//------------------------------// // The Ascension // Story: The Dead Stallion's Hand // by Lord Zalgo //------------------------------// As Slendermane finished his sentence, a giant pillar of golden magical energy with a mix of both black and white energy rising with it. The pillar stopped after about half a minute, leaving everypony in the great hall at a loss for words as they continued to stare out of the window that they were gathered in front of. When everypony finally regained heir senses, somepony broke the silence. "That came from Canterlot Tower!" Twilight exclaimed. Everypony silently agreed as they all began to move and made their way individually towards the tower. Celestia, Chrysalis, Zalgo, Twilight, Slendermane, Cadence and Shining Armor all teleported away while everypony else ran as quickly as they were able. As the tower came closer into their sights, Applejack looked over at Phoenix to see an incredibly dark and angry look on his face. "Phoenix? Are you-?" Applejack began. "That bastard..." Phoenix muttered as he suddenly turned around and decked Cognito straight in the face, causing him to plummet to the ground. The group stopped to stare at Phoenix in shock. "Phoenix! What in tarnation are you doin'?!" Applejack exclaimed. "I should have known." Phoenix said angrily as he slowly walked towards Cognito. Rainbow started to move forward as well, ready to stop him. "Phoenix, you might wanna start explaining right about now." Rainbow said threateningly. "He must be working for Blueblood." Phoenix replied. Cognito started to get up as they spoke. "Why do you think that, darling?" Rarity replied. "Cognito can read minds. The only minds he can't read are minds that have the same abnormality that allows the mind reading in the first place." Phoenix said. "Yeah, so?" Rainbow replied. "If he can read minds, why didn't he warn anypony about Chrysalis' plan?" Phoenix asked. ...Ting... That was the pin dropping. ...Ting... And that was the penny. Everypony slowly looked over to Cognito with suspicious looks as he finally stood up again. "Yeah... Why didn't you warn anypony, Cog?" Rainbow Dash asked in a voice filled with suspicion. "..." Cognito didn't reply. "You had better start answerin', sugarcube or we're gonna beat an answer outta-." Applejack was once again cut off. This time, when she and the girls fell into unconsciousness in exact synchronicity. Phoenix looked around in a panic before turning back to Cognito. "What the hell did you do?!" Phoenix yelled. "...Given enough time and training, a pony with the gift that we both possess can learn to not only scan, but control the minds of others. Enough to cause them to sleep or even hypnotise them. I see that during your absence, you trained your body, but not your mind. How disappointing." Cognito explained condescendingly. "Alright, shut it! I've had enough. My body was the only thing that needed to be trained. My mind's protected from yours. You've got nothing on me." Phoenix said as he began to walk forward again. Suddenly, Phoenix was pushed back by an invisible force. Quickly getting to his hooves, Phoenix looked at Cognito in shock. "How the hell did you do that?! You're an earth pony! Something else you're not telling me?!" Phoenix asked angrily. "Indeed. Unlike you unicorns who can alter the environment and move objects with your magic, I can do it with my mind. Perhaps you should surrender now. Save yourself the pain." Cognito explained again, not losing his condcending tone for a moment. "Alright, Crypto. I've had enough of you. Time to shut you up." Phoenix said as he lowered his body into a battle stance. Cognito didn't move from his position. He merely changed is expression to a small, evil grin. There were many things that the group of seven expected as they teleported to Canterlot Tower. What they didn't expect was an alicorn that looked like he belonged in the deepest pits of Tartarus. His coat was blood red, his mane and tail were similar to that of fire and his eyes were a mixture of black and light blue. His demonic eyes were closed his devil-like wings flapped slowly to keep himself aloft. But, what caught everypony's attention the most, was the Element of Magic on his head. The demon that hovered before them was seemingly daydreaming, still in awe at his newfound power. "Ah~... It's more power than I could have ever imagined! It's enough to conquer Equestria threefold!" Blueblood exclaimed in evil joy. "Blueblood! Surrender now, or you will have to be on the receiving end of a literal 'royal beatdown'!" Zalgo shouted up at him as the group of seven flared their magic, ready for battle. "I foresee a different outcome. You are all ants compared to me! You most of all, Twilight Sparkle!" Blueblood yelled, admittedly more intimidatingly than anytime before in his life. "Why? What