Previous Chapters
Close
CH18,086 words
CH24,887 words
CH35,318 words
CH46,871 words
CH55,895 words
CH65,464 words
CH75,040 words
CH85,854 words
CH95,233 words
CH107,500 words
CH117,838 words
CH127,430 words
CH137,284 words
CH14 Part 14,375 words
CH14 Part 25,941 words
CH158,085 words
CH164,461 words

CH16

CH16

XXXXX

Embracing Fate

XXXXX

Time: 18:40

Location: Canterlot- Castle

Luna returned to the city and soon found herself bogged down with work of course as per usual Celestia decided to take a detour to enjoy a few moments with her student and her friends. She returned to the city with a rather smug look on her face and then talked with Luna.
"How was your talk sister?" Luna asked.

"Interesting, there's something about Miguel, something no one else can see." She replied deeply in thought.

"At least you aren't swooning over him." Luna added cheekily.

Celestia broke from her thoughts once she heard the comment and gave her sister a mock threatening look, and then got back to her thoughts. She began to explain her mind delve into the veteran's mind. "Miguel is something of an enigma, he's been used as a weapon, failed as one as well, and at best he considers his own purpose to be nothing more than professional. He intends to fight this war as another soldier, as meaningless or as meaningful as his place is."

"Sounds like someone who is trying to run away from something." Luna analysed.

"Possibly, but there's something else about him I just don't know how to put." Celestia shook her head as she explained.

"Whatever it may be, I do believe our guests do have to continue their main objective, to defeating the covenant, when all the fires have been put out, I think it'd be best to discuss this. At the moment, we have a number of alarmed citizens to deal with." Luna urged Celesita.

Celestia decided to agree there was too much happening to focus on one person, and that coupled with the fact that the UCAF had been marshalling and rallying as many citizens to help in the fight against the covenant, there was still so much to do before the covenant launched another attack. At least that was what she believed.

XXXXX

Shining Armour and his team had been recalled to Canterlot, they escorted the princess for part of the trip, but on returning to the castle the members of the Elite Guard had been posted at highly sensitive locations over Canterlot, mainly the hidden research centre and critical locations, such as the archives of the Princess and throne room.

Shining had been curious as to why his team had been recalled, but when it came to the princesses he knew it had to be of some importance. Shining was patrolling the inner sanctum of the castle's towers. It was here that the princess had ordered him to protect, needless to say he was surprised that she had asked him to guard these levels.

The inner towers were said to be some sort of magic focal points which channel energy from deep reservoirs to some sort of deep chamber, whatever it was, Shining was left to guard it for the time being before guards from the city would be freed to help. Shining did have time to think about all that had happened in such short time.

It felt rushed, the whole UCAF integration, not to mention all of the humans running around to protect Equestria, and neighbouring kingdoms. Heck he didn't even get much time to enjoy his honeymoon with Cadence in the Crystal Empire, after their adventure beating back Sombra it seemed as if there was a universal barrier keeping them from at least enjoying one day alone.

Of course Shining wouldn't neglect his duties, but it seemed a little bit tedious having to deal with all of this before getting the chance to at least rest. But he knew that this would be over sooner or later, the militarisation of Equestrians seemed to be one of his concerns though, and the UCAF mentality seemed to have caught on with the Equestrian people.

But once it was over, would life return to normal? Whatever normal was in this world of magic and mana tech, he hoped that he would be at peace with Cadence when things calm down. As he moved along the next corridor from doors of the chamber he began to notice something. The sound of silence, it seemed strange now that he thought of it.

He headed up to the upper level to check on the other guards, it was only then that the silence was broken, he felt the castle shake at its foundations, it was as if a flight of dragons had decided to use the castle for a target he could hear explosions and rocking of the lighting fixtures creaking as the castle shook.

He stepped up to the next level to find himself in the midst of panic, guards were rushing to whatever station they were assigned to or to wherever there was a breach, Shining stopped a guard. "Soldier what's happening?"

