Crippled

(Takes place Two days after “The Best Night Ever”)

“Okay…” I said to myself, as I idly tapped a few icons on a floating holographic screen. I scratched my beard as I tried to put the puzzle pieces together.

Currently, I was standing in The Vault, at the center of the Timeless Library, while Ivy supplied me with various notes and charts. The screen in front of me was cluttered with notes on Shadow-Stalkers and the amount of them spotted in the area during the last few weeks.

“Ivy, bring up the map of the Everfree forest again, and highlight the areas the Imps have been detected in,” I said, brushing away a few charts from the screen in order to clear up some space.

“Yes, sir,” she replied, as the space I cleared was filled by an immense top-view map of the forest. I had flown over it in my Pegasus form several times, and used my memory to get the map as accurate as possible. Gotta say, when you combine magic with technology, you can do some pretty amazing things. A moment later, various spots of the map were coated with red, signifying the Imps that had been spotted all over the Everfree, leaving only a few small patches of green.

I stared at the red blots, and cursed. “That didn’t work! What is Torrentican up to?” I started pacing, and went over the facts out loud, speaking to Ivy, even though she wouldn’t be able to say what she thought about the situation.

“Alright, so for the past few weeks, no stalkers have been detected in the area.  In fact, it almost seems as if they’ve disappeared entirely, and there’s been no sign of Torrentican’s magic being used around here at all! What is that bastard up to?” I asked myself, letting out a frustrated sigh.

I was so enwrapped in my thoughts, that I almost didn’t hear it when Ivy said, “Life-form detected at door.”

Cursing silently to myself, I jogged out of the Timeless Library, my slippers somehow still managing to find a way to make a racket as I went. Grabbing some of the notes I had written in an attempt to keep track of my scattered thoughts. Ye Gods, but I needed some caffeine, or sleep, stat. As I ran up the stairs, I called out to Ivy, “Do me a solid and send the rest of my notes to my coffee table. Make sure they’re in paper form please!”

“Very well sir,” Ivy complied, as the sound of a printer turning on echoed throughout the Vault. Pushing my glasses onto my face, I climbed up the many stairs, and returned to House Level.

Glancing through the peephole in my door, I was surprised to see that Twilight Sparkle was standing there, waiting patiently. “Hey Twilight,” I greeted her, not even bothering to switch to pony form. “What’s goin’ on?”

She trotted inside, and replied, “You tell me. After all, you were the one who asked me to come here.”

I smacked my forehead, and muttered, “Oh yeah, I did do that, didn’t I?” Vaguely recalling that the other day, I had asked Twilight to help me out with a few notes, I threw the papers onto the coffee table, where they haphazardly landed on a small mountain of papers that Ivy had ever so kindly sent up for me. Note to self: Ask her to ORGANIZE them next time.

Sagging into my chair, I let out a groan, and covered my face with my hands. After giving me a concerned glance, Twilight asked me, “Omnius? Are you okay?”

“No, not really.” I took off my glasses, and started wiping them clean of dust on the edge of my shirt. “I’ve been up all night, trying to figure out what Torrentican is planning.”

That got her attention. Twilight’s eyes instantly lit up, and she started going through the papers. “He’s planning something? How can you be sure?”

Biting back an irritated shout, I instead chose to say, “For one thing, there’s been no sign of any kind of Stalker activity in the area. I’ve been going over the map for a couple hours, but they all seem to have disappeared entirely. For another, it’s Torrentican,” A shadow passed over my face, and I added, “He’s always planning something. And every plan always has one little thing that he can benefit from, even if it fails.”

Twilight gulped audibly, but tried her best not to let her face show anything. “Alright, but why did you need me?”

“Twilight, you’re the town’s resident genius. I need to try and come up with a counter-plan to go against whatever ‘Ace in the Hole’ Torrie’s planning.” I sifted through some of the papers, and came up with a large map.

“Let me get you caught up Twi,” I said, laying the map out flat on the floor. Grabbing a green marker, I said, “Alright, so lookie here.” I started marking off spots on the map, and said, “These are where I’ve found the Stalkers before. As you can see, they’ve pretty much been all over the forest, and have tried to get into Ponyville from nearly every possible angle.”

