CHAPTER 9:
Epitome of Darkness
Grimveil rose with the morning sun, and prepared himself as always. Shank Spear was waiting dutifully outside his own personal quarters, and the pair made their way to the arena balcony. Still, unlike other mornings where they would find the arena floor empty, waiting for the day’s conflict, Grimveil's eyes were met with another sight.
Before him, all of the contestants had gathered, with Celestia and Luna standing in the lead. They were looking up at his balcony with malice in their eyes. Yet, he met their hateful glares with a small smile and a chuckle.
"Well, I was intending to announce a battle between Celestia and Luna this morning, but it seems you all have something else in mind."
"This is the end of the line, Grimveil,” Celestia declared. "Your tournament ends now!"
Grimveil laughed, shook his head, and spread his wings. He then leapt from his balcony, and dropped to the arena floor like a heavy stone. He then strode towards Celestia and Luna, a smile still on his lips.
"Oh no, the tournament has simply entered its final round. The combatants against the master; all of you against me. It will be the greatest fight this arena has ever witnessed... and when it's over, Equestria will be mine. I'll even allow you the first blow." Grimveil said. He lifted his hoof, and motioned the alicorns and draconequus in his direction. "Come, Celestia, lead your ragtag band, and show me your power."
Celestia was eager to oblige Grimveil's request, but before she could Luna took a step forward.
"What's your real name?"
Grimveil arched an eyebrow, and laughed under his breath. "What do you mean? I am Grimveil."
Luna shook her head. "No, I don't think that's the truth. You bear the appearance of Malicious Shadow, but you lack his intent. He had no qualms about letting ponies die in his arena, but you forbade us from killing one another. So who are you?"
Grimveil smirked back. “I applaud you Luna, I didn’t think anyone would catch on that I was concealing my true identity. Still, I'm afraid I am who you fear me to be. Though I have taken a different name, you look upon the visage of the one who was once known as Malicious Shadow.”
"But then why have you spared our lives?" Luna pressed.
"Because I've been gone for far too long," Grimveil answered, his eyes hardening, "and I wanted to savor your suffering, for you nine are the strongest this world has to offer. In fact, two of you aren't even from this world. Once you're gone, no others will be able to stand against me. They will be like ants beneath my hooves."
“He’s still hiding something…” Discord whispered to Luna. Although they desired to know what he was hiding, there was no time left. It was time to defeat Grimveil once and for all.
“Well then, let the final round begin!” Grimveil declared. Celestia and her allies lunged forward at him, ready for the fight of their lives.
Celestia and Luna were the first to engage Grimveil. Avoiding any physical battle, they both combined their magic and unleashed a wave of powerful energy. Grimveil was prepared for this type of opening move, so he flung himself forward in a spiral formation, and acting like a drill, plowed through the princesses’ attack and landed gracefully on the other side, his horn charged with magic and ready to assault the two sisters. However, he was welcomed on the other side by a barrage of attacks from Death and War, their signature shadows and flames weaved together into spheres. Grimveil ignored Celestia and Luna and focused his attention on the incoming projectiles. He dispersed himself into a fluid-like shadow and laid out flat on the ground, allowing the attacks to pass over him. As he then moved towards Death and War, Famine and Pestilence, already in mist form, glided in from the sides and slammed their mist bodies into Grimveils shadowy form, causing them to mix together. Grimveil had a small portion of his energy drained by Famine’s power, but nothing that made Grimveil feel any weaker, and Pestilence’s attempts to infect him proved fruitless. Not comfortable with two bodies mixed in with his own, Grimveil re-entered is normal form and used his magic to grab the mist bodies of Pestilence and Famine, and hurled them to the other side of the coliseum.
Grimveil put on a small smirk as he could easily see he was dominating the battlefield, but it quickly faded as he suddenly felt himself lifted and floating helplessly in the air. Discord had cast his chaotic magic and summoned his arcane blade. Teleporting to point blank range, Discord swung his sword downward, fully prepared to cleave Grimveil in two. As his blade struck Grimveil’s body, Grimveil disappeared in a white flash, and in that same instant, reappeared above Discord, unleashing a powerful downward kick that sent Discord straight to the floor. Discord slammed into the ground with tremendous force and rebounded a few feet back into the air. Grimveil appeared again in a white flash next to Discord, spinning himself and side-bucking Discord across the arena floor with his right hind leg, crashing him into the spectator stands.
