A Promise Not Forgotten

Aidan:

I stood still as stone with Colin and Discord to my right, and Iron Hoof and the day guard to my left. “I suggest for your sake that you stand down…” I said flatly.

The leader of the guards, wearing Celestia’s cutie mark on his armor stepped forward, “What makes you think we would do that?” He countered.

I held my eyes shut for a moment, hoping that he would understand, and that I wouldn’t have to hurt anybody else. “I don’t want to hurt you,” I said.

He and his group of guards laughed at the statement. I opened my eyes to meet his, “Oh, this will be fun…” He said before charging forward.

“I warned you…” I muttered quietly before throwing a bolt of lightning at him. The royal guard jumped to the right, dodging the bolt and letting it hit numerous guards behind him.

Discord and Colin went to work throwing blasts of magic at the guards while Iron Hoof and the day guard fought on their side of the room.

My eyes shifted back to the legate sprinting at me. I smirked before running to meet him with a kick to the jaw. The guard stumbled for a moment before letting a blast of magic out. He hit with precision, but the magic was still pointless. I gave a half smile at his confused expression. Another bolt of electricity flew out of my hand and met him. A resounding scream erupted from his lungs as he shuddered before falling down. I stepped over him and knelt next to him, “Give it up… you can’t win this,” I said. I could hear the roar of Dan’s truck as he drove away, along with the flapping of wings leaving.

The legate growled on the ground and struggled to stand as his legs involuntarily twitched. A bolt from me is just like being tazed, but turn up the amps and it can be quite lethal. I channeled more electricity into the guard, being careful not to kill him, however. Now completely confident that the guard couldn’t stand for a while I turned around to face the crowd of fighting guards. Some had already started charging to meet me. Did it just get colder?

I waited this time for them to reach me. The first guard, who was smaller than the two trailing him, was taken down by an electric punch to the face. He was reduced to the same twitching state as his leader. It was oddly amusing to watch ponies twitch helplessly on the floor, but that could be my broken personality talking. The remaining two guards tackled me to the floor and struggled to detain me. With my shattered powers came a return to being weaker than anyone in the room. That made the two guards on top of me impossible to escape… or did it?

Colin:

I took a break from firing magical bombs at the attacking ponies to look at the source of a pair of rather loud screams. Aidan was pushing two twitching pegasi off of him before sprinting headlong into the group of ponies at the other side of the room with his arms glowing.

My focus on him was broken when a unicorn levitating a sword swung at me. Instinct took over as I ducked, slid under and behind him, reached over my shoulder and pulled out my own sword. I stood up and jumped back a step to decrease my odds of losing something important.

As I readied myself for a second attack, I looked over my opponent. He was a bright white unicorn wearing a set of golden armor, an ironic contrast to my black pea coat and gray/silvery jeans. It must have been custom made because it was made more of chain mail than the normal plate armor. Quite obviously dressed for speed, I immediately knew he was a good swordsman. I just hoped I was better. He was armed with a bizarre sword, a cross between a rapier and a broadsword, sort of like a colichemarde, but as wide as a full broad sword at the base.

“What? No bows? No handshakes? Not even a curt nod? Clearly you’ve never had a proper duel in your life!” I said, taunting him.

My months of training kicked in suddenly as I was suddenly rushed by the guard. He jumped upward, swinging his sword down at me. I brought my sword up and blocked his blow, and knocking him back a few feet with a shove. With a sword like his I knew he had to have been trained to parry, not just block. I ran at him and faked a jab to his left, then lunged to his right. He performed a beautiful counter sixte (circular parry 6), causing me to roll sideways to avoid a slash to the jugular.

As I regained my footing, I was vaguely aware of Aidan fighting a few yards away from me, being able to hear the crackling of electricity, screaming ponies, and the cracks of bones, followed by angry howls of pain from Aidan as his body regenerated.

We clashed with each other several more times, neither of us ever able to touch the other. I decided to try his own trick against him and make a running jump/downward swipe towards him. Before I could jump, he used his telekinesis to slide a stone in front of my foot, tripping me, and ran at me. I rolled out of the way just as his hoof came down where my head was.

“So we’re fighting dirty now, eh? Two can play at that game!” I said, using my mind to launch the same rock at his helmet.

He dodged the rock quickly however, and we closed once again, whirling around slashing and chucking rocks at each other. We were unfortunately evenly matched.

Behind my opponent I saw Aidan running out of the throne room chasing about five guards who had decided to run away. “IM COMING FOR YA!” He screamed just to scare the ponies even more.

“Fuck it,” I thought. “I’ll try something stupid.”