“Go on,” Twilight said, understanding me.

“Now, as I can safely bet that Torrentican is up to something, I’ve been attempting to compare the patterns of the Stalker movements, and placements.” I reached over, and grabbed a diagram of some complicated magic circles (Circles can be complicated! First you need to draw a head, and then erase some of the lines, to make a perfect one!), and compared them to the markings on the map. “Unfortunately, they don’t match anything I’ve got! Their movements have no rhyme or reason to them! It makes no sense!”

“What about recently though?” Twilight asked.

I was silent for a moment, before answering, “…Beg pardon?”

“Well, if you’re worried about them attacking, wouldn’t you see where they’ve been lately? If they’ve been moving in any specific direction?” She asked logically.

“TWILIGHT, YOU’RE A GENIUS!” I shouted, scooping her up into a hug. “I’ve been looking at this as if Torrentican has been planning in the long term! What if he’s just barely started this!? That would explain why we haven’t seen the Stalkers lately!” I pressed a button on the table, and relayed some instructions to Ivy. After that, I kept going, saying, “See, Torrentican knows that I know that he knows that I know how he works! So he’s become unpredictable, which is what I predicted , but he didn’t know that I know how to predict unpredictableness! So he did something that’s unpredictably predictable, which I should’ve seen coming!”

I dashed over to my bookshelf, and pulled down a few notes I had pinned up there, and kept going. “It’s all so obvious now! Does this make any sense to you Twilight?”

She shook her head, and I nodded. “I couldn’t agree more! WHERE IS THAT DAMN MAP!? I’M ON A DEDUCTIVE ROLL, AND I DON’T WANT MY GROOVE THROWN OFF!”

Not even a second passed before a holographic map appeared on the table. Grinning madly, I grabbed some of the notes, and said, “Twilight, help me out here! Where were the Stalkers last detected?”

Five minutes of frantic note-gathering, and comparing, we had now illuminated the map with different colors, representing where the Stalkers were, and where they were moving…to…oh no.

“Twilight, are they headed to where I think they’re headed?” I asked, feeling the blood drain from my face.

“It looks like they’re heading towards Canterlot…” Twilight whispered.

Gears started turning in my head, as I considered what had been happening the past few weeks, and I started talking out loud. “According to the map, there was a short period of maybe three weeks without an increase in Shadow-Stalkers, and then when it finally did increase, it was only by a small margin of maybe four or five. Compare that with the New Moon that happened recently, and it implies that Torrentican was saving his power to create an extra-strength Stalker…or Stalker Squad.”

“What does that have to do wi-“ In my rant, I interrupted Twilight. I was on a deductive roll, and I started running Torrentican’s past exploits underneath a new light.

“When he brought Slendermane here, he didn’t really mean for it to get rid of me, he meant to see if my magic could affect a God of Evil. And as he knows that our magic works in the same basics, he then learned that he could potentially screw with Gods!” I got up, and looked through the notes, until I came up with one that had a diagram of two Ursa Minors on it.

“When he corrupted that Ursa, he wasn’t just trying to get it to attack the town! That was just an added benefit when he taught Trixie that spell that turned you into a child! You see, he also learned that he could steal the magic of others, and transfer it into a separate living being! Not only that, but he also somehow managed to twist the magic into doing what he wanted, in this instance, enhancing the strength and size of that Ursa by using Trixie’s stolen magic!” I stopped suddenly, as all the pieces fell into place.

“Omnius?” Twilight said, after a few moments of silence.

“Twilight, write the Princess a letter, NOW!” I shouted, summoning my sword, and kicking open my front door.

“What?!” She shouted, following me.

“Twi, Torrentican is moving a squad of powerful Shadow-Stalkers to Canterlot! He knows that his magic can affect a God! He’s targeting one of the princesses! I need you to warn her, and gather the girls in case he tries to attack you!” I explained, already running down the path.

“Wait!” Twilight called after me.

“WHAT?!” I shouted, turning around to look at Twilight.

