//------------------------------// // Chapter XXVI // Story: Papa Gehrman // by SolidArc5542 //------------------------------// Applejack stared down at Spike, sadness overtaking the mare as she held her hooves down on his open wound in a desperate attempt to stop the bleeding. Behind her stood Rarity, who was crying uncontrollably, fearing for the loss of her friend. “Come on, Spike,” Applejack sobbed, tears rolling down her cheeks. Turning her head and looking at Rarity, she spoke up. “Quick, get me something to stop the bleeding! Anything will do!” Applejack turned her attention back to Spike, resisting the urge to let her tears flow freely once more. She had to stay strong. “Spike, w-why? Why didn’t ya stay with Twilight?” Twilight panted heavily as she and her assistant finally reached the upper level of the Crystal Palace. It had been quite the trial for the both of them. King Sombra was prepared in case anyone went looking for the Crystal Heart, and had laid many traps to ensure that no one would be able to reach the Crystal Heart. He was sure that nopony would even get close, but Twilight showed him otherwise. The door that showed her one of her greatest fears, the humongous staircase, she conquered them. And now she stood victorious on the concrete flooring of the highest tower of the Crystal Palace. “Spike,” Twilight said, looking back at her assistant who had just gotten off her back. “Looks like we did it. We finally found the Crystal Heart!” she exclaimed, pointing her hoof at the object in question. Spike looked at the Crystal Heart, which was being held in the air by some kind of magical force. Eyes widening, Twilight couldn’t help but smile as she walked towards the heart. “I’m surprised,” she said. “Surprised about what?” Spike asked, raising an eyebrow at her. “Well it’s just that… this is a powerful magical artifact. It should have at least been guarded by something, or there should be traps surrounding the heart… but there are none. No traps, nopony guarding the heart, nothing,” Twilight replied, turning to face Spike. “I feel like this all went a little too easy.” “Easy?” Spike repeated in confusion. “We searched for such a long time, remember? To be honest, I’m enjoying this easy access, Twilight.” Twilight shook her head, chuckling as she turned her attention back to the Crystal Heart, “I guess you’re right.” Finally reaching the heart, Twilight used her magic to levitate the heart towards her. Smiling to herself, Twilight turned to Spike. “Now let’s get this thing back to--.” Before the lavender mare could continue, she was cut off by crystals. Huge black crystals pillars that shot out of the floor, quickly holding out her hooves and grabbing hold of the Crystal Heart, she closed her eyes and braced for impact. Colliding with the hard crystal “prison”, Twilight rubbed her side, wincing in pain as she looked down at the Crystal Heart. Clutching the heart to her chest, Twilight spoke up. “I think we spoke too soon, Spike,” she said, shaking her head. “No cage is going to stop me from saving the empire!” Confidence overtook the unicorn mare as she looked at the crystal prison that had captured her. Closing her eyes, Twilight concentrated all of her magic to cast a teleportation spell. Her horn lit up and seconds later she was outside the prison, only to be teleported back into the prison. Colliding with the crystals once more; Twilight fell to the ground, wincing in pain. “You have to get out of there, Twilight! You have to be the one to bring the Crystal Heart to Princess Cadance! If you don’t, you’ll fail Celestia’s test!” Spike said to her. “But King Sombra is already attacking the empire. He could reach the Crystal Ponies at any moment,” Twilight said, looking out of her prison, eyes widening when she saw the barrier protecting the empire blink, ready to fade away. “We… no, you need to bring the Crystal Heart to Princess Cadance!” “N-No, I can’t do that,” Spike retorted. “You’ll fail your test! You have been preparing for this for such a long time!” “This is more important than a test, Spike!” Twilight said to him. “Listen, you’re the one who has to bring the Crystal Heart to Princess Cadance. Just take the heart and go, Spike!” “No, I have a better idea!” Spike retorted as he ran towards the set of stairs he and Twilight had climbed just minutes ago. “I’ll go get Gehrman, he’ll know what to do!” “Spike, wait! It’ll take too long!” Twilight shouted at him. “If you’re going to get Gehrman you might as well take the heart with you!” she said, throwing the Crystal Heart out of the cage. “Take it and run like crazy!” Before Spike could speak up, dozens of tiny crystals began to erupt from the ground and started making their way over towards the baby dragon. Pushing aside his fears, Spike looked at Twilight and nodded his head and grabbed hold of the Crystal Heart. He then