Razka gazed the area around him, he knew he was dreaming as he took in the surrealness of his surroundings. “Well shit, now what the fuck am I supposed to do?” Razka questioned himself as he walked through on what he thought was his imagination.
“To be honest, I think that went rather well with Luna,” Grimm said, appearing beside Christopher. Grimm was a near mirror image of Chris, save for two key features. Grimm’s hair was jet black and his eyes were blood red.
“As long as she doesn’t tell anyone, we should be good.”
“You’re getting to close to that mare Chris. You should know better.”
“She’s a powerful ally. And as much as I hate to admit it, she and her sister are far more powerful than we are.”
“I can see through your lies, Christopher. You’re starting to develop feelings for her.”
Christopher merely scoffed at the accusation. “So what? As soon as we get off this planet, we’re never going to see any of them again. Besides, working with her is the best way to get back home. The war here will be over soon. Once we find Sombra again, we can finish him off.”
“It’s never that easy. Not with someone like him. I sense his dark magic in us and thus on him, even though I cut off his horn. He is somehow still able to give out a dark essence. From what I’m sensing, he is very... pissed off.”
“Fantastic. That means he’ll be more careless.”
“You're not getting on what I’m saying. Due to me not finishing him off, I fear this whole war has gotten a lot more difficult.”
“From what we know right now, our operation should go smoothly. Sombra’s weaker, which means he can’t fight on the fronts anymore.”
“Humph, you keep thinking like that. But I’m telling you, don’t be cocky. If he is this angry, we don’t know what he is capable of.”
“I’ll keep that in mind.”
“Make sure you do Chris. And remember don’t forget to let loose and let ME take over the steering wheel.”
Christopher gave Grimm a powerful glare. “Do not forget your place, Grimm. I’m the one in control here, not you.”
“Hehehe, sure you are Chris.”
“Sometimes I wonder if it was worth letting you in.”
“And sometimes I wonder if I should just bust my way into your self-consciousness and take over this pathetic excuse of a body. I would get so many things done.”
“I’m not that weak, and I sure as hell am not that desperate. Just stick to the plan we made all those years ago. The plan WE agreed to.”
“Humph, fine. But I’m telling you, I’m starting to lose my patience.”
“It’ll be over soon. Once we’re done here, we’ll be able to finish our war back home.”
Today was the day the war against King Sombra officially started. The bulk of the Equestrian Royal Army was launched in a head on confrontation against Sombra’s forces. The 501st split off from the main army with the intention to go through the enemy’s flanks with significantly less resistance. However, Razka was stuck in Canterlot due to his injuries from Ponyville. He hated every moment being stuck in the castle, but knew it was pointless to try and argue with the princesses until he could walk normally again. The dark magic had done considerable damage to some of his joints, which forced him to need a cane in order to walk.
Razka was out on his bedroom balcony watching the sun slowly rise. It had been a week since the war officially began. The door to his room slowly opened and a pony entered.
“What do you want, Luna?” Razka asked, not bothering to turn around as he heard the hoof steps getting closer. When he didn’t hear a response, he turned around to see a bat pony clad in armor approaching him. “You’re not part of my detail. Who the devil are you?”
The bat pony said nothing as he wielded a sword and lunged at the human. Razka was quick to dodge the attack and smashed his cane on the pony’s neck. With his enemy briefly stunned on the ground, Razka took the moment to whip out his pistol and put a bullet in the bat pony’s head. The gunshot rang through the castle.
Christopher let out a sigh as he looked over the now dead body. “Well I hope you’re happy. You ruined my fucking cane, asshole!”
“Christopher!” Luna shouted as she charged into the room. She immediately saw him standing over the dead bat pony. “What happened? Are you alright?”
“I’m fine,” Razka said, looking down and rubbing his right leg. The rapid movement had caused it to burn in pain. Looking back up at Luna, he saw a familiar look of concern plastered on her face. “Sombra knew the guard didn’t stand a chance. He wanted to taunt me. Get under my skin. He’s quite literally adding insult to injury. Jackass.” It wasn’t until he finished talking that he noticed something. There were heavy bags under Luna’s eyes. “Is there a reason you haven’t been getting sleep?”
“I’m fine,” Luna said, hoping Razka would drop it.
“Don’t lie to me. You’ve been here for me, it is only fair that I be here for you. What is it?”
“Just what the hell do you think you’re doing?” Grimm demanded.
“Doing the right thing. Now shut up!” Christopher answered.
Luna cast her head down in shame. “I feel responsible for everything that’s happened to you. And when Sombra attacked you…”
Razka put his hand under the night goddess’ chin and lifted her head up. “You couldn’t have stopped any of this. I don’t blame you for what’s happened. I could sense it when I was in the hospital. The guilt you bear. The shadow of Nightmare Moon still hangs over you, doesn’t it?”
