• Published 16th Nov 2012
  • 3,887 Views, 93 Comments

Harmony and Courage: Running Parallel - SSJRandomMaster



A recently matured colt leaves to Ponyville for two things: quiet and readiness against an old foe.

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Chapter 29: Negate This!

Chapter 29: Negate This!
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Azure Courage could only think of one thing to do in his current situation: cough. The attack from his opponent definitely knocked the wind out of him, and it hurt. He was fairly sure he heard one more scream than he should have, but he wasn't sure if he actually did or he was so sore from that last attack that he momentarily heard echoes.

"R-Rainbow!?" Twilight called out, almost relieved to see it.

"Huh?" Azure coughed, getting back on his hooves. Sure enough, in about a second, Rainbow seemingly materialized at his side, hovering.

"You alright?" Rainbow asked, looking to him.

"I can still go," Azure responded. "What about the others?"

"They're alright..." she said. "Silver told me to go on ahead, said you needed the help..."

"I just might have to take up that offer..." Azure responded. "You have a real sense of timing, Rainbow, just a few seconds earlier he turned off my magic..."

"Heh, don't I always?" she asked.

"Gloat about it later!" Azure advised. "He isn't going to stand there and let us talk forever!"

"Hm..." Tagane mumbled. "So the Element of Loyalty has come to aid him...No matter. I can still beat you both even if I can't shut off pegasus magic..."

"Don't get full of yourself!" The pegasus in question shouted, apparently hearing him.

This coming from you... Azure resisted the urge to show any reaction to her usual confidence, relieved to see she hadn't lost a bit of it due to everything that had happened today.

"I don't see why I shouldn't be, but I guess I'm just going to have to beat both of you and prove it..." The earth pony said, rushing forward again. Azure and Rainbow met the charge, though Rainbow was a lot faster and reached Tagane first. The earth pony in question looked momentarily surprised, just as Rainbow slammed one of her outstretched hooves into his face, bending upward.

Azure continued to rush in after this, knocking over Tagane again, though he couldn't muster as much force as he had before. The earth pony managed to recover quickly from this assault, attempting to attack Azure once more. Rainbow curved around in midair, hoping to catch him full speed from the side, but Tagane managed to avoid her rush this time with a very well-timed jump.

As Rainbow tried to right her course again, Azure found himself rushing into Tagane's head once more, though this time, Tagane was definitely pushing him back. Despite Azure's best efforts, he had to keep taking steps back or he would be forced to the ground.

Just as Tagane tried to move in for another knockout hit, Rainbow Dash flew around once again, this time, landing her full-speed charge from the side and lifting Tagane off his feet. Rainbow skidded to a halt on the ground, slightly dazed from the impact.

"Rainbow, you alright?" Azure asked, noting her condition.

"What's he made of...?!" she grumbled, using her wings as leverage so she could wring her hooves in slight pain, as they had lead the charge.

"Don't know..."

"Why do you persist in something you can't win?" Tagane asked, clearly angered by the constant intrusions and the fact he was starting to lose ground.

"You had help last time in fending us off!" Azure responded.

"I'm still capable of knocking you both out...It doesn't matter how fast or fit you are..."

Rainbow Dash rushed forward, "What about both?!"

"I'll show you what I can do about both..."

Tagane stood completely still as Rainbow once again took advantage of her speed, rushing at him, probably aiming to tackle him to the ground. The pony looked up, just as Rainbow entered his range, and ducked low. He didn't stop there. As Rainbow soared over him, she didn't have time to react to Tagane thrusting himself upwards, essentially slamming himself into her midsection. This caused her to lose control of her flight and knocked the wind out of her, sending the pegasus into the trees behind her.

Tagane then turned his attention to Azure, and both ponies charged each other again. Both quickly went on their hind legs and entered another fierce exchange of hoof-punches, though Tagane clearly held the edge. He attacked one of Azure's joints, causing Azure to be stunned long enough for Tagane to thrust one of his hooves into Azure's chest, once again knocking him off his back hooves and onto his back.

While Azure tried to recover from this assault, a "Why you..." was heard from the trees. Rainbow Dash floated above the trees, clearly unamused by the flight failure she'd experienced. She flew towards Tagane, bits of branches stuck in her fur. The colt calmly waited once again, and jumped off to one side at the last possible second. With no way to apply the brakes, the pegasus slammed full force into the ground, causing her to cough slightly from the pain. She slid for a bit, winding up next to Azure. Both ponies got to their feet.