"It's the covenant sir; they somehow managed to sneak 5 of their vessels beneath our radars and have begun to assault the castle courtyard. We're going to engage them now." The guard replied.

Shining was startled the Covenant had launched an attack now? What could have provoked them to act now, or for that matter why attack Canterlot? He felt like something was off, but he got to the point. "Get going soldier, but alert the others to send a detachment here, I will need some extra guards to protect this level. I'll join you once they arrive."

The guard understood and nodded before hurrying off to meet the enemy outside. Shining didn't like it, here he was couped up inside the castle while a war was being waged outside, but hopefully Celestia and Luna were dealing with the covenant.

XXXXX

"I hope that the UCAF sends help now!" Luna yelled over the top of her voice as a plasma blast sent guards flying.

Luna, had been the first to arm herself and join the guards at the courtyard, the battle was going hazily. The sudden assault was focused on the walls of the castle, which were partially demolished in the first plasma volley had caught them off guard. It was a terrifying sight watching whole parts of the reinforced limestone, steel and marble wall turned to slag in moments.

Luna had joined just as the covenant began to land their first troops, grunts and jackals made their presence known as they began to lash out with plasma rifles, pistols and carbines. The hiss of grenades flying through the air was met with magic, Luna recalling the UCAF reports knew that the weapons weren't infallible.

She used her magic and threw the grenades back at the grunts who had lobbed them. Her counter wasn't unnoticed as the grunts ran helter skelter for cover, but for the stubby chums they didn't make it far from their own plasma grenades. The blue balls of fire found their mark on a fair number of the clustered mobs of aliens.

In moments of panic the aliens were vaporised by bright flashes of plasma fire, they took a number of their allies with them as they panicked enabling Luna to rally the Royal Guards and her own troops to her side. The Night Watch Riflemen gathered behind a wall of magic wielding unicorn knights who set up a defensive wall against the covenant assault.

"My Children of the Night let us repulse these despicable creatures!" Luna roared over the battle.

A chorus of cheers followed as they retaliated in kind, the riflemen fired their assault rifles in a barrage against the advancing covenant troops, grunts and jackals fell, but the shielded jackals and skirmishers weathered the wall of bullets. The survivors began to cluster together and advance in a phalanx formation.

Luna figured they might do something like this, she had to act fast, she shouted out orders. "Unicorn mages to the rear, Knights remain in position, riflemen forward, and fliers to the air do not engage until told so!"

They did as she ordered, the Night Reavers, her specialised flying guard rose above the phalanx of jackals and skirmishers, at that point the riflemen got into position and the knights held up their magical shields. Mages prepared themselves as Luna rose a bit over the troops and charged up her spell, she knew that these creatures were fairly weak in few numbers, also close combat.

"Mages on my mark!" She sucked in a great volume of air and focused on which direction to fire.

Once sufficiently charged, she knew to let loose her greatest of attacks.
"FIRE!"

Her voice was amplified by a hundred fold as her mages bolstered her volume; the princess of the night had let loose a shockwave which sent the covenant force flying off onto their collective backsides. Across the night the explosion of noise could be heard across the entire city of Canterlot, and it went nearly as far as Ponyville.

The Night Guards and troops were thankful they weren't in the direction of the blast or they'd be fairly deaf. Luna still recovering from her Grand Canterlot Voice spell, managed to utter out her last command. "Night Reavers engage!" She managed to shout slightly.

She went back to the ground as the flying bat winged members of her own force rushed down to finish off the disoriented covenant troops. The skirmishers were the only ones who managed to recover fastest, but not enough to reorganise the still shattered covenant formation. They and most of their kind were slaughtered by the agile Night Reavers.

Luna had to clear her throat after using such volume, while her troops and the Royal Guard pushed the Covenant back to the wall, she noticed something strange, it was a feeling she hadn't felt in years.

XXXXXX

Celestia had known that this was inevitable; she had a sneaking suspicion that there was a greater reason for all that was happening now. And this only confirmed it, as she had gone back to her study to check on certain items of significance she noticed the aura of darkness which seemed to shroud Canterlot.

