Dancing With Lightning
NOTE
If you didn't get the notification or see the post, I revised the last chapter. You will need to go back to it to fully understand what's happening here.
“DAMNIT!” My shout broke the quiet of the early morning as I threw my staff down to the ground “THIS MAKES NO SENSE!”
Jolted awake by my shouting, both guards were in the field within a moment.
“What’s going on?!”
I ran my fingers through my hair and was on the verge of tearing it out. “There’s no pattern! No sense! There’s just absolute chaos! HOW AM I SUPPOSED TO CAST WHEN NOTHING MAKES SENSE!” In my fury, I reached into my robe and pulled out a small ball of compact materials and threw it, channeling and shouting an incantation. What should have resulted in a massive explosion of flames instead turning into a directional blast of freezing wind, leaving a cone of frozen ground in front of me. “AHH!”
The next thing I knew, the flat of Brightblade’s sword was brought across the back of my legs, knocking me to my knees, and Nightshade was in front of me with his hooves on my shoulders.
“Calm down! You’re going to ruin the whole field at this rate!” He gestured behind him where the results of last night’s experiments were plainly visible. Frozen ground, strewn earth, and scorched soil were scattered throughout the area in wild and unpredictable patterns.
“Fire turns to ice, lightning to force, wind to acid! Nothing makes sense!” I found myself repeating the same phrase again. I then found myself getting slapped across the face by a hard hoof. It got through to my dull nerves and I felt my sense returning to me. “Ow… thank you.” I said as I removed my hands from my hair and dragged them down my face.
Nightshade backed away and I heard the sound of a sword resheating behind me. “Care to tell us what the hay that was?”
“This world managing in one day, what a few centuries of isolation failed to do. My spells, the one thing I’ve ever taken pride in, are unpredictable and… simply chaotic.” my eye twitched as I started to get angry again.
“Do I need to smack you again?” A deadpan look and an equally deadpan sentence snaps me back.
“No, no, no, I’m good. no more hoof-smacks.”
I hear a chuckle behind me “A mighty lich cowering before a simple smack?”
“Hey, hooves hurt.” I said as I turned to glare at Brightblade. “Besides, I wasn’t cowering. Simply trying to avoid unnecessary blows to the head. My mind is my weapon after all, gotta make sure it stays sharp.”
The two guards had a quick laugh at that before Brightblade turned to walk toward the camp. “I’m going to go ahead and turn in. Nightshade, keep him from going too crazy.”
“Hey! We aren’t supposed to switch shifts for another hour!”
“Well, you’re already awake and out here, so we’re switching early. Blame Yeta if you want to blame somepony.”
Nightshade went to protest but as Brightblade turned and walked back to the tents in the distance, he was left with no other option but to simply glare at me as I stood up and dusted myself off.
“What are you glaring at me like that for?”
“You cost me an hour of sleep” When I simply shrugged and knelt down to grab my staff, he sighed. “So, what’s the plan for today?”
“I need to go into town.” I stood up and leaned some of my weight on my staff “I’ve got to at least clear up any misgivings that the Element bearers have about me if I can.”
“And how do you plan on doing that?” Before I responded I looked up at the sky, seeing the sun had risen quite well into the sky. If I had to guess, it was only a short time after when I went into town yesterday.
“Well, for now my best plan is to find them and talk to them. If that doesn’t work…” I trailed off as a flash of rainbow amongst the pegasi overhead caught my attention. It was likely the bearer of Loyalty. After all, I doubt there were many ponies with rainbow-colored manes.
I was about to ask Nightshade if he could go get her attention for me, after all, one of the bearers is as good as another for a starting point. However, before I could the pony stopped and I think she was looking at me, though it was hard to tell from this distance. Any doubts of that were soon cleared away as the pony started rocketing towards me at impressive speed. For a moment I wondered how she planned to stop at that speed but that question was answered as I saw her pose. Hooves held in front of her, wings flapping furiously, and a grim expression on her face. She didn’t plan on landing, she planned on flying straight into me.
