Upheaval: Reckoning
Chapter 51: To Fight Alicorns
"You don't like that I'm going, do you?"
Luna asked the question accusingly, knowing full well what her older sister's answer was.
"No," Celestia said. She looked at Luna, eyes apologetic. "It's not that I don't want you around. It's because Lexarius will be a dangerous foe, and that is not counting what else we may encounter in that world."
"Mother said I have to go," Luna said with a tilt of her chin.
"I know what Mother said," Celestia replied. Her words escaped her lips with a sigh. "I just...don't understand bringing my youngest sibling to a dangerous battle."
Luna felt a foreleg, her older brother's muscular, barded foreleg, drape across her shoulders, pulling her closer to him. "She's had plenty of training," he said. Luna felt her chest swell at his confident tone. "And we'll protect her when she gets into trouble." The pride quickly started draining. "Besides, we need her for these 'Elements of Harmony' we're supposed to bring along." It was Terrato's turn to show some reluctance in his tone. "Personally, I don't see what's wrong with just stabbing him with our regalia and bringing him back here."
Celestia let out another sigh. "Her majesty has spoken," she said. "I'm opening the gate."
Luna felt her jaw clench as both soldiers of the Eternal Herd began to charge. Direct physical combat was not exactly her forte. She had hundreds of sparring sessions with Animus Arcem and her siblings back in the Eternal Herd. She also had a plethora of spells to fall back on when threatened. The number of actual fights she had been in, however, was shamefully low. And in those battles, she had her siblings at their full strength, her regalia and the Elements of Harmony. Now, she found herself as the most capable in a group fighting against two experienced soldiers from the Herd.
"Watch out for Fulmen," Celestia said before darting to the side.
Luna's eyes strayed briefly towards her sister. Celestia wasn't scared. She didn't even sound worried. Her older sister, who had but a fraction of her power, who had spent centuries avoiding fighting, looked perfectly at home in the battlefield. A loud bang brought her attention back to what was in front of her. That enormous hammer had struck the ground and was now tearing it up as its wielder charged, sending clumps of earth and shards of stone flying as it went along. 'Wait,' she thought, 'that's Ridentem. Fulmen is-!"
"Luna!" Celestia's warning cry jolted Luna into action. Instinctively, she jumped to one side. She heard something whistle past her body, the draft from its passage actually ruffling some feathers on her left wing. Fulmen had just charged from behind her, his spear crackling with lightning. He raised his weapon and the tip exploded with electricity. Luna looked away from the brilliant flash, focusing her gaze on the ground. Out of the corner of her eye she saw the alicorn jump back. The ground, however, told of a more immediate concern. She was under a shadow, one that was quickly expanding. She flapped her wings and jumped to the side once more. Something heavy crashed into where she was standing a second ago. The force of the impact sent her flying for a good distance, but she managed to right herself in mid-air. Celestia was already by her side when some of dust from the crash started to settle. "I said watch out for Fulmen!" Celestia said sternly.
When the cloud cleared, they saw Ridentem's massive, armored form sitting in the middle of a small crater. Luna's eyes widened. "Did he just try to sit on me?" she asked.
"Focus!" Celestia was hovering above Ridentem in an instant, her blade of light slashing at the larger alicorn while he was still in a vulnerable position. Ridentem's hammer floated in front of him in defense. Its sheer bulk made it seem as if it was a thick wall of metal was blocking Celestia.
Suddenly embarrassed and angry, Luna shook her head. Her sister and her friends needed her at fighting form and all these little niggling doubts served only to weigh her down to inaction. She concentrated on a spell. When she joined her siblings to bring down Discord, she wielded her regalia alongside theirs. Though it was taken away when they defied their father a long time ago, she still remembered the feel and sight of it. She concentrated on those sensations now, slowly willing her magic to form its shape.
A crescent-shaped blade, seemingly made of shadowy strands and silvery flames materialized by Luna's side. She inspected the thing briefly. She got the shape and size right and it would be functional. Comparing it to her actual regalia would be like comparing a pointy stick to a master-forged sword, but it would function.
