//------------------------------//
// Chapter 2 - Blade to Shining Blade 
// Story: Son of Sombra - Journey of a Demon Alicorn 
// by Prince Star Fall 
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Chapter 2 - Blade to Shining Blade



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Prince Ostrath and the ever-loyal North Star were indeed going southward ho, trying to both search for the Prince’s horn fragments and keep away from the center of Equestria – Sombra would surely not want anypony “helping” the two on their quest. Now the two were in a dense forest, having gotten far from the Foal Mountains, and it wouldn’t be long before they reached Horseshoe Bay, which, according to North Star, would be the perfect place to stop and rest for the day.

“I can see it from here, old man,” exclaimed the Prince as he pushed aside several bushes. “It’s about time too. My hooves are getting to be quite the royal pain.”

North Star could not help but reply, “I’m sure, young master,” heartily. Calling the Prince “master” was an easy adjustment since leaving the King, and even with Prince Ostrath’s commanding-yet-juvenile style of being a would-be King, he was still a good pony at heart – deep at heart – a sign that his goodwill teachings may have gotten to the Warrior-Prince.

“North Star, how many times must I tell you to not call me Master-“

A rustling in the trees and bushes in the distance. Somepony was approaching – fast. Prince Ostrath’s years of training had taught him to be ready for everything, and to be ready before you ever need to be. He had his guarding arm already out in front of him. His guarding arm was basically his right arm, completely covered in a plate of steel armor, made to be lightweight and last the wearer for years’ worth of battles.

Suddenly, out of the bushes, a purple blur came and stood between the Prince and the open clearing of the Bay.

“Stop right there!”

The Prince maintained a solid defensive stance, not budging even at the purple pony’s speedy entrance. North Star took in the stranger’s appearance; lightly armored with an officer’s coat and many small badges on his chest, indicating his extremely high rank as a commander of an army. His coat underneath was white, while his mane and tail were purple with several different streaks of indigo. He was also a unicorn, rounded and with a scratch mark or two. Whoever he was, he has to have a large knowledge base, filled with quite a library of experience, thought North Star, and yet he looks so young. He then spoke up. “Um, e-excuse me, Sir… does there seem to be a problem?”

“There’s no problem here,” the Prince answered for him, “just two travelers taking in the sights.” He began to walk towards the Bay, making sure his guarding arm was always between him and the stranger. As he calmly passed him, he heard the unicorn yell to him, “I said stop!” Without turning back towards him or stopping, he uttered back, “Buzz off, little filly.”

Immediately, a sense of bewilderment caught the unicorn commander.”Who are you to call me a-“ He stopped himself before his emotions took hold of everything.

“I apologize on behalf of my young master.” North Star said. “He is, uh… not one to take orders so well.” He hoped to keep the tension as low as possible, as he feared the Prince’s “endearing and humble” attitude was already forcing it on the rise.

“So I’ve noticed,” the unicorn concurred without looking to North Star. “I am Dawn Guard, Captain of the Canterlot Pegasus Army. As a figure of high authority, I demand to know your intentions here.”

“None of your business,” snapped the Prince.

North Star got out of the forest hedge to stand next to Dawn Guard. “Excuse me again, but what qualities would pin your interest on us?”
“One of my watchponies caught sight of the both of you walking along the Foal Mountains. What primarily attracted me to you was the attire that you don. I’ve only seen warriors ripe for battle or thugs wear such gear. Plus, for quite a while now, I’ve sensed that war was looming over the kingdom.”
Prince Ostrath immediately interjected, “Well, we’re not here to fight or steal anything. You’re wasting your time, so feel free to leave ASAP.”
“I’m not going anywhere until I know what you’re up to!” The Prince could care less about the Commander’s concerns. He was intent on getting his quest done and getting off of his feet, and nopony would stand in his way – not even the Princess’s right-hoof ponyowar. “Didn’t I tell you to stop?”
Prince Ostrath kept walking, heading toward the Bay so he could take a well-deserved break. Right then and there, however, Dawn Guard used his unicorn magic to send a small bolt of thunder at the Prince to stun him. It worked, jolting him in his big cape and making him hop where he stood. He soon recovered and turned to look at Dawn Guard with eyes full of warning. “Yes, you did tell me to stop…” He paused to unlock his Crescent Circle chain blade, the same weapon he had been training to use for combat, behind his back. Dawn Guard was watching him with suspicion. Finally, the Prince broke the cone of silence.

