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Post by Selenia on Sept 1, 2013 22:22:31 GMT -5
The closer Selenia got to the single remaining tower, the less she believed that the attackers could be stopped. The city and its condition got increasingly decrepit as she galloped down the streets. More buildings were reduced to rubble or burning, fewer signs of life or friendly faces, Canterlot had become a warzone. What was even more surprising was that trees had started to sprout up; huge, dark monstrosities of trees with gnarled bark and unnaturally thick canopies, bursting their way through the streets and city, fracturing roads and shattering buildings from the inside out. Every time she passed one, she could feel their aura, so heavy in dark magic that is made her shiver. She decided to stay as far away from those trees as possible.
Selenia dodged branches, jumped over roots, and navigated the skeletal remains of buildings as she got closer to her goal on the skyline. One quick turn, however, put her face to face with three... Wooden.. dogs? No, Selenia remembered these from dangerous creature bestiaries, they were timberwolves. Pack hunters with razor sharp ironwood claws and teeth-extremely dangerous, kill on sight, and vulnerable to violent disassembly of constituent timber. These ones were on fire, and they looked perfectly ready to attack.
Her assumption was confirmed when the three timberwolves simultaneously leapt at her, claws outstretched. For her whole advance, Selenia had kept her horn brimmed with raw magical energy, ready to provide a shield, an attack, or even a quick blink at a moment's notice. She shaped the energy into a volley of concussive blasts and shot them off her horn in a quick burst, mentally tagging each airborne wolf so the spells would aim independently and explode on contact- a little trick Red had taught her in training. The wolves were, for lack of a better word, careening through the air at her. They were projectiles, and every projectile follows a designated path unless acted on by an outside force. To get to the point, unless these wolves had some awesome trick up their wooden sleeves, which they probably did, all of her spells should connect because conventional wisdom says they have no way of dodging.
Selenia finished popping off her rapid-fire burst and instantly shoved off her hooves in a dodge to the side. If her initial salvo failed, and the laws of physics stayed intact, she would be wheeled around by the time they landed and ready to unleash a few more spells. She also took mental note of the fact that these timberwolves were flaming, and yet the fire didn't seem to be consuming them and they showed no signs of distress, which meant it must be magical in nature and origin. In that case, extinguishing said flames might be worth trying if her spells alone proved ineffective. A few of the crushed buildings around her had exposed plumbing mains with water pouring out unabated into dirty puddles on the street. Yeah, she could definitely give that a try.
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Post by Gleam Lucre on Sept 1, 2013 22:38:59 GMT -5
...Well, it wasn't as bad as That Undead, Gleam had time to muse as the nightmare bucked him once he'd gotten an eyeful of the thing's face. It wasn't even a close second. Maybe a distant fourth. At least this nightmare seemed to have the correct number of appendages and wasn't busily eating ponies to get more. Not that that made seeing it any more pleasant, but...
Their training was really paying off, too: Gleam slammed into the street with a thundering clatter of metal armor hitting against cobblestones, and in seconds Gleam was back on his hooves like he'd fallen into a daisy patch. It hadn't felt much different, really.
Once the nightmare was firmly put down by a mix of stunning magic and a conveniently-placed brick wall, Gleam finally looked over the now thoroughly ruined shop. ...Right, he'd heard of this shop before, it was an alchemist's shop or some such thing. Was the mare currently holding her little red hat over her heart the owner? No, that couldn't be right, Gleam was fairly certain the proprietor was a stallion.
Lightning Dust's report brought Gleam's attention back to the task at hand. Sure, they'd taken out one nightmare, but there were more rampaging through Canterlot. Their team might not be official Slayers yet, but hoof it all if they didn't have a job to do.
Gleam could spare a thought for his hometown being on fire later.
"Wherever those nightmares are going, that's where we need to be," he said.
A glance at their surroundings...right, so if the castle was that way, and here was the shop, then taking a right in the intersection over there would take them almost directly to the tower. There was no time to lose!
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Post by Mortar Retort on Sept 3, 2013 19:19:28 GMT -5
Retort looked up as the rampaging beast finally fell silent, defeated under the might of those brave, brave ponies. Though she hadn't lifted a hoof more than to exacerbate the situation by turning the rampaging Nightmare into a flaming horror that made any attempt to bring the thing down that much harder - she felt satisfied she participated in its downfall. Smugly she flipped her fez back atop her head and trotted back across the street towards what remained of her shop. She stopped before the mess, surveying the scene. From the gaping wound that was her shop's front door and sales floor, to the licks of fire burning along the cross beams, and the foaming disaster of an angry distiller in the back. A total loss.