The blade was for emergency close-quarters fighting though. She turned her attention towards Fulmen and began to work her magic. As she expected of soldiers of the Herd sent to execute her sentence as part of their mission, his mind was shielded. Her phantasms and most of her enchantments were out of the picture for this fight until they could somehow dispel his protections. Plans of attack began to form in her mind. She smiled despite herself. Her brother was not here to "protect" her, her sister needed her help, and Nightmare Moon was not around to share in her actions. For this occasion, she was free to fight and the rush was...exhilarating. Her horn crackled with magical energy as she started her attack.
Celestia cursed silently and flew back just in time to avoid a hammer swing so wide and powerful that her mane and tail blew back from the draft. For all his bulk and weight, Ridentem Malleorum moved and reacted with great speed. Even while sitting, he had whirled his hammer with expertise, catching each of her slashes with its head. He took to the air. He kept his weapon close and in front of him, ready to parry more attacks.
Celestia remembered her own advice and tried to locate Fulmen without removing Ridentem from her field of vision. She spotted the smaller alicorn several feet away, already crouching for another dashing thrust. Celestia tensed. She was going to have to dodge two attacks from different directions in mid-air.
"Hold on there, speedy!"
Applejack's shout was followed by her chain lasso, encircling Fulmen's neck with links of metal and force. She gave a hard tug just as Fulmen started to charge. Though his face couldn't be seen, Celestia relished the thought of his surprise when a pony smaller than him tugged so hard that he was forced to veer off course and towards her. Whatever surprise he felt didn't last long though. He pointed his lance towards Applejack, sending a great bolt of golden electricity flying towards her.
The earth pony likely didn't expect such a quick and deadly reaction. She stood there, her chain still in her mouth. Celestia flew towards her, knowing she'd never make it in time.
The lightning struck a translucent globe of purple magic, much to Celestia's relief and pride. Twilight Sparkle stood next to Applejack, her eyes narrow as she focused on deflecting the powerful magic. The shield wavered, but it held until the bolt fizzled and disappeared. Celestia turned her attention back to Ridentem, only to find the bigger alicorn gone.
"HOO! HOO! HOO!"
Ridentem's hammer smashed into Twilight's shield, shattering it like glass. Twilight's cry was cut short by an explosion of rock shards and dust. "Twilight!" Celestia shouted. She charged Ridentem, determined to leave her sunlight blade buried in him this time. The dust cleared, but there was no horrible splatter of blood and gore under Ridentem's hammer. A short distance away, Twilight Sparkle and Applejack were flat on their backs. Between them was Rainbow Dash, on her belly with her front hooves on their chests. The trail on the snow she left behind showed just how far she had pushed them to safety. Rainbow quickly rolled on her back, her crossbow having miraculously stayed loaded. A bolt flew towards Ridentem, but he easily swatted it aside with a swing of his hammer.
Celestia turned towards Fulmen. Following their pattern, he was going to attack again, with Ridentem following up. She found the smaller alicorn caught in a predicament of his own, however. Fulmen Lancea was busy dodging the slashing blades of a shadowy figure that vaguely resembled her younger sister. A second shadow appeared directly behind him, its crescent blade gliding gracefully through the air and spinning around it. Fulmen dodged and weaved through the air, his spear whirled around him, catching strikes and making thrusts at every spare opportunity he got. A third shadow suddenly dropped down on him, its blade cutting into his bronze barding. The plates around his neck had a deep gash, but no blood flowed through the damaged metal, revealing that the cut was not deep enough.
Still, Celestia dove in. The longer this fight went, the more it would swing towards Ridentem and Fulmen. She did not believe for a moment, she could keep up this frantic pace without her full strength. Twilight Sparkle and her friends were strong and determined, but they lacked they sheer physical endurance and experience these two possessed. The more attacks these two used, the more they would tire just keeping each other alive. She took a few seconds to observe the patterns of attack. Fulmen was surrounded by a veritable storm of silvery lights and dancing shadows. From a distance, Luna hovered and concentrated on maintaining the spell. Celestia spotted her opening and joined the fray. The thrust of her blade of light cut through the myriad of feints and slashes. Fulmen's spear came up at the very last moment, its haft deflecting what should have been a lethal strike to the neck. Instead, Celestia pulled about a couple of inches of her weapon from Fulmen's shoulder. Some blood sizzled briefly on the tip of the blade. With Fulmen's barding at least an inch thick, she doubted that she did more than make him angrier.