At first she thought it was from the hatred of the Covenant against the humans, but no this was far more malevolent, and it was then she realised what it was. Nightmare's shroud, a special attack which Nightmare had unleashed during the war 1000 years earlier, it had once encompassed enough of the kingdom that almost no one could sense the movement of magic wielding warriors Nightmare commanded.

But this time it seemed as though it had worked to blind all the arcane-tech which were developed to detect approaching vessels and people from great distances. It was the only logical explanation; Nightmare was still very much alive, she had at first felt as if she should bolt out of her chambers to begin searching for the malevolent spirit, but no that was exactly what Nightmare wanted.

As the attack began on the city, Celestia against her better judgement decided it was time to meet Nightmare once more, face to face. She cloaked her presence amongst the ambient mana of the world and waited in the one place she knew that Nightmare was surely to go. She only hoped that the Elite Guard were capable of handling it.

XXXXX

Vesdarea had felt no compulsion for his warriors as he sent them off to fight against the weaker alien defenders, they'd either succeed in buying him the time to recover the artefact or at least wear down the defenders enough for him and his retinue to bash their way back out. He stood inside of his Lich-class assault gunboat watching as the battle played out.

His Lich along with 3 others were carefully making their approach from above the battle while one of his Corvettes engaged in battle with the local defenders. The fight was going well considering all of the collateral damage being wrecked at the castle, but the large structure of rock, marble and metal didn't matter.

What mattered to him were the inner towers, he knew it was there. 'It is there you fool.' The spirit hissed inside his mind. He preferred it if the pompous beast shut up, but of course no luxury here. As the Lich's arrived close enough to the tower, the lower hatches opened up to let each team deploy.

Dozens of specialist grunts jackals and elites fell out of the back of the large assault boats and down onto the spires of the towers, each tower had to be captured before Vesdarea could get to the artefact. Once each team deployed, all he now had to do was wait.

XXXXX

Shining truly couldn't believe what was happening, as the battle raged outside, it seemed one had now reached the interior of the castle, and he received his reinforcements but only had enough time to tell them to guard the massive magical doors before the tower fell under attack. He was nearly kicked off balance as the first assault breached the higher levels of the tower.

Shouts of panic and death followed as the battle intensified, Shining broke from his post and headed up to meet the aliens with a few guards, but he didn't need to go that far or really anywhere. His enemies found him upon reaching the doors to the next level of the tower; he narrowly dodged being shot in the face by a needler carbine before slamming the door in the face of his attacker.

He sealed the door with magic before he and his warriors began a rapid descent back down to the inner sanctum, it was here that he and his guards decided to begin fortifying their position. Shining ordered them to rip down the decorative ceramic pillars of the inner sanctum to use as cover; of course he'd probably get an earful from the architect of the castle later but it was necessary.

As the pillars came down, the doors to the chamber were assaulted; thuds from blasts of plasma and energy weapons got the guards to hurry their pace. Shining positioned himself in the front to use his magic to form a shield once the doors finally gave way, he left his mages in the rear and got the other guards in the front to meet the Covenant as they'd come through the doorway.

Good thing was that there was no cover for the aliens; it'd be a lot easier to take them down as they came in. Shining drew his magical sword, a specially crafted blade with magical gems embedded in the hilt and a Colt Revolver, the gems in his sword provide some much needed help if anything decided to pick a fight with him in CQC, but what worried him was the shields that the Covenant used, they'd effectively neutralise his sidearm.

He hoped it was just limited to a few, he doubt he could handle a full strike force on his own, as the sounds of battle intensified outside, the noise from the clash inside the castle also drew closer. He pointed his revolver down the hallway expecting the next thing to walk through was a squat alien with a curved plasma pistol.

He was in for a surprise. The faint noise of a click was heard and then a hissing followed, Shining ducked behind a pillar immediately knowing that familiar sound, a plasma grenade; a mysterious transparent figure tossed the grenade from the other end of the hallway into the inner sanctum. Shining only had moments before the grenade exploded.

