Chapters Bright Haze: The Sky Dwellers
I woke up on a very wet and uncomfortable, ponies were looking hopefully at me and I ached all over, there were many beings looking onto me smiling, three Alicorns, which I knew, Princess Celestia, Princess Luna, and my good friend, the white pony who cannot fly nor use magic, but was one of the bravest ponies I have ever met. Next were some unicorns, Rarity and Twilight Sparkle, then two Earth ponies; Applejack and Pinkie Pie, a giant serpent from Everfree Forest and his best friend, a magical talking knife, Nick. Then I looked onto the three Pegasi, Fluttershy, my once mentor Rainbow Dash, and, my wife. Derpy.
"Dee?" I asked, everypony cheered suddenly and Derpy nodded and came in close and kissed me.
"How do you fell Haze?" Luna asked. I thought about it and felt around me, then realised the wetness I was laying on was my own blood, I tried to move away but Celestia held me down.
"Do not move Haze, you are still hurt, we will take you inside the city once you are stable." Celestia said.
"I don't care, what, what happened to me?" I asked, not entirely sure, memories were present, but not everything, I didn't remember the Earth pony standing beside Heart Breaker.
"What was the last thing you remember?" Celestia asked, I replied but instantly forgot. I tried again in case I was just going crazy. However it looked like everypony had moved slightly, like I missed something.
"I remember, fighting the Changelings, then rushing in to save Luna and then passing out." I said. Celestia nodded.
"You were in a war Bright Haze and you, along with your friends and the other defenders, managed to break the enemy army and send them running. However things have changed, a group of Pegasi, the Sky Dwellers are enemies of Equestria and we were on a very delicate peace treaty which was destroyed when the Changelings attacked a Dweller fort and they believed it to be our doing, I have reason to believe that even now the Sky Dwellers are preparing for war and shall send a declaration of war as soon as their army is ready." Celestia said, then paused, Luna looked to her big sister and nodded.
"I need you, we need you my little ponies, one last time to go into Dweller territory and kill their king in fair combat, winner gets Equestria." Celestia said. Everypony was silent.
Rainbow Dash was watching Bright Haze as he lay on the bed, Celestia kept asking him questions and then gave him the relevant memory she had not given him or given wrong in an error in the casting. Blood was ozing down the bed side and he began to squirm when he realised what he was laying in, scars were all over his body and he looked like he could sleep a month, everypony could most likely, even Nick probably, if he did sleep. Well being a magically controlled knife he sort of did anything he wanted with Steven the giant ass serpent from the Everfree forest. Rainbow looked to Derpy and when she gave Bright Haze a hug and kiss; Rainbow had, mixed, feelings. Aeb stood next to Heart Breaker and as far as Dash could tell, Haze hadn't noticed the Changeling nor the fact that Dari was dead, maybe Celestia had given him Dari's memory and that of them 'meeting Aeb', the story was he is an Earth pony from Manehatten that joined during the war. Dash couldn't tell how Haze felt, he had a complete poker face on like he was trying to remember something, anything. His cutie mark was covered in blood and made the sword and shield look very brutal and scary, rather than the symbol which had not only saved his life, but proved that Bright Haze was a pony here to protect Equestria. He was the element of Sacrifice, not that anypony had even looked at the elements since Discord's defeat. Rainbow Dash, despite him saving all their lives, didn't trust Aeb. The old saying "Keep your friends close, but your enemies closer" came to Dashie's mind. Bright Haze finished talking to Celestia and then she said something shocking.
"-Winner gets Equestria." She said, Rainbow Dash had her mouth wide open, after everything the group had been through, Celestia now had the nerve to ask them to go back through the Everfree and face a king of one of the most warrior, barbaric race in all of Equestria and beyond?
"I know this is a big ask but I wouldn't unless I knew you could win. Thankfully the Sky Dweller capital is far away from the Everfree and you need to go away from it rather than into it."
"So into dragon land?" Twilight asked, Celestia was silent and after a few moments of pause, nodded.
"We can't do it." Dash found herself saying, all eyes on her. She gulped a little but remembered her pride and courage. "After all we just went through, not even a full day later you ask us, normal ponies to go back into not the Everfree mind, but fucking dragon lands?" Dash shouted, Celestia looked pissed but otherwise said nothing.
"Well fair combat is between one pony, I'll go." Haze said, everypony gasped and Rainbow instantly saw what Celestia had done.
"I think Celestia and I need to chat." Rainbow said, holding in her rage. Derpy nodded, also seeing.
"Yeah, just the three of us. Your highness." Derpy Hooves said, Celestia looked to Luna who was also incredibly mad, she just gave a glare and pushed Celestia away from the group, Rainbow and Dee followed.
Princess Luna looked back to everypony and saw that they all knew as well, except Haze.
"YOU DIDN'T GIVE HIM HIS MEMORY THAT HE IS INCREDIBLY HURT AND IN NO CONDITION TO FIGHT?" Rainbow Dash yelled.
"I knew none of you would accept, I know this is hard for you but Equestria needs you all once more." Celestia replied, completley calm.
"What did you do with all that magic Celestia?" Derpy asked, calmly.
"Memories, you knew that." Celestia replied. "Why?"
"BECAUSE YOU MISSED THE FACT THAT HE IS FUCKING HURT AND COULD OF DIED, YOU MISSED LOADS OUT, SO WHAT THE FUCK DID YOU USE THAT MAGIC FOR?" Derpy shouted, much louder than Rainbow's and even a guard walked in.
"Are you okay your highness?" He asked, Celestia just nodded and he walked away.
"So?" Rainbow asked.
"Healing him. He was dying by some magical poison the Changelings must have given him, I found out about it when we were healing him but had no way of stopping it without a vast amount of magic, and even with the stuff I had after the important memories were given, I have only managed to slow the effects, it is like a bomb inside him, if it goes unstable, he will explode." Celestia said.
"But why would the Changelings do that?" Dash asked.
"Fear of losing a weapon, or they were going to use him as a giant magical bomb that would destroy any area he happened to be, if their plan worked, Canterlot. The blast would bring down the mountain, crushing three or four towns below." Celestia replied.
"Is there any way to cure it?" Derpy asked, crying.
"Yes but I need a lot of magic, that is why I asked you to go to the Sky Dweller capital, to kill the king and bring back his helmet, inside are gemstones I can use to store magic, then gather a huge supply and cure him." Celestia said. "But no matter what, you must bring those gems home, even if you fail to kill him, get that crown." Celestia added sternly.
"So this is to save Bright Haze?" Derpy asked. Celestia nodded.
"I'm in, when do we leave?" Rainbow Dash said quickly, ready for another long march into unknown lands facing unknown threats and enemies.
Bright Haze: The Sky Dwellers
We were stood at the ruined gates of Canterlot and we all were now in armour and held spears and crossbows, saddles were packed with food and water and we were ready to go.
"Hey you guys ready for this?" I heard Twilight ask.
"Once more into danger." Heart Breaker replied, my memories were still blurred and I had a splitting headache. I must have done some sort of face or indicated I was in pain because I felt Rainbow Dash hug me softly.
"What was that for?" I asked, she smiled and winked at me.
"Just seemed hurt." She said seriously.
"My head hurts like shit." I admitted.
"Ah its okay. You will be fine soon." She replied, then I heard a shout from somewhere above.
"Rainbow!" A voice shouted, everypony stopped to look. The call got louder and closer, then I spotted a dark blue Pegasus much like myself flying toward use.
"Rainbow!" He shouted and got close enough to land, and did. He was dark blue, a slightly different shade to me and had shorter wings as well, he had tough looking hooves rather than the squishy things I had, his cutie mark was Ying and Yang and the Pegasus had brown coloured hair with two black strips just barely visible. He had sorrow in his eyes and fear, something was up.
"Spectra?" Rainbow asked, so she knew who this pony was. Rainbow looked confused and bewildered, obviously this particular pony wasn't where he should be. "I thought you were in Cloudsdale?" She asked.
"I was." Spectra replied, panting, completely out of breath. "But the city, it is under attack, by, golden armoured ponies, they are swarming the place!" He cried, Rainbow Dash had a blind moment where she processed what he said then jumped.
"What do you mean? Attacked?" She asked.
"These Pegasus, flow in and just started to slaughter everypony, soldier or filly. Hundreds are dead and many who tried to escape were shot down, luckily I managed to escape through the old valve in the factory." He replied.
"That is still open? If it is I am closing it myself, burning every last piece." Rainbow said with pure hatred.
"No it closed almost a month ago, wouldn't tell from the state of the place, completely falling apart."
"Good." Rainbow said with no pause what so ever.
"What are you going to do?" Spectra asked, Rainbow thought then Spectra noticed everypony else.
"Hello, I am Spectra Speed, some of you I already know." He said, sadness in his voice.
"I am Bright Haze, Element of Sacrifice and friend of Rainbow Dash and everyone present." I replied, then everypony else introduced themselves, Spectra was surprised we had a serpent on our side and nearly flow away to the hills when the knife started to talk.
"My name is Nick, nice to meet you." Nick said, putting an arm out to hoof shake. Spectra hesitated.
"I might cut myself, sorry Nick." He replied.
"Don't worry about it, will you be joining us or going to bugger off?" Nick said, Rainbow coughed to hint for the knife to shut up, who did.
