Face the Raven, Pt 1
Face the Raven, Part 1
Kitty Snip sat in her cell and licked at her paws.
She was a cat, or most of a cat anyway, with legs and arms covered in tabby fury and paws at the end of those same legs and arms. Her face, though possessing cat-like ears and a pair of fangs that jutted down over her bottom lip, was a little more humanoid, covered not in fur but only in dark tan skin. The rest of her body was concealed beneath a leotard of blue lycra that covered her from her neck to her thighs.
A striped tail swayed behind her in gentle contentment as she completed her grooming.
A klaxon began to sound outside, loud enough to be hardly quieted by the glass barrier between Kitty’s cell and the corridor beyond. Red lights were flashing outside, and a prison warden was yelling over the loudspeaker.
“Security teams to D Block! She’s opening up the cells! I can’t lock it down! Full tactical gear is authorised! Find Raven!”
Raven? Find Raven, don’t they know where…did Raven get out? Is Raven gonna bust us all out of this joint?
Kitty considered whether it was in keeping with her feline dignity to press her face against the transparent door to her cell in a desperate attempt to get a better view of what was happening, but fortunately she was spared from anticipation forcing her to compromise herself when she saw something pretty cool from inside the cell.
Specifically, a pair of booted feet that looked like they belonged to a guard kicking in the air as someone held him up off the ground.
“No…please…please, I can haaaagh!”
His body dropped to the ground in a heap. Kitty recoiled away from the sight of his twisted neck and lifeless eyes.
Some people are just so brutal. No refinement whatsoever. I suppose that seeing as they aren’t cats, they can’t really help themselves.
Raven adjusted her dark blue cloak ostentatiously as she strode into view. “Kitty. Glad to see that you’re still here.”
Kitty’s blue eyes widened. “Raven?” She glanced down at the dead guard. “Was that really necessary?”
Raven looked down at the dead body. “It wasn’t unnecessary; he was trying to recapture me.”
“Yeah, but-“
“Just because you don’t kill, Kitty, doesn’t mean that we all need to share your scruples,” Raven said flatly. “And in any case, I’m not interested in discussing fallen Starfleet guards.”
Kitty licked her lips. “Right,” she said, in a tone that was wary without being unfriendly. She didn’t want to get on Raven’s bad side. Nobody wanted to get on Raven’s bad side. “So, you got out then?”
“What gave it away, the fact that I’m out of my cell?”
Kitty stood up. “I’m surprised that you’re still hanging around here, now that you’re free and all.”
“Oh, I’ve got a few loose ends to tie up here before I attend to my business,” Raven said breezily. “Like opening all the other cells and letting the prisoners loose.”
Kitty grinned. “So it’s you that’s got all the guards running around in a panic? I might have known.”
“Oh, so far I’ve only opened up one block,” Raven said. “If they’re panicking now, well…I’m only just getting started.”
Kitty laughed nervously. “Remind me never to get on your bad side, Raven.”
“Kitty! Would you ever? I know I can rely on you, that’s why I’m here. You see, most of the fellows I’m letting out, I just want to run around for a little while, cause some chaos, attract some attention, you know the sort of thing. Starfleet will probably recapture them soon, but that doesn’t matter to me.”
“Because we’re all a big diversion to you, right?”
“All? No, no, no, Kitty haven’t you been listening? I don’t want you to be a diversion, I don’t want you to get recaptured. I want you to do me a favour.”
Kitty’s eyes narrowed. “I’m listening.”
“There’s a certain pink party pony headed this way with some of her new friends,” Raven said. “If she were to reunited with some of her old friends it could…present difficulties.”
“I’m surprised that you haven’t just taken her out. Being in your way has a high mortality rate.”
Raven smiled coldly. “Unfortunately, I’m not at all sure I’d like to chance it with this one.”
Kitty’s tail went rigid as she folded her arms across her chest. “You want me to go up against someone that you are scared of?”
Raven chuckled. “I’ll not deny that Miss Pie has some…unique abilities. There is power in a good heart to put even my Uniforce in the shade; that’s what makes people like her so dangerous…and detestable. But you, Kitty Snip, I don’t think she’ll give you any trouble. You see all her power comes from friendship, all those threads of affection and good feeling that she leaves scattered across the world. Threads…that are overdue for a snipping.”
Kitty held out one paw, as her claws extended themselves almost reflexively. “I see. She has a lot of these threads then?”
“Oh, they’re everywhere.”
Kitty licked her lips again, more in anticipation than in nervousness this time. “So, if I agree to go find this mare-“
“Her name is Pinkie Pie.”
