//------------------------------//
// Bk4/Ch4 The Dark Alicorn 
// Story: Love's Lost Decade 
// by Priceless911 
//------------------------------//

Book 4/Chapter 4
The Dark Alicorn
Year 01, Month 07, Day 11

“Nopony knows who came first, but what we do know, is that in the beginning there were six deities who ruled the world. We, the mortals that they created, called ‘em Titans. The most known of these deities were two nameless alicorns who were referred to, as the King and Queen. They created all the pony, griffin, and horse races. The next was a forest and storm titan, known as Raiden the Thunder God. He created all creatures of the forest; wolves, deer, rabbits, the works. Next was a Dragoness Titan known as Infurnace, She ruled the lava pits and created the dragon races, other than sea serpents. And lastly, is the Leviathan. He is the creator of the sea creatures, serpents, and the Hippogriff race. Together these immortal beings ruled the world and kept they and their creations at peace with one another.”
Zeil and Cunningham continued trotting alongside each other down the long winding trail as Zeil asked, “If they are Immortal… then how could the King and Queen be killed?”
Cunningham replied with a smiled, “Cuz they are immortal… but only in youth and beauty. Both could live for eternity if needed, but… if you were to charge one with a swords and catch ‘em off guard, then stabbing them would have the same effect of any of their creations. They could be wounded, and if badly enough, killed. After all, that’s what happened to all of ‘em. Well accept for the Leviathan, he is the last of the titans and still lives in his personal sector of the sea.”
Zeil gave Cunningham a curious look, “But… you said there were six deities… what about the Sixth?”
Cunningham shrugged his shoulders, “Nopony knows… he and his name was lost to the world after Eden vanished. Word is, he was a real tyrant. He wanted to take the world for ‘emself, so he betrayed the other titans, amassed an army of his own creation, and tried to destroy all that the other titans strived to protect.”
Zeil was curious, “What creatures did he create?”
Cunningham hesitated as he replied, “Well… Minotaur, Apes, Demons, Wendigo, Zebra, and… Changelings.”
Zeil was surprised, “What?”
Cunningham tried to reply without offending him, “Aye… his creations were meant to deceive, control, and were rather violent in nature. He amassed an army of his own and started the world’s first war. But… because of his deception, the rest of the titans joined forces and defeated him. He would have faced execution, however he Queen of Eden was strongly against death, so she created a realm that would be meant to house the most dangerous of creatures, and for added insult, thy imprisoned him there and made his most loyal pet Cerberus guard the place so that none could ever escape.”
The path started up a hill as Zeil replied, “Tartarus… And… nopony knows his name?”
Cunningham nodded, “Aye… Eden held the largest library of knowledge and history that the world had ever known, so when the city became lost to time, we were set back many centuries. If not for the guidance of the royal sisters, then we pony races would have fallen to the Dark Ages. Luckily, after that titan was imprisoned, his creations chose their own lives afterwards. Monitor I hear are trustworthy to a point. Zebra have become a well-respected race… but the rest…”
Zeil nodded, “yea, yea… I know… it’s the reason you destroyed the Highland Hive after all.”
Cunningham became a little nervous, “So… still mad about that are ya? I told ya that story a number of days ago.”
Zeil replied, “I can’t say I approve, but… I do understand. As long as you do feel some sort of regret… I think that’s punishment enough.”
Cunningham nodded, “Indeed I do laddie… I just wish the rest of the clan would as well. Black Druid, Hero of the Highland Hive War… Nick names I didn’t want. After Aria… Me wife was killed, A rage filled my body… one that could only be soothed in blood. But after it was over… after I killed the assassin, destroyed the hive and even used one of their wings to curse myself and made a golden joke… I just…”
Cunningham couldn’t finish, instead he silenced himself as Zeil could since his guilt fed sorrow, he could only sigh in pity as he spoke, “Peace brings tranquility, and that’s what you need to survive.”
Cunningham was confused, “What?”
Zeil explained, “The temple that I stayed at in the Far East… While I was there, there was another changeling who said those words. Basically, they mean that in order to survive, one must have control of his anger, and maintain his mental peace. If you let anger control your actions then it will only lead to problems.”
Cunningham Smiled, “Wise words… ya sure it was a changeling that said ‘em?”
