Fall of the Rightful King

Chapter Twenty-Six

The hideout turned out to just be someone's home. Apparently the basement was pretty well decked out, according to Ricky. He also claimed that no one was using guns right now. Unless you had fingers or magic, you couldn't pull the trigger, and no one was a good shot. Good for us. Heaven fucking forbid something go right for us for once.

Just Paper Back and I were there. We'd managed to get Erin to calm the fuck down and Brittney was staying with her. I kind of expected to get nervous, but I didn't feel that way. There was this weird calm and icy feeling.

Of course, the fact that it's fucking cold and raining probably has something to do with that. Hint hint.

We're fine! I just needed a moment to meditate before we went in there. I always do it before a fight. Paper Back said.

Oh, yeah, we're totally fine, I said. It's not like we're getting fucking hypothermia or anything. God, Paper Back, our tail feels like it's going to fall off. Is this a good idea before a fight?

We'll be plenty warm once we get going, she said. How sure are we that there won't be any guns in there?

Ricky shat himself when we talked to him, so either he's a fucking Broadway actor or he's telling the truth. Guy seems pretty spineless.

Broadway? she asked.

Shit, sorry. Like, he's either a really good actor or telling the truth.

Ok, she said. I can do this. I can do this. I can get in there and rescue Nick.

Oh, Paper Back, I said, that reminds me. So I thought your cutie mark was supposed to be like who you were as a pony. So how come, if you're a martial artist, your cutie mark is book-

Let's go! She said. We wrapped ourselves in magic, ran out of the bushes, and jumped through a window. Immediately I saw a pegasus stumble back in surprise and start running down the hall. He had a belt on with a key ring attached. We ran after him.

Nick

"Blue tulips," Melissa said. She lay there, next to the cell door. I slowly stroked her ears. I'd done it on impulse when she lay there, crying, and it calmed her down. She'd apologized to me about an hour ago, before completely breaking down again. I felt so bad for her. I couldn't even muster up hate for Derek. I just felt so low for what he'd done to Cassie just to keep me here. It had drained all the energy out of me. I couldn't even get angry, as much as I'd tried.

"What?" I asked.

"Blue tulips," Melissa said again. "Those were her favorite flower. I got them for her, for her birthday last month."

After she'd (kind of) calmed down, Melissa had tried to get out with her keys, but Kimberly the minotaur was in her way. She'd taken Melissa's keys and booted her back into the room. There were empty water bottles in the corner. They'd dropped full ones off earlier, further emphasizing that I wasn't the only prisoner here anymore. That had been the only contact we'd had with Derek's Order.

Cassie had just stood there the entire time. She clearly wasn't made of fire, whatever she was - the room didn't get warmer after her transformation. Melissa had tried talking to Cassie several more times, but... she just wasn't her anymore. Or if she was, she wasn't in control.

"They ended up delivering them and there was something in them that she was allergic to, so her face swelled up and turned red," she said. A small laugh came out, but was quickly replaced by a sob. "She had to have medicine for her birthday dinner. I promised her that I'd take her out to dinner to make up for it... but I... I never did!"

She started to cry again. Like me, she didn't have any real strength left, so it was barely audible. I was worrying about the line again. I had to get out of here, but triggering the line would have bad consequences for Cassie. Maybe, if we could get the Order in here, they could figure out a way to get me out without triggering the line, or disable the spell somehow.

I thought back to the symbol Derek had taught me. Alexander had said it was basically evil and had nasty repercussions. And it had really hurt Paper Back. No, I needed to leave it alone.

I looked up at Cassie. No matter what, I'd have to get past her. And, I thought as I looked down at Melissa, maybe her too.

Alan

We ran down the hallway, jumping off of the wall, and leaping into an office. Computers were buzzing in the room. The air smelt electrical. And like piss.

The Pegasus was in the room. His eyes were fucking huge. And he smelt like…

“Are you fucking with me, man?” I said. “This some kind of next-level psychological warfare?”

He wrapped his front legs around a monitor and threw it at us. We ran around it and slammed a hoof up. His head twisted up and his jaw hung open. His eyes glazed over and he fell over. When he came to he immediately started crying and curled up in a ball.