With her speed, I didn’t have time to move out of the way. Even if I did, she’d likely just change direction or come around for another pass. So, I did the only thing I could do. I braced my staff along my forearm and placed one end firmly against the ground. The other end was held at an angle, effectively blocking most of my body just before she impacted. And she definitely hit hard.
Her hooves met the wood of my staff and the force went straight through it and into its two anchor points. Namely, the ground and my arm. There was a loud crack and a lance of pain shot through my forearm as I was pushed back a few feet, digging three furrows in the ground with my staff and my feet. Somehow, I managed to stay standing and, gritting my teeth against the pain, I threw my shoulder forward, pushing the staff and the now considerably slowed pegasus back. I prepared myself to fight but before either of us could react, Nightshade moved between the pony and I and facing her.
“What are you doing?” as Nightshade said this, she turned to him with what can only be described as pure rage.
“Gilda’s in the hospital because of that thing! I-”
“And Pinkie’s unharmed because of this thing.” I cut her off quickly, diverting her rage back to me again.
“G wouldn’t have hurt her! She was just gonna smack her or something!”
“No, she wasn’t.” This time it was Nightshade stepping in. “She was an inch from digging her talons into that pony’s face. If not for Yetagain, she would have three long scars across her face if she was lucky, probably blind if she was unlucky.”
“And how would you know?” She shouted but her voice was less sure this time. And Nightshade responded in a deadpan voice.
“Because I’ve fought griffons before.”
“Look” I said, cutting back in on the conversation. “I did what I had to to prevent a bad situation. Knocking her out? That was an accident and not something I wanted to do, but she was lucky. There are a million more deadly spells that my spell could have turned into but she got hit by one of the least deadly I have. Hells, I’ll pay the healer’s fees and formally apologize for hurting her. But I won’t apologize for stopping her.”
Surprisingly, my words had the opposite of the intended effect. Her fury seemed to get stoked by my speech.
“That’s it?! ‘Hey, sorry, I didn’t mean to knock you friend out but at least I didn’t kill her.’?! To hay with your fake apology!” Nightshade was about to move, likely to subdue her, but I put a hand on his shoulder. He turned to me with a look of curiosity.
“Step aside Nightshade, it seems she won’t be calmed down with simply talking. If she wants to fight, let her. It’ll help her blow off some steam.” I looked up to Rainbow Dash with a calm and emotionless face “If you want to fight me, I’ll fight. But we do it unarmed and we don’t take it too far. You can feel free to hit me all you like, but this is not to be a fight to the death. Understood?” Without even waiting for a response I relaxed my injured arm, releasing the staff which stayed partially in the ground. I winced in pain as the cracked bones shifted. I then calmly stepped in front of Nightshade and I heard him backing away.
“Okay Yeta, but I’ll be ready to step in if this gets out of hand. That goes for you too, I won’t hesitate to put my claws in your back.”
“Understood.” I said without turning. I concentrated for a moment as the pegasus in front of me took what looked like a fighting stance. I risked closing my eyes briefly as I reached out to the ley lines, finding the miniscule dark line and channeling a small amount into my body. Unlike living bodies, undead bodies can not only handle taking in necrotic magic, but in fact thrive and heal off of it. I opened my eyes and everything had a slightly red tint to it as they glowed red and there was a faint crackling sound as my bones repaired themselves. “Thank you for giving me time to get ready.”
“Yeah, well, I may be ticked off at you but if you’re going to offer a formal challenge like that, I figure I should at least let you get ready for the butt-kicking your about to get.” After a brief nod I moved into a clumsy fighting stance of my own. I may have some training in martial combat, but it’s just an emergency backup, I’ve never been very good at it.
Not even a second after I got into position, Rainbow Dash was on me. Her speed was unbelievable, I barely managed to block her strikes but the odd few still managed to connect. Despite this speed, however, she seemed to sacrifice little in the way of power. This was definitely a trained fighter, there’s no way these are simple improvised attacks. Her movements were as precise as they were swift and I’m quickly having to give ground as I flee from her strikes.
