The End
Chapter 35: The End
Dawn Lightwing breathed in deeply, letting his chest swell as he drew in as much air as he could inhale comfortably before letting it out slowly. His body was quiet, the pains plaguing him earlier not bothering him now. His tiredness was still there, but it too hovered off to the side, like faint wisps of cloud swirling around his vision. There it would remain until he'd reached his limit. Only when he had done all that he could would Dawn be content to rest...whatever the results might be.
His concerns, his worries about the outcome, the question of whether he could succeed or not, were all immaterial to him now. He would do all that he could and whatever came would come. Fear hummed through his veins and Dawn paid it heed, but, at the same time, simply let it run its course, not letting it control him. Rather, he allowed it to illuminate the danger that threatened him. The source of that fear was the single unicorn stallion standing, looking placidly down at a hole in the floor, his eyes searching for the tiniest sign of life.
Wight Shade tilted his head from one side to the other, carefully scrutinizing the prone figure down below. The unmoving form of Swift Stride was still visible at the bottom, but had not moved for at least the two whole minutes that Wight had been observing him after finally letting up on the magical assault that had slammed the black-garbed earth pony down through the throne room's floor.
"It's amazing," he mused, "I pounded him continuously until I was fairly certain I'd killed him half a dozen times. Yet, I still don't feel safe taking my eyes off him. A liar is a frightening creature. He makes you doubt your own perceptions, making you unable to trust even the evidence of your own senses. He robs you of your certainty and you view all with suspicion and trouble yourself over every minor decision."
From where he'd been cowering against the wall since Terra Heart had come into the room, Kombu finally peeled himself away to join his teacher at the hole. Looking down, Kombu lit his horn, a faint, sparkling trail of magic reaching down through the hole in the floor, reaching for the stallion below. Kombu frowned for a moment. "His heart has ceased beating. I don't detect any signs of life. I do believe he is dead."
Wight pursed his lips. "I wonder...still...there's no point in delaying. Even if he did somehow miraculously cheat death and even managed to fool your examination, there should be nothing more he can do. I checked and there is no further hint of my Dark Matter on his person. He must have used up most of what he stole in order to work out how it could be used and to make the two bombs that he did have. I'm impressed with his ingenuity though."
Finally, Wight stepped away from the hole, looking up at the crystalline column that stood at the end of the throne room, where Celestia's throne itself had once stood and the shadowy figure of the unicorn held within. "Things are progressing even faster than I could have hoped. Twilight Sparkle is being surprisingly cooperative in there. I'd anticipated her doing what she could to delay the process, but she seems to even be helping it along."
"Most likely because she still hopes to hijack the control matrix," Kombu pointed out, "She would want to fully learn the array's function in order to safely dismantle it."
"That is quite true," agreed Wight, "But she won't succeed so long as I can continue to monitor her. It would seem that victory is at hoof."
"Huzzah for you then."
It was not Kombu who'd spoken, but another voice, this one coming, yet again, from the room's main entrance and the shattered remains of the large doors that once barred it. Looking over, Wight saw the familiar beige figure of Arkenstone, standing resolute, just outside the room itself.
"I'm beginning to understand what the Day Court must be like for Celestia," said Wight with a chuckle and a sigh, "ponies coming in, one after the other. Who else is after you, my dear stallion?"
"No one, I think," said Arkenstone, "...or perhaps not. Spitfire is still able to fight, though she hasn't brought Ouranos with her. Firefly has worn herself out apparently. Perhaps Luna might make one last effort to interfere."
"Ah well...I'll just have to take it as it comes," said Wight, "I suppose you are here to entreat me to stop this foolishness as well."
"I don't believe you have any intention of listening, so I will save my breath," replied Arkenstone, "I will let my actions speak instead."
"As I figured," said Wight, gesturing to Kombu that he should stand back. Kombu once again shrank up agains the wall, eager to be out of the way of the fight that was about to break out.
"I saw your mark on Swift Stride earlier," said Wight, "I figured that the two of you had a falling out over what to do about Twilight Sparkle. He wanted to kill her. Naturally, you would object. I did figure that you would be a bit more battered after a fight against an opponent of his caliber."
Arkenstone snorted and slowly shook his head, chuckling wryly. "You've gravely underestimated him...as have I...again..."
"What do you mean?" asked Wight, raising a curious eyebrow.
"I think you'll understand shortly," replied Arkenstone.
Arkenstone's tail flicked sharply, actually producing a faint cracking sound. Several pine needles scattered into the air, transforming into an array of swords arranged in the air around him. Those swords leapt into motion, charging at Wight like a flight of arrows. The air screamed as dozens of razor edges cut through it. The lowest ones raised a trail of dust in their wake, scattering shards of debris as they rushed towards their target.
Wight's wings appeared in an instant, their forms already blurring to intercept the blades. The wings and the flying swords joined with an echoing crash, followed by several explosions. Swords were swatted aside to slam into the floor around Wight, throwing up dust and more debris, all but completely obscuring his form as he waited passively for Arkenstone's onslaught to end.
However, Arkenstone wasn't content to bombard Wight from a distance. Instead, the blind stallion surged forward, charging across the floor. His movement wasn't as fast as Terra's or Swift's had been. But, as he moved, he seemed to draw in the dust his attack had raised, which swirled around him, turning black, merging together into plates of black armor, edged with gold. As Arkenstone's initial barrage ended, he came through in its wake, drawing in all the dust that Wight's defense had raised, not just to form more armor, but blades as well, blades that moved as an extension of Arkenstone's will, many of them larger than he was, slashing at Wight from a variety of angles.
Again, Wight Shade's wings moved to his defense, parrying the blades with incredible ease. Wight remained where he was, his eyes focused placidly on Arkenstone, watching with casual carelessness as his wings did the fighting for him. Arkenstone pressed the attack, closing in. One of the wings, having just fended off an incoming sword swung around to strike at Arkenstone himself.