Zeil gave Cunningham a dirty look as Cunningham chuckled, “I’m kidding lad, just a joke. No need to get hostile. Just trying to lift the mood is all.”
As he said that, Zeil and Cunningham reached the top of the hill as the druid looked into the distance and spoke, “And… there’s a sight to lower it back down.”
As the duo looked over the hill, Zeil could see a large wall made of very old stone, surrounding a large city of ruins with a massive but very old castle at the far end.
Looking at the city Cunningham spoke, “Welcome to Perch lad.”
Zeil looked at the old stone walls as he spoke, “Wow… how old is this city?”
Cunningham replied, “Many centuries old… Well…” He started trotting towards the city, “Let’s get to it.”
As the two approached the massive walls, Zeil looked at the old stone and felt a little confused, Like most ancient ruins, the large wall had moss growing up it that reached about half way to the top, however the stone above the moss didn’t seemed as old as the stone below it, in fact the stone towards the top seemed almost brand new. However as Zeil looked to Cunningham to ask about it, Cunningham spoke first, “How good is your ability to sense aura laddie? I'd think since mine is a curse, your is probably better right?”
Zeil nodded as he replied, “We automatically sense all aura within twenty feet just out of reflex, but if we are on edge or if we simply try, we can sense anything within a mile or so. Why?”
Cunningham stopped in the city’s gateway as he asked, “Could ya try it? I just want to be sure of somthin’. See how far into this city you can sense and see if anypony is here.”
Though the request was odd, Zeil still nodded as he stopped beside him and tried to since the aura of every living creature from where he stood, to the furthest point in the city. After doing so, Zeil spoke, “Well I can only sense about half way through the city, but there are a large number of rodents, mice, rats, squirrels, even a few rabbits, but no ponies, shire, or other intelligent life.”
Cunningham continued trotting through the gate as he replied, “That’s what I was afraid of.”
As they continued Zeil had to ask, “Exactly… how long had it been since these ruins were abandon?”
Cunningham replied, “My guess… less than a day.”
As they entered the city, Zeil saw what he meant, Inside the old ancient walls were new buildings that still looked lived in, all except for the large holes in the rooves and walls that resembled the damaged buildings in Zeil’s visions of Canterlot, mere moments before it was destroyed. Staring in shock, Zeil spoke, “These… aren’t ancient ruins are they?”
Cunningham shook his head, “No…they ain’t. This is… was, the capital city of the Highlands. And in that castle, is where our king would be. Though I’m guessing, our guest got here first.”
Zeil was curious, “King? But I thought you were led by a chief?”
Cunningham nodded, “Aye, we are, but all clan chiefs answer to a king. Though I think now… that isn’t so.”
Cunningham continued trotting through the streets towards the center of the city as Zeil followed closely behind. After a while the streets led to a large empty plaza with a fountain in the center as Cunningham stopped and looked around, “Anything yet? Any known survivors?”
Zeil shook his head, “None… seems like the whole city is gone.”
Cunningham nodded, “Aye… so… I guess there is a change in plans.”
Zeil gave him a confused look, “We had a plan?”
Cunningham turned towards Zeil as he spoke, “Guess its best we separate for now, try to find a grocery store or somthin’ it will be night soon and I for one could use a bite.”
Zeil replied, “So, we are going to take it.”
Cunningham replied, “It ain’t gonna do anypony else any good… not anymore. While you do that I'll go find us a decent place to stay. Hopefully we can find a place with a whole roof and two beds. I would choose the castle, but I'd rather choose a place that isn’t too obvious in case the creature makes another round. When you find food, meet me back here, I'll do the same once I find us a place to cook it.”
Zeil nodded, “Sure… I'll do that.”
With that the two parted ways as Zeil made his way towards the shopping district, and Cunningham towards the residential areas.
Not long after Zeil arrived at a store, he entered the place of business as he saw the shelves were untouched by any of the rubble made from the large hole in the ceiling over the checkout counter. All though he couldn’t sense the aura of anypony inside, he still called as he looked through the empty store, “Hello?...anypony here?”
After being answered by complete silence Zeil just sighed as he mumbled, “Not a soul to be seen. Oh well… I guess I should get some foo-”
As Zeil looked around the building, he noticed something interesting as he looked at the placement of the hole in the ceiling, and its position over the checkout desk. Curious, Zeil stepped behind the counter and looked directly at the hole as he notice something strange. 
