//------------------------------// // Chapter 10 Into The Fray // Story: Trial Of The Crown (to be reworked) // by Bronyprophet //------------------------------// Lyra and the group immediately entered the fray against Crimson Blood and his dragon. Bolts of magic shot through the air, bullets pierced the silence, and the sound of steel shells falling on the cobblestone floor could be heard throughout the room. Sword against talon, tooth against nail echoed as their weapons clashed. The battle roared, and cries of valour illustrated the battle. As the battle commenced, a new wave of voidlings joined Crimson Blood, and fought against the group. Twilight slashed left and right as the voidlings poured out of the woodwork; they seemed endless. Twilight teleported to the first 6 she saw, and detonated a magical explosion, sending them flying. Lyra's guns thundered as she fired and fired at the endless supply of targets. Lyra round-housed three, reloading while she rotated. As she finished her rotation, she released another barrage of bullets, killing all three at once. Ghost moved with such grace and finesse, cutting through the Voidlings with ease. She made it to where Crimson Blood was, sword drawn. Crimson Blood and Ghost jumped onto a nearby ledge locked in a fray, their swords clashed together in mid-air. Crimson Blood's dragon started to attack the girls. Twilight would protect her new friends from the dragon's devastating fire breath with magic, and her friends would attempt to find an opening every time, so they could attack the dragon. Soon the castle had been filled with ash, as more voidlings entered the fray from all directions. Twilight looked up to where Ghost and Crimson Blood were fighting. Ghost had been outmatched by Blood's superior swordsmen ship, and she was struggling. “Your passion, your fire, your resolve. It's so beautiful, I'll have to make you my favourite play thing.” Crimson Blood said as; he was beginning to like Ghost even more, as he parried the blows with effortless ease. Suddenly, a bolt of red magic fired from the shadows. He erected a shield and blocked it “Well, look who decided to reveal himself; I knew he was not dead.” Crimson Blood thought to himself before continuing aloud, after pausing for several seconds. “Brother...” Nightmare Moon and Luna stood off against Chrysalis and Twilight Shroud, in the silence before the storm. It began to rain, casting an eerie and tense feel on the field. The voidlings and changelings fought around them, but the battle in the background was muffled out, as the tension continue to build between the four alicorns. Suddenly a loud crack of thunder sounded, and echoed, but it was drowned out as the four alicorns charged, and fought against each other. The muffled battle noise flooded back to them; it was loud, chaotic, and horrifying. The sound of blood-curdling screams surrounded them. Steel slid against steel, the rain pelted their coats, and the thunder, thundered. Luna was in a battle with Twilight Shroud; she teleported before striking viciously at her enemy. Twilight Shroud deflected it, then fired a beam of magic at Luna. Luna teleported to the skies and fired a beam back. Twilight Shroud teleported above Luna, sword kitting through the air, nearly cleaving Luna in half. Luna parried the strike, and defended herself, before retaliating with a magically imbued slash. Sending a magical slice to the ground, creating a crater as two spell caster Voidlings teleported carelessly into its path. The magic sliced them in two, turning them to ash. Twilight Shroud created a sigil in the sky, and out of the sigil shot black lightning, barely missing Luna. Twilight Shroud then teleported to Luna, as she was dodging the black lightning, kicking her towards the ground. Luna recovered mid-air, and fired a beam of magic at Twilight Shroud. Twilight Shroud did not expect this, and was hit directly, sending her to the clouds, where Luna caused a bolt of natural lightning to hit Twilight Shroud, sending her to the ground. She hit the ground leaving a small crater in her place. Nightmare Moon had been fighting with Chrysalis; she fired several beams of magic at Chrysalis. Chrysalis dodged each blast, by teleporting, before getting in close to Nightmare Moon, and kicking her into one of Twilight's castle walls, before following up with a beam of her green magic, blasting her through the wall. Nightmare Moon rose from the ground, wiping away some blood that was on the corner of her mouth. She threw a piece of the crystal wall at Chrysalis when Chrysalis entered through the hole in the wall. She reacted quickly by shattering the piece of rubble, mid-flight. Nightmare Moon was shocked to see one of the Twilight guard, in Chrysalis's place. Nightmare Moon realised too late what had transpired, when she was hit by a powerful bolt of magic; then Chrysalis teleported in front