Silver was unperturbed by Midnight's dramatic announcement. "The Plague situation is well under control. I've had a plan in place to deal with him, should the need arise, for more than a year now. Trust me when I tell that this is nothing to worry about." He patted his old friend on the shoulder. "Besides, I'd say that Plague is the least of your problems right now. I need you focused on the fight."
Midnight tried to give a weak grin but he still felt uneasy about the whole experience. "Thank you Silver, don't really know what I would do without ya." 1 hour later Celestia watched in silence as she soon seen the ones sent to kill her emerge out of a forest and onto a large seemingly empty plain that once resided a city. Eventually, the group stopped in their tracks as Celestia began to walk down an enormous flight of stairs that led to her former palace. "It seems that everything is about to come full circle. There's at least a dozen of you, and one of me. The strongest warriors on the planet against a queen corrupted by forces beyond mortal comprehension." Celestia began before laughing to herself. "Mare's and gentlecolts. I'm tonight’s entertainment! The final battle on the grandest stage of them all!" She started to laugh manically. "Goddess." Venquis muttered. "She's not even a pony anymore..." Celestia's expression then changed to a serious tone. "It's a shame that you have took all of my Magic away, such a pity. Either way, I most likely don't need it to kill you. We shall see how brave you really are, your bodies will be facing west so you may watch your world die." Celestia spoke. "Now.. I know that I wont survive tonight, but I'm going to take as many as I can with me. It's a fair trade."
Silver laughed. "I'm still not convinced that you are beyond redemption, but at this point, I no longer care. Your sister has sentenced you to death, and I intend to see the sentence carried out. I think I'm going to enjoy gutting you." He drew his swords and flew slowly at Celestia. "Remember the plan, everypony. Let's take her down fast."
The group began to slowly advance towards the queen. Ocean spun her daggers around her hooves while Crimson’s restriction was broken, which made his own power increase enormously. Summer got her bow and arrow out as three light arrows instantly appeared locked and ready. The most drastic of these changes was the change the Eriborian unleashed, putting himself at full power as his eyes glowed brightly as his mane stuck up and turned white. Moonsaber also changed as well, sparking red electricity instead of its previous blue. The Eriborian was at 100% power, equalling the power of what some ponies would consider a Demi-God. Midnight began to advance as well as his hooves and horn glowed a light lavender colour. Within a few seconds, Midnight was ready to advance. Not only was the battle a race against time against his murderous mother, but against Plague. He could feel him swell up inside of him, increasing his heartbeat as making his movements feel heavy. As long as he remained in Midnight’s body and soul, Celestia’s death also meant his own death. If he left his body with Celestia dead, nothing would happen. He had to deal with her, and fast. Celestia then pulled out her own weapon as she got into a stance, cracking her neck before simply vanishing without a trace. Taking the others by surprise. A second later, a clash of steel was sounded loudly as Ocean locked weaponry between Celestia, who then vanished once more a second later followed by Ocean who was trying to force her down for the others to finish her off. When she reappeared, Ocean and Celestia were in a fierce battle in the skies.
Moving almost too fast to track, Nightshade soared into air after Celestia. Instead of attacking head-on, she circled around to attack the Phoenix Queen from behind. With her attention focused on Ocean, Celestia didn't realize that Nightshade was within striking distance until she felt the dagger bury itself in her left wing. Before she could react, Nightshade was already in front of her, flinging another dagger at her right wing.
Celestia felt her back become heavy as she felt the red fluid run down her back, struggling to keep her in the air. Yet however, she remained in the air despite both of her wings being heavily damaged. She turned around to see the other dagger and vanished only to meet infront of Nightshade inches from her face, ready to deliver a swift death blow. However, Ocean's good timing saved the Lunar Pegasi as a light twinkled for half a second before Celestia felt a poisoned knife buried deep between the ribcage hard, sending her straight down onto the ground like a stone. As she was falling, Venquis appeared behind the queen and restrained her while he pile-drive the queen into the ground head first while rotating at a ferocious speed. Barely a meter above the ground, Venquis lept from the queen and sliced the heavily damaged wings of the tyrant clean off with Moonsaber. After an explosion sent dust and rocks everywhere, it left a large dirt cloud. Venquis then lept back towards Silver and the others.
