Silver Crescent's body had been moved to the catacombs beneath the Crystal Palace. Nightshade set placed his equipment beside him and closed the lid of the coffin. She was doing her best not to let her grief consume her, but she was finding it difficult. She wanted to scream, to weep, to curse the gods that had taken him away from her. She had never realized just how important Silver was to her. As she looked miserably at the simple pine box that held the remains of the only father that she had ever known, a new feeling washed over her. A rage unlike anything that she had ever felt before took hold of her mind, and she turned and left the crypt without a word. She knew who was to blame for Silver's death. She gripped her spear tightly as she flew towards the hospital. She would have her revenge. Nightmare Moon would die. She did not notice the strange, yellow-eyed bird that flew past her, heading towards the palace.
Crimson sat down alone in the empty hospital room on his wooden bench as he watched the Princesses and Venquis recover. It was deathly quiet as the music from the camp could be heard throughout the day in their victory dances and celebrations to lighten the mood up. The unicorn then went over to grab a clipboard from the wall when he noticed Nightshade, with an expression of pure hatred among her face, holding a spear and looking directly at Nightmare Moon. "Hello Nightshade. I just wanted to say that im sorry for your fathers loss, he was a great pony. You have my deepest sympathy." Crimson said politely before noticing the expression on her face and her spear held tightly. "What are you doing with weapons in the Hospital. This is not really the best place to keep them..." Nightshade still looked unphased about Crimson interrupting. He then turned around slowly at Nightmare Moon, as he suddenly realized what was happening. Crimson's mood then went down from happily working on his patients to having to stand face to face with the pegasus. "Oh, I get it." Crimson said. "Your going to kill the Night Princesses, are you not? Guess what, i will not allow you to harm her. Just think about what your father would have thought of you doing this. You could just leave and we can pretend that this never happened or i will have to make you leave by force, which is the last thing i want to do to you. Please, just listen to reason.”
Cobraheart walked through the streets of the capital all eyes on the PoW’s who were left on the battlefield. As he walked onwards he thought who and where he should hand them to; then he spotted Ocean. As he approached two of the PoW’s tried pulling on the rope that they were attached to but cobra quickly put a stop to that with a firm look of ‘if you escape bad things will happen’. “Hey Ocean, I found these equestrian foot soldiers left for dead on the battlefield. Thought you could use them. 6 of them wish to join our cause. Four are phoenix loyalists. The 6 that wish to join are Firefly, Golden apple; a descendant of the apple family, tinker, cog turner, scarlet vale and silver crucifix. The last two seem to be the only priests in the equestrian army.” Cobra waited for a response as the group of ryborians inspected the 6 carefully followed by the 4 loyalists.
Nightshade spat in Crimson's face. "This... thing... is the reason that Silver is dead! He worshipped her like a goddess, and how did repay his loyalty? She let him die! She had the power to save him, and she did NOTHING!" She glared at the unconsious princess, and raised her spear. "She is weak... helpless... I may never get this opportunity again. You will not stop me!" She thrust her spear towards the Dark Princess. Back at the palace, a small, yellow-eyed mouse slipped quietly into the catacombs and headed towards the crypt.
Obsidian wandered around the palace. He was trying to find the catacombs to pay respect to Silver. He finally found them, and watched and odd mouse head into them. He'd never seen the species before, but tried to ignore it as he entered the catacombs. He was quickly distracted by the mouse which seemed to be trying to avoid being seen. He silently followed it, being as quiet and hidden as the mouse.
