We stand united 1x1 Maple Bat

[MickeyAdaptus 2,209]

The mare hadn't managed to react in time as the wing had ended up impaling her.

She let out a scream and then her body was no longer moving, hanging motionless on the blade part.

However... The mares head suddenly shot up and she shot 2 transparent 2 beams from her eyes straight into Treasured's eyes, blind him temporarily.

It was a similar situation like when Shining Armour had impaled her with one his magic attacks, and that had given her the idea to use this trick on Treasured since he, of course, didn't know about her bodies properties.

She then let one of the once recreated crystals grow a sharp blade crystal like blade grow from her hoof.

"I am not the one dying here today, you will figure out soon enough why." She said coldly as she slashed across Treasured's face with the crystal blade.

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"N-no, I can do this, I have fought with injuries worse than these.  Since I am infected I might as well use this virus to an advantage in battle, last time I barely felt any pain!" Jack retorted back as he tried to stand up, as his stubbornness was showing again, it was obvious that Jack was a person would set all of his own well being aside if he felt like that he would have to fight.

Edited February 3, 2018 by Mickey Adaptus

[Maple Bat 3,568]

The blade cut across him and he recoiled again "Gah! Y-You'll regret that!" He swung again amazing for the mares throat the strike was merciless and without hesitation. The swing, however, was merely a diversion since he knew it wouldn't kill if it hit, his horn started to dimly glow as he swung, he was preparing something.

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Evelyn sighed once again "Alright... fine... But I want SOMEONE to protect you at all times ok? I mean I'll need to be more front lines and I don't want you to get hurt. Are you ok with that?"

Luna nodded agreeing and worrying heavily about Jack being in the thick of things despite not being able to move "Well I am, and I agree that you need someone to protect you. It can't be me either... nor Celestia since we're all needed for the attack. Wish Fesuts was here... Do you have anyone else in mind? If not I guess I could protect you."

[MickeyAdaptus 2,209]

The mare growled when her throat was cut, and it made her flinch because she was still impaled, but when she looked again she saw that Treasured was preparing something with his horn, the dimly glow gave it away.

Making a quick decision, she used her powers to propel herself a good distance away from Treasured and escape from the Impalement.

'It is a good thing he should still be blinded, but it would be a foolish action to rely on just that, the effect could expire earlier than normal, so I hope my plan is going to work, I will only get one shot at this.' She thought bitterly.

The corpse stood ready, waiting for Treasured to use his spell.

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"I don't know anyone sadly, and Luna, you mentioned earlier that it couldn't be you either. Perhaps for this one time, I will push myself further then before, and see if I am as strong as some claim to be." Jack admitted.

"It isn't the first time i have done such things, as i have been taught to push myself if i am in the direst of situations, perhaps this time i might be able see who i really am."

[Maple Bat 3,568]

Treasured had his eyes closed as his horn started to glow more and more bright. "Now! You shall perish." Crystal spikes shot out of Treasures body, With a magic on them that would easily sap others magic giving it to himself. Since He didn't know where to aim they just shot out at completely random with no real pattern or reason behind the directions. C-c'mon... Just one hit...  He thought desperately

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Luna shook her head "Y-you're right I need to be in the front lines... And since No one will protect you... And you can barely walk on your own... We have no choice here JAck. We need to leave you behind. Please, forgive me..."

Celestia sighed not really having an opinion, We could use as much help as we can get but we don't want to lose him either... I... Don't really know what to say...  She was arguing with herself internally.

[MickeyAdaptus 2,209]

The corpse stared at what was Treasured was doing for a moment.

'Yes... This might be my chance to escape, I have to time this right, I don't know what type of spell he is going to use, but I rather do not want to find out, who knows how much more this body can endure...' She thought with concern.

It was then when Treasured fired his spell that the corpse went into action. 'This had better work!' She thought.

She grabbed a nearby rat and used an illusion spell on it, making it look exactly like her but this illusion had an effect on it, it was like a physical ragdoll that looked like her.

It was then the moment that she set the ragdoll illusion right before and used it as a shield, but to make it more believable, when the crystal spikes hit the ragdoll, she faked a screaming sound from her mouth.

