A New Tale In Equestria.

by Sylif Daring Doo

The empire of Crystals, Part three: Jade Catacombs.

____*The village of Snowgem, twenty minutes later.*____

Skitter walked towards the wrecked town hall in silence, Shining Armor had requested her presence in the town hall, apparently he was making plans on taking back the city and defeating Sombra.

'I'll give the guy one thing, he doesn't give up easily.' She admitted.

Skitter was unsure as to WHY she was called to the town hall, but she knew it must of been important if Shining Armor was the one to call her, she approached the building and watched as some of the guards cleaned up the shattered doorway.

Skitter walked into the building but did not fail to notice the cautious glares from the guards, she sighed and continued inside the building, there she found Shining Armor standing at a table that had a map of the entire Empire, he was also with Twilight and Cadence, Fang and Roxanne, Gwen and the others, Talon and a large group of guards.

Shining Armor glanced up and noticed Skitter standing just inside the doorway. "Good, your here, we were just about to discuss your part in the plan." He stated.

Skitter nodded and walked up. "What do have so far?" She asked.

Shining looked at the map and called upon his magic, three small figures appeared on the map, Sombra himself, an undead minion, and a royal guard, the guard was at a small village on the outskirts of the city, Sombra and the minion were at the city. "Right now, Sombra seems to have his focus on subjugating the city and any possible militia, and if I'm right, he should be vulnerable soon enough, we can strike soon and retake the city." He said.

Skitter sighed. 'A very reckless beginning of a plan.....it isn't going to work, even if we do take back the city, Sombra will probably come back, or always be a looming threat.....we need a way to kill him or all of this is pointless.' She thought.

"If we move some troops here we should be able to-"

"It isn't going to work, I get that you want to take back the city.....but with our current forces, we'll be lucky if we survive the night, we need at least a week to prepare." Skitter interrupted.

Shining sighed and looked at Skitter. "Very well......since you don't like our plan, what do YOU suggest?" He wondered.

Skitter simply grinned and lit up her horn, more figures appeared on the map in several locations, she then looked at the location of Snowgem and pointed at it. "Unlike all of you, I've been gathering information from the few civilians that we rescued, and some of them used to live here." She started.

Once Skitter was positive she had the groups attention, she continued. "One of them told me of a rumor, deep in the Jade Catacombs lies an ancient weapon of extraordinary power, if the defenders up here can hold the line until we get it, we might be able to form a decent plan from there." She paused for a moment.

"Now, here's the current plan, first we need to restore the towns defenses, once those are done we can continue the repairs, and while all of this is happening, we send a small group into the Catacombs to search for the weapon, we also need materials and food." She said.

Twilight walked up to the table and looked at the map. "How do we know that the weapon is still down there?.....for all we know it could be gone." She said.

Skitter sighed. "It's better than charging headfirst into an army of undead, unless you have a better plan we should stick to this one." She replied.

Twilight went to say something but stopped herself, she then put on her thinking face and zoned out.

Fang walked up to the map and looked at it, he set his hands on the table and looked at Shining. "I for one agree with Skitter, a head on assault won't work, especially since Sombra has civilians he can use as a shield." He said.

With that, everyone present began to discuss Skitter's plan, and after twenty minutes, Shining Armor ended the meeting.

The plan was to send Fang to the Catacombs along with Skitter and Roxanne, while everyone else worked on getting Snowgem repaired, Fang decided to focus on finding the Catacombs while Roxanne retrieved their supplies, Skitter was busy speaking to one of the civilians about the Catacombs, she found out that it was more of a temple than a graveyard, and that there were certain to be guardians.

'Well that complicates things.' She told herself before walking off to find Roxanne.

_____*ten minutes later, just outside Snowgem.*_____

Roxanne and Skitter walked through the snow and towards Fang, who was standing near an old stone crypt that was built into the hill, as they walked, Roxanne could feel the snow landing on her head and arms, she sighed and looked up. "Hey Skitter, I ever tell you the one thing I don't like about snow?" She wondered.

