City of Emona
Cloud Runner

“Alright, up and out already!” Cosmo shouted as I hauled myself onto the floor above.

“I can only move so fast!” I yelled back as I grabbed Sky and hauled her up. “Do we even have a plan?”

“Probably not.” Sky muttered.

“Of course we do!” Cosmo yelled as he scrambled up onto the floor and got to his feet. “Don’t we Sky?”

“He’s got nothing.”

“What? Yes I do!”

Sky rolled her eyes. “He still does it.”

“Does what?” I asked.

“Flies by the seat of his pants.” She retorted. “So as usual Cosmo probably doesn’t have the slightest idea of what to do.”

“Well I’m sorry, who gave you the right to be critical?” Cosmo asked.

“Oh please, just look outside!” Sky demanded. “We’re in the heart of a warzone for crying out loud!”

I felt an urge to look outside and confirm Sky’s assertion, but the gunfire and far-off sounding explosions were proof enough for me. “She’s probably right.” I pointed out.

Cosmo deadpanned once he realized that the two of us weren’t in his corner. “Care to give me some ideas then?”

“Uh… I got nothing.” Sky replied.

“Then why are you doubting me?” Cosmo asked.

“Because I know you.”

“Quiet critic!”

At least my helmet is on, because I get a feeling I’d get smacked if Sky or Cosmo caught me rolling my eyes. “How about we just get to City Hall and go from there?”

“That works.” Cosmo replied.

I turned and made it to the door that led to the plaza. On the other side, with his back turned, was a Griffin sentry. He was otherwise occupied with firing his rifle at a mixed group of Humans and Royal Guards. “What should we do about this joker?” I asked.

Cosmo shrugged then pulled out his pistol. “I’ll take care of it.” But he didn’t have to. Outside came the sound of yelling, muffled to the point of gibberish by the door, and the sentry took off running towards the city hall.

“Wow…” Sky droned. “Great job Cosmo.”

“Oh, put a sock in it.” He spat.

I pushed the banter to the side swung the door open and walked outside. The shouting had stopped right as I opened the door, but judging by the Griffons running towards city hall I could safely wager that they were recalled to defend De Witt. But against what, the three of us and some soldiers? “I think they’re overreacting.”

The three of us just stood on the sidewalk staring at the mob of Griffon sentries trying to take up positions at the entrance to the City Hall. Then the door swung open, and a lanky hooded griffon stepped out into the early morning sunlight. Around his neck was a silver pendant with a green gem sitting at its heart. “Oh shit…” Cosmo muttered.

“Tell me Ranger-” De Witt’s voice boomed across the plaza “-Did you come here seeking some sort of vengeance, or did my first lesson not stick? Maybe a few more of your friends getting dismembered might drive my point home?”

“We didn’t get a syllabus or anything last time, so we didn’t know what to study.” Sky yelled.

“What are you doing?” Cosmo muttered.

“Taunting him.” Sky quietly retorted.

“Is that wise?”

“Hell if I know.”

“Are you two done yet?” De Witt called out as he flipped his hood back. The silver metal that plated the side of his head glittered in the sunlight as it finally became visible. In a flash De Witt disappeared, reappearing a few feet in front of us. “Well wait a minute… Didn’t I clip your wings?”

Sky flared hers our ever so slightly as a scowl crossed her face. “You didn’t do that good of a job.”

“Hmm… Curious.” He muttered as his glare turned to my helmeted face. “Cloud Runner, was it?”

I primed the lasers on my gauntlets and tensed my wings up to the sound of crackling electricity. “What’s it to ya?” I spat.

“I have to admit I’m quite impressed.” De Witt replied. “Most weaker minds would have crumbled by now. Yet I see two of my old lessons standing tall before me as if nothing ever happened… I obviously misjudged the two of you.”

“How so?” Sky questioned as she reached for the knife on her belt.

“Clearly the two of you are made of sterner stuff.” He answered. “Although the Ranger should get some credit. He obviously saw in you two what I’ve missed.”

“I’m sorry, but you’re saying this numbskull is a good judge of character?” Sky retorted.

“I may not be perfect my dear, but I can appreciate the strengths of my adversaries.” De Witt replied as the smell of ozone began to waft through my helmet’s air filters. “Your friend can do so as well. The Ranger isn’t one to surround himself with allies under normal circumstances.”

“I’d wouldn’t call an invasion normal.” Cosmo spat over the near-silent click of the hammer on his revolver.

“Cosmo, watch yourself.” I cautioned.

“Why?” He muttered.

“Because your friend is rather perceptive.” De Witt answered, and the gem in the heart of his Alicorn Amulet began to glow and spark. “But now it’s time for you three to die.”

