As Craigulus and the rainbow-maned pegasus entered the entrance hall, they saw that the large, iron doors of Gryphus were closed shut. The Equestrian shield wall was lined up in front of the gates, the griffon berserks were perched on the monuments ready to swoop down on their enemies, and the Crystal archers were ready to fire their arrows upon the breaching of the gates. Aside from the pounding on the doors, the room was blanketed in an eerie silence. Craigulus and Rainbow Dash took their place next to the griffon king, whom grasped a sword and an axe within his talons, and awaited the inevitable.
"So, how do you feel about being on the verge of your destiny, human?" Griffiam asked whilst grasping his axe.
Our hero pondered how to answer the question as he was experiencing a wild mix of emotions: fear, hope, and pride.
"Well, I can't quite put my finger on it. It just seems so unreal that my story is already closing in on its final chapter." Craigulus replied with a hint of sadness in his voice.
The mighty griffon looked down on the hero and gave an encouraging smile.
"The final chapter? No, it is only still in the beginning!"
Craig was obviously confused. Why did the king think that it was only so early in the story? Griffiam Wallace the Seventh elaborated on the subject.
"Craigulus, you are a hero! Your kind lives on forever and, even when you are called home to Haven after your destiny is fulfilled, you have a whole eternity to explore an entire kingdom!"
That wasn't exactly what the human wanted to hear. He didn't want to have his destiny fulfilled so soon and, most of all, he wanted to go back to his own world. Our hero didn't like the thought of being stuck in another world and leaving his family behind.
"HERE WE GO, CRAIGULUS! ARE YOU READY!? The gate is almost down!"
Dash shouted into Craig's ear to pull him out of deep thought. Looking at the massive iron doors, his mind was struck with a state of shock.
"Oh sweet mother of Celestia, I can see in-between the doors!"
What he saw made him groan in his mind. Not only could he see the God King floating above the ground slamming his shield against the door to knock it open, but also the seemingly endless sea of undead centaurs and other creatures. Unsheathing his blades, he bared his teeth.
"Soldiers of the Triple Alliance! This is it! Today, you shall all fight to the death for your countries and rulers! Today, the God King will be sealed within the clear crystal in the pommel of my sword! God King, HIT US WITH ALL YOU'VE GOT!"
The God King laughed as he charged into the gates.
"KNOCK, KNOCK! HERE COMES THE NEW KING!"
With a mighty crash, the iron doors swung open.As the God King fell back to Iskandar, the Equestrian shield wall braced themselves as the hordes of zombified centaurs, wielding vast varieties of magically conjured weapons, crashed onto them. Twilight, Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Rarity, Fluttershy, and Pinkie Pie began conjuring their own armor swiftly to prepare for the onslaught. With a simple pointing of the index finger, Craigulus signaled for the berserks and the pegasus brigade to attack from the air. Griffiam, whom just placed his helmet upon his head, roared the traditional battle cry as he led the air force into the battle.
"SWORD IN OUR HAND, AXE AT OUR SIDE! HAVEN AWAITS US WHEN WE DIE!"
Griffons and pegasi swarmed outside and began slicing and punching the enemies below as they swept down and back up again. Our hero admired the tactic, as it seemed to be a great way of avoiding being killed. Mists of blood began to emanate from the battlefield and the occasional limb would be tossed up in the air as well. Craig would've join them by going lunar so he could fly, but he still needed to provide the morale boost for his troops on the ground. Watching as the shield wall was still sliding backwards from the endless bashing of weapons, he decided that he needed to teach them something that he saw in a certain movie back home.
"EQUESTRIANS! MAKE THIS BATTLE YOURS BY GRABBING A STEADY FOOTHOLD! PUSH THEM BACK AND STAB THEM WITH YOUR SPEARS!"
The soldiers heard the hero's command and, using their hind legs, began getting some traction. Little by little, the shield wall stopped moving backwards. Craigulus just waited for the exact moment when he knew they established the foothold. Focus was of prime importance, and he couldn't screw up now. If the movie '300' taught him anything, this would have to be the correct tactic.
"Just a little bit more guys. You can do it." he said under his breath.
That's when it happened the whole front line came to a screeching halt. Without hesitation, our hero screamed to the soldiers.