“If I agree to find this Pinkie Pie and snip those threads to…make her less dangerous to you, I guess…what’s in it for me?”
“I’ll let you out of this cell,” Raven said. “Because you know, I don’t have to. I can always forget to open the doors in this area. You can stay here until Starfleet has everything back under control. Or you cut Pinkie Pie’s threads, gorge yourself on all that friendship, and amuse yourself afterwards watching all those stupid, unfeline ponies fall to fighting amongst themselves. What do you say?”
Kitty licked at one paw. “Miaow.”
Princess Fairgrace sat nervously on the sofa, with her legs tucked beneath her, turning her head twitchily this way and that, as though she feared someone was about to sneak up on her and reprimand her for her laziness.
Reprimand...or worse, Lightning thought. What have they suffered in the dark, my friends, while I danced in sunlight?
Snowflame sat on the floor, in front of the sofa, sprawled out on Lightning's throw rug. While Fairgrace looked nervous, Snowflame looked tense, ready to spring into action at any moment.
"Are you sure you wouldn't rather take the chair?" Lightning asked.
"No, it's fine," Snowflame murmured. "Besides, you'd look ridiculous sat on the floor with those two lanky long legs of yours. You sit in the chair, I'm fine here."
Lightning frowned. It didn't seem right to him, making his guest sit on the floor; but he suspected - though Snowflame had not said so - that it was much the same as the sleeping situation: Snowflame didn't want to stray too far from the princess. There was no need for her to feel that way, but...but the last thing he wanted to do was argue with her about it. In her horseshoes he might well feel the same way.
Snowflame looked around the room, and furrowed her brow as she did so. "You know, I should have noticed this last night, but...there are no flowers in this house."
Krysta settled on Lightning's shoulder. "No," she said. "Ought there to be?"
Snowflame shrugged. "I just...I kinda thought there might be is all. Or maybe I hoped there would be."
"We've never had any," Lightning replied, which was almost but not entirely true. Fluttershy had given him a peace lily when he and Starla first moved in here, but it had died because neither of them had done enough to take care of it; it was a fact of which he felt rather ashamed now, if only for the lack of appreciation for a well-intentioned gift. But apartment from that he spoke the truth, there had never been any flowers, or plants of any kind, in the house. "Why? Buddy's the flower guy."
Snowflame gave him some side-eye. "The flower guy? What's that supposed to mean? Is this Buddy the only person on the planet allowed to like flowers or something?"
Lightning opened his mouth, but no words came out and he was forced to close it again before he looked like a complete idiot. After a few moments of marshalling thoughts a little he managed to say, "I just meant...you know, I'm not sure what I meant, it was a stupid thing to say."
"Pretty much, yeah," Snowflame agreed, which Krysta giggle at least.
"Y-y-you used to-to-to l-like flowers," Princess Fairgrace stammered, forcing each word out of her mouth with a visible effort of will and tongue. "D-did-did you f-forget th-that t-too?"
"Did I?" Lightning replied. He leaned forward. "I...did I really...I..."
"Lightning?" Krysta asked. "Are you okay?"
Lightning rested his rested his chin upon his crossed forehooves, and watched as his mother's hooves worked with surprising dexterity amongst the flowers blooming on the rosebush.
"All roses are entwined with love, Lightning," Mother said, her voice as gentle as a summer breeze that cools the fevered brow. "There are as many different kinds of rose as there are different kinds of love, and roses, more than any other flower, require love to bloom at their most beautiful." She looked back at him, and smiled. "So, if you were going to give a rose to Snowflame, which colour would be the most appropriate?"
Lightning scowled. "Snowflame would laugh at me if I did something like that."
Mother chuckled. "Humour your mother, darling."
Lightning frowed, casting his eyes over the multitude of colours blooming on the bushes before him. White roses for purity, innocence and charm; Snowflame wasn't charming at all, she irritated him half the time, and she certainly wasn't innocent; dark red was for an unconscious beauty, but Lightning didn't think she was beautiful at all; lavender for love at first sight, ugh no!
"Pink," he said.
Mother nodded. "Pink for admiration, joy and sweetness. Is it one of those, or all of them?"
"I don't know," Lightning said. "Snowflame's a lot of fun and...and I admire her, I guess."
"You guess?"
"I do," Lightning corrected himself. "She's really strong. I wish I was as strong as she is."
"Lightning Dawn," Mother said. "There are more ways to be strong than being strong. I hope you understand that one day, when you're older."
"Mother," Lightning murmured.
"Lightning?" Krysta asked.
"My mother, she was the head garderner at the palace," Lightning muttered. "Her name was...Novel Rose. Sometimes I'd spend hours watching her work, and she'd tell me all about all the different flowers in the garden. I felt so...so comfortable there. So...content."
