Login

The Silver Stars

by David Silver

Chapter 88: 88 - I Know Hoof-fu

Previous Chapter Next Chapter

Silver sprang forward at the big yellow diamond dog. A paw reached for her and a quick flick of her wings carried her around him. She swung around him and landed on his back. Her fangs found his neck and she plunged them deep into the dog, channeling her maddening fear of pain, loss, and building frustration. She didn't stay still however, letting the dog stagger as she dodged around him, keeping the dog between her and the unicorn as she lunged for Twilight. A horn blast caught her in the legs and she felt the magic there go numb, feeling fleeing, but not spreading through her body under the inferno of her built up supply.

A hoof-swipe caught Twilight across the horn and she screamed in a mixture of surprise and pain. It had been too hard, and her horn cracked even as the ring was knocked free to sail across the room. Twilight tried to use magic anyway, horn sparking wildly as a flickering pink bubble barely turned aside another horn blast. Wordlessly she tried to get at Silver's horn with her mouth instead, clamping teeth on the ring firmly.

The dog recovered from the bite and grabbed the two alicorns, wrenching them apart and throwing them to opposite ends of the room with dull thuds of meat against walls. Twilight sagged, the pain clearly too much for her between the rough slam and her broken horn. Silver sat up from where she landed, an unhealthy grin on her face. A bright silver bubble sprang up around her. "Come on, show me your best." Her wings spread wide. "You had your chance, but I'll offer anyway. Give up, and you'll face Celestia's justice. Don't, and you deal with mine." Her horn was clear of any rings, resting instead in Twilight's unconscious snout.

The diamond dog was not impressed at Silver's words and raised a fist high. "I haven't met a bubble I couldn't break." He raised his other fist and clasped them together, bringing them down on the bubble. Silver wobbled at the energy that surged through her, but her discomfort was little compared to the aetheric chain reaction that saw the dog's arms exploding from the inside out in a cascade of explosions from the fingers to the shoulders, leaving him screaming in pain so terrible that it became senseless. He collapsed to the ground, bleeding across the hotel floor rapidly.

Little-purple shrank back. "You're supposed to be our savior, not our killer! Only you can do this."

Silver stepped towards the small unicorn, snorting loudly. "You should have asked. Who else are you working with?"

"I'll never tell!" He vanished in a bright flash, but Silver followed the trail and burst out of the hotel room with a blast of her own energy. She stampeded after the fading magic and threw herself against a new door, emerging into a new room where little-purple was talking quickly with two pegasi. They all turned towards her. "I'm sorry?"

The pegasi didn't offer apologies, instead flaring wings and advancing on Silver with deadly frowns. Their hooves were adorned with strange blades that gleamed in the light. Rather than risk the massive energy required for the destructive shield, Silver made a sudden low ring of fire. "Step across it, if you dare."

One did dare, propelling herself across the line with a derisive snort. She didn't even see the fireball slam into her and engulf her in fire. She collapsed at Silver's hooves, shrieking in pain and terror.

Silver spread her wings wide, puffing out her chest. "You came to me seeking a princess of death and change, and you have found her. Throw yourselves to the ground and pray for mercy and you may live to see tomorrow. Challenge me and I will show you the only mercy I have left."

The other pegasus shrank away, no longer so confident. Small-purple threw himself prostrate, sobbing piteously. The pegasus kicked the unicorn with a bladed hoof, stabbing him deeply. "Coward and betrayer!"

"Silver?!" Silver deactivated the ring of fire just in time for Rainbow Dash to come sailing into the room over her and crashing into the other pegasus. "Get your hooves off of her!" The other pegasus proved a more able combatant, sending Rainbow sailing away with a well-timed flipping kick, then soaring out past Silver.

Silver grabbed for the pegasus with her magic, but got feathers instead of the pony, and they got away, crashing out a window and soaring quickly out of easy spell distance.

Rainbow rolled back to her hooves and quickly approached Silver. "You OK?"

Silver gave a shaking nod, the adrenaline wearing off as signs of combat faded with it. "Are any of them still alive?"

"Alive?" Rainbow only just noticed the charred pegasus and cringed. "Ugh..." She nudged the burnt pegasus over and examined carefully. "Still breathing." She moved over to small-purple who hadn't moved. "Uh... I think this one's gone."

Silver frowned and approached, placing a hoof on the small unicorn and trying to feel the magic in the dead or dying pony. It was there, if faintly. "He gave up. He deserves anything I can give." Silver pulled the limp form up and sank her teeth in, sending her magic through it. Like a shot to the heart, the small unicorn jerked awake with a squeal. Silver threw him to the ground afterwards. "Don't leave Rainbow's sight, unless you want me to get... creative. That is what you wanted, isn't it?" She snorted and stalked out back to the first room. Twilight was barely awake, her eyes looked unfocus and she wobbled where she sat.

Silver gently nuzzled her as she looked at the corpse of the dog. There wasn't much to be done for him, armless and having bled out during the battle. Two captured, one dead. Not bad for her record. "Twilight, how many hooves am I holding up?"

"Three?"

Silver sighed, putting the hoof back down. "Everything's going to be OK, Twi. I'm taking you to the hospital." Silver slipped under Twilight and hefted her up. "Does it hurt anywhere?"

"My horn's on fire..." Twilight sank against Silver, letting her carry as she wished. "Other than that, not too much? Are we safe?"

Silver trotted out to the second room. "As safe as we can be. Rainbow, take these two to jail and be sure they know the unicorn's good at magic. Meet us at the hospital, OK?"