Refocusing his attention on the other combatants, Grimveil was met by a charging Nyx and Nightmare Moon. The two alicorns charged their horns full of lightning and unleashed them in a spinning barrage with a wide range, giving him no room to dodge. As the attack closed in, Grimveil scanned the assault, and flung himself into the only opening, straight down the center of the attack. A few bolts of electricity licked his body, but it wasn’t any type of pain that he couldn’t easily shake off, so he landed gracefully on the other side of the attack. As he landed, he grabbed Nyx and Nightmare Moon with his magic, and with great force, thrust them into the spectator stands, cratering the masonry.
“Is that the best you can do?” Grimveil asked turning around to face everyone. “I expected better!”
Death and War charged Grimveil and assaulted him with a combination of medium and short range attacks. War began to attack physically with strong bucks and kicks as Death stayed farther behind and expelled strong bouts of shadow. The two apocalypse ponies’ strategy worked well at first. War took Grimveils attention just enough for several of Deaths attacks to land. Grimveil, although a bit battered from the attacks, quickly adapted to the strategy, and was now easily blocking each kick and dodging each magic attack as if they were moving in slow motion.
Discord had gotten up from his knockout, and after summoning his blade, teleported into the fray with War and Death. As Grimveils attention was drawn forward on War and Death, Discord appeared behind him and attempted a sideward strike. Grimveil was almost caught off guard, but he sensed the strike and jumped straight up, causing the blade to strike War, which sent him careening into the edge of the arena. As Grimveil was in the air, he unleashed a powerful force of magic upon the now unprotected Death, knocking him back. Grimveil finally landed with strong stomp of his hooves, releasing a shockwave of magic that expelled Discord.
In the confusion of that onslaught, Celestia and Luna had combined their magic again and charged up a massive horde of energy. Now fully charged, they freed it upon Grimveil as soon as he landed with blinding speed. Grimveil just barely saw it coming and was left with no time to dodge or evade, so he decided to take it head on. He clashed his horn with it and used is own magic to push against Celestia and Lunas force. Overall their forces matched, forcing the energy to rupture and explode. It managed to throw Grimveil back a bit, but he landed easily and regained a strong foothold.
As Celestia and Luna, as well as the Apocalypse Ponies, began to assault Grimveil again with various magic and tactics, Nyx and Nightmare Moon struggled to their feet after being thrown into the solid stone spectator stands. Albeit a few bruises, they seemed okay, and were ready to jump back into the heat of battle.
“He’s ridiculously strong,” Nyx said.
“Indeed,” Nightmare Moon responded grimly.
“Maybe we should combine our power,” Nyx suggested. “Have you ever heard of the Umbral Wrath?”
Nightmare Moon nodded. “Of course I have. It’s the pinnacle of all Lunar Magic, something that not even I can cast on my own. I’m surprised someone as young as you knows of such an ancient magic.” Nyx nodded back with a smile.
“I read a lot of old books, but forget about that. If we combine our power, we can pull it off. I’m sure of it.” Nightmare Moon nodded in reply.
The two of them stood side by side as their horns began to glow. They concentrated all of their will power into their magic, building it up as much as they could. They next began to synchronize, making sure their magic was operating on equal terms. Now combined, the power of their magic sky-rocketed, and they aimed their horns at Grimveil.
Grimveil had just managed to thwart off his opponents yet again, leaving him completely untouched. He opened his mouth to say something, but sensed the massive accumulation of power behind him. He turned to see Nyx and Nightmare Moon surrounded with raging auras of magic. Grimveil was about to charge them, but before he could even move a muscle, a tiny black sphere, no larger than a pebble, sprung forward from the two alicorns’ auras. It slid to a halt in front of Grimveils face, and in an instant, that tiny black sphere erupted and expanded, creating massive shockwaves of dark blue magic to ripple through the entire coliseum. The coliseum itself shook violently and cracked all over as the giant sphere of magic unleashed an enormous payload of power and energy. After a few seconds of this massive sphere of energy lingering in the air, it collapsed in on itself and vanished, revealing Grimveil, horribly battered. The attack was indeed powerful, and Grimveil had taken full wind of it, but it wasn’t enough to do him in quite yet.
Without wasting a second, Grimveil flash teleported behind Nyx and Nightmare and gave them both a very strong, anger-fueled buck that sent them both flying back into the arena.
“That was quite amazing you two,” he said with angry tones. “I haven’t seen anyone use the Umbral Wrath in thousands of years. I didn’t think either of you would have the talent to use it.”
Grimveil flew back into the arena and faced his opponents yet again. Celestia, Luna, Death, and War took advantage if his battered state and began to assault him once again. They unleashed powerful magic attacks and melees at rapid succession, but despite being hit by that overwhelming technique, Grimveil, now fueled by anger, maintained dominating speed and power.
It wasn’t long until the nine combatants were drained of too much energy. Noticing their weakened state, Grimveil made no attempt to dodge anymore assaults, but merely stood and pushed against them. He gazed across the battlefield at Celestia as he could slowly see her energy fading.
