//------------------------------// // Chapter 17: Remorse, Hence the Scars // Story: The Crystal Vanguard // by Skarner //------------------------------// "Tread carefully upon razor's edge. Suffering awaits." ~Anonymous "Hey! Stop that!" she demanded at her sister who was afloat in mid-air, beating her wings with ease. Unlike alicorns in Celestia's world, these two sisters were born as alicorns. In their world, everypony is granted horns for the use of magic, wings for flight, and immortality to ensure justice forever. "Come on! I'm only helping you fly better." her sister taunted. The first sister was adept with her flight, and surpassed many others with her magic skills. She had a glistening blonde mane, just like her sister, and she had a matching bright gold coat to go with it, just like her sister. She was the first to get her cutiemark in her class, she was also out performing her older sister, who didn't get her cutiemark yet. She had a golden star, freckled with red sparks, and she was proud of it, no matter how royal anypony else's was. "It's very fragile! Give it back!" she jumped, flapping her wings to snatch the glass rainbow dandelion. To no avail, she could not get anywhere near to her sister. She had pearlescent blue eyes, where as her sister had ruby red eyes. "Fragile? Like your pretty face?" the flying sister taunted once more. "At least I don't have ugly and freakishly big ears!" she retorted. She only laughed in response, "Oh... wrong move Kayle." Morgana dropped the glass dandelion, hurling towards the ground while glittering her eyes with the sun's reflections. Kayle moved quick, but not quick enough. The glass dandelion shattered into glistening dust when it hit the dirt, creating a frosted patch where it broke. Kayle herself was shattered. It was a gift from her Sugarcloud (equivalent to Valentines or Hearts and hooves day), he who meant so much to her. She gave a big huff, then turned towards her home. "Oh what now? You going to tell dad?!" cried Morgana, "You gonna cry? Face it, he only liked you because of your face." Her taunts went ignored, as Kayle kept stomping towards the house. Morgana sighed, "Fine. I don't care anymore." she turned away from the house and played with her dolls. Dad was meditating in front of a GenkiBlossom tree, letting the crimson blue petals fall as they drift off with the soft wind. He was quite a figure in their grand city, he was the 5th member of the high council, the most powerful group on their world. He is also well known to be very calm, very wise, very skilled in both combat and strategy. "Dad!" Kayle called with tears streaming down her eyes, "Morg broke my Sugarcloud gift!" He sighed, "So what?" he said, "I think you should focus on honing your skills, than getting chased by boys." "That's not the point, Dad. I hate her." she said strongly, "I hate her so much, I wish she was dead!" she stomped away, but was called back. "Kayle, is that so?" he asked calmly, she nodded. He opened his eyes, drawing himself away from meditation,"Morgana!" he hollared, "Come here please!" She soared over the house, and landed gracefully beside him, "Yes Dad?" "Come meditate with me." "Okay?" she sat in front of the GenkiBlossom tree and closed her eyes. "No no, you should sit up and lean against the tree, it's more healthier." "Sure thing Dad." so she comfortably leaned against the tree. He moved really quick, and wrapped his hooves around Morgana's neck, and strangled her against the tree. "DAD!" Kayle yelled, "WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!" Morgana panicked too much to concentrate, and perform an escape manuever; she was busy trying to pry off her father's hooves for some air. "Isn't this what you wanted?" Dad said calmly, "You wished her death, and I'm being a good father by granting your wish, so isn't this what you wanted?" "NO! STOP!" she started trying to pry off his hooves too, but the sisters were only fillies trying to compete with a grown muscular stallion. "How far will you go to save your sister?" he said as she threw punches at his hooves, "What will drive you to keep her close?" Morgana's face was turning purple, "She does not have much air left, will you be fast enough, strong enough to overcome odds?" Kayle's tears blogged up her eyes, making it increasingly difficult to see, "Isn't this what you wanted?" "NO!" Kayle screamed at the top of her lungs. She moved past her sister, and turned to buck her father's jaw. Her strength was not formidable by his standards, but it was enough to make him let go of Morgana. Quickly, she clutched onto Morgana, wrapping her hooves tightly around her sister, who in return held Kayle tightly too. Kayle's hooves