Chapter 14
Shining Armor sat at his desk rubbing his temples with his forehooves as he let out a heavy sigh. After Cadence left with the prisoner, things had only gotten even more hectic. The sword that was left behind refused to be pulled out of the ground, resisting even his own magic when he attempted to move it. It was as if the sword itself found everypony who tried unworthy of wielding it. Then there was the issue of Chrysalis.
Upon questioning the mare who was ponynapped, Octavia, Shining Armor's men had discovered that the Changeling Queen herself had been present, but had disappeared when the fighting started. While he doubted she had managed to get inside the confines of the city with the Crystal Heart's barrier intact, she could still be lurking about, or even worse, he feared she boarded the train when it left.
But all this still did not answer the question that was most prominently on his mind, "How did he get through the barrier without even having to force his way through?"
The military commanders around him all shrugged, all but the eldest one, a decorated officer with a long white beard. Shining Armor turned his attention to the elderly stallion and nodded his consent for the commander to speak up.
"The nature of the Heart itself is to repel evil. While his actions and goal might not have been under the purest of intentions, that young man fought with a fervor and zeal that is saved for those that are generally devout. Perhaps it was his affinity with his light magic that allowed him through." The old Stallion said sagely.
"So, he managed to get through because he wasn't evil? That can't be, his eyes were filled with nothing but bloodlust." Shining Armor said waving a hoof dismissively.
"Evil is only what we consider it to be, if he felt in his heart that what he does is good, then he is good." The old stallion said with a shrug.
"If that is the case I daresay we were lucky to only have as many casualties as we did." Another officer spoke up.
"You don't suppose all of them think what they do is not evil do you?" Shining Armor said in an unnerved tone.
"By Celestia, they could just waltz through the barrier..." Another officer, a mare this time gasped.
A soldier burst into the conference room, panting and out of breath as he paused for a second before giving his report, "Sir Shining Armor, another of the elves has been spotted at the edge of the barrier. It appears to have stopped it, but the thing was studying it closely."
Mumbles broke out through the gathered officers and a grave look adorned Shining Armor's face. He looked among his gathered officers and saw that many of them wore panicked expressions, many wondered if since the barrier stopped this one, if it would give up just because its friends were captured.
"Come, we need to go out there and confront it, lest it find a way into the barrier." Shining Armor said gravely.
The sound of shattering glass could be heard echoing through the streets and a gust of cold wind blew in through the open window. The soldier who came into the room rushed to the window and peered out.
"What is it soldier?" Shining Armor asked in an authoritative tone.
"It found a way in..." That stallion said as he looked back at Shining Armor, the blood draining from his face.
"What?! How?!" Shining Armor demanded in an angry voice.
Shining Armor shoved the soldier aside and peered out the window for the source of the shattering glass incase the elf had managed to somehow teleport into the streets and broke a window. What he saw however was that off in the distance, the warm sunny sky was cracked, and the frigid tundra outside the barrier could be seen.
"By force..." Mumbled the stunned soldier.
Weaver whistled as she observed what her chaos bolt had done to the barrier that stood before her. The spell was meant to pierce all defenses one possessed, but she had never actually tested it on a barrier that protected an entire city. Shaking her head and grinning under her equine skull mask Weaver continued on her path into the grassy meadow that lead towards the Crystal Empire.
Upon taking her first step inside of the barrier however her breath immediately caught as her skin began to itch and burn. Gritting her teeth weaver put on a scowl and stared at the harsh light in the distance that she knew had to be the Crystal Heart. Pressing onwards despite the discomfort Weaver began to notice the ponies beginning to panic at the sight of her.
Weaver smiled as she saw their open fear as she walked through the meadow, leaving burning footsteps as she went, "This might actually be fun..."
Weaver never broke her slow and steady stride as she cast spells left and right causing as much chaos as she possibly could to keep the guard busy with protecting civilians instead of attacking her. She dared not waste time summoning a demon here, the aura the Crystal Heart was giving off would either banish her lesser demons, or cause her stronger ones to go berserk.
Within minutes Weaver had made it up to the center of the town where the Crystal Heart floated and absorbed power from the town's populace. Weaver's skin felt like it was on fire as she drew closer, and she silently cursed the fact she had to do this when Dizastrous seemed immune to the effects.
