There was nothing but silence. The wind didn't blow, the animals didn't stir. The air was crisp, calm, and arguably tinged with just a bit of metal, though that depended on who you asked. It felt as if the night was holding its breath, waiting for something to happen. Nothing happened for a long time.
Suddenly, one hoofstep marred the stillness. The night released its breath, and the cold, disinterested eyes of a dark figure looked out over the town. The eyes swept past the shops, the houses, and came to rest on the palace. A grand thing, that palace. Imposing with its tons of rocks and hundreds of meters, but still a sorry sight. The war had not treated it well. The once-great tapestries hung in ruins, and the doors that once could have withstood a tornado now stood ajar, hanging off of its hinges in a depressing fashion. The decor was not what these eyes searched for, however, and the eyes moved along once again to locate the true target.
It was amazing, really, how this Princess was so sure of herself. She had no bodyguards, no protection save her friends, and there were thousands of direct shots available to assassins. And yet, she still remained at peace. The eyes narrowed, and the pony they belonged to braced himself as a gust of wind ripped across his body. He looked down at his hooves, not sure whether to be concerned or excited about what he was about to do, and unlimbered his ten-kilogram sniper rifle.
War-fighting technology had come far in these past six years since the first devastating blow against Manehattan. Just a few years ago, ponies used spears and iron armor to fight. Well, that was the price of a war. Spears had given way to first revolvers, then pistols, then full-on automatic rifles. Iron armor had bowed in deference to bullet-proof vests, and arcane wards were becoming more and more common within the soldiers' armor. Even at the remarkable pace at which the battles had escalated, the bolt-action sniper rifle being set up on the empty plain was a technological marvel. Capable of shooting up to a kilometer with extreme accuracy, powerful enough to punch through a full meter of bullet-proof Saddlar, and heavy enough to absorb an enormous amount of kick, even Cold Fire himself was still impressed even as he used it. The scope magnified up to 50 times, and he noted the time as 1348. He brought the Princess' head into his sights.
Princess Celestia had called her pupils from Ponyville in to discuss the latest war tactics and strategies. Applejack and Princess Twilight Sparkle were arguing over the placement of troops near Appleloosa, and Rainbow Dash was discussing the new Mark 17-D rifles with Pinkie Pie. Fluttershy and Rarity were content to stay on the side and not contribute, but occasionally somepony would ask them a question and they'd be forced to respond. Not the most likely of scenarios, Celestia mused, but there wasn't a group in Equestria she would trust more with fighting this war. It was a real shame that those two wouldn't participate, though. If only I could–
Her thoughts broke off and her magic shield exploded into existence as 348 grams of lead hurtled towards her at Mach 3. The bullet vaporized with a hiss when it came into contact with her shield, and all heads whipped around to see what was going on. Celestia looked out at the plain overlooking her palace, and she saw a gray pegasus stallion with gray eyes peering through the scope of a sniper rifle pointed directly at her. His head moved up, and he said something. She couldn't make out what he said, but it looked suspiciously like he had muttered "Oh, shit." A magical field enveloped him, and he was roughly teleported down to the meeting room, where he came face-to-face with the ponies of harmony in the flesh.
Cold Fire was nervous. He wasn't scared, but he was definitely nervous. He saw the seven ponies looking at him with disbelief in their eyes. The room was still for what seemed like an hour, and then Celestia spoke.
"Kill him."
With a wicked smile on her face, Applejack moved in. As a rule, she didn't like killing anypony, but it's a bit different when said pony has just tried to kill the ruler of Eque–no, the Solar Empire. She made a mental note to get more used to that phrase, and then brought out her assault rifle. While it wasn't the newer Mark 17-D, it was still a Mark 17, quite an impressive bit of work. She lined up the sights on Cold Fire, and he made a smile that looked more like a grimace. She wondered what the hay he was up to, and then it happened.