"Just stay down." Tagane said, "There's no point in going on. You can't beat me..."

"We're not going to just fork over our friends, you know!" Azure shouted back.

"You don't get a say in the matter!" Tagane rushed forward, aiming for the final blow on Azure. If Azure fell, Rainbow would be left alone; and if she fell too, Twilight and Rainbow would have both been captured by them.

Azure stood his ground this time, not knowing what to do.

"For crying out loud, Azure..." A familiar voice rang out. A moment later, a rock flew through the air almost like an oversized bullet. Tagane had to quickly fall back to avoid taking the hit. Even as it soared through the air, it was obviously magically pushed; as soon as it entered the range of his large Null Field, it began to lose momentum. However, it would have still stung quite a bit, and Tagane was starting to feel Azure's earlier hits, as well as the strikes Rainbow had landed.

"You couldn't handle this much on your own?"

Azure blinked.

"Give him a break," said a second, also familiar voice. "Sure enough, it's the same pony we lost to--you expected him to take him on without help?"

Azure turned, to see a rapidly slowing Crimson Blitz and Virid Strategem, both decked out in their armor. The latter wore an almost contemptibly smug look on his face, the former showed no emotion other than relief.

"At least we were in time..." Crimson sighed in relief.

"Crimson! Virid!" Azure cried out. "You two got the letter I sent?!"

"Yeah..." Virid said. "Our captain made short work of this guy's friend, and is trying to chase him down through the Everfree Forest as we speak. He'd better pray for mercy."

Were it not for the greater crisis at hand, Azure would have noted the absolutely respectful tone Virid used in reference to his captain. However, given that Tagane was still healthy, Azure didn't bother with pointing it out.

"You two again?" Tagane asked. "No wonder Shade isn't done with the others...I'm not surprised..."

His tone betrayed just a hint of regret for splitting up with his friend. However, he quickly righted himself, cracking his neck as he went. "It won't make a difference. Of the four of you, I've already knocked out three of you once..."

"You got the two of us by surprise," Virid countered, stepping forward. "Even though you may be able to turn off magic, this time will be different..."

"And if you could have knocked me out when I was on my guard...I'd have already been knocked cold again..." Azure responded.

"Bring it on, then..." Tagane said, as placid as ever. "I'll take all four of you on at once."

The four ponies charged as a group. Rainbow flew towards Tagane once more, this time, breaking left before Tagane could launch a counterattack. The rainbow trail she left was kicked through by Azure. Tagane tried to dodge, only to be met with a left cross hoof-punch from Blitz that sent him staggering backwards. Rainbow circled around, and landed another hit on Tagane's back, stunning him long enough for Virid to get in close.

"Remember me?" he asked, finishing up with closing the distance.

Tagane said nothing, barely getting on his hind legs to force Virid to do the same. He remembered him all too well-the pony that couldn't do anything other than magic. Even his base attacks were magical, so the earth pony believed he shouldn't have been that hard to deal with this time around.

He was, however, sorely mistaken.

"I've been preparing for this for a while now!" Virid declared, his eyes already moving to his left to cut off Tagane's attack, attacking his joint to stun that foreleg. As Tagane was forced to lower himself, Virid shoved at Tagane's chest, sending him off balance. "I don't know how you can use magic, but--"

"This isn't the time for your manure, Virid!" Azure called out, galloping up to deliver a powerful slam into Tagane's chest to lift him off his hind legs. The cloaked pony quickly recovered, however, just in time for Blitz to mimic the maneuver This time, Tagane actually stumbled over, falling down. However, he was back up in no time, strangely, trying to actually catch his breath.

"Man!" Rainbow blurted out, returning to the sides of the cousins as she caught her own breath. "Fightin' all those monsters the other colt summoned took a little more out of me than I thought!"

Azure panted hard, but Virid and Blitz only were catching their breath. Virid looked back to the two less healthy ponies, and merely scoffed.

"Virid! Do you have any idea what we can do yet?" Blitz asked. "The two of them are tired and right now, we can't use magic...If we could just cause him to lose his Nullification spells...we could end this quick."