Skitter blinked and looked at Roxanne. "No......why?" She asked.

"Can't see a damn thing when it gets thick enough." Roxanne replied simply.

Skitter thought on that for a moment before rolling her eyes. "You're a weird one alright." She commented.

As the two approached Fang, the snow began to fall more rapidly and wildly, Fang walked over to the entrance of the crypt and looked at his two companions. "You ready?" He asked.

Roxanne nodded and watched as Fang backed up and kicked the door, the door instantly flew open and Fang looked at them. "Let's go." He said.

With that the three companions entered the crypt, Skitter looked out to the frozen wastes and sighed. "Can't say I'm going to miss it." She said quietly before entering the crypt.

____*down in the deep, two minutes later.*____

Skitter walked down the steps and into a small room made out of jade, she looked around and saw Fang and Roxanne looking around the room, she decided to make herself useful and started to search for anything to help, she walked over to an empty slot in the wall and eyed it with suspicion. "Why are you empty?" She wondered.

Skitter ran her hoof along the back of the empty slot, eventually, she felt a weak spot in the wall and lightly pushed, a panel in the wall pushed itself in and Skitter backed up out of habit, the wall soon moved backwards and then split in half, the halves then slid to the sides and an entirely new path was revealed.

Fang and Roxanne looked on in wonder, Fang soon grabbed a torch and walked up to the new pathway. "Nice job Skitter." He said.

"Thanks." Skitter replied.

Roxanne walked up and the trio started walking down the path, along the way, Roxanne spotted an unlit torch, she pointed at the torch and Fang lit it up, Roxanne nodded and continued walking. "This entire place must be made out of jade.....it's amazing." She said.

Skitter shrugged. "Got to give those cowards one thing.....they know how to make catacombs look appealing." She commented. [1]

The group soon came upon a square shaped room with four pathways, the one they came from, and three other paths, Fang walked forward and looked back at the others. "We gonna split up or go together?" He asked.

Roxanne looked at Skitter who lit up her horn and closed her eyes. "Well.....the path to the right is blocked off, so if we split up one of us will be alone, I say we go together though." She concluded before opening her eyes and dimming her horn.

"I say the same." Roxanne agreed.

Fang nodded and walked down the middle path. "We should probably search the path to the right.....just in case." He mentioned as he walked.

Roxanne followed Fang and Skitter sighed, she started walking down the path until she came upon a large pile of boulders that blocked the path, she looked around the area for anything of value until she spotted a small object, she leaned down and gripped it with her magic, it seemed to be a small silver key with a four way tip, she shrugged and started walking down the pathway.

Skitter returned to the square room and looked around for her companions, she found no trace of them but remembered their path, she started walking again. "Thanks for leaving me behind guys." She grumbled.

_____*over with Fang and Roxanne, five minutes later*_____

Fang entered the room and looked around, it was a circular room with an altar on the end, there were also six statues around the room, and a strange floating stone above the altar, he proceeded to walk towards the altar.

Roxanne eyed the stone cautiously as she walked forward, she soon noticed a small pedestal with writing on it, she approached the pedestal and began to read it.

Fang stopped and looked at Roxanne, he noticed she was reading what was written on the stone, he turned around and continued walking.

Lets see......those who wish entrance to the chamber must place a sacrifice on this altar, but be warned, for the fossil blocks the path, find safety with the living, and continue towards the Soul.' She read to herself.

Roxanne looked over to Fang and noticed that he was walking towards a tile that had the image of bones sculpted onto it, Roxanne thought on the writing for a moment before gasping. "Fang wait!" She called out.

Fang looked back at Roxanne but it was to late......the tile pushed down into the floor and a loud click was heard, Fang backed up and looked around frantically.

Roxanne looked around and saw that the wall had small holes along them, she could only watch as arrows shot from both of the walls and all across the pathway.

Fang and Roxanne both ducked down to the floor as the arrows flew, after ten seconds of waiting, the arrows stopped flying, Fang looked around before standing up, Roxanne stood up and looked at Fang. "The only way across is to step on the tiles that have life." Roxanne said.

