The Pony Who Embraced The Darkness

by Zurvan

Chapter 25: Just What I Needed

Chapter 25: Just What I Needed

Princess Celestia sits in her chambers eating her dessert when a guard rushes in. “Your Majesty!”

Celestia looks at the guard obviously annoyed. “The sun has set, it's my sister’s job to take care of business until morning.”

“Princess Luna told me to get you, said it was urgent.”

Celestia pushes the cake away. “This had better be very important.”

“I know that another guard came rushing in then she closed the Night Court and sent me to get you.”

Celestia gets up quickly and heads to the throne room. “Sister what is the emergency?”

“We are under attack.”

“I’d think I’d know if we were…” Celestia starts to say only for a loud roar to shake the castle.

“Buck!” Luna swear. “The dragon the scout saw has made it here.”

“Why didn’t you lead with the dragon?”

“I was getting there, but you didn’t even believe in the attack.”

Celestia sighs. “Tell me what the report said about this dragon, please.”

“It’s a black.”

“Luna, this is not the time for jokes. The prismatic dragons all died out before your banishment.”

“I thought so too, but the guard described the dragon perfectly.”

“It must be some trick.” Celestia says as the building shakes and a sizzle is heard. She looks up and a hole is slowly being eaten away in the castle. “Faust damn! It is a black! Keep the guards away from the dragon, I’ll armor up and deal with it.”

Luna nods. “I’ll take charge of the guards and deal with the soldiers that are coming behind the dragon.”

==========

Celestia goes back to her room and grabs her golden armor with her magic and quickly puts it on. She uses her magic to open a chest and moves things out of the way until she comes to a small box. She pulls the box out with her hooves and places it on the floor then using her magic she pulls a golden key attached to a golden chain off from around her neck and inserts it into the box, the second it touches the box her magic aura dissipates. “All these years, I’d hoped I never need this again.” She uses her hoof to turn the key and the box opens up. Inside the box a pair of earrings sit, they look as if somehow two teardrops were turned into jewelry. Grabbing the earrings with her hooves she quickly puts them in then marches out the door to face the dragon.

“The legendary Princess Celestia!” Onyx says mockingly as Celestia steps outside the castle. “Come to meet your doom?”

“Hardly.” Celestia says as a couple guards deliver a golden glaive to her. “Surrender now, or I shall be your doom.” She says as she takes flight and grabs the glaive in her front hooves.

Onyx grins. “Good, I always wanted to kill a princess.” She says as rakes her claw at Celestia.

Celestia brings the glaives pole up in front of her blocking the attack. “You’ll find I'm not that easy to kill.” She pushes the glaive up scratching the gold paint off it as she does. Onyx swings at her with her other claw but Celestia flies backwards dodging the attack. Then swings the glaive cutting through Onyx scales.

“How!” Onyx screams in pain.

“We call it star steel, millennia ago rocks fell from the sky, the material inside when refined creates the strongest metal on Equestria.” Celestia explains as she attacks again.

“Interesting.” Onyx say as she dodges the attack only to bring her tail around and hit Celestia directly in her armored side knocking her away. “But ultimately useless.” She says before taking a deep breath and waiting. Sure enough Celestia flies towards her, when she's too close to dodge Onyx exhales a cloud of green mist. Onyx grins as the heavy acidic mist completely obscures Celestia so she is caught completely by surprise when Celestia flies right through the mist and emerges unscratched, her glaive leading the way. “How?” Onyx asks as she attempts to dodge the attack.

Celestia sees the attempt at a dodge and move accordingly pushing the glaive deep into Onyx’s chest. “The tears of Bahamut. Absorb all magic. You’re acidic breath was like flying through fog.” Celestia explains as she lets go of the glaive, and watches Onyx’s body fall to the ground, As she flies back to the castle a couple guards go to retrieve her glaive. It’s been too long since she took to the air without her magic; thankfully the fight was short. Hopefully Luna will find no problem with the soldiers. She walks to her chambers and removes the earrings, placing them back in the box and relocking it, before removing the key and placing both in the previous hiding spots. She feels a rush as her magic returns to her and passes out.

==========

Meanwhile Luna marshals the guards, putting on her obsidian armor as she waits. Leading the group of guards she grabs her obsidian glaive and marches to the entrance right as the horde of zomponies rushes at the gate. “Let none past!” Luna commands as her glaive beheads one.

Several guards cheer and raise their weapons meeting the horde with resistance, above Onyx roars stirring the horde. The horde keeps spreading out forcing Luna to spread her guards more and more.Once the line is spread out is when Greaves suddenly jumps over several of the horde members, kicking an unexpecting guard in the head, the result of the kick killing the guard. The dark magic of the horde quickly animates the dead guard and has him fighting on their side now. Greaves grins at how easy it was to find a hole in the line. He slips inside the castle, and starts walking the halls looking for Twilight. He feels the ground quake and quickly realizes that Onyx must be dead and hurries through the halls. He finally finds himself in the medical ward and looks around. With nopony around he goes further into the ward and finds Twilight laying unconscious. Seeing her brings back memories of his previous life and he groans. “Twilight.” He says as he grabs his head, then his eyes turn black as the shadowy force takes him back over. He presses his forelegs on the table and raises his right foreleg. Shadow condenses around the hoof forming a knife. He goes to strike the shadow knife down when his foreleg is stopped by a magical forcefield.

Twilight glares at him with her good eye, her horn covered in magic. “You’re not Greaves!” She says as she uses her magic to force him away then opens her wings and flies.

“Oh but I am princess.” Greaves says. “Or at least I was. Greaves died protecting you, and then Lord umbra resurrected him for his own means. What better use for an old guard then to kill the one he was originally meant to protect?”

“What are you?”

“I am the shadow that animates this body, nothing more. Destroy this body and I am free!” Greaves laughs as a tendril of shadow comes from him and launches at Twilight.

Twilight uses her magic to create a shield. “Then perhaps I need to find away around that.” she says as she uses her magic to create a cage around Greaves,and refocuses the lights so that he has no shadow.. “I’ll study you and see if I can’t separate the two of you without killing Greaves again.”

“No, wait you can’t do that!” Greaves yells in the cage, but finds himself unable to move, and his access to shadows cut off.

“I just did.” Twilight says as a couple guards come in to check on the ruckus. “Guards find a very well lit cell for this captive, there is to be no hint of shadow near him understand?.”

“Yes ma’am!” They reply one taking the cage in his magic and the other creating light so that no shadows form and goes away.

Twilight lands as the medical ponies rush to her. “Princess, you are awake!” One doctor says.

“I felt the presence of the shadow magic that hurt me before, and it woke me up.” Twilight says as she doctor’s examine her.

The doctor nods. “You are healing quite well, now that you are awake you should regenerate your foreleg in a couple days. Your eye is a little more complicated, but it should regenerate in less than a month.

Twilight nods. “Am I as healthy as I’m going to be right now?”

“Of course, we magically kept you full of fluids and nutrients you needed and stimulated your muscles to avoid atrophy.”

“I’d like to know how that pony came so close to killing me.”

“That would be my fault Twilight.” Luna says from the door. “The castle was under attack so I took most of the guards to defend the line, I didn’t realize that they were trying to get the line thin enough to sneak somepony in until too late.”

“Wait the castle was under attack?”

“Yes, most of the forces fled when the dragon fell in battle to my sister, whom I’m sure is resting now.”

“I think I have a lot of catching up to do, and I have a feeling I don’t have a lot of time to do it.”

Comments

[SudokuBrony]

[Luckyfanisaac]

She says as she rakes her claw at Celestia.

Onyx says as she dodges the