299 - Children of the Night
Silhouette’s eyes narrowed dangerously as he glared down at Fruit Crunch. “The ‘real’ goddess of the night?”
But if Fruit Crunch was intimidated, he didn’t show it. “The Night Mare!” he declared defiantly. “The goddess whose ponies were actually here helping us when we needed it!” The anger in his gaze easily matched Silhouette’s as he pawed at the ground, his voice rising. “Where were the princesses when Vanhoover flooded, huh? Or when the monsters came? Where were they when we were living in fear under Block Party?” He paused just long enough to make it clear the questions were rhetorical before continuing. “So yeah, I’m going with the goddess who actually cares about ponies!”
Several angry murmurs came from the crowd at that, and the pair of guards that were tasked with keeping them at a distance shared a nervous glance, looking back at Silhouette for directions. But he wasn’t paying attention to them, his eyes locked onto Fruit Crunch. “You listen to me, you little brat.” His voice had fallen, the words coming out just above a whisper, loud enough only for Lex and Fruit Crunch to hear them. But it wasn’t discretion that had caused his voice to lower; just the look on his face was enough to make it clear that he was struggling to hold back his wrath. “I don’t hold the foolishness of children against them, but there’s only so much blasphemy I’ll allow. Turn around and go back to the others this instant, and I might find it within myself to forget what you’ve said. Otherwise, what happens next will be your fault, not mine.”
Fruit Crunch’s lips drew back in a snarl. “You think I’m scared of you?!” The pony in front of him now was different, and the threats he was uttering weren’t exactly the same, but Fruit Crunch barely made the distinction. In his heart, he was in front of Block Party and Spit Polish again, the larger ponies preparing to beat him to a pulp for getting in their way. Fear and anger surged through him, and Fruit Crunch found himself shaking as he looked up at Silhouette. “You think you can just walk all over me because I’m smaller than you?!” He stomped his scarred hoof, not caring at the pain that radiated up from it. “Well come on, then! Do your worst! I’ll cut you down to size and then we’ll see who’s smaller!”
“Have it your way.”
Fruit Crunch tensed at Silhouette’s words, his heart hammering in his chest as the other stallion raised a hoof. But the punch he was expecting didn’t fall. Instead, Silhouette began to gesture as he murmured the words to a spell.
Behind Fruit Crunch, Lex tensed as well. He recognized the words to that spell; it was the same one he’d cast barely a minute ago to subdue Sonata. That’s what he meant, Lex realized instantly. Silhouette had warned Fruit Crunch to leave, or that “what happens next will be your fault, not mine,” and now the meaning of his words was clear. He intended to invoke another spell of silence, stopping Lex from finishing the ritual and letting the gathered power collapse in a backlash…and Fruit Crunch was close enough that he might very well be caught up in it, all because he’d inserted himself into the conflict.
Of course, Silhouette was close enough to them that he’d likely be caught in whatever happened as well, but the earth stallion – his eyes burning with fanaticism and self-righteous rage – didn’t seem to care.
Silhouette couldn’t help but smile as he neared the end of his spell. This is what you deserve, both of you. The fury of the goddess will smite you with your own wicked magic. And to think, you could have avoided this fate if you’d simply given the Mother of the Night the respect she deserv-
A hoof impacting the side of his jaw cut him off in mid-thought. Stumbling backward, Silhouette nearly lost his balance as his weight transferred to his withered leg, automatically lowering his foreleg to the ground…and failing to make the final gesture necessary for invoking his spell, causing it to harmlessly fizzle before it could take effect. Momentarily stunned as he tried to come to grips with what had just happened, Silhouette could only stare in shock.
Fruit Crunch had punched him right in the face.
The blow hadn’t hurt very much; Fruit Crunch might have been an earth pony, but he was still just a foal. Rather, it was surprise that made Silhouette hesitate. Until just a moment ago, he’d been sure that the colt’s words were nothing more than bravado and a childish inability to fully comprehend the magnitude of what he was doing. The idea that he’d back up his words with violence – and against somepony who was not only an adult, but a member of the Royal Guard, no less – wasn’t something Silhouette had seriously considered. But now…now that little brat would find out what it meant to cross him!
“How do you like it?!” snarled Fruit Crunch, still shaking lightly as he watched Silhouette get up. The armored stallion’s face was already changing from surprise to towering fury, but Fruit Crunch refused to back down. “Not so fun when the person you’re picking on can fight back, huh?!”
“Let’s see if you can fight back after this!” Silhouette’s words were snarled around clenched teeth as he began to cast another spell. The goddess hadn’t given him much in the way of attack magic, but she had still given him spells that could be used to take down somepony who tried to defy him, and the one he had in mind now would be more than enough to put this little interloper in his place!
