Shadow of the Past, Brought Forward Once More

by Super Ponyman

Chapter 5: Wrong Place, Right Time

Author's Note:

Welp it’s time for a Dusk Chapter, and it’s time for the plot to kick up.

(Finally, I was starting to get bored)

…Burning Star, get out of my authors notes.

(Make Me, Coward! I am a grown Alicorn!)

Sigh… (Pulls out aluminum bat) I’ll be back viewers, gotta discipline my creation.

(Canterlot City, Main Street Ruins)

The midday sun bathed the city of Canterlot in is glorious radiance. It was the middle of summer, which would normally mean a wide array of festivals and fairs would show up.

But due to the recent Arcanist attacks, many of them were cancelled.

To say The city of Canterlot was hurt by the battle of Eclipsio and Burning Star would be the understatement of all understatements.

Not only was most of downtown and Canterlot Tower leveled in the chaotic fight of the two warriors, Main Street and Broadway were reduced to ruins and blocked by fallen buildings, effectively cutting the city in two. The ruins of the area were dotted by small camps of Arcanist cultists and several stakeout points of the police’s Anti Magic Force who played a pivotal role in keeping the chaos caused by the groups within the broken down remnants of downtown.

The “Arcanist” Term was a blanket term, as there were several groups that splintered off during the six months that passed since the climatic battle of the two Alicorn-turned-humans. They split from the main group in order to worship the beings that their personal ideologies aligned with presumably, or just because they were against the opposing group, which they viewed as the lesser evil.

The first group was the “Followers of Midnight”, led by Archpriestess Greyhound. She was a tough old woman in her 50s who was a former teacher at Crystal Prep. Her gray hair and intense silver eyes revealed an intelligent and driven woman willing to learn and solve the mysteries of magic. She was on campus during the friendship games incident, and became interested in magic. The members typically wore purple robes with hot pink lining, emblazoned with a patch of Midnights signature Neon Green energy horn and mask

Despite the schools efforts to cover it up, one does not cover up a cataclysmic breach in space-time revealing an entirely new dimension easily. Videos leaked onto several sites on the internet, including “Tweeter” and “Teddit” (censored for the sake of keeping panic down.) and over time, a following formed around the being known as Midnight.

Most of the members of this following were simply people who got suckered in, but several were fanatical towards the worship of what they viewed as some sort of divine figure. And to be fair, Midnight did indeed give off that sort of aura, between the Giant wings and incomprehensible power that seemingly had no limit, she commanded attention and respect.

There were also some who were attracted to her in a more… personal way, and it was understandable as to why. Midnight was tall, dark, and had a dominating presence.

Essentially, these people wanted to be stepped on, and most of the members of the cult ignored them.

The followers of Midnight’s founding principles were persevering and obtaining knowledge of magic to analyze and improve on, seeing it as a medium of study to spread to the rest of the city and eventually the world.

Like all the cults, they were waiting for Midnight to eventually return. However, they were the only one out of the other two that KNEW who Midnight was bonded to, the girl known as Twilight Sparkle.

In order to prevent the more extreme members of the cults from potentially turning Midnight against them by earning the enmity of her host, Greyhound had ordered that no member would interfere in Twi’s life. This was partially because the former teacher felt partially responsible for how Twilight snapped at the Games and for not seeing the signs earlier.

The second cult and arguably the most active one was the Knights of Fire, who followed Burning Star, who they referred to as the God of Fire and Rebirth. These self proclaimed knights viewed magic and the arcane arts as a new form of defense against the enemies of their order and humanity at large. They wore primarily black vests with Kevlar armor plates to replicate the look of bulky armor.

They were led not by a priestess or religious figure, but rather a High Commander, who wished to lead like this to Distinguish themselves from being not a cult, but a sect of magical warriors.

They were dogmatic and aggressive, but ultimately had a strong code of honor and morals. Despite being considered dangerous to the public when they were preforming their combat drills, They actively worked with the CCPF when they needed help dealing with an exceptionally powerful threat, usually in the form of another cultist from the other groups gone rouge and/or mad with power.

The Knights set up their base in the broken down CPPD Academy that was near Canterlot Tower. There they could practice and train in a more formal environment. It was also close enough to the edge of the ruins that they could immediately get proper law enforcement. Several members also volunteered to educate the Anti Magic Force of the CCPD on proper defense and neutralization methods for rouge Magic users (coined “Magi” by the High Commander of the Knights, Blaze Shine)

They wished for Burning Star to return and see how far they have come in following his message of defending the people by growing them strong enough to survive on their own.

