The Dragon's Abyss

by DarklordAxel20

Rampage

In the Center of the Griffon Capitol City

Crimson eyes locked on one another, both casting glares as sharp as any blade, being just as intense as the combat they had witnessed. Shade stared down his metal foe, his unbreakable will had been more than a match for the armor that made up his adversary, be able to combat anything he had thrown at him. " You know, this is the most fun I've had in a long time, sure you've pissed me off, but you've given me the best fight I've had in ages, so I'm just gonna go ahead and tell you this, I'm not fighting at full power, and I know that you aren't either, so throw aside any thoughts that you can win this at the pace you're going at now".

The metal sentry eyed Shade up and down, but at the same time never losing eye contact with his enemy, " You're right, I have yet to show you the full extent of my abilities," he spoke with a robust, but metallic voice. He spread his wings wide, the edges of each adamantine feather giving off a glare from the sunlight above, " And when I do show my full power, I do not expect you to survive".

A deep chuckle left Shade's throat, " Funny, I was about to tell you the same exact thing". Shade mimicked his adversaries pose, spreading his wings wide and readying himself to charge, " Don't go disappointing me!!" . With swift movements both combatants flew at each other faster than most could keep up with, clashing in the middle.

Inside of a Building Nearby

The main six had managed to reach shelter before the two could clash, avoiding the initial shock wave they made. Applejack and Fluttershy both tended to Twilight to the best of their abilities, at least making sure that their friend would be OK, "....Don't worry Twilight...everything is going to be OK...," Fluttershy said, her voice was shaky, she was frightened by the combat that she had witnessed.

Spike watched intensely as his father fought to protect him and all of his friends, " Dad....I want to help you....but I know I'd just get in the way...," Spike clenched his balled up fist tightly, digging his claws into the palm of his hand hard enough to draw blood. His friends saw the blood trickle from his claws, bringing looks of concern to all of their faces, but they knew his reason for doing this, they too wished they could help.

Back on the Battlefield

Both Shade and the griffon gained some distance between one another, staring one another down once again. Shade was about to make another charge towards his foe, but stopped when something caught his eye, the griffons armor plates began to shift and separate, allowing the red light to shine brighter from within him. " I guess he's showing me his true power now, this is gonna be exciting," Shade's grin remained on his face, showing just how fearless he was, even when the level of the threat increases, he managed to keep a level head about it.

The metal griffon stood high on it's hind legs, raising it's head higher into the air, before suddenly letting out an earth-shaking roar, followed by the glow from his armor shining brighter than before, creating a flash of light made even Shade cover his eyes. When the light finally faded, it revealed the now fully powered armored griffon, his armor became expanded, giving it a muscular appearance, razor sharp edges had formed on his wings and his claws became hook-like. What appeared to be red lightning circulated around his armor, crackling loudly as if it were natural electricity, " Now, witness the full extent of my power, for it will be the last thing you witness at all," and before Shade could react, the griffon opened his metal maw, releasing a stream of crimson electricity at Shade, striking him directly.

Shade roared in pain as the red lightning zapped him incredible power, so much that it had knocked the hybrid to the ground. The griffon began to advance towards Shade, the closer he came towards him, the stronger the bolts of lightning became, " .....Not...good!!!...if..if I don't find a way to get away soon...I'm g...gonna get fried!!,". Using his willpower, Shade managed to stand up, despite the continuous electricity being poured into his body, " It's....g..gonna take a lot more than this...t.t..to put me down!!!," Shade dug his claws into the ground, getting a good grip on the earth beneath him, using his incredible physical prowess, Shade began to lift the ground up from underneath his adversary.

" What?!?! Impossible!! You shouldn't even be able to move!!!!!, I'll just have to increase the output of my-what the?! ," he was cut off by Shade lifting him and the hunk of stone he sat atop.