"Yeah, if I am allowed." He replied then looked to Rainbow who pointed at me.
"The more the merrier." I said, only then realising that was the worst choice of words possible. Rainbow indicated she wanted me and wondered off. "Er, go put on some armour Spectra, I will be right back, Heart Breaker, Nick, with me." I said.
"So what's up with Spectra?" Heart Breaker asked, Rainbow Dash checked no pony else was around.
"He watched his family die at a young age and was living rough in Manehatten for years alone before he came to Ponyville and I let him crash in my place, he went to Cloudsdale to be a weather pony there but I never heard any more since then from him, until now." Rainbow replied.
"Ah, I see now, so what is the plan?" Nick asked. We were all silent.
"Do we ever have a plan?" Heart Breaker asked.
"Not with dealing with the threat of war, no, but what do we do, go to Cloudsdale and risk losing the kings location or leave it and risk Equestria being destroyed whilst we are gone?" Rainbow Dash asked.
"We can't risk the Sky Dwellers taking Cloudsdale but a defence would take too long. We have no choice, we either go and doom us all or stay and give the Dwellers more time to prepare their main army." I said.
"We could vote, who wants to go?" Nick asked, then raised his hand, nopony else did.
"We need to think of solutions to this, we can't stay and we can't go." Heart Breaker said.
"Unless we split up. There are easily eleven of us now, six stay, five go. Simple. The less amount of people we have infiltrating the Dweller city means we won't be found as easy, I opt I take all the Pegasi, so Rainbow, mysself, Fluttershy, Aeb and Heart Breaker, to go to the city, and the others to go to Cloudsdale and defend Equestria here." I suggested.
"No, Take Nick and Twilight, myself and Fluttershy will stay here, you may need Nick in the Dwellen lands to scout around in his small size, and Twilight will help Heart Breaker be able to walk on the clouds when the time comes and can also help you defend yourself against the king with magic." Rainbow said.
"Okay then, so us five shall go into the Sky Dweller lands and defeat this king bastard whilst you six stay here and defend Cloudsdale and the surrounding area, seems like a plan. We all ready to go back and then split up?" Nick asked.
Everypony nodded.
"Wait, what about Spectra?" I asked quickly.
"Ah, Twilight can cast Heart Breakers cloud spell now and Spectra can go with you guys, be nice." Rainbow replied looking at me and Nick.
"Wouldn't dream of being mean, lets go." I replied and we wondered off to gather our two groups.
Bright Haze: The Sky Dwellers
We had now split up from everypony else and were heading down the road around Ponyville and heading toward a group of large mountains, Celestia had given us a map showing we had a very long road, down here, over the mountains, across a big lake thing and through some damn desert, before going into another valley and finding the floating city the Sky Dwellers were in, consisting of a lot of flying, and considering not all of us could fly, or even ponies, it would be hard to find it. Luckily Aeb had done something and now had grown some wings and Heart Breaker could walk on clouds and had had his horn turned invisible, so through logic, if we gathered some Dwellen armour, we could fit right in. Except Nick who hated the idea of pretending to be a normal knife. He had even done some long speech about how he had been thrown into the Everfree through magic and had been born, through magic, and despite how strange he seemed, he was here and going to stay a talking knife, no matter what.
Some how, Celestia wouldn't mention why or how, but she had two sets of Dweller armour all ready, which myself and Spectra were now wearing. I was walking next to Heart Breaker, who had Nick ridding on his back and Aeb was close behind next to Spectra. Five of us against a whole kingdom to end a war. Great ratio.
"So, Spectra." I said without turning my head. "What did you do in Manehatten?" I asked, thinking out my words carefully.
"Promise not to hate me?" He replied, 'what a weird response.' I thought.
"Promise." I replied.
"I was an illegal, drug dealer." That last bit was a bit quiet. I smiled a bit.
"Well that's in the past now my friend." I said and saw Spectra twitch at the word 'friend'.
"That's just what Rainbow Dash said when I told her." Spectra replied.
"There was a lot of drug use where I came from, and murders, and, well, it wasn't a nice place." Heart Breaker muttered, probably louder than intended.
"Oh, where did you live? Before joining us?" I asked, Heart Breaker paused and looked at me, like he was trying to find something.
"Er, Las Pegasus" He replied slowly.
"Yeah well now you are with us, five against an army, suicidal odds." I replied laughing.
"What of you Aeb, where did you come from?" Spectra asked cautiously, apparently he hasn't noticed Aeb's wing difference and not found the link that he was a good Changeling. The now made Pegasus mubbled and looked confused, it was Nick who saved him.
"He is from Ponyville, been there all his Pegasus life haven't you?" Nick said, Aeb nodded, thankful.
"Hm, never saw you when I was with Rainbow Dash." Spectra said.
"I never saw you either, I was staying with Fluttershy most of my life after leaving my parents house, and moved in with Rainbow when she taught me to fly." I replied, that didn't seem right, like, I still couldn't remember my parents, or my birth city. Weird.
"Well I left for Cloudsdale about two years ago. So you probably moved in when I left I guess." Spectra said, trying to figure the times out.
"That'll be it then, I was only with Rainbow a few months, working in the market with AJ until the Nightmare Moon incident, where we all found out about the Elements and then later, Discord's defeat." I explained.
"Ah yes, everypony heard about that one, how you sonic rainboomed Discord of the Tip of the World and crashed down into the ground, killing him." Spectra said.
"Aye, after that I don't remember much, apparently I was dead for two weeks until I awoke again and joined the fight at Canterlot in repelling the Changelings."
"Ah yes, the Changeling war, we had to deal with them at Cloudsdale as well. But repelled them easy enough, hundreds were killed though, even a Wonderbolt fell, Soarin, I believe."
"Ah shit, Rainbow will be in for a shock when they arrive then." Heart Breaker said. Aeb flow over me and landed the other side of me, Spectra rushed forward to keep up.
"Thanks Nick." Aeb said.
"Don't mention it, you are a friend, as long as you are on our side then I will stay friends." Nick replied. Aeb smiled and I winked at him.
"Hey Aeb, sorry for this but, were you at the battle of Canterlot, or Cloudsdale?" I asked quietly, Aeb looked down and for a bit I didn't think he would answer.
"I was at Canterlot, fighting for the wrong side, I never killed no ponies but I may have wounded one, never meant too, always been fighting the HiveMind but never broke away until the Everfree moment." He replied, nodding, he seemed glad to get that out of his mind. I nodded my thanks and we continued to walk.
Bright Haze: The Sky Dwellers
Rainbow had her head down and wings up, she looked to the ground in shame and confusement, muttering to herself so low even she didn't know what she was saying. It wouldn't be long until they reached Cloudsdale, the group had been given about a hundred elite guards all with armour and weaponry. Rainbow herself had her spear and the same armour she had worn countless times now. Steven was the giant among the group and had some pieces of re-forged armour on but his scales would deflect most of the blows. He had, accidentally broken a tree and was using it as some club weapon. Rainbow, if she didn't know Steven was as bad as Fluttershy in battle, would have been happy he was on their side, but would have preferred if the Bloody Skulls were here. She would have preferred a lot of things. She must have groaned or something for Twilight overheard. Or just noticed Rainbow seemed depressed.
"What's wrong Rainbow Dash?" She asked. The cyan Pegasus looked to her friend.
"Nothin'" Dashie replied. Twilight laughed and walked faster to keep pace of Rainbow.
"I know that's a lie, come on, talk to me." Twilight said, Rainbow Dash hesitated but then took a deep breath.
"Well, its just, Spectra, we never broke up." Rainbow said, blushing already.
"I know."
"And I haven't spoken to him for months, if not years."
"I know."
"And since Bright Haze has been in Ponyville, I have had. Feelings for him.-" Rainbow said, then shook her head. "-Hell i even forgot about Spectra til now, I have gathered feelings for Haze, even though he is with Derpy Hooves." Rainbow said, Twilight nodded.
"I know." Was all she said.
"What do you mean?" Rainbow asked, confused.
"We have all had feelings for Bright Haze, I will admit, it seems weird, but all of us have. Same with Heart Breaker, I will admit, but they are for different mares Rainbow, just like you and Spectra are made. You love each other, you are both bound to like somepony else at one point or another, it is just life, you will figure it out Rainbow. Just don't lose Derpy as a friend over it, or anypony else." Twilight said. Rainbow was in awe.
"Thank you Twi, means a lot." Rainbow replied.
"Yep, "an acount on stallions, mares and love in general, chapter six, if you want it." Twilight replied. Rainbow laughed and they moved on. However their smiles soon were lost...
An hour or two passed and the sky city could be seen, burning. Rainbow thought it was just some trick, her mind being so tired, but no, everypony saw, Cloudsdale had fallen and the Sky Dwellers had been victorious.
"No!" Rainbow shouted, already running toward the city, wings flapping, she didn't manage to take off though as AJ had tackled her.
"Let me go!" Rainbow screamed, trying to break free, anger in Dash's eyes and hatred in her soul.
"No Rainbow, not until you stop. There is no gain in killing yourself." Applejack replied calmly, holding Rainbow down.
"They fucking burned it! I will kill them all! That was my school, my home! They destroyed it!" Rainbow shouted, crying.