“Shit, get down!” I yelled. I grabbed Cosmo and Sky and tackled them to the sidewalk. The ‘umpth’ of the impact was the signal I needed and my eyes clenched shut. There was crackling of magic all around us before silence set over the plaza.

“Are we dead?” Sky whispered.

“I don’t think so.” Cosmo whispered back. “Cloud, say something.”

“Uh…” I started thinking and finally an image popped into my head. “Waffles?”

“What!?” Cosmo hollered. “That’s what you’re coming up with? Waffles?”

“Yup. We’re all definitely alive.” I answered as I scrambled to my feet. But why? I could smell the air through the vents in my helmet, so logically De Witt threw a shit-ton of power at us. I turned to face the old Griffon and was met with a Guard wearing golden armor. And do I mean gold; this stuff looked as bright as the sun under the flickering light of a white shield spell that stood between us and De Witt. “Uh, who’s that?”

Cosmo got up and holstered his revolver. “That’s Meteor.”

“The General? I’m sorry but since when could he can do that?” I asked, the bewilderment that carried along with my words clear even to me.

The shield dropped to reveal De Witt’s devilish grin. “Well this is interesting.” He said. “I distinctly remember removing your horn from your head Meteor.”

“Then you did a piss poor job.” The General replied. “I see that your taste in jewelry hasn’t changed.”

“Why should it?”

“Because it’ll breed imitators.” His hands went to his pouch and out came a near identical amulet to the one that De Witt was wearing, with a deep red gem in the place of the green one in De Witt’s.

“Please Meteor, you know not to play with dark magic. Leave it to an expert like me.” De Witt chided.

“I could say the same for you.” He clipped the amulet to a chain already around his neck; the gem flashed and the General’s eyes began to emit a red haze. “Cosmo, you and your team need to keep those sentries off me.”

“What are you going to do General?” Cosmo asked while sounding a bit concerned.

The mist in the General’s eyes became a darker shade of red as his clenched fists began to glow. “Something good-” he charged forward and wailed De Witt with an uppercut from his left and jumped back “-Something bad-” with his magic the General grabbed a pile of dirt off the sidewalk and slung it right into De Witt’s eyes as the Griffion tried to stagger back to a stable footing “-and a bit of both!” The General reared back and landed a high kick right in the center of De Witt’s chest, sending the Griffon soaring backwards before he rolled to a stop on the cobblestone a good twenty feet away.

“Should we do something?” I asked as the General stalked off towards the downed Griffon.

As the General picked up De Witt and tossed him the rest of the way across the plaza I heard Cosmo clicking his tongue. “Maybe?” He said, making his statement sound more like a question.

“Try not to think about it-” Sky insisted. “-because we’ve got incoming!”

Sky wasn’t kidding. Three heavily armored sentries were rushing across the plaza towards the three of us. I noticed a blinking set of two green in the bottom left corner of my heads up display; emitters ready. I glanced down at my wrists and saw the pulsing orange light coming from a two points right on the back of my hands. Finally the realization that I had turned the weapons on hit home like a sack of bricks. “I got em’!” I lifted my left hand towards the closest of the sentries and flicked my wrist. The orange-red lance of light caught the Sentry in the middle of his chest, followed by a shower of the same color sparks flying out of his back before he crumpled to the ground. The other two stopped in their tracks and looked to their fallen comrade. The body had landed face down, revealing the smoldering and melted armor on his back for all to see.

“You’re just full of surprises Cloud…” Cosmo muttered as he pulled his pistol out once more.

BANG BANG

The other two Sentries dropped right to the ground with their fallen comrade. Not that I know where Cosmo hit them, but he got the job done. My attention was more focused on the far side of the courtyard. “The General wanted us to keep the sentries off his back, right?” I asked as I scanned the face of city hall.

“Sure was, unless I was hearing things.” Sky answered.

My glare finally caught the glint of something shiny and metallic in an open window. “Then let’s actually do our jobs.” I flared out my wings and swung them down hard, with the thrusters on the back of my armor doing the rest of the work once I was in the air and speeding towards the city hall. As I got closer the shape of a Griffon in the shadows started growing clearer, as did the sniper rifle he was aiming at the General. Everything began to move slower by the time I reached the window, but the sniper made no indication that he had notice my rapid approach. I could feel the wood of the window frame splinter against my armor. Glass tinkered off my armor and for a split second, the sniper knew I was there. I felt a thud as my shoulder smacked into his head, and everything immediately began moving at normal speed as I landed on my feet and skidded to a stop in the middle of an empty office.

