• Published 22nd Jan 2013
  • 11,094 Views, 854 Comments

Equestria Legends Online - Shadowflame



A New virtual reality MMO goes screwy with the arrival of discord. Now over a thousand bronies are trapped in a virtual reality, and the only way out is to play Discord's game. Will they collect the Elements of Harmony in time, or die trying?

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July 9th (Mmmm, Crystalsss)

By the time early morning came, everyone was suited up and ready to go. We journeyed outside of the Crystal Palace and out of the Crystal Empire.

Neon yawned at the early hour, “Aw… man, I can’t believe King Sombra was that easy to take down. Getting that last element seemed almost too easy.”

While everyone gave the unicorn a confused look, Lexus gently nudged her side, “Um, babe? That was only a dream from last night. We’re on our way to fight Sombra right now.”

Neon blinked in confusion, before realization dawned on her, “Oh… now that I think about it, none of that dream really made sense. I mean, the fight was too easy, and Swift Vapor ended up getting the Element of Swag.” She sighed a bit, probably more out of relief than anything, “Honestly, if anyone’s going to have the Element of Swag, it’s probably me.”

Swift quickly defended himself, “Whoa, hey! The Element of Swag belongs to Swift Vapor the Swagasus! Nobody can touch this level of swag!”

I facehoofed, “Guys, I seriously don’t think the next Element of Harmony is going to be the Element of Swag. Heck, it could even be the Element of Magic next.”

Violet shrugged, “Probably not, but hey, this is Discord we’re talking about. He’d probably go for swag as the last new element.”

Sky rolled his eyes next, “I’m just glad I didn’t get that element. I don’t think I could’ve let myself live with that kind of title.”

My mind decided to picture a huge light show, with flashing neon letters above Sky’s head, reading, Midnight5ky: The Element of Swag. In that same picture, Sky looked like a Spike who’d put up with too much of a panicking Twilight, hardly amused.

Groaning a bit, I shouted back to everyone, who had apparently joined in on a swag-battle Swift and Neon had started against each other. “Alright, the next pony who even mentions Swag is the first one I throw into the dungeon to see if the coast is clear. Capeesh?”

Everyone fell silent, thankfully enough, save for Swift, who proceeded to stand on his hind legs and give a Robo-dash impression, “Crush, kill, destroy, swag.”

I facehoofed again, “Geez…” At least everyone else laughed at that.

After enough of that conversation, we finally reached our destination: The Ruby Falls.

Just like Jupiter had described it, the Ruby Falls were a giant wall of crashing water. The waterfall streamed down from the top of a cliff-face, spreading about fifty feet in length across. The water rushing from it came crashing down into a deep lake with a loud roar, spraying mist everywhere in the surrounding area. All throughout the waterfall, the shapes and colors of gemstones glittered against the early sunrise, ranging from rubies, to emeralds, to sapphires, and amethyst. The rate of the gems flowing down with the water was constant and frequent, so much so that the gemstones almost seemed to be a literal part of the rushing watery wall.

But while the rest of the waterfall was solid, there was one portion of the flow that was interrupted by something. An earthen walkway led out from across the fall’s cliff-face, over the lake the water poured down into, and ending on the solid ground on the other side of the body of water. In simpler terms, it was a walkway of rock that extended over the lake and ended at the waterfall, probably ending at the entrance to the dungeon that laid behind the ruby falls.

Our group stood at the foot of the walkway, ready to go in. But something was blocking our path.

It was a crystal pony stallion, clad in heavy purple armor. He was most likely an NPC, since crystal pony players were nonexistent last I checked. He stood right at the front of the walkway, barring the way from anyone, even though it didn’t seem like he had a weapon on him at all.

The crystal guard’s eyes fell on our group, and he called out, “Halt! Who goes there?”

I stepped forward as the advocate for the group, “We’re from the Knights of Harmony guild. We wish to enter the dungeon behind the waterfall to search for the next Element of Harmony.”

