Silence was the most abundant thing found there. The cool winds seemed to have stopped, the chilly air ceased to pelt their coats and all eyes were on the two figures who stood opposite each other. Neither of the figures spoke or moved and both bore frowns.
The first figure's blue eyes held grief and lament, while the second figure's pair of green eyes shone with annoyance and contempt. Starswirl the Bearded stood to the south and Stormdark the Charmer stood to the north. Starswirl's ash gray coat and blue robe and hat stood out to challenge the dark red coat of Stormdark and his green coat, collar up, that matched his eyes. Their manes were equally white, though Stormdark bore no beard, only a strong moustache that covered his lips.
Behind Starswirl were the newly appointed Princesses of Equestria: Celestia, Princess of the Sun, and Luna, Princess of the Night. Both the royal figures were young and raw and their faces shone with fear. Behind Stormdark were the residents of the newly discovered Crystal Empire. Their faces were not of mere fear, but of absolute terror, and for good reason.
"You cannot do this Stormdark," Starswirl cried out as thunder struck in the air, "this is genocide!"
"This is protection of our nation," Stormdark replied in an even deeper voice than that of Starswirl.
"Not only is this wrong in every way, but it is not our decision! This land is no longer ruled by those with power, but by those who bear the royal mark! It belongs to them!" Starswirl yelled back and motioned towards the sisters.
"This Empire will come to be the bane of Equestria. I will step up when our rulers have neither the power or wisdom to act for our benefit!"
"It can change! We can prevent the atrocities that are due to be committed here, if we only work together and spare this land!"
"No. No I am afraid it cannot old friend. I will destroy the Crystal Empire this day, and you will not stop me."
Starswirl opened his mouth to reply but he shut it immediately afterwards and held in several tears. He bashed his front hoof into the dirt and inhaled deeply before turning to the sisters.
"No matter what happens to me or Stormdark," he whispered to them, "do not interfere. Keep the Crystal Ponies safe and protect them and their lands. You will grow to be wise and capable leaders, both of you, and you cannot afford to die here. I fear that Stormdark will not hesitate to take either of your lives. Be cautious at all times."
"Starswirl..." the pink haired Celestia uttered and embraced him, followed closely by the silent Luna.
"I cherish the times we have had together...and I plan on making quite a few more...mind yourselves."
Before anypony could say anymore many of the Crystal Empire inhabitants cried out as Stormdark the Charmer walked towards them, his eyes lit up with the crimson red of his magical aura. Starswirl teleported in front of his old friend before either of the sisters could blink.
Stormdark blasted a wave of red energy across the ground that withered any grass nearby and evaporated any pool or small river of water. Before the red wave could reach the crystal ponies, Starswirl shot a similar wave of his yellow energy out, counteracting the red spell.
"I thought you might choose this path...it is a shame that your heart is plagued by kindness, Starswirl," Stormdark said grimly as he inhaled and prepared his next move.
"No, the shame is that your heart is incapable of feeling empathy."
Stormdark flashed a wide smile and ignited Starswirl's facial hair in flame, causing the bearded pony to cry out in immense pain as his hair was charred and singed until he used a counter spell a second or two later. Stormdark was already running towards his wizard companion, and Starswirl's horn lit up.
A yellow wall of energy shot forward and increased in size and girth with every second, but a red spear was shot through the center of the wall and shattered both magical constructs into pieces. Out of the smoke Stormdark ran forward, horn lit up, but as he prepared to attack he ran through a yellow trap on the ground and he was blasted back by an immense gravitational blast.
While the wizards dueled, Celestia and Luna had made it over to the boundaries of the Crystal Empire and began to rush the bystanders towards any kind of shelter. Occasionally a stray magic blast or flying piece of debris would come their way, but the sisters were skilled enough to protect themselves and the Crystal Ponies from things like that.
Starswirl raised his head towards the skies and high up towards the heavens, small orbs appeared. Stormdark instantly realized that his friend was calling down several asteroids to assault him. To keep him busy, Stormdark created a binding trap around his fellow wizard and erected a dome shield around himself as the comets struck. They blasted apart into much smaller pieces as the ground around the dome splintered and cracked open.
Starswirl was able to break himself out of the binding trap with minimal difficulty, but Stormdark had used his magic to rejoin the splintered asteroid pieces into one large body, which he then hurled at the Crystal City.
"Princesses!" Starswirl called out as he fired a magic blast at the comet, which splintered into smaller but very deadly pieces. The sisters combined their magic and created a dome shield large enough to protect most of the city, but a couple buildings were crushed.
