The Paladin of Prismatic Light

by Keeper of time RD

Chapter 12: The Necromancer

The morning had been a busy one. Although Rainbow Dash had spent a fair portion of it holding a hoof over a gash she’d acquired fighting off another assassination attempt. And after yesterday’s events she wasn’t exactly keen on the idea of bothering Sweet Chime over a wound that the sacred wing blades would heal in a few hours.

However, at the moment she was looking out the windows, admiring the dark clouds that had moved into the area overnight. The sent of the air threatened rain.

She passed a hoof gently over her front left leg before giving it a glance. That morning’s wound was little more than an extra pink line of newly mended skin, hardly even visible beneath the fur.

The clop of heavy hooves approached the blue mare, and the soft jangle of a chain-mail vest gave her a good idea who it was.

“Well, Rainbow Dash, you’re leg is looking better.”

Cloud Sword’s greeting was soon followed by the stallion sitting down beside the paladin and joining her in staring out the window.

“Yeah.”

“You’re still planning on going after the last overlord today, aren’t you?”

A nod answered him.

“I suppose I should tell you what we know about her, huh?”

“Let me guess. The demon pretends to be a pegasus. She lives at the little cottage near the graveyard. And she can paralyze you if she stares into your eyes.”

Finally turning to look at Dash directly, Cloud found that her gaze hadn’t shifted at all.

“I take it somepony else already told you?”

Dash shook her head.

“No. It’s just the patterns of this world have become too obvious.” At that Cloud raised an eyebrow but allowed the mare to continue. “So far, all of the demons have been like evil versions of my friends back home. In my world Fluttershy lives at that cottage. At this point I’d be more surprised if the Dark Summoner didn’t turn out to be this world’s version of Twilight Sparkle.”

“Who’s Twilight Sparkle?”

“A friend of mine. And the most powerful unicorn I know.”

“Sounds like you might be right. The Dark Summoner is the most powerful unicorn I know of,” Cloud said, with a cynical laugh escaping his lips at the end.

“What’s so funny?”

“Irony. I’ve never been one to put much hope into those old legends. I always figured they were just hopeful stories told to foals. And yet, right here in front of my eyes, all the pieces are falling into place as if somepony saw this day coming hundreds of years ago.”

Rainbow Dash smirked and said, “It probably was a guess.”

With a raised eyebrow Cloud Sword asked, “How do you figure that?”

“Easy! All you have to understand to make that guess is that there are always awesome ponies like me around that will do what’s right. Sooner or latter one of them is bound to save the day. I mean would it really matter if it’s me or you or one of your other Sky Knight? Eventually somepony would have beaten those overlords. And then everypony would be saying the legend is coming true through them, no matter who they were.”

“Perhaps. Baring the parts where I don’t have a rainbow mane and I’m fairly sure I was born in this world, not the world Lightning Dash came from.”

Dash shrugged. “With enough dye, anypony can have a rainbow mane. I mean last I checked you don’t have to be born with one, like me.”

“Yes, Though I think we’re getting sidetracked. And I suppose your larger point is right. It’s just pony nature that some will be righteous souls, willing to fight for what’s right. And given enough time, one of them would have brought us to this point.”

Placing a hoof on the stallion’s shoulder, Rainbow Dash said, “If it hadn’t been me, my bits would have been on you being the paladin to win this.”

With a slow shake of his head, he said, “Kind words. But you’re the paladin now.”

Standing up he added, “Enough, it’s time we get ready. We have a demon to defeat.”

“We?”

Cloud smiled and confirmed the questioning look sent his way.

“We.”

* * * * * * *

A few Sky Knights and the paladin were crouched in the bushes at the edge of the forest. A small clearing away was the cottage that looked eerily like Fluttershy’s.

“Careful. She’s got an army even if the shadow pegasi don’t show.”

“Can’t say I’m surprised,” Rainbow Dash whispered back. “The Flutters I know keeps a bunch of animals around.”

Despite the conversation, there didn’t appear to be anything near the lonely cottage. Neither animals nor the obvious guess for a demon called ‘the Necromancer.’

