II-VII. The Duel
It was time.
This was it.
Rainbow Dash had just finished the last session of her training with her father to prepare for her duel with Scorpan early that morning, and their much-anticipated battle was set to happen just a few hours later that day. All that was left was to await the arrival of Horus, after which Rainbow would sleep so as to be as well-rested for her duel as possible.
Horus was coming to Avalon to act as the referee and diplomatic intermediary between Scorpan and Rainbow Dash during the preparation of their duel, as well as the duel itself. It had been immediately decided after Scorpan had accepted Rainbow's challenge that the both of them would swear via the Oath-Taking Ritual to the terms that Horus wrote (based on input from the both of them) defining the laws of their contest; the Oath-Taking Ritual, which was universal within the world of formalized duels and nearly as old as dueling itself, was a relatively simple Chi-based incantation with a single, even simpler effect: in the event you broke any oath you made via the Ritual, your heart would immediately and permanently stop beating.
It was known for an absolute certainty that there was no possible way to even slightly reverse the magically-induced cardiac arrest that the Oath-Taking Ritual could induce; countless methods had been attempted on Oath-breakers by their allies to restart their hearts in the first moments after their breaths ceased, including electric shocks, Magic, and even (in one extremely infamous case) tearing the victim's heart out of their chest and attempting to squeeze it back to life manually.
The utterly irreversible and uncompromising nature of this spell was deeply terrifying to Rainbow and her friends, but there was a great benefit to it, as well: though it put Rainbow much closer to mortal peril than she had been in already, it also gave them complete assurance that breaking the Oath of their duel would be no less suicidal for Scorpan, either.
"So... if Scorpan breaks the Oath that he and Rainbow take, his heart will stop beating?" Pinkie said, gazing at Twilight as they and their friends stood in the Golden Oak library, with an intense look of desperate hope in her eyes.
Twilight nodded. "Yep," she said. "I mean, we can't be completely sure that it will, since a God has never broken a supernatural Oath before, but I doubt Scorpan would risk being the first to try it."
"But... how can it do that?" Pinkie said, growing equal parts confused and worried. "I mean, Gods can't die, right? And Beings die when their hearts stop beating, so-"
"Yes, the Gods cannot die," Twilight replied. "However, aside from that, they can be subjected to any other ailment that a mortal can, assuming it's not a genetics-based illness or something a Being's immune system could conceivably handle. In other words, they can be poisoned, choked, receive broken bones, or even be knocked unconscious. So what I imagine will happen if Scorpan breaks the Oath is that his heart will stop and he will be rendered forever unconscious with only the barest sliver of life; an eternal coma. In other words, he won't be dead, but he might as well be."
"Then why didn't Luna get knocked out when Dashie threw one of Fluttershy's tranquilizers at her?"
"Well, she partially did," Twilight replied. "She was just able to heal from its effects far more quickly than they could overwhelm her. Luna can nearly instantaneously recover from pretty much anything, because she is quite literally overflowing with power. I don't need to remind you that she is the Goddess of the Moon, which holds so much potential energy it could obliterate entire planets should the fancy ever strike it.
"But no matter how much Chi a Being has, however, there are still many absolutes in place that no Magic can counteract; not even a God's. No Being can perform Sorcery while touching Etherial iron, for instance. Likewise, no Being can penetrate a time-based Etherial Barrier until its power expires and it shatters. And lastly, there is no way whatsoever to reverse death; not even with a God's power."
Pinkie narrowed her eyes. "Not even Discord could?" she said skeptically.
Twilight shook her head. "No," she said.
"How do you know that?"
"Celestia told me," Twilight replied. "Discord himself complained to her of his inability to raise mortal Beings back from death, and told her it was the main reason he decided to have God children; so that he could have toys that would last forever."
Rainbow, who was leaning against a wall and listening in on their conversation, scoffed. "Guess some apples didn't fall far from the tree then, huh?" she said, smiling bitterly. "Like his good 'ol dad, Scorpan has children just so they can be his own playthings. What fucking sacks of shit."
"But not all Gods are like that, Dashie," Fluttershy interjected softly. "I mean, Celestia and Luna are Discord's daughters, too, but they don't seem to be anything like him."
"That's fer sure," Applejack muttered. "But what Ah don't get is why Celestia's lettin' Horus, who is like Scorpan and Discord, come here to be in charge of Rainbow's fight. Ah mean, they ruled Asgard together durin' the Chaotic Age and the Second Gods' War, didn't they? And from the sound of it, Horus seems hardly any better. He went along with all the sick shit that Scorpan got away with before he was Sealed."
"I don't know why Celestia allowed it," Twilight confessed. "But here's what I do know: it was Horus who first let Celestia know that Scorpan had been released; why would he do that, if he wasn't truly loyal to Celestia?"
With a confident smile, Twilight finished, "If Celestia trusts Horus, then I do, too."
Applejack sighed in response, "Whatever ya'll say, Twi...."
Spike was leaning against one of the library's windows upon one of his arms. He rested his forehead against his arm and gazed out into the city, contemplating all of the many powerful emotions spinning throughout his body.
He stood meters away from the girls, all alone. The others had wondered why he was isolating himself like this, except for Twilight, who knew him so well that it was clear to her that he had more on his mind because of all that was happening than any of them, with the possible exception of Rainbow.
To begin with, when Rainbow had first returned to Avalon with Pinkie and Fluttershy to tell the rest of her friends that she intended to fight Scorpan, Spike had been the first one to unequivocally support her. While the others were panicking, begging, or gently attempting to persuade her not to, Spike had decisively assured her that she should do it; after all, it was obvious that Rainbow thought of Scootaloo as her little sister. Exactly like Spike, Rainbow had a sister who would likely be subjected to some of the most hellish tortures a Being could experience, and Spike confessed that he would do exactly the same were he in her position.
