//------------------------------//
// Ch24 Thundaga's Last Fight 
// Story: The Third Commander 
// by Priceless911 
//------------------------------//

                The dust and ash filled the air, as General Dash tried to trot trough it back to the battlefront. As he continued, he started to see a shadow ahead that resembled a medic working on a wounded soldier. After seeing the shadow, General Dash decided to trot closer to see if he could help, but as he approached the shadow, he found out that it was a medic helping a soldier, but it was a Royal medic, helping a Rebellion soldier. When the medic saw General Dash approaching he called, “General! Hurry help me put pressure on his wound. We need to stop the bleeding.”

Although he didn’t trust the soldier, he still did as he was asked as General Dash laid his weapon on the ground and started applying pressure to the wound. As he did so, General Dash looked at the medic, “Why are you helping him?”
The medic replied, “Because I am a medic, and he is wounded.”
General Dash gave him a stern look, “You know what I mean.”
The medic nodded his head, “As a doctor, it’s my job to help anypony in need, no matter who they fight for. Besides, the princess attacked us both... I don’t know about you…but considering what happened, I’m beginning to have second thoughts about who I serve.”
As the dust started to settle in the area, General Dash looked around as he realized that the medic wasn’t the only soldier who thought this. Across the battlefield, General Dash could see soldiers from both sides either helping wounded, frozen in shock, or slowly trotting back from the front with a look of total defeat on their faces.

As he saw this, one of the royal officers trotted up unarmed as he spoke, “General Dash?...”
General Dash looked at the soldier as the officer continued, “Sir… due to the unexpected attack on both sides, I and my army request a cease fire. At least till we are able to regroup and manage our wounded.”
Seeing the hopeful look on the enemy soldiers face, General Dash nodded, “Request accepted… I think that we both need time to gather our thoughts. We will stop fighting and assist with your wounded as much as we can. All I ask is that you do the same in return.”
Thankful, the officer smiled, “Agreed, we will help in any way we can. Thank you sir.”

In the city, Major Storm and Apple Barrel stopped their advance on the gate and started helping the ponies inside damaged buildings, as Madam Melody approached, “Vat happened? Vat vas zat lightning ve saw?”
Apple barrel called back as he continued trying to help the wounded, “Thundaga! She dropped lightnin’ on her own city, to include a few safe houses. Quickly we need help gettin’ the wounded out.”
Madam Melody nodded as she turned to the solders she was with, “Everypony fan out and help ze vonded! Ve need to act quickly.”

With that, Major Melody and her forces started putting all their focus on saving the civilian from the rubble. As they worked on their new task, it wasn’t long before one of the soldiers looked up the road and called, “Major! Royal soldiers approaching!”
As she looked down the road, Madam Melody could see a large formation of Royal Soldiers marching in perfect formation behind an officer who was wearing white armor with a black strip down the side, the same armor worn by the captain of the Canterlot Royal Guard. As the army approached Madam Melody called to her officers, “Major Barrel, Major Storm on me! Ve need to hold zem back!”
With that, Major Storm and Apple Barrel approached Madam Melody as the trio started trotting down the road towards the approaching force.

When the trio approached the Royal Army, they stopped as the enemy captain called, “Company! Holt!!!”
The entire formation stopped and stood at attention as the Nightmare officers watched the enemy’s leader leave his formation behind as he continued to approach them. As the officers met one another, the Royal Captain smiled and bowed with respect, “Madam Melody… Well this certainly is a surprise. Had I known that the most prestigious noble in all of Canterlot were an officer of the Rebellion, I would have polished my armor.”
Madam Melody thought she was being mocked as she replied with an unamused tone, “Captain Belle I presume? Captain of ze Canterlot Royal Guard and Descendent to Generosity. Am I correct?”
Captain Belle rose from his bow as he replied, “At your service my dear.”

