The light green pony that was my mentor in learning to be an adept steps forward. The wall he made dispels as he stalks to me.
“Carter, you don't have to do this.”
I see out of the corner of my eye, the rest of my friends making their way towards the palace. Rainbow Dash is wrapped in the magenta glow of Twilight's magic, she reaches her hooves to me and she is crying as she's carried away.
He gets in my face and screams at me. “Do you see this fucking thing on my head. Honestly, do you think I have a choice William?”
“Let me help you break it, the inhabitants of this world are kind and gentle. They won't hurt you. Their leader, Celestia is almost infinite in her forgiveness and understanding. We can stop these people. We can make it so adepts like us can live in peace.”
The rage on his face is replaced with smugness. He always had a cruel streak. “Oh, it's far too late for that, my apprentice.” He reaches up and pulls the dominion band off. “You see, my choice was made years ago. I'm using these people, they think I'm their dog. But in reality, once we have captured a few more adepts, and I bend them to my will, a new era will start. With adepts ruling the masses.” He smiles ruefully at me. “I must confess, after they captured me, I found out their goals. They want power, not just power over us, but ultimate power. The power to rule the lives and mind of men... or little horses, as the case may be. I joined them. And once I have enough power, I will overthrow their leader, and put myself in the seat of power.”
He sets the dominion band on the ground. “I'm going to give you a choice, William. Join me. Rule at my side. You are powerful. You can be my apprentice again, we can rule our world, and this one if you want. All we have to do is kill their Celestia and Luna. We can capture that purple bitch Twilight Sparkle. You can place the band around her head yourself. We can rule. We can control all that God has created. Hell, we can be Gods.”
“What about La Rouche?”
“You can kill him yourself. He's high up, but he's not the top.”
I look down. My mind is befuddled. Sheer exhaustion is foremost on my mind. Being tired and channeling as hard as I have takes a lot out of you. I consider his words. He had a very powerful influence on me when he was teaching me. In moments, there is only one conclusion in my mind.
“We have this gift, this power, for a specific reason.” I look up at him, injecting every bit of venom into my glare as I can. “And it is not to rule, but to serve. Something I've learned in this world. Magic is everywhere here. Our powers are superfluous here. I contribute where I can, but any common unicorn here can match most of what I can do, in fact, many can outstrip me in abilities. Sure, their abilities work completely different than ours, but that doesn't matter. They have taught me something as well. That it's not all about me, and what I can do. It's about us all. We work together, willingly, to make every pony's life better. Friendship truly is magic here, love is a special magic here. I don't want power, I want my friends, I want the ones I love.”
I slam my hoof on the dominion band, with an added element of Earth into it, it shatters.
“And that is the only answer you will ever get from me.”
My former mentor looks sadly at me. “You should have joined me my apprentice”
I brace myself for his attack. I'm not disappointed. A wall of Air slams into me. Knocking me against the Palace wall.
He's never been this strong. Once you mature in the power, you don't just get stronger. What the hell?
I send a thread of fire and air, intending to call down lightning. He slices through my weave with a weave of spirit. I jerk back at the recoil from the lost weave. I try again, three at once. He laughs as though he's taunting a child that tries to attack him as he severs all three. I stagger back once again. Alright, it's time to really get serious. I slam a shield between him and the source, or, more accurately, I try to. He immolated my weave with ease. He is not this strong. What the hell?
He laughs at me. “I've made up my deficit in power so far haven't I?”
He starts an all out, furious attack. Flows of every kind come from him. I slice at many as I can. But in moments, I'm on my back. I'm stunned, I'm holding on to Saidin with everything I have. My mentor pushes his face into mine.
“Want to know how I got this power?” He asks as he succeeds in pushing a shield between me and the source.
I look at him with tears in my eyes. I can't speak.
He smiles savagely, “I found an enhancement charm. It more than doubles what I can pull unaided.” He moves his head, and for the first time I see a pouch strapped to him, a small fat man sitting cross legged with a sword on his knees, apparently made of jade is sitting in the pouch. “You should have joined me William, but now I have to kill you.”
***Twilight Sparkle***
I have never seen Sparky so scared. When he said “Carter” I knew what he was talking about. His former mentor. I had my hoof on the wall that Sparky warned us about when it dissolved. I nodded my head to the doors to the castle and had every pony follow me. Rainbow Dash decided to be stubborn. I grabbed her with my magic to pull her with us. The fight those two were going to have would not be good for any pony but an adept. She had to come with us.
“Damn you Twilight, I need to help him.” She bawls as we close the door.
I hit her, hard. I know she wouldn't be injured on account of the armor that Sparky made for us. But it snaps her out of her panic.
