The Darkness among the Stars

by Haseo

Chapter 21 - The Crystal Knight and the Warlord

Chapter 21
The Crystal Knight and the Warlord

Speechless, they tried to comprehend what Twilight just had said. The reactions covered the most of the possibilities. Some of them grinned nervously or began to squeak in fear. But after all it was the same reaction. They were afraid. The uncertainty feared them after all. They didn't know if Soul would face them as friend or as foe. Every hint pushed him further in the role of a powerful enemy. So even Celestia hesitated for a short moment. “We already assumed that he could reappear here. We don't wear this heavy armour just for show, today.”

Princess Luna never interrupted her speech, but she listened to every single word the ponies had spoken. “The first encounter shall be our Captain; Prince Shining Armor versus Saddle Arabia's Nazir!”

The crowed cheered manically, since the last time such a event occurred over nine years had passed. They were eager to see a spectacular show. Secretly, many of them wanted to know how strong the Captain of the Royal Guard really was and if they could possibly keep up with him.

The other participants slowly walked off the arena, only Shining Armor and Nazir remaining there. Both of them took position. Determination took hold of Shining's face, though his opponent wasn't quite the most amiable choice. His face was hidden under a piece of dark wool fabric, only his eyes were visible. The eyes of somepony that had fought many fights and spilled much blood. Unfortunately every participant in this tournament is able to use magic or to fly. Neither of them would be an easy opponent. With his light brown coat and his plain black mane that fell lazily from his head, he didn't looked scary at all, if it weren’t for his drilling eyes. The enemy was clever. He hid his cutie mark under his leathery armour so Shining couldn't guess his special talent and use it as an advantage. He had to be very careful as they were both unicorns. A single mistake could mean to lose this battle. And far worse... it would mean that he couldn't fight with his little sister.

Princess Luna's voice boomed from above with an unbelievable pressure. “These are the rules for this tournament! First: Only two ponies can fight at the same time. Second: Every type of magic and weapon is allowed as long as no killing blow is served. Which leads to third: Absolutely no murder! Fourth: A participant has lost when he is unable to fight, given up, and when my sister and I decide that the health of a participant is in serve danger. Fifth: As soon as any other ponies interfere in this battle, the battle will be aborted. And now begin!”

As soon as the Princess had ended her speech, the horns of Shining Armor and Nazir lit up. Nazir disappeared in a flash and reappeared right next to Shining. Something glinted in his mouth. Shining's eyes followed it's path while Nazir tried to land a strike. Shining realized in the last second what this tool was. “A dagger!”

In the very last second he altered his spell and created a forcefield around himself. The dagger's tip broke when it hit the shield and let Nazir back off. “You've got my congratulations. I've rarely seen a unicorn that could bend his magic that fast. Maybe you aren't such a weakling.”

Shining grinned weakly at his opponent from the middle east. “Maybe you should pay more attention.”

Nazir's eyes widened in shock, he didn't spend his surroundings attention. The horn of his opponent never stopped glowing even when the forcefield disappeared. From the corner of his eyes, a white flash approached him rapidly. Able to turn his head and lower his body, the flash only roamed his coat. Nevertheless it left deep scars in his flesh. Blood began to drip on the ground. Nazir looked to his right side where the flash had met the ground. His eyes narrowed and he bared his teeth. The flash that had hurt him so bad without even hitting him fully was a simple crystal orb that was accelerated and created through the magic of this puny white unicorn. “You bastard! What kind of wicked magic is this! Who had thought you something like this!”

Shining didn't lose his focus his horn illuminated once again. “My wife.”

Nazir didn't have time to respond, a new salve of sharp crystals soared through the air. The only thing he could do was dodge. His horn never halted. Barely, he could maintain his teleport stasis. When his hooves touched the ground he had to teleport away again. Every time he reappeared he followed the traces of the already fired crystals. Some of them were sharp and arrow-like but many were just formed like a shingle. He watched carefully and tried to understand the pattern.

