//------------------------------// // Knight's Break, Pars Duo // Story: Libero // by Discombobulated Soul //------------------------------// Canterlot was gorgeous. Knight had never once had the pleasure to witness such an utterly pulchritudinous sight in the entire ten years he'd existed. The broken, crumbling towers grew greyer by the moment as they were gradually covered in the dust of their fallen brethren. Fire ravaged the city, glowing a most wondrous orange as it burned through everything in its path, greatly contributing to the destruction. Light grey barriers moved every which way, carving holes and leaving streaks of damage everywhere they were sent. However, Canterlot had one quality that was, all told, more pleasing to observe than the others combined. This characteristic was indisputably the one that wrought the most joy upon the colt, being the sole factor of his demented grin. "Not so high and mighty now, are ya?!" The 'noble' filths that infested Canterlot as a den of rats might a respectable farmer's house were galloping madly about, screaming at the top of their lungs in their insufferably prissy voices. For once, hearing this noise only served to delight Knight, and he giggled with deranged cheer before lifting a random unicorn mare clear off the ground by way of a barrier placed under her hooves. The noble's screaming intensified as she was flung at great speed into some collapsed rubble, but unfortunately ceased when she impacted with a loud crunch! Oddly enough, that time the mare stayed deathly quiet. Her screeching wasn't replaced with pained whimpering as it had with all the previously thrown nobles. However, that didn't bother the colt in the slightest. No, he merely chuckled darkly as he resumed his determined trot towards the castle up ahead. "It's high time you pigs got what was coming to you!" There was a wonderful catharsis in causing so much terror to those he'd feared all his life. A release of sorts in showing the odiously contumelious nobles of Canterlot what for. It'll be even better to vent my frustrations on the Sisters. And I mustn't forget HIM, of course. A hollow sphere of Thaunon materialized before him, just below the ground and completely out of sight. Knight gradually caused it to shrink, compressing the earth inside and finally creating a superheated, pebble-sized mass of plasma, upon which he raised the sphere into view. It was wonderful to gaze at, a manifestation of his white-hot rage, all condensed and entirely under his own control. Everything's under my control. Knight strode on, carelessly dissolving the sphere which contained the plasma and tossing it onto an as-yet-unburned structure nearby. He didn't care to look, but knew that it would soon be up in flames, for the heat of such a condensed ball of matter was able to ignite practically anything. For so long, I thought my barriers were purely defensive. How surprising to see their offensive capabilities, now that I'm free to experiment. Knight gazed up at the sky, equally beauteous as the city for all its smoky haze and dust. His smile grew as he savored the wonderful feeling of freedom that had been kept from him all his life. Now, to business. Knight's grin regained its newfound natural unhinged quality as he took the last determined steps up to the castle's ornate doors, confidently and quite noisily stomping all the while. The unicorn casually brought a foal-sized disc of Thaunon through the doors, whereupon it proceeded unhindered into the castle, opening up a sizable hole for him to hop through. The inside of the grand structure was every bit as luxurious as the outward appearance, but it no longer struck the same chord of anxiety within the colt. No, he simply stomped on by through the wondrous surroundings, interested in one goal and one goal only. Suddenly, movement to his left caused him to instinctively duck in fright, just in time for an armored pegasus guard to swoop by overhead, missing her aimed strike and sending her off balance enough to crash headfirst into a nearby column. A curious clattering sound emanated from a spinning ring on the ground, but Knight had no time to study it further, for it wasn't long before what seemed like every Royal Guard member in the city had him completely surrounded. They emerged from well-chosen cover and invisibility spells alike, all fully armed, armored, and looked to be raring for a fight, with one distinctly familiar stallion leading the charge. "Hey, I know you!" Knight exclaimed, carelessly pointing with a forehoof at the two-toned blue-maned captain, causing the guards in his immediate vicinity to bristle and brandish their weapons. The colt wasn't much concerned with them; he could see it in their eyes. Hesitation and doubt dominated their gazes, including the captain's, likely due to his age and history. It was that weakness which would be their downfall: Knight would exploit it for all it was worth, and the upcoming fight would be all too trivial. "Darkest Knight, under order of Captain Shining Armor of the Royal Guard, as well as the Sisters themselves, I implore you to stand down and accept your arrest without further resistance. If you fail to do this, I will have no choice but to unleash the full force of the Guard on you." The commanding, angry tone in the unicorn's voice caused Knight