Clause Chronicles

Sea Breeze woke groggily.
Something warm was trickling down the side of his head.
He lifted a hoof to address it, and was quickly hit by searing pain.
There was no denying it, he was in bad shape.
He looked about the room.
He had to fight against his gag reflex when his eyes met the scene in the center of the room.
Sombra lay, heavily bloodied, on what looked like an old fashioned torture table.
His breathing was raspy and weak.
They had to get out of here, right now.
Or Sombra might not make it.

Across the room, a tall black unicorn stood, reaching into one of the cells.

"AH'M NAHT LETTIN' YA TAKE HIM, YA CREEP!"

Sea recognized Braeburn's voice, but only barely.
It was layered with so much hatred and anger that it was almost unrecognizable.
He forced his way to his feet, staring across the room.
Braeburn was cradling Gold's unconscious figure, hunched over it defensively.
Noctis was attempting to separate the two.
He wasn't having a whole lot of luck.
Sea felt a protective anger bubbling deep inside.
Those were his friends.

"HEY! LEAVE THEM ALONE!"
Noctis turned to face the source of the yelling.
Sea puffed up his chest, eyeing Noctis warily.
Noctis let out a high pitched laugh.

"Well well well. Look who's decided to join the party!"

Sea rolled his eyes.
This guy sounded as if his only company for over a thousand years had been bad action movies.
Noctis trotted over, a glint in his eye.

"Well, how about you take his place then, hmm?"

Sea Breeze partially regretted speaking up.
Now Gold was safe, but his own safety was far from reach.
Noctis opened the cell door, advancing on Sea.
Sea backed away, until his hindquarters were against the wall.
Noctis approached slowly, a psychotic lust in his eyes...
Sea backed up against the wall.
In a last ditch act of defiance, he lunged forward, striking at Noctis with his front hooves.
Noctis shrugged off the blows as if they were nothing.
Noctis paused as he heard hurried hoofsteps rushing down the stairs.
Shining burst into the room, full tilt, and immediately spotted Noctis.
With accuracy practiced throughout years in the royal guard, he struck Noctis with a fine blast of magical energies.
Noctis, stunned, wobbled on his feet for a moment before crumpling down to the floor.
Sea rushed out of his cell, snagging Noctis' keys on the way.
He unlocked each of the cells, searching them thoroughly.
Eventually, he found Green, huddled behind a bale of hay.
A few taps to the muzzle, and Green woke.

"Sea... How'd yeh end up down here?"

Sea Breeze helped Green up.
Green's legs could hardly support him.

"It'll be okay... C'mon, let's get you out of here."

Sea lead Green over to Shining, who was eyeing an unconscious Noctis.

"Green, Go with Shining and get out of here. We'll deal with Noctis."

Green nodded, and followed Shining up the stairs and out of the dungeon.

"...Sea."

Sea looked around for the source of the voice. It was Sombra.
Sea trotted over to the table, and fumbled with Sombra's restraints.
He couldn't get them open.

"Listen, Sea. The rest of the ponies that had been taken are slowly finding their way back to Equestria. Noctis' spell was flawed. He can't keep people in this world forever. That's why he's going to try and merge this world with ours. You have to stop him. You can't let him get to Celestia."

Sombra coughed, blood splattering onto his mottled fur.

"Tell Fluttershy that I'll be waiting for her... In the next life."

And with that, Sombra lay back.
And died.

Braeburn and a half-conscious Gold looked on in dismay.
Their long time friend was really gone.
Sea just stood there, unable to process what had happened.
Fluttershy was going to be crushed.

Sea was snapped out of his thoughts as a deafening shriek was heard from somewhere above.
Gold stepped forward.

"We can't let that thing catch us. We've gotta destroy it, as well as Noctis. There's no other way."

Sea turned to look, only to see Noctis was gone.
A loud voice reverberated throughout the castle.

"You're too late. Soon, I will unite the two worlds, and the resulting destruction will create a new world, one that I will rule forever, with my beautiful princess by my side!"

Gold shuddered.

"He is one sick puppy."

Sea nodded.

"No argument here."

Gold turned to Braeburn.

"Brae. Get home, and help with the defense there. Sea and I will find Noctis, and finish him off."

Braeburn nodded.

"Alright. Be careful now, ya hear?"

The two shared a kiss, before parting ways.

Sea and Gold galloped through the castle's interior, searching for Noctis.
Eventually, the two ended up back in the dance hall where they had been originally captured.
Gold flew up to the windows, taking a look outside.

"Hey Sea, look. There's something going on up in that tower."

Sea Breeze backed away for a better view.
Sure enough, a huge dark haze had enveloped the tower.

"That's gotta be where Noctis is at."

Sea nodded.

