Clank clank clank clank clank clank
The steady clatter of metal boots on stone echoed throughout the forest, slowly it started to change, as the stone of a once beautiful castle gave way to forest.
Clank thump clank thump thump clank
Finally the source of the noise entered the forest fully, its armored feet's constant march muffled by the new loam and old dirt of a well worn path.
The creature itself stood at roughly fifteen and a half hooves, armored from top to bottom in solid plate armor, with only the smallest of indications that it was a living being, a small horizontal slash across where its eyes may have been, for why would a creature without flesh and blood need eyes?
Sadly, the one arguing for this life, theoretical though they may be, would still be wrong. As the creature was not alive... At least, not anymore.
Chapter 1: The End of one Road...
It might rain today. I could tell, there was water gathering inside me, just a tiny bit of moisture. Means the temperature was changing. It wasn't.... What was the word? Winter, right, winter. "..." Really? 'Winter' was a word that set you off? No wonder I stopped using it. Or is that another forgotten thing? Hmm... Winter belonged to... A group... A group of? .....
Seasons! That's what they were! Seasons, Fall... Winter... Spring... Hm... I was sure there was another... It had something to do with... Heat... Warmth? Hmm... The Sun may- "EVIL, HORRIBLE BURNI-" Oh shush you. Yes that word. The giant ball of heat. What was its season called though? Stroking the lower part of my face with a gauntlet, thinking deeply only to get sidetracked again. Why do I do that anyway? I think, glancing down at my gauntlet. It seems to help, but why? Writing it off as another lost reason, I resume my pondering.
Summer, mmmmmm... Just thinking the word makes me... Hmm... I cant remember the name of this feeling, its happy, but its like my helm wants... To stretch? To widen? Maybe that was something I'd forgotten how to do. At least I could still move my gauntlets around. I demonstrated with a wiggle of my fingers, nodding happily at their success.
Another night "Gloooriius wonderful night, so sooth-" another long march. At least the woods were as beautiful as ever, odd how darkness never seemed to bother me, in fact its almost as bright as day. "HOR-" Active little twit today aren't we? Well at least I wasn't screaming it out loud like I used to, its more of a grumble or whisper.
Hmmm here's come the stump... And its gone, next up the tree with strangely colored... Fruit? I think that's what they were called. Hmmmm.....
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Unbeknownst to the creature, a dark blue, almost black, cloud hovered over it, following a few yards back, watching him curiously. "How strange..." It whispered, its very presence darkening the area around it. "After all this time, it still follows my orders... Hehehe not that it had much of a choice, I'm just surprised it lasted this long~" With an invisible grin it descended into the creatures path.
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There goes the strange tree with weird fruit, and here comes the black cloud covered in stars, next up is- Wait... In that moment, I did something I've not done in... A really really long time. I stopped... Then, it spoke, and I remembered.
"Greetings, Knight."
I froze. That voice, I KNEW that voice! But... From whe- "MY QUEEN!" Ah. Right. Well at least he remembers. Without a second to waste I slammed my knee into the earth, and bowed my head. "My Queen! This humble servant bows before thee! Right right, I forgot this was how we spoke. Hm. I think I'd prefer silence. We eagerly await thine orders!" For a reason unknown to myself I wanted to roll my visor. The cloud chuckled darkly, and from its tone I could tell it wasn't exactly 'Happy' to see me, but it wasn't necessarily 'Unhappy' either.
"I have a new task for you, soon We shall return to this world in all of Our Glory! For thine loyalty thou shalt be Our new guard Captain, and thine first order, shall to be to guard Our chambers against all ponies that mayhaps try to halt Our ascension to the throne! Is this Understood?"
"Yes Mine Queen! Thine will be done!" Well, it beats staring at dirt and grass all day.
.... Wait whats a Pony? Apparently my other half thought that was a valid question, as right before the cloud departed it raised one of our gauntlets "My Queen... Ah... We seem to have forgotten what a 'Pony' is..."
There was silence for a moment, the black cloud roiled for a moment, then a exasperated yell echoed down the path. "We are a pony! Hast thou forgotten so much already!? Ignore mine question I shall check for Our self!"
