My Little Pony, Friendship is Magic: Heart of Friendship

by ShadowDurza

Chapter 17: A Lonely Warrior

Applejack leaned close to Twilight. “Are you sure you can’t get outta here, Twi’?”

Twilight closed her eyes as her horn sparked intensely. The other ponies surrounded her to shield her efforts from the agents at both entrances of the locker room. Twilight appeared to have teleported away, but she immediately popped back into place. Twilight sighed. “I think the humans set up some enchantments around the whole arena so that teleportation is only possible inside the central ring. But even so, I get the feeling that Equestria is too far for me to warp to with a simple teleportation spell.”

Fluttershy sulked more than usual. “So I guess we can’t warn everyone about the invasion. How could this all have gone so wrong?”

Rainbow Dash followed suit. “I guess violence is just in human nature. And some of them were pretty cool too…”

Pinkie tried to perk up amd brighten up the other’s spirits. “Oh, cheer up everypony! Sure, we’re being held against our will and forced to fight for our lives against the best a self-proclaimed warrior race has to offer with the freedom of everyone we love hanging in the balance, but on the bright side… eh… um…”

Rarity elegantly scowled at Pinkie, then tried to give Twilight a gently reassuring look. “I think what Pinkie’s trying to say is that we’re still all together. Nopony or creature has ever been able to keep us down for long when we all work together!”

Suddenly, one of the agents coughed to get the ponies’ attention. “It’s time.” He stepped aside and opened the door to the path to the ring.

Twilight turned back to her friends as she moved to lead the way. “Everypony ready? This is a fight we cannot lose.” All of her friends expressed their determination and she trotted through the door into a dark concrete hall with the only source of light being up ahead, along with the roar of the crowd.

Outside, all the lights were shining down in the ring. From the side walked in the referee, who’s finger glowed in a turquoise light before he pressed it to his throat. His voice boomed throughout the arena. “LADIES AND GENTLEMEN! WE ARE GATHERED HERE FOR WHAT MAY BE THE FIGHT OF THE CENTURY, WHERE THE FATE OF BOTH OURSELVES AND THE WORLD ABOVE HANGS IN THE BALANCE! SUCH A SPECIAL FIGHT DESERVES SPECIAL RULES HANDED DOWN FROM OUR HONORABLE HIGH DIRECTOR HIMSELF! THIS SHALL BE A NO-HOLDS BARRED DEATH MATCH, ALL COMPETITORS SHALL KEEP FIGHTING UNTIL ALL OF THEIR OPPONENTS GO DOWN AND STAY DOWN! NO SPELL IS FORBIDDEN! NO TACTICS ARE ILLEGAL! NO INJURY IS TOO SEVERE! Honestly, it makes me wonder why I’m even here…”

The referee gestured to his left. “IN THIS CORNER, REPRESENTING THE SURFACE KINGDOM OF EQUESTRIA, THE MULTI-COLORED SELF-PROCLAIMED DO-GOODERS, PRINCESS TWILIGHT SPARKLE AND HER COUNCIL OF FRIENDSHIP!” The ponies trotted into the ring, and got a combination of sour and sad looks amid the boos and hisses of the crowd. Someone threw a rotten, slimy mushroom that Rarity barely managed to avoid.

Once the ponies were at the side of the referee, he gestured to his right. “AND IN THIS CORNER, WE HAVE THE PRIDE OF CORE METRO, THE PEERLESS SWORD MASTER, THE CLEAVER OF SPELLS, THE UNDISPUTED GREATEST OF ALL TIME KING UNDER THE MOUNTAIN, KRRIIISSS DUEELLIIISSS!”

Once the human entered the arena, the crowd erupted into a veritable sonic boom. The women screamed and fainted while the men took off their shirts and howled as they swung them over their heads. Once he made it in front of the scowling ponies, the referee started backing off. “AS IS CUSTOMARY, THE COMPETITORS ARE ALLOWED TO SHARE A FEW WORDS BEFORE THE FIGHT BEGINS.”