Using this opportunity she then very quietly trotted away, and made her way to the surface of the Canterlot city, using a spare cloak she had carried with her before she had died and used it to conceal her appearance from everypony as she walked through the crowds.

'He is too powerful for me to fight head-on, I can't beat him in my current state, my best course of action is to get out of here, far away from anypony.' She thought as she blended into the crowd, having managed to escape.

'I only wonder if he will fall for the trick and how long it might take him to figure out. In any case, I was very lucky there, as handy as my powers may be, they are very unpredictable and unstable..' She thought.

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"Leave me behind? I am going to die soon anyway, there no longer is a consequence of what I do, it happens earlier or later, it's going to happen eventually, so why should I sit back and just wait before I will be laying in some dusty coffin? Heck, for all I know I might turn sooner than expected, and then I am a goner either way. We have to face it, I have become expendable." Jack said with disbelief.

"When hasn't there been a time where I haven't done something very dangerous in which I could have been killed easily, every battle I have fought up until this point was with the case that I have considered myself to be expendable in any way, I have always fought for the sake of helping others."

"But you know? I could even just walk to Valtrek and try to fight him without much fear for my own life, that is how it feels to be infected, why shouldn't I just do some heroic sacrifice and give my death a purpose? That is how much value my life is, it has nothing of value if I am going to meet the same fate regardless of what I do." Jack said with a grimace.

"I care for all of you more then you can imagine, but what use am I going to be like this? Just sit out everything and wait until sweet merciful death comes to claim me? If I wasn't infected, I wouldn't be feeling like this. If i am going to die, i atleast not die a cowards death, i sure know some that would agree with that."

 

[Maple Bat 3,568]

Treasured finally opened his eyes rubbing them for a second "Haha! Got you... Now I should feel it... all of your power coming to me..." He sat there as he touched the crystal that implaled the pony and... Well, he felt nothing, after that he realized he smashed the crystal "Nothing more than a diversion.. smart... something I would've come up with... Mark my words I will find you... And when I do... Stasis is out of the question..."

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"No... That's not what I meant. I want you to stay with us. I just want you to stay back for this ONE engagement... Please... I know it's a lot to ask but I just... I just want you to make it to the center with us. Just don't join us this one time and you can help every other time, regardless of how you feel... Deal?" Luna held out a hoof to him, hoping he'd take the deal.

Evelyn looked at him, anxiously awaiting his answer. She was hoping he'd take it but would be ok if he didn't.

[MickeyAdaptus 2,209]

Jack thought for a moment, as he was conflicted with his feelings.

"Listen... I am willing to sit this one out, but I want you to promise me something if by any chance things at Cyril are getting too desperate for Me, Festus and Evelyn, then I want you to send the strongest forces that you can find and send them to Cyril to liberate it. And I am not talking about just 1 or 2 people, I am talking about a REAL army, thousands, millions if capable, because if they happen to have things there that the 3 of us couldn't handle, then we need all the help we can get.    Alot of help..." Jack said as he stared at Luna with mixed emotions.

"As long as that tower in Cyril still stands, I will never be able to rest.  No excuses for why some won't be able to help, no excuses in its entirety, Ask Ember for aid, ask Thorax heck, even ask Chrysalis! Ask for their aid and their armies, because should things happen to the 3 of us and said help won't come, then we would DIE." Jack said as he had determination in his eyes.

"I know I may be stubborn, but I am looking out for all those who aren't having the same luxuries as we, have if you can promise me that Luna, then I will sit this one out.  Because before I die, I want to see that tower destroyed, and know that atleast that planet has managed to be free one way or another..:" Jack said he held his paw up, which he would shake if Luna would promise.

[Maple Bat 3,568]

Luna took his paw and shook on it. "You have a deal," She started yelling so she was heard "Edgar! Please watch over him for me, While we go and fight these baddies." She smiled and stopped shouting "I'lll make sure that tower falls, Even if it kills me.

