Revelations of the Past

by Mr101

Chapter XI: Battle for the Empire Part 1- A Fallen Leader.

Revelations of the past

Chapter XI: Battle for the Empire Part 1- A Fallen Leader.

“I don’t think I ever had such a restless night, I remember my father telling me about the feeling of waiting on the edge of a battle that was about to begin. I along with her highness Empress Amemond had made our way back into the Crystal Caverns to wait who would win, Amemond was worrying about her husband and I felt useless on how to console her.

I had gotten up during the middle of night unable to sleep, looking back at it now I remember just looking over the crowds of civilians who were asleep together, it greatly saddened me.”

Twilight paused where she was; she let out a tired yawn and rubbed her eyes with her hoof. She knew it was late and probably was already late evening and contemplated going to bed, however the book was keeping her from wanting to leave.

It saddened her reading about war in this way, most of the modern history books that were used in schools didn’t go into too much detail like this tome was doing, even her own library didn’t have books on the war with Discord or Sombra in this detail.

In fact the more she thought about it, she had only ever really read a few books in her time from the Royal Archive that depicted war and even they weren’t as detailed as this. She shrugged it off as simply this being one of the few tomes in Equestria that was written exactly around the time of the war, letting out one last yawn she went back to reading, quite happy to go on through the night.

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One thing Turil could note about that morning was that it was cold, very cold, and colder then he would have liked it to be. He was sitting on the roof Crystal Palace looking out towards the East, where he was told Sombra’s forces retreated, with a cold thoughtful stare. In his mouth was a pipe that smoke was slowly rising from and mingling with the sky, every now and again his face lit up from the burning tobaccos inside it.

His knees were up to his chest and his arms dangled lazing over his knees, clutching in his left hand was a long wooden staff that had an ice blue crystal at the end that was helped by small branches that wove around it from the staff. Turil had lost count of the hours he had been sitting there by himself in silence, just watching and waiting.

The cold morning wind roughly blew against his hidden face trying to push down his hood as he watched the sun slowly raise, below him he noticed Celestia standing on a balcony, her horn glowing. Curiously he watched her before looking back up to the rising dun, it took him a few moments to put two and two together before realising she was the one raising the sun. He knew from legends that the two Gods Lonoss and Soloss raised the sun and two moons back in Cyrium, but because so little existed about the two Gods most people just ignored their supposed existence.

But this, this was real; Turil could only imagine the true power Celestia actually had hidden inside. He smiled to himself and decided not to disturb her any further, taking the pipe from his mouth to blow out a large amount of smoke he felt something stir around him, a different energy.

Raising an eyebrow as he placed the pipe back into his mouth, he closed his eyes as he raised his head back up towards the east.

‘What are you planning Malaskaar?’ He thought to himself.

He blew out another large amount of smoke before opening his eyes again, without averting his gaze he placed the pipe back into his mouth and spoke calm.

“Yes Luna?”

Luna stopped in her tracks; she was a few metres behind Turil and had been silently approaching him planning to surprise him and pouted. She carried on walking over to him and sat on her rump next to him.

“What’re you doing up here anyway?” She asked him.

“Waiting.” He replied.

Luna nodded, knowing that he was probably feeling slightly nervous about the upcoming battle. They both watched the sun.

“So I take it you raise the moon?” He asked her keeping his gaze set.

“Yes, how did you know?” She replied looking at him.

“I felt Tia casting a powerful spell and just put two and two together.” He shrugged. “And logically I just assume you were the one who raises the moon.”

“That obvious?” She asked to which he nodded.

The two sat there for a while in silence as they continued to watch over the city, during the past three days great care had been taken into rebuilding the equipment that had been damaged such as the ballistas. During the time, there had been an increase in troop count as several towns that still remained free from Sombra had sent what little resources and soldiers they could to the capital.

Turil had calculated that with the amount of soldiers they had, they would be evenly matched against Sombra, if it wasn’t for Malaskaar yet. He had only briefly mentioned what Malaskaar would most likely do to the others which was he would raise his own personal army to aid Sombra’s, one thing he didn’t tell them for fear of causing doubt of victory was another summon Malaskaar might end up doing. He could sense Luna shivering beside him, but something told him it wasn’t the cold.

“Lu-Lu…are you afraid?”

Luna looked at him puzzled by his sudden question, looking away sharply she raised her head high.

“O-of course not, it’s just a bit cold up here that’s all.” She claimed.