Overall, they were reasonable, albeit rather stubborn to adhering Burning Star’s lifestyle of doing what is necessary to survive, even if it isn’t all that nice.

The last and arguably most dangerous of the groups (due to them being the first and most fanatical in their beliefs) was the Sons of Eclipsio. They were a group of crazies that essentially believed Eclipsio was some sort of messiah figure, here to liberate all of humanity from the misery of existence.

In short, they were fatalistic nihilists that showed their devotion to Eclipsio by killing or attacking anything that wasn’t them. They also made a habit of kidnapping and ritualistically killing magic users to use their magic to enhance themselves.

They are currently led by High Priest Zeron. Zeron was powerful and infamous magic user who got lucky enough to gain a proficiency in the same Distortion Magic that their “Loving Savior” used to annihilate the downtown area in the fight for the worlds survival. His fanatic devotion to Eclipsio’s ideals was only rivaled by his unbelievable hatred for humanity.

Zeron wasn’t elected leader and he didn’t start the cult initially, he gained leadership after killing every other possible candidate for the role, leaving only him to rule.

They were enemies with the other two groups and often went out of their way to kill members. Their base of operations was set up around the Crater that was Canterlot Tower, as the residue Magic from Eclipsio was so strong that it permanently tainted the group, leaving it prime for Zeron’s abilities as well as granting those who were members of the cult significantly more power than the others.

No citizen of Canterlot City dared to go near the ruins, as their fear of these magic-using fanatics hunting them down and killing them was almost city wide, the only people that dared to go in were Savior (due to his Anti Magic Weaponry) and the Anti Magic Force of the CCPD.

Occasionally you’d get some idiot wandering in on a dare, but they were often sent fleeing out by a member of any of the groups, determined to keep their sacred grounds untainted. Most sane people avoided this as a result.

However, one person wasn’t entirely all that aware of what danger truly lied with in, and he was determined to find out and document these people, even if it could get him killed.

(Canterlot City, Broadway.)

The street of Broadway was the only relatively safe way in and out of the ruins of downtown, with relatively Few buildings wrecked and broken, and none really blocking the road. People felt fairly safe walking across it to get to the southern part of the city, as regular police patrols and the armored vigilante Savior were seen nearby often.

However despite these factors, it was near constantly contested by all three cult groups as it was their only way out of the ruined city center.

Dusk Shine walked briskly down Broadway, trying to look like as little as a threat as possible. He knew that some Arcanists were often seen along this block, but he wasn’t worried. It wasn’t night yet, and Savior had been seen flying in the general area.

Unbeknownst to the young man, Twilight had passed a tip onto Sunset, who told Savior to look after the little guy.

Savior accepted, but not without commenting on how little Dusk seemed to care about his own safety, to which Twi told him about Dusk’s rather… reckless childhood, and reckless was still understating it.

Dusk was raised in Everton by her aunt Shine Spark and uncle Starburst. It was a nice college town and actually the home of the college Twilight was trying to get into during her time attending Crystal Prep.

He was a good kid, if a little naive and unaware of the world. Always having his head buried in history books, learning as much as he could from the past in order to prepare for the future. When Sunset heard Twi tell her story about him she was immediately reminded of Pony Twilight before she had moved into Ponyville from Canterlot.

Although, Sunset was sure that Twilight didn’t have a pension to get into fights over basically anything that contradicted what he saw in books and texts.

Dusk, despite being brilliant in academic smarts, wasn’t exactly the most tempered individual. He was obnoxiously stubborn, prone to spouts of violent anger usually resulting in him snapping pencils in rage. He often got into scuffles with the other bookworms that usually ended with them running away. Savior attributed it probably to either a lack of love or attention from his parents, or the desperate desire to prove himself different from Twilight.

Twilight admitted it was probably a bit of both, as nice as her aunt and uncle were, they were extremely busy with their jobs, often working themselves to utter exhaustion…

which Savior had an honest laugh at and said “Must run in the family then?”

But, all that changed six months ago when he got into Everton, Dusk quieted down and learned to temper himself more. He was doing great, being a straight A student with several awards in both history, writing, and math, but was still rather isolated in terms of social contacts.

Sunset hypothesized that was why he was sent to Canterlot, not necessarily to write a report, but to make friends like the Twilight of her world was sent to Ponyville.

So far, that hadn’t been successful, as Dusk had spent the majority of the last 2 nights sealed away in the guest room of Twilight’s home. This was the first time Dusk had left his room (and the house) for anything other than dinner or a bathroom break.

