02-12-2016, 07:02 AM
Chapter 26: Strong As I Am
----
Shining Armor and I made our way hurriedly up the stone steps, leaving the guards locked up in our one time cell. I glanced back at the pony, jingling the keys in my hand. There were three keys on the loop in total, so naturally I knew they must go to something.
"What else are these for?"
"One is for the door right here, one is for the armory," he replied, looking over this shoulder as I began unlocking the old iron door that led down to the dungeon. It dreadfully creaked as I pulled it open...to see a plethora of guards waiting for us. Or rather, coming to a dead stop at the sight of us, baffled. Like they were expecting someone else, or perhaps not expecting anyone at all. The room itself was wide, a large wooden desk and chair sat off to the side, unattended, a door behind the guards and one off to the left. I suspected the left was the armory.
Either way, there was no time to dwell.
We rushed at the guards head on and vice versa, using the spear I commandeered off the guards back at the cell I block two swords. I found myself wishing I had a better weapon as I smacked them aside with my weapon. It was awkward for me fighting with something pony sized, I swiped at a soldier, but he avoided it easily before promptly leaping right at me. I grunted, spear falling uselessly to the ground as I was lifted off my feet and smashed hard onto the stone. The wind knocked straight out of my body. The soldier glared at me with murder in his eyes, a dagger drawn, raising to plunge it directly into my heart.
Despite my pain I sent my fist plowing squarely into his nose, despite his apparent crystalline form striking him was no different that striking flesh and bone. He dropped his weapon but retaliated with a punch to my jaw, my eyes watering. But my need, my drive to find Nightmare Rarity at all costs overtook any pain I felt. Snarling, I shoved the pony off, a free hand grabbing the dagger. I heard the clanging of armored hooves running up behind me and without hesitation I acted. Swiveling around I drew the dagger across the attacker's snout. My first attacker pounced on me from behind with a triumphant laugh, his comrade backing away with howls of pain at his bloodied face.
My fingers, shaky but determined undid the tie I still had around my neck. The soldier must have been surprised to see me untie my tie in the midst of a fight. But I doubt it equated to whatever he was thinking when I wrapped it around his own neck. With a roar of my own I heaved him up and over, bringing his helmeted head crashing down to the floor. But I didn't stop there.
Two soldiers dashed towards me, swords at the ready. With another bellow I swung the unconscious pony, tie still around his throat, battering the two away from me. Wheeling around I saw the bloodied pony approaching me, vengeance in his eyes turning to fright and bafflement. I must've looked like an utter madman: Hair a disheveled mess, eyes bulging, a scream that hurt my throat erupting from me as I heaved my makeshift weapon over my head and brought him down onto the other. The clattering of armor and bodies breaking together resonating loudly. For good measure I repeated the action, panting and gasping as the room began to grow quiet once more.
"You know, in all my years I never thought I'd see someone use somepony else as a club."
I looked over at Shining Armor, noting the other soldiers either unconscious or dead behind him. He had a slightly bruised lip and a cut on his side, but other than that he seemed fine. "Showoff," I chuckled in a rasp.
"What?" He replied with a grin, glancing over behind him. "I wasn't Captain of the Royal Guard for nothing you know." He walked over, extending a hoof.
"I'll check the armory for anything, you rest a bit. I don't think anyone's face is supposed to be that red." I obliged and sat down while he went over to the door on the left. Still breathing heavily I eyed the other door. It was wooden and unassuming. Plain for a dungeon. Exhaling I stood up, making my way towards it, faintly registering the jingle of keys and the noise of a lock being undone. My hand outstretched towards the doorknob...
"No Michael don't!"
I was already twisting it when Shining screamed his words, but I was blinded by a flash of green. It washed over my vision like paint running down a wall, I felt myself falling. The green shifting to crushing blackness.
-----
The doors to the castle were blasted open, they hung limply on their great hinges as shadowy beasts flew in. Arrows shot through the air, missing the majority and sticking harmlessly in the walls. Green and purple flames flickered in the wind as the battle poured into the castle. Like its exterior, it had undergone extensive remodeling. Black walls sheathed in the ugly and uneven crystals, resembling an infectious disease of sorts that had overtaken a body. The floors were now a sleek gray, so clean it could act as a mirror. Bodies collided and cold blades clashed, Nightmare Rarity's armored form entered, flanked by several ghostly looking monsters with gleaming eyes of red and yellow. Satisfied at having broken into the castle, but she would not be fully content until Michael was with her once again and King Sombra was dead.
