[Fluttershy's Cottage. Shadow's P.O.V.]
"Why did you think I'd beat him in five minutes, Shadic? Even you aren't that oblivious," Adven said from a bed.
"I heard you fought Dense Fence. You know? One of the seven blades?" Shadic responded. "I heard you demolished him."
Adven stared blankly at Shadic. Adven's face grew into a wide grin.
"What's so funny?" I asked confused.
"How could you believe that?" Adven chuckled.
"I heard it from Pinkie. She said when you came back you fought Dense Fence. And that you beat him," he explained irked. "I'm surprised you took so long to defeat Rage."
Adven facehoofed. "You know Pinkie was the same one who thought adding hot sauce to baby food was okay, right?"
Shadic blushed and looked away.
"Excuse me. But who exactly are the seven blades of Equestria?" I asked desperately.
"Oh I forgot Shadow. You weren't here as long as Shadic or me," he said apologetically.
"The Seven Blades are the seven best swordsponies in all of Equestria," Shadic elaborated. "There are only three known."
"Dense Fence and Sir Claymore are two of them. Dense remains with Celestia and Sir Claymore with Luna," Adven interjected.
"What about the third one?"
"That would be Adven's old teacher Master Scrapper," Shadic answered pouting. "I wish I had a teacher like that."
:"Wait so how do they become a blade of Equestria?"
"There are two known ways. One is a pony trained by a blade as their replacement."
"The other way is to beat a blade of Equestria in a fight with the title on the line," Shadic said laughing. "I guess I should have known it wasn't a serious match. Since you aren't a blade yourself."
"Wait does that mean?!" I said shocked.
Adven nodded ,"When I fought my master I was serious. My master however was holding back."
"Wow. Just how strong are these blades?!" I asked stunned.
"From what I've heard when Luna became Nightmare Moon she created phantom ponies. They came from out of a great darkness. Sorta like the portal my master used I'd suspect. As Celestia went to fight her sister Dense went into the portal. On the other side he intercepted the majority of the phantom ponies or so the rumor goes. He stood and awaited the phantom ponies to attack him and escape through the gate. Its said he fought one million of them. Each of the phantoms had the strength of ten stallions. Yet not one phantom made it past him. Suffice to say the criteria to become a blade is very harsh," Adven explained smiling.
Wow. I didn't think there could be anyone stronger than those at the tournament. I guess strong ponies don't need a tournament to prove themselves.
"Speaking of holding back," Shadic said his eyes burning with determination , "You better not do that in our match."
Adven returned Shadic's stare , "I wouldn't dream of it."
[In a field outside of Canterlot. Dense Fence's P.O.V. Play]
An orange pegasus stood before me. His blue eyes narrowed. He jumped and flapped his wings gaining a fair distance from me.
He grabbed his javelin. It was twice as long as a standard one. Its point was a profound red while the staff itself was blue. He wore steel armor.
He swung it at my left side. I stood there effortlessly blocking it with my shield.
"Good. Using your weapon's advantage against a superior opponent. However," I said running at him, "what will you do when an opponent is right in front of you?!"
"It won't get that far," he replied confidently.
I raised my front right hoof to block his attack. His javelin was deflected by my sword.
He went again for my shield. I once again blocked it.
"That won't work!" I roared defiantly.
"I know," he said running at me.
I moved my shield to block his attack. It impaled the shield. Why would he strike different parts of the shield?!
He however continued moving forward. He was five feet in front of me.
I threw my shield aside.
His blue mane was wet with sweat. He withdrew a small dagger.
My sword swatted it away.
He went back a few feet.
"You gave away your only advantage. Why would you do that?" I demanded perplexed.
"Wouldn't you like to know," he said smirking.
He twirled his dagger mindlessly in his hoof.
I sprinted at him.
As I did he dropped his dagger. "Oh no!"
I jumped into the air. "Take this!" I yelled bringing my sword down on his head.
He smiled as he dodged the strike. My sword entered the soil hard. I struggled to free the sword from the earth.
A felt a hot breath hit my neck. A dagger touched my neck.
"The soil is nice and strong. We can't afford the time to dig our swords out. I found that out as I attacked you. Both of my front legs were in different positions as I hit your shield. I attacked your sword to distract you. As for the soil, I felt it would be logical to assume all of it in this area would be the same," the pony said smiling.
"Very good Flash. You pass," I say grinning.
"Thank you master Dense Fence," he said returning the grin.
He's getting better at using his area to his advantage. I knew he'd be the perfect successor.
"Uh master?" he said desperately.
"What is it Flash?"
"Do you think I'm strong enough for the guard now?"
