Confront

CRUNCH.

The sound of breaking glass echoed through the room. I recovered my stance, fighting a dozen small wounds to bring my war hammer into the ready position again. We were fighting for our lives. Twilight stood behind me, the magic from her horn playing across the door, pitting her formidable brain against the ancient enchantments in an attempt to get us out of this alive.

I took a step backwards, trying to bottleneck the two golems I was fighting between tables so they couldn't flank me. From what I'd seen so far they had excellent strength and dangerous speed but they were severely lacking in creative tactics. They would have been simple to disable, even two against one, if they had any vulnerable points at all.

Hah. Can't crit constructs. I thought. At least bludgeoning overcomes their DR! I risked a glance at the door. Twilight's magic was crackling across it like purple lighting. I could see the spells, ancient layers of enchantments, laying across the ancient wood and steel light up like neon spiderwebs. She was slowly ripping the carefully woven lace into shreds but it wasn't going as quickly as I would like.

I ducked a blow and slid in from underneath to plant the head of my makeshift mace in the chest of my opponent.

Even though it was an unfeeling construct it had to balance like anything with legs and I managed to stagger it. Taking advantage of it's momentary hesitation, I followed up my blow with a telling strike to the knee. I smiled in victory is the cracks spider-webbing the crystal spread a bit more with the sound of crunching glass. Maybe I could take off it's leg with a few more strikes.

Working with a war hammer had a certain brutal euphoria to it. It wasn't the sort of weapon that someone who wanted to look good used; it was all about effect. I dodged another blow and blocked a third, waiting for an opening. Working with a heavy weapon and no armor meant that I needed to be sure of each attack. Getting caught out could be potentially devastating since the extra weight slowed my reactions considerably.

Seeing the constructs stance open slightly, I punished its mistake as hard as I could. The war hammer lashed out, the spike on the end crunching deliciously into the glassy front of it's skull, a killing blow on a normal pony.

Despite the inch-wide hole in it's skull, this construct was unaffected. I groaned at the useless hit; I should have been been trying to focus my blows on its limbs.

"Twilight, ETA?"

"Two minutes!" My companion's voice was tight with strain. We had no idea how long Sombra would be distracted but we were reaching the limits of our estimates. If he returned to find us fighting we were going to lose by default. I dodged right, rolling over a table. My two opponents followed by splitting and coming after me from two different sides. I groaned and glanced at how much space I had left for retreating. I was starting to get dangerously close to Twilight. I dashed clockwise around the table, thinking to intercept one of the constructs.

I met it half-way with a telling blow. My weapon was really making a difference in this fight. Without it I would be at a distinct disadvantage, but as it was I was slowly taking these golems to pieces. A quick dodge pinned my assailant between me and the table and I choked up on the haft of my hammer. I spun, putting every ounce of twist and weight I could into the stroke. The spike landed right where the knee joint would have been and sunk deep into the crystal.

I whooped with excitement as the construct took another step towards me and staggered. Its shattered leg bent oddly and then crumbled. It hobbled a step, trying to move on three legs. I darted away. I was just about to get between the still-moving construct and Twilight when the damaged one exploded. Kind of.

It didn't have much force. The cracks on its legs started to glow blue and quickly spread instantly across the whole of its body with a sound like ice hitting warm water. The blue glow pulsed once and shards of glass were thrown across the room. There was a WHOOMPH! As a pony's worth of black sand hit the floor. I barely had time to take this in before I was fighting again, dancing away from blows and blocking strikes. I was about to start looking for an opening to exploit when frost started to form on my war hammer.

I didn't think much of it, at first, but after it started to chill my fingers I glanced around to see what was going on.

In place of the construct I had destroyed, a vaporous cloud of blue gas was starting to take shape. The shattered glass of its body was exuding azure mist, which swirled upwards and hung in a swirling mass. I wrenched my eyes off the spectacle but I was a second too slow. The construct I was fighting caught me off guard with a lashing forehoof, the sharp glass edge crushing the bicep of my arm. I dipped with the blow and managed to avoid dislocating my shoulder, but the muscle was severely damaged.

"Buck." I swore under my breath. It was by no means the first blow I'd taken, but it was the first one that had the potential to turn the flow of the fight. I winced as I tried to swing my mace, feeling my damaged arm fight the motion. My body was in overdrive and adrenaline had numbed most of the pain, but if I couldn't end this soon I was going to be in trouble.

"Twilight, threat assessment on that cloud?"

"Seems to be the animating spirit. It's less dangerous than one with a body. If we need to we'll deal with it after!"

"Ok, thanks." So it was better to break them.

I gritted my teeth and pushed myself hard, squeezing the last few drops of power out of my screaming muscles. I stepped into the fight, working hard, desperately hard, to finish this fight before my wounds caught up to me.

I groaned as the construct let me take the initiative, holding back and playing conservatively. Maybe it could sense my desperation? Either way, I needed to end this as fast as possible.

I screwed up my courage and started taking risks.

Normally, I would play this as safe as possible. But we were on a timetable here and sometimes you needed to sacrifice something of value to get something better. I purposefully opened my stance, daring the construct to take a shot at me. As long as I wasn't overcomitted I should be able to dodge...

