Equestrian Epoch: Final Hope

by Michael_Ravencroft

First Sign: Part 4

Breaking Point

"WHY IS THIS HAPPENING!?" Bright Blade shouted.

Three weeks had passed since the incident in Trottingham. Although it was quelled, somewhat, more strange frenzied mob scenes have been popping up around Equestria. Three involving small villages, one in Baltimare, another in Hoofshire, Dodge City, and Appleloosa, making Bright Blade stretch the Knight Corp. Paladins pretty thin, but thankfully they were able to control the situations in each city and village.

Twilight was watching him from the upstairs guardrail, a look of worry plain on her face. Owlowicious and Squall were perched on the same guardrail, looking down the golden alicorn, along with the lavender mare. This whole ordeal wasn't doing Bright Blade any good, he was stressed, getting angry, and kept spouting something about a Red Ghost. Twilight couldn't figure it out, he hadn't talked much since his return, and now it was getting to the point where her coltfriend was staying up all day and night.

"I'm going to go talk to him," said Twilight.

Squall and Owlowicious looked at her with concern, but she simply smiled at them reassuringly and descended the stairs. As she trotted into the foyer she could see Bright Blade's quill pen furiously scratching at the parchment paper, his mane and tail were disheveled, and his ears were twitching at different intervals.

"Bright Blade…?"

"I know that thing is behind all this! That damn Red Ghost, there's no way all these different places could be experiencing the same madness as Trottingham – this isn't mere coincidence – something is happening!"

"Bright Blade!?"

The golden alicorn stallion stopped his writing and turned his head. His eyes were narrowed; even so she could make out the dark bags under his eyelids. "What is it Twilight?"

"I was just coming to tell you that it's late, maybe you should get some rest," suggested Twilight.

"Heh, rest, I don't have time to rest! Equestria is going crazy and I need to figure out how to stop it! And nopony's seen the Red Ghost, but I saw it, why was I the only one who saw it," ranted Bright Blade.

Twilight was really starting to worry for Bright's mental state. "I think you should stop, come to bed, you have training with the Cadets tomorrow."

"Oh there you go again," Bright Blade turned around and looked at Twilight, "I'm starting to get tired of that tone Twi!"

Twilight was taken a little aback by what Bright Blade had said, and at the same time a little miffed. "What exactly are you talking about, what tone!?"

"That same tone you use when you're teaching, like I'm some damn school foal! I got a newsflash for ya Twi; I'm twenty-five, about to be twenty-six! So stop treating me like a kid!" Bright Blade shouted.

"Treating you like a kid!? Bright Blade I haven't treated you like a kid since you turned eighteen!"

"Yeah, and still, you continue to look down on me! I've nearly reacquired all my old powers, not to mention forged two new swords! Well I'm not you're student anymore Twi, I am a warrior, a stallion!" Bright Blade was inching closer to Twilight, but stopped his advance and just stared angrily at her. He then gave a grunting huff and turned his back to the lavender mare. "I'm going to keep working, so leave me alone, now!"

Twilight didn't know how to take this, in all the years she had been with Bright Blade he had never talked like this to her. There was genuine anger and, dare she think, hate in his voice. Twilight trotted closer to her coltfriend, and gently placed a hoof on his left shoulder. "Bright Blade I didn't mean –"

Suddenly Bright Blade flared his left wing, pushing Twilight's hoof away. He twirled around, causing his wing to push her back. The lavender unicorn mare soon found herself thrown to the floor, taken by surprise by what had just happened. Twilight looked back and watched as Bright Blade brought up his right hoof, preparing to strike his marefriend, his emerald eyes were filled with a fiery fury, it paralyzed her. She had never seen Bright Blade like this.

Everything was happening in slow motion, Twilight watched as the hoof of the one she loved made its way towards her, the whole thing was so unreal, the dark-violet maned mare kept thinking that this was a bad dream that she would wake up at any moment. Unfortunately that wasn't the case, this was happening, this was real. Bright Blade!?

Squall, who could no longer sit by and watch, let loose a noise that was a combination of a hawk screech and a thunderclap, he even discharged a few lightning sparks for good measure. The sound and display from Squall made Bright Blade stop mid-strike, his hoof just inches from Twilight's muzzle.