“So here’s the plan,” Cloud Sword said. “Lure her outside, preferably as close to the forest’s edge as you can. I have a surprise waiting for her. If that doesn’t work, we’ll try to keep her minions off of you.”

She gave a nod. Then in the blink of an eye and a prismatic streak later, Dash was crouched against the wall of the cottage.

On the outside, this cottage only differed from Fluttershy’s by the color of the thatch roof, withered gray-blue instead of green. But peeking in the window, Rainbow Dash found a great many differences. Not a single pet bed or food bowl in sight. No birdhouses, no scratching posts, nothing pet related at all. There was only a lone sofa by the stairs, a sturdy little table with what looked like potion making supplies, and two sets of shelves, one with books and the other holding more alchemy supplies.

Also missing was any sign of the demon that was supposed to reside here.

Finding the front door unlocked, she opened it and looked inside, confirming what she’d seen through the window. Opening her wings, she opted to hover silently across the room. The kitchen looked normal, with the exception of the conspicuous absence of large quantities of pet food anyway.

With the ground floor quickly proving to be empty, Rainbow Dash flew upstairs. Cautiously pocking her head into the master bedroom, she again failed to find the demon. She did, however, find a set of creepy runes carved into the floorboards around the bed. How anything could ‘glow’ black like that she didn’t know, but it made her skin crawl just hovering near them.

Turning her attention to the window she found it was open wide enough that a pegasus (or a demon in the form of a pegasus,) could have easily left through it.

Flying out the window she made her way back into the yard, or the air space above the yard anyway. The ground was mostly dirt, although given the drought conditions most places around here were under, that was kind of to be expected. Even the creek that ran under the small bridge was dry.

Then a stone marker in the side yard caught her eye. The obsidian obelisk stood where Fluttershy would have had her chicken coop.

Touching down nearby, Rainbow Dash landed as softly as she could. The ground was lose, somepony had dug it up recently. Perhaps the obelisk was a recent addition to the yard? On closer inspection she found that the obsidian marker had more of the dark runes she’d seen in the bedroom.

That was enough to get her to back off. The last thing she wanted was to trip some dark magic trap.

But that still left the question, where was the demon? Was it hiding? Dash giggled slightly at that thought. That would fit, wouldn’t it?

Then a heavy thud drew her attention.

“Paladin!”

Dash spun around to face the source of the sound of Fluttershy’s yell.

“You dare to set hoof in my domain!?” the yellow demon pony continued shouting in an enraged tone.

Rainbow Dash stood in stunned silence. The yellow coat, the long flowing pink mane, even the demon’s blue-green eyes failed to differ from Fluttershy’s appearance. And before she could react to the demon, its eyes pulsed with… something, something not so much seen as felt. That feeling was mostly a wave of paralysis coursing through Dash’s body.

As the yellow pegasus demon pony walked boldly up to the paladin the ground rumbled. Through the corners of her unmoving eyes, Dash saw skeletal creatures rise out of the ground. And judging from rumbling behind her, it was more than just the beaver, rabbit and pony skeletons that she could see raising up around her.

Each collection of bones was held in place by a dark glow. Orbs of red light hovered in the empty eye sockets of their skulls.

As disturbing as watching skeletons rise up out of the ground was, more troubling to Rainbow Dash was the realization that only half of these undead creations were the type of animals that she’d seen at her Fluttershy’s cottage. The other half were pony skeletons, and most of those had wings, or wing bones anyway. No feathers to be found anywhere, or fur, or skin.

All the while Demonshy had been glaring ‘the stare’ into Dash’s face, their muzzles mere inches away. But as the skeletons finished pulling themselves out of the ground, the demon stepped back.

Consequently this allowed the paladin to see the undead bear that had risen up behind its master, and was now lumbering toward the paladin pegasus with murder in it’s glowing orb eyes.

Rainbow Dash wanted to run, to fight, to scream, or maybe even to put on a nervous grin and say ‘Oh hey, Hairy.’ But all of those ideas remained trapped in her brain as her body failed to respond to any of them. She’d really blown it.

And while the protective magics of the sacred wing blades were flashing like mad, dulling all the bites and claw swipes from the smaller creatures to little more than everyday cuts, Rainbow Dash seriously doubted that it would stop the bear’s claws and jaws from ending her.

