The Darkest Hour

Twilight's legs violently shook. It all happened so fast that she had a hard time believing what had just occurred. Her legs gave out on her as she fell to the ground and placed a hand over her stomach. Twilight felt sick. Her stomach was violently twisting itself as if a storm was raging inside of her. Her lips parted only slightly, but her eyes were wide open. Tears freely flowed out of her eyes and down the sides of her face. Her body jerked and twitched every few seconds as she could only mutter out incoherent words. Both of her hands extended outwards towards something. It looked like she was a foal in desperate need and want of something. It was like their life depended on it. She dropped her hands on top of a corpse. A rather muscular corpse at that, who wore the Equestrian Royal Guard armor. There was a gaping hole through his chest that was around the size of 6 inches in diameter. It had pierced and completely destroyed his heart and lungs. Twilight let out a loud, guttural groan. Her lips spread apart as far as they could and a loud primal scream was let loose.

Twilight was flying at high speeds. The distance she needed to close was further than she had imagined. She cursed herself from neglecting the flying lessons Rainbow Dash offered. Nonetheless, she had to close this gap at all costs. The clashing of metal became more and more refined the closer she approached. It really did sound like an all-out battle was happening. Twilight could hear the yells of the Crystal Guards as they relentlessly fought what she presumed were those creatures that sprouted from the crystals.

She was confident in her brother's combat ability. He was, at one point, given the title of the most experienced veteran in all of Equestria. He knew his way around a sword and could think of thousands of combinations on the fly. However, these creatures weren't normal, no, they weren't even ponies. The black substance was what really put her on edge. That liquid was something to not trifle with. It could easily burn through any kind of metal. Her eyes widened at that thought.

If it can burn through metal, how effective were the Crystal Guard's swords and armor? She shook her head and realized that she just had to believe in them. Believe in Shining Armor.

Twilight had finally reached her destination as she descended onto the ground and watched the battle. Her eyes widened as she watched. There were corpses everywhere. All she saw were the Crystal Guards lying on the ground with holes in their armor that indicated that that was where they were struck down at. Each of them had an open hole on the left side of their chest. It seemed as though all of these strikes were execution strikes. They aimed to swiftly destroy their hearts and end the battle with one hit. Her eyes darted left and right as she scanned the area to look for Shining Armor. Her eyes locked on the blue mane he had grown out. However, he was completely surrounded, and by the Crystal Guards no less. They all held their swords against him and clashed, but their movements were sloppy and uncoordinated. He effortlessly parried the oncoming slashes and cut down the guards.

Twilight's eyes widened. Shining was hurting his own people... There must be a logical explana-- Her thought was completely cut off as she had caught a glimpse of a guard falling after being struck. His face was completely distorted in more ways than one. His eye sockets were completely void and his mouth had turned and twisted until it was no more. These weren't normal guards. She couldn't even call them ponies anymore. It's like they were some sort of creature straight out of a fantasy book. One body on the ground had their upper body rotate a full 360 degrees. The turning was quick and had a sickening crunch sound, indicating that bones were broken in the process. Nevertheless, it stood back up and emitted a loud groan. From where, she could not determine. However, Twilight knew Shining was in trouble and she was determined to help him no matter what.

The purple alicorn dashed towards the older stallion with confidence. Her footsteps were immediately heard by the possessed corpses. They had swiftly moved from Shining and stood in the way of Twilight. She gritted her teeth and mentally prepared herself for combat. It had been a while since she last fought, 2 years to be exact. Twilight stopped running and skidded on her heels as she threw a punch that skyrocketed towards the sky. However, the entity dodged the ability and let out a taunt-like laughter. In a matter of milliseconds, it was sent flying backwards by an explosion near its head. The others looked confused because they saw it dodge the princess's attack. Twilight couldn't help but grin. Fighting had always felt natural to her.

