Fire Fight found himself surrounded by darkness, a pitch-black void where not even existence itself seemed to be present. Try as he might have to look for any sort of company, he could barely even hear the sound of his own breathing; there was nothing. Even when he ignited his horn, the light seemed to be swallowed whole by the surrounding darkness. Nopony…..no one was there with him. On top of that, it was cold……so cold.
Suddenly, he heard a very faint noise from far behind him. When he turned around, he could barely make out the image of his mother frantically running towards him from far away. “M-Mom!?” he called out. Despite the distance between them, he could clearly see the expression of terror on her face, and yet she somehow wasn’t getting any closer.
“Mom, what’s….. No….. No! I can’t come back! I won’t!” Fire Fight declared. His mother suddenly stopped in place and just…..stared at him. As if she was having a staring contest with something terrifying and couldn’t keep her cool. Feeling a little unnerved, Fire Fight anxiously observed her for a moment. “Umm….” After a tense moment with the oppressive atmosphere chilling his spine, his mother suddenly flash froze, turning into an ice sculpture. “WHOA! WHAT!?” Just as quickly as she transmuted, Ms. Fight crumbled into a pile of icy dust. “MOM!!” Fire Fight managed to run up to the pile of ice that was his mother, only to find that it bore the same eerie glow as the remains of the windigo he and the Battle Foals faced before. “Wha…!?”
The frigid detritus suddenly scattered as if it was blown by a wind that Fire Fight couldn’t feel, and it dissipated into the darkness. “Huh!?” He suddenly felt a chill behind him. When he turned, there was another mare turned into ice! This time, it was Film Noir. “F-Film Noir?” The only response he got was the same thing- disintegration. “<Gasp!>” Fire Fight could only look on as she too evaporated into mist. Now he was starting to panic. There were suddenly icy effigies of the CMC, his father, Cheerilee, Abbot Meadow, Rocky Mountain, and even Princess Twilight. All of which violently burst simultaneously into millions of ice shards, startling the fiery the colt. “Wh-Wh-What’s going on!?!?”
The chill was intensifying, and he began to feel that the void he was in seemed to harbor some twisted form of sentience. Suddenly there was ice statues of the many villains he’d faced on his journey. Action Shot, Officer Curfew, the giant snake, the Diamond Dogs, the florastrad, the Sand Vipers, Gene Splice and his mutated monsters, the crystal golem, the Fallen, the hydra, Lechuza and her swarm of harpies all in glacial form surrounded him. All Fire Fight could do was watch and wait; he had no idea what the consequences would be if he tried to attack them. He tried to light his horn once again, but he could only get a small flicker out and didn’t know why, and he was becoming more paranoid. “G-G-Guys!? Are you here!?” he called out, but to no avail. His only company was the creepy ice sculptures that seemed to suddenly close in on him. “HUH!?”
Without warning, the heads of every effigy quickly turned to face him bearing angry expressions at him! “AH!!” Fire Fight felt helpless. He couldn’t ignite his horn to summon his fire spells, let alone warm himself in the now frigid temperature, and it reached down to his bones when the ice bodies started moving towards him! “WHUH!? HUH!? U-U-U-UHH!!!” Fire Fight’s blood must’ve been breaking the sound barrier by now. He was completely frazzled and panicked at everything that was going on. Where was he, why was this happening? Were these ice sculptures…….going to kill him. “N-NO!! S-STOP!!!!” As they drew near, all he could do was cower beneath his hooves. He could feel the icy air emanating off of them get closer along with their footsteps. Was this it? Would he fall to an inexplicable attack from his past?.....No…..he had to muster some courage. Sending his fiery will into his spirit rather than his horn, Fire Fight mustered the strength to throw a punch at whatever he might hit. “HYARGH!!!”
However, when he opened his eyes, nothing was there. The effigies had all but vanished as though they never existed. “Wh-What!?” He looked around in confusion, but nothing. He was once again alone, and even the cold front had all but dissipated.
