Adventures and Alicorns

“... Rainbow Dash?”

Rainbow spun on her heels, her right hand instinctively flying to the hilt of her weapon. Her eyes scanned down the hall, resting on the figure of a pony illuminated by the many sconces lining the walls. The figure stood in front of the only entrance to the hall, its hood concealing its face and the long sleeves of its robe hiding its arms. Rainbow’s grip tightened around the hilt of her sword as she eyed the pony up and down, unable to glean any useful info about the pony’s identity. The flickering light of the hall only seemed to add to the mystique.

A few thoughts flitted through Rainbow’s mind, but only one was important: Everypony in this entire game has been calling me Dark Sword, so …

“How do you know that name?” Her knuckles whitened as she gripped her sword almost painfully.

“That’s–”

“Stand down! Now!”

A voice came from the room beyond the hall, startling both Rainbow Dash and the mysterious pony before her. The hooded figure turned around, taking a defensive stance with it’s arms held up in front of it.

“I said stand down!” the voice repeated, Rainbow finally able to identify it as belonging to a guard. She wasted no time and blasted forwards, intending to bull rush past the hooded pony and take down the new threat.

“Move!” she shouted, the only warning she gave before she slammed through the doorway, knocking the other pony off balance. A cry of pain from behind her reached her ears as she came to a stop directly in front of the guard. She ignored it and put her full attention on her enemy.

The guard was a pegasus like her, except with yellow fur and a blue mane. He wasn’t wearing the typical plate mail of the guards and was instead covered in a complete set of leather armor, studded with metallic sheets. Rainbow’s eyes scanned over his stance as her mind once more jumped straight into combat, revealing to her things that only Dark Sword’s expertise could possibly show her.

Nimble, light on his feet. Strong position, short sword held at a proper angle. Hardened eyes, damaged armor, most likely killed before. Keys on belt hoop imply that he came from an upper floor.

The guards eyes flashed between Rainbow and the pony behind her. “Put your weapons on the ground and hands on your heads! Do it willingly or I’ll have to use force!”

Rainbow concealed a smirk as an idea took root in her head. “Alright,” she replied. With her right hand she pulled out her long sword and with her left she grabbed hold of her shield. She then bent her legs and began to kneel down, her sword and shield in front of her placatingly.

“On the ground!” the guard repeated. His stance softened and his guard lowered as he watched her lower to the ground, presumably in compliance with his order.

Just as Rainbow Dash was about to place her items on the floor, she let out a loud shout and snapped her legs, launching herself forwards and turning her body into a battering ram. She forced her shield straight ahead, connecting directly with the guards shins.

His hooves slid back along the stone floor as his center of gravity was thrown off, forcing his upper body forwards. Rainbow’s head twisted to the side as she saw he was about to land on top of her, his eyes filled with a surprised anger. She had no time to waste and quickly jumped into the next portion of her move.

Having not yet hit the ground, Rainbow thrust her right hand straight down to the floor, opening her palm and dropping her sword in the process. At the same time, her wings extended outwards and flapped down with all their might. The combined actions were enough; Rainbow’s body began to flip forwards, her legs lifting into the air above her and forcing her into a one-armed handstand.

“Raaah!” Her left leg bent at the knee as she threw her hoof towards the guard’s face with all her might. There was nothing he could do to avoid it. The strike connected solidly, the guards momentum forced backwards as Rainbow herself crashed against him as well. The two of them tumbled to the ground in a heap, Rainbow sprawled out on top of him, her shield still on her left arm.

A confident smirk playfully lifted the corners of her lips as she pushed herself to her hooves, certain that the fight was over before it had even begun. Then, her stomach lurched as her legs were suddenly swept out from under her. With a dull thud her head smacked against the stone floor, sending waves of pain and dizziness through her mind. Her hands scrambled to push herself back up as a sickening ball of nausea made her stumble.

A bright light flashed before her eyes as pain lanced through her head, sending her to the floor for a second time. Her vision swam and she barely registered the guard’s own hoof as it lifted from the back of her head. Grimacing waves of pain and nausea gripped at her body, sapping her strength from her muscles. She needed to move, to get back up and continue fighting, but the pain… It was too much. It was all she could do to just keep from falling unconscious.

The guard had other plans, however. As Rainbow attempted to keep her dinner from staining the floor, he had taken the time to stand back up. Even through the haze of pain Rainbow was experiencing, she could still hear the clopping of his hooves as he maneuvered himself to stand directly above her.

“I told you,” he said between labored breaths, “that I’d have to use force.” He snorted as he finished speaking, Rainbow Dash only able to groan in response.

She had to get up, she had to keep fighting, but this pain… It felt as though her head had been split in two. “I… have a hard time… listening to stupidity.”

The guard growled in response as he bent over top of her, one hand stretched down towards her head. Rainbow screamed in pain as he grabbed onto her mane and roughly hauled her up by it, forcing her to her knees. Her stomach twisted as the nausea squirmed through her guts.

“Let her go, now.”

Rainbow Dash whimpered, her eyes screwed shut from a nearly blinding pain. Her hands were weakly fumbling against the guards grip, trying desperately to get free. Without warning, she suddenly felt something incredibly sharp pressed tight against her neck. She opened her eyes, pain stabbing into her pupils and causing her headache to throb even worse. However, there was no other option; she needed to know what was happening.

Had she not been struggling for her life, the very sight before her would have caused her jaw to drop. She had been positioned between the guard and the hooded figure from before, being used as some soft of living shield. A dagger was in the guard’s other hand, pressed tight against her neck as a warning… but the warning wasn’t for her.