The damage in the roof, and his exact placement seemed to match perfectly as if whatever made the hole struck on the exact place that Zeil was standing, which was most likely where the cashier was standing prior to the attack. Seeing this, Zeil spoke, “So… the creature attacked from outside, and managed to strike the residents with only one try.”
He looked at the ground around him, “No blood or sign of struggling. The victim died either instantly… or, he could have been devoured like in my vision. Sadly… I don’t think it was painless.”
After this discovery, Zeil decided to get back to his task as he started searching the store for something to eat.
Not far down the road, Cunningham entered a home as he started trotting through the residents. Looking around, Cunningham could see the same thing that Zeil saw only the holes in this building pierced the second story, and struck the chairs next to a dinner table as Cunningham noticed food still sitting on the table as he spoke, “So… they were preparing for breakfast when it happened.”
Cunningham approached the table but as he did, he stepped on something strange as the druid looked at his hooves to see small piles of black sand on the ground around his hooves. Curious, Cunningham picked up the sand and examined it closely. As he looked at the sand he mumbled, “Interestin’…” before anything more could be said, Cunningham could hear something that caught his attention. Hearing what sounded like bubbling coming from the kitchen stove, Cunningham dropped the sand and started towards the stove to investigate. Although right after he dropped and trotted passed the sand, the black grains came to life as the sand slithered away from Cunningham without him seeing the strange action.
With his focus on the bubbling sound, Cunningham approached the burner with caution as he saw a pot of water boiling on the stove. As soon as he saw the boiling pot, Cunningham turned off the burner as he mumbled, “The water wasn’t completely evaporated… The attack happened less than it would take for that water to boil away. Which means…”His expression became nervous, “he’s still here…”
All of a sudden, Cunningham heard a voice that sent a cold chill down his spine as it spoke, “Very observant… you seem much wiser than the rest of the residents of this city. And yet, you were not here for my arrival. That’s… unfortunate for you.”
Slowly, Cunningham turned around as he saw what he had hoped he wouldn’t. Standing behind him, was a tall dark alicorn who stood with a curious smile on his face. As Cunningham looked into the eyes of the creature they were supposed to hide from, He could only feel worry as he hid his emotions and replied, “Is that so…” He turned completely towards the dark alicorn as he continued, “So… you’re the one I’ve been expecting… the dark creature who destroyed Eden, and Equestria with it.”
The dark Alicorn smiled as he replied, “I feel somewhat at a loss… you seem to know me well enough, and yet I do not have the pleasure of knowing you at all.”
Still making small talk, Cunningham replied, “Then let me introduce myself; my name is Cunningham. I am the druid of the McHolt Clan and its key enchanter. And you?”
The Dark creature smiled as he replied, “You are not worthy to know my true name… that honor is for higher races.”
Cunningham Gave the creature a dull look as he slowly reached into his rags as he readied himself, “A higher race eh…” He pulled out a veil of red potion as he threw it down and yelled, “THAT’S A SHAME!!!”
At that moment, the glass vial shattered against the ground, as Cunningham darted towards the closest window and shielded his face as he jumped through the glass and into the street outside. Inside the tall creature looked down at the strange red liquid for a few seconds before the potion started glowing as the dark alicorn smiled, “Delayed glycerin… cleaver.”
Back at the store, Zeil was looking at the items on the shelf as he mumbled, “Gluten free bread… I thought bread was gluten… then, what the heck is gluten then?”
All of a sudden Zeil heard a loud explosion as he dropped the bread in surprise from the unexpected sound. With the loud sound bringing his attention away from his task and back on their situation, Zeil realized something as he spoke in worry, “That aura… Cunningham!...”
With worry, Zeil quickly rushed outside as he looked at the smoke that was towering over the buildings as Zeil spoke, “The creature is here… Cunningham… Are you actually trying to fight it?”
With that said, Zeil started running down the road towards the smoke as fast as he could. As Zeil reached the corner of the next street, the disguised changeling could see Cunningham picking himself up from the center of the road as rubble from the destroyed building continued to fall onto the area around him.
