SAAiE: Day Twenty Five: 魔法の栄光

DAY TWENTY-FIVE: 魔法の栄光

 

(Six days until the fight.)

        I wake up feeling surprisingly well rested, and take a look at my watch. It’s 7:43 AM. Odd considering that Pinkie’s shown up at around six the last two times. Maybe she’s just down stairs and didn’t want to wake me up. Then again, Pinkie doesn’t seem like the patient kind of pony. I do my morning routine, and head down stairs into the kitchen. Once in there, I see Fluttershy, who’s actually at the table watching the animals eat. She’s not feeding them, or eating herself, she’s just sitting, with her work completed.

Fluttershy: Good Morning Anon.

Myself: Good morning Fluttershy. I see you’re already done with the animals. Sorry I wasn’t awake to help.

FS: That’s okay. I thought about waking you up, but you looked so peaceful when you were asleep, so I didn’t.

M: I still should’ve been awake though.

I change the subject.

M: Did Pinkie ever show up, it’s already past eight.

FS: She never showed up, but that’s okay Anon; You’ll been working so hard for the past few days, you deserve a day for you. Enjoy yourself, I even made you breakfast.

I look at the table, it’s cucumbers, walnuts, a small hill of salt, a few dandelions, and orange juice.

M: Thanks. This is…sweet of you.

She notices the displeasure in my expression.

FS: Is there something wrong?

I think she’s finally putting together that just because I “can eat anything”, doesn’t mean that I don’t have preference. Maybe I should just tell her.

M: Well…

Fluttershy’s eyes begin to fill with sadness, as if she believe she’s done something wrong. Darn it, tears are welling! I don’t want to hurt her feelings! Luckily, a knock comes to the door, filling the hole I almost dug for myself. The door swings open, and Pinkie hops in. To my surprise, she’s not wearing her coaching ensemble.

Pinkie: Hello everypony!

FS: Hi Pinkie.

M: Hello Pinkie. I thought you’d be here hours ago. Where’s your stuff?

PP: I didn’t bring it.

M: Why?

PP: Well, I was thinking, and I decided to give you a break for today. No silly coach costumes (at least she knows how ridiculous that looked), no Hoofington accents, no negative re-enforcement, and no apple bucking. We’re going to train the FUN way.

M:…

PP: LET’S GO PLAY IN THE PARK!!!

M: Okay.

I chug down the orange juice, grab a cucumber, and head to the door.

Myself: If anyone wants my breakfast, it’s up for grabs.

Animals immediately begin to swarm my plate.

Before we can leave, Fluttershy interrupts both of us.

Fluttershy: Wait!

We both direct our attention to her.

FS: I’m coming to.

We look to each other, and back to Fluttershy.

M: Really?

FS: Y-Yeah, I’m a fun pony. I should join you…two. Also, I’m not busy today, so there shouldn’t be a problem.

Pinkie: OH GOODY! More friends means MORE FUN! LET’S GO!

The three of us exit together. Today’s gonna be a good day. I can feel it.

        It’s only a matter of time before we make it to the park. At the horizon, I notice Twilight Sparkle who’s waving for our attention. I wave back at her enthusiastically.

Myself: Hey Twilight! How’s it going!

No response.

M: Twilight?

As we get closer, I notice her horn glowing slightly, It was kind of difficult to notice at first, but it’s become much more apparent…Actually, the last sentence is a bit off; I was walking closer, but I soon turn around when I notice that Pinkie stopped walking several feet ago, and she’s also stopped Fluttershy.

M: Uh, guys? Is there something wr-

Before I can finish my sentence, a powerful force hit my back rocketing me back towards Pinkie and Fluttershy. Before falling, I yell aloud,

M: DARN IT!!!

I think Twilight just shot at me with her magic.

I connect to the unforgiving ground.

As I lay motorboating the grass, I hear the sound of hooves approaching me. I work myself to my knees, and look up to see Pinkie wearing that mustache, she always has during training.

Pinkie: An important training lesson is to always be prepared Anon. Today, we’re going to sharpen your reflexes, through a good old fashioned game of tag.