Fulmen had turned his gaze towards Luna, however. "I expected such cowardice from you, lastborn," he said. He spun his place, still avoiding the attacks coming at him from nearly all directions. A surge of electricity burst from him, forcing Celestia and the shadows back for a few seconds. That brief window of time was all he needed to point his spear at Luna and fire another bolt of lightning, this one even bigger than the last.
Luna's horn stopped glowing. She flapped her wings hard to move, but the bolt struck true. Lightning slammed into her so hard that it flung her high into the air before dissipating. Her smouldering body spun as it fell forlornly to the ground while feathers and cinders flew from her. When she struck the ground, her body crumbled to ash.
"Luna!" Celestia cried out.
"Objective accomplished," Fulmen muttered. He turned his attention towards Celestia. His spear floated by his side.
"Coward?" Luna suddenly asked. Celestia smiled as she noticed that none of the shadows had dissipated. One of them shimmered, revealing her younger sister. "I've been slashing at you from the start!" She lunged, but Fulmen reacted swiftly. His spear found a home deep into her chest. Luna's only answer was a smile followed by an explosion of shadowy energy. Another shadow struck from behind. This time, the blade bit deeply. Blood spattered across Luna's side as she flew by. Her remaining shadow construct covered her back while she circled for another attack.
His wounds did not seem to concern Fulmen. Arcs of electricity surged from his horn in greater amounts. Celestia could hear the humming buzz of gathering magic. "Hiding recklessness with excessive caution, hiding a feint with another feint; impressive," he said. "This is good. The changelings had been too boring."
"HOO! HOO! HOO!"
Ridentem Malleorum's constant, belly-shaking laughter proved a disturbing counterpoint to the sound of his hammer tearing up the ground, the cries of warning from the ponies around him, and the pitched battle that his partner was currently locked in. He telekinetically swung his weapon with careless ease. If that wasn't infuriating enough for Twilight Sparkle, he displayed the same ease in swatting away bolts, chain strikes, mage blades, and spells. Ridentem couldn't even be bothered to fly. He trotted around like a filly chasing butterflies. Twilight wasn't sure if he was simply scornful of the idea of mortal ponies harming him or if he actually approached every battle like this. She didn't really have the luxury to ponder it either. She spread her efforts between aiming bolts of lightning and fire at Ridentem and raising force shields around her friends. Ridentem's powerful swings shattered her protections with only two blows, but the time those swings took was enough for his target to scramble out of the way.
Twilight found herself already breathing hard. It wasn't so much the exertion that was weighing down on her but the frustration. Nothing seemed to be fazing their enemy. All six of them milled around, circling the alicorn and keeping just out of reach. The laughing served as a dark reminder, however, that it was likely that none of them had been reduced to a bloodstain on the frozen ground because Ridentem was having too much fun. Twilight grit her teeth, desperately going through her repertoire of spells one more time, hoping that she had overlooked something that could put a dent in Ridentem's defenses. This was just one alicorn soldier! Equestria would soon face the coming of a fallen prince and his followers. What could they do against that when this one alicorn soldier stopped them cold?
"Twilight!" Applejack called out. Twilight looked up to find Ridentem trotting towards her. His hammer was already high above him, ready for an overhead smash. A quick teleportation spell came to Twilight's mind. In a blink, she was several feet behind the alicorn while his hammer pounded another crater into the soil. Another blink passed, however, and that same alicorn vanished.
"You unicorns are certainly much more amusing to 'solve' than changelings," Ridentem said from behind Twilight. Panicked, Twilight began to cast another teleportation spell, but she felt a ray of magic strike her first. She glanced at her hooves and noticed a brief glow of green light. She knew the signs: Dimensional Anchor. A shadow appeared beneath her and she knew what was coming next. She started to gallop forward, already fearing that it would be too late.
The hammer didn't crash into her, however. She heard the sound of chain links clinking together. She looked to Ridentem and saw that Applejack's chain had looped around both the hammer and the alicorn himself, tying them together. Applejack was several feet away behind Ridentem, pulling as hard as she could.