As a bearer of the most important Element of Harmony, there are many who would attempt to assassinate her. Therefore, she had to learn martial arts in order to defend herself from these combatants. It was a rigorous and painful process, but it had definitely paid off. However, in a world with magic, hand-to-hand combat wouldn't be able to handle everything. With that knowledge, she learned offensive magic. Twilight is able to use her magic to follow-up attacks that would have miss or to increase the impact force to increase the damage done.

Two more of the possessed beings charged at Twilight, swords above their heads and shields covering their bodies. Twilight stood static in a fighting position with her hands raised at eye level and her arms bent at an almost perfect 90 degree angle. Boxing was the type of combat style that Twilight was most attracted to. The soldier at her left sent its sword flying directly at Twilight's head. She swiftly sidestepped to the right. The other soldier attempted to shield bash her. She reacted instantly by using the rubble around her to kick a rock so it would launch herself backwards. This had caused the right soldier to shield bash the other guard Twilight jumped up into the sky and began rotating rapidly. She stuck out her right leg and struck the right soldier's temple. The force and impact was enough to send it flying towards its comrade. Both of them were sent hurling into the candy shop that was rested and abandoned to their left. Twilight's rotating slowed down as she landed on the ground.

She started running to Shining as fast as she could. Just one look at the stallion and you'd know he was exhausted. Even the most prestigious soldiers have a limit. More and more of the possessed beings started to get in her way. They now saw Twilight as more of a threat than Shining Armor. Twilight grew furious as she just wanted to be by her brother's side and aid him. The new interference's seemed to be smarter than the last two. Instead of charging head-on, they stood their ground and raised their shields. Twilight noticed the change in behavior and stopped in her tracks. She was only a few feet away from her brother, but these two seemed dangerous.

She raised her arms like before and began to lightly hop on her toes. The constant movement made her senses heighten and kept her alert. She would step close to them and they would raise their shields higher and tighten their guard. When she backed away, they loosened their shields. Twilight dashed forward towards the two guards. They propped up their shields and raised their swords as well, getting prepared to strike. They then jabbed their swords at her. It was a quick jab as it sliced the air while moving. In reaction to this, Twilight created a shield around her hands and forearms, creating a magical armor of some sort. She used the back of her hands to parry both of the blades. In one quick motion, she plunged her fists into the two soldiers faces, or what remained of their faces after the distortion. They were both sent down to the ground. Two large craters formed when their skulls impacted the stone. Twilight stood up straight and leaped to her brother.

They immediately touched backs and grinned. They fought off the hordes of soldiers while protecting each others hide. Shining Armor would slash at the crowd while Twilight would decimate their shields so their defenses were lowered. However, if they had learned anything from this fight, it's that the soldiers were relatively immortal. No matter what their injuries consisted of, crushed skulls to dismembered heads, they stood back up and continued to fight. This fight was heavily against them. They were running out of stamina and were slowly growing weaker. Suddenly, the soldiers stopped attacking. They stared at the two relatives.

All of the entities around them lowered their weapons and dropped down on one knee. Both Twilight and Shining were heavily confused. They were just being attack, but now they're being showed respect? The sound of something, or someone, flying behind them became apparent. Both heads turned and their eyes widened in horror. Princess Cadance was in the air above them. She was being held by one of the distorted soldiers. Shining Armor gripped his sword tight. His grip was so extreme that veins were sticking out of his arm and his fingernails dug into his skin, causing him to bleed. Cadance had been murdered. A long obsidian colored sword had pierced her heart. Her eyes were wide and blank as blood was following the blade and dripped from the tip. Her body was tossed to the ground like a rag doll, but Shining ran to catch Cadance. Her body was heavy and lifeless. Her muscles were limp and loose. The sword was stuck firmly through her body. It took on the shape of a lightning bolt and that had caused the extraction to be difficult. However, Shining didn't even attempt to remove the sword. He knew fully well that Cadance, his wife, had passed.