Just as the spear was coming down, Crimson did a backhanded (Had no idea how to do a ponified version of a backhand) swing that snapped the spear in two, much Nightshade's surprise. Within that same moment, Crimson used an magic amplified push that send Nightshade flying into the wall. She hit the wall hard as strange yellow rings then appeared out of nowhere and clamped her legs and wings, keeping her stuck on the wall with absolutely no movement. Nightshade then looked at Crimson, now disgusted. The Crimson coated Unicorn walked slowly towards the trapped Nightshade as his horn began to glow, then his hoof. A light blue magic blade was created that fit around his hoof, as Crimson held it inches from Nightshade's throat to intimidate her. "Listen up child. The Night Princess was unconscious when Silver died from magical fatigue, she could not do a damn thing! If she were to be awake, she could have saved him. But you think you know better, dont you? You think that even through your father died as a hero, you would live long enough to see yourself become the villain? Grow up!" Crimson then applied more pressure onto to clamps. Not enough to injure her, but still extremely painful nonetheless. He also held his blade closer to her, as Crimson then looked at the Pegasus. "And listen to me, I'm a very dangerous pony to mess with. Me and your father fought against the Ardak Luvanius together centurys ago. If you were under the allegiance of Celestia, i could have killed you within a heartbeat. Dont you...dare talk to me like that ever again." Crimson then let go of the clamps restraining her as they disappeared, letting Nightshade drop to the ground to her knees defeated. "Now. Get out...." Crimson said coldly. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Ocean looked at Cobra and smiled. "Any help is appreciated at this time of need. Tell them they are in, but make sure they are completely truthful to our cause. We dont want any spies." She thought about the new additions to what she called 'The good fight'. She was interested in the descendent of the apple family. Her family and the Apple family were old friends centurys ago, even before the elements of harmony.
Nightshade glared at Crimson with a look of pure hatred. "You lie! She collapsed AFTER his death. Instead of wasting her energy on a forbidden spell, she should have healed him! After so many years of loyalty, she owed him at least that much!" She reached for her dagger, and before Crimson could react, she had plunged the dagger into Nightmare Moon's ribcage, smashed through the window, and flew away. As she fled, Crimson caught a glimpse of the Alicorn Amulet around her neck. Back at the castle, the strange yellow-eyed mouse had reached the crypt. He looked at the simple coffin that held Silver Crescent, and at the Timber-Wolf sleeping next to it. After several minutes of watching Holly sleep, the mouse spoke. "Hmm. So he really IS dead. I hate it when Celestia breaks my things"
Obsidian hid in the shadows and held back a gasp as the mouse talked. He immediately tried to run through everything he knew and remembered the "discord" creature from the book of the elements. He sat back to watch what would happen, ready to jump into action to protect Silver from the... Thing that seemed interested in his death.
"You heard the mare, no funny business". he untied the rope from their neck and body letting the 6 free. "Alright follow me to the supply room. the four loyalists will be under the ownership of the ryborians". once arriving at the supply room he pulled some weapons off the rack handing them to the newest additions; later making a list of who got what. Spoiler: list Firefly: mounted wing spears, lightly armored wonderbolt uniform Golden apple: Ryborian Scythe leather and iron armour tinker:Brass Armour and Ryborian Crossbow cog turner: Brass and steel armour, Ryborian Warhammer scarlet vale: full steel armour, Ryborian Halberd silver crucifix: Enchanted robes, Steel mask and Ryborian war sceptre Once they were done he assigned tinker to Robins team, Scarlet, golden and cog to ocean and Silver to Crimson.
(Going to try and turn Crim into a temporary villain until Silver returns.) “DAMN!” Crimson cried out as he then noticed Nightshade jump out of the window. When he noticed her having the Alicorn Amulet, she then put his Crossbow down and decided not to bother. She was a waste of his time. Why get his hoofs dirty when he could get somepony else to do it for him? He then went back to Nightmare moon, who was coughing up blood. She was waking up as well, but shock trauma was kicking in. He had to act fast otherwise he would lose her. He used his most powerful healing magic and potions and medicinal treatments to save the Princess. Within a few minutes, he had saved the Princess, only barely. He let go a sigh of relief as the Princess began to return to normal, and also managing to wake her up in the process. Crimson then looked at the window, remembering Nightshade. Furious, he then went upstairs once he got some doctors to keep an eye on the princesses. He went up to the podium and began to speak as his voice echoed across the entire city, loud enough for Nightshade to hear. “This is Archmage Crimson Lionheart. Night Guard Nightshade has been accused of attempted murder on Nightmare Moon. I have just managed to save her, but only just. For her crimes against the princess and against the nation she fights for, I’m issuing a bounty for her capture, dead or alive. I would like her alive, so me and the soon to be resuscitated Nightmare Moon will teach her some manners. I will be leading this hunt for those interested, my mages will help watch over the princesses. She has just made a very powerful enemy due to her ignorant ways against me and the Princess.” Crimson then went back downstairs to see Nightmare Moon being the first awoken. He filled her in with what had happened, much to her surprise. Crimson then made sent a telepathic message to Nightshade, only sending one sentence until he closed it. “I told you not to mess with me. I’ll give you a five minute head start......”