So Dusk decided after making dinner for himself that he was gonna go for a walk, and investigate these “Arcanists” himself… Which Twilight would have told him is an idiotic thing to do if he wasn’t already out the door when he said it, he as the reason Twi called Sunset to tip off Savior.

Dusk was many things, tactful was not one of them.

He had come all this way to Canterlot in order to study and document the details surrounding Burning Star, his relation to the Black Sun incident, and the fall of Canterlot Tower. He was going to get some direct and first hand answers and not some secondhand and clearly edited report from Savior’s logs.

His plan was simple, to get into the ruins of the downtown area, find out as much as he could without being seen and only coming out if the group he was observing seemed peaceful, then leave quietly.

It presented little to no risk and he was certain he could get out of there without issues.

Dusk slowed his walking speed down and relaxed his posture, trying to appear calm. Despite not being able to use magic, he could feel the sheer magical pressure in the air.

Earlier today, Twilight told him that Equestrian Magic can leave something similar to a fingerprint of magical residue. It usually would be rather minor and only people and ponies would be able to feel it, but especially powerful spells and life forms, such as Burning Star, Eclipsio, even Midnight Sparkle could leave a strong enough imprint that even those that don’t have any abilities could feel the effects and sense the residue.

Burning Star’s magic felt like the heat of a scorching desert, Eclipsio’s magic felt like a hollow cold similar to the blackness of space, and Midnight’s magic felt as if you got zapped by static electricity.

Obviously the residue had diminished over six months, but certain areas still felt like this as a result of the tremendous amount of energy that was unleashed by the two titans of magical might.

Dusk became uneasy, feeling several people staring at him from the broken windows and gaps in the ruined buildings and a dull, dry heat suddenly struck him, concluding he was in an area where Burning Star was fighting six months ago.

”Dry heat, intense glares and the smell of smoke. I must be in Knights of Fire territory. They are relatively peaceful in comparison, though that’s not saying much. They are still a cult.” the young man thought to himself, feeling sweat starting to form as his nerves started to get the better of him.

Despite being completely terrified of what could happen to him, he pressed on. This story and document would make his life. At least to him, All the greatest reporters and authors in history got to where they were by testing the boundaries of what was acceptable and safe, and he wanted to become the man who documented in his book he was writing based on the paper he was penning at the moment, titled “Rise of Magic”

…it was a working title.

Dusk felt A feeling of terror shoot up his spine as he heard something clang behind him, immediately wheeling around to see a piece of a rusted fire escape drop from a broken apartment building. The loud clanging sound reverberated throughout the empty street, echoing throughout the crumbling surroundings.

The young man frantically looked around, trying to find where it dropped from, or who threw it down to frighten him, but he didn’t feel anything wrong…

This was good. He wasn’t being watched anymore.

The young man breathed out in relief as he let out a nervous laugh. “Oh Faust, I hate every minute of this, but I chose to come out here, I need to find out more.” He said, the fear slowly disappearing with every deep breath he took.

That feeling of terror returned in full force when he heard a voice from behind him, sounding a combination of amused and curious.

“Find out more about what, child?”

Dusk Shine wheeled around only to smack face first into a woman’s chest, falling on his rear with a high pitched yelp.

“No! Don’t kill me don’t kill me don’t kill meeeee!” The now absolutely terrified man yelled, frantically flailing his arms in front of him as he felt himself be picked up by an invisible force and floated into eye view of his attacker. He was suspended upside down as she raised an eyebrow at him.

She was a woman in her late 20s judging by her younger appearance. She was tall, easily being six feet high and her arms and legs showed toned muscles. Her hair was red with white streaks and covered one of her glowing red eyes that were focused into a glare that seemed to pierce into Dusk’s soul.

The woman narrowed her eyes in annoyance at the young man’s panic, “Oh quit your blubbering. I’m not gonna hurt you, I’m just a little curious as to why some kid is sneaking around my territory. You realize what tends to happen to No Mag (Non Magical) people when they stumble in here right?”

Dusk’s “blubbering” did not cease, in fact it increased significantly as tears began to form in his eyes, “I-I-I- I am Dusk Shine! I’m just a kid from Everton! My cousin is Twilight Sparkle one of the Rainbooms! Don’t hurt me I don’t want to dieee-eee-e!”

The woman groaned, her temper clearly starting to flare, “Ok, that’s it. Either you calm down and talk like a normal person, or I’m gonna drop you on your face and give you something to cry about!”