Suddenly the world turned a dark blue, and my head was picked up, the cloud turned it towards itself, giving me a nice view of the canopy above, and I felt a massive influx of power, my armor lost its dullness and instead became a deep blue that seemed to blend into its surroundings and absorb light, my armored boots seemed to weigh nothing at all, and made no noise as I shuffled about nervously, the last creature to knock my head off had made it land in a tree, took me days to find it.
"There! Thou art lucky the Everfree is home to such powerful latent magic, otherwise thine enchantments would have fallen apart sooner, and thine core would have unraveled even faster than it did! Now GO!"
With that we turned and sprinted away. Huh, I'm running, running running running, I remember that word! Hah! Spring! Summer! Winter! Birds! Timber Wolves! Manticore! Po- Oh we're here!
I think I preferred walking in a giant circle... I muttered, as we leaned against the wall near the front door of the decrepit castle. Silence! We hath a been given a decree of the highest order! We shalt convey an aura of strength and intimidation! Something we are incapable of with thou blathering!" My other half hissed. I swear a Timberwolf has more humor.
Even so we stood up a little straighter, just to add to the intimidation factor we pulled Our sword from its sheath and held it pointing downwards, its point not an inch from the stone. "Excellent! Our Queen shalt be most pleased! Now quiet! We must remain vigilant or we shall fail in our duties." He muttered, with a silent, having no mouth with which to exhale, sigh, We cast Our senses out, searching for any signs of life that matched Our Queen's...
After ten minutes I had concluded standing guard was one of the most soul wrenching exercise in futility in existence. Now and then a four legged creature or a bird would pass by, but for the most part no giant sapient floating blobs of smoke and stars. Which reminded me... Are you sure that's what she meant by Pony? With a almost silent groan our body slumped forward, digging the point of our sword into the ground. "Acquiesce man! Our Queen said a pony is exactly as she appeared! Therefore a pony shalt be a large cloud made of stars!" He rubbed the front of our helm, before sighing and standing upright once more. "Art thou finished with thine inept blathering?" I started muttering to myself again, well, that's really all I do... Something still feels wrong about this... I could have sworn a Pony had legs... but how many...? Two...? No wait! Three! Two in the front and one in the back!
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It had been days upon days of soul wrenching torture! Of moral crushing solitude! And other equally painful horrors! My mind screamed out in agony of the pain, my body ached to be free from my constraints! My very being wept tears from the sadness and the pain! I wailed. "Oh be QUIET! It has been less than an two HOURS!" Alas! I had to resort to talking to myself! How much farther into the depth of insanity must I fall before I am released from this world!? I cried to the heavens. "How Our Queen saw fit to keep thy half of Our mind alive I shall never know. Thou should have been discarded like day old refuse. Now cease thy blathering!" My other half muttered before I gave my elegant response. But I'm booooooooorreeeddd! Oh! Here's an idea! Give me my memories back and I'll stop! I'll be too busy looking through them to bother you! Without missing a beat my other half responded. "Thou art a fool if thee thinks I shall fall for such a simple trick. Our Queen has pressed into us the need to keep thyself corralled and under control! Thou represent all that We hate in this world! A lack of respect! No loyalty! No maturity! Thou art a failure and a knave! Thou shalt never take mine memories!" Hey now that's not very nice, I am too loyal! I haven't left your side in what? A hundred years? I said with a suppressed laugh, which really just makes me sound silly since its hard to tell when a suit of armor is laughing to begin with. Over. A. Thousand. I have been stuck with thy incompetent self for over a THOUSAND YEARS." Really? That long? Huh I hadn't thought it'd bee- "Quiet fool! Something approaches!" Falling silent we both stared out across the canyon and into the forest. We could neither hear nor see anything with our normal senses, but in my minds eye I could just make out a large blob of... Something our Mind's Sight worked like a seeing eye glass, , but you could only see the outline of an object, living things appear like black silhouettes on a grey background, non living things just fade away.
The thing heading towards the castle was most certainly living, a larger blob with a single smaller blob hovering above it. As the blob drew closer however the floating one became more like a bird, so it was manually faded out, the one on the ground however seemed to pulse and writhe, with multiple limbs poking out and waving around randomly.