Arkenstone actually leaned towards the attack. The plate over his shoulder seemed to swell in size as it met the incoming wing, which smashed into it with a shattering crash. To Wight's shock and surprise, the plate seemed to ripple, the ripple running across Arkenstone's body so that it emerged from the other side, the armor there suddenly sprouting blades that arced around at Wight, moving even faster than his previous ones.
One of Wight's wings was already there, interposing itself into the blades' path. However, to Wight's complete surprise, the blades only halted for a short instant before punching through the mass of feathers that had blocked nearly everything else that had been thrown at them so far. As a last resort, two of Wight's other wings beat furiously, lifting him up off the ground and out of harm's way. The blades barely missed piercing his chest.
"How in the world did you manage that?" asked Wight, sounding more curious and intrigued than alarmed.
"Singularity of intent," replied Arkenstone, "If I strike, I focus all of my Self into the strike, putting every ounce of intention that I have. In the same way, if I defend, I focus my all into defending against the strike. My armor becomes a shield that cannot be shattered and my blades become capable of cutting all."
From where he cowered off to the side, Kombu stared in awe at Arkenstone, his mind recalling the name of the technique that Perlin Bluestreak's father had gone to great lengths to ensure the colt he'd tried to fashion into a living weapon learned. "The All-Cutting Blade," he whispered.
Arkenstone's words didn't go unheard by Dawn either, who, as he listened, realized that Arkenstone's words were actually meant for him. The All-Cutting Blade, conceptually, was capable of cutting through anything, as its name suggested. Properly mastered, there was no substance that could withstand it. Theoretically, fully-mastered, it would even be capable of cleaving through abstract entities that could not be cut...entities like Discord, who was living manifestation of chaos, untouchable by normal means...Or Dark Matter, a substance that existed according to its own laws, all but untouchable by the forces of the mundane world...normally.
More importantly, Arkenstone was demonstrating that, in fully mastering the All-Cutting Blade, its application was not merely limited to offense. By applying the singularity of his intent, he could enhance his defense as well, withstanding Wight's wings, which had shattered almost anything they struck with almost contemptuous ease. The Blade could be a Shield, freely applicable to battle in whatever form its wielder required.
More importantly, Dawn didn't miss the hidden meaning in Arkenstone's words. Thanks to the efforts of both Swift Stride and Arkenstone, Dawn was now all but forgotten by Wight Shade, who had focused his attention on much more immediate threats. This was Dawn's chance, perhaps the last one he would ever have. He would have to put everything into this strike, all his remaining strength, all his will, the very essence of his Self. He would have to ensure it was a blow that Wight could not block or avoid. Arkenstone held Wight's attention, but that might only be a momentary arrangement. Wight Shade's Dark Matter exceeded their understanding. If Wight realized what Arkenstone and Dawn were doing, he would simply switch methods to one that they were not able to counter so readily.
His extremely brief lecture over, Arkenstone surged forward, his blades leading. Wight's wings turned him sideways so that the three on his left side were facing towards Arkenstone. The wings spun about the point where they joined with Wight's flesh, spinning like a three-point pinwheel and deflecting the first of Arkenstone's blades. As Arkenstone closed in, the blades returned to him as he raised up his hoof and curled it about the handle of one of them. The others merged with it, causing it to lengthen and thicken until it was a single sword, twice as long as his body and easily half as wide. Closing the distance between them, Arkenstone surged forward, bringing down the sword with all the strength his body and magic could muster.
Even Wight, uninitiated as he was in the martial arts, could feel the intense killing intent behind the sword, focused so intensely along the edge that it practically buzzed, even to Wight's unrefined senses. The three wings of his left side moved automatically to intercept the blade, trying to catch it on its sides, away from the edge. However, Arkenstone's downward swing would not be dissuaded. His swing was perfect, directed straight downwards at Wight's body. One of Wight's wings tried to interpose itself, only to be cut clean through as the sword continued its descent.
The wings on Wight's right side flapped frantically, carrying him out of the way just in time. The sword split through the air right in front of his nose before carving a line in the floor and through the wall on one side. Even as he escaped the blow, Wight's wings spun him about like a top so that the wings could slash at Arkenstone.
Even as Arkenstone turned to meet the attack, his massive sword crumbled back into dust and reformed as a large, broad shield, catching all three of the wings as they delivered their blow. The shield stopped the wings and shattered in the process. The fragments transformed into blades, which scattered in all directions, ripping apart everything between the two fighters. Wight's wings whirled desperately, trying to block the attack. However, Arkenstone's attack carried the force of Wight's previous strike in addition to his own. The wings's feathers broke, shattered, or were even sliced clean through by the deadly hail of bladed shrapnel.
Wight's horn uncoiled yet again, spinning itself into a shape like a clock-spring just above Wight's forehead. The blades that punched through Wight's wings bent abruptly and then vanished, as though disappearing around the curve of a bend in the air that had not been there before, their forms twisting like a mirage or seeming to suddenly thin out to a paper's width before vanishing.
This wasn't lost upon Dawn, who continued to observe, even as he drew deeper into himself to ready for his strike. Arkenstone's offense was overwhelming Wight's wings and forcing Wight to use his magic defensively. The wings' auto-defense function wasn't able to keep up with the course of battle and now Wight's magic was picking up the slack.
More importantly, this meant that Wight himself was now an active participant in the fight, rather than a passive observer. Until now, he had been content to let his wings do the fighting on their own. Acting automatically, their reflexes surpassed his own, allowing Wight to simply sit back and let them do their thing, chiming in with his offensive magic at his leisure. Now he was forced to concentrate on the battle, following it with his own senses, concentrating even harder if he wanted to actually keep up with what was going on. Wight was no martial artist. The fight was moving at a speed that no ordinary pony could hope to follow in order to pick out all the attacks and defenses being employed. Wight Shade wasn't even a battle mage. There was no way his senses, however acute they might have been, could have kept up with the battle's pace.
