Chapter 9:

'Scattered Elements'

Luna could feel sweat slowly dripping down her head as she could feel herself being overpowered by Vanisher's magic. She had to give credit where credit was due, Vanisher's face remained blank even when he was using up a lot of magic to push her back.

Finally, the two beams exploded, sending both of them back a few steps. Luna took in a few deep breaths and faced the silent Unicorn again, and she couldn't help but stare in shock when she saw that he wasn't even close to being exhausted, in fact, the way he stood and the usual blank look on his face clearly stated he wasn't even exhausted at all.

Vanisher continued to watch her silently as she recovered from the blast. After taking another deep breath, Luna said, "I must admit, I'm surprised my sister never found you before. Had she found you before Twilight Sparkle, I wouldn't doubt for a second that she would have taken you under her wing instead."

Those words however, must have offended the silent Unicorn as he fired another beam at her.

Luna wasn't prepared for it, but luck remained on her side when a magical barrier suddenly surrounded her, blocking the beam. As soon as the barrier lowered, Luna and Vanisher turned to the one who conjured it up.

"Celestia!"

The white Alicorn Princess, Celestia flew over to her sister and landed next to her. "Are you okay Luna?"

"I'm fine." Luna said with a nod. "Though I suppose the same could be said for him over there." She added, gesturing towards Vanisher.

Celestia narrowed her eyes at the blind Unicorn. "How can he possibly fight with that blindfold around his eyes?"

Luna shook her head. "I really wish I knew the answer to that sister. The fact that he was able to effortlessly push me back is proof enough that we should not underestimate him."

Wanting to avoid meaningless conflict, Celestia stepped in front of her sister and faced Vanisher. "Silent one, I do not wish to inflict any harm, nor do I desire to fight, I merely ask that you listen to my words."

Vanisher's face remained blank but from the way he stood now, it was clear he was willing to hear Celestia out, much to her relief. "I do not know who Metal Wing is and I can state that we will defend ourselves if necessary, but I do not see the need to fight amongst ourselves when we can end this without any meaningless conflict or bloodshed. I merely ask of you, to surrender and I swear no harm will come to you or your allies, I will allow you to send your leader Metal Wing a message so that the two of us may meet and negotiate for peace."

Luna waited patiently and kept her eyes on Vanisher as he was no doubt processing what Celestia had said to him.

Unfortunately, the silent Unicorn's next move made his decision clear. He charged up his horn and fired a beam at Celestia. Luna retaliated and protected her sister with a barrier, just as Celestia did a moment ago.

"It would appear that he is not going to comply sister." Luna said.

Celestia sighed. "Please, I do not wish to-" She couldn't finish however, as Vanisher had fired another beam at her, to which Luna conjured up another barrier to protect her sister.

Acting quickly, Vanisher turned his attention to Luna and fired a beam at her, but once more, she blocked it with a barrier. Growing tired of his continuous attacks, Luna decided to fire back at him and charged up her horn once more. Despite her sisters protests, Luna fired a beam at the silent Unicorn, a beam that would only stun him temporarily.

However, Vanisher had another surprise in store for the Princesses. A blue light appeared before him and swallowed the beam up, after which, it disappeared. "What just happened?!" Luna said, her eyes widened in shock.

Her question was answered, when the blue light reappeared behind her and her sister. The next instant, her beam shot out of the blue light and ended up striking Celestia, bringing the white Alicorn Princess to the floor. "SISTER!" Luna cried as she rushed to Celestia's side. "SISTER! ARE YOU OKAY?!"

Slowly opening her eyes, Celestia said, "I...I'm fine..." She was too stunned from the beam to talk, let alone stand.

Luna glared at Vanisher. "HOW DARE YOU MAKE ME STRIKE MY OWN SISTER!"

Vanisher merely stared blankly at her, once again, no reply came from him. It was clear what methods the silent Unicorn used to defeat his opponents, but even then, that wasn't all of them and Luna knew it.

Celestia managed to find the strength to stand again and took in a few deep breaths. Luna supported her and said, "Celestia, I'm so sorry...I didn't mean for-"

"It's ok Luna..." She smiled weakly at the dark Alicorn before turning her attention back to the blind and silent Unicorn, Vanisher. "I do not wish to resort to force, but he has left me with no choice. Let us make this quick, I do not wish for him or his allies to be harmed." Celestia said as she charged up his horn.

