One Way

by jroddie

26: of Torment and Saviors

Chapter 26

I spun around to face... something. I’m not quite sure what it would be called. It was quite similar to a pegasus, in the general anatomical features. Four hooves, two eyes, one mouth, nostrils, tail, mane, wings, cutie mark. It had a light orange coat with darker orange mane and tail, and the cutie mark was a flaming lightning-bolt. But the similarities ended there. It’s teeth were arrayed into sharp triangular daggers, and they opened to reveal a long, pointed red tongue. It flicked out of it’s moist home every now and again, tasting the air around it. Strange things poked under the skin of the face, like a cat would try to poke out of a bag. It was like the muscle and bone would not quite fit under the skin. It’s eyes were the most startling shade of red that I had ever seen. It was wearing worn, brown leather saddlebags. I watched it sway slightly, almost as if it were a grim clockwork created by a depressed sadist.

“You bastard.” I whispered. The Creature laughed, displaying the disgusting musculature in it’s face.

“Are you surprised, Edwin? We Angelics are hunted for a reason. This,” The Creature said in a smooth voice, gesturing with a forehoof at the body that he occupied. “is one of them. Spitfire? Yes, the host’s name is Spitfire. Very good flier.” I could do nothing but shake angrily in response. My hooves wobbled under me with my rage. I delved into the depths of my mind, trying to pull out the magic held within. I struggled with my mind while the Angelic smiled with his serrated teeth. A flap on the saddlebags flipped over, and a corked glass vial floated out of it, surrounded by a glowing red aura of magic. I looked at it float up to the Angelic’s face.

“We knew you would come for the Night.” He said, hissing slightly. The vial floated over to me, so I could get a better look at it. There was yellowed and faded parchment affixed to it, but the print was unreadable. It looked as if the vial were filled with heavily diluted milk. I could see things on the opposite side of it, but not very well. The Angelic began to speak as I gazed at the mysterious container.

“I believe that you are intimately familiar with Manticore venom. It is very easy to make traps out of, as it is rather viscous and does not evaporate. You could spread some over the ground, or pour over branches, or even make magical triggers for it. Theoretically speaking, if one were to, say, place an zonal transposition spell on a vial of manticore venom that responded to a certain pony, it could easily be triggered by that very same pony entering a certain area. If you could lift your right forehoof, Mister Shell?” The orange Angelic inquired. I growled at it, not moving from my spot. I yelped as my entire right leg was lifted in front of me by a glowing red cloud.

“Let’s not be rude, Mister Shell. Ah, there it is! I’m still proficient after all this time.” The Angelic said, and I distractedly wondered how his disturbing mouth could possibly make such smooth and controlled noises. I looked down, under my hoof, and saw broken glass. I looked closer, and saw a faded yellow piece of parchment. I gasped, looking back to the Angelic. He had a quizzical look on his face, which quickly turned into a look of desparate hunger. The tongue lolled out of his mouth as he stared at me.

“Try to cast a spell. I dare you.” He whispered hungrily. I closed my eyes and searched within myself for my magic. I was extremely worried to find that it was not there at all. I looked back to the Angelic, suddenly frightened. He chuckled lightly, advancing toward me slowly. He placed an immaculately clean orange hoof in front of him, making the dry twigs and needles snap and creak under the hooves that did not belong to him.

“For three hours from this exact moment, you are subject to my will. Magic, both of pegasus and unicorn, will escape you for the duration of the venom’s cycle. I can do anything that I want to. Do you know what an Compound fracture of the Large Metacarpal feels like?” He asked. I shook my head, and he smiled.

I felt a pressure on my leg that was held up by the Angelic, which immediately grew to be unbearable. I grit my teeth against the strange pressure, and suddenly I heard a snap. I watched in horror as a bloody shard of bone burst out of my leg and into the open air. I screamed in extreme pain, biting my tongue. I felt hot tears running down my face as the pain in my leg immediately became excruciating. I averted my gaze from the injured limb as I felt the hot blood run down my hoof. I screamed again through my teeth. The Angelic laughed.

