//------------------------------//
// The Fight 
// Story: The True Shadow 
// by Blackdrag-rose 
//------------------------------//

	Atar grew tired of watching the stallion he hated so much, Reginald, be given the ability to travel between the three realms while he, Darkstar's trusted second in command, was left with nothing. Even now he sat at a table, trying to enjoy one of the sodas that had been brought from the Light Realm, but he found the taste to be bitter. His anger, his thousand year anger, towards Reginald had never withered away and died, but instead it had grown to the point of no return. His anger was so great that he took one look at the soda can on the table and crushed it under the pure weight of his anger.

Time and time again, he discovered, Reginald had bested him over the course of a thousand years, each instance just adding fuel to his flames. They had always fought each other, that was true, but it really started the day he had lost the Element of Loyalty to the old stallion. An Element of Harmony that Atar had represented perfectly at the time, and yet the element had gone to the stallion he had constantly fought with. Then, a thousand years later, he was bested again by the stallion in his old suit of power, nearly crippling Atar in the bloody process.

The constant defeats lead his coworkers, if he could call anypony that these days, to question his ability to do anything when and if it truly mattered. He had been defeated in front of his master, leaving others to think that he was incapable of defending his home and the one he called his liege. Another had been chosen over him to represent the Element of Loyalty, leading others to think that he wasn't as loyal to others as he wanted them to believe. Even now he knew that Darkstar was considering either letting him go his own way or possibly killing him while his back was turned.

This time he was going to crush Reginald and show to everypony that he was the superior warrior of the two old veteran soldiers.

~Twilight Realm, School's Peak~

Reginald stood at the door that would lead anypony to the peak that he and Darkstar stood on, just in case another pony discovered the entrance by mistake. Darkstar had been planning on uniting the life energies of the two main realms, the Light and the Shadow as they were, and make it so both sides could live in harmony. But Reginald knew what his liege was really planning, the opening of another gateway to the Light Realm so she could conquer it before Celestia, Luna, and the other princesses caught on.

This gateway was supposed to make a pathway through the very fabric of Tartarus itself to get to the other realm, opening a doorway to the demon's homeworld as it were. If such a thing were to come to pass then the other three realms, namely the Light and Shadow realms, would be put in jeopardy. If Darkstar succeeded in creating another gateway then she could very well destroy all three worlds without out so much effort on her part. But right now she was nowhere near completing the gateway, which meant that the worlds were safe for the time being.

Reginald was sabotaging Darkstar's attempts, making it even harder for the evil alicorn to bring about the end of three worlds. He wasn't exactly being loyal right now, but when the fate of three worlds rests on his actions he was going to make sure they stayed alive. That meant tearing chunks out of the machine, smashing the powering crystals, throwing as many rocks as he could into the inner workings, and, the best part, ruining the cube that controlled the entire bloody contraption.

"REGINALD!"

The stallion was surprised, it wasn't Darkstar that was screaming his name in anger, it was actually Atar, at least it sounded like him. He looked over the edge of where he and Darkstar were and was surprised to find out that Atar was standing in one of the five courtyards of the school. Whatever he was doing Reginald couldn't tell, but he knew that if he ignored Atar than the stallion was going to start destroying everything around him. He raised his head and looked back at Darkstar, who seemed focused on the machine and not Reginald or Atar.

So with a sigh Reginald leapt off the edge and landed on the ground in front of Atar, grateful that his ancient abilities were still kicking in after all this time.

"Why so angry Atar?" Reginald asked, watching the stallion carefully as he made no attempt to get any closer to him.

"I am sick and tired of YOU, Reginald." Atar spat, saying his name as if it was pure venom, "You keep besting me at every twist and turn of my life, from the moment I was destined to become the Element of Loyalty, which you stole from me, to the time you nearly crippled me in front of my master. I hate your guts to the point of where I would rather send you to Tartarus than even contend with you again, but I'm not going to do that. I'm going to tear your soul out of your body and then I'm going to kill both it and you, making sure that you never see the light of day again."

Reginald noticed something while Atar was speaking, his magic was leaking out of his body at an alarming rate that was affecting not only himself, but the area around him. On closer inspection he discovered that it wasn't just his magic, but his anger given physical form thanks to the amount of magic in the air. This was just a fraction of the anger that Atar had built up over the thousand years, that Reginald was sure of, and with as much anger that Atar had likely built up he could likely make the ground quake and the sky split in half.

"So you want to fight me again is that it?" Reginald asked, his magic already forming his ancient golden warrior's armor as he stood on his hind legs, "Do we really need to repeat the past so many times until you get the fact that you cannot possibly defeat me in combat?"

