Chapter 24: War of Oaths, War of Ghosts
Royal Vault of Magic Artifacts
May 1, 10:03 A.M.
Sky didn’t need to hear it this time. Everything he had been through over the past two years had brought him to the point where he knew it, even when he stood alone against all odds. The truth ran through his veins, filled his vision, echoed in his ears, and caused his brain to erupt with a surge of hope.
Your friends are with you.
Ghost’s spell whipped past him like driving rain in a downpour. Sky began to spin rapidly as he approached, deflecting the attack with his own magical aura. His hoof lit up with magic as he reached the unicorn, thrusting it forward with the intent of disrupting Ghost’s magical assault.
But Sky felt his hoof collide with an invisible barrier inches from Ghost’s face, then spiral away as Ghost’s counterattack caught him in the underside. The magic was cold and biting, but it held a powerful essence that felt like getting shocked by a zap of electricity.
Sky winced, not in pain, but in the recollection of a similar power. One he himself had elicited a year before, confronted by an unimaginable evil. He had thrown his self-control aside and fought the Chimera with the power of his hatred for the monster.
And now, he was on the receiving end of those very same emotions.
Sky grimaced, leering at his opponent with one eye. Even with the knowledge of everything Ghost had done, something within Sky still hesitated at the thought of fighting a pony he had once stood with as an ally. Perhaps he was tired of all the conflict. Perhaps it was some form of misplaced comradery. Or maybe, beyond the edge of his own pain and anger, Sky still held some sense of pity for his former commander who had fallen so far.
But one look into Ghost’s face was enough to tell him that there was no option other than combat. His eyes were wild with excitement, yet exuding a look of cold calculation, like the look of a predator that has cornered its prey. His pupils flickered with a wicked black flame that curled up and ran from the corners of his eyes.
Sky shivered. Was the Chimera really the way it seemed, or was Ghost behind more than its actions?
But a second thought came as quickly as the first, though it was even more disturbing. Or maybe the Chimera found a way to influence Ghost right back…
He was quickly forced back to the matter at hoof as he noticed Ghost charging right at him. He was surrounded by half a dozen black magic globes that rapidly orbited his body like a mobile that was spinning too fast. Sky managed to duck out of the way just in time, rolling to his left as Ghost went careening past. The orbs of darkness seemed to leave discolored ripples in their wake, as though their passing scarred the very air itself.
I can’t let him dictate the flow of the fight, Sky thought to himself. I need to throw him off-balance somehow.
But almost before he was able to complete the thought, he found himself dropping to the floor to avoid another charge from Ghost. Desperate for a chance to slow the pace of the fight, Sky discharged a blast of magic just as Ghost passed overhead. If nothing else, it would serve to stun him temporarily, giving Sky a chance to catch his breath and plan his next move.
It was a good strategy. But the light chuckle Sky heard next was all the indication he needed to know that it hadn’t been good enough.
He looked at Ghost and beheld a sight that seemed to twist everything he thought he knew about magic. All around the unicorn, the six orbs of magic continued to swirl around him, but between them, Sky could see what appeared to be his own blast of magic being stretched and warped as it passed through each one, until its color had changed into a sickly black wrung with sparks of dark lightning jumping from it. Sky watched in a horrified stupor as Ghost pulled the spell in front of him, where he observed it appraisingly.
“Magic is truly remarkable, Blitz,” Ghost cooed, still gazing at Sky’s transformed spell. “We cast spells to perform the simplest of tasks almost without thinking about it. But magic is so much deeper than that. My ancestors discovered that it was possible not only to counter a spell, but to change it into something very different by adding their own power to it. The youngest and weakest foal could use a telekinetic spell barely capable of lifting a broom, and by constantly taking and manipulating that spell, it could be changed into a magic that could lift entire buildings, set them on fire, and disintegrate them within seconds. Of course,” he continued, looking disdainfully at the young pegasus, “I find it much more rewarding to take somepony’s attack spell and use it against them…with my own personal additions, of course.”