were trembling, from the sudden use of so much muscle, and Morgana was taking deep rasps of breath, to get herself to normal regulation. He recovered, and stood in front of his daughters. "Family is everything." he spoke, "You protect eachother, no matter what stands between you two. You never stray afar from eachother. You never leave her to die." he proceeded to tread back into the house without another word nor glance. The sisters cried into eachother's shoulders under the GenkiBlossom tree. ... Morgana's mind was back into the present, her honour and her dignity ripped from her. "Sisters are supposed to protect eachother." she spat through her gritted teeth. She flew further, and further from the city she grew up and loved, to where ever an exile would go. This time, she did not cry, she did not greedily breath air, she did not falter. Her eyes were no longer ruby red, they were crimson blood red. It has been nearly 10 000 years since that day when they were young, and neither of them broke the sentiments their father told them, until now. "Morgana!" Kayle called from behind, "Stop and talk to me!" "I hate you! You lead a tyrannical race!" she screamed back. "Than it's mutual!" "I wish you were dead!" she blasted a large arcane bolt, barely missing Kayle by just millimetres. She then whipped smaller arcane blasts, at her. Kayle dodged swiftly, and she took some of the hits with her enchanted armour. "Stop that this instant!" "Afraid I'll mess up your hair?!" she yelled, "Too perfect to get another scratch on your armour?" she conjured tendrils, which were unusually dark purple, completely unnatural use of arcane magic. Kayle slashed off the incoming tendrils with the righteous blade, forged by the gods, and gifted to her for completing the zealous test, ahead of her younger sister. "I was at the top with my performance! I was supposed to be honoured Knight of Justice!" her magic spells became fiercer, "I was supposed to be loved!" her eyes glowed bright, "I was supposed to be the chosen one!" she released a homing dark bond from her heart, which latched onto Kayle's heart, her soul. "You were supposed to protect me." she sobbed. "ENOUGH!" Kayle screamed, emitting an inner shield, rendering every attack from Morgana useless. She bathed her sword in bright flames and pointed it at Morgana. "I've been patient with you enough," her shield wore off, but it did not encourage Morgana to press further, "You diminulized me," It was her turn to strike blows, so she slashed her blade at air, seemingly doing nothing, while Morgana felt the searing hot blast of righteous flames, "You lie to me," she slashed at each pause, "You ashamed me, you never listened, while I always took the blame." Her horn shone brightly as she stuck out her left hoof, "I was the one who always loved you, but you never loved me back." she blasted a red magic bolt, coming in at Morgana very quickly. However, she used an amateur spell, so Morgana simply countered it by conjuring up a spell shield, making Kayle's attacks useless. She smiled deviously, "It's called a black shield, from the dark spell tome." she sneered, "Guess I really am the bad guy." she then fired a violet ball, which hit the vulnerable Kayle. "That one is called dark binding, and I have you right where I want you." she lashed out a tendril, which hurled towards Kayle, and pulled her down to the ground, not landing softly at all. Morgana then toiled the ground beneath Kayle into dark tar, which sucked the literal life force from her, to Morgana. "I've always loved you as a sister." she said before her eyes shone purple and her cutiemark change. Instead of a golden star, she now had a dark purple halo, with spikes pointing downwards underneath it, she was a fallen angel. Before she could finish her off, she sighted squads of elite crusaders loom over the ground. Promptly, she left Kayle there to wither, while she made her leave. It was one last spell that she wanted to use. She stood on her hind legs, and waved her front hooves to focus the magic that channelled from her horn. She used much of her mana pool to perform the spell, but she smiled widely as the portal to another world opened. As she placed on hoof in, she felt the foreign tingle through her body. She looked back, to see that Kayle's bind was about to wear off. She didn't react quick enough before Kayle charged towards her with her sword pointed. Morgana swiftly dodged to the side, but Kayle managed to cut a piece of her left wing. The fallen angel screamed in pain and she panicked. She scurried to escape into the other world, but Kayle kicked her away. Morgana stumbled to the side of the portal, when she was so close. Kayle descended upon