Nightingale

by East Coast

Chapter 6b: Sombra vs. Panic -or- That one time at band camp...

The main hall seemed to be unaware of the violence outside, or chalked it up to testing the fireworks that would be used later that night. This was extremely convenient for Sombra, as panicked pastel ponies potentially posed preposterous problems. He slipped out of the main hall through the shadows a technique he'd perfected throughout the years. He had little doubt that the disturbance outside was brought about by that pony who was bound to court his heir. First he'd deal with this disturbance, then with him. This night had gone on long enough.

As Sombra's form materialized, congealing from the shadows like some filly's nightmare, Panic had gone into a somewhat literal dive-bomb. Her cackling carried throughout the night, the guard towers like bonfires casting flickering shadows across the flame-lit courtyard.

"Excuse me young miss! You are intruding on a private party, not only that but if I am not mistaken, you have destroyed my lovely property."

Panic stopped mid-dive, using a single wing as if her body was a boat, paddling it to one side or the other to turn herself. She scanned the devastation for the voice but couldn't see beyond her own bangs.

"What? Taking private parts? Hehehehe! Can you even do that?! Ahehehe! Sounds like fun Mr. Voice!"

Panic bared her unusually pointed teeth and opened fire in a random direction, blowing absolutely nothing but concrete into absolute nothingness.

"Let's start with yours!"

Sombra simply shook his head and laughed as he recognized the little mare from the wanted posters he'd seen.

"Hahaha... Panic, was it? Haha... You really have no idea who you're dealing with... Do you?"

With barely another word claws tore from the dark, tearing into the mare's back sending streams of crimson onto the ground below her. Her scream was downed by the revelry going on inside the main hall.

"You have no idea who you're dealing with, you little brat! Do you even know who I am?!"

The King drifted from his hiding place, his face a mask of fury with his vermillion eyes glowing like fire as the telltale violet aura of his dark arts cascaded off them. Panic panted in the air and watched him rise to the dilapidated roof of a building that once looked like a guest house.

"Y-You're t-that mean king... Heh, heh... Boomy doesn't like you... Hehehehe... Not. One. B-Auhhhhh!!"

Another shadowy pair of claws raked out from the dark, rending into her sides as more red poured from her body.

<Boomy! B-Boomy... I can't see him... I-I mean I can.. But when he licks me it hurts! It hurts and I can't it!>

Panic to her credit remained airborne, though she was descending slowly due to the weight of her weapons and the fleeting strength in her wings. Sombra ignored the blaze that clung to the building he was standing on and neared the edge of it, gaining on the mare.

"I want you to understand the position you've put me in you little psychopath! Can you see the damage you've done?! This will take me days to have fully repaired! Days! Though... In retrospect..."

Panic's wings were seized by an inky blackness and pulled closer to the armored stallion as he brought his face to hers, brushing the bangs from her face.

"You'll be long dead by then... Or... At least wish you were."

Panic's chest heaved, she was losing blood. Her wounds were deep and it seems like they just kept opening, like tiny bugs were knawing at the edges of the wounds. Her eyes glazed over for a moment as she tried to get her tongue back from the cat. Her eyes rested down on the flickering flames near her hoof.

So pretty.

"S-So much h-hurt-"

"Oh? Does it hurt? Then let my make it all be-"

"Sharing is caring!"

With one swift motion, Panic brought her hind leg up and kicked some of the blaze into the King's face and unleashed a torrent of violence in his general direction. Needless to say the remainder of the building exploded into rubble, and Panic fell to the ground. She wanted to land on her hooves but they didn't feel very stable to her and when she touched ground they gave in and her body collapsed on the floor. Every muscle in her body demanded she move, but the puddle of blood she was lying in was rather warm and she felt her eyes flitter a bit, her vision blurring more so than before.

<Can't... Can't sleep! N-Not yet! N-Not without...>

"N-Not without him..."

Panic was arguably insane, but she was no fool. If all it took to kill Sombra was some liberal application of excessive force than he'd had been dead long ago. She could hear him in every shadow, see him in every charred remains of whatever (or whoever) was lying about. Her eyes, when not shutting on their own darted to every shadow in search of him. She could hear him grunting and spitting. Well, she was certain it was him. It could be Boomy choking on her blood... Or it may have been her. She bit her lip and smiled through the pain and found some strength to lift herself up onto her feet, trying not to slip in her own blood. She reached for her saddlebags with a trembling wing and withdrew a health potion. She twitched somewhat as she simply bit the glass above the ichor and poured the content down her throat. It would at least stop the bleeding long enough to crash a party. At least, that's what she thought as she stumbled toward the lights and sounds of the Gala.

