//------------------------------// // Chapters 4-6 // Story: Rise of The Monarchy // by Kudurak //------------------------------// Chapter 4- Suspicion Photon's head slowly raised itself to reveal his blue eyes being invaded by an acid green dye. His scar began to reflect on both eyes and his fur coat began to show traces of deepening colors. He felt like his body was growing taller, but at the time he noticed no visible difference. The other two unicorns that were with him looked at him in confusion as his eyes began to morph. He ignored the physical changes as best he could and proceeded to walk towards Kudurak, who stood beside the Princess of the Sun. "S-Sir… our squads are prepared f-for immediate action should you need them…" Photon said as his voice began to slightly distort. His tone deepened and began to almost glitch as he spoke, causing Kudurak to look at him with suspicion. He looked… off… like something was wrong with him. This caused him to become uneasy as he feared that his best soldier was infected. He decided to deny this fact for now, instead focusing on the burnt cottage before him. He stared deeply at the ruined wood ashes and wet floorboards… 'There was no sign that she was even here.' he thought. His eyes squinted as he took one last look over the smoldering remains of his home, then he saw something under one of the floorboards. He reached down with his head to pick up the item that had eluded his eyes for so long. It was a journal entry… "Dear Diary, My, was today interesting. I awoke from my sleep to find my stallion whom I so adored missing from my company. To add to the wonder, a pair of shady stallions knocked on the door today asking if Kudurak was home. I declined this as it was the truth, but something just seemed… off… about them. I can't exactly pinpoint what it was, but there was just something. It was unsettling, indeed. Odd thing is, when they left I started to hear noises from outside. I'm sure it's fine as I am known to be very paranoid at times. Anyway, I…" The rest had a stain of blood as if she never got to finish the entry in the diary. Kudurak's eyes widened in horror as he feared she was attacked or even killed just hours after he had left. He began to think what would have happened if he had stayed. Would she have been here still? But worse was the fact that either way, one of the princesses would have been harmed or killed no matter what he did. Princess Celestia levitated the entry with her magic to read the passage that had given him such distress. She gasped with worry that her dear sister, whom she had recently brought back to her, was killed before she could properly adjust to her new life. They turned back to regroup with the Unicorns that stood guard behind them. Kudurak wiped the tears from his eyes and returned from his depression. "Alright," Kudurak said with a serious tone, "We have to find out where these unknown enemies took the other royal mare. Princess, is there anything you can tell us that might give us some leads?" "Hmmm…. I might have an idea of where to look. There is a knight born in darkness that roams and hunts in the fields north of here. His history is mostly unknown, but I feel he would be a great asset to our cause." Celestia said as if she knew exactly where to find this mysterious soldier. "Do we know his name?" "Due to his shy nature, we are unaware of his name." "So we are looking for a pony that we don't know the name for? Perfect…" "Fear not, for he will most likely reveal himself to us later." Suddenly, a voice shot from behind them. "Too bad you will never find him…" They turned to find Photon standing with his head tilted down, his mane darkening in color and his coat entirely black. His hooves had pure darkness rising from them and his eyes looked up with a sinister green glow. He was fully corrupted. "Oh no…" Kudurak said as he grew fearful of this pony. Photon chuckled with a sinister smile as his teeth sharpened to a fine point. He glared into Kudurak's eyes. "You cannot stop the corruption, Kudurak," Photon's voice deepened as he spoke and it became more distorted, "We are too far into our takeover for us to be stopped now. If you resist us, you will die." Kudurak knew not what to say, for he had never seen Photon act this way before. He stepped back and tried to make distance between them, his hoof pulling Princess Celestia with him as he moved. "Do you think that getting rid of us will simply end this war? No… we are unstoppable. We are collective. We. Are. Corruption." Photon said as he made his way closer to Kudurak, grinning as he walked and causing vegetation nearby to wither