Bright Blade's first training session went pretty well, but he still had his doubts about himself. The day after Bright Blade, as well as the Crusaders, Rarity, Rainbow Dash, and Applejack, were all surprised to find Twilight awaiting them at the makeshift training ground. After a stern lecture from Twilight about keeping such a thing secret from her, Bright Blade was pleased to find out that Twilight would allow him to continue the training, under her supervision of course. At Twilight's behest Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie were more than happy in helping out with the training. Soon it went from a "Bright Blade Combat Training," to just plain "Pony Combat Training." Applejack took up the strength portion of the training, Rarity gave her position of magic training over to Twilight, and for those flight impaired Rainbow Dash headed up speed and agility training. Today's session was focused on Bright Blade, Twilight had used her magic to wrap the wooden Daemoni carvings in an illusionary spell that made them look and sound just like the dreaded creatures. Bright Blade began charging at the creatures, immediately noticing difference between the wooden versions and the now lifelike version of creatures.

Bright Blade was weaving in and out of Daemoni, they stamped and snorted, threatening to crush the young earth pony. One of them tried to bite at him, but Bright Blade quickly moved to the side. Bright Blade then spun around and brought the blade of his wooden sword on the Daemoni's neck. It instantly dissolved away revealing a wooden body that crumbled to pieces afterwards. Two more Daemoni ran for him, Bright Blade flung the wooden sword, it cut through the air as it lodged itself in the Daemoni's chest making it fall to the ground. The third one was about to attack Bright Blade, he rolled under its legs and ran to his fallen enemy. The third Daemoni turned around and continued the chase, Bright Blade was able to get his wooden sword, but it was too late. The Daemoni reared up, it strong forelegs thrashing back and forth, then it brought both of them down on Bright Blade.

"Alright that's enough," Twilight's horn flashed bright. The Daemoni's form shifted from a living creature to the wooden horse that it originally was. Bright Blade had his eyes closed fearing the end, he heard the clip clopping of hooves and opened his eyes to see Twilight standing in front of him.

Twilight and Bright Blade looked up into the sky as a sandbag crashing down on them. Twilight quickly created a force field around them making the sandbag explode on contact. Twilight looked up with an annoyed scowl on her face, "Rainbow Dash I said that was enough, we're taking a break!"

The cyan pegasus flew down and hovered over them with a sandbag dangling from both her hooves. "It wasn't me you see, I've still got mine," said Rainbow Dash. Just then a cream colored pegasus flew up next to Rainbow Dash, she was blushing a bit and hiding herself behind her light pink mane.

"Sorry Twilight, Bright Blade! It slipped out of my hooves," Fluttershy apologized.

Twilight blushed, embarrassed at having accused Rainbow Dash. Bright Blade chuckled and so did Rainbow, even though they had all gathered to prepare for a fight with the evil Daemoni Bright Blade couldn't help but feel happy. In a way it was like a big game, every day they got stronger and faster, and at the same time shared in laugh whenever a mishap occurred. Sweetie Belle and Rarity came over to find out the next game plan. At that moment they heard rustling in the trees, then, out of nowhere, Pinkie Pie came crashing through. "Emergency, emergency, big time bad stuff is happing –!" Pinkie Pie tripped on one of the wood pieces and started to roll towards them.

Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy ascended at the right time, just as Pinkie smashed into the four ponies. They rolled forward in a giant ball of chaos till they eventually came to a halt as they all crashed into the rack of wooden swords. Applejack, Apple Bloom, and the two pegasi quickly made their way to their friends. "Whoa nelly, you guys alright," asked Applejack.

They all woozily nodded their heads, their eyes spinning in different directions. "Pinkie Pie, honestly, what is the meaning of this," asked Rarity.

Pinkie Pie shook her head and took a deep breath, "CANTERLOT'S UNDER ATTACK!" yelled Pinkie.

They all looked at each other confused; Pinkie Pie had to be mistaken. "Pinkie Pie there's no possible way Canterlot can be under attack. The whole city is protected by Princess Celestia, one the most powerful ponies in Equestria," retorted Rainbow Dash.

