//------------------------------//
// The Search For The Ebony Blade, Part 2 
// Story: When Two Worlds Meet 
// by Darkness 1 
//------------------------------//

	Darkness, of course, was outside, on a cliff, on the outskirts of the town, keeping watch on the inn, he knew by now, everypony, was asleep, by now. He looked up at the stars, wondering what might be in store for him, and the others, the following day. But he figured he better get some rest, laid down, and said, " Better get some rest, no telling what tomorrow might bring." As he finished his thought he went asleep shortly after. 
The next morning, everypony woke up, and left the inn, and realized, that Darkness was not in the inn, and Twilight said, " Did anypony see Darkness?" 
Snowshy said, " It's okay, if I know Darkness, he more than likely, was keeping watch on the inn, from a distance, and slept there, he should be here soon, we should get whatever we might need for the trip, while we wait for his return." 
Applejack said, " Good idea, when ya'll get what you need, meet up here." 
Rarity said, " Sounds good to me, see you all in a few!" They all nodded, and they all spread out, to various stores, to prepare for the trip ahead. Minutes later, Darkness flew into town, and landed in front of the inn, and saw a letter on the inn's sign, and that was clearly written by Pinkie Pie. 
Darkness picked up the letter, and opened it, confetti came out, and Darkness began to read it: " Hi Darkness! If you are reading this, we all are shopping right now, to get ready for our journey to the Crystal Mountains, we'll be back in few! Bye!" 
Darkness said, " Good idea, I should probably get some maintenance on my sword, no telling what we're going to run into." As he put the letter in his pack, Darkness headed for the blacksmith, as Lunar Ebony Blade, was heading back to the inn. 30 minutes later, everypony else, headed back to the inn, and as they all got there, they all saw, that Darkness was waiting, having a conversation, with Lunar Ebony Blade, and as Darkness saw the others, he waved they over. 
They all came over, and Snowshy said with a smile, " What did I tell you all? I knew it was a good idea to go shopping. I knew Darkness would be back by the time we got done preparing, and I guess you did too Darkness?"
Darkness said, " I did, I got my sword sharpened, and some other things. I hadn't thought about it, when I first got it, so I figured it could use some maintenance, when I read Pinkie Pie's letter." 
Pinkie Pie jumped in, and said, " You got the letter?" 
Darkness chuckled, and said, " Heh heh, Yes, Pinkie Pie, I got the letter, and the confetti too." 
Everypony laughed, Snowshy said, " Okay, we are all ready, so what's the plan brother?" 
Darkness dug out a map from his pack, and said, " I figured it was high time to get a map as well, anyways, as you all know, the path to and through the Crystal Mountains, has not  been used or repaired, in centuries, so we will have to tread carefully. Also, from what I've asked and gathered from the locals here, they knew about the legend, and they say it's all real, that the mountains, are overrun, by monsters, and a 'different breed', of Dragons, pffft, whatever that means. When I asked what they meant, they didn't know, so we should be on alert, there is a high possibility, we could surprised and ambushed by these monsters, and these 'strange dragons', at any time, when we get to the path to mountains, and through the mountains." He then spread out the map, and ushered everypony over, and they all looked at the map, and Darkness began to point on the map, as he spoke, and he said, " Alright, here's where we are right now, there's no train tracks anymore that go out that way, so will have to travel, on hoof. I figure if we follow the road that should still be there, and avoid any side roads, we should be fine, however, there are no maps, as far as the mountains themselves go, the mountains, have changed a lot over the years, due to the weather, so all the maps I have, are no longer accurate, so it'll be a lot of guesswork, as we travel through the mountains. Alright, now, everypony good with the plan? Or does somepony have a different route or idea in mind, now would be a good time to bring them up."
Snowshy spoke as she pointed to different area on the map, and she said, " I like your idea, brother, but, I think the main road to the Crystal Mountains, will be too risky, and we'll have a higher chance, of running into more monsters, plus, Lunar Ebony Blade, is still defenseless, as we could all be involved in mid-battle, another monster could come out of nowhere, and hurt Lunar Ebony Blade. I think we should take the side road, it follows closely to the mountains themselves, and it would still lead us to the entrance of the mountains, it'll just take us a little longer to get us there, but it would be safer, for Lunar Ebony Blade, to avoid as much monsters, as possible." 