Fang nodded and looked closely at the ground, and soon spotted a tile with a bear, he carefully stepped on it and grinned as he felt it stand firm, he then spotted a wolf tile, after stepping on that one, he continued his careful steps across the floor, and soon enough he was on the other side.

"Hurry up." He said.

Roxanne sighed and made the same steps that Fang did, she was soon on the other side. "Let's go." She said.

Fang walked up to the altar and up at the stone, he noticed that the altar was covered in dust, he then put his hand on the altar and swiped the dust off, there was an inscription on the stone, he then proceeded to read it. "You have done well making it to this point, but you must sacrifice in order to gain entrance to the Soul, and then you must face the guardian." He read off.

Roxanne put her hands on the altar and thought on the words for a moment, she looked at a small hole in the altar and realization hit her. "Blood.....we need blood." She said quietly.

Fang looked at the hole and chuckled. "So far this is easy." He replied as he hovered his arm over the hole.

Roxanne rolled her eyes and did the same. "Alright, on the count of three?" She asked.

Fang shook his head and pricked his finger on her claw, he looked at Roxanne with a patient look.

Roxanne pricked her finger on her claw and held her bleeding finger over the hole. "Here goes nothing." She said as Fang mixed his blood.

As blood filled the hole, Roxanne heard grinding coming from somewhere in the catacombs, she pulled her hand away and looked at the stone which rose into the ceiling and fit perfectly in a moderately sized hole.

"I think it worked." She said.

Fang nodded and pulled his hand away, he then started walking towards the entrance of the room, Roxanne sighed and followed her partner. 'This just keeps getting better and better.' She thought.

____*Ten minutes later*____

Fang and Roxanne walked down the stairs and approached a large door that had a symbol of a dragon on both ends, the door was blocked however, by a large jade golem with bulky arms and legs, a large torso and a moderately sized head, the moment Fang went to approach it, the golem surged to life by way of four small black crystals that lodged themselves in the golem.

Fang quickly charged forward and Roxanne groaned, she rushed the golem with Fang.

The golem swung one of its massive arms towards Fang and swiped at Roxanne soon after, Fang then took hold of the golems arm and delivered a powerful punch to it.

Roxanne ran at the golem and quickly flipped around and started to slide, she then kicked up with both legs and hit the golem in the arm.

The golem reared back and quickly made a frontal swipe at Fang, who simply dodged it and jumped at its head.

Fang quickly got on top of the golems head and raised his arms, he then slammed his fists on the golems head, causing it to fall over backwards, he jumped off and stood up.

Roxanne looked at the door which started to open on its own, she started to walk inside and Fang soon followed.

___*inside the room*___

Fang looked around the room in wonder, it was a massive room made entirely out of jade, there were golems all around the room, but the most noticeable thing in the room was a crystal object at the far end, the object was made of black crystals that spiked upwards, just above the crystals seemed to be swords of some kind, Fang couldn't make them out entirely so he proceeded to walk forward.

Roxanne grumbled at Fang's recklessness and proceeded to follow him. "Careful, I don't like this." She said.

"If anything happens, we can handle it." Fang replied simply.

Roxanne sighed. "Fine but if I die I'm haunting you." She said with annoyance clear in her voice.

Fang walked forward towards the swords and as he did, he heard a loud grinding coming from above, he looked up gasped. "Look out!" He shouted as he dove out of the way.

Roxanne quickly backed up and gasped in horror as a massive jade construct fell down to the ground.

Fang watched as the construct activated, the entire room seemed to enlarge as the construct awoke, it had long and powerful legs, arms that seemed like they were built to shatter mountains, the head was decent sized and had a large torso, Fang looked over to Roxanne who seemed to be frozen in horror, he looked at the construct and saw over six black crystals fly into the construct.

The construct then opened its eyes to reveal two large sapphire orbs. "Warning, intruders detected in the vault, awakening jade golems, activating all sub systems, canceling all inhibitors, Jade Centurion online." Said the construct. [2]

The Centurion raised its right arm and a massive hammer fell into its hand, Fang looked around and noticed that the golems all around the room were activating.