" I've! Had!! Enough!!! of Your!!!! MOUTH!!!!!," With a mighty heave, Shade hurled both the slab of rock, and the metal griffon into a nearby building, bringing the entire thing down on top of it. With powerful roar Shade charged towards the rubble that covered his opponent, using his magic Shade lifted what had to be a ton of rubble off of his foe, only to slam his own body into his metal foe, knocking him across the ground, this attack however caused Shade to lose his grip on the rubble, dropping it down on himself.

" ...The fool, crushing yourself in an attempt to land an extra attack on me, it cost you your life," having turned his attention away from the rubble that had seemingly crushed Shade, the adamantine sentry turned his focus towards the building that Twilight's friends had taken her for shelter, " Now for the rest of them,".

The ground beneath him began to shake as he stepped towards the building, causing the griffon to stop and turn back towards the rubble pile. A low growl came form underneath the pile of rubble, followed my a shimmering red light, " DAMN YOU!!!," Shade busted through the rubble with incredible speed and force, his horn glowing brighter than usual, the aura creating a long slender shape but at the same time seemed as sharp as any blade. " DIE!!!!!!!!!!," in what seemed like a single moment, Shade sped by the griffon, striking him across the chest with the blade of magic, creating a long, clean cut across his metal torso.

The griffon's eyes widened, he slowly looked down at his chest, inspecting the cut, "..Im....impossible....how...my armor is......," . He turned his head towards Shade, who was standing tall and proud, the magic blade still formed on his horn, " HOW THE HELL DID YOU DO THIS!!!!!!!!," he began shouting, " HOW!!!!!!!!!!!!MY ARMOR IS INVINCIBLE!!!!!!NOT EVEN THE STRONGEST OF METALS COULD PIERCE ME!!!!!!!HOW DID YOU DO IT!!!!!!!," lightning poured from his body as he continued his outburst, breaking apart the ground around him in his rage.

Another chuckle escaped Shade's mouth, " Heh, guess that armor was pretty important to you, but what cut you wasn't any metal, it was raw magic condensed into a strong blade, strong enough to cleave even your armor,". Shade kept a close eye on his foe, watching as he turned his whole body towards him, " Maybe now you'll show me a real good time, that lightning actually hurt, but its gonna take a whole lot more than tha-," Shade was cut off by a powerful bolt of crimson electricity striking him, knocking him to the ground, followed by another continuous stream .
" I"M GOING TO MAKE SURE YOU FRY!!!!!," he rushed towards the downed Shade, bringing his talons down on his throat, holding him down. The metallic griffon let out a laugh brimming with insanity, " NOW DIE!!!!!," he continued electrocuting Shade, to this point where he ignored everything but the dragon that he held in his grasp.

" Leave my dad alone!! ," Spike came rushing out of hiding, throwing rocks at the metal griffons head in an attempt to get his attention. The griffon paid no mind to the smaller dragon pelting rocks at him, and continued to to take pleasure in the larger ones pain, Spike however wasn't going to accept this. " I said!!," he began running towards the griffon, " LEAVE MY DAD ALONE!!!," he attempted to hop onto the metallic griffon, but upon making contact he was zapped with electricity causing him to shout in pain, and get sent flying towards the ground below.

Shade's eyes widened upon hearing the scream, " Sp..Spi...Spike?!?," his eyes landed on his son, unconscious on the ground with smoke rising from his body. Shade felt his blood run cold as he continue to stare at his son's unmoving body, " Spike...my son.....I should've finished this sooner....you'd still be alright.....but I just had to get a kick out of this... ," turning his line of sight towards the griffon who had him pinned down, Shade's eyes widened further, followed by an eerie glow coming from them, " How...how could I let this happen...how could I let this happen to my son.....I'll make you pay......I"LL MAKE YOU PAY FOR HARMING MY SON!!!!!! ,". Shade let out a ferocious roar before managing to force himself off the ground, viciously fighting his way out of his attackers grasp before eventually throwing the metal griffon off of him and onto the ground.