“Lu-Lu don’t lie to me…” Turil said softly, his gaze never moving.

Luna was quiet again before she lowered her head and ears, letting out a soft sigh.

“Yes...” She whispered. “I know I’ve fought battles before…but I still feel scared…scared of what might happen to Equestria if we lose, at least Discord didn’t want to destroy all of us…”

They were both silent once more before Turil softly wrapped his right arm around her pulling her into an embrace, Luna widened her eyes before she gently rested her head on his shoulder and closed her eyes, a few tears in the corner of her eyes as he gently rubbed her side.

“Never forget that fear Lu-Lu…it’s what makes you human…well in your case Pony.” He chuckled along with Luna’s giggle. “That’s something Malaskaar won’t ever take from you.”

Luna smiled softly as she continued to rest her head on his shoulder, Turil smiled down at her and rested his head on hers looking back to the East. The wind whipped around them and Luna shivered slightly, Turil wrapped his cloak around Luna to keep her warm as she sighed in content, he let his mind drift off as his pipe hung lazily out of his mouth, the smoke slowly drifting into the sky.

He was regretting not telling the others one other tactic Malaskaar might employ if all else should fail, one tactic he wanted to never see again. A tactic that lurked in the darkest pits of Turil’s greatest nightmares, Turil shook the memory out of his head from the last time he had faced that creature and grunted as he stood up, Luna soon joined him and they suddenly heard the sound of a horn ringing throughout the area. A horn belonging to a Crystal scout.

“We’d better get down there.” Turil said.

Luna nodded in agreement as they both headed back into the Crystal Palace from where they came from and began to head off to meet up with the others.

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Celestia sighed as she finished raising the sun, happy with her work she turned around and headed back inside the palace oblivious to the human watching her. As she wondered throughout the halls she let her mind wander off in though as she passed by the various guards and servants rushing around in a mild panic, she was so caught up in her thoughts that she failed to spot Ink Quill coming towards her and walked straight into him, he hadn’t noticed Celestia because he was levitating a large brown tome in front of him into which he was scribbling away.

“O-oh Celestia I’m so sorry I wasn’t paying attention.” Ink Quill apologised as he began to pick up the various items he’d drop.

“It’s fine Ink Quill; I wasn’t watching where I was going either.” She replied with a smile.

Ink Quill looked up at her and noticed her expression and tilted his head.

“Something the matter Celestia?” He started before nervously chuckling. “Aside from the obvious.”

“It’s nothing really Ink Quill, nothing I should burden you with.”

“Tia…” He placed a reassuring hoof on her leg. “You can talk to me.”

Celestia smiled back and nodded, she led him into one of the nearest rooms and checked to see if it was clear. The room was empty and appeared to be a small study of sorts, with a few bookcases as well as a couple of chairs and a desk. She closed the door and let out a deep sigh as she sat in one of the chairs.

“I’m just worried…worried what might happen if we should fail.” She sighed.

“Tia, you shouldn’t be thinking like that…”

“But I can’t help it Ink…what happens if we do lose? Will-”

“If.” Ink Quill interrupted.

“Pardon? “

“That’s exactly it Tia, if.” He replied. “Everypony has confidence in you and Luna. You two were able to defeated Discord along with Krustallos, and I also have confidence in Turil. Everypony is behind you all the way.”

Celestia smiled and gently pulled him into a gentle hug to which he hugged her back.

“Thank you Ink Quill…I needed to hear that.” She said softly.

“No problem Tia.” Ink Quill grinned at her.

They were interrupted by the sound of a horn ringing; they both recognised it as belonging to a Crystal Scout.

“We should go see what it is about.” Ink Quill said.

“I agree.” Celestia nodded.

They both exited the room and headed to meet the scout in the courtyard, as they walked briskly through the palace they bumped into Luna and Turil and they all carried on outside into the courtyard where Krustallos was already waiting along with the two captains.

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“M-my lord.” The scout saluted panting, clearly out of breath.

“Report.” Krustallos said saluting back.

“The enemy made camp to the east Sire, a good three hours away.”

“That’s good, now we can plan to-“

“That’s not all my lord.” The scout interrupted. “Wind Rider and High Flyer got captured by the enemy, and I think they’re on the move.”

Krustallos cursed under his breath as Turil stepped up to the scout.

“When was this?” He asked him.

“About two hour’s sir.” The scout replied.