"How queer... Could this be a pony? Our Queen's signature was much more... Defined, but surely these art but peasants, clearly inferior in both shape and strength to Our Queen... But why does it travel by land rather than take to the sky?" My other self muttered as he readied our sword, watching the blob move closer and closer... Finally we could hear the rustling and stomping of... I don't think that is a pony... I whispered as the 'blob' stepped out of the forest. Tilting Our head to the side a little and lowering Our sword, We moved back to the gate. "Hmmm... Thou seem to be correct... These creatures must be wildlife... We shall let them pass, mayhaps they shall serve as a snack for Our Quee...n...?" He trailed off, understandably, as there, on the opposite side of the canyon to these creatures, stood our Queen. Well, parts of our Queen. She had split part of herself into three separate parts, each one in the shape of a similar creature to the floating blob we had dismissed before. We could still tell it was her due to being bound to her of course, any form she takes we know it to be her, as long as our enchantments aren't practically falling apart, like when she returned.
"How queer... Clearly they art supporters of Our Queen! Otherwise she shan't have let them pass." Hard to argue with that logic. So across the now bridged gap they went, and we waited.
Before us, walking, or more accurately, clopping, their way down towards the gate was a large group of... Well we aren't sure, they were four legged, with long necks and curved muzzles. The closest thing we could compare them to were Timberwolves... But made of flesh and fur... With shorter muzzles... And feet encased in strange solid shoes... And taller... Actually they weren't anything like Timberwolves besides the four legs, although something in the back of our minds told us they looked familiar...
As they approached my other self exhaled sharply, apparently he had remembered something. "Horses! Those creatures art equines! Doth thou remember?" He hissed at me, fidgeting ever so slightly before freezing. The creature's ears swiveled in our direction, apparently they had heard my other half whispering. Oh certainly! I managed to break past a magical mental block, the one that just got a nice recharge by the way, that hasn't broken in the hundreds, oh sorry, a thousand, years we've been together and reach into your memories! I snarked, trying to roll my visor again.
"Did y'all hear somethin? Coulda sworn ah heard, somepony whisperin..." One of the taller horses said, she was a dark orange with...
A hat? Why does that one have a hat? Unable to respond my other half simply sent me negative vibes, making me chuckle.
"Don't be silly AppleJack! No Pony is whispering!" This horse was pink, that's it. Pink. That would be the best, no, the ONLY way to describe it. It seemed to quiet literally vibrate with energy, one second it would be bouncing in place. Then another second it would freeze and stare off into space for such a brief moment that I almost didn't believe she had done it. I could even have sworn at one point she had looked right at us... And that shouldn't have been possible, not moving, Our body blended into any environment!
"O-oh dear... I-I hope it i-isn't m-mean..." This creature was different than the first two, having wings, and it was so quiet the only reason we even heard it was because of the recharge Our Queen had given us, recharging our enchantments for our senses among other things. In fact I wasn't even sure the others of it's group had even heard it. Clearly there as an offering for Our Queen.
"Yeah? Well we can take it! Whatever is in there is goin down!" This one we'd forgotten about, as it was the one blob we had decided to ignore. Now? It was impossible to miss! Blue with multicolored hair, it was difficult not to stare. This was CLEARLY the leader of this group! Bright, multi hued hair, clearly to draw attention away from her comrades, and brash forward attitude that spoke of a deep confidence.
The rest of the creatures were rather unremarkable, clearly they were either pages or simple attendants. Hmmm... That white one is much to invested in her looks to be a simple attendant... A offering for her Harem maybe?
No sooner had the six creatures moved inside and closed the door had my other half slapped the side of our head with a gauntlet, creating a loud ringing sound throughout our body. "Fool! Clearly a seamstress! How dare thee have such thoughts about Our Queen!" He growled. Why doesn't that ever effect you! Why am I the only one who gets a headache from that! I whined, wanting to clutch at my helmet. "Because fool, We art prepared! Whilst thou are an undisciplined lout!" This went on for several minutes, primarily me whining and him complaining about what a whiner I was.
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Ten minutes later and we were back to what we had been doing, which is to say we were doing nothing. At all. When suddenly! I cried and...! Nothing happened. I said, WHEN SUDDE-! I was rudely interrupted by my other half threatening violence upon my person. "Quiet! I shall bang Our weapon upon Our head if thee-" And He was rudely interrupted by a flash of light that teleported us to another part of the castle. Oh look! It's those creatures we let in! Hello again!
"FOOL! I TOLD THEE TO REFUSE ENTRANCE TO ANY PONY! NOW PROTECT THINE QUEEN!" From behind us came the less than pleased voice of Our monarch.