A soldier made the mistake of rushing at her, with a cold sneer she swatted him down, a gold glad hoof crunching into his throat. He struggled to breath and flecks of blood now dotted the floor as his life ebbed further and further away. Her elegant horn glowed and the doors were ripped off their hinges and hurled across the room. The boom of their impact reverberated it made almost everyone cringe, the doors pinning multiple soldiers beneath their mass. Without even batting an eye she progressed further into the castle itself, passing the broken doors and the ponies feebly struggling to free themselves. Several of her own subordinates still flanked her upon her command, she wasn't interested in fighting any guards or whatever else lay ahead. It had pleased her to crush her foes and humiliate those who stood in her way, but she knew it would be foolish to tire herself on such wastes when a bigger challenge lay ahead.
They rounded the corner, her tail dragging like a cape until suddenly she stopped. A wavering gasp emitted from her and a shiver wormed it's way up her spine. Her guards paused in concern, each exchanging confused glances before daring to speak.
"My Queen? Is something wrong?" A beaked one with yellow eyes and a raspy voice spoke the inquiry, approaching hesitantly.
"Michael?" Nightmare Rarity's mind raced. From some distance she felt a surge of terror and uncertainty, loneliness and a wave of hopeless despair. She knew it was not her own feelings. Somehow, she had sense Michael's, wherever he was right now. And he was afraid.
"Let's move," she didn't even acknowledge the guard's question, striding right past him. Regardless they followed her, her pace verging on that of a run.
"Michael, wherever you are I need you to fight. Please, my love, hold on."
-----
Michael did not know where he was. It was a forest of sorts. A dead one. Not a single solitary sound save for his own ragged breaths and footsteps. There was no grass. No leaves of the trees. The trees towered over him, black trunks seemingly went on for eternity, the claw like branches all upturned to the icy gray sky. The sky more unending than them. The claws outstretched for a hope that would never come. There was no sign of a sun or anything providing the light, yet impossibly so there was light. Michael breathed heavily, sweat glinting on his forehead and his legs were beginning to hurt. Something of a whimper and a sob escaped him, rising up into the claws of the trees.
Something was behind him, all around him. All seeing and unseen by him. The presence threatened to indulge him in it's freezing despair and fiery hate.
"Michael, wherever you are I need you to fight. Please, my love, hold on."
His heart did back flips in his sternum, bouncing off his bones, he would recognize that voice anywhere.
"Nightmare?"
There was no response. Only the emptiness.
"Nightmare! Please where are you!?" He cried. He knew he was not insane. He had heard her. Michael hadn't even registered it at first but his legs were carrying him forward faster than he thought he could run, muscles howling in agonized protest, but still he ran from the all seeing feeling that pervaded the forest. The very air around him was alive with it.
He burst out of the forest...a spire lay several meters away. It was like a castle or fortress of sorts. It jutted from the cold ground. Jet black and without flaw. It was more frightening than the forest. It had no door, just a gaping maw ready for him and him alone. Michael may has well have been in flight as he drew closer and closer to the abyss that awaited him. The second he entered the darkness a door thunderously slammed shut behind him and he was entombed. It was like he was in the deepest depths of the ocean. Crushing darkness, not a speck of light.
Alone.
-----
Once Nightmare Rarity stopped in her tracks, finding that fear and crushing hopelessness wash over her again. Her gaze towards the ceiling now, but she appeared to somehow look past it and beyond the sky itself. As though she were seeing something that only she could witness with her own sapphire eyes.
"Michael." She spoke clear and strong, startling her guards, in fact they actually looked around. Confused.
"You need to run. Where ever you are, no matter how far apart we seem, I am here."
Without another word the feeling vanished soon as it came and she proceeded onward. She could feel the eyes of her guards behind her, looking at her as though she had gone completely insane. Her mane whipped as she turned back to them with a dangerous look in her eyes now.
"Come on, we haven't got much time."
-----
"Michael.You need to run. Where ever you are, no matter how far apart we seem, I am here."