Luna nodded. "I understand, I will do my best to end this quickly without inflicting any harm on him." She replied as she copied her sister and charged up her horn.

Vanisher's horn then charged up. What he did next surprised both Princesses.

A number of blue lights suddenly emerged from Vanisher's horn. There were atleast seven, and before Celestia and Luna knew it, the lights morphed, taking on a physical form.

"WHAT MAGIC IS THIS?!" Luna shouted as she and Celestia stared on in horror.

Standing beside Vanisher were...seven more Vanisher's, copies to be exact. "How is this possible?" Celestia said, unable to believe the sight before her.

The next thing the two Alicorn sisters knew, the eight Vanisher's charged up their horns and fired beams at them.

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Shining Armor dodged all of Kickback and Air Break's attacks as they continuously attempted to slash and impale him with their spears. Because there were two of them, he barely had a chance to attempt a counterattack, dodging was all he could do at the moment.

"Stay still Prince, I promise this will only hurt for a second!" Kickback shouted as he lunged at the Unicorn.

The red Earth Pony was coming at him from the front, while the large blue Earth Pony, Air Break, was circling around to get him from the side. Suddenly, a thought occurred to him.

Acting quick, Shining Armor buried one of his rear hoofs into the ground, he swiftly turned around and prepared himself for Air Break's attack.

"HA! TOO EASY!" Kickback shouted as he went to impale the Captain of the Guard.

However, his eyes widened with horror when Shining Armor kicked his rear hoof forward, splashing dirt all over Kickback's body, stopping him in his tracks, after which, the Unicorn blocked Air Break's attack.

Kickback stumbled away a few steps and looked like was having a panic attack as he looked at his body. "My coat...my coat..."

Shining Armor and Air Break both looked at Kickback as he screamed like a little filly, brushing off all of the dirt. "MY COAT! MY WONDERFUL COAT! THE HORROR! HOW COULD YOU POSSIBLY DO SUCH A HORRIBLE THING! THIS IS THE CRIME OF ALL CRIMES! A SIN IN ITSELF!"

Both captains were so busy watching the short red Pony brush the dirt off of his coat that they had almost forgotten their spears were still clashed with each other. Turning back to each other, Air Break made the first move and attempted to throw a punch, but Shining Armor saw it and quickly jumped back.

Acting quickly, Shining Armor swung his spear down at the large blue Earth Pony.

Though Air Break had pulled his hoof back in time, he was too late to block Shining Armor's strike, all he could do was let himself fall backwards to the ground, the tip of the spear slowly cutting its way across his face in the process.

Kickback's eyes widened in horror as he watched Air Break fall to the ground, blood slowly dripping from his face in the process. "AIR BREAK!"

Shining Armor stepped back and readied his spear again as he turned his sights to Kickback now.

Looking at his downed partner, Kickback shivered slightly as he glared back at Shining Armor. He knew he didn't stand a ghost of a chance against the Captain of the Guard, not by himself anyway. Shining Armor was bigger and stronger than him, if he attempted to fight the Captain by himself, he knew he would get his tail kicked, his options at this point were currently limited.

Option one, stay and fight, risk getting his rear kicked in the process and probably killed.

Option two, run away and try and escape, with a fifty-fifty chance of actually escaping.

Option three...commit suicide.

Kickback shook his head at that last one, whereas Shining Armor merely looked on with a confused look across his face. The red Earth Pony stood strong however and readied his spear.

Shining Armor couldn't help but smile slightly. "I admire your bravery, even knowing your opponent is stronger than you, you still stand and fight."

Kickback chuckled. "Just because I'm a medic, doesn't mean I can't fight, in fact, I can still fight with the best of them."

"Well then..." Shining Armor took a few steps forward, passing Air Break's body in the process, and pointed his spear at Kickback. "Fight me and prove it."

Narrowing his eyes at something, Kickback slowly stepped away from the Captain and smirked.

Shining Armor looked at him in confusion.