"Rainbow, we will get revenge, Haze and the others are now on their way to kill the king, we will win this war." Aplejack said.
"Incoming!" Somepony shouted and everypony disbanded, a flaming rock was shooting from the sky, and behind it, the Sky Dweller army.
"Dwellers!" Somepony else said as the fiery rock smashed home, thankfully killing nopony.
Applejack got off Rainbow who jumped to her feet and looked to the oncoming tide of gold.
"Archers! Fire when ready!" Rainbow shouted. Applejack got her spear ready, Twilight and Rarity were already shooting into the air at the horde and Rainbow was ready.
"Take no prisoners, I am sure they haven't!" Rainbow shouted, seeing red. She flow up, spear out and wings flapping hard. She was screaming at the Dwellers as she gained speed and got closer to them.
Finally she collided with an enemy and stabbed deep through his armour, she swung round to push the body off and jabbing into the next, she was aiming for wings so they would have to fight on the ground or become crippled on impact from the uncontrolled fall. An arrow wizzed past and she flow at the archer, killing him as well. Some Sky Dwellers had been honourable and landed to fight but others were taunting at the ponies on ground, however they were getting shot and killed pretty easy. They weren't trying, only too late did Rainbow realise that there weren't enough numbers to have seiged Cloudsdale as bad as it was..
Bright Haze: The Sky Dwellers
It was nearly nightfall by the time the group managed to get over the mountains, they weren't as far away as the group had previously thought, but a bastard to climb over.I was still leading the pack and was completely worn out. Heart Breaker and Aeb was next to him and both were panting heavily.
"You know something Haze?" Aeb said. I turned my head at the sound of my name and looked on to the brown Pegasus.
"What?" I replied, panting myself.
"I actually hope we die in the Sky Dweller place, because I am sure as I shit that I am not going over those damn mountains again!" Aeb said and despite it, we all laughed. Heart Breaker looked at his cutie mark of Celestia and moved ahead, I laughed loudly and he turned his head.
"What? We gotta get there right?" Heart Breaker said innocently.
"I am sure Celestia won't care how long it takes us, we will be there, according to the map, in two more days if we don't have any delays, that is more than enough time for Equestria to be defended. We will win this war my friend." I replied, although I had some doubts myself.
"But at, what cost?" Aeb asked, serious.
"Cloudsdale will be in ruins whether we win or not, ponies will be dead everywhere and families will be grieving, its the cost of war, neither side really gains anything other than infertile land and broken down, abandoned buildings. Ponies will die, have died and will continue to die, but if we succeed in this next few days, Equestria and the surrounding lands shall have peace, at least for a while." Heart Breaker replied, still ahead. I nodded and smiled, words from the heart, Heart Breaker.
I didn't notice Spectra until I caught a glimpse of Nick riding on his back, Aeb had swerved off to the left and Heart Breaker came back, only for Nick to climb onto the Alicorn. I saw some pony to pony chat coming on, only question was, about what?
"Can I ask you something Bright Haze?" Spectra asked quietly. I looked the pony straight into his red eyes.
"Of course Spectra, it is what friends are for." I said, Spectra had a little spasm at the mention of friends and I had to keep reminding myself he was a delicate pony with a horrible past.
"What are your feelings for Rainbow?" He asked, that was sudden. Mares I guess was the topic.
"I don't have any, I love Dee." I replied quickly. Spectra nodded.
"What about Derpy then?" He asked. I saw where this was going, I think.
"I love her and am going to marry the mare one day." I replied, a smile crawled across Spectra's face and I knew where this was going now.
"Honestly?" Spectra asked. I nodded.
"Yeah, Heart Breaker is going to be my best stallion. Aren't you Heart Breaker?" I shouted, the alicorn wasn't listening and just replied with a "Sure, why not." As a reply.
"Just, I may not be the best stallionfriend Rainbow will ever have, but I love her and-" I stopped Spectra.
"Do you truly love her Spectra?' I asked. He nodded.
"Then go with your heart, marry the girl." I said.
"That was my plan, its just, how do I ask her, I never had a marefriend before, or even a friend." Spectra said, drifting off at the end.
"I am not going through how to marry a mare Spectra. Just do what comes naturally, get one of those rings they sell at the jewelers and put it on her, ask 'will you marry me' and pray to fuck she says yes." I said.
"Okay then, that is what I will do. If we survive this I am going to go up to her and ask." He said, with conference. I stopped him again.
"Only one problem." I smiled.
"What?" He asked, worried.
"We will make it, hell whatever happens, I promise you that you will see Rainbow again, whatever that means for myself." I said, completely honest.
"You would do that? Sacrifice yourself to save me?" Spectra seemed touched.
"Don't feel to special, I would do it for any pony here, if it meant you guys go home, and I do in a box, then so be it. It is what friends do." I said, he twisted. "For fuck sake, learn that you have friends." I said joking, Spectras face went sad for a second before he must have accepted he wasn't alone anymore, this was his new life, and one he would soon spend with mrs Rainbow Speed...
Bright Haze: The Sky Dwellers
Rainbow Dash: Cloudsdale prisoners
The battle had been going on so well, until more Sky Dwellers appeared, and more, and more,and more.. And eventually Rainbow Dash and the others found themselves to be surrounded, completely outnumbered and facing death if they continued to fight.
"Drop your weapons and become our prisoners. Or die." A Sky Dweller said, axe thrower aimed at Fluttershy who was bruised and bloody and hadn't even lifted her spear up, the poor thing. Rainbow quickly discarded her spear and flow down onto the ground, only to be instantly chained up and thrown into a cart, soon nearly everypony else was inside, except Steven who couldn't fit the links or the cart, so the Dwellers and Steven just agreed to put him under guard rather than spend the time to make a chain for him. A few elite ponies resisted but were soon put to death by some Dwellen firing squads. The others either soon died of their wounds or were thrown into the carriage as well.
"What now?" Rainbow asked, practically spitting on the closest Dweller to her.
"Now you go before the king with a choice." The Dweller replied.
"Which is?" Rainbow asked.
"Join us or die." The Dweller said quickly, one elite soldier heard this.
"We will never join such scum!" He shouted, the Sky Dweller gestured and two others dragged the pony out of the cage and placed in front of the others to see.
"Then, my Unicorn friend, you have already chosen your fate." The Dweller asked and stabbed the pony with a blade which had shot out of his gold armour. He watched the pony struggle against fighting death and the Dweller only pushed the blade deeper, until finally the corpse fell, blood flowing freely, the Dweller captain turned toward the captors and smiled, wiping the blood and hiding the blade again.
"Any others?" The captain asked, Rainbow Dash was generally full of fear at that moment and wished against everything Haze would fly in and save the day, but then she realized, she didn't want Bright Haze to fly in, spears swinging, cutting down hordes of Dwellers to save her, Rainbow Dash wanted Spectra Speed. The only pony for her, at that moment all feelings she once had for Haze left, then she only wanted Spectra. As Heart Breaker only wanted Celestia, as Haze himself only wanted Derpy, as, as Twilight wanted, books? Rainbow ached to see Spectra again and knew she would patiently wait until that day.
"What are you smiling at dear?" Rarity asked. Rainbow didn't realize she was smiling and blushed, which only made the situation worse.
"I love Spectra." Dashie admitted.
"Of course dear, I knew that." Rarity replied, also smiling.
"Hey, girls. Its gonna be a long trip so anypony up for a song, just to piss the guards off?" An elite said, deliberately catching the Dweller captains attention. But he ignored it, enough pointless executions Rainbow guessed.
After a few songs the Sky Dwellers had began to move further and further away from the cage and left the three Dwellers who were pulling the prisoners to their fate of the out of tune, terribly singing ponies. All the way through the songs Rainbow kept thinking of Haze and the others, mainly Spectra at how beautifully he sang, she smiled and smiled, singing louder than the rest and really annoying the guards, she even heard talk about the Dwellers stopping off near a town and picking up some ear plugs. But that was probably just a joke or a spur of the moment, for an advanced warrior race they weren't keeping their prisoners very well, most of the ponies inside the cage had broken loose from their chains and some unicorns were throwing rocks at the Dwellers from awkward angels, making them stop and try to search for the ponies responsible who weren't there. It was funny to watch and rainbow began to think this captain was a new recruit and wasn't as mean as the other Dwellers, and if all Dwellers were this dumb, only in battle would they win, for brain power the race is lacking a few. Fluttershy was being healed by Twilight as were most of the ponies in the carriage, unicorns flaring magic up here and there and none of the Dwellers either caring or noticing. Rainbow smiled nearly the whole day, until night came and the Dwellers decided to camp the night. Dash curled up to sleep on the metal cage and closed her eyes, dreaming of not Haze, but Spectra, and she was happy. Bliss.
Bright Haze: The Sky Dwellers
Bright Haze: Strength in friendship (colt)
I woke to screaming, I wondered what the buck was going on and saw everypony was asleep soundly, Aeb was constantly changing form and was having a very weird dream if he could be a brown mare one second, then a bright orange stallion the next, then back to the mare. I watched Aeb and the others sleep for a second before I remembered why I was awake, there was another scream and I was slapped in the head, I turned to my attacker to see Spectra Speed, screaming in fear at something. I wasn't sure what to do and I soon decided it was probably best to wake the poor pony.