to flinch away, and that was when he knew it was time to down the rest of his saving substance. Hah, the poor fool looks like he'd regret it, too! Well, I'll show him and his soldiers the fight of their lives! Just after I have myself the rest of this liquid courage. "You know, captain, you remind me of somepony." Knight stated, keeping his confident, unhinged persona up even as he felt the last of the potion's effects leaving his system. "He was captain of the Royal Guard, just like you!" Speedily reaching into his slightly-singed mane with a hoof, the colt swiftly untangled the prized bottle he'd been saving. "Why, he even has that same demanding, bossy, pretentious tone of voice." The guardsponies looked mostly curious at this point, so he'd succeeded in distracting them enough that victory in the next phase was all but guaranteed. Just in time as well. I'm almost out of confidence juice. Time for a refill. "I'm actually mostly here to see him. Return a few favors. Settle the score, y'know?" The captain's eyes widened as he reached out an intercepting hoof, but it was too little, too late, and the empty bottle clattered to the marble floor. Knight wiped the last purple smears off his muzzle, relishing in the grapelike taste as well as the newfound burst of raw power he felt. "Now, let's get started, shall we?" Knight lit his horn with a lively light grey glow, and the mayhem began. Weeping filled the shattered crystal castle for countless minutes as the two mares held each other, both surprised to be alive and regretful of her sins. Rarity felt her alicorn friend wince every so often from the squeezing on her sore, beaten body, but neither pony cared about that. Still, the unicorn felt a growing sense of dread as the sobbing gradually quieted until the two were finally silent. The feeling was vindicated when Princess Twilight Sparkle of Ponyville drew back from the embrace enough to stare Rarity dead in the eyes. "Tell me what happened." The words were cold, spoken with a finality that announced there was nowhere left to hide. The pearly unicorn found herself breaking into a cold sweat, nervously darting her gaze around in search of something to forestall the confession they both knew was coming. "Why, darling, I haven't the slight clue what you mean by-" But Twilight cut her off with a mere determined glare, effectively destroying the last of Rarity's resistance with that single gesture. The clothier's posture slumped and she detached herself fully from her friend to lay on the cracked floor, miserably covering her muzzle with a hoof. "It's quite ironic, isn't it? I offered the poor dear a job in the first place to keep him away from any enraged outbursts." Twilight seemed unhappy at the indirect route towards the point, but seemed to understand how this was the sort of thing Rarity needed to build up to. The alicorn laid on the ground as well, grimacing all the while as various damaged parts of her body began to swell. "As much as I'd like to__and did, for a while__blame the outside pressures put upon me that day, I've become acutely aware that the blame for the...incident...lies solely on my shoulders." The princess nodded at this, impatiently rolling her hoof in a 'go on' gesture, which caused Rarity to sigh heavily before her eyes widened in shock. "Twilight, darling, your leg is broken! You must be in so much pain right now, is this really the time for-!" But the alicorn merely stomped her hoof, her glare intensifying as she spoke through gritted teeth. "Yes, Rarity. Now is the time for this. Just like yesterday was. Just like the weeks before were. I'm not waiting any longer. Understand?" The unicorn in question nodded meekly, to which Twilight twisted her neck to regard her bruised, bleeding, broken figure. "Besides, don't worry about me, alicorns are made of tougher stuff than the other tribes. I'll probably regenerate and be back at full steam in an hour or so." Rarity's friend opened her mouth to demonstrate several missing and knocked loose teeth, but the unicorn could spot white bumps emerging in those places, new teeth already growing to replace the damaged or absent ones. "I also cast a numbing spell on myself halfway through the assault, so I don't really feel any pain." The seamstress nodded at this, sighing once more before resuming her confession. "Well, there was this expensive cloth I had imported from Saddle Arabia, which I essentially told him to guard with his life, at least that's what it must have felt like for him. I...was not at my finest that day, but that's hardly an excuse. Something damaged the cloth while I was away, whether or not it was Darkest, I don't know." Rarity found herself overcome by a sudden exhaustion, and flopped onto her back to assume a befitting pose, staring at the sky through the newly-demolished ceiling. "When I came back, I figured I'd try to repair the fabric however I could. You've seen me during one of my sewing frenzies, how I tend to levitate everything in my immediate vicinity to use when I need it?" The light of understanding began to appear in Twilight's eyes and a small frown overtook her expression. "Let me guess: You levitated Darkest around as well, making him run into any number of other objects in the process while screaming like a madmare." Rarity grimaced at this and nodded, covering