Keepers

Nocturne stood on the balcony watching his kingdom fall apart. He couldn't stop fearing for his children as Narcian's words continued to ring in his ears. "Only the keepers" she had said. The whole concept confused the king.

Why would these children be entrusted with such power? They are not even alicorns... He simply couldn't understand it.

Only a moment later, his wife walked into the throne room. "Any luck?" He asked. "Yes, I managed to find the Keepers. They were all in the city, but one of them left after I sent the message." She explained sadly.

The king sighed. "So only three of the four keepers are here?" He asked. Alaria nodded. "From what I saw in the one's mind, he didn't seem worried in the slightest. He left the city shortly after." She explained.

Nocturne shook his head. "Which keeper was this?" He asked. "It was the keeper of law. Why?" She responded. "No reason, I was just curious."

There was an explosion sound off in the distance. "What do you think it is our daughters know that he doesn't?" The queen asked her partner. "Could it maybe be the magicians language? Maybe he wants to determine his fate by prophecy?" The king answered.

"Possibly, but he could get that from us or the magician." Alaria thought out loud. "True. Perhaps it's still related to prophecy though." Nocturne stuck with his idea.

There was a short pause where the two of them just thought, their hearts filled with sorrow. "I suppose we should prepare ourselves to face him." Alaria finally said after a while. "What good does it do? Our powers have weakened, and this alicorn is far more powerful than us." He responded

"That may be true, but if we're going to die, let's at least die defending our kingdom." She said. Nocturne smiled weakly. "You're right. You always are." The king responded.

Suddenly everything slowed down. All around them, things moved slower than they should. The curtains and decorations of the throne room moved slowly, and Nocturne felt his energy start to drain slowly.

"Could it be...?" Alaria said looking at her husband hopefully. A moment later there was a faint, angry yell, and time resumed at it's natural speed. "That time surge even affected us. Have their powers grown already?" Nocturne said.

They didn't have time to answer, because that was when the fearsome black alicorn smashed his way into the throne room. He was enraged at something. He was breathing heavily, and his eyes glared. His teeth bore an angry frown as he entered the presence of Equestria's rulers.

"You seem to have a habbit of blowing things up. Tell me is that your special talent?" Nocturne asked. The alicorn's frown turned into a grin. "At last another pony like myself with a sense of humor for destruction!" He said confidently.

"We're not here to joke. This is where your journey ends, rogue." Alaria said crouching to a ready position. "Well that's upsetting. Tell me you'll at least be more entertaining than that pathetic 'magician' of yours." The evil creature said.

"We may not be able to stop you ourselves, but there some ponies who can, and will." Nocturne told the alicorn. "Ha, tell me then, where are these heroes!" He questioned. "Why don't they defend their kingdom if they are so powerful! Oh, wait... I think they already did." He half spoke to himself.

"Very unfortunate that they met their demises so quickly. Your children too, I must say their faces were priceless as their last hope and life died." He emphasised the last word hard.

Nocturne was pretty sure his heart stopped for all of five seconds. "No..." He said. "That's not possible! The keepers were prophesied to defeat you! Prophecies always come true!" The queen struggled to maintain a calm tone.

"Oh do they? And who set those laws? Last I checked I had control over the laws of this world!" The alicorn said to them. Nocturne's eyes widened. "What?" He said. "Oh didn't I mention? I was the sole keeper of my worlds elements. They are much like yours, only I don't seem to have as much power over yours. I wonder why that is?" He explained.

Alaria and Nocturne exchanged a fearful glance. If the alicorn had some control over the elements it was no wonder he was so powerful. "I thought before I arrived I would change the laws of prophecy here. It took a lot of effort, but I can now stop prophecies from coming true. It's a very interesting spectacle I must say." He smiled villainously.

"Do you realize now? You two are the only real threats left to me, if even a threat at that." Nocturne felt all his hopes for Equestria crumble. Their children were dead, the keepers had fallen, and soon, Equestria would also fall.

"I don't believe you. You were angered by something when you arrived here." Alaria said. "Those 'keepers' of yours were annoying to me. They actually lasted a long time compared to any other opponents." He explained.

"Enough of this, we will defend our kingdom whether we will die or not." Nocturne said. "Quite frankly if you didn't defend your kingdom I would be dissapointed, especially since you would die anyways." He pointed out.

