Return of the Ancient Mage

by Zoshe

Chapter 46: Rainbow on the Rebound

"We can't keep this up!" Shouted one of the crystal guards that were holding the perimeter. More shouts and cries came from other struggling guards as the frenzied city folk continued to rush them, every one of them sporting a pair of glowing green eyes.

"Shining..." Cadence voiced her concern. Most of her attention and all of her magic was being used to empower the newly restored Crystal Heart. She had to rely solely on her husband and the guards to keep everyone else at bay.

"I don't understand what's happening," said Shining Armor as he used his magic to throw another pony into the crowd that had managed to get through the wall of defenders. "How can King Sombra be controlling all of them?!"

"I don't know," said Cadence as she winced under the strain. "We just have to hold on until help arrives."

"I don't know what kind of help we're expecting," said Shining. "They're civilians, we can't just hurt them."

There was a momentary distraction when a small pink ball of light flew in from the crowd and began hovering above their heads. "Your highness, what is that?!" That question and several concerned murmurs filled the circle before their attention was once again consumed by keeping the maddened ponies away from the princess.

Cadence stared up at the little light. She was far from the best spellcaster, but she didn't think it was a spell. The way it bobbed around as it zipped overhead made it seem alive.

It stopped moving just before it dove down to remain floating right in front of Shining Armor. The prince's attention was instantly captivated by the bobbing light of power as it spoke.

"You're Shining Armor, right?" The soft voice trilled forward like glass on the wind.

The only response Shining gave was a curt nod as he tried to make out the figure from within the light.

"Finally," the little light sounded relieved. "You ponies all look the same to me."

"What are you..." The prince started to ask, but the light picked that moment to begin growing brighter. A blinding light soon filled the area around the Crystal Heart, causing both the attackers and defenders to pause for a moment as they shielded their eyes.

Their vision returned to them a short time later, but both the source of the light and the prince had disappeared from view.

---

Shining Armor was still feeling dazed by the time the world around him started coming back into view. He wasn't sure where he was at first, but then a familiar fireplace came into view. Although, he didn't recognize the strangely colored creature that was sitting beside it.

"Ah, you're back," he said. "That took a while, I was starting to get worried."

"You'd think for being the only unicorn in the city that he'd be easier to find," came the small voice from beside Shining. He carefully looked over his shoulder to see an equally strange sight. The light beside him had dimmed to reveal a small creature that looked like it could be a pony, but ponies didn't come in that size. "Did you find what I asked for?" She continued talking.

"I did," the first creature said. "I don't know what you expect to do with it though. It broke earlier when they were busy trapping Sombra."

Shining remembered what he was just doing. Panic started to settle in as he turned to run for the door. Whatever was happening here, it could wait until the Crystal Empire was safe. He made it as far as the door, but when he reached forward to push it open, his hooves only found a blank wall. He scrambled in a panic to find out where the door had disappeared to, however he couldn't find any sign of it.

"And what makes you think I'm going to let you just walk out after going through all the trouble to bring you here," the smaller figure said as Shining found his attention drawn back to the center of the room.

"Look," he said. "I don't know who or what you both are, but we've got a crisis on our hooves. I need to get back out there. They need me."

"Yeah, I saw that," the smaller creature seemed disinterested. "They won't last much longer, even with your help."

"Then why did you pull me away from there!" Shining demanded.

The light-wrapped creature zipped through the air and stopped right in front of his face. It startled Shining for a moment, but he held his ground.

"Good fortitude," she said. "You'll need that. Tell me, Shining Armor. What would you do to save the Crystal Empire?"

Shining narrowed his eyes, no longer finding any part of this amusing. "I'm Shining Armor, former captain of the Equestrian Royal Guard and current Prince of the Crystal Empire," he declared. "This kingdom is the responsibility of me and Princess Cadence. And I would do anything to see the ponies of this kingdom safe."

He found the smaller face lean in and look him right in the eye. He didn't blink, he didn't look away, but he continued staring back until he saw a small smile appear on her face.

"Good answer," she said with a content smile. "Spectrum, give it to him."

She flew out of the way only for Shining to find that the other creature had moved in right behind her. Shining hadn't seen him before, and couldn't make out much of his features through the numerous bandages he was wrapped in. The unicorn recoiled for a moment when he held out a hoof, that was until he saw the object that was being offered to him.

Shining took the proffered item and a soft red glow began to pour from its glistening and cracked surface. The light filled Shining's vision and he recoiled as a voice began to speak inside his head. The voice asked a single question, a question filled with sincerity and a request that Shining could not ignore.

"Yes. Whatever it takes. I will save them," he said with conviction just before the light washed over him.

---

"Are you feeling any better, Rainbow?" Asked Fluttershy.

Rainbow Dash had been crying her eyes out ever since Fluttershy had managed to corner her on the balcony. "Not really," Rainbow sniffled. "I mean, how can I ever look anypony in the eye after all the times I've let them down? And I keep letting them down."

Fluttershy continued to hold her friend as Rainbow continued crying into her shoulder. "It's not your fault," Fluttershy padded her on the pack. "Nopony blames you."

"But I blame me," cried Rainbow Dash. "How can I trust myself if I fail when it matters?"

"By picking yourself back up and getting on with life," came a crass yet firm feminine voice.

Both Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash seized up when they realized they weren't alone anymore. Their eyes slowly turned towards the source of the voice to find Ret watching them, whole once more and now wearing a long black dress that covered everything below the neck. The fire in her eyes bore into both of them as she stepped towards them.

Fluttershy put herself between Ret and Rainbow, doing her best to shield the cyan mare. "Leave her alone," she said. "Can't you see she's hurting?"

