The Forgotten King

by Ghost Writer

One final choice

Eclipse woke up to a bad headache and a lump on his head where Luna had hit him. He looked around and was shocked to see where he was. He walked to the door and looked through the hole to see a guard standing there.

“Hey where am I?” he asked.

"You're in the royal dungeon." replied the guard.

"What? The dungeon? Why?" asked Eclipse.

"All I know is that a spell went wrong and you're dangerous, I'm here to keep an eye on you under royal orders." said the guard.

Then it all came back to Eclipse, the spell and why they were doing it. And the guard had said the spell went wrong.

Eclipse pieced it all together and guessed that the spell failed and they put him in the dungeon because they couldn't get rid of Atrox.

His heart sunk. He thought about how the spell was his only hope and that it had failed. Now there was no way he could ever be free of Atrox. His life was over, there was no hope left. Utterly crushed, he walked to the opposite wall and sat down.

He looked at the ground and took some time to go through his thoughts. He was miserable because the spell had failed and there was no more hope of being a normal pony. At the same time there was an anger he felt. It wasn't fair that he had Atrox possessing him, it wasn't fair that he wasn't even a real pony, nothing seemed fair to him.

He looked up and saw the small shaft of light on the floor. He looked at the ceiling and saw that it was a small window outside. He saw the stars and he gave up. He looked straight into the stars and let all the feeling, the emotion, and the power fill him.

There was an electric feel to the air around him and he could hear a small popping noise like the noise a wood fire makes. Then the air around him shimmered like rising heat and he felt energy surge through him. He felt like he was burning and when he looked down he saw that there were black patches on him that were expanding as if they were burning him.

He felt a tingling in his forehead and the stub of his horn was sizzling, it looked red hot at the end. Then it started growing his horn back. It looked like embers burning paper, but in reverse, as if his horn was materializing from the red embers. It grew into a razor sharp, sleek black horn without any ribs or grooves on it.

Then his eyes slowly lost all their shine and turned dull and dark. It was like he entered a dream, like he went in autopilot and something else took over. That something else was Atrox.

Atrox was now in control. The air still popped and sizzled around him but that faded away after a few seconds. He popped his neck and flexed his legs. There was a large, wicked smile on his face.

The guard had heard the noise from the cell and called in "What was that noise? What are you doing in there?" Then he went to the window and looked inside to see Atrox. "Hey! Who are you? What happened to the pony we locked up?"

"Open the door." stated Atrox in a tone that let the guard know he wasn't joking.

"No. Orders say to keep you locked up and under watch so you'll stay where you are."

"You try my patience. Open the door or die, your choice."

"Ha! My choice is to keep you locked up. That's a three inch thick, iron, magic proof door. There's no way you could get through it."

"You seal your own fate." said Atrox as he stepped back from the door."

"Haha what are you going to knock the door down by running into it? Don't make me laugh it would take a hundred royal guards to get that door down. In fact I'll stand right here in front of the door and watch you hurt yourself." Laughed the guard as he stepped directly in front of the heavy metal door. He had no doubt the door was unbreakable.

Atrox said nothing but instead went to the other side of the room and prepared to charge. He got a small running start in the small room and used his side to body-slam the door.

Ridiculously, the door bent and gave about two feet. The royal guard was thrown back into the wall and was too stunned to react, much less get up and run.

Atrox went for another body slam and the door gave some more. Some of the metal hinges groaned from the pressure and some were torn from the rock they were anchored in, bolts and all.

Atrox turned for one final slam. The guard was up by now and limping away to try and get help. Atrox plowed into the door and it broke off the hinges, crashing to the floor.

The guard's mind was blown when he heard the door go down. The strength it took to take that door down was beyond anything he could comprehend.

Atrox calmly walked out of the cell as the dust cleared and looked down the hall to see the guard attempting to limp away as fast as he could with his injured leg. Atrox's horn glowed and the guard was lifted into the air. He levitated back towards Atrox, struggling to break the grip of the magic the entire time.

He floated in front of Atrox and Atrox was looking him directly in the eyes. "Any last words?"

"You won't get away. Celestia will stop you." said the guard.

"Stop me? Thats funny!" said Atrox, his voice eerily calm the entire time.

The guard spit in Atrox's face and Atrox showed a hint of anger in his expression. He slammed the guard into the wall and forced him to look him in the eye. "Ready to die?" he asked.

