The Crystal Vanguard

by Skarner

Chapter 18: The Observer Effect

"You'll never find a rainbow if you're looking down."~Charlie Chaplin

"Yoohoo! Sejuani! Come out, come out wherever you are!" cried Pinkie Pie.

"Ugh!" grunted Rainbow Dash, "She could be anywhere in this castle!"

"Let's just keep looking Rainbow, I'm sure we'll find her." encouraged Fluttershy.

"I'm sorry. It's just that this is so whacked out!"

"It's alright Rainbow, I know it's very stressful, but we've got to keep going."

"Okay okay, you can stop being so sappy with me now." she said. They both giggled and smiled in content with each other , grateful that they had each other as a true friend. Just then, Pinkie suddenly waved her tail madly.

"Oh! Oh! Twitchy tail!" she warned. Everypony knew what that meant, at least everypony in Ponyville.

A deafening explosion shook Celestia's fortress, causing rubble to topple upon the three's heads. Luckily, the rubble was not fatal, nor enough to knock somepony out.

"Run!" hollered Pinkie Pie as she made a mad dash to the door up ahead. Then another large blast shook the castle, causing rubble to fall in front of the door, blocking one of their escape routes. They turned the other way, to then see that it was also blocked. They had no way out. Once again, an explosion created a large hole in the outer wall, creating a way outside. Fluttershy was locked in a fetus position, forcing Rainbow to slap her out of it.

"Thanks.." she mewed as she tended her bruise.

"Don't mention it. Now come on!" Rainbow Dash picked up Pinkie Pie as they left through the hole. Fluttershy picked up Angel Bunny as she too left through the hole. She finds Rainbow hovering in the air staring at the scene before them. Soon enough, Fluttershy and Pinkie's jaw dropped at the sight.

Torrents of purple clouded the night skies, creating havoc wherever they land. They thought they had a magical barrier that protected them from invaders, but it proved to be apparent that it was useless against the attackers. Among a flood of voidlings were behemoths of nothing they have ever seen before. Few resembled lizards, some resembled creatures from their old mare's tales, and others were horrifically unrecognizable. They crowded around the stone walls that stood between them and the ponies within Canterlot. With ease, they broke through within a matter of minutes. Overwhelmed with fear, Fluttershy dashed out of sight without a word. Rainbow looked around for her, but instead flew to a higher point of the castle and placed Pinkie there.

"I'll be back!" she said before she dived into battle. There is no way you're gonna take Canterlot!, she clenched her eyes to squeeze out the tears. She approached the crowd of voidlings climbing the wall near the speed of light, breaking the sound barrier. A massive sonic boom resonated from Rainbow Dash. The sonic rainboom!

Voidlings were wiped out in that general area, but behemoths stood strong and stomped onward. At least she delayed them from climbing through the wall. She could hear faint cheers from the other side of the wall, but when she turned her head back in front, she immediately tried to dodge a leaping behemoth, but as the behemoth's face was now visible, she froze in fear. She felt like she was in a nightmare like non she has ever experienced before.

They say the unknown is what everyone is afraid of. So why was she scared of one that was right in front of her? Luckily, she was barely scratched only on her right wing. She swerved around in a 360, and dashed back within castle walls. She collected the excited Pinkie, who couldn't stop blabbering from watching a rainboom from a high point of view. She took her from her tower, and brought her to a more safer place for now. She just hoped that she didn't have to go back in there. She shuddered at the thought of seeing a behemoth again.

---

Veigar let a storm of falling dark matter from the infinite skies, incinerating the Void creatures. Their numbers were relentless and powerful, but they only drove his adrenaline faster. She laughed maniacally as he powered his sceptre to bring down the wrath of dark magic. Annie was busy hurling fireballs at the ones that Veigar keeps missing. She gets a little irritated about that, but his power truly was great. Maokai and Little Strongheart was behind them, smashing the ones who leaked inside the station. However, none of them will have a chance of surviving unless the train came in less than 10 minutes they hoped.

Meanwhile, on the roof.

Fiddlesticks rubbed his head, trying to ease the pain from the impact. He remembered a loud whistle, then BAM! He was knocked out. He figured that he wasn't in severe condition, but what happened he wondered. Laid in front of him, was one of his crows. The crow had a large void bullet bulging out of its chest. it had taken the shot for him. Quickly, Fiddle moved to recover him and lend him some life-force through his magic. When it seemed to be working, Fiddle had the largest smile on his face. When the healing was complete, the crow started shaking madly. It started coughing, splattering, and kicking. Then, he opened his jaw wide, wider than it should be able to. Out of his jaw, crawled purple tendrils, spreading around its whole body. Fiddle immediately dropped the crow and watched it become one of them. Behind him, he heard a distinct *Choo Choo*. Moments later, he found himself face to face with a voidling who climbed onto the roof.