Shining Armor's eyes followed every step of his opponent. Nazir's movements seemed to slow down, even if only a tiny bit. But he was getting tired. Shining concentrated once more, his horn shining in a bright purple light. Out of the ground pierced a huge crystal spike, aiming for Nazir's flank. Just mere moments before the spike would hurt him fatality he disappeared from the ground.

Only a second had passed and the brown stallion appeared behind Shining Armor, once again a polished dagger in his mouth.

Shining's horn illuminated once again, but this time it was too late. The dagger dived into his flesh, cutting through his coat like a warm knife through butter. Even the leather straps that hold his armour together were cut.

His armour fell to the ground. It was the awful sound of clinging metal that meant loss and pain. Blood followed soon after. The magical aura around his horn had faded and his own weight forced him to his knees.

Princess Luna already took a deep breath to announce the winner of this battle, but Princess Cadence stopped her. “Trust me, Shiny wouldn't lose like that, give him a few moments.”

Nazir didn't dare to take his eyes from his injured enemy, but satisfaction took place in his eyes. “Seems like I've won. You became careless and let your guard down. I have to confess that you're strong but your lack of experience was too huge.”

Coughing and shivering, Shining Armor rose to his hooves again. The stream of blood continued without hindrance. “Tell me why are you fighting here? Why do you want to join?”

Nazir raised an eyebrow, but since the battle was decided he had nothing to fear. “I'm fighting because my brother and I promised each other that we will reach for the stars. That we will become the best guardians that are walking over this world. We want to prove how strong we are.”

Shining's eyes became numb, his view blurred slowly and the feeling in his legs faded as well. “Do you know, why I'm fighting? The element of magic is my little sister. I can't let her fight such a frightening, strong enemy alone. I have to stay at her side. I must stay at her side! There is no way I will lose to you today!”

His horn ignited once more in a bright purple light. Nazir's eyes narrowed to small slits. His gaze fall upon the wound that he caused. The bleeding seemed to stop. Small white crystals seemed to cover the injury, Shining's whole coat was covered with them, slowly growing. His whole body was engulfed by these crystals, shining like a white armour.

The light faded with a sudden flash, blinding every watching pony. Nazir regained the ability to see, but what he had to witness didn't quite match his representations. In front of him stood Shining Armor, his eyes underlined by a faint light blue glow. His was body wrapped in some kind of crystal armour that covered his whole body. Though it hadn’t gaps between his legs or head so he could move them freely, like the crystal was liquid and solid at the same time. The bleeding on his flank had fully stopped.

Before Nazir could have said something, he got hit by a rear hoof straight in the face, sending him flying into a wall. Small rocks crumbled from the massive wall. He slowly rose up again and wiped drops of blood from his mouth. “I underestimated you. I didn't think you could do something like that. But I have to disappoint you, it doesn't matter how fast you're now-...”

Before he could finish his sentence he got smacked by a pumpkin sized crystal in his ribcage, once again was Nazir pushed into the wall. Coughing blood and with an unsteady breath he looked at Shining Armor. “What is this form? How have you taken it? What did you do to YOURSELF!”

Nazir vanished with a blink of his magic and reappeared above Shining Armor. He was screaming like a maniac while he levitated himself in the air. He created out of his own and Shining Armor's blood a scythe. It was engulfed with his magic ready to strike.

Enraged, he smashed one blow after another his blood scythe at Shining Armor, every hit created small sparks and heat. Shining didn't even look at him, the liquid crystal that had wrapped around him, seeming to move from his own will, like it was alive. The crystal protected him from any blow and from every small cut that could hurt him. Nazir swung the scythe far behind his head to accelerate it as much as possible. The scythe snapped back downwards, aiming at Shining's neck. But before it could reach him it shattered upon a small tendril that extended from Shining's armour.

Everything became slow in the eyes of Nazir, the blood scythe shattering into a million tiny shards. For a small moment, he was distracted. When he regained attention another tendril extended and smashed into his flank, firing him to the ground. The impact was clearly perceptible in the whole arena.