The expected hoof flashed in. I jerked to the side, scraping by just as close as I could, and breathing a sigh of relief as I managed to avoid being disemboweled. Darting in behind the blow, I put my whole body behind the swing I sent at the glass golem, rotating from the ankles and hips. My war hammer smacked into the head of the equine so hard it practically exploded into a shower of glass.

Sagging in relief, I let my hammer fall to the ground and stepped back. Even as I watched, the golems body was disintegrating. The pile of sand started to smoke just like the other one. I turned and stepped back to where Twilight was.

"Um, no pressure, but-"

"A minute. Or less."

"Ok." We stood in silence for a short time.

"What...what are those things?" I looked over to the piles of glass that were once golems. Above them, the blue mist was starting to take a recognizable shape. The first one I killed was noticeably farther along than the second. They looked almost like a horse; larger than the average pony and with much fiercer, straighter body-lines. They seemed to exude cold, the vapors and fumes from the their bodies settling on the tables and floors around them as frost.

"No idea. No time to look." Twilight ground out between clenched teeth.

"Right." I replied.

It was around then that I heard Sombra returning.

The lab was surprisingly still. There was Twilight's magic of course, its eldrich crackle loud in the air and a swishing, tinkling sound from the golems....reforming, or whatever they were doing. All in all, it wasn't very loud. So when Sombra's hoofsteps started to sound in the passageway outside the door, I heard them clearly.

"He's back. Hide." I said, pushing Twilight behind a table. She crouched down, still concentrating on her magic. The spells on the door were starting to look ragged. Any second now, we would be ready to go. I debated for a second. Wait with Twilight, and hope she was fast enough? Or hide by the door, and hope to distract Sombra so that she could run?

I took up a position next to the door, hammer raised.

There was a nerve-wracking pause as the hoofsteps stopped for a second before resuming at a faster pace. I tensed, waiting.

Twilight gave a tiny whoop as her spells finally ate through the enchantments. She dashed for the door, throwing it open, just as the charcoal gray stallion dashed into the room. I was swinging my hammer as soon as I saw the tip of his horn appear in the doorway.

I never stood a chance.

He flicked his eyes towards me, hardly taking more than a moment to assess and dismiss me as a threat. His magic, a purple shadow with a green penumbra, flickered into existence around me and I was frozen.

"Wes!" Twilight had glanced back, saw my predicament, and spun to face Sombra. "Let him go!"

"No." The reply came instantly. My friend lowered her head, her horn sparking to life as she faced him down.

"Windigoes!" Sombra's ethereal voice lashed out and the two clouds, now completely free of their corporeal shapes, moved towards Twilight. She backed up slowly, trying futilely to draw a bead on one or the other as they dodged and weaved as lightly as the breeze. In a second they were circling her and ice started to form underneath her feet. It crackled upwards and engulfed her with shocking speed; in a second, the only sign of life from her was the steam of her nostrils as she panted in the cold air.

I hung limply in Sombra's aura, projecting an attitude of complete defeat. If I was going to have any chance of striking back it needed to be a complete surprise.

It really wasn't that hard to pull off. I was feeling pretty discouraged already, honestly. But I hadn't gotten to where I was now by giving up. Not that I really wanted to be where I was now. Maybe a little giving up now and then would help...?

I grit my teeth and banished that thought.

"What do you want with me?" I said. It wasn't hard to force a tremble into my voice.

"Well." My captor paused for a second, and his horn glowed. I flinched as the aura around me thickened. "Let's see what you have to offer. A human body, in it's prime, trained as a gladiator. Knowledge of human science, math, and technology, inaccessible to anyone else on Equus. Hands." As he spoke, Sombra was imprisoning me. The aura around me spread away from my skin, slowly solidifying into a dome around me. It was charcoal gray, and crackled. "But...the most important part, is that you have an empathic crystal nodalized into your numosic matrix. Oh, what a gift!" He threw his head back and laughed. My eyes narrowed, my mind racing furiously. His words tickled the half-buried knowledge that I was slowly leaching from Twilight.

"How do you know about my crystal?" I challenged, trying to extract more info from him.

"Your crystal?" His tone was suddenly menacing. "YOURS? Although those filthy insects may have welded it to your soul, it does not become yours. I created it. It has been, and always will be, mine. He took one slow step towards me, and then another. "Soon, I will take it back. And soon, I will have a body again. You asked what I wanted from you?" His eyes narrowed, and a horrible hissing laugh filled the room. "I want you. I plan to eat your soul and possess your body."

I shivered, and hunched over, twisting my hands into my hair.

"You made this thing?" My voice came out mangled, growling deep in my chest.

"The crystal soul room was one of my masterpieces. I'll have to reckon with those bugs one of these days, taking my research, and even my old fortress, and using it without my consent like that."

"This is all your fault?"

The unicorn smirked at my powerless fury.

"Maybe? It's unimportant to me what blame you lay at my feet." He was obviously baiting me, but I still couldn't stop my feelings from rising up. Rage was welling up in my heart. I smashed my hand against the shield, feeling the skin on my knuckles split and bleed.