She took one more step forward before a wall gave way, crumbling into a mix of dust, fire and a potion soup that ran from the grass into the street. It carried with it a peculiar unnatural color, emitting a vaporous order that danced off the snout and was both sweet and rancid. Retort stiffed a gag, covering her nose as she walked into what remained of her shop to take anything that survived.
As she rummaged around, tossing off broken shelves, shattered glass and other bits that was once part of her shop with her magic as she gathered what little could be saved. A few potions here, some herbs there, and part of her supplies she brought from Hoofington. She had enough to work with, so long as she could get some assistance from the Royal Alchemists. Then, just as she was about to give up, she came across something she hadn't expected. Under a falls shelf, surrounded by shattered broken bottles and vials, was one magically locked case etched with an embossed plate '#4', like a bad flu, her greatest achievement and her greatest failure stuck resurfaced when everything else had come crumbling down.
Staring at the mark of prismatic bottle of shame now in her hooves, she recalled a horrible night some years ago, another night that her shop came crumbling down. That time by her own doing, mixed with the insanity of one crazed pony. Her shop ablaze behind - well him then, while the mindless pony bounded around completely lost to a madness beyond the help of simple ponies. There, slumped in the snow, with the glow of his shop behind him, he lamented his failure and marked the moment, stricken with self doubt, his alchemy begun to falter. Believing his work would help ponies, it now instead, for the second and final time, would destroy them in such a cruel way that he couldn't forgive himself for his failures. But that was now in his, rather, her past and she had a job to do. Scoffing her old failures, she slipped the locked case into her saddlebags, as it was too dangerous to simply discard; and throwing a few more bags with pilfered supplies onto her back. She took one last look around her disaster of a shop and sighed a heavy sigh. Then in a flash, she was gone, telaporting to the one safe place around - the Canterlot Palace.
The Mane Ingredient's distiller then erupted in a blast of apple flavored foam.
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Post by Red Charge on Sept 7, 2013 11:29:33 GMT -5
Darkness seemed very conflicted about the girl, he could put her in the palace and head over, but that might take too much time. She was useful and despite her brattiness she was kind of awesome. But how could he excuse getting a child to a danger zone? Alright, he'd fly over with her and inspect the situation, if he feels like she'll be in danger he'll drop her off somewhere safe and go back. Yeah that's what he'll do. He had no other choice. "Fine, you can come, but only if you promise me you'll not do anything stupid and if I tell you to stay put you stay put, you understand?" At that, Darkness picked up the foal, "And no more coughing at what I do, it can't even get to you." He remarked, before taking off, heading towards the last standing turret in Canterlot... so much devastation in so little time... Nightmares were practically weapons of mass destruction in their own rights. Only a sick mind could want to unleash such chaos upon an inhabited city.
Eagle Eye stared flatly into those burning, hateful eyes, what a terrible shame, such an asset for Equestria, lost. She lifted a hoof to her neck and felt the sharp blade piercing her throat, it did not hit the spine, but it ruptured her jugular and her airways, she would drown on her own blood in the next few minutes. Her hoof fell to her side limply as the Nightmare Leader pulled it back. At the last second he was able to push his shoulder beneath Eagle Eye's crossbow, stabbing her throat as she fired the bolt over his shoulder harmlessly. Now her head lay limp, her throat torn, her eyes began to lose focus. The nightmare kicked her hard, she could still feel the pain as she rolled off the roof, crashing against ledges and lower rooftops on her way down until finally landing, broken and dying on a paved walkway. Even as she struck the ground, a group of burning timber wolves were already upon her, her last moments were spent being eaten alive.
Selenia was able to throw off the timber wolves, but not defeat them. Eventually she did manage to give them a slip as she blasted them to burning twigs and ran off. But wherever they went, fire followed. Many buildings caught fire by now, The city would burn if the nightmares weren't defeated swiftly.
Gleam's team ran unhindered towards the last turrets, they encountered guards fighting lesser nightmares or infected guards on the way, but those called for them to proceed. They didn't see their instructors, but it was obvious they were holding up the larger groups of nightmares and infected from reaching the tower somewhere along the way, Gleam could see their instructor's floating orb somewhere in the distance.