His response indicated that he was also probably using his magic, whether internally or externally, to make up the difference, possibly altering his perception of time to allow him to follow Arkenstone's attacks. But such an action required more attention, more concentration. And all of that was being focused on Arkenstone. Little by little, Arkenstone was drawing all of Wight's senses into the battle, capturing his full attention until Wight would have none to spare for anything else going on.
Dawn knew his opportunity was approaching.
"All right...now what?" Rainbow Dash blinked as she stared up at the white, crystalline column with strange, feathery etchings on its surface. Through it's smoky interior, she could make out the shadow of Twilight Sparkle being held within.
Rainbow, Fluttershy, Rarity, Pinkie Pie, and Applejack were all arrayed around the column. At first, they had spotted the fight going on beyond the column and beyond the hanging projection of the array's central focus. However, their Elements called to them, pulling them back towards Twilight's prison. If the Elements themselves knew what needed to be done, they weren't sharing that information with the girls. Instead, the pulsed quietly, as though waiting, gathering their strength.
To Fluttershy, the feeling was almost like having a living animal draped around her neck. Having worked with all sorts of animals, including predators, Fluttershy was fully familiar of that vague feeling of tension. She'd seen it in the cats she'd taken care of, hunting mice in the wild, of manticores in the Everfree, even in the timberwolves that had nearly killed her before Dawn had come into her life; that feeling of an animal tensing, right before striking. The Elements were like springs, coiling, gathering all that potential within themselves until the time came to release it, a time that was near at hoof.
When it came, Fluttershy knew it would only be an instant. They would have to time it perfectly or they would fail and the world would likely end.
"What do we do?" asked Rarity nervously.
"Wait," said Fluttershy, focusing all of her attention on Twilight's form, "We'll know..."
Wight's wings looked worse for wear. Their forms were tattered, broken and cut feathers streaming off continuously. While the feathers replenished themselves, Arkenstone's blades seemed to cleave through them just as quickly. Both the swords and the wings were practically indistinguishable to the naked eye now, white and black blurs flickering through the air between Wight and Arkenstone. Occasionally, a sword or a wing would strike marble and scatter fragments of it into the air. If any of these were heading in Wight's direction, Arkenstone's magic surged through them, transforming them into blades, increasing the speed and force with which they flew, adding to his onslaught.
Wight continued to defend stubbornly. His horn remained in its flat coil over his head. Blades that managed to force their way through his wings bent sharply and vanished. As Dawn watched, he noticed that something strange was happening with Wight's eyes. It was as though Wight suddenly sported extra irises. One was practically sitting next to his original one, but others hovered on the edges of the whites.
Wight was using the qualities of the Dark Matter that made up his own body to enhance his senses and follow Arkenstone's attacks. Whilst the organic matter it was composed of emulated the flesh and blood of a normal pony to some extent, it too was matter that abided according to its own laws. His nerves, when pressed, thickened and intensified, making blue lines appear under his coat, like veins spreading across his skin. In this enhanced state, he felt and saw the world around him much more keenly. At the same time, he was able to feely adjust his sensory input to keep from being overstimulated, keeping him from being harmed by that tactic as well.
As he and Arkenstone continued to trade blows, Wight looked for an opening to take the offensive. He saw a few such opportunities in the space of a hoofful of seconds, but hesitated each time. He was not a fighter. Making a critical decision in the midst of combat and taking a risk to gain the upper hoof were alien actions. Wight had always fought with the comforting knowledge that his Dark Matter made him superior by a sufficient margin that he needed no such skills. Being in battle with an opponent who could press him to this extent was a discomforting experience for him.
Finally, Wight decided to take his chances. Instead of keeping his horn in its flat coil, it extended out into a helix shape and flared. Arkenstone froze in place, his swords braced against Wight's wings, holding them off. For a second, it seemed that nothing happened. Then Arkenstone's armor twisted and warped around him, bending in impossible ways, almost looking as though it had turned rubbery and elastic. It pulled away from him in every conceivable direction, pulling back from his skin. Had Arkenstone not had his blades up, fending off Wight's wings, he would have been in a position to be cut down that very instant.
Something snapped and Arkenstone's armor finally broke, shattering back into dust around him. Beneath it, Arkenstone's fur was matted with sweat and his skin beneath it was pale. Both Dawn and Wight could see his strain plainly. Though Arkenstone had weathered Wight's magical assault the best of all the ponies that had been targeted by it, it was plain that holding it off had been a difficult effort for him.
The dust swirled back around, immediately reforming Arkenstone's armor. Wight attempted to press his advantage, but Arkenstone immediately redoubled his offensive, even risking thinning his armor by adding to the number of blades he was wielding. With a grimace, Wight drew his horn back into its flat spiral over his head.
How is he this strong? wondered Wight. Having seen the state that Swift Stride had been in, Wight had assumed that the fight between the two Celestial Knights had been vicious indeed. But Arkenstone seemed much fresher for the ordeal, though his late arrival suggested he had not been the winner. It's almost as though he'd gotten the opportunity to rest up after his fight against Swift Stride. But he wasn't nearly far enough behind for that to be the case. If anything, I think he arrived a few minutes before he revealed himself and observed the end of my fight with Swift Stride. How does he have the wherewithal to press me this hard?
Wight wanted to ask, but figured that this was a query that Arkenstone would not be so willing to answer.
