"Silver Crescent leapt off of the palace balcony and flew down to the courtyard below. Nightmare Moon followed, and landed beside him. Holly leapt after them, smashed into pieces on the ground below, and quickly reassembled herself. Silver looked out at the crowd that had gathered. One hundred Unicorns, one hundred Pegasi, and one hundred Griffons had assembled and were waiting to learn what assignment they had been chosen for. "Greetings, everypony... and... um... every-griffon? What is the proper... nevermind. You are all most likely wondering why you were called here. Simply put, I need the best. You are going to take part in the creation of the most powerful and devastating weapon that Equestria has ever seen. Follow me to the battlefield. I will explain on the way." Silver led the group to what was to be the front line, explaining the plan as he walked. The Night Guards had already gathered, preparing to defend the weapon against Equestrian attacks. "The enemy approaches. When they are close enough, you may begin."
Star Shimmer looked at him with a smile of her face. "I don't see why you shouldn't. The more you can learn, the better off you will be." Cadence made room for Yclept to stand next to Star.
Dovian watched the moon rise into the sun to create a eclipse, followed by a perpetual darkness for the Equestrian army. Dovian, being a Ryborian could see in the dark as well as he could see in the day, followed by an enhanced eyesight. This trouble could not phase him, but could only understand the troubles that his army was having. He understood the situation, and knew exactly the reason behind it and how to stop it. It was a popular tactical move during The Black War. “It looks like we have hit a roadstop in our advance. Luckily for all of us, the Night Hunter tactic is not as ‘permanent’ as they say it is. Only Princess Luna can put this spell off, but she is a fool to believe that she is not the only one to use it yet alone keep it active during battle. Behold!” Dovian began to surge a fair proportion of his magic into his hoofs and horn and fired a magical based beam directly into the Moon. After a few moments of silence on either side, the light began to return to the Equestria slowly yet effectively until the Night Hunter tactic was basically useless. Not to mention as long as the Eclipse holds out, each passing second is causing the Night Princess some serious stress on her magic. Dovian was tired and sweating like an animal, but recovered shortly after like nothing had ever happened. The Eternal Night strategy had failed, but had managed to buy time for the Allied Nations. He smiled and began to laugh at the Princesses mockery of a move. “You are a smart princess, but you are simply no match for me. I’m stronger than you ever will be, the heretics from Ardelan fear me, and you will not see the end of this day! Equestria will prevail!” Dovian shouted across the battlefield and also sent the message telepathically to the Night Princess. Soon, the entire battlefield had the same level of light, showing the equestrian army starting to come into range of Archers. Dim due to the eclipse, but the same nonetheless. Dovian loved the thought of the princess in fear, and relished the thought of killing her and Candace in that same fear.
Nightmare Moon laughed and returned Dovian's telepathic message. "You think that you do battle with my weaker half? Fool! I am the Princess of Darkness, and the night..." She easily countered Dovian's spell, removing his foul magic from her moon. "...Belongs..." Back under her control, the moon blotted out the sun and once again flooded the land with darkness. "...TO ME!" As the Dark Princess' voice echoed in Dovian's head, she used her magic to sever his telepathic link with her. She had a battle to help win. She did not need the voice of an overconfident madpony distracting her. The army was getting closer. Silver raised his hoof to signal his troops to attack.
Dovian simply thought about Nightmare Moons response to her counter move against him. The night consumed the army again, but this did not worry him at all. The army might have absolutely no visibility, but he knew a solution to this problem. “All mages cast a sight spell on your brothers and sisters! The dark might strike fear into your hearts, but you are strong. You will now all have the sight to see clearly in the darkness. The enemy thinks that they have us cornered, let’s kick them out!” Dovian ordered as all the mages in the Equestrian army enchanted each and every single solider in his disposal was given a permanent sight charm which made Nightmare Moon’s spell useless. Dovian then raised his hoof and every solider stopped. “Archers, on the ready.” The Archers, numbering in their tens of thousands lit up their arrows with fire and ice and aimed towards the sky, directly in position of the Allied Nations. “Ready...FIRE!!!” The archers then released the arrows, enough of them to blot out the sun if there was any sunlight. It then began to rain down onto the allied nations, but were primarily focused on aiming for their defences which they set alight. Then the army prepared to mobilize themselves and started to slowly walk towards the army.
