• Published 30th Dec 2011
  • 3,032 Views, 219 Comments

Eris's Riddle - hahatimeforponies



Three days, two thousand years, and one angry pony. What does it all make? [Harmony's Wrath sequel, OLD STORY]

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Mate In One

Once they were safely in the basement of a house, they had time to catch their breath and think. Applejack couldn't stop beaming. "Did... did you littl'uns plan all that?"

Scootaloo chuckled. "Well, Dinky came up with the plan..."

"She did?" The little unicorn was already being held up by her mother, leaving her open to the assault of hugs and kisses. "Muffin, I'm so proud of you! That was amazing!"

"Mom!" she giggled.

"It's true!"

"Ah don't think we woulda made it outta there without you!"

Rarity frowned and whispered harshly; "We wouldn't have been in that mess if they hadn't run off in the first place."

"Hush, let 'em have their moment."

Derpy frowned when she felt a hole in Dinky's clothes. "Oh, doody, your pants are ripped..."

"Wh- Hey!" Blushing, she grabbed the tear and held it shut. Though... she was reminded of something. Out of curiosity, she looked again, holding the waist out to get a good look at her flank. She clapped her hand to her mouth at what she saw.

"What is it, muffin?"

After a pause, and a little giggle, she stuck her fingers in the rip and yanked it, making it wide enough to see the dark shield bearing a pale Florian cross. "Check it!"

"A cutie mark!"

"Your cutie mark?" Derpy was starting to choke up. Pipsqueak held off on celebrating with the other crusaders for a moment, while he checked his own side.

"Look!" He cried joyfully, holding the side of his trousers down barely enough to show off the golden astrolabe adorning his flank.

Applejack tipped her hat and smiled. "Well fancy that..."

Kalza chased her tail a couple of times, trying to catch a hopeful glance at her rear, but to her dismay, there was nothing there. It didn't bother her though - she'd never even heard of a cutie mark until two days ago, so suddenly finding one upon her flank was an outside hope at best.


Sailing through the air like this was a positively surreal feeling; it was almost like Twilight was dreaming. Zecora was right though - with the assistance of the amulet, she was proving quite the slippery customer, expending a fraction of the effort she had been before. Still, she was no closer to a solution. Blueblood was just proving to quick, and she had nothing at her disposal to take him down with anyway.

Crack. In the distance, she spotted the flash of lightning by a tower at the opposite end of the city, and Rainbow Dash fleeing from the scene. Hot on her heels was a familiar gryphon dragging a familiar magic polearm. The next time lightning struck, so did inspiration.

Darting from roof to roof, swerving her course to give Blueblood the runaround, and winking a few buildings away if she felt him snap her up, she made her way towards the other chase. There was no way she could stop to talk to her... but time could. To minimise the effort on her part, she waited until their aerial courses were passing hair-raisingly close; she managed to catch Dash whirling through the air upside down, just a foot over her head. Their mutual perceptions ground to a halt with the pair just about in view of each other; the cacophony of battle around them drained away, leaving them just with the sound of each others' voices.

"This is kinda creepy, Twi."

"Rainbow, I have an idea!"

"Y'wanna make it quick? This is a really, really weird place to stop for a chat."

"You're having problems with Eisen's hammer, and I'm having problems with Blueblood."

"Yeah, what's up with that? Why is he an alicorn?"

Twilight ignored the tangent. "How about we make them each others' problems?"

"Oh. Oh."

"As soon as we land, double back. Aim for me and try to catch me, and I'll get us out of dodge."

"Got it. Sure this'll work?"

"Have you got a better plan?"

Dash paused. "Ready when you are." Her prompt given, Twilight relaxed her mind, letting the spell unwind, and reality resume its normal speed. There were a few moments (maybe a few moments too many) where she felt wind slowly building speed around her, waiting anxiously for the thud of her hooves against shingles. When it came, there was the awkward flip through the air that had followed all of her landings so far; she had an improvised technique for regaining her footing from it. When she got a look behind her, she saw Rainbow Dash on the far end of the city, crouched against sheer wall, legs coiled like a spring. As instructed, she took off towards her, and she responded in kind. Blueblood overshot, falling for the feint with all the grace of a newborn foal. Eisen appeared to do the same, and double-backed, lagging substantially behind the pegasus.