Darkness said, " Hmmm...I hadn't considered that....That's actually a good idea. Very well, that's the plan then, anypony else?" Darkness looked around, and everypony else shook their heads no, and Darkness said, " Okay, we'll take the side road, and as my sister said, it will take a little longer, but we have less risk of running into trouble. However, I know for a fact, that this road, is in worse condition, than the main road, so no telling if there will be pitfalls or not, or broken bridges, and who knows what else. So be on your guard for that. But that still leaves these 'strange dragons', we don't know if they will be hostile or not, so all of you, keep your eyes out for that, otherwise, that about wraps things up. Everypony ready?" Everypony nodded, and Darkness asked Lunar Ebony Blade, " Are you ready for this? You still want to go? I would completely understand, if you didn't want to." 
Lunar Ebony Blade said with a determined face, " I'll go, I've come too far, to just walk away. Besides, I need to know and see the truth of my ancestors for myself." 
Darkness nodded in respect, and said, " Very well, we will all do what we can, to help you get there."
Everypony cheered, and Lunar Ebony Blade spoke, " Alright! Let's do this!" 
Darkness smiled and said, " You heard him, let's go!" Nothing more was said as everypony followed Darkness, their spirits high. It wasn't long before they all were on the main road, and Darkness said, " Okay, the side road should up ahead, somewhere, I can't see anything with all this snow, and this wind....it's making it that much harder to see  and hear anything." 
Lunar Ebony Blade was the one that saw the side road first and pointed it out to Darkness and the others, and said, " There it is! It's just up ahead! To the left!" 
Darkness said, " I see it! Everypony, follow me to that road!" Everypony just followed, and didn't bother to speak above the sound of the wind, as they got to road, they could all clearly see the road was in bad shape,  there were giant holes everywhere, and the stone bridge ahead of them, looked like it was ready to collapse. Darkness said, " Everypony! Watch your step! We'll take this road slowly!" Everypony nodded, and followed behind Darkness, one behind the other. As they got to the bridge, everypony could clearly see that the stone, had cracks in everywhere, and the ropes that kept the supports together, looked like they were ready to snap at any moment. Darkness turned around, and said, " Okay! This bridge is in bad condition! So, everypony, avoid the cracks! Hopefully the bridge will hold up until we cross it! Alright! Let's go!" Everypony nodded, and they all began to cross the bridge, and as they were halfway across, they all heard a very loud crack, and they all saw the ropes snap, and Darkness yelled, " Go! Hurry!" And they all trotted as fast as they could, and Fluttershy, Snowshy, Rainbow Dash, and Twilight were the first ones to get across. As Darkness looked behind him, he saw the bridge collapsing, and he knew the others were not going to make it, so he stopped in his tracks, and ushered the others to keep moving.
Those that were already across, watched Darkness stop, and Twilight asked, " What's he doing?!" 
Snowshy said, " What he has to!" Nopony said anything else, as they watched and waited for the others to cross. Darkness spread out his wings, and lifted a little off the ground, closed his eyes, and focused, as a purple symbol, suddenly appeared on the bridge. The bridge was still collapsing, but slowly, and then, it stopped falling apart, and then, slowly, it was as if the bridge began to repair itself. At this point, all but Lunar Ebony Blade had crossed, and he was almost there, he trotted past Darkness, and made it across, then Darkness opened his eyes, and flew to other side of the bridge and the symbol disappeared , and the bridge collapsed in seconds. 
As Darkness landed, Twilight asked, " What was that?!" 
Darkness said, " No time for explanations! This snowstorm is getting worse! We'll talk about it later!" 
Twilight said, "Okay!" And they continued down the road, avoiding all the pitfalls. 
As they came around a corner, they could see, what looked like a hut, and Darkness pointed it out, and said, " We should rest up there, until this storm settles down a bit!" Everypony just followed, and as they got to the door, Darkness opened it, and ushered everypony inside, closed the door, shutting out the snowstorm. The door was opened a few minutes later, as Darkness came in, with some wood, and closed the door behind him. He went to the fireplace, placed the wood inside it, and conjured some fire from his horn, and cast it on the wood, causing the wood to go on fire, in seconds, and after a few minutes later, a rather hot fire, began to warm up the hut.
