NaNo2014: Shadows of Friendship: Part 20

“Yeah, right, I’m supposed to believe some awesome flying squad was just passing through the Everfree when a demonic Princess passed through and just happened to tell them that the best flyer in all of Equestria was passing through? The only part I believe is that I’m the best.” Dash snorted, “And even if it was true, you introduced yourself by attacking me and when you lost sight of me, you went after my friends and that’s not okay. Now go away, I’m not joining your team and I’m not letting you hurt my friends, not even Princess Twilight. I might not know her very well, but she’s worth a million of you.”

“Wrong choice, Rainbow Dash.” The mare growled out, launching herself at her. Dash narrowly escaped the strike by folding her wings, jumping off of the cloud and dropping like a stone out of the sky. The three evil pegasi followed her down at high speed, not wanting to lose her, only for Dash to open her wings at the last minute and pull up. The mare managed to copy her antics, soaring up after her, but the two stallions collided with the ground, hard and burst into clouds of purple and black mist.

“Two down.” Rainbow panted, trying to ignore the pain in her side and the complaints of her wings as she climbed again, fully aware that the mare was on her tail. “Just one to go…”

“Yes,” The mare shot up in front of her, forcing Dash to break hard, making her let out a pained whimper as her muscles, which were pushed to their limits, screamed for her to stop. “But that last one is me,” The mare smirked, “Nightingale. And I always deliver.”

“Yeah well, not this time.” Dash snorted, diving down and skimming the river, trying to keep an eye on where Nightingale was. “How the hell does a Shadow creature have a name, anyway?”

“If you have to know,” Dash started and nearly tumbled into the water as Nightingale pulled up alongside her, looking smug, “My brothers and I were normal ponies before we were banished to the Shadows. We live there now and when we’re defeated in this world, we just end up back in the dark. You’ll be joining us soon. Nightmare Moon has sworn it.”

“No way.” Dash snapped back, barging Nightingale and rowing for height, fully aware she was slowing down, “Even if you get me, my friends will fix it and I’ll be me again before you know it.”

“Not if your mortal form is dead.” Rainbow did not have time to react to that as Nightingale collided with her and forced her down into the river. The pair of pegasi plunged into the deep river, just down from where the others had crossed and Dash found herself caught in the currents.

Nightingale transformed into purple mist and fled, leaving Rainbow in the river alone. She struggled and fought against the current desperately heading for the surface, but the current was too strong for her and her muscles were too heavy from the heavily draining flying she had been doing before. The lack of rest between her practises and now and the fact she had had no chance to take a deep breath before she had been plunged into the waters did not help as she struggled for air.

Then, just as her world was going dark something orange plunged into the river next to her and grabbed her before pulling on a rope with her teeth. Somepony had to be on the other end of it as they were slowly dragged to shore but Dash was not conscious to see them touch down on dry land.

Twilight watched in stunned horror as Fluttershy shoved Applejack aside and started trying to get Rainbow Dash breathing again, her shock breaking a little as she heard cackling from above. She looked up as a shadow passed over them and revealed itself to be the same pegasus mare who had driven Dash into the water.

Something in Twilight snapped when she saw the mare was coming in for a fresh strike as they tried to save their friend and the puzzle glowed brightly, the same changes overcoming Twilight’s form as she stared up at the pegasus.

Nightingale pulled up sharply when she saw the unicorn grow taller and wings sprouted from her back. Wide purple eyes narrowed and turned a bitter, angry ruby red as the heavily damaged wings spread to cover the alicorn’s back and rump and dark magic swirled around her like flames. She was no fool. She recognised power when she saw it and the alicorn before her was nothing but power.

Still she had sworn that she would deal with the Princess and her guards when she had been summoned. Nightmare Moon had promised freedom for her and her brothers if they managed it so alicorn or unicorn, Princess Twilight was going down and going down hard.

“What’s the matter, Princess?” Nightingale sneered, glad at she did not have to outrun an alicorn in the skies. Rainbow Dash had proved a surprisingly good challenge and Nightingale was tired and sore. Up in the skies, however, she had the advantage. “Too afraid to fly? Oh wait, you can’t. Those wings wouldn’t lift a butterfly, yet alone a fat mare like you.”

Twilight glanced over her shoulder when she heard Rainbow coughing and spluttering behind her, bringing up the water she had swallowed and the momentary distraction gave Nightingale the opening she was looking for. She rammed into the Alicorn, sending her sprawling before rowing for height.

The Princess ignored the concerned calls of her allies as she carefully watched Nightingale’s flight trajectory. Just because she could no longer fly, it did not mean she did not know what to expect of an aerial combatant and the pegasus was overconfident. She chuckled darkly as Nightingale swooped in to finish her, taking a leaf from her earlier battle and calling up a card from her deck but not a monster this time.

