Chapter Eight

Chapter Eight

The walk back to the castle wasn't long as I entered through the front doors and it wasn't long before the sweet scent of pancakes made it's way to my nose and the smell of it me drool just a bit. I was a lot hungrier than I thought when I came back.

I guess walking around town made me pretty hungry.

I was about let everyone know I was there, but I began to hear crying from one of the guest rooms and not just anyone's room.

Rarity?

When I knocked on her door, she didn't respond and I ended up trying again.

"Rarity? Are you alright?" I asked. Even when I called out to her she still didn't answer me. I began to slowly open the door and looked around. She was laying on her bed, sobbing uncontrollably as her tears soaked the bed sheets.

"Rarity?" I said with hesitation. I wasn't sure how to go about this, considering that I know next to nothing about girls, but I set aside my thoughts only to focus on Rarity.

"Why?" She whispered as she wiped away her remaining tears. "Why is this happening to us Flare?"

"I don't know what you mean Rarity? Please tell me what's wrong?" I begged her as I walked up to her bed and laid next to her, she was a bit surprised at first, but she didn't mind me being next to her.

"It's just that....she's coming back Flare and I'm....I'm afraid she'll try to take control of me again! I can't go through that again!!! I just can't!!!" Rarity shouted as she began crying on my shoulder. When she said that I was surprised, but I could understand what she meant, even if I've never been possessed before. No one should ever have to go through that, especially Rarity.

I...I need to say something, but what? What should I say?

"Rarity I....may not know what you went through, but not even you deserve to be put through all of that. That's why I decided to stay, to protect you and everypony that needs help. I can't say that I'm the best at this hero thing and I'll somehow screw up in the future, but I'm willing to fight for you guys if you want me too and I promise that I won't let anything happen to you," I said as I wrapped my wing around her for comfort.

"I...guess your right Flare....but do you really mean it?" She asked. "Please look me in the eyes and tell me, do you really mean it?"

I did my best to look her in the eyes and gave her my honest answer. "I mean it and promise Rarity, I won't let anything happen to you or our friends."

She was satisfied with my answer and continued to lay on my shoulders and I literally just realized the situation I was in and my face began to heat up. I honestly was getting kinda nervous for some reason.

She's just my friend and this is what friends do in these kinds of situation. I'm blushing for nothing, but why am I blushing in the first place?

I wish this could last forever.

We sat there in total silence for who knows how long, but hearing her heart beat was relaxing. It was as if the world had stopped moving.

"Thank you Flare. I really appreciate it," She said to me as she snuggled closer to me.

"Um...sure..Ra..Rarity that's what friends are for," I said, nervously.

"Even though I still think your a pervert," She said with a smug look which was cute honestly.

And she's back to her usual self.

"Well we better get going, Twilight was making breakfast and I think it would be wise to hurry. Otherwise, Twilight might get the wrong idea...again," I said as I hopped off the bed. Rarity followed after, pouting for some strange reason.

"Well I am feeling a bit peckish, but Flare I have to ask you something first. Are you afraid?" She asked me. I began to think carefully about what I was going to say next. That was when it hit me.

"Rarity, everyone is afraid of something, but it's our choice to either fight against that fear, or let it control us. But to put it bluntly yes I'm afraid of failing, but that doesn't mean that I'm just going to give up. I'll continue to try until I succeed. Never give up Rarity even when the odds are stacked against you. Just keep trying okay," I said confidently. I may not be the best when it comes to making people better, but I'd say it's a start.

"Thank you Flare it means a lot to me that your helping me feel better," She said as she smiled again.

"Sure and like I said that's what friends are for," I said.

We soon left the guest room and headed towards the dinning area where Twilight, Midnight, and Techorse were eating Pancakes.

"Hey guys what took you so long?" Midnight asked.

"We had something important to talk about," I replied.

"Well than dig in! There's plenty for everypony!!" Twilight said as she took a bit from her stack of pancakes.

"Yeah it's really good," Tech added.