Nopony really knew what happened, and there wasn't enough data to tell even if a thorough investigation was launched. If there was enough data and somepony cared, however, they would find that as Applejack pressed the trigger, Cold Fire moved half a meter to the east, generating a miss. The three bullets ricocheted off of a wall and buried themselves in Computer Bank 2 of Room 305. The bank crashed, and the weather pony directing Cloud 191-468-23R suddenly lost her navigation markers. As the pony cursed her luck and moved to the backup computers, Computer 38 in Bank 2 short-circuited, burning out the fuses, and kept drawing electricity. The motherboard overheated and then burst into flames. The ensuing blaze completely destroyed Computer Banks 2 and 4, severely damaged Bank 9, and caused almost 92 million bits worth of damage. The fire also caused three casualties, one of them fatal, and threw off the weather patterns for almost a year.
Applejack didn't notice that as Cold Fire threw himself behind an upturned table and began furiously reloading his rifle. She growled, unloading the rest of her clip into the table in hopes of punching through, but she had no such luck. She withdrew behind a pillar and began reloading her Mark 17 rifle with Mod 41-O Arcane Homing Ammunition. She slapped her clip for good measure and jumped out to finish this once and for all. She began raising her rifle, but stopped, surprised that Cold Fire was nowhere to be seen. She was just about to drop her rifle when she heard a shout of warning and he landed right behind her. She began to turn around, but he threw himself over her in a flying backflip. She saw him place one hoof on the trigger and one hoof on the bolt, and then time seemed to stop.
His eyes opened, and Applejack saw the strangest characters she had ever seen in his eyes: 集中. The characters had completely replaced his pupils and irides. She wondered what they meant, and then he pulled the trigger. In the course of one second, he shot a bullet, pulled the bolt, reset the bolt, and repeated the sequence seven more times. Applejack spasmed as the bullets tore into her flesh, and her once-orange coat turned crimson red. She quaked on her legs, and Cold Fire landed behind her. He wound up and delivered a fierce kick to Applejack's side. She went down with a horrifying crunch, and she didn't get back up.
Fluttershy saw her friend go down and screamed in useless denial. Applejack had been one of her closest friends, and she was getting upset. She even might be getting just the teeniest bit mad. She looked at the gray stallion before her, and she decided enough was enough. She flew towards him and landed in front of him. The gray eyes regarded her green with a look of guarded interest and perhaps a bit of pity. She wondered what was going on, and he moved. A knife buried itself deep into the pole next to her, and she understood very clearly that he was willing to give her one warning shot. She put this at the back of her mind and fixed him with the Stare.
The Stare was extremely effective, and his hoof stopped in its tracks as it reached for another throwing knife. Dots of sweat beaded Cold Fire's brow, and he seemed to shrink from her. Fluttershy held his gaze for an eternity, and she saw his will falter. She smiled triumphantly and began to order him to lay down like a good little colt and accept his death when he blinked. His eyes shifted away from hers in that instant, and her spell was broken. He snarled and pulled out two throwing knives in his forehooves. Fluttershy swallowed and tried to return him to her Stare, but he wasn't having any of that. He spun a knife in his hoof and leaned back to throw.
His first throw was targeted at her hoof. That's the only reason she lived any longer than the first knife. Cold Fire's knife embedded itself in Fluttershy's hoof and threw her across the room. The second knife hit her other forehoof and buried into the wall, pinning her. She looked at him with a gaze that faltered underneath his steely conviction, and she desperately tried her Stare one last time. He was unfazed by her best attempts, and drew his last two knives. Cold Fire shook his head pityingly and put a blade in each of Fluttershy's eyes.
Rarity vomited. A daisy sandwich, three glasses of carrot juice, and some hay-flavored gum she had accidentally swallowed expelled themselves from her stomach. She looked up weakly as Cold Fire turned away from the dead pegasus and faced Celestia once more. She shouted at him, almost spitting the words out. "Do you really think you can defeat us all? Well, if you do, you're wrong. Rarity is above lower-class brutes such as yourself. Rarity will show you a thing or two about how to properly fight!"
