Alicorn Song

Alicorn Song

Chapter 9

Decisions

Frosty watched as Luna slowly trotted over to the muffin she had knocked away just a few moments earlier, looking at it sadly. Nonetheless, the other Alicorn kept her shield up and one of her eyes on her. There was no doubt in the young mares mind that the older one was evaluating her.

        “You really shouldn't have done that. It was her last Muffin, and she wanted to give it to you to cheer you up a bit...” Luna said barely above a whisper shaking her head.

        “You can't fool me! Number ninety-five, you will come back with me! Daddy will get in trouble if you don't!” Frosty shouted shakily, trying to keep the fear out of her voice while she backed away a bit. Luna just looked at her sadly for a moment, before dropping her shield. This took the beige mare by surprise.

        “I remember you. Number fifty-one. How is that wing of yours? I didn't get a chance to heal it properly the last time we met.”

        “My... my wing? Heal? You were the one who shattered it in the first place! You're a mean, deceiving mare, and your only goal is to cause trouble for my Daddy.” Frosty pressed out between grit teeth. Her initial attack hadn't worked as she had hoped, so her mind was now racing to come up with a new course of action.

        “Cause trouble? Your Daddy? Oh this is priceless...” the dark purple Alicorn mare laughed mirthlessly.

Frosty had heard enough. She had to finish this quickly to get her reward from her Daddy. If she failed, he would be mad with her and she wouldn't get what she had wanted for so long. A telekinetic blast of force shot forth from the young mares horn, aimed directly at Lunas face.

        “Rude!” the other mare spat, intercepting the blue blast with a pinpointed shield spell of her own. She had stopped laughing now, her face a mask of sadness and rage.

        “I do not want to fight you. Turn around and trot away now, and I will not harm you. That I promise you on my life. However, should you lash out at me again I will not hold back. This time, I will really turn you into paste.” Luna warned, igniting her horn.

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Luna looked at the young mare before her with mixed feelings. On one hoof, she was glad that the young one was alive, while on the other she was contemplating ways to kill her. It was... a strange sensation. Not only that, but merely looking at the now crushed Muffin almost made her want to cry. Just what was wrong with her?

She found herself hoping that the mere threat of death would persuade number fifty-one to flee, since she did not relish the thought to kill one of her own kind, alas it was not meant to be. A small shimmer of magic came towards her from her right, too fast to evade it completely. Lunas face was scratched by the jagged piece of broken gravestone that flew past her and hissed in pain as it drew blood.

        “I hope you can live with your choice... even though it will not be very long.” Luna said sadly, hating that she had to do this.

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        “Ouch!” Candy Cane called out as his head began to feel as if somepony had tried to split it with and ax. Celest cried out almost at the same time, collapsing to the floor as she fainted. The lavender stallion could barely think straight, but there was the definite feeling of very strong magic in the air.

Even through the haze of his splitting headache, he knew that somepony had bewitched them... It was a capital offense, but that was the least of his worries at that moment. Lulu had gone with that strange mare, and Celest had actually fainted from the magic.

Crawling over to his cousin, he pulled her away from the oven with his hooves. For some reason his own magic just didn't seem to work at the moment, and his legs felt as if they were made of jelly. What worried him the most, however, was the small trickle of blood he noticed coming out of his cousins nostrils...

        “No....” he breathed as he did his best to pull her to a sofa in the living room by her mane.

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Frosty screamed as her head impacted a tree. Only her strong bones prevented her skull from cracking as the wood of the tree splintered under the force of the impact. She had seriously underestimated Luna. She hadn't known that the other mare could teleport, which completely erased her advantage of range. Just where had she learned all these spells? Frosty herself didn't even know how to summon up a stable shield spell.

The young mare jumped aside as Luna appeared behind her once more, her horn already charged to the brim with magic. Releasing a bolt of force of her own, Frosty galloped away as fast as she could. Her attack struck Luna in the jaw, but the other mare barely blinked as she released her own magic. The blast did not hit the beige mare, but the shockwave of it was enough to knock her clean off her hooves.

Tumbling, Frosty tried to regain control of her body again but Luna was much faster then she had anticipated. A kick to her stomach eventually stopped her tumbling, and knocked the breath from her lungs. The young mare could actually feel one of her ribs breaking as the strong hooves of the other mare impacted on her smaller frame once more.

Crying out in pain once more, Frosty tried to counter attack with a bolt of force but Luna just batted it away with another one of those pinpointed shield spells.

        “So... this is it..” she thought, as the other mare reared up to finish the fight. It hadn't even been much of a fight in her opinion. Luna had given her the chance to trot away, but she could have never done that. Her Daddy had promised to take her out for lunch if she brought this mare back. Once, only once, Frosty wanted to eat with her Daddy. Tasty foods, like the ones the scientists sometimes gave her, or what the nice mare from earlier had given her.

A lone tear rolled down her face as new determination flooded her very being...