"You think you can bind me, silly mortal?" Ridentem asked with a chuckle. "Looks like you're missing more than a horn and wings!" He took a step forward. The links stretched taut. Even from afar, Twilight could see the beads of sweat trickling down Applejack's face as she strained to hold the alicorn back. Instinct told her to run while her friend could maintain the hold. She saw a different opportunity, however. She concentrated, forming as powerful a telekinetic grip on Ridentem as she could. The enormous alicorn froze, surrounded by a nimbus of purple magical energy. "Oho, what's this? A little contest of strength? Sounds fun!"
Now it was Twilight's turn to sweat despite the winter air. Ridentem was strong. So strong that he was still pushing forward despite her and Applejack's combined bindings. The links strained even more and the telekinesis began to crackle.
Suddenly, the ground directly under Ridentem's hooves began to glow. When he lifted his hooves, multi-colored arcs of energy crackled as if resisting his movements. Twilight recognized magic, but she didn't know what sort, or who was casting the spell.
"Earthen bindings! Earthen bindings! Earthen bindings!"
That was Pinkie Pie's voice. Twilight glanced towards the direction it came for. Pinkie Pie was holding her stone tablet towards Ridentem. The gems on the thing were glowing brightly. Pinkie Pie was shaking as she continued to chant as loudly as she could. "Earthen bindings! Earthen bindings! Earthen bindings!" Whatever bizarre magic Pinkie Pie was somehow accomplishing, Twilight doubted that shouting its name out was an actual part of casting it. Young unicorns would sometimes resort to it when first learning spells more complicated than telekinesis. The shouting didn't help the magic itself, but it did help them focus. What was important right now, however, was that Pinkie's "earthen bindings" added to Twilight and Applejack's efforts with telling effect.
Ridentem was barely moving now. The shaking in his armored form revealed true exertion on his part. More importantly, he had stopped that increasingly annoying laugh. He flapped his wings, but the magic around his hooves pulled him down. When Twilight saw his horn begin to glow, she quickly shifted to another spell. A green ray sprang from her horn, striking him in the chest. "I know Dimensional Anchor too," she said with a grin. She quickly returned to holding the alicorn down with raw telekinesis. Underneath the smile, however, she was still racing to find some form of effective attack. They couldn't hold this alicorn down for much longer. Her magical strength wasn't endless, neither was Applejack's stamina. She had no idea how reliable Pinkie's newly displayed magic was. She could see four mage blades circling Ridentem, diving in and out like mosquitoes from time to time as Rarity looked for some gap in Ridentem's armor that she could exploit. As for Fluttershy...
Twilight suddenly felt the powerful push against her telekinesis subside. The surprise nearly made her cancel the spell. She looked at Ridentem, but it seemed as if the alicorn was looking past her. Was there somepony behind her? She could still hear the clash of blades coming from the princesses and the distant explosions from Prince Terrato and Black Rose. That left only two possible ponies.
"Fluttershy!" Rainbow shouted. Twilight spotted her flying in from behind Applejack. "What are you doing? Get out of there!"
Ridentem was shaking a great deal now. Still, Twilight didn't feel that much of a push against her magic. Something else was keeping the alicorn rooted to the spot.
"S-stop, staring at me..."
The sound of fear, of blood-curdling, crippling fear, in Ridentem's voice made Twilight's jaw drop. She saw her chance. She now understood what Fluttershy was doing behind her and it she wasn't wasting this moment. An idea came to mind as well. "Rainbow!" she shouted. "Ram into him! As hard as you can!"
"Are you crazy?" Rainbow shouted back. "That barding looks strong enough to crack my skull open!"
"Trust me!" Twilight let the telekinesis go. As she expected, Ridentem was still not moving. The chain around Ridentem slackened. The look on Applejack's face told her that the earth pony had noticed the same and had decided to conserve her strength. She looked to Rainbow Dash, who had flown high and looped once to gain some momentum.
Rainbow gave a loud scream as she picked up speed. It wasn't exertion nor was it pain. The pegasus was terrified of running headlong into a heavily-armored alicorn, but she still did it because her friend had asked it of her.
Twilight concentrated on placing a force field around Rainbow Dash. This one would have two purposes. The first was to protect her friend from being smashed to bits by her own velocity and Ridentem's barding. The second was to create an attack with more force than her magic alone could generate. The force field around Rainbow Dash wasn't the usual sphere of purple abjuration magic she used. She formed a sharp wedge around Rainbow, like an enormous spear head, and waited grimly from the riotous explosion of colors that was the Sonic Rainboom.
