On and on they fell, Luna becoming unaware of the amount of time they'd been falling. Had it been seconds? days? months? Time was a relative concept in this deep expanse of darkness that Manus called home. Luna tried to feel around with her magic, attempting to find a wall, or some other point of reference, but was unable to. She looked to her left, where Knight Artorias fell alongside her, stoic as one of her own night guards, and nearly as silent.
"We are approaching the bottom, princess," she heard him say, Artorias briefly glancing over to her, "I'd suggest casting some sort of feather falling spell on yourself, it's going to be a rough landing." True to his word, Luna looked down and saw a great expanse of grey coming up to meet them, supposedly the ground.
Casting a quick spell over herself, Luna instantly became immune to the fall, and therefore no longer worried for her safety. Artorias, however, never made a move to cast anything. He simply continued falling like a massive rock, not slowing in any way. "Artorias," Luna asked, "would you like me to cast the spell on you as well? I can cast it again and still defend myself."
"No need, Princess, I can survive the fall." With that, the two hit the ground, Luna landing with a soft thud, and Artorias slamming down into a kneeling position, his sword already prepared in his left hand. "Ah, it feels good to have this arm hold a sword yet again," Artorias said, giving a few practice swings to the air in front of him, "my time as a corrupted champion of this place kept my arm broken, so I was always forced to use my right hand."
Luna nodded in understanding, before walking closer to him. "So, Artorias, now that we are down here, where must we go to encounter the one called Manus? Do you know the path?" Artorias looked around them, and at the great expanse of grey land they were standing on. He went to his knee yet again, and scooped some of the ground into his hand. He brought it up to the visor of his helmet, and sniffed it. "What are you doing, exactly?"
"All will be explained in a moment, please allow me to concentrate." Artorias quickly said, returning to his strange observations of the ground beneath them. He seemed to be doing multiple unorthodox tests on it; tasting the dirt, smelling it, rubbing it on his gauntlet, strange things like that. After about five minutes of Artorias making a fool of himself, he stood and turned to Luna. "Alright, here's the problem Luna. This Abyss is different than the one I am used to. I know not how to navigate it, or where we will find Manus, and we are effectively trapped down here until Manus is defeated, or he storms the surface."
Luna took a moment to let what he said sink into her mind. Finally, she spoke up, "So, you mean to tell me, that after all of those strange things that you did to the dirt, all you have to say is the layout is different than you're used to?" At Artorias' nod, she just sighed in defeat. "Well, let's start walking then."
With that, they turned in the same direction, and began to walk, knowing not what lurked ahead in the darkness.
Back on the surface, Princess Celestia and the elements, minus Rainbow Dash, arrived at the edge of the gorge. Celestia sent a message to the captain of her guard, as well as Luna's, to come to the gorge to assist with containment. Ten minutes after her message was sent, several pops were heard behind the group, and when they turned, a small army stood behind them, beginning to set up camp at the edge. "Punctual as always, captain." Celestia said to a pony walking up to her. He wore the decorated armor that Shining Armor once wore, before he was permanently stationed to the Crystal Empire to protect it alongside his wife.
"Captain Iron Hoof reporting, your majesty." He offered a quick salute, to which she replied with a curt nod. "My stallions are setting up base camp over there, so I'd like to know what's going on, if you don't mind me asking, your highness."
Celestia rolled her eyes playfully, "Captain, while I appreciate the sincerity, I have told you many a time that you need not address me by any titles. In public yes, but we are around friends." At his nod, she continued. "Now, first of all, I need your five best fliers to report to me immediately. What I have to say they must carry on to our allied nations."
Iron Hoof nodded and turned around, shouting for five pegasi to come to them. Once they arrived, the captain turned back to the princess. "I'm sure I don't need to introduce you. You asked for the best, and the Wonderbolts are just that."
Celestia sighed. "Very well. I would've preferred somepony a bit less 'high profile' but they will do." Spitfire smirked, and Iron smacked her in the back of the head, making her wince, but causing her to focus on the princess' speech. "What I am about to tell you is not to leave this camp. The only others you will tell are to be the world leaders I sent you to. Not to their messengers, not to their consorts, not to anyone but themselves personally, do you understand?"
"Yes, princess," the Wonderbolts said in unison, saluting.