Darkness then sat at the table, that was nearby a window, and dug out a jug from his pack, and began to drink from the jug, and Twilight came over to the table, and sat down in a chair, opposite Darkness, and asked, " How long do you think this storm will last?" 
Darkness put the jug down, and said, " Hard to tell right now, but if I was to guess, maybe a couple hours, at best, by then, it should calm down enough, we can continue." 
Twilight said, " I see. I wanted to say, thank you for the getting the fireplace going for all us, that was rather kind of you, we all appreciate it." 
Darkness didn't look up, and said, " I just did what I had to do, that's all, no need to thank me. But I appreciate it though." 
Twilight said, " Well, whatever you call it, thanks." 
Darkness said, " Sure, not a problem." 
Snowshy came up to the table, and sat down in the chair beside Twilight, and asked Darkness, " Now, that we can hear each other, what did you do back there on the bridge?" 
Darkness replied, " Well, that's a simple answer: I simply used a reconstruction spell, and slowed down time a little, only on the bridge, and gave the others enough time to cross, and when everypony had finished crossing the bridge, I let my concentration go on the bridge, and let it fall apart." 
Snowshy said, " A reconstruction spell? It looked powerful." 
Darkness replied, " Powerful to all of you, a simple spell, to me. Now, don't get the wrong idea, it's just, I don't need to learn spells, as you all need to, my imagination, is my only limit. If I can get imagine it, I can cast it, at will, that's all." 
Twilight said, " Still, though, it would take me years to learn a spell like that." 
Darkness said, " Don't belittle yourself, you can do anything you put your mind to. And besides, Twilight, I'm pretty sure your friends see you do a lot of spells, that other unicorns, could only dream of pulling off, am I right?"
Twilight said, " Yeah, they have, and yeah, you're right Darkness, still, it would take me some practice to pull off what you did." 
Darkness looked up at Twilight, and said, " Well, when this is all over, perhaps, I can teach you or anypony else that wants to learn, magic, history, whatever it might be. Perhaps I can teach you Twilight, a spell or two, the sorcerer pony way, and help you to better use your gifts as well." 
Twilight nodded, and said, " I would appreciate that, and I look forward to it." 
Darkness chuckled, and said, " Of course, that will have to wait, until this is all over, and after Luna and I's honeymoon." 
Twilight said, " I can wait until then." 
Darkness said, " Very well, then. Now, we should all rest up, while we have some time, the storm's not going to calm down anytime soon." Darkness looked out the window, and said, " The storm's getting worse, a good nap for everypony might be best, from the looks of things, we are going to be here a while." Everypony went to sleep shortly afterward, and after four hours later, they all woke up, to find that the wind had stopped, but it was still snowing, and Darkness said, " Well, now's our time, the storm has settled enough, that we continue now, so let's keep going." Everypony got up, and began to leave the hut, and Darkness was the last one to leave, he went over to the fireplace, put it out, and left the hut. 
As they walked outside, Snowshy pointed out a large opening in the mountains, and said, " That looks like the entrance to the mountains, out there." 
Darkness saw the opening, and said, " It does. Only one way to find out, let's head for that." Everypony agreed, and followed Darkness, down the road, and Darkness said, " Well, because of all this snow, it filled up all the pitfalls, well, at least that's a plus."
An hour later, they all had reached the opening and Snowshy was right: this was the entrance to the mountains, but as they got closer to the entrance, something huge, was blocking the cave, that lead into the mountains. 
Snowshy said, " What is that? I got a bad feeling about this..." 
Darkness said, " Careful, everypony." 
As they got closer, the big thing, moved, to reveal, that it was a rather gigantic grotesque-looking, but not dead, black dragon, was sleeping, as it fully awoke, it noticed Darkness and the others, it remained in front of the cave, and said, " Begone! Ponies! Trespassers will not be allowed into the sacred home of ' the accursed ones!' You have no business here! Turn back, before I destroy you all!" 
Darkness motioned the others to stay, and said, " I'll handle this." He began to step forward, and said, " May I have you ear great dragon? I just want to talk." 
