Chapter Seven: Shadow of the Tyrant Sun.

"You are finally here, Batter... the wait for your arrival was a long one. But your way was in vain. You will do naught but raise trouble here. Return home."
Queen Vader Eloha, Off.

***

She sat forward, a question coming, almost unbidden, to her mind.

"When you fought her, were you afraid?"

And his answer surprised her.

"Honestly? No. Either way, it would be an end. I didn't fear the end."

***

When Small Mercy’s eyes finally adjusted to the new surroundings, she found herself with more questions. Some of those questions she half knew the answer to. Elliot had mentioned a scene like this before and it shook her to her core. Around her was a quiet town in Equestria. It didn’t look very big and the only sign that there was even a war on at all was the scattered Converted and Solaminan soldiers around but even they seemed more relaxed. Most of the buildings were rustic and were the very essence of welcoming while a few were a lot more gritty. If Mercy had to guess, these buildings were the latest additions to the town, made after the declaration of war.

Mercy tried to spot Elliot in the town. Nothing. This was his memory but he wasn’t around. The only sounds she heard were the hustle and bustle of cheery townsfolk. Barely a mention of the war based through her ears. It was somewhat nostalgic walking through the townsponies who weren’t running for their lives.

In the distance she saw a human shape emerge. Without hesitation she ran towards it. The closer Mercy got to it, and the more features she made out, the happier she became.

"Sam!" she called out.

The man turned to look at her, smiling slightly.

"Mercy!" he said, grinning. "Thank fuck for that, I thought I’d be wandering memories forever. You alright?"

"I’m alive," Mercy chuckled nervously. "I’ve got a lot to tell you. First, please tell me you got some cheerful memories."

"No joy," Sam said, scowling. "First I saw… well, it doesn’t really matter does it?" He looked around. "Hang on…" He noticed ponies walking about. "Shit me - is this Equestria?"

Mercy nodded. "Not just that, do you notice who’s missing from this memory?"

"Elliot…" Sam said softly. He frowned. "But… that must mean… if this is Equestria…"

Mercy was checking Sam’s body for injuries. Nothing, some good news.

"Find something out?" she asked.

"I think so," Sam said. "I saw a pony… I think it might have been a Convie version of John, though don’t ask me how…"

Mercy’s expression soured. "That part I know. He got hit with a potion and Elliot managed to save his mind somehow while he was...the ‘Avatar of Albion’ I think he called himself."

"Avatar of Albion…" Sam said, frowning. "Yeah, I know that name. Anyway - they were talking about some sort of plan - a plan for Elliot to come to Equestria."

Mercy checked around the town again, still nothing. She hung her head for a moment. In silence she looked back up before hearing the sound of laughing filles running by. The two little ones left a smile on her face until she noticed Sam looking at her confused.

"What was the plan they were-"

Before she could finish, there was a flash of golden light, and a massive portal appeared in the middle of the street, shocking everypony that saw it into moving away. Almost immediately, Guards and militia moved to cover it, but then the glow of the portal faded, leaving a figure standing there, looking tired and sad.

Elliot.

"Quickly, what was the plan?" Mercy asked frantically.

"It was…" Sam said softly. "To… to…"

"Ponies of Equestria," Elliot called out, his voice resonating somewhat. "Stand down or be destroyed."

"...do that," Sam said, trailing off.

The townsfolk back away, most running into buildings, while the militia stood strong and preparing to strike.

"I think I know this moment," Mercy muttered, trailing off.

"You will stand down, or you will all die, right here," Elliot said again. "You get no other warnings."

In response, every Unicorn present fired a hail of concussive and destructive spells off at Elliot, hitting him, making him stagger and causing a massive dust cloud to obscure the figure of the man as some of the spells impacted all around him.

"Jesus," Sam said quietly, his eyes wide.

"This is when he kills them," Mercy said, turning to Sam. "This is when he kills the civilians."

As if to punctuate this, the figure of a man stepped from the dust cloud - but this was not the figure Mercy or Sam had seen before. This figure was in all-enclosing, ornate black armour, a helmet glinting in the sun, and his blade, a massive Zweihander with a black marble hilt, was already out, held at the ready.

"So," this figure said, his voice a whisper and a shout all at once. "You have chosen death."

