34: Border Issues
As I made my ascent over the hoard of minotaurs, I couldn’t help debating on whether or not this was the best idea to have followed through on. In fact, it wasn’t clear if there were any real ideas going through my airy helmet besides, Luna is that way, so that’s where I need to go. Honestly, this could be the single stupidest decision an apparently loyal tin can like me could make.
Below my rapidly floating form, the organised ranks of metal clad bulls had begun rushing around and calling out to one another. Seemingly, to me, in a completely disorganised fashion. Hopefully they were realizing there was nothing the ground bound fleshies could do to prevent my passage over their territory. The place everyone told me not to go, including Loony. Best not to think about that part.
“ECLIPSE!” Rang out a loud familiar scream from Shining Armor, which brought my attention back to the Equestrian line I’d just abandoned. Turning my helmet, gave me just enough time to see a large purple dome envelope the entirety of the royal guard stationed there. A couple of thestrals could be seen bouncing off the inside of the shield as it appeared, possibly meaning they wanted to join me. Well, if they can’t get through, hopefully it means the minotaurs can’t get through either.
Looking across the wide-open field into the distance, the consistent flashes of Luna’s magic could clearly be seen, marking my destination. I couldn’t really make out her above average size pony form, but it was quite clear there was another large source of orange magic just beside her. This magic also flashed with obvious use.
The sight of these flashes helped solidify my choice to disobey my Loony. If I’d waited for reinforcements, or permission, I might not have made it before something terrible happened. If it’s nothing, Luna can be as mad with me all she wants, while I take whatever punishment deemed necessary for my actions. Yeah, hopefully that’s what’ll happen. Experiencing a few years of jail time will be well worth the risk. It would be nothing compared to the void.
Another bright flash of magic distracted me from my musings, making me curse the comparatively slow speed of my floating. Don’t get me wrong, my floating rate isn’t too bad now, but it pales in comparison to what pegasi are capable of. Wonder if one of those thestrals would have worn me? With a power boost, they could potentially have doubled my speed. Not to mention the fact that those guys have actual fighting skills, unlike me.
The ringing of deep bellows continued below me, as the bulls continued to debate on what to do with their floating intruder. A few of them were clearly pointing up at me, before continuing to shout. Their melee weapons clearly being readied. I’m at least thirty metres up, going at my full speed. These guys can’t do anything, right?
After the cursed thought finished, somewhere off in the sea of bulls, a loud mechanical twanging sound occurred. Huh, did something block out the sun? Looking in the direction of the sound, left me just enough time to see a dark shape. A dark shape which not only smashed straight into me with quite some force, but one that also wrapped around me with a tight grip.
What is this stuff, rope? A little confused by the sudden restriction, my flight still did not end even though my wings were bound. The wings are sort of there mainly for show. What did end my flight, was the feeling of something attached to the net going taught, before I was rapidly reeled in, kind of like a caught fish.
Whatever was pulling me, pulled with such force that my form plummeted towards it, resulting in an almighty crash, where wood splintered and metal bent around me. A last minute, “look out!” from whoever operated the machine, proved that they may not have intended for my forced landing to destroy whatever war machine they’d used.
Now prone and bound by thick ropes within the wreckage, I had little choice but to begin struggling to free myself. As I rolled around, cracking more of the construct, the numerous sounds of metal clad hooves approaching made me pause to take a quick peek. On all sides, minotaurs were steadily closing the distance to take a closer look at their quarry.
“Seems the pony’s monster isn’t as tough as we’ve heard,” one of the bulls said, while taking a closer look at my bindings, a few of which had already snapped.
Another voice jovially said, “what should we do with it? Smash its skull in? Well, if it has one.” It then laughed, while looking into my eye sockets.
After numerous bulls commented on my state, one gruffer one finally said, “no, we’ll keep it for the negotiations. It’ll serve as a blemish upon the pony’s pitiful honour.”
As each of the bulls spoke, my eyeless mist turned to them, making me think one thing and one thing only. Are these creatures really going to stop me saving Loony? Well, all I can do is try. With that thought process ingrained, I continued pulling on my bindings, being rewarded with yet another snapped rope.
“Stay down demon, or you’ll come to harm,” the gruff voice called to me directly. An authoritative tone to his voice, that would usually broker no argument.
Instead of backing down in a nervous heap, I tried my best to respond in kind. “Let me see the princess! Or-or…
ý̸̻̪͓̽̌́͂͗͜o̸̧̧̠̻͊̅̒̒̌̈́̉̇̚ų̵͈͙̌͌͊̍'̶̧̲̦̤̀̋̊̅͌̕l̶͓̘̐̽̊̏̇̎̔͠l̷̤̖̝͚̹̤̏̿̈̂ ̷̡̭̩̖̫̭̮̖̔̅̿̚͜b̸̩͙̤̖̘̀́̄̔̓̐́̿̚͜ȩ̷̛͚̙͚̭̯̱̪̐̔͗̉͒̂̚ ̸̧̨̦̣̬̻̩͒̊̅̊ͅh̸̢̡̗̞̺̱͖͖̩͙̃̌͝ǻ̸̡̟̜̇́̅̈͗r̷̤̗͙̃́͒̌̓͒̏͆͝m̶͖͉̈́̇ę̶͚̗̳̰̜̝̰͍̆̏̏̾͐̃̃̚͝͝d̶͇͕̽̏̾̐.” That probably sounded a little bit lame, but… I really meant it. It at least seemed to reduce the smugness of the surrounding bulls.
Another binding snapped, goading the previously mocking minotaurs into action. “You were warned,” the gruffer bull said, before hefting his mace into the air.
I managed to get out a meek, “wait,” just as it came slamming down on top of my helmet. It didn’t hurt as much as you’d expect to be honest. It only left the smallest deformation in the side of my temple. Just enough to be mildly irritating.
With his discouragement complete, the minotaur planted the head of his mace upon the ground, and leaned in closer to me. “So, are you going to stop now?” he asked, akin to how a pony might speak to a child.
My only response was to look at him, as the dent popped back out, returning my helmet to its unmarred state. This caused him to tilt his head, as my restraints continued to strain under my attempts to escape.
A few of the minotaurs actually started to look a little worried at that. One even said, “it isn’t stopping.” A slight quiver to his voice, while he stated the obvious.
“Hmm, this doesn’t seem to be discouragement enough,” the gravelly voice said, clearly considering what to do about me. After some thought, the probably highly ranked bull snapped his fingers and said, “get some torches. We can threaten to burn it. Then it’ll stop.” Oh, that doesn’t sound good.
“It’s made of metal. The fire will probably just free it,” came a response from the crowd, while other bulls set about loyally gathering their torches.
Okay, this is looking pretty dodgy. I’ve never actually been in a fire before. The light of the sun can feel a bit oppressive sometimes, what will a fire be like? Will it burn away my mist? Could it actually kill me? Whatever it does, it probably won’t be very good for me.
My struggles lessoned as I debated on my options, seeming to verify the commanding minotaur’s theory. “Look at that, it’s clearly scared of fire. Just get the torches ready.”
The brief fear induced paralysis I experienced quickly vanished, as my attempts to escape once again restarted. Ideas of what to do to assist in my escape rapidly pervading my helmet. Could I just turn into mist? I’ll be free then, but would that make me more vulnerable? It always hurts most when magic strikes me there. Maybe some more minor changes to my form would do the trick? Yeah, that makes sense, I can be practically a walking toolbox.
