A looming shadow hung over the land. It was great enough to cover an entire city, black enough to completely drown everything it covered in darkness, and terrifying enough to make all living creatures run for their lives at the sight of it. And they could not be blamed for this act of cowardice. Because this shadow had heralded the end of countless towns and areas around the world. Nothing remained in its wake, save for giant spheres of dark energy that nobody dared to touch or approach.
Chaos and misery had invaded the land... in the form of red, thundering clouds, and a flying, masked airship.
The Halberd. That's what the ship was once called, when its crew was still made up of gentler hearts and merrier spirits. But those men and women were long gone now, replaced by the sinister monstrosities that now walked the metal corridors. These creatures came in all forms, all sizes, and used all manner of weaponry and tactics in their assaults. They had already terrorized the citizens of this land many times, and only the bravest and strongest had survived their onslaught to tell the tale. Almost all of them told the same, horrifying story of the approaching apocalypse.
...ALMOST all of them.
Seems like they compensate in numbers what they lack in individual strength, Lucario thought as he left yet another corridor covered with defeated foes behind him. While he'd been initially surprised by the creatures and their slight resemblance to the ones from Tartarus, he quickly figured out that they were not related after studying their auras. Said auras were still red and corrupted, though, and so they received no mercy from Lucario when they chose to attack him.
Many of the creatures' bodies had begun to dissolve into pollen-like dust, and the ones that were still whole lied in all manner of positions across the floor, bested by either the force of a punch or the slash of a blade. Some of them were even sticking out of open holes in the walls, charred black by extreme heat. While all these wounds could've been inflicted by Lucario himself with moves like Metal Claw and Blaze Kick, he still had yet to recover his full power since arriving in this world. Instead, those moves had been delivered by someone else, more specifically the two companions that now followed by his side.
The masked knight he'd met and fought before was one of them. He'd revealed his name to be Meta Knight, and was the true captain of the airship they were now infiltrating. After having somehow resurrected him from his petrified state, Lucario had listened to the knight's story of the current events. Realizing that this world was in every bit as much danger as Equestria was, Lucario had offered his assistance and formed a partnership with Meta Knight, which had immediately led to their impromptu attack on the ship after it crashed into the side of the mountain during an aerial struggle with a smaller ship.
It wasn't long after their boarding that the two had encountered the third member of their team, who both of them had nearly missed as they ran past him. Even Lucario's Aura Sense had missed this strange man at first, only revealing his presence after he strained his sensing powers to the max. This same man was now following behind them at irregular intervals, rolling between cover and occasionally prowling over the floor melodramatically. His name was Solid Snake, and he was a human, something which had greatly surprised Lucario upon first meeting him. While the children he'd seen with Meta Knight before were humanoid in appearance as well, Snake was far more similar in shape to the humans from Lucario's home world. A bit grittier and mature in appearance perhaps, but otherwise very familiar. Visions of Sir Aaron had flashed in Lucario's mind before he suppressed them again. He couldn't let them distract him in the middle of enemy territory.
While Meta Knight's intimate knowledge of the ship's interior had made him their group leader, Lucario was in charge of scanning the approaching corridors for enemy activity, an advantage that had made their previous battles a lot easier. Not long ago, he had sensed the auras of two, non-evil beings in a large room near the rear of the ship, most likely hostages that had been petrified into statues. Describing the room as well as he could to Meta Knight, the knight had identified it as the ship's engineering room, and had since led the three towards that destination. Lucario had at first caught a small hint of reluctance in Meta Knight's eyes when he'd told him of the hostages, which he guessed mostly came from the former captain's desire to retake his ship before all else. Still, he'd not been one to put innocent lives at stake, and Lucario was thankful that he'd chosen to assist him and Snake's rescue mission without any complaints.
Finally, they reached a pair of metal doors that slid open by themselves when they approached it. Like Meta Knight had said, it was some kind of engineering deck. The engine at the back of the room was surprisingly quiet, but Lucario wasn't educated enough in the field to say whether this was normal or not. Regardless, his focus had already fallen on the two cages hanging from the ceiling, each holding a golden statue. Slightly obscured by the metal bars, Lucario stepped forward to get a closer look when a familiar, hissing sound reached him and his teammates.