"I know! I'm thinking of it..." Virid responded.

"Whatever you try to do won't work..." Tagane returned to his feet. "You aren't going to get much further than this. Soon, you two Royal Guards will once again be gasping for air at my hooves...along with the younger one...And as for the Elements..."

"Dream on!" Virid snapped, looking ready to attack once again.

"Virid, calm down..." Blitz said, stretching out a forehoof in front of his comrade. "Do you have a way or not?"

Virid knit his brows. "Earth ponies can't normally harness magic...let alone specialized magic like this."

"State the obvious!" Rainbow barked, but Virid didn't even seem to notice.

"So...Hmm...I wonder..." Virid trailed off.

"Do whatever you want, I'm sure it won't work!" Tagane roared, launching forward again. Virid grit his teeth.

"You three, buy me a little time! I almost have everything I need figured out..." Virid bellowed.

"Who made you a prince?!" Dash responded.

"Not now, Rainbow!" Azure said, already taking Virid's advice and charging Tagane, Blitz already running right alongside him. Rainbow decided to take Azure's word for it and rushed forth, though she was a little too late to stop Tagane from colliding with both colts. Both sides stopped cold, but the combined power of the colts began to very quickly force Tagane to walk backwards. Quickly, Tagane shifted his weight away from them, sending the two unicorns off balance.

The next move was a bit awkward, but as Azure and Blitz recovered, Tagane jumped back a bit, before leaping forward with his hooves outstretched. Both Azure and Blitz were hit in the chest. Blitz was able to handle the attack a bit better than Azure was. The red unicorn was pushed back, though he remained on all fours, but Azure slid back, forced to land flat on his rump.

Rainbow didn't allow Tagane to charge again, this time landing in front of him.

"You dare to try and take me on alone?" he asked.

"I don't know what you want with us...but I'm not going to let you take any of us away!" Rainbow declared, standing between the two groups.

Rainbow used her wings as leverage to keep herself on her hind legs as Tagane got on his, and began to match his attacks. Tagane was a strong pony, there was no getting around that, and Rainbow could feel the force behind his hooves. However, she wasn't giving an inch. She moved her head to avoid one of the earth pony's less-than-accurate haymakers, and while he was sent off balance, Rainbow used her wings as a boost to slam into the pony's chest. This time, more than any others, Tagane was clearly winded, and he actually had to get back on all fours to rub at his chest in pain.

"Do that again!" Virid called out. "One of you, do that again!"

Rainbow blinked. His chest...?

Azure and Blitz seemed to understand what he might have been getting at, and both launched forward again. Tagane gritted his teeth. He seemed to understand what Virid was getting at, and thus he tried to ignore his other three opponents for the time being. He rushed for Virid instead.

"Huh!?" Azure called out. "Virid, watch it!"

Virid's amber eyes changed as he realized Tagane was making for him. "Well, never mind that..."

Tagane seemed to have forgotten himself in his rush, and Virid could see it, clear as day. He whirled around, and landed a perfect back kick into Tagane's chest. The cloaked earth pony lifted off all four hooves from the force of the attack, and as his opponent sailed into the air, Virid could only think of one thing to say.

"Too sloppy!"

Tagane fell to the ground again, buffeted by the attack. This time, he was coughing harder than ever. He struggled to his hooves. The other three fighters began to surround him, cutting off the 3, 9, and 6 o'clock positions. Virid stood in front of his former opponent, who was struggling to catch his breath.

"I think the winning strategy is just about set up..." Virid said. "I don't know why, though..."

Tagane lowered his head, almost as though surrendering. Twilight felt her heart soar with hope, and she reached a hoof out to her barrier. The solid feel of the barrier wasn't any more reassuring, but with any luck, soon it would...

Her hoof fell through the barrier, and she awkwardly stumbled forward, not expecting it.

"Wha--?" she started, followed by a loud, sharp grunt coming from Virid. Twilight snapped her head over to look, and realized Tagane had somehow managed to shove the green colt aside. He was now heading right for her.

"I will not fail!" Tagane roared, making a beeline for her. "At this point, even one of you being captured will do!"

Twilight gasped. She was probably going to be hit hard again. Instinctively, she attempted to flare up her magic...but realized she was still within the confines of the field he used to knock out the others' magic.