In the end, my distressed mist for brains settled upon a fairly crude modification to my form. One that would hopefully do the trick. Numerous serrated blades formed across my metallic body. Sticking out from my helmet, my chest piece and even my shoes. Basically, everywhere that a rope was currently attached to me. Almost all at one, I had each blade move backwards and forwards in a sawing motion across my prison, quickly causing it to fray.
It’s really strange adding so many new limbs simultaneously, but they only go backwards and forwards. I’ve managed to control entire forms at the same time, almost seamlessly. Maybe I should have more than two wandering around? Stay focused dammit! This is one of those times where every second counts.
Noticing how rapidly my restraints where failing, one of the minotaurs called out to his fellows, “it’s getting loose! Stop it, for the king!” Their fire weaponry, apparently not ready yet, the bulls had the bright idea to jump on top of me. Because that would somehow help. Due to them so willingly contacting my mist, it seemed to only make sense to consume their magic. Two of the bulls rapidly fell to my sides, while a third managed to have his unconscious form lay directly across my, soon to be free, back.
“It’s done something to sergeant Copper! Where’s the fire?” another angry voice called, while the last of the ropes lost their purchase. A warm liquid had started to flow down my back as I began to pull off the remaining rope. Hopefully that’s not flammable oil. It would be a nightmare to become a walking inferno seconds from freedom. Feeling just a little worried, I dematerialized my still trapped foreshoes, spring boarded myself into the sky with my rear ones, before reforming my foreshoes as if they’d always existed. The minotaur who’d fainted on my back, was catapulted off towards his fellows as my journey continued skyward towards the in danger pegacorn. Those bulls had managed to delay me for almost a full minute. That’s a minute too long.
More deep shouting occurred from the ever-changing ranks of minotaurs, I once again floated over the top of. This time, the shouts were also accompanied by a strange noise that might come from a horn. Not a horn on a pony’s head, but one that an individual with lungs would blow into. Saying that, aren’t horns made from dead animals like bulls? Does that mean the minotaurs are using the horns of their long dead? Probably not that important to think about. What is, is what do they mean? They didn’t blow them before.
My internal debate over the continuous bellows of horns, was cut short when I could finally make out some details of Luna, and more importantly, her situation. My pony was clearly involved in some form of altercation with a large minotaur. Not just large, gargantuan was probably a better word. He towered over her at more than three times her height. Maybe it’s some sort of taurus demon or something? That sounds familiar. In any case, seeing the situation did give me some mollification for my actions. Mollification that lasted all of a few seconds when I remembered Luna’s life was on the line.
A similar clunk that I remembered knocking me from the sky before, briefly distracted me from Loony’s predicament. A distraction that was well warranted, allowing me to alter my trajectory just enough to not be hit by whatever large projectile was targeting me. Scanning the ground below, I could see many of the angry bulls were pointing weapons at me. From the pointless swords, all the way to crossbows that possibly could affect my flight path. None of these were being used though, and the source of the large projectile completely eluded my panicked gaze.
Another flash of magic immediately brought my attention back to my goal. Said goal, was currently charging her horn with an intense blue light, clearly readying an attack. Luna’s opponent was just standing opposite her, with an axe twice Loony’s size resting on his shoulder. From the distance, it was impossible to make out either of their expressions. What was obvious, was that Luna was not only surrounded on all sides by cheering minotaurs, but she was also surrounded by makeshift wooden barriers. Everything probably put in place to make her escape more difficult.
The apparent stalemate came to an end, when the beast swiftly swung his axe off of his shoulder, slamming it into where Luna was supposed to be standing. Due to her quick reflexes, she managed to side step the blow, before unleashing a hefty beam of magic. One so hefty that I’d only seen bigger during the fight with Discord. The beam met her enemy’s chest, attempting to scorch it for a few seconds, before finally relenting.
In response, the monster appeared to laugh, before his own orange magic rose up his body. A large gout of flame then spurted forth from his face, right at my pegacorn. Her horn flashed and her form vanished similarly to when she left my side, causing her form to teleport behind the still fire vomiting brute.
Luna seemed to rematerialize with a sword I’d never seen before, and charge towards the demon’s heels, poised to strike. If she can teleport, why hasn’t she left? Probably because Loony can still hold her own in a fight, no matter the opponent. She probably doesn’t even need my help. With that thought cursing her, the taurus demon appeared to notice his quarry had disappeared, and spun around in time to land a nimble kick right to Loony’s chest. A kick that sent her careening through the air, until her involuntary flight was ended abruptly by her form smashing through the wooden palisades.
“LOOONY!!!” I couldn’t quite help calling out to my best friend. A blow like that would be more than enough to break bone if it can break wood. Contrary to my belief, the all-powerful pegacorn shakily got to her unarmoured hooves, and appeared to look in my direction. Probably due to the loud sound I’d unintentionally made.
In the moments I tried to make out if the creature had hurt her, I failed to notice one very important thing about the current situation. That being my own safety. In the intervening moments, I must have missed another clunk, because I instead only felt it when the projectile arrived. This time, with significantly more force. So much force that an immense pain shot through almost the entirety of my chest piece.
The initial blow caused me spin in a completely uncontrolled manner, but what was worse was the continuing blinding pain. It was so much, that I only regained my focus upon hitting the ground for the second time in one rescue attempt.
With the pain subsiding slightly, a steady groan escaped me. “That was worse than the net.” As I got to my four shoes within the newly formed crater, my helmet instinctively tilted down towards my lightly throbbing chest piece. A gasp would probably have escaped me if I had any lungs to speak of. Positioned right in the centre of my chest piece, was a hole over an inch in diameter. Not only that, but protruding from said hole was a thick wooden pole.
Seeing the object as the source of my discomfort, I attempted to pull it out, only to feel it grind slightly against the opening and a position upon my back. Glancing behind me, the rest of the bolt was visible. An entire meter of solid wood, tipped with a softly glowing metallic spike. Seems a lot of magic went into that thing. Hmm, that’d probably have killed my wearer if I had one. Heh, it was probably a good thing that a thestral didn’t accompany me. Wonder what Loony would say if I’d gotten a pony killed?
A panicked shout brought a quick end to my self-diagnostic. “It’s still moving!”
Another braver shout soon followed. “Look at the blood on its back!” Blood? Pretty sure I don’t have any of that.
Circling around me once again, were the seemingly endless hordes of minotaurs. Each of them with weapons drawn ready to strike. This time however, they appeared just a little more, I don’t know, cautious? They definitely didn’t approach as confidently as when I was bound.
There was only one thought that went through me, as they steadily approached my position. If Loony’s been injured, it’ll be all their fault. With that in mind, my mist flared out aggressively, causing a number of the bulls to flinch back. A little emboldened by their new found fear, I turned my attention back to the massive projectile weighing me down. Seeing as it had a magical broad arrow head, I began pushing it the rest of the way through the entry point it created. The moment the wood left the opening on my back, the wound to my chest filled with mist and steadily reformed into my usual metallic form.
Each of the minotaurs seemed to watch with differing levels of trepidation, as I attempted to indifferently drop the bolt upon the dirt floor. A light thud following it, as I hopefully proved how pointless its use was. Something that was entirely untrue, as that magical tip was really something. I’m not really certain how much damage it did, but there was definitely less mist inside me. Less mist for a little bit anyway, as I took the time to consume the small amount of magic the bolt had yet to expend.