Celestia stepped away from the others, "I'll get my gear and be right back alright?" She then walked away, She had most of her gear but her weapon was in a tent. "My mane is an Aurora..." She said still caught up in that. "No, No... It's not you. It's something else... Get that idea out of your head 'Tia." She was mocking Maple's voice, Honestly the Mare was rude to her but Maple did keep her in check. Luna overheard and chuckled quietly, Jack heard it too.

Evelyn smiled at Jack, "We got this! As we always do! I promise we'll be back. Good luck to you Jack." Evelyn looked worried about him, Leaving for so long... She had to put her faith in Edgar here and wasn't sure how well he could handle this...

[MickeyAdaptus 2,209]

"Thank you Luna, i really mean it. I really owe you." Jack told Luna with a smile.

Edgar looked blinked for a moment.

"I am surprised you would choose me out of all the people to protect him though, I am not the one you would want to choose due to my poor fighting skills. Tough I am going to do it regardless, just don't stay away for too long." Edgar admitted, "Because he might even be the one who needs to protect me." He joked.  

He then heard Celestia talking to herself. "Well, the way her mane flows, I wouldn't question if it would be an Aurora, but rather how it even keeps flowing like that in the first place, though it still looks beautiful," Edgar muttered, in which Jack couldn't help but stiff a giggle at what Celestia was saying.

He then looked at Evelyn. "Goodluck to the 3 of you as well, please be carefull tough, just because you guys worry about my safety doesn't mean you shouldn't worry about your own as well, because even a meager convoy that you guys are going to attack could be rather deadly." Jack said to her.

"Please do your best, i am counting on you to fight twice as hard in this one now that i am absent." He told her with a smile.

 

Edited February 5, 2018 by Mickey Adaptus

[Maple Bat 3,568]

"Life risking is a rather common occurrence here isn't it," Luna said chuckling trying to be light-hearted about it all "I mean, There's not much we can do at this point, right? We can only do our best no matter what that may be. It's just, Up to us and I know we can win the fight. It's just goint to be a lot of work to do it without sacrifice." Luna had high hopes. Achievable, but high.

Celestia returned to the others, ready to go now. "Well... Shall we move out then? I'm ready I belive the others are too."

Evlyn popped her neck. "Never been more ready. I'm jsut waiting on you two to get your royal flanks in gear." She said light-hearted and laughing. She meant it as a joke but the two alicorns took it a bit seriously

"Hey!" they said in unison as the trio started to walk towards the other part of the army.

[MickeyAdaptus 2,209]

The convoy halted when they suddenly saw the 3 individuals approaching.

But of course they couldn't talk back, the normal soldiers where semi-sentient and just like the infected they could only make animal-like noises, but the closes the 3 would get to a response was one of the soldiers pointing its paw at their enemies.

And then they started attacking, around 20 with rifles, tough 2 of them had rocket launchers, which was always a smart thing to have if your convoy would ever get attacked by vehicles.

It was pretty much the case that this convey seemed to favour ranged attacks instead of melee ones as there were no regular infected guarding the convoy, though there were still 2 creatures in both of the containers.

But all the while this was happening, something was emerging from Jack's artefact, it was a purple type of energy that was subtly manifesting somewhere behind the convoy, all without anyone noticing it flowing, as the only thing could be noticed was a weird feeling in everyone's head, but it was subtle.

Edited February 6, 2018 by Mickey Adaptus
Wanted to edit my post to make a bit more appealing :)

[Maple Bat 3,568]

Luna instinctively put up a barrier, "We still got this. I would be scared if they really did anything differently" Luna was confident but she was vigilant, She fired magic bolts at the rockets intercepting them. This is... too easy... I need to be careful, Luna thought.

Celestia drew her weapon, the soldier wouldn't hit her behind Luna's shield. Celestia went over the scene with her eyes quickly trying to plan a move of attack the first move would need to be... "Evelyn take to the skies and keep moving don't let them hit you but use your elemental breath to take them."

"Oh, I think I've got a new way to use it! Let me try..." She took to the skies hoping that it would work, if not then she would be left open... IT would need a second to prepare

Edited February 7, 2018 by Maple Bat
Grammer

[MickeyAdaptus 2,209]

The soldiers tried to shoot to devide their numbers as some of them where shooting still at Luna's barrier while the others where trying to shoot at Evelyn, including the 2 soldiers with rocket launchers, tough these rockets launchers had no lock on feature, so thus it would be easy for her to dodge the rockets, but they still tried to hit her regardless.