Instead the mare, who, if her muzzle and ears were any indication, was actually of a similar shade of coat to Rainbow Dash, went crashing into a wall of light and bounced off, hitting the floor hard. One wing wrenched out of place in the collision leaving the pegasus in a great deal of pain as she picked herself up and just as ground bound as Twilight.

“You’ll pay! You’ll pay!” Nightingale screamed at her as she charged her, lowering her head with the intent to ram the alicon. Twilight dodged it easily and tripped the furious shadow spirit. She stumbled and staggered a few steps further than she had intended giving the Princess enough time to blast her with the same spell she had been using to keep the creatures from earlier at bay.

It sent Nightingale tumbling, the already injured pegasus going sliding across the ground before coming to a halt at the water’s edge, her goggles going tumbling into the river. Fear was clear on her features as Twilight approached, she knew she could not win. That had been clear from the moment that she had lost her ability to fly, but accepting defeat meant losing her chance to get her and her brothers out of the dark void they had been trapped in for so long. Even now if she died she would just return to that dark place instead of moving on. She had to get away.

The Princess seemed to have no intention of letting her do that as she stood before her, anger clear and magic crackling around her. Nightingale cowered, hoping that showing that she knew she was beaten would get her off lightly or make the Alicorn make a mistake.

“You hurt my friend,” Twilight snapped, her voice stern and disapproving as she glowered down at the terrified shadow spirit, “Trespassed in my soul, and you’ve lost at your own little twisted game.”

That was far too true for Nightingale’s liking and she let out a whimper before begging, “Please,” She tried, “I’m sorry. I didn’t know...”

“Yes you did, don’t lie, it only makes it worse.” The Alicorn hissed at her, cutting her off, “You were aiming to kill Rainbow Dash when you drove her into the river.”

“Please, I’m sorry,” Nightingale backed up, knowing she was in trouble, “Please, I’m beaten, you don’t need to...”

“Twilight.” Fluttershy called, causing the purple former-unicorn to perk an ear up, twitching it slightly in her direction. It was the only indicator that she had heard the pale yellow pegasus but Fluttershy cantered up to the Princess’s side and then stood between her and Nightingale. “You’re better than this. You’re not Nightmare Moon.”

Red eyes narrowed a little further as Twilight harrumphed and backed up a couple of steps, giving the flyer a little more room, her anger clear. “She hurt Rainbow Dash.”

“I know.” Fluttershy informed her, her voice stronger than normal. She had a soft but worried smile as she glanced towards the blue filly who was looking a little shaky but otherwise okay, “But Rainbow’s okay now. Princess Celestia wouldn’t want you to fall to the power and neither does Rainbow, right?” The last was directed to Rainbow Dash who shook her head, “See?”

“But...” Twilight started.

“A little kindness goes a long way.” The animal loving pegasus pony told her softly, before looking at Nightingale, “If we let you go, will you leave us alone?”

“I...yes, I swear.” Nightingale nodded rapidly, having already decided to stay far away from the possessed Alicorn in the castle in the middle of the forest and terrified of the dark flames licking around the Alicorn before her. She was fully aware that the Shadows she could feel from the Princess could do so much worse to her then kill her current form and send her soul back to the darkness and wanted nothing more than to get as far away from her as possible. If she could not win, after all, she had to survive, for her brothers.

“She’s not a threat. You can let her go.” Fluttershy told Twilight with all the care offered to one of the more dangerous creatures the pegasus dealt with on a daily basis. The angry Alicorn snorted but backed up a little more, watching as her friend turned to the Shadowbolt. “Are you hurt?” She asked, showing the same concern that she gave any pony.

Nightingale looked started as she nodded, extending her wrenched wing as far as she could. Fluttershy let out a worried sound as she started examining it, “This is going to hurt and you’ll need to rest it.” She warned, “I’d say for you to get this done properly by a Doctor, but do shadow things even have Doctors?”

“N...no.” Nightingale admitted, startled by the question, “You want to heal me?”

“I can’t heal it, but I can put it right so it’ll heal right by itself.” Fluttershy offered, “If you want. I mean.”

“Y...yes, thank you.” She stammered, nodding rapidly. Her form would reset when she was sent back into the darkness but she had no intention of going back yet and a functional wing would go a long way to helping her avoid the demon Alicorn that taken over the forest.

Crystal Compass Book 1: Part 13: July 2014 Camp NaNo

She was just rolling through town when she spotted something moving by the home of one of the children she had earmarked as a possible target. She turned her headlights onto the moving shadow to try and get a better look at what it was.

She swiftly wished she had not.