"Spectra." I whispered, 'good job,' I thought, whisper so he doesn't hear you and cries out louder'.
"Spectra!" I said louder and started to rock him. He stopped screaming and opened his eyes quickly and dived into me and hugged me. Awkward...
"Rainbow. I missed you so much." Spectra said.
"Its Bright Haze too you." I joked, Spectra instantly released his grip and sat back down.
"That was,-" Spectra started.
"Awkward, I know. What's wrong?" I asked, knowing full well. Spectra looked to the ground in shame and I think, may be the lack of light, Spectra began to sob slowly.
"Come on, you can tell a friend." I said, Spectra had his usual spasm and I gave a small pitiful smile. "You will never get used to that will you?" I asked. Spectra just shook his head. I saw Heart Breaker wake up and I gestured to him to stay quiet without Spectra seeing.
"When I was just a colt, two years, I watched my parents die in front of me. By some thief who wanted some easy cash. Now nearly every night, except with Rainbow I have a nightmare of Discord laughing at me. Still do." Spectra said.
"But he isn't real, I made sure of that." I replied grimly.
"Yeah well it wasn't Discord it was some asshole pony who was executed in the Canterlot palace maze. Heart Breaker overheard this and slowly crawled over. Heart Breaker had mentioned something about a pony being killed in the maze once to me, but that was, oh no. I silently pleaded Heart Breaker not to say anything. But Heart Breaker didn't see my look.
"I heard about that." Heart Breaker said. Spectra went quiet all of a sudden and gave me an evil look of betrayal and anger. Before Heart Breaker said anymore I began to cough, but it was too late, Spectra wanted answers and it wasn't my place to deny him said answers.
"Go on." Spectra said.
"They pony that was executed, possibly the one who killed your parents. Was a S-" Heart Breaker said then was suddenly cut off by a shout from Nick.
"Sky Dwellers!" The knife shouted. I looked up at the dark sky at the bright moon and sparkling stars and saw nothing, until I turned slightly to see the floating flames of the torches being carried by ponies in gold armour.
"Prepare for battle! Everypony up!" I shouted, everypony jumped up and prepared themselves. I grapped a spear off the floor and watched the Dwellers land a bit away from us, charging.
"Heart Breaker, quickly, tell me who killed my parents." Spectra shouted. Also holding a spear. The Alicorn paused for a second and I just nodded, it wasn't our place to hold it back.
"The pony who was executed, was a Sky Dweller." Heart Breaker said, Spectra stopped moving and was completely frozen, processing what Heart Breaker had said. He was still for a moment and the Dwellers were closing in, I held my spear down and Aeb stood next to me, Nick on his back.
"The Dwellers, killed my, parents?" Spectra muttered.
"We don't know that Spectra-" There was no reasoning with him, Spectra screamed out and galloped forward, charging the enemy.
"Haze stop him." Heart Breaker shouted, Spectra was going to get himself killed, I reached out to grap the Pegasus but he punched me and galloped past.
"Spectra! Killing yourself won't bring them back!" I shouted, the Pegasus turned. Blood red eyes, even more than normal.
"Who says anything about killing myself." Spectra said quietly, he ran forward, blind rage. I watched as he took on nearly thirty Dwellers, none survived.
Spectra charged forward and stabbed at the first, punching out a second and kicking a third, Spectra moved through the tide of gold with blurring movements and dead-on precision. Stabbing at Dweller after Dweller, killing or wounding every one. Spectra received a gash on his shoulder and just screamed, tears flowing fully and thinking of Rainbow Dash, he stabbed out and continued his blind furry. He knew he was horrible with just hooves but this was senseless massacre, the spear snapped and blood splattered all over the floor and Spectra, he began to use the broken stick and even grabbed an axe in his mouth a throw it into a Sky Dweller skull. I watched him continue to kill every last one of those Sky Dwellers and Heart Breaker stood next to me.
"We should help him." Heart Breaker said, Aeb and Nick were also watching.
"This is something Spectra needs to do for himself." I replied as the last Dweller was standing, the enemy looked to his dead comrades and tried to escape, only to have an axe thrown at him. Spectra looked to the scene in front of him and he cried out. Screaming for his parents, cursing the Dwellers, cursing himself.
"That poor pony." Nick said. We all nodded, Spectra was sitting down, covered in blood and crying out. I generally didn't know what to do and was just to shocked to move. It wasn't out duties to hold his parents killers from him, but it would have most likely been best. Spectra was screaming most of the night and none of us slept anymore. The only good thing was, we all had the armour to infiltrate the Dweller city, which was still a day and a half away.
Bright Haze: The Sky Dwellers
Rainbow Dash: A Rainbows Tale
"I was reading your file. Shame you were Celestial born, we could have used a warrior like you." the Dweller captain said to Rainbow Dash, she was tempted to ignore him again but decided against it this time.
"File?" Dash asked, the captains face lilt up slightly at the sound of Rainbow talking but she ignored it, repeating the question.
"Every pony from Celestia's side has a file, even that Haze friend of yours. Terrible fall he went through." The captain said. Rainbow Dash nodded.
"Saved both worlds, even the fuckers of this one." She replied, the captain gave a face at the swear but otherwise ignored the remark.
"Yeah, I read about your stallion reject." The captain said, deliberately annoying Rainbow.
"Excuse me?" Rainbow was pissed.
"What's his name, Spectra Speed. Parents died over twenty years ago, something like that. By one of my friends, a Sky Dweller." The captain said, Rainbow was losing her cool but kept it because she knew it was what the Dweller was waiting for.
"I see." Rainbow tried to play the Dwellers game. "Well what about the Alicorn in our group?" Rainbow asked, the Dweller looked confused. Bingo.
"I saw no mention of an Alicorn. Or the Serpent." The Dweller replied.
"Ah well, if you have missed out some members then woe to you. The Alicorn, Soul Breaker and the Pegasus Lost Haze are mercs, trained Dweller killers."
"Never heard of them."
"You wouldn't of, they leave nopony to spread the news."
"We have been losing a few patrols in the Canterlot-Everfree area."
"There you go then. You never know where either of the two will be, if they find any Dweller, they will die. Any Dweller." Rainbow said, the captain was showing signs of fear.
"And if my stallionfriend has discovered his parents were killed by a Dweller, woe to you, now not only do you have two killers on their way, now you have three." Rainbow added and just gave a cute wink. The captain paused for a second.
"Let me tell you a story Rainbow. Why do you think we live in floating cites, why do you think we took Cloudsdale." The captain asked, changing the subject.
"You didn't take it, you burned it." Rainbow said, spitting at the stallions feet. He smiled.
"We didn't need to take it, just raid an old, factory. For some, material. That's it really." Rainbow Dash shuddered.
"Oh, does a factory scare you? Thought Cloudsdale was a fine, glorious city?" The captain said.
"With all great things... Comes a great responsibility.. I was young, I never pulled the lever!" Rainbow said, then shouted, curling up into a ball.
"Cloudsdale Rainbow Factory. Now the thing about that is, it created us..-" The captain said and Rainbow looked up to the captain.
"Yes Rainbow, the Sky Dwellers are the decendents of those hundred ponies released during the first sack of Cloudsdale, nopony knew why us Pegasi were in that building, but we did. Being part of the Spectra, the retards of Cloudsdale. Well Miss Dash, we are the survivors of Cloudsdale! We are the master race. We didn't need Cloudsdale, only the blueprints to make our own factories, what do you think we were gonna use all our prisoners for?" The captain said, proud of himself.
"You monsters!" Rarity spat.
"We are the monsters? We are the survivors Unicorn! We escaped a fate worse than death, it was your friend here, Rainbow Dash, CEO of Cloudsdale factories, who worked there." The captain shouted, all eyes were on Rainbow, she was crying.
"Rainbow? Is this true?" Applejack asked. Rainbow bowed her head.
"I was young, had no money, I never killed nopony, just the manager for less than a month, I broke the machines more than the engineers could fix them. Hell I was the one who shut the place down. They were going to kill Scoots guys. I saved her, and countless lives!" Rainbow shouted, then cried, and didn't stop. Only thinking of Spectra, only him.
Nopony spoke to Rainbow the rest of the day, and as the barren land of outer Equestria slowly passed by, Rainbow was glad, when they stopped for the night Rainbow ate no food, nor drank water, she didn't sleep and kept thinking of Spectra, but it didn't help. The screams began to come back, haunting her again after so long avoiding them. The Dwellers were dumb, but they knew how to hurt a pony. Rainbow didn't move from her spot of her side the entire time. Even whilst everypony was sleeping, Dash quietly sobbed to herself.
"Not a single soul gets through." Rainbow muttered. "But I saved them, just as my ancestors saved the Dwellers. Its over, no more need die. So long as we win this fucking war..." Rainbow muttered at around midnight then finally dozed of too sleep.
Bright Haze: The Sky Dwellers
I looked at Spectra Speed in sheer horror, he had killed that entire Dweller group then continues to take out an entire camp which was nearby all on his own, he was covered in the enemies blood and mud, his armour was wrecked and the spear broken. I gingerly moved closer to him, he was panting hard and as far as I knew, about to pass out.
