Slowly walking to the castle entrance, hooded by his cape, Shrouded noticed a female unicorn running to his same direction: she had a fiery red and yellow mane, and an amber coat; quickly passing past him, she approached the guards with haste, and quickly they let her go in.
'Must be simple to enter, then.'
Thought Shrouded, still walking slowly towards the gate. As he stopped near it, two guards immediately noticed him and pointed their spears to him; their armor was good but not heavy: yes, they had a metal cuirass, with reinforced shoulder pads, elbow and knee protection, but underneath that they only had a light mail coat and hardened leather clothes; the biggest problem wasn't even the weapon, a heavy spear, deadly against slow enemies, but their big tower metal shields.
"And you who might be? Unhood yourself, state your name and business before my men get serious."
A big earth pony, almost seven feet tall, appeared behind the two guards: his equipment was better, since he had a hauberk covered by a scale armor, a medium sized round shield, which granted more mobility compared to the tower shield used by the guards, and a deadly heavy flanged mace, weapon capable of penetrating every kind of armor to inflict huge damages to bones and internal organs.
"I need to see Celestia, as soon as possible."
"Who are you, daring to speak Her Highness name so informally? I think you don't understand your position: I am in charge here, and you will obey to my commands."
"I quite don't think so: I'm not a mindless puppet as your pitiful guards. But I'm in a rush, so if you please…"
As he tried to advance, both guards made a lunge with their weapons, while their commander smiled.
"Well, if you want to make this the hard way…"
Shrouded was going to take out his weapon, the bladed whip, but then he preferred not to kill them: they were doing their jobs, and killing them wasn't certainly going to help his cause. So he decided to use is other weapon, a rapier, unsheathing it: since it had only one cutting edge, he could easily disarm then with fast strikes and offer them to retreat, or, in the worst case, he just had to hit them with the blunt side in sensible spots, to knock them out.
The commander started laughing:
"You sure about your weapon choice? Bringing a knife to a serious fight?"
The use of rapiers went down after Sombra's rise to power, and almost stopped after the Crystal Empire disappearance, since it was the closest country that could provide Canterlot with fine rapier users: other countries used them, in particular Prance, but they were far in comparison to the Empire. Other types of swords were developed through the centuries, from two-handed swords, still used on the borders of the Kingdom of Equestria to repel occasional changeling or diamond dog attacks, to the much shorter falcatas or gladii, used by the army; nobles, instead, used classical longswords or even bastard swords, shorter but larger than actual longswords.
The moments immediately after that joke, both guards let their spears fall on the ground, with a stunning rapidity from the cloaked unicorn. The commander made a serious expression and charged with the shield towards Shrouded, to stun the stranger with a shield bash and then knocking him out with a mace blow, maybe even breaking some bones. The unicorn charged himself, jumping to evade the commander's attack, to quickly finish him with the blunt side of his blade. With a loud noise, the commander went down on the ground, coughing, while Shrouded, sheathing his rapier, said:
"Sorry about that. You should be able to walk in fifteen minutes, maybe even ten, judging by your muscles, and your subordinates will probably be able to pick up their weapons in the same time. I can't stay here now, see you later."
Opening the gate with his magic, the unicorn entered the palace, while a dark figure up in a tower, looking at him, said:
"Better tell sister about this…"
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Slowly walking through the corridor, Shrouded felt strange: where were all the guards? Celestia couldn't be that much of a fool to put only three guards at the entrance. The echoes of every step resounded loud in the huge hall, giving at the whole scene an unusual eerie feeling of tranquility; the unicorn knew something was strange, and he rapidly put his hand on the hilt of his rapier, expecting a surprise attack: but nothing of the sort happened. Instead, the great doors leading to the throne hall opened slowly, inviting Shrouded to come in.
Entering the new hall, the cloaked unicorn found the Solar Princess on her throne, watching him without any expression on her face.
"So, you are the one who easily disarmed my guards."
"I am deeply sorry Princess, but it was my only way to get past them: I absolutely need to talk to you."
"Well, I'm not. Every attack on my guards is like an attack to myself. That's why my champion will bring you down."
A pink-maned unicorn mare with a rapier in her hand prepared an attack, saying, with a strong Prench accent:
"En garde, you coward."
"I would've preferred a peaceful solution, but if you insist…"
The two started a deadly dance with their weapons, dodging or parrying every attack of their enemy: she was clearly the best duelist he had ever battled against, but a few centuries of experience and training made his technique unmatched. After a flurry of attacks, they paused, studying their next strategies to win the duel.
"You are good, étranger. And judging from your accent before, you are not one of my compatriots, n'est-ce pas?"
"You are not wrong, my lady."
"Then how can you be so skilled with a rapier? Answer now!"
Shrouded made a small laugh and sheathed his weapon.
"Celestia knows why. Am I wrong, Princess, or did you forget about me, and about the fall of the Empire?"
