The Shadow Wars: Rise of Nightwing

Chapters

Chapter 8
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
chapter 4
chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7

Chapter 8

The war was over, King Sombra was dead and the Crystal Empire was gone, literally. Sombra had placed a dark curse upon the city that if he was defeated then nopony could have the Empire.

Several years had passed since the fall of the Crystal Empire, after the battle, Void Streak had been treated like a hero, however as the years passed, the darkness within him continued to grow. Despite defeating Sombra, Void had still not been made an elemental master, this only made the dark side grow stronger.

Void Streak was currently sitting atop a large crevice inside of a massive cavern that was hidden from Princess Celestia. He looked over his secret army of Droid Soldiers. Flapping his wings he flew down towards another part of the caverns that held several large machines, which looked like a small ball with two massive hexagonal, sheets of metal on either side, These machines were, Advanced Pegasi Interceptors or API for short. They were airships that were powered by rockets boosters, making them incredibly fast, their unique design also made them agile. Their intended use was to hunt down pegasi and other flying creatures.

Along with the APIs, he had also invented a new weapon that could fire magic bolts, these were called blasters and were intended to strike down enemies at long distances as well as to overwhelm large groups of enemies. Currently, every Droid Soldier was holding a blaster.

Void knew that he now had enough power to overwhelm the royal guard and to take over Equestria; it was now just a waiting game for the right moment. He needed to wait for the perfect opportunity before he could make his move.

***

Princess Celestia was examining six coloured gems, she could sense a large amount of power being emitted from the unique gems. "I call them the Elements of Harmony." Star Swirl declared, showing off his newly built creations.

Celestia didn't know what to say when Star Swirl had told her that he had created a new weapon, the last thing she had expected was for Star Swirl to enter the throne room with a chest, full of gems. "They're... something." Celestia stammered.

Luna suddenly spoke up, "Star Swirl, when you said that you had built a super weapon, what I expected was a cannon not a bunch of jewellery."

"Don't let appearances deceive you, with a shadow lord, still at large, we need to keep the elements secret and the best way to do that is by making a weapon that doesn't look like a weapon. I assure you that these elements are no jewellery." Star Swirl explained.

Unbeknownst to the elementals, Void had secretly been eavesdropping from under a window, using the aura to hide his position. If these elements of harmony are as powerful as Star Swirl made them out to be, then they would need to be dealt with.

Suddenly the ground began to shake, quickly diving into the air and making sure to steer clear of any building, Void looked around, to see what was causing all the ruckus, when to his confusion he felt something hit his head. Looking upwards, his jaw dropped as instead of seeing white, fluffy clouds; he could see several large, pink clouds that appeared to be raining chocolate. "What in the hay," Void muttered to himself, then the sound of chaotic laughing filled his ears.

Turning around he suddenly found himself staring into the weirdest creature he had ever laid eyes on. The creature appeared to be part everything. Void quickly powered up his magiscaber, however instead of feeling even remotely bothered by the magical weapon, the creature merely raised his eyebrow before smiling mischievously and clicking his golden talon, suddenly to Void's horror, his powerful magiscaber had been turned into a candy cane.

Void then pulled out his red magiscaber, however, the creature merely wagged his talon before turning his weapon into a balloon. Now beginning to lose his temper, void was about to use aura lightning against the creature when Celestia joined them.

Staring the creature down with the almighty fire of a god, Celestia boomed, "Who are you?"

"Oh yes where are my manners, I am Discord, God of chaos," Discord greeted and grabbing Celestia's hoof before shaking it madly.

"Well Discord, my name is Princess Celestia and I need you to change everything back to normal," Celestia demanded, flaring her wings in a form of intimidation.

Discord gave her an overdramatic bow before clutching his white beard in mock thinking before saying, "Hmmm, let me think... No not going to happen."

"Why not," Luna asked, glaring at the odd creature.

"Where's the fun in normal!" he shouted before waving his arms around, making several buildings being ripped from their foundations before being floated upside down.

Star Swirl then said, "I think we have just found the perfect test subject for the elements."

Stomping her hoof, Celestia then boomed, "This is your final chance, Discord, change everything back to normal or face the consequences."

Discord laughed, "I'm unstoppable, Chaos reigns today."

Gritting her teeth, Celestia pulled the elements out of the chest, she positioned the gem that was in the shape of a purple star, while the other gems started flying around her. Discord was unconcerned, "Oh, I'm sooo scared," he sneered sarcastically.

However, he stopped talking as Celestia suddenly began to float her eyes, now a pearly white. Everypony could feel the immense power radiating from the elements as Celestia's mane billowed in the wind. She then fired her horn towards the purple star and everypony watched in awe as a massive Rainbow laser suddenly blasted towards Discord, completely enveloping him, the last word that he spoke was, "NOOOOOOO!"

And then it was over, everything suddenly reverted back to normal with the only reminder being a large stone statue, that had a striking resemblance to the chaos god, himself.

***

Celestia had dropped the elements of harmony in shock, Void quickly siezed the opportunity and caught the elements. Luna then said, "Okay, I take everything back that I said."

Celestia stared at Void, who had his back facing her, he was staring down at the elements in a trance. "Void, could you hand those over?" Star Swirl asked, holding out his hoof expectantly.

"No."

"I'm sorry?" Star Swirl asked not believing, what he had just said.

"No, I think I'll keep hold of these," Void said before turning around causing everypony to gasp.

Celestia could only mutter in denial, staring in horror at her student's gleaming, red eyes "No, this can't be."

Star Swirl hardened, "I should've known, you're the shadow lord."

Now smirking, he leapt into the sky before rushing towards his secret caverns, he then announced to his army, "Execute Order sixty-six!"

Suddenly the Droid Soldiers began to power into action, Void then began to lead the Droid Soldiers towards the city, he then commanded, "Fire at will."

The droids then used their blasters to fire into the crowds of stunned onlookers, hitting them indiscriminately. Void continued to march towards Canterlot fort, however before he could reach the fort, Celestia blocked his way. "Void, snap out of it!" she pleaded.

"That is not my name. I am Nightwing, your new Emperor!" Void shouted.

He then revealed his red magiscaber and lunged towards Celestia. Celestia quickly pulled out her magiscaber and clashed blades with Nightwing. Celestia who had hardly practiced with her magiscaber was easily overpowered. She instead used her horn to blast him away.

The strike had sent Nightwing flying, Celestia knew that she was in no fit state to fight her former student, so she decided to flee into the fort, in hopes of getting help. Suddenly the sound of loud mechanical screaming filled the air as several APIs flew overhead and began to open fire onto the fort.

Falling to the ground from the strikes, she suddenly spotted Defender who ran up to her, "What's going on?" he asked her frantically.

"We're under attack! Void has fallen to the dark side."

Defender's eyes grew wide, "No! That can't be true." Defender refused to believe but he knew, from the look in Celestia's eyes that Void had truly fallen.

Revealing his own blue magiscaber, he exited the fort to confront his former friend.

***

The two former friends started circling each other, "How could you!" Defender Shouted.

"I am merely taking, what I deserve," Nightwing told him.

"Look around you, this isn't you," he exclaimed in an attempt to get through to Void Streak.

"You are sorely mistaken,"

"You have allowed the dark side to corrupt you."

"I do not fear the dark side like you do. I have brought peace and freedom to my new empire. Join me and together we can rule over this land!"

"JOIN YOU! My allegiance is to Equestria, TO HARMONY!" Defender Screamed, not believing, how delusional Void had become.

"If you are not with me then you are my enemy."

Suddenly Nightwing lunged towards Defender, who instantly went on the defensive, both pegasi fighting so fast that appeared like a blur. Nightwing attempted to exploit every weakness that Defender showed, however, his skills were far more honed in than Celestia's and was proving to be no pushover. He was successfully blocking every strike that Nightwing had made.

Changing tactics, Nightwing then used the aura to begin strangling him. Choking, Defender looked around for anything that he could use, spotting a pile of rubble, he reached out with his hoof and used the aura to pick the rubble up before slamming it into Nightwing, the force of the rubble made him release Defender.

Taking the chance, Defender jumped up and swung down with his magiscaber, slicing him across his face. Nightwing released a howl of pain, the sight wasn't pretty, he had a massive cut that ran across his face and his right eye was missing. Staring at Defender with rage and hatred, he knew that he couldn't continue the fight. Reluctantly, he called for a retreat.