(Nightshade is actually a regular Pegasus.) As Celestia struck the ground, Silver turned to Blackout and Cricket. "You two know what to do." A cloud of pure darkness erupted from Blackout's horn, covering the battlefield. Cricket began singing, a strange melody that filled her allies with hope and courage. To Celestia, it would sound completely different, a terrifying song to fill her with dread and doubt. Without hesitation, Silver drew his blades and flew into the cloud. He had no trouble seeing in the dark, and, thanks to the spell placed on them before the battle for the Crystal Empire, neither would his allies.
(I wasn't exactly sure what Nightshade was, so i went ahead and tried to play it safe. My bad.) When Celestia did recover, her entire back felt numb. Her wings were completely severed from her back, and therefore ended her chance for air domination for the remainder of the battle and her own life. Everything around her was pitch black, she could not even see her own hoof if she placed it on her face. Then there was the loud dreadful song that echoed endlessly in her mind, tearing at her already diminished sanity. She pulled out her weapon, who prior to the battle placed the remainder of her magical energy into so that she might have a chance to fight. Needless to say, it only produced enough light to basically act as a very dim nightlight. It also attracted her enemies towards her. She balanced herself and got into a stance. She had no chance of escaping quickly. -------------------------------------------------- The remainder of the group swiftly entered the cloud to face against the Queen. Summer fired multiple light arrows while Ocean went back to the queen with poisoned daggers. Crimson remained at the back, healing any who need their help. As Midnight was about to attack, he seemingly collapsed onto the ground in a coughing fit. Instead of blood or mucus, he coughed up a strange purple substance. The Prince looked at the cloud, as his mind began to get light and began to feel more heavy. Crimson noticed this and rushed over to help him. By the time he got there, Midnight was coughing up more of the substance. A few seconds later, he was in agony.
Obsidian's voice echoed from in the darkness. "Bull Rush!" A bright yellow light appeared, giving off his location, which didn't matter much, as he slammed into Celestia's side a mere second later, knocking her over. The light quickly faded as he continued past her. Obsidian, hidden in the cloud, stopped and turned in the direction of Midnight and Crimson. "They didn't send me for Celestia... Her time would have come anyway, but there is far more to disrupt the balance..." He sighed and turned back towards the direction of Celestia.
Crimson got onto his knees and placed his hoof on Midnight's shoulder. Midnight began to shake violently as his eyes turned from his normal blue to a bright florescent red. The shaking was becoming more and more violent every passing second as Midnight began to scream. Slowly but surely, his own wings were starting to turn black while his hoof began to form a dragon/hoof hybrid styled claw. "It's...." Midnight managed to get out. "IT'S HAPPENING !!!" Midnight's sclera turned into a deep demonic black while his iris remained red. His deep violet mane and tail transformed into green and black fire. Changes were starting to take hold of the Prince, and Crimson could do nothing but watch. It was impossible to help him, and was forced to move himself a few meters from Midnight.
Silver, still fighting Celestia, noted that Midnight was already transforming. As soon as the transformation was complete, he shouted at Plague. "Are you done yet? Get your lazy flank in here and help us kill your mother!"
As Celestia stood up. Robin finally managed to get a good shot. Within 10 seconds 10 arrows ranging from fire, ice and lighting flew towards the princess all but 3 hit her. He couldn't see much but it looked liked the only ones that missed were the fire ones. The ice seemed to have frozen around her two front knees and her horn.
The once white coat of the Alicorn otherwise known as Midnight Dawn had vanished, it had replaced with the infamous black of Plague. The Alicorn, looked almost completely different to Midnight and was already an inch away from Celestia. He was faster than any of them could believe, and much more dangerous. The only reason Plague hasn’t killed everypony in the entire area yet is due to his wish to kill his mother himself, since his enemies and himself both had the common goal of taking down the tyrannical queen. He held his mother by the throat, choking her with his incredibly sharp claws as blood began to flow down. He then laughed to himself deeply. “Did you miss me?” He spoke in a baritone voice different to Midnight’s Celestia struggled greatly as she swung her sword at the other Alicorn, in which Plague stopped in mid swing dead in its track’s. He then began to seemingly crush the god like weapon with his bare claws, while the magic contained within flowed onto him. Celestia looked in absolute horror, the weapon was supposed to be indestructible, and yet Plague destroyed it like it was nothing. Plague then levitated his mother as he let go of his grasp, crushing her with telekinetic force. As she screamed, he then threw her towards the rest of the group. “If Midnight allowed me to show my...true colours, then this pathetic excuse of a queen would have been killed the moment I was released onto the world.” Plague spoke “But then, all of you would have moaned and cried about not having your piece of the action. It’s sad really, she took a dept and we’re here to collect. And don’t worry about this whole paradox of existence thing.” He continued as Celestia rushed over to attack him, but received a blow to her stomach as Plague hit the queen without looking. “I’ve figured it out.” Plague then began to walk away from the battlefield. “You can have Midnight back, I don’t need him anymore.He has overextended his usefulness. Once she is dead, I'll be on my way."