As soon as he saw Cunningham, Zeil started trotting towards him as Cunningham looked at the destroyed rubble of the building he just evacuated and put his hoof out, signaling Zeil to stop. Seeing the signal, Zeil paused as he understood and slowly eased to the side of the road, before watching Cunningham from the cover of a nearby alley. Although Cunningham never looked at Zeil during his actions, he knew Zeil was hidden as he lowered his hoof and continued watching the ruins of the now burning building as vines made from black sand slithered out of the wreckage as they gathered in front of the damaged structure and bundled up as a voice was heard, “Very impressive… Few alchemist exist with the knowledge of creating delayed glycerin… and even fewer with the courage, due to its violent reaction with air.”
As the sand took form of the dark alicorn, Cunningham replied with a casual tone, “Ya know your magic… strange… I’d figure you’re more of a monster then a magician.”
The Alicorn smiled as he replied, “I may be what I am now… but at one time, I served as the Queen’s top scientist and most skilled magician.”
Cunningham gave the creature an angry look, “and what changed ya? How did one sink so low as to kill all life as we know it?”
The Alicorn smiled at Cunningham’s anger as he replied, “Not all life… just the life that chooses to worship an abomination of nature.”
Cunningham gave the alicorn a confused look, “Abomination? Better explain that one to me lad.”
The dark alicorn began pacing around Cunningham as he spoke, “What law of nature must every living thing follow? What absolute truth is the fate of all creatures in this or any existence?”
Although the alicorn gave Cunningham time to answer, it wasn’t needed as the druid spoke, “Death… anything that must live, must die.”
The alicorn stopped pacing, “Precisely… all that lives, will one day die… and yet, the king and queen of Eden would not. They who create life from the very dust around them… are not bound by their own law. How hypocritical and cruel must you be to bestow something so temporary, and yet, not suffer its end? And these… Immortals expect us to worship them as if what they gave us is a blessing?”
Cunningham replied, “I ain’t very bright lad… but if I know the old stories, none of the titans actually required us to worship ‘em. Not even the bad one. So… I think there is something else that drove ya to this madness. Isn’t there?”
The dark alicorn smiled sinisterly, “You are much wiser then I gave you credit for… but if you must know. My true reason was my servitude.”
“go on…”
The dark alicorn spoke with a serious tone, “I gave my life for the queen I trusted, both figuratively and literally. And yet the day my life was to be blessed with another… something happened, that claimed the life of both my wife, and her unborn foal. On the very day I was to give my life for the greater good… I lost my reason to do so.”
Cunningham spoke, “So… you were to be a father, and an unfortunate birthing claimed the life of both your wife and foal, do I got that right?”
The alicorn nodded, “Yes… The queen has always spoken of preserving the life she gave us… so why would she claim it so heartlessly… unless… she truly didn’t care for us at all. She and that king care not for their creations… instead they mock us, by bestowing us the so called gift of life, before heartlessly seizing it from our grasp when we least expect it. So… if they wish to be heartless, then so will I… I will seek to dispose of all their so called, creations. Any who choose to praise them and their gift of life, will meet the same fate… Death… in its truest form.”
Cunningham gave him an annoyed look, “So that’s your reason for killing millions?”
The alicorn nodded, “shouldn’t it be reason enough?”
At first, Cunningham looked at the ground and hid his face, as Zeil from his hiding spot could feel an intense rage buildup in the druid’s emotions. Then, the rage seems to fade to pity as something unexpected happened. Cunningham started chuckling lightly to himself, which soon build up to laughter, before the druid looked to the sky, laughing as loud as he could as his laughter echoed through the empty city streets. Confused, Zeil and the alicorn watched as Cunningham finally toned down his laughter enough for him to speak, “So that’s it then… full-fledged genocide of an entir- no hundreds of civilizations over something as simple as your wife and foal?” he chuckled a little more, “lad…” His laughter ceased entirely, “ya don’t know how foolish you sound.”
The alicorn gave Cunningham an angry look, “I beg your parden?...”
