The Shadow of Equestria
Chapter 13
A Difference in Ability
After a good, I'll say many minutes of looking for said meadow; we finally found what we were looking for. The meadow itself covered a large portion of land but the whole of it was visible. That would probably make whatever was in that cage easier to find.
I slowly dropped the cage and stood back up. To be honest, I had no idea what was inside and I expected the worst, knowing that Equestria had contained some crazy creatures. My hesitation however, caught the sight of Spectre who nudged my leg.
"What's the problem?" she asked.
"Nothing, just wondering what's actually in this thing." I replied.
"Well we're not going to find out be just stand here are we?"
I rolled my eyes at her remark and pulled at the cage door. Once open, I back away expecting some rabid creature to pop out before running off. Instead, a small blue ball looking thing came out.
"What the fuck is that?" I said as I looked down at the creature as it happily walked around the meadow.
Spectre groaned.
"That's a parasprite. These nasty little things have a habit of doing nothing but eating and multiplying. They can cause some real problems."
The little blue creature flew over to Spectre's face and started to buzz loudly. In reaction, she lifted her front hoof and batted the bug away, throwing it several feet away.
"Let's get out of here before it decides to follow us back." Spectre said in a disgusted voice as she grabbed the cage with her teeth and began to walk back the way we came. I simply turned and followed, not looking back.
On the way back, we decided to cut through the tree line in an effort to cut down on time. In my own boredom, an idea snuck into my head.
"Hey Spectre." I said as I looked over to her. "Wanna see something cool?"
She looked up at me and placed the cage on the ground.
"Go ahead, see if you can amaze me with this cool thing you are about to show me." she said in a somewhat mocking voice.
Taking that as sort of a challenge, I turned towards one of the nearby trees and held my hand up. I let a breath loose to steady myself, letting me concentrate on the task at hand. I began to desire the use of my magic I wanted that tree to fall over.
Sure enough, I could feel the magic in and around my hands and began to force it out. Two seconds passed before a darkish colored bolt shot from my hands, went through the tree, and kept going until about four trees had been destroyed. With the deed done, I looked back to see Poison Spectre with a large grin on her face.
"I wonder what that would do to a pony?" she said as she looked at the trees.
"I think I have an idea." I said as I pictured the gory outcome of that attack.
"So once again, you have colored my impre..."
Spectre was cut off by a loud crackle in the air. It almost sounded as if electricity was flying through the air but that wasn't the case. The sound started to intensify, slowly, before reaching its apex. That's when it suddenly stopped, causing the forest to become quiet once again.
Recovering from the noise I looked around and caught sight of something that surprised me. Then it terrified me followed by shock. There, about twenty feet away from us stood two, armored, weapon wielding humans. I began to freak out again, remembering that Celestia said something about the humans in Equestria being wiped out 2000 years ago. If that was true, then why are there two of them standing before us.
"Spectre." I said quietly. "Leave, go back to Red. Just get as far away from here as possible."
"Why, what are you talking about?" she asked as she started to turn around.
I stopped her.
"I wouldn't turn around if I were you Spectre. Just run and don't look back; I think that would be best."
Spectre gulped loudly before grabbing the cage.
"If I don't return, I'm either dead or captured." I said as she took off towards the sky, flying back to Red's cabin.
With her gone, I turned towards the humans who had just appeared.
"You must be Zhane." said the one with short brown hair. "My name is Captain Agliss of the Oasis Guard. My friend here is Captain Yamato. He said as he motioned towards the one with somewhat longish black hair.
"I thought humans were extinct in Equestria?" I said in a low voice, keeping my eyes on the two of them.
"I believe I could ask the same question to you Zhane." Agliss said with a smile on his face. "We here to talk to you."
"About what?" I asked.
Agliss paused before beginning.
"We know what you have done here in Equestria Zhane. The killing, working for evil entities and criminal organizations. I can only say that it saddened me to hear that one of our own had done such things. I know you have control over Dark Magic, telling me that you have been corrupted by your own actions. Again, that saddens me."
Agliss began to pace.
"I came here with orders to bring you back dead or alive. Celestia really wants you back in custody, away from the public. I however, could never bring myself to kill you. Because that you mean that our species as a whole would be reduced even further. I don't want that to happen, it's the last thing I want. So I ask you here and now if you would return to the castle with us so we may end this problem once and for all."
I smiled and started to laugh. Did this human, who appeared out of nowhere, ask for me to return to the castle?
"I'd rather die than go back."
At that point I was taunting the two metaphorical tiger in front of me. Apparently they took that too seriously. I remember blinking and seeing that Yamato was now gone, I mean he just disappeared into thin air. I tried to look around but stopped once I felt the cold steel of a sword on my neck. He somehow got behind me.
"Picking a fight with us is not a good idea Zhane." said Agliss as he approached me. "Just discard your weapons and come back with us. No need to make this any more difficult than it needs to be."
I paused a moment before I looked around slightly, trying to find a way out of my predicament. That's when Umbra gave me a little thought.
"Use your imagination you incompetent child. You wield the Darkness, USE IT!" He yelled almost causing me to flinch. However, he was right; I need to use some creative thinking right now. Now, what to do.
I went through the only two things I know. I doubt that the weapon spell would do any good at the moment. I would save it until I was able to get far enough away. I looked over and saw the tree that I had hit with the projectile spell. The tree had been violently separated from the trunk leaving a large number of splinters on the ground. I thought for a moment and mentally shrugged. It was better than nothing.
"I ask once again Zhane, disarm or we will do it for you." said Agliss with a bit of anger in his voice.
I looked up and smiled at him.
"Like I said, I would rather die than go back with you."
