Symphony of Destruction

by zeroxwolfx

Chapter 5: The Return of Destruction

Chapter 5: The Return of Destruction

It awoke, and it crawled out of the vortex of eternity. It had left the world in pain, and with pain it had returned. The blackness poured out of the gate, and tainted the already sorrowful ground before it. Out of oblivion, he stepped, and his form took its shape, much as it did the last time he was here. But it was not the same as it had been before. When he had first arrived to the world, he was a shell, with only the spirit of destruction. Now, as the monster unfurled its wings, it was witness to its own perfection, its own immortality. He raised his claw to his view, and clenched it, as if to crush the world. His scales were black as the void and flawless. Dark red embers and fire escaped sporadically from his body, forming an aurora of the spirit of destruction that escaped his perfect body, as if it was seething with fury. Every moment that he was still, his spirit churned restlessly within his form, trying to sprawl out onto the world, and consume it with fire. The lord of destruction had returned to the living world. His all-seeing eyes looked upon the whole of the world, and saw every living thing, and all of the constructs of living things before him. He looked to the sky and roared angrily at it, the life on this planet mocked him, and he hated it. The darkest element, Numinex would unmake the world, and paint it with the color of fire.

He arose from the ground, into the sky and found himself surprised. The air did no resist him, or his wings, he was its master, and it bended to his will, as did the earth itself. Not even the earth could content with the will of the dark monster. With such a being that had come into the world, he felt that it was surely his destiny to destroy it. He turned his face to the west, and recognized the land of Equestria. This was where the most life seethed. This was where it spread out into the land like a cancer, in Numinex’s eyes. He remembered very much the land of Equestria, and the ponies that inhabited it. In his past life, he had looked at them with anger, and wraith. But now, in his most perfect form, he looked at them with pity. He pitied such shallow mortal creatures that were doomed to walk upon the ground with such insignificance. Out of his pity, he would relieve them of their weak mortal bodies, and relieve the earth of the life that made its surface ache.

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“But Princess… you said you couldn’t stop him by yourself?” asked Twilight Sparkle, looked up to her teacher with panic in her eyes.

“That remains true Twilight Sparkle. But I can delay him enough so that you may escape, and prepare Equestria for his arrival,” said the princess as she kept her gaze on the remains of the blast.

“Princess that means…” she looked up in fear, “What will happen to you Princess?!” Twilight asked desperately.

Celestia sighed, and looked down to her pupil, “It means that you must be off Twilight Sparkle, for every moment you delay brings Numinex Closer to Equestria!” she said firmly to her student.

“No Princess Celestia, I won’t leave you here alone! What if… what he hurts you…” she asked, tears starting to form in her eyes.

“My most beloved student, you would go to the ends of the world and back if I asked you too, but now I must ask that you return,” said Celestia, trying to comfort Twilight with a warm smile, “But I must do my duties as Equestria’s protector, and you must do your duties as my most trusted student…” she said with a look of sympathy in her eye.

A dreadful thought came into Twilight’s mind as she looked upon her teacher, “Princess… what if… what if I never see you again,” she said shakily.

Princess Celestia leaned down, and wrapped Twilight Sparkle in a loving hug, “Twilight Sparkle, I will always be there for you. If you ever feel in need my dearest student, just look up into the sky.”

Princess Celestia planted a gentle kiss on Twilight Sparkle’s head. The unicorn gasped, still with tears in her eyes, as she felt the alicorn’s magic course through her body. Wings made of light sprouted from her back, and without her control, they lifted Twilight up, and sped her off back to Equestria. Twilight could only watch with sadness, as she turned to see her princess slowly fading away into the distance.

“Goodbye, Twilight Sparkle,” uttered the princess sadly.

The great beast of destruction flapped his terrible wings. They blazed with each wing-beat, tormenting the air as he flew slowly and ominously towards the little alicorn before him. As he came before Celestia, Numinex withdrew for a moment. He recognized the spirit of his sister, and in the past, he had forever feared her scorn. But now, he was the greater element, he was the greatest power in the world.

“Elder, the world is breaking…” uttered the terrible dragon. The very earth cracked beneath them at the sound of his voice, “Ever have you sat by idly, and watch it decay. Numinex will cleanse it for you, as he did long ago. We must cover the earth in fire,” he said with conviction.

Celestia looked to him confidently, although her voice sounded so meek in comparison, “The world is still beautiful, little brother. It should not be destroyed,” she said defiantly.

