The Test
The next morning.
Everypony was up bright and early the next morning, the group arriving in the main hall to find a long table that was covered in every type of food they could name. Before you could say bon-appetit, they all sat down and began to enjoy the delicious meal.
"Wow! This is so good!" Soarin moaned through a full mouth.
"You said it!" Rainbow added as a piece of lettuce fell out of her stuffed mouth.
Rarity, who was sitting next to them, stuck out her tongue in disgust. "Ugh...can't you two show a little bit of table manners while you're in a place of refinement?"
"Loosen up Rare," Applejack countered before shoving her face into a pancake mountain. Rarity just sighed at the sight, rubbing her face as she took a small bite of a biscuit.
Across the table, Flash was finishing off his tenth spring roll and fourth cup of OJ. As he did this, he saw that Cold Steel or his mentor weren't here, making him even more nervous. It was here Twilight commented on it, "Say...does anypony know where Princess Celestia or Luna are? They're gone along with Grand."
"I haven't seen Princess Luna." Trixie added while twiddling her hooves, "Though if its her, she was probably up late last night, princess of the night and everything."
Cadance looked up from her own meal, swallowing some scrambled eggs, "If you're wondering where they are, they said they needed to talk to Grand and Cold about something important, and then they're gonna head to the arena once we're done here."
"Huh. I wonder what it is. You'd think she'd want us to know about whatever it is." Twilight commented with crossed hooves.
"I'm sure its nothing," Velvet told her daughter. "If it was, I'm sure they would have had told you and Cadance." Twilight shrugged at this before digging into her breakfast again, everypony else doing the same. Once the plates were magically whisked away, everypony headed to the stadium.
Meanwhile...
"This is...troubling," Luna admitted as Cold finished telling them everything he knew.
"I'm sorry for not coming to you about this sooner. I wanted to gather a little more information about the cult before I bothered you with it, but it seems if I had just told you when I told Grand, I would have saved a lot of time."
"It's alright," Celestia assured him. "You've already gone above and beyond your call of duty. But it's probably best if we let other ponies help us look into this."
"The best ones probably being Twilight and Flash's parents," Luna added, "After all, they've directly researched the subject."
"That might not be such a good idea," Grand countered. "If they learn about this cult, they may jump to the conclusion that they want to use Flash's Sacred Light for something. I'm not saying they don't want to, but we need more info before causing panic."
"True..."
Cold let out a long sigh. "Hard to believe I'm facing off against my biggest clue to this cult. And it really worries me considering the trail I've been following recently."
"What do you mean?"
Cold rubbed his face down with a moan, "Well...any time I'm close and find an alive witness, I can't seem to interrogate them."
"How so?" Grand asked with a raised eyebrow, "No offense Cold, but you're usually top pony when it comes to interrogation."
Cold shook his head, "Not this kind. Every alive witness I find has two signs that they've been affected by the cult. One, their body is unresponsive, complete with blank eyes and no movement except the mouth. I've even taken them to doctors and other unicorn scholars, but they all say its not a spell or magic that's affected them."
"And the second sign?"
"They all say one thing on repeat. I literally can't make them say anything else." Cold bit his lip as he repeated the next words, "They all say: 'A shadow is about to consume this world.'"
"A shadow?" Luna repeated while blinking, "Do they mean the Corrupted Shadow?"
"I don't know." Cold took a swig of coffee next before continuing, "But that's not what worries me. What worries me is that the witnesses have just started saying it. In fact, it started around the time I heard that the Elements took down Tirek."
"Is that why you came back to Equestria?" Celestia asked next, getting a nod in response.
"Yes. I feared the worst, and...to be honest, considering what Grand has told me in terms of what has happened recently, I believe I was right to be bothered." Cold took a final gulp of coffee before turning to Grand, "And maybe my timing is a good thing with this match against your apprentice. After all, if this Flash kid can learn to control that power, he'll make a valuable weapon for Equestria." The trio all frowned at this, sharing a concerned look as Cold got up. "Grand, you wanted me to be this colt's opponent because I'm the only one who can truly test him. Well, I intend on pushing him to his very limit. I won't hold anything back in this battle, so you'd better be right about him being ready." Cold put on his gear with a long glare at the old knight, "Because what I saw yesterday, I saw nothing even worth looking at."
Grand's frown grew as he let out a long sigh. "We'll have to find out Cold."
It wasn't long till the four reached the arena, now finding Flash on the field, doing some stretches. Celestia and Luna moved over to the stands and sat down beside Twilight while the knights moved over to where Flash was. "Alright kiddo," Grand patted him on the back. "You ready?"
"As I'll ever be," the pegasus replied before turning to Cold and holding out a hoof, "Let's have a good match."
But Cold didn't shake it, instead just giving Flash a dark glare, "This isn't a game. We're not playing Hoof-ball. This is a test, to see whether you're worthy of the title Royal Knight. And to pass this test, you'll need to overcome your toughest opponent yet."
Flash smirked, doing a small snort, "You're my toughest opponent yet?"
"Yes, I am." Cold growled as his glare intensified, "You see, this time you won't have anypony coming to your rescue. To win, you have to beat me all on your own. The question is...can you?"
Flash's brow furrowed as his smirk also increased, "Let's find out."
Cold said nothing else as he stepped back, Flash doing the same thing. As they got into position, runes began to shine along the stadium wall, a barrier of magic soon appearing before becoming completely invisible. "That's new," Twilight commented as Pinkie tossed some popcorn to see if it would go through.
"We asked Script to add it in after the Equestria Games," Shining added as he glanced over at Spike. "After the um...incident."
Everypony nodded back as Grand began to speak up, "Now, this battle will consist of a single one-on-one match between Flash Sentry and Cold Steel. There is no time limit and it will not end until one of the fighters either concedes, or is no long able to continue fighting. In addition, any outside help will result in the fighter it's designed to help being disqualified. Is that understood?" Flash and Cold both nodded.