“That doesn’t give us long.” Turil muttered. “Your highness, we need to prepare immediately for an attack.”

“But shouldn’t we just meet them? Take the fight to them?” A nearby soldier asked.

“That would risk us being flanked; it’s much easier to fight them from a fortified area.”

“I agree.” Celestia said.

Krustallos nodded and turned to his men and raised a hoof up and pointing to them.

“You heard the man! Get to your stations immediately, all unicorns must report to the palace and be ready to cast the shield spell!” He barked.

“SIR YES SIR!” The soldiers replied in unison.

Krustallos watched as the soldiers began to run about, orders being barked as they all began to prepare for the incoming attack. The ballistas were loaded and ammunition brought up to them and crossbow ponies began to dot along the walls readying their weapons, unicorns began to form a circle around the perimeter of the palace ready for the command to raise the shield. He turned to Turil who was looking up at the sky lost in his thoughts, suddenly Turil turned around and headed back into the palace.

“Where’re you going?” Luna asked him concernedly.

“To get ready.” Turil replied before disappearing into the Palace.

Luna looked to Celestia who merely shook her head and began to head off to give orders to her own soldiers; Luna sighed as she looked up at the sky and frowned, her sister’s sun shining down upon the city. She was thankful that there wasn’t a cloud in the sky, the pegasi of the Empire had gone out of their way to clear the clouds the previous day and a spell had been cast to prevent the clouds naturally forming overhead so the sun could shine, allowing for easier sight of the enemy without worrying about snow filled clouds darkening the sky. She gave another sigh, shaking her head as she began to follow her sister.

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The city was completely quiet; the only sound that could be heard was the quiet whistle of the wind as it whipped around the city. Everywhere you looked soldiers stood at attention with faces mixed with determination, anticipation and slight fear, Krustallos stood behind the circle of unicorns looking towards the east, his helmet levitating by his side. In front of the circle was hundreds of soldiers, all waiting for orders.

Beside him were Luna and Celestia, each of them wearing their own respective armour. Celestia’s was golden coloured that reflected the sun, her cutie mark emblazed on the chest and sides. Luna’s armour resembled her sister’s; aside from the colour which was a dark blue and had her cutie mark where Celestia had hers. Beside the two sisters were the two captains each of them wearing their countries armour and had a stern expression on their faces, they were waiting for Turil to show up when they heard the sounds of footsteps softly approaching them along with a soft clanking of metal and a light tapping.

Luna and Celestia turned round and were surprised to see Turil approaching them wearing a different attire; he no longer was wearing his normal robes. Instead his legs were covered by a grey skirt that ran down to the ground and had a sash dangling from his waist covered in strange rune like markings, his entire torso was covered in a silver armour that was covered in indented rune markings and emblazed with a strange symbol of an open hand with an eye in the centre, they remembered that this was the symbol of Varlos. His head was covered by a matching grey hood and a face mask that covered his mouth and nose, leaving only his eyes visible. In his right hands was his staff, the blue crystal on the top glowing a light blue, it made a soft tap as it touched the ground as he walked.

“Turil?” Luna said as the others turned to look at him, each surprised as the sisters.

“Yes?” He replied walking in front of them and resting his staff on the ground.

“Where did you get that armour?” She asked him.

“You think I’m going to fight in just robes?” He replied looking at her with a chuckle.

“That doesn’t answer my question.” She deadpanned at him.

Turil chuckled again giving her a wink.

“Secret.”

Luna rolled her eyes and groaned in frustration, Celestia tried to stifle her giggles as Turil took a few steps forward. The sudden sound of a horn blaring rang throughout the valley making everyone look to the east immediately, in the distance they could see approaching them a large black mass, as it started to get closer they could make out row upon row of soldiers. Behind some of the row were large siege weapons, as the soldiers began to make a circle around the city, just behind the siege weapons being pulled by two snow wolves on a chariot was their ruler. King Sombra.

“My lord.” He said looking to Krustallos. “You should say something.”

Krustallos nodded and stood beside him, clearing his throat his horn glowing and casting a simple spell to project his voice to the soldiers.

“My loyal soldiers and soldiers of Equestria, today we fight for the sake of the Empire, nay the sake of the entire world! Beyond our walls lies an enemy the likes we have never seen before!”

He walked left and right slowly as he spoke.

