//------------------------------// // Chapter 7 // Story: Post Revolution // by SC_Orion //------------------------------// Twilight's world became pain. The magic she had channeled into her horn interacted with the field to cause massive feedback. The backlash from it sent her sprawling to the floor, writhing in pain, and nearly killed her. As it was, her body was in shock from the exposure. To say nothing of the fact that the device was emitting a suppression field, blocking magic. Twilight clenched her eyes closed, and kept them that way for what seemed like an eternity to her. After a few more eternities, or seconds, she started to regain sensation in her body, and the pain started to ebb away. She heard hoofsteps approaching from where the Inquisitor had been standing. She tentatively opened her eyes, and a pain shot through her mind as her eyes were flooded by light. She closed them, and waited another second, then opened them again. This time, the pain was manageable. She glanced to the floor in disgust, then slowly pushed herself up, nearly falling back down in the process. The Inquisitor was standing three pony's lengths away from her, smiling. She glared at him, despite the act causing her discomfort. She glanced towards his horn, it was unaffected. She grit her teeth. The Inquisitor put on a fake surprised expression. "Oh no, it's affecting me just as much as it's affecting you, I assure you." He stepped off to the side, and gazed longingly at the device. "A marvel of engineering, isn't it?" Twilight grunted in effort as she attempted to channel magic back into her horn. Sparks sputtered and shot out, but she was unable to produce a constant aura. She finally put her efforts on hold when the pain became nearly unbearable. "We will tear thou asunder for thine insolence." The Inquisitor ignored her. "The device when activated releases a electro-maginetic pulse, similar to an E.M. pulse, and just as dangerous to magic, then creates a suppression field. Unfortunately, it's not completely capable of blocking all magic, or even all kinds of magic, and it's effectiveness drops off exponentially according to the inverse square law." He turned around to face her. "This room is shielded, of course." He glanced towards the hole in the wall, and grimaced. "Mostly." Twilight was going to make a remark about being able to kill him even without magic, but chose not to. It would have been redundant. Instead, she lurched forwards, horn first, in an attempt to skew him. The Inquisitor sidestepped, and Twilight extended a wing. She scored a solid hit, and he was thrown to the ground. Twilight spun around, and reared back on her hind hooves, then slammed down. The Inquisitor teleported out of the way in a flash of white light, but the floor wasn't as lucky, and it had two three inch deep impressions, along with cracks radiating out across the entire floor now. Twilight looked up, and around, searching for him. The Inquisitor appeared across the room behind her. He lowered his horn, and released a spell. The bolt of magic whizzed through the air. Seconds before hitting Twilight, she stepped to the left, horn aglow, and turned around to face him. A bolt of magic flew from her horn, lavender in color. It appeared to evaporate into the air as it flew through the suppression field. The Inquisitor raised a barrier around himself to stop the bolt of magic. The barrier consisted of magic of blue and violet colors, and Twilight couldn't help but think it looked familiar somehow. "You have grossly underestimated me, Silver." she said. He smiled. "My my, it's been ages since you've used my first name..." he trailed off and released another bolt of magic at Twilight. Deciding to prove that the suppression field wasn't as effective as he had hoped, she teleported out of the way, then appeared directly beside him. He spun around and lowered his horn. Twilight intercepted his horn with a hoof, and the force of the blow staggered him and knocked him away. After a few seconds, Twilight made her way over to him, and he winced as he rose to his hooves. "And I'm still holding back." Twilight goaded. "Somehow I doubt that." he replied as he teleported away. Twilight turned around just in time to watch a bolt of blue and violet whiz past her. She frowned at the sight, but she made a note to think about it later. Twilight raised a barrier to block his next three assaults which came in rapid succession. The barrier held, but only just. The strain from maintaining it in a suppression field, and under the force of his attacks nearly staggered her. "This device of yours is quite the nuisance." Twilight stated. "I'm glad you like it." he countered with a sly smile. Twilight beat her wings and jumped into the air, horn ablaze. She glided through the air, angling herself towards the Inquisitor. He took a step back, and formed another barrier around himself. Twilight released a beam of magic at him. The beam shot forth from her horn, and mostly ignored the suppression field's effect. The beam took a lot of effort from her, however. More than she would ever admit. She would also never admit just how much damage the electro-maginetic pulse did to her. A few modifications and it could have killed her and half the ponies in Canterlot, shielded room or not. The beam hit his barrier, and had a draining effect. The beam continued to last for several seconds, and Twilight caught sight