***

Nightwing was back in the secret caverns along with his army, they had hardly taken any losses, however, it was a different story for the Equestrians who had practically faced a massacre. He was pleased to see that all of his inventions had worked.

However his mission had failed, he had been unsuccessful in taking Canterlot, he knew that from here on out his new Imperial Empire would be locked in a bloody conflict against Equestria. He needed to plan and strategize.

He stared down at his forces, the dawn of a new empire...

Author's Note

Sequel coming soon

Chapter 1

Princess Celestia and her army of Royal Guards were sat atop a mountain that was overlooking what resembled a prison camp. From her vantage point, she could see lines of innocent ponies chained up and shivering in the freezing snow, she could see that they were being forced to mine inside of a large pit with pickaxes and chisels.

She had discovered the slave camp a week ago when she sensed a shift in the aura, upon investigating she found that the shift was strongest in the camp, making Celestia believe that there was an aura-sensitive creature confined within the camp.

Currently, Equestria was embroiled in a war against the Crystal Empire, which was ruled over by the tyrannical King Sombra. After Celestia found out about the way Sombra treated his subjects, she knew that she could not let him continue with his reign of terror.

Celestia knew that if the aura-sensitive creature was discovered then Sombra would have them killed. The aura was a mysterious force that enabled certain creatures to manipulate objects around them as well as to see into the immediate future.

Princess Celestia suspected that King Sombra was using the aura to carry out his twisted experiments.

Celestia looked around at her brave soldiers before turning and using her horn to mark the watch towers as targets. She then pulled out a horn and blew into it. As soon as she did this, her soldiers instantly began to charge at the prison camp, while Wonderbolt pegasi, dressed in the Wonderbolt combat gear flew overhead and dropped bombs on the watch towers, causing them to explode and tumble into a fiery pile.

Instantly the sound of an alarm could be heard as her soldiers began to enter the camp. Her soldiers locked into combat with the enemy as swords clashed, the Wonderbolts dived into the fray, using their wing blades to slash at the enemy's throats.

Sombra’s forces realised that they were greatly outnumbered and began to massacre the enslaved ponies instead. Celestia teleported in front of the prisoners, who were cowering in fear unable to run away because of the chains. She managed to magic up a forcefield protecting them.

She realised that the feeling of the aura disturbance was stronger. She looked around to find a small pegasus colt curled up in a ball. She knew that the aura disturbance was coming from him.

This moment of realisation caused her to momentarily lose concentration as her force field flickered out of life. The crystal soldiers took the chance and pounced rushing to the chained captives.

Celestia began firing bolts at the attackers, some struck their mark while other missed. Some Crystal Guards has slipped pass and began to cut the prisoners down, just as the pegasus colt was about to have a knife stuck into him, the pegasus reared up onto his hind legs and struck his wings and hooves out, causing a strong gust of wind to throw the attackers away, the wind was so strong that it nearly swept Celestia of her hooves.

Everypony looked on in amazement as the Crystal Soldiers lay unconscious, it was at this moment that Celestia realised that the pegasus colt was incredibly powerful.

***

Celestia ordered, “I want those soldiers tied up and sent to the POW camps for questioning! And get these civilians sent to a hospital.”

She then walked over to the colt, who stared dumbfounded at the knocked-out guards. Kneeling down to his eye level he jumped as his golden eyes came into contact with her own pink eyes.

The colt was a small, blue pegasus with a blue mane that had a white stripe running partially through it. He looked exhausted with bags under his eyes, he also had bruises sporting his body, he had clearly seen better days. She asked the colt, “Hello there, what is your name?”

The colt replied timidly “Void Streak.”

“Where are your parents?”

Instead of answering, Void looked to the floor and sniffled, “They killed my father, because he tried to stop them from taking me and my mummy. My mummy couldn't handle the work so she - so she hung herself.”

Celestia could tell that the colt was traumatised from the ordeal but she needed to find out information about him.

“How old are you?”

“Ten.”

“How long have you been here?”

“Since I was seven.” he then closed his eyes in thought before adding, “So around three years.”

“What did they make you do?”

“They forced us to mine crystal and gems and if we didn't mine enough then they would tie us up and leave us outside in the freezing cold for the night, and if we were too slow then they would whip us and beat us. They did this to me several times.” he explained showing several long scars that lined his back and flanks.

Celestia had to contain her anger as she was forced to question how somepony could be so evil to harm an innocent foal.

“Have you ever done what you did to the guards before?”

Void peered down in thought before replying uncertainly “Not that but I have moved things without touching them and I sometimes have Deja Vu.”

Celestia nodded before saying, “Do you know who the League of the Elementals are?”

Void Streak nodded with enthusiasm before replying “Of course I have, the league of elementals are a group of ponies that can use the aura.”

“You are correct, I believe that you can use the aura, so to confirm this I want to take you to the league,” she explained.

A look of greed overtook his face as he flapped his wings in excitement, “Really, you think I could become an elemental?”

Celestia merely said, “Maybe, we’ll see.”

She then took Void Streak over to an airship that had just arrived and took him to the medical bay, where the nurses started to treat him for exhaustion, malnutrition and frostbite in the tips of his wings.

Celestia was unsure about the colt as she could feel the strong aura being emitted from him, she could also feel the presence of darkness pouring from his soul.

***

When they arrived at Canterlot Fort, which was the headquarters of the League of Elementals, they were greeted by none other than Princess Luna, Celestia’s younger sister.

“Sister, I see that you found the aura-sensitive pony.” Luna greeted, giving Celestia a hug, making Void feel slightly uncomfortable.

“Yes Sister, this is Void Streak, he was enslaved by Sombra’s forces, he has no family, so I am hoping that the Elemental Masters will allow him to become an Elemental himself,” Celestia explained.

Luna winced, reminding her sister, “You know the rules. Elementals are only trained at birth.”

“I am aware but I am hoping that because of his situation that they may let it slide.”

Luna merely nodded before leading them into a large chamber, in which several ponies along with a green dragon and a griffon were all sat on miniature thrones.

“Celestia, what brings you here?” asked Star Swirl the Bearded. Star Swirl the bearded was the leader of the league as well as both Celestia’s and Luna’s mentor.

“Star Swirl, I come before you to request to teach this colt the ways of the Elementals. I believe that he is very powerful and he could potentially be the chosen one to defeat King Sombra.”

The Griffon suddenly spoken up and replied before Star Swirl could, “The Elemental code of conduct states that all league members must be trained from birth.”

The green dragon however interjected “Hold on Cerberus, I can sense a very great power coming from young Void Streak. It would not be wise to leave him alone with such an untrained power.”

Star Swirl agreed by saying, “I must agree with Blaze on this one. As grand inquisitor of the League of Elementals, I hereby decree that Void Streak shall become the protege of Princess Celestia and therefore receive full Elemental training as well as the teachings of the code of conduct.”

Cerberus merely scoffed calling it a clear violation of the code of conduct, however, everycreature ignored him.

Celestia then took him to the castle of the two sisters where it will become his new home.

Chapter 2

6 years later

Void Streak was now a teenager and an excellent wielder of the aura. Princess Celestia had trained him on the various arts of the aura, although one thing she noticed was that he seemed to excel at combat.

Celestia had taken him on various missions to help combat the Crystal Empire. This included missions of sabotage and defending various towns and cities from invasion.

Void's main problem was keeping his emotions in check. If an aura wielder keeps his anger and hate built up then they are easier to succumb to corruption.

Celestia and Void Streak, both walked to the training hall, where he had all of his elemental lessons.

“What is that we will be doing today, Princess?” he asked, although he tried to hide it, Celestia could still sense the feeling of frustration being emitted from him.

“What is the matter, young Void? I can sense that you are feeling frustrated.” Celestia asked, in an attempt to figure out what was bothering her student.

Void merely ruffled his wings in annoyance, “It's the same lessons over and over again, I feel that I am ready to become a full Elemental.”

“While you may think that you are ready, in reality, you are not. Thinking that you are ready can lead to arrogance, arrogance can lead to corruption.” Void sighed in annoyance, he had heard the same lecture every day and it was starting to annoy him.

Celestia sensing his irritation, added “Besides today we are going to do something a little bit different. Your main problem is letting your emotions get the better of you. There is an easy trick to solving this and it is through the method of meditation.”

“Meditation! How will meditation solve anything?” he asked angrily, he was unhappy about the fact that he was seeing no action. Whenever they went on missions, he was always given a supporting role, such as delivering messages or building defences.