In response my other half roared in a rage and pulled Our shield from Our back, charging the six, oddly glowing, now floating creatures, which we now understood as Ponies, we made it roughly two steps forward before being engulfed in a overwhelming rainbow light, it flooded into Our armor and knocked the sword and shield from our grip with ease. For some reason I felt fine, my other half? Not so much. "IT BURNS LIKE THE FURY OF A WOMAN SCORNED!" Now whose the baby! This doesn't hurt at all-I spoke too soon! ISPOKETOOSOON! Now it started to burn, it started off gentle, like a small flame just at the tip of your finger, or in this case, toes, but it very quickly started to spread upward. Glancing down I saw Our feet turn from its black obsidian color, to a dull grey, then parts began to flake off and break away in a nasty brownish reddish color, it raced up Our body like a Timberwolf after a rabbit! The last two things that went through my mind as we fell to the cold stone below? Why would a floating blob of gas need a seamstress? and HAH I TOLD YOU A PONY HAD LEGS!
“Father...? Why must thee go...?”
“Thou know why my Dearest... The King hath called us to arms... As a loyal servant of His Majesty we must answer... Worry not Dearest, for we shall rejoin thee soon. These blagards shall fall before Our King’s might!” With a wide grin I wrap my arms around the bundle of joy I call my daughter, swinging her around and holding her tightly. Her mood lifted a little and like music to my ear, she giggled loudly, clutching tightly to my clothing.
“F-father! T-thou beard! I-it tickles!” She protested, which only made me hold her tighter and place gentle kisses across her brow, causing her to giggle and squeal even more.
With a sad smile I held her close, gently patting her back before lowering her to the ground. “Remember my Dearest, I shall always be with thee...” Kneeling down before her I reach out and gently raise the small locket that lay around her neck. “Just like Mother shall always be with thee...” My smile falters a little as I look upon the small portrait of a beautiful woman, in her arms she holds a small bundle, next to her stands a man, young and arrogant, but proud nonetheless. Shaking my head and fixing a smile upon my face, I close the locket and gently lower back to her blouse before standing. “Remember that my Dearest, and thou shalt never be alone...” I nod towards the maid standing a few feet away, and turn away. Already I can hear her start to weep, she’s a smart girl for her age, she may weep, but she know’s I must be away.
I couldn’t be more proud of her.
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“-T away! Now what will we do!? The Princess! How is she going to get back!?”
Nnnn... Someone needs to knock some sense into who ever is making such a racket... Preferably with a large weapon... ”Indeed... We hath not slept in a millennia... To wake us now is thee most foul of cruelties...!” My other half mumbled angrily.
Unheeded they continued, loudly and with a shrill voice. “Oh Dear! What do we do!? I don’t even know what Nightmare Moon did to her! How am I supposed act on such little information!?”
Ngggghhhh... If there were ever a time to start swinging now would be it... “Agreed... We shall have to find our sword first...” My other half mumbled as we endured the vocal torture.
“Don’t worry Twilight! I’ve got a feeling that everything is gunna turn out A-OK!”
Oh Sweet Merciful Jesus there’s another one! “And its voice is even shriller!” We groaned out, wanting nothing more than to shrink back into something we had been deprived of for so long.
“Hmm ah dunno Pinkie... I’m keen tah trust your sense, but this here is a right pickle...”
Slowly we become more aware of our surroundings, our helms faceplate was buried partially in the ground, and in the corner of our visor we can just make out a soft lavender light that did nothing for us but cast shadows. The creatures making said shadows hidden by the earth covering our face. Groaning softly my other self slowly rights us, turning slowly onto our side so we can better view our surroundings. Huh... Guess that fancy light show wasn’t good for much was it? I mused, chuckling softly. “Fool... Hast thou even checked before making that assumption?” My other half growled.
In the darkness we couldn’t see anything, which was already a bad sign. If our Night’s Light wasn’t working properly then that means we were had lost quite a bit of power after that attack, and may have to finish this fight on dregs... With a sigh I relaxed, doing the spiritual version of shutting your yap as I awaited the results of our fight.“Hmmm...” He grumbled, casting about uselessly with our visor.
My other half slowly pushed us up, I could already feel the annoyance and dismay floating away from him. “Well... We seem to have lost Our shield arm...” I groaned quietly at that, shields were so useful! Manticore stinger? Shield. Timberwolf claws? Shield. Mud that refused to come off of your boots no matter how much you tried, and you didn’t feel like scratching your sword? Shield. Although that last one didn’t make much sense since our sword was enchanted to never dull...