"So it's basically like when I battled Sentry at the gala," Iron added.
Celestia nodded, "Except there's no time limit."
"This'll certainly be a challenge for Flash." Solid commented, Gorgenia nodding in agreement, "His strength, skill and physical endurance will be pushed to the limit."
"Oh goody!" Discord cheered as he morphed into a baseball outfit that had a massive foam finger, "This is gonna be good! Here's hoping Flash doesn't lose to quickly." Another Discord appeared holding a camcorder, "I wanna get a lot of footage!"
"He's not gonna lose," Scootaloo barked at the chaos monster.
"Yeah! He's got this in the bag!" Rainbow added before turning back to the field, "Do it Flash! You can win!"
"You heard her! Win this match and become a knight!" Soarin continued.
"You can do it!" Fluttershy yelled in a surprisingly loud voice.
"You got this sugarcube!"
"We believe in you darling!"
"Get 'em Flash!" Spike yelled while Sweetie and Applebloom chanted 'get 'em' over and over.
"Win this FLASH!" Pinkie screamed.
"Don't make me look bad by losing to this guy! You beat me, remember?!" Lightning hollered, the rest now cheering as a big smile appeared on Flash's face.
"I can do this." he whispered to himself, "I'm finally gonna do it."
"Are both fighters ready?" Grand asked, soon seeing the two nod. "Then battle...BEGIN!"
No sooner had Grand said that, Flash ignited his blade before charging at Cold. "Flash Cutter!" He swung the blade at Cold's head, only for a shield to suddenly appear. "What the?" Flash yelped as his blade clanged off the defending weapon, his eyes now seeing what it was made of, "Ice?"
As Flash jumped back from the defensive maneuver , he watched the shield turn into frozen dust that began to spiral around Cold's horn. "That all you got? I knew you were nothing, but I didn't think it was that pathetic." He spat as the dust began to reform into a sword, "My turn!"
He charged back at the defender, Flash almost taken back by this. However, he blocked the attack with his sword just in time, "This magic..." He looked down at Cold's necklace, now seeing the front gem glowing, "So that's it." He pushed the sword back and quickly jumped over Cold, flying to the other side of the field. "Your magic's just like Ruby's."
Almost everypony in the stands raised an eyebrow at this, Twilight catching on, "Wait...so his is like Ruby's, but with ice?"
"Exactly," they all turned to Celestia. "When I first met Cold and discovered his ability, I told him about Ruby and how her magic was just like his. That lead to him studying her fighting style and eventually making his Celestic Gear to something almost exactly like hers."
"Wait..." Twilight turned back to the battlefield and pointed at Cold's necklace, "That's his Celestic Gear?"
The princess of the sun nodded. "It's really just the crystal, named the Eye of Winter, which connects to his magic and allows him to perform his ice making magic easier."
"So he can do anything Ruby can?" Luna asked her sister, Celestia nodding again in reply.
Back on the field, Flash smiled as he stared at Cold. The Frozen Wanderer raised an eyebrow, "What are you so happy about?"
"My biggest issue was I didn't know how you were gonna fight." His sword began to glow, "But if your magic and style's like Ruby's-" He suddenly disappeared before Cold sensed a presence behind him, glancing back to see the pegasus swinging with full might, "Then I know exactly how you'll fight!"
CLANG!
Flash's eyes went wide as he saw his sword come in contact with a large ice spike, one that had shot out the ground between the two ponies. "What the?" He didn't have time to react as another spike shot out of the ground below him, making him jump back for safety.
Cold turned to face him, a low glare on his face. "Pretty foolish, thinking you have your opponent all figured out." With that, the unicorn's horn started to glow. "I may have modelled my abilities after Ms. Scarlet at the beginning, but over the years, I've learned to make these skills my own and even abandoned several techniques that didn't work for me." He jumped up onto his back hooves, "Don't think you have me figured out!"
With that, he slammed his hooves into the field, unleashing a wave of cold air. Flash quickly took to the air as he saw the attack spread across the field, covering the ground into a sheet of ice. Several large spikes came next, shooting out randomly as he turned the battlefield into a frozen wasteland.
"Wow," Flash said as he landed on one of the spikes. "If you ever get tired of being a Royal Knight, I bet you'd make a fortune in the snow cone industry."
"Funny," Cold leapt up onto a spike parallel to the one Flash was on. "But it'll take more than bad jokes to save you."
"Bad?" Flash looked insulted, only to switch to serious mode as Cold's horn began to glow.
"Cold Force!" From out of his horn shot a tornado of white powder, making Flash duck down behind the spike.
And when the attack finally ended, he stuck his head out to see the spike was now covered in tons of smaller spikes. "Note to self, don't let that hit me." He looked over at where Cold had been standing, only to find nothing, "Where'd he go?" His answer came when he turned around, his eyes now seeing what looked like an arrow heading straight for his head. "Whoa!" He ducked again, his vision now seeing Cold standing on the ground with several arrows floating around him.
"Show me, apprentice of Grand! Show me why I should accept you as a Royal Knight!" The arrows began to home in on Flash, making the pegasi take to the skies. Here, he dodged each one, deflecting a few as he flew straight at Cold.
"Take this! Flash Driver!" Flash turned into a spinning drill of light, zipping right for Cold as he summoned a chunk of ice in front of him.
"Cold Defender!" The ice quickly morphed into a large thick shield, which the drill slammed into. It took several seconds, but the move spun right through the defense, only for Flash to land and see Cold was gone. As he did this, he spun around to raise his blade up, "Cold Saber!" A blade of ice swung into his sword, the defender blocking in that moment. Flash and Cold stared at one another for a second, only for Cold to yell, "Cold Hammer!" An ice hammer appeared next, slamming Flash's side in an instant.
"AUGH!" Flash cried as he was sent flying, sliding the ground before landing into one of the ice spikes.