"Well of course Pancakes are good," I said with a grin as I licked my lips. I would always enjoy pancakes whenever I could get the chance to eat them. Sometimes I swear that if they were alive I would kiss them. It's definitely not weird in the least.

"Well I am a bit peckish, so a few pancakes would be fine with me," Rarity said.

"Alright two stacks of pancakes coming up," Midnight said as he grabbed two plates with his magic and placed the pancakes on top of them. I did my best no to drool as he placed the plate of pancakes in front of me.

Oh I can't wait to dig in!!!

BOOM!!!!

We heard a loud explosion coming from outside the castle

"What was that?!!" Techorse asked.

"It sounded like it came from outside the castle," Twilight said.

"Breakfast will have to wait then. We need to see what's going on out there," Midnight suggested as everypony immediately got up and dashed out of the room and to my disappointment the pancakes would have to wait.

"Damn it!! Why couldn't this have happened after I finished eating?!!" I shouted as followed after them.

We were all outside and what we saw before us was complete chaos. Ponies that wore dark blue hoods were destroying Ponyville. I knew instantly that they were those cultists from last night. I began to grit my teeth a bit when I saw all of this destruction. When I saw the ponies running in fear as those sick bastards all I could feel was anger and hatred for those cultists.

"Damn them!!!" I shouted.

"Flare, please calm down...." Rarity begged, but I could only feel rage as I charged at the nearest cultist and tackled him to the ground and began punching him. It didn't take long for the others too notice me as the blasted magic bolts at me as I dodged them.

That was too close.

"You have a lot guts to be picking a fight with us," One of the cultists said to me.

"Well you B****** didn't give me much of a choice when you attacked my town," I stated as I stood my ground against the group.

"This won't be your town for much longer fool so if I was you I'd go crawl back to wherever it is you came from," A brown unicorn cultist said as he pulled out an old rusty axe with his magic.

I took up a fighting stance again. Most people would have been wise to have listened to these creeps and run away, but me I wasn't going to abandon my friends or this town. Like I said, I'm and idiot.

"This is your last chance to back down, boy!!" One of the cultist said to me as the others readied there weapons.

"In your dreams Assholes!!!" I shouted as my wings flared up.

"THEN DIE!!!" He shouted as they all rushed at me with there swords and axes, but before any of them could reach me they were all blasted with beams of blue and purple magic. I soon turned to see both Midnight and Twilight standing next to me as there horns glowed.

"You shouldn't just charge in there without a plan Flare," Midnight said as he threw me a black sword with a Blue star imprinted on it.

"Why are you giving me this Midnight?" I asked.

"Remember how I said that I was working on something? Well this is it, seeing that I'll be fine with my magic, I think you'll need this more than me," He said as he blasted another cultist.

"Alright then let's end this!!!" I shouted as I charged at them.

"Hmm... seems Ponyville is in need of my assistance," spoke a stallion cloaked in the shadow of darkness. The only light came from the little crystal ball he had on a pedestal that was showing him the events unfold. He lifted up his hoof and swiped it over the ball, ending the vision and ceasing the light. He turned around and began making his exit as a small grin formed along his muzzle.

"I suppose it's about time I made my way into the fray." A small symbol above the doorway lit with a blue energy as the stallion approached. He did not come out the other side of the doorway.

“This is really starting to tick me off,” I muttered as I blocked another strike from a cultist. With Twilight, Rarity, and the others working on evacuating the townsponies to safety, that left only Techorse, Midnight, and myself to fight. And it wasn’t going so well. We were outnumbered and definitely outgunned… if they actually had guns, anyway.

Techorse was continually overwhelmed by the surging ponies, each of them trying to get that backpack of his. He’d told us it’d been damaged in the attack the night before, but that must have been what he was up to all night as the thing seemed to be well stocked with laser guns and missiles. How they knew how to do that was beyond me, but I was too busy defending my life to bother thinking on it too hard.