The guard seemed to stiffen his posture, as if to emphasize that he wasn’t moving from where he stood, “I’m sorry, but I can’t let you in there. It’s too dangerous, even with a large group.”

I frowned, “Why can’t you let us in? What’s dangerous in there?”

“Do you know what the Empire uses the falls for?” The guard asked.

I shook my head ‘no’, though behind me I heard Sharky say, “Oh, I remember this event…”

Continuing his dialogue, the NPC stared at every player sternly, “The crown of Equestria uses the dungeon behind the Ruby Falls as a hideaway, as a place to dispose of the abominations created by the one and only Tyrant, King Sombra. Inside lies the darkest of monsters he created during his reign, all of which were made specifically to kill.

“Even if you have a sword and know how to wield it, those monsters would kill you in an instant. Going inside there is suicide.”

The guard coughed, “I’m sorry, but I can’t let you or your friends here get yourselves killed.”

I groaned a bit. With everything we’d fought before, I highly doubted these things could be any worse, so the guard had no point in stopping us from entering.

Before I could respond, Sharky stepped forwards, “Alright, alright. Don’t worry, guys. I got this covered.”

The cyan unicorn walked up in front of the guard, saying casually, “Guard, I declare for a wager.”

As if it were a cut scene, the guard went rigid, before replying, “Yeah, what do you want?”

“We wish to enter the Ruby Falls dungeon.”

The guard scratched his chin with a hoof, debating whether or not to accept, “Hm… that’s a hefty price… So, here’s my offer then.”

The guard cleared his throat, “I’ll let you in if one of you can beat me in a duel. If you win, then I’ll let you enter. But if you quit halfway or can’t even beat me, then I’ll take some bits and some items as compensation for wasting my time.

“Do we have an agreement?”

Sharky nodded, “Yes, we do.”

The guard smirked, “Alright then, who’s the challenger?” He seemed frozen in place while the game gave us time to decide.

I glanced towards Sharky, curiously, “What did you do?”

He shrugged, “Triggered a little guard cut scene. If you can get any guard to wager with you, you can get anything you want from them. It’s a nice little exploit if you’re low on items or just want information. Plus if you win the duel, you get some experience from the fight.”

“Hm, cool.” I smirked as I looked back at the group, “Okay, who wants to fight this one?” Just from looking at the guard, I could tell he’d be a decent fight, but I knew he couldn’t beat even Dylan, the lowest level in the group, so anyone would be fine to fight him.

Cinn volunteered, “Alright, I’ll go. We already know that I can’t enter the boss room with you guys ‘cause of the rules Discord set, so I might as well get to fight while I can.”

Nobody opposed, and Cinn walked up to the guard, standing up on his hind legs and drawing his katana with his forelegs.

But surprisingly, upon seeing Cinn step up to the challenge, the guard also drew a weapon which I don’t even think he had in the first place. Out of his armor, the guard pulled out a katana of his own, which looked exactly like Cinn’s.

Cinn blinked in surprise too, before quickly recomposing himself, “Nani?”

But the guard wasn’t done. Suddenly, his bulky, purple armor seemed to suddenly shrink and meld into his crystal skin, which was now turning a shade of dark brown. The stallion’s armor and helmet were instantly replaced by a lighter, leather armor, lined with metal protection in some places like his elbows and back legs, but his helmet was replaced by a headband, unlike everything else.

The stallion’s crystal fur changed to a dark brown, and his mane and tail grew out into a wild, black mess, with red streaks highlighting the ends of hair. Out of his forehead, a unicorn horn suddenly protruded, changing the guards race from a crystal pony to a… er, crystal unicorn?

Whatever the terminology for that is, everyone present felt their jaws go loose, so much so that a few of us stared with our mouths open at the former guard blocking our path.

The guard had turned into an almost perfect copy of Cinn, though he was made of crystals and his mane was stylized differently. It was as if Cinn were looking at a crystal version of himself; weapon, armor, and all.