“I will not lie to you, this battle will be bloody and we are outnumbered. But do not let this falter your bravery! You battled together against the very God of Chaos himself and remained strong; you together managed to achieve victory after victory in odds worse than this one. I would gladly entrust the safety of this Empire, the Kingdom and of the entire world in each and every one of your hooves.”

He stopped walking and turned himself so he was facing forwards again, none of the soldiers were looking at him but he could tell they were indeed listening to him.

“The God of magic Varlos is with us, on this day, we WILL be victorious! Stay strong and may our ancestors watch over us, for the Empire! For Equestria! FOR FREEDOM!”

All of the soldiers in complete unison roared out, raising their hooves and weapons up as shouts repeating the last of Krustallos’s speech rang throughout the city. Krustallos then levitated his helmet onto his head and turned to Turil.
“Are you ready Turil?” Krustallos asked him.

“I am you highness.” He replied.

Krustallos nodded and took to steps forwards and his horn began to glow.

“RAISE THE SHIELD!” He barked.

At once, the horns of the unicorns in the circle began to glow bright and a pillar of magic shot up from the tip of the palace before arching out and covering the city in a light blue shield. Krustallos looked to Captain Silver Wing who saluted and took off with Steel Hoof, Silver Wing landed beside a bunch of ballistas as Steel Hoof landed near a bunch of ponies wielding crossbows. They each shouted orders and the soldiers manning the ballistas began to load them as they crossbow ponies began to load their crossbows.

Turil closed his eyes and focused his magic, getting a feel of the surrounding area as a loud boom echoed across the shield. Looking up there was a large cloud of smoke rising from where one of Sombra’s catapults had launched what appeared to be a flaming ball of stone, the shield however showed no signs of damage.

“ORDERS MA’AM?” A ballista soldier shouted.

“ALL BALISTAS, RETURN FIRE! AIM FOR THE CATAPULTS!” Silver wing barked.

All around the city, the sound of ballistas firing filled the city as their projectiles shot out. Turil had enabled the shield spell to allow projectiles to be shot from within it, allowing the ballistas to attack without having to lower the shield. As the ballistas fired, Turil could see Sombra’s forces brace themselves as the projectiles impacted. He noticed that specifically over the catapults there was an invisible shield that whilst not as powerful as the one covering the city, was still providing some form of protection over the catapults, no doubt Malaskaar’s doing.

Turil looked around beyond the walls of the city trying to pin point the location of Malaskaar, he figured that Sombra had him in reserve and was close by if the catapults were receiving protection from the ballista fire. Each time a stone collided with the shield the ring of unicorns would grit their teeth and let out a grunt or two as they focused on keeping it up, Turil looked to Celestia and Luna and nodded.

The nodded back to him and along with a few of their own guard headed towards the east gate, ready to take on anypony that managed to break through the shield. As the stones crashed down on the shield, there was an almighty boom that sounded like thunder and the shield began to crack, Turil looked up in alarm and saw a large pillar of shadows looming over the shield. He cursed and closed his eyes and began to chant under his breath.

Krustallos growled in pain as the magic on the horns of him and the unicorns began to falter, he closed his eyes and began to draw power from the Crystal Heart, using it to channel more energy into himself and the ring of unicorns. As the pillar of shadows came down once more and causing another large crack in the shield, Turil suddenly opened his eyes with a cry in a different tongue and pointed his staff up into the sky.

The end of it shone brightly and a beam of pure white light shot out from it and straight into the shadow pillar, causing it to screech in pain. The shadow began to retreat back to its origin, to the south of the city by the baseline of the mountains.
The soldiers saw looming towards them at great speed a vast cloud of swirling shadows adorned with hundreds of red eyes, each one filled with the lust for blood. The very appearance of the shadows sending a fearful chill down their spines, a unicorn guard grunted in pain as the shield refused to fix the cracks in it.

“Sir the s-shield! It w-won’t fix itself s-something is blocking it!” he cried out.

Turil muttered under his breath and turned to Krustallos.

“It’s Malaskaar; he’s interfering with my magic.” He said.

“Will the shield hold?” Krustallos asked him gritting his teeth.

“At this rate no, just focus on dealing with Sombra, Malaskaar is my responsibility.” Turil replied.

Krustallos nodded as he and the other unicorns focused on keep what was left of the shield up, Turil cursed himself for failing to realise that Malaskaar had probably expected this kind of strategy and had devised a counter-spell to deal with the shield. He quickly made a run for the south gate and drew out his sword with his free hand, raising it up into the air.