of a single bead of sweat rolling down his head. She exhaled with some effort, and cut the beam off. Her horn still glowed from the effort. She landed rather ungracefully, and kept her wings flared out. "It's been fun but you're trying my patience." The Inquisitor stated firmly. "The feeling is-" Twilight ducked under a pulse of magic. Something about it drew her attention, and she watched it fly through the air. It impacted the wall, and she clenched her jaw. Where the spell hit, the wall turned into water, and immediately collapsed under the force of gravity, leaving a nice hole in the wall, and a rough area surrounding it where some of the matter had been turned into water. She turned back to him, frowning. He smiled, and Twilight rolled to the left to avoid another pulse of magic. Where the pulse of magic hit, the wall melted into water. It took her a second to put the pieces together. Her eyes widened in realization, the glow of her horn died, and she turned to Silver. In her shock, she failed to react to a bolt of magic. It impacted her chest off center to the right, and pushed her back. She lifted her left hoof to her chest and pressed against the wound. She didn't need magic to know it was worse and different from the other injuries she had sustained. She had nothing to say to him, and he sauntered over to her. When he was but a pony length away from her, he spoke. "It only took you five years to figure it out, Princess Twilight Sparkle. You've been a worthy adversary, but, I. Always. Win." He glanced around the room briefly, then returned his gaze to Twilight. "A pity you damaged my room so much, but I suppose it can't be helped." "I suppose it shouldn't surprise me." Twilight admitted softly, then her expression hardened. "No, but you are oh so easy to manipulate. All of you are." He smiled arrogantly. "So it was your plan then." "Mmm, no. I was content to wait, but Captain Rainbow Dash had a better idea." He raised a hoof to his chin and stroked it. "I honestly didn't expect it to work, but you were just so easily manipulated. It's sad, really." "You expect me to believe that Rainbow Dash is responsible for a plan as sophisticated as this?" Twilight asked skeptically. Silver smiled and laughed. "That's the brilliance of it! You would never expect it! Such a betrayal from the element of loyalty is unthinkable! Ahahaha!" "Why would you tell me this, unless to manipulate me more?" she asked skeptically. He turned serious. "Die." he said, and a bolt of magic launched out of his horn and impacted her, throwing her away. She screamed in pain briefly, then silenced herself by clenching her jaw. She would not allow him the pleasure of hearing her screams of pain. Twilight struggled to stand to her hooves, and Silver sauntered over to her. Twilight was supporting the upper half of her body with her arms, but wasn't standing up. "Goodbye, Twilight Sparkle." he said and lowered his horn. Twilight smiled, then teleported away. The Inquisitor stopped smiling. Twilight appeared in an alley, a few feet off the ground. As soon as she appeared, she started falling, and she spread her wings. She hit the ground standing on all four hooves, but winced from the impact. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, wincing the whole time, then exhaled. She opened her eyes and looked down at her chest. The two wounds she had received from the Inquisitor towards the end of the fight were still bleeding, and one had obviously been aimed at her heart. She sat down on her haunches, and took another deep breath. She lifted her left hoof and lightly touched the injury, and winced from the pain. She watched it for several minutes, but the blood flow hardly slowed. The fact the wounds were still bleeding, coupled with her not feeling her healing kicking in meant one thing. The Inquisitor had somehow disabled her accelerated healing, perhaps all of her healing. The first injury showed some signs that it had healed, but only slightly. It had to have been the second spell he hit her with that disabled her accelerated healing. She sat there for a few minutes, working on formulating a new plan. An actual plan to kill him, instead of just winging it. Of course, she would need to factor in what she had discovered in the last few minutes of their battle. As she thought about that, she found her anger growing. Anger wasn't good for planning, so she pushed it aside, and resumed planning. After she reformulated her plan, her thoughts turned to her companions. The two ponies who had accompanied her. Her student and... Her face hardened. She stood up, and despite looking like a mess, she stood with regality only matched by Princess Celestia before her. She ignored the pain coming from her injuries, and channeled magic into her horn. She failed to produce the teleportation spell, and her horn sent sparks flying as she tried. She changed tactics, and launched a pulse of magic at the nearby wall. The impact caused a sharp crack in the air, and left a nice hole in the wall. She looked up as a filly peaked around the corner. The filly ducked back behind the wall, hoping she hadn't seen her. Twilight's expression softened at the sight. "It's alright." she called out. The filly tentatively peaked back around the corner, and looked at her. Her gaze was drawn to her chest, and the injuries she had sustained. "Are... Are you alright, miss?" the filly asked. She was