turned around and quickly made his way to the staircase. Sparing one final glance at Twilight, Spike ran down the humongous staircase. Unbeknownst to him, however, the crystals had now blocked the entrance to the tower, preventing anyone from reaching Twilight. It was going to take him a long time to reach Gehrman… but luckily for him someone would be buying him as much time as he needed. Twilight let out a long sigh of relief when she watched Spike make his way down the staircase. Lowering her head, she stared up at the ceiling of the tower. Something big was about to happen. King Sombra was closing in on the empire, and without the Crystal Heart everything would be lost. The empire would fall into the hooves of the evil king once more, and the Crystal ponies would become slaves under his rule. And knowing what Princess Celestia and Princess Luna had done to him in the past… Sombra would not be satisfied until he had concurred all of Equestria. But she was not about to let that happen. Even though she was stuck in this prison, she still made sure that the Crystal Heart would reach Princess Cadance… even if that meant putting all of her trust into her assistant. “I know you can do it, Spike,” Twilight said to herself. “You’ll save the day.” Spike panted heavily as he ran down the humongous staircase. This was not going too well. He still had a long way to go. He looked down at the Crystal Heart that he held in his claws… strangely enough it was bigger than he had first anticipated. Stopping to catch his breath, he looked down at the many set of stairs he had yet to descend. Shaking his head, he continued running and, while stepping on another stair, accidentally tripped over his own legs. “This,” Spike said through grunts of pain as he literally rolled down the stairs. “I’m defiantly going to feel in the morning.” The baby dragon continued rolling down the many set of stairs, clutching the Crystal Herat tightly to his chest. He closed his eyes and prepared for the worst… the worst being falling off the stairs and plummeting down to the ground. For what seemed like minutes the young dragon feared for his life. The thought of him dying, failing the task Twilight entrusted him with hung over his shoulders. But then, as if fate itself came into play, it stopped. Spike opened his eyes, blinking several times to see if they were not deceiving him. “Wow,” Spike said to himself, shaking his head in disbelief. “This has got to be my lucky day. Now only if it worked like that with Rarity.” Walking towards the enchanted door, the door that had showed him one of his worst fears, Spike stepped through it and looked up at yet another staircase. “I forgot about that one,” he said to himself. “Well, at least you can’t fall upstairs... I hope.” Running up staircase, Spike’s mind began to play out different scenarios of what could happen should he reach Princess Cadance in time. These scenarios mostly consisted of the usual good outcome. But then it hit him. What if the outcome turned out to be something different than he—and probably everyone else—would have thought? What if Sombra got his hooves on the Crystal Heart? Sombra would probably go after Cadance first, then Shining Armor, and then Twilight… and he would eventually get to him to. The thought of Sombra towering over him, looking down at him with those rage-filled green eyes frightened Spike. But then there was the other one. The human as Gehrman had described him. Another hunter. What this hunter had done to Princess Cadance was horrifying. This hunter probably worked together with king Sombra. That’s probably the reason he attacked Cadance. He wants the Crystal Heart so that he can deliver it to Sombra. “Not on my watch,” Spike said to himself, determination filling his heart as he finally reached the end of the staircase the large square entrance that Twilight had created with the use of her magic was still present. He looked around the throne room, then at the Crystal throne. Adrenaline was flowing through his brain. His mind was clouded for some reason. If anything, Princess Cadance would probably be on the palace’s balcony. “But she’s too weak. She can’t even keep up the barrier anymore,” Spike said to himself. Letting out a sigh, Spike began to head towards the massive set of doors that would lead him out of the throne room. “Shining Armor is probably outside or something, trying to hold off King Sombra… Gehrman must be there too.” Gehrman, of course! If anything he could deliver the Crystal Heart to Shining Armor! “I bet he’s waiting for me!” Spike said. For what felt like hours, while in reality it were just mere minutes Spike ran as fast as he could. His heart rate was far above the average and it was still increasing. Spike had never felt this exhausted. But wanting to be the hero comes with a price, as he was about to find out. Spike finally