“Are you really going to charge into battle, wearing Snoopy pajamas?” She asked seriously, looking at my unusual attire. Admittedly, it was a little weird…see, I like to study my notes in comfort, and nothing’s more comfortable than a pair of sweatpants with pictures of Snoopy riding his doghouse, dressed as a WWI flying ace.

“…You’re right!” I shouted. I ran back inside, and grabbed a key component that I had forgotten. “Thanks Twilight! I almost forgot my elephant slippers!”

Twilight groaned, and I said, somewhat defensively, “What? I like my slippers! Now GO!”

With that, I summoned my Speed Aura, and ran as fast as I could towards Canterlot, hoping that I wasn’t too late.

XHXHXHXHXHXHX

When I reached Canterlot, I made sure to stick to the back alleyways, and occasional sewer paths, to avoid being spotted.  As I reached the threshold of the Royal Palace, I felt Princess Celestia in my head.

“Omnius? What is going on? I got Twilight’s letter, warning me that something is coming, but she didn’t specify what, only that it was going to attack the palace.”

“Princess, find Luna, and get to somewhere safe! Tell the guards to be on the lookout for anything that looks ready to kill…other than me!”

A few moments passed, before I heard Celestia respond, “All right, I’ve found Luna, but what is so dangerous that even the two of us can’t handle it?”

“I don’t know, and I don’t wanna find out! Just get out of there before Torrentican shows up!” I shouted, just barely avoiding the gaze of several guards.  Spotting an open window, I quickly climbed into it, and found myself inside of the hallway leading to the throne room. If I knew my Shadow-Stalkers, then they would head to the first place that their target would normally be found. Therefore, I had a chance at ambushing them!

Just as I prepared to open the doors, I stopped suddenly. A chill crept up my spine, as I realized that there weren’t any guards next to the doors. Strange, because they always are posted there...aren’t they?

Pressing my ear against the door, I strained my senses in an attempt to track down anything that might be lurking in there, waiting to attack whatever might be unfortunate enough to wander in there. All I could make out was the sound of heavy breathing, and maybe the occasional rasp of metal plates moving slightly.

With a sense of dread, I turned my Traveler’s Blade over in my hand, and removed the current Rosary keychain from it, causing it to flash brightly, before becoming an unassuming blade once again. I closed my eyes, and opened a small pocket dimension, placing the rosary inside of it, and pulling out a different Keychain.

“Alright…if my fears are true, I’m gonna need some serious strength to deal with them…so, I’m gonna go with Maverick Hunter on this one,” I muttered to myself, as I attached an orange “Z” to the blade.

I felt power surge through the sword, and it instantly changed shape, morphing before my eyes. The hilt quickly bent into the shape of a diamond, with a smooth, copper colored grip, as the blade thinned out, and went from being a silvery metal, to a glowing green field of energy. Another “Z” extended from the top of the blade, forming the teeth of the Keyblade, and signifying the blade’s transformation.

Nodding, I swung the blade, adjusting myself to its new, almost weightless, form, and let out a breath I hadn’t realized I was holding. I brought up my slipper covered foot, and kicked the door open, ready to fight.

Without warning, a sword slashed down at my face, and I was barely able to bring up the Maverick Hunter to block it. I pushed out with my foot, and managed to get some space between me, and whatever had just tried to cut my face off.

As I jumped back, another attacker tried to impale me on a serrated spear, barely missing my stomach. Slashing at the spear with my sword, a metal boot suddenly lashed out, and hit the back of my leg, forcing me to fall to my knee.

With a frenzied slash, I blocked the battle-ax that was thrust at my exposed side, and rolled out of the way, before I

could get attacked again. I put my back against a wall, placing myself into a defensive stance, and took a second to take a look at my opponents…and then felt my blood freeze in fear.

Standing in front of me were three Shadow-Stalkers, each of them clad in a mixture of burned chain-mail and plate armor. Where once there might have been shining, platinum armor, now there was just a soot-blackened mess…yet asides from that, the armor was flawless, without even a single scratch to mar it.  From underneath black, bucket shaped helmets, red eyes glowed with an intense, violent hatred, and fury, eager for a victim to have at their mercy.

