Chapter 18:

'Friend or Foe'

Celestia struggled but succeeded in getting back to her hoofs.

Standing not far away from her, was a Unicorn, covered from head to hoof in Pitch Black Armour. His long metal horn reflected the light of the flames that engulfed the abandoned village around them. The dark aura that surrounded him made him blend in perfectly with all of the black smoke that rose from the burning buildings and houses. His dark blue mane and tail slowly drifted in the air as the hot wind blew against them.

Charging up her horn, Celestia used her magic to heal some of the minor wounds she suffered during her first clash with the black armoured shadow.

After healing her wounds, the white Alicorn stood tall once more and narrowed her eyes at the black Unicorn. "This Unicorn may have the same aura that Sombra had, but he is certainly not Sombra." She muttered to herself.

The black armoured Unicorn continued to stare at her in silence. Celestia looked at the ruins of the town around them and let out a sad sigh as she turned back to the Unicorn. "All of this destruction, an entire town obliterated. I should just be grateful that the guards managed to evacuate everypony before any innocent lives were lost." She whispered to herself.

Celestia narrowed her eyes at the dark beast before speaking again. "Tell me, who are you? What reason do you have for causing such destruction?"

The black armoured Unicorn just remained motionless as he stood, but his glowing red eyes from the thin slits of his helmet clearly indicated that he was still looking at her. No words came from him, instead, he let out a low, beastly growl.

Celestia was taken slightly aback by his growl.

"Please...calm down..." Celestia said hoping to settle everything without any violence, she looked back at the armoured shadow and spoke again. "If you are capable of speech, I merely ask that you answer me, who are you? What are you?"

For a long moment, no reply came, the dark Unicorn merely remained silent and motionless as he looked at her. Eventually however, she got what she wanted, he replied.

"Storm...Rage..."

It sounded like a whisper, but at the same time, it sounded like two voices that spoke at once. One a whisper, the other a demonic growl.

"Stormrage?" Celestia replied as she raised a brow in confusion.

Celestia narrowed her eyes as she noticed the dark fiery aura around Stormrage slowly began to cover his entire armoured body. Then, it let off a small black explosion, forcing Stormrage to scream out in pain.

The Alicorn Princess watched in horror as Stormrage dropped to his knees, screaming and roaring.

Then, he looked back up at her.

Screaming like a mad beast, he swiftly leaped towards her.

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Celestia found herself back to the present after recalling her very first encounter with the Mad Unicorn, that had happened a good while ago. Stormrage proved to be a fierce opponent, and their fight even led up to the sky, but in the end, the Alicorn had managed to use her magic and struck him down. The last she saw of him, was when she struck him with a powerful magic beam, blasting him into the ocean, he never came back up after that.

The Princess believed that he had died that day, but now here he was, standing before them, looking exactly the same as he did back then. As if the situation in Equestria wasn't bad enough with Metal Wing and the Iron Empire, now they had to deal with Stormrage, a Unicorn who she believed to be under the influence of King Sombra's darkness. And the Mad Unicorn was just as powerful as the dark King.

While everypony stared at the armoured shadow in horror, Metal Wing merely looked on in confusion. 'What monstrosity is this? Is Luna responsible for this thing?'

Fluttershy slowly backed away from the group. "That...that was the same Unicorn. The same Unicorn that I...that I saw in my nightmare yesterday."

Rarity faced her friend. "Fluttershy dear, are you saying that...that thing over there was what made you scream yesterday morning?"

The shy Pegasus nodded.

"Oh dear..." Rarity faced the Princesses and continued. "Princess Celestia, you act as if you know who that Unicorn is."

Celestia nodded. "I do. I fought against him some time ago. I thought he was dead, clearly I was mistaken."

"Grrr..." Stormrage's growl caught their attention.

Twilight carefully made her way back to the Princesses sides and said, "Why is he here?"

Luna shook her head. "We don't know Twilight Sparkle...the motives of this mad beast are a complete mystery to all."

Rainbow Dash looked up at the sky and pointed at something. "Look! Up there!"

Besides Stormrage and Metal Wing, everypony else looked up and saw a large number of Pegasi flying towards them.

"Is that our guards?" Celestia asked.

Before Luna could reply, the Pegasi all landed around Metal Wing. They were all wearing dark grey armour, and their numbers were atleast around thirty. "Lord Metal Wing." That answered Celestia's question.

Metal Wing smirked. "Ah my troops, right on time."

Celestia narrowed her eyes at them before turning to Luna. "Luna, where are our guards?"

