Don't Underestimate Me
“What happened here?” Crystal asked, looking down at the ruined city beneath them. “There’s… nothing left. It’s ruins, all of it.”
“It was the Changelings,” Shining Armor replied through gritted teeth. gripping his spear so hard that his knuckles turned white. “They weren’t satisfied with just killing Cadence’s family, they also had to destroy her city.
The Changeling Army, or so the rumours said, had started laying siege to different cities in the lands around and near Equestria. What their army was called mattered little, what mattered was the destruction and slaughter they left in their wake. Few had survived their onslaughts, and no one had been able to hold them at bay so far. Suffice to say the Equestrians were on the losing side of the war currently going on.
The small group of soldiers - Spitfire, Shining Armor, Crystal, Soarin’ and Fleetfoot - were currently standing on a cloud overlooking the ruined city of Istalloña - Shining with the aid of a cloud walking spell.
It had been hardly more than a day since the attack started, and there was hardly anything standing intact in the city below. Fires burned, buildings crumbled, soldiers rushed poured through the streets and did away with any survivors they found. There was no mercy. None whatsoever.
It was all Shining could do to not charge in.
“We’ve got to do something!”
Fleetfoot put a hand on Shining’s shoulder, looking at him with a concerned look in her eyes. “No, Shiny, we don’t. Think about it. We got orders from the higher-ups to wait for Princess Luna to arrive, and then go in. Until then we should only do surveillance and see if we can find any weak spots in their forces, look for the important figures and so on.”
Crystal look between the two, wondering for a moment which of them she’d rather follow. Sure new Shining Armor, but she was friends with Fleetfoot. She shook her head - it was an easy decision. “I think we should go with Shining’s idea.”
He whirled around and looked at her sceptically, finding nothing but a pair of determined, crystal-blue eyes.
“You can’t mean that, Winterjet!” Fleetfoot exclaimed. “We got our orders and we’re bound to follow them! Think of what will happen if we disobey! We’ll be viewed as something akin to deserters, or worse! We’ll die out there! We’re just rookies, for Jupiter’s sake, we don’t know the first thing about fighting in a real war!”
“Do you really think anyone really knows anything about war the first time they go out to fight?” It was Spitfire this time. She stood with a hand on her hip and the other on the hilt of her sword. “You’re also forgetting that we’re five Alphas, the second highest rank of magical power in the world. We graduated top of our respective classes, going out with flying colours and whatnot. We’re the strongest of all rookies, and you know that.”
Fleetfoot hung her head and nodded it lightly. “I see your point, but it doesn’t matter. We have our orders and we should stick to them.”
“Umm… guys?”
“And if everything goes to Tartarus because we didn’t act soon enough?” asked Crystal.
“Guys?”
“Then it is out of our hands. We had no choice but to follows our orders and-
“GUYS!”
“What?!” All three women turned around to glare at the blue-haired jupitarian.
Soarin pointed at spot where Shining had been just moments ago. “He already teleported down there.”
“I can’t believe you did that,” Fleetfoot groaned as she flew alongside the other four, Shining running on the ground just a metre underneath them.
“Yes, yes, I disobeyed the orders and charged in when told not to. I don’t care.” He grit his teeth and increased his pace, forcing the four jupitarians to fly just a little faster. “They killed her family, and I won’t let them get away with it.”
“Looks like they don’t want to lets us get away with doing whatever we want either.”
Everyone looked up at Crystal’s comment, spotting the five figures standing in the distance, blocking their way into the city. They were all men, and all wore the same armour. It wasn’t much, but the keen eyes of the jupitarians did notice a few differences in the armour these guys wore and the one the majority of the soldiers in the city wore.
Spitfire was the one to voice their suspicion. “I think they’re officers, or something. Definitely higher rank than the others - if their armour is anything to go by, at least.”
Their armour was black and looked like an exoskeleton more than any sort of metal Crystal knew of. I don’t think it matters. after all, there’s no such thing as a material that cannot freeze. A grim smile found its way to her lips as she sped banked her wings, stopping a few metres from the five figures. The other four stopped as well; landing and skidding to a halt respectively.
The figure in the middle of the enemy group stepped forward. “And who do we have here? Five green-beans by the looks of it?” He chuckled along with the rest of them. “I don’t know if you’ve heard of me, but I’m Vigil, and this is Mendax, Clarion, Locust, and Daze.” He bowed, making it as mocking as possible. “Our pleasure.”
“I’m sure,” Spitfire shot back, rolling her eyes. She grasped the hilt of her sword and drew blank, readying herself for a confrontation.
