Both Sides of the Blade

Chapters

Chapter 1 Caught
Chapter 2 Silent Protection
Chapter 3 Three Fall
Chapter 4 Hate
Chapter 6 The Prince of Darkness
Chapter 7 Depression
Chapter 8 Acceptence
Chapter 9 Becoming Legend
Epilogue
Chapter 5 True Colors

Chapter 1 Caught

Both Sides of the Blade
By AverageMemory

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Life sucks, I mean that sincerely. Derek and I have lived in the center of Everfree Forest for a few years now. The land itself is cheery, but where we live it’s dark. Not everything here is as it seems though. It’s as if everyone except Derek and I are completely immune to terror. It comes with the job I guess. My name is Majora, and I’m a Pegasus and the elder one at 46, whereas Derek is a unicorn and the younger one at 23. I have a white coat, with a deep grey mane that hangs to the top of my eyes, and a grey winged sword as my cutie mark. Derek is ash grey, with a crimson mane that spikes at the top of his head, and a red anarchy symbol as his cutie mark. Our jobs are simple, read prophecies, memorize them, and make sure we get positive outcomes. Derek has been my wing pony since the accident. It all happened years back when I was a Captain of the Royal Guard’s Strike Force. I was charged with protecting Shining Armor. He was on a tour of duty, leading a small battalion up a mountain, when a rockslide struck. A large boulder came hurtling down toward Lord Armor. I pushed him out of the way just in time but at my own peril, breaking both of my wings on impact. I began to tumble down the mountain with rocks following fast. When I crashed to the ground, I was trapped under a boulder at the base of the mountain. That’s when Derek saw me; he came up to the rock and lifted it from atop of me. When he had realized I was the guard captain, he immediately started talking about paying him back, asking me to join him on his quest for change. He started spewing nonsense about Discord and an evil black mare coming to throw us into eternal night. For some reason, it sounded better than anything I was doing. Being a soldier sucked; it was the same thing every day. I agreed to the eccentric guy and he took me to his house and tended to my wounds. For the next several years, we went on dangerous missions into the unknown, fighting evil, witnessing evil be fought, etc. Apparently Derek has an… interesting past as well. He was the top student in Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns, until he found some books on dark magic. After about a month he was caught reading them and was expelled and exiled for it by Celestia herself. Derek and I are always searching for supplies; we resorted to going to Ponyville and stealing what we need. We know it’s wrong, but we have no choice. I’m dead and he’s an outlaw. Yep, the world thinks I’m dead because they couldn’t find my body. We’ve only run into Celestia once, and it was a disaster. Derek had a KillKillKill episode when he was corrupted by Discord and attacked Celestia. I got him outta there, but we were sought out for a while. Being hated by the princess is annoying; we’ll be fighting evil, and then suddenly be attacked by soldiers who are supposed to do the same thing we do. But we’ve learned to live with it. We set up our base in a moderately sized house, right in the dead center of Everfree Forest, silently watching over the land, preventing its folk from knowing the true meaning of fear. Derek says we live here because nopony would dare come here. That’s what we believed.

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Derek worked away at the lock on the library door.

"Almost..." he said under his breath.

The door clicked unlocked, and we entered being careful not to make a sound.

"Ok," I said softly. "that Twilight chick should be fast asleep. Let's grab what we need and go."

We walked in, the place was quiet and dark. Derek conjured a light from his horn.

Derek snickered. "What should we take this time, Majora?"

"Some maps perhaps, and some evil creature logs." I said, trying to think of what we had back at the house.

"Ha, Majora, you need to live a little." Derek said.

A book floated into my sights bearing the title 'Rituals and Curses'. I sighed.

"Derek there is no way you’re getting me into that demonic bull..." I told him.

It terrifies me to know that Derek found it, here of all places. I continued to go down the rows of books. As I pointed them out, they flew off the shelf and into Derek's bag.

"Take this, that, those two, this one over here."

Derek happened onto one of the titles.

“‘History of Dark Magic’. I guess you’re getting into it yourself.” Derek chuckled.

"Buck, no Derek. Just grab it and shush. We don't want to wake anypony-"

I was cut off by rustling upstairs.

"Must be that little dragon again," Derek said. "I got this."

Sure enough the tiny dragon came walking down the stairs to investigate.

“Who.. who are you?” Spike said half asleep.

“No one,” Derek replied, lowering his head pointing his horn at the dragon. “Just go back to
sleep.”

Derek hit Spike between the eyes with a small spark. Spike immediately fell asleep.

“Childs pla-” Derek barely had time to finish before another voice cut him off.

“What the...?” said a voice.

I looked up, and saw Twilight Sparkle. Dammit, now on top of Celestia knowing we exist, she does too.

“What have you done to Spike? Who ARE you!?” she asked quickly.

“Busted.” I whispered.

Twilight jumped down, but where she landed the floor was glowing, to my sheer horror, it was an upside-down pentagram, glowing a blood red. I turned my attention to Derek, his horn glowing furiously.

“Checkmate.” He sneered.

“Black magic!?” she shrieked, as she was lifted up now hovering over the demonic circle.

“Derek” I said, trying to remain calm.

“Yes, little pony, you’re gonna wish you hadn’t got out of bed!” He said, ignoring me. His horn was beginning to spark.

“Derek.” I repeated a bit louder this time.

Twilight was beginning to panic, lightning flew out of the rims of the circle, shocking her from all sides. I sighed.

“DEREK!” I yelled in his ear.

“WHAT!?” He yelled back.

Twilight dropped to the ground, the circle was beginning to lose its glow. It steamed, scorched into the wooden floor. I’ve seen Derek do this one before, her life force would have been completely drained if I had let that go on.

“Derek, she’s an element of harmony, if you kill her, the entire land is doomed.” I told him.

“I wanted to finish that Majora.” He said, still staring at Twilight.

Twilight was still gasping for air.

“Sorry about my partners... freakish reaction.” I said to her.

“Who you callin freakish?” Derek snapped at me.

“My apologies, he doesn’t know how to treat a mare.” I continued, ignoring him. “Hello, my name is Majora, and this is Derek.”

There was a long silence.

“....THIEVES.” Twilight yelled.

Oh yeah, thats right. My eyes widened.

“RUN!” Derek yelled. He grabbed the bag and we darted out the door, all the way back to the Everfree Forest.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Chapter 2 Silent Protection

When we got back to the house, Derek started to rage on me.

“What the hell, bro? Are you becoming senile in your old age?” He asked me.

“I’m only 46...” I sighed, rolling my eyes.

“Well, when I’m that old, remind me not to do stupid shit like that.” he said mockingly. “Giving our names to the one we steal from. Nonsense!”

“I’m sorry. I can’t help but to treat a mare like a mare. With respect, in case you don’t know how that works.” I replied in the same tone.

Derek chuckled, “You sure are strange, old man.” His expression turned annoyed. “Remind me again why you didn’t let me kill the mare.” he said.

“Because,” I said, going through the books we had gotten. “If we kill her, the entire land would be thrown into chaos, and it’s our job to prevent chaos.”

Derek turned away. Obviously he didn’t agree with my decision, but this is for the best. Besides, killing for no reason other than getting caught stealing would just add insult to injury. As I read one of the books, a certain page caught my eye. It was illustrated with a post-apocalyptic scene.

“Derek, I think I found something.” I said.

He snickered. Walking over he caught glimpse of the picture. “Nice.” he said.

“Listen to this,” I told him.

“Into Darkness, I shall cast all.
With a small show of strength, three will fall.
And with my mighty scythe, I shall rend,
the land you love to its bitter end.”

Derek let out a low whistle. “Sweet. I look forward to this one.”

“If it happens within our lifetimes.” I added. “Take note in the journal.”

The journal hovered down to Derek. “Who's this prophecy for?” he asked.

I looked at the page. It was lacking a name to go with it. I flipped through pages, but found nothing. Thinking back, the only supernatural evil to use a scythe was Orobas.

“Just write down Orobas for now, we’ll find out later.” I told him.

A quill flew from my desk over to Derek, and wrote in the journal.

“Ok, Majora. Note taken.” he confirmed.

“I wonder what that mare is doing now.” I thought aloud.

Derek winced. “Well, knowing how curious normal folk around here are, she’s probably gonna be looking for us.”

I face-hoofed. “Great,” I sighed, “Even more complications, we sure are unlucky today.”

“Don’t worry,” Derek reassured. “Nopony would ever come out this far into the Everfree Forest.”

“Who were those two stallions?” Twilight thought aloud.

She was flipping through the Equestria Census, but couldn’t find what she was looking for. She couldn’t find the name Derek.

“It’s as if he doesn’t even exist.” she looked back to the pentagram, still burned into her floor.

Black magic is only used by really bad ponies. They must be evil, she thought. She was flipping through the pages when she found an entry on Majora.

“Ok... he’s how old?” she wondered aloud. She gasped. “Deceased?!”

The page said he was a soldier, but he died... 5 years ago. Impossible. The stallion in the picture was the one she saw last night, how could he be dead? It says he was a Captain of the Royal Guard, but he was killed in a landslide. Well, If anypony would know how a dead pony was in her library, it would be Zecora.

“Spike, I’m going to Zecora’s hut, watch the library.” she called out.

“Ok. Be careful out there.” he said.

Twilight left her the house and moved toward Everfree forest.

Zecora was outside looking through shrubs for ingredients to a new potion when Twilight approached.

“Hello, Zecora!” Twilight called to her.

“What brings you to Everfree? What is it that you want from me, little pony?” Zecora said quickly, obviously impatient with her current task.

“I was wondering if you knew where two stallions by the names of Majora and Derek lived?” Twilight asked.

“Why would you seek Majora and Derek? Who would be so bold as to make such a trek?” Zecora asked.

“I NEED to find them.” Twilight insisted.

Zecora sighed. “About them, I don’t know a lot, but there is somepony who might have a thought. Being surrounded by magic all about. This, I know without a doubt. Siblings lost long ago, yet share the talent to boast off and show.”

Twilight thought. Boast and show rang a bell. She obviously meant... “Trixie.”

Zecora nodded.

Trixie must be related to one of the thieves, she thought. Twilight cringed. She decided Manehatten would be her best bet in finding Trixie.

Manehatten is the biggest city in Equestria. To find one pony would be almost impossible. Good thing Trixie was just getting there herself.

“Trixie!” Twilight called out.

Trixie looked back and cringed. “Why are you FOLLOWING me you creep? The Great and Powerful Trixie doesn’t need anymore fans.” Trixie waved off Twilight, and kept walking.