"Flash!" Twilight screamed while several others flinched.
"That had to hurt," Discord commented.
"Tell me about it," Soarin added.
"Come on bro!" Scootaloo cheered, "Shake it off!"
Flash moaned as he pulled himself out of the cracked up ice spike, looking up to see Cold trotting while forming another ice sword. "How pathetic. I will admit you have some skill, but not much more than any other guard is expected to have." Flash growled at this. "When I said before that you don't look like much, I was only judging by looks. But...it seems I overestimated you and your abilities." He pointed his weapon at Flash, "So far, I've seen nothing that would convince me that you're worthy of holding the title of knight. In fact, I've seen nothing that would convince me you should be something worth Grand's time to train."
Flash let out a burst of angry steam from his nostrils, his head staring at the ground, "So, you wanna see something different?! Fine!" his head shot up, now showing his eyes were completely white, "I'll show you something you've never seen before!" He charged at the knight, only for Cold to swing his sword, unleashing a barrage of ice arrows.
But as this attack tried to reach Flash, he effortlessly dodged each one until reaching Cold, the unicorn swinging his sword to counter. As he did this, Flash ducked under the blade and thrusted a hoof into Cold's chest. Cold coughed as he was pushed back, just managing to stay on his hooves as he slid along the ground.
"So this is Theta Mode," Cold created two blades that he swung around his body. "The form that increases his mental input and reaction time. Figures a weakling has to rely on something so pitiful to keep up with a regular moving unicorn. Let's put that power to the test, shall we?"
"Oh shut up!" Flash yelled as he charged at the unicorn, the two meeting at the center of the stadium. There, they began trading blows, ice meeting steel with tremendous force. The two kept swinging their blades around at incredible speeds, Rainbow and Soarin being the only ones able to keep up with the movements.
"Cold Blast!" The unicorn shot a single magical blast out of its horn, Flash just managing to move his head out of the way, the beam now hitting a nearby spike, making it explode.
Flash leapt back into the air, his blade still glowing, "Flash Cutter Barrage!" He wildly swung the weapon around to fire multiple energy blades in Cold's direction, but the Royal Knight slammed his front hooves into the ground, making a wall of ice appear to block the attacks. "Flash Grinder!" Seconds later, a spinning wheel of light ripped through the wall, but the unicorn remained calm, instead creating a ramp of ice that the wheel roll on and over Cold. Flash stopped the motion and pointed the crossguard at the knight, "FLASH FORCE!" The laser beam flew out of his weapon, Cold going wide-eyed at the attack.
KABOOM!
A bright flash of light filled the stadium, forcing everypony to shield their eyes. It lasted a good thirty seconds before finally beginning to fade, allowing everypony to look back at the field and see a large cloud of mist and smoke covering the spot Cold had been standing.
"Did he do it?" Springer asked.
Celestia frowned. "I'm...not sure."
Flash continued to hover in the air, waiting to see if Cold was down for the count. But as the cloud began to fade, his eyes went wide as he now saw a large ice sculpture, which appeared to be some kind of rope that was thicker than Flash was tall and was curled up. "What the?" He asked, only to blink as he saw the sculpture begin to move. He watched as the top half limped upward, revealing to be some kind of snake creature, but with the head of a dragon. "No way. Living ice?"
"I told you," Flash looked up and saw Cold was standing atop the creature's head. "I've taken my magic past what I learned from studying Ruby's. Not only am I able to create static constructs like swords and shields-" His horn began to glow as a block of ice appeared in front of him, only for it morph into a large bird. "But I can also make dynamic constructs!" With that, the ice bird sped towards Flash at high speed.
The pegasus barely had enough time to flap away, almost not avoiding its razor sharp wings as the ice dragon began to slither up to him. "Whoa!" He yelped as the beast headbutted him, knocking him into another ice spike.
Cold took this moment to leap off the dragon's head, now calling out, "Cold Tiger!" More ice grew out of the ground, taking the shape of a tiger that began charging into Flash.
The apprentice knight picked himself, swing his blade ahead, "Flash Cutter!" An energy blade beheaded the beast, causing the whole body to shatter. But no sooner had he done this, the ice dragon coiled its body around the ice spike and tried to smash its head into him. Flash took to the sky again to dodge it, only for the bird to appear again. Seeing this, Flash swung his sword again, shattering the flying menace into countless pieces.
But back on the ground, Cold's horn kept glowing as the shattered pieces of the bird began to reshape. It was soon revived, charging at the pegasi again. The pegasus went wide eyed at this, Theta Mode unable to keep track of so many opponents and making him wildly slashing at the attackers. But as he cut it down, two more birds appeared, only for one to slash him with their blade-like wings. "Augh!" He flinched before spinning, using a Flash Driver to hit them all at once. The birds all melted, but Flash was forced to stop rotating as his ears spike up.
"LOOK OUT!" He heard Twilight scream, turning around to see the tail of Cold's ice dragon fly down and hitting him with enough force to shatter an ice spike, complete with Flash flying through the shattered pillar.
His friends and family all flinched seeing this, Fluttershy, Velvet and Misty covering their eyes as Spike cried out, "This is nuts! This is supposed to be a one-on-one fight!"
"Yeah!" Scootaloo added, "Cold's cheating!"
Shining shook his head at this, "Not quite. Would you say Flash was cheating if he used something like this on Cold?" The two tried to counter, only to get nothing.
While this happened, Twilight grimaced as she saw Flash pull himself up, his form panting. Frowing at the sight, she turned to Celestia, "Hasn't this gone on long enough?"
Celestia shook her head. "You heard Grand tell them the rules. Unless one of them surrenders or is knocked unconscious, the battle will continue."
Twilight turned back to the field, biting her hoof as Cold started to walk up to him.
"In the heat of battle, a warrior's true character is revealed." Cold commented as Flash raised an eyebrow at this, "And depending on your actions, your insecurities become crystal clear to your opponent."