"Attack." At Silver's command, the Pegasi and Griffons began flying in a circle. Within moments, a massive tornado had been created. On the ground below, the unicorns used fire spells to melt the snow. The water was pulled into the tornado, and created an enormous waterspout. Silver flew to the top of the funnel and stuck the blades of his enchanted swords into the vortex of water and wind. The instant that the swirling water touched the blade of the sword, it froze into thousands of long spikes of ice, which shot at high speed out of the tornado and at the Equestrians. The sharp spears of ice, launched at the supersonic speeds, easily destroyed the line of archers. Silver telepathically reported in. "The first wave of archers is down. We have suffered minimal casualties. More will come." He stopped, broke the connection to the team, a contacted Venquis privately. "Your old friend is bothering the Dark Princess. Kindly shut him up, if you would."
(LONG POST INCOMING !!!) “Dovian is commanding?” Venquis said to Silver telepathically. The Ryborian then flew into a fit of rage and smiled at Silver as his eyes began to glow a brighter shade of red then his own. “The traitor of my kind will die a second time; this time will be much more personal. If you or I don’t make it out of this alive, may Sihana guide you my friend.” Venquis then walked up thowards the Equestrians, taking down those who decided to break rank and attack the lone figure, taking them down with absolute ease until he was in view with Dovian and the two noticed each other.When Dovian found out that Venquis was on the battle and how much he had improved, he was becoming to doubt himself about his success on the battlefield. Venquis decided that it was about time that his secret was revealed. Dovian's eyes began to go wide in fear. Venquis began to talk, amplifying his voice so the whole battle field could hear through a spell. "For you who has caused pain throughout his own kind, Sihana will never grant forgiveness for what you have done. You are a liar, a killer, a demon and a disgrace to all Ryborians. You have killed the Ardelan Royal Family, the Razona's, my family. You have killed my mentors, The Forever Five and you have made me watch. You will not kill me. You call me and the remainder of your kind "Heretics", when it is you who is the Heretic. Today, i will act as Sihana's paladin and drop a righteous hammer of the gods upon you." "You know exactly who I’am. My name is Venquis Arynu Razona, Last survivor and living member of the Ardelanian Royal Family, The Lone Assassin who ended The Black War, loyal son to the true emperor, Jadros Razona. Father to a crippled race, husband to a murdered family. And I will have my vengeance, in this life or the next.” "Dovian Martion Frenzia. If any of my friends die, or I find you causing in this world again, I will find you, and I will end you. I will kill you, your followers, and your pathetic excuse of what you call 'Pride'. Every trace of your existence will be wiped from every file and no one will even remember that you ever tried. I took down Prince Eclipse and the entire Equestrian army by myself. I took down the empire you created all those years ago. I took down you down, twice. I have traveled to the depths of Tartarus and back, marched into Equestria alone for those final months and nothing has stood against me. Destroying this army would be child's play. You know the legends about me. Ignore them at your peril.”
When Yclept established the telepathic link with Star and Cadence, he would've found himself in a swirling, light blue vortex. He couldn't see Cadence or Star Shimmer but he could hear hem talking. Very rapidly. Star Shimmer absorbed all of the knowledge that Cadence offered on magic, the history thereof, and...Love. She was 't sure why it was necessary to learn a out love, but for one, if the princess deemed it important, then she would learn it. Also, the information was coming at her so quickly, she didn't have a choice but to take it in. ----- When the princess' lessons ended, only a few minutes had passed in the real world, althought it would've felt like hours in the telepathic link. Yclept had learned a great deal about Star Shimmer while she was busy learning her spells. When one's mind is opened, as Star's was, things tend to leak out... For instance, Yclept learned that Star Shimmer had committed murder to summon Sombra. She turned a fellow crystal pony to stone and shattered him, to use the dust that was left as materials for her spell. But she was a different pony now, right? "There," Cadence said, "You've learned everything I know about magic. Hopefully, you have, too, Broken Parson. Star Shimmer, I think you know what to do now. I'm going to join the battle and see of there is any way I can assist my Aunt." With that, she flew away toward Nightmare Moon, leaving Star alone with Yclept once more. Star was smiling. "How was it? Enlightening?" She looked around before deciding what to do. Finally she said, "Okay, first we need to strengthen the shield that surrounds the Empire. We can't rely on the pegasai and griffons to deflect every arrow that comes our way. After that, we're going to go back to my laboratory. There are some materials I need there."
Yclept thought for a second, then 'snapped out of it',"sorry, so... What is it you're going to need?"