The druid replied with a serious and annoyed tone as if the laugh he had was nonexistent, “you killed millions of lives all for the sake of two… I know I can’t say much, but that… that has to be the most idiotic thing I’ve ever heard in all my days. You say you were a scientist? Ya must have been the stupidest scientist I ever knew. Two lives… for millions. That math don’t add up laddie. Fact of it is… you ain’t doin’ this for them… oh no… your doin’ it cuz you’re nothing more than a coward.” He raised his voice, “Aye ya heard me right! A foolish little baby! Cryin in ya crib, oh woe-was-me… me poor wife and me unborn foal died. Oh wait ya know what will fix this? MASS GENOCIDE! Aye ya thought killen million would make ya feel better for their death? Ya dead wrong ya gether-uping-blate-maw. I think that horn on ya head is interfearin’ with your grain of sand sized brain ya winy bleatherin’ little nothin’! Hey! Now hear’s an idea, why don’t cha climb back to your crib, cry me a river ‘bout all the wrong ya feel the world had done ya, then take all the timber of troubles ya got, build me a sturdy bridge… AND GET OVER IT!!! Ya tear gerkin’, sand brained, thousand year old, BA-”
Though the distance between the two and Zeil was too far for the hidden changeling to hear the conversation, he could still hear every word of Cunningham’s outburst as the disguised changeling listened in surprise of each and every insult the shire gave the dark creature. However as Cunningham continued his rant, The dark alicorn soon lost his temper as he sent a black sand vine up from the ground as it wrapped around Cunningham’s neck and lifted the angry shire in the air, silencing him before he could finish his insult. The dark creature glared at the struggling shire as he spoke in an intense rage, “You blasphemic fool… how dare you speak down to me as if I were the dirt beneath your hooves. I am of the alicorn race, your better… and I will not be spoken down to by a pathetic shire like you.”
Cunningham smiled as he continued to struggle with his words, “I guess I hit a nerve… need I remind you that you turn into the literal sand beneath my hoo-”
The dark alicorn tightened the vine around Cunningham’s throat cutting off his speech as the Alicorn spoke, “Silence peasent…I have indulged your presence for long enough. Its time you meet the same fate as your queen.”
Cunningham looked down to see that the black sand that made up the vine started spreading across his body as he started struggling to shake it off. However with the sand clinging to his coat like glue, he was unable to shake it away as the druid looked to the alicorn as the dark creature finished his sentence with only one word, “Death.”
Seeing that there was no escape, Cunningham stopped struggling as he spoke, “Fine… then I'll see you shortly… wee baby…” Happy he got one last insult in, Cunningham smiled peacefully as he mumbled, “Looks like I'll be seein’ ya soon Aria. Shame I couldn’t help the lad more.”
With only a slight shift in his eyes, Cunningham looked to where Zeil was hiding as he mumbled, “The zebra was right… this truly is my redemption… for the highland hive… and for you Zeil.”
Not hearing his words, the dark alicorn watched as his sand spread across all of Cunningham’s body in till what stood before him was a tall black pillar with no resemblance to the shire inside it.
No longer able to see Cunningham amongst the sand, Zeil quickly turned away as he leaned against the wall of the alley as he tried to decide what to do. Part of him kept saying that he had to charge in and save his friend, but another was telling him to honor his decision, run, and hide. However, before he could decide, he could only feel disappointed as the aura that was once Cunningham, slowly faded to nothing. After feeling that his friend was now gone, Zeil looked back at the event in the street as he watched the tall black pillar in front of the dark alicorn, melt away into sand leaving not a single remnant of the druid behind. Knowing that this was the same fate as those killed in his dream, Zeil continued to keep himself hidden as the dark alicorn looked at the small pile of sand in front of him with no expression, “Foolish peasant… if he had simply known his place, he would have lived longer. Never the less, it’s done now.”
With that said, the dark creature turned away and started trotting down the street away from where Zeil was hiding.
Zeil looked at the pile of sand in disappointment, then he looked up at the one responsible. As he saw the alicorn trotting away with no expression, Zeil started to feel an intense anger build up. The dark creature continued trotting until he felt something as he paused and mumbled, “There is another here… but… wait…” His eyes widened, “Can it be?…”
At that moment, the dark creature turned around and made direct eye contact with Zeil from down the street as if he had known the changeling was hiding there the whole time. Seeing that he was immediately spotted, Zeil’s anger quickly turned to fear as he stepped back, “Oh no…”
Knowing there was no surviving this fight, Zeil immediately turned around to flee. However as he did, he was quickly stopped when he found that the dark creature that was watching him from hundreds of feet down the road, was now standing directly behind him blocking his only escape. As soon as he saw the dark alicorn, Zeil froze in shock, he knew that he couldn’t win a fight against this creature, nor could he even buy himself time to think of a way to escape. All the terrified changeling could do, was wait for whatever form of death the dark monster would bring.