Shining took a threatening step forward, raising his round shield ever so slightly and tightening the grip around his spear. “You guys are dead meat.” He raised his spear and pointed it at Vigil, letting a tiny bit of its weight rest on his shield as he put that in front of himself.
“Oh hohoho. we have a feisty one here!” Vigil grinned wickedly and picked up his claymore from where it was stuck in the ground behind him. “Wanna play?”
The four jupitarians accompanying Shining stepped forward, each wielding their own weapons: Spitfire, a sword. Soarin, a flail. Fleetfoot, a twin pair of short swords. And lastly, Crystal. She didn’t so much draw a weapon as the katana-like blade grew from her right arm, the ice shaping itself into a sharp blade.
Shining look to either side of him, and met the smirking face of Spitfire.
“I think so, yes. One on one?” It was Spitfire who spoke, raising her sword in challenge at the one called Clarion.
Vigil chuckled. “Why not? S’not like we’re going to lose anyway. Not like a couple of sprouts is going to be of any challenge to us. Eh, boys?” The other four with Vigil laughed. “Alright. Locust, you go with the white haired lady. Mendax, you take the ice-girl. Daze, you go with Mr. Flail. Clarion, you take the red-head. I will take care of their little ground-pup.”
They all nodded and started walking off into different directions, casting a quick glance at their designated opponent first and motioned for them to follow.
“My name is Mendax, as you may have heard,” the man in black armour called Mendax said as he and Crystal had flown a fair distance away from the others. “And I’m afraid your life ends here, today.”
“Are you always that cocky?” Crystal landed with a small thud some ten metres away from him, raised her sword and spread out her massive wings in the most impressive and, hopefully, intimidating display she could. “I may be young, but that’s no guarantee that you’ll win.” She grinned. “In fact, I may very well win because of that.”
“As if.” Mendax drew a sword of his own. It was a longsword, made for piercing rather than slashing. He readied himself and made an inviting gesture, offering her the first strike.
I hate gentlemen. She charged forward, holding her blade high and jumped a few metres away from him, slashing down towards his shoulder, only for her sword to be bashed out of the way and towards the ground.
Using her wings and momentum to her advantage, she twisted her body in the air and delivered a solid kick in his neck, giving him a faceful of dirt.
“Don’t underestimate me just because I’m young,” Crystal warned when she landed again. She turned around and readied her blade again.
Mendax stood up and spat out the dirt and small amount of blood in his mouth. “Alright, you got me. I won’t.”
For the next several minutes the two of them traded blows, delivering cuts and bruises aplenty to each other. Crystal got pushed harder and harder, forced into situations where she had to use every bit of versatility she could muster in order to both avoid the blows and delivering some herself.
Even with her ability to create a steel-like armour out of ice at a moment’s notice, it wasn’t always enough to negate the attacks. Of all the enemies she could’ve gotten the one with the longsword was likely the most problematic. His weapon was made for piercing, and that was the one thing her armour had some serious trouble withstanding. More than once had she found herself forced to retreat so as to not get speared by his sword.
But Crystal wasn’t the only one having trouble. Mendax was used to fighting people that relied on one type of weapon. Be it longswords, short swords, axes, bludgeons, spears. He had fought many and knew how to defeat them all, but standing against someone that used every single type of weapon, even going so far as to fight unarmed at times - coating her fists or feet in ice and then delivering a crushing blow with a strength behind it that only an eponian should be capable of. He’d never met anyone like her, and the numerous wounds and bruises he sported all over was definite proof of that.
“You’re strong for a sprout, I’ll give you that,” he said, panting. “But I’m afraid it’s over now.” He raised his sword, lightning started dancing along the blade. “Y’see, this here is what a ‘Shape’ looks like, I suppose you know what a shape is? It’s what we jupitarians call our spells; our magic.” The amount of sparks jumping up and down the blade increased. “The stronger you are, the stronger and more numerous your shapes.” He grinned and spread his own wings wide.
“I’m a Beta Plus! The third highest rank of magic, and one of the most powerful among our order. You can’t defeat me!”
Crystal looked at him, she would’ve raised an eyebrow if not for the fact that the cut in her forehead would hurt then. She sighed. “You’re in my domain now, do you really think you can beat me?”
“Huh? Your domain? HAH! I’m an officer of the Changeling Army, this domain is ours, and will continue to be so!” His mocking glare turned to a furious one. “Your domain? Don’t make me laugh.”