Flash growled as he raised his sword. "So from this one fight you think you've got me all figured out?"
"I do." Cold replied while making four more ice tigers and a sword, the ice dragon now curling around the field with its head right behind him. "You claim to say you're worthy of being a knight when you can't even defeat one of the ponies you think you're equal too. But from what I've seen, you're a thousand years away from being on any of our levels."
As he said this, Flash began to growl, "Oh shut up! You don't know me! You don't know the kind of enemies I've fought and beaten before!"
"But I do know about your previous battles. I was given all your information before this fight. And what I saw only showed one thing." What he said next truly began to cut through Flash's resolve, "You're nothing on your own."
Flash's eyes went wide at this, making Cold start to do a silent grin as most of the ponies in the stands were wondering what he was talking about. "I admit, you've faced some pretty powerful enemies. But how many have you fought and defeated on your own?" Flash didn't respond, not even looking Cold in the eye. "A shockwave making unicorn, a Scorpentine and a poisonous thestral. Other than that, you haven't been able to stand up against any other enemy you've faced on your own." Flash's whole body started shaking, and it wasn't just from the cold air affecting him. "On your own, you lack what is needed to keep Equestria safe, and its not just power. There's something even more important you lack, something that you will never be able to become a knight without."
"Oh yeah? What's that?!" Flash asked through gritted teeth, looking back up to lock eyes with his opponent.
Cold's replying expression sent shivers down his spine. "Simple. A reason."
"Huh?"
"A reason. A reason for becoming a knight." He pointed his sword at Flash. "When Grand first offered you the chance to train under him. When he told you you could become a knight, why did you accept? What was the deciding factor that made you agree to go through everything you went through up to this point? What has been driving you to push past your limits and stand back up when you were knocked down? What...is your reason to beat me?"
Everything around Flash seemed to fade away, making him blink. Memories flowed through his head, his mind going into a mushy mess. But as he did this, Cold let out a long sigh, "Disgusting. You stand before me without even knowing why you're here? What an insult." The ice tigers and dragon both let out a roar, "YOU DARE TRY TO DISGRACE THE KNIGHTS BY TRYING TO BECOME ONE OF US?!"
The roar snapped Flash out of his funk, just in time to dodge the claws of one of the tigers before using his sword to shatter it. "Flash Grinder!" He spun into a wheel that struck the second tiger, zipping out of his attack to block the third's claws. "Flash Cutter!" He slashed through the third's claws and neck with the actual blade, firing an energy blade through this, hitting the fourth. Here, the dragon roared as it opened its mouth to try and take a bite out of him, but Flash pointed his sword at the ground, "FLASH FORCE!" The blast of light rocketed him safely into the air, missing the dragon as it clamped its mouth shut.
But as he flew up, he saw the dragon's tail tip flick up and toss something into the air. That something was Cold, who shot past Flash as he swung his blade through the air. "Cold Arrows!" The icy projectiles flew out the sword, making Flash swing his blade to deflect them. Unfortunately, the shots fired were more than he could imagine, one striking Flash's hoof.
"Augh!" Flash's grip on the blade weakened as Cold tossed his sword at him. Trying to block it, the force of the blade knocked the sword out of his hoof.
Everypony gasped as they watched the sword slam blade first into the ground, then looked back up as Cold landed on his dragon's head. "It's over," he said as his horn began to spark, "COLD...FORCE!" He launched a tornado of freezing air at Flash, the pegasus having no way to defend or dodge the attack.
"GAAAAH!" Flash screamed as the wind slammed into him, forcing him into the dirt. As he landed, a large cloud of mist followed, covering him in a fog.
"FLASH!" Everypony in the stands screamed as they watched this, Twilight's covering her mouth in shock.
It was here that the mist cleared, now showing what had happened to the pegasus, making Twilight gasp again, "Oh no..."
"So pathetic. I can't believe I wasted my time coming here for this." Cold spat as he stared at the sight before him. Flash was trapped in a cage of ice, the sight making the audience squirm.
"Somepony get him out of there!" Sweetie screamed as Rarity pulled her close so she couldn't see.
Grand turned to Celestia, asking what she wanted him to do. Celestia sighed at this, replying, "Give him one minute. If he doesn't escape by then, the test is over and he'll have failed."
Grand nodded and turned back to the ice block, mentally counting while everypony else began to pray.
"Come on Flash," Springer whispered.
"Don't give up," Applejack continued.
"Don't let this guy beat you," Rainbow growled.
"Flash..." was all Twilight could say.
Inside the ice, Flash lay there with his eyes closed as he felt the cold dig into him. His body felt like it had been through a meat grinder, and it didn't help that Cold's words were rattling his brain. "Why am I fighting?" He whispered, "Why...why does that matter?" A low breath followed his as he grit his teeth, "I'll figure that out later," he started digging deep, his body shaking as he tried to move, "Right now..." the ice around his body began to steam up and melt, "All that matters...is me beating him!" His eyes shot open, both now glowing gold as that light began to spread around the rest of his body.
SMASH!
Ten seconds before Flash's deadline, the ice shattered as a tornado of light flew into the air.
"WHOA!" Heather yelped as everypony looked up at the spiral.
"Is that Flash?" First asked.
"Yes! Its the Sacred Light." Everypony marvelled at the image before them, now seeing the armor appear on Flash's body.
Springer was practically vibrating in his seat. "This is just what he needs to turn things around! Go Flash!"
However, Cold just blankly stared at the image before him. Leaping off his dragon, a curious smile appeared on his face. "So this is Sacred Light. To think I'd find the answer to me quest in what I'd thought would be a distraction from it. Granted, it doesn't look impressive at all." he created another sword and pointed it at Flash, "Come! Show me if this is worth my time!" The dragon slithered up to Flash, opening its mouth and thrusting its head at him.