Luna looked up at Canterlot which they could see in the distance. "I alerted all of the guards and ordered them to come to us as soon as they were all ready, I don't understand why they have not shown up yet."

Those words only made them more nervous. Not only were they facing down Metal Wing himself but now he had his troops to support him, and with Stormrage at the side, that only made things worse. They started to worry a little as they saw no signs of their guards leaving the large white castle that sat on the side of the mountain.

Turning her attention back to her enemies, Celestia quietly said, "Listen, without all of the Elements of Harmony, there's really nothing we can do here. We must prepare ourselves for the worst."

Luna and Cadence nodded and charged up their horns.

Finally, the Mad Unicorn moved from his motionless state, and turned his head towards Metal Wing and his guards, much to Celestia's surprise.

Metal Wing noticed this and also faced the armoured shadow. "So dark one, you wish to face me?"

Stormrage growled at him.

Chuckling at the wordless reply, Metal Wing charged up his horn. "I've no time to deal with you, so I'm afraid I'll have to make this quick."

With that, Metal Wing fired a large silver beam at Stormrage, the latter who was engulfed in a large silver explosion.

Believing it to be over, Metal Wing was about to face Celestia again, until he caught sight of the flaming shadow inside the smoke, standing still, unfazed and undamaged by his attack. "What?"

A dark purple glow surrounded Stormrage's long metal horn for a moment before it quickly faded.

Narrowing his eyes, Metal Wing took his hoof off of the unconscious Starlight and fully faced the black armoured Unicorn. "I see you're the persistent type. Unfortunately, persistence is a trait that very much annoys me!" He yelled.

Raising his hoof, Metal Wing said, "Archers! Strike this shadow down so I can finish my business here!"

Following the Iron King's order, ten Pegasus archers stepped forward and aimed their bows at the Mad Unicorn.

Rainbow Dash shrugged as she landed back on the ground. "Well, looks like he's a goner."

Luna didn't take her sights off of Stormrage as she replied. "Don't be so quick to jump to conclusions Rainbow Dash..."

"READY...AIM..."

Stormrage stretched his foreleg out. The shadowy aura around him twisted until it formed something in his hoof. It was long, black jagged spear.

"FIRE!"

The archers fired a volley of arrows at the Mad Unicorn.

To everyponies horror, Stormrage swiftly rushed forward at a monstrous speed and skilfully swung his jagged spear at each arrow, cutting them all down before they could even strike him.

"What?!" One of the archers said in disbelief.

Metal Wing narrowed his eyes and raised his hoof. "Again! FIRE!"

Once more, the ten archers fired a volley of arrows at Stormrage.

But the Mad Unicorn, once again with his jagged spear, swiftly struck down each arrow in mid-air before they could even get close to him.

Growling at his archers failed attempts, Metal Wing raised his hoof once again. "All troops! Ready your bows!"

The other twenty Iron guards lay down their spears and pulled out their bows, joining the formation as they prepared to fire their arrows.

Metal Wing smirked as he prepared to give the order. 'Thirty arrows, let's see you try and stop this, Mad Unicorn.' He thought before giving the order. "FIRE!"

The thirty archers did as they were told and fired another volley of arrows, this time, the arrows numbers were larger.

Stormrage however, shocked them all when he stood up on his hind legs and stretched out his other foreleg, a black jagged blade forming in his hoof. With two weapons in hoof, Stormrage shot forward once again, swiftly shredding all of the arrows aside like they were nothing.

The archers did nothing but stare in horror as they watched the Mad Unicorn swiftly swipe away all of the arrows they fired at him.

"L-Lord Metal Wing...?" An archer said as most of them began to back away.

Growling, Metal Wing stepped forward and charged up his horn. "You are really starting to irritate me!" He used his magic to pick up all of the spears that his guards laid down, and levitated them all into the air. "Arrows are but mere sticks, spears on the other hoof..."

Stormrage stayed up on his hind legs and was clearly showing no signs of exhaustion, much to their surprise.

Twilight Sparkle just watched in shock, unable to believe what she was seeing. "What...what is he?"

Celestia and Luna didn't reply, as they were too focused on the exchange between Metal Wing and Stormrage.

Cadence slowly turned her attention to the unconscious Starlight. Knowing Metal Wing was no longer stopping them, Cadence charged up her horn quickly and teleported the unconscious Starlight right next to them.

"Starlight!" Twilight rushed to the unconscious Pony's side and held him in her forelegs. "Wake up! Wake up Starlight!" She gently shook him. Her friends moved to her side to also check on him. Thankfully, he was still alive. Remembering the wound on his head, Cadence wasted no time and immediately started casting a healing spell, which started to close up the wound.