Zecora and Scalpel were barely able to talk before they felt a strange tug and found themselves at the palace. "We have another two here," Said a mage, apparently they have been scrying for and teleporting civilians into the palace, trying to save as many as they could. He quickly guided the two into where the civilians were held and continued scrying for more. Retort herself popped into the palace a few moments later, there was no point in trying to fight further now that her supply of potions were gone as well as her shop.
At last all arrived at the last turret, but it was not going to be as easy as they had expected. Gathered there were four nightmares, big ones. The skull-masked leader of the invasion and three more. One was armored in plate with a horned helmet, on his one hoof a large shield, on his other a very long sword. Flanking him were two vicious looking ponies with spiked pauldrons and wielding painful looking war-hammers. Of course, it didn't help that all three of them were bigger than most big ponies by a lot. General Gallop and Scimitar were already on the scene, both wounded by the nightmares. "Rats, now I know who those are, that's Colonel Bitter and his bodyguards, Sergeant Malt and Sergeant Hop." "Colonel Bitter? Isn't he General Bitter's younger brother?" Scimitar asked, "He was at Fillydelphia?" "I forgot he was, ugh and those twins are related to General Heartland, the Bad Brothers they used to call them. They swing a wicked hit." "We've got reinforcements." Scimitar said, noting the new arrivals, "You must be the slayer trainees, I don't know who you others are, but you need to take out those three, if they knock out the tower we'll be defenseless."
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Post by Live Wire on Sept 9, 2013 20:23:40 GMT -5
Live Wire’s ears perked up and let out a cheer, throwing her hoof up in victory, ”Yes! Whatever you say, Darkness; now let’s get going!” With Darkness’s assistance, she practically jumped up onto his back with only the jovial energy a filly can muster. She clenched tightly around his midsection between his wings as she prepared for flight. She tilted her head as she hunkered down. ”Yeah yeah, let’s just get flying.” She prodded his ribs with her back legs, then flipped down her goggles over her eyes.
As they went over the city, Live Wire, despite her better judgment, kept looking down at the wreckage below. She begun to feel a little dizzy; last time she was focused on the Nightmare and her magic, now she realized just how high she was. It was exhilarating and a just touch dizzying. She thought about how a Pegasus with vertigo would go dealing with heights, she figured it would be pretty funny. That train of thought only distracted for a short moment as she took in more of the damage below, their altitude gave the young filly a depressing view of the attack. ”It looks worse than the changelings…” She said with a dejected tone, ”Yo, Darkness! We’re going to be able to stop them, right..?”
And as the two closed in to the last standing turret, Live Wire gulped hard as she spied the four Nightmares that were advancing on it. An imp of dread crawled up her spine, she had prepared herself for one or two, but four? And they looked like they weren't going to be bowled over as 'easily' as the last one. "Uh, Darkness, you have a plan right? A good one? A 'make evil ponies dead' plan?"
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Post by Stygg Whitefeather on Sept 10, 2013 21:42:37 GMT -5
Stygg pushed her way through the halls, past the scrambling soldiers and the frightened little ponies who took shelter behind the Palace’s walls. It felt not unlike Royal Rocks had been before its fall, unnervingly similar with the weight of uncertainty and fear weighing heavily on the faces of young and old ponies alike. The difference here though, is that she was uncertain how the tide of battle would go. In Royal Rocks, it was inevitable her father would let the city fall – the will of the people and military were against him, and Loci’s treacherous talon let the hammer fall on the fate of the kingdom long before the bombs began to fall. Here, the unknown played heavy on her mind – this wasn't her fight, but here she was, stuck in the center with only a small flight of griffons at her side, backed into a corner and nowhere to fly.
As Stygg and Red Charge approached the landing, Stygg’s Scythe team and the other members of her entourage were already preparing for defense. The contents of their vessel were strewn about the area, makeshift barricades piled with whatever the griffons could find that wasn’t bolted down. A cache of Loci’s rifles was cracked open, its contents spilling out onto the ground as the Scythe Wing Commander, a hawk-lion griffon simply known by the name ‘Chesty’, was issuing out the rifles one by one to those griffons which were able enough to fight – only Scythe were military, the rest of her entourage was a mix of assistants and support. Though few in numbers, they appeared ready to defend and hold till the last one standing.