Nocturne had had it with this freak. He charged at the alicorn and before the alicorn could react teleported behind him. However when he finished teleporting the alicorn wasn't there anymore. "I've seen that one before." A calm voice spoke behind him.

Nocturne turned around quickly and was face to face with the alicorn. The alicorns hooves were glowing with magic, and he was about to do something, when Alaria showed up.

Hit the alicorn in the side with her back legs, and teleported to where the alicorn was stumbling to hit him again. "You're smart, you remind me of myself." Right behind Alaria was the alicorn. There was a short pause where Alaria looked at the two alicorns, the one she had kicked, and the one now behind her.

"But not smart enough!" He merely tapped her forehead as she turned around to face her opponent, and she was sent hurtling into the wall. The alicorn teleported to the ground beneath where she was falling, aiming his horn at her.

Nocturne moved fast and slammed into the alicorn. Alaria landed on the ground with a thud. She coughed and pulled herself to her hooves. "Are you alright?" Nocturne asked. "Y-yes, I'm fine." She responded.

"Not for long." Nocturne and Alaria looked up. The alicorn was standing upside down on the roof with his front hooves aiming at each of them. A light purple ball of mist floated in front of each hoof.

The purple balls went speeding towards them. The alicorn grinned as his attack went in for the kill. Nocturne quickly raised a hoof and focused his magic on the purple balls. They slowed down, and Nocturne and Alaria got out of their way quickly.

Unfortunately, the purple balls continued to follow them. You can't be serious... Nocturne thought as the magic mist continued moving towards them slowly.

The alicorn leaped from the cealing and spun around to land on the floor. "Hahaha! You thought you could get away from this that easily? These things follow you until their target is dead!" He laughed. "How long can you last with these chasing you?"

"What are you, who are you?" Nocturne asked angrily. "I, am Discortunal, the great and mighty ruler of the 'failed' Equestria! The God of Chaos!" He said proudly. Nocturne paused for a moment. Failed Equestria? What is he talking about?

As it turned out, that pause was a significant strategic error. Discortunal appeared above Nocturne and smashed him into the ground. It felt like the weight of ten ponies all together!

Nocturne let out a strangled yell as the weight crushed him. Alaria came to his assistance quickly. Discortunal suddenly stumbled off of Nocturne. He gasped for breath as he could breath again.

Discortunal seemed to be reacting to something in his mind. "Quick, I'm causing his thoughts to conflict with each other. We have to both attack him!" The queen said, horn raised and glowing.

Nocturne nodded and thought of a plan as fast as he could. He always teleports behind us, or splits into multiple ponies. If we can find a way to contain that, we might stand a chance. He thought hopefully.

"Alaria, we need to create a magical barrier around him. With our combined strengths we can make one strong enough to contain his teleportation!" He called to his wife. "Clever, but you didn't take me into account." Nocturne suddenly found himself looking into the glaring eyes of Discortunal.

"Nocturne watch out!" At first Nocturne thought Alaria was pointing out the obvious, but then he saw the purple ball of mist out of the corner of his eyes. Panic rose in him for a split second as he realized he his situation.

He leaped into the air and the black alicorn followed him. Alaria jumped into the air to join them. Facing the alicorn on either side, Nocturne easily figured out what to do next. Alaria exchanged a glance with him and nodded.

Nocturne focused on his abilities over space that still remained. It was all he had left that could possibly hurt the alicorn at this point. Alaria raised her two hooves towards Discortunal, who was too focused on Nocturne to care.

Nocturne closed his eyes before releasing all his energy out his horn towards Discortunal in a massive beam. The beam was in his mind one moment, and reaching all the way to Alaria's hooves before you could even blink it was so fast. There was a split second where Nocturne could hear a yell, but that ended quickly.

The beam faded and disappeared. Discortunal was gone. Nocturne and Alaria landed on the floor, which was now covered in flames where the beam had come close to.

Breathing heavily, Nocturne looked around cautiously, not sure what to believe. Alaria did the same. Nocturnes hopes rose though when he saw the purple mist disperse and disappear. He looked at Alaria bewildered a moment, then they both smiled and let out a sigh.