Snowflame nodded. "I used to make fun of you for that sometimes. I was stupid of me, and I'm sorry for it."
"It hardly matters now, does it?" Lightning said. "After everything that's happened since?"
"After everything that's happened since, I reckon it might be more important than ever to hold onto things like flowers," Snowflame said. "I'm sorry that you don't like them any more."
"I..." Lightning trailed. I what? I forgot? I forgot my own mother and everything that she ever taught me? I forgot her name? What kind of son does that? What kind of person am I, what kind of monster? What's happening to me? Or should I say what happened? What happened to my memories, how did I get this way?"
"D-does that m-mean you d-d-don't remem-remem-remember the s-song, either?" Fairgrace asked.
"The song?" Lightning asked.
Fairgrace nodded, and her stammer fell away as her clear voice began to ring out across the room.
"Edelweiss, edelweiss, every morning you greet me,
Small and white, clean and bright,"
"You look happy to meet me," Lightning finished. "I...I do remember."
"What's that one, Mama?"
"This, Lightning, is called the edelweiss, the noble flower of our world. It is as strong and hardy as we are, and it blooms in the high mountains and the cold from which our ancestors came; but I have managed to grow it here, to remind us of our traditions." She looked down at him. "No matter how far away you go, Lightning, if you carry the edelweiss in your heart you will survive, and you will always find your way back home again." She smiled and began to sign. "Edelweiss, edelweiss, every morning you greet me..."
"The song of home," Lightning said. "She said...Mother said that if I remembered the edelweiss then...then I could always find my way back home." Maybe that's where I went wrong.
"Home is gone," Snowflame said.
"N-n-not while we r-r-remember it," Fairgrace said, sounding surprisingly insistent. "L-Lightning, S-S-Snowflame...w-w-w-will y-you s-s-sing with me?"
Lightning smiled. "I would be honoured, princess."
"Can I join in once I've picked up the words."
Fairgrace nodded.
"One, two, three," Snowflame murmured.
"Edelweiss, edelweiss-"
Their voices were drowned out by an immense booming sound, powerful enough to shake the windows of the house and set the frames to rattling as though the earth was shaking fit to tear down the city.
Princess Fairgrace whimpered in fear. Snowflame scrambled to her feet, her body trembling. "What in the stars was that?"
"I don't know," Lightning said, as he rose out of his seat. "But I-"
"Lightning!" Krysta cried; she had already flown to the nearest window and hovered there, looking out across the city. "Come see this."
Lightning walked briskly to the window, and his brown eyes widened as he saw the column of smoke and fire rising up from the other side of New Canterlot, a pillar of flame belching out fuming poison, and all of it coming from...
"Krysta, does that look like-"
"The direction of the prison? Yeah," Krysta replied glumly.
"Lightning," Snowflame's tone was audible nervous. "What's going on?"
Lightning smiled in what he hoped was a reassuring manner. "I'm sure it's-"
"Don't you dare tell me that it's nothing, tell me the truth!" Snowflame snapped.
Lightning nodded. "You're right, I'm sorry. The truth is that I-"
He was interrupted again, this time by a buzzing sound from the communicator sitting on the coffee table. A voice, mechanically distorted and a little hard to here over a series of bangs and crackles that issued, firecracker like, from the earpiece, poured forth. "Commander Lightning Dawn, come in. Commander Lightning Dawn please response, this is a priority one emergency."
Lightning snatched the communicator up and fitted it into his ear. "This is Commander Lightning Dawn, what's going on? Does this have anything to do with the explosion I just heard?"
"Yes, sir. This is Executive Captain Shadow Moon, 2nd Urban Cohort, outside the Internment Centre, sir."
"What's happening down there?"
"It's Raven, sir, she's escaped. She's tearing up the prison and freeing all the other inmates. We're trying to contain the situation, but I don't have enough ponypower on sight to maintain an airtight perimeter and send troops into the perimeter as His Majesty ordered. I've been promised all available personnel, but we've got prisoners spreading across the city and even when reinforcements show up we still have no counter to Raven's power. I could really use your help down here, sir."
Lightning felt his blood chill in his veins. No. No, this can't be happening. Not again. No, please, not again. Memories of Twilight, of her cold dead corpse lying in the field, nearly overwhelmed him. Who would it be this time? Starla? Rhymey? Fluttershy? Rainbow Dash? I won't let that happen. I was too late last time. I won't be too late again."Where's Raven now?"
"Roger that, captain, I'm on my way," Lightning said. "Krysta, can you get me into the prison."