Confused as to what he said, the trio gave him a funny look as he turned to his formation and called, “Soldiers, fan out! Unicorn, you will clear out heavy debris from the sight while Pegasi and Earth ponies will focus on getting the wounded treated! From this point on, you will not harm any of the rebellion soldiers, and help them as needed, am I clear?”
The formation called, “YES SIR!!!”
With that the formation of soldier scattered in all direction as they helped the Nightmare Legion clear out the debris and pull the civilians from the destroyed buildings.

Confused, Madam Melody spoke, “You… you aren’t here to fight us?”
Captain Belle turned back, “Me? Attack a mare as highly regarded as yourself? Hardly, I and my soldier can see clearly that your goal is to carry out your objective while keeping the citizens of Canterlot safe. Therefore, I will help you to meet this objective, or at least the second part.”
Apple barrel gave him a funny look, “Awfully generous of ya.”
Captain Belle smiled, “It’s in my blood, as it were.”
Major Storm was skeptic, “Hold up captain… I thought you were loyal to Thundaga?”
Captain Belle looked at Major Storm and smiled, “I was… but it would appear that my loyalty can me subject to change when her actions are set to harm the citizens. I believe I will have no choice but to help you until I receive any proof that your cause is any worse than ours. So as military edict states, I’m at your order, Major.”

Up on the Canterlot Castle tower, Thundaga watched in intrigue as Cirrus out-flew the black vines on the road leading from the castle gate to its main doors. As Cirrus vanished from her sight, Thundaga sighed as she looked at Commander Mist from the tower and mumbled, “It’s so hard to find good help these days. Pity… he was such a loyal commander too.”
As she continued watching the conflict in the courtyard, Gem Stone quietly approached the outside of Thundaga’s room, leaned against the wall, placed an arrow across her bow, and peaked through the already opened door. Looking inside Thundaga’s room, she could see that the balcony doors were also open while Thundaga stood on the balcony right across the room from where the bedroom door sat, giving her a straight and perfect shot.

Moving as proficiently as possible, Gem Stone stepped into the doorway, drew her bow and released her arrow, while using only a fraction of a second to take aim. Despite her aiming time, Gem Stone’s arrow flew through the air at perfect accuracy as the arrow whistled through both the bedroom and balcony doorways, towards the back of Thundaga’s head. However just as the arrow neared its intended target, it immediately stopped in mid-flight as the arrow began hovering a few inches from Thundaga’s head with a purple haze completely covering the hovering projectile. Smiling with confidence, Thundaga turned her head slightly until she could look at Gem Stone out the corner of her eye as she spoke, “Come now captain… You didn’t think it would be that easy… did you?”

Expecting this kind of result, Gem slowly lowered her bow as she replied, “Of course not… A wise stallion once told me, that anything worth fighting for, is never attained easily.”
Thundaga smiled, “Wise words… no doubt that of our father’s correct?”
Gem Stone reached for another arrow as she touched each arrow while picking a specific one, “Yes… they were.”
Thundaga nodded her head as she turned around and looked off the balcony of her room, “We were never privileged enough to hear the wisdom from him, however, we hoped that if we could persuade you to join the Equestrian Royal Army, we could hear his words through you.”

Standing in the doorway of Thundaga’s bedchambers, Gem Stone found the arrow she was looking for as she pulled it from her quiver and replied in anger, “Join you… look at your kingdom!... you destroy your own subjects just to provoke a foe to attack you! You hold your father, my mentor’s name over all your actions as if to justify your own selfish desires. And you force peace upon the kingdom in exchange for free will!... and here you stand, offering me a job after everything I’ve witnessed?... no… there is no possible way I could ever stand beside a mare like you. I did once… but never again.”
Thundaga nodded in disappointment as the hovering arrow slowly turned sideways before snapping in half then falling to the floor, “So… that is your decision then.”
Gem Stone laid an arrow with a ball for a tip on her bow as she replied, “Yea… let me spell it for you… N.O. No.”