He felt that Celestia and the League were deliberately holding him back from reaching his full potential

“Meditations will both clear your mind and in turn will make you calm,” Celestia said. She then dimmed the lights before sitting cross-legged, she then instructed Void Stream to do the same, he reluctantly complied.

Celestia then told him, “Now close your eyes and clear your mind and concentrate on your breathing. Breathe in through the nose and hold for three seconds then release through the mouth.”

Void followed her instructions and to his surprise did feel that he was becoming less angrier. Celestia then explained, “Meditation can also help you become one with the aura.”

Void Streak nodded before reluctantly agreeing, “It does feel like a weight has been lifted off my shoulders.”

Celestia nodded, “Good then that means it is working. You should do this every so often or when you are feeling emotional, typically when you are feeling angry.”

Suddenly Princess Luna rushed into the room clutching a piece of parchment, “Celestia, we are getting reports of a large gathering of Crystal Troops amassing near the City of Stalliongrad.”

Stalliongrad is a large industrial city that is vital for the war effort. Under no cost was the city to fall to Sombra’s hooves lest the entire frontlines could collapse.

Celestia read the parchment that Luna was holding before turning to Void, “We have a new mission, we are to head to Stalliongrad and defend the city, I hope you've practised your combat skills because I fear that you are going to need them.” Celestia explained with a grim face.

Void smiled, “Yes finally some real action.”

“Let's not get too carried away, my protege, remember Elementals don't go looking for fights, the role of the elementals is to protect the creatures from the dark forces,” Celestia explained, however, Void merely rolled his eyes. This slightly concerned Celestia as she feared that Void was beginning to grow power hungry.

Void Streak and Celestia rushed to the airship that would take them to Stalliongrad. When they arrived on board Celestia ordered Void, “Go check on the ship’s cannons and defences while I go speak with the ship’s captain and find out more information on the situation.”

Void Streak nodded and walked around the sides of the ship, inspecting each cannon, making sure that the barrels were clear of any dust or dirt that could cause a blockage, he also made sure that there was a cannonball in each cannon so that they could fire back straight in the event of an attack.

He then entered the bowels of the ship and smiled as he saw his creation was in perfect condition. When he wasn’t training, Void Streak would think of different ideas as well as invent various different machines that could help with the war effort.

The machine that he was looking at now was a reactor that would power up a force field for long periods of time. Before his invention, unicorns would suffer from magic exhaustion due to holding up shields for a long time, slowly weakening them. As a way to combat this issue, Void used his expertise to create his Shield Reactor.

The machine looked like a sphere surrounded by hexagonal tiles, these tiles would surround a magical crystal that would create the force field itself, while the tiles would emit the shield to encompass the building or ship that it was protecting. For it to work however it would need to be kept in the centre of the building and the dimensions of the thing that it was protecting would need to be properly coded into the Reactor.

Void made sure that the reactor was running smoothly by checking for damage on the tiles and also checking to see if the dimensions had been properly programmed into the machine. Nodding, he was happy to say that his reactor had passed the inspection with flying colours.

***

Meanwhile on the ship’s bridge Celestia asked, “What is the situation in Stalliongrad?”

The captain gave her a grim look, “From what the mayor has told me, the city is surrounded by Sombra’s forces with King Sombra leading the attack, himself.”

Celestia silently cursed, “Do we have enough troops to combat them?”

“We have enough troops to hold them of but we will still be greatly outnumbered.” He informed her.

Looking at a map, Celestia began to strategize, “Captain when we start flying over the troops, I will need you to start dropping bombs onto them, hopefully, that will create a corridor for supplies to get through. You deal with his troops and I will deal with King Sombra myself.”

The Captain nodded before saluting. Void Streak entered the bridge and asked, “What is the plan?”

Celestia began to explain, “Right now the city is currently under siege from King Sombra, himself. I have ordered the Captain to bomb the troops surrounding the city so as a way to both weaken them and to break out of the siege. Our job is to fight Sombra himself, I will need your help to combat him but first I must ask, are you ready to fight him?”

Void nodded, “Yes Princess.”

“Good, now go and get some rest while you can,” she told him. He then walked off to find a cabin for him to stay in. While most ponies would be terrified at the prospect of facing Sombra, he was excited and fully believed that he could take him down.

***

Emerging from the clouds, they could see that the city was surrounded on all sides by the Crystal Army, the city was currently being bombarded by Crystal artillery.

Using the aura both Void Streak and Princess Celestia could sense the general direction of King Sombra himself. Indeed, looking in that direction, Void could see the tyrant himself, his hoof pointing towards the sieged city, the artillery rained down another deadly barrage.

The rain from hell was burning innocent ponies homes causing a foul stench of burnt flesh to fill the air.

Disgusted, Void was about to leap over the side of the ship to rush Sombra, however, Celestia stopped him by placing a hoof onto his shoulder saying, “Patience Void, we do not want to rush him like a band of headless chickens.”

Void listened and stopped himself from launching his attack, while the ship’s Captain immediately shouted out orders, “Everypony, to your battle stations, prepare the bomb bays and fire at my command!”

The ship's crew moved swiftly and hurried of to their various posts while the captain peered through a scope that could see below the ship.

The captain waited until the ship began to fly over the invading armies before shouting, “FIRE!”

He heard a voice shout back “Bombs Away!” as the whistling sound of large explosives began to fall to the ground and hit their mark causing a loud BOOM!

Below, the soldiers quickly dived for cover, however there was nothing to hide behind. The terrified screams of the doomed soldiers filled his ears causing him to smile.

The army was in disarray as the bombs caused them to go unorganized as it quickly became every pony for themselves.

Once the ship had passed the soldiers it began to descend into the heart of the city below.

Once they touched down, a ramp extended and troops began to pour out onto the City Square.

***

Celestia walked over to one of the commanders of the army and told him, “Commander I need you to split your forces in half, one half is to help the citizens in evacuating, while the other half is to follow me and hold Sombra’s guards off while me and Void fight him directly.”

“Yes Your Majesty,” he said as he went to split his troops. One half of the guards went into the city suburbs to evacuate while the second half marched with Celestia and Void Streak to confront King Sombra himself.

As they got to the outskirts of the city, Void could see Sombra’s army formed up in one massive line making it appear as it there was a wall surrounding the city and not thousands of bloodthirsty soldiers.

Celestia shouted, “Lower your shields!”

While Sombra roared, “CHARGE!”

All of a sudden the wall of troops began closing in as Celestia’s army raised their shields and spears ready to impale the enemy clean through.

Celestia and Void Streak marched to Sombra in sync while Celestia began to power up her horn and Void was ready to propel a windrush spell towards him.

Suddenly, to both Celestia and Void Streak’s surprise, Sombra pulled out a small metal tube before pressing a small button that caused a purple laser to form out of it, making what appeared to be a laser sword.

Sombra smiled sinisterly as both Void and Celestia stared at the contraption with apprehension. Sombra then exclaimed, “Do you like my new invention?”

Sombra didn't wait for an answer as he began to explain, “It is a powerful sword that is created with magic. I call it a magiscaber.”

Celestia sneered, “If you think this sword will help you then you are poorly mistaken.”

However, Void Streak looked at the magiscaber with interest and decided that he wanted it for himself.

Sombra poised for attack and Void readied his move. Sombra began his attack with lightning speed jabbing at Celestia, deciding that she was the biggest threat, a decision that he will later regret.

Celestia was forced to teleport away from him. Void analysed Sombra’s moves and could tell that the King was still getting used to his own invention. Fool, inventors are supposed to test their inventions before taking them out on the battlefield void thought.

He then watched with amazement as the magiscaber cut through Celestia’s shield as if it was butter.

Celestia sent a few magic bolts towards the tyrant, however, the crazed unicorn merely deflected them with his saber.

Void knew that while he had the magiscaber, he was untouchable. So sneaking off to the side of him, he then channels the aura through his hooves and pushed a windrush towards the unicorn causing him to go flying, however to his disappointment, the king had managed to keep hold of the saber.

The king then leapt towards the pegasus with ferocious speed, narrowly avoiding him.

This time it was Void, who was on the defensive, he could do nothing but keep on dodging the deadly blade, he kept on rolling to the side as he did this he could see that the magical sword was melting the snow.

Suddenly the deranged king was blasted by Celestia, sending him flying, Void taking the chance, picked up the half melted snow and used the aura to melt it into water, which he then boiled before throwing it at the evil king’s face causing him to scream in pain. Void then used the aura to pull the magisaber out of his grip.