Rainbow saluted sharply and got to work, leaving Silver to focus on transporting Twilight. As they rode the elevator down, Silver frowned at a thought. She didn't want to throw the convention into a wild panic if she walked out with an injured Twilight. She pulled her book free and flipped through it quickly until she found a fitting spell.

When the elevator doors opened, darkness spilled into the room and billowed past the confused ponies. Soon enough, it passed, and Silver escaped outside without being seen directly. They made quick progress to the hospital, where the staff plucked Twilight off of Silver's back and hurried her away. Silver sank bonelessly. "Will she be OK?"

The nurse tilted her head. "If she wasn't an alicorn, I'd be very worried. Horn injuries are a very serious matter. You got her here before complications could start, so she should be fine with some immediate care, then she'll have to wear a horn brace for a few weeks."

Silver gave a weak nod before flopping out, energy spent, both emotionally and magically. Sleep came for her.

She was awoken to Rainbow Dash nudging her and standing over her. "Hey? You alright?"

"No." Silver sat up, feeling sore, but not quite as bone tired. "Did you visit Twilight?"

Rainbow nodded quickly. "She's surprised, but alright. They got her in a funny thing around her horn. It looks stupid, but she's fine. Uh... thanks for saving her... and me."

Silver waved off the compliment. "Thanks, but I... It was me. I broke Twilight's horn. I was amped up on magic and adrenaline and instead of knocking the horn blocker, I nearly took her horn off with it. I caused the most harm to us." She sagged a little. "I have to learn control."

Rainbow punched Silver in the shoulder. "Buck that! You did great, I mean, it's not cool that Twilight was hurt, but that was an accident, right? Go in there and apologize, but you saved us from a lot worse than a single broken bone." She frowned. "Silver, think about it."

Was this the same Rainbow Dash? Silver tilted her head at Dash. "Think about what?"

Rainbow pointed at herself. "They were ready to kill. They had no use for me." She put her hooves on Silver's shoulders. "I was as good as dead, like, for real dead! You're a hero, Silver. My hero." She smiled then, a bright and soothing gesture that made Silver's pain ebb away. "Go in there and say hello to Twilight. I'm sure she wants to talk to you."

Silver took a step towards Twilight's room, then stopped. "I misjudged you, Rainbow. You're... You have a lot of depth of thought I stupidly discounted you as not having."

Rainbow waved it off. "Yeah yeah, stupid brainless jock, right? Pfft. It doesn't take a genius to know when your flank's in the fire. Now go."

Silver nodded at Rainbow and trotted away. She knocked on Twilight's door before slipping inside to find Twilight propped up on a bed. Twilight smiled at Silver on seeing her. "You're alright! Thank goodness."

Silver approached a little hesitantly. "I gave them a lesson they won't soon forget... Uh... sorry about the horn."

Twilight reached up to touch the braced horn. "It'll heal. You really should practice with Night and Fast. You've... grown a lot stronger, and faster." She wobbled a hoof in the air. "How? I've been an alicorn longer. I've been a unicorn longer. By all rights I should have better control of magic, but I could feel your magic when we were on that bed. You were radiating heat. When you let it go, it was amazing. You were practically a streak. Not as fast as Rainbow, but you were doing... something."

Silver tilted her head, looking a little confused. "Have you done magic-channeling exercises?"

Twilight rolled her eyes. "Of course I have! I have great magic reserves and channeling ability. How do you think I do such large spells?"

Silver nodded quickly and pointed at Twilight. "But have you tried channeling to anywhere besides your horn?"

Twilight looked baffled. "The horn is the channel. How do you... channel somewhere else? I didn't see you touch the horn to anywhere else, or play a spell."

Silver frowned and tapped the ground before trying a different tact. "Imagine if all the magic inside of you is like a current, flowing a bit aimlessly normally. When I want to gather it up, I make it a raging circular river through my body, letting it gather speed faster and faster and faster, without letting a single drop get anywhere specific."

Twilight nodded slowly. "Alright. That's an interesting mental image, but I can see that. Then what?"

Silver smiled. "Send it where you want. Let the river flow to your hooves, or your wings. Let it rush out to your muscles. Heart, lungs, anywhere you need power. If you're doing a spell, well, you already know how to do that."

Twilight nodded a little uncertainly. "Huh... But the horn is supposed to control the flow of magic, and it is drawn from the body as a whole by effort." She frowned. "I'll try that when we get home. That's a very different way of seeing the whole thing."

Silver waved a hoof. "How does an earth pony do it?"

"Huh?"

Silver smiled. "An earth pony. All ponies have magic. How do they channel, without a horn?"

Twilight frowned with thought. "That... is an excellent question." She clopped her hooves together. "While I think about that, you should get back to the hotel. Tell them I should be able to show up tomorrow, but that a, uh, accident will require they go easy on me. Be sure Spike's alright and see that he gets a good dinner, alright?"

Silver nodded quickly. "Alright. Want me to send Rainbow in?"

Twilight looked thoughtful. "No, take her with you, but do tell the front desk to send some guards up. We can't keep on pretending we can handle everything that comes our way. You surprised them today, but next time..."

Silver darted up to Twilight and kissed her cheek before fleeing. She returned to the hotel with Rainbow, and they found Spike. Dinner was had, and eventually sleep came behind it. The comic con was only just starting.

Author's Notes:

Exposition! Action! MURDER! Typos!

Next Chapter: 89 - Colorful Sunrise Estimated time remaining: 4 Hours, 13 Minutes
Return to Story Description

Login

Facebook
Login with
Facebook:
FiMFetch