Re:Harmony

by starcross7

40 - Flutterstrife

Chapter 40 - Flutterstrife

Barely able to hear the conversation below, Sunny could do nothing else but pace about the suspended cage. The bars were too strong to knock out with her kicks, and even if she did, Verde would immediately notice it and disqualify the forced battle between Twilight and Fluttershy. That would then ensue and immediate death of all ponies.

"Psst. Sunny."

Pinkie Pie had lay splayed at the corner of the cage, and the Earth-Alicorn answered the call by trotting backwards to her.

"Keep an eye out for Verde's eyes," said Pinkie Pie in a low albeit painful whisper.

"What are you going to do now?"

"Don't talk. You'll figure it out when I'm done. I'm sure of it."

I hope you're right, thought Sunny. She paced back towards the direction of Verde, and she happened to be in view when his reptilian yellow eye glanced at her. As long as she was watching, or at least pretending to be watching, Verde would hopefully ignore her presence.

She also hoped he would ignore the nigh-inaudible buzzing sounds at the corner.

---

As a sick gesture from a sick mind, Verde had mounted cameras on about a dozen tripods pointing down to the sunken Chamber of Bones. He blew into existence floating fires that served as his monitors so he could get a good view of all the action. With the all the wires snaking towards a pile of broadcast equipment, it was highly likely he would be recording this bloody spectacle for his later amusement.

The pegasus settled in her position across from the Twilight in the time Verde allotted for them to prepare. Herb grass and a cup of water were what Spike gave to them became their only provisions to help recover their strength, however little it may be.

Even with both ponies battle-ready, it was apparent Twilight, who until recently became a brawler, appeared the most determined. As Fluttershy, almost everybody could sense her trembling in her hooves.

"Remember ponies," said Verde. "I can see you and I can hear from all angles. Don't even attempt to escape back the way you came. This Cavern is mine to wield."

"Is everything all set?" Spike asked.

"It is. Now begin the fight!"

Twilight took Fluttershy by surprise when she suddenly charged into a pile of bones. The pegasus began her hunt and took to the air. Once again the dragoon lance wobbled on her back, throwing Fluttershy off balance. She tried imagining carrying a wounded flamingo or a stork, and while tending to wounded animals were her forte, weapons were a different matter. She never had a serious fight before, and it was usually her animals who defended her. She felt alone now. The baby dragon she had immediately adored turned a cold shoulder, and the unicorn was frighteningly determined to make the fight convincing.

A pile of bones rattled in her view. Fluttershy dove in slightly to investigate, but turned out to be a feint when a skull flew at her from the side. She dodged that, but that too turned out to be a feint. Twilight emerged shooting a bull's severed horn straight at the pegasus's wings from her hooves.

Grounded! Fluttershy felt the pain tear through her lesser underwing covert. She could still fly, but doing so would cause immediate and painful strain she had yet to get used to. Her primary advantage had been taken from her despite the fact she hardly flew at all while she lived in the forest.

Thus, Twilight charged at her swinging a short sword almost clumsily. Fight me, or you'll die, Twilight spoke into her heart. Yet the pegasus tried, but the gentleness in her heart could only allow her parry and defend against her friend's onslaught. The very kindness soon cost her almost half her dragoon lance when Twilight chopped it in two.

In a tearful panic, the pegasus dropped what remained of her weapon and ran. She stumbled and tumbled through bones, and while she managed to keep her distance, the eyes on Verde soon grew bored and weary.

"Get her back to the fight," he said to Spike. The baby dragon drew out his short sword and stopped Fluttershy from running towards the edge, forcing to her turn back around. Her clumsy running caused her to slid in a pile of bones that bowled towards Twilight, who merely swatted them away with her sword gripped in her mouth.

"Finish her off!" roared Verde.

Twilight took two steps back to engage her stance, her final strike. The pegasus sat on her haunches, frightened to hurt her friend, and frightened to die. Yet Twilight delayed her attack to make sure that she could read her expression, which told the pegasus to not give up hope, because not only fates of Sunny and Pinkie Pie were in her hooves, so were the fates of her animal friends. If Fluttershy was not present, the animals of the forest would have been hunted, trapped, and be sold as meat.