Slowly running down the chains were the purple pollen that had leaked out of their enemies before. Judging by its aura, Lucario guessed that it was this very substance that made up the creatures' bodies. Before any of them could react to stop it, the dark matter flowed over the statues, covering them head to toe before slowly leaking out of the cages' bottoms. It fell soundlessly to the floor, briefly forming two small puddles of darkness before they suddenly stirred again. Raising up by their own will, the puddles compressed themselves and, in a brief glow of dark blue, took the shape of the imprisoned captives.
And upon seeing their regal clothes, their refined features, and the royal crown and tiara on their heads, Lucario's eyes widened. For an agonizing moment, all he saw was a familiar, motherly smile, worn by a woman whose life he had not too long ago ruined.
"Lady... Rin..."
Just as quickly as the memory had hit him, it left as the two shadow women raised their arms for combat. Meta Knight and Snake did the same, and Lucario was quick to follow when his senses returned to him. These women, one blonde and one brunette, were undoubtedly royalty, most likely princesses judging by their age. However, they were not his former queen. While the past still haunted him, he would not allow it to hold power over his present.
A flash of green light signaled the start of the fight, along with the sudden disappearance of the brown-haired princess. A bad feeling made itself known in Lucario's chest, and he quickly used Extreme Speed to dodge to the side. Thankfully, Meta Knight and Snake had chosen to get away as well, as the princess reappeared in another flash of light right where they had stood less than a second ago. Settling her eyes on Lucario, she conjured up an orb of flame in her hand and fired it towards him. Thinking quickly, Lucario formed an aura Sphere and sent it flying to intercept the orb before it could reach him.
The sphere passed through the orb like it wasn't even there, and Lucario was forced to duck under the orb as it flew past him. Or at least he'd expected it to fly past. Instead, the orb slightly arced itself downward to follow Lucario's dodge, stopping mere inches away from his face. A small flash of light sparked as the orb briefly disappeared, and Lucario heard the princess give out a short yell before an explosion of fire detonated in its place.
That half second delay had been all Lucario needed to leap back, though, giving him just enough space to escape the orb's blast radius. Activating Aura Sense, Lucario looked through the smoke to anticipate the princess's next attack. He had barely even raised his head before he was greeted by his own Aura Sphere coming towards him, punching a hole through the smoke as it did. Instinctively raising his arm to catch the sphere before it hit him, Lucario was too late to notice the strange change the sphere's aura had undergone.
But what would've resulted into a devastating blow was miraculously prevented by a series of lightning-fast slashes. The Aura Sphere shattered into pieces in midair as Meta Knight suddenly stood before Lucario, having teleported in front of him with his cape. He gave Lucario a quick nod before turning his cape into wings and charging at the princess. Normally, his intervention would've been pointless, as Lucario could freely control and manipulate his own aura. However, he now realized that something had been strange with the sphere, and looking back at the brown-haired princess still standing some distance away with Aura Sense clued him in on what it was.
That Aura Sphere... it was made of her own aura. So unless she herself is an aura user, she must've somehow converted my aura into hers instead.
Lucario had no idea how the princess had pulled this off, but he now knew better than to underestimate her. Fake clone or not, she probably possessed the same powers as the real deal. Her manipulation of magic was something even Twilight would've envied.
Had Lucario not had Aura Sense activated at that point, he would've probably been too busy mentally praising his opponent to notice the sudden approach behind him. Tilting his body to the side, Lucario felt a wave of air hit his face as a hand holding a golden crown slammed past his head's previous position. He briefly cursed himself for forgetting their second opponent before turning to face the blond-haired princess. This one seemingly had some knowledge of magic as well, as she was floating a few inches above the ground, her body twisting and spinning without her feet having to bother with the otherwise necessary footwork. She aimed a pair of spinning slaps at him, only for Lucario to catch both of her wrists with one paw. Lifting them up, Lucario pushed his free paw into her exposed stomach, unleashing a Force Palm as he hit her.