out. "I WILL NOT LET YOU HARM LUNA!" Kudurak yelled as he twitched his hooves to bring out dual kunai, one in each hoof, and leaped at the corrupted Pegasus. Photon flinched and dodged the raging Kudurak and in turn flipped around to toss a shuriken into his leg, causing him to fall to the dirt before him. Kudurak quickly recovered and threw his kunai at Photon, landing one in the cheek and the other in his wing. Photon screamed in pain and pulled out both kunai from their entry wounds, blood dripping from the openings. He immediately dashed forward, moving left and right as he approached, then leaped at him to attack. Kudurak attempted to defend himself but before he could, the opposing Pegasus disappeared from view, almost as if he just disintegrated. Kudurak looked around frantically before realizing that he had been wounded yet again, for the Pegasus had managed to get behind him and lodged a knife into his wing. Kudurak reacted by ducking down to pull out a pair of wrist blades, each hooked to his hooves by a leather brace with a curved, serrated blade sitting on the side of them. He reached up and stabbed straight through Photon's abdomen as he jumped over him. Kudurak then flipped over Photon, pulling the injured Pegasus with him as he leaped over into the air before finally slamming him to the ground. He pulled the blades from Photon and stood over the defeated Pegasus. Kudurak reached over Photon to deliver the finishing blow, a stab directly into the heart. Before he could end the conflict, however, Photon grinned at Kudurak and disappeared into darkness. The arm blade hit nothing, but instead went straight into the rough dirt below. "Dammit!" Kudurak said as he put away the blades. "It's ok. He couldn't have gone far." Celestia said while she approached him. "I could have ended it. I could have!" Kudurak stood in frustration over the site of the recently disappeared Pegasus. He grunted and turned back to see the unicorn soldiers staring at him, their eyes wide in disbelief. They had never seen Kudurak fight like that before. He usually didn't fight with them as he mostly stood behind and gave orders from the shadows. Seeing this skillful Pegasus defeat his best soldier truly gave them a new perspective on their leader. Kudurak, frustrated with his defeat leaned his head back and dislodged the knife that was embedded into his wing. "Ugh. What's done is done, and there is nothing I can do to change that. Let's start heading to Ponyville. Maybe we'll find clues there." Kudurak said as he pondered what to do now. He was entirely clueless as to where to start. He also knew that the princess was too badly wounded to walk such a distance. "We have to find something for the princess to lie on so she can recover. This walking will do a number on her wounds." The unicorns nodded and left to find a carriage. Kudurak then turned to the princess. "You must rest for your wounds to heal. Please lie down and rest your hooves." She nodded and lied down next to a nearby rock so she could lay her head down. Her hoof throbbed in pain as the wound was still healing. The drill had gone straight through the bone and had left the muscles shredded. This wound would take time to heal. "When we reach Ponyville," Celestia said, "We need to find Twilight. She can help my wounds and might have a lead on where we could find the assassin we seek." "Alright. So we are to head to Ponyville and search for this lavender filly named Twilight Sparkle?" Kudurak responded while he tried to think of what she looked like. "How did you know she was lavender?" The princess asked. "I may not be known by many, but I certainly know of most. I do, after all, watch every move made in the palace when I am on duty." "Oh. Right," She said while she looked at the expanse just beyond the cottage. The unicorns returned with the royal carriage being pulled by their magic. The princess turned and summoned the strength to stand and walk to the carriage. The wound had started to drain her willpower. Kudurak instructed the unicorns to pull the carriage, and the loyal soldiers did so without question. By this time, it would have been late in the afternoon, but the princess could not summon the strength to move the sun to the right location. She instead tried to simply relax and allow herself to heal. The four ponies walked down the road with Kudurak behind the rest of them. He still could not understand what was going on, and he needed time to ponder this. Chapter 5- Curiosity The four traveled along the dirt roads that dotted Equestria, changing routes when necessary to avoid confrontation. The came up the last hill and