Everypony watched for a moment as Cassius and Sereen just glared each other down.
Twilight looked to her friends and motioned them to follow. Getting there attraction the seven ducked down and tried to slip past a building when a wall of shadows blocked their path.
"You don't plan on leaving without saying goodbye to me do you?" Cassius said still looking into Sereen's golden eyes.
An audible gulp was heard from Rarity. Twilight stood up from the low crouch she was in and tried to speak but nothing came out. Fear had gripped her and wouldn't allow her to speak. Cassius only smiled and reared up to charge his once beloved sister. Sereen did the same and the two clashed in the center of the ring of barbed ponies. They collided hooves and heads. Cassius sliding just enough to miss being given a lobotomy from his sisters horn.
He pushed off and reared to buck, slamming his back hooves into the barding Sereen wore on her chest and front legs. The barding took most of the impact but it was badly dented and Cassius was coming at her again. A flash of her magic and he was frozen in place by a paralysis spell.
"Without your horn Cassius, you are no match for me." Sereen said taking a step closer.
She looked into her brothers eyes and found herself unable to move or speak. Cassius was using the stare he learned from Fluttershy to hold her in place. It held as much power as the original and kept her motionless.
The two stood in silence for only a few seconds before a guard finally asked,
"Ma'am, should we take him in?"
Fluttershy immediately called out, "Um, he is using my stare on her. You need to break his eye contact with her or they will stay like that."
One of the guards ran to them and tackled Sereen knocking her over and breaking both eye contact and her spell. Sereen quickly recovered as she pushed the guard off of her then rolled to her hooves. She flew into the air as Cassius brought both of his hooves down on the guards neck and twisted, keeping his gaze on her. The sound of bones snapping and the gurgling of blood filled the void of words. With deranged anger Cassius flew after her with a ground side sonic boom that sent everypony flying in all directions.
A stream of gray followed as he rocketed to her at high speeds. Sereen brought up a barrier around herself and fired a beam of sunlight. The shadows engulfed Cassius and reflected the sunlight around him as he passed through the shot and slammed into her bubble. The gold Alicorn was sent back a few feet as Cassius hammers the orb with a flurry of hooves.
Each hit left a small crack in the orb of protection. Sereen tried to use her magic to go on the offensive, but the shadows blocked everything she tried. So she decided to detonate the barrier and charge him. When she did Cassius was flung back and Sereen slammed into him propelling them both into a nose dive straight down at break neck speeds.
The initial hit from his sister knocked the air from his lungs. He violently started slamming his left hoof into her side bending the reinforced steel barding into her flesh drawing a stream blood.
He even called shadows to try to get her off by slashing at her. It was vain effort because she emitted the light of the sun that prevented the shadows from touching her.
From the ground it looked as though a fire ball with black streams of ink was falling from heaven itself. They hit the ground destroying the train station and damaging most of the buildings on the block. Smoke and dust hung in the air like a fog and sight was near impossible. Twilight coughed trying to clear her throat. Rarity panicked as her once white was now as gray as Cassius's thanks to the debris. Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash were laying on top of the dead guard that Cassius killed earlier. Fluttershy was covered in his blood from her neck to her upper pelvis.
She started to freak out before Dash grabbed her hoof and flew her out of the blast zone.
Pinkie Pie was already out of the dust with Spike and Applejack. The had gotten flung down a long road when Cassius flew after Sereen. They only had minor cuts and scrapes from the long tumble.
"Twilight, Twilight are you there, I need help. Cassius placed an enchantment on me using his shadow magic." Called Sereen's voice.
Twilight looked around and called back still coughing, "Where....are you... Sereen?"
A figure limped just barely into her view, "I am here, cast it quickly so I can stop him."
Twilight's horn glowed brightly as she started the spell. From the other side she saw another figure flying fast on its opponent.
Twilight heard Cassius yell, "You won't stop me Sereen!"
Just before the impact, Twilight released the spell and it hit true.
She hears Sereen yell, "Twilight, what have you done!"
Suddenly a gust of great wind scattered all of the dust away and sent Sereen rolling on the ground and coming to a stop just a feet from Twilight. In the center stood Cassius and the glowing enchantment that rested on his forehead was cracking. His smile was larger than ever before and his laugh was more deranged. The blood red seal glowed brighter then shattered into dust and floated away. Without warning a horn began to regenerate right before everypony’s eyes.
Laughing Cassius said, "Faithful, I told you would doom all of Equestria! And now thanks to you, I am whole again!"
Twilight looked on in horror as Cassius lifted his twisted and mangled left foreleg straight out and spun it snapping all of the joints back into place filling the air with the sound of cracking and snapping of bone on flesh. The lines in his eyes glowed individually as he scanned the area around him. He walked over to four guards that were struggling to get up. Grabbing them in an aura of dark blue magic Cassius levitated them to him and forced open there eyes. Moments later he dropped them and each of their eyes glowed a color of one of the rings.
With a crooked smile and a cocked head that looked to Twilight, Cassius said,
"Get them and bring them to me."