Krysta frowned. "Wouldn't it be safer to start outside the prison where you can get some backup?"
"There's no time for that," Lightning declared. "I need to take out Raven as soon as possible and that means taking the fight to her right now."
"But Lightning-"
"I am not going to be too late again!" Lightning yelled. "I'm not going to let anyone else suffer because I was too slow! I'm going to end this, once and for all." Sunset Shimmer was a fool to take Raven alive. I won't make the same mistake.
Krysta stared at him for a moment. "Okay, let's go."
"Thanks," Lightning said. "After you've dropped me off-"
"After?" Krysta said. "There is no after. I'm with you."
"It'll be dangerous-"
"Then it's a good thing you've got me to watch your back, isn't it?" Krysta asked.
Lightning took a deep breath, and tried to avoid thinking of the possible consequences. "Okay, together. Thank you."
"Lightning," Snowflame murmured. "I...do you...why? Why are you doing this?"
"Because I don't have a choice," Lightning replied. "I'm sorry, but I have to go. I'll be back soon. Krysta?"
"Right," Krysta said, and instantly a fairy warping portal enveloped the both of them, carrying them out of Lightning's house and away, across the entire length of the city.
Snowflame closed her eyes and stamped her hooves upon the ground. "Idiot. What's he doing, running into trouble like that? What's that crybaby doing running into trouble at all? He's just gonna...he'll just...stars watch over him and keep him safe."
A touch on her back made her jump, but it was only Princess Fairgrace, who had gotten down off the sofa to stand beside her. "If-if-if you w-want to g-g-g-go after him...it's okay."
Snowflame's eyes widened. "Princess? I...no, I have to stay here. I have to keep you safe."
"I...I...I'll b-be f-fine," Fairgrace stammered. "K-k-keep Lightning safe for us."
"Are...are you sure?"
Fairgrace nodded.
Snowflame hesitated, before a smile blossomed across her face. "Alright! Don't you worry, Princess, I'll bring our boy back safe and sound no problem!"
Hold on, Lightning; I'm on my way.
Lightning and Krysta teleported into a dark and blackened corridor. The lights were out, although a couple of fluorescent tubes flickered intermittently as they hung from the ceiling. Wires protruded out of shattered wall panels, emitting sparks that fell gently onto the metallic floor beneath. The white walls were blackened by explosions and pockmarked by projectiles. The prison doors hung open, or were smashed to pieces.
Lightning had half-expected to see bodies here, and counted himself fortunate that he saw none.
“I still say we should have brought some back-up with us,” Krysta whispered into his ear.
“If anyone came with us, we’d only be putting them in danger,” Lightning replied. “I’m the only one who can face Raven.” It took the uniforce to match the uniforce, and Raven was prodigiously strong even without it. No other pony stood a chance in a straight fight against her.
I let Twilight face Raven, and Twilight died. I won’t put anyone else in danger because I can’t or won’t do what needs to be done.
“Okay then, hero,” Krysta muttered. “Where do we go from here?”
“What makes you think there’s any need for you to go anywhere?” Raven asked. “Perhaps I’m right here. Perhaps I’ve been waiting for you.”
Her voice had come from behind Lightning, who turned, hands balling into fists as he did so. The flickering of a light half ripped out of his socket on the ceiling illuminated Raven for a moment, swathed in her cloak of midnight blue, looking for all the world like some kind of movie villain lit up by a lightning strike. As the light flickered, Lightning could see her face as grey as dead flesh, and her eyes as blue as ice and every bit as cold.
And then the light stopped flickering, and the corridor was plunged into darkness and Lightning could see her no more.
“So, the Grand Allied Supreme Commander stirs from his ivory tower to get his hands dirty with little old me,” Raven’s voice rang out across the corridor. But where was it coming from? Behind again, or…or was it above? “I’m honoured.”
“Where are you?” Lightning bellowed. “Krysta, do you see anything?”
Krysta was glowing like a golden wisp of light, but her gleam only extended a few inches away from her. “No, I can’t see a thing in here.”
“Are you here to kill me?” Raven asked from out of the blinding gloom. “Or are you going to be a bore like dear Sunset and forbear to take my life because, after all, killing me would make you no better than I am? Not that you are any better than I am, obviously.”
“I’m going to do whatever it takes to see that you never harm another living soul,” Lightning snapped. “If that means that I have to kill you then so be it.”
Raven laughed, a rich and full-throated sound. There was the clattering thump of something heavy landing on the floor behind Lightning, who turned to face it for all he could yet see nothing.