In addition, Scootaloo, along with several of Scorpan's other captives, were Spike's friends. Some were barely younger than he was, or even young enough to potentially be his apprentice when he turned fifteen, but he was still as close friends to them as he was to his and Twilight's five older girl friends. His heart had been absolutely crushed when he learned what had happened to them, resulting in a sorrow second in power only to that he had felt when Sunset, his only family, had been captured, as well.
Truth be told, Spike's hatred for Scorpan and his followers, as well as his desire to save his friends, were powerful enough that he had considered attacking the dark God, as well. However, he quickly realized that there was no chance whatsoever he could succeed; as talented and skilled a Sorcerer as he was, and even as a fairly competent fighter, he was still a far cry from the combative abilities Rainbow Dash possessed, let alone the magical prowess of Twilight. He was even less of a match for the Gods than Rainbow was.
And Rainbow was about to fight one of the Sealed Gods. One of the seven Beings that mortal Beings feared above all others; the subjects of their darkest legends and gravest songs. Spike had once attended a concert performed by the Olympus Symphonic Orchestra in which one of the pieces they played was the Thunderstorm Symphony, which was one of the master composer Bee Wingbeat's most highly acclaimed and famous works. The great songwriter had been inspired to pen it by his most nightmarish memory: the invasion of his village by Scorpan, accompanied by a band of equally-savage men.
When Scorpan arrived to pillage little Bee's village, he had brought with him a massive lightning storm, which roared and flashed with great ferocity throughout the long, long night, catching cottages alight as rain unrelentingly poured down, producing raging infernos and rushing, river-like floods in equal amounts. His parents, a pair of powerful blacksmiths, had protected him and fought off the invaders that came with the terrible tempest until the storm was lifted at the dawn of the next day. However, despite coming to no harm himself due to the inspiring stand of his parents, he still witnessed many terrible horrors going on around him; including murder, burning, drowning, and violent rape. When Scorpan, his men, and the rain departed the next morning, his father succumbed to the wounds he had accumulated during his battles and died. However, before Bee and his mother could bury him, his mother contracted tuberculosis and died, as well. Bee was then taken in by his grandfather, who buried his parents, raised him, and divided his gold between his grandson and the armies of Celestia in his will after his death, begging the High Princess to end Scorpan's reign of terror with it.
The symphony that this terrible night inspired was widely said to only have been performed correctly if the audience was left with a powerful impression of the horror, rage, and despair that Bee Wingbeat must have felt throughout it. Indeed, at the performance by the world-class orchestra that Spike attended, he had left crying, trembling, and feeling absolutely miserable. And now the man that had inspired that epically tragic song was standing mere minutes away, waiting to do the exact same thing all over again to Spike's own best friends.
Though Spike couldn't take his mind away from all this no matter how hard he tried, he still attempted to guide his thoughts to a less dreary and hopeless place; he took a deep breath, turned away from the window he had been leaning against, and walked to join the others. He took a seat between Twilight and Rarity and interjected with a tiny, hopeful smile, "At least Scorpan's not gonna do anything to any of the boys he's got, right? I mean, it doesn't make it any less terrible what he's planning for Scootaloo or the other girls, but-"
"No, Spike," Twilight interrupted her apprentice, with a voice and expression filled with miserable resignation. "All of the children in Scorpan's captivity will share the same fate."
Spike's eyes widened with shock. "But- why?!" he cried. "It doesn't make any sense! Scorpan and his cult hate male homosexuality! They-!"
"They actually hate homosexuality between men," Twilight muttered, again interrupting Spike's thought. "But they don't consider boys to be men until they become teenagers; until then, they are considered to be exactly the same as little girls: children."
Spike, along with a couple of the other girls, gaped in horror at what Twilight had just told them. "And they think that children are more okay to screw than men are?!" Spike cried disbelievingly.
"Exactly," Twilight muttered. "Scorpan's followers don't think like, say, the Sonatians do; they don't oppose homosexuality because they see it as 'deviant'. In fact, they have no objections whatsoever to female homosexuality, nor to male pederasty, because it's not about morality to them; it's about power. To the followers of Scorpan, might is literally right. They hate gay men because they see them as 'lowering' themselves to the status of 'inferior' women. They do not believe that sexual partners ought to regard one another as equals; they believe that one must always be completely dominant over the other, because they view sex as first and foremost a demonstration of a man's power. In summation, they don't view sex as 'consensual or non-consensual'; they view it as 'acceptable or non-acceptable,' and anyone except someone viewed as an equal or superior is seen as an 'acceptable' target for them and their desires in their eyes."
After a few stunned, silent moments, Spike frowned, narrowed his eyes, folded his arms, and growled through gritted teeth, "What pathetic fucking hypocrites. So they view life as nothing more than one big dick-measuring contest with everyone around them?" He scoffed, then concluded, "I'd rather be one of their targets or captives than to live like that. What empty, shallow, hellish, miserable lives they have...."
At that moment, there was a knocking on the library door. Twilight stood up from her chair, walked to the entrance, then opened it, though she was not quite prepared for the Being that stood on the other side; she involuntarily took a small step back and slightly gasped as she beheld him.
Prince Horus had to deeply bend down to prevent his head from striking the doorframe, so tall was he; in fact, he was only centimeters taller than Cadance and Luna and about a head shorter than Celestia. Neither Spike, Twilight, nor any of the other girls had ever seen nor stood so closely to a male God before, so everything about him was overwhelming; his great size, the aura of sheer physical and supernatural strength he carried about him, and even his divine attractiveness, which was so immensely piercing that it penetrated the sensual desires of even Rainbow, Fluttershy, and Spike.
