Marking the Generations – Part One

by Glimbursts

Chapter Ten - Battle

“You?” Opaline gasped. “How are you here? You both passed long before I was even a foal.”

“Thank Princess Twilight,” Starlight grinned. “Let’s see what you’ve got miss Firestarter.”

Sunset fired a beam from her horn directly towards Opaline. It took her by surprise, and despite flying backwards she was unable to avoid it. However, it impacted a shield that seemed to appear from nowhere.

Despite that, it gave Starlight an opening to make her move. Teleporting, she appeared high up near the ceiling and began levitating herself. She flew around the room, firing her own beams of magic towards Opaline but they too impacted a shield.

Growling, Opaline returned fire and focused on Starlight. She flew around trying to outmanoeuvre her new opponent.

This opened a way for Sunset to get involved. She began teleporting around the floor of the throne room. She’d appear, fire a beam, and then disappear, repeating over and over keeping her locations random. The pair were soon working in tandem, keeping Opaline off balance and distracted. Her shots became rushed, meaning they’d either miss or be absorbed by the pair’s own shields.

“No, you don’t!” Opaline cried. “I will not have my victory snatched away.”

With Opaline focused on Starlight and Sunset, Pipp saw her chance. She flew as fast as she could to Sunny’s aid. Planting both forehooves against the stone pinning her friend and both hind hooves on the floor she pushed with all her might. “I’ve got you Sunny.”

Arching her back, Sunny assisted and with a great effort she was finally able to crawl free. “Thank you, Pipp,” Sunny breathed.

She closed her eyes and focused, her alicorn powers flickered on and off repeatedly. Grunting as she focused harder, they finally activated fully.

“Sunny?” Pipp gasped. “Maybe, we should…”

“I have to help!” Sunny replied. “I’m…I’m the alicorn!”

With that, Sunny spread her wings and took to the air. Putting herself level with Opaline she began flying around the much larger alicorn, their shields bouncing off each other.

“You pest!” Opaline cried. “Three on one isn’t fair.”

“It’s not three-on-one,” Zipp shouted from the top of the ramp.

“Yeah, we’re all here together,” Hitch added.

Sparky was laid on Hitch’s back and gave a weak thumbs up. His normal brightly coloured scales were now much greyer, and he looked quite weary. However, he held on tightly as Hitch ran down the ramp.

Hitch dodged his way through the ongoing battle, the torch clamped in his teeth. Dodging stray shots from Starlight and aimed shots from Opaline he thrust the torch into the bubble trapping Misty and Izzy. It popped almost instantly.

“Yeah, we’re behind you all,” Izzy shouted.

“G…go get her,” Misty added. “You can do it!”

Pipp gasped at the raging battle, suddenly feeling they had to win. “Yeah, you’ve all got this!”

As they continued to cheer, one by one, Zipp’s, Hitch’s, Izzy’s, Misty’s and Pipp’s cutie marks started to glow. Sparkling energy started to radiate from them and float towards Sunny.

Sunny gasped as she felt the energy from her friends combine with her own. Feeling a boost in confidence, she fired her own magical beam of golden orange energy at Opaline. “We won’t let you win this,” Sunny cried. “Not when we have the magic of friendship behind us.”

Opaline cried with fury as she flew around under a continual barrage. However, her shield was more than holding up to what was being thrown at it. She stopped fighting back and took stock of her situation. Looking around she realised she’d been firing at the wrong opponents. Grinning, she fired a blast straight at Izzy.

Izzy gasped as she saw the incoming fire. She froze, eyes wide, completely oblivious of what to do. Suddenly, Sunset appeared between her and the fire, her shield protecting both of them from the blast.

“You, okay?” Sunset grunted as she looked back to Izzy with a reassuring smile.

“Yeah, I’m…” Izzy started before a look of horror appeared on her face. “HITCH!”

Sunset gasped and turned around. Another blast of fire was heading straight for Hitch. With no time to teleport, she fired a beam straight for it. The two intersected and there was an explosion, however, it was enough to allow Hitch to dodge out of the way.

“Okay, this is not good,” Sunset gasped.

Opaline grinned as she now found herself in a target-rich environment. Sunset could barely keep up as she kept firing at the more defenceless ponies. Zipp was flying around the room, trying to provide a distraction. Opaline grinned as she fired straight at her. “There’s nowhere for your friends to hide. It’s only a matter of time.”

