Forsaken of the Everfree 1x1 with Maple Bat

[MickeyAdaptus 2,211]

The arrows went straight the group, some unicorn's managed to jump away while others were hit, the arrow slammed into their armour.

While the unicorns were firing mass spells at Maple, the leader looked at the battle with a blank expression.

Eventually one of the unicorns met his end at Maple's attacks.

Seeing one of his strongest unicorn servants being murdered by a lunar guard made him had enough.

He slammed his right hoof on the ground, stones were sliding towards Maple like a snake almost, similar to Sombra's attack.

A tentacle shot from the ground and wrapped around Maple's leg, slamming her to the ground while the tentacles wrapped around her body like some sort of chains.

"Did you really think you could beat us all on your own? It is a good thing for us that your princesses are too cowardly to act on their own, wich gave us the opportunity to set our plans in motion, anyone. hoping to rival my power." he said as he walked over to her.

"Tell me child, who are you?"

 

[Maple Bat 3,568]

"Maple.." She said struggling, trying to move "Maple Bat... I'm no alicorn but I know I can beat you. Even though you think I'm weak I'm defiantly one of the strongest guards you'll have to deal with. However I forgot that all unicorns play dirty like you."

Woody heard Maple say alicorn and got an idea he ran into the castle to go get Flurry heart. Moving the dozens of scared guard out of the way. "Flurry! Maple's in trouble. I need your help."

Flurry looked at him in surprise She'd never seen this Dragonequus before "I don't think I can help..."

Woody was panting "But they broke the crystal heart. You have to."

The young alicorn was saddened "No I can't I'm not a inclined magic user yet.. But i can Shield the empire if the attacking force leaves."

Woody scoffed And ran back to his sister to make sure she was going to be ok.

[MickeyAdaptus 2,211]

"It depends on what you mean playing dirty, I would call it smart, being able to think beyond the puny minds that Equestria holds."

"Master, they are evacuating the citizen of the Crystal Empire, your orders?" one the unicorns asked.

"Murder them, leave not a single one alive, we cannot afford those life forms to keep on existing." The leader said with a cold tone.

The unicorn bowed as he then teleported away and started firing dark bolts towards the running civilians, some were caught in the impact and died within seconds.

He then looked back at Maple.

"I couldn't help but notice that child you have been carrying, I wonder what part he plays in this little game, perhaps I should see it for myself." The leader said as he teleported away.

The remaining unicorns where surrounding Maple from every direction, one holding a blade against her throat.

 

[Maple Bat 3,568]

Woody was panicking this is downright madness he was killing innocent ponies he wanted to go after him but he also needed to save Maple. The time stopping melody and the duplication melody at once would stop time for me for long enough. He began singing and then after stopping time he echoed the song with the repeating melody he freed Maple and moved her over where she could have the upper hand then moved to protect the civilians by using a silent melody in order to preventing all ponies near or inside the crystal empire from using any sort of magic.

Once time unfroze Maple noticed She wasn't trapped anymore but she didn't have her bow She held her hooves up to protect herself when one of them tried to blast her with magic but the spell fizzled out and she grabbed a fallen guard's spear and used it to attack the unicorns.

[MickeyAdaptus 2,211]

The unicorns looked surprised wen their magic suddenly no longer worked.

But while they were unicorns, they were also veteran soldiers, having fought during the fall of the Crystal Empire a thousand years ago.

But despite them being very experienced, the battle didn't seem to have much of an upper hand on any side, for Maple could perform air attacks while the other side outnumbered her greatly, it turned into a careful battle rather than an all out battle.

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Meanwhile, Jack sat around somewhere, hiding, watching as the battle was unfolding, but to his horror, he suddenly heard a voice behind him.

"MY my, what do we have here. I would have expected you to at least use some of your abilities against us, but you choose to hide instead, that is pitiful."

Jack turned around and to his horror saw the leader of the Red Enclaves behind him.

He tried his magic to teleport away, but to his even further horror his magic failed.