Every pony in Ponyville was gazing up at the mountain. The silhouette of Canterlot was smoking; small flickers of light could be seen appearing at different points of the city. All the Ponyvilliens were scared seeing their capital on fire, but that wasn't what was scaring them the most. The skies over Canterlot were red as blood and blanketed with dark clouds, blasting lighting at random. All signs of one thing, Daemoni.

"Those things are attacking again, they're not even afraid to attack the Princess directly," said Lyra.

The town was truly in a panic, the Royal Guards stationed in Ponyville started to take charge, ordering all the citizens to get to a designated safe area. The Guards began to take up positions around town getting ready for a possible imminent attack. "We can't just stand here and gawk! We gotta do something," said Rainbow Dash.

Bright Blade could feel the mounting anxiety amongst his friends. It was then that he knew what must be done, all that training was about to pay off here and now. "Guys…" they all stared at him, "…stand back!" the mares and fillies gave him a lot of room. Bright Blade closed his eyes, if this transformation was brought about by magic then he was determined to use the lessons he learned from Rarity and Twilight. He tried to feel the magic, tried to connect to whatever hidden power lied dormant within himself. After several mental tries there was no response, Twilight and the others were getting worried. In the end Bright Blade couldn't transform, nor could he feel a connection to the power he had before. It was then a horrible thought ran through his mind. Don't tell me that that transformation was a onetime deal! No, no, no, it can't be!

A loud explosion rang across the sky. Every pony watched as one of the towers in Canterlot started to crumble and fall apart, followed by a large plume of smoke that rose into the air. Fear and despair seemed to grip the hearts of the ponies, not knowing the fate of their fellow ponies in Canterlot or the fate of their beloved Princess. It was then that Bright Blade felt something snap within him. His body erupted into a golden pillar of light that illuminated the sky. Bright Blade could feel the surge of power coursing through his veins; it was the first time he was actually paying attention to transformation. Just like before the pillar of light disappeared in shower of golden sparkles, what emerged was an alicorn with navy blue armor. Bright Blade somehow, without any conscious thought, had become an alicorn. "Bright Blade you did," shouted Scootaloo.

"I did, but I wasn't even trying that time, it just happened," Bright Blade looked down, "Even after all that training I still can't control this power completely."

"We'll worry about that later, but right now we need to get to the palace quickly to help the Princess," said Twilight.

"They're not at my house! When Princess Celestia left that day she was here I gave her the Elements, it seemed like a good idea at the time! I mean the threat had passed and we didn't need them, oh I knew I should've held onto them just a bit longer," said Twilight.

"That doesn't matter now, what do need to do is get up to Canterlot, find the Elements and help the Princess," said Applejack.

"But the only ones who could make it there fast enough are Bright Blade and Rainbow Dash, isn't there anyway we could get there," asked Pinkie Pie.

"Um, Twilight why don't you use your teleportation spell to take us to Canterlot," asked Fluttershy.

"It's only good for short distances, it's not as powerful as Princess Celestia's," said Twilight, cursing herself for not having the power to perform such a spell.

This isn't good; I really don't want to fight those things on my own! I gotta help them, thought Bright Blade. It was just then that idea popped into his head. "Twilight I've got an idea!"

"Let's combine our magic!" The others seemed surprised, "I kinda got the idea from Cadance and Shining Armor, if combining their magic was strong enough to force all those Changelings out of Canterlot then combining ours might be strong enough to teleport us to Canterlot," suggested Bright Blade.

The others seemed excited by the idea, having remembered the wedding incident not too long ago. But there was still one other problem, "What about the girls, we can't just leave them here," said Rarity.

Bright Blade looked down to his friends and gave them a sympathetic smile. "Guys please stay here, this is going be dangerous and I don't want you to get hurt," said Bright Blade. It was then he realized that he was talking just like the other older ponies; he never imagined he'd say such a thing to his friends, since more often than not they would say the exact same thing to the four of them when he was small. "Well Twilight want to give it a shot!"