The bulls almost seemed to halt the approach at the sight of my now unimpeded form. Instead, they chose to spread out in order to better surround me. That’s fine by me, if they don’t approach, they can’t stop me. With a final look at the minotaurs, my attention went back to Luna’s distress. She needs me, so best to waste no time here.
Bending my armour legs, I prepared to jump back into the air. An action that takes probably less than a second. That was apparently more than enough time for the bulls to put what they had been plotting into action.
“NOW! It’s going for the king!” an authoritative voice called out above the steady shuffle of minotaur hooves. Something which I chose to ignore as these soldiers were soon going to be left far behind me.
That belief was proved incorrect, as numerous objects came at me from all sides. Four of the objects impacted me, as my ascent began. I did attempt to continue my journey regardless of the objects, but found myself halting with a massive jerk to my motions. Looking behind me, one of the objects had latched on hard to a gap between my pauldron. It possessed four horrendous looking spikes and what’s more, a chain. A chain which was being steadily reeled in.
I did attempt to continue my flight, despite the presence of the grappling hook, but whatever it was anchored to was incredibly strong. Not only that, but the short length of the chain, made it possible for more of the makeshift weapons to reach me at just two metres into the sky.
“I just want to save Luna!” I called down to the attacking bulls, as they steadily reeled me in from two additional locations. Eventually bringing me to a standstill, precisely where my form left the ground. My four shoes digging into the dirt, as the force of the chains tried to pull me down further. It was pretty clear these soldiers would never listen to what I had to say.
Seeing as I was now standing and had a decent amount of purchase upon the ground, the hooks would hopefully be a little easier to deal with. Eyeing a group of six minotaurs pulling on one chain, I gripped the end with my mist and started to pull. Their armoured hooves seemed to hold in place for a moment, before ever so slightly scraping towards me. This was just enough for me to dislodge the first hook, gripping unceremoniously to my pauldron. The moment its hold failed; the six persistent bulls seemed to almost trip back as the force resisting them disappeared. A couple even landed on their rears.
“It’s getting free! Secure it,” came a hastily shouted order, causing the bulls to prepare more grapples, as I started to remove the second. This one caught upon my left greave.
As the additional grapples came at me, my attention returned to the enemy, who had steadily started approaching me from all sides. Each of them held long spears pointed in my direction while they advanced as a unit, probably to stop me rushing one of them if I escaped. It steadily dawned on me, that they were probably acting like I was some sort of rabid animal. The trapping and encircling likely a tried and tested method used against dangerous creatures.
With that in mind, I tried to make eye hole contact with as many bulls as possible and said, “if you come near me, it isn’t my fault what happens.” Hopefully that’ll remind them I’m a reasonable individual. Something these minotaurs had yet to prove of themselves.
Heedless of my words, the surrounding bulls continued their advance, only halting when spear tips almost met metal. For a long moment, everything was still. The minotaurs all looked at me, and I looked back. Then, I dislodged another grapple, which may as well have been kicking the hornets’ nest.
“For our fallen brother!” marked the start of many simultaneous spear stabs. I managed to knock away a good chunk of attacks from the front, even succeeding in damaging a few spears. From the sides however, the many stabs met my metallic hide multiple times, causing loud clunking impacts each time. It became apparent they were aiming entirely for my legs, when many hits seemed to find gaps and pass straight through my mist harmlessly. The spears clearly weren’t magical in the slightest, and lacked the heft to even dent me. They were at least highlighting some weak points I’d have to address in future. Wouldn’t want Luna to get a spear through the back of her knee. It might make me harder to take off though.
“This tin cans tough,” someone said, proving my lack of harm was clear for everyone else to see as well.
“Don’t be disheartened, it’ll go down eventually!” well, not for everyone to see.
In an attempt to increase whatever disheartening was going on, I snarled back, “just get out of the way. You can’t stop me.” From the feeling of a couple more grapples landing, the bulls were evidently going to keep trying.
The annoying speer hits, steadily lessened overtime. Partially, because of my steady breaking of their weapons, and partially because they had started to move onto what was likely the next stage of their plan. Some of the bulls had planted their spears in the ground, and begun to advance. They were armed with swords and more importantly, heavy looking maces. Those probably were going to hurt.
Due to the numerous chains sticking out of me, it was pretty difficult to manoeuvre, but I did actually manage to duck under the first mace swing at my helmet. Immediately after, numerous swords struck at my form, again going for my legs. Maybe that’s where the weak points are on a pony? One of the lucky blows, actually passed through my leg completely, as a gap mistakenly formed. It sort of felt the same as getting a stone in my shoe. That is to say, something you don’t really notice when you’re being assaulted.
In retaliation, I did what all good horses do and bucked my hind shoes at my rear assaulters. That caused two of them to fly away. If I’d had chance to look, I’d likely have seen them land on their fellows, due to the sudden slackening of one of the chains. That being said, a mace bashing off the side of my helmet, almost causing it to fly off, really held my attention. The individual who hit me, was rewarded with a few dents to my helmet, followed by a swift helmet butt to his armoured head. This thankfully caused the bull to stagger back, before collapsing to one knee. Hopefully, the fight was draining from these guys faster than it was Loony.
As my helmet once again repaired itself for the second time in two minutes, I shouted, “your weapons are useless! Let me go. Your king doesn’t matter to me.”
A burning pain in my side, was the only response that met my words. A burning pain that made an awful screech escape my lungless form. I reflexively swung an armour-plated wing in the attack’s direction, senselessly hoping to fend it off. My swing was met with minor success, as I looked upon the attack’s perpetrator, who’d nimbly dodged my retaliation. A minotaur wearing much fancier armour than the others. That didn’t matter too much to me though. What mattered, was the brightly glowing sword in his grip. Not only that, but where my side stung, a massive rent was present. It didn’t pierce all the way through, but it did seem to have damaged my mist once again.
Some more ineffective sword swings clattered off my side, as we both sized each other up. The minotaur with his sword raised ready to swing. Me, who had to struggle just to point in his direction. From this guy’s presence, one thing was clear, I had to move.
Drawing on an old trick I’d once used against the changelings, I gathered my mist and threw it out at the nearest minotaurs. Each of them stopped their ineffective strikes, and instead flailed at my approaching mist. Each of their strikes passed straight through, before my mist gripped on and began consuming their magic. The entire time I ate, my gaze never left the one danger to me. My focus was so completely on him, that I almost forgot not to eat the entirety of the lesser minotaurs’ magic. The feeling of their forms going limp managed to alert me just in time. Allowing me to drop nearly eight bulls to the ground. Part of me really wished I’d continued. More magic for me, less enemies for Equestria. Win win.
“That tasted pretty good,” I mistakenly said, as the fancy minotaur looked at his unconscious comrades, before his eyes shifted back to me. He actually appeared slightly relieved, rather than perturbed for some reason.
One of the bulls holding my chain had a slightly more expected reaction. “It really is a demon!” Well, maybe that’ll demoralise them? It would demoralise me if my friends all collapsed.
The call seemed to distract the lone warrior for a second, so I tried to seize my chance. Sending out another bout of mist, I attempted to engulf the bull like his comrades before him. This bull however, was prepared. Despite the lack of sound from my mist, the movement still caught his eye, allowing him to lift up his sword and slice straight through.