She takes off the mustache, and stashes it in her mane.

Fluttershy: Are you okay!?

PP: He’ll be fine, it was mostly knockback anyways.

I get up and turn to Twilight. She’s still waving from the distance like an @$$hole. I run towards her, expecting her to retaliate, but she just continues to wave as if I had just arrived. Suddenly, I’m stopped dead in my tracks, and I’m slowly lifted from the ground. She pulls me in, only a few inches away from her face, and says with a devious grin on her face,

Twilight: Come on Anon, let’s play.

Pinkie yells from the distance.

Pinkie: HEY! NO TELEKINESIS, THAT’S CHEATING!!!

T: *sigh* Fine.

Twilight pushes me away, and delicately places my back to the ground.

M: Thanks?

Twilight’s horn begins to glow and she shoots a magic blast at me once again, I simply sway to the side and it passes. I then begin to run towards her once again. Another blast comes, nicking my arm, but I do dodge the next blast. Before I can reach her, she teleports away, and I accidentally boop Fluttershy’s nose. She reappears to my far left.

Myself: [To Pinkie] Isn’t THAT against the rules.

Pinkie: Nah. You can handle it.

Twilight yells to me from the distance.

T: You’re going to need to be clever to even get CLOSE to me Anonymous.

I huff at Twilight’s statement, but she’s right.

I can’t just run up when she’s able to teleport so easily. If I want to tag Twilight, I need to catch her off guard. But how? As I think to myself, I simultaneous continue to dodge Twilight’s blast. “Maybe I could head to Ponyville and hide in an alley. (DUCK) No, she’d stop me if I tried to get that far. (dodge left) Hmm?” It’s not easy to think with a barrage of magic being shot at you, and obviously, I’m hit a few more times, and knocked back on the ground. Oh ground, why can’t my body resist your allure?

Twilight: Come on Anon. You can’t win if you don’t tag me.

Myself: I’M THINKING!

Fluttershy: You can do it Anon.

M: Thank you for the support.

I get up off the ground, and ready myself for the continuing barrage.

Twilight can’t spam magic forever; magic is a difficult ability to master, and it takes a ton of concentration and stamina. If I can exhaust her abilities, maybe I can get her to stop teleporting. I just need to keep dodging and have her keep using her magic, until she runs out of juice.

M: Come at me filly.

        Flash forward fifteen minutes. I’ve been doing my best to evade everything Twilight throws at me. Sure, I’ve been hit a bunch of times, but I so far haven’t been knocked down again. Brought to my knees? Yes. But not knocked down.

 Though I’ve tried to conserve as much energy as possible, having to stay on the defensive has really been tiring. It’s been worth it though, as Twilight has weakened; Her blast aren’t nearly as strong or as fast as when we stated, and she’s been backing away when I close in, due to it taking longer for her to teleport. My chance to hit the offensive is finally here. I run in at full speed. Twilight gets a few hits in with her magic, but  it’s not enough to stop my momentum. I close in and reach out, but she teleports, once more.

I turn and see her at my far left, not firing, but simply taking a breather.

Pinkie: COME ON ANON! YOU’RE WEARING HER DOWN!

Fluttershy: I believe in you.

I look to the ponies, give them a thumbs up (though they don’t get the gesture), and look back to Twilight.

Myself: It’ll take more than those weak little hadoukens if you want to stop me.

Twilight’s horn begins to glow softly, but she’s also backing away slightly. Seeing as she’s beginning to back away. Obviously, she’s hitting her decline, but I’m still ready to ‘play’. I take my opportunity, and run towards her, closing in quickly. Suddenly, her horn goes from dim, to super nova, and she retaliates with a magical blast, three times the size of her average shot. It hits me dead in the gut, and pushes me back far enough to lose my footing.