Just then, the garden doors slammed open, Shining Armor and Kickback turned to see Applejack running towards them. "SHININ' WATCH OUT!"

Shining Armor wondered what she was talking about, but finally understood what she meant when he heard a large roar behind him. Spinning around, he could only watch in shock as Air Break was back on his hoofs, swinging his spear at him.

Applejack leaped over Shining Armor's head and ended up slamming herself into Air Break in the process. The two were lying on the ground for only a short moment before they rushed back to their hoofs, Applejack quickly rushed over to Shining Armor and the two ended up back to back as they faced their respective opponents, Shining Armor against Kickback and Applejack against Air Break.

"Thanks for the save there Applejack, I really appreciate it." Shining said as he readied his spear again, Kickback did the same.

Applejack smiled at him. "Don't mention it partner, glad ah could help."

Kickback narrowed his eyes at them before looking at Air Break, noticing the blood dripping from the blue Earth Pony's right eye. "Air Break, you okay?"

Air Break wiped some of the blood off of his face before replying. "I'm fine! Let's just kill these pests so we can move on and get out of here!"

Noticing that Applejack didn't have a weapon, Shining Armor said, "Hey Applejack, are you going to be okay fighting him without a weapon? He's really strong you know."

Applejack smiled at him. "Don't you worry about me sugarcube, ah can handle this big guy. Ah beat him once and ah can do it again."

"ENOUGH TALK! LET'S END THIS!" Air Break shouted.

Applejack and Shining Armor braced themselves as Kickback and Air Break charged at them.

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"We will ask you one more time, surrender and return with us to the castle immediately."

Cloud Hunter narrowed his eyes at the four Pegasus guards as they kept their bows aimed at him. The plan to steal the Elements of Harmony and escape while remaining undetected had gone completely sour.

He and the rest of his fellow officers were currently fighting for their lives, and who knows which poor soul ended up facing Celestia and Luna. Blitz Bolt was the only one who had it easy. He could see the silver Pegasus flying all over the place, being chased by the rainbow streak that was Rainbow Dash.

"We will not ask again! Surrender immediately or we will use force!" A Pegasus guard said.

Cloud Hunter sighed and faced the guards again. He had already accidentally lost two of the Elements, and searching for them would be impossible with all of Canterlot after him and the others.

Wasting no time, he flew around the Pegasus guards and hammered his rear hoofs into one of the guards heads.

Seeing their ally fall, one of the guards flew down to catch him.

The two remaining guards fired arrows at the blue Pegasus. Cloud Hunter flew on ahead while dodging them, he couldn't help but growl as an arrow shot by his face, barely missing him. At the same time, one of the Elements fell out of the opening in the bag.

He decided against going after it, as even he knew it would be suicidal at this point, but he really started considering it when two more Elements slipped out. "This isn't working! I've only got one left!"

The blue Pegasus stopped flying for a moment and took the last Element out of the bag to see which one was left. He looked at it and noted the pink butterfly-shaped gem on it. "Hmph. Cute." He said before putting it back into the bag.

"INCOMING!"

Cloud Hunter turned around and his eyes widened with horror as he saw Blitz Bolt speeding towards him. At the last second however, Blitz Bolt managed to fly around him.

Just as he was about to be relieved at the close call, Rainbow Dash accidentally flew into him instead, making him lose his grip on the bag.

"No...NO!" Cloud Hunter shouted as he watched the bag fade into the distance below. The two other Pegasus guards arrived at the same time.

Blitz Bolt looked at Cloud Hunter, then at the guards, then back at Cloud Hunter. "Oops.."

"Enough running! Surrender or you will leave us with no choice but to take you down!" One of the guards said.

Rainbow Dash slowly backed away from Cloud Hunter as his head remained low, knowing she had just stopped him from completing his mission.

As he raised his head and glared at the two Pegasus guards, they all backed away as they saw the pure rage in his eyes. "AHHHHH!" Cloud Hunter shot towards and behind the guards. By the time they realised he was there, Cloud Hunter slammed their armoured heads against each other, knocking them out immediately.

Cloud Hunter watched coldly as they fell down to the forest below, while Rainbow Dash couldn't help but stare in awe at his speed.