These were one of Torrentican’s most powerful Shadow-Stalkers that had been designed with only one purpose: Kill me, and anyone who would fight with me. They could only be created when a great warrior had fallen, and Torrentican had managed to claim their soul.

I guess that’s what made their name so fitting: Fallen Guardians. These were masters of melee fighting, going nearly unmatched in a one-on-one fight. Almost nothing could pierce their armor, and they were incredibly agile, with lightning fast reflexes, and knew how to use their weapon to the utmost usefulness.

And there were three of them standing right in front of me, each one looking very, very, very pissed.

Today just isn’t my day, is it?

I readied my blade, and waited for them to make the first move. Unfortunately, they seemed content to wait just as long as I would, and didn’t seem to be in any hurry…but why would they-

“GET THINE HANDS OFF OF OUR SISTER!” I heard somepony shout, and the next piece of the puzzle fit into place…

The Fallen Guardians weren’t the ones who were going to do something to the princess…

Torrentican was. They were just the distraction.

“No!” I shouted, rushing forward, and slashing at the ax bearer. He brought the head of the ax down, blocking my attack, and the other one thrust his spear at my arm, tearing away a chuck of my shirt, and a fair amount of flesh. I grimaced, and felt the force of the attack knock me away from the ax wielder, and I was thrown onto the floor, landing on my bad shoulder.

Without warning, a blinding beam of light shot through the wall, knocking aside a pillar, and probably saving my life. I got up, and heard Princess Luna shout, “AWAY WITH THEE! GET AWAY FROM- Ugh!” There was the sound of a metal object hitting flesh, and I felt my blood run cold.

“Luna!” I shouted, as I crawled through the rubble, and into the hole. What I saw…didn’t lift my spirits.

Princess Luna, her hair twinkling with small stars, as she slowly regained her former power, was lying on the ground, while a familiar figure stood over her, clutching a staff made of copper colored material in his hands.

“Torrentican!” I shouted in anger.

The Endless Traveler of Evil turned around, an amused smirk on his face, and said, “Hello, Nathan. Enjoying my friends’ company?”

“What have you done to Luna? Where’s Celestia?!” I lunged forward, but one of the Fallen Guardians had caught up to me, and used his sword to prevent me from going further.

“Tsk, tsk, tsk,” Torrentican chuckled, his hand glowing as he started to draw magic symbols in the air. “I’m surprised that you haven’t figured it out. But, I’ll indulge your little games…I’m taking Celestia. Those Fallen Guardians will kill you, and prevent you from rescuing her anytime soon. By the time your return, I’ll have drained her power, and used it to destroy this pitiful world. I’ll also have drained Luna of her power, and then I’ll move on to another world, and repeat the process.”

After he said that, he smiled, and added, “And by that time, you’ll be too weak to match my power, and so will the Traveler of Neutrality. And then…well, I guess that you will have to wait and find out, hm?”

He laughed, and as he faded away, he said, “Guardians? Kill him, and return to me with Princess Luna afterwards.”

The Fallen Guardian in front of me lifted his sword, and hit me with the flat side of it. I flew through the air from the sheer force of the blow, and crashed into the ground next to Luna.

“Omni…us…” Luna whispered, lifting her head to meet my eyes.

With a pang of terror, I realized that this was all too familiar…I blinked, and for a moment, I saw Jenna instead of Luna, her life’s blood once again pouring onto my arms, while the Lord of the Land stood in place of the nearest Fallen Guardian, laughing at me once again.

A surge of energy poured into me, and I pushed myself up. “Not…again…” I wheezed, clenching Maverick Hunter in my hands. Glaring defiantly at the Stalkers in front of me, I growled, “I don’t care if I die, and I don’t care if you’re evil or not. No one will lay a finger on my friend!”  The sword glowed suddenly, and the “Z” emblem started to rapidly flash, surprising all in the room.

“What the-?” was all I had time to say, before I started transforming. Red and white pieces of armor were summoned from what seemed to be out of nowhere, before attaching to various sections of my body.  I felt my senses sharpen, as everything seemed to come into focus. I swung Maverick Hunter, and realized that it was giving me this form…but how?