The undead bear stood up on its hind legs and growled. How it could growl with no flesh, let alone voice box, was beyond her, but it didn’t lessen the dread she felt from her impending doom.

The air over head whooshed. Was that a falcon? No it sounded too big, too rough, too un-aerodynamic to be a winged creature. As much as she wanted to look up, to see what was coming down, the paralysis denied her that curiosity.

The bear raised its heavy claws high, ready to strike. She reflexively tried to recoil and shut her eyes, as if not seeing it coming might somehow prevent her doom from coming. But that too was denied her by the paralyzing gaze of the demon.

A crack echoed from overhead, not of lightning from the storm clouds, but a crack that sounded like a hoof smashing through a thin layer of wood. Immediately following the sound, a barrel came crashing down between Dash and the demon. And when it hit the ground it exploded, releasing the radiant flash of gold, silver, and blue light from the glowing waters of night and day.

As the water washed over them, both the demon and paladin let out cries of surprise as they stumbled backwards.

Even as Rainbow Dash was trying to blink the water out of her eyes, Cloud Sword shouted, “Strike now! Before she can recover!”

Even though she wasn’t entirely sure what just happened, Dash leapt forward and swung her wing at the demon’s head. Still trying to blink the glowing waters out of her eyes, the demon didn’t see the attack coming until it was too late. The bladed wing racked across her face, cutting into both of the demon’s eyes along the way.

The demon gave a cry of pain and rage, as the black flames of her own blood consumed her eyes.

Chaos erupted around the paladin. The undead that had been near the center of the radiant-barrel-water-bomb had crumbled away under the light magic flowing from the waters. But further from the center the other Sky Knights had joined the battle, fighting the part of the skeletal menagerie that remained standing. Overhead, Cloud and one other Sky Knight had gotten into an aerial battle with the skeletal birds and undead pegasi.

“INSUGNIFICANT WHELPS!” roared the demon’s first intelligible words since the strike to her eyes.

By now said eyes were completely gone, and only two small orbs of black flames hovered in the eye sockets. Given from the way those flames kept locked on to Rainbow Dash, it was clear that the demon could still see using them.

Yet even as she looked into those eyes, now literally burning with rage, Dash opened her wings, curled her brow into a scowl, and grit her teeth. One thing was clear. Those eyes couldn’t use ‘the stare.’

“I WILL ENJOY WATCHING MY PETS TEAR YOU-”

“How dare you!”

“W-What?” the demon managed to say, startled by the interruption to her rant.

“HOW DARE YOU!” Dash repeated her shout.

The demon took a timid step backwards, and then disappeared to the sound of hoof on flesh. It would take a full second before anypony else would connect that sound to why Rainbow Dash was now standing where the demon had been with her hoof raised to the sky as if she’d finished an uppercut. When they did, they looked up to see Demonshy sailing skyward without flapping her wings.

Flapping her wings, the paladin took off like a rocket and in the blink of an eye she was burying her front hooves into the demon’s gut.

“How dare you mock my friend like that!”

Letting herself slow, to stop her acceleration from pinning the demon to her hooves, Dash came up beside her target and did a roundhouse kick into the demon’s side.

“How dare you ware Fluttershy’s face, while being so weak!”

By now Rainbow Dash was pummeling her target as fast and hard as she could with her front hooves.

“My Fluttershy might be a coward on the outside, but deep inside she’s stronger then even she gives herself credit for! But you… you really are her exact opposite! All your strength is in your mask, but behind it you have nothing! You just hide behind your puppets!”

With the final words of her rant, Rainbow Dash plunged both wing blades into the demon’s chest. For a second they fell together. Then she pushed the demon away, freeing her wings and spreading them she pulled way.

Demonshy hit the ground with a heavy thud. The skeletons collapsed, and a second later the demon’s body exploded in a blast of demon fire.

Then, without the aid or command of any pegasus, it began to rain.

The Sky Knights began to cheer, with the only exceptions being Rainbow Dash and Cloud Sword. In the distance, the ponies of Ponyton could also be heard cheering, although, they cheered for a different reason.

