Chapter Forty Seven: The Evils of Solamina.

***

Canterlot Palace. June 6th. Year 6 of the New Solaminan Calendar (2030).

The first clash of the two mighty warriors shattered every intact window left in the room in a shock wave of energy expanding outwards into the skies around Canterlot. The Avatar grunted, and shoved forward, pushing the ancient golden glaive his opponent wielded backwards, before lashing out, forcing Solamina on the defensive. He swung again, and again she blocked, so he swung again and again, forcing her back step by step with each attack.

"Humph," she snorted as she blocked the blows, clearly not impressed. "You have strength at least."

She spun her glaive, faster than the eye could see, before launching into a blistering series of attacks, so quickly that not even the Avatar could catch them all: a single blow glanced off of his left pauldron, and a second nicked his cheek. Grimacing, he blocked the glaive with a two handed grip, glaring at Solamina, before using Excalibur to force his enemy's weapon to point at the ground. Before Solamina could move, he had stepped forward, one hand lashing out to punch her squarely across the jaw. Stunned, she stepped back, barely blocking an overhand blow, before snarling and swinging her glaive straight at the Avatar. He blocked the blow again, before dodging her answering stab. He lashed out with his own blade again, and a small wound opened up on her flank. She cursed and stepped backward and the Avatar grinned.

"It seems you have skill as well," Solamina added, a small, unreadable smile suddenly forming on her face. The wound on her flank closed up in a shimmer of light "I can see this will be even more of a challenge than I had already anticipated."

"That's interesting," the Avatar said, the grin not leaving his face. "I had exactly the same thought."

Solamina's smile disappeared, and snarling, she struck again, forcing the Avatar to return to the defensive. She lashed out again and again, stabs, hacks, thrusts, slashes, and yet he blocked them all, though he gave ground with each strike. Cursing, he dodged the next blow, before lashing out with a gloved hand, striking Solamina across the face again. He stepped back, holding Excalibur in a forward guard, and smirked slightly as Solamina shook her head and growled.

"You… impudent… wretch!" the Sun Tyrant snarled, lashing out with her glaive. He blocked the blow, pushing the blade out of the way before lashing out again. She jumped backwards, narrowly dodging the blow. "I will kill you!"

"We are fighting, Sun Tyrant," the Avatar said mockingly, grinning at her impishly. "That is the point of all this swinging of bladed weapons that we’re currently doing." He mimed swinging his sword in a fencing move, grinning even wider as he did so as he noticed her infuriated reaction. "Did no one ever teach you this in the days when you were a Princess on a plush cushion, or has ruling an Empire of billions of stolen souls merely frazzled your mind?"

Solamina growled in frustration, lashing out with her glaive again, fast enough to slice the Avatar’s cheek open. Grunting, he riposted, driving her on the defensive, before lashing out again with an overhand blow that forced her to bring her weapon up to block. Even as she watched, the wound on his cheek healed in a glow of golden light.

"We are evenly matched, monster," the Avatar commented.

"Perhaps," the Tyrant conceded with gritted teeth. She brought up a hoof and smacked him across the jaw, sending him reeling slightly, before spreading her wings and hovering into the air. The Avatar shook his head slightly, clearing it, before looking up at her with wide eyes.

"Are you going to come back down here?" he asked casually. "I think I would like to get back to defeating you."

"I think not. This blade work bores me," she replied, narrowing her eyes at him, her words dripping with venom. "While I could easily best you blade to blade, I think I will end this now."

A moment later, her horn started glowing. The Avatar had a moment to wonder what exactly she meant, before a blindingly bright flash of light enveloped his vision and there was a sound like thunder crashing in his ear…

***

Twilight raced down a corridor, her friends and allies behind her as she galloped at full pelt. No Guards blocked their way - Twilight had to wonder whether the invading forces had managed to grab their attention, or whether Sir Elise and her knights had managed to hold most of them up.

Truth be told, she didn’t like the idea of leaving Elliot alone to fight Solamina… but that was a fight that she and her friends could never hope to make a difference in, no matter how well trained they were. Like it or not… it was the Avatar’s battle, not theirs.

"We shoulda stayed," Rainbow was muttering. Twilight felt for her - of all of them, she was famed for her sense of loyalty, so abandoning their friend to his battle must have rankled her the worst.