Stygg turned to Red Charge, thanking him for the escort, “I can handle it from here,” She said, placing a talon on his shoulder, “You have people that need you, I have mine. Thank you for being a generous host; I know that tea is not easy to come by. And even more so for these,” A talon slipped around the one of the gifted scythes hanging from her belt, drawing it from the leather loop. “Should the battle turn against Canterlot and the need be there, we’re prepared to evacuate as many civilians our vessel can carry. Scythe will hold to the last to ensure your people can retreat in safety.” With that last reassurance, Stygg turned away, joining her team at the barricades.
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Post by Gleam Lucre on Sept 11, 2013 9:58:03 GMT -5
Moving from ruined shop to the last standing tower was surprisingly easy: there were a few more nightmares along the route, all being fought by Canterlot guards who had things under control. The disturbing thing was that some of those nightmares were clearly members of the guard staff - so this nightmare state was infectious.
The scene at hoof when they reached the tower was less than delightful: four of the monstrous nightmares, and fighting them was...was that General Gallop? And Scimitar Razorwing? Other ponies were arriving on the scene as well: a unicorn mare, some pegasus flying overhead. Apparently they were coming to help...well, hopefully they were simply members of the guard caught out of uniform. Real civilians would be in terrible danger here.
Well...this was going to be interesting. One nightmare in armor (nothing as ludicrous as the spiked mess from the last nightmare, but still impressive) and wielding a broadsword and shield, two nightmares wielding war hammers, and a nightmare in a skull helmet...or at least Gleam rather hoped that was just a helmet and not the pony's face, because ick. 'Skull' had no obvious melee weapons. Long-range fighter, perhaps?
Around them, flames crackled through Canterlot. Pity they couldn't just set the nightmares on fire too...wait, maybe they could? ...No, not unless Sunspire or Nova Blast had a fire spell. Lightning Dust whipping up a tornado would most likely not turn it into a firestorm they could direct against their enemies: it'd just fan the flames and burn the rest of Canterlot to the ground faster. Hoof it all, why did real life have to be different from stories in the most inconvenient ways?
Could the tower's weaponry point down here? ...That sounded promising. Heavy weaponry designed for airships might just work! Gleam almost asked the question directly to General Gallop, before catching himself. Yelling out a plan was not smart, he'd learned that on the first day of training. Instead, he waved the rest of his team close so he wouldn't have to speak loudly.
"Can we aim the tower's weaponry down here? If the rest of us keep those things in one spot," Gleam said, "That firepower should do some serious damage."
Gleam didn't take his eyes off the nigtmares as he spoke, of course: no sense coming up with a plan if the things were going to rush them the moment he let his guard down.
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Post by Red Charge on Sept 14, 2013 12:35:12 GMT -5
As Stygg walked away from him, Red Charge did not go. He stayed where he was silently, observing the city from afar. Why was Luna holding back? Why was she refusing to go out and fight? She was a trained battle-mage, far more powerful than he was. She didn't want him to go out there either, she was afraid he'd get infected? Perhaps she needed an extra layer of security for the palace? He wasn't one to question her, but it was obvious something was holding her back and Canterlot had to pay for it.
"There's fighting at the last tower Princess," Static announced, "Seems like Gallop and Scimitar met heavy resistance, but there's more than a few ponies out there to help them. I'm hearing one of the slayer teams got there, a unicorn, another Pegasus... with a unicorn riding on him... Turret is still standing, Princess, if you're gonna go and intervene it's now or never."
Princess Luna stared at him with big eyes, she was afraid. So many ponies could hear it now, it was all her fault for not reacting immediately to the Diamond Dog threat. She was hoping to spare casualties but she caused so much more. No that was nonsense, she was confident in her decisions. Had she sent a force immediately to Fillydelphia they would have been ambushed and wiped out. She did the right thing. But now, she was sitting in her palace, cowering before the nightmares. She was a nightmare, was she really scared of the ones she was facing, or was she scared of what Equestria would be facing should she fall again? With no Celestia or Elements of Harmony to banish her... She couldn't make a decision...