“Come now, Commander, there’s no need to put on a show for little me,” Raven chuckled. “We’re all alone here, in the dark. You and me and Her Majesty Queen Krystalline and we all know that nobody pays any attention to a fairy, don’t we?” Another light flickered, so conveniently that Lightning might have sworn that Raven was doing it on purpose somehow, lighting her up for just a second, so close that she could have simply reached out and touched him, a manic grin slicing across her face as sharp as the knife she had driven into Twilight’s heart. Lightning swung his fist at her, but she was gone before the blow came close and the darkness was all-concealing once again.
“So why don’t you stop playing the hero and admit the truth, here, where there are no witnesses to gasp with shock,” Raven murmured, and this time her voice was a caress that seemed to be coming from over Lightning’s shoulder, save that he felt no one there. “You want revenge, don’t you?”
“All I want is to serve my people,” Lightning replied.
“And who are your people?” Raven asked. “Not your fellow Harmonians, clearly, or you wouldn’t have left them behind to rush off and face me here. Was it so easy, commander, to abandon the last remnants of your people?”
“Starfleet is my people,” Lightning snapped. “His Majesty, my friends-“
“Ah, so you won’t care if I pop round to your house for some tea and murder after we’re done here then, will you?” Raven said. “What’s the name of the homeless royal sleeping in your bed? I must confess, after Twilight Sparkle I find I’m acquiring a taste for killing princesses.”
“Leave them alone!” Lightning yelled. “If you so much as look at them I’ll-“
“Lightning, calm down, she’s baiting you!” Krysta shouted. “What do you want, Raven? Why are you doing this?”
“My intentions are my own,” Raven replied. “But, of course, if you can stop me then it won’t matter what I intended to do, will it?”
”Then come out and fight!” Lightning snarled.
There was a moment of silence, and then another, and then a third before that same silence in the impenetrable, cloying darkness was broken by the sound of finger snapping.
The darkness was dispelled, chased into the corners of the corridor by a red and sickly light that hovered in the air above the heads of Lightning and Krysta like a blood moon descended from the heavens and into the corridor.
Raven stood facing Lightning, a score of feet away, standing with her hands down by her sides and her hood shrouding her face. He could still see enough to know that she was still smiling.
“I do hope you’ll forgive the theatrical melodrama,” Raven murmured. “It’s just that one gets very little chance to stretch ones wings in prison, so that when one is released, well…one wants to have a little fun.”
“Is this what all this is to you?” Lightning demanded. “Fun?”
Raven cocked her head to one side like the bird for whom she was named. “Well, if it wasn’t fun then I wouldn’t do it, would I?”
Lightning scowled as he stepped into a sparring stance, feet spaced apart, hands up in front of his face. “The fun ends here.”
Raven flowed like water into a far more elaborate stance, with one hand drawn back behind her head with the other held at arm’s length before her. “Oh, my dear commander. The fun, I’m afraid, is just beginning.” She made a ‘come hither’ gesture with her open palm.
“Krysta,” Lightning said. “Are you ready for this?”
A shower of sparkling motes of fairy light fell from Krysta’s tiny form to illumine up the darkness. “Let’s kick her ass!”
Raven didn’t response, but her smile broadened as though she were looking forward to their attempt.
With a slow-burning growl of rage that turned into a bellowing war-cry as he closed the distance with his foe Lightning charged forward, with Krysta following behind him.
Lightning’s fists were ready, and in his mind flashed all the lessons, all the sparring matches, all the time spent studying move and counter-move and technique.
I’m not Twilight sparkle, he thought. I have trained for battle my whole life since I was six years old. And I already know what you’re capable of.
Lightning threw a punch as he came in; a simple, straightforward punch. Raven blocked it with one arm, as Lightning had expected she would.
What he had not expected was that she would block his second stroke with the same hand, whipping it into place to stop his fist with jarring force as though it were nothing at all. She didn't even look a little fazed by his speed or power.
Lightning lashed out with his right leg in a stroke designed to sweep her legs out from under her and put her on her back, but as Lightning's kick swept in Raven simply leapt up into the air to plant both her own feet squarely into his chest.
Lightning gasped for breath as he staggered backwards, but he fought through in his chest and stomach to resume his stance as soon as he could. Never let the enemy see how badly they've hurt you; that was the first rule his master the Grand Ruler had ever taught him.
Though he suspected by the look on her face that Raven knew exactly how much she had hurt him. Her expression was one of disappointment, and as Lightning faced her she ostentatiously tucked her right arm behind her back, while repeating the 'come hither' gesture with her left.
Growling, Lightning launched himself at her again, his fists flying in a flurry of furious blows with the speed and strength of an oncoming train, each blow powerful enough to send a demon flying backwards, each one faster than the untrained eye could see, each one-
Each one blocked by Raven, with one arm.