"You remove your eyes from battle too easily!" Stormdark called and flung the red construct of a large hammer at Starswirl's face, and it did not miss its mark. Starswirl coughed out some blood as he landed and the fresh liquid stained his beard right below the mouth.
"As do you," Starswirl coughed out and rose while a yellow Ursa Major slammed its paw down, sending Stormdark flying to the side.
Stormdark had to teleport away many times in order to conjure up a red dragon of equal size, which he sent after the Ursa. The titanic beasts clashed and bit into each other, breaking both and shattering them from existence.
Stormdark the Charmer had finished with trivial spells, and readied himself as his red magical aura created a whirlwind and circled the ground around him. Starswirl had already begun to do the same. A charged magical blast from a regular magician could bring great destruction, and with wizards as powerful as these two, the fate of battle and of the Crystal Empire hung in the balance. If Stormdark overpowered Starswirl then the Crystal Empire would be all but completely wiped out. If the opposite occurred, then Stormdark would cease to exist and would have no hope of being brought back through some arcane art.
"Sister!" Luna called out as civilians retreated through the shimmering city with cries of horror.
"Luna, brace yourself!"
The air itself seemed to be sucked back towards the wizards and the fabrics of time and space were just beginning to unwind when all sound was lost and the magic blasts were fired.
The yellow and red beams collided and disintegrated the earth under them while simultaneously burning the air around them. Blood flowed from Starswirl's mouth and nose and Stormdark's nose and eyes met a similar fate. Both let out their war cries and focused all their might into the attack.
After an intense 30 to 40 seconds of contact, the beams faded from everypony's line of sight, but the wizards knew better than to feel safe. Upon turning completely invisible, a backlash erupted and cut both stallions up and leveled several more buildings in the Empire.
It took minutes for the wizards to rise again, but in that time Celestia and Luna had gotten almost every one of the citizens to some kind of shelter, and were searching for stragglers and the injured or trapped. Just a little longer, and they could join the bystanders and keep a lid on things while Starswirl battled with Stormdark.
Neither friend said a word, but they shared everything in their hearts with their eyes. Starswirl grasped for breath with his mouth and formed a morning star and shield of yellow energy as Stormdark created a sword and shield of red energy. They began by walking towards the other, but soon they were both running as fast they could. Just before they met, both wizards teleported away.
Celestia and Luna were able to catch the sight, and it left both of them in absolute awe. The wizards were moving and attacking so fast that they appeared to exist in six or seven different places at the same time. Dust rose up in clouds and the ground below them was completely destroyed. Trees were splintered into toothpicks and bushes were reduced to specs every time the two clashed right after teleporting, only to have them repeat the process faster than the eye could see.
When they finally ran out of stamina, the two were plunged back, with Starswirl crashing through multiple buildings in the Crystal City until he hit a rock wall which was bisected upon his impact while Stormdark hit the plains so hard a small valley was formed. The entire area was far worse off than a war zone, with almost no signs of life at all, only dust and a periodic piece of debris.
Several citizens were killed in an instant and many more were injured. Celestia had broken her foreleg and Luna's ribcage was in tatters. The wizards themselves were both extremely lucky to be dead. Starswirl thought back a few years to a study he conducted where he determined that to survive a clash as he just had while going that fast was about 1 in 14,000. His insides had all but imploded and merely laying there in the dust hurt more than every other pain he had endured in his life combined.
It was almost a full day before he and Stormdark had healed themselves enough to get off the ground, and even then, both were very near death. Luckily by then Celestia and Luna had been able to tend to themselves and the citizens, and finally, they found Starswirl lying in great pain.
"There he is!" Luna called out to her sister as the Princess of Night neared a prone figure.
"Let us heal you Starswirl," Celestia said as she kneeled down with some pain and combined her healing spell with Luna's, gently mending the damage inside his near useless body. He tried to speak, but was unable and soon hushed by Luna. His eyes closed again and he slipped into unconsciousness as the sisters took care of him.
When he was woken a few hours later he was able to move around with only extreme pain. He convinced the sisters to go back to the remnants of the city and begin aiding the people in rebuilding. Everypony, even the sisters, thought Stormdark was dead, but Starswirl knew better.
Down in the lonely and bitter shadows of the newly formed valley, a figure lay in a small puddle of blood and it seemed to Starswirl as he approached that his old friend was crying...but that was only the bloodstains from battle.
Neither spoke as Starswirl delicately climbed down to where his friend lay, staring up into the dark sky.
"Am I a bad pony...Starswirl?" Stormdark asked after his throat was mended by Starswirl's magic.