Thundaga sighed in disappointment, “A shame… we were hoping to show our respect for the former member of the Nightmare Legion by sparing her life. But if you persist on facing us alone, then perhaps we should show you mercy…” she drew her sword, “By killing you quickly.”
Gem Stone didn’t answer the threat, instead she glared at Thundaga as she drew her bow and aimed it at her chest, leaving Thundaga to smile, “Are you sure you want to try that a second time captain? Remember what happened to the first arrow while my back was tur-”
Before she could finish, Gem Stone released the arrow as the ball tipped arrow flew at Thundaga with incredible speed. Like the first, Thundaga smiled confidently as she tried to use her magic to stop the incoming projectile, however this time, as her magical aura covered the arrow, it instantly vanished as the arrow continued unchanged on its path before hitting Thundaga in her chest with the same amount of force as a punch from a stallion her size.

Feeling the full force of the impact Thundaga took a few steps back, almost dropping her sword as the hit from the heavy arrow knocked the wind out of her lungs. After seeing the impact Gem Stone smiled at her accomplishment as Thundaga griped her chest and spoke, “You… what was that? And how did it hit us?”
Gem Stone smiled as she replied, “That, was an everstone… and the reason you couldn’t catch it, is because that particular stone nullifies all unicorn and alicorn magic. So any magic created using a horn, is now disabled… and that includes your Lightning Orb.”
Thundaga smiled sinisterly, “You’re wrong captain, we’ve learned about this everstone from Zeil of the Black Sand. If I understand the lesson correctly, the everstone nullifies all magic abilities from spiritual plain, but it does nothing to the Lightning Orb, a physical ability no different from breathing or flying.”

Gem Stone nodded, “Are you sure? Then why not test it… here I am… Strike me down with a bolt… if you can.”
Thundaga smiled, “Very well… but don’t claim that you received no warning from us.”
Thundaga then braced her hooves and put all of her focus on creating a smaller cloud right above her head, however as she stood there putting everything she had into creating her smaller Lightning Orb, nothing happened. In fact, rather than creating a smaller cloud directly above her, the clouds outside began dissipating at an extremely slow pace as what was once dark black clouds, began turning into dark grey. Confused as to what was happening, Thundaga looked to the sky, “What?... our Lightning Orb… our power… it’s not responding…. But why?”

Gem Stone sighed in relief as she spoke up, “I told you… your Lightning Orb won’t work… and you know why?” Thundaga looked at Gem Stone as Gem gave her an intimidating stare, “It’s not real.”
“What?”
Gem Stone pulled a standard arrow from her quiver as she sat down spoke casually, “It was never real to begin with… you see princess, you wanted so badly to be a part of your father’s life, that you made this illusion for yourself.” Thundaga turned completely too her as Gem continued, “You wanted so much to fill daddy’s horseshoes that you devised a silly little theory… that the gift that made him special was somehow passed to you.”
Thundaga glared at Gem, “Enough…”
“So… you set out to try to find out if daddy’s little filly could do what made him a hero.”
“We said enough…”

Knowing she was digging into her mind, Gem Stone continued, “So you put it at the top of your priorities. You tried and tried all to no avail to create the very power that saved the world all those years ago. Until one day… you succeeded.”
Thundaga spoke with quiet anger, “Silence!”
Gem smiled in a sinister way as she continued “But lo and behold, it wasn’t real. You tried so hard and wanted so much, that a part of you, unknowingly forced it to be real.”
Thundaga yelled, “WE SAID SILENCE!!!”
Gem Stone smile turned to an angry glare, “You wanted it so badly, that your mind created the lighting orb without your knowledge, and allowed you to flail it over the kingdom like some sort of, right-of-passage. When in actuality… you’re no more worthy than I…”

Fed up with her taunting, Thundaga raised her sword as she yelled, “If you won’t obey our order… then we shall silence you ourself!”
With an angry expression, Thundaga started trotting toward Gem Stone as Gem smiled at her idea as she waited till Thundaga was in the doorway of the balcony. As soon as she was within the balcony’s double doorway, Gem Stone quickly laid the arrow on her bow and raised it up before sending it towards the constricted princess. At first, Thundaga tried to stop the arrow in mid-flight with her magic, but when she was reminded of the everstone’s effects, she could only step as far as the doorway would allow as the arrow flew by scratching her shoulder with the edge of the arrowhead as it flew by. Though the arrow did cut her, it wasn’t even enough to draw blood as Thundaga continued trotting out of the doorway as Gem Stone tried to draw and fire another arrow.