        Prior to this moment, all of Twilight’s shot’s simply gave off a small, knockback inducing detonation, but this was nothing like those shots: This projectile hasn’t let up, and continues to slowly push me back. It’s also been active for way longer than the average shot. As I’m being pushed back, I can see Twilight, who’s actually using her magic to keep it from detonating. Once I’m several feet away from her, it erupts releasing a massive knock back that sends me several MORE feet away from her. After a depressingly lonely vacation, I return home to find the ground waiting for me in my bedroom. My oh my ground, that night gown is so…revealing.

Pinkie: What WAS THAT!?

Twilight yells to Pinkie, who’s at a safe distance.

Twilight: I don’t know. I’ll need to check my spell books for this.

I say to myself, as I get off of the ground,

Myself: Oh man, it’s like dealing with Celestia all over again…“wait a second…that’s it!”

Fluttershy: Anon, maybe you should quit.

M: I’ll be fine. Not like that weak shot even did anything.

Twilight speaks with a bit of self-confidence.

Twilight: Oh really?

M: Yeah, really. Celestia did stuff like that all the time when I was in Canterlot. Hurt like heck, but I survived. Compared to CELESTIA, that was like getting hit with a pillow.

Pinkie chuckles in the background.

M: I expected some stronger magic from a pony like you. I thought you were supposed to be the element of magic, not mediocrity.

Twilight gets into a crouched stance, and her horn begins to glow once more.

T: You want magic. I’ll give you magic!

M: Perfect.

As Twilight charges her horn, I run towards her, hoping that the plan I just formed will work. Twilight’s horn causes another projectile to form, but it grows to a significantly bigger size. Probably six to seven times the size of her average blast, and it’s only getting bigger. I actually stop running to her completely shocked and slightly fearful of the size of her blast. Once it reaches eight feet in diameter, Twilight finally releases it full force at me.

Twilight: EAT THIS!!!

I get into as solid of a stance as possible, and extend my arms to push back at her attach. It eventually connects pushing me several inches, but I still keep my footing to prevent it from escaping Twilight’s range like last time. We’ve reached a stalemate.

        It only takes a few seconds, before I can feel my arms weaken at the force of her attack. It’s whirling force scratches away at my hands, and destroys the grass around us. I can’t go down though, this is the only chance I have. This is exactly how I wanted things to go. I just need to keep it from escaping Twilight’s range.

Eventually, my arms finally give way and slip, causing my arms to wrap it, and it’s whirling aura to grind on my face, but I don’t let up. After a bunch of manly groaning, it begins to glow with an intense brightness and just like with Celestia, it’s pent up magic, causes a massive explosion that captures both Twilight and I in range. The last thing I see before things go black, is Twilight’s body being hurled in the opposite direction.

I soon wake up to the violent shaking of Fluttershy.

Fluttershy: Anon! Anon! PLEASE GET UP!

Myself: Uuuugh.

FS: Oh, thank Celestia you’re awake. Is there pain or numbness anywhere?

I slowly work my way back to my feet.

M: Yeah, I’m fine. That was mostly just knockback anyways.

I observe the area; A massive circle of nothing but dirt has now formed where the aura sphere was, and far off from that patch of dirt, lies Twilight, who’s being helped up by Pinkie. Oh god, please let her be okay.

With no hesitation, I run over to the other two, to see if Twilight’s okay. Fluttershy follows from behind.

Pinkie: Twilight?

Twilight’s eyes swirl in opposite direction before finally setting to normal. She says in a very dizzy and woozy tone,

Twilight: I should’ve probably practiced that spell before trying it more than once.

Myself: Are you okay!? I didn’t think that THIS was going to happen.

T: I’ll be fine, I just need to read about this later.

I sigh with relief.

M: Good…also.

I poke her on the nose.

M: Tag.

 

ANTI-TRANSITIONAL FOLLOW UP: A REPORT FOR THE PAPERS

 

After spending all morning playing in the park, and a couple hours of the evening finally answering those questions Twilight had, it feels good to finally unwind and rest. I’ve been on the bed for the last hour of so, until Fluttershy comes in to tell me something.

Fluttershy: Anon, the crusaders came to see you. They want to do another interview for their paper.

Myself: Nifty.