"PUSH, NOW!"
Shields slammed into the centaur force and, as a result, the Equestrian spears were able to gut their opposition. The zombified centaurs were weak. Craigulus wondered why the heck the God King would bring such a weak force so he approached Celestia looking for information.
"Celestia? Why are these centaurs so weak? I know they are magically kept alive, but aren't they gods?"
Celestia looked down on her student and explained.
"They no longer posses the power they used to have because their soul is not within them. In the mortal world, a god is weak when their soul is not fused into a mortal body."
Craigulus nodded. It made sense, but their was something wrong with that logic.
"Wait a second!?!? What about the God King? Isn't he technically a spirit? How come he isn't using a mortal body?"
Celestia couldn't provide an answer. This is a rare case in her life where she is totally unsure of an answer to a question. Turning her head back towards the carnage of the battle, she let out a sigh of frustration.
"I do not know Craigulus, but I bet you could probably find out from the God King himself."
Craigulus just forgot about it, for it was but a distraction to the objectives at hand. Our hero looked into the sky and, to his surprise, Rainbow Dash was killing many enemies as she swept down into the sea of zombies and back out again. The rainbow mane was covered in the blood and guts of the enemy and she definitely wasn't going to stop.
"I thought she was afraid to die?" Craigulus wondered to himself.
In a flash, our hero powered up into lunar eclipse form and took to the skies above the battlefield. As he looked around, he noticed a bolt of magic coming straight out of the staff of a centaur and it was heading straight toward his objective.
"DASHIE!"
Rainbow Dash looked to her left and put her hooves in front of her face, bracing for the impact. After a moment, she noticed that nothing happened. She heard an explosion, but she didn't feel pain. Feeling a gentle hand on her head, she opened her eyes to see the human smiling at her.
"W-What happened?" The cyan pegasus asked.
"I took the bolt for you. Wait a second, why are you so good at fighting all of a sudden? I thought you were afraid of dying?" our hero asked as he healed the massive cut on his arm.
"DAMMIT ALL!"
Iskandar failed in killing his target. The God King, whom stood at his side, was clearly not amused.
"YOU HAVE TO PIN HIM DOWN SOMEHOW TO KILL HER, IDIOT!"
Iskandar complained on the inside, but on the outside, he agreed.
Rainbow Dash laughed at the stupidity of her comrade.
"Just because I'm afraid of death, that doesn't mean I suck at fighting! I can use my bare hands, unlike you!"
Craigulus was just a tiny bit insulted.
"At least I can use magic! Ha!"
Rainbow Dash and the human began a contest where they had to kill a centaur as brutally as possible. Craigulus started the competition by grabbing the back of a centaur's head and ripping it's head off slowly as it screamed in pain. The spine went with it as he whipped the head toward another centaur with all his might, thus breaking the neck of that zombified centaur.
"How's that for brutal!?"
Rainbow Dash stood with her mouth dropped and her eyes wide open. Snapping out of it, she put on a cocky grin.
"Not bad, but I bet your going to throw up when I do this!"
Swooping down, Dash picked up another one of the God King's soldiers by the head with her hind legs. She slowly began grunting as she squeezed the head of her enemy with all her might and soon enough, the head exploded like a balloon full of brains and blood.
"OH THAT'S JUST NASTY! I DIDN'T THINK YOU HAD IT IN YOU!"
"Wow! These warriors fight with the ferocity of a dragon! No, not even a dragon!"
Griffthor, Galaxia, and the heroes of Haven all surrounded the universal mirror. They stood in awe at the sheer power that Craigulus developed. Galaxia had grown confident in Craigulus and was cheering him on already.
"Come on, Craigulus Twinblade! I believe in you!
The queen of the universe looked down at the floor and smiled.
"We all do."
The contest had been going on for two hours and there was still plenty of the God King's forces to go. As Craigulus fought with sheer determination, he noticed that the soldiers behind the shield wall were becoming tired.
"Hold on a second, I just need to go and fix this problem!"
Craigulus began powering up, he couldn't just let the same soldiers work the shield wall forever, so he decided it was time to switch to some fresher soldiers. Sweeping down in front of the shield wall, he unleashed an energy push and let the entire centaur force fly backwards a good twenty feet.