Sereen got up and used her magic to fling them a block away.
She turned her head to Twilight and yelled, "Twilight Sparkle, get your friends and go find Shining Armor. Tell him to move everypony here to Canterlot. I will buy as much time as possible."
With that she used her magic to teleport the Chest, Twilight, and the gray Rarity out of Cassius's sight. With a popping sound a very frightened Twilight, her five friends, and one trembling baby dragon stood in front of Shining Armor in a room filled with war asset reports and two other ponies in gold barding. Somehow the dust on Rarity was gone along with the chest.
"Twily, what is happening out there and why is Fluttershy covered in blood? Captain Bronze Sword get a medic in here." Shining Armor said as he hurried to Fluttershy's side.
"No! Shining Armor we need to evacuate the Crystal Empire and move everything to Canterlot. Cassius is here and Sereen is fighting him now. She told me to tell you to get everypony to Canterlot. She was going to buy us as much time as she can." Twilight quickly said as she visibly shook.
Shining Armor looked over Fluttershy to see how bad her wounds were. He quickly realized the blood on her wasn't her own but somepony else's. Another explosion outside caught everypony’s attention in the room. From outside the window a pillar of earth launched a golden stream in the air. The pillar then broke into several smaller spikes on its top that follow the stream until they all collided barely missing their target. Suddenly a massive blast of energy erupted from the golden stream and atomized the pillar in moments.
"Brother we need to move. Sereen can't keep him distracted for long." said the jittery lavender unicorn.
Shining Armor stood at the window and watched the carnage unfold. Princess Cadence trotted into the room and looked at the group of ponies around her. Her eyes widened when she saw Fluttershy and she ran over to the shaking yellow pegasus.
"Fluttershy, what happened to you? Are you ok?" she asked looking everywhere to make sure her injury wasn't too bad.
Fluttershy mumbled to herself as she tried to rub out the blood. The only thing she was doing was smearing it into her coat and spreading the smell of iron around the air. Cadence held her and tried to calm her down while Shining Armor looked on the battle before turning to face everypony.
"We will call for a mass evacuation into the castle. There is a portal that will take us to Canterlot in the main hall. I need able bodies to defend it while we send everything from ponies to supplies through. Go I will sent the signal." Shining Armor said as he stepped off onto the balcony and fired a golden flare into the sky that detonated into a crimson red light.
He turned and galloped out of the room to the main hall with a hesitant Cadence behind him.
"Shining Armor what is happening? Why is Fluttershy covered in somepony else's blood?" Cadence asked when she was next to him.
"Do you remember the dream I had last night?" Shining armor asked.
"Yes, the horrible nightmare where Twilight was killed and I was about to be." the pink alicorn said in a low tone.
"Cassius was the source of the nightmare, he was poking around for something. He is actually here and is now fighting with Sereen from the looks of it outside. I was given an order and I will see our ponies through safely. As for Fluttershy, she must have been hit by the splatter from a wounded pony." he said running past two guards that stood in the doorway.
He stopped and used his magic on a center ring of a design that resembled Celestia's cutie mark in the floor. It glowed brightly and began to lift into the air. Cadence used her magic as well to get the soon to be portal open. When it fell into place a loud clicking sound rang out in the halls. They levitated a second smaller ring from the first's center and it did the same.
When the two were in place both Shining Armor and Cadence let a pulse of magic enter the two and they began to spin. Another pulse and they spun faster and faster until a portal opened from where the two rings had sat. Minutes later the main hall was flooded with crystal ponies and guards with supply wagons that held everything from food to weapons.
Shining Armor quickly waved them to enter the portal, "Get going! We need to get everypony through as fast as we can! Stay in orderly lines if possible!"
None of them needed to hear anymore because the city itself was crying with the sounds of buildings being torn asunder from the fight with the two Alicorns. A squad of unicorn guards positioned themselves around in a defensive formation. Pegasi hovered above guiding traffic through to prevent somepony from being trampled. Some unicorns used their magic to produce barriers around the outside of the castle to prevent a stray attack from killing somepony.
Spring Bash ran over to Shining Armor and asked, "Sir what should we do with the yellow pegasus with the bloody body?"
Shining Armor looked at him with concern then responded, "Get her ready to go through the portal with the next set of ponies."
Spring Bash saluted and trotted over to Fluttershy who was calmer than before.
She looked at the ground silently but her eyes still reflected her concern and fear.
He walked over slowly and knelt down to look her in the eyes.
He spoke calmly, "Madam, follow me and I will take you somewhere safe."
Fluttershy looked up at him with tear stained cheeks. Pinkie Pie walked over and looked to her.
"Fluttershy if you want I can go with you two for support." The pink mare said with a strong sense of seriousness.
Fluttershy nodded and got up leaning against Pinkie.
"Ready to go?" Spring Bash asked.
Pinkie Pie said with a nod and a smile, "Ready and able. lead the way mister unicorn."
