An ancient alicorn believed to be a legend has returned to Equestria, and warns Princess Celestia of grave danger.
A mysterious, powerful and terrifying relic that has reemerged from ancient times...
An alicorn who has a dark secret...
An evil being who has returned from the grave...
The Mane 6 have faced several threats, coming out from every one victorious. But this time they shall face a power that goes beyond harmony and disharmony, or good and evil. It is a power that every living being must face: Death.
In the depths of desert landscape stood a large, abandoned castle. It was surrounded by a spell that prevented any passerby to see it, let alone interact with it, and inside this fortress lived an alicorn. An alicorn highly skilled with the forces of magic: Azrael: The Angel of Death. Azrael lived anonymously, and preferred solitude over contact with beings. His job was to show lost souls the path to the afterlife. That, as well as recording births and deaths in dusty notebooks. It was anything but light work, which had made the Alicorn do little else other than eat and sleep. After scoring off another death in his notebook. Azrael slowly walked off to bed, his head drooping as he did so. The alicorn carried much guilt on his back, and regretted many actions of his. He thought about the many things he had done every second of his life, and as much as he tried to hold back the memories, he found himself unable to. After releasing a submissive sigh, he got down from his bed and made his way out his bedroom. He was exhausted, and that didn’t exactly help him feel any better. The corridors were dusty and full of cobwebs, let alone dark, but these were not problems for Azrael, as he was used to it. His horn gleamed in the darkness, revealing a hidden door in which the alicorn entered. Inside the room was a sinister looking object. It was a medallion bearing the image of a skull, looking truly frightening. But the appearance was nothing compared to what was contained inside it. It was known as the Glyph of Death. Azrael stared at the Glyph, and without warning, materialized a blue tinted magical blade from his horn, he stared at it, longing to break it. But as was the case every night, the alicorn could not find the strength to do so.
"Because I cannot,” he said to himself. “Because my fears stop me from ridding myself from this burden.”
The alicorn then withdrew his blade, his gaze still fixed on the artifact.
“But what is the fear that stops me? Fear of dying? Or maybe it's the fear of being a disappointment?” Azrael reflected thoughtfully.
His internal war would have continued for much longer, but something stopped him in his tracks. He felt something coming from the hall. It was the sound of creaking hooves, sure to be the sound of a fellow pony.... He came running out, ready to face the intruder, but the pony was fearless out at him, making his jump at least an inch. Azrael felt his body tremble in incredulity when he realized who he was looking at. He had never met the pony in person, but his appearance was instantly recognizable. It was none other than King Sombra.
“You seem quite shocked, Azrael. I guess you didn’t expected my arrival” commented the tyrant. Azrael was indeed shocked, but it was more about the fact that somepony he was sure died was now before him, in flesh and bones. It didn’t took long that his shock was replaced by anger.
“Your presence here is not welcomed, you monster” commented the angel of death gritting his teeth.
“Oh Azrael, is this how you address your guest?” replied Sombra, ignoring the glare of Azrael.
“It’s the only way to address a creature like you, who makes thousands of innocents suffer just to fulfill his dream of conquest” replied back Azrael while making reappearing his magical blade, “I don’t know how you managed to come back without me knowing about it, nor how you have entered in my house, but one thing is certain: you will not get out of it alive”.
“Oh, my, and how can a simple powerful unicorn such me face the angel of death alone?” said Sombra, faking to be scared, “Oh, wait, im not alone”.
At those words Azrael felt the presence of many beings surrounding him and soon they came out from the shadow. Changelings. There were so many that Azrael had an hard time counting them; there were at least an hundred of them. At his sign the insect like ponies charged him, submerging the angel of death with their number. For a moment it looked that they had managed to subdue him. But it was only a moment and soon Azrael break up from the pile, making the changelings flies like leaf in the wind. With a swift movement the angel of death covered up the distance between him and the dark tyrant, knocking him down preparing his blade to strike.
“Your new allies won’t stop me to end your series of crimes against the livings, Sombra!” shouted Azrael.
“Oh, but im not actually Sombra” replied the voice, a little shacking. It sounded… feminine? Suddenly the dark tyrant lighten up in a green flame, revealing none other than the queen of the Changelings, Chrysalis! That stopped Azrael’s blade to plunge on the queen neck. Why would the queen of changelings take the appearance of a dead tyrant? Was that to take advantage of his surprise? Or maybe… the angel of death turned as fast as he could, hoping with all himself that his theory was wrong… but he was right. Sombra stood by the door smiling triumphantly… and was already wearing the Seal of Death. Azrael cursed himself for his lack of attention and of how his senses had become slow without the right training.
“I must say I am a bit disappointed by how easy it was to get past your attention” commented the dark tyrant, “But that doesn’t matter. What matter is that the Seal of Death is mine!”.
“Ahem!” coughed Chrysalis getting up.
“Yes, Chrysalis, I know. It was also thanks to you that I’ve managed to get it. Don’t worry, you will have your reward” added Sombra.
Azrael tried to take advantage of the distracted villain by charging it, trying to fix his mistake, but Sombra was not that much unfocused by not noticing that and shot down a powerful ray at him. Azrael raised a magical shield to protect himself but it offered little against the beam. The angel of death was pushed to the ground, his body covered in wounds and pain. He had to focus to not lose conscious, or else it would have been his end.
“Now that’s impressive. One attack and even a powerful alicorn as you is reduced to a scrap. Wonder how much more powerful can I get with this relic” commented Sombra, grinning.
“You…don’t know what are you doing” muttered Azrael, fighting back the pain, “You’re dealing with forces that goes beyond your wildest imagination. You will end up by destroying everything!”
“I will not release Death by accident if that is what you fear. Im just about to taking back what is mine… and even more. So put your fears to rest, because soon enough you will follow them” replied Sombra, preparing to finish him off.
Azrael reflected on what he could do. Fighting Sombra with the Seal was a suicidal task. Even thought that death would have been the right punishment for all his failures. But then the rest of the world would have been caught unprepared for Sombra return for not talking about him having at his disposal the most powerful relic of all? No, he had to warn them. Right before Sombra could finish him Azrael teleported away.
“Oh great he got away. Now is going to warn the Elements of Harmony!” complained Chrysalis. Sombra wasn’t that bothered.
“Being warned or less about my return will not make a difference” he said, “I will enjoy hunting them down…and fear will cripple their souls”.
*
When the light went off Azrael looked around, trying to figure out where he was. He was in a garden and not too far away from his objective. Sadly the teleporting spell had took away the rest of the energy he had and fell unconscious to the ground. Few seconds later a figure approached the knocked down alicorn and, after looking at his ghostly look, lifted him from the ground and carried him away.
*
Azrael woke up. He was inside the infirmary of the castle, and he was not alone. Princess Luna was watching him carefully.
“Thank you for taking care of my wounds" he said, nodding his head in respect, "but shouldn’t I be talking with your sister?” asked Azrael quickly.
“It was a pleasure and a duty to help a fellow alicorn in need,” replied Luna. “And do not worry, my sister will arrive very shortly.”
Luna suddenly looked curious. “You're the pastor of souls, right?.”
Surprise overtook Azrael’s body. “After all these years, someone still remembers who I am?.”
Luna smirked, “Unfortunately for you, your name appears in many myths and legends across Equestria.”
“I don’t know if I should feel honored or sorry that you’ve come into my presence,” Azrael replied with bitter irony,
“Oh no, I’m totally honored, it gave me the sincerity…” Luna suddenly stopped in her tracks, and looked down at the floor, as if afraid of saying something wrong.
Azrael could not ask for explanations for Luna’s recent actions when Celestia entered the room. Azrael jumped out of bed at her arrival, bowing his head low.
“I pay my respects, Princess Celestia,” said Azrael.
“Azrael, your arrival here in our kingdom fills me and my sister with disbelief,” said Celestia, looking shocked and confused. “Do we know why you have returned?”
“Unfortunately, it’s not a holiday trip,” replied Azrael. “We are all in grave danger.”
*
It was another peaceful day in Ponyville. Ponies trotted and chatted with each other, various ponies were selling stuff at stalls, fillies and colts were off to school, and so on. It couldn’t have been a more ordinary weekday.
Outside the town however, the mane 6 were training using rocks, wearing their elements around their necks. As for Twilight, she was wearing her princess crown on top of her head.
“Okay, Applejack, smash the rock with your hind hooves,” instructed Twilight.
Applejack obeyed and pulled her hind legs up, throwing them at a 5 foot boulder. The rock shattered almost instantly.
“Fantastic,” said Rarity, clapping her hooves.
Twilight suddenly eyed all of her friends, and walked in a line in front of them all
“Guys, I want you to listen to a theory I have on the elements.”
“Well what’s that then Twi,” said Applejack, looking up at her friend after having smashed the boulder.
“I believe that the Elements of Harmony enhance ponies special talents,” Twilight said. “I’ve noticed that ever since I bore the Element of Magic, my magic has become stronger, and from what I’ve researched, no normal earth pony could ever smash a rock that big. “I still don’t understand the reason behind this, but……”
Twilight was suddenly distracted by the fact that Spike had just spat a bunch of green flames, quickly forming into the shape of a letter. Twilight pulled the letter closer to her with her magic and began to read.
Dear Princess Twilight Sparkle
I ask you to come to Canterlot as soon as you possibly can. We have had a visit from a being that until now, we believed to be a mere legend. His name is Azrael, and he has come to bring us news of an imminent threat.
Talk to you soon.
Princess Celestia
“Azrael?” Asked Pinkie Pie, confused.
The lilac alicorn nodded her head.
“Yes. When I first became Princess Celestia’s student, she gave me a book about ancient creatures and mythological beings. One of them them was an alicorn from the past, Azrael: The Angel of Death.”
“And what’s so special about this guy?” Asked Rainbow Dash, her usual arrogant self.
“Grrr, Rainbow Dash,” said Twilight, rolling her eyes and clearly annoyed. “Don’t you have any respect for history. For starters, he’s an alicorn, and a natural one, not like me and Cadance. In addition to that, the legends say that he used to guide lost souls to the afterlife so that they could meet up with their former loved ones, and would keep track of all births and deaths in Equestria.”
After a quick train ride, the mane 6 and Spike arrived in Canterlot. Unsurprisingly, they found the city and the palace full of soldiers, all of them clearly expecting an attack. They walked to the Canterlot Castle from the train station, and told the guards outside the palace who they were. With clear hesitation, one of them walked the mane 6 and Spike inside and led them into the throne room. When inside, they found the two princesses awaiting them, and after exchanging a cordial welcome, they noticed the presence of a third alicorn. Twilight looked more closely at the mysterious angel of death. He was taller than Princess Celestia, and had a more robust physique. His hair was also pure white and his eyes were bright blue. Azrael sensed the mane six’s suspicion, and gave them all a warm smile.
“You can rest easy, my little ponies, I have no bad intentions,” he said warmly. His voice was sophisticated, classy, and filled with wisdom.
He turned to face Twilight.
“Twilight Sparkle, it is a pleasure to meet you. I have heard a lot about you and your friends, as well as your noble deeds.” He then eyed Twilight’s recently obtained wings.
“And I see that you are finally able to reach your full potential, being an alicorn. Although I must add that you will still have to learn to control your new power, but I have no doubt that you will.”
“Thank you very much,” said Twilight Sparkle.
“Thank you for letting me be in your presence,” Azrael said to Twilight smiling. He then turned to back to face Celestia.
“Should we begin the meeting?”
“Absolutely,” replied Celestia, as she motioned the group to sit down. ______________________________________________________________________________________ When everyone had sat down and were comfortable in their seats, Azrael went straight to the point.
“I believe you are familiar these two deadly foes,” he said. “One is the changeling queen: Chrysalis. The other is the mysterious King Sombra.”
“WHAT. Sombra’s still alive?” asked Spike.
It was an understandable reaction. Recently, King Sombra had tried to reclaim the Crystal Empire, but the mane six had presumably killed him with the Crystal Heart. It was obvious that they hadn’t killed him however, as he was spreading darkness once again in Azrael's land, and possibly soon, the entire world.
He paused, and then continued. “You six, the bearers of the Elements of Harmony, will hopefully be able to defeat him, and reclaim……” He glanced at Celestia and Luna, and then continued.
“Sombra stole……. The Seal of Death,” he said incredibly hesitantly, looking away as he spoke.
“What’s The Seal of Death?” Asked Twilight.
“You will not know,” answered Azrael, getting up from his seat and walking up to the window which showed the mane six defeating Discord, looking at the window rather than them whilst he spoke. “It is an artifact dating back to the golden age of the alicorns, in which all documents have been destroyed.”
This was very displeasing to Twilight, as she would have given anything for the opportunity to read these documents.
“However, I was born in that age, and remember what happened as clear as day,” Azrael continued, turning back to face them..
“What happened then?” asked Twilight.
Azrael took a deep breath, and started to answer.
“Once upon a time, alicorns were the dominant species of Equestria. Powerful, wise, and free from the passage of time. Yet, despite all of their incredible skills, there was a being that far exceeded even their combined power: Death. An entity that existed from an immemorial time.
Rainbow Dash suddenly jumped up from her seat and butted in. “Hang on a sec, but are you not death?. I mean, you're the Angel of DEATH.”
“No,” replied Azrael. “I just take care of the souls of the dead. Death on the other hand is the abstract embodiment of the end of life. Death had chosen the appearance of an alicorn to be able to interact with the population and keep them under control. The alicorns greatly feared him, because them being an immortal race, he had the power to put an end to their lives. But how could they get rid of him? The only way it was remotely possible was if they imprisoned him, and it took every single member of the alicorn race to do so. And they succeeded…….”
“So….,” said Rainbow Dash.
“It was nothing less than a Pyrrhic victory. Death’s imprisonment took so much magical energy that the alicorns lost their immortality. This change and contradiction caused conflict in our society, and after years of tension between tribes, a war finally broke out, wiping out the majority of our race.”
Azrael looked at the ground, his eyes filled with sadness.
“Only when the alicorn race was near extinction did we realize our mistakes. Filled with regret, the leader of what remained of our race gave me the task of hiding the glyph which kept Death imprisoned…. And until now, I was successful at fulfilling my task.”
There was a long silence as everyone processed the information, taking in what Azrael had just said. Finally, Fluttershy spoke up.
“Um… If every ancient alicorn lost their powers by partaking in the spell, how come you still possess yours?”
Azrael was lost in thought as he searched for an answer, but did not find one.
“I do not know….. with certainty,” he said, eyeing the mane six gingerly.
“Did Sombra want to free Death?” Asked Rarity.
“No,” answered Azrael, walking around near the table as he spoke. “And even if he did want to free him he would need something that only I possess. What he’s about to do however, is no less terrible. There is a reason why the ancient leader of the surviving alicorns asked me to hide the glyph. Anyone wearing the relic will get powers second only to Death himself. Sombra now posesses that power, and I do not need to explain the amount of danger all of Equestria is in"
Everyone stared in silence, stone faced.
“What can we do?” Asked Twilight.
Suddenly, there was a booming noise outside. To Be Continued……
The mane 6, the 2 princesses, Spike, and Azrael came rushing out of the palace, desperate to find out what was happening. Much to their horror, they found King Sombra and Queen Chrysalis surrounding the castle, as well as has a huge army of snarling Changelings. The guards had been defeated and lay on the ground. Strangely, despite Canterlot having been under attack, there was an eerie silence lurking about the city. A silence which drove menace into the mane six’s hearts.
“How nice to see you again, Twilight Sparkle,” said King Sombra in a truly haunting, echoey voice. The evil king had grown 3 times the size of Celestia, towering over everyone and coating them in his shadow, and had grown wings. He was an alicorn now, and a very powerful one.
“GIVE BACK THE SEAL OF DEATH,” Twilight shouted, her voice filled with rage.
“Have you stuck your nose into things that do not concern you, Sparkle?” Said Sombra. “It appears that you have…. but oh well, it’s not like you can stop me.” He let out a maniacal laugh, and then paused, eyeing Twilight’s wings in similar fashion to how Azrael did. “Nice new wings, but I’m afraid being an alicorn will make little difference when trying to take me down. Not when I have this amount of power.” at that moment, his horn glowed ominously.
“Sombra, stop this NOW!” Growled Celestia, her voice filled with malice and fierceness.
Sombra cuckled. “Oh, I should stop you say?,” he said. “So that you can and your little minions can try to KILL ME!” His tone suddenly turning truly frightening. “Do you think I forgot how you and your sister tried to destroy me, as well as your little friends.” He then looked at Chrysalis, and then back at Celestia. “I’m sorry to end our little chat, but I have a promise to keep.” With that, Sombra and Chrysalis flew up towards the palace, hoping to enter it.
Celestia was about to attack, but at that moment, an energy beam shot out of Sombra’s horn, sweeping the mane 6 and the others away.
The swarm of changelings quickly rushed over to them, hissing when they found themselves just in front of their targets. But if they thought they had an easy win just because their enemies were outnumbered, they were wrong. Twilight drew a victorious grin when she conjured the Elements of Harmony that she had made invisible with a spell. Meanwhile, the rest of the mane 6, Spike, and the alicorns started attacking the changelings with whatever they could use: magic, wings, hooves, or all three. They defeated dozens of enemies. Knocking them off their hooves with wing power, blasting them into oblivion with magic, breaking their skulls with strong hooves, and many other attack methods. However, it seemed as if the army of changelings continued forever. Princess Celestia knew immediately what had to be done.
“We’re wasting time! Twilight, you, Azrael and your friends have to find Sombra and put an end to his treachery.”
The purple alicorn however did not agree. “No, princess, I wont leave you. I won’t let you be killed,” she said, almost crying.
“We can’t abandon our friends!” Rainbow Dash said as she butted heads with two changelings.
“Sombra must be stopped before he spreads darkness across Equestria,” replied Celestia, softer this time. “Me and Luna will try to fend the changelings off, but the you 6 have the best chance of defeating Sombra, as you are the bearers of the Elements of Harmony.”
Twilight was about to obey and attempt to find Sombra and Chrysalis, but then she noticed that someone was missing.
“Spike? ”
______________________________________________________________________________________ The purple dragon had followed Sombra and Chrysalis unnoticed into the palace. Eager to show himself useful to his friends, he was trying to figure out what the duo of tyrants were up to. Spike noticed with horror as guards who dared to oppose the two tyrants were slaughtered instantly with Sombra’s dark magic. His mouth twisted into a horrified expression.
“It must be the power that artifact gave him,” Spike thought, as he saw Sombra snapping a guard’s neck with a simple blink and small spark of magic.
He wondered if the Elements of Harmony could be enough to stop him, but then he calmed. His friends until today had never failed to stop the usual aspiring conquerors of Equestria. The power of a foe didn’t matter when the Elements of Harmony were around……. right? Eventually the evil duo came to a door that appeared familiar to the purple dragon. It was the room where one of the most dangerous magical relics was kept: The Alicorn Amulet.
Sombra turned to Chrysalis.
“I want you to wait for me to get it,” said Sombra. “There are powerful charms on this door.”
Chrysalis simply nodded. In less than a minute Sombra was back; the Alicorn Amulet in his magical grasp. Chrysalis watched the amulet with the same amount of passion as Pinkie Pie would if Sombra was holding a frosted cake. She smiled evilly.
“Finally,” she said, practically drooling, “now I WILL be able to raise the sun and moon.”
Sombra then turned to face Chrysalis, and then looked up at the wall
“Now that we’ve ended this little thing, I would say that we can start taking things seriously,” said Sombra smoothly. “And maybe we can finally settle the score between our enemies.”
Without warning Sombra glared at Spike, his corrupted eyes piercing his heart. The purple dragon started to run away, but he found himself being pulled towards the dark king in a magical grasp. Spike understood all too well that in an effort to help the mane 6, he had been lured into a trap.
The Mane Six ran into the palace, having seen clear evidence that Spike had entered it. They were all hiding behind a pillar to avoid being spotted by Changelings.
“Which way did he go?” asked Rainbow Dash.
“I’m not sure,” said Twilight Sparkle, worry forged into her face.
“Oh, I do hope Spikey Wikey’s is alright,” said Rarity, tears rolling down her eyes over-dramatically.
“Pssst!”
All six of them spun round. Azrael was standing before them behind the same pillar, his expression highly serious.
“I can locate the Glyph of Death,” he whispered. “That’s probably where Spike is, as he must have tried to find Sombra. We need to take it off that evil tyrant before he uses it to take over Equestria.” _____________________________________________________________________________ They ran headlong into the vast corridors. Azrael was in the lead, whilst the Mane Six followed. They were being chased by Changelings through the palace who had just noticed them, making shivers go down their spine every second as they tried to outrun them. Given Azrael’s connection with the Glyph, he could sense its presence and position.
Just then, one of the Changelings lunged at Fluttershy’s tail. She screamed in shock, but before the Changeling could properly damage her, Azrael shot a laser beam out of his horn, blowing the creature to smithereens. However, that unfortunately allowed the other changelings to catch up with them, slowing down when near enough. There was threatening intent in their eyes. The shapeshifters attempted to jump on Azrael, but he shot each of them down with magical lasers. However, for every one he killed, two more came rushing towards him. Twilight was about to tell Azrael not to fight and that it was a waste of time, but he spoke first.
“Leave me here; I’ll fend them off. Go and find Spike,” he commanded.
Twilight was about to object, but then she realized that this was no time for arguing about the plan.
“And where exactly are we going?” she asked.
“The throne room; now, RUN!” he replied, after blasting a changeling in mid air
The group exchanged unconvinced glances, but obeyed nonetheless. _____________________________________________________________________________ Celestia and Luna had lost count of how many enemies had fallen before them, but it still did not seem to be enough. There seemed to be no way to turn the situation in their favor, but then something unexpected happened.
“Discord?” asked Celestia.
Discord had appeared in the middle of the battlefield, his hands on his hips, standing proudly. The army of changelings looked in terror, as the seven foot draconequus bowed to the two sisters.
“You know, I sense that you seem to have a tincy wincy, teeny, tiny, little parasite problem over here,” said the draconequus. He then groaned, stroking his beard as he spoke. “I suppose I’ll have to help you with pest control then, as I’m stupid REFORMED.”
The Changelings slowly started to retreat in fear, but Discord snapped his fingers together, summoning a giant vacuum cleaner. He then clicked his fingers for a second time, and a huge force slowly pulled all of the changelings into the vacuum. They screamed and tried to get away, but it was no use. Within seconds, all of the Changelings outside the building were gone. Discord then clapped his hands together, and gave an annoyed huff.
“You know, having god-like powers makes fights so boring.” He then stroked his beard again, and looked at Celestia and Luna with a grin. He started walking towards them, constantly shifting his gaze. “Quickly, go and help your most faithful student and her little friends Celestia. You wouldn’t want King Sombra to invade Equestria, would you?” He said.
“Discord, this is no laughing matter,” scolded Celestia. “Although we couldn’t thank you enough for coming to help us like that. If you hadn’t have appeared right at that moment, we don’t know what would have happened.” Both of them shared a look, clear with relief. More Changelings slowly started to walk towards Discord, but he put his hands around his hips and with another snap of his fingers, removed Sombra’s dark clouds. He again summoned his vacuum cleaner calmly, and started sucking in each of the Changelings up one by one. _____________________________________________________________________________ The only thing Spike felt was pain, hard, miserable pain. His bones creaked as if they were about to break, his scales were damaged severely, and he felt his flesh burning. At that moment, he was thrown against the wall yet again, adding more pain to the mix. Sombra was beating him for what seemed like an eternity to Spike. Yet, despite the enormous pain that the little dragon felt, he was not willing to be cowed. If he could not stop the tyrant from torturing him, then at least he was denying him the pleasure of hearing him scream. Chrysalis watched the torment the little dragon was going through and, although she tried not to show it, she was impressed by the will of the little guy. She was also shocked to see how much violence Sombra was pouring on that little being. Since the former ruler of the Crystal Empire had proven to be not dead, the queen had thought they were very similar, especially to their hunger for conquest. But this was a deed that was beyond her evil doing. Sombra advanced menacingly up in front of the baby dragon, towering above him.
“Twilight and Rarity have nothing to fear from someone like you, you evil bully,” Spike spoke out weakly.
Sombra let out a maniacal laugh. “Do you wish to impress me with your words?” he said, looking at Spike with a hideous grin. “Well, try to impress me when your neck is BROKEN!”
Sombra’s armored hoof slammed against Spike once again. Spike still managed to refrain from screaming in agony, though his resolve was slowly weakening. But suddenly, the evil king looked out of the window, seeing the sky’s light again, and hearing a loud voice talking to himself. He showed a look of apprehension, and temporarily turned away from Spike, facing Chrysalis.
“Mhm, it seems that Discord has arrived,” he said. “Chrysalis, do me a favor and go and try your new toy on him, would you?”
The Queen of the Changelings obeyed, disappearing with a bright red light. _____________________________________________________________________________ Twilight and her friends came rushing into the throne room, and with fear and anger, found Sombra torturing Spike on the ground. He had his hoof on his head, ready to crush his skull. The Mane Six were angry beyond all measure, but a tough energy barrier stopped them from rescuing their friend. Rarity, Fluttershy, and Twilight screamed in pure rage at the dark tyrant; but the more they screamed, the more he cackled.
“How dare you treat Spike that way?!” cried the white unicorn, tears streaming out of her eyes.
“He’s just an innocent baby dragon!” shouted Fluttershy uncharacteristically. “I'll do a lot worse to you King Sombra, believe me!” Sombra raised the baby dragon with his magic. “I intend to take the soul of this parasite... unless you can stop me,” he said. A wicked grin merged into his face.
Twilight spread out her wings, and for a couple of seconds, she charged her magic, getting ready to strike the barrier. She then let out a huge magical laser, it coming into contact with the barrier with immense force, letting out a huge boom. However, nothing happened. She had drained all of her energy for nothing. She collapsed onto the floor, tears streaming down her face. Applejack saw what had happened and ran up towards her, putting a hoof on her shoulder.
“Twi, I know ya wanna save Spike, and teach a mighty lesson to that tyrant,” she said. “But remember what Azrael said now. Sombra possesses an amount of power that we can’t even think to compare to.”
“I’d say this baby dragon will reach a premature end today,” Sombra said coldly through the barrier, still holding Spike in his magical grasp.
“No, Sombra,” Twilight said suddenly. The purple alicorn slowly got herself to her hooves, ignoring what Applejack had just said. She had malice as cold as ice in her voice, and a highly determined and lethal expression on her face. “Because we have the Elements of Harmony.”
Twilight cast a counterspell on the Elements for them to stop being invisible, then handed all of her friends their respective elements with her magic.
“Come on girls, let's show him what were made of,” she said.
“Right,” they all said in unison.
“Well, I suppose it's our best chance of beating’ that monster,” said Applejack quietly.
Slowly, they all arranged into attack formation. Twilight was at the front, while the others were neatly by her side or behind her. Within seconds, every element aside from Twilight's started glowing; lasers the shape of their amulet spitting out of them. After a couple of seconds, a magical field started to appear around the Mane Six, and they started floating into the air.
“Go on,” taunted Sombra.
A rainbow suddenly shot out of the magical field containing the Mane Six. It struck the barrier like an arrow, penetrating it. The mane six and Spike watched Sombra be wrapped up by the rainbow, triumph clear in their eyes. At that moment, Azrael followed by Celestia and Luna came rushing into the room, panting.
“Sombra was hit with the Elements, we won!,” shouted Twilight, her face forming into a smile.
The rest of the Mane Six agreed.
“Yeah, we blasted that monster into smithereens,” said Rainbow Dash, flying around the room hyperactively.
“NO!” said Azrael, more seriously than the Mane Six had ever heard him speak.
The Mane Six watched in horror as they heard a maniacal laugh coming from the center of the rainbow tornado.
“Sorry to disappoint, but I'm afraid your little elements won't work on me,” the rainbow tornado said.
The rainbow suddenly disappeared. In it's place was King Sombra—undamaged. The Mane Six huddled together, fear present on every one of their faces. Sombra left Spike on the floor at the other side of the room, and walked over to the Mane Six as the barrier was now broken. His shadow covered the Mane Six and the alicorns, and he let out a extremely loud maniacal laugh.
The next chapter should be coming so don't worry my dear readers . In the meantime I want to add something to make the reading of the story more emotional. Following the example of a great writer on Fanfiction.net called Greenscar1990 and add a fan-made cast of voices for the characters of this story! Im gonna add voices as they appaer or else is gonna take a while Cast: Twilight Sparkle - Tara Strong Spike - Cathy Weseluck Applejack and Rainbow Dash - Ashleigh Ball Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie - Andrea Libman Rarity and Princess Luna - Tabitha St. Germain Princess Celestia - Nicole Oliver Azrael - Jason Spisak (I think his voice fits perfectly on him) King Sombra - Jonathan Adams Chrysalis - Kathleen Barr Discord - John de Lancie
When Chrysalis teleported outside the palace, she was standing opposite Discord. A haughty expression appearing on her face.
“Oh, who have we got here?“ said Discord. “Queen Chrysalis, is it?”
“I have come to destroy you, Discord,” replied Chrysalis, an energy ball appearing at her horn. “Now that I have the Alicorn Amulet, nothing can stand in my way.”
“You seriously think you can destroy me with that ancient amulet of yours?” said Discord, starting to laugh. “The only things which have even come close to destroying me are the Elements of Harmony."
Chrysalis stared at Discord, angry.
“Seriously Chrysalis, sometimes I wonder just how stupid you really are—” That last comment caused Chrysalis to lash out at the draconequus with a powerful energy beam. He was pushed away onto the walls of the palace through the power of the blast, and in seconds, it was toppling down from the impact of the shot. Discord was buried beneath tons of rubble, and Chrysalis let out a maniacal laugh.
Mountains of rubble from the palace fell down at an incredible velocity, showering the entire town with flaming rocks and sharp brick fragments. The flaming debris covered the entire Canterlot square. The palace had been blown to pieces, completely destroyed. But Discord reappeared behind Chrysalis in a flash, dusting off his body.
“You know, it’s really quite rude to attempt to crush a draconequus in piles of rubble,” he said. “And just look at the flames coming from the royal palace. You know, you shouldn’t destroy things that don’t belong to you.”
He was right, clouds of smoke were coming of the rubble. If they were not the powerful beings they were, they would have surely choked on the fumes at the distance they were from it.
“So, I’m afraid I will have to teach you a lesson,” said Discord.
A huge boulder flung out of the sky, on a near perfect trajectory for the changeling queen. But with a sudden move, she looked up at the boulder, shot a giant laser beam at it, and shattered it to pieces.
* Twilight looked in horror as she saw a cloud of smoke in the place where the royal palace should have been. Azrael had teleported them outside to safety in a nearby garden when they had heard and had seen the building starting to collapse on the inside. The purple mare was shocked and upset. A building which had stood for thousands of years had suddenly been crushed, and all her memories contained inside alongside with it. She knew it must have been Queen Chrysalis who had made the attack, as King Sombra was inside with them at the palace. The mane six didn't see him teleport out of the building, but they didn't think for a second that he was dead and that they had won.
“Why—why would she do this?!” cried Twilight, shrinking down low.
Why had Sombra been immune to the elements? They had defeated everyone else with them. She crouched down next to a bush, and started to weep. Sombra was unstoppable, he had won. Harmony was about to be destroyed forever… Her friends were similarly crouched down behind a tree, hugging together for comfort. Celestia and Luna were standing close to Twilight; they did not cry, or even frown, but Twilight knew wholeheartedly that they were upset, likely much more than she was as this had been their home for thousands of years. Azrael was standing on the opposite side of Twilight, him having the same expression on his face as the two queens.
“Azrael?” asked Twilight. “What can we do now?”
Azrael turned to Twilight, his voice sympathetic.
“I don't know.”
Just at that moment, Twilight and the rest were bathed in shadow, and they knew exactly who it was.
“It seems friendship is no longer so magic, is it?,” Sombra taunted, his voice booming. Slowly, the evil alicorn revealed himself, his ghostly eyes piercing through all of their hearts.
“Hmm, trying to impress your girlfriend, I see,” stepped up Spike bravely, running up to face Sombra. He looked at Sombra, and then started motioning towards Chrysalis, fighting Discord in the distance.
The will of the dragon was unmatched, and Twilight saw a determination in his eyes that she had never seen before in anyone. The dragon was furious: furious at Sombra as he had reduced the people dearest to him to hopelessness, and furious at himself for hardly ever being of use to his friends. Sombra laughed again, “Such childish humor little dragon, but no matter, all of you will be DEAD soon enough.”
Without warning, Spike opened his mouth to breath fire.
“NO SPIKE!” screamed Twilight.
It was too late however, Spike was already hurling fire at the dark tyrant. Everyone was astonished at the dragon’s will. Celestia and Luna, the two ancient leaders of Equestria, lay battered on the ground defeated, hopeless. But a tiny little dragon was using his tiny power against the second most powerful being in the world, sure to die, but no less brave and willful. Unfortunately, the fire did as expected: nothing. Sombra was left undamaged physically, but the one thing that was damaged was his patience.
“I'm going to do what I should have done the moment I met you you little purple slime, end your life this minute!” he screamed.
An energy beam blasted out of his horn, hitting the baby dragon and pushing him at least a meter away. The mane six and the alicorns came rushing from their spots to circle round the purple dragon, hoping for a sign of life, but he was completely lifeless. At that moment, all of the remaining nine of them were stricken with grief. Fluttershy and Rarity let out floods of tears as they circled around him, crouching down and screaming for him to wake up. But the one who suffered the most was Twilight. She took the dragon whom she had come to seen as a brother or even an adopted son in her loving arms, squeezing him affectionately as she let her tears flow on the cold and lifeless dragon. The others crowded around her, eyeing the dragon carefully, waiting for the last ounce of hope. She gently kissed the dragon whom she had come to love as a brother or son on the forehead. They all tearfully watched as he slowly faded into ashes, like all dragons do when they die.