"SWITCH LINES!"
As the soldiers replaced each other, A voice rang out from the crowd of centaurs.
"STOP!"
Our hero was dumbfounded. This wasn't the voice of the God King, but a rather higher pitched voice. Looking onward, he saw a strong looking centaur trot out of the force. His hair was short and black and he was wielding a combat staff. Upon further examination you could see some of his intestines hanging from his lower stomach. The centaur eyed our hero and let out a laugh.
"So you are Craigulus Twinblade? Ha! My master made you sound a lot worse than you look!"
Craigulus grasped his swords tightly.
"Who the hell are you!?!?"
The commander responded with a scream as he charged our hero.
Craigulus engaged in combat with the staff-wielding centaur. Trying to slice Iskandar was clearly not an easy task. Every time our hero attacked with his blades, Iskandar would just parry the attack. Noticing the troops were still standing there, Craig signaled for them to fall back to the town square.
"GO! FALL BACK TO THE TOWN SQUARE! I CAN DEAL WITH HIM!"
Iskandar struck Craigulus in the head and he fell to the ground like a pile of rocks. Jumping back to his feet, Craigulus noticed that his army had already retreated back into the city with the God King's forces following them. This was good because for all he knew, they could have been in a bad situation if they stayed. He began fighting again, but he just couldn't hit the opponent. After a while, neither combatant could hit each other.
"You surprise me with your strength, human. I was expecting a much easier fight!"
Craigulus had finally found an opening and slashed the torso of his opponent who let out a scream of pain.
"Clearly you don't know me then!" Craigulus taunted.
Rising into the air, Craigulus formed orbs in his hands and combined them, thus making the larger ball. He began channeling his magical energy into the orb and slowly it became even larger and more monstrous. Running out of energy, he put his hands down and began powering up just a little bit more.
"NO! YOU SHALL NOT BEAT ME THAT EASILY!!!!!"
Iskandar, to Craig's surprise, began sprinting upward toward him. Our hero grinned in admiration.
"So, you can conjure an energy path? Interesting, I thought this was going to be easy as well!"
Both the staff and the twin blades collided with each other in a flash of blue and black aura. The weapons seemed to move at lightning speeds to any of the other zombies below. Craigulus began a conversation mid-fight.
"Hey, why are you stronger and more functional than the other zombies? Didn't every one of the centaurs die?"
Iskandar began speaking as his staff was parried again.
"Let's just say not all of us died at the end of 'First War'! I was left alive and I found my master's soul hovering above his corpse. I could not bear that I was the last one left, so I practiced magic for years, trying to find a way for my master to be alive again!"
Craigulus came to the realization and it was evident in his facial expression. His eyes had widened and his jaw dropped. Iskandar chuckled at this as they continued fighting.
"That's right, Craigulus. I am the reason the God King threatens the world! I didn't exactly manage to place him in his mortal body, but I turned him into a spiritual entity! That means he is slowly becoming complete again and he will soon transform back into his complete self! My antics are the reason why he is still an almighty god! The best part about it is that, even though he hasn't become as strong as he once was, he can still easily kill anything this world has to offer. That includes you and I, Craigulus Twinblade!"
The fight continued and now that the question was answered, Craigulus could fight with no distractions. He began finding even more openings to stab Iskandar through and it seemed that he was on the verge of killing him. Planning on killing two birds with one stone, our hero gathered enough energy to add more to the giant energy bomb.
"Take this!"
Craigulus disarmed his opponent and evaporated the staff. Our hero then grabbed the back of Iskandar's head and tossed him into the ground far below at supersonic speeds. It was finally time to wipe out the God King, Iskandar, and his army as well.
"YOU'RE FINISHED!"
The giant energy bomb slowly descended upon what remained of the sea of centaurs. On the ground, Iskandar watched in horror as the energy began consuming everything it touched. It got closer and closer to him as he lie on the ground in front of his forces. Even though he was facing his inevitable demise, he found happiness in the fact that he was finally going to be free from his master's chains. With the emotions that ran through his head came a sense of thankfulness toward Craigulus. He closed his eyes and smiled as a single tear ran down his cheek.
"Thank you, hero."