The magiscaber felt warm in his hoof, he looked down at it with greed and couldn't wait to take it to his workshop and examine it further.

He pressed the small red button of the side of the metal hilt and the magical laser vanished. Sombra screamed “NO!” and attempted to use the aura to snatch the magiscaber back out of his hoof, however the magical bolt had weakened him.

With anger in his features, the king was forced to call for a retreat but not before telling Celestia, “I will be back, I will be back bigger and stronger for you may have won this battle but I shall win the war!”

His army then pulled back, Void was ready to chase after them but Celestia held him back saying, “Let him leave, we barely survived that round let alone won it.”

Void showed the princess, the magiscaber asking “Have you ever seen it before?”

“No, we will have to take it to the League when we get back but for now we should head back to the city and secure that device,” Celestia said.

“If it is alright with you, am I able to take this to my workshop and analyse it?” he asked, wanting to find out more about the mysterious sword.

Celestia reluctantly agreed but not before warning him, “Yes but be careful, we do not know anything about this device for all we could know it could have some form of protective enchantment.”

Void nodded saying “Yes Princess.”

“Good, make sure you tell me what you find, now let's head back to the city and help with the reconstruction efforts.” Celestia said as they began to head back towards Stalliongrad.

Chapter 3

Void Streak was sat in his workshop, where he was currently examining the magiscaber. The hilt felt warm in his hoof, he pressed the button to reveal the purple blade and swung it around, hearing a whooshing noise as it moved.

He tested the magical sword on several targets and was amazed as it sliced through them like metal. He then propped up several sheets of different materials and was giddy as each sheet stood no chance against the saber. He analyzed the holes that the magiscaber had made and noted that the holes were surrounded by scorch marks. The materials that he had used ranged from wood to steel.

He then shut off the blade and then held the hilt up to his ear and used the aura. With the aura he could sense that there was something that was both magical and powerful that was embedded into the hilt, he guessed that it was powering the magical blade.

Looking closer at the hilt he could see a thin line that ran around the circumference of the hilt, using his hooves he could feel that half of the handle could move. He suddenly twisted the tube and was delighted to feel that it had become loose. Pulling the loose section of the hilt, he revealed a hidden compartment that contained a crystal.

The crystal shimmered and glowed, engulfing the room in a purple glow. He took the crystal out and then tried to power the magiscaber up but this time the blade didn't reveal itself. This confirmed that the crystal was the source of the blade.

Her took the crystal over to another one of his inventions, this invention was a scanner that could reveal the properties of various items. He placed the crystal inside of the glass cube and pressed a button on the magiscreen that lay next to the device. Magiscreens are magical pieces of glass that can be used to show various images and string of images that are then transformed into videos.

He watched as a green laser moved side to side over the crystal and then looked over at the magiscreen. The results of the scan showed that the crystal contained amethyst and a compound called Kyber.

Kyber was a special type of element that some crystals contained. Kyber was both extremely rare and very valuable, this was because Kyber contained magical properties.

This made Void wonder if there were other things that could power a magiscaber, he walked over to a safe that was embedded into his his wall and punched in the code. Once it opened he placed the Kyber-amethyst crystal inside before pulling out a blue crystal.

This crystal contained both aquamarine and Kyber. He inserted the new crystal into the hilt and then pressed the button. This time instead of a purple blade this time it was a blue blade. He performed the same tests that he did with the purple blade and they produced similar results.

He could feel through the aura that the purple magiscaber contained both light side aura and dark side aura. Similar to magic there were two types of aura, the light side, which was selfless and spiritual whereas the dark side was more aggressive and contained hatred.

Void mainly practised the light side of the aura however unbeknownst to his mentor, he also secretly practised the dark side of the aura.

Unlike the purple magiscaber, this blade only contained light side aura. Suddenly his eyes flashed orange as a sinister thought came to his mind.

Taking his cloke he covered his head in the hood and exited the workshop, making sure to bring the magiscaber with him. He left the castle, using the dark side he managed to sneak past the guards undetected. It was risky using the dark side as it was easily detected by other aura-sensitive creatures.

He then flapped his wings and flew towards Skyport which contained the various airships. Arriving at the Skyport, he walked over to a rough-looking captain and dropped a sack full of bits. The rattling of the golden coins made the captain look up.

“I need a lift,” Void told the captain.

“Oh yeah, where too.” the captain mocked.

“Tartarus,” he said simply.

The captain however burst out laughing, “Yeah I'll take you to the one place that it surrounded by Guards.” he sneered sarcastically.

Suddenly to the Captain's horror, Void pulled out the blue magiscaber and held it against his throat. “I find your sarcasm, rude.” He expressed in a scarily quiet voice.

The captain then spied a Royal Guard coming to investigate, not wanting to attract further unwanted attention, he snapped, “Fine, but if I get arrested, I'll make sure that you are brought down with me.”

Void merely rolled his eyes before pushing past the angry captain.

***

Void was practising with the magiscaber when a letter suddenly appeared out of nowhere. He instantly recognised Princess Celestia’s hoof writing. Taking the letter, he merely skimmed over the letter before scoffing. “Celestia being nosy as usual,” he muttered to himself before crushing the letter into a paper ball and chucking it overboard.

He then wrote a hurried reply. Celestia had asked him where he was, but he decided to be vague and simply tell her that he was leaving Everfree Castle to investigate the magiscaber further. He knew that he was going to be in trouble when he came back from his trip.

Suddenly the airship entered a large swathe of dark, storm clouds, however weirdly enough there was no rain or thunder. The sky had seemed to turn to night as the clouds blocked out any sunlight.

They weren't in the mysterious clouds for long, however, as they were suddenly thrusted into clear skies again. The sky around them seemed to be dark and menacing, with its once natural blue now appearing as a menacing orange-brown. Void Knew that he had reached his destination…

As soon as the ship touched down, Royal Guards immediately swarmed the ship, Void, not wanting his whereabouts to be reported back to the princess snuck over the side of the ship, he knew that he wouldn't be able to sneak in and that he would have to confront a Royal Guard at some point but he would prefer that only the necessary ponies knew that he was here.

Tartarus was currently being used as a top-secret Prisoner Of War camp, for captured soldiers from the Crystal War. He also knew that what he was going to do, would get him expelled from the League. He snuck his way over to the small Guard post that guarded a side entrance to the massive prison.

As soon as he arrived, several spears were directed at him, rolling his eyes, her merely pushed them away and lowered his hood. The Guards instantly recognised him, “Master Void, what brings you here?” a guard asked, lowering his spear and bowing his head in respect.

“I am here on business, I need to interrogate a prisoner, a unicorn, to be specific,” he explained.

The guard peered at him with curiosity and mild suspicion, “Really, who?”

“Any unicorn.” he merely said.

“Does the Princess know about this?” the guard interrogated, his eyes beginning to narrow.

“What Princess Celestia doesn't know, won’t hurt her.” he said cryptically.

“I can't let you in without any proper authorisation from the Princess.” He exclaimed.

Void growled, and his eyes turned orange, peering deep into the guard's blue eyes. His eyes burned into his blue eyes, making them misty before he finally cleared his throat and exclaimed dreamily, “Sorry Master, right this way.”

As he began to walk like a mindless zombie, Void merely whispered, “Excellent.” he then followed the guard into a massive cavern, which contained hundreds of cages, inside each cage lay a frail and malnourished pony.

The guard led him towards a cage that contained a lonely unicorn, who was shivering, his grey coat matted with dirt and grime.

“This one is perfect, is there somewhere private for me to interrogate the prisoner?”

Instead of saying anything, the guard merely nodded his head, he then unlocked the cage and secured the prisoner’s hooves in cuffs before roughly pulling him out.

They then walked down a series of tunnels before being led into a much, smaller cave, with chains attached to the wall. The guard dragged the prisoner to the chains before locking him in place.

“Leave us but remain outside the room and make sure, nopony enters,” he commanded, and the guard, moved swiftly to follow his orders, still staring into space.

Void Streak then unsheathed his magiscaber and pressed the button, instantly covering the room in a blue shimmer.

“Do you know what this is?” Void asked the terrified unicorn, staring into the glowing, blue blade.

The Unicorn shook his head, instead pleading, “Please don't hurt me.”

“But you hurt me,” Void stated, still admiring his magiscaber.

“What do you mean?” the unicorn asked timidly.