Unsurprisingly, Horus looked identical to Scorpan in the shape and tanned complexion of his lean muscular body, his rather large perfectly-shaped head, and his angular face. However, you would immediately know Horus was not the same man by looking at his eyes; they were a soft, contemplative sky blue, contrasting sharply against the wild, intense electric-blue of his brother's. His smooth, white hair was short and carefully teased, making it appear perfectly attractively messy, and was matched by his enormous feathered wings that seemed to flow through the air like soft, bright silver clouds. He wore a loose, billowing white shirt, tight brown leather leggings, and regal matching brown leather boots, which all gave him the appearance of a hero from the cover of a steamy bodice-ripper novel set in the early modern era. His shirt and leggings left very little to the imagination; the shape of his legs were displayed quite flatteringly, and his loose white shirt was almost sheer, so his well-sculpted tan chest was shown off rather well through it. The Markings on his sides and up his arms were weaves of rainbows and the black outlines of flying birds, culminating in the Marks on the backs of his hands and his shoulders, which consisted of a majestic silver cloud from which a grand falls of rainbow-colored water was pouring.
Looking down at the stunned, blushing face nearest to him, the God of the Skies said softly, "You are Duchess Twilight Sparkle, this library's head stewardess, I presume?"
Her ability to speak returning to her, Twilight nervously replied, "Y-yes, Your Highness...."
Horus nodded, seeming not to take notice at how flustered he was making her- or any mortal in the room, for that matter. He looked around and swiftly found Rainbow, to which he said, "And are you Rainbow Dash, the daughter of Rainbow Blaze, my fair young lady?"
Rainbow blinked, and gaped, but didn't respond. She hadn't heard what he said. What the hell's going on?! she wondered in great bafflement to herself. He's a fucking dude, but I'm drenching my panties just looking at him! Did someone slip me an aphrodisiac potion or something?! Come to think of it, though, I've always wondered what it'd feel like to shove a real dick in- ...No, wait! Shit! I don't have any condoms! I'd better get out of here before-!
"Miss?" Horus said, breaking Rainbow out of her daze.
Rainbow rapidly blinked a few times. "Huh?" she said.
"That is Rainbow Dash," Twilight said. "She's the one who's going to fight Scorpan."
Horus gazed at Rainbow for a moment. "Hmm," he said casually. "You're smaller than I thought you'd be. Good luck in your battle; you'll need it."
Horus then collapsed in one of the library's armchairs, letting out a weary sigh as he did so. "I can imagine that you young mortals are wondering why I have been chosen to be your referee," he said, bending over and rubbing his eyes with one hand. "In truth, I'd rather not be; I would have preferred to not get mixed up in all this in the first place."
Applejack glared at Horus, though she was still intensely blushing with arousal. "Why in tarnation are you not fighting your goddamned brother?!" she shouted. "There ain't no excuse you could make for what he's doin' to all the young'uns he's roped up!"
"Yes, that is true," Horus replied flatly. "And it is for that reason that I am not at his side. However, the fact remains that he is my brother- my twin brother, no less. And so I will not stand against him either."
Applejack was absolutely furious- not just at Horus, but at herself for feeling such immense attraction to him despite how much she was swiftly coming to loathe him. "Ah'm sick of your horseshit and nonsense!" she bellowed.
"Applejack!" Twilight cried fearfully. "Don't anger him-!"
"Ah don't give a damn if Ah anger him!" Applejack shouted. She pointed directly at Horus's face as she continued, while her face grew steadily redder, "If family is so important to ya, why'd ya'll help Celestia overthrow yer pa?! Don't ya'll tell me ya can't protect us mortal folk from your son-of-a-bitch brother-!"
"King Discord was hardly a father to any of us," Horus said wearily, but without any anger. "Have you ever wondered just why Scorpan turned out the way he is, Human? Why some of our brothers and sisters turned so rotten that Celestia had to Seal them to protect you from them?"
Stunned into silence, Applejack remained still as Horus let his pointed questions hang in the air for a moment, then relaxed back into his armchair with another heavy sigh. "Our father was as terrible a parent as I can imagine," Horus muttered. "He was neglectful, abusive, and completely indifferent to our well-being. I was a child once too, you know. You must remember that we Gods are Beings just like any of you mortals are; we are born into this cruel world and must be nurtured, and loved, and taught to be decent and compassionate, just like any of you do. Have you ever thought of that?"
After a few more moments of silence that allowed this last question to sink in, a tinge of remorse colored Applejack's expression and caused her to look away. "Ah... no...." she muttered.
Horus's eyes narrowed as he raised his hands to his lips. "You cannot imagine what it was like to grow up in Discord's own household," he said sternly. "We all had to fend for ourselves, and fight over even basic necessities. Starvation cannot kill us, but we still wished we could die for the pain our hunger caused. You had to hide any blankets or other small comforts you found, or one of your more violent elder siblings would beat you and rip it right out of your hands."
Horus allowed himself a bitter smirk. "And that's without even detailing what monsters my siblings and I could be to each other. The time that Tirek shoved a flaming lump of coal down my throat just for the hell of it, for example, springs to mind. Or the night I couldn't sleep, because I could hear him and Sombra raping Sonata just meters away. Oh, and Sonata was just six at the time, by the way. I was four."
The flushing had completely vanished from the faces of all the mortals in the Golden Oak Library by then. With hardly a moment to allow them to take his terrible revelations in, Horus continued, "We couldn't turn to our father for help; he couldn't care less what we did to each other. We couldn't run away, because there was nowhere in the world we could hide where he couldn't find us. Our lives were every bit as much living nightmares as the Hells of Tartarus are. The only reason I think any of us turned out any better than our father was because those of us who were desperate for affection of any kind turned to others like us. Luna and Celestia, for instance, were inseparable. They were partners who faced the world and everything it threw at them together. Demeter and Poseidon eventually joined them, as well.