looked ahead. Ponyville sat just a few hundred meters out. As they walked into the town, Kudurak took the lead. Having pondered his thoughts and getting everything straight, he knew what must be done. Ponies all throughout the town stopped and looked in shock as they saw the golden carriage being hauled by unfamiliar stallions and the princess in pain sitting in the chair. Kudurak ignored the ponies and continued walking towards his objective: the library. He might not have met anypony in this town, but he certainly had known about some of them and knew where they each lived. The library came close in sight. Celestia sat in the carriage still, tending to her wound and trying not to break into tears when she pulled the shards of metal that had broken off of the drill from her incision. This was indeed a great deal of pain for her to go through. Kudurak approached the door and knocked with his hoof. Suddenly, a small purple and green dragon appeared from the door. "Hello? My name is Spike. May I help you?" The dragon asked with a look of confusion, as he had never seen Kudurak before. "Greetings. I seek the unicorn by the name of Twilight." Kudurak responded with his usual mellow tone of voice. Spike then turned his head and yelled into the library: "Twilight! You have a visitor!" Moments passed before Twilight made her way to the opened top half of her door. The lavender filly went to respond to her visitor, but was stopped by the sight of who was there. She looked surprised to see Kudurak standing there as she had expected to see someone whom she actually knew. "Umm… May I help you?" Twilight asked in confusion. Her purple eyes gave the impression that she had no idea who this stallion at her door was. A typical reaction. "Yes. You are Twilight Sparkle, I presume?" Kudurak responded. "That's me." She replied. "Allow me to introduce myself. I am Kudurak. I guard the palace under certain circumstances and I was told that you are the only one who could help us." "Me? Whatever for?" She asked as if completely baffled at the statement. She could not see the injured princess or the carriage as the door had been blocking her view of them. "Her majesty, Princess Celestia, has been seriously injured; Princess Luna... has been captured, and the city of Canterlot is in danger. A corruption has swept through the city, claiming the bodies of more than half of the city's population and is growing as we speak. They are completely demented and unable to be reasoned with," He replied, being extremely straight forward and looking at her with a serious stare. "Wh-What?!" she replied. "Where is Princess Celestia?" "Right here," he said as he pulled the door further open to reveal the injured princess sitting in the carriage. The filly's eyes widened as she looked in shock at her mentor. "PRINCESS!" she yelled as she quickly unlatched the bottom half of the door and ran toward the injured mare. "Are you alright?" "Yes. I'm fine," Princess Celestia said while she tended to her wound more. The pain was growing more intense by the minute as the wound had begun to swell. Blood had begun slowly flowing out of the wound the more she tried to tend to it. The Lavender Filly turned to glare at Kudurak, almost as if she thought he had done this to her. "What did you do to her?!" Twilight yelled and gave Kudurak an uncomfortable stare. "No, Twilight," Celestia responded from behind Twilight. "Kudurak had nothing to do with my injury. In fact, if he hadn't shown up, I would've been most likely dead." "But I thought Alicorns were immortal?" "They are, but the corruption has a machine in their possession. It holds an Alicorn by the horn and suspends his or her immortality for the time that it is active. It is dark magic and we thought it had been destroyed entirely, but it seems they have figured out how to reconstruct it." "Precisely," Kudurak interrupted. "One of the guards had her hostage and I managed to take him out before he could kill her, but not before he drilled a hole into her hoof." "Woah, woah, woah, wait a second. What's the 'corruption'?" Twilight asked with her head cocked to the side. "We will explain later," Kudurak said. "But right now we have more pressing matters to attend to, such as Celestia's Hoof." "Oh. Right." Twilight said before helping the princess into her cottage. The two soldiers stood guard outside in case anything went amiss while Twilight was healing Princess Celestia. Kudurak stood behind the princess as Twilight began using magic to heal the wound. The princess shrieked in pain as the wound forced itself to close a bit more. The bone that had been pierced began to heal and