I quickly jumped back from my opponent. Holding out my left hand away from my side, I created a colichemarde for myself out of light. I made a running jump towards my surprised foe, who as before, raised his sword to block my coming blow. Both of my swords came down on his one, shattering it into several pieces. They continued on to glance of the unicorns shoulder plates and slide across his chain mail.

He looked up at me, shocked at his destroyed sword and vulnerable position.

“Don’t worry son,” I said. “Your shoulders will be sore for a while, but you’ll be fine. Also you, might have a sore head.”

*Wham*

I slammed my pommel down on his helmet, knocking him out cold, and went off after Aidan.

Aidan:

I just got done frying five more unlucky ponies before I turned to look at the remaining horde of guards rushing through the halls of the broken Castle. This wave, after seeing the bodies of numerous guards strewn about the floor were hesitant to approach me. I had sustained broken bones, stabs, burns, and even a buck to the face, but with regeneration like mine I am unstoppable.

“What? Finally coming to your senses? Pity it took you this long…” I said before casually pacing back and forth in front of the horde. The ponies stood stone-faced, but in their panicked eyes I could see all the fear that they harbored. Colin and the rest of our group walked out of the main hall.

“Holy hell…” Colin said, amazed by the number of guards lying on the floor of the castle.

I took a few steps closer to the line of guards. “What? Done now? What a pity… I wonder what that tyrant of a princess will do to you all when she finds out you failed,” I said.

“SHE IS NOT A TRYRANT!” One guard shouted.

I turned to face him, pausing my pacing, “And what makes you think that? Because she has always been there? Because she ‘protects you’? Hah, that’s a laugh. I bet none of you stupid brutes even know why she hates me… Why you were even sent out to kill an innocent man,” I said before resuming my pacing. “She never told you that did she?” I asked.
“She told us that you were a threat to the throne… and must be exterminated,” A guard said, without breaking his glare.
“She brought this upon herself… I didn’t do anything. Woke up and was thrown in a prison because ‘the public didn’t trust me’… You all saw the crowd that gathered for my freedom and yet still your tyrant hates me? What reason might she have?” I asked. “I’m waiting!” I said shaking my head.

“I’ve had enough of this…” A legate similar to the first said before flapping his wings and landing just in front of the horde. The guard in his ornate armor with Celestia’s mark on it just stood there, glaring at me.

I leaned in closer, “What are you going to do about it?” I asked with a fire in my stare. He growled before charging for me. “Oh… look another guard trying to charge me… whatever shall I do?” I mocked as he got closer. I started charging a bolt of electricity between my two hands. The howl of the magic filled the room as the guard still charged. Just before he was close enough to do any damage I threw the bolt at him. The electricity chained from him to the first two rows of guards behind him. They all fell lifelessly to the ground.

About ten or twelve guards remained standing in terror that nearly their whole battalion was taken down in one fell swoop. “Anyone else want to fuck with me tonight?” I asked with a bright smile. The rest of the pegasi flapped their wings and flew away without thinking twice, and the unicorns teleported away. The earth ponies ran as fast as they could out of the broken down castle without looking back. “Bout time someone learned their place…” I said before turning to my companions. I was met with blank stares, “What?”

“Aidan, how could you do that? Kill all those guards?” Iron Hoof asked, with a tremble in his voice. No doubt some of these were his closest friends.

“I did what I had to…” I said before walking past them and into the throne room.

Colin followed me into the throne room. He could see through my visage. “You okay, bro?” he asked as we walked to the broken throne.

“I’ve seen better days…” I said as I looked upon the carnage of our fight. I started laughing, maybe a little too much… “Oh, fuck me…”

“Come on, man. It isn’t your fault, you did warn them,” Colin said.

I turned around to face them, “BUT THAT’S NOT THE PONT, DAMN IT!” I shouted. “I’m… sorry,” I said before a tear fell. I turned to hide it from Colin. “I just… I’ve seen what will happen, six months ago in Canterlot. It doesn’t end well… for anyone.”

“Come on man, I’m sure you will find a way out of all this. You’re Aidan! I’m Colin! And that crazy guy in the truck is Dan! We always find a way out!” Colin said.

Despite knowing that there WAS no way out, and I would have to face my fate anyway, I appreciated the gesture. “Thanks, man…” I said, while lowering my head.

“Hey, that’s what bros are for,” He replied as he slapped my back.

Dan:

“I CANT GO ANY FASTER IN THIS FOREST!” I yelled back to Rainbow Dash.

“Come on! There has to be something you can do!” Rainbow shouted back.