My rage welled up, and I screamed something unintelligible at his laughter. I smashed my fists into the barrier again and again. It snapped and sizzled, burning the blood I smeared it with black. My vision was clouding. I'd been captured by the very person who created the instruments of my torture. It was him! Because of this unicorn, I'd been trapped. I'd bled. My friends had died. All because of the evil he had created.

I wanted to kill him. No, I wanted to hurt him. I wanted to cause him the same pain I'd carried. I wanted him to burn. To burn like Splinter. Like Fallen Leaf.

I didn't even think about what I was doing until my fingernails started to draw blood from my chest as I scrabbled at the gem. It hurt, but I ignored the pain as I tore away the skin surrounding it and began to pry. The blood made it slick, but I persevered. It wasn't until the magic started to actually burn my fingers that I realized what I was doing, but at that point I'd nearly wrapped my fingers around the gem.

My fingers which were still black from absorbing a magic-suppression crystal.

The feedback started as a raw magical discharge. I felt it crackle up my arm, down my wrist, through my heart, and back into my arm. I tried to yank my hand away but it seemed stuck, caught in the current.

My actions caught up with my thoughts as time suddenly seemed to slow.

What was I doing?

My arm burned as runaway magic circled through my body. Sombra's latest laugh shook through his lean frame in slow motion. I was planning to kill myself, just to hurt him? Had I gone completely insane?

I must have, at least for a second, because my next thought hit like a sledge.

I was planning to kill Twilight just to hurt him?

Sickened, I tried again to pull my fingers away. Still stuck. Concentrating on my feelings of regret and frustration, I tried to feel the pulse and sting of magic in my arm, willing it to slow, to quiet. I concentrated on the buzz, the surge, as it crackled around the circuit. I could feel each separate bone in my hand vibrate. As I concentrated on it, the magic seemed to still slightly. Encouraged, I tried harder, imagining the results I wanted; the magic would be re-absorbed into the gem, the feedback would cease. I pictured it in my mind, pretending to feel the circuit stilling.

It didn't happen quite like I imagined.

As I watched, I was surprised and worried when the smoky patterns on my skin swirled and started to feed into the gem.

There was another crackle as my abused crystal started to absorb the magic-nullification spell that I'd leeched off of Twilight earlier. My eyes widened in shock and I tried desperately to reverse whatever I'd done, but to no effect. The magic feedback lulled for a second and then increased quickly. There was a sharp crick as a flicker of purple flame shot out of the gem and licked my hand.

And suddenly I could feel Twilight's power.

The purple flame burned away the black on my skin and sunk in, staining my skin lilac. And somehow connecting me to the unicorn encased in ice.

She was just as tired, scared, enraged and confused as I was.

There was an instant of surprise as our consciousness' touched, and then a firming of resolve.

She was scared of what was happening to me and the details she picked up from my mind didn't make it any easier. However, as soon as her mind began to grasp what was going on, a plan snapped into place, nearly full-formed. With a thought, I quickly dismissed the fact that it might kill me outright. There was a burning, rending feeling in my chest as I let Twilight take what she needed to implement the plan. Uncertain death is better than certainly having your soul eaten.

We jumped into action instantly.

My hand fell off the gem. Purple fire flickered over it for a second, fusing the cracks closed as the destructive feedback was destroyed. I raised a fist, clenched it as hard as I could, and slammed it one more time into the shield around me. The last remnants of the magic leeching spell stained my fingertips and knuckles, concentrated there by the flow of magic and my own visualizations. There was a flash of smoky purple flame and the shield dropped with a resounding crack. I leaped, whirling my weapon in a vicious arc.

Sombra barely had time to look shocked before he was intimately introduced to round two.

My war hammer caught him between the eyes. He roared and staggered in pain as the club sliced through him. I felt barely any resistance as the heavy chunk of metal dissipated the mist of his body. I staggered in shock, critically unprotected  as my body tried to absorb the unexpected momentum, but the physical assault wasn't the important part of the attack, just enough to disorient him so Twilight could get one good shot in.

As his attention refocused, my partner's horn flashed from within her prison of ice.

I'd seen the spell when I touched her mind, but I still wasn't sure what she'd based it on. She had spent several seconds of our shared bullet-time putting it together, before tasking me with distracting Sombra. As I considered his misty nature, I guess she must have had a better idea what we were up against than I did. It looked like multicolored lighting, but then, just about every third spell I'd seen her cast looked like that. The effect it had was impressive. It didn't ground out when it struck Sombra, or arc to another target. Instead, it hovered near him, slicing back and forth repeatedly through the space he occupied, cutting his wispy body into streamers again and again.

I watched for a second, impressed, before the second spell caught us up and whisked us out of there.

"Why...why didn't you do that before?" I asked, as we collapsed in burned, frozen, crushed, exhausted slumps onto the library floor.

"Farrierday cage warp defenses. All that crystal. Any prison would have one." Twilight replied. "Also, I had to pull some of that magic out of your gem. I didn't have enough to do that sort of thing by myself."

"Oh. That's why it hurt so much. At least we're alive."

"...yeah."