“How could I ever forgive myself of the terrible things I did?”
“But that’s the thing. It wasn’t you that did it, it was Nightmare Moon.”
“And I let her in!” Luna shouted, tears starting to fall from her eyes. “I turned my back on my sister and let the Nightmare corrupt me!”
“Everyone forgives you and knows that it wasn’t you who did those terrible things. The only one who still doesn’t forgive you, is yourself. And as long as continue to blame yourself for that, you’ll never get over it and it will haunt you for the rest of your life.”
“How!?” The tears were now flowing freely down her face.
“By believing that you weren’t Nightmare Moon and what SHE did was not your fault.”
A knock on the door interrupted their conversation.
“Just a minute please!” Razka shouted in an annoyed tone. “You deserve to be happy.”
One of the royal guards charged into the room. “Your highness, chairman,” the guard quickly bowed.
“This had better be fucking important!”
“I’m sorry sir, but it’s urgent. Something’s happening and Celestia has requested that both of you meet her in the throne room immediately.”
“What’s happened?” Razka questioned, quickly limping into the throne room with Luna close behind him.
Celestia had a clear look of dread plastered on her face. “We underestimated Sombra’s army. Something happened to the 501st.”
“What happened?” he repeated, trying to hide the fear in his voice.
“One of Strike’s scouts returned to the castle. He said that they ran right into an army group just as big as the 501st. He said that they weren’t ordinary soldiers though. Something about them being enhanced by dark magic.”
“How many made it out?”
“A little over 100,” the solar princess regrettably informed.
Razka stood in disbelief as he ran a hand through his hair. “They’re coming for us.”
“Christopher, what should we do?” Luna asked worriedly.
“Reroute the army back to Canterlot in full retreat. Get Princess Cadenza and Prince Armor out of Canterlot and somewhere where they’ll be safe. Celestia, I need you to get Twilight Sparkle and her friends right now. They’ll go with the Cadenza and Armor to evacuate. Our first priority is ensuring their safety.”
“And what are we going to do?” questioned Luna.
“There’s only one way to end this now. We’re going to have to get to Sombra and kill him on our own.”
“But that’s suicide!”
“I know,” Razka sadly replied. “But if we flee with the others, there will be nothing to stop Sombra. If we don’t kill him, he will eventually find them and kill them.”
“And what about you, Christopher? What about getting back home?”
The chairman let out a depressed sigh. “Janet will make my life’s goal a reality. This last ditched effort to kill Sombra is the only chance I still have of getting home.”
“Christopher, you’re still wounded from your battle with Sombra,” Celestia reminded. “How do you expect to fight while your leg is still healing?”
“It’s good enough. Besides, if I don’t come with you, you won’t stand a chance against Sombra’s forces.”
“And what makes you think that?”
“Because you lack the ability to kill. If we’ve got an army of magically enhanced soldiers coming our way, I guarantee you Sombra’s being protected by soldiers just as strong. We cannot afford to make any false steps now. You both need to be willing to kill for your kingdom. And from this moment forward, I’m the one in charge.”
“Well I take it you have some sort of plan?” Celestia assumed.
“The plan is simple. We will perform a HALO drop on Sombra’s castle and kill everything in our path.”
“What is a HALO drop?” Luna asked.
“High altitude, low opening. We need to fly as high as you possibly can in order to avoid detection by Sombra’s forces. Now if you'll excuse me, I need to prepare." With that said, Razka left the throne room and went back to his room.
“I will not let you do this!” Grimm protested. “They can send us home right now if they wanted to! Make them send us home! Sombra is THEIR fucking problem!”
Christopher could see Grimm in his mind’s eye, lividly pacing around the room.
“And they’d be even weaker than Sombra right now. We’d be ensuring their demise.”
“Why do you care?”
“I admire their purity. It reminds me of what I wish to accomplish on Earth."
"I am not going to die on this planet. We've gotten too far just to die before we can claim what is ours!”
“This is happening, Grimm! It is the ONLY way we might still get home.” Christopher could feel Grimm’s resentment towards this plan of attack.
“I will not allow us to die here. Remember that. I will do whatever it takes to keep us alive.”
“You will do what I tell you to do. Do NOT forget who is in charge, Grimm.”
“You are treading on VERY thin ice, Chris. Don’t underestimate my capabilities. I’m much stronger than what you give me credit for.”
“YOU ANSWER TO ME, GRIMM! DON’T YOU THINK FOR A SECOND THAT YOU CAN OVERPOWER ME!” Razka snapped.
“Why are you willing to die for them? Why the fuck do you care?” Grimm demanded.
“Because they have achieved what I’m trying to.”