"And yet, while you're both up here having your own private pity party," said Ret as she casually dismissed the stare that Fluttershy was giving her. "Events continue to move a pace. Have neither of you seen what's happening in the city?"

Rainbow carefully walked around Fluttershy until she reached the edge of the balcony. As she looked out over the city, she could see the dark figures that were moving throughout it as well as the hundreds of tiny green lights that flitted through it like a bunch of fireflys. "What is all that?" She asked.

Ret huffed, "short version. Sombra broke free and is currently holding the ponies hostage. He's also got all the princesses and Clover pinned down and unable to do anything."

"But..." Rainbow held her head low, suddenly feeling much worse. "This is my fault as well, then. I failed them, I failed my element. Some Element of Loyalty I turned out to be..."

Ret's patience had apparently run out, because the next thing Rainbow knew, Ret had used her magic to pick her up by her chest fluff and now held her face right in front of her. "I don't think I can listen to any more of this," she said. "Wa wa wa. Is whining all you're good for?"

"But... I..." Rainbow started but was cut off.

"Don't give me your excuses, unless that's all you can do," Ret growled. "I thought pegasi like you were all about trying to join the Wonderballs or something like that?"

"...Wonderbolts," Rainbow eeked out, barely caring about the casual insults.

"Well whatever they're called, you can forget about joining if all it takes is one bad day for you to give up on yourself," Ret looked down her nose at Rainbow.

"I'm already in the reserves," Rainbow automatically said under her breath.

"Are you now?" Ret sounded surprised. "They must've felt sorry for you then, to let you in if you quit so easily. It must be nice to take the easy road, to never take any risks, to let everypony else do all the hard work for you. It must be nice to have a princess as a personal friend."

Something in Ret's words seemed to finally get through her thick skull as Rainbow Dash lifted her head upward to look the cruel and unwavering unicorn in the eye. "I worked hard to get where I am. It took years of hard work and honing my skills to get the Wonderbolts to even notice I existed. All the times I ended up in the hospital cause I hurt myself didn't stop me from trying, no matter how much it hurt to fail over and over again."

"Then that must be the limit on what you can do," Ret went on. "Cause while you've been up here feeling sorry for yourself, everypony, including your friends have been out there fighting for their lives. And if they're as incompetent as you, I can't imagine they'll last much longer."

Rainbow had enough of this as she pulled her head back and brought her skull down on the unicorn who held her. She saw stars in her eyes from the impact, but it was enough to shake Ret's control enough to release her grip on her. Rainbow slid away from her aggressor as Ret shook her head to clear away her own stars.

Rainbow scuffed a hoof on the ground and gave an angry huff, "say what you want about me, but I won't let anypony insult my friends like that! I will always be there for them, no matter how hard it gets!"

A deep chuckle broke out from Ret's throat. "Finally," she said. "I was wondering when the Element of Loyalty would show up."

"I've been here this whole time," said Rainbow, missing the jab that was being made at her. "I'd give you a piece of my mind for talking about them like that, but they need my help right now."

"Then go. Don't let me keep you," said Ret.

Without wasting any more of her breath, she snatched up her Element of Loyalty that had been laying on the ground and slapped it on. Once it was secure, she jumped off the balcony and soared into the city to find her friends.

"Um... You planned all of that didn't you?" Came a soft squeaky voice.

Ret looked down at the yellow pegasus that had remained quiet through the whole exchange. She recoiled under the unicorn's gaze but Ret could still see the smile that was creeping out from behind Fluttershy's mane. "Sometimes a pony needs a little more than just a shoulder to cry on. Sometimes they just need somepony to rile them up."

"I'm not the pony to do that, but still... Thank you," Fluttershy gave her a short bow before taking off and flying after her friend.

---

Ret watched the two pegasi fly away and just shook her head. "These Equestrian ponies have it way too easy if that's all it takes to shake them up," she said to the empty space around her. She took in a deep breath and let it out before looking out over the city. "I guess it's time for me to get to work, then."

She held out a hoof and the book that she had been using earlier materialized there. Using her magic, she flipped through the many pages until she frowned and just closed the book. "Too simple," she said. "I can do better than this." She then held the book between her front hooves and pressed in on it like she was trying to crush it.

Heat began to pour off the book as it began to glow a cherry red while somehow managing to avoid bursting into flames. When Ret seemed satisfied with whatever she was doing she looked up into the empty space and said, "I know you're out there. Watching everything we do, manipulating small pieces of our lives while watching how some of it plays itself out. Well I'm done playing by the rules."

Ret released the book from her grip. The book exploded and reformed into several large panes of glass. They spread out around Ret as letters and symbols began to flash across their surfaces. Ret for her part, just looked over them, nodding and seeming satisfied with what she was finding there.

"Cut, copy and paste," she mused under her breath. "Seems pretty straight forward. I can work with this. Oh?" She looked over her shoulder again. "Have I made you sweat yet? Good. You should be worried. I'm about to show this world what the last Sorceress of Pandemonium is capable of."

Comments

[vustrunreyth]

Ah yes. Ret is going to make reality her bitch

[UnamusedWaffle]

Is it just me or do things seem to just keep appearing out of nowhere?

[Zoshe]

11078035
Define "things". If you're referring to what Ret said at the end, I'm setting up groundwork for sequels. Some of which already have a full synopsis written out for all the arcs in the story.

[Luckyfanisaac]

"I don't know," said Cadence as she winced under the strain. "We just have to hold on until help arrives."

[ponepony]

Rainbow Dash's breakdown still seems rather out of character, even reading up to this point, but ok.