“Trixie I need to talk to you about your brother!” Twilight said, quite loudly.

Trixie stopped, and turned her head slowly. “I don’t have a brother.”

“What the unicorns name...” Twilight thought. “De... Der... Dare.... Derek!”

Trixie looked sick, then sad, then confused. “What do you know about Dare?” Trixie walked up to Twilight. “The Great and Powerful Trixie demands that you tell her.”

“He broke into my house.” Twilight said.

Trixie began to laugh. “Tis indeed The Great and Powerful Trixie’s brother.” she exclaimed.

“Do you know where he lives?” Twilight asked.

Trixie scoffed. “Why would The Great and Powerful Trixie give her own blood away to the likes of YOU?”

Twilight realized this wasn’t going to go her way. There was a long silence.

"What if I gave you a book on advanced magic?" Twilight asked, desperately.

"And just why do you think that The Great and Powerful Trixie needs help from you?" she sneered.

"Well," Twilight said, "It'll help you with your shows, and maybe even let you do what you claim to be able to do."

"Are you mocking The Great and Powerful Trixie!?" Trixie yelled.

“No!" Twilight said, "I'm just trying to help, and find out what happened to the books your brother stole."

Trixie stared at her. “Fine, the Greater and more Powerful brother of the Great and Powerful Trixie lives deep in the Everfree Forest. The center to be exact.”

Greater and More Powerful? Twilight gulped. If Trixie was saying something like that, this was probably going to be harder then she wanted it to be. Oh, and on top of that, more walking through the deadly forest...

Derek was flipping through his books. “Yo, old man, what do you know about Orobas to begin with!?” he shouted as loud as he could. To my dismay he was right next to me.

“Not much,” I told him, as my ears rang. “So far all I know is that he was sealed away by the Princess and her sister long ago.”

“Going back to that prophecy on him.” Derek began, “I was thinking along the lines of three ponies suddenly dying, at the same time, to signify his coming.”

I nodded. “Sounds about right. We certainly don’t want him to rend anything to a bitter end either.”

There was a knock on the door.

“Shit, almost forgot what that sounds like.” Derek said. “You think it’s the brat?”

I sighed, “If by that you mean the mare we steal from every Tuesday, then yes, I would believe that is her.”

Right on time, I thought as I opened the door.

“YOU!” she shrieked.

“You.” I replied.

“Give me back my books!” she demanded.

I stared her down, then closed the door.

“What did she want?” Derek asked.

“Nothing,” I replied. “she just came by to say ‘Hello’.”

The knocking came back. I sighed.

“What should we do?” I asked Derek. In hindsight, I should’ve expected his response.

“Kill her.” He replied.

I rolled my eyes, “Like I said to you before, she’s important to the entire world. We've both witnessed her power first hand.”

He laughed, “Of course, which she cannot call upon unless her friends are around.” He chuckled a bit more before finally saying, “Don’t worry, I’ll go tell her off.”

He walked over to the door and opened it with his magic.

“What the BUCK do you want?” He spat.

“You stole my books!” Twilight said.

“AND?” Derek yelled in her face. “It’s a bucking LIBRARY!”

Twilights eyes narrowed, “Did you ASK?!” she yelled back.

“NO! WE DON’T NEED TO!” he yelled back at her.

I sighed and walked over to the door.

“I’ll take it from here.” I said.

“Sweet, are you gonna kill her Majora?” he asked eagerly.

“No.” I sighed. “Twilight, just let it go, we will give the books back eventually.”

There was a rustle in the bushes behind her. My imagination got the best of me. I grabbed my old crossbow and took aim at the bush.

“What are you doing with that weapon!?” she asked, a bit startled I suppose.

I eyeballed her. “We sometimes get soldiers out here looking to kill us.” I said softly.

“Majora, relax.” Derek said, putting his hoof on my crossbow.

A small rabbit jumped out of the bush. I sighed, lowering my weapon.

“Why do you have THAT!?” Twilight asked.

“I was a soldier a long time ago.” I told her, putting my crossbow back on its rack. “I served with Lord Armor.”

Twilight’s eyes beamed. “You know Shining Armor?”

“Yes...” I said. The look on her face meant she knew him. Potentially bad for me. “I was his associate, and was ordered to protect him for a couple of years before I almost died.” I turned my attention to Derek. “He saved me, and I’ve helped him save Equestria ever since.”

Twilight chuckled. “Is this your excuse for never being around in daylight?” she asked, sarcastically.

"No," Derrek said, equally sarcastically, "I'm a bucking vampire."

Frankly, I couldn't see the humor in their exchange.

“We prevent disasters by taking action before they have a chance to happen.Your princess hates us, so she outlawed us, which forces us to work in secret.” I said gravely.

Twilight seemed unnerved. “Well, I best be off. Good bye!” She said.

Wasting no time, she ran off.

“Old man, she has ties to Shining Armor, I saw it in her face when his name was mentioned.” Derek said.

“Outlaws...” I said to myself again and again.

Derek walked over to me. “We’ve been over this Majora, there’s no going back.”

I stared at the blackening sky outside my window.

Where is my life going?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Chapter 3 Three Fall

The next day, Twilight decided to go to Canterlot and ask Shining Armor about the strange stallion named Majora.

At the castle Shining Armor was busy giving orders.

“Shining Armor, what do you know about a soldier named Majora?” she asked.

Shining Armor waved a few soldiers off and turned to her.

“Majora... I’m pretty sure he was my bodyguard a long time ago, or maybe he was a captain put in charge of protecting me? I don’t remember very well, the dude saved me, though.” He said.

“Saved you!?” She gasped.

Shining Armor seemed puzzled. “Yeah, there was an rockslide on the far side of the mountain. He pushed me out of the way of a boulder and...” He stopped.

“What? What happened?” She asked.

“He was hit by the boulder and sent down the mountain.” He said. “When we went looking for him all we found was his helmet. They pronounced him dead, but I don’t believe it.”

“You don’t?” Twilight asked, trying to hide what she was thinking.

“Nope, the guy was too clever. I think he’s out there somewhere, probably just suffering amnesia.” He said. “He was a good pony, and an excellent soldier. You don’t get many like him.”

“Thanks Shining Armor.” She said.

“Anytime Twili.” He said, walking off. “OH! Now I remember, he was Captain of the Strike Force.”

“Huh?” Twilight gasped. She turned to ask her brother more, but he was already gone.

She wondered if Celestia, being the princess, knew anything Shining Armor didn’t.

When she got home, she wrote a letter.

Dear Celestia,

I have met two of the most mysterious ponies
in all of Equestria. One doesn’t even appear to exist,
while the other is supposed to be dead. I just don’t
understand, and hope that you have insight to who they
are. Their names are Derek and Majora.

Your faithful student,

Twilight Sparkle

Spike took it for Twilight and blew fire to send it. Almost immediately he burped up a reply.

Dear Twilight,

I advise you to stay away from those two,
they are very dangerous. I will be sending a
few soldiers to your home in Ponyville. I instruct
you to guide them to where these two live.

With Regards,

Princess Celestia.

Twilight gulped, wondering if this was safe.

Derek was flipping through books and I was polishing my old armor, as usual. Things were finally becoming normal again, now that Twilight had quit bothering us.

“TO ARMS!” Somepony shouted outside.

I set down my armor and walked over to the window. I saw Twilight and five burly looking soldiers.

“Derek!” I shouted. “We have some visitors!”

“What kind!?” He shouted back from the other room.

“The less then friendly kind!” I yelled back.

Derek walk into the living room and up to the window.

“Been a while,” he scoffed, “I want to test some new magic.”

“About that,” I said, “Twilight is with them.”

“Oh.” He said.

We were silent for a second.

“That SNITCH!” He yelled. His horn began to glow.

“No matter what Derek, we can’t kill her.” I said.

He was still a bit angry. “FINE then! I’ll work AROUND her!” He yelled.

Twilight saw the door open. Majora stepped out, a sheathed sword slung on his back.

“Evening, officers.” He said.

The soldiers winced, and backed up. “Cap- Captain Majora is ALIVE!?” One stuttered, extremely startled.

“I am.” He said. “Why are you here?”

One of the soldiers panicked. “When the princess said Majora, I never would have imagined it would be,” he gulped, “Him.”

Twilight was shocked, the mere sight of Majora had stopped these soldiers dead in their tracks.

“I offer you a choice, men. Turn back now, or suffer my wrath.” Majora said.

One of the soldiers stepped forward, shaking furiously from a horrible fear Twilight could not begin to comprehend.

“S- Sir, i- in the name of Cel- Celestia, you are u- under arrest.” He stuttered.

Majora flashed a wicked smile. “Wrong choice, knave.”

Majora bodychecked the soldier, launching him into the other 4.

“Now, Derek!” He shouted.

In an instant, a circle of fire arose around the five soldiers, engulfing them. She could hear the pained shrieks of the soldiers. She backed up, and was knocked out by a falling branch.

When Twilight awoke, the sun had gone down. The Everfree forest was the worst possible place to be at night. She got up and inched toward the house. She heard a crack under her hoof, and looked down to see a pile of bones. She shrieked, and ran to the door of the house. She knocked intently. The door was opened by Majora.

“Good evening, mare, nice to see you’re still alive after that.” He said. “You DO realize we should have killed you for that.”

She looked down. “I’m sorry.”

She heard Derek laugh inside. “SORRY? That gets you NOTHING in the REAL world.”

Majora stepped back, and invited her in.

Derek snorted. “Don’t let that brat in, she‘ll just leave and bring more troops!”

Majora sighed. “Relax, Derek. We can’t let her go out through the forest at this time of night, it’s too dangerous”

Derek just turned his head.

Twilight walked in slowly.

I sat down on the couch, Twilight looked up at me.

I suppose she was a bit remorseful for attempting to murder us.

“We spared you for multiple reasons.” I began. “The most important of which is that you are one of the Elements of Harmony, our trump card in a sense.”

“What?” She said, confused.

“Well, Nightmare Moon and Discord proved to be... too much for us alone. So we sat back and allowed things to unfold in those situations. Then of course Celestia steps in and you know the rest.” I explained.

Twilight seemed a bit shocked. “You two... watched us?”

“YEP!” Derek yelled, grinning like an idiot.

“Only to make sure that you could handle it.” I reassured her.

“So you two are like, silent protectors?” She asked.

“In a sense, I suppose.” I replied. “We have made it our mission to stop evil before it has a chance to attack. Which is why we steal books, so we can study the prophecies that foretell doom, so we may fight it.”

