9 The Next Move
Well, thank you to Waffleman2211 (I'm so sorry I misspelled your name), and bananadevourer8801 (It'll take some time getting used to calling you this rather than Ninjagirl01) for leaving your reviews. Wow. That was a short list of names.
Note-This chapter has been re-uploaded multiple times because when I select what chapter to put up, it kept linking to another, completely irrelevant one.
Twilight stared up at the vaporous specter that had risen out of the black hole, even as its awful burning gaze pinned them all to the spot. Its aura was menacing, dark, and reeked of things that were better left unknown. Spellbinder planted himself in front of Twilight, shielding her with his body.
The dark specter continued to watch them, solidifying as more vapor joined its body, each waft creating new details. Horns, claws, and a barbed tail soon followed, features that seemed all too familiar...
Then it opened its mouth, sucking in all the air around it, the wind howling as it was drawn into the gaping mouth. The inside was as black as pitch that had been smeared on obsidian.
It reminded Twilight and Blizzard gale of the inside of Talonbite's mouth, a possessed statue that had tried to kill them six months ago. If memory served, Talonbite had inhaled like that just before using…
The vapor demon's mouth lit up with orange light, illuminating rows upon rows of long, dagger like teeth.
"Get down!" Twilight screamed, diving to the grass and pulling Spellbinder and Jinx with her. Blizzard yanked the other stallion down, and not a moment too soon. The creature had, indeed, used a breath attack. A double helix of orange sparks raged over the five ponies' heads, pelting them with burning heat and unstable magic force. A boom echoed from Ponyville, and ponies started screaming. The creature shut off the destructive stream of energy, only to send a red disc of magic into the nearest building, slicing it cleanly in two. The occupants of the cottage shrieked and took cover as debris and chunks of wood rained down all around them, some of it on fire.
Spellbinder stood up. "Nopony, and I mean nopony, does something like that on my watch." He growled. The mage's horn lit up, sending a blaze of silvery unicorn magic at the creature.
"Oh. A class five shock spell," Jinx said. "This'll be good."
The spell had almost reached the creature's back, which was busy breathing more orange pulses at another house.
Then it turned, reached out a clawed hand, and caught Spellbinder's attack, condensing it into a ball and crushing it, the magic dissipating as the spell was broken. Then the violet rimmed eyes settled on the offender.
"Spellbinder! Look out!" Blizzard called as a shadowy wing scythed down, bisecting the earth next to the stallion. He leapt aside, rolling into the dirt in a most unprofessional manner.
"Okay," he said as he adjusted his helmet and scowled. "No more games."
Vex stared down at the five ponies that dared to stand before her. They had even had the audacity to attack her! Why, if it wasn't for Grimm and her great elaborate plans, she would have feasted on their souls right then and there, ripped them apart with her claws and painted the forest with their entrails.
Graygan had better be done with his part, because Vex was tiring of this activity fast, and needed to kill something, or she'd go insane.
Even more insane than she already was.
"Haven't got the best aim, have you?!" Jinx taunted as she sidestepped another blast of orange. "Trance! To your left!"
The rosy eyed Trance teleported himself out of the way just as a clawed arm came smashing down into the grass. The creature growled once more, slashing at them with its wings, but missing by a hair.
The five of them ducked and dodged, flirting with death every time the creature made a grab at them, or launched a spell at them. It was no longer focused on the town, but it couldn't last forever. Eventually, somepony was going to get tired, and then it would be over. None of their spells was affecting it in the slightest. Though they might hold the tactical advantage now, they couldn't keep it forever.
Trance pulled himself out of harm's way, putting a shield charm up between himself and the monster.
"Come on! We need to regroup-ahhh!" A burst of blue sparks had slammed into his shield, shattering it completely.
Twilight tensed up. Those sparks hadn't come from the creature in the crater…they had come from the forest, to the left. Surely there couldn't be a second one there…could there?
The vaporous demon abruptly froze on the spot, halfway into tossing another disc of dark energy. It gave them one more malevolent gaze, then folded its wings, lowered its arms, and dissolved into black gas, which dissipated into nothingness, leaving a ruined riverbank and a shaken up town in its wake.
Blizzard lifted herself out of the river, shaking off droplets of water. "What in the name of Celestia…" she began, but fainted before he was able to finish her question.
The three Solar Mages exchanged wary looks.
"Come on." Jinx said at last, pulling off her helmet. "Let's see how much damage it did."
"Aren't we going after it?" Spellbinder asked hotly. "We can't just let it do this! I'll track it down…"
Trance looked at the other stallion in agreement. "We cannot allow such a great threat to roam freely in Her Majesty's noble land. I'm with Spellbinder. We should follow it, and make it pay for what it did."
"Spellbinder, please!" the stallion turned to Twilight, who was carrying Blizzard on her back. "Jinx is right. We need to see what's going on in the town. Besides, I've already tried tracking it. It's masked itself, and we'll never find it with any kind of tracking spell."
"Not even the Spell of Unrivalled Seeking?" Trance challenged.
"Not even that. And its proper name is the Spell of Unparalleled Seeking, as coined by Starswirl the Bearded." Twilight said.
Trance whistled. "Miss, you sure know your spellwork."
Spellbinder ran a hoof through his mane sheepishly. "Well, I guess if we can't track it, there's nothing to do but head back into town, see how we can help." He sighed.
Twilight gave the mage a quick hug before teleporting herself over the river.
Jinx gave Spellbinder a nudge. "She likes you."
"Oh, shut up."