The Princess of the Sun rose from her throne, and told to her champion to put down her weapon with a small sign.
"I can destroy him, just give me time…"
"No, you can't."
The pink-maned unicorn asked why: she knew she was the best fencer of the whole continent and one of the best of Prance, and she could easily defeat every opponent her Princess could send to her. Celestia stopped and watched her, telling her again to put down her weapon, as he was not an enemy.
"So you do remember me, Princess…"
"Me and my sister left you alone after retreating our army: when we came, the Empire was gone and you were missing. Then the whole problem with my sister came on and… well, I think you know how it went."
"Well… I suppose I can't blame you."
"Let me just ask: all this time I continued to receive reports of a lone warrior sending away enemies from the borders of the kingdom; it was you, right?"
"It was my only way to contact you while still doing my… guard… duty."
The towering alicorn was taller than him, and when she asked him to take off his mantle, the unicorn did it without hesitation.
"Red eyes, black and lilac spiky mane with a little braid on the left side, dark blue coat… it is really you. And you are still wearing that armor."
"I can't forget my past, Princess. I'm the greatest traitor ever existed, I condemned my home to disappear through space and time, I'm the last of the Crystal Empire Guards. I may have helped you defeating my King, and I was cursed with his last breath. I'm now starting to know how you alicorns live, without showing emotions. I was made immortal until His return, and a thousand years have almost passed. I just want to live a normal life, again."
He knelt before Celestia, asking nothing but two things:
"I feel his curse, and by feeling it I feel his magic: Sombra is returning, more powerful than he was before. I ask you to let me fight him, and to be granted access to dark magic sections of the library: I want to be freed of his curse, and I want to die honorably in battle to save the Kingdom… and the Empire… one last time."
Celestia was about to reply, when a voice said, in the most aggressive way possible:
"Bullshit."
The Sun Princess and the pink-maned unicorn turned their heads to see the Princess of the Night in full battle-armor, with her sword in hand:
"Luna, what are you doing?"
"I'm not going to let him fool you, Tia. I bet he now just want to learn every dark secret to lift his curse and flee. He has not the will to fight to death."
Shrouded watched her, and laughed.
"You desire a challenge, oh dark maiden?"
He took off his armor and his shirt, revealing his well toned muscles, and threw his rapier on the floor, with the bladed whip in his hand.
"As you wish."
He leaped towards Luna, striking hard with his weapon; but the princess managed to dodge it, and counterattacked with a mighty swing that grazed his torso. He didn't care, and engaged in close combat, inflicting minor cracks on the plate armor, while Luna, with her longsword, couldn't possibly dodge or parry all his blows, until she pushed him back with a powerful magic burst. Thrown to the ground, Shrouded had no way do block Luna's charge, and soon the blade of the princess found a way inside his heart.
"Luna, what have you…"
"I've done what was necessary. You have grown too soft."
But when she tried to remove her sword, she couldn't. She then looked at the male unicorn face, making a smirk, while his hands were holding her weapon deep into his heart:
"Told ya. Can't die. Sorry, I guess?"
"Let it go, you damn freak!"
His red eyes gazed upon her, and he said:
"Tremble."
Looking puzzled, Luna tried to reply, but suddenly her armor broke into a million pieces.
"How did you…"
"You really thought I was stupid enough to face a princess using no armor without having a few tricks up my sleeve?"
Swiftly, with a clean movement, he extracted the sword from his chest, assaulting a surprised Luna with a combination of rapid punches, ending in a wheel kick, sending her on the ground.
"Swordfall."
Ten magic blades appeared near Luna, floating in the air, and when Shrouded smashed his fist on the ground, the swords did so too, ending near the princess body. When he raised his fist, the blades disappeared, and he walked towards Luna, offering her a hand.
"I do not wish to fight you anymore, princess. What I said before was only the truth: I want revenge. Otherwise, I would've never come here, asking for your and your sister's help. I hope you can believe me now."
Luna accepted the help and got up, with only the vest she had under her armor.
"Well, I now believe your will is real. Still… why did you let me stab you? You could've dodged it, parried it or even used your magic to shield it."
"How else could I prove my immortality?"
"You've got a point. Another thing… what were those spells?"
"My own way of fighting. One or two swords are always useful, but if there are more, you can trap or eliminate an enemy more swiftly… and with more spectacle. I started doing it when I realized that taking out the leader of a raid gang was more efficient and fast than slaughtering every raider. Fear is one of the greatest weapon we have… and Sombra knew that well…"
Celestia interrupted the two, and said:
"Well, now that he has your approval, Luna, do you mind if we get both of you to the royal medic? We certainly don't want anyone ending up hurt, right?"
"Of course, sister. But I have something to tell you, and it would be better if we're in private."
"Sure thing. Fleur, could you?"
The pink-maned unicorn nodded and told Shrouded to follow her.