Strike of Lightning

Zeno stood in his room, as he stared down the Four mares sitting before him. He frowned as his eyes wandered to Crystal.

"So, you can read this?" He asked simply, his book opened to his first spell. He couldn't read it, but if she could, he could stop her when he felt the Magic flow like before.

"Y-yes, it says 'The first spell: Zake-"

*Slam*

Zeno had reached over and slammed the book shut, stopping Crystal's concentration as she yelped.

"Right then, that's fine." He started, grabbing the book off the table. "Fascinating.." He muttered.

"Hey! What's your problem?!" Ruby called out in anger.

"Oh, sorry.." Zeno apologized, as he started down at the book. "I was never expecting to get a book owner so soon, if at all. I've got a lot to think about now." He grumbled. He turned back to the Four. "Mainly how to keep Sombra away from you Four from here on out. I hate Rapists. I'll admit that it drives me insane when I see the lecherous looks they give others. I'd rather see people die." He smirked as Ruby backed away quickly at the mention of death and Amber's eyes scanned his face quickly.

"You've killed before then?" She asked, keeping her stone face and monotone voice. She saw Crystal flinch slightly, as she finished talking.

"Yeah, I have." Zeno said, as he looked at Amber. A small frown formed on his face as he seemed to think on his words. Glancing back at Crystal, he spoke. "You Four are maids of the castle. You know this place in and out. I need you to put that book in a spot that Sombra will not find easily, and at the same time, easy for you to grab in a rush." He made sure to look at each one of the girls as he spoke, his Purple eyes flitting between them. "We'll talk more tomorrow. You Four get the bed, I'll be fine right here." Zeno made his way over to the couch in the corner near the fireplace. Jumping up and sitting in a cross-legged position, he closed his eyes and sighed.

"And were just supposed to go to sleep? Just like that?" Jade asked, her face full of confusion. Zeno didn't even open his eyes, as he responded.

"That didn't stop the Red one from jumping on my bed the second I said to." He grumbled, seemingly concentrating hard on something. They turned to see Ruby huddled underneath a mass of blankets, only her head sticking out from them.

"What? These bed are way more comfortable than what we have in the Maids rooms! You should try it!" Ruby smiled as she snuggled into the blankets. A sudden clap caught everyone's attention, as Crystal had slammed her hoof on the ground.

"Introductions!! We haven't had proper introductions yet! Then we can sleep." She looked over to Zeno, to see if he had anything to say. When he didn't move, she sent a sweet smile his way. "Please?" She asked again, dragging out he speech a bit to get his attention. When he finally cracked open an eye, he raised a hand and coughed into it.

"Fine, fine. Get rid of the smile already." He hopped off the couch and bowed slightly. "My name is Zeno. You are to keep that name to just between us." He said, standing back up.

"My name is Amber." Amber called from over at a table, enjoying a freshly poured cup of tea.

"My name is Jade." Jade said, sitting next to Amber as she flipped through Nero's spell book.

"And mines Ruby!" Ruby's muffled voice called out from inside a small pile of blankets.

Crystal smiled lightly at her friends as they continued with what they were doing. She walked over to Zeno and sat down on the couch as he climbed his way back up himself. Giving her a quick glance, he slid back down into his cross-legged position from before, his eyes closed once again. She gave a small sigh at his stubbornness.

"So, you'll be sleeping on the couch tonight?" She asked, even though it didn't feel like a question at this point.

"No." Was Zeno's short reply, before he opened his eyes again, staring at her. "I won't be sleeping tonight. I need to make some headway with my Magic after the mishap from earlier. Sombra will be expecting me to replicate the spell from earlier, but I can't let him know what I'm really capable of." Zeno explained. Crystal nodded, she very well could have ruined whatever plan he had.

"Is there anything I can do to help?" She asked

"You can leave me alone." He said as his eyes flashed with a small amount of anger. Crystal's ears splayed back from his sudden outburst. As she got up, she couldn't help but see the frown twist onto his face. " It's not something you can help me with. My Magic is different from what your used to." Zeno continued, his voice.. Softer? Crystal looked back to see him close his eyes once more. " But thank you" Crystal let a small smile crawl back onto her face, as she turned and trotted back to her friends.

"Any luck with the book?" She asked Jade. The Green coated mare shook her head, her eyes never leaving the page.