" What?! no way!!," the griffon quickly rose in an attempt to pin Shade back on the ground, but the attempt was in vain, Shade was already on him, snarling like a feral animal as he repeatedly struck him. " He's gone mad!! ," The griffon did it's best to fight back, but was outmatched quickly by Shade's new-found strength that was fueled by his feral rage.

The battle had quickly gone from evenly matched to one sided as Shade struck blow after blow, easily denting his foe's armor with each hit. Shade let out another ferocious roar as he gripped his claws tightly around the griffon's legs but he didn't fall to the ground when Shade grabbed him, instead he felt himself lifted into the air. Shade had begun to spin the griffon around rapidly, the emptiness in his eyes showed how little he cared for anything other than destroying what he considered his prey, " Destroy!!!," in his current state, destroy, seemed to be the only word he could muster.

" Let go of me!!," she griffon shouted angrily, he fired another bolt of electricity at Shade to get him let go, but unlike the last time, Shade was unphased by the electric attack, in fact it only seemed to fuel his feral rage, making him spin faster.

" RAAAAAAAAAAAAAWR!!!!" a grizzly noise echoed out of Shades mouth as he let go of his prey, sending him flying through not one, but two entire buildings, and to top it off, Shade chased after the griffon, managing to catch up to him right as he was about to meet the ground.

"..Ugh....what's going on..," the monstrous roar that Shade had let out brought Twilight back to her senses, she forced herself to sit up in order to see what all the commotion was about. "..G..girls?," she looked towards her friends, each one with a different expression, from shocked, to horrified, " G..g...girls...what's the matter?..,". Instead of getting a reply, Applejack simply pointed, Twilight reluctantly looked, and when she did, her face grew pale and her eyes widened. She saw Spike, unconscious on the ground, but that wasn't all that she saw, she witnessed as Shade brought himself down upon the griffon, slamming it into the ground and pinning it down, " Sh..Shade?!,".

" We don't know what's wrong with him sugar cube..," Applejack started, " B..but he ain't himself....his eyes, they're empty...,".

Twilight's eyes fell upon Shade's face, she saw exactly what Applejack was talking about, his eyes were completely red, devoid of any and all emotion except hatred, the eyes of a feral beast, whose only purpose is to destroy. "...No....no this can't be right, Shade hes just...hes....just angry...,".

" Twilight are you listening to yourself?!," Rainbow Dash exclaimed, " Just look at him, that isn't Shade, just some animal,".

Rainbow Dash's words hurt Twilight, she didn't care if he was an animal, deep down she knew that Shade was still there, "...Shade....," She closed her eyes, she couldn't bear to watch what Shade was going to do now that he had his foe pinned down.

His gaping maw hovered over the pinned griffons face, saliva dripped from Shade's mouth down onto the griffon's armor, creating smoke upon contact due to the sheer heat of the liquid. Shade snarled in the face of his prey, he cared not for the pain or suffering he would inflict, all that mattered to him was destruction, destruction of the thing who hurt what was most precious to him. Lifting his head high in the air, Shade closed his mouth partially, it seemed as if he was finally coming back to his senses with Spike on his mind, but the peaceful pause was interrupted by a beastly roar that he let out, shaking the ground around, followed by Shade bringing his razor sharp teeth down on his pinned foes neck, crushing the metal between his jaws.

If the griffon had blood it would have run cold by now, his supposedly impenetrable armor, had not only been sliced open, but now it was being crushed by the jaws of the very thing he had been ordered to destroy, "....You're not a monster.....you're a devil, a cold blooded devil hellbent on destroying everything in his path....,".

Even with his mouth full of metal, Shade let out a vicious snarl, the autonomous armor's words only infuriated him more, but something inside of him prevented him from doing any further damage to his downed foe. " RAAAAAAAAAAA!AAA!!!!!!!," Shade let go of the griffon, standing up and backing away all while grabbing his head in intense pain.

"...Tw....Twilight...," Fluttershy mumbled to her friend to get her attention, "...He...he looks like hes in pain...,".