Then without warning, Zeil’s fear turned to confusion, as the expressionless alicorn bowed in respect before speaking with a humble tone, “To stand in the presence of a titan… Tis truly an honor milord.”
Zeil had never been so confused, all he could do was stare at the dark creature as the alicorn looked up from his bow and saw the confusion on the zebra disguised changeling’s face. Seeing this, the alicorn rose from his bow as he continued, “Wait… you are no titan. But a changeling harboring his power.”
Zeil was confused, “H-how did you know I was a-”
The alicorn spoke, “Tell me… which titan has bestowed his power upon you?... Speak!”
Zeil tried to think as he replied, “T-titan?”
The alicorn thought to himself, “You do not know?... hmm… could it be that you have yet to awaken him… or do you not yet know how to possess his power?”
Zeil had no idea what was happening, all he could do was stare in confusion at the dark creature as the alicorn stopped thinking and spoke, “No matter… If you have yet to awaken his power, then you are no current interest to me.” he stood up properly, “None-the-less, permit me to introduce myself… my name is Professor Osiris of Eden.” He bowed politely, “I would be honored to know your mortal name changeling.”
Zeil had no idea how to respond, so he just replied, “M-my name is Zeil…”
The alicorn smiled, “Lord Zeil… a fitting name. I request you to remember mine, for when you awaken the power within you… I would be honored to serve you, milord.”
With that said, the dark creature turned to leave, “Until we meet again, I shall bid you adieu.”
As the creature started to leave, something took hold as Zeil spoke up, “Stop!”
The dark creature paused as he spoke, “Forgive me… but I haven’t the time to convers. I still have to finish what I started. There are more followers of the queen to dispose of.”
Zeil replied in anger, “you mean murder… like you did Cunningham?”
Surprised by Zeil’s angry tone, the dark creature turned to the zebra disguised changeling, then he looked to where Cunningham had fallen, then back at Zeil as he replied, “ah… I see. I killed your servant. I should have guessed that one with a destiny such as yours would have such a strong follower. I would ask that you forgive my actions, though you would know what becomes of one who speaks ill of his betters.”
Zeil replied as he reached into his saddlebag, “He wasn’t my servant… he was my teacher… let me show you what he taught me!”
Thinking this was his only chance, Zeil pulled out a small veil as he opened the top and flung the greenish powder out at the dark alicorn. After flinging the powdery contents on his opponent, Zeil quickly shielded himself with his cloak as he jumped back from the cloud of powder in hoped that the poisonous substance wouldn’t make contact with his skin.
After getting a safe distance from the powder coated alicorn, Zeil removed his cloak and tossed it aside so that any remnant of the power that was on it wouldn’t touch him as he looked at the alicorn and waited. Confused the dark creature looked at the powder that was on him as he spoke, “Strange… am I to assume this to be some sort of spell? I’m afraid I’m not familiar wi-“
Before he could finish, the dark creature noticed some of the sand that made up his body started deteriorating as if fell off of his hoof as if his flesh was falling off his limb. Seeing this made Zeil smile, “Good, it does work on you… I knew it was a good idea to bring that along. I just hope that powder is as poisonous as Cunningham said it was… without apples at least.”
Hearing the statement made the dark alicorn smile, “Interesting… a powder that neutralizes my magic? Or… does it cause some sort of paralysis? No matter…”
At that moment, the dark creature melted into a pile of sand before regenerating himself only a foot from his original position leaving only the powder coated sand in his previous place.
Confused Zeil looked at the dark creature, as the alicorn looked at his powderless hoof and spoke, “That spell was not your own was it… pity… It would have been wise to use your own spells rather than somepony else’s, then you would have known that you used a contact spell, and with my physicality, spells like that are pointless.” He sighed in irritation, “I shall let you know that challenging you was not my intention, though I cannot allow you to stop me from completing my fate, all who worship the alicorn queen will die.”
Feeling nervous, Zeil reached into his saddlebag as he pulled a blue potion out before replaying, “I can’t let that happen, even if I can’t win… I won’t stand by while you kill more innocent lives!”