Twilight got to her hooves, a battle stance at the ready. She was angrier than she had ever been before. A murderous look dug into her face, as she tearfully looked at the dark tyrant with nothing less that pure hatred.
“You monster!” she screamed, louder than she ever had before, her horn glowing a ball of energy on the tip, getting ready to strike. “I will make you pay!”
Luna, Celestia, and Azrael ran frantically to tried to pull her back, but as they did, they found a bunch of small crystals materializing on their horns, preventing them from using their magic. Then, a bunch of dark crystals appeared out of the ground, surrounding Twilight, and stopping the alicorns from getting to her. After they had retreated, Sombra pulled the crystals back in, and came face to face with the purple mare. Twilight's eyes were homicidal, like she would kill someone any minute, and that's exactly what she planned to do.
She fired a laser beam at Sombra with all the power she could muster, but he dodged. She tried again, but similarly to no avail. She flew up to Sombra, again trying to blast him, but each time she tried, she wouldn’t hit him, and it would just cause a huge explosion on the ground. Everyone knew that Sombra could kill her in a split second, but he was enjoying toying with the young princess. Twilight materialized two sharp red magical blades from her horn and threw them at the dark tyrant, but he shattered them in mid air. Once Twilight regained her sanity, and realized that all she was doing was wasting energy. She flew back down to the ground, fresh tears spilling from her eyes. Sombra had won, and there was nothing they could do.
“Your anger means nothing to me for I wield the Glyph of Death . I’ve taken the soul of that thing and I’m about to do the same to you!”
Twilight Sparkle looked up, defeated “Then do it,” she said simply, resigning herself to her fate.
Sombra laughed.
“A quick death is too good for you, Twilight Sparkle,” said Sombra. “You deserve something much more severe. It’s time to understand that you are nothing but dust in front of me.” He then pointed south towards Ponyville. “Every soul I can steal with a thought. just as I did with your parents.”
“What?” Twilight asked in disbelief.
“Why else do you think that this city is all calmly: everyone in this city is DEAD,” Sombra roared. “And I intend to do the same for everyone else in Equestria: steal their souls.”
“You—you—you monster!” screamed Twilight. She started to lunge at him, but was quickly pulled back to the ground by Sombra’s magic.
Sombra started to laugh.
“I am much more than a monster, Twilight Sparkle. I am second in command only to Death himself,” he roared.
Just then, Princess Celestia stood up, and looked at Sombra with pleading eyes.
“Please Sombra,” she pleaded. “We will do whatever you want, just don’t hurt my people.”
Sombra, for a moment, thought over the offer the sun goddess had made. For what seemed an eternity, he finally spoke “There are a few things I want at the moment,” spoke Sombra. “And among them is your suffering...”
I promised to keep you readers informed with the development of this story and here it some news: Sadly, Arctofire has dropped the work of Translator for this story for good reasons. I don't blame him, translate 75 pages can be stressful and he has it's own story to write so I wish him good luck with his story and page. That said I still will not drop this story and im 100% decided to complete this story. I will not and I repeat I WILL NOT leave this story on a cliffhanger. Now, I thought to ask to some of you readers to take Arctofire place but then I slapped that thought away. Im not gonna force someone to do what should be my job. Im gonna work personally to my story and do all that is in my power to make this story worth reading! . Be patient, my dear readers, the new chapter is coming.
There was fear and confusion in Ponyville. The destruction of the Royal Sisters castle didn't go ignored and most of the population of the town were staring at it wondering what could have been the cause of such untold disaster. The Mayor tried to calm down the citizens, assuring them that there was nothing to worry about and denying to herself the fear that she felt in her heart.
But there was somepony there who knew better than the others what was going on: Zecora. It was since her awakening that she felt that something terrible was about to happen and now, that something had happened.
She didn't know exactly what was the cause but she could feel that the power responsible for this disaster was more ancient that the earth she was standing on. Suddenly, without the least of warnings, ponies started to drop dead to the ground.
The Zebra and the Mayor looked powerless as their friends died. And soon they felt something grabbing a part of them, their very soul was being pulled out with a swift and violent way. They then dropped on the ground themselves, lifeless.
* In Cloudsdale the Wonderbolts were preparing for action towards whoever was responsible for the assault in Canterlot. The destruction of the palace shocked every single one of them, but Spitfire tried her best to maintain her stoic and calm attitude and Sorain did the same, trying to lighten up the tension with his humor.
"So, who do you think we're up against? Some stupid weirdo which thinks she can take over the world with an army of foals?" he joked.
Spitfire was not amused, "It's no time to joke around, Soarin. None of the Wonderbolts teams in the past have witnessed the fall of the Palace of the Royal Sisters. I'm pretty sure that whoever is responsible for this mess is not somepony to joke around."
"Oh, please, I’m sure that the Elements of Harmony can take him."
He stopped, noticing that Spitfire had fallen into the ground. He started laughing, thinking that she had tripped over a cumulus of cloud, but then noticed with horror that all around him pegasi were falling from the sky with no life in them, before he felt something very cold on his soul. And then nothing more.
*
Discord was starting to lose interest playing against Chrysalis. Sure, that amulet turned the bug-queen into quite a fighter but she was far from his level.
Since the destruction of the palace his thoughts were filled with worries for Fluttershy and her friends. And right before all of that he felt something unusual in the air. Suddenly he noticed hundreds if not thousands of lights rising in the sky and sensed that something horrible was happening.
"Okay Chrissy, I think this fight has gone on long enough," said the Draconequus.
"AH! You want to surrender?" asked boastfully Chrysalis.
"Nope". With that said Discord snapped his fingers and before the queen of the changelings could react she was trapped inside a cage. Roaring furiously Chrysalis charged against the bars but she ended up shocking herself.
"Now stay there,” said Discord. “I've got bigger fish to fry".
With that, Discord flew high above to see where his friends were, only to find them all gathered up in the ruined gardens.
The Draconequus noticed three things: 1) There was no trace of that little dragon that usually always stuck with Twilight, 2) There was another alicorn of which he didn't know anything about, 3) Sombra was the only one who looked happy and that was not a good thing. Discord teleported himself there facing the evil tyrant.
"Well hello there, Sombra. You look quite buff. Have you been doing some gym lately?" joked Discord appearing in a flash of light.
"Discord, the ex-spirit of chaos" commented a grinning Sombra.
"Ehy, just because I've been reformed doesn't mean i'm less threatening! I'm gonna show you what it means to fight a reality warper!"
"Wait! Don't do it Discord" screamed Azrael.
"I have no idea who you are, but do not worry for me. I’m gonna mess him so bad that he's going to need a therapy for both his psyche AND his body," said the Draconequus ready for engage battle against the dark foe.
"If the Elements of Harmony couldn't stop him neither can you!" added Fluttershy, afraid for the health of her friend.
"...Wait whaaAAAAAASRGHAGAHRSBASARGH!" screamed the Draconequus as Sombra fired a painful laser through his body, then throwing his beaten body near the Main 6 with his magic.
"Do you feel alright Discord?" asked Applejack.
"Oh, I feel great, thanks for the worries Applejack. But I have just one question"
"What is it?"
"WHY DIDN'T YOU TELL ME THIS BEFORE!?" screamed Discord getting up, "Now, that said, why is he so damn powerful?"
"He's wearing the Seal of Death. A relic that grants..." tried to explain Azrael, just to get interrupted by the Draconequus.
"Is that that necklace he's wearing?"
"Eh, yes"
"Ah…, well it’s gonna be a walk in the park now that I know that’s his weak spot!"
Discord teleported right next to Sombra with a gigantic hammer in his hands which ran into the Seal, but instead of breaking it, it was the hammer that shattered into a million pieces.
"Oh," was the only thing Discord could say before Sombra punched him away.
"You can't break it either," added Azrael.
"No, really? I did not understand that yet," answered Discord sarcastically. "Is there something I can do?" He asked.
"You can die," answered Sombra, shooting Discord with a dark discharge, causing the spirit of chaos to scream in agony.
"I won't let you do this!" screamed Fluttershy with booming angry voice, flying against the dark tyrant, Rainbow Dash, Twilight Sparkle, Rarity, Pinkie Pie, Applejack, Princesses Luna, and Celestia right behind her.
Only Azrael remained back, watching the group going against certain defeat. And so it happened.
With a cruel cackle Sombra sent a wave of pain that brought the group to their knees.
"You still don't get it, do you? You can't beat me," said Sombra full of himself, "I'm the most powerful being in the universe! I have the power to end all lifes"
"A power that is not your own" stated Princess Luna, defiant until the end.
"Why does it matter? The important thing is that i’ve won" declared Sombra, placing his hoof on the neck of the mistress of the night, "I could take all the rest of the souls in this country with a thought.”
It wasn't really a question, but still somepony answered it.
"Perhaps because you would look like a coward?" asked Azrael without any trace of fear on his face.
Sombra walked right in front of him, towering above him with a murderous expression on his face.
"What.Did.You.Just.Say?"
"I’m pretty sure you heard me right."
"Have you forgotten how bad I defeated you in our last fight? And since then my skills with this relic have grown."
"I know"
"Then you have a deathwish, if you provoke me so boldly," hissed Sombra.
"Maybe, but I still don't believe you're going to kill me or any one of us. At least not now."
"Why not?"
"Because I know you, Sombra. I know your arrogance. No, you don't want to take the world down inch by inch, defeating all your adversaries separately. You want to show your power. You want to crush ALL your enemies in one time. At their best, to prove that you are the most powerful being in the universe and beyond."
Sombra went silent, thinking what Azrael said. And then he spoke:
"So, you're telling me to leave you fools to gather up an army and fight me in one grand battle? Why should I accept this and waste precious time, instead of dealing with you insects now?"
"Why? Do you have really time to waste? Or is it because you fear the we might beat you if you gave us a second chance?"
The Dark Tyrant glared at Azrael with pure rage in his eyes while the angel of death simply stared at him with defiance in his. But in the end Sombra smiled,
"No. I don't fear anything. I'm going to give you 4 days to gather up your army. You better be punctual, if you don't want to see the least patient part of me."
With that said he used his magic to free Chrysalis from her prison and gather up with her.
"Well then, see ya in 4 days Somby," said Discord helping Fluttershy to get up to her hooves.
"Not so fast, ex-spirit of chaos" commented Sombra. In a flash of light Discord found himself inside a cage made of gloomy crystals.
"We don't want to make things too easy, do we? You're gonna be released when the battle will start. In the meantime you're gonna make company to Chrysalis. And don't you even try to get out before that day, if you hold your life dear," told the dark tyrant to the Draconequus.
He then turned to the Main 6, Azrael and the Princesses.
"Do not believe that this delay is a gift. When this is over you're gonna regret that I didn't kill you right here and now," his glare focusing on Twilight Sparkle. "And when I will take away all the people you hold dear, destroy all your morals and have turned Equestria into a graveyard...then, you'll have my permission to die".
Sombra, Chrysalis and the recently trapped Discord, disappeared in a dark flash of light.
The Mane Six watched the edge of the ruins of the Royal Sister’s palace with grief in their hearts. All their friends, all their families, gone in a matter of few hours. And they couldn’t do anything to stop it. Azrael could feel all of their pain. In fact, he felt even worse, because he knew that this tragedy was his fault.
“I know that you have lost much, and wish to pay respect to your beloved ones, but we must move now if we want to be prepared” Azrael said.
“Prepared for what? To lose?” asked Rainbow Dash while trying to fight back tears.
“Why are you being so pessimistic, Dashie?” exclaimed Rarity, finding hard to believe that the most stubborn of the group was being so hopeless.
“She’s right to be so negative. You’ve seen how easily Sombra beat us. The elements of Harmony are worthless!” exclaimed Applejack, while she tried her best to not image the lifeless corpses of her family on the ground, and then added with bitterness “WE are worthless”.
Suddenly Twilight Sparkle stomped on the ground, “Don’t say such things! Sombra may be more powerful than the elements of Harmony but he can’t be invincible. I refuse to give him the pleasure see us squirm and allow him to do what he wants with this world. Not after what he’s taken from us!” shouted the purple alicorn. Her voice then became more calm and soft, “I know we have taken a beating, but we can’t give up. I know that if we stick together we will find a way to stop Sombra. Maybe we will not defeat him with a rainbow ray, but I’m sure that there is another way.”
Celestia felt so proud seeing how her protégé was so strong and brave, not allowing that sorrow and pain stop her from supporting her friends. Even Luna and Azrael were impressed by her strong will.
“You’re right, Twily. We … I should have known better than being a downer. I’m sorry,” said Rainbow Dash.
“Me too,” added Applejack, wiping off her tears.
“You don’t have to apologize, girls. It’s alright being broken after what we’ve been through,” assured Twilight with a comforting smile.
“But the question remains: how are we going to stop Sombra?” asked Rarity.
“I have a plan,” said Azrael, making everyone heads turning to watch him.
“Didn’t you said that you didn’t some minutes ago?” asked Pinkie Pie, a little confused.
“I preferred to keep it a secret. If Sombra would have heard of it I’m sure he wouldn’t have given us this second chance,” explained the angel of death.
“Alright then, what’s the plan?” asked Twilight Sparkle.
“We must break the seal.”
“How can we destroy it if not even Discord could?” asked Princess Luna.
“I can destroy it. But I’m going to need your help to do so” explained Azrael.
“That sound like a plan, but there is something that bothers me” said Twilight Sparkle.
“What is it?”
“If the Seal is broken then it would free Death… right?”
Azrael remained quiet, but his expression was clearer than any words, for much of the displeasure of everyone.
“We can’t do that! If Death is freed then what he will do to us!?” cried out Rainbow Dash.
“There is no other way,” Azrael told them with a resigned calm.
“Yes there is, we could try to remove the Seal. Steal it,” proposed Twilight Sparkle.
“A good plan, but sadly the Seal works like the Alicorn Amulet. Only the one who’s wearing it can take it off,” he said, then added, “There is nothing else we can do, except surrender to Sombra—or be killed”.
The Mane Six and the princesses knew that Azrael was right, but they couldn’t help but fear what would happen if Death itself was freed. Azrael knew that, so he tried to calm their fear.
“We can’t be sure of how Death will react once freed. But he may be pleased... and he could even fix the whole mess that Sombra did, bringing back everyone he killed,” Azrael suggested, trying to sound convincing enough.
Applejack wasn’t the only one who looked unimpressed. “You know how stretched that sounds?” asked the multi-colored pegasus.
“It’s stretched, but it’s our only hope,” said Princess Luna, backing up Azrael. The rest of the group sighed in defeat.
“Fine. I guess it’s better than leaving that jerk of Sombra have the last word,” admitted Rainbow Dash.
“Then it’s settled. We must move to the Crystal Empire, warn Cadence of the incoming war and prepare an army to fight Sombra,” summed up Princess Celestia.
“I’m afraid that we’re going to need a bigger army than the one we will find here” said Azrael.
“What do you mean? And why I have the feeling that we are not going to like it what you mean?” asked Pinkie Pie.
“I’ve used some of my powers over the souls to see what Sombra was thinking and, even though I couldn’t see much, I know what kind of army will unleash. It’s not an army of Changelings but an army of alicorns. All those who died during the past wars,” explained Azrael with grave voice, causing everyone else to gasp in horror.
“By all the constellations!” muttered Celestia, feeling almost dirty thinking of how Sombra wanted to use her ancestors against them.
“But because of what they suffered in life and then in their demise, I highly doubt that they will be that powerful, even if their sheer strength and number is going to be huge,” added the angel of Death.
“Then we shall look for allies everywhere we can. Everypony who can fight should join us,” said Rainbow Dash.
“And not just ponies. We could ask for the help of Chief Thunderhooves and his tribe,” proposed Applejack.
“Great idea! And what about the griffins? They could help us too!” added Pinkie Pie.
At that Rainbow Dash frowned, remembering what happened last time she meet up with Gilda and of how their friendship was harshly shattered by the arrogant behavior of the female griffin. She sure wasn’t looking for a reunion. Even Princess Luna didn’t look that convinced, but for more deep reasons.
“We can’t be sure of griffin’s help in this war,” she objected.
“I know that our nations had a troubled past, but now we live in peace and harmony,” stated Celestia, not sharing her sisters doubts.
“Making them participate to the Equestria Games or to some culinary contest is not the same thing as asking them to aid us in fighting a being powerful as Sombra,” replied Luna. “And what if there is still some griffons who hold grudges towards ponies? They could think that it’s better leaving us alone.”
“We must hope that they will not let their emotions get the better of their logic. We have to try. But now, enough talk; we have a long journey on the way … and the clock is ticking.”
Discord watched from his prison, the cave in which he, Sombra and Chrysalis had just walked right into. The tunnel seemed to last forever and it didn’t took long for the draconequus to get bored.
“Why exactly are we here?” asked the spirit of chaos.
Even Chrysalis was bored. She just wanted to go back in her land and rest after such long day and take care of the changelings who got injured during the last battle. “Yes, what there is of so special in this cave?” she asked.
Sombra grinned. “You’ll see soon enough”.
Not long after, they finally reached the end of the tunnel. The cave was enormous; somepony could build up many cities and empires inside of it. There was some sort of natural light, probably thanks to reflections from the crystal in the ceiling. The ground was also full of sand. Chrysalis and Discord couldn’t help but wonder why that cave was so big. And then they saw it. It was simply the biggest creature they had ever seen in their entire life. It had a snake-like body that was long enough to cover six miles and was as tall as the biggest mountain. It’s mouth looked like some cross between a worm, a spider and a snake. It lay on the sands, lifeless and defeated, yet still capable to inspire awe and fear. Sombra didn’t wasted time explaining the nature of the beast.
“This is the Soul Eater. Long ago the alicorns, curious of what the afterlife could look like, decided to focus their efforts to investigate, trying to find a path. Sadly, from a portal they had opened, this magnificent creature come through. The Soul Eater was certainly quite the power to behold; not even the combined efforts of the alicorns were capable to stop his hunger for souls. In a few days he brought the all-powerful race to his knee. It was then that Death arrived, defeating the monster and trapping his remains in this cave.” His horn gleamed in dark light and he commanded all the souls he took from Canterlot, Ponyville and Cloudsdale into the semi-opened mouth. “And now is time to wake him up and make of him my own pet.”
Slowly the beast’s body started to light up, lines of cold blue began color his grey scales. His eyes opened up, revealing two circles, whiter than snow, in a sea of darkness. The Soul Eater rose from the ground, shaking of the dust from his enormous body, and released a thunderous and blood-chilling roar. In his mouth it was possible to see what looked like the faces of all the innocents souls he devoured screaming in agony. It was pure nightmare fuel for Discord and even Chrysalis. Once the titanic creature stopped roaring he watched Sombra with his emotionless eyes.
“You liked those souls, do you?” Sombra said, sneering. “Well, there is more of that to come. Now listen.”
When the dark tyrant told the Soul Eater what to do, he crawled out of the cave at top speed. Both Chrysalis and Discord couldn’t help but exchange a glance, thinking what kind of monster Sombra had just unleashed into the world.
---
Azrael, the princesses, and the Mane Six were flying in the air towards the Crystal Empire. Those who didn’t have wings were held up by magic. It was the fastest way to get there and also the only one, because during the battle the train station had been wrecked. Suddenly Azrael stopped, feeling that something horrible had just happened. To not waste their energy, the group descended in the ground.
“What’s going on Azrael?” asked Princess Celestia.
“Sombra has just awakened a being that should have stayed dead,” whispered the angel of death.
Before that anyone could ask what he meant a magic window opened, showing the arrogant face of the dark tyrant himself, “I can see that you heard of my recent action, Azrael,” commented Sombra while chuckling.
“What do you mean, Sombra? Explain yourself!” demanded Celestia.
“Why tell you when I can show you?” said Sombra, showing the Soul Eater marching towards an unknown destination.
“What is that thing!?” asked a shocked Rarity.
“The Soul Eater, a being summoned accidentally by the Alicorns and who’s only objective is to devour all the souls he meet,” Azrael told them while glaring at the dark tyrant.
Celestia was by no means happy either. “What does this mean, Sombra? Do you want to break your promise?”
“Afraid of my little pet, are you? There is no need to be so nervous about him; the Soul Eater will not hunt you. Yet,” explained the unicorn/alicorn, making the group take a breath of relief. “But I can’t say the same for the city he’s about to rush into,” he added, turning their breath into a gasp of horror.
“So you can go to the Crystal Empire with no worries at all. But then Manehattan would be doomed. Also, you could not blame me if you decide to try to stop the Soul Eater. Even though I’m sure that by doing so you’re going to waste much precious time … and lives.” With that said the magic window closed, ignoring all the insults that Rainbow Dash spat out.
“Can you tell us more about that monster, Azrael? Do you think we can stop him?” asked Twilight Sparkle.
“The Soul Eater was and is a being powerful enough to fight the entire alicorn kind. A direct fight with him would be our downfall. I think that it might be possible to beat him using the elements of harmony,” he explained.
“I bet there is a but,” said Pinkie Pie.
“But, that would take so much from the elements that it is possible they would stop working for days—perhaps even weeks. There is only one way to stop the Soul Eater: bring him back to the cave and seal the entrance.”
“That sounds good, but exactly how are we going to do so?” asked Twilight Sparkle.
“Somepony shall have to lure him back there. I thought to give this duty to you, Rainbow Dash. I know you’re the fastest pony there is. If you want, of course.”
“Thanks of the compliment,” said the multi-color pegasus. “And yes, I totally want to do it!”
“Once you will have lead him back inside the cave Fluttershy will join you into distracting the Soul Eater.”
“No way! I can do the job by myself!” boasted Rainbow Dash, causing the other pegasus to look at her, worried.
“We can’t take any chances, Rainbow Dash. For when you’re going to reach the cave you’re going to be very tired. Also, Fluttershy is just as capable to go as fast as you,” insisted the male alicorn, causing the yellow pegasus to blush slightly to the compliment. Rainbow Dash grumbled while nodding with her head. “Once the Soul Eater will be inside, I, Celestia, and Twilight will work on the spell to seal the entrance. Right before shutting it we will warn you two to get out of there.”
“What about me?” asked Princess Luna.
“You shall proceed towards the Crystal Empire and prepare with Cadence and Shining Armor to assemble our army,” answered Azrael, conscious of how much the ruler of the night wouldn’t liked that.
“You will help much more doing that. We have little time and it takes time to gather all the people in Equestria,” insisted Azrael, trying to not sound harsh.
Luna did not seem the least happy about it, and Celestia knew it, so she tried to cheer her up. “You don’t have to feel useless, my sister. No one here doubts of your power but now we must act, or else who knows how many innocents are going to get eaten by that monster?” Luna knew she was right.
“Fine then, I’ll go. But please, be careful my friends!” she said, saluting the group, before to fly off to the Crystal Empire.
---
“That things sure is huge, but I doubt it’s that fast!” commented Rainbow Dash while watching at safe distance the colossal monster.
Azrael has used his power over the souls to show her where the Soul Eater and the cave were so she wouldn’t need to wonder about the direction to take. The angel of death also kept hammering down how much dangerous the Soul Eater was and how fast he could go. Rainbow Dash was pretty confident that she would had a problem with that big worm. The only question was how to get his attention without getting to close to that big mouth. The multi-color pegasus got an idea: she flew high in the sky and then right down at top speed, releasing a powerful rainbow nuke.
“Ouch!” yelped Dash, getting up.
The monster’s hide was pretty tough. She suddenly noticed that the Soul Eater had stopped on his tracks. She turned around and she felt her blood cool, noticing that the creature had turned his massive head up and was staring at her with emotionless and nightmarish eyes. Suddenly, she didn’t feel that arrogant anymore, especially when the Soul Eater opened his mouth and tried to eat her. She managed to avoid the bite, making it bite itself. The creature roared in annoyance rather than pain and Rainbow Dash took that time to get a good distance between them. The Soul Eater took only few seconds to almost reach her. The pegasus started beating her wing with all her might, trying to hold back the feeling that this time her speed would not be enough to save her.
So, I have some bad news and some good news: Bad News: This chapter is going to come out a bit more late than usual. The reason for such shameful delay is that I was having to much of a blast with Bloodborne, but also because this Saturday (And most of Sunday) I was away. Also, this chapter is going to be a long one and I've tried making some little changes from the original to make the story better. Good News: To show that I really care for you readers Im going to post a new chapter of SOD sooner than usual. It's going to be shorter than this one, but it's going to be worth reading.
Azrael’s group had reached the entrance of the Soul Eater’s cave and was checking out its borders. There were some arcane symbols on the outside and Azrael, Celestia, and Twilight were investigating what they could mean. Meanwhile, the rest of the group looked in awe at the size of the opening; all but Fluttershy, who was keeping an eye out to warn the group of the arrival of Rainbow Dash and the beast.
The shy pegasus was a great lover of nature, and there was no creature, no matter how dark and menacing looking, that she wouldn’t love. But this creature, the Soul Eater, was something that even she couldn’t defend. Something made to devour the souls of the living was nothing more than a monster; and the fact that even Azrael, the angel of death, feared it, was even more proof of that.
But the thoughts on the Soul Eater weren’t the only ones in Fluttershy’s mind; she thought also of Rainbow Dash’s reaction. She knew her well and she knew that there was something more than simply overconfidence in her voice. She could only hope for a time when she could speak and listen to, and understand what was troubling her friend. Azrael had more impending things to worry about it.
“It would seems that our dark enemy has cast a spell on this passage,” explained the angel of death.
“I’m not surprised; Sombra has always been one who program things in advance. I know from experience,” said Twilight Sparkle, remembering how many traps she had faced in the Crystal Empire.
“Would that stop us from closing it?” asked Celestia, worried.
"It doesn’t feel like it. From what I can feel, however, once we start doing our spell we might get interrupted by outside interference,” explained the alicorn. He turned his gaze to Applejack, “While we will prepare the spell, we cannot be stopped or else we could waste precious time. We need your help to fend the enemies off.” He hung his head slightly. “Sorry to give you such heavy duty,” he apologized.
“No problem, Azrael, we’re going to protect you three. You can count on it!” promised the earth pony with a confident smile.
--- Rainbow Dash loved challenges and loved even more to fly at high speed. It was her gift and she was not bashful about it, showing off at every chance she could. She had waited so long for an opportunity to test how long she could keep at full speed.
Too bad that this time there wasn’t her ego at play but her own life, not to mention the lives of all the innocent ponies which would be lost, if she couldn’t succeed in trapping the gigantic worm that was chasing her down.
Azrael wasn’t kidding when he mentioned the speed of that monster; the Soul Eater was so fast that it was easily keeping up with her at full speed.
How can something that big be so damn fast? thought Rainbow, trying desperately to get a safe position. That wasn’t enough because, despite his apparently mindless attitude, the monster was capable of taking the initiative, trying to “jump” towards his flying prey. Dash was forced to move left and right to not end up in that gigantic maw. As if that wasn’t enough, Rainbow Dash could not avoid turning her gaze back to check the monster. She could feel her blood freezing at the sight of the eyes. She tried to use her flying maneuvers to gain some space, but they did next to nothing. She even tried passing through a gap between two mountains; but the Soul Eater just rushed between it, destroying the mountains and throwing up many stones that Rainbow Dash had to dodge. The colossus didn’t show any signs of damage from it.
When the entrance of the cave finally came into view, Rainbow Dash felt a lot better, certain that soon this story would be over and that that pinworm wouldn’t hurt anypony. She flew right into the tunnel with the Soul Eater only a few dozen meters behind. --- The rest of the Mane Six, Celestia, and Azrael came out from their hideout.
“The first part of the plan is done,” said the angel of death. “Now it is our turn.”
He turned to Fluttershy and asked kindly, “Are you ready?” She limited the answer to a nod, her expression scared but at the same time ready to help her flying friend. The rest of the group cheered her on.
“You can do it, Fluttershy!” stated Rarity.
“You are a better flyer than you think, Shy. Don’t let your fear have the best of you!” encouraged Twilight.
“Do a barrel roll!” said Pinkie Pie, getting confused glares by everypony else. “What? It’s a good advice!” she defended.
Fluttershy flew into the cave at full speed and Azrael, Celestia, and Twilight Sparkle started working on the spell. --- Rainbow Dash was impressed to still have energy left after being chased by the Soul Eater, but that was the only good thing. Now that she was in a closed space, it didn’t give her the chance to fly high and avoid most of the assaults of the worm.
Suddenly, Fluttershy was at her side and she felt the bragging part of herself coming back.
“Hey, Fluttershy, nice to have you here!” greeted the cyan pegasus with a smile.
“Hum, thanks,” whispered back the yellow pegasus. “Are you alright?”.
“I’m fine, that big worm can’t even lay a jaw on me. Now tell me, Fluttershy, do you remember of all the flight acrobatics we learned way back then?” asked the element of loyalty with a cocky grin.
Fluttershy understood right away what her boastful friend was going to do, and answered to the cocky grin with one of her own. The two pegasus started making double team moves, making the Soul Eater’s attempts to eat them fruitless. The eyes of the monster turned from white to red-orange, a clear sign that he was growing impatient and angry. He tried to ram his prey, but the two got out of the way, making him crash his head against the solid stone of the cave. Surprisingly enough, that seemed to stun him a little, leaving time for the two elements of harmony to take a breath. Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy exchanged a smile, but then the cyan pegasus frowned. “I’m sorry if I offended you before, Fluttershy,” apologized Dash.
“I’m not offended, Dashie. I’m just worried what’s bothering you,” the shy pegasus told her with sweet tone.
Rainbow Dash sighed. “You know me, Flutters. The truth is that I don’t want you to take any risks. I’ve already lost many friends … I don’t want to lose you too. What kind of friend would I be if I couldn’t defend my friends?” asked the cyan pegasus, looking miserable.
“Dashie, you don’t have to take all the danger for yourself. We work best when we are together, helping each other out,” explained Fluttershy.
Rainbow Dash nodded and was about to thank her when she noticed something moving from the mist of dust. Then suddenly, right under their hooves, the dreadful maw of the Soul Eater emerged with flashing speed. --- Rarity, Applejack, and Pinkie Pie watched the three alicorns summon their powers and work on their spell with awe, but it didn’t take long for them to start worry about something else. Suddenly, all around them, a dark crystal creature that reminded them of wolves started arising from the ground and started moving towards them and the alicorns. “And I was so very hoping not to have to fight again!” whined Rarity while she picked up with her magic a big boulder. “All these battles are ruining my mane.”
“We got more to worry than our manes,” stated Applejack.
“Let’s get the party started!” Pinkie Pie shouted.
The trio faced the crystal monsters using their own skills. Rarity used her boulder to smash the monster into pieces and then used the shards as projectiles. Applejack used her brute force and lasso to keep them far from the alicorns, and Pinkie Pie used her randomness to distract the enemies, granting her friends a good hit.
Azrael, Celestia and Twilight Sparkle managed to complete the spell.
“We are done here,” Azrael said, then noticing how tired Celestia was. Twilight Sparkle looked ready to fall in the ground, not yet capable to express the power of her alicorn form.
“Rest now, I’m going to warn Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash,” he added.
He watched what the two earth ponies and the unicorn were doing with his minions.
So, of course things had to go wrong.
A magic window opened, showing the face of Sombra.
“Nice idea to split the group in two. And I can’t help but be impressed by your work here. So I’ve decided to help you shut down the passage!” said the dark tyrant, activating a spell. The entrance of the cave started to be covered by magic that was taking a more solid form. That would not have been a problem … if Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash were out of the cave.
“NO!” screamed Twilight Sparkle trying to prevent the closure, but she had no energy left. Azrael stepped into action with Celestia and managed to slow down the spell with their magic.
“Rainbow Dash … Fluttershy … get out of there!” begged the angel of death. --- Rainbow Dash acted as fast as possible, pushing her friend away from the jaws of the Soul Eater, and then tried to get away from it. Sadly, her right wing had the misfortune to clash slightly with the body of the monster, causing her a lot of pain and making her lose control of her flight. She crashed down into the ground, further worsening the effect of the injury.
“Dashie!” shouted Fluttershy, feeling her heartbeat in fear. Her friend looked like she was knocked out, and the Soul Eater was looming over her, ready to devour her. But Fluttershy flew right in front to the colossus and used her most powerful technique: the Stare!
The Soul Eater stopped in his tracks, almost caught unprepared for the energy the pegasus was putting in her eyes. It impressed the little mind the monster had. It wasn’t easy work staring at those soul piercing eyes, but Fluttershy would not let her friend get eaten by that thing.
Sadly, the effect of the Stare started to wear off, letting the Soul Eater start to slowly move again. In that moment the not-so-shy pegasus heard the message of Azrael. It was time to leave at last. Without breaking the Stare away, she begged, “Please, Dashie, wake up.”
Rainbow Dash seemed to come back to her senses a bit, but is was clear that she was in no condition to fly, “Get out … Fluttershy … save yourself … I don’t want you to get hurt,” she murmured feebly.
“Never!” claimed Fluttershy, picking up her friend and flying as fast as she could towards the exit. Her absence destroyed the effect of the Stare on the Soul Eater, and after a short roar he started chasing the pony.
---
“What is going on down there!?” asked Applejack, confused.
“I don’t know yet, but something is not right,” said Rarity.
The trio had defeated most of the crystal monsters and only three remained. The monsters took advantage of the distraction and leaped towards the ponies, catching them in a grip, and then disappeared with them with a flash of a teleportation spell. When the light turned off the ponies found themselves in the tunnel of the cave, while the aggressors shattered like glass after the magic use.
