Its been a while huh. I could go and list out all the reasons I've been away, but you guys don't care for excuses. Just a heads up, this entire chapter is a single big long fight. So, here is the long awaited battle of the century...or the millennium...whatever...
A Medium sized zebra stood on a hill watching as Canterlot Castle burned in the night. His cold eyes reflected the massive flames and his short black mane gently swayed in the breeze. The night was warm, and it was likely to get warmer with current events. Behind the zebra stood a short pony with a dark purple mane and a coat like obsidian. His eyes were a bright pink and his cutie mark was three braided chains. The zebra's cutie mark was three question marks.
"Master, my contract expires tomorrow morning," the dark pony told the zebra humbly.
"Is that so? Interesting," he didn't look back at his servant.
"It certainly is a beautiful display," he commented as he went and stood next to his master.
"Its been a long time since I've seen such destruction." He gave a throaty chuckle. "It's also funny. War hasn't been waged on this planet in ages."
The dark pony's eyes suddenly flashed dark purple when he flicked his head to the side. "Changeling Behemoth detected sir."
"Really?" He looked where his servant was pointing. "I wonder how the local changelings will respond to this chaos."
"When the princesses fall, the three hives will probably come out of hiding and seize control of Equestria."
"Just in time for the world to fall apart," he added depressingly.
"Pardon master?" the pony looked at him quizzically.
"If the princesses die today, the entire world will collapse. And I mean that metaphorically. The world will still be here, but it won't be pretty."
"What do you mean sir? There are a great number of," he paused to find the right words, "parties, that would jump at the chance to rule Equestria."
"Those 'parties' are all fools." A distant explosion told them that the fight at the castle had resumed, and the Behemoth from before had moved on past them without noticing. "Should the princesses be defeated today, the most powerful nation on this little mud-ball will be lost. The economic super-power that drives all world markets will be gone. The weather controlling genius that was Equestria will brake up. The farming capital of the world that keeps all other nations fed, goes dry. Slowly but surely, the entire world will wither and die."
"But other rulers and kingdoms will pick up the slack!" he protested.
"That's exactly why all those things will come to be."
"Excuse me?"
"With such a shining jewel out for the taking, everyone's going to want a piece of the pie. War will be imminent. These peaceful times will breakdown into the single largest and bloodiest war ever known, and in only a day!"
"So I take it you're siding with the princesses in this fight."
The zebra hummed as he thought before answering. "I'm not sure. As much as I would love to see this world torn apart, I know the constant battles would become repetitive after a while. But if the wolf dies, everything goes right back to how it was."
The pony remained silent.
"I don't like either option here. But maybe their's a third possibility. What if both sides lose?"
"Would you kindly explain that statement, master?"
"If neither side is defeated, then we'll face a whole new series of events." He smiled and looked over at his servant. "I have some work to do it seems. Tell your hive's king, Nightshade, thanks for his services." The zebra turned around and trotted down the hill.
"What are you going to do?!" he called after him.
"I'm going to play my wild card!" he shouted back as he headed for Canterlot.
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"Luna? Luna?! LUNA!!!"
"Here!" Luna flew through the smoke choked sky towards her sister.
"Luna, thank goodness, your safe." Celestia's coat was almost black with soot and her mane was badly singed. Luna wasn't any better, you just couldn't tell as easily with her naturally darker coat negating the effect of the soot.
"What happened?" They were both high in the sky above Canterlot as the roof of the castle burned.
"I teleported us. But with such little time to react, all I could do was fling us up into the sky. Which wasn't the best move." Celestia coughed a few times in the smoke.
"Is it still alive?" Luna asked as she tried to see through the fire into the throne room.
"Yes. I can still sense its overwhelming power. Even with a spell that massive, it still has enough magic for a lengthy fight yet."
"How can we beat it?" Luna sounded scared.
"I don't know," Celestia admitted solemnly.
"It could destroy all Equestria!"