The first thing that all of them noticed, was that the unicorn, Selenia, froze. Smack dab in the middle of the street. The masked pony immediately took his shot at her. Scimitar had lost his ability to fly due to his damaged wing but fortunately Lightning Dust was able to push her out of harm's way. The bolt exploded on the tower's wall behind where the unicorn was standing. Having to save Selenia cost them precious time however and the hammer twins were advancing rapidly. One of them struck the ground with the force of a freight train, sending a snaking formation of cracks towards the tower. It was powerful enough to shake the foundations of the turret. While it did not start leaning, it was obvious it couldn't take much more.
Gallop was injured, but was still able to command the troops, "You can't separate the Bad Brothers, Pegasi go for Bitter, the armored one. Unicorns slow down that masked pony, throw everything you've got at him and if you can make shields now's the time to use them. Earth Ponies, distract the Bad Brothers, give the others enough time to stop one of the others."
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Post by Stygg Whitefeather on Sept 15, 2013 4:39:59 GMT -5
To Redcharge it would be clear that Stygg's defense would hold true, without verbal commands, her Scythe were well entrenched behind the barricades while the usual non-combatants were entrenched, their defense strong and waiting for the inevitable strife that would befall them. They were willing to die at their Queen's orders, the resolution in their eyes and their dedication strong to the cause. They could have fled, flown free despite the horrors that assuredly awaited them against the siege, but there they stood, against all odds, waiting for a death none desired.
Stygg was tossed a rifle, which she glanced over, sliding back the breach to check for a fresh round. "If you insist on staying, Redcharge, may I suggest that pistol I gave you?" Stygg asked, chambering a round in her rifle. "It might not be pony magic, but I've seen first talon the horror these things can wrought; even the things that cross your capitols' threshold will weep from the terror they wrought." Her crew's focus went skyward, while a few focusing on the one entrance leading to them readied themselves, rifles bearing down the hallway. In an unexpected move, a new, unique weapon emerged from the husk of the griffon airship. A cannon of unusual sort, with many barrels, supported by a crank shaft. Operated by a one griffon alone, it appeared a weapon of terrible might - the last creation of Loci, like the rifles in the cat-bird's talons, this thing housed the might of a dozen or more in the grip of one bird. Thankfully for the ponies, it was for them and their defense, despite that Stygg would have to answer for her reluctance to disclose such a weapon.
"Redcharge, we can hold." Stygg stated, "Those things out there would benefit from a bucking from your hooves; we will hold without you." She looked onto the stallion with sad, but thankful eyes, assured that he would fight for them as she would fight for the herbivores. Yet, the horrors knocking on the castles walls, required a level of fight they were not in the position to provide. It was her job to protect her people, after all, and it was Redcharge's to protect his. "Red, please, go. Protect your people. I'll protect mine."
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Post by Selenia on Sept 17, 2013 19:48:20 GMT -5
One second Selenia was lined up with some others, facing down the group of nightmares, ready to do battle, and the next she was down on the ground with Lightning Dust over top. There was a ringing in her ears like an explosion had gone off nearby, and a quick inspection from her low position confirmed her theory, as a ball of smoke and quickly settling dust sat right where she remembered she stood upon entering the vicinity. She must have blacked out, and one of the nightmares had tried to take advantage of her incapacitation. She shook off the disorientation. Why had she blacked out? She surely wasn't scared stiff of the opposition, no way in tartarus, and her mental training with Red was proceeding with leaps and bounds, so it wasn't an issue of constitution. Perhaps it was some magical effect? These nightmares had many tricks up their sleeves, and they were nightmares after all, versed in dream manipulation, so it wasn't too far out to suggest that they could have been the cause. Nevertheless, it was undoubtedly a very close call, and she made a mental note to complement Lightning Dust on her quick thinking and quicker reflexes later.
Selenia hoisted herself up by Lightning Dust's shoulder and shook away the last of the ringing. Taking a quick leap to the side to distance herself from her comrades to prevent a lucky two-for-one for the enemy, she preemptively charged up her horn and mentally prepared some spells for release. A basic rack of concussive bolts and a shield would work until she knew what these nightmares could do as she descended into a trained combat stance, ready to dodge whatever came her way. Her spells finished charging in time for her to hear one of the Equestrian generals, Gallop, if she remembered rightly, give callouts for an attack plan. Selenia was content with strategizing and had an eye for detail in stressful situations, but she wouldn't complain following the orders of a weathered general with ten times the experience as she.