Crystal’s wings spread out behind her, displaying their massive size and carried her aloft with a few flaps. She rose into the air as the wind started to pick up. Her eyes never left his, her glare clashing against his. “Yes, my domain!” she called, motioning towards the sky. The previous clear summer sky was gone, replaced by numerous and tightly packed clouds. Already the first snowflakes were falling, followed by more until the air was thick with them.
“While you were gloating I was preparing. This is my domain - Winter. While your lightning can cause burns, and start up fires, those can be extinguished if one only has the water. But you cannot stop the winter. You cannot stop a passing time of nature, no matter how prepared you are. You might bunker up inside and keep out the cold, but you can’t stop it.” She rose higher up, seemingly unaffected by the sudden cold and not even caring for the gusts of wind that blew around. “Winter sends everything hiding, everything sleeping… and if it doesn’t do that, it kills it.”
She glared down at him, anger and determination shining in those icy pools of blue. “You’re done for, Mendax. Give up or freeze to death.”
Mendax just laughed. He was feeling cold, yes, and he did think that the snow obscuring his vision was annoying, but that was it. Snowy weather did nothing to make her stronger, it couldn’t.
He completely forgot that the more power a jupitarian uses, the more they affect the weather around them, and that was what gave Crystal the opening she needed.
She flapped her wings hard, sending several feathers flying towards him, each one coated in ice and sharp as any dagger. One cut through his armour and grazed his arm, another embedded itself in his chestplate without doing much damage, and third hit his left hand, cutting his index finger clean off.
He shouted and cursed, grabbed the feather imbedded in his chestplate and pulled it out, noticing that only a tiny bit of blood was coating the tip.
“Don’t mock me!” he shouted up at her. He raised his sword and pointed it towards her, the lightning arcs still dancing along it.
Before Crystal could really react, a lightning soared from the sword and up towards her. She extended both arms and created a barrier of thin ice in front of her, only to witness it crack and explode as the lightning struck it. The attack itself didn’t do a lot of damage to her, but the shards of ice did cut through her leather gloves and gave her more painful cuts on the cheeks and neck.
He’s not playing around anymore… and if he keeps attacking with that much power, I’m not sure I’ll be able to beat him. She danced to the side, avoiding another lightning strike from the ground and flew a thin spear at him, only to see him jump away from it. Do I have to use that? I might.
She angled her wings and dived towards him, conjuring another blade around one arm and swinging it at him as she passed, narrowly missing his neck and received a glancing strike on her thigh, blocked mostly by a quickly-made ice plate.
“Why aren’t you flying?” She called mockingly from the air a few moments later, trying to buy time as she thought of what to do next. “Don’t tell me that his mild weather is too much for you?”
Mendax smiled grimly. “I’m not much keen on fighting in the air during a blizzard, especially not when I can just attack from the ground!” He sent another lightning strike at her - one she deflected with her sword, and immediately regretted doing so.
Agh! Damn! Shouldn’t have done that. My arm’s spasming. Her arm spasmed briefly before falling limb at her side, the blade on it proving useless. Damn, seems like I have to, no- “Woah!” She dodged to the side, just managing to avoid the spear thrown at her. Idiot, Crystal. Should’ve shattered that spear when it missed him.
She flew down, landing on the ground with her right arm still useless.
“Something the matter? Didn’t like my stunning attack?” Mendax smirked. “Too bad, with your sword arm done for, you’re no longer a match for me.” He raised his sword and lowered his point of gravity, preparing for a charge.
No choice, I’m not good enough left handed, and a limb arm isn’t going to help me. I hope this works…! She closed her eyes and breathed in deeply, then breathed out and focused all her power on herself and then sat to work.
Mendax charged her, using the time she had with her eyes closed to cross the distance. The look on his face spoke of arrogance and an expectation of a victory assured.
He allowed himself to savor the feeling of the battle tipping in his favor and struck down, expecting to feel the sensation of hitting flesh, but found only empty air.
“Behind you.”
He whirled around and, before he could react, felt something grib his throat. It was cold, so very, very cold. Focusing on what was before him she saw Crystal, her eyes glaring into his with no emotion save a frozen fury. But even then, the most startling thing was her skin.
While she had always been pale, right now it was as white as the snow around her, only emphasizing the way her eyes contrasted her skin. He looked down and saw her arm - her fingers wrapped around his throat, ice spreading out from where she held him already.
It was cold… so, so vold.
“Absolute Zero,” she explained. “I told you before, I was preparing. Right you, you’re dead. You can do nothing but wait.”