the ligaments that had been torn rebuilt themselves. Twilight could do no more than speed up the healing process. Full healing was not something she had the opportunity to study. Afterwards, Kudurak and Princess Celestia began to tell Twilight of their journey thus far. "Princess?" Twilight asked. "Yes, my student?" The princess responded as she wondered what she could be asking. "Who is this strange Pegasus who is with you? I have never seen or heard of him before and he didn't really bring himself up when he explained what was going on." "Well..." Celestia said as they both observed Kudurak as he looked through the library. "Kudurak is a… special Pegasus." "What do you mean?" Twilight asked as if intrigued by her choice of words. "Kudurak isn't known by anypony. Not even me." "What? How?" "Kudurak is a part of a secret division of troops managed by your brother, Shining Armor. However, Shining Armor is not in charge of the platoon. He simply manages and acknowledges their existence should they need to be explained to a high official. Kudurak is a bold Pegasus and he is the only pony I know who can be almost emotionless. The thing that I really don't understand is how Kudurak still does not have a cutie mark, even at his age. It is most curious. He is a good soldier and fights like water. Why he doesn't have it yet is beyond me…" "So you are saying that he hasn't found what he is best at yet? That is indeed strange." "Yes, and do you remember how Luna has been leaving the castle for prolonged periods of time lately?" Twilight looked at her with a confirming nod, "Yes, I do." Celestia paused as she sifted through her thoughts for a good choice of words, "I discovered that Princess Luna and Kudurak are… in love." Twilight's jaw dropped and took a double take at Kudurak before returning her gaze to Celestia. Celestia returned the filly's confused and surprised expression with a confirming nod. "Yes. My sister and this Pegasus have been seeing each other for quite some time. It seems she also is the only one who can spark emotion in him. When we went to search for her at his cottage, he broke into tears. Although I have not known him very long, I could tell that it was the first time he had cried in a long time." Twilight looked away and began to ponder what she had been told. This was quite the situation. With Celestia crippled, Luna captured, and Kudurak's arrival, this had been an interesting day for the filly. She just had no idea what to think of this. Kudurak sifted through the bookshelves, completely ignoring the two ponies conversing behind him. He had to find a document or something that would allow him to find the assassin they seek. He knew he would have to go alone in order to find him. As he sifted through the hundreds of book shelves, he started to become worried. What if he couldn't find the Pegasus he was looking for? What if he was too late to save Luna? These and many more questions shrouded his mind and it caused him to lose focus at the task at hand. 'Stay focused…' he said to himself while he looked through one of the shelves. He passed over book after book until one caught his eye: a book titled "Hidden Assassins of The North". This had to be the book he was looking for. He immediately pulled the book down and sifted through its contents. He looked through each page carefully, looking for the pony that the princess had described to him earlier. "Partymikk…" he said silently to himself. "A dark Pegasus with a deep grey coat and a pair of dragon wings… Living in the outskirts of the Crystal Empire… Separated from the rest of the world..." The two ponies behind him looked up in wonder. "What is it?" Twilight asked. "I found the Pegasus we are looking for," Kudurak said with a faint hint of excitement in his voice. "Good," Princess Celestia added. "Maybe our travels did not go in vain. I shall join you on your trip." Kudurak stood back in shock. "But Princess, your hoof is badly hurt. How do you…?" But before he could finish she held her horn down and summoned the strength to heal herself. Her horn glistened with a golden glow as she focused all her strength to it. The wound began slowly closing and soon completely disappeared. She lifted her head. "I said I am going…" She said with determination clearly audible in her tone. "But first we must get rest. The trip is long and it will take three days' time to reach the Crystal Empire without the use of trains. "Agreed," Kudurak said. Twilight and Princess Celestia lay down to sleep. Kudurak found a nice corner and forced himself to lay down, even if the emotional trauma was still taking its toll on him. He