Mussorgsky

Jamie grunted as he felt pain shoot through his leg. It still hurt, the doctor was only able to do so much, it seems. Luna wrapped her arm around him and helped him wobble along, his little weight surprising the Princess.

“So, Jamie, any ideas on how to deal with this human?” Celestia asked him, the rest of the group turning to look at the human.

“Well, first thing I can tell you is that his armour is impervious to any type of magic. My techniques included.” The unicorns of the group shuffled slightly, becoming a bit nervous. Their horns were basically their whole lives. Yes, they had hands, but that didn’t stop them from using magic for everything. “The good part is that normal weapons DO work against him, which means we have a chance.” Celestia still felt nervous about the coming fight.

“I feel a but coming here…” The Sun Princess said, Jamie smiling.

“There always is. The bad part? His henchmen. Them two are… basically the big problem with fighting him. They’ll attack you with quick fire techniques, throwing off your balance and leaving you completely open to the giant sword.” Luna looked out over the field, seeing the armoured human was closing on them. They had five minutes at most.

“Sister, let me and the human take them. He has fought him before, it seems. I can provide magical protection and he can get in close.” This was a sound plan, of course, there was one little problem.

“Luna, while that plan is a good one, we mustn’t forget the human has an injury to deal with.” Celestia had a point, Luna thought. The human would be hindered by his leg.

“That won’t be a problem.” The all looked at Jamie again, Celestia raising an eyebrow. “As long as Luna takes care of his two friends, I can easily take him out alone, even with an injury like this.” Celestia looked between her sister and the human. She had just met him, but she felt an urge to trust him. She nodded to her sister, who picked up her axe and placed it on her back. Jamie felt enough strength to walk alone and the two turned around, walking towards their armoured enemy, who was right in front of them.

“It’s been far too long, Vermilion.” The armoured Juggernaut spoke, stopping in front of the pair. Jamie chuckled, nodding.

“That it has, Hunter.” The Juggernaut’s companions looked at their leader, who growled inside his armour.

“You dare insult me by saying my name in that language? Enough talk, let us dance.” The Titan swung his blade, Luna using her magic to move Jamie and herself out of the way. The two lapdogs jumped into the fight immediately, launching to fire attacks at them. Luna blocked the fire with a shield, Jamie taking advantage of the momentary smoke cover to run at Hunter. He gave him a swift punch to the gut, the armour taking most of the damage. Even so, Hunter grunted, staggering slightly.

“What’s the matter Hunter? Can’t take a little punch?” Jamie taunted his opponent, Luna’s shield appearing to his right as it blocked another fire attack. The Juggernaut roared and with surprising speed, launched himself towards Jamie. He tackled the smaller man, Jamie feeling the heavy weight of the armour on him as the two rolled.

“Let’s make this fair, shall we?” Hunter threw away his sword, slamming his fists together. Jamie jumped out of the way as a fist fight began.

Luna meanwhile, was busy dealing with the other two humans. Their fire was easy to deal with, Luna’s shield more than enough. They seemed to figure this out quickly, switching to other elemental attacks. Luna didn’t notice one of them behind her, focusing on a fire attack from the other.

“Doton: Doryuudan!” A dragon made of earth shot from the ground, Luna’s eyes widening as she turned. The dragon impacted her, a cloud of dust engulfing the area around her. The two humans gave each other a high five, thinking the battle over. When the dust cleared, their eyes were the size of pinpricks.

“You’ve made a grave mistake…” Luna was covered from head to toe in armour the same shade as her fur. Her shield was emblazoned with her cutie mark, her axe growing slightly in size. She grabbed it, rushing forward suddenly. The two humans jumped away, one of them getting clipped by the axe. He stumbled when he landed, his leg bleeding. He looked back towards Luna, now face to face with the helmet that adorned her head. Luna slammed the shield into the human, knocking him down. She raised her axe and brought it down, severing his head. The other human roared and ran towards Luna, forming seals on with his hands.

“Take this you pony bitch! Jisatsu-en bāsuto!” His body was covered in flames as he lunged towards the Moon Princess, latching on to her. Moments later, his body exploded, a giant fireball swallowing the Princess.

Not too far away, Jamie was still managing to hold his own against the Juggernaut, although he was sporting a nice bruise on his left shoulder. He heard the explosion and glanced over to where Luna was, spotting the explosion. His momentary distraction gave Hunter all he needed to land a hard right hook on Jamie’s face, launching him across the ground, sending him a good fifty metres away. The Juggernaut laughed and began making his way towards Luna, who was kneeling down on the ground, now visible as the flames had vanished. Her armour was in pieces, her breath ragged. When she saw the Juggernaut approaching, she stood, smiling.