Nazir's breath became flat, only managing to point his gaze in Shining Armor's direction. He slowly approached the beaten foe but halted a few feet away from him. “This is the Crystal Knight. It's my special spell. I created it together with my wife, Princess Cadence of the Crystal Empire.”

Nazir smiled at him and closed his eyes. Blood surrounded him, slowly soaking the ground and his coat. “I'm so sorry that you will lose nevertheless.”

His eyes ripped open again and the blood of Nazir formed into a thousand little, thin spikes. Like an explosion, they distanced themselves from the ground and tried to reach Shining Armor. Before he could even react, before he could even think a single thought, his spell, the Crystal Knight, extended once again and shattered the thin spikes made of blood. But the tendrils didn't stop, they were too fast for Shining Armor to withdraw them and for Nazir to move.

Nazir saw the tendrils approaching him. He closed his eyes and smiled, his loss was certain. “I hope you can protect your sister well.”

Just a nanosecond before the tendrils would have chopped Nazir's head off, something between them seemed to explode with an ear-splitting sound, pushing the two opponents away.

Shining shook his head violently to get the constant noise that rang in his head out. The dust faded. Nazir was still alive. Tiny shards of his 'Crystal Knight' laid around him. But something was different than before. The dust finally faded completely and in front of Nazir stood his younger twin brother; the shadow walker, Asad.

Princess Luna jumped from her seat, her tiara nearly falling from the balcony. “This battle is over! Asad broke the rule that only two ponies can fight each other. I declare that Prince Shining Armor is the winner of the first fight!”

The crowed began to cheer even louder when they learned that their Prince had won. But Shining and Asad just stood there and starred in each other eyes. Medics entered the battlefield to treat their wounds. When they stared to move the eye contact broke and Asad vanished into his own shadow.

The armour around Shining slowly melted away and faded without a trace. He headed for the exit where his subordinate, Phalanx, already waited for him. As soon as they were able to speak to each other, Shining laid his hoof on Phalanx’s shoulder. “Listen, this Nazir guy is surely strong, but his brother is far stronger. He shattered even my 'Crystal Knight'. If you have to encounter him, give up. “

Phalanx didn't know what he should say, his eyes widening in disbelief. Shining Armor withdrew his hoof and walked passed him. “No.”

Shining stopped dead in his tracks he turned around to face Phalanx again. “Are you insane?”

But Phalanx didn't listen, his expression changing from disbelief to determination. “I'm fighting for the same reason you are. I will protect your sister. I can't afford to lose because I wouldn’t be there to protect her! Even if I'm weaker than you, even if I will lose my life in the attempt, I will protect her!”

Speaking to his own Captain like that would usually cause an degradation, but not this time. Shining smiled at his subordinate. “I'm sure you will. But I will keep an eye on you, don't try funny things with my filly sister.”

Shining Armor went away with a wink on his face. Phalanx blushed but still smiled with confidence. He went a few steps forward and entered the open and deserted battlefield. A few ponies cleaned the battleground of the remains of Shining Armor's 'Crystal Knight' and the blood that was spilled all over.

From his low position, his view reached into the separated lounge where the Princesses and the Elements of Harmony rested. Twilight waved furiously with her hooves while the others didn't really move. Princess Celestia tried to calm her down. “I wonder what are they talking about...”

Princess Celestia tried hard to calm her student, Twilight got crazy about the supposedly present, former student of Princess Luna. “Twilight! Calm down! We made preventions for this case, every single guard knows what he looks like and will alert us when he arrives.”

Twilight nearly began to cry. “And what about my brother? He nearly died down there! Why didn't you do anything?”

Princess Cadence stepped protectively in front of her aunt. “It's okay, it was my decision. Shiny didn't became the Captain of the Royal Guard for nothing. I knew he would win.”

In disbelief, Twilight shook her head. “And what if not! What would you do if he died?”

