//------------------------------// // The empire of Crystals, Part two: A tough decision. // Story: A New Tale In Equestria. // by Sylif Daring Doo //------------------------------// _____*The Crystal empire, just inside the dome, twenty minutes ago*____ Fang looked out to the land outside the dome, it was covered in snow and a thick blizzard roared around it, outside the wall was also Sombra, who was in the form of a gigantic wall of shadow, he looked around the area and noticed that there were only about ten guards, he sighed and facepalmed. 'How do they expect to hold Sombra off with only ten soldiers?' He wondered in disbelief. Fang looked over to another building and saw that Roxanne had taken posistion on top of a chimney, he looked to over at another building and saw that Gwen just dropped Dark off before heading back to the town square. Fang knew that Gwen was working with the other four mares to make the crystal fair so they could boost the people's morale, but he knew better. 'It's going to take more than some lousy fair to free these people, it'll take that dumb heart of theirs for this.' He thought. While Fang knew that they were in no danger so long as the barrier held, he wasn't certain about how long Cadence could hold out, and it seemed like the dome was getting weaker every time Sombra rammed it, Fang knew that they would have to fight regardless, even if the heart was returned in the next minute or so, Cadence would have to drop the dome so she could recover, Fang looked down to the soldiers and saw that they were in a line formation. 'Ok, these guys probably won't listen to any suggestions I have, and the same goes for the others......but how to go about it?' He asked himself. Fang heard Sombra attack the barrier again and he heard some of the guards backing up catiously, Fang sighed and closed his eyes, the world around him disappeared and all sound heightened, he focused his hearing even more and soon he could hear the increased heartbeats of the soldiers below, he heard the steady breathing of Roxanne and the slightly panicked breathing of Dark, his own heartbeat was like a thundering drum, slowly beating along with his slow deep breaths, he couldn't hear Sombra's breathing or heart beating, he opened his eyes and everything returned to normal. Fang looked back at the castle and back at Sombra. 'Come on you son of a bitch, just try and get near my son.' He warned mentally. Around ten minutes passed and Sombra hit the barrier once more, Fang could feel the buildings around him shaking from the shockwave that was released with every attack, Fang braced himself when Sombra's horn lit up, the dark unicorn fired a magical blast into the ground and the very ground shook. "This can't be good." He muttered as he unsheathed his sword, he looked over and saw that Roxanne pulled out the crossbow that Firefly found back at the temple. Fang sighed as he looked over at Dark, who's horn lit up, he looked back at Sombra who gained an evil grin. "What is he grinning at?" He wondered. The ground promptly shook again and Fang glanced at the bottom of the barrier, which revealed piles upon piles of bones, Fang's eyes widened and he could only watch as the bones took on forms, there were pegasi and unicorn skeletons along with earth pony skeletons, there were even some Minotaur skeletons amongst them. "Wonderful, he's a necromancer." Fang grumbled. At that moment, Fang made a decision, he looked down to the soldiers and sighed. 'We're going to lose a lot of lives today.....they better get the heart working.' Sombra then pulled himself away for a moment before ramming the barrier once more, the barrier flickered for a moment before about ten feet of it disappeared, Fang would have sighed in relief of the fact that Sombra still couldn't get in, but now the undead were allowed entrance. Fang quickly ran to edge of the building and jumped off, he landed right on top of a Minotaur skeleton and jammed the sword through its skull, he attempted to pull the sword out but it seemed to be stuck, he quickly used it as leverage and flipped around to the minotuar's back, he then used his feet and delivered a powerful kick to the skeletons spine, he then pulled the sword out of the minotuar's skull with great might, he jumped away and promptly smashed another skeleton to dust, he noticed Roxanne and Dark run up next to him. "I got two already!" He proclaimed. Roxanne grinned. "I'm on seventeen!" She said as she bashed another skeleton. Fang grumbled. "Show off." He muttered. Dark sighed and blasted a Pegasus skeleton with her magic. "This is not the best time guys." She stated. Fang shrugged and punched a unicorn skeleton in the face. "It's just some friendly competition." He replied. Dark rolled her eyes and simply went on to blasting more skeletons. After about five more minutes of fighting, Sombra attacked the barrier and more of the dome vanished, Fang noticed Sombra's smirk and growled. "Smug bastard." He muttered as he bashed two skeletons together thoughtlessly. Fang glanced over and noticed Roxanne and Dark fighting back to back, they seemed to be doing well, he also noticed some corpses of dead guards, he sighed sadly and continued fighting. 