I turned around and saw the sniper slouched over a chair. Judging from the shoulder-sized indent in his head he won’t be getting up again. But his rifle had landed on the ground in a nearly undamaged state. With red and green light flashing outside I scooped it up and took up a spot at the broken window. The General and De Witt were brawling in the middle of the plaza with all the fireworks one could expect from ponies using ancient magical artifacts. I clicked my radio on and wedged myself into the broken frame. “Cosmo, can you hear me?”

“I hear you Cloud.”

I made note of De Witt’s position; he was too close to the General to risk a shot. “See if you can get De Witt to back off the General.”

***

Emona City Hall Plaza
Cosmo

“You want me to do WHAT?” I yelled.

“Just get De Witt away from the General so I can make a clean shot.”

“So we’re supposed to walk out and get between two demigods? Ya, that’ll work.” Sky snorted.

“We’ve done crazier things before.” I reminded Sky.

“That doesn’t make it any easier!” She retorted.

“And it shouldn’t.” I replied as I started walking towards the brawling titans. By this point the General was on the defense as he constantly used shield spells to block De Witt’s hammer-like blows. As I got closer I could feel shockwaves ripple through the air around me, and the smell of ozone got stronger as I got closer to the magical epicenter of the brawl.

“Come on you pansy, you can do better than that!” The General goaded under De Witt’s barrage.

I saw De Witt twitch as a smirk grew across his face. “You’re right. I can.” His facial expression changed once again, this time to one of intense concentration. Electricity began to crackle across his hands faster and faster until he opened his now glowing eyes. Then he threw a punch that broke through the General’s shield spell as if it was wet paper. He had time to realize what had just happened before the fist smashed into his chest.

I could feel the shockwave from the blow and could only watch in horror as the General flew backwards across the plaza and crashed through the wall of one of the stores that lined the far side. “Fuck…”

De Witt turned to face me and smirked once more. “So I take it you wish to try your luck Ranger?”

I staggered my feet and put my fists up in a defensive manner. “I could ask you the same question.”

“But where’s the challenge in that?” De Witt asked.

“I don’t know, but we’ll find that out pretty quick.”

De Witt lunged forward and tried to stomp down on one of my feed. I slid out of the way as his boot left a small crater in the cobblestone. I saw his left arm begin to swing up and stepped back just in time to miss an uppercut that would’ve easily broken my jaw. “Stay still!” He shouted as he swing his hand out to smack me across the face, an arc which I ducked under to deliver my own hook to De Witt’s chin.

As my knuckles compressed under the force of my strike I realized something; De Witt’s head didn’t move.

At all.

In the split second it took me to come to this realization I felt De Witt grab my collar, followed by the sensation of tumbling as he tossed me up into the air. I saw the blue cloudless sky over the city before I felt a clenched set of fists come crashing down on my gut, sending me hurtling down to the cobblestone. I felt a tinge of pain run around my side as I came to my crashing stop on the cobblestone. “I must admit, I didn’t think that you were that ballsy my dear Ranger.”

“I have my moments.” I groaned.

I tried to sit up but a boot planted itself on my throat and held me down. “And those moments are rather annoying.” De Witt replied. “But I won’t have that problem again.” He pulled a human-designed pistol off the back of his belt and slid a loaded magazine into its hilt. I tried to force his boot away from my neck so I could put some distance between myself and the evident danger I was staring at.

TINK!

Something hit De Witt’s pistol and knocked it out of his hand. When it clattered to the ground next to my head I could see the bullet that had lodged into the side of the barrel out of the corner of my eye. “Well that’s a problem.” De Witt muttered.

I felt De Witt’s boot let off my neck slightly as he turned about trying to find where the shot had come from. It was just enough for me to grab his leg and toss him off me. The Griffon stumbled back a few feet, steadying himself by the time I was back up. “You’re right. It is.”

TINK!

This time I saw the impact from the bullet. It hit square against the side of De Witt’s amulet and let loose a shower of sparks. De Witt seemed to panic and grabbed the sparking piece of jewelry. “No no no!” He muttered.

I felt my fur stick up on the back of my neck before someone grabbed my collar. “Time to go!” There was a flash of light that blinded me, and by the time it faded I realized that I was standing on a rooftop surrounded by Human and Equestrian soldiers. “Don, where’s our air support?”

I turned around in time to see Cloud Runner land on the roof next to the grizzled officer. “Paris will be on station inside a minute.”

“Did Baxter remember the high explosive rounds this time?” Meteor Shower asked from behind me.

“Paris, did you catch that?”