A̴̠͙͉̞̹͆͐Ą̵͙̲͙͈̖̖̝͂A̴̡̦͖̜͖̣̱̯͊̋̂Ä̴̢̨̢͎̩͕̠̮́̓͐A̶̧̹͕̺̱͍̙͍̿͂̈́͋̽͑͊̓͊̀Ả̴̡̛̪̭̻̃̍̀̌̆͠Ǻ̵̧͓̬̣̤̯͛͛͑̎̄̀̉͜A̴̧̬̤̤͙͙̥̓̃̍͛̊̏̋͑͘̚Ǎ̴̭̘͖̟̯̲͍̫͊̓͛͑̿̔͠A̴̠̭̐̓̍̅̈́̀A̴̯̭̫̩͑̿̀̽̓̐͋̕͝͝Á̷͚͉̪̖̱͙̺̼͐͐̕̕ͅA̴̧̝̪̓̿̅̈̈́̀̚͝Á̸̰̹̟̘͙̰Ä̵̛͖͓͖̭̯̫́̓͜H!
Pain ran through almost my entire mist at that hit. It was reminiscent of the time Celestia sliced it with her horn. I’m not even sure what I did in response for the next couple seconds. Most likely retreated my mist as far as possible from this guy, but I didn’t feel myself do it. It was just instinctual.
Opposite me, the minotaur was busy rubbing an ear with his hand, while his sword remained pointed in my direction. “It’s resistant to none magical weapons.” He informed his men, before looking back to me. For the first time, an understanding tone escaped the unnamed leader, “you’re clearly intelligent. Surrender and you won’t be harmed.”
“Y̵̡̟͖̺̱͉͙̲̓ŏ̴̝̾̀ù̷̞̠̳̹̩̍ ̴̢̳́͜h̷̢̰̝̃̚͠u̶̧̡͚͂͆ŕ̵̹̻̹͈̬͑̄̏̐̓̒̉̕t̶̡̩̖̪̒̊͊̄̍̚͜͝͠ ̸̢͙̝̟̥̖̥̹̳̗̚m̸̙̮͇̙͕̘̄̆͛͋̽̾͛͝ͅe̵͈͓͂͒̆ͅ?̸̧̲͕̆̎̄” was all I could think to say as the pain ebbed away.
It came out a little more bestial than I’d have liked, but maybe it was the required response. If I surrendered, Luna would still be in danger. With the pain finally dwindling to nothing, I simply said,
“̵͈͚̦̤͓͌̅̍͑̆̈́̄̅̕͝I̸̡̖̬̮̦͉̠̓́̋̽̅̿̈́͋̅͝ ̷̡̗̦̺͙̦͕͊ͅw̵̡̛̪̘̘̬͙̱̦̭̍͗̋̈̓̂͗͆͜ò̷̤̬̳̖ń̶̞̖͎̫͍͙͓̗̆̕͠'̸̧̼͇̱̲̭̼̹͒͆̃ţ̶̠̭̻̬̗͋ ̴̦̃͑̐͊l̷̯̲̾̿̽e̸͈̪̖̓̃t̴̼͔̜͈͙̣̜̘͒́͋͒̈́̉͛ ̷̹͍̭̺̮̲͎͈̉̀̋̉͊͊͆̏̃͠y̴̢̡̰̖̥͍̰̪͔͈̎͐̊̈̉͐͌͠ó̷̳̳̱̗ú̶̼͍̩̞͐ ̶̢͚̰͔̪̑̐̋͊h̷̨̟͚͔̜͍̽͂̐͘u̵̮̩͖̥̫͋̐̉̂̎͠r̷̡͙͛̃̊̾̃̐̑ţ̸̖̟̜͇̗͉̲̼̊̈́̈́̆͒̒̉̈́͝͝ ̵̧͔͔͈̰͎̫̒̔̍͋̅̚h̴̢͙̊̄̿͜e̸̛̘̘̤̥̤̺͚͓̮͈͑̄̄̆̄̀́̕r̷͈̳͎̓̐͊̉̍͌!̸͇̜̦̑̋̓͋̈́͝”
Seeming to already predict my response, the minotaur had started giving various hand signal commands to his men. To do what? I had no idea, but what was going to happen next wasn’t going to end well for him. I had to make sure of it.
Similarly to before, the elite soldier charged forward alongside numerous other thugs. This time however, I completely ignored his distracting comrades and deflected the two swings he made at me. Each one just barely being caught by my shoes. The metal still buckled and hurt, but it was nowhere near as bad as when my mist was targeted directly. Note to self, my armour protects me as well.
Following his two attacks, I attempted to lunge forward for a counter attack, which only rewarded me with barely a shoe steps distance, thanks entirely to the chains still restraining me. Simultaneously, the bull anticipated my response and deftly stepped back out of my shoes reach. Two other minotaurs continued to assault my sides, but a quick lash from both my wings had them out of the fight. The only real problem, was the restraints and this sergeant… captain… whatever he was.
After taking another shoe step in my problems direction, dragging however many minotaurs with me by their taut strong chains, an idea started to form. Clearly my mist could reach this jerk, but it was too fragile. Maybe if it took a more armour like form, I’d stand half a chance of knocking him down.
With that in mind, I absently pulled on the chains, as my mist created a mimic within my chest piece. All the while, I had to try and pay attention to the random magical sword swipes coming my way. During my distraction a couple of the attacks managed to pass my deflection attempts, leaving a couple unsightly rakes up my front. Okay, it’s fine. No mist was damaged, just keep going.
Eventually, the misty chain formed into a tightly packed coil within my chest piece, ready to strike. With the desire to prevent any further attacks, I retaliated the moment the enemy stepped a little too close. Lifting my helmet, I ejected the entire chain at the captain, letting it unravel as it went. He did attempt to jump back and even managed to land a strike upon me, damaging an individual chain link. This was not enough to prevent the chain from wrapping around the bull in front of me like an angry snake. Wrapping around his chest, then his legs and finally his arms.
Within seconds of the attack, the bull was completely immobilized and falling to the ground. His sword dropping out of reach as his magic was pulled away. He did continue to thrash though, a testament to how much magic he actually had.
“Bulls, delay it! For the king. Help will… come,” he said, in a last-ditch attempt to coordinate his hopefully less enthusiastic troops.
“You have a lot of magic within you,” I pointed out to him, as his struggling started to peter out into unconsciousness. “So does this.” My chains steadily unwrapped his unmoving body, before grasping onto his abandoned sword. The one true threat I’d faced.
The moment my chains engulfed the magical object, an unexpected feeling flooded through my chain, causing it to shudder. One of intense bliss. I hadn’t tasted anything so amazing in such a long time. Nothing else came close… well, maybe that storm crystal in Griffonia, but this sword had so much more to it. There was a sort of texture to the energy, not just formless magic. It was kind of hard to describe. The main thing to note was that I couldn’t get enough of it. Especially when it petered out to nothing, leaving me frustratedly shaking the tool in my links. The entire time, other unimportant opponents had been bouncing irrelevant, boring slabs of mundane metal off of my metallic hide. It really made me wish they all carried magical weapons like that. A wish I had to quickly crush with a shake of my helmet. These sorts of tools were the only real threat. A tasty one, but still a threat.
Taking a moment to look at each of the bulls nervously pulling the chains with all their might, a smile would have graced my face if I’d had one. They did still have some magic to give me, so they weren’t entirely pointless.
