Secrets

Chapter 9: Secrecy

The setting was dark, the room was small. The cold barrel of a revolver pressed to his forehead. Sitting up on a chair, Wildfire struggled to keep eye-contact with the towering gorgon. Her lips moved, but Wildfire heard no sound. Ignoring the pain permeating every fiber of his body, he focused on the thick, dry lips. Almost like a switch, the sound returned to his ears.

"-Have to thank you for freeing me. I wouldn't be free without you."

Struggling to form the words in his head, Wildfire hissed out a response, "You're right. I freed you by mistake. You should never have escaped the prison." Eyes widening with alarm, the gorgon was shocked when Wildfire leapt out of the seat and pushed the weapon between his legs. It fired off into the floor inches away from his body, before his captor could react, Wildfire grabbed the vile reptile by the neck and pulled both him and herself through the window behind. Freefalling, Wildfire angled his wings, causing the mass to spin the gorgon downwards. Crashing through a shopping stand, the revolver fell feet from them both. The gorgon saw her chance and reached out for it, but Wildfire jumped over her and grabbed it, rolling away. Breaking out into a hobble, he created distance between himself and the snake-riddled monster; who was barely getting up. Turning around, he slumped into a wall. He pointed in the general direction of the gorgon and squeezed the trigger twice. Both shots hit her in the lower chest area, only stunning her slightly. Snapping open the gun, Wildfire saw four more rounds. Looking back up, the gorgon was running at him at full speed. Quickly snapping the gun closed, Wildfire madly pressed the trigger, emptying the clip. The first round hit her in the shoulder, causing the gorgon to stumble slightly. The second and third barely grazed her, much to Wildfire's horror. The fourth one caught her square in the eye socket, turning the charging mass of green into a dead heap that collided harmlessly into his foot. Sighing a breath of relief, he choked when his body warned him that he wasn't exactly in ship-shape. The world turned and threatened to go black, Wildfire's arm flopped down limply to his side, all his energy spent. Closing his eyes, he grasped more solidly onto consciousness. Wildfire noticed the presence of something. Opening his eyes, he-

I'm here. Let's start this. Snow's sudden interruption made Wildfire jump, and he returned to reality. Now standing by the edge of the Everfree, he had been waiting for the canine to show up.

"So what'll it be?"

Let's go off with the usual first. Nodding, Wildfire started a rigorous stretching. Though he found it useless, he needed something to do while Snow set up spells. Feeling his energy tapped into, Wildfire verified to make sure it was the canine.

A blue aura surrounded the animal in question, and the illusion took hold of her body. In front of Wildfire now stood a female white unicorn, holding a large scythe.

"Heh, looks like your magic didn't go soft." She spoke in a clear, determined voice.

"I've only been practising magic my entire life."

"You changed your disguise again. That wasn't there before."

"I figured that would help."

Not answering, Snow instead swung her scythe at Wildfire. Who barely blocked it with his arm, he answered with a kick to the shin. In a blur, Wildfire unsheathed Scourge. Each taking a step back, the duo assumed a stance. Both charged at each other, Wildfire swung low, which Snow simply jumped over. She swung over handed at Wildfire, who sidestepped away. Wildfire swung again, and the unicorn countered with a parry. The two weapons sent showers of sparks as they collided, both bearers trying to overpower the other. A devilish grin came across Snow's face, as if on cue, a large ball of energy formed between the interlocked weapons. The ball grew in size and intensity until it dwarfed Wildfire. He could feel the tug on his magical force as Snow tapped into his reserves. The ball blew outwards in a silent explosion, knocking his sword out of his hands and sending Wildfire flying. Angling his wings, the warrior tried to stabilize himself, but to no avail. Instead, Wildfire curled up into a ball, hoping he wouldn't hit a tree again. He was surprised to feel the crunch of stone on his back, quickly losing his momentum, he rolled to a stop. Getting back up, he noticed that Snow had precariously blew him into Ponyville.

"Cheater." He muttered to himself, followed by the sound of a sword burying itself into stone. Ignoring the surrounding ponies, Wildfire saw Scourge less than forty feet from his left. Before he could take another step, a silent lightning bolt landed right beside him, sending Wildfire stumbling backwards. Not waiting for a second one, he broke into a run for his sword. Out of the corner of his eye, Wildfire saw Snow now perched on a roof. Sprinting towards his sword, Wildfire nimbly ran through the flurry of lightning bolts striking around him. With the surrounding ponies now in a panic, thinking it was a real fight, the warrior reached his intended target. Grabbing the blade, he cartwheeled, freeing it from the ground. Turning around, he drew open his wings. With a kick of his legs and a flap of his wings, Wildfire leapt at the still crouching Snow. Raising her weapon in anticipation, a stream of sparks appeared as Wildfire harmlessly overshot his challenger, only managing a glancing blow. Flipping in midair, Wildfire now faced Snow and dove back down. This resulted in another standstill as both opponents couldn't outplay the other. Shifting his weight, Wildfire pushed the two blades downards. Snow countered by turning the movement into a spiral, gambling that the younger opponent would lose his grip first. Snow was disappointed as Wildfire pushed forward ever so slightly, forcing her to let go. The two weapons flew through the air, Wildfire's sword planting itself into a wall with the scythe precariously balanced onto it. Snow jumped towards the arms, only to be stopped cold as Wildfire wrapped his tail around her hind leg. Wildfire was in turn surprised as she fell off the roof with an audible "Eep!", dragging him along. The duo smacked into the now-empty street with a loud thud, scrambling to get back up. The two assumed a hoof-to-hoof stance, and nodded at each other. Both opened into a flurry of kicks and punches, though neither managed to land any. Wildfire swung hard at Snow, she leaned back barely in time. Feeling herself being pushed back by the wind the swing had generated, Snow grabbed hold of his cape. Pulling hard, Wildfire's face made contact with her fist. Wildfire immediately put his nose into his hooves, groaning loudly. Thinking that she had hurt her friend, Snow approached Wildfire.

