//------------------------------//
// Chapter 8 
// Story: The Shadow Wars: Rise of Nightwing 
// by Void Streak 
//------------------------------//

The war was over, King Sombra was dead and the Crystal Empire was gone, literally. Sombra had placed a dark curse upon the city that if he was defeated then nopony could have the Empire. 

Several years had passed since the fall of the Crystal Empire, after the battle, Void Streak had been treated like a hero, however as the years passed, the darkness within him continued to grow. Despite defeating Sombra, Void had still not been made an elemental master, this only made the dark side grow stronger. 

Void Streak was currently sitting atop a large crevice inside of a massive cavern that was hidden from Princess Celestia. He looked over his secret army of Droid Soldiers. Flapping his wings he flew down towards another part of the caverns that held several large machines, which looked like a small ball with two massive hexagonal, sheets of metal on either side, These machines were, Advanced Pegasi Interceptors or API for short. They were airships that were powered by rockets boosters, making them incredibly fast, their unique design also made them agile. Their intended use was to hunt down pegasi and other flying creatures. 

Along with the APIs, he had also invented a new weapon that could fire magic bolts, these were called blasters and were intended to strike down enemies at long distances as well as to overwhelm large groups of enemies. Currently, every Droid Soldier was holding a blaster. 

Void knew that he now had enough power to overwhelm the royal guard and to take over Equestria; it was now just a waiting game for the right moment. He needed to wait for the perfect opportunity before he could make his move. 

***

Princess Celestia was examining six coloured gems, she could sense a large amount of power being emitted from the unique gems. "I call them the Elements of Harmony." Star Swirl declared, showing off his newly built creations. 

Celestia didn't know what to say when Star Swirl had told her that he had created a new weapon, the last thing she had expected was for Star Swirl to enter the throne room with a chest, full of gems. "They're... something." Celestia stammered. 

Luna suddenly spoke up, "Star Swirl, when you said that you had built a super weapon, what I expected was a cannon not a bunch of jewellery."

"Don't let appearances deceive you, with a shadow lord, still at large, we need to keep the elements secret and the best way to do that is by making a weapon that doesn't look like a weapon. I assure you that these elements are no jewellery." Star Swirl explained. 

Unbeknownst to the elementals, Void had secretly been eavesdropping from under a window, using the aura to hide his position. If these elements of harmony are as powerful as Star Swirl made them out to be, then they would need to be dealt with. 

Suddenly the ground began to shake, quickly diving into the air and making sure to steer clear of any building, Void looked around, to see what was causing all the ruckus, when to his confusion he felt something hit his head. Looking upwards, his jaw dropped as instead of seeing white, fluffy clouds; he could see several large, pink clouds that appeared to be raining chocolate. "What in the hay," Void muttered to himself, then the sound of chaotic laughing filled his ears. 

Turning around he suddenly found himself staring into the weirdest creature he had ever laid eyes on. The creature appeared to be part everything. Void quickly powered up his magiscaber, however instead of feeling even remotely bothered by the magical weapon, the creature merely raised his eyebrow before smiling mischievously and clicking his golden talon, suddenly to Void's horror, his powerful magiscaber had been turned into a candy cane. 

Void then pulled out his red magiscaber, however, the creature merely wagged his talon before turning his weapon into a balloon. Now beginning to lose his temper, void was about to use aura lightning against the creature when Celestia joined them. 

Staring the creature down with the almighty fire of a god, Celestia boomed, "Who are you?"

"Oh yes where are my manners, I am Discord, God of chaos," Discord greeted and grabbing Celestia's hoof before shaking it madly. 

"Well Discord, my name is Princess Celestia and I need you to change everything back to normal," Celestia demanded, flaring her wings in a form of intimidation. 

Discord gave her an overdramatic bow before clutching his white beard in mock thinking before saying, "Hmmm, let me think... No not going to happen."

"Why not," Luna asked, glaring at the odd creature.

"Where's the fun in normal!" he shouted before waving his arms around, making several buildings being ripped from their foundations before being floated upside down. 

Star Swirl then said, "I think we have just found the perfect test subject for the elements." 

Stomping her hoof, Celestia then boomed, "This is your final chance, Discord, change everything back to normal or face the consequences."

Discord laughed, "I'm unstoppable, Chaos reigns today." 

Gritting her teeth, Celestia pulled the elements out of the chest, she positioned the gem that was in the shape of a purple star, while the other gems started flying around her. Discord was unconcerned, "Oh, I'm sooo scared," he sneered sarcastically.

