The Spectre of Phalanxia

They rushed with great haste, but most were puzzled over why they had to take the Rainbow Bridge and go back to Canterlot City. They took a shortcut through the wood, trying to find a way to where they wanted to go. Eventually they reached a cottage. Invictus yelled at the person living there ‘Woman, open the door!’

‘I’m still a god,’ said the woman in reply ‘Go away.’ with the EG Mane 7 having a strange feeling that the voice sounded familiar.

‘We have an injured Alicorn!’

The moment she opened the door, she was surprised to see an injured Flurry Heart, but shocked the EG Mane 7, for it was none other than Singe ‘You?!’

‘Oh, it’s you.’ she said with a small grudge, but sighed when she thought of the injured child ‘Bring her inside.’

They brought her in her cottage. But when they were inside, they saw that the cottage was bigger on the inside, with books and magical artifacts that they’ve never seen before. ‘Put her on the table.’ said Singe as Invictus placed her on the table, with both Cadance and Shining Armour standing next to her with extreme worrying in their eyes. The Mane 7 walked over to the EG Mane 7, wondering what was going on.

‘Uh, I take it you lot have some history with her.’ said Starlight when she was confused by what was going on.

‘Try grudge,’ said the human Rainbow Dash ‘She manipulated Twilight into stealing Equestrian magic from the pedestal Princess Twilight came through, including ours.’

‘Wait, what?’ said Twilight when she was surprised to hear it.

‘Oh, that ain’t even the half of it.’ said human Applejack when she remembered what Singe nearly did.

‘She even corrupted Twilight and nearly turned her into a monster and nearly destroyed both our worlds.’ said human Rarity when she remembered nearly falling into a portal to another dimension.

Yin Sid stepped forward and revealed another truth ‘And because of it, it ended up creating a crack, a portal between worlds if you will.’

‘A portal?’ said Starswirl when he was surprised.

‘Yeah,’ said Merlin when he explained ‘And because of it, Equestrian magic kept leaking into this world, nearly creating imbalance wherever everyone goes.’

‘And gave us this in the process.’ said Sunset when she and the others showed them the Geodes.

‘Fascinating.’ said Stygian when he observed it ‘These specific geodes must’ve chosen all of you to be this world’s protectors. What power did you gain from them?’

‘Well,’ said human Pinkie Pie when she explained ‘Sunset is able to read minds through touch. Rainbow Dash got super speed. Applejack got super strength. Rarity can create diamond aura shields. Fluttershy can communicate with animals. Twilight has telekinesis. And I ended up creating explody things with anything I can touch an concentrate. But at the same time, most of us gain pony ears and a tail, even wings.’

‘Anything else in particular?’ said Starswirl when he wanted to know more, whilst Twilight took notes.

‘Well,’ said Sunset Shimmer when she remembered that very specific day ‘When Rainbow Dash used her geode and super speed way to many times, our geodes ended up getting supercharged. I could read minds and hear others thoughts without touching them. Twilight’s magic got out of control, same with Pinkie’s. Fluttershy could attract animals, Applejack’s could barely control her strength and Rarity also had some bad luck with it.’

‘I see.’ said Starswirl when he was fascinated by the geodes’ power.

After which they went over to see how Flurry Heart was doing, with Twilight asking ‘How bad is she?’

‘This is not good.’ said Singe when she lifted her charms away from the child ‘When she took a full impact from the hammer, it also infected her with corrupted magic. Nothing can fix this, but there might be a way.’

‘What is it?’ said Shining Armour when he was worried.

‘The bridge of the damned.’

They were surprised by what she was asking, with Invictus saying ‘The bridge of the damned.’

‘The realm of the dead, do you know it?’

‘Not this one.’ said Invictus whilst the others were surprised, for the way he spoke of it, he had been there before.

‘It is a land of unyielding cold. So cold in fact no flame could be set ablaze as frost demons roam those lands. Your axe would be useless there.’

Invictus realized what she was going to ask him, whilst he looked at his wrists and clenched his hands. ‘There is actually such a place?’ said Celestia when she was surprised to hear it.

‘Aye,’ said Caldor whilst he knew all too well about the realm of the dead ‘There are many paths that lead to the realm of the dead, but unfortunately most of them were sealed, except for one.’

