Delgon stood on the top of a small ledge looking over a creation of some sort that held his target and company. It was by the look of it, a new form a vehicle and was as large as the engine of a train, but had the armament of a heavy assault transport that The Faithless used. It was racing across the canyon range at break neck speeds clearly in a rush to get somewhere. This design of transport was not uncommon for a certain inventor that Celestia had allowed to create to their hearts content out in the middle of know where. This inventor had shown up to the fort one day and given some technical know how to Liz and even though her a few tricks. This saved Delgon's life after a mishap with a his former superior officer that left him with a new mechanical foreleg. It helped in a fight and was a blessing for the work pony. Now he would kill it's creator if Shadowheart didn't join them. This brought a smile to his scarred face as he picked up his radio.
With a dark smile he gave the order, " The target is approaching. Detonate the ridge."
Delgon looked to the far walls just ahead of the path the vehicle was traveling. From here he could see the light from the plasma spears and charged beams that his team fired gracefully glide towards the walls of the canyon. In an instant there was a great flash of light, the walls shook violently, an explosion sent boulders tumbling down the path. He watched the vehicle try to avoid the crushing rocks and eventually it skidded out and slammed into the wall just missing being crushed entirely. Some smaller boulders hit the metal distorting it and stopping it from escaping altogether. Delgon could see the smoke from what was left of the engine. He looked over to a unicorn that charged a spell, stepping over to him and the two teleported down to the wreckage to meet up with the rest of Delgon's men.
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Shadowheart opened his eyes and found he was laying in a pool of blood that lead from the front of the vehicle. He could see the mangled mess of a green foreleg sticking out of what was left of the crushed driver seat. Upgrade was not going to be happy that her assistant was dead and her transport was smashed. Shadowheart had enough trouble to get her to allow them to use it let alone drive her creation. Celestia will probably pay her enough to rebuild it later,but the damage was done and he would have trouble getting another favor from her. He looked around and saw Twilight getting Pinkie Pie out from under the bags of equipment that had fallen on her when the vehicle had tipped over on its side. Xilas and Fire Heart were trying to open the door by bucking it in the air as gravity fought to keep it the reinforced door closed. Shadowheart tried to get up, but felt a sharp pain in his hind leg, turning around he saw Dragonslayer had embedded itself in his leg pinning him to the frame. This would be a simple fix with his magic once he got free, but Dragonslayer was a magical sword that like Ragnarok, if the smallest amount of magic passed through it the effects would activate.
He looked back at Twilight who had gotten Pinkie free, " Twilight, can you give me a hoof without using your magic?"
"Why can't I use..." She began but once she saw his condition she immediately hurried over. "How did this happen? Are you going to be alright?"
Shadowheart picked himself up as high as he could without moving his leg. When he looked up he saw the fear in her eyes. This wasn't fear for her safety or even being stuck in a death trap of metal and earth, but fear for him.
"I will be fine as long as we remove Dragonslayer without using magic while touching it. So can you help me and get it out?" he said trying to calm her down.
She looked at it and saw it was through and through, it even punctured the metal of the walls. She noticed Shadowheart was looking at her and to her surprised, she thought she saw a faint smile on his muzzle.
"Twilight, It's okay. Just take you time, I can handle the pain that will come. Just try your best to remove it, then we can use magic to heat the wound." he told her in a soothing voice trying to make a bad situation seem less than what it was.
"Okay, ready?" Twilight said placing her hoof in the gantlet that acted as the handle mechanism.
Shadowheart tensed up a little as he felt the blade move slightly inside his leg, scraping the bone. This was worse than he thought and it was going to hurt like hell. Twilight was about to pull up on the sword when what was the bottom of the transport, but now a wall detonated sending Fire Heart and Xilas into the former roof.