Fang stood up and rushed over to Roxanne and pulled her up. "Come on....we can do this!" He stated confidently.

Roxanne gulped and shivered before looking at Fang. "You got my back?" She asked.

Fang nodded and looked at the Centurion. "Let's kick this guy's ass." He smirked and got down to all fours.

Roxanne looked around and saw that the golems were charging at them. "We need to take out the golems, if we do that we can focus on the Centurion." She said,

Fang nodded and charged at the golems ferociously, Roxanne turned around and sighed, she got into a fighting stance and steeled herself. "Come on you bastards, let's see how you handle me." She taunted as the golems charged.

Fang lunged at a golem and waited for it to wind up its strike, and once it swung he latched onto its arm and swung it around forcibly, the arm then smashed into another golem and Fang used the momentum to launch at another.

Roxanne dodged a golems slam and grabbed its arm, she then jumped onto it and grabbed its head, she then forced it to turn around and then jumped off with a kick, the golem slammed into another one and Roxanne continued her battle.

The fighting against the golems lasted for around four minutes before Fang realized that the Centurion hadn't moved, it simply watched him with a blank look, he smashed another golem and dodged another, after smashing some more golems, Fang looked around and saw that there were no more, he looked over at Roxanne who just finished with the final golem.

Fang looked to the Centurion who simply watched him. "Here goes nothing." He mumbled as he charged the construct.

The Centurion acted immediately and swung its hammer down at Fang, who simply dodged it. "Jade Centurion engaging, directive one activated, preventing interaction with the ancient blades." It said mechanically before swinging again.

Fang dodged the hammer and jumped at the hammer, he pulled his fist back and punched the hammer, he made a small dent in the massive hammer and stuck his claw in the hammer.

Roxanne rushed the construct and ran up to its leg, she swung at its foot but was surprised by the result, she was blasted back by an unknown force, she crashed into the ground and started tumbling.

The Centurion noticed Fang on the hammer and simply spun the hammer till it was facing the ground, it then sent the hammer flying into the ground.

Fang growled and wound up another punch, he then threw it at the hammer again and the impact was greater than before, the hammer had slightly shattered in that area, Fang quickly braced himself as the hammer hit the ground.

Roxanne got back up and looked over to Fang, she watched as the hammer rose up and revealed Fang lying on the ground, she rushed over but was soon smacked away by a giant hand, Roxanne flew through the air and crashed against a giant jade pillar, she winced in pain and looked up at the construct.

The Centurion turned its attention back to Fang and raised its hammer, it then swung it down towards the injured wolf.

Fang watched as the hammer sped towards him, he simply smirked and took a deep breath, the world slowed down and Famg quickly got to his feet, he grunted through the pain in his left arm and jumped up to the hammer.

Fang then unleashed a relentless barrage of punches at the hammer, the damage did not show immediately due to the time slow, he then jumped off the hammer when he felt that enough damage was dealt, he took another breath and the world sped up again.

The Centurion's hammer crashed against the ground and instantly shattered, Roxanne's jaw dropped, in her point of view, Fang had jumped to the hammer and then back to the ground again in two seconds. 'That speed is impossible......something's up.' She thought.

The Centurion dropped the stick that formerly held the hammer, it then raised it's left arm and Jade shards began to form.

"Oh crap." Roxanne said to herself.

When the shards stopped flowing towards the Centurion, they all seemed to melt into a large molten mass, the Centurion then threw it towards Fang.

Fang watched as the mass approached him, he soon smirked and rolled out of its path.

The Centurion then swung its arm at Fang and it almost made contact.....were it not for a blast of flame to hit its elbow, it reared back and looked at Roxanne, who's hands were engulfed in white flames.

Roxanne grinned and cracked her knuckles. "Afraid of fighting someone who can fight back?.....dick?" She taunted teasingly.

The Centurion faced Roxanne and started to march forward, only for its arm to come off.

