Chapter Fifteen, Buck Me Once, Shame On You, Buck Me Twice, Shame On Me.
Chapter 15,
Buck Me Once, Shame On You. Buck Me Twice, Shame On Me.
A bucket of water splashed into my face, soaking me completely. My eyes cracked open, then bulged as some of the water trickled into my mouth, slipping down the wrong path towards my lungs. Rolling off of my side, I put my hands against the ground and pushed up, lifting my chest shakily off of the ground. I retched once, twice, then puked, my stomach heaving, its contents pouring out of my mouth all over the ground, the liquid painting the ground a noxious green, flecks of red throughout. Light was shining onto the stones beneath me, so at least four to six hours had passed since I fell.
The sound of hooves clopping against the ground resounded in the air, my hearing to bucked up to focus on its origin. “What the hay was that for!?” someone said, speaking in a southern accent.
‘Wait, WHAT?! We actually woke up? How the hell? We fell from over fourty feet up! Oh yeah, almost forgot, nice job waking up and immediately being sick over a random creature.’
I tried to stand, but my body was betraying me, my limbs working about as effectively as if they had been crafted from gelatin, all of them feeling rather stiff for some reason. I tried to raise my head, but pain shot through my neck as if someone had shoved a needle into it, causing me to whimper slightly. Conceding defeat, I instead settled rasping out, “Who….are…you…” to the stranger.
“Could ask ya that myself.” she….yes….definitely she….replied. “Ya’ll a relative of Spike’s? Got a clue why all these darn ponies are sleeping off the day? I swear, it’s like a ghost town here.”
I recognized her voice, but couldn’t quite place it, like a friend I hadn’t seen for a long time, the answer niggled at the back of my head, buzzing around just out of reach. One thing I could register was what she just said.
‘Sleeping ponies?’
I could hear Gemina whistling softly in my head. ‘So now we know why you fell unconscious, you cast a spell so strong it knocked out a town worth of ponies for easily over four hours. For once I’m actually surprised at how strong you are.’
‘I don’t know how I did it though, but thanks anyways. Now here’s the big question, why isn’t she asleep?’
‘No bloody clue, wanna ask her?’
‘Not particularly my first question, but at some point.’
‘Okay then, so what are we going to tell her?’
‘So should I tell the truth or make up a lie?’ I queried.
‘Truth in this case. You’re shot, and if it decides lying is the bad alternative, then we’re bucked.’
After a second of panting and gasping for air, I croaked out, “I think….it was …..me.”
I immediately felt the sensation of two metallic horseshoes smashing into my skull, sending me tumbling away, rolling right into Twilights tree-brary, my body landing in the comical position of legs and tail over my head, my torso lying on the ground. I couldn’t see crap as vision had suddenly gone on the fritz, but before it could begin to settle out I felt a hoof crush the side of my face into the ground, and swirling mass of orange covered my vision.
“Who in tarnation are you?” the voice said, menace dripping from every syllable. “Answer me now.”
“Ember.” I wheezed. “Who in…Fronds name….are you?”
“Are you here to cause trouble?”
“No…who are you?..” I groaned, the hoof still slowly increasing its pressure upon my cranium.
“What did you do to all of these ponies?”
‘You deaf girl? We’ve asked who you are way one too many times!’
“I think…put them to…sleep….who are you?”
The voice ignored me, pressing my head into the ground harder. “Why did you put them to sleep?” she growled.
‘One word needed pony, answer it damnit!’
“To stop one of my friends….from being kidnapped by…..Diamond Dogs…and who...the buck…are you!” I growled back, gnashing my teeth in fury.
The pressure on my skull disappeared, and I heard the sound of hooves trotting on stone, the mass of orange leaving my field of vision. “How does a dragon get caught by those idiots?” she asked me quizzically.
“He wasn’t a dragon,” I muttered, my breath returning to me as I rolled onto all fours, “and you still haven’t mentioned who you are yet.”
“Name of a Applejack, and how do I know you’re telling the truth?” said the voice.