Quietly we sat up, and realized we were missing two other important appendages, with a quiet sigh my other half cast about, looking for an escape. “We must leave before yonder Sun Lovers catch heed of Our survival...” No really? And hear I thought we could stay and chat, have some tea and scones maybe? I snark before pointing out a small hole in the stone wall across from us that, on normal circumstances would have been impossible to get through, but now that we had lost roughly one fourth of our width, we may just be able to fit...
Slowly, careful to make as little noise as possible, we moved towards the opening, the metal of our body quietly scraping against the ground as we move, glancing back now and then to see the six young creat-Ponies, still arguing and debating over their newest course of action.
After roughly a minute and a half of awkward dragging, we were about halfway to the hole. We hesitated for a moment to glance back once more to make sure we hadn’t been noticed, only to be met by a flash of light, grunting quietly we raised a gauntlet to our visor as a makeshift shield from the incredibly bright light. The light faded very slowly, and all was quiet, it wasn’t until we heard the purple one cry out that we could lower our gauntlet.
“PRINCESS!” Princess?
.... We should leave. “Agreed.” And like the worlds fastest earth worm we wiggled our way to the hole, hoping the sound of conversation would hide our increased noise, and promptly squeezed our way out of the room and into the air. I say the air because it was about a ten foot drop from where we were to the ground. “Shite.” My other half put eloquently as we plunged to the ground like a... Well like a large suit of armor. Heavier than a simple rock, and with a lot louder landing.
With a tremendous clang we slammed into the ground, quickly grabbing at the earth we started making our way towards the edge of the forest, glancing back up at the tower quickly to make sure none had noticed. Luckily it seemed none had. ”Yonder Ponies must have the hearing of thee deceased...”
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“Princess! You’ve returned!”
As the light faded away Twilight rushed forward, the tiara on her head bouncing just a little. “How were you able to escape? Not that that’s a bad thing! It’s definitely a good thing! I’d never-”
“Twilight.”
“Want that! It’s wonderful to see you again! I was so worried that I wouldn’t since we weren’t able to defeat Nightmare Moon!”
“Twilight!”
“Which I didn’t, and I’m so sorry! I-i’ve failed! O-”
“TWILIGHT!”
With a quiet yelp Twilight snapped out of her panic and stared up at her teacher, her eyes wide. “I apologize my Student, but now is not the time to panic... I am still weak from breaking free of my prison...”
With silent gulp Twilight nodded. “Y-yes Princess... H-how did you escape?”
“It seems you dealt a partial blow to the Nightmare, it is alright my student, wielding the Elements of Harmony is difficult, especially for one so young... But even that partial blow was strong enough to weaken her power significantly.”
“W-well... Actually we hit her directly... Kinda?” Twilight said quietly, looking up at her mentor and frowning, trying to remember. “Something appeared... It blocked at least part of the blast and went flying, we aren’t sure what it was...”
“Something... Blocked it...?”
*CLANG*
Everypony in the room froze and slowly turned their head towards the wall on the farthest side of the room. “Twilight...” Princess Celestia said quietly, worry starting to bubble up a little from deep within her. “Did the thing happen to be rather tall... With a shield and sword...?” Princess Celestia asked, almost whispering.
“I... I-i think so? I-it was difficult to concentrate on the thing while also concentrating on using the elements... But it seemed to be quite tall... Do... Do you know of this thing Princess...?” Twilight asked, her worry and fear mixing with curiosity and confusion at her mentor’s sudden change in demeanor.
“You and your new friends must leave. Immediately.” Princess Celestia said, turning towards them and herding them with out stretched wings towards the door
“B-but Princess! We can help! We have the Elements of Harmony!” Twilight protested, being shuffled out of the castle along with her friends.
“Twilight, you MUST return to Ponyville as quickly as possible. Do not stop, do not slow. Whatever you may hear or see, do NOT under any circumstances allow you or any of your friends to be captured... O-or...” Shaking her head quickly she looked down at her student. “Promise me Twilight!” Princess Celestia stared into her students eyes, practically demanding the promise from her.
Even more worried and confused Twilight quickly promised, turning away with her friends and trotting towards the rope bridge. “Y-yes Princess, I promise...”