And with that, he charged forward, swinging the blade like a scythe, slicing through Militia and Guard alike. Small Mercy and Sam could do nothing but watch the slaughter…

***

… and suddenly, the two of them were on a field, overlooking a valley below the city of Canterlot, where an entire army of ponies, Golems and a whole host of other Solaminan weapons were brought together against what looked to be the same figure. Though they were all far away, so far that nothing but tiny specks of figures could be seen, the two of them could both see that this massive army was being slaughtered. The black knight was striding forward, swinging his blade or unleashing spells that blew away dozens - hundreds - of ponies at once.

"Bloody hell," Sam said, eyes wide. "Talk about the soldier we asked for. He’s a one man army…"

"Soldier isn't what I’d describe Elliot at the moment," Mercy said almost growling. "The man we know is a soldier, but this Elliot isn’t there yet."

"I dunno," Sam said, whistling slightly. "What would you call that?"

Mercy watched the Elliot of the past stride on, unwavered by anything that Solamina threw at him.

"The man that Elliot regrets being," she said, frowning.

There was a particularly brutal spell, and suddenly a great flash of light rose up...

***

… and when it abated, the two of them were stood in Canterlot’s throne room - right in front of Astra Solamina Maxima herself. It was all Sam could do to not draw his sword and charge at the memory of his world' enemy. Small Mercy restrained him.

"Elliot, the Avatar, is about to show up," she reminded him. "I think he’ll have your reaction plus the power to back it up." Mercy let go. "Not that you’re not a great soldier, mind you." Mercy’s tone was back to being frantic. "I just mean that he’s-"

"I know," Sam said relaxing. "Besides - we can't do much to her."

He frowned slightly as he looked around the room. There were bodies - Royal Guard and Eclipse Guard alike - strewn throughout the room, lacerations across their bodies.

"You said Elliot's coming?" he said to Small Mercy, before pointing at the corpses. "I reckon he's already been..."

A moment later, Elliot - or the Avatar - burst into the room, blood slick on his sword. He threw the decapitated head of a pony at her feet, and the Tyrant looked at it with a raised eyebrow. It was midnight blue, one eye burned away to the socket, and the remaining eye wide, and yet the face had something almost like a sigh of relief on it. Small Mercy gasped - it was Princess Luna.

"Is that it, Sun Tyrant? Corpses and tricks? Do you think that will save you?!" he said, his voice sounding angry and yet quiet all at once.

"Perhaps not," Solamina said, an odd tinge to her voice. "But now I have your measure. You are strong - but I am eternal!"

Only in her darkest nightmares, had Small Mercy even considered being in the presence of the Sun Tyrant herself. She was thanking whatever was watching over her that this was only a memory. She was regal and vicious at the same time, neither her nor the Avatar seemed like the ‘divine’ warriors their lights suggested.

"Do you think you took him from this fight?" asked Mercy.

Before Sam could answer, Solamina had leapt forward, bringing her glaive down in a vicious overhead swing at the Avatar, who brought his blade up to block it. There was a flash of light...

***

… and the two were suddenly stood in the middle of a street in Canterlot… that had been turned into a charnel pit. Bodies surrounded them, stallions, foals, mares… all of them slaughtered. There was a distant sound like thunder.

The same phrase was on repeat in Mercy’s mind. It is just a memory, you can’t help them now. When the mare looked up towards the sky, she saw just what had caused the thunder. Or rather, who was the thunder.

High above their heads, the entities that were Solamina and the Avatar were fighting with the same level of might as two gods waring over a the fate of one world. They however, were fighting for the fate of two. By the looks of their attacks, the blades echoing through the battlefield and the magic erupting out of them like bullets from a mini gun, they were deciding which world would be allowed to even exist. Every strike boomed through the air, passing through the two bystanders and sending shivers down their spines.

"Jesus," Sam said. "Suddenly glad I never got the chance to fight the Tyrant. I think I’d be a little outclassed."

"How could anyone survive that fight?" Mercy muttered to herself, watching the Avatar endure so many attacks.

"Apparently, you survive by being him," Sam said in awe.

The two titans of magic crashed to the ground nearby, seemingly unfazed but taking out the buildings around them. What was the loss of uncounted lives to these two at this point? The shockwave from their impact broke the ground into fragments and shattered nearby buildings, and yet the rubble and the energy did nothing to Small Mercy and Sam, who found themselves immune (fortunately) to the effect of the battle all around them.

They continued to clash blades and exchange blood over the remains of those same lives. A magical shield from Solamina was hacked at by the Avatar, his blade shattering it, only for Solamina use the pieces as a flurry of magical projectiles against the Avatar, who swiftly blocked half with his blade and half with his ornate armour.