‘Where?’ said Sunset Shimmer next.

‘Tartarus.’ said the Pillars at the same time, with Stygian saying ‘He’s talking about Tartarus.’

Many were shocked to hear where it were. ‘You know of it?’ said Luna when she was surprised.

‘We do.’ said Starswirl when he remembered all too well ‘We went to that bridge when…when Princess Luna was on her deathbed.’

Many were shocked to hear what happened. ‘What?’ replied Luna softly when she was surprised to hear the news, with Celestia was just as surprised.

‘You see Celestia and Luna. After we defeated the sirens, Luna was attacked by a sleeping parasite in her sleep. She fell in a coma and nearly died too. We had the ingredients, but we needed to retrieve her soul in order to do it. But her soul was so far deep, we had to go there ourselves.’

‘Aye, tis been a harrowing experience.’ said Rockhoof when he remembered that experience ‘We were able to retrieve her soul and saved her. But…it left us nearly traumatized by this.’

‘Then you’ll accompany me?’ said Invictus when he looked at the Pillars.

‘Of course,’ said Mage Meadowbrook whilst fixing up her saddle bag ‘But what do we need when we’re there.’

‘The gatekeeper to the bridge,’ said Singe when she instructed them ‘I need its heart.’

They were surprised by what she was asking, but when they heard and saw Flurry Heart crying of the pain when her conditioned worsened, they had no other choice. ‘Fine we’ll do it,’ said Cadance when she was desperate to save her daughter ‘But please hurry.’

‘Atreus.’ said Invictus to one of his sons ‘Bring me the swords.’

‘Yes father.’ said Atreus as he did what he was told.

Whilst Atreus quickly retrieved what he was asked to do, Singe didn’t like to speak to Sunset and the others. ‘So, you’re a goddess, huh?’ said human Rainbow Dash with her arms crossed.

‘I used to be.’ said Singe when she didn’t want to talk to them.

‘Okay, I don’t get it,’ said Sunset when she was puzzled ‘If you were a goddess from a long time ago, why did you try to take the Equestrian magic for yourself?’

She was silent for a few moments, then she stood against a table with a handful of potions ‘I was trying to restore what was taken from me.’

‘Oh, by manipulating Twilight into doing it, oh yeah, brilliant plan there.’ said human Applejack when she didn’t want to believe her.

‘Look, I’m sorry for what I did, but I was trying to restore what was taken from me so that I could fix my mistakes.’

‘That’s the biggest load of bull I ever heard,’ said Caldor when he knows better ‘Why fix the problems when you’re the one who caused it.’

‘Be silent Caldor.’

‘Or what, you’re mortal. You may know the old healing magic, but you’re not as powerful as you were anymore.’

‘Because my husband locked me away, stripped me of my power and banished me here, because I was trying to prove him wrong.’

‘Don’t you get if you fucking whore?!!’ shouted Caldor at her whilst he stood close to her.

They were shocked by what Caldor called her, with Rainbow Knight saying ‘Whoa.’

‘The humans and ponies of this world were innocent and beautiful,’ said Caldor when he reminded her of what she had done ‘But you, you couldn’t stand that your husband had loved and cared about them, more than he loved and cared about you. So you crossed the line and committed atrocities that were forbidden since we came to be, you even turned your son into something he never wanted in his life in the first place.’

‘You better watch your mouth Caldor.’ said Singe when she tried to threaten him.

‘Galahad had seen, just how evil you were. The moment you plunged the world in darkness, you forced the unicorns of old to sacrifice their magic to create a light, that would eventually snuff out the humans into extinction, so he did what he could to save them both. He saw that you were like a cancer. And that the only way to cure it, was to cut out the disease, and that’s why he banished and stripped of both your power and godhood. But by then it was too late. And guess what, it’s too late for you now.’

Singe didn’t say a word, only that she returned to helping Flurry Heart, with the others surprised by what she had done in the past.

But at the same time, sitting outside a few feet away from the house, Thunder kept a watchful eye over the terrain and the woods, trying to find any enemies coming towards them. However, he wasn’t alone, for standing a few paces away from him, stood Tempest. For some reason she looked nervous. She slowly walked over and sat right next to him. She felt nervous, with him not noticing.