As for Arkenstone, though his attacks were even more furious and intense than before, he was all too aware of his approaching limits. In spite of his apparent vigor, he was in nowhere near as good a shape as he seemed. Much to his irritation, he had Swift Stride to thank for being able to go as far as he already had. Once again, Swift had turned Arkenstone's own style of magic against him. The last bomb Swift had used in their fight had been filled with the scent of lavender, the aroma of which was frequently used to calm and soothe ponies in aromatherapy treatments. Swift had used the scent as a channel for his magic, sending it straight through to Arkenstone's brain in a tactic that Arkenstone had been specifically avoiding falling to during earlier stages of their fight.
Doing so had put Arkenstone to sleep almost immediately, dropping him like a sack of bricks. In that state, Swift would have easily been able to finish him off. Instead, Swift had left Arkenstone unharmed and headed for the throne room. If anything, the two or so minutes that Arkenstone had been asleep had been some of the most restful he'd ever experienced. He'd awakened, feeling as though he'd slept much longer, having managed to recover a substantial amount of the stamina and energy he'd lost in his fight with Swift. Without it, Arkenstone wouldn't have been able to press Wight nearly as hard as he already had.
If I hadn't fought with him, perhaps Swift would have been able to end this fight on his own, thought Arkenstone dourly. Though, if that were truly the case, Swift wouldn't have bothered with threatening Twilight. All Arkenstone knew was that, at the moment, he was able to push Wight's limits. But that wouldn't last forever. For all that he held something of an advantage over Wight, Arkenstone couldn't seem to find the opening to administer a decisive blow. It looks as though I'm going to have to leave that to him in the end, he thought.
As Wight backed down from the onslaught of swords that hammered at his wings and threatened his body continuously, Arkenstone felt his own strength and stamina reaching their limit. Even if he drew in the power of the earth to extend himself to his fullest, putting everything into his assault would drive even the most proficient practitioner of earth pony magic to their absolute limits. It's time...I hope Dawn's ready.
Abruptly, Arkenstone abandoned all defense, shedding his armor completely. Instead, his swords both multiplied and lengthened, surging forward like a tidal wave of razor edges, completely filling the space between him and Wight. They crashed over Wight Shade like a breaking wave, moving so swiftly that it was impossible to track a single one's movement to a normal pony's perception.
Wight's eyes rolled wildly in their sockets, spinning so quickly that their myriad irises and pupils appeared as red and black blurs, the unnatural motion not resembling that of a normal pony's eyes at all. His wings blurred even faster, but they were unable to full stem off the onslaught. Broken feathers filled the air like a cloud around him. The flat coil of his horn tightened until it resembled a single flat disk with a spiral groove etched into its surface, looking like a unicorn's horn had been mashed down and flattened into a plane. The swords that hammered their way past his wings once again bent or thinned out of existence before they could reach him.
Finally, Wight's wings shattered completely, the feathers exploding away from him, running all the way down to his shoulders. Funny, he thought, The last time this happened, I was faking. But now it's happened for real.
The swords rushed in, clearly hungry for his flesh. Wight's horn began to spin in place, its motion make the spiral grove that decorated its surface seem to wind inwards on itself. The barrage of Arkenstone's swords twisted and vanished, as though they were being drawn into a vortex around Wight, disappearing in almost invisible, spiral lines in the air around him.
Arkenstone sagged, gasping for breath as the last of his swords vanished into the mysterious vortex of Wight Shade's defense. He was spent, having thrown everything he had into that last attack. His entire body felt numb and even the earth itself felt distant to his hooves, though he was standing right on top of it. Silence descended on the throne room, punctuated only by the occasional clack of falling masonry. Wight's eyes returned to normal and the blue lines lacing his coat faded away. His horn elongated before recoiling back into the shape of a regular unicorn's horn.
Wight opened his mouth to speak. What he intended to say would never be known because, in that instant, the one pony he had completely forgotten about appeared behind him. The ebony form of Dawn flickered in right behind Wight, crossing the distance between the stallion and his resting place in an instant. Dawn's wing was shining white, every feather standing out starkly as he held it out, arrayed like a large blade.
Wight barely had time to begin glancing backward at the incoming attack, his eyes going wide as he realized what was happening. However, it was nowhere near enough as Dawn rolled his body to put all his strength and weight behind the motion as he swung the wing downwards. The feathers cut a white line through space itself, seeming to disconnect everything on either side when viewed from head on. From the side, it was a crescent of pure white that sliced outward, its edge sinking, unhindered, into Wight Shade's flesh as Dawn's attack struck home.
Abruptly, the girls' Elements flared brilliantly. Their eyes widened as they realized what it meant.
"Now!" shouted Fluttershy.
They wasted no time. A beam of colored light lanced out from their Elements like a quintet of brightly-colored spears, stabbing through the column to reach the figure of Twilight Sparkle concealed within. Her shadow immediately blazed violet to match the light of the incoming beams, all of them melting into a swirling rainbow as they came together, washing over and around Twilight furiously. The column exploded in a blaze of rainbow light, the sound of something shattering accompanying it.
Dawn put everything he had into that attack, all of his strength and magic, all of his will and intention, focusing everything into his intention to cut Wight. There was nothing else to think about, neither attack nor defense. All that mattered was this one strike.
Wight did nothing, could do nothing. The blade cut into his flesh and then cleaved through it with frightening ease. It swept through and past him, carving a line on the floor and wall that intersected with the one that Arkenstone's sword had left earlier. With a groan, the wall crumbled away, leaving them with a view of the open air beyond. Wight's body was split in two, both halves falling away from each other, as Wight's crimson eyes stared at the colt who had finally managed to bring him down.