Dusk shut up immediately, not wanting to have the woman drop him on his face and break his nose on the pavement. He took a few deep breaths, collecting himself before saying, “Alright, alright, ok… sorry about that you scared me.”

The woman snickered as she rotated Dusk to right side up, “I’ve seen people panic when they get grabbed by Telekinesis before, but you take the cake for the biggest freakout I’ve seen in a while.”

Dusk scowled, “oh come on, it wasn’t that big of a freakout, my cousin has had worse, trust me.”

“Seeing is believing for our little group, kid. Now scram.” The woman said, slowly preparing to toss the little guy like a softball out of their territory.

“Wait wait wait! Don’t throw me out, I’m here on a mission!” Dusk said, panicking like his life was on the line, which considering he had no magic to protect his body from the impact of a long toss, it was.

The woman paused her windup and looked at the young man, her eyebrow raised, “A Mission? From who? Why did you come all the way from Everton to Canterlot? You do know about what’s going on here right?”

Regret flew through Dusk’s head about trying to keep things secret, but preserving his own life came first. “I am here to document and study magic! I came all the way from Everton to do this and then publish a report on it! It’s the only reason I’m here!” Dusk screamed, quickly panicking and trying to save his skin.

The woman looked confused for a moment, then smiled, “Are you now? Well why didn’t you say that to start?! Hah-ha! Commander Blaze Shine is always looking for new recruits and an out of town kid will let us expand a little more. Plus, the fact you seemed to be able to sense the magical residue says you have the potential for magic in you.”

Dusk Shine’s face immediately twisted into one of both confusion and regret, “Wait that’s not wha-“

He was cut off by the lady putting her finger to his lips, “Shush, Dusk Shine. I’ll take care of the talking, ok? So don’t worry your blue little head. You can document and study magic perfectly well under our commanders tutelage.”

Dusk tried to speak but his mouth was forcibly closed by the lady’s telekinesis. She let out a bemused laugh, “Oh I’m being rude, I haven’t even introduced myself. My name is Strikeout, I’m the head of scouting for Knights of Fire.”

She place a hand on Dusk’s head and ruffled his hair, “Welcome to the club kid.”

If Strikeout could hear Dusk’s thoughts, he was screaming all the curse words he knew in the ten languages he knew.

(Canterlot City Ruins)

Savior perched upon the spire of a ruined church, surveying the city with his Thermal sensors, hoping to pick up any signs of Dusk Shine. He had been watching the kid from the air and he suddenly dropped off his radar, this worried him.

His thermal sensors were usually the best way to find people, but considering he was in an Area filled with the residue of Burning Star’s magic, they were completely useless.

This wasn’t good, spotting him via normal eyesight would also be near useless, as the crumbling buildings and homes made great cover.

He swapped to his Magic Sensor array, causing his helmet’s visor to glow bright blue as it sent out a pulse to detect any nearby excess magical discharge that could be produced by an Arcanist.

”Come on kid, where are you?” he muttered to himself, rapidly scanning the area.

Savior’s sensors were not working as well as he needed them to, the Magic density in the air was high, and while his systems were able to filter out most if not all of it, it was still struggling to pinpoint Dusk through the haze of the residue.

Eventually, a ping popped up. The sensors pinpointed Dusk Shine, he was only a couple blocks away. Savior let out a sigh of relief that he didn’t just vanish…

Only immediately to be replaced by a sense of urgent fear as he saw that he was being carried by someone’s telekinesis.

Savior’s chest tensed up as A feeling of terror suddenly erupted in his cybernetic heart. Try as he did to purge himself of emotion when he made the transfer from his pony body to this one, he never was able to get rid of his emotions.

A fact that ultimately he was thankful for, as it let him stop himself before he made a severe mistake and annihilated Manehattan.

In the span of a second, Savior’s wings extended into flight mode and his Electric Wire launcher activated as he rocketed off towards the trapped boy. His old instincts kicking in as he immediately activated his anti magic weaponry and set the output to near lethal levels,

”Dammit Dusk, how did you get yourself captured after two days here?! Are you really that void of self preservation?!” the cybernetic hero screamed in his head.

(Broadway)

Strikeout was still talking to Dusk about the Knights of Fire when Savior collided into the road in front of them, firing a electric net at the woman. She dropped Dusk behind a piece of rubble as she prepared a fireball spell.

Strikeout slung the Fiery projectile, which immediately disappeared when it made contact with the net. She screamed in pain as she was quickly enveloped and shocked with enough electricity to kill most normal people.