Feeling cornered, I decided it was time to pull out a trump card. I waited, timing her strikes as I weathered the storm of blows, and with speed, strength, and just a little bit of luck I managed to grab one of her hooves and use her momentum to throw her past me as I moved to where she had been. The pegasus spread her wings to stop herself from hitting the ground, but I gave myself enough distance for a quick spell. I reached into a pocket and grabbed a small orb of materials, muttering an incantation and moving my other hand at lightning speed in a practiced motion. Luckily, the spell worked and I felt my body become lighter and energy seemed to shoot through me.
This time, as the mare was upon me I found myself following her blows better and my body moved markedly faster. Gotta love haste. With my newfound speed I was able to block all of the pegasus’ strikes and, when another opening revealed itself, I tumbled to the side and pulled a small flask out of one of my robe’s inner pockets. With no time to pop the cork I had to improvise and I braced myself for pain as I smashed the vial over my head and shouted another incantation, hoping beyond hope another spell would work. Miraculously, for the second time in a row, I got the intended effect and I felt my body strengthening and my skin toughening. An ethereal armor-like image shimmered around my body and I felt a distinct sense of loss as I was cut off from reaching the ley lines any more. Tenser’s Transformation, a double edged sword that dramatically increases the caster’s physical potential but prevents the casting of spells while it is in effect. Alongside all of the magic coursing through me, I felt a familiar strain. It would seem I was pushing my limits, that night of casting put a serious dent in my built-up reserves. Surprisingly, Rainbow wasn’t on me again but the reason became clear as I heard her shout.
“Hey! Magic’s no fair!”
“I only remember one rule for this fight, and it wasn’t ‘no magic.’” I said this as I reached up and pulled out the shard of glass that had managed to get stuck in my scalp. Luckily, most of the glass came apart in large pieces and simply fell around me. The pegasus growled in frustration.
“Whatever, I’ll still beat you anyways!”
And with that the rain of blows began again but this time, I barely felt them. The hooves of the mare met only toughened arms and hands. I found an opportunity and released my first real strike of the battle, a solid punch straight at the head of the pegasus, but despite all my spells, the fatigue of the night was catching up to me and my strike was too slow. She ducked the blow and quickly brought a hoof up through the opening I had provided, landing square against my jaw.
I stumbled back as the blow connected and shook my head in a daze. A hit that fast has no right to be so strong. Clearly, this mare’s lithe form hid a well-trained strength. Before I could ponder this any further, another blow landed against my chest and sent me back again. Another strike hit, then another, and another. I gave the pegasus one solid opening, and it was all she needed to capitalize on it and end the fight. Within moments I was on the ground and she had one hoof on my chest while the other was poised to strike down upon my head. As the mare stood there panting above me I admitted my defeat.
“I concede.” Having no need to breathe, I wasn’t panting but my exhaustion was clear in my voice. Not just physical either, just two spells and I’m worn down. I guess that’s the result of a full night’s worth of casting right before a fight.
The pegasus stayed in her position for a long moment and out of the corner of my eye I saw Nightshade moving in to stop her if she tried anything but eventually she lowered her poised hoof and slowly, she removed her other hoof from me, allowing me to sit up with a grunt.
“You’re good, how much training do you have?”
“Enough to be considered an expert in three fighting styles and a novice in three more.” Nightshade said as he walked over to us with a water pouch. I’m not sure when he had time to get it, but he offered it to Rainbow and she reluctantly accepted, gulping down a hefty sum before speaking.
“How did you know that?” She said with a look of suspicion as she handed to container back to him.
“The moment you received the Element of Loyalty it became my job to know about you. Equestrian Intelligence has a file on each of you and your capabilities.” Where most would likely be offended that they were being watched and researched, Rainbow seemed to take pride in the fact that she was deemed so important as to have her own file.
“Well, it’s good to know they’ve learned how awesome I am.” She gloated, her mood seeming to have improved immensely. I guess I was right, this is the kind of pers-no, pony that calms down best if you give her a way to blow off steam. Namely hitting something. “But yeah, I’ve pretty much mastered three martial arts. The one I was using there was called Lightning Strike.”