This time with her anger too far for her to hesitate, Thundaga swung her sword up as the blade parted the flying arrow leaving both halves of what was once a whole arrow to embed into the wall on both sides of the balcony doorway. As soon as the arrow halves hit the wall, Thundaga realized what happened as she could only smile as she spoke with an intimidating tone, “Well, well… we see what you did there, and we must admit, we are impressed. First you disable our magic, then taunt us with your mind games until our anger overshadows our own patience. Then when we moved into a fatal funnel, you take advantage of our limited space by attacking us with almost no room to evade. A very dirty trick indeed. It’s no wonder you were an officer of the Nightmare Legion. A tactic like that would lead me to assume that Zine is the one who thought it up, but then again, even he wouldn’t have planned that far ahead. However, magic or no, that bow is still an unreliable weapon against me. So… how about we settle this, one on one and sword on sword.”

Seeing that her words were true, Gem Stone lowered the bow and sat it on the ground as she removed her quiver and laid it beside the bow, “You’re right… if I’m going to fight you… it will be as a soldier… not an archer.”
Gem Stone drew her sword and stood at the ready Thundaga trotted further into the bedroom as she smiled in a pleased way, “Good… then let us begin on the count of three? Agreed?”
Gem Stone nodded her head, “Yes… on three then.”
Thundaga nodded in agreement as she replied, “One…”
Gem continued, “Two…”
Then both ponies spoke at the same time, “THREE!!!”
With that, the two mares darted towards each other as they both approached each other, swung their swords with all their might, and clashed blades as the two began their duel. 

With sparks still in the air from the blade’s clash, Gem Stone parried then tried to strike with an offensive attack as Thundaga blocked, parried, and countered with her own as Gem Stone ducked to dodge the horizontal swing. After dodging her foe’s attack, Gem tried to bring her sword upward to strike at Thundaga only to have the clever mare block and parry her sword away as Thundaga tried to use a thrusting attack to finish her foe quickly. Seeing the incoming thrust, Gem swung her sword upwards knocking the blade up as she pushed Thundaga back and returned with a vertical swing. One by one, both ponies continued attacking, blocking, and parrying each other’s attacks as each one fought with full focus on preventing themselves from getting cornered or allowing their enemy to gain the upper hoof.

As the two progressed, Cirrus was making his way to the room as fast as he could, however, Zine was in another part of the castle as he found what he thought was the right room before kicking the door in and charging forward, “Alright Commander! I’m here to… to…”
Slowly Zine looked around the room before turning away and running back into the hall, “Dang it!”
As the lost zebra rushed back into the hall, he mumbled to himself, “I know I’ve been here a few times since returning to Equestria… but come on! It’s not like the layout of the old Canterlot Castle and the post-Eden’s Kiss castle are different… are they?”

Minutes later as the duel in Thundaga’s room progressed, Thundaga could feel herself getting fatigued as she blocked yet another attack, parried it away and pushed Gem Stone back so she could catch her breath. As she breathed, Thundaga felt confused that she seemed fatigued, but Gem Stone seemed fine, “Strange… I didn’t expect you to become so much stronger in the past week. I’m impressed captain.”
Gem Stone took a few breaths of her own as she replied, “I’m not so surprised… it’s common for unicorn and alicorn to us a small hint of their magic to increase their stamina during combat. Speed, strength, agility, all it takes is a hint of magic and you can double you own physical strength and increase your performance in a fight. You should have seen Lieutenant Viscous back in the day… she carried a seventy pound axe like it was a foal’s rattle, and her strikes could cut through anypony in her path, shield, armor and all.”
Nodding at the comment, Thundaga replied, “Yes… we heard the stories… and we can agree with the concept.” She looked at her hoof, “We have fought in many wars, but never in all that time, have we ever had the disadvantage of voided magic.”