“Surely you realize it’s impossible for you to win at this point,” Grimveil boasted. “Give up now and perhaps I’ll make your deaths somewhat painless.”
Celestia and the others were all very much drained, but she responded to Grimveil with a smirk. Unbeknownst to Grimveil, Twilight and the others had jumped into the arena and brought their Elements to full charge. The six ponies levitated, the signature white aura of the elements surrounding them. Grimveil had just barely looked behind him as the full might of the Elements of Harmony was unleashed, the arching rainbow of their power crashing down upon him. He had no time to dodge and no time to block.
The power from the elements had created an enormous explosion, completely shattering whatever remained of the arena floor. Thick shrouds of smoke and debris filled the battlefield, and all was silent. Everyone gazed into the smoldering wreckage, trying to locate a defeated Grimveil. After almost a minute, there was no sign of Grimveil through the smoke. It appeared as though Grimveil was defeated. They all began to breathe sighs of relief, not possessing the energy to cheer.
Their victory didn’t even last a few seconds, however, as a stream of smoke rocketed out of the debris, arched through the air, and landed on the ground in front of the contestants. Out of this smoke walked Grimveil, bearing the same appearance as he did before being struck. Everyone’s mouth gaped open. Grimveil had just survived a direct hit from the Elements of Harmony, completely unscathed. Celestia and the others couldn’t even begin to fathom how he could have survived a direct hit from the Elements. With this, whatever hope that remained was drained from everyone’s eyes. Celestia and the others could do nothing but slump in defeat.
“You all did well to get this far…but as I said, you never stood a chance,” Grimveil said. “This is the end.”
Grimveil’s horn glowed with a brilliant radiance. In one fell swoop, he unleashed a blindingly bright white flash from his horn that encompassed the entire coliseum and everyone in it. Celestia closed her eyes and prepared for her death.
Celestia slowly opened her eyes, lazily looking around her. Surrounding her was nothing but an endless void of white. She began to move her body, taking immediate notice that her injuries from the battle were gone, and that she had the energy as if she had just had the best night of sleep in her life. She sat there for a few seconds in silence.
“This must be the afterlife,” she said quietly to herself. “I must be dead.”
Celestia started to weep and began to think of Equestria, of her sister, and of Twilight. Had they all died as well? What was going to become of Equestria, now that Grimveil reigned supreme? Her subjects would now fall under a horrible tyrannical rule and it was all her fault. It was her duty to protect her people from evil, and she had failed.
“Do not cry, Celestia. You are very much alive, perhaps more alive now than you ever have been before.” said a soft male voice coming suddenly from the endless void.
Celestia jumped to her feet in surprise, looking around frantically to see whose voice she heard, but saw no one. As she glanced around however, she noticed the white void slowly fading away. She began to see different colors through the whiteness.
After rubbing her eyes, the void had completely vanished, to reveal a place she recognized. She was standing in the coliseum, in the exact same spot she was before the final blow. She looked around her again, this time noticing the others there as well. Luna was there, as well as Nyx, Discord, Nightmare Moon, the Apocalypse Ponies, and even Twilight and her friends. They all looked around, completely baffled and confused.
“You never died,” said the voice again, drawing everyone’s attention forward. “Rather, you’ve all been completely restored…”
The voice was coming from Grimveil. The harsh deep evil tone that was Grimveils voice was now replaced by a gentle voice. He stood away from the group, and dark shadows blew off him, like smoke from an extinguished fire.
“Celestia and Luna, you have both performed exactly as I hoped you would.” Grimveil said again with his new voice. “You have made me proud.”
Celestia and Luna stared on in absolute confusion. Why did Grimveil have a soft voice all of a sudden? What was he talking about when he said he was proud of them? Why did he completely rejuvenate them instead of killing them? These thoughts continuously looped in their head, leaving them speechless.
“Luna,” Grimveil said again. “You wanted to know who I really am. Its time I showed you. I’ve been waiting eagerly to drop this horrible visage…”
Grimveil’s body was covered in a bright flash of light. The light soon dissipated to reveal a completely different alicorn. In place of Grimveil stood a tall alicorn with a dark navy-blue coat and a long mane and tail that shined and sparkled a brilliant gold. His face was kind and gentle, and he had eyes that possessed the wisdom and knowledge of several millenia.
“My name,” The alicorn spoke. “….is Solaris.”
Celestia turned pale as if she had seen a ghost, for from her perspective, she might as well have. The face of this alicorn burned into her mind as she recognized this figure from her distant past.
Celestia finally worked up the courage to speak.
“………Father?”