reached the plaza of the Crystal Empire. Looking around, he tried to find any of his friends for help. That’s when he saw it. Or rather, him. It was Gehrman… fighting against someone. Spike’s eyes widened in shock as he watched his friend dodge an attack from—what appeared to be—a huge axe. Perhaps it was the adrenaline, but Spike could almost feel the vibrations when the axe made impact with the concrete flooring of the Crystal plaza. It was then at this moment that Spike pushed aside all of his fears. He had already come this far! He would not see his friend get hurt. Placing the heart against one of the pillars of the Crystal Palace, Spike ran towards Gehrman in a desperate attempt to get his attention. He wasn’t stupid. He knew who Gehrman was fighting. The hunter that hurt Princess Cadance. Spike quickened his pace, his chest beginning to sting from the amount of pressure he had put on his lungs. He almost smiled when he watched Gehrman jump backwards and land a few meters away from him, his back turned to him. “Gehrman!” he called out to his friend. “I found it! I found the Crystal Heart!” His words fell on deaf ears, however as he watched Gehrman roll aside. Spike tilted his head in confusion. Was Gehrman that caught up with fighting that he simply did not hear him? Waning to call out for him again, Spike opened his mouth to speak up, but was silenced by an axe that sliced him down from his shoulder to his waste. Spike looked at the person that had so attacked him so mercilessly struck him down. His eyes widened when the person in question looked at him. Though the baby dragon could not see the person’s eyes, he could see that he was equally as shocked as he was. It was at this moment that Spike stumbled backwards and could hear the faint voice of Gehrman call out to him. Gascoigne let out a grunt as his axe slashed through Sombra, impacting with the concrete instead of flesh and bone. “What is this?” Gascoigne asked Sombra, dashing backwards. “What are you up to?” Sombra merely chuckled as a reply, slithering his way over to Gascoigne. “What part,” he whispered in Gascoigne’s ear, chuckling as Gascoigne desperately slashed at him, “of ‘I am a shadow’ do you not understand?” Gascoigne gritted his teeth as he rolled through Sombra’s shadow form. Reaching for his Blunderbuss, Gascoigne aimed it towards him and pulled the trigger. He watched as the Quicksilver fragments impacted with the shadow. Reloading his weapon and preparing to take aim once more, Gascoigne was stopped by Sombra, who had wrapped part of shadow around his wrist. He slashed down at the shadow in a desperate attempt to free his arm, careful not to hit his own wrist while doing so. The shadow was cut unto two separate pieces, but reattached to one another in just mere seconds. This reminded Gascoigne of some of the experiments the Healing Church had performed on humans. He remembered his cut skin and tissue reattaching in mere seconds. But that was because of the use of the Old Blood coursing through the person’s veins, and Sombra did not have a single drop in his. “What kind of witchcraft if this?” Gascoigne asked in anger, trying to pull his wrist out of Sombra’s iron grip. “Witchcraft?” Sombra repeated, laughing as he lifted Gascoigne up off the ground. “This is magic! My magic!” he shouted. Gascoigne let out a gasp as he was thrown into the air. He looked at the ground, which became smaller and smaller with every second. He closed his eyes, preparing for the worst. This was going to hurt like hell. Gascoigne felt himself stop midair, and then felt gravity do its thing, pulling him back to the surface. Gascoigne opened his eyes and looked at the ground, which was now becoming bigger with every second. “This is not going to end well,” he said to himself. “Indeed it isn’t.” Gascoigne turned his head, only for him to realize a bit too late that Sombra had emerged behind him. He watched as Sombra wrapped himself around his body, and, with much force, slammed him down into the concrete flooring of the Crystal plaza, creating a large round crater in the process. Dust, debris, the Crystal ponies had to take cover from all of it. Even Gehrman, who was watching the scene unfold from a safe distance, covered his eyes. Sombra merely laugh in amusement as he made his way out of the crater, his humongous shadow looming over the crater. “Oh,” he said. “Still have some energy, huh?” Gascoigne’s gloved hands were the first things to reach and latch on to the crater’s edges. The hunter pulled himself out of the crater, his ribs cracking and blood oozing out of his abdomen. Coughing, Gascoigne ran his tongue over his teeth and spit out the pieces that had been cracked due to the colliding of his face and hardened concrete. He pushed himself up, resting his hand on the upper right side of his chest for support. His body hurt like hell, and the