“Show me your strength!” Luna said, going into a defensive stance. Hunter smiled, shaking his head.

“You really shouldn’t fight while injured, pony.” The man lunged at Luna, just missing her as the Princess ducked and kicked off his side, pushing herself away. Hunter was growing tired of chasing and lifted up his hand, his massive sword flying towards it. Luna spotted her axe a few metres away, walking over to it and grabbing it. Without her shield, she’d be unable to block effectively. This didn’t matter, not to her. She wasn’t going to let him hit her. He ran at her, swinging his sword horizontally. She ducked, bringing her axe around like a samurai’s sword. Hunter used his previous swing to move his sword into a blocking position, Luna’s axe bouncing off it.

“For one so big and heavy, you move fast.” Hunter chuckled, giving her a swift kick, knocking Luna away and leaving her lungs without air.

“All it takes is training, Princess. Training and determination.” Luna managed to stumble to her feet, her chest sending waves of pain through her body whenever she inhaled. Her opponent swung his sword at her. The Lunar Princess knew she wouldn’t be able to bring her axe up in time, but moved to block anyway, hoping to avoid severe damage. The sword was deflected by the axe slightly, but still cut into her side, leaving a deep gash above her left hip. Luna screamed in pain, rolling backwards away from the swinging sword as Hunter brought it around again. He laughed, an evil laugh that sent shivers down her spine. She stood tall and proud, going into a stance her opponent found strange. He ignored it, rushing forward again, this time, bringing his sword down in a vertical swing. Luna sidestepped and kicked him in the back, using her wings to balance herself in the air. Hunter’s eyes widened and he hit the ground, sliding a bit before growling and slamming his fists into the ground. When he picked himself up and turned, he found himself face to face with Jamie’s fist. Another kick and Hunter fell backwards. Luna pat Jamie on the shoulder, landing next to him.

“About time you woke up.” Luna noticed his bruise. It had extended to his chest and back, leaving quite the mark. His face was also in bad shape, blood trickling down the left side of it. The pair devised a quick plan as Hunter stood, now really pissed off. As the man charged, his massive sword balanced on his shoulder, Luna took off again, flying in front of the sun. Hunter followed her, the light blinding him. When he returned his gaze to the ground, he smiled, seeing Jamie swinging the axe at him with his right arm. Silence engulfed the battlefield as both sides of the conflict watched on. Hunter’s head hit the ground, rolling a bit before finally stopping at Jamie’s feet. Luna landed next to him and the two began to walk towards the pony front.

“CHAAAAARGE!” The two turned as they heard a human voice shout across the field. Once again, the humans were running across the field towards them. The ponies did the same, running with all their strength towards the humans. Luna and Jamie were soon greeted by Twilight and Cadance, the two escorting to the rear. There, they were tended to by some medics. Luna was looking towards the fight, seeing her sister in the air.

“How much longer, nurse?” The pony nurse who was tending to Luna finished placing a bandage on the Princess before smiling.

“Well, you and the human are free to rejoin the battle. Just watch the bruises!” The nurse’s talking turned to shouting as the two made to quickly rejoin the battle. Jamie stuck with Luna, his left shoulder forcing him to rely solely on his right arm. He grabbed a sword from a dead body, using it to slice and stab at any soldiers that came up behind Luna. After an hour of fighting, Jamie felt a familiar surge in his body. He smirked, dodging another earth bullet shot towards him. He formed seals with his mouth and inhaled. “Katon: Karyuu Endan!” He shot a long stream of white hot fire towards a line of human ninjutsu users, leaving them as piles of charcoal where they stand. As dusk came upon them, the two armies retreated back to their respective lines, a non-spoken ceasefire between them. Jamie simply ignored everyone and went back to his shared tent. He lay on his bed, staring at the ceiling. He heard the flap on the tent open and he looked over. Of course, it was Celestia.

“Hey, your bruises okay?” She asked. He had noticed in his years of travelling that these ponies were usually very nice when it came to worrying.

“Yeah, they’re fine, how about your injury?” Celestia lifted her leg, showing her bandaged hoof.

“Nothing I can’t recover from.” She eyed the chessboard and sat at the table. “Care for a few games?” Jamie looked at the board, bad memories coming up from earlier that day. He eventually shrugged and took a seat opposite Celestia. The first match began, Jamie having the black set, he went second. After about five moves, Jamie realised Celestia wouldn’t be a normal opponent. The two played well into the night, their worries of the day’s battle fading into quiet happiness as the night progressed. When they finally did sleep, they slept without dreading the battle to come the very next morning.