Legacy of Kain: Harmony's Rise

by Time Reaper


Chapter 17: The Galloping Encounter

Twilight's head was rushing at speeds that would be akin to lightning as she tried to find a solution to the problem she knew was about to go down. She could see it in her panicking head, Celestia was going to find Raziel, confuse him with a dangerous villain and fight him with, the worst part out of all of this being, the fact that Raziel was the one with higher chances of winning, even though he wasn't as strong as Princess Celestia, due to his immortality and Twilight's mind was trying really hard to not picture Raziel taking her mentor's soul.

She knew that something had to be done but she couldn't picture what. She had no magic and she wasn't sure if she would be able to find her brother and, even if she did, how was she going to convince him of going against Celestia's orders? Even more, should she get her friends? How would her friends change the situation? They had to go to the upper floors and that meant trying to make the soldiers move and she wasn't sure if her position would be enough to move them and, as evidence of her wasting her time, she saw how a huge magic barrier started to go around Canterlot Castle, letting very clear that there was no escape for Raziel now.

The worst part of all of this was that she was wasting her time thinking instead of acting but her mind wasn't allowing her to act until she had a formulated plan and the more she stood there, the more chances there were of Raziel and Celestia fighting. So Twilight's mind was in a state of shock between trying to make a plan and trying to move at the same time which resulted in her stuck in place without doing anything important but then Rainbow Dash happened to literally crash into her, giving Twilight the chance to speak.

"Rainbow, quick, I need your help!" - Pleaded the desperate scholar but her friend was too occupied with something else.

"Sorry, Twilight, it will have to wait" -. The prismatic pegasus said. - "I have to get the Wonderbolts's attention."

But, before Rainbow could lift up from the sky again, Twilight yanked her down as she picked Rainbow's tail with her mouth, forcing the pegasus to drop down once again.

"Twilight!" - Responded an angry Rainbow Dash. - "I have to get the Wonderbolts attention, any problem you have can wait or, better, why don't you talk it with Princess Celestia?"

"Because the problem is Princess Celestia."

Twilight's words freezed Rainbow on the act, forcing her to look at Twilight with a worried look.

"What do you mean?"

"Raziel got here but I never managed to tell Celestia about him, so when a guard came here and told her about Raziel, she went up to investigate."

Rainbow's coat started to get pale as she started to imagine the scenario of Princess Celestia fighting Raziel. It would be an awesome fight but it still was one she wasn't keen on seeing, which forced her to make the question.

"And, how bad do you think it could get?"

Twilight's words only cemented her fears.

"Rainbow, I saw Raziel fight Nightmare Moon. He was winning the fight, he was defeating an alicorn."

As the idea of Raziel, an entity Rainbow understood as capable of eating your soul, fighting and 'defeating' Princess Celestia was sinking into her mind, Rainbow had to ask.

"And, do you think Princess Celestia would engage Raziel in combat?"

Her answer was a huge explosion in the upper floors that rumbled the castle, shocked all its guest and broke the fragile peace in there as everypony was going between figuring out what was going on, what was that noise, not falling into chaos and find out where was Princess Celestia.

Suffice to say, Twilight and Rainbow looked at each other, nodded, knowing that it was time to act, and went to gather the rest of the girls.

Meanwhile, as Twilight was trying to figure out what to do, Princess Luna was receiving the news of her sister asking her help to face an intruder. As she was hearing the intruder's description, a chill ran down her spine as she was understanding who it was and she was having to face the dilemma of going with her sister or avoid certain death.

Once Private Lulamoon gave her the report, Luna stood there looking at her for a long time, making a very uncomfortable ambient for the soldier, as she tried to figure out what to do.

Luna was deeply afraid of Raziel, if it wasn't for the fact that he may hold a grudge against her then it was for the fact that it was very likely that facing him would mean certain death. On the other hoof, Luna didn't want to abandon her sister. She loved Celestia deeply and didn't want any kind of misfortune to befell upon her dear sister and, if Luna didn't go, it was very probable that Celestia would be facing Raziel on her own but Celestia wouldn't engage a mysterious creature on her own without first trying to talk, right?