Silver dashed after Plague and pressed the tip of his sword to the Alicorn's throat. "You are not going anywhere, you tiresome fool. I gave you an order, and I expect you to follow it. Now get in there and fight!" While Silver was dealing with Plague, Nightshade and the two Timber-Wolves were attacking Celestia's legs. Already injured by Robin's arrows and Obsidian's ferocious charge, the Phoenix Queen appeared to be having difficulty standing. It was only a matter of time before she fell.
Plague looked down at the blade unimpressed before looking Silver directly at his eyes. "You realize that if you kill me in my current state, Midnight dies as well. You would not like to take such a risk now, wouldn't we?" The dark Alicorn said lowering the tip of the sword down from his neck. "You can hold a sword to my neck Silver all you want, but you will never assume that this gives you power over me, despite the temptation of cutting my head off." Plague then pulled the sword away from him and focused on the task at hand. "I'm not interested in this petty squabble. Celestia can barely walk and you've out numbered her well over 10 to 1. The battle is merely over already, there is no point on me staying." Plague said walking past Silver before stopping. "But if you insist...." Plague turned around and raised a hoof at her as a blue beam came flying across the battlefield and hit Celestia directly in the heart, sending the Queen onto the dirt below her. Plague then looked at Silver, no emotion evident on his face but walking slowly towards the battlefield. "Finish her off..."
Silver glared at Plague. "Never assume to know me or my motives, abomination." He walked slowly to the fallen Phoenix Queen, his face cold and expressionless. "I have waited centuries for this..." With one swift, brutal kick, he broke her horn off at the base of the skull. A strange magical energy flowed from the Rings of Downfall into Silver as he reached for them. "...Celestia's power... the Phoenix Queen's power... the power of a god... and it is mine!" His eyes glowing ominously, Silver Crescent began laughing. "It has been fun, but this is where I take my leave." As soon as the words were spoken, Silver vanished in a cloud of black smoke. Nightshade shrugged, approached Celestia, and plunged her spear into her skull. With the Phoenix Queen dead, she recovered her daggers and walked back to join the group. "Well, that's over. What's next?"
Venquis walked over with Summer as they looked at what remained of the Queen's body. The Eriborian knelled down to shut the eye's of the Queen forever, before his hoof glew orange as a torrent of flame set the body of Celestia aflame. It seemed that Celestia was living her namesake now, with the exception of not being able to be reborn after 500 years. She was dead. With so, The Ryborian saluted the body to the strange looks of his Equestrian comrades out of a strange respect for his former opponent. Once he was done, he looked at his comrades with a smile on his face "Now we can have peace..." ---------------------------------------- Crimson watched Plague as the later separated from Midnight for the first time in his existence. Midnight returned to original, but was unconscious as Plague flew above his "Father". He then vanished without a trace, his whereabouts completely unknown. One thing was on Plague's mind however. He was going to start the End-War. While it might not happen for a few decades, it will happen. His plan would come together, and once it does, the three kingdoms will bow to him. (The section about Silver gave me this funny idea. What if my next roleplay was exactly the same as this, but an alignment change. So Celestia and so forth are the good guys, and Silver is completely evil and so on. Just kidding, but i though this was amusing.)
-Twenty-four hours earlier, in the sky above Ardelan's coast- Silver Crescent waited until Venquis was out of sight before approaching Tricorna. "Hello again, young doe. It seems that you are about to suffer a terrible fate. If you wish, I can change that for you."
Robin slid down from his tree perch. Approaching the others. "Peace will come eventually but not yet. We still have her fanatics plus it seems we may have to deal with Silver in the future." He looked down at Celestia and thought for a minute. "She may of been a formidable opponent but she still deserves a burial. Even if it's simply an unmarked grave."
Holly and Hemlock both looked up at Robin, disappointed. Neither one could understand why the Unicorn wanted to let such a fine meal go to waste. Nightshade laughed. "If you want to bury her, that's your choice. I'd prefer we leave her for the wolves."
