The Dark Crusader

by Blackdrag-rose

16: Rage

Rarity, wanting nothing to do with what Crimson and Nightfury were talking about, had collected her sister and headed back to her boutique, so she could keep a closer eye on Sweetie Belle. Twilight couldn't blame her for not wanting to hear what the two alicorns had to talk about, but she was interested in who the new Shadow was and why she had come into her castle. Not moments after Nightfury had arrived back in Ponyville Princess Luna came knocking at the door, though by the look on her face Twilight knew that she must have felt the breach in the Veil as well.

So the four of them sat at the table Twilight used when she and her friends came to the castle and discussed whatever was on their agenda, though they hadn't needed to use it in the last week.

"So who was that exactly?" Twilight asked, turning to her right so she could face Crimson, who was still smoking on his stick, "You mentioned a name, Glimmer I believe."

"Yes, that I did," Crimson said, blowing a puff of smoke into the air before turning his attention to the others, "Back before we engaged in a war with the dragons we had only discovered one of the four Prime Sigils, the Sigil of Air that Nightfury's been carrying. Her assistant, the Shadow known as Thorn, then discovered where one of the other three Sigils were located, but the location of that Sigil is what had sparked the Dragon Wars. The Sigil had been buried in the deepest reaches of the dragon's main mountain, which only added to the raging fires that rested on the mountain side.

However, just as Thorn revealed to us the location of the Sigil, a second Shadow approached the Dragon King and told him of the Sigil that rested in his mountain. The Shadow told him that Starswirl the Bearded had buried the Sigil deep in the mountain to keep it out of sight, so he could prevent those who would misuse it from finding it. The last thing the Shadow told him was that we would be coming to take the Sigil away from him, though she suggested raising his forces so he could defend the Sigil from us. The Dragon King took her words to heart and raised his army, turning on us the moment we arrived and forced us to return with our own, and much smaller, army.

That Shadow, we learned later in the war, was called Glimmer Scale, who had forced herself into one of the Dragon King's elite guards so she could watch the war and claim the Sigil before either side could."

"How do you know she had taken over a dragon's body?" Twilight asked, not really seeing how he could have known that fact.

"Because once my mother tossed my plan to save hundreds of lives out the window I took action," Crimson growled, grinding his teeth just a bit as he remembered what had happened, "I snuck into the mountain while the dragons were distracted, found my way through the countless tunnels that I discovered under the mountain, and eventually found where the Sigil was located. However, the moment I arrived I found out that I was not alone in the chamber, as an ashy scaled dragon stepped out of the shadows and faced me.

Now, I knew what happened to ponies when they were possessed by Shadows, but that was the first time I had seen a dragon that had been possessed. She demanded to know why I was down there, trespassing where I did not belong, but I fired it back at her by informing her that she had broken through the Veil and needed to be sent home. That was when I finally met Glimmer Scale, a dangerous Shadow that had been trained by her mysterious master in the art of magical and physical combat. She taunted me, telling me that she and the rest of her kind knew exactly where the other three Sigils were located, but I refused to let her get into my head.

Instead of letting her speak whatever lies she was spouting I lashed out with my flames, catching her off guard for a moment and making her back up, though she regained herself and came at me. We fought for some time, exchanging magical and physical blows, until she finally scored a blow on me that forced me backwards by some distance. During the fight we had been circling around the chamber, so when she wounded me I landed near the Sigil, which lead me to get the idea to contain it in my chest piece and prevent her from getting her claws on it.

I felt the power of the Sigil the moment I had it around my neck, so I turned it on Glimmer and burnt her so badly that she was forced to exit the dragon that she had been possessing. She swore that she'd continue hunting me, so that she could finally get her claws on the Sigil of Fire, but she was only spouting threats that held no value."

"I would have to say your wrong son," a voice said, just as Princess Celestia walked into the room, "Glimmer has had the last thousand years to plan how she was going to go about collecting the four Prime Sigils, though it seems like she has chosen to start with the one we took from her, yours. Had you not placed a spell on your necklace to interfere with whoever tried to take the Sigil she could have ripped it out and would have been long gone before you ever knew what happened."

"Oh no, we are not going down this road," Crimson growled, glaring daggers at his mother as she sat across from him, "I am not going to be blamed for a Shadow breaching the Veil, possessing an innocent filly, and then using said filly to find me and nearly take the Sigil from me. Furthermore, I am not going to just give you the Sigil of Fire, so you can lock it away in your personal study and have an ever burning flame all the time."

"And how would you know that?" Celestia asked, raising an eyebrow as she listened to Crimson.