In that moment, a huge explosion rocked the castle, creating a small earth shake as a result, telling both Luna and the soldier exactly what was going on down there and making the situation even more daring.

Luna's mind started to think as fast as she could, she knew how dangerous Raziel was and Celestia had no chances of beating him if she was willing to engage an unknown enemy as crafty as Raziel, so she decided to look at her soldier and make sure of how many things were at her disposal to what she was starting to plan.

"Are you sure that's the description of said creature?"

Private Lulamoon just nodded as she waited for a new order from Luna, who was still deciding what to do.

"And our sister saith that she would go to engage the creature on her own?"

Once again, the soldier nodded.

Luna knew what was going to happen to Celestia, she could feel it but even if she wanted to stop the fight from happening, could she convince her sister from not engaging him? Then an idea came to her.

"Are The Elements of Harmony in our sister's celebration?"

For the first time, the soldier made some vocal sound as she needed to talk in a while.

"Yes, your highness. The Gr- I saw Twilight Sparkle down there with Princess Celestia when I announced her the information so it's very likely that the other Elements are here as well."

Luna decided to take a look at the window and saw, to her displeasure, a pink barrier surrounding the castle, knowing very well that time was being of essence, and looked at the soldier to give her some new orders.

"In that case, if thou see the Elements, tell them to gather on the entrance and order Captain Armor that he must wait down there as We go there to rendezvous with him and the Elements."

Private Lulamoon saluted and moved to follow her orders.

And so, we finally get to see what was going on with Raziel as he was now facing a very angry Celestia who was hiding all of her anger behind a face of calm and love.

He wasn't sure how or what exactly was the source of all her anger, but he was sure that being in her personal library wasn't helping in calming her down.

"My apologies" -. He begun. - "for it wasn't within my intentions to offend your highness with my intrusion in your private chambers but I do have to correct you in one regard" -. Celestia rised an eyebrow as Raziel started to show a ticket. - "For I do have an invitation for the Galla, which entails that I do have the right to be here on the celebration."

Celestia gave him an inquisitorial look as she was measuring her words.

"Indeed you have an invitation, at which I would like to inquire from you, how did you achieve such feature when the invitations for the Galla are hard to get by and I am sure that I never invited you, Raziel, on a personal level?"

Raziel froze at that, he knew something was wrong on that phrase but he would have to go step by step.

"As to how I gained the invitation, all I'll say is that a friend of mine who did have one decided to give it to me as a sign of friendship in the hopes of both you and I to properly meet each other. Speaking off, as far I'm aware, I've never presented myself, have I? So, the same way you inquired on my achievement, I would like to know through which means did you get a hold of my name?, for I never gave it to you."

Celestia's eyes widen up for a brief moment before she went back to her calm demeanor and proceeded with her interrogation as she started to move side ways, trying to get a better look at Raziel as he, at the same time, moved sideways to make sure Celestia didn't have any type of tactical advantage should this go on a detrimental direction.

"Oh, my, it is true, isn't it?" - Asked Celestia in a tone that made her sound as if she made silly mistake but that didn't sound natural at all. - "My apologies for it wasn't in my intentions to be so rude, I suppose I could present myself first" -. She then stopped, bowed her head (but never leaving Raziel out of sight) the same way she would greet any foreign diplomat and presented herself. - "My name is Princess Celestia, Diarch of Equestria and Ruler of the Sun."

Raziel stopped as well, having the exit door just behind him, looked at the princess and decided to follow through as he bowed as well but never taking his eyes off from Celestia.

"My name is Raziel, the Soul Reaver. But you already knew that, didn't you? Which, once again, begs the question, where did you hear my name?"

Celestia looked at Raziel for a brief second before deciding to answer him properly.

"Your name, of such heavy significance, was revealed to me by someone who already knows you Raziel and told me enough about yourself to give me a proper idea of what kind of individual you are."

Raziel's mind started to move fast, Twilight told him that she would tell Celestia about him, had she done so, Celestia wouldn't be this tense with him and the other pony that knew his name and could tell her about him was Luna but she didn't know him well enough to give a proper assessment of what 'kind of individual' he was. That left only one creature that knew Raziel and whose Raziel was sure it was in Equestria and the idea of that creature being close to Celestia tensed him and made him nervous.

