Blaze of Glory:Broken Shadows

Chapter 4

The next day Blaze woke to the dreariest day in recent memory. The sun was obscured by the clouds, there were no birds chirping, and it smelled as if it would rain soon.

Groaning as he got out of bed slowly, Blaze felt the day sapping his very energy to partake in it.

Lazily he made his way to the bathroom to begin his daily ritual.

Once he finished in the bathroom, he was on the way to the kitchen to get a drink when suddenly there was a knock at the door.

Wondering who could possibly have need of him so early in the morning on a day such as this one, he trotted over to the door and opened it immediately regretting answering the door.

He was once again face to face with his dark coated and dark souled “companion” on this trip to Ponyville.

“What in Celestia's name could you possibly need at this hour Nocturne?” Blaze asked with an audible sigh.

“I just wanted to talk with you about a few things Blaze, but not here. Lets go for a walk.” Nocturne stated with his trademark emotionless smile.

“Go away Nocturne, unless its about business we have nothing to discuss.” Blaze said as he turned around to head back inside his house.

“Come with me Blaze, or I'll tell the boss you second guessed his orders.” Nocturne said with his smile now growing wider as Blaze turned around with fire in his blue eyes.

“You wouldn't dare!”

“Remember who you're talking to Blaze, I'd sell my own mother if it profited me.”

Blaze thought on this for a minute.

Then with a sigh he said. “Fine, lets go.”

The two proceeded to leave Blaze's front porch and head in the direction of the Everfree Forest.

*****

Rainbow Dash woke from her dreamless sleep felling refreshed and ready for what the day had in store.

Looking around her though, she noticed as Blaze had moments before, that today was soul crushingly dreary.

Noting the gray sky and lack of life around her with a sigh, Rainbow decided it was time to get ready for whatever happened today and began her morning exercises.

“Today is going to be totally uncool, I know it.” She said aloud.

As she began to stretch Rainbow peeked over her cloud at the ground and saw Blaze speaking with Nocturne for a bit before they both walked away from the house.

“I got a bad feeling about this.” She said as she continued to stretch preparing to follow the two from the air.

Now done with stretching, she took off into the sky leaving her prismatic trail behind her.

*****

After they had left Blaze's home it began to rain hard. All the woodland creatures that were not already inside took cover in their homes to get out of the rain.

The two colts from Manehattan however, didn't care about the rain as they continued towards their destination.

After walking for a good 25 minutes Blaze turned to Nocturne, curious as to what he could possibly want.

Looking Nocturne in the eye, he asked.

“What do you need from me?” Blaze asked.

“The boss knows you better than you think Blaze and he wanted me to remind you of what will happen if you disobey his orders.” Nocturne stated with a sadistic smirk.

“Don't remind me, cause I haven't forgotten.” Blaze stated through gritted teeth.

“Really? That's good to hear.”

"Anything else you need or can I go home?"

"Yes actually, we need to deal with some other business."

“What other business?”

“Haven't you noticed our “friend” in the clouds Blaze?”

“Yeah I have. What about her?”

“We're going to deal with her, we're approaching a clearing. It'll happen there.”

“What?! Why?”

“I remember her from yesterday. I left her for you to deal with but you didn't. She's a witness Blaze, we can't have those.”

“But she hasn't done anything wrong!”

“Look Blaze its either do as I say or I make up a story for the boss and you suffer greatly.”

With a look of pure hatred Blaze agreed, spitting on the ground at Nocturne's hooves.

Noting Blaze's discomfort with a smile, Nocturne headed towards the clearing which would soon be covered in blood.

As Nocturne walked away Blaze muttered to himself, “I will kill that bastard one of these days.” And proceeded to follow Nocturne towards the clearing.

*****

As she flew through the rain, Rainbow Dash put on her goggles that she kept with her at all times.

As Rainbow Dash followed these two strange colts around she noticed that they were steadily approaching the Everfree forest.