"But those four were bound together by a common cause: they all shared a deeper affection for you mortals than our father or any of their other siblings, including myself, possessed. As for the rest of us, Sonata formed an uneasy alliance with Seti upon their shared hatred for our father. As you might imagine, Tirek, Sombra, and Chrysalis naturally grouped together, though it was not for affection; if they ever had any love or loyalty for each other, I doubt they would have so swiftly turned on each other and fought so bitterly over our father's empty throne once we had usurped him.
"That left Scorpan and I; the youngest of the first Gods. Celestia, of course, offered us a place alongside her and our other mortal-sympathising siblings. I wish I'd taken her up on her offer, looking back, but Scorpan and I refused; he thought that the mortals weren't worth our concern, and I was more concerned with looking out for my own well-being.
"We considered allying ourselves with Sonata and Seti, but our fear of our father was too great; we knew that he particularly enjoyed punishing them, as they made no secret of how deeply they despised him, and Scorpan and I wished to avoid as much of the God of Chaos's wrath as we possibly could.
"I wish I could say that neither I nor Scorpan had even considered joining our three heartless, cruel, Dark elder brothers and sister, but I must confess that we attempted to. It was Scorpan who suggested the idea; he wanted desperately to join them on their raids to terrorize, rape, torture, and slaughter the mortals. I don't even think he ultimately wanted to do those things; I think he just wanted to be feared and respected like they were. He wanted status; he wanted to be seen as strong. As for me, I was just looking for someplace to belong, and was willing to follow Scorpan wherever he went; no matter how vile or unsavory the place.
"But there was no place for us in the circle of darkness; our cruelest siblings responded to our request to join them by spitting upon us and breaking every bone in our bodies. They told us as they destroyed our spirits that we were far too weak and soft to measure up to them. I think Scorpan took their words deeply to heart.
"It was then that we realized that during all that time, we had had each other. We depended on one another and watched the other's back just as well as any of the other groups, and so we decided that we would be partners; just Scorpan and me against the world.
"And it stayed that way for many, many years. Celestia might have been our leader, but Scorpan was well and truly my brother. No one else could truly understand me like he could; and though we had differing personalities, we happily put up with our differences for the sake of our unshakeable bond.
"Of course, I now see my folly at being so blindly loyal to Scorpan that I continued to remain at his side, even as he sank to the level of our family members who had caused us so much grief and despair as children. Never have I hated someone so passionately as when Celestia damned him and threatened to do the same to me; however, as the ages passed, I came to realize how foolish I was to allow my affection for Scorpan to mask what a loathsome and pitiable creature he had become. I learned that Celestia had felt truly sorry for him, and wished that she could have shown him the error of his ways rather than condemn him to the same fate as our hateful father.
"Once I finally understood the nature of Celestia's boundless compassion for all Beings, and began to learn to imitate it, I found myself growing a loyalty to her as powerful as that I had felt for Scorpan. However, my loyalty to Scorpan remained and still remains, though I will no longer allow him to lead me any further into darkness. Therefore I cannot aid one to betray the other; in matters of conflict between the two of them, I will forever remain neutral. It is for this reason that they have chosen me as the referee for this duel."
Horus then lifted up his hand and conjured a parchment scroll bearing the Asgardian Royal Seal into it. He offered it to Rainbow, saying, "I have drafted up a set of suggested laws for this contest. Scorpan has declared himself to be satisfied with it; please read over it, and inform me of any adjustments you'd like to make."
Rainbow blinked. "Uhh...." she said uncertainly.
"Here; let me read it," Twilight said, stepping forward. Horus gave her the scroll, which she unrolled and carefully began reading.
Once she had reached the end of the scroll a few minutes later, Twilight nodded and said, "This looks perfect. As far as I can tell, it's exactly the terms you and Scorpan set, Rainbow."
"Cool," Rainbow said, softly smiling. "Thanks, Twi; I dunno if I'd have been able to tell if those were fair or not. Reading's not really my thing."
"Very well," Horus said, taking the scroll back and standing from the armchair he'd been sitting in. "In that case, I will use these as the official terms for your battle. Farewell, valued subjects," he added with a bow. "I look forward to seeing you all again this evening."
With that, Horus strode gracefully back out of the library, leaving Rainbow alone with her friends once again.
The second the library's door had been closed after their esteemed royal guest, Rarity said brightly to Applejack, "See? Was he really so bad as you'd thought he'd be?"
"Not as bad," Applejack muttered, frowningly folding her arms. "But Ah still ain't holdin' my breath 'till we meet again."
Spike began snickering, causing Rainbow to turn to him and say, "What's so funny?"
"You looked so confused when you saw Horus," Spike replied. "He was making you question everything you thought you knew about your sexuality, wasn't he?"
Rainbow intensely blushed again. "I-I...!" she stuttered.
Spike stifled another laugh. "It's okay, Rainbow; it wasn't just you," he said reassuringly. "It's the nature of the Gods, after all; they are the fairest of all Beings, right?"
Rainbow blinked surprisedly. With one last chuckle, Spike leaned back and rested his hands beneath his head. "I've never met a male God before, either, but Twilight's brother has the exact same effect on everyone."
"He does?" all of the girls, except for Twilight, said astonishedly. "As in, even you are attracted to him?" Rarity pressed.
Spike shrugged. "Without hesitation, I admit that I am."
Rarity tried and failed to prevent a small, lustful smile from spreading over her lips.
Rainbow was shaken awake by Spike. "Get up, Dash," Spike said, without the barest tinge of lightheartedness. "It's almost sunset; let's go."
Softly closing her eyes once more, Rainbow sighed heavily before sitting up and replying, "Alright. Let's go, Spike."