Trying again, Zeil stomped his hoof against the ground as hard as he could causing the small vail of potion to shatter as the potion spread across the bottom of his hoof before changing colors from blue to white. At that moment, Zeil’s green zebra eyes turned blue as took a step towards his foe and swung the same hoof upwards in the alicorns direction as if to kick up dust towards his enemy. As he did this, tall icy spikes shot up from the ground in a long trail as they homed in on the dark creature before sending five of them to pierce his body, three in his torso, one in his left front hoof, and one in his right hind hoof. However, Osiris wasn’t fazed by any of the impaled portions of his body, as he reached up with his free front hoof and grabbed one of the spikes in his chest, “Elemental magic… impressive, in the past, this was an impossibility for one without the magic of a unicorn horn. Though… it is a fruitless act. Mortal wounds also have no effect on-”
As the dark creature griped a spike that was piercing his chest, Ice began forming on his hoof and around the wounds as it quickly ran across his body covering his black coat in a thick layer of ice. Like Cunningham with the sand, Osiris watched as ice started forming across his entire body before looking at Zeil with an annoyed expression, mere moments before ice spread across his face immortalizing this expression in a frozen state. Smiling at his now frozen foe Zeil spoke, “Try that for a mortal wound, frozen from the inside out… let’s just hope you stay that way.”
As Zeil smiled at his seemingly defeated foe, his smile was cut short when he heard a voice speak, “I grow tired of this… let us end it now.”
At that moment, the ice covering the frozen alicorn started cracking as the surprised enchanter backed away from what he thought to be a neutralized foe.
Watching in worry, Zeil backed into the center of the street as he looked back at his foe, but as he did he saw something strange. On the ground in front of the cracking statue, a small black glass spike rose from the ground slowly until it was about shoulder high to Zeil. Seeing the lone spike confused Zeil, but then right in front of that one, a second spike rose, this time almost instantaneously. Afterword, a third spike shot up, then a fourth, then a fifth. Before he knew it, a string of glass spikes where shooting up as it came towards Zeil in the same way as the ice did before. Seeing his incoming threat, Zeil tried to back up more and more but as he did, he soon found himself against a wall as the spikes got closer with each second. With one more effort, Zeil ran his icy hoof along the ground leaving a small U shaped wall of ice to shoot up in front of him however as the next glass spike shot up, it shattered the small wall of ice causing Zeil to rear back to protect his face from the ice. However as he did, he felt a punch in his back that cause all his senses to go numb. His sight faded, his ears began ringing, and his body went numb then limp, but despite all that, he didn’t fall to the ground, instead he stayed suspended on his hind hooves.
Slowly after a brief moment, Zeil’s icy blue eyes slowly turned back to green as his senses came back with an incredible pain in his back and chest. As his sight returned following the pain, Zeil could only look down to see the blood covered black glass spike as it protruded from his chest after passing through from behind his back. With only enough strength to move his head, Zeil turned around to see that the base of the glass spike in his body was coming from the wall behind him. Seeing the spike that impaled him, Zeil tried to move, however his entire body felt too weak to do anything other than hang from the glass barb that held him on his hind hooves mere feet from the wall behind him. Even when trying to lift his hoof to touch the spike, the rest of his body refused to respond as he could only coughed up a little blood before looking back at the still frozen statue of the one that caused this injury. As Zeil looked at the cracked ice with the dark alicorn inside, he could see the statue crumbled into icy shards leaving no form of the alicorn in its place. With no sign of the alicorn anywhere, the glass spikes that trailed towards Zeil slowly melted away into sand before forming back up into Osiris, leaving only one spike, the one suspending Zell on his hind hooves.
As the alicorn approached, he smiled, “Fear not changeling… My intent wasn’t simply to end your life, though I would refrain from moving. So long as your wound stays in place, you might live.”
Zeil tried to speak, but his weakness showed as he could only mutter, “B- bu… w-wha…”
The Alicorn replied, “Why did I spare you?... simple, your power has yet to awaken, and in the aftermath, I can see no lord more fitting to serve then one who bears the aura of a Titan. That, and if I were to simply kill you, I would risk awakening your power by force. And even I would not dare face the wrath of a titan scorned.”