The bright lights that followed Rainbow Dash's signature move forced Twilight to squint. She felt her spell shake violently as Rainbow struck Ridentem from the side. She concentrated, desperately making sure that the force field was hard enough. If it shattered now, Rainbow could easily die.
Ridentem flew for a great distance towards Sky Mirror Lake, repeatedly bouncing and rolling on the frozen ground. Shards of his armor flew up and clattered noisily all over the place. His hammer crashed dozens of feet away from him. Twilight watched in relief as Rainbow flew up again after the impact. She dismissed her spell and then galloped with her friends to see how much damage they had wrought and if it was enough.
The walls that Gravitas had raised around Sky Mirror Lake loomed before them by the time they got to where Ridentem was. To their dismay, the alicorn was already up. Twilight focused on the rent portion of barding around Ridentem's left side. This was good. Even if they hadn't beaten him completely, the sight of him like this proved that they could actually penetrate his defences if they tried hard enough.
"Ohoho...well, I think I played around a little too much," Ridentem said. He pawed the ground a bit and shook his head. His hammer floated to his side. "That was quite the strike. The General's right, you are dangerous." He looked to his side and brushed against the exposed flesh with his hoof. Blood, a stark red stain against the white background, trickled down his hoof. "Wait, is this...blood? My blood?"
The alicorn stomped a front hoof so hard that the ground beneath it cracked and trembled. The change in Ridentem was so palpable that Twilight felt a twinge of regret about her attack. Had she made things a lot worse?
"You filthy, flesh-bag mortals!" Ridentem screamed. His voice rose to an ear-grinding screech. "I'm going grind your bones into feed!" He took to the air and flung himself towards Fluttershy.
From the side, Applejack hurled her lasso again. The looped end landed on point, catching Ridentem around the neck. The alicorn responded by snatching the chain in his mouth and hurling Applejack through the air. The earth pony sailed through the air and crashed violently to the ground. Ridentem dragged her through rocks and hard earth for a good distance before she wisely decided to let go. The chain, bereft of a wielder, unknotted itself and shrank into its short length next to Applejack.
Rarity's mage blades flew towards the opening in Ridentem's barding. All they met, however, was a vicious swat from his hammer. Twilight looked worriedly towards her friend when she heard Rarity cry out in pain. She saw the unicorn clutching a foreleg in agony. Three of her mage blades had struck the ground around her. One of them had buried itself deep into her flesh.
"Fluttershy, get out of there!" Rainbow Dash charged, going so far as trying to meet Ridentem head on. Fluttershy was rooted to the spot even with the rampaging alicorn flying towards her. Ridentem's horn flashed and Twilight's shield began to crackle violently. She struggled to maintain it, but tendrils of powerful dispelling magic cut through her abjuration and ripped it apart at the seams. The force field dissipated with Rainbow just an inch from Ridentem. A loud clang accompanied the impact of her head and Ridentem's barding before the pegasus fell limply to the side and tumbled on the ground.
"EARTHEN BINDINGS! EARTHEN BINDINGS! EARTHEN BINDINGS!" Pinkie Pie was yelling. Nothing was stopping Ridentem, or even slowing him down. She put the tablet away and galloped, but Twilight knew she wasn't going to make it.
As for Twilight, she had few options left. Her telekinesis wasn't slowing the alicorn down. She focused on a short teleportation spell aimed at Fluttershy. To her shock, a green ray flew from Ridentem's horn, striking Fluttershy squarely on the head. The pegasus remained standing there. Twilight had already expected that, but she dreaded it nonetheless. In the face of danger, Fluttershy often forgot what the fluttering feathery things attached to her back were called, or what they were for. ''No!' she thought. 'He's a brute! How is he keeping one step ahead of me?"
Ridentem was only a few feet away from Fluttershy when Twilight was also galloping. As her mind raced for some way to save her friend, a brief grim thought occurred to her. No, Ridentem didn't really need to keep one step ahead of her. He was an alicorn soldier. Of course, he was trained to fight other alicorns who would try to teleport away if somepony charged at them with a giant hammer. Her tactics were simply falling in line with standard procedure.
'And there's an army of them,' an unwanted reminder resounded in her head. 'An army of alicorns led by their fallen prince just waiting beneath the waves.'