Although during all this, something happenend, most of the soldiers that were trying to attack the trio got countless of small purple shards impaled through their bodies, and then, the shards denotated, all of the impaled soldiers exploded from within.

The remaining soldiers had gotten into disarray, as they tried to locate the unknown attacker, and then they suddenly saw something, behind the convoy was a purple smoke, and there was standing a figure in the middle of it, only a dark brown and disturbing looking paw was visible outside of the smoke, one of its fingers pointing at the remaining soldiers.

It created some sort of magical glass plain, before shattering it, and millions of minuscule shards shot out towards the remaining soldiers, as sharp as a master crafted blade, the shards tore the remaining soldiers into nothing more than heaps of blood, as they where in theory hit by a wind of tiny blades, which where so many that the overall attack was larger than the height of such a soldier.

As the weapons fell to the ground now that their owners were dead, the hand returned back into the smoke, but the person was still there, and only the silhouette of the person could be seen through the smoke, in where the person was standing still like a statue.

[Maple Bat 3,568]

The royal sisters looked at each other confused "What was that?" Luna was the one to break the silence. "And... Can we even trust... whatever that was?"

Celestia shook her head but stopped "Well enemy of my enemy, is my friend... so I guess we should be alright." Secretly she was worried about this With how easily they took down those soldiers... No... No, we should be safe. "Hey! You over there! Thanks for the assistance." Celestia shouted to them, using the royal canterlot voice to be heard.

Evelyn stayed up in the air, dodging the projectiles heading at her, but she kept herself airborne in case a fight with the strange warrior. "W-Well! Who are you!"

[MickeyAdaptus 2,209]

At first, there was no response, but about an eerie silence of 2 minutes, a response came, and a familiar voice was only heard back in the city.

"You should save your thanks, Weakly minded mammal. By the actions of a blue lizard, a meddling boy and his toy, and a traitor who runs his mouth, we have been forced to take matters into our own hands. 5 worlds will be subjected to the matter of termination, and all witnesses must be expunged..." A voice came from the person.

Then the smoke cleared, and it revealed someone familiar, the member of that tournament, the blood cult member had escaped the artefact only minutes ago.

He was staring at the trio with an empty gaze, even though he had no eyes, nose or mouth, it could be almost felt from just the air around them that there was a burning anger inside the person, but at the same time the clenched fist gave it away at the same time.

"Tell me, Duo monarchs, was it all worth it? I hope it was. because your entire race will be subjected to our coming feast.."

[Maple Bat 3,568]

Celestia and Luna both flinched when they saw him and Celestia kept shouting at him, from behind Luna's barrier "You! You should be dead!" She readied herself for battle once again, Luna, however, didn't like that idea.

"Sister you saw what he just did... we need to get help." Luna quietly told her sister, She looked out worriedly. Staring at the purple crystals that had sliced the solders to bits.

"We need to take him here, Otherwise he will do, that, to the camp full of people. We mihgt fall here, true... But no matter what we can't let him passed us, For it;s the life of all of them, including Jack..." With that least part of what Celestia said Luna visibly flinced

"Right," Luna replied, putting more intensity into her shield, thinking  I hope this works.

Evelyn watched the two and decided she would head back to camp by herself to get Jack, she didn't really know what to do against him anyways.

[MickeyAdaptus 2,209]

"I have been dead for centuries, but for you flesh creatures the definition of death is different than ours, as all of us have lost our lives the moment we saw the truth." He replied vaguely.

"And now..." He said coldly as he pointed 2 fingers of his right paw at the shield, and then fired some sort of blast, but this blast appeared to be very weak as it was intended to see how strong Luna's magical shield would be.

"But to terminate all of you would be unbeneficial to our cause, so I will offer an ultimatum. I will allow the 2 of you to choose which ones get to survive, will you choose for the group that you have been protecting, a bunch of people that you haven't known for long?  Or will you choose for your close friends that are currently on your homeworld, Shining Armour, Twilight Sparkle,  Mi Amore Cadenza, and a bunch of other figures?     Wich group will get to live? You can make that choice right here and now because I can assure you..."