Zeil’s expression became angry, “y- yo… I w-whi…”
“I would also advise against speaking… though the wound is not lethal, I fear I may have grazed a vital organ. Despite this wound however, I would wager the titan within you wouldn’t let you die so easily. So with that said… I shall bid you adieu. When we meet next, I may be willing to serve you assuming that by then, your true power will be awoken and the world, rather what’s left of it, will bow to your tyranny. So till that day comes to fruition, goodbye, milord.”
With that said, The dark alicorn opened his wings as the sand in his wings built them up to a massive size as the bat like wings lifted the creature off the ground and into the sky. Watching the dark creature vanish into the clouds, Zeil mustered up the strength to lift his hoof and grab the spike protruding from his chest. Although he was able to do so, he had no further strength, as he tried to pull himself off the spike, only to lift himself about a quarter of an inch before losing his strength and falling back onto the spike with a painful cringe. With his muscles tensing in his attempt, the pain he felt only increased all the more as it soon became too much for him to bear as he started feeling light headed, “I… c-cant… f-fail n-now… Z-Zecora… I… ”
Zeil did everything he could to stay conscious, but it was no, his blood loss, along with the unbearable pain he felt soon over took him, as everything around him faded until all he could see was black.

Moments ago, Hundreds of miles from the city of Perch, a small army of Griffin were setting up a camp for the night in the outskirts of the Griffin Kingdoms. Amongst them were a small parity of Equestrian survivors who were talking amongst themselves next to a camp fire as the leading griffin commander spoke, “I keep thinking that I'll just wake up and none of this will be real. Dad will be alright, and the king won’t be dead.”
A cerulean blue pegasus sitting next to her replied, “I know what you mean, Cloudsdale… Ponyville… it’s all gone.”
A large dark pegasus with a black and yellow mane spoke next, “Gilda… how many are joining us for this fight?”
The Griffin replied, “About ninety… it’s all we have after Gryphus fell.”
A cream colored unicorn with a purple mane replied, “To think that so many have fallen. It’s tragic to say the least.”
Twilight Sparkle sat silent with bandages covering her torso as the dark pegasus looked to her and spoke, “Princess… you okay? Your wound isn’t hurting you is it?”
Twilight shook her head as she replied, “No… not anymore than usual… it’s just… I don’t know what we will do when we get there. We lost so many of us already, Princess Celestia, Princess Luna, Pinkie, Fluttershy… I just don’t know if we have chance at winning this.”
A yellowish orange pegasus added, “Don’t forget Soarin and the rest of my Wonderbolts… the dark alicorn killed them all… how do we beat something like that?”
An orange earthpony replied, “This is a real pickle, we hit em’ dead center with the elements and the commander’s power and it barely did anythin’. And now with two elements down… I just don’t know how this is gonna work.”
Everypony looked amongst each other in concern for their reactions as Twilight looked to the dark pegasus and asked, “What do you think Star B- I mean, Commander Bolt? Any ideas on how to fight him?”
Commander Bolt sighed, “All we can do is distract him long enough to use what elements we have, then I'll hit him with all I got… but if I do…” he stood up and looked at his team as he spoke, “Twilight, Rarity, Apple Jack, Zecora, Spitfire, Dash, Gilda… I can’t say we will win, I can’t even promise that we will survive this fight at all… but… whatever happens… I’m glad to be facing it with my friends.”
The team smiled at the confident speech as Zecora replied, “To hear your courage of determined might bring us all emotions of hope filled light. I only pray it will assist in this final fi-”
All of a sudden, a tear rolled down Zecora’s face as she paused and wiped it away in confusion. As the rest of the party saw this, Twilight asked, “Zecora? Is something wrong?”
Zecora shook her head as she replied, “I’m not sure… to say simply I don’t know… but for some strange reason, I had a feeling of woe.”
Commander Bolt Replied, “You may just be tired. We’ve been traveling for days and rest is probably what we all need right now.”
Twilight nodded as she replied, “Commander Bolt is right, It’s probably a good idea if we call it a night.”
The group nodded in agreement as they started to disperse to go to their tents. As the group went to bed for the night, Zecora doused the fire with water, then looked back to the stars above as she mumbled, “This painful feeling seems strangely bazar, but… is it from troubles here? Or… Afar?”