So he decided to keep the conversation but never dropping his guard.

"Is that so? And who is this creature that told you about me? For very few know me well enough and even less those who know me with sufficient information to give a negative opinion of myself."

The fact that Celestia started to change her body language to one of confrontation didn't bode well for Raziel.

"You are right, very few know you well enough to give a bad reputation about yourself, Raziel, which is very telling when my faithful apprentice isn't one of them" -. Raziel wondered what did she mean by this but Celestia's question chilled him on the act. - "Tell me, did you inform my apprentice of how you tried to brake through the vault containing the Elements of Harmony or did you intentionally hid that information to make a better reputation of yourself in front of her?"

Raziel's silence was all Celestia needed to know.

"I thought so" -, she said with a hint of sadness in her voice, - "I suppose I should't be feeling sad about your manipulations, what I actually feel is anger at how you've been manipulating my apprentice and her friends as well of how you tried to murder my sister."

Her pose changed to a regal one, common of those who were about to fight and decided to give an honorable salute before engaging the enemy.

"I may not know what were your intentions with the Elements of Harmony" -. She said as she charged up her horn. - "But know that I will not allow you to harm Equestria in any way possible."

Raziel quickly dashed out of the small library as Celestia kept on charging her horn and tried to think of what else could be said to avoid this confrontation.

"My apologies, your royal highness, but to think that I have ill intentions with your land based on one interaction and a potentially biased point of view isn't very wise of you, perhaps you should be asking for more testimonies?"

When Celestia came out of the Library, Raziel swore that her eyes were the same as the eyes common of an animal mother that was willing to face a beast aiming to harm her cubs which was enforced on the idea that her horn was still charging the attack.

"I have to say" -. Her tone of voice no longer hiding her anger at him. - "Your idea would be fine if it weren't for the fact that you have manipulated many here, whether through aid or fear so they cannot give any negative account about you. Do you think of yourself as the first one trying to manipulate me through those tactics?" - Her horn was now cracking energy with few pieces of magical energy going out due to the high amount of power concentrated in her horn. - "I've lived long enough to see all kind of beings, from ponies to griffons and even dragons, trying to fake their friendship with me in an attempt to harm those I love and you."

She then locked her eyes on Raziel.

"Will."

Raziel quickly sought for any way to avoid the attack.

"Not."

Celestia started to rise from the ground to have a better aim at Raziel.

"Get."

She raised her horn as the last ounces of energy concentrated in her horn.

"That."

Raziel quickly looked at her, now realizing that there was no other option for him but to fight.

"Chance!"

And she fired one of the most powerful spells at her disposal, rocking the castle at its core and causing a the earth to shake around it. By the time the dust settled down, Celestia started to look around, trying to see signs of Raziel surviving the attack, but, to her surprise, she couldn't see any signs of him. She was considering the possibility of him being evaporated by her attack but, before she could even react, she felt a wave of power from behind her as it quickly started to attack her and send her flying back the corridor from where she came.

When she decided to look back, she saw how Raziel dropped the invisibility and was now wearing on his right arm a huge, dark blue ethereal blade which concentrated so much mana that Celestia was now wondering why she never felt so much magic concentrated before. He had enough magic concentrated in that blade to compete with an alicorn, from where did he got that?

"Alright" -. Raziel said as he got closer to Celestia with a very concentrated anger on his eyes. - "If reason cannot get through your skull, then perhaps it first need getting beaten before being able to get words."

He then raised his blade and jumped at Celestia in a downward arc, forcing her to teleport into another room to make better preparations for her battle as Raziel started to look for her.

"I cannot believe he has such strong magic" -. She whispered as low as she could. - "No wonder Luna was so scared of him."

She then decided to peek at the hall to properly asses where Raziel was and plan the next strike but, to her surprise, shock and fear, Raziel was right in front of her, looking straight to her eyes with a fiery will on his eyes.

"I also have a good ear."