"No," Atar said, his magic turning all around him as he copied Reginald, standing on his back legs and silver armor appearing, "It hit me when my powers came back to me as we took down Thrack, the real reason I was unable to best you for so very long. I was missing the most important part of my power, leaving me much weaker than you ever were. Now I have my power back and I intend to change fate by crushing you into the very ground we stand on. But first I need MY weapon of choice."

His magic gathered around him until a lance appeared out of thin air, quickly being grabbed by Atar's magic and immediately being used against Reginald. The attack was parried by Reginald's sword, which he hadn't been planning on using until he absolutely needed it, but seeing how things were changing quicker than he expected he had no choice. And even wit the small clash of their weapons the ground between them cracked open, spreading all the way towards one of the buildings.

Atar's magic was already reshaping the area, which meant it was only a matter of time before it collided with Darkstar's machine and opened a wormhole that destroyed the entire realm.

"You are truly insane," Reginald groaned, surprised by the amount of power that Atar had stored up inside his body, "With as much power as your putting out you're going to destroy the entire realm before you even kill me. Your willing to kill hundreds of innocents, not to mention throw the safety of three realms, just to have the chance of defeating me?"

"Oh, I'm not killing anypony but you." Atar growled, pushing Reginald into the sky as he followed him, "But if it comes to shattering the fundamental nature of the realms and possibly breaking them beyond repair just to best you than so be it. I am tired of being beaten and tossed aside by every single pony who has a ton of power hidden inside them. I will kill you Reginald, of that you can be sure."

Reginald managed to block the incoming attack, but he struggled to keep Atar back as he noticed that more and more anger seemed to be escaping Atar's body. His body should have been falling apart from so much anger, but it was holding itself together and that was cause for worry. The shockwave that emitted from the second clash blasted open the windows in their immediate area, showering the ponies around the windows in glass. The noise of shattering glass must have caught Darkstar's attention, because she abandoned her machine and barreled right into Atar, knocking him right into the ground.

The resulting impact shattered not only the surrounding ground, but tore several of the stone pillars out of the ground and blasted holes in some of the buildings. Reginald hoped that there wasn't any bystanders who had been harmed, otherwise things were going to get even worse then they already were.

"Reginald, what's going on?" came a question as Princess Celestia, decked out in armor no less, appeared behind the stallion, "Why are you and Atar fighting again?"

"I'm sorry to say it, but Atar seems to have lost his mind." Reginald replied, picking himself up as he stared at the hole Atar and Darkstar had made, "His body is literally oozing magic, allowing his vast amounts of anger and hate to finally break through and emerge in our plane of existence. Just look at the damage he's already caused with three swings of his undiluted anger mixed with his magic. He's going to destroy the entire realm just to kill me for becoming the Element of Harmony instead of him, among other things."

"The other Princesses and I will escort our ponies back to our various realms," Celestia said, still not believing what was happening before her eyes, "We need to evacuate everypony before the school comes down on top of us. Without the gateways we used during the war we're going to have to resort to the trains, so try to keep that deranged stallion occupied as long as possible."

"I'll keep that in mind when the fate of three realms depends on the outcome of this forsaken struggle," Reginald commented, knowing that Celestia would not have caught the fact he knew the realms were in complete danger, "Get the students and staff out of here before anything bad really happens."

Darkstar flew past him, crashing into one of the support structures of the school wing they were in and smashed right through the stone completely. Celestia groaned and let her magic loose, gripping the falling structure so it wouldn't collapse and hurt the students inside. Reginald looked back at Atar, who was now climbing out of the hole at last, and sighed as he tackled the stallion to the ground.

Atar's eyes zeroed in on Reginald and he swung his lance, catching the stallion's sword and blasting the old stallion right into thin air. Before Reginald could even correct himself Atar was behind him, cutting a new flight path as he bounced the old stallion around in midair. The shockwaves from each attack hit the school like the aftermath of a blast would, tearing stones out of place and breaking pieces altogether. Reginald noticed that students were beginning to leave, but at the rate that Atar's anger and rage were increasing he knew that everypony was at stake.

"Come on Sweetie, we have to hurry." Bitter said, trying to move her other self, who had her eyes on the entire fight, "The school is collapsing around us and you want to watch the stallion committing the act in action? Do you have a death wish or something?"

"No, its just that I feel something stirring inside of me," Sweetie replied softly, her heart beating as she watched Atar fight, "Its almost as if there's still a fragment of Thrack left inside of me, one that wants to save others from whatever Atar is planning on doing."