As if in answer, a voice whispered in my head, “I never cared about justice, and I don't ever recall calling myself a hero... I have always only fought for the people that I believe in. I won't hesitate... If an enemy appears before me, I will destroy it!”

“Zero…” I whispered, touching my helmet’s blue gem. “You were the one who gave me this keyblade…but did you give me more than just that?”

The Fallen Guardian stabbed at my torso, trying to carve out my heart, but I found myself easily sidestepping it, and slashing it across its breast plate, leaving a long gash in the armor.

It staggered back, obviously surprised that its prey had suddenly gotten more powerful. I found myself glaring angrily at it, as I put myself into a battle-stance, deliberately placing myself between the Stalkers and Luna.

Before the Stalker could recover, I rushed it, bringing Maverick Hunter up to it, and slashed at the same tear in its armor, widening it, and causing shadows to slowly pour out of it. Just before it could counter, my sword lit up in an angry blaze, and I slashed upwards with it, and jumped into the air, taking the stalker with me.

“Ryuenjin!” I shouted, sounding as if I had two voices for an instant, unleashing the fire onto the stalker. Just before we hit the ground, I positioned myself above it, and Maverick Hunter started to cackle with electricity. In the blink of an eye, I appeared on the ground, as a small trail of lightning followed me in my wake, tearing into the Fallen Guardian. “Raikousen!”

With a roar of agony, the Fallen Guardian disappeared. The Spear user decided to try its own luck, and started attacking me, rapidly thrusting its spear at me, taking full advantage of the weapon’s long reach. Every time I tried to get close enough to land a hit, I would be met by the spearhead that had already torn apart my arm earlier. As if that weren’t bad enough, the Ax wielder was slowly starting to flank me, and he slowly made his way into a position that would let him take me down with a clean chop to the neck.

“Damn!” I shouted in frustration, as I felt myself be backed into a corner. Unless I could whip out a miracle right now…wait!

Acting on instinct, I slashed downwards with Maverick Hunter, and shouted, “Hadangeki!” A wave of energy shot out from the slash, and hit the Stalker right down the middle, causing him to stumble, and stop his onslaught of attacks.

That’s all I needed. Leaping forward, I rapidly slashed at the Guardian, relentlessly tearing into its armor with a methodical way that I know Zero himself would be proud of. Slashing its armor open, I stabbed where its heart would’ve been, and said, “Out of my face!”

The Fallen Guardian disappeared, leaving only the ax wielder. This time, I rushed at it, and felt power surge forward into the blade. I stabbed it into the ground in front of the monster, and unleashed all of my energy, shouting, “TENSHOUHA!”

A massive pillar of light rained down onto the Shadow-Stalker, engulfing him in a torrent of burning energy. As the light dimmed, I felt the aura disappear, leaving me standing in my pajamas again, clenching Maverick Hunter in my left hand. Wearily, I looked into the small crater in front of me, and scowled at the mass of twisted metal that lay inside of it. Stumbling slightly, I made my way over to Luna, and fell to my knees on the ground next to her.

“Princess?” I asked quietly. When she didn’t respond, I said, “Luna, please…can you hear me?”

She stirred, groaning slightly, and her eyes cracked open, filling me with relief. We both smiled at each other, and I said, “Are you alright?”

Luna nodded, but then a horrified expression appeared on her face. “Omnius, behind you!”

I turned, and saw that the Stalker had crawled out of the crater, and was standing right behind me. With a downwards cleave, it tore its ax through my arm, and I felt myself scream in pain. A midnight blue glow encompassed my sword hand, and Maverick Hunter shot upwards, cutting off the head of the Fallen Guardian in retaliation.

As it faded away, I turned back to Luna, and gave her a smile. “See? We’re fine…” I then felt dizzy, and looked to where the ax had tore into my arm…and saw a mangled mess of flesh and blood, and duly noticed that my entire right side was drenched in red.

“Well…” I mumbled wearily, looking back at Luna. “Bullocks.”