Without hesitation, Ghost hurled the dark orb at Sky, still spellbound from the scene he had just witnessed. Even as he instinctively dodged to his left, he could not remove his eyes from the approaching blast. He’s able to corrupt my magic just like that? And then use it against me? What chance do I have here?
But, whether it was a memory or an event of the moment, Sky heard the voice echo something it had told to him mere minutes before.
“If you choose to exist in both the light and the dark, then you will not flinch when confronted with either.”
I wonder…
Sky’s stomach clenched as he strained and stretched out with his mind to the magic spell. It was crazy. It shouldn’t work at all. It was a desperation tactic, and, being borne of desperation, those rarely worked. But sometimes, the craziest of ideas finds a hold within the space of reality, when all the laws of logic would determine otherwise.
He latched on to the spell, and immediately, a dark sensation sprang to life within his mind. But, just as the voice had promised, Sky didn’t hesitate. He dove into the darkness until he found a pulsing, familiar power at the core of the magic. And Sky found what he sought.
Because, at its core, it was still his magic.
With a yell, Sky spun where he stood, his body dragging the magic blast by an invisible thread around his body, causing it to curve around him until he released it, sending it streaking through the air to where a surprised Ghost could only watch as the spell slammed into him, exploding on impact. Instantly, the dark orbs around him dissipated, and he careened through the air until he crashed, upside down, into the far wall. He slumped to the floor headfirst, while his legs hung in the air above him.
Sky’s mind was fuzzy from countering Ghost’s attack, but his success caused a renewed sense of hope to surge through his veins like adrenaline. “You wanna play with magic? Use your own,” he huffed. “This magic was a gift to me. I don’t think the ponies that gave it to me would approve of your use of it.”
In spite of his awkward position, Ghost began to laugh. It was the same eerie laugh from before, when Sky had absorbed Ace’s and Scope’s magic power. “Ahahaha! The surprises never end with you, do they?” He tumbled off of his head and rose to his hooves, dusting himself off in the process. “You know, you might just make this interesting.” Then, in the blink of an eye, his laughter faded, only to be replaced with a cold fury. “Warmups are over. Now it’s for keeps.”
Sky shoved aside the static in his head and cleared his mind. He gestured to Ghost with his hoof. “After you.”
A dark whirlwind suddenly sprang into existence around Ghost, who pirouetted on his rear hooves as he sent the tornado spiraling across the room to where Sky stood waiting. He watched the approaching twister for a few tense moments, then fired a beam of magic from his wings, causing the cyclone to burst apart in a flash of light amidst the wisps of darkness. Sky leapt through the fading fragments of the storm, somersaulting once and throwing all his momentum into his rear hoof as he brought it down onto Ghost’s head.
But just as Sky thought his blow would land, he felt all his momentum disappear, replaced by a weightlessness originating from the very leg he was attacking with. Then, before he had a chance to recover, Ghost telekinetically hurled him across the room, where he landed in a pile of debris and raised a cloud of dust.
As he scrambled back to his hooves, a slender metallic object slid off of him and clattered onto the floor. One look at it was enough to confirm what it was.
Sombra’s Dark Scythe.
“I have often wondered how my own power would stand up to that of King Sombra,” Ghost said, noting the object of Sky’s gaze. “Simply to test my own mastery of the darkness against one who was regarded as being was so skilled with it that he became one with it.” He smiled, and he seemed to not notice Sky any longer, caught within a vision in his mind. “The rumors say that not even Celestia could stand up to his power. Only the darkness of another could conquer him.” His eyes opened again, and a flaming desire burned within them. “I shall restore that darkness and squelch what remains of your precious light.”
Across the room, Sky reached out with his magic and pulled another object from where it lay against the wall. He stuck the blade into the floor at his hooves and stared defiantly back at Ghost. “You just don’t get it, Ghost,” Sky sighed. “I have my darkness, just like you do. Just like we all do.” He arched an eyebrow, giving him the look of one issuing a challenge. In front of him, the Blade of Night gleamed like the lunar crescent within the night sky. “But there’s a line between darkness and evil. And we’re standing on opposite sides of that line.”