The next thing Celestia knew was that she felt a force getting a hold of her body, she was unable to move as she felt this force paralyzing her whole body, including her horn, which made her an easy target for Raziel's attacks, who held no qualm on his relentless attacks on her.

She could feel his blade piercing her body and, even though it wasn't a physical blade, Celestia could feel how it was making more than physical damage, it was also harming her magic on the inside and the worst of all was the last piercing attack, which held an extra punch that sent her flying back into the room.

That alone, would have knocked down a normal unicorn, but Celestia wasn't either normal or an unicorn. To her, this was just a small punch thrown at her, putting aside that she hadn't been on a fight on a long time and had her body out of shape.

She waited for Raziel to get closer before she threw a kinetic spell at him, which sent the ghostly being into the hall way once again and gave Celestia time to regain her footing and throw a stronger spell that, hopefully, would either knock him down or it would give her enough time to trap him.

She threw her laser spell but Raziel was too fast for it and dodged the attack before Celestia's attack could connect. She quickly followed Raziel but, as soon as she left the room, she was then greeted by a series of kinetic spells that paralyzed her long enough for Raziel to leave the corridor into another section of the Castle, much to Celestia's frustration.

Nonetheless, she gave him chase, although careful enough to not be greeted by another series of kinetic attacks. When she was about to get into a corridor that connected with other four, she decided to activate a tracking spell, in the hopes of finding him, and, to her pleasure, she detected him entering into the left hall and inside one of the bathrooms.

Once she was sure of having him locked, she quickly activated an ice spell and threw it at the bathroom in the hopes of freezing Raziel. When she entered, she found the room to be frozen with Raziel being right besides the door waiting for her, frozen and with his blade guarded, much to Celestia's pleasure. She then decided to prepare a spell to teleport him to prison but, before she could react, Raziel's blade appeared out of nowhere and turned red, heating up the bathroom, and then exploded, bringing a living hell to the place, melting the ice, evaporating the water, burning the rock and taking Celestia with her guard down once again.

When Celestia reincorporated herself, she saw how destroyed was the bathroom and, to her shock, the fire even went outside and burnt the carpet in the corridor (although the fire was put down mysteriously) which made her wonder in what conditions she was looking right now, for there was no way she could've survived that unscathed.

After leaving the corridor once again, she used her spell once again to search for Raziel, this time finding him on a door located much deeper on the corridor that was very close to the stairs. Once again, Celestia prepared to stun him this time with a paralysis spell but, before she could launch the spell, the door opened with a blinding light stunning Celestia and leaving her open to another series of attacks, this time feeling much stronger than before, that tired her down, giving Raziel time to run away into the stairs and going into the upper floor.

Once Celestia reincorporated herself, she quickly teleported on the upper floor's corridor and threw an explosive spell in the hopes of hitting Raziel with his guard down and, much to her surprise, she succeeded, knocking Raziel down and giving Celestia time to use a force spell on him to paralyze him.

With him under her control, Celestia started to prepare to send him to prison but Raziel's blade quickly turned blue and caused a huge explosion that also sent Celestia back, making her lose her focus on the force spell, liberating Raziel on the process and giving him another opening to attack Celestia if it weren't because the princess of the Sun created, almost by reaction, a shield spell that surrounded her completely, giving her time to reincorporate her body.

When she finally was able to stand up again, she managed to see Raziel trying to brake her barrier by force with his blade and, thankfully for her, Raziel was unable to crack it down. This made Celestia make a smug smile as she felt a sensation of accomplishment going through her but that smile quickly went down as Raziel stop hitting the barrier with his blade and took one step back.

"Do you give up now that you realize that you no longer can harm me?"

Said Celestia as she quickly tried to think of an opportunity to defeat Raziel.

Raziel's blade then changed to color green and started to charge up as Raziel started to move his body in such a way that the blade impact would be stronger when he made the swing and fear started to creep Celestia, for she could feel the power concentrating on the blade and that was power the likes she could only sense in creatures as ancient as her, if not more. She knew that said power was going to brake her barrier, it was strong enough to be felt by her horn, wings and hooves combined, making her realize this was the same power she felt back then in the vault minutes before she entered and found Raziel. If this was the power capable of opening the vault, then her barrier held no chance but then Celestia had an epiphany, a moment of sudden realization where she managed to see a chance to defeat Raziel and she knew this was her only chance.