Twilight was also propelled to the roof with Dragonslayer still attached to her hoof. When the blade was removed it nearly severed his whole leg and the metal below. Shadowheart struggled to keep from screaming at the intense pain he felt as the shock of the sudden blood loss hit him and his body began to tremble. He looked over to the hole and saw a pony in black armor like that of a general and a prosthetic leg. He was looking around the busted interior of the transport. When he saw Shadowheart laying in a pool of his own blood the earth pony couldn't help but smile.
"You must be Shadowheart. You don't look so well my friend. Nether does Lord Flamearch." He said dropping his smile.
Seven unicorns stepped behind him and using their magic they managed to pin Twilight, Fire Heart, and Xilas to the wall with resistance from only the Alicorn. The look of strain quickly appeared on their faces.
"This is to make sure we remain uninterrupted. Now before I am allowed to kill any of you, I was ordered to try to get you to join us. I am only asking once, join us and live or refuse and make this an even more entertaining day." he asked.
Without hesitation all of them shared the same disgusted look, but before Shadowheart could answer for the group a voice spoke up.
"Is Cassius alright?" It was Pinkie Pie rummaging through the bags.
Delgon looked confused as to why she wasn't on the wall with the others,
"Yes, he is healing Lord Flamearch as we speak. Why do you ask?"
Pinkie Pie glanced over to Twilight then back to Delgon as she pulled out the Nerrix blade,
"I want to see him again. If it means going with you to do it then..."
Twilight spoke up, "Pinkie Pie what are you doing!?"
The pink earth pony let a tear roll down her muzzle before looking back to her friend, "I'm going to make sure Cassius is alright Twilight. I don't know why you would try to stop me, but I have to help him. I can't just sit here, I made a Pinkie promise to Constance in the hospital."
Delgon watched in amusement at the sight unfolding before him.
"Pinkie Pie, This isn't the way to do this. You were never like this, you would never let you friends down." replied Twilight as she tried even harder to get free.
Pinkie Pie's mane began to fall with the help from the sadness she felt, "A lot can happen in six years Twilight. Not everypony can stay the same forever. Well not every pony that isn't an Alicorn can."
Pinkie Pie walked over to Delgon securing her blade to her hoof. She stopped when she was next to the unicorns and turned to face the others. They all had the look of betrayal on their muzzles with the exception of Xilas, who only stared her down in anger. Delgon figured there was nothing more to be said and walked over to Shadowheart.
He bent down and smiled, "Well there you have it. I got one of you to join me at least. Now Shadowheart, die like the rest."
Pinkamena chimed in, "I never said I was joining you, I just said, if it meant going with you."
With that, she slashed the back of the closed unicorn and kicked the other. The distraction was more enough for Twilight to break the telekinesis of the other five. Fire Heart spat fire at the two other unicorns to Pinkie Pie's left while Xilas tackled the one she kicked, breaking its horn and stomping its head in mercilessly. Twilight used her magic and blasted Delgon out into the canyon before he could stomp on Shadowheart's neck. Pinkamena slammed into the last unicorn barely avoiding the flying earth pony and with a slash of her blade, she cut the jugular of the unicorn. The pink pony stopped as reality snapped back into her eyes. She looked at the dying pony, then to her bloody hooves that were trembling as she realized what she had just done. She looked down at the blood that stained her coat. Pinkie Pie fell back on her plot and stared at the blade attached to her, trying to figure out why she could be so cruel and take another ponies life.
Seeing this, Twilight would talk to her about it later when they weren't in danger. She looked over to Shadowheart who was already healing his leg. He motioned for her to go get Delgon before he had the opportunity to attack again. Twilight closed her wings and galloped out of the wreckage as she cast her armor and charged a few combat spells. She looked around for the earth pony, but saw only the terrain of the canyon. Twilight kept her guard up and watched carefully for any signs of an attack. All she saw was metal and builders scattered around the canyon floor as she slowly got farther from the transport. Without warning one of the boulders flew towards her. Twilight took flight to avoid the surely killing blow and saw Delgon ready to hit another one at her. Twilight released one of her spells she was charging, a ball of electricity took shape and flew to it’s target. Delgon responded with the boulder and darted for the next. As the ball and rock collided and exploded, Twilight fired a beam of energy that destroyed the boulder he was heading to.
