//------------------------------// // Chapter 9: A Duel With Destiny // Story: Shadows // by Dusty //------------------------------// Lucent's wings opened fully and pushed down hard, sending him high into the air, and Acerbus followed. Acerbus' figure stood out against the backdrop which was the moon, "Let's end this, brother!" "Don't CALL ME THAT!" Lucent yelled as he rocketed towards his brother. Acerbus responded by propelling himself towards Lucent. The two collided and lightning shot in all directions. There was a loud clash followed by what sounded like thunder. The two were pressed against each other at the head, both staring into the others eyes. The two backed up from each other and collided again. They would then back up, and collide again. Their speed began to get faster and faster with each collision. Eventually it sounded like one constant explosion, and the sky was adorned with lightning that shot in all directions. Lucent was the first to break the monotony; instead of going for another head-on collision, Lucent instead fired a beam of light towards Acerbus. "Foal!" Acerbus yelled as he flew to the side to avoid the beam. Lucent crashed into Acerbus' side and began to plummet for the ground, Lucent had used the beam as a decoy. Acerbus eventually rolled out of the death plummet and regained his balance, "It wall take a bit more than that, Lucent!" Acerbus laughed Lucent's attack off. "This is how it's done!" Acerbus' mane turned into dark tendrils and shot towards Lucent. They wrapped around him and began to squeeze the life out of him. "Not today!" Lucent cried, his light began to shine as it sliced through the darkness that held him. Acerbus slammed into Lucent's stomach and threw him high into the air, "I have you now!" Accerbus yelled as his horn emitted a dark aura. He focused it into a beam of darkness and blasted it upwards towards Lucent. Lucent felt frozen after the sneak attack, his body wouldn't respond to his requests. "Move!" He yelled to himself in his head, "MOVE!" The beam got closer and closer. Eventually one of his wings decided to react and gave one hard flap. The flap threw Lucent into a spin out of the way of the beam. "What!?" Called Acerbus. Lucent righted himself and began coming back to his senses. "Answer me, Lucent! What is this new power of yours!?" Acerbus yelled at his brother. "Friendship!" Was all Lucent yelled before slamming into Acerbus at high speed. The two began plummeting to the ground once more, this time faster. Acerbus struggled to free himself, but Lucent had his hooves around Acerbus' torso. The two were mere feet from the ground. It was then that Acerbus began channeling his magic, and with a single flash he had teleported away. Lucent slammed into the ground at full force and rolled a few feet before coming to a stop against a tree. Acerbus let out a hefty laugh from above, "As if THAT would work twice!" Lucent struggled to stand up, he was a little wobbly. 'Nothing is working! What do I do?' Lucent asked himself. Lucent took back to the skies. A small stream of blood was coming from his mouth, and he had a few bruises on him from his fall. Lucent was breathing a bit heavily. "What's wrong Lucent? You're looking a bit rough!" Acerbus called before breaking into another maniacal laughter. Lucent jerked at the remark. It was true, he was a bit beat up from all the collisions. Yet, Acerbus didn't have a scratch on him. What was he doing wrong? 'Lucent, don't just attack with your magic, attack with your heart!' The voice of Ignis burned in his memory, refreshing his mind. "Ignis...?" Lucent didn't have much time to think about the voice in his head as he had to dodge the attack that Accerbus set on him with. Lucent had flown to the side just in time to avoid Acerbus' dive towards him. Acerbus slowed his descent and then turned to see Lucent. "Attack...With my HEART!" Lucent said, allowing his feelings to fuel himself with renewed energy. "What!?" Acerbus was astounded at the new well of energy Lucent had found. "No matter, I will stop that power!" Acerbus yelled as he flew at Lucent. The two clashed their front hooves together. Lightning and sparks exploded from the two as a loud rumble was heard across all of Equestria. "You fight a losing battle!" Acerbus pushed harder against Lucent. "As long as I have my friends, I can't lose!" Lucent yelled back, forcing Acerbus back as well. The two went about their power struggle for some time before Acerbus backed off, he was now breathing heavily for the first time since the fight begun. "If that's how you want it..." Acerbus said, instead of the calm look the alicorn always had he now had a serious and angry look. His horn began to emit the dark aura again, although this time it seemed to be a very powerful spell he was about to cast. Lucent braced himself for the attack as he projected a shield of light in front of him. Acerbus merely smirked. In a flash Acerbus was gone. Lucent looked around frantically, "Where did he go?" He asked himself. "Behind me!" Lucen turned quickly to find Acerbus behind him, he wasn't aiming the attack at Lucent though. Lucent followed Acerbus' vision, he was aiming at his friends. "I won't let you!" Lucent cried. His wings beat as hard as they could, propelling him faster then ever. The air began to bend around him. A bright light shone from him and bent into a cone behind him. Then a huge explosion was heard as Lucent broke the sound barrier. He flew as quick as he could towards Acerbus with a grand trail of light streaking across the sky behind him. Lucent slammed into Acerbus' back, but he was too late. Acerbus had already fired the blast at the castle, attempting to destroy Lucent's friends. The blast hit its target. A giant explosion was seen coming out of the castle, blowing its walls away. All Lucent could see was smoke. Lucent's eyes began to tear up. His eyes shut tight as he remembered all the ponies who had helped him get this far. Celestia and Luna, the ponies who raised him and cared for him, the ones who gave him life and purpose. Twilight, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash, Rarity, and