"I cant make out any of it." She flipped another page, her eyes scanning for anything she could read. "This book could hold so many new things. You have to let me borrow it!" She jumped up suddenly, getting in Crystals face.

"Easy there Jade, your going information crazy again." Amber's voice called out from the bed, as she was untangling Ruby from underneath the blankets. Jade blinked, before settling into her chair again with a slight blush on her cheeks.

"Oops, sorry." She giggle bashfully.

"Don't worry sis! As long as you have fun, you should enjoy it!" Ruby said, as she plopped off the bed, rolling to her feet. They all seemed to giggle at her, as she almost bounced over to her sister to give her a hug. The group soon went to lay in the bed, each One picking a corner and getting comfy on the large bed. When they all tucked themselves in, they realized they had forgot something.

"Uh, girls, we forgot to put the candles out." Amber said

"Awwe, but we just got comfy!" Ruby grumbled.

"...I say we draw straws to see who gets up." Jade suggested from under her own covers.

Suddenly the lights went out, and the girls looked to each other to see who did it. They couldn't see any of them gone, so they shrugged and laid their heads down. Crystal looked over to the candles and saw that they were smoking quite heavily. They also looked burnt, like they were seared quickly. She turned a bit more and glanced at Zeno, his fingers had small lingering sparks around them. She smiled.

"Thanks Zeno, goodnight." She said as she shimmied back under her covers. A small 'Tsk' was all the response she got.

A few hours pass, and Zeno found himself restless. The light snores of the ponies in his bed made him regret giving up his bed. He had gotten up to stretch his legs a while ago, and he found himself wandering the town. He could hear the groans of ponies through the walls of the building he passed. He noted the slightly lit up mine area, and went to investigate. The area was silent, aside from the occasional 'ting' from deep in the mines. He made his way inside the mine, passing mine cart after mine cart full of different crystals and gems. The same Ones he had seen Sombra eat the other day.

'He has them mining for his snacks?' Zeno thought to himself. He continued downwards though the mine shafts until he came across a heavily locked door. Jumping up and grabbing onto the bars that made a small window. He saw a small group of ponies chained to Purple crystals. They were slowly picking at a bare wall, devoid of the gems he had seen on the walls on his way in. The ponies themselves looked starved, some had caved in stomachs. Zeno knew that this was where Crystal was talking about when she talked about her family before.

Gritting his teeth in anger, he reached further up, placing a firm hand on the wall above the door. With One solid pull, the door came right off the hinges with a squeal of bending metal. Zeno was mentally thanking the Original Zeno's massive strength. The ponies inside had dropped their pickaxes from the noise, as they cowered in fear, probably waiting for some kind of beating. Zeno kept as straight of a face as he could, as he made his way to the bunched up dark crystals. He tugged on the chains, testing the crystals resistance. He looked over to one of the chained ponies, and walked over to it. It was a Light Blue coated stallion. Zeno picked up One of the dropped Pickaxes.

"Don't move." He said simply. He aimed, and swung, aiming for the chain link before the actual hooflet. In a flash of Iron on Iron, the chain flung away leaving the pony free to move. Zeno did the same to the other Seven ponies, before turning to them. "You need to hide. At least for a bit. You'll be back with your loved ones soon enough." Zeno said as he helped the weaker ones off the ground. "Do you have any good places to stay?"

"I know of One. It's on the edge of the town near the town smith." The Light Blue Stallion said, as he dragged his friends forward. Zeno made his way back to the Castle and gathered a few supplies. Putting together a homemade backpack out of a few extra sheets, he put some bread and other fruits in the bag along side some extra blankets. Making his way back to where he saw the group going, he all but threw the bag inside the door. The group dug through the bag with vigor, digging into the food like they hadn't eaten in a while.

"It won't last." One pony said in the back, his coat a faded Grey. "Sombra will find out we went missing and look for us." Zeno couldn't help the frown on his face.

"No, It's Sombra that won't last long. This isn't how you run a kingdom. And I'm going to make sure he knows that." Zeno growled. He took a few deep breaths and looked back to the others. "You rest up, I'll send somebody soon." He walked out the door, letting it close behind him. He made his way back to the Castle. This time stopping in the courtyard, where he and Sombra trained his Magic. He had work to do, and a new reason to speed up his training. His Magic may hate him, but he needed to use it.. Forced or not.

