The Nightguard: Legacy of Star Swirl the Bearded

by BigKlingy

Chapter 8: The Enemy

“Yes, yes, YES!!”, I heard the form of my ancestor say, his voice no less overwhelming, but with none of its previous calm. “This is even better than I imagined! This mare’s love for her family has made me strong, stronger than I could have ever dreamed!”

“You…” came a voice from the other side of the room, weak yet utterly filled with resentment.

“Ha!”, the bearded stallion snorted in contempt. “So you do recognise me! You’re not as dumb as I thought. I’d hoped she’d have taken care of you by now, but no matter. You’re no match for me regardless.”

“Foal…”, was his only response.

“Oh I’m the foal, am I? I take that back, you are as dumb as I thought. Now then… they say those imprisoned here are kept from dying. Shall we test that claim?”

That was my cue. As fast as my legs could carry me, I run between the soon-to-be combatants. The one claiming to be my ancestor glared at me with malice for a moment, then, to my humiliation, burst into loud laughter.

“Hahahahahaha! I’m sorry, it’s just… you’re about to die for your family’s hated enemy! It’s just too funny!”

“I don’t care about my family’s past. I know full well who my enemy is now, and I’m looking right at him.”

He continued laughing. “And now you’re actually threatening me? Ahahahahahahaha! It’ll almost be a shame when I kill you.”

“You won’t have the cha… ugh!” The black stallion behind me did his best to sound defiant and come to my rescue, but it was clear even standing was painful for him. All those centauries down here must have taken their toll.

“You know what?”, said our adversary, “Just look at you: a Hornless and a cripple. You’re not even worth the seconds I’d take to kill you! Equestria awaits!!”

And with that, he was gone.

“You mustn’t let him… argh!”

“Midnight!” This time I caught him with my shoulder before he fell. He stared at me again with those eyes.

“W…why? Why… help me?”

“Because I can’t stand by while another pony gets hurt”, I answered. “Look, you stay here. I’ve got some friends down here with me and together we might be able to…”

“No!”, he yelled abruptly, and coughed again. “He… is strong now. Too strong… You will not… survive. I must… the Guardians…”

That was it! The Guardians! (I wondered if this was what it felt like being Electric Sky) Surely they’d be able to…

“Will not… hold him…”

Oh. “Well I’ll still go. Maybe I can get out of here and warn Celestia.”

He shook his head and replied: “Tartarus is on alert. Gates… sealed.”

“There must be something we can do!”, I yelled in desperation.

“Go… take me… with… you…”

“No!”, I said firmly. “If you’re out of your cell, the Guardians will think you’ve escaped and…”

“Exact…ly.”, he replied and gave his best impression of a smile.

“Oh no, no, I’m not letting you…”

“You will.” His voice sounded clearer all of a sudden, though from his face I could tell he was in pain. Perhaps this was something he had planned to say for a while, and he was using all his strength to make sure I heard it. “You must live. That, I will do all I can to ensure. I know what I did was wrong. I hope this may go some way to atone for it.”

As much as I wanted to, I just couldn’t turn down a proposal like that. And so, still lending him my shoulder, I led him out of the cell and back into the abyss of Tartarus.

Things seemed to be different to what I remembered on the way in. The walls now bore torches aglow with bright red flames. Perhaps this was the “alert” Midnight Lance had mentioned. Since the supposed Star Swirl the Bearded had shown me the way the first time, I had no idea how to go about getting back. Luckily, my new companion seemed to know the way. As we walked on, slowly, everything seemed eerily quiet.

Until suddenly, Midnight Lance gestured to me to stop. His eyes darted around the room, as if chasing a shadow. He then stood perfectly still… as out of the darkness leapt one of the statues I had seen earlier. Barely did I notice this when Midnight Lance’s horn glowed and sent a spear of silver light hurtling towards it, knocking it backwards where it fell to the ground, motionless.

I stood in awe. “I’ve never even heard of a spell like that.”