Dawn's hooves hit the floor, most of his momentum spent on launching the attack. However, his legs buckled as he landed, sending him into a sprawling roll as what inertia remained sent him tumbling. He came to a stop, laying on his side, gasping for breath. He felt dazed and tired, ready to fall asleep at any second. Luckily, he didn't feel the strange empty, disconnected feeling he'd had at the end of his fight against Terra Heart. Back then, Dawn had been so sapped of strength that he hadn't even been able to think coherently about his surroundings. Hopefully that means I won't require another magic transfusion, he thought, wincing at the idea of spending another few weeks feeling hobbled and helpless.
The two pieces of Wight Shade's body hit the ground, his eyes still locked with Dawn's. The colt was thankful that he'd had that chance. It was ironic that a lesson he'd once learned during a snowball fight of all things had finally helped him bring Wight down. A pony is at their most vulnerable when they are assured of victory. Wight Shade, feeling that he'd weathered all that Arkenstone could throw at him, had abandoned his defenses. His wings had been destroyed. At that moment, the one pony he'd forgotten had attacked and, finally, succeeded where everyone else, even Princess Celestia herself had failed.
A twitch of motion from Wight's corpse drew Dawn's attention. Looking over, Dawn's eyes widened as he saw that Wight's body was beginning to move. No! That's not possible! To Dawn's horror, Wight Shade's body turned a ghostly white that washed over his coat, mane and tail, the two halves suddenly dissolving into some kind of stringlike substance, as though his body had been woven from thread that was unravelling. The strings spiraled into the air, weaving about themselves, yet never tangling until both halves of Wight's body had completely unravelled.
To Dawn's growing horror, those threads spiraled downward, weaving together, forming legs first, then his body, gradually rewinding back into the form of a pony from the bottom up. Finally, Wight Shade stood there, his whole body a deathly pale color for a few seconds, even his eyes turning a ghostly white, before his original colors washed over him once more.
"Well done," said Wight, an earnest smile on his face, "I have never been pressed that hard in all my life. Granted, I haven't been in all that many fights, but you have done better than I'd ever thought possible."
"H-how?" asked Dawn, stunned by this reversal of their fortunes.
"My body is composed of flesh and blood," said Wight, "But not the same kind of flesh and blood that normal ponies have. It is an organic Dark Matter that I created. Creating inorganic matter was actually much easier for me. Organic matter is more complex and, at first, my body was continually breaking down.
"Fortunately, my friend and former student..." He gestured to Kombu, who began to step away from the wall once again. "...was able to help me improve the design of my organic matter. He was the one who designed Perlin's mithril wings, by the way. The improvements actually emerged as a byproduct of the work we went through to provide Perlin with his new wings.
"Naturally, because my Dark Matter flesh is different from mundane flesh, it has different qualities. My internal organs are actually more like a viscous mass than distinct body parts. By altering their arrangement, I was able to avoid fatal damage, even though I'd been cut in half. I was then able to reconstitute myself using the quality of those particular forms of Dark Matter had that drew them together, even if separated. Of course, doing so was actually a very intensive process, especially when you'd caught me off-guard like that. It took all my skill to carry it out before your blow actually killed me."
"This is so unfair," grumbled Dawn.
"Such is the way of the world," replied Wight, "I created my Dark Matter to make the world more unfair in my favor."
Dawn tried to get up, but his body refused to obey him. This time, it wasn't fear, just sheer exhaustion. His attempts to move manifested only in a tired twitch.
"In any case, it would seem that this fight is over." Wight tilted his head as he regarded Dawn. "I was right to believe that you would exceed my expectations yet again. It disappoints me to have to kill you at this juncture...but it's apparently going to be necessary to ensure there is absolutely no more interference." His horn began to uncoil once again. "Farewell, Dawn Lightwing. You made things truly interesting for me." A light began to shine up through the center of the helix.
Sudddenly, Wight froze. The light coming from his horn died like the flame of a candle being snuffed out. His eyes went wide. A cracking noise echoed through the room. Its source was not the broken walls or the crumbling floor. Instead, it came from Wight's body itself. Looking down, Wight saw a black line running up the length of his foreleg. "What's this now? I thought I'd fixed this problem."
The crack lengthened, spreading further up his foreleg, branching out. Wight's eyes narrowed as he regarded it. He seemed to be concentrating, trying to repair the damage. But the crack only grew even more. More cracks formed on his other legs. The first foreleg affected actually began to crumble, pieces breaking off and disintegrating into dust.
"Oh...I see..." said Wight, suddenly relaxing. He chuckled and smiled at Dawn. "I guess you won after all."
"What?" asked Dawn, blinking.
"Maybe that wasn't your intention, but by forcing me to bend the entirety of my attention to surviving your attack, you gave Twilight Sparkle the opening she needed to take over the control matrix for my array. She's also apparently learned how to manipulate or, at least, break apart my Dark Matter, as evidenced by this." He lifted his crumbling leg to emphasize the point. "In fact, she'll probably start dismantling my array any second now."
As if in response to Wight's words, a giant crack appeared in central focus a short ways behind him. Then, just like Wight's own body, it too began to crumble away into nothingness. Looking back and seeing it disappear, Wight let out a tired sigh. "It seems that it's over for real this time."
"You're taking this awfully well for a stallion who just had his life's work destroyed," said Dawn.
Wight shrugged and chuckled. "Oh well. I told Celestia and Twilight and anypony else who tried to talk me down that they were perfectly within their rights to try and stop me. It would be petty of me to begrudge the fact that they succeeded. Very few ponies meet their end having completely satisfied their ambitions and meeting all the goals they set out to do in their lives. I came farther than most." His body was beginning to crumble faster now.
"I didn't think she would kill you," said Dawn.
"I can't help but admire her brilliance," admitted Wight, "I completely underestimated her. Come to think of it, I underestimated all of you...especially that Swift Stride. It would seem that I fell for his lies once again."