The leader chuckled as he bucked Jack straight into a wall, creating a dent in it.

And while he couldn't use his magic, he was no stranger to magic nullifying things.

He drew his sword and stabbed into the ground, a red aura started surrounding the room, and grew bigger and bigger.

And while no pony could use any magic to even bring down the nullifying in the first place, the sword was an inanimate object, wich was precisely what the Enclave leader had foreseen should his enemy make us of any sort of magic stopping spell or ability. It was not an uncommon technique to use against an army of Unicorns after all.

The aura created a similar effect to what it did on the barrier around the city before, holding back the nullifying effect from the aura that they were surrounded in.

"Who would have guessed, that the ability from one of your own friends would end up becoming your demise? But I won't be stopped by petty tricks, I have prepared myself for countless of years for these scenario's, something that a certain ruler could really learn from." The leader said

Jack knew he could not escape this, so he tried the only thing that would come to mind, something that did not require magic in the first place.

He went into a dreaming state, and did something he would never expect himself of doing.

"Princess Luna, we need your assistance, some incredible force is attacking the Crystal Empire! He shattered the Crystal Heart wich-" his pleading was interrupted when Jack received a punch to the face.

"Don't die on me yet, young unicorn, I still have use for you." The leader said.

[Maple Bat 3,568]

Maple was glad she had the upperhand being able to fly with out them using magic. She knew however that magical ability of his costed him a lot of energy she beat the 2 of the unicorns with her spear before grabbing the Heart's Eclipse She could check the enemies intentions however she knew they where not good ones she quickly drew the string back and relesed the arrow easily taking one of the unicorns out "Who's next?!" She shouted

Woody meanwhile was getting tired of using his magic when some of the unicorns saw he was doing it forcing him to run. He saw the leader stopped singing and used his magic to Tell Maple via telepathy that Jack was in danger and told Flurry heart to "Get out here and help we need it" The he started singing again.

Maple immediately disengaged the enemies she was fighting saying "You got lucky whelps." She saw the enemy leader  and dived at him once again using the spear she still had aiming for the neck

[MickeyAdaptus 2,211]

The spear was close on impacting, The leader's horn started to glow as a red aura started to form at the place where the spear was going to thrust.

The momentum of the spear started to slow down more and more, until it stopped completely, it was frozen in place almost.

He then trust his sword upwards and slashed the spear into 2 pieces.

Following by a strong buck againts Maple's side that send her flying againts a wall.

"You where foolish to assume you could beat me all on your own, I have been preparing and training for a 1000 years, something that multiplies your entire life time."

"You have lots of potential, and it would be a waste if i would murder you here, i am going to need strong enough enemies in the first place."

He started pouring dark magic into her mind.

"I apologize that our battle must end here, but i cannot use any interference." He said as he threw her off the building.

Jack tried to fire a magical blast at his target but the leader slashed trough the magical blast like it was a piece of paper, the blade itself seemed to glow even brighter from the touch of magic.

"Enough playing around." he said as he knocked Jack uncontiousness.

He teleported them both very deep into one of Sombro's old chambers.

[Maple Bat 3,568]

Maple couldn't focus on flying she was too busy trying to get the dark energy out of her mind. She knew the ground impact wouldn't kill her. She crashed into the ground leaving a hole in the crystal walkway. Her armor broke on impact small shards shards of it stabbing her back and wings. She stood up anyways not wanting to give up but feel back down. She saw a blurry figure approach where she was laying and felt like she was getting healed and finally managed to stand back up.

Woody saw Maple crash into the ground "Maple!" He shouted running over to her "Please be ok!" When he got over there he saw Flurry heart healing her with alicorn magic.

"I'm sorry" Flurry said to Maple while healing her "This is my kingdom I should have protected it. I should not have allowed you to risk your life like that."

"I'm going to kill him when I see him again." She said fully healed, armor still broken "I'll protect your people I promise Princess Heart." She flew off to take care of the rest of the red enclave before they hurt anyone else.