"Very well. Let us begin." With that final sentence, Celestia began telling them the same tale she had told the elements in the library earlier that day, although she cut it down to the bare essentials. Coming to an end, Celestia began explaining the situation. "This tale was not for your benefit, and it was not the message. The message you will carry is this: 'The darkness returns in the pale eclipse.' Bring this message to the leaders of the Griffins, the Minotaurs, the Zebras, the Dragons, and the Horses. I will contact the less friendly ones myself." Celestia heaved a great sigh, and looked into the setting sun with weary eyes. "Manus is to return to this world, and I'll not have him destroy it again."
The Wonderbolts saluted. "We won't let you down, ma'am." Spitfire said, ordering takeoff for the others in her squad. They all flew off in different directions, heading towards each leader with due haste.
"Great, now with that out of the way, Celestia." The captain said, gaining the attention of the princess, "What would the containment procedures be in this situation? How are we to contain the darkness within?"
Celestia looked down into the Abyss, and a deep sense of dread filled her heart. "With how large the tear is, captain, I'm amazed it has not sent anything into Equestria yet." She looked back over to Iron Hoof, her eyes set into a piercing glare, betraying her emotions towards the situation they are being held in. "There will be no containing it now, Iron. Our only hope is to slay whatever comes through, and hope that Manus himself is feeling lazy."
"Very well, I will have my best ponies standing guard at all times." With a salute, Iron Hoof trotted back to the main encampment, immediately barking orders at lazy privates.
Celestia had never felt older than that moment. Staring deep into the eternal darkness waiting below, she wondered what would become of them. 'Last time, my parents and most of the other elders had to sacrifice themselves simply to send him away,' She looked away and began heading towards the main barracks the guards had set up. 'I pray to whatever gods may listen that it will be easier.'
"Princess?" Twilight said, snapping Celestia out of her stupor, "You don't need to worry. Princess Luna knows what she's doing, and I'm sure Artorias will be able to handle anything Manus can do." She nuzzled Celestia, "They will be able to do this. I know they can."
"I pray that you're right, Twilight." Princess Celestia said. She continued to look deep into the Abyss, sharp pangs of fear rocketing through her body and mind as if she was a small filly again, afraid of the dark. Subconsciously, and not without her present company noticing, Celestia reached a hoof up and began rubbing it against her chest piece, the gold decoration shifting softly against her barrel. "Because if you're not, our world will be torn asunder by the dark powers that lie in wait below."
Artorias and Luna walked side by side, neither one willing to stray from their set path, lest they lose one another. The dark Alicorn, despite being in control of many powers of darkness herself, felt a great sense of fear and foreboding in the black fog that constantly choked out any light source they attempted to make.
Pony magic, in reality, is just about useless in the Abyss, Luna had discovered. When she attempted to create a light source with her magic, the darkness jumped out at her, attempting to latch onto her horn. Artorias was quick to dispel it, but Luna didn't risk activating her magic again. "Your magic attracts the darkness like a moth to the flame, Luna," Artorias later told her, "it is unique in this place, so it will do whatever it can to get rid of it. The fact that you could soften your fall was simply because our velocity was too much for the darkness to grab a hold of you, apparently."
"So what you're saying, is if I try to use any magic, it will be taken by the darkness?" Artorias nodded, and Luna looked to her horn. With a sigh, she looked back to the ground they were walking on. Remembering something Celestia had mentioned in her letter, she quickly began to speak, "Sir Artorias, if my magic is unable to be used in this place, then how would yours fare? Would it have the same fate as my own?"
Artorias chuckled at the question, withdrawing a small flame into his hand. "Not at all, princess. You see, Manus is originally from my world, as is the Abyss that he now controls. It may look different than my worlds Abyss, certainly," The flame in his hand flared up in intensity, and a large fireball was sent hurtling through the darkness, sailing into the distance until it landed and dissipated. "but it still stays true to the same laws. Therefore, the only difference is the kind of magic we use."
"And what would the difference be? I too can cast fireballs, but simply not in this place, while you can."
"It's not the spell that matters, but where the magic comes from within yourself, princess." Artorias stopped, and allowed Luna to approach him for a demonstration. He pulled out the gnarled staff he used to show his magic off to the elements, and showed it to Luna. "Answer me this, Luna. When you cast a spell, from what energy source does the spell draw within you?"
"That is simple, really." Luna sat on her haunches, preparing to go into lecture mode, something she would never tell her sister she did, "The magic cast by a unicorn, or in this case an Alicorn, comes from a pool of mana that resides within our bodies. All ponies have this mana, but are simply able to use it in different ways. Earth ponies channel theirs into their hooves to till the fields and plant trees, Pegasi channel it into their wings to manipulate clouds and fly faster, and Unicorns channel them into their horns, effectively giving us enhanced magical capabilities over the other two races. As Alicorns, me and my sister have not only a much larger pool of mana, but we are also able to channel it into any of the three types of pony magic, or all of them at once."