“Hmph.” With the subtlest of motions, Ghost summoned a trio of black orbs that slowly began to zig and zag around the decimated chamber. Sky watched warily as they seemed to do little more than haphazardly worm their way through the air without any actual purpose. Then, without any real warning, they exploded, casting the entire vault into utter darkness.
“I can’t understand you, Blitz,” Ghost’s voice cut through the black. “I would think that you of all ponies would have the most to gain from accepting the darkness. Think about it. Just think about what you’ve been through.” He paused for a few moments, though whether it was to try and increase the drama of the moment, or to give his words time to sink in, Sky didn’t know. “Nearly a year of your life gone fighting a monster. Having your spirit basically ripped from your body for a time. Seeing dozens of ponies consumed by the Chimera. And even now, somepony you love may be lost to you forever. You have every right to be angry. Why not be?”
Sky’s teeth clenched and ground against each other at the mention of Lily. It was true; he probably had every right to fly off the handle and just embrace the rage he had felt so many times. “Oh, I am angry,” Sky hissed at last, forcing himself to channel his emotions into words instead of actions. A light began to shine from his wings, causing the darkness to retreat from him. “And all those hard times have created a pain I’ll have with me for the rest of my life. But I’m not willing to let that define me. I’m not a part of the pain. It’s a part of me. I carry that darkness with me, but I won’t let myself be swallowed up in the past. Unlike you.”
“Some might call that ‘self-control’,” Ghost said softly. “I call it weakness.”
A huge chunk of the wall behind Sky suddenly broke free and hurtled towards him like a meteor. Thankfully, the sound of it separating from the wall was unmistakable, giving him ample warning of its approach. As it reached him, Sky extended his wings and brought them against the slab of wall in a magically-enhanced slash, slicing it clean in two as his body neatly passed between the two halves. Reaching out yet again with magic, he took control of the slabs of wall and threw them to where Ghost stood like a nexus of Sky’s pent-up frustration; a giant pony-shaped bull’s eye where Sky could hurl all the pain of the past week in one giant venting session.
It was a shame that the bull’s eye was able to fight back.
The chunks of wall crashed into an invisible barrier around Ghost and bounced harmlessly away. In Ghost’s eyes, Sky could see the look of one who was both disinterested and unimpressed. Sky could feel his frustration rising not only at Ghost’s nonchalant attitude, but also at the distinct feeling that Ghost was merely toying with him.
Under normal circumstances, I’d just take the fight right to him with my hooves. But Sky knew better than to try that. Ghost’s magic was potent, and even a marginally competent unicorn could hold off a physical attack with a rudimentary telekinesis spell. And Ghost was far beyond mere competence. Nighthawk had even gone so far as to compare Celestia’s power to that of Storm Emblem’s heir. It had sounded ridiculous at the time, but now that Sky was here…
Another volley of magic seared the air as it closed in on Sky. He dropped into an evasive dive, rolling to his hooves as he hit the floor. Reacting as quickly as he could, he sprang into a full-force flying tackle, attempting to cover the fifteen or so feet between himself and his unicorn adversary.
But with unnatural calm, Ghost turned his gaze to the pegasus, and with a mere twitch of his eye, Sky knew that he was in trouble.
A massive boulder-sized crystal burst through the floor right in Sky’s path. His nose slammed into the crystal, and his own momentum caused his body to buckle against the immovable object. A sickening grinding sensation in his nose accompanied a sharp pain that came from inside his head rather than from without.
He staggered away from the crystal, bringing a hoof to his face. And as he looked to the floor, trying to refocus his vision, a series of red droplets drew a dotted line from where he had stood mere moments before, and Sky’s suspicions were confirmed.
Broken nose. Fantastic.
But he had little time to bemoan his misfortune. The crystal suddenly radiated with intense light before shattering into thousands of razor-edged shards. Sky dove behind the cover of an upright slab of wall for cover, but not before a dozen or so of the deadly fragments found their mark, mostly within his front left leg.