Rainbow stood up from the sofa she'd been using as a bed, slid her hands into her sky-blue hoodie's pockets, and followed Spike out of the library. Her expression was blank, but in truth, she was terrified; she felt as though she were a condemned prisoner taking her last steps as she approached the gallows.
But she had to be brave now. For Scootaloo.
And even if she died doing so, she must win today.
It seemed to be an eternity before Rainbow and Spike found their friends in the field to the north of Avalon. Many of the townspeople were also there, including Stephen Magnet, Ditzy Do, Filthy Rich, and all of the other parents of Scorpan's captives.
And, of course, Scorpan and his followers were also there, standing beside the Etherial iron cage that the one hundred kidnapped children were imprisoned in.
Scorpan was standing with his feet spread and his arms folded, and he was wearing a condescending, threatening smirk. Rainbow only felt all the more intimidated looking up at him; next to her, he was practically a giant.
Rainbow closed her eyes and inhaled deeply, attempting to soothe her mind and calm herself. A fanfare was blown, then a Royal Guard shouted, "I hereby present His Royal Highness, Horus, Prince Regent of Asgard!"
Everyone turned to the east, where they saw an extremely luxurious silver litter carried in on the shoulders of four shapely, beautiful, scantily-clad Angel girls. Sitting atop the throne it bore was Horus, who was slouching against his seat as though he were extremely bored.
Rainbow sneered and scoffed at him; even if he was supposed to be neutral while overseeing this duel, did he have to act as though he didn't even care about it?
Once Horus's litter was gently lowered to rest against the ground, one of the girls bearing it walked around to a chest that sat at Horus's side. Horus stood as she picked it up, then he walked into the field with the girl right at his heels.
Horus stopped, to which the girl set the chest against the ground and opened it up. It was filled with bright, vibrant blue powdered chalk.
His Marks glowing with sky-blue Ether, Horus telekinetically lifted all of the chalk from the chest and shaped them into a levitating Ritual Circle. He then gently lowered it to the ground, then stepped forward.
"Prince Scorpan, Rainbow Dash, please step into the Circle," he said.
Before Rainbow could do so, however, she felt a hand grasp at her hoodie's sleeve. She looked back, and saw Pinkie and Fluttershy gazing desperately at her.
"Dashie- be careful," Pinkie said quietly.
Nodding, Fluttershy added as tears welled in her eyes, "Don't leave us. Please."
Allowing herself a few more seconds to gaze back at her two friends, Rainbow nodded. "I'll try," she said, then she walked the rest of the way into the Circle.
Once Rainbow and Scorpan were standing within the circumference of the Oath-Taking Ritual Circle, Horus conjured the scroll he had earlier lent to Twilight to read into his palm. "Contestants, make the Oath-Taking Signs with your right hands, please," he said, loudly and clearly.
Rainbow and Scorpan both balled their right hands into fists, except for their thumbs, index, and second fingers, which they clawed over their hearts.
The Circle began glowing along with Horus's eyes and Marks as he cried out, "Duelists, lend me your ears!"
Sky-blue Ether woven into small chains rose up from the Circle and began encircling the bodies, heads, and arms of both Rainbow and Scorpan. Horus continued, reading aloud from the scroll, "Do the two of you hereby swear to do battle on this day, beginning with the completion of this Oath, and ending with the death, incapacitation, or surrender of one or both parties? Furthermore, do the both of you swear by the lives in your hearts that you begin this duel unarmed, having come with nothing more than the clothes on your backs and the barehanded combative skills in your own repertoires? And finally, do the both of you swear that you will not accept the aid of any allies that can in any way influence the results of this battle, nor endanger the lives of any third parties, on the blood that flows through your veins, until this duel is completed and any winners can be definitively determined?"
"I swear," Scorpan said casually, to which the chains of Ether circling him constricted around him before dissipating.
Taking a deep breath, Rainbow forced her mind to empty of all outside thoughts or worries before she said quietly, "I swear."
And thus, the duel between Rainbow Dash and her divine ancestor Prince Scorpan officially began.
Rainbow unzipped her hoodie, then tossed it out of the Circle's boundaries. She assumed a defensive stance, then slowly began circling across from Scorpan.
With an amused scoff, Scorpan mirrored Rainbow by tossing aside his soft, short-sleeved cotton shirt, leaving his arms exposed by a sleeveless sports jersey, as well.
Scorpan began casually strolling around the circle's edge, keeping time with Rainbow, who maintained her defensive stance as she cautiously prowled around him. Several of Scorpan's followers began jeering, "Fuck her up, m'Lord! Rape her little pussy! Rip her ass! Make that cunt cry!"
But Rainbow didn't seem to hear them; in fact, she didn't seem to know they were there. Her focus continued to remain utterly fixated on the dark God across the battleground from her.
"I must admit, I'm a bit sorry to fight you; yours is quite a pretty little face," Scorpan said with a cruel smirk. "So I think I'll go easy on you; as soon as you surrender, you can join the little brats in their first auction. If you surrender now, you'll not endure as much pain, and I won't have any blood or bruises to hurt your selling-price...."
Scorpan's followers burst into laughter, and Rainbow's friends began trembling with rage; Scorpan still saw Rainbow and his child prisoners as nothing more than objects to be sold like meat.
However, to their surprise, Rainbow herself still didn't seem incensed in the slightest. Her focus was unwavering, and her movements remained steady.
"It's almost adorable, really, that you have challenged me to a duel," Scorpan continued, each word more mocking and belittling than the last. He punctuated this by leaning over towards Rainbow, turning his cheek towards her, and pointing at the side of his jaw, saying, "Here, I'll even give you the first strike. Come; hit me, right here. As hard as you can. Come on."
But Rainbow didn't bite; she maintained her defensive stance, and her low, slinking steps neither slowed nor sped up.
