Clipped Wings

by Desrium

Chapter Seven

Chapter Seven

With beauty comes danger.

The retort of gunshots tore across the snow covered plains, carrying far on the thin air. The Ewes, maddened beyond comprehension pressed on even as blood spurted out of holes in their bodies, staining the blanket of white that they tore apart with mad dashes at their pony opponents.

Alana dove into a sideways roll as one of the mutated monsters swung their forelegs around at her, the limb with wicked looking cloven hooves at the end passing precariously over her and before she could right herself, the other hoof came soaring at her from the opposite direction. The impact came hard and square -- but Alana hadn't been struck by the attack. The Ewe went tumbling wildly, scraping up the snow. A mound of it had formed by time it stopped sliding, which spilled over onto it as it staggered back to its hooves. Klaxon smirked, then his ears pricked. He spun himself to see another one of the Snow Devils coming down at him in a pounce. The bronze stallion flipped over onto his back, legs retracted until the last second where he then sent them flying into the Ewe's torso and abdomen. Alana heard the attacker's bones snap and saw its cream colored eyes go wide.

"Someone just had a bad day!" Klaxon snarled. He tossed the Ewe off to the side when he started to roll upright. From the corner of his vision he saw the Ewe he bucked away coming at him in a full pelt charge... then he saw its face erupt blood as the caramel mare opened fire on it, the Peashooter's rounds tearing through its flesh and muscle indiscriminately. Its body toppled into a heap and stopped just short of Klaxon, leaving a scarlet smear in the snow.

"Now ve're eben!" she slurred through the grip of the Peashooter and galloped off. Klaxon stood up, shook the snow off of him and muttered: "One down." He looked over to the Ewe whose chest had been destroyed by his blows, blood seeping out of the corners of its mouth. Klaxon walked over to it, reared up and brought his hooves down on its skull.

"Two down."

Three Ewes focused on Steiner, launching themselves at the carriage and being caught in his telekinesis just before they could land. With great effort and strain, he levitated the three massive animals while simultaneously training the killing ends of his guns on them, managing to fire a few haphazard shots into various parts of their bodies before flinging them away. Telekinesis was definitely not his strong suit; and whereas the assault rifle did not seem to be doing any substantial damage, the combat shotgun mangled everything its spray it. A few lucky hits managed to destroy the left foreleg of one of his assailants.

"A change in tactics is in order," the unicorn stallion said to himself. "If I can't stop all three, then I'll just have to stop one."

The crippled Ewe was plucked from the ground in an aura of red. Steiner made a swinging motion with his horn and sent it hurtling into the Ewe to its right, bowling the bestial creature into the snow. Another swing sent the crippled Ewe into the second and this time it was used to pin its fellow animal. Steiner fired the assault rifle into them, able to make the most out of its range and accuracy now that his concentration wasn't as divided as it was before. Burst fire aiming for their heads. It was not long before they both stopped moving. The third recovered from the impact faster than Steiner expected. It stood with snow gripping its bushy coat and unleashed a howling roar that reverberated across the frozen plains and up the mesas and snow columns...then the flying blur made his pass, hooves smashing down on its head and making it flinch mid-bellow. Its lips curled and its sights danced about the sky in search of the pegasus. Steiner took advantage of the opening presented, lining up his shots and firing.

It slumped over and fell, dead.

Klaxon stood reared up as his opponent did, its jaws held apart by the bronze stallion's mighty forelegs, its oversize fangs dripping with saliva. He glared down the mouth of the beast as his sides were battered by those hooves, each impact loud and unforgiving. Each one drove shards of pain into his body and knocked just a little more air out of his lungs. His ribs couldn't handle much more punishment. Thinking fast, the bronze stallion raised his left rear leg and kicked hard into the Ewe's knee, making the limb recoil away in pain. It thrashed its head, attempting to throw the hold of the earth pony who in turn forced himself forward, the already unbalanced Ewe toppling over onto its back. Klaxon sat down on its stomach, using his own weight to keep it down while he stamped down on its face repeatedly with his fore hooves; its skull turning to mush before his very eyes.

The remaining four had been focused on Falcon Wing, the pegasus staying close enough to the ground so as to keep them coming after him while still having enough time to evade them should they try to jump at him. They were surprisingly great jumpers. He cut through the cold air with the Ewe's in hot pursuit, their hoof falls sending snow flying into the air in their wake. Falcon Wing then looped about and corkscrewed, doubling back. The Ewes twisted themselves around, clumsily tearing at the snow with their hooves as their own momentum sent them tumbling through it, gouging large Ewe-shaped trenches in the white cover. Falcon Wing spun himself around in the air and hovered with the world around him slowed to a near dead halt. He had his Pipeye pulled down and fell into the sanctity of S.A.T.S. There he saw bullets sent by the Peashooter suspended in eternity, the rippling air around them ceasing for the duration of the targeting spell. Falcon Wing lined up his shots and opened fire.

Of the four, one had fallen limp in the snow. The others continued their ravenous chase, another falling to the Peashooter. The other two fell swiftly to assault rifle fire. For now, the fighting was over. Left to show for it were bodies and blood stains. The ponies grouped up back at the carriage, inspecting each other for injuries and being relieved that none of them sustained any. Almost.

"Klaxon, you are covered in blood," Steiner said flatly.

"Not my own!" the stallion said defiantly. "And I may have taken a beating but what kind of pony would I be if I couldn't take a hit?"

"At least let me put some bandages on you before you start to bruise --"

"How about you do your fancy cleansing magic and get the blood off of me? I don't know about you but I don't want to smell like Snow Devil blood all the way through this little endeavor of ours!" Klaxon interjected.

"If you are so assured of yourself, then fine. I suppose I cannot ask you to believe in me without returning the sentiment. But if something comes up because you refused treatment, Klaxon I swear to you --!"

"Calm your shit, Steiner! I'm fiiiiine!" Klaxon said then started laughing as the unicorn shot him a look, a frown that conveyed concern and a burning glare that voiced his anger without him speaking.

"If you insist, partner in crime," said Steiner, whose horn started to glow and the stains of red left Klaxon's winter coat.