But the armored pegasi just disappeared at the incoming attack, making Cold blink before he caught sight of a light behind him. There, Flash was hovering in the air with the tornado now a bubble around his body. The pony shot straight at the knight, making the unicorn morph his sword into a shield. However, Flash just threw a single armored hoof at the defense, instantly shattering it. Seeing this, Cold did several back-flips to get out of range, Flash following after him as the dragon curled itself around Cold.
There, it thrust its head, only for Flash to come to a stop and hold both hooves out. In a single motion, it caught the dragon by the end of its nose before pushing it down, the ice sculpture smashing into the ground as Flash flew up. With this move in mind, Flash dive-bombed into its head, shattering the dragon into a pile of snow.
As his last defense disappeared, Cold raised an eyebrow. "Interesting. How about this? Cold Eagle Flock!" Multiple ice blocks appeared before being shaped into the birds, all now flying at Flash with tremendous speed. The glowing Pegasus just glared at the sight, only to suddenly double in number. "What?" Cold growled as he saw this, the two Flashs becoming four, then eight, then sixteen. "Afterimages?"
Everypony watched as the Flash army did battle with the ice birds, each one missing as they flew through the afterimages before destroyed by the real one. While this was happening, the crowd began cheering.
"GO FLASH!" Pinkie screamed.
"This is awesome!" Wild cheered, his puppets repeating the last word.
"Such incredible power," Script gasped. "To think he had it all this time."
Lightning just shook his head, "This has been his ace in the hole for longer than even he realises. It's probably what helped him beat me."
"And now our amigo will use it to earn the title of Royal Knight."
Skybreaker grumbled at that comment, "He hasn't won yet. Cold won't make it that easy."
As the last bird was destroyed, Cold's horn pointed to the sky. "Cold Shower!" He fired a spell into the air, the beam exploding as it create a rain of multiple icicles.
Flash looked up and saw them coming, his doubles disappearing as he started working to dodge them. But even with his increased speed, several managed to strike at him. "Augh!" He glared at Cold, who seemed to be giving him a mocking expression. "I'll show you!"
"Oh please. Cold Pillars!" He raised his hooves before slamming them down, creating a line of ice spikes.
"Flash Driver!" Flash began to spin and morphed into a drill of light, shocking everypony as he began to carve through the spikes.
"He can use his attacks without his Celestic Gear?" Luna asked.
"Of course," Celestia replied. "Because he's using a power that's possibly equal, if not more powerful than Alicorn Magic."
Flash burst through the last pillar and was now in front of Cold, only to spin around and swing a back hoof into Cold's face. "GAH!" The unicorn flinched, but managed to dig his hooves into the dirt before yelling, "Cold Pillars!" He smashed the ground again, unleashing another wave of spikes.
This time, Flash was unprepared as one of the spikes shot out and slammed into his stomach. He cried out as the wind was knocked out of him, falling back as he tried to land on his hooves. But as he did this, he flared his wings and charged Cold, a barrage of punches hitting his face until Flash spun around and slammed his tail into his face. This made him slide back to the very edge of the field, only to finally come to a halt to catch his breath.
"Truly," he panted, "incredible power."
Flash let out a snort. "Impressed yet?"
Cold straightened himself up next, his glare returning. "No. I will admit, this power would certainly help protect Equestria. However...having power on its own is useless without control, and I know for a fact you have barely any control over it." This made Flash's eyes go wide, "You have no idea how to activate it at will, and until you've learned that, you'll never be able to protect Equestria to your fullest ability." His horn began to glow, "And even with this power, you're not invincible. In fact, I'm sure you're even weaker than you were before."
In that moment, four long ice vines grew out of the ground before the ends created the same dragon heads as before. Flash quickly shot into the air, dodging four biting mouths as they started to chase him. He then jumped off the back of one of them before punching through the neck of another, only to spot another two coming at him. His wings coming to a stop, he fell down as the duo smashed into each other, shattering to pieces.
But before Flash could open his wings again, the first dragon slammed its head into him, making him crash into the field. Letting out a moan as he opened his eyes, the dragon thrusted its jaw, trying to swallow him whole. Everypony gasped as the mouth snapped shut and began to lift its head. That is, till light began to leak out of its teeth. Wide-eyed, the dragon's head exploded, Cold now watching as Flash flew down in a tornado of light.
"Tired already? I haven't even started." Cold mocked as the pegasus panted, exhaustion all over his face.
"I've had it with you! This ends NOW!" He leapt at Cold, ready to pummel the living heck out of him...only to suddenly freeze up. "Wha-" Memories flashed in his head to his battle with Tirek, his body skidding into the ground.
"Oh no," several of his friends gasped as they remembered back to that battle.
"Not again," Lightning groaned.
"What's happening?" Twilight asked, having not been present before.
"Flash!" Misty cried.
"Get up!" Trail told him.
Flash tried to pick himself up, only for his body to refuse. "What...why..."
Cold just raised an eyebrow before sighing. "Disappointing." He began to trot up to him, his horn sparking. "You say you're ready, but you're the furthest thing from it." He held his hooves together as the magic flew off his horn and swirled between them. "Don't come back until you have the power to defeat me on your own. Until you know why you want to become a knight. Until you've mastered this power." He raised his hooves high. "Ultimate final move!" He thrust the orb into the ground, "CYCLONE BLIZZARD!"
The orb exploded into a giant tornado, one that began to move across the battlefield towards Flash. Everypony gasped at seeing this, Twilight even trying to cast a spell, only to be stopped by Celestia, who held up a wing. All they could do was watch as the vortex hit the pegasus, the defender crying out in pain as a barrage of ice smashed into his body. And after a full minute of this, the cyclone faded away to show a severally battered Flash fall to earth while the audience all cried out, "FLASH!"
Grand ran in first, catching him right before he could touch the icy dirt. As such, he flexed his hooves, trying to cushion that damage. But that did not matter, as Flash slumped over, his consciousness starting to fade out.