“I also take spell books.” Said Derek. “Gotta stay sharp, you know.”

“So then, why does Celestia hate you guys so much?” asked Twilight

“It’s complicated,” I replied. “We are always around when something bad is happening, and I think she believes we are the cause. We actually ran into Celestia during the Discord incident and Derek had one of his... episodes. You see, when he turned to dark magic-”

Derek cut me off. “I didn’t turn to dark magic, I started to research it and Celestia got all bent out of shape! That foal had it coming!”

“So you’re just misunderstood?” she asked.

“Precisely.” I said.

Twilight lowered her head.

“It’s getting late. Derek, send her home.” I commanded.

“With pleasure.” He replied. He shot a laser at her and POOF, she was gone.

“You DID send her home, right?” I asked.

“Somewhere.” He said.

“Derek!”

“Relax, old man, she’s at that library.”

I sighed. Another fantastic day, I suppose.

Twilight awoke in the middle of the floor to the sound of frantic knocking.

“TWILIGHT, TWILIGHT! OPEN UP! OPEN UUUUP!” She heard Pinkie Pie shouting.

Twilight sighed, walked over to the door and opened it.

“WHAT’S WRONG, PINKIE!?” Twilight yelled.

“TWILIGHT, COME QUICK! SOMETHING AWFUL, HORRIBLE, BAD, AHH!” Pinkie Pie shouted back.

“Pinkie! Relax, and tell me what happened!” Twilight insisted.

Pinkie inhaled.

“I was walking down the road when I heard a big CRASHY noise. When I looked I found the tree house went WOOSH! Applebloom, Sweetiebelle, and Scootaloo were all HURT and stuff!” Pinkie Pie said.

“What? Are they alright?” Twilight asked.

“I DON’T KNOW!!!” Pinkie Pie screamed.

Twilight and Pinkie Pie ran off to the Hospital.

Applejack and Rarity sat alone in the waiting room.

“I just don’t understand it.” Applejack sniffed. “That treehouse was as sturdy as a fully grown apple tree.”

Twilight and Pinkie Pie ran in.

“What happened? Is everything alright?” Twilight asked.

“We don’t know yet.” Rarity said, sobbing.

“The doctor will come back and tell us how they are in a moment.” Applejack said.

The Doctor walked into the waiting room.

“Applejack and Rarity?” He called out.

“That’s us.” Applejack said.

“Ladies, I’m sorry to say, but they didn’t make it.” He said.

Twilight and Applejack gasped, Pinkie Pie’s hair deflated, and Rarity cried.

The door suddenly slammed open.

“Into darkness, I shall cast all. With a small show of strength, three will fall.” A voice said.

Twilight looked up. Derek and Majora had entered the room, and in broad daylight.

“Well, well. It looks like this prophecy is more literal than first thought..” Derek said.

Majora was in full armor, minus his helmet, and Derek had a saddle bag stuffed with books.

“Good Morning, everypony.” Majora said. “Ah, Twilight Sparkle.”

“YOU!” Twilight yelled.

“Indeed.” Majora replied.

“WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE?” She yelled.

“Investigating.” Derek said.

“Who are these funny lookin’ ponies?” Pinkie Pie asked.

“They’re from the Everfree forest.” Twilight said.

“THE EVERFREE FOREST!?” the others gasped.

“Oh, ha ha. Very funny.” Derek spat.

“Can one of you take us to where this all took place?” Majora asked.

Rarity ran up. “I will!” She said.

“O....K.” Majora said. “anypony ELSE want to take us to where this all happened?”

No one said a word. Everyone but Rarity was afraid of them.

Majora sighed. “Let’s go, miss.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Chapter 4 Hate

She led us to a shattered tree house.

“Here’s where it happened, gentlecolts.” Rarity said.

“Thank you young mare, we’ll take it from here.” I said.

“Well this looks pretty open and shut.” Derek said, looking through the rubble. “Yep, this thing was brought down by somepony, or someTHING.”

“But, who would want to harm three little fillies like that?” Rarity asked.

“Well, because this is VERY convenient, I believe we know exactly who is at fault.” I said.

“It’s glaringly obvious.” Derek said. “He’s not very subtle is he now?”

“Not at all.” I replied.

Rarity was obviously confused. “What in Celestia’s name are you two talking about?”

By now, a small crowd had formed behind us. They were obviously caught between wondering who the heck we were, and staring at the gnarled mess that used to be a tree house.

Derek was looking through the rubble when I spotted something out of the corner of my eye. A small carriage being hauled by two pegasi at top speed. Atop the carriage sat the worst possible pony we could have hoped for.

Princess Celestia.

“Derek.” I said.

“Yes?” He asked, still looking for clues.

“Heads up. We got ROYAL company!”

He flinched. “Son of a..”

By now the crowd had caught on to Celestias grand entrance. I spotted Twilight, Applejack, and Pinkie Pie joining the crowd.

“Why now?” Derek spat.

“Maybe Orobas was being so flamboyant to draw her out, stay sharp!” I said.

The carriage landed and the crowd parted for her. She stepped off, her mane flowing in the the absence of a breeze. Her eyes fixed on me. I saw her mutter to herself.

“Celestia.” I said.

“Enough.” She cut me off. “Don’t think I haven’t noticed you talking to Twilight. You’ve been filling her head with...” She stopped herself from saying something less than friendly with other ponies around. “...creative stories. I suggest you leave now, Majora.”

A few ponies in the crowd gasped, muttering things like “Isn’t he dead?” and “What the buck?”.

Celestia turned to Derek.

“Ah, another one of my students.” She said.

Derek stuck his tongue out at her. “I’ve become more powerful without your help then I ever would have with it.”

“ENOUGH!” Celestia snapped. “Leave, before I bring you down myself.” She stepped toward us. “You cling to the ways of old by reading those silly prophecies, and then throwing the land into danger with your crude tactics and unconventional methods.”

“Really now?” I said. “It was those silly prophecies that foretold the return of your sister, remember? ‘The stars will aid her escape’? That ring a bell?”

Celestia winced at the mention of Luna.

“Me and Derek are the only ones who even care to stop evil from breaking free. Night Mare and Discord are PERFECT examples of what happens when we let things go.” I said, beginning to loose my patience.

“SILENCE!” Celestia demanded.

Derek spat on the ground in front of her. “Screw you.” He said.

I glared at him. “Derek, shu-”

A bright laser struck the ground in front of us, knocking us back. The crowd gasped.

“I will not allow such insubordination to go unpunished.” Celestia said gravely.

A few guards took stance next to her. She nodded to them, and they darted toward us. Derek’s eyes glowed along with his horn. He flashed a wicked smile. A large shield flew up and the guards smacked into it.

“YOU SHOULDN’T HAVE DONE THAT!” Derek said, but it wasn’t just his voice. His voice was mixed with another familiar voice. It sounded like-

“DISCORD!?” Celestia shrieked.

Derek was having an episode. I sighed and stepped back, she had this coming. Derek shot a red beam from his horn, it hit Celestia square in the chest plate, knocking her back. The crowd gasped some more. Celestia glared at Derek. Her horn lit up brightly, lightning shot in Derek’s direction. In the blink of an eye, Derek side stepped it without a moment's reflection.

“Nice try, Celestia,” Derek said in his distorted voice. “You missed.”

“Discord! Stay out of this!” Celestia demanded.

I glared at Derek, his eyes still glowing red. Was he really being.... possessed this time?

“Oh Celestia, you kidder.” He replied.

Yep, this time Derek’s mind was gone.

Celestia flinched. “What are you planning Discord?”

Derek, or Discord in this case, laughed. “Nothing, yet, my dear Celestia.” He hovered over to Celestia, meeting her at eye level. “I’m here to warn you.”

Celestia narrowed her eyes. “Warn me?”

DisDerek laughed. “You would be wise to trust these fools.” He said. “I have felt the disturbances myself. Don’t hide it Celestia, I know you have too. He’s angry, at you.”

Celestia looked away.

DisDerek just laughed. “Fine, be that way. But Orobas will come for you first.”

A lightning storm was beginning to rage, the sound of thunder and loud muttering from the crowd had became deafening.

Celestia fired a beam at DisDerek, that was absorbed by a red aura. DisDerek shot a fireball back at her. It hit her sending her arcing through the air for what seemed like a whole minute, before finally crashing into a house, leaving a pile of rubble in her wake.

DisDerek took notice of the crowd. “WHAT ARE YOU ALL LOOKING AT!?” He yelled.

The crowd backed away. DisDereks horn began to charge.

My time to shine. I took out a tranquilizer dart, loaded it into a pipe, and shot it at Derek’s flank.

He wobbled a few times. “I’ll... k-kill...” He said, before dropping to the ground, fast asleep. The glowing of his horn dissipated. The storm had stopped.

I walked over and hoisted him onto my back, and looked around, the crowd had grown two times bigger then when we began. I sighed.

The broken house Celestia ran into shuffled, and the princess rose from the rubble. She stood up, and collected herself. “Don’t think this means I owe you anything.” She said darkly.

“Of course not.” I said mockingly.

Her eyes widened again, but she did nothing. She got back up on her carriage. “To the castle.” she said.

The two pegasi beat their wings, pulling her into the air. I watched her until she disappeared. Then, I turned to the crowd, who stared back at me.

“What are you looking at?” I asked.

They all muttered to themselves and walked off. All except Twilight, Applejack, Rarity, and Pinkie Pie.

I sighed. “I’m glad to see you’re all still alive. When Derek has an episode, we usually have some fatalities.” I said. “It’s a drawback of Derek’s study. In short, stay away from dark magic.”

“You... monsters.” Rarity said.

I sighed.

“You know you could’ve put him t’ sleep a bit sooner?” Applejack said.

“I suppose.” I replied. I would never tell them I actually enjoyed watching that.

“Wow that was SO scary I can't believe somepony could stand up to the PRINCESS, I mean she IS the PRINCESS after all!!!!!” Pinkie Pie shrieked.

I turned to go home, when Twilight spoke up.

“What about Derek? It looks like he’s in really bad shape after all that.” She said with genuine concern.

I looked back at her a bit confused. “Uh, no. Ol’ Derek has seen far worse.” I turned and continued to walk home.

Twilight was still shocked at what she had just witnessed. They way they treated Celestia, Derek being possessed. It was all so hard to process. Discord himself just said that he agreed with Majora and Derek’s claims. Orobas, just the name was frightening. Twilight turned to her books.

“Spike, bring me the book on Demonology.” Twilight said.

