Chapter 10
Aiden and his friends were now in a face off against the evils of an old enemy. Monsters stood before them in many shapes, sizes and hideous appearances to drive fear into their hearts. But the boy and his twin brother friends stood their grand as they held their swords at the ready. Aiden sighed, and raised his two front fists up to the sides of his head and went solid. Showing that he now had skills to defend himself, this got him a bit more interests from the foes they faced.
This was his intention as he eyes up the ceiling slyly to another situation. His family was stuck to the ceiling with black goop from the dark one's very body, a worrisome situation. Thankfully, he remained calm after seeing his uncle Discord quietly working to free them.
"I honestly should have guessed you would be here on my thirteenth birthday party,"Aiden spoke as the dark one chuckled at the teen's new found persistence,"Unlucky number thirteen, right? That's all part of your ironic evil sense of evil?"
"Well, when you put it that way it sounds stupid, dear boy…!"The nightmarish master mused at Aiden's spoil attempt on his plans.
"So what reason do you have for just barging in on a fun birthday party?"Aiden decided not to sand bag questions with the dark one and got down to real questions.
"If you could believe it Aiden. I need your help with something. Your very touch is required for a deed that needs done…!"The dark one chuckled and slowly took his old physical form from when Aiden was but a toddler.
"Really? And what would that be?"Aiden questioned as his fists began to glow, exciting the master of nightmares.
"You don't know it yet… But the Crystal Empire is officially under new management,"The dark one snickered and put his hands together in anticipation,"This morning, my forces captured the Empire, and thirty percent of it's population…! The rest eluded us…!"
"What…?! You lie! The empire would never fall to the likes of you!"Aiden wanted to deny the outrageous statement that was scaring the empire's royal family.
"Oh…? Would you care to see for yourself, dear boy? I can show you…!"Suddenly the dark one parted his hands to let a black crystal orb form between them.
He raised them like he was giving a prayer, letting red static shroud the orb. It then began to grow clear like glass, before it allowed the Crystal Empire to be seen. They all lit up with horror as they saw the empire shrouded in darkness, the very foundation of the crystal castle was completely black. Aiden could not believe what he was seeing, a whole empire under the control of an old enemy. He wanted to look away to the others, knowing that this was pure horror for Flurry Heart to see.
"What did you do…? Why…? Why are you doing this?! Why the Crystal Empire?!"Aiden demanded answers while Discord began pumping his magic into the goop to harden it and free the others.
"The empire is a city of love and harmony alongside the magic of… Friendship,"The dark demon hissed and looked to Twilight for a moment before looking back to Aiden,"Tartarus burns and screams for that love to die…! And so this conquest will be what brings me back into the graces of Tartarus itself…!"
"The things you have done should never deserve grace and praise…!"Aiden checked to see Discord almost completely able to harden and chip away the goop.
"That doesn't answer our question about why you need Aiden for anything pal…!"Haze pointed out as he and his brother moved forward to defend Aiden.
"What do you need Aiden for? We thought this was just you being flank hurt about getting humiliated by a two year old,"Faze decided to mock the dark master a bit to get the blood boiling and buy more time,"If it's not just revenge, then what is it?"
"Well… I haven't exactly gain full control over the Crystal Empire. There's one thing that must be acquired before the conquest can truly begin,"The demon sighed with stress as he then showed them the problem,"Thanks to the quick actions of the crystal guards…! They sealed away the crystal heart within the great chambers below the empire!"
"And without the heart, you can't corrupt and destroy the love of the empire,"Aiden already figured it all out, making the demon chuckle at his continuing persistence,"In other words, you just failed once again. And you're just stuck with a kingdom that demons could never control…!"
"Yet…! Because that's what need YOU for, my dear boy…! YOU are the key,"The demonic leader pointed to Aiden with a trembling and sharp finger,"You have pure blood in you, and you are a conduit to all the love that goes around Equestria. But love itself does not embed in you like it does the princess of love and her family…!"
"So basically I'm the key to opening the chambers for you and your horde of demons,"Aiden assumed before he slowly got into a basic punching stance,"But why would I want to help you take the crystal heart just so you could kill harmony and wage a war over Equestria…!?"
"Because THAT… Is what will spare your family from complete destruction and death,"The dark demon pointed to the ceiling and cackled before looking up to them,"You really think I couldn't see Discord freeing the prisoners? I'm letting him free your family…! Because I'm not going to control what happens to them… YOU are…!"
"What…? What are you talking about?"Aiden questioned with a bit of confusion for the demon's relent.
"You and your family are going to deny my desires, and you're going to fight me off,"The nightmare master sneered before letting a smile grow on his face,"But this will lead to the impending death of your family in the future…! And this will only be prevented, if you cooperate… Aiden…!"
"You lie…! Demons are liers, nothing more! Now I think it's time you left!"Aiden demanded as the goop suddenly began to rapidly crack and crumble apart.