"I – It's uh – not that it doesn't sound like a good plan, but combining our magic! We don't know what could happen, plus, no offense, you've haven't been using magic long, and teleportation spells are tricky, very tricky. I mean we all could end up inside a wall, or thirty feet underground, or be floating at the edge of the atmosphere," explained Twilight. She seemed torn for some reason, looking back from Canterlot, to Bright Blade then to her friends. She didn't know what to do.

"TWILIGHT, BRIGHT BLADE!" shouted a voice. The others turned in the direction it came from and saw Spike running down the streets at great speed, heading right for them. When he got there the little purple dragon was out of breath panting and clutching a scroll in his right claw. "A – A message…! It's from Princess Luna!"

"WHAT," they all exclaimed in unison. Twilight used her telekinesis to lift the scroll from Spikes claw and bring up so that everyone could see what was written.

Twilight Sparkle by the time you read this I will have joined my sister, Celestia, in the battle for Canterlot! A Daemoni horde is currently trying to storm the royal palace; in our current state we're not sure if we can hold back such a threat for long I know for sure Celestia hasn't regained her full power after the events of week ago, and I am in even worse shape. They seem to be concentrating their efforts on the Elements Chamber. If we are unable to save Canterlot I have placed a relocation spell on the chest in which the Elements are contained. They will immediately teleport to you if something happens either to me or Celestia. I go now into battle; I shall not let our home be overrun with those filthy creatures! Be safe all of you.

Your Princess and friend

Luna

"That settles it, no more delays! Everpony get in a circle now," ordered Twilight. Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy took their place next to Bright Blade, while Applejack, Rarity, and Rainbow Dash stood behind Twilight. Bright Blade stood in the center with Twilight; she gave a stern look which kind of scared him more than the Daemoni. "Alright Bright Blade, I want you to listen closely, everypony listen closely! This won't work unless we all concentrate! We all need to focus on the Elements Chamber, picture it in your mind! Bright Blade be careful about how much power you use, otherwise we'll over shoot it!"

Bright Blade nodded, he took a deep breath and sighed, "Let's do this!" said Bright Blade. Twilight closed her eyes, her horn started to glow with magical power. Bright Blade gulped, Twilight was putting a lot trust in him, if he made the wrong move they all could be in trouble. With that Bright Blade closed his eyes as well, his horn also glowing with magical power. The two leaned in closer to each other till the tips of their horns touched. A spark of golden and violet light, the energy built itself up as it began to swirl around the two ponies. The others closed their eyes concentrating as hard as they could. Spike moved the Crusaders back, not wanting any of them to get caught in the spell. The swirling bubble of light began to expand, kicking up a whirlwind. The bubble grew larger and larger till it had completely engulfed the seven ponies. Bright Blade and Twilight's eyes opened, shining with power. In that instant the seven of them disappeared in a flash, leaving behind a crater and a shockwave that knocked Scootaloo, Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, and Spike to the ground.

The wind howled through the hall, a speck of light flickered in and out of existence. The light flickered at a more rapid pace, growing bigger and brighter. Till a giant flash of golden violet light illuminated the hall, subsequently shattering all the stained glass windows in a dazzling display of sparkling shards. The seven ponies stood there, unmoving, almost afraid to find out if they made it or not. Rarity was the first to open her eyes, then Rainbow Dash, then Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, and Applejack.

Bright Blade and Twilight slowly opened their eyes. Indeed it was true; they had all arrived at the Canterlot Tower, safe and sound. I can't believe it, thought Bright Blade, we're not in a wall or underground, we did it, we really did it! Twilight and Bright smiled at each other, their combined power was able to bring them to the Element's location.

"Um, everypony, I don't think now's the best time for celebrating," said Fluttershy.

"Of course it is! We're in Canterlot, the Elements are only a few feet away and – and – what is that noise," asked Pinkie Pie.