The dragon said, " Fine, speak, pony." 
Darkness stepped closer, until he was in front of the dragon, and he said, " First of all, what happened to you? And what are ' the accursed ones'?" 
The dragon said, " You....look...familiar...somehow... But perhaps, you ancestors, once knew me, as Anthrox, The Dragon God. And the 'accursed ones', are myself, and my tribe of dragons, that were cursed by your pitiful ' Gods Of Equestria' You look like one who knows what happened from there." 
Darkness said, " I remember reading about you from my mother's diary. Yes, I think it went something like this: ' The dragon god, and his tribe, were punished with a terrible curse, by the Gods of Equestria, for the dragon god, and his tribe, for tampering with things that should never be tampered with.' I found out, as I continued reading, you and your tribe, began tampering with time, worlds, and fate itself." 
Anthrox said, " Yes, and your stinking Gods of Equestria, wouldn't stand for that. I was trying to show them, that all things need to able to do what they want, and not leave it up to fate. But no, the Gods of Equestria, did not agree, and as punishment, my tribe, and myself, were turned into this, I was stripped me of my dragon god status, and the dragon lords took over. My tribe and myself, were then punished even more by your gods of Equestria, and they turned the rest of our kind on us, and we were banished from our ancestral home, and we found refuge here, in these mountains. Plus, we could no longer stay in sunlight for long, without turning to ash, that was something that your Gods of Equestria, cursed us with as well, when we arrived here."
Darkness said, " If I'm correct, this happened, many millenniums ago." 
Anthrox said, " You would be right pony, and when I free myself, and my tribe from this curse, I will destroy, all ponies, and then I will have my revenge, on your gods!" 
Darkness drew his katana and said, " We can't let you do that, we only wanted to get through the cave, but I for one, cannot allow a potential threat, to cause any harm, to this world! I, Darkness, the last member of the 'Crimson Blade Knights', will not let you do this!"" Everypony came up behind Darkness, nodded to Darkness, and readied themselves for battle. 
Anthrox's face flew into a rage, as he said, " Did you say, 'Crimson Blade Knights?' The elite knight unit of....the sorcerer ponies? Arghhhhh!! I hate the sorcerer ponies! Your kind, Darkness, is responsible, for many of my fellow breatheren's deaths!" 
Darkness lowered his blade, and said, " What are you talking about?" 
Anthrox laughed and said, " You arrogant sorcerer ponies, it seems your kind didn't put that bit in their books, before they lost the war, did they? The sorcerer ponies, were once allies, will all dragons, and used us as siege weapons of war, and your kind on purpose, let millions of my kind, die, so your kind, could hide, in your fortress and stronghold. I should know, I was there, as I witnessed what they had done, I gave the order to my remaining troops, to withdraw, I would not let my kind be used like that. I sat back, and watched you ancestor's precious 'stronghold', get stormed, and overrun, by their enemies, and your 'fortress', get shot down. I considered that justice, and I assumed you all were wiped out, but it seems just one of you survived, huh?" 
Darkness said, " Two, actually, my sister and I." 
Anthrox said, " I will not let the sorcerer pony race to continue to exist! I will crush you both, and your friends, for you foolishly coming here!" Darkness tried to speak, but Anthrox, rushed at them all, and they all had to run out of the way, as Anthrox said, " You will not make it out here alive! Face the wrath of Anthrox! Face judgement by my claws! Grrrrrrrr!!!!!" Anthrox began to breathe a black fire, and shot it at Darkness. 
Darkness blocked it with his sword, and as Darkness was still recovering, he said to Lunar Ebony Blade, " Lunar Ebony Blade! Get out of here! Find a safe place until this is over!" Lunar Ebony Blade nodded, and took off, as fast as could, away from the fight. Anthrox had not noticed, because the others rushed at him, away from Darkness and Lunar Ebony Blade, from the other side and some fired magic at Anthrox, others, the elements of harmony. In a massive shockwave, Anthrox, stomped on the ground, stunning everypony within the area, and then, in one angry swipe of his claw, hit all of them, sending them flying in all directions, into the mountain's rock face, knocking them all out, leaving only Darkness left. Darkness said, " No!"