'Three more dead, that makes two left alive......how much death will this take?'He wondered. Fang dodged a slam from a Minotaur and leapt at the wall, he quickly leapt at the Minotaur and drew his sword, the Minotaur tried to pull him off but Fang held on by the skeletons left shoulder, he then used the momentum from a fortunate charge and swung his sword. The Minotaur could do nothing as Fang's sword beheaded it, Fang jumped off the Minotaur and promptly smashed a hapless unicorn skeleton. Fang briefly glanced at Roxanne and Dark and noticed that they had taken control of a rather large Minotaur, but Roxanne's crossbow was shattered into tiny pieces, Fang signed and looked at the two remaining guards, who seemed to be fighting side by side and blocking the undead from passing, Fang resumed fighting as a plan formulated in his mind. 'If they can hold that location, i could push forward with Dark and Roxanne, we could at the least reduce how many get through.....but still, if we push, that leaves those two vulnerable to ambush, but if I push by myself, I could at the least slow them down enough for the others to recover.......fuck it.' With his decision made, Fang quickly charged the undead horde advancing, he slashed two more skeletons that tried to surround him. Roxanne barely got a glance, but she noticed that Fang had charged, she inwardly sighed and bashed the skull of the Minotaur that she has been riding with Dark, the two were forced to fall back almost immediately, they soon joined the two remaining guards in holding the line against an unending swarm of undead. "If we survive this.....i am so going to kick his ass." She muttered. Fang thrust his sword into an undead unicorn and pulled it out, he quickly slashed yet another skeleton but this time, both the Skeleton and the sword shattered. "Shit.......oh well." He mumbled as he proceeded to lunge at an undead earth pony and grab it's leg, he promptly swung it around and slammed it against a random undead Pegasus, he felt something jump onto his back and grabbed whatever it was, he slammed it onto the ground and he soon felt something familiar. ......An itch. Fang growled and headbutted another skeleton and swiped at another, Fang then started to rapidly destroy as many skeletons that he could before a Minotaur rammed into him. Fang grabbed the head of the skeletal Minotaur and ripped it off, he then took a deep breath and the world seemed to slow down, he stood up and charged at the skeletons that were now moving in slow motion, he smirked and bashed two skeletons together, Fang felt the world speeding up and he jumped back. The skeletons quickly sped back up and Fang found himself fighting the battle normally again, but he could see Sombra's growl through a quick glance. "Can't stop that now can you?" He asked quietly. [1] Sombra roared and rammed the barrier again, but instead of the barrier simply having a chunk taken out of it, the entire dome vanished, the wall of shadows soon moved forward and towards the palace. Fang cursed under his breath and ran towards Roxanne and the others. "Fall back!" He shouted. Roxanne kicked a skeleton into the wall and looked over to Sombra. "Shit." She said as she began to run towards the two guards. Dark gasped and quickly blasted a nearby skeleton. One of the guards looked at Sombra and his eyes widened, he fired a magical blast at Sombra but this only served to annoy the shadow, Sombra's horn lit up in an aura of dark green and dark purple, he fired a piercing magical blast at the guard which as far to fast to react to, the guard was soon hit in the head by the blast, ending his life. The other guard watch in horror as the unicorn fell down to ground, she herself dropped to her knees and looked at the lifeless body of her former comrade. Fang watched Roxanne quickly throw Dark onto her back, he ran towards the last remaining guard and threw her onto his back. "Hold on!" He told the mare as he sped up and ran from the advancing undead and their master. Roxanne looked back and noticed that Dark was using what remaining power she had to blast the undead. "It's no good!.....save your energy!" She told the unicorn. Dark nodded and simply watched as the horde advanced behind them. Fang noticed that instead of a fair being set up, there were people running and screaming as undead chased them, he headed for the palace as he saw Gwen and Applejack holding undead back, with Pinkie and Rarity supporting them. Fang and Roxanne ran up to the palace and dropped their passengers off, Fang stood up and looked around. "Where's everyone else?" He asked. Gwen let Roxanne take her place, she looked at Fang. "Fluttershy is inside the palace helping Shining Armor get survivors out of here, Spark and Firefly are with Cadence, helping her recover, and we haven't seen Twilight and Skitter yet." She replied. "Looking for me?" Asked a familiar voice. Fang looked behind himself and saw Skitter fly down with a crystalline heart in her magic. "Found it." She stated. Gwen sighes in relief. "Good we can at least...." "We have to leave." Fang interrupted. Gwen and everyone else looked at Fang in shock. "What!?" They asked the wolf. Fang sighed and pointed out to the city. "If what I heard is true......only hope or love can activate the heart......and we don't have any right now.....we have to flee." He pointed out. Roxanne threw a skeleton at the enroaching horde and stood up. "He's right.....if we don't leave now, we'll be overrun." She said. Fang heard running inside the palace and saw Shining Armor running up to them. "We're done, we have to evacuate now!" He stated. Skitter gasped and dropped the heart, only for Dark and Rarity to grab it at the last minute. "Oh my god......Twilight!" She shouted. Fang looked at Skitter who quickly tried to pull him along into the palace. "What's going on Skitter?" He asked. Skitter gave Fang a panicked look. "Twilight's trapped in the tower! now come on!" She replied. Shining Armor growled and ran up to Skitter and punched her. "You left her up there!?" He shouted angrily. Fang reacted quickly and shoved Shining Armor down, he pulled Skitter off and ran off towards the tower with Skitter close behind. "Get everyone out!" Fang shouted to the group. Roxanne quickly got everyone inside and pulled Shining to his feet. "Let's go!" She ordered everyone. The group of eight then started to run as undead barged into the palace, Roxanne had only one goal at the moment....keeping everyone alive. ____*two minutes later, the top of the tower.