What could they possibly need from there? She wondered as she continued to follow them, the wind whipping her spectrum like mane back and the rain drenching her coat.

As the two approached a clearing in the distance, she noticed Blaze and the other colt have an exchange that looked a lot less than friendly.

Huh, I wonder what was that about? She asked herself as she flew until they arrived at the clearing.

She watched as they had another short conversation before she felt herself being pulled towards the ground.

“Hey, what is this?!” Rainbow Dash screamed struggling futilely against the magic force now pulling her towards the ground.

Once she was on the ground the dark coated colt approached her, laughing maniacally.

Rainbow gulped, beginning to realize that she may have gotten herself into a situation she couldn't handle this time.

*****

While Nocturne sat there playing with the defenseless mare as he held her down with his magic, Blaze fought an internal battle.

If I don't help her I will have doomed an innocent mare who didn't deserve it. Blaze said to himself.

But if I help her Nocturne will tell the boss and that bastard will hurt my family. Blaze argued with himself as he began to grit his teeth to the point that he was sure they could hear it.

It was at this point in his internal battle that the mare decided to call out to him.

“You! Your names Blaze right?!” She screamed.

Looking at her, his face expresionless he responded. “Yeah it is, so what?”

“Please, help me!”

Blaze just stared at her as she struggled against the magical force keeping her from fighting back.

Back once again to his internal struggle, Blaze only just barely managed to hear Nocturne say that he was going to end this.

As she looked at him pleadingly and Nocturne set up his horn for the killing blow at her neck, Blaze made his decision, years of resentment and powerlessness boiling over as he stared at the colt laughing cruelly at the thought of killing an innocent mare.

Right before Nocturne's horn made contact with Rainbow Dash's neck, he was barreled over by Blaze who rammed him flying at full speed.

After Blaze disengaged from Nocturne he turned to Rainbow Dash and screamed at her to run.

“Hay no! This bastard is mine!” She screamed as she copied Blaze and barreled right into Nocturne at full speed as he shakily recovered from the first attack.

The two rolled a good twenty feet before they came to a stop, both of them disoriented and struggling to stand on the muddy ground.

“Celestia damn it, this girl is going to be the death of me.” Blaze said now flying over to the two prone ponies knowing that if Nocturne got up first they were in deep trouble.

Nocturne had a great deal of trouble regaining his senses after he just got plowed by two pegasi.

He managed to wobble to his hooves only to find Blaze's hooves pushing him back down.

Blaze snapped Nocturne's back hooves much the same as he had done to Feather Hoof the day before, so he couldn't fight back.

After he snapped his front hooves as well, Blaze forced Nocturne over on his back.

Nocturne managed to keep his senses about him though the pain he felt was indescribable.

Laying on his back he then spoke to the colt now holding him down by his throat on the ground.

“What the hay Blaze?! I knew you didn't like me, but I never thought you would betray us like this!”

“Oh believe me Nocturne, I have always despised working for the boss and with you. It always went against my morals, and this attempted murder of an innocent mare was the final straw. I refuse to do it anymore!” Blaze said as he began to beat Nocturne senseless, blood flying everywhere.

After a few minutes of this he decided to end Nocturnes life, pressing his hoof down on Nocturne's throat to prevent him from breathing.

"Stop! Don't kill him!” Blaze heard Rainbow Dash say.

“What?! Why not?! Do you have any idea what this bastard has done to me and will do if I let him go?!”

“No I don't, but please don't kill him.”

“Sorry, no can do.” Blaze said as he began to press down on Nocturnes throat with all his strength.

Despite Rainbow Dash's attempts to pull him off of Nocturne, Blaze's superior strength amplified with his rage made it impossible for her to do anything but watch as he continued to choke out Nocturne.

Nocturne's horn began to glow a few times but he couldn't concentrate on a spell with his breath rapidly fleeing his body.

As Nocturne struggled with the hoof on his throat, he heard Blaze say something very faintly, as if from a great distance away.