“…AND I SAID BUZZ OFF!!” The Prince bellowed as he vertically swung his weapon over his head, forcing it to come crashing down towards Dawn Guard, who dodged just in time. The moon-shaped blade had lodged itself into the ground hard and fast enough to cause a small fissure, breaking the earth around it.
“Would you calm down?! I merely stunned you! No need to be threatened by a small stun spell!”
“Yes, young master, he was also asking a question in a reasonable manner!” North Star still hoped to ease tensions, though at this point, it seemed too late already.
“Well, he doesn’t need to know ANYTHING!” The Prince replied.
“I do if it means I can assure the safety of my kingdom,” Commander Dawn Guard said.
Prince Ostrath laughed at this remark and smugly said, “Then I guess you’ve failed.”
“Not so fast,” Dawn Guard bravely called out, ”I’ve got one other trick up my armored sleeve.” He quickly pulled out a sharp steel spear from his back. “I’ll force the answer out of you!”
The Prince had gone quiet after the Commander spoke, but he was hardly about to flinch at any committee of words.

“Big mistake.”

North Star jumped back into the hedge at the foot of the forest – he obviously knew what was coming next. It came at the flash of a pan, with the Warrior-Prince rolling up the chains of his weapon back to himself to ready for a wide, sweeping horizontal swing at Dawn Guard, who promptly blocked it with his spear and charged forward. This scene had brought up a memory of him from one of his many days of training.

“…Quickly now, Prince Ostrath! Do it!”
“But I can’t do it!”
“Yes you can! I know you have it in you to do it!”
“But how-“
“DO A BARREL ROLL!”

The Prince ended his flashback just as the Commander got close to him. He did just as his old mentor had taught him, jumping in the air and spinning like a screw above his opponent. While he was in the air, Dawn Guard attempted another stun spell, but it missed by a foot. He landed smoothly on the ground behind the Commander and followed up with one more horizontal sweep. Dawn Guard had been slightly disoriented from casting another stun spell so soon, and a little more so from missing. He managed to block the sweep, but he was delayed in doing so and was unable to push back just as it came at him, and he thus got pushed off to the side.
The Commander bounced hard on the ground like a skipping stone, then landed on his hooves sliding. The Prince rolled up his chain once more, feeling confident that this battle would be his just as quickly as it started. Yet his experienced opponent would not let failure come so easily. He swiftly threw his spear at Prince Ostrath, who blocked it with his guarding arm. The spear came slowly at him in the air, which made it hardly a challenge to deflect it. It caught him by surprise, then, that when he moved his arm out of view, he found himself suddenly facing Dawn Guard, just a few feet away, charging right at him. The next thing the Prince knew was that he was tackled and forced on his back after rolling with the Commander on top.
“Still not gonna talk?” Dawn Guard stoutly questioned while pinning the Prince down.
“I’ll talk – when you start using REAL magic,” came the sarcastic response, delivered with a smile.
“Thought you would say that.” Dawn Guard grabbed his spear and prepared to go for a finishing blow. Yet the Commander stopped, holding the spear above his head. He noticed an unnatural black patch between the Prince’s right arm and shoulder. Dawn Guard wasn’t sure if he was seeing what he thought he saw, and forgot for a moment that he was in the middle of a battle. Noticing that he was distracted, the Prince took the opportunity to send his own brand of thunder magic the Commander’s way – a bolt as black as darkness and very powerful to boot. This came naturally, as Prince Ostrath’s specialty was dark magic. The bolt sent Dawn Guard flying back, hitting the ground hard on his side. The Commander got up soon after, albeit in pain from the dark magic attack. The Prince thought that he could have just as easily kicked his opponent off with his back hooves, but why waste his breath with physical force when a little magic involves less effort and can cause just as much pain?
Basic math, the Prince told himself; logic was meaningless. Just basic math at work.
Dawn Guard used his magic to summon his spear at his side, prepared to defend himself even further against any more tactics that the Prince may unleash.
“Yeah, in case you didn’t notice earlier, I’m a unicorn, too. Yeah, sure, my horn is broken, but that doesn’t mean I can’t pull a few magic tricks of my own, buddy.”
“I’m not your buddy, pal.”
“Well, then, PAL, it’s been nice knowing you, but all good things must come to an end sometime.” Immediately, Prince Ostrath sent another dark bolt of thunder towards the Commander. Dawn Guard followed up with a bolt of thunder of his own, stronger than any of the ones he had been firing before. When the two different bolts clashed, an explosive force had rung out, picking up dust and blowing smoke all around Horseshoe Bay.


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To the distance at the Canterlot towers, the watchponies had been eying the entire battle. Even from far away, the billowing smoke was of a large magnitude.
“Hahahaha, oh MAN, that was epic!” spoke the first watchpony.
“Eeeeeeeyup,” said the second watchpony.
“You don’t talk much, do you, Jasper?” the first watchpony asked, looking away from the explosion to face his partner.
“NOPE.” Jasper replied with a southern drawl.
After a moment of silent watching, the first watchpony spoke up again. “Man, we gotta show this to Quincy. YO, QUINCY, COME OUT BRO, YOU GOTTA SEE THIS!”
A third pony came out. He was dressed more as a Pegasus Guard unlike the other two. “You called me, Frankie- OH, SNAP!!”
“Yeah, and that was caused by the Captain, too!”
“DAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAMN.” The trio of guards watched in awe as the battle far away raged on.