He caught a glimpse of the bright explosion which left his sight a little blurry, but he felt the over wash of heat from the plasma ignite the air around him, he was thankful for taking cover or he'd have surely been roasted by the heat. But he knew his assailant was undoubtedly making its next move.

Shining knew the limitations of his magic, strong barriers are one thing, sensing an enemy who happened to be invisible, that's another thing. He peered from his cover back to the hallway, the transparent figure had already moved away; how he was going to hit this creature or even harm it was going to be the real trouble.

Shining thought about it carefully, he knew that he had only one chance to get this right, he charged a small air spell into his left hand and primed his revolver with a magical charge; he could catch the invisible enemy with a shot to the head. He recalled that the UCAF had supplied intel on the classes of the Covenant, usually a recon specialist had fairly weak shields for prolonged use of stealth fields.

He counted in his head, a short breath, and he rushed from cover, his wind spell in hand, he shoved forward and shouted. "Burst." The spell was unleashed and air was blasted in one direction. The Elite who had been checking the room had little time as he was knocked back from the burst of air. The gale force wind was enough to hit the shield of the Elite and light him up.

Shining saw through the stealth field and took the shot at the surprised Elite, his revolver let loose a violet blast which expelled its deadly spell charged bullet. The shot managed to penetrate the shield; however it did not penetrate the armour of the Elite. It instead struck a hardened plate of the Elite's light armour and ricocheted off of it.

But amazingly the deflected bullet struck the unarmoured knee; it just managed to impact with enough force to send the alien kneeling. Seeing this, Shining got his revolver and placed two more shots into the Elite, his two shots were pointed straight at the Elite's head; the first round struck the helmet of the alien, the reflective glass like helm shattered at the first round.

The following round managed to strike inside the broken helmet and pierce the head of the Elite; it managed to make a guttural sound before dropping dead. Shining looked at the now corpse of the Elite, he took a moment to take a breath, he had expected that to be slightly harder, but then again, he caught it off guard with magic.

He turned around to check on the hallway for any further signs of enemies, but he hadn't gotten as far when he felt something grab his shoulder. He managed to get sight of what was holding him. The shimmering light of the creature in question was another Elite, but this time much bigger, and a lot more armoured.

Its slit eyes stared down at him with a sign of annoyance, it managed to grunt out.
"Pitiful warrior, you should have struck slowly. As for you…" The Elite grabbed Shining's arm as he tried to twist around with his sheathed sword.

The Elite yelled as he suddenly threw Shining backwards. "You shall die weakling…" Shining spun through the air before his back made contact with the hard wall of the sanctum; he felt his ribs crack as he slammed into it at terminal velocity. Shining managed to stay conscious even though he should have blacked out from the bone cracking experience.

He managed to get back on his feet as the huge Elite made his way towards the entrance to the inner sanctum. 'No you don't…' He shouted inwardly.

Shining brought out all of his magical power and worked a single devastating spell he could concoct, 'Thundering Dawn', it was a dangerous spell since its area of effect was large, not to mention anyone in reach of the blast would undoubtedly get hit as well. But there was little time to think, he knew he'd either pass out soon, or die at the hands of this Elite.

Whatever Celestia had hidden inside the chamber had to be guarded at all costs. He brought out his arm and chanted the incantations, this sort of spell was older and a lot more dangerous which was why it required such incantations before use. He finished just as he managed to stagger upright, he moved in as the Elite began to probe the heavy locked doors to the inner chamber.

"Thundering Dawn…" He uttered as he got into range of the elite.

The Elite managed to turn about as Shining pushed his arm out to strike him with the magical attack. The Elite didn't entirely seem surprised, but was definitely caught off guard; the blast caught him in the face. Shining only managed to feel the raw energy of his spell release as he was then encompassed in blinding pain and the sound of rushing wind.

The sanctum was encased in a vibrant explosion which would have been felt by all who were in proximity and those who were outside of the city. As the tower of the castle exploded, down below Princess Celestia was attempting to track down as many numbers of the Covenant with her guards and warriors.

