Chapter 15: Illusory enemies.

Twilight launched off a simple combat spell at the prone form in front of her. Since Celestia abhorred violence as much as Twilight does, her studies hadn't encompassed many combat orientated skills. However, the lightning bolt Twilight unleashed at Splintered Dreams was a commonly used spell in duels of the past, or so Twilight had learned in her studies of history. The flash as the bolt collided with a deep magenta shield summoned before her opponent showed that even the simplest spell could have phenomenal power, given the unicorn casting has sufficient will.

"Ah, the thunderbolt spell. A commonly used combat spell, precisely controlled as expected. However I cannot help but notice it was fraying at the edges. Your aim was impeccable, but you need to put more intent into your spells Twilight."

The older stallion stood up, his horn now sparking dangerously.

"I'm not a stack of hay bales ready to be lit on fire!"

A stream of deep purple flames flowed from the empty air surrounding Splintered Dreams before it lashed out, whip like, at Twilight, who barely managed to get a shield powerful enough to stop it before it clashed in an explosion of flames. Her shield dropped, her eyes wide.

Whipflame! Where did he learn a spell like that?

All through her pause of shock, Splintered Dreams remained standing where he was, waiting patiently.

"Oh Miss Sparkle? If I may draw your attention to the problem at hoof rather than in your head?"

She started and shook her surprise off.

Dammit Twi, stay focused now.

Summoning some of her own magic, she let it seep into the ground, summoning a simple shield before her of shimmering pink as she did so. Splintered Dreams tilted his head.

"Defense? Of course, you never really learned combat magic did you?"

His eyes flashed and suddenly he broke into a gallop, charging at Twilight with reckless abandon.

"Let me show you what it's really about!"

He crashed headlong into her shield, horn shimmering, only to stop moments later as a sudden torrent of roots exploded from the ground and twisted themselves around him, tangling him up in an inescapably intricate mass of roots. Twilight smirked.

"Gotcha. You know, I want to know what you look like. You know how I appear, what about you?"

He struggled to no avail as a thin tendril worked its way up and under his mask before wrenching it off. Her brows furrowed in both confusion and concern at what she saw.

Nothing. He had no face. The pair of strange eyes stared at her from a blank head. A head that split in two as an unseen mouth split into an evil grin filled with razor sharp teeth.

"Surprise!"

The entity behind the mask laughed before melting through the vines holding it in place. Twilight Backpedalled furiously as it reformed before her, still wearing the sadistically evil smile.

"Nice try Pupil of Celestia. Not nice enough I'm afraid."

A horn formed of its own accord upon the creature's head, beginning to glow a second later, driving Twilight to draw upon her own reserves to fire off a bolt of light mere milliseconds before a matching bolt of equally black shadow ripped its way off of the shadowy horn of her enemy and they clashed about half way, blowing both duelists off their hooves. Twilight landed heavily on her side, sliding the last few feet into a tree with a cry of pain.

Splintered Dreams, it seems, was not so lucky.

Twilight forced herself to her hooves and surveyed the damage. A few cracks in the ground where the explosion had dried it out, but no real damage to the surrounding area, just a heck of a shockwave. She found Splintered Dreams when she looked a little closer at the area almost directly in front of her, impaled upon a broken tree trunk. A large spike of wood, probably what was once a branch, had speared itself straight through his chest. Spots of blood were littering the ground beneath him as he struggled to free himself, getting weaker and weaker.

"I win. You lose."

His struggling stopped and he looked down at the mare before chuckling darkly.

"Never underestimate your opponent!"

The eyes closed and a violent hacking sound, emphasised with equally violent heaving startled Twilight, but her face went pale at what started coming out of his mouth as he finally brought up what his dying body had been trying to be rid of.

A stream of crimson blood poured out of his mouth, hitting the ground with a wet splat. More blood than any one pony is meant to have in them, Twilight was certain. It went on for some time before the body spasmed and went limp. Disgusted, but also curious as to why the dying stallion would do such a thing, Twilight stared at the puddle of blood. Or, what was once a puddle of blood.

It was morphing, changing. Twilight watched in fascinated horror as the form of a stallion was moulded out of the cloying liquid. First the general shape, then a tail sprouted from the mannequin like form of the mould, followed by a mane. It congealed and colour faded into it.

From behind the bone mask, standing in a pool of unused blood, watched Splintered Dreams once again.

"You never know when they'll have another trick up their sleeve."

---

"Coriolis. I need you to take the final barrier. That's our last defence. They broke through the last two. I want you to guard the final entry."