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All around, dirt was kicked up. A bowl had even formed around Prince Ostrath and Dawn Guard, making for a natural arena. They both stood their ground, watching the others’ every move while catching their breath. The Prince soon rolled up his chain once more and locked the crescent blade to his arm, effectively turning it into a melee weapon to wreak close-quarters havoc. He then beckoned the Commander to come at him with all that he’s got. Dawn Guard did just that, with his spear in his mouth, ready to take a stab or two. Prince Ostrath hopped forward with his blade being swung diagonally, which caused both weapons to clash, the metal ringing out in a single note. It was then that the duel began. Spear pushed Chain blade back. Chain blade forced Spear up against the wall. The two were scraping each other, bit by bit, spark by spark. Neither Spear nor Chain blade would falter at this point.
Suddenly, Dawn Guard broke off from the duel in a final attempt to fire off a stun bolt. Prince Ostrath was forced into distraction as he dodged the playful bolt of thunder, then unlocked his chain blade and readied for another vertical swing. The Commander simply stood there, not looking to dodge the oncoming attack. When the Prince made the swing over his head and upon his opponent, more dirt and dust was kicked up – it had seemed that the Prince had actually made a powerful blow on the Commander. However, when the dust around the strike area cleared, Dawn Guard’s body was nowhere to be found. The Prince stared at the ground where he was and walked over to the spot. In disbelief, he noticed what appeared to be the remains of a magical energy. Then realization struck him like a brick wall. 
“Magical silhouette…” the Prince whispered to himself. He then looked up ahead towards a pathway leading out of Horseshoe Bay and noticed his opponent running with his spear on his back. The Prince rolled up his chain and was about to give chase when North Star stepped out of the bushes and called to him.
“Young master, wait!” The Prince did so, primarily because he was so caught up in the heat of battle that he forgot all about North Star having hid himself in the bushes; had the fight gone on any longer, Prince Ostrath would have resorted to much stronger dark magic, which could have caught the old pony in its wake. He wouldn’t dwell on the thought any longer. “Leave him be, Prince. If I know stallions like him, then he’ll be back.” North Star placed a hoof on the Prince’s shoulder.
“What, you can see the future now?”
“No, you could just say it’s intuition… and I could tell by the time you called him a filly, he almost remarked on it. It actually reminded me of you a little.”
The Prince did a double-take on this comment. “Me? Like HIM? Now you’re talkin’ crazy! That brain of your must have fried over the years of using it to look at the sky.” He looked to the sky on this note, seeing an already-setting sun that gave a warm fading glow of orange. “Night approaches. Why don’t you help me set up camp by the bay so I can finally get off my hooves?” Prince Ostrath walked away towards the bay to prepare for the oncoming night.
North Star simply laughed and shook his head, saying “Teenagers.” He opened up his worn cloak to reveal a traveling bag, opening it up and following his younger companion to set up camp.


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“…And you ponies remember how much dirt was flying around from those two going at it? Stallion alive, it was IN-TENSE!” Frankie exclaimed, recapping on the battle he and his companions had been witnessing.
“Very,” came the response from Jasper, cool and careful in his word choice as always.
“Yeah, that was quite a sight, alright,” said Quincy, who then swallowed in awkwardness after realizing that he just rhymed.
“I don’t think I’ll ever forget that battle for as long as I live!” Frankie energetically declared.

“So, you three enjoyed the show?”

The voice caught the three watchponies by surprise, making them jump where they stood. They knew very well who it came from.
“C-captain!” Jasper squealed out, jumping up.
“Y-you’re not m-mad at us, are you, Sir?” Frankie asked, also in shock.
“No, it’s fine,” Dawn Guard said as he stepped towards the balcony where everypony else was. “I’m glad I have witnesses to that display of defiance of the law that that unicorn-thing pulled off.”
“Unicorn-thing?” Quincy inquired. “I’m guessing that that other pony was more than just another unicorn with knowledge of good magic.”
“I saw something that I’m not sure if I know what it was,” answered the Commander, staring at the wide view of Horseshoe Bay, where a lone flame was lit, “but that one… he’s no ordinary unicorn. He’s hiding something, and one way or another, I’m gonna find out what that something is for the sake of Equestria.” The Captain left the trio on that note, walking to his quarters to call it a day.

“Well, THIS is gonna be good” Frankie said with a grin.


TO BE CONTINUED