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        “What the...?” Luna gasped as a wave of coldness hit her. Only a quick teleport saved her from being frozen completely solid, and even that had apparently not been enough. The rim of her shredded dress showed signs of being exposed to extreme cold.

        “I... will... not... loose...” the younger mare panted, while blood trickled down her muzzle. Luna could see that she was straining to stand and, to her own surprise, wanted to rush over and help the other mare...

        “Just what the hell is wrong with me?” she thought as she went through the motions of evading the next wave of magical ice heading her way. The first one had surprised her, but now that she knew what the other mare could do, she knew what to do. As long as this ice didn't catch her, she still had a chance.

Then, something unexpected happened... Luna had just teleported once more to get away from a wave of ice forming directly below her, when she noticed her mistake. All four of her hooves went from warm to ice cold, and she found herself trapped. She had to give the other mare that. This trap had been a clever trick. What worried her though, was that the ice seemed to weaken her magic. Teleporting was certainly out of the question for now.

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Candy Cane dragged himself towards the small hill near his home. He had suggested this route to Lulu and this other strange mare. Since that beige mare had looked like she was not from around here, he was sure she had taken his advice. Lucky for him, the hilltop was a dead end and if they came back down the hill he would see them. What he would do once he found them, he didn't know yet, but he sure was angry...

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Frosty panted and her vision was beginning to blur, but she had done it. Number ninety-five was trapped in her ice, and would stay there for as long as she wanted it. What the other mare couldn't have known was, that her ice had a very special quality. The more of it there was, the more it drained magic that did not belong to her from anypony it touched. Now, all she had to do was to knock the other mare out and call her Daddy so he could pick the both of them up.

Waiting until he arrived would be hard on her though. She had sustained some injuries that made her dizzy, and one of her lungs had been punctured by a rib. It became harder and harder for her to just breathe...

Charging up her horn with one final blast of magic, Frosty prepared for the finishing blow. The other mare was already down on her knees, struggling to free herself from the ice that was binding her to the ground. It would be no use. This ice didn't break so easily...

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Luna tried to summon up a shield to deflect the incoming blast of force, but the stinging pain in her hooves made it hard for her to focus on her magic. No shield came into being, and no teleportation vortex formed. Expecting a pretty strong impact this time, Luna turned her head away and clenched her eyes shut.

Something warm and wet splattered on her face, but no pain came. A horrified shriek from the other mare made the dark purple Alicorn open her eyes again. Instantly, her pupils contracted to mere pinpricks. In a pool of his own blood... lay Candy Cane...

From one second to the other, all compassion for the other mare, and hesitation was gone. All that was left was rage. Cold and calculating rage. This time her magic came to her readily, breaking the ice that was holding her hooves in place as easily as thin glass. Another blast of force came heading her way, but she was already gone, teleporting herself and the injured stallion the edge of the battlefield. A quick mending spell stopped the bleeding on his neck. There wasn't time for more.

        “I... I... I'm sorry... I... I didn't mean to... He jumped in front of you and...” the other mare stammered, tears running down her face. Luna, on her part, flared out her wings and began to draw in more and more magic from her surroundings. One enormous blast shattered every little bit of ice that had formed on the ground, knocking over her target.

        “You shouldn't have done that...” Luna said in a cold whisper, as she teleported herself on top of the fallen mare. Number fifty-one tried to charge her horn to defend herself, but Lunas hoof was faster this time, shattering the mares horn into a million pieces. She shrieked in pain, trying to bring up her hooves to her now bleeding forehead, but Luna would have none of it.

A telekinetic field appeared around both of the mares forelegs, and she began to pull while holding the younger mare down with her magic at the same time. First came the pop of dislocated joints as both legs were pulled out of their sockets, accompanied by another cry of pain from the younger mare.

        “I'm sorry! Daddy! Please... Help me!” Number fifty-one cried, as first her skin and then her muscles began to tear. A spurt of blood washed Lunas face in red and hot liquid as her targets legs came off. She had done it slowly, and began to work her way down the mares body... Next up were her wings...

        “I'm a good filly! Argh... Oh Faust, please stop! It hurtsss!” the mare in her grip cried as her wings came off. Still, she was struggling. That soon stopped as Luna reached her rear legs. These she did not pull out however. Instead she summoned a shield above them and began to move it towards the ground slowly.

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Frosty who was barely able to stay awake only a few minutes earlier, was now screaming at the top of her lungs. Her entire body was hurting. It was a sensation she had never felt before, and she was sure that she would never feel anything again. All she hoped for, was that this monster would end her life soon. Otherwise, or so she thought, she would go insane from the pain alone.

Then, as if a switch had been flipped, the pressure on her lower body stopped. Both legs had already been broken at this point, but not yet shattered. Fighting through the pain, the young mare opened one of her bloody eyes to see that Luna was looking down at her with tears in her eyes.

        “I'm sorry...” the other mare whispered in an ashamed tone of voice, before igniting her horn for one final time. Everything around the young mare went dark as the pain went away...