Blitz Bolt narrowed his eyes at the tall blue Pegasus. "What now?"

"The mission is a failure, we need to return to the castle immediately and inform lord Metal Wing that we couldn't retrieve the Elements." Cloud Hunter explained.

Blitz Bolt rolled his eyes. "And you were getting on MY case about dropping and losing the Elements?"

Cloud Hunter glared at him. "Do you want to join those two guards Blitz Bolt?"

Shrieking at his threat, Blitz Bolt backed away and said, "I WAS KIDDING!"

Rainbow Dash looked back and forth at them, she was in between both of them but it seemed as if they were too busy talking to each other to notice she was there. "Why don't we just go after the Elements right now though?" Blitz Bolt asked.

Cloud Hunter shook his head. "They're scattered all over the place. Celestia and Luna's guards will have caught us way before we find even one."

Blitz Bolt scratched his head with his hoof. "But you know lord Metal Wing will not be happy if we return with nothing."

"There's no need to worry, I have another plan." Cloud Hunter explained. "Even if we have lost our chance at retrieving the Elements right now, as I said, they are scattered. It will be a good while before Celestia and her subjects even so much as find one, let alone all six."

Blitz Bolt smirked. "Ah...a temporary withdrawal then?"

Cloud Hunter sighed. "I shouldn't have overlooked the fact that something would have went wrong with this plan. But I was so sure it was flawless."

"Relax Cloud, strategy was never your department, that was always for a certain Unicorn who I won't bother naming." Blitz Bolt said.

Facing the silver Pegasus, Cloud Hunter said, "We return to the castle immediately. Blitz Bolt, you go on ahead, I'll go back into Canterlot's castle and get the others."

Rainbow Dash finally made herself known when she shouted. "You two ain't going anywhere!"

"Oh...I forgot she was even there." Blitz Bolt said with a grin.

"THAT'S IT! I'M TAKING YOU DOWN BLITZ BOLT!" Rainbow Dash shot towards Blitz Bolt and managed to get a hold of him.

However, just as the cyan Pegasus was about to punch Blitz Bolt with her hoof, something hard struck the back of her head.

The last thing Rainbow Dash saw was Blitz Bolt grinning at her as she blacked out.

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Celestia and Luna had done away with the seventh and final Vanisher copy.

Looking around the wrecked hallway, they couldn't help but sigh at the damage their fight had caused. They were only a little exhausted, but that didn't stop them from panting heavily as if they ran several miles without any breaks.

After exchanging looks with each other, the two Alicorn sisters turned to the source of their exhaustion, the blind and silent Unicorn, Vanisher, who merely stood not far ahead, staring blankly at them.

"His power...it's amazing..." Celestia admitted as she narrowed her eyes at the Unicorn.

Luna merely looked at her sister for a moment before turning to Vanisher also. "That only makes him even more dangerous Celestia."

Suddenly, Vanisher looked over his shoulder. Celestia and Luna saw a large group of guards rushing towards them. "Princesses! Are you okay?!"

"We're fine..." Celestia said.

The guards aimed their bows at Vanisher. "PROTECT THE PRINCESSES! MAKE SURE THAT UNICORN DOES NOT HARM THEM!"

"NO! NO DON'T!" Celestia cried out.

But she was too late.

The guards had fired a volley of arrows at Vanisher.

Vanisher's horn glowed again, and a large blue light appeared in front of him. Just like Luna's beam, the large blue light swallowed up all of the arrows, and disappeared.

"What the...what just happened?!" One of the guards said.

"RUN! GET OUT OF HERE!" Luna shouted.

Just as the dark Alicorn had told them to run, the same large blue light reappeared behind the group of guards, after which, the volley of arrows that were swallowed up came shooting back out and towards the guards.

"NO!" Celestia rushed forward but she was too late. The two Princesses could only watch in horror as the group of guards were struck down by the very arrows that they fired.

Vanisher looked down and saw a surviving guard crawling towards him. "I...I will not...allow you...to harm...the...Princesses..."

The guards wounds were bad but not enough to kill him it seemed. Just as he reached Vanisher, the silent Unicorn placed his hoof on top of the guards armoured head. The guard growled in pain as he felt Vanisher push his hoof down even harder, to the point that his helmet started to crack.