her face with both forehooves as she felt the beginnings of tears returning. The mares sat there for a while as Twilight digested this information, her purple eyes wandering the surroundings as she did. Finally, the alicorn stood, levitating Rarity up to her own hooves and standing resolutely before her. "Right then. What's done is done, and cannot be undone. Let's move on. If you hadn't noticed," the princess gestured outside and at the countless townponies trapped within unbreakable spheres, high in the air, "we're in the middle of a situation." The unicorn nodded once more at this before pausing to lift an inquisitive hoof, screwing her face in consternation. "Er...what exactly are you planning to do?" This question seemed to stump Twilight, for her posture immediately slumped and her face fell, regarding the ground instead. It was at that exact moment that Rarity saw movement in the debris behind her friend, and her eyes widened upon observing Spike crawl out to dash over to them. "Spikey-Wikey! Are you alright?!" Fortunately, the dragon claimed he was completely unharmed due to his tough scales, and soon after, a whisp of smoky magic flew up out of the ruins, towards Canterlot, to warn the princesses of their impending doom. Knight started off strong: A flood of mana rushed through his horn and into reality, summoning forth a wave of Thaunon which swept through the enemy ranks, easily scattering their carefully-kept positions. Giving the guards no quarter, he then reformed the matter into two twelve-foot poles on either side of him, arranged parallel to the ground, which he caused to spin on their midpoints while traveling in orbit around himself. The colt never found himself able to move large amounts of Thaunon all that quickly__in fact, the speed at which the stuff could move scaled exactly with how much there was to move. Still, it was an effective weapon despite this, something which the clanging of dented armor and cracking of broken bones could testify to. In but a few seconds, all sans the most agile of guards were sent flying head over heels in every which direction, assisting in further damaging the floor, pillars, and ceiling of the Great Hall. Unicorns from among that number let out hasty and poorly-aimed beams of attacking magic, all of which Knight all-too-easily evaded. Pegasi swept down from above as earth ponies charged him from the ground, both sides covering for each other as the unicorns attempted to lay down suppressive fire. All such efforts were in vain as Knight summoned forth a great curved wall to block one half of the circle, making the sides fragment off into small shards of matter which zipped across to complete sporadic paths through the other guards. The motes of Thaunon resembled a hailstorm as they bombarded the advancing enemy, their raw number sufficient to both repel their bodies and deflect any further incoming ranged attacks. Knight observed a cluster of unicorns at the back charging their horns for a powerful sniping shot, and accordingly smirked in a self-satisfied manner as he collected the fragments into one solid circle. He sent that barrier soaring forth just as the guards shot their beam, simultaneously fracturing what remained of the wall behind him and sending those pieces out. The circle intercepted the worryingly-large collective attack, sending deflected sparks of magic power showering down on the wounded guards as it zoomed toward the attackers before impacting them like a score of bowling pins. A cursory glance behind showed the attackers on that side desperately attempting to avoid the unpredictable, unstoppable approach of the various Thaunon pieces, failing miserably as they were gradually swatted out of the air and off the ground. Said ground was looking quite the worse for wear, its marble already riddled with cracks and missing chunks, some of which guards were falling into, disappearing from sight. Suddenly, the captain charged, his horn alight with a familiar rosy color as it prepared what was sure to be yet another attack. Knight summoned yet more Thaunon in response, this time in a foreleg-sized paddle shape, and sent it flying towards his adversary. The stallion grunted, thrusting his head forth to accentuate the massive, crackling magical shield he brought into existence in vain hopes of blocking the unblockable. The colt watched in acute amusement as his paddle went straight through the pathetic resistance, tearing the 'barrier' asunder. This caused a whiplash affect to snap the captain's head back just before the Thaunonic weapon delivered a wicked slap to his cheek. I had hoped the Royal Guards would put up more of a fight than Ponyville. Or at least be able to synergize better. Taking a look around at his utterly demolished foes, Knight could hardly say he was impressed, even considering their lowly status in comparison to his own greatness. No, that was about as hard as placing all of Ponyville in their prisons, and much less fun, to boot. Confidently striding up to the fallen leader, the unicorn couldn't help but gloat over his victory. "You know, Shining, I'm honestly surprised at your idiocy. I would have thought you'd have heard of my capabilities by now, and yet you still tried to stop my machinations." The stallion coughed, spitting out a tooth before gazing at Knight out