The only other difference was the ID that appeared over the other Cinn after the transformation. It read: Carbon Copy (Cinnamon)

Cross shouted out his disapproval, “Hacks! I call Hax!”

The Carbon Copy stood on its hind legs, mirroring Cinn’s stance as it held its own katana towards him.

Cinn quickly shook himself out of his initial surprise, clenching his blade firmly as he glared at his doppelganger, “Looking like me isn’t gonna save you, buddy.” He smirked, “Although, if you weren’t an effin’ horse, I’d call you a devilishly handsome fella.”

The copy merely chuckled with Cinn’s voice, “I hope you realize this duel isn’t just to your yellow zone.” Suddenly the copy’s sword shimmered as frost began to dance around it, provoking Cinn to quickly do the same, as to not let his opponent gain the upper hand.

‘Crystal Cinn’ laughed darkly, “This shall be a fight to the death!”

From where I stood watching, I felt myself grimace at the copy. Before, I had thought he’d be an easy fight to get past. But now? Now this guy… thing, whatever, could change form, probably change weapons, and inherit the abilities of a player? I had no doubt that this carbon copy would be trouble for whoever fought it. No wonder this thing was guarding the Ruby Falls dungeon. Discord must have put it there to keep us from entering and fighting Sombra.

Although, it’s not like Discord never set a trap or two for us before. We should have been expecting something like this to happen.

Mildly sighing in exasperation, I hoped Cinn was as good a fighter as he said he was. His life was on the line, and if he died, then we’d have to risk another group member to this thing. Losing Cinn would be bad enough, but putting another person into that possibility just made matters worse.

We’d just need to root for Cinn then. I decided.

Both Cinns readied their blades, frost collecting on the tips of them as they stared at each other with cold eyes.

In an instant, the two leaped at each other, like two samuri warriors in the heat of the battle. Their swords met each other midair, the force knocking them apart, only for the two identical unicorns to regain their footing and lunge again instantly.

Attack after attack, and the only result was the ringing of steel against steel, their impacts tossed bits of frost into the air like sparks off of hot metal. Neither fighter could manage to hit the other without finding their blade met perpendicularly with the other’s. It was like watching Cinn fight a mirror, until-

“Frost Blade!” Carbon Copy shouted as he swung his katana in a wide arch, launching dozens of icicles through the air out of its blade, all of them heading straight for Cinn.

Cinn hacked and slashed at the icicles, breaking them into pieces before they got too close to him. But he didn’t catch all of them, and a few icy projectiles honed in on his right rear leg, encasing it and the ground under him in ice.

A shiver ran up Cinn’s spine at the cold pain, “D-dammit!” He glared at the ice stump around his hoof holding him in place. “So that’s what it feels like…” He muttered in sympathy for the people he’d frozen in the past.

But he wasn’t going to let a bit of ice casing stop him. He brought a free hoof up to his head level and brought it down hard against his frozen hoof. The blow shattered the ice instantly, and Cinn freed his leg just in time to block an oncoming strike from his doppelganger.

Their blades stuck against each other in a standstill, the two of them glaring at each other as they began muscling to gain the advantage.

Cinn glowered at the duplicate, “Don’t think that freeze-then-strike tactic will work on me. I’m the one who made it in the first place!”

Carbon Copy snarled back, “Foolish player! Lord Discord has perfected my intelligence! I know every trick to your fighting style, and more! I know exactly how to deal with you, Cinnamon.”

“Every trick, huh? Not bad for an AI.” Cinn smirked, “But you’re forgetting something, baka!”

“What?” The crystal Cinn hissed.

Cinn grinned widely as his horn glowed blue, before his brown coat began to turn paler as icicles and frost grew over it. The unicorn gave his doppelganger a wicked look, “If you’re copying me and my fighting style,”

Instantly, Cinn dropped down to the ground, the sudden release of tension between his and the copy’s swords sent the crystal unicorn stumbling forwards, right where Cinn wanted him.