"I promise I won't hit back," Scorpan continued, speaking with an infantile tone as though he were addressing a five-year-old. "Come on; you're not afraid of the big, bad God of Storms, now, are you?"
Scorpan's followers burst into laughter again; however, Rainbow and her movements remained unchanging. Twilight's eyes widened slightly as she began to wonder what Rainbow was doing....
After trying unsuccessfully to taunt Rainbow for a few more moments, Scorpan stood up straight once more as he said, "Alright, then. I gave you a chance. I guess I'll have to show you just how out of your element you are...!"
With that, Scorpan suddenly dashed forward and directed several strikes at Rainbow. They were blindingly fast and carried great power; however, Rainbow was able to successfully neutralize each of them.
When Scorpan backed off again, Rainbow had returned to her original defensive stance and slow, creeping walk around her opponent.
Scorpan began sneering, and all of his followers fell silent. "Well, are you going to fight or not?!" Scorpan shouted. "Come, now, I haven't got all day!"
He rushed forward again, directing a kick at Rainbow, which Rainbow efficiently dodged. She then blocked several more strikes, then once again returned to her defensive stance as Scorpan again backed away from her.
The citizens of Avalon held their breath as they watched Rainbow remain entirely on the defensive for several more rounds of punishment from Scorpan's fists, resulting in her arms and hands becoming quite horribly bruised, though she made no indication that she felt any pain at all.
Scorpan began to lose his patience, and his followers began to boo at Rainbow, demanding that she do something. "This isn't a game, Angel!" Scorpan roared. "Come on! FIGHT ME!!"
Scorpan rushed forward to attack Rainbow again, and directed several more punches at her. However, he made a mistake; he put too much power into one of his strikes, and wasn't quite on target; as a result, he threw himself off-balance, giving Rainbow a brief opening that she immediately exploited; she swiftly counterattacked, using Scorpan's lack of balance to misdirect him with a feint before spinning and landing a solid kick at his chin.
The spectators gasped as Scorpan stumbled backwards, holding the bloody cut Rainbow had made on his face. He gazed surprisedly at her, and saw that she had returned to her defensive stance, though she was now wearing a small, satisfied smirk.
While she had been training with her father in preparation for this battle, Dash remembered Rainbow Blaze say these words to her, while they were sparring: "Remember, Dash: while you cannot wound your opponent for too long before it heals, you can still irreparably wound his pride. That's how you must gain the high ground over Scorpan: wound his pride, and make him lose his composure."
Rainbow had just completed the first connecting strike of the battle, and had drawn the first blood. Indeed, her smirk she made now was calculated to pour salt on the wound she'd just made in her opponent's ego.
Rainbow had practiced waiting, waiting for her opponent to make the first mistake, then deeply punish him for it. Her father had done what Scorpan was doing now, and whaled on her while she did nothing but defend herself. "You must wait for just the right moment," Blaze had said while doing this. "Whether it takes seconds, minutes, or hours, do not give your opponent an opening unless you see a weakness in him that you know you can exploit."
Part one of Rainbow's carefully-constructed strategy was complete; she had drawn the first blood from Scorpan and, more importantly, his fragile and arrogant sense of dignity.
"Once your opponent has suffered from his first humiliation," Rainbow's father had said, "he will become steadily more dangerous; however, he will also begin steadily making more mistakes. You must punish every fumble he makes, Dash, if you have any hope of defeating him."
As Rainbow Blaze had predicted, Scorpan became enraged by Rainbow's successful attack and mocking smirk; he glanced at his followers, and saw that they were all simply stunned that a mere teenaged mortal girl had drawn the first blood in their duel.
A new, murderous spark of blood-thirst in his eyes, Scorpan growled and sprinted forward, attempting to attack Rainbow again. He was holding back less this time; his strikes were even faster and stronger than before, but he also made another mistake even more quickly; as Rainbow Dash was frantically parrying his blows, he grabbed her blue basketball jersey by the lapel. He then attempted to head-butt her; however, Rainbow allowed herself to fall out of his path, grabbing his fingers and twisting them until they broke as she did so.
As Scorpan cried out in agony, Rainbow punched his nose, breaking it as well. As blood streamed down Scorpan's face and he stumbled back, gazing at Rainbow in shock, Rainbow scoffed, "What, is that all you've got, Pretty Boy?"
"Like your fists, your insults are weapons that must be used only when the time comes," Rainbow's father had told her during their training. "Your main goal is to turn your opponent's heart against him, and so you must use your words even more sparingly than your physical strikes."
As she had planned, Scorpan grew ever more enraged by her taunt. He roared as he ran at her again with fists faintly crackling with static discharge.
Thunder faintly rumbled over the battlefield, and the spectators looked up to see dark storm clouds gathering overhead. Rainbow continued neutralizing most of Scorpan's strikes, though he was now moving so quickly that she could not hold back all of his attacks, and so he connected a few punches and kicks, as well. However, aside from a few pained grunts and wiping away some drops of blood that rolled down her skin, Rainbow made no acknowledgement whatsoever that Scorpan had caused her any pain at all. Scorpan's wounds had healed, and he looked to be in a far better state than Rainbow Dash, but he was clearly losing the battle between their wills; his pride was badly wounded, but Rainbow's was as strong and unshaken as iron.
After Rainbow had exploited another mistake on Scorpan's part to knock his breath out of him by shoving her palm into his solar plexus, Rainbow scoffed and said mockingly, "So, this is what the great, terrible God of Storms is capable of? Talk about a letdown."
"Shut up, you BITCH!!" Scorpan roared, attempting to kick her head.
As Rainbow dodged away from this, she replied, "Oh, I'm sorry, did I hurt poor widdle Scorpan's feewings?"