The hooded pony was standing before them, its cloak flapping violently in an intangible wind, fighting against the pony’s ankles and wrists. A soft blue light was emanating from the pony, enough to illuminate the entire room.

“I said let her go. I won’t ask again.” Upon finishing the request, the pony lifted both arms and pointed them directly at the guard and Rainbow Dash, the ends of the sleeves sliding back to reveal hands, blue static arcing along them and leaping between each of the pony’s fingers. At the same time, the flapping of the cloak grew so violent that the hood flipped back, revealing the pony’s face for the first time.

Rainbow’s eyes widened as all her pain was momentarily forgotten. The blade against her neck felt like it was a mile away as she stared straight ahead, eyes locked on the one pony that she couldn’t believe she was seeing.

“... Twilight?”

She couldn’t believe it; it really was Twilight. She looked different though, and it wasn’t just because of the weird magic in her hands. There was something about Twilight’s expression… It was harder, stronger; her eyes had changed. They were still soft and compassionate, the same eyes Rainbow used to find herself lost in, but now they held a subtle firmness. A fire burned behind them, fueling Twilight’s actions. Rainbow Dash could only guess what had happened to her in the twenty days she’d been alone here.

“Whatever you’re doing, stop it!” The guard’s tone of voice had shifted; there was less control and more caution. Rainbow couldn’t see his expression, but she was sure that he must be sweating. Nopony would be comfortable with the kind of look Twilight was sending at him.

“You have five seconds to let her go.” Twilight’s eyes narrowed as she shifted her hooves, readjusting her stance. The blue static began arcing between her hands as well as her fingers.

“I said–!”

“Five,” Twilight said, cutting him off mid sentence.

The guard swallowed, his grip on his weapon shaking slightly. Rainbow couldn’t do anything about it though, dizzy as she was and her mane still tightly held in his other hand.

“Four.” A rather large arc of blue lightning lanced between Twilight’s hands.

“Your magic doesn’t scare me!” he cried out, the sound of his teeth clenching reaching Rainbow’s ears.

“Three.” A slight smirk lifted the left side of Twilight’s mouth.

The guard didn’t respond this time, but Rainbow couldn’t see what he was doing. His hands merely continued to shake.

“Two.”

“I’ll cut her head off if you–!”

The room lit up in a brilliant blue light as energy exploded out from Twilight’s hands, a sound akin to a cannon going off rippling through the room. Rainbow Dash screwed her eyes shut and grit her teeth as she waited for the dagger to cut her flesh. Instead of pain, the only thing to reach her ears was the sound of the guard crying out in pain as he released his hold on Rainbow’s mane.

“Ugh!” Rainbow cried out as she fell to the ground, hitting her head against the stone floor for the second time. She rolled onto her side and curled her legs up to her torso as she attempted to stabilize her nausea. Carefully she opened an eye and looked upward.

“...One,” Twilight said, the smirk on her face long gone. “Ponies need to learn not to threaten my friends.”

Once again, Rainbow was reminded of how different Twilight looked now. The way she held herself, the way she frowned, the slight distrust in her eyes. She was still Twilight, but she was ... rougher. Tougher.

Twilight knelt down over Rainbow and looked her in the eye. “With the way he smashed your head to the ground, it looks like you might have a concussion. Can you stand?”

“I… I think so. Let me just try and ...” With a grunt, she put one arm on the ground and attempted to push herself upright. Rainbow grit her teeth however as a sudden pain arced through her mind, shutting off all her perceptions.

Twilight began to fade away before her, her voice muting in the dark void as Rainbow slipped into unconsciousness.

“Dirk, look at this…”

“What is it?”

“I can’t tell. This poor guys armor looks like it was smashed in by something in multiple spots. It must have collapsed in against his lungs.”

Dirk spat on the stone floor, his spit mixing with a pool of blood that was still fresh. While the newbie here was young and inexperienced, Dirk could tell what had caused it without even having to think too hard.

“That’s magic for ya.”

The younger pony stood up, his eyes boggling. “Magic? But there’s no wizards in this town… Well, not any that don’t work for Stoneherd, you know?”

“Yeah, I know.” Dirk’s eyebrows knotted together as he thought about it. Dark Sword was a fighter, not a magician, and she was certainly no magus. Dirk hadn’t met many magic users if he was being honest, but still. He could tell from a mile off that Dark Sword was nothing special in that regard.

“Do you think it was this pegasus o’ yers that we’re after?”

Dirk grit his teeth before he responded. “No.”

“Well then what–”

“She obviously had a friend! It’s that simple!” he yelled as he whirled about on the spot, all of his annoyance and anger ready to boil over. However, as he prepared to knock the lights out of this stupid foal, he suddenly realized that his anger was lowering. A thought entered into his mind, that it was irrational to get mad at somepony for just asking questions.

He sighed. What the hell am I doing?

“Dirk! There’s another problem here!”

“What is it, Firework?” Dirk responded as he began to head over to the hallway that his friend had gone down.

“The bitch is missing!”

“What!? That’s not possible! I watched the front entrance the entire time! Dark Sword never left, and neither did Goldshine!”

“I don’t know, man. Neither of them are here and that nightwatch pony was killed with magic. I think something else happened here.”

“Shit…” Dirk spun around and stormed out of the building, making his way to the courtyard in front of the street.

The cool night air whipped his mane around as the first signs of a storm started to roll in from the north. He looked about, thinking that there must have been something he missed.

“Dammit, Dark Sword…” he muttered beneath his breath as a raindrop hit his forehead. “What the hell happened here?”