Cinn’s free hoof suddenly began glowing with magic. His blue aura surrounded his arm, as if it were a fist, and he looked up at the copy with murderous intent, “… Then I just have to try something new!”

In a swift uppercut, Cinn’s magical fist plunged up into Carbon Copy’s gut, the force of the blow sending the NPC gasping for nonexistent breath. With his target still in midair from his punch, Cinn quickly sidestepped the copy, raising his katana high over his head. With one fell swoop, Cinn’s blade plummeted downwards right over Carbon Copy’s spine.

The copy screamed and Cinn roared a battle cry, as his blade cleaved through his opponent, splitting the crystal unicorn in two halves, an instant death blow, only possible with the vast amounts of ice magic channeled into the katana that dealt the killing strike.

With a final mortified scream, Carbon Copy burst into blue code, its remains drifting up into the air before disappearing, leaving Cinn as the victor of the duel to the death.

Cinn smiled coolly as he sheathed his katana once more, letting his forehooves land back down on the ground. He looked back at our group, “See? No problem at all.”

Sky rolled his eyes, “Whatever. I could’ve done better.”

Sighing a bit, Siren nudged Sky, more to keep him and Cinn from going at it again, “I’m sure you could have, too. But you’ll have plenty of time to show off when we fight Sombra.”

“I’m not showing off.” Sky deadpanned, “I was just saying I would’ve done better.”

Siren winked at him, “I know.”

“Aww, kawaii.” Dylan teased, only to receive a death glare from his older brother.

“Anyways!” Lexus interjected, pointing a hoof at the waterfall, “Doesn’t that mean we can get inside the dungeon now?”

Sharky nodded, “Yes, we should be able to enter now.” He scratched the back of his head sheepishly, “Although, that carbon copy monster wasn’t here in the original game design. It’s safe to assume Discord changed the dungeon’s layout too, so we better exercise caution-“

“Race you guys there!” Cross laughed, before bolting forwards and up the walkway leading to the waterfall.

“Hey, wait up!” Eclipse ran after him.

Neon, wanting to not lose a race, tugged on Lexus foreleg, “C’mon, baby! Let’s go!”

Lexus chuckled, “Alright, alright, I’m coming.”

Pretty soon, everyone began making their way onto the walkway, before reaching the waterfall.

Cross, being the first one there, stopped at where the waterfall met the walkway, frowning in a bit of uncertainty. He glanced back at Sharky when he arrived there too, “So, we just hop through?”

Sharky nodded, “Yes. The entrance should be a straight shot from this platform. Just keep walking forwards and you’ll make it inside.”

Cross nodded, “Sweet!” He then dove head first into the roaring torrent of water coming down the cliff-face, disappearing behind it.

It didn’t take long for everyone else to begin filing through the waterfall and into the dungeon. I brought up the rear, which meant I was the last to jump through the falls.

The instant my forehooves passed through the watery wall, my whole body suddenly felt kind of odd. It wasn’t like nausea per se, but more like discomfort, and the more my body passed through, the more the feeling was heightened.

Thankfully, once I made it through the waterfall, the feeling subsided. But the sight I was met with immediately afterwards was something I wasn’t expecting.

The entrance to the dungeon turned out to be a fairly large, circular cave. The rest of my group was waiting in there, but they looked… different.

“Dude, we’re all crystally!” Swift laughed, getting a good look at the gray crystals that seemed to have replaced his fur.

“Gee, you don’t say?” Sky rolled his eyes while smirking, “That’s probably ‘cause we’re crystal ponies now.”

As I looked around, I saw that it was true. Everyone had become crystalized, making their bodies not exactly transparent, but still glimmering with crystalline shapes. Much to my surprise, I looked down at my front hooves to see they were now shimmering like dark gray gems. Another detail that came with the crystal change was everyone’s manes, which seemed to have been altered slightly in their styles, making them have a smoother, crystalline shape. My own mane seemed to have solidified in a style similar than my usual unkempt look, though a bit neater now.