"Good job Cadence." Shining Armor said as he placed his hoof on her shoulder.

Cadence smiled at him before turning back to the fight. Clearly Metal Wing was unaware of what she just did, although she doubted he cared at this point.

Metal Wing's smirk was replaced with a look of pure rage. "NOW DIE!" With that, he fired all thirty spears at the Mad Unicorn.

"UUAAAHHHHH!" Stormrage let out a monstrous roar as he threw his blade at the spears. The jagged blade itself cut through a few of the spears, much to Metal Wing's shock. The Mad Unicorn then swiftly swung his jagged spear at them, which cut through a few more spears.

The rest of the spears though were almost about to hit their mark, and Metal Wing smirked thinking he had finally won.

Unfortunately, he hadn't predicted what the Mad Unicorn would do next.

Stormrage charged up his horn and immediately incinerated all of the spears with a large fiery beam.

Metal Wing's eyes widened in horror upon seeing his attempt fail, but he didn't hesitate to throw one more attack at his opponent. "DAMN YOU!" He charged up his horn and fired a large silver beam at Stormrage.

The Mad Unicorn leaped over Metal Wing's beam and formed a jagged axe in his hoof. "HUAAHH!" He roared as he threw the axe at the Iron King.

Metal Wing, seeing the axe flying towards him, quickly evaded to the side, just barely avoiding it as the very tip of the axes blade scratched his helmet.

Enraged, Metal Wing turned and faced the Mad Unicorn again. "You...YOU! HOW DARE YOU!" His voice boomed in the air much like the Royal Canterlot Voice. Stormrage however, stood motionlessly and unfazed by Metal Wing's rising anger.

One of the Iron guards rushed to Metal Wing's side and kneeled down before him. "Lord Metal Wing! We should fall back for now! Even if you defeat that thing, you will be leaving yourself vulnerable to the Princesses!"

Hearing his guards words, Metal Wing began to calm down and slowly turned to Celestia and Luna, who were indeed still there, along with the others.

At the same time, the dark sky began to light up again and the eclipse slowly disappeared, revealing the bright sun once again.

Upon noticing Starlight was with them, Metal Wing sighed and turned his back to them. "We shall see each other again Celestia, I promise. We shall speak when that time comes."

Giving Celestia one last glance, Metal Wing flew up into the air and took off, followed by his Iron guards.

Celestia, Luna and the others all watched as Metal Wing and his troops faded into the distance, before setting their eyes back on the Mad Unicorn, who continued to stand motionlessly.

He didn't remain that way for long, as he slowly turned and faced them too.

Not knowing his intentions, the Princesses charged up their horns, ready to defend themselves and their subjects.

Stormrage slowly looked back and forth at each of them, his dark gaze remained on Celestia and Luna a little longer than the others, before he finally stopped at Cadence.

The Princess of the Crystal Empire knew he was looking at her, as did the others, which prompted Shining Armor to move in front of her. "Stay behind me..."

For a moment, Stormrage just looked at her, not moving an inch. Then, he slowly lifted his jagged metal hoof and reached it out to Cadence, and muttered something they weren't able to make out.

They were surprised, not that he wasn't attacking them, but the fact that he actually said something. More so, his voice was deep and had a growly tone.

Before any of them could reply however, Stormrage slowly faded into a cloud of black smoke, disappearing into thin air.

"What the...where did he go?!" Rainbow Dash shouted as she started to look around.

Celestia sighed. "He has left, there's no need to worry Rainbow Dash."

Twilight turned her attention back to the unconscious Starlight. "Starlight?"

No reply came. Twilight sighed and tightened her grip around him a little. "I'm so sorry. If I had just done something sooner, you wouldn't have been hurt."

Walking towards her, Celestia placed a hoof on the younger Alicorn's shoulder and said, "Nothing was your fault Twilight Sparkle."

Cadence kneeled down next to Twilight and smiled. "He will be okay, although..." She noticed how Twilight was holding Starlight and her smiled widened a little. "We better take him back to Canterlot where it's safe."

Celestia turned to Luna, the latter who was looking up at Canterlot in the distance. "I issued an order for the guards to come to us when they were ready, and yet, they haven't shown. I have a feeling a certain Prince of the North Kingdom has something to do with this." Luna said as she narrowed her eyes.

"If Dusk did have some involvement in stopping our guards from carrying out your order, I hope he had a good reason. Even I am curious right now..." Celestia replied.