Realising the new threat, Starlight teleported. She appeared in front of Zipp and grabbed her. Before Opaline’s blast hit them, she teleported Zipp to where Sunset was protecting Izzy and Hitch.

“I was about to dodge that,” Zipp exclaimed with annoyance.

“Doesn’t matter, keep together,” Starlight replied before moving to fire back at Opaline.

“Starlight’s right, stay here,” Sunset ordered. “We can’t protect you all if you’re scattered.”

“But we’re a bigger target,” Zipp reasoned.

“Yes, but we can’t be everywhere at once,” Sunset argued. “There’s no cover.”

“We should go,” Starlight suggested between shots. “We’ve got Sparky so let’s cut and run.”

“Agreed, this is too intense,” Sunset responded.

“I’ll distract her,” Starlight replied.

“No, I can’t teleport everypony alone,” Sunset gasped.

But it was too late, Starlight didn't hear as she'd already teleported to the other side of the room.

Pipp cried as she saw a wall of fire streaking towards where she’d been hovering in a corner of the room.

“I’ve got you,” Sunny shouted as she put herself between her friend and Opaline.

The fire blast hissed as it impacted Sunny’s shield, but it held firm.

“Thanks,” Pipp sighed.

“Join the others,” Sunny instructed. “I’ll cover you.”

Pipp did as instructed, flying straight towards where Sunset was shielding the others.

Sunset looked around the room. Not seeing any other isolated ponies, she began manoeuvring them towards the door. Another blast impacted her shield, and Sunset grunted with effort dropping to one knee.

“This is why we’ve got to go,” Sunset panted. “I can’t keep this up.”

“Understood,” Hitch replied. “We’re ready, just get us to that door.”

Starlight hated to admit it, but she was feeling fatigued. Nothing she’d thrown at Opaline had made a dent in her shield. It was omnidirectional and didn’t appear to need any concentration from Opaline. Sunny was now the most offensive of them. She had effectively engaged Opaline in a dogfight, their shields colliding at times with flashes of energy.

Seeing that Sunset and the others were pretty much at the door, Starlight put her distraction plan into motion. Taking a deep breath, she cast her duplication spell and suddenly multiple Starlight’s appeared all around the room and fired at Opaline.

Opaline cried with dismay as her shield finally cracked and failed. Sunny banked round, preparing to fire at the now helpless fire alicorn. However, Opaline suddenly caught sight of something blue on the ramp to the upstairs area.

Misty squeaked as she suddenly found herself being lifted from the ramp. The Dragon Stone dropped from her grasp and rolled down the ramp. She flew through the air helplessly as Opaline lifted her into the path of Sunny’s shot. Misty cried as the magical energy impacted her in the back and Opaline dropped her.

“Misty!” Sunny cried in dismay.

Sunny dived down; hoofs outstretched as Misty fell towards the caldron pool. She scooped Misty up at the last second before she impacted the water. Misty winced in pain in her friend’s legs and clung on as tight as she could.

Meanwhile, Starlight had teleported back to the ceiling. Gasping as she saw Misty being hit, she watched in horror as Sunny just managed to catch her from impacting the water. She breathed a sigh of relief as she saw the pair climbing to safety and swoop around towards the door that the others were just opening. Suddenly, she realised she’d lost sight of Opaline and didn’t know where she was.

Sunset held the door open as Sunny flew towards it, Misty still held in her hoofs, the others having already exited. She watched them fly through and made to go herself. However, her blood froze as she heard Starlight cry out in pain. Turning she saw Starlight hit the ground with an almighty thud. “Nooo,” Sunset cried.

Without hesitation, she fired a beam of magic at Starlight. Starlight immediately vanished having been teleported away. Sunset deflected yet another blast of fire magic before looking directly at Opaline. With anger in her eyes, she held her gaze for a few seconds before wisely teleporting away herself.

“You can’t run!” Opaline cried. “Not from Opaline Arcana.”

Outside the Marestream, Pipp and Zipp yelped with surprise as Starlight’s prone form suddenly appeared. They rushed to her side and gasped when they realised she’d been hurt.

“W…What do we do?” Pipp asked.

“Get her inside,” Zipp ordered. “We’ve got to go.”

“No complaints from me, Sparky’s in a bad way,” Hitch said as he skidded to a stop before noticing Starlight. “Okay, yep. We need to get out of here pronto.”

