Chapter 11 - The Elements Fight On...!
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Yelps, growls, and roars filled the air as his pack battled the ponies. The wolves had split up between attacking Applejack and Fluttershy and the Manticore.
They attempted to bite at the underbelly when the beast was distracted, and making them scatter when it came at them with tooth and claw.
The others were faring no better against the powerful earth mare. Their attempts to go for her legs to slit her ankles or cut her leg hoping to cause nerve damage of some sort to disable her. They were simply just too slow to keep up with the farmer.
They would leap over tail swipes or spin kicks attempting to sink sharp hardwood teeth into soft hide only to fail.
A swipe caught a wolf in mid-jump and sticky sap rained down as claws tore the middle out of him.
A powerful foot cracked into the side of a wolf's jaw sending the creature's head snapping back, its head exploding into splinters.
The battle progressed as the amount of fallen timber around the area grew. The longer the fight lasted the more pieces of Timberwolves pieces laid scattered.
At this rate there was only one thing the Timber Wolves could do. Their Alpha let out a howl as the other Timberwolves joined in. An ominous energy began radiating from them. "Fluttershy what's going on?" she called out to the mare who had safely watched the battle from a distance.
"Applejack they're going to combine!" the Pegasus cried out in a panic. "Get out of there!"
The body of the wolves disassembled and joined with the pieces of the living and dead wolves, and he grew large and strong as they assembled in and around the Alpha. When it was all said and done the assortment of small creatures transformed into a much larger one.
The creature smiled at what he saw. Fear. The Timberwolf let out a howl in celebration signifying that it was already assured that it would be victorious.
The creature launched itself only to be met mid leap by the Manticore. The Amalagam creature was far from frighten by this adversary, no its body tingled with excitement at the possibility of a worthy adversary.
The Timber wolf bit into a leg and his teeth sank in to draw blood. The Timberwolf jerked back and forth and was rewarded with a roar of pain from the beast as its leg was nearly torn from its body.
"Fluttershy we have to get out of here!" Applejack saw an opportunity to escape while the creatures were distracted. Both Mare's head shot towards the noise as the creatures crashed crashing through trees and over boulders as they sought to end one another.
They collided with a large tree that stopped them and the wolf caught the Manticore before it could pull itself up. Its belly was soft and the wolf delighted in the shriek that erupted from it when his teeth shredded the skin.
"Applejack we can't leave him!" Fluttershy practically wailed as she watched her new friend before forced on the defensive.
Applejack inwardly cursed knowing that Fluttershy was far too kind to abandon anypony or any creature. She also considered the fact that even if they did run there was a possibility that the Chimera would lose and the creature continued after them.
As fate would have it the Manticore fought back using its scorpion tail sending the creature, reeling, stumbling backwards and barely managing to avoid tripping only for a foot to collide into the creature's skull causing a fracture.
The Manticore recovered as he almost had the beast but it managed to maneuver out of the way by ducking below and jammed one of its antlers into the belly of the beast. "Hold on Fellar Ah'm coming!" Applejack bellowed with a charge. The Timberwolf hurled the creature off its horn and attempted to swipe at Applejack only for the mare to leap over and land against one of the trees using her feet. With her powerful legs she pushed herself off the tree and attempted to land a strike only for the Timberwolf to detatch bits of its own body, sharpening into a javelin and hurled it at the Apple farmer.
Applejack let out a scream as the makeshift javelin pierced her shoulder causing her to fall back and scream. Applejack felt her body tense up and her scream refused to leave her mouth as pained coursed through her body.
Once more the Manticore ran at the much larger creature but the wounds to its soft underbelly had drained the creature of a great deal of its strength. It was slower, much weaker and that gave the Timberwolf the edge it needed to snap its maw around the limb of the mighty Manticore. Letting out a roar the creature used its tail to repeatedly stab into the wooden creature but it proved fruitless. The refortified body of the wolf creature proved to be rather sturdy not to mention it did not have the weakness of a flesh body. It had no vital organs to strike nor did it thrive or breathe on oxygen.
It flung the Manticore into the dirt and stood over it victorious. Before it could make another step she had shot forward between them. Staring it down was the same mare far to frighten to get into the fray earlier.