Obsidian just watched everypony doing what they had too. He had a plan, but he was unsure of it's effectiveness. The ability to see on the dark, gifted by a powerful magic from Nighmare Moon, had not been gifted to him. He had planned ahead and set up a small spell, with the assistance of a zebra, to channel the power of the spell into the near-purified shard in his book. He was certain that the shard was now as pure as possible, and he had a request for the once witch. One he was unsure if she would accept. He had quietly approached the duo during the spell, and pulled star away after she had spoken to Yclept. "Friend. I have something I would like you look at..." He handed her the book of the elements, and made sure she noticed the oddity hidden in the binding. "I must go now, do not think poorly of me for asking this..." With that he left her with the book and rushed off to a balcony, where he met Redscale and took off to meet the crystal pony dragon-riding force.
Obsidian had left before Star was able to get a good look at the share hidden in the book. However, after getting a better look at it, she quickly determined what it was, and nearly dropped the book out of fright. "This...this is..." Suddenly a smirk crossed her face. "I can use this..." However, first she had to strengthen the shield. "Parson, can you help me?" Her crown glowed with dark purple energy, and a beam shot into the air, reinforcing the shield already around the palace. Concentrating harder now, she added, "And a little surprise for anyone that gets through." A gold shimmer enveloped the shield, then disappeared. She smiled. "If any of our enemies get through, they'll get a nasty jolt. She glanced around, then said, "Oh right, your question. We need some diamond dust and quicksilver. I have both of those in my lab. C'mon!" She dashed off toward the end of town, completely oblivious to what Yclept now knew about her.
The tornado strategy was working. Equestria had sent a dozen waves of soldiers, and all had fallen, pierced and broken by massive spears of ice. The small victories had not come easily, however. Nearly half of the Night Guards had fallen defending the tornado team. They would not last much longer. It was time for a new strategy. "Tornado team, fall back! Phase Two! Main forces, advance! Archers! Fire at will! Night Guards, defend the Dark Princess! Holly... kill." The tornado team split into groups of three. A single Pegasus would create a small tornado, a Unicorn would charge it with a fire spell, and a Griffon would aim the fiery tornado and send it towards the enemy. The main force of the army charged forward. The Earth and Crystal Ponies were in the front, using spears, bows, or their own hooves to attack the Equestrians. The Unicorns and Zebras charged behind them, some using defensive and healing spells to augment their allies, others using offensive spells to attack the enemy. The Pegasi used storm clouds to shoot launch lightning at the Equestrians, while the Griffons used their razor-sharp claws to defend the Pegasi from attacks. Robin Hoof's archers held the rear line, making sure that no Equestrians got close enough to the city to attempt to sneak in. The Night Guards gathered in a defensive perimeter around Nightmare Moon, destroying anypony that dared to try and attack her. The Dark Princess summoned a meteor storm, and rained destruction down upon the Equestrian forces. Holly joined the main force in their charge, and tore apart everything in her path. Silver sent a telepathic call to his allies in the city. "We are holding them off as best we can, but their numbers seem endless. We will not win this battle. I am sorry."
Yclept ran after her with a smile on his face, & he called out,"wait up for me!", & teleported next to her, not caring she killed a pony, knowing he's killed a few 'innocent'
(LONG POST 2.0 , now with extra length!) Dovian and Venquis walked up to each other, their spell-swords at the ready. They were focused only on each other. The rest of the Equestrian army tried to avoid them, knowing what two Ryborians could do to them. They said nothing to each other, simply letting their hatred of each other guide them as they began a brutal yet spectacular flight. The battle lasted over half an hour, each of them taking damage. Dovian was more skilled in swordsmanship, but Venquis was more skilled in magic. It then led to the climax of their fight, as they shot two beams of magic at each other. The two Ryborians screamed at each other as their beams struggled at each other. In the end, Venquis fired his beam which was strong enough to almost completely disintegrate Dovian, leaving the upper half of his body intact while his lower half was turned to ash. Dovian did not scream, but knew his end was coming. Venquis walked up to his former captain and smiled. “I was wrong about you Ven. You were always better than all of us, you are something special. I have walked the earth trying to create the perfect world, but i have made it worse instead. Im proud of you....” Dovian said. Venquis then stood on what was left of his chest as his hoof turned bright blue, ready to finish off his last mentor. “It seems that there is some good left in you, but not enough for me to decide. I will let Sihana judge you if you are worthy of the choice. May you find peace in the embrace of the goddess.” Venquis then used his execution technique and aimed it at his heart, shutting it completely and ending The White Death’s life. With him dead, Equestrian forces were now in a near dismay with the exception of the Rangers commanding them. Venquis then walked a hundred meters infront of the Allied Nations armies as they suddenly stopped to watch him. The final