"If I die I die with the pride of a Royal Canterlot Guard." he said.

"You waste my time." said Atrox.

Just as the guard thought Atrox was going to put him down Atrox threw him to the side with incredible force. He flew ten feet straight into the stone wall. His helmet slammed hard off the stone and the guard fell to the ground in a crumpled heap. The helmet had taken much of the impact and saved the guard’s life. Luckily, Atrox didn't see that he wasn't dead, only unconscious.

Atrox moved on and came to a window overlooking Canterlot. He cast a quick spell and the glass shattered out of the window. He spread his wings and jumped out into the air.

He circled around the castle and flew straight for the other side of the castle to a stained glass window in Celestia's throne room. The window was a lavish image of six ponies using the elements of harmony to turn discord to stone.

Atrox flew through the window, shattering the glass and tearing through the metal as if it were paper. He landed hard, leaving cracks in the marble floor.

He looked up to see the surprised faces of Celestia and six other ponies with the Elements of Harmony.

“I see you brought out the toys.” said Atrox.

Twilight stepped forward and asked “How did you get free, and what happened to Eclipse?”

“He’s gone for good, I’m in control now. He gave up on himself the same way you gave up on him.” stated Atrox.

“That’s a lie!” screamed Twilight, “We would never give up on him! We have the Elements of Harmony now and we’ll stop you and save Eclipse!”

“HAHAHAHAHA! You plan to use those silly toys to stop ME?! That’s funny. Sorry to tell you but there’s nothing you can do to save your little friend. Now get out of my way! I have some revenge to take.” said Atrox.

“I refuse to move! You won’t harm Celestia or my friends!” said Twilight, holding her ground in front of the imposing Atrox.

“This has gone on far enough,” said Atrox as he cast a spell.

Twilight was lifted into the air and her Element of Harmony floated towards Atrox.

He threw Twilight to the side and looked at the Element for a second. He set it down on the ground and rested his front hoof on it. He slowly leaned forward, putting more and more weight onto it. There came a groaning sound and all at once the crown gave and bent down. The gem in it cracked and splinters were sent all over the floor. Atrox lifted the mangled gold frame and tossed it to Twilight. “That’s how strong your ‘Elements of Harmony’ are.” he said.

Applejack, Rainbow, Rarity, Pinkie, and Fluttershy blocked Atrox’s path now.

“You won’t hurt our friends!” said Pinkie.

“Ya! Leave Celestia alone!” said Rainbow.

Atrox completely ignored them and used magic to throw them to the side like ragdolls. Then he walked up to Celestia’s throne. “Nice to see you again, sister. It’s been…….so long since you locked me away.”

“You won’t get away with this Atrox.” said Celestia.

“You locked me away for over a thousand years. A THOUSAND YEARS! I was nearly driven mad while I was locked away. And now I’m going to get even for all the suffering you caused me.”

Atrox’s horn lit up and a ring of magic appeared around Celestia’s neck. She struggled when she realized what Atrox was doing, but it was too late. She was lifted into the air and the ring started to tighten. Her breath was cut off and she started getting choked. She tried to gasp for air but the ring was too tight. Her horn lit up as she cast a spell to try and counter the magic but Atrox was far too powerful and she couldn’t break his grip.

“Aww, having some trouble breathing? Let’s see how this feels.” said Atrox with a smile on his face. His horn glowed brighter and the ring around Celestia’s neck tightened further to where her face started turning red.

Celestia was desperate for air now and started flailing and clawing at the ring of magic. Her lungs were straining for air and she was starting to get dizzy.

The other ponies could do nothing but watch in horror as Atrox choked the life out of Celestia.

Celestia’s vision started to blur and she started to lose her grip on consciousness. Her vision went black and she passed out. She went limp and hung by the ring.

Even when Celestia passed out, Atrox showed no sign of letting up or releasing her. He merely stood there and continued to hold her suspended in the air.

“LET GO OF MY SISTER!” screamed Luna as she cast a powerful spell towards Atrox.

The spell caught Atrox by surprise and he was hit with a crushing wall of magic that sent him barreling back through a table, some chairs and nearly through the wall he flew into.

Atrox fell to the ground, leaving the wall cracked and blotted with blood. He got to his feet and casually looked back at the wall as if nothing had happened, then he looked down at his right wing. It hung limply to his side and there was blood dripping off of the tip, pooling on the floor. “Luna, you broke my wing. That wasn’t very nice of you. I thought you were faithful to me. Maybe you would be more loyal as Nightmare Moon, or maybe you would be better off like your sister.”