“TO THE SOUTH GATE!” He cried.

Dozens of soldiers quickly snapped themselves out of their stares and followed after Turil, lining up with sword and spear ponies at the front and crossbow ponies covering the back, crossbows loaded and charged with explosive magic pointing to the gate.

The shield was suddenly swarmed with the shadows as they slowly made their way over it, a few cracks appearing in it. The gates began to make loud banging noises as something tried to break through, Turil raised his sword up above his head, the blade swirling with frost as he pointed his staff which was glowing fiercely towards the gate, and he noticed the concerned looks on the soldier’s faces and shouted to them.

“You are soldiers of the Empire, of Equestria. Whatever comes through those gates you will hold your ground!”

As soon as he said those words the shield shattered and southern gates burst open , sending one of them completely off its hinges, the soldier’s eyes widened and Turil gritted his teeth. Large hulking bipedal creatures, a head taller than Turil wearing pure black armour greeted them; each one had an emblem that was similar to that of Varlos’s but instead of an open hand with an eye on it, they had a hand that was curled slightly with rotting flesh dangling from it and a demonic slit eye in the centre. Each armoured creature wielded a large black blade that easily matched the length of a full grown stallion, what put the guards off more was the fact each suit of armour was held together by swirling shadows.

“Black Knights.” Turil spat in disgust.

The walking abominations let out a demonic roar as they began to advance towards the line, Turil shouted a command and the crossbow bolts shot over the heads of the spear and swords ponies and slamming into the armour of the knights and exploding on contact. The first few fell to the ground destroyed but the rest kept advancing, clambering over the ones that had fallen and swinging their blades in a mad frenzy.

“FOR THE EMPIRE!” A Crystal soldier cried out.

The line of spear and sword ponies let out a cry as they charged the walking abominations only for most of them to be cut down before they could even swing their respective weapons, limbs and heads being cut from their bodies. Some managed to make a connection though and their magic imbued weapons sunk in cancelling the magic around the armour causing the shadows to dispel and the armour pieces fall to the ground in a large clutter.

Turil twirled his blade and blocked a blow from above and rammed his staff into the chest of the Knight, blasting it apart instantly. He quickly span round and blocked another blow from a sword and swung his staff in the air, slamming it down and sending a shock wave of frost magic outwards destroying four knights. He quickly looked up and shot a blast of magic from the staff into another knight just as the knight was about to bring a sword down on a female soldier, the soldier thanked him and quickly came over to him going back to back with him.

“Any suggestions sir?” The soldier asked.

“Keep them from getting to the palace!” Turil shouted as his blade went through the helmet of a knight. “And try not to die either.”

“No shit sir!” The mare grinned as she drove her spear through the chest of another knight.

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Sombra stood upon his chariot watching the battle, a dark smile on his face. He had ordered his forces to assault the city once Malaskaar had destroyed their shield and had commanded that no prisoners with the exception of the Princesses, Emperor Krustallos, Empress Amemond and the human adding them. As he watched his soldier’s assault the eastern gate of the city and destroy it, he got off the chariot and headed towards the city. Behind him were the soldiers that made up his royal guard, some of the best soldiers in his army.

“It’s only a matter of time…”

He chuckled as he levitated his helmet over his head and drew his sword before he and his personal guard being slowly consumed by shadows before vanishing.

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“HOLD THEM BACK!” Celestia cried.

She shot her magic at an approaching Pegasus who immediately disintegrated as soon as the bolt hit it; she quickly ducked an incoming bolt and shot another blast of magic into the advancing army. Beside her Luna was blasting her own magic into the enemy as the two captains swung their blades taking down two soldiers.

“IS THIS ALL YOU’VE GOT?!”

Steel Hoof roared with laughter as he blocked two blades aimed for his head and pushed them back, using his wings he shot towards the two soldiers and rapidly swung his blade twice, taking each of their heads off in a clean swing.
“How can you be enjoying yourself?!” Silver Wing cried in irritation.

When the shields had fallen, she had rushed to assist the Princesses and the Captain after another Captain had relived her of manning the units on the ballistas. Since then Steel Hoof seemed to be enjoying himself too much for her liking.

“Well why not? They’re nothing but a bunch of foals!” He shouted in reply as his blade sunk into another Pegasus.

“You’re impossible!”