"That we are capable of eliminating our targets without much resistance, being immobilized or otherwise. Refusal in any of these 2 options will result in both groups being targeted, so choose wisely Monarchs, because this choice will define the lives of thousands.." He said with an even colder undertone as his voice was being projected through his powers.

 

 

Jack saw Evelyn flying back to them.

'Evelyn, what is going on? Why aren't Celestia and Luna with you?' He thought of her.

Edited February 8, 2018 by Mickey Adaptus

[Maple Bat 3,568]

Celestia started to charge her strongest spell, The one she had used earlier to obliterate the large spider-like monster from before "You want me to select who survives huh?" She stepped forward, outside of the shield, horn slowly glowing brighter and brighter. "I don't know who you serve but death doesn't stop you it seems. So when you see them again tell them that no matter what Equestria... no... The whole universe, Is now Safeguarded, IF they want to take us down we won't go down without resistance..."

Luna put her shield down and readied an offensive spell herself, in Case Celestia would need the assistance "Even if we die here we know that the good will triumph. Equestria won't fall!" Luna shouted to the foe, staring at the 2 of them. She never took eyes off and unlike Celestia, she stayed where she was.

 

'The man from the arena is back.' Evelyn thought back terrified, 'I don't know what to do, I was hoping you know what to do, I started to head to you in case you needed to be there for the plan Luna's shield should hold for a while. At least, I think so... I'm closing in now, What's the plan Jack?' Evelyn considered the possibility of there being no way to defeat the stranger but she was still trying to be optimistic about it

[MickeyAdaptus 2,209]

"I see, so you 2 choose the path of resistance? So be it, but I wouldn't expect much resistance to come out of this, so far it has been rather easy for my associate." He said as he lowered his hand.

"But no matter, because all the words that are coming from both of you will be rendered insignificant once they arrive, only none of you are able to comprehend WHAT will arrive."

"Come" He then said, simply indicating for them to attack, in which he seemed rather confident of winning this battle.

Tough for the fact that he couldn't be killed didn't mean he was invulnerable, because it all comes down to the fact of how much of his powers would be left,  if he would be out of powers and would be damaged to the point where his regeneration would no longer work, it would result in his defeat, but something like that was obviously not easy.

 

 

'P-plan? I... Don't know what to do againts that guy, not to mention, how did he even escape?  He was trapped inside my artefact! I guess... He was too strong for the seal to hold him back any longer...  Not to mention, you guys said it was too dangerous for me to be there during the fight at first, but now you want me to there when an enemy times 10 more dangerous then a puny convoy is happened to be there?!  I hate to say this Evelyn, but he is going to kill me with ease if just as much show my face there.' Jack thought to her with horror.

'I know I said that I didn't want to die a cowards death, but you know that beings from his alliance don't just kill, they just sacrifice your own soul to their master, and then it won't be an afterlife that I would be sent to, but rather... Whatever it is.'

 

[Maple Bat 3,568]

"With pleasure!" Luna didn't hesitate For Jack! She thought as she fired a small and fast beam, It glew brightly making it seem concentrated but it was just a distraction. It wasn't obvious that it was a distraction at that.

Celestia, as she continued her slow approach, waited for the beam to nearly hit the foe. As soon as it got close she teleported behind him and fired a colossal beam of magic, He would only see it after he had protected himself from the first beam. Celestia's was bright, So much so that Evelyn and Jack would see it from where they were. "I'm done playing these games!" She roared after firing.

 

"RIght, in that case, I'll tell the princesses to get out of t-" The bright beam caused Evelyn to flinch and protect Jack as an instinct "W-What was that? It was... Quite a lot of energy... But how's was it..." Evelyn couldn't really feel a person's energy like a usual magic user could.

[MickeyAdaptus 2,209]

When he saw Luna's beam he stretched his out his fist, encasing it in purple energy, before negating Luna's beam by punching straight through it. "How laughable, did you really think tha-" He was however interrupted as suddenly he had heard Celestia's words behind him, and when he turned around, her beam hit him hard, catching him completely off-guard.