Bright Blade looked up at his pet thunderbird, shaking his head as if he'd been in a daze. "Squall…? What…why did you –!?" The golden alicorn's gaze drifted downwards, he had just noticed how close his hoof was to Twilight's face, and the look of fear in her eyes. "WHAT THE BUCK!!!??"

Bright Blade pulled back his hoof and began retreating backwards till his back hit the desk. He was hyperventilating, eyes wide as saucers, and iris's reduced to the size of pinpricks. It was strange, but Twilight could clearly see it, Bright was afraid, completely and utterly terrified at what he almost did.

"Bright Blade…It's okay, I'm alright," said Twilight worriedly.

"NO! I-I almost – but I wouldn't – I couldn't! Twilight I'm sorry, I'm so sorry!"

Twilight, with her fear now gone, was now looking at Bright with a mixture of comfort and concern. She could tell that this was the real Bright Blade, the one she loved and loved her back. "Bright Blade I'm fine, really, see!?" Twilight got up and trotted closer to the stallion.

"No, please no, stand back Twilight! I think, maybe it's best that…that I sleep down here tonight…"

Twilight wanted to protest, to do nothing more than comfort her coltfriend. But she could tell by the look in his eyes, her presence right now would do him more harm than good. Reluctantly, she complied.

"Alright Bright Blade, if you…if you need me just call, alright?" Twilight asked. Bright Blade nodded in response, he then turned away from her, shame overtaking him. "Well…goodnight…"

Twilight made her way upstairs, taking one last look at the golden alicorn. She could hear faint crying coming from downstairs. Owlowicious looked at Twilight with worry in his wise eyes; she petted the owl gently, conveying that she was indeed just fine. She then turned her attention to Squall, watching over his owner with a dutiful gaze. Twilight could tell that Squall was just as worried about Bright Blade as she was.

"Thank you Squall," said Twilight.

The thunderbird gave her a nod and went back to watching Bright Blade. With that Twilight went inside the bedroom, and slept, her mind was still trying to contemplate what exactly happened tonight, but reasoned that everything might make better sense tomorrow.

---

***Early Morning***

Celestia's sun had barely risen, but some of the faint light of the moon still peaked through the Knight Corp. barracks. One of the Cadets, a gray unicorn filly, known as Dinky Hooves, got up from her bunk bed. She stretched her forelegs and yawned widely. Once she rubbed the sleep from her eyes Dinky got out from her bed and made her way to the washroom.

After Dinky had gotten something to eat she went to the training grounds. It was cold out, and a light mist hung low to the ground. The sun was already beginning to rise, most of the Cadets didn't start coming outside to train, but Dinky did. She was up early almost every day, the first one on the training grounds.

Dinky knew what the other Cadets said about her behind her back. How she only got into the Knight Corp. by luck, that she had no real skill. Dinky was also aware about what the older ponies said about her mother, she didn't know why they said mean things about her mother. Just because her eyes weren't always straight, and clumsy, and sometimes a bit goofy, that didn't give them any right to call her mother names, that is why she trained.

Dinky would often find herself staring out in the direction of Ponyville, wondering how her friends back home were doing. She often thought of her friends, Pumpkin and Pound Cake, Swift Hummer and Spring Day, and of course her best friend Clay. The two of them were close; they shared almost everything, even a goal. They both wanted to join the Knight Corp., Dinky had her own reasons, but Clay, Clay never actually told her why.

Dinky shook her head, noticing that her wooden training sword was wavering once again. I've got to focus! Parry, step, lunge, slash, repeat! The sword, wrapped in her pink telekinetic aura, followed her direction. Dinky imagined that with each swing of the sword she was cutting down all the negative things the foals and older ponies said about her and her mom. I'll show them, I'll be a knight just like Sir Bright Blade! I'll be the best swordsmare in Equestria!

Dinky then galloped at a fast pace, stopped, and then flipped in the air, three times. When she landed, Dinky quickly turned around, taking the sword into her teeth, and began slashing at imaginary opponents. She kept count of every one she was fighting, in her mind fighting two or three at a time, defeating them all with her superb sword skills. After defeating the last imaginary opponent, Dinky stopped. She saw that the sun was higher now, which meant that the other Cadets would be coming to the training grounds soon.

Knowing this she decided to take a break, soon enough she'd be hard at work again. As Dinky waited for the Cadets to arrive, she thought back to the first time her instructor, Bright Blade, caught her training at the early morning hours. He wasn't angry, thank Celestia, but he did offer her some advice before leaving her to her practice.