They had used the attack once before. It was a focused beam of spacial energy from the sun, meaning it was pure heat and flame. It was an attack meant for fast opponents.

Nocturne and Alaria had basic control over the elements. Nocturne controled space and time, while Alaria controled dream and law.

When Nocturne used the beam, Alaria boosted it's speed by using Law to affect gravity. She pulled the beam to herself with as much force as she could, causing it to be close to the speed of light, and stopping it just in front of her hooves.

It had worked the other time they used it, and it turned out for them again. Nocturne closed his eyes as he released all the stress of Equestria's fate.

However, his shot open when he heard the sound of blood spattering, and a brief scream.

Discortunal, had hit Alaria with his horn, directly in the neck. Her eyes were wide and her pupils were shrunk. She made a faint sound, that seemed like a half scream, half whimper.

Discortunal had pinned her to the wall, and blood was strewn down her body as the wound bled. She coughed once, and her eyes closed. Nocturne watched in horror as his wife, and Equestria's queen died before his very eyes.

"Alariaaaaaaa!" He yelled. Discortunal pulled away from the now dead alicorn queen and turned towards Nocturne, a devious, and sadistic grin on his face as blood dribled down his horn and onto his face. "A cannot tell you how amusing I find this. Does it hurt, having the one you love pulled away from you at the very time you thought it was over?" He asked the shattered king.

He laughed maniacally. "I wish you could see your own face now, your daughters faces were entertaining, but this beats that by a long shot!" He scoffed. "No!" Nocturne yelled. He immediately teleported over Discortunal and struck him in the neck with his back legs in mid air.

Discortunal stumbled forward from the blow but didn't have time to react as Nocturne appeared in front of him, hitting him in the snout with his front hoof. The alicorn went launching and crashed into the throne sitting at the far end of the room.

Nocturne had enforced his strength with magic and he hadn't even realized it. Discortunal coughed as he got up from the crumbled ruins, still smiling. "It feels good doesn't it? Releasing all your hatred and anger on the one you hate! A satisfying, merciless feeling!" He said.

Nocturne didn't bother responding. All his energy was exploding out at once. He appeared above the black alicorn and unleashed the very same beam he thought he had killed his opponent with earlier, just this time not as large. The alicorn moved like it was nothing and dodged it easily.

"You're putting on quite a show, I can't wait to see you react to this." Discortunal said to the enraged monarch. The black alicorn appeared beside the dead queen and placed a hoof on her bloody chest. Suddenly all and any colour in Alaria's body disappeared. She turned a dead grey and white colour, even her blood turned grey.

The alicorn turned and looked at Nocturne. Nocturne gasped as their eyes met. Discortunal's eyes were exactly like Alaria's.

"You're wife is happy to see you again. Too bad she'll have to watch your death." He taunted Nocturne. Nocturne let out an angry battle cry and released energy into the floor. The entire floor was lit ablaze as Nocturne tried to defeat the cruel alicorn.

Discortunal merely stepped across the flames unfazed. His gaze was locked on Nocturne, his wifes pained, sorrowful eyes burning into him. Nocturne leaped through the flames at the alicorn, teleporting at the last second to strike him from above again.

This time however, when he reappeared, he saw his wife, not Discortunal beneath him. He stopped himself and appeared in front of her before striking her. "Ha, how can you defeat me if your care overpowers you? Maybe that's the problem with this world, too much care. No wonder it is so easy to conquer!" She said.

Nocturne had figured that Alaria wasn't actually there at all. Discortunal had somehow changed his appearance to look like Alaria. Nocturne could not bring himself to attack her.

She suddenly whirled around and kicked him in the chin with her back legs. "Weak." She said. She appeared where Nocturne had been sent from the kick and tapped his back lightly. "Helpless." She said as he was sent crashing into the floor. She came down on top of him hard, making him gasp for breath. "Foolish." The false Alaria raised her hoof to meet close to Nocturnes face. The familiar purple dust swirled and formed a ball. "Dead."

The last thing Nocturne, the king of Equestria felt, was all his life draining out of him, his heart failing, and his mind stopping. His final sight, was his own mate laughing maniacly, as his eyes clouded with purple. However his final thought, came not from him, but a familiar young female voice. "Your children are alive. We are alive. Your legacy, is alive."

Nocturne closed his eyes, and let death take hold of him.