"Now that...is a spectacular fair they've put up." Artorias said as he, Shining Armor, and Capt. Shatterstorm with his squad stood at the castle's balcony, overlooking the fair below. Watching as the Main Six were providing food, goods, and shows for the Crystal Ponies.

"Yeah, with Pinkie Pie on the ground; things should go as planned." Shining commented.

"I hope this will work." Shatterstorm sighed.

"Yeah....me too." Shining replied.

Suddenly, Twilight and Rainbow Dash galloped to the throne room.

"We have a BIG problem!" Twilight exclaimed.

"What's wrong?" Shining Armor asked.

Twilight galloped to the balcony, carrying the book she had before in her telekinesis grip.

"It's the Crystal Heart." Twilight said, panting.

"Please explain." Artorias said.

"I didn't know anything about it being an actual relic, the book didn't say anything about the Crystal Ponies powering the heart." Twilight said while turning the pages of the book, frantically looking for an answer. Twilight gasped. "A page is missing, how did I not notice?!"

"It's alright Twilight--." Cadence couldn't even finish her sentence, she lost her balance an fell to the ground. Sif, who were standing near her, reacted quickly and caught her, letting Cadance to land on a comfortable layer of thick fur.

Suddenly the same demonic roar from before echoed throughout the Empire. Due to the lack of caster, the protection spell barrier collapsed; causing the cold, icy weather to penetrate the Empire; followed by Sombra's dark shadow, this time forming a unicorn form.

Artorias swiftly drew his bow, complete with a Moonlight Arrow which was followed swiftly by the royal guards; charging their horns and aiming their crossbows, ready to fire. But before they could fire their weapons and Sombra could enter the Empire, the spell was reactivated with lightning speed and cutting off the tip of Sombra's horn which to the ponies' unawareness, landed inside the force field after it closed.

"Phew, that was a close one." Light Lasher said while wiping off beads of sweat from his forehead.

"I have to find the Crystal Heart!" Shining exclaimed.

"No, you stay here with Cadence, she needs you Shining Armor. I'll retrieve The Crystal Heart." Twilight declared while galloping towards the exit.

"Okay, that's the cue troopers." Artorias said "Keep them save, I will go and help Twilight. You too, Sif." Artorias commanded. The guards and Shining Armor saluted and Sif yipped in response, with Cadance still lying on her back, being helped by Shining Armor. With that, Artorias sprinted towards the lavender unicorn mare.

"Artorias, I have to do this on my own!" Twilight said as she trotted down the stairs of the palace.

"Who said anything about helping?" Artorias said as he catched up to her "I am here to protect you; I will only help if needed."

"Fine." Twilight replied. "I told Rainbow Dash and my friends to keep the crystal ponies busy, they will make sure the fair keeps running."

"Good, that will buy us some time." Artorias stated "We have to find the Crystal Heart right?" He asked, and Twilight nodded. With that they began their search through the Crystal Empire. To put an end to this threat, once and for all.

An hour later...

"Do you know where should we go next?" Artorias asked with a rather frustrated tone, they have pretty much searched through everything at the Empire, from buildings and even man-holes (or pony-holes?) But they found nothing.

"There!" Twilight exclaimed,pointing at the Crystal Palace."The Crystal Palace, of course!" Twilight concluded.

"Twilight!" A familiar voice said.

Twilight turned around and saw Spike running towards her and Artorias.

"I'm coming with you." Spike said.

"No, Princess Celestia told me I had to do this test, by myself." Twilight said while walking away from him.

"I know, I promise not to lend a claw; to help you." Spike said.

Suddenly, Spike was covered in a purple aura and was levitated to Twilight's back.

"Not a claw, Spike." Twilight said.

"After you." Artorias said with a smile, with that the two sprinted towards the Palace. Once they got to the entrance, Twilight ran ahead of Artorias who stayed behind and closed the door.

The two scoured through the Crystal Palace. Searching every inch, corner, high and low. Their search lead them to some sort of study room, Twilight levitated a Unicorn's head statue, grunted, and putting it back down.

"It has to be here, somewhere..." Twilight said while continuing her search.

Nearby, Spike lifted up a carpet and looked underneath it.

"Not a claw Spike!" Twilight barked at him, causing Spike to laugh nervously and putting the carpet down.

"We have to go, there's nothing here." Artorias said while walking out of the room.

The three continued their search, eventually leading them back to the throne room. Twilight froze, and gazed upon the crystal throne. Spike and Artorias stood behind her, they both knew very well about this kind of thing. A flashback.

