Running through the castle halls, it was guaranteed that Overhaul, Fluttershy, and Silver would eventually run into some castle guards. Whenever they did, they all managed to incapacitate or kill them with ease. Every encounter they faced, Fluttershy’s movements shifted from clumsily holding the sword to having the skill of a thousand years of experience. She was awake and aware every time this happened, and Fluttershy knew that it probably had something to do with the sword Silver had given her, but it was the only way she had to protect herself.

Amidst her contemplation of whether or not to keep the sword, Fluttershy noticed the ballroom was just up ahead. according to silver, the ballroom would make for a shortcut to the throne room, which would be where they could find leads to where the princesses are now. But there was something odd about the Ballroom, even though the sun was shining outside, no light fell through the window. All they could see was darkness for as long as the hall went.

Suddenly the lights flashed on and the doors shut behind them, once they had realized that it was a trap it was too late. Or at least that’s what Fluttershy thought. The truth of this matter was that Silver had a score to settle with Princess Cadence, so he intentionally led them into this trap to face off against her one more time.

Hundreds of the most elite of the elite soldiers lined the walls of the room, circling around the group with their spears pointed towards them. Not only was this the largest number of soldiers Overhaul had encountered all at once, but they each had several years of extremely rigorous and confidential training making just one of them very threatening. Standing among these soldiers, Shining armor and Princess Cadence stared down Overhaul and his friends. When they had heard of Overhaul’s invasion, Shining Armor and Cadence both acquired lunar-steel armor; it was a rare lightweight armor that was incredibly hard and durable.

“If you surrender now, we will give you a swift and painless execution.” Shining Armor demanded

When Overhaul made eye contact with Cadence, his blood began to boil with hatred. Unlike previous times, this hate wasn’t his source of energy but rather akin to a lead weighing down his entire body. The more he hated them, the harder it became for him to breathe until he eventually collapsed to his knees.

“I will.. Not. Surrender!” Overhaul said in between labored breaths

“Very well.” Cadence said, “Kill them.”

All the soldiers began charging at Overhaul and his companions. But before the soldiers could get close, Silver wrapped both Fluttershy and Overhaul in his cloak before casting a spell.

“Junketsu no Kou”

A small dark purple orb barely larger than a coin appeared in Silver's hand. I began to glow and quickly transform into a tall cylinder shaped incense jar, and over the course of the next few seconds she heard the sound of armor falling on the ground. Smoke began to seep out from under the cloak. When Fluttershy noticed that she quickly held a piece of Silver’s cloak over her mouth like a makeshift mask.

Once the smoke had faded, Fluttershy now had a clear view of what had happened, the soldier had fallen asleep around them. The only ones not affected besides herself were Overhaul, Silver, along with Shining Armor and Cadence who had enabled a shield spell before the smoke could reach them.

Summoning another orb of darkness to replace the incense jar, it began glowing before it shot out what could only be described as several shining beams of destruction. Each one was aimed at all of the enemy soldiers. When it made contact, it left only a crater when the soldier had been, disfiguring the battlefield incredibly. One of the beams was aimed at Shining armor’s shield, nearly shattering it upon contact.

For the first time, Fluttershy saw what was under Silver’s cloak. A tall and muscular humanoid figure with grayish-silver hair and dark purple eyes. Silver also wore a blue long coat that matched his iron gauntlets and boots under his cloak. Even though she couldn’t see it, Fluttershy felt a demonic aura pouring out of him. It was clear to Fluttershy that Silver wasn’t a human like Overhaul, he only shared the general physical appearance of him.

“Fluttershy, take Overhaul and continue your search for Celestia and Luna.” Silver said, “I’ll deal with these two.”

Flutershy nodded as she helped Chisaki to his feet and led him through the room. Shining Armor tried to attack them with his sword, but Silver just parried it with his own. His sword was a short-sword with an exaggerated wavy blade. Even though Shining Armor didn’t see Silver’s blade even touch his armor, his armor was cut through like hot butter as a cut went into his chest.