He then heard a filly crying behind him, and when he turned around, it was Shadow Shroud facing away from him. “Sh-Shadow Shroud?” He decided to exercise caution for the risk of this just being a ruse, but he very much hoped that it was his friend. As he drew near her, he could feel the menacing chill returning, and he kept his nerves on high alert. “Shroud? Wh-What’s wrong?”
Shadow Shroud suddenly stopped crying just as Fire Fight came right behind her, urging him to stop. For a tense moment, he anxiously anticipated for her to strike, but she didn’t. Instead, she got up and slowly turned to face him. It was her alright, but something felt wrong…. “Sh-Shroud?” Her expression was as blank as sheet of paper, and the chill seemed to be coming off of her. She slowly reached into her cloak and drew a kunai. However, when she drew it, Fire Fight was shocked to see that the blade was made of ice! “Sh-Sh-Shroud!?” He started back away, but she started approaching him at the same pace. “Wh-Wh-What are you doing!?”
The air was becoming more and more frigid as their mobile staring contest continued, and it was then that Fire Fight began hearing whispers in the dark. Listening more closely, he could hear ponies he’d heard talking or conversations he’d held on his journey: his mother pleading for him to come home, Spiral Galaxy’s parents lamenting her disappearance, the Sand Viper boss taunting Kickback, their confrontation with Gene Splice and their argument over his execution, he and Shroud during their burial of the mad scientist, Quantum Tech’s parents reprimanding her, their encounter with the monks of Gardenia, Greensprout’s tantrum, Bullseye’s rampage during their raid on the Rockslide bandits, their conversation with Rocky Mountain afterwards, and the commotion that ensued when they were discovered just before entering the portal to Asgard Forest.
As he was too distracted by the voices of the past, Fire Fight didn’t notice right away that he and the ominous copy of Shadow Shroud were moving faster. “Shroud, stop! What’s going on!?”
“Just shut up, Fire Fight!” She had said exactly the way she did just before they went to bed, but her expressionless face made her seem as though it had been forced out of her as though she were a puppet, and then he realized what was wrong- her eyes. There were....pale, almost colorless, a far cry from the deep amethyst he was used to seeing shining in the dark. Whatever this was, it wasn’t her. It wasn’t his friend. This was an unknown force that for one reason or another meant him harm.
Try as he might have, he again couldn’t light his horn. “Oh, come on! Please!”
“Don’t be such a baby.” The fake Shroud said in her copied tone. The fact that this being took the form of his close friend suppressed his will to directly attack it……until it turned into another ice effigy and continued to pursue him.
“Oh, shoot…” he squeaked. He found himself wanting to turn tail and make a run for it, but before he could, the ice form created grotesque armor akin to the windigo they fought in the White Tail Woods! “Oh, shoot!” He was practically galloping backward now. Then….the final nail in the coffin.
“<RRRRRRHHHHH!!!!!>” It let loose an otherworldly growl before intensifying the frigid air that was blowing off of it like a fireplace. “Freeeeeeeeze tooooooo deeeeeaaaaaattttthhhh!!” it said in a demonic drawl. The swell of cold air around it violently swirled around it as it grew to gargantuan proportions, bigger than even Tirek at full power and took on the form of an equine dragon that was even more ferocious than the windigo.
“<RAAAAAAAAAAAAAAWWWWWWWWWW!!!!!!!!!!>”
“OH, SHOOT!!!” Fire Fight finally broke and made a break for it, but his path was barred when a huge wall of ice suddenly erected in his path. “HUH!?” He looked back in horror to see the glacial giant rearing its fangs and ready to finish him. With one last demonic howl, it lashed at him. “AAAAAHHHHH!!!!!”
“Cease at once, abomination!” An inexplicable beam of silver light suddenly blasted from above them as a divine voice resounded from the darkness. The ice titan was struck by the bright blast and let out an agonized roar as it was obliterated in the radiant assault, and it exploded in a burst of shards shaped like petals. After it was destroyed, the silver light continued to shine down, and from its source emerged Princess Luna. She floated down to greet Fire Fight.
“Princess Luna!” Fire Fight could feel the tense atmosphere lift along with the frigid air.