She moved so swiftly that Lightning could barely follow her movements. Her arm moved in sweeping gestures, as though she were cleaning windows or painting a fence back and forth. Wherever his next blow was coming from there would her arm be, bringing his fist to a shuddering halt like a vehicle with the brakes slammed on. Raven's face was impassive, she showed no fear or him or his capabilities. She looked bored as she blocked blow after blow, catching his fists before they could land, making the least amount of effort that she needed to make to protect herself from him.
"Is this all you've got?" she drawled languidly.
"He's also got me!" Krysta shrieked as she erupted out of Lightning's mane like a wolf charging out of the forest to fall upon the unwary deer which grazes in the meadow. A shower of fairy sparks surrounded her, her whole body glimmered with fae light, and as she soared past Raven's arm - which was pre-occupied by blocking Lightning's latest stroke - Krysta raised her hands and a shower of gold and silver sparks flew, hissing and spitting, from her open outstretched palms.
Raven yelped in pain as the burning sparkling showers of light landed in her blue eyes. She screwed those eyes tight shut, turning away and shaking her head furiously. "You revolting little-"
Lightning hit her. She was turned away, distracted, she could not see the blow he aimed at her. Lightning was no honourable warrior, he did not cleave to a code, he did not fight to aggrandise himself or swell up his pride in the manner of his triumph; he fought to destroy his enemies, and he knew that as she turned away and her arm dropped this would be his best chance to destroy her without doubt.
So he hit her, his first punch struck her on the jaw hard enough to turn Raven completely around. His second was aimed for the small of her back, for her spine, to leave her helpless on the ground before him, but Raven began to spin and so he caught her only on the side instead and accelerated the spinning. Another blow to the face, it was like punching the side of a mountain but he had to keep on going, he had ignore the aching in his fists, he had to keep going even if he broke both fists and he probably would. He to keep the momentum up, he had to keep raining down the punishment, he had to weaken her before he could use his uniforce to finish her off.
His second blow to Raven's face made his hand protest even as it knocked Raven sideways. He lashed out with his leg and this time he did sweep Raven's legs out from under her to send her tumbling to the metallic walkway with a clanging thud. He fell upon her with the fury of the storm, assailing her with blows with falling hail as Raven struggled to get up. He kept on pounding her. He had to be wearing her down, he had to.
Raven looked up at him, and opened her mouth to speak-
Lightning's third blow to her face snapped her head around so that it was turned away from him. Lightning's next blow fell-
And Raven caught his fist in one hand, wrapping her grey and almost corpse-like fingers around his white and ungloved fist. Lightning tried to pull back, but her grip was too strong and then...and then Lightning began to wince in pain as Raven squeezed. He heard the cracking sounds as the bones in his hand shattered under the force she was bringing to bear, heard the creaking as his cybernetic implants began to buckle under the stress that Raven was causing them. Lightning had recieved the finest implants and gene mods in Starfleet but he could never have brought his kind of raw strength to bear on anyone.
How is she doing this? This shouldn't be possible!
Raven twisted, and Lightning howled in pain as he felt his wrist disconnect with a tearing sound.
Slowly, with all the great momentum of a building avalanche, Raven stood up. Her cloak of midnight blue fell down to her ankles even as her hood fell down to reveal her head. She was bleeding from the mouth, and she wiped the blood away with one grey thumb as she stared at Lightning, clutching his shattered hand with the his undamaged one.
Raven stared at her blood in evident distaste. She glared at Lightning. "My turn."
She threw a punch at him. Lightning blocked it, throwing his arm into the path of the stroke...and heard the crack as his arm broke under the impact of Raven's blow. Lightning gasped as pain like and uncontrolled and uncontrollable flame spread through his body. He didn't have to react as Raven got inside his guard and grabbed him by the sides of the head. She forced his head down as she pummelled his face with her knees. It was like getting hit by a train, over and over again. Black spots appeared in Lightning's vision, his ears became clogged with the sound of drums, the sights began to blur, he couldn't...he felt so sluggish, he couldn't move fast enough to...
Lightning moaned as Raven kneed him the last time before headbutting him hard enough to send him reeling backwards, dazed and dizzy. He was barely aware of her loading up another punch.
"No! Lightning!" Krysta threw herself between Raven and Lightning just as Raven's punch flew. Fairies could lift several hundred times their miniscule bodyweight, and Krysta put every ounce of strength she had into it...and though she was pushed back, she slowed Raven's fist to a stop like a superhero stopping a train before it runs over a cat.
