A Collection of Short War/Battle Stories

by KeeganFirecloak

The Duel

You trudged up the mountain, step by step. Your legs burned and the setting sun was making it harder to see by the minute. You stopped in a small cave to make camp for the night, and would finish your journey tomorrow.

With the fire started, and a meal eaten, you sat back against that wall of the cave. You pulled the note from your pocket and unfolded it. You’ve reread this note several times since you got it, yet still couldn’t make sense of it.

”Anon,

Meet me at the top of the mountain due west of Ponyville.”

So, obviously your secret pen pal is a pony of few words. You rested your hand on the elegantly made object on your belt. Even now, you could still feel the pull of the Magitite Crystal driving you to keep hiking up the mountain in the morning.

The fire had died down, now only a warm glow in the night, and you had laid your head down for rest, which had come easily.

Morning had come just as soon as sleep had, and after a quick breakfast you resumed your journey. You were fortunately nearing the top, as the temperature had dropped enough to where your breaths emit clouds of vapor. You had worn a large cloak for the occasion, so you were likely able to avoid the biting chill that surrounded you.

You had reached the summit, and by now it was nearly mid-day, you set your travel bag down, took a seat, and waited. Not but a few minutes had passed when you saw a cloaked figure emerge from behind a large rock. From first glance this figure seemed slightly taller than you, but only by perhaps a few inches. You could not see their face. You simply stood up and gave a cordial bow.

“Hello there.” You began, “Are you my ‘secret admirer?’” You motioned quotation marks with your fingers. You could not see their face, but a certain aura of negativity surrounded him.

“You have something undeserving of you.” The figure said, with a distinctly masculine voice. He removed his hood to reveal a pale unicorn with azure eyes, his mane was a very striking purple hue, and was tied back behind his head in a style that reminded you of those old Samurai movies back on Earth. He pointed toward you with a finger, the movement shifted his cloak and hanging off of his belt you could vaguely see an object resembling…

There’s no way… only the princesses should have access to that!

“That crystal you have should only belong to ponies! Not some magic-less ingrate like you!” The unicorn shouted. You snapped out of your thoughts and stood up, crossing your arms and moving away from the rock you had been sitting on.

“I helped with the discovery of Magitite Crystals, I was rewarded for my achievement. But only the princesses and I have access to the crystals themselves, so how did you get your hands on one? And while you’re at it, how did you get your hands on the schematic for that device on your belt? The only one of those in existence should have been mine and the schematic now only exists in memory alone.” Your questions were answered through action, as the stranger threw off his cloak and his horn flared up.

You readied yourself and the stranger fired three spears of light at you, they were slow enough for you to simply dodge them and be ready for another attack.

The stranger grinned a confident and menacing grin as he reached to his belt and pulled the object off. He pointed one end towards you and pressed the button engraved into the side. A viscous hiss came from the device as a menacing crimson blade made of pure Magic was emitted from the hilt. The blade made a dull yet ominous hum when the stranger moved the blade into a ready stance and glared daggers into my soul.

“You realize that only one of us is leaving this mountain alive, do you not?” He stated. You took a deep breath of contempt.

“So, a duel to the death then. I wish it hadn’t come to this, but I want to see my friends again, so I will do what I must.” You said. You grabbed the Magitite sword from your belt and clicked the button. With a flash and an elegant hum a vibrant purple blade emitted from the hilt of your weapon. You could feel the Magicka blade gain some semblance of weight because of the energy and you gave it a quick spin before landing in a ready stance of your own.

“You best quit, stranger. You don’t know who you’re dealing with.” You said as your expression changed to a serious yet unreadable one. Your opponent’s face scrunched up in anger as he began advancing. You could read him like an open book. His eye movements, his foot work, and his breathing all gave clear signs of precisely when he was about to swing.

A downward swing from your opponent was easily parried by you with and overhead behind the back block, the blades hissed wildly when they clashed. You countered with a downward cut of your own. He managed to throw his blade up to counter it before his head was severed and he stepped back before you could strike again.

With his bearings gathered, the stranger lunged forward to try and catch you with a thrust. You effortlessly beat his blade to one side, he tried again and you smacked his blade to the other side. He twirled his Magicka saber to strike at you, but you countered with another fancy block. This time you pivoted on one foot and made to decapitate him with a horizontal slash, but again your opponent moved to block. You stepped back and threw a cut at his head during your retreat which he blocked.

Advancing again, you attempted to wind your blade around his to deliver a lethal thrust to the throat but he swung to the side throwing your blade off center. You stepped back again and the tip of your saber burned a line into the ground as you retreated.

“Not bad… I see potential. Raw talent, perhaps. Too bad. If you had chosen to let go of your hatred against anything that wasn’t a pony, you could have been the first student in an academy for saber fighting.” You said. “But you lack experience. And that is why you will lose.” You readied your saber and held it in front of you, very reminiscent to practitioners of Kendo back on earth.