Grabbing another one who bravely charge towards me in my mist, I absently drained his magic, while focusing more on my free chain. Splitting it into two, I had both halves slither towards the two separate groups of jailers on my right. Despite the large shadows accompanying them, the minotaurs didn’t even notice as the chains made their way through the grass. The bulls still thought they could actually trap me. Even without my new chains, from their sliding hooves I could eventually win the tug of war.
Once my chains had gotten close enough to each group of four minotaurs, I had them coil up before striking forward simultaneously. The first chain managed to successfully entangle two of the minotaurs, before starting to drain their magic dry. The second had slightly more trouble. It did manage to entangle one minotaur, but the other actually had his eyes open allowing him to see the chain coming. He did make a mistake however, in attempting to assist his entangled comrade. A mistake I capitalized on by forcing his friend to punch his helper in the face as hard as he could. Needless to say, four minotaurs were taken care of quickly.
The other four holding the two chains had a for once desirable reaction. They saw what had happened to their comrades and looked upon my mist, before almost as one choosing to flee. Normally, having people be scared of me sucks, but today is a different kind of day. It almost made me laugh when I turned to the only two restraints left taut. Both on one side, so nothing stopped me approaching. Starting off at a walk, but moving quickly to a gallop, I charged towards the eight remaining bulls. The entire time hoping one would have another magical sword. None seemed to be present, but maybe I’d get lucky?
Seeing my unimpeded approach, they each dropped the chains and this time stood their ground. Likely reasoning a quadruped could gallop faster than they could run. There weapons met my heavy form full force, but did little to slow me down. My helmet contacting the middle one’s chest, and my wings catching another two didn’t really impede me either. Seeing as I had three incapacitated minotaurs in front of me, I sent tendrils of mist out to the other group of four manning the last chain. Each of them crying out as my mist brought them into the air and drained their magic.
One final bull remained, from the four my body had collided with. He shakingly looked into my eye sockets, before choosing to drop his sword. “Spare us. We’re no threat anyway,” he desperately called as he fell to his knees. What a weird thing for him to say. They’re the aggressors.
“What do you think I’ve been doing?” With those words hopefully highlighting the lack of minotaur death, I sent a tendril of mist forward to drain the surrendering minotaur into unconsciousness. No sense leaving him to stab me in the back.
With no threats left, I prepared to once again jump into the sky, only waiting for my chains to re-join me. When they approached and turned back into mist, I was left with a familiar strange feeling. I felt really confined. Like my armour wasn’t big enough. How strange is that? Standing alone, I’m already a bit taller than Celestia but it’s just too small. Upon getting back home, it was pretty obvious another mini me might need to pop up. For now though, an extra three foot on my height would do the trick. Maybe some chains hooked to my sides, they could be used to ensnare more minotaurs. Hmm, a blade for the tail could come in handy as well.
By the end of my little modification session, I was a little reminiscent of a nightmare I’d help quell many months ago. That’s probably a good thing for a combat situation. The addition of a few spikes, and a sharpening to my faceplate’s jaw didn’t really go amiss as either.
A relieved sigh escaped me at the reduced pressure, allowing me to concentrate more on the task at shoe. Rather than jumping straight back to the sky, a recent memory of how I met the ground, resurfaced, causing me to look at the remaining minotaurs who were steadily making distance from me. There has to be a ballista or something around here. If I go back up, they’ll just shoot me back down. More importantly, that thing was firing magical bolts. If I destroy it, that’s basically a buffet. It’s funny, I never realized how easy it is to come about energy. There’s just so much around.
Turning my helmet this way and that, it wasn’t long before an area with slightly higher magic was located. An area that appeared to have a number of minotaurs waiting in front of it, a perfect start. Starting to gallop in that direction, I reasoned that destroying this last strong point of magic, would not only let me help Loony, but would give the ponies a better chance in future. Such weapons can’t be that easy to make, otherwise everyone would have them.
As I galloped towards the position, draining any minotaurs unlucky enough to get within five metres, I could see the source of magic. Behind a column of bulls, who were retreating, stood another two in familiar fancy armour. Each of them with a magical sword in hand, clearly waiting for my approach.
When we were within comfortable hollering distance, I halted my shoe steps, unwilling to immediately get too close to the threat. For some reason, it seemed diplomacy might be possible with these two. The first one was a little reasonable.
“G̷̹̑I̸̤̝͂V̵͓̠̀̌E̵̢̖͉̳̖̜̻̲͉͛ͅ,̶̹̞͉͋̃͆̐͘ ̴̨̬̖̘̣͍̝̹͐̅̉̈́̅͆̇͗͜͝ͅM̵̛̩̤̿͒͂̒͐̋͂̚Ȅ̷̙͙͍̫̥̉̃͜,̷͔͓̀͊͂̿̅̊̒ ̶͚̝̣̋̄̍̃̇̽Y̸̛̛̭͈̤̯̬̌̒̒̆̚Ọ̴̄̆͛͝U̷͕͎̩͎͑̍̉͌͝Ȑ̷̛̥͔͌́̎͜,̷̘̜̈́̎̐̑̇͘ ̷͖̠̩̮̬̀̌̅̀̌̂W̷̧̨̹̎̑̃̾̓͌͐̎̓̚E̴̡̡͇̣͔̊͊̆͐̃̂͊͂̚Ä̸̧̱̺͔̰̖͕́P̴̡̺̲͉̻̙̄̃́͑̾̀͠O̷͉̓̉̃̿̃̆̓N̵͕̊̆͂̏̉̐̐͋S̴̙̄̾!̸̯͔̲͇̹̜̬̥̓̀̓̾̂̿̕” I asked… diplomatically across the battlefield.
The two bulls took a second to look at each other, before one spoke out in a deep voice, “we don’t bow to monsters like you.” At their words, I just tilted my helmet curiously. Clearly, they needed to look in the mirror. They’re the aggressors here.
“I’ll just take them from you then.” With their decision made, I extended the chains from my sides, ready to lash out, before charging towards the nearest bull. He managed to dodge out of the way of my charge, but failed to have his sword connect with me. My follow up to the charge was also met with limited success, as I attempted to collide a chain with his head, he deflected it with his sword and actually staked it to the ground.
While his actions did prevent me using the chain continuously, it also left him wide open to a different attack I’d yet to use. Yet to use because I didn’t really want to hurt anyone. That being my bladed feathers, which I threw in a fan from my wings. Three of the sharpened shards collided with the minotaur’s chest piece and unexpectedly pierced through, leaving the blades stuck into what lay beneath. My feathers, now in prime position, began steadily draining the magic from the still reeling bull, while his ally retaliated for him.
The second bull charged my position, easily deflecting the additional blades I threw his way, before his sword collided with my pauldron, tearing through an unhealthy chunk of me. A quick swing with my oversized wing in retaliation, was easily dodged by a single step back, due to the unbalanced state the pain had put me in.
These elite guys really have to go. With that in mind, I whipped my second chain around, causing the second bull to flinch back. Rather than targeting him, the chain continued around and engulfed the minotaur who was still struggling to pull out the knives. Thus, ensuring he wouldn’t be able to reengage me and providing me with the banquet of his magical sword. An item that both my chains dived upon; the moment the bull went limp.
My final obstacle stood in almost disbelief, as I gorged myself upon the second delectable treat. “Targeting the injured… have you no honour at all?”