"The problem with fighting an imaginary opponent is that he's always highly skilled, and there can be many of them, but in the end they are always easily defeated."

As her teacher walked away he said one more thing, something that gave Dinky a bit of a reason to train harder.

"Whenever you feel like it, challenge me, sometimes you can learn a lot more from fighting your instructor than from non-existent warriors."

Before Dinky could further contemplate how she would go about challenging her instructor, her train of thought was interrupted by the chattering of the other Cadets as they approached. And among them were some of the fillies and colts that she didn't particularly like.

"Well if it isn't the brownnoser," said a colt Cadet.

"Why don't you just give up, there's no way you're going to make the cut," said a filly Cadet.

"Knock it off you guys!" Noi scolded.

The other Cadets stopped their teasing, directly anyway, and proceeded to grab their training swords from the nearby racks. Noi looked in Dinky's direction, Dinky smiled back, thanking her. This wasn't the first time and it wasn't going to be last time, she and Clay got plenty teased by a certain blue pegasus that shall not be named.

---

***5 Minutes Later***

"Something's wrong," said Dinky.

"What do you mean," asked Noi.

"Sir Bright Blade should've been here already."

"He's probably just running a little late; Sir Bright Blade has been busy lately."

Dinky knew this was true; their teacher was always there before class started, and by now they were already underway. Although with all the missions he'd been leading around Equestria it was understandable that he'd be tired and forget, but still, Dinky couldn't shake the feeling that there was something wrong.

Suddenly an orb of golden light appeared in the center of the crowd of Cadets. They all made a wide circle, staying clear of it. The orb flashed, revealing Bright Blade, in his armor, staring at the ground and panting a little hard. Before anypony could call out to him, the golden alicorn's head shot up quickly, making the young Cadets flinch.

"Why haven't you all started training yet," asked Bright Blade.

"We were waiting for you, Sir Bright Blade," said a colt Cadet.

"Hmph, do I need to hold your hooves all the damn time!? Can't you all improvise if I'm a little late!?" Bright Blade shouted.

The Cadets were a little hurt by their teacher's words, and a bit scared about his sudden change in attitude. Dinky was watching Bright Blade; he seemed tense, rigid, with narrowed eyes that were bloodshot. This was not the knight that she admired. "Sir Bright Blade…what's wrong? You don't seem well?"

"Very observant DINKY! Tell ya what, next time you can lead the next four missions, and when you come back – if you come back – you'll only know half of what I'm feeling!"

Bright Blade huffed and trotted through the Cadets, making his way towards the sword rack. He used his telekinesis to lift many different ones, looking for one that he liked. At this point the Cadets were all talking amongst themselves, wondering what was up with their teacher.

"Geez Dinky, why is Sir Bright Blade such a jerk today," asked Noi.

"YOU REALIZE I CAN HEAR EVERY SINGLE WORD YOU'RE SAYING!!!" Bright Blade whipped his head around, shooting them a death glare that could've killed them on the spot. "I just realized what you're problem is! I've been going too easy on all of you!"

Bright Blade then lifted one of the training swords with his telekinesis; he inspected the wooden sword for a few seconds, and in the next moment crushed it into splinters. The act elicited a gulping sound from the little ones, putting in prospective just how easily their teacher could hurt them if he so chooses.

"No more of these imitations, from today on, we use the real thing!"

Bright Blade raised his head, his horn flared with a golden aura. He then pointed it at the Cadets and fired a arcing gold lightning bolt at them, the Cadets gasped in terror, thinking the heroic knight was going to kill them all. The lightning bolt then splintered into several bolts, each one striking the wooden training swords. Bright Blade cancelled his spell and waited for the Cadets to notice his work.

Dinky levitated her sword from its holster; her eyes went wide, now seeing what Bright Blade had done. "These are…these are real swords!"

"Another point for the filly in the back row – yes indeed it is! From here on out you will all train with these, maybe you'll get better and pay attention more if you use the real thing!"

"But Sir Bright Blade, you don't expect us to really use these on each other, do you!?" Noi asked panicked.

"Oh no Noi, not on yourselves, I couldn't allow that." The others let out a sigh of relief; maybe the Knight of Hope wasn't as crazy as he appeared. "You're all going to fight me, one versus many, first of you to make me bleed wins!" I retract my earlier statement; he was indeed as crazy as he appeared.