The top of the mountain was blown off, thus revealing the city inside. The God King raised a shield around his forces and, to his surprise, he felt stress from trying to keep the shield up. It would not break though, as the energy was eventually consumed by Craigulus. Our hero didn't want to destroy too much of the countryside so he showed restraint in his actions. The two enemies made eye contact and a long, tension-filled stare down commenced. Both the human and the fallen king remained silent for what seemed like ages but, after a while, the God King began to smirk.
"Your attack actually gave me a small bit of trouble, human!" The God King taunted Craigulus as he rose to his level in the air and the dust settled.
"You know what? Thank you! That means a lot coming from the most powerful being who ever existed! Does it make you a little bit uncertain about fighting me?" Craigulus countered his taunt.
In a split second, Craigulus witnessed the centaur disappear and reappear. Our hero couldn't follow the lightning-quick movement of his adversary and, before he could understand what was going on, was being held by the neck in the cold hands of the God King.
"Not a single bit, fool!"
The twin-bladed one was then thrown toward the ground at remarkable speeds. Craigulus couldn't seem to catch the wind with his wings so, as a result, he felt the bone-jarring impact of the stone floor of town square. Our hero slowly lifted his head whilst grunting in pain. His vision was blurred and, as it slowly came back to normal, he could make out the certain pegasus friend that he still needed to protect.
"Craigulus! No!"
Our hero was then raised into the air by the fallen king's magic, he knew that this was not the way it was supposed to be. Why was he on the verge of death? Why could he feel his destiny slowly slipping away from him? As he looked downward toward his comrades, he noticed their numbers had decreased significantly and they were slowly but surely being killed. His close friends were still alive, but soon they would die if the teleportation spell wasn't used. Lifting his eyes he saw, to his horror, the God King pointing his spear toward his neck.
"You know, Craigulus? I was hoping that it wouldn't end this way. I was hoping it would end with a burning Canterlot being the last thing you ever saw!"
The God King maniacally laughed and just as Craig accepted his fate, a cyan blur knocked the God King in the side. The enemy was sent flying and Craigulus was free from the magic of the evil centaur. Looking in front of him, he noticed the God King was in the presence of Rainbow Dash.
"Rainbow Dash! What the hell are you doing here!?!?!?! Get away, NOW!!!!!!"
It was too late, the God King had pinned her in place with his magic and stabbed her through the stomach. The blood trickled down the spear as it was pulled from her stomach. Plummeting toward the ground, Dashie was then caught by the lunar eclipsed human and safely brought into the circle of what remained of the Triple Alliance's army. The sounds of clashing steel and magic filled the air as Rainbow and Craigulus held each other and engaged in one final conversation. Our hero was holding back the tears of his failure.
"Dashie, please don't die. I tried my best and I'm sorry I failed you! Just please take my apology!" Craigulus begged.
Rainbow Dash coughed up blood as she began to speak.
"You know, dying isn't so bad! It hurts really bad, but at least I can find comfort in the fact that I can finally go to Haven as a hero." The rainbow-maned pegasus smiled.
Craigulus let the tears flow as he couldn't contain them anymore. Possessing the knowledge that his friend found comfort in death, he felt a little bit better inside. Our hero closed his eyes and, whilst weeping, he heard the sound of jewelry being handled in Dash's hooves.
"I want you to use this, Craigulus. Please use it if you can. Spread hockey around Equestria when this is all said and done, okay?"
Our hero opened his eyes to see the element of loyalty being placed in the palm of his hand ever so slowly. With that, Rainbow Dash, whom was loyal to her friends until the very end, let out her final breath and let her soul ascend to Haven. Craigulus proceeded to lay her body down on the stone floor and place the element of loyalty around his neck. Wiping his tears away, he slowly let magic course through his veins to heal as much of his injuries as he could. When he had finished, he wrapped the element around his neck, feeling the power jolt through his very soul. The feeling of having that sort of power rush through your veins, the very power that has saved Equestria countless times, the very power that represented all that Rainbow Dash was, it felt glorious! As the human flapped his wings to ascend to the dark one's equal height, a sudden burst of rage shocked Craig's feelings.
"You are truly honor-less, aren't you?" Our hero asked his adversary in a dark, yet calm voice.