"There was nothing we could do," Springfield said grimly, though he looked no happier about it. "We wouldn’t be able to even tickle the Tyrant."

"Tickling her might've worked," Pinkie said cheerily. "But I think Elliot wants to do a bit more."

Springfield didn't reply, except to make an odd clucking noise at the back of his throat.

"So what do we do now?" Applejack asked as she galloped beside Twilight. The former farmpony looked troubled as well.

"We do like the Doctor says," Twilight replied grimly. "Meet up with the forces starting their landing and try to help them take the city."

"Yay, reunion!" Pinkie said. "Do you think Lyra and True Grit will be there?"

"I hope so, Pinkie," Twilight said. "I hope so."

They ran out of the corridor into a courtyard, at the opposite end of which was a gateway that led down to the streets of Canterlot. Once it had been green and verdant, but now there were several Pegasi Guardspony bodies lying around, casualties of the battle in the air. Rainbow and Fluttershy both looked grim, both of them wondering whether any of their friends in Grey Squadron had suffered the same fate.

"It must be bad up there," Springfield commented.

"Must be," Fluttershy repeated, sounding very quiet.

"I'm sure everypony's ok, Fluttershy," Pinkie said, but though the party pony's voice was bright, her expression carried an element of falseness that everypony picked up on all too well.

"Come on," Twilight said grimly. She led the group across the courtyard, but stopped as a figure stepped out from the gateway and blocked their path.

It was a mare. She was wearing golden armour, but beneath it the purple coat and mane could still be seen. Her eyes narrowed in disgust at the group, especially Twilight herself, and she smirked slightly as she stepped into the courtyard.

"Is that...?" Rarity asked, eyes wide.

"Commander Twilight Sparkle," the Doctor said, eyes narrowed.

At the old pony's words, Sparkle narrowed her eyes at him, a slight smirk on her face.

"Do I know you, old timer?" she asked mockingly as she approached the group, almost sauntering,

"You did once," the Doctor replied, his voice low and dangerous. "I am the Doctor. In Ponyville, I was called Doctor Hooves. I escaped from you the day Celestia declared Equestria an Empire and took the name Solamina. You killed Spike the dragon that same day."

"Ah yes, Doctor. You've definitely changed a lot," Sparkle noted with an interested expression. "Some secret you hold, no doubt. I'll be sure to extract it from you."

"You won't touch any of my friends," Twilight hissed angrily. "You won't harm anyone ever again!"

Sparkle's eyes turned now to Twilight, eyeing her up and down, before doing the same to each of the Element bearers, glancing from one to the other as if shocked that each and every one of them was, in fact, her old friends.

"So you're the broken mirrors," she said idly after a long moment. "I'm surprised you even dared to show your faces here - everypony in the Guard knows about you poor copies."

"Who're you calling a poor copy?!" Rainbow swore, growling at the evil image of her friend.

"Well, it's nice to know you're no different, Rainbow Dash," Sparkle commented. "Though my Rainbow Dash at least knew enough to be on the right side."

"And look where it got her," Rainbow replied with a nasty smirk, before miming a blade going into her own throat. Sparkle scowled.

"Don’t mock my friends, you little whorse," she said angrily. "I could squash you like a bug."

"Friends?" Twilight said, stepping forward. "Friends? What right do you have to talk about ‘friends’?! You killed Spike! And then you… you…"

"What happened to Spike was necessary," Sparkle said coldly, cutting her off. "I wouldn’t expect a poor copy to understand."

"Understand this," came an angry voice. "Down!"

Instinctively, the ponies in Twilight’s group ducked as Desert Wind and Springfield fired the P220, the minigun raging as it fired directly at Sparkle. For a moment it looked as though she was about to be torn apart - but then, just as the spray of hot metal was about to hit her,her horn glowed a shimmering purple, and a purple domed shield appeared, blocking every single bullet.

"Desert Wind," she said idly, looking at him as a small malicious child might look at an ant. "It’s been a long time. Still as hard headed as ever, I see."

"Go to Tartarus!" Wind yelled, dropping the P220. "I’ll tear you in half, you bitch!"