[MickeyAdaptus 2,211]

Deep in deepest reaches of the Crysal Empire, the Enclave leader stood in a big room with the uncounsious form of Jack lying on the ground.

"Look at this, the very room that Princess Amore used to hold the city togheter, but now its acts as nothing more then a a forgotten place."

He then looked at Jack. "No one will be saving you this time, even those who could to rival my power would rather leave you to die then risk their own lives, that is how far Equestria has fallen from its former beauty, once a land that held togheter by 2 strong individuals, now has become nothing more then a former shadow of itself. I am going to revive Equestria to its former glory, a time when leaders din't only rely on peasents to save their hides, It will all be reborn." He said with a cold tone.

He then used his dark magic to sent out a signal, the armour that his Unicorn retune was wearing had inbuild crystals that reacted to the signal, and where all teleported to his location

"Collapse the entrance, once we are done here, nothing of this city will remain." he ordered

[Maple Bat 3,568]

The trio of Maple ,Flurry, and Woody noticed all the unicorns disappear at once.

"Invisibility spell!" Flurry shouted and started using a detection spell.

After a few seconds Maple looked around and saw all of the ponys in a small area under the castle. She was about to run and fight them when Woody stopped her. "I know you're going whether I try to stop you or not but know I'm going home to get dad, And maybe dad can get the princesses to help." Maple nodded and ran towards the castle, Flurry close behind her.

Flurry however stopped when she saw the crystal heart "I... I can fix it." She said "However I'll need a lot of time."

"Take it. I'll keep that group down there." Maple said

"Wait on your way there stop by the crystal armory and get another set of armor otherwise-" Flurry said

"I will thanks." Maple said running down. Slipping on a set of armor quickly going full speed to get to Jack.

[MickeyAdaptus 2,211]

The group of Unicorn's started using all of dark magic to change the shape of the room, the tunnels leading to that room started to be flooded with dark magic.

"While you are not my main honour guard, i had expected better of you all, letting yourselves get caught off guard with by a lone lunar guard like that, fail me again and it isn't her that you will have to be worrying about." the leader said with a cold tone as he levitated Jack into the air with his magic.

He started draining Jack slowly as the minutes passed both dark magic and unicorn magic where flowing from Jack's horn as the Leader was sapping him whole.

[Maple Bat 3,568]

Maple saw the dark magic flooding the hall ways flying through it anyways "You won't stop me with that not this time." She had picked up another spear when she got the new armor She threw it into the room not really knowing what she'd hit with it "I won't be beat by some idiotic Unicorns who want everything their way." She knew she had wasn't intimidating them but perhaps a conversation with the leader could buy her brother enough time to get here with Discord.

[MickeyAdaptus 2,211]

The spear reached very close to the leg from one of the Unicorns.

The leader was eventually done and threw Jack's unconsious form to the ground.

He turned around and saw Maple standing there.

"Are you so eager to throw your life away? I would have suspected you would be a bit smarter then that considering how you tried to attack me earlier." He said

 

[Maple Bat 3,568]

"I'm not eager to throw my life away." Maple said angrily "I'm trying to defend the land you wish to destroy. Now cease the use of your magic Otherwise!" She took a offensive stance picking up the spear with her bow at her side "I can't guarantee your safety." She knew she'd be fine she had shining's armor on a set of armor which was immune to magical effects that however didn't protect her from it getting knocked off since it was a stallion's armor on a mare's body plus it made it hard to fly in the middle of combat without knocking it off herself since it didn't have holes for wings.

[MickeyAdaptus 2,211]

The leader smirked behind his helmet.

"Have it your way Lunar Loyalist, It will be a 1 versus 1 dual between you and me, lets see how much Luna's military force has been slacking off." He said.

He teleported infront of her and Drew his own sword, a dark aura was radiating from it has he stared at her, waiting for her to make the first move.