Void suddenly, snapped his gaze towards the unicorn, he then pointed his hoof towards the condemned stallion and began to use the aura to strangle him. The Prisoner began to cough and splutter; attempting to claw at his throat but the chains kept his hooves secured.

“I was a slave to you and your kind. You treated me like filth and so you shall pay the price.” he thundered, he pulled his hoof down and released the POW of the aura choke.

He then walked towards the wheezing unicorn menacingly. He then raised the magiscaber above his head before swinging it around and slicing the unicorn's horn straight off his head. The unicorn released a blood-curdling scream.

However, Void simply ignored him and held the horn up to the light before removing the aquamarine crystal and replacing it with the horn. Pressing the button, he smiled as a blood-red blade shot from the hilt. Void could sense that this blade was more powerful and much more darker than the blue and purple blades. He then tested his new saber out by running the saber through the heart of the prisoner, instantly silencing the scream.

He then left the room, not before brutally decapitating the guard. He made his way through the caverns and found the same side entrance and exited the secure facility. He sighed with relief as he noticed that the airship was still there although it was beginning to set off.

Quickly flapping his wings he leapt into the air and flew towards the departing airship, quickly touching down on the deck.

The captain instantly noticed him and with a scowl on his face stormed over the pegasus. Void stood his ground as the captain, demanded “I hope you have payment for a return voyage.”

Void merely smiled sinisterly, “I am afraid that I request a refund.”

The captain gave him the look of a demon, “Excuse me!”

“Yes it would seem that ship’s crew has suddenly dropped dead.”

This only made the captain confused. All of a sudden with the speed of a cheetah, Void powered up the red magiscaber and used the aura to pull the unsuspecting crew members into the red blade. With the ferociosness of a lion, he began to strike down every deckhand that was in view, using the aura to pull them to their untimely demise.

The captain, his eyes bulged with fear ran below deck quickly followed by the few surviving crew mates. Void Streak followed, his eyes a blazing orange.

They fleeing ponies ran into a locked door, as Streak inched closer they banged on the door. One brave earth pony rushed towards the murderous pegasus, however, he merely used the aura to fling her into the air before swinging his magiscaber, cutting the unfortunate deckhand in half while falling. He then swung his saber around, beheading the five remaining crew members in a row.

The captain, remained, he fell onto his knees and begged for mercy, “Please, I am sorry, You can have the entire trip for free, please don't kill me.”

It was no use Void ignored him and raised his magisaber high before jabbing it through the captain’s head. Void was fully engulfed in the dark side.

***

Meanwhile back in Canterlot Fort the League was discussing the recent discovery of the magiscaber, when all of a sudden they each felt a major disturbance in the aura.

Celestia had a very bad feeling and could only watch as she realised that her fellow elementals all felt the same thing.

Blaze whispered, “Oh no, I fear a beast has awoken...”

chapter 4

Void Streak entered a cabin, where he found a mirror, looking into the mirror he could see that his once golden eyes were now scarlet. He knew that his secret would be discovered as soon as his eyes were seen. He then remembered an old aura ability, that could cloak somepony's appearance, channelling his inner strength, he looked into the mirror, to see his red eyes shift back into his normal golden colour.

Walking back onto the deck, he looked into the distance to find a royal army airship approaching at speed. He quickly thought of a cover story and hid his magiscaber. The Royal ship pulled alongside the ship, where a ramp was extended and crossed to the other ship. A Royal Guard crossed the ramp and was surprised to see Void Streak, "Master Void, what happened?"

"We were ambushed by pirates," Void told him, using the aura to embed the lie into his mind as a way of making the Guard think that he was telling the truth.

The guard merely nodded, Void then said, "I need passage back to Canterlot Fort."

"Of course Master Void." the guard replied gesturing with his hoof to enter the royal airship. Void passed him and ignored the curious glances that the ship's crew kept giving him. He found a private cabin, where he took the magiscaber out. Twisting the compartment open, he switched the cores with the amethyst kyber crystal, he didn't fancy the idea of Celestia finding out what he had done.

Sitting down at a desk, he opened his notebook and began to sketch several ideas down. Within his mind, a treasonous plan began to form. He knew that with the right inventions, he could easily overthrow his master. The first thing on his agenda was to create his own magiscaber, which he would do when he arrived back at his workshop, for now, he would sketch the design of the hilt, he intended for his core to be the unicorn horn.

***

Once they arrived back at Canterlot Fort, Void could sense a feeling of uneasiness in the air, he could see that there were a lot more guards than usual. As the boarding ramp was lowered, a red pegasus with a black mane that had a single red stripe running through it, ran up the ramp. "Void!" He shouted.

"Defender, what's going on?" he asked. Defender was another aura-sensitive pony. Defender and Void often trained with each other and have both grown up to become close friends. Similar to Void, Defender was currently Princess Luna's protege.

"There's been a security threat. We're being summoned to a meeting about it," he explained, following Void down the ramp towards the main building.

Void merely rolled his eyes before muttering "Great"

"What's the matter? You seem... tense" He said stopping to look at Void.

He flung his arms in the air while exclaiming, "I hate these silly meetings, they're incredibly boring."

"They're important though"

Void scoffed at this before mumbling, "Doesn't mean I like it."

Defender merely sighed before following him to the meeting chamber.

***

Upon entering the meeting room, Void was surprised to see that everypony was there, this only highlighted the importance of this meeting. As everycreature sat down, Grand Inquisitor, Star Swirl the Bearded stood up and cleared his throat before announcing, "I am afraid grave news has come to my attention. Last night, there was an escape attempt from Tartarus, A prisoner and a Royal Guardsmen, were both found dead and now just this morning, a royal airship received a distress call from a cargo airship. Upon further investigation, the Royal Guard found the entire crew dead along with young Void Streak, who claimed that the ship was ambushed by pirates."

He then glanced towards, Void Streak with suspicion, in his eyes and asked, "Can you tell us what happened, Void?"

Void nodded before standing up, he used the aura to place a mental blocker upon his own mind. He then began to explain, "Yes, Last night while was returning from investigating an artefact that we found during the battle of Stalliongrad, we were ambushed by a pirate ship, they managed to sneak onboard the ship and proceeded to attack most of the crew in their sleep. The remaining crew members stood no chance and were cutdown. I am ashamed to say that they managed to overwhelm me and escape before I could give chase."

Star Swirl then sighed before saying, "Void Streak, I believe that you are mistaken, I believe that you did not encounter pirates but you were ambushed by a shadow lord."

Void then asked, "Like King Sombra."

"No. King Sombra is not the only shadow lord out there. A long time ago, Shadow Lords used to be rampant across equis. For those who are not aware, shadow lords are aura-sensitive creatures that openly embrace the dark side. I believe that you fought against a different shadow lord"

This acknowledgement caused the everycreature to gasp in shock and fear. Mutterings could be heard around the room, everycreature assumed that King Sombra was the only shadow lord.

"As of yet, we do not know the identity of this shadow lord. For now, until we find out who this new shadow lord is, we should focus our efforts on fighting King Sombra. Void Streak, I believe that you have something to show me." Star Swirl said, holding his hoof out.

Void pulled the magiscaber out, giving it one last look before handing it over to the Grand Inquisitor. "King Sombra referred to the device as a magiscaber, it is a type of sword that uses magic as the blade, it is incredibly strong and can penetrate almost every type of material, including steel and metal. It is powered by a kyber crystal, which projects the blade," he explained, pointing to the red button, Star Swirl pressed it and was amazed to see the purple blade.

"Interesting, is it possible to make more of these magiscaber?" he asked, surprising many of the creatures inside of the room, many of whom believed that Star Swirl would never condone such deadly weapons.

Void, however, smiled and said, "Yes."

Suddenly Blaze spoke up and asked with a sceptical tone, "Are you sure this is a good idea, producing such a powerful weapon, that was created by a shadow lord no less?"

Star Swirl sighed before saying, "It is time that we fight fire with fire, besides, if the crystal army is using these weapons, then we would easily be overpowered." He then turned to Void and ordered, "Void, I need you to create multiple of these weapons, one for every elemental."

"There is a slight problem, we don't have enough kyber crystals to mass produce such a weapon." Void reluctantly told the Grand Inquisitor, who winced at hearing such bad news.

Cerberus then spoke up and told them, "I may know where we can get more kyber crystals."

This made Void's eyebrows rise in surprise, "Really where?"

"The Crystal Mountains, near Rainbow Falls." He informed them.