“Heh, an appropriate name. Even with hasted speed I was only able to keep pace.”
“Well, I guess you aren’t too bad yourself.” She said almost reluctantly “I mean, even before you cheated with your magic” I rolled my eyes but she didn’t seem to notice it “you were able to block some of my punches. That’s a pretty big deal, was that some kind of human martial art you were using?”
“Oh, no, no.” I chuckled lightly “That was just something I taught myself so I wouldn’t be worthless without my magic. I guess it would be most akin to a calculated form of street fighting. Where typical brawlers depend on pure speed or strength or a combination of both, I rely more on finding opportunities to strike and using my opponent’s weaknesses. Something you seem to all-but lack.” I figured stroking her ego a bit might help keep the jovial mood she’s in. “And it’s really all-but useless against a truly strong opponent unless I can manage to amplify myself with some spells or if I am using my staff, which I do have some formal training in. As you saw in that fight, I was being worn down pretty quickly before I cast Haste.” As I finished my sentence, the illusory armor around me dissipated into mist. At this, Nightshade cut back into the conversation.
“So, why were you holding back?” As I looked up to him, I was met by a dead-on stare, leaving no doubt as to who the question was directed at. An indignant voice spoke up beside me.
“What does he mean you were holding back? Did you just throw that fight?!” I put a hand up to get her to let me speak.
“He’s right, I was holding back, but not physically. In terms of martial ability, I was giving it my all.” I turned to look at her and her eyes were narrowed in suspicion.
“And what, exactly, does that mean?” The other pegasus responded to her before I could.
“It means he only cast self-augmenting spells. He didn’t cast a single offensive one.”
“That’s because I was adhering to our one rule.” That got the full attention of the pegasi. After all, our one rule was that we wouldn’t kill each other. I quickly decided it would be best to elaborate. “I think yesterday was a good indication that I can’t predict how my spells will work here so I had no guarantee my offensive spells would be non-lethal. At least with self-augments, if something went wrong I would be the only one hurt by it.”
At the mention of yesterday, the polychromatic pegasus let out a little sigh. “So, was it really an accident?”
“Yes, I only intended to bind her in air and force, holding her in place long enough for the guards to react. I swear to you that this is the truth.”
“Then I guess I can let you off the hook this time, just make sure it doesn’t happen again.” And just like that her energetic and cocky demeanor was back. “Hey, I gotta get back to work so… I guess I’ll see ya later. Bye!” And then she was off into the sky.
“Farewell!” I called up after her. Immediately after she was out of sight I fell back to the ground with a groan. “Uhh, I hate martial fights. It always ends in pain, even with dulled nerves.”
Nightshade chuckled deeply beside me “Well, all things considered, that went pretty well. It seems your little meeting plan is off to a good start.”
“Yeah, I guess it is.” I winced as I shifted and what felt like a broken rib shifted with me “Though I think that start just put a delay on the rest of it. For now, I need to rest and patch myself up. Why didn’t you tell me that mare was an expert fighter?” Nightshades demeanor immediately turned to a flat stare.
“One. Hour.” He deadpanned the words and I groaned at his little act of revenge. I would have to remember that little stunt for later. But for now, it was time to rest.
Also LikedSimilarAuthor
- The Shade · 15k words · 80 18 · 3.1k views
- TheBadgerKing · 5.9k words · 134 13 · 3k views
- The Psychopath · 8k words · 40 5 · 1.6k views
- leo0074 · 21k words · 185 21 · 5.9k views
- The Grimm Reaper · 3.2k words · 75 1 · 1.5k views
- Stormwind · 5.6k words · 57 18 · 1.7k views
- Final Resistance · 65k words · 100 5 · 3.3k views
- Black_lightening · 2.1k words · 40 4 · 2.4k views
Stats
Page generated in 0.171 seconds
Total duration
1,127 users online
1,735,973 hits today, 1,872,792 yesterday
FIMFiction
My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Fanfiction
Designed and coded by knighty & Xaquseg - © 2011-2024
Follow & Support Us
Support us
SubStar
Chat!