"They, killed. My parents." He muttered, mainly to himself, not me. With that Spectra collapsed and Aeb ran to him, now a unicorn. The Changeling did a quick spell and nodded.
"He will be okay, he received no wounds what so ever and will be fine in the morning, maybe a bit tired, but that's it." Aeb said, I nodded my thanks and went to talk to Heart Breaker.
"We shouldn't have said anything." The alicorn said. I nodded.
"It wasn't out place to keep it from him though. That was going to happen eventually, one of the Dwellers were sure to say it, or he would have found out otherwise. This is a harsh world now Heart Breaker, things like this will happen, continue to happen until we get peace." I said. Heart Breaker nodded.
"Then how far away are we from the city?" He asked. I had checked the map earlier, before the sun went down.
"Acording to the map, if we set off right now we would be there early afternoon. So if we get a decent sleep, put the armour on and set off we can enter as night falls." I said. Heart Breaker nodded.
"How do you suppose to get me and Nick up there?" Heart Breaker asked, I knew the question was coming, I wasn't entirely sure.
"Myself and Aeb fly you both up. Maybe Spectra as well."
"Is it wise to let him into the city? After today? How long do you suppose he can hold out amongst the enemy Haze?"
"I am not sure. Try to talk to him tomorrow. I haven't had time to plan most of this out." I admitted.
"Most?" Heart Breaker asked. I nodded slyly.
"Yeah, I know about the king."
"What about him?"
"How to kill him, how to sign peace. All that stuff." I smiled.
"Go on?"
"One on one combat, I will wager, being a warrior race he will accept a duel with myself, to the death, I beat the shit out of him, get him to sign the peace treater before the duel and if I win, peace."
"If you lose?" Heart Breaker asked. I looked my friend straight into his eyes, deep.
"Duels are usually one on one, to the death. So if I lose.-" I stopped, completely serious with a dead straight face. "-Burn the place to the ground." I said.
"Haze." Heart Breaker said, shocked.
"Think of a better idea, then use it. But if not, we will have to win the war, with force. Rather than politics."
"You call politics fighting a king to the death?" Heart Breaker asked.
"Look, I haven't had time to plan this through, it is Derpy who we are saving, along with the rest of Equestria, I have the whole world watching me to make sure I don't fuck up and everypony dies, I just wish though, I didn't have to have that burden, that I could be in peace with my Derpy and be happy, instead of telling a new friend his parents were killed by the ponies we are trying to make peace, through combat, with. Then watch him slaughter nearly one hundred of them on his own. I wish, just for once I didn't have to have a life or death situation where I may die and never come home again." I shouted. Tears brewing, Heart Breaker paused.
"But this isn't your burden alone to bare Bright Haze, we are all here, to save our land we love once more. Eh? Know the old saying, 'once more into darkness, for all pony kind'? We are the heroes of Equestria, and we can retire whenever the fuck we want. As long as we win this next fight. All we need is one more push, and we win. Peace in Equestria once more. We can go home Haze." Heart Breaker replied, I let out a smile.
"Come on, we need sleep, long day tomorrow." I said, just before we dozed off, Heart Breaker asked.
"Should we bury the Dweller bodies?" He asked, we had just piled them up.
"Would they have buried us?" I replied, Heart Breaker was silent and I slowly dozed off to sleep.
I was the first up. Again, I walked around the camp and put on my Sky Dweller armour. Ate some oats and bread and made a note to practice my combat skills, I wasn't particularly good with a sword, or any weapon at that, so I put on a spear saddle, with some hardship, and began to charge at some invisible enemy. The sun was out and it would be midday in about three, four hours. I began to swing the spear about panting a little which wasn't a good sign. I caught sight of Aeb getting up and sneezing before trotting over to me.
"You don't have to do this, I am sure we can think of something." Aeb said, I continued to attack the enemy that wasn't there.
"We don't even know if the king will accept the duel, he could execute us on sight." The Chageling added.
"He has too." I replied with.
"Why? So you can go home to Derpy and be happy the rest of your life? Well what about me? Eh? I have nopony to go back to, no home! No money! Nothing Bright Haze!"Aeb shouted.
"I have nothing, neither does any of of us, maybe Spectra with Rainbow, but me and Heart Breaker, we got nothing, hell even Nick. We have nothing to go to, and you are about to kill yourself just to go win this war and be with the Pegasus." Aeb said, I snapped a little.
"Look here Aeb!" I shouted, steering everypony. "I am not going to kill myself, I will win this duel and give peace to Equestria once more, I am not doing this for Derpy, hell maybe I am, but this is for Equestria. If I can win this I can finally be at peace, I can retire, hell we all can." I added.
"You are worried about dying again aren't you?" Aeb asked. I nodded.
"I hated death, it was peaceful, if I can win, even if I die, it'll be peaceful, you don't understand Aeb, I can't die whilst Equestria needs a hero."
"But you are not a lone hero. You have all of us." Aeb said, gesturing to the now awake ponies.
"That's what Heart Breaker said."
"Then believe it Haze. We will win, and we will retire, in peace." Aeb said smiling, I only nodded.
"Since everypony is up, have breakfast and we can move on." I ordered, everypony smiled and obeyed. I was just stressed, my Dee needed me and I wasn't there, never had been.
The walk to the city was barren and hot as it always had been, no Pegasi flow here, apart from the Dwellers or travellers so there were no clouds blocking out the sun which blasted down onto the ground with blazing effects. We were all covered in sweat and tired by the time the sun began to fall but began to cool as night arrived. We walked all day, and some time into the night, until we found it.
"The Sky Dweller city." I muttered. We were so close to victory I could feel it.
Bright Haze: The Sky Dwellers
The cart rolled across the wasteland slowly and the Dwellers were flying around, apparently scouting. There would only be about three of them at one time around the twelve prisoners. One of the elite unicorns had been sitting with his horn glowing all day. Rainbow Dash became curious.
"What's he doing?" She asked Twilight.
"Communication spell, probably talking to his commander." She replied, then her horn began to glow.
"What are you doing?" Rainbow asked, she was always bewildered by magic, but being a Pegasus could never use it and had had some, strange, magical things happen to her.
"Going to break the lock. The Dwellers have a wagon of weaponry, presumably ours just behind us and that means there are only four or five actually here, which we can overcome with magic." Twilight said, one of the elite Pegasi overheard and nodded in agreement, bumping the unicorn in the trance, he cut the spell off.
"We are breaking out." The Pegasi whispered. The unicorn nodded and prepared a spell.
"Just what Shining Armor told us to do." He replied and nodded to Twilight. She blasted the lock off the door. And the group piled out, attacking the Dwellers. Rainbow flow straight to the weapons in the battle and grabbed a spear. Looking for her target, she saw the captain, he had just stabbed one of the elite, the unicorn who was talking to Shining Armor. Rainbow charged at him in rage and stabbed the Pegasus in the leg, he fell down, dropping the spear without making a sound. Rainbow stood over him, primed for the kill.
"Do it then." The Dweller said, spitting blood. Rainbow hesitated. Then lowered the spear so it wasn't aiming at him.
"I may want to kill you, hell I may hate you from here to hell, but if I kill you now, I would be no better than you. But if I ever see you again, especially near Spectra, I won't spare you." Rainbow said, holding herself back, then she began to walk away, the Dwellers were either dead or locked up and everypony had weapons and armour on. The captain slowly moved, grabbing his spear and aimed to throw it.
"Rainbow!" Twilight shouted, seeing this. Rainbow turned around and in one swift movement, throw the spear at the Dweller, still not killing him, but stopping him from using the spear.
"What's the plan?" Rainbow asked.
"We return to Canterlot, there is sure to be a siege there soon, if not already. They have taken Cloudsdale so Canterlot is their biggest threat." One of the Pegasi elite said, everypony nodded and Fluttershy stopped peeing. For her she was doing very well in this situation, except pissing herself every time there was a battle.
"Then to Canterlot." She said and the group, after looting as much food and water as possible and having a hearty meal they moved off, leaving the captain to bleed out in the sand.
The walk was long and slow, but Rainbow was thankful to be out of the cart, they had been in it for nearly two days so would be at Canterlot in roughly two or three days, which wasn't idle if a siege had already started but they couldn't help that. A few of the scouts had flown back and spotted the prisoners and attempted an attack, only to fall very quickly and swiftly by the power of the eleven ponies extremely pissed off. Rainbow was thinking of how Haze's group were doing, but not really Haze, just Spectra, had he found out his parents were killed by a Sky Dweller, or had they actually been killed by said race, was it a lie to piss off Rainbow? She would only learn if Spectra was told. Rainbow remembered the times she had with him, being together and when Twilight turned him into a mare, the week where they had sex nearly none stop because she had flared up, as had everypony else. She smiled just thinking of when every morning she would wake up watching the sleeping form of Spectra for hours before going back to sleep only to feel him wake up and nudge her with his nose, it was so cute. She smiled and kept smiling all the way, completely oblivious to everything that was going on, just thinking of Spectra.
Bright Haze: The Sky Dwellers
The group looked on at the flying city and stood still. Everypony was silent and Spectra looked on in hatred. I was scared, this was it, the fate of Equestria lay in our hooves.
"This is it." I muttered, everypony nodded.
"Should we go now or wait til morning?" Heart Breaker said, I noticed that Heart Breaker and Spectra had the same accent so I wasn't confused at how either sounded anymore. I thought for a moment. Then had the answer.
