Twin Blades

by Craigulus Twinblade

Two Visions

"Please sister, let me speak to him! He has been sitting in his bedchamber since we got back here ten days ago!"

Luna and a disgruntled Celestia found themselves trotting around the courtyard in the cold, breezy night. Ever since the Gryphus massacre, a dark cloud had been hanging over everypony's heads. Failure is not taken lightly in Equestria these days and it shows quite majorly.

"Fine, you can go check on him. He may be upset but he needs to have some social interaction!" grunted Celestia.

---

"Why?"

That is the only word our hero has been able to speak for the past ten days. His mind was beaten, shattered, and brought to the brink of insanity wondering why he had failed in his quest. Destiny was right there in front of him and, to his dismay, it slipped away from him. Meanwhile, Sir Canter was trying to think of something to say that would probably cheer up the sword-bearing human.

"Hey! I faced hardship too! But I killed my enemy in the end, didn't I?" Sir Canter halfheartedly asked.

"Yes, but at the cost of your own life. Plus, we are dealing with an entirely different type of God here.... We are facing the KING of the Gods." Craigulus let out a depressed sigh.

Craigulus then rose from his bed, sulked toward the window and stared longingly into the streets of Canterlot. The streets where lit up in a warm, welcoming fashion. Just as thoughts of this beautiful city's destruction began to creep into his head, our hero heard a knocking on the door.

"Craigulus? Are you okay?"

The voice was soothing to Craig's ears. So soothing in fact, that it offered some much needed peace and sanity to an already grief-stricken mind. Craigulus continued to stare down at the streets of Canterlot for a few moments before answering Luna.
"As long as your not giving me another quest, that'd be okay if you could come talk to me."
The door creaked open, although it wasn't an obnoxious noise. The creaking was quiet and smooth like something out of a Disney movie. Our hero, whom longed to be back home watching one of those movies, dragged his tired, depressed self to his bed and sat down on the warm mattress.

"Luna! Why are you here!?"

Luna took a grain of offense to the way Craigulus demanded to know why she was present in his chambers.
"I'm here to help out, for your information." Luna grumbled.

There was a certain feeling of intensity between them now. The combination of the princess's concern and our hero's emotional drain was clearly not a good combination. There was a long silence, the feelings Luna had for Craig seemed to be the only reason why she didn't turn herself and walk out the door. Everything seemed tense for the longest time, but Luna just couldn't take it anymore. She had to say something, even if she had to blame the tense vibes on herself. Luna began to trot quietly toward Craig with sorrowful eyes.

"I'm so sorry, Craig."

Craigulus lifted his head to see the eyes of the princess filled with tears. He didn't like to see women cry, even if this particular one was an equine.

"Don't be sorry, okay? It's my fault."

Craig wrapped his arms around her and they would cuddle together. Normally, our hero wouldn't allow such blasphemy.

"Luna? I know this isn't like me, but at the same time I always do this with crying women. Some of the people back home said that it was because I wanted to 'get in their pants', but I just do this cause I'm weak to girls."

Luna dried her tears and laughed. "It's not weakness! It's called sensitivity and being a gentleman!"

Craig and Luna looked at each other and developed the biggest smiles.

"Craigulus? May I view some visions with you?"

Craigulus was confused. "How are you gonna do that? Don't you need to grip the handles of the swords?"

Luna put her hooves on our hero's shoulders. "To share a vision, all you have to do is place your hooves on the receivers body, then close your eyes and meditate with him." Luna smiled.

Craig hesitated a moment. He needed to make himself clear that it would never work out between them but at the same time avoid being rude.

"Fine! You can meditate with me! Don't think this means anything weird though, okay princess?"

Luna was surprised to hear his suddenly firm, strengthened voice. She then let it sink in that this couldn't mean anything. "Okay, it doesn't mean anything." Luna sadly breathed.

Our hero and the princess of the night both closed their eyes and began meditating. It only took a couple minutes to receive a vision. The vision became clear to Craig and Luna as they appeared to be looking out of the eyes of Sir Canter, who was sitting in a corner at the dinner table. The wizard's cabin seemed smoky, as if it caught on fire.

"Jeb! Sir Canter! your weapons are finished!" His proud voice seemed to echo as a proud smile settled on the bearded pony's face.

In the corner of the room, Sir Canter and Jeb arose and hastily made their way to the anvil which two identical blades sat on. Both of the blades had sapphires placed in their pommels, both of which were colorless and empty. Starswirl's horn began to glow just before he raised the two blades to the heroic duo.

"Jebediah, Sir Canter, these blades are my gift to you. The most precious, magic conducting metals were used to create them. These are probably the first blades to be able to let magic flow through them. So be careful! You do not know what you are tampering with!"

Jebediah, whom let out a grunt of disgust, grasped the sword as his partner did the same.

"Bloody hell, Starswirl! Why do these two blades look identical!? Why are the gems on these things so empty looking!? Did you get lazy, mate!?"