Gem Stone replied as she readied her stance, “So in other words… I hold the advantage in this fight. So princess, how do you hope to continue?”
Thundaga didn’t say anything, but she did agree that she was at a disadvantage as she sat down to try and rethink her strategy. Trying to think quickly, Thundaga started shifting her eyes around the room to look at what was there. A canopy bed, a vanity mirror with drawers, a couple of stools and chairs that had been moved to the sides of the room, the balcony with its doors and even a chandelier above in the center of the room. Seeing these obstacles that were avoided throughout the fight, Thundaga devised a quick strategy that she knew would work as she stood back up and pointed her sword at Gem Stone, “Alright Captain, whenever you’re ready, I feel it’s time we end this fight.”

With that, Thundaga readied her stance as Gem Stone charged at her foe. When the two met, Gem Started attacking with a barrage of offensive swings as Thundaga used only defense to block the attacks as she slowly maneuvered Gem Stone around the room. As she continued maneuvering her foe through the room, it wasn’t long before Thundaga was able to position Gem directly under the chandelier as she finally chose a time to make an attack that caused both ponies to interlock blades as Thundaga smiled, “Good, your ability to adapt to your surrounding is astounding… but do you prefer open combat… or can you adapt to close quarters?”
With their blades locked, Gem Stone glared at Thundaga and replied, “I’m a soldier… I must adapt to any battlefield that requires it. My preferred combat doesn’t matter to me. It is, and will always be the matter of where my commander leads me.”

Thundaga smiled as she replied, “Very noble response… you truly are a soldier of soldiers… one of his. So… let’s put you to the test!”
With that Thundaga pushed Gem Stone away as she immediately threw her father’s sword upward at an angle as the airborne blade cut through the chain on the chandelier over their heads before burying itself into the ceiling of the room. When Gem saw the falling chandelier she jumped back out of its path as she tried all she could to get to a safe distance. With all of Gem’s focus on the falling chandelier, Thundaga put herself at great risk as she predicted the falling path of the chandelier and moved forward to attack at Gem Strone while dodging the falling obstacle by almost nothing. As Thundaga charged at Gem, the surprised pegasus tried to bring her weapon up to attack the unarmed mare, but by the time she was able to, Thundaga was already too close as the clever alicorn grabbed Gem by her attacking hoof as she directed her blade away before bringing her other front hoof around as she punched Gem Stone in her face as hard as she could.

After hitting Gem in her face, Thundaga used this opportunity to turn around and kick the stunned mare as Gem was tossed through the air before hitting the vanity mirror on the other side of the room, and shattering the piece of furniture to pieces. Stunned from the attack, Gem picked herself up as she tried to reach for the sword, but as she did, Thundaga took no time to rush to her as she stomped on Gem’s sword while it was still on the ground and slid it away before picking up Gem Stone pinning her against the wall and punching her relentlessly. Although she tried to fight back as best as she could, Gem Stone was unable to protect herself as Thundaga punched her a number of times in her face and gut before turning around and tossing the weak pegasus across the room as Gem Stone hit and broke the posts to Thundaga’s bed canopy leaving the canopy drapes to fall over her.

After the drapes covered her opponent, Thundaga took her time as she trotted towards the barley moving figure under the drapes as she spoke, “You are strong Captain, pride to his true training… However his blood runs through our veins, and we are much stronger.”
By the time Gem was able to uncover herself, Thundaga had already closed the distance as Gem could only look up before Thundaga grabbed her by her throat and threw her at the shattered chandelier as the weak mare hit and pushed the chandelier aside leaving the destroyed lights to slide into the wall of the room. With the chandelier against the wall, there was now nothing in the middle of the room accept Gem’s weak body and a bunch of shattered glass as Gem Stone struggled to pick herself up. Thundaga started approaching her weak foe as she smiled, “We should agree that this fight is now over shouldn’t we? So now the only question, is how should it end?”