“Wha-?” Spike asked confused.

“The big purple one.” Twilight clarified.

“Oh, THAT one.” Spike said, walking to the shelf and grabbing the book.

He brought it over to Twilight.

“Ok,” She said, “just who is this mystery demon?”

She began flipping through the pages and found it.

Orobas.

The page looked as if it had been rebound multiple times. The picture showed the skeleton of an alicorn, stained black by the fire that surrounded it. Its’ horn extended into a fine point. It says Orobas was the Prince of Darkness, and ruler of Tartarus. He is the father of dark magic, and devours the souls of the living. It says that in his love for another, rejection drove him to madness. The fire that surrounds him reflects his mood. Below was the prophecy, verbatim to what Derek said before.

Into darkness I shall cast all.
With a small show of strength, three shall fall.
And with my mighty scythe, I shall rend,
the land into bitter end.

The words echoed in her mind. but she still had, one last question. Where is Orobas?

I was reading up on Orobas when Derek walked in.

“What... happened?” He asked, still drowsy.

“You had another episode.” I said, flipping pages. “You attacked Celestia.”

“Sweet, wish I could’ve seen her face.” He said, smiling.

“I fear she will be more tenacious in hunting us then ever before.” I said gravely.

“Fine, I’ll just conjure up a shei-” he said , but I cut him off.

“No, we have to find the throne of Orobas. Now. Then after we finish him, we’re fleeing the country.” I said. “I have gathered all the intel we need. We must break into Canterlot Castle. The throne of Orobas rests in the catacombs of the mountain.”

“Alright.” Derek sighed, “Should we grab only what we need?”

“Yes.” I replied. “We need to make it look like we still live here.”

It was about 1AM when Twilight was awakened by the sound of knocking on her door. She got up and walked to the door. When she opened it, she saw Majora in full armor, once again without his helmet and Derek with a stuffed saddle bag.

“Evening, mare.” Majora said.

“Evening? It’s one in the morning.” Twilight complained. “What do you want?”

“We need you to sneak us into Canterlot. They have some heavy protection out there, and we think you could get us in easy.” Derek said.

Majora moved Twilight out of the way and entered, Derek following close behind.

“Our plan is that Derek will use a short term invisibility spell on us. You will walk into the Castle, nonchalantly, and make your way to the throne room. In the throne room there is a locked hallway that leads to the catacombs of the mountain.” Majora explained.

Twilight rolled her eyes. “Can’t this wait until dawn?” She asked.

“But of course.” Majora replied. “We just need a safe house for the night.”

“Fine.” Twilight sighed.

“You will be leading the way. The fate of Equestria now rests on you, too. Welcome to the team!” Derek said, mockingly.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Chapter 6 The Prince of Darkness

We ran side by side down the long dark cave, illuminated by Derek’s horn, the castle hallway getting further and further away. My mind was finally at ease about Celestia. Hopefully we are successful here tonight, so she may forgive me and possibly Derek. At the end of the cave we reached a large stone slab with ancient text inscribed on it.

“Alright, old man. We got this.” He said.

“Just know that this may be out of our league.” I told him.

“You say that every damn time...” He replied.

“I know, but this time I’m serious. He is the father of the magic you follow so religiously.” I said.

“Oh...” He gulped.

That obviously got to him. “We have a lot riding on this. More than the fate of Equestria this time, but our own fate is indeed tied to the outcome of this fight.”

“Obviously, if we die we’re dead.” He said sarcastically.

“More than that. We do this right, Celestia will stop hunting us, we won’t have to live in that forest, and maybe we can finally quit this silly profession.” I said.

The cave shook violently, knocking us both over.

“I was gonna say,” Derek said, “we need to get a move on.”

His horn glowed, and a large wave of red energy fired in all directions. The stone slab cracked and shattered, revealing a pitch black room.

We walked into a room so dark it was overwhelming Derek’s light. Fire then began to light itself around us, casting a dim glow on the dank room. The room was set up like a stage. The walls were lined with skulls, the ceiling was spiked, and there on the stage, he stood.

“Evening, gentlecolts.” He said in low raspy voice. He stood in front of the back wall, which had a paragraph written some red dripping liquid on it. There he stood, a scorched black skeleton of an alicorn , surrounded by his eternal burning flames that are said to reflect his mood, and those red glowing eyes of his. Orobas’s flame burned a somber orange, hopefully meaning he was calm. He began to read off the paragraph.

“‘Into Darkness I shall cast all’... sounds good.” He said.
“With a small show of strength, three will fall.” He chuckled. “Check.”
“And with my mighty scythe, I shall rend.’” He turned to us.
“The land you love into bitter end.”

“Orobas.” I regarded.

“You two have been following me for some time now. You’re the best she could send to face me? A shame, really. What does she take me for?” He spread out his bone wings and fire draped down. He jumped down in front of us.

“Back off, buddy.” Derek spat.

We backed away a bit as he approached. I drew my sword in my mouth and dropped it into my hoof. Derek just glared at him.

“I’ll offer you two a choice. Leave now, and be the last two I kill.” He said, his blaze starting to heat up.

“Or...?” I pressed him.

“Or I will kill you both as slow as possible.” He said.

Derek spat on the ground in front of Orobas, who took this as a challenge. His blaze flared an angry red.

“FINE! ENJOY YOUR FATE.” He yelled. He held out his bony hoof. Fire sprawled outward from it, swirling around into a rod. A large blade shot out and curled downward. His scythe had a skull impaled on the top, the blade serrated on both the top and bottom. It was easily the most intimidating weapon I have ever seen.

“Too bad,” He said. “I really wanted to slay Celestia first.”

“YOU WON’T HAVE THE PLEASURE!” Derek shouted. The pentagram already burned into the ground under him. His eyes glowing blood red. “TAKE THIS!”

A pentagram appeared now under Orobas. Chains shot out of the points of the star, constricting Orobas and forcing him to the ground. He dropped his scythe. An opening! I darted toward him, swinging back my sword.

Orobas laughed. “Ha ha ha. Do you really think this will stop me?”

His scythe rose from ground with an unholy glow and shredded through the air with a dark trail of fire behind it. I held up my sword to block, and the scythe slammed into it, launching me into the air with ease and trailing fast to Derek. The scythe seemed to have distorted time and I was helpless, only able to watch as it phased through Derek. Being crushed into the ground, I could only watch as Derek slumped over, spewing blood out of his mouth. My mind began to race, trying to comprehend what just happened. Time was starting to returned to normal. I sprang up to my hooves and ran over to Derek. He was still breathing, but barely.

“What the hell did you do?!” I yelled at Orobas.

“Oh you liked that? Ha ha ha, that was a simple little trick, a sort of time distorting spell.” He cackled.

“Dammit...” Derek gasped.

“Derek you need to let go of your spell! NOW!” I demanded.

The chains shattered. Orobas rose to his hind legs, taking his floating scythe in his hooves. “Don’t you see? It’s hopeless. Save yourself and run while you still can.” He insisted.

“Save myself?” I asked. “I can’t let you get away with this!”

Once again my rage flared. Time to think. Orobas’s weakness was... the single gem pressed into his skull. The legends say so. So, how to take him on. An idea hit me. I hoped he was stupid enough to fall for it.

I charged him, he simply knocked me back. I charged once more, this time he engaged me. Every swing I took, he met with equal force making no attempt to overwhelm me. No matter where I swung, he just twirled his scythe around his body and knocked my sword back. I flew back and threw my sword at him. He ducked, keeping eye contact with the sword. Bingo. I grabbed my crossbow, and fired it at the gem in his skull. He noticed the arrow, but too late. The arrow hit his gem at max velocity. The gem cracked and Orobas doubled back.

“What!?!” He yelled.

… Nothing happened.

Orobas began to laugh. “THAT was your genius plan? I am disappointed.”

I threw my crossbow down. “Make my death swift, if you must.”

Orobas laughed once more. “Oh, I’m gonna make you feel tru-”

He was cut off by another crack. His blaze flared red. “WHAT IS THIS?” He shrieked.

The gem shattered, releasing a black cloud. The cloud swirled in the air rushing into the ceiling. Orobas screamed something in ancient equestrian, the blaze around him swirling away slowly. When the fire was gone, the bones gave way into ash.

“Wha- What?” I thought out loud. Unable to comprehend what just happened.

“Fan *huff* tastic.” Derek struggled to say. “Get *puff* me outta here.”

I walked over to Derek, and hoisted him onto my back and walked back down the cavern. People crowded the entrance to the catacombs. They parted, trying to ask me questions. I didn’t listen to them. Frankly, I couldn’t care less right now. I walked myself all the way to the infirmary, where nurses immediately took us in. My mission finally was complete. Derek was in good hands, and I had defeated Orobas. Now that I had time to think about other things, searing pain began to set in. I glanced at myself. I was cut up and bleeding everywhere. I decided to give into the pain and slumped over.

….

Where....

Where am I?

The area around me was hazy. The ground I stood on was grassy. I looked around and noticed a lone tree not too far away from my current position. With no clear idea where I was, I trotted up to it. As I got closer a figure came into view, colored a familiar ash-grey. I began to run. Derek? I wanted to call out to him, but I couldn’t for some reason. I didn’t care where I was, all that mattered was that my best friend was alive.

His ears twitched as I got closer. He turned his head to me then frowned.

“Old man.” He said quietly.

He turned away.

“I’m... I’m sorry.” He said. My vision began to fade once more, he drifted further and further away. I tried to call out to him again, but my body still wouldn’t do what I wanted it to. I watched helplessly as he faded from my vision.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Chapter 7 Depression

My eyes shot open. I was in a bed in a hospital room. There was a single window to my left, and the door was to my right. An IV drip attached to my arm. I sighed and tried to get up, but pain shot up my back and I flopped back down. Great, I’m a broken old man. I looked out the window, the sky was blue again and the sun back in place. I wondered how long I had been out, and what of Derek. The door opened, Nurse Redheart and Celestia walked in, accompanied by a few royal guards.

“Congratulations, Majora. You defeated Orobas.” She said with a soft smile.

“It’s my job, ma'am.” I said.

“Indeed.” She replied. “I must apologize for treating you like I did before. It was nearsighted of me-”

I stopped her before she finished. “It’s fine. I’ve seen worse.”

She cocked her head, possibly trying to imagine what would be worse then getting beat by her.

“Well, in any case, I am here to ask you come back to the Royal Guard. I feel as though you have proved your worth. I will make you my personal guard...” She said, quite sure of herself.