‘So um,’ said Tempest whilst she tried to remain positive ‘How did you lose your horn and have the scar over your eye?’

‘Manticor and Hydra,’ replied Thunder as he looked at her slightly ‘You?’

‘Ursa Minor.’ said Tempest nervously ‘I was trying to help a friend.’

The two of them kept sitting closely, but didn’t say anything. ‘My name is Tempest,’ said Tempest when she introduced herself ‘But my real name is Fizzlepop Berrytwist.’

‘Why didn’t you keep your name?’

‘I…well…’ she said when she didn’t want to think of what she nearly did.

‘Let me guess, you worked for an evil dictator, he lied to you, you were forgiven and you tried to redeem yourself.’

Tempest was surprised by what he said as she looked at him. ‘Um…’

‘And you do that by being cold and cruel to others who try to be your friend?’ said Thunder whilst he looked at her with a cocked eyebrow.

Tempest ended up looking away, whilst he felt ashamed by what she did. ‘I…I just didn’t know…’

‘I know,’ said Thunder whilst looking at the sky ‘I felt the same way after I lost my horn. I felt lost and would’ve lost myself in despair, but I chose to move on, even if my horn was broken, I use it to fight monsters rather than trying to be reconstructive about it.’

‘But,’ said Tempest when she looked at him ‘Didn’t you try to find a way to fix your horn?’

‘My father once told me that if I was nothing without the horn, then I shouldn’t have it. I carried that burden with me, but like I said, I chose my path and I chose to help others, no matter what they thought. I chose to help my brothers and my father. What do you choose?’

Tempest didn’t know how to answer that question, for he did have a point. Somepony like her felt like an outcast because of the loss of her horn, but she didn’t know what to do with her life. But if somepony like Thunder could find a way to move on and help others because of a loss, then she could do the same too. Just when she wanted to say something, she saw a part of the sky had turned red over their location.

‘Is that normal?’ she said when she was concerned about the state of the weather.

‘That’s not good.’ said Thunder as he grabbed her hoof, surprising her in the process as he pulled her ‘Come on let’s go.’

They quickly ran back to the house where Twilight and the others were, with them standing by the door, with Tempest saying ‘Twilight, we’ve got trouble.’

All of them ran outside and saw the sky had turned red, but at the same time, creatures began to burst out of the ground, some made of wood, some made of ice, as all of them looked like humanoid goblins bearing swords, many were surprised by what they had seen. ‘Oh boy, this is bad.’ said human Twilight when she realized that they were cornered.
However, unknown to them, Invictus stood at the back of Singe’s house, with Atreus arriving with the large cloth. ‘Father, I’ve brought them.’

‘Good, go help Twilight and the others, I’ll be there shortly.’

As Atreus left, Invictus walked over a large hill to be left alone, however, he slowly grunted when he felt this kind of rage before. The moment he looked up he stopped, seeing a ghost, who appears to be a woman, wearing a type of robe and her hair folded, whilst she looked at Invictus. He only grunted and said ‘Aya,’ whilst he looked up again in anger ‘Get out of my head.’, which is what she did as she vanished into thin air.

He was able to find a good spot to place the large cloth on the ground. However, he slowly looked at both his wrists, whilst they were covered with what appeared to be bandages. He grasped both of his hands and ignored what he was seeing. Slowly but surely, he opened the cloth, revealing two swords. On the left was a sword, bearing a scabbard that had demon wings on it. On the right was a twin sword identical to the other, but its scabbard was different, as it had partial angel wings, both of them that have chains connected to them. He slowly stroked against them, as if it had been ages since he used them. He looked at his wrists again and ignored what he was thinking about. He took the chains and began to wrap them around his wrists. However, the woman of whom he called Aya, appeared a few inches away from him as she looked at him.

‘There’s nowhere you can hide, Phalanxian,’ said Aya whilst she appeared to be taunting him ‘Put as much distance as much as you like, it changes nothing. Become and pretend everything you are not. Teacher. Husband. Father. Friend.’. Invictus paused for a moment, but continued to wrap the chains around his wrists. ‘But there is one unavoidable truth you will never escape from; you cannot change.’. Eventually, he was done wrapping the chains around his wrists, whilst grabbing his sword as she said ‘You will always be…a monster.’