Starswirl gently brought his right hoof to cover his face followed by an annoyed sigh. Starswirl was clearly fed up with his apprentice. Sir Canter proceeded to roll his eyes and sheath his new blade into the scabbard which was also given as part of the sword package.

"Jeb, why must you pester me! I'll have you know that i made those blades similar because the last time i made two different weapons, you complained about how much cooler Sir Canter's was! Oh, and about the gems, those are able to trap souls within them. I didn't think of it at first, but while I was sleeping i received a vision from Galaxia herself telling me to! I must admit though, the vision didn't explain why."

Jebediah proceeded to sheath his blade and turn toward the door, stomping as he went.

"Ugh! I didn't ask to have this superstitious old idiot as my master! I'm going out to test this blade! If it can't cut through a Hydra's scales, it's useless to me!"

The door was slammed shut, leaving a bearded wizard and a muscular captain to wonder what was wrong with the apprentice. There was a silence for a moment as Starswirl opened his books and started reading. Sir Canter would start the conversation off with the question that was on both of their minds.

"Why is Jeb acting up so much lately? I mean, he has always been kind of 'in your face', but now he just gets straight pissed with us. I can't help but think that he hates you, Starswirl."

The old wizard closed his book and, with a somber look on his face, drifted toward the window. He saw Jebediah running as fast as he could down the path toward the Everfree forest, assuming that he had the same fire in his eyes as always.

"Jeb is a strange personality, Canter. He is always looking to be the best warrior he can be. Ever since I found him he has been like that. Perhaps, he thinks i'm holding him back."

Sir Canter turned his head to face the pony that took him away from the resistance camp.

"Well, are you holding him back?"

Starswirl turned to face Sir Canter. The old wizards eyes glowed white and his horn overpowered for a split second. The room seemed to turn dark as all the fires had dimmed. Sir Canter, frightened, backed away into a corner. Sir Canter, whom had faced many mighty beasts and other-worldly oddities, realized that this was the first time he had been this fearful his whole life.

"OF COURSE I AM! IF THAT HUMAN WERE TO DISCOVER JUST HOW POWERFUL HE COULD TRULY BECOME, HE COULD VERY WELL JOIN THE FORCES OF OUR ENEMY! THE ONE WE KNOW AS DISCORD COULD VERY WELL DESTROY THE WORLD IF HE UNLOCKED JEB'S TRUE POTENTIAL!!!"

His rage was calmed as quickly as it came. Sir Canter arose from his feeble position and tried to build his sanity once again. It is always disheartening to see your own master lose control so quickly. The bearded one closed his eyes, then re-opened them as he explained further.

"Jebediah has talent for combat. This talent could turn him into a renowned hero, or a destructive servant of the enemy. He should be the hero that will defend Equestria for the rest of time, and if he turns his back on Equestria we are all going to die." His voice became dark and foreboding.

Sir Canter had trotted to his master's side as the vision faded into darkness. Craigulus and Luna began to wonder about the fedora-wearing Australian boy. His long, brown hair flowing in the wind as he ran. The most interesting part was the origin of the blades. It wasn't the biggest surprise that Starswirl the Bearded was the creator, the big surprise was that the weapons were meant for two separate warriors. After a moments silence, our hero looked Luna in the eyes and developed a silly smirk.

"Well, I must say this cleared up a lot of stuff. No big deal right?"

The both of them shared a good chuckle, then closed their eyes again to induce another vision. They only had to wait for 30 seconds before seeing blurred glimpses of what the vision had to tell them. It was hard to make out where they were, or what was happening. All of a sudden, there was screaming. Craigulus and Luna began to cringe in fear as the visions became more clear.

Bodies. Piles of bodies of every type of creature reaching just a little higher than Canterlot. The grotesque faces of the dead were mangled and ripped apart. Craigulus felt extremely ill at the sight of this atrocity, but to his dismay, things only got worse. Every city in the world lay in ruins, the landscape was burnt black with hellish fire, and black, fiery smoke permeated the sky. It seemed that every square mile or so was covered in corpses. Luna, whom had never seen something so barbarous in her life, cried like an infant at the sight of the dead fillies whom she had been running away with in the night sky for years.

"This." Craigulus whispered. "This is......"

Our hero suddenly felt overwhelmed with sorrow and rage.

"WHAT THE HELL IS THIS!?!?!"

His voice echoed through the mountains of bodies that continued to destroy the sanity of the two all-powerful creatures that stand beneath them. This was no ordinary vision from the blades, no, they had full control over themselves. It felt real unlike the first vision that taught Craigulus about the beginning of the First War.

"Why?" Luna began in her tears, "Why is this vision happening? This isn't from the past! Sir Canter!? What is happening!?"

Sir Canter began hearing the cries of Luna, and he cleared his voice firmly as if he was about to calmly explain what was happening in this vision.

"WHY ARE YOU ASKING ME!?!? I'M A GODS-DAMNED SPIRIT IN A JEWEL THAT IS POMMELED IN A SWORD, NOT A MIRACLE WORKER! I'M JUST AS DISTURBED AS YOU ARE, M'LADY OF THE NIGHT!"