With a grunt of effort Weaver unleashed a chaos bolt aimed at one of the spikes that the heart floated between, and with the aid of her havoc spell, the bolt split and hit both spikes. Debris flew in all directions as the fel bolts of flame demolished their targets and caused the Crystal Heart to fall to the ground. Immediately the barrier around the Crystal Empire dissipated and Weaver strode up to pick up the ancient artifact.
"Honestly what was so hard about that? I bet Dizastrous had to try and play the part of a heroic hero and actually fought the army head on." Weaver said, shaking her head as she hefted the large crystal into her arms.
"Well, guess it worked out for the better. At least now he can free Helix..." Weaver mumbled to herself as she tucked the Crystal Heart into one of the magical pouches at her belt.
"Stop right there! What have you done with the Crystal Heart?" Shining Armor demanded, shouting over the frigid tundra winds that now blew over the city.
Weaver spun on her heel and gestured a hand towards the guard captain, causing the stallion to immediately ignite. Shining Armor screamed in horror as he threw himself to the ground and began rolling in an attempt to extinguish the flames. Weaver hastily made her retreat as several guards began panicking and attempting to douse the flames on their captain and prince.
The Blood Knight launched into action swinging his brutal blade at the princess of the sun, Celestia managed to narrowly avoid the blade, but grimaced as she saw how easily the holy enhanced weapon cleaved through the stone floor where she previously stood.
"Quick on your hooves I see, good, hopefully you can at least make this fun.
Helix walked up to the door of his cell, the orange circle of the blessing on him spinning rapidly on the ground, and opened it as if it were unlocked, causing Celestia to gawk, "How did you get out?!"
"Blessing of Freedom, removes all restraints and frees those that I bestow it upon." Dizastrous said with a smirk.
Celestia seeing herself outnumbered and enclosed in a tight space where she was unable to utilize her advantage of flight, turned tail an ran. Dizastrous smiled, seeing her do exactly what he wanted.
"You do know she is leading you to where she will have the advantage right?" Helix said as he rubbed his wrists where the manacles once bit into them.
"You do know who you are talking to right?" Dizastrous said in an incredulous tone as he tore his eyes from where Celestia disappeared up the stairs, and fixated them onto the warlock.
"Fair point, you go have fun. I in the meantime will be getting my stuff..." Helix said shaking his head and summoning his demon guard.
Dizastrous grinned madly as he tore up the stairs at a speed that belied the weight of the armor and weapon he used. Holy fervor spread through him as he chased after the princess of the sun, he only hope he did not catch her before she managed to gather some help. Within mere minutes he had cleared the dungeon and burst through the heavy wooden door, not even stopping to open it. Splinters and chunks of wood flew everywhere causing the bystanding ponies to gasp.
The last of the civilians seemed to be clearing out, and a number of guards were already amassing. It seemed as though they were fast on their response time, seeing as Celestia could still be seen gunning straight through the air for a tower.
Wings of light erupted from his back, and the Blood Knight felt the divine power of the light course through him at his command. The sudden appearance of wings caused the guards that were charging him to back off, a couple skidding to a halt mere feet from him. Dizastrous paid them no mind however, he only had eyes for Celestia as he switched his grip on his sword to a left handed one, and opened his right palm behind him as if he was preparing to throw something. A hammer of condensed light magic formed in his grasp, and he immediately whipped his arm forward, hurling the devastating spell directly at Celestia. Though she swerved in an attempt to avoid it, the spell veered with her and struck true, eliciting a cry of pain and causing the alicorn to cease the beating of her wings. The momentum she had however, combined with the force of the hammer that struck her sent her hurtling into, and through the stone wall of a tower.
Guards stared open mouthed at what they saw, and suddenly anger adorned their faces as they all charged the winged elf. Their attempts to attack him however only made Dizastrous laugh as spears and hooves bounced harmlessly off his armor. He then readied his weapon in both hands and roared as he invoked his holy powers, causing a storm of righteous hammers and crackling light to strike and swirl around him, striking down all the guards who were within range.
His sacred shield snapping into place blocked the spells that then flew at him, and Dizastrous slowly walked up to the closest unicorn guard, and he grinned wickedly as he towered above the stalwart guard.