"Sorry! Are you alright? I didn't hit you too hard did I?" Snow was answered when Wildfire grabbed her arm and swung it into a circle motion. Having to keep her arm at the proper angle meant trying to keep up with the spin. Wildfire grinned mischievously, and swung his leg at her. Instead of being blocked, this time his leg did a clean sweep of the ground. Carrying the canine off her feet, Wildfire was now standing victorious. He was trying to contain his amusement, a hoof to his mouth. He sat back onto his haunches, his demeanour cracked as he started laughing.

"You STILL fall for that trick? Seven years and you still lose due to some basic move!" Resuming his laughter, some of the ponies peered out of closed stalls, confused. Snow stood back up, wiping the dust off her coat.

"You know I'm just here to make sure you don't blow your top. Fighting is not my specialty." Irritation seeped off the phrase, which only made Wildfire laugh harder. His laughter was interrupted when he felt himself being carried away by a magical force. Craning his neck, he saw a panicked aquamarine unicorn levitating him away from Snow. Groaning loudly, Wildfire protested at being handled against his will.

"What was that for?"

"What was what for? That unicorn was attacking you, that's what that was for!" Wildfire sighed heavily,

"Look, it's just a spar with a friend. She just got careless and almost turned me into a freaking dinner roast!" Directing the last bit towards Snow, she looked away, admiring the shingles of a building. "Hmph, well I won anyways. And I was going easy!"

"Heh, as if. We both know I'd win if I weren't holding back."

Wildfire turned towards Snow, a glimmer in his eyes as he heard the challenge. "I'd beat you in ten seconds flat, there's a reason they call me the Last Shadow." Snow only opened her mouth before she was loudly interrupted by a loud exclamation,

"HANDS!" Wildfire was tackled by the aquamarine unicorn, who was now staring at the adjustments he had made to his disguise. He had reverted his left arm back to it's hand form, so he could handle his sword to a better extent than with a hoof. He adjusted only that part under the assumption that he could get away with it since it was mechanical. And now, the unicorn was holding the arm with both hooves, a wide grin and a strange glimmer in her eyes. "Is it like a glove? Ooh, can I try it?" Not waiting for an answer, she pulled hard on his arm. Both were surprised when she managed to pull off the arm, revealing a concealed stump and a few wires.

"Ow! Stop that!" Quickly letting go, the crazy mare stepped off of Wildfire. Standing back up, he struggled to put the attachment into its proper place. "Great, you pulled it clean out. Now I have to screw it back in."

"S-sorry, I got carried away. Lyra, by the way."

"M-hmm. Nice to meet you 'Lyra' but I'll be going now." The arm still hanging, a few droplets of blood rimmed the stump. Leaning on Snow, the two headed quietly back to Rarity's. Leaving an embarrassed Lyra and a greenish mare trying to console her.

*********

"Oh hello Wildfire, who's th- SWEET CELESTIA! WHAT HAPPENED?!" Snow flinched at Rarity's screaming, Wildfire resisted the urge to do the same. He had no chance to explain whatsoever as Rarity pulled up a sofa and fainted onto it.

"Uh-huh. I'll just go attach this."

Retreating to his room, Wildfire closed the door and locked it.

"You know, I swear that bloody thing was on tighter."

"Eh, it gets loose sometimes, you had problems with it in the past."

"Really?"

"Yeah, it was often worse, you got some blood poisoning once before they switched the joints over to mebrythilium. I still can't believe they let bad quality-iron in there, the thing rusted over into your bloodstream." Wildfire nodded, looked at his arm. Then looked back to Snow and arched his brow. "Oh, right. I never told you how to put it back on did I?" Wildfire shook his head as he let the canine handle the dislocated arm. With a few clicking noises and some adjustments, the engineering marvel now was working again.

"Thanks."

"Think nothing-" of it. In a white haze, Snow reverted back to her natural form. With a lazy stretch, the wolf settled down into a pile of sheets. You seem troubled.

"Nothing, really. Just a flashback."

A new one? Wildfire only nodded. Well, it's been a while since you had some memory come back. You still don't remember everything do you?

"No, and it scares me. Sometimes I feel like a different person, sometimes, the whispers get louder all of a sudden. Why did the ritual strip me of my memories?"

It would not have changed you had it done otherwise. It cleansed your mind, giving you the second chance you wanted. If you had all your memories, you'd be sobbing about how much our spar resembled a fight with a certain someone. Sighing heavily, he knew that he would not get any more information from Snow. She HAD been sworn to secrecy after all. Only divulging information when she had to. Both heads turned to the sound of knocking on their door.