The fillies' and colts' jaws hung open, they couldn't believe what they had just heard, this couldn't be happening to them. As if to drive the point home, Bright Blade fired a beam of mana into the air. The blast then exploded and formed a bubble around the entire training grounds. Bright Blade then levitated one of the swords close to him and assumed a fighting stance.

"So who's first!?"

At this point all the Cadets screamed their heads off, and ran for the hills. Unfortunately they soon discovered that the golden bubble was in fact a barrier. They pounded, bucked, slashed, and a few even fired a magic bolt or two, but nothing could break it. The mass of foal Cadets then turned around, their armor rattled as they shook in fear, watching as their instructor slowly made his way towards them, like a predator cornering his prey.

Dinky looked around, at the scared faces of her fellow Cadets, and at the crazed look in Bright Blade's eyes. Mustering all the courage she had, and then some, Dinky flared up her horn, taking her sword into her telekinetic grasp. The Cadets all parted, creating a path for Dinky, they watched her in confusion, wondering what the blonde filly was up to.

She stood before Bright Blade, about three feet of open space between them. With a confident voice she spoke. "I will challenge you! I will fight you Sir Bright Blade!"

The golden alicorn smiled wickedly and, without warning, launched his sword at Dinky. The filly quickly used her sword to intercept the blow, Bright's sword blade slammed onto Dinky's, the mental recoil almost made the unicorn's head split open. Bright easily saw the opening and took it, charging straight at her at full speed!

Dinky, having regained a bit of her senses, dodge rolled to her right. Tumbling about till she was, relatively, a safe distance from the crazed alicorn. So that's what Impact Recoil feels like, ouch! Sir Bright Blade isn't holding back, if I take too many of those he'll knock me out! Dinky glanced at the foals, who were now taking this opportunity to try and break open the barrier. I may not win, but at the very least I can buy them some time!

Bright Blade turned to the unicorn filly, who was now noticeably sweating. "C'mon Dinky, don't tell me you're tired from just one move!? I expected better from you!"

Dinky let out a battle cry as she broke into a full gallop, Dinky moved her sword to her mouth and gripped it with her teeth. While she wouldn't suffer the mental stress of Impact Recoil, she was taking a risk; instead of mid-range combat she was going to engage her teacher at close range.

Bright Blade chuckled as he watched Dinky charge at him. He quickly slashed at Dinky from the right, the filly met the blade with her own, stopping it, and continuing the charge. Bright attacked from the left, to his surprise, Dinky switched the direction of the blade and quickly intercepted the strike. The white maned stallion was mildly impressed, she had figured out a difficult technique.

Dinky was closing in on the alicorn, she decided to try something new in order to unbalance her teacher. The floating sword then thrust forward, Dinky let her armor absorb the blow, glancing off her. She slid low, balanced herself on her forelegs, and bucked with her hind legs into Bright Blade's jaw.

Bright Blade unfurled his wings and with a strong flap, jumped back a few feet. He landed gracefully back to the ground, feeling some pain in his jaw, the Knight of Hope then spat out some blood, with a little streaking from the corner of his mouth.

"It's over Sir Bright Blade, I've won," declared Dinky.

The alicorn stallion only chuckled at the unicorn's statement. "No Dinky, the fight still goes on!"

"B-b-but you said, the first to make you bleed w-wins!? You're bleeding from your mouth right now!"

"Yes, but you used your hooves and not your sword. The purpose was for you to use the sword!! Can't you do anything right you stupid filly!!!?"

Dinky felt a stinging sensation in her heart; it hurt more than the Impact Recoil, making her drop her sword. Of all the ponies she expected to hear those words from, she never expected to hear them from him, her teacher, and a knight. Dinky had to bite her lower lip, trying desperately to stifle the tears that wanted to flow from her eyes.

"Since you couldn't follow the rules, the conditions will change! Now, you will have to kill me with your sword!" Bright watched as Dinky's eyes went wide with fear, a sight that he seemed to relish. Bright Blade was repositioning his floating sword, pointing it right at the little filly. "Touché!"

The sword launched straight for Dinky, who was now paralyzed with fear. The weapon only made it a few inches before it mysteriously exploded, surprising both Bright Blade and Dinky Hooves. Both combatants looked around, trying to figure out what or who stopped the sword. Their gaze eventually found the one responsible, it was an orange-red unicorn filly, with a yellow mane and tail, and magenta colored eyes. Bright Blade recognized this filly, one of Twilight's students, Sunshine.