However, he stopped talking as Celestia suddenly began to float her eyes, now a pearly white. Everypony could feel the immense power radiating from the elements as Celestia's mane billowed in the wind. She then fired her horn towards the purple star and everypony watched in awe as a massive Rainbow laser suddenly blasted towards Discord, completely enveloping him, the last word that he spoke was, "NOOOOOOO!"

And then it was over, everything suddenly reverted back to normal with the only reminder being a large stone statue, that had a striking resemblance to the chaos god, himself.

***

Celestia had dropped the elements of harmony in shock, Void quickly siezed the opportunity and caught the elements. Luna then said, "Okay, I take everything back that I said."

Celestia stared at Void, who had his back facing her, he was staring down at the elements in a trance. "Void, could you hand those over?" Star Swirl asked, holding out his hoof expectantly.

"No."

"I'm sorry?" Star Swirl asked not believing, what he had just said.

"No, I think I'll keep hold of these," Void said before turning around causing everypony to gasp.

Celestia could only mutter in denial, staring in horror at her student's gleaming, red eyes "No, this can't be."

Star Swirl hardened, "I should've known, you're the shadow lord." 

Now smirking, he leapt into the sky before rushing towards his secret caverns, he then announced to his army, "Execute Order sixty-six!" 

Suddenly the Droid Soldiers began to power into action, Void then began to lead the Droid Soldiers towards the city, he then commanded, "Fire at will." 

The droids then used their blasters to fire into the crowds of stunned onlookers, hitting them indiscriminately. Void continued to march towards Canterlot fort, however before he could reach the fort, Celestia blocked his way. "Void, snap out of it!" she pleaded.

"That is not my name. I am Nightwing, your new Emperor!" Void shouted. 

He then revealed his red magiscaber and lunged towards Celestia. Celestia quickly pulled out her magiscaber and clashed blades with Nightwing. Celestia who had hardly practiced with her magiscaber was easily overpowered. She instead used her horn to blast him away. 

The strike had sent Nightwing flying, Celestia knew that she was in no fit state to fight her former student, so she decided to flee into the fort, in hopes of getting help. Suddenly the sound of loud mechanical screaming filled the air as several APIs flew overhead and began to open fire onto the fort. 

Falling to the ground from the strikes, she suddenly spotted Defender who ran up to her, "What's going on?" he asked her frantically. 

"We're under attack! Void has fallen to the dark side."

Defender's eyes grew wide, "No! That can't be true." Defender refused to believe but he knew, from the look in Celestia's eyes that Void had truly fallen.  

Revealing his own blue magiscaber, he exited the fort to confront his former friend. 

***

The two former friends started circling each other, "How could you!" Defender Shouted.

"I am merely taking, what I deserve," Nightwing told him.

"Look around you, this isn't you," he exclaimed in an attempt to get through to Void Streak.

"You are sorely mistaken,"

"You have allowed the dark side to corrupt you."

"I do not fear the dark side like you do. I have brought peace and freedom to my new empire. Join me and together we can rule over this land!"

"JOIN YOU! My allegiance is to Equestria, TO HARMONY!" Defender Screamed, not believing, how delusional Void had become.

"If you are not with me then you are my enemy."

Suddenly Nightwing lunged towards Defender, who instantly went on the defensive, both pegasi fighting so fast that appeared like a blur. Nightwing attempted to exploit every weakness that Defender showed, however, his skills were far more honed in than Celestia's and was proving to be no pushover. He was successfully blocking every strike that Nightwing had made.

Changing tactics, Nightwing then used the aura to begin strangling him. Choking, Defender looked around for anything that he could use, spotting a pile of rubble, he reached out with his hoof and used the aura to pick the rubble up before slamming it into Nightwing, the force of the rubble made him release Defender.

Taking the chance, Defender jumped up and swung down with his magiscaber, slicing him across his face. Nightwing released a howl of pain, the sight wasn't pretty, he had a massive cut that ran across his face and his right eye was missing. Staring at Defender with rage and hatred, he knew that he couldn't continue the fight. Reluctantly, he called for a retreat.

***

Nightwing was back in the secret caverns along with his army, they had hardly taken any losses, however, it was a different story for the Equestrians who had practically faced a massacre. He was pleased to see that all of his inventions had worked.

However his mission had failed, he had been unsuccessful in taking Canterlot, he knew that from here on out his new Imperial Empire would be locked in a bloody conflict against Equestria. He needed to plan and strategize. 

He stared down at his forces, the dawn of a new empire...