Twilight trotted right up to Kris and looked him dead in the eye. “I don’t care how strong you are. I will do anything and everything to protect my friends and loved ones!”

Then, for the briefest of moments, the hardness of her opponent’s gaze dropped. And in his eyes Twilight saw a deep, deep sadness, pain, and suffocating loneliness. But this was quickly replaced by the most intense fiery determination. Kris stretched his arm forward, and from his hand erupted an ethereal yet unyieldingly rigid sword of bright amber light. “So will I.”

The referee raised his arm. “READY?” All of the combatants took a stance. Then, he swung it down. “FIGHT!”

Taking the initiative, Kris dashed forward and made a fast slash at Twilight, who used her wings to jettison herself backwards while firing a scattershot of magic beams to counter. However, almost immediately after finishing the motion of the swing, Kris backflipped and avoided the blasts entirely.

Rainbow Dash flew in high from the left while Applejack raced in from the right and swung her lasso down low towards his legs. However, Kris countered with a diagonal spinning slash, and from the tip of his sword erupted a wave-motion beam that severed Applejack’s rope and sent Rainbow Dash reeling back, trailing displaced feathers.

Kris readied his sword in a backhand position and made two rapid, almost simultaneous horizontal swings, which sent out two rotating crescents of light that swung around to fly at the ponies from both sides, forcing them to scatter. Rarity used her magic to erect a shield of ethereal crystal. However, Fluttershy had to knock her out of the way as the oncoming blade cleaved her shield in two.

Pinkie Pie set up a party cannon and lifted up a present with a label saying Caution, Do not open, Danger before stuffing it into the cannon’s barrel. She pulled the attached cord with her teeth and let the present fly at Kris in a blast of confetti. However, Kris flourished his sword and caught the present on the flat of his blade before sending it flying back several times as fast. On impact, the present erupted in a series of loud and colorful explosions, sending Pinkie flying and leaving her dazed on the ground covered in streamers and chocolate syrup.

The ponies regrouped around the fallen Pinkie Pie and urged her back up. They faced Kris with looks of determination while Kris responded in turn and struck a stance. Meanwhile, up above in an enclosed box, a pair of humans marveled at the display. “Stakes aside, Charley, I don’t think I’ve ever seen a match quite like this.”

Charley chuckled. “Well, I can see why, Abner. Here we have a group of six ponies that each seem to utilize fighting styles based around their own special talents, just like the legends said. Even with my experience in the league, I don’t think I’ve ever encountered opponents quite like that, and yet our boy Kris is still powering through.”

“Still though, numbers win battles, old friend. Hardly seems fair that the fate of two species rests on a one versus six battle.”

“I wouldn’t worry about that, old chum. Our boy Kris here is a fire tribesman. As we all know, that means his stamina is inexhaustible.”

“Still though, despite that fine sword spell of his, even he might be in trouble if they all attack him from different angles all at once.”

“Well, for starters, that’s not exactly a spell. As a sword elemental, he can emanate ethereal swords as an innate ability, and I can tell from looking at it that he’s polished his sword skills to the point where he's a true blue top-class warrior with or without a real, physical weapon. And then there’s the fact that the sword element is part of a special variety of elemental powers that can negate magic on contact, essentially able to cleave through both physical and magical matter alike. All that means I’m lucky I never had to face anyone quite like that during my career.”

Back in the arena, the staredown continued. Twilight stood herself up tall and unfurled her wings. “You’re formidable, but the battle has only just begun!”

Kris closed his eyes for a moment and sighed. “I’ve put on enough of a show, so I think it’s time I put this spectacle to an end.” He abruptly dropped his stance, but kept his sword manifested. “We humans hold Ultima as our greatest hero. She was the one that proved to the world that humans were the ultimate warrior race. But she was also massively arrogant, and all of her great deeds were purely for the sake of validating her own ego. As such, she was never able to ascend to the ranks of the immortals.