"Very interesting, very interesting indeed." Artorias took the staff and held it close to him. "Magic works much differently in my world. We do not have a specific mana we channel, but our spells are limited by the scrolls we use to harness them. Instead of this mana pool you use, we have developed the ability to use magic by utilizing our own life force. In other words," He fired off a soul spear into the distance, watching it as it faded away, "what you just saw was an extension of myself. A spear made purely of soul energy, sharp enough to pierce any shield, and deadly enough to slay the hardiest of beasts."
Luna watched the spear go, jaw dropped to the floor. "You... you use your life force? The magic of your people is Soul Magic?!" At Artorias' nod, Luna shook her head, "Such practices have been highly illegal in Equestria for eons. We never believed that anypony remembered it, and now I am learning that an entire world uses that as its main source of magic."
"Perhaps an exception can be made in the laws, Luna." Artorias chuckled a bit, putting his staff away and retrieving his sword yet again. "After all, I am unable to use magic other than when I'm explicitly trying to, so there's no particular risk in allowing me to continue-"
Artorias stopped suddenly, his head darting to Luna's right, an aura of hatred suddenly radiating off the knight. "Artorias, what is-"
"Quiet," he hissed at her, his off hand quickly filling with a small talisman. "Get behind me, and stay there. Our enemy has noticed our presence." After he said that, a white glow encompassed his right hand, the talisman giving off a soft white light. The next second, a white barrier cast itself around Artorias, just in time for him to get hit in the chest by what looked like an orb of pure darkness. Without hesitation, Artorias lunged forward into the darkness, an inhuman scream following him to his attacker.
Luna heard very little of what happened beyond the veil of darkness, but what she did hear involved meaty slashing noises and gurgled screams of pain. Artorias returned looking perfectly fine, aside from the black goop covering his armor. "Am I to assume that they are not welcoming us?"
He chuckled. "Well, it appears that you have a sense of humor after all, Princess. We may become friends yet." With that, he stalked towards her side and motioned for her to come closer. "Now, onto more important matters. I assume you're aware that your weapon situation is quite... grim at the moment, yes?"
Luna nodded, confirming his suspicions. "To be honest, We had fully expected to be able to use our magic to create a sword, or simply cast offensive spells, but that apparently is not an option."
"Very well. I shall entrust you with this then." With that, Artorias reached into his bottomless bag and pulled out a weapon. It looked to be a simple sickle, just curved to be more circular. The handle had what looked like leather, and from Luna's point of view, it looked sharper than anything she or any of her blacksmiths could ever forge. "This, Luna, is known as a Shotel. If used properly, not only can it cause major bleeding in targets hit by it, it also has the unique ability to completely cut through enemy shields. Basically, it's essential for taking down enemies that have a tendency to... 'turtle up' as we might have once said in Anor Londo."
"So, it has a shield piercing enchantment, then?" Luna said, eyeing the piece of metal in her hand, "You didn't have to make it sound so cryptic, Artorias."
"That's because that's not what I said, Luna." Artorias took the blade away from her, and stood up. "Allow me to demonstrate to you what this thing is capable of." With that, the knight stood up and walked a small distance away, taking out his shield in the process. "Now, pay close attention to the blade, and you will understand." With that, he planted his shield into the soft ground, wound up his arm, and swung as hard as he could.
The blade went directly through the shield. No teleporting, no moving out of the way, the blade simply went right through. "Wha... bwuh...?" Luna, understandably, was confused. After all, laws of physics exist stating that exactly what just happened shouldn't happen without magic of some sort, and she had just witnessed those laws breaking for the second time. The first time was an unfortunate experience with a certain pink party pony, but that is a story for another day.
"While it may be prone to do this, know that it only works when you attack with all of your might. If you simply try to chip away at enemies, then it will just bounce off the shield." With that being said, Artorias tossed her the shotel, which she caught in her mouth, ignoring the obvious taste of a leather handle. "Now, with that out of the way," Artorias pulled his shield out of the ground and set it into his right hand, "How about we close some distance between us and the primordial man?"
With that, Knight and Princess sprinted off into the darkness, both prepared for anything that could stand in their way.
Deep in the darkness, an evil presence stirred, annoyed that those he had been watching simply left. With an angry guttural noise, it shifted into a dark mist and followed close behind, making sure the ones it's following would never sense it among the darkness.