"Oh come on," Crimson nearly shouted, flames sparking on his stick, "I suggested that, when we found the Sigil of Earth, we build a royal library and convert the Sigil into sand that would be used to fill an hourglass, exactly like where it is now. I suggested that we dig a tunnel into the mountain where you wanted to build Canterlot, so we could convert the Sigil of Water into a large body of water, exactly like it is now. I had suggested turning the Sigil of Fire into an ever burning flame that we could place anywhere in Canterlot, for everypony to see in the dark without the fear of the darkness around them. The Sigil of Air was to be converted into an ever blowing gust of wind that could be used from a war horn, which we would have displayed somewhere in Canterlot that everypony could see at any given time.

All of these ideas were mine, which you stole to suit your personal agenda. Now that something came close to taking mine away from me you're going to demand that I give the Sigil of Fire to you and trust that you can keep it safe."

"I would like the Sigil of Fire, yes," Celestia said, as calmly as she possibly could, "Please, would you give me the Sigil?"

Twilight had felt Tirek's power when she had fought him, but she could feel the intensity of Crimson's anger as he continued to glare at Princess Celestia. It continued to surprise her that he could have so much built up anger inside of him, all of which was somehow, one way or another, directed at his mother. Celestia continued to face that anger every time she and Crimson were in the same room, though Twilight was amazed that she could remain so calm at a time like this. From everything she knew of Crimson Twilight wondered if he would actually give her the third Sigil at long last or, as she suspected he might do, brush her off and keep it.

"No!" Crimson growled, stretching the word out as his anger seethed out of his mouth, "I don't know how many times I have to tell you, but I will not surrender the Sigil just because you ask me to. Respect my decision and leave me alone!"

"I had hoped that you would see reason after the latest development," Celestia sighed, shaking her head slightly, "but it seems that, even after the return of Glimmer, you refuse to let me have the Sigil so it can be kept safe with the others. I guess that I have no choice but to rip it out and take it back to Canterlot."

Flames enveloped Crimson before they leapt over Princess Celestia, coiling around the chair she was sitting in before heading right towards the front door. As they reached the outside of the castle Crimson flew out of the flames and went into the sky, not even bothering to look back so he could get the Sigil back to his hiding place. Celestia stayed in her seat for a moment, knowing that one day she would have had to fight for the Sigil of Fire again, but never would she have expected her son to keep it from her like this. After a minute she drew herself out of her seat and approached the door, flaring her wings before she took off, spotting Crimson and heading right towards him.

Twilight had no idea what was happening, but as she made a move to follow her mentor outside she noticed that both Nightfury and Luna just remained seated.

"What about you two?" Twilight asked, wondering if they were going to help either alicorn out.

"They need to work this out for themselves," Luna sighed, shaking her head before staring out the window, "though I wish they had chosen their words instead of attacking each other. Don't worry about Ponyville Twilight, I made sure to throw a sleeping spell over everypony that would only activate in case this had happened, though if it hadn't I would have removed it. The five of us should be the only ponies awake at the moment, so we won't have to worry about somepony seeing something that they shouldn't have seen."

"I had wondered when this fight was going to happen," Nightfury mumbled, letting out a long sigh before staring out at the sky, "though now I can only hope that they end this fight fast, before something notices what's happening."

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Crimson had wanted to get as far away from Ponyville, and his mother for that matter, as quickly as his wings could take him, but he should have known that his hopes would have been dashed. Before he could get to the border between the town and the forest he hit an invisible wall and bounced off of it, giving him a moment to shake his head and gather his bearings real quick. He stared at the wall, now that he knew that it was there, and rolled his magic over it, finding that it stretched all the way around the town and made him leaving almost impossible.

He knew that there were only two other alicorns that could have pulled off something like this, three if he counted Twilight Sparkle, but there was one who would have used such a spell against him.

"Very clever mother," Crimson growled, turning around to see his mother fly up to him, "You are so determined to make sure I give you the Sigil that you went through all the effort of placing this powerful barrier around the entire town and, if I'm not mistaken, a sleeping spell to make sure nopony sees what's coming next."

"I didn't want it to come to this Crimson," Celestia said, staring into her son's eyes for a moment, "and I still don't want to do this. I'd rather come to some middle ground, that we can negotiate and come to an agreement on, than fight my own son, over something like one of the Sigils."

"You should have thought about that before demanding the Sigil again," Crimson shouted, flames dancing around his body, "now you have ignited the anger that I have been carrying and must suffer the consequences for doing so."

Celestia had been expecting him to summon some type of creature from the stick that he carried in his mouth, but instead of some hawk or eagle the flames continued to build until a winged serpent appeared around him. Crimson's horn ignited and the serpent came flying towards her, though she barely had time to dodge it before it missed and coiled around the middle of her body. She remembered the creature well, it was one of the creatures that Crimson had designed with the sole purpose of wearing down his opponents to the point where he could easily win.

Fortunately she had seen this creature in action many times and had developed a method to get rid of them easily, letting her magic grip the creature with ease before erasing it completely. And, to her amusement, the stick that Crimson was carrying shattered into fragments, just like what had happened when she destroyed the creature a day or two ago.