Graygan's brown bag was feeling the same weight as usual, but then it was made with Housetech, meaning that it was much bigger inside than out. The hooded being ran, sprinting through the forest silently with his prize to the rendezvous point.
A shadow darted from a nearby tree, solidifying into the thin form of Vex.
"Ahh. Grraygan. I trust your tasssk was successsssful?"
As she spoke, Vex dived into Graygan's shadow, hiding herself within and doubling their magical might. She could smell the being in Graygan's bag, and it smelled extremely tasty, if not a bit on the small side. Dessert maybe. The hooded being hefted the bag higher on his shoulder and slowed to a more leisurely pace, his clawed feet crunching on the dried leaves that lined the forest floor.
Perhaps the crunching was too loud. Perhaps in his relaxation, Graygan had forgotten to cast a muffling charm on himself. The hooded one slowed his walk, stood still, and turned around.
A full-grown adult hydra rose up from a hidden cave, all seven of its scaly orange heads sniffing at the unfamiliar scent of foreign magic. Its beady green eyes focused onto Graygan, who looked back up at the multi-headed beast with dull interest.
Then he shrugged, turned on his heel, and continued walking deeper into the forest.
There was a loud swish as all seven heads swooped in for the kill, each cavernous mouth dripping with venom and saliva.
Graygan kept walking, but swung his left arm backwards, intercepting the hydra's foremost head and stopping it right there with an armored finger. The hydra looked up in surprise.
Blue sparks blazed from the point of contact.
And the hydra collapsed to the forest floor, motionless and drained of life.
Graygan sniffed and kept walking, dusting off his coat.
"Pathetic." He muttered.
Spellbinder and his partners parted ways with Twilight and Blizzard at the library, but not before the unicorn had offered to help them. While Spellbinder and Jinx had almost accepted, they were cut off by Trance.
"No." he had said flatly. "We can't let a civilian endanger herself, even if she is a skilled mage."
"Aw, come on, Trance," Jinx wheedled. "The town loos pretty shaken up, and Twilight here knows it better than any of us. She can help us around."
"No. We need to get all the civilians to safety, including Miss Sparkle." He glared at the other two, as though daring them to argue. Finally, Jinx sighed.
"Fine." She said. "We'll go by the rules, no civilians involved. Happy now?"
"Not particularly." Trance grunted.
Spellbinder walked with Twilight and Blizzard up to the library door, pulling it open for them. Blizzard went straight for the bathroom, eager for a wash after falling into the river.
Before he shut it again, the silver-maned unicorn put a hoof on Twilight's shoulder.
"Don't mind Trance. He's an awesome guy, just he feels like when he's on shift, he needs to act like a pro. After hours, he's great fun." Twilight nodded her assent, feeling that this wasn't all her old buddy had wanted to talk to her about. Sure enough…
"You were great out there tonight, Twilight." He added softly. "I didn't think I would see you again, but hey, I…um…" Spellbinder rubbed a hoof on the back of his helmet, his white coat turning pink around his ears and face. Twilight looked at her old schoolmate curiously.
"What I wanted to say was…well…" Spellbinder stood up straighter, and when he spoke again, it was in an authoritative, deep voice that didn't match his facial expression. "I wish to thank you for assisting the Royal Guard tonight. That is all."
And with that, Spellbinder pulled the door shut, the lock clicking into place. Twilight stared at the door for a few seconds. Had that really just happened? Well, maybe he was just a little shaken up after the fight, although the lavender pony couldn't help but feel a little morose. She had been so sure that Spellbinder had almost been about to…
The door swung open again, revealing a jumpy looking Spellbinder.
"What I wanted to say was…" he said in a strangled sounding voice. "Was…"
"What?" asked Twilight.
"Was…" he gulped, the blurted out. "Wantogogetlunchtomorrow?"
By now, he was looking absolutely flushed, and was fidgeting with a sleeve on his robe. Twilight, on the other hand, burst out laughing.
"What?" the stallion asked, looking slightly indignant that his request wasn't being taken seriously.
"It's nothing! Nothing; of course I'll have lunch with you tomorrow!" Twilight giggled, feeling very much like she was back in Princess Celestia's academy once again. "I'd love to!"
Spellbinder's expression softened, eventually until he was laughing nervously with his friend. "Well, thanks a lot, Twilight. I'll meet you here at noon?"
"Sure thing! I'll just-" Twilight was cut off by a shout from outside.
"Hey Spellbinder! If you don't get your flank out here now, Trance is going to what was that, Trance? Oh yeah, he's going to go on without you! So get out here now!" Jinx said through the door. "Or not…" she added as an undertone. Jinx had been watching her fellow mage all the way back to town, and could pretty much guess what was going on in there. Which had been confirmed by using a quick sound amplification spell.
"Okay Jinx! I'm coming!" before opening the door, the mage gave Twilight a nod and a smile. "See you tomorrow." He whispered just loud enough for them both to hear.
And with that, Spellbinder was gone.
Twilight watched them through an upstairs window, smiling to herself as she saw them go.
"Oh, Spellbinder." She muttered as she filled out that day's diary entry. "Still the same old you. Just like at the Hearth's Warming Eve dance."
Too happy to check on Blizzard or even on Spike, the unicorn dozed off, a carefree grin on her face.
Author's Notes.
What happens next?
...I can't even be bothered to think up a witty comment for the Author's Notes.
Well, a bit for your thoughts anyway.
And what happened to Spike?
Leave a review, if you enjoyed it, or not.