Seriously! These bulls are real hypocrites. Rather than shout that angrily in his face, I dropped the now inert sword, before simply mentioning, “you know, Luna has a broken wing.”
With my point hopefully made, I retracted my wayward appendages and began firing more knife-like feathers at the lone warrior. As expected, he began deflecting them, so while continuing to fire, I charged him. He did notice the coming threat, but there wasn’t much that could be done, seeing as he had to continually deal with a torrent of blades. As a result, it wasn’t long before my form was upon him. A pauldron barge straight to his gut Knocking the wind out of him.
Another strike with a shoe, straight to his helmet had him collapse onto his back, where I held him to the ground. Pinning him by his shoulder with my shoes. There was a brief amount of fight left within the commanding bull, almost allowing him to throw me off. That fight however, left him quickly as his magic seeped into my hungering shoes.
Having no enemy left, I turned to his sword and eagerly grabbed it in the metallic jaw of my helmet. I couldn’t quite help pointlessly chewing it, in the hopes to somehow eat the magic faster. When the magic source finally ran out, I felt a little silly. There was no need to actually swallow anything, even if I’d managed to take a good chunk of steel out of the sword. Still, that magic was great.
With that in mind, the ruined sword was unceremoniously dropped on top of the fainting minotaurs chest, before my helmet was positioned by his head. “Do you have many more of these?”
Sadly, the bull’s consciousness finally failed him before my query could be answered, prompting me to look at his now distant comrades. They appeared to have fallen back to a defensive line, probably nearby more coveted magic items.
Stepping from my snack’s chest, my chains unfurled and began swinging in the air, as I began to approach the distant line of troops. There’s still magic over there, so hopefully that means more swords. If not, then there’s probably that ballista, can’t quite see any evidence of it though. There’ll at least be plenty of fleshies to feed off of though.
Before I could make my mind up as to whether or not it made sense to proceed, an extremely large amount of familiar magic, flashed only a metre to my right. A flash much larger than any the minotaurs had previously displayed. I reacted accordingly to the new threat, swinging my already airborne chains in its direction, hoping to simultaneously snuff out the minotaur threat and acquire the magic.
Almost matching the magic’s flash, a feminine voice called out, “Eclipse wait!” My helmet turned in the direction to see the entire reason I’d been fighting right there. Luna, my precious pony was right there.
In that moment everything seemed to slow down. She seemed to be steadily gaining a look of panic, as her horn began to relight. Not only that, but she also raised a hoof in an attempt to block my chain’s violent swing. She needn’t have bothered, as the links were easily dissolved into mist, causing her pretty face to be engulfed in darkness, rather than her skull being shattered.
How did she even get here? That minotaur seemed to have her trapped somehow. Is she hurt? Rather than ask all those questions, I simply starred at her in disbelief and said, “Loony?” Part of me couldn’t quite believe she’d saved herself.
Rather than replying straight away, my pegacorn put a hoof to her chest and appeared to almost gasp in relief. Dimming her horn, her face turned to a half-hearted smile as she began to steadily approach. “For a moment, We believed thou may have actually went through with that,” she admitted, referring to my almost spectacular blunder. Hitting her would probably have been the worst possible thing I could do. She doesn’t even really have a proper helmet, just her regalia.
Her mouth opened again to continue speaking, just as the present moment caught up with me. She’s still in danger! Minotaurs are everywhere, and what if that giant one’s followed her? All things that really shouldn’t have been forgotten by me.
Not wanting to leave her in danger any longer than was necessary, I completely missed her words and instead gripped her with my mist, bringing her towards me. An action that allowed a look of fear to resurface over her face. Those minotaurs really did a number on her, so many bruises, no wonder she’s terrified. In an attempt to ease her worries, I placatingly said, “Don’t worry, I’m here.” Can’t believe I was so distracted, who cares about magic swords? Even if they taste really good.
My words didn’t seem to have any effect upon my truest friend’s temperament, as she squirmed against my mist’s grip, making it more difficult for me to pull off her regalia. “What art thou doing, desist!” she sputtered, as I threw her chest piece aside before pulling her into my own that was a few sizes too big.
“Where’s the big one?” I asked her, as I reshrank my shoes and helmet to fit Loony’s lithe form, before making my metallic skin almost four times as thick. With her fully kitted out, I put us into a combat ready stance, she’d used when fighting Discord, before having her snarl at the minotaurs. Minotaurs who were now apparently fleeing from numerous green glowing specs in the sky.
“Their king has postponed Our duel for now to deal with… some issues,” Luna said through her bared teeth. She sounded pretty uncomfortable, especially when she said, “Eclipse, We cannot quite move… at all.”
As more and more distance was made between the minotaurs and our position, I relaxed my stature almost falling over at the emotional drain. Luna’s form prevented that eventuality as she decided to instead take a seat upon the ground, which was fine by me, as it made it much easier to hug her with my wings.
“I thought I was going to lose you,” I said as my form gently squeezed Luna’s entire body. A good deal of my mist had also disappeared, likely inside of my wearer’s body.
In response to my all over hug, my pony raised a now armoured hoof, and began gently rubbing my side. “’Tis okay, We- I am here. ‘Tis all over now. The minotaurs are no danger to us,” she began in a soothing tone. Something I was glad to here. She clearly believed everything she was saying.
“I won’t let anyone hurt you. I promise.” Next time, I’ll insist she takes me with her.
“We know, We would never let anypony harm thou either,” Luna responded. Her words tinted with slight teers. Teers that I’m fairly certain weren’t her own.
“Sorry about getting my mist in your eyes.” I lamely said as one droplet escaped her eyes. I’m glad no ponies are around to see her like this.
A calming shushing sound escaped her lips, as Loony decided to lay upon the ground, all the while continuing to rub my side. “If thou wishes to cry, We do not mind being thy outlet. ‘Tis Our honour.”
With that said, Luna looked to the sky and focused on the green glowing forms in the sky. The green glow clearly matched that of changelings in pony form, accompanied by a large quantity of pegasi and thestrals. Upon the ground quite a few unicorns and mundane ponies had marched in front of us, creating a sort of barrier between the bulls and their precious princess.
The sound of large wings met my wearer’s ears, causing them to swivel to Our right, just as four hooves landed upon the dirt. “Oh, thank love you’re okay,” a slightly late out of breath glowing green Luna said. Her form suddenly burning away to Skitter’s, before her now slitted eyes went over Luna’s armoured form. Probably looking for injuries, but that would be hard to see through my, hopefully, now impenetrable armour.
Taking a moment herself to take in the friendly bugs presence, Luna smiled beneath my faceplate, before warmly saying, “Yes, thanks to thy swift intervention, less harm has been done.” When she mentioned less harm, she looked at the minotaurs retreating with their metaphorical tails between their legs. Wait, do they have tails? Not important.
Luna, clearly intrigued by the individuals encouraging the minotaurs retreat, continued to ask, “how did thou acquire such aid so quickly?” Suppose that was something to think on. There can’t have been that many changelings in Canterlot. That is if Luna knows those are changelings.
As if in answer to the question, a shadow was cast across the two of us from the direction Skitter had originated. A familiar sinister voice followed with it. One that was quite pleased with themselves. “Responsible farmers protect their cattle, my little pony.” The larger bug landed right next to us at that, before leaning her head right next to my pony’s own.