On the other hoof, er, hand, Midnight was fairing decently enough. His magic was certainly impressive, zapping anypony bold or crazy enough to get near, sending them into spazzing frenzy on the ground. There’s a joke in there, I feel it, but now’s not the time. Other than that, he was blasting away at the cultists, taking them down as effectively as Techorse’s weapons. Though there was certainly something strange about one of those spells; it was almost like he’d teleport out of the way of an incoming attack, but it didn’t have that big flash like when Twilight did it. I made a note to ask about it later.

And me? Well…

“Dammit all!” I growled as I swiped at the ponies trying to take me down.

Let’s just say I wasn’t having the best of luck.

While Midnight and Techorse were well prepared to fight with long ranged and up close defenses, I was left to just my hooves and the big sword I was carrying. I mean, I wasn’t doing terribly, but not as well as I had liked. I’d only gotten a hooful of nicks from the cultist’s knives and magic blasts and was managing to take one down after another, but they just kept coming! In all, I’d estimate they’d brought at least thirty of these cultists to take us down. I was only hoping it wasn’t enough.

I felt something back into me and turned with my sword in hoof, nearly decapitating Midnight had it not been for his magic stopping my sword.

“Woah there! We’re on the same side,” he said, blasting an unfortunate cultist.

“Sorry!” I replied, pulling my weapon back and hitting another pony in the head with the hilt in doing so. “This is getting ridiculous!”

“Indeed it is!” Techorse said, joining next to us with his weapons still firing. “I was truly hoping somepony had a plan.”

“No, but we need to come up with something. And fast.”

Midnight was right. At the rate we were going, they were going to overrun us sooner rather than later. With the cultists having us surrounded and continually charging, it was only a matter of time.

A sharp whistle rang out amongst the cultist ponies and their barrage came to a sudden stop. They parted slightly, giving way to a pony I hadn’t seen before. Techorse, however, seemed to know him.

“Thunderstorm.”

The unicorn chuckled darkly. “Aw, you remembered me, Techorse. I’m touched.”

“You followed me!”

“Indirectly,” Thunderstorm said with a shrug. “We were coming here eventually anyway. There’s some issues that need resolving in this ‘quaint’ little village. Notably,” he points at me and Midnight, “the two of you and those pesky Elements here.”

“And you’ll destroy the whole town to get rid of us?!” I shouted, my raging building even more.

“If necessary. Not like it’s a big loss after all.”

“Bastard!” Midnight growled.

“Oh shut up and take your death like a stallion!” Thunderstorm sneered, pulling a scythe out of his jacket that grew into a full-fledged weapon. “If you make this easy, I’ll make it as painless as possible.”

“You won’t get away with this!” Techorse shouted.

“Oh really? Because I’m the one with an army surrounding the three of you. Looks pretty much like I’m going to get away with this.”

A blast of violet magic came out of nowhere and slammed right into the boasting unicorn, sending him flying back into a building.

Twilight landed in front of us, horn still aglow with power. “That’s what you think!” she shouted, clearly enraged. “You dare come into my town and try to destroy it and my friends?! Think again!”

Her horn began glowing brighter than ever before. Along the ridges built up several little boiling points, almost like the magic was cooking. The next moment, her horn fired off magical blasts in all directions, forcing the three of us to duck down while the cultists were knocked out one by one by the barrage of magic. The bright flashes of magic shot over our heads, blasting pony after pony for several, long moments.

When it was all over, Twilight was panting as her horn could only spark, groaning ponies all around us.

“Wow,” Midnight said, being the first of us to lift his head. He was staring right at Twilight and I could swear he was blushing.

“Quite a feat of magic, if I do say,” Techorse said.

“Doesn’t look like we’re done yet, though,” I said, seeing a few of the cultists getting back on their hooves.

“Crud,” Twilight panted, her knees starting to wobble. “Looks like the last batch didn’t have the power to knock the rest out.” She nearly collapsed, but Midnight ran up to next to her to keep her standing. “Thanks.”

“Anytime,” he replied with a smile.

A soft, yet familiar chuckling echoed out to us, turning our heads back to house that Thunderstorm had been sent packing into. We watched in horror as he pulled himself out of the rubble, unharmed and just covered in dust.