As Thundaga approached Gem Stone, she kicked the weak pegasus in her gut as Gem fell back to the ground. Then Thundaga grabbed her by her mane and dragged her onto the balcony leaving Gem Stone too weak to struggle. After reaching the balcony railings Thundaga raised Gem Stone by her mane and hung her over the edge as she spoke, “It’s been a week… so your wing probably hasn’t healed enough yet. We could easily drop you and end it all here… but we don’t make the same mistake twice. Not to mention… it’s an unfit end for an officer of the Nightmare Legion.”
Using her mane to swing her, Thundaga flung Gem Stone back through the doorway as Gem Stone hit the ground and rolled to the inside of the room with no way to cushion her fall. As Gem Stone laid in the room, too weak to even attempt to pick herself up, Thundaga trotted in as she spoke, “It’s kind of ironic, isn’t it? Twice you have attacked Canterlot, twice your soldier have made it to the very castle of the city… and twice you will die before the battle ends.”

Thundaga flew up to the ceiling to retriever her sword, as she did, Gem Stone could only think of the words as she tried to muster up the strength to pick herself up. However before she was able too, Thundaga had already pulled her blade from the ceiling as she dropped down landing on top of Gem with all four of her hooves on her back as she slammed the weak pegasus against the floor. After landing the last non-fatal blow against her foe, Thundaga looked at her defeated enemy as she slowly rolled her over so that Gem Stone was laying on her back. Thundaga looked down at Gem Stone then stepped on top of her pinning her down as she sighed, “It truly is a pity… I’d hoped that one day, we could have been friends… but… it would appear, that fate truly is cruel.” She griped the sword as if it were a dagger, “Good bye Captain Stone, if it’s any consolation, you are worthy to die by my father’s blade.”
With that said, Thundaga raised the sword in the air, and started dropping it with the intent to finish Gem Stone with one final blow.

As the blade neared its destination, Cirrus rushed to the door way as he looked in and called, “PRINCESS UMBRA STOP!!!”
As soon as the name was called, Thundaga stopped her blade directly over Gem’s head as both she and Gem Stone slowly turned to Cirrus as Thundaga spoke, “What… did you call us?”
Cirrus replied, “Princess Umbra… that’s your name isn’t it? You’re not the mare that this kingdom sees you as. You’re better. You used to stand for something greater, you used to stand up for everypony who looked to you for protection. You were respected by your guards, and loved by your subjects because you had his heart, and you wanted nothing more than to show that you could be like he was. A hero, legend, and respected leader of the royal guards… you even went through the same training as your guards, just to prove that you could. Because that’s the kind of mare you are. Because you are Princess Umbra. Daughter to the moon, Princess Luna, and the storm, Commander Bolt.”

As she looked across the room at Cirrus, Thundaga replied with an emotionless expression, “The mare you speak of… this… Princess Umbra, is dead. She was a weak filly, whose naivety clouded her judgment and allowed her fool of a mother, to lead this kingdom into a preventable war. She was too weak, to do anything as she allowed other nations to mock her own, then did nothing while her ally, beloved, and fiancé… was attacked, and murdered for all of his subjects to see by the very threat, that she so blatantly ignored…” Cirrus could hear sadness in her voice, “Princess Umbra is a coward, weakling, and a fool… she didn’t even deserve to look at this blade, let alone wield it. It was only after her death, that she was able to throw away the name of a filly, and rise as a true testament to her lineage.”
Cirrus shook his head as he stepped into the room, “No… that’s not true at all. She wasn’t weak, naïve, or undeserving in any way. She was a strong soldier and a good friend to those who knew her. And I should know, I met her a few days ago. She enjoys stories of her father, and accepts those who are objective to those stories. She likes to joke with fillies, spend time with friends, and even talks of regrets to those she trusts most. She is a kind hearted mare, and I believe that she is still in you, somewhere.”