Raven's face contorted into a sneer. "Pointless." One finger lashed out from her halted fist to strike Krysta in the midriff. Krysta screamed in pain as was catapulted away, whirling up and down in the air while her tiny wings flapped directionlessly in a futile attempt to steady her.
"Krysta!" Lightning yelled. No, no Krysta could not be...he couldn't lose Krysta, not like he'd lost Twilight. Please, please no, Krysta had to be okay, she just...she had to be okay, she just-
Lightning howled in agony as Raven grabbed him by the arm and yanked on it hard enough to dislocate the shoulder. She knocked his legs out from under him to leave him lying flat on his back before she stamped on his knee hard enough to make it crack and Lightning yell.
Raven crouched down over him, leaning close enough to him that even through the pain and all the trouble that it was giving him in seeing things, Lightning could still see her leering face.
"I hope you understand now how arrogant you were to come here alone," she said.
"Not...I didn't..." Lightning murmured. "I didn't want anyone else...in danger."
"Oh! Oh, how noble of you commander. The same nobility that Twilight Sparkle so tragically displayed. I'm surprised you didn't learn your lesson, but then you always though you were better than her, didn't you?"
"No."
"Come now, commander. No need to be modest. You looked down on her! You all looked down on her! Grow up, Twilight! Embrace the new ethos! Goodbye, friendship, hello the fetishisation of martial prowess. Admit it." She hit him across the face. "Admit it!"
"Once," Lightning confessed. "Yes, once. I...I learned better. She taught me better."
"She could have done with teaching herself a few more lessons instead," Raven muttered. She grabbed Lightning by the collar, lifting his head up so that she could pummel it more easily with her free fist. "There was once was a girl," she said, as she kept on hitting him over and over like a cart being pushed back and forth over the same spot. "A princess of the land who lived in a sparkling castle, beloved by all who trouble to know her well. Though she was sometimes mocked, and often belittled, nevertheless she remained ever gentle and kind, for she kept in her heart the dream that all the ills of the world could be cured with friendship. But I struck her down and she died alone, abandoned by all, and when she was gone all that she had stood for was torn down and trampled upon. So what price friendship in the end?"
Raven hit him again before she kept talking. "There once was a boy, who dreamed that he could become a hero. He worked hard and trained hard and never complained because he wanted to be the very best that ever was, so that he could stand between the world and danger and say 'no further'. But here you are, helpless at my feet, absolutely at my mercy; so what price heroes, in the end? What price strength?"
"I don't know," Lightning said. "But at least I...at least Twilight believed in something, and fought for it; what do you believe in, Raven?"
Raven was silent for a moment. The grin of her face faltered. She blinked, and he could almost see a blurry look of confusion in her eyes. "I...I don't..." she scowled. "I don't need to believe, commander. I only need to obey." She drew back her fist once more.
"GET AWAY FROM OUR LIGHTNING!"
Raven looked up in time to get a face full of speeding, enraged Snowflame.
Snowflame's momentum was enough to hurl Raven backwards, sending her skidding across the metallic walkway as Snowflame's forehooves descended upon her in a sequence of hammer-blows.
"DON'T. YOU. DARE. TOUCH. HIM. EVER. AG-"
Raven backhanded Snowflame of of her, but the Harmonius survivor rolled with the blow to come to a halt between Lightning and Raven. There she stood, hooves spread apart, wings flaring outwards, snorting like a bull in the field on spotting a potential trespasser.
Raven shook her head, though whether she was genuinely dazed or whether she was ostentatiously faking it for Snowflame's benefit Lightning really couldn't say. What was not fake was the blood she wiped off her face, from her mouth and nose. She cocked her grey head to one side as she stared at Snowflame. "Hmm, you're no Sunset Shimmer, that's for sure. But you've got four legs so that must mean..." she grinned. "You're one of the survivors of Harmonius, aren't you?"
"My name is Snowflame, daughter of Summer Storm and Distant Thunder; I stand guard and champion to Her Radiant Highness Fairgrace, Third of Her Name, defender of her life, protector of her person, upholder of her honour; I name myself the last of the Stormbringers of Harmonius; and I declare this stallion under my protection. Whomsoever would do him harm shall do battle with me."
"Snow...flame," Lightning groaned. No. No, get out of here! Get out of here, now, while you still can.
Snowflame tilted her head ever so slightly so that she could look at him out of the corner of one eye. "It's okay, Lightning. I'm here, and I'm going to take care of you, just like I used to."