“Yes, well, Derek and I still have our job. As soon as I’m fully healed we are going back to-”

Nurse Redheart uttered a fake cough to gain attention.

“Mr. Majora, if I may. We did everything we could for your friend, but sadly...” She stopped.

I already knew what she was gonna say. My eyes shot to Celestia.

“You... You didn’t help?” I asked.

“It wasn’t my place to.” She said, narrowing her eyes, her facial expression turning harsh.

“So, you’re saying you healed me to fight for you, but you won’t heal him after he fought for you. Faulty logic, ma’am.” I said, angrily.

“I’m sorry, Majora, but he wasn’t worth it.” She said.

Wait a second. Not... worth it?

“WHAT THE HELL DO YOU MEAN!?” I shouted.

“As a user of dark magic, he was in direct violation of my law. So I really didn’t see any point in saving hi-”

“But he fought for you! Against everything he believed, he still went down protecting you!” I attempted to reason.

Celestia just glared at me. Obviously she wasn’t going to see it my way, and why should she? She’s seen dark magic used on herself and others around her, but Derek was different. He used his gift for good.

“SO YOU JUST LET HIM DIE!?” I shouted.

“I had to Majora. It didn’t matter what he was doing, but what he did.” She said. “That is why I let him go.”

I stared out the window. He was gone. My best friend... gone.

After I got out of the hospital, I went straight home. The house seemed empty without Derek around. As the days past I realized it was very large for just myself. So I moved out of Everfree and into Ponyville.

The day I buried Derek, I was alone. I guess I couldn't expect anyone but myself to care. I chose a small, secluded grassy hill top on the edge of Everfree. As soon as I was done, I left. Most days since then I kept to myself. I stayed home, tending to sleep most days away.

Until finally, I was rudely awakened one day. An intent knocking sound filled my ears, my eyes shot open. The door was shaking from the pony on the other side. I sighed and walked over to the door, and was greeted by a smiling Twilight Sparkle.

“MAJORA! YOU WON’T BELIEVE IT!” She said joyously.

“What?” I mused.

“Applebloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo! They are alive!” She said.

“Im- Impossible.” I tried to think rationally.

“I’m researching it now!” She said. “Such a phenomenon has NEVER happened in Ponyville.” She said.

I didn’t pry. I didn’t really care how or why they were alive. I guess it means I did something right.

“That’s great,” I said, “but is that all you need to say? I’m very busy right now.”

“Well, you see, Celestia has summoned you, too.” She said.

“She couldn’t send some soldiers or something?” I asked, skeptically.

“I don’t know.” She said.

“For what reason?” I asked.

“No idea, you have to go and see,” She said. “and how long has it been since you left this house?”
“None of your business.” I stated.

“Well whatever, you could always go to Derek’s grave for closure you know.” She said, as if she knew what she was talking about. She obviously didn’t.

“Ya whatever, just get.” I said.

She stuck her tongue out at me and trotted off.

I walked up the hill at the border of Ponyville and the Everfree forest where Derek was buried at. I thought it would make him happy if I brought him something. As I approached, I saw somepony else there. A blue mare with a purple cape.

“Ehem, may I ask who you are?” I said as I approached.

She turned to me. “What’s it to ya?” She sneered.

“This is my best friend's grave, if you could please-” I began to say, but she shushed me.

“So, you must be Majora.” She said.

I was confused. “How did you know my name? Who are you?”

She laughed a bit. “My brother only had one friend.”

“... Trixie.” I came to realize.

Feeling a bit bad about trying to shoo her away, I just sat next to her.

“So, how did you find out?” I asked.

“Celestia told me, being the last of our family.” She said.

“Wonderful. She’s hasn’t been very nice lately.” I said.

“Why?” Trixie asked.

“She let him die, when she could’ve possibly saved him, had she even cared.” I explained.

“WHAT! WHY IN EQUESTRIAS’ NAME WOULD SHE DO THAT!?” She yelled.

“She maintains the idea that dark magic users are evil.” I said.

“Not true, especially for Dare.” She mused.

“I know.” I said. I remembered what I had came here for, but with Trixie here...

“I have something for you,” I reached into my bag and pulled out a book, “this was a gift from your brother that he never gave you. It was supposed to be for your birthday.”

“What? He remembered my birthday?” She said, a bit shocked.

“Well yes, he talked about you a lot.” I told her. “He planned to visit you in a few days but...” I stopped for logical reasons. She opened the book, the inside cover had a note written in it.”

Dear Trix,

I know I never have time to visit you because I’m so busy with my work, but I wanted to give you this in hopes that you can become even greater and more powerful. I hope you’ll forgive me for not being there for you all the time, but remember I will always love you.

Sincerely,

Dare.

Trixie just starred at the note. Personally, I never knew that Derek cared for anyone but himself. He did talk about her a lot, I suppose. I guess he cared about what little family he had. The book consisted of advanced magic, and some of his own tricks, but no dark magic.

“Thank you, Majora.” She said. “I must go now.” She got up and walked off.

I faintly remember Derek joking that she was in show bizz. Poor mare. I heard hoofsteps approaching. I turned and saw Celestia.

“What do you want?” I asked her.

“Orobas, I sense the fight is not over.” She said.

“Lady, you told me it was over. I’m done, get it?” I told her.

She sat down next to me. “Look, I’m sorry about your friend. I’m sure he was great to you, but he’s tried to kill me. I can say that I appreciate your work having seen it now first hand.” She said, now showing remorse.

I sat there and stared at the grave. “Fine,” I said, “I will take care of him when he reappears.” I got up and walked off, leaving her to stare at what she had done.

I was still asleep when somepony came knocking on my door... again. When will it end? I got out of bed, checked my mane, and went to the door. Sure enough, it was Twilight... again.

“Good morning, Majora!” She said cheerfully.

“Mare,” I said, “I haven’t had a good morning in weeks.”

She chuckled. “You’ll get happier as time goes by.”

“Don’t start with the touchy feely bull.” I said.

“You just need to get out and make some new friends.”

“Me? Friends? I don’t need friends. I am a battle hardened vet, companionship is the least of my concerns.” I explained. “Speaking of battle. I need you to gather your friends. I need help to finish a job.”

“Really? What do you need?” She said, a bit confused.

“The one who killed Derek is still at large. I think I’ll need your help to take him out.” I said gravely.

At first she thought I was crazy, but then my seriousness sunk in.

“I’ll meet you at the library in one hour. Go.” I said.

With that she ran off. Alright, time to finish what we started.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Chapter 8 Acceptence

“Alright, ladies.” I announced. “Once again, the princess insists we fight her own battles for her. So, because my previous attempt to bring down Orobas failed, I will be asking you five to use the elements of harmony to take him out for good.”

“Five?” Applejack said, perplexed. “Ain’t there suppose ta’ be six of us?”

“Well, is there?” I asked.

“Uhg. Fluttershy isn’t here.” Rainbow Dash groaned.

"Where does she live?” I asked.

“A cabin on the edge of the woods, bu-“ Twilight said, but I walked right past her.

“Does she live alone?” I asked.

“Well, yes, but I don’t thi-“ twilight said, but again I didn’t allow her to finish.

“No time for warnings. I’ll stay on my guard. I’ll be back.” I said, storming out the door.

As I walked down the empty, evacuated streets, something occurred to me. Celestia was trusting me to take him out. Did she really trust me? Or was she counting on my failure? I heard hoof steps. I stopped, and turned my head slightly. I saw Shining Armor out of the corner of my eye.

“Hey, Majora!” He called out.

“Lord… Lord Armor?” I said.

“Yep.” He said. “Good to see you're alive after all these years.”

“Likewise.” I said.

We walked next to me. “So, Princess Celestia said you might need my help. I came as soon as she-“

I held up my hoof for him to stop. “I won’t need any help. If all goes according to plan, I will just need the elements of harmony, and myself.”

“Are you sure?”

“I’m positive.”

He sighed. “Well, in any case, I have something for you.” He reached into his bag and pulled out
a Royal Guard helmet. “This is yours.”

My eyes widened. My helmet.

“I found it at the foot of the mountain when we went looking for you. I kept it for all these years never believing for a second you were dead.” He said.

“Tha- Thank you, my lord.” I stuttered. I took the helmet and slid it onto my head. It still fit perfectly.

“You’re welcome, and you don’t need to call me ‘Lord’, you are my equal.” He said.

“Indeed.” I said.

I saw a small cottage at the edge of the forest. We walked up to the door.

“Majora, we’re all counting you.” He said.

I chuckled. “I suggest you go home now. This battle is between Orobas and I.” I said, knocking on the door.

“Well, if you think you can handle it, I won’t step into your business.” He said.

The door slowly opened to reveal a clamoring yellow Pegasus.

“Fluttershy?” I asked.

“Ye- Yes.” She stuttered.

“I need you to come with me, ma’am.” I said.

Fluttershy walked very close as we went down the street. I was very wary now. I felt uneasy because I wanted to finish this quickly.

“Mr- Mr. Majora? Where are we going?” She asked, quietly.

“To your friends. I must get you to them before-”

The ground began to shake violently. Black smoke rose from the ground, and swirled a bit. A tall, slender, ghostly alicorn stepped from the cloud. He was black, with a red and black spiked mane. His horn ended in a fine, intimidating point, and a wingspan that rivaled Celestia's.

“What the-?” I said, but the ghost cut me off.

“So, she lied.” It said.

“What?” I asked, very confused.

“She said if I lost the gem, I would die. I welcomed such a way to go, but she lied... again.” The alicorn’s face became painstakingly sad. “Why has she cursed me like this?”

“...Orobas?” I wondered out loud.

His ear twitched, and his expression changed to a wicked smile. “Precisely, sir.”

I drew my sword, and dropped it into my hoof.

“Put that thing away. Look at me! I’m a ghost.” Orobas said.

Fluttershy began to whine, trying to hide herself.

“Oh, am I scaring you?” He asked. His apparition split and moved around me reforming behind her.

“GRAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!” He roared at her. Fluttershy screamed, and darted in the direction of the library.

I glared at him. “Monster.” I spat.

His eye twitched. “Such a nasty word. You know, my love called me that right before she left me. Then I became this. It was all for her, yet she never accepted my eternal devotion.” His face became sad again.

“Why do you continue to walk the earth?” I asked.

“Maybe it’s because I cannot yet accept that she doesn’t love me...” Orobas sighed.

“Who? Why would you continue when she is dead...” I stopped and dreaded the thought.

“You know her as an immortal princess. She gives you the land you love, and you praise for her greatness. All I see is the horrible she devil.” He said.