He lifted both his swords up as he firmly grasped them. The sword to his left, the one with the demon wings, began to glow red as it was set aflame with black fire. Whilst the other one with the angel wings, glowed blue as it was set aflame with white fire. ‘I know,’ he replied, but also began to stand up at the same time, but also got angry as he slowly looked at her ‘But I am your monster no longer.’

He walked towards her with the swords still aflame. But the moment he did that, she evaporated, as if she had never existed, whilst walking back to The ponies and their counterparts.

At the same time, there were over at least fifty of them surrounding them, even after they’ve dealt with a bunch, they couldn’t keep it up for much longer. ‘How the heck are we supposed to beat them?!’ shouted Rainbow Dash when she nearly panicked.

They heard rustling bushes from behind. When they looked, they could see Invictus coming. ‘Invictus, we’re surrounded ‘shouted Twilight ‘We need a plan before…!!’

However, the moment he stepped into the light he revealed to be holding two swords whilst he looked at the enemy with a grin. But the Mane 7, even the Princesses were shocked to see the swords, for they saw them back at Canterlot High, with Celestia saying ‘He had the swords?’

Invictus then began to run towards the enemy. He jumped up high in the air whilst he raised his swords above his head. When all of a sudden, Rainbow Dash had a certain flashback from recently, remembering the scary being she saw earlier when she was trying to clear the clouds. With a mighty thrust, he thrusted the swords into the ground, evaporating the first ten creatures. However, Rainbow Dash pointed out in shock as she shouted ‘That’s the creature!! That’s the creature I saw yesterday!!!’

They looked at Rainbow Dash surprised, then back to Invictus, with the creatures surrounding him as he wielded the two swords whilst gripping on them tightly and focused on the enemy. They attacked full force, until Invictus swung them around as if they were rope darts, slicing and dicing them as the swords were aflame with full fierce might, until he slammed them on the ground, knocking them away as some of them were burnt alive. Invictus swung them around rapidly as the flames look like it turned into a shield, then combined them together, and with one massive swing, he incinerated all ten of them. He used his chain sword and grabbed the nearby, pulling it towards him and used his shield to bash it into pieces, whilst he grabbed another and tore it apart with his bare hands, shocking them when they saw just how strong he was, whilst they saw him grab another one, pinned it on the ground and stomped its head into pieces and tossed it away.

Until he heard a large roar. When he looked behind, he saw a large creature with boar tusks attack with its stone club, shocking the girls. The creature began to raise his club, until with all of his willpower, he gripped his hands, and yelled in the air with rage as his shoulder, his elbows, wrists and hands were set aflame whilst his body was partially red. When the creature swung his club, Invictus punched it, causing it to shatter to pieces. When the creature was disoriented, he concentrated his power through his swords, igniting them brighter. And with a great swing from the swords, he sliced the creature in half, splitting it in two as it collapsed. When the way was clear, he stood straight as he breathed, whilst he placed his swords back on his back. He looked behind as the Mane 7, EG Mane 7, Sunburst, Spike, Tempest, EG Spike, Celestia, Luna, Shining Armour and Cadance when they saw his power.

‘Thunder,’ said Invictus when he looked at him ‘You and your brothers stay here with the ponies whilst the Pillars come with me to Tartarus. If Eros sent any more of his pack dogs, you know what to do.’

‘Yes father.’ said Thunder whilst he agreed.

‘Caldor, you’ll come with us too, we’ll need someone to help keep an eye out for us.’

‘Very well,’ said Caldor when he had no choice ‘Anything to help the Alicorn.

He joined with Invictus and stood next to him. Slowly, Invictus partially looked at the Pillars and said ‘You coming or what?’

‘Oh, right.’ said Starswirl when he snapped out of it, allowing himself and the Pillars to accompany them ‘I’ll teleport us there now.’

‘No wait,’ said Twilight when she tried to stop them to leave.

But it was too late, Starswirl had already transported them away, leaving their questions unanswered. ‘Oh great,’ said Rainbow Dash when she got annoyed ‘Now what do we do?’

‘The only thing we can do,’ said Knight whilst he sat down ‘We wait.’

So all of them stayed behind, and chose to wait, hoping that as soon as they get back, Invictus would explain himself.