Of course, Fruit Crunch didn’t intend to give him a chance to do that. He leaped forward again, hoof cocked back, but this time Silhouette was ready. Even as he made the intricate gestures and spoke the necessary words, he shifted his stance, turning his body in preparation for the colt’s wild swing, and Fruit Crunch’s hoof landed on his armor instead of his face, bouncing off and causing no damage. Sneering, Silhouette continued his spellcasting; this was one of the most complex spells he knew, and it took several seconds of dedicated effort to make it come to fruition. Time enough for that stupid boy to make another attempt to disrupt it, he knew.
He was proven right as Fruit Crunch flung himself forward, forelegs reaching out as – instead of throwing another punch – he attempted to tackle Silhouette head-on, doubtlessly hoping to make it impossible for him to finish his spell. But the attempt was easily defeated, with Silhouette sidestepping the attack with contemptuous nonchalance. It was with immense satisfaction that he saw the colt land on his belly in the dirt.
But that satisfaction vanished an instant later, as he saw Fruit Crunch glance at something out of his field of vision and whisper “C’mon, c’mon!” under his breath. It was enough to make Silhouette look backward, peering in the direction where the colt’s eyes had lingered. It wasn’t at the crowd; rather, it was just near them, where the remaining half-dozen guards had taken Lex Legis’s mares.
He was just in time to see two more foals fling themselves at the guards.
“Comin’ through!” yelled a neon yellow pegasus filly as she crashed bodily into the guards restraining Nosey. Despite the fact that she was a fraction of their size, she’d apparently built up quite a bit of speed, because the stallion she hit stumbled backward. That, in turn, carried him directly into his fellows, causing them to go tumbling in a heap.
“My dad says you should treat ladies with respect!” The second shout was delivered almost simultaneously with the first, another pegasus foal – this one a colt with an off-white coat – slamming into the guards holding Sonata down. Just like their counterparts, they were caught off-guard and sent stumbling, losing their grip on the bound mare.
In the split-second Silhouette beheld that happening, he knew that he’d been tricked. The colt who was attacking him was nothing but a distraction! His real goal had been to keep him occupied while his friends got Lex’s mares free! Although the pair of foals that had ambushed the guards were still tangled with the larger stallions they’d rammed, Silhouette could see what was about to happen: with her horn clear, that blonde unicorn mare would use her magic to yank the gag out of that enchantress’s mouth, letting her use her spells again. But that won’t work! I can cast another silence spell on them! Silhouette knew.
But the thought was tinged with worry. If that enchantress wasn’t a complete fool, she’d anticipate his doing that, and make her first spell one that could take him out before he could silence her again. Which meant he had to stop her before she got a spell off.
All of that went through Silhouette’s mind in an instant, even as he tried to figure out what to do. His first instinct was to abandon his current spell – despite it being mere syllables away from completion – and cast another silence spell as quickly as he could. But despite that only taking a few seconds, he knew he’d never make it. The blonde mare’s horn was already lighting up, a matching aura surrounding the gag in the enchantress’s mouth!
A fraction of a second later, Silhouette finished his spell.
Instantly, a huge mastiff – its coat the same silvery-white as the moon itself – appeared from out of nowhere, standing right behind the bound blonde pony. She clearly saw it out of her periphery, because she reflexively turned to look at it, her eyes widening in surprise. “Get her horn!” roared Silhouette. The dog didn’t hesitate, immediately lowering its head and taking the blonde’s horn in its jaws, causing the aura around it to sputter and go out before she could undo her friend’s gag. She yelped at the contact, and started to thrash, but the dog growled a warning and she immediately went still.
Silhouette couldn’t help but laugh in relief. The beast he’d summoned wouldn’t last very long before the magic keeping it here went out, but that was fine. The guards those other children had rammed were already recovering; they’d be able to regroup and restrain those two again before it vanished. Now certain of his victory, Silhouette turned back to Fruit Crunch with a triumphant smirk. “Nice try, brat. But you and your friends failed, and now you’re going to pay the price for it.”
But Fruit Crunch was wearing a smirk of his own. “Funny. I was just gonna say the same thing to you.”
Silhouette’s brow furrowed, but he didn’t have a chance to ask what the colt meant before he caught sight of a unicorn’s aura lighting up in his peripheral vision. Immediately, he whipped his head around. That couldn’t be! His summoned creature had that unicorn mare’s magic contained!
But the glow, he realized an instant later, wasn’t coming from her.
Peeking his head around the side of the train station, a nervous-looking unicorn colt with a pair of binoculars hanging around his neck was biting his lip as he concentrated. His horn was lit up with a pale blue aura that matched the one around the enchantress’s gag. Silhouette had just enough time for his eyes to widen, his mouth already starting to shout an order to the hound he’d summoned, when the colt yanked the gag away completely.
