Freedom Through Harmony

by Electricut

Chapter Thirty-nine

Chapter Thirty Nine
Year 490
Phil

Vomora gave the order to charge, and the whole gathering burst into action. I was immediately caught up in combat, several bandits going straight for me. Still in phoenix form and much better at flying, I corkscrewed high into the air just as they approached me, then took a nosedive and released a burst of flame as I reached them again. The impact sent several reeling. I zipped forward before they could react, slicing effectively with beak and talons, and taking apart their defenses with the occasional fire spell.

I counted a total of nineteen people attacking me, and while many had sustained considerable wounds already, none seemed willing to give up. Their actual fighting ability was varied- some seemed like better fighters than the royal army could brag about, while others fought like they had never touched a weapon in their life- but they all shared the same bloody-minded determination to take me down, and fought accordingly.

I soon found myself overwhelmed- I didn’t want to kill any of these people, as their cause was one I didn’t entirely disagree with, and I sympathized with them being angry that Celestia had taken everything from them. I only wanted to rough them up enough for them to get out of here and to safety, so they could rethink their course of action to one less self-suicidal, but it seemed nothing short of knocking them out would deter them from this mission. I couldn’t fight off all of them alone, not when trying to avoid giving them serious injury, so slowly I ended up getting pushed further away from the square as I worked away defensively.

I quickly changed back to human form to maneuver more easily through the streets, and swung back around the corner Twilight and I had been hiding behind minutes ago. Pressing myself against the wall, I allowed another fire spell to flare up in my palm. When the first of the bandits rounded the corner a moment later, I tossed it to the ground, sending a wave of flame and heat cascading over the rest of the party. A small, thin sword clattered to the ground before me, and on a whim I picked it up. I had been trained mainly to use hand-to-hand combat (buffed with magic), but had touched base with other basic weapons, and decided a sword was the better choice for this fight.

But as soon as I grabbed the sword I was on the move again, dodging away from their weapons and throwing the occasional spell as I ran. I ducked into an alleyway, hoping to lure them in and fight them one at a time, but I waited for some time without being pursued. Where’d they go? Did they go around to the other end to try and cut me off? I turned around to check, but saw no sign of them there either. Surely they didn’t just get bored with me and go after Twi or Spike? Maybe they decided to pull back after all...

I waited until I was sure they weren’t coming, then slowly crept out from the alleyway back the way I had come. I poked my head out, looking in the direction of the town square, and still saw none of the bandits, save the ones occupied with fighting Spike. Thoroughly confused, I stepped out, looked behind me as more of an afterthought...

And spun around wildly, sword gripped tightly in both hands. Only a few yards away stood the one they called Chaos. She was maybe an inch taller than I was, a faint indifferent frown visible under her hood, spear poised behind her. I could see there was no point in trying to hide again- she would have seen me for sure by now. Could that be why the other bandits dropped me? To get out of the way and let Chaos take me by herself?

I was forced to assume this was the reason, because she didn’t allow me any further time to think about it. In the blink of an eye she was upon me, swinging the long staff-like weapon wildly and blindingly fast. I dodged backward to avoid her first shot, then deflected the second with the stolen sword. The weapon flew up from around the blade and smacked me in the side, leaving a small slice on my wing in the process. Before I could react again, a fourth hit came from the back of the spear, hitting me square in the side of my head and sending me reeling.

I fell to the ground, rolled onto my back and blocked a downward slice, the sound of her spear tip and my sword colliding echoing menacingly around the deserted street. I could see her teeth barred slightly, and could tell that most opponents never made it this far- a fact that didn’t bode well for me. I rolled away quickly, the spear tip slipping past and slamming into the pavement.

I made a snap decision, unfurling my wings and jumping high into the air, coming to rest atop a four-story building. My right wing burned horribly from the wound she had given me, and my head was still throbbing, but it was better than staying on the ground. I peeked over the edge, and saw she still stood in the center of the road, watching me. Good. I might have bought myself a few minutes to get away from her. Man, they weren’t kidding, this thing’s unstoppable...

But with mounting horror, I realized I had even less time than I had thought. She ran up to the edge of the building and started running up the side, without a single hand or foothold to speak of. Even if I was able to comprehend what I was seeing, I didn’t have nearly enough time to try. She swung over the edge a moment later and charged me again, the spear humming as it spun in dizzying circles over her head.

I backed up quickly, backflipping away from the sweeping strikes of her weapon. As I landed near the edge, I fired a powerful burst of fire at her, striking her in the stomach mid-charge. She flew back limply, but landed on her own feet at the other edge. The cloak smoldered slightly, but didn’t look like it had delivered a serious burn. Her hood had fallen in the process, and I was now able to see her striking blue eyes staring back at me, standing out even more against her long, fluffy magenta hair.

I realized now more than ever that this girl couldn’t have been any older than I was. Her abilities aside, why was she doing this? How did she come to be nothing more than a weapon in the hands of this questionable prophet-like Vomora? Did she even understand what she was doing, or was she just shoved in the right direction, fighting whatever she was told to fight?

In a way... I suppose she’s just like me. Maybe there is a better way out of this. With renewed purpose, I leapt backward as she ran at me again, allowing my wings to unfurl and glide me to the ground. Chaos was right on my tail, jumping clear off the building and landing on her feet, the impact sending several loose chunks of cobblestone flying. She lifted her head to face her enemy...

And assumed a confused expression as she watched me place the sword on the ground and raise my hands in the air, a clear act of surrender and peace. “I don’t want to fight.” I added. “Please, hear me out. I want to ask you something.”