"We are all tired so I will go into the city now and see if there is an inn or something, if I'm not back in an hour, come look for me." I said.
"No, we are all coming." Nick argued, Aeb and Spectra nodded. Heart Breaker looked happy enough to just sleep here.
"Fine. Lets do this, probably easier to bring Heart Breaker in during night so it doesn't look so odd." I said. Heart Breaker put a hoof up to where his horn would be.
"Ha. Not that I could ever use it but I miss the thing." He laughed, I rolled my eyes and flow above him, Aeb and Spectra did as well.
"Ready, on three." I said, holding Heart Breaker, Nick jumped on his back and held on to one of the straps in his armour.
"I am that heavy am I?" The Alicorn asked. I smiled.
"Fuck off." I joked. We all lifted him and began to fly toward the city, Heart Breaker, despite being a much bigger build than myself, or any of us was incredibly light. We flow up and forward looking for an entrance and landed just outside the open gates. We trotted in and saw the sight of the city. Torches were everywhere, lighting the whole place up, buildings sat everywhere, made of wood or cloud. There was a castle to the far side of the city and was sitting on its own cloud just above the city. We walked in a line slowly through the city, armed ponies stood guard nearly everywhere we went, we had no idea where an inn was so i decided to ask.
"Excuse me, soldier, we have returned from Equestria and would like to stay at the inn, where is it?" I asked, in a deeper voice than normal, this was such a bad idea. The Dweller did some weird hoof movement that I presumed was a salute.
"General Fly Storm sir!" The Sky Dweller said, shit, i was in a generals armour apparently, they all looked the same though.
"The inn is three blocks that way. sir." The Dweller said, pointing a hoof.
"Thank you. Also I shall be seeing the king tomorrow, be sure to tell him I will come by." I replied and we walked off.
"How do you suppose we pay for this inn Haze?" Aeb asked me. Shit. I gave a fake smile like I had everything planned.
We walked to the point the soldier had said about and saw a big wooden building lit up with torches and glow bugs. We all trotted in. Everypony inside was, just a normal Pegasus group, everyone of them were Pegasi in normal clothes, or none at all. They all stopped and stared at us. I smiled and walked to the bar.
"We need four rooms. Now." I ordered. The innmeeper looked shocked.
"Twenty bits." Ah, so they do use Equestrian money. Everypony was still looking at us. This was going to be fun. I handed over a coin bag and saw Heart Breaker facehoof himself.
"Funny, we don't use Equestrian money here." The innkeeper said, slowly, fuck they knew.
"Well then, better not be caught with that or we will be telling the king about that tomorrow. So, again, we need four rooms. Where are they?" Aeb said, saving us all. He aimed his spear down and everypony was silent. I readied myself for a fight.
"I only have one room left, with four beds though." The innkeeper said slowly. I nodded and let him show us the way.
Once inside we took of our armour and weapons.
"Thank Celestia for that, Aeb you saved us all." I said. Heart Breaker gave me a dirty look.
"Okay, I admit, I had no plan." I said, everypony was quiet and then after a moment we all laughed.
"So who is on guard duty first?" Heart Breaker said after a time. Yes, we may have escaped the inn downstairs but I was convinced they knew we weren't real Sky Dwellers. I raised my hand.
"I'll go. You lot rest." I said, Aeb shook his head.
"No, you need the most rest Haze. You are the one fighting the bastard." Aeb said. I nodded my thanks.
"Fine, wake me up next though." I said, and we all went off to sleep, except Aeb.
The next morning I woke up, everypony was awake and putting armour on. I was pissed.
"You didn't wake me." I said.
"You need rest Bright Haze, you aren't fighting a soldier today, this is the king." Aeb replied, I will admit, I had a good sleep. Spectra was on the other side of the room and hadn't said a word since we got here. Nick had been pretty quiet to, but I suppose he had too be.
"Fine. Let's just end this fucking war already." I said, everypony nodded and we set out.
The castle was huge, attached to the rest of the city by a single bridge. We trotted toward it and the guards stopped us with spears.
"I have an audience with the king." I said. They nodded and let us pass through. The king was in real gold armour and had a spear made of light wood and silvery metal. He looked old, but I still knew it would be a brutal fight. I trotted toward him, counting the guards, eight.
"Ah, general." The king said, his voice was deep and cold. I nodded.
"Do you not bow before your king?" He asked, I pulled off the helmet and aimed my spear at him, I heard everypony else ready themselves for battle.
"I only bow to Princess Celestia and Princess Luna, and in some cases, Derpy!" I shouted. "I request and one on one duel!" I added, the king was shocked, then laughed.
"I accept." He said. "What are the terms?" He asked.
"If I win, peace. If you win.-" I gulped. "Execution to all those present." I muttered, the king laughed.
"To the death then." He said and stood up, beckoning the guards away, I did as well to my friends.
"One more thing." I said. He tilted his head at me.
"What?" He grumbled.
"Sign the peace treaty now." I replied, he nodded.
"Fine. You. Bring me a parchment." He ordered a soldier, he ran off and came back moments later with pen and paper.
"I, King Savorous, declare that the Sky Dwellers be at peace with all the realms of Equestria, and from this day onwards, the war is over." He said, the soldier wrote it all down.
"Good, now we can begin." I muttered, he prepared himself, as did I.
"However, you keep any title you kill." He added and charged at me. Fuck Fuck Fuck Fuck Fuck! I side stepped the first attack and blocked his spear attack with my own. He growled at me and stabbed out, I jumped up out of reach, he flapped his armoured wings and he began to fly, I did the same and kept blocking a dodging the attacks.
"Fight me!" He growled, I was thankful he was a violent fighter, meaning all I had to do was wear him out.
"I am." I replied, laughing. He stabbed out again like a torpedo, straight at me, I dodged again but the spear caught me on my side and I cried out in pain as I was hit. Blood began to drip down onto the floor. I spun around blocking attack after attack, I managed to get one hit on the king but it just gave him more rage and he flow violently around, he stabbed at me and I cried out again, blood was falling all around me and my whole body ached, below everypony was silent. I thought of Derpy as I took another hit.
Okay, wearing him out wasn't working, but I had another idea. He charged me once more and I blocked the spear away, then spun, stabbing out with my own. I heard a groan and opened my eyes.
The king had a spear tip through his head and I had won. Peace.
Bright Haze: The Sky Dwellers
The walk was long and the days hot with the nights cold and freezing, it hadn't rained, nor had a single cloud formed. Rainbow Dash missed Ponyville, she missed peace and was generally sick of war now. Her body ached and she was in a state of unhealthy tiredness. They group of them walked and walked, it was slow, but every step meant they were getting closer to Canterlot. She thought back on everything that had happened, from that fateful day she had crashed into Spectra and become his marefriend after his fight with that manticore and he became poisoned by its tail stinger. Then that 'strange' week where nearly everypony of Ponyville became flared and Rainbow had blackmailed Spectra into sex. She still felt bad but kept happy just so he wouldn't worry. Rainbow remembered that day he left to go into Cloudsdale, then years later the portal opening and Bright Haze's coming. She remembered the fight against Nightmare Moon, then Discord's defeat, how Derpy Hooves and herself had sat together for two weeks grieving for Haze, then how that Changeling had pretended to be him and broke Dee's heart, then tried to kill them all. But Bright Haze came back from death's grip and killed the thing. Before joining the fight against the Changeling army. Rainbow remembered how Bright Haze had almost died again saving Rarity against those Changeling crossbow bolts. How that he had saved those Canterlot guards and lead the charge in the defeat of the Changelings demise. Then his capture and their quest through the Everfree Central and how Aeb had saved them all from a slow death. Rainbow hated the Changelings, she hated the Sky Dwellers, but who she hated more was a mystery, but Rainbow Dash trusted Aeb with looking after Spectra, she trusted them all. Spectra may never get used to have friends, but it had happened, he had a marefriend. The most trustworthy friends in all of Equestria who were now on a quest to kill a king of the enemy and make peace between Equestria and the Sky Dweller empire. Rainbow Dash would make a point of talking to Spectra about him having friends again.
"We should be home by nightfall." Twilight Sparkle muttered. Rainbow smiled.
"Thank fuck." Rainbow replied. Twilight smiled.
"You should stop swearing Rainbow. Its a bad habit." Twilight said, joking but sounding serious.
"Ah, I know." Rainbow said, then she lost the smile. "What if they don't come back?" Rainbow asked. Twilight also lost her smile.
"They will come home Rainbow, you will see Spectra again." Twilight said. "Haze won't let him die."
"I know he won't, he won't let any of them fall, I'm not worried about that fact, I am worried Haze doesn't come home and we will need him again one day." Rainbow said.
"They will return Dash, all of them. This war will end and we can have peace finally." Twilight said, Rainbow believed her just by the way she had said it.
"Okay Twilight. Okay, I believe you." Rainbow said, smiling again.
"Hey Dash?" Twilight asked.
"Yeah?" Rainbow asked.
"Do you think we will actually have peace? Or will Equestria need us all once again one day?" Twilight asked.
"Honestly Twi?" Rainbow asked, the lavender unicorn just nodded. "Equestria will always need heroes and heroines. We will be forced to save us all again, but one day Twilight, one day the threat in Equestria will fall and it'll become like it was years ago."