Even the Earth below them could not handle the raw power that Solamina and the Avatar unleashed, cracking and erupting beneath their attacks.

The Avatar lifted his sword into the air and a bolt of lightning burst through the heavens and into the blade. He charged at Solamina and attacked, but the Tyrant managed to block the blows with her glaive, faster and faster each time, before the Avatar blasted her into the large pile of rubble with magic from his palm. He wasn’t finished with her yet.

Apparently Solamina wasn’t anywhere near finished either. The Tyrant rose into the air once more and bombarded the Avatar with beam after beam of intense light. The Avatar dodged through them, causing the beams to rip through and tear apart the earth around them. Solamina combined two of the beams and managed to pin the Avatar to one spot as he tried to guard the dual attack with his godlike sword.

When Solamina added a third beam to the attack, the resulting force exploded. The battlefield fell silent (save for Solamina’s panting) and a cloud of dust began to engulf it. It swept over the area like a blanket trying to put out a fire. The great dust encompassed the ruined city like fog, vast and calm.

In a flash, a small shape was flew through the dust and landed in front of Solamina. It rolled to her, a head down an executioners stage. As it rolled to a stop it revealed what it was.

What lay in front of Solamina was a midnight black helmet that was almost split it half, missing the twinkling stars that were the eyes, yet still feeling like it was staring at Mercy and Sam, expressionless and otherworldly.

The moment Solamina stepped forward, a growl broke the silence along with another charge from the Avatar. When the two blades met each other again, the force of their resistance creating a crater around the two. A psychotic grin grew on the Avatar's face.

The area around them smoked and fizzled,the shattered corpses of buildings that littered the battlefield near them becoming scorched and crumbling. A new Tartarus in the making. The two blades clashed again and again, each clash throwing shockwaves out, destroying more buildings in their wake.

"I’ve never seen such magic," Mercy said in awe, her eyes wide.

"I've never seen this kind of destruction in one fight," Sam added, hand staying near his blade. "If this is what Solamina can do... then I'm really glad that I've never had to fight her."

Solamina took to the skies, her horn glowing fiery and throwing spell after spell at the Avatar. He held a hand up and the spells impacted on a glowing shield of sickly white light that materialised between him and the Alicorn. He growled and bent his legs slightly, before launching himself in the sky to follow her. He raised his sword as he did so, his blade crackling as a beam of energy lashed out from it, speeding straight toward Solamina and smashing into her. She was borne further into the sky, beyond Sam and Mercy's sight.

"Shit me," Sam said quietly. "That's crazy."

“That’s his vengeance,” Mercy responded.

Before Sam could say anything, a great flash lit up the sky, a shockwave spreading out across the sky. A small black figure fell from the sky, landing in a building and causing the entire structure to shudder from within as the figure smashed through all ten floors. A moment later the foundations of the building shook as the figure apparently impacted the ground floor, and moments later the entire structure collapsed, sending a massive dust cloud toward Sam and Mercy.

Sam blinked, instinctively holding up a hand despite the fact that the dust could do nothing to him.

"This is just totally crazy," he said again, eyes wide with horror.

A flash of light lashed down from the sky toward the centre of the dust cloud, flashing before disappearing into the core of the cloud. There were a few more flashes of light, the light bouncing from particles in the air as it flashed again and again, and deep, echoing cracks of noise sounding with every flash. Suddenly, the figure of the Avatar was thrown backwards, crashing into another building. Out of the dust cloud walked Solamina, dozens of cuts covering her body and one eye scarred, though both blazed with sickly golden energy.

"Fool," she said as she walked! her eyes boring into the Avatar as she walked, her glaive spinning and pointing at him. "Do you think you stand any chance against my power...?!"

As she spoke, she walked past Sam and Small Mercy.

She was right there. Small Mercy’s eyes didn’t leave Solamina in all her twisted grandeur for moment as she strode past. The members of the Resistance would sometimes talk about what they would do if they ever got near the Empress. Most of them would say that they would take her down in one shot. Mercy didn’t know the answer to that hypothetical question. She was thankful she never met the real Solamina. As Mercy stood near her, even if it was a memory, she could tell that Solamina not fighting on the front lines was a small blessing. If she ever did, Mercy had no doubt that Solamina would reduce London to rubble in mere moments.

Her armour bore too many marks to count but that didn’t stop her demeanor from matching the Empress she was. Even the various cuts and wounds she had sustained while battling Elliot didn’t faze her in the slightest. Solamina’s drive still went on unhindered like the flow of the river Styx.