He charged straight at her, grabbing his blade between his teeth. Almost bored, Sparkle idly sidestepped his charge, before dodging his thrusts and slashes. Her horn glowed, and a blade slid from a scabbard on her back. She moved slightly, and it whipped out, knocking Wind’s blade away. Snarling, he lashed out, knocking her blade away in turn with one hoof, but then Sparkle’s horn glowed again and a bolt of light caught Wind’s left foreleg. Going down with a scream of pain, he snarled and tried to move to hit her, but her horn glowed again, and he was lifted into the air by her magic.

"You were saying?" she asked, sounding as though she was bored by the whole display. He twisted in her grip. "Oh yes, that’s right…"

There was a wet tearing sound, and suddenly the two halves of Desert Wind were thrown in opposite directions, the expression on the pony’s face one of shock and anger as sightless eyes still glared balefully out at nothing.

"You said something about tearing in half," Sparkle said idly. "Like that, I assume. You know…" she paused, grinning slightly, "having done it, I think I can see the appeal. If Spike were here, I’d have him take a note."

The other members of the group looked horrified at what they had just seen. Desert Wind had seemed one of the strongest of them, and she had bested him and torn him apart as though he were nothing at all. And now she was joking about it...

"You… monster," Twilight hissed, eyes wide in fury at the entire display. "First Spike, now Desert Wind! I’ll kill you!"

"You know," Sparkle said quietly, "I really think she might have something to say about that."

From the same doorway she had come, a dark aura suddenly exploded outwards, dousing the entire courtyard in shadow as a tall, armoured and regal figure appeared. For one insane moment, Twilight thought she was looking at Solamina - but it couldn’t be, she was in the Astronomy tower, fighting Elliot…

And then the figure stepped out into the open where everypony could see her, and Twilight realised with terrifying clarity that it wasn’t Solamina at all.

Dark blue fur and a flowing blue mane blew in a wind that had picked up across the courtyard, almost obscuring the cutie mark of a moon. Blue armour glinted, as though freshly polished. Still limbs carried the regal figure forward. A head moved slightly, an awkward cracking and popping sound coming from the bones every time the head so much as twitched. Blank, dead, staring eyes glared balefully at the group of ponies. A mouth opened, exposing yellowing teeth, and a fell, keening wail sounded across the courtyard, freezing the hearts of all who heard it. Pinkie covered her ears and closed her eyes, her face a mask of discomfort and fear. Applejack took a step back. Rainbow moved in front of Fluttershy as if to protect her from the thing that was in front of them, while the butter yellow Pegasus herself was shaking where she stood, petrified. Rarity shrank next to Twilight’s side. Twilight herself just stood there, beyond horrified as the reality of what she was seeing, what must therefore have happened, hit her.

"No," she said quietly, shaking her head slightly. "Oh no."

The body of Princess Luna of Equestria looked down at the ponies - the same magic that had resurrected the mockery that had once been Spike clearly once more at work, though Twilight had held some small hope that it had only been used that once.

"Luna," Sparkle said blandly, standing next to the body with a slight smirk on her face. The creature looked down at her uncomprehendingly, the neck cracking more as the head turned. "These ponies are your sister’s enemies. Kill them."

The thing looked back at the ponies with a new malice in it’s dead eyes. Another keening wail escaped from it’s mouth as it lumbered forward, horn glowing with rotten blue magic as it prepared to tear them apart…

***

Canterlot Station.

The train from Ponyville came into Canterlot station slowly, the steam engine looking battered and the carriages looking worse. The body of a Pegasus Guard was hanging from a window, a door to one carriage was open, several windows were broken and there were spears lodged into the wood of the carriage.

Royal Guards raced to cover the station, unicorn horns aiming at the train warily. A moment passed.

"Is anypony even on that thing?" somepony asked.

Suddenly there was a clanging noise. A small metal object had been thrown from one of the windows, clanging on the floor of the train station’s platform before landing at the feet of some of the guards.

"What the buck is that?" another Guard asked. The small thing was vaguely pineapple shaped, green and definitely metal.

A moment later, it exploded.

At that moment, more than fifty men, women and ponies charged from the train, guns and swords drawn as they stormed the platform. At their head, covered in small cuts, scratches and bruises, was Sir Eric, his sword flashing as he cut through Guard after Guard. The Guardsponies, disorientated after the explosion, were not fast enough to react and many of them were quickly slain by the Knights of Albion.