of the corner of his eye. Something about him didn't feel quite right, as though he wasn't exactly defeated yet. The colt just knew he was missing out on some key detail. But what? "Oh, Darkest, I knew all about your abilities. Your shields are and always have been that much stronger than mine, that much is clear." The captain smiled wistfully, causing Knight's uneasy feeling to increase, a sensation that was familiar and all the more unwelcome due to it. "There was no way any of us could even hope to beat you, huh?" Knight squinted, believing he saw the faintest of rose auras still surrounding his foe's horn. "That's why we never planned to. Still, I didn't expect you to make such short work of us." Finally, a realization dawned on the colt's face and he reeled his head back, but it was too late. A ring slid down Knight's horn, simple and silver in coloration. It secured itself just as the last of the rosy levitation aura surrounding it faded away. Knight's magic faded with it, his horn dimming and ceasing to shine altogether as his head drooped toward the floor. "That ring's made of a rubidium alloy, which nullifies all mana. You may have heard of it before." Shining Armor stood, shifting his jaw back into place with a hoof and a loud snap before stepping in front of the younger unicorn, gently patting his withers. "You did good, kid, but now it's time to stop." All around, Knight heard the shuffling, clanking noises of countless armored ponies standing up and brushing themselves off. "Turns out this old vet has some tricks up his sleeve after all." Shining took the first steps away, likely to retrieve more restricting equipment from elsewhere, but dark chuckling from the colt made him pause, one leg lifted. "Oh...I've heard of it before." Knight managed to get out between fits of wicked, evil laughter. "I've trained with them. Diligently." Impossibly, light began to appear as the spiral on Knight's horn charged with power. "Heh. One of the first things I ever learned was how to break. Out. Of them." Knight's laughter became near-uncontrollable as he observed the disbelieving expression of horror on Shining's face. Every last muscle in the colt's body tensed as he concentrated his efforts on pouring yet more might into his horn. The wicked laughter ceased abruptly when Knight swung his head to glare at the stallion with pure, unadulterated malice, the band of metal around his spellcasting focus beginning to liquefy. "Do you think you can hold me...?" The rubidium ring melted completely, running down one side of Knight's head and leaving a reddish trail of chemical burns. A thin, jagged line of Thaunon materialized in front of him, only to shoot forward and hit the stallion straight in the side. Shining's head nearly touched his rump as he was sent all the way across the Great Hall to impact the far wall. Several scattered guards attempted to aid their ex-captain, but they were easily dealt with. Knight found himself staring disdainfully down at his pitiful enemy, melted metal dripping continuously off his face and to the floor. Knight didn't notice the pain of the burning. Knight had no time for such trivial things. "Your incompetence is impressive. You didn't even set up a proper ambush! Did you really think I'd surrender so easily!? To scum like you?" Knight's interest in the matter had at that point left entirely, but there was still one final piece of revenge to enact. "This is for taking so long to find me." With that, a thin disc of Thaunon was placed under the fallen foe, which was then lifted speedily into the air before it stopped abruptly, sending the stallion flying straight into the sky. At least, that was the intent, but the unconscious ex-captain's flight was suddenly forestalled when a brilliant golden aura surrounded him. Ah, there they are. Knight disdainfully turned to face the newest pair of insufferable wretches, one of which was soaring directly towards him, wreathed in her own vivid blue magic. Princess Luna got roughly halfway to her destination before the same thin circle intercepted her path, swatting her down through the floor and into whatever basement lay beyond in the span of a second. Princess Celestia, hovering several dozen feet behind her sister, charged her enormous horn's spiral before unleashing a volley of arcing beams, each traveling in completely unpredictable paths but all coming towards him. Knight answered with summoning an elephantine half-inch-thick wall, which was large enough to block all incoming fire before it could travel behind him. The princess let off a gargantuan blast of magic, which the wall intercepted with no problems whatsoever. Knight caused the Thaunon blocking the beam to separate from the rest before making it shoot forth through the magic and towards its caster. Celestia attempted to dive out of the way, but wasn't fast enough to avoid the square-shaped barrier connecting with the tip of her horn at speeds that would completely remove any regular unicorn's. The princess' head simply snapped back and she plummeted to the floor, already pinwheeling her wings in expert movements to regain control of the spiral. Knight gave her no quarter, sending the thin disc to once more swat a ruler through the floor like the pesky flies they were. The same circle returned to its master, who hopped aboard