At the door where the Elements of Harmony resided behind, were at least fifty Daemoni, each one smashing their hooves against the ornate door, or ramming their bodies into it with all their might in a desperate attempt to break it down. At that moment one of the Daemoni noticed the seven ponies who were staring at the creatures in disbelief and horror. The other Daemoni picked up on what it was looking at and began to move towards them.

"This isn't good, not good at all! If they made it this far then what a happened to the Princesses," asked Twilight.

"First things first, we need to you get guys to those Elements," said Bright Blade. "With strength unmatched I sing this song, that might and magic be as one! Cast your light upon the land! Let evils wrath be undone, mystic sword, Excellion!" On cue the magic sword broke through the ceiling as a bolt of white lightning, the room echoed with the sound of resounding thunder. The sword took on its material form and floated in front of Bright Blade, ready to be wielded by its master. Bright Blade heard a surprised gasped from behind him, he turned his head to see that Twilight had a scared and surprised look on her face. It was then he realized that this was the first time Twilight had ever seen him summon Excellion, or transform for that matter. "Sorry, I forgot this is your first time seeing all this, please don't scared Twilight," Bright Blade turned back and faced the Daemoni. He grabbed Excellion's hilt with his teeth, flared his wings, and charged at the demonic ponies.

Forgetting their original mission the Daemoni attacked the armored alicorn. Bright Blade swung Excellion, cutting down two Daemoni at once, flipping the sword around, he tried to slash another two, but the Daemoni moved back making him miss. Bright Blade recovered from the missed swing, trying this time to buck two incoming Daemoni that were closing in from behind. He was able to catch one of them in the jaw, sending it flying into the air and disappearing in a puff of black smoke. The other he missed maneuvered to his right side and slammed its body against his, making Bright Blade lose his balance. Another Daemoni took advantage of the moment and bucked Bright Blade in the jaw making him drop Excellion and sending smashing into the wall. This is different, thought Bright Blade, did they get smarter or something! The Daemoni started to surround him; Bright Blade used his telekinesis to will Excellion to his side. The sword lifted up and began to make its way to towards its master. The sword then began to spin rapidly, cutting through all the Daemoni in its path like a buzz saw. Bright leaped up and grabbed Excellion; the blade began to glow with an iridescent white light. Flash Blade! In the blink of an eye Bright Blade faded away, streaks of white light slashed the Daemoni making them evaporate into puffs of black smoke. The others cheered on as Bright Blade took down the dreaded creatures with ease. But the demonic ponies weren't going to make it easy for him.

As soon as Bright Blade reappeared one of the Daemoni attacked from the left side, snapping at him with its fanged maw. Bright Blade jerked back avoiding the bit from the Daemoni, just then another one attacked from right, body slamming him. Another bucked him in his left flank, the armor absorbed most of the impact, but the force from the kick made his left hind leg go numb for a couple of seconds. "Bright Blade fly up, use your wings," shouted Rainbow Dash. Bright Blade took her advice and flapped his mighty wings, ascending. Time to end this! A magic circle, the same as before, appeared below him. Excellion's blade began to glow with golden light. Two Daemoni then ran at full speed up the wall, having timed it just right and using their momentum, the Daemoni attacked Bright Blade while he was still in the air. Bright Blade moved to the left, avoiding the Daemoni attacking from the right, but unfortunately he was unable to miss the second one. The Daemoni opened its mouth and chomped on Bright Blade's left wing. He could feel the Daemoni's sharp teeth and fangs piercing through his flesh, cutting through the wings sinewy muscle, and crushing the bone to pieces. Bright Blade wailed in pain, dropping Excellion to the ground. For a second Bright Blade wanted to fight, to pull up and escape the pain, but if he did the Daemoni would rip off his wing.

"BRIGHT BLADE!" they all shouted. Rarity and Twilight charged their horns with magical power, releasing it in a unified beam that blasted the Daemoni. The creature evaporated, Bright Blade began to fall, but Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy quickly caught him before he fell into the horde that awaited him down below. The Daemoni hissed at the pegasi for denying them of their deserved meal. Two of the Daemoni chased after them, but Applejack intercepted them. They circled around her, like vultures over a fresh carcass. Pinkie Pie's knees began to pinch.