“We WILL cover the land in fire, we will unmake the world!” said the great dragon with fury, the resonation of his voice like a thunderclap, “You no longer possess the strength to stop me. You have become weak, and senile, from the influence of the mortals you walk among. Everything must be undone. The weak must be removed; the whole of life must burn,” he said with solemn conviction.

“Life is still beautiful in this world little brother! I will not let you harm my subjects!” said Celestia angrily, stomping her hoof down in front of her.

Numinex was not impressed, “Arrogance, sister. If you wish I should part you from your mortal vessel, then I shall grant you your wish. Only know that I will spare you no lesser pain, and that you will suffer greatly. Such is the first of suffering that will come to all of pony-kind. Let it begin with you.” As he spread his wings, the clouds above him immolated, “I will show no remorse in tearing you apart, Celestia…”

“Neither will I.” Princess Celestia rose up into the sky, and went to meet the lord of destruction.

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Across the sky, Twilight Sparkle flew impossibly fast as her magic wings sped her through the air. In a journey that would have taken days, she flew across the forgotten lands, Dracolas, and into Equestria in a matter of hours. Her wings slowed her down gradually, before they landed her at the great gate to Canterlot, before the disappeared from her body, fading away. Out from the gate, Shining Armor, and Princess Luna rushed to her side. Her brother helped her up, as she was both physically and emotionally worn from her endeavor. She would not greet her favorite brother with a smile though. Her face bore despair, as she looked up to Princess Luna.

“Twilight Sparkle, what happened, where is Princess Celestia?!” asked Luna with haste, looking to Twilight with worry in her face.

Twilight Sparkle looked to the ground shamefully, as if she had abandoned her beloved teacher, “She stayed back… to fight him,” she said weakly.

“He has returned?” Luna said with a look of dread on her face. For a moment, a tear came to her eye, and she looked angrily at Twilight, “And you left my sister alone to face that monster?!” she turned her face away quickly, knowing that it was not Twilight Sparkle’s fault.

A serious look came across Luna’s face, as she remembered what she had last said to her sister, “Shining Armor, bring all of your battalions to the ready. Pull back every soldier and guard to Canterlot. And send word to the eastern cities and villages to evacuate, and make refuge closer to Canterlot,” said the Princess, as she made her way back inside Canterlot.

Shining Armor saluted her, “Yes your majesty!”

“Fortify our outer defenses, man the catapults and crossbows, have scouts watching the horizon at all hours!” commanded Luna.

She started to fly off, before Twilight Sparkle stopped her, “Princess wait, what will happen to Celestia? Isn’t there anything we can do to…” she was interrupted.

“My sister stayed behind so that we could prepare Twilight Sparkle, and I shall honor her wish. Princess Celestia is strong, and she will not fall easily to that bloody beast,” said Luna. She picked up Twilight Sparkle with her magic, and brought her along, as she flew through Canterlot, and back to her castle.

“What can I do to help princess?” asked Twilight Sparkle, trying to show more confidence, and push the thought of her teacher’s grave situation out of her mind.

“You can return to Ponyville, and help make necessary preparations. As Ponyville is a western city, I cannot afford to spare any guards to defend it, but in the event that Numinex reaches it, they need to be thoroughly ready. I will first…” she hesitated, and said to herself quietly, “…no, not yet. Retrieve Spike from the study in Canterlot dear Twilight, I believe he has news for you.”

Twilight Sparkle made her way out of the princess’s castle, but spike would meet her before she got to the study. Accompanying him, were five dragons, all of them about fifteen feet tall. Spike held a look of sadness on his face as he approached Twilight, “They’re all that’s left of the Silver Enclave…”

An iron colored dragon stepped forward, his head was drooping slightly, “Aardunkay told us that… we were too young to fight Twilight Sparkle, we just heard the news,” said the dragon, wearing a terribly unfitting look of sadness for a dragon.

Another dragon, of gold coloring stepped forward, “Is there anything we can do to help Twilight Sparkle?” he asked, trying to sound more hopeful.

“Do you think you could help me back in Ponyville? Our town isn’t very well protected, and we need to make ready, should the worst come,” Twilight asked them. They all nodded readily to her, the young dragons relieved to be put to work, and to have something that would distract them from the loss of their comrades. Twilight, and Spike hopped on the back of one of them, and they followed Twilight’s directions back to Ponyville. The moon was still high in the night sky, and it would not be a good hour to wake all of the ponies of her town, especially with such dire news. She decided to keep herself worrying instead. She believed her friends deserved, at least one good night’s sleep, as she knew with these current times, it could very well be their last.