It was just as Clara had described and yet so much worse. The almost skeletal figure was hunched at a grotesque angle, seeming to be almost bent double. The grey, clammy, dead seeming skin was decaying away, revealing dying flesh and rotten organs underneath, blood oozing slowly from each and every hole, dripping onto the pavement and leaving a trail that Twilight knew no mortal who could not see like she could would notice. Bloodstains made their way up its arms, at the end of which were claw like fingers. It turned and glared at her with its burning blood red eyes and Twilight froze up in terror as it smirked at her, its sharp, vicious looking teeth bared.

Twilight fumbled for her crossbow, remembering too late that she had no bolts for it and had left it behind. The creature turned away and leapt with astounding agility up to a child’s bedroom window and slowly opened it, using its long fingers as a lever to prise it open. Twilight cussed and snatched up a rock and threw it at the beast before scrambling for a nearby, rather hefty looking branch she could use as a weapon, wondering what the hell she had been thinking in going after any old bogeyman without a weapon. Especially when this monster was roaming around.

She did not get the chance to snatch it up. The creature was on her in a heartbeat, slashing at her with its claws. The shockingly sharp talons pierced not only her bike leathers, but the clothes and skin underneath. Twilight let out a pained yelp which was swiftly cut off when she was knocked off of her feet and her head slammed into the pavement, knocking her partially senseless.

The creature stalked forward with a low, vindictive chuckle as Twilight moaned and tried to push herself upright, pushing her back down with a foot and pinning her to the floor. Twilight feebly struggled as the creature leered down at her, increasing the pressure on her chest, causing her to scream in pain as her ribs started to creak and crack at the weight.

“Little Havenkeeper, I remember you.” The creature hissed, seeming amused, “Your grandmother kept this town from me, rescued you from my clutches when your mother brought you to town. Shame you won’t live to do the same.”

“K...Kill me,” Twilight stammered out, crying out in pain as he kept increasing the pressure, “And you’ll bring t...the entire Compass d...down on your head!”

“They’re too busy to really pay attention to what I’m up to.” The creature smirked back, “Besides none of them could hope to defeat me.”

The first part was probably true. He had hurt her, had probably hurt Mikey. The Wrath of the Seasons should have activated for the nearest Crystal Compass immortal. That none had shown up told Twilight that she was, terrifyingly, alone.

“Y...You’re just a bogeyman.” Twilight retorted, trying to throw him off balance as she grabbed for something, anything, that she could use to defend herself and finding a sharp stick. “I’m not afraid of you!”

She jammed the sharp stick through paper thin flesh, into the ankle of the foot pinning her. The creature howled in pain and backed off, giving Twilight the chance to get to her feet. She took it, rolling onto her side and pushing herself up as she tried to ignore the way her world was swimming nauseatingly.

She stumbled towards her bike, intending to run the thing over, only for him to grab her hair and pull her back. She tripped, losing her balance, only to crash into the creature. It slammed her into the nearest wall, holding her there by the throat, its long fingers wrapping tightly around her neck and its claws cutting in, leaving trails which oozed blood that, thankfully were not deep enough to kill. Not that Twilight appreciated it as she struggled to breathe past his hand, trying to pull his hand away from her neck.

“You should be, little Havenkeeper.” The creature growled at her, though she had trouble hearing it over the sound of her own heartbeat pounding in her ears, “I’m not A bogeyman, I’m THE Bogeyman, the one all the others answer to, the one who created them in his image. I’m the King of Fear, Bloody Bones. Not that you’ll get to tell anyone.” He squeezed tighter and drove his other hand through Twilight’s stomach, just below her ribcage.

The scream of agony she wanted to let out caught in her throat and Twilight’s world whited out for a moment. When she came back to herself, the creature had let go and was being chased away by an eight foot long, panther like tabby cat.

“K...Kuma.” Twilight called feebly, beginning to slip again as the creature vanished into the shadows, seeming to use it to teleport away.

The feline returned to her side, concern obvious as it nuzzled her. “Use your bracelet.” The cat demon told her, “I’ll get you mortal help.”

“But...busy...” The librarian managed as Kuma transformed into her human form and rummaged through her pockets until she could find Twilight’s phone.

“This is more important than Handover.” The nekomata hissed at her, her voice unchanged from one form to the next, “Use the damn bracelet.”

Twilight stared at the item in question blankly. The silver bracelet had been a present from Jack and Nowell. It was enchanted to allow her to call them when she needed them. She did now. She really did. But it was Handover. They had jobs to do. But whatever Bloody Bones was, she was never going to defeat it alone.

She made up her mind just before her world gave way to total darkness and whispered just one word, the one word that would bring her friend to her.

“Help.”

Digital Distraction: Part 33

Kaiba had to admit he had been suprised. He had expected to arrive at the castle and immediately have someone try and capture him. Instead he had been led to see Edmund Harper, who had been in his office, trying to fix make some last minute preparations for the ‘final round’ of the beta test.

Harper had been honestly shocked when he had presented his data and gotten rather offended that he would dare accuse him of wrecking Kaiba Corp’s systems and stealing their data.