The way she spoke, he thought, was without emotion. It seemed to him that she just didn’t care - he was just another obstacle for her. Why was his entire body so cold?`Why couldn’t he move?
“You said you were a Beta Plus? Let me tell you something, I’m an Alpha, and so are the rest of my friends. And right now my body is cooled down to the point where it’s only my own magic that allows me to move.” Her grip tightened around his throat. There was the sound of ice cracking, and a louder one of ice spreading down his body and up his neck. “I told you before; everything that isn’t prepared to face winter.”
He couldn’t move anymore. Every part of his body without feeling. All he could do was listen and watch as he was ever so slowly frozen over and killed by a rookie, of all things.
The last thing he heard before his sight and hearing were cut off, were two words that kept repeating themselves even as he sunk towards the darkness. “Will die.”
Crystal let go of his throat and stepped back. She knew she would have to raise her temperature within the next few seconds if she wanted herself to survive, but for the moment she just looked at him.
He was frozen solid. In front of her was not a changeling soldier, but a statue that looked like a grown man. He was strong, that was for certain, very strong. Glancing at her own words, she couldn’t help but think that she might very well have died if she hadn’t used this trick.
Yes, it was powerful and could kill almost anyone if she got a good enough grip on them, but it was also extremely dangerous. She chuckled, knowing that Spitfire would throw a fit when she learned that she’d used a shape this hazardous.
She looked him up and down. I don’t want to give anyone the chance to revive him, as non-existent as the chances may be. Ice started gathering around the lower part of her left arm, thickening by the second.
“Sorry.” With all the strength she could muster, she twisted her entire body and delivered a punch to the statue so powerful that it shook herself. Pieces of ice rained down, littering the ground around her. She grimaced, feeling her bile rise at the thought of having just shattered the body of another person.
Please, Jupiter, never force me to do something like this again. She looked down at the remains of Mendax, offering a silent prayer that he would be well in whatever afterlife he found himself in. He may have been an enemy but she decided that she could at least wish him a bit of luck, wherever he was.
Having done so, she closed her eyes, focused her power on herself once again, and slowly raised her own temperature, starting from a minus 250 and slowly moving towards plus 37.
“Minus 230, minus 200, minus 190, minus 175, minus 150.” She kept going in this fashion for nearly a minute, slowly returning her body temperature to normal.
She half landed, half fell once she reached the front of the city gates again, crashing down besides a wounded Shining Armor. She didn’t even bother sitting up from her prone position.
“Y-You look like shit, Shiny,” she panted.
“Hah! You too, Crystal. I see you survived as well? Not that many serious wounds though, how’d you do it?” Shining looked at her questioningly while clutching one arm tightly, blood seeping from between his fingers.
“Froze the bastard solid. Shouldn’t have done that. Spent way too much energy and almost killed myself afterwar- Ow!” She turned her head and looked up at saw a sour looking Spitfire, bruised and bloodied as she was. “What was that for?”
“You used that suicidal trick of yours, didn’t you?”
Crystal looked at Shining Armor again, grinning stupidly. “Told ya.”
Shining just chuckled and started asking how they both felt, how they’d won their battles, if it wasn’t a tie.
“Where’s your guy, btw?” Spitfire looked around, noting the lack of body.
“He fled. He was ridiculously strong, but I managed to make him run away. Guess it’s a tie.” He shrugged and leaned back, watching quietly as Crystal sat up.
“The others are coming,” she said casually, pointing towards the two winged shapes coming towards them. “And yes, I know it’s them. Who else has blue and white wings respectively? I sure don’t think the five asshats from before did.”
Soarin and Fleetfoot touched down a few moments later, both falling into a sitting position as soon as their feet touched the ground. Soarin, it seemed, because of a broken ankle rather than exhaustion - at least if his cry of pain was anything to go by.
“How’d it go?” Spitfire asked them.
“Fine.” Fleetfoot waved off any further questions, preferring to try and help Soarin into a more comfortable position.
“Could’ve gone better. The guy used a hammer, broke my leg within the first few minutes. Had to zap him I don’t know how many times before he lay still.” He looked around, a small smile coming to his face despite the occasional wince. “Glad you’re all okay… or, as okay as you be after this.”
“We all got out in one piece, I think that’s the most important thing,” Fleetfoot chimed in and sat back, satisfied that Soarin was sitting in a way that kept his leg from hurting too much. “Also, looks like the Princess and the others are coming.”
“Thank Jupiter, I could use some food. Pie, if they have it.”
Crystal glanced up at Soarin, smiling despite herself. “Glutton.”