Her sister-in-law didn't know how she should answer, her eyes searching for a point to fix on but they wandered aimlessly around the face of the agitated unicorn. Finally, Princess Luna joined the conservation. “If Shining Armor would have fallen, there are only two possibilities. The first one is that he simply vanished from our lives. The second sounds easy but is hard to obtain. Theoretically there is one pony that would be able to revive him.”

Rarity raised an eyebrow and asked in curiosity. “I thought that reviving a dead pony surpasses even the capabilities of a Princess. Who could possibly do something like that?”

Princess Luna closed her eyes and took a deep breath which she halted for a few seconds. Her answer was short and humourless. “Soul.”

Their jaws dropped to the ground. They stared at Princess Luna like she was an alien. Princess Celestia sighed and tried to explain. “This ability was once possessed by Star Swirl. Since Soul captured his power, he is able to manipulate the flow of time. It isn't a revival in the common sense, he could just set time back and prevent his death, so Shining would have never actually died, if the worst case happened.”

Rather agitated, Twilight dared to scream at the Princess. “And why should he do so?”

Princess Luna looked at her with a motherly expression. “It is just a feeling or more a hope but I can't believe he would harm us.”

Twilight calmed down and collected her senses. “And how should we be able to fight somepony like that?”

Princess Celestia looked at her student with a dead serious stare. “I don't know.”

Princess Luna slightly shook her head and turned around to check if the battlefield was cleared.
Everypony had already left it and the shards were cleaned up. “The second encounter shall begin now! This time the opponents shall be Thor the Furious against Phalanx!”

The crowd began to cheer again for their second equestrian fighter. The two opponents slowly hovered to their position. Phalanx looked like a heavy weight had fallen off his back. He was never a good one when magic was the matter. He had always better chances against another avian creature. They stared into each other’s eyes, both were now placed on the ground.

Thor didn't looked dangerous after all. He looked like every griffon. The only difference was his armour. It bore many fissures and scratches. Phalanx eyes fell upon some sort of banners carved into his armour. The griffon noticed his stare. “These are the symbols of the villages, Odin and I had scavenged...”

Princess Luna halted for a short moment before she screamed out loud. “Begin!”

As soon as the Princess words reached them, both of them made a massive wing flap and rocketed into the sky. An aerial fight was always tricky in comparison to a ground fight, new attacking and defending possibilities are opened. Some clouds were pushed nearby over the arena to make the fight more exciting and varied.

Phalanx pierced through the clouds to hide himself from the gaze of his opponent. Gliding, he began to circle the arena. The clouds somehow dispersed and became like a thick layer of fog. “Where is he?”

The audience tried to find them in the fog, they searched for every single movement. Somepony that is called 'the Furious' shouldn't be a calm pony after all. They silenced, there wasn't the sound of flapping wings or metal that clashed together, there only were total silence. Likewise, the Princesses and the girl tried to spot them in the air. Even the Princesses couldn't make them out. The guards stared, strained, into the sky, trying to find their companion. Every guard except one. He heard a sound like something was glued to the ground and removed quickly after. He turned around to check out the source of the noise. The curtains behind the Princesses and the girls seemed slightly to move.

Slowly, he walked to the curtain and peeked around the seats that were placed in front of it. It seemed like something green and sticky was on the ground that radiated in some green light. The wobbly mass on the ground were somehow formed like little footprints. He carefully lifted the curtain with his pike. He face turned pale, it would match the marble in the castle perfectly.

Behind the curtain sat a small black creature with no real head, instead there only was a huge green eyeball with a sliced centre. It stared for a few seconds at the guard but before it could move, the guard stabbed with his pike inside it's body. The pike got stuck in the ground and the guard turned immediately and ran to the railing where the Princesses stood. He yelled so loud that almost everypony could hear him in the whole Colosseum. “Ambush! Abort this battle! Now!”

The Princesses looked in confusion at the guard but their gaze didn't lay on him for a long time. The sound of something piercing through some kind of armour rang through the Colosseum. Through the fog something seem to fall, it pierced through the layer of fog and headed straight for the ground.