"What other threat is there though?" Twilight asked, Rainbow Dash didn't know.
"I don't truly know Twilight, but I am sure fate will be able to piss over us again." Rainbow replied and despite it, the two mares laughed.
"Well we still have a long way before we can have peace.'" Twilight said Rainbow nodded in agreement.
"What will you do?" Rainbow asked her friend.
"See if Spike is still alive, read books, maybe do one myself about our adventures. I might call it 'Collision of Worlds.'" Twilight smiled.
"Why worlds?"
"Haze isn't Equestrian." Twilight replied.
"He is now, if you're serious about this then don't mention he is from Earth or any of that stuff. Its bad enough we had to hide it from him, let alone have to explain it to him if he ever found out." Rainbow said, Twilight thought about it then nodded.
"Okay then, I have no idea what I will do after this, apart from sleep for about a week." Twilight laughed.
"I think we all will." Rainbow admitted.
"Ah but Spectra nor you haven't seen each other in ages now. Won't you want to catch up?" Twilight replied, hinting at sex for the two of them.
"Oi, maybe not, Bright Haze still needs a place to crash and he will complain if there is any noise." Rainbow said, going with it.
"Well he and Derpy haven't done it at all." Twilight said and Rainbow realised it was true.
"He can move out when we get home, but I am not the kind of mare who just has sex with somepony after not seeing them for a year and having raging hormones every year he was away and holy fuck I want sex with him." Rainbow realised. Fuck.
"Canterlot!" An elite cried out. They were home, finally. And the city wasn't burning, no invasion.
Bright Haze: The Sky Dwellers
Bright Haze: Dweller issues
I stood over the dead Dwellen king, bleeding and tired I stood spear ready for a Dweller attack. The guards had completely surrounded us and I gripped the peace treaty in my mouth. Spectra was about to lose his cool and completely destroy the city and everypony else had spears primed out.
"It was a fair fight, I won. Let us go." I said, trying to reason with them. The guards kept pouring into the castle. I guess this is it.
"Its been an honour." I said, Aeb nodded, as did Heart Breaker.
"Go down fighting." Nick said, readying himself.
"Always do." I replied, smiling, I moved around as was everypony else in our circle. More and more guards swarmed the building and I tripped on the kings body.
"Ready?" Aeb asked I nodded and prepared for an attack.
"Wait!" Somepony shouted, I cancelled the spear throw and looked to the grey pegasus in a Pegasus and tie.
"Wait! I say, my name is Dresbor, the kinds right hand pony, and I follow old Dweller lore, in that whatever you kill, you keep." The Pegasus said.
"Meaning?" I asked, then everypony in the room knelt down on their front legs, bowing, all the guards, everypony.
"You are now our king." The advisor said, also kneeling.
"Fuck." I replied.
"Now your highness, what is your first order?" The Pegasus asked shortly after an awkward silence of bowing was over, we all had are weapons primed on the guards who were now standing completely still.
"My first order?" I asked, the Pegasus nodded and I thought for a moment.
"For every weapon in the city to be melted down and the metal sent to Princess Celestia along with a peace treaty signed by my own hoof, and for the Sky Dweller army to return home and every single one to be discharged, every one of you warriors are to be unarmed, unarmoured and sent home to your families. Any pony found with a weapon will be sent to Canterlot to be dwelt with. I am your king and therefore i declare that the war between Equestria and this state is ended." I said, it was pretty cool to be king.
"May I advise against this?" The Pegasus said.
"And why is that?" I replied. Playing along with the role, I was never good with politics or being a king or any of that crap but this was pretty cool.
"Equestria is our enemy."
"May I remind you your new king is from Equestria and thereby ending the war. Now bring me the peace treaty to sign and send it as soon as I am done." I ordered, the grey stallion rushed off and I looked to my friends.
"Well this sucks." I said.
"What will we do? They wouldn't let us walk away, well, not you anyway, we're stuck here!" Spectra shouted.
"Not unless we go back to Canterlot and give this kingdom to Luna, expanding Equestria's border, and this is mining land, the metal income would boom our economy." Heart Breaker said. I nodded at him.
"There we go. Luna can have her own palace to rule and Equestria will grow stronger. I don't have to be a fucking king and we can all live in happiness." I replied, the advisor came back with a piece of sugarcane paper.
"I really advise against this." He muttered, handing me pen and paper.
"Oh and another thing, you are fired. Banished in fact." I said, hates I knew, but I wasn't on any good terms with these murderers. The advisor began to scream out and guards stormed him out. I began to write.
"From this day forward, I, king Bright Haze, declare that this state, the Sky Dweller Empire become a peaceful state wherein no weapon of harm be allowed and that one Princess Luna shall take control, mining shall take place and Equestria can have larger borders. I also declare that this kingdom shall never go to war with any other state harbouring ponies, again." I wrote, then read it out. Aeb laughed and I stood up, a guard ran over to me.
"Where are you going?" He asked, I looked the pony straight in the eye.
"Fuck off." I replied and walked out of the castle, followed by my friends, Nick grabbed up the peace declaration and rushed after us. We walked through the Sky Dweller city losing the gold armour as we did, just dropping it on the floor, blacksmiths rushed all over the place packing up wagons of gold and iron, whilst melting down countless weapons and armour pieces, ponies had pickaxe saddles attached to them and they flow out of the city to go mine some ore. Some ponies already heard about me becoming a king and would either curse or bow, some did both. I flow up ahead as did Aeb and Spectra, who looked overjoyed we were leaving, Nick climbed up, holding the paper and we flow out of the flying cloud city, ready for home.
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Bright Haze: The Sky Dwellers
Return of the King (Copyright not intended) (Well maybe)
I looked onto the glowing city of Canterlot, Nick was riding on my back still grasping that peace treaty. I was worried about this kingship thing but wasn't showing it, I was just glad to be home. The Sky Dweller army were already here and they were presumably waiting for their king, either the old guy dead in the castle or their new one who had outlawed all weapons. I smiled at that thought and together with my friends we began to march down into the encampment the Dwellers had made, they raised their weapons at first but then realized who was walking amongst them. Some booed, some cheered, others would nod or bow. I laughed at how strange the Dweller custom was but was thankful we didn't have to fight our way through. I knew by now the ponies inside the city would have heard about the Dweller king coming, and not that it was me. So it would take a lot of explaining. A Sky Dweller walked up to me and bowed.
"Excuse me, my king?" He asked I laughed in his face and nodded, allowing him to speak.
"What is that your knife? Yes, that is a, knife. What is your knife holding?" He asked, the Dwellers crowded round.
"Peace arrangements, we are no longer at war and all weaponry is banned, Princess Luna shall be running the city and the Dweller empire, whilst I, sit in retirement happy and loved." I replied, gasps ran out of the army and we trotted on, through the camp in silence. We were nearing the burned and broken gates and I could see some Equestrian guards. I pointed at a soldier.
"You, introduce me, say the following-" I told the Dweller what I wanted to say and he grunted a nod. The pony trotted ahead, I saw crossbows and spears aim at him. I sat down,my friends followed suite.
"If I were a king for a day, or even a prince." I sang, no idea where the song came from.
"Show us your king you bastards!" I heard Rainbow Dash shout, throwing a rock at the pony, who dodged.
"Our great and powerful king, lord of our city, fifty-ninth king of the Sky Dwellers, Pegasus of pure birth, won his claim of king in fair combat, one king Bright Haze requests an audience with Canterlot to hand over peace declarations to the Princesses." The Pegasus shouted, silence.
"Well, bring him in." Somepony replied, I stood up and walked forward, Spectra, Nick, Heart Breaker and Aeb followed. The crossbows instantly fell down when the guards saw me. I turned to the Dweller army before entering the city.
"Well go on, fuck off." I shouted, slowly the Dwellers began to pick up their things and disband camp to leave. I stepped over the rubble which had been moved to allow us in. Rainbow looked at me in shock. I turned my body to show her my flank, the Sword through Shield cutie mark and she knew it was us. She ran up to Spectra and kissed him, we all stood awkwardly watching as the kiss went on. Spectra finally let go and looked to me. I tossed him a small bag and he got something out. He turned around and fiddled with the item for a second before looking back at Rainbow, I gave her a wink.
"Rainbow, I have been in Cloudsdale for over two years now and have been saving up money for us, for you. I just want to ask you one thing first." He said, kneeling down. Rainbow Dash grinned and looked to me.
"His idea." I said, she smiled and looked down at the stallion.
"Go on hotshot." She said, smiling.
"Rainbow Dash, how would you feel about becoming Mrs Rainbow Speed?" Spectra asked, showing her the hoof ring with the biggest diamond I had ever seen on it.
"How could you afford this?" She muttered, then realized she hasn't answered and just put the giant arse ring on. Spectra winked at me.
"A lot of late nights and hard work." He replied, kissing Rainbow again. Truth be told, we took it from the Dweller city's jewelry shop, as I got something as well. Nick handed me the letter and I began to walk toward Celestia. Letter in mouth. Heart Breaker, Aeb and Nick followed, of Rainbow and Spectra, they were still kissing. The Princess bowed to me and for a second I wondered why.