"Twilight!" Azure yelled, though it was clear he wasn't going to make it in time. Even weakened, Tagane's surprise attack had managed to get most of the ponies off-guard.

Twilight closed her eyes, unable to look at this point. She expected to feel another blunt force strike her, and that would knock her out. She wasn't sure what Tagane had planned to do once he had her in his grasp, but she hated that most of all...

No blunt force came, and Twilight opened her eyes in surprise.

"You ain't goin' anywhere with my friend!" Rainbow declared through clenched teeth, holding up her captor by the cloak. Tagane was utterly at a loss as to how fast Rainbow was.

"Hey!" Virid called out, "Get that cloak off of him! It might show why his chest is more vulnerable that it should be..."

"Don't!" Tagane yelled in protest, but it was too late for him to be trying to plead. Rainbow ascended in height, and, maintaining her grip, flew low with the earth pony in tow. The numerous holes that littered his cloak already began to warp from the stress, and soon, all the holes ripped apart at once, and Tagane, now fully exposed like the mares and Azure, fell to the ground as his cloak fell in pieces around him.

Rainbow spat out the cloak fragment that she was holding on to, and turned around, landing next to the cousins once more. Tagane was face-down on the ground, and he was gritting his teeth in anger.

"You've done it now..." His voice was dangerous, and as he got to his feet, all facing him let out a gasp.

"His...chest..." Virid mused, almost at a loss for words.

Right below his neck was a narrow mark, almost like a cut, where his fur was sparser than the rest of his body. As he got to his feet, Tagane's chest was in full view. It looked horrific: there was a jagged, four-pointed scar stretching across his chest, and at the center was a large, white, glowing jewel. Part of it looked cracked, probably from his previous attempts.

"So that's how he's able to use that Nullification Magic..." Virid said. "Looks like we busted it up a little earlier, though..."

"That's right..." Tagane responded, apparently hearing him. "I'm an earth pony, as you were so keen on pointing out. I do rely a lot on the element of surprise. But that's what we're all about, Shade and I...He swarms you with his summons faster than you can bat an eye, and even though I don't look like I can use magic, I negate all the others...That's where my name comes from, 'Tagane'..."

"I don't care who you are anymore..." Blitz said. "You attacked innocent ponies, and you're going to pay up for it."

"None who hear my name have ever been able to tell it to a friend..." Tagane said dangerously, preparing to attack again.

"If we can just break that gem...or at least fragment it enough, it should restore our magic..." Virid said. "But we're going to need a Tartarus-load of force to pull it off...all we could do between the four of us was crack it...and we don't have all day..."

"Won't breaking it kill him?" Blitz asked, clearly concerned.

"...Hm..." Azure turned to Rainbow Dash. "Rainbow, think you can put enough speed behind your hoof to--"

Rainbow turned to him, grinning, apparently already knowing where he was going. "Just be sure to hold him still..."

"You won't be able to plan your way out of this!" Tagane roared, heading for them.

"Alright, Rainbow Dash..." Blitz said. "Why don't you give us a speed demonstration...?"

Rainbow said nothing, partly because she was already putting distance between herself and the scene of the battle.

"You think it makes a difference that you know how my ability works?" Tagane asked, "I'll defeat you all here and now!"

To this, Virid rushed forward, "We'll see about that!"

Tagane put weight on his hind legs. To the average pony, it would have looked like he was about to stand on his hind legs once more to attempt bipedal combat. However, as he neared, Virid noticed that his adversary hadn't moved aside from this. In his mind, it left him with two options: he was going to be faked out and be struck in the chest; or his opponent had something else in mind.

Virid continued to charge without stopping, closing one eye to keep an eye on his opponent's movements.

"...As I thought..."

Tagane showed a look of surprise as Virid charged full force into his chest. The earth pony fell back, just in time to notice Blitz on his way. Virid ducked down to allow Blitz a little more room, and in turn the other Royal Guard smashed into Tagane's chest once more, causing the earth pony to fall over onto his back. Blitz jumped up, aiming to deal some more damage to the gem with an intense crash; even unassisted, Blitz could spring quite a bit into the air.

However, it was all for naught as Blitz's forehooves crashed into solid ground, Tagane having rolled out of the way and back to his feet before he could land. Tagane got back to his feet, apparently analyzing the improvements in his former opponents. However, he heard the clop of hooves at his side, and turned just in time to avoid Azure's attempted buck to the side. Azure was off-balance from the attempt, and couldn't recover in time.