Had Dash or any of the Sky Knights been paying attention as they left, they might have wondered why a tiger’s paw prints were in the dirt despite none of the demon’s minions having been a tiger. But that observation eluded them.

* * * * * * *

A small white rabbit paced back and forth in front of a tortoise. Both wore a look of concern on their face. Well, the rabbit did, but the tortoise was concerned even if moving facial muscles was too much of a hassle to let it show. The latter of the two pets was concerned because his master had gone missing quite some time ago, the former because his master had fallen into a bit of a funk because of it.

Granted, Angel bunny’s concerns had more to do with the increasing difficulty of getting his master to bend to his will that came with her poor mood. Normally he could get his pampered treatment from the timid pegasus, but ever since Celestia’s decree she’d spend her days with one of her friends and only come back home for short visits to feed all the animals that resided at the cottage. Needless to say, with her time at home so short-lived, she wasn’t around long enough to guilt trip into treating him like royalty.

Slow and steady the tortoise, named Tank, gave the rabbit a look, as if to say, ‘Didn’t Opalescence say Rarity needed Fluttershy’s help? Helping her might cheer Fluttershy up.’

For a moment Angel put a paw to his chin and considered the idea. Then he shook his head and went back to slowly hopping around in circles. Soon the bunny’s ears shot up and the glimmer in his eyes, clearly said ‘I know! She’s always feeding me! What if I made lunch for her? That might cheer her up!’

Tank gave the bunny a questioning look as if to say, ‘Aren’t you forgetting that Fluttershy put Hairy in charge of keeping the cottage clean while she’s not here?’

Angel blinked and tilted his head. ‘What’s that got to do with me making lunch?’ the look on his face read.

‘You don’t know how to cook.’

‘So?’

‘Have you already forgotten Gummie’s story of the Cutie Mark Crusaders bakers? I recall the story making it clear that leaning in the kitchen is usually messy.’

Hairy, a brown bear, gave a low growl. ‘Exactly, I’ll get in trouble if you make a mess,’ was his addition to the wordless conversation taking place.

Angel shot a look to the bear as if to say, ‘You know that Fluttershy forgives everyone super easy, right?’ Then he started walking toward the kitchen.

A less civil growl from Hairy stopped the bunny.

Giving the bear an angry glare, Angel made his way out the front of the cottage. Outside he headed over to a small bridge overlooking a stream in the front yard, where he sat down trying to think up another plan to get his master into a more useful mood.

All his planing was for naught, as the sound of hooves coming down the dirt road signaled the return of his master and the fact that he no longer had time to act on any of his ideas. With any luck Tank would be proven right and the problem will have solved itself.

Rarity and Fluttershy came trotting around the corner.

“Thanks again for modeling for me, Fluttershy, darling.”

“It’s no problem.”

The yellow pegasus answered so softly that one might have thought she was whispering. However, the unicorn with her knew her soft-spoken friend better than that. But the bunny watching them approach knew the shy pegasus even better and what he knew told him that his master’s tone was more then just soft-spoken, it meant she was still miserable.

“Well it would seem we’re here,” Rarity announced, as they came to the small bridge where Angel sat. “Did you want any help tending to your animal friends?”

“No thank you,” Fluttershy answered, with a slight shake of her head. “No offense, but the way you move and talk startles most of the animals that haven’t really gotten used to being around ponies other than me. So I think it’s best if I just do this myself… if that’s okay with you.”

“Quite alright, darling. I’ll just keep my distance and say out of your way.”

With that Rarity sat down beside Angel bunny and watched as the yellow pegasus made her way to the various critters in the front yard. The two just sat there watching at first, only getting up and following her around to the back when the time came.

Seeing that Angel was still at her side when she’d found an acceptable spot to watch from, Rarity looked to the bunny and said, “She’d still depressed, isn’t she?”

The rabbit nodded.

“I wish I could help. But honestly, I’m not sure why I feel convinced that Rainbow Dash is all right. I just do.” Giving a sigh, Rarity added, “Needless to say, that’s not a vary convincing argument to get her to stop worrying, is it?”

Once again the bunny wordlessly agreed.