The God King simply nodded and chuckled.
"You're a worthless, heartless bastard!" Craigulus roared.
His vision faded to black and he felt a breeze hit his face. Everything started to become clear to our hero as he could make out the forest, the small hill, the surrounding mountains, and the blurry shape in front of him.
"Y-You again!?" Our hero exclaimed.
The wolf, who was eyeing Craigulus with fiery courage, proceeded to run to the top of the small hill and let out a proud howl as the sun rose over the mountains. The rays of light forced Craigulus to shield his eyes in an attempt to prevent the loss of his vision.
"What is happening?" Craigulus thought aloud. "What are you?"
The animal simply stared at Craigulus for a moment and, with small silences in-between words, began to speak.
"I am courage."
The wolf then let out a long, glorious howl. It echoed through Craig's head as his vision slowly faded once again. In a small moment, Craig was conscious again. Once he set eyes on the God King again, rage clouded his mind.
"I'm going to kill you!" Craigulus screamed.
Craigulus's element of loyalty began to glow bright as the aura around him started to flow ever so gracefully. The feeling of power started surging not only through the heroes' body, but through the body's of the alicorns as well. The God King began to feel a burning pain in his head that made him cringe and grunt in pain. Craigulus had began to scream so loud that it would damage the ears of the nearby soldiers.
"YOU WILL PAY FOR THE CRIMES YOU HAVE COMMITED! I WILL MAKE YOU SUFFER!"
An explosion of light engulfed our hero that blinded everyone. It possessed a magnificent power within it that only the greatest warriors have ever achieved. Sparks of lightning shot out from Craigulus as his transformation nearly ended. The long scream slowly went quite and he could finally be seen by the God King. The king looked on, seeming a slight bit nervous. Our hero decided to put his smirk on.
"What's the matter? Have you never experienced the pure, unadulterated, badass sight of a solar eclipsed human before?"
The fallen king stood there motionless. He didn't know what to say after watching his opponent ascend to greater power.
"Well, let's just get this over with. I want to kill you before I get bored!"
The human flew toward the king at supersonic speeds.
"THIS IS FOR YOU, RAINBOW DASH!"
Letting out one final scream, Craigulus grasped his swords and immediately began fighting the God King. His armor had changed dramatically, plate armor replaced the chain-mail and the armor was covered in small designs. His blades had also grown about two feet longer, making them four foot long blades! The God King was having slight difficulty withstanding the constant pounding upon his shield. In due time, the strikes of the blades were like sudden impacts of an energy beam, producing large sparks of energy as they struck the metal of the shield. In the battle below, The soldiers were inspired to fight just a little bit longer as their princesses prepared a teleportation spell. The bearers of harmony, Griffiam, and Shining Armor stood in awe as they experienced the combined power of the element of loyalty and solar eclipse form.
"I CAN'T LOSE NOW!!!!!!!" roared Craigulus.
The God King began morphing his weapon into a sword as he thought it would be better to fight the hero with. He did put up a much better fight than he did wielding a spear. Both combatants struck each other over and over again until they both parted from each other.
"You are mightier than I expected Craigulus." The God King mumbled in disgust at his current limitations.
Craigulus wasn't going to talk with him anymore. Being completely done with the antics of the fallen god, he powered up his magic once again. The energy he had stored up was tremendous, seeing as he still had most of the energy from the orb bomb within him. Our hero now knew what he had to do, but just to be safe, he had to wait until he was fully powered up. Charging the God King and powering up at the same time, he developed a fierce look in his eyes. The impact of his twin blades and the God King's massive sword produced aura sparks of all kinds, thus sending the surrounding area into chaos.
"Answer me, God King! Do you know what fear is like?"
The God King had began to recall the end of the first war and his eyes widened at the thought. Obviously frightened, he decided to lie, for he knew something Craigulus did not.
"N-NO! WHAT MAKES YOU THINK I KNOW WHAT THAT IS LIKE!?!?!? I, THE ALMIGHTY GOD KING, DO NOT KNOW ANYTHING ABOUT IT!"
"Well, allow me to teach you then!"