The audience became panicked and left their seats, running to the exits. But only a few of them. The rest just sat there calmly. The fog was pushed away from something in it's centre. Probably the same thing that had beat up the body that was heading for the ground. Twilight pressed her hooves together to pray. “Please, don't be Phalanx, please please please.”

The body hit the ground, feathers and armour parts flying through the air, loosened from the impact. A high eagle-like scream escaped his lungs. The scream of a dying griffon. Even she was relieved that Phalanx wasn't on the ground, but she had a reason to worry. The sky cleared up and high in the air stood two winged creatures. But both were way too big to be Phalanx.

Princess Celestia levitated a golden box that was decorated with various gems to the girls. “Here take them. I think we might need them.”

The box clipped open and revealed the remaining five Elements of Harmony. The Princess magically laid them around their necks and closed them while the two winged ponies hovered downwards. The sun shined far too bright too identify them.

The guards rushed inside the lounges where the representatives from the different countries sat to attend the event in an effort to protect them. Princess Celestia teleported herself, her sister, and the girls down on the battleground to welcome their guests.

The shadows in the sky grew clearer in their appearance. Their breath halted when they realized who hovered into the arena.

“So you finally show yourself.”Princess Celestia mustered her darker half that landed gracefully on the ground.

The dark laughter of the Mare in the Moon blasted through the Colosseum. “Of course, my sister and I are here. Why should we miss such an exquisite event.”

Radiant Flare and Nightmare Moon faced them now. It was one of the scariest things a pony could imagine, when two equally tall and strong ponies were about to fight with the Princesses. But this time Princess Celestia seemed to be more confident than the last time. A small smile throned on her lips. “How reckless of you. You came right to an arena that is packed with our soldiers, with the Elements and even Luna and me. Doesn't seem like a plan you thought well about. My niece is actually sealing the entire area right now.”

While a massive forcefield stretched over the Colosseum, Radiant Flare's tongue licked over her lips and she ripped her eyes open as she waved her hoof around the arena. “Reckless? We? Never! Look around you, you silly little filly.”

The audience that remained calmly in the Colosseum, raised from their seats and began to burn in green fire almost immediately. Through the fire something clearly shined on their heads in a turquoise light. It was the very same rune that throned on the heads from the creatures out of the Everfree Forest. Hundreds, Thousands of them stared now at the Princesses and the girls.

Nightmare Moon snickered with her tongue and pointed at them. “It's not us who are trapped here. It's you who are trapped here with us!”

Slowly they moved closer to each other. Pinkie Pie tried to cheer the mood up with her cheerful manner.”Well, at least this couldn't become somehow worse.”

Just as she ended her sentence an awful sound rang through the Colosseum. It was the sound that meant death and disaster as long as the Princesses could remember. It was the sound that sounded everything. The eyes of everypony included Nightmare Moon and Radiant Flare wandered upwards to the one and only tower in the Colosseum. The giant old Cloister bell rang in it's full pride. Equestria hadn't heard its sound for the last thousand years.

Their eyes widened in shock, but not from the unexpected noise. It was the black unicorn stallion that stood right next to it. His horn was still illuminated in his sapphire-blue magical aura and remains of blazing black flames dispersed themselves around him and dripped down like a fluid.

Behind him emblazoned a gap that lead into pure nothingness. Impossible cracks ripped through the air around it, holding the hole in the fabric of reality open.

From one of the lounges, the voice of a Saddle Arabian representative screamed in the most terrifying manner. “It's the darkness! The prophecy was true after all! The darkness among the Stars returned!”

He looked downwards on them with his scarred blue eye, ready to seal their fates.

Comments

[Haseo]

2552978

I know that feel

I'm working for myself at a different story right now. (I've got another tab open, too )

I think, I've called him Black Terror and not Dark Terror

As for Harmony, I guess it is not too much when I confirm that you will hear more about her.

Sorry but I dislike Blueblood by far too much to give Twi to him.
I'm really looking forward for more comments