“However, what few know is that on her travels in her waning days, she found a child, abandoned for seemingly being born with no magic at all. But as the child grew, she discovered that the true nature of his magic was one like that had never appeared before, or had appeared since. This child would eventually go on to use this truly inexplicable power to cast down the wicked sorcerer kings who reigned over the innocent with their cruel whims. For selflessly putting his life on the line for the wellbeing of others, he ascended to become the latest known immortal. After doing so, he gave up his weapon to be passed down among the only ones capable of using it, so that humanity and humanity alone would have agency over their own fate. And his name was Omega.”

Twilight gave him an awkward look. “What are you getting at with all these stories?”

Kris proceeded to raise his free hand high into the air. And in a flash of black light, a second, physical sword appeared in his grip. It was pure black and simple in shape. It had no hand guard, but its double-edged rectangular shape covered his hand and steadily tapered until it came to a diamond-shaped tip. When the crowd saw this weapon, they all gasped and hollered in surprise. Somehow, over the thunderous commotion, someone was able to scream “THE LEGENDS, THEY’RE TRUE!”

Kris proceeded to point this new weapon at the ponies. “Elementals don’t just create their elements, they can command real physical manifestations of it! By controlling the power of the Omega Weapon, not only am I impervious to its otherwise caustic effects, I don’t even need to make contact with magic to negate it!” With that, a wave of black haze-like magic emanated from the blade and hit the ponies faster than they could react to it. They squirmed in agony as their coats and manes darkened, their cutie marks turned solid black, and they each felt their special talents and everything that made them strong being stripped away.

Kris, despite his dissatisfied look, raised both swords to the crowd as they cheered. Then, a chant started up among them. “FINISH THEM! FINISH THEM! FINISH THEM! FINISH THEM!”

The referee pressed his finger to his throat once again. “THE RULES DICTATE THAT THIS IS A DEATH MATCH! THE PONIES ARE STILL STANDING! KRIS DUELIS, IF YOU WANT THE MATCH TO END, STRIKE NOW AND LEAVE THEM ON THE GROUND!”

Kris scrunched up his face and made a deep sigh. Then he walked back across from the ponies and readied a stance, crouching as he crossed his swords, which began glowing in intense auras. Twilight raised her head and scowled at Kris. Kris lowered his head and tensed up his whole body. “Forgive me.”

Right as he took off like a bolt of lightning towards the ponies, five figures dropped down from above and blocked his charge with their own weapons. When Kris got a look at their faces, he reeled back in shock and fell on his behind.

Fluttershy struggled to stand straight up and opened her eyes, which grew very wide at who’s back she was looking at. “Wilda…!”

Each of the ponies followed suit. Rainbow Dash uttered “Trace…!” as she got a look at his distinctive staff.

Applejack uttered “Percival…! At the sight of her human friend’s amorphous battle form.

Rarity could recognize such a quality ensemble from a mile away. “Sloop…!”

Pinkie Pie didn’t even need to open her eyes to feel the sourpuss energy radiated from the figure before her. “Alphonse…!”

Kris made his weapons disappear and got up, dusting himself off. “What are you guys doing here? You have no idea what’ll happen if I don’t finish what was started!”

Trace rolled his eyes and pointed his staff at Kris. “Honestly! You always do this, you jerk!”

Kris raised an eyebrow. “What?”

Wilda stepped forward and stretched his hand to Kris. “He’s talking about your little hero complex! It always has to be you that makes all the sacrifices, and it's always you that’s the first to take the fall!”

Sloop snapped a finger at Kris. “Ever since we were kids, the spotlight’s always been on you! They called you the prodigy! Honestly, I don’t blame you for cutting us side-characters off after that horrible day ten years ago!”

Kris started growing angry. “We all had to go our separate ways after that! Had to find our own ways in the world now that there was no-one to take care of us!”

Alphonse arrogantly scoffed. “Oh, please! Cry me a river, Mr. Tragic Hero! You were the only one that went their separate way! We all kept in contact after the shut-down, and always made time every now and again to meet up! About every month or so, we form a party and go on a little adventure in the caves, risking our lives and bringing back big prizes just like the old days! But we’d always blow all our earnings on a big party anyway!”