Luna then said, "I hate to burst your bubble, but the Crystal Mountains are under Sombra's control."

Cerberus replied, "I am well aware. This gives us an opportunity to strike at the Crystal Empire, we have been on the defensive for far too long, it is time we go on the attack."

Defender then spoke, "You are suggesting a major push deep into enemy territory. The losses we could face could be astronomical!"

"To reap the reward, you need to take risks," Cerberus said simply.

"We are talking about pony's lives, here." Defender exclaimed angrily.

"Their deaths will not be in vain, besides I am not suggesting a major push, I am suggesting an air attack. Send in pegasi to take the mountains and then once we have enough kyber crystal, we high tail it out of there."

Before Defender could retort, Star Swirl intervened and said, "While I do not like this plan, I am afraid that I have to agree with Cerberus on this. While the Crystal Mountains contain kyber crystals, Sombra could become even more powerful."

Growling, Defender reluctantly agreed. Star Swirl then ordered, "Celestia, prepare several airships for an air assault and Void Streak, get those magiscabers built. This meeting is adjourned." and with that he got up and left the chambers, leaving Defender to give Cerberus cold stares.

Void Streak then left the chambers to start construction on the new sabers, while Celestia attempted to hold down the sinking feeling, that the shadow lord was closer than they realised...

chapter 5

Void Streak decided to make two magiscabers for himself, one containing the unicorn horn and the second, containing the aquamarine kyber crystal. He used metal to make the hilt and made both hilts identical, the hilts would be larger so that they could be used with two hooves, making his strikes more accurate, the only problem with this was that he would have to learn to walk on his hindhooves. He also made his hilts light and more streamlined so that they would make his movements fast and agile.

Once his own two sabers were complete, he tested them both out and was pleased with the results. He then used his last remaining kyber crystals to make an additional two magiscabers, one for his master, which would use a citrine kyber crystal making the blade appear yellow, while the second magiscaber would be for Star Swirl, "which used a kyber sapphire crystal making his blade white. He made standard hilts as he didn't want to give them the edge over his own magiscabers.

Once the magiscabers were complete, he then looked at the clock and was pleased to see that he would have to time to finish of the project that he had started. He walked to the back of his workshop and pulled a white sheet of a table revealing some kind of robot, all he needed to do was program the robot into becoming a soldier. He used a magiscreen to program the robot into becoming a killing machine that was only loyal to him.

He called the robot a Droid Soldier and code-named it as DS-001. The droid would use its back legs to move around while it would use its front limbs to hold another one of his inventions called a blaster. The blaster was a hoof-held cannon that could fire magic bolts without needing a unicorn, It was to be used as a deadly weapon that could take down large groups of enemies.

After the programming was finished he switched the Droid Soldier on by using a small button that was placed on the back of the DS's neck. He watched as the eyes, which were located inside of a curved head, lit up. The eyes could be used as torches and had also been fitted with both thermal and night vision.

The DS stood up and stood to attention before its master and inventor. "I serve at your command, master." The droid spoke in a mechanical voice that was being emitted from a voice box fitted into the robot's head.

"Excellent, for now, you are not needed," Void said before switching the DS off again and throwing the white sheet over it. He had decided to keep his robot secret, he did not want the elementals to discover that he was creating a robot army.

***

Void Streak entered the Skyport, to find several airships already rearing to go, he flew over to the flagship that would lead the attack. He entered the Bridge to find Celestia and Defender, he walked over to the Sun Princess and said, "I made a magiscaber for you." He gave the scaber to Celestia, who took it with her magic, she examined it closely, pressing the button, revealing the yellow blade, she then took a few practice swings.

"Careful, where you point that thing," Void warned as Celestia narrowly missed the window. "Are we ready to set off then?" he asked, wanting to get the battle over with.

"Yes, we just need to take and then hold the mines, while we take the kyber crystals," Celestia explained.

Defender then told them, "If these crystals are important to Sombra then I'm expecting heavy resistance."

"Agreed, once we have taken the Kyber Crystals, we need to destroy the mines and ruin Sombra's chance of creating more of those weapons," Cerberus said as the ship began to rise.

***

When they had crossed the border into the Crystal Empire they had spotted several scout pegasi, their own pegasi, including Void attempted to give chase however they had managed to give them the slip by hiding in the mountains.

"Well, there goes our stealthy approach," Cerberus exclaimed in annoyance.

"Relax, they only know that we are in their territory, they don't know why or what our plan is." Defender told the old griffon.

"Still it would be wise if we hide in the clouds until we get far from this area. Captain, increase our altitude to ten thousand feet." Celestia ordered.

They then felt the ship begin to rise as the ship became more slanted. "That should hopefully cover our tracks. Just in case, we should increase patrols around the ships and remain on high alert, the last thing we need is to get shot out of the sky before we even get there." Void said.

Surprisingly the rest of the trip had been uneventful and no intercepting pegasi had been spotted, this made Void more uneasy as he would have thought that they'd have been spotted by now as keeping a large task force was not easy to hide, even among the clouds.

"We are approaching the target, Your Majesty." The ship's captain informed them, saluting in the process.

"Thank you, captain, lower our altitude we shall carry out a bombing run," Celestia commanded.

The captain nodded and quickly rushed off to carry out his orders, Celestia then turned to her protege, "Void, I need you to get the pegasi into position."

"Of course, Princess," Void said before heading towards the mess hall, where he knew that the pegasi would be finishing off their lunch.

Entering the mess hall, he clapped his hooves to gain their attention before announcing, "Attention Pegasi, we need to head down to the hatch."

Ignoring the 'yes sirs" that he received, he led them down to the hatches that they would be jumping out of, as they walked to their destination, they could hear the sounds of bombs whistling and explosions from below the ships towards the ground.

They entered the hatch room and began to prepare themselves for the eventual drop that would happen. Void told the pegasi in his charge, "Remember we head straight for the mines and take out any enemies that may be there and we establish a defensive position ready for drop team two, who will clear out the mine. We do not enter the mines."

Suddenly a loud buzzing sound filled their ears and a green light lit up the room. Before he could prepare himself, Void's heart lurched into his throat as the floor opened up causing the pegasi to drop. ignoring his instincts to flap his wings, he instead nosedived before spreading his wings once they were close to the ground, he then led his team towards the mines.

Regaining his bearings, he looked around to see several anti-air cannons firing at the fleet overhead. Void knew that before drop team two could launch, they would need to take out those cannons first. He shouted over to his fellow pegasi, "Windy, Typhoon, Hurricane and Rainy help me get rid of these AA cannons, the rest of you secure the entrance to the mines!"

The five pegasi broke away from the group before finding their targets, Void went for the one that was closest to him, which was hidden on a mountainside, and instantly took out the two brainwashed unicorns that were guarding it. He used his blue magiscaber to slice the Unicorn mare before using the aura to pin the other unicorn stallion to the mountain face and ran the blue blade through his heart and into the stone rock behind him. Then with one single swipe of his scaber, he took out the cannon.

Looking at the other cannons he could see his companions using explosives to destroy the cannons. He repeated the process with two other cannons before they were all destroyed. The pegasi then flew over to rendezvous with the rest of the team, who were having trouble taking the mines.

Arriving at the mines, Void immediately leapt into action, using his magiscabers to cut down any soldiers that dared to stand in their way. Void quickly realised that the soldiers they were taking out were being replaced by soldiers that were emerging from the mines themselves.

Void used the aura to blast wind into the tunnel, making it harder for the soldiers to reinforce their fallen. Once the enemies were pushed back into the tunnels, he then waved his hoof downwards to cause several rocks to crash down, effectively blocking the entrance.

After the last couple of troops were defeated, they got to work establishing defensive measures that included trenches and hidden traps. Several pegasi couldn't help but admire the glowing, blue sword that Void was holding. Seeing that the Mines were now secured and better defended, Void shot a flare into the sky indicating that it was safe for drop team two to land.

***

Defender led his own team of pegasi to the entrance of the mines and ignored all the crystal soldiers that lay dead aroundd the entrance. "How was it?" Defender asked glancing at the bodies that were strewn about.

"Not too difficult although be warned there are enemy forces hiding behind that blockage," Void explained nodding towards the blocked entrance.

Defender crossed his hooves while flapping his wings in annoyance, "Seriously, you couldn't have defeated them yourselves."

"Technically, they were inside of the mines, which means that they are your problem." Void said cheekily pointing towards the red pegasus.

Defender waved his hoof in mock anger before telling his forces, “Get ready.”