"No." That look, that furious look and those tears. The look in her eyes seemed to unnerve the creature for a brief moment before it let out a growl. "I won't let you…I won't let you hurt them!" For a moment it looked like the creature was going to back down, but instead it made up its mind and continued forward causing Fluttershy to freeze in terror.
Applejack managed to crawl to her knees. "Fluttershy run!" she yelled as she clutched at her shoulder and began to run as fast as she could. She was too far away; she was not going to make it in time.
Before the creature could make its attack it suddenly found its vision split in two. Suddenly the creature exploded in a flash of lightning as its remains was disintegrated. Fluttershy stood stunned, looking up at her savior.
He was a male Pegasi in his early fifties and rather massive with a tall body and muscular physique that made him massive by even Big Mac standards. His coat was that of a clean ivory white covered up by a dark blue military general's garrison jacket with a four-button closure in the front witch notched laplets with gold "Equestria" pins and rank pins on his chest with two breast pockets and two front side pockets. The shirt under the jack was a light blue cotton button-down collared character shirt, plain black necktie, army blue full length trousers and a sturdy army green peaked cap with a crown, a black band a black peak visor. The front of the cap had a gold metal relief of Equestria's seal where peeking under it was lava red mane and matching tail.
Fluttershy let out a gasp as her face lit up. With a squeal of 'daddy' Fluttershy dashed forward and hugged the stallion.
"Are you okay my little buttercup?" The voice coming from the tall stallion was intimidating despite how gentle the words.
"I'm fine dad, how did you find us?" she asked as any and all fear had melted away from the Pegasus.
"The Princess," he answered. "Princess Celestia sent me a letter that magically brought me to the town warning me you would need my help." He explained only for the Pegasi to hear the sound of a cleared throat drawing their attention.
"Excuse me…ah sir, don't mean to interrupt ya and all but our friends need our help." Applejack spoke up. She could only hope that the others were ok.
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Rarity's dagger was locked against the talons of the air born griffin. Using her telekinesis she hurled some rocks on the ground against the air born menace. In fury the Griffin knocked the dagger away with her talon.
Stunned form the force of the kick Rarity stumbled back for a moment before narrowly avoiding the strike of the talon.
One of the griffins hefted a large crossbow, but another slapped the weapon down.
"You idiot. You know the orders. Prisoners, alive only."
Rarity's eyes darted around for the dagger before she was nearly flanked by two more Griffons only for a quick swipe from Steven's tail swatted them away.
Pinkie Pie was having a much easier time dealing with her opponents. "Over here! No here!" she would call out as the Griffons flied towards her only for Pinkie to twist her body to the side and duck leading to the Griffins to almost crash into boulders that littered the path and having to take to the skies once more so they could have another turn at charging her. "No no here! Warmer! Warmer!" If it was any other pony one could easily considered the taunts to be petulant.
Pinkie Pie would cart wheel and doge out of the way of the attacks with ease. With the society and cultural practices drilled into the head of Griffins the display was an insult to their pride resulting in them trying harder and harder to wound the pink trickster.
Pinkie's taunted had driven several of the griffins to the edge of their patience as they changed tactics, momentarily forgetting their liege's order to bring the ponies alive. They charged full forth with their blades or claws drawn doubling their efforts which proved just as infective as Pinkie would bait them into thinking they had a chance only to out maneuver them when they would strike leading their weapons or claws either being stuck in trees or causing them to scrape the outer bark off the mighty denizens of the forest.
Tried as they might they could not keep up with both the mare's agility and near endless energy. They were brought to the end of their rope when after the varying strategies failed. Especially considering the fact that Pinkie couldn't be baited into attacking them and her randomness made it impossible to read her movements and plan an attack around them.
Finally Pinkie Pie made her counter attack. "Poke" one Griffin simply fell backwards flat on his back. "Poke." Another toppled over the side and let his spear drop. "Poke…poke…poke." Pinkie Pie childishly stated with pleased grin as all her pursuers fell over from pure exhaustion. She then pouted upon realizing she was the only one left standing. "I guess you guys don't want to play anymore."
"She makes it look so easily." Rarity quietly spoke to herself as she turned her attention back to her own assembled flock of Griffins. "Unfortunately for you lot I am not to be outdone, that and a dagger is not what one would call lady like." She said as she sheathe with the dagger and made her move.