her, and said no words, she resumed to strike down on her. Each slash, Morgana moved her body away, but each slash, tore a piece of her wings off. Blood was sprawling all over herself and the ground around her. As a last resort, she pushed Kayle off of her, but was prepared to do one last spell when she recovered. She opened her jaw just as her horn lit up. Then, she began to suck the rest of Kayle's life force from her. Powerless, Kayle crumbled onto the floor. Morgana pitied her dear sister, and once again, left her to wither. She stepped through the portal and looked back. Much as changed, and not to the way she liked. As she turned back towards the portal, Kayle rose onto her hooves once more. A new dawn light shone on her. As if the light gave her renewed strength, she lunged at Morgana, pushing her and herself, through the portal. Once the tip of her hooves were in, the portal vanished without a trace. "Finally free..." she muttered to herself, "But am I really free?" Syndra treaded through the streets of Ionia, and into the other half that was controlled by the Ionian resistance. She descended from the temple she spent more than half of her life in. All she wanted to was to understand her powers, and perhaps lead a non-tragic life. She remembered the days when she lived with her parents; she was a very messy and spontaneous troublemaker, never making it easy for her parents. Unlike any other child, she was so powerful with her magic, to the point she matched the potential of a grown alicorn. For months, she tormented the city, and harmed the inhabitants unintentionally. One day, the elders of Ionia stormed in to take her away. She wanted be taken away, to somewhere she won't hurt her friends again. The temple where she spent the rest of her life, to this point, was vast and isolated. There, she had a mentor named Menes (me-knees). He swore to take care of her, and teach her to harness her power. Eventually, she realized that he was holding back her powers to not help her harness, but to "restrain" on her usage. He refused to co-operate, additionally, he swore to take her powers away all at once if she couldn't calm down. She deftly murdered him, for daring to stop her. She felt no regrets once she realized that she overreacted, the old stallion was slowing her down anyways. She didn't feel any remorse, nor pity for the fallen city. She felt dead. It was obvious that she was alive, but she began to question her own feelings. Who were her friends? Seeing enough, she decided that she will not show-off her powers to the city, but instead train herself in the temple. She turned the other way on the brick path that lead deep into the Ionian jungle at the end. "What are we going to do?!" cried Luio in panic, "I can't take the pressure!" Taric proceeded to slap him out of his dilemma, "Pull yourself together! I need you to sprint as fast as you can back to the Crystal Empire, or they'll never see this coming! Do you understand?!" "What about you?!" Taric sighed, "I swore to place my life on the line, to be prepared to sacrifice everything to hold back the enemy." he lended a hoof, asking for his shield back, "I must delay them as much as I can from here." "Then I'll stay with you." Luio said strongly, without falter, "We'll place our lives on the line, prepared to sacrifice everything to hold back the enemy. We'll delay them as much as we can from here." Taric grinned, there is no greater honour than falling beside your comrade, protecting an entire city. He glared at the incoming wave of void creatures, "We must let none through the passage." "Right!" "Prepare for contact." he said. All of a sudden, segments of crystals began to grow out of the ground beneath Taric, as if he had them at his beckoning. The plateau no longer showed the sunset, as the day has fallen. It meant that they lad limited time before the sky will become dark. Inside, he prayed that Celestia would let the sun hang among the clouds for a little more time. It was hopeless to defend against a whole armada of void creatures, but he will fulfill his people's destiny: to heal and protect the good. Just like his father. "Sorry that I have not clued you in about this." said Luio, leaving Taric wondering what in the world he was talking about. He emitted a quick and bright flash, revealing Luio's true form. Taric watched with bewilderment, "You're an alicorn?!" "Son to the former queen of the Crystal Empire, reporting for duty." he gleamed, I figured that it won't matter if you knew the truth about me, nor will it affect many ponies much." Before either could comment, the sky was littered with masses of purple energy boulders, that moved slowly, but packed a devastating