“Compound fracture of the Large Metacarpal, severing the Deep Digital flexor nerve, rupturing a slew of vascular sub-structures, and puncturing the Soleus and Peronius Longus muscles. How are you feeling, Numbered?” He asked kindly, as if he were asking about how a child was doing in school. I spat at him. He tutted once, and the pain in my leg grew even more painful. I screamed again, shouting my torment out into the chill night air.

“Stop it! Stop it, please!” Luna shouted from behind me. I was so lost in pain that I nearly forgot that she was there. The Angelic leaned to the side to look behind me, and smiled.

“I’ll save you for later, Princess.” He said, low and knowing. I struggled against my bonds to try and strike the Angelic, but he flicked his eyes to me and twisted my suspended hoof lightly. I screamed again, and did not try to resist after that. The magic imprisoning my leg suddenly released me and I fell, weeping, to the ground. I felt something set itself down by my face.

“I think that I am done here, for now. I would just love to torture you further, Edwin. I really would. But the affairs of Angelics do require attention. I will be back.” He said. There was a gust of wind, and suddenly the thing by my face was gone. I felt the pointy needles of the trees, the cool night air, but above all, I felt the excruciating puncture in my leg. I moaned on the cool ground while my leg throbbed.

“Edwin? Edwin?” Luna asked worriedly. It was hard to concentrate on anything other than the pain, but I managed to open my eyes and look up at her standing over me. She was beautiful, even in a tragic setting as this. Brilliant pale blue mane, clean dark-blue coat, soft wings. The only thing that was amiss was the extreme worry on her face. I managed to smile through the pain.

“Hey.” I said roughly, wincing as I did. She nervously smiled, but it did not reach her eyes.

“Ed, I’m so sorry.” She whispered. I shook my head.

“Don’t be. It’s my fault. I should have been prepared. I should have known that he would anticipate my actions. I-” I spoke, rasping slightly. Luna interrupted me.

“He told me that he had you, Ed. He told me that if I came with him, that he would let you go. I believed him.” She said, a single glistening tear running down her face. It saddened me that I was the cause of this.

“Luna...” I whispered. She looked up from the ground, to my eyes.

“I won’t let him hurt you, Luna.” I said. She smiled.

“I think that it will be me that won’t let him hurt you.” She said. I found this slightly odd, and my mind, clouded by pain, struggled to find a reason why. After a few minutes of silence, I finally touched upon what was troubling me.

“They didn’t give you Manticore venom.” I stated. She nodded. “Why?” I asked.

“I am needed. They can’t keep me from using magic because I carry the nocturnal cycle on my shoulders. If I were to suddenly stop using or become unable to use magic, the oceans would cease their tides, general disaster, and bad things like that. For some reason, they want Equestria intact.” She said. I grimaced as the pain in my leg was getting horrifyingly sharp. I tried to keep my body as immobile as possible while the fit subsided. Luna kept watch over me as I recovered from the attack of pain

“How bad is it?” She asked, gesturing to the leg.

“Please fix it.” I asked, pleading. Luna seemed to choke up as I finished my plea.

“I can’t. There is something to Angelic magic that makes it extremely hard to change. The ability to heal Angelic-inflicted wounds escapes me. I’m so sorry, Ed.” She said, sobbing. My pain in making her sad was more than the pain of my shattered limb. It made me hurt even more that I could not do anything to assuage her.

“Stay with me, Luna.” I asked. She looked down at me, her shining, glistening eyes staring at me with fervor.

“I would never leave you.” She said. She lay down next to me, in front of my legs, and simply sat. We would occasionally speak to each other, but we were not trying to keep up a conversation. We enjoyed each other’s presence in only the way that two lovers faced by permanent separation truly could. An amount of time passed. It was both fleeting and infinite at the same time.