Dusk quickly scrambled to his feet as Savior drew his magic casters and pointed them at the downed woman, making a mad rush towards Savior as he fired several stunning shots into Strikeout’s chest. Strikeout twitched, then stopped moving.

“Savior! Thank Faust you are here! I thought I was going to- ACK!” Dusk was speaking as Savior picked him up by his neck and pulled him close to his face mask, his orange eyes burning into the young man’s skull.

“You are a fool, Dusk Shine. You’re lucky that Sunset contacted me, or you would have been kidnapped by these cultists.” The armored warrior growled, his voice low and raspy.

Dusk struggled in the metallic life form’s grip, trying to free himself, but to no avail. “I was honestly just trying to find out more about this current situation regarding the Arcanists!” He shouted, legs kicking uselessly in the air. “I knew of the risks, but I went in anyways! The knowledge was work that risk!”

Savior’s artificial eyes narrowed, “Really? You saw the risks and you still went in? How intrepid of you.” He said in a voice dripping with sarcasm, turning his head away to roll his eyes at this boy’s severe lack of self awareness.

Dusk heard the sarcasm and frowned, clearly not amused. “Oi. I didn’t see you immediately coming to my rescue when that woman grabbed me, so don’t act like this isn’t your responsibility as well. Didn’t you say you would help save people from the cults? Yet you didn’t even notice I got grabbed until she walked out into the open.” The boy said with newly found smugness.

Savior, unimpressed by Dusk’s little display, dropped the boy to fall on his back with a soft thud, earning a groan of pain.

He then sighed before saying, “Listen, I was busy with my patrol route as is. I can’t just pay attention to one particular guy all the time, Dusk. I’m not a babysitter, and It wouldn’t be fair to the rest of the city if I had to keep bailing you out of trouble that you just walking into.”

Dusk looked offended, “I didn’t just walk into that woman, she ambushed me! You can’t expect me to keep track of every little thing happening around me!” He said with a childish whine.

The armored hero rolled his eyes again, his weapons folding up into his arms. “Yeah, I do. Dusk Shine, because of these Arcanists, this city is dangerous, this part exceptionally. I don’t expect you to have full knowledge of your surroundings, but I do expect that you would be like most people and have a sense of self preservation and know that maybe going into the ruins that have said magic users stalking about in them would be a bad idea that a normal person wouldn’t do.”

Dusk picked himself up and sat down on an upturned street lamp’s base, “Well how then would you suppose I get the information I need for my analysis on Magic, hmm?” He said with surprising disdain.

Savior turned towards the boy, frustration mounting and his eyes glowing brighter. “How? Oh I don’t know, how about ASKING ANY OF US?! I mean for Pete’s sake Dusk, Your cousin is quite possibly the most magically adept person on earth at the moment. She could tell you, Sunset could tell you, hell, I COULD TELL YOU! I was once a Unicorn on Equestria, after all. I may be unable to use magic now, but I still retain my incredible intelligence on it.”

Dusk looked off to the deeper parts of the ruined city and exhaled through his nose, “You don’t have the knowledge I need. I already know how that type of magic works, I need to know everything, even if that knowledge is something that you consider to be dangerous.”

The armored warrior’s shoulders dropped in exasperation as he let out a gust of air that could be considered a sigh, “Dusk, there is a reason why The CCPD and I consider these magic users to be dangerous, especially the Sons of Eclipsio.”

Dusk shuddered, since he had heard stories about that particular Cult. Most notably their hatred for No Mag individuals and their “Cullings” of them.

“Weren’t those the ones that killed that woman and tried to summon something a few days ago?” He asked, already having an idea of the answer.

Savior shook his head grimly, “Yes. And you were walking into their territory, you absolute fool.”

To that response, Dusk looked confused. “What? That makes no sense, I’m still in the Knights of Fire territory, how could I be even remotely near their area?”

If Savior still had eyebrows, they would have fallen, “That may be true, but the edge of the Sons of Eclipsio territory is right there.” He said, gesturing to an area that seemed to have a strange purplish haze emanating from the buildings.

Dusk, being a No Mag, didn’t see what Savior was pointing towards and raised an eyebrow, “What? I don’t see anything Savior.”

The armored hero looked at Dusk with a perplexed stare, “That!” He gestured, “You don’t feel and see that miasma, Dusk?!”

The boy looked even more confused, “No. I don’t feel or see anything besides the summer heat.”