Discord
Follow us
Twitter
MLP: Friendship is Magic® - © 2024 Hasbro Inc.®
Fimfiction is in no way affiliated with or endorsed by Hasbro Inc.®
IT'S BACK! EVERYONE PARTY!
4426259
yeah, I have a bad tendency to just hope G-docs catches the errors I make cause I don't want to stop when I finally get a train of thought going. I'm also immensely lazy so I tend to just throw the chapter up after I write it instead of taking the time to proof-read it... I'll try to be better about this in the future.
4426523
Did someone say party? I'll be the tank, who's healing?
oh... that kind of party... *puts his axe away* So no epic adventures and dragon-slaying?
4426616 We can do both!
4426680
so it's a party... where we party... PARTYCEPTION! I LOVE IT!
you made rainbow op
4430271
well, that was all the perspective of someone that's not well-versed in martial combat. She beat him easily, but most ponies probably could even without training, it's just his spells that even gave him a chance. It will eventually be made apparent that she's not the best he's seen but... that will actually be quite a bit later on... maybe I should go change a few lines around to make that apparent. thanks for the feedback.
(now, if you're saying all of that because she's well-versed in multiple martial arts then blame Xenophilia)
4431047 he had experience
4431245
and who's to say she doesn't have some of her own? Yeta has experience in life-or-death combat, yes. and a good bit more of it, but Rainbow loves competition and is very... combatative in some ways, making it highly likely she's had a lot of fights, be they actual tournaments or competitions, or simply a brawl. Now, I will admit I made it a little too easy for her, but not too horribly much. I think I just need to go through and rewrite it a bit to show more of the fact that he had also been doing the fight immediately after a full afternoon and night forcing out spells and experimenting. I'll try to work some more detail into the fight and such, this was, afterall, my first attempt at writing a fight scene.
... and this is why I like feedback, it helps me figure out what I missed in my writing
4432850 I just fond it odd considering how old he is also he is a lich they can take a beating and not feel a thing or is it because he still has his sole so cant take as much damage?
4432964
eh, it's got less to do with his soul and more to do with the fact that, where most liches would probably just abandon the nerves all together and feel no pain, Yeta tried to keep his working. He actually tries to keep most of his body working like a living one. I haven't brought it up yet (and am not sure if I'll find a good chance to specifically adress it) but he's been speaking with his actual voice, breathing and using his vocal cords, instead of the arcane one liches use when their lips and tongue have decayed. he's also using his actual eyes, the reason the red glow, typically the only things in a lich's eye sockets, only shows up when he's channeling dark magic into himself.
... I got on a bit of a tangent there. it basically boils down to, he's still got the vitality of undeath that is typical of liches but he can still feel pain and reacts to it as such (like being dazed from a hoof to the jaw)
4432993 could he just tern off his nerves then?
4433349
hmm, it might be possible but much like getting his tongue working again, it would take work and he hasn't tried to. I would go into a little more detail but I think I actually want to incorporate something to do with this into a later chapter. So for now I'll just leave it as he could if he tried hard enough, but doesn't for various reasons.
4433371 yay im helping
4436541
WOO! ANOTHER GOOD NECROMANCER!
I'd actually more line Yeta's allignment as neutral with good tendancies. He prefers to do good, but has few qualms about doing what he must.
4436659 his restraint is impressive there's a lot of "good" characters that would have immediately used lethal force after the kind of hit rainbowdash gave him especially with no warning. He is a fun character I'll be keeping my eye on my favorites for futer of instalments
So you've instigated a points system now, huh? So I enjoyed the Xeno nod, and the overall feel of this chapter. Also, the Yeta freak out at the start was pretty funny.
P.S. I'm a lich, bitch!
P.S.S Not really... ~ Time to Dash, Dash out~
update pl0x?
5066860 I want to, I really do, but... yeah, I'm having trouble getting motivated to continue writing. And when I do get motivated, I get, like, two paragraphs out before I give up, get distracted, or run out of time... but I shall continue trying!