“Shut up!” Your opponent screamed. “I’m not here for banter! You need to die!”

You sighed. “That’s the unfortunate thing about the ponies of this world…” You tensed and got ready to advance. “So many of you are just so damn racist.”

The two of you both advanced at the same time and both threw overhead cuts at one another which met in the middle. He tried to cut your right side, which you blocked, you twisted your hands to deliver a lightning quick cut to his head, and he raised his saber to defend it.

From the position of his saber, he was able to throw another downward cut which you barely ducked under and to the side. You swung low in an attempt to sweep the legs but the stranger jumped to avoid it. You pressed the advantage while he was turning to face you and thrust your saber at him. He barely managed to push it to the side with his blade to avoid being impaled but that didn’t stop your fist from making solid contact with his cheek. He yelled in pain and shoved you back.

His horn lit up and fired more magic bullets at you, which you deflected with your Magicka saber with ease. You began to twirl your saber, effortlessly weaving it around your body with great speed. The stranger’s face lit up with confusion as you spun your body as well as your saber, slowly advancing towards him. You were showing off at this point, and you knew that you were getting in his head. Truthfully, all these spins and tricks leave you insanely vulnerable, but his lack of experience and your hours and hours on end of watching Star Wars back on Earth had given you the mind of confidence.

With a final spin you gripped your saber with both hands again and threw the strongest cut you could muster. While he did block your attack he was thrown wildly off balance from the power of the cut. You took the advantage and threw a very quick thrust which grazed his left arm. He screamed in agony as a gash was burned into his shirt and his arm. He dropped to the ground, dropping his saber and gripping his wounded arm. The saber he dropped had deactivated when it touched the floor.

You stepped back and deactivated your saber as well. You had noticed dark clouds overhead and noted that it would likely start raining in the next few minutes or so.

“Hurts, doesn’t it?” You asked. “I have trained with weapons like this my entire life. Your movements are sloppy, you telegraph your attacks so easily I could fight you blindfolded. Your foot work is okay, but you don’t control your breathing, that makes you tire out faster than you can manage.” You listed several things wrong with his fighting.

“Why are you trying to help me?!” He screamed, leaning forward and grabbing his saber. You heard the distant rumble of thunder in the distance. “We are fighting to the DEATH and you’re COACHING me?!” He activated his saber and stood up. He was still able to move his left arm, so he got into his usual stance.

“I suppose I can’t help it. I did it to my friends back on Earth all the time.” You replied, activating your saber and readying up as well. The rain you had predicted had begun to fall, and the ground was soon soaked with fresh rainwater. The stranger charged at you and swung wildly, in a foolish attempt to physically overpower you like you did him. You firmly planted your feet and stopped his attack with ease. His shocked expression turned to one of pain as you raised your foot and kicked him in the diaphragm. He coughed and struggled to breathe for a second before pressing his attack once more. Each cut he threw, you parried and countered with on of your own. Your attacks gradually picked up in speed as you slowly stopped toying with him.

His fighting style did improve slightly, but it wasn’t enough to matter. Patches of ground have turned to mud at this point, and the only light to come from the mountain was of the two sabers, locked in epic combat. Any fliers above Ponyville were sure to see this display. Time came to end the Duel, and with a focused glint in your eye, you waited for your best opening.

Your opening came in the form of a bolt of lightning that struck a near by tree. The deafening blast had created a shockwave of water and the sound threw both you and the stranger off balance. You regained your composure first and with a practiced swing of your saber you sent his weapon flying out of his hands. With a twirl you jammed the tip of the saber into his center and the blade slid through his body with ease, stopping about half way down.

The stranger gasped as the air was forced from his lungs and his eyes went wide with pain and shock. His horn sparked in some vain attempt of retaliation but no magic was able to muster itself. His hands went up and desperately clawed at your arms, but with a jolt you ripped the blade out of his body and he fell to his knees. You turned and walked over to his saber on the ground. You picked it up and stored it safely on your belt.

Turning again, you saw the stranger still staring at you, barely hanging on to what life force he had remaining. You made your way over to him and raised your saber. You nodded at him with respect before swinging down at him, cleaving a gash into his chest and killing him instantly. You deactivated your saber and hooked it onto your belt. Your legs were beginning to burn from all the movement, but you turned and left the clearing.

The day long trip down the mountain was still ahead of you, but the princesses would rest easy tonight knowing that you, along with the secrets of Magetite’s powerful capabilities, are safe.

Author's Note:

And thus concludes this story! Hope y’all enjoyed!

Comments

[Rapchiks]

Your stories are very interesting! Thank you for them. But still, war is a terrible thing(like in Ukraine now).

[KeeganFirecloak]

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I’m glad you enjoyed them! War is indeed terrible, but it is familiar, and I get lots of ideas like this sometimes so I write them down. In a way, it’s my own spin on war.