Savior went to reply to Dusk when his sensors picked up a massive spike in magical energy, his arms flew up as an energy shield emitted from his left arm.

“Dusk, Get behind Me!” The cybernetic hero roared, and the boy scrambled behind him as ordered…

Just in time as a TREMENDOUS bolt of Lightning struck the shield, sending the remaining energy that did not dissipate on contact scattering off, scorching the environment.

Savior grabbed Dusk Shine in his arms and blasted into the air towards the outskirts, not getting ten feet off the ground when he was struck again by another bolt of Lightning.

Dusk dropped to the ground hard as Savior lost his grip, flying into a nearby building and breaking through the crumbling wall, burying him.

His left arm burst through the rubble and a burst of arcane energy emitted from the palm, shattering the rock around him. The lights on his helm turned red as Savior’s lethal force mode kicked in, rushing out of the wreckage with his machine guns active.

Dusk struggled to stand, but he was quickly pressed face first into the floor by the heavy boot of a man.

“Boss, I found the kid, but Savior is here. Do I kill him?” The unknown attacker said, his foot pinning the young Dusk to the floor.

“No, Thunder Strike. I need Dusk alive and unharmed, do not hurt him. Keep Savior occupied, I will take Dusk Shine myself.” Another voice, much more frightening responded from behind the man called Thunderstrike.

Dusk craned his neck back to look at the person pinning him to the floor, and he froze in terror.

This Thunder Strike was huge and imposing, dressed in silver lined, black robes with an eclipse symbol on them. His eyes were a neon yellow and seemed to glow with unrelenting fury. He carried several knives in his belt and Dusk could see what looked like burn scars on his yellowish-green face.

Savior smashed into the man, his guns firing as the man pushed back off of Dusk. The two began to brawl, blasts of power emitting from both.

Dusk was suddenly wrenched upwards facing the second man, and he immediately started praying to whatever god exists because he had a feeling who this was…

“Well, we finally meet, Dusk Shine. I’ve been waiting for you.” The man told him, a twisted smile on his face.

Savior boosted away from Thunder Strike, dive bombing him with his clawed boots like some sort of metallic bird of prey before firing a mana grenade at him. It exploded in a flash of light and staggered the mass of muscle that was Thunder Strike enough that Savior could break away and engage the person currently holding Dusk in his grasp.

Said man simply extended his hand and a ball of black purple light shot out, forcing Savior to dodge upwards and fire several mini flash bangs from his suit’s arms.

Dusk winced as the bursts of light and sound deafened and blinded him and his captor, managing to wrench free of his grasp and actually deliver a punch square-on to his attackers face.

Dusk managed to shake off the effects of the flash bangs and assumed a defensive position as the man who just held him stumbled back, reeling from the hit.

The man turned towards him, his face still in the twisted smile that he saw earlier. “ah, so you do have some fight in you, This should be interesting then.”

Dusk hit the deck as the man pointed at him and a silver colored beam of energy erupted from his finger, slicing a telephone in two.

“Who are you?! How do you know me?!” Dusk demanded, desperately weaving away from another cutting beam of power.

The figure let out a cackle, speaking in a voice that sounded unlike anything the young man ever heard.

“I… Am Zeron.”

Dusk took in Zeron’s appearance, his mind struggling to stay focused as he dodged out of the way of both Zeron’s magic cutter lasers and the scuffle between Savior and Thunder Strike.

Zeron was covered head to toe in heavy black and silver robes, Eclipsio’s signature Eclipse mark emblazoned on each of his shoulders and on his chest. His face was obscured by a hood that only showed the glow of his eyes and mouth, alight with magical power. His hands were deathly pale and sparked with silvery white energy that coalesced into small balls on his finger tips.

Zeron sent five beams of power from his fingers as Dusk desperately tried to dodge, ducking three but getting slashed by two across the leg, causing him to drop to his knees.

Zeron advanced on the prone boy as Savior finally broke away from Thunder Strike with a crack of his Shredder Gun, and fired a grapple wire around his waist.

Savior was about to pull him in when Thunder Strike slammed a knife into the back of his armor, calling down a bolt of lightning to it, using it as a lightning rod to call his next strike to him.

Savior’s armor sparked and warning lights rapidly flickered on his display as 300 million volts of electricity went straight into his cybernetic systems, frying his internals and dropping him to the floor, not moving.

“NO! Savior!” Dusk screamed, looking back for a brief moment as Zeron grabbed his neck with his right arm and restrained him with his left.

Savior attempted to stand, before the giant boot of Thunder Strike smashed his head into the pavement numerous times.