“Fucking hell, this is embarrassing,” I said. Paper Back plucked the keys from his belt.

He’s never been in a fight, Paper Back said. It’s really traumatizing when you’ve never fought before.

Yeah, I said, but pissing yourself?

It’s not actually that rare, Paper Back said. We stepped down the hall and started unlocking the metal door at the end. The first key didn’t work.

God damn, I thought we won, I said. So why do I feel like shit?

We had to hurt someone, Paper Back said. It’s actually a good thing you feel this way. Only someone like Derek gets out of a fight feeling good about himself.

She tried the door. That key didn’t work either.

So why do you teach kids to fight? I asked.

They need to be able to defend themselves, she said. I hope they never have to really fight, but if they have to, I want them to be able to.

The door unlocked on the third key.

We ran down the hall. Just as we cleared the door to a larger room a chair smashed into the wall next to us. Paper Back sent us into a roll, just missing some pipes sticking out of the ground. A huge minotaur came fucking charging at us. We feinted to the right and jumped to the left. The minotaur hit the wall. We kicked at his leg, but he kicked back and we had to deflect it to the side.  We jumped off the leg, off an incoming arm, and twisted, sending power in a satisfying punch through our front leg and into the minotaur’s chin, jerking his head to the side. He fell but grabbed us in a massive hand. We kicked and I felt our back leg connect with his head. Paper Back bit his hand, ripping and filling our mouth with hair and blood. The minotaur bellowed and released us. We rolled off. Our side exploded in pain and we skidded across the ground.

Fuck, couldn’t block that with your magic?

I did, she said.

The minotaur had blood pouring down his face. He took a step towards us as we sprung up and ran. One of our hooves slipped and we stumbled away from the minotaur and his kick. The minotaur twisted towards us and fell. We dodged. There was a sick, squelchy sound. We looked behind us. The minotaur was lying on the ground by the pipes. There was had a bulge almost popping out of its neck and blood pooling under its body. He wasn’t moving.

There was so much blood in the air. It was so strong. It was filling my lungs. My stomach heaved and we vomited over the ground. I was shaking so badly.

Breathe! Paper Back yelled in my head. You won’t let me breathe!

I sucked in a breath. We slowly let it out and took in another.

Holy fuck we just killed a guy!

I know! Focus and breathe!

It took us a few minutes to get our body under control.

Oh God oh fuck oh God I never want to fight again! I said.

We have to get Nick out of here, she said. Come on, relax and let me move!

I let go and we started moving.

Nick

I heard banging and shouting down the hallway.

"Sounds like reinforcements," I said, standing up and opening the cell door, which we'd left unlocked. Melissa stared at the glowing line by the door, then at Cassie, then back at the line.

"Melissa..." I said. She started to cry, but turned around and faced me.

"I can't let you leave!" she said. "Derek said it will kill her!" Her horn started to sparkle and glow. This time it was much more intense and I felt a force pushing me back towards the cell. I stood my ground. I looked at her tear-streaked face, then at Cassie. Maybe Cassie was just stopping me from leaving the room, since she wasn't doing anything yet.

While I was distracted, Melissa jumped at me and started punching me with her hooves. I tried to deflect them, but each one hit hard.

"Melissa, stop!" I yelled. "We're on the same side!"

"I can't let you hurt her!" she said. "I can't!"

I heard the door bang open. A grey blur slammed into Melissa. I sat up, blood trickling down my face. Paper Back was standing by me, and Melissa was struggling to her hooves. Cassie shot fire at Paper Back, who deflected it.

"Nick, we have to get out of here!" she yelled. Cassie shot more fire and Melissa came charging again. Someone was about to get badly hurt and no one had to, not really. We all should have been on the same side.

I rolled in between everyone and threw my hands up. Some of the things Alexander had speed-taught me flashed through my head. Blue light filled the room.

After a moment, when I realized I wasn't getting burnt, magicked, or stomped, I looked around. Blue light spread out of both my hands, forming shields that separated all three. Melissa and Paper Back were struggling to push through it.