scared, her voice stuttered. Twilight realized the filly probably didn't know who she was. "I will be fine." she said as she stood up. The filly cautiously stepped into the alley, allowing Twilight to get a better look at her. Her coat was orange, and her mane and tail were shades of light pink that reminded her of Fluttershy. Her eyes were blue, and she looked a little younger than Rarity's sister had been when she first met her. She was a pegasus, and her wings reminded her of Scootaloo. She briefly wondered if she could fly. "Where are your parents?" "Oh! Um, right. Sorry, miss..?" "Twilight." she answered. "Twilight..." the filly rolled the name over on her tongue. She looked deep in thought as she said it, then she looked up and smiled brightly at her. "I like that name!" Twilight smiled back. "Ugh, where did that filly run off to..." the voice of a mare mumbled from around the corner. After a few seconds, the mare stepped passed the corner, and when she was halfway passed it, she paused and looked to her right. She froze at the sight of her filly standing across from a bloodied pony. "Hey mom! This is Twilight, she's my new friend!" Twilight wanted to facehoof, but she resisted the urge. "Hello, miss..?" "Breeze, you..! Wait..." the unicorn paused as she looked at Twilight again. She glanced between the horn and wings, and her eyes widened in realization. "Princess!" she shouted, and immediately fell into a respectful bow. "I'm sorry, I didn't know you were-" Twilight shook her head. "It's fine, please rise. I don't want to make a scene." the mare tentatively rose from her bow, and the filly looked at her quizzically. "You... You're hurt!" the mare said, stating the obvious. "She said she's fine." Gentle Breeze chirped. The filly's mother shot her a short glare, then smiled apologetically. "I... will-" 'Should' she mentally corrected, "-be fine." Twilight said. "Please, let me help you..." the mare said. "I'm afraid it will have to wait, Mrs...?" "Iodine." she answered. "Iodine Drop." she said almost gleefully. "Mrs. Iodine." Twilight repeated. "I need to go right now. It will heal on it's own..." her expression turned sarcastic, "Though it should already be healed..." she said with no small amount of annoyance. "I'm a doctor, you should let me take a look at it..." Iodine trailed off. Twilight was about to argue against it, but she stopped. It wasn't like she could teleport anywhere for the moment, and she didn't like the idea of running through Canterlot looking like she did. And she wasn't about to use that one spell again. "Five minutes." she said. Iodine smiled. "Thank you, Princess." There was a small pop, and a small flash of light, and a white kit appeared. It had a red cross on it, and Iodine held it in her light green magic. She walked over to Twilight, and sat the kit down. Twilight sat down on her haunches, allowing the unicorn better access to her injuries. Iodine looked over her wounds, then frowned. She glanced to the kit and opened it, then drew out a vial of something, and a syringe. Twilight eyed the syringe cautiously, but said nothing. Iodine levitated the needle over to the vial, stuck it through the cap, then filled it with the liquid about ten milligrams, if Twilight read the labeling correctly. Iodine levitated the syringe over to Twilight, and glanced to her face. "It should help with the bleeding." she stated. Twilight nodded, and Iodine proceeded to stick the needle into her forearm. A second later, she pulled it out, then sat the needle aside. "Thank you, but I really need to be going." Twilight said immediately afterwards. "You really should have those wounds properly cared for..." Iodine trailed off, then sighed. "But I suppose you're in trouble right now, and time probably is important for you." "It is." Twilight answered. "It will heal eventually anyway." Iodine nodded absently as she repacked her kit. Twilight stood up, and looked between them. She looked to the filly, "Breeze, was it?" The filly nodded excitedly. Twilight smiled. "Make sure to study hard, and one day you'll be doing great things like your mom." The filly smiled. Twilight looked to Iodine Drop. "Thank you... If you run into any trouble, just say I forced you to." "Princess, I... Alright. It was an honor to meet you... Good luck." Iodine smiled as she took a step back. Twilight nodded once, then channeled magic into her horn. This time it worked, and she managed to cast the teleportation spell. There was a flash of light, and she disappeared from the alley. Twilight reappeared outside of Fancy Pant's mansion. Immediately, the half dozen soldiers standing at the door turned to her, but said nothing. For several seconds, nopony moved a muscle. The soldiers glanced between themselves, and Twilight eyed each one wryly. "Get out of my way, or I will remove you from it." Twilight said quietly. She didn't even try to mask the anger in her voice. The soldiers looked between themselves, then lit their horns. "You're under arrest." one of them said. Twilight's eyes shot to him. "So be it." she said with finality. "But this is your own fault, and I am not in the mood to play games." She knew she needed to win this battle quickly, the full extent of her battle with the Inquisitor was still affecting her. She was drained, tired, and in pain, but she would win. She had to. She didn't want to push her luck on defense, wounded as she already was. She