Her mouth now clear, the mare lifted her head and looked right at him as her lips started to move, and the look in her eyes told Silhouette that the spell she was about to cast would be the end of him. This time, Silhouette didn’t hesitate, legs already tensing; if he could just get around behind where Lex Legis was still chanting, he might be able to avoid whatever she was about to do! He took a step-
And fell flat on his face, Fruit Crunch having grabbed him by his withered leg. “Gotcha!” he snarled triumphantly. “You’re not going anywhere!”
“No!” Silhouette couldn’t keep the fear out of his voice as he glared at the colt, before he looked back at where the enchantress was already starting to sing…just in time to see one of his guards fling himself on top of her, the impact driving the air out of her lungs with a whoosh and disrupting her spell.
“No!” This time Fruit Crunch was the one giving the desperate cry of denial, his grip on Silhouette slackening as he saw Sonata get tackled. “You guys! Get her clear!”
But there was no way for them to do that. The remaining guards were picking themselves up, easily keeping the foals that had tackled them restrained. Almost as an afterthought, a unicorn guard telekinetically grabbed the colt with the binoculars, lifting the boy up before he could run away and bringing him close enough to grab. The sight made Silhouette chuckle, his earlier rage and anxiety swept away by the giddy feeling of a narrow victory. “Not a bad plan, brat. But it takes more than some upstart children to overcome the Royal Guard, let alone a servant of the goddess Luna!” He yanked his leg away from Fruit Crunch as he spoke, climbing to his hooves. “Now, you will suffer the consequences of your-”
“What is going on here?”
The voice made Silhouette gasp, turning toward it and immediately falling to his knees, despite how that made his bad leg ache. “Goddess!”
There, having just rounded the corner of the train station, stood Celestia and Luna. In front of them, Silhouette belatedly noticed an earth filly, her body language and position relative to the Royal Sisters suggesting that she brought them here. Rather oddly, she was also cradling a baby in one foreleg.
Not bothering to get up, Fruit Crunch gave an exhausted laugh. “Took you long enough, Fiddleface.”
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*Applause* Score 1 for the Night Mare's Knights and a big fat 0 for the Royal Guard.
And it was thanks to Silhouette's reliance on the magic Luna granted him. He could have easily regained control of the situation a bit faster if he didn't use the magic so often.
Spellcasting takes time and focus, time that could have been better utilized with giving out effective orders and more focus on his surroundings.
Of course, none of it really matters since Fruit Crunch's plan worked out quite splendidly and fact that the princesses just saw their guards restraining women and children is the icing on the proverbial cake.
Still, with the crowd riled up by Fruit Crunch's words, I wonder how they'll receive the princesses' apology for their guard's action against their savior and his companions.
... my opinion of Silhouette might have gotten worse.
Quite an interesting little brawl. I like the cleverness and tactics displayed by both parties ( I mean except for minion Royal Guards).
KILL HIM WITH FIRE
But yeah good fight dude
Working on what they could do best, slight delaying distraction.
At this rate theyll level up pretty quickly from Children of the Night,
To Soldiers Of The Night?
9314927
And a -1 for everyone else in the camp who did nothing. Seriously, I get that Lex hasn't exactly set himself up for Stallion of the year, but as Fruit pointed out, he's done more for them than anyone else since the Bleed, and the only ones willing to stick up for him besides Sonata and Nosey were a bunch of foals...
Now let's just hope the Sisters put those millenia of experiance to use to see what's really going on, or at least have the smarts to actually listen to those who do. And hopefully Silhouette will get to learn what it's like to be a cleric who's totally pissed off their (demi)goddess.
9315293
) whose children just got restrained by the guards which could very easily end in a very unpleasant outcome for Silhouette and his subordinates. Addendum:However, given the crown's methodology, i think Silhouette will just get off with a slap on the wrist.
I wouldn't be so quick to count the camp ponies out just yet, especially the parents(well, those who are still around
While the guards likely did their best to ensure they didn't hurt the children, the parents don't know that and are likely going to be very upset with how the royal guards treated their kids.
Sure the children technically did 'attack' the guards but they're still just that, children, so they'll most likely get away with that scott-free, save for some stern talking to though the same can't be said of Silhouette when Sonata explains everything and I'm looking forward to it.
aww poo i want to see severance remove his vocal cords.
a grate chapter.
9314927 Thankfully, the Knights not only had a plan (Fruit Crunch distracts Silhouette so that Cleansweep and Straightlace knock over the guards so that Nosey can yank Sonata's gag off), but also a backup plan (have Feathercap pull Sonata's gag off if Cleansweep and Straightlace failed), and a backup backup plan (Fiddlesticks goes and gets the princesses). Even then, it was a hard-won fight on their part, even if the other members of the Royal Guard didn't do very much.