I looked down at the bloody grass. It was my love for Luna, made manifest. I would gladly shed my blood, the fire of my very veins, if it meant that she could be safe. I would chop of my own limbs for her protection. I would protect her from every single thing that would ever wish her harm. I slowly dawned on the realization. It was not for Equestria that we Numbereds fought. Surely it was the original banner of our cause. But, each Numbered assumed their own pennant that made their own conflict with Angelics a personal one. Othello, with his love for Celestia, fought to ensure her a safe kingdom. He even died trying to protect her, even if it was from herself. Marcus fought for the promise of new life. Evangeline, whether she knew it or not, fought everything that she thought could harm Marcus. Gespard... Gespard fought to preserve the sanctity of nature, with which he was intimately linked though his gift. I fought for something more precious than all of those things combined. I fought for love. My adoration fell upon a blue alicorn, with soft wings and tender eyes. She was my world. She was everything. She was a Temple where my worship found credence. A world without her was indeed a world not worth living in. I looked up at her smooth, feminine form while I pondered both of my lives.

“Luna.” I croaked. She turned away from my subtly muscled body to look at my eyes. She was so, so sad. I hated what I was about to do, but it was a necessary thing.

“Luna. We did good.” I said. She started shaking her head.

“Don’t say that, Ed. We still are.” She whispered, her mane bouncing slightly.

“It doesn’t look good for us.” I re-iterated. She continued to single-mindedly shake her head.

“No, it’s going to get better, it’s going to...” She trailed off as her eye caught something that was behind me. “Tia!” She shouted. I thought for a moment, but a gilded white hoof stepped into my field of view, killing my train of thought.

“What happened?” Celestia asked.

“An Angelic broke his leg, he can’t use magic, please help him!” She shouted, rising to her hind legs to grab her sister’s shoulders. I looked up at the flowing, multi-color mane. The large pony craned her neck down to look at me, and Luna let go of her shoulders to look at me as well.

“Where is the Doctor?” She whispered. I struggled to remember, my mind was trying to think through blinding hope and pain.

“I don’t know... He pushed the button! He trapped me inside of an Inertia chamber!” I said. The pale princess stiffened at this comment.

“Then we must go help him.” She said. Her horn began to glow with a yellow aura, and my leg slowly began to twist itself into shape. I gasped as the flesh weaved itself together. I moved the hoof in question as it was done being healed. It was blissfully free of pain. I looked up at the Goddess.

“Thank you.” I said. She said nothing, but walked away. I got to my hooves and followed her behind Luna. The trees bent away from us gently as we walked through the forest.

“Angelics would not dare attack you two while in my presence. However, we should not tarry in the forest. We will find the Doctor, then leave immediately. If the button was pushed, we cannot trust the Tardis as a viable transport any longer.” She said, radiating purpose as she strided through the forest. The creaking of trees and the snap of broken wood became louder.

“Tia, what is that noise?” Luna asked. The towering Princess paused.

“I do not know, but it is even more important that we must hurry.” She said, and then began to gallop through the forest. Luna and I followed her, galloping behind,.

“Tia! Slow down!” Luna begged. I wanted to agree, but my lungs would not let me. Princess Celestia was not only a Deity, but a very tall one. Her stride matched two of mine, and she soon left Luna and I in her dust. Luna could have flown to keep up with her, but she did not want to leave me alone in the forest. I could not blame her, for I was completely helpless for the next three hours. We had been running for what seemed to be the last hour.

“Can’t.” She replied, elongating her strides. I sighed, or at least tried to, and continued on. I closed my eyes for a moment, allowing my running to become mechanical. I immediately ran headlong into something hard, warm, unyielding, and ticklish. I fell to the ground. I opened my eyes and looked up at Celestia’s rear end, which was explanation enough. The splintering of trees and creaking protest of wood became nearly deafening, but the harsh snap of wood was less frequent than it was before.