With his quick reflexes, he slashed down on it, cutting it cleanly in half. He panted with exhaustion. He had used most of his energy on summoning the crows.

"Mister Fiddle! We're going now!" yelled Little Strongheart, "The train is coming!"

He nodded, "The move! I'll cover you all!" he replied. Just then, Annie and Veigar busted through the door, so now everyone except Kassadin and Maokai stood on the roof.

"This way!" Strongheart leaped to the opposite side of Fiddle, and climbed down. The other fillies followed. But he broke off from the group. He knew he was supposed to look after them, but he was also supposed to look after Maokai. When he opened the door to downstairs, he heard loud cries and moans. He rushed down the stairs to see Maokai wrestling with a junior behemoth. As the behemoth charged at Maokai, it was barraged by a flock of crows that nipped away at it's skeleton. Fiddle grabbed Maokai and pulled him outside. He found the fillies defending on their own, but it wasn't enough to stop the main part of the horde of void creatures. Luckily, the train stormed out from the cave, and slowed down when it approached the station.

The train conductor did not stop. He slowed only enough so the survivors could hop on while it kept moving.

"Hurry and get on!" the conductor yelled. The train had only 1 passenger cart. No doubt that it could fit them all. Besides, what was the use of having additional carts to slow you down?

First to hop on was Annie, followed by Veigar, then Little Strongheart. Fiddle took the time to call in the crows back before he too hopped on. It was Maokai's turn, and it was hard for a tree to catch up with its stubby legs.

Fiddle rushed to the conductor and said, "Hey! You gotta slow down! We still have a friend out there somewhere!" Just then, Maokai grabbed onto the side of the door, then lifted himself onto the hoofsteps. Then the corrupted crow that Fid met earlier, dived down upon the train door. It screeched as it bit into Maokai's neck, terrifying the children. With brute force, Maokai grabbed the crow with his free arm, and crushed it with his fist. He threw the corpse out the door, watching it wither into dust. It was merely an apparition after all. Meanwhile, in the conductor's cart.

"I'm sorry but we can't stop! Especially when there is a mass coming for us!" the conductor screamed, with a hint of sorrow.

"You have to! He's a dear friend to us! He also knows how to stop the threat!" Fiddle screamed back with invisible tears.

"Well all I can do is slow down for a bit. If he doesn't come, we'll have to leave him behind! Either that or we all go down!"

Fiddle stared out the window for Kassadin, but he was not in sight. At this point, they made it past the train station, and they were able to gaze on the incoming horde. Still, there was no sign of Kassadin at all. The fire that lit the hope that Kassadin would survive, was gone.

"Alright! I gotta gun it! They're coming too close!" the conductor kicked up the acceleration lever, hopped off from his seat, and madly shovelled mounds of coal into the engine. Fiddle's ears heard nothing but the increasingly loud noise of the machine.

---

As the portal dissipated from their own world, but appeared in another, the sisters are thrown into a heavily heated siege in an alien city. There were ponies such as them, but also monstrosities whom are violet. Among the ponies were griffons,minotaurs, and unseen species that neither Kayle nor Morgana has ever imagined. However, they fought together to fend the purple creatures from their city, but they were confused when they found 2 strange alicorns tumble into their world.

Kayle kicked Morgana towards the ground, with force so immense that it made a crater upon landing. Before Kayle could dive to land another strike, a large behemoth, resembling a rhino rammed into Kayle. She spun out of the air, but was able to recover and land safely. She dashed forth, and flayed the behemoth's head off as if it was made of paper. She looked back to the spot where Morgana had landed, but she was no where in sight.

Damn it! she swore in her mind, I'll find you... and I will bring you in for justice.

She was disruptively interrupted, by a flying behemoth that resembled a hornet with claws and corrosive spit. As she dodged a blob of that corrosive spit, she was able to get a real view of the beings that lived here. There were ponies and other species, fighting a greater enemy. She didn't have to ask which side was clean or unclean. Her job was to purge the unclean, and bring everlasting justice to the world. She gave a mighty battle cry, gaining the attention of nearby soldiers, and charged forth to the behemoth with her righteous sword pointed.