“Well, this is certainly bad,” commented Applejack.
“But I think that is far worse,” said Pinkie Pie, noticing Fluttershy run away from the Soul Eater with Rainbow Dash on her back.
The group started running away. The yellow pegasus noticed them and, knowing that they couldn’t outrun the Soul Eater, picked them up. She knew that would slow her down, but she could not afford to lose any of her friends. --- The situation of Rarity, Applejack and Pinkie Pie didn’t go unnoticed by the three alicorns. Azrael and Celestia exchanged a look and the princess of Equestria knew that there was only one thing that could be done. She surprised Twilight Sparkle with a caring hug. The purple alicorn watched her teacher with confusion and then, when she looked her in the eye, she understood what she was about to do. Before she could say something, the ruler of Equestria teleported away. Fluttershy’s group could see the light from the end of the tunnel, but the chances of arriving there alive were hardly possible at the moment. Rarity tried to help her pegasus friend by levitating them to make them lighter, but the Soul Eater was just too fast. Suddenly Celestia appeared in a flash of light and unleashed on the colossus her full power, blinding the beast. This gave the group the chance to get out of the cave.
Twilight was joyful to see her friends alive and well, but the joy was destroyed when their attention turned to the ruler of Equestria. She was facing off the Soul Eater, granting them the chance to close the passage.
Celestia and Azrael had understood that Sombra wouldn’t stop messing with the plan until someone was killed by that monster. It couldn’t be the elements of harmony, it couldn’t be Azrael.
It had to be her.
“Celestia!” screamed Twilight Sparkle, watching with all her friends, tears in their eyes.
“Be strong, my little ponies,” said Celestia, smiling at her friends she nodded to Azrael, which he returned. Celestia turned her attention to the Soul Eater, charged up her horn and charged the titan. Before the passage was closed, they saw her get devoured.
“Nooo!!!” yelled the purple alicorn to the skies above her. --- Luna felt her heart skip a beat and a cold but at the same time hot feeling crossed her mind. She stopped her flight and landed, and then looked behind her.
"Sister" whispered the ruler of the night, knowing much too well what happened to her eldest sibling. She started flying again towards the Crystal empire with a stoic expression, but if anyone had raised their eyes to the sky, they would have seen the stars give off a glimmer of a sad light. --- Fluttershy was holding a wounded Rainbow Dash, who was trying to go and break the seal to avenge in some way the fallen ruler of Equestria. Rarity was consoling Pinkie Pie, the pink pony curled in her lap, crying. Applejack sobbed uncontrollably.
Azrael felt once again that feeling of guilt coming back to torment him. Then he noticed how Twilight Sparkle was watching over the horizon with a purely remorseful expression on her face. The purple alicorn took the tiara from her head, and after taking a long look into it, she threw it away in a moment of powerless fury. She kneeled on the ground, crying.
This snapped out the rest of the Mane Six from their sadness as they moved to their friend. Rarity picked up the tiara, cleaning away the dust and dirt. Twilight felt their presence, her eyes red from grief and hopelessness, but her friends gave her back the crown with tender smiles on their faces.
The purple alicorn watched the tiara, then her friends and again her element … and smiled. The Mane Six hugged, giving to each of them the force they needed to fight back the sorrow that was hurting their hearts. What Azrael saw in them touched something in his heart. He suddenly knew that no matter what Sombra cast against them, the Elements of Harmony would never surrender.
The moment got ruined when something unexpected happen … the sun went off.
Sombra had just turned off the sun and now watched the eternal night before him with an evil smirk. It was the best way to show the world that one of the rulers of Equestria was finally dead. Sure, he lost the Soul Eater but that wasn’t a problem right now, he could always free it later. He turned his attention to the massive army of undead alicorns who stood in lines, ready to fight. That army alone could have taken on both the Crystal Empire and Canterlot together and it wasn’t the only force at his disposal. Chrysalis would have backed him up with her Changelings and he could always count on creating more crystals servants. Everything was going according to HIS plan and soon enough he would crush the Elements of Harmony and rule this world and beyond. He entered inside his own version of the Crystal Empire palace: an humongous building made of dark crystals so tall that it could have been seen from Ponyville. The construction was made not so far away from the empire of Cadence to show off to that brat who dared take away his place as a ruler. Well, now that spoiled princess could keep it all for herself, for that little time she had left anyway, because he had found something even more powerful than the Crystal Heart. He sat in his throne, enjoying the success of his actions. But his good mood was ruined when a magic window opened up, revealing what should have been eyes but instead were empty orbits.
“Ah, it’s you,” said Sombra with an hint of frustration. “I didn’t knew you were capable of opening magic windows.”
"I do it when there’s something important to do,” answered the creepy figure. Its voice was dry, rasping and guttural.
“And what is it of so important enough for you to disturb me?” asked the dark tyrant.
“You know exactly what,” answered the voice with an edgy tone. “The Seal of Death”.
“Oh right, that one,” said Sombra, faking to have forgotten about it.
“You owe me,” stated the voice.
“I don’t owe you anything!” hissed the dark unicorn/alicorn.
“If it wasn’t for me you would have gone towards an eternity of suffering, you arrogant fool. And it’s only thanks to my knowledge that you succeeded getting the Seal. Also, you gave me your word that you would have give it back to me,” told the voice while it’s eyes flames of dirty green.
“It’s not my fault that you are such an idiot to believe what I told you. Do you really think I would have given away such power?” asked Sombra with disbelief.
“You have no idea how to use it,” replied the voice.
“I think I have a good idea. I have faced both Harmony and Chaos and neither of those were capable to hold me back. I have awakened the Soul Eater and made an army of undead alicorns,” replied back the dark tyrant with irritation.
“If you think that is some kind of proof, then you are more naive that I thought you to be. Resisting the forces of Harmony or Chaos—or even good and evil is nothing, because Death is above those pathetic things. You’re dealing with a cosmic force, the most lethal of all. But you can’t understand it because you weren’t there to see the pale alicorn in all of his glory, just as you can’t understand that the seal grants more than just raw power alone, but even knowledge upon all the secrets of the Creation,” explained the rasping voice.
“It’s funny that you mention that. The Seal effectively showed me something,” countered Sombra with a grin causing his listener to show what could have been anger. “The Seal showed me your past and how you came to be. And now that I know that I guess that I have really no reason to fear your wrath.”
The being from the other side of the window glared at Sombra, giving him one heck of a death glare, which looked even more threatening with its hollow eyes. Despite his arrogance, the dark tyrant couldn’t help but feel nervous. Surprisingly enough, the mysterious being suddenly seemed to calm down.
“It would seem that I have underestimated your skills,” commented the creature, making Sombra calm down and look arrogant again, but then added, “But tell me; do you know that the Seal can be broken?”
“Ah!” exclaimed the dark unicorn/alicorn. “The Seal can’t be destroyed. If Discord couldn’t do it, nothing can!”
“And if I tell you that Azrael knows how to do it?”
“What?” whispered Sombra, taken aback from the statement. He couldn’t believe that. “What can destroy the Seal? What does Azrael know that I don’t? Tell me!” ordered the dark tyrant.
“Why should I tell you? Weren’t you the one claiming to know how to use the Seal? Then do it by yourself,” claimed the voice, turning the magic window off, leaving Sombra to think.
“Curse you, Lich,” hissed the dark tyrant.
He never liked that being, even despite the fact that it was thanks to him that he was alive once again. He knew far too well that his “benefactor” only wanted to use him to his advantage. That was one of the many reasons why he had decided to betray him. King Sombra was no errand boy. If Sombra didn’t have a war coming soon he would have focused his plans on to attacking Lich’s dimension and transforming the undead creature into his servant or turning him into dust; but he reminded himself to do it later. Sombra pondered for a minute if the undead one had lied to him just to watch him crawl for answers or had actually told the truth. But if the Lich was telling him the truth, then why did he warn him, helping him avoid a possible defeat? Sombra didn’t know the reason behind that, but he knew that, truth or not, he should investigate further in the matter. And there was only one place where he could find the answers: the castle of Azrael.
Azrael and the Mane Six had just ended patching up the Rainbow’s wounds. The angel of death used his magic to stop the pain and mend most of the injury she suffered from the Soul Eater. He would have completely healed her up, but sadly, after preventing the closure of the seal, even he was left weakened. Tired and with the morale low, the group moved away from the blocked passage.
Despite their best efforts, they couldn’t yet let go of the fact that their beloved princess had been devoured by the Soul Eater. They were so shocked by it that they didn’t notice how the nature around them started dying out. It couldn’t already be the lack of the sun, so this must have been another of Sombra’s doing.
They noticed that they weren’t going towards the Crystal Empire for some minutes. “Hey, where are you leading us, Azrael? The Crystal Empire is that way,” pointed out Applejack.
“I know” answered the angel of death, stopping in his tracks and glancing at the Mane Six. “The loss of Celestia has been horrible for each one of us, but we also lost a great help for the incoming fight. We have to look for assistance—and I know where to look: the Everfree Forest.”
The explanation left the Elements of Harmony a little confused and nervous. The Everfree Forest was known to be a place filled with mystery and scary creatures, especially at night.
“Why didn’t you mention this before?” asked Rainbow Dash.
“Because I wanted to tell you this once arrived to the Crystal Empire. I would have gone there by myself, but then Sombra freed the Soul Eater and things went downhill. Also, now we are closer to the forest than the Crystal Empire,” Azrael explained. Then, noticing the worried expression of the ponies he added, “If you want to go to the Crystal Empire, it’s not a problem. I will give Twilight the necessary power to allow you to go.”
The Mane 6 exchanged some glances, and then Twilight answered for all of them.
“I think we will stick with you.”
They probably fear more nasty surprises than my grim presence, thought Azrael, starting to walk once again in the direction of the Everfree Forest.
“Forgive my curiosity, but who or what exactly is this phantasmal ally?” asked Rarity.
“Floral Heart. She was … is an alicorn of the ancient times who had participated like everyone else in the sealing of Death.” His expression was grim. “One thing I didn’t tell you before is that the consequences of the spell weren’t only the loss of power and immortality. The eldest of the alicorns lost their lives and among the fallen was her father. After that and the war of the alicorns, she left the civilization, searching for peace. Last time I checked she was in the Everfree Forest, in the center of it. And is there that we will find her.”
“What kind of welcome can we expect from her?” asked Fluttershy, worried.
“She was one of the most kind alicorns I have ever met. In a way, she was … is, a lot like you, Fluttershy; a being who hates violence and loves nature,” answered Azrael, giving the shy pegasus a faint smile.
With that said the group fell silent, thinking about what the angel of death said. Rainbow Dash was a bit annoyed. Another alicorn? Geez, sooner or later there will be more alicorns than ponies! thought the Element of Loyalty.
--- Princess Luna’s arrival at the Crystal Empire was an unexpected but a happy surprise. Once she was in the throne room of the Crystal Palace, the last ruler of Equestria told the royal couple of the last happenings and soon the happiness changed into sorrow and fear. Shining Armor and Princess Cadance couldn’t believe that his parents and Princess Celestia were dead, and they were also shocked about what was going on and at the explanation of what was that humongous and dark-looking crystal palace that was possible to see far away. Once Princess Luna told them everything the pair exchanged a glance, each other giving the other one the force to withstand the grief that was haunting their hearts.
“We will have to prepare messengers to all of Equestria if we want to gather enough forces to fight Sombra,” stated the rulers of the Crystal Empire.
“And we will need the help of the Griffins too,” added Princess Luna. She then noticed the doubtful expression of the royal pair. “I know that asking for help in a war is much different compared to the other things we have made to help build a strong alliance with the Griffins Kingdom, but we have to try. Is what not Celestia would have wanted?”
The explanation of the mistress of the night seemed to take away some of the doubts that Shining Armor and Cadance were feeling, but not all.
“Sending the messengers to the Griffin Kingdom could take several days alone. No Pegasus is that fast except Rainbow Dash, but she is not here right now,” pointed out Shining Armor.
“It won’t take long if I go there,” said Luna.
Once again Shining and Cadance exchanged a glance of worries.
“I’m faster than most of the pegasus and being a Princess should have weight into convincing the king to give us his support,” Luna added.
“It’s not so much your speed that worries us,” Shining said. The prince seemed to have trouble finding the words, and at that moment his wife came in his help.
“We are worried of how the griffins could take the fact that the sun has turned off as a—” Cadance started, but Princess Luna understood right away what the two were trying to say.
“They could take it as a sign that I have transformed back to Nightmare Moon. Is that what you’re trying to say?” Luna clarified with a composed tone of voice.
“They might attack you and/or refuse to help us,” added Shining Armor, trying to not offend her.
“In that case I will be careful and I will explain that I have nothing to do with the sun being gone. I will also explain how much their helps means to us and the whole world,” answered Luna calmly. The Royal Pair exchanged another glance of resignation.
“It seems that we can’t change your mind about the matter,” commented Cadance. “Fine then, when do you want to go into the Griffin Kingdom?”
“I need some time to rest. Not too much, just some hours. Then I will be prepared,” answered Luna.
“Well, then I will go prepare the messengers,” concluded Shining Armor, leaving the throne room. He then added, “I will try to not let the panic take over this empire.”
“I know you will,” said Princess Cadance giving to his husband a loving smile.
Once he left the ruler of the Crystal Empire gestured to the two bodyguards to leave them alone. Once they left, the Cadance’s humor turned down of an inch.
“I still can’t believe that Sombra is still alive. When the Crystal Heart destroyed him I thought that this kingdom could finally get the peace it needed,” commented Cadance. “And now, not only is he back, but has in his hooves a relic so powerful that it has allowed him to resist to the most powerful weapon of Equestria!” Her voice screeched of sadness. “And Celestia is dead, and even Spike, the savior of the Crystal Empire. Do we really have any hope to beat him?”
“We must not surrender to the defeatism, Cadance. We have to believe that the Elements of Harmony and Azrael can find a way to beat Sombra!” Luna assured.
“I’m sorry, I shouldn’t doubt of the skills of Twilight and her friends,” said Cadance.
“And Azrael,” added Luna.
“Ah yes, the angel of death. I must say, I never actually thought that he was real. Tell me, is he as Star Swirl wrote in his book ‘Mysterious Creature?’” asked the ruler of the Crystal Empire, curious. She remembered very well that in the book the powerful unicorn encountered the angel of death in one of his tests on the magic to contact the afterlife. Azrael allowed the unicorn to ask to some of his questions as long he would not try again his tests. Star Swirl promised, but sadly the so called answers added only more questions to his questions. Because of that the great unicorn decided to mention that meeting.
“Oh yes. An alicorn surrounded by mysteries. Solitary, kind—” Luna suddenly stopped when she noticed the sly grin that Cadance was giving her. “What is it? Why are you staring me like that?”
“Oh nothing. I just can’t help but notice how much you sound passionate when talking about Azrael,” commented Cadance.
Luna loved her niece Cadance with all her heart; she was part of the family after all. But when it came down with her own view of love she had always thought it to be quite childish, not to say annoying, claiming that love at first sight is the best kind of love. Luna highly doubted it. Love at first sight is good for children fairy tales, not for real life. The simple idea of two people falling in love just because they bumped into each other was stupid beyond belief. And now it was not the right time for that nonsense.
“Who you think I am, Cadance!? Some foal who falls in love for first handsome pony I meet?” she asked, an edge to her voice. That reaction was enough to vanish that smile from Cadance’s face.
“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to offend you,” Cadance sputtered, ashamed of what she had just insinuated. But Luna had already calmed herself.
“No, I’m the one who should be sorry for such outburst,” she said.
“You are probably tired. Go to sleep. I will go to help Shining.” The two alicorns exited the throne room and separated ways. Once Luna was far away from the love-powers of Cadance she let her defense down. Was Cadance right? Did she really feel something for Azrael that was something more than just pathetic and childish infatuation? And did Azrael felt that way too?
Luna repelled those questions away. This was not time to wonder about those silly emotions. She went to the guest room and laid on the soft bed, letting her doubts and weakness fade. --- The group had just entered in the Everfree Forest and now was proceeding towards the center of it. The Mane Six never had that much experience in that scary forest. Those few times they went there they had always faced terrible dangerous creatures. So they kept watching their surroundings, ready for anything. Azrael didn’t seem worried, though, and proceeded at a composed pace.
Suddenly the group heard the sounds of something moving in the deep of the woods, fast and unpredictable. The noise was coming from all the direction, more and more clear. The group stuck together, ready to face the threat.Twilight’s friends surrounded the purple alicorn to make sure she was protected. Twilight appreciated her friend’s care, but it still troubled her, having to be protected.
The creatures leapt from the bushes. The light given by the moon and the stars made the creatures reveal themselves: Timberwolves. The creatures snarled at the group, ready to attack them. But Azrael didn’t show an hint of fear got closer to them.
“We need to speak to your sovereign,” proclaimed the angel of death calmly.
The Timberwolves stopped snarling and exchanged some confused glances. They started barking among each other. Then they turned their attention to the group and signaled to follow them. Surprised by such change of behavior, the Mane Six followed Azrael the and the wood creatures, but kept a keen eye on them.
After a while they had finally reached the center of the forest. They couldn’t believe how peaceful the place was. It was surrounded by trees which made it impossible for a pegasus to see it from the sky. There was a lake of average dimensions and at the center of it was a small island which had a big tree in tree in it. The Timberwolves signaled to proceed and Azrael did so. As he was walking on the water some small rocks appeared, avoiding a fall in the water. The Mane Six followed right behind him. Once they were on the little earth, the tree morphed, turning into something resembling an alicorn.
“It’s nice to see you again, Princess Floral Heart,” said Azrael, bowing in respect.
“It’s nice to see you to Azrael, but please, don’t bow. It’s from a long time I no longer bear that title,” answered the tree alicorn with a caring voice, younger that they expected. Then she turned to the Mane Six. “The Elements of Harmony. I remember having felt your presence here several times, visiting a good friend of mine” she added, surprising the ponies.
“Wait … you mean Zecora? Why didn’t she tell us about you?” asked Applejack confused.
“Because I had asked her to do so. Can you imagine what would happen if the world would find out that another alicorn existed? Ponies would not like this and it would cause way too much confusion and attention. And that is the last thing I want, because it will ruin the peace of the forest,” explained Floral Heart. “Sadly, I can’t feel her presence anymore. I’m afraid that something horrible must have happened to her, just like I can feel that out from this forest there is something wrong. Is that part of the reason of your arrival here?”
“In short, yes” said Azrael, then to avoid wasting time, he used his powers over the souls to give to the tree alicorn all the information that she needed to know. “And because of it we need your help, Floral Heart. You are the only alicorn of the ancient time who is not only alive but has managed to regain the ancient power. So I have to ask you: will you help us?” Floral Heart remained silent for few but long seconds, and then, with a regretful tone, she answered.
“You are asking me too much, Azrael. I can’t help you.”
Azrael looked disappointed but had enough self-control to remain calm. The same couldn’t be said for the Elements of Harmony.
“What do you mean you won’t help us!?” shouted Twilight Sparkle.
“We didn’t walk all this way to get a no for an answer!” stated Rainbow Dash, fuming with anger.
“Without your help we will be more whipped than whipped cream!” added Pinkie Pie.
“Yeah … wait, what?” asked Applejack, confused by the words of the pink earth pony.
Azrael gestured the Mane Six to calm down.
“Why not?” he asked with a more severe tone.
“You know why. It’s the same reason why I self-exiled myself from the alicorn people. I can’t bear violence. When I saw how the once united kingdom of the alicorns turned against each other, families getting destroyed, friends against friends; I couldn’t watch it, not after having lost my mother to the Soul Eater and my father in the spell made to seal Death. I have endured too much.”
She turned away, facing the lake, frowning in contemplation. “I left the civilization and moved in search of peace, wandering in the most unknown regions. And then, amongst a sun-blazed desert I found this little plant which couldn’t last long in that place. I helped that plant to survive and grow, giving till the last ounce of power to aid its existence. Time passed and thanks to my magic the small plant had growth, turning the rocky desert into a green land filled with life which evolved, thanks to my energies.”
All around the group the wildlife, from the most known to the most unusual, started to appear. “And once I had given everything, the Everfree Forest turned me into her guardian, to protect her and guide her. And always in this place I’ve found peace, at last.” She watched the group before her with sympathetic eyes. “I recognize what’s troubling you, but as you will have understood by now I hate war. It only causes suffering to anyone who partakes in it, destroying everything. And facing Sombra armed with the Seal of Death means going certain defeat.”
Her speech got brutally interrupted by Fluttershy, who stomped on the ground with anger.
“And only for this you want to give up?!” thundered the not-so-shy pegasus, scaring the living heck out of her friends.
“Fluttershy! Please calm down!” begged Twilight Sparkle, trying to quiet her friend. But the wrathful pegasus didn’t have any intention to be soothed.
“We have to fight to protect those whom we hold dear! Sure, war—most of the time, if not always—is worthless and causes more trouble than else; but this war is nothing like that. If we do nothing to stop Sombra, he will conquer everything! There is no way to talk this out of him. He has killed thousands of innocent people, all of whom were our friends; and he’s going to kill even more until there will be no one to stand in his way! And not even the magical aura of this place will keep it from being destroyed by his quest of conquest!” her tone turned less angry and more calm. “But we can avoid this to happen. With your help.”
The Mane Six and Azrael never had seen Fluttershy being so sure of herself, so strong and brave. Floral Heart stared at the pony before her like she was her equal. Then she used her powers to see beyond her forest and felt her heart shatter at seeing how the nature all around the Everfree Forest was dying.
“I have been such a fool,” whispered the tree alicorn.
All of a sudden the very roots of the forest started shaking and … rising? Azrael, Fluttershy, Twilight and Rainbow Dash used their flight to see what was actually going on while Rarity, Applejack and Pinkie Pie climbed on the tree. They saw the entire Everfree Forest lifting itself from the ground, breaking rocks and shattering stone, amassing into the shape of some kind of turtle golem.
“This … is so …” Rainbow Dash murmured.
“Awesome?” suggested Pinkie Pie.
“No. EPIC!” shouted the cyan pegasus.
The group returned to Floral Heart. “So, does this mean that you will actually help us?” asked Azrael.
“Yes. Fluttershy is right. This is a war worth fighting for. Now rest, I will take you to the Crystal Empire,” answered the Floral Heart. “We are going to war … probably a war that will be our doom … the last stand of the forest!” With that said the forest started moving towards the Crystal Empire.
The Mane Six and Azrael had finally the time to rest and recover from all the stress they had been through. Floral Heart took good care of them, giving food, a bath and a soft bed of leaves. After one big feast the Mane Six went to sleep, tired. Despite that, Azrael was reluctant to lay down, fearing that something bad would happen once he dropped his guard. But nothing happened and slowly the calmness all around him, combined with his wariness, had the better of him and he fell into the kingdom of dreams.
---
Five years had passed since the Soul Eater’s defeat. In that time the Alicorn Kingdom had managed to grow back to power, fixing all the damages done by the monster. But little could the alicorns do to bring the dead back from the grave, and many foals remained without a parent at best.
So they built an orphanage to give shelter to the orphans a ceiling on their head and a bed to rest until someone would not take them under their wing. The orphans didn’t have to wait that much. Since the making of the orphanage, many families who had suffered the loss of a son or just wanted to give the little ones a new home took many of the orphans in. Once the adoptions were open it didn’t take long for most, if not all, of them to find a new family.
All except one.
He looked a little bit different. Where all the others foals of alicorn had gaudy colors he had gloomy white and grey which gave him the appearance of a ghost. And if that wasn’t enough, his powers would have been enough to scare away people: he could control the spirits of the dead. Once that power would have made of him an alicorn of fame and rewards—but after the events of the Soul Eater, the Alicorn community was left with nothing but fear, distrust and hate towards the power over the dead. And the fact that nobody knew from where he had come from made the alicorns even more suspicious towards him. In a short time that one alicorn remained the alone, with the only company of the keeper, Lady Merryweather.
His name was Azrael … and he didn’t felt that great of a difference to be alone or be surrounded by people who despised him.
Azrael, now five years old, watched the crowded streets, filled by alicorns who were walking or flying to work or just enjoying the calm of the day, alone or with their families. Azrael knew far too well how much that view made his heart curl in pain, but he couldn’t help but watch the happiness of those alicorns, wondering if he would ever know the feeling to be appreciated by someone, thinking how good it could feel be surrounded by people who would love him, having a place which he could call home.
Sighing, he brought his attention back to his book. Reading was one of the few things that helped him to pass time. That and writing something for himself about science and magic or even writing poetry. Sometimes he would ask MerryWeather to go to take some new books and she would be nice enough to accept. She was kind to Azrael, but maybe because her fear towards him was greater than many others, for some reason.
“Azrael, are you there?” asked MerryWeather entering in the bedroom, watching around the large room with nervous eyes.
“I’m here, Lady MerryWeather” said Azrael, walking to her. He couldn’t help but notice that she was a lot more panicky than usual, “Something’s wrong?” he asked with kindness and puzzlement.
“Oh, no! Nothing at all!” answered the grown up alicorn, trying to not look tense and failing miserably in doing so. “Come with me in the main hall. There is someone who wants to meet you”. Azrael was taken aback by what the woman had said, but he nodded and followed her.
In the main hall? Does that mean that I’m about to get adopted? But who would ever want me as a son? thought the alicorn foal while following the keeper. The more they got closer to the hall the more Azrael felt something in the air. Cold yet warm but most of all powerful aura that was getting nearer. Once turned the last corner Azrael finally saw it who was the one who with all probability wanted to adopt him. It was an alicorn, but something in his aspect showed right off the bat that he was more than that.
He was tall. Taller than any of the alicorn that Azrael had sawed pass before the Orphanage window … and he saw many of them. His coat was grayish and his mane and tail were less ethereal than any other alicorn. They were as black as the feather of a raven and long enough to cover his shoulders. His build was thin but at the same time strong enough to not leave any doubts about his strength.
His wings were quite different, too. Instead of feathered, they were skeleton like, united together by a weird membrane. He wore some kind of dark-purple tissue that looked like the remnants of a cape around the neck. In the back he had what looked like a dark-colored armor, which had many signs resembling skulls.
As if all the above was not enough to make him look different, there was the fact that there was a mask covering his face. The mask was quite simple, without any holes for the mouth and nose, and it was of a shining white. Anyone who would watch the mask would have acknowledged how much it resembled a skull.
The only holes it had it were the two for the eyes. They were unnatural, feral-like with a slitted pupil and if anyone would have taken a closer look that someone could have said that there, in the border of the pupil, there were some weird lights moving.
All those things alone would have scared everyone. Everyone but Azrael, who watched the alicorn with curiosity.
“Greetings, Azrael,” said the big alicorn, lowering his head to make eye to eye contact, probably trying to look less threatening. His voice was grave, resonant—and yet kind.
“Who are you?” asked Azrael, almost awed by the majesty of the being before him.
“I am Death,” the larger alicorn answered.
Azrael was astounded, but then he felt something wrong with that situation, like this was a déjà vu. He turned around, seeing Princess Luna standing in the door, watching the scene speechless and with a shocked expression. Azrael realized that he was in a dream and he started to wake up.
“Wait, Azrael!” begged the princess of the night, trying to use her power over the dreams to get time and answers. But the angel of death, probably caught unprepared, was on his way to snap out.
Suddenly things got weirder. Their combined power caused a backlash to Luna so that while Azrael woke up she fell inside her own dream. Or maybe a memory?
She saw herself, younger, using her powers to enter Azrael’s dreams. She saw how he was having a nightmare, of how his fears took advantage of the younger Luna’s experience with her powers and tried to hurt her. Of how Azrael blasted the nightmares away and then, right before the dream collapsed, tried to remove that memory out of her mind.
Apparently he had only partly succeeded.
Luna woke up, shocked by what she had just discovered. Indeed, Azrael was an alicorn with many secrets. “Why?” she asked to the wind, “Why did you do that? What are you trying to hide, Azrael? And what can I do to help you?” If she had the chance she would have waited for the arrival of the Mane Six and Azrael, so she could finally confront the angel of death, to understand what else he was keeping as a secret. But she didn’t have that time, she had to go to the Griffin Kingdom soon. She got up and prepared to leave.
---
Azrael woke up hastily, conscious of what Luna discovered about him. He couldn’t believe that he had left his guard down. Sighing in defeat, the angel of death got up from his bed of leaves, looking to clear his mind and think about the consequences of his inattention could do.
He went to the lake and stared at his reflection as if he was hoping for it to talk and help him to solve an enigma that not even he was aware of. Suddenly Floral Heart moved right next to him, watching him with thoughtful eyes. He felt her presence.
“I’m sorry,” said the angel of death.
“I guess that you’re referring to what happened at the end of the ritual of the seal, right?” she asked with calmness. She then added, “You don’t have to feel bad for it, Azrael. I don’t blame you for what happened. I know that you did not wanted to cause all that death.”
Her sweet words didn’t have any effect on the angel of death, who kept watching his reflection with pure revulsion and regret. “You must make peace with yourself. You can’t continue to blame yourself for the rest of your existence,” insisted the tree alicorn.
“I have tried!” he answered, turning to watch her. “But I can’t. And it is no longer about what happened in the past, but what is going on now. For thousands of years I have cursed my foolish choices which have brought more than pain and suffering to all those I’ve tried to help. Years after years of sleepless nights, to not dream of the past and throw more salt on my wounds. And just when I was this close to get over it, the past came back—and once again there are the innocents suffering for my idiocy.”
Floral Heart didn’t know how to comfort her friend about that argument, but she had to try. “Azrael what is going on is not your fault,” she said, but then she noticed his face full of skepticism and added, “Well, not completely. This situation is our fault too. We alicorns, or at least most of us, had become way too arrogant about our powers. We couldn’t accept that there was something above us and that is what led us to our ruin.” She turned her eyes to the sky and said to herself, “Sometime I think we just got what we deserved.”
“You’re being excessively hard on yourself,” argued Azrael.
“No more than you do to yourself,” answered back Floral Heart. The angel of death fell silent, meditating on what she said.
For one long minute the two remained quiet, then Floral Heart asked something.
“Do the Elements of Harmony know of your past?”
“No.”
“Are you afraid of how they would react?”
“I am afraid of how EVERYPONY would react to the truth about my past. They would despise me and fear me like those ponies do.”
“I don’t think that they fear you, Azrael. You should give them a chance, they might understand you.”
“Too dangerous. It could undermine this alliance and that is the last thing I want to do. My secret shall remain such … or perhaps it should have been this way,” he murmured.
“What do you mean?” Floral Heart asked, confused.
“One of the reason why I hadn't slept in all this time is not only to avoid dreaming my past, but to not let Princess Luna enter in my subconscious. Sadly tonight I couldn’t help but fall asleep. And she saw enough to understand part of my past and the one secret I wanted to keep the most hidden,” explained Azrael. “And this time I couldn’t do anything to prevent it,” he added bitterly.
“This time?” she questioned.
“Last time it happened she saw many of my nightmares, but right before the dream ended I was able to delete that part of her memory; at least enough to make her doubt if what she had seen was real or not. Not that that stopped her to try to enter in my dreams again.”
“Quite the stubborn type. But for what reason was she trying to do so?” she asked, confused.
“I don’t know really, but she told me she was a great fan of mine,” he said, but then noticed the amused expression of the tree alicorn. “What’s so funny?” he asked, a little annoyed.
“Oh, nothing, I just remember a young alicorn who seemed to have crush on the night and the stars, writing several poems on the beauty of it at every turn,” she joked a little, and then got more serious. “Maybe between you two there is a bond stronger than you can imagine.”
Azrael was about to reply back when he felt the presence of someone else. It was Twilight Sparkle.
“What are you doing up, Twilight?” asked the angel of death, wondering how much the purple alicorn had heard.
“I … had a bad dream” she said, trying to find a good cover, then asked “You?”
“The same,” Azrael answered, “Go back to sleep. I’m coming.”
Twilight nodded and then left and Azrael did the same, under the watch of a pensive Floral Heart.
There are people who can’t be patient. There are people who can be patient. And then there are that kind of people who can be tolerant but, once that tolerance ends, can be even worse than an impatient one.
Sombra belonged to this part. He had returned to Azrael’s castle for many hours and had spent all that time searching for proof about the weakness of the Seal. Sombra had turned the whole place upside down, destroying walls, tearing apart books and wreaking havoc in the palace. He had even summoned many crystal monsters to help him in his search and even used his powers in an desperate attempt to find the tiniest clue—but to no avail.
Right when he was thinking that there was nothing, he managed to find a secret room filled with documents and information on the Seal of Death. Apparently the angel of death had studied the relic in an attempt to gather as much info as possible. Interesting, but it wasn’t what Sombra was looking for.
He couldn’t help but notice how the files weren’t complete, as if Azrael had destroyed some of them. It was not a definitive proof that Lich was right, but it sure proved that the angel of death knew more about the relic than Sombra did and so it was very probable that he also knew how to destroy it. The dark tyrant cursed himself to have allowed his pride to be used by that weakling.
“I should have killed him right there, when I had the chance,” muttered Sombra. “And now what? I can’t break the promise without look like a coward!” The dark tyrant stood there, trying to keep his calm. “I wonder what exactly he needs to do to break this Seal, but I guess it’s something that requires time and power, or else he would have managed to break the Seal already. I must be clever the next time I face him, defend this relic at all costs, and strike him down once he shows his insipid muzzle. I will not let him or anyone to take away this power from me!”
His thoughts were interrupted when he felt a call coming from Chrysalis. Groaning in frustration, he opened the magic window. The queen of the Changelings looked quite irritated.
“What do you want, Chrysalis?” asked Sombra.