explosion. They looked like asteroids. They came from the horizon, at least as far as their eyes can see. "Move move!" yelled Taric, as he thrusted his shield into the air, firing a beam of glittering light from the crystal in the center of the shield. The beam disrupted their path, thus causing enough damage to explode in mid-air. Luio began to fire magic beams at incoming purple asteroids as well. They observed how only some were fired near them, while others flew far above their heads, above the passage, and straight into the city. As he was busy not focusing on the incoming asteroids, one came in too fast. Luckily Taric was able to strife to the right to get as far from the impact as possible, Luio tried to strafe to the left, but was caught in it's deadly radius. "This is merely not a large problem," Skarner told himself, "They're just curious fillies, probably oblivious to what's happening around the world, just like good children." he slouched onto the floor, partially giving up on looking for the fillies who he lost. If he were to target one, the other two would stray even further. He didn't want to use his magic, but they lead him with no choice. He made two copies of himself; they were crystal exoskeletons. Each splitted up, charging around for the lost fillies. The his 1st exo-skeleton clone headed towards the stadium, where they were originally going to have the Equestrian Games olympics take place, but that has changed since the world crisis. As expected, he found Scootaloo glumly sitting in the stands, daydreaming about the day that she would be featured in this stadium. She was definitely not feeling happy, nor wonder. After all, she did have a small-big fight with her two best friends, her only friends. She didn't seem to care when the clone approached her with no caution whatsoever. He raised her upon a bed of crystal, and scooped her up. She was carried along behind the clone, as he kept the bed trailing behind him. Apparantly Scootaloo gave no bucks. Meanwhile, Skarner's 2nd exo-clone was after Sweetie Belle. She was no where to be found. The exo skeleton had no thoughts to use to figure out where she was, all it could do was run around until he found his target. It did not mean that it had no intelligence. He galloped to and fro, searching houses and crystal buildings. Not a clue of Sweetie Belle so far. Until the clone entered a theatre. There, he loomed down the alley, searching the seated crowd for her. Despite the attention he was attracting, they all suddenly got up from their seats and started clapping madly. The clone did not notice the orchestra on stage. The Maven of the Strings, the current performer on stage which the clone presumed from his earlier observation on the billboard just outside the theatre. She took a bow, but she remained on stage, and moved back. Then from the side curtains, the host came out. "Wow. What a valorous piece of elegant vibes. Next up: our final, and last-moment entry, Sweetie Belle!" he said. The clone's ear perked up in light of this new clue. Sweetie Belle stepped onto the stage, and stood in front of the microphone. She didn't have a smile. Once the clapping died down, the piano started playing single slow keys, and she began to sing, "Mirror. Tell me something. Tell me who's the loneliest of all? Mirror, tell me something. Tell me who's the loneliest of all? Mirror, what's inside of me? Tell me can a heart be turned to stone? Mirror mirror, what's behind you? Keep me from the things I see Run and keep me from the world, Why won't you let me hide from me? Mirror mirror Tell me something, Who's the loneliest of all? I'm the loneliest of All." She still did not smile, but instead she let a tear fall. Before she could bow, or let the crowd applaud, the clone snatched her fro the stage and rushed outside. Meanwhile, the real Skarner scratched his head for ideas on where AppleBloom may be. Nevertheless, he relented on to search for the missing filly. Finally, he found her wandering on the outskirts of the town, by the crystal berry bushes. Although she did not take a bite of any of the berries, she seemed to enjoy the view beyond the Crystal Empire. Skarner approached her sincerely, sensing that she was not in a good mood. It was obvious since he witnessed the fight between the trio. Once he got closer, it was apparent that she wasn't "enjoying" the view, she was only in deep thought. Skarner came to sit beside her, and together they sat in silence. "What are you doin' here?" she asked, breaking the silence. "I came here to find you, and I found you." "That it? Real weird to just sit here and do nottin' " "Well we are talking, are we not?" "I guess so." she slumped her