The pegasus then felt her wings stiffen. It felt like it was revving its cellular engines, as if exciting the nearby aether to come under her control. Fluttershy stood up on her hind legs, and felt the aether surrounding her front hooves. She then brought them together, smashing ionized oxygen and hydrogen to create vapor, which soon became a tiny cloud. It was from that tiny cloud Fluttershy punched out a lightning strike that struck Twilight's horn, sending her crashing backwards. The unicorn landed on her back, upon which a sound of a sharp crack was heard. Pool of blood gathered underneath her, and she soon fell unconscious.

The pegasus shrieked and immediately ran to Twilight's body. Turning her over, she found the half of the dragoon spear that Twilight had cut off not to long ago lodged in her back. Serendipity was cruel. Fluttershy might as well be the one who stabbed her, even if she did try to use her cloud-forming abilities to stun instead of kill. She cradled her unicorn friend, and wept loudly.

Amidst her cries, Verde's chuckle soon exploded into a rumbling laughter. He slammed his fist in delight, causing a few rocks from the ceiling to fall.

"Splendid!" he cried out. "Splendid! Not only did the unicorn put up a good show, but also the pegasus has exceeded my expectations. Truly, they are a warrior race worthy of respect! Spike my boy; go to the slain unicorn cut out her horn and her heart. I shall preserve them for my alchemic pursuits."

"Yes, sir," Spike bowed. He unsheathed his sword again and walked towards Twilight and Fluttershy, the latter whom upon seeing the baby dragon cradled her unicorn friend tighter and possessively. It was easy to separate the ponies. One slap to the face, and Fluttershy was sent crashing into a pile of bones. Spike then flipped the unicorn back and raised his sword.

At the last minute, the blade's tip stopped above the chest. Spike then tossed away his sword, and turned to face Verde.

"No…"

"What is that?"

"I won't do it. It's wrong, and it's cruel, even for the dead."

"You dare disobey me? After all that I have done for you? I tended your wounds. I saved you, and I fed you. Have you not forgotten what the ponies did to our kind?"

"That's no excuse to hurt innocent ponies! There's no honor in all this. You're the one who's a coward, hiding in your cave and killing those weaker than you. You could have escaped a long time ago!"

"Insolent whelp! It has become apparent that you've been polluted by pony culture. If you're going to side with the ponies, then you will die like a pony!"

Verde rose up from the Chamber's edge. His light green chest puffed out to glow a bright and fiery light, and he then arced his neck down so that his destructive dragon breath would hit Spike, Fluttershy, and Twilight at point blank.

His maw drew open, and the flames emerge. A flash of white knocked the side of his head, causing him to throw off his aim just enough to burn several bones to ash. It was then that everypony realized that Sunny had swung off a dangling chain before landing on Verde's head with a chain whip in her mouth.

"Pinkie Pie," she cried. "Now!"

The dragon roared, and Sunny galloped along his back as she attacked him from behind with her chain-whip while avoiding his claws. At the same time, Pinkie Pie stood suspended on top of another cage, using her Pinkie Gear to grind free another long chain. The cut has been made, and the chain fell towards Chamber of Bones. Alas, it was too short, but then it swung back and forth to knock down one of the video cameras Verde had set up on the tripods. That camera fell over the edge and into the Camber, causing a chain reaction that brought down more cameras to have them dangle precariously through its many wires.

All of a sudden, Twilight sprang to her hooves, and immediately rubbed her back against the wall to snap the broken dragoon lance from her back. It was a shock to both Fluttershy and Spike that they almost cried.

"I thought..." Spike stuttered. "I thought you were dead."

"I'm as surprised as you are," grinned Twilight, "even though I hoped this would happen. It must be because there's only half a soul in my body."

"Twilight," wept Fluttershy. "I'm--"

"I forgive you, and I was counting on all of you to distract Verde with my apparent death. Now let's climb everypony! Sunny and Pinkie can't hold him off any longer!"

They climbed the mess of cameras and wires like vines, and soon enough Twilight, Fluttershy, and Spike were out of the Chamber of Bones and back on the ground level. They began their run through mountains of treasures amidst the angry roars of Verde who thrashed about the cavern. The exit gates were fast approaching, and everypony felt gleefully optimistic that escape was near.

