what she wanted and let her look directly into Vortex.”

“Yeah, not getting it…” Rainbow Dash stated dryly. “Me neither”, Fluttershy confirmed. “Nope.” AJ shook her head and so did Rarity. Pinkie remained silent but flashed a wide and confusingly understanding smile.

“The Vortex connects what was, what is and what will or could be”, Valor explained. “And it is the driving force behind everything in the universe. Its heartbeat, some say.”

“But what ‘bout that cheeky lil miss? What happened to her?” asked Applejack. “Ya said ya didn’t kill her. But what happened to her?”

Valor Edge pawed on the ground. “She is gone. As she looked into the Time Vortex, the mirror shattered. Had the daughter claimed that might while her heart was still burning with the thirst for vengeance, she could have destroyed the whole world.
But there was a little bit of hesitation. A spark of doubt, one could say. So my plan was to show her how wrong she was. I had to make her realize her grave mistakes.”

He paused for a moment and swallowed. “I was cruel, I was cold, and I even lit the barn ablaze. I destroyed all her ambitions, all her hopes. So, when she finally looked into the Vortex, there was only regret left in her heart. And that was what saved her.”

“Still not getting it”, Twilight stated dryly.

“When the Vortex is opened it is the most powerful source of energy. Connected with ones deepest and most desperate wishes anything can happen. The alien huntress who had been banished behind the looking glasses may have been evil – I am not sure about that. But I know there was enough of an innocent foal left in her to save her: She had felt a little sympathy before and that was enough. When the power of the Vortex flowed over her, she no longer wished for revenge, but only for forgiveness. All she wanted was a second chance. And that wish could be fulfilled, more than gladly.”

“So where’s she now?” Applejack wanted to follow up. “Did ya just… let her go?”

Valor smiled and confirmed happily: “I did. And to be honest, I have no clue where she is now. Somewhere and somewhen – wait, can I say that? ‘Somewhen’? Sounds not right… Um… Anyway!
What I wanted to say: There will be a place at some point in space and time –be it the past or the future- where she can make a brand new start. Live a perfect normal life as a perfect normal filly. She will grow and learn, become what she wants to be. A musician perhaps, who knows? It may well be, we will meet her again. But I doubt we would realize it…”

So everything turned out fine in the end. Much better than Valor Edge had hoped. No blood had been shed and even their foe had been rescued from his own self-destructive hatred. Even if by now she wouldn’t even remember what she had been. The swordstallion was pretty sure he knew her jailer, that he had met the one who had imprisoned her in the first place.
And though he was mainly happy that his plan (by far not his best one, if he was honest) had worked out in the best way possible, he was a little proud he had shown mercy where other's couldn’t. Something that happened way to little in this cruel universe.

But there were still things left to do today. To apologize, for example. Valor hadn’t been completely honest with Twilight and her friends about his plan and the danger he had decided to put himself into. And even now he couldn’t share his whole story with them…
But he did apologize and he meant it.

“It’s alright”, Applejack accepted his apology in place of her friends. “No harm done and no offense taken.” Then she added, smiling: “So this is watcha doin’, huh? What yer Cutie Mark stands for? Fightin’ against evil creatures and… Did ya say ‘aliens’?”

“Close enough, I guess”, Valor smirked then became serious again. “A life full of danger and adventures. As I said -or sung, but never mind- even staying near me could be dangerous. So it may be the best if I just travelled on…”

“Had worse”, Twilight simply answered. “Besides, don’t think I would ever let you go without you telling me everything about that whole Time-Vortex-thing!”

“Yeah! We’d never drop somepony that cool”, Rainbow Dash cheered in approval. “I mean you fight evil aliens and you set a barn on fire just to make a point! That is sooo awesome!”

Pinkie Pie flashed her widest smile and Valor was convinced for a moment that she had more than a pony’s normal amount of teeth. “Welcome again to Ponyville, Mister Pointy! So what do we do next?” She took Valor aside and lowered her voice conspiratorially. “Will we fight against evil space-witches and their creepy word and rhyme-scheme based magic?”

“Wait, what?” AJ’s jaw dropped. “Space-witches? Why would there be space witches? No, actually, Ah think Valor’s gonna do something different, first.”

“And that would be?”

“He owes me a new barn”, Applejack stated with a serious expression on her face.

Valor Edge started to laugh. “Fair enough” he said.

<0>

That was how Valor Edge finally decided to stay in Ponyville, thanks to Twilight Sparkle and her friends. What none of them knew was that somepony was observing them from the distance: An earth-pony stallion in a hooded cloak stood in the shades of the old trees of the Everfree Forest, watching and gloomily smiling.

“That turned out very well”, he grinned. “The hero finally has hit the stage. Everything will go according to my plan.”
He lifted his left forehoof and held it in the air for a moment. The hoof trembled a little, then he started to tap on the ground.

Ta-ta-ta Tap. Ta-ta-ta Tap. Ta-ta-ta Tap.

“The wage of war is coming”, the stallion muttered to himself. “The self-proclaimed guardian and the Silver Knight of Eternity. How exciting!”
He turned back where in the shadows fiery-orange eyes were glowing.
“So let’s make sure, our champion will be ready when the final mistake of a good man… stallion will make the devil rise.”

Ta-ta-ta Tap. Ta-ta-ta Tap. Ta-ta-ta Tap.

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Tales of Valor
-
Through The Looking Glass

Starring

Valor Edge --- Matthew Broderick
Twilight Sparkle --- Tara Strong
Applejack --- Ashleigh Ball
Pinkie Pie --- Andrea Libman
The Daughter --- Lauren Wilson

Also starring

Fluttershy --- Andrea Libman
Rainbow Dash --- Ashleigh Ball
Rarity --- Tabitha St.Germain
Spike --- Kira Buckland

And introducing John Simm as The Cloaked Stallion.

Author's Note:

So this is it: Finis!
Valor's first adventure in Ponyville has come to its end.

And so has Scribble's debut as writer. I hope you enjoyed my story and my decisions for this crossover. Some may already anticipate who or what the ponies will be facing soon from what i indicated so far.

More soon...

Comments

[Scribble Script]

6096039
Thank you.
Indeed the commas are an issue, I'm not sure how to handle really correctly.
And as I'm writing and translating at the same time I always search for the best words and by that I may be exaggerating... If so, feel free to suggest words more fitting.