had to save her… He had to save Luna… Chapter 6- Determination The floor rumbled as the Equestrian train made its way along the rails leading to the Crystal Empire. Towards the front of the car were the two unicorn soldiers that were to guard the princess. Twilight sat in the middle of the train car and stared blankly out the glassless window. The fact that the trains in Equestria did not have glass in the windows was not normally a good thing, especially for those trips to the Crystal Empire where the weather could turn from a spring day to a winter blizzard in a few seconds. Kudurak was in the back of the car with Princess Celestia, who could walk on her own at this point but was too weak from forcibly healing her wound with magic to do so. She simply lay on a double wide seat that sat a bit further back from Kudurak's seat. Celestia looked up at Kudurak. "Why are you so intent on keeping me safe?" Celestia asked, "You haven't left my side since we started this expedition." "Princess, I am sworn to guard you at all costs," Kudurak responded, "I am even expected to be willing to sacrifice my own life if it means you will be kept alive. The fact that Luna was captured by these 'Corrupted' ponies is bad enough. I don't want to lose my other responsibility as well." "But you have done more than enough as it is. You have no need to stick to me like glue if you know I'll be safe." "Yes, but-" "Excuse me," Twilight interrupted, "But I was meaning to tell you, Princess, that I have heard word that some of my friends are at the Crystal Empire." "Ah, yes. Maybe one of them can help us with our search," Princess Celestia replied. "For now, let's just relax until we arrive." The other two ponies nodded and turned to lie down. Twilight decided to take a nap. All of these events going on had deprived her of much needed rest. She needed time to think about what was going on. While she did this, Kudurak had begun to make himself comfortable in his seat. Celestia, however, couldn't shake this feeling that she actually knew Kudurak, in contrast to what he claimed and what she acknowledged. Something just seemed… off. 'Could he be?' she thought, 'no… he couldn't be. I'm probably just thinking too much. There isn't anything to worry about.' The train made its way down the rusted tracks. They were not far from Ponyville. In fact, they had only covered a mile's worth of distance. The train soon found its way to a bridge separating Ponyville from Canterlot, as they had to backtrack to reach the Crystal Empire. A chasm stretched for miles below them, fog shrouding the true depth of it. They said that the chasm was created when a powerful empire fell, and the ground opened up to swallow the kingdom and its inhabitants. Soon following, of course, the ponies had to find a way past the crevice that was left behind and built a thick framed bridge held up by magic fields that were held in place by predetermined unicorns that stood on either side of the bridge. In order to save energy, the bridge functioned as a draw bridge. Hinges were placed on either side and it was only raised when someone needed to cross. The winds had begun to pick up due to the high altitude they had reached while crossing the chasm before them. The train began to sway, making Kudurak feel uneasy as he was not one for this type of travel. The train began to slow down so that it would not sway too much and tip over. A plummet from that height was only survivable to a Pegasus or an Alicorn, and even then the chances were very slim. Kudurak began to gaze outside in order to calm himself, when he saw what appeared to be a rainbow geared on a collision course with the train car. His eyes widened and he jumped up, turning to the other ponies in the car. "HIT THE DECK!" Kudurak yelled and immediately threw himself over the princess. A crash was heard and the ambience outside suddenly became noticeably louder. Cries of terror erupted and faded away. Kudurak waited a moment so that he could be sure that the princess was alright and that she wasn't injured. He had not paid any attention to where he jumped, except that he jumped to the princess. He opened his eyes to find his muzzle millimeters from Celestia's face. He gasped and jumped up, fully aware of what almost happened. He blushed and began to turn away from her, trying to focus on the object that collided with the train. Smoke had built up where the impact was, and the side of the train had been blown open. The two Unicorn guards were nowhere to be found, leaving Kudurak with the depressing presumption that the impact knocked them out of the train. The smoke began to settle to reveal