“Affirmative.” Came a voice over the radio as a long shadow grew over the courtyard, followed by a low humming from above us. I looked up, and after the events of today I couldn’t help but feel relief to see that the all too familiar shape of the Paris came a stop a few hundred feet above Emona.

“Don, am I on with the captain?” Meteor asked. The trooper tossed him a radio and nodded. “Captain, this is General Shower. I’m authorizing direct aerial bombardment, target will be marked.”

“Copy that General, we’re ready and waiting.”

“Light him up Don”

The human got up and unclipped a device that looked like a pistol from his belt. “Tremble to Paris, be advised that fire mission is danger-close.” Aside from the grip the similarities with a gun ended there; the back had a screen flanked by an eyepiece that looked more at home on the back of a rifle scope. He held held the trigger down with a click and a green beam shot out from the end of the device, down at the still flailing De Witt in the plaza. After a few seconds the device emitted a loud beep and the beam disappeared. “You can fire when ready.”

I looked up at the Paris and squinted. Along the underside of of the ship four turrets spun forward and angled straight at De Witt. “Isn’t this overkill?” I asked.

“Not even close.” Don retorted. “Now hold onto your teeth!”

While I didn’t hear anything as the first round left the barrel of the Paris’s cannon, I heard a whistling as it sailed past, followed by a deafening thud that left my ears ringing. By the time the second round landed I came to my senses and jammed my fingers into my ears. Instead of explosions I could hear the thuds of the high explosive rounds smacking into the ground one after another in a constant succession. I lost track of how many rounds sailed by the time I hit fifteen. But as soon as the barrage began it ended. There was plenty of dust that was kicked up, obscuring the plaza below us. I took my fingers out of my ears and noticed that the ringing had stopped. The only thing I could hear was the wind whistling through the streets below us and the hum of the Paris’ engines. “Did that do it?” I asked.

No one answered. Instead the small mob of us stood on the rooftop looking down into the dust-ridden plaza below. For a brief moment I felt the wind pick up and the dust began to blow away. As it cleared, it became more and more apparent that there was a Griffon standing in the destruction.

De Witt had stayed standing through the Paris’ bombardment.

Even with that in mind he was far from spotless. The old Griffon was bloodied, beaten and burnt. I could see sparks coming off what was left of his amulet from the perch we stood on. “What now?” I asked.

“I don’t know.” Meteor said as he shook his head in disbelief. “That bombardment was my trump card.” We didn’t have to wait long for a solution to present itself. In a flash of pale lavender light a bloodied unicorn teleported in. “Isn’t that Specter?”

“Damn right it is.” Comet noted. “Shouldn’t he still be out of commission?”

“Why, what happened?” The General asked.

“He took a knife to the gut.” I spat. Looking down at him it appeared that he was holding a small olive colored ball. I saw him flick something away from it and I realized what he was carrying. “He’s got a-”

BANG!

I didn’t flinch when the grenade went off. It knocked De Witt to the ground and sent Specter’s limp body tumbling back across the courtyard. I watched as the Griffon got up and noticed that the amulet wasn’t around his neck anymore. It was in pieces on the ground. “Quick, now’s our chance!” I yelled. I charged up and released a teleport spell that put me down right next to the beaten avian. “Miss me?” I sarcastically asked before slugging De Witt across the beak.

He tried to swing back but his fist was caught by Comet’s armored hand. “You’ve got to do better than that.” As De Witt tried to back away Comet whipped him around and wrenched his arm up into his back.

As troopers poured out of surrounding buildings I felt a bit relieved. With De Witt under control I could turn my attention to Specter. I found him sprawled out on his back about twenty feet away, missing his right arm that was holding the grenade. He was bleeding profusely, but was still breathing albeit at a labored pace. “Did we win?” He whispered.

I looked back to Cloud just in time to see the armored stallion slap a pair of handcuffs on the Griffon war criminal. “Ya. I think we did.”

“I hope it was worth it.” The young stallion muttered.

Two medics finally came rushing over and pushed me away from Specter. “I hope it was too.” I muttered in reply.

Author's Note

And that does it... The Battle of Emona is over! De Witt is in custody of the Equestrians, but don't expect things to be that simple in the final chapter, Worth. With all said and done it'll be an examination of the mental costs of a traumatic event. Keep in mind that both Sky and Comet haven't shown their scars outwardly, simply because the circumstances have kept them from dealing with their issues.

In the meantime, anyone got questions? Like what you're seeing so far? Hell, maybe have some gripes? There's a comment section and the Mirrorverse Codex. Read and comment away, because I want to hear from you fellow denizens of this corner of the internet. Until next time gang!
-Striker