lit her horn with magic, and created a barrier around herself, them immediately overcharged it, and flared her wings outwards. The flaring of her wings was purely symbolic, but it added a little something to the sight, adding a fear factor. The barrier exploded outwards, throwing the six soldiers into the wall, and damaging the landscape. For whatever reason, the six soldiers standing guard at Fancy Pant's mansion were the only soldiers in sight. She quickly dispatched each soldier with a single spell, then ripped the door from its hinges, and made her way into the building. She traversed the interior in under a minute, and came to the door where Fancy Pants had his study. Where the door had been. It was now nothing but a hole in the wall. From the other side she could hear voices, mostly voices she didn't recognize, but she did recognize Rainbow Dash's voice. She stepped around the corner and into the room. Rainbow and Fancy Pants were lying against the wall, facing her. Their eyes lit up when she entered the doorway, then they both grimaced at how injured she was. She caught sight of two corpses, and Zenith Star. She appeared to be breathing, just unconscious. She stood there for a few seconds, the soldiers were blissfully unaware of her presence. "I am not in the mood to deal with you." she said aloud, immediately all six guards jumped and turned around. They all looked shocked, and fear was plastered over their faces. "You have once chance to surrender. That's all you get." The soldiers looked between themselves. One of them looked unsure, but the remainder were arrogant. "There's six of us and only one of you. You're injured, and fighting the Inquisitor had to have taken a lot out of you." A single blade of magic flared to life in the air beside Twilight. She looked at each one of them in turn, then threw her horn towards the last one on the left. He sidestepped, but it wasn't enough. The pulse of magic threw him against the wall, but he survived. Twilight noted that the pulse of magic didn't kill him, then stepped forwards and threw her sword at the center soldier. Unfortunately for her, they had all scattered, and her blade impacted the wall. She ripped the sword out of the wall, and turned to the right, where most of the soldiers were. One of the soldiers forged a blade of magic in the air beside him, and intercepted Twilight's thrust, deflecting the blade. Twilight overextended in the attack, and rolled with it to avoid getting hit by the several pulses of magic fired at her. One of them hit her wing, causing pain and a tingling sensation, but she ignored it. She put more force into her blade as it was deflected, and shot it with the deflection towards another soldier. The mare raised a barrier to defend herself, but it popped as soon as the sword hit it. The blade continued unimpaired, and killed her. Twilight swiveled on her front hooves, then kicked out at another guard. He was sent flying through a window, breaking the glass as he went through it. Twilight turned to then next guard, grabbed him in her magic, and applied more force to his body, preventing him from breathing until he passed out from lack of oxygen. She threw him to the wall, and continued on. The next soldier had already fled the room, leaving one who was cowering in fear, and the one who she had injured at the start of the engagement. Twilight stepped towards the cowering soldier. "Please..." he begged. Twilight glared at him. "You had your chance." she stated, then slit his throat. She turned to the remaining soldier, who watched her dispassionately. She glanced over him, then ignored him and glanced over to Fancy Pants, Zenith Star, and... She would get to her later. She released her hold of her blade, and it dissipated. "Fancy Pants, pray tell, what has happened?" she asked with agitation. He opened his mouth to speak, only to be cut off by Rainbow. "Twilight..." Her voice had an edge of worry to it, whether for her own life or Twilight's, Twilight did not know. Twilight turned to her and then back to Fancy Pants. "I... Have no idea, Twilight." he admitted. "I do not know how he could have... Known." Twilight turned to Rainbow. "He said Rainbow is actually responsible for this." she said dispassionately. She was glad Zenith wasn't conscious for this. Rainbow's gaze turned fearful. "The soldiers did mention something about Rainbow being in on this..." Fancy commented. Rainbow's head shot towards him. Fancy sighed. "I can't say if they were lying or telling the truth. I hadn't heard about anything like that." "He said she was responsible for all this.." Twilight repeated, this time with a bit more anger. "And you believe him! Twilight, come on! I wouldn't..." Rainbow trailed off under Twilight's gaze. "Of course I didn't believe him. But there are other things to factor in. Including the fact that he told me when he was absolutely sure I was going to die. And there was a good chance he would have been right if I had not held back earlier." Twilight replied sharply. "I should kill you now and get this over with." Rainbow swallowed. Twilight's horn was still lit from her earlier battle, if Twilight... Chose to kill her, she wouldn't stand a chance since she was tied up, against the wall, immobilized. Twilight grimaced and bobbled her head, as if debating her options. "Twilight, please... Let me... Let me help you! Let me make it up to you!" she all but begged her. "I am not responsible for this!" Twilight glared sharply at her. "You've betrayed me before, on multiple occasions. I have no way of knowing if you will betray me again. Answer my question honestly. Is there even the slightest chance, that he is saying the truth? And don't just answer it, think about it first." Twilight commanded. Rainbow realized she hadn't made any promises not to kill her in that statement. Rainbow looked away from Fancy Pants and Twilight. There was a chance, a slight chance, that he had told the truth. 