"Yeah."

The two were interrupted by a screech from somewhere within the castle.

"The game is on, now."

Sea nodded.

"Yeah. Let's make sure we win."

The two nodded, before taking off once again.

They had to make it to that tower.
For Sombra.

Sea and Gold came to a halt before a large wooden door.

"If my memory of the castle serves us right, this door leads up to the eastern tower."

Sea wasn't able to make sense of the castle at all in the time he spent in it, so Gold was doing the navigating.

"We've gotta get this door open."

A Screech pierced the silence, as a large black creature dropped down from the ceiling.

"It's that thing again!"

Gold stepped forward.

"I know you. You're the human that started all of this. Why are you throwing your lot in with Noctis?"

The creature shrieked, setting the duo's fur on end.

"Alright, If you're not going to tell us..."

Gold spread his wings.

"I guess We'll just have to take you down too!"

The black creature shrieked once again, louder than before.
The noise was near deafening.
Gold hit it with an aerial tackle, just below the throat.
The shriek became a gurgle.
The creature stepped back in shock, grasping its tender throat.
Sea ran up to the thing, bucking him in the stomach.
The combination of the two strikes toppled Anon, causing him to fall backwards.
Gold leapt onto him, pummeling him with his hooves.
Anon flailed his arms, throwing both Sea and Gold several meters across the room.
Sea landed in an unlit brazier, and became stuck.
Anon slowly began to advance, eyeing Sea with hatred.
Gold flew up behind him, delivering a decisive blow to the back of his head.
Anon fell once again.
Gold used the time to help Sea out of the brazier, and the two turned to face anon once again.

"One last time now. You hit him high, I'll hit him low.

Gold nodded.
The two charged one more time.
Their combined might was enough to send Anon flying.
He flew through the air, landing on the second Brazier.
Unfortunately, instead of fitting into its center like Sea did, he was impaled by the spiked rim.
Anon struggled for a moment, the spikes tearing into his flesh.
Eventually, his thrashing subsided.

"We did it."

A booming voice echoed out.

"How dare you kill my companion! I suppose I'll have to deal with you myself..."

The large wooden door swung open, granting the two access to the eastern tower.

Gold stepped forward.

"Let's go."

Gold and Sea eventually came to the top of the tower.
Standing in the center of the highest room, Noctis weaved his dark magic, preparing to merge the two dimensions.
Noctis turned as the two entered, a smirk on his face.

"It's meaningless to try stop me. You saw me kill my own brother. What makes you think I'm incapable of killing you?"

Gold shrugged.

"You might be able to kill us, but that doesn't mean you're going to kill us."

Sea stepped forward.

"Yeah. We have you outnumbered."

A mighty crack of lightning erupted from Noctis' horn, heading straight for Sea Breeze.
Remembering everything that Shining taught him, he summoned up a powerful magical field, deflecting the lightning and destroying a segment of the tower walls.

"That's not going to work Noctis."

Gold stepped forward as well.

"Just give up now. You're not merging any dimensions today."

Noctis snarled.

"You can't stop me. I'll kill you both, and you'll be buried and forgotten by my new world!"

Gold and Sea had heard enough.
Employing the same tactics that they used to take down anon, they attacked from the land and air.
Noctis summoned a powerful dark shield to protect himself, which knocked both Gold and Sea back.
Noctis followed up with a deadly lightning strike, which was once again blocked by Sea Breeze
Gold flew towards Noctis at full speed, striking his horn with his hind legs.
Noctis recoiled in pain, yelling out.
Gold flew back across the room, turning to face Noctis once more...

Noctis sent another deadly bolt of lightning flying towards Gold, who was completely defenseless.
Sea Breeze dived in front of him, conjuring another powerful shield.
The lightning tore through the room, breaking holes in the walls and roof.
Noctis let out a mighty flash, blowing the outsides off of the tower entirely.
The wind whipped against the three, chilling them to the bone.
Gold was the first to act, bolting towards Noctis.
Noctis reacted quickly, sending another bolt of lighting heading straight for Gold.
Sea cried out.

"Gold, Look out!"

Gold spun in midair, narrowly missing the bolt.
He struck Noctis' horn again, chipping off the tip.
Noctis screamed out in agony, thrashing around in the wind.

"Now, Sea! Knock him off of the tower with magic!"

Sea didn't need to be told twice. He charged his horn with all the power he could muster, and unleashed it in a mighty blast directed straight at Noctis.
Noctis was blown from the tower, and went plummeting to the hard ground below.
Sea and Gold looked over the edge of the tower.
Sure enough, Noctis lay crushed at the bottom.
The wind died down, and the world around them began to spin.

Within moments, the two found themselves on top of the eastern tower, in their own world.