"No need Princess, I believe this is the letter you were after, and the control over the Dweller Empire is in your hooves, I just thought it would be a good idea for Luna to be control of it. I already banned all weapons and ordered a mass mining project, all metal and income should come here." I said, giving her my letter, she held it with her hoof and nodded, Princess Luna trotted over.
"Sister, how would you like to be in control of an Empire. If you fail I am sure we can replace you. But this isn't being forced, you have a choice." Celestia asked, Luna thought then nodded.
"I shall take the Dweller kingdom, and follow its kings orders."
"I am not their king as much as Aeb is a God, I was just there in the good time and got peace for us, now if you excuse me, I have a Derpy to find." I said, bowing and leaving. Peace Haze. I thought. We finally have peace. I can be in harmony now. But why did it feel so, wrong.
Rainbow ran around in her room completely overjoyed, Spectra was eating with the others and Rainbow had decided to come to her room to freshen up. She wore her dress, the one Spectra loved and the one which she had worn to the Galla. She had makeup on and had her hair tied up in a bun. She wasn't the most girl-like mare but this was a special day, soon she would be married. She thought who would be her best Mare, and who would be Spectra's best stallion. Rainbow thought about Fluttershy, no Pinkie, no Rarity, then she had a great idea. All of her mare friends could give her away and all of Spectra's stallion friends could give him away, maybe get Celestia to marry them. Rainbow was so excited and looked at her diamond ring again, gems weren't that rare in Equestria, but this was special, given to her by her future husband. Rainbow began to cry happiness and after a moment, walked out of the room to meet the others at dinner. Apparently everypony was there, including Derpy.
Bright Haze: The Sky Dwellers
The dinner room was originally designed, food came in and out of the kitchen and ponies sat together on tables all over the huge room, Princess Celestia sat on her big white stone seat enjoying her meal, Luna had already left for the Sky Dweller city and we all sat together on the same, huge table. Steven had even found a way into the castle and was practically laying in a ball eating vast amounts of food. Careful not to ruin his neatly coned hair. Rainbow Dash and Spectra Speed sat next to each other constantly talking, Derpy had been flown up and was now laying on my shoulder as we ate. I looked into her eyes and she looked into mine, since she was around me her eyes weren't, well, Derpy. I smiled at her and she smiled back.
"I love you." Derpy muttered, I smiled even more. Then stood up, everypony was silent. I nodded to Aeb who pulled the bag I had given him earlier out, I pulled a box out and got on one knee. Derpy had a huge grin on her face and I felt Heart Breaker tap me on the back in a friendly gesture.
"Derpy, Dee Hooves?" I asked.
"Yes?" She replied.
"Will you marry me?" I asked, Derpy practically jumped on me and I hadn't even shown her the ring. I opened it when her happiness subsided a little and she peaked inside, the ring had a ball of gems forged together, all sorts of mineral, onyx, sapphire, ruby, diamond. All sorts, she smiled and began to cry happily and just nodded. My heart exploded, twice.
"So when we getting married?" Derpy asked. I hadn't thought about that, and looked to Spectra and Heart Breaker, spectra whispered something and Rainbow nodded.
"Same day as us. Six months today. To celebrate half a year of peace and love." Spectra said, Derpy couldn't smile any bigger so just pulled me in for a kiss. I was happy, Spectra was happy, Dee was happy, Aeb, Heart Breaker, Nick, hell everypony was happy. Peace at last, then a Pegasus charged in, panting.
The whole room looked to the figure. Celestia even stood up, the pony took a moment to regain himself.
"Changelings, hundreds off them." He panted. I panicked and looked to my friends, we were in no state to fight. I was actually scared. But i had to save my friends, and my love.
"Go to the rooms!" I shouted and galloped out of the door, leaving everypony behind in bewilderment.
I rushed through the city seeing Changelings at the gate, the shield wasn't up and no guards were really out yet, except those preparing for a fight. I ran toward the gates and only stopped when I was face to face with a tall, women-like bug creature.
"What do you want. Can we not have one day of peace, but if you are here, then take me, and spare my Derpy and my friends." I muttered, the queen just stared at me and pulled the most shocking item i had ever seen out.
Derpy was being held back by Aeb and Rainbow. The mare was crying and trying with all her might to pull away from the ponies.
"He is going to kill himself again. Don't you care?" Derpy shouted.
"Derpy, he is king, sort of, of The Sky Dwellers, all he has to do is remind these Changeling bastards who he is and they will piss off." Rainbow replied, not believing her own words.
"Fine, but if he is as much as even hurt." Derpy replied, voice cold and hoarse (Authors note: Hoarse-Horse, get it? Sorry couldn't help myself). The grey Pegasus' eyes went their, normal, derpy state and she began to cry slowly, silently.
A moment passed of the ponies all standing in the food room not knowing what to do, most everypony had left and even Celestia was pacing up and down. Finally, the big double doors opened and, cheering could be heard. Bright Haze stromed in holding a letter. He paced it to Celestia and went over to Derpy who hugged him with no intention of letting go.
"Dear Princess Celestia, I, the Changeling queen hereby apologize for all those ponies I have harmed, we only feed on war and hate but have now learnt that love is a more better food source, if it would please your highness, the Changeling state would like to join Equestria and have peace between the lands. Yours hopefully, Queen Chrysie." Celestia said.
"That means, there is no more war. All sides are in peace." Twilight muttered, Fluttershy paused for a second before jumping up and down.
"WE DID IT! NO MORE WAR WE ACTUALLY DID IT" Fluttershy shouted. I had a huge grin on my face and kissed Derpy.
"Let's go home Dee." I said, we got up to leave.
"What about staying with Rainbow?" Derly asked.
"I am moving out." I replied.
"Where will you go. I'll miss you, be back for the wedding." Derpy said, nit getting the hint.
"Dee, I am moving in with you, Equestria is in peace, no more war, I need not go to fight anymore. We are age, I am yours." I said, Derpy processed that then whispered.
"Then in that case mister. Prepare for a long night." She said slyly, I giggled and we flow home together.
The End....
Of Part One
Bright Haze: The Sky Dwellers
Thanks goes out to the usual; Sithjjf, Maverik, BronyDragon, BrongGC, and now, the newest member of my thanking you guys because I and actually as soft as shit group; Crystalhero97! His OC is Spectra Speed, in case y'all didn't know.
So Bright Haze One is complete, the next one will probably be started tomorrow or Wednesday. However one thing is left unsaid, obviously now this whole situation of Dee and Haze having sex has come to play, as had the whole thing with Rainbow and Spectra, so should I write clop, or stay to what I know best and kill lots of shit with fancy words and shit internet?
The Next one, Bright Haze: Archmage of Olde will be based, three years after the events of today (First day of peace) and Dee and Haze are married, as are Rainbow and Spectra. I might bring in new weapons, armour, bring back the Bloody Skulls and a few more extras for you guys, but I will have to see how it goes I guess. Well thank you all again and goodnight!
Bright Haze: The Sky Dwellers
Rainbow Dash: In defence of peace
The eleven ponies trotted into Canterlot, tired and hungry, pony guards lined the streets and more of the gate had been repaired, but not all. The two Princesses stood at the stairway to the castle and watched as the ponies trotted toward them. They had dark faces and seemed worried.
"Is this all that reminds?" Celestia asked.
"There were hundreds my princess, we were taken prisoner and dragged half way across Equestria, Cloudsdale has fallen I am afraid and the Dwellers may be on their way here as we speak." Twilight said, bravely. The Princess nodded slowly.
"Then, my student, we better prepare." Celestia replied and the guards all saluted and began to gather up the civilian ponies to hide in the castle.
"Now, I am sorry Princess, but right now I speak for all of us, we need sleep. Now." Twilight said, Celestia nodded in understanding and they were taken to some rooms in which they could sleep in. Rainbow Dash looked at the velvet queen sized bed in wonder. She gave a squeak and flow up, then bomb dived onto the covers and fell asleep before touching the pillows, she just, slept.
Rainbow was woken by alarms, hooves banged against the floor and shouts came from pony to pony. Rainbow wondered what time it was and Twilight ran in.
"Ah, Rainbow you are finally awake." The unicorn said, Rainbow's stomach rumbled and she realized she was hungry.
"I'm hungry." She stated.
"That's what three days of sleep will do to you." Twilight replied.
"Three days! Why didn't anypony wake me?" Rainbow shouted getting up, thankfully she was out of her armour. She grapped up her spear and began to run out.
"We tried, but you wouldn't wake, one of the deepest sleeps in all of Equestria's history." Twilight said, giving a small smile.
"Well what's going on?" Rainbow asked, Twilight lost her smile.
"They are here, the Sky Dweller army is at the gates, waiting on their king who is apparently on his way." Twilight said, Rainbow let that sink in.
"If he is on his way, that would mean. Oh fuck, not Spectra!" Rainbow shouted, storming out.
Outside it was horrible, guards lined every part of the city, as far as the eye could see, catapults and giant crossbows had been set up in the defense. Rainbow galloped through Canterlot at amazing speed, she would kill the king herself.
At the gates pieces of wrecked building, boxes, chairs, anything that could be used had been used to guard the gates, the shield was up and everypony was armed and ready. Rainbow would wait, until her death came and the king had fallen to her hooves.