One jump - so far so good. She tipped off a chimneypot to keep her momentum going, trying to keep as straight a course towards her friend as possible. She didn't dare look back to see if Blueblood was following her - she could feel him. Third jump - nearly there. She could see the glow on Eisen's hammer by now, and the whites in Dash's eyes. Dash dropped her spear - it would only pose a hazard now. Impact was imminent, as the final lengths closed in the blink of an eye. She winced, and thought of terra firma.

Thump.

The collision knocked the wind right out of her, very nearly distracted her from sending a charge through her horn, removing herself and Rainbow Dash from the danger zone in a burst of light.

Thud.

The ground hurt - the pair hit the cobblestones of the high street hard, Twilight going flat, and Rainbow Dash bouncing off her and landing on her back a few lengths away.

Boom.

Overhead, the sky tore itself open, initiating a maelstrom of magic localised entirely within a radius of ten feet. It lit up the city brighter than the sun for a few moments, and the noise made the battle sound like a tea party by comparison. A couple of seconds later, charred fragments and chunks of things that nobody wanted to describe rained down over the whole city. The sensory overload had the pair paralysed through the whole thing.

"Twilight, Rainbow! There you are! I feared you had been blown wide and far!" It could have been a few seconds later that Zecora was shaking them back to consciousness, or an hour; they couldn't tell.

Twilight groaned, rubbing her head as she sat up. "Did it... did it work?"

"I wasn't aware you had a scheme, but, I suppose..." The zebra smirked, and held aloft a gruesome trophy; a white unicorn's severed head, brutally disfigured by impact on one side, and charred all over. Twilight barely recognised the elegantly styled forelock with a single flyaway strand. "You tell me."

"Gross, get that away."

Dash was still hurting when she popped up off the ground and hovered around anxiously. "Where's Eisen? What happened?"

"I did not see where the gryphon king landed, but I doubt he fared well, if I may be candid."

Twilight looked around, thinking out her next move; Dash was just trying to figure out what Zecora said.


The crater of dirt left by his landing was practically smoking with the heat. His front right leg had been wrenched to an unnatural angle; he couldn't see how far in his blinding pain. His wings felt like they'd been obliterated, and he certainly wasn't in a state to get up. To make matters worse, he could just about make out the forms of figures gathering on the rooftops around him. Slender, winged forms, each of them drawing a bow as they took their place. They were silhouetted against the bright sky, only able to identify them by slivers of light through their manes. The flame-haired one was the last to take her place; her cold chuckle made his blood curdle. Or at least, the blood that remained in him.

"Shocking, isn't it?" she quipped, before letting loose her arrow. The thwup of the head penetrating his ribs prompted her fellows to follow suit.

"Spitfire, that was awful."

"I know."


"He's down for now, at least."

Dash wiped her brow. "That's one gryphon down, and..." For effect, she started looking around herself, and counting the gryphons she could see on her fingers.

Twilight gave her a dig in the arm, and got back to thinking. "Hm... the defenders are overwhelmed as it is, by the time the message gets to Cloudsdale it'll be too late, retreat will be very messy at this stage... Ugh!"

"Hm. Gotta wonder, you weren't working on some anti-gryphon spell or something in the last few months, would you?"

"No, don't be sil-" The unicorn froze in place. "That's it! I don't have a spell that can help... but I know somepony who does! Come on!"

As Twilight sprinted away, Dash scratched her head. "What is she talking about?" Zecora just shrugged.


The path outside Cadence and Shining Armor's hideout was a grisly sight. The mangled remains of a couple of gryphons and liberal quantities of blood marked the ground by the door; some furniture had been dragged across the doorway itself as a barricade. Twilight cautiously stepped up to the part left open; at the back of the room, Cadence was keeping a careful watch, levitating a heavy wooden beam near the door.

"Twilight! Am I glad to see you!" The pink unicorn breathed a sigh of relief, and dropped the plank.

The other easily moved the shelf aside to enter, with her two companions hot on her heels. "How's Shining doing?"

"Been better," he quipped; he was still lying on the floor and clutching his stomach. Twilight threw herself at his side.

"Shining, I need you to put up the shield spell."

"What?"

"Modify the shield you had up over the city earlier, so that it only screens for gryphons."

Cadence frowned, and tapped Twilight on the shoulder. "Can't you do it? He's still got a hole in his stomach."

"My knowledge on them is pretty basic, shields are Shining's specialty. That's uh... that's why he has a shield on his butt." The princess quirked a brow; he couldn't help but smile.