Anger rose through Shining's body. The one he loved the most was in his hands, but in the wrong situation. He held her close to his chest and clamped his eyes shut as tears managed to break through the tightly clasped eyelids. Slowly and gently, he lowered her body and pulled the sword out of her chest. He stared at the lightning-shaped blade and look up at the figure who carried Cadance over to them. In one swift motion that even Twilight couldn't follow, the blade had been struck through the flying figure's chest. Electricity surged through its body before exploding entirely, the small bits of flesh and bone were evaporated into dust. Not a single trace of the being remained. Shining had fused lightning magic with the sword before he threw it. The stallion stood up and picked up Cadance. He carried her over to Twilight.

Twilight was shocked. She never would have thought that Cadance, her older sister and infinitely more powerful than her, would have been killed. No, she even denied it. Twilight desperately wanted to pass it off as type of illusion magic. She looked up at Shining, but he simply stared into her eyes and those two eyes said everything. This was no illusion. This was reality.

Twilight carefully levitated Cadance's body off of Shining's arms and placed her on a patch of grass. Flowers began to slowly sprout from the ground around Cadance as she rested peacefully. Twilight sat next the Princess of Love and held her hand in a tight grip. It took everything she had to not burst into tears or to yell out her raw emotions. Shining, however, was not so delicate about his emotions. He let them soar far above him as he went into a fit of rage. The obsidian blade easily sliced through revived soldiers. He made sure to not give them a chance at resurrection by completely evaporated everything, refusing to leave even a single trace of evidence of their existence. Shining was broken.

He fought recklessly. Twilight watched as her brother didn't bother to bring up his defense or to parry the oncoming blades. His swift movements were enough to dodge the blades before they were even able to be lifted into the air. His rage and anger became his strength for the brief amount of time. It were as if Shining was being possessed by a god of calamity from his rampaging.  His breath came in short, rapid bursts and his body was drenched in sweat. The armor he wore was torn to shreds from all of the slashes he's encountered. Then a darkness surrounded them. Twilight quickly lost track of where Shining stood. She jumped onto her feet and yelled into the darkness.

"Shining!" she exclaimed, but received no answers. Twilight didn't even hear herself shout. Everything was silent, painfully silent. She grasped chest from the fear of losing her older brother as well. Her horn began to glow as a white wisp of light was summoned. It revealed the area around them, but Twilight instantly regretted the decision. Her light wisp faded as quickly as the darkness did. Standing in front of her was King Sombra, but that's not what had made Twilight feel weak in her knees. No, what she saw was something far, far worse. Her older brother's death. Shining Armor had developed a hole in his chest where his heart once rested. What rested behind the hole was King Sombra's hand.

The purple alicorn's eyes began to haze. Her vision grew blurry and her coordination became poor. Her legs and arms refused to move. She sat on the ground with a blank expression. Everything around her was falling apart. Her entire world began to shatter as she witnessed her family be murdered not just a few feet away from her.

King Sombra stared down at the alicorn and smirked. He had never felt so powerful before. The sole cause of his absence was because of these three ponies. He had exterminated two of them and only one remained. He knew that witnessing her brother dying would have shattered her mind, no, it would have broken her entirely. Once he killed Twilight, nothing would stop him. He brazenly held his sword high in the air.

"Goodbye, you wench." he said calmly, yet proudly.

He swung his sword down, aiming for her neck. Just then, there was a deep pulse that echoed off of Twilight and sent Sombra stumbling backwards. He looked in shock and surprise, but also in interest. He had felt this kind of magical prowess before and wanted to know if it were the same type he had faced against in his early years of absolute terror. He held his sword in both hands and aimed the lethal blade at Twilight. The purple mare never took her eyes off the ground, but stood up. She had a sort of tilt in her standing as if she were off balance. Her horn was glowing, but not in its usual vibrant, warm feel. No, this was something entirely different. This was a new Twilight with only one thing coursing through her mind...

This can't be reality