"Believe it if you want to boy…! But you will see soon…! Soon… After this bit of resistance of course…!"The nightmarish demon looked back up just in time to see the ponies angrily break their way out of his goop prison.
"I'm gonna warn you right now…! Get… Out…! Of my… Home!"Aiden suddenly lunged over the twins and swung a solid hook that smashed against the dark one's right cheek.
At that same moment, every pony broke free of their slimy prison and sprung to action. Flurry Heart simply floated down and hid behind a table while her parents tore into the demons. Anger burned into their hearts to learn that their home was taken by a small army of demons. They shot their magic in all directions, Shining Armor showed his strength by mixing powerful magic with hard hooves that knocked the jaws clean off his enemies. He backed up a moment, and was back to back with his vengeful wife.
She blasted magic in every direction, tearing holes in bodies and blasting off limbs. She and her husband parted ways and charged into the ranks, mowing down demons in their path. While Twilight herself flew above the heads of the demons, flashing with magic. She was then assuming full friendship form, her mane and tail grew longer while gaining a yellow streak to go with the pink one. It went with the little purple and yellow stars that appeared on her hooves.
Her very appearance was harmonic and a burning torment to the demons. Her magic melted the demons before her, the very touch of friendship incinerated the demons. She flew and swooped down to ram the demons before they melted away from her magic. Twilight turned out to be perfect for crowd control as she melted and cornered groups of demons to be vanquished. And that job was left to the sword happy twins that displayed unrelenting steam and aggression.
Their broad swords slashed and tore apart the strong demons to pieces. While Their horns shot tiny bits of magic for the always enjoyable head shots they went for. Any demons that grabbed them were likely to lose their arms after being put into arm locks and arm bars. They left the wounded demons screeching for moments before bringing their blades down into their chests. However their only problem was that they were running low on demons to kill, they were dying quite easily.
All demons, except their master that was now engaged in a fist fight with Aiden. The boy landed a following gut shot with a hard uppercut, forcing the Nightmare master back a bit. He shook it off and back handed Aiden in the back, knocking him face first into a wall. Aiden felt a bit winded, but he as quick to get back up and shake off the stunned feeling he felt. He then ran and ducked a second back hand before kicking out the demon's ankle, forcing him to growl.
Aiden jumped to land another bone breaking punch to his arch enemies right jaw. Only to be suddenly snatched up in the dark one's clutches and power slammed on his back. However Aiden resist the rattling pain in his back and wrapped his legs and arms around his foe. He then put the demon in an arm bar, pulling back against the dark demon's arm as hard as he could. Hoping to fully break the dark one's arm in two as the demon master fell to his knees.
His red eyes widened and he grunted in a serious struggle with the teenage Equine. He slowly began to roar with pain before he was able to stand up to resist the boy's grip. The master of nightmares was then able to swing his trapped arm and slam Aiden against the wall. Forcing the Equine to let go, and toss the boy into a table full of food, allowing him to grip his sore arm. Aiden was slow to get up, while he was coated in jelly, cream cheese and so many more foods.
Aiden groaned, his body was finally got caught up with the pain he endured. This made him too slow to get back up before the demon wrapped both claws around Aiden's neck. He lifted the Equine up and brought him face to face before roaring with rage from the pain he felt.
"Enough resisting you little rat! Accept your capture and open the chambers for us, NOW!"The master demon demanded with dwindling patience burning his head up.
"Never! Never! Go back to Tartarus you failure!"Aiden resisted and gripped his foe's wrists to try and break free.
Very well…! Then lets see if this convinces you to do my bidding…!"The demon growled before he then tightened his grip to start strangling Aiden.
The boy choked and gagged, but he was quick to respond by tightening his own grip. Allowing his hands to glow with white magic that suddenly began to burn away at the demon's claws. His black skin boiled and bubbled as he growled to resist the burning pain and continued to choke the teen. It was now a battle of wills, Aiden felt himself running out of air, but the demon was low on tolerance for pain, and the boy's tenacity. They both tried to tighten their grips even more so.
Tears formed in Aiden's eyes as he finally tightened his grip with his full strength. Thankfully, it resulted in Aiden winning the struggle as the demon leader shrieked with pain. He released Aiden's neck, just in time to see both his hands fall completely off before the boy. Aiden coughed and almost spewed with drool before seeing the demon's hands melting into the floor. Leaving his enemy with nubs in place of his claws, he roared with pain before he was then shot in the back.
The gold and blue magic of his mothers were the cause of the sneak attack. Then then rammed through the dark one's shoulders, rendering his arms useless and dangling. The twins then followed up their princesses attack by spin slashing in sync, and cutting out the demon's ankles. This forced the enemy to stumble and lose balance, tempting Discord enough to get poked back by the playful Draconequus. The demon fell backwards before he then saw three different beams of magic.