"I know."
"We're the only ones who stand a chance against it!"
"Luna wait!" Celestia called out as Luna had decided to dive bomb Shadaico. And so the fight began again...
Luna's dive was reinforced with a shield as she came right at Shadaico as he stood in the burning ruins of the old throne room. The whistling of her rapid descent alerted Shadaico even over the crackling of nearby flames. He didn't even glance back as he jumped and did a forward flip. Luna collided with the molten floor and sent bits of rock flying through the air as her shield detonated, sending a concussion wave across the room! Celestia flew in after her and landed to the side of the crater Luna had made.
Shadaico spun around and snarled at Celestia. She figured now was as good a time as any. She concentrated on the powers of light and began firing it in the form of small snowflakes. Like dodging tomatoes on a theater stage, Shadaico avoided the projectiles with practiced ease and precision. He also looked completely calm as his body flew from side-to-side. Luna flew up out of the rubble and came around on Shadaico's right, her horn glowing. With beams of light flying at him, he couldn't do much but throw up his shield.
Luna rammed his shield and Celestia stopped firing as she too charged. If her power made contact with his shield as well, it'd surely crack apart. Shadaico decided to turn his defense into offense. Keeping his right hand out to hold the shield up against Luna, he cradled his left against his chest as he prepared his next spell. Luna couldn't tell what kind of spell it was, but she redoubled her efforts to force her way through Shadaico's thin blue shield. He glanced up as a crack ran through it ominously. Celestia tried to run faster, but Shadaico had been faster.
Just as Celestia was about to hit the wall of his shield, it popped like a bubble and Shadaico opened his left hand. An explosion of air forced Luna and Celestia to fly back across the rubble strewn floor. Shadaico was also flung across the room, but in the other direction. His pawed feet crashed into the tiles and split them apart. He immediately bent his knees and kept his center of gravity low with his arms spread wide. Celestia and Luna took similar postures. He took the initiative and turned his palms downward and formed a fireball in his right and a lightning ball in his left.
He raised the fireball hand so it pointed at Luna and the lightning ball to point at Celestia. The two orbs continuously grew. Celestia and Luna each readied an appropriate defense. The orbs were as big as watermelons before Shadaico suddenly grinned, and switched his targets! His arms crossed over each other and now pointed at the opposite sister then they had started just as he released the attacks. Luna and Celestia went wide-eyed as their prepared defenses were now the wrong kind!
Luna's water shield would conduct the lighting and fry her and Celestia's spell to deflect the lightning would only spread the flames. While it was true that most of the room was still glowing hot, they didn't need open flames choking the air with smoke like the roof. Luckily, the two of them reacted quickly and used they're spells on each other rather than trying to switch defense tactics. The fire was put out and the lighting flew off behind them. Shadaico scowled and barked in protest.
Celestia was breathing heavily. She had been fighting for longer then Luna. She took a second to look at her throne room. It was not a pretty sight. The roof had been blown skyward and embers were still raining down outside. Soon, what was left of the roof would become unstable and start to collapse in on itself. But until the wolf abomination was defeated, it was just too dangerous for the weather pegasi to come in and put the fires out. They had to find a way to defeat him and fast.
The few seconds of calm were broken by Shadaico again as he put his open right palm on the floor. At first, Luna and Celestia were confused, but when the still red-hot floor tiles began to flow up his arm, they quickly figured it out. He encased his fist in solid rock and gave it a quick pound into his left hand before smiling. Luna only had a second to throw up a shield before Shadaico was on her and pounding away at the sphere with his new boxing glove. Celestia was quick to shoot magic at him. Shadaico launched himself into the air as the magic flew below him. He came down towards Celestia with his fist far behind his head and ready to pound her into the floor. Celestia's horn began to glow, but Luna appeared in front of her and took the hit on her own shield which shattered instantly! The rock fist only barely grazed past Luna's face, but Shadaico quickly gave her a nasty backhand slap that sent her flying to the other side of the room. Celestia was frozen in horror as Luna collided with the floor and seemed to lie still. Shadaico's maniacal smile only deepened at the sight of one of his enemies seeming to fall.