“It’s Discord. He’s annoying, doesn’t shut up, and has brought many of my soldiers to a mental breakdown,” Chrysalis explained.
“So hush him up,” answered the dark tyrant with little patience.
“Don’t you think I have tried this? The Alicorn Amulet does little to him.”
“And I don’t have time for solving such pointless matters.”
Chrysalis didn’t like Sombra’s tone, but she was smart enough to know about not insult someone more powerful than her. She noticed his background.
“Where are you exactly?” she asked, trying to change argument.
“In Azrael’s castle. I had a … tip that the angel of death was keeping important information about the weakness of the Seal in his abode so I went there to check it out.”
“And?”
“I know that Azrael can destroy the Seal, but I still don’t know how exactly.”
“So much for being an unstoppable force, huh?” asked sarcastically Chrysalis. Usually Sombra would have ignored the derisive tone of the Changelings Queen. Sadly for Chrysalis, this wasn’t that time. He grabbed her with magic as if she was in the same place and not miles far away and pushed her in the floor.
“Do not mock me, fool, or you will regret it!” he shouted with a deep voice, “And don’t ever think for a moment that I am weak. I am KING SOMBRA, ruler of this land and master of Death! Now I have to leave. You … fix this problem with Discord by yourself and be ready when the battle will start. Or else.”
While he was saying so he summoned a big scythe which passed the magical window and got uncomfortably close to Chrysalis’s eyes. “Do I make myself clear?” The queen nodded nervously. Sombra pulled back his weapon and before closing the magical window added with coldness, “Try not to be incompetent, Chrysalis; there is no place for idiots in my kingdom.”
Chrysalis got up, trying to calm down her heart and compose herself. She didn’t wanted to look weak, not before her people. She stood still, thinking aloud what to do. And then, once she felt calm enough, went to have a meeting with her prisoner.
Luna had reached the Griffin Kingdom sooner than she thought. It seemed like Celestia’s death and the disappearance of the sun gave her more strength than usual, probably the only good thing that come with that great tragedy. At her arrival the sentries at the edge of the Griffin Kingdom were alarmed at first, believing that she was Nightmare Moon, and she had to convince them to have a meeting with the king: Gyps Fulvus. It took a while, but in the end they agreed and allowed her to enter the hallway that lead to the throne room.
While she walked, she couldn’t help but look at the citadel. It was a lot larger than Canterlot and the Crystal Empire, and there was a lot of very tall buildings which would have shined in the sunlight. Even the smaller houses looked very comfortable and were filled with lovely architecture and designs made for beings who could fly and walk. And then there was the palace of the king, which looked great, mixing the awe of a stronghold and a sense of security. As she flew through the citadel she couldn’t help but notice how the populations was staring at her with a mix of confusion and fear.
Once inside the castle she was told to wait until the king was ready to meet her. In the meantime she viewed the murals on the walls which told the most important parts of the Griffin history, particularly on the relationship that Griffin and Ponies had; a story that she knew well.
The first meeting with the Griffin kin and the ponies was not of the most friendly of meetings, with the former race wanting to expand their territories and the latter being completely contrary to bow their head to the trespassing race. It didn’t take long for the two kingdom to start battling each other, with griffin armadas trying to break the defenses of the ponies. Where the griffin didn’t have the magic skills of a unicorn they had their brains and advanced technology to fight back.
In the end the situation become stalled, with both sides having won and lost much. Nopony would never have known who would have won had Luna and her sister Celestia not come into play.
They were born from the most humble of a pony family (The father was an unicorn, the mother an earth pony and her grandfather being a pegasus), surprising their own parents. They tried to keep such astonishing fact a secret until the two sisters had gained control and experience over their skills. And since then the war shifted in the ponies’ favor, forcing the griffin armies to return to their kingdom.
Anyone with a hunger for conquest would have taken this chance to invade the Griffin Kingdom and give them a taste of their own medicine; but Celestia was not of such foolish traits. She tried to convince the ruler of the Griffins, an ancestor of Gyps Fulvus, to make peace with them because she knew that a war wouldn’t have helped either of the two nations. Despite having several doubts, and with many people against such idea, the king nonetheless accepted to make a truce with Equestria.
Since then, Celestia and the kings of the Griffin Kingdom tried to amend relations between the two civilizations. It was a hard duty, made even more difficult because of the actions of Sombra, which made the griffins fear what an unfettered pony with magic could do; and then again with Discord’s trickery, which had gotten this close to unleash again the conflict.
But the worst instigator of conflict came from Luna herself, when she turned into Nightmare Moon. A lunatic unicorn was capable of scaring a nation; an alicorn who was related to the one who was trying to make peace completely horrified the Griffin Kingdom.
Eventually, thanks to Celestia stubbornness and determination, she had managed to make the truce work, turning it into a peaceful coexistence, allowing griffins to participate to the Equestria Games and other important events, even assisting them in financial actions.
Luna couldn’t but admire Celestia effort for all her accomplishments. At the same time she couldn’t not notice how ironic it was that her, the one which actions almost made all Celestia work vain, was the one who had to convince the king to help Equestria in such dire situation. It could be said that it was the work of fate, but Princess Luna was not one to believe in such silly things as that. Believing in destiny is like one not taking any responsibility for his own mistakes; not to mention, destiny meant throwing away any kind of freedom.
Her thoughts were interrupted when one of the griffin royal guards told her that the king was ready to meet her in the court.
Gyps Fulvus was a full, grown griffin adult. He was slightly taller than Luna, with grey and gold feathers and a medium sized tail, traits that were part of his family. Luna knew him well enough: he was brave, stoic, smart, and kind to his people and allies. It was quite impressive how her summary of what was going on was capable of making him look worried.
“I see. The news that you have brought is terrible and Sombra is indeed a threat to all that live,” he said.
“But?” Luna asked, noticing the unsure edge in the king’s voice.
“I’m afraid that it could, and I say could, be too much for my people. Sure, Equestria and the Griffin Kingdom did great progress in the last decades; but a war like this, against a powerful enemy such Sombra…” Gyps’ hesitant tone was getting more evident.
“Do you mean you will not help us?” asked Princess Luna, worried.
“No. If this choice depended on me alone I would have no doubt helped you. But sadly things are not that simple,” assured Gyps. “As I’m sure you know, there were many people in this country who don’t like the idea of peace between ponies and griffins. Some of them see this partnership as a weakness, as if I were nothing more than a servant of the royal sisters.” He took a slow breath before continuing: “Now, with this threat incoming from your nation, I’m afraid that I will meet strong opposition against helping you. And if those people manage to turn the crowd against me, I’m afraid I will be of no help.”
What the king said wasn’t news for the last royal sister. She knew there were people like this, even in Equestria, who wanted to win this war without caring if the other side was destroyed. She remembered how much effort her eldest sister gave to make sure this troublemaker couldn’t affect the crowd in the most effective way: she used her wisdom and the most of the non-violent way to make sure that the mob would understand that she was in wrong, showing how much those people acted only for their bleak interests.
“You must not let your fear take over you. You are Gyps Fulvus, son of Smirkclaw Fulvus! You are a strong and wise king which lead the Griffin Kingdom into a time of peace and prosperity. I’m sure you will find a solution as long you will make everyone understand how the only way to get out from this situation is to collaborate with us, rather than against us.”
The worried look of Gyps diminished, but hadn’t completely vanished. “But what about my people? Will they be strong enough to face an army of undead alicorns?” he asked.
“You underestimate the strength of your people. Sure, it has been a long time since griffins fought in a true war, but I can feel that for, how much latent it may be, it is still there.”
“Darn right!” stated a female griffin, entering abruptly in the conversation, “We are a race of proud warriors! It’ll take more than an some zombies to scare us and make us run away!”
Gyps and Luna looked at the female guard with a little bit of confusion, but the princess was more amused at the boastful tone of that guard, which reminded her of somepony else.
“I have really underestimated my own people? What an insane mistake on my part,” commented Gyps. There was no more fear or doubt in his voice. “But it won’t happen again.” He turned to Princess Luna. “I vow, with all of what I hold dear, that I will myself lead the army of griffins to your aid!”
“Thank you, King Gyps Fulvus. Then I shall be off,” said the princess of the night.
“What? Are you not going to stay?” asked the king, a little confused.
“No. I’m sure you will succeed in your promise. After all you have a faithful friend to help you,” said Luna, smiling to the female griffin who responded with a respectful nod.
“Well, then in that case I wish you a safe and quiet flight home. And I thank you for believing in me … in us,” said Gyps Fulvus, bowing his head in respect.
While Luna was flying back home she was sure that wherever her sister was, she was proud of her. She almost felt the need to cry, but she held her tears inside, because the war was not over.
Traveling on the golem turtle was calm, comfortable, and quick. While the Mane Six and Azrael were resting (though the angel of death remained awaken to avoid entering in the realm of the dreams), Floral Heart made the golem go at slow pace to ensure a good, restorative sleep for the group.
At their awakening they found that the tree alicorn had prepared a delicious breakfast made of sweet fruits. Their stomachs filled, the Mane Six started to wander around the place, curious on visiting such unknown parts of the Everfree Forest. Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, and Rarity had fun near at the lake, while Fluttershy chatted with Floral Heart, interested in the mysterious creatures which lived there and trying to make friend with them.
Twilight Sparkle remained behind, watching her friends with thoughtful eyes. Azrael couldn’t help but notice this, and he also knew why she looked so sad. While the others managed to overcome the loss of Celestia, Twilight couldn’t. And how could she? Celestia was like a second mother to her and it was thanks to her that she had managed to find such great friends. Azrael decided to try to cheer her up… as best he could.
“You must not let the sadness take over you, Twilight Sparkle. There was nothing that we could have done to save her,” said the angel of death.
“I know. But is not only that,” she said, turning her attention to him. “It’s just that I hate feeling so powerless. I know that my friends are always ready to help me but I don’t want it to be one way around. I want to help them too.” She took a slow breath. “You know, when Celestia turned me into an alicorn I was caught unprepared and, I have to admit it, was scared.”
Nothing wrong about that, seeing how abrupt your transformation was, thought the angel of death.
He knew that Twilight Sparkle could be a great ruler. She was smart, had the heart and the brains to face all the challenges, and still had the humility to not be a bragger about it. But the way that Celestia rushed everything always had him worried that she wouldn’t be prepared enough. If the ruler of Equestria had made the rescue of the Crystal Empire as a test rather than just a mission to save it, as well as not allow them to bring the elements of Harmony for a good reason (that being the risk that Sombra would corrupt them with one of his cruel and twisted traps), Azrael would have been very tempted to fly right to Celestia and force her to revert the transformation. But he didn’t speak his thoughts so as to not offend the fallen princess.
“But” Twilight continued, “I thought that being the Princess of Friendship I would have been powerful enough to protect my family and friends, to avoid involving them in dangerous situations. Don’t get me wrong, those girls there are the toughest ponies I have ever met, but I just don’t want to lose them. But I was wrong… so wrong.” Twilight grew silent, lost in grief; but she managed to suppress it and continue. “It seems like every bit of time, I’m losing all of whom I hold dear. The power of Harmony that I have for so long thought to be the most powerful force in Equestria now seems like some stuff made for little girls.” She turned again to Azrael. “How can something so negative like Death be more powerful than a force for good?”
“Death can be perceived as negative because we are Living. In fact Death is far above earthly concepts like good or bad. The true nature of the Pale alicorn is neutral and vary for each individual” explained the angel of death.
“Alright then, but that still doesn’t explain how Death should be above the magic of Harmony,” Twilight pointed out.
“Magic has no real form and it varies for each individual creature. My magic is very similar to his, but other than that is no way near in terms of power. Like I’ve said, I’m just the angel of death, not Death. Just like you Twilight are the Princess of Friendship and thus are not the incarnation of what you take power from. From what I’ve learned magic is tied by the very spirit of the person and in the end of their life such spirit is reaped by the grim reaper. None can escape him,” explained Azrael.
“You make it look like life is so powerless compared to Death,” noted Twilight.
“It can sound like it. I know is hard to accept that Death is so powerful when your very ruler is an immortal being who doesn’t grow old and there are so many powerful spells. But there is more to death that just the end.”
“Sure. I’ve read many writers say that death is only the beginning of a new life.”
“And they would be right, even though I’m afraid that people take such phrase in a way that makes seems Death as just somepony who picks up the souls of the dead. But there is so much more when it come down to it that you can imagine.”
“I guess it is. But why is Death’s magic is different and powerful?”
“Because he was “born” to be so. His duty is not only to lead souls to the beyond to their peace or affliction, he’s the guardian of the Balance. He’s the agent of the Maker. When some force tries to break the stability of the creation he stops him, bring Balance back to his place. Only a being who is neutral can do such work, or else it would lead anyone to support or good or evil, because is impossible for a simple mind, no matter how cunning it is, use that power rightfully and comprehend how limitless they are.”
“And the fact that he was trapped in the Seal? Didn’t that have any consequence of the Balance?” asked Twilight, confused.
“I guess not, or else things would have gone really bad” he said.
“Well, what you’ve said was very interesting, to know, but it doesn’t help to find a solution… unless…” Twilight suddenly had an epiphany.
“Unless?” prompted Azrael, waiting for the alicorn to come up with the answer.
“Unless Sombra couldn’t use all that power because he’s not really the Death. And, sure, for how much good he can be using that relic, he will not be capable to use it at his full potential!”
“I knew you would have arrived to that point,” Azrael stated, confirming her thoughts with a kind smile. Suddenly Twilight got up and nuzzled him, taking him by surprise and leaving him speechless.
“Thanks, Azrael, you’re a true friend!” she said, her sadness completely faded away, then joined her friends. If the Princess of Friendship would have turned her attention back to the angel of death, she would have notice that he looked like somepony had just stabbed him in the heart.
The arrival of the golem turtle didn’t go unnoticed by the citizens of the Crystal Empire—after all it was hard not notice a titan-sized beast. Luckily, before panic could spread, the Mane Six and Azrael flew ahead, showing that the creature didn’t mean any harm and explained who she was. The reunion between Twilight and her brother and Cadence improved everyone’s morale and the new imposing ally ensured people to have a chance of victory against the dark tyrant.
“Speaking about allies, what can you tell me about our situation?” asked Twilight her brother.
“We have sent messengers all around Equestria asking for help and have been answered positively. Most of the populations from Manehattan, Fillidelphia, and Appleloosa will arrive here in one day,” answered the captain of the guards, smiling.
“That’s a good news! But where’s Luna?” asked Applejack.
“She has left to the Griffin Kingdom to ask for their help. I don’t know when she will come back,” answered Cadence.
“I hope she will manage to convince them to help us,” said Pinkie Pie.
“Have faith in her, she’s intelligent and wise. I’m sure that she will get their aid,” said Azrael.
“Indeed,” Cadence added. She faced Azrael with curious eyes. “So, you are the angel of death. Princess Luna speak well of you.” The tone of voice and the way she watched him made it seem like she was actually studying him. A detail that didn’t go ignored by Azrael or Twilight.
“She’s too kind,” answered Azrael, trying to sound as neutral as he could.
Cadence seemed satisfied with his response. “Alright then.” Suddenly her expression turned more serious. “Can you tell me how Celestia died?”
The group gathered in the throne room to have some privacy. Once there they told of how Celestia sacrificed herself to make sure that the Soul Eater, an eldritch abomination, couldn’t get out from the trap. While narrating that Twilight eyes started to tear up, but Cadence, Shining, and her friends gave her a comforting hug, “She died as a true good leader would do, sacrificing herself for her people,” she concluded.
“And we will not let her sacrifice being in vain. I promise you that,” said Cadence.
“We should celebrate her memory,” Shining Armor suggested. “Once all of our allies get here, we can salute her with all the honors.” The rest of the group nodded in agreement.
“I will organize it,” said Pinkie Pie, taking by surprise all her friends.
“You, Pinkie?” exclaimed Rarity.
“What?” she asked, confused.
“It’s just… well, you know, this is not your usual kind of party,” said Rainbow Dash.
“I know that. But it’s still a party; and I’m an expert at all kinds of parties!” She beamed at that, but her happy mood fell quickly. “There are probably not going to be balloons and cakes, but I can still do it.” She said the last statement with a serious tone, but her smile was still evident.
“And I will help you make sure you have all that you need,” added Cadence.
That said, the groups separated and once again Twilight and Azrael remained alone. She couldn’t help but notice how confused the angel of death was.
“What’s wrong?” she asked.
“Have you noticed how Princess Cadence was looking at me after what I’ve said about Princess Luna?”
“Oh that.” Twilight released a sigh which was between the annoyed and the amused. “It’s typical of her. You don’t have to worry.”
“What do you mean?” he asked, puzzled.
“She has a passion for shipping.”
“What does what I’ve said have to do with ships and sea?” His confusion grew when Twilight exploded in a genuine laugh.
“Not that,” she said, trying to control her snickering. “It’s about pairs of ponies which falls in love.”
To that, Azrael’s expression went worried and bit irritated. Why was everypony seeing him and Luna as a pair? Sure, he loved the night and the stars, but that doesn’t mean he was in love for Luna… right?
Twilight noticed the concern in his face, “You don’t have to take her sign too seriously. She fantasies a lot of times on the most weird pairs, like Celestia and Discord or Rainbow Dash and Soarin. I remember when, right after my transformation in alicorn, she came to me with a story that she has written for me in which I go on an adventure in a parallel dimension.”
“And how was it?” he asked. The look which Twilight gave him was clear enough. “It was that bad?”
“It was horrible. The story didn’t make any sense, the villain was one dimensional and less threatening than a Breezie , the supporting characters were dumb and sounded stereotypical and then there was HIM.” Twilight shuddered. “The single most boring Gary Stu I’ve ever read. He had no personality except being nice, playing guitar and nothing more. And the way she made it look like a copy of my brother, heck, even his name was quite similar to Shining Armor.”
“Awkward,” commented Azrael, lacking any other good words.
“You said it,” stated Twilight, “Now, can we please change the subject?”
“You’re right,” agreed the angel of death. He and Twilight then noticed Fluttershy watching out of a window, looking worried.
“Is something wrong, Fluttershy?” asked Twilight Sparkle to her pegasus friend.
“I was wondering how Discord was doing. Trapped in a cage. Surrounded by changelings…” She cringed. “He must be quivering in fear!”
***
Discord laughed at his pranks on the changelings who were supposed to keep an eye on him. It would have take much more than a cage or being in a dark dungeon to stop him using his powers to have fun. Once Chrysalis entered it was hard to understand if that ruined his mood or improved it.
“Hi, Chrysalis, do you want to join the little game we’re playing? It’s called ‘Try to pull off your head from a vial!’” asked Discord, pointing at the changelings who were trying to remove the little bottle from the head of one of them. “It’s quite funny!”
Chrysalis grunted and used the magic of the amulet to help her minions. “Oh, you party-pooper. How can I pass the time in this cage without having some fun?” questioned the spirit of disharmony.
The queen ignored his question and said to her loyal servants, “Leave us alone.” The minions obeyed and left them. “If you want to have fun why don’t you just talk to yourself? I’m sure you made it a habit when you were turned to stone by the elements of harmony,” retorted Chrysalis.
“Oh, nice one, Chrysy,” commented the Draconequus, mocking the queen with that silly name. “How long have you been up to come with that joke? Or there is some little changelings who wrote it down for you?”
“Ha ha, very funny. Now would you stop joking?”
“Wasn’t that the reason why you came here?”
“No” she said. “Actually I don’t even know why I’ve come here in the first place.” There was uncertainty in her voice.
“Oh, I think you do know, Chrysy. It’s about your dark ally, Sombra.”
“What made it so evident?”
“The light in your cute eyes,” answered Discord. The queen of the changelings ignored the sarcastic (or maybe sincere?) tone of the draconequus.
“I can’t deny that Sombra’s attitude towards me is not one of the best. A few minutes ago he menaced to kill me just for a small derisive comment of mine.”
“He sure has no sense of humor. Though, I admit he improved his speech compared when he was all about crystals,” commented Discord. “Would you mind telling me why and how you’re helping him in the first place?”
“It’s not a complicated story. One day he appeared in front of my lair and asked me to help him to get the seal of Death, promising power and vengeance. He knew many things, but refused to tell me how he got them.”
“And you didn’t force him to talk?”
“How could I do that? Since the failed invasion of Canterlot, my people and I have had to work very hard to get enough love to not die of hunger.” Her tone suddenly turned sharp. “And that was the main reason I accepted his offer. Because he offered me the chance to get my revenge on those wretched ponies.”
“You quite hold a grudge to them, don’t you?”
“You don’t understand what my species has gone through because of them.”
“I may not know who or what exactly is behind this whole situation, but I do know about you and you kin, Chrysy” stated the spirit of chaos, “You existed since the earth ponies were. Your looks, powers and way of feeding made you feared and despised by them. And because of that you made your kin hide and try to keep the attention low for a long time, until finally people thought that you were just a myth. Once that happened you have started sending agents in all of Equestria to gather up information and try to find a way to take power. Then you found out about the wedding of Cadence and Shining Armor. What better chance to take the place of the bride, who was also the princess of Crystal Empire, and then gaining both food and control? Sadly things didn’t go as planned.”
“That darned unicorn managed to ruin everything,” groaned Chrysalis. “From that day Celestia has done everything she had in her power to make sure we never will try this trick again to take control, teaching spells to all unicorns which would reveal our true looks. You don’t know how hard it has become to feed off love lately and how my people has suffered because of it.”
“I can imagine it,” agreed Discord.
“Then you can understand why I accepted his help, why I wanted revenge so much. Yes, I have left my emotions in control, but you can’t blame me for that.”
“Nah, can’t blame you for that. If I were in your place I would have done the same… even though that maybe at the first chance I would have betrayed him.”
“And that is something that I should do. I don’t want to be his servant nor I want him to boss me around.”
“There is more than that, Chrysalis,” Discord said. The queen of the changelings noticed how serious his tone was, a sign that he was not joking. “Sombra is a threat to everyone while he wears that amulet. He may be a powerful unicorn with almost near immortality but he is not good enough to wear the Seal. A power of an abstract in the ends of someone with little imagination such as him?” He snorted. “It’s not only a waste of power, but it’s dangerous. With a random though he could wipe away a galaxy, focusing on something or someone nullifying it. There are things that even I am careful to not break or else even my existence would be at stake. He must be stopped.”
“Fine, but what can I do to stop him? Even with the Amulet of the Alicorn I’m no way near his power.”
“Not you, Chrysy, but us,” he corrected her, “You’re not the only one who wants to take him down.”
“And I should join the same ponies who are responsible for the situation I’m in? That’s madness!”
“NO THIS IS EQUESTRIA!” shouted the suddenly helmet wearing draconequus spitting accidentally on the queen. “Oops, sorry, it’s something that I’ve always wanted to say,” he joked while Chrysalis cleaned herself up with an annoying and disgusted expression. “Jokes aside, you don’t have to be make friends with them to help them.”
Chrysalis groaned in frustration as she pondered on the words of the Draconequus. She didn’t liked the idea of helping the very same ponies who had made her kin suffer, but she couldn’t deny that it was the only way to defeat Sombra. And may she be damned if her emotion would once again led her to a bad choice.
“Fine,” she said, swallowing her pride, “I will help them.”
“Good,” beamed Discord, “Now that you have chosen your side I need to tell you something I have noticed. The Amulet of the Alicorn—”
“I will not give it to you.”
“Calm down Chrysy, I don’t want that toy of yours. No, what I wanted to say is that I can sense a spell on it. With all probability, done by Sombra. Nothing too serious; just a spell made to ensure you loyalty in case you would have changed your mind.”
“And let me guess: you can fix that problem.”
“I will try.”
Chrysalis removed the amulet and then glared at the spirit of chaos. “How can I be sure that it’s you who want to cast a spell on it?”
“Oh, where would be the fun of exchanging insult with you then?”
The queen of changelings reflected on the possible choices just to find out that she didn’t had any. She cursed Sombra, she cursed the ponies, she cursed Discord, and she cursed herself—but, in the end, she gave the amulet to the draconequus, hoping for the best.
I wanted to tell you, dear readers and people who has placed Seal of Death in their favorites, that I really appreciate the thumbs up you have given to me. Thank to all of you ! So I want to tell you that the next chapter of SOD will not came out this weekend. Why? Because is going to be a long chapter and is going to be quite an important one. Secondly, I will be take a week off. Hopefully I will manage to complete it for the 15 of this very moth. Last thing: if in the meantime you want to read some cool story you can go check Jarvy Jared stories. He's a great writer. Yes I know he sorta of likes Rainbow Rocks, but that still dosen't mean that his works are as bad as that movie. Give it a shot, I say.
Im finally back guys! Now I have a good news and a bad news. The bad news is that the new chapter is going to be posted later this week, with all probability in the weekend. The good news is that I've finally fixed the prologue. That was something I wanted to do since I've posted it. I don't know if you get warned if a chapter gets edited, so I wanted to warn you about it. Is not a masterpiece sure but at least it will fill the holes that had the first version.
Luna returned much sooner than everyone could have predicted. The princess of the night told them about how Gyps Fulvus would do his best to ensure the help of the griffins, even though it could require some time. Obviously the ponies hoped for the best and kept helping Pinkie Pie prepare the memorial for Princess Celestia and welcoming the allies who arrived from ever corner of Equestria. Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie were the most happy to greet Thunderhooves and his tribe again, and Applejack was happy to hug her cousin Braeburn.
Despite the situation the morale was high and the people showed little to no fear at the idea of facing an army of undead alicorns; probably because they all wanted to take down the responsible for the death of one of their beloved leader. Azrael and Luna were the only exception, both of them seemed to be afraid to stand in the same place and tried their best to avoid each other until their minds were cleared of doubts. Sadly they didn’t have that much time to do that because, once the last groups of soldiers arrived, it was time for the memorial party to start.
Despite being the first time Pinkie worked on this kind of party she did a great job. Where there weren’t balloons there were other types of adornment on the columns of the colors of Celestia. She had made, with the help of Princess Luna, Cadence, and Twilight, a collage of pictures and details of how Princess Celestia was a ruler, a friend, an aunt, a teacher, and a sister.
The memorial started off with the Mane Six, Azrael, Luna, Cadence, and Shining Armor walking on the stage built for the occasion. They started telling the crowd of their relationships with Princess Celestia, sharing both the good times and the most troubled ones, cherishing the fact that it was thanks to her that Twilight could meet her friends, or of how happy she was when she heard about Cadence’s and Shining’s proposal and so on, all accompanied by a series of pictures. Pinkie told of the time in which the ruler of Equestria allowed her to prepare the party of the wedding; Rarity of the time in which Celestia gave her the best room in the castle and when she helped her with publicity for her clothes. Applejack for when Celestia showed up to help make peace between her and Rainbow Dash, while the cyan pegasus told of the time Celestia rewarded her when she had succeeded performing the Rainboom.
Those good memories filled the eyes of every single pony and buffalo with tears, reminding them of how noble and humble Princess Celestia was and of how she didn’t want them to let sadness take over them; she would ask them to go on even without her, because she was sure that they could face whatever threats as long they would stick together.
Once the group finished speaking, they left the stage, leaving a band to play some songs and enjoy the company. In that moment Luna and Azrael found themselves accidentally alone, separated from the loud crowd.
“We need to talk, Azrael… privately,” she stated with an enigmatic voice. And for how much the angel of death tried to decipher her tone he couldn’t understand if she was angry or not with him. In a way it didn’t matter. It was time to tell her the truth and face the consequence of it.
He nodded humbly and followed far from the core of the party. Once the noise of the party had lessoned, the two arrived in the crystal park.
The last ruler of Equestria didn’t wasted time and went straight to the point. “I know what you have been hiding,” she said, once again with that mysterious tone.
“How much do you know?” asked Azrael, even though he knew that she knew.
“I know that Death adopted you. And I also know of that time in which I entered in your dreams… and of your attempt to make me forget about it.”
“Luna, before you say anything, I want to tell you—” he tried to apologize, but Luna interrupted him.
“I know why you have done so. Your secrets had a good reason to remain hidden, and you probably were afraid that I would tell somepony of your existence,” she continued calmly. “But now that I know of your past it’s pointless that you keep the rest. So I ask you, without threats or begging, to reveal me how it really went.”
Azrael remained silent, his expression conflicted and in pain. It was clear to Luna that his past had been painful.
“I don’t want to force you to reveal what you don’t want to, Azrael. I know how it feels to have a dark past,” she said. She made to leave, but the angel of death stopped her.
“No, you have all the rights to know my past,” he said. The doubts and pain had disappeared.
“You don’t have to.” “Yes I do,” he replied. Then he took a deep breath and started to talk.
“I never knew my parents. All I knew was that I was left to the orphanage when I was just a newborn. Then, as you know, Death came and took me under his wing. He became an instructor as much of a father figure, helping me to control my power over the souls, to discover what I could do with my magic and most of the secrets of the Existence. For most of that time I felt like we two had started to be more and more like father and son.
“Where the rest of the alicorns cowered in fear in his presence, I just admired his power and appreciated what he represented. But then, since my 15th birthday, he started to grow more and more distant to me, leaving me out from his encounters and his meetings with the council of the alicorns. And then one day Rezor, one of the most powerful and noble family, came to me in secret, warning me that Death was planning to kill the entire alicorn nation. I couldn’t believe that the being I had always respected as fair and kind would do something like it, so I’d run up to him, asking for the reasons behind for such act and praying that what Rezor told me was a misunderstanding.
“But Death just ignored my questions, saying that his choices were made for a greater good and then just left me there. I couldn’t accept his plan so I accepted to help the alicorns to find a way to stop him. Collaborating with them and using the knowledge I got from all the studies with Death I managed to find a way to trap him inside a Seal/Glyph.”
“And Death didn’t find out about it?” asked Princess Luna, confused.
“That’s a good question that I ask myself several times,” commented the angel of death. “Maybe it was because he didn’t expect that I, his apprentice and adoptive son, would conspire behind his back,” he added, looking miserable.
“Anyway, once the ritual was ready we needed to prepare the trap. The alicorns asked for another meeting with Death and he accepted. And there he was trapped inside the Seal. The alicorns put their power and I added my unique control over the beyond and used it to trap Death.
“Sadly as you know the spell required such effort that the alicorns lost their immortality and part of their power while the eldest of them died instantly. As you can expect, they were not happy by this result and they would have skinned me alive for my mistakes. But Rezor stepped in, calming the mass, promising that I could find a way to solve my errors by studying the relic in which now resides the pale alicorn.
“So, for weeks I’ve studied the powers that the Seal could give and how to be used, trying my best to not miss important information. Once in a while I would go to Rezor castle to tell him at what point I was in the research. In those occasions he and his twin sister, Reza, would be kind enough to let me join for a nice dinner. For a while I thought that for the first time I had some friends who trusted me and treated me kindly as a living being and not as some kind of ghoul.
“But one day, in which I had decided to surprise the two by coming earlier, I heard them talk of how they managed to fool me and of their plan to use the relic. Feeling betrayed and used, I stepped in, wanting to understand what was a lie and what was the truth. Rezor answered to my questions without a trace of shame and laughed at my shock.
“Death didn’t wanted to kill the alicorns, not directly, he wanted to take away their immortality and fertility, leaving the earth ponies, the only other species to walk on the future Equestria, to prosper. And this was something that many if not all of the alicorns kingdom couldn’t accept, Rezor in the first place. So he used me to trap Death then, after having heard from me what the Seal could do. He decided that it would be great chance to take control over the whole Alicorn Kingdom.”
He stopped, his expression turning sour, irate, his eyes closed by the painful memories. “For the first time in my life I was angry. But my anger was not for Rezor’s infamy, but at myself. I had betrayed the sole being who treated me more than an abomination, the one who took me under his wing… then Rezor tried to force me to give up the Seal. But he didn’t count on my wrath.
“Suddenly my body was surrounded by a powerful aura which would have put to shame even an alicorn at his full power and I had released a powerful explosion which razed to the ground the Rezor palace. Sadly my fit of rage cost the life of many innocents servants, while Rezor and his sister had managed barely to get out alive. Before I left I used my powers to send a copy of the infamous alicorn to all the corner of the Alicorn Kingdom, so that the world would know of his plans of conquer, then I teleported to the castle which Death had build to be my home and moved the residence elsewhere, casting a spell on it for making sure that nopony would ever find me or the Seal. Then the alicorn war started.”
Luna had listen Azrael tale in silence, but her eyes made clear how much she was taken aback by what the angel of death just told her.
“I promised to myself that I would have kept the Seal of Death hidden away, may that be until the end of time. But I failed… again,” he turned his glare to Luna, his expression showed how much guilt was consuming him. “Every single time I tried to help somepony, to fix a mistake I just made things worse. This whole situation is my fault. I should have stopped Sombra, but I got fooled like an idiot. Celestia, Spike, all or most of the ponies which the bearers of Harmony hold dear are dead—and it is all my fault! And Twilight sees me as a friend. AH!” he laughed, but there was no sign of joy in it. It was clear that the sense of guilt and anger towards himself had made him turn out of control.
“I don’t deserve their friendship. I don’t deserve nothing but hate, for I am the angel of death! I bring only grief, fear, and ruin!”
Suddenly—something that he would have never expected, especially not after what he had just told—Luna hugged him. A comforting hug which left the angel of death mute and incapable to say something or hug her back. Time seemed to freeze, just like most of the guilt and anger in Azrael’s heart. Before he could say or do anything Luna broke the embrace and looked at him with comprehensive eyes.