Everyone was glancing around at each other in cave, smiling and/or laughing at the unexpected change… well, everyone except for Sharky. He seemed to be frowning a bit.

“Hey, what’s wrong?” I asked. “Do you not like the crystal look or something?”

He looked at me, confusion written on his face, “Oh, no, I do like it. It’s just that…” He frowned, “The admin team had been working on the crystal pony design, but we never completed it, otherwise Crystal Pony would’ve been a selectable choice when we all created our avatars. I know for a fact that none of us could’ve completed the crystal pony class while we were trapped in here, so that has to mean that Discord must have finished it.” He glanced up at the crystalline horn on his forehead, “Er, well, in a sense.”

“So, you’re thinking that Discord must’ve had a reason for finishing the crystal pony class for players?” I guessed.

Sharky nodded.

I sighed, “Well, then we’re just gonna have to keep on our toes.” I paused for a moment, “Heh, I haven’t used that phrase in a while…” I glanced down at my hind legs, frowning, I miss my toes…

Shaking my head, I glanced around, “Anybody see the way forwards?”

“Yeah, over here!” Soul called out, waving everyone towards him with a hoof.

Over by where Soul stood in the cave, embedded in the rounded walls, were two doors; both seemed to be made of crystals. Both doors looked exactly the same, without any clue as to what laid behind either of them.

But just in between the two doors sat a crystal pedestal, with an open book on top of it. The open page read this.

Learn What Lies Behind These Doors
Turn back one page to learn about the Left Door
<<<<
Turn forwards one page to learn about the Right Door
>>>>
Both lead to the same point, but neither are the same.

Soul looked over the book, frowning, “Hm, let’s check the right door first.”

He flipped the page, bringing him to a passage, which he read out loud, “The right path doesn’t always mean the right door. Beware, the path there holds many carnivores” Soul paused to roll his eyes, “Ugh, verse.”

Continuing, “Anyways,

“The right path doesn’t always mean the right doors. Beware, the path there holds many carnivores. To the crystals they are drawn, their favorite snack. To see you as you all are, they might just attack. Like sharks, they will hunt you, and eat you with their greed. They will not cease until you can no longer bleed.”
Soul blinked in confusion, “Anyone got any idea what it’s talking about?”

Comet was the first to reply, in a serious tone, “Dragons. It’s saying that dragons are waiting on the other side of that door.”

Sharky’s eyes instantly widened, “Oh… So that’s why Discord finished the crystal pony class.”

Sky narrowed his eyes at Sharky, “What?”

The former admin sheepishly rubbed the back of his head, “Well… you see, as the main developer of all the monsters in ELO, I thought it’d be a funny idea to add a little perk to the dragon’s coding. It was for when we were going to release the Crystal Pony class to everybody, but I never got to put it in action. I actually programmed every dragon to hone in on any crystal ponies in sight, making them every dragon’s first target every time.”

Cinn’s brow furrowed, “So basically any dragons that see us like this will try their hardest to kill us on sight?”

Sharky nodded, “Yes, though more along the lines of eating us, rather than outright killing.”

Cinn’s eyes widened slightly, “Wait, so that book wasn’t kidding when it said that dragons like eating gems?” He grumbled under his breath, “How would that even be possible? Stupid game mechanics.”

“Er, more like fantasy physics.” Violet replied, “Or have you forgotten exactly where we are?” Cinn simply gave him a deadpanned look.

Sharky chuckled at their antics, glancing back towards the exit of the cave, a wall of water still coming down beyond it, “Well, this all wouldn’t be a problem if we could fight them as our regular selves. I’m guessing if we were to walk back out of this dungeon, our crystal forms would wear off. But unfortunately, we’d have to walk back under the waterfall to go through the door, which means we can’t continue unless we’re crystalized like this.”

“So you’re saying the right door is the hard way?” Neon summed up, “What about the left door?”

