Void Streak entered a cabin, where he found a mirror, looking into the mirror he could see that his once golden eyes were now scarlet. He knew that his secret would be discovered as soon as his eyes were seen. He then remembered an old aura ability, that could cloak somepony's appearance, channelling his inner strength, he looked into the mirror, to see his red eyes shift back into his normal golden colour.
Walking back onto the deck, he looked into the distance to find a royal army airship approaching at speed. He quickly thought of a cover story and hid his magiscaber. The Royal ship pulled alongside the ship, where a ramp was extended and crossed to the other ship. A Royal Guard crossed the ramp and was surprised to see Void Streak, "Master Void, what happened?"
"We were ambushed by pirates," Void told him, using the aura to embed the lie into his mind as a way of making the Guard think that he was telling the truth.
The guard merely nodded, Void then said, "I need passage back to Canterlot Fort."
"Of course Master Void." the guard replied gesturing with his hoof to enter the royal airship. Void passed him and ignored the curious glances that the ship's crew kept giving him. He found a private cabin, where he took the magiscaber out. Twisting the compartment open, he switched the cores with the amethyst kyber crystal, he didn't fancy the idea of Celestia finding out what he had done.
Sitting down at a desk, he opened his notebook and began to sketch several ideas down. Within his mind, a treasonous plan began to form. He knew that with the right inventions, he could easily overthrow his master. The first thing on his agenda was to create his own magiscaber, which he would do when he arrived back at his workshop, for now, he would sketch the design of the hilt, he intended for his core to be the unicorn horn.
***
Once they arrived back at Canterlot Fort, Void could sense a feeling of uneasiness in the air, he could see that there were a lot more guards than usual. As the boarding ramp was lowered, a red pegasus with a black mane that had a single red stripe running through it, ran up the ramp. "Void!" He shouted.
"Defender, what's going on?" he asked. Defender was another aura-sensitive pony. Defender and Void often trained with each other and have both grown up to become close friends. Similar to Void, Defender was currently Princess Luna's protege.
"There's been a security threat. We're being summoned to a meeting about it," he explained, following Void down the ramp towards the main building.
Void merely rolled his eyes before muttering "Great"
"What's the matter? You seem... tense" He said stopping to look at Void.
He flung his arms in the air while exclaiming, "I hate these silly meetings, they're incredibly boring."
"They're important though"
Void scoffed at this before mumbling, "Doesn't mean I like it."
Defender merely sighed before following him to the meeting chamber.
***
Upon entering the meeting room, Void was surprised to see that everypony was there, this only highlighted the importance of this meeting. As everycreature sat down, Grand Inquisitor, Star Swirl the Bearded stood up and cleared his throat before announcing, "I am afraid grave news has come to my attention. Last night, there was an escape attempt from Tartarus, A prisoner and a Royal Guardsmen, were both found dead and now just this morning, a royal airship received a distress call from a cargo airship. Upon further investigation, the Royal Guard found the entire crew dead along with young Void Streak, who claimed that the ship was ambushed by pirates."
He then glanced towards, Void Streak with suspicion, in his eyes and asked, "Can you tell us what happened, Void?"
Void nodded before standing up, he used the aura to place a mental blocker upon his own mind. He then began to explain, "Yes, Last night while was returning from investigating an artefact that we found during the battle of Stalliongrad, we were ambushed by a pirate ship, they managed to sneak onboard the ship and proceeded to attack most of the crew in their sleep. The remaining crew members stood no chance and were cutdown. I am ashamed to say that they managed to overwhelm me and escape before I could give chase."
Star Swirl then sighed before saying, "Void Streak, I believe that you are mistaken, I believe that you did not encounter pirates but you were ambushed by a shadow lord."
Void then asked, "Like King Sombra."
"No. King Sombra is not the only shadow lord out there. A long time ago, Shadow Lords used to be rampant across equis. For those who are not aware, shadow lords are aura-sensitive creatures that openly embrace the dark side. I believe that you fought against a different shadow lord"
This acknowledgement caused the everycreature to gasp in shock and fear. Mutterings could be heard around the room, everycreature assumed that King Sombra was the only shadow lord.
"As of yet, we do not know the identity of this shadow lord. For now, until we find out who this new shadow lord is, we should focus our efforts on fighting King Sombra. Void Streak, I believe that you have something to show me." Star Swirl said, holding his hoof out.
Void pulled the magiscaber out, giving it one last look before handing it over to the Grand Inquisitor. "King Sombra referred to the device as a magiscaber, it is a type of sword that uses magic as the blade, it is incredibly strong and can penetrate almost every type of material, including steel and metal. It is powered by a kyber crystal, which projects the blade," he explained, pointing to the red button, Star Swirl pressed it and was amazed to see the purple blade.
"Interesting, is it possible to make more of these magiscaber?" he asked, surprising many of the creatures inside of the room, many of whom believed that Star Swirl would never condone such deadly weapons.
Void, however, smiled and said, "Yes."
Suddenly Blaze spoke up and asked with a sceptical tone, "Are you sure this is a good idea, producing such a powerful weapon, that was created by a shadow lord no less?"
Star Swirl sighed before saying, "It is time that we fight fire with fire, besides, if the crystal army is using these weapons, then we would easily be overpowered." He then turned to Void and ordered, "Void, I need you to create multiple of these weapons, one for every elemental."
"There is a slight problem, we don't have enough kyber crystals to mass produce such a weapon." Void reluctantly told the Grand Inquisitor, who winced at hearing such bad news.
Cerberus then spoke up and told them, "I may know where we can get more kyber crystals."
This made Void's eyebrows rise in surprise, "Really where?"
"The Crystal Mountains, near Rainbow Falls." He informed them.
Luna then said, "I hate to burst your bubble, but the Crystal Mountains are under Sombra's control."
Cerberus replied, "I am well aware. This gives us an opportunity to strike at the Crystal Empire, we have been on the defensive for far too long, it is time we go on the attack."
Defender then spoke, "You are suggesting a major push deep into enemy territory. The losses we could face could be astronomical!"
"To reap the reward, you need to take risks," Cerberus said simply.
"We are talking about pony's lives, here." Defender exclaimed angrily.
"Their deaths will not be in vain, besides I am not suggesting a major push, I am suggesting an air attack. Send in pegasi to take the mountains and then once we have enough kyber crystal, we high tail it out of there."
Before Defender could retort, Star Swirl intervened and said, "While I do not like this plan, I am afraid that I have to agree with Cerberus on this. While the Crystal Mountains contain kyber crystals, Sombra could become even more powerful."
Growling, Defender reluctantly agreed. Star Swirl then ordered, "Celestia, prepare several airships for an air assault and Void Streak, get those magiscabers built. This meeting is adjourned." and with that he got up and left the chambers, leaving Defender to give Cerberus cold stares.
Void Streak then left the chambers to start construction on the new sabers, while Celestia attempted to hold down the sinking feeling, that the shadow lord was closer than they realised...