Pain shot through him as Tagane mimicked his attack, only with success as Azure didn't recover his balance quick enough. Azure's hooves left the ground. However, he wasn't quite out of it yet; he managed to recover, and planted all four hooves on the ground, skidding to a halt. Immediately after trying to right himself, he felt a small pain in his ribs.

No time...to worry about it...now...

Tagane prepared to charge again, intent on taking out the already exhausted unicorn, when he heard two ponies closing in on him while his back was turned. Virid and Blitz were coming right at him, probably intending for a team attack. However, Blitz suddenly pulled ahead of Virid, and Virid almost seemed to disappear as Blitz was ahead. Blitz let out a scream, and Tagane braced himself, trying not to take his eyes from the charging red unicorn.

Once Blitz was close enough to bop Tagane on the nose, he suddenly broke left, and Tagane followed Blitz instinctively. He blinked, only now remembering that he forgot to count--

"Surprise!" Virid called out, aiming another strong attack for the gem. Tagane turned, taking the brunt of the attack just to the right of the gem. The attack still hurt, and it did send him skidding back a few feet.

"You think the two of you can stop me?!" Tagane yelled.

"Three!"

The voice was muffled, and Tagane felt a blunt force apply to the back of his head. Azure bounced off the back of the unicorns head with one forehoof, and clumsily landed, eventually winding up flat on his stomach.

"There...now we're even..." Azure said, his cousins quickly taking his sides as he got to his feet. Tagane wrestled himself to his feet.

"You think you've won yet?" Tagane asked.

"I don't see why not..." Virid responded. "You took us out separately hiding behind the surprise your magic creates..."

"But when we're together, and know how your magic works..." Blitz said, "Even at the cost of your own personal welfare, you can't defeat the three of us together."

Azure's ears pricked up, and he checked behind him. He could see it: a cyan dot very quickly gaining momentum as it sailed right towards the scene of the battle. "Virid, Blitz, Rainbow's coming back! We need to hold him down now!"

Blitz and Virid nodded, not even looking at Azure.

"Just try!" Tagane challenged.

In response, all three of the unicorns rushed forward. Tagane was fully prepared for the full-on rush, and he tensed up in preparation. Given the speed the pegasus was closing in at, the trio had at most fifteen seconds to--

Virid and Blitz broke away from the run, quickly circling around to his sides. The speeds of all three ponies were in perfect sync, and Tagane could see it: he couldn't attack one without the other two catching his blind spot. Which left him only one option.

He stood his ground, waiting for the right moment. As the trio neared, Tagane saw his winning formula: the three unicorns would be unable to continue their course and crash into each other or stop trying not to; the pegasus would miss her attempt and have to turn around, losing momentum in the process, and that would be the end of that.

Tagane leapt back to prepare his plan, when suddenly, Virid and Blitz stopped, sooner than expected. They turned to face Azure, and as the older unicorns each raised a hind leg, Azure leapt forward. With precise timing, all three unicorns kicked, springboarding Azure forward. Azure stretched out his forelegs as his cousins quickly moved towards him.

Before Tagane could even process what had happened, a pair of forelegs were now around his neck, and something smashed into his flank, causing him to rise onto his hind legs involuntarily. It didn't take too long to figure out what Azure had done, but as soon as he recovered, it was too late.

"You aren't..." Azure started, behind Tagane, using him as support to stand on his own hind legs.

"going anywhere!" Virid finished, holding on to Tagane's left foreleg while Blitz held on to his right. His chest jewel was fully exposed, and Tagane couldn't overwhelm the combined strength of the three ponies: his anatomy wasn't built for struggling out of the hold.

Rainbow Dash, practically cloaked in a rainbow blur, rushed forward, her hoof outstretched in front of her. She was holding back just a little so she wouldn't impact the sound barrier and lose all of her gathered momentum, but she was still gaining speed fast. The world was practically a single blue blur around her as she rushed forth, her distance quickly going from miles to feet in milliseconds flat.