"Of course!" Twilight exclaimed, her senses returning her to reality.

"What? Did you find it?" Spike asked.

"No, because this isn't King Sombra's castle." She said while walking inside the throne room.

"But, isn't this were he used to live with all his power?" Spike asked.

"Yes, but it didn't look like this." Twilight said while observing the crystal throne.

Twilight concentrated her magic, her purple aura changing into pure black, Artorias felt a disturbance by the time she cast the magic; for the aura was very similar to that of Sombra's.

To that of darkness...

Her eyes turned green and she unleashed her magic upon the crystal throne. The crystals on the throne blackened, a shadow emerged...covering the floor, and finally the shadow vanished, revealing a giant staircase underneath. Not too big for Artorias of course.

"When did you learn to do that?" Spike asked.

"That was a little trick Princess Celestia taught me." Twilight replied with a smile.

"I'll go alone, Spike, Artorias...stay here." Twilight said.

"I don't think so." Artorias said while walking past her, but before she could add another dose of lecture for him "I will not help, unless it's required." Artorias assured her.

"Wait, Twilight can I please come with you?" Spike asked.

"No Spike, and besides, I thought you didn't like the dark?" Twilight asked.

Spike carefully walked towards the staircase and looked down. Nothing but stairs and an empty void of darkness, seeing this Spike backed off and gulped.

"Maybe you're right." Spike said.

Twilight and Artorias carefully walked down the crystal stairs, Twilight in front and Artorias behind her.

"Can you see what's down there yet?!" Spike shouted.

"Not yet, I can't even tell how far down this goes." Twilight replied.

Twilight grabbed a crystal with her magic, she levitated it over to her and dropped it. She listened as the crystal plunged into the darkness, after a few seconds of listening, she finally heard the crystal make impact with the ground. Usually, Artorias would grab a prism stone from his satchel and do the thing; but since he remembered this was Twilight's test he decided to keep his hands clean for the time being.

"Unless we are planning to be a puddle of red paint, I suggest we keep our footing." Artorias commented.

"Spike? Can you see outside?!" Twilight exclaimed.

Spike immediately headed towards a nearby window, taking a look at the light barrier...in critical condition.

Outside the barrier, King Sombra watched with triumphant eyes as the crystal gates leading to the empire blackened to the purest of black. Sombra traced his left hoof along the deep cut on his flesh, still shocked that even for being a shadow he could still be harmed. By a creature he had never seen before. Even then, Sombra felt the unearthly pain on his wound, as if the wound kept on eroding his flesh. But, aside from the powerful force of light emanating from the creature, he also felt remnants of a dark power within it. A powerful force of darkness he had never seen or felt before, perhaps this creature could be his instrument of doom after reclaiming his precious empire, if he could find a way to control it.

"Not good!" Spike shouted while running back to the staircase.

Twilight's expression turned into one of determination, quickening her pace as she ran down the stairs. But she tripped and tumbled down the stairs.

Artorias quickly bolted towards her, but Twilight cast a spell; preventing her from impacting the ground .

"Twilight are you okay?!" Spike's voice echoed from upstairs.

Twilight scanned her surroundings, and saw a large door. She smiled and cast her magic around the doorknob, only for the door to move at an incomprehensibly fast speed. She tried again, and got awarded with the same result.

"Stop." Twilight said while throwing herself at the door, only to hit a wall with a dull thud, quickly getting off the wall. "Moving." She said through gritted teeth.

Twilight concentrated her magic, and once again her eyes turned green before casting the same dark aura, hitting the door with her magic. Opening it.

Twilight smiled with satisfaction. "Spike, I think I found it." Twilight said while running through the door.

Unaware to her, the crystal above the door started glowing.

"Twilight!" Artorias exclaimed, running towards her.

"Twilight?" Artorias asked while cautiously walking towards her, holding his greatsword with his left arm and talisman with his right. "What's wrong?! Why are you staring at that wall?!" he asked again; with a strong hint of concern in his voice, also staring at the same wall.

As soon as Artorias did this, his vision became hazy as the world around him seemed to collapse; and suddenly he found himself standing in the middle of an icy field with King Sombra laughing maniacally...enslaving the Crystal Empire once again. And now, him. The field was also decorated with dead, mangled, disemboweled ponies...their red blood flowing like a river on the snowy surface.

Artorias' armor oozed an unsettling aura of death and darkness. Just like the one when he was still under the Abyss' coruption. His sword was no different, corrupted alongside it's master...soaked in blood. Pony blood.