As soon as she turned to the others, her expression became slightly worried when she saw the bandages around Shining Armour's body. "Shining Armor, what happened?"

Shining Armor chuckled a little. Before he could reply however, Pinkie Pie beat him to it. "He said it was that quiet Unicorn with the blindfold! Vanisher was it?! Yeah I'm pretty sure it was Vanisher!"

Rolling his eyes, Shining turned back to reply to Celestia, who was surprised by what Pinkie Pie had said. "I'm fine Princess, though I admit, Vanisher kicked my tail. But right now, I think it would be best if we all head back to Canterlot and rest. These mares deserve it after their hard work today."

Celestia smiled at him. "Indeed. When we get back, Luna and I will speak with Dusk. After that, I am very interested in hearing about how each of your searches went. I would very much like to know how all of you retrieved your Elements."

Fluttershy looked at the ground and closed her eyes. "Not all of us..." She muttered quietly, though it was loud enough for Celestia to hear.

Noticing the shy Pegasus didn't have her Element, Celestia was about to question what happened until, once again, Shining Armor spoke up for her. "We'll explain what happened with Fluttershy's Element later your highness. Right now, I think Starlight here could use a bed."

Nodding at his words, Celestia exchanged a look with Luna before the two Alicorn sisters charged up their horns.

"Hey! Wait! Wait for me!"

They all turned and saw something running towards them. "Hey Spike!" Pinkie Pie yelled out. "You will not believe what happened while you were gone! There was this big, angry-"

"Pinkie Pie. I think we can all save this topic for later, right now, we need to return to Canterlot." Luna interrupted.

Giggling, Pinkie Pie said, "Sorry about that."

Spike panted heavily as he dropped to his knees. As soon as he saw Starlight, his eyes widened a little. "What happened to Starlight?! Is he okay?!"

"He'll be fine, he's just unconscious." Cadence replied.

As Celestia and Luna charged up their horns, Spike asked, "So...what did I miss?"

Applejack let out a nervous sigh. "Trust me partner, ya don't wanna know."

With that, they all disappeared in a bright flash.

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With the exception of Sky Shadow, the Magisters of the North Kingdom casually walked through the hallways of Canterlot castle, discussing a recent event that has left two of them rather curious.

"I don't understand, why would Prince Dusk tell the Princesses guards that they were to remain in Canterlot?" Magister Snow Charm asked curiously.

Magister Burning Mace let out a low sigh as he replied. "Does it really matter?"

"To me it does!" Snow Charm said in a louder tone. "I heard that Princess Luna was ordering the guards to prepare themselves and meet up with them outside Ponyville! And then, as soon as the Princesses left, Prince Dusk told the guards to remain in Canterlot! Why would he do that?! He knew the Princesses were going to confront Metal Wing didn't he?"

Black Lance chuckled. "You trouble yourself over such trivial matters Snow Charm. Whatever reason the Prince had for doing such a thing, it is not our business to ask about it, unless he deems it so."

Snow Charm glared at the black armoured Magister. "You don't exactly sound worried Black Lance."

"Ha!" His loud laugh caught their full attention. "Why should I worry about Celestia and Luna? I'm sure they have enough Ponies worrying about their safety as it is. Besides, I don't like them, I figured you would have been aware of that by now." Black Lance said coldly.

Before Snow Charm could reply, Burning Mace spoke over her. "Too true. We are not their subjects Snow Charm, as such, we do not need to concern ourselves with their safety. Prince Dusk is our leader, we follow him, not the Princesses."

Snow Charm knew she couldn't win the argument against the two Magister's and sighed in defeat. "Nonetheless, I am still concerned about what he did earlier. I will have to speak with him directly about it, I can only hope Princess Celestia and Princess Luna aren't upset about this."

Burning Mace shook his head. "So? What will they do? The worst that can possibly happen is for them to cancel the alliance between us, and even then, they cannot afford to do that because they know that by doing so, they will end up fighting the Iron Empire by themselves. And Snow Charm, you know aswell as I do that it would be a suicidal move to face Metal Wing and his army without allies. Without the North Kingdom, Canterlot and the Crystal Empire would be defeated effortlessly."

Snow Charm remained silent.

Finally, Magister Freed spoke up. "You all bring up valid points." His words got their attention. "But know this, even if the alliance were to be cancelled, Princess Celestia and Princess Luna would only fight harder, and even without other allies to support them, they would still have something that would encourage them to keep fighting."