Three seconds was plenty of time for her to land her mark, perfectly on the gem in Tagane's chest. The gem fissured heavily from the impact, and the sound of shattering was not lost on the ponies present. Translucent, white magic began to emanate from the gem, and it came out with such force that Rainbow Dash, Azure Courage, Crimson Blitz, and Virid Strategem were all sent flying away from the modified earth pony.

Azure managed to get his bearings, dizzied and exhausted from the battle. He looked around to make sure nopony had been sent over the edge of the gorge. Crimson and Virid hadn't been sent over, and Rainbow had also recovered nicely. Tagane, on the other hand, was lying flat on his back, just outside of the impact crater the magical explosion had formed. The gem was riddled with cracks, and even though it had been glowing just moments before, it was now dark gray and lifeless, the magic inside completely spent. Tagane was motionless as the others slowly approached him.

"Is he...?" Azure began.

Rainbow stared towards the earth pony, "Serves him right...nopony messes with my friends..."

Tagane coughed violently, and the others stopped dead in their tracks. He slowly got back to his feet, his eyes half-glazed over as he tried to remain upright.

"It's...not...over...not yet..." He groaned, clearly drained from the previous attack's toll on his body. He shook his head violently, clearly on his last leg. "I won't let it end like this!"

Tagane galloped forward, aiming to grab Twilight once more and run. However, before anypony could fully realize it, Blitz vanished in a blur of purple light. He reappeared, cutting off Tagane.

"Hm..." Blitz said. "Looks like our magic's back in order..."

Tagane stopped, and Blitz could see it: his pupils were shrinking, violently shaking as he processed something very clear.

He lost.

Blitz turned around, slamming one foot hard into Tagane's chin. Weakened from the broken gem in his chest, and powerless, he was sent flying from the one attack. Azure was next, his eyes once more taking on their glow as he did a gravity-spell assisted jump, crashing down into Tagane's gut with one hoof outstretched. Tagane coughed violently once again as he made impact with the ground, which cracked under the weight of the impact. Azure flipped off of Tagane, and his eyes once more returned to their normal coloration.

Tagane got back to his feet, though his movements were even slower than before. Virid walked in front of his opponent like a predator stalking its prey. Tagane got back to his feet, and lifted his head just in time to see Virid's cool, collected, yet smug expression.

"Don't bother." Virid's horn glowed, and so did his right forehoof, which he extended to Tagane's shoulder. "It's over."

A violent pressure expanded from Virid's hoof, and Tagane was lifted off his feet once again. He flew back, bouncing on the ground twice as he somersaulted through the air. This time, when he hit the ground, he didn't get up. He was still breathing, though faintly.
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Azure breathed out, and as he did, all the pain he'd suffered over the past battles became clear to him. He wasn't going to let it get to him, though. The mere fact he was entrusted with his duty by the princess would have stirred anypony to go to the lengths he had to see this through; however, Azure would have fought this hard even if Princess Celestia hadn't confronted him on that night.

The cyan unicorn trotted over to Twilight, still feeling sore from the fight as a whole, but happy to have won. Twilight stood up as he approached, seemingly in stunned silence over what happened. She slowly approached him, smiling.

"You didn't hear me at all...did you..." she asked, but Azure didn't even have time to respond before he found himself in a spot he was familiar with. Twilight had thrown one forehoof around him, pulling him close. It aggravated some of his injuries from the fight, but Azure found he didn't care about that anymore.

"...Twilight..." Azure said after some pause, trying to decide what to say. After all, he'd said something...interesting, towards the start of the fight, that he had a pretty good feeling she heard when he said it. "...Are...are you okay...?"

Azure hadn't even been aware he returned the gesture in between his two phrases. A few feet away, Virid rolled his eyes and looked the other way, while Blitz and Rainbow could only smile; the latter combining her motion with an eyeroll.

"Yeah...I'm fine..." Twilight's answer was barely above a whisper, "Thanks to you..."

Azure didn't care that his cousins and Rainbow Dash were watching. All he cared about now was the fact Twilight was unquestionably safe at the moment.

"Azure..." She was hesitant to continue speaking now.

"Hm...?" he asked, Twilight finally letting go as he did the same.

"About earlier..." She said; as soon as she said that, Azure figured out exactly what the mare before him was going to ask about, and his heart began to race. "What you said to him..."

So soon...but...somehow...I know what I said wasn't heat of the moment...it couldn't happen twice!