The stallion turned to me. “You… wouldn’t have. It’s my…” As I watched an eyeless stone pegasus spring onto him from behind, I realized now was not the best time for conversation. Without thinking, I wheeled around and kicked out my hind legs, feeling the hooves strike something, which I desperately hoped was my intended target…

I turned around to find the stone pegasus lying on the floor, a statue once again. I breathed a sigh of relief, then beckoned my ally to get moving.

We ran into more and more of these things as we went, each dispatched with a shining lance or a well-placed hoof to the face. But the attacks were getting more and more frequent, and relentless. I knew Midnight Lance could only take so much of this. We had to hurry.

“PRISONER ESCAPE! PRISONER ESCAPE! THIS IS NOT A DRILL!”, hissed a familiar voice as we rounded the next corner.
“Oh no, it’s her”, I said to Midnight. “Quick, hide!” Too late, the Sphinx had caught wind of us.

“No! Please don’t hurt us!”, I begged.

“Relax”, the Sphinx calmly replied, “I’m not talking about you. Hey? Whose that with… actually, I don’t wanna know.”
“What?!” I honestly wasn’t expecting that to work.

“I’m magically bound not to attack those who’ve passed my tests. And even if I wasn’t, I’d never stoop to harming a friend. Or a friend of a friend. You can go.”

We were both a little stunned at the circumstances, and as such didn’t notice the Guardian galloping behind us.
“Hold on, I got this”, said the Sphinx, firing a thing red beam from her eyes which struck the stone construct and shattered it into more pieces than I could count.

“You guys had better get moving. I’ll be in serious hot water if I do that again.”

We took the hint and shuffled on as fast as we could.

By now, we could make out mist in the distance, which meant we were almost at the bridge. And in the distance, I could faintly make out a blinking light. Had I known Horse Code at the time, like I do now, I would have known it was spelling out ‘Star Swirl, we are here. Come now.’, and that my friends were on the other side. But as it stood I didn’t, so I couldn’t.

There was, however, another light in the distance. One far brighter, and green. This, I understood perfectly.

“Come on”, I said as we made haste to the bridge.

What greeted us was a battle already in progress. Well, if you could even call it that. The Star Swirl impersonator (I knew by now it couldn’t possibly be the real him, but I still had no idea what it was) was swatting hordes of pegasus Guardians with magic as if they were nothing more than flies. Midnight Lance was right, they couldn’t hold him.

Speaking of which, my companion wasted no time in readying some magic of his own, firing another shining lance in his direction. But his foe turned to face the danger at once, and next I saw the silver light dissipated against a wall of sickly green flames.

“A cheap shot, just what I’d expect from a traitor!”

“Name calling won’t get you anywhere… usurper.”

“You’re in no position to sass me! You can act all tough but…” The imposter sent a ball of green energy in our direction. Midnight Lance again pushed me aside and deflected the shot with a quick shield spell, but noticed only too late the second incoming blast. By the time it reached him, his shield had already given out, and he lurched back in pain.

“As I said: You. Are. Nothing.”

I smiled as his gloating had given the winged statues time to recommence their attack. My smile soon vanished as I watched him blast another three out of the sky without even batting an eyelid.

“As are they. As is everypony to me now!”

A rumbling echoed through the area. I noticed that above archway at the end of the bridge, a stone slab was beginning to fall. I knew that gate had to serve some purpose. Perhaps we could stall him long enough to…

“If you’re thinking of stalling me until that door seals”, said the imposter, as if reading my mind, “go ahead, I don’t care. Your funeral.”

“What…” I was stunned, and so was Midnight by the looks of it, he hadn’t even moved since that last attack.

“Argh, do I have to spell it out for you morons! Look, I can just blow that door up whenever I want, there’s no rush. So all waiting for it will do is seal off your means of escaping me!”

Midnight Lance remained immobile.

“Actually… this sounds like fun. Perhaps I can spare a few seconds to kill you after all.”

Still nothing.