"Sir Eleanor!" Eric yelled as he fought. "Take ten of our knights and press on to the approved secondary and tertiary landing zones! Sir Nathaniel, take five and tend to our injured comrades on the train. Sir Thomas, take another five and secure this station for our forces! Sir Bold Travail, contact Prince Blueblood at Ponyville and inform him that the train station will soon be ours! The rest of you follow me - to glory!"

As his warriors acknowledged his instructions and hastened to carry them out, Sir Eric charged through the exit to the station, unheeding of the Guards who stood in his way. The battle on the way here had been bloody, desperate and brutal. Now he was in (relatively) open ground again, he was itching to bring justice to his enemies again!

***

Ponyville.

Lyra Heartstrings sighed as she slumped against the door of what had once been Twilight Sparkle’s library. She was covered in minor injuries and her brand new armour was battered in at least a dozen places, but she was alive. Next to her, True Grit was gingerly testing his left foreleg, making certain it was still ok - the livid red injury on it looked nasty, but it seemed to not prevent him from walking. He had made the militia-pony who gave him it pay with his life.

"Well," Lyra said quietly after a moment. "We’re still here for the moment, I guess."

"Yeah," True Grit said quietly. He grinned. "Bucking hell though. This was a fight and a half."

"You could say that," Lyra said, feeling vaguely sick. The burning, murderous rage that had filled her before was gone, and now there was only the bitter aftertaste, metaphorical ashes in her mouth now that the fire had died. "Are you ok?"

"This stings," Grit said with a shrug. "I’ll live."

"Good," Lyra said, smiling warmly at him. He was a good stallion, really, once you got past the over-formality. "I notice you’ve stopped calling me ‘ma’am’."

"We’ve fought together for a while," True Grit replied. "I guess I thought it was time."

"Yeah," Lyra said, smiling. She sighed, the smile fading as she looked around the broken town. "This is terrible. Look at what’s been done to this place."

"It is bad," True Grit agreed. "But towns can be rebuilt."

"Towns can, yeah," Lyra said sadly, looking over at a handful of dead Night and Royal Guard near the entrance to another building. "Ponies can’t."

"No," Grit agreed, his tone subdued. "No they can’t."

The two had a moment of silence, and Lyra was suddenly acutely aware that True Grit, like her, had no living counterpart in this world. Both of them had been killed within a day of each other by the forces of Equestria. She wondered quite how True Grit had taken that, if indeed it affected him much at all - but it had to affect him, didn’t it: he was as much of a pony as the rest of them.

"I’m just glad it’s over for the moment," she said quietly, smiling at the former Royal Guard.

"Heartstrings!" an upper-class voice called the moment the words left her mouth. "Grit!"

"You were saying?" True Grit said with a groan. He stood to attention as Blueblood and Dinky approached the two tired Unicorns.

"We did well in securing Ponyville," the Prince said with a grin. "You’re both to be commended."

"Thank you sir," True Grit said stiffly. Lyra marvelled at the change between the almost casual Unicorn she had been speaking to not a moment ago and the stern soldier in Night Guard armour that stood before her now.

"Still," Blueblood continued, his expression becoming grim-set and serious, "the battle isn’t over yet. There’s a transport helicopter waiting for us. I want you both to come with me."

"Do you mean…?" Lyra asked, her eyes widening.

"I do," Blueblood said, pointing at the distant city of Canterlot. Looking at it now, Lyra realised that there was no shield around the city. "It’s time to take the fight to the capital itself!"

Without another word, he jogged off, Dinky behind him.. True Grit and Lyra exchanged glances, before galloping after him, the same thought going through both of their minds. This was really it...

***

Courtyard of Canterlot Palace.

The thing that had once been Princess Luna didn’t bother with magic, for which Twilight had to be grateful: an Alicorn's magic, even a dead one's, would be impossible to stand against when in full use.

It was difficult to feel particularly grateful though, because she was too busy rolling out of the way of the corpse-Luna's furious charge.

The creature galloped straight at the group. She knocked Twilight aside, not even slowing as the Unicorn dodged her attack. Applejack moved to take her on, spinning and kicking as hard as she could, but the corpse-Princess shrugged the mighty blow off and stamped her forehooves onto the ground in front of the strong Earth Pony, knocking her aside like nothing.

"That’s it!" Rainbow yelled. "For free Equestria!"

She jumped into the air and charged straight at Luna. She whipped her blades out faster than the eye could see, flew straight past the Princess and lashed out, slicing her across the cheek. Fluttershy followed, her own blades raking the reanimated corpse’s back, causing the necromantic abomination to yell out in anger.