of her, kicking her into the air before teleporting above her, kicking her to the floor, cracking Twilight's marble floor. Nightmare Moon got up, and teleported above Chrysalis too quickly for her to counter, then blasted the real Chrysalis through a wall. “Crimson Shadow it has been awhile, my older brother. What can I do for you? Let me guess you are going to attempt to capture me again aren’t you? You will fail.” Crimson Blood stated as he knocked out Ghost or so he thought, since suddenly Ghost charged from the ground nearly impaling Crimson Blood, but Drake made quick work of that by smashing her with his large tail, sending her to the ground and knocking her out good and proper this time. “Rude girl, I'll have to beat that out of you. Interrupting a conversation tut, tut, tut.” Crimson Blood thought aloud. “No, I'm done trying to capture you. Princess Azure Sapphire has ordered your immediate execution; your chance for redemption, has long passed.” Crimson Shadow stated with a hint of sorrow in his tone. “You're serious aren’t you brother?” Crimson Blood stated. Shortly after this, he heard the same voice he had in his mind, ever since the Trial of The Guard. “You can do this, you want to kill him, you must kill him, he betrayed you.” Crimson Blood then replied to the voice in his head. “As you wish, Empress Darklight.” Shortly after he spoke to the voice, his brother replied. “I'm no brother of yours, Blood; you lost that right when you betrayed the Queen.” Crimson Shadow then morphed into a cloud of shadow, and was about to assassinate his brother. Crimson Blood knew exactly what his brother was about to do, and so he blocked the fatal blow before any harm could come to him, then kicked Shadow, sending him several feet away from him. Crimson Blood teleported, and brought his sword down, attempting to cleave his brother in two. Crimson Shadow blocked the blow, with his small steel dagger, before he cast a spell on his small blade, to enlarge it into a large black sword. As he pushed his brother back, they stared at each other before Crimson Blood spoke. “Shall we dance brother?” After Crimson Blood said this, Shadow teleported using his shadow magic, leaving a shadow clone in his place. Crimson Blood saw his brother above him, bringing his sword down towards his head. When he blocked the blow, a giant shuriken was thrown at him from his brother's clone. Soon after that, his brother's clone charged at him. “So that's how it's going be.” Crimson Blood thought as he dodged the deadly shuriken; suddenly his body morphed into a shadow figure, like his brother's. Then the two unicorns fought each other ferociously. Crimson Blood knew he could not play around. If he didn't take this seriously, his brother would kill him. He had to give it everything he had. Twilight watched Crimson Blood and this strange pony fight each other. She was grateful when she saw this unicorn save Ghost from experiencing the same twisted fate, as what Twilight received many years ago. “Distracted are we, dear Twilight?” A voice suddenly said in her mind; her blood froze, she remembered this voice... and it was the one she didn't expect to hear. It was Sombra's. Sombra had been lurking in the corners of Twilight's mind for some time now, waiting for the perfect moment to strike, and no person, or pony, saw any signs of the rooted corruption. Twilight's eyes became clouded by green light, with shadowy wisps coming from them. Sombra started speaking to her subliminally, “Submit; join me, let me in.” The shady voice of Sombra's continued to grow louder in Twilight's mind, before saying, “We can heal your brother, bring him back from the dead; you will have more power than you can ever dream of. We can even bring Celestia back, your dear mentor, and your lover, Flash Sentry. Just submit to me; become one with fear.” Twilight's heart sunk, and her world felt heavy, as he continued to speak in her mind. She was beginning to lose control; she could feel her mind beginning to darken. Twilight stood her ground and attempted to push him back with her own magic. She would try and try again, but she knew she was losing. Twilight could feel her mental strength faltering under his mental onslaught. She felt his corruption strength growing steadily; Twilight knew she would be lost to fear and darkness soon, just like her brother. She also hoped her friends in Equestria would find a way to stop her, or they too would be corrupted by his rule, and the world would be under his tyranny. The dark days of Equestria would start with the loss of Twilight, to the powers of darkness. Twilight knew that soon she would be his to do whatever he wanted to do with her, and she wouldn’t be able to stop it. Twilight could only accept it. “Somepony save me.” Twilight whimpered in vain, feeling the corruption grow in her mind, and taking her over as her last few defenses broke.