before moving it through the marbled flooring also, the both of them emerging into a most wondrous cavern, filled with oversized crystals of every imaginable variety. Knight had no time to appreciate the splendor surrounding him, however, busy as he was in separating two thirds of his ride to deflect twin blue beams of magic coming his way. This time, the resulting shower of deflected magic was close enough that that colt found himself pelted by innumerable sparks of power. He recovered just in time to catch sight of Luna herself hovering just above, already launching yet another mighty beam of magic. This attack bounced right off the intercepting barrier, redirected behind him and into several large crystals, each refracting the beam into several smaller lines, some of which Knight was only narrowly able to dodge. The unicorn ignored his newly-scorched coat's painful throbbing, preferring instead to slam a fragment of Thaunon into Luna once more, sending her crashing through the crystal-covered wall behind him. Knight scrambled to regain his hoofing on the now-tiny platform he stood on, spotting Celestia just barely starting to stand up dozens of feet away. Feeling the last stores of his mana beginning to be spent in the process, the colt summoned a spherical prison to enclose her before swiftly doing the same to a dazed and bloodied Luna. After taking a few moments to regain his breath, Knight wasn't surprised in any measure to find himself engrossed in one all-consuming emotion: Pure, pristine, perfect rage. "EXACTLY WHAT PART OF YOUR INCOGNIZANT MINDS THOUGHT THAT WAS A GOOD IDEA!?" Knight soared to the ground of the cavern, scarcely able to stand on what remained of his ride, and brought the alicorn's separate prisons in front of him with vicious speed. He caused the spheres to stop abruptly before they impacted each other, rattling the occupants inside much like he had with Rarity earlier. "BRINGING ME TO CANTERLOT?! TWICE?!?" Knight panted heavily, gasping for breath as his legs trembled with what was most assuredly the weight of his fury and not any kind of instinctual fear. The unicorn knew the princesses could hear him__dozens of tiny holes spread throughout their respective prisons' surfaces ensured that sound would pass through. Besides that, Celestia's lowered ears and drooping head were evidence enough. Possessed with a refreshing desire to inflict as much pain as possible, Knight brought her sphere towards him until he could press his snarling muzzle against it. The unicorn steadfastly ignored his deepest core's protests against the proximity of such a big pony in the process. "You know, one of the core signs of insanity is repeating the same action and expecting different results. And here I thought I was the mentally unstable one." Knight slammed his hoof up against the barrier housing naught but another perpetrator of his torment, watching with delight as Celestia cringed away. "I must say, I'm rather impressed. It's a tall order for such a sadist to convince a whole kingdom of ponies she actually cares about and loves them. I'd compliment you if I wasn't so absolutely disgusted." Movement to the right caught Knight's eye, and he disdainfully observed Princess Luna finally use her pathetic faculties to stand up. The blue alicorn reached out with a hoof, uselessly punching the inside of her prison as she stared him down, enraged in her own right. "Cease your torturing of my sister, demon, and release the colt known as Darkest Knight!" Dark chuckling was her answer as the colt shook his head mirthfully before stepping back onto his ride and hovering several feet away, an action that was most definitely not done in acquiescence to his instinct's urging. BIG PONIES! "You are mistaken, filth. Nopony is controlling my actions save me alone!" BIG. PONIES. "Now, if you'll excuse, me, I have business elsewhere." And with that, Knight fled the scene, forgetting in his haste to seal the holes in the rulers' prisons. Well now, this is certainly an unexpected development. Staring out through the bars of his redundantly enchanted prison, the unicorn could not help but feel a sense of pleasant curiosity. Before him stood a pair of Royal Guards, both resolutely doing so after their stony proclamation. There was fear in their hearts, a distinct disturbed demeanor dominated their souls. He could see it. He was well-practiced in detecting such things. "I see. You shall have to lead me to them, will you not?" The guards obeyed his command, willingly or no. How nice it felt for all three of them to know he was in total control of the situation. He was always in control of the situation. He made sure of that. The stallion was escorted away from the cell whose defenses had nearly been completely nullified. It had been a project of sorts for him, carefully picking away at the numerous layers of security using what precious mana he could get away with casting. Tearing through defenses was his specialty, after all. There was no conversation as the three guards made their way through the heavily damaged castle, one staring about in wonder while the other two lowered their heads in shame. This is indeed everything I have ever desired. Well, that and seeing HER in chains. The pegasus guards lifted the unicorn ex-guard down through the floor and into a glorious crystal