The earth pony looked up as Twilight vaporized all of his cover and possible weapons with a constant beam. As soon as the boulders were turned to dust the beam made it's way to him kicking up ashes for everything under it. Delgon started to gallop as fast as he could to avoid the ray of purple death that pursued him with vengeance. The Alicorn above had abandoned all care for him and was willing to kill the earth pony for his actions. As he galloped he found he had no other choice, he stopped and slammed his mechanical hoof into the ground. The ground below it was eaten by a claws that pulled the bits of earth into the leg and set it in place for a firing mechanism to use it as a projectile. When he heard the click of the loader, he took aim after jumping out of the way of the beam. With a clear shot he fired the bit of earth like the bullet from a gun. The sound of it firing echoed from off the canyon walls as the rock left Delgon at the speed of sound and flew to Twilight. Delgon had to move again losing sight of his target, but heard his shot hit something close by other than the walls of the canyon. When he saw Twilight again she was covered with a barrier and a sword of light was held by her right hoof as what was left of his shot drifted to the ground. Delgon smiled at his worthy opponent and slammed his hoof into the ground again. Twilight lowered herself to the ground and stood on her hind legs as Delgon loaded several rocks into his leg. When it hit max capacity for ammo he stood his ground, meeting her eyes that were filled with anger for him. The two of them knew this was going to be a fight to the death as they glared into each others eyes. Twilight charged using her wings to gain even more speed as Delgon raised his leg and prepared to fire at the Alicorn.
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The train carrying Applejack, Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash, and Rarity stopped at a station that was only a mile from what was now a tourist attraction alongside one of Equestria's largest canyons. The area around it was that of rolling hills and a large grass land with a few trees here and there. The wind was able to give off a nice cooling breeze as it whistled through a canyon range that ran from one end to another. Reports had told of a rock slide inside the canyon and ponies were told to avoid the area.
The Altar Of The Guardians was another attraction that rested here. Being discovered by archaeologist a year after he Dark Libra incident when the journal's existence became public in Canterlot. Using it as a reference to fill in the blanks of Equestria's history they came upon it's location and eventually excavated it. Now ponies from all over came to see it as it was a testament to not only the princesses but their protests as well. Princess Luna had sent word to close it for the next few days allowing her troops to defend it from The Faithless without any possible civilian casualties.
The ponies marched off of the train and lined in formation as some carried supplies and others scouted ahead. Applejack stayed on the train and looked out the window to survey the situation. She noted that Rainbow Dash followed the pegasi that flew to see what was at the altar. Fluttershy joined up with the medics and helped secure a wagon to a new recruit of the Libra division. Rarity was talking to some ponies that worked at the station asking her about something to do with her boutique in Canterlot after they recognized her. From the looks of it, they were wearing some of her designs and were giddy at meeting the creator. Applejack was glad to see this time hadn't changed her friends. She was probably the only one of her friends that hadn't settled down, found her special somepony, or pursued a dream. That didn't bother her that much though, because she was still reliable and would give up everything to help her friend.
This wasn't the time for her to settle down, there was too much to do and only Rainbow Dash could see why she couldn't let herself relax yet. Applejack reached into her bag and pulled out a uniform of a commander, closed the blinds on all of the windows and slipped into it.
After getting the rank pins in place she stepped off of the train and assumed her role as Commander Applejack, leader of the Libra division.
She straightened herself before giving her orders, "Fall in!"
Everypony scrambled to obey the order except for Fluttershy and Rarity who stood in place trying to find the source of the order. When they realized it was Applejack who gave it, Rarity's jaw dropped. Both of them were stunned when they saw her approaching in uniform.
"Rarity, fall in with the unicorn magic, Fluttershy stay with the medics and do as you are asked. We don't have a lot of time waste." Applejack ordered in a commanding voice as she made her way to the mass of troops.