"....Shade......you are in there....," tears began to well up in Twilight's eyes, " Don't worry Shade I'm coming!!!,". Twilight did her best to stand up, despite still being shaky from using all of her energy beforehand, "...just, just hold on!,".

The eyes of all of Twilight's friends widened, she was attempting to leave the safety of their shelter to get to Shade. " Darling you can't do this, we don't even know if Shade can recognize you in his current state," Rarity protested.

" She's right sugar cube it's too dangerous, besides you can hardly walk, how do you expect to get him," Applejack looked at Pinkie Pie, she had been abnormally quiet the whole time. " Pinkie, you try talkin some sense into her, please," everypony fell silent as they awaited their usually talkative friends reply.

" Huh?, oh sorry, I guess i got distracted, I mean with all the noise it's hard to think, so I decided to distract myself to get some peace and quiet," Pinkie gave her usually large smile to show she was her, not-so-normal self. Her friends fell silent, each one having a flabbergasted look on their face, save for Twilight who was more focused on getting to Shade, " What's everypony looking at, do I got something in my teeth, I diiiiiiid eat a cupcake in my head, " she let out a loud gasp, " Do you think I ate it in real life when I ate it in my mind,".

" Oooh!...I don't have time for this, he needs me, They! need me...," doing her best, Twilight limped out into the ruins that were left behind from the battle, making her way to Shade and Spike.

Shade began to dig his claws into his head, shouting even louder as the pain grew, but not from the self inflicted wound., " GET OUT OF MY HEAD!!!!!! GET OUT!!!!!!,".

While Shade was busy dealing with the pain in his head, the armored griffon had managed to pick himself up, then turning towards the hybrid who was in so much pain. " Allow me to put you out of your misery," he quickly rushed towards Shade, slamming his forelegs into Shade's side, knocking him onto and across the ground, followed by a bolt of electricity, striking him directly.

Shade's cries of agony fell silent as he slid towards his unconscious son, still being just barely awake, Shade managed to glance at his son before muttering what few words he could, "............Don't die on me son.......I love you........and......and when we get home.....I'm going to be the best father I can be...,". Shade felt his conscious slipping away from him slowly, ".......I can't fall....not yet....," but just as everything around him began to grow dark, a warmth formed on Shade's back, followed by a soft but concerned voice.

" You need to wake up, please!," the voice pleaded to him, " Please get up, you can't die on me, not now!,".

" ..That voice..... is that... , " Shade's eyes cracked open, barely looking around to find the source of the voice, " ....T.....Twilight....,".

Twilight's eyes shone with hope at the sound of his voice, " You're awake...you're alive," but before she could start speaking again Shade's eyes has begun to shut again. " No Shade you can't give up!.....don't leave me...I know we haven't known each other long...in fact we're still practically strangers to each other...but...but..I...I love you Shade...," tears welled up in her eyes, she didn't want him to die.

" How touching," the metal griffon began walking towards them, " Why don't i help you, help you join him in the afterlife!!!," he opened his mouth wide, letting electricity pour out towards the now weeping princess, " Die!!!,".

A gasp left Twilight's mouth, her body was still too weak from before, she knew she couldn't move out of the way," SHADE!!!!,".

Shade's eyes shot open at the sound of her cry, and before the lightning could touch Twilight, Shade was in front of the princess, acting as her shield. The electricity made contact with Shade, making him stumble slightly but nothing more than that, " I won't let you hurt her,".

"..Sh..Shade, you're OK..," Twilight looked onto him, watching as he protected her from the lightning, she was surprised to see that he was using his own body to protect her rather than a magical force field, but her surprise was quickly shifted towards something else. Pieces of stone had been lifted from the ground and any surrounding rubble, floating towards Shade as if he were a magnet, and once reaching him they began to rapidly circle him.

" I'm going to make you pay, for hurting my son, for hurting my friends, for hurting Twilight!," the stone began to attach itself to Shade's body in plates. Piece by piece the stone attached itself to him, until eventually it had made a sturdy stone armor around him, this protected him from the lightning all together. " It's no use, your little ability won't pass this armor," Shade entered a crouching position, spreading his wings and raising his tail, which was now covered by stone that had fashioned itself into the shape of a blade, and readied himself to strike.