head down, allowing yet another silent break. Skarner just sat there proudly, staring into the distance. He seemed to be a lifeless creature the way he had no pupils in his eyes, but he let a small smirk slip. "Whatcha smilin' about?" she asked, grinning too. "Just enjoying this view." he said, "You know, 1000 years ago, I used to sit here with Queen Terra, just to share a small conversation and thoughts." "Who's Queen Terra?" "A very good ruler." he sighed. "Ruler of the Crystal Empire?" she asked as he nodded, "What happened?" He sighed once more, "I'm afraid that I will tell you that later in time." They sat yet again, in silence. "Do you think we're still friends?" she squeaked, "Perhaps." "No not you silly, we're obviously friends..." she snickered, "Ah was talkin' bout Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle." "Well," he started, "You three are quite good friends the moment I met you, right?" she nodded, "I don't know much about friendship, but there is a bond between you and your best friends that can never be severed forever." "That's not true. Ah said terrible things, and they said terrible things. We're done." "So you believe that they are mad at you forever? Even that is impossible for me, but my record was 1000 years, nopony can beat it." he winked, earning a small giggle from AppleBloom, but she was still sad. Not knowing much about friendship, as he mentioned earlier, he didn't know how to fix the broken hearts of 3 little fillies. Above, the sky was decorated with small dots of purple shining balls. At first, it was quite a luminous view for Skarner and AppleBloom, until they mysteriously became larger, and larger, becoming large threatening purple meteors. Skarner scrambled to snatch up AppleBloom and run towards the city, just as one exploded where they sat in silence. The city was under siege, from a barrage of deadly magic meteors. Fiddlesticks rushed into the train station to see Kassadin lurking in the small food kiosk. Immediately, Kassadin turned to see what Fiddlesticks had to say. "The Void are coming!" he simply yelled, "We gotta get out of here quick!" "We can not. We have rescue incoming." he calmly said, "We will hold this station until they arrive." "We can't fight off an army!" Kassadin did not avert his stare at Fiddle. "Oh, right, we're freaks of nature who have a lot of combat potential." Fiddlesticks realized sarcastically. Kassadin dashed out to call the fillies and Maokai into the building. They blocked the windows on the bottom floor and climbed onto the top floor, where they made their last stand. Annie were strangely fearless, along with Veigar and Strongheart. Fiddlesticks however quivered in fear. Kassadin and Maokai remained emotionless. "Veigar, Annie, start firing your spells at the bad guys when they come close enough, and do not stop until we tell you to." ordered Kassadin, "Fiddle, you climb onto the roof and knock out the flying creatures. Maokai and Strongheart, make sure non makes it in." "What are you going to do oh-so-powerful Kassadin?" asked Veigar. "I'm going to take out Caitlyn." he said before he teleported outside. "WHAT?!" cried Fiddle, "He's charging into a whole army, and expects to pass through to fight her?!" "Looks like it" said Strongheart. "I'm not ready to do this, can't i just stay down here with you guys?" "Stop whining and go already!" scolded Veigar, "Don't be such a filly about it." Fiddlesticks huffed to release some stress, and was filled with new determination. He was blessed with new abilities, to protect those who needed it. Veigar was right: stop whining and go already! He galloped up the stairs and observed the flying freaks of horror from this so called lame Void. They were similar to bats, but with very sharp tails just like a hornet. He called upon the spirits of the crows that rested within him, and held that power for the right moment to release it. Before he let the apparitions burst, he yelled, "HAPPY BIRTHDAY!" a flock of crows flooded into the air from his chest, attacking any nearby enemy. Each void-bat was duelling with at least 3 crows, that bit and tore their flesh rapidly. He laughed manically, sort of making Kassadin facepalm as he looked back, but Fiddle was silenced as he was suddenly hit by a bolt of purple, most likely Caitlyn again, knocking him down. Kassadin was too far in to go back now, he had a job to finish. He faced the void army that struck fear in him once more, reminding him of his past voyage to save his daughter. He had a new family, and they were counting on him. Kassadin quickly opened a temporary and a small enough portal for him to walk through, and he disappeared among the eyes of the horrific creatures.