Shadaico turned his attention back to Celestia just in time to be hit by a massive blast of electricity. Even after he hit the floor, Celestia continued to poor power into her spell which sent Shadaico grinding through the floor as he traveled several dozen feet. Debris and dust were blasted into the air as he was half buried in the floor and still being pushed at a decent speed. When the lighting stopped and Shadaico had a chance to try and stand, he was suddenly hit by an explosive fireball which kicked up another dust cloud. Shadaico was able to emerge from the chaos with his stone fist still intact. Granted, it was starting to crumble and large chips were coming off it, but it was still pretty thick. Celestia's breathing was rapid and heavy. But her rage was giving her the strength to continue pummeling Shadaico with attacks. Shadaico shrugged off a weak and short lived barrage of little more than fire embers as he approached her.
He lashed out with his stone fist and made a horrible crunch as Celestia's golden shield stopped it dead in the air. Celestia's hate filled eyes pierced through the golden layer into Shadaico's as he stood there, smiling evilly back at her. Meanwhile, Luna began to awaken from the hit she'd taken. As she began to shake her head, one of the sealing screws jutted from the broken floor in front of her. Her eyes lit up with an idea. She quickly snatched up the screw and looked back at the battle in progress. Shadaico was completely distracted as he stared Celestia down. Luna jumped to her hooves with the screw and rocketed across the remains of the throne room as she aimed for his back.
Shadaico had enough of the staring contest and formed his left hand into a thin pointed shape. With all his fingers together like an arrow, he forced it forward and pierced Celestia's shield! He promptly grabbed her by the horn which stopped her magic and broke what was left of her shield. Almost carefully, he tilted her head back using the leverage he had on her horn. Celestia gritted her teeth as the monster caused her pain. Shadaico raised his stone fist in anticipation of hitting his enemy right in the face this time. Luna spread her wings and lowered her posture as she almost left the ground behind. She was moving as fast as she could short of braking the sound barrier or teleporting. Sweat was ripped off her coat, her hooves pounding into the shattered remains of the marble tiles that were finally starting to cool off, and her heart was beating so hard and fast she thought it was about to explode. She could see the muscles and tendons in Shadaico's arm tense as his fist built up the energy to destroy Celestia's face. The sealing screw floated alongside her and rotated like it was on the end of a drill. Shadaico's fist suddenly released the built up tension and began to fly...
The screw was driven into the lower right corner of Shadaico's back, where one had been before! Shadaico howled in agony, his grip flying off of Celestia's horn and his fist halting its advance. With her ability to use magic returned to her, Celestia without thinking, grabbed Shadaico in her telekineses and threw him as hard as she could through a nearby wall. He didn't stop with smashing through one scorched wall though, he continued on and smashed another and possibly another by the sound of it.
Celestia nearly collapsed from her struggled breathing before she looked at Luna with shock. "What did," she inhaled sharply, "you do?!"
"The seals! We need to put them back in!"
"Of course, if we put the screws back in, he'll become a helpless wolf again!" Celestia and Luna suddenly had a plan. "Luna, distract him and I'll get the screws." The two were off in an instant.
Luna flew through the wall and into the hall. She saw the second hole and leapt through it too. Before she could even determine what room she was in, a greenish blur was flying at her head-on! Luna quickly shot it out of the sky and got a face full of...feathers? The object had been a pillow. Her vision was impaired but she could see the next pillow, a red one, coming at her. She easily shot it too. Then a third pillow came at her. Luna soon found herself on the receiving end of a magic fueled pillow fight. Shadaico was off on in the distance throwing pillow projectiles filled with fluffy payloads of death at her.