She barked as she blocked an incoming attack, being pushed back to back with him. He laughed at her as he quickly dipped to her left and stabbed the soldier attacking her dropping him instantly.

“You’re cute when you’re annoyed you know that?” He grinned at her.

“Steel Hoof I swear to the sun if we survive this I’m kicking your flank!”

She growled as her blade swung down on an incoming attacker who blocked it, Steel Hoof let out a roar as he charged along with several others at another wave of incoming soldiers. Celestia, Luna and several unicorns gave them covering fire as their magic blasted over their heads and into the front line of incoming attackers.

“Sister do you get the feeling this is to easy?” Luna shouted out.

“I do, something doesn’t feel right!” Celestia replied. “We haven’t seen either Malaskaar or Sombra yet!”

Celestia was beginning to get worried, although the attackers had destroyed the shield and broken through the eastern gate, she couldn’t tell from where they were if Malaskaar or Sombra himself had actually breached the city and something was blocking her from sensing Turil or Krustallos let alone Sombra or Malaskaar.

“Should we fall back to the palace?” Luna called out as she blasted another soldier with her magic.

Celestia bit her lip, on one hoof she wanted to fall back to see if Krustallos or Turil were in any danger and needed help, but on the other hoof she knew she needed to prevent the army in front of her didn’t make it to the palace and subsequently to the crystal caverns where the civilians were.

“No! We stay and hold them off!” Celestia replied.

She stamped her hoof and began to charge her magic, in response three unicorn guards immediately brought up a shield around her to protect her as she began to charge. Luna began to volley her magic over the front lines of Sombra’s forces into the ones coming from behind, the balls of energy exploding as they came into contact with their target.

“Gladly!” Steel Hoof laughed as he cut down another soldier.

Silver Wing could only let out a loud groan of annoyance as they began to slowly push back Sombra’s forces.

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Turil panted as he pulled his sword from the chest of another knight; so far the allied forces had been locked in a stalemate with the Knights but where slowly being pushed backwards as the waves kept coming, though few in numbers. The bodies of Crystal and Equestrian soldiers littered the streets among the piles of black amour, he looked up as a fresh wave charged in through the gates and he groaned in frustration.

“Getting tired are we sir?” she smirked.

Turil chuckled as the mare beside him panted; she had removed her helmet revealing her purple mane and grey fur. At first Turil hadn’t noticed she was a bat pony, one of Luna’s personal soldiers until she had launched herself upwards to avoid a sword blow. The two had been fighting side by side for an hour taking down the Knights as they charged; Turil had sustained an injury when one of the blades cut into his leg. It didn’t bother him to much as the knight in question was now gone, bits of it in different sections of the street, behind him were what remained of their soldiers.

The vast majority had been killed trying to push the knights back out of the city to no avail, what bothered Turil the most was that Malaskaar had yet to reveal himself and he was beginning to worry. He couldn’t sense Krustallos or the Princesses and knew Malaskaar was behind it, he needed to deal with these knights fast and decided to use some of his remaining energy to do just that. Then he and his soldiers could focus on helping the others.

“Not in the slightest Shadow Heart.” He replied panting softly, smirking under his mask. “Get behind me.”

Shadow Heart nodded and jumped behind him as Turil dropped his sword and staff, both disappearing the second they left his hands and he began to chant under his breath as the Knights charged them. The remaining soldiers were about to charge when Turil suddenly lifted his head, his eyes and hands glowing white.

He let out a battle cry as he pushed his hands forwards, sending a huge blast of energy towards the charging knights sending them flying backwards at speed, crashing into the ones behind them. Not wasting anytime, he quickly ran towards them and jumped into the air as ice and snow formed from the ground rising rapidly up to him and providing him with a platform on which to land on. He lowered his right hand and brought it across to his left side before pushing out wards with his left, the wind began to howl as it formed around his arm and towards the black knights who were starting to get up.

The knights stumbled about as the wind wrapped around each of them and lifted them up into the air, Turil then raised is right arm level with the other and clenched his hand into a tight fist. The second he did this then the wind froze instantly, crushing the remaining knights into nothing more than a crumpled heap of dented armour.

Turil panted heavily and swayed almost falling off his pillar, Shadow Heart quickly flew up and caught him, helping him down to the ground. The other soldiers quickly gathered around him cheering him but were stopped as he raised a hand to silence them.

“Save…your cheering for later soldiers, w-were not done yet.” He grunted as he stood up, re-summoning his staff to use for support.