The magic barrier faded next, the audience now rushing onto the field. The ice was beginning to recede at this point, which let them get to Grand as he laid Flash down.
"Is he okay?" Scootaloo asked as they gathered around him.
"Don't worry, he's a fast healer," Grand assured her. "After some rest, he should be okay."
He then turned to where Cold stood, only to see a not pleasant sight. Cold ran up to Grand, a death stare in his eyes, "What was that Grand?! I thought you said he was ready!" he yelled before pointing to Flash, "Does that look ready to you?!"
Grand didn't respond, only to see Rainbow fly up between them, "Hey, lay off! He almost beat you!"
Cold simply rolled his eyes before pushing her aside, Soarin quickly catching her, "Oh please. In a life or death battle, almost defeating one's opponent is meaningless. If this had been a real battle, he would be dead by now. A flawed weak pathetic weapon like that does not belong on the battlefield."
"Weapon?!" Twilight screeched, stepping up and glaring at the Frozen Wanderer. "Flash isn't a weapon! He's a pony, a living being!"
Cold just glared back at her, looking down on her as if she was nothing. "No your highness, he is a weapon. A weapon to be used against Equestria's enemies, just like how I, Grand and all the other knights are weapons. Our only purpose is to fight those who threaten this land. After that, nothing else matters."
"That's enough Cold." Grand interrupted, only to get a death glare from the knight.
"You know I'm right Grand. I can't believe this is what you trained." Cold leaned over with a snarl, "I'll never accept such a weakling in our ranks!"
With that, he turned to walk away, leaving everypony glaring at his back.
"What a jerk," Pinkie commented first.
Twilight sighed and shook her head, "Just ignore him." She turned back to the barely conscious Flash, "We have to get him some medical attention."
Cadance stepped up next, "The castle has a medical crew. Let's get him there first."
"Then let's get goin," Applejack tried to pick Flash up with the rest of the earth ponies, only for Flash to let out a loud pained cry, making them gently put him back down.
"He must be worse off than we thought," Misty whimpered as she sat down to hold Flash's head.
"How are we supposed to get him to the hospital if moving him hurts?"
"Oh, I have an idea!" Fluttershy chimed in as she looked up, "Discord?"
"Yes?"
"Can you teleport us all to the hospital?"
Discord shined a toothy grin, "For you Fluttershy, absolutely." He snapped his fingers, the group now being enveloped by a bright flash of light. And when it died down, everypony saw they were in a blank white room while Flash was now snug in a medical bed.
"Huh. You got us here on your first try. That's a surprise." Iron commented, making Discord grumble before another cry of pain from Flash drew everypony's attention. Cadance rushed out to find a doctor while everypony else watched the defender whimper. A few minutes later, several crystal ponies walked in and asked everypony to wait outside, which they agreed to.
"I can't believe Flash lost," Springer added as he sat down on a hallway bench. "Even when he was using his Sacred Light."
"He would have won if he hadn't frozen up," Scootaloo complained with a sigh.
Apple Bloom turned to Celestia, "But why did he?"
Celestia looked down at the filly, trying to force a smile to reassure her. "I...don't know. If the Sacred Light truly is a conscious magic, then it would make sense that it would be able to affect Flash however it wanted while he used it. It's possible it didn't like Flash using its power, so it froze him to prevent its use."
Everypony grimaced at this as Lightning spoke up. "So even if he learns to activate it whenever he wants, it'll just end up freezing him every time?"
"Maybe," Celestia replied with a glum frown. "To be honest...I just don't know."
Seeing no answer, Springer turned to Grand, "Hey Grand, was he right?"
Grand looked down at the jakhowl, "Was who right?"
"Cold. You know, that part where he said the knight being weapons. Is that really what we all are?"
Grand let out a long sigh, shaking his head, "No, he isn't. That...mind set of his has always been Cold's biggest issue. He sees ponies for what they can give to Equestria, but not as ponies themselves. He grew up under...unusual circumstances, which caused him to see the world differently." He let out another sigh, "He was right about one thing though."
"What?"
"That Flash doesn't have a reason for being a knight."
"What do you mean?" Scootaloo asked.
Grand didn't reply at first, looking up at the ceiling to think of how to word his next sentence best. "Flash doesn't remember the reason why he accepted the offer to be my apprentice, but I do. The reason he wanted to be a knight was so he could have the acceptance and respect he didn't have before."
"But he is accepted," Pinkie pointed out.
Rarity nodded in agreement, "And he's one of the most respected ponies in Equestria."
"But he wasn't when he became my apprentice." Grand grumbled, "He became my apprentice barely a day after Twilight's family took him in. At that time, as far as he was concerned, they could have kicked him out in a week or two."
"We wouldn't have done that," Night told him.
"But at the time, he wouldn't have thought of it that way. Flash back then...he saw you taking him in was a major inconvenience for you. I could tell, as he always acted like he was ready to go back to the streets at any second." Grand rubbed his chin, trying to not shake his head, "The kid didn't know what others being kind to him meant. To him, he was a street colt that everypony saw as a pest, and had no reason to believe you all wouldn't also come to see him that way. He barely knew you at that point."
Night and Velvet glared at the knight at this, growling at his words as Velvet countered, "I can't believe you would see him that meekly. That Flash I know is nothing like that. He's a part of our family from the first day he was with us."
"My wife's right." Night continued, "I'll admit we could tell it took him a while to feel he was a part of our family, but you're insulting us if you say he didn't want to be part of us."
Grand just looked away, "That's exactly why Flash accepted my offer. He thought him being a potential knight might stop you from making him leave and get accepted by somepony." Now both parents were angry, especially hearing how much Grand was looking down on his apprentice. That is, till he turned back and sighed, "But things are different now. Over the years, Flash did feel like he was accepted into your family and he earned the respect of many ponies of Canterlot. Then when he helped stop Nightmare Moon and became Ponyville's Defender, he kept growing higher."