'No! He's lying, I didn't do this! I didn't betray her...' Up until a few weeks ago, she never remembered questioning the Inquisitor. The more she thought about it, the more strange she found it that she couldn't remember thinking anything suspicious of him. It was so sudden, almost like- Her heart sank, and her ears folded back. Twilight raised an eyebrow at the sight. Rainbow sighed and looked down. "Yes..." she said softly. "I... I don't remember thinking anything wrong about him up until a couple weeks ago..." She looked to Twilight. "But I don't remember anything about helping him with this!" Twilight exhaled sharply. "You wouldn't need to remember anything. He could have altered your memories." Twilight looked away, then briefly grunted and clutched her wound at a sharp throb of pain. She looked back to Fancy Pants. "I need to go..." "You can't take me with you." he said. "You're too injured." Twilight scoffed at that. "You know that I-" "Twilight." he said seriously. "Just go." "If I leave you here..." Twilight trailed off, not wanting to think about that. "Then untie me. I can take care of myself." Twilight looked down but nodded. She grasped the ropes binding Fancy pants, and cut them away with her magic, freeing him. She looked at him sadly. "Take care of yourself." "You too, Princess." Fancy said as he stood at the doorway. He bowed his head respectfully, then glanced to Rainbow Dash, hesitated, and then left. Twilight nodded, then turned her attention to Zenith and Rainbow. She held her gaze on Rainbow. "I am going to check your mind for any signs of manipulation." she said. It wasn't a choice. She stepped closer to Rainbow, then pointed her horn at her head. Rainbow shrunk back, fearful of the alicorn. Twilight entered her mind, and quickly went to work searching for what she didn't want to find. She did her best to avoid any memories she knew wouldn't hide something, and she also tried to avoid anything too personal. Unfortunately, she still ran across a few of those memories. During the whole ordeal, Rainbow was unconscious. After a few minutes, she heard shouting coming closer, and pulled out of Rainbow's mind. Rainbow Dash immediately regained consciousness. "We will finish this in a moment." she said sharply. She turned to Zenith, destroyed the ropes, then draped the unicorn over her back. She walked over to Rainbow, then put her mouth around her neck, and lifted her up with no effort, despite her injuries. Rainbow couldn't help but feel helpless, knowing that if Twilight wanted, right then and there, she could have bit hard enough to kill her. She could drop her from a great height, too, since her wings were bound, she wouldn't be able to fly, and she would fall to her death. Falling to her death... As a pegasus, that concept was completely foreign to her. To most pegasi, it was a foreign concept, and also a very scary one... Twilight channeled more magic into her horn, preparing to teleport the three of them away, then paused as an idea came to her. She would have smiled, but her mouth was preoccupied. She gently angled her horn down, then shot at the wall with a spell. Where the spell hit, a vortex of magic formed a portal. She could see through it to the other side. Looking through the portal, she could see Canterlot off in the distance. Rainbow looked at the portal wryly. Her curiosity was suppressed by her fear of Twilight. Twilight stepped forwards, taking the two ponies she carried with her. She stepped through the portal, and appeared on the other side, traveling perhaps eighty miles in a single second. Once her tail was clear, Twilight turned around, and did something to cause the portal to destabilize. As the portal shimmered and flashed, the vortex surrounding it became more and more chaotic, eventually resulting in it collapsing upon itself. Once the portal disappeared, a wave of magic exploded outwards from it. It wasn't dangerous, and only created a slight breeze as it disturbed the air. The portal had not been against anything. It had been in the air, at ground level. Twilight took note of that, she would have to study it further when she had the time. 'That could prove useful in the future.' she noted. Twilight glanced around. They weren't at the top of the mountain, but they were pretty high up. She didn't particularly camp at the top of the mountain, and it would be night in a few hours. She looked around and found a decent tree nearby, walked over to it, and set Zenith down against it, then walked over to the overhang from which Canterlot could be seen. The sight made her anger boil. She took a step back, turned around, and dropped Rainbow from her mouth, then turned back to Canterlot. She traced over the outline of the city with her eyes. The Inquisitor would pay for this. But first, she had something else to take care of. "Rainbow Dash, what am I going to do with you..."