"What, the buck, are you doing here little filly!?" Bright Blade shouted.

"M-M-Miss Sparkle wanted me to bring you a message, and then this barrier came up and –!"

"You got caught inside, you should've stayed quiet! I wouldn't have noticed you," said Bright.

Sunshine put on a brave face, staring down the insane stallion. "Please just stop this, you're scaring everypony, if Miss Sparkle –!" The filly was then cutoff by a telekinetic force wave that pushed Sunshine a few inches, not enough to hurt her, but just enough to make sure she wouldn't finish that sentence.

"This is a Knight Corp. training session, and since you're here, you'll be participating Sunshine!" Bright Blade shot another spell blast at the racks that still had wooden swords. The imitation weapons were quickly transformed into real blades, to which Bright levitated three of them, aimed right for Sunshine. "Let's see you blow these up!"

The swords zoomed straight for the unicorn, Sunshine tried to concentrate, but was finding it very difficult to do so as she watched the blades soar towards her.

"LEAVE HER ALONE!!!"

Suddenly the three swords halted, mere inches from Sunshine. They were now wrapped in a pink aura, as opposed to the golden aura of Bright Blade. The alicorn was surprised; he turned to Dinky, her horn flaring with pink mana energy, and with a fierce look in her eyes. The gray unicorn filly galloped to the side of Sunshine, who had closed her eyes. When Sunshine reopened them she saw Dinky, standing at her side, with all three swords at attention, floating around the two in a protective orbit.

"Are you alright," asked Dinky.

"Y-yeah, I'm fine, but how did you…?"

Dinky was at loss herself, she didn't know how she was able to take control of the swords away from Bright Blade. It was then that Sunshine gasped and pointed her hoof towards Dinky's flank. The blonde maned filly turned her head to see a cutie mark, a pair of broadswords crossed to form an X. I-I got my cutie mark! I can't believe it! Dinky's joy over obtaining her cutie mark was a bit overshadowed by the fact that there was still a crazed alicorn still staring them down. The young Knight Corp. Cadet assumed a fighting stance, and glared at the knight.

"Hey, what's your name?" Dinky whispered.

"Sunshine."

"That exploding thing you just did, can you do that again?"

"I was actually trying to stop the sword, not blow it up," whispered Sunshine dejectedly.

"That works for me, okay so listen closely."

---

Bright Blade stood there, pacing back and forth, waiting for whatever pitiful strategy the fillies were concocting. He took a moment to see what the other Cadets were doing; some had given up trying to break the barrier, while still others continued to try in vain. Bright Blade, for some unknown reason, was delighted by all this. He noticed that Dinky had gotten her cutie mark, and was hoping that this latest development would prove to be more challenging.

"That's long enough, either you attack or I do!!? Expect no mercy from me!!!"

Dinky and Sunshine had stopped their whispering and turned their attention to Bright Blade. The orange-red filly's horn started to shine, Bright Blade could feel her mana building up, it was similar to the last time she used a spell. Soon a ball of light appeared at the tip of her horn. Instead of keeping it there, Sunshine allowed it to float away towards Bright Blade.

The sphere of light continued to grow in size, shining as if it were the sun itself. Bright Blade assumed a defensive stance, not quite sure what Sunshine was up to. The ball of light let loose a blinding flash, causing Bright Blade to shield his eyes with his wings. The Cadets turned away, scared out of their minds as to what was going on.

It was at that moment that Bright Blade saw something, a figure, he wasn't quite sure. He didn't have to guess long, as Bright saw Dinky spiraling in the air and descending towards him. Bright Blade had to act quickly, he had no sword of which to wield so he opted for the next best thing.

Dinky was building up momentum as she spun herself around, her sword clenched firmly between her teeth. The gray unicorn filly concentrated on her target, she knew it wasn't a good thing to do, but it had to be done. Forgive me Sir Bright Blade, but I have to do it! Forgive me!!! Dinky jerked her head, swinging her blade with all the built up momentum and strength she could muster. Dinky closed her eyes at the very last minute, not wanting to watch her sword slice through her mentor's horn and see the inevitable look of pain and shock.