Everything suddenly clicked into place. Why someone was still awake when everyone else had fallen asleep, why she had been able to buck me with so much strength, the orange fur in my face. I struggled to my feet, ignoring the pain that pricked at me from all over, and looked forward at the pony.
Applejack was standing in a me sized crater, a small puddle of bile and blood pooling in the bottom of it. Her expression clearly depicted mistrust and fear, but she seemed to at least be listening to me right now.
I coughed slightly, then wheezed out, “I…can’t prove…much…”
Her eyes narrowed, looking into mine with a stare that could burn metal, and I knew I was being tested, forced to either meet her stare or look away. After a second she stopped squinting at me and shook her head. “Can’t sense a ounce of ya that’s trying ta fool me, but how the buck does sumpin like that happen?”
“Let me explain.”
My head started whipping around, Applejack just freezing stiff as a pole. I knew that voice…..
Grim came out from behind one of the buildings in a steady walk, his forepaws holding onto the scruff of two dogs, both of whom had no armor or weapons and bloody crowns. As he came toward us the dogs made soft thumping noises, their hindpaws smacking into every cobblestone. Applejack had slowly turned around to look at Grim, and at the sight of the two bloodied mutts in his paws, she started to back slowly towards the tree, her eyes tracking his every movement.
I looked at the two of them, Applejack with her nose flaring, Grim with his predatory stance, and sighed in resignation. “Would both of you mind just stopping now, I’d rather not start a fight in the middle of Ponyville. Please could we just agree to not fight?”
“Why should I resist beating the pony that hurt a friend?” Grim growled, his voice dripping with rage.
“Why shouldn’t I buck some danged fool who knocked all my friends out?” Applejack shot back with equal venom.
“Why don’t all fight each other when only one of us knows everybody’s stories.” I whispered sarcastically. “Cause isn’t that the best idea ever!?”
‘They do both raise a good point you know…’
‘Not helping.’
‘Not trying to Keiko.’
Grim looked at me with disgust. “You’re in a right state! How did you let a pony do that to you!”
‘……..say what?’
‘Didn’t we just have a case of nausea and pain from our landing?’I thought, looking down at my body. ‘Dear lord…….’
My body had been destroyed, my right shoulder looking as if I had caved it in, half of the scales hopelessly shattered. Blood still oozed out of the wound, slowly trickling down my arm, dripping from my index claw to the ground below. I had sustained more than just a mangled shoulder though, my legs had gaps where scales had been ripped out and my tail had a giant gash in the middle.
‘We’ve taken harder hits than that before, how did we get hurt so badly when our body is practically armored?’
‘I…..it........our magic must have run out….’
‘What?’
‘Just a hypothesis, but I’m guessing that our body is so strong due to magic. It would make sense why I was so tired on the run last night. I had run that far before, and was once forced to do it in worse conditions, but if my body’s directly connected to magic, then that puts me under a whole new set of constraints.’
“What the buck you accusing me of? She was this beat up when I found her.” Applejack shouted, her front hooves pawing at the ground.
“Likely story.” growled Grim, dropping the dogs, his hand reaching for his sword.
“Wait.” I shouted wildly, quickly stepping between them. “Stop this!”
“Ember, get out of the way.” Grim growled at me.
“No.” I responded, turning and glaring at him eye to eye. “Why are you so set on hurting her?”
“She hurt you first!”
“I’m fine!”
“She might do it again!”
“She’s. A. Pony. What are you so afraid of?” I growled. I lifted my right claw, expecting for Grim to do the generic cliché of pushing me out of the way to kill her so I readied for the impact, but it never came. Grim instead removed his paw from his sword hilt and looked me in the eye, his voice speaking in a clear, even tone.
“Ember, I haven’t had a true friend in years. I don’t care if I get hurt, I’m used to it, but you shouldn’t be wounded, not like this.”
My guard dropped, my claw falling to my side, my stance broken to bits. I had expected anger or rage, not this. He didn’t even seem servile, but rather like a sad little boy, sorry for his friend getting into an accident. Gripping his shoulder with my right claw, I pulled him into a one armed hug.
“I know that, but we’re together in this, right?”