*____ Fang entered the room and saw Twilight trying in vain to break the crystal, she soon noticed Fang and Skitter and sighed in relief. "Thank Celestia, quick! get me out of here!" She pleaded. Fang ran up to the crystal and wound up his fist, he then threw a punch at the crystal and it shattered just enough for Twilight to escape. Twilight carefully made her way and ran to the window, what she was expecting was not what she wanted to see.....citizens of the city running in fear of the undead, and Sombra making his way to the palace, her ears dropped down and she looked at Fang. "We lost, didn't we?" She asked quietly. Fang nodded and put his claw on her shoulder. "Come on, we have to leave." He said. Twilight sighed and looked out the window again. "How?.....the palace is probably overrun." She said blankly. Fang looked at Skitter and an idea came to mind. "I'm going to hate this so much." He commented as he picked up Twilight. Fang got down to all fours and set Twilight on his back, he rammed the wall on the other side and to his surprise, they phased right through it. Skitter gasped and ran up to the wall and rammed it, phasing through as well. ____*On the other side.*_____ Fang tumbled on the ground as Twilight was knocked off, he soon stopped himself from tumbling by sticking his claw into the ground. His head shot up and he noticed that they were now far away from the city, he looked around and saw that the survivors were following a squadron of guards away from the city, he noticed that Twilight was now in the care of her brother and that Skitter was with Gwen and Dark, he looked to his left and saw Spark looking at him with worry. "Hey Spark." He said simply. Spark chuckled and kneeled down. "You alright?" He asked. Fang sat up and scratched his shoulder. "I'm fine....how did we get here?" He asked. Spark lifted a claw and a faint light blue aura surrounded it, he shook his hand and the aura dispersed. "Turns out, I can use magic." He replied proudly. Fang's face became one of shock, but he soon smiled and laughed softly. "Well, at least something good came out of this." He said to no one in particular. Soon enough, the large group started to move away from the city, Fang had a look of determination, Shining and Cadence shared a look of concern, and Roxanne had a look of confidence. 'We might have lost this battle, but we will still win.' She told herself. Gwen was currently walking alongside a Pegasus mare with golden armor but no helmet, the mare had shoulder length dark purple hair, and a dark purple tail, her eyes were the same dark purple, her cutie mark was that of a red and purple fire, and her coat was dark purple along with the rest of her. [2] Gwen noticed that the mare was the one that Fang saved, she could see the pained look on her face and she made a decision. "Hey uh, you alright?" She winced at how weak that sounded. The mare sighed and shook her head. "No.....I'm not alright." She replied coldly. "Look um.....about your friend back there, I'm sorry." She said. The mare gave Gwen an angry look. "My friend?......that was my brother!" She snapped quietly. Gwen's eyes widened and her ears dropped involuntarily. "I......I'm sorry." She said again. The mare looked at Gwen and soon sighed. "It's alright.....shouldn't have snapped, you didn't know and were just trying to help." She then started to scold herself out loud. Gwen and the mare shared an awkward moment of silence until Gwen broke it. "So uh, I'm Gwen, you?" She asked nervously. The mare sighed again. "I'm Talon." She replied simply. After that, the large group walked on for twenty minutes before they reached a village, Gwen watched as one of the crystal ponies walked over to Shining Armor and started talking to him. After a minute of talking, Shining looked to the large group and cleared his throat. "Ok listen up everypony!.....this is an abandoned village called Snowgem, we're going to be taking shelter here for a while!" He explained. Skitter listened as Shining explained the situation to the crystal ponies, she heard a light howl off in the distance and she looked in that direction, she was unable to see anything due to the blizzard, so she closed her eyes and ignited her horn, she used her magic and searched in the direction of the howl and soon saw multiple figures stalking up upon them. "This ain't gonna be good." She commented. The group started moving grimly towards the village, Skitter walked up to Gwen and leaned in close to her ear. "We're being stalked, keep your eyes and ears open." She whispered. Gwen nodded and continued walking. Talon simply went back to her quiet grieving, but she still maintained vigilance. Skitter watched as survivors filled the abandoned village and rolled her eyes as guards took positions at the gate. 'Here we go again....'