[Maple Bat 3,568]

There was a long pause in the stand off between the two of the as Maple was waiting for the other pony to make their move first. After a few more seconds Maple hit the unicorns sword with her spea,r ramming into the pony with her side hoping to knock them off balance and following it up with a downward strike from her blade.

During the standoff Flurry had been running down the same hallway to catch up with Maple She knew she couldn't fix the Crystal heart she wasn't strong enough by herself. She paused when she saw the standoff not wanting to interfere.

[MickeyAdaptus 2,211]

The sword was blown a bit back by the impact of the spear, and when Maple rammed into his side, the Enclave leader purposely let himself be knocked to the ground.

When Maple was preparing her downward strike, her opponent rolled out of the way and intercepted her footing by slamming his left backhoof into it.

After this action he thrusted his sword straight at her armour. Luckily her armour managed to stand againts the magical effects of the blade, but the blade itself was crafted from an Incredibly strong material, the impact created a dent in the armour.

But the leader din't seem to be heading straight for a fast kill, he instead was focusing on weaken Maple's armour after every blow.

[Maple Bat 3,568]

"You're sparring me I know I could have done more damage than that." She said leapt back moving back throwing the armor off, She started flying performing swooping strikes attempting to avoid the blade at all cost. After her spear had hit the unicorn's armor a few times she dropped it and switched to her bow and fired off a magical arrow aimed straight at his head.

[MickeyAdaptus 2,211]

The leader seemed to be favouring fast melee attacks now that she started dodging a lot more.

But Maple was doing considerable damage to his armour.

When he saw her draw his bow he did something rather unexpected.

When Maple fired off the magical arrow it went straight trough the helmet of the leader, his body fell to the ground.

Or that is what it looked like, as he had created a magical puppet that looked exactly like him in order to surprise his opponent.

He reappeared from the shadows, weird purple tentacles shot from his horn as they skimmed against Maple like a whip.

"You have talent, I will give you that. But I have to disappoint you that I was forced to hold back in order to keep this interesting. Now it is time I end this."

He started firing countless of Dark bolts towards Maple, there were so many that the spread of the projectiles itself filled the entire hallway as they went further and further.

[Maple Bat 3,568]

Maple knew where the discarded armor was she picked it up and threw it on bracing her self for the worst when the blast got close however they all bounced off a barrier. "It's not over yet!" She yelled firing another arrow aiming for the horn.

Unknown to the combatants Flurry had protected maple in that moment but only until those blast where gone then she then ran away not interfering with the battle anymore.

[MickeyAdaptus 2,211]

The leader teleported out of the way quickly before the arrow would hit him.

He was about to fire an all out magical blast until he felt 3 individuals closing into the Crystal Empire.

"Ahh... So this is how it's going to be." He said with an unnerving smirk behind his helmet.

He teleported back behind the unicorns.

They turn started firing a barrage of magical attacks towards Maple, while it wasn't really damaging much because of the armour, it was enough to suppress and drive her back a bit from all the force the magical attacks where doing.

The leader's horn started to glow.

He levitated into the air and started pouring a massive amount of magic into his horn.

The entire place started to shake as he teleported to the surface.

The entire room and its tunnels collapsed, the unicorns that were firing at Maple jumped back into the room and were performing some sort of dark ritual.

The entire situation seemed rather dire.

[Maple Bat 3,568]

"Can't mess this up." She whispered to herself aiming another arrow carefully at the leaders horn. She dropped the bow before firing grabbed the spear she dropped earlier Leapt at the leader with it throwing all her weight into the one spear thrust, shouting "For Equestria!"

 

Meanwhile Woody, Discord and Luna where approaching the crystal empire.

Woody was scared his sister lost and his body language expressed that.

Discord looked at his son "Woodland... Maple's gonna be fine she's trained a lot-"

"More than a lot Discord." Luna interrupted "She's trained more than any other guard has she knew something could happen and wanted to be ready and I'd say she was more than ready for the unicorn."

Woody nodded and kept flying hoping he made it in time.

[MickeyAdaptus 2,211]

The arrow