"STOP! STOP THIS AT ONCE!" Luna shouted.

Vanisher didn't stop however and continued to push down on the guards head.

Celestia clenched her eyes shut, refusing to watch.

Finally, Luna had enough. "WE SAID STOP!"

Opening her eyes after hearing the Royal Canterlot Voice, Celestia was just in time to witness Luna fire a powerful dark beam at Vanisher.

Turning to her, Vanisher had no time to react, as the beam slammed into him and sent him flying all the way to the end of the hallway and right through the wall, sending him plummeting outside.

Celestia rushed over to the injured guards side. "Are you okay?!"

The guard looked up at her and smiled weakly. "I...I'm fine...Princess...Celestia." His head fell and he went unconscious.

Celestia wasted no time in using her magic to heal up his more fatal injuries, if anything, he would atleast survive now. The same however could not be said for the rest of the guards.

Seeing all of them laying dead on the floor, Celestia quickly turned away, unable to look at the horrible sight. "It's...so awful...how can anypony do such a thing?"

Luna sighed. "They're evil sister...you need to accept that. Whatever your intentions are, whatever you hope to gain by reasoning with them, it won't work."

Celestia heard her sisters words but she refused to accept them. She still held on to a thread of hope that Vanisher and the rest of his allies could be reformed, no matter what evil deeds they had committed.

The question that remained was whether or not Vanisher was still alive after Luna's attack. Celestia, honestly hoped he was.

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Shining Armor, Applejack, Air Break and Kickback all panted heavily as they glared each other. After a long brutal fight between each other, the four of them remained standing, despite the exhaustion coursing through their bodies.

Shining Armor had a few cuts over his body, but nothing too serious. Applejack had dodged all of Air Breaks attacks but he had managed to cut her left foreleg a little, thankfully the cut wasn't too deep.

Air Break himself looked like he had gotten mauled by a Manticore. He was covered in dirt and bruises and blood still continued to drip down from the large gash on the right side of his face, his right eye itself was shut.

Kickback was covered completely in dirt, much to his horror, but other than that, he had no injuries, he had done a great job at avoiding all of Shining Armor's attacks.

Finally, after a long silence went by, Kickback said, "I'm done with this...Air Break...let's get out of here!"

Air Break growled. "No way...I ain't finished yet!"

"Don't be an idiot...let's go!" Kickback slowly stepped away from Shining Armor.

Shining however had no intention of letting them leave. "You're not going anywhere, if you're too exhausted to continue the fight then just surrender. Your wounds and injuries will be treated and the Princesses will decide what to do with you."

Air Break rushed towards Applejack, who was ready to strike. But she was surprised when the large blue Earth Pony rushed right past her, and instead, he ended up smacking his large hoof across the back of Shining Armor's head, bringing the Captain of the Guard right to the ground.

"SHININ' ARE YA OKAY?!" Applejack rushed to his side.

As she helped him back up, Applejack glared at Air Break who was once again at Kickback's side. "We'll see you later!" Air Break said as he rushed through the doors, followed by Kickback.

Shining Armor groaned in pain as he took his helmet off and placed his hoof on his head. "That's going to give me a headache..."

Applejack nodded. "Darn straight. That looked like a pretty painful hit if ya ask me."

"We need to go after them. Let's go." Shining replied as he faced her.

"Ah'm right behind ya." Applejack said as she followed him through the doors.

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A good amount of time went by, the castle guard had fully been rallied and had regrouped with Princess Celestia and Princess Luna. By the time Shining Armor and Applejack had met up with them, they all found Kickback and Air Break making a run for the entrance to the castle.

Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie and Rarity had caught up with them to help, while Spike was still all the way back in Twilight's quarters, tending to her.

Celestia and Luna, with their guards and the Element wielders by their sides, pursued Kickback and Air Break outside to the castle courtyard. Fortunately, the two Iron Empire officers were unable to escape, as the castles front gates were being guarded by a few archers and, surprisingly, Magister Black Lance.

"You two appear to be lost." Black Lance said in an amused tone.