“Ready or not, here I…”

In a blinding flash of silver, Midnight Lance had vanished from my side and reappeared in the far archway. At an instant I could tell what his plan was, but I didn’t like it.

“Now, go!” he yelled to me.

“Not so fast!”, cried the impostor, turning to face him. “Don’t think I’ll let this be so…”

I galloped forward to interrupt him with a hoof to the chest. My opponent lurched back a little, but more out of surprise than anything.

“Argh, you little vermin! Fine, you have a death wish? Be my guest!”

His horn, which he had so shamelessly stolen from my ancestor, began to glow a sickly green once again. I could tell he was readying the same magical sphere from before. Ha, predictable. I recognised the spell from my magical studies. It was heavily modified, sure, but it was a Class A Magic Spark, no mistake. But what did that tell me… aha! I saw it, he wasn’t lowering his head while preparing to cast. Which meant this kind of spell would travel no lower than head-height.

The counter was simple: I ducked.

As I thought, the spell passed harmlessly over my head. My adversary’s composure was shaken for a moment, but he soon recovered.

“Well then, how about this!”

Horn pointed at the ground, magic aura running across it in lines, slight increase in air temperature. This was a Burning Ray, textbook. Limited range on this one, meaning I just had to dash backwards. My adversary was beginning to lose his patience.

“Enough toying with you, now DIE!!”

Horn now raised to the sky, distortions in the air around it, a slight breeze on my face despite there being no wind here. This looked like a Wind Slash. A little trickier, especially in such a narrow area. I couldn’t tell how many he was going to launch, but the books said there was usually a one second delay between them. Taking this guy’s power into account, it’d make it about half that. If I could just keep my rhythm… One, two, three…

Whoosh!
Dodge!
Whoosh!
Dodge!
Whoosh!
Dodge!
Whoosh!
Do..ah!

I felt the last one, but it only seemed to clip me. Still, the blood trickling down my cheek was unmistakable.
“Unbelievable! You surv… ahem, you survived my most mediocre spells. I am not impressed!”

His borrowed horn began to glow once again, but brighter than before, and this time it was pointed right at me. This was bad, a Power Beam. Which, on a narrow bridge such as this, would be impossible to avoid. “Okay, don’t panic”, told myself, “I’ve just got about ten seconds until he vaporises me. Unless there’s some way I can stop it…” I had a thought. Ten seconds was more than enough time for me to…

“Hi-ya!!”

“Ngh!”

I knocked him back with another buck to the face. Busy concentrating, he didn’t see it coming. And to my surprise more than his, it broke said concentration.

“If that’s the best you’ve got”, I cried triumphantly, “then how dare you take my ancestor’s form!”

Of course, I knew it was all talk. I could counter his spells, sure, but I knew he was too strong for me to actually defeat. And I knew I’d grow tired eventually, and then I’d be doomed.

The rumbling grew louder. The falling slab was now halfway to the bottom: we were running out of time. Just as I was hurriedly thinking up a way to buy us more, the stallion standing under the arch provided the solution: he had conjured a shield spell to hold the door in place above his head. I could see he was visibly straining with pain though, he couldn’t hold it for long. And worse, our foe had caught on to his plan.

“Ah, trying to buy yourself more time, are you? Perhaps I should ignore the mare and finish you first…!” He turned and readied another spell, but I wouldn’t let him. I sprang forward and gave another kick.

“Ignore the mare at your peril!”

He barely moved, but like before my blow was enough to break his concentration. Unfortunately, I didn’t anticipate how quickly he could focus his attention back on me. Caught off guard, I was sent sprawling backwards by a magic spark. I had underestimated him: when his spells actually hit, they hit hard. My body was aching so much I could barely stand as the imposter in the form of my ancestor loomed over me, his eyes glowing with murderous intent.

“I’d say ‘see you in Tartarus’, but it looks like we’ve already past that stage.”

I felt control of my legs returning, but knew I wouldn’t be quick enough to avoid his next spell. This was the end.

“So I’ll just say…ugh!”