Sombra clutched the right side of his face, the embers clinging to his fur and sending the smell of burning hair right into his nose, he could feel pressure against his entire body. He severely underestimated the amount of ammunition that mares mini-gun could unleash and he pondered where she kept it all. His armor was more than enough to keep him alive but they had punched many tiny indents into the suit and that was making it hard to focus. He couldn't help but feel the irony that this posh aversion was actually hindering him and swore he'd return to a more stricter regiment as soon as the maniac's head was mounted on his wall. He shook his head and regained his vision, if not slightly fuzzier than when he'd left the party, however it didn't take clear vision and a history of detective work to know where Panic was headed. Her blood was a handy trail and it wasn't hard to follow it, despite the fact that that too seemed to be fading as Sombra stumbled after her, his head still a buzz from the concussive force of the explosions.
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Harmony smiled and thanked the gathering of ponies who continually congratulated her for her ascension from gutter rat to prodigy. She didn't want to point out that one was a prodigy long before they gained success, but she really felt that may put a damper on the party spirit. She smiled and signed and played and then repeated the process. She didn’t want to call it lying because she honestly felt like thanking them... Just didn't really care for their somewhat... Ignorant statements. Suddenly she bolted upright, keeping her smile despite the tail brushing her plot. She had noticed it before but had chalked it up to a pony passing by, but it seemed more like this pony was giving her a... A spanking? The tail repeatedly slapped against her flank discretely, or if anypony saw it they most certainly didn't talk it up to anything. Which did bother her somewhat. She didn't want to be rude but it at least seemed like a common courtesy to uhm... Brush her back end like this.

Before she could ask the pony who was making her feel rather uncomfortable to stop, the doors to the main hall shot open. The bustling party grew quiet and Harmony could smell somepony had peed themself. Then a weak cackle and a series of explosion drowned out the growing screams of frantic ponies. Harmony found a melody in the explosions she enjoyed and the fact she couldn't see convinced her that her best bet may be to sit still. It seemed like the sound of silenced ponies matched up with an explosion so she reasoned it was the panic that was getting ponies killed. She remained still and it seemed like everything was fine, minus the odd laughter from the gunman...mare from the cadence of her laugh... Or perhaps this colt simply had a very girly laugh, but Harmony was certain whoever was shooting and laughing had to be a mare...

Probably.
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Panic had found some vigor in the massacre, if there was one thing that could brighten her spirits it would be a healthy overdose of ultra-violence. The only thing she noticed was out of place was that one pony didn't move an inch. Well that was no good because all the spread from her rather rapid fire made certain Panic needed pointblank range to hit anything that wasn't running for its life. The tonic seemed to be taking full effect as her weak smirk had broadened into a vicious, toothy grin, and her labored chuckle was slowly becoming a manic cackle. She was feeling less of the entire recoil as her legs were firmly planted where they were and she smiled when she realized her vision was no long fuzzy, but the blur was simply from the red mist. Her eyes still rested on the pony who hadn't moved an inch.

<Broke, blind, deaf and dumb! Boomy! She's not moving and she isn’t dead! It bothers me! It bother,bother,bothers me! My little taxidermist! hehehehe!>

Simple stoic stooge sits stunningly stupefied strangely! I want some sugar with my tea! Three lumps Threeee lumps!"

Harmony could definitely hear the mare now, she was yelling nonsense that she had a strange feeling was actually aimed at nopony in particular. Harmony didn't exactly know what to do. She was frightened beyond words which she found a little ironic. She wanted to move and get away, or maybe talk this pony out of her psychotic rampage but it was all too likely this mare wouldn't understand sign language... Not her sign anyway, she supposed that anything said by a body, such as loss of life, was technically sing language.

Then she had a brilliant idea. A very brilliant idea.
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Sombra knew he was too late when he realized the reason why the blood trail was fading was most likely owed to a healthy dose of a health poultice. He spat on the ground as he saw a guest narrowly leave the main hall, only to be gibed in an instant by an oddly happy looking missile. He wasn't sure if he should be spiteful or thankful, she was saving him the trouble of having to explain all this away to his guests.

He approached the doors to find the mare fully recovered, happily murdering his dwindling guest list. The only pony untouched was the orphan girl. She was either petrified or smart... Maybe both. He cracked his neck and coughed to get Panic's attention.

"I'm going to tear you apart, then feed you to your loved ones you raging lunatic!"

"I wanted to say that!"

Panic wheeled around, raising her front legs up and pivoting on her hind pair, stomping down to face Sombra. Her guns never stopped shooting and her arc blew open holes in the roof, sending shingles through the hole. Sombra quickly leapt to the side of the wall of the main hall, galloping along a trail of darkness with a procession of Panic's pay-load in his tracks. Sombra noted two things in that moment. This mare had fired too many projectiles to be using a conventional weapon design, and whatever the actual design was it was far too heavy and/or slow for her to lead her shots. He began to analyze every move she made and scrutinize every move she didn’t. He began dissecting her strategy as he simply kept ahead of her, surprisingly nimble in his armor. The walls exploded, giving views of the carnage that had just happened outside all the while Panic angrily fired onto Sombra.