“Queen Chrysalis,” Luna began with a nod, clearly holding back an insult of her own, thanks to the gritted teeth. Instead, she begrudgingly rose to our hooves, while still rubbing our side and confidently said, “what an unexpected… honour.” The final word seemingly quite difficult for Loony to say.
Outwardly not noticing that fact, the changeling Queen lifted up her head with a wide sharp toothed smile, clearly taking in the praise. “So it should be.” Clearly, she hadn’t changed her attitude towards her new allies in the slightest.
In contrast to what I’d just been thinking, our hero decided to attempt to lay a complement upon Luna. Never once losing her smile of superiority, Chrysalis said, in a slightly sweeter tone, “that new weapon of yours seems quite interesting. It only seems fair that my changelings get to look it over, as part of our… alliance.” A small laugh accompanied the final word.
For what felt like forever, Loony and Chrysalis stared into each other’s eyes. Neither of them blinked for the longest time, before Luna finally broke the impromptu match, by looking down at her legs. An action that seemed to bring even more elation to the bug Queen. She wasn’t however looking away out of fear from Skitter’s mother, but to inspect the slight quavering her legs were doing. In my defence, I didn’t realize I’d been making Luna look so terrified. The day had been so stressful, all I wanted was to go home and lay in Luna’s bed with her.
Steadily looking up from our shaking form, Loony’s blue eyes met green once again, before she diplomatically said, “We shall endeavour to ask Eclipse once he is less overwhelmed by his experience.”
The only response my Luna gained was a sneer that wasn’t quite a hiss, before Chrysalis’s bug wings buzzed her into the air. “Come along Princess Luna. Those pathetic cows must be prevented from rallying. Our snacks will likely fail without our continued assistance,” she authoritatively said to Skitter, while glancing in our direction at the word snacks. She didn’t wait for a reply before darting off in the direction of the already routed bulls.
“Just form a permitter!” Luna called after the retreating form of the over grown bug, before looking to the more appealing one.
Skitter looked after her bolting mother, before sighing. She then gave me a gently tap on the pauldron with a holed hoof, and said, “I’ll talk to you later.” A very genuine warm expression on her face, before she followed her mother’s instructions, loyally buzzing after her, before transforming back into Luna’s duplicate mid-flight. Wonder if most of the ponies following her even know they’re here to rescue the real Luna? This is probably going to serve as some publicity stunt for Chrysalis or something.
“Cattle… snacks!” Luna said angrily under her breath, before she attempted to look at my pauldron herself. “Do not worry thyself my friend. She will not be allowed to get her holed hooves upon thee. That, is Our promise.” In all honesty, being left with Chrysalis didn’t worry me at the moment. The main worry was that I partially agreed about the snacks.
As I failed to respond, Luna started to make her way back to where Shining Armor’s shield once was, before pausing just long enough to look at the fleeing bulls. “Our sister will not be happy with Us for this,” she muttered to herself, before continuing at a light trot back towards our carriages.
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Well, that was a thing that happened. Honestly I was hoping for something more... regrettable? Actions that couldn't be taken back, that kind of thing.
Still, looking forward to more. As far as the chapter goes, I think it was fine, I doubt it's possible to feel that a chapter is truly perfect anyway.
This was a lot of fun. I was not expecting to see this today but read it immediately and have no regrets despite it being 1 AM. Thank you for continuing this story.
eclipse is probably gonna freak once he realizes he got totally sidetracked from saving luna and instead went for the magic
All creatures should know that void creatures are not to be trifled with.
In the land of Void, dreams, and darkness where abomination thrives by endlessly consuming each other.
The bulls were lucky that our dark knight has not yet loss his senses to his deep primal instinct of consuming those who oppose his Knightly duties.
11546460
Well, Eclipse did kill that one minotaur that fell on top of his chainsaw form. And he may or may not have eaten a few minotaur souls. The Minotaurs will definitely think he is a monster now, and those weapons he ate may have been culturally significant, like national treasures. There will definitely be political Fallout from this. Luna seems to know this too with her saying Tia won't be happy with them.
Waiting for the moment when Luna, or Celestia, sit him down and explain that HE was the aggressor. He is like a super-powered child, who needs to learn how to properly use his powers.
That being said, he is truly a good friend for wanting to protect Luna. This was a complicated chapter, but enjoyable nonetheless.
11546519
I musta missed the chainsaw part, I only remembered him breaking the bonds of rope.
Fair enough argument for the rest tho I suppose.
I gotta say while this story is a very good one, the MC is a dumbass that thinks to much
11546460
Same here, I was looking forward to him unleashing his inner demons. Unfortunately, he thinks a tad too much.
Not quite what I expected, this chapter. The battle was a bit drawn out for my taste, but you do you good author.
good chapter!
Remember folks, this was mostly Luna's fault for leaving them all in the dark!
Wonder what the Minotaur spin on this was.
Frankly the whome situation shouldnnot have happened. If there was to be a duel it should be infront of both forces to witness
11546531
Yeah, it was more of a wiggling knife form, but chainsaw sounds more grusome.
I wonder what the minotaurs are going to call Eclipse in their rumors and reports?
11547133
I don't think he was killed maybe injured a good bit
11546585
I believe that is somewhat purposeful, a smart protag is sometimes a boring protag
11547775
I understand that, I do not want an incredibly smart MC. I just believe that it would be better if the MC had a somewhat closer to average intelligence
This made me wonder if he can take on metal from other sources or if he just converts mist to metal and back
11548714
All the material that the armour is made out of comes from their mist. Anything they put on, or is given to them doesn't form a part of them unless it can contain magic.
11546460
This chapter did almost have an alternate end where instead of Eclipse fighting with numerous minotaurs, they instead eluded the minotaurs and interrupted the duel with Luna in a more spectacular and in person way. It never happened mainly because it would've changed my plans for future chapters as well.
11548495
From what I’ve seen he has average intelligence tho. You cannot expect anyone to make perfect decisions with the information he has in the situation he is in just because you can think about it calmly while sitting and reading and comment while having hindsight coloring your perception.
11548975
11548495
11547775
When Eclipse first started out, they hadn't experienced the material realm for an indeterminate amount of time if ever. I like to think after however many months they've had with Luna, they've learned how to deal with average every day situations quite well. That doesn't mean they know how to react in situations that are outside the norm as they have no similar experiences to go off of, even if everyone around Eclipse thinks they're a competent advisor due to Luna's word.
11548975
I do not want him to always make the perfect decision as that would make the story predictable. The main reason I believe he thinks too long to often is due lack of reference to time when the MC thinks, which creates the illusion that MC is thinking for a long time when we read the MC’s 200+ word thought. When time is referenced it’s usually at the end which does not help with preventing the illusion.
Regardless of Eclipses action this dual that the minotaurs like to call "negotiation" is A bloody joke since there going on and on about honor. Said it before and I'll say it again a dual of honor between nation's in done where both side can witness it. This keeps both sides from trying anything funny and prevents complications caused by loyalties like Eclipses from happening. I do NOT care one bit about this being minotaurs tradition or hurting there fragile pride because they find it insulting that someone like me would refuse to do what they want because I refuse to believe that there's no way they would lie. If they really value honor then they wouldn't be hiding there duals!
Also can't help but feel that Luna might have done something wrong and engaged in a old tradition because I don't see Celestia brawling with a minotaur king every time they show up at her border.