Selenia quickly acted on Gallop's orders and projected her readily charged shield out onto the foundation of the tower that the hammer bros were assaulting. Against such brute and direct force, her shield wouldn't last long, but even denying them a few direct hits would hopefully buy the others enough time to subdue or distract the twins. After ensuring her shield was in place she topped off the ether in her horn, shaped a short salvo of concussive blasts, and let them loose in the direction of the masked nightmare, as per Gallop's order, still ready to bob and weave her way away from what he might shoot at her. Chances were that this pony would dodge out of the way, or even shoot her magic out of the air in an overly ostentatious way, but she didn't care. If she could keep this nightmare on its toes and away from harming the earth ponies working on the hammer chums, then that was exactly what she would do.
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Post by Gleam Lucre on Sept 19, 2013 13:31:40 GMT -5
Gleam supposed he'd never find out if his plan would have worked or not. He'd have to see if he could get a look at the top of the turret later, see if he'd been on to something o just chasing a wild fancy. ...Assuming the turret remained standing after this, of course. Making sure this was the case was their job.
Fortunately General Gallop was an experienced tactician, and nopony here had to rely on Gleam's planning skills for once. The only thing that made him less confident about the whole situation was them losing the initiative when one of the ponies running up - a black and orange unicorn - froze in her tracks and Dust had to rush over and rescue her from sudden death. It was enough of a distraction that the hammer-wielding nightmares - Gallop referred to them as the Bad Brothers - could begin their assault on the turret's foundations unimpeded.
A small corner of Gleam's mind noted that even if whatever weaponry the turret had could be aimed down, it would probably wreak further havoc on the foundations, probably accelerating the turret's own collapse. Don't make plans based on guesses instead of facts, Gleam scolded himself mentally.
General Gallop's plan was leagues better in comparison. Take out those huge hammer-wielding ponies? Well...perhaps 'no problem' was the wrong thing to say, but it was a relief to have something straightforward to do.
"Yes sir!" Gleam replied, hearing his teammates echo his words, then turned toward the Bad Brothers and gave the nearby Birch Bright a nudge.
"We're heading in. Let's go," Gleam told him.
Once Birch Bright realized what Gleam meant, and nodded his agreement (though he looked distinctly uncomfortable with the idea) they both charged headlong toward the nearest Bad Brother. The others would cover them, Gleam was confident of that. And they'd need the cover, because while pegasi were speedy fliers and unicorns were swift chargers, earth ponies were...well, they needed a bit of a running start to get up to full speed.
Though Dust had snarked something about 'ramming speed' once during training, when Gleam hadn't been able to slow down or stop before impact with another pony during one of their drills.
As tactics went, it was pretty basic. War hammers were primarily dangerous around the hammer's head. Get in past that, and it was the handle and the pony wielding it that were your trouble. If Gleam grabbed the handle of the hammer - though the odds of wrestling it away from the pony wielding it were questionable at best - he could certainly keep it from being used again right away. And even if his hooves were full with that, Gleam could attack the pony with his sword held in his mouth.
...Something deeper in Gleam wondered if this was perhaps the dumbest idea he'd ever had.
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Post by Red Charge on Sept 24, 2013 1:53:58 GMT -5
The masked nightmare was already reloading his crossbow when Selenia unleashed her assault, he did not seem concerned about the projectiles now headed his way. As they reached him, Selenia's concussion bolts seemed to pass right through as he advanced, phasing into a shadow and re-materializing as each bolt passed through him. Nova Blast caught on to that quickly and signaled to Sunspire, who nodded. The two then fired off several continuous beams of concussive energy, as Nova suspected the nightmare phased and dodged through the beams to avoid them, but had to dodge sideways, as apparently he could not phase for long enough to go through the long beams at once. This measurement was exactly what the two needed and with another nod to each other, pooled their magic together in a well practiced move (which they were going to field test on their instructor in training, surprising him before he could whip out his floating weapon strategy). A continuous field of energy, spreading out in a wave from the two unicorns was speeding towards the hooded nightmare. No longer able to dodge the blast, the nightmare was forced to raise Everfree trees again to take cover behind. He had however, shifted his focus from Selenia, who was far off to the side, to the well coordinated threat of Sunspire and Nova Blast, leaving him exposed to an attack. Selenia needed something much faster than concussive bolts however.