There was a tiny flash of silver light, so short it was barely noticeable. But whatever it was, it seemed to break my foe’s composure for one short moment. That was all I needed. I rammed my front hoof as hard as I could into the imposter’s chest (His beard parted as if it weren’t even there). Then, wasting no time, I followed up with a sweep to the legs, knocking him off balance. His expression of confidence turned to horror as he realised my next move just as I did. With one final blow, I sent him flying over the side of the bridge and watched as, silently, he plummeted into the abyss below.

It took me a few moments for my mind to register what I’d just done. Finally, with a newfound sense of relief, I managed to stand. Realising this was probably cause for celebration, I shouted:

“That’s right! And don’t come back!!”

But my joy was to be short-lived. A sound soon penetrated the silence, the sound of stone hooves against stone floor. Soon, the one sound became many, and a series of all too familiar shapes emerged from the fog. The Guardians had stepped up their attack, and we were their next target. And at the far end of the bridge, the stone door had advanced to just inches above Midnight Lance’s head. His spell wouldn’t hold much longer. I ran.

As I finally reached the archway, I realised my new companion had a look of absolute urgency in his eyes. When I turned, I saw why. Not only were masses of earth pony-shaped Guardians thundering across the bridge, but a cloud of winged statues were flying overhead. And it seemed they had some unicorns in their ranks too. Things were even worse that I thought.

“Come on Midnight”, I yelled, “we have to run!”

His response came in a voice even worse than ever, as if that were possible. The strain of his spell was really getting to him. But what hit me far harder were the words themselves.

“You… run… not ‘we’…”

“What?”, I said, but my confusion lasted only a moment before the truth set in. I had a feeling this might happen and strange as it may seem, I didn’t want it to.

“No Midnight! You… you’re coming with me, aren’t you?”

He looked at me with those tragic eyes once again.

“If they… get through… you… will not… escape. Be…sides… It’s me… they’re after… If I come… quietly… perhaps… they…”

“No! You can’t… you can’t just leave me like this! Not after all we’ve been through… when there’s so much more I want to…”
“I… must… I still… must pay… for my crimes. Until then… I cannot leave here. But…” There was less pain in his voice now. Or perhaps it was still there, he was just concealing it better. Like before, he had something to say he felt I had to hear. I’ll never forget what he told me that moment.

“Star Swirl, I am truly honoured to have met you. Seeing you has taught me… how much pain I have caused, and what a fool I truly was. Knowing you has shown me… you don’t deserve to suffer, for my foolish pride. I know you will live on to do amazing things, and I will help you, in the last way I can. I know you are worthy of this final gift.

My heart stopped. “No, Midnight, don’t even think of…!”

“Farewell!”

And in that instant, the unicorn stallion, coat black as night, drew himself back from the doorway, though not all the way. If one could freeze time at that exact instant, they would see him lean his head slightly forward, and one brief flash of darkness in the path of the falling stone. But to the untrained eye, it was all over just as it started. Another instant and the stone gate was sealed shut, its base littered with a few bony, obsidian shards. An instant later, and they were gone as if they were never there.

I stood in silence. I thought I heard a voice calling my name, but I was deaf to it. I thought I heard hoofsteps from behind me, but I ignored them. I felt as though all the world had left me, and I was alone.

I felt a tap on my shoulder, assuring me I wasn’t. Slowly, I turned to see the faces of my five friends. Immediately, I saw their expressions change. They were gaping, speechless, their eyes fixed on my forehead. They looked at me as if I’d changed, but I didn’t feel a thing. I knew what had happened, but somehow, I didn’t want to believe it. I gazed back at the door I’d come through, now sealed shut and… felt a single tear stream down my face.

“Mignight… you…”

Once again, I found the same sound breaking me out of my trance-like state. The stone hoofsteps were still coming, but not from behind the gate. It sounded like they were all around us.

“Save the moping for later! Now we ruuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuun~!”, said Levee, and I couldn’t agree more.
But just as I was leaving, I could have sworn I heard a voice whispering in my head…

“At last, it is finally… over.”