As the sun shone through the hilltops surrounding the town, Zeno stood in the courtyard, his eyes focused on his hand. In the early morning light, you could faintly make out a shimmer on his hand, as his Magic jolted around his hand covering it in small bolts of lightning. The Lightning focused into a small ball above his hand, before circling his hand a few times. With a snap he let the ball dissipate along with his Magic.

Unfortunately, that was all he could accomplish in the time he had. He needed more time, but he didn't have any. He would either have to force his Magic, or just use his Physical abilities to out do Sombra. Either way, he still needed the best way to get a good hit on the larger pony.

Ah, speak of the devil. In a rush of shadows, Sombra solidified before him.

"You are out early. Were you training without me again?" Sombra asked, looking at him like he was scolding a child. Zeno knew exactly what to do.

"I'm sorry Sombra sir, I just couldn't sleep after that accident last night!" Zeno acted a chipper as he could. Sombra gave a tired sigh, before he took a few steps back.

"I don't expect you to slack off because your tired. It will be a good lesson for you. Now, recreate what you did last night." Sombra demanded, as he raised up his Purple shield. Zeno nodded vigorously and raised up an arm. He closed his eyes to concentrate. In an instant he let the glow of his Magic cover his hand, soon enough the lightning began cracking and discharging as the glow increased.

'Here comes the burn!' Zeno thought, as he held his breath. He pushed a decent amount of his Magic though, the glow immediately brightened and shot from his hand. A rather large blast of unconcentrated lightning blasted forwards Sombra, who merely stood still and tanked the hit. Zeno collapsed forward, breathing heavily.

"I.. Couldn't get it.. the same" Zeno gasped, his head down. Sombra fixed the cracks in his shield quickly, before speaking.

"Your power has increased, but you looked to be in pain. Does your Magic hurt?" Sombra asked, a slight grin forming on his muzzle. Zeno looked up, honestly surprised he had seen his facial change during the blinding attack. He simply nodded his response. Sombra laughed happily. "That is good! Pain makes you angry, anger fuels powerful Magic! Use your anger!" Sombra said in a knowing voice. Was that something he could do? That sounded like a double edged sword.

Zeno nodded, and took his stance again. If it worked, then he could just make that a last ditch effort. It would be a good way to give somebody hell if they took out his book owner one day. He closed his eyes and raised up his hand once more and began charging his Magic-

"Graawr!!"

A roar came from above. It caused Zeno to instantly snap open his eyes. That roar was familiar.

'It couldn't be..' He thought, bewildered and confused.

"Stay back young one, I will handle whatever beast that is." Sombra said as he launched himself into the air using a pillar of Purple crystal. Suddenly a large creature dipped in from the clouds, its body seemed Bipedal, its skin a dark Grey and its body covered in pieces of Golden armor. Altogether it was around Thirty or so Meters tall.

"This place is now my new napping zone! Everyone clear out or die!" The creature spoke. If the figure hadn't done it, then the voice set Zeno's mind in stone. He knew the creature, or rather, Mamodo that had shown up.

'Demolt?! But, If he's here.. Great, now I need to watch out for that crazy Stone Gaze Mamodo!' Zeno grumbled to himself, as he watched Sombra confront the Mamodo.

"You will leave, or your life will end here, monster!" Sombra called out.

"You? Your just a bug!" Demolt said as he swung his armor covered fist down at Sombra. His fist smashed right through Sombra's crystal. Sombra seemed to puff into smoke as he began flying towards Demolt in a crazy zigzag motion. Demolt smirked as he clapped his hands together, causing the smoked out Sombra to disperse and reform farther away. The force of the clap had caused a few houses to cave in.

With a flap of his wings Demolt landed directly on the ground where Sombra had just landed. As Sombra seemed to reform, he looked up to see a flying backhand come towards him. Sombra raised up his Magic shield quickly, the hand hit the barrier and stopped, but not before causing a few cracks. The hand raised up and slammed down, shattering the barrier and sending Sombra careening into the building behind him. In less than a second, Sombra raised up from the ground on another crystal pillar. His horn lit up a deep Purple as Black and Purple beams shot from it in rapid succession. Each blast landed on various parts of Demolt's body, none of them doing any real damage. Sombra growled as the beams began intensifying, soon One or Two of them pierced through Demolt's armor, followed by quite a few more of them. Soon enough there was a veritable laser field that was slowly gaining in power. Demolt saw the anger and concentration on Sombra's face and with a quick swat of his tail, Demolt sent Sombra flying back towards Zeno.