Blasts of magic flew past the truck and a few hit the roof and the back. I rolled down my window and looked at the side of my truck, “WHY?” I shouted when I saw the scorch mark on the side of the truck. “I JUST HAD THIS PAINTED YOU ASSHOLES!” I screamed with my head out the window. I looked forward again and swerved in between the trees, trying to make myself harder to shoot. More and more blasts of magic hit the truck over and over before the back window cracked. “Damn it!” I said while inspecting the hole. I reached a hand back and made an ice wall that would protect my passengers from the unicorns in carriages being pulled by pegasi.

“STOP THE VEHICLE AND SURRENDER, HUMAN!” A unicorn shouted.

“Umm… Dan, maybe we should surrender…” Fluttershy said. Damn that cute pony!

“Can’t do that Flutters, they would kill me if I did,” I said only half focusing on our conversation.

More and more blasts of magic struck the truck before some pegasi decided it would be a good idea to get boulders and drop them on the truck. “WHAT THE HELL!” I screamed as my roof was dented. “Ok, take the wheel, Luna!” I said.

“What?” She asked with wide eyes.

“I said take the wheel! Make sure we don’t hit any trees!” I said, pointing in front of us with one hand, the other still on the wheel.

Luna did as told and grabbed the wheel, steering us out of harm’s way.

With me now able to focus on the threat behind us I grabbed onto the roof of the car and sat halfway out of the car. I took aim and started shooting icicles at our followers. There were far more than I thought because numerous magical bolts pounded at my chest, nearly throwing me out of the car. I wasn’t nearly as resistant to magic as Aidan was.

I regained my grip on the truck before resuming my volley of ice shards at the pegasi. The horde of guards only grew as we drove deeper into the heart of the forest. “Shit… this isn’t working, any ideas?” I asked while slipping back into the truck and taking the wheel back.

“Well you could freeze the air…” Rainbow said from the back. “But that might kill them.”

“That’s the idea,” I said before ducking out of the car again. I concentrated my powers more and more until the truck died. I opened my eyes to see the pegasi falling down to the ground with the carriages they were pulling falling on top of them. I hopped back into the truck, “Shit, shit shit shit!” I said as it slowed to a stop. “Twilight, can you heat things up?” I called into the back of the truck.

“Yes!” She called back, walking to the small window separating us.

“Good, heat up the front of the truck,” I said while pointing to the engine. The unicorn did as instructed while I tried to start the engine. After a few seconds of worry that the surviving unicorns would catch up the truck sprung to life with a loud roar. “Good, stop!”

Twilight lay back down in the back of the truck with her friends and casted a warming spell to heat up the passengers of the truck. For some reason neither I nor Luna felt the cold, but the ponies sure did.

I kept driving for about a mile before stopping at the entrance of a cave. “Twilight can I get some lights in here?” I asked before I got out of the truck and walked to the back of the truck.

“Sure,” Twilight said as she hopped out of the back of the truck.

“Dash, you better come too!” I said.

She happily jumped out of the cab of the truck. While this means of transportation was far safer, she still hated it. Hell, that mare even hated trains. Flying was her preferred method of travel. “I thought you were gonna keep me in there forever!” She said with a smile.

“Keep that up and I just might,” I said with a laugh. “Come on…” I said as I lead the way into the cave. Inside it wasn’t that big, but just enough to store the truck for the night along with all of us with some room to spare.

“Why did you need me though?” Rainbow asked.

“Really?” I asked.

She responded with an expectant face.

I sighed, “There might have been something in here, and you are the most able fighter other than me at the moment.” Rainbow smiled at the ‘complement’ even though it was purely fact.

After the decision that the cave was safe we exited it. Twilight and I walked back to the truck and she walked to the back to tell the others. Rainbow stood at the mouth of the cave, looking back to the moonlit silhouette of the ruins Aidan was in. After telling the ponies that we would stay here for the night, I walked back to her. “You doing ok?” I asked.

“What?” She said while looking back to me. “Oh, yeah.” She turned her head back to the castle. “You think they’re okay?”

Aidan must have unleashed hell over there because the whole castle lit up for a brief second before the sound of thunder filled the night air. “I think we should be worrying about the guards,” I said with a laugh.

Rainbow shared in the much needed relief from the tense situation. “His personality splitting thing… do you think there is any way to fix it?”

Of course she would ask me something like that. I walked over and knelt down next to her while putting a hand on her shoulders. “Rainbow, he’s already gone…” I said. “He has been since we woke up. It’s only a matter of time before we lose him completely,” I said before walking back to the truck to back it into the cave. I stole a glance back at Rainbow before I got into the driver’s seat. She was crying now, the poor mare.