What Follows Hugs

by David Silver

27 - Boundaries

Quick strode slowly down a darkened hallway in no particular hurry. It was some muted surprise that two tsuki stood on their hindlegs, blocking the way forward. "Move aside," he angrily barked as he approached.

"Make me," said the doe on the left.

"Make me," echoed the jack on the right.

"Make us," came a chorus as four other tsuki bounced into position behind quick.

Pressing between the four came Celene, looking to Quick with a judging look. "We challenge you."

Quick turned towards her at no great pace. "How quaint. Did Moondancer put you up to this? An intriguing coup."

Celene's nose wrinkled. "We do what we want." She thumped her chest. "We like Toby, so do as Toby says. Toby likes Sombra, we put up with him. He get better." She leveled a finger at Quick. "Toby not like you. You not getting better. We challenge you."

Quick rolled his eyes with the same languid slowness. "And what manner of challenge do you think you can best me in? Will you have me play one of your primitive games?"

Celene smiled at him. "No, we play your game. We play it, and win." She fell to all fours, body tense. "We spar. You. Me. You crush me, try best. Crush, and tsuki obey you. Is true, yes?"

The other tsuki bobbed their heads and voiced their agreement, but one jack thrust up a paw. "You not beat her!"

"At least this..." He raised a hoof towards Celene. "This, this I understand. Very well, we will battle." He brought up his other hoof as he leaned back, striking them together with a dark crackle of shadow magic. "I will crush this little rebellion as I have so many others."

Celene breathed slowly and deeply as her fur shimmered increasingly, echoing the faint magical traces in the area. "You can try."

"There will be no attempt." He brought down a hoof in a vicious swing, green and purple flames ripping along either side of the motion as he tore a hole in the fabric of the air. The void left behind swung with the force of the swing, flying at Celene with the shrieking of the damned.

Celene was perfectly still until it was almost on her, then thrust out a paw as she reared up. Her fur sizzled and she was forced back an awkward reverse-hop, but she held the magic between her paws, it angrily spitting and hissing with the desire to kill. "Thank you." She brought her paws together, smashing the magic. It was not destroyed.

The magic splashed across her as she had seen Toby do, quickly engulfing her form in purples and greens. The smell of her fur burning became more noticeable as she fell back to all fours. "Now you pay."

Some of the other tsuki murmured concerns quietly to one another, but Quick only laughed at it. "You are doing my work for me, pathetic beast." He raised his head, horn smouldering with new magic. "You'll make this too easy."

Celene gave a toothsome grin, the dark magic even running along her great chompers. "Do your worst."

His magic exploded out in all directions, snuffing the light from the area and plunging it all into inky darkness. He was about to laugh when something beat him to it.

Celene deeply chuckled, her eyes opening as two orbs, the rest of her concealed by the shadow magic that had engulfed her. "You are... easy to guess."

"Predictable, you oaf." Quick launched himself into the air, becoming little more than shadow himself. "And now we fight on my terms."

Celene did not reply. She faded from view as her eyes closed. Against the nightmarish backdrop, her crackling pelt was practically invisible. She was not there when Quick sent an angry bolt of magic through the space she had been, though he heard the grunt of some tsuki being struck with it, and he smiled.

Thus it went. Every time he saw a sign of her, he blasted, and struck something, giving rise to a harmony of pained grunts and squeaks. It was soothing, in a way, but not productive. "Enough." With grit teeth he turned to where he thought she was. "We end this, now."

"I agree." Her eyes opened, and her form came into clear relief as the shadow began to run into her. The darkness was banished, called up into her form that fizzed and burnt fiercely. "This ends. Now." She was twice as large as she had started, the extra mass entirely composed of the angry shadows. "Last words?"

Quick opened his mouth to speak, but Celene was not Toby. Celene did not wait for him to speak. Celene never intended to. She was on him in a sudden terrible lunge. Her teeth found him despite his being a shadow. Her claws raked, her mass bore him to the ground. She was a wild animal and all her pain and suffering was vented out into him with increasing violence.

The tsuki watching collectively flinched, most looking away from the scene. She got her teeth into one of his flailing legs and pulled and pulled. His screams got louder with each tug, but she was not letting go. With a final wail, she pulled it free entirely. There was no blood or gore. It was as much shadow as the rest of him, and it faded away, leaving him without it.

Celene shoved the rest of his form away, leaving him curled and shaking. "You lose. Say it." He did not say anything and she took a slow step forward. "Say it!"

"I'll not give you--" His choked words were not allowed to finish. Celene was on him, her teeth at his throat. "Will you kill me?"

"Yes!" She clenched, bearing down on a throat that a shadow should not have. "Say it! I not Toby. I kill you!"

With the clang of metal on stone, Sombra made his presence known. "Stop." He did not shout. He had no need to.

Celene released Quick and hopped away from his broken form. "Sombra. Is good see."

Sombra raised a brow at Celene before looking across at the other tsuki in the area. "Is it? Is this not a rebellion? It certainly appears to be one."

One of the jacks pointed at Quick's puddle of shadow. "He is one not want. Sombra is king."

A doe added. "Good king, get even better."

A third smiled at Sombra. "We keep Sombra."