“You know, a long time ago, when my sister and I had just recently started to rule Equestria, I had many problems to understand my place. I wasn’t as appreciated as Celestia and people looked at my night as something less important or as if it was a negative time, filled with evil forces which would crawl out and hunt the ponies. And, as such, people feared me, no matter how much my sister tried to tell them that I was more than that. I just felt that I needed somepony who would understand what I was feeling.” She smiled. “It was then I recalled of that alicorn of legends, the angel of death. This is why I wanted to meet you. You can understand how it feels to be different,” she explained.
“Maybe. But we are not the same,” countered Azrael. Luna made to reply, but the angel of death continued, “I am the herald of death. A messenger of the end of life. But you, no matter how much the night may be cold, you’re LIFE! And your night has nothing to envy to the day, on the contrary. The sun is pretty but you can’t stare at it too long without your eyes huringt unlike the moon. And while the sun may show how much big the world is only the night can make see even to wingless creature how much the UNIVERSE is infinite. The stars that now are lighting the sky make part of you as much as the moon. The night is calm and has that touch of mystery which makes everything more beautiful! Luna, you are not darkness. You are the living proof that even the darkest of time there will always be light!”
Azrael speech started rough but slowly it turned the more and more calm and sweet, his thoughts of what Luna was. And only once had finished he realized what he had just said he cursed himself to have let his emotions to take over.
Princess Luna now watched the angel of death with teary eyes. No one, not even her sister, was capable of complimenting her like that, to praise every single quality her night had. Her heart beat an unfamiliar beat which she couldn’t recognize. “Do you… really mean that?” she asked shyly.
There is no point denying it, thought Azrael. “Yes. I mean it,” he said, sounding almost reluctantly. Luna noticed that but before she could ask the reasons behind it the two alicorns heard a muffled sound coming from a bush. The angel of death sighed, he knew exactly who it was.
“You can come out,” he said.
Twilight Sparkle, Rainbow Dash, Applejack, and Pinkie Pie came out from their hideout, while the rainbow pegasus and the orange earth ponies were keeping the mouths of Rarity and Fluttershy closed. “I guess you can let them go,” the purple alicorn said to her friends.
“D’AAAAAAAAWWWW!” screamed Rarity and Fluttershy. “That’s the most romantic speech I have ever heard in my life!” commented the white unicorn, making Azrael and Luna lower their heads in embarrassment.
“Please, don’t tell Cadence about it,” begged the princess of the night. “I couldn’t bear to have her watching me with that smug smile of hers.”
“We won’t, don’t worry,” promised Applejack.
“Pinkie Promised!” added Pinkie Pie, making everyone except Azrael realize that she really meant to keep her word.
“So, I guess you have heard everything,” said Azrael, bringing back the conversation for more important matters.
“Indeed, even though I couldn’t imagine all of it,” admitted Twilight Sparkle.
“And that you know my secret I can understand your hatred for me.”
“But we don’t hate you, Azrael,” said Twilight Sparkle with a smile.
“You… DON’T!?” exclaimed the angel of death.
“Of course not you silly, why should we hate?” asked Pinkie Pie, happy.
“Because is my fault of this whole situation!” answered Azrael, reminding them of his mistake.
“Did you do it on purpose?” asked the pink pony with her chirping voice.
“Well…no, but—”
“Do you regret what have you done?”
“Absolutely but that does—”
“Then why should we be mad at you?” said Pinkie Pie smiling.
“Pinkie’s right,” admitted Twilight Sparkle. “You warned us of the incoming danger.”
“You have fought to our side against Sombra’s forces without any fear!” added Rainbow Dash with an appreciative tone.
“You have used your power to heal our wounds more than once without worrying of how much that would weaken you!” added Rarity.
“You saved me and my friends to be eaten by the Soul Eater,” said Fluttershy.
“After all you have done how could we call you if not friend?” asked Applejack.
Azrael was speechless. For so long he had accepted the idea of being alone and hated for the rest of his existence—and now, against any of his predictions, he was surrounded by ponies who accepted him for who he was and were so kind (or so foolish) to trust him and forgive him so easily. He had heard talk about the power of friendship, the beauty to have friends to back him up, helping him in the hard times—but not even in his wildest dreams could believe that he would have somepony who would call him friend without an hint of fear. In any other circumstances he would have embrace it as it was the most greatest treasure… but now that wasn’t the time. He couldn’t accept it, because he had something that must be done.
“I… appreciate your kindness, elements of harmony… but I can’t accept your friendship,” he said, his voice sounding empty.
“What?! Why not!?” asked Rainbow Dash.
Tell them! “Because…” They deserve to know the truth! “Because I don’t feel worthy to be your friend. For how much good I’ve done helping you that can’t erase the errors I’ve done in the past.”
Coward.
“Erasing your own past is not possible. What is possible is doing your best to prove you can do better if given another chance,” said Princess Luna. “You’re giving all you have to help us, Azrael, that may not count much for you, but for us it counts, more than you think.”
I know, but is not that the point thought the angel of death, limiting to watch the group who was surrounding him.
“C’mon, enough bad thoughts. We have a party to participate and I’m sure Celestia would want us to have a blast!” said Pinkie Pie. The rest of the Mane Six nodded and follow her back into the memorial.
“They are truly amazing. Each one of them,” commented Azrael, amazed by their nature.
“Not for nothing they have been chosen to be the elements of Harmony” commented Princess Luna smiling while making to join the ponies, “You’re coming?” she asked then to the angel of death.
He limited himself nodding and followed, slowly, while thinking what she had just said.
You’re giving us all you have, she had said.
“No,” he whispered, while a single tear rolled down. “Not everything… Not yet.”
After the memorial party, the Crystal Empire was filled with the sound of unicorns, pegasi, earth ponies, and buffalos preparing for the upcoming battle. The Mane Six each took a part in helping: Rainbow Dash, Applejack, Fluttershy, and Pinkie Pie helped keeping the moral up with cool speeches, kind word, and funny jokes. Rarity used her attention to details to help the surprised smiths forging armors for the buffalos and her friends.
Twilight, Azrael, Luna, Shining Armor, Floral Heart, and Cadence spoke about the strategy to use against the undead army. The angel of death explained how they should face the undead army: the best way to get rid of them would be hit them with enough force to break them into pieces, burning them into ashes, or managing to freeze their movements. Not easy to do in the heat of battle, but not impossible. While the armies would engage battle, the Elements of Harmony, Azrael, Luna, Floral Heart, and (If Sombra was going to respect his word) Discord would engage battle with Sombra and manage to break the Seal as soon as possible. With the Seal broken the zombie alicorns would lose their undead power and return to the grave, leaving only a depowered Sombra and the army of Chrysalis to worry about.
The only thing that caused some debate was when Shining asked Cadence to stay in the Crystal Empire… a request that she absolutely refused, saying that she wanted to partake in taking down Sombra and didn’t want her husband to fight alone. But Shining replied that she had to stay in the castle so that, in case of defeat, she would protect the citizens using the Crystal Heart. In the end she agreed, but not looking the slightest happy to let her beloved one go into battle. Azrael doubted that the Heart could have done something against the Seal/Glyph, but it was better than leaving the innocent without at least some protection. In fact they all knew that they couldn’t fail.
***
Unknown to them, the dark tyrant wasn’t in his gloomy palace, but where the Soul Eater was imprisoned. Sombra removed the spells, opening the passage and sporting an evil grin. “Let’s start this war with a bang, my friend,” he said, while the snake-like monster crawled out of his prison.
***
The day had arrived and the Army of the united force of Equestria moved to face Sombra’s forces of death, marching on the desert surrounded by mountains. The army was made of ponies of all species, buffalos, and creatures of the Everfree Forest. Moving at safe distance there was the golem-turtle of Floral Heart, so that she would not accidentally step on somepony. On the titanic creature Azrael was talking with the alicorn tree about what happened in the night of the memorial, of how he revealed to Princess Luna (and accidentally to the Mane Six) his secret.
“And?” she asked, curious to know what happened next.
“And, surprisingly enough, they are not furious at me for what my actions have caused and they have forgiven me. Apparently the revelation didn’t stop them to see me as a friend” he said, sounding all but happy about it.
“You say this as if it was a bad thing,” said Floral Heart. “You should be happy that you have finally made new friends, other than me.”
“It IS a bad thing. Because it would have been much better if they despised me; at least in this way they wouldn’t suffer.”
“You say this as if you-“ she went silent when she realized what the words of the angel of death meant.
“Azrael, please, tell me this is not—“ Once again she got interrupted, this time by Azrael, who suddenly shouted in pain. He felt like a huge bell was ringing in his ears.
***
“Something’s wrong, Luna?” asked Twilight Sparkle, noticing how distracted was the ruler of the night.
She marched along her friends and brother at the head of the army. “Azrael didn’t sleep in three days. I thought that after our talk he didn’t have any more secrets. Apparently I was wrong,” she explained, with a worried look.
“Maybe he’s afraid to have more nightmares” hinted Applejack.
“In that case he could have asked my help,” Luna said.
“Maybe he’s just nervous about the upcoming battle. He has a lot of responsibilities on his back,” said Rainbow.
“Mhm, maybe,” murmured Luna, all but convinced.
Twilight wasn’t either. There was something in all this story that didn’t fit. Azrael stated to be the only one capable to break the Seal of Death, but he didn’t really explained HOW he was going to do that.
Her thoughts were interrupted when she felt a deafening ring of bells in her mind, warning her of something. She almost fell to the ground if it wasn’t for her friends and brother. That made the army stop, curious, scared, and hesitant.
“Twily! What’s happening!?” asked Shining Armor, worried sickly for her little sister.
“Is everything all right, Twilight?” asked Princess Luna.
“No,” answered the purple alicorn with anxiety in both her eyes and voice. “It’s not alright. Not at all, not in the slightest.”
“What is it?” asked Rainbow Dash.
She was about to answer when Azrael flew down from the golem-turtle, rushing to reach them.
“Have you felt it too, do you?” asked Twilight Sparkle.
“Yes,” answered the angel of death. “The Soul Eater is free again.” He glared to the East. “And is coming here at top speed.”
“Wait, the Soul Eater? You mean that creature responsible for Celestia’s death?!” asked Shining Armor, his fear clear in his voice. “How… what can we do?” he asked, trying to regain his composure. He was the captain of the guards, he had to show himself calm or else his fear would infect the rest of the army.
“We can use the Elements, but then we would not have enough power to face Sombra,” said Fluttershy.
“I will deal with that wretched creature” stated Floral Heart from the golem. “I have an old debt with that monster” she added, while the titan shaped size into a more humanoid figure. “Move our army, quickly, or else they will end up crushed.”
The group did exactly as said and moved their forces to a safe place as fast as they could, trying to ignore how the ground all around them was shaking by the arrival of the Soul Eater. Floral Heart golem stood still, offering herself as decoy, channeling all her forces and focusing her mind into the imminent fight.
Then, with thunderous noise and lifting an enormous quantity of smoke and pebbles, the Soul Eater arrived and leaped straight away, maw fully opened for a deadly bite… which met the stone fist of the golem. The monster wasn’t prepared to face such powerful foe, but it shacked off the surprised while both his hunger and anger fill him with strength and charged again. Floral Heart kept beating the Soul Eater with the brute power of the golem and for a while the army thought that she would have been strong enough to finish the monster. But, just like Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy, found out the Soul Eater was capable of thinking and soon it proved it once again. It used its long body and speed to get an advantage, blocking part of the golem and biting hard, turning the tables around into a more balanced battle. Then, with a swift movement of his tail, the Soul Eater managed to make Floral Heart golem fall to the ground, getting a position of advantage and trying to bite her head off.
“She’s in trouble! I’ve got to help her!” stated Azrael, making to fly off to help her in the fight.
“I’m coming with you,” Luna said, then, noticing his expression, added stubbornly, “No, this is not debatable.”
Incapable to reply with her tone or glare Azrael simply nodded and the two alicorns flew to the third one’s aid. The duo worked together trying the help the golem getting out of the situation and, with some flying maneuvers and some dozens of ray of magic they had managed to free Floral Heart. Azrael and Luna showed to have an unexpected chemistry with their attacks, giving the Soul Eater a hard time getting them. Sadly for them, with one of his strikes he had ripped off a big chunk of rocks and smoke from the body of the golem which risked to hit the ruler of the night, if it wasn’t for her good reflexes. But that distracted the angel of death, who hadn’t noticed the hulking body of the Soul Eater before him, which stroked him down with violence, throwing him violently on the ground. This enraged Princess Luna so much that she starting shooting thunders from her horn against the monster.
The Mane Six cringed at the scene. Especially Rainbow Dash who had already the misfortune to clash with the Soul Eater reckoned of how much painful it was to be only brushed by its terrible force, she didn’t wanted to think how much THAT would hurt.
“Do you think he’s…” asked Fluttershy, worried.
“Of course not!” said Applejack. “It takes more than that to stop him.”
“But maybe is enough to take him down temporarily,” commented Shining pointing to where Azrael fell down. It didn’t appear that the angel of death was going to get up soon enough.
“We have to do something! Luna and Floral Heart can’t deal alone with the Soul Eater. That thing just does not want to go down!” said Rainbow Dash.
“We’ll do. Girls, prepare to use the elements,” said Twilight Sparkle.
“But Twilight, if we use the power of Harmony against that creature we will be powerless against Sombra!” replied Rarity.
“I know, but even without Elements at least we have our own skills. It’s going to be much worse if we don’t stop the Soul Eater, now and forever!” Twilight said.
Her friends knew she was right. They’d never leave their friends to be killed and eaten by that monster.
Summoning their powers they teleported near the battlefield and hopped on Floral Heart Golem and used him to get the higher ground. They started to climb the colossus, using all their abilities and cooperation to dodge boulders and trees, trying not lose their grappling on the climbing. The hiking seemed to take forever but at the end the Mane 6 managed to reach the top and there Twilight used her teleportation spell to get even more higher. Once there the Elements of Harmony started to work the group didn’t just stand there but put all the energy they had at work, to make sure the Elements worked. The Soul Eater found himself surrounded by the rainbow, which surrounded his titanic mass, shrieking while trying to get out of it.
“Just… hang… on!” groaned Twilight Sparkle. The Mane Six were truly going all out… and it was all but easy. They felt like they were coming to a breaking point.
But in the end they had finally made it.
With a last roar the Soul Eater turned into stone.
They had won! But they didn’t have that much time to celebrate the victory.
Without warning, a red ray of destruction, coming from Sombra’s castle, struck Floral Heart’s golem….
* Floral Heart had just taken a breath of relief, seeing the one responsible for the death of her mother being turned into cold stone. But she didn’t have the time to rejoice.
A red ray from Sombra’s castle lighted the sky in a crimson hue, causing the forces to stop in their tracks. It suddenly spiraled towards her, too fast for her to dodge, crashing into her and her golem. The energy of that ray coursed throughout her body, shooting through her pain that not even the Soul Eater could have generated.
She felt the mighty golem start to crumble like an house of cards, as if rocks and roots were her bones and flesh. She felt also that the creatures she had made—the ones from the Everfree—were suffering the same thing. Her sons’ screams of agony deafened her own cry of pain, blinding her mind from the intense sensation. She tried to make sure that the golem’s pieces wouldn’t fall over her friends and allies.
While she felt her long life vanishing from her body she watched over where the angel of death had fallen. She wished she had the time to tell him goodbye, to try cheer him up and convince him to let it go his tragic past. But she knew that she didn’t have to. There were already seven beings who had the power to help him get through.
She waved with her last forces to the Mane Six, Luna, and her allies, saluting them.
And then she fell.
*
The rest of the Mane 6 ran to cover, holding up a concerned Fluttershy who wanted help her new found friend, ignoring the danger of the collapsing titan. Once the dust and rocks settled they allowed her to run to Floral Heart, hoping for the best, praying to have the time save her.
But it wasn’t. Amongst the rocks there were the rest of a tree, without leaf and life.
Fluttershy broke down crying and her friends rushed to her trying to comfort the shy pegasi.
“I… didn’t even get the chance to tell her goodbye,” murmured the element of kindness, crying and sniffling.
It was indeed a terrible loss. Floral Heart had pull her life on danger to protect her forest and her friends without worrying about her own sake and even going against her own nature. And so, with a death which didn’t have any kind of honor, one of the most ancient alicorns of Equestria died.
***
Azrael looked around. After he had hit the ground he found himself in another and completely different place. He was surrounded by many tall trees of all the kinds, the grass was white and there was a calm silence surrounding the place. On the top of the trees he could see that the sky looked like the dawn was approaching. Or maybe it was the sunset? And why did he had the feeling to have already been in this place?
He flew above the vegetation to try to take a better look around. All he saw were a huge expanse of trees… and then he saw it. As beautiful as he remembered… wait, remember? He has never been in this place before! Or was he? With many doubts, he suddenly heard a voice.
“Bring here the Elements of Harmony, Azrael. It’s the only way to defeat Sombra.”
“Who are you? What is this place?” he asked, looking around and using his powers to understand where the voice came from, but failing to spot it.
“You shall know soon enough who I am. For the other question… are you sure you don’t know?”
Before he could ask for something else he felt the world slowly disappear into light.
***
“Azrael! Azrael!” called desperately a voice. When the angel of death opened his eyes found himself staring Luna. She had her eyes filled with tears. “We feared that he had just lost you!” she said, sighing in relief.
“What happened to the Soul Eater?” Azrael asked getting up.
“Stoned. We struck him down with the Elements of Harmony,” said Pinkie Pie. “Sadly, just after that Sombra took down Floral Heart. And with her all of the EverFree forest” she added pointing where the rest of the tree-alicorn golem.
Azrael stood there, shocked. Floral Heart had been the one…no had been the only one of the alicorns of the golden age who treated him with respect. She had been kind, humble and sweet. She hadn’t deserve such end. He added this to the large list of crimes Sombra committed in the last days and promised that he would pay for all of it!
“As if that wasn’t enough, I’m afraid that we have no power left” added Twilight.
“Just like I expected, but don’t worry. I have a solution to our problem” he said, trying to tame his anger.
“Really? What is it then?” asked Applejack.
“Not what. Where.”
“Where exactly?” asked Twilight.
“You usually call this place Afterlife… but its real name is the Dusk of Souls”.
“So… let me get it straight: you're going to use your unique powers to get us in that place… the Dusk of Souls… because this voice—who we are counting to be our ally without any kind of proof— told you that there we will find a way to get the Elements to be fully charged in no time?” Pinkie Pie asked.
“In short… yes, that’s it,” Azrael said straightforward, while writing a circle around him and the Mane Six.
“Ah, fine then. I thought I had missed something.”
The Elements of Harmony, Shining, and Luna looked quite confused when Azrael told them of his vision and of the fact he had to take them to the Afterlife, but they also knew that it there was no other way. Without the Elements backing them, Sombra would have been much harder to face.
The one problem that made everyone afraid was the fact that it could have take a while to come back. Shining Armor knew well that if they stayed there to wait their return Sombra would have find out about their plan so the best solution was to keep him focused on the battle, so to give them the time they need it to do whatever they had to do. The angel of death advised them to not do anything that may defy the dark tyrant, or else he will join the battle… and then it would be game over, to use an expression of Rainbow Dash.
With that said (and Shining having reassured his little sister that he would not die) the Mane Six and Azrael got into position and prepared for the spiritual rite.
It was… quite hard to describe the feeling of leaving one’s body. There was a significant lack of the necessity to breathe and the sudden absence of a heartbeat made the experience unearthly. Seeing their bodies standing there as if it their time had arrived, while the spirit flew lighter than any pegasi or alicorn could ever hope to be, added to the effect. It was both creepy… and beautiful.
And then, as the bearers of Harmony turned around they found themselves no longer in the desert but in a mystical looking forest. Rainbow Dash was a little disappointed.
“It doesn’t look that much impressive,” she commented, trying to not sound offensive.
Azrael looked around, confused.
“Something wrong, Azrael?” asked Fluttershy.
“I… don’t know,” he mumbled, checking the trees and the grass.
The vegetation looked dry and it lacked the leafs and greens that he had saw it before. And the grass… well, there wasn’t any. It was like the nature of that place was dead. And that was absurd; how could a place like the Dusk of Souls be reduced like this? Azrael got up, thinking that it wasn’t the best time to solve this riddle and focus to his main objective, his supernatural senses telling him to proceed to north.
“It’s better we start moving,” he said.
But then the forest echoed a chilling shriek which sent shiver down the spines of everypony.
“What was that?” asked Pinkie Pie, with a voice choked by the fear.
“It can’t be,” muttered the angel of death, looking shocked, “He had destroyed them.”
On cue, a shadowy figure with blood red eyes appeared from deep within the forest, its body levitating off the ground. It looked like its body was covered by a big cape, but Azrael knew that there was nothing under that cloak but pure hunger and malice. Soon enough other figures, whom looked the same, started to crawl out of the dead trees, surrounding the group.
“Run,” whispered Azrael.
The Mane six and Azrael started running and flying at all speed they could muster, but the trees prevented an easy escape route. The distance between them and the pursuers decreased minute by minute; the creatures’ cries sent shivers down their bones. And as if that wasn’t bad enough, soon more of those phantom like creatures started to appear, even in front of the group, forcing them to change directions many times to avoid getting caught. In no time the heroes had behind their back what looked like an apparently endless army of those things.
Azrael started to fear that this was a trap and that his choice to trust that voice was a mistake that would cost the life of all. Luckily for him this time around he was wrong.
The Mane Six and Azrael found before them a shield of energy. Without any other choice, they rushed at it hoping to get through but to their surprise the energy field let them pass without problems. And stopped the ghost creatures from advancing any further no matter how hard they tried. The group stared at the magic barrier: it was so tall that it seemed to reach and cut the skies and long enough to cover the entire world, apparently. Despite not having the same need of their material bodies the group decided to rest for some seconds to shake off the terror of that chase.
“What…for…Pete’s sake…were those creature?!” exclaimed Rainbow Dash.
“They look like… Wraiths,” said Twilight while watching at Azrael for confirmation. The angel of death nodded.
“And what exactly is a Wraith?” asked Rarity.
“From what I’ve read they are some kind of evil spirit of people who feeds of the flesh of the livings.”
“They are far worse,” said Azrael, looking at the ghost creatures. “They are spirits, yes, but they are not of pony or any kind of creature. They existed when the Dusk of Souls came to be and they would have feed off the soul of the departed if Death didn’t erased them from the Existence.”
“Wait… if they eat the souls of the dead… does that mean that Floral Heart—” stuttered Fluttershy, horrified.
The though crossed the mind of everypony, filling their mind with grief. For how much sad Floral death was at least Azrael knew that once in the Dusk of Souls she would have meet peace and joy by meeting with her parents. The idea that was devoured by one of those Wraiths…
“We can’t be sure of that,” Twilight stated. “For all we know the Wraiths may have appeared after our arrival and so Floral wasn’t eaten by them.” She wasn’t sure of that, but she had to believe that her friend didn’t suffered such horrible fate.
“We got to hurry,” Rarity stated. “If the battle starts and somebody gets killed he’s going to get eaten by those monsters!”
After giving nice glare to the dark spirits, the group started moving in the more lively section of the forest where the Wraiths presence didn’t sucked the life out.
Applejack then realized something.
“Azrael, you are the angel of death, right? Is your duty to take the souls of the dead in the afterlife… Dusk of Souls,” she asked.
“Yes,” answered Azrael.
“Then how is it that you never knew of this place until now?”
“I’ve heard of this place when I was Death’s student. But I’ve never entered in this place like this before. Usually I just point the path that the deceased must take to reach it. A soul doesn’t need that much instruction to do so,” he explained, looking sorrowful.
“Why didn’t you come here before?” asked Twilight Sparkle.
“Because I did not felt worthy to be in this place.”
Azrael’s answer made the Mane Six regret to have asked this question and decided to change argument.
“Azrael, you said that Death had destroyed the Wraiths. Then how is it that they have returned?” asked Pinkie Pie.
“I don’t have any proof to prove my point, but I think it is Sombra’s fault,” answered the angel of death.
“You mean that he knows about what we’re doing?” asked Rarity, worried.
“I don’t think so. Even though I admit that, for how much bad that thing would be, there is a much worst possibility.”
“What do you mean? That he summoned them by accident!?” asked Twilight Sparkle, shocked.
“Yes. That’s what I’ve tried to explain to Rezor and Sombra. But people just have the arrogance to think that Death’s power can be used like the most common thing. If we don’t stop Sombra, you can bet that he will end up to destroying himself with his own hands,” the angel of death stated.
The words of the alicorn were grim, but Rainbow Dash managed to raise the moral.
“You know, this Death guy sounds quite too much OP for my tastes,” commented the element of loyalty.
“What’s an OP?” asked Azrael, confused.
“Over Powered. It’s a term used when a character is far too much powerful and can solve everything with easy, giving no sense of conflict joy when he wins,” explained the cyan pegasus.
“That’s really interesting Rainbow Dash. I didn’t know that reading so many books had improved your character,” commented jokingly Pinkie Pie.
“Hey, if one day you notice that I’ve spat out the phrase, “This is so awesome,” so many times, you have all the right to beat me on the head,” she said.
“You can count on it,” said Applejack giving a wink to the others.
The Mane Six laughed at the joke, and even Azrael couldn’t help but smile at their humor.
Shining Armor watched the vast army of undead alicorns, impressed by how big it was, surpassing their own three times. And if the numbers weren’t scary enough, the looks of those zombie-like creatures were sickening. Their bodies were rotten, the wings didn’t have any feather on them and showed bones and decayed flesh; the hooves were filthy and dirty and were filled with cracks. And their faces… the lack of flesh which showed bones, coupled with the complete lack of the lower jaw and eyes, was downright terrifying.
I can’t believe it… they shouldn’t be even capable to stand after all this time passed in the grave! Much less be sent into battle! The power that Sombra have over the dead is horrible! thought the Captain of the guards.
Princess Luna, who stood right beside him, could feel what he was thinking.
“You must not be afraid, Shining, this alicorns are nothing but a shadow of what they once were,” she said, reassuring the unicorn.
“Yes, but they are still much more numerous than us!” She noticed his extreme level of anxiety, and concluded something was off.
“That’s your first true battle, isn’t it?” she asked, already guessing the answer.
“Well, it happened to clash and fight with creatures like Hydras or some burly minotaur. But is nothing compared to this.”
“I guess, but I know your skills, Shining Armor. You have proved it during the reunion back in the Crystal Empire and before of our arrival here.”
“Well, it wasn’t really that complicated, but I appreciate the compliment”, Shining Armor said, giving a nod of respect to the ruler of the night.
The plan indeed had changed, passing from an aggressive one to a much more defensive type. Instead of charging the undead army, the united forces of Equestria decided to stand in circle, mixing the strength of the buffalos to the magic of the unicorns and Luna, assuming a strong defensive position. Shining could only hope that such strategy wouldn’t have annoyed Sombra, keeping him focused on the battlefield.
Suddenly the zombies alicorns started to advance with unexpected quickness. Apparently those horribly decomposed legs and hooves were still capable to grant them a great mobility.
“Brace yourself, people!” ordered Shining Armor.
And the undead army charged them and at the same time started to shoot rays from their horns. Luckily the magic barrier made by Shining, Luna, and all the unicorns held its place without any problem and while a part of them was busy keep the shield up the others ponies started the counter-attack, shooting burst of energy with all the strength they had, managing to damage their already messed up corpses. But that alone was not enough to stop their charge, which reached the barrier. The magic shield allowed them to pass…
Just to end up brutally assaulted by the buffalos! The team of those giants were split into two teams: one for attacking the trespassers and one to protect the ponies. The strategy was working pretty well and Shining Armor hoped that the things could keep going like this until the Mane Six and Azrael returned.
In the middle of fighting, he found himself wondering how the Afterlife looked like. He wondered if his sister would have the chance to meet their parents or Spike. Shining Armor grimaced at that thought. He had always saw in that little dragon—just as Twilight did—a little brother. And he didn’t forget, just like Cadence, that it was thanks to his courage that the Crystal Empire was saved. His death was just as sad as the ones of Celestia and his parents, for not counting that unlike the former he was yet a baby dragon.
Shining Armor moved those thoughts away. If he wanted to take down Sombra’s army he had to stay focused. The Afterlife could wait.
*
“Celestia! Celestia, please wake up!”
The ruler of Equestria opened her eyes, and found herself face to face with a familiar face.
“Spike?” she asked at first, confused. Once she managed to take off her the grogginess, she knew it was really him. “SPIKE!” she shouted, picking the little dragon off the “ground” and hugged him with happiness. The embrace was a bit too much strong for the small dragon.
“Ugh, Celestia, I know we are not in the physical world, but please contain your strength!” said the young dragon.
“Oh, sorry” she said, putting him down.
“Celestia, have you any idea of how we can get out from the Soul Eater?” asked Spike, looking concerned.
“Yes, but how do you know about that creature?”
“Well, my body may have been reduced to ash, but my spirit was yet pretty much awake. I’ve seen how Sombra used my soul and that of so many others to give this big worm life. After that I remember only a great pain tormenting, so strong that it made me lose all sense of time. At least until some minutes ago, where I felt Elements of Harmony hit the Soul Eater.”
“So, we are not alone?”
“Nope. Turn around.”
She did so, finding not too far away a large crowd of ponies of all kinds and ages. Once she started to move towards them the mass noticed her. Soon she found herself surrounded by scared and confused ponies which started begging the princess with all kind of questions and prayers, making quite the noise. Celestia tried to talk calmly but the racket was to much strong and it didn’t show to get down so she decided to use her Canterlot voice.
“Enough!” shouted the ruler of Equestria, her voice overwhelming the thousands of ponies before her.
“If we let panic take over us we’re not going anywhere. We must be calm so that we can figure it out a way to get out of here,” she continued, more calm.
“How? Have you tried to look around!? We are completely surrounded by darkness!” screamed a filly with a crown as a cutie mark.
For how much Celestia didn’t agreed on the desperate (and rather annoying) tone of the little she had a point. All around them there was nothing but a pitch black.
“Leave your hope you should not, because even in the deepest darkness light still is on,” said the zebra known as Zecora, pointing into a the far east. Everypony watched in that direction, trying to figure it out what the zebra had just saw. It was hard to see at first, but then they noticed something: A weak light, so weak that it was easy to miss.
“Is that a possible way out?” asked Spitfire.
“I don’t think it is, but something else not less helpful will be,” continued Zecora.
“So…?” asked Soarin, confused by the riddles of the zebra.
“I think that light is what we may consider the brain of the Soul Eater. If we reach it we may be able to find a way to get out of here,” stated Princess Celestia.
“Then what are we waiting for?” asked Spike.
The large crowd moved toward the weak light, just to find themselves before what indeed looked like some sort of brain or physical consciousness. But when they tried to get closer to it a barrier had risen up, stopping them on the tracks.
“Stand back everypony!” said Celestia, summoning all of her power to take the obstacle down into a ray. Sadly it didn’t matter how much effort she putted, the barrier didn’t even flinched at this.
Suddenly the place around them started to shake as if there was an earthquake.
“And now what’s going on!?” asked again the pink pony.
“I’m not sure of it, but I’m afraid that the Soul Eater is trying to break the spell casted by the Elements of Harmony” said Zecora.
“You know, I’m not sure of what I should feel, happy for the fact you just stopped rhyming or scared for the fact this thing is going to wake up and curse us again with pain,” commented Soarin, trying to use his humor to keep the panic at bay.
Too bad that the pink filly wasn’t at all amused by it.
“We are DOOMED! THERE’S NO WAY OUT! I DON’T WANT TO DIE!” started screeching the little pony.
“Tiara! Please calm down!” begged her father, who looked quite ashamed by the hysteria of his offspring.
“Please leave her to us,” said Sweetie Belle. The Cutie Mark Crusaders walked to the pink filly unicorn.
“Calm down Diamond Tiara!” ordered Applebloom, shaking Tiara like a ragdoll. Then when she didn’t complied to the request Scootaloo took her place.
“Let me try,” said the young pegasi. She grabbed Tiara by the shoulders, “Get ahold of yourself darn it!” shouted Scootaloo. As soon Diamond Tiara continued screaming the pegasi started slapping her, “I said, GET!” Slap. “AHOLD!” Slap. “OF YOURSELF!” ordered Scootaloo while beating her up.
“I think she has calmed down,” stated Filthy Rich.
“Better be sure about that.” For good measure, she slapped the hysteric filly a few more times.
“I had enough of this,” said Spike, turning all attention towards him. Then the young dragon started attacking the barrier with his claws and fire, to no avail.
“Spike—“ started to say the ruler of Equestria, but the dragon interrupted her.
“I’m sick of feeling useless, to be left behind while my friends risk their life over and over to protect us from every menaces which appears on the horizon! I don’t care if all of this is pointless, I will never stop trying to protect my friends! I say that has come the time to repay all of their effort, who’s with me?” he asked.
“I am!” declared Granny Smith. “Feel on joining us to take this bad guy out, Big Mac?”
“Yup” agreed the eldest brother of Applejack.
“Me too!” said Applebloom.
“Count us in too!” said Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo at the same time while the latter dropped Diamond Tiara on the ground.
In no time all the ponies from Ponyville, Canterlot, and Cloudsdale started helping them, pushing, beating and magic rays the barrier, helping Celestia in her work. What they couldn’t know (for the exception of Celestia) is that when the Elements of Harmony stroked down the Soul Eater they had also infused the souls inside of him with their power, giving them an extra amount of power. Now that they worked all together the power started to flow into them and soon helped them to overcome the magic barrier. The brain of the Soul Eater noticed that and started to blast the ponies away, hoping to get enough time to fully broke free from the spell. Many ponies were pushed back, but Spike and Celestia managed to get closer and closer. They could all feel that there were few seconds left to stop the monster consciousness, Spike leaped and, pushed by Princess Celestia, went straight towards the target. And then….