Just as she predicted one of the Daemoni attacked from the right, Applejack bucked the demon pony hard in its chest. The creature let out a pained raspy cry then dissolved. Pinkie Pie's tail then twitch, "Twitchy-Tail!" shouted Pinkie Pie. Applejack knew well what twitchy-tail meant, her head shot up just in time to see a Daemoni jump high into the air, about to pounce on Applejack. She rolled to left as the Daemoni landed hard on the floor making it crack from the force. A magic beam shot out and destroyed the second Daemoni; Applejack noticed a large piece of glass was on the floor. She carefully bit the shard and threw it with all her might, the shard whistled as it cut through the air and pierced the head of the third Daemoni.

Applejack quickly ran back to her friends, Twilight and Rarity combined their power to create a force field separating the Daemoni from them. "How's Bright Blade," asked Rarity.

"Not too good, Bright Blade's knocked out," answered Rainbow Dash. "His wing was nearly bitten off completely, it's – it's a real mess!"

She wasn't exaggerating; Bright Blade's left wing was bleeding. The bone was sticking out; any muscle fiber that connected the bone to the wing was shredded. Fluttershy was doing her best not to vomit at the sight, but tried to do her best in tending to the injured alicorn. Bright Blade had loosed consciousness from the pain, and his body was shaking from the pain that ran through his body. "I don't know what to do, I could try and wrap it up, but I don't have anything to wrap it with," said Fluttershy.

Pinkie Pie looked around and quickly ripped a piece of the red rug that ran the length of the hall. She gave the ripped part to Fluttershy who then began to wrap up Bright Blade's wing the best she could. The Daemoni tried to break the barrier, it took all of Twilight's and Rarity's concentration to keep the shield from shattering.

It-it hurts…it hurts so much…I-I can barely…think. Bright Blade began to slowly open his eyes; he was greeted by the sight of Fluttershy who was cradling his head. Rainbow Dash, Applejack, and Pinkie Pie were all worried about his condition. "Fl-Fluttershy…what hap – aaaggghh!" Bright Blade suddenly felt a surge of pain, all of it radiating from his wing and pulsing through the rest of his body.

"No Bright Blade, don't move! Your wing's torn up badly, Fluttershy wrapped it, but we still need to get you to a hospital," said Rainbow Dash.

Hospital…? We don't have time…for a hospital! Bright Blade started to rise slowly, the pain growing ever stronger the more he pushed himself up. Applejack rushed to Bright Blade's side, steadying him, Fluttershy stayed on his left to support his injured wing. Something started to come over Bright Blade, something he couldn't explain. "Rarity…! Twilight…! When I give the signal drop the force field," said Bright Blade shakily. The two unicorns looked at Bright Blade confused; they must have thought the pain had made him delirious. "Excellion!" the magic sword burst forth from the Daemoni horde. The sword flew towards them; passing through the barrier like it wasn't even there. Excellion floated in front of Bright Blade with its tip pointed to the ceiling. The sword began to spin in place, faster and faster, blurring out. Suddenly the blur started to form a magic circle, "Stand…back!" ordered Bright Blade. Applejack and Fluttershy did as he asked, Bright Blade instantly regretted saying that since Fluttershy was the only thing keeping his wing stable, and without her it was dangling at his side. But he fought through the pain as he built up his magical energy within his horn. The circle let out electrical sparks that arced to his horn.

"At this point I don't know, but one thing's for sure, I don't want to be anywhere on this side of that circle," said Twilight. "Back up now!"

Twilight and Rarity held their concentration as they fell back behind Bright Blade. "Now!" he shouted. They brought down the force field just as Bright Blade instructed. The Daemoni charged forward ready to feast on their prey. Bright Blade's green eyes started to shine, "MAGNA BLAST!" Bright Blades horn released a powerful blast of magic at the circle, which passed through the other side as beam twice as big and twice as powerful. The Daemoni shrieked as they were blown away by Bright Blades attack, even the black smoke was completely gone. The blast hit the wall which exploded, creating a dust cloud that completely filled the hallway.