“Well, wasn’t that some experience. A pleasure to be struck by a princess of all ponies,” he said with smug chuckle. “But I’m afraid that you don’t quite have what it takes to take me down. And now I think it’s time we ended our little game. As I think I have the final piece needed to win.”

Thunderstorm looked up into the sky and we followed his gaze, several our eyes widening, mine especially. A pegasus in a cloak was flying just above us, holding Rarity in his hooves. She’d been bound and had something shoved in her mouth to keep her quiet. Seeing her dangling there made my blood boil as a raging fire built in my stomach.

“Now look at that. We have a precious Element Bearer in our grasp. Seems to me now that, I’m going to get away with this, Scot-free.” A hooful of cultists were back on their hooves and had us surrounded with weapons and magic bared.

“Somepony better think of something,” Techorse whispered, the four us clearly at a disadvantage now. “Preferably immediately.”

As if the universe itself decided to answer, something whizzed right by my ear and struck the ground in front of unicorn cultist.

“What the?!” the pony cried, taking a step back to examine the object. It seemed to be a simple knife, though I could see that something seemed to be etched into the metal.

And that’s where things went weird.

That weird symbol suddenly started to glow a soft blue before blur just appeared in front of the cultist. He cried out in shock, but it was cut short when his neck was twisted with a soft crunch of bones.

The blur vanished, the knife being wrenched out of the ground and subsequently shot into another cultist’s foreleg. A scream left her lips as the blur appeared, striking the pony in the head and taking her out.

Once again, the blur disappeared, this time the knife going over where the top of it had been and tossed into the side of another pony. And, like before, the blur appeared again and struck the pony in the gut.

Again and again, this process repeated itself before our stunned eyes as each remaining cultist was struck down by this knife-throwing blur. We weren’t the only one’s watching either. Thunderstorm was dumbstruck as his remaining lackeys were taken down by an unknown force.

And he wasn’t too happy about it.

“Stop it,” he muttered once.

Another pony fell.

“Stop it,” he said, his temper rising.

Oh, that one looked like it hurt.

“Stop it!” he cried out.

Yeesh, I feel sorry for that one. Right in the nads.

“STOP IT!” Thunderstorm shouted with all his fury. His horn lit up and blasted the knife on its next throw, which, ironically, was heading for him. The blade tumbled in the air a bit before bouncing to the ground between us and Thunderstorm. And, like before, the blur appeared.

Only this time, we got a look at what the blur was.

It was a unicorn, stallion by the look of him. His fur was an icy blue in color with his hair being a mix of two shades of blue, one light and the other dark. He seemed to be in a ready position, having his body lowered as he stayed between us and the enemy. Something seemed to be off about the pony, though, and I couldn’t place it. Until I noticed something that made my eyes widen.

However, Thunderstorm spoke before I could make mention of it. “So, you’re the annoyance who’s been getting in our way. ‘The Blur’?”

The pony remained silent.

“What? Too afraid to speak? Even after assaulting my soldiers and you have nothing to say?!”

Silence

“Fine! Be that way! You’ve been revealed and now,” Thunderstorm retrieved his scythe and held it at the ready. “You’ll be dead soon enough.”

Unseen to us, the pony smirked. “That’s what you think,” he replied, his voice sounding smooth, yet strong.

Faster than we could blink, his tail whipped out and grabbed the knife from the ground before throwing it at Thunderstorm.

Even he was surprised by the suddenness, but moved his head out of the way before it could be pierced, the blade going by him safely. “Ha! You missed!”

“I never miss,” the pony replied, still smirking and sounding confident.

“What? But you just did!”

Unseen by Thunderstorm, but obvious to us, it wasn’t so black and white. As the knife flew passed Thunderstorm, it struck a stone from the rubble of the building he’d been slammed into. It ricocheted off the stone and went through the remains of a gutter system, clanging through it as it rounded about. The sound drew Thunderstorm’s attention, making him turn to see the knife come out at an angled opening, bouncing off another stone.