The griffon began to laugh, " Do you honestly expect that armor to protect you, metal is stronger than stone, and always will be!!! HAHAHAHAHA!!!, I knew you were a fool but this, this is priceless, ". He shifted his eyes towards Twilight as he chuckled, " You, watch as I rip the armor, and then the scales from your lover," he adorned a wicked grin on his metal face before standing on his hind legs and roaring into the air, but the roar was cut short, something had just slammed into his torso hard enough to dent his breastplate.

That something, was Shade, who had headbutted him right in the midst of roaring, but he wasn't done form there, spinning his body onto his back while in the air, Shade positioned himself just right, then delivered a powerful buck to the same spot he had headbutted, sending the griffon flying into a clock tower nearby. " I'm tired of your mouth!!!," once he had landed his feet again, Shade pushed himself off the ground, rocketing straight into his foe, headfirst into his chest, sending him through the tower and into the air.

" Im...impossible, I had him beat, he was dead!!, where is this power coming from!! ," the sentry was helpless as Shade continued his assault, quickly grabbing onto his metallic foe's legs and bringing him down to the ground hard followed immediately followed by Shade bringing right back up into the air. " DAMN YOU!!!!!," he struggled violently to get free, swiping his claws upwards an attempt to hit him, even firing his electricity, but Shade just wasn't letting go.

" I've had enough out of you," Shade had begun to throw him across the sky from there, but before he could get any real distance, his adversary had opened his wings, stopping himself in mid-air. A smirk came to Shade's face, " Just what I wanted," Shade busted out of his stone shell, increasing his speed, allowing him to speed by the griffon, seemingly flying right past him at first.

" Hahah, you just made yourself an easier tar......get...," an incredible pain spread through his body, many small cuts had appeared on his body, " What...what did you do to me!!!," his eyes widened when he looked at Shade.

Shade's horn was glowing as bright as ever, a large magical blade had enveloped it, " Your body should be the least of your worries,". Shade had managed to form his magic blade in mid flight, and strike the griffon several times before flying past him, Shade turned himself around to look his foe in the eyes, but wasn't met with eye contact, the metal griffon was too busy looking at his body, taking notice of every wound that Shade had inflicted. " Don't worry, I'll make the pain go away now, so," Shade took in a deep breath, closing his eyes for a moment before regaining his focus once more, " LET'S END THIS!!!!," with that shout he took off right for the griffon, ready to finish the fight once and for all.

Author's Note:

Well hey there ladies and gentlecolts, it's me again bringing you a whole new chapter. I'm glad to get to speak with you all again, I'm finally finding more time to write, and you all know what that means, more chapters for you guys and gals to read . Now they won't be out as fast as I'd like them to be, but they should be out alot faster than they have been in the past, but I will not be rushing the story, nothing good ever comes from rushing anything. Anyways since I don;t really have any announcements this time, lets go ahead and get to the question of the chapter, anyone, feel free to answer.

Twilight confessed her feelings for Shade in this chapter, but she also said they were still practically strangers, do you guys/girls think this is a case of love at first sight, true love meant to be or something else, and if so, how far do you think they would take this.

Well i'll leave everypony to that question, I hope you all enjoyed the chapter and hope you're all enjoying the story, if anyone ever has any ideas feel free to send them in to me and i might be able to implement them depending on how I manage with them. I'll be seeing you all again soon so until then, bye!

Comments

[Azrael the alicorn]

Love at first sight is kind of childish stuff IMO. What makes ShadeXTwilight work is that, unlike FlashLight, is that the two have a lot in common and a good chemistry that goes beyond crashing into each other. I guess that as long the two doesn't go to marry in few days and have them learn more and more of their feelings togheter it would be great, as having him bonding with her friends too so that the rest of the Mane 6 doesn't get left behind and help the pair to grow more and more attached.