The Mane Six and Azrael arrived in the center of the forest. At the center of it there was an alicorn. At first Twilight and the others thought that she was Celestia, but getting as they got closer they realized they were mistaken. The mysterious alicorn was white and had a multicolored mane, but it was much more longer and filled with even more shades of colors than Dash’s, and was much taller than the ruler of Equestria.
“Welcome to the Dusk of Souls, Elements of Harmony and angel of death,” said the mysterious alicorn, watching them with her jade eyes the group. Her voice sounded young but at the same time old and ethereal.
“Who are you?” asked shyly Fluttershy. There was something in the alicorn that emitted an aura so powerful and yet so kind. Azrael felt that aura even more and he couldn’t help but notice how similar yet different it was from Death.
“I am Life,” she told them with a kind smile on her face.
Those three words were enough to warrant surprise and questions from the ponies. Azrael instead seemed less shocked and kept an enigmatic expression.
As if the abstract could read their minds (and probably she might have done so), she added, “I know you have many questions but, as I’m sure you know, time is running short. There is a lot you must learn before you can go back to help your friends.”
“What about the Wraiths? What can we do if in the meantime?” asked Rarity, worried. “We’ve learned that our friends’ souls could be vanquished!”
“They could end up devoured!” added Applejack.
“Your fears are justified, my little ponies. But you must not worry for the souls of your allies, for I will save them, taking them beyond the barrier I have risen to stop the Wraiths… just like I did with your friend,” told them Life, assuring them with a warm smile.
“You mean Floral Heart?” asked Fluttershy.
Life nodded and the group felt relief, knowing that their friend didn’t fall victim of those monsters and could have reunited with her family.
“Ok then, what is it that we must learn? Is it about the Elements of Harmony?” asked Twilight Sparkle, curious.
“You will find out soon enough.” A new path opened before them. “Proceed until you reach the lake.” said Life.
The Mane Six looked between each other and decided to comply. After all the entity seemed friendly enough and had helped them escape from the specters. But as they proceeded into the new path they noticed that Azrael was not following them.
“You’re not coming with us?” asked Rainbow Dash.
“No” said the angel of death, “What you have to find out is for you only. I will stay here… and have a talk with Life.”
The Mane 6 could thought they heard an edge in the tone of Azrael, but they didn’t have time to clear that. They saluted the two alicorns and walked into the path.
Once that they were far away, Azrael made to speak, but the abstract preceded him.
“I sense many questions in you as well, Azrael. Please, feel free to ask. I will try to answer to them.”
“What is your relationship with Death?”
“I’m the other face of the same medal, Azrael, you know that and—“
“Yes I know. What I meant was: are you and Death friends, brothers, or what?”
“We have been created by the same being so yes, I guess we can consider ourselves brothers, in a way. And we treat each other with respect.”
“Then why didn’t you stopped me from imprison him?”
“You know the answer, Azrael. My intervention would have damaged the Balance that Death has worked so hardly to fix in all those years in which he was on Equestria.”
“I know” he said lowering his head, sighing. “I remember all those days in which Death would tell how important Balance was; of how it is necessary to have both good and evil, chaos and harmony to coexist; and of how if one of the two sides would start to get too much powerful they will end up too… corrupted. Still I don’t understand why, if an abstract interaction is such interference, why Death has remained for so long.”
“Because the Soul Eater assault had already broken the Balance and Death has tried his best to fix that and keep an eye on the alicorns.”
“And then I’ve made the great mistake to trap him,” concluded Azrael, looking guilty.
“Have you ever wondered why Death didn’t find out about your plan?” asked Life.
“Yes, more than once. I’ve always thought that it was because he didn’t expected me to betray him… but at the same time I couldn’t believe it myself. He always seemed to know everything.”
“And do you know what happened after it?”
“Not that much actually. Since my discovery of Rezor’s lies I pretty much closed in on myself. All I know is that the war ended and then the Elements of Harmony have appeared—“ He stopped, as he suddenly noticed something that he never considered before now. “His imprisonment, the war… it was all a plan made so that the Elements of Harmony would be created!?” stuttered Azrael.
“Yes.”
“But was it necessary to cause all that suffering?”
“No. That was just one of his many plans. Death is never unprepared, Azrael. He studies every possibility. All consequences may be made by heart or mind, calculating every choice. His intellect is as vast as his powers. He could easily consider us nothing more than pawns to him. But I know him good enough to know that he is not so manipulative.”
“Once I would have thought the same, but now that I know how he used me…” said the angel of death. He wasn’t irritated. He was shocked. For so long he has thought that his actions were foolish… and now he had just find out that he had just helped Death succeeding in his plans. He should have been angry against him, but for how much the idea to be used that way sounded horrible the consequences weren’t completely horrible. In fact, the pale alicorn plan had in fact contributed to give the instruments to save Equestria from the forces of evil. Azrael was conflicted between the awe of how cunning Death has been and anger for the innocents suffer.
Life could sense that in him.
“You should know that this plan was one of those he didn’t liked.”
“But why? Why did he have to reduce the alicorn kin to near extinction?”
“I’m not the one who has to tell you why, Azrael,” Life said.
“Life, please—“ Azrael tried to say, but she interrupted him.
“Defeat Sombra and all your questions will find an answer.”
“Easier said than done,” commented the angel of death.
“You can do it, Azrael. Your power over the souls is second only to Death, if you just let go all the failures and frustration of the past.”
“I’m not sure I can do it… not after all this time,” said the angel of death, looking very doubtful.
“You can, Azrael, I’m sure of it. Now I must focus, the battle between your friends and Sombra army has started and I’m afraid that soon I shall do my best to prevent them getting eaten by the Wraiths.”
“Can you show me what’s happening?”
She nodded and opened a magic window which showed the battlefield. He watched how the undead alicorns charged again the united forces of Equestria and how the latter fight back with as much force as they could muster.
I hope that we are still in time, thought the angel of death.
***
The Mane Six’s walk was so calm that it was surreal. Not being chased by hungry spirits probably helped them a lot. And then they reached the lake and they finally saw the beauty of the Dusk of Souls. Before them there was an immense lake which water looked so transparent but at the same time didn’t allowed to see what was it under it. And then there, far away, there were tall mountains that didn’t allowed to see what lies beyond them, but it couldn’t stop the glimmer which shined above their tops. The flicker beamed of so many colors, so many shades and tints that would put in shame any rainbow and was just a show that the Mane 6 felt could watch for all eternity.
The place was just so calm and relaxing that there weren’t words capable to describe the sense of peace which irradiated from this place and if it wasn’t that the Mane Six had a mission to accomplish they would just lied down there admiring the lights.
Then, suddenly, their tiaras and necklace of the Elements of Harmony appeared on their ethereal bodies, sparkling intensely as if they were doing something. From the lights of the Dusk six spheres appeared and in a matter of seconds reached the group, for the assuming the forms of six full grown alicorns. Five of them were males, one a female. There was something oddly familiar about them, but none of the Mane Six managed to understand what it was.
The one which looked the wisest decided to break the ice.
“Greetings, Twilight Sparkle, Rarity, Applejack, Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash, and Pinkie Pie. We have been waiting so long for this day to happen,” said the alicorn, smiling warmly to the Mane Six.
“Who are you?” asked Twilight Sparkle, confused.
“We are the alicorns of the ancient times… and the Elements of Harmony.”
The strategy made by Shining initially worked out pretty well, but it didn’t take long before Sombra’s forces found a way to break it. The shield could protect them from every side… except the one right under them. From the ground the undead ones crawled out, attacking the unicorns and making it impossible to keep the barrier up. Like a castle of cards, the defensive position crumbled down, leaving the Equestria army without any defense other than their armor. Shining and Luna had to do everything in their powers to stop the underground assault to tear the formation apart.
If the alicorn zombies had succeeded in dividing them then it would be impossible to regroup and they would end up being torn to pieces by the undead. Shining’s skills and Luna’s raw power only just managed to turn the situation around. Not that right now the situation was the best one; many unicorns, pegasi, earth ponies and buffalos lay on the ground lifeless. And for how much they stomped, kicked, and blasted, the zombies would just fix their bones in a matter of minutes. Not even reducing them to ashes was enough to stop them to reform their abhorrent forms. Unlike the living they didn’t had fear, nor did they grew tired from fighting. Both Luna and Shining knew that.
Sombra’s power has brought them back to life and repair any kind of attack, thought Luna. But for how powerful he is, he can’t focus on two things at the same time. If someone could distract him long enough, he will not have the time to defend himself and fix the damage that these zombies take! She could feel that she had what it took to defy the tyrant, but she couldn’t leave her forces alone in the time of need.
“Luna, look!” exclaimed Shining Armor, pointing to the north.
In the horizon it was possible to see something getting closer and, for a second, Shining and Luna thought that the griffins were finally arrived. But they were wrong and when they recognized what they were: changelings. An entire swarm of them. Probably the entirety of the queen’s forces. The insect-like ponies started to dive into the battle, being surrounded by green fire, turning into meteor-like projectiles. The united forces of Equestria braced each other, ready for the impact.
How great was their surprise when Sombra’s supposed reinforcements turned against his army! Even the zombie alicorns seemed taken aback from such turn of events, becoming an easy target for their new enemies!
“What is going on? Why are the changelings helping us?” asked an earth pony, confused.
“I have no idea, but we can’t lose the opportunity to even the odds. Charge!” stated Shining Armor.
The united forces of Equestria didn’t need anything more to be said. They rushed into battle, conscious that now that the tables had turned.
*
Sombra watched the betrayal of the changelings with incredulity while inside of him rage started to inflame his spirit. The forces of Equestria were this close to being defeated by his undead army—and then the changelings ruined everything.
And in a flash of light their queen appeared right behind him, ready to fight him.
“You…” said with grave voice Sombra while glaring her, “You dare defy me!? After all what I made for you!?”
“Don’t act innocent, Sombra. You did those things for more reasons than you goodwill alone, just to keep me in check. I know of your spell to keep me under control like a dog!” shouted Chrysalis, giving herself a death glare to the dark tyrant.
“Well, excuse me to not trust a changeling. You creatures are all but loyal… and choosing your allies!” countered Sombra.
“I am loyal. To my people. And I won’t let them become your slave. I love them more than I fear you!”
“That’s where you’re wrong” said Sombra, his rage evident in his eyes, “You should have feared me MORE!” The dark tyrant roar, preparing to blast the changeling queen to oblivion. She teleported out of the way and answered to the attack with her own ray of destruction, charging as much energy as she could from the Alicorn Amulet. Sombra didn’t even flinched under her attack and used the magic to make her go crashing against the wall.
“Look at yourself: you betray me, turning your back at me in the heat of the battle and then you have idiocy to came to me bragging of how you don’t fear me while being so outmatched. It would be fun if it wasn’t so pathetic,” said the self made alicorn with an evil grin.
“Now I’m going to do what I should have done long ago: turn you into a mindless zombie… and send you to destroy your own people!”
Chrysalis made to get up, but Sombra placed a hoof on her, keeping her to the ground.
“Do you really think you could fight me alone? You are truly an idiot as many say.”
“Well, she may be not the brightest of the lot, but she’s not that stupid,” commented a familiar voice. Discord appeared in a flash of light.
“Come to join your friend in her demise?” asked Sombra, mockingly.
“Nope. I’m here to kick flanks and chew bubble-gums… and I’m all outta bubble-gum.” replied the draconequus with a sly grin.
“Saying silly things will not save you from… uh?” Sombra started to say, but then Discord snapped his fingers and the floor under Sombra’s hooves disappeared. The dark tyrant laughed, “You poor idiot! Can’t you see that I can fl—”
BONK.
“AAAAAAAAAAAAGH!” An anvil of enormous proportions fell on the villain, making him plummet in the hole. Soon enough the two heard a loud crash, as if Sombra had fallen on a pile of the most random stuff. With a satisfied grin Discord snapped the fingers, closing the floor in his place.
“You took your time,” commented an annoyed Chrysalis getting up.
“Sorry. I was just unsure of how to make my triumphant arrival. But don’t let your guard down, this alone will not be enough to stop him. In fact I think that I’ve just made him—“ Discord was interrupted, when the foundation of the castle itself started to shake and at the same time they heard someone screaming in anger. The voice was getting closer and closer. The floor broke open showing a Sombra who had dropped any look of patience.
“Mad,” finished the draconequus, looking a bit worried.
*
Princess Luna saw the main tower of Sombra’s palace blow up, managing to see three figures battling in the skies.
And as she had thought now the undead alicorns didn’t seem to be capable to get up to fight. With that and the unexpected help of the changelings the battle had turned into a more balanced fight so she knew that it was time to get serious.
“It seems that Discord has wasted no time getting on Sombra’s nerves,” commented Shining Armor; never before he was so much happy to see Discord’s antics. “But I still can’t believe that Chrysalis is helping us after all that she did,” added, noticing the figure of the changelings queen.
“She must have good reasons to do so. I must join them, keep Sombra busy or else we will lose, even with this newfound help.”
“Are you sure that is necessary? I mean, Discord and Chrysalis with the Alicorn Amulet may be enough to keep him occupied. I don’t how much you could,” Shining tried to say, but when he watched in the eyes of the princess of the night he saw something… a flicker of light. He couldn’t know what it meant, but he felt that there was more behind that.
“Ok then, go. And don’t worry about us, we’ll be fine. Now go kick Sombra’s flank!” shouted Shining Armor with enthusiasm.
Princess Luna nodded and flew in the sky, going towards the battle. In few seconds she would have reached her two allies, but then she noticed something moving from the gloomy castle. It was a little army of fifty crystal monsters which looked like a mix between a wolf and a bear and she could sense a great powers and were advancing towards the two armies. Without a doubt they were Sombra’s safe plan in case things went bad for him.
She knew that those beings could have turned once again the tables around the battle, once again putting the united forces of Equestria in jeopardy. She nosedived into the group of crystal creatures, unleashing a powerful shockwave that destroyed many of them, but not all. A part of the monsters focused on her while the other proceeded into the battlefield. She engaged the rest of crystal beings while she proceeded to the top of the castle, hoping to be in time to help.
*
Chrysalis and Discord found out soon enough that despite combining their powers they couldn’t harm the dark tyrant. The only thing they could do was avoid getting annihilated by the death-ray of the furious tyrant. Fortunately while the draconequus couldn’t defeat Sombra he had still enough power to slow him down. But he couldn’t keep doing that forever.
“You know, I’ starting to think that perhaps we have made a mistake,” commented sarcastically the spirit of chaos while dodging a load of rays.
“Tell me something that I don’t know” grumbled Chrysalis, not sharing his humor. “Where are those six idiots and theirs stupid elements when you need them? I thought they would have been here by the time we arrived!”
“Well maybe they are planning something.”
“With all probability to how get us killed” muttered Chrysalis while avoiding getting disintegrated by the dark tyrant.
“Hey, it was your idea the one to defy Sombra directly, I was more to help getting rid of the undead army,” pointed out Discord.
“Don’t remind me of that!” ordered the queen.
They would have keep it arguing, if it wasn’t that Sombra had grown tired of shooting them and used his magic to grab them using two huge skeleton like hands.
“Let’s see who I should kill first,” said the dark tyrant while grinning sadistically. “The one who dared betray me or the spirit of chaos… oh the choices!”
“I don’t fear you, Sombra!” stated the Changelings queen with fire in her eyes.
“Another sign that proves you know nothing. You will learn to fear me soon enough,” said Sombra, then he tossed with violence Chrysalis towards his palace, making her crash violently.
“You sure know how to treat the ladies,” commented Discord, trying his best to hide the fear.
“That’s nothing to what I’m going to do her once this battle will be over, but first I’m going to enjoy making you squirm in pain!” said Sombra, starting to crush him with the two hands.
*
Shining Armor had managed to assemble the forces against the newcomers. The crystal creatures were much harder to destroy and could count on limited magic and their arrival had turned the fate of the battle on a string.
Suddenly Shining felt a tremor shake the battlefield. At first he thought it was only due by the clash that was going on, but then he could sense the tremor getting stronger at every second. Then a thunderous noise started to raise as well, coming right behind them. The captain of the guards turned around and he felt all hope die: the Soul Eater was coming right at them at full speed! That monster had just broken out from the spell of the most powerful magic in Equestria!
“Not even the Elements of Harmony can stop that thing… then what can!?” he asked himself, while closing his eyes in a fit of anger and despair.
There was little that he or anyone could do to stop the Soul Eater to destroy them, he could only prepare himself to get eaten. His last thoughts went to Twilight and his wife Cadence.
“I’m sorry” he said, while a tear slowly fell from his eyes.
He could only hope that his sisters and friends could still save the world despite his failure. Time seemed to slow down… a bit too much. Why was the Soul Eater taking so long to finish them? He opened one eye, and then both. The titan had turned around the battlefield and was going towards Sombra’s castle, leaving Shining Armor to wonder what the heck was going down right now.
*
“Can you hear me?” asked a voice.
Chrysalis opened her eyes, seeing no other than Princess Luna.
“You look hurt,” commented the last ruler of Equestria.
“Don’t touch me,” hissed the queen of the changelings, getting up, “I don’t need your help.”
“You’re right, but your people do. Sombra has unleashed an army of powerful crystal beings to help his undead army. I need you to go help them,” said Luna with calm.
Chrysalis made to reply. She wanted to be the one to take down Sombra, to show that nopony can force her to do something… but she cared more for her people than leave her pride to rule over her senses. She simply give a small nod and flew right in the core of battle.
Satisfied, Princess Luna rose her eyes to where Discord and Sombra were, and noticed with shock the arrival of the Soul Eater. She made to attack him, but then she noticed something…
*
“Not laughing anymore, eh, you freakshow?” asked Sombra, while crushing the spirit of chaos, “Come on, say something funny!” demanded the dark tyrant adding more strength to it.
Squee.
Sombra stared at Discord with confusion, and then repeated his gesture. The draconequus kept sounding like a squeaky toy, with his eyes going out of his orbits.
“This… this is hilarious!” stated Sombra, still squeezing Discord.
“Ugh, stop that!” begged the draconequus. “Those are my lungs that your crushing!”
Sombra stopped, but not because of prayers of the spirit of chaos, but because he noticed the arrival of the Soul Eater.
“You managed to break free from those six foals? Impressive. I have the right reward for such amazing feat of power,” commented the self made alicorn, placing Discord in front of the colossus. “Here, eat this. Who knows how much powerful you will become once you will devour—”
Sombra was about to say more, but he didn’t manage to end his phrase since the Soul Eater used his head to strike the tyrant, sending him flying against a mountain.
“What the…” muttered Discord, watching the titan before him with confusion. Then he noticed that his eyes were not the creepy type he saw before, but the emerald green of a certain small dragon. “Spike?” The draconequus didn’t expected to get a verbal answer from that thing, but…
“Yup, it’s me… and all the other ponies which have been eaten by the Soul Eater,” explained the spirit of the young dragon.
“But how?” “We will explain you later. Now stay back and recover. I’m going to deal with Sombra!”
“You’re not going to do anything!” shouted the dark tyrant, teleporting back to his place.
Spike/Soul Eater rushed towards Sombra. For the first time Discord saw the seemingly invincible villain getting trashed around by the massive raw power of the giant monster… and it was a view worthy to be seen. Even the dark tyrant knew that everything was starting to get really out of hands for him. He had to do something to get rid of that rebellious being… and he had the right idea.
Sombra open up a huge wormhole big enough for the colossal creature. The passage, which beamed with dead colors, started to suck the massive beast like it weighed little more than a few pounds. Spike tried to avoid getting completely sucked inside of it, but the force was just too strong. Not that that stopped him from trying.
“Hold on Spike, help is on the way!” said Discord, making appear a gigantic fishing pole which he used to pull out his friend.
Despite his status of a god the draconequus found out how heavy the Soul Eater was. He had to pull all of his strength to prevent him to fall into that thing. The result was that he was getting sucked into the wormhole. Summoning all of his might he pulled so much that he could actually feel his bones and muscle hurt, but he succeeded into saving his friend. Too bad that he couldn’t do much to get inside the vortex.
“Aw, shucks,” he commented, before to get sucked completely.
“Discord!” screamed Spike/SE.
The small dragon had never put much faith into the spirit of disharmony for him being… well, the spirit of disharmony, but now that he has save him from being exiled into whatever alternate dimension he owed him an huge favor. Which he was going to repay right now.
Sombra, who wasn’t expecting that Discord interference to get in his way, was taken so much back that he couldn’t do much to stop getting eaten by the Soul Eater. For a couple of seconds it looked like it was finally came the end for the dark tyrant, but soon enough a strong energy started to light the inside of the titan jaws and, before he could spit it out, he got completely destroyed by a devastating ray of Sombra.
*
Azrael was watching the latest happenings when, right after the destruction of the Soul Eater, Life seemed to have a spasm.
“Do you feel alright?” asked the angel of death, worried.
“Y…yes” said the abstract, trying to sound reassuring.
“What happened?”
“For a second… for a second I felt the entire existence at risk,” was the spine-chilling answer, before Life got back to focus into saving souls from the wraith, leaving Azrael to ponder on the freighting news.
*
Sombra panted deeply. For a second he thought to be a goner. That before he actually focused as much power as he could, destroying his ex-pet. His victory was ruined when he noticed that by destroying the Soul Eater all the souls that the titan had eaten were now free and were flying around enjoying their freedom.
“What the… come back here!” roared Sombra, his weariness vanishing like a fog. Using his powers he gathered the souls, imprisoning them inside what looked like a bird cage. He got back to what remained of his throne room.
“I’m not yet done with you!”
“Let them go, Sombra, now,” said a voice right behind him.
Luna was there, her expression hard and determined, ready to fight…
The Mane Six stared with plate-sized eyes the six alicorns before them. This six beings were the Elements of Harmony!?
"I think we should give a nice explanation before the heads of our bearers blow up from all the questions that are filling their minds,” pointed out with a silly smile one of the alicorns.
“But first of all we should introduce ourselves. You know how rude it is to start talking to somepony without saying our names!” pointed out a white alicorn in a way that reminded everypony of Rarity, being overly dramatic in tone.
“Ok,” said the black and white alicorn in the center, but before he could say something further the white interrupted him, annoying the others.
“I will start first: My name is Vaire,” the alicorn introduced (and interrupted) with fanciness.
“I’m Este” whispered the blue one in a voice barely audible, while looking away, shyly.
“Excuse you?” asked Applejack.
“My name is Este,” repeated the female alicorn, sounding somewhat feeble.
“Try it again, louder this time,” Fluttershy told her.
“My name is Este,” said the blue alicorn with more conviction.
“I knew you could make it!” said the red alicorn. “The name is Aule, honored to meet you.”
“And I am Tulkas! The greatest flier of all alicorn kingdom!” said the grey one, with boastful tone.
“And probably the most stubborn one,” commented without malice the orange alicorn, “My name is Ulmo, great to know ya!”
“And I am Avalar,” concluded the black and white one.
“Well, that’s nice and all,” commented Rainbow Dash, “But would you mind get to the point? We don’t have all that much time.”
“Right,” nodded Avalar. “It is time for you to learn the origins of the Elements of Harmony.”
“Really?!” asked Twilight Sparkle, thrilled to hear how the Elements of Harmony, the very magic which helped them to protect Equestria, came to be.
Without further delay Avalar started talking.
“We six knew each other since we were kids, with our families getting along. Sadly our childhood was ruined by the Soul Eater’s arrival.”
“We wished to fight that big maggot, but our parents forced us to stay safe at home,” grumbled Tulkas, clearly offended.
“Well, we were only 7 years old after all,” pointed out Este, making the grey alicorn grow even more irritated.
“Anyway,” Avalar continued, “since our failure to stop that monster from destroying our country, and having to rely on Death, our kin started to get more and more hunger of power. We were there when Azrael managed to trap the pale alicorn in the Seal and we were also there when Rezor true plans became public. The ones closest to his family and the rest of our kin got split in two factions and even when Rezor met his end in battle was not enough to stop the conflict. Our families got torn apart and we were forced to witness friends getting at each other's throats. The war went on for one year—but it felt like it raged on for centuries, putting our race near to extinction. We couldn’t accept this any longer so, after a long talk between each other, we decided to find a way to stop it. We got ourselves in the center of the battlefield of what should have been the definitive clash and summon up all of our powers to prevent the two sides to battle, even at cost of sacrificing our own lives.”
“And as you can see, it did took our lives,” commented Vaire.
“But it was worth it. Thanks to our courage and bravery we proved to the rest of the alicorns how wrong the war was and managed to prove that friendship can withstand any conflict as long it is real and strong,” said Aule, smiling proudly.
“Then, after we passed away, our souls got an intriguing offer by a presence. Apparently our bond was so strong that she/he was impressed by it and decided to make it a force which would have protect all the living beings from the forces of evil. So our souls got connected by the Elements of Harmony, powering them with positive energy. Then Princess Celestia and Luna found us during their research of a way to stop Discord.” said Avalar.
“But, despite showing be capable to use it to stop the spirit of chaos they couldn’t use the Elements at their full power,” added Tulkas
“Don’t get it wrong, any being with at least one personality of the Elements of Harmony can use it to defeat or banish evil or else it would be pretty much useless as a defense weapon. The thing is, to be used at its best and for the most complicated spells, the Elements must be used by six beings—all of whom must embrace their harmony.”
“Also, is not possible to use one element to do the trick, no matter which one we’re talking. Each element is important,” added Vaire.
“Yes. I mean if the presence wanted to be one single tiara/necklace to wear all that power he would have done so, don’t you think?” commented Ulmo.
The Mane Six had always wondered why the ruler of Equestria had to banish her sister instead of curing her. Now, after almost 3 years, they had finally got their answer.
“Well, that is quite interesting,” admitted Rainbow Dash. “But exactly what use have this information to us now?”
“Knowledge is power,” answered Tulkas.
“Now that you know about the true origins of the Elements of Harmony it is time for us to allow you to use the full power of the Elements,” added Avalar.
“Really? Cool!” commented the element of loyalty.
The tiara and necklace of the Mane Six flew near the six alicorns so that they could do their work on it, giving a spectacle of almost blinding lights. The bearers of harmony watched in awe in front of that incredibly powerful magic. But despite the amazing show Rainbow Dash couldn’t help but watch what was behind them and noticed something weird… or perhaps somepony. It was only a glimpse but due to her skills of being fast that she was capable to see it although barely. The mysterious figure was a bit taller than Celestia but there were some particular that make her doubt. It had wings, but it lacked of a horn and its mare was… a rainbow… like hers. Before she may do or say anything the figure was gone in a flash of light, making her wonder what exactly she had just saw.
“There we go,” said Avalar, giving back the elements of Harmony.
“We don’t know how thank you enough,” said Fluttershy, smiling.
“Oh, you already have,” said Este, “Saving this land from the forces of the wicked, proving a bravery worthy of an alicorn.”
“Yes, I’ll admit, you’re not too bad,” added Tulkas.
“Now you have all that you need to stop Sombra once and for all” concluded Avalar. “You have our blessings and powers. Go, and save Equestria and the Dusk of Souls!”
“You can count on it!” said Applejack.
The two groups saluted warmly, wondering when they would meet again. On the way back the Mane Six chatted about the incredible story they had just heard, of how Twilight was going to write it down once the war was over and of how much Rainbow couldn’t wait to use the new powers to kick Sombra’s flank.
Once returned to Life, they noticed that Azrael was nowhere to be found…
23: The Power of the Night and The King of The Dead
Azrael was watching the battle with a more relaxed look. The situation was no longer as desperate, and the number of the fallen warriors had diminished greatly since the changelings’ change of sides. The undead army seemed in trouble.
Maybe, he thought, there was still a chance to save the rest of them. Then he noticed how Luna was no longer seen in the battlefield. At the beginning he had just thought that she was lost in the middle of the fight, but even when he focused his eyes he couldn’t see her anywhere.
“Where is Princess Luna?” asked the angel of death, worried.
“Right here,” Life said, moving the image of the sphere, showing a bold Luna facing Sombra.
At that view Azrael felt his fear coming back stronger than ever. He grabbed the sphere and started shouting at it, in a desperate attempt to be heard by the last ruler of Equestria.
“What are you doing?! Get out of there before you get yourself killed!” cried the angel of death.
“Hush, Azrael, and listen,” said Life calmly.
Azrael did not like what she said, and he couldn’t help but feel his heart beat in dread at the thought of what the dark tyrant would do to Luna.
*
“Well well, who we have here! The small and troubled Princess Luna herself,” said Sombra with mocking tone. The dark tyrant laughed at foolishness of the brat. How could she think to be a challenge for a being capable to take down with no effort Discord himself!
Luna ignored the sarcastic tone of self-made alicorn. There was such calmness in her… more than she had ever felt before.
“Did you came here to join your sister and servants in the eternal torments that I have in store for them?” asked Sombra with an evil grin. “And where is that bug queen?” he added, only then noticing the lack of that treacherous insect.
“She has joined the battle down there to help defeat your army,” said Luna with composure.
Sombra was not impressed. “Oh really? And you think that she and her army of bugs alone will make the difference against my army of zombie alicorns and crystal soldiers?”
“Not by themselves. But we are not alone,” replied the princess of the night, watching towards the sky. Sombra, actually confused, followed her stare.
*
Shining had no idea of how much time has passed since the beginning of this fight. He had also lost the count of how many undead alicorns he had managed to take down. Now the battle was in impasse, with the army of livings tired. Sombra’s zombie servants—the ones who couldn’t getting up— were easily reduced to dust.
The changelings’ intervention was fought back by the crystal monsters. The crystal monster at the same time was forced down by Chrysalis’s forces. The captain of the guards and the queen of the changelings exchanged a few glares at each others; neither especially enjoyed having to work together. Not that that stopped them to watch each other back.
Suddenly, in a short break from the battle, Shining felt his senses tell him to rise his eyes to the sky. And there, near the blue moon lighting up the heavens, he noticed someone standing on a cloud. A griffon. He recognized him instantly: Gyps Fulvus.
“Our friends are in danger,” commented the ruler of the griffin nation, his silver armor shined under the moonlight.
“Not for long,” said a female griffon appearing at his side. “Ready?!” she shouted, raising a sword.
At that signal from the cloud showed up a huge army of griffons.
“Charge!” she shouted, beginning the assault.
Like a heavenly vision the newcomers flew in the sky in flock so big that would have made even the changelings army look tiny by comparison. They looked like angels, descending, armed by swords, spears, and even their bare claws and peaks, tearing to shreds the undead army.
Shining Armor smiled at the scene. Like a dream come true he saw the annihilation of Sombra’s forces, then the rest of his forces joined in, completing their victory. Once that the last crystal creature went destroyed and the all the zombies were sent back in to where they belonged, only then did he sit down, letting his body rest. But despite enjoying the well deserved triumph he knew that this story was not over yet. With worried look he stared at the tower of the dark tyrant.
*
“You lost, Sombra, let the Seal go and give up,” ordered Princess Luna.
Sombra, who had witnessed the end of his supposedly unstoppable army without showing much other than irritation, let out a creepy cackle.
“No. My army lost, that’s quite different. And I sure don’t need those sack of bones and dust to get what I want. I just wanted to satisfy that arrogant fool that is Azrael. But now the time of play games is OVER!” said Sombra, his cackle turning into a growl.
“So be it,” said Luna, without looking a bit terrified.
Sombra laughed again. A mix of irritation, hilarity and incredulity. “Are you serious? What are you going to do? Throwing at me that piece of rock that is so insignificant compared to the sun?”
“You’re right. The moon is smaller than the sun… but it’s still capable to eclipse it,” said Luna with solemnity. As on cue, a aura dark as the night and white as the stars surrounded her, Sombra looked at her, taken aback from this event.
“And the night is not made of only of the moon, but by all the stars that surrounded the galaxies! And I have that POWER!” concluded the ruler of the night with echoing voice. The aura caused a explosion which shook the foundation of Sombra’s lair. When the flash was gone he watched the being who stood before him with shock. Princess Luna had grown, becoming as tall as her elder sister. Her mare was longer and it looked both darker and lighter, her fur a mix of blue and black, her eyes shimmered like she had stars inside of them. In a way she looked like Nightmare Moon, only that instead of being a demonic entity of darkness this one was a perfect amalgamation of light and shadow.
“What the!?” muttered the dark tyrant before this power up. “How can this be!? Where did you get all that power!?”
“I always had it inside of me,” answered the princess of the night, her voice sounding more adult-like. “But since my transformation in Nightmare Moon I have always been afraid that this power that I felt inside of me was the one of my evil side. But thanks to a dear friend of mine I know that my power does not reside in the dark, nor to the moon, but instead to anything linked to the night,” declared Luna.
“Nice speech. I will have it written on your grave,” said Sombra with a low growl, before charging at her as she did the same. But at the last second, right before clashing with the taller alicorn, she teleported away, leaving her opponent confused. Before he could turn around he was hit by a magic ray of incredible more powerful than Sombra had predicted, making him crash against the walls. This new Luna seemed even more powerful than Celestia herself!
But then the dark tyrant cursed himself to allow that particular to scare him. He had nothing to fear because he had the power to end all life! He could have taken her life with a thought! But he couldn’t do it because of its pride.
Roaring, he charged her once again.
*
Azrael stared at the image before him with pure amazement. He had heard her speech, witnessed her evolution, suppressing her fears through her courage feeling his blood chill with emotion.
“It’s…incredible,” muttered the angel of death, staring at the new and powerful princess of the night—an angel arriving from the stars.
“Indeed,” agreed Life. “It would seem like that despite your long exile you still know to talk to ponies souls,” it added with a warm smile.