Shadaico finally ran out of pillows to throw and waited. The feathers began to settle on the floor and Luna could tell where they were. The two of them were in the ballroom where the majority of the events at the Grand Galloping Gala were held! Shadaico was up on the stage where musicians would normally be performing. Shadaico had the single sealing screw embedded in his back as he hunched over with pure death plastered on his face. He was not in a good mood anymore. He was still animalistic and filled to the brim with power despite having the sealing screw in his back. Luna stood her ground and waited for him to make the first move once more.
Shadaico roared like a dragon and spewed fire into the air from his mouth. Luna cocked an eyebrow as Shadaico finished his intimidation attempt. He promptly raised a hand and let a fireball fly. Luna blocked it like it was a paper wad. Shadaico snarled and made another few and threw them all at once. Luna again deflected them with little difficulty. He looked at his claws sternly, as though trying to scare them into getting stronger. He spread his arms wide like he was going for a tackle before slapping them back together in forceful clap. A vertical blade of air was produced that sliced into the floor as it headed for Luna! She lunged to the right to dodge it. The blade hit the wall and shattered it, raining rubble down behind her. Shadaico let out a low growl as his face contorted to unnatural levels of anger. His stone gauntlet was gone, but he apparently liked the idea as he remade it but with pure fire instead of rock. Both his arms were engulfed in flames as he dived off the stage and charged for Luna. She ducked as the first jab flew over her head. Shadaico retracted his arm and took on a boxer's stance. Luna lit her horn and prepared to block and dodge a lot.
Flaming fists flew and Luna dodge almost a dozen before she knew it. Shadaico was too fast for Luna to launch counterattack. She could only dodge as trails and streams of fire that hugged Shadaico's arms were left hanging in the air as he threw jab after jab. Luna finally saw a brief opening and let a small pop of magic slap Shadaico's face. He backed off a step and put his teeth on display with a menacing snort. He approached again and went for a right hook. But he put far too much muscle into it so that when Luna lunged backwards and he missed, he was thrown off balance. Now that Luna was up on her hind hooves, she forced her front hooves down on his still burning right arm. Shadaico's arm gave a resounding snap as it was crushed into the floor beneath the princess of the night's hooves.
Luna was thrown off of Shadaico's arm in the blink of an eye as he tore his arm from under her. The flames had vanished from his arms as he cradled his horribly disfigured appendage. It was obviously broken. Luna let a sliver of a smirk form on her face. She had finally delivered a serious blow. Shadaico looked up passively as his arm was engulfed in an eerie red light. Before her eyes, his arm healed! He experimentally test punched at the air before going into the fight again.
Luna couldn't believe what she had just seen. Instant regeneration was super-complicated magic, not to mention impossible. There just wasn't a way one could do it in the heat of a battle, it took time to arrange the spell and get it to do its job properly. The common misconception about instant regeneration, is the "instant" part. The spell is actually meant to be used in a hospital setting and can take some time for lesser unicorns to actually cast. There was no such thing as a more powerful healing spell though.
Just as Shadaico began running at her, Celestia exploded through a wall with three golden screws floating behind her. Shadaico's eyes bulged as he jumped back; one of the screws having been thrown at him. It soared across the room and was driven into the thin alicorn statue that was set off to the side. Celestia wasn't deterred as she let loose a blast of magic that Shadaico easily dodged. The attack blew bits of the floor into the air. Celestia stepped forward forcefully and took her place at Luna's side. She gave one of the screws to Luna as she eyed the third one she had thrown. Luna took to the skies, believing the wolf abomination would be at a disadvantage being grounded. Shadaico didn't lose focus on the their real plan though, he caught a glimpse of Celestia heading for the screw she had thrown rather carelessly. He completely ignored Luna as he gave chase to her.