Rarity and Twilight managed to reform the barrier just in time. The two unicorns used their magic to clear the dust from the room, amazingly the wall was still standing, not a scratch on it. "Wow, that's a powerful spell the Princess put on the chamber," said Applejack.

Except for Bright Blade's pained groans there was silence. The silence was broken by explosions coming from outside. Rainbow Dash and Applejack helped Bright Blade hobble to the door. Twilight forced the door open so that they could all see what was going on. "Oh Celestia help us all…"

Despite their efforts, even after Bright Blade sustained such a terrible injury, the enemy was not defeated. The Princesses were high in the sky blasting the Daemoni with their powerful magic. The Royal Guard was in the mist of battle with the Daemoni, spears piercing, souls being drained. The entirety of Canterlot was still in jeopardy. "This is crazy! We just got through with those things in there, and there's still more," said Pinkie Pie.

"What! There's no way you're going to fight, not in your condition," said Twilight.

"We can't just let Canterlot fall, and we definitely cannot let the Princesses be killed! Wing or no wing, I'm going to –!" just then Bright Blade's body shined with golden light. When it faded away the six mares all gasped, Bright Blade had reverted back to an earth pony colt. Bright Blade quickly scanned himself, no wings, horn, even the pain was gone. "You got to be kidding me! Not now, the one time when I need that power and it disappears on me when all this is going on," shouted Bright Blade in frustration.

"Twilight, even the Elements of Harmony can't handle all this, what do we do now," asked Rarity.

It seemed that Canterlot would fall, and Bright Blade felt that it was partly due to him. All of sudden there was thundering booming sound. In the skies above Canterlot a giant heart made of light shined across the sky. From the heart burst forth a sphere of light that engulfed the entire city, the sphere then lifted up, filtering out all the Daemoni from the ponies. It rose higher and higher till it was above the heart, it then imploded then exploded in a beautiful shower of sparkles. The ponies all across Canterlot cheered loudly, the Royal Guards stamped the butts of their spears against the ground in a sort of militaristic salute. The seven ponies all wondered who in the world could've done that, though they all had a pretty good idea who they were.

The heart then became two spheres of light, one blue and the other a light rose color. They floated towards their location, landing softly a few feet away. The spheres faded way revealing a unicorn in a custom made violet and gold suit of armor, and the other an alicorn in silver and gold suit of armor, with a flowing silver skirt with gold trimming. Twilight's face glowed, the identities of their saviors was confirmed. "Shining Armor, Cadance," shouted Twilight with joy.

Twilight wasted no time running up to Shining Armor and Cadance; she threw her forelegs around Shining Armor and then Cadance who returned the hug. "I can't believe it! How did – when did you two get here!"

"Aunt Celestia sent us word about what happened in Ponyville, so we decided to cut our vacation short and came to see if we could help," said Cadance.

"Unfortunately we got a little more than we bargained for, good thing that spell worked, we came up with that at the last possible minute," said Shining Armor.

"Shining Armor, Princess Cadance, that spell was amazing," exclaimed Bright Blade as he made his way towards them.

"BB what's up," Shining Armor held out his hoof, upon which Bright Blade knocked hooves with him. For some reason Twilight gave them a weird look. "Something wrong Twilight?" Shining Armor asked.

"Ahem," everypony turned to see one of the Royal Guard unicorns standing by waiting. "Excuse me sir, the Princess sends a message!"

"Princess Celestia and Princess Luna request that all of you join her in the throne room immediately," said the Royal Guard unicorn.

Bright Blade, for some reason, transformed back to his original form with no injuries. The Daemoni mounted a full on attack against Canterlot, and on top of that they tried to get to the Elements of Harmony. Just who is controlling the Daemoni, the time has come to reveal that which has remained hidden. Next time in Chapter 11 of War in Equestria: The Tale of Bright Blade!

War in Equestria: The Tale of Bright Blade

by Michael_Ravencroft

Chapter 10