Deep in his mind, Artorias knew this was all a halucination. A mirage. Yet, despite his efforts to snap his senses back to reality, he could only observe as he kept slaughtering more and more ponies in his path. The very souls he vowed to protect.

Suddenly, Artorias felt a strong impact on his helmet; snapping him from his trance and thus returning him to reality. When Artorias finally regained his senses, he was breathing heavily, kneeling on one knee, clenching the hilt of his greatsword with the blade piercing through the crystal floor.

Artorias got up on his feet, pulling his greatsword from the floor and sheathing it on his back. As he observed the room more clearly, he saw a lot of smashed, sliced, and mangled crystals lying on the floor. Indicating his rampage during his vision happened when he lost his consciousness.

"I am sorry Artorias..." Twilight said while dropping a large slab of crystal to the floor.

Artorias swiftly turned towards her "What...happened? Did I do this?" He asked.

Twilight nodded slowly "After you gazed at the crystal, you entered some sort of trance and went berserk. I was also in a mental trance, if Spike didn't arrive on time I am surely a goner now." Twilight said while looking at her number one assistant who was frozen with fear on his steps before running down the stairs, catching up to the pair.

"What did you see?" Twilight asked with a strong hint of concern.

Artorias inhaled and exhaled deeply "I...was corrupted once again, under Sombra's control." As he said that, Spike reached them.

"I know you told me to stay up there, but you were down here for so long, and you weren't answering, so I got worried and came down here and you were just staring at that wall, so I tried to get your attention and then Artorias started to go crazy-- what were you guys looking at?" Spike asked while walking towards the opened door. "It's just a wall." Spike said while taking a close look at the wall.

The same thing happened to him, the crystal started glowing and Spike's eyes turned green.

"Huh? How did I get...no Twilight I don't wanna go, please don't leave me!" Spike begged, tears running down his cheeks.

Twilight quickly closed the door. At once, Spike's eyes turned normal again.

"King Sombras' dark magic, a doorway that leads to your worst fear." Twilight said.

"We were home, you told me you didn't need me anymore." Spike said while rubbing his eyes "You were sending me away."

"A fear that will never come to pass." Twilight said while hugging him. "I'm never gonna send you away, and I'm not going to fail my test!" Twilight exclaimed while shooting a bolt of magic at the crystal that hung above the door, the door was covered in a white aura and opened, revealing another room.

"Twilight...Spike..." Artorias said while kneeling on one knee before them "I know this will never be enough, but I am--." He was cut short when the duo hugged him tightly.

"And I am going to make sure you stay who you are." Twilight said with a determined voice.

Artorias chuckled "Looks like you are protecting me now."

Twilight smiled "We always have each others' backs."

Artorias smiled back "Now lets go find that heart!"

Twilight nodded and followed him.

"What's in there?" Spike asked while poking his head from the door.

"Stairs...a lot of bloody stairs..." Artorias replied while looking at all the stairs before him. 'I swear this place has a lot of similarities to the Duke's Archives.'

"What if this is just more of his magic, he makes a door that leads to your worst fears, why not a staircase that goes on forever?" Spike said while (pulling every fiber of muscle in his body) walking up another set of stairs.

Twilight looked up at the staircase, seeing the endless set of stairs ahead. With that, Twilight levitated Spike onto her back with her magic.

"Hold on to me." Twilight said while casting a levitation spell around her, Spike, and Artorias.

"Uhh..." Spike trailed off.

"Whoa!" Twilight exclaimed while floating towards the smooth side of the stairway.

Suddenly, they were now upside down,Twilight began running, only to slide upstairs.

"Whoooooahahaha! I actually studied gravity spells, thinking it might be on my test! Turns out I was prepared for this! Wooo-hooo!" Twilight exclaimed with a cheery tone.

Artorias was right behind them, while also collecting the top of his head which was blown away by the spectacle. But soon also cheered loudly due to happiness and excitement.

After a minute of sliding, they reached the top of the Crystal Palace.

That's when they saw the Crystal Heart.

Twilight looked at Spike and Artorias, they nodded. Twilight smiled and walked towards the heart, but she sprung a trap.

Sombra knew his trap has already been sprung, he quickly cast a spell towards the source of the disturbance.

Suddenly, Twilight was trapped within giant sets of crystals, but before she was trapped; Twilight kicked The Crystals Heart, flinging it out from the crystal prison and landing near Spike.