A single red eye snapped open, fixed upon an emaciated form shrouded in darkness.

"It is as you wish. Proceed with the ritual; I will handle the intruders…"

The silhouette evaporated, vanishing into the air. A pair of dead looking eyes shifted from the now empty space to a slow sweep.

"All of you will prepare the sealing glyphs and Starswirl's circle. I expect it to be complete by the time I return with Nyx and the princess. Do not disappoint me."

---

Twilight squeaked in pain under the onslaught of spells thrown at her barrier, pounding mercilessly at her, hungrily trying to reach her flesh. Her skull felt as though it was on fire and she'd never been more terrified, or more tired, in her life. Across from her was Splintered Dreams, laughing manically as he casted spell, after spell, after spell.

This shouldn't even be possible!

Twilight was, as the element of magic and personal student to Celestia, potentially the most powerful unicorn of this age. And yet, this demented unicorn before her was throwing away magical energies as though he had an infinite supply. Theoretically speaking, this shouldn't be possible for any mortal pony to do, regardless how skilled they were. Spells didn't take some random energy from nowhere to cast. Spells drew upon the life force of the pony casting them in order to bring them into being. As such, After such a bombardment of spells, the pony before her should have been on his knees, quivering in exertion. Instead, he was walking towards her!

Barely standing, Twilight growled in frustration and pain. Another strike from a powerful spell sent her and her shield skidding back, tearing up turf under her hooves.

Another strike like that and I'll be doomed!

Throwing caution to the wind, she forced her trembling legs to move, springing to the left as she let her field drop, narrowing avoiding the series of magical spikes sent her way, landing where she was standing not a moment before. Splintered Dreams followed her calmly, hurling fireball at her as she hit the ground. On instinct, Twilight casted a waterwall spell and the fire collided with it. In an instant it was doused, a burst of steam erupting from the wall before it froze solid and shattered as Twilight altered the spell, sending icicles flying towards her hated foe.

Another flare of flames as Splintered Dreams set the space before him aflame, causing the ice to hiss and melt before evaporating into steam, but not before a sliver sliced across the mask covering his face. He flinched.

Bingo!

Now on the offensive, Twilight began hurling spells at him, most of them small time combat spells she'd picked up here and there in her studies. He barely dodged a magic missile, ducked a finger of flame and got knocked off his feet when the ground beneath his hooves erupted outwards. He struck a tree heavily and hit the ground soon after, stumbling onto his hooves. He barely managed to get a shield up in time to block a steady stream of lashes from vines hanging in the surrounding trees. Twilight glared at him determinedly as she continued the lashing at his defences, trying to break through.

Then he laughed.

The laugh chilled her, making her eyes shoot open in shock as his shield subtly shifted in colour from deep purple to an equally deep blue. The vines struck the shield and froze solid instantaneously. He went from looking at the vines to looking at Twilight.

"Is that all you can do?"

The wheels inside of Twilight's head had started whizzing the moment she saw the snap freeze of the vines touching his shield and she smiled at him.

"Not quite!"

Her horn shone with an incandescence rivalling the time she moved the Ursa and, gripped within the hold of her telekinesis, thousands of leaves were ripped from their branches and flew at him. She saw his eyes widen.

"Clever Girl…"

They struck the shield as one, snap freezing in place. Her spell complete, Twilight slumped to the ground panting, observing her work. Around what once was Splintered Dream's ice shield was now a spherical barrier of snap frozen leaves at least three inches thick. Her view wavered, everything blurring in her fatigue and the immense pain in her head. And just as she was about to give into her fatigue…

"That was an excellent move Twilight Sparkle."

With a groan she turned around slowly. Standing before her, breathing heavily was Splintered Dreams once again. The distinctive smell of ozone indicated the use of a teleportation spell. A spell Twilight was positive only she knew.

"How..?"

He laughed quietly, straightening up.

"You thought you were the only one who knew of the teleportation spell? It's not a completely lost art you know."

Twilight watched as his horn began to glow, watched in absolute horror, her tired mind trying to find a suitable solution to the problem at hoof.

"Goodbye Twilight Sparkle."

At that instant her mind latched onto a memory.

A memory long since forgotten.

Twilight! What are you doing in here? This area of the library is restricted for a reason!

I'm sorry! I'm sorry Princess I-

Put the book back at once!

I… I'm s-sorry! I was just c-c-curious!

Hhhmph… Twilight Sparkle. There are spells and enchantments in these books not even I dare to even try to cast. Black magic is a dangerous practice. It's not, strictly speaking, outlawed, but it is severely frowned upon and most practitioners turn evil themselves. I want you to promise me never, ever to look upon these books again.