"And that wouldn't change if Flash became a knight," Ruby caught on. "He accomplished his true goal, the reason for wanting to be a knight before he even became a knight." Ruby gave Grand a slight glare, "Then why is he taking this test now? He should already be a knight Grand. Why did you delay it?"
"Because he lost his reason. Without it, Flash'll never be able to achieve the rank of knight."
"So...he has to find a new reason because he accomplished his old one?" Rainbow asked, "How is he supposed to find that out?"
"I don't know. That's something Flash needs to figure out on his own." Grand answered, only to see everypony waiting for him to keep talking, "What?"
"Well, what should we do to help?" Twilight added, only to see a glare from Grand.
"Nothing." Grand instantly responded. "If we do anything, he won't become a knight."
Twilight's eyes narrowed at this, "So...we're not allowed to help him? Us, his friends?"
"No. If you did, it would make everything he's ever done up to this point meaningless." Grand looked away again, "He should find his own path, without interference."
Twilight just blinked at this, only to let out a snort, "That...is the single, dumbest thing I have ever heard!" Grand looked back, now seeing a glare from the princess, "You can't be serious! We're his friends! He needs us!"
"Not for this. You can't help him. If you do, he'll never gain Cold's acceptance."
Twilight stood up at this, an angry glare on her face. Celestia was about to step in, but Twilight caught something in the corner of her eye. It was Solid Script, who was shaking his head before he gestured to Grand. A click went off in the young princess's brain, making her sigh as she looked down on the old knight.
But before she could speak up, the doors opened and the medical team walked out. "How is he?!" Twilight asked.
"He'll be fine. Nothing's broken, but there's a lot of bruises covering his body. They should start to clear in a day or two as long as he doesn't overexert himself."
"Thank you doctor," Celestia said before the medical team left, the group soon entering the room.
Twilight, Scootaloo and Flash's parents were the first to his bed, seeing almost ninety percent of his body was covered in bruises. He was sitting up, blank, dead eyes on his face. "Flash, are you okay?" Twilight whispered, only for the defender to not respond, just looking down at his hooves. "I know this is hard, but it's not the end of the world."
"Yeah! So what if you failed?!" Scootaloo added, only to cringe as she saw him flinch at that, "We uh...we still love you."
Flash's mouth didn't move, making Misty start to speak up, "Sweetheart...you..." her body couldn't move, now seeing the lifeless state the pegasi was in.
Trail then placed a wing over his wife. "Don't worry Flash, there's always next time. We promise we'll help in any way we can."
"Us too," Velvet continued as the rest of the ponies in the room nodded in agreement.
Again, Flash didn't respond. This made everypony grimace, some now fearing Flash might never say anything ever again. "Come on everypony," Celestia spoke up. "We should leave Flash alone to rest for a while." Everypony nodded and headed outside, all until Twilight was the only one still in the room.
The alicorn reached out and grabbed his hoof. "Don't worry, I'm not gonna let you give up on your dream. We'll figure this out together, like we always do." She then gave him a weak smile, but Flash didn't reply. Instead, he just rolled over, facing away from the princess. The motion made her ears flop down, her eyes almost about to cry as she saw him do this. Sighing next, she turned and left the room.
Over the next few hours, Flash received multiple visitors. His friends, family and doctors all came in and out to see how he was doing, but none managed to get an answer out of him. He didn't eat anything that was brought to him, nor did he give thanks when Grand came to return his Celestic Gear.
"Here ya go kiddo." Grand said as he put Lightbringer on a table by the bed. "Take care of this, alright?" His mentor glanced over, only to see Flash still turned away. In that moment, Grand just sighed and shook his head, quickly spinning around before leaving the room, closing the door behind him. And as he left, he found that Twilight waiting right outside, a glare on her face, "Your majesty?"
"That's it?! You're not going to say anything to him?"
Grand just shrugged, "I can't. It would be meaningless to help him right now. In fact, nopony should be seeing him right now."
"I see..." Twilight growled as she pushed past him, lifting her hoof up to open the door, "I guess we'll have to show Flash that he needs his friends, especially when his mentor agrees with some heartless knight we don't even know."
"Cold isn't heartless princess, he-"
"I don't care. I'm going to help Flash Grand. I don't know how, but I will." She gave him one last glare, "Honestly, my mind is still reeling after watching that match and I can barely control my anger, but...I know he needs help. That's at least something I can do." Grand reached out to stop her, only for her swat his hoof away, "No Grand, don't-"
"Leave him alone, your majesty. We can't help him. Go to bed."
"I will-"
"You can't. Not with this."
Twilight was about to yell at him, but her eyes showed her the truth. Flash's mentor wasn't going to budge, making her sigh, "Fine. But I will do everything I can tomorrow, and you will not stop me."
And so, night fell. Twilight went back to her room, her mind half angry half sad as she flopped down on her bed. Flash was the same, staring out the window as Cold's words swirled in his head. Anger began to boil in his mind, only for Twilight's words to now echo: "We'll figure this out together, like we always do."
"Is that really right? Am I...that weak alone?" he muttered to himself as he slumped out of bed. Flinching in pain, he stared out the window, now seeing a frozen wasteland filled with crystal mountains in the distance.
The next morning...
Once again, everypony was in the main hall enjoying breakfast. Everypony was commenting that they loved the food, Soarin and Rainbow both stuffing their faces in competition with Scootaloo cheering Rainbow on. The only one not eating was Twilight, who wanted to go see Flash, but Cadance had told her that the doctors would be checking him right now. She had agreed to wait, planning to take Flash some breakfast.
But as that thought went through her head, the doors of the hall were ripped open before a doctor ran in, catching everypony's attention. "He's gone!"