One stream of blue magic, and two streams of purple shot at him like a tri beam. They burned and blasted into his chest and torso, sending him grinding and flying into the wall. Dust and wall pieces went flying, before he then fell forward with a hard face plant. Hand cuffs then appeared around his ankles and right in front of his nubs where his hands would be for extra insult. Slowly the demon looked up, and there he saw all the ponies and even Discord were standing in front of a fatigued and winded Aiden.
"How sweet…! The child has his own big posse to protect him from harm,"The Nightmare master chuckled and spat out a bit of demon blood,"But… Such things will be what seals their fate in the future…! You know… Since you chose to fight me on this…!"
"Don't be… Butt hurt because you lost to me and my family again… You didn't… Have a chance,"Aiden panted and decided to stick it to the demon for satisfaction,"You couldn't even beat a two year old in a game of cat and mouse. Now that two year old is a teen, and he can't help but pity you for how far you've fallen…"
"He's got a point you know…! You honestly DO look pretty pathetic from where I am standing."Discord mocked and took embarrassing pictures of the demon to mock him even more so.
"And if you ever touch our child again…! A far worst fate will await you when we get our hooves on you!"Celestia gave the demon a dire warning about daring to bring harm to their son.
"Don't worry… I can bide my time, and wait for the boy to change his mind,"The demon master snickered and did his best to contain the anger of defeat that shook his body,"Till then…! I'll be seeing what fun sport the Crystal Empire can offer for the time being… Feel free to join me any time… Princess Cadence… Prince Shining Armor… Flurry Heart…!"
"Get out of here…! Don't you even look at her! Get out of my home!"Aiden ignored his lingering pain and stood in front of the uncovering Flurry Heart so the demon's eyes could not look to her.
"Whoa…! Some pony has some fire for the daughter of love…! How very interesting,"The dark one hissed and chuckled a bit more before he began to ripple and dissipate to smoke,"I'll leave you all to process everything that's happened here…! Hope you don't mind moving back into Canterlot cast again, princess of love…!"
Cadence growled, and needed to try and get one last hoof across a demon's jaw. However the demon had already turned back to smoke before she swung at him, and went right through the Nightmare master. She turned around to see the demon disappear into the air with a parting chuckle that echoed through the room. The same fate came for the other demons that were slaughtered. Once they were gone, the group was able to relax and get their barrings from the fight.
"Is… Every pony ok…?"Aiden asked of his family before he was pulled in for a big hug with his mothers.
"Our baby…! Oh, you were so brave! We were so worried about you!"Celestia admitted her hidden fears for Aiden's safety once again.
"You fought so gallantly against the dark master…! We are so proud of you!"Luna praised her son for his bravery and tenacious fighting spirit.
"I know moms… But… What about every pony else? Are any of you hurt?"Aiden wished to worry more about the others rather than his own safety.
"We're fine…! At the most we cramped our sword hooves slaughtering all those demons!"Haze decided to brag a bit for the solid combat work they did.
"We're fine as well… Flurry Heart…! Come on out…!"Twilight spoke for Cadence and Shining Armor before calling to her niece.
"Aiden!"Flurry was quick to run out from under the table and quickly crush Aiden into a hug.
"It's ok Flurry Heart. He's gone, he can't hurt you or your family while you're here…!"Aiden made sure she was tight and snug in his arms as they hugged each other warmly.
"But my home…! What that monster showed us! They took our home, Aiden!"Flurry Heart felt tears stinging her eyes as she began to tremble a bit with fear.
"It's alright Flurry Heart… We're going to take our home back from that monster, we promise,"Shining Armor got down to his belly and rubbed his daughters back for comfort,"I promise… Our home… Our empire will be made safe and sound once more with time…!"
"Till then, we should first figure out what happened to the ponies that escaped the chaos,"Cadence informed her husband as she then began to do her calming exercise to get back into more lovable spirits,"The demon said much of our people managed to escape his wrath… We need to find those missing crystal ponies and assure their safety before making a plan to take back our home…!"
"Um… You won't have to look far…! They're actually coming to us as a matter of fact,"Discord decided to be the barer of good news as every one crowded around a window to see what he saw,"See? That's the crystal train arriving to the Canterlot train station."
Discord spoke the truth and pointed to a crystallized train pulling into a train station. Once the train had come to a complete stop, the doors to the train slowly opened up. Allowing frightened and saddened crystal ponies to walk out of the station, barring the burdens of horrid memories that took place at the empire.
"We need to go down there and find out what happened to those poor souls…"Celestia gasped with deep concern for the miserable ponies that entered Canterlot.
Here's more Aiden, and with that, time for Equestria's spirit and the arriving Equestria Warrior's Origins my friends. I hope you're all hyped for a cornucopia of stories to fill your spirits with happiness and life, and entertain you to the fullest. Stay pony every one.