---

Shyvana did not sleep at all that night, but her determination to hunt down Burdac never faded one bit. The winds that night were very gustful, making it harder and harder to fly. She fussed about how she shouldn't be slowed down by simple wind. All of a sudden, a silent swoop of something smacked into her side.She tumbled in the sky for a moment, before she regained her balance, then she turned to see what obstructed her.

Burdac screeched before he clenched her neck with his claws, and brought her down to the ground. She was nearly knocked out when she was slammed into the dirt, but she could not make a counter move when he had her pinned. He snarled as he smiled, although there was a clear scar below his eye from their recent battle.

"You're still foolish as ever!" he said, "Now I'll kill daddy's little girl." he opened his jaw to bite her neck and snap it, but a silver bolt flew in from their left, and pierced Burdac's right eye. He screamed in pain, and flew up to recover. Vayne made quite a good shot;one that probably saved Shyvana's life. Then Jarvan and the rest of his footmen entered the scene.

"Tether him down!" commanded Jarvan, and his colts followed through. They shot harpoons that latched onto Burdac's legs and wings, and made him crash into the ground. Before they could secure him, Burdac swept the footmen off their legs with a strong lash from his tail. He once again, flew up into the sky and breathed an intense circle of fire around Shyvana, Vayne, and Jarvan cutting his troops off. She was far too tired and injured to inflict a fatal blow, but she was able to hold him off before she could escape... or can she?

Vayne tried her best to dodge and shoot bolts at the same time, but she couldn't take the heat that Burdac constantly breathed at her. The least she could do was delay him for Jarvan and his troops to move in. The flames did not die down, and it was amazing how Burdac was able to keep Shyvana and Jarvan away, while focusing on Vayne. Knowing that this wasn't going to work, she had to do something.

She forced her legs to sharply change course, and straight into Burdac. She tumbled forward, and at the same time pulled out her large crossbow. She lodged silver bolts into his legs, which only made him mad. Unable to dodge after an engage such as that, she braced for impact as she felt a thwack from his fist. She was sent through the firewall, and collided into one of Jarvan's troops. They quickly doused the flames that lingered on her leather armour, and went back to creating an opening in the flames. It was dragon fire, they learned that it was nothing like natural fire.

Jarvan thrusted his lance forward, extending its range to reach Burdac from a safe distance, while managing to graze his wings. Jarvan then un-hitched his Equestrian standard, and launched it onto Burdac's hind leg, pinning him in place. Then Shyvana followed up and pounced forward with her claws aimed at his neck. She then swiped with her talons to prevent Burdac from biting her, while she attempted to gash open his neck.

Burdac was able to free his hind leg from Jarvan's standard, and kicked Shyvana off with tremendous force. She collided into poor Jarvan, who laid beneath an 11-ton Shyvana. The sinister dragon then back-clawed Shyvana off of him, and grasped onto Jarvan. He smiled as he brought him up to his face. He treaded to the nearby cliffside. The flames behind the three was still burning strongly, keeping the back-up out. Shyvana was too weak to take another blow and Burdac held out his claw, threatening to drop his pony hostage to his perilous death. Below were sharp stalagmites and a rushing river. Jarvan still held onto his lance, but he did not try to break free from there. Behind Burdac stood his standard.

"Ponies are too easy a prey, I'd rather leave you to fall prey to others." the drake snarled.

"I'll hunt you down, fool!" quipped the prince. Perhaps he should have said something more threatening.

"The only down I know is death." he released his clutch, expecting to witness Jarvan to get pierced by the stalagmites, but he propelled his lance to his standard, catching its handle with the teeth of his lance. As the lance retracted to pull himself up, but the standard was not sturdy as he thought it was. So with no luck , he tumbled down alongside the cliff's edge.

Shyvana lunged after him, "I'm coming Jarvan!" she screeched while dive bombing down to reach him. Burdac simply laughed, and flew off.

The wind was incredibly strong that night, and kept leaning Shyvana to the cliff side, but she had great control by flying downwards. Jarvan kept screaming, as the ground rushed to meet them. Then at the last moment, Shyvana grabbed Jarvan by his legs, and flipped over with her backside facing down. She held him tight to her belly as they braced for impact.

With much fortune, she managed to slip in between the stalagmites, but landed very hard.