Again her voice came to him, strong and reaffirming. Light suddenly glistened from along the walls, spiraling up and up in the darkness above. Stairs. Hundreds of them lay before Michael, his heart hammered in his chest, but his love for her and his need to conquer this unseen force emanated from his being. However scared he might be. And once more he ran. His footsteps fast and heavy, echoing. The light an unearthly blue, but it guided him in his journey up. He could feel it behind him, the dark consuming force behind him. The anger, the fear, the hopelessness and isolation. It might have been a hell hound snapping ravenously at his heels in its relentless pursuit.
Michael fell once, catching himself with his hands. They stung and burned from the palms slapping into the unforgiving stone, but no matter the pain he ran again. The light guiding him higher and higher. It was like Nightmare Rarity was running alongside him all the while, her words of encouragement whispered strongly into his ear.
"Run."
He knew not where her voice came from this time. His mind? Above? All around? Michael heard whispers all around, too distant and quiet to make out, but their malice was evident. But he ignored them. They had no power. His resolve built in him stronger and stronger, so powerful and glowing he could've sworn it shined from him. His heart pounding in his chest so hard he felt it might burst out from him. But he cared not, to him there was no other choice.
How long had he been running? He honestly could not say. It could have been seconds, minutes, hours...even years. Either way he reached the top to see a huge mirror before him. It expanded from the floor to the ceiling. It was flawless, only he himself peered back. Michael cautiously looked behind him, the stairs were gone now. Only a pit of black lay behind him now. He have a sharp intake of breath at that and slowly turned back to the mirror to see himself.
The reflection was the same in every way and he was still. Now did he understand. The feelings of hate and fear, isolation and despair left him like an exorcised demon. Flying away to the icy blackness to which they rightfully belonged.
Michael ran.
For the briefest of moments there were two Michaels running at one another, their stride the exact same. But Michael ran not out of fear, but to freedom. He crossed his arms protectively over his face and jumped forward. His muscles burned like white hot fire. The two Michaels met, for a moment they were one and the same, but only one came through. The sound of shattering glass was like music as Michael broke through the other side, glinting glass soaring around him; the mirror behind him falling to pieces all at once, and he fell towards a radiant sapphire glow. It shone brighter and stronger with every passing second.
He smiled. Spreading his arms like they were wings he fell into it. The light should have been blinding to look into it, yet it was not. It consumed his vision, the warmth and love enveloping him endlessly.
Somewhere, he saw Nightmare Rarity smile.
----
Shining Armor and I made our way hurriedly up the stone steps, leaving the guards locked up in our one time cell. I glanced back at the pony, jingling the keys in my hand. There were three keys on the loop in total, so naturally I knew they must go to something.
"What else are these for?"
"One is for the door right here, one is for the armory," he replied, looking over this shoulder as I began unlocking the old iron door that led down to the dungeon. It dreadfully creaked as I pulled it open...to see a plethora of guards waiting for us. Or rather, coming to a dead stop at the sight of us, baffled. Like they were expecting someone else, or perhaps not expecting anyone at all. The room itself was wide, a large wooden desk and chair sat off to the side, unattended, a door behind the guards and one off to the left. I suspected the left was the armory.
Either way, there was no time to dwell.
We rushed at the guards head on and vice versa, using the spear I commandeered off the guards back at the cell I block two swords. I found myself wishing I had a better weapon as I smacked them aside with my weapon. It was awkward for me fighting with something pony sized, I swiped at a soldier, but he avoided it easily before promptly leaping right at me. I grunted, spear falling uselessly to the ground as I was lifted off my feet and smashed hard onto the stone. The wind knocked straight out of my body. The soldier glared at me with murder in his eyes, a dagger drawn, raising to plunge it directly into my heart.
Despite my pain I sent my fist plowing squarely into his nose, despite his apparent crystalline form striking him was no different that striking flesh and bone. He dropped his weapon but retaliated with a punch to my jaw, my eyes watering. But my need, my drive to find Nightmare Rarity at all costs overtook any pain I felt. Snarling, I shoved the pony off, a free hand grabbing the dagger. I heard the clanging of armored hooves running up behind me and without hesitation I acted. Swiveling around I drew the dagger across the attacker's snout. My first attacker pounced on me from behind with a triumphant laugh, his comrade backing away with howls of pain at his bloodied face.
My fingers, shaky but determined undid the tie I still had around my neck. The soldier must have been surprised to see me untie my tie in the midst of a fight. But I doubt it equated to whatever he was thinking when I wrapped it around his own neck. With a roar of my own I heaved him up and over, bringing his helmeted head crashing down to the floor. But I didn't stop there.