Shining Armor quickly retreated back towards Cadence before deploying a shield spell while she began to heal him. By the time Shining Armor had recovered enough to continue fighting, Fluttershy and Overhaul had already made it out of the room.

“Shiny, this is not an opponent we should toy with.” Cadence said, “I only managed to survive my last encounter with him because he was toying with me. I doubt he’d make that same mistake.”

“Then I guess it is time for us to take out all the stops.” Shining Armor said, “It has been a while since we last had an opponent make us use this.”

Shining Armor lowered his shield for only a moment, allowing Cadence to attack Silver using both her rapier and Shining Armor’s sword in each hand. With both incredible speed and force, Cadence swung each blade at Silver who managed to block each attack with his sword. But with every strike, Cadence felt sharp cuts across her own body while silver stayed completely unharmed. She eventually retreated back into Shining Armor’s indestructible shield, where he applied a healing spell on her wounds.

While waiting for her wounds to heal, Cadence eyed Silver over, looking for any ways he could’ve deflected all her attacks. Silver stared back at Cadence from the other side of the shield with eyes that only showed violence and destruction.

“It is his sword.” Cadence answered

“What?” Shining Armor asked

“His sword faintly radiates magic,” Cadence replied, “I think he casted an enchantment to reflect all physical attacks, then added a cloaking spell to hide it. Open the shield up again, I think I can disarm him this time.”

The shield opened up again as Cadence and Silver went through the same dance as last time. Cadence swung at incredible speeds as Silver deflected every strike, but after a couple counters Cadence used both swords to deliver one heavy strike on Silver’s sword, knocking it out of his hand. She had a small sense of victory as she watched it fly to the other end of the room. But before she could enjoy it any further, Silver materialized a large scythe and swung it at her head.

Shining Armor saw this and managed to put a shield around her just in time to catch the scythe’s blade before it could penetrate Cadence's head further than skill level. “Where Did That Come From!?”

“This is getting out of hand.” Cadence said as she ran from the shield's contact point, “He is like a walking armory.”

Silver used immense strength and shattered the shield in an instant. Cadence and Shining Armor were far enough away to not get hit by the initial impact; but Silver stood there and looked at the pair ponies with dead eyes. Before he said something truly bizarre.

“I am truly envious, the love you two possess is so pure despite this world’s corruption.” Silver said, “It is truly a shame you have to die here.”

Before Silver had the chance to attack, Shining Armor took the opportunity to use his strongest shield spell to build a reinforced prison around Silver. Such a powerful spell greatly exhausted the captain, making him collapse to his knees right then and there.
A translucent bubble hovered off the ground; and inside Silver let go of his scythe with one hand and summoned on final orb. Its shape began to change into a large bell head up by a ribbon.With a single ring, the sound reverberated from what should've been a sound proof prison. After the second or third ring, the entire prison began fading and Silver descended to the ground as if he were a fallen angel.

Shining Armor and Cadence couldn’t do anything but watch in terror as Silver slowly approached them. Cadence tried to cast a teleportation spell to get away, but she couldn’t. Her mana reserves were still full enough to cast such a simple spell, but she couldn’t even move her magic powered prosthetics.

“I’ve sealed your magic.” Silver said, “I only need to get a small drop of blood drawn with this scythe and some time for you to completely shut off from your magic supply. Now may the world be purged from your filth.”

With speed that could be described only as divine, Silver took his slice and tore them in half.

“Don’t you find it ironic that a demon has to take the role of the angel of death… harmonia.”

Author's Note

I apologize for my extremely long delay. I had to deal with my dog giving birth, moving, and other matters that I can't list. all of which happened in the same month, so its not that I have forgot about all of you.

Sadly, due to life only getting more bizarre with each passing year, it is only a matter of time until I put down my pen permanently. But I promise that I will get this fanfiction and 'Midnight Arrow' completed before then.