“So why don’t you just accept the fact Celestia doesn’t love you?” I asked.

He became enraged. “BECAUSE SHE IS THE DEVIL!” He yelled, stomping his ghostly hoof. The ground cracked and fire bursted into the air.

I took cover. When I looked back up, he was gone.

“Now I will finish what I started.” I heard him say. I looked behind me, and was immediately met by his eyes.

He held out his hoof, and a not-so-ghostly scythe appeared. He took it back in both hooves and stood up on his hind legs.

“Let’s continue where we left off.” He said.

So I took my sword back in my hoof, and lunged at him. I swung my sword. He swung his scythe around with so much force, he knocked my sword back. He simply lurched his scythe forward and cut into my chest. I fell back.

“You’re weak.” he said. “Not worth my time.”

“Save the false confidence, Orobas.” Someone said. I glanced around, spotting no one. Then a large white alicorn landed directly in front of me. I jumped back.

“You have defied death for so long. Why don’t you just leave?” Celestia asked.

I stood up and collected myself.

“Because, my purpose has changed. Instead of your forgiveness, I must have your blood.” He said darkly.

“You won’t get the chance,” Celestia said, “perish.”

She jumped up into the air, pointed her horn down, and shot a insanely bright beam of light down on Orobas.

“GAA! WHAT... WHAT IS THIS?” He yelled.

“Something I should’ve done a long time ago.” Celestia said.

The amazing light enveloped the ghost, and continued to rain down. All I could hear was the squelch of magic, as I was slowly blinded by the light.

I had seen this before in books. This was royalty’s way of ‘erasing’ the unwanted. The beam she was using completely wipes all that come in contact with it out of existence.

The beam stopped, and Celestia dropped to her hooves. The smoke cleared, and Orobas was gone.

“Is... is that it?” I asked.

“I’m sorry I put you through all this.” She said, turning to me. “Yes, that is it.”

I sighed in relief. “Well then.”

She chuckled.

“I must ask, princess, how did you meet him?” I said.

She held a hoof up to her chin. “I don’t believe it’s your business.”

I lowered my head. “Forgive me for-”

“It’s fine.” she said. “He was... a friend.” She began to stare off into space.

I heard a large explosion in the distance, and looked over. A mountain had completely shattered into pieces.

“GAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!!!!!”

“What.... the.... hell....” I said, gaping at the explosion.

Celestia’s trance broke. “Huh?” She glanced over. “Oh... my.”

I extremely large black figure rose out of the mountain. It was half submerged in the ground. It had clawed hands, and a wicked spikey smile. One eye was just a large white ‘X’ while the other had a small red pupil in the center. Its body was pitch black, reflecting no light. It had two large pointy horns.

“I WILL HAVE REVENGE!!!!” It yelled.

I looked at the Princess, who had a single tear in her eye. “What have I created?” She asked indirectly.

“P-Princess! What will we do?” I asked, frantic.

“We must use the elements, he is solid now, so they should work. I fear he might be able to block the blast, though.” She said.

“I’ll go, have the girls ready to fire on my signal!” I said. I spread my wings and took off for the gigantic monster.

“What?” I heard her say.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Chapter 9 Becoming Legend

My mind raced. This monster had to be stopped at all cost. The fate of Equestria was in my hooves once again, but this time it was different. This thing had killed Derek, now it was my turn to return the favor.

Orobas slowly turned around to see me.

“YOU ARE A PERSISTENT LITTLE BUG.” He bellowed.

“LIKEWISE!” I yelled up to him.

“OUT OF MY WAY.” He said, smacking me out of the air.

I had to keep pestering him, so I flew back into his sight.

“WHAT IS IT NOW?” He asked.

“YOU KNOW CELESTIA TOLD ME SHE NEVER DID LOVE YOU!” I yelled, hoping it would enrage him.

“YOU- YOU DON’T KNOW WHAT YOU’RE TALKING ABOUT!” He yelled, his eyes turning deep red.

“YES I DO! SHE TOLD ME!” I lied.

His body shuddered. “NO!” He yelled. “NO NO NO NO NOOO!”

He grabbed me from out of the air. “LIES! I WILL HEAR NONE OF IT!” He said.

He began to crush me in his hand. I felt my bones crack and blood running down my side.

“N- NOOOOOOW!!!!” I yelled.

“WHAT? YOU WANT ME TO KILL YOU NOW?” He asked, laughing. “YOU ARE A LITTLE....”

He stopped and stared at the oncoming rainbow.

“WHAT? NOOO!” He yelled. It struck him, right between the eyes. Blinding light shone out of the point where he was hit.

He unclenched me, and I began to fall. I closed my eyes, and welcomed the cold arms of death.

Much to my dismay, somepony caught me. Before I passed out, I saw the majestic mane of Princess Celestia, as I gently floated back to the ground.

My eyes fluttered open. I looked around, finding everyone crowded around me.

“He’s alive!” Twilight shouted.

Everypony around me cheered. All the townsfolk, Twilight and her friends, and Princess Celestia all stood around me.

“Great work, Majora.” Celestia said.

“Thanks...” Was all I could say, as I was suffering from multiple broken bones on the ground.

“Thanks to you, Equestria is safe once more!” Twilight said, happily.

“Great....” I said. “Could we go visit Nurse Redheart now?”

“Of course we can.” Celestia said.

“Not.... so...... fast.....” Somepony said.

Celestia looked over and gasped. “YOU’RE STILL ALIVE!” She yelled.

The crowd of ponies gasped and slowly inched back.

I looked, and gasped myself. It was Orobas, but in flesh and blood. He stood on his hind legs, holding himself up with his scythe. His wings fully extended outward.

“What are you?” Celestia asked, disgusted.

“Not too sure.” Orobas smiled wickedly. “Whatever I am, I don’t like it.”

He took his scythe back in both hoofs. “Your Eraser Beam and Elements of Harmony have failed. What now?”

I stood there in awe. He was still going. What was it gonna take to kill him? My body was badly damaged, but my mind wasn’t. I suppressed the pain, and got up.

“Oh?” He seemed perplexed. “You are still going?”

“This fight continues until one of us drops dead.” I said.

“That’s the idea!” He laughed. He glared at Celestia. “You first.”

He jumped at her, bringing back his scythe as he moved.

I darted. He rose his scythe into the air. My mind was processing so fast that time seemed to move slowly. His scythe dropped toward Celestia. I landed in between them, and swung my sword at the rod of his scythe. My sword cleaved the rod in two and the blade fell to the ground, leaving just the rod in Orobas’s hoofs. Orobas jumped back to avoid my attack. My mind slowed back down.

“Well, you seem to have cut down my scythe.” He said. “Too bad I don’t need it.”

He threw the rod to the ground. Celestia took up stance next to me.

“This time,” she said, “we will fight together.” He eyes were fixed on Orobas.

Time to settle this once and for all.

Orobas laughed. The crowds of ponies all backed away, but remained to watch.

“So, you are going to fight me now, Celestia?” He asked.

“Orobas, I don’t know how we are going to do it, but we will defeat you.” She said.

“Good.” He smirked. The sky faded black. The sun disappeared, but its light remained.

His eyes glowed red, and his blazing fire aura returned to his body. It wasn’t burning him, it was radiating off him. He dropped to his hoofs.

“Come get me.” He said.

I charged and Celestia took to the air. I went at him with my sword. He dodged, but was hit by a laser from Celestia.

“Two on one... a bit unfair, wouldn’t you say?” He asked.

Celestia summoned her orbiting band of light and charged Orobas. I just kept going with my sword. Orobas just threw up a shield.

“Enough. I will settle this my way.” He flashed his wicked smile. His horn glowed, but not red. This time it glowed black, sucking the light out of the air around it. He shot a beam into the sky, and the darkness domed around us. Pitch black, I stared into the darkness.

Celestia wandered the darkness.

“Orobas? Where are you?” She called out, a bit mad.

As she wandered the never ending space, she became frustrated. “OROBASSS!” She yelled.

“Celestia.” She heard him say. She spun around, and there he was.

“Where are we?” She demanded to know.

“Oh, just a little place where we can be alone.” He said.

Slowly the darkness melted into a forest area. Celestia looked around, and saw that she was surrounded by other alicorns who all seemed to ignore her and Orobas. It was Ancient Equestria.

“WHAT IS THIS ILLUSION?” She yelled, turning back to him, but he was gone.

She decided to look around, be it illusion or not.

As she walked, she found an old house. Walking up to it, she noticed something out of the corner of her eye. She glanced over and saw a young Orobas. Her heart sank, she looked to her other side to see a younger her running up to him.

“Orobas!” The young Celestia said.

“Oh, hello princess.” The Orobas said. “How are your parents?”

“Good!” The young Celestia chimed.

Celestia closed her eyes. It was so strange, seeing it so vividly like this.

“Celestia.” She heard Orobas say. “Celestia.”

She didn’t hear hear the younger version of herself respond.

“Celestia, are you just gonna stand there?”

She opened her eyes. The young Celestia gone, and the Orobas was looking at her.

“Wha?” She uttered.
“Yes, you.” The illusion said. “Why did you go? Why did you run away?”

Celestia tried to turn and walk away, but she was met eye to eye by the real Orobas. She gasped and stumbled back.

He approached slowly. “For too long I have waited for some sort of condolence from you. I had hoped you could forgive my sins so that I may move on to the next life.” He got down in her face. “But you didn’t allow this, did you?”

“What do you mean?” She inquired.

“I have cursed myself with my own magic in order to cheat death over and over. Until my mission is complete, until I have made the entire world suffer.” He said.

She glared at him. “Then you are lost. If you have spent this entire time thinking I would forgive you, then you’re wrong.”

Orobas expression went sad.

“You really think after I witnessed you rise from death, and then ruthlessly take revenge on those who killed you, I would simply forgive you?” Celestia said. “I could forgive your concern for me at the time, but then you started killing. I do not believe I could simply forgive that.”

Orobas became mad. “But-”

She cut him off. “Not more can be said, Orobas. What’s done is done, you cannot reverse it.”

“Then you must realize that I have to kill you now, correct?” He bellowed.

“You will try.” She said, her eyes narrowing.

Orobas’s scythe phased out of the ground and floated up to him. He took it his front two hoofs and rose to his hind legs. Celestia summoned the band of light. They circled each other, looking for an opening.