As Craigulus regained composure and just began to fix his thoughts, he began to feel paranoid, as if someone, or something, was watching him. He unsheathed his twin blades and examined the area frantically, his breath getting faster as if darkness was closing in on him which he could not escape from.

"Come Little Children, I'll Take Thee Away
Into A Land Of Enchantment
Come Little Children
The Time's Come To Play
Here In My Garden Of Shadows"

That voice was all to familiar to the ears of the three protectors of Equestria. To there dismay, the enemy had begun his mind games.

"Follow Sweet Children, I'll Show Thee The Way
Through All The Pain And The Sorrows
Weep Not Poor Children
For Life Is This Way
Murdering Beauty And Passions"

The scene began to change. Clouds of fog began rolling through the valleys between the corpse piles, and the atmosphere became much more ghoulish than before. The alicorn and the human now stood in the valleys, expecting something to jump out at them. What they got was not what they expected. Out of the thick fog they heard chains dragging against the scorched ground.

"Hush Now Dear Children, It Must Be This Way
To Weary Of Life And Deceptions
Rest Now My Children
For Soon We'll Away
into The Calm And The Quiet"

Figures had taken form in the fog. They slowly drudged their way through the valleys of the dead, and soon enough the gruesome features of the slaves showed themselves to the already insanity-driven duo. They were all dead fillies, some with their insides spilling out of their stomachs, some with no heads, some just bloody and screaming, and some just bare skeletons. All screaming curses to Galaxia and the rest of the gods and heroes of Haven.

"Come Little Children I'll Take Thee Away
Into A Land Of Enchantment
Come Little Children
The Time's Come To Play..."

Luna was gone, his armor and blades were gone, and his sanity went with it. Craig, whom was stunned with fear, felt a cold breath on his neck. Upon twisting his head backwards, he saw the dark, twisted king of the gods. With an insane, twisted, wide-eyed grin, the God King seized his adversary by his neck and screamed the last line of the song.

"HERE IN MY GARDEN OF SHADOWS!!!"

Craigulus opened his eyes. His breath loud, and his eyes heavy from witnessing the potential horrors of the future. The mountains and mountains of corpses, the zombified fillies, the hellish Equestrian country was too much to bare.
Luna lay hugging Craigulus tightly, her tears streaming down like a waterfall. Nothing seemed right with anything anymore in the minds of the two powerful individuals who lay clutching each other in fear.

"Luna." Craig began. "I understand why you would let go of me and keep your eyes open."

Luna just stared at him with the eyes of a frightened filly. She sobbed so violently that it was nearly impossible to make out her speech pattern.

"Let me sleep with you tonight!"

Craig immediately backed away in disgust. He couldn't believe the princess requested such blasphemy.

"Luna! I can't! I'm a human, and your an equine creature! How would doing that even work!?"

Luna developed a look of utter confusion but then broke into laughter at the realization of what Craigulus may have been thinking.

"No, we are not going to have a 'Vinyl Scratch incident' Craigulus, I just feel scared. I know it's childish for an alicorn to be afraid but I just witnessed my burning kingdom!" Luna's voice turned darker.

"Ooohhh" Craigulus acknowledged. "Well wouldn't Celestia think it's blasphemy for us to be doing such a thing? And who knows what the others would think?" Craigulus was utterly disgusted even thinking about it.

"But, I guess we can hug."

Luna and Craig fell back onto the the soft blankets, ignoring the previous question and still in a seemingly eternal embrace. Luna needed to leave. She couldn't take any of this anymore. The princess of the night climbed onto her hooves with what little strength she had left and just as she began walking towards the door, she had the urge to stop and turn her head to Craigulus.

"Goodnight." She whispered.

Before our hero could say goodnight back, Luna planted a kiss on his forehead. She smiled a slight bit behind her tears as she turned and swiftly galloped out of the bedroom.

"Oh Luna, why can't you be a human girl?" he sighed.

Craigulus lay there thinking about it. He missed his girlfriend so much, and he couldn't even imagine her sorrow upon hearing about his sudden disappearance. Our hero pushed those thoughts aside though, as there was much more important stuff to worry about.

"I can't let that happen to Equestria. I can't." Craigulus spoke into the darkness of his room.

The human turned to the table and set his eyes upon the element of loyalty. Memories of Rainbow Dash began to flood his mind as he gently lifted it into the palm of his hand.

"Rainbow Dash, Equestria will be saved. I will find a way to save it."

He closed his hand and squeezed the element of loyalty in his fist.

"That's a promise."

Author's Note:

I'm so sorry for the long wait people. Let's just say i lost interest but then gained it back thanks to a friend. Sorry to keep you all waiting! I will try to work on this story as much as i can from here on out!

as always, leave a like, comment, or even a favorite!

Craigulus, out.

Comments

[Jebediah]

Finally. I was wondering when the next chapter was going up. As always good Job mate.

[Shadow-silver]

The light of the hero will be dark at first,but then his light will truly shine

-I'll be whaching form MY garden of shadows and light