"His lies?" mused Dawn, thinking back. He remembered stumbling upon Swift's first attempt to kill Twilight and the words the black-garbed stallion had spoken. Both Dawn and Firefly had mused that Swift's true interest didn't lie with killing Twilight, but that it was a lie of some sort. For what reason and for who had been a mystery...until now.
I see, thought Dawn, He went through with that farce because he wanted to give Wight Shade the idea of connecting Twilight Sparkle to his array. In doing so, he actually placed Twilight in the perfect position to ultimately destroy the array if she got the chance. Everything else revolved around breaking Wight's attention away from her so that she could follow through. A magnificent deception indeed.
Wight's body was almost completely gone by now. The focus of the array behind him had crumbled away into nothing. Behind it was what remained of the column where he'd imprisoned Twilight Sparkle, a brilliant light, like the sun in miniature, blazing away from within.
"I suppose as ways to die go, this one isn't so unpleasant," said Wight with a chuckle, the breaking of his body reaching his neck, "Farewell, Dawn Lightwing. You made things truly interesting for me in the end."
With that, Wight's head and horn crumbled away into dust that seemed to blow away in the early summer breeze that drifted in through the holes Dawn and Arkenstone had opened up in the wall. Silence descended upon the throne room once more.
Nearby, Dawn heard slow, heavy hoofsteps. Looking over, he saw that Arkenstone was laboriously making his way towards Dawn. His breath came in deep, gasping pants as he made his way over. "How are you feeling?" he asked.
"Like I got run over by a train," replied Dawn, "And you...?"
"I feel wrung out like a towel," replied Arkenstone. He turned his head and his unseeing eyes towards the column. "Swift Stride is never going to let me live this down. I fell for his tricks again."
"Is he alive?" asked Dawn.
"I'm sure of it," replied Arkenstone, "I can still smell him down through that hole, but his body is gone and there isn't a whiff of death coming from where he was."
"Impossible!" objected Kombu, "I checked his vital signs myself! That stallion was as dead as-eep!" He realized that he'd gotten the attention of both Dawn and Arkenstone.
"We will deal with you later," said Arkenstone grimly, his nose twitching as he sniffed in Kombu's direction, "For your own good, I suggest you stay put. If you make me go through the trouble of hunting you down later, I will find you and I will cut off all four of your legs to make sure you can't go anywhere. Is that understood?"
Kombu let out an inarticulate squeak and sank down to the floor.
Snorting lightly, Arkenstone turned and regarded the light shining from the dais where Celestia's throne had been. "Shall we find out what Twilight is up to?"
"I'm not in any condition to go there under my own power," replied Dawn tiredly.
He heard the sound of rustling wings and a set of hooves touching down lightly next to him. "Don't worry," said Fluttershy, her voice barely a whisper, "I'll take you."
Dawn was feeling so tired that he barely noticed her wrap him up in her arms and hold him close as she began to fly across the throne room towards the light. Nor did he notice the thunder of countless hooves as Shining Armor came rushing in through the main entrance, as many of the Royal Guard as could be spared following on his heels. Arkenstone went to meet them, their voices fading into muffled whispers to Dawn's tired mind.
Fluttershy set down on the dais, settling onto her haunches so that she could hold her son, hugging him tightly, but gently, as she turned her eyes to the shimmering sphere of light that now blazed where the column that had imprisoned Twilight had once been.
"Now where am I?" mused Twilight, looking around. Her body was still present, which either meant that she had retained the awareness to rebuild her form in this intellectual space or she was in a different realm altogether, with her body along for the ride.
The last thing she remembered was feeling Wight Shade's awareness falter. She'd felt his mind turn away from her completely. In that moment, Twilight had leapt upon the chance. The calculations for the array had been a hair's breadth from completion, but she'd managed to figure out how to take control of the array itself and bring it to a halt. From there, she'd felt the power of her friends flow into her as she worked out the magic she needed to bring down the array and Wight Shade with it. She'd felt the power of her own magic surge within her and, in that moment, she'd been in complete control of everything. She'd felt the different foci of the array arranged in the large circle around Equestria, before she'd dismantled them. Then she'd turned her attention to the central focus and Wight himself.
By then, she'd completely worked out how to use her magic to defeat his Dark Matter, ironically using the very information he'd been pumping into her mind ever since she'd been imprisoned by him. She'd discerned the keys that held Wight's body together and used them to dismantle him, right as he'd been about to kill Dawn and Arkenstone. It had been a near thing, but she'd succeeded.
And then darkness had swept over her...not the darkness of unconsciousness, but genuine "who turned off the lights" darkness. Though her hooves felt as though she was standing on something solid, Twilight could not shake the sensation that she was floating through empty space. Though there was no source of light to be found, she could see herself clearly.
After what seemed like an eternity of waiting for any sign of what to do, light suddenly appeared. Images hanging in space drifted outwards from that point of light, forming a hallway of pictures leading down into the light. As Twilight looked at one of the images, she was shocked to see her friends and herself at the celebration in Ponyville, following their saving Princess Luna. Looking to another, she saw her friends fighting over the extra Grand Galloping Gala ticket Princess Celestia had sent her.
"These are my memories," Twilight realized. For a moment, the crisis she had been involved in was forgotten as she skipped from one memory to another, gleefully recalling happy moments from her time with her friends. Here was a memory from her first Winter Wrap-Up. There was her dealing with Applejack's stubborn pride during Applebuck Season. The memories came one after another, warming Twilight's heart.
After a short time, she remembered where she was...or rather, where she should have been. "That's right? Why am I here in the first place? Where am I?"
"I believe I can answer those questions."
A gasp escaped Twilight whirled towards the voice, her eyes going wide and tears spilling out. "Princess Celestia!"
"Hello, Twilight Sparkle," said Celestia, stepping out from amongst the drifting memories.
A gleeful Twilight rushed to her mentor and embraced her enthusiastically. "I was so worried!" said Twilight, a sob working its way into her voice, "We didn't know what happened to you."