Darkness overtook me, as I fell onto the ground, passed out.

XHXHXHXHXHXHXHX

The sound of beeping machinery reached my ears, and I groggily felt my eyes open, only to be met with a blinding light. Wearily, I tried to lift my arm to rub my eyes, and was worried when it didn’t respond. To my left, I saw that my glasses were lying on a bedside table, and I grabbed them, haphazardly shoving them onto my face. I don’t know why, but my right arm wasn’t responding to my commands, but at least I was alive.

“Is anyone there?” I weakly called out, wanting to figure out where I was. Suddenly, I felt myself get tackled on my right side, and I found myself being hugged by Fluttershy.

“Oh my gosh, you’re alright!” She exclaimed, burying her face into my shirt, and crying slightly. “We all thought that you weren’t going to wake up! You lost so much blood…”

“Hey, it’s alright,” I reassured her. “I’m right here, and I’m in one piece, right?”

She remained quiet, and I felt her tense up. Uh oh…

“Fluttershy?” I asked softly. “Why can’t I use my right arm?”

Whimpering slightly, she let go of me, and stuck her head out the door. “Girls? He’s awake…”

“Fluttershy, you’re not answering me…” I stated, worriedly.

She remained silent, as the rest of our friends filed into the room. I didn’t like the looks of both relief/worry on their faces, but I tried to remain optimistic.

“Will somepony tell me what’s going on? What happened?” I asked.

Twilight cleared her throat, and said hesitantly, “Well, Luna told me what happened…You came to the palace, just in time to get rid of those Shadow-Stalkers…but Torrentican got away with Princess Celestia, although you stopped him from taking Luna. When you passed out, Luna managed to heal you, and she put you in a private room of the Palace…then we got here, and she told me where we could find you…but Celestia is still missing.”

My eyes widened, and I grabbed the bed sheet that was currently covering me, and tossed it off. “Well, come on then! What are we standing around here for; we’ve got to save Celestia!”

“Wait, Omnius-“ Rarity tried to stop me, but I had already gotten up.

“What’s wrong? Why is everypony…staring…at my arm…”

I tried to swallow past the lump in my throat, and shakily lifted my left arm up. Gingerly, I felt for my shoulder, and probed its skin gently. Then, I gradually brought my hand down to where my upper arm should’ve been…and found nothing.

“Girls…where’s my arm?” I asked, my heart stopping for a moment.

“You lost it in the fight earlier…We couldn’t ask the doctors to reattach it, because you were in human form, but…” Pinkie trailed off, her hair deflating slightly.

Oh…

This is…

This is new. I’ve never lost a limb before. Well, technically, if I did, I’d end up regenerating on another world, but since I didn’t die this time around…I guess I’m now missing an arm. And Torrentican has Princess Celestia, and is preparing to drain her of her magic.

“That doesn’t change anything,” I finally said after a long moment of silence. “We’re still gonna find Torrentican, and when we find him, I’m gonna kick his ass into the next century!”

“But you don’t have an arm!” Applejack half-shouted. “How are you gonna fight him, when yer right arm, which ya use for fightin’, is gone?”

“Simple. I’ll get another arm,” I answered. My left hand reached outwards, and summoned my Traveler’s Blade into the room.

“How are you going to do that?” Rarity asked, looking at me with concern in her eyes.

To answer her, I simply willed the blade to change shape, transforming it from Maverick Hunter, into a blue and cyan colored gauntlet. Holding it in my left hand, I put the open end onto my…wound, and poured a little magic into it. There was the sound of whirring gears, and electronic clicks, as needles shot out of the gauntlet, and into my shoulder, injecting my body with nanites.

“Omnius, what are you-“

The gauntlet extended suddenly, merging onto my body, and forming the unmistakable shape of an arm, albeit blue and cyan, with metal plates attached to it. I clenched it into a fist experimentally, and heard a robotic voice say, “Buster System Online.”

“Activate regenerative nanites,” I ordered. With a beep announcing the order’s activation, I grit my teeth against the temporary pain.

“Nanites activated. Full condition in approximately: 24.867 hours.”