cavern before swiftly departing. The stallion saw HER: Imprisoned, helpless, defeated. Just like he had been planning for years. The exact image he had been imagining for most of his life, finally made a reality. in that moment, all that work, every second of time he had dedicated towards that precious, one-in-a-million treasure of a weapon, was worth it. Confidently striding up to the fallen leader, the unicorn could scarcely help but gloat over his victory. "Oh, Celestia, to look at your pitiful figure now. Defeated so soon? So easily? And here I thought you were more powerful than that." A loud clanging sound to the right drew his attention to the one who had summoned him here: The blue sister who was every bit as soft and spineless as HER. "Cease your foul words, Broken, and free us at once!" But the stallion merely chuckled at her order, sauntering up to her prison to sit before her and raising a disdainful eyebrow. "What is the matter, Luna? Can you not simply teleport out? There's plenty of holes to do it through, if you had not noticed." The alicorn glared, fluttering what destroyed remnants of wings she had left. The beaten princess opened her mouth to speak, but the victorious ex-captain cut her off. "And you want me to free you? Why should I? This is everything I have ever wanted!" That got HER to rise and stare at him with pure confusion, mixed with betrayal. He chuckled darkly in response, smiling with slightly deranged glee. "Oh come now, Celestia. Surely you did not actually buy into that sob story I told you? Did you really think I would spend years of my life devoted to training a superweapon not to fire itself? Do you know the raw number of resources I poured into that creature?" This caused HER sister to stomp once more, snorting indignantly on somepony else's behalf. Typical overbenevolent ruler behavior. "You absolute FIEND! How dare you speak of a child in such a way?! There is no justification for how you treated him! Know you no love at all?" The stallion smirked at this, casually inspecting a forehoof while he responded. "Oh, I loved him. I loved him most thoroughly. I loved that armament to a degree far higher than his noble parents ever could." HER eyes widened, and the unicorn immediately dug into the weakness. "Do you know who his parents are, Celestia? You may recognize their names: Light and Stormy Night. It would appear powerful magic runs in the family, eh?" The statement made HER gasp, and tears began to run down HER once-majestic face. Broken cackled with glee, pointing a hoof at the white alicorn like an excited foal would a desired toy. "You never made the connection, did you? There is no 'Knight' family in Canterlot! That child is my knight in shining armor, designed to place me in your position. Equestria as a whole has spent far too long coddled in your weak hooves. The fact that all I have to do to confuse you about a foal's family is add one letter to his surname is just proof of how inept you are!" One final slam of the sisters' hooves and a full blast of the Royal Canterlot Voice interrupted Broken's rant. "SILENCE, FILTH! YOU SHALL FREE BOTH OF US AND RETURN TO YOUR PRISON WHERE YOU WILL ROT UNTIL THE END OF YOUR TRAITOROUS DAYS!" Deciding to humor her, Broken lit his artificially-sharpened horn and began the effortless process of breaking his weapon's barriers. As expected, the usual tug-of-war at the end of the mana trail simply produced no results, and the unicorn could only offer a nonchalant shrug. "My apologies, Luna, but even if I wanted to, it's simply impossible now. The only reason I could do it in the first place was due entirely to my constant attacks on the weapon. Since he actually believed I could break through, his mind was open to the possibility, thus actually opening up the possibility. It's some advanced phychology-thaumaturgy material, I doubt you would understand." His assumption was proven right when the sister gave an uncomprehending scrunch before her gaze drifted up and her eyes widened with shock. "Ah, there you are, Broken! I have some unfinished revenge to enact upon you, if you wouldn't mind." The stallion felt a chill run down his spine just before an impossibly powerful force impacted it, sending his body crashing into dozens of razor-sharp crystals. Pain was a familiar feeling, but the emotion__nay, mere concept of fear? It was one that until now had been entirely forgotten by the stallion. Gasping desperately for air while he coughed up copious amount of blood, Broken stared straight into the mad white eyes of his most prized possession. Fear was all he felt. Knight shook his head violently as the last fading echoes of a horrific nightmare finally cleared from his mind. The crystal cavern, wide-eyed entrapped princesses, and bloody smear before him served to quickly remove that mind of such a false pretense. Knight ran. In Ponyville, the numerous light grey spheres housing the majority of the town's citizens lowered to the ground before disappearing completely. In Canterlot, the barriers which had caused so much panic and destruction faded away entirely. Across Equestria, every last portion of borrowed Thaunon save one returned to its home. And within that last spherical piece sheltered a victim of horrors unimaginable, hoping with desperate terror that nopony ever found him.