The Brightest Light Casts the Longest Shadows

“Two... don’t do it.” Boss shook her head as she drew a gauntlet of her own with an even larger knife on it. “We will kill you if you-”

“What’s the first rule of fighting?”

“What?”

Two flicked her head tossing her curly mane out of her face. “You’re a half-decent fighter and I know I taught you this. What’s the first rule of fighting?”

“Don’t lose the fight.”

“No, that’s the second rule.” Two sighed. “The first is; always cover your vulnerabilities.”

“Come on Two, just give this up. You’re not going to find any ‘justice...' or whatever it is you want.” Boss was starting to get annoyed and frustrated. She fidgeted and her ears were on the swivel; was she scared?

Two motioned to the gryphoness. “Those two, they’re my vulnerabilities, and this, this is me covering them.”

Doc lowered his head as a blue magical aura covered his horn. His head was aligned with the back of Two’s barrel, half a pace to the left of her flank. He was almost touching her.

Boss continued to try to talk her down. “Two…”

Two lowered her head. “One... I want you to know that no matter what happens next. I’m not sorry for it.”

The wagons were two hundred body lengths out.

Two began. “Twilight…”

Boss tried to interrupt. “No. Twilight, stay or we’ll hurt you and that gryphon. Two... Moonlit Road, you listen to me. You stand-”

“Twilight run!”

One reared up on her hind legs getting out of the way just as Two put her weight on her left front leg and lifted her right front to slash at One’s neck with the blade.

While One returned to her four feet and half-crouched as she pranced to her left -my right- Two stood up straight and rotated her body so that she was facing Boss the whole time.

When Doc’s withers were lined up with her tail I noticed that his head was dropped. I tried to call out to Two. “Two! Watch your-”

But she beat me to reacting, with a swift movement she drew up her rear leg and kicked Doc in his foreleg.

He fell to the ground screaming.

Though Two barely glanced back at Doc, One took the opportunity and charged forward a few steps towards Two. Two sidestepped, nearly hitting me with her tail.

One turned to the side and was next to Doc for a moment before he rolled and thrashed his way away from the fight.

I took a few steps to the side and lit my horn gathering together and compressing a not-insignificant amount of air inside a magical field.

As I did Doc managed to get his legs under his barrel and stand.

He lit his horn. “LIttle rich foal doesn’t know her place.”

I was beginning to think that Doc had something against rich ponies. “And what place would that be?”

He fully stood up and scowled at me. “Below ponies like me. Ponies that deserve to be in charge. Ponies who can take what they-”

I slammed the ball of compressed air into him and he fell to the ground. It may have fractured a few ribs, but it was better than the alternative of him killing or knocking me unconscious.

I looked around and found a rock about half a stride in diameter. With my magic I picked it up and moved it over Doc’s head. “Stay down.”

He lit his horn. “You drop that and we both go up.”

Behind me I was aware that One and Two were still fighting. The convoy was still a hundred body lengths out.

I took a few steps back until I was about four or five body lengths out.

“Agh.” It was a familiar feeling, being slammed into the ground by hooves.

There was a roar, like lightning striking a rod only a few body lengths from your ears and a blast of heat rushed across my face.

When my face hit the ground there was a little gravel, but overall more forgiving than the hard rock of the Canterhorn… that and my horn didn’t get slammed into the ground

The weight pressing down on me left just as quickly as it came, followed almost instantly by a stallion shrieking.

I rolled so that my legs were underneath me and stood. In front of me was a massive fire, reaching almost six body lengths into the sky and stretching to either side. I turned around, directly to my right a pegasus -he had to have been the one who tackled me- was rolling around on the ground trying desperately to put out the fire that engulfed his body. Though I had a few scratches from the fall it appeared that I was unhurt and wasn't on fire, I scrambled to my hooves and galloped away from the fire until I ran into a group of pegasi from the convoy. I locked my legs and managed to slide to a stop.

I turned around. Two was standing over One's body, Doc was nowhere to be seen, the gryphoness and the two prisoners were lying on the ground under the watch of four pegasi from the convoy. The rest of the pegasi from the convoy had formed a semi-circle around us with a radius of about ten body lengths.

My attention was called to Two as she yelled over the screams of the wounded, the movement of the pegasi’s wings and the roar of the fire. “My business here is done! I have no quarrel with you!” She crouched and spread her wings, then jumped into the sky.

“I have a quarrel with you!” Three flew towards her.

Two shook her head sadly and only flapped her wings to maintain her altitude and position. “Think things through little colt. I’m trained to do this, you’re not. It’s why your 'friends' are letting me go; they’re smart enough to realize that I could kill more of them than I’m worth.”

Three looked around and his face seemed to confirm what I already knew; the pegasi were staying well away from Two.

She continued. “That’s right. None of them are willing to help you fight me. So back. Off.”

Three looked around once more, then fell back, did a backwards somersault, extended his wings and glided down to the ground.

Two rotated to the northwest and flew directly into the sun.

Before I could implement my escape plan somepony wrapped their front leg around my neck and dragged me towards the wagons. The ponies pulling them had somehow managed to get them within fifty body lengths in the short time between the explosion and when Two fled.

As we ran away I could feel the heat of the fire on my back.

We ran past the closest wagon and scrambled to turn around when we reached the back of the second one.

There was a small door open at the back of the cart. The stallion and an earth pony mare shoved me in. I fell to the floor and lay on my side, my magic fading away from my grasp instantly. A moment later a shadow filled the door and the gryphoness fell on top of me.

I tried to grasp my magic, but was about as incapable of doing so as an earth pony foal. They must have had a unicorn induce an interference in the iron as they were casting it; it’s not difficult, even a unicorn who failed magical kindergarten could probably do it.

The gryphoness managed to pull herself off me. She dragged me across the floor so that I could rest against the wall.

I nodded in thanks, then turned around when I noticed a few small shafts of light dimly illuminating the interior. I pressed my front hooves and the side of my muzzle against the wall. With my right eye closed all I could see though my left was that the other cart had turned around before us and was now leading the convoy. Behind us the fire raged and continued to grow every second.

Massive pillars of flames and dark grey smoke rose up from the scene.