Celene thrust a paw at Quick. "Not keep him."

Quick pulled himself together quite literally, amassing his shadow and forming flesh once more, though he seemed to still be missing one of his forelegs. "These murderous beasts have attacked your most loyal, m'lord. They need to be punished."

Sombra smiled at his former sceneshal. "I seem to recall you testing one of them earlier. Were they returning the favor?"

Quick scowled at that. "A moment of pain does not compare to being dismembered!"

Sombra waved a hoof over the crowd. "Which of these terrible beasts hurt you so severely?"

Quick pointed with his horn at Celene. "That one, that bloody Doe."

"I recognize that one..." Sombra stepped towards her. "A troublemaker... A rabble-rouser... And one that has eyes on my second in command."

Celene drew herself tall, rearing up to put her paws on her hips. "I Celene. Toby is mine, starting to know that." The other tsuki nodded with easy acknowledgement, knowing even more than Toby that he had been claimed by the doe.

"Yes, Celene... Did you do this?" He gestured to the injured pony.

"She did," hissed Quick Stroke. "Inexcusable!"

Sombra grinned, a feral display of teeth far too sharp for a pony to have normally. "Can you show others how to do that?"

Celene pricked her ears. "Am already doing that. Magic classes. Tsuki magic. Not angry?"

Sombra shook his head. "I should think not."

Quick sputtered indignantly. "B-but, m'lord!"

Celene released the shadow around herself and it fled away. She was revealed, naked. Most of her fur had been burned away, her skin was burned and charred in places. The feat she had performed had not come easily, or free. "Toby is right, you not bad king. Get better."

Other tsuki rushed forward, grabbing up Celene in a mass of concerned noises. They bore her away without being asked or asking in turn. Sombra allowed them to do so.

Quick looked away from the receding crowd. "You would forgive her so easily?"

Sombra raised a hoof and set it on Quick's shoulder. "And if you had won, would you expect me to not forgive you? You did not seem ready to deal a light blow to her."

Quick flinched. "Wait, you knew?"

"I watched the entire exchange," admitted Sombra. "It would seem my new subjects have more depth, and capability, than I had originally thought... You do not even understand it."

"I understand that Celene is dangerous." He scowled at his lord. "She is a threat, to you, and all you've built."

"You really have no idea..." Sombra looked to each spot a tsuki had been sitting in. "She did not defeat you, not alone. Each strike you fired blindly was caught by another and reflected to her. She collected them despite the obvious discomfort and pain. She returned all of your attacks back onto you in a terrific series of blows." His smile suddenly grew. "None shall dare attack me. Their efforts will be returned, with interest. All will fear displeasing me."

Quick rose as tall as he could with his missing leg. "If you heard them, then you heard the truth. They aren't yours. They belong to Toby. Sire, their loyalty is true, but is directed at another."

Sombra softly snorted. "And Toby is mine. It is a chain of command. My commands will be followed, and have been. Toby's wants align with mine, and we will see this kingdom grow mightier than all others." He turned to Quick. "Or, have you forgotten how such simple things work? Your time in the shadow appears to have softened you."

Quick scowled at the accusation. "Never have I been stronger!"

"And yet, still defeated..." Sombra turned away. "You would do well to learn from your mistakes. You are not priceless, Quick Stroke. Move with the times, or be crushed by them. If I have learned nothing else, it is that. I will not scorn my people for encouraging me onwards. They wish to see me at my best, and that is a goal that we will never reach, and so they should never stop crying for it. 'Be better', they say, always... Always be better, Quick. There is hope yet, perhaps."

He strode away, his shoes ringing against the stone in a slowly descending volume, leaving Quick to his thoughts.

Quick growled softly, sinking in place. He felt pain he had not felt in quite some time. He felt a reminder that he, too, was a mortal, and could die. He was not a god. He could be replaced. The tsuki were ready to do it.

He did not like it. He peered down at where a leg should be. She had maimed him, taken some of his strength... How was he to rise?

With an angry hiss, he faded into shadow, and was gone down the tunnel he had originally planned to travel.

Author's Note:

A little short of 2k, but I felt all the needed notes had been struck. What will become of Quick Stroke? What should become of him? I look forward to your musings.

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Comments

[tsaukpaetra]

Quick is not so quick to adapt. He will learn flexibility or be broken from the strain of progress.
Either way, he seems to have accidentally proven a point in Tsuki favor. Though imperfect mirrors they can be, and cunning they are becoming, their strength lies in the other's aggression...
Keep going! ;)

[Booster Spice]

Looks like Quick Path is following the Black Knight.

Maybe he should meet Angel Bunny in a dark alley somewhere.

[Belated1truth]

It took some time, but karma has bitten Quick Stroke hard. Nice chapter once again.

[RadicalDishonesty]

"I watched the entire exchange," admitted Sombra. "It would seem my new subjects have more depth, and capability, than I had originally thought... You do not even understand it."

Because at first they didn't talk, and then you mostly interacted with Toby who is... simple.

And they do want to follow him, but not you. He is inspiring. Sombra, not so much.

Really, I wonder if Sombra is basically only in charge because he had been before.

[David Silver]

8716633
A fine enough reason, agree the tsuki.