The pegasi all lined up in front of the collapsed mine and drew their wingblades. Instead of moving the boulders out of the way, Defender decided to aura push them inwards crushing several crystal troops in the process.

The pegasi then leapt into action, engaging the enemy with their wingblades and narrowly dodging their enemies swords. Defender would rush in with an attack before pulling back and using the aura to throw larger boulders at the chasing armies.

Eventually, the fight led into a large command centre, where several officers were held up.

Defender, who was using a sword locked with the general’s own sword. He narrowly dodged his strikes, deciding that instead of attacking first, he would let his foe tire himself out before moving in for the strike. He then grabbed the general's hoof before twisting around the earth pony, before slamming his head against a table creating a sickening crunch.

Once the soldiers were killed, Defender quickly drew his attention to the command centre, they were joined by Void Streak and his own forces. Void could see several drawings of maps and other sorts of wacky ideas, he decided to make a mental note of the sketches. Void quickly wrote a message detailing, how the battle had gone and how they had secured the mines.

Suddenly, Typhoon ran up to him and said, "Sir, we've spotted a large gathering of Crystal forces heading towards us."

Both Void Streak and Defender followed her out the entrance of the mines, where in the distance they could see a large black blur that looked foreign in the white, snowy mountains of the frozen north, Void instantly realized that they were looking at a large army that was making a B line straight for them...

Chapter 6

Both Void Streak and Defender followed her out the entrance of the mines, where in the distance they could see a large black blur that looked foreign in the white, snowy mountains of the frozen north, Void instantly realised that they were looking at a large army that was making a B line straight for them.

Defender ordered a pegasus soldier, "Go back up to the ship and get us reinforcements."

The pegasus quickly nodded before whisking off into the sky in the direction of the armada. Defender then said, "We're not going to be able to hold them off for long."

"I'm aware but we should be able to keep them off us until reinforcements arrive," Void told him.

"Yeah but that is a massive army that is heading for us and it could take hours for the kyber crystal to be extracted." Defender reminded him.

Void then began to examine his surroundings, where he saw a large cliff with several loos rocks located at the top. "I need you to come with me, I have a plan," he explained before flying off in the direction of the loose rocks.

Defender began to follow him, asking him, "What's the plan?"

Void Streak pointed at the loose rocks, "We need to use the aura to push those rocks down the cliff, It should block their way and buy us some time and maybe crush some of them in the process."

Defender nodded before flying over to the other side of the rocks, while Void stayed on the opposite side. Then simultaneously, they both stretched their hooves outwards in the direction of the rock pile, they both called on the aura to push them over the cliffside.

Even with the help of the aura, the rocks proved difficult, however as the enemy forces started to cross the bottom of the cliff; the rocks began to tumble, crushing several enemies and blocking the rest of the army.

Grinning the two pegasi leapt into the air and flew towards the mines. They had landed at the same time as the reinforcements. The pegasus battalion had been accompanied by several unicorns and earth ponies along with several large carts that were being pulled by multiple pegasi at once.

Captain Razor Wings saluted them before saying, “We have arrived to help defender against the enemy, we have also brought several scientists and transport ponies to help remove the crystals.”

“Excellent, I want those crystals extracted as soon as possible... He’s here,” Void said ominously.

Suddenly, they watched as the makeshift rock wall was blasted away, revealing King Sombra, himself. Void Streak couldn't tell if he had brought a magiscaber with him.

Defender started shouting out various commands, “Everypony to your positions, Scientists and transporters extract those crystals while we hold them off.”

A concerned unicorn asked with fear in her eyes, “You want us to remove the crystals during a battle.”

“It's either that or be captured or worse…” Void shouted angrily. He then turned to Defender and told him, "Stay here while I go and confront him."

Just as he was about to take off, Defender stamped onto his blue and white tail before saying, "You can't fight him alone!"

Void laughed, unconcerned, "Ha, I think you find I can, besides, I'm the only pony with a magiscaber."

He then used to aura to push Defender off his tail before zipping off towards the the evil king; Defender was left to fend off the crystal soldiers.

***

Void landed in front of the tyrant himself. King Sombra couldn't help but chuckle at the sight of a single pegasus attempting to stand up against him, "I find it hilarious that you think you can stop me, colt."

Void couldn't help but grin, "That's funny because I find it hilarious that you think that you are untouchable."

"You are delusional, your master isn't here to save you this time, pegasus." Sombra hissed spraying spit in his direction.

Void sneered, "I may not have my master but I do have this!"

Void pulled the magiscaber out, revealing the blue blade in the process, Sombra looked mildly surprised before unsheathing his saber, "Funny you mention that..." Sombra then pressed a button on his saber, unlike his first magiscaber, this one had two purple blades instead of one, "I gave my magiscaber some upgrades."

Void looked on at the double-bladed magiscaber with interest, before quickly spotting a weakness in the saber's design. "You underestimate my power."

Void then pounced before clashing magiscabers, the two blades sending sparks flying in the process. The sound of crackling and whooshing filled both duelling and Pony's ears. Void jumped as Sombra attempted to cut at his hooves with the other end of the saber. Void then jumped over the King before striking Sombra, however, he merely blocked it with the saber, before swinging the magical sword around causing Void to drop to the floor in an attempt to dodge it.

Void then jumped back, using the newly created distance to quickly analyse his enemy's movements and other potential weaknesses, he could see that the saber was too long and hard to manoeuvre with. The two blades, also, meant that getting up close and personal or trying to launch surprise attacks would prove difficult. He decided that until he could think of a way to exploit his primary weakness, he would start using hit-and-run attacks, striking at Sombra before pulling back.

After a couple of hit-and-run attacks, quickly revealed a flaw with the plan, Sombra was too good at blocking his strikes, which meant that he was doing nothing to damage his foe, and then a plan began to form in his head.

Getting closer to Sombra he started to launch jabs at him, making sure to jab from left to right, this forced Sombra to keep his saber in a mostly horizontal line to block his attacks, without warning Void twirled the magiscaber over his, bringing the blade down onto the now exposed hilt, slicing the magiscaber into two swords.

While his saber was still aimed at Sombra, he quickly jabbed towards his stomach, causing the tyrannical king to get pushed back. Unfortunately, the blow had made contact with his armour and while it penetrated the armour, it hadn't gone through enough and only scratched the skin below.

Sombra quickly recovered from the attack and went on the offensive, his anger clouding his judgement, he swung his blade towards Void's head, however, he ducked below the blade and moved so that he was now at the side of the dark unicorn before slicing at his flank, using the aura he had made the strike stronger so that it could penetrate deep into the armour and cause major damage.

Realising that he had lost, King Sombra called a retreat.

***

Defender meanwhile had been using the aura to chuck the crystal guards over the cliffside that the mine entrance stood on, he had also used the aura to help his fellow soldiers in battle and couldn't help but admire the magiscaber duel that was happening below.

As he used the aura to pick an enemy soldier up with the aura and slammed him into the wall, he heard Sombra give a shout and the Crystal Guards began pulling back. He quickly looked over the cliffside and watched with awe at Void standing triumphantly, watching the evil king flee with his tail between his legs.

Void then rejoined them and asked cockily, "What did I miss?"

Defender couldn't help but grin, "Oh you know the usual, just kicking a couple of crystal flanks." Defender's face went all seriousness, "You know going up against Sombra like that was incredibly stupid."

Void merely shrugged his shoulders, "What can I say, I'm a stupid pony."

Defender shook his head muttering, "Clearly."

One of the lead scientists emerged from the mines and informed them, "We have extracted fifty percent of our intended Kyber crystal."

"Good, keep on extracting the crystals while we report to the princess," Void said, indicating Defender to follow him back up to the ship.

***

Void entered the bridge, to find Celestia waiting for them anxiously, "What happened down there?"

Void began to explain to both Celestia and the Cerberus, what had happened during the battle, Void made sure to include that he had managed to single hoofely defeat King Sombra and how he had injured him, something which Celestia didn't take too kindly to, while Cerberus gave a hoorah.

"Going after King Sombra by yourself, was both unwise and downright foolish." Celestia chastised

However Cerberus was on Void's side, "Nonsense, he had a chance to weaken our enemy and he took it. I am impressed."

Void then added, "Besides, if I hadn't confronted him, he would've slaughtered us."

"You could've waited for backup."

"That would've taken too long."

"ANYWAY!" Cerberus shouted, interrupting the argument, "We have the perfect opportunity to take the fight to Sombra himself, we should attack Crystal City, while he is still weak."