Discord returned to his Draconequus form and opened Silver's coffin. "Blech. You've really let yourself go, Silver. You look terrible." He ignored the deer that had followed him into the crypt, and began a conversation with the stone wall behind Obsidian. "Well now, Ridley, you've really done it this time, haven't you? You killed your favorite OC, and you just turned your backup into a villain. Brilliant, smooth move, slow clap... (Dammit, Discord! Obsidian can hear you!) "Whatever. All I'm saying is that there was probably a better way to do this than just having me suddenly appear. Of course, if you were a better writer..." (Just shut up and revive Silver.) "Fine, fine. You ARE the writer, after all..." He reached into the coffin and began putting Silver's broken body back together. "Let's see... eyes, ears, legs... good thing I saved this wing... okay, everything is here... I'd better fix these swords, too... okay... done! Wake up, lazy!" Silver suddenly sat upright in the coffin, looking around in confusion. "Where is she?! She's in danger!" Miles away, in Canterlot, Celestia was awakened by terrified shouts from the Royal Guards. After a few moments, the shouting stopped, and her bedroom door swung open. An Alicorn that she had never seen before stepped inside and bowed. "Greetings, Phoenix Queen. My name is Nightshade, and you... are the enemy of my enemy."
Obsidian sat, mouth agape from what he saw. Discord had revived the dead without trying... And was clearly mad talking to a wall. He shook himself out of it and grabbed his staff. "I know who you are! Why are you doing this?" He walked out of the shadows and stood, staring angrily at the monster before him. He knew just how outmatched he was, but hoped he wouldn't be alone. The power coming off of Discord was almost physically harming him, and he struggled to stay up.
"Put that down before you put somepony's eye out!" Discord snapped his fingers, and Obsidian's staff was turned into a bouquet of flowers. He took the bouquet from the startled Deer, sniffed the flowers, and then opened his mouth and swallowed them. "Of course you know who I am, Obsidian. After all, I am..." He snapped his fingers again, and the crypt was transformed into the main hall of Canterlot Palace during the Grand Galloping Gala. A mob of photographers was snapping pictures of a tuxedo wearing Discord, who turned to Obsidian and grinned. "...rather famous." He snapped his fingers once more, and Obsidian and Discord were back in the crypt. Silver Crescent stood in the corner, mumbling to himself. "I have to save her... I have to save her... I have to save her..." Discord ignored him and answered Obsidian's second question. "I'm here because somepony asked for my help." He placed his lion paw on the Deer's head, and showed him the image of Nightshade weeping over Silver's broken body. Though he could not hear her, Obsidian saw her mouth form the words, "Please, gods... no." Discord lifted his paw and the image vanished. "She called to gods. I'm the God of Chaos, and Silver Crescent and his race were my creation. I decided to intervene." He belched, and Obsidian's staff fell from his mouth and landed in his claws. "You should take this back, now. Weapons always give me indigestion."