There was a massive explosion as the beam detonated, and the entire ground shook for a moment.

When the smoke cleared, there was a small crater, within there was laying the blood cult member, severely burned on almost every spot of his body, normally he would have been able to defend himself better, but here he had been caught off-guard.

But the question remained, was he really out cold?

 

 

"Judging by the amount of light that is coming from this magic, I can assure you that was Celestia, but I have to agree that it is quite a lot! Me telling her and Luna to be more on the battlefield really seems to have been a good call." Jack said with joy, as he knew they were strong, but he never imagined that they would go to this magnitude, while Celestia had shown it moments ago, Jack knew without a doubt that Luna would be capable of doing something on this level as well.

Though he put his hand before his eyes to cover them when the explosion happenend.

"Ok, that is a bit too bright!"

[Maple Bat 3,568]

Celestia started panting she used a lot of energy on that blast "That... Is what happens when I get pushed too far... Sick of that cult..." She straightened her posture and dusted herself off of all the sand. She still had an angry expression

Luna had quickly put up a shield after the beam got interrupted, She was glad she had the explosion was no joke especially since Celestia had nearly fired it right at her. "Good Job sister!" Luna was convinced nothing was left of the cultist. So she made her way over to Celestia

 

Evelyn stood there for a second completely amazed by the powerful display all she could really formulate in her brain after the explosion was... "Whoa. Awesome." Jack could tell she in truly in disbelief that power like that even existed.

[MickeyAdaptus 2,209]

It had become silent for a moment, the wind of the desert still flowing as a background ambience.

And the cultist was still lying in the crater, but after 10 seconds when their eyes would be locked on the crater again, the cultist was gone!

Or that is what would have been believed since nobody had seen him move, whether, by teleportation or very fast and silent movement, he was now suddenly front of Celestia, his left-hand right near her chest plate.

He seemed to still have the same injuries as when he was lying in the crater, he didn't take the time to regenerate himself. He grabbed Celestia's with his right hand, holding her head in place.

"That was quite the attack... It caught me off-guard there. However..." The cultist spoke before enchasing his left fist with purple energy, and he then punched the place where her armour chest plate was HARD.

"I am not one to be defeated, you will find out why because I am done playing games as well.." He said menacingly as he then opened his left hand and formed a purple ball of energy in his hand.

The energy ball then detonated straight at the place where he had punched Celestia before, blowing her away far.

Celestia's attack had damaged him alot, but one thing had been forgotten, during that attack he still had most of his energy left, which meant he was far from defeated, and while the attack had certainly had done alot of damage on him, it was not just his physical form that had gotten damaged, but his pride as well.

 

 

 

"Yeah, i can imagine how fascinated you must be by this, i have seen some individuals perform this same feat of power in the past, aside from all those bad guys, my father was capable of doing this as well, granted i had only seen it once with my own eyes." Jack told Evelyn with a smile.

Edited February 10, 2018 by Mickey Adaptus

[Maple Bat 3,568]

Celestia's front plate broke, shards impaling her chest as she flew backward landing on her side, before getting up. "It... Will take more than that." She said with a chuckle. She threw her spear with magic, it, of course, wasn't expected to hit. She flew up into the air firing several bolts of energy, they got brighter with each blast fired. They had a power in them that would shock the cultist, to at least interrupt whatever he was trying to do when it hit.

All the while Luna started firing the small beams, but more concentrated so they were slow moving but would do more damage than the first one even if blocked. "Sister... Please... don't try too hard and..." She stopped there and started firing faster out of desperation.

[MickeyAdaptus 2,209]

He saw Celestia's attack heading towards him, as well as Luna's attacks, and he knew that he wouldn't be able to intercept all of those at the same time, so he quickly started to use a series of short ranged but fast teleportation in trying to dodge the attacks, because one thing was clear, this guy had very fast reaction senses.

 

 

'I have been thinking... Shouldn't we join in? I mean, i did say that i was to afraid to fight that monster, but now... I admit that i feel guilty with having to let Celestia and Luna fight all by themselves like that againts such an opponent.' Jack thought to Evelyn.