Gleam and Birch Bright charged at the Hammer Brothers, the two were well in sync, but they both knew that they could not match the perfect coordination twins could pull off, especially twins who have been fighting together for so long. They were right, the hammer brothers fought almost fluidly, changing tactics and formations without so much as eye contact with each other, matching and complimenting each other perfectly. After a short tussle of dodging and ducking, Gleam jumped to grab the handle of Sgt Malt's hammer, only to have the rearing nightmare kick him straight in the gut and send him flying ten feet in the air. Birch Bright wasn't having much luck with Sgt Hop either, he nearly avoided a hammer to the face as he tried to slip in to get close enough to strike.
Gleam had barely managed to get up when he saw Sgt Malt get thrown back with just as much force as he was. He didn't see General Gallop go past him, the last he saw of the General, he was standing at the foothills of the tower, observing the battle. His charge was incredibly fast, Pegasus fast, he rammed the nightmare back viciously. Gallop was too wounded to really put up a fight, but an occasional charge like that could make the difference. Gleam had to respect him and Scimitar Razorwing for being able to hold off all four nightmares at once by themselves.
Lightning Dust was the only Pegasus around currently and was given the daunting task of taking on a Colonel, a Nightmare, blood bearer Colonel. The Colonel advanced towards the tower, his armor should have been encumbering him, but he hardly seemed to even register the weight. There were obvious distinctions in the colors on his armor and sword. Lightning Dust realized that there were bloodstains covering large parts of the red metal, whether the colonel's own or other ponies' she did not know. She quickly swept down and attempted to circle around the pony quickly, maybe trap him in a whirlwind, she measured his blade carefully with her eyes and sketched a wide enough circle around him to avoid it, but as she dove in she was swatted away by the large blade as though she were a fly. But how? She knew she was absolutely sure she was out of range!
"He can reach farther than it looks," Scimitar warned her, "I don't know how he does it, but he's got a farther reach than he should have." He approached her carefully, "I saw it, he hit you even though the sword didn't reach you." He whispered, "We need to figure out how he does it, because trying to get in past the blade will get you a shield bash, its how he broke my wing. He's a lot faster than you'd think. Can you make an after-image?" He was referring of course to a high speed maneuver, it involved moving fast enough that an after image appears to the pony eye. It wasn't sonic rainboom speed, but it was a difficult maneuver. Fortunately, Lightning Dust's competitive nature had her trying that move on for size several times. "I need you to go fast enough around the air above him, and then speed past him. When he goes for your after image, I'll get in close enough to get a look at what he's doing."
"Hang on, we're making a detour." Darkness said to Live Wire, he was on his way to the tower, but he felt something in the air he couldn't ignore. Sure enough, taking to another street showed him what he suspected, oddly colored smoke coming from an alchemist's shop. It was dangerous pollution, he couldn't let it spread too far. However, he could use it. He circled around it, "Hold on tight youngster." He said, speeding up, gathering the pollution as he did, solidifying the brunt of it into a thick smog that hung behind and below him like a smokey trail. He could deal with the rest later, he got the bulk of it and he was going to unleash it on whatever nightmares were attacking the tower, however it did cost him a lot of time. He just hoped he won't be too late.
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Post by Live Wire on Sept 24, 2013 22:10:58 GMT -5
"Detour - whoa!" Live Wire clenched herself tightly to Darkness, biting his mane in a desperate attempt to not suddenly find herself flying off this crazy pegasus ride as he diverted towards the billowing cloud rising from the street below. "I don't think this is such a good idea, that smoke looks all kinds of funky!" She stated between clenched teeth and mane, eyeing the approaching smoke cloud as if it were snarling, snapping dog. She took one deep breath as Darkness gathered speed and tried to shut her nose, afraid to get any inside her. However Darkness was able to avoid the icky bits of his work baffled the filly, but she wasn't going to rely on his word that she was safe from the smog's ill-touch.
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Post by Selenia on Sept 26, 2013 10:24:20 GMT -5
Selenia allowed herself a moment of respite and grinned triumphantly as she watched her spells fly straight at the masked nightmare, who was making no effort to avoid them- but her grin faded instantly as the thing phased into a living shadow and the bolts passed harmlessly through him. Of course, it wasn't flipping around like a nutjob and shooting her spells out of the air, but it was just as ostentatious, and definitely more impressive. Selenia shook her head with a little laugh as she hunkered down, 'This world will never cease to find more impressive ways to thwart me, will it?' she thought idly as she watched Nova and Sunspire literally spring into action after her opening barrage, planning her next route of attack.