As for Silhouette, I suspect that you're right in that he could have won if he'd been more direct in what he was trying to do. Fortunately, he relied completely on the magic that Luna had given him, likely due to his fanaticism, and that ended up costing him...though he still came very close to winning. (I'm inclined to think that he wasn't quite willing to hit a child, either. He might be overly judgmental, to say the least, but he has been making a dedicated effort not to seriously injure anypony that we've seen.)
Now that Celestia and Luna are there, let's hope that the situation can be resolved peacefully!
9314928 Well, at least he didn't try to beat Fruit Crunch up the way "Block Party" (actually Xiriel) had Spit Polish wallop him.
9315052 I'm glad you liked it!
Action scenes are some of my favorite parts of the story to write, because I really like the point-counterpoint that goes into two parties trying to get one over on each other.
9315099 I'm glad you liked the chapter! I got quite a kick out of writing it, so I'm glad to see it's being received well!
9315270 They might well indeed.
One restriction I set on myself when writing this chapter up was that the Knights would not suddenly start manifesting goddess-given powers while facing off against Silhouette and the guards. That's because the Night Mare, as depicted in this story, doesn't work like that. You can ask her for power all you want, and while I won't say that learning her dogma and rites and ceremonies, etc. are wasted actions, at the end of the day you need to prove that you're worthy of her attention. Cloudbank, for example, had to show what she was made of in the battle against Tlerekithres before she was able to start receiving spells from the Night Mare (though the fact that she performed so well while using Severance in the battle was enough to earn her an omen at the time, showing her precisely where to deliver that final, fatal blow). Even Lex had to earn the goddess's respect.
Now that the foals have succeeded in their first real mission, will the Night Mare take note of them? We'll have to see...
9315293 You're not wrong about everypony else not doing anything more than grumbling and watching while everything was happening. I had that be the case because it's how things always seemed in the show. Background ponies, as we've seen them, either panic at the drop of a hat, or sit back and watch when something happens. They don't get actively involved unless someone is deliberately trying to whip them up into a frenzy, though when someone does then the crowd tends to be rather easy to manipulate. I suspect that if Fruit Crunch or his friends had kept trying, they could have stirred up the crowd and made them into a mob...but that would have been dangerous for other reasons.
But at least now the princesses are here. Hopefully they'll act wisely; certainly, it'll be interesting to see what Luna does regarding Silhouette.
9315382 Fortunately for Silhouette, Severance is on the other side of the camp. But I wonder what Luna will have to say about his conduct...
9315566
Re-read this because it was so awesome. Second time around I noticed something: Silhouette's Summon Monster spell. I'm guessing that's a celestial dog, and not a hound archon, since you're not a big fan of giving out tons of levels. Which means that if Silhouette could command it to do something complex like grapple a horn, he must speak Celestial. I wonder where how he learned it, as Equestria has been mostly cut off until recently from the outer planes. It's certainly possible, but it makes me all the more curious about Silhoutte's background. (Alternatively, I guess he could have done a push handle animal check or something).
Now that I think of it, was Silhouette casting Silence and Summon Monster spells as standard actions? My guess is he has an Eclipse power to do so I don't know about.
9321351
Thanks for saying so! For an author, this is perhaps the highest praise that can be received!
No, he was speaking Common ("Ponish"). The thing about summoned animals is that, even though they're given the celestial or fiendish template as appropriate, they're still animals, with an Intelligence too low to allow for true sapience, and thus don't have any languages known, making verbal communication with them a non-starter (outside of someone using a speak with animals spell, or something similar). That's why the summon monster I spell says "It attacks your opponents to the best of its ability. If you can communicate with the creature, you can direct it not to attack, to attack particular enemies, or to perform other actions." So speaking Celestial wouldn't give him any better ability to communicate with the dog (and it was a celestial dog, and not a hound archon, as you guessed) than his normal language.
I'm afraid your parenthetical guess is the correct one.
No, actually. He was using the normal, one-round casting time. That's why Fruit Crunch got to make two attacks on him after he started. One was an attack of opportunity that failed to hit (Silhouette wasn't casting defensively), and then he got to attack again normally in the next round (making a failed grapple check), before Silhouette's spell went off. At that point, it was Silhouette's turn again, meaning that the spell he'd started casting on the previous round went off, summoning the celestial dog, and he could take his turn, which was to spend a full-round action making a successful Handle Animal check to "push" the animal to grab Nosey's horn in its jaws. Fortunately for him, he had ranks in that skill, and enough of a bonus to hit the DC of 25.
The same couldn't really be said for his Concentration skill ranks (remember that, while he's built via the Eclipse rules, it's still under the auspices of the 3.5 standards, since he's native to Equestria and not Everglow). That's why he elected to risk not casting defensively, despite Fruit Crunch having disrupted his previous spell. He judged (correctly) that the kid got a lucky hit in, and that it wasn't likely to happen again.