Fang smirked and popped out from behind its head. "Sorry about that.....but your gonna need a replacement." He taunted.

The Centurion raised its remaining arm and tried to pry Fang off, Fang simply laughed and began to kick at its shoulder. "Matter....size does not." Fang said. [3]

The Centurion suddenly stopped going after Fang, it then clenched its hand into a fist and the entire body began to shake violently. "Directive two activated, initiating self destruct, all access to blades will be denied.....have a nice day." It said flatly.

Fang's eyes widened and he jumped off, he then ran towards the swords as fast as he could, when he reached then he did not bother with safety, he grabbed the two swords and ran for his life. "Run!" He shouted.

Roxanne was way ahead of him however as she began to leave the room, she held the door open for Fang and ran for it.

'This is turning into a tradition.' She mused as she ran.

____*meanwhile, back with Skitter.*____

Skitter walked through the catacombs in silence, a little bit ago she had found a large chest that the key opened, the chest contained two swords that she was sure would be useful, and so she held the chest in her magic and walked through the catacombs.

As she walked, Skitter gained an uneasy feeling, like something bad was on the way, she soon heard footsteps behind her, she spun around and looked down the pathway, eventually however, just as Skitter went to turn around, Roxanne came running around the corner. "Ruuuunnn!" Roxanne shouted as she ran past Skitter.

Skitter raised an eyebrow but did not question it further as Fang soon came around the corner followed by a collapsing tunnel, Skitter turned tail and ran after Roxanne. "Holy shit!" She shouted.

With that, the trio began to run through the collapsing catacombs, when they finally reached the first room three minutes later, Skitter immediately ran for the entrance.

Fang used the hidden switch and the wall soon changed itself again, it just barely closed before the collapsing tunnel reached it, he then made his way towards the entrance and Roxanne followed close behind.

"This better be worth it." He said.

Roxanne chuckled. "It will be, don't worry." She assured him.

____*just outside the catacombs entrance.*____

Fang sat down on the ground and put his arms behind him on both sides, he closed his eyes and faced his head upwards, after a few moments, he pulled out the two swords from their sheaths and examined them.

One of the swords was tealish in color, he could not make out the material but it was long and quite heavy, it's tip and edges were incredibly sharp, Fang could tell from a glance that the sword was extremely durable and would not break easily, it had a long handle and had a strange feeling about it. [4]

Fang looked at the other sword, this one was made of black steel and was as equally heavy, it was long and it's edges and tip were just as sharp, it looked to be even more durable than the other sword, it had a long handle and it had a strange feeling about it as well. [5]

Fang held both swords in front of himself and examined them. "I wonder if they have names?" He wondered quietly.

'Of course we have names you moron!' Replied an annoyed voice.

Fang raised an eyebrow and looked around, he then heard the voice again. 'Hey buddy, I'm the black sword.' Said the voice.

Fang looked at the black sword and raised an eyebrow, he was about to say something when two ghostly figures appeared from the blades.

They both seemed to be wolves and they both looked at Fang, one was definitely female, she had all white fur and had bright Amber eyes, the other ghost was a male with gray fur and brown eyes, he had a noticeable scar that went right across his left eye.

"Okay then, time for introductions eh?" The male said.

Fang nodded but glanced over at Roxanne and Skitter, who were busy examining two more swords. "I'm Fang." He said quietly.

The male looked up at the sky and sighed. "The name is Spirit......don't look at me like that, that is my actual name." He said grumpily.

The female rolled her eyes and laid back on the ground. "I'm Soul, nice to meet you." She replied in a slightly cheery tone.

Fang could only blink, he rubbed his eyes and looked at the ghosts. "What are you.....exactly?" He asked curiously.

Spirit looked at Fang and sighed. "We used to be the spirit and soul of the warrior who formerly possessed these blades, i don't recall his name but just before he died he stored us inside these blades, after that, Sombra locked us away in that vault and set up the defenses, you could consider us ghosts but we aren't actually, if we wanted to we could become physical for a short time.....and before you ask, we didn't do this before because that formation of crystals below us made it so we couldn't manifest." He explained.