“Let’s see here.” Soul flipped back two pages as the book instructed. His expression quickly turned to one of confusion when he read what the open page said:

Nope Nope Nope Nope Nope Nope Nope Nope Nope Nope Nope Nope Nope Nope Nope Nope Nope Nope Nope Nope Nope Nope Nope Nope Nope Nope Nope Nope Nope NopeNopeNopeNopeNopeNopeNopeNopeNopeNopeNope
Nope

Dylan peered over Soul’s shoulder to get a look at the page, frowning as well at what he read, “Wait… what?”

Soul read the page over again, “What the f-(Buy some apples!) is this?”

Swift, being the swagasus that he was, simply shrugged, “Well, there’s one way to find out.” He trotted over to the door on the left and pulled it open…

Only to find a twenty foot tall spider waiting on the other side, covered in hairy fur across its head, its mandibles, and all eight legs, snapping its mandibles at the wide-eyed pegasus right in front of it.

Swift slammed the door shut with a deafening slam, throwing his body back against it in case the monstrosity behind could open deadbolts.

“Nope! Nope! Nope!”

It didn’t matter who said it, ‘cause we all were thinking it.

“I say we take our chances with the dragons.” Swift proposed.

No one objected.

Pretty soon, we had opened the door on the right and began filing in through it.


Elsewhere, a certain draconequus chuckled to himself, “Oh, it seems they left the left door for the right door that wasn’t right.” He snickered, “Oh, these puns I come up with are the best, are they not?”



On the other side of the door, everyone’s eyes widened in wonder at what we saw. It was like an endless void, completely pure black, save for a single, narrow walkway that extended straight out from the door we had just come out of, the walkway being just wide enough for two ponies to walk side by side without falling off. There wasn’t anything else inside this room, if a seemingly never-ending space could even be called that. The darkness around the single walkway was too dark to see through, and the walkway seemed to go on forever because of it.

I peered over the edge of the walkway’s side, and much to my surprise, it seemed to be an infinite drop into a dark abyss. Somehow, I had the strangest feeling we weren’t just inside a cave behind a waterfall anymore. It felt bigger… much bigger than anything that could be hidden inside a mountain behind a waterfall. It seemed almost endless.

I turned shouted back to Sky, who was the only person in our team who had night vision, "Hey, can you see anything in here?"

Looking back, I watched as Sky poked his head out from the back of the group, scanning our surroundings. Sky frowned once he'd finished giving the place a look over, "Nope, it doesn't look like there's anything in here. Hell, I can't even see the end of the room with night vision."

That was interesting... wasn't there supposed to be a dragon in here? Looking back up at the long walkway ahead, it didn’t look like there was any other way to go, “Alright… straight forwards, I guess.”

I started trotting forwards onto the walkway, with everyone following behind. No one spoke, no doubt because they were either still viewing the massive expanse before us or looking for any signs of the dragons we’d been warned of. Honestly, I couldn’t imagine how or why any dragons would be in this place, but-

The sound of a door slamming suddenly interrupted my thoughts, promptly followed by Sky's shout, "What the- NO! Dylan!"

"Uh, oh." I quickly spread my wings and took off of the ground, flying back to the door we'd just come through. Sky was at the end of the group, banging against the doors with both of his swords. But it didn't look like it was budging.

I lighted down on the ground next him, "What happened?"

"The door closed by itself." Sky grumbled, but there was worry in his expression, "It locked itself before Dylan could get through."

"What?!" I gasped. This was bad, because Dylan was probably our weakest group member, no offense to him or anything. Sure, he could handle himself in a fight, but I doubted a simple fight was the reason why the door cut him off from the rest of us in the first place. The memory of Dylan almost falling through a fake floor in the Cloudsdale came to mind, and my eyes widened in horror. What if he'd been caught in a trap?... just like Cloud and Cross had at the last boss battle.