Anthrox then turned to Darkness and said, " Well, that just leaves you, doesn't it? I will enjoy exterminating your kind once and for all, and then the rest of the pony races, will die by my claws!" 
Darkness finally had recovered, picked his sword back up, got into fighting stance, and said, " Not while I have anything to say about it! As long as I stand, you will not harm anypony else! You will pay for harming my friends! And my sister!" Darkness then rushed at Anthrox, and 
Anthrox smirked and said, " This should be fun." And before Darkness could strike the dragon, Anthrox raised his claw, and deflected Darkness's strike, and Anthrox said, " So predictable, the sorcerer ponies have grown weak, and pitiful, in my absence, proving once more, your kind was nothing without me and my troops help." 
Anthrox then tried to strike Darkness, but was deflected back, and the sheer force of the two, pushed them both back, and Darkness said, " I'm just getting started! Hyahhh!" Darkness then took to the skies, and came down, in a deafening strike, Anthrox tried to block, but Darkness had aimed his sword, in a direction, that sliced Anthrox's left claw clean off. Anthrox screamed in pain and rage, and came at Darkness, at a frightening speed, breathing black fire, and swinging his right claw at Darkness with everything he had. The two were in heavy battle, strike after strike, blow after blow, as one or the other would block the others attacks. Darkness began to focus with all he had, and began to use one sword attack, after another, and then he began to come in from different directions. Anthrox was having a hard time following Darkness, as Darkness was moving faster and faster, by the time Anthrox realized what Darkness was doing, and tried to deflect his attack, he was too late, Darkness dealt a massive wound to Anthrox's wings, cutting them both clean off. 
Anthrox was in a fiery rage at this point and said, " You little......you will pay for that...." And Anthrox began to breath in deeply, and let out a massive wave of black fireballs. Darkness moved swiftly, dodging one fireball after another, and then when Darkness was in range, he  closed his eyes, and focused deeply in his mind, and called upon the inner strength from within him. When Darkness opened his eyes, his eyes had changed colors:  his eyes had changed to white, and his body was engulfed in white aura. Anthrox's face began to pale, as he saw what Darkness was engulfed in, and with everything Anthrox had, breathed a massive wave of black fire, to stop Darkness's advance.
Darkness continued to charge forward, and was engulfed in the flame, but was unfazed and not harmed, by the fire, and with 40 different sword slashes, stabs, and cuts, in all different directions, at the speed of supersonic light, at Anthrox, and it was in this moment, that Snowshy had awoken back up, looked up, to see Darkness fighting Anthrox, and seeing Darkness engulfed in a white aura, and moving all over the place, attacking Anthrox from all angles, Snowshy got up, and watched in awe. Anthrox could not follow Darkness's moves anymore, he was moving far to fast, and could no longer defend himself, from Darkness's relentless attacks, as he was stabbed and wounded from all sides, and Anthrox began to feel weak, and began to slow significantly, and his legs began to waiver. Darkness then, to finish off Anthrox, came in from above, and with 9 different slashes, aimed them all at Anthrox's head, and ended up on the other side of Anthrox and the gigantic dragon fell, deeply wounded all over, and was no longer able to stand. Darkness then with a slash in the to left, lifted his sword, spinned it very fast in his left hoof, and put his sword back in its straps, his eyes then returned to normal, and the aura faded away. Snowshy went over to Darkness, and the others had began to reawaken, stood up, and saw Darkness standing in there, and Anthrox lying down, with wounds everywhere, and rushed over to Darkness. Lunar Ebony Blade, no longer heard anything, and headed back to find everypony standing with Darkness, and went over to them. 
Twilight said, "  Are you alright Darkness? Ohhh.... my head, what happened after we got knocked out?" 
Darkness said, " Obviously, as you can tell, I defeated Anthrox." 
Rarity said, " But how? The last we saw you, you were recovering from Anthrox's black flame attack, and telling Lunar Ebony Blade, to get to safety." 
Snowshy answered with much excitement, " With some kind of really fast multiple sword attack! It was amazing to watch! I never seen anything like it!" The others were speechless, as they were trying to process, what they had just heard, and Snowshy turned to Darkness, and asked, " How did you do that?" 