Nodding in relief Princess Celestia spread her wings and took to the skies, her magic practically exhausted, she barely had enough power to create a low level metal detection spell, normally such a low level spell would not be able to find her quarry, as she had used it once over a thousand years ago and Nightmare had quickly realized the flaw and made a spell to disguise it, but surely after taking the full power of the Elements of Harmony it would have failed, as would many of the wards and illusion spells Nightmare had placed upon the foul creature...
Sure enough, upon circling around the castle once Princess Celestia was forced to return to the castle where she found bits and pieces of steel inside the castle, in front of where the Elements had been used. Following the trail she found followed it to the wall, where she found a sword... And there was no mistaking the obsidian coated sword that had struck down so many of her beloved Ponies...
Following the trail further to a hole in the wall she frowned, realizing the creature may have lost much more than just its sword and to have fit into something so small... Trotting outside Princess Celestia moved to the side of the castle, huffing irritably, as she stared down at the small trail of rusted metal and small pieces of steel that led farther into the forest... “I must conserve what little magic I have left... Or i’ll be defenseless against the creature...
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Now we just need to find a good patch of moonlight, and we can start the recovery process... Although with how little power we have now it may take some time... “Indeed... We were fortunate to not run afoul of the Sun Tyrant... But we shan’t push our luck...” Relief flooded through our body as we made our way deeper into the forest, glancing about now and then to make sure none of the wildlife had gotten bolder.
Luckily for us the wildlife knew who was the keeper of this forest, and after the first hundred years or so they had found out, rather painfully, to not go near the old castle, but some of the bigger ones had taken a bit longer to learn that lesson, and every now and then a brash young creature would try to claim the Everfree as its territory...
So when we found a patch of moonlight, a decently large clearing with soft looking grass and a gentle breeze flowing through it, we excitedly, and tiredly, dragged ourselves to it. Flopping down onto our back we sighed, staring up into the life giving light of Our Queen’s moon. Of course the peaceful, calming atmosphere had to be ruined by my other half trying to plan.
“We shalt wait here for roughly two nights... Then we shall retrieve our sword and shield from yonder castle. It is doubtful that thee Sun Lovers shall remain for so long in such an unsafe castle... Then we shal-” With a sigh I shake my head, well, I would have if i could have. Cant you just relax for a little? Always trying to plan and prepare for something. Let us sleep or focus on repairing this bucket of scrap... “We shan’t relax for a moment! Even a minor lapse in our vigilance may bring ill fortunes upon us!’ He growled, squirming a bit on the ground as our head slowly swiveled back and forth, trying to see all sides of the forest at once.
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There! She could hear a voice... A deep, whispery growl that had haunted her nightmares for almost a year, taunting and threatening those closest to her... She was too far away to make out what it was saying, but even the sound of its voice sent shudders of rage through her body. Stopping for a moment to calm herself and peer out of the forest, spying a large meadow she could just make out the tip of a helmet as it lay in the grass...
The creature was known to be a master when it came to subterfuge and camouflage, it was probably waiting just outside the meadow with a weapon... Waiting for Celestia to walk right into its trap... But she would not make that mistake again! Quietly she stalked the edges of the meadow, hearing the voice continue to growl and whisper to itself.
She circled the meadow once... Then twice... Not once running into the creatures body or head sitting in a tree... Frowning even deeper Celestia stopped and stared out, listening to the quiet growl of the creatures voice, finally a thought dawned on her... “Who could it be talking to? If the Nightmare was near I would feel it... Surely it couldn’t be...?”
Celestia blinked, realizing the voice had stopped... Then she heard it growl out loudly, loudly declaring its refusal to stop being vigilant? With that it all clicked into place. The head truly WAS over there, after being blasted by the Elements it was surely in pieces and trying to recover, and... And the spirit she had thought destroyed, was still somehow alive... There could be no explanation about why it would be talking to itself...
So she slowly moved out into the meadow, inching closer and closer to where the creature laid, her wings flared and her ears constantly twisting about her head for the slightest disturbance, but none came, and slowly, ever so slowly, she crept up to what was left of the creature...
There on the ground lay half of a torso, cut off just below the chest plate, an arm, missing its pauldron, and a slightly dented helmet. Which was currently cursing quiet loudly and desperately trying to sit up, as it had seen her. “FOUL WITCH! BEGONE SUN TYRANT! WE SHALL SMITE THEE IF THOU COME ANY CLOSER!”