"Um, guys? We've got a problem." As I heard Lexus say that, I also heard the hisses of metal as everyone drew their weapons. I turned around to see Lexus pointing his spear over the side of the walkway. My eyes trailed where his weapon was pointing, only for them to narrow as I caught sight of the monster we had been warned about.

I drew my weapons, not even taking my eyes off of the massive giant. It was just like the one we'd fought inside the changeling hive, except for its color. Its scales weren't a ruby red like last time, but rather a pale white. The fully grown adult dragon glared down at us with its red eyes, licking its lips as it spotted our crystal appearance.

Sky's eyes were probably just as, if not wider than mine, cursing to himself as he readied his swords, "Crap, where did that come from? There's no way I missed something that big!"

Not a moment later, it spread its wings and lunged at us with its gaping maw.

"Run!" Sharky shouted. We all ran away from the locked door and out farther into the depths of the room, just in time for the dragon to recklessly collide against and decimate the part of the walkway we had been standing on before. The dragon was stunned momentarily as it recoiled from a blow that would've likely killed us had we not moved. But as quickly as it had before, the dragon took off with its wings again and shot right for us.

I grimaced as I spread my wings and took to the air, following the rest of our group as we ran for our lives, whether it be by air or by running on the narrow path before us, trying to get as much distance as possible from the crystal hungry beast. I was sorry, but Dylan was going to have to wait. Hopefully he would survive long enough for us to beat this overgrown lizard and get back to him.

__________________________________

Dyl0nkour

Dylan pounded against the locked door, the one that had suddenly shut and had separated him from the rest of his group, "Sky! Guys! What's happening!"

A gasp escaped his mouth as a wall of black crystals suddenly grew over the door, sealing it shut and causing Dylan to stumble back in shock.

Right behind him, a voice spoke, one that literally sent a cold shiver down the colt's spine, "Hello there, youngling."

Dylan quickly whipped himself around to face the owner of the voice, only for his eyes to widen in dismay. Standing right before him, right in the middle of the cave, stood a black unicorn. He wore iron battle armor and hoof guards, as well as a red cape that seemed fit for royalty. His eyes were green, with red irises that seemed to glow every now and again. Out of the corners of his eyes, thin streams of eerie purple smoke trailed out, just like his black mane and tail. While his eyes were unnatural, the fangs in this equines mouth were menacing, and a sinister feeling of fear came from his blood-red, knife-shaped horn.

King Sombra grinned at Dylan with a look that made the colt pale, "I see you have finally arrived to fight me." Dylan shuddered as Sombra's dark voice seemed to reverberate in his ears, as if the tyrant king were speaking right next to him.

Dylan felt the blood in his ears pounding, because he was not only right here with the boss they had come to fight, but because he was absolutely alone, cut off from every possible help. Everyone else was stuck behind that door Sombra had sealed off, and there was no one else in the whole empire who could come to his aid.

This was going to be his own fight, whether he liked it or not.

A deep chuckle rumbled through the cave's interior as Sombra relished in the amount of fear he felt from Dylan. Suddenly, the red horn on his head flashed black, and a long scythe was conjured into his magical grasp. King Sombra laughed darkly, "Now, show me why Lord Discord chose you to receive the next element, pitiful vermin."

Dylan shakily grabbed his staff off of his back, holding it in front of him with his forehooves. He gulped down the small bit of fear that was building up inside of him. He hadn't ever thought he'd be stuck in a situation like this.

Dylan narrowed his eyes at King Sombra, steeling his resolve to fight, even if his gut told him otherwise, "Bring it on, Sombra!"

Sombra smiled coldly at him, slowly pacing towards the little colt, "Very well. Let's see how long you can last..."

Suddenly, the tyrant king leaped at Dylan, eyes ablaze with bloodlust as he raised his scythe to strike, "Before I break you!"

Author's Note:

Finally! Boss Battle next chapter!

Also, guys, it seems you want me to continue the R63 chapter, and I will. Though I won't be doing it until after this boss battle is finished.

Anyways, I think that's all I have to say.
Thanks for reading,
-Shadowflame

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