“Oh no.” Luna said. I rubbed my eyes, and managed to stand up. I looked to where Luna and Celestia were staring, and I finally saw what elicited the response.

“Oh no.” I parroted. It was the only thing that could say. Complete devastation was splayed before me. Splintered trees, wider than some of the towers in the Palace, were laying like splintered toothpicks all over the ground of a newly-created clearing. There was a good hundred foot radius of complete devastation, with splintered boughs and trunks and whole uprooted trees across the entire space. The cause of the devastation, however, was much more than apparent.

There was a smallish, shiny metal box in the middle of the clearing. It was mounted into the ground with what seemed to be gigantic metal claws. It was not the cause of the destruction, but it kept the cause from flying into the air. There was a long, snaking metal tube that ran from the box. It had shiny metal cuffs spaced about every ten feet. The cuffs and rope led to a large metal claw. The claw itself looked very dangerous and sharp. But it was what it held that captivated my interest. The tardis, lying on its side, was being held lengthwise by the claw. The Tardis seemed to be doing a profound amount of nothing, but it suddenly shimmered, as if it were moving. The tubing leading to the claw immediately stiffened, and it flung the still-confined tardis to the opposite side of the clearing, making a profound crash as it did so. It was like listening to a rock slide. The tardis, now on the opposite side of the clearing, began to shimmer again. The tubing stiffened again and flung the tardis closer to us.

“Move!” Celestia shouted, and threw us away from her with magic. The tardis, in the grip of the deadly claw, was flying down at her with blistering speed. I collided roughly with a tree trunk and was momentarily stunned.

“Tia, No!” Luna screamed, worried for her sister’s life. There was a constricting silence for a fraction of a second. Then, there was a loud tinkling noise, almost like breaking glass. I opened my eyes and the scenery slowly focused to reveal Princess Celestia behind what seemed to be a glowing yellow semi-sphere of cracked glass. On the other side of the glass was the claw and the tardis, held at bay with her powerful magic. She turned to Luna and I, grimacing with the strain of keeping the tardis from crushing her.

“Destroy the box!” She shouted, and then turned back to the tardis. The claw raised again, and then slammed back down onto the shield. The loud tinkling could be heard again, and a few shards of the magical defense fell onto the grass. I felt something prod my shoulder. It was Luna, gesturing for me to follow her. I got up and she immediately ran into the clearing. She bounded lithely over the splintered boughs and reaching branches, unfurling her wings slightly to add length to her leaps. I did my best to keep up with her, tripping over the occasional decapitated trunk. Luna beat me to the cube, but I caught up after a while. I fell onto the ground as we reached the cube, my lungs protesting my exertion

“Being an earth pony sucks!” I gasped as loud as I possibly could. I raised a wobbling hoof to try to right myself, and it was successful. I walked over to where Luna was. She was leaning over the cube, looking inside of a glowing window.

“What is it, Luna?” I whispered hurriedly. She said nothing, so I decided to find out myself. I leaned over the cube, which was slightly shorter than me, and through a small viewport into the inside of the machine. I gasped.

"It can’t be.” I whispered in shock, looking back to Luna. A tear was bubbling on the eye facing me.

“It’s terrible.” She said softly. I knew what was in there. I met it multiple times. One of the first ponies that I met in Equestria. She shared her home and her refrigerator with me when I had nowhere else to go. She helped me in my time of helplessness. Now it was my time to help her in hers.

Twilight Sparkle was inside the machine.

Comments

[yusha]

WAAAAAAAIT WHAAAT

[Meta Knight]

WHAT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[jroddie]

66888 I feel so justified.

[dafiltafish]

so, what you are saying is... he took a magic bolt to the kne...

THAT'S ENOUGH DAFILTAFISH!!!

[dafiltafish]

holy shit!!

[Darkness_take_you]

...........wut...............