Lightning blinked. He remembered that. When they were young, Snowflame...she had always been the strong one, the one who was unafraid to face any perils, the one who was always willing to pick a fight in a good cause. He had been a crybaby and a mana's boy, and Snowflame had called him both names more than once...but she would always stand up for him whenever anybody else might call him names, or worse. The way she stood, the way she spread out her legs and wings to make herself look bigger...he remembered that, it was the way she always stood when he would cower behind her from bullies or stray dogs or whatever else.
But this isn't some older kid, this isn't some hungry dog, this isn't like when we were young; it isn't like that at all! Raven's a killer, she'll end you. Please, Snowflame, please...please go, please leave me.
Please...I couldn't bear to lose you, too.
"Whomsoever would do him harm shall do battle with me," Raven repeated. "That's quite a challenge, young lady. Some might call you foolish, to tempt fate in such a way. And believe me, if I had time I would take great delight in showing you just how foolish you really are."
"If I had time," Snowflame spat. "You got somewhere better to be?"
"As it happens, yes," Raven replied. "I have a task that, unfortunately, doesn't allow me to play around with you; much as I might like to."
"Sounds like an excuse," Snowflame said. "What, do you have to go and water your plants? Feed your cat?"
"I have to kill someone," Raven said, making it sound as casual as either of those things.
Snowflame was silent for a moment, and Lightning thought he saw her shiver for a moment. "You had time to play with our Lightning, but not with me is that it?"
"Say rather, that I knew I would have to confront the esteemed commander sooner or later," Raven murmured. "You, on the other hand...I'm not afraid of you following me. Not with 'our Lightning' in need of such urgent medical attention." She bowed. "Good day, Miss Snowflame; until we meet again." Raven turned away and began to walk into the darkness.
"Hey! You never gave me your name," Snowflame yelled.
Raven halted. "Raven. The world calls me Raven."
"Raven," Snowflame repeated. "You'll see me again, Raven. Count on it!"
"And when I do, I promise that I won't...run away," Raven replied. "I'm already looking forward to it."
She walked into the dark, and was soon lost to Lightning's sight.
Snowflame turned to Lightning, her eyes widening in fear. "Lightning! Lightning, can you hear me? Can you answer?"
"Krysta..." Lightning moaned.
Snowflame nodded. "I'll find her. Don't worry, I'm going to get you both help."
"Why?"
Snowflame frowned. "Why? Why what?"
"Why...you come?"
"Why...why did I come?" Snowflame said. "You honestly have to ask me that?" Tears began to glimmer in her eyes as she pressed her muzzle up against his. "You're mine," she declared, fiercely despite the trembling in her voice. "You're mine, the same way that the princess is mine. Mine to have and mine to guard and mine to love; I came because you're my boy and I'm your girl, and I'll always be there when you need me. Always."
Stats
Page generated in 0.036 seconds
Total duration
990 users online
232,510 hits today, 2,314,256 yesterday
FIMFiction
My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Fanfiction
Designed and coded by knighty & Xaquseg - © 2011-2024
Follow & Support Us
Support us
SubStar
Chat!
Discord
Follow us
Twitter
MLP: Friendship is Magic® - © 2024 Hasbro Inc.®
Fimfiction is in no way affiliated with or endorsed by Hasbro Inc.®
Pretty good chapter, I especially liked the fight with Lightning and Raven and Snowflame stepping in to help.
What chapter of Starfleet VI did Kitty Snap appear in, what was that chapter like, and what made Kitty Snap leave an impression on you?
8306613
Episode 23: Ties that Unbind; basically everything is warm and sunny in Ponyville before Kitty starts severing the threads of affection everywhere and turning the good ponies of the town against each other. Pinkie is the only one who's aware of it, and this why the chapter left such an impression on me, because Kitty's power is pretty cool and unique for Mykan's fics, and because the chapter comes so close to being Pinkie-centric. I actually thought Pinkie was going to save the day at one point, but alas no, Lightning et al turn up in the last third to do all the heroics, but I feel like Kitty and Pinkie are such good foils that I became determined to pit them against one another.
The chapter when they first interact will be much more of a response to Mykan's work than most of the rest of this fic has been.
8306639
Thank you for responding.
Based on your description, I agree that Kitty and Pinkie would make good foils to each other.
I can't wait to see how you'll tear apart Mykan's works.
Sorry I didn't comment much on the last chapter, life, but here...
Oh god this chapter was great. The character drama and and backstories and everything else. And I swear if Raven kills Buddy I am going to be pissed
8306639
Hmmm...forgot all about her. Then again, I found season six to be so dull and boring that I think I blocked most of it out.
Oh, this chapter was pretty good.
Holy throne....
8306639
If I know Mykan, he's stolen the "threads of affection" bit from something else.
I wonder what Lightning would do if told by Celesto to once again not go after Raven.