“Good evening, Fire Fight.” Luna said. “I see you and the Battle Foals succeeded in reaching Griffonstone, and yet tonight you find yourself surrounded by doubt and uncertainty.”
“Y-Yeah….. A lot’s happened.” Fire Fight muttered. “And I think you might’ve been right about some coming catastrophe.”
“So it would seem.” Luna said. “Your recent encounters with these anomalous ice monsters is most disturbing, and something tells me that it is no coincidence. Something is looming on the horizon, and we may have to take action soon.” She softened her expression as she looked into the fiery colt’s eyes. “But enough about that. Your travels are starting to make you grow weary, especially given the current circumstances.”
Fire Fight solemnly nodded. “I didn’t think this mission would be easy, but…..I had no idea just how much of a toll it would take.” He sighed. “But I’ll still brave through it if I have to. For my friends! The Battle Foals! And all of the other foals that might come eventually.”
Luna could hear his exhaustion despite his powerful words. “The fire in your soul burns as brightly as ever, but even the strongest of flames can be extinguished, Fire Fight.” She gently lifted his head by his chin. “Even if your friends have great strength of will on their own, they still look to you as their guide, and they need you.”
“I-I know….” Fire Fight muttered. “I just don’t get why I’m thinking about everything so much. My mind’s been made up from the beginning. I swore to help other foals……so why do I feel so…..weak?”
“Because you’re pushing away your doubt rather than facing it, and the more you do so, the more it hungers for your willpower.” Luna said. “You’re now starting to realize the sheer magnitude of the trials the world can truly throw at you.” She let go of him.
Fire Fight sighed. “I guess so…. I can’t imagine how everypony else must be doing.” It was then that he was reminded of something that was likely a central theme in this nightmare. “Shadow Shroud…” he muttered. “Princess Luna, what’s going on with Shadow Shroud? What is she hiding from me? I think something’s hurting her, but she won’t say what.”
“That is an issue between the two of you, Fire Fight.” Luna said. “You know better than to force her.”
“I-I know, but….. This is the first time I’ve ever seen her seem unsure of herself.” Fire Fight said. “I know she had a moment after what happened with Gene Splice, but-”
“But she openly spoke with you, didn’t she?” Luna said. “You are her friend, Fire Fight. She will come to you if she feels the need, but of course don’t hesitate to offer your hoof if all else fails. All you can do is keep moving forward.”
Fire Fight managed to crease a little smile. “You’re right…” he said. “Hey…. You should really warn your sister about this whole catastrophe. My friends and I might be tough, but we might need all of Equestria to take out whatever’s coming.”
“I will tell my sister what she needs to know when the time comes. For now, my priority is watching over you.” Luna said. “H-However…..tell me something. When you faced these ice creatures, did you sense anything…..peculiar about them?”
Fire Fight cocked his eyebrow, unsure of how to take the odd question. “Umm….I didn’t get to fight the ice ape that almost killed Air Slash, but I guess the windigo was weird since it was alone. Why do you ask?”
“I…. I can’t shake the feeling that whatever is to come, there’s more to it than is readily apparent.” Luna said.
“Yeah. Quantum Tech said as much when she told us about that ice dust they left behind. It sounds like something’s waking up.” Fire Fight said.
“Waking up?” Luna asked.
Fire Fight explained Quantum’s analysis and how the ice monsters seemed to be proxies of an unseen force. “Have any other ice monsters appeared around Equestria and attacked ponies?”
Luna shook her head. “Nothing of the sort has happened, thankfully.”
“Then why’s it coming after me and my friends? What did we do?” Fire Fight wondered.
“Perhaps whatever this force is sees your strength and is simply testing its own, gauging your power and trying to match it. It may very well see you as its biggest threat.” Luna said. “If nothing else, let that fuel your courage as you continue down your path. I have utmost faith in you and the Battle Foals.” She leaned and gently pecked the fiery colt, getting a blush out of him. “But for now, the light of day beckons you. My work here is done.” She and the dream void began fading away in a gentle glow of silver light. “May your strength endure, mighty Battle Foals!”
This was literally exactly what i needed for a short break from homework. Thank you!