Applejack glanced behind her and saw Fluttershy flying to the medical team and Rarity walking to a spot in the formation. She hoped she wasn't too hard on them when giving the order, but they needed to move quickly. She took her place in front of the formation after giving it a quick glance too.
With a deep breath Applejack spoke, "We are on a mission to get Cassius Nightshade back and put The Faithless down if need be! Princess Luna and the rest of us will be here in a few hours so I want a squad of ten to stay here and wait for them! Everypony else, move that gear up! Its time to go!"
The last ten ponies in formation took up positions at the station as the rest began the hour long march to the altar. Applejack had led the ponies of Equestria to the last Alicorn war. With hope they would be able to come out on top.
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Rainbow Dash was flying in the sunset with four other ponies that made up her scouting party. Earlier she had one of the scouts to fly back to Applejack and see how long it would take her to get to the altar. She was given good news that she was only a few minutes away from their location. Not a moment too soon, because she finally got a sight on this Altar Of The Guardians. It was a massive colosseum with a white and black stones and a pyramid structure with the tip removed in the center with four statues that rested on a platform that Cassius and a few other ponies sat on. From the looks of it the awakening had begun, because a barrier had formed around the structure and unicorns were massing around it casting their magic in a rod that was hung just above Cassius. All Rainbow Dash could do at the moment was to watch in horror as everything they had fought so hard to prevent for six long years was about to be undone.
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Liz had Flamearch and Cassius taken from the train and teleported the rest of the way to the altar. She had troops there already and with the news that Princess Luna herself was on her way to get Cassius back unsettled her. Ghetsis had already prepared for their arrival and had the spells to awaken Cassius's true power ready. All he was waiting for was Liz to give to order and for Gold to return with the blood he needed for the ritual.
Ghetsis had Cassius leave his master's side to enter the ritual ring. This was not good for Flamearch to be left without his help for too long. He had placed seven other unicorn magi to sustain him, but they were not strong enough to keep him from dying.
Ghetsis cursed under his breath at their lack of magical skill and the strength of the shadow magic at work. He sighed and looked to the cloud line above to calm himself. What he saw was a rainbow that stretched across the sky and above the altar. It was moving at alarming speeds.
"Well young Cassius, it looks like you're bearers are here to retrieve you. We can't have that now can we?" he muttered to himself as he cast a barrier spell around the altar. "Somepony teleport Liz here so we can get started! And where the hell is Gold with that vial of Blood!?" he shouted.
To his surprise Gold was walking with Liz to him. True to his word, the earth pony had a vial of blood and Liz had bandages around her side.
"So, you are the donor then?" he asked.
Liz stopped next to Flamearch, "Lets get this over with. I don't want him to die."
Ghetsis nodded and levitated the vial from Gold and poured it around the ring where Cassius sat looking to the sky. Wasting no more time, Ghetsis began the ritual. Runes and glyphs floated around him as he mentally left the physical plane. Liz watched in awe as some of the other unicorns joined him around the altar. Each one of their eyes glowed with white light as they cast their magic into a large rod like device. It glowed and hummed with pure magic as it dangled above Cassius. Every so often a unicorn would drop dead after expelling all of their magic into the rod. She looked over to the center where Cassius sat. The rings in his eyes were glowing as he looked back with a smile.
"Lizzy, I will dive into the darkest depths of my soul to save him for you. I will make everything right, I promise you." he called with an echo in his voice.
The ring around him glowed ferociously as the magic built up in the rod. Without warning there was a loud thud on the barrier. Liz and Cassius looked up to see Rainbow Dash slamming herself into the magical wall. Streams of black shadows emitted from her, as her anger and desperation to get Cassius grew. With another hit the barrier cracked as it started to give way to the pegasus.
Ghetsis spoke with an echo in his own voice, "Liz, she is one of his bearers of Chaos. If she stopped me now Flamearch will die."
Those words pulled on the most fragile of nerves in Liz's soul. She glared at Rainbow Dash as her body burst into a mist Shadows. Cassius had given them both a gift, now it was time to see who would use it to its fullest extent.