Applejack; The ponies who took him in after he awoke, nursed him to health, did everything they could to help him, and even led him to this place, and they didn't even know who he was. He had led them all to their own grave. "I won't...FORGIVE YOU!" Lucent called, his entire body began to glow brightly. His black mane turned white, as well as his eyes. There were no longer and discernible features about the alicorn, he was simply a ball of light in the shape of an alicorn. Lucent shot across the sky with blinding speed. He smacked into Acerbus and blew him back. The light then shot towards Acerbus faster then it had knocked him back. Lucent circled behind Acerbus and hit him hard in the opposite direction. Lucent flew into the air this time, he then came down on Acerbus, driving the dark alicorn straight into the ground. There was a large explosion of dust as the two slammed into the ground. Lucent was standing on Acerbus' side, with on hoof raised in the air. With that hoof he constantly stomped on the alicorns head, releasing all of his anger. "Take this! And this! And this!" Lucent called with each strike. It wasn't until a warm hoof touched his shoulder that he stopped stomping on the now limp alicorn. "Lucent, does this make you any better then him?" Celstia asked. "Princes...Celestia...?" Lucent's light began to fade as his features returned. His mane went back to its black color, and his eyes faded back into existence. "But I thought..." "You should of trusted me better." Celestia said with a smile. "I saw the attack coming and prepared a shield to defend myself and our friends, none of them are harmed." The rest of the group emerged from the smoke around them and came into view. "Y-You ponies..." Lucent felt weak, his fit of anger had taken a lot out of him. He looked back down to Acerbus. The black alicorns eyes had rolled into the back of its head, and its jaw was hanging open. Blood came from its mouth, eyes, and several cuts on his face and body. Lucent sighed and backed away from the body, "I-I didn't mean...I..." Lucent couldn't speak, his victory didn't feel right. "You did what you had to, Lucent. Was there really any other way?" Celestia asked. "I...I guess not." As the team turned from the body and began to leave, Acerbus shifted a bit. The group gasped and turned around with a shock. Little by little the alicorns face was starting to repair itself and heal. The blood stopped flowing, and the dents and cuts began to close and fix themselves. "What kind of brother would I be... If I were that easy to best...?" Acerbus said between breaths. He then looked directly at Lucent with a maniacal stare, he was hellbent on killing Lucent. Lucent silently began to walk towards Acerbus, slowly. "Lucent, what are you-" Celestia tried to call out to the alicorn. "Stay out of this, please Celestia." Lucent said without turning. "This is my battle, it's always been my battle. Light and dark, good and evil, harmony and discord. These things are always connected to each other, just as I am connected to this alicorn before me." Lucent still walked forward. "Fight me...FIGHT ME!" Acerbus yelled at Lucent. Lucent drew closer to the alicorn, not saying a word. He merely stared into Acerbus' eyes. "FIGHT-" Acerbus stopped and his eyes opened wide. Lucent leaned against Acerbus and nuzzled his brother. "I know that neither of us have the strength in us to fight..." Acerbus said almost in a whisper. "What is he..." Celestia asked. Lucent began to glow a bright light once more as he brought out his reserves of magic, "Let's end this brother." "The way it started." "Lucent, no!" Celestia called. She began to gallop towards the two. "Together." The light and dark alicorns spoke in time. The light surrounded both of them. Lucent turned and looked to Celestia, who stopped in her tracks. "Celestia, thank you for being a great teacher. It made me happy to be your pupil. It made me even happier to be your friend." Lucent looked past Celestia to Twilight Sparkle. "I'll be watching over you. You're her pupil now so don't let me down kid." He said with a wink. "Lucent..." Twilight said as a tear began to form in her eye. Lucent turned back to Celestia, "I'll see you...When you get there..." Lucent closed his eyes. "Lucent, please don't go!" Celestia let her tears flow freely like streams down her face, "Don't leave me again!" "I'm not leaving!" Lucent spoke up. Celestia silenced herself, and her tears stopped for a second. "I'm just going on ahead is all, I'll be waiting." Lucent said as he turned away. Celestia's tears began to flow stronger then ever as she watched Lucent walk into the light. He slowly faded from view and merged with the light completely. The light then shot into the skies, and embedded itself into the sky. The shinning point in the sky then exploded into a grand blast. "LUCENT!" Celestia yelled at the top of her lungs. The explosion sent bits of light in all directions across the sky. Celestia had her head on the ground, crying loudly for her lost pupil. A hoof tapped her shoulder, "Sister, look!" Luna said. Celestia raised her head to see the shinning bits from the explosion forming and dancing, creating shapes in the sky. "It's creating a new consolation!" Twilight said in an astonished voice. All the ponies looked up in awe at the night sky, as streams of light danced across the sky, presenting the most beautiful spectacle any of them had seen. They finally settled into a picture in the sky. It appeared to look like half of Lucent's mark; the sun, and half of Acerbus' mark; the moon. It was as if both marks were cut in half and put together at the middle. 'Anytime you need me, I'll be here. Watching over you. Just look up to the night sky, and know I'll be looking back.' Lucent's thoughts became Celestia's own thoughts as he communicated with her. The mark shined a bit brighter then any star for a split second, and only Celestia noticed it. "One day, I will join you. And I'll tell you all the wonderful stories of Equestria, and I will tell you of all the ponies you so dearly loved Lucent. One day..." Celestia spoke to the heavens above.