Oh hey, Luna came back into the story! Nice! I wish we would see more of her...though I will admit that I thought her purpose in the story was done with the previous warning and telling them to go to the portal. Though it would be fun to see the rest of the other foals dreams, but I'm guessing the next chapter is gonna be Bladerunner vs Ego-griffon. (Which I can't wait to see. I really hope it ends with Greensprout beating both of them due to her pacifist nature. That would be hilarious.)
For now, my priority "is" watching over you
8478455
Thanks for catching that.
Hey, I've been following this story for a while now, and I got say despite some grammar/wording errors, its one of the better stories I've read on this site. so thank you and keep producing awesome content. figured I'd introduce myself before attempting to open a comment thread.
This seems like an arbitrary time to do this, but I have been sitting on this for a while and I've decided to post my theory; I will now attempt to predict the next foal. The author has said he/she was going for a total count of 14. With Valkyrie very obviously going to fill the 13th slot there is only one more to go, and with that detail and previous comments, I believe we can predict much about the next foal. In order form most certain to least;
Gender: In a pervious comment Sirdubya said that we should expect an even balance of genders. given the gender-count is currently 6 males and 7 females, we should expect the last foal to be a colt.
Race: After Title Wave joined Sirdubya defended him/herself from someone jokingly accusing him of disliking pegasi by saying he was saving them for last, and that we should expect another one. unless he/she is counting Valkyrie, as she is also a flier, our last foal will be a Pegasus.
Personality: At the beginning of Tough Choices we were given a teaser soundbite for our last foal. Its a little difficult to discern much, but I think we can narrow it down to a) a Rebel b) a tuff guy c) a narcissist or d) an combination of the above. I'm going with the first option. What does shine through very clear is that 'he' has confidence issues and is very concerned about 'his' image, so I wont be surprised if whatever persona 'he' has will be at least partially just false bravado.
Class/Weapon: To be honest, I don't really know what kind of fighting style our foal will have. pretty much every combat role I can think of is already at least partially covered. the only one that seems open is a bard-like character (focusing on stat boosts), but that dosent fit well with the personality of the sound-bite. trying to match the Race of Pegasus with the personality from the sound bite (and assume we don't double up on combat roles), the best I can come up with is a)Speed based fighter b) Pirate/Rouge or c) unmatched weather powers. I'm curious what other people can come up with before 'he's' properly introduced. EDIT: Maybe a scythe user? those seem popular right now
PS [pure speculation] lets play guess the ship. from what I can tell we have 1 proper romance just made official (Air SlashxGreensprout), 3 brewing romances (Fire FightxShadow Shroud, Spiral GalaxyxTidal Wave, and now Turf WarxValkiery) a love triangle which will likely end with one being alone [or at least not paired within the original group] (Zeboota-Quantum Tech-Kickback), and Crazy Locks. That just leaves us with.... Bullseye?! Granted that last brewing romance pairing is mostly speculation and has not been given enough evidence to be 'confirmed', but if Sirdubya is really going to pair 'him' with Bullseye, that has so much comical potential. Edit: this section was reworded and expanded to make it easier to follow.
I'm curious what everyone (including Sirdubys) think of my theories.
8484793
Thank you! It makes me a happy man to hear that!
I like your theory about the last goal to come, and I can't wait to introduce him. I'm sure you'll get chills when he comes into play.
As a side note, I put Valkyrie and the other Pegasi in the same category simply because they can fly; I wanted some racial diversity in my cast, but I think we can all agree that griffons and pegasi aren't that different.
So far, what all have you particularly liked and disliked about the story so far other than the mentioned wording issues?
8484869
The Pegasus hating joke was because me and another commenter realized that the author had basically only one pegasi (Air Slash) up until Bullseye, who was foal number 11. The rest were earth ponies and unicorns, with the exception of a zebra, which feels like another earth pony. That's why we called the author out on being racist, as it felt like he didn't even consider that race's existence. (We were joking of course)
Also, though I like your prediction of the 14th foal, I totally hope its a liar character. Like, they talk a big game, but they're a total wimp on the inside. That would be comedy gold if they end up with Bullseye.
