Black Gates: Fallen

Twilight had gotten into some armor, though it was uncomfortable. It wasn’t meant for a curvy woman like herself, but, she’d make do.

“Now that I have the chance… all this magic, it’s…” Twilight began.

Teleportation as she knew it was long to medium distance. Blinking as rapidly as some of the mages around her were (even if it was just a dream, she had no reason to doubt his memories) it was beyond logic. Teleportation took up so much energy, so it was pointless to usually teleport one person such a short distance… in and out of rooms, around the room almost lazily. Now, that wasn’t to say non-living things were hard to teleport. That was incredibly easy, almost trivial. But they were doing it with living things!

“Hm… I remember something my close friend showed me… maybe with your help we can unlock it, eh?” Ark offered.

“What did he show you?” Twilight asked as the two walked side by side to the front of the massive cathedral grounds.

“A pocket dimension… I doubt it’ll be large, and I highly doubt here will be anything alive in it. But… there may be books, schematics… anything of value in there. If there isn’t… well, it’ll at least help me with closure.” He sighed.

“I’d be happy to help.” She smiled, “Now… where are we going to find Nightmare?”

“Find her? We’re going to bring her to us.” Ark grinned, “I’ll fill you in on my plan… you can add to it if you feel the need.”

Twilight’s face blanked. “You’re insane.” She said bluntly.

“Only a little.” He laughed before beginning to explain to her his full plan.

Now, it’s going to be a three stage attack. We have several siege engines up and running, including a few cannons. We’ll bombard the enemy encampment as well as have an assault on the frontline. That should distract the majority of the enemy forces. That’s the first stage.

The second involves a heavy use of magic. Hopefully with enough we can speed up any reinforcements, should they truly be coming… and should Nightmare not have cut us off completely. From what I’ve garnered while you were getting equipped the enemy is far less… organized then what I remember. Nightmare seems to be focusing on locating us, and not taking down our sizable force. That will come back to bite her hard. Now, I’ll have some mages clear out the square. That will give us a sizable area to fight her in. With that done, the mages will join the forward assault.

The final stage involves you, me, a contingent of Faust’s Blade.

Twilight cut off his explanation. “Wait. Wait a second. Faust? As in… Goddess Faust, creator and protector of Equis?”

“No… as in Lady Faust, Goddess of Honor and Justice.” Arkantos shook his head.

“You’ll have to tell me more about your religion… that’s just too scarily similar to be a coincidence…” Twilight shivered.

“I… okay. Don’t worry, I will.” Arkantos sighed. “Just…”

“Continue please.”

Alright, as I was saying, the contingent will keep the square clear of any stragglers or reinforcements from her side for as long as possible. This is where you really come in. You’re going to do whatever you can to attract her.

So, you want me to become bait… for somepony that wants my body. Sounds like fun.

Not exactly. You won’t be bait. We just want her separate from her main forces. It’d be hell to try to engage her on the frontline.

Oh. I know. I’ll paint a maaasssiiiiveeee target on myself, and she’s so prideful and conceited she’ll be unable to resist it.

Great! That’s when we fight her. With any luck we’ll take her down and be free of this nightmare.

And… without any luck?

It’ll be a long and hard fight. Hopefully my father’s forces arrive before we’re overrun and slaughtered like cattle.

Twilight shivered at that metaphor. “Great way to word that.”

“I wanted to make it clear…”

“What’s at stake. Yeah, yeah I get that.” Twilight sighed.

Ark put a hand on her shoulder. “Don’t worry. We have this.”

Twilight smiled a little. “You’re damn right we do.”

The two entered the courtyard and readied themselves for the battle ahead.

Meanwhile:

The ponies gifting Twilight their magic had finished, and all of them collapsed into chairs, too tired to really move.

“That… should… help her…” Luna muttered. Only she and Cadance had remained conscious.

“We can… h-hope.” Cadance laughed quietly. “D-did you notice it Luna?”

“Notice… w-what?”

“S-she isn’t scared of whatever’s happening…”

“M-maybe she figured out what we were doing?” Luna offered, now nurses and orderlies had entered and were getting Rarity and Shining into beds, wheeling them out of the room.

“N-no… She’s sure of something… i-if only I could g-get access to the human… w-we could find out for sure.” Cadance shook her head, taking in a few deep and steady breaths. “Aaah… I’ve never felt this…”

“Drained? Hopefully… this will be the only time we have to end up like this.” Luna sighed.

“I never… want Twilight to end up like this again…” Cadance muttered.

“None of us do…” Luna tried to straighten up, only managing to shift slightly. “Nnnn… here come the aches…” She laughed, trying to lighten the mood.

Cadance only mumbled before fatigue overcame her.

Luna felt her eyes grow heavy before she too passed out.

Celestia too had finished feeding power into Arkantos, though she hadn’t given him everything.

It was only a minute or so after her sister and niece were cleared out of the room that she sat down beside Twilight’s bed. “I know you have it in you to fight her… you’ve grown so much since your first engagement with her. But with how much she’s been feeding off of his destroyed emotions… I don’t know if Arkantos has it in him… even with my power helping him.” She sighed quietly, running her fingers through Twilight’s mane. “He may be steady by you… but out here he’s twisting and turning… Nightmare’s taint is deep in him… deeper then we may have first realized.”

Celestia had taken the time to study his mental state as she fed magic into him. With his unconscious state, it was far easier then it had any right to be… like he was opening up to prove something. She shook the coincidence off. Rainbow Dash and Applejack entered the room, “Princess! What happened to A-”

“He’s in a secure location. Don’t worry. We need them seperate… incase one makes it and the other doesn’t.” Celestia sighed. “If she takes control of the hu- Arkantos… then we can take him out quickly while saving Twilight.”

“And if…”

“Then the same will happen to Twilight… I… doubt if it happens to Twilight, Arkantos will survive much longer. Whether it be Shining and Night Light coming down on him… or his own mind crushing him under the weight of guilt…”

“What if it’s Twilight who makes it?”

“She’ll have all of you to help her through whatever emotions she might feel… We’ll watch her carefully, though… I doubt she’ll have a strong enough bond with him for his death to destroy her.” Celestia shook her head. “That’s the worst case scenario either way.” She smiled warmly up at Applejack and Rainbow Dash. “Twilight will make it. I know that. Go, get some rest. Let the guards and I worry about these two.”

Dash and AJ were still antsy, but they believed Celestia, smiling wearily before leaving the room.

Celestia let out a long sigh before looking down at her unconscious student. “Defeat her… once and for all. Don’t leave a single shred of her left to corrupt anypony.”

“I know one of you has it in them… I only wonder which of you it will be…”