"Fluttershy, please!" Twilight cried out. "Move!"
At the last few seconds of that charge, Fluttershy finally flapped her wings and began to move. The hammer swung down so violently that Twilight, who was still several feet away, was lifted off her hooves and flung back. She heard a loud cry of pain. Fluttershy's. Twilight actually felt glad for that. It proved that her friend was not underneath that hammer's head. Rock shards flew at all directions. Twilight could only grit her teeth as she felt several slice past her legs and torso. One even cut a shallow but dangerously close wound on her neck.
The dust settled and a great sense of relief flooded Twilight when she Fluttershy several feet away from the crater left behind by the titanic blow. That relief turned to panicked concern when she saw that Fluttershy was pressing a hoof over her right eye. Several trails of bright red blood trickled down her hoof and dripped on the ground. "I'm okay..." she whimpered between pants. "I'm okay..."
Twilight started to gallop forward again. She had a healing spell in mind. A rudimentary one she had been working on in her spare time. It would have to do. She had taken only a few steps forward when she froze in shock.
A flash of white magic burst from behind Fluttershy, revealing Ridentem Malleourum's enormous form. His hammer was raised by his side, ready for a sweeping strike. "Is that so?" he asked.
The motion was so fast that Twilight Sparkle didn't see any impact: just a blur of colors and Fluttershy disappearing from her sight. But she heard a sound. A horrible sound that she knew she would always remember. It sounded like an enormous anvil had been lifted overhead by somepony and then hurled into a puddle of mud. Something flew past her. She turned and looked up just in time to catch some distant shape, already too far to catch a good view of, sailing past the walls that blocked off Sky Mirror Lake where it would probably land in the water.
The gentle hum of magic drew Twilight Sparkle's attention towards her front. Ridentem Malleorum stood at the ready once more. The red stain on the surface of his weapon served a gristly reminder of his terrible crime. "One down," he growled.
Rarity winced as her telekinesis slowly pulled her weapon from her foreleg. The wound was deep and the metal had dug all the way to the bone. She was hesitant at first to remove the thing, fearing the fountain of blood that would follow and her strength failing her before she bled to death. She went on with it anyway. As soon as the blade was out, she quickly tore off a portion of her mage coat to serve as a crude bandage. She now had a very strict time limit when it came to defeating this alicorn. As if she didn't have enough problems with him to start with. She turned her gaze back to the fight. She was lucky that Ridentem hadn't come after her. She heard the powerful bang of hammer striking rock and soil once again. Ridentem must have missed something. Fluttershy's cry of pain instantly snapped her alert. Something bad was going on here. If only she could...
Then that sound reached her ears.
It was horrible, disgusting sound. An unfeeling, hard thing colliding with something soft and warm. A shadow briefly flew overhead. That didn't matter to Rarity at the moment. What she focused on was that she couldn't find Fluttershy, who should be just in front of Ridentem. She saw Twilight Sparkle, saw the horrified expression on the other unicorn's face, then the red stain on the hammer.
"No..." Rarity set all four hooves on the ground. Pain lanced up her injured foreleg, but she ignored it. "You didn't! You...you..."
There were no words. Beast, monster, abomination, wretch...nothing fit. Nothing could describe this alicorn and the thing it just did. Rarity's blades flew in front of her and she found herself despising them just as she was starting to despise herself. They were so small, so puny and inadequate. What was the point of having them, of having the ability to use them, when she could only stand by and watch a friend die?
"Lost something precious again, have we?"
Rarity's eyes widened. 'Lion Court?' she thought.
"Oh, my dear Rarity. You didn't think fresh cuts were the only things I left on you when you were unconscious in that restaurant, did you? I'm an enchanter, my dear, we work best when the lady can't say no. You looked so pretty lying there bleeding that I couldn't help myself so I left this little nugget to bounce around quietly in your mind."
'I don't need this right now!" Rarity thought. She blinked tears away and galloped towards Ridentem.
"This one should be triggered by a great sense of loss. I know your type. The question is always who, not what. So who did you lose, my dear Rarity? My guess is that it's one of the weaker ones: Pinkie Pie or Fluttershy. I hope it's Pinkie Pie. Sable performs at her best when she can't control the rage."