Azrael stared at the abstract and made to reply, but fell silent, pondering while watching the battle.
“Do you really believe that?” he asked in the end, his voice a whisper.
“Yes. I know that you see yourself like a failure, but you have done some good… as I’m sure the Mane 6 said to you.”
Azrael remained silent, but in this light the sorrow that seemed always to linger in his eyes was gone. Strong determination took its place while he watched the fight between Sombra and Luna. Life knew what he was thinking.
“If you want to go helping her, feel free to do so.”
“What about the spell?”
“I will keep it up and no, is not going to be a problem. Now go!”
Azrael nodded, but first to go back in the world of the living he turned to Life.
“I want to thank you, Life… of everything.”
The abstract nodded her head while giving him a warm smile. And then he was gone.
* Discord couldn’t believe how unlucky he was. First he got beaten up by that shallow excuse for a villain, then he got imprisoned inside a cage for days and when he had finally managed to get out and join the fight he got himself dragged in another dimension.
“Seems like this writer has no idea of how to use me,” commented the draconequus, while taking a look around.
This world was all the opposite of the land of Equestria and beyond. It was completely lacking of any kind of life. One big barren wasteland made of sand and rocks as far as his eyes could see. Sure, in his long life and with his powers he had already seen other worlds which had similar looks, but this one was… off. He tasted the grayish sand and figure it that it wasn’t sand but a strange mix of dust and ashes.
And then there was the colors. For the most part where the most grimiest kind of shades of green, grey and white, giving the already dark place a creepy vibe. The light didn’t seemed to arrive from the sky, but it was part of that world. He thought so because it seemed impossible to see anything above him, cause the sky was so foggy that it made impossible to see if there was a sun or anything up there. And the wind which blow sounded like wails of ghosts. This place looked like the definition of death.
And he didn’t like it.
But before he could teleport himself back where his presence was needed he felt a teleportation spell being casted on him and he disappeared in a flash of light. When the blinding effect was done he noticed to not be anymore outside but inside some construction. But it wasn’t an improvement. The place looked build on stone and… something that looked like organic material, which reminded him of the Soul Eater. It was pretty much without any kind of furniture, with only two brazier which pale green giving an unsettling light. And a throne, which looked like it was made of bone and had many insignia showing skulls… and somepony was sitting on it.
He looked like an alicorn… or, to say it better, a corpse of an alicorn. Skeleton-like, the little skin it had looked dry and fragile like the oldest stroll and in some points it seemed like it had been sewn together. His mane and tail looked like webs. He was taller than Celestia, but not as tall as empowered Sombra. The cherry on the cake were his eyes: empty orbits made exception for some faint light. It looked far stronger and much more scary than the undead alicorns that Sombra used as an army.
“Let me guess… you’re the boss around here,” commented the draconequus, “Mind presenting yourself?”
“I’m the Lich King, Lord of the dead and ruler of this world,” said the undead alicorn, his voice as welcoming as his looks. “And the living are not welcome in my lands,” he added, his icy and raspy tone getting even more colder than before, while his eyes glared at the spirit of chaos.
There was something in that stare. There was no anger in it, nor annoyance. There was only cold, chilling hate. Something that Discord never thought possible. How can you hate something or someone without feeling angry at it? But now it wasn’t time to ask himself this questions.
“Well, if I’m not welcomed here, then I’m going to leave,” said the spirit of chaos, snapping its fingers. But nothing happened. “What?” said Discord in a flat tone. “Just give me a sec.” He snapped it again.
Nothing.
“Seriously?” He snapped them again and again, adding more force to it, but the result was always the same. What was going on here? His power had never let him down before! The answer came from the Lich King.
“You may be one of the most powerful beings in that world where you come from but here, in my kingdom, your powers means nothing.”
“Well, in that case, why don’t you beam me up, Leachy? Didn’t you just said that you don’t like us living? Then let me leave!”
The Lich King ignored the nickname that the draconequus had just chosen for him, his horn lighten up and Discord found himself surrounded by sickly green flames.
“You’re not going to interfere in my plan,” said the lord of the dead.
“Your plan?” said Discord, then he got it. “You… you are the responsible for Sombra’s return!”
“Indeed I am. But that’s the only thing you will get,” he said as the flames gotten closer to the spirit of chaos.
“Oh come on! You cannot just kill me! You’re the big bad, the mind behind this operation. I’m sure you want to brag of how your plan is flawless, of how we have no chance to win and etcetera. The last wish of a condemned to death,” pleaded Discord, trying to find something that could grant him some time. But the Lich King remained dead silent, watching him with those creepy eyes. But he didn’t gave up. He may be powerless, but he wasn’t brainless.
“Ah, I get it,” he said then with a wily smile. “Probably this isn’t completely a plan made by you, but by Sombra, because I doubt that you could come up with an idea like his with that head of yours (Which is certainly filled with cobwebs). You were just there to give him a free pass to the world of the living.” His mocking tone and a challenging stare at first didn’t seemed to have worked. But then…
“You are good at entering in the people’s mind” conceded the Lich King, while lowering the flames. “But don’t think for one second that I will spare your chaotic life.”
“No doubt about it.”
“To answer to your questions. From a long time I have been waiting for someone strong, smart and cruel to be killed; Sombra was the perfect choice. Right before he passed away I used my power to transport his spirit here. Then I gave him all the information that he need it to find the Seal of Death and bring it back to me.”
“Yeah he did that… except the last part,” snickered Discord, “You and Chrysalis would make a nice pair you know? You two would complete the neurons that are missing. Did you seriously thought that somepony like him would keep his word?”
The humor of the draconequus vanished when the Lich King gave him what seemed like a emotionless grin.
Luna knew all along that she couldn’t beat Sombra in a direct fight. But while Sombra was far more powerful, at the same time he wasn’t as skilled as her in using his powers in a direct fight with an adversary who was aware of the relic. She had seen Discord and Chrysalis manage to slow him down, so she could do the same. Focusing on her speed, dodging most of Sombra’s death rays, she used her magic to blast and blind the tyrant and strike him down with her own beam. While the princess of the night was fighting with grace and intelligence, Sombra was all the opposite. His mind was clouded by anger and his arrogance kept him from using more useful battle tactics. It was a great advantage for her… but it couldn’t last for long.
Sombra understood he had to be smarter than simply fly after her, and used his magic to lift the entirety of his castle up in the sky and throw it against her. Despite the great size of the bastion (on par with the Crystal Palace or even bigger than that), Luna easily blasted it to pieces. Strategically, she hit it in a certain spot to ensure the pieces of the castle would not crush anyone of her allies. Amongst the smoke and the falling debris she noticed that Sombra had already charged one big ray of destruction and before she had the time to get out of its trajectory he shot it at her at light speed. Acting quickly, she raised a barrier to protect herself, hoping that it would have resisted. It did, but she had to keep it up with her energy, or else she would have been disintegrated.
“Not so arrogant now, are you princess?” shouted Sombra while smirking, enjoying watching the last ruler of Equestria being so helpless.
“I’m not done yet,” replied Luna, her voice calm despite a clear sign of straining.
Sombra grimaced. “Even in the face of your imminent death you still believe to stand a chance against me? To stand at my level?”
“Strength isn’t everything, Sombra, you should know it well. Power is nothing without technique!”
Sombra just laughed at her answer.
Luna instead started to focus all of her power into her next attack. It was a desperate move, and she was aware of that. If it worked she’d be too weak to do much against him later. If it didn’t work—if Sombra kept up the assault—it would be her doom.
But she had to try.
Once she felt ready, she started to shoot her own ray, but instead of trying pointlessly to engage a beam war, she went for something far more cunning. Her ray circled around Sombra’s one, gaining more and more speed, taking the dark tyrant by surprise . *BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM*
The explosion could be heard for miles. The United Forces of Equestria and the Griffon army had to cover their ears.
The plan had worked. Sombra’s assault stopped, so Luna had the chance to drop her defenses. She flew to the ground, trying to get regain her breath before the dark tyrant could attack her again. But it was already too late; Sombra landed on his four hooves almost ten meters away from her, cracking the ground. Surprisingly enough it didn’t looked like he was that angry, but did not make Luna drop her guard.
“Impressive,” commented the dark tyrant while starting to moving closer to the princess of the night. “I had to admit I wasn’t expecting such a move. If it wasn’t for the fact that only Azrael can break this seal I’m sure you would have succeeded into breaking it. You truly are a great warrior… maybe you could… join me. It would be a great improvement to have one such as you at my side,” he added, while towering over her. “Of sure a great improvement over that bug queen… in all the sense.”
At that phrase Luna noticed how Sombra was staring at her…lecherously. She responded with a glare that expressed how sickened she was. Disgust wasn’t enough to describe it.
“But of course first there is some fixing that I shall do to make sure you don’t get any weird ideas,” he added with a slashing smile.
“I’ll rather die!” hissed Princess Luna.
At that the dark tyrant laughed. “Oh, that’s the first step of turning you into an obedient slave,” he said while summoning a big scythe and preparing to deliver a deadly strike… but then, when the princess of the night thought that she was done for, something interjected against the blade.
The angel of death had arrived.
“You…” hissed the dark tyrant with pure hatred in his eyes, but before he could say or do anything Azrael blasted him away with a powerful blast. The white alicorn turned his attention to Luna.
“Are you alright?”
“Yes, just a bit worn down,” she said, with a smile, but then she noticed the lack of someponies. “Where are the Elements of Harmony?”
“They will be here soon enough. And Luna…”
“Yes?”
“Thank you.”
“For what?” she asked, a little confused.
“Because seeing you finally show your true powers has give me the strength to do the same,” he explained. “Since that disgraced day, I’ve promised myself that I would have never used my powers to my full extent, because I was afraid to hurt innocents. But now, after all that I’ve witnessed, I know that only facing my fears and defeat the will allow me to protect you and those who I hold dear.”
He turned his attention to where he had sent Sombra, seeing that the evil alicorn was coming back at top speed. “And I’m going to give everything I got.”
With that said, he flew towards the dark unicorn/alicorn. Conscious of what forces were colliding, Luna flew to Shining Armor and the rest of their army to warn them to travel to a safe distance to avoid getting blow away.
Sombra and Azrael clashed their blades (a scythe for Sombra, two large sickles for Azrael), creating shockwave after shockwave.
“You dare face me, coward? Me, the master of death!?” shouted the cruel tyrant.
“Death has no master… and even if it had, you would never be his!” replied Azrael.
Sombra response was to roar and kept fighting.
*
“I never trusted Sombra,” said the Lich King. “I knew that he would have betrayed me once he had tasted the power of Death… for a being such as him it was as clear as the thing you livings call day. So I used his arrogance.”
“But why? I mean, how are you using him? And why didn’t you take the Seal? All that you have done is giving him almost infinite power,” asked Discord, confused.
“A power that will end up consuming him. A slow and imperceptible death, which he’s going to realize only when it’s too late. Once that will happen my spell that I’ve casted on him will turn him into my slave and it will bring the Seal of Death to me,” explained the Lich King.
“Do you really think that such power can be used by any of you livings without severe consequences?”
“Actually, no, I had no doubts about that,” commented the draconequus. “But what if he manages to conquer Equestria and beyond before he gets consumed by the Seal? He’s going to come over here to annihilate you.”
“I’m not concerned in the least. For how much powerful he may be he can’t grasp the full potential of that relic. And in my dimension my power is absolute. If he will get here I will reclaim the life I gave him.”
“And in which way are you using him?”
“To make you livings suffer,” was the simple and yet chilling answer of the undead overlord.
“Wow, and I thought that Chrysalis and Sombra were easy to hold a grudge,” commented Discord, trying to keep himself cool. “Mind telling me why do you despise us so much?”
“Because your existence is pointless. Everything you do, possess, or learn are meaningless because sooner or later you will die. You strive for choices, make up such ridicule things as good and evil—making things just chaotic. You come into this pathetic existence, only to leave shortly after. And then there are the beings like you and those despicable alicorns. Creature who dare say to be immortals and think they’re above death… arrogant fools.”
“You really hate us, don’t you? But why then didn’t you did the work by yourself?”
“I would have, but I’m stuck in my kingdom, because Death learned of my plans of exterminating you livings.” In his voice there was a trace of… bitterness. “Me, his creation, banished here by him…”
“Wait… Death didn’t wanted you to kill us? And he’s sort of your father?”
“Yes, but now things will change. He’s been sealed in a amulet for so long, just because he trusted you livings. If or when he will get free, he will unleash his justified rage on what it will remain of you livings. He will see you just as I do: a mistake that needs to be wiped out. And then you will get what you deserve.”
“Let me guess: death.”
“In a way yes, but not the one you think. I want your suffering… and I will start taking away from you what you cherish the most in the hardest of time: hope.” He almost whispered the word, filling it with loath.
“I don’t think is going to be that easy,” commented Discord, all but scared.
“Then you’re more delusional than you look,” replied the Lich King. “You don’t understand that you have no way to win this war? If Sombra doesn’t kill you Death or I will do the job. You cannot even choose the way you will die. I have studied this plan for centuries… you are doomed.”
“You’re underestimating us livings, Leachy, we’re quite stubborn.”
“That is not—“ he made to say, but Discord then added.
“And I don’t think that Death is going to kill us.”
For a second, the Lich King looked annoyed.
“You think that Death would forgive you after all that you have done to him?”
“I think that you are seeing things as you want it to be. I’m afraid that your plans are destined to fail.”
“Are you so certain of it?” asked the Lich with menacing tone.
“I could ask you the same thing. So what about a bargain: Let’s wait to see what happen when Death will get free. If I’m wrong you will be free to kill me, if I’m right you will release me and let me get back to the world of the livings. What do you think?”
“I think that you are truly desperate to ask me this. What do you hope to get from it? And why shouldn’t I kill you right now?”
“Maybe because I like your company?” asked Discord, but then he noticed how his sarcastic tone had no effect whatsoever and added, “Well, maybe because I just want to live as long as I can. And for the second point think about it: me, the master of chaos, the very chaos that you despise, as a present for your daddy, the pale alicorn himself. If I were in his place I would love it!”
The Lich King stared at him for a little, actually conflicted about what to do. Discord was doubtful too, but for other reasons other than his life. Where he had no fear that his friends would succeed to break the Seal he couldn’t say the same about what Death would have done once free. He could only pray for the best… if Leachy was going to let him live long enough.
“Fine,” said at last the undead king, “We will see what Death will chose to do… if your friends win.”
“Have no doubt about it,” replied Discord. “Now have you a TV or something?”
Once again his jokes had no effect on the Lich, which used his magic to open a window that showed a battle between Azrael and Sombra.
Better late than ever, thought the spirit of chaos.
*
It didn’t took long enough before Sombra stopped attacking savagely and started getting more defensive against Azrael assaults. The dark tyrant couldn’t believe of how powerful the angel of death was: he held off most of his assaults and kept counterattacking at any chance given. Yes, he was stronger, but Azrael was both strong, fast, and much more experience than him. Once again he had to play smart to get the upper hand in this fight. He unleashed several rays against Azrael to keep him busy, then he charged up on big sphere of destruction. But the globe wasn’t pointed against him, but to the united forces of Equestria! As soon as Azrael reflected the last of Sombra rays he noticed the large ball of energy.
Sombra really has put effort into making sure this one was hard deflect, Azrael noticed as he used most of his magic to protect his friends, being pulled down more and more to earth. Struggling, Azrael pushed the orb far away in the sky, making sure that the explosion wouldn’t damage the earth.
Azrael took some heavy breaths, trying to recover fast. But Sombra was faster. Not being capable to summon magic at the time he dodged to the left, rolling out of the way of the huge scythe that would have beheaded him brutally.
“Out of shape already?” asked Sombra with an evil grin, attacking again and again, keeping pressure on the angel of death. “Too bad… because I have just begun!”
Azrael rolled down in the dirt, trying his best to avoid the blade, but Sombra then used his magic to keep him from move. Smiling maniacally the dark tyrant prepared to deliver a deadly attack to him…
But then Luna appeared, using a blinding spell to break the one casted by Sombra. Luna and Azrael combined their power, striking the evil being with a combined blast, making him once again fly into the horizon and crashing on the same mountain than before, for the third time. Thus the two alicorns finally had the chance to relax.
“Are you alright Azrael?” asked Princess Luna, worried.
“Yes, just a little worn down,” said Azrael with irony.
“You look different,” commented the last ruler of Equestria. “What has happened in the Dusk of Souls?”
“Let’s just say that I’ve come to my sense about my past.”
“Good to know,” commented Sombra teleporting in front of them. “So you can finally die in peace!”
That said the dark tyrant unleashed a powerful blast of energy that seemed to have no end. Once again Luna and Azrael had to join forces to avoid getting disintegrated by the deathly ray. But, even though they managed to get out alive they had lost a lot of energy in doing so. It was only their willpower that keep them on their hooves. They stood there, ready to protect each other.
“Aw, how cute, a pair ready to die for each other,” commented Sombra. “Did you really think you could defeat me?”
“No” answered Azrael, grinning. “Just keep you busy until they arrive.”
“Who?”
Suddenly there was a huge flash of light which forced Sombra to go back.
“Us!” said the Mane Six, looking ready to fight.
Sombra’s surprise was quickly replaced by a purely derisive laugh.
“Oh, the princess of friendship and her pathetic friends! I almost forgot about you. Did you want to teach me how friendship is anywhere and is more powerful than everything else?” asked the dark tyrant in a mocking tone.
“Oh you’re going to learn something, alright!” yelled Twilight before her and her friends unleashed a powerful aura. “To not mess with us!” On cue the other Five started to grow wings and horns, turning them into full alicorns!
Luna and Sombra were taken aback by that sudden transformation, Azrael much less.
“Another improvement of the journey in the Dusk?” asked Luna.
“Yup,” answered Azrael.
“You have got to be kidding me! Why is all the sudden everypony has some inner power!? You know what? I don’t care anymore. I just want you dead!” shouted Sombra, charging the six. The bearers of the Elements did much the same, charging forward. The impact between them was brutal and it seemed that the very foundation of Equestria were shacked from the clash!
Sombra, who wasn’t expecting such struggle, fell back, and in that instant Rainbow Dash passed to the assault, attacking him with her very hooves. “You’re going to pay for what you have done to our friends and family!” she shouted, her rage giving each of her strikes impressive force. Sombra grabbed her with his magic but before he could do anything else Fluttershy flew before him and gave him the Stare. Empowered as it was even Sombra was affected by it, giving enough time for Applejack to rush in and deliver her trademark double kick, sending the dark tyrant in the sky. Waiting for him there was Pinkie Pie, which had summoned one big cartoon like hammer which she dropped on Sombra head, making him fall back towards earth, where he got hit once again from the pink earth pony. If she had used her magic or her randomness nopony could tell.
Cursing under his breath the dark unicorn/alicorn got up, facing himself face to face with the white unicorn (now alicorn) of the group. Raising his scythe he made to attack, but Rarity summoned a fancy looking sword and started to duel the tyrant with elegance and style, dodging all his attacks and attacking… his hair, turning it in ridiculous looking variant.
Hot vapor came out from his nose as to prove that his anger he slammed the blade of his weapon on the ground with such strength that it send the Mane Six far away, thought they landed on theirs hooves. “I have had enough of you!” roared Sombra.
“Oh, what a coincidence, we have too!” replied Applejack.
Sombra started to charge one ray of which he was sure would have destroyed those pesky ponies, but the Mane Six charged their own powers, channeling the power of Harmony like never before. Once again the arrogance of Sombra was responsible for what happened next. Underestimating the new power that the bearers of Harmony had get, he wasn’t prepared for the overwhelming force which took over him. In another big blinding explosion Sombra ended up inside a deep crater.
The Mane Six got close, checking out and ready for any nasty surprise.
“Are you ok down there?” asked Fluttershy.
“Oh yeah,” answered sarcastically Sombra. “I’m all surrounded by cupcakes and ice cream.”
“Nice, can I have them too?” asked Pinkie Pie, joyously.
“…I’m surrounded by idiots.”
“Oh, but I thought you said you were surrounded by cupcakes and ice cream?”
“AAAAAARGH!” screamed the dark alicorn getting out of the hole like a rocket. “THAT’S IT! NOW EVERYPONY DIES!” With that said he flew high in the sky.
He made to unleash all of its powers, but something wasn’t right. Sombra was releasing so much energy that could have wiped out Equestria. Acting fast the Mane Six summoned their power creating chains and used them to chain the dark tyrant. Even with their newfound powers it was hard to keep them pulled. It was only a matter of time before the energy would have reached a point of no return.
“What is going on?” asked Pinkie Pie.
“I have no idea!” replied Twilight Sparkle.
“It happened what I’ve feared the most” said Azrael, looking completely fresh. “Sombra has lost the control of the Seal. He’s going to destroy everything in the creation.”
“Ok then, Azrael, I think it’s time for you to show what can destroy the Seal,” said Rainbow Dash.
“I have what I need right here,” replied the angel of death, looking sad.
“What do you mean?” asked Luna, watching him with uncertainty. Twilight, who was wondering from a while what Azrael had to destroy the seal knew the answer.
“He means his life,” she said, her voice tainted by sadness.
Suddenly the thunderous forces which were shaking the air and the ground seemed getting far away from the group as they absorbed that news. The eyes of the Mane Six started to fill with tears.
“What?” was all that Fluttershy could say.
“You’re not serious,” whispered Pinkie Pie, her voice cringing.
Azrael limited himself nodding.
“No!” screamed Rainbow Dash. “That can’t be true! It’s not fair!”
“Why?” asked Rarity.
“It was the best thing I could find to make sure nopony would have break the seal. It was the only way to make the world safe… and the only way for me to pay for what I’ve done,” answered Azrael, looking sober.
“Why didn’t you tell us that!?” asked Applejack, her anger softened by her grief.
“I wanted to keep it a secret until the day of the battle, but then I couldn’t tell you because I didn’t wanted to hurt your feelings” said gently the angel of death.
“And you didn’t thought that telling us right now wouldn’t hurt us?” asked Twilight, trying to not sound accusing.
“I’m sorry,” apologized Azrael, “I guess there are things that couldn’t be avoided. But you don’t have to be sad, my friends” he added, looking them right in the eyes and, for the very first time, a warm comforting smile. “I owe you a lot. You managed to teach me something that I had not believed from a long time. Something that would allow me to do what I should have done millenniums ago.” With that said he turned to speak to Princess Luna but she had turned her eyes away, trying her best to avoid show him how much she was suffering.
“Luna” he said.
“Go,” she interrupted him, making him sign to go. “Do what you must.”
Azrael stared at her and made to talk but then he stopped himself. There was no time, and there were no words to express his regret that things weren’t going their ways. But he didn’t allowed this to stop him. He had to do this. At least they would have lived. With that thought he turned one last time to the whole group, Luna included, “Farewell, my friends.” With that said he opened his wings and flew to the sky at full speed, as strong as he could.
Far away from the center of the battle the United forces of Equestria watched from safe distance how the angel of death was flying towards that huge mass of chaotic and deadly energies which were hold in place by the efforts of the elements of Harmony, uncertain of what exactly he was doing.
Sombra was quite busy trying retake control over the relic but he still noticed the arrival of the angel of death and tried to strike down the alicorn with some magical ray which missed the target. “What do you think you’re doing you dolt?” asked furiously the dark tyrant. “Trying to break the Seal of Death? You lack the courage to do it. You never had it in the first place! What makes you think that this time is going to be any different?!”
While getting nearer and nearer to his target, waving through the forces unleashed by the Seal, Azrael responded.
“Honesty, Laughter, Generosity, Kindness, Loyalty and Magic” said the angel of death in a solemn tone. “This is what is changed, Sombra. You’re right saying that I always lacked of courage, but not now, not today. Today I’m not doing this for me, but for my friends! I’m not afraid of dying as long as they will be safe!”
With that said he pushed onwards with all the might of his wings and charged his horn with any fiber of magic he had while Sombra could do little to stop him having little control over the artifact. And in the end Azrael horn collided with the Seal of Death, shattering it.
What happened next was another explosion of light, far more powerful than all the others before, which engulfed Azrael and Sombra. The dark tyrant cried out loud in complete powerlessness, fear and frustration clear in his eyes. The angel of death instead faced his end with dignity, letting his body disappear into the light, ready to face his crime with his soul in peace knowing that his friends were alive and, at last, he had succeeded into doing the right thing.
When the explosion came the Mane Six dropped their spells and their wings and horns disappeared in a flash of light, while their eyes watched the end of their friend with sadness. Luna, which had managed to keep her cool until now, felt her anguish take over. “AZRAEL!” she screamed, while burning and salty tears started to roll down her face.
While everypony, Changelings, Buffalos and griffins covered their eyes, their sense couldn’t possible see what was actually going. A radiance of mysterious glow started to expand, like when a drop of water falls back in the pool with a not so different effect. Such wave expanded, beyond Equestria, beyond the world, beyond the galaxy, beyond the universe, arriving to touch every single corner of the multiverse and every shape of reality. At last… Death was free…
*
In the Dusk of Souls the Wraith stopped at the unison trying to make breach into the magic barrier risen by Life, as if they felt something dreadfully familiar in the air. As on cue they started running away at masses, the nightmare inducing phantoms fled in terror and fear, but that didn’t do anything to prevent them to be deleted from existence for the last time. Life finally turned her defenses down, while feeling around her how the Dusk, now freed from the evil presence of the soul eating Wraith, could finally return in complete peace. “Thank you all, heroes of Equestria. From now on, you all have the blessing of all the souls of the Dusk of Souls,” she said, with a smile, while enjoying the harmony of the beyond.
*
Once that the blinding effect wore off everypony noticed that the world seemed to have regained the colors and the life that it had lost since Sombra return. Even the sun had returned to take his place and now it glimmered through the clouds gracing every one with it’s warm sunshine.
The souls which were trapped by the dark tyrant were finally freed from their cage flew above the heads of the army. Two of them detached from the vast group and go meeting with our heroes. The two sparkling souls suddenly started to change shape, assuming a more material looks. Two figures that our heroines knew well. “Spike! Celestia!” cried the group, crying tears of joy while rushing to hug their friends. Fluttershy and Rarity cuddled up with Spike, while Twilight didn’t know who she should have hugged first.
“Princess Celestia? Spike? You’re alive!?” asked Shining Armor, reaching the group with their allies, “How can that be?”
“I don’t know exactly how, but I know that the souls of all the people killed by Sombra have been sent back from where they have been taken,” explained Celestia.
“So that means that…” Shining and Twilight said.
“That our parents and friends” continued Applejack.
“Are going to be fine?” concluded Rarity.
When Celestia nodded the Mane 6 and Shining couldn’t show how much happy they were to hear that news, but their smile was more than enough. The souls of Canterlot, Ponyville and Cloudsville weren’t the only one who where back; all the soldiers of the Crystal Empire, the Buffalos and the changelings too. And far away behind the army it was possible to see the golem of Floral Heart waving his gargantuan hand.
Celestia then turned to Gyps Fulvus, Thunder Hooves and Chrysalis. “I want to thank you for the help, King Gyps, we own you a lot.”
“No need for that Princess Celestia,” said the Griffin King, “It was about time we gave back a favor after all the help you gave us in the past.”
“Yeah, it rarely happens that we get to fight some zombies,” said the female griffon.
“That voice… Gilda? Is that you?” asked Rainbow Dash, surprised.
“Took long enough to recognize me, knucklehead,” commented Gilda removing her helmet.
“How did you became the commander of the Griffin Kingdom?” asked the rainbow Pegasus, confused.
“Nice to see you again too,” commented Gilda. “For how I got this far? Well, that’s a story for another day. Now your leader is talking.” Rainbow Dash knew that she was right so she decided to be quiet for now.
With that said Celestia continued thanking their allies.
“And I thank you too, Chief Thunder Hooves, the strength of the buffalos will not be forgotten.”
“It’s been an honor to serve you your highness,” answered the leader of the buffalos with humbleness.
“And Queen Chrysalis, I must admit I would have never expected that you would have switched sides. Maybe this could be the beginning of a great friendship between our people,” said Celestia kindly.
But the queen of the Changelings didn’t seemed that enthusiastic. “Keep that silly thing for yourself, princess,” replied Chrysalis with harshness. “I don’t need that. I just helped you out because I had my own reasons to do so.”
“And now you ruined the mood,” said Pinkie Pie, frowning.
“Helping us was the least you had to do, after destroying Luna and Celestia’s home!” said Rainbow Dash.
“It was an accident,” Chrysalis said, not much for her feeling really sorry for it, but more for fear of facing down the forces of Equestria, noticing how everypony was staring at her.
“Is that supposed to be an excuse?” asked with grave tone Fluttershy.
But before anyone could blame her more Celestia step in defense of their former enemy.
“While the destruction of the castle it was a big loss it doesn’t mean it is impossible to fix. In the end she was the least of evils.”
“So are we going to forgive her and that’s it?” asked Applejack who, like her friends, didn’t seem so willingly to forgive the changeling queen.
“I think that today she has done a lot. If she doesn’t want to be friends with us I don’t want to force her to do so.”
“Ok,” agreed Twilight, “But she has to give back the Alicorn Amulet.”
Before Chrysalis could venomously reply to that demand, a scream of pain could be heard coming before the large army. Something or somepony had just crushed down on the ground.
*
“Well, would you look at that. Everypony is coming back to life,” commented Discord, showing an arrogant smile. “It would seems like I have won our little game.”
The Lich King stared at the magic image as if his non existing eyeballs were trying to escape his orbits. “What does it means?” he asked, showing for the first time genuine disbelief. “Why is this happening?!”
“Is it so hard to realize?” asked the spirit of chaos, rolling his eyes. “Let me tell you clear, you were wrong all along.”
“Silence” hissed the Lich King, “What do you think you know about Death more than me?! What’s happening now doesn’t mean nothing!”
Wow, and I thought Rainbow Dash was a sore loser, thought Discord, “Oh really? Then what does it mean? That Death is bringing everypony back so he can kill them again? Sounds quite exhausting if you ask me.”
The undead overlord didn’t answered, but the draconequus could read his expression (For how much stirred it was) and understood that he was right thinking that.
“Oh please! Why should Death, an abstract of unlimited power and control over the souls have need for its victims to have physical bodies?”
Discord had good points, but the Lich King was far too much blinded by his hatred for the livings to accept them. How could Death do it? How could he forgive the Livings who feared him and despised him at every possible chance? The very beings responsible for his long imprisonment!?”
“Hello, are you there Leachy?” asked Discord, “Because it appears that I’ve won. I think you owe me one way ticket for the main Equestria. The pony one, not that filled with cheesy jokes or, even worst, that—“
“You are not going anywhere, except to your total obliteration!” shouted the Lich King, preparing to fire a ray of death towards Discord.
“Afraid that I’m saying the truth?” asked the spirit of chaos, showing defiant look in front of his probably imminent end.
“No… I just can’t stand you any longer,” hissed again the undead overlord as he made to shoot.
But before he could do that the big doors opened violently, taking by surprise both the draconequus and the Lich. A shadow lurked ahead, casted over the two. And for the first time in his life Discord felt speechless by the fear he felt poisoning his soul.
*
The army gathered around the meteor, curious to find out who or what was it. The Mane Six and Luna hoped that it was Azrael but they knew that this wasn’t possible. So they were not that disappointed when instead of him Sombra got up from the rubble. The dark tyrant was back to his original form of unicorn, losing his wings and a lot of weight. When he got up and saw himself being surrounded by his enemies he scoffed, all but scared. “What are waiting me to do? To cry like a brat? Is not going to happen.”
“Sombra, you have a lot to answer for,” stated Celestia with a cold tone.
“Do I look like I give damn about that?” replied the dark tyrant, angered, “You don’t know what it means having an infinite power and then losing it because some pathetic idiot thinks he’s a hero!”
Princess Luna stomped into the ground in anger, “Don’t you dare speak of Azrael that way!” she said. “Azrael was a hero ready to give his life to stop you from destroying everything with the power that you claim to control! And you will pay for that!”
“You want another fight princess? Then bring it on. All of you!” said Sombra, defiant till the end. “I don’t care what you throw at me and how many you are, I will make sure to take some of you down with me!”
“Not if we take you down first!” said Chrysalis, advancing, “Without the power of that stupid artifact you are as good as dead—“ she stopped at once, her eyes widening, like the ones of all the others. The army started to retreat and Sombra laughed, thinking that it was because of him. But then he noticed the sparkles of gloomy light behind of him and a strong wind had risen. He turned around to see what the fuzz was all that about. Behind him there was some sort of tornado of wailing souls!
“What the?” murmured Sombra feeling a shiver running down his spine, but that shiver was nothing compared when he saw a tall humanoid-like hooded figure towering over him. Without a warning the figure pointed a skeleton like finger in his direction as for accusing him, making the dark tyrant almost jump in fear, as if it was on cue the ground under him collapsed like an illusion. It was so sudden that Sombra almost fell in it before managing to grab into something to stop his fall. He turned to watch what lied in the deep of the hole and noticed with horror that there was a coffin ready for him.
The grave open up abruptly, showing an ocean of fire and flames which boiled at an immense heat, lighting up the hole with reddish color. Sombra reckoned that it wasn’t the first time he saw those flames. “No, no NO!” screamed the dark tyrant, trying his best to get out of the pit, to avoid the punishment that was waiting for him.
He had managed to reach the edge, but he found himself face to face with the hooded figure, who was staring at him with eyes that seemed like some cosmic black hole. The ghost like presence grabbed his horn and said, with the most glacial voice possible: “Reap what you sow.” And then, with a quick move, he ripped the horn from Sombra’s skull! The pain was so much that the dark tyrant released his hold and caused him to fall helplessly to his right, screaming in pain and fear. Once he fell in the lava a torrent of flame erupted from it, lifting a big cloud of smoke and dust before closing it down, again as if nothing had just happened.