wave of Equestrian soldiers, easily numbering over two million rushed towards the Ryborian. Venquis began to get angry as he stood on his hind legs and began to channel almost all of his magic energy into his hoofs. His hoof began to turn blue and electricity began to form around it due to sheer power. “You have tried to kill innocents, threaten them with slavery and death. I will not stand for this, I will never have to see another Black War. I’m going to crush all of you, and throw you into the wind!” As the army began to run closer to completely outnumber the Allied Nations, they noticed the lone Ryborian by himself a hundred metres in front of his own army. Venquis then raised his hoof into the air as the electricity began to intensify and the magic was becoming increasingly powerful. “YOU SHALL NOT PASS!!!” At that moment, the Ryborian slammed his hoof down as hard as he could onto the ground as the entire Equestrian army inside his range was lifted up into the sky helplessly. Venquis had just managed to pick up over two million soldiers and lifted them into the sky like they were toys. To his companions, they seen and remembered the signature move that Venquis did with his green void that was roughly ten meters across back when the ship was attacked. This void was now the size of an entire city. Time inside the void had stopped completely and had its negative effect on the outside. Venquis then cracked his neck and stretched as Venquis then jumped into the void, and began to cut down his enemies near the speed of light. This spell was almost impossible to keep open for over twenty seconds at this size, so Venquis took down as many soldiers as he could between then. Once he was done, the void disappeared as the soldiers were thrown into real time again and exploded into a red rain of dismembered bodies and blood. It was gruesome, but it was necessary. Venquis smiled as he then began to fell weak and fell out of the sky. The fatigue had hit him, hard. He was unable to continue the battle but successfully gave the Allied Nations a huge chance of winning.
As Venquis landed Jack and his armored ally appeared next to him. "Take him my friend." The armored pony walked up to the weakened Venquis and picked him up, starting to fade out almost immediately. "Venquis... You just killed hundreds of lives for following the threats you say they enforced. Do you feel justified in this action? Yes? No? Too bad, the elders will judge you. I'm sure your friends will be able to handle what remains of your massacre until you... return. Any last statements before we bring you to the elder court?" Jack's mouth still remained immobile, but his voice sounded deeper and calmer then before.
Venquis looked at the two figures, unable to tell who they were due to his vision being blured in his state. He could still hear what they were talking about however, and followed their conversation perfectly. He knew that whoever these ponies were acting for were not from around here. "You know who iam and what i have done. Ask yourself this, is submission preferable to extinction?" Venquis managed to get out before he collapsed unconscious. ---------------------------------------------- Crimson's eyes widened at what he had just witnessed. He had just seen an entire army obliterated by a single individual in such a display of power, that he thought of the Ryborian as a physical god. He knew that Venquis was far from being a god, knowing that Venquis will never complete god powers such as immortality, nigh invulnerability etc incase of power corruption. He also seen two mysterious figures carry Venquis just as they were about to leave. Venquis, in his view, was being kidnapped. Crimson would not allow this and rushed towards Venquis's falling place. "Hey stop! What in Equestria do you think your doing, just who do you think you are?" Crimson yelled out.
"Extinction is what we stand to stop. You slaughtered an army's worth of souls. how many of them were corrupt? They are all dead now. I hope they had no intent to do something for the benefit of the world." Everything faded away around them, and Venquis was sitting before a semi-circle of varying shaped figures hidden by light behind them. A lone voice echoed. "Why should we allow you to return?" (they kind of... Didn't acknowledge Crimson. They'll be right near him when they rerun though.)
(I take it that Venquis is speaking in his subconscious, or that he is somewhere else entirely.) “You should allow me to return because I fight for the same cause you have. I have prevented a complete genocide of my own race by Equestria, during my young three hundred and thirty five years I have walked this good earth. I had to kill all those souls because they wanted to start and complete another extinction to the Crystal ponies. Surviving two of these attempted complete genocides has made me stronger and helping my ability to stop these whenever possible. Since my parents and mentors death, I will never let another race suffer the pain my kind had to go through during The Black War. As long as I could prevent it to the best of my ability, I will never let another war ever happen again.” “Celestia is the real enemy. She has enslaved less fortunate races and has been committing genocidal attacks on the ones who pose a threat to her. Just look at what she has done the nightmares she has created. If there is anypony that deserves a trial, it’s her.” Venquis spoke. “I need to stop her. I need to save the lives of the ones who have lost the way, the ones who have suffered, the ones who believe that one day, just one day, we will have peace again. I’m sorry to be brought here today, but look into my heart and understand where I have come from