Behind them, Rainbow Dash was only now filtering the meaning of what was being said. "Shield... gryphons... Kalza!" At this, she bolted out the door, without giving any explanation.

"What's her problem?"

Twilight shrugged. "Anyway, Shining, you have to do this! Somehow! We're running out of options here!"

"Let me just..." He took a moment to try and pull himself up into a seated position; he was grunting from pain and visibly struggling. Once comfortable - or at least, the closest he could get to comfortable - he leaned forward and began firing up his horn. Alas - after a couple of sparks, the energy fizzled out, and he groaned.

"Move." Cadence shoved Twilight out of the way and sat down on Shining Armor's legs, straddling him. She was getting blood all over her dress, but she didn't care. She held him up by the chin in one hand, and pulled him close by his breastplate with the other. "You." She whispered, so quiet that Twilight could barely hear; this was for his ears only. "You big, goofy, hot-headed hero. You can do this. I know you can do this. I believe in you. I love you." Without wasting any more breath on words, she jammed her lips against his, and like the kiss of life, he hit a second wind. They hadn't even separated, and already his horn was lighting up, and bringing up a small shield bubble, swirling and creeping across the floor. Twilight couldn't quite believe it - the power of love was going to pull them out of the fire. Maybe she'd been a bit quick to write off emotion magic after all. Before long, the spell was in full swing; Shining was still holding his lover close, and the bubble glowed brightly. Now for the hard part. He took a deep breath, and sent the shield thundering outwards.


"Kalza? Kalza!" Dash frantically scoured the streets from the air, dodging confrontations rather than getting embroiled in them. "Agh, not again!"

Nearby, Applejack was cautiously leading a convoy of survivors to safety; their improvised bunker from the night before would be ideal, but any suitably sheltered place would be a start. Spirits were high, despite everything; it was hard to bring down the mood of two young ponies who'd just earned their cutie marks, and their joy was infectious. Derpy couldn't be prouder of her little rescuer, and she couldn't wait to bring news of Pipsqueak's adventure to his mother.

Thud. Rainbow Dash touched down next to them, bringing a gust of refreshing cool wind with her.

"Hey, Rainbow! What's..." Applejack's greeting went ignored; Dash went straight to hurriedly lifting Sweetie Belle off of Kalza's back. "... goin'... on..."

The little unicorn wasn't too pleased with her rough treatment. "Hey! What's the big idea?"

"No time!" Dash blurted, before grabbing Kalza by the claw and taking to the air with her.

"Ow, ow, ow!" The gryphlet struggled for a moment to hang so that she wasn't twisting her leg; apparently wherever they had to get to so fast was more important than her comfort. A series of squawks in the distance, accompanied by the sickening cracks of bodies being thrown around like toys, only hastened Dash's flight. Looking back at the city rushing past them, Kalza could see the same pink dome as yesterday peak over the rooftops, phasing through the buildings, and any ponies she saw wandering around - but every gryphon was being scooped up and hurled into the air at dizzying speed. Those unfortunate enough to be on the ground - by now, most of the horde - were caught between the growing shield and the buildings, crushed and ground until the smears of gore couldn't be recognised as gryphons anymore. Dash dared not look back - every distraction was an inch the shield gained on them. She just kept flying, clutching Kalza with a deathly grip, until the screams stopped.

She whizzed over the city walls, passing Pinkie Pie close enough to smell gunpowder, and kept going another twenty lengths or so for good measure. There was an eerie quiet - the battle had gone silent, leaving only the sounds of the few dazed gryphons sliding off the shield and off the cliff side. Only a handful recovered before meeting a sticky end; among them, a familiar face, that cast Dash and Kalza a baleful look, before limping away with the other survivors.

On the walls, Pinkie Pie found herself a perch atop the remains of a spire. She had to look a couple of times to make sure she was seeing what she thought she saw. Inside, calm; stunned ponies at a loss to explain where the battle had gone. Outside, the scant remnants of the horde slinking away with their tails between their legs. She saw no more fitting declaration of triumph than to throw her arms in the air and scream. No fear scream was this; this was the fiery roar of victory. Gradually, the ponies below twigged; one by one, they realised their achievement, and soon, hearty cheers rang out from the city.

Outside, Kalza wriggled free of Rainbow Dash's grip, and fluttered up to hug her around the neck. It knocked a sigh of relief out of her.