"Stop!" I yelled. "We don't have to fight!" I looked at Paper Back and Alan. "She's with Manuel's Order. She's just trying to keep her fiancée alive. Don't fight her!" I turned to look at Melissa. "We're trying to help you! Maybe we can save Cassie!"

The two ponies stopped struggling and looked at me. Cassie, for her part, stopped fighting when they did, and returned to just standing there.

"Nick, what the fuck are you talking about? And since when can you do fucking magic?" Alan asked.

"Wait, you're not..." Melissa started.

"Melissa," I said, pointed at her, "Is being held here like me. She's trying to protect Cassie," I said, pointing, "who was a gryphon before Derek changed her. If I leave the room, Cassie dies."

Paper Back looked at me, then at Melissa, then back at me. Melissa was doing basically the same thing.

"So... she's not a fucking bad guy," Alan said.

"No," I said firmly. "And neither are we," I added to Melissa.

"Fuck, sorry we kicked you, then," Alan said, putting his hoof behind his head.

"You said you could help Cassie?" Melissa said.

"Maybe," I said. I explained what Derek had done and what he'd said about the line.

"Ok," Paper Back said, "let me see if I can undo the line so we can get you out of here. We have to hurry!" She wrapped her hoof in green light and jabbed at the line, which did nothing. She tapped it with her horn and nothing happened either.

"I don't know if I can do this," she said. "It's pretty powerful."

I thought about the symbol again.

"Let me try something," I said. "You might want to back up - it's the same thing I tried when Derek fought us the first time."

Paper Back and Alan backed to a corner of the room. Melissa looked at me, looking really scared.

"What're you doing?" she asked.

"There's a thing I can do that cancels out magic," I said. "If we take out the alarm system, it can't go off, and it won't let Derek know or hurt Cassie."

"Are you sure?" she asked.

"As sure as I can be," I said. "Back up - this'll take out your unicorn magic too if it hits you." She retreated. I took a deep breath and started to draw on the concrete with my fingers, thinking that maybe I didn't need to actually draw it. The concrete turned blue when I touched it and started glowing. That was new. Just before I finished the last line, I glanced up at Alan and Paper Back. They looked braced.

The symbol turned black and knocked the wind out of me. It left me feeling... weird. Like I was covered in oil or something - something dark and... wrong. It was a weird feeling. More than that, though, I could feel some kind of presence stirring. It was like it was becoming aware of me, but wasn't quite there yet.

Melissa immediately started screaming. Paper Back shouted. I looked back at her.

"He knows," Paper Back said. "Oh Celestia, everyone in a mile knows. That was so loud!"

"Cassie! Cassie!" Melissa screamed again. I looked over.

Cassie had fallen to her knees and was staring at her hands. The tips of her fingers were turning black and flaking away. She was turning into ash. Her toes started to flake away.

No. No no no! This wasn't supposed to happen! I was supposed to fix this, not make it worse! But what could we do?

I looked at Paper Back again.

"Do something!" I said. She shook her head, her eyes wide.

"I... I can't! I can't stop this kind of magic!"

I looked at Cassie, who was losing her palms. She had her mouth open in a silent scream. Melissa was sobbing and completely incoherent. She kept trying to touch Cassie, then pulling back before she actually touched the fire.

"We... we have to do something!" I said. "She doesn't deserve this!"

"We have to go now!" Paper Back said. "There's no way he doesn't know you're escaping!"

"I... we have to help her!" I said, but there was less fire in my voice. "We have to."

A hoof touched my arm. I looked down and saw Paper Back and Alan. She had a grim expression.

"Nick," Alan said softly, "I'm so fucking sorry, but we have to go. You can't save everyone."

Cassie's arms and legs now ended at her elbows and knees and kept flaking away. She looked like she was in agony, but wasn't making any noise.

Something inside me snapped. No. No, I was not going to just let her fucking die. She deserved to live and I would do whatever it took to help her.

I remembered how the symbol had made me feel. I remembered Alexander's warnings.

Whatever it took.

I knelt down next to Cassie. She looked up at me desperately. She didn't have arms or legs anymore - the ash was eating away at her torso. I closed my eyes, opened them again after a moment, and then drew the symbol again.

The world went black.