Sombra's demonic laugh echoed throughout the Empire. Signaling his approaching triumph.

"The Heart... Where's the Crystal–" Twilight said with a panicked tone.

"Here! It rolled over to me when you dropped it!" Spike replied, moving towards the relic.

"Don't move!" Twilight snapped.

Spike froze in his place.

"You can move, just not towards me." Twilight said.

She tried a teleportation spell, with little to no success.

"How could I have been so foolish?" Twilight mused while trying to push the crystals away. "I was just so eager to get it, and when I saw what was happening outside I--"

"Twilight you have to get out of there, you have to be the one who brings the Heart to Princess Cadence." Spike said while looking at the Crystal Heart. "If you don't, you'll fail Celestia's test!"

"King Sombra is already attacking The Crystal Empire, he could reach The Crystal Ponies any second, reach Princess Cadence, my brother, my friends. There may not be enough time for me to escape." Twilight said while slumping against the crystal prison she was trapped in.

"Both of you have to bring the Crystal Heart to the fair." Twilight declared, looking at both Artorias and Spike.

"But Twilight you--."

"Go!" Twilight cut Spike off.

Spike stared at Artorias who nodded at him "Twilight, we are coming back for you later." Artorias said before turning his head to Spike "Climb to my back." Spike grabbed the Crystal Heart, and climbed on Artorias' back before glancing at Twilight one more time; who smiled and nodded.

Artorias looked down from the tower, and saw that they were far from the ground. Artorias took his staff, and cast a spell; suddenly his legs glowed with a blue aura.

"Uh, what was that?" Spike asked.

"Fall control spell." Artorias replied while stepping onto the tower's ledge "Hold on tight!" he said while jumping off the tower, with multiple crystals appearing behind them. Artorias landed on a crystal before jumping to another with an incredible speed, precision, and agility; descending rapidly to the ground and astonishing the ponies below him.

But just as he got to the balcony; where Sif, Capt. Shatterstorm, his squad, and Shining Armor were guarding Princess Cadance; an all too familiar demonic roar pierced through the air.

"Oh no, Cadance!" Shining said while hugging his wife. By this, Cadance's horn stopped glowing; nullifying the magic protection barrier, and granting Sombra an entrance to the Empire.

"The heart!" Rarity exclaimed.

"Spike, get off my back and take the Crystal Heart with you." Artorias commanded. Spike obliged.

"What are you going to do?" Spike asked "I thought we are going to do this together!"

"I am going to buy us some time." Artorias said before jumping from the balcony and straight to the ground below.

"Anvil, form up on me! We are going to the central square!" Shatterstorm commanded to his squad. His squad complied and galloped with him towards their destination with Sif following behind.

Seeing his short distance from the ground, Artorias braced his body for impact and landed seconds later in a crouching position with his right palm on the surface of the ground. But before he could even got up on his feet, he was tackled by Sombra in his shadow form with a tremendous force; throwing him away from his ground but Artorias broke his fall with a swift back-flip, standing on both feet and , dashing towards Sombra with his greatsword on his left hand and silver talisman on his right hand.

Before Sombra could react, a burst of light blinded him followed by searing pain; coursing through his body. Sombra collapsed to the ground as his body rapidly gushing out black blood from two large slash wounds on his ribcage. Artorias, after landing two clean slashes, stood behind him with his greatsword resting on his left shoulder. Eyeing the wounded dark unicorn king with a death stare. Capt. Shatterstorm, his squad, and Sif just got there and immediately moved in to secure the king.

"Halt! Do not intervene!" Artorias commanded, as he said this; everypony and Sif backed down but kept their weapons raised.

"You are strong, creature." Sombra said while coughing out some blood, rising from the ground "In a clean fight, certainly you will win."

"Which is why I am giving you a chance to surrender." Artorias said while pointing his greatsword at the dark unicorn king.

"But that's not how I am planning to fight today..." He chuckled with a dark tone. "Perhaps, there is somepony else you are more interested to battle with." As he said this, half of Sombra's body returned to it's shadow form.

Sombra's shadow form dashed madly towards the crowd of ponies...towards Rainbow Dash.

Rainbow drew her uchigatana and flew towards Sombra with a blistering speed.

'Damn it!' Artorias thought as he dashed between the two. But this time, before Artorias could activate his silver pendant and deliver the final blow, Sombra fired a bolt of dark magic at him; impacting Artorias' armor with a tremendous power, denting his armor, and sending him tumbling backwards.