Celestia had to think. She needed a plan. Then she remember the day he confronted her, and how she got him then. Would it work again? She stepped toward him slowly, Orobas immediately began swinging his scythe at her. The band of light continued to orbit her, blocking each swing. She hesitated, but it was worth a try. With Orobas becoming mad at her defenses, the time was ideal.

“Orobas.” She said.

“WHAT!?” He yelled back at her, pulling his scythe back.

“Thinking back, I suppose I could’ve acted a bit more... rational.” She said.

“YOU THINK?” He yelled, smashing the end of his rod into the ground.

“So I suppose,” She paused for effect “I could... apologize.”

Orobas cocked his head. “Wha- What?”

“You heard me.” She said, looking off to the side.

Orobas seemed to be falling for it.
He lowered his scythe. “But you said...” he began to say, but stopped “Why?”

“Well, I did sort of overreact.” She said. Her mind started to flood with memories. She DID over just a tad. “If I hadn’t, maybe you wouldn’t have killed so many. So, I’m sorry.” She lowered her head for effect.

Orobas dropped to his hoofs.

Good.

She teleported beside him and let the orbiting light find him. It circled her, and smashed into his chest, sending him flying. She turned in the direction he was moving, and fired an intense shot of magic at him. It passed cleanly through his stomach.

“GA! YOU... LYING...” He coughed up blood. “WITCH!” His words echoed all around, shattering the darkness, giving way to a blinding light.

I looked around. “Princess? PRINCESS?!” I called out, my voice absorbed by the darkness. I glanced around.

“OROBAS!!!!” I yelled.

“Who?” I heard a voice say?

I looked up and saw... Derek!

“MAJORA!” He called out to me.

“Derek?” I said in disbelief.

He walked up to me. “Hey, old man.”

“Der- DEREK! HOW? WHAT!?” I stuttered, unable to piece together what was placed in front of me.

“I don’t know.” He said, looking around.

“Derek! We need to get out of here, now!” I said, starting in one direction. I looked back and noticed Derek wasn’t following me. “What’s wrong?”

Derek’s horn began glowing that anti-light black. He turned to me, his eyes glowing red.

“Majora...” He said, but in Orobas’s voice.

Sweet Celestia. “OROBAS!” I yelled.

He inched toward me. “Come on, Majora. Slice your friend down in cold blood. It’s your job now.”

I merely stepped back. It was definitely Orobas, but with Derek’s face. I couldn’t fight him. Not like this. He fired a shot of magic at me, blowing me back.

“Orobas, stop hiding behind your phoney disguise!” I yelled.

He merely laughed. “Your pain is understandable. He was special to you was he not?”

“NO! I mean yes! STOP THIS NOW!” I was confusing the life I wanted with the life I lived for the first time ever. I was a soldier, not meant to cling to anything. I was trained in to be one of the most mentally superior stallions. Derek... he brought me into the life I wanted.

“So, you do hold this colt in high esteem.” We flashed a wicked smile.

He lunged, creating a red version of Celestia’s orbiting light. When he got close, it circled around him and cut into me. I flinched back, and his light swung around and knocked me down.

“YOUR WEAK!” He yelled. “YOU ARE NOT A SOLDIER, YOU’RE A PATHETIC OLD MAN!”

I just lay there, taking in what he said. Blood flowed from my cuts. He began to laugh.

“No.” I said.

“What was that? I couldn’t hear you.” He said.

“NO!”

“NO, WHAT?”

“I AM A SOLDIER!” I got up, and drew my sword. “I was taught that I should never have friends. Friends on the battlefield lead you to defeat.” I held my sword up. “Derek proved to me that friendship was important. Friendship is what keeps us mentally stable, and aids us in our times of need.”

“WHAT DOES THAT HAVE TO DO WITH ANYTHING?” He yelled angrily.

“IT MEANS MY HE WOULD BE CHEERING ME ON RIGHT NOW!” I shouted.

I moved swiftly toward him. Orobas was unable to react to my sudden burst of speed, and I cut right through his back. I peered back, Orobas had dropped the disguise.

“How...?” He said quietly.

“HOW!?” He repeated. It echoed all around. Orobas vanished in a wisp of black smoke. The darkness shattered, giving way to blinding light.

The dome of darkness shattered, revealing us as we were before. Orobas had a look of pure shock on his face. He was badly damaged from our efforts inside the illusion.

“Nice try, Orobas.” Celestia said.

I looked up at her. She wore a very angry face. I wondered what happened to her in the illusion.

Orobas coughed up blood. “You think that’s the best I have?” He laughed, coughing up more blood. He began to charge immense amounts of energy.

“I HAVE HAD ENOUGH!” He yelled, blood continuing to drool from his lips. “I WILL DESTROY THE ENTIRE WORLD!”

His blazing aura grew. Celestia held her position. “Majora, give me your sword.” She said, not breaking her stare at Orobas.

“As you wish.” I unstrapped my blade and tossed it her way, a yellow glow bringing it up to her eye level. The scabbard threw itself to the ground. She moved toward Orobas, focusing on the sword. Sparks began to fly off the sword.

“STAY AWAY, OR I WILL DESTROY EVERYTHING!”

Celestia remained unphased. She continues to walk toward him, still focusing on the sword.

“STAY BACK!!!” Orobas yelled.

Celestia stabed at Orobas, he jumped back. Celestia compensated for the jump, and propelled the sword. With a loud “SHWACK”, the sword stabbed into Orobas’s chest.

He coughed up more blood. Celestia stared Orobas down, as he kneeled down from extreme pain I couldn’t even begin to imagine.

“Die... just die.” Celestia said, with a face of pure anger.

“NEVER!” Orobas shouted. A large maroon laser shot out of his horn and right at her.

She began moved back, but the shot was fast approaching. Right before my eyes, I watched as a fatal shot began to inch its way closer to Celestia.
Then, right before it could strike her, a large pentagram appeared in front of Celestia. It absorbed the shot, and fired it back at Orobas’s neck.

“GUUH!” He yelled in agony.

The circle disappeared from out of the air, and reappeared under Orobas.

Celestia became enraged. “WHO IS DOING THIS?” She looked around. Everypony was just as confused as her.

The ground under Orobas liquified.

“GA! WHA- NOOO!” He yelled.

Slowly, he was pulled into the ground. His yelling and thrashing only made it worse.

“CURSE YOU CELESTIAAAA!” He yelled as his head was finally pulled into the ground. My sword resurfaced and the ground solidified.

“Th- THAT WAS DARK MAGIC! WHO DID THAT!?” Celestia yelled out to the crowd.
Nopony said a word.

“I... I do believe that was the last of Orobas.” I said.

The crowded murmured.

Celestia just stared at the pentagram, which was now fading away. My sword was all that remained. Again, she glanced around, trying to pick out her culprit.

I breathed a heavy sigh of relief.

Twilight ran up to me. “MAJORA! THAT WAS AMAZING!” She shouted.

“YA! Pinkie said. “YOU REALLY BROUGHT THAT MEANIE DOWN!”

“Let’s not forget that the Princess finished him.” Applejack added.

“Yes, Majora and the Princess do make a great team, don’t they?” Rarity said.

“That was awesome.” Rainbow Dash said, still gaping in awe at the pentagram.

Fluttershy peeked over the box she was hiding behind. “I-Is it over?” She asked.

“Now, now, my little ponies. Majora is the true hero.” Celestia said.

“YA! THREE CHEERS FOR THE HERO!” Pinkie yelled.

HIP HIP HOORAY!

“NOW GIVE A SPEECH!” Pinkie demanded.

“Uhhh, no. I think I will be taking a much needed conversation with Nurse Redheart.” I said.

Everypony laughed.

I think I owe Derek two lifetimes now...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Epilogue

Life goes on. I was honored as the hero of equestria. I got a promotion, I was assigned to be part of Princess Celestia’s personal guard. I was immortalized as a warrior.

I looked upon the statue, which looked exactly like me in full armor. I sighed. Derek should be in there too.

I approached the Princess, but she seemed less than interested.

“But, he was the one who helped me. I beat Orobas because of him.” I told her.

“I’m sorry, Majora.” She said. “He used dark magic.”

“Dark doesn’t mean evil!” I insisted.

“Yes it does. Orobas created dark magic, and look how he turned out. Evil is the intent.” She said.

I lowered my head.

“Just forget him.” She said, like she knew what she was talking about.

“Is that what you did with Orobas?” I asked, a bit out of line.

She doubled back, speechless.

I turned away and walked down the hallway. Hoofsteps echoed down the hall toward me. I turned and saw Trixie.

“I saw the statue! Congrats!” She said, excited.

I was surprised she wasn’t speaking in the third person. “Yes.... but it’s missing something.”

“YES! Where is Dare?” She asked.

“Trixie, Celestia.... hated Derek.” I explained.

“I know, He did save you, though.” She debated.

I just sighed. “She didn’t care.”

There was a prolonged silence.

“It was me and him against the world....” She sniffed.

I walked past her. “If you could excuse me, I have some things to think about.”

Celestia stared at me confused. “What do you mean, retire?” She asked.

“I’m done being a soldier. I want to settle down now.” I said.

“But, you have your old life back.” She said, narrowing her eyes.

“Yes, the one I threw away to begin with.” I snapped.

She closed her eyes, and took a deep breath. “Fine, you may go.”

“Thank you.” I said, and stormed off.

One last stop before I leave.

I sat in front of the grave.

“Hey, Derek.” I said, as if he was still next to me. “I’m leaving now... forever. I’m going to Cloudsdale under a new name. I’m starting over. I hope you were able to find peace with the defeat of Orobas.”

I put my crossbow and sword down in front of his grave.

“Good bye.... old friend.” I said, trying to hold back the emotion.

I walked down the hill to my home. I lit a match and dropped it on the wood floor. I watched the fire grow for a bit, then walked out and closed the door. I spread my wings and flew into the air, taking refuge on a small cloud. I looked down at my house, the fire was now seeping through the roof.

For a moment I wondered. I wondered about the ones I was leaving behind. I wondered if Celestia would ever find me out. I wondered what Derek would think. I sighed. I wanted this more then anything. A new life, to stop the fight and quietly await my ultimate demise at the hands of time.

“Mission.... Accomplished.” I said. I took off for Cloudsdale.

Twilight looked at the burnt remains of Majora’s house.

“What do you suppose happened?” Rarity asked.

“I don’t know...” Twilight said, trying to think of what could’ve happened.

A soldier walked up to her.

“Ma’am, we’re gonna need you to step away from the scene.” He said.

“Sorry.” Twilight said, stepping away.

Soldiers worked their way through the burnt remains.

“No bodies.” Said one of the soldiers.

