//------------------------------//
// Chapter 10 
// Story: Bringing Balance 
// by Shumiry 
//------------------------------//


Chapter 10

“Five lords in number, each with a five-spired crown. Five titles rendered, to tear the world down. Four demons awaken, consumed by their hate. The fifth beast arises, here to clean the slate.”	-excerpt from the Ballad of the Five


The Griffin embassy was chaos. Ponies ran amok, while the griffins, their claws sheathed in voidstone, sliced spells from the air. Two of the envoy lay slain, smoldering holes clearly defining the cause of death. At least a dozen ponies were injured, though none had yet been killed. Taulus was roaring orders to his troop, keeping them in line despite their tendency to wander from the formation to find a place to lay down.
Having learned from her battles with the Lords, Celestia carefully probed the area for any traps before casting her spell, a burst of light negating the effects of ensorcellment. This particular spell lingered, a dampening effect on magic, like trying to push through a thick blanket. As reason returned to the gathering, the ponies' faces turned from anger, to horror. Screams of terror erupted as the stallions and mares fled the scene, unable to come to grips with the violence on display.
The griffins remained in their formation, watching the ponies run, before Taulus turned on Celestia.
“You have made a fatal error this day Princess!” She tried to speak, but he plowed forward, raising his voice to cut her off,
“Today you have sparked a war the likes of which you've never known! Death is coming for you” his voice had continued rising, turning into a birdlike screech, “and all of Equestria shall fall-” His rant was cut short as a white unicorn appeared astride his back, forehooves wrapped around the griffin's neck. Turning his head, he looked into the hazel eyes of Secret Seeker. For a second, the world stood still, as Celestia and Twilight gaped, unsure of their next move.
Pckow! Seeker's right pupil expanded, turning the whole eye black. The air distorted between him and the griffin, and it seemed like reality itself was being sucked into the black hole of his eye. The griffin was pulled within. The Lord, was not.
Seeker was now riding on the shoulders of a massive black demon. Its scales seemed to rest on a bed of fluorescent green, the light shining through from beneath when they shifted just right. Great, leathery wings unfurled from its back, as it reared up on its hind legs. No longer trapped in the pony shell, the thing's aura of Dispute hit like an ocean breaker.
Anger and hate filled the eyes of the few ponies who remained, though the griffins, huddled around Alion, seemed unfazed. With a roar, the demon reached up, attempting to grab the white unicorn from its back. Instead, Seeker dropped, sliding down the thing's back and tail, jumping off to land on the cobblestones.
Celestia struck.
Five lines of solar fire shot from her horn, the middle one heading straight for the demon. The others went past, ricocheting off the empty air behind it, coming in at its back. The fire in the middle fizzled to nothing under the demon's scrutiny, and it fixed Celestia with its Stare, paralyzing her with fear. When the lines reached it, the demon simply wasn't there anymore. Celestia stood frozen, as her own beams of power rushed towards her.
“Sorry Princess,” Twilight said, as her lavender glow enveloped the alicorn, shoving her aside just before the attack struck. The demon had teleported behind the griffins, and Seeker's violet blast streaked for him. With a quick snap, the thing reached down, plucking Alion from the huddled creatures, and held him as a shield before the beam.
It struck, searing a hole through the griffin's heart, killing him instantly. Or it should have. When the griffin went limp, it shed its skin, and the other demon dropped it as it morphed into a duplicate of himself. Though they looked nearly identical, the glow from beneath the scales of Alion's demon was a deep, navy blue.
Before its clawed feet hit the ground, the thing teleported, appearing before the white unicorn.
“I am Lotus,” it said, the voice like air escaping a furnace, “know me, and despair.” The aura coming from the thing was overwhelming. It hit like a kick, and all concerns were wiped from his mind. His HUD was screaming at him, red lights flashing about some danger. Lack of oxygen. Heart rate slowing. Impending brain damage.
It didn't matter.