He was about to finish the cybernetic hero off with a giant lightning clad fist before Zeron turned towards him and spoke in a fierce tone that made Dusk’s blood run cold as he looked at Savior’s motionless body.

“Enough, Thunder Strike. Destroying him now isn’t worth it. We don’t have time. The fools that call themselves enforcers of the law are on their way here now. We must be going.” Zeron hissed out, watching Thunder Strike back off and walk besides Zeron.

Dusk craned his neck away from Savior’s body as he saw the red and blue lights of police cars and the sounds of shouting officers.

“You, ack… won’t get away with this, Zeron. Savior Will find you and make you pay.” The young man said, struggling to get free.

The insane cult leader suddenly twisted Dusk’s neck to look at him, as he said, “Oh I am counting on that, Dusk Shine. I welcome it, After all, Nothing will hurt Savior more than knowing that he was right about this little runt having no chance of surviving in here.”

A crack of sound pierced the silence as a familiar silver gray portal opened, and Zeron stepped inside with Dusk in his grasp.

Thunder Strike roared (yes, Roared) before dropping a bolt of lightning on himself as he stepped through the portal, destroying it in a flash of light and electrical power.

The police cars skidded to a halt and several officers rounded the corner only to see Savior’s unmoving body, signs of a battle…

All officers felt the chill of the darkness of space. Eclipsio’s signature residue indication.

Either he, or someone similar to him, was here.

Shining Armor damn near flew out of his car, running like hell to pick up Savior’s motionless body.

He pulled off Savior’s chest piece and ran some of his magic into the magic battery, hoping for some reaction.

Thankfully, Savior’s internals kicked on again as his eyes, err… optics lit up as he flailed out of Shining’s grasp, his weapons still drawn and the barrels still glowing white hot.

“Savior, he’s gone. Magic detectors indicate someone with Eclipsio’s magical signature were around here, what happened?”

He swung his head around as his internal sensors kicked in, picking up only Shining Armor and the officers…

But no sign of Dusk Shine.

Savior, in a rage, ripped himself free of the captains grip and fired shots into a ruined building wall, continuing his barrage until the wall was nothing but powder. Shining put up his hand as a shield extended from it, protecting the officers from the spray of debris and any stray bullets.

He had failed, again.

If Savior still was a flesh and blood person, he would cry and scream, anything to let this pain out, but the silent hum of his systems did nothing to console him.

As cybernetic hero’s weapons finally ran dry as the magazines ejected, Shining dropped the shield and tried to speak with him.

“Savior, wait. Don’t fly off, I will have my best men on the Anti Magic Force find him… just let us help y-“

Savior cut Shining off with a loud screech of his metal teeth gritting. “No. You aren’t going to get yourself involved in this situation. You will get yourself killed. Because I hesitated and didn’t immediately get Dusk out of here, Zeron now has him in his clutches. Zeron is my problem.”

Shining cut in, his eyes intense. “That isn’t an ask for permission, I’m sending men with you to find Dusk. Hell, I’ll lead the charge.”

Savior’s bladed wingfeathers extended and brushed underneath Shining’s chin, as he hastily turned part of his neck into a shadow in order to keep his neck from being torn open.

“No Shining! I am not letting you throw your life away. I have to do this myself.” The armored hero said, his voice low and somber.

Savior continued, sitting down on a upturned stripped chassis of a car, “Shining, I told you that I was once a creature that sought to spread fear and destroy those who I thought deserved it. I was the Night Terror… I did all those horrid things because I felt like I needed to leave my mark on the world by any means… even if said means we’re evil.”

The hero looked at Shining, seeing the young man look confused, he continued again. “I felt above the law, and I was. Nopony… err, no one could stop something like me. Until the Power Ponies of Equestria Beta stepped in and made me their number one target. For the first time in my new artificial life I had something that challenged my own biased views on justice.”

Savior grabbed his mask from Shining’s hand, placing it back on his face. “Against all odds, They won against me and my superior technology and firepower. Yet when I bent my head awaiting my inevitable execution for the horrible things I had done, and yet no death came.”

Turning towards Shining, Savior made what could be called a smile, “They showed me mercy. I didn’t know how to process it. But I accepted the hoof up from Mare Do Well and Matter Horn and managed to turn my whole view of life around, but then everything went wrong.”

“What? What went wrong Savior?” Shining Armor asked, now worried.