Rarity grit her teeth. 'SHUT UP!'
"It's such a shame isn't it? Generosity is a virtue that pre-requires greatness. How sad to discover time and time again that you're not great enough."
Rarity's steps slowed. Not great enough. She thought of Applejack, being sliced open while she was nowhere to be found, Princess Celestia being drained with her help, Rainbow Dash being captured and tormented while her methods barely helped. And now Fluttershy...
Greatness. It had always eluded her since the beginning. Eluded and tantalized her. From being born in the rural outskirts of Equestria's fashion capital to this very moment. She had felt the frustration before, but she had never, ever wanted it as she did this moment. She brought both front hooves to the ground. The pain that shot through her leg felt deserved. Necessary even. Another tear drop, mingling with the blood-soaked bandage. She looked ahead and saw Twilight Sparkle galloping towards her. Behind the other unicorn, their alicorn foe was closing in, hammer raised for another sweeping strike. "No..." she whispered. "Not again!" She willed her weapons to move desperately, wishing that, just once, she could do something.
Rarity felt one of her blades fly. The next moment, the alicorn had crashed to the ground. She gasped at the unexpected impact. Was she the one who did that? She looked towards Twilight Sparkle. A powerful enough move to bring the alicorn down would make more sense coming from her the unicorn with the strongest magic. Yet, Twilight Sparkle was staring at their fallen foe agape.
A closer look at their enemy revealed what had happened. One of the alicorn's forelegs had been pierced by what looked like an enormous, scintillating shard of blue-white crystal. The shard curved gracefully, like the fang of a great beast. Its facets looked like they were cut by a master gem crafter. The beauty of the thing left Rarity breathless, even more so when she saw that, at the center of the translucent shard was her mage blade. The crystalline form wavered slightly, revealing its nature as a magical construct. Instinctively, Rarity knew that her blade was not going to stay like that for very long.
The alicorn struggled to lift his foreleg from the ground, but the barbed portions of the crystal shard held him fast. Three more blades flew in rapid succession. He cried out in rage and pain as all four of his legs were pinned to the ground. "Filthy mortal!" he shouted. His hammer flew towards Rarity, the air all practically rippling around it as it spun towards her. Surprised, Rarity closed her eyes out of reflex.
A deafening clang snapped Rarity's eyes open, however. That she was not reduced to a bloody pulp was both a relief and a shock. She saw the hammer's head fly backwards and crash a good distance away. The broken haft landed on the ground. She looked in front of her to find Applejack and a great, golden disc of light in front of both of them. Tears were also running down the earth pony's face. "I am not losing another one!" she shouted at the alicorn.
Rarity looked around her. Their enemy was pinned in place. They just needed one more powerful move. She looked towards Rainbow. The pegasus was still face-first on the ground while Twilight Sparkle looked exhausted. Pinkie Pie was fiddling with that stone tablet again. She looked as unsure of what she could do as Rarity was. What could they hit this alicorn with? Rarity's frantic searching halted, however, when a chilling wave slammed into her from behind. She looked behind her, her heart in her throat.
Something had flown above the walls that blocked Sky Mirror Lake. It looked like a great, tangled mess of smoky, black wisps at first, but a bright green point of light drew Rarity's eyes to what was at its center. There was a familiar shape there. It looked like…
It looked like a pegasus.
All her life, Rarity had always had an eye for detail. Even with the distracting wisps and the blast of cold, she could make out the pony. The malevolent, bright green thing that shone from the shadowy wisps was an eye. The light that seeped from it nearly made the other eye indistinguishable, given that the other one looked more like a dimly glowing crack. Once she figured that out, she could trace the outlines of a snout, a long flowing mane, the legs and the tail. She knew those features but she couldn't even say the name in her mind, as if that would be enough to confirm something she wasn't sure she wanted to.
The thing from the lake flew towards them, moving so with such grace it seemed to be swimming through the air instead of flying through it. Twilight Sparkle, Applejack and Pinkie Pie also stared at it with their mouths hanging open. None of them readied a weapon or a spell. Rarity wouldn't have either, even if she didn't have her mage blades pinning the alicorn's limbs. The lone glowing eye held her fixed. The thing began to hover in front of the alicorn. It lowered its head slightly, gazing directly into the alicorn's face.