He sank to the ground, content to just lie there. Whatever it was that was happening around him, couldn't be that important. The beast reared, raising its foot to crush the little pony. Twilight and Celestia moved to intercede, but the other demon suddenly stood before them. Their eyes instantly filled with malice. All that mattered right now was fighting, and this big ugly brute looked like a promising opponent.
“I am Agitarius, Lord of Dispute. Let my blood lust consume-” he was cut off by the violet blast that struck him from behind, as a pair of sky blue hooves bucked Lotus in the chest, knocking him off balance. The Twilight standing beside Celestia wavered and vanished.
Standing in their midst, was Luna, surrounded by Applejack, Rarity, Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy. Twilight stood a little ways off, power still radiating from her horn. Rainbow Dash flew down beside Seeker, and the aura of her loyalty purged him of his apathy. With a gasp, purpose returned to him, and he rose to his hooves, spoiling for a fight. Agitarius had stumbled from the blast, and Celestia, still in the grips of his aura, brought the full fury of her power to bear.
A corona of light bloomed behind her, as her eyes faded to white. The power flared, causing the ponies and griffins to look away, lest they be blinded by its brilliance.
“To me my little ponies!” Luna shrieked, terror in her voice, “The sun is coming!” Instantly, the ponies rushed to her side, and her horn glowed midnight blue. As the radiance behind Celestia reached its apex, they were engulfed in a sphere of blackness. Inside the sphere was silence but for the labored breathing of the Princess, the glow of her horn providing the only light. Without any sight or sound of the outside coming in, it was impossible to know what was happening.
Until Luna gasped, the color draining from her face. Instantly, Rarity's horn flared with power, funneling into the alicorn, strengthening her. Twilight leaned her head in, touching her horn to the beam emanating from Rarity. Seeker's eyes glanced between them, from one to the other, until Twilight spoke through gritted teeth,
“Rarity is the Element of Generosity. Her gifting magic is virtually without loss. This type of assistance is normally pointless, since most of the energy is consumed to power the transfer. But with her here...” Twilight trailed off, focusing on sending her power to the moon Princess. Seeker nodded, but did not move to offer his power. He was concocting a plan, and he would need his strength.
With a sigh, Luna released the spell and sank to the ground. The combined effects of healing the soldier, teleporting to Ponyville and back, and then holding the shield against her sister's might had taken its toll, and she knew she could fight no more. The sight that greeted them was terrifying.
The street of Canterlot was scorched black. Though nopony had been caught in the blast, the walls behind where the griffins had lain had gaps in the burn silhouetting their positions. Any other evidence of their existence was gone. The two demons still stood, though Agitarius' wings were little more than nubs, flaps of skin dangling from exposed bone.
He hardly seemed to notice.
He had bent his head down to his chest, raising his arms in front of it to protect himself. Now that the onslaught was over, his visage snapped up to meet the Princess'. Her eyes widened in shock, as the demon's claws, wreathed in crackling black lightning, descended upon her.
Pckow! Seeker had been moving the moment the shield dropped. The beast had been too fast for him to utilize his plan, but he was close enough for the Sealing Sight to strip the lightning from the strike. The claws smashed against Celestia, her runes flaring to life just before the impact, causing a burst of light to dampen the effect of the blow. She was thrown back, but suffered only minor injury, three red lines forming along her side.
Lotus, spying Luna's weakness, had begun advancing on the exhausted alicorn, but the Element bearers wouldn't have it. Dash flew around the creature, her powerful legs landing painful kicks if he failed to be sufficiently distracted. Due to this, Applejack was able to run right up to it, rearing up on her front legs, and delivering a bone-crushing buck to its ankle. The joint popped the wrong way, as the skin and scales distorted. Lotus roared in anger and pain, as it fell to its knee. There would be no reprieve.
Twilight's eyes had faded to white, and the power of her magic coursed through her like a river.