As he got up, he felt a sudden burst of energy fill him up, as did the others. He looked back to the palace to see a brilliant white light glowing where he had last seen Krustallos, he could also feel a different energy forming near to Krustallos, one that wasn’t friendly. Turil muttered under his breath before turning to his soldiers.

“Fall back to the palace; I think Krustallos is in danger.” He ordered.

“That’s the least of your troubles Tailclaw!” A dark voice roared.

Turil’s eyes widened and his head snapped in the direction of the voice, only to have a column of shadows slam into him and throw him down the street crashing into one of the buildings, destroying the wall.

Shadow Heart and the others backed up, their own eyes wide in fear as they watched a new figure form from the shadows. Some of them instantly recognised who it was and a couple soldiers dropped their weapons in fear.

Malaskaar chuckled darkly as he fully formed, like Turil he was wearing a ground length skirt and had amour on his torso and hands, the only difference being the symbol on his chest and the colour which was a pure midnight black. A sick twisted grin was etched on his face, which was the only part of his head visible. Unlike Turil, Malaskaar had a large demonic skull like helmet with two large cured horns that added an extra foot to his height, the eye sockets were pitch black save for two red glowing dots that stared into the souls of the soldiers.

In one hand was his blade, crackling with lightning and in the other, a staff of dark brown wood that at the top twisted around an aged looking skull with its jaw missing, blue flames dancing from its eye sockets.

He kept laughing as he slowly made his way towards the soldiers. In response they began to back up, unsure as to what to do. One soldier lost his nerve and charged at him, his sword raised high with his magic only to be struck across the side of his head by the staff followed by the down swing of his sword, killing him instantly.

“A brave fool….but a fool none the less.” Malaskaar sneered.

“Orders, Ma’am?” A soldier asked Shadow Heart, who was the next ranking officer after Turil.

Shadow Heart didn’t hear him; she was staring up at Malaskaar frozen with fear. Malaskaar looked down at her and his grin grew and he began to advance on her. Shadow Heart could feel his eyes looking into her, exploring her soul and she felt sick and terrified.

“MA’AM, ORDERS!?” The soldier asked again shouting.

Again Shadow Heart didn’t respond, her bottom lip quivered as she started to back up, what she didn’t know was that she was under a curse from Malaskaar and couldn’t look away from his eyes. All she could see was the emptiness inside and the total hopelessness of everything that the alliance was trying, she was on the verge of break down in tears.

Suddenly, a blast of snow rocketed past her slamming into Malaskaar and sending him backwards fast, his body slammed into the ground before bouncing and slamming again and bouncing one last time before crashing into the city wall and through it and out. Shadow Heart shook her head snapping herself out of the trance like state and along with the others, looked behind her.

Turil was standing from where he had crashed into the wall of the building, his arm raised. He quickly ran over to the group as Shadow Heart looked away.

“Sir I’m sorry, I-I just froze and-.”

“It’s alright Shadow Heart, you were under a curse.” Turil interrupted her, placing a reassuring hand on her back before addressing the others. “Fall back to the palace and help the others, I’ll stay here.”

“Sir?” One of them said confused.

Turil looked to where Malaskaar had been blasted and began to walk to it.

“Malaskaar is mine to kill…” He replied.

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Krustallos grunted in pain, when the shield fell he felt a lot of his energy being sapped instantly by something and was struggling to keep going. He was channelling the energy from the Crystal Heart through his own energy and into the unicorns to keep their magic up and into the earth and pegasi to keep their energy up within the city as best he could, it was a tactic he had hoped not to have to do because of the amount of strain it did to his own body as well as the Crystal Heart itself.

But he didn’t have the luxury to complain. His soldiers needed him, his subjects needed him, his wife and foal needed him and he would do whatever it took to protect them. He let out a loud roar as his horn flared up brightly, his magic shot out across the city and entering the bodies of his allies.

As he continued to fill his allies with energy, he failed to sense or see the shadows forming behind him and the ring of unicorns. It was only when one of the unicorns noticed something out of the corner of his eye and yelled did he turn around.

Sombra roared as he swung his blade down, narrowly missing Krustallos and slamming into the ground cracking it. Sombra’s guard cried out as they charged the ring of unicorns, taking them completely by surprise and killing several of them before they had a chance to draw their swords.