Two soldiers dashed towards me, swords at the ready. With another bellow I swung the unconscious pony, tie still around his throat, battering the two away from me. Wheeling around I saw the bloodied pony approaching me, vengeance in his eyes turning to fright and bafflement. I must've looked like an utter madman: Hair a disheveled mess, eyes bulging, a scream that hurt my throat erupting from me as I heaved my makeshift weapon over my head and brought him down onto the other. The clattering of armor and bodies breaking together resonating loudly. For good measure I repeated the action, panting and gasping as the room began to grow quiet once more.
"You know, in all my years I never thought I'd see someone use somepony else as a club."
I looked over at Shining Armor, noting the other soldiers either unconscious or dead behind him. He had a slightly bruised lip and a cut on his side, but other than that he seemed fine. "Showoff," I chuckled in a rasp.
"What?" He replied with a grin, glancing over behind him. "I wasn't Captain of the Royal Guard for nothing you know." He walked over, extending a hoof.
"I'll check the armory for anything, you rest a bit. I don't think anyone's face is supposed to be that red." I obliged and sat down while he went over to the door on the left. Still breathing heavily I eyed the other door. It was wooden and unassuming. Plain for a dungeon. Exhaling I stood up, making my way towards it, faintly registering the jingle of keys and the noise of a lock being undone. My hand outstretched towards the doorknob...
"No Michael don't!"
I was already twisting it when Shining screamed his words, but I was blinded by a flash of green. It washed over my vision like paint running down a wall, I felt myself falling. The green shifting to crushing blackness.
-----
The doors to the castle were blasted open, they hung limply on their great hinges as shadowy beasts flew in. Arrows shot through the air, missing the majority and sticking harmlessly in the walls. Green and purple flames flickered in the wind as the battle poured into the castle. Like its exterior, it had undergone extensive remodeling. Black walls sheathed in the ugly and uneven crystals, resembling an infectious disease of sorts that had overtaken a body. The floors were now a sleek gray, so clean it could act as a mirror. Bodies collided and cold blades clashed, Nightmare Rarity's armored form entered, flanked by several ghostly looking monsters with gleaming eyes of red and yellow. Satisfied at having broken into the castle, but she would not be fully content until Michael was with her once again and King Sombra was dead.
A soldier made the mistake of rushing at her, with a cold sneer she swatted him down, a gold glad hoof crunching into his throat. He struggled to breath and flecks of blood now dotted the floor as his life ebbed further and further away. Her elegant horn glowed and the doors were ripped off their hinges and hurled across the room. The boom of their impact reverberated it made almost everyone cringe, the doors pinning multiple soldiers beneath their mass. Without even batting an eye she progressed further into the castle itself, passing the broken doors and the ponies feebly struggling to free themselves. Several of her own subordinates still flanked her upon her command, she wasn't interested in fighting any guards or whatever else lay ahead. It had pleased her to crush her foes and humiliate those who stood in her way, but she knew it would be foolish to tire herself on such wastes when a bigger challenge lay ahead.
They rounded the corner, her tail dragging like a cape until suddenly she stopped. A wavering gasp emitted from her and a shiver wormed it's way up her spine. Her guards paused in concern, each exchanging confused glances before daring to speak.
"My Queen? Is something wrong?" A beaked one with yellow eyes and a raspy voice spoke the inquiry, approaching hesitantly.
"Michael?" Nightmare Rarity's mind raced. From some distance she felt a surge of terror and uncertainty, loneliness and a wave of hopeless despair. She knew it was not her own feelings. Somehow, she had sense Michael's, wherever he was right now. And he was afraid.
"Let's move," she didn't even acknowledge the guard's question, striding right past him. Regardless they followed her, her pace verging on that of a run.
"Michael, wherever you are I need you to fight. Please, my love, hold on."
-----
Michael did not know where he was. It was a forest of sorts. A dead one. Not a single solitary sound save for his own ragged breaths and footsteps. There was no grass. No leaves of the trees. The trees towered over him, black trunks seemingly went on for eternity, the claw like branches all upturned to the icy gray sky. The sky more unending than them. The claws outstretched for a hope that would never come. There was no sign of a sun or anything providing the light, yet impossibly so there was light. Michael breathed heavily, sweat glinting on his forehead and his legs were beginning to hurt. Something of a whimper and a sob escaped him, rising up into the claws of the trees.