Before it could react, however, a pie flew out of nowhere and smacked her right in the face. She blinked her dead eyes once, before turning to the source of the pie.

Pinkie Pie was stood behind her Party Cannon, a frown on her face.

"Hey you big meanie!" she yelled. "Pick on somepony your own size!"

Luna’s response was another keening wail, and she charged straight at Pinkie. The Earth Pony tried firing her cannon again, but the pies were ignored as Luna reached the cannon and threw it aside as though it were made of paper. She reared up, looking as though she were about to crush Pinkie under her hooves…

… and she was knocked into a wall by three spells striking her in the side, blowing her clean off of her feet and across the courtyard, where she lay covered in rubble and dust Twilight, Rarity and Springfield were staring at where the Princess had been, all three breathing heavily. The spells they had used were some of the strongest any of them knew, and even then they weren’t certain they had been enough.

"What did you do?!" Twilight screamed at her angrily.

"I didn’t do anything," Commander Sparkle said with an unconcerned shrug. "This was the work of the Empress. I just think it's inspired. Luna served her before in life, and now she serves her again in death."

Before Twilight could respond to her insane double, there was a stirring of rubble as Luna stood to her feet. She had several nasty cuts and grazes across her face and her armour was dented and scratched, but other than that she seemed utterly unfazed by what had just happened. She glared at the ponies again.

"What the buck is holding her together?!" Applejack exclaimed, picking herself up from where she had been thrown.

"Nothing in a minute!" came an angry voice. Twilight turned to see Hell Blazer readying a fireball, and she dodged out of the way, giving him a clear shot. A moment later he threw it, and it impacted Luna directly, obscuring the body of the Princess of the Night in a great fireball that set half the courtyard ablaze. He turned to the others with a grim expression. "Fire everything you’ve got!"

Springfield took the hint immediately, firing his horn at the blaze at the rough point where Luna had been. A moment later, Twilight and Rarity added their own spells to the mix, Hell Blazer threw more fireballs to add to the flames, and even Pinkie was back at it, having somehow retrieved her party cannon and aimed it at the blaze with a determined expression on her face, firing pies faster than the eye could follow. They poured everything they had into the fire, hoping that it would be enough to bring down the creature that had once been Luna of Equestria.

Disconcertingly, Commander Sparkle didn’t move to stop them. All she did was watch impassively as the Unicorns and Earth Ponies threw spells and pastries at the fire where Luna had fallen.

Eventually they stopped. Nothing was moving, and the fire blazed like the very heart of Tartarus itself, consuming anything that came near it. The architecture of the courtyard was smashed and ruined.

"That oughta fuckin’ do it," Hell Blazer swore, panting slightly from the exertion.

"Eeyup," Applejack tided, eyes wide with awe at the display.

And then, horribly, Commander Sparkle began laughing, a dark and entirely unwelcome sound.

"Seriously?" she asked, her tone mocking and darkly amused. "Do you think the work of Her Glorious Majesty is so easy to undo?"

Even as she spoke, a figure stepped out from the fire. Her armour was rent and torn, and her helmet had been blown off. Parts of her skin had been burnt away across her body, exposing white bone and scorched musculature, and half her skull was exposed too, showing grinning white teeth on the left half of her face. Her eyes were intact - one of them, set within the grinning skull-side of her face, blazed with dark magic, and the other glared balefully at the group. As she walked, her horn - stripped white by the fire - began glowing with dark blue magic, and she fired a bolt in the direction of the ponies who had stood against her. Her shot impacted Pinkie’s party cannon, utterly obliterating the piece of pink artillery. Pinkie jumped away just in time, and looked at the wreckage with an angry expression.

"Do you know how difficult those are to build?!" she yelled.

The body of Luna, if it heard her, did not reply. She stopped in the centre of the courtyard, opposite the ponies she had been ordered to kill.

And then, horribly, she spoke.

"Twiiiiii… liiiiiiight…" she said, her voice a horrible droning noise that somehow rose above the roaring flames and the sounds of battle above. Her eye widened in sudden, terrible recognition as it fixed upon Twilight. "Twiiiiiii… liiiiiiiight….!"