Also fortunate, Jarvan was still conscious from the fall, and coughed a bit of dust and blood, but they weren't his blood. Shyvana's body was riddled with grazes and scratches, where her blood dripped. He was practically in debt to Shyvana for saving his life, but then he feared that she may not awaken. His hopes were renewed as she made a loud groan. She too, coughed out dust and blood. Once she recovered, she launched herself up. Her wings were exhausted, but she pressed on. She found it to be extremely difficult as she fought against the wind. Eventually, she crashed herself into the wall with Jarvan still in her careful claws. Shyvana was barely 1/4 on the way up, but she wasn't ready to give up yet. She kicked off the wall, and tried to fly up once again, but fell down from her loss of balance, thanks to the wind. She crashed into the same spot as before. She sighed, she gave up.

"You alright Prince Jarvan?" she said, relaxing into the position she was in, due to her exhaustion.

"Yea, I'm good, thanks to you."

"Good."

They sighed, and let their heart beats calm down.

"So uh, " Jarvan started, "We should start climbing up the cliff." Shyvana, who was already looking up estimated that it would be a 1.5km climb.

"You can start, I'll catch up." she rasped as she closed her eyes.

"On second thought," he looked up, to see that the climb will prove to be near impossible, "Let's just find somewhere to rest."

"Sounds good." she took Jarvan off of her belly and placed him onto the shore. She also dipped her wing into the water, savouring the refreshing sensation. Satisfied, she stood up and morphed back into her pony-form. She stood beside Jarvan, motioning him to get a move on. He was stuck in thought for a moment, then he pulled out a large piece of chalk from his pocket. "What the heck is that for?" she asked with a hint of annoyance.

"I'm going to create a line on the cliff wall as we walk in a direction, so if Vayne and my colts were to climb down here, they'll see where we went by following the chalk trail." he grinned as he dragged the chalk as he walked left. (Jarvan's left)

"Pretty clever, but what happens when it rains?" she leaned her posture to one side, as if critical of Jarvan's thinking.

"Well, that's what I'm hoping to not happen."

With a sigh, she treaded beside Jarvan along the riverside, heading upstream. Together they travelled in silence, letting the scratch of the chalk on the rocks and the gushing sound of flowing water satisfy the lack of conversation. Just about 15 minutes ago, all she wanted was vengeance. Although her goal has not changed, she felt that the urgency was unnecessary. She felt like she had more than enough time in the world to bring him down, but it was because she was so thoughtless which delayed the hunt even further. She felt as if the world held a grudge against her... for being a minority. She still felt the strong gale of the wind, blowing against her. She knew non-other who was a half-breed such as her. She didn't belong in this world. The sky was still dark, even though it was supposed to be morning. She also found it odd that she and her kind had to depend on pony demigods to raise the sun and the moon. It seemed that they were not doing their job, or perhaps something happened to them.

*Click* Jarvan's chalk broke.

"It's alright." he winked. Fortunately, he had more. They kept walking on, until they found a spot that gave a wide berth between the cliff wall and the river. He continued to mark the wall, while walking into the tiny tiny clearing.

Shyvana walked to the mossy centre of the clearing, and rolled in it.

"Wow! This is the softest moss I've ever touched!" she commented, "Shall we stop here?"

"If you insist." he replied as he placed his chalk back into his pocket. Where was the pocket? In between himself and his armour. He went to join Shyvana, and decided that they needed a fire going. Fortunately, they were surrounded by trees.

Later that day, the afternoon was still dark as night, and Shyvana watched in boredom as Jarvan once again, attempts to ignite a fire. He was getting frustrated. Usually, he would have some flint to help him, but all he had was his lance. He used a heavy rock to scratch some sparks into their firewood, but it proved to be fruitless.

She rolled her eyes. She puckered her lips and spat fire onto the pile of wood, giving it ample amounts of ignition. When it lit up, it also startled Jarvan. He gave a sheepish laugh and sat in front of the fire. For about a good 5 minutes, Shyvana finally broke the silence.

"So Prince Jarvan--" she started.

"Please, no need to call me prince." he said. With a sigh, Shyvana tried again.

"So Jarvan, do you have a family back home?"

"No. All I have is my cousin Blueblood. He's a stuck up. How about you?" he idiotically asked. Obviously she did not have a family back home.

"My brother, but he's not biologically my brother." she sighed. At least Jarvan didn't make her sob again about her currently deceased family members.

"What's his name?" he asked.