Thundaga gave Cirrus an unamused look as she sighed in disappointment, “Your optimism is inspiring, that is if it wasn’t so misplaced. While you speak of forgotten mare’s you forget that you should be more concerned with the situation you are currently in. You attack our city, threaten our rule, and after all that, you still stand before us knowing that you hold absolutely no advantage whatsoever. Exactly what was your plan when you finally reached us, hm? Challenge us, or do you intend to beg for your life?”
Cirrus shook his head, “No, we came here to save Princess Umbra. And we aren’t leaving until we do. I’m not going to abandon her, As the Third Commander… I can’t.”
Gem Stone spoke from where she was pinned as her voice sounded weak, “C-Commander… don’t... she’ll kill you…. run now… run while you sti-”
Before she could finish, Thundaga placed her hoof on her throat as she looked down at her and spoke with an quiet tone, “Silence… the adults are talking…”

Thundaga released Gem Stone and stepped off the weak mare as she turned towards Cirrus and spoke, “We admire your courage commander… but this game ends now.”
As soon as he heard this, Cirrus immediately recognized the situation as he decided to do the one thing he could to avoid what could happened next. With a calm action, Cirrus reached over and unlaced the strap on his shield as he took the shield off of his hoof and tossed it away from him as he replied, “I’m not going to fight you.”
Thundaga readied her sword as she replied, “Then, you will die.”
With that Thundaga darted toward Cirrus with the intent to kill him as he stood his ground and replied with a serious stare, “All are willing to give for the princess… So why shouldn’t a princess be willing to give for all?”

As soon as he finished saying these words, Thundaga approached Cirrus as she swung her blade horizontally as Gem Stone called, “CIRRUS!!!”
All of a sudden everything went quiet as Cirrus cringed at the pain he felt when Thundaga’s blade hit his neck, but oddly stopped before going deep enough to do damage to anything vital. As the edge of his blade remained imbedded in his skin, Cirrus could feel his blood run down his shoulder and under his armor as he looked at Thundaga’s surprised expression. With the blade twitching slightly, Thundaga spoke, “What?... what are y- no… stop. Don’t you see it’s a trick? He betrayed you! He is a traitor to you and the rest of the kingdom! He must die for his insolence!”
Not making sense, Cirrus could only stare at Thundaga in confusion as she pulled the blade from his skin, backed away from him, and tried to regain full control, “Stop… it’s not true. He isn’t your friend… not anymore. Do you not remember how he chose the Captain over you? Do you not recall the battle he started in your city to get to you? Have you truly forgotten his treachery?”

As soon as Thundaga was a safe distance from Cirrus, Gem Stone struggled to pick herself up as she stumbled to Cirrus and started checking his wound as soon as she arrived, “Commander? Are you alright?”
Although he cringed at his pain, Cirrus nodded as he placed his hoof over his cut, “I’m fine… but what about?”
A few feet away, Thundaga placed her hooves against her head as she started speaking frantically, “He betrayed us! He deserves to die! He is no friend! He’s nothing!!! STOP THIS INSOLENCE AND ACCEPT THE TRUTH!!! ACCEPT THAT WE MUST KILL HIM!!!”
As she jerked herself back and forth, Thundaga started swinging her sword around as if she were fighting and invisible foe as she got closer and closer to her balcony doorway. As she neared the doorway a large number of black electrical sparks started arcing from her blade as Gem Stone became confused, “That electricity… how can she create it? The everstone should have disabled her magic.”
Cirrus nodded his head as he replied, “It did… but it only disabled Thundaga’s magic. Princess Umbra is still in there.”

Gem Stone gave Cirrus a confused look as Thundaga continued swinging her sword around, “HE’S YOUR ENEMY TOO!!! DON’T FALL FOR HIS TRICKS! WE MUST KILL HIM BEFORE IT’S TOO LATE!”
All of a sudden, a different voice was heard as Thundaga’s tone changed, “IT IS TOO LATE!!!”
Thundaga focused her attention on the marble railing of the balcony as she rushed outside raised her sword high and swung it down as hard as she could as her father’s sword hit and shattered against the marble balcony railing. As soon as the blade shattered it was as if a storm had awakened as a cloud appeared above Thundaga’s head as black lightning started shooting out in all direction as a dome shaped whirlwind appeared around the conflicted mare. With a massive whirlwind of storms breaking out around Thundaga outside on the balcony, Gem Stone and Cirrus could only hold each other as the powerful winds caused everything in the room to shake. As they tried to bear the magical thunderstorm, Cirrus pulled out the potion from his armor as he spoke, “Gem… we need to save her!”
Gem Stone was confused, “What? How?”