“This is goodbye old friend.” Blaze said as he heard Nocturne's neck snap under his hoof.

As Blaze stood up from Nocturne's dead body and looked right at Rainbow Dash who stood there motionless, thunder echoed in the background.

As the Element of Loyalty stared Blaze down for killing his friend, he looked at his friends corpse one last time.

As he said his farewells, Rainbow Dash recovered from her shock enough to speak.

“I-I don't know what to say. You-You killed him. YOU BUCKING KILLED HIM!!” Rainbow said still in shock.

“He deserved to die.” Blaze said as he bowed to his oldest friends body and proceeded to walk away.

“What the hay do you mean, he deserved to die?! I mean, he was your friend wasn't he?!” Rainbow asked once she recovered from her shock and caught up with him, the thought of someone killing their friend causing her loyalty and temper to flare up.

“I meant exactly what I said, he deserved to die. It was either I kill him, or let him kill you. And I could not let him kill somepony who did nothing wrong, not again.”

“What do you mean?”

“I'm not answering that question. Besides its better for you if you don't try to get to know me. You'll only end up getting hurt again.” Blaze said with sorrow in his voice, showing that he was speaking from experience.

With this Blaze took off into the air.

*****

I can't let her get close to me. Not now, not with Nocturne dead. Blaze said to himself as he flew home.

He was caught completely by surprise when he heard a voice a few feet away from him.

“Did you really think you could get away from me?!” He heard Rainbow Dash ask.

“Go home.”

“Like hay I will, you murdered somepony and I'm not leaving until you tell me why!”

"So you would rather I let him kill you?”

“NO! That's not what I meant, I just-.”

“Look, I know why you're confused, but trust me, you should just go home and forget you ever met me.”

“I can't, not after you just saved my life!”

“GO HOME!!”

Rainbow was surprised by this outburst just long enough for him to get a good distance ahead of her.

Blaze sped as fast he could towards his home, but it wasn't enough and she caught up to him.

“Where are you going in such a hurry?” She asked now right next to him.

“Home, it's been a tiring day and I need to go rest.”

“Why are you trying so hard to get away from me?”

“Because if you continue following me, you're life is in danger especially now that Nocturne is dead.”

Deciding to let her think on that Blaze descended to the ground feeling like walking the rest of the way to his house.

Blaze looked over his shoulder, and noticed that the energetic mare was gone.

After about a half hour of walking, he thought again about Rainbow Dash as he followed the dirt road that he knew lead to his house.

Its better this way. He said to himself as his house came into view.

Trotting up to the front door, he looked at the cloud that Rainbow Dash was in just that morning. He noticed the cloud was empty, after sighing he opened the door and proceeded inside.

Blaze then walked down the hallway towards his bedroom. Once inside the bedroom he plopped down on his mattress, thinking about the events of today and the ramifications of them.

Great, I just bucked myself and hard. What was I thinking? Nocturne's dead, and the boss will find out that I did it and then he will probably send the Crimson ShadowStriders after me. Blaze berated himself as he slowly fell into a fitful sleep.

*****

As Rainbow Dash flew home she considered Blaze's words carefully. Maybe I really should leave him alone? But then again he saved my life and now his life is in danger, what kind of pony would I be if I left him alone to face that? She continued to argue with herself as she approached her front door and entered her cloud home.

She walked up to her room, feeling suddenly drained as the adrenaline of her near death experience had now worn off.

“ARGH! I am so confused!” Rainbow Dash screamed when she was in her room.

After she flew over to her bed and lay down, Rainbow looked at the ceiling of her cloud home.

“Mom, Dad I wish you were here to help me because I have no clue what to do.” She said aloud as she settled in her bed preparing to go to sleep.

As she drifted off to sleep, she thought about Blaze again and wondered what she could do to help him.

But soon she thought of nothing as sleep overtook her and she let herself go.

End Chapter 4