Craigulus backed away and charged the spiritual entity once again. This time, he broke the shield in half and sent his adversary crashing into the side of the mountain and, almost immediately, the human grabbed him by the neck.
"FAREWELL, SCUM!!!!!"
The hero flew at lightning speeds whilst grinding the God King's body against the stones of the mountain. He then threw his opponent toward the sky and slashed the entity at lightning quick speeds. Sheathing his blades, Craig threw endless amounts of energy orbs at his opponent in a display of pure, unadulterated, skill. The multiple explosions were deafening and no one could hear each other on the battlefield below. After the seemingly endless barrage of magic, Craigulus grabbed the neck of his opponent one last time and smashed it against the boulders of the mountain. Deciding that enough was enough, Craigulus unleashed a monstrous energy beam. The glow of the beam could probably be seen around Equestria because it was so bright that all the soldiers were blinded by it.
"He did it! The God King is dead!" Rainbow Dash cheered.
The party in Haven had began. The rulers of the old pony tribes danced with their servants, Griffthor embraced Galaxia, and even Starswirl the Bearded attended the party. Galaxia looked through the universal mirror with glee, the weight of an eternity of lies slowly sliding off her shoulders. taking a deep breath, she decided to confess to her own dishonesty after all these centuries.
"Fellow gods and heroes, since it is finally over, I must apol-
She was interrupted, not by the nervousness, but by a searing pain. Letting out a loud scream, Galaxia fell to the stone floor.
"My queen! What is wrong?" Griffthor worried.
"I-I hate to spoil the party, but-"
"WHAT IS IT!?!?!?!" Commander Hurricane demanded.
The beam began to die down. Craigulus felt his energy drain and he was about to let his solar eclipse form subside, but then he felt a palm violently grasp his throat.
"WHAT!?!?!"
The dust settled and the God King was still there, grinning as he blasted into the air with Craigulus.
"DO YOU THINK THAT I WILL DIE THAT EASILY!?!?!?!? HA! THAT IS A GOOD JOKE! THE TRUTH IS, I HAVE BEEN GOING EASY ON YOU THIS WHOLE TIME, IDIOT!"
The fallen centaur tossed Craigulus back into the crowd. He felt weak, so weak that he could barely move. Our hero had used up so much of his energy in the final blow that he lost all feeling throughout his body. The God King decided to leave him alone though, as he knew that it was only a matter of time before he would be able to kill him in the Canterlot square in the style he wanted. As our hero watched the evil king turn his back and slowly disappear into the blizzard, he screamed in pure hatred.
"I HATE YOU!!!"
Craigulus, still lying on the ground, unsheathed his swords and pointed them toward the sky to attract the free souls into his blades. As Craigulus did this, he noticed Griffiam looking at the surrounding soldiers. They were totally disheartened and they began to falter under the pressure of the weapons constantly banging on the shield wall. Griffiam knew that the princesses would never be able to save his people, so he grabbed his axe and jumped straight into the sea of enemies. This was the only way he could die with honor, to go down as the last true griffon king.
"Go on without me! Save what remains of my own soldiers and your own friends! I must fight on my own! For my people!"
The aura had flashed once again and they were safely back in Canterlot. Craigulus looked around at the defeated soldiers and screamed at the top of his lungs in pure anger. This was not how it was supposed to end and, after he let out his last bit of screaming, he let his solar form subside and blacked out.
The King of the Griffon Kingdoms fought with the heart of a hero. Killing everything that approached him was tough work, but the one thing that kept him going was the thought of the griffon women and children. This was his last act of service to his people and it felt good.
"COME ON! TRY TO KILL ME, YOU UN-DEAD BASTARDS! I DARE YOU!"
Blood was sprayed all over him and that only served to help him fight. After a while, the enemies stopped fighting him and he simply stood in a circle, surrounded by his enemies.
"Are you all too afraid? What is holding you centaurs back!?"
The God King slowly emerged from the crowd, bearing a look of rage with him as he went. Griffiam trembled at the thought of his oncoming fate. The fallen god placed his sword on his neck and cut it wide open. Everything went dark for the King of the Griffons and, to his surprise, he woke up in front of massive pearly gates. A large, beautiful alicorn with a nebula-like mane approached him.
"Welcome to Haven, hero!"