a blue Pegasus sprawled out on her back. He walked closer to get a better look, and motioned to pull out his wrist blade. His foreleg turned and bent upwards to reveal the blade as he neared the Pegasus still motionless on the ground. He approached her and pinned down her chest with his free hoof, then held the blade to her throat. With one quick move he could end the pony's life. The Pegasus lay on her back with her head aimed towards the roof of the car. Her eyes opened and she gasped in shock when she saw the serrated blade sitting mere inches from her neck, with a dark Pegasus looming over her. Violet eyes stared up in horror at Kudurak. Within seconds the Pegasus began to breathe heavily, and she became noticeably scared. Tears began to form in her eyes. "WAIT!" Twilight shrieked. Kudurak turned to Twilight, who stood there with a begging expression to let the Pegasus go. With a bit of hesitation, he pulled the blade back from the accused Pegasus. Twilight sighed. "Thank you," she said, and turned to the startled filly who was still teary from the experience. "Are you alright, Rainbow Dash?" The blue Pegasus looked up at Twilight. "Y-yeah… I'm… ok. Was just a little startled, that's all…" she replied with traces of fear still existent in her voice. "Why are you here?" Kudurak asked while still staring suspiciously at Rainbow Dash. Rainbow Dash gulped. She was still in shock from the traumatizing experience she had just endured. She stood shakily before Kudurak, her hooves shifting around while she tried to keep her balance. "I… I was doing my morning flight routine with Spitfire when some armored Pegasus rushed up and bit me," Rainbow said shakily, "he knocked me out of balance and I began to lose altitude until I crashed into this train." Kudurak's eyes widened at what she said. He instantly made a quick move to his shoulder and threw a set of chains at her. They began to shift positions mid-flight until they became an open trap. Rainbow Dash tried to run but was quickly restrained and knocked back against the wooden wall with a thud. She began to try to free herself, but to no avail. "Hey! Why did you-"she was halted mid statement by Kudurak pushing his hoof on her chest and pinning her down. Twilight stood there, confused and shocked at what just happened. Kudurak began to stare at Rainbow with searching eyes. He looked her over carefully before noticing a bite mark on her neck, acidic green fluid oozing out from the marks. "You are not stable," Kudurak said while he glared into Rainbow's eyes with a serious look. "The bite has poisoned you, and it won't be long before the venom mutates your body and corrupts your mind." "Say what?" Rainbow Dash said scared. "The Pegasus that bit you was corrupted, and when a corrupted pony bites you, the bite introduces a venom that slowly takes control of your body. My dearest friend fell victim to such venom, and I was forced to fight him because of it." Twilight began to realize what was going on and turned to cast a spell, her horn glowing fiercely. A force field began to form along the center of the car, putting Celestia and Twilight on one side, and Kudurak and Rainbow on the other. "What are you doing?!" Kudurak shouted. Twilight glared at Kudurak with a wicked stare. "Protecting my Princess from you…" Suddenly, the train car started to rumble as Kudurak and Rainbow Dash separated and tried to break the force field. Their efforts were in vain, however, and the train car split, sending the two Pegasi hurdling back to the rear of the car. The car, now having split in two, began to separate. Kudurak desperately tried to get to the other side, but the shield blocked him from doing so. Celestia saw what was happening but was into much shock to do anything. In one last attempt, Kudurak lunged at the barrier, flicking out his other wrist blade. He lunged, fore hooves first, into the barrier. His blades did nothing but crack the barrier and Twilight released a wave of energy that pushed him back to the rear of the car, his back smashing into the wall and splintering the wood. Twilight proceeded to use her magic to push the separated half of the train back, further preventing any more attempts at breaking her barrier. Celestia tried to get up and help Kudurak but Twilight pushed her back with a second barrier, saying: "This is for your protection, my liege." His strength diminished, Kudurak began to lose consciousness. A loud thud hit the train as the now split set of train cars disembarked the bridge. The back section of the car derailed and came to a forced stop, while the font half continued on. With that, Kudurak blacked out.