fact that the wound Gehrman had inflicted on him had begun to bleed yet again was not helping. “You’re lucky,” Gascoigne said. “That I’m beginning to get tired.” “Is that so?” Sombra asked, maneuvering himself around Gascoigne. Gascoigne turned his head, following the king’s every move. “Yeah,” he said, raising his axe. “But I’d rather die by my own hand than to be bested by a king who got his ass handed to him by two ladies in royal regalia.” That struck a nerve. How dare he say such things! Did he not know who he was talking to?! King Sombra, rightful ruler of the Crystal Empire and soon to be king of Equestria! Sombra, now even more aggravated than he already was, slithered his way around Gascoigne’s and pulled, making the hunter fall face-first into the concrete as he was dragged across the ground. Slamming him into the ground several times as if he was nothing more than a colt’s action figure, Sombra finally released Gascoigne, slamming into the ground one last time before turning his attention to the other human. “So we meet again,” Sombra said, moving towards Gehrman. “It appears so,” Gehrman replied, his arms still crossed. “Had your fun?” he asked. “Oh it was fun alright,” Sombra replied, chuckling to himself. “Now how about you step aside so I can retrieve what is rightfully mine.” “How about we just get to the part where we fight?” Gehrman suggested, reaching for his Burial Blade. Sombra was about to reply, but was stopped when he heard chuckling behind him. His eyes were filled with confusion, but that quickly changed to annoyance when he saw Gascoigne stand in front of him. Letting out a sigh, the king spoke up. “I must say that I’m impressed,” Sombra said. “You should have died when you first collided with my empire’s ground, but yet you survived. Whoever this Viola is you kept talking about must be very happy to have met somepony as strong as you. And Viola must mean a lot to you as well. But alas, you will not be able to see her again.” The king erupted in a fit of maniacal laughter, which echoed through the Crystal Empire. “I still cannot believe that you believed my every word! What a fool you are!” Gascoigne merely shook his head as he opened his mouth, blood dripping out of it. “Hold your tongue,” he said. “The dead do not speak! Do the dead dare walk before MY eyes?” “Is that a threat?” Sombra asked. “Even when staring into the face of death you still have courage left inside that heart of yours. Why? Why do you keep persisting when you have clearly lost this battle?” Gascoigne could only shake his head as he grabbed hold of and removed his hat. Wiping the dust and pieces of rubble off it, he placed it back on his head. “Tell me, Sombra, do you believe that there is someone up there? Someone who is far greater than you could ever be?” “Of course not,” Sombra replied. “I am already at the peak of my power. And when I have my Crystal Heart that power will be doubled!” Gascoigne slowly nodded his head, but continued nonetheless “There are many beliefs out there, you know?” he said, getting the attention of both Sombra and Gehrman. “Many believe in blood, and so did I. But I will never abandon my true belief. I will stand proud in front heretics like you!” “What are you talking about?” Sombra asked, genuinely confused. “We are soldiers in the service of death, who bow our heads in reverence to our Lord, and whose prayers are found in the withered bodies of our enemies!” Gascoigne roared as he dashed towards Sombra, his axe flashing in the rays of sunlight. “I shall strike you down, heretic.” Sombra merely rolled his eyes as he grabbed hold of Gascoigne’s arm. “Tell your so called ‘Lord’ that you failed.” Gascoigne roared in agony as Sombra twisted his arm backwards, stopping when a loud crack could be heard. Sombra then proceeded to throw Gascoigne into one of the Crystal Palace’s pillars. He watched as Gascoigne’s motionless body fell to the floor. Happy with the outcome, Sombra turned to Gehrman. “Now where were we?” he asked. Gehrman let out a sigh as he turned to Gascoigne. “Evil beaten by an even greater evil,” he said, turning to face Sombra once again. “How fascinating.” “Hold your tongue, old man.” Gehrman turned his head, his eyes widening as he watched Gascoigne trying to get up. ‘How is he not dead?’ Gehrman asked himself. ‘He should have bled out minutes ago and yet he still stands. Could it be because of the Old Blood, or could it be that his belief in the Lord is actually helping him resist death itself?’ “Why won’t you stay down?” Sombra asked, ready to move towards Gascoigne. “Stop right there you heretic,” Gascoigne said, his good arm resting on his axe for support. He then motioned to an object that lay beside him, “Or else this thing will be broken into even tinier bits than my own ribs already are,” he said, resting the tip of his axe over the Crystal Heart.