I head downstairs, and see the Crusaders on the couch with their reporting outfits on. An open spot is available between Apple Bloom and Sweetie. Fluttershy watches us from the stairs.

Myself: You guys came for another interview?

Apple Bloom: Uh huh.

Sweetie Belle: We saw a HUGE patch of dirt at the park, and after some extensive questioning, we found out that you were doing something with Twilight earlier. Care to explain for tomorrow’s paper?

M: Sure.

I walk over to the open spot, and plop into it.

M: You girls are in for a treat. This is a real good story.

Sweetie’s eyes widen and glimmer with excitement.

        Over the next few minutes, I give a short run down of what happened.

“Myself: And then when I looked up, Pinkie had the moustache on, and I was like “HOW COULD YOU TRICK ME LIKE THAT” and she was all like, “YOU’RE JUST PLAYING TAG!” And then she took off the moustache and it disappeared in her mane...somehow.”

Apple Bloom and especially Sweetie Belle become more and more enthralled. Scootaloo however, fails to show approval or interest.

“M: She kept shooting, but I was too agile, and I said to her, “I’m twice ya size, why can’t ya hit me!”

Scootaloo scoffs while speaking quietly to herself.

Scootaloo: Dash could’ve tagged her way earlier. *mumble mumble this story is stupid mumble mumble*

Sweetie: *shush* Please, keep going.

M: Thank you.”

I near the end.

M: AND THE THING WAS HUGE! It was even wider than this couch. And it was just pushing back at me like crazy. But I was able to keep it in place.

Sweetie Belle gasps.

Sweetie Belle: Did it explode like the last one?

You bet, but I kept it from getting away from Twilight, so we both got hit in the explosion. And we ended up flying in opposite directions.

Apple Bloom: That must’ve hurt somein’ fierce.

M: Nah, I’m one tough guy, I got up quickly afterwards, and tagged Twilight right on her silly nose. She didn’t even expect it because she was all dizzy from the explosion. Don’t worry though, Twilight’s fine.

SB: WOAH! THAT’S [voice crack] AMAZING!

I laugh humbly.

M: I guess it kind of is.

S: It’s not THAT amazing. If that were Dash, she would’ve tag Twilight in the blink of an eye.

SB: But you gotta admit, stopping a blast like that with his bare hoofs-

M: Hands.

SB: -hands? That’s incredible!

Sweetie Belle looks towards me.

SB: You’re going to be amazing when the fight happens.

Daaaw. I turn my head embarrassingly, and look away from her.

S: But Dash is going to win…If she was going to fight. Which she isn’t.

SB: That’s just silly. Anon’s way stronger than Dash.

S: But DASH is the fastest flyer in Equestria. Can’t hurt what you can’t hit.

SB: Well if Anon can find a way to get to somepony who TELEPORTS, I’m sure he can handle Dash in a closed off ring.

S: Nuh uh, because Dash has been training for the past week and she’s totally ready. Anon hasn’t been training nearly as long.

SB: Yes he has! He was with the guards, remember! He worked by the sides of those who protect Celestia every day!

S: DASH can do a sonic rainboom!

SB: ANON took down a ten foot tall boar with his sketchbook, and his BARE HANDS!

(Did I say it was ten feet? Maybe I squeezed that in there somewhere.)

S: Yeah well…Dash helped save Equestria THREE TIMES, so she has to win!

Sweetie Belle let’s out an exasperated growl.

SB: YOUR OPINIONS MAKE ME ANGRY!!!

Sweetie Belle hops off the couch and stomps to the door.

S: AND, Anon doesn’t even have a fan-club!

Sweetie Belle slams the door with her hind-hoof.

S: Hmph. I showed her.

Silence.

S: I’m going to.

Scootaloo heads for the side door, not wanting to have to go the same way as Sweetie. Eventually, it’s just me and Apple Bloom.

AB: I guess I should probably get going too.

She hops off the couch. And slowly walks off.

AB: Have a nice day Mr. Anon.

She closes the door, and eventually, it’s just me, and Fluttershy.

Fluttershy: Oh dear.