With a flash of magic the trio teleported out of the room in an instant. Shining armor saw the flash and looked for the source when he realized that Fluttershy was gone. He didn't remember them coming through the portal either.
"Cadet Spring Bash, where are you!?" hollered Shining Armor.
He looked around frantically to try to find them. As he did so he realized Pinky Pie was missing too. He left his post on next to the portal as a wagon of arrows passed through it.
Shining Armor weaved around many ponies and soldiers trying to get into the vortex to Canterlot. Eventually he saw Cadet Haven flying around the hall guiding ponies in as much as an orderly way as possible.
"Cadet Haven, where is Cadet Spring Bash?" called a very agitated Shining Armor.
Haven looked to his angry Commander and flew down to meet him. He hovered a few feet from the ground and moved to the left to avoid being cut by a wagon with swords passing by.
Saluting he began, "Last I saw sir, he was getting a yellow pegasus covered in blood and a pink earth pony situated then poof he is gone. I assumed he was going to the medical bay really quickly to treat one of them."
"He teleported then? Cadet, where would he have gone if not the medical bay?"
Shining Armor asked.
Haven had rubbed a hoof on his muzzle as he thought.
"Sir, I'm not sure where he could have gone. But if you want me to sir, I will go looking for him" The tan pegasus said.
"Please do. When you find him he is to report to me immediately. Am I clear?" Shining armor said sternly.
With a final salute and a nod Haven turned and took off without hesitation. Shining Armor wasn't sure what was going on, but he knew they had to move. The soldiers at his disposal lacked any training that could have prepared them for any of this. On top of that he was missing two of the six Elements of Harmony. This wasn't good and he knew they were running out of time fast.
**************************************************
Sereen slammed herself into Cassius and impaled her horn into his side releasing a steady flow of blood in mid air. Shadows erupted from the wound and threw Sereen to the earth below. Cassius came falling down with shadow lightning flowing from his hoof. He hit the ground and the earth itself was incinerated upon contact. Sereen had used her wings to propel herself away from the devastating attack leaving a trail of sparks from her beaten barding. As she scraped the ground she fired a flurry of gold energy bolts that knocked Cassius to the ground and into the remains of a building. Sereen got up and began to remove the damaged barding that penetrated her body. The front half fell with a loud thud, but the back plate stayed in place.
Examining the wound she had on her side, Sereen saw that the twisted steel was deep inside of her. Using her magic and feeling a great deal of pain she ripped the piece loose throwing it to the side. She fell to her haunches as blood fled from her newly open side. The vision of the white alicorn was fading and Cassius was approaching her. A trail of blood fell from his muzzle and nose and he walked with a limp from the open wound from his side. The smile on his muzzle had long since faded from existence and a scowl served as his new expression.
"Sereen, without the Elements of Harmony YOU can't beat me. You never could and now I'm going to make sure you stay dead this time." Cassius growled at his sister.
Before he could do anything a flare shoot up from the castle stopping him in his tracks. It was a green trail with a gold explosion. Sereen smiled and using some of the last bit of her magic, she teleported away. The castle detonated seconds later and fire flew from what had to be the main chamber. Cassius looked on with a blank face to the sight of the devastation that he didn't cause. The barrier around the city shattered and dispersed, allowing the snow to fall. The flakes danced in the now quiet ruins of the once mighty kingdom. Cassius roared in anger and rage at his failure to kill his sister and Shining Armor. Slamming a hoof to the ground a pillar of stone smashed the remains of the hotel. Suddenly Cassius heard the hoof steps on the lightly snow covered earth. Turning with a shadow blade at the ready, he nearly decapitated the changeling that held Spring Bash's form.
"What is it?" growled the angry gray Alicorn.
"Master, I have a gift for you. Two of the six Elements of Harmony." said the fake as he stepped aside revealing two terrified ponies.
The signature smile returned to Cassius's muzzle and he approached the mares. Using his magic, he lifted them closer to him and looked into their minds. He sent them into the dream realm and there he tortured them with visions of everything he was going to do to them and their friends. Within a few minutes outside of the dream realm he had beaten them into submission with their dreams of his future. Soon after he had gotten them to accept his darkness and will into their hearts as to make the pain go away and never return.
When they did, he let them go from his telekinetic grip. Their eyes glowed brighter with their respective Chaos Element. Fluttershy's eyes grow angry and demented. Pinkie Pie's hair fell straight down and she held a scowl.
"Pinkamena Diane Pie and Slayershy, I have some positions available if you are willing to serve me." Cassius said with a sly grin.
Both of them bowed before their new General, Cassius levitated a sword that fell from a dead soldier and gave it to Pinkamina. She smiled at the sight of it and gladly accepted it without hesitation. Cassius then removed the least damaged barding he could find and turned it black with his magic and placed it on Fluttershy. He then created a multi pointed spear with a dagger end from his shadows and gave it to her as a weapon. Cassius had his new commanders and replacements for Discord and Sombra. Soon he would be ready to take the fight straight to Celestia's front door.