Spike had at least a few hours of sleep, before he was awoken by a letter from Princess Luna. He was up the rest of the morning, conveying messages to and from outposts across Equestria. And soon Twilight Sparkle would awake, and make her way to the capitol building, to deliver her news to Madam Mayor, and to all the ponies of Ponyville.

After a while of bustling around, all of the ponies had finally gathered into the town hall, and quieted down, curious to know what the purple unicorn had to say, “Ponies of Ponyville, a terrible monster is coming to Equestria,” her statement was met with gasps, “The entire royal army has been called to Canterlot, to defend our fair nation from attack. We believe that the enemy will be coming from the east, and so Ponyville will be out line from a direct assault. But in the event that the royal army falls, the Princess has ordered that we make ourselves ready for attack! All townsfolk should go to work fortifying their homes, stockpiling food stores, and building a wall around our city. I have enlisted the aid of these dragons for assistance. I will also be there for any citizen that requires help. If we work together, I believe we can ensure that Ponyville will remain safe. Everypony work hard, work together, and stay safe!”

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Celestia’s horn shone with bright solar magic, as she charged head on into Numinex. With a violent crash, she struck him in his chest, causing a huge burst of light. The dark dragon growled lowly, as his wound was slowly enveloped by the darkness of his being. He stared at her with his black lifeless eyes, and shot an enormous ball of fire at her. The raging ball hurled at her at blinding speeds, but she raised a force field, just before impact. Numinex furled his wings, and he descended to the ground, crashing onto his feet. He reared up on his hind legs, and bolstered his black, firey chest towards the sun princess. Just as Celestia too came to land, Numinex smashed his fore claws in the ground, sending out a massive seismic wave towards her. The earth buckled and broke upwards violently from the quake, and eventually the torn earth met Celestia and struck her, sending her flying upwards into the sky. She quickly recovered from her blow, and came streaking downwards, a mere blur of an object as she once again struck Numinex’s body.

The great dragon belatedly swiped a giant claw at her. As he growled in furry, he began to blow a steady stream of fire out of his maw. The stream of fire began to circle, faster and faster, and rose up into the clouds. The dragons flame became a large tornado firestorm, and it slowly made its way towards the princess. Celestia used her powerful wings to try and dodge the swirling, burning vortex, but it continued to test even her limits, as the massive wind power constantly tried to pull her into its grip. As the firestorm ever neared her, she lifted her regal front hooves up, and slammed them on the ground; the princess had created her own massive tornado. The two vortexes’s clashed with each other, and the flames of Numinex’s firestorm dispersed.

Celestia jumped into her own tornado, and used its momentum to speed up, and dive down into Numinex with the magic of her horn emitting waves of energy. Numinex had timed his strike better though, and as Celestia dove into him, he swiped his claw, smacking her away, and sending her tumbling across the ground.

He looked at her without emotion, or distress, “Why do you resist the inevitable Celestia?” he taunted at her.

She looked at him scornfully before she jumped back to her hooves, and eyes began to glow ferociously. With her magic, she lifted a huge chuck of earth from the ground, and hurled it at Numinex. The rock was blasted to bits, as the dragon simply shot back at it with his direct fire. The dark dragon’s eyes began to glow with his dark red passion of destruction. He stared with his dark eyes at Celestia, and in a flash of light, the earth below her suddenly disappeared, being replaced with a large crater. She started to fall for a moment, before she started to fly, but Numinex had used this opportunity to lung at her, and whip her with his powerful tail. The princess once again was knocked downward, plummeting to the center of the crater. She created her own crater, within the crater with the force of her body smashing into the earth.

Numinex descended down to where Celestia laid the dragon about to crush her with the force of his massive body. As he descended, Celestia flung herself up from the ground, and aimed her horn at the dragon. A white, solar light emitted from her horn. The light of the sun burned Numinex’s eyes as he shut them and turned away. He began to back away from his fall, and Celestia used this opportunity to fly upwards with all her might. She struck the dragon in the chest, causing his whole body to be lifted upwards. Then the princess flew above him, and struck him again from above, this time causing his body to fall to the ground. Numinex crashed into the ground, the force of such a colossal impact on the ground causing a small earthquake.