The three Magisters waited patiently as Freed took in a deep breath. "Each other. Even if the alliance were to be cancelled, they would still have each other for support, and that is all they would need to keep fighting. They would fight with everything they have, knowing they are doing their best to preserve peace and harmony for all of Equestria."

Giving a quick look at the three of them, Freed continued. "You would be wise to keep this in mind, when Prince Dusk and Princess Twilight Sparkle get married, the marriage itself will connect the Kingdoms. Twilight Sparkle will be our future leader too, as such, we will be her subjects, and because Princess Celestia and Princess Luna are slightly related to her, we will be their subjects too. So your talk of us not being their subjects is false, Burning Mace, and thus, invalid."

Burning Mace looked away from Freed and kept his eyes on the hallway in front of him. He wanted to reply so badly to that, but he had no words to retaliate with.

Freed looked on ahead also and continued. "As for what Prince Dusk did when he told the guards to remain in Canterlot, I'm sure he had a good reason."

Snow Charm raised a brow. "You think so Freed?"

Nodding, Freed said, "Of course. I've known Dusk since he was just a colt, I know him better than anypony else, and he has always had a good reason for everything that he does."

Black Lance chuckled.

"What do you find so amusing Black Lance?" Freed asked.

Facing him, Black Lance said, "Dusk started a rebellion against King Grande years ago remember? If I remember correctly, his reason for that was simply because he wanted Grande dead."

Freed nodded. "Though that isn't the full reason, it is still as good a reason as any. Grande was a corrupt Alicorn who needed to be put down. He took many innocent lives and killed whenever he wanted to, he even executed innocent residents of the capital city on various occasions."

Snow Charm cringed at the Magisters words.

Freed looked at Black Lance and continued. "Be glad that Dusk allowed you to serve him Black Lance, considering what you did."

"Hmph." Black Lance increased his pace and got ahead of them, eventually he disappeared from their sight.

As they were passing by the door to the library, Freed and Snow Charm stopped to enter, whereas Burning Mace continued to walk on, clearly eager to be alone.

Upon entering, Freed and Snow Charm sat down at a large table in the middle of the room.

"Freed, I'm curious..." Snow Charm said.

Turning to her, Freed said, "About what?"

Snow Charm looked at the large number of books on the shelves, upon seeing one with a title that interested her, she charged up her horn and levitated it down to her. "What do you think of the Element wielders?"

Freed wasn't surprised by her question and took a minute to think of a reply. "They are...an interesting group of mares."

"Really?" Snow Charm replied as she started to read through the book, a smirk making its way onto her face.

Chuckling, Freed continued. "The one called Rainbow Dash is quite the aggressive type, after what happened at the council, she was lucky Princess Luna stopped Black Lance from executing her. But nonetheless, she is confident in her abilities and wouldn't hesitate to help others in need, she may not show it, but she is a kind-hearted Pegasus. The one called Applejack, I haven't seen much of her, but from what I can tell, she is one of those Ponies who would be there for you whenever you need help."

Snow Charm smiled as Freed spoke his thoughts on the Element wielders. "Fluttershy, if I remember correctly, she was the Pegasus with the pink mane and tail. Just like her name, she is indeed shy. I will admit, I tried to start conversation with her earlier this morning before she and the rest of the Element wielders left to search for their Elements, but, well, she was just too shy." He chuckled a little. "Pinkie Pie, well, I honestly do not know what to say about her, she's quite...interesting. I've met many Ponies in my lifetime and let me assure you Snow Charm, I've never met anypony like Pinkie Pie before, the fact that she can just smile even after everything has happened recently is astonishing."

"Indeed." Snow Charm replied.

Freed took in a deep breath before continuing. "And Rarity...I tried to speak with her earlier this morning too, but she wasn't as talkative as the others, in fact, she barely even looked at me. I believe my armoured appearance may have frightened her. Nonetheless, she is a young and beautiful mare, and I do hope we can speak again, I'm quite eager to learn more about her and the rest of the Element wielders."

Snow Charm faced him. "Why don't you visit Ponyville?"

He pondered on that for a moment. "An interesting suggestion Snow Charm. Not only that, but Ponyville is their home." He faced her and continued. "Yes, I believe that would be a good idea. I could use the walk anyway, it's been a while since I took a casual stroll."

"Are you going right now?" Snow Charm asked.

Freed got up from the chair and prepared to leave. "Not today, tomorrow maybe. Besides..." He stopped for a moment and turned to the open doors where they entered, watching as a large group of guards were passing by, rushing down the hallway towards the throne room.

"The Princesses are back."