Ever since that attack by the Satyr's Rarity had dedicate one hour a day into getting stronger. It had started off as light running to further help strengthen and tone her upper and lower legs then the squat exercises followed and calf raised and not too long after being trained by Naruto. While Rarity was no athlete she was far from the willowy mare she once was. She was much stronger now with incredible leg strength and running speed that served her precision rather well. It also didn't hurt the training shaped her body and appearance to be more attractive as well, after all she still had her pride in her appearance after all.
The combination of this and her being underestimated gave Rarity just the advantage she needed. Three of the Griffin warriors had already been taking down by Rarity's swift kicks before realizing she was a lot stronger than her appearance suggested.
They switched their tactics up taking advantage of their ability to fly to press advantage. Rarity let out a yelp as one of the griffin's claws managed to knick her arm drawing blood.
Another speed by narrowly slashing her face but Rarity was quicker to react. Soon they developed a pattern and began to encircle her from high above. They would attack one by one forcing Rarity on the defensive. Attack and attack piled on and as the seconds ticked away so did Rarity's energy until one Griffin managed to slash his claw right through the midsection of Rarity's dress causing a tear.
"My outfit!" The startled cry escaped Rarity's lips as a fury lit a blaze in her mind. "You have gone too far!" With that said Rarity used her magic to levitate the blade of one of the downed Griffin's and levitated it up. With a single gesture of her horn she hurled it with enough force to shatter the upper portion of a nearby boulder that rested on the river bank. It was as if a new surge of power she didn't know she had erupted from her.
Using her magic she levitated the weapons and rocks behind her. There was a common misconception when it came to a Unicorn's magic. It wasn't that they could only use a magic in regards to their talent, but they couldn't truly excel unless the spells helped with their talent also the fact that once most ponies discovered their talent they only put focus into that talent or maybe the odd hobby or two to accompany it. Rarity though had near masterfully control of levitating multiple objects of various weights and pin point precision. When you added a unicorn mare enraged carrying various blunt and sharp objects her opponents never stood a chance.
The same could be said against the poor Griffins that had to fight Monsieur Steven. True he was no fighter, but his massive form gave him a strength that easily dwarfed the Griffins by nearly a value of fifty if not a greater amount. There was also the fact that belonging to the lizard family of species his hide proved resistant to their weaponry and despite their best efforts they were quickly disposed of.
"I say those brutes shant try that again." Steven said as the defeated pack began making their retreat.
"Indeed." Rarity nodded and whipped her brow that was becoming almost drenched in sweat. She mulled over the fact she hadn't thought to bring her emergency makeup bag.
"Who hoo we won!" Pinkie Pie exclaimed with excitement as she hopped in place. "Now we can go help Twilight and the others."
"Monsieur Steven it was an honor to meet you. I do hope I have the pleasure of running into you again someday." Rarity bade the serpent farewell.
"Indeed," he responded with a bow. "Good luck to you my lady, I hope you and your friends find what you are looking for."
"Good bye Stevie!" Pinkie Pie shouted as they continued their way further into the forest. They continued the trek when they noticed a magical flare went off in the air making out an image of a Pegasi's feather.
"Pinkie Pie do you not what that ask?" Rarity found herself compelled to ask as excitement splayed out on her features.
"Uuumm." Pinkie Pie turned to the mare and shrugged after a few seconds of deliberation. "Not really."
Rarity rolled her eyes and grabbed the other mare by the wrist. "That's a flare used by Equestrian guard members. That means there are royal guard members in the forest and that wasn't just any image that image belongs to one of Equestria's most renowned Generals, General Grand Esteem." She hurriedly explained as she continued to drag the mare into the forest.
Sure enough they had come across a unit of the guard in the forest combating the regiment of the Nightmare Forces. "Rarity! Pinkie Pie!"
The mares head shot up at the mention of their names leading them to spotting out Applejack and Fluttershy. The four happily reunited.
"I see the guard has managed to mobilize. What about Ponyville? Is it alright?" Rarity wondered as her fear for her sister's safely once more came to the forefront of her mind.