Crimson roared at her and came flying towards her, his horn literally on fire as his magic swarmed around him, heeding the call of his anger towards her. She leapt over him and let him continue on for a bit before turning around, watching him as he circled back and tried to hit her a second time, where he missed as well. Instead of making a third trip towards her Crimson called upon his magic and summoned a wave of flames, which raced towards her and forced her to summon a shield to protect herself. Once she was sure that the flames were gone she banished the shield and looked around for Crimson, making sure that he didn't have any surprises for her.

Instead of another spell, like she was expecting, Crimson came at her and threw his front hoof at her face, hitting her square in the side of her head and knocking her out of the air for the moment. She regained herself after a moment and looked up at her son, wondering how to go about the fight without making him hate her even more than he already did. After a few moments she shook her head and summoned her magic, throwing a spear of light at Crimson that struck him in the side, blasting him out of his high perch and bringing him closer to her. Crimson growled and wrapped his magic around her, gripping her hard enough to bruise her before he tossed her, sending her halfway across town before she could correct herself.

Before she could even make a move towards the other side of the barrier she noticed a ring of flames wrap around the entire barrier, lighting up the area and making it impossible for either of them to hide. She knew that Crimson was doing this in order to intimidate her into surrendering to him, but she had no desire to give into such a cheap trick like this. Though one thing she noticed about the flames that had hit her was that there were darker colored than any she had seen her son use in the past and, more importantly, they packed enough power to hurt her.

"I won't lose to such a cheap trick son," she shouted, hoping that Crimson would come towards her so they could end this, "Come on, show me the true power of your anger."

She saw it long before Crimson ever got close to her, the deep red flames that wrapped around him body so much that it almost seemed like he had combusted during the fight. He came racing towards her, his magic flaring around him as he prepared one powerful and devastating attack, one that could use up nearly all of his magic in the form of a physical attack. She knew the spell as well, as she had taught him how to use such a move as his final and most powerful attack over a thousand years ago, warning him not to use it against another alicorn unless he had no other choice. The only way to counter against such a powerful and destructive spell was to do the same thing to her own body, except she needed to focus her magic into a defensive form to prevent the buildings and ponies below from being harmed.

As such her magic ignited, covering her body in a golden shine that formed the magical armor of the defensive version of the spell, something that she had not needed to use in over a thousand years at least. She sighed and flew towards her son, feeling the dread of what was about to come and wishing that she could have avoided all of this madness by simply trusting that he could keep the Sigil safe. Eventually the two of them crossed paths in midair, though the resulting connection between their magics would only be known to three other ponies; Luna, Nightfury, and Twilight.

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Twilight paced around the windows, wondering what was going to happen when the magic of both Prince Crimson Flare and Princess Celestia crossed paths. She knew what had happened the moment that she and Tirek had fought each other, they had blown the surrounding area to pieces before they stopped. Neither Princess Luna or Nightfury seemed to worry about what might be happening, though they were more concerned for the ponies that could potentially be caught in the crossfire. The only thing the three of them had to go on was the ring of fire that covered the entire town, though that wasn't much in itself.

"The finale should be coming soon," Luna remarked, feeling the magic in the air, "I would have to hazard a guess that they'll pour most of their magical energies into one final attack and then call it quits."

"I would say that your right mother," Nightfury agreed, though she was feeling the same thing that her mother was feeling, 'I just hope they get it all out of their systems so we can be a peaceful family again."

That was before a screech of magic colliding with magic filled the air and an explosion, equal to the power of one of the ones that Twilight had seen in her fight against Tirek, ripped through the sky itself. For a moment all Twilight could feel was the magic that had taken place outside her castle, but then the shockwave hit the castle and knocked her off of her hooves. Luna managed to catch her before she hurt herself, bringing her over to where they were sitting while they waited out the effects of the explosion. Twilight was thankful that none of the buildings seemed damaged from the small glance she had, as she had no idea how she would have explained any damages to the buildings.

"That was too much," Luna cried, knowing that one of her family members was going to be hurting at the moment, "They went too far for such a small fight. We'll need to check up on them and be sure that nothing bad happened to either one of them."

Twilight nodded and the three of them left the castle, waiting until the wind had died down before they made their way to wherever Crimson and Celestia eventually landed. Though she was worried that one of them, either Celestia or Crimson, was injured from the fight and had no idea what to do if she found them in such a state.

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Both Celestia and Crimson hit the ground near the edge of the barrier, just outside the Everfree Forest, creating two small craters on either side of the dirt road. Crimson, used to the constant fighting he had to endure in the forest, thanks to the Diamond Dogs and a number of other creatures, managed to get back onto his hooves without much damage to his body. There were some scratches and burn marks from where he was certain that his mother's attack had reflected on his, but there wasn't much for him to worry about. He smirked and pulled out the container that contained his sticks, noting that he was currently on the last one and needed to harvest more of them.