"No...I think you were just misunderstood."
"I don't think that's quite it..." Stormdark lamented.
"I did see it too you know. I saw the tyranny to come from this place, and I wanted to stop it just as much as you did."
"Did I wipe it out after all?" Stormdark asked, not so much in eagerness or pride, but in whimsical defeat.
"...I'm afraid so..."
"Well, maybe I had to play the villain to stop somepony else from being a worse one."
"Maybe."
"So, are you going to kill me now?" Stormdark asked flatly.
"No. No I'm not. You don't deserve death. You did what you saw as the right thing, and I can't condemn anypony to death for doing what they feel is right."
"That kind heart of yours will be your end."
"But it'll be your salvation today, old friend."
Stormdark finally took his eyes from the sky and looked over at Starswirl. His friend had only barely bested him in combat and wasn't going to kill him even though they had both nearly perished. What a legendary pony...Starswirl the Bearded was the greatest pony that ever lived in Stormdark's opinion. With that in mind, how could he afford to have his friend let a pony like himself go free? One of the two of them was right about it all...but fate had it so that only Starswirl should get his future to become reality. Stormdark had gambled it all and lost. Still...he trusted Starswirl to the end of the world...and so he would.
"Starswirl..." Stormdark muttered barely loud enough to hear.
"Yes?"
"I still don't think you were right to stop me...but I think that if anypony could ever stop the future...it'd be you..."
"It'd be us...we'll do it together."
"No, just you. I entrust the future to you...Starswirl..." With that Stormdark's eyes lit up with all the red energy he could muster and the eyes of his greatest friend went wide.
"No!"
Stormdark the Charmer killed himself.
"No....no, no, no, no...Stormdark....please........."
It had been one year since the fateful battle with Stormdark the Charmer, who had been recorded to be a traitorous wizard who sought power and fortune for himself. It really bugged Starswirl that the world would not know the truth. Instead of a misunderstood but well meant wizard, Stormdark the Charmer would be spoken of like a dark and ambitious tyrant.
He sat in the nice wind and the sun of mid-afternoon with a book at his side and the sight of the new capital, Canterlot, being constructed in the distance. It was a soothing sight, and he took great pleasure in thinking of the symbol Canterlot could be. His thoughts however, were soon interrupted.
"Starswirl...may I sit with you?" Princess Celestia asked gently from behind.
"You may do anything you please, your Highness," he replied.
Instead of saying anything more about the issue, she sat down beside him and glanced at his book.
"Working on a spell there?" She asked him and levitated the book to her face to read it.
"I've been working on that spell for a year...I can't see myself finishing it, really."
"What a shame, it seems like a spell worth completing."
"Then perhaps you should complete it? In any case, I do not feel that I can anymore...let somepony else have it when you find a magician worthy enough to finish it."
"Are you sure?"
"Quite."
"Very well...I'll hold onto it for a time then."
"...Thank you."
"Would you like to come over again? We'd be honored if you came to see us, not to mention thrilled and overjoyed."
"I'm so sorry about that...the two of you are wonderful students and excellent leaders...I foresee both of you facing down many challenges, but in the end...I think your bond will prove indestructible."
"That's very good to hear, but you haven't answered my question."
"I shall attempt to find the time...please...excuse me."
With that, Starswirl rose and walked off somberly, leaving Celestia sitting alone in the sun with the book. She looked at it one more time:
"From one to another, another to one. A mark of one's destiny singled out alone, fulfilled..."
A tear fell from her face and she shut the book, unsure of when she would ever open it up again.
Though one year had passed since the great battle, the Equestrian Princesses still made frequent trips to the Crystal Empire in order to help it rebuild and grow again. Today was Princess Luna's term in the Empire. After seeing to the officials and helping to iron out some details on the contracts between their two lands, Luna was taken to a medical center in order to use her powers to save those most in need.
She managed to bring everypony there back into good health...except for one mare.
She hung her head low as that mare died and looked over to see a small filly standing by, tears welling up in his eyes.
"I'm so very sorry," Luna told the young boy, who let the tears fall freely and ran to embrace Luna.
"She had been sick so long....for a whole year...." He told her in between sniffles and wails.
"Many have been," Luna regretted.
"Why did that stallion try to destroy us?" The boy asked innocently.
"He was....misunderstood," Luna replied and rubbed his back with her comforting hoof.
"I miss her so much already!"
"I will be there for you now," Luna promised, "what is your name?"
"...Sombra."
Author's Note
So? How was this one-shot i cooked up in a few hours? Good? Bad? Let me know in the comments! Thanks for reading!
-TBK