With a raised eyebrow most of the anger Celestia had been feeling towards the demonic creature simply dissipated... The core anger which had been forged from the need for Justice for her little ponies, but it had been replaced by something else... Amusement... This thing, this demon, had been her second most dangerous enemy during the Nightmare crisis, and here it was, rolling about on the ground cursing like a drunken sailor, without even the power to right itself without wobbling...
“DOTH THY FOUND ME AMUSING!? HOW DARE THEE! PREPARE THYSELF TYRANT!” With that the suit of armor slowly crawled its way to Celestia’s forelegs, slapping at her hooves and cannons. “DIE FOOLISH WITCH! THOU REIGN ENDS NOW! LONG LIVE QUEEN NIGHTM-”
It’s voice cut off as Celestia slammed her hoof into its arm, crushing it and wrenching it from its already decayed body. The mention of Nightmare had brought Celestia back into the reality of the situation... “You are indeed brave Demon... But the Fight is mine. Now you will face justi-”
“FOOL! I SHALT NEVER FALL TO THEE! MINE FURY CANNOT BE HALTE-” The demon cried out before being rudely interrupted, banging its head weakly against Celestias hooves.
“Look you Bastard! You’ve got no limbs left!” Celestia growled, her earlier fury starting to return as she stomped on what was left of its chest plate, leaving only its head.
“TIS BUT A SCRATCH!” The helmet cried, wiggling its visor about in a vain attempt to grasp one of Celestia’s hooves.
With a deep growl Celestia raised her hoof into the air, ready to end a thousand year old war once and for all... Then hesitated, watching the cursing helmet wiggle around weakly on the ground, Celestia slowly took control of her rage, breathing deeply and slowly, lowering her hoof. Shaking her head she placed her hoof gently on top of the helmet, holding it in place and tilting it back to look up at her, her horn glowing softly. “I wish to speak to the other one.” She said quietly, causing the helmet to cease its wiggling and cursing.
“Thou speak foolishness... There is no ‘other one’! Twas alwa-”
With a soft sigh Celestia dove into the buckets mind, using what magic she had left to survey the creatures mental landscape...
Inside she found a massive array of dark blue light, at one point it may have been beautiful, but now it was in tatters, Nightmares detection wards were destroyed, her camouflage spells wiped from the being entirely, even the regeneration spells were in pieces... If she had crushed the beings head like she had wanted, it would have been gone forever indeed.
Even the link to Nightmare herself had not been spared from at least some of the Elements power, a small blast of magic would be all it would take to sever what was left of it... But no... If Celestia did that she would have that much of a harder time finding the Nightmare before she recovered and managed to hide herself more efficiently. Moving past the connection and deeper into its mind, she finally reached its core... It was like a river that only went a few straight feet up, and into a large orb. There, right in the middle, was a dam that split the soul of the creature in half, letting the left side, which was a deep blue, and seemed to radiate a combination of heat and ice all at once, continue unabated while diverting the right off into the rest of the mind... It seemed to have circled back at one point, but it could go no where near the large orb. Parts of it were flaking off, and swirling about inside its confines, but nonetheless it pulsed almost as powerfully as the left side.
Frowning Celestia circled the core, strangely the dam itself hadn’t been damage nearly as much as the rest of it. More than likely it had been protected by the layers upon layers of others spells and wards... But under close scrutiny she found some small cracks in the foundation, they had been patched, rather recently even, and were just as impenetrable as ever, but it was clear that one side of the mind did not always agree with the other...
Moving her attention back to the dam Celestia spied a small switch... Raising an eyebrow in surprise Celestia reached out and flicked it, and just like that, the wedge cut off the flow of the left side of the soul, and allowed the other to go free. For a moment nothing happened, the right side waved and wiggled in place, then, like a powerful magnet, rushed to the orb.
And with that, Celestia was flung from the creatures mind, gasping she leaned back onto her haunches, blinking rapidly and panting softly. Shaking her head to clear it she glanced down at helmet, worrying slightly.
For a few tense moments nothing happened... Then “FOOL! DID YEE THINK I WAS SO EASY TO MANU-MANIPEL-Uh... Maniuplsation? Oh whatever, WHAT’S UP SUNBUTT!?”