Everypony's eyes went wide, only to see a purple flash zip by, making half the ponies almost fall out of their seats. Turning to see Twilight's chair now empty, the rest left their food as they tried to follow. And as they got to the room, a round of gasps commenced as they saw Twilight was now alone, a certain patient missing.
The alicorn was standing in the middle of the room, staring down at a pile of discarded bandages. She picked them up in her magic and brought them up to her face, only to glance over at an open window. "Flash..."
At the same moment, up in the Crystal Mountains and past the point of the Heart's protection, Flash was walking up a pathway leading into the deepest part of the mountain range. He knew his friends had probably discovered his disappearance and it wouldn't be long before they came looking for him.
But that didn't matter. His wings folded, small breaths coming out of his mouth, he trudged through the snow as he muttered out, "I'm sorry everypony, but this is something I have to do."
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He lost what was that?
I mean what now we have to wait for a week or two for him to be knighted and to be in a relationship with Twilight
I dont think I'll wait that long. How many chapters is in this fic?
9769793 There are four more chapter until the story ends.
Well this has gotten interesting. What will be Flash's new reason?
9769799
Thank you and my apologies for that Little rate. And that would mean that this fic will be done on September 3rd or the 4th. Because well for some reason you realise new chapters on Tuesday but others times you realise them on Wednesday. Why is that?
Oh and maybe have a Pied Piper villain who ponynapped children.
9769830 Because of my other story's schedule.
Okay what is this, "You must do this on your own" BS all of a sudden? If I remember, while Iron did take out the bull one on one, he still had Flash and Lightning help out with the henchmen. And Iron's challenge was nothing compared to this. Yeah give the other knights cake walks while Flash has to take on fucking Jingen from DB Super. And if saving the world on your own is such a big deal, the fuck was the reason for ALL of the knights going after Doom? By Cold's ideology he should have done it the fuck himself, or Grand. I mean Grand got his ass kicked and nearly lost his magic, maybe he shouldnt be a knight anymore? God man I love your stories, but this is one hell of a logic ass pull. Also to be a knight, soldier, crusader, whatever. You never rely on just yourself. You hone and master your art, but you need to rely on the man standing next to you just as much. Know why the Spartans of Greece were so good at what they did? They perfected their individual skills and relied on each other to back each man up. They knew each man to their right had they're back. I'd have kicked Cold's ass out of the knights a while ago for that.
I came across your version of Flash while looking for good Spike stories almost a week & a half ago and got hooked. Love the balance between MLP & anime you got here! 😀
Course it took me that long to read through all of Flash stories up to this point, so glad I finally caught up.
As for this latest chapter I have to completely disagree with Cold's views of seeing Knights as just weapons, it kinda reminded me of one of earlier Naruto's story arcs where ninjas were thought of just been tools.
Looking forward to see what happens from here, here's hoping Cold gets put in his place somewhat.
Man that was brutal. Gotta say, whenever Flash losses in your stories it usually leaves me feeling empty inside (with only 1 or 2 exceptions). Maybe it is because I am so use to him being the hero from you, or finding a way to make it through, but now his best day ever just turned into his worst day ever.
Celestia did offer an interesting idea for why Flash's Sacred Light powers keep failing on him. If the Sacred Light is sentient it could choose how it is used, Maybe part of what Flash read last chapter has something to do with it? "But those with darkness blinding sight, shall not be gifted Sacred Light." That is a bit vague, but maybe the Sacred Light can't be used in anger or for selfish reasons? Whatever causes it, I hope Flash fugues it out and uses it to win a rematch with Cold.
Cold was a real jerk this chapter. He seemed okay when he first appeared in this story, but saying the knights are nothing but weapons and should accomplish things themselves instead of relying on others for help is just bull. Has he not heard of "the magic of friendship"? Grand said he grew up under unusual circumstances but if and when we see them ourselves they better be good enough to justify his attitude. Though I will admit, one line Cold said, "In the heat of battle, a warrior's true character is revealed. And depending on your actions, your insecurities become crystal clear to your opponent.", was pretty interesting since it was a slightly edited version of what he told Flash in your Yugioh stories.
9770006
While it does seem a bit contradictory, I feel like there is some merit to this. While it is good to rely on your fellow man, you can’t exactly rely on them forever. There will be instances where you will have to stand on your own and fight independently. I think this is just trying to help Flash learn to be independent whenever the situation occurs. As there is the possibility of him being assigned solo missions in the future against stronger foes. It may be that they want to be sure he can fight independently and succeed.
I think it also refers to the saying, no one else can tell you your purpose, only you can find it yourself. I feel like this is a way to compel Flash to find his drive from becoming a Knight again, as his previous goal was fulfilled.
Furthermore, this is also highlighting Flash’s own insecurity of being useless on his own. That without others to help him, he could never accomplish great things. That he is forever incapable of succeeding by himself. I’m not mind reader of what Banshee is planning, but it might the possible that he will explore this through Flash and learn it is okay to rely on your friends...or something. I will admit I was losing my train of thought as I wrote this. Sorry.
As for Doom, I thought that was because it was an assigned team mission they were ordered to complete.
And it’s also Cold talking. Given his strength and mentality, he probably sees the other Knights capable of solo big boss fights like he could potentially do. Hopefully we can learn more about his past and his reasons for why he became like this.
But that’s just my opinion on the matter.
9769850
Okay but this going to be interesting never the less anx here's hoping that flash becomes and royal knight and ends up with Twilight. Best of luck.
Oh and maybe make some DBZ abridge references like maybe this one for example.
The Storm king say "Oh you think your bringing cute?!"
Flash say "Punk I'm adorable."
Hey, I'm late, but good gosh! That was hard to read. Also, he's not going to find his new reason out there because unbeknownst to him, he just left it worried and waiting for him. He may have depended on his friends and family in the past, but becoming a knight will help him realize that they can depend on him too and that he has made as much of a difference to them as they have to him, right?