Percival transformed into the likeness of Kris, who suddenly got a pained expression. “Oh dear, the shutdown affected him worse than anyone! The guild was his life! His family! He was hurt so badly that he closed his heart off so he’d never be hurt again! But at the same time, he wanted more than anything to maintain the guild’s pride and glory, so he became the best pro duelist in the city’s history!”

Twilight struggled to speak. “You were all part of a guild?”

Suddenly, a familiar and comforting voice rang out. “Yes, the best guild of them all!”

They all turned around. Kris looked like he wanted to scream. “M-M-M-Madam von Wrinkle!”

Maxine confidently strided into the ring, and she wasn’t alone. She was followed by all the friends the ponies made on their journey throughout the cavern. Gustoff and Augustus, Jake the waiter and little Tim, Micheal and Pohl, Carmilla looking nervous but determined followed by a confident-looking Miss June, and Simone struggling to keep her glasses in place.

Maxine squared her shoulders. “Most guilds tended to build themselves around a specialty, but ours was known as the guild of a thousand special talents. We weren’t considered one of the big nine, but they all respected us and came to us whenever the going got tough. Can you tell me what that guild’s name was, young mister Duelis?”

Kris looked down, his face full of sentiment. Then, he looked right at the ponies. “The P… P… Prancing Pony guild…”

Maxine gave a big smile and nodded. “Yes, I myself served as head secretary during the latter years, but I also got no complaints as a quest counter receptionist in my youth!” Maxine pointed high above the stands. “Now, I think it’s time to lay bare the High Director’s true character before we’re all arrested and locked up for the rest of our lives!”

Suddenly, a wall of solid shadow appeared high above, and the colors swirled to form an image of Kris sitting in the other locker room. After he held his head low and sighed, he turned towards the sound of the opposite door opening and stared at the High Director himself and his entourage of agents. “I hope that this is a ritual to psych yourself up, Mr. Duelis.”

Kris stood up and looked the High Director in the eye. “There’s no honor in this, Mr. Photum! And there’s no honor in conquest either, so get with the times! As soon as I get out there, I’m throwing the fight!”

The High Director then smiled a cruel smile. “Just because you’re the biggest star in the city, doesn’t mean you can outshine me as the light of Core Metro! I’d suggest you’d reconsider that strategy, or else those you care about will suffer the consequences.”

Kris crossed his arms and stuck his nose in the air. “Why don’t you read some magazines, my most honorable High Director. I don’t have any loved ones, the fights are the only things I have, and the only things I need!”

The High Director made a low, diabolical laugh. “Oh, I don’t know about that! I happen to know of a few people you used to know that tend to meet on a regular basis. It wouldn't be too difficult to charge and sentence them for intentending to form an illegal guild!”

Kris flinched in shock. “Y-you can’t do that! The jury would see right through those drummed-up charges!”

“The jury? Ha! Everything in this city happens because I make it happen, like the constrictions of supplies, utilities, and aid to all those bums in the lower districts so they can serve the city by either pulling themselves up, or decreasing the surplus population! And to stir up some patriotic confidence in the masses, I’d suggest you use that secret weapon of yours that’s been passed down by the worthy sword elementals through the generations.

Now Kris was utterly stupefied. “How did you-”

“I know everything about everything in my city. So go out there and do your duty, or suffer the consequences!”

On that note, the screen of shadow dispersed. The crowd was left in total despair. Maxine turned towards Kris and looked at the ponies. He summoned back the Omega Weapon and pointed it at the ponies, emitting a black pulse. They quickly got all their colors back and jumped in place as they felt everything they prided themselves return. Then Maxine stretched her own arms out and summoned her dual swords. “I think we should head for the Central Administration. I’d say it’s about time for some big changes for this city!”

Comments

[AvoidingFever17]

Kris looked down, his face full of sentiment. Then, he looked right at the ponies. “The P… P… Prancing Pony guild…”

somewhere in the omniverse
Littlepip: Heh nice one!

[ShadowDurza]

11644682
You know, believe it or not, I was actually trying to reference LotR instead lol.

Sometimes I think that it might not be good that despite writing mlp fanfic and having a really good time doing so, I don't actually read it.