She felt the rush of the explosion and knew immediately what that was. She donned her golden helmet decorated with the various enchanted gems which worked to protect her from the dangers of battle and enhanced her combat capabilities in spells and magic. She summoned her magic and charged up a spell to transport herself and her guards to the tower.

But as she attempted to, her magic suddenly gave out on her…
'What's going on?' She thought to herself.

Her guards who also had a mage attempted to transport them immediately, but he too had no means of transporting them. It was then she felt the aura, an aura she hadn't felt in a long time…
'No…' She realised what she was feeling.

Back above in the interior of the tower, Shining felt his body ache all around as he regained consciousness, he could tell that he wasn't going to be walking for a while. He tried to stand, but got nothing. But it wasn't only that, he noticed something was different, he could see within the inner sanctum his opponent was still here.

"That should have destroyed most of this tower." He muttered to himself.

It was then he saw it, the shadow of the Elite, stepping out from behind the smoke and forwards.
"You pitiful vermin…" It growled with a look of pure rage.

"How dare you interfere, in my plans… mortal." It uttered in a brooding fury as it grabbed him by the neck.

Shining could see the figure's hands materialise with its body, its large frame was easily twice his size, and its armoured carapace of dull matte black was pockmarked in places, with plates engraved in shapes and patterns he had never seen before. But the most distinct feature was the face of his enemy, its hung mandibles dripped with a small amount of blood.

Its slitted yellow eyes stared into his soul, it held absolute hatred for him or for that matter anything. He grunted out a response.
"You won't win monster, whatever you accomplish here, the others will beat you." Shining smirked as he spat into the creature's face.

The alien enraged at the display of defiance brought its other arm to level and activated an energy sword. The sharp hiss of plasma igniting caught Shining's attention.
"You'll die for your insolence pathetic creature." It said to Shining.

In that moment Shining could only help but wonder if Cadence, and Twilight would be alright. He had breathed out when the Elite plunged the energy weapon right into his mid abdomen, he could feel the searing heat from the blade cutting through his body, it was short and painful, but his body lost feeling right afterwards.

'I'm sorry… Twi.' He reflected upon his little sister as he lost consciousness.

Shining's body went limp in the hands of the Elite, and the alien sneered at the body of the slain before tossing Shining's body away… There was still much to be done, but as it turned away, a force began to shake the castle, and it was then the Elite realised, it wasn't alone.

XXXXX

Celestia arrived shortly to investigate the situation within the Courtyard, she busily summoned magical bolts of fire and spell wards to keep the Covenant from landing on the ground, but her power within the fight wasn't needed as Luna kept her warriors within the fray. But as the fight continued, she retreated back into the castle to begin a counter-spell to the one Nightmare had cast.

It took what seemed like hours, but she managed to crack the shroud which Nightmare had cast upon the Castle, but what she received only alarmed her. She could feel Nightmare's essence up above, within the inner sanctum of the 5th tower. Celestia made attempted to summon her spell to teleport her, but she recalled the inner sanctum was protected by an anti-magic barrier to stop anyone from just teleporting in.

She made the teleport as close to the sanctum as possible, landing on the seventh level below the sanctum, she propelled herself with as much magic as she could pump into her limbs. She arrived at the sanctum within the span of a couple of minutes, but by then she only rushed in to see her timing couldn't have been worse.

She could only watch as her protégé's brother being tossed aside like a ragdoll as the form of Vesdarea, the Zealot Master of the Covenant once more attempt to breach the sanctum. She felt something she hadn't in so many years, a part of her she had suppressed as long as she had lived.

Anger boiled through her heart as she looked upon the wrecked chamber, she let her fury imbued her with power as she roared.
"TO THE GATES OF TARTARUS WITH YOU!" She screamed with the fury of a burning sun.

XXXXX

AN: Sorry for the short chapter, but yes, this is going to continue. Sorry for not updating sooner, I've got over 32 stories to write and a lot of other stuff happening at the same time, you can't possibly expect me to update everything within a matter of minutes do you?

1,218 views

174