Before long they were all gathered inside. The two ponies were sitting around the table, sipping on tea and Angel bunny was looking at his salad. A plain salad, it had no chives, no herbs, and no cherry on top, just lettuce and sliced carrots. Seeing that his master had returned to looking blankly off into space, he begrudgingly settled for what had been giving to him.

Fluttershy’s vacant stare had also captured Rarity’s attention, Although the unicorn was at a loss as to what to do about it. Her first instinct was to make small talk to distract Flutters from her troubles. But given Rainbow Dash’s position of weather team captain, the old standby of commenting on the lovely weather seemed unwise.

A green hummingbird darted into the room and chirped.

For a moment a glimmer of hope appeared in Fluttershy’s eyes, but it vanished as the bird chirped on.

Even Rarity didn’t need to understand the bird’s words to understand the slow shake of its head and downcast tone.

“It’s okay,” Flutterhy muttered. “Thank them for trying for me.”

“I take it you’re animal friends still haven’t found anything?”

The yellow pegasus shook her head.

“No. I can safely say that Rainbow Dash isn’t anywhere in fifty miles of Ponyville. And it wouldn’t be fair to ask my animal friends to search farther away than that.”

“It was a noble effort. And no pony can fault you for the fact that Rainbow is somewhere beyond the reach of your efforts.”

Looking down, the blank gaze returned to Fluttershy’s face as she stared through her tea. Then suddenly her eyes widened, though still unfocused they gained a look of awe before she closed them and smiled.

“You felt it, didn’t you?” Rarity asked.

“I-I’m not sure. What do you mean?”

“That unexplainable feeling that Rainbow Dash lifted the weight of the world off of your soul. You felt that just now, didn’t you?”

“I think so,” Fluttershy answered with a smile and a nod. Then she gave a laugh. “It’s funny isn’t it? Even when she’s not here she’s still helping me.” Finally with a sigh she added, “I know she doesn’t need my help, but I still wish I could do something more than just pray for her to help her in return.”

“As do I, darling. But the matter seems to be out of our hooves, so what else can we do? Other than making sure we have a hero’s welcome waiting for her when she returns, anyway.”

As Rarity was speaking, Fluttershy noticed the pleading eyes of her pet bunny.

“Oh my goodness! I never got you a cherry, cream, or any fruit slices to go with your salad!”

In a heartbeat the yellow pegasus darted back into the kitchen and returned with the missing ingredients.

Angel Bunny smiled, happy that his master was finally feeling better.

* * * * * * *

“Consider tomorrow your day of rest.”

Cloud Sword’s words had been spoken with him not bothering to look up. His gaze locked on the map table in the command room of Liberty Castle.

“Why?”

The paladin with the prismatic mane looked over the maps herself as she awaited the answer. Apparently the one that had Cloud’s attention was the local map of the nearby town, although his focus seemed to have more to do with the small pony figurines placed on it.

“First, because Trixie needs more time to prepare the prison for our strike. Second, because this isn’t going to be a normal hit and run to free a few prisoners.” Cloud paused for a moment to put on a confident grin. “Now that the overlords are gone, we’re free to make a bigger move. But that kind of move needs more time and planing to get all the pieces into place.”

Comments

[Admiral Q Ponyform]

So why is Fluttershy's counterpart look like her When the rest had different colors?

[Keeper of time RD]

7907022

There are two factors in that.

First, the demonponies are aware of their otherworldly selves.

Second, demonponies can use dye and color changing magic, just like anypony else.

As for the why, demon-Fluttershy figured it would be an advantage to look like the Fluttershy from Dash’s world, as the surprise factor would get her to look at her long enough for ‘the stare’ to take hold. Also she thought it would be cruel to make Dash fight an exact copy of her friend.

[Dusk_Writer]

Good job so far! I'm really enjoying this story!

[Admiral Q Ponyform]

7908392 And it backfired so bad.

[Keeper of time RD]

7908432

Thank you. It's always nice to know when I've amused some one.

Here's hoping that the rest also entertains.

[Keeper of time RD]

7908697

Yeah, she didn't exactly plan on something interrupting the stare so the paladin could act on the resulting righteous indignation.