He winced as he pressed his back up against the wall. The crystals in his leg were painful, but didn’t appear to have penetrated too deeply. Still, pain was cruel enemy, and he was in a ton of it. It slowed and weakened your actions, and made you hesitant in your decisions. Oh, and of course, it hurt.
He stared at his leg regretfully. Sky was no combat medic. He had remembered often hearing that it was better to keep an invasive object where it was than remove it, but…seeing them sticking out of his leg was unsettling, to say the least. Finally, he decided to let them stay. They weren’t large or burdensome…just painful. And worrisome.
Don’t get comfortable, he thought to the shards. You’ll be leaving soon enough.
Sky’s protective slab of wall suddenly rocked back and forth from a small explosion, knocking against the back of his head and snapping him back to attention. “You’re awfully quiet over there, Blitz,” Ghost’s taunts echoed through the chamber. “Don’t tell me you went and died without my permission.” There was a gleeful edge to his voice that made the hairs from Sky’s neck to his tail stand on end.
With a deep breath, Sky dove out from his cover, facing his foe. “I wouldn’t dream of it,” he answered, firing a pair of magic spears. The nerves in his leg felt like they were on fire, but he managed to push through it, throwing himself once again behind the relative safety of the wall, still dutifully providing shelter from the battle waging throughout the chamber.
He took a moment to catch his breath. The magic from Ace and Scope was still holding up, but his body was exhausted. Every joint and muscle whined in protest as he forced them into service, flying and dodging all around the room. I wonder if this is what getting old feels like.
The wall behind him rocked yet again, smacking him in the back of his head. Sky lurched forward before spinning around, almost expecting to see Ghost peering at him. However, all he received was a small cascade of debris raining on him from the top edge of the wall. He permitted a small sigh of relief.
Then, without warning, the entire portion of wall was ripped straight from the floor and tossed aside, crashing into the far wall and crumbling into millions of pieces. Sky flipped backwards instinctively, relying on natural acrobatics to keep Ghost guessing.
But his expectations were shattered as he felt a massive surge of magic rush over his body, overloading Sky’s senses with a pain like a cold fire. The effects of gravity felt as though they had been suspended as he rose into the air. He began to shake with the violence of a seizure. His vision filled with dots and became blurry as his suffering seemed to last for an eternity.
A crunch accompanying a physical jolt brought an end to the torture. Sky’s limbs were completely numb, splayed in all directions as he lay on his back, gasping for breath that just refused to come fast enough. His entire body was afflicted with the lingering effects of the attack: his ears were ringing like a school bell, his wings were twitching at his sides, the nerves in his legs were completely shot, and his vision was an absolute mess of rainbow-colored dots with no real cohesion of any kind. It was as though every nerve in his body had exploded all at once, leaving him crippled in nearly every capacity.
As he struggled to regain any control of his body, a glimmer of light pierced through the haze of his vision. He focused in on it, tracking it as it seemed to float back and forth in a predictable pattern. The rest of his eyesight cleared around the light, and as Sky recognized what he was seeing, his heart sank. Above him, his cherished blue wrap swayed down toward him, Lily’s brooches flickering in the dim light. They seemed to beg Sky to get up, to find the strength to challenge Ghost just one more time.
But as the fabric reached the ground, the bejeweled badges fell beneath the folds of the cloth, and their light was hidden. And, sensing the symbolism in the moment, Sky succumbed to the inevitable truth.
He was beaten.
He stopped straining. He closed his eyes and let his body relax. Ghost wasn’t likely to let him die quickly, but it didn’t matter. He was well-acquainted with pain already.
His mind drifted free of his surroundings, finding a home in Lily’s hospital room. Ah, well…at least neither of us will have to live without the other.
“Are you giving up?”