"Rainbow! stay out of this!" Artorias commanded while spitting out some blood before delivering a roundhouse kick straight to Sombra's face; sending him flying to the castle's wall. Dealing a massive amount of damage to the Unicorn. Turning him into his flesh and blood form, once again. Seeing Sombra's vulnerability, Artorias rushed to the downed Unicorn king to finish the job.

Sombra, severely injured; mustered all of his remaining dark powers to cast his ultimate weapon. Although he is uncertain; he used the same power to put a curse on the entire Crystal Empire and vanishing it for a thousand years. Surely it will at least do something to this creature, and if it does, who knows; maybe his powers will grant him control of this creature.

Before Artorias could bury his sword through Sombra's skull, Sombra cast the dark spell. Artorias screamed in agony as darkness began to take over his body; gnawing at his soul once again. His armor and sword began to take effect from the dark influence, his armor constantly eroding and the blade of his sword gradually blackening; the same color that adorned his sword after making a pact with the abyss "Now, be one...with the dark." Sombra laughed demonically as Artorias fell to his knees with his sword planted on the ground.

"Be safe, okay?" Luna's voice echoed in Artorias' struggling mind...

"We always have each other's backs!" Twilight's voice echoed among the dark whispers that began to plague Artorias' mind.

"You are the most awesome knight ever! Maybe as awesome as me!" Rainbow's voice echoed in his mind.

"You will always be our family." Cadance's voice echoed in his mind.

"We are always with you till' the end!" Shatterstorm's voice followed in.

"Thank you!"

"Hail Sir Artorias!"

"Thank you!"

"I...Will...Not..." Artorias slowly got up on his feet and stared at the unicorn king with a death stare; who returned the stare with wide eyes of disbelief "FALL!!!" Artorias roared. With that, a surge of energy exploded from Artorias' body; impacting Sombra and slamming him to the castle's wall once again, crushing the Unicorn's body. Everypony in the area were both awed and shocked at the scene, never before they saw an event so breathtaking yet so fearsome such as this one. Artorias' sword returned to its normal blue gleam; despite his armor was severely damaged.

Artorias inhaled deeply, pulling out his sword from the crystal floor, and walked towards the incapacitated King Sombra with all of his remaining strength as the ponies watched in silence. Placing his armored boot on Sombra's broken ribcage, causing him to scream in pain.

"What are you waiting for?" Sombra said with a weak, but audile tone "kill me."

Artorias raised his greatsword high in the air, before burying it's sharp tip to the crystal floor...only a few inches away from Sombra's head. Artorias could hear several faint 'thuds' from the crowd around him, indicating several ponies had lost their consciousness. Probably the ponies who didn't see what actually happened.

"DO IT! Finish what you start!" Sombra screamed.

Artorias bent down to Sombra's eye level "Know this, you wretched king. I could squash you like an insect now, but if I do so...would that make me any better than you?" As he said this, everypony around him cheered loudly. Praising his name.

At that very moment, Cadance accompanied by Shining Armor, Spike, and the Element Bearers stepped out from the castle's gates with the Crystal Heart on her telekinesis grip. She walked and placed the heart between the two crystal spikes on the square center, where it belongs.

"Behold, The Crystal Princess!" One of the Crystal Ponies exclaimed with joy.

"The Crystal Heart has returned, spread the love and light within you to power it, so King Sombra does not." Cadence declared.

All of the Crystal Ponies lowered their heads, touching the ground, causing a beautiful blue aura to appear. Everypony turned into a Crystal Pony, the prison that kept Twilight in captivity disappeared due to the power of love and light.

The light destroyed every single form of Sombra's dark magic, the black crystals, everything.

"NOOOOO!!!!" Sombra screamed in anguish as his body began disappear from underneath Artorias' foot, taking his plans with him.

Artorias, both relieved and drained from the battle collapsed to his knees, his vision darkening slowly. But before his body could make a full contact with the ground, a pair of an all too familiar golden armored hands caught him.

"Don't you dare die on me now Artorias!" an all too familiar masculine voice shot him back to his senses for a short while, followed by a feeling of being supported around his torso. Artorias, very surprised and happy; gazed upon the source of the voice with his gradually blackening vision. His eyes met an equally all too familiar golden helmet;

"Ornstein..." Was all Artorias could say before his vision faded into blackness.

Author's Note

OKAY!!! FOR ALL OF YOU WHO KEPT ASKING "where is Ornstein? bla bla bla!" I GIVE YOU ORNSTEIN!

er--sorry

Tell meh your thoughts!