"I know and I'm sorry that I worried you," said Celestia, gently nuzzling her student's mane, "I fell to Wight Shade's power and was unable to stop him. You and your friends were forced to contend with the consequences of the mistake I made many years ago. I'm glad that you succeeded."
"Y-you're...you're not dead, are you?" asked Twilight.
"No," said Celestia with a shake of her head, "I am very much alive. I suspect you have the power to help me get out of Wight Shade's prison, once you return."
"You said you could explain," said Twilight, "What is this place?"
"This place is many things," said Celestia, "But, most importantly, it is you, the sum total of your life, your experiences, your identity. You've seen your memories here and they have shown you the source of your joy and strength."
"But what does it mean?" asked Twilight.
"In order to defeat Wight Shade, you drew upon the strength of your friends and your faith in them to create a completely new kind of magic," explained Celestia, "Not merely a new spell, but a new kind of magic entirely. When you did so, you reached the pinnacle of your power." She wiped away a proud tear. "I had always thought that you would reach this point some day. I never thought it would be like this. Things rarely go the way we plan."
"I'm not sure I understand," said Twilight.
"You will," replied Celestia, "When you return to your friends, you will see the results of your hard work and your bond with them..."
The light from which the images of Twilight's memory streamed suddenly increased in brightness, spreading out to swallow up everything.
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Oh shit. Wings.
so this is what MMC would have been like if it was an hour long
Well, as far as endings go, it's not bad. Full circle and alicornhood all at once. I hope for a few more details on her new form of magic, seeing as she was able to break down 'strange' matter in the form of his Dark Matter, she is clearly potent.
I keep refreshing the page, hoping for another chapter. See? I knew this would happen. Your readers are spoiled!
Let's see...
First comes coronation for Twilight into Princess Twilight
Then comes wedding for Twilight and Arkenstone, making him Prince (or just Prince-Consort)
Then comes the baby
Aww.....
I feel a little sad for Wight Shade.
I KNOW WHAT'S GONNA HAPPEN NEXT!!
Good God, that's been a long time coming.
6876554
Well there's nothing wrong with being spoiled from time to time XD. Got to say though, we're lucky that we get spoiled by the most awesome author on the site.
Yay Swift is alive! Probably not doing so hot though.
@moguera
I found this mistake lurking around, methinks you meant freely. Great chapter though and i still love this series XD. Been following it since your third story and actively keeping up with releases as they come.
Woah!
6876554 Having done that, I can assume you will now create a care package for the author and deliver it via hot air balloon, only for it to be caught in a tornado that the author accidentally created alongside a pony named Lightning Dust, right?
See that, everyone? Water Lilly is actually Pinkie Pie in disguise!
6876549 Well Wight even said it after capturing Twilight, that she almost won, and was on the verge of making new magic, as magic to the magic realm, like Dark Matter was to the physical realm.
So basically, a magic that defied all logic, is next to untouchable and unstoppable, and can not be blocked or pierced. Basically, Twilight will be able to prevent any kinda spell from happening, and no one will be able to stop her spells or block against their effects. What's more, there is no limit, rules, or laws, so Twilight is literally a god of magic and is able to do anything and everything with magic.
If Wight is to be believed.
Okay, first, this was some pretty good stuff. You definitely did the whole Twilicorn thing better than the show, though that's admittedly not that high of a bar to clear. Woulda liked some more Twilight centered stuff, cause the more direct fighting stuff has been covered a lot by the rest of the story, but I suppose it's fine because that's just what the story is.
But I come to you with a criticism, and a critical one. The word actually. I checked, and this chapter uses the word actually 11 times. It doesn't sound that bad in a work of this length, but the actually's run dense, five of them popping up in a set of three paragraphs. It's not just this chapter either. The last chapter had ten actually's, the one before six, and the one before that 15. 15 actually's in 7,410 words. Over .2% of that chapter is the word actually. You gotta cut down on the things, is the point. It's like a weird written tic, one that can be straight up eliminated in the vast majority of cases. You'd have a better story if you just went ahead and cut out every single solitary one, though you could get somewhere possibly better than that by checking the cases individually. Maybe not though, so the indiscriminate hammer of concision method could be both the easier and more helpful way to go.
Good, now we don't have to listen to Morning Star's monologues.
Well Wright didn't go out in a cliche style but with grace. Got to give him that.
and for the rest. *Slow clap* You beat canon on how Twilight did this. It's sort of a shame that the Nobles are already out of the picture for to see Twilight emerge an alicorn.
All ends are beginnings.
Arkenstone had not been very good recently but seeing him go toe to toe with Wight was amazing. I don't know if it was intentional but I liked the relation in lines with Terra
and Wight
.
Dramatic music for Dawn's final attack.
6876533 hour? Try 16 weeks of worth of one episode.
6877208 I can see Dawn's attack being Mugetsu. It helps that Wight is like Aizen.
Enjoyed the hell out of the story but Twilicorn...eh, not so much.
6877420
I forgot that she wasn't one here.
I hope you at least ascend th others. It ould be bloody unfair to have Twilight be immortal and the others not.
And... And...
I think Wight Shade was one of my favorite characters.
6876575
Arky and Sparky sitting in a tree. ( or perhaps an organic constructed library )
K-I-S-S--I-N-G.
First comes love,
Then comes marriage,
Then comes a baby in a baby carriage.
6877407
Minus the rage from losing, which was kinda disappointing.
I oddly have the suspicion that we haven't seen the last of Wight Shade.
Hey Twilight! Wight Shade gave you wiiiiiiings!