His face had been a picture of shock, but he slowly returned the hug, his big paws surrounding me. “Forever.”
“So are we all cool now?” came a southern accent from behind me. Turning around, I saw Applejack was looking at us impatiently. “I still have jobs to do, and this isn’t exactly where I need to be right now.”
I gave a quick grin, detangling myself from Grim. “I know that, but I need to tell you a few things. First off, all the ponies will wake up soon, not sure exactly when, but soon. Second, take care of Applebloom, you’re doing a good job with her, don’t screw it up.”
“How do yo…”
“I just do, okay? It’s not the weirdest thing you’ve had to experience today, so take it at face value please.”
“Fine then, though I don’t like it, I’ll cope with someone who’s being truthful.” She pouted, bringing a small smile to my face.
‘Thank you honesty.’
‘Never expected to hear you say that.’
‘Hey, just because I’m sarcastic doesn’t mean I don’t value honesty!..oops…’
‘……..No comment…’
“Thank you. Finally, memoria submersion.” I muttered, my right index claw touching her forehead.
Applejack eyes rolled forward as she whispered softly, “Oh buck.” Then fell backwards, her eyelids closing. Grim walked towards her slightly, then poked her forehead. Her head rolled on the ground, her tongue lolling out.
“Did you kill her?” he whispered.
Grunting in pain, I slowly shook my head as I walked back to him. “No,” I responded, throwing my right claw over his shoulder again, “just changed the memories. She won’t remember us when she wakes up, but we won’t have more than a half hour at most.”
Grim raised his eyebrow at my arm, then looked at my pale face. “Need help?”
I groaned exasperatedly, and he just broke into a grin. “I can take you and the dogs out in one go, but you might need to rush a bit if we want to put enough ground between us and this town.”
My eyelids half closed as I settled my weight upon his shoulder, letting him support me. After getting comfy, I muttered tiredly, “I’ll manage.”
As we walked out of the town, I looked over my shoulder once. I had just visited the one place I knew from the show, and had left it as a disaster zone. Three areas, three disasters. Strike three, I’m out.
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So, first chink in Embers armor found. Also, if I get 10+ comments saying that I should make a spoiler chapter like BlackWings in Griffin the Griffin, then tell me.
Edit: Sorry, sounded kinda pleading there. Just trying to ask whether anybody wants that type of chapter (will be clearly marked).
spoiler chapter huh? i wouldn't mind so... go for it! oh, the chapter was interesting...applejack kicks ass apparently.
Now there's an interesting weakness, must admit, that was pretty clever.
And as for the spoiler, I personally don't think you need one, well at least right now. You've got a lot of publicity in quite a few other fics (most of whom have a further time line than you). In short, don't want to see the future, want to see how much more awesome you can make this before you do something like that 
1492023
Only if you feel like it.
Sure, go ahead with the future thing. I'd like to see that.
Does that go for all dragons or are you a special case? AC scaling with mana reserves I mean.
I'll say that the spoiler chapter is up to you .
On other news: Great chapter!
1492169
I'd say Ember is a special case, mainly due to her being the only dragon who uses high level spells on a common basis. Try casting ultima multiple times and we'll talk about it
1492054
Nope, fifty foot falls along with a body that's lost a lot of its defenses hurt Ember
As for the future chapter, due to your votes it seems that it would be best to wait for a later date.
I like being surprised and frankly, you surprised me , embers magic running out while ponyville gets another saturday night disaster and grims feeling in one go and in under 2500 words
And as the first statement said : I like being surprised so if you put in a spoiler chapter please mark it
Have a nice day
Ember's injured! Oh NOES!
Cool, finally a new chapter. Been looking forward to more of this story for a while.
Over use of magic could take alot out of anyone especily if they don't have the endurance for it I expected worse even from a dragon knocking out all of ponyville would take enough energy to cast multiple ultima spells I thought she might almost burn out with that much energy her second heart is what saved her.
1492023
Everyone seems to be making one of those for some reason.
1496129
We're in for the long run, people might like to have a spoiler.