“What...” Chaos started, unsure of what was happening. “What do you mean? You’re the Queen’s servant, you’re supposed to fight me!”

“I don’t want to fight.” I insisted. “I am the Queen’s apprentice, yes, but I don’t want to fight for her. You’ve been told she’s evil?” A hesitant nod. “Well, that much is right. She’s bad and something needs to be done. But hurting others isn’t the way, and I don’t think Vomora quite knows what the way is, either.”

“But... Vomora saved all those people. He knows the Queen is bad, and he’s trying to fight her.”

“But at what cost?” I replied, hoping my leap of logic would get through to her. “As far as I’ve seen, he’s only using these people, and doesn’t have much regard for their safety- at the very least, this is true for you.” I took a chance and moved closer to her, away from the sword, and she didn’t move to stop me. “How did he get you to join him?”

“I... I don’t know...” She said, now avoiding any eye contact. “For as long as I can remember, it’s been this way...”

“I know. I’m the same way. Celestia took me away from my family when I was too small to fight back, and trained me to be a weapon for her.” Chaos looked up at me, surprised. “I’ve learned to fight, but she can’t make me believe what she’s doing is right. And if Vomora wants to stop her, he shouldn’t be doing the same thing she is.”
______________

Spike

I brought my twin knives to bear, blocking and throwing back an attack. Most of the bandits had fallen away from the main combat to recover or fight elsewhere. I noted with satisfaction that Twilight was holding up quite well against her attackers across the clearing. Thankfully, the town militia had finally decided to jump into the action, and many of the bandits were now occupied with them. I twirled my weapons at my sides, looking around for another opponent, and turned right into Vomora himself. He stood, arms folded, in the dead center of the clearing, watching me, slightly annoyed.

“Allow me the chance to try and understand your motivation.” He said, stalking around me slowly. “You are a full-blooded Goldoan dragon- your strength in Equestria is unmatched by any mortal being. You were surely raised no differently than any other Goldoan, so it boggles the mind that you would choose Celestia’s of all sides to ally yourself with! Surely you can’t seriously believe all the lies she’s been spouting? Surely your moral code can make it clear she’s the enemy? So tell me- why? Why become her slave as you have, when you could have made her life that much more difficult instead?”

I allowed myself a quick glance to make sure Twilight was still occupied, then said in a low voice: “Who says I have given myself up completely to her? Answer me this- is it beyond reason to think I may only be biding my time here? Is it impossible that I’m waiting for the pristine moment to take the kids and turn full-force against her? Is it too much of a stretch to say I’m aware of her atrocities, and one day do intend to do something about it?”

He cocked his head, his eyes gleaming deviously, but the rest of his face remained only curious. “You’re telling me these things are true, then?”

“I’ll cut you a deal.” I said flatly. “Your men are getting murdered out here, and if you wait much longer, there won’t be much left of them to lead. Take them and run- now- and I’ll say that if any members of this ‘unnamed bandit group’ escaped, I didn’t see them. Regroup and wait for a chance to do something less dangerous to yourselves.”

He stopped finally, surveying the situation around him. While I had not escaped unscathed, his men all were obviously worse for the wear than me or Twilight. I hadn’t seen where Phil went, but I saw plenty of burns on several injured soldiers that told me he was still fighting. Vomora sighed, defeated. “Very well. I am able to accept defeat, for now. We’ll have to meet again sometime and discuss this further- not as enemies, but as fellow Laguz. As fellow men.”

I was just about to nod, until I noticed the sky above him. Following my confused gaze, he looked too, and we both watched the enormous shockwave of rainbow energy raze across the cloudless sky, kicking up loose bits of everything and popping every ear as it went. His unkempt hair and tail settled a moment later, and he shook his head in wonder. “A sign if I ever did see one... Men! Gather your things, grab someone who can’t walk. We’re retreating to fight another day.” With one final look back at me and a nod, he rounded up his troops and bounded off alongside them.
________________

Phil

“But what can we do?!” Chaos yelled. “What am I supposed to do if what Vomora’s doing is wrong?”

“He doesn’t know where you are now, does he?” She shook her head. “There you go! Run! Get out of here as fast as you can and hide! Find someplace to lay low, and find your own path! Don’t let anyone tell you what to think, find your own purpose and follow it with all you’ve got!”

I thought all this might have been just a tad cheesy and melodramatic, but to Chaos- who I’d guessed had never seen or heard any of it before, was enthralled. “But he’ll try and find me again- he wouldn’t leave town without me.”

I put a hand on her shoulder. “I’ll make sure he’s too busy worrying about his own butt to chase after yours. Like I said, I know where you’re coming from. No-one deserves this fate.”

She smiled, nodded, made a half-step away from me, then spun around with an excited look on her face. “Then you could come with me!” I frowned. Hadn’t seen that coming. “We could both escape together, and start a resistance worth following!”

But I was already shaking my head sadly. “I can’t tell you how much I’d love to, but I can’t. Not yet, anyway. I’m not abandoning Twilight, the other apprentice. She doesn’t feel the same way about Celestia as we do, but I think she will someday. Until then, I have to stay to protect her.” It was then that the huge blast of rainbow light roared across the sky, drowning out all other noise and generally making a mess of everything around us.

As soon as I could speak and be heard again, I yelled to Chaos: “That’s your cue! They’ll be too confused and frightened to put up a fight! Run, and don’t look back!” She nodded and took off down the street, discarding the spear along the way. I watched her disappear over the horizon, the turned around and cracked my knuckles. One down... I thought as I ran back to the clearing.