Sunny landed with Misty as the others were getting Starlight into the Marestream.

“I…I’m fine Sunny,” Misty stammered. “It wasn’t your fault.”

“But I hit you, Misty,” Sunny exclaimed, her eyes wet from tears. “I shouldn’t be doing that.”

Sunny looked round with confusion as her alicorn powers flickered and faded away. “No, nonono.”

“Come on,” Hitch urged from the Marestream as Zipp fired it up. “We’re going.”

“But what about Sunset?” Sunny asked desperately.

There was a flash as Sunset suddenly appeared beside Sunny making her squeak with surprise. “Misty get in the Streamy thingy. Zipp, take off and fly as fast as you can,” Sunset ordered. “Sunny, get ready. We’re going to be making a fighting retreat. You take the sky. I’ll handle the ground.”

Sunny gasped as she heard Opaline shouting from within the castle. She tried to activate her alicorn powers again, but they only flickered weakly before disappearing again. “It…It’s not working,” she fretted. “Why won’t they work?”

Before Sunset could reply, Opaline came storming out of the castle door. Only for her to impact a forcefield. Sunset gasped as Twilight’s cutie mark appeared within the glistening energy as it kept the fire alicorn at bay.

Opaline howled with anger, after being pushed back from the forcefield she fired blast after blast of fire magic into it. However, every single one was absorbed, the magical energy rippling through the forcefield with an almighty flash. Twilight’s cutie mark appearing every time.

Sunset and Sunny watched, both panting as they felt their hearts in their mouths. Slowly, the others came to the door of the Marestream too, looking in awe as Opaline continued to batter the shield.

“She still can’t get out,” Misty breathed. “She’s still trapped!”

Sunset turned to Misty looking for reassurance. “You’re sure?” she asked. “She can’t teleport through it or anything like that?”

Misty shook her head. “Nope, she’s never been able to. She can’t even use magic directly through it. She has to cast things in her pool thing in the throne room.”

Sunset turned back to the ongoing light show and breathed a sigh of relief. “Okay, it looks like whatever forcefield Twilight put on that place is still too strong for her,” she deduced. “I think we’re safe so let’s get out of here.”

“Y…yeah,” Sunny replied. “Let’s go.”

To be continued...

Comments

[Phetiamwantip]

Very intense battle.

And I'm so excited to see Misty learning magic with Starlight it's going to be so awesome to see her do magic for the first time.

[Glimbursts]

11814282
Thank you, it's the first fight scene I've ever written.

This isn't my first story ever but it is my first MLP story. My other stories are set in a world that kind of doesn't involve direct conflicts like this does!

[Phetiamwantip]

11814336
You're welcome

[Nova52792]

“You?” Opaline gasped. “How are you here? You both passed long before I was even a foal.”

It’s canon that opaline is from skyros born an alicorn and was a foal at the same time as Celestia and Luna it is literally mentioned in the make your mark chapter 4 episode sunnyside up which happens before the episode where misty kidnaps sparky that’s the only mistake I see

[Glimbursts]

11814397

Yeah there are some bits of canon I've chosen to adjust for this alternative universe and this is one of them. Chapter one here starts during Sunny Side Up with the intention of changing that bit of Opaline's history. I know that changing canon can be controversial though which is why this is an alternate universe fic.

The fact that Starlight and Sunset have popped up in the future is already a massive change and the story will be diverting more and more as things go forward.

[Nova52792]

11814408
Thank you for explaining that was on purpose it had seemed that sunset and starlight were the only changes thus far so my ocd wouldn’t let that go

[Glimbursts]

11814415
No problem, I'm sorry that it wasn't made clear enough earlier in the story.

Like I mentioned, the divergence is going to get slowly wider as this moves into Part Two. Which I am currently planning out in more detail at present.

[AvoidingFever17]

“Y…yeah,” Sunny replied. “Let’s go.”

To be continued

[Glimbursts]

11814759

Good shout that

[AvoidingFever17]

11815093
Yep

[Draco Dei]

11814397

11814408
Or Opaline could have been lying like a rug and "Skyros" doesn't even exist. Opaline could have even told the lie so often that she basically believes it herself now.

Almost certainly not how Tell Your Tale or the comics have/will play(ed) it, but those are easier to ignore.

[Draco Dei]

Correction: Apparently Spike at least confirmed Opaline was from Skyros? Not sure on details.