Then he had taken a proper look at the information Kaiba had brought with him and the focus of his anger had changed. Instead of snarling at Kaiba for making false accusations, he had phoned his second in command, the vice president of the company and the one who had gotten him in contact with SharpShade, to see if she knew anything about it.

Harper’s business partner, a Egyptian looking woman in  rather expensive looking white dress and sandals entered the room accompanied by six men in robes whose hoods covered their faces.

“Mina?” Harper demanded, furious, “What’s going on?”

“It’s Menhit, actually Edmund, and I am sorry but...” Kaiba tuned it out. He didn’t really need to pay attention. It was perfectly obvious what was going on. Harper was being deposed by some mad woman with a small army of robed idiots. This was Yugi’s territory, not his.

Something about the two mooks at the back of the small group caught his attention. They seemed to be silently debating something amongst them as their boss continued, the smaller of the two hissing for the taller to be quiet.

“...and yes, I did know about what happened to Kaiba’s company.” Seto tuned back in in time to pay attention to her gloating, “It was my idea to ruin his systems and embed Dimension’s tags in the code.”

“Why?” Harper demanded, confused, even as Kaiba scowled at her, determined to make her pay for daring to almost ruin years of work. If it hadn’t been for those backups...

“Because, Edmund, you’ve been really useful in attracting all these powerful Duellists to the island for us, but you were never going to get Kaiba here by yourself, not when he has others to send for him and he has a company to run.”

She turned to Kaiba, a huge smirk on her features as she continued, “Of course we did consider kidnapping your brother, but we already had one hostage to deal with and quite frankly it was easier to mess with your company’s computers then deal with your security forces.”

That she had even contemplated laying a hand on his brother was unsurprising but unforgivable. He scowled at her, but didn’t say a word, well aware that it was generally better to let the lunatics get their monologue out of their system early so you didn’t have to listen to it later.

“Of course we did expect you to be on the boat with the others, like your little spy.” Kaiba didn’t frown but it was a close thing. “Not that she’s poking her nose into our business any longer. I’m very sorry,” Her tone indicated that she wasn’t sorry at all, “But Miss Ironhide won’t be returning to work any time soon.”

That was it. The smaller of the two mooks that Kaiba had noted earlier ripped her hood off to reveal Ombre was stood there and she looked furious.

“What did you do to Kari?” She demanded as her powers answered her call, flaring up around her in a fire of burning gold and freezing purple.

“Men.” Menhit snarled, gesturing to the other three men. The taller of the two mooks at the back played a card from his hand, summoning the Flame Swordsman who held off one of the goons as Ombre’s magic pinned another. A third took a swing for the traitor, only for him to duck under the blow, his hood falling to reveal Joey, and counter attacked.

Kaiba had no intention of getting grabbed by these morons and knew he would never live it down if the mutt rescued him. He couldn’t access his deck with his DimDisk locked down, just like everyone else’s, but he didn’t need to. He slipped into a offensive stance and within thirty seconds he had taken out one of the mooks.

Between his martial arts, the mutt’s street brawling style and Ombre’s magic it doesn’t take them more than about five minutes to take down the other four goons. Joey let out an irritated snarl as he realised that Menhit had escaped in the brawl.

“I’m going to rip that witch apart when I find her.” Ombre growled, stalking towards the door.

“Ironhide, wait.” Kaiba snapped at her, just as angry about Menhit’s escape as the rest of them.

“You heard her.” Ombre snapped, “They have Kari.”

“Yes and you have no idea where, storming round in a foul mood will just endanger her further. Sit down, shut up and let me think.” Kaiba bit back at her, well aware of how much he owed his captured employee.

“Kaiba...” Ombre opened her mouth, but shockingly it was Joey who blocked her path to the obnoxious CEO.

“Ombre, no. I hate to say this, I really, really do, but he’s right. First they took Yuge, now we know they have Kari and if they have Kari, they’ve got Tristan too.” Joey was obviously trying to control his temper in order to calm her down. “We need a plan.”

“What do you mean ‘they took Yuge’ and ‘they have Kari’?” Harper demanded, “What the hell is going on?”

“You’ve been made redundant.” Kaiba snorted, glancing over at him, “Menhit’s running this operation now. You’re just a pawn she’s discarded.”

“Well she’s going to regret that.” Harper snarled back, furious that he had been played so badly, “This is my island. My system. My rules. I know all of the backdoors.” He smirked at them, “She wants to play dirty, I can play dirtier.”

Ombre paused to consider him for a moment, then nodded. “I want my DimDisk reactivated and I want to know what she’s done to my sister.”

“Easily done.” Harper promised. “Give me twenty minutes in the admin room and I’ll have full control over the island again. If your friends are anywhere on the island, I’ll be able to find them.” He promised.

“Good.”