8491332
Well that's why I specifically said 'jokingly', I did not think you actually thought the author was racist. Also I suppose he could be a liar character given the sound bite from 'The Pact'. we'll have to see.
On a much lighter note, what combat role do you think the last foal will fill? I'm not really sure what roles are left, considering the roster we currently have, that could fit a personality like that.
8491615
Hmmm...let's see....here's what we have now:
Fire Fight: Brawler/Blackbelt/Fistfighter/Monk
Shadow: Ninja/Assassin
Turf: Berserker
Spiral: Black Mage/Cosmomancer
Air Slash: Swordmaster/Samurai/Armorer/Blacksmith
Kickback: Gunslinger/Gunner
Crazylocks: Mimic/Mime/Morpher
Quantum: Mechanic/Scientist/Scholar/Machinist
Zebota: Elementalist/Geomancer/Beastmaster/Blue Mage/Summoner? (Not sure about that one)
Greensprout: White Mage/Sage/White Wizard/Time Mage/Green Mage/Seer/Alchemist/Herbalist (Greensprout is OP!)
Bullseye: Archer/Hunter/Sniper/Ranger
Tidal: Lancer/Dragoon
Valkyrie: Fighter/Hero/Mystic Knight/Berserker?
So...that's a lot. A lot of ground has been covered here. And if there's this many, there's not too much left in terms of classes and battle styles.
Except one in particular. The Thief/Trickster. I would love to see a prankster character, which would fit the liar persona. How about that?
8492410
That crossed my mind during my speculation. My biggest concern regarding the thief/trickster like character is that what weapons he could have. knifes/daggers are the traditional weapon of such a character, but while not quite the same Shadow Shroud's kunai are fairly close; and the second most traditional weapon would be a sword, which we already have two characters who use them.though they use a pair of Katana and a great sword respectively, while a thief/trickster would more likely use a rapier or a short sword...
guess We'll have to wait and see.
Sirdubya if your reading this, I do have a [really long] response to you, but I'm waiting for the next chapter to post it.
8492483
Understood.
8492483
I don't think it'll be a rapier. But...I would like to see a knives character. Though Shadow kinda does the whole kunai thing, which are kinda like throwing daggers like you said. Not sure...maybe a morning star user? Or they use chains with daggers? Or someone who uses claws? That would be cool.
8492410 Wouldn't Turf be oh, I dunno... a Warrior or something? Bullseye is more like an Archer/Berserker.
8494804
I meant more on their battle styles. Granted, Bullseye is more of a Berserker in terms of personality, but not in weaponry. If you read the comment I'm replying too, it was all about the speculation of the combat style of the last foal.
8494826 Crazylocks is kind of a trickster, what with her form-shifting and non-sequitur shenanigans. But yeah, I can see why the last foal should be a thief.
8494876
True. But the one's I listed are more around imitating others, which is kind of what Crazylocks is. Tricksters/Jugglers are more along the lines of using unusual techs that help or hind others. That's why I think it would still be viable as a class/foal.
8492410
I was focusing on your idea of a possible niche the last foal could fit before, but looking over your list of the roles filled, I noticed a few issues; First, I have absolutely nothing against Greensprout, but I wouldn't call her an alchemist, and where in Equestria did you get the idea to classify her as a seer or time mage? Second you left out the obvious titles for Fire Fight and Tidal Wave; pyromancer and hydromancer respectively. Third, I personally would have added spy or at least scout to Shadow Shoud's list, but that depends on how you conceptualize those roles.
Edit; in a similar vain to my suggestion to Shadow Shoud's list, I might have added Tank to Turf War's titles. it seems odd he's the only one who fits one role.
8494971
The Greensprout Alchemist job is part of the herbalist thing. I also meant the time mage and seer part in terms of Final Fantasy classes. Seer is considered to be a higher version of white mage sometimes in the series. Time mage is considered to be an alternate green mage style, which is all about enhancing others and slowing enemies, which she somewhat does with her staff.
As for Fire Fight and Tidal Wave, I just didn't think of those classes. And Spy would work well with Shadow.