Darkness said, " By calling upon, my inner powers, and I focused them into my sword, and I'm not sure about the white aura thing, I just kind of lost it, and went crazy." 
Rainbow Dash said, " Well, whatever you call it, it sounds awesome! I wish I hadn't been knocked out, I would've been able to see it." 
Snowshy said, " It really was something to see. So you didn't conjure up the aura, or the change of your eyes?" 
Darkness said, " Like I said, I'm not sure what that was, but as I focused, I thought about keeping you all safe, and I didn't want to see you all hurt anymore. I don't know, it's like I said, I just lost it, and went ballistic, performing sword slashes, and moves, I only dreamed about doing, it was the strangest feeling though. But whatever it was, it helped me to defeat Anthrox. We should all be thankful for that, I think."
Applejack said, " I'd have to agree with that, we should be thankful for whatever that was." 
Darkness said in surprised tone, " Still, I had no idea I could do that..." 
Darkness was interrupted, by the voice of Anthrox, as he said, " Ponies of Equestria, come here, I have something I must tell you....(cough)." They all went over to Anthrox, and stood in front of his head. He turned his head, and looked at them all, and said, " Forgive me, I have been a fool....(cough, cough!). I let my anger, my hate, my vengeance, for the sorcerer ponies, and the Gods of Equestria, blind my judgement and my vision, and not only did I brainwash my tribe, but they suffered because of my hatred." Anthrox breathed heavily, coughed violently, and continued, " I realize why my tribe and myself, were punished so....I..I...I should've seen it, I know it's a little late, but I understand now, that there are some things in this world, that really should be left to fate. Your Gods of Equestria, know and understand, this vital principle. I deserved to have my god status stripped away from me then, I deserved this curse, and I deserve to die. Perhaps, a dragon lord, is all that dragons truly ever needed, the time of the dragon god, is over." Anthrox coughed again, and pulled out something from his chest, and handed his right claw out to Darkness, and said, " Here, I want you to take these, the first item, is my tribe's sacred stone of power, it's power has long faded, but it is still a symbol of honor for my tribe and myself, this stone will allow you all to pass through the mountains safe roads, present this to gatekeeper, on a road, that steeply goes down to the right. Then show it to the commanding officer within a camp nearby that area, the stone, in your possession, will show, and prove to my tribe, that I have been defeated, and have died, but died honorably, and it will be proof, that the age of dragon god is over, and a new beginning for my tribe. If you get the chance, I want you to tell my tribe, to get out of these mountains, and start their lives over, I'm pretty sure the curse will wear off, in couple days, after I'm gone. The other thing...(cough!), I want to give you, an amulet, made of my own scales, when I was still a god, it is the last source of my power, you may not need it Darkness, but give this to somepony, that you may know, that needs some magic protection and magic enhancements." 
Darkness took the items, and said, " Thank you, Anthrox."
Anthrox said, " No...need to thank me, you all showed me what I should've saw all those years ago." Anthrox then looked over to Lunar Ebony Blade, and said, " You look like an descendant of the Lunar Blade family, if you are, you should claim what's rightfully yours, arghh! (cough, cough!)" Anthrox looked back the others, and said, " Farewell, my little ponies, and Darkness, may we meet again, in the spiritual realm, may we drink a traditional dragon beverage, and share stories of our greatest deeds. And Lunar Ebony Blade...good luck in all your endeavors...arghh!" Anthrox's breathing then became very labored, and then weaker, as Anthrox's eyes closed, and he became still, and his breathing had stopped.  With a rather violent flash surrounding his body, and a small shockwave, Anthrox's power began to dissipate. His body began to turn into what looked like black, with many holes, torn tattered cloth or parchment, and it all slowly rose to the sky, and then turned into nothingness and faded away. 
Darkness said, " Rest in peace, Anthrox, may you find redemption, and forgiveness, in your next life." He then turned to the rest, and gave the amulet, to Snowshy, and said, " You need this more than I do, I couldn't think of anypony else that could put this to good use." 
Snowshy accepted the amulet, and said, " Thank you, brother, I'll take good care of it." 
Darkness then said, " Now, shall we go?" Everypony nodded, and Darkness began to head for the cave that lead into the mountains, with everypony else following close behind.