So she closed her eyes and embraced the attack as it broke the barrier and sent her flying down to the hallway as pain unlike she has ever felt since she fought Nightmare Moon a thousand years ago went through her body, almost knocking her down hadn't been for the barrier that managed to reduce the attack's power, if only slightly.

Celestia could feel the pain going through her body, she could barely keep her consciousness but she knew this was what she had to do. She waited for Raziel to get closer to her and then she would attack.

"All of this waste of energy" -. Raziel said. - "We could have talked first but you had to be fooled by a giant squid" -. Celestia was now wondering what he was talking about. - "You were foolishly taken by a creature that used you as its puppet the same way it did with many, including myself, to be used for its bidding" -. Celestia was listening as she waited for him to get closer. - "How I wish you had seen what I did when I worked for him. All the atrocities it made just for the sake of food."

As Celestia hears this, she threw Raziel to a wall and locked his body so it couldn't move.

"Actually" -. Said Celestia. - "That's not a bad idea."

And, as she said this, she concentrated energy on her horn and touched Raziel's head as her mind spell let her enter into his mind. Once she entered into his mind, a flurry of images, sensations and sound went through her head.

"Cast him in."

A burning pain across her while body as her lungs were drowned in acidic water.

A disgusting monster made out of flesh that moved at a snail's pace with a stench impregnating her nostrils.

"You are the last... to die..."

A monster impossible to describe tied to a wall.

"The prodigal son has finally returned."

A siren-like monster looking at him with a predatorial vision.

Do not speak of the master with such blasphemy.

A bipedal creature looking at her with pride on its features.

"What I create, I can also destroy, child."

A chamber with unknown mechanism with the same bipedal creature.

"As a single one of us stand, we are legion."

A huge eye with a familiar voice looking straight at her soul.

"I know you Raziel... you are worthy"

Celestia couldn't hold the spell anymore, the memories being too overwhelming for her as her mind was trying to make sense of what she saw, creating a huge unbalance in her body that resulted in her stomach being too revolted to hold her dinner any longer. The next she knew was a huge wave of power coming from Raziel as a new wave of hits of never before felt power took her down to the ground.

With both her mind and her body unable to stay on the realm of consciousness, she fainted.

As Raziel decided to take a look at Princess Celestia, he started to think of what to do. No matter how much he tried to think about it, all he could see was that he had lost his chance to befriend the ponies.

Celestia was the ruler, nobody would even dare to go against her, after this fight, the most likely scenario would be that she would alienate Twilight and her friends against him, potentially, anyone who could try to get closer to him would be destroyed and, to make all worse, she was being used by that parasite and she believed everything it said to her. There was no turning back, there was only one option left for Raziel if he wanted to stop its influence.

He started to get closer to Celestia, Spiritual Reaver in hand, its white purifying powers reverberating across the whole place as Raziel got closer to finish Celestia before she could become a new King William turned The Nemesis. He could hear on his mind how all those he met until know would no longer want to know anything about him, like the human citadel, and he was aware that this was going to be the worst thing he would have ever done, but there was no other option he could see in his mind.

He raised the Reaver as he got closer to Celestia, he started to charge it and then dro-

"Stop!"

Raziel turned around the hallway as he saw a trembling princess Lune looking at him with a fiery determination in her eyes.

"Please. Don't kill my sister."

Raziel looked at her eyes, filled with the desire for mercy that was so unheard off in his world.

"If I don't, she will turn the whole world against me and I cannot reason with her."

"But I can" -. Pleaded Luna as tears started to get into her eyes. - "She is my sister, she has to listen to me, please, I don't want to be separated from her again. Just give me this one chance. Please, let me repay you for what I did as Nightmare Moon..."

Raziel looked between Princess Luna and Princess Celestia, wondering if this was a good idea, if he should try this one chance, not realizing in the process that Twilight and her friends were getting in the room and saw their princess battered on the floor.