Something was behind him, all around him. All seeing and unseen by him. The presence threatened to indulge him in it's freezing despair and fiery hate.
"Michael, wherever you are I need you to fight. Please, my love, hold on."
His heart did back flips in his sternum, bouncing off his bones, he would recognize that voice anywhere.
"Nightmare?"
There was no response. Only the emptiness.
"Nightmare! Please where are you!?" He cried. He knew he was not insane. He had heard her. Michael hadn't even registered it at first but his legs were carrying him forward faster than he thought he could run, muscles howling in agonized protest, but still he ran from the all seeing feeling that pervaded the forest. The very air around him was alive with it.
He burst out of the forest...a spire lay several meters away. It was like a castle or fortress of sorts. It jutted from the cold ground. Jet black and without flaw. It was more frightening than the forest. It had no door, just a gaping maw ready for him and him alone. Michael may has well have been in flight as he drew closer and closer to the abyss that awaited him. The second he entered the darkness a door thunderously slammed shut behind him and he was entombed. It was like he was in the deepest depths of the ocean. Crushing darkness, not a speck of light.
Alone.
-----
Once Nightmare Rarity stopped in her tracks, finding that fear and crushing hopelessness wash over her again. Her gaze towards the ceiling now, but she appeared to somehow look past it and beyond the sky itself. As though she were seeing something that only she could witness with her own sapphire eyes.
"Michael." She spoke clear and strong, startling her guards, in fact they actually looked around. Confused.
"You need to run. Where ever you are, no matter how far apart we seem, I am here."
Without another word the feeling vanished soon as it came and she proceeded onward. She could feel the eyes of her guards behind her, looking at her as though she had gone completely insane. Her mane whipped as she turned back to them with a dangerous look in her eyes now.
"Come on, we haven't got much time."
-----
"Michael.You need to run. Where ever you are, no matter how far apart we seem, I am here."
Again her voice came to him, strong and reaffirming. Light suddenly glistened from along the walls, spiraling up and up in the darkness above. Stairs. Hundreds of them lay before Michael, his heart hammered in his chest, but his love for her and his need to conquer this unseen force emanated from his being. However scared he might be. And once more he ran. His footsteps fast and heavy, echoing. The light an unearthly blue, but it guided him in his journey up. He could feel it behind him, the dark consuming force behind him. The anger, the fear, the hopelessness and isolation. It might have been a hell hound snapping ravenously at his heels in its relentless pursuit.
Michael fell once, catching himself with his hands. They stung and burned from the palms slapping into the unforgiving stone, but no matter the pain he ran again. The light guiding him higher and higher. It was like Nightmare Rarity was running alongside him all the while, her words of encouragement whispered strongly into his ear.
"Run."
He knew not where her voice came from this time. His mind? Above? All around? Michael heard whispers all around, too distant and quiet to make out, but their malice was evident. But he ignored them. They had no power. His resolve built in him stronger and stronger, so powerful and glowing he could've sworn it shined from him. His heart pounding in his chest so hard he felt it might burst out from him. But he cared not, to him there was no other choice.
How long had he been running? He honestly could not say. It could have been seconds, minutes, hours...even years. Either way he reached the top to see a huge mirror before him. It expanded from the floor to the ceiling. It was flawless, only he himself peered back. Michael cautiously looked behind him, the stairs were gone now. Only a pit of black lay behind him now. He have a sharp intake of breath at that and slowly turned back to the mirror to see himself.
The reflection was the same in every way and he was still. Now did he understand. The feelings of hate and fear, isolation and despair left him like an exorcised demon. Flying away to the icy blackness to which they rightfully belonged.
Michael ran.
For the briefest of moments there were two Michaels running at one another, their stride the exact same. But Michael ran not out of fear, but to freedom. He crossed his arms protectively over his face and jumped forward. His muscles burned like white hot fire. The two Michaels met, for a moment they were one and the same, but only one came through. The sound of shattering glass was like music as Michael broke through the other side, glinting glass soaring around him; the mirror behind him falling to pieces all at once, and he fell towards a radiant sapphire glow. It shone brighter and stronger with every passing second.
He smiled. Spreading his arms like they were wings he fell into it. The light should have been blinding to look into it, yet it was not. It consumed his vision, the warmth and love enveloping him endlessly.
Somewhere, he saw Nightmare Rarity smile.