"It is. Daddy told me that Captain Spark was able to break free and mounted an assault against Nightmare Moon's forces." Fluttershy explained as she noticed something. "W-What happened to the others?"
"Yeah, where is Twilight and the others. Ah thought they were with yall." Applejack spoke up.
"We were attacked by some mean old Griffins and the others went on ahead. We can probably catch them if we hurry." Pinkie Pie suggested.
"Well what are we waiting for then? Let's go." Applejack remarked as they rushed ahead to front line to continue their trek to the tower.
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"I suppose I should give you the honor of my name before grinding you into dust. The name is Hot Streak kid and I'm going to enjoy breaking you." The flame haired looking mare taunted as she began immediately circling Rainbow Dash. Hot Streak suddenly dashed forward with speed that startled the other Pegasi for a moment, but not enough to where she couldn't counter.
Rainbow twisted out of the way and managed to land a good solid kick to the ankle of Hot Streak making her foe lose balance. Using her wings Hot Streak stopped her descent and forced herself right side up as Rainbow Dash suddenly began to attack Hot Streak using the Steel Wing style of Pegasi Martial Arts.
Despite how commonly known the Martials Arts style the Steel Wing is the style was renowned for being a favored style for aggressive Pegasi fighters. It relied on having the speed to force your opponent into close quarter combat and having the endurance to tank their attacks. Not to mention one had to have incredible with control and flexibility which own its own would be useless in the fighting style if one didn't have Pegasi mastered enough to make ones wings as hard as steel. Once one did their wings were as sharp as a blade and deadly in the hands.
For an aggressive fighter with gifted speed it was Rainbow Dash's go to style. "You'll have to do better than that." Hot streak taunted as she jumped to side of one of Dash's swiped. Planting her feet firmly after the jumped she dashed forward and shoulder tackled the Pegasus.
Rainbow's yelp was caught in her throat as she stumbled back. She narrowly avoided a direct strike to the face, Hot Streak's knuckle guiding past the bridge of her nose. "I haven't even begun to fight." Rainbow Dash realized she made a mistake as any attempt she made to attack was easily countered and she found herself taking hits. The more this happen the angrier Rainbow got which unfortunately led to her being more reckless.
Hot Streak took advantage of this and manages to land a solid strike knocking Rainbow Dash on her back. "What a joke. Are you really the same filly rumored to have done a Sonic Rainboom over a decade ago? I have to say I expected more of a challenge?"
"Shut up!" Rainbow Dash roared as she shot forward again. Once more she attempted the swipe with a steel wing only to miss and have an elbow driven into her back sending her onto her hands and knees. The force of the impact threatened to break her hands as Dash coughed up some blood. She clutched her fists in fury.
This Pegasus was treating her as a joke. How was she supposed to win at this rate? Rainbow Dash let out another yelp as a solid kick sent her tumbling along the ground, scratching up her body pretty badly. She tried to get up only to be kicked again, pain coursing down her right arm and her ribs feeling tender. She couldn't remember the last time she'd been a fight so hopeless.
'Oi…Rain…what are you doing? You're way too stubborn to give up.'
'N-Naruto?' suddenly a memory sparked to life. It was from a few months ago and the two of them were sparring. Rainbow feeling confident in her own skills challenged Naruto to a spar. She was feeling a bit too lazy to fly home so she decide to mooch off her friend. Suffice to say she was quite surprised to find the blond was far from easy to take in a fight.
"What the Hay!" she cried out in frustration as Rainbow narrowed her brow in anger. "Why can't I hit you? I'm way faster than you." The two of them were out in a plot of land Naruto had bought so he could have a nice clear space to train.
"You might be faster Rain, but when it comes to combat I have more experience. You just can't rush somepony like me without a plan."
"Planning? I'm not much of a planner."
"I've noticed." Naruto remarked with a deadpan. "Look, there may come a time where being fast alone won't be enough and in that situation somepony might be depending on you. So at least…at least consider what I'm about to say and I hope you'll be able to make use of it."
If she was going to win she needed to fight smarter and not harder. The lesson Naruto had given her that day stuck with her and now was no better time to put it to practice. When it came to strength Hot Streak out classed her, those kicks were far from mere love taps, but the other Pegasi seemed intent on toying with and taunting her indicating a very arrogant personality. She could use that to her advantage. So with a mighty flap of her wings Rainbow Dash took to the air and began to fly off.