Celestia, on the other hoof, was out of practice with her battle techniques, so when she hit the ground she fell to the center of her crater and moaned as pain shot through her legs. Her body was covered in burned patches of fur, scratches that were light enough for her to patch with some simple magic, and some cuts that would require some attention when she got back to Canterlot. She was also certain that a few of the bones in her legs might be cracked in some places, which she knew she could hide with some easy casts that would come off in a week or two.

She was only thankful that Crimson had only been at half of his maximum power, all from battling the storm that had been keeping Nightfury sealed away. She knew that if her son had been at full power she would have walked away with more broken bones than she had received and, she was fairly certain of this, a broken wing or two.

"For all of your 'infinite wisdom' you sure made some dumb decisions today," Crimson commented, lighting the stick and placing it in its rightful place, "for example, just because everypony else follows whatever you say and are willing to follow your every command doesn't meant that I will conform for you. When I said that I wasn't going to hoof over the Sigil of Fire, I meant that I wasn't going to give it to you until I was sure that I was no longer capable of hiding it anymore. You already have two of the Prime Sigils, and I'm pretty sure that Nightfury would give her's away if you so much as asked her to, but I had hoped that you would respect my choices.

And you know what mother? You disgust me! You attacked your own son and for what? An artifact of pure power that you are just going to hide away in your castle, with the rest of the artifacts that you've no doubt been hoarding since I disappeared. Your lucky that Aunt Luna was willing to put this entire town under a sleeping spell, otherwise everypony would know how horrible you are to your own family. You would have destroyed everything you worked for in a single instant, but you got extremely lucky today. Pray that your luck doesn't end mother, because when it does you'll wish it hadn't ended."

As Crimson turned to the barrier in an attempt to leave Celestia pulled herself up a bit and pointed her horn at the shimmering wall of magic, calling upon the last pieces of her magic to cancel the spell. She grunted and, with some effort on her part, managed to pull herself out of the crater, enough to watch her son walked towards the forest.

"Tell me Crimson, my son," Celestia huffed, stopping him cold in his tracks, "am I worthy of your forgiveness?"

"No," Crimson growled, stretching the word as he turned his head back to glare at her, "you are no where near being worthy of my forgiveness, mother. It will take some time before I ever consider forgiving you for everything you've done."

Tears filled Celestia's eyes as she collapsed on the ground, pain coursing through her body as she struggled to watch her son, as he walked into the Everfree Forest. She didn't know if she should feel sorry for herself, for being a terrible mother that eventually turned her son against her, or sorry for Crimson, for making him feel so much anger and hatred towards her. Eventually Crimson was swallowed by the forest and she laid her head on the ground at long last, letting her pain and exhaustion take her for the moment.

The last thing she heard before completely blacking out was somepony, not her son, calling her name from somewhere above where she happened to lay.

Comments

[Sonata Blaze]

Wow, remind me to never, ever, piss Crimson off. And Celestia, give your son back his sigil!

[Limescale]

Celestia seems to have a problem with admitting when she may have made a mistake. A simple 'I'm sorry son, you were right and I see the truth of it now, but please hear me out on this new development...' would have saved them both a lot of heartache.

[Sonata Blaze]

5984539 Yeah, that seems to be the case. But to attack her own son...let's hope nopony else besides those that had felt it find out about the fight. Her subjects might not look to kindly on her fighting her own son, over something nopony else knows about. And I'm still curious as to what Celestia has planned for the Sigils.

[Asashi - Dark Fist Inari]

Yeah fuck this shit. I'm done.

[Blackdrag-rose]

5985999 I'm sorry to see you go...

[Asashi - Dark Fist Inari]

5986604 Dude, you having him be so weak, laying down like a bitch and forgiving Celestia completely killed it for me.

[Asashi - Dark Fist Inari]

5986604 I also heard you were going to consider cancelling it, do it. With what I described killed it for me ruined the whole thing completely.

[Blackdrag-rose]

5989573 I'm not sure what you mean by forgiving her. Crimson used up all his magic in releasing his cousin, so he was around half of his power...but I respect your comments and will take them to heart to finish this story...
...at least, I hope I can...

[Blackdrag-rose]

5984539
5985937
5989580 I would like to apologize to those that read the story and commented on the chapter and found this chapter lacking. I have changed the outcome of the fight and hope that this ending is more geared to what everyone expected.

[Sonata Blaze]

6001121 Well, because you changed it, I'll read the chapter again and see how it is. I promise nothing.

[Asashi - Dark Fist Inari]

That's far better now. He would have to be a better fighter anyways since he was the strategist back in the day and was also one to get in up-close combat.