“Good…” I gasped, as the pain left just as suddenly as it came. My glasses flashed, and a small bar of energy appeared, revealing the ammo gauge. As it was on normal buster mode, it wouldn’t drop, but it was there to signify that it was active. Good, good.

“What is that?” Pinkie asked, looking at my new arm curiously.

“This,” I said, experimentally rolling my arm, “Is the third part of my Traveler’s Blade: The Mega Buster. It’ll be my temporary arm until the medical nanites it injected finish re-growing my new arm inside of it. Unfortunately, that means I won’t be able to shift into pony form for a while, or use magic that requires two hands to use.”

“Impressive,” Twilight said. “But what can it actually do? I mean, if we’re going to- Wait, you said, ‘We’?”

“Yep,” I said dismissively. “We all know that if I tried to stop you, you’d end up coming, and Pinkie’s Pinkie senses would tell you if I tried to sneak away. So I’m just not gonna try.”

“Oh…but my point still stands: If it can’t do anything, then shouldn’t we-“

I rolled my eyes, and aimed my arm at the window, and said, “It does this!” With that, I let loose a small charge shot, and a blazing orb of energy shot out into the open sky, luckily avoiding any Pegasi that might have been flying.

Turning to the stunned gazes of the ponies inside, I stated, “Come on. We’re going to my place.”

“Why?” Rainbow Dash asked, already flying out the door to check for anypony that might be nearby.

“Because…You’ve only seen me when I go into battle unprepared,” I said, walking outside. “Not this time though…”

Apparently, while I was out, the Canterlot Pegasi had moved in a few storm clouds, and it was now pouring heavy drops of rain.

Looking into the sky, where the sun normally would’ve been around this time, I clenched my robotic arm in anger.

“Celestia…I’m coming. We’re all coming.”

XHXHXHXHXHXHXHXHXHX

In a dark cave, somewhere just a little ways away from Ponyville, a dark figure laughed. He had foreseen this event happening, but not the added benefit of his nemesis being…crippled. It held such a dark humor to him that he couldn’t help but laugh. As soon as he managed to contain his mirth, he turned his cold gaze to the wrought-iron cage that sat at his side. Inside, laid the key to his success.

“Dear Princess Celestia,” He started, “Today, I learned that not only can my most powerful tranquilizer spell work on you, but all I need to take down your sister is just a staff, and a good whack on the head. I also learned that Omnius doesn’t need to die when he loses a limb, and that I can potentially use this to his disadvantage.

“On another note, it would appear that using a magically reinforced cage, and a ritual-circle, I can contain your power, for the most part, until you slowly bend to my will, and grant me what I desire.

“Your most hated enemy, Torrentican, The Endless Traveler of Evil.”

Celestia glared at Torrentican, and had to resist the urge to attempt to unleash her fury on him. The first time she had tried that, her magic had been redirected back into her, causing her immense pain. She didn’t want to give Torrentican the satisfaction of knowing that got to her, and instead decided to play mind games of her own.

Smiling, she said, “I wonder, Torrentican, if you know something that I know…”

Torrentican raised an eyebrow, but remained silent.

“You claim to be immensely powerful, and that nothing scares you, not even the gods…but I think there is something that terrifies you,” Celestia said. Torrentican frowned, but let her continue. “Something that reminds you of your own flaws, and that repeatedly proves to be the stronger one. Someone that will always return, and you know that you are powerless to stop him.”

Torrentican frowned slightly, and he whispered, “You honestly think that HE scares me? That weak-minded, pathetic excuse for a-”

Celestia interrupted him, sensing that she had hit a nerve. “You fear him, because he is the only one who is capable of thwarting your plans, and because he doesn’t fear you: only what you’d do to his loved ones.”

The Evil Traveler smirked, and shook his head disdainfully. “You believe that I am scared of him? Of that buffoon?”

“He is the only one you truly fear.”

Without saying a word, he left Celestia, snapping his fingers as he went. All of the light in the room disappeared, and left Celestia in the dark, alone and cold.

Next Chapter: Black Hearted Hero Estimated time remaining: 3 Hours, 48 Minutes