"Get back here!" Hot streak shouted as she took to the air. She doubled the amount of her wing ministrations but could not keep up with the Pegasus. Next thing Hotstreak knew a hot searing pain shot right through her back. Then a second slash to her right arm as the force responsible began to part the clouds from pure speed alone.
"Come on Hotshit, you're moving far too slow if you expect to hit me." A third, fourth, and fifth strike followed as the coppery scent of blood stung her nose. This time she was able to react and grabbed Rainbow's ankle to spin her around, and then threw her down fast.
Rainbow Dash was falling from the air fast, spinning after a few seconds, got her wings under control, although she had a major headache. Once more Rainbow Dash took off and Hot Streak hot off after her. 'Gotcha.' Rainbow spun and she slashed just below Hot Streak's armpit resulting in the Pegasi letting loose a hiss and clutching her side and pain.
"No more games filly, now you've gone and really pissed me off." She snarled as Rainbow Dash appeared to once more be going for the hit and run tactic. So this time Hot Streak waited for Rainbow only for the mare to suddenly switch up her attack and drove both feet into her gut. Rainbow Dash then quickly dashed behind Hot Streak and threw both arms around the other mare in a lock. "Get your damn arms off me!" the mare snapped as he jerked and fought against Rainbow Dash's grip.
"What's the matter? Changed your mind and here I thought you wanted more of a challenge." Rainbow taunted as they suddenly began to free fall.
"Whaa…hey. Let go of me!" The force of the movement resulted in their manes and clothes to flap wildly. "You crazy fruit you'll kill us both!" Hot Streak began yelling but the harsh sound of the wind as they began to fall muffled her voice. As the seconds ticked on by they found themselves drawing closer and closer to the ground.
To her shock Hot Streak found herself having to use her ace in the hole. Her electricity. While all Pegasi had a certain degree of weather manipulation only one in a hundred Pegasi could exert enough Pegasi magic to consciously create lightning and it was even rarer to hear of a Pegasi who could harness and use the power of Lightning itself in an offensive capability.
The sudden shock of Lightning caused Rainbow Dash to let go, but it also caused her body to momentarily seize up. Long enough to where Rainbow was only able to recover enough to slow her descent but not to prevent her from colliding with the ground.
Rainbow Dash ignored the pain from her arm and the throbbing headache as she got up and stared down her foe. Hot Streak extended her wings fully as a new look formed on her face.
The look unnerved Rainbow Dash as the look was more befitting of a predator cornering her pray. Little sparks of Electricity flickered from Hot Streaks wings.
"Rainbow!"
"Rainbow Dash!"
Despite her friend's voice in the distance Rainbow dare not take her eyes off her foe. To her surprise Hot Streak put her wings away. "Its been quite a while since I had such a fun time. Next time we meet Dash I won't be going easy on you." Hot Streak remarked as she dashed away.
Rainbow Dash released the breath she was holding. She was thankful the others had shown up when they did. As much as she hated to admit it, she wasn't sure if she would have been able to beat the other Pegasi.
"Rainbow Dash are you okay?" Rarity asked as she looked the beaten Pegasi over.
"Am I okay? Hah, you should see the other ma-RE!" She let out a pain yelp and jerked away at the sensation of someone touching her arm. She took a minute to collect her wits only to realize it was Fluttershy.
"Your arm." She softly stated as she brought her hand to cup her mouth.
"Ya going to be okay?" Applejack asked, concerned for Rainbow Dash's health. This journey of theirs kept getting more and more dangerous.
"I'm fine, its not me we need to worry about. We need to find Naruto and Twilight." She said as she saw several flares gone up in the sky. "What in the Hay? Is that a magical flare?"
"Indeed it is darling." Rarity answered in a chipper tone. "General Esteem and the other members of the Royal Guard escorted us the rest of the way. They're currently combating Nightmare Moon's forces."
"Finally, something goes our way." Rainbow Dash cheered with a fist pump. "Alright girls time to go help our friends." With a simultaneous exclaim the mares charged forward into the ancient castle.