Kickback and Air Break glared at the black armoured Pony. Before they could run back inside, Celestia, Luna and all of the others had emerged from the castle doors. The courtyard was eventually swarmed by hundreds of Celestia and Luna's guards.

A large number of Pegasus archers were in the air, their bows and arrows all aimed right at the two Iron Empire officers. At this point, Kickback and Air Break had no chance in Tartarus of escaping.

"Well...looks like we're bucked." Kickback said as he threw down his spear.

Air Break clutched the bleeding wound on his face for a moment before glaring at a few guards who tried to close in on them. He swung his spear at them.

"COME ON! I'LL SMASH EVERY SINGLE ONE OF YOU!" Air Break challenged.

All of the guards in the courtyard pointed their spears at them.

Finally, Celestia and Luna stepped forward, making their presence known to everypony in the courtyard. "You've lost, surrender now and face judgement." Luna stated.

Kickback narrowed his eyes at her. "I don't think so."

Fluttershy, upon noticing Air Break's bleeding face, turned away for a moment before facing Kickback. "Please...don't...don't fight anymore. Your friend is hurt real badly. Please just stop this, he needs help."

Air Break stomped his hoof on the ground. "This ain't nothin' compared to what I'm gonna do to anypony who dares to try and attack us!"

"Hm...that settles that then." Kickback said with a smirk.

Rarity rolled her eyes. "You ruffians are really troublesome you know that? You stand there exhausted and bleeding and yet you still refuse to surrender, what is wrong with you?!"

"A lot of things apparently." Kickback said as he sat down. "Seeing as how we're pretty much done for, enjoy what time you have left Air Break."

Just as Celestia and Luna were about to speak again, a blue flash appeared before them all for a brief moment.

Standing before them now, was Vanisher.

"Ah, Vanisher, glad you could join us." Kickback said.

Celestia and Luna saw a slight burn mark on Vanisher's chest, clearly caused by Luna's attack earlier. However, even so, Vanisher looked the same as always, blank face and no sign of exhaustion.

"Even if you are powerful, you are greatly outnumbered and outmatched, silent one. If you wish for you and your allies to remain unharmed, surrender immediately." Luna said.

Vanisher, clearly had no intention of surrendering as he charged up his horn.

Acting quickly, Celestia and Luna charged up their own horns and trapped the silent Unicorn in a barrier, preventing him from using his magic on anypony.

"Uh...there's goes our last chance of escape." Kickback whispered to Air Break.

Celestia faced the two and gave them a sympathetic look. "There has already been enough bloodshed today, please don't let this madness continue any further. Just surrender, you and your allies wounds will be treated and you will be given fair judgement."

Kickback raised a brow and turned to Air Break, who at this point had lost so much blood, ended up falling to his knees. "Air Break?"

"A soldier of the Iron Empire fights till his last breath." Air Break muttered, loud enough for all of them to hear.

With a sigh, Kickback glared at Celestia and Luna. "Bring it."

Before either Princess could respond, Rarity beat them to it. "Are the two of you insane?! Don't you care if whether or not you live?! If you know what's good for you, you will give up and save your lives right now!"

"And if you all know what's good for you, you will let them leave and save another's life."

Everypony turned to the source of the loud voice and saw...

"Cloud Hunter!" Kickback shouted.

Right enough, all eyes were on Cloud Hunter, the tall blue Pegasus, who stood at the top of the castles walls.

A large number of Pegasus archers aimed their bows and arrows at him.

However, Celestia, Luna, and the Element wielders eyes all widened with horror when they saw something under Cloud Hunters front hoof.

Frowning at them all, Cloud Hunter lowered his front hoof and placed it on the head of an unconscious cyan Pegasus.

"RAINBOW DASH!" Fluttershy, Applejack, Rarity and Pinkie Pie cried out.

Celestia and Luna could only stare in shock as the helpless and unconscious form of Rainbow Dash was at Cloud Hunter's mercy.

"Princess Celestia! Princess Luna! If you value the life of your precious Element of Loyalty, you will order your guards to stand down and allow my allies to leave." Cloud Hunter said.

The blue Pegasus slowly pressed his hoof down on Rainbow Dash's head.

"Or...risk losing a loved one."