"It's... um..." she cursed to herself, unable to recall his name. She was always able to know his name!

"Look Shyvana, I'm really sorry that you've lost so many in your family, but you don't need to make up brothers or sisters."

"No no! I do have a brother, I just... can't remember." she punched the ground in frustration. Suddenly, she realized that her fondest memories with him were gone. It was similar to forgetting how to walk.

"Well, just to let you know that we, the Dauntless, are your family now." he said, "We'll always be here to care for you." assuming that his troops are not scared of dragons such as her anymore. She took in those words deeply. She enjoyed the idea of being accepted, but she doubted that she'll last long aside ponies.

"Thanks, but at this point I don't quite want such things," she lied to herself, "But enough of talking about me. Why did you start travelling around the world just to hunt down dangerous creatures?"

He hesitated to tell her at first, but he was ready to open up. "The real reason huh?" he scratched his chin, "Promise to keep this between you an' me?"

"What use would it do me if I blabbered about it to someone else?"

"Just promise me." he stated with a serious and stern face. She nodded, understanding the magnitude of what's about to come. "Back way before the Crystal Empire reappeared," assuming that she knew what the Crystal Empire is, "I trained with the royal guards. Compared to my comrades, I was the most strongest in strategy and physique. However, I had one friend who was stronger but not smarter than me. One day in the field, the notorious Urgot..." also assuming that she knew what the buck he was talking about, "Appeared with an army. It was the first time we met that sack of tard, but he defeated my whole battalion. I was the last one, the one who was in charge of that specific group of guards. Except, when Urgot was about to execute me, my friend miraculously saved me.

Although I was in debt to him, I was also in debt to myself. I felt weak, and I never want to feel weak ever again. Then during my days as part of the Dauntless, I grabbed troops and guards to join me in my adventure. To hunt the greatest beasts, so that I'll be the greatest beast."

"I see, but how long have you been out?" she asked as she was partially immersed into his story.

"To be honest, I have not been counting. I could estimate around 4 months or 5 so far."

"So, you hunted down deadly creatures around the world, just to become stronger than you used to be?"

"I wanted to become stronger than everypony. Until I realized that I am also getting my comrades killed during this. I wanted to stop, and go back home, but what would that make me look like?"

"In my tribe, you would be owned as a hero, and those who fell would be most honourable."

"Well to my people, if I returned with so many dead, I would be deemed as a terrible commander; sending these lives to their doom by accomplishing nothing, but taking even more lives of others." he sighed as he finished, "I want to go home."

She scoffed, never thought she would hear those words from Jarvan. Especially when it was sincere.

"Lucky for you, you have a home and a family. Isn't that what everyone wants?" she said.

He stifled a laugh, "I hate living with Blueblood. He likes to dawdle behind other royalty and kiss hooves to make himself seem interesting."

"Yes, but you'll at least have me part of your family." did she really just tell that to him?

"I see you've changed your mind?"

"Perhaps." she responded slowly.

"It's great to have someone watch your back, to support you."

"Indeed." she yawned, "I I could use some sleep... or rather a long nap in the afternoon."

"Alright. Goodnight Shyvana."

"Good afternoon," she corrected him, "But you too."

Author's Note:

Also, thanks to a suggestion by one of my readers, i submitted the story to EQD (Equestria Daily) which is quite a prestigious site for brony works, such as fanfics, art, videos, music etc.

However, it stated that i had a lot of grammar mistakes and that Terra was too weak a characterization. I do plan to explain that i intentionally made a weak portrayal of her because i reveal more near the end, which will impact the ending tremendously (hint hint)

If you'd like to add me on EUW, my IGN is WorstSkarnerEUW (huehue) and its level 10 at the moment, so i'm open to play with literally ANYONE who isnt gonna go ranked

I am also low on fresh songs, so if you recommend any, i will gladly consider listening to it, see if it clicks with me

Lastly, i want to remind everyone who gets this far, that the story was made precisely so i can make you feel that sense of...satisfaction and inspiration. There are lessons that i plug into this story that i dearly cherish, and i started writing (or typing) just so you can see how i see the world.

As usual,tell me about what you think about the story so far

or if you have spotted any mistakes

or if you just want to critique my own story with me, that'll be cool

Lastly lastly, i may or may not be very active for the rest of october, mostly because im working on my awesome costume for halloween (its something i do every single year, since my parents let me use sharp tools and foam when i was 15)

So after october is my bliss time for the story ^^