11549239
The fact Eclipse thinks to much was kind of intended as a character flaw. He thinks a lot about doing things, but rarely ends up doing said things for a while.
I do see what you mean though. He stops to think mid fight a lot and it messes up the pacing. Pacing is something I'm not the best at ever since I started this story. Hopefully, there's at least been some improvement since the train wreck of a chapter one.
You know, with the amount of magic he ate to grow 3 feet past celestia's height, that extra "mass" has to go somewhere. If his size is limited due to Luna's stature then wouldnt his "metal" get more dense? Based on tirek's magic-size ratio the amount of magic one generally has the bigger one is. If eclipse's size is regulated then his density would increase as his mass would still be increasing. Obviously luna wouldnt feel it while wearing him, but it would be the equivalent of a suit of armor made out of enchanted tungsten steel at some point.
Dang. A little bummed about the chapter. I was really hoping for some "blood for the blood god" style fight going down where they experience just how terrifying he can be, but seeing how dangerous the enemy is by how much he doesn't kill you all is alright too I guess. The flow was a little choppy but not terrible. Is there going to be a "YOU'RE A BUNCH OF IDIOTS!" talk?
On a side note, can't Eclipse shape and morph his armor, similar to his mist? Also it just occurred to me, why is he shaped like a pony when he fights? Wouldn't the better form be bipedal? or has the thought just not occurred to him yet?
11548495
Agreed
11549357
True, the density and thickness would increase. Although Eclipse has already been regulating this by keeping a store of spare mass in the form of a mini-Eclipse. When he reaches critical mass, he can just split himself in two.
I quite liked this chapter. A lot of fighting, but I like how Eclipse kept it non-lethal. I also like how his armour isn't completely impenetrable and invulnerable. It seems he is both strong and weak simultaneously against magic. Although he likely could have broken out of the grappling chains by deforming his armour around the snagging points. I wonder if he could create a solid metal "core" to condense his mist into. The dense and thick core would be less easily pierced and provide extra protection for his mist. I look forward to the next chapter, and all the resulting political minefield with the minotaurs following.
Also look forwards to seeing if Chrysalis will attempt some "covert analysis" of Luna's "weapon(armour)." I cannot recall whether she know's he/she/it's alive or not at this point in the story.
11551844
I'm glad you enjoyed the chapter. I was trying to show that even though Eclipse is quite powerful, in the right situation they aren't some unstoppable force.
Also, everyone knows how trust worthy a love bug like Chrysalis is. She would never do anything untoward right in front of anyone. :)
In answer to your memory, to Eclipse's knowledge, Chrysalis has never seen them before now, but has been told about them.
Ожидание полностью того стоило, спасибо)))
I'm very confused why Eclipse didn't just... turn the trapped parts into smoke? Like, there were hooks on his armour holding him in place. Turn the parts that are hooked into mist for a moment, boom, no longer trapped. I don't really get it.
This chapter is honestly a bit out of whack with the rest of the story with that whole thing. Luna not explaining anything, Shining being too antsy and unaware of the situation (and being in the situation in general; he's a Guard Captain, not a Military General or similar), and Eclipse doesn't really think, despite thinking too much, which is a very odd dichotomy.
11554040
I agree with your assessment. Kind of wish I went down an alternate path with it to be honest. One where Eclipse made it to the duel. It would mean I'd skip a chapter but it would've made more sense. The next chapter is sort of annoying me now aswell.
11554184
you can always make changes. nothings set in stone, especially if your not happy with it. i don't mind a wait or a reread. im enjoying your story.
11555610
Sadly, I can't really rewrite something that would affect the next chapter. It would probably leave the majority of people who've already read, a bit confused as it wouldn't connect up properly to them. I'm just going to do some figuring out of some stuff. Maybe I'll have a short chapter next, while I modify what would have been the next chapter.
11551931
sorry for the necropost, but...
I kinda feel like he's still being incredibly nerfed by a lack of creativity. He's still basically just doing pony shapes with a few additions (the spring loaded tongue thing was neat).
I'm honestly curious about how he would've done in a shape more monstrous? Like maybe a pony-sized roly-poly with a spiked shell? or a scorpion with arms/pincers coming out the top as well as the normal places? Or even just turning into a spread out fog and materializing as a large web of wire connecting all the minotaurs before just pulling them all together, knocking a few out, breaking bones elsewhere, generally creating chaos.
I know that you've made it a point to make him over think things and for him to be adverse to changing certain things, but it's kinda frustrating at times like the latest chap, where he has the perfect opportunity to go nuts, and he gets confined to a few neat tricks and a somewhat threatening battle pony form
11562188
I don't think it's a necropost, your points are quite valid and ones I've considered in the past.
It sort of seemed against Eclipse's personality to have him completely shed his usual form. He's never done it in a major way in the past, so it seemed odd to do it now out of the blue. That third idea of yours with the large web of wire actually came to mind but with chains instead, as he was originally going to act in a slightly feral manner when Luna was perceived to be in danger. It was actually going to be right near the chapters end.
It never really sits right with me when a stories protagonist goes completely off the deep end when faced with a stressful situation. I believe they'd still act within certain boundaries, so even though Eclipse is clearly stressed by the situation, he doesn't go crazy.
In future, he'll most likely use more interesting forms as he has more time to think about situations. Maybe one of his friends will give him some ideas? Who knows?
I get that Eclipse's over thinking is frustrating as many comments have iterated the same thing. It's sort of meant to be a side effect of his time spent alone in the void. When he's used to having infinite time to think about things, I thought it'd make sense for his mind to wander.
11562390
I understand the part about Overthinking things. I’ve only been frustrated by his lack of creativity and his doormat personality (and that frustration was mostly just present during the part where Twilight was using him as a test subject. There’s a difference between timidity and nigh absence of willpower.)
Also, I can see what you mean about not going off the deep end immediately. But even small changes like that changing pieces of himself into must to counter the hooks (like a previous commenter suggested) or having him just mystify and float straight through the crowd towards Luna.
Sure, he’s gonna get a bit hurt by those swords, but they still aren’t gonna get much done by stabbing at magic air.
In the end, I’m still sticking around. This wasn’t a bad chap, just have my own, admittedly minor, complaints
11563706
I see, thank you!
11546501
Really, Eclipse was starting to succumb to The Hunger (in this case, magic) and getting bigger.
Hmm, who else do we know that "eats" magic and gets bigger? Hmmm...
This is the best chapter I’ve ever read.
First there’s Eclipse slowly falling into a form of madness, and the reader slowly experiences how it’s not the Minotaurs, but him who’s the bad guy. It was written in a realistic setup, and the climax was heavy with emotions. The appearance of the changeling was also interesting to see, and the chapter leaves of at a bittersweet cliffhanger, while also serving as a perfect setup for future conflict.
I tip my had to you, and thank you for this amazing story…
Well... now it's the second time.
11598323
Just been distracting myself a bit recently. A friend of mine has gotten me back on track though, so the next chapter is coming out Tuesday.
Also wow, right as the next month rolled around. You were ready for that one. :)
Equestria is seen as harmless, that must change.
Unless one is able and if need be willing to do great harm, one is not peaceful but harmless.
Celestia seem to have forgotten that fact.
Good Eclipse made sure that Luna didn't pay for it.
Hmm…
11610146
Hmm?
The rage of a good soul is something to fear!