As Scorpan screamed and exchanged a few more blows with her, Rainbow added, "Y'know, I might be nothing more than a little mortal girl, but you are by far the most pathetic sack of SHIT I've EVER seen!!"
Scorpan connected a punch with Rainbow's cheek, sending her collapsing to the ground. However, she quickly stood back up, saying with another smirk, "What, that's all you've got? C'mon, I'm just getting warmed up!"
Scorpan and Rainbow continued exchanging blows, during which Rainbow continued, "You're nothing but a worthless, sniveling coward. You sit here, hiding behind these poor kids who are nothing to you, just so you won't have to face your fucking SISTER!!"
Scorpan roared and savagely attempted to knife-hand Rainbow's belly; however, Rainbow blocked this and continued as she struck back, "You boast and run your damn mouth off, spouting bullshit about how women are so much weaker than you! But it's clear as fucking day that your entire pathetic life revolves around how jealous you are of Celestia!!"
"You know nothing of which you speak!" Scorpan snarled.
"I know that you're too scared to pick on someone your own size!" Rainbow shouted back. "You only dueling me, and not another God, because you. Are. A. Fucking. COWARD!!"
Scorpan was now literally frothing with rage. However, Rainbow wasn't done; "You don't know if you could beat another God! You're only fighting me because you're too much of a cowardly little chickenshit to face anyone you don't think you could beat! You have to face a mortal girl; THAT'S how insecure and cowardly you are!!"
Scorpan kicked Rainbow in the mouth, cutting her lip and filling it with blood. However, once Rainbow had spit it back out, she fiercely smiled and said, "But you know what, Scorpan? If you knew how strong I am, you would've never accepted my challenge. Because I'm also stronger than you!!"
"WHAT UTTER NONSENSE!!" Scorpan screamed. "I'm a GOD!! You're a GIRL!! YOU ARE NOTHING TO ME!!"
"You're wrong," Rainbow said softly. "You've never been more wrong about anything, bro. I'm much, much stronger than you are. And do you know why?!"
Scorpan didn't answer; he responded by directing a roundhouse kick at Rainbow. Rainbow dodged this and continued, "You say that girls are weak. You say that our compassion and our emotions MAKE us weak. Well, guess what, bro?! My love for Scoots and my friendship with her don't make me weak; they make me STRONGER!!"
Rainbow backflipped against Scorpan's face; upon landing again, she panted, "You hide behind her. You're lower than a maggot. You'll never understand, because you're ruled by your fear.
"But my love for Scootaloo- it gives me a power you couldn't even imagine! A power greater than your wildest storms and harshest tempests! THAT POWER WILL GIVE ME THE STRENGTH TO DEFEAT YOU!!"
Rainbow's friends- including Scootaloo- all gazed in wonderment at her.
Twilight softly smiled. "She's gonna win," she muttered.
Scorpan, now at the height of his fury, conjured up a torrent of flame and attempted to sweep it across Rainbow's body. However, Rainbow had leapt away, and was now flying high into the sky.
"YOU CAN'T RUN FROM ME, ANGEL GIRL!!" Scorpan shouted up at her. He spread his wings, grinned with insane bloodlust, and took off after her.
Scorpan was much faster than Rainbow, though Rainbow had far more maneuverability; she flew around the trees, signs, and even some of the buildings near them, and Scorpan struggled to stay on her tail.
Eventually, Rainbow was able to lose Scorpan; after frantically attempting to find her for a few moments, Scorpan flew to the roof of one of Avalon's buildings before roaring in all directions, "WHERE ARE YOU?! SHOW YOURSELF!!"
A rock hit the back of Scorpan's head, and he turned to see Rainbow flying high above him and waving at him. "Over here!!" she shouted.
Rainbow began flying directly at the storm clouds, and Scorpan immediately took off after her. Rainbow heard an electronic hum as Scorpan's Marks and eyes glowed with Ether, and she only barely managed to dodge away from an enormous lightning-bolt he cast after her.
"YES! BURN!! BUUUUURN!!" Scorpan laughed maniacally, hurling a torrent of more thunderbolts at Rainbow.
Rainbow was pushed to the limit of her flying abilities as she continued to barely avoid the intensely blue lightning. Just a little more...! she thought desperately as she approached the high storm clouds. Almost there...!
Once Rainbow entered the black, thundering clouds, Scorpan was quick to follow her in. He cast lightning in all directions, bellowing, "COME OUT AND DIE, ANGEL!!"
Rainbow briefly emerged from the curtain of clouds, again striking Scorpan in the face. Scorpan hurled a bolt of lightning in the place she had vanished into; however, Rainbow immediately emerged from above him and made a dive kick against the top of his head.
His ears ringing, Scorpan roared and flung lightning in every direction he could think of. However, from a gap in between them, Rainbow emerged from directly in front of him. She dodged a strike he made at her, flipped over his head, then grabbed both of his wings.
Rainbow then pulled down against Scorpan and brought her feet down, badly breaking both of the God of Storm's wings by their joints under her soles with two simultaneous sickening cracks.
Scorpan's eyes widened with agony and sudden terror as he began abruptly dropping out of the sky.
However, Rainbow didn't give him a chance to manually heal his wings or cushion his fall; she fell with him, continuing to strike at him to keep him dazed and unfocused on their way down. She pummeled him and dodged his frantic attempts to fight her off until they were seconds away from the ground, then she grabbed him by the arms and shoved his head beneath her feet.
When the two airborne Beings struck the ground, a high cloud of dust billowed up around them.
Quite fearful now, Rainbow's friends all took a few steps towards her landing spot. "Rainbow...!" Pinkie and Fluttershy called out together.
Then, when the dust cleared, they saw her.
Rainbow Dash was kneeling against the ground, panting and quite bloodied, but still alive. Scorpan laid beside her, unmoving, with a pool of blood slowly forming around his head.