I personally would not like a spoiler, griffin the griffin made me hate it by that chapter
Spoiler chapter
So glad for all these updates we've been getting. So much better now you have your own computer!!
yay
Another great chapter and thank you!
well, personally, i'm starting to like this a lot more than GtG. i mean, GtG is fine and all, but its kind of slowing down. this story, however is full of fun and excitement. keep it up!
1492023
no spoilers
let us have it like a brick wall on a crash test
it has more impact if we don know how to use the hand break...
(see what i did there)
1501431
If you're feeling unable to love her, but unable to hate, and yet still fascinated, that's what I was going for, sorry for the pain.
1503827
I have many projects going in real life and in my critiqueing world and I've been thinking about writing another story about a crossover about a shaper ( a creature that can turn into 3 forms 1. a mind drill practicaly possesing a non-sentient being 2. a normal human looking creature but in this story I was going to have it be a pony and 3. a shadow dragon) these are actual mythical creatures and I haven't worked with them so I'm curious about what I will invoke if I decide to write it but anyway I've been busy and will get started on another chapter on Friday or Saturday. I've narrowed the storiies I have to do into you and Rust's story but I will get to it when I can I am also debating only doing this on weekends so sorry if thats convenient but there are alot of fires lately with people not being smart with their heaters and someone thought it would be a good idea to put their candle out by putting paper on it to smother it then leave the house seriously some people have no brains well anyway I'm dragging on and now I should get back to work
682994 To be honest, you and Blackwing make a scary good team, mate.
1555827
OMG Asuna!!! And yes, he's based off a friend of mine who takes anything and then looks at us with a great big goofy smile, his personality being generally quiet but kind.
1556401
figured you based him off a real person its hard to pull that from scratch it usually takes me an hour or two to get a whole new characters personality straight even then I make a few changes but he is consistent so I figured
EDIT:what do you think of my ratings bit different then you were expecting or around the same
1559745
Hell of a lot higher than expected actually.
1562684
you were expecting worse ratings for your inattentiveness of background because there are alot worse crimes out there or are they better quality than you were expecting? Either way I am not sure how to react considering I am a self taught
1562724
Let's put it this way, I always considered my critiquing skills better than my writing skills, and I could literally rip my story to shreds, as per most things. It's sad but true, my story has many gaping holes in it. I'm just happy I've steered clear of plot holes, my mistakes instead being grammar and details.
1562845
for me it helps to try to write thinking about what a critic would think if you want to go at that way about it I rate on the story itself not spelling or grammatical errors and yes you do have flaws in your story everyone has these problems you are no better than the rest of us but that also means you have room to improve never sell yourself short never make yourself too proud of yourself either its always good to see your o/c or story in a neutral image always seeing room for improvement and room for failure there is no one way or the other just always in between that is how I see things. I am a bit surpised about you not reacting to figuring out your plot well played Tamara well played I still haven't completely figured out your multiple personality but it is only a matter of time I suspect gemina is a demon of sorts allowing greater power for Ember but also creating a great instability for when released might as well quit writing on my phone for the moment I have to ask someone a question
EDIT:did you get the good luck on your travels reference
1562988
Kinda, can't remember where it came from, and yea, seeing my character neutrally is actually the only thing I'm proud of, I find way to many people who never accept criticism.
1563062
see that right there proves you have potential but its your choice if you want to make things go one way or another and the good luck on your travels thing is a reference to how a writers mind is full of adventure and imagination and it leads you to great journeys a quote made by some famous person whos name I can't spell for the life of me
She's beginning to crack, she can't keep this up. She is in desperate need for a breather and time to sort things out to decide how she feels about all that's happened. I feel both sorry for her and angered by her decisions, really I just think she needs people to confide to and is confused, shaken, and unsure.
1579206
Yay, I got someone to feel the double edged sword of love and hate! Also, this isn't cracking, this is her being broken up physically, not mentally. I'll tell you when she finally starts cracking mentally.
Also, really sorry about the no updates, I met life recently and he decided to give me a whole bunch of *****. I'll get on it soon, sorry.
This chapter: I saw almost all of that coming
I did not see Grim arguing with AJ
Also: No cliffhanger