Savior ignited his jets, a look of sorrow in his eyes, “They were killed by Black Sun, who I found out was under orders of Eclipsio to kill me. I escaped by using Mare do Well’s Trans Dimensional gateway to get here, they stalled him while I got away.”

Shining stepped back in horror, as multiple pieces of his hypothesis on Savior’s reason for fighting fell into place. Suddenly, Savior’s complete disregard for his own well-being and his general disgust at Dusk Shine’s made sense. He saw too much of his younger self in Twily’s cousin.

“That’s why I want to put an end to these Cretins, Shining. So no one but me has to suffer and get hurt.” Savior said, his engines heating up.

He took off into the air, announcing to the police. “Come if you want to this, Shining. But be warned, you all will likely die. I’d prefer it if I end up biting it rather than you. I’m just a machine, you are living breathing humans.”

“I can be replaced. You can’t.”

With that last word, Savior rocketed off into the sky, leaving a trail for Shining and his officers to follow, He had already gotten a lead on the Sons of Eclipsio while they were talking apparently.

Shining Armor put a hand to his face and walked back to the squad car, signaling everyone to head back to the precinct and gear up in their Riot Gear.

It wouldn’t be all that helpful considering most Magic was able to bypass conventional armor, but any protection helped.

As soon as Shining sat in his car, King Sombra’s voice echoed in his head as his face appeared in the hanging mirror.

”Foolish Self sacrificing automaton… he must understand that this boy’s life is inconsequential to this game as a whole. A single pawns defeat means nothing.”

Sombra’s voice took on a inquisitive tone, ”Why does he waste time on this Dusk Shine individual, Shining? Surely he can’t be that important.”

Shining, now annoyed at Sombra’s rhetoric, spat back. “First off, screw you that’s my cousin your talking about. Secondly, Dusk is Twilight’s cousin, if he ends up biting it, she might go completely off the deep end and go full Midnight Sparkle again. As much as I hate to say it, She’s already unbalanced enough right now with the guilt of being the inadvertent cause of all this magic in the first place. Something as horrible as him dying might just be the thing that pushes her over the edge.”

King Sombra’s voice went silent for a moment, almost like he was trying to come up with a response.

He responded in a mocking tone, ”Well, I’d never think that Twilight’s BBBFF would think that little of his little sister. It seems my personality is rubbing off on you after all, Shining Armor… Grah-Hah.”

The captain shook his head and covered the mirror, saying “No, you aren’t rubbing off on me. I’m just being realistic here. Twily’s great at many things, but handling strong emotion is not one of them… which is why for the sake of Both of our lives we are not going to tell her about this.”

King Sombra’s reflection disappeared, while his actual smoke-like form emitted from the horn pendant around Shining’s neck. ”Lying to her now? You are becoming more like me, Shining. Don’t bother denying it, this is what you are meant to be, what we are meant to be. A ruthless, merciless embodiment of justice and punishment.”

Sombra’s voice took on a much more smug, almost boasting tone, ”When I was king, I was like you in that regard. I pursued my vision of justice and protection, and I achieved it. It was the sisters who invaded me because of how I treated my subjects. I was king and the Empire was mine to rule by conquest! They would die if not for my protection. I had every right to treat them with complete disregard, if not for me, they would freeze to death or be eaten by the Umbrum and Windigos.”

“Last I checked, Sombra… you were a warrior tyrant that tortured and enslaved your own people, and you crystallized and then shattered Princess Platinum. How is that being a fair king?” The captain snapped back,

Shining Armor’s eyes began to glow green and smoke began to pour out of them, Sombra’s influence growing stronger.

”Shining, something you must learn is this, and you must learn it well.”

Sombra’s voice suddenly combined with Shining’s as the captain felt his face contort, he looked into the mirror to see his face starting to resemble Sombra’s. Or at least, What Sombra’s would have looked like were he a human…

”Everything, even morality, is Subjective, Shining. The only constant in this world is power and control.”

Shining’s face took on a dark grin, ”And WE WILL Be King Once Again! Grahahahha!”

”NOT WHILE IM STILL ME!” The young man screamed as he lifted the pendant into the light of a nearby street lamp, burning away Sombra’s form.

Shining Armor forced Sombra’s influence out of his mind and he ripped the pendant off his neck and tossed it into the glove compartment, hoping to drown out the callous laughter that the Shadow King howled out from the back of his head.

Shining Armor gripped his ears, trying to unhear the mad cackling of the Shadow King.

“Oh Faust on high, what have I gotten myself into?” He worried to himself.

”What am I Becoming?”

Comments

[Mix-up]

will read it soon