The blonde princess flew a few feet back, but got up impressively quick. The clones must've been more durable than the real deal, he thought before she suddenly rammed her hands into the metal floor. Against all logical sense, she somehow pulled up a giant turnip or radish with some kind of drawn face on it, which she then threw at him. Thinking nothing of it, Lucario blocked the vegetable with his paw, only to feel his arm turn numb from the surprising force. Regardless of its size, the vegetable shouldn't have been this heavy or powerful.
Deciding that it was time he got serious, Lucario grabbed the vegetable himself and threw it back at the princess. She raised her hand to catch it, but simultaneously felt something impact into her back, sending her face-first into the incoming projectile. Lucario, having used Extreme Speed to dash behind her to deliver a swift kick while she was distracted, wasted no time jumping up in a somersault as the princess reeled back from the vegetable's blow. He then slammed his foot down on her face with an axe kick, hitting her hard enough to give him some extra aerial momentum. Landing a few feet in front of her, Lucario conjured up an Aura Sphere and threw it at his downed opponent.
A flash of green light briefly blinded him as the brown-haired princess teleported to the scene, having abandoned her fight with Meta Knight some distance away. Spinning around as she landed, a crystal-like barrier formed around her, with small shards even flying outwards from its surface. An evil grin donned her face as the sphere hit the barrier.
...And then passed through without a care in the world. The cocky look on the brown-haired princess's face quickly disappeared as an explosion hit the ground just behind her, barely out of reach from her barrier. She hurriedly turned around by reflex, leaving her front open as the blond-haired princess flew into her stomach and sent them both rolling over the floor. Shaking and grunting in pain, both of them lifted their heads to see not one, but two Lucarios standing before them, one some distance slightly behind where the brown-haired princess had stood moments ago.
"It was easy to see your teleportation coming with my Aura Sense activated," the Lucario further back explained as his other self faded away. "I wanted to know how you managed to convert my Aura Sphere into your own before, so I set up a Double Team right when I noticed you approaching. So that magic crystal barrier of yours was what did it, was it? Powerful magic, I'll admit."
Seemingly not fond of listening to him talking, the blond-haired princess got up on her feet and pulled out a parasol out of nowhere. Before she could even begin to charge at Lucario, however, a golden tornado flew past and cut it into pieces right in her hand. Coming to a stop beside Lucario, Meta Knight ended his tornado attack and raised his sword in preparation for further combat, which Lucario mimicked by raising his paws while engulfing them in aura.
"But that magic pales in comparison to the one I've seen," Lucario stated as his memory drifted back to a group of six ponies effortlessly dispatching a three-headed dog. "As we will prove to you right now."
Almost as one, Lucario and Meta Knight took a step towards their opponents. They had only known each other for a few hours, and yet they already moved like seasoned partners. Whether this was caught by the two princesses or not remained unknown, as the brown-haired one wasted no time in engulfing herself in magic. Her body disappeared from view behind the light, and when it finally reemerged, it was not the same. Standing in the princess's place was a man, dressed in a tight, ninja-like outfit and with his face hidden behind a piece of cloth. He lowered himself down into a fighting position at impressive speeds, which gave Lucario the hint that this form was a lot more melee-focused. Producing a group of steel needles from his back, the ninja-
*CRACK!*
-fell unmoving to the ground as the sound of cracking bones suddenly echoed across the room. Before the ninja dissolved into dark pollen, Lucario noticed that his head was twisted nearly 180 degrees back, which had undoubtedly been the source of the cracking sound. The other princess stared down at the slowly disappearing body for a second before looking up at the man that she and everyone else in the room only now noticed was standing next to her.
"Now!"
The blond-princess's body exploded into a mess of dark energy as something on the back of her back waist suddenly detonated. The seconds drifted by as the dark pollen slowly evaporated, leaving the room in silence as Snake put back some kind of remote control into his belt while smiling at his two partners.
"Kept you waiting, huh?"