Krustallos could only watch in horror as his guard were slaughtered, the ones quick enough to react only just managing to keep Sombra’s guards off them. He began to try and help but was grabbed by Sombra’s magic and thrown violently to the ground, crying out in pain and coughing up blood.

“You and I are going to settle this…once and for all…my old friend…” Sombra chuckled as he raised his sword up.

“I will send you to Tartarus for this Sombra, you and that demon of yours!” Krustallos said as he spat out a glob of blood and raised his sword up.

“We shall see…” Sombra replied.

The two unicorns charged at one another letting out a ferocious cry, their blades swinging down and colliding with one another with a loud clang. Sombra’s horn lit up and he blasted a beam of magic that hit Krustallos and sent him into a column. Krustallos cried out in pain and shakily got back onto his hooves before dodging a swing from Sombra’s sword catching him off guard; he quickly swung his blade and cut into Sombra’s cheek.

Sombra growled in anger as blood dripped from the gash to his cheek, Krustallos smirked at him as his blade hovered in front of him, fresh blood dripping from it. Sombra roared out as he charged Krustallos and swung his sword violently at him; Krustallos brought his sword up and blocked the blow, sparks flying from the blades as they shook violently trying to push past the other.

“You can’t win Krustallos! Your Empire will be mine!” Sombra roared at him.

Krustallos gritted his teeth and with all his strength, pushed Sombra back before beginning his own offensive. Sombra blocked blow after blow chuckling to himself as the Emperor was clearly beginning to run out of energy.

“What’s the matter? Getting tired?” Sombra taunted.

Krustallos panted as he struggled to keep his blade up, he was about to collapse and he knew it. But he wasn’t going to go down without taking Sombra with him, closing his eyes he began to focus his remaining magic into the blade of his sword which began to hum.

Sombra, oblivious to the sword, chuckled again and charged at him raising his own sword. Just as Sombra went to swing, Krustallos opened his eyes which were now pure white and swung his blade quicker than Sombra could react.

Krustallos’s blade slammed into Sombra’s and sent it flying at an angle into the sky, cancelling out the magic that was holding it in the air. Sombra’s eyes widened as Krustallos brought his blade into Sombra by the flat of it, smacking him straight into a column cracking it. Sombra cried out in pain as he fell to the floor and growled up at Krustallos, blood leaking from his mouth.

“It’s over Sombra…” Krustallos said raising his sword.

“Yes it is my old friend….FOR YOU!”

Before Krustallos could react, Sombra’s blade slammed straight into his back through his armour. Krustallos chocked loudly as his eyes widened and returned to normal, he stumbled backwards slightly as everything around him began to blur, and the only sound he could hear was his heavy breathing.

“Impossible…” Krustallos spluttered.

Krustallos felt as if time had slowed down as he fell to his side; he crashed into the floor as blood leaked down his armour and into a pool on the floor, his sword clanging to the ground. Sombra slowly rose up laughing darkly as he pulled his sword out with his magic and began to walk off.

“Weakling…” He muttered.

As he walked away he heard a hum and turned round. Only to then suddenly let out a roar of pain as Krustallos’s blade sunk into his chest, he hissed as he fell to one of his knees as two of his guards rushed to his aide.

“My lord!” One cried.

They began to pull him away as Sombra began to shout curse after curse at Krustallos, struggling against the grip of his guards as Krustallos looked form where he lay, softly cursing to himself.

“Missed his vitals…forgive me…my subjects…Amemond…forgive me…”

He whispered as he let out his final breath as a small group of his soldiers broke from combat and ran to him, the wind blowing softly over his body as the light in his eyes faded.

Author's Note:

[Edited version to come.] Feel free to let me know of any errors.

Comments

[Mr101]

Well, here's part one to the battle hope you like it. Part two soon to come (If I can type that quickly.)

[Berry Punch]

Shit. Just. Got. Serious.

I find scared Luna adorable, and it's cute how close Lu-Lu and Turil are; I really like Turil, he's just a likeable character.

The battle was well written; I could not write a battle scene to save my life... too bad my story is supposedly meant to have quite a few .-.

and that ending... oh that ending...

[Mr101]

2727344
Thanks.

[DVAN56]

WOW! Now that is a battle! love the depiction of it.

Also an error that I found. second paragraph. "crows of civilians" I think you meant to have crowds.

[Mr101]

2731599
Thanks, but it's not over yet Next chapter will be Malaskaar vs Turil for the fate of the world, and thanks for pointing the error out, fix'd.