And another.

And another.

It continued ricocheting around the destruction, all of our heads following each bounce like a dog and a laser pointer.

Then it hit at angle to another stone and shot up into the air…

Striking the pegasus that was holding Rarity right between the wings. The pony screamed, and then Rarity screamed as she was dropped, nearly five stories in the air.

“Rarity!” I cried out, jumping into action and going right for her. A few seconds later, I grabbed her out of the air, and held her close.

“Flare!” Rarity cried in shock.

“It’s okay, Rarity. I got ya,” I said with a smile.

“Not that! You’re flying!”

That took me a few moments to register. I looked down to see that I was now roughly thirty feet in the air, hovering with Rarity in my hooves. Looking over my shoulders, I saw my wings flapping enough to keep us put in the air. Then, it finally clicked.

“Holy shit, I’m flying!”

Rarity rolled her eyes. “Yes, I can see that, darling.”

Back on the ground, Thunderstorm was really not happy with the development. He turned to the pony who had caused the mess, only to have said pony’s hoof slam into his jaw from below. Thunderstorm raised his scythe, bringing it down on the stranger, but in a flash, the pony was beside the deranged pony and slammed his back legs into his face.

Thunderstorm rolled off slightly, but was back on his hooves in moments. “You dirty sack of-“

He was interrupted again as a bolt of magic zipped by him.

Looking over, he saw that Twilight and Midnight were building up their magic and started firing bolt after bolt at the guy. Even Techorse joined in, firing off his one remaining laser cannon.

The rain of magical bolts whizzing around his head was too much for Thunderstorm to take, putting away his scythe as he dodged out of the way. “Buck this!” he snarled, his horn charging. “We’ll meet again, that I can promise you!” In a blinding flash of light, the unicorn was gone.

Our three unicorns shut down their fire power as I managed to work myself into landing with Rarity. “Hey, we won!” I cheered, releasing Rarity.

“Yeah, we did,” Midnight said, before looking around. Dozens of houses were trashed, a few still burning and there were nearly three dozen cultists unconscious around us. “But it was a little too close.”

“Yes, but thankfully we had some help from,” Twilight blinked as she turned to where the icy unicorn was. “I’m sorry, but what was… he’s gone.”

We all looked over to see that, indeed, that strange pony was gone.

“Woah, that’s spooky,”

“He may be gone, but,” Techorse’s backpack shot out an arm, grabbing the discarded knife from the ground, having fallen free of the pegasus cultist’s back when he flew off, “but the evidence he was here isn’t.” The arm dropped it in front of Twilight, who grabbed it in her magic. “What do you make of this, your highness?”

“Please, it’s just Twilight. As for this.” Twilight lifted the knife for all of us to see. It was a black, leaf blade knife with a series of holes in the metal where the hilt normally would have been. Etched in the blade was a single symbol, looking like a stretched ‘m’.

“I’m not even sure what we’re dealing with here. I’ve never seen something like this, but it seems familiar. I’ll have to do some research into it before we can draw a proper conclusion.”

“I think we have one lead, though,” I spoke up, getting the attention of those others.

“And what’s that?”

Thinking back to my earlier observation, I told them what I saw. “That pony had no cutie mark.”

Twilight, Midnight, and Rarity’s eyes widened as they themselves realized what that meant.

“But that means…” Rarity said, just above a whisper.

“It couldn’t be…” Midnight mirrored her tone.

Twilight was the one who remained silent, looking over the throwing knife. “First Flare appears, then this cult of Nightmare Moon, and now another strange stallion. All these mysteries leading into one another. More and more questions arise without answers.” She sighed. “Well, we got our work cut out of us, it seems.”

On that, we could all agree.

"Well at least we can trust this guy. He did save our lives and I have a feeling we're going to see him again," I said.

"We should probably start fixing the town here," Rarity suggested.

"Yeah, but look at this place," I said, pointing my hoof at the area around us. "This is going to take us forever."

"No argument there Flare," Midnight said in agreement.