do you have against me?!" Twilight yelled back at him. "You could have wielded this power yourself! You disappoint me greatly, filthy peasant." Blueblood said condescendingly as he descended. "That's what you don't get, Blueblood." Twilight replied, unfazed by his insult. "Hm?" Blueblood let out half-heartedly. "I do wield the power within the Element already! What you're feeling now... is the power of friendship!" Twilight proclaimed proudly. "It doesn't matter what kind of power it is, what does matter is that it's mine!" Blueblood screamed as he fired a beam directly at Twilight. Only for it to be blocked by a magical shield of swirling, interchanging colour. Blueblood stopped and saw seven different types of magic fuelling the shield, making it nigh-impenetrable. "You can focus your power all you wish! There is enough magic in this element to crack that shield and reduce you all to dust!" Blueblood screeched as he fired a continuous beam of magic at the shield. The shield held up for several seconds before it started to crack slightly. However, under the constant pressure from the beam, the cracks began to grow. The group knew that if the shield gave out, they would die instantly. However, none of them could think of a plan. Silently dreading, but waiting for their fate, they simply continued to enforce the shield as much as their depleting energies would allow. Phoenix screamed as he was thrown through several walls and floor as Cognito threw him through several houses with all the force his mind had. Phoenix fell to the ground with an almighty crack. He had tried and failed numerous times to get close to Cognito, as Cognito had time and time again used his telekinesis to stop Phoenix from harming him in any way. Even Phoenix's magic and weapons were essentially useless in their battle. Phoenix strained to open his eyes as he saw a puddle of blood slowly growing under him as he looked up to see Cognito ripping a bar of metal from a nearby wall, causing one of its ends to be uneven and incredibly sharp. Phoenix tried to summon the strength to stand, crawl away or fight back in the slightest. Unfortunately, the pain he was experiencing had drained his muscles of every ounce of energy that they had. All he could do was watch as Cognito walked closer to the bleeding stallion. Cognito then raised the makeshift spear above his head... Before plunging it straight into Phoenix's neck, piercing his throat. The shield's cracks were slowly beginning to spread under the beam's constant force and minute amounts of energy were seeping through. Despite the beam slowly losing power, everypony knew that it was the shield that was going to give out first. Dread had finally set into their minds... Cognito left Phoenix choking on his own blood as he began to walk towards the girls, still unconscious on the ground. "With your track record, you won't be dead as quickly as anypony else. What's say we make you wish for death?" Cognito said as he slowly ran his hoof along Applejack's cheek. Phoenix's anger flared instantly, but began to subside and changed into confusion as he was bathed in an azure light. Suddenly, his fangs grew, his eyes turned red and his wounds healed nearly instantly. Phoenix pulled the pipe from his neck with his magic and allowed it to heal. He looked at the azure glow once more. Moonlight. Not a moment later, Princess Luna landed next to Phoenix. He sent her a grateful smile as she continued to bathe the area in moonlight using her magic. Luna returned the smile before turning to Cognito with a scowl. Phoenix joined her in the scowl as they both charged their magic. Cognito suddenly noticed the change in lighting when it had spread to him, but it was too late. Suddenly, solid shadows grabbed Cognito by the limbs and hung him upside down. "Now, Phoenix! Hurry!" Luna yelled. Phoenix wordlessly teleported right by Cognito and before he could react, Phoenix used the handle of his revolver to knock Cognito out cold. Luna dropped him to the ground as the girls slowly started to wake up, Cognito's powers no longer taking effect. The shield suddenly changed colour into pure, blinding white as its magic shined incredibly brightly. After everyone regained their sight, there was a new figure standing with them fuelling the shield enough for the cracks to disappear instantly. "Sorry to keep everypony waiting." Faust said with a pleasant smile. Everypony smiled back (if Slendermane had a mouth, he would be too) as they turned to see Blueblood finally starting to run low on energy. The beam was getting steadily weaker and weaker as the shield continued to remain fortified. The beam finally gave out as Valliere had finally recovered from her exhaustion and was standing right next to Blueblood. The group and the pair stared down once more as tension began to rise again.