"I...I..."

"Twiley!"

The voice cut through the scene. All heads turned to the source of the voice. Azure noticed a white unicorn stallion with a blue striped mane and tail heading for them, decked out in armor similar to Virid and Blitz, only purple and gold instead of white and gold. He turned back, to see Rainbow looking confused and his cousins standing at attention. Looking into the distance behind the newcomer, he could see the rest of his friends, all safe and relatively unharmed.

And Twilight's reaction stupefied Azure: "B.B.B.F.F.!"

With that, she ran toward the stallion, and Azure could only blink when he saw the two hug. A single tear formed at the white stallion's eye, and all Azure could think of was this.

Who is this pony?

"Captain Shining Armor, sir," Virid said. Azure turned back to his cousin again, and was utterly confused to see the level of respect he was giving the unicorn. Even if he was his superior...

"Yes, soldier?" Shining asked, looking to him.

"The earth pony has been subdued," Virid seemed to put even more effort into his salute, which left Azure even more at a loss.

"Good work, soldier," Shining responded, "Wish we could say the same for the summoner, though. He managed to get away..."

Silver made a small "tch" at this, clearly discomforted about the escapee.

"We'll get him next time, sir," Blitz said. Virid wasn't talking, he seemed to be sufficiently uplifted after hearing Shining give him a "job well done".

"Twilight, you never told us you knew the Captain of the Royal Guards," Rarity was standing maybe within half a foot of the stallion in question, giving him probably the most flirtatious eyes Azure had ever seen a pony put on ever.

"Captain of the--whoa..." Rainbow responded in utter disbelief, echoing Azure's thoughts verbatim.

"Well, of course I know him, he's my brother!" Twilight replied to Rarity's question. There was silence all around, and a single question echoed off every other tongue in the valley.

"B-b-b-brother?!"
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It was a long walk home. The trio of Royal Guards kept an eye out just in case the summoner tried for a second attack. Tagane was the one being carried away this time, and given that he was out cold, he wasn't likely to wake up until he was safely in custody. Shining offered to carry him, but strangely, Virid was way ahead of him. Not much time had passed between the kidnapping and now, but it felt like an entire day had passed to Twilight Sparkle. So much had happened, and she wasn't sure how to take it.

It's good that Azure had shown up when he had...and that Rainbow Dash and then Azure's cousins came when they did, but... Twilight began to think to herself about all the possibilities that could have unfolded. What would they have done to me, to Fluttershy, if they hadn't shown up when they did...Would we have ever been rescued? Would I ever have been able to see my friends again? Would Azure--

Twilight felt very faint, and the next step she took caused her to lose her balance. She would have fallen flat on her face had Azure not been right next to her to catch her. Everypony stopped, turning to her.

"Twilight?!" Everypony said, nearly at once and at the same time. They all began to move towards her, wondering if she'd been more seriously hurt.

"I-I'm okay...it's just..." she started, not sounding as shaken as she looked.

"We understand, darling, you've had the roughest possible day a mare could have..." Rarity said, putting a hoof to Twilight's shoulder. The mare tried to use Azure as leverage to stand, but anypony could have seen her legs were trembling under her own weight.

"C-can you walk?" Azure asked. He sounded like he regretted asking, but Twilight wasn't about to point out he asked a question with a very obvious answer.

Twilight shook her head no, slowly.

"I-I can carry you...if you want..." Even beaten up, Azure was still willing to make the offer.

Shining heard the offer; it was exactly the same as he was about to make. He would have had one of the other guards carry the pony he was now carrying off, but the problem was already solved. Twilight didn't even respond, climbing straight up onto Azure's back without so much as a word spoken. Shining couldn't think of anything to say right away.

"Sir, is that awkward for you?" Virid asked. He was always eager to please--it was almost unsettling.

"...No." Shining smiled, turning away. "C'mon, let's head back to where the picnic was. We can get back to Canterlot just fine from there..."

Twilight nestled into Azure's neck. He definitely had exerted himself a lot for her sake; she could tell considering that he was walking just a little slower with her on his back. However, she couldn't tear herself from him now. She knew where she needed to be right now, after the trauma she'd just endured...

Author's Note:

And there we have it. Another chapter to wrap up this arc, and another two after that to close the "Season One" arc of this little bit. Let's see now...

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