The air was very still for a few moments. Then, it filled suddenly with uproarious cheering and applause.
Many things then happened all at once; Scorpan's followers began panicking and fleeing, to which the Captain of the Guard immediately shoutingly sent soldiers after them. A few of the Elvish guards were also sent to bind the now-unconscious Scorpan and free his young captives.
The second the Etherial iron cage's door was opened, Scootaloo immediately sprinted towards Rainbow, shouting with an enormous smile and tears of unspeakable relief and gratitude, "Dash!"
"Hey, Scoo-OOF!!" Rainbow said wearily before Scootaloo caught her in a rib-cracking embrace.
Just seconds later, Pinkie and Fluttershy tearfully embraced Rainbow, as well.
"You did it, Dashie!" Pinkie laughed.
"You're alive!" Fluttershy wailed. "Thank Celestia you're safe...!"
The children were all reunited with their families, and everyone was crying and laughing with joy in equal measures. After all of Rainbow's friends had released her from their lung-crushing embraces, Stephen Magnet stepped in and wailed, "Thank you! Thank you, Rainbow Dash!" before planting kisses all over her face.
"Gross! Geddoff, Steve!" Rainbow laughed, pushing him away.
"Can you stand?" Rarity said concernedly, noticing that Rainbow was still kneeling.
Rainbow shook her head. "I don't think so," she replied. "I think my legs are broken...."
"Well, then we'll just have to carry you!" Stephen cried. With surprising strength, he and several of Avalon's other citizens lifted Rainbow up onto their shoulders. "Let's hear it for Avalon's greatest hero, Rainbow Dash!" Stephen shouted.
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Wow what a fight to the finish.
I can't imagine being a child to a god if chaos with bring so much unfathomable pain and suffering.
Finally a chapter that doesn't make me want to kill myself at the end :)
That was epic. Though, it was a under-use of a Chekhov's Gun. The Oath-taking Ritual. I thought, by mentioning it, you'd have Scorpan break the oath in desperation. It would have been anti-climactic, but at least you would have foreshadowed his death, or coma I guess. Nonetheless, this was still epic.
8356755 Jeez.
Please don't do anything like that on my account; this fic isn't worth it...
8357516 The Oath-taking Ritual was more there to clean up the potential plot hole of "Why didn't Scorpan just strong-arm Rainbow into throwing the battle by threatening the kids?" I also think it would have been really cheap to beat him with a weapon I introduced in the same chapter; it would've been a borderline Deus Ex Machina that way. Besides, I'm gonna need him again later.
And who says the Chekov's Gun won't come into play eventually? This is quite a long fic, after all...
8357740
not literally, I'm just saying man, your stuff can be pretty depressing lol. Its nice to have a happy moment again. keep up the good work :)
8356722
Check up on the stories of the old Greek gods. Things get weird and nasty if you read them long enough.
Well Pinkie Dash did not promise but she did fulfill what would have been the promise are you going to do anything?
Well, that worked out well!
Interesting backstory, too.
8358640
True and I don't know.
8358690 Which backstory?
8359443
Horus and Scorpan, mainly.
Scorpan is by far the most vile, hateable character to appear in this so far, so depraved that he'd be considered too edgy to be listed as a Complete Monster on TV Tropes (albeit mainly because you'd never have someone like him onscreen in canon). But now we get at least a partial look at what set him on this path, and while it doesn't in any way justify him, you have to empathize just a little. If mainly with the kid, not the present version. As Will Graham put it:
Amazing fight chapter!!!!!!!!!!
8359911 Thank you most kindly, El Cazador.
8359692 It seems that I'm slowly proving my potential to write more than just junk food fiction, eh?
I must confess that reading that I was able to get you to feel at least a little sorry for Scorpan made me absolutely ecstatic.
As you might imagine, one of the greatest challenges an author can face is bringing their audience to sympathize with their villains, and the difficulty is directly proportioned to how vile said villain is. Thanks for letting me know that, in your case at least, I was able to succeed in that goal. 
will i really don't like Horus primarily for the pathetic excuse for not help actually stop his brother and i really hope that his inaction for both this and his abandonment of FIrefly eventually comeback to bite him in the ass hard, as he does not seem like he has actually reformed or truly regrets what he has done otherwise he would actually have tried to stop his brother when he confronted him in Asgard palace.
If I had a brother like Scorpan, I'd instill the fear of the Gods into him.
Brother or no, that type of behavior is disgusting.
Points to Skittles for KO'ing a God though.
As someone who used to do martial arts, this pleases me immensely. First thing I was taught were that martial arts are self defense, and frequently about turning your opponent's strength against them. She knows she isn't as fast or as strong, but she has more SKILL.
I mean, you DID just kick a God, that's gotta hurt a LOT. Hope Twilight can speed up the healing.
Uh, because he knows which one will win in a direct fight, and he wants to stay in the victor's good graces?
Twilight can be so naive sometimes ...
The High Princess? The one who's (supposed) duty is to protect all Beings? The one who just sat on her ass as Scorpan raped and murdered village after village?
So Scorpan had one of the shityist childhoods possible. So did every child that fell into his clutches! Freudian excuse or not, Scorpan is nothing but garbage, Horus is garbage for supporting him so long, and Celestia is garbage for letting him run loose among the Beings she claim's to protect for as long as she did.
Yeah ... right .... "Celestia's boundless compassion" my ass ...
8358640
True, but the Greeks at least didn't have a "god of rape" the way Scorpan is (although Zeus comes close).
I'm sorry, MRH, I do enjoy the story, but I'm developing a strong contempt for your version of Celestia. Maybe future chapters will improve my opinion of her ....
And go Rainbow! (And go Pinkie for some intimate healing with our speedster!
)