Sombra stood up and grumbled, until something grabbed his attention. More specifically, it was Zeno's hand that had grabbed his horn.

"You should stay here. Let the Mamodo handle the fighting." With an evil glint in his eye, Zeno rammed Sombra's head into the ground. The Unicorn's head dug deeply into the stone below them, and his eyes rolled up into his head. Dropping the head, he turned back to Demolt and smirked.

"Demolt! Your not welcome here, give up and work for me, or go back to the Mamodo world!" Zeno called out, a confident grin on his face. His grin was matched by Demolt's own.

"Me? Give up to a small fry like you? I'll crush you into nothing!" Demolt yelled as he flapped his wings to maneuver into the air once again. Zeno rolled his shoulder, letting it crack loudly.

"Your funeral big guy." He sneered as he began running towards the flying Mamodo.

He jumped up, just as Demolt launched a fist in his direction. Landing on the forearm, he continued running along Demolt's arm up to his shoulder. Demolt tried to swat him like a bug, but Zeno leapt up from his position, towards Demolts head. Snapping out with a swift kick, Zeno watched as Demolt's head snapped to the side, his eyes wide. A small line of blood dribbled down to his chin. With a roar he flipped around and swiped his tail towards Zeno.

Zeno firmly planted his feet, and braced himself. Catching the tip of the tail in both hands, he was pushed sideways a fair bit, before he stopped himself. Switching his grip, with a grunt of effort, he flipped Demolt over himself. The large Mamodo flew into a mountain that lay nearby. Demolt sat up in a rage only to see Zeno just standing on his snout. His hands alight with White lightning, and his face had a sinister grin. With a pulse of Magic, Zeno shot a bolt of lightning into both eyes, blinding Demolt. Focusing a decent amount of Magic into his hand, he launched himself forward, around Demolt's head. Slamming his hand into the armor on the Mamodo's head/neck, he watched it shatter like glass. With a quick flurry of steps, he raised a still crackling hand up to Demolt's neck. The Magic pulsed into the flesh beneath it, and he heard the larger Mamodo roar in agony.

"Tsk, Tsk, what a frightful weak spot you have here. What do you say, give up? I could do this all day." Zeno gloated. Demolt shuddered at the feeling of helplessness.

"H-how?! How are you so strong? How did you know about my weak spot?" Demolt asked, his voice low, as he rubbed his eyes to regain sight in them.

"I know about a lot of Mamodo, yourself included." He walked around the Mamodo's neck and jumped back onto his snout. "You work for me now. Unless you want to die? Your choice. However, this is your last chance." Zeno smirked, as Demolt's glowing Red eyes focused on him, and felt the Mamodo shudder again.

"Yes.. I'll work for you." Demolt grumbled.

"Perfect! Now stay here while I handle the other problem I have right now." Zeno smiled as he jumped off Demolt's snout and landed back in the town. He made his way back to the courtyard. Sombra was standing there, waiting. An angry snarl on his muzzle.

"I guess proper introductions are needed. My name is Zeno, a Mamodo form the Mamodo world." Zeno bowed jokingly.

"You dare trick me? I am King Sombra! I rule over this Kingdom, and I will rule you as well.. Mamodo" Sombra growled. Zeno grinned at the Unicorn's tenacity before it was replaced with a frown.

"No, you don't rule over anything. A ruler does not cripple his Kingdom for his own satisfaction. You don't deserve what you have, hell, you probably killed the last King here to get it." Zeno started. "You know Sombra, I know a lot about your Magic now. You can turn into a shadow, you can summon dark crystals at will, and when you get angry, you can fire highly concentrated beams of Magic. Would you like to know what I learned from watching you try and fight Demolt?" He asked.

"What's that?" Sombra asked, as he pulled up his barrier again.

Sombra watched as Zeno stood there with a smirk on his face, his sharp teeth almost as menacing as his own fangs. Suddenly, in a wave of fabric, he was gone. As he turned his head to look for the boy, he felt something grab ahold if his horn once again. He looked over and saw Zeno standing on his neck, One foot on his neck as a place holder, while the other was hitched around his cape. Zeno's hand was firmly wrapped around his curved horn.