Both Void and Defender nodded in agreeance, however, Celestia reminded him, "We'd have to wait for Star Swirl to approve it."

"Of course Celestia but we have to be fast, send the fleet closer to Crystal City while I send word to the elementals about the plan," Cerberus said, before walking off to his private quarters.

Celestia nodded before relaying the orders to the ship's captain, while Void could sense the dark side growing inside of him as each day passes, he knew that it would be time to enact on his plans soon...

Chapter 7

The Equestrian fleet was heading straight to Crystal City. As soon as Cerberus had gotten approval from Star Swirl, he ordered the fleet to begin making preparations to attack the heart of the Empire. While the ship was travelling, Celestia and Void were both on deck, where they were both practising their magiscaber movements.

While they both seemed to be natural when it came to contact-to-contact fighting, they seemed to be lacking when it came to deflecting magic strikes. Their main problem was actually hitting the magical bolts. After missing for the fiftieth time, Void aura pushed the unicorn, who had volunteered to be the magic launcher, in frustration and anger.

"VOID!" Celestia shouted, quickly rushing over to the fallen unicorn, "Are you okay?" she asked, her voice laced with concern. After the unicorn nodded, Celestia then turned to her protege, "You could've hurt her then. You must learn to control your anger."

Void rolled his eyes, "Yes, I know, you keep saying." Void grunted in annoyance.

"I'm being serious, Void. Anger can lead to the dark side, you must practice your meditation," Celestia told him.

Void gritted his teeth, "Yes master, I promise to do better."

"Good, now I may have figured out a way to solve our deflection problem. We can use the aura to predict when and where the magic bolts are being fired." Celestia explained, readying her golden magiscaber and getting into a defensive stance

Void copied her and both ponies, felt into the aura. Void then felt an urge to move his magiscaber to the left above his head. He gave in to his urges just as a magic bolt struck the blue blade, sending the magic bolt into the sky.

Both ponies started to use the aura to feel where the magic bolts were going to strike. Under the emerging night sky, the colours of the magiscabers and magic bolts created a dazzling light show. Once the final magic bolt had been fired and successfully deflected, Void couldn't help but let out a whoop of celebration.

"Excellent work, my student, you have really mastered these magiscabers, now however it is time to up the stakes." Celestia congratulated, as Void's vision was suddenly engulfed in total darkness. Void Streak instantly panicked and tried clawing at the blindfold that now blocked his sight.

"Do not panic, I have temporarily blindfolded you so that we can ensure that we can deflect those magic bolts," Celestia explained, calming the panicking pegasus down.

Void exclaimed angrily, "How do you expect me to deflect those magic bolts when I can't see the blasted things."

Celestia merely sighed before telling him, "Use the aura to feel your surroundings and to predict when the magic bolts are going to hit."

Void Streak nodded, before he felt Celestia turn him around, "It would help if you were facing the right direction"

Void used the same method as previous, however despite listening to the urges, he still kept on missing. He then resorted to simply dodging them; this only succeeded in him getting struck down by a magic bolt.

Void felt Celestia helping to his hooves, he then went to take the blindfold off but Celestia stopped him, saying "No, leave that on, it will help you tune your senses."

The unicorn then came running up to them, blabbering, "Master Void, terribly sorry, I didn't mean to hit you."

Void merely waved him off, "It's fine, you can say we're even now."

"That first attempt was good, you just need to concentrate and focus the aura onto your surroundings."

"That's easier said than done," he grumbled.

He got into position, listening for the urges, instead of reacting straight away, he attempted to listen to Celestia's advice and began to concentrate; this only made him miss the magic bolts. This repeated with him missing several shots, until he suddenly sensed the presence of the unicorn, using the aura, he focused his concentration on the unicorn, and then he could sense it, the unicorn firing his horn.

Smirking, he struck his magiscaber out and successfully blocked it, now confident he started hitting his mark. After striking lucky, the training came to an end, "Excellent work, Void, you adapted very quickly, I'm impressed. Now go and get some sleep, we have a very busy day tomorrow." Celestia congratulated.

Void nodded, "Thank you, princess." He then walked off to get some well-deserved rest.

***

Void Streak woke up to find the fleet under fire from anti-air cannons, quickly scrambling out of bed, he quickly rushed to the ship's bridge where he could see that they were positioned above the colossal crystal city. Looking out onto the deck, he could see several enemy pegasi attempting to board the vessel, sensing that they were going to get overwhelmed, Void quickly leapt down onto the deck and used the aura to push the enemies away from the ship.

Void then leapt off the ship and began to use his magiscaber to cut down any pegasi who dared to try and attack the ship. Void then flew back towards Celestia, "It's time that we ended this war once and for all!" he shouted.

Before Celestia could stop him, Void jumped over the side and began flying towards the massive crystal castle that towered over the city, "VOID! You can't face him alone!" Celestia shouted, however, none of it reached Void's ears. Knowing that she couldn't let Void face Sombra by himself, Celestia quickly rushed to follow, him.

Using the aura to sense where Sombra was, he crashed through a large window, where he found himself in what appeared to be a throne room, and there sat atop a large, dark crystal throne, was none other than King Sombra himself.

Sombra chuckled, "So you think you can defeat me, yourself."

Smirking Void replied cockily, "You still underestimate me, your majesty. I'm surprised that you haven't learnt your lesson."

Sombra thundered, "You think you are the hero, yet you do not know what you will become."

Suddenly Sombra fired a blast of dark magic towards a crystal and the room began to change into a black, empty void, looking around Void realised that Sombra had vanished. Suddenly Void saw himself clashing magiscabers with Celestia, he couldn't tell how the battle had begun nor what the outcome would be. As quickly as it had appeared the vision vanished, instead to be replaced by him locked in a duel against Defender, however, unlike the previous vision, he appeared to be losing. He then watched in horror as Defender swung a blue magiscaber down across his face, the last thing he saw was himself clutching his eye.

The vision then shifted to reveal Void, wearing a black billowing cape dressed across a metallic suit, a small red gem now in place of his right eye, he appeared to making some form of speech, but the words sounded like they were being said underwater. The vision changed again, this time to show himself facing down a group of mares, who were wearing several different coloured gems, they appeared to being led by a purple alicorn.

The vision changed again, this time revealing a bipedal creature, who was wearing a metallic suit with a cape similar to the other Void in the previous visions. The creature appeared to be wearing a black metal helmet that covered the entire head. It had no mouth hole, instead having a triangular vent and two dark red visors in place of eyeholes. The mask appeared to be emitting a metallic breathing, that sounded artificial. The vision then vanished.

Void then turned around to see himself coming towards him before changing into the second version of him from the second vision before changing again into that same creature, the creature swung a red magiscaber towards him before the dark void receded to reveal the throne room again.

***

Celestia then burst into the throne room, to find her student on the floor clutching his head, she could see purple tendrils of smoke coming from his eyes that were now glowing green. Celestia then laid her hoof onto his shoulder, making him jump, she used the aura to clear away the dark magic that was plaguing his soul.

Sombra then told Void, "You cannot avoid your destiny,"

Void stared at Sombra, his eyes full of hatred. He then pounced at Sombra, both ponies igniting their magiscabers, the purple and blue blades clashed sending sparks. Void used his anger to make his strikes more powerful. Celestia then joined the fray, each pony using their scabers to combat each blade of the Sombra's now separate magiscaber.

Sombra used the aura to push both ponies backwards before flinging his hoof down, causing the ceiling to collapse, while Void managed to dodge most of the falling debris, Celestia wasn't so lucky and ended up getting knocked unconscious.

"It is just you and me now, go on use it, I know you want to." Sombra hissed.

"Use what?" Void snarled.

"Embrace the dark side, let the power consume you and you will become the most powerful pony in Equestria!" Sombra shouted.

"Oh Sombra, I have already embraced the dark side," Void said before opening his red eyes. He then used the aura to cause lightning to be shot from his hooves, striking Sombra and sending him flying back into the throne. He then used the aura to drag Sombra towards him and forcing him to a kneeling position, he then pulled out the red Magiscaber and crossed the red and blue blades, "Goodbye, Your Majesty." He then used a scissors motion, completely decapitating the evil King.

Then to his astonishment, the rest of Sombra's body along with the rest of the city started to turn to dark smoke before completely disappearing. As the city slowly vanished, Void could hear the ghostly laughing of King Sombra...