What she gleaned from the two's attack was that the nightmare was fast, really fast, but it had its limits. Sunspire and Nova had broken through his fast strobe-like phasing with an even faster concerted attack. Selenia watched them work with no small amount of surprise and respect. Those two worked together seamlessly- she knew next to nothing about them but she could assume that they must be good friends or have been fighting and training together for a long time, or probably both. Either way, they had successfully gotten the nightmare to go on the defensive, with jukes and dodges and finally summoning some trees straight out of the ground to protect itself.
Luckily for Selenia, the nightmare had presumably turned its full attention to the greater threat of Nova and Sunspire, and had almost turned its back on Selenia. The two of them had granted her an opportunity, and she would attempt to use it wisely, so help her Luna. She would have fired off some more concussive bolts in an attempt to weasel him out of cover so Nova and Sunspire could have at him, but his fancy magics had proven her main way of attacking all but useless. She checked the memory of her repertoire of spells for anything instantaneous. Concussive blasts, concussion bombs, aura stealthing, some other simple magical projectiles, none of her attacks were anywhere close to being instantaneous.
Maybe teleporting would work? A quick blink would be instant, but she didn't like the prospect of teleporting up close to the nightmare. He might just phase around and shove the crossbow in her face, and that wouldn't end well. Perhaps if she coupled it with another attack from Nova and Sunspire? That might grab the nightmare's attention solidly enough that she could successfully get in a blast or two right after she teleported. The strain of storing up a volley of concussive blasts while simultaneously teleporting would be too much of a strain for her to maintain a personal shield of any strength, so she would have to rely on her reflexes and quick thinking to let off her volley and dodge, well, anywhere really, just to get away from the nightmare after her attack. She focused the etherial energy from the sun to her spells and loaded up a rapid fire concussive volley, then charged up her teleport, envisioning her destination in her mind- right next to the nightmare.
Once it was finished charging and ready to unleash, she looked over at Nova and Sunspire, and gave a subtle nod towards the nightmare. Hopefully they would see it- and the nightmare wouldn't, and they would know what to do. They taught the subtle art of combat signs in military, right?
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Post by Gleam Lucre on Sept 26, 2013 12:46:06 GMT -5
And that, Gleam thought to himself a touch dizzily as he scrambled back on his hooves, would be why that pony was called General Gallop.
...Alright, they probably called him that because it was presumably his name, but still that speed was amazing, and - the young noblepony shook his head to force these dizzy thoughts away. When he'd hit pavement and cobblestones earlier today, Gleam had known it was coming and was able to go limp in time. This time, he'd been unexpectedly kicked in the gut and launched quite a bit further and faster. Thank Celestia for Slayer armor, otherwise that kick would've likely broken one of Gleam's ribs.
General Gallop was in no fit state to take this pair of nightmares, aside from a surprise charge like that, and even as Gleam was getting back up the General was backing up to put a safe distance between himself and the hammer-wielding nightmares.
Taking a precious moment, Gleam checked on the rest of the battlefield. Nova Blast and Sunspire were attacking with that wide-beam spell they'd been practicing, with the skull-faced nightmare taking cover behind some very disgusting trees that hadn't been there a minute ago. The unicorn Lightning Dust had saved from earlier was charging some spell on her horn...hopefully it was useful enough to be worth the delay.
Lightning Dust was stuck facing the armored nightmare with nothing but the surprisingly ground-bound Scimitar for aid (whose broken wing Gleam could finally see from this angle), with the third pegasus, who had been flying overhead, apparently long gone. Either gone to find reinforcements, or just gone to get out of harm's way, it didn't matter at this point.
And lastly, Gleam saw that Birch Bright was still struggling with the second of the hammer nightmares. The one Gleam had been fighting had been knocked away, leaving this one the closer of the pair to the tower. And Birch Bright wasn't doing any better than Gleam had been, so the choice was obvious.
Gleam charged in as fast as he could to support Birch Bright. Hopefully going two-against-one on this nightmare, Gleam and Birch Bright could at least disarm the former pony monster. Maybe they'd even get lucky enough to knock it down and stab it a few times!
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