This was a very fitting end to Wight Shade and I found myself enjoying it immensely - his smarts and intellect have always been his biggest assets and what allowed him to be such a threat, so in a way it was very fitting that he was brought down by Twilight in a battle of wits (of a sort), with the others working to give her that opening. He only died when he was outsmarted, not outfought, which is incredibly satisfying - goes to show that, for all the cool powers and martial prowess people have developed during this story, brute force and physical ability alone won't carry the day. Well done.
I admit I'm kinda surprised how gracefully he took his own defeat, but I guess that goes to show how divorced from normal thought patters and emotional driving forces Wight Shade was - as alien in mind as he was in the body, by the end. Which is another thing that made him dangerous, I suppose - one can only hope he is truly well and gone and doesn't have a backup body stashed away somewhere.
And I admit it was pretty satisfying to finally see Arkenstone kick some well deserved ass - his overall performance over the stories has left me increasingly questioning his suitability for the role of a Knight as he floundered time and time again (especially with the continent-sized weakness that the last chapter revealed), so this was vindicating in a way, and perhaps for the first time during the whole story I felt like he was deserving of "the relentless" moniker he has been saddled with, when he managed to press Wight further than anyone accomplished before. And I'll try not to think too hard about how he failed to employ this level of offense against Swift Stride, because with the sort of a bladestorm he unleashed on Wight it would be physically impossible to dodge the swords no matter how nimble you are due to lack of space between the swords to squeeze through no matter how you contract, but ehhh :P
But yeah, good on Arkenstone - he was desperately in need of a decent showing, and this chapter delivered on that front. He and Twilight definitely feel like the two main contributors to Wight's demise.
And Swift Stride, I guess - and I'm not surprised he wasn't actually dead. I guess Wight wasn't smart enough to rip him in half or something similarly fatal - good on him, he could have easily died here had Wight been more ruthless and done something more nasty besides pummel him into submission. And it's definitely smart on his side to make himself scarce - I imagine Twilight is still very, very pissed at him and there is no telling what she might do to him in her newfound - or about to be newfound - state. If he's not careful she might well finish what Wight started
It's almost a shame that Wight faded away before Twilight finished her ascension - I would have liked to see what he thinks of that development, heh. And here's hoping that she uses the Dark Matter or her other newfound powers to restore Arkenstone's eyesight - I don't think this blindness shtick is working out as well as he might have originally hoped
<insert obligatory NOOO for there being only one chapter released today>
Better ascension story than the one the freaking show writers came up with
he was able to freely adjust his
...you son of a bitch!
This has got to be THE BEST alternate way I've ever seen for Twi to become an alicorn!
Stupid Wight not even making defeating him properly satisfying.
And Swift is still a jerk. Also a gambler, that was close as hell.
On the other hand, victory! Though the coronation might have to wait, what with Canterlot being a huge mess at the moment
SQUEEE!!!! Heeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeere's Twilicorn!
Oh yeah, good work on defeating Wight Shade; there's also that.
Errors:
The error should be obvious now.
Comma needed after "sword".
Discord, who was the living manifestation of chaos.
Remove that extra S. "WIngs" is plural and ends in an S; all you needed was the apostrophe.
"its"; no apostrophe. You made similar mistakes in the previous two chapters as well.
freely
Missing words and letters: "His wings blurred even faster, but even they were unable to fully stem off the onslaught."
Comma needed after "herself".
in the central focus
6877963 agreed man
also this was glorious and 10x better than cannon version of rising 2 alicornhood
ok I know cliffhangers are needed in story's and this is about the grates one I know of but dang.
this is just unfair.
ok I normally do not use videos in my comments but this just so fits.
6877963
I agree this is so much better than the way the show turned her.
6877599
Pinkie: "Yeah. Just imagine the chess games Twilight and him could've played
"
EGGHEADS!!
"
Rainbow: "
waaaaaaait...
wait, no
Yes! Die! Anything but that!
Nothing! no-thing, nothing at all!
No! Don't understand! Do not give in Twi! DO NOT GIVE INTO THE PULL OF THE PULL OF HASBRO!!!
(Just so u guys know I'm joking, this is a great fic and I support the release of the next story!!!)
I think this is my favorite bit of dialog between a Reality Warping villain and a hero I've read in a while. Awesome sauce!
And thus Wright Shade was defeated by his own arrogance and a plan that was set down by forces more powerful than his 10 or more years before he could even set them into motion!
I'll be honest, I was hoping his array would fire.
Wight Shade is an it. A cypher. A blot. He is even less equine than Titan was from The Immortal Game.
Ponies- or people -that think the normal rules of right and wrong don't apply to them are less than the meanest mote of existence.
6877715 In his own words, A lier is a dangerous creature
Man, Wight Shade is the most chill villain in the history of villainy! I would have expected at least a little anger as his decades old plan was finally thwarted, but no. I'm kinda disappointed.
Also it's official. You did a much cooler "Twilight Ascended" scene than the show did.
Well, at least a Canon character managed to accomplish something. Namely by falling into an obvious trap and being defeated and captured due to Swift Strides machinations. In short, The only character given any agency to affect the plot is yet another thrice-damned OC.
Thanks for showing up Twilight. You have joined every other Canon character in the series in becoming totally useless.
8291219
This is Dawn's story. This story was always going to be pretty OC-driven. And even though OCs did a lot of the story-driving things, the Mane 6 and other canon characters helped a lot and Twilight did ultimately defeat Morning Star, using her intelligence and her friend's help.
I really don't get why you're upset?
7069318
Same.
7884306
I mean, the bar isn't that high (what even was the shows Ascendance scene? It made no sense) but definitely true.
That was a very interesting ending! I had honestly thought that Twilight and her friends would fail and it would connect to how Perlin felt something when his hand was over Element of Kindness. So I had originally thought that there will be a new group consisting of Perlin and maybe the other foals like Dawn, Scootaloo, Dinky, Rumble, and I wasn't sure on who else yet.