“Nope, but no ones seen Majora since yesterday.” Said another.

“Well, until we find his body, we must deem this murder, or possible suicide. There is a single point in the middle of the room where the fire started. Pointing to a possible arson.” Said another.

“So he’s... dead?” Twilight asked.

“Until we find out more, yes. I highly doubt we will though.” The soldier said.

“That doesn’t make sense. Why would he go and do himself in when he’s a hero?” Rarity asked.

Twilight shook her head. “I don’t think saving the world was a big deal to him. He’s done it so many times, it’s just that now he’s being recognized for it.”

“Still doesn’t make sense.” Rarity said. “What could’ve possibly driven him to do such a thing?”

“Maybe he just wanted to move on.” Twilight wondered.

Looking back, Twilight realized that they were nothing like she had originally thought. They had two states of mind, both of them. One moment they would be laid back and friendly, the next they were powerful warriors who fought to the very ends. Like a single edged sword, they were both sides of the blade.

===============================================================

Final Thoughts

Hooray! My first fanfic has come to a close. First off, let’s thank my editor, Mr.L. He stuck with me night after night, despite having the power to do more fun things. Second, I want to thank anyone who read, and enjoyed, all of this. You’re awesome! Third, I wanna thank FimFiction, for taking this story and allowing me to share it with you all in this pony drought. I had a lot of fun writing this, and despite having fought with my other editor, Darkwolf, over super stupid things, I enjoyed the journey as well.
I might write another story, if Mr.L and I are feeling up to it. I know he has plans to break off and do his own works. So support him too!
And with that, I’m off. Thanks again, everypony.
Until next time, Ciao.

-AverageMemory

Chapter 5 True Colors

When Twilight awoke, she grabbed her saddlebag.

“Spike! I’m going to Canterlot!” She called out.

“Alone?” He asked.

“No, I’m going with...” She stopped. “Rarity.”

“Oh, ok.” Spike said, without a second thought.

Twilight walked into the living room to find Majora sleeping on the ground, and Derek looking through her books.

“I see you’re awake. Good.” Derek said, closing the book he was reading. “...MAJORA!”

“Who wha- HUH?” Majora sprang up to his hooves.

“Relax, old timer,” Derek said, “No one is getting killed yet.”

“Indeed.” Majora said, looking around. He collected himself. “So are we ready then?”

Twilight rolled her eyes. “What does it look like?”

“Great.” He said. “Let us be on our way.”

He walked to the door, Derek followed. Twilight knew this wasn’t safe, but these two may be Equestria’s only hope.

We approached the gates of Canterlot.

“Ok Twilight. Derek will throw up the invisibility shield, you will guide us through the streets of Canterlot and into the castle. Remember, the catacomb entrance is somewhere near the throne room.” I told Twilight.

“What if-” She began.

“We will be at fault if anything happens, and we will take care of anything that may go wrong.” I reassured her.

Derek laughed at the sight of the guards at the gate. “Check it out, Majora, they beefed up security.”

I looked over and saw them. They were Strikeforce troops. Crossbows and swords. I sighed.

“Looks like they might be buddies of yours.” Derek said mockingly.

“Shut it.” I snapped. “Just throw up that shield. Twilight, stay alert.”

Dereks horn glowed. He shot a small beam that arced and formed a dome around us. The dome dissipated. I walked slightly to the side, Twilight continued looking at where I had been.

“Bingo. Nice work, Derek.” I said.

Twilight walked up to the gate. “Morning, ma'am.” The guards regarded her. We slipped in, fallowing her closely. First wall breached. Next was the Castle itself.

Canterlot Castle is huge. Being built on the side of a mountain has its perks, I guess.

Twilight approached the Castle gates. Soldiers here were Strikeforce vets, older and much more experienced than the ones outside the walls of Canterlot.

“She must know.” Derek whispered.

“I’m expected her to.” I whispered back. “We just need to avoid her, and get to Orobas.”

We followed Twilight into the Castle. Guards were everywhere, but Twilight just trotted on nonchalantly. As we made our way toward the throne room, a thought dawned on me. What if Celestia senses us? She’d drop whatever she was doing and come after us.

“Celestia!” I heard Twilight call out.

With that remark I felt my plans... crumble. I felt Derek slug me in the side.

“Way to go, genius.” He said.

I looked up and watched Twilight trot up to Celestia. Celestia looked as she always did, but she seemed... wary. Indeed, she was looking for us. She looked down at Twilight and smiled.

“Well, what are you doing here today, Twilight Sparkle?” She asked.

Oh no, she better not-
“Just coming for check out some more books!” Twilight replied happily.

Smart mare.

“Alright then, just remember not to spend ALL your time studying.” Celestia said.

“I’ll try to keep that in mind.” Twilight laughed.

I felt Derek nudge me.

“Old man, Celestia stalls any longer, we’re in for it.” He whispered to me.

“Then let's sneak around.” I replied.

We walked around the two, as their conversation dragged on.

We made about five steps when somepony shouted “HALT YOU TWO!”

I looked to my left, and saw Derek’s eyes widen. I face-hoofed.

“Do something, old man.” Derek whispered to me.

Celestia looked over, her eyes widened. “E- Excuse me Twilight. I have to... take care of something else.” She said, with her eyes fixed on us.

I saw Twilight gasp at the sight of us.

I sighed. “Hello, Celestia.” I said.

Her eye twitched. A blinding light flashed around us, and we were all in the throne room, Celestia perched atop her seat, still glaring at us.

“Oh, want to get us alone? I see how it is...” Derek sneered.

I looked over at Twilight. She stared back. I gestured for her to side with Celestia. Twilight trotted over to Celestia and stood near her, looking back at us with a bit of concern.

“So... you two tricked my student to guide you here? Clever to say the least.” She said, holding back any emotion from her voice.

“Princess, please, you must listen to us this ti-” I tried to reason, but she cut me off.

“Silence, you two are here-by-” She began to say, but Derek stomped his hoof.

“You... JERK! For YEARS you have labeled us as evil, and REGARDLESS, we have saved you and your subjects from your own IGNORANCE!” He yelled at her.

Celestia glared at him, but Derek wasn’t phased. “I will not stand for this any longer.” She said, trying her best to mask her anger and frustration.

The pentagram began to take form under Derek’s hooves. His nostrils flared.

“Celestia, you must-”

She shot me with lightning before I finished, sending me across the room and into a pillar. The pillar collapsed on top of me.

Derek looked back at me, his eyes now glowing. “MAJORA!” He called out.

I pushed the rubble out of my way, and stepped up. I drew my sword in my mouth and dropped it into my hoof. My calm is officially gone. My vision is beginning to fade, no longer in control.

Twilight couldn’t believe what she was seeing. Majora’s expression never swayed far from perplexed or relaxed, but he was angry... really angry. He spread his wings to full length, and darted toward Celestia. She fired a laser from her horn but he swung his sword deflecting it back at her. Celestia panicked and jumped out of the way. Twilight took cover behind a pillar. She glanced at Derek, who had also taken a backseat to the action.

“NOW!” Majora yelled, in a psychotic tone. “Time for me to finally show you what happens when you piss off a captain of the Royal Guard!”

“Ex-captain...” Celestia glared at him. “If you want to fight, then I will. Don’t expect me to hold back whatsoever.” Her expression seemed somewhat confident.

A elongated glow of light appeared around her. Majora swung his sword, but the light quickly moved around Celestia and blocked the blade. The light quickly traveled around the sword and smacked Majora to the ground. A loud snapping noise was heard when Majora hit the ground.

“DANG IT OLD MAN!” Derek called out.

Celestia towered over Majora.

“Look at you.” She said quietly. “Where’s all that high and mighty self esteem?”

Majora struggled to get up, but the light zoomed back around Celestia, knocking Majora back a few feet. Celestia merely followed as she tossed him around.

“STOP!” Derek yelled at her.

Twilight watched as Derek ran up between Majora and Celestia.

“Back away foal, your friend is doomed now.” She said gravely. “Save yourself and go now, or you will receive the same.”

“Not even, lady! I WILL-” Derek began to say but he was cut off by the large double doors opening.

“Dear sister, I... oh my.” A familiar voice said.

Twilight looked over, and saw Luna.

“What is going on?” She asked, perplexed.

The light that orbited Celestia dissipated. “What is it, little sister?”

“I have felt a dark energy growing in the heart of the mountain,” She said.

“YES!” Derek shrieked. “Listen to your sister!”

“SILENCE!” Celestia snapped. “What dark energy?”

Luna looked down. “Well, it’s just that, I think , you know.....” Her voice faded as she spoke.

“What is troubling you, dear sister?” Celestia asked, walking over to her.

“The Skeleton of Tartarus that we sealed off long ago...” Luna said.

“What of him?” Celestia asked, a bit uneasy.

“Well, I think he is attempting to rise, like the prophecy foretold.”

Celestia looked over at Derek and Majora. Majora was still on the ground, groaning from the beating he received. Derek on the other hand, was sticking his tongue out at her.

“See what happens when you don’t listen to others, Celestia?” Derek said, quite triumphantly. “First you ignore us, then you ignore Discord. What’s next? You going to ignore Luna?”

Celestia glared at Derek. Majora slowly rose, coughing loudly.

“You... now you see.” He said. “Allow us to enter the catacombs and fight him.”

Celestia looked a bit concerned. “You two? Face him? I don’t think so.”

Twilight ran over to Celestia. “Let them go, princess.” She said.

Celestia tilted her head. “Why?”

“Because they are willing to die for you even after all you have done to them.” She said.

Celestia sighed. “Fine, they-” The ground began to shake violently.

“WhAt’S gOiNg On?” Twilight called out over the roar of the earthquake.

A low booming cackle filled the air.

“Bleh heh heh. It’s been a long time... I believe it is high time I come back to exact my revenge on you. Starting today, you will all be hunted. One by one, I will make you suffer as I have. Starting with... your beloved Princess Celestia...”

The sun faded out and the sky turned black. Thunder sounded everywhere as the the evil laughing continued.

Majora stepped up. “Derek, It has begun. It’s up to us to stop him.” He said.

“Right!” Derek agreed.

Majora turned his sword and used it to carry himself forward, when his body began to glow yellow, his bruises slowly faded away as he slowly lifted himself off his sword.

“Good luck...” Celestia said.

Majora glanced back at her, confused. “Don’t worry, we got this.” He said.

Derek ran toward the hallway. “LET’S GO MAJORA!” He yelled.

Majora followed him, and they ran in the direction of the catacombs.

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