Surprisingly, when Dinky's sword hit its mark she stopped. Dinky opened her eyes and was surprised to see the Knight of Hope's horn glowing. The blade was grinding against the energy field around Bright Blade's horn, the force of both suspending the filly in the air. The deranged warrior stallion looked up at Dinky, giving her an evil grin.

"Did you think that that was actually going to work," asked Bright.

"Yes I did Sir Bright Blade, but that's why there's a plan B! SUNSHINE NOW!!!"

The blinding light suddenly retracted, condensed to the size of a marble, then exploded with a loud boom. The fallout from the explosion created a giant cloud of smoke, and thanks to Bright Blade's barrier, blacked out almost everything. Dinky had disengaged herself from the initial attack, and ducked down low into the smoke.

Bright Blade readied himself, not being able to see where Dinky was going to attack from. At that moment a sword wrapped in a pink aura flew at Bright; he quickly lowered his wings and moved his head to the left, letting the weapon sail passed him. The next attack came from the left, the floating sword started to slash at Bright Blade. Using his horn, he quickly clashed with the levitated sword. The floating sword then disappeared into the smoke, vanishing form sight. Bright Blade had had enough of this; his anger was rising like a phoenix, blazing fury within his eyes.

I think it's working!? If Sunshine and I can keep this up we should be able to –!

A powerful energy wave washed over the entire area. The smoke was being blown away; at the epicenter of the wave was Bright Blade. The barrier, much to the surprise of the colts and fillies, had been brought down. The alicorn now stared at the two fillies responsible for the little minor distraction, completely exposed. Dinky quickly brought the other two swords to her side and readied herself to attack. Bright Blade snickered, knowing full well that she hadn't the skill to fight him. To prove this Bright Blade flared his horn once again.

Dinky watched as her two floating swords started to shake, the aura around them changing from pink to gold, back and forth. Dinky could feel her swords being taken from her, she tried to exert her own will over the weapons, but found it increasingly difficult to do so. Soon enough Dinky had to let go of the two swords, feeling that the tug-of-war within their minds would end badly if she continued.

"Great tactic, excellent strategy, but you still couldn't follow through with the kill Dinky…I'm disappointed in you," said Bright Blade in a rather sadistic tone of voice. The two swords he had gained control of were now pointed in Sunshine's and Dinky's direction, one for each filly.

"Sir Bright Blade, please stop this," said Dinky through clenched teeth.

Bright Blade showed no signs of stopping, there was a kind of bloodlust in his eyes, and he was going to satiate it, now. The Knight of Hope fired the two swords, one for Dinky, and the other for Sunshine. The two fillies closed their eyes, not wanting to see their demise coming. The swords whistled as they cut through the air, almost at their respective targets.

"ENOUGH!!!"

A beam of purple mana energy shot down from the sky above, destroying the two swords midway before they reached Dinky and Sunshine. The Cadets, Dinky, and Sunshine looked up in awe, a sphere of purple light descended down between Bright Blade and the targets of his insanity. The golden alicorn scowled, he recognized this mana, and it filled him with even more anger.

The sphere dissolved itself, revealing a lavender colored unicorn mare, looking very displeased. Once she landed the mare, without turning her gaze away from the alicorn stallion, spoke to the fillies. "Dinky, Sunshine, are you two alright?"

"MISS SPARKLE!!! Yes we're alright," said Sunshine.

"Dame Twilight, something's wrong with Sir Bright Blade, he's – I don't know, going crazy or something," said Dinky Hooves.

Twilight looked at Bright; her gaze was narrowed, not out of anger, but with a stern and serious face that radiated authority. "It's fine Dinky, I'm here." Twilight took a few steps forward, squaring off with her coltfriend. "Bright Blade…what in the name of Lady Epona are you doing?" Her tone was calm; it was one she had become familiar with, a tone of voice she had not used since the war.

"This isn't your concern Twilight! These are MY training grounds, and these are MY Cadets! You're interrupting a training session so go back to your classroom, NOW!" Bright Blade ordered.

"'Training session,' Bright Blade you're scaring the hay out of your Cadets, and you nearly killed one of them, not to mention one of my own students," said Twilight.

Bright Blade spat out some of the blood from Dinky's last attack, he then stared at Twilight with a disdain filled look. "Fine, take Sunshine out of here! Dinky and I aren't done yet!"