B..But princess!

No buts! Promise me!

I…. promise.

Good. I am very disappointed in you Twilight Sparkle.

I'm sorry…

Her eyes went wide as a set of pages leapt into her mind. A set of pages she was never meant to read.

That spell… is my only hope.

Calling upon the last of what she had, Twilight concentrated. A dark aura swirled around her and Splintered Dreams stopped, eyes wide in stunned surprise.

"W.. Dark magic? What are you up to Sparkle?"

The temperature around the glade dropped a good ten degrees and the grass at Twilight's feet began to wilt, threads of bright green energy flowing into Twilight. Dreams gasped in shock and horror and began to scramble backwards.

"W..What are you doing! Are you insane?"

Twilight opened her eyes and glared balefully at Splintered Dreams.

"You drove me to this. Now reap what you sowed!"

In that instant, she directed the fury of the spell to come crashing down upon the screaming stallion's head. He began to age before her eyes and strips of flesh started to peel off of him, resulting in fountains of blood which were caught before ever hitting the ground, vaporising into streams of red energy, also flowing into Twilight. She felt her mind clear, her fatigue vanish and the aura grew stronger, expanding around her. More of the foliage around her wilted, surrendering their life to her. The stallion before her, or what was left of him, let out a scream of agony as he collapsed, a stream of magical energy flowing out of his horn, the very conduit for raw magic, and into Twilight's.

Never before had she felt so powerful, so in control. It was intoxicating, she felt giddy, drunk with power. She started laughing exultantly, feeling the power of life itself at her hooftips before…

No! This is wrong!

She cut off the spell, her mind lucid once again and she gasped at the magical whiplash that occurred, wincing at the sudden explosive pain in her mind. It was gone as suddenly as it came and, concerned, she looked upon the remains of her enemy only to find nothing. She whirled around, fully refreshed, as she heard clapping from behind her. Sitting in a tree not six feet away, watched Splintered Dreams. He held his hooves up in surrender as Twilight reached for her magic.

"Wait! Wait."

Warily, she let the power slip away. He slid down out of the tree. It was now apparent to Twilight that he was panting heavily behind his mask.

"That was well fought Twilight, until that last moment. I didn't think you were serious."

Twilight scowled.

"You forced me into a corner!"

"Yes, but I had thought you would turn to your natural potential, not the dark arts."

His voice, jovial up to this point, dropped down into a serious tone.

"Twilight Sparkle. Not even I would have attempted that spell you just used. Soul Siphon is forbidden for a reason. No Dark Magic should be attempted in the field until years, decades of practice has been attempted, even then I do not suggest ever using it."

He turned away, cracking his neck leisurely.

"Now, I think that's enough action for one day. I think I've done enough to stall you. Go on then, go catch up to your friends. Or check on the other two back that ways. Either way…"

He tipped his mask, looking over his shoulder.

"Do try not to get killed."

Astounded, Twilight called out.

"Wait!"

He paused. Twilight bit her lip.

"If you… if you were up there, what was I fighting?"

A snort of amusement made Twi bristle indignantly.

"Apparitions, illusions. Nothing more than tricks upon the mind. But I had to pull back once you brought Soul Siphon into play. Not even my magic can deceive it."

He left Twilight in a mixture of anger, shock and awe as he walked away, completely ignoring her and the hoof tracks leading away from the place.

---

"Come on! It's not that far away now, hurry up!"

Rainbow all but danced in the air in her impatience, the others trailing behind, no match for her speed. They reached her location and she smiled.

"There! It's right there! The bridge is right-"

Her sentence was cut off with a loud yelp as she collided head on with a shimmering barrier, sliding down to the ground.

"Ow! Hey, another one of these stupid things!"

The others reached her and Defender growled in frustration.

"Nngh! Another? Rarity, you think you could break it?"

Rarity looked at the barrier dubiously.

"I… I'm not sure darling, I'm not Twilight."

"Do not bother to try…"

The group, startled, looked around. Defender, once again, growled in avid frustration.

"Just show your cowardly face already!"

"But I am right here, lest you mistook me for something else."

The swung around to face the bridge. Sitting directly beside the leftmost post on their side sat a thin, emaciated form completely swathed in dirty brown cloth. The only place not covered, in fact, was a perfectly precise eye hole, through which a single red eye gazed out at the group. The rags wrapped around his horn confirmed him as a unicorn.

"And right here is where you shall stay, until I say otherwise."