Twilight didn’t need a second warning. She raced over and grabbed Applejack, who was standing near Desert Wind’s abandoned P220. She saw Rarity grab Pinkie and Hell Blazer and Springfield grab the Doctor. Fluttershy and Rainbow took to the air.

"Streets!" Twilight yelled, and the two other Unicorns and the two Pegasi all nodded in comprehension. A moment later, the Unicorns teleported and the Pegasi flew off. The body of Luna screamed in fury, a cold, high thing that would have chilled ice. Commander Sparkle frowned.

"That’s… unfortunate," she said quietly. "Luna."

The body turned to look at her, the sound of bones creaking and cracking even louder now.

"Go find them," Sparkle instructed. "Your sister wants them dead."

There was a hint of… something, something Sparkle didn’t recognise, in Luna’s remaining good eye, but she didn’t speak or say anything - not that she could. She merely spread her wings, both of which were singed but otherwise unharmed, and took off into the night. Sighing, Sparkle closed her eyes and teleported.

She wanted to deal with one of the ponies in that group herself.

***

ERAS Eternal Sun, Sky above Canterlot.

Errant Flight blinked as his eyes opened, a faint groan escaping his lips. He felt like death warmed up and his limbs felt fuzzy, but he was definitely alive, much to his own surprise. He looked down to find his wound

"Did somepony get the number of that carriage?" he muttered quietly.

"He’s awake!" he heard a voice call. A moment later, he saw Mellow Air and Dream Flyer standing above him. Behind them he saw Ditzy and Fell Spear chatting, and the rest of the squadron further still.

"What happened?" he asked blearily. "Did we take the zep?"

"Yeah, boss, we took the zep," Dream Flyer said with a smile. "He’ll be ok, won’t he Air?"

"You took a nasty stab wound," the medic said to Errant blandly. "You’ll be confined to bed for a while - don’t try to move too much or you might re-open the injury."

"Bullplop," Errant muttered at once, frowning at the medic. "The squadron…"

"Everypony who’s alive is on the Sun for now," Dream Flyer put in. "I’ll take over as squadron leader for the rest of the fight. You don’t need to worry, Flight."

"You’re not telling me that I have to wait on this bucking Zeppelin while my squadron’s out there flying and dying!" Errant snarled. "I’m not -"

"You’ll bucking sit right there and heal up, mister!" Dream Flyer snapped testily. Errant blinked as Dream Flyer composed herself. "We already lost Lily Picker, Dark Wing and Pure Heart. You’re not dying too."

Before Errant Flight could protest further, the blue mare turned and walked off.

"Keep an eye on him, Fell Spear," she muttered to the Thestral stallion as she passed him. Spear nodded as Flyer, Ditzy and the rest of the Squadron walked over to the edge of the gondola and jumped into the sky. Errant now turned his attention to the fighting in the sky itself: there were still zeppelins duking it out with helicopters and Pegasi slaughtering each other as far as he could tell. He cursed his own weakness as he felt another twinge of pain in his chest - if it weren’t for this injury, he could still be out there helping his squadron!

He sighed as he watched the battle. For now, it seemed, he would have to wait. He frowned as he saw something glinting near one of the towers of Canterlot - what looked like the old Astronomy tower.

"What the buck…?" he murmured.

Suddenly a light flared, a light brighter than the sun, and Errant had to flip his goggles down and set them to tinted mode in order to avoid being blinded. His eyes widened in shock when he realised what he was looking at.

"Oh bucking Tartarus," he said quietly. It seemed like Elliot had finally managed to start fighting Solamina - and she was pissed off.

***

Canterlot.

Helicopters were in the sky, battling against Solaminan zeppelins and Pegasi forces. Sir Eric marvelled at the battle above - truly, this was the stuff from which legends were born!

He parried blow after blow, Royal Guards falling like wheat to the scythe. Behind him charged his knights, warriors without peer. He swung his blade downward, cutting through a militia pony that was charging his left. He span around, his blade knocking the charging spear of a Royal Guardspony aside before he lashed out, cutting through armour, flesh and bone. A spray of blood hit his face but he ignored it, instead charging at another militia pony. He brought his solleretted foot up in a kick, catching the pony in the gut, before he punched it across the face, sending the creature sprawling to the ground. He stabbed downwards, finishing it off.

"Onwards!" he screamed, pulling his sword out and holding it aloft. "For Albion! For victory!"