Celestia would not let up her attack for a moment, so she sped towards the downed dragon to strike him again. As she did, the dragon opened his maw, and let out a sea of flames, that curved around Celestia, engulfing the area around her, and blocking any escape. The dragon kept his maw open, and kept his huge flow of flames spouting. Soon, the sea of fire stuck the regal mare. The fires would continuously stream over her, until every inch of the terrible fire had brushed over her form. She was getting burned, and without escape, she had to stop the onslaught of flames. Instead of flying away, she flew towards the dragon, and met his flames. She met his maw, and bucked his face hard with her hind hooves, causing him to stop his fire breath.

The Princess stood before him, panting, with her fine white coat now showing burn marks. The sharp spines along the black dragon’s back began to grow, “I WILL make you feel pain Celestia…” the dragon proclaimed. Suddenly, the black spines along his back and tail shot out towards the princess like swords. Celestia dodged most of them, and used her tail to whip away the rest. Her horn began to glow with a bright yellow. She began to launch a furry of sizzling magic bolts at Numinex in retaliation. The dragon simply raised his wings over his body, and the bolts of magic bounced off of them harmlessly.

Numinex struck the ground with his tail, and another shockwave was sent towards the princess, sending her off balance, and causing her to lose her balance. Numinex lunged forward, snapping his fanged jaw to devour the mare. She only just jumped away in time, bucking the dragons face firmly before she flew to a safer distance. The dragon did not let her escape so easily. He pursued her, and managed to smash his wicked claw into her again, making her tumble through the sky. While she tumbled he struck her again with the edge of his wing, making her fall to the ground. Celestia tumbled, and managed to only just land on her feet in time.

The black dragon landed gently on his hind legs, and furled his wings. Not a single scale on his perfect body had been harmed, and yet here the princess stood before him, bruised, burnt, and weary. Deep in his heart, he knew that Celestia was far more powerful than he could ever hope to be. And this is precisely what upset him. He could think of no greater perversion than to see such a powerful immortal being, in the body of such a weak mortal. Numinex would do her the favor, of relieving her from her weakened state. But it was why she resisted this, is what confused the black harbinger of doom, “Your fondness of the mortals has clouded your judgment Celestia. The coming of destruction is necessary.”

Celestia looked at him angrily. She flew up into the air, and prepared her magic. A bright, white solar glow emitted from her horn, as she prepared to attack Numinex again. A powerful beam of concentrated magic shot out from her horn, and direct at the dark dragon below her. Numinex countered her magic, and fired a torrent of powerful flames at the beam. The two forces collided with each other and held still, locked in a battle for power. Celestia neared Numinex, and she cringed as she used more and more of her power into the force of her solar beam. The dragon’s flames were starting to be blown back, and the beam was nearing Numinex. He stood his ground, and soon, his stream of flames tightened, becoming more and more concentrated. The dragon’s fire became its own beam of destructive energy, and it pushed Celestia’s back.

Numinex’s dark energy collided with Celestia’s horn, and created a massive explosion that shook the ground. The princess was blown back, and slammed into the ground. Now, she had to fight to stand up. With her mortal body in pain, she was forced to cry out in agony. Her limbs were shaking, barely able to take the stress of her own weight as she stood. The dragon flew towards her slowly, and ominously. She tried to weakly lite her magic to defend herself, but Numinex swatted her effortlessly, causing her bruised body to tumble across the ground. Again, she cried out in pain as he breaking body protested, but somehow managed to lift herself up once more.

Each time Princess Celestia got up, the dragon would follow her, and swat her around. He was toying with her, like a cat toys with a mouse. She had been beaten, and it took all of her strength just to stand up once more, but he continued to play with her. The lord of destruction found entertainment in seeing his once more powerful sister so weak and helpless, “Does this hurt you sister?” he taunted.

She cried, and moaned in her agony. The final time she was struck down, she could not get up. The dragon poised himself high, to crush her. As his fists came down upon her body, he found resistance. The princess had raised her fore hooves up, and was holding the dragon’s claws back, even as they trembled, the princess grimacing as she used up every ounce of courage she could muster, ever bit of her divine strength to hold the dragon’s massive claw back from crushing her to pieces. The dragon recoiled his fist, and looked at her. His deathly black stared at her, and his cruel mind began to work up a more fitting end for her. He knew she would not live long.

“No, not yet, sister. Your suffering will be prolonged, and you will have a final use before you are disposed of,” Celestia heard the dragon say, before she saw his claw coming down towards her. After that, the vision of the princess faded, and everything went dark.

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To be continued with, Chapter 6: Last Dusk