Sky’s eyes snapped wide open. He had expected to hear the mocking voice of Ghost, so hearing the stern voice of his thoughts shocked him for a moment. But he gradually fell back into a state of calm and let his eyelids fall again. Yes. I’ve done what I can, but there’s no way I can beat him. Nova will have found Luna by now, and she’ll seal this chamber and keep Ghost from ruining Equestria. I’ve done enough.
“Then that makes it my turn.”
Sky arched an eyebrow and opened one eye out of sheer curiosity. It was just a voice; what could it expect to do against Ghost? Talk him to death?
“You told me you would lend me your strength, Sky Streak,” the voice continued. “Now is the time I take you up on that offer.”
And Sky’s jaw dropped at the scene before him.
He was no longer staring at the ceiling. He could still feel nothing, but…he felt different. Constricted. Small. It was as though he had been boxed in to one small part of his mind and could only watch what unfolded. There before him was Ghost, looking rather startled as he stared back at Sky. But Ghost was standing several meters in front of him…which meant that Sky was standing.
What the—
“Vengeance, Ghost,” Sky heard his body speak, though he had made no effort to do so. What was more, something sounded…off. Instead of his own voice, it seemed to him that it was mingled with another who spoke with determination and conviction. “It is all you can see. It’s all you know. Vengeance against Sky Streak for foiling your work with the Chimera.”
Ghost’s eyes grew wide as saucers as Sky’s body referred to itself in the third pony. “But not only that: for gaining prestige within the Alicorn Guard. For entering your home. For trying to honor the memory of your forefather instead of defiling it!”
“Shut up!” Ghost screamed, his face turning blood-red. “You know nothing of my forefather! Just shut up and die like you’re supposed to!”
“But you’re after revenge against more ponies than just one,” the dual-voice continued. “You despise Celestia for governing Equestria with benevolence instead of dominance. You loathe Discord for having been offered a second chance. And you hate even Princess Luna, for turning her back on the mistakes of the past and choosing a life that seeks the good of all instead of just herself.”
“Shut up!” Ghost shouted again. “I’m doing this for Princess Luna! Why would I do all this if I hated her?!”
“You are doing all this to change her,” Sky heard himself correct the unicorn. “You hate her as she is now, so you plan to change her into what you want her to be.”
“Stupid little worm!” Ghost growled, and in the air, a large magic hammer materialized, swinging down with enough force to crush Sky’s body where it stood.
But Sky reacted in an instant, bringing a leg straight up, right into the hammer, his own magic smashing it to smithereens. Sky smiled in satisfaction…until he realized he hadn’t been the one to do that. It was his left leg in the air, and most of the crystal shards were still lodged within, but he felt no pain. He tried to blink in confusion, but his body wouldn’t respond. He was still just an observer.
You’re…controlling me?
“Forgive me, Sky Streak,” the voice said softly. “I need your body. This is just as much my fight as it is yours, and I cannot let it end without having my say in it.”
He should have been mad. He should have been absolutely enraged. This…being...had done the very thing the Chimera (and Ghost, by association) had been trying to do to him before. And yet, somehow, Sky was fine. The realization came to him as he watched his hoof block Ghost’s hammer.
Magic…
This voice had comforted him in his struggles. It had offered him advice without any hesitation. It had shown a fierce loyalty to those that stood as guardians of peace and light, and its blunt honesty had caused Sky himself to come to grips with his own fears and shortcomings. And in spite of its rather stoic personality, Sky had still found himself smiling, and even chuckling, at this disembodied comrade. And now, he watched as his own body responded with magic to the will of this strange entity.
Kindness. Generosity. Loyalty. Honesty. Laughter. Magic.
The Elements of Harmony.
Sky steeled his resolve and reached out from the corner of his mind. Mind if I gave you a hoof with that?
He instantly felt his body wrap around him, and a smile was already on his lips. “I’d welcome it.”