<He is so stupid with his working legs! Boomy! Start. Hitting. Hiiiiiiiiim~! I want to make a necklace from his teeth! Preserve his perverse pungent pen->

Panic was suddenly flung out of a hall she had blown in the wall, a pain in her chest. A pool or inky darkness fell from where she had been standing, a large spear like protrusion slowly receding. Sombra laughed as he watched the mare forced out, bleeding from her chest, the spear having gone completely through her. He was prepared to give chase but Panic returned quickly, catching herself with her wings. She giggled as she dived toward the hole, spinning as she shot at the dark lord.

"Doabarrelrolldoabarrelrolldoabarrelrolldoabarrelrolldoabarrelrolldoabarrelrolldoabarrelrolldoabarrelrolldoabarrelrolldoabarrelrolldoabarrelroll DO! A! BARREL! ROLLLLLLLLL~!"

The main hall rocked as Panic returned in explosively. Her she hadn't even remotely hit Sombra but she had torn apart the ground and when she impacted that ground with her high speed landing it sent cracks traveling along the floor.

"Brinin' down da' house!"

Panic lifted her fraternal twin guns to blast the supports columns of the hall, sending Sombra into a full on sprint, throwing an inky clouds up in front of whichever one she aimed up, stopping the missiles and most of the bullets...

But not enough or them.

The room began to shake as the weak floor gave and the supports were turned into stone splinters. Panic smiled wide, mouth agape with a quick laugh. She looked around at the destroyed entertainment hall with the same wonderment a filly would have if they saw it before Panic had gotten to it. The failing structural integrity did not go unnoticed by Harmony who finally found the heart to panic. She looked around rapidly and took to her wings. She heard tiny pieces of rubble falling from the ceiling. Sombra recoiled after a barrage of missiles broke his pseudo shadow shield, shattering his magical focus just as Panic realized that the little forceful poke from before had actually gone through her entire chest. She didn't pay it any more attention. Before Sombra could recover, Panic had taken to her wings, floating up slowly. She was giggling as her guns stopped shooting finally, the white hot barrels giving off a hissing sound as they cooled.

"Hehehehehehe~! Best. Party. Everrr~! It was a real -wait for it-!"

There was a pause as the building lost another section of roof.

"Blast! Ahehehehehehehehahahahehe- snort- Ahehehehe!"

The roof fires were catching, and the sparks of those fires were now jumping to the tapestries of the hall that hadn't been outright destroyed. The flaming ceiling came crashing down in sections, tumbling chunks of fire, wood, and metal that crashed against the floor as the sparks brought fire to the rest of the hall.

Harmony took a large step back, flinching from a fire that had spread near her just as Sombra began drawing up more darkness to aid him. All the while Panic giggled mid-air, more than satisfied with her handiwork.

"This. Ends. Now."

Panic kept laughing but corrected her trajectory so that way she could face Sombra, covering her lips with a hoof to stifle her laughter.

"Hahaha, I-If you say so Mr. Shadow Puppets. I-I really need to catch up on my -hahahah- soaps."

The two glared at each other in their own way, Sombra with a very real glare and Panic with a light hearted smirk, broken by the occasional giggle, Harmony had her instrument tucked closely by her side as she tried to avoid the heat around her as the fire began to spread around the room, the debris from the roof causing smoke to begin to fill the room and raise into the empty night.
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The main hall was all smoke and fire, whoever had been inside was surely either dead or dying, caught between the crossfire of my father and that maniac. I tried avoiding the fires of the rooftops I ran along that Panic had undoubtedly destroyed on her way in, the only things I had planned to take with me begin what I managed to fit into the saddle bags of Bebop and myself, and whatever Thorn could carry. Mostly books and clothing between us, with a few mystic bobbles I couldn't afford to leave behind. I found myself staring at the flickering flames of the hall.

I wonder if anypony would walk away from the wreckage... I wonder if I'll even be my father's priority with all this chaos to explain... I suppose he could tell the truth though couldn't he? Or most of it anyway...

I looked to Bebop, catching him doing the same as me. Well, perhaps not exactly the same but both of us had our vision locked on the Gala, now burning to the ground.

"Some party..."

"The Grand Galloping Gala; The guests are all on fire..."

Bebop turned to me at my remark with a surprised look on his face, which confused me. He then smiled and shook his head as if he had to suppress a laugh and nodded toward the destroyed front gate, and we got going.

He may have thought I was joking.

Comments

[East Coast]

3433909
Fixed!

Annnd as for EQD... I reallly don't think it's all that good , I don't feel like it's ready for such an honor...

Meaning my story. I just, don't think My poor grammar and spelling is quite up to the challenge of meeting the standard I hold EQD to.