"If you have to ask that question then you already know the answer," I replied evenly.
"Oh," he said sadly.
His eyes turned to steel. "Then I'll train even harder until I know I'm ready for the guard! Master may we spar some more?" he said excitedly. "After you retrieve your sword, of course."
"You'll need to get your own weapon too."
He nodded as he approached my shield. He strained to pry it out.
"Lets try it together," I said grabbing onto the long part of the javelin.
After a few minutes we managed to get the two separated.
"Now. You have to get your weapon," he panted exhausted.
I nodded. As I pulled the sword out.
He stood there with a stunned look. "But master. How?"
"I'll tell you. If you can beat me again," I said smiling. Damn! I think I broke all of my bones!
"Alright then. Here I come!" he said charging at me.
[In Ponyville. Sonic's P.O.V.]
I arrived in the town square.
"Hey Sonic. How are things on the other side?!" Shadic asked as he approached me.
"Fine. How are things here?" I asked smiling.
"Same. You actually picked an awesome time to visit. Tomorrow is my match in the tournament," he said grinning. "I'm going up against my friend Adven. He's really strong. I can't wait to beat him!"
"Sounds like it," I said nervously.
"Yeah. So what brings you here today?"
"Tails wanted me to check out your guy's Shadow gundam. At least that's what he called it," I explained.
"Why would you wanna see Shadow's gundam?" he asked raising a brow.
"He heard somepony named Tech Specs built it using some of Eggman's latest robots. He thinks by examining it we may be able to make a tracking device to lead us to Eggman's robots. That way we can reclaim the Master Emerald from him."
"He took the master emerald?!" Shadic asked gulping audibly.
"Yes that's why I need to see Shadow's gundam now!" I said urgently.
He nodded ."Just follow me!"
True to his word he led me to the gundam.
It was left inside of a mountain. Supposedly because no one would suspect it would be. And it could house the thing.
"Thank you Shadic. I owe you one. But I would like to be alone now."
"Uh. Okay," he said doing as I asked.
My right arm opened. A small capsule fell from it. I caught it with my left arm as my right one closed.
I chuckled to myself. What a fool. He just insured his own destruction! Now with these nanites the gundams will be my leader's puppets! Good thing they only target structures of this size. I opened the capsule exposing the nanites to the robots.
I opened my wrist. A small screen flashed on revealing my boss.
"Hello? Mega?"
"Sir. The nanites have been implanted."
.
"Good Mega. Report back to base. For tomorrow is the day everything changes. The day Shadic dies!" he yelled smiling.
[In Canterlot Castle. Chrysalis's P.O.V.]
I walked down the staircase to the dungeon. It was very dusty.
Before Nightmare Moon the dungeon was used regularly. Its inmates were typically political. They were arrested for show and nothing more.
After Luna's defection, it was ruled that the dungeon wouldn't be used ever again. As it was too close to the princesses.
I corrected that. I needed him to be near me. So I ordered him to be brought here. Cadence objected but ultimately accepted it.
I reached the bottom. A single guard stood in front of the dungeon.
"Princess Luna?" he asked surprised. "What are you doing here?"
"I would like a word with the prisoner. It is most urgent," I said giving an icy stare.
He nodded and opened the door.
"Thank you, guard," I said entering the dungeon.
I found what I expected. Spiders dangled from the ceiling of the room. Dust covered the room.
The prisoner was chained to a wall. His legs were placed in chains as was his neck.
He still wore the magic blockers. Ordinarily, those would be released. Due to the magnitude of his power he still wore them.
He sat there staring at the floor.
I stood there examining him. He looked relatively the same from last I saw him. His coat was dusty but recognizable. His eye had been healed. His eyes themselves were filled with resignation.
"What do you want?" he demanded bitterly.
"I want to help you."
"You're too late. He's gone. And I'm in here. There is no way you could help me," he sighed sadly.
"What if I told you I'd set you free?"
His head shot up. "What?" Good, he took the bait!
"As I said, I could set you free. Of course I'd expect just compensation for doing so," I explained.
"What would that be?" he asked staring intensely at me.
"Become my warrior," I said grinning. I made my eyes glow a magnificent emerald.
"You. You're the queen of the changelings," he stated mindlessly.
I nodded.
His head fell back down.
"It is your choice. Of course if you remain in here no one will avenge your brother. He will have truly died for nothing. You can stay here and think how you could have made his death mean something. I thought I was cruel when I nearly took over Equestria but you have surpassed my own brutality. That is quite an impressive feat."
He stood there motionless. He once again rose his head. His eyes original flame returned.
"So, what is your answer?"