As Shadaico ran across the ballroom, Luna flew behind him low and fast as she unleashed spells of various types and sizes. He ran like an Olympian while pebbles, sparks, and embers fell around him. Celestia almost had the last screw when she realized Shadaico was on her flank! His claw erupted in dark magic energy as he raised it in preparation to strike. Celestia tried to make a shield, but it wasn't needed. Luna swooped down and aimed the sealing screw she had perfectly. But as she went for the kill shot, he turned around suddenly and slashed his dark claw at her! Luna was moving too fast and she was too close to do anything. She pulled up slightly, but his claws cut into her underbelly and ran down her entire chest and belly as she flew over him.
Blood splattered out as she nearly crashed into Celestia. Luna was hurt badly. Celestia didn't know how deep the gash was, but the length of the four parallel cuts worried her to death. She pulled Luna up to her chest as she trembled. She held Luna close as her mind locked up again. Celestia didn't know what to do. Her magic was virtually gone and Shadaico was standing over her triumphantly. She had never felt so much fear in her life. Shadaico roared again as he raised his dark magic claw. He was going for the kill! At least Discord hadn't believed in killing his enemies.
A second sealing screw rammed into Shadaico's back in the lower left corner! Along with the screw, Shadaico was also hit with a powerful arrow made out of pure magic that sent him into the alicorn statue and beyond. As the monument collapsed, he continued to fly right out the window behind it.
"LEAVE THE PRINCESSES ALONE!" Shining Armor bellowed as loud as he could after the monster.
"Shining Armor!" Celestia couldn't believe he was here, or measure how happy she was to see him.
"What was that thing?"
"It's not done yet, we need to get these last two into its back. Then we can talk."
"We better hurry, before it gets away," Luna groaned as she got to her hooves.
"You have to stay here, you're in no condition to fight," Celestia tried to caution her sister. The bleeding was slow, but still serious.
"And neither are you," Luna pointed out.
Celestia didn't know how to respond to that. "Shining. Get down to the gardens, keep it busy."
"Right away your majesty!" Shining teleported to the fight, leaving Luna and Celestia alone for a moment.
"I want you to keep your distance, I'll get close and then you'll hit it with the screws."
Luna nodded and the two jumped out the window to finish the fight in the gardens.
Shining was already in trouble. Shadaico was blasting at his shield as he snarled in rage. Apparently, his strength wasn't depleting nearly as much as they hoped it would with each seal they got back in. As they glided down into the fight, Luna began to fire her magic. Shadaico flicked his head up towards them and intercepted the attacks with his fire breath. Doing so however, caused his barrage on Shining to cease. Shining took advantage and sent three quick sparks Shadaico's way. He wasn't able to stop all of them as he was pushed back. He was able to stay on his paws, but he was left wide open to attack.
Celestia took one of the screws from Luna and went for it. She almost had him when he finally recovered and swatted her away with a powerful shield coated backhand to the face. Celestia rolled along the ground and the screw went twirling into the air. Shining suddenly dashed past Shadaico on the left, only inches between the two. When Shadaico followed the movement with his head, Luna jabbed both her front hooves into his chest, sending him back several feet. As he went, another screw went into his back in the top left corner! Shining had grabbed the screw Celestia had dropped and driven it into his back.
Before Luna could get the final seal in, Shadaico had shielded himself and unleashed an explosion of wind magic. Luna and Shining were thrown off of him as he inhaled deeply in the confines of his protective bubble. Luna's bleeding was getting worse. Shining was going to have a few bruise from all this, assuming he didn't take anymore hits. Celestia was on her hooves again. All four of them took a moment to reposition and get a second of rest before starting up again.
Shadaico dropped his shield and tried to attack, but he'd forgotten about Shining Armor! Shining jabbed him in the abdomen and made him keel over. Celestia jumped forward and turned on a dime as her back hooves lashed out. Shadaico got a face full of her royal hooves and went up into the air. Blood gushed from his obviously broken nose. His flight path landed him in the pond with a large backward belly flop. He disappeared under the surface while the princesses and Shining ran to the water's edge. A glow emanated from deep below the surface. Rays of light cut through the water and pierced the night air in an ominous omen of impending danger. The three backed up as quick as they could before a column of spinning water rose out of the pond.