"Let's get moving then," Bitter growled, dragging Sweetie to the rear compartment of the train, "Here, you get a front row seat to the end of school as we know it, courtesy of Atar himself."

"Come on Tia, the students are clear," Luna called, her eyes watching the fighting that was slowly destroying the roofs of the school buildings in pain, "We're going to have to leave the fate of the school in the hooves of Atar and Reginald, though I hope they don't destroy too much. I rather liked hanging out with my shadow and her ponies."

Reginald noticed the two trains leave the school train stations and sighed, this time getting smashed in the face by the end of Atar's lance and crashing right into the ground. The explosion tore a gaping hole in the ground, blasted several holes in the surrounding walls, and broke several gaping cracks around him. The pain the realm was feeling was all too real, but so was the pain that was coursing through Reginald's body for the first time in ages. He raised his sword to parry another oncoming blow and the cracks opened wide enough for a small pony to fall right on through.

"What's wrong old pony?" Atar mocked, grinning as he noticed he was finally getting the upper hoof on Reginald, "Do you finally feel the old age setting into your body and the pain that's eating away at your insides? I will win Reginald, don't you see that I will arise victorious once this fight is over?"

"I see an angry stallion whose letting his emotions get the better of his judgment." Reginald remarked, getting up as his sword landed not to far from where he was, "You have let your anger and your hate towards me build up for the last thousand years, ever since you lost the Element of Harmony. The same Element of Harmony that came into my possession during the war with Discord; Loyalty. Maybe it's time I told you the truth Atar. The one truth that would either shatter your world or make you reconsider this entire forsaken fight of yours.

You have already held the title of the Element of Loyalty once before, in a separate time where the Shadows, the Shadow Realm, and myself do not exist."

"What are you going on about?" Atar asked, raising an eyebrow as he wondered if the pain was affecting Reginald's mind, "There is no alternate timeline where you and the shadows don't exist. Even if there was such a timeline I doubt it would have existed like ours has seeing how they still had all the Elements of Harmony to kick Discord's flank."

"You fail to understand what I meant," Reginald explained, tilting his head to look up at Atar, "The original timeline consisted of me gaining the Element of Loyalty, but I was prideful to an error and the moment the Element was around my neck disaster struck. My potent magic mixed with that time's Loyalty and the world began to tear apart the boundaries that kept the shadows and the demons at bay. That was when Darkstar and her shadow ponies were born and she seized the moment to try and tear the rotting world away from myself and the demons that waged war with me.

I struck down the Demon King, Thanatos, and Darkstar, but at the greatest price that any seemingly immortal being could bare to pay. By slaying the greatest enemies I would have ever fought throughout my entire life I was also delivered a fatal blow that struck me at my very core. Basically I died, but the moment of my death activated the last traces of my power with the Element of Loyalty, reversing time and space until there were two of me. I still should have died that day, but fate had other plans and, by right of my timeblood, I was granted one last life before completely fading away.

Remember when I arrived one day, out of the blue, and took down the best warriors that Celestia had to offer at the moment, excluding you? I had already fought those ponies before and as such I knew their every move, every strategy, every ploy they would use against me. I was already afraid that if fate were to happen again then you would be given the Element of Loyalty and realty would have simply shattered itself all over again. But instead I was given the Element of Loyalty and together I stood with Celestia and the other Elements, doing battle with the Spirit of Chaos, until we turned him to stone."

"Get to the point you old stallion," Atar growled, "I fail to understand what this has to do with me."

"Allow me to explain the bit you fail to grasp," Reginald said, drawing in a breath before revealing the big secret, "You and I, Atar, are one and the same. My past self was a red coated unicorn stallion who wore the golden armor of Celestia's solar guard, who kept to himself most of the time. Any of this sounding familiar Atar? It should, because what I'm trying to tell you is that you and I are the same pony, both from different timelines."

"I've had enough of this crap," Atar shouted, his lance becoming a burning weapon as he spun it towards Reginald, "Say what you want Reginald, but I am not going to believe that you and I are the same pony with the only difference being that you've been killed already. All this tells me is that you can be slain Reginald; you should not have told me any of this."

The resulting connection between Atar's lance and Reginald himself caused a ripple in the air that tore the surrounding area to shreds. Chunks of rock went flying everywhere as the structures supporting the school buildings shattered under the impact of the shockwave. Dozens of cracks opened up in the ground, tearing apart the already unstable landscape as the buildings began to crumble around them. When the smoke cleared Atar was surprised to find that not only had Reginald survived the attack, but he had emerged unharmed from the entire thing with a lance that looked identical to the one he was holding.