This Alicorn...this thing, it had once been Celestia. Even thinking about that was enough to drive a pony crazy. This vicious creature, that battled the Avatar and had it her mission to wipe humanity away, had once been kind and wise. Ponies had grown up hearing about the centuries of prosperity she had given them and all that she had sacrificed selflessly to get them there. It was fitting that she no longer called herself Celestia, Celestia had died long ago. In her place, Solamina reigned supreme.

"Mercy, you ok?" Sam asked her, frowning down at her.

“I...will be,” Mercy replied, shivering slightly. “How are you holding up?”

"I'm seeing the Tyrant in the flesh... kind of," Sam replied with a wry smirk that didn't reach his eyes. "Next question."

Before either of them could speak further, a shockwave blew past them. The Avatar and Solamina had returned to fighting one another with their weapons, every blow sending waves of power out that smashed masonry and glass asunder. After a few such exchanges, the two clashed, an almighty thing that nearly levelled the street they were standing in with the power of its shockwave... and then, as the two clashed and struggled, a dark shadow began forming all around Solamina, writhing and flexing like a living thing.

"The hell?" Sam said, eyes wide at this. He took an involuntary step back.

The shadow writhed around Solamina, expanding like a great amorphous blob, until it lashed toward the Avatar. Without him even breaking the deadlocked struggle of blades, a light surrounded him, and the mass of shadow broke upon this like water on rock, probing hither and thither trying to find a weakness in the seemingly impenetrable defence.

“Sam, What exactly is Albion?” Mercy asked.

"I have no idea," Sam replied softly. "And watching this... I have even less idea."

“That light.” Mercy gazed at Elliot’s divine form, the light bathing her and Sam. “I don’t think his magic is anything malicious.”

"Even so," Sam said, looking around at the destroyed city. Though many of the bodies had been obliterated, there were still some. "He didn't seem to care much about these..."

“True,” she replied softly, “It’s just, this magic and the look in his eyes back in the medical room...they don’t match.”

"Something must still happen between now and then..." Sam theorised.

Before they could discuss it any further, there was a flash of light, and the surrounding city simply ceased to be...

***

... and they found themselves at the top of the astronomy tower of Canterlot Palace. The tower's highest room was torn and shattered, and half of one wall was missing, exposing a large part of the tower to the elements.

At the centre of the room, Solamina and the Avatar were dueling, though both looked exhausted, their armours rent, both bleeding from several injuries.

"My God," Sam said, looking out of the broken wall onto the city below. Small Mercy came up to him and gasped as she too saw it.

Half of Canterlot was in ruins, burning and smoking from damage that looked like the city had been at war for years... and the rest of the city was flattened, dotted with giant craters and expanses of grey, flattened ground.

“They must have been fighting for hours,” Mercy marveled.

She looked back towards the compatents. They were still fighting as though they had just started, full of energy and fires in the their eyes. This fire would blaze on until it brought everything to ashes. Hopefully, Sam and Mercy wouldn’t see it end before that became true.

Solamina lashed out, and the Avatar leapt above the blow, vaulting over her. She lashed out behind her, causing him to stumble a moment after he landed, but the follow-up blow with her glaive was blocked, and the Avatar pushed backward, before bringing his blade in a vicious overhand that cleaved through Solamina's glaive with a metallic crack... and embedded itself in her shoulder, blood spurting from the wound as the blade connected with bone, driving Solamina to her knees.

"Damn!" Sam yelled, shocked.

“He won,” Mercy said, thinking. “His vengeance is complete.”

And then, horribly, impossibly, Solamina started laughing.

"Fool," she muttered. "Do you think... did you ever think... that you could destroy me so easily?!"

And then the shadow, the great writhing mass that had surrounded her before, returned, exploding outward and filling the room with darkness. The darkness seemed alive, as though every crevice in that great shadow had eyes, staring out at the Avatar and seeking to destroy him. It wriggled and squirmed like a living thing, and tendrils shot out and touched every corner of the room, even passing near Sam and Mercy, who shuddered, even though this was but a memory.

"You have come here only to die," the horribly distended, echoing voice of Solamina spoke. "Against this power, there is no victory! There nothing in all the world that can stand before me! You have failed, little man, and now your end is nigh!"

Mercy stepped away from the visions.

“What is she?” she asked, trembling as Solamina’s words echoed in her head.

To both her and Sam's surprise, the Avatar didn't seem the least bit fazed. There was a deep chuckle from the man's throat as he kept clashing, the dark not even touching him.