Shadaico seemed to dance at the top of the spire as magic flowed from his hands and guided the awesome display. The battle had switched from lightning and fire to water and ice it seemed. He left no time to think as he began randomly unleashing jets of water that acted like blades, slicing into the earth when they missed and sending vapor up into the air. He also seemed more cautious about letting any of his enemies get behind him or out of his sight at all. He was devoting special attention to whoever had the last screw too. Luna wasn't safe with it, so Shining took it as he kept trying to get around Shadaico's defense. The pond was pretty big around and Shadaico was easily able to track his movements. Celestia was doing her best to keep Shadaico's attention, but he deflected or out right blocked her attacks and immediately switched to attacking Shining Armor.
They just didn't have the strength to keep Shadaico distracted anymore. They needed a new strategy. He continued to dance on the top of his column which provided him an endless supply of water he could use in his attacks as well as give him a great view of the battlefield. Celestia needed to come up with a way to get him down. Celestia had let herself zone out and Shadaico was nice enough to snap her back into reality by whipping her in the face with a thick tentacle of water. Celestia lost her tiara and blood dribbled from her forehead as she regained her balance and her senses.Celestia then realized Luna was now standing behind Shadaico for the moment!
"Throw the screw to Luna!" Celestia ordered.
Shining obliged without hesitation. Luna easily caught it and hurled it at Shadaico like a javelin. Shining continued to run around the pond as Shadaico swatted the screw out of the air. The plan had failed...until Shadaico realized he now had his back to Celestia! Celestia was behind him up in the air, her grip firm on the last screw. She forced it into his back as hard as she could...
Time seemed to freeze for everyone as the screw's spinning blade like form began ripping into Shadaico's back. His head was turned just enough that he could see Celestia's stressed face as she drove the seal in. Shining was still running around the pond, his heart rate having skyrocketed in seconds. Luna's bleeding was still constant, and there was a disturbing puddle forming around her hooves. Celestia bore the marks of a strenuous battle as well. Her forehead was dripping blood, her horn had a crack in it, and her entire body had been singed or outright burned. Despite all that, they had done it. The last screw was quickly gliding into place.
All four seals were finally in his back once more, Shadaico's horrid howls were almost lost as the column of water that supported him broke up and he plummeted into the pond below. The splash sent a jet of water into the air as the monster rapidly sunk to the depths of the pond. They weren't sure if it had died or not. Celestia wobbly came to a landing by her sister, who was now laying in the grass trying to stop her own bleeding. Shining came up alongside them, panting from the mad dash.
"What was that thing?" he asked the princesses.
"I don't know, but it's over...for now." Luna looked out at the pond with fear. She just had this feeling that it was nowhere near dead.
*****
The sounds of battle suddenly stopped, and the power that had been just oozing from the wolf had vanished. The zebra scowled. Who had won? Was the wolf's power gone because he had been defeated, or was it because he had won? Looking up, the castle's roof was being put out as pegasi had only a minute prior begun to try and save some part of the ancient structure. The zebra began to think out loud.
"Whoever won tonight, the ponies will suffer for this. The idea of Equestrian invincibility has been smashed tonight." His evil grin returned. "You better be alive you damned wolf...so I can buy you a round of drinks."
*****
Shadaico found himself sinking into the abyss of the pond. He wasn't sure how deep the pond was or how close he was to the bottom. He was limp as he continued to sink deeper and deeper. His body had returned to its pure wolf form, he wasn't humanoid anymore. None of that matter to him though. Everything that had just happened was flashing before his eyes like a bad dream. He clenched his teeth in anger and frustration...he had failed Nash, his only true friend. He almost felt like just letting himself die right then and there. But he had a promise to keep.
Shadaico turned himself over, and made a break for the surface...