But then the flamegate manifested before their eyes. The clenched claw of the dragon came through to smash the broken ruin of Sunny's body upon the ground like a rag doll. The entire might of Verde eventually appeared before Twilight, Fluttershy, and Spike. His raging roar rocked the ceiling above and the walls all around, causing its rocky structure to fall around. Boulders bounced off the dragon without harm, and the ponies managed to avoid the brunt of the cave-in that revealed the true form of the Cavern of Treasures. Metal walls, and a ceiling infested with giant Tele-Orbs: this was the final trap Verde had planned for the ponies, and he could go anywhere as he pleased.

"I knew you had a stench of death," Verde said to Twilight, "but whether you're half dead or not, you will still die for your insubordination, unicorn!"

Deadly spikes emerged from the tip of Verde's tail, and the overhead Tele-Orbs opened up several flamegates around the area. Verde pierced his tail into of them, and where it emerged, nopony knew until it was too late. The tail emerged from a portal above and behind Twilight, and she would have gotten hit if not for a pink blur sweeping her off her hooves.

Pinkie Pie settled her down before collapsing from the pain Verde had inflicted on her. "Hurry, and get to the gate!" she cried to her and her friends. "I'll distract Big Green here."

Twilight rejoined Fluttershy and Spike in their desperate flight, and Pinkie Pie jumped into the flamegate, leaping and appearing almost everywhere within the cave. Even without her Pinkie Gear in play, the gravitational acceleration created by the flamegates made it appear she was in several places at the same time. Yet she could not confuse Verde's sharp eyes. With perfect timing, he slapped the pink pony to the ground like he did with the now-unconscious Sunny.

"Ugh, I broke my last bone," gagged Pinkie Pie before falling unconscious.

Verde then took a boulder and dropped it in a flamegate to accelerate its momentum by having it fall between portals ad infinitum. Then at the precise moment he blew a green breath towards the fleeing ponies, and the falling boulder fired from the side to knock away Twilight. Twilight tumbled through the ground before slamming into a pile of hard rocks, resulting in her suffering a broken neck.

Fluttershy and Spike did make it to the gate, but with it being so large and complex to operate, they stood confused, petrified, and frightened on what they should do. They turned around to face a rampaging green dragon, who then a breathed a jet a red-orange flames. Fluttershy took cover behind Spike, who easily withstood the flames while his cape turned to ash. Yet he was no match for Verde's speed and size, and one quick whip of his spiked tail sent Spike crashing towards the wall.

Now Fluttershy cowered on her haunches alone against a dragon who mercilessly defeated her newfound friends, perhaps even killed them. She was told once or twice that her kind was a race of fierce warriors that were able to manipulate the weather. She wasn't one, and if anything, her being thrown off Cloudlands and into the gorge was proof that she couldn't fight. The pressure of the battle was too much, and cried out her loudest.

The Midnight Butterfly appeared before Fluttershy's eyes, and then suddenly Applejack appeared beside her with an expression of utter horror.

Comments

[RainLight]

So twilight died twice but also didn't because AJ has half her soul?:P

BTW this seems stupid but why does only AJ have half of Twilight's soul? Why didn't Pinkie get a part either when she got her element? (I guess I forgot/missed something)

[GMZ_Casper]

Applejack just came at the worse point of this whole mess, it seems. Poor AJ, she had just lost most of her family members, she still think that she lost Apple Bloom to Posey, and now she might have witnessed the possible death of her new friends. Of course, they may still be alive, but still...that is going to leave a terrible mark on her.

[xTSGx]

Twilight tumbled through the ground before slamming into a pile of hard rocks, resulting in her suffering a broken neck.

Half a soul or not, that's pretty serious.

[The Ohvist]

2802098 Back when the Unicorn then-known as "Sparkle" first met Applejack, Clone Soldiers managed to track her across the impossible-to-cross Dark Chasm separating Sewer Town from Unicornia (basically, think of the distance as that between the Lower City and the Undercity of Taris as a close-enough analogy), the Soldiers laid waste to Unicornia to make sure there were no witnesses that would have been swayed by Applejack (completely unaware that these were Unicorns), The Unicorns of Unicornia were backed into a corner with the shielding spell being cast by their chieftain Twilight Velvet quickly failing. When all hope seemed lost, Sparkle pulled off a "Big Damn Heroes" moment by supercharging a spell to dissipate the Clone Soldiers altogether, only for the spell to run away on her, which would have completely drained her arcane reserves and instead tap into her life force; to wrangle the spell back and to keep Twilight from dying, Applejack used the Element of Truth to siphon away the excess, along with dragging in half of Sparkles' soul by mistake.