“Get back girls,” she said, the power giving her the Royal Canterlot Speaking Voice. Dash and Applejack complied, as the spell she wove took shape. Lotus struggled to rise, to escape the confines of the vortex of swirling lavender energy that was forming around him. He struggled in vain.
“Storm of Ages,” Twilight said, as the tornado solidified into being, forced into existence by her will and power. Before Seeker and Celestia could converge on Agitarius, a thunderclap shook the air.
“Udrahk eb tobundus.” The voice, or voices, for it sounded like two beings speaking, seemed to come from the skies themselves, “Unshevline un ao.” The air thrummed with power, rendering the ponies incapable of acting. Only Twilight seemed unhindered, her cutie mark shining brilliantly, as she continued staring intently at the vortex she had made. Agitarius wavered, like a painting that had fallen into water, and faded from reality, his aura of hate and rage vanishing with him.
The oppressing field of the magic lifted, and the ponies, who had sunk to the streets below, rose to their hooves. Seeker appeared beside the vortex, and turned to Twilight.
“I'm ready,” he said, Dash trotting up beside him to combat the creature's aura of Despondence. The glow faded from the purple unicorn's horn, and the swirling magic broke apart, returning to the aether. Lotus had curled into a ball, wrapping his wings around himself for protection. Before he had time to react to the dropping of the spell, Seeker reared up on his hind legs, planting his forehooves on the thing's wings.
Pckow! With an otherworldly scream, Lotus' wings, and a chunk of his flesh and scales were ripped into the unicorn's eye. Eerie green lightning blades formed on Seeker's forehooves, and he reared again, plunging them into the demon's chest. Lotus' claws grabbed him, their black lightning causing the appendages to sink through the pony's skin, straight into his soul.
Secret Seeker flashed a wicked grin. Inside themselves, the two beings struggled for dominance. The black glow of the demon's magic was feeding into the strand of black power the stallion had collected from Mephistopheles. He was fighting to weave the power into himself, while using his own blades to try to disrupt Lotus' focus.
As the fight raged on within, the gathered ponies watched from beyond the black and green dome that had formed around the combatants. Whatever struggle Seeker was facing, he'd have to face it alone.
Swing. Thrust. Weave. Take. Seeker battled lightning bolts that dodged and struck like snakes. Whenever his blade caught one, it would flare out and vanish, a puff of black smoke, and he would feel his opponent weaken. He could also feel the beast growing weaker as he stole its power through its claws, draining into him. His enemy's fight seemed to ebb and flow, sometimes battling viciously, other times striking halfheartedly.
It seemed even the Lord of Despondence was not immune to his own apathy. Seeker was thankful. The beast was robust. Not because it had great stores of power at its command, but because it was built with such density. Like trying to tunnel through rock with a spoon, he thought, as his blade connected once more, causing another snake bolt to vanish.
His green nimbus held the beast's claws trapped within him, while he struggled to focus on both tasks at hoof. Finally, after what felt like hours of nonstop combat, the fight seemed to go out of the demon. Pulling the power through the claws had been like trying to reel in a vigorous fish. Now, the line came easily, and he pulled with all his might, adding a spinning motion to the weave, making it even faster.
He felt its strength, as well as saw the creature itself, fade. Soon, the soul unraveled before his eyes, like a tapestry coming undone. As the last of the thread slid home, becoming a part of him, he finally relaxed, his consciousness returning to the mortal realm. Seeker lay on the cobblestone road, the eerie green sphere, no longer containing any trace of the demon's blackness, faded. The others rushed to him as he tried to rise to his hooves.
It was a useless attempt. His body refused to respond, and he lay there as first Fluttershy, then Luna, who could barely move herself, then Twilight, and finally Celestia took turns administering to him. Each reached the same conclusion, that he was physically and mentally exhausted, but otherwise unharmed. He began to describe what had happened, Dash having asked the moment she'd reached him, but, mid-sentence, his eyes closed, and he drifted off to sleep.