Shortly after Nightmare Moon had woken up, Venquis had regained consciousness. The Ryborian awoke slowly as Crimson came down with four other mages to check on him. His vitals were fine, his mental status was the same as before as well. As he awoke, he desperately turned his head around for Crimson who was standing next to him. “Easy Venquis, I’m right here. Is something wrong?” Crimson asked the Ryborian, who had began to calm down. Venquis looked around confused. He knew that the Allied Nations won the battle, otherwise he would have not woken up. He then looked at Crimson seriously but also sadly. “I need a restriction on my powers. I had a...meeting, with a group of ponies that said that i need to reduce my powers. I could destroy an entire city by mistake. Could you do this for me?” Venquis pleaded. Crimson smiled as he went to sit down on a chair next to his bed. “Already taken care of. I understood what power Ryborians processed, and I had to take measures to ensure an accidental loss of life. Trust me, when I had my restriction performed, I loathed it. But as I got older, it was the best decision that I have ever made.” Crimson then used his magic to reveal the restriction that Venquis had, which took the form of the Ryborian letter for justice. “Your restriction took me over an hour to perform. It was not easy for somepony of your power, but it worked nonetheless. The restriction is located just behind your neck and i have used a special spell to make it invisible from view unless you choose to break it. If your choose to break the restriction, then the restriction will appear for a split second until it will disappear again.” Crimson said, giving Venquis a detailed drawing of the restriction on his neck. “Returning back to normal from restriction is easy. All you need to do is to say the key words, which are listed on this drawing.” Venquis then looked around in his surroundings, shocked to see the slowly yet rehabilitated Nightmare Moon with a blanket over her and Candace still unconscious. “What happened after I went out?” Crimson then looked at the window sadly before looking back at Venquis. “To sum it all up. Silver is dead and had been buried in the catacombs, we have won the battle but at an enormous price of our soldiers and Nightshade, Silvers daughter has gone rogue and has tried to kill the Night Princess. I have issued an order of capture incase Silver were to be brought back to life. It does not feel right for her going rogue; she is still upset of Nightmare Moon apparently doing nothing. I have tried to make her see reason but refuse to listen. I don’t know what is going to happen to her, hopefully she does not plot to destroy us. I tried my best....” Crimson said regretfully. He did not want anything to happen to her, yet she did not want her to finish off the Princess. Crimson’s scouts, have reported her leaving the Crystal Kingdom and has called off the hunt for her. Crimson tried his best, and yet he did not know if that was good enough. Celestia looked at the sudden appearance of Nightshade. She smiled at the Night Guard finally seeing the light of the situation. “So I assume you are against my sister then?” she started before she laughed in happiness. “You might prove to be quite a valuable asset to Equestria and to me. Seeing how you are the daughter of Silver Crescent, I wish to know of everything that has happened since you arrived with them.” Celestia then closed the lights of the palace as it became very dark, the only source of light being candles and an enormous flag the size of a tennis court on the wall with the Equestrian Sun flag with the addition of a phoenix glowing in the dark. "Let’s begin shall we?”
Obsidian used his horns to sweep the staff from Discord's claws, and onto his back. The power from the little show was starting to taint Obsidian's eye the yellow color of Discord's. "You mad fool! *cough* I mean. There must be gods not crazy as you?" He took several small steps towards Silver. "But you not care do you? You wish for chaos? Let me help." He jumped past Discord an landed on the crypt. He sort of fell backwards, sending the covering flying at Discord.
Discord snatched the covering from the air and transformed it into a top hat, which he promptly placed on his head. "Oh, dear... you still think me your enemy. I assure you, I am not." He sighed. "Of course there are other gods that heard Nightshade's plea. They ignored it. The Dragon Ponies... sorry... the 'Lunar Pegasi' were my creation. I still care what happens to MY creations, even if the other gods have lost interest in theirs." Silver Crescent was starting to regain his senses, and looked around the crypt, confused. "Where are we? What happened? Why is Lord Discord here?" He shook his head. "No matter. I have to find her. She is in terrible danger!" Back in Canterlot, Nightshade had just finished telling Celestia everything that she knew about her former allies. With the power of the Alicorn Amulet corrupting her mind, Nightshade had forgotten what was perhaps the most crucial piece of information: Chrysalis' betrayal. She walked away from the Phoenix Queen and ran her hoof up and down her newly grown horn. She did not know where it had come from, but she had never in her life felt so powerful.