"It has been too long since I last held this weapon," Reginald commented, the magic around his weapon turning blue instead of Atar's red, "I knew if you saw the same weapon that you used all the time you might piece it together and come after me before I could establish myself in the world. That was why I changed my weapon to the sword and made sure to keep this one well hidden in case this day ever happened. Maybe now you can see that we are the same bloody stallion."

"Shut up." Atar shouted, his anger pushing Reginald further into the ground before he flew high into the sky, "I'm tired of listening to you Reginald. Does it look like I care about what happened to you in the past that brought you to me? No, I honestly don't give a buck what you say right now. I just want you to die!"

Magic pulsed around his left hoof, which he held in the direction of Reginald as the magic began to take the form of a ball of energy. The magical attack itself would, naturally, destroy everything around the area in which it struck, so as such Atar was expecting it to destroy Reginald and the surrounding area. Even if Reginald dodged it Atar was sure that he would mortally wound the stallion to the point where he could easily cut him down. Atar fired the attack and all heck literally broke loose.

The resulting explosion tore a gigantic hole in the ground, causing whatever remained of the surrounding buildings to fall into the pit. The cracks grew even larger this time, tearing the ground apart as parts of the school exploded in a fury of fire that had been caused by Atar. The sky itself has turned black, the smoke from all the fires and destruction filling the air as the central part of the school began to crumble thanks to the loss of so much support. But even among the wreckage Atar noticed a bubbling shield, one that must have protected Reginald from the blast.

Before Atar would move his center of gravity shifted, something was dragging him all the way back down to the ground and the destruction he had caused. Then the sword he had thought that had shattered during the entire conflict cut right into his armor, piercing his heart and coming out the back side. Atar was surprised and shocked, amongst all the destruction Reginald had managed to sneak his other weapon into a barrier so he could defeat Atar. He coughed blood, the pain in his chest more real then he would have cared to have it.

"I didn't want it to come to this," Reginald sadly said, pulling the weapon out of Atar before he stared up at the sky, "but the destruction that you have caused to this realm has completely destabilized the elements that have been keeping it running the entire time. The ground is violently shaking, the sky is turning a bloody shade of red, and even the wind is beginning to feel like razors seeking to harm ponies. The Twilight Realm is literally falling apart and with its destruction will come the destruction of both the Light and the Shadow realms."

"Hehe, the noble Reginald must have a plan for fixing all of this." Atar spat, both words and blood, "After all, he would not have accepted a fight of this magnitude without a course of action to fix everything if it came to this amount of destruction. So, what are you going to do while I die?"

"I am going to bend time and space one last time," Reginald explained, summoning the Element of Loyalty, the necklace itself, to his side, "I caused the first influx that destroyed the original Equestria merely by being chosen to represent this element, but I am going to need it again to fix what has happened. By doing this I will effectively erase the both of us, the Shadow world, the Twilight world, and all the messes that have been made during the entire timeline. So don't try to run Atar, we're both doomed anyway."

"Have I ever told you that I truly hate your guts Reginald?" Atar chuckled, his anger twisting around in a vortex in the sky as he stood by the other stallion.

"Every single day Atar," Reginald replied, watching the element enter the vortex as he noticed a familiar demon begin to climb out of the vortex, "Ah, Thanatos, I should have known. I guess we'll be taking him with us as well."

Realty shook and bent as pieces of the school were lifted right out of the ground and entered the vortex, along with the clouds and everything else. Reality was literally tearing itself apart, buildings twisting in odd ways and breaking as the vortex slowly began to eat everything up. Before their eyes the gateway to the Shadow Realm opened up, pulling in all the shadows and the ponies right into the opening in the fabric of time and space. The same happened to the Light Realm, everything destroying itself as it all entered the void.

Reginald watched Atar slowly begin to melt, his fur falling off in chucks as the armor he was wearing rusted and turned into dust. The weapons the two of them held melded together before turning to dust, much like the majority of everything else that was around them. Atar's horn turned to dust, allowing his magic to join the rest of the realm's magic, giving him one last look at Reginald before turning to dust. Even the vile demon Thanatos, the bane of Reginald's past existence, was turned into a fiery ball that eventually broke down into the purest dust he had ever seen.

Reginald closed his eyes as the magic took a hold of him and everything went black for him as the universe closed its grip around the vortex, not knowing what would become of this final outcome.