“I'm sorry to do that Rainbow, but we need you more than Sparky needs you right now.”
“I don't care, he's my fiancee, and I have to help him.” She keeps struggling.
“Rainbow Dash, please, stay with us.” Celestia says softly.
She finally subsides. Tears flow freely from her eyes. “I love him, if he gets hurt. I don't know what I would do.”
Celestia puts her face down close to Rainbow Dash. “Sparky would want you to help save Luna. How selfless is that pony?”
Rainbow looks down. “He would tell us to get going.”
Rainbow Dash stands up, we trot down the hallway. We don't make it a hundred hooves before soldiers attack. I embrace Saidar. It's a very good power for destroying things. A blast of fire pins the fake ponies to the floor. I spread my wings and fly forward, drawing the sword that Sparky gave me. I lop off a head to start, I kick another pony in the jaw and slice through a Pegasus' wings. I'm laying about with my sword. I feel an impact on my back. My wings are smothered as I end up on the ground. The sword is stripped from me. I can't move, so many ponies are on me. I hear shouting. I can't focus. One pony got a particularly good kick to my head. Thank Celestia for the armor, but I'm stunned for a moment. I release Saidiar and focus with my normal magic. I shoot a beam out, several fake ponies are blown back. I finally roll onto my back. I strike out with my hooves. Where are my friends? Where is Celestia? What the buck is going on? All of a sudden the entire corridor shakes. I push an unconscious pony off of my face. Celestia is standing there, ponies are flying back from her. Apparently they decided to not use their useless weapons and simply tried to overwhelm us with their weight. Another pony jumps on my head. My head is pinned, I can't direct my magic to blow them off of me.
I'm just about to panic when a blue glow envelops the ponies on me. They fly in every direction, and I'm free. Rarity offers me a hoof up. “Don't get too far ahead of us, darling. We need to stick together.”
I smile at her. We turn and pull the soldiers off of Applejack. Every few seconds we hear Pinkie's party cannon explode. She's certainly changed her ammunition for it. Mangled ponies litter the hall. She disappears her cannon and canters over to Celestia. We all join together. Cloud Kicker leads the way. Slicing into soldiers as she trots down the hall. I float my sword to me and sheathe it. I stay near Celestia. Despite us healing her, she still seems weak. Her head shakes every so often. I'm getting worried.
“Princess, are you okay?” I ask.
She shakes her head again. “Yes... I think I am okay. What happened earlier really took a lot out of me. And with all the ponies dying...” She looks back at the carnage behind us. “I don't know how Equestria will survive after this kind of war. I thought war was behind us.”
I smile and nuzzle her cheek. “We will do just fine. We just have to stop these invaders from ever attacking us again. I will go into their world if I have to, but I will make it impossible for them to hit us again.”
Celestia sighs. “I hope so, Twilight, I really do.”
I find a set of stairs. “We need to go up four levels. Then is not much further to the throne room.” I go first, I embrace Saidar, ready for any traps. One level. Nothing.
Two levels. Again nothing.
I reach the landing for the third level. I stick my head out of the stairwell. It's empty. Feeling brave, I trot up the last level. I stick my head out the door. I feel the impact of a bullet against the helm of my armor. I look over. Over a hundred soldiers are there. Several are firing their weapons. The noise is incredible. I rush out and use Earth to grab everything metal and yank hard. Weapons come flying at me. I use more Earth and crush the weapons to unusable scrap. I holler a war cry as my friends join me and we barrel into the soldiers. I draw my sword once again. I thank Celestia under my breath as I slice through another pony. This sword Sparky made for me will slice through almost anything. One soldier comes up, he has a blade on the end of his useless rifle. He jabs it at me. I smile grimly as I cleave him down the middle. He goes down screaming.
Sparky never told me how loud war was. All these ponies screaming as they fight, screaming as they die. And the screams of the injured. I think that's the worse of all. This wave of soldiers seems to be petering out. A few stumble to a stop as they look at their fallen comrades. They look at us. Then turn and run away. Well, that's good news. Less ponies that we have to kill to get to the throne room. I turn to my friends.
“We are almost there girls. The doors to the throne room are right ahead.” We all increase our speed. Even Celestia seems to be excited to get there. Either she is just as sick of killing as I am, or she can't wait to save her sister. Cloud Kicker takes the lead. We are almost there. Then the world just falls on us. Or, more accurately. The ceiling. Several explosions happen right next to us, throwing our bodies about. I see Celestia go down, Cloud Kicker hits the wall, and bounces into me. The last thing before darkness claims me is her face flying at mine. I can't believe the little things that I notice. Sparky's armor isn't perfect. Cloud is out cold as her body collides with mine, her nose is bloody.