"We must secure a landing zone for the attack forces my liege!" one of his knights bellowed, coming up behind him.

"There is a courtyard ahead!" Eric yelled in return, nodding once. "We will fight to that point and hold it - once there, I will set off a flare!"

The knight nodded, and charged another Guardspony. Eric frowned as he noted the disposition of his knights. Many had fallen already, slain by spear and spell or their own hand in those cases where the foul potion had begun to work it’s magic. Still, he had twenty warriors at his back and he knew full well that such nobility could not be stayed by the hoof of any Solaminan pony.

"Onwards!" he cried again, charging ahead, cutting another Guard down. His blade was notched in three places, the strong armour of the Royal Guard denting the steel of his blade, but he pressed on.

The courtyard ahead was large, with a fountain and a statue of Solamina in the centre. The Royal Guard seemed to be defending it more vigorously than anywhere else in the city, but Eric was certain he could take it from them. What interested him was a cabal of warriors in dull grey armour, vaguely reminiscent of the Night Guard: these were Solamina's Eclipse Guard, a unit formed near the start of the expansion of the Barrier, supposedly tasked as the last defence of Equestria - and thus, worthy foes for the Knight of Albion!

Among this group was one pony, an Earth Pony in shining, ornate armour, who seemed to be their leader. Eric stepped to the head of his force even as his knights charged into the courtyard around him, and held his blade forward, pointing it in challenge at the Earth Pony. The Guard commander noticed him, and they locked eyes, before nodding in understanding.

The pony jumped down, marching towards Sir Eric even as his soldiers charged forward and fought with Eric’s knights.

"So!" he yelled to him, barely audible over the din. "You’re the human’s leader?"

"I am Sir Eric, chief of the Knights of Albion," Eric replied, moving into a guard stance.

"Not the Avatar then?" the pony asked, sounding almost disappointed.

"Nay," Eric said with a slight grin. "He is elsewhere."

An explosion of light suddenly caught Eric’s attention, and as one, he and his opponent looked up at the sky above them. Above a high tower of the palace itself, there was a bright, radiant light. Though it was beautiful as the sun itself, it made Eric’s blood run cold. That must have been Solamina.

Then Eric smiled. If Solamina was engaged in battle, there was but one man who could have brought her to it.

"Specifically," he said, pointing at the explosion of light with one gauntleted hand, "he is up there."

***

Canterlot Astronomy Tower.

Solamina snorted in triumph, certain that she had succeeded in utterly destroying the Avatar of Albion. She had unleashed a wave of pure magical power, a spell that she had learned in her youth. It was the sort of spell that she would never have considered using before... but now, it was all too easy.

She frowned slightly, her triumph fading. The spell had blown the entirety of the top of the tower off, leaving nothing there but broken bricks and shattered and melted glass. Dust obscured her vision for a moment from the smashed stonework. And yet... she could sense him.

“I know you live!” she yelled angrily. “Show yourself!”

“As you wish,” a voice spoke calmly. There was a sudden rush of wind, and then the dust faded, leaving a figure standing before her. His cloak was tattered and his armour somewhat scorched, but the Avatar of Albion still stood, grinning slightly. He rolled his shoulders, and a light glowed around him. His armour seemed to shine with some inner light, and then the light faded, revealing clean, undamaged armour. He idly reached around to grab his tattered cloak, and tore it from his shoulders, before settling into a fighting stance.

"So," he said, smiling cockily, "are you ready to continue, or do you wish to surrender now?"

Solamina’s eye twitched. Slowly, a low growl sounded in her throat, bestial and furious, until it burst out of her mouth as a scream of pure rage.

"I will bucking murder you!" she screeched, before flapping her wings once and taking off into the air. She hung in the air, her entire body wreathing itself in magical energy until her body was a black shadow within a blazing aura of light - it was so bright that it seemed as though a second sun had been birthed above Canterlot, blinding everyone and everypony who saw it with it’s radiance.

"Tremble before me, human," she said, her voice deep and majestic, yet filled with unfathomable malice. "I am Astra Solamina Maxima, the Sun resplendent and triumphant. The skies bow before me. This land bows before me." Glowing eyes narrowed in contempt at the figure of the Avatar, still stood on the tower. "I promise you this, human. Before this day ends... you will bow before me as well."

***

Author's Notes:

And there's the other dark moment. Poor old Luna...