Cirrus drank the potion as he replied, “We have to get to her! As much as I hate it we have to get into that storm!”
Gem Stone looked back at Thundaga as the swirling vortex of lightning completely consumed her as she tried to understand, “But… how?”
All of a sudden, Cirrus’s coat started to glow with an unusual light as Cirrus replied, “Just help me get to her, and I'll do the rest.”
Trusting his actions, Gem Stone nodded as the two ponies stood up and tried to use their combined strength to get through the unusual vortex as they got closer and closer to the alicorn trapped inside. As they got closer, the black lightning became more sporadic as the lightning bolts flew by the two pegasi with enough power for the two to know exactly how much danger they were in.

As they reached the doorway onto the balcony of the tower, a random bolt of lightning flew straight toward the two pegasi as the bolt went between the two singeing Gem’s mane, but leaving a long burn mark across Cirrus’s face. As Cirrus stopped and dropped to a knee to place his hoof over his burned face. Seeing him wounded, Gem looked at Cirrus with concern, “Cirrus! That’s it! we need to fall back and fi-”
Cirrus removed his hoof from his burn as it revealed a burn that ran across his cheek under his left eye as he spoke, “No… we need to keep moving!”
Seeing that his burn wasn’t as bad as she thought, Gem nodded, “Alright… let’s keep going.”
With that, Gem and Cirrus continued moving towards the massive vortex as the magic induced storm continued to rage on the center of the balcony.

As the two approached the vortex Gem tried to reach into the vortex as a large jolt of electricity hit her hoof and pushed it back as she spoke, “It’s not letting us through… it’s as if the funnel is made entirely out of lightning.”
Cirrus nodded, “Great… that’s what I was afraid of. Let me try something.”
Trying to focus, Cirrus looked at the wall of the vortex as a number of yellow electrical arcs started jumping from his hooves and hitting the ground. Then, trying to channel his power, Cirrus reached out to transfer the Lightning Orb into the vortex. As soon as his hoof touched the wall of the vortex, the roof of the vortex shot upward as it started stretching from the balcony to the clouds above, as both yellow and black lightning bolts started shooting out in all directions turning what seemed to be a vortex of storms into a tall beacon of lightning that resembled a small tornado.

As soon as this happened, an opening in the vortex appeared as Gem Stone and Cirrus stepped through the gateway and entered the eye of the storm. After stepping inside, Gem and Cirrus couldn’t feel the rushing wind anymore as they looked to see Thundaga laying on the ground inside the eye. When they saw this, Cirrus approached her body as he looked back at Gems and held out his hoof, “here… I'll need your help.”
As confused as she was, Gem Stone didn’t ask any questions as she took Cirrus’s hoof while the confident commander looked down at his foe and mumbled, “Here goes nothing.”
With that, Cirrus reached out at touched the seemingly unconscious mare on her head as a bright light flashed from where he touched her, leaving everything in the area to vanish amongst the blinding white light.

Down in Canterlot, The bright light, along with the swirling vortex of lightning could be seen from everypony in the city as all eyes on the two silent battlefields looked to the castle’s tallest tower as everypony in the city became nervous as to what the vortex of lighting and thunder could mean. Inside the Castle, Zine with his eyes still red, kicked open a door as he pointed his Staff and spoke, “I’m here and I’m ready to- I’m in the wrong room again… great.”
Disappointed, Zine turned away as he continued down the hall, “This is getting annoying… now if Celestia’s room was on the east wing and Luna’s was on the west… then where would Princess Umbra’s be? And with that thought would she keep her own? Or would she move into Celestia’s?... wait… what wing am I in?... crap…”
As he trotted, he could hear a strange and eerie sound emanate from the flask on his staff as he looked at the potion and spoke, “I know, I know, you have a time limit. Don’t worry, you will get your souls within the hour. Just be patient.”