At that moment, I pointed my hand at the ground and shot off a bolt as quickly as I could. It hit the ground and sent me flying away from the two. I intended for it to hurt them as well but at least it got some of the job done. I sled on the ground for a good 15 feet before stopping and regaining me footing. I pulled my bow off my back and strung an arrow. I pulled back and aimed at the cloud of dust that my bolt had produced.
Suddenly, Yamato launched forward from the dust, charging directly at me. In panic, I let loose the arrow only to see it miss its target barely. Yamato smiled slightly as he pulled his sword back to get in a good slash. To block it, I used my bow to take the blunt of the slash hopefully taking me as a target out of the picture.
The bow did its job but broke on contact. I sneered as I threw the bow down, swept my leg in an effort to trip him up and gain some distance. My leg never made contact with Yamato but he did jump back to avoid the attack all together. This granted me the space to equip my other weapons. I pulled the two knives from their holsters and took a stance before rushing at the nearest person. In this case, Agliss was closest to me, so he became my target.
Approaching Agliss, I attacked with one knife only to be stopped mid swing by Agliss' own weapon. I didn't even see him reach for the sword let alone move it in position to block my attack.
"Hmm." he said as he looked me over. "You have a good form for someone that looks like they've never had any proper training." Agliss pushed his blade forward, sending me back, as he attacked with his weapon.
I knew that my knives wouldn't be able to block something like a sword, so I remained on the defensive. I dodged and weaved his slashes and stabs waiting for a chance to attack. As I continued my defense, I could help but wonder where Yamato had went or what he was doing. So after I dodged another one of Agliss' attacks, I turned my head to get a brief glimpse of Yamato standing away from the conflict. Either they were fighting honorably or they were playing with me.
"You're fast but not observant." said Agliss as he closed in on me while my head was still turned. I turned to the sight of a sword hilt incredibly close to my face. Mere milliseconds later, I had come to the conclusion that they were just playing with me.
I flinched back from the hit and held my hand to my face. I pulled it back to see that blood had begun to trickle from my nose.
"Please don't make me do that again Zhane." said Agliss. "I do not wish to hurt you..." he paused. "But I will if I must."
Still holding my nose I looked up at him and frowned
"Go fuck yourself." I said as I dropped one of my knives and held that hand up, aiming at the ground between us. The resulting dust that the bolt produced made an excellent cover for escape. The only chance I had was to get away from those two, far away.
Now with only one weapon available, I had to get out of that forest. I looked back to see that Yamato had already given chase with Agliss right on his tail. I had to find a place to go, a place to lose them.
Eventually, after several minutes of running and several close calls, we reached an area of the forest that looked rockier than the others. This was evident by the occasional cliff that came into view. I eventually slowed down once I hit a small clearing surrounded by cliff with only one way in or out. I hit the middle of the clearing and regretted my decision too late. Agliss and Yamato emerged from the woods, noticing that I was trapped by the environment.
"Now." said Agliss as he panted slightly. "I see that you have no means of escaping this time. The only way being the way you came. So I will ask you again, disarm and surrender."
I didn't answer; instead I lifted my arm and launched a bolt towards the two hoping that at least one of them would get hurt. However, the bolt didn't kick up any dust like the last times I had shot it. This time, as it was about to hit Agliss, it made contact with some kind of invisible wall.
"You won't win this fight with magic." said Agliss as he held his hand out. I watched as a bolt shot from his hand and hit me dead center in the chest, sending me back the wall of the cliff. Once I overcame the pain of hitting the rock, I looked up to see that Agliss had begun walking towards me. Frantically, I grabbed for my knife only to see it across the clearing, too far for me to get it. The sudden image of a sword pointed at me filled my vision as Agliss had reached me.
"You are beaten Zhane. You should be smart enough to know when to give up." he said with his sword still pointed at me. He turned his head slightly and signaled for Yamato to contact Princess Celestia. This was my chance.
I pulled a hand up and aimed it and Agliss. I gathered magic into my hand and was ready to release it. That's when Agliss turned around and thusted his sword.
Princess Celestia sat in her private study looking out the window towards the horizon. She was clearly worried for Agliss and Yamato. Given all that they had been through, they were still willing to help after all of that time. She could help but be thankful that they would lend their skills to helping her stop Zhane.
Suddenly, a bright flash originating behind Celestia caught her attention. Once turned, she saw Yamato standing before her, bowing slightly before returning to his standing position. Without saying a word, Yamato motioned Celestia to come closer. Celestia did exactly that and approached the long haired captain. A rune circle formed around him as he held his hand out towards Celestia. She picked up her hoof and placed it in Yamato's hand as a bright flash blinded her momentarily.
When she reopened her eyes, Celestia found herself in the middle of the Everfree Forest. Before her stood Agliss.
"Did you find Zhane?" asked Celestia.
Agliss didn't answer; he just motioned his head towards one of the nearby cliff walls. Celestia looked to where he motioned and saw Zhane leaning against the wall. A sword pinning him to the rock by his left shoulder.
"Is...is he...?" trailed Celestia.
"No Princess, he's not dead." answered Agliss. "He's just out because of the pain.
Celestia took one last look at the unconscious body of the murderer that has caused her a great deal of trouble.
"Bring him back to the castle to heal him before he loses too much blood. I want him to stand trial for what he's done." she said.
"We will have to find a way to suppress his magic. He has developed a great connection with Dark magic and proved to be a problem. If he knew how to use his skills properly, we would have been in trouble."
"I'll find a way to suppress it." said the Princess. "You two bring him back, I must inform the Royal Guard to stop searching.
With that, Celestia disappeared with a flash, leaving the two soldiers to do their work.
Here's Chapter 13 for everypony. Enjoy!
See you guys next Monday.