The Equestria Army stood still, after having witnessed the Sombra’s end, staring at mist trying to figure it out what was it in the middle. Silence was total, making everything even more creepy. And then they heard the sound of something moving…
From the deep of the smoke cloud it started to move towards them with calm and calculating steps a tall figure which eyes seemed to pierce both the mist and the souls of everypony. Time seemed to slow down more and more as much the tall figure kept advancing. And, at last, the figure appeared in front of the vast army, no more as a humanoid-like figure but like an alicorn so tall that it would have made Celestia look like a normal pony. As if he had given an order the cloud vanished, revealing the new comer. Everyone, be that Buffalos, Changelings, ponies or alicorns stared at the being in front of them with their mouths wide open as their eyes in fear and awe. Despite having the biggest army ever right behind them, the two alicorn sisters, Chrysalis armed with the Amulet of the alicorn and her and her friends having improved the Elements of Harmony Twilight knew that nothing would have mattered; because before them there was the grim reaper, the pale alicorn and guardian of the balance… before them there was… DEATH!
When Azrael opened his eyes he expected to be once again in the Dusk of Souls. Instead, he found himself lying on something which shone with light. He got up, noticing that all around him there was neither darkness nor light, but something that he couldn’t quite comprehend. He focused then on where his hooves stood and his mouth opened in a gasp when he noticed that under him there was the complete Existence! He could have spent all eternity watching it and he would have seen barely a quarter of it. The angel of death wondered what this could mean… and somepony answered his question.
“That is the manifestation of how I feel the Existence. Or at least a way for us to meet on a solid ground.”
Azrael recognized that voice, and turned his attention to the being in front of him. “Greetings, Death,” he said, trying to force his voice to be strong instead of sounding meek and cowardly.
“Hello, Azrael,” responded the towering alicorn, with an enigmatic tone.
Time seemed to slow down as angel and abstract stared at each other.
“I’ve made a terrible mistake, Death,” said Azrael in the end. He felt like a worm and he knew that he was right to feel so.
“I’ve made a great mistake too, Azrael,” replied the pale alicorn, his horn started to shine sinisterly. “But I’m here to solve it. As I should have a long time ago.”
Despite being prepared for any punishment Azrael couldn’t help but feel his heart (or maybe soul?) freeze in fear. He recalled all the stories he had read about heroes who proclaimed not to fear death. He doubted that they would have said so in front of the Grim Reaper himself.
*
The eyes of everypony stared at the pale alicorn in front of them, his sole presence releasing an aura of unmatched power. Twilight could feel that in front of such power they were nothing more than ashes in the wind. Celestia and Luna exchanged a glance, and gave an almost imperceptible nod. They were both ready to give their lives to Death to make sure than Twilight and Cadence, who weren’t natural born alicorns, would not become victims of the revenge of the Grim Reaper. Silence ruled the land with its weightless presence for a long time, interrupted only by the heartbeats of everyone, waiting with fear for what Death would have said… or done. Princess Luna stared at the pale alicorn and confirmed what she saw in Azrael’s dream, with him being tall, strong, and yet not having an exaggerated form.
The pale alicorn, on the other hand, seemed to stare at the large army before him without hinting at what he was thinking, be that because of the mask he wore and the calmness in his eyes. Then, when everypony was thinking that this would have dragged on forever, he spoke.
“Greetings, princesses,” he said with his charismatic voice, giving a small bow in front of them. Hearing that voice made most of the females blush and Rarity almost fainted.
“Wait a second…” said Pinkie Pie, out of loud, “Death is a him?!”
At that exclamation Death seemed to look like he had frowned.
“Pinkie!” shouted Twilight. “Now is not the time!” She then turned to the pale alicorn and made to try to apologize for the outburst of her friend, but Death just snickered.
“You don’t have to worry, my little pony. This is not the first time someone has mistaken me for a she, nor it shall be the last,” the Grim Reaper said. He then noticed how everypony was looking at him as if he was ready to take their souls and added, “You have nothing to fear from me. I don’t mean to harm you.”
“Really? We thought…” muttered Celestia.
“That I was angry at you? No, I am not. I thought that bringing you back made this pretty clear,” he said, raising a eyebrow in amusement.
“That was you? We thought—“ Luna made to say, while looking where Azrael had disappeared.
“What?” Death asked, curious.
“Nothing,” she said, looking sad, just like the Mane Six.
Celestia changed the argument. “We thought that you would been furious to us, the alicorns, for what our ancestors have done to you.”
“What your ancestors have done is part of the past. Your kin sadly suffered a great fall because of their arrogance, but I knew that from the ashes of their mistakes, new alicorns would born. Smart, strong, and yet kind and humble, beings worthy to be called sovereign,” Death said, his words making Twilight, Celestia, and Luna blush as if they were school-fillies.
“Though,” Death suddenly said sounding more serious, making the ruler of Equestria heart stop for a second. “There is something I should tell you.” Celestia felt something weird and looked at her friends. Everypony and everything seemed to have frozen, as if time itself had decided to stop. Death’s doing, without a doubt. When she turned her attention back to the pale alicorn she noticed he had moved closer to her.
“What is it?” Celestia said, trying to not sound nervous.
“There are two things that we have to talk about. First one: turning Twilight into a princess and an alicorn. I’m not a fan of turning ponies into alicorns unless is totally necessary. It’s not that I think Twilight doesn’t deserve the title or the new form; she has done a lot after all, especially these days.” “Then what is the problem?” she asked, but then she realized what was wrong. “It’s because it happened too soon, isn’t it?”
“Most likely.”
“Yes, you’re right,” she admitted. “Probably I let my pride towards Twilight’s skills make me think that she was already prepared to assume the role. But you must believe me, Death, that I would have never turned Twilight into an alicorn if that meant to make her immortal. I really care for her, but I will never do such cruel thing as separate her from her friends.”
Death nodded. “I know that you really mean that.”
“What is the second thing you wanted to talk me about?”
“Discord’s reformation.”
“I should have seen that one coming,” she commented, sighing in comedic relief.
“Indeed. Just like with Twilight I can see your intentions behind wanting to turn the very spirit of chaos into a powerful ally.”
“But?”
“But turning the very god of disharmony into the harmony side could lead to a lot of complications in the near future. You have compromised the Balance, Celestia. I’m surprised that there aren’t been consequences already, but they will come. You can count on it.”
“I’m sorry,” she said, frowning at the thought that her, the one being which tried to keep the cosmic balance in place, had done something like this.
Suddenly she felt something on her shoulder and she saw Death putting his hoof on it, as if comforting her. It felt so strange to her to be this close to Death. She felt her body shiver in cold but, at the same time, she felt her soul get warmer. And being so close to Death made her blush intensely.
“I know that you didn’t have bad intentions, Celestia. Many people have done far worst things that you did for a greater good. I just want to warn you to be careful and ponder more on your choices in the future,” he said, his voice comprehensive and kind. “I don’t blame you for your mistakes. The Balance can be very complicated; you just did what you could to maintain it. And I have to say, except for those two things, you did a good work.”
With that said Death moved back where he was before and time began to flow as it should. It didn’t seem that anypony had noticed the whole spell.
“Now let’s deal with another matter,” the pale alicorn said, and turned to where Chrysalis stood. But she wasn’t there, nor any of the changelings. Apparently they had took advantage of Death’s arrival to fly away or even teleport their army away. But if the queen of the changelings thought that it was so easy to escape Death, she got herself a bad surprise.
The Grim Reaper horn lighted and Chrysalis appeared in front of him, sitting down as if she was a filly who was about to get scolded. Death moved closer and held his hoof ahead. “The amulet,” he said, menacingly. He didn’t have to said that twice; the changelings queen gave away the relic. Apparently she knew better than show arrogance in front of the towering alicorn.
Death grabbed the alicorn amulet with his magic. “You helped Sombra to do a lot of bad things, not to mention your plan about the Canterlot Wedding,” he said, making the queen shiver in fear. “But in the end your assistance was of a great help in defeating Sombra’s army. And I know what your past is like. So I will spare you a similar fate to the one of your former ally.” With that said he gave the Amulet of the Alicorn back at her. “Take. I have removed all of the negativity in it so you can use it to feed your people so they don’t have to suffer the hunger.”
“Oh, thank—“ she made to say, but Death interrupted her.
“But be sure to not try to take advantage of it to take over anything. Because in that case you will receive my visit. And it’s not going to be a friendly one,” he added, his tone not admitting replies.
And so she did. She grabbed the Amulet and, after giving a quick nod, she flew away.
Not everypony thought it was right for the changeling queen to keep the Amulet, but they knew that Chrysalis wouldn’t be so foolish so as to defy the will of the pale alicorn.
“Now that this story is done, I have two things left to give you,” he said, opening his large wings. “I think I will start with the right one.” He closed his right wing, and again time seemed to freeze, even if this time it was more of a metaphor than a spell, as everypony stared at the pony who seemed to appear out of thin air.
*
Azrael held his breath, wondering what kind of punishment an abstract could do. The last thing he expected was Death doing nothing more than opening a magic window and making him look at it. Not having other options available, the angel of death obeyed his master and father figure and looked at what was going on in it.
A earth pony was galloping as best as she could on a mountain, carrying something in her backpack. The reason behind her actions could be seen far away: the Soul Eater. The titan was trying to eat a group of alicorns who were trying to take him down with all they got, wasting a good amount of energy. She didn’t turn back to watch the one-sided battle, continuing to run and climb in her search of an entrance in the caves. There, she hoped, would have found a shelter and an hideout from the beast.
Her thoughts were interrupted when suddenly a grim silence dropped behind her. She turned around and saw with terror that Soul Eater was staring at her, his unnatural eyes staring at the very soul he wanted to eat. The alicorns were nowhere to be found; maybe dead, perhaps having retreated from the unstoppable monster. Panic boiled her blood as she turned around and rushed to try and get as far as possible in a futile attempt to escape the maw of the Soul Eater.
The beast covered the distance between them in a matter of seconds, crashing against the mountains reducing most of the into rubble. The red earth pony felt the world turn upside down as her body flew, slamming against the hard ground, almost knocking her unconscious. But then she noticed that she had lost her backpack and now was rolling down towards a cliff. Shaking off the pain, she darted towards it and leaped forward in an attempt to grab it. She succeeded, but she found herself dangling from the cliff… and the Soul Eater was there, ready to eat her. Facing what seemed like her inevitable demise she embraced herself and her backpack, in a probable pointless attempt to protect it
But the colossal worm never devoured her. She heard a loud explosion and a roar growing more and more weak. She opened her eyes and saw the Soul Eater collapsing to the ground, defeated. A monster that for days brought destruction to every corner of the country and that not even the combined effort of god-like beings seemed to stop now lied defeater and lifeless. But who could be that powerful, she asked to herself. Suddenly she felt herself being picked up by magic and brought away from the cliff, landing on the still standing side of the mountains, finding herself face to face with the tallest alicorn she had ever seen.
“Are you alright?” he asked, staring at her with interest. She nodded quickly.
“Who or what are you?” she asked, fearfully.
“I am Death,” he said. Those three words sent a shiver down her spine as questions filled her mind, but she lacked the courage the ask them.
“You don’t have to worry about the Soul Eater anymore,” he said, and made to leave.
“Wait,” she called, finally finding the bravery to speak, making the pale alicorn stare her with a glint of confusion. She grabbed the backpack and open it, revealing a baby pony who couldn’t older than few weeks. The little one didn’t looked very alive.
“Please,” she pleaded, “you have to save him!”
Death looked at the newborn with attention. It didn’t take long for him to conclude the diagnosis. “There is nothing that I can do.”
“But you are Death!” she replied, desperate. “You have the power to save him!”
“It’s not that simple. He’s so close to the Beyond that bringing him back would be defying the order of the Balance. My intervention against the Soul Eater was necessary; this one, sadly, is not,” he explained, trying to keep his tone neutral, but the pony could feel regret and sadness in his voice. “I’m sorry, but you have to accept this loss and move on. It is the only way to truly leave.” he added, trying to use some wise pearls to comfort the pony, knowing much too well that no words could fill the hole inside of her. “Farewell.”
“Wait!” she screamed, making the pale alicorn turn to her. The pony seemed to have a seconds of doubt, but she ignored them and, summoning all of her bravery, and stated, “Take me in his place.”
Death just stared at her, “You… you will give your life… for his?” he asked, as if he had trouble believing what she had just said. The pony just nodded. Death seemed taken aback from the small pony’s valor and had to ponder well on what to do. Sighing, he knew it would be unfair to ignore her act of courage. “In that case I guess there is a way to save him,” he admitted, but then added, “But once the ritual will be complete he will turn into an alicorn and thus he may never reach you or your families in the beyond. You may never meet again.”
“It doesn’t matter as long as he lives,” she said and, upon seeing the doubts of the pale alicorn added, with pleading tone, “Please… it is not fair for him to die like this.”
Death stared at her intensely, but then, noticing of sure she was of her choice and how strong her love was, nodded. “Then so be it” he said, summoning a gigantic scythe. “Fear not… it is going to be quick and painless.” But the earth pony didn’t show that much of fear. She hugged her baby softly and kissed him on the forehead while tears fell down her eyes, which she wiped off.
“I’m ready” she said.
When her soul left her body, her smile was heartwarming.
*
Azrael was so taken over by that images that he didn’t realized there were tears in his eyes. “So… that was how I came to be,” he said, incapable of finding better words.
“Indeed. Your mother was one if not the bravest being I have ever known. Actually, the ponies in those times were truly amazing creatures. They had no wings, no magic, nor the might of an alicorn, and yet they didn’t let those limitations to stop them. Unfortunately their progress was stopped by the Alicorns. Once a noble kin, after the disaster with the Soul Eater, something had poisoned their minds, turning them into arrogant beings who felt the need to rule others. For my limited time on the earth I’ve tried to make them change their ways, but I knew that once I would have left they would return to their egotistical ways. Not all of them were evil, though; there were those who understood that enslaving the ponies was an horrible action. This would have led to a war between two factions, a conflict between beings so powerful would have lead to the destruction of the world, so I had no other choice than depowering them and taking away their immortality,” Death explained.
“Alright, but why did you leave me at the orphanage just to then pick me up again some years after? And why didn’t you wanted to reveal your plan?”
“Because I didn’t think I was fit to take care of you. Think about it: me, Death, the Grim Reaper itself, taking care of such young life? It didn’t feel right for me. I left you in the orphanage because I hoped that sooner or later someone would adopt you and then I would teach you how to control that unique power of yours. But time passed and I felt your pain and loneliness—so I had no other choice than be both a father figure and teacher. The alicorns didn’t like that so I tried to keep you less involved with our discussion, so that maybe they would not see you as an agent of mine. And I didn’t wanted that you to get too attached to me either, because I didn’t wanted to make you feel abandoned again.”
“Death,” Azrael muttered as he heard the tone of the pale alicorn getting more and more sad.
“In the end you had grown on me, becoming like the son I never had. So you can imagine how hard it was for me to have so many secrets and plotting behind your back. But time was running short, and I couldn’t stay on the earth any longer, so I had to make choices of which I’m not proud of, forcing you to do something that you have regretted for so long.”
“I know. Life told me about your plan. In the end your plan was necessary to keep the Balance and create a force of good which would have protected the weak from the forces of evil. You have done nothing wrong.”
“Yes I have, because I have created the very being who caused your suffering.”
“What are you talking about?” Azrael asked. Then he started to unite the dots. “You mean that the one who has created the Soul Eater and brought back Sombra are the same being?”
Death nodded. “He calls himself the Lich King. I created him long ago, out of nothing more than curiosity. When he showed to be a creature capable of thinking, I tried to teach him what I have taught yo. But the more he learned about the Livings, the more he despised them. He used my teaching for his own ends. He used necromancy and alchemy to create the Soul Eater, and when the alicorns tried to open a passage to the other world, they gave him the chance to test his creation. Once I managed to stop that wretched monster, I went down in his own dimension, where I saw that he had already created more of those abominations. Filled with rage I destroyed those unholy monsters and confronted their maker, trying to make him see the suffering he had caused—but he didn’t listen. He said that he would never stop until Life and the Existence itself would cease to exist, so I had no other choice than banish him in his own world.”
Azrael flinched at what Death had just told him. A being so merciless, so full of hate towards the living to create monsters like the Soul Eater? An entire army of them? He wondered why he didn’t destroyed him.
“You couldn’t imagine he would become such a treat,” the angel of death said.
“No… but I did leave him a chance to pick Sombra’s soul.”
Azrael made to reply, to ask him why he would do such a thing, but he stopped thinking about what his master had just told him. His mind put all the lines in their place. “You knew of his plans!” Death just nodded. “Why? Why did you let all of this happen?”
“For a lot of reasons. The Bearers of the Elements of Harmony need it to be tested to their limits and find out about the true potential of their power. There are forces coming, Azrael, forces of great power that will put each one of them in front of their opposites and against their own friends. Because the Seal needed it to be broken; because doing so you would meet the ones who would be capable to show you the power of friendship, helping you to face your fears, and to overcome the wounds of the past.” Death added, “And you don’t have to worry for the fallen ones. After you destroyed the Seal everypony was back alive. I would never let innocents be sacrificed for my plans to succeed.”
Azrael remained silent while absorbing the explanation of his master. He already knew how much Death was capable of planning ahead. He shouldn’t be that surprised about it after what he found out in the Dusk of Souls… and because he never had beaten Death in a chess game. And yet he couldn’t help but be in awe by the intelligence of his master, which seemed to be near-omnipotent. “Well, I guess then everything is alright. Everything has gone according to your will,” said the angel of death, not knowing well what other say.
“It should be, but I’m not satisfied,” said the Grim Reaper, his tone somber.
“Why?”
“Because, as Life told you, I don’t like to use ponies like pawn. They have the right to live their own life, after all. And how I’ve manipulated your emotions and become the cause you lost your parents… that makes me feel even worst.”
“You don’t have to feel so bad,” protested Azrael.
“I have to. I taken upon myself the responsibility to look after you and show the way to control your amazing powers. And when the Balance called I had a fight inside my mind between my duty towards the Balance and the duty of being a good father. And as you know I let the Balance win. And that led to you passing eons suffering for mistakes that could have been avoided if I was a better father. I felt your torment for every single second for every single day until Sombra’s arrival. I shouldn’t have made you go through that,” said Death, his mask couldn’t hide his expression of shame and remorse. “For all that… I’m sorry.”
“Death—“ Azrael tried to talk, but Death interrupted him.
“If you want to accept my apology, I need you to say it with sincerity. I will understand if you don’t,” he said while bowing his head in sign of submission.
The angel of death stared at the abstract of death with bewilderment. The most powerful being he had ever known was asking his forgiveness like the most humble of the beings… and he couldn’t accept it.
“We live our lives as best as we could,” said Azrael. “A life without errors or hard choices sounds heavenly, but it’s through errors that we can understand our mistakes and grew, improving ourselves.”
“One of the very first lessons I told you,” said Death, raising his head.
“Indeed it was,” replied Azrael, his eyes started to tear up, but this time not for sadness, but for happiness. “Then I would say to try this again.” With that said, Death got closer to him. “Nice to meet you again, son.”
“Greetings… father,” said Azrael, before rushing to the taller alicorn and hugging him.
Death seemed embarrassed by that, but he returned the act of affection. After a while the two detached.
Azrael wiped his tears. “Now what is going to happen to me?” “That is yours too to decide. You can join your parents in the Dusk of the Souls, but now that you know of that place have found out with your true potential, you don’t need to pass away to have a chance to meet them, so…” suggested Death with a humorous tone while opening a passage. “I think it’s time for you to enjoy the friendship you have just found.” Azrael couldn’t do much more than smile.
*
The Mane Six and Princess Celestia and Luna couldn’t believe it. Azrael stood there, less than 10 meters away from them, in one piece and with a warm smile on his face. “Hi, girls,” he said.
The Mane Six made to rush at the angel of death to hug him, but a blue blur surpassed them and beat them to the goal. If it wasn’t for his fast reflexes Azrael would have fallen to the ground by the sudden embrace of the princess of the night. While he was surprised by her act of affection this time the angel of death returned the hug.
“Don’t you dare do that again,” she whispered in his ear, her words sweet and soft.
“I won’t… I promise you, on my very soul, that I will never leave you again” promised the angel of death, his voice kind and caring. The two broke the embrace to stare each other in the eyes, a smile gracing their features. The vast crowd smiled too at the scene, especially Celestia, who was so happy and proud of her sister. She had managed to unleash her true power and now she had find somepony who might be her special pony. But the heartwarming moment got ruined.
“Now kiss!” said a voice, suddenly.
“That voice…” said Rainbow Dash.
“Is he…” made to ask, Fluttershy, happy.
“Sadly yes, it is,” confirmed Death, frowning in annoyance.
The two alicorns looked around, confused. Then after a flash of light Luna and Azrael founded themselves wearing clothes made for a wedding.
“Hooray for the happy couple!” Discord shouted, while a crowd made of his clones clapped enthusiastically.
“DISCORD!” shouted both Luna and Azrael, enraged.
“What is it? Do you want to make a loving speech?” asked the spirit of chaos, teasingly.
“We are not in love!” stated Princess Luna.
“Agreed. Falling in love in such short time is nonsense!” added Azrael, looking no less furious while he and Luna ripped off their clothes.
“And they say that while getting rid of their clothings,” commented Discord, making the two alicorns blush at that.
“This… doesn’t mean anything,” Luna tried to say, fighting to control the red on her face, having as much success as Azrael.
The princess of the night couldn’t help but frown at what Cadence would have said if she heard of their embrace. She could already see the smug smile of her niece as if to tell her told you so.
“Ah, can you believe it people? They don’t think love at first sight is real. Twilight, give me an hand here,” asked the draconequus.
“Why me?” asked the purple alicorn, confused.
“Oh well, I thought that because in that famous book made by Cadence you were so in love with—” made to say the draconequus, getting abruptly interrupted by a raging princess.
“Don’t you dare, Discord,” she said, her voice firm and her eyes glaring at the spirit of chaos as if she would kill him. “Don’t. You. Even. DARE.” The tone and her death glare seemingly convinced Discord to not insist on that matter, but he told himself to keep the picture he had taken of the hug of Azrael and Luna and show it to Cadence... with the right adjustments. He would also have to mention Celestia blushing at Death… good material for her fanfictions.
“Anyway, where have you been, Discord?” asked Fluttershy, the only one of her friends to notice the disappearance of the spirit of chaos.
“Yeah, where have ended up to? You missed the whole fight and how awesome we have been!” pointed out Rainbow Dash.
“Well, that’s a long story. One I would prefer to forget. All that you need to know is that I couldn’t be here without the help of my new best buddy here,” said Discord while putting his arm behind the pale alicorn neck. Death didn’t seem to enjoy this one bit, glaring at Discord before putting his arm off him.
“Don’t touch me,” said Death in a cold tone.
Discord just grumbled in annoyance for the disdain that the Grim Reaper reserved to him. Yet he couldn’t help but wonder why he saved him from the Lich King. At that question his mind went back some minutes ago…
*
Death advanced slowly towards the Lich King, stopping right beside Discord. The draconequus was impressed by the size of the pale alicorn: he was as tall as he was plus some inches more! He shivered when the Grim Reaper turned his eyes on him, giving him an enigmatic look, before turning his attention back to his creation.
“Lich,” said Death, his tone hard to decipher.
“Death”, replied the undead lord. His voice sounded like a mix between hate, respect and fear. “Did you came here to save this thing?” asked while nodding towards Discord.
“Yes, that… and to talk to you.”
“Let me guess… is about what I’ve done.”
“He’s really good at guessing stuff,” commented the draconequus.
“Quiet” hissed Death. He turned to face the King. “Indeed it is.”
“Then you can spare your breath, Death, and leave.”
“I hoped that time would have helped you get through that hatred.”
“Then you are an idiot!” blurted out Lich. “But then again that should not surprise me, because you already proved how naïve you can be when those pathetic creatures are involved!”
“I have already explained to you how much strength these beings that you despise so much have. Why can’t you just open your eyes for once,” replied the Grim Reaper, his voice sounding… melancholic.
“Because I saw what they are: petty beings who acts for they own good.”
“No, you just see a part of what they are. Yes, they are imperfect beings, but that’s what makes them perfect.”
“You speak nonsense.”
“No I’m not. It’s the way that the Balance work. Good calls evil and evil calls good, just like death calls life and life calls death, or, again, as chaos calls order and order calls chaos. They are the opposite of each other and yet they are both necessary to make everything work. Everything is linked to each other. And I think that the Livings incarnate the Balance at their best/worst because of how varied their nature can be. There must always be opposites, but not always such opposites must be enemies. Nothing is eternal and, at the same time, everything can last forever.”
The Lich King just stared at Death, irritated by his speech. “This is not logical. Every single thing you just said is not logical. What is certain is that everything that lives dies, so why is there a point to all of this life… this… thing that you call Balance to exist in the first place!”
“To live and learn, Lich King. Everypony has the right to live their lives. Sometimes they can do a lot of bad things, but other times they can do good. And a life well lived, surrounded by friends and family, is that. And death, as many poets and philosophers said, is just the beginning. A new start of something greater, where even those poor unfortunate souls who didn’t had the chance to have an happy life can find peace.”
“Enough!” shouted the undead lord, “All these words are an insult to the both of us. Go, keep doing your pointless work for that idiotic Balance! But know this, pale alicorn: As long life will exist I will be here. I will never stop trying to end this FARCE. I am the opposite of life itself: I AM THE LICH KING! I will always be a thorn to Existence side!” The rant concluded, the Lich teleported away.
Death stood still for some second, lowering his head as if something was troubling him.
“Well, that was sure something, right, Death?” commented Discord. “Kids this days! Always thinking to be better than their—” He noticed the glare that the Grim Reaper was giving him; a silent invitation for him to keep his mouth shut.
The alicorn sighed. “We have wasted enough time here,” said Death, getting up without showing any trace of sadness left. “Should we get moving? Or maybe you prefer stay here?” he asked.
Discord couldn’t understand if he was being sarcastic or what, but he knew what himself wanted to do. “No thanks. I prefer places which are more… alive.” And with that said he and the pale alicorn disappeared like a mirage from that place.
*
Discord couldn’t help but wonder why Death hadn’t turned that undead monster into dust. Or why he looked so sad when Lich refused to listen to him. Before he could get more questions out of what he had witnessed Fluttershy hugged him, happy that he was alright.
“Well, I guess that is all,” said Death, his voice neutral.
“Do you really have to leave?” asked Azrael, sad to see his father figure leave.
“You know that I have to. I can’t stay that long on this plane of existence unless there is a threat to the balance,” Death said. Then he put his hooves over his shoulder and added, “But you can be sure that whenever you will need my presence, I will be there. But I do believe that in one way or another you will be in good company.” He motioned to Luna and the Mane Six. Azrael just smiled and nodded.
Before Death could take more than five steps Celestia called him out, “Wait, Death!” The pale alicorn stopped and turned around. “I wanted to tell you that I’m sorry for what our kin has done to you… and for how much we disrespected your name,” she said, her voice sincere. “In the name of all us alicorns I beg your pardon,” she said, bowing.
“Like I’ve said before, you don’t have to be so harsh on yourself. The Livings will always fear what is beyond their control and what lies beyond their normal world. It is something that I’ve come to accept a long time ago. After all,” he said with an ironic tone, “Who would ever call themselves a friend with Death?”
The question wasn’t really expecting an answer. And yet…
“I do,” said a meek but yet strong voice, which belonged to nopony else but Fluttershy.
The small pegasus flew near the towering alicorn while he stared at her with perplexity. The little pony at first seemed afraid, but then she showed an honest smile and hugged the neck of the Grim Reaper.
“What the...” muttered Death, surprised.
Soon after her all the other members of the Mane Six (plus Spike) joined their not-so-shy friend, embracing the pale alicorn, while Celestia, Luna and Azrael watched with the rest of the army the good nature of the Bearers of Harmony. Discord tried to join it too, but a scythe appeared on his way, another silent warning for him to not get near.
Death stared at the little ponies who were embracing him. Sure, it wasn’t the first time he got hugged, Azrael had just done that recently, but this was different. Azrael, after all, was his adoptive son and they got to know each other over the years. But this ponies? They knew him by few minutes and they didn’t let fear made them forget that he had helped them to save the world and were more than ready to have him as a friend. For the first time in a very long time, Death found himself speechless.
Indeed, the power of friendship may not be capable to wipe away a galaxy with a thought, but after all, not all the great powers of creation need to destroy to be great.
“Thank you, Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash, Applejack, Spike, Rarity, and Twilight Sparkle,” Death said in the end, his tone kind, before fading away.
It is said that the one who turns around to see his past could be considered a person to have doubts about what he has done with his own life. But sometimes, turning around and seeing what you have done is the only way to see how far you have come and to understand all the difficulties that you have passed. I am, without a doubt, the latter. My life has not been easy. Somepony I know could make a metaphor of it being like a rolling coaster, with few ups and a lot of downs. But that part is over. Now I am no longer alone. I am surrounded by people who see more than an angel of death. They seem me as a friend. I’m not sure I will ever be capable of thanking them enough… but I will try. Because they are worth it.
Azrael looked at what he had just written on his diary, satisfied.
“Are you alright, Azrael?” asked Princess Luna, entering in his room.
“Yes, I just had to write this down,” he replied, showing his recent addition.
“I think you are much too kind,” said Luna, smiling at him.
“Don’t undervalue yourself. You helped me more than you think, just like you are doing now.” He moved to the door “Shall we?” Luna nodded and followed him.
In the main hall, the Mane Six and Spike were fixing all the damage that Sombra had done, cleaning the place from all its dust and webs. At first, Azrael proposed that instead of focusing on his castle the attention be to the palace of the royal sisters because, unlike his castle, it was completely wrecked. But because there were both the ponies of Canterlot and Ponyville working there, Celestia stated that she had all the help necessary to rebuild their homes. Now Azrael’s castle was no longer under the intangible spell, so it was much easier for the Mane Six and Luna to get in. The group didn’t waste any time in starting to clean the place up. Everyone except a certain spirit of chaos.
“Been somewhere, you two lovebirds?” asked Discord, teasingly.
Luna and Azrael glared at him.
“What? Don’t tell me that you are still mad for me showing Cadence your hug, are you?”
“Yes,” they answered at the same time, bluntly.
“Why don’t you stop messing with them and start helping us?” asked Applejack, annoyed.
“Oh, but I am helping you,” replied Discord.
“How? All that you’re doing is watch us do the work while you eat a sack of popcorns?” asked Pinkie Pie.
“Spiritually I’m doing a lot.”
“You know you could clean this place with a snap of fingers, right?” asked Twilight Sparkle.
“Oh, but then what would be the point for you to have a cute friendship moments?”
“In that case why don’t you give us a hand… please?” asked Fluttershy.
Her tone of voice was so cutesy and pleading that Discord couldn’t help but comply, thought he groaned in annoyance.
“I swear that the more time I spend with you the softer I get,” grumbled the spirit of chaos, joining the ponies in cleaning.
“If only softer would made him less irritating,” commented Azrael with low voice, making Luna and Twilight giggle.
“I wanted to tell you something, Azrael” said the purple alicorn. “I want to write down a book in which I’m going to talk about you and Death, showing the world your true personality.”
“Too kind, Twilight,” replied the angel of death with a kind smile. “By the way, have you checked out the west wing?”
“No. Why?”
“Something tells me you should,” was the enigmatic answer.
Twilight did as his friend told her, wondering what there might be there.
A few minutes later everypony could hear the princess scream in joy.
“Let me guess, she has found your own personal library,” said Princess Luna.
“Yup,” Azrael replied. The two exchanged a sweet glance, then joined the rest of the group into cleaning up.
*
Death was watching them from far, far away, happy to see his adopted son getting along so well with his new friends. Everything seemed perfect: the Mane Six had found the secret of the Elements of Harmony and unlocked their true powers; Azrael was finally free from his burden and had finally made friends and he was free from the Seal, ready to take back his place as the guardian of Balance.
Yet he knew that appearances can be deceiving. He had told Azrael that there would be threats in the near future. The Elements of Harmony had proven to be greatly powerful in using their combined power, but now they would face challenges without the full power of Harmony. These future hurdles would grow even stronger for the inevitable conflict that was coming. They would have to be prepared for this… and he would have to be too. And speaking of conflict…
The Grim Reaper turned around to see the arrival of another creature. The figure wasn’t as tall as Death, (an apple and an half less), but what he lacked in height he made up for in mass. He looked more muscular than the Grim Reaper; and, unlike Death, he wore an actual armor which seemed so heavy that would have crushed whoever tried to wear it. The armor was partially covered by a hood, as red as the most blazing flame. But the hood did little to hide the glacial white-and-blue eyes of the creature, which graced a muzzle which would have made the tough guards of Canterlot look like newbie’s, as faint as it was.
All this things would have made this new being seem much stronger than Death. Yet, it was Death the most powerful of the two.
“It’s been a long time, Death,” the bulky figure said with respect, his voice deep and baritone-like.
. In the meantime I want to add something to make the reading of the story more emotional. Following the example of a great writer on Fanfiction.net called Greenscar1990 and add a fan-made cast of voices for the characters of this story! Im gonna add voices as they appaer or else is gonna take a while
.
! So I want to tell you that the next chapter of SOD will not came out this weekend. Why? Because is going to be a long chapter and is going to be quite an important one. Secondly, I will be take a week off. Hopefully I will manage to complete it for the 15 of this very moth.