Fang nodded and looked over to Roxanne and Skitter, they seemed to be discussing something but he couldn't make out what.

____*one and a half minutes ago, Roxanne and Skitter.*____

Roxanne and Skitter sat down on the ground and sighed. "That was close." Skitter said.

"Too close." Roxanne agreed.

Skitter looked up at the sky and sighed, she then used her magic to bring out two swords.

Roxanne eyed them with curiosity. "Where did you find these?" She asked.

Skitter rolled her eyes. "When you guys left me behind, I did some exploring of my own, I eventually found a chest and it contained these two swords." She explained.

Roxanne took one of the swords and examined it, it was a white sword with a blue edge, it had a some weight to it and had a long handle, she could tell that it was durable. "Nice sword." She said quietly.

Skitter whistled and passed the other sword to Roxanne. "These things have some juice in them." She said. [6]

Roxanne took the other sword and examined it, it was a black sword with a red edge to it, it was kind of heavy and had a long handle, and she knew it was durable. "Looks like we got what we came for." She said.

Skitter nodded and looked over to Fang, her jaw promptly dropped upon noticing the two ghosts. "Uh Roxanne......I think Fang got the better end of the deal." She said.

Roxanne raised an eyebrow and her jaw dropped as well, she quickly closed it and blinked. "How come he gets ghosts?" She wondered.

'Because those two are showing off.' Said an annoyed voice.

Roxanne looked around and a ghost appeared from the black sword. "I'm Death, the guy over there is Life, your Roxanne, she is Skitter, introductions are done." Said the ghost.

The ghost that called itself Death was a female fox with gray fur and black eyes, soon enough, another ghost exited the other sword and revealed itself, it was a male earth pony with green fur and hair, his eyes were pure white and he had calm expression on his face. "You shouldn't be so rude, they do wield us now after all." He said.

Death simply flipped Life off and looked over at Fang. "You know I'm right, and yet you always say different, it's annoying." She said grumpily.

Life rolled his eyes and looked at Roxanne. "Do be careful, Death gets carried away when she enters battle." He warned before returning to his sword.

Roxanne stood up and looked at the two blades curiously. "What exactly do these swords do?.....except for talk back to you?" She asked.

Death shrugged and looked up. "I can either incinerate your enemies or electrocute them, Life can call upon nature to attack your foes, or blind them with rays of light." She explained.

Roxanne nodded and looked at Skitter. "Go ahead, I don't use swords anyway." Skitter said before tossing Roxanne two sheaths.

Roxanne grabbed the sheaths and noticed that there was a harness, she then started to strap it onto her back, as she did she saw Death walk in front of her. "Mind if I stay out here for a bit?.....that sword is a bit stuffy." She asked.

"Go ahead, it's not like I can stop you." Roxanne replied.

Death chuckled and looked at Skitter. "Hey, your a changeling right?" She asked.

Skitter nodded. "Yea, why?"

Death shrugged. "Haven't seen one of your kind in over a thousand years is all." She replied simply.

Roxanne sighed and sheathed Life, she then sheathed Death and looked at Fang. "This will be an interesting adventure." She said quietly before walking over.

Death chuckled and followed Roxanne. "And that's why I'm going to stick around." She added.

Author's Note:

[1] Upon first glance at the crystal ponies at the empire, Skitter instantly named them cowards as they were scared even inside a protective dome.

[2] It is NOT the Curator from Karazhan.

[3] I wonder who that could be?......

[4 and 5] I couldn't find a good picture but it's a reference to the two swords from SAO.

[6] As in magic power.....not apple juice.

Me: I know that I may have overdone it on the sword bit......but i had intended for Life and Spirit to be obtained in Jandoka's temple......and that I had planned on putting them all in anyway.

Pinkie: I assume that they mean something other than simply blades?

Me: Of course they do.

See ya next time!

Comments

[Wir sind verloren]

YES A SWORD IMBUED WITH THE POWER OF DEATH. THIS IS SO LOGICAL! LOGIC!!!