"If your power is so great," he said, keeping his hands on his blade, "then I shall take it for myself."

He held up a hand, and suddenly it glowed with a sickly, dark and twisted energy that seemed to flicker deep shades of purple, green and brown. This hand glowed - and then the shadow was simply sucked inside, twisting and writhing as it was drawn into the Avatar's hand. Solamina's eyes widened in shock at this - and then suddenly the shadowy energy was gone, the glowing power in the Avatar's hand now pulsing with what almost looked like several black veins.

"Y-you..." Solamina said, gasping as her life's blood leaked out.

"I have taken the power that infested you, Celestia of Equestria," the Avatar said, his voice tinged with an unnatural energy. "It is mine now, as is your realm of Equestria."

"My... my little ponies..." Celestia said, her voice weakening.

"What they have destroyed, they will be made to rebuild," the Avatar said, "but as long as they do not resist their punishment, they will live - under my guiding hand."

As Small Mercy looked on at the new power Elliot had stolen from the Empress, her mind was brought back to her encounter with Elliot in the medical room.

“That energy,” she began. “That’s the energy I saw in him.”

"What energy?" Sam whispered.

Before Mercy could respond, Celestia slumped to the floor, her eyes still trying to focus on something... and for a moment, they seemed almost to bore into Small Mercy's own.

"My... little... ponies..." she whispered. "Please... have mercy..."

"There is no mercy," the Avatar said bluntly. "There is vengeance and justice, and I am deliverer of both." As he spoke, he stood over Celestia, bringing the blade up above like an executioner. "The only mercy left is oblivion - a mercy I spare for you."

He brought the blade stabbing down, piercing Celestia's heart and making her eyes widen in shock and pain. She gasped, and then stilled, all life leaving her, those dead eyes still pleading silently and unknowingly with Small Mercy's own for something they would never know.

Mercy nudged Sam. “How do we get out of his memories?”

Sam frowned slightly. "I don't think we're done yet..."

As if in response to his words, there was another flash of light...

***

... and suddenly the two of them were stood in front of a large set of double doors, somewhere else in Canterlot Palace judging from the architecture. In front of them, his great sword sheathed on his back, was the Avatar, his armour restored and his helmet back on, concealing his face, and with him were two human soldiers in that same battered, scarred armour that Small Mercy had seen them wear before.

"My lord," one of the men said hesitantly, addressing the Avatar. "Are you sure about this? We don't know if the witch laid traps before you killed her."

"There are too many risks," the second soldier added, "and if you were to perish..."

"I will not," the Avatar cut them both off. "Assemble our finest. I will address them after I have learned this place's secrets."

The two soldiers bowed, and left the Avatar standing alone. He turned to face the giant door.

"The secrets you kept will serve my people as we rebuild, Tyrant," he said aloud. "There will be nothing to stand in our way."

And he entered the room, his gauntleted hands pushing the double doors aside with ease. Beyond them was a great black space, like an endless void. Sam, watching these events with fascinated eyes, turned to Mercy.

"Reckon we should follow?" he asked quietly.

Mercy stared blankly at the void. She nodded slowly.

“Yes. For Elliot’s sake.” Mercy charged forward.

Sam followed, not sure what they'd find.

For a moment, there was only darkness in the room. And then there was a great flash of light...

***

Do you understand now?

... I am the vengeance of a nation...

A thousand times I have killed you and killed you and killed you again.

... I was never alone...

Your sacrifice is accepted.

... And that is why I will stop you...

No!

***

Sam started, sitting bolt upright, scrambling instinctively away from the unconscious form of Elliot for a moment, gasping slightly for breath.

"Sam?" he heard a voice say.

He looked up, to see Sparkle looking at him with a frown. Near her, Small Mercy had woken up, eyes wide as she cast her glance around the room, as if looking for something.

"Are you alright?" the purple mare asked him, bringing the Iron Clad's attention back to the room.

"I... don't know..." he said, frowning at the unconscious Elliot. "Is he?"

"He's alive for the moment," Sparkle replied. "But he's not showing signs of waking up - was theMind Delve successful?"

"I..." Sam said. "Well, we saw... stuff."

"What did you see?" Sparkle asked, looking from him to Small Mercy and back again.

“Have you got a day?” Mercy chuckled nervously before taking a deep breath and strengthening herself. “We saw what he did, who he was and what drives him.”

"And?" Sparkle asked.

Sam sighed. "This... might take a while..."

***