There was a moment of silence, as if all the sound had been sucked away along with their breaths. The thing reared back and then thrust its fearsome eye forward. Green light exploded from its eye, catching the alicorn in a cone of brilliance. Rarity grit her teeth as a horrible, agonizing screech followed the burst. It didn't come from the thing. No, it was a terrified scream from their enemy. The light vanished in an instant. In its place was a field of what looked like black ice that formed a triangular patch on the ground. The green light disappeared and shadowy wisps coming from the flying thing withdrew, like a startled spider would draw up its legs. The flying pony at the center fell to the ground and lay still, the blackness fading from it like smoke. Now, Rarity can see the flowing pink mane and the yellow coat. She quickly trotted over to see if Fluttershy was alright.
As for their alicorn enemy, he stood perfectly still, black icicles hanging from his enormous bulk while dark vapor rose from him.
"Land's sakes…" Applejack breathed as she trotted beside Rarity. "Did we do it? Is that varmint dead?"
The sound of ice cracking answered Applejack's question more loudly than anything Rarity had to say. All of them looked towards the alicorn and saw some movement from its neck. "There's no way!" Rarity hissed. "We've thrown so much at it!"
"Rainbow Dash!" Twilight Sparkle suddenly called out. Both Rarity and Applejack looked towards where the pegasus had fallen. Rainbow was already on her hooves, but she was still shaking a daze off. Her eyes widened in confusion when she saw what had happened to their foe. Twilight's horn started to glow as she continued shouting. "Once more!" Though obviously still confused and hurt, Rainbow Dash flew gamely upward.
Rarity recognized the tactic and she hoped that it would finish the job this time. Their enemy was still completely still, but she doubted that this would last forever. It would be unbelievable for even an alicorn to fully recover, but he was so strong and they were so exhausted that even the smallest possibility that their foe could still fight filled her with dread. Rainbow flew high for momentum and began a near vertical descent. Rarity could understand the different approach. The pegasus was exhausted and needed all the help she could get, including gravity's. She picked up speed midway, and the pegasus's form was subsumed by the streak of colors she was producing.
It was a prismatic comet that struck the frozen alicorn and the blast of scintillating light forced Rarity to turn away and duck. That and the great cloud of debris. The shockwave pushed her against the ground, forcing her to leave a short trail on the snow. Bits of glassy material struck her back. From the cold, she figured that it must be the black ice. She could hear the bangs of metal striking ground. Hopefully shreds of the alicorn's armor.
The explosion eventually died down. The searing light faded and the noise came to a halt. Rarity finally managed to get herself to look towards their enemy.
The small field of black ice had disappeared, replaced by a shallow crater. At its center, Rainbow Dash lay still. A quick look was enough to reveal the rise and fall of her chest. As for the alicorn: Rainbow must have struck it from the side, the same side where its armor was already torn. The top half had flown clear off to the distance while the bottom half must have been pushed to the ground by the blast. There was no blood anywhere.
"Rainbow!" Rarity heard Applejack shout. The earth pony choked a bit on the clouds of dust. "Fluttershy! Pinkie! Twilight! Rarity!"
"I'm right here!" Rarity said. She sneezed when some dust entered her nose.
"Good," Applejack replied. "What about the others? Can you see them?"
Rarity looked around. Fluttershy must have been rolled over for a short distance by the shockwave. She decided to head there first. By rights, Fluttershy should be dead. But something had happened and, now, there was a chance she was still alive. The pain in Rarity's foreleg was starting to catch up now. Blood had soaked through the makeshift bandage and began running down her leg and onto the ground. She limped towards the fallen pegasus, unable to force herself to go any faster. She saw Applejack running towards Rainbow Dash, with Twilight Sparkle running over to join her. As for Pinkie Pie, she was also heading for Fluttershy.
"Ridentem!"
The anguished cry nearly made Rarity's heart stop. She recognized the voice of the other one and remembered that the fight was not yet over. She saw the smaller alicorn flying over to where the top half had flown with the two princesses in hot pursuit. It was hard to make out the details from the distance, but it looked like both of them were fine.
The smaller alicorn landed next to his now dead comrade. Rarity could see the arcs of white magic emerging from the corpse and into the still living enemy. She had no idea what was going on, but she braced herself. The battle was still on.