His hoof fired out like a cannon, slamming into Ghost’s protective barrier. His body ached, and the pain in his wounded leg sprung anew in his brain, but a new strength of will set a charge like lightning in his chest, urging him forward. He continued to press, and a light grew from the point of contact. Ghost’s magic discharged into his other leg, causing it to sting as though it was under assault from a swarm of bees, but Sky was undeterred. He pressed harder, and Sky watched as Ghost seemed to shudder. His face was twisted in a snarl of defiance, but in his eyes there was a look of concern. No, it was more than that. It was a look of fear. It was a look of utter confusion, giving way to a terror that gnawed at his confidence.
Sky let the thought sink in. Ghost…he’s afraid. He’s actually scared.
“Does that please you?”
Sky pondered it for a moment. It would have been perfectly reasonable for him to be happy. It should have been a reason for glee to see the tables turned against his foe in such a way.
But Sky knew better.
No, he answered. It just makes me all the more eager to end this.
His brain suddenly swelled with determination. He pushed even harder against the barrier, seemingly immune to any sense of pain. “How dare you!” Sky shouted. “What of your oaths now, Ghost!? You don’t want to protect anypony at all! You just want to change everything to suit yourself! You’ve become nothing but a petty foal who throws a tantrum when they don’t get what they want! You’re a disgrace to the Alicorn Guard! You’re a disgrace to all Equestria!”
Ghost looked ready to cower in terror, but his teeth were clenched in resolve, and his magic barrier continued to hold. “As opposed to you, Blitz? You think that songs of peace and love while you skip through fields of flowers are enough to sustain an empire! Any oath to protect a kingdom like that is made in vain! Equestria needs change! Progress, Blitz!”
“Of course it does!” Sky answered. “It always will! Everything needs change! I’m a different pony than I was when all this started, and I’m better for that! But you want to change things going backward, not forward! That’s not progress, that’s regression!”
“Hrrrrggggaahh!” Ghost’s growl grew into a yell as he flung a second hoof at Sky. There was a bright flash of light, and Sky found himself sliding to a stop on the other side of the room. Across the room, Ghost’s breathing looked more labored than Sky had remembered. “What the buck is with you?” he hissed through his teeth. “Why can’t you just die like any other pony would?”
Sky was ready with a response, but as he began to spoke, he realized that his own breathing was just as haggard as Ghost’s. “I told you already,” he wheezed between breaths, “there are too many ponies relying on me here. They won’t let me give up.”
“And all my ancestors are counting on me to succeed here,” Ghost countered, his entire body emanating a powerful magic aura, “so I can’t afford to fail!”
Sky summoned all the magic power he possessed and prepared for Ghost’s assault. The magic pressure in the chamber grew to such tremendous levels that Sky’s ears began to pop. This is gonna be ugly, isn’t it? Sky asked his internal partner.
But he received no answer. Hello? Anypony in there?
“Sky Streak…can you feel it?” The voice sounded…tense. Nervous. Sky wasn’t sure if a mere voice could hyperventilate, but…well, it sure felt like this one was about to. “She’s coming…she’s actually coming…”
What? Sky asked. Who’s coming?
The far side of the chamber suddenly exploded with magic, peppering the pair of combatants on the other end with tiny fragments of wall and floor. Sky had raised a hoof over his face to protect his eyes, but as the rain of debris came to an end and he lowered his hoof, he saw beyond a doubt what had caused the blast.
And his heart froze.
She walked in with her typical grace, but her eyes were wide with shock at the scene before her. The vault was absolutely decimated beyond recognition, and a gasp escaped her lips as she spotted the limp bodies of Boulder, Ace, and Scope splayed upon the debris-laden floor. And as she turned again to where Sky and Ghost opposed each other, her mane swept aside, and Sky saw yet again those deep blue eyes for which he would have challenged an entire army of changelings on his own. She was beautiful, just as she had always been: a picture of serenity amidst the madness.
But she was the last pony Sky had wanted to see here.
Her eyes filled with sorrow as she came to a halt. She locked gazes with Sky, and his heart felt as though it would explode with agony.
And when he found his voice, he whispered the only two words that would come.
“Princess Luna…”
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Man that was a good chapter. Sorry it me so loooonnnnngggg to read it.
I've just been really busy. But now I'm here to finish the story.