"I know that you need this to do your Magic." Zeno giggled darkly as he squeezed tightly, Sombra let out a low groan. "Which is why-"

*Snap!*

"-It's mine now!" With a swift pull, Zeno snapped the Unicorn's horn clean off. The howls of the fallen King were riddled with pain and fright. A wave of shadows swept over his body, as Zeno jumped off. The shadows left almost as soon as they came, and in there place was a pony about the same size as Sombra. Instead of an Ashen Grey coat it was a fairly light Grey. The horn on his head had grown back already, but it was the shape of a normal horn and even the same color as his coat, instead of the deep Crimson One he held in his hand.

"Ugh.. Where?" Sombra asked. Even his voice was different. It was lighter, and not gravely. "I- I'm back?" He asked softly. "I'm back!" He called out as he jumped up quickly. He turned to Zeno and smiled. "Thank you! Thank you so much! I was trapped in there, my own mind. I could only watch as I became a monster, but you freed me! I'm in your debt." Sombra finished, bowing his head in respect.

"Huh, all that from this little thing huh? I'll be keeping this then.." Zeno mumbled to himself, as he put the glowing Red Horn into a pocket in his cloak.

"Zeno!" He heard Crystal's voice. He turned, only to be picked up and pushed against something both plush and hard. It took a second to realize that it was Crystal hugging him. He pushed her away, coughing into his fist, to hide the light dusting on his cheeks. Crystal smiled at the sight, as the rest of her friends came rushing through the now slowly forming mob of ponies. "Girls, Kings Sombra is done for, tell everypony the good news. We're free!" She screamed happily. The other girls looked at each other and ran off in different directions. All around her and Zeno the collecting ponies all began murmuring about freedom.

Zeno stood next to the fallen Sombra, and looked around at the masses.

"Everyone, tell as many as you can. We can elect a new leader after we recover. If your house was damaged in the fight earlier, just go to the palace. There's plenty of room." Zeno explained, watching as many ponies left in a hurry and with smiles on their faces.. Only a few stayed behind.

"Can we do anything to help?" One of them stepped forward as the others nodded at his question. Zeno nodded at their question.

"Yes, next to the smithy there is a house. I liberated a few ponies from the mine last night, Crystal go with them. I think your father is there. I'll take Sombra away into the Castle so we won't cause an uproar. I'm also going to see what we have to help fix up the town." Zeno stated. Crystal's eyes began to water as she turned and ran. Zeno looked down at Sombra, and pulled him up. He slowly made his way back into the castle. A glance at Demolt in the Mountainside confirmed that the large Mamodo was asleep. A twinkle appeared in his eye as he thought about the Larger Mamodo trying to fix his own destruction.

Later that day, Zeno was looking over a few building plans with Sombra. The Townsponies were incredibly energetic now that Sombra was no longer leading them. Less than Six hours and they were running around and helping each other build back up the homes that were destroyed. Demolt was helping, finding proper slabs of stone and gently placing them onto the building.

"The North sector fared the best, with only a few building even cracking. The West and East sectors are almost done being repaired already, however the South sector was almost entirely destroyed. It'll take a bit to rebuild that." Zeno stated to Sombra who was standing over different construction plans.

"Maybe we could remodel that sector, make it better, more housing for even the ponies that were on the streets before?" Sombra asked. Zeno glanced at him, a small smirk appeared on his face.

"It's going to take a while for me to get used to you not being a jerk, you know?" Zeno chuckled. "But yeah, that's sounds good. Go check our supplies." Zeno watched Sombra trot off into the Castle.

He suddenly felt something snake around his torso. It pulled him backwards a bit, before he felt something rubbing into the top of his head. He gave a small annoyed sigh.

"Thank you Zeno. From all of us." Crystal spoke as she turned him around in her hug. "You saved my father, you saved all of us." She leaned in and gave him a small peck on the cheek. "I like the way 'King Zeno' sounds" Crystal stated as she walked away with a wink. "I'm going to check on Everypony who's getting settled in the Castle." She called out as she left the room.

Zeno looked back to the map of the Crystal Empire. He let another tired sigh out.

He wasn't going to get any sleep for the next few days at this rate..

No pain no gain. It'll be worth it when he was announced 'King'

"Are you ready for the next building?" Sombra asked. The only answer he got was a sigh.

It was going to be a long night.