It had taken all of Luna’s strength to throw Atrox as hard as she did and she didn’t have the power to stand up to him. She was breathing heavily and had a heavy set scowl on her face.

Atrox used magic to pick Luna up and slam her into the floor. She was hurt too badly to get up and Atrox started walking towards her slowly, leaving red marks on the floor where his limp wing dragged across it.

Twilight was up again and stepped in front of Atrox.

“You again?” he laughed.

She had tears in her eyes and looked directly at Atrox. “Eclipse I know you’re still in there! Please stop this! I know you can fight him!” she cried out.

Atrox stopped dead in his tracks and stared at Twilight. For a second he stood silently, then he let out a blood curdling scream. He brought his hooves up to his head and screamed again. “You have no power over me! You are a pawn of my creation, you can’t fight me!” he yelled. He shook his head back and forth with his hooves over his face, grunting as he fought to stay in control. Then he was silent. He struggled to regain control and stood motionlessly again. When he looked up one eye was red and one blue. His voice was the voice of a monster, desperate to regain control. He started to crawl towards Twilight, leaving a faint red trail as he went. Each move towards her caused him great pain and there was hatred in his eyes. “Y-you… I’ll….. I’ll KILL YOU!” screamed Atrox.

He stopped again and shivered. Atrox looked up with tears in his eyes, they were Eclipse’s eyes. When he talked he had to choke out the words. “Twilight, I’m so sorry. I feel lost. I’ve become a monster and I can’t stop Atrox.”

“You can fight him! You can win!” said Twilight.

“No, I feel like a leaf in a hurricane. Atrox is” he stopped for a moment and gritted his teeth attempting to stay in control. “Atrox is pure evil; the things he plans to do are horrible. I can’t let them happen.”

“Don’t give up we can help you somehow! We’re your friends!” yelled Twilight.

“Twilight, I’m beyond help. There’s only one thing I can do.” he said. His entire body was shaking and he painstakingly took steps past Twilight and towards the window he flew in from.

“No! Please! Eclipse there has to be another way! You can’t do this, we can help you!” Twilight screamed at him when she realized what he was doing.

“There’s no” Eclipse stopped for a second to take a shaky breath, “There’s no other way to get rid of Atrox. I would rather die than let him be free.” He made it to the edge of the broken window and looked down. He could barely see the rocks below in the darkness. With his broken wing there was no way he could survive the fall.

“Stop! I’m begging you! You can’t do this!” sobbed Twilight.

“It’s the only way, I wish there was another way but there’s not.” choked Eclipse, tears streaming in his eyes. His horn glowed and the charm Twilight had given him fell to the floor. “You were one of the best and only friends I had, Twilight. I hope you’ll remember me for who I was.”

Twilight tried to speak but she was overwhelmed and the lump in her throat didn’t allow to her say anything.

Eclipse was dizzy from the loss of blood. Atrox had gotten a broken wing and did nothing to stop the bleeding. He turned back towards the window with only one last goal in mind, to rid Equestria of Atrox. His vision was failing and everything was going black. The edge of the window seemed to move back and he put all his strength into a leap forward. He lost his sense of feeling as he faded.

He wasn’t sure what happened then. He didn’t know if he made it out of the window, or fainted from blood loss. He was somewhere cold, It was as if he were in the void from his dream again; only this time there was no other voice. There was a bright light that appeared and he followed it. As he came closer to it he could smell plants and hear voices off in the distance. He continued to follow the sounds and smells. Suddenly he was in Ponyville, surrounded by all of his friends. Twilight was there, along with Applejack, Rarity, Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, and Fluttershy. Even Luna and Celestia were there. Everypony was there and Atrox was gone. He no longer felt the turmoil inside him and he was happy. He was free.

Comments

[bronys unite]

Hmm strange ending but okay. Not meant to be taken has an insult but Equestria has a good economy. That and three hundred bits is a lot more then a small pouch. Just trying to be constructive not offensive. That and Zecora almost always rhymes. I feel like an ass now but I would just like to help so if this is bad in your opinion I will delete it.

[Ghost Writer]

No prob, constructive criticism is always welcome.

[bronys unite]

668087 Hey do I have to get skype I don't want to download it but it says I have to, is there another way