My Little Hero

Chapter Nine

I saw through Namshiel's eyes as he fired the bolt of green lightning at the floor. It shattered, sending the ponies falling through to the ground below. Namshiel looked down at the ponies, trying to push themselves up from the ruble.

"Bravo," came Chaogent's voice. "You will make a very useful ally."

"Yes, Master," Namshiel said.

"Stop!" called a voice from behind me. Namshiel turned to see the little dragon that was seated next to Twilight when I first entered the room. I had forgotten about him. But as Namshiel stood there, looking at the little thing, it was clear that he was afraid. "I-I won't let you hurt my friends."

I heard Twilight from below. "Spike?" she asked, recognizing the voice. "Get out of here, Spike, it's too dangerous."

"I'm not leaving you, Twilight," the dragon named Spike said.

"You're going to stop me?" Namshiel asked.

I felt some kind of energy hit my back and I tumbled forward. Standing back up, Namshiel turned to see who it was that hit us. Twilight was fluttering there, her horn pointed at Namshiel, and by contrast, me.

"Spike, go. Get Discord," she shouted.

"Discord?" he questioned. "But..."

"Now!"

"On it!"

"Not so fast," came Chaogent's voice. The windows stretched out like arms to grab the dragon. But there was another beam of power that hit them and made them shattered. I saw as Dash dropped Rarity off on the ground, Fluttershy following with Pinkie Pie. Spike took his opportunity to jump out the window.

Namshiel started to fire a bolt of green lightning at them, but was rammed by Applejack. She tumbled with him for a moment before he kicked her off. She glared at him and it felt like she was glaring at me too. Could she even be more upset with me now?

Namshiel smirked at her. "This is perfect," he said. "I get to kill the one he grew fond of." Green lightning started to spark from my horn. A canon went off, blowing confetti into my face. It was unexpected, and it was the first time I was glad to see the stuff. Thank you, Pinkie Pie. It distracted Namshiel and blinded him long enough for Twilight to hit him with a beam again, followed by A.J. ramming him again. It hurt, but I didn't care. As long as they could overcome Namshiel.

As the three of them dealt with me, Dash, Fluttershy, and Rarity dealt with Chaogent. But he was proofing to be more troublesome than Namshiel. They needed the others to help, and they can't focus on him when they have to deal with Namshiel. Chaogent saw this and decided to attack Applejack as a way to knock their numbers down. I saw him try to bring a slab of the ceiling down on her. I had to do something.

I pulled at every ounce of will I had, and got my legs moving. Applejack and the others didn't notice the slab falling towards Applejack and thought I was charging at her in an attack. I could feel Namshiel trying to take control again, but I pushed him away. I dodged Twilight's attack and ran through Pinkie's confetti. Applejack stood fast, but I rammed her, sending her back as the slab landed on my back. Pain filled me as my vision went white. The slab had exploded on top of me.

Applejack stared in surprise as she realized what happened. "Oh no!" Pinkie called out. "Hero got hurt instead!"

"W-what do ya mean?" Applejack questioned. But Pinkie didn't have time to explain. She ran to my coat and rummaged through it, tossed stuff aside. A dagger with gems in the hilt and sheath went flying out of a box, gems and coins that flew out of pouches, and empty glass bottles. She found the bottle that had the pills I used to heal her and she rushed over. "What are ya doin', Pinkie? He'll hurt ya if ya help him!"

"No he won't," she said. "Because that wasn't Hero we were fighting. But this is." She somehow popped open the bottle with her hooves and shook it, sending a pill into my open mouth. I swallowed, though I didn't realize that I had done so. Hell, I didn't know what was happening.

The moment the pill went down, I felt my energy return. And a glowing gold light shined from me. This got the attention of everypony there. Even Chaogent stared at me. I pushed myself up, coughing up a coin that went flying.

"His cutie mark!" Rarity pointed out. "It's changing!"

Some of my metal started to ooze its way towards me as the blacken mark faded. A golden triangle replaced it, made up by three triangles like the other mark, only it was pointing upwards and had a glow to it. The metal started to zip around me, the air kicking up as it circled me faster and faster. My eyes closed and I stood on my hinge hooves. I reached out as the metal settled in my right hand, forming into a bastard sword. Color came to it, the hilt became blue as the blade itself glowed with a bluish light.

I stepped forward, standing over the ponies, a green cloak flowing around me in the still swirling gale wind. My long blond hair flew behind me as my gauntlet covered hand tighten around the sword, the golden triangle glowing from my right hand now. The sound of my boots boomed on the floor as I stepped forward. I heard the ponies gasped at the sight of me, though it was still hard for them to tell what had happened since a glowing light shined from me.

"Well, that explains a lot," said Chaogent. "You're not even a pony at all." He grinned as he reached down and picked up the coin that had landed in front of him.

I saw it and held up a hand. "Stop him!" my voice boomed and they all looked at Chaogent. But it was too late. It had picked up the coin that housed the Denarian.

The green eyes opened above his own as his skin started to tighten around his bones. But his transformation didn't stop there. Spurs of bones jetted out of him and became more of a walking thorny skeleton.

It was that moment when Discord appeared with Spike next to Fluttershy. "What's going," he began but stopped at the sight. "What has happened?"

"Hello, brother," Chaogent said, his voice laced with the Denarian's own.

"Chaogent?"

"You know him?" Fluttershy asked, looking up at him.

"Not like this," Discord said. "But he was my brother."

"Well, you're brother just took up a power far beyond any of ours," I said. "We need your help."

He frowned and snapped his fingers, but nothing happened. "Well, I'm not powerful enough to take him. Why don't you use your Magic of Harmony or something?" he asked the ponies.

Twilight nodded as the ponies gathered around her. Their magic shot out and formed into a rainbow beam, hitting Chaogent directly on. He growled as he pushed against it, green lightning wrapping around him and pushing the beam back. They couldn't win.

"Discord!" called Twilight as she struggled to hold her on to her power. "Can't you banish him to another realm or something?"

"Are you kidding?" he asked. "Even my powers have limits. Besides, he has the same powers as me, so he could just bring himself back. Well, he has more power than before now."

I watched them struggle and frowned. What could we do to stop Chaogent and Namshiel? Their magic wasn't enough. My eyes fell upon Applejack, who looked back at me. I growled, realizing that they were all going to die if they kept this up. So, I had to act.

I threw out my left hand at my metal. It flew up and blocked the attacks. Chaogent got sent back, but he wasn't going to fall from that backlash of power. The ponies all tumbled before they glared at me. I held my sword up in front of me. I stared at them with my sword ready. Applejack got it first.

"Everypony," she called out. "Use yer magic on Hero!" They weren't sure rather this was a good or bad idea, but Applejack started to fire her magic at me. It hit my sword and I grinned at her, holding fast. Twilight was the second to realize my plan. She joined Applejack. Pinkie Pie started to hop in excitement as she did the same. Soon, Rarity, Fluttershy, and Rainbow Dash joined in, there magic forming into a rainbow as it hit my sword.

I felt the tingling of Namshiel's power as he fired his green lightning at the ponies. I raised my left hand again, sending my metal to block his attack. The lightning bounced off it and flew off in random directions. I felt a sting as a stray bolt hit me, but I held on, pushing my power into the sword. I gritted my teeth as I finally swung at Chaogent, a glowing golden beam of light and rainbow flew at him. It hit him and I heard a cry. And then light fell over me as I felt weak again and collapsed.