The guard put on a brave face as he spoke up to the Blood Knight, "You will pay for what you have done here monster! When our princesses unite their powers they wi-"
Dizastrous grabbed the unicorn's horn forcibly, and immediately began to drain him of his magick. Within seconds he was sucked dry of his power, leaving the elf with a disappointed expression.
"Is that all the magic you contained? Even the small purple one I met before had a thousand times more power than you..." Dizastrous cast his eyes around the assorted unicorns that stared wide eyed at him and the shivering wreck of a stallion at his feet, "Who's next?"
Luna rushed to her sisters side after getting over the immediate shock of having her burst through the stone wall of her room. The princess of the night nudged her sister's face with her own in an attempt to wake her up, grimacing slightly when her sister stirred and she noticed the blood leaking from the gash on her head where she collided with the stone.
"L-luna... Thank heavens your here..." Celestia managed out as she got wobbly to her hooves.
"Sister what has happened?" Luna gasped as Celestia stretched her wings and she noticed the large bruise that was forming at her side.
"The elves are loose, and are attacking." Celestia said touching a hoof to her forehead and hissing as she touched the gash.
"But the one called Helix seemed so docile..." Luna said in confusion.
"Cadence brought over the other one, his name is Dizastrous..." Celestia said with a frown.
Luna trotted over to the hole in the wall and looked down into the courtyard, gasping at what she saw, "He is draining the magic from our guards!"
Celestia's eyes widened in horror at this, if he was feeding right now he would be even more powerful than moments before. The look in Luna's face when they shared a glance told Celestia that the same revelation had been reached there. They would need to act fast before he got his hands on any more power.
"Why Celestia, you seem to be a little worse for the wear..." A voice chuckled from around the room.
"Discord?!" Celestia gasped in surprise.
The Spirit of chaos popped into existence before the two royal sisters with a broad grin on his face, "The one and only."
Celestia's eyes held a glimmer of hope as she stared at the reformed spirit of disharmony, but her sister Luna held a look of apprehension on her face. Luna while accepting of Discord's reform, and willing to take help from him, was unenthused to have him inside of her personal chambers. Discord caught this look and chuckled while shaking his head.
"Don't look so angry Luna, I merely came here after witnessing your sisters little... Crash." Discord smirked as he spoke the last word.
"So will you help us?" Celestia asked with hopeful eyes.
"Well, as little raw power as those elves seem to possess, they are quite deadly from what I saw... But I guess I promised Fluttershy I would use my powers to help..." Discord said rolling his eyes.
"Fantastic, can you take care of the warlock Helix? My sister and I should be more than a match for Dizastrous." Celestia said, a confident look on her face.
"Helix is a warlock eh, just like the other one that was here for a time?" Discord asked.
"Yes, Weaver's magic primarily was based around fire, so if you can protect yourself from that you should be fine." Luna said, looking a little downtrodden at remembering Weaver.
"Seems simple enough." Discord said with a shrug as he snapped his fingers and winked out of existence.
After Discord was gone, Celestia let out a heavy sigh and shook her head, "I never would have imagined he would ever be on our side."
"Perhaps everypony can change if given the chance..." Luna offered.
"No, not everypony..." Celestia said as she thought of a certain stallion in particular.
As the last of the Crystal Heart's protective magic left the land, a dark mist began forming among the clouds high above the Crystal Empire. The mist swirled and condensed as it was finally released from the cleansing magic that held it captive. A glowing dark red horn shot up from the ground and joined the mist, immediately a face and glowing green eyes formed as well.
The face looked over the now frigid air that gusted over the city and grinned wickedly. It then began searching its eyes over the city looking for the one thing that could stop it, when it did not find it, or even a faint glimmer of its power the face scrunched up into a frown.
"Where is it?!" Sombra roared from over the city.
A glimmer of magic caught his attention on the horizon to the south, and Sombra's eyes lit up. The King of Shadows drifted his misty body in the direction of where the magic glimmered, towards where one of the only things that could stop him was held.
Sombra stopped for a brief moment, and looked back at the city that he grew up in, and ruled over. A frown adorned his face as he left it, and he considered going back and staying there, but he shook his head to rid himself of the notion. If he took up his rule once more now, it would only be a matter of time before another 'hero' would wield the crystal heart against him.
"Soon, I will return to you... But for now, I must make sure I can protect you..." Sombra said as he turned back towards where the Crystal Heart was moving, and sped off towards it.