"I say that you are! Bright Blade can't you see what you're doing, please calm down and come with me so I can help you," asked Twilight, her voice layered with concern.

The golden alicorn just glared at Twilight, he turned his gaze upwards towards the sky. "With strength unmatched I sing this song, that might and magic be as one! Shine your light upon the land! Let evils wrath be undone, mystic sword Excellion!"

Everypony there gasped, they knew of this chant, Bright Blade was summoning his ancient sword, bestowed upon him by Prince Arion. Much to their relief, the sword did not appear, surprising even Bright Blade.

"Behold you blackhearts, the power of my ancient arts! See this wondrous sight! Your mystic power shall roar, magic sword Excelsior!" Just like with Excellion, the sword of magic did not appear. "Hear my prayer for my need is dire; bring forth the power that I desire! Let no enemy stand in my way! Begin the battle's aria, sword of might Exia!" Bright Blade was becoming agitated, not just one, but all three of his swords had disobeyed his call.

Twilight had a twinge of fear; she was starting to remember the story of the Princesses' brother, Arion. How Excellion didn't come when he called, because the Prince had been corrupted with darkness. Twilight's mind was working out all kinds of explanations, why this was happening, anything other than her coltfriend succumbing to dark power. Forgive me Bright Blade, this might hurt a little…

The Knight of Magic's horn glowed with a purple aura. From her horn she fired a multi magic bolt blast; five beams all bearing down on Bright Blade. All five beams hit their mark, exploding on impact and creating a small dust cloud. The golden alicorn flew straight up, hovering in the air and shaking off the damaged pieces of armor. Twilight wasn't surprised, she knew that kind of attack wasn't enough to bring him down, but it did get him where she wanted.

Twilight, within the depths of her soul, called out to the Element of Magic. Once she felt the connection Twilight's eyes and body glowed with intense magical power, they were warned against doing such things, connecting to the Elements power without having it on them. Nevertheless, Twilight did so, needing to end this quickly before anything else went wrong. The lavender unicorn quickly wrapped the alicorn stallion in her telekinetic aura, and then immediately, proceeded to slam her colt friend repeatedly into the ground.

Dinky and Sunshine watched, mouths agape, as the Knight of Hope was thrown around like a ragdoll. Every time Twilight slammed Bright into the stone ground, he created a bigger crater. After being thrown into the ground, about thirty to forty times, Twilight threw him into the wall. Bright Blade's body sprawled out, creating a decent sized impact crater against the thick castle wall. Bright Blade peeled himself off, and shakily stood up.

"HOW DARE YOU!!! I AM AN ALICORN, THE KNIGHT OF HOPE, AND I WILL NOT BE BEATEN BY SOME DAMN –!!!"

"Magicales Cogere Somino!!!"

Bright Blade was then assaulted by a powerful blast of mana, sending him reeling back into the wall, and bringing down the wall on top of him. Bricks and mortar scattered everywhere. Twilight cutoff her link to the Element of Magic, she already felt the energy drain, but was still standing.

As grateful as Dinky Hooves and Sunshine were for Twilight saving them, they were worried if the Knight of Magic might've killed her special somepony. Twilight noticed their looks; she then used her power to levitate a few of the bricks away, showing that Bright Blade was not crushed to death.

"Don't worry girls, Sir Bright Blade is fine. He'll wake up feeling like a mountain ran him over, but otherwise alright…" Twilight looked to the orange-red filly, "Sunshine I need you to go find a Royal Guard and tell them to bring us some doctors, and a stretcher."

Sunshine didn't hesitate; she galloped off the way she originally came. The Cadets all stared at their unconscious teacher, wondering why he had gone crazy, and they weren't alone in that line of questioning.

Bright Blade what's happening to you…?

"And so I saw, that the days of peace were slowly coming to an end, neighbor would soon turn against neighbor, and even the mighty shall fall and succumb, becoming equal to a beast of baser instinct…"

- Alalenthe 5:6

Author's Note:

I apologize for the lack of updates, college work and such, but now I'm back!

Comments

[stardust flare]

wait i was not sure when this story would come back up ^^ WOOT

[Sharky]

Wooo must read will be back to comment in 10-15

[Sharky]

I approve but am now curius as to how many swords dinky can control at once also yes yes yes yes yes this update has been waited for and i am extremely impressed

[Sunstar]

More! Something is wrong with Bright Blade...