Cold Fire laughed and drew a pair of pistols. Good faithful Mark Nines, the last pistol to be produced by the Equestrian Weapons Facility, at least until the newer Mark Elevens came out. Rarity saw him slip the grips into his hooves like old companions returning to their proper home, and she hmphed. Cold Fire raised an eyebrow, and she called out his use of blunt-force weapons against an advanced unicorn with at least two shield spells. He only smiled and bowed in return. She immediately cast her shield spells, and she sneered at Cold Fire, who tilted his head and raised the pistols.
The first report of the pistols whipped out over the castle, and Rarity's shield vaporized the bullet. Cold Fire unloaded into her shield, and bullet after bullet flashed harmlessly away into nothing. She was feeling the strain of putting down so much stuff moving so fast, but her shield held. Finally, after what seemed like forever, Cold Fire pulled a trigger and nothing happened but a click. Rarity smiled at him sweetly and began to cast a magic beam. She was about ready to fire it when he threw his now-empty pistol at her.
She blinked in surprise and lost her focus on both her shield and her beam. She saw Cold Fire disappear in a blur of gray, and she looked around for him. She had just turned around when he flashed right in front of her with his remaining pistol in hand, pointed right up under her jaw. Her eyes widened, and he smiled and said, "Gotcha, bitch. Next time let me do the teaching." That was the last thing she heard before he blew her brains all over the ceiling of Princess Celestia's throne room.
Pinkie Pie was being Pinkie Pie in her own special way. She was furious over the callous murder of three of her friends, but she was also excited. Excited to destroy this silly stallion, true, but excited nonetheless. She considered her positions, and then decided on something she did best: dance. She was going to dance him to death, and he was going to know he'd been tickled. Her legs began moving to a beat only she could hear, and she danced over to where he stood over the carcass of Rarity.
Pinkie struck the first blow, using her Spinning Rump Slide to take out Cold Fire's legs and then a Sonic Hoof Bump to knock him out. Cold Fire flew back across the room, and as he landed Pinkie heard one of his wings break. She squealed in delight and bounced after him as he got back up. He whipped around, and she faltered as she saw the absolute blood rage that had come over him. He hadn't even gotten a tiny bit angry before this, and she suddenly found herself wishing she was back in Sugarcube Corner. She shook off her fears despite herself, and she continued towards him. She attempted to hit him with another Sonic Hoof Bump, but this time it was Pinkie who was flying back across the room.
She looked down and saw that Cold Fire had actually met her Hoof Bump and raised it one, using his healthy wing to stabilize himself. She thought that she might have made a mistake by attacking him, but then she spotted a hole. The hole in space was small, but she saw a matching hole next to Cold Fire's head. She grinned and punched the hole with all her might, catching him square in the cheek. He went down with a spurt of blood from his mouth, but again he managed to still stay conscious.
His rage seemed to break, and his eyes became solid red. His broken wing stuck out parallel to the ground, and Pinkie Pie watched as it impossibly straightened and healed itself. She had heard of all ponies possessing some innate magic regardless of their race, but this was a bit excessive, don'tcha think? She wondered who that question was to, and then Cold Fire was on her. His eyes pulsed and his first actual blow pulverized her right foreleg. She cried out, but he wasn't done yet. He proceeded to break all of her legs, and when he finished, he picked her up with his teeth and threw her up to the ceiling. She landed in Rarity's brain fluids, and he flew up to end it. She saw another hole in space, but she couldn't possibly react fast enough, and seventy kilograms of pure rage crushed her skull. Her brain fluids mixed with Rarity's, and her limp body fell to the floor.
Rainbow Dash was pissed. Not just any old pissed, but I'd-murder-a-million-puppies-right-now pissed. She flew out of the castle a good three kilometers, and then she turned around and flew as fast as she could back. Her Sonic Rainboom lit up the stormy skies, and she flew at Mach 20 directly towards the stallion who dared kill her friends. Her eyes teared up as she flew, but they dried out and she turned to present an incredibly powerful kick directly to Cold Fire's damnable head. She barreled in to kill him once and for all, but impossibly, he moved aside and she had to jerk around to avoid becoming a smear on the wall.
Cold Fire lifted off to join her. They flew against each other, but Rainbow's turn had cost her the speed advantage. She needed to perform another Sonic Rainboom in order to really outfly and eventually kill him, but he was keeping pace with her and was actually pulling ahead. The classic speed cone formed around both of them, and she stared at him with ever-growing astonishment as they both broke the barrier. Her Rainboom was still normal, but Cold Fire's was a circle of pure gray. They dogfought over the ruins of Canterlot City, both trying to gain the upper hoof, when Cold Fire dove between the buildings. Rainbow Dash followed suit but quickly lost him, deciding to land once again in the castle. She was about to breath a sigh of relief as she thought that he might have just left, when she spotted a gray streak in the sky.
Cold Fire had lost a lot of velocity in his dive into the buildings, but he was still well above the speed barrier. He came in screaming, buzzing the buildings and scaring more than one stray cat with the noise wave that followed him. The gray contrail behind him grew longer as he sped up, and Rainbow Dash had one fleeting instant to realize she had failed before his body slammed into hers with the force of 20 fully loaded freight trains, killing her instantly.
Princess Twilight Sparkle was the only one left of the six friends that had come here to discuss the war plans of tomorrow, and as she saw the carnage around her, she realized that she, too, was probably going to die. She had come to terms with that, and she looked to her peer and mentor with sadness. Princess Celestia returned the look with interest, and then it was Twilight's turn to face the gray stallion.
Twilight drew the sword Applejack had given her a year before and faced Cold Fire. The sword was the best that anypony knew of, honed to a razor's edge and enchanted to stay that way forever. Even though the sword was so powerful, she could only watch as Cold Fire drew a sword that, on the face of things, matched hers. She thought that possibly she would survive after all, but then the sword began to glow with eldritch runes, forming a magical ward around the katana. Cold Fire smiled, his rage gone, and his smile was as thin as the sword's edge.
Twilight attempted to shoot a magic beam at him, but he deflected it with the sword easily. He advanced forward, holding the sword at leg's length, and he deflected the sparse beams Twilight threw at him. She even tried to transform his sword into an orange, but the ward protecting the sword was too powerful even for her. She settled down in a position across from him, and she let him come to her in a very ancient game of battle of the wills. She wasn't sure she was going to win, but she was damned if she wasn't going to try.
The first thing Swordmaster Studded Hilt had taught Twilight in her studies of the sword was about the crease and the dominance. The dominance was easier to explain, as it was the battle of wills before the first strike, to see who would start out with a psychological advantage. Twilight had perfected the dominance in her years of study, and she reached for it now, trying to put Cold Fire down and give herself the upper hand. She smiled harshly as she climbed for the dominance, but Cold Fire shrugged aside her efforts with contemptuous ease. Damn it, he had to be feeling the pressure, so why wasn't he making the first move?
Twilight had forgotten about the crease. The crease was the swordspony's tell. It showed when the pony was focused entirely on the attack and not the defense. She had spent years reducing her crease, but it still showed, and she knew it did. That thought hovered in the back of her mind, but she ignored it and went for the kill. She began to swing her sword, but Cold Fire beat her to it. She saw his intent, and she had an excruciatingly long time to realize she had died before his sword sent her head flying in a fountain of blood.
Cold Fire panted, most of his energy spent, and he looked around at the six dead ponies at his feet. A shame, certainly, but merely collateral. His real target was still on the throne, and Princess Celestia looked on in absolute horror as her finest subjects and students lay dead. She saw Cold Fire walk up to her with his bloody katana still drawn, and she stammered, "W-Who are y-you? Wh-Why are you doing th-this?"
Cold Fire merely smiled, said, "A job's a job," and flapped his wings. That flap brought him right to Princess Celestia, and with a mighty pull he sliced her whole body in half. Blood coated the floor and walls of the once-great throne room. Cold Fire looked around, picked up his knives, pistols, katana, and rifle, returned them to their proper places, and flew out of the room. His eyes moved to his watch, which now said 1351, and he left behind the now-quiet town. The wind held its breath again, the birds stopped warbling, and the forgotten palace lay deserted. The gray eyes returned to disinterest. There was nothing but silence.
Author's Note
My first go at writing! Hopefully everybody doesn't think it sucks!