"I guess that makes sense dawg... W-what... I mean... Ugh." Obsidian's body grew faded and he hunched over. "Dude... My aura drain ability dude... Must be like... Whoa." He shook his head and color returned to his body. "Uh... Silver, who do you mean is 'in danger?" Obsidian quickly pulled out his small notebook and jotted something down before Silver could reply.
"Nightshade! I put the Alicorn Amulet on her before the battle! It was supposed to be for only a few hours, to keep her safe during the fight. I have to get it off of her before the corruption takes hold! It can only be taken off by the pony who puts it on, and I put it on her. She doesn't even know what it is. I told her that it was a simple good luck charm. If she does anything foolish, it will be my fault. I just wanted to keep my little filly safe." Silver Crescent donned his gear and rushed out of the crypt. Discord shrugged, took his Unicorn form, and followed him. Holly, who had awakened to find Silver alive, ran after them.
One of Crimson’s unicorn mages ran toward the hospital to report the sighting of Silver and Discord leaving a crypt just outside of the city. The unicorn mage ran up the stairs leading towards the royal hospital franticly as she soon came into contact with the Crimson coated unicorn and a Ryborian looking at the exhausted mage. “Si.....Sir. We have a si...ghting of Silver Crescent walking out of th...e crypt alongside...Discord.” The mage barely managed to get out before fainting. Crimson’s expression turned to shock as he heard the news. Discord had managed to bring Silver back to life, he had to make sure he thanked him for bringing his old friend back to life. “Silver is alive? I thought that he died in the battle.” Venquis said to an equally confused Crimson. Crimson then quickly put on his brown cape and hood and headed downstairs to see what had happened himself while telling his nurses to keep watch of the Royal Hospital. He then soon came into view of Silver with Discord and Obsidian. He felt guilty of having to tell Silver what had happened to Nightmare Moon and Nightshade. He was only doing his duty of defending the princesses, ponies that he cared the world for alongside her equally devoted wife. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Celestia’s evil yet smug smile got wider and wider as every bit of precious detail was spilt out of Nightshades mouth. She was told everything, from her arrival to the Crystal Empire to the fight between Crimson and herself and the flight towards Equestria. She had her right where she wanted her, serving as another puppet for her to control without question. “Excellent work. You’re lucky charm on your head told you exactly who the winning side was, and because of my sister’s betrayal to him, your father suffered a horrific death. It seems that Crimson has become much stronger in death than I remember, not to mention your father’s excuse of friends. The battle has weakened the Crystal Empire after the death of my traitor of a niece (She still believes Candace is dead.) which will leave them directly vulnerable for another attack. An attack which will come in the future. I will rather focus defending the empire if they get closer. They are still individual nations, but if they were to unite under a single cause as a republic. Then they might have a chance....” Celestia then rose from her chair and began to walk towards Nightshade. “Anyway. I’m not telling you to live a life of vengeance for the ones who killed your father, but you will find no other satisfaction than finishing off the traitors to all of ponydom. You should get some rest while I will supply you with the best armour, weaponry and training the world has to offer.” By now, Celestia was standing directly infront of then Nightshade. “Rise with me Nightshade. Rise..and you will have your revenge.”
Celestia had said exactly what Nightshade wanted to hear. The Phoenix Queen had promised her vengeance. More importantly, she had called Silver Crescent Nightshade's "father." Even though Nightshade had always known that Silver Crescent had never thought of her as anything more than just another Night Guard, she had always thought of him as her only family. If Celestia, a stranger, could see this... how come Silver never had? She rose, her eyes aglow with dark magic. "You have my loyalty, Phoenix Queen. I hereby swear to serve you, even unto death, for the rest of my days. So I have sworn, and so it shall be." Back in the Crystal Empire, Silver was searching desperately for Nightshade. He prayed that he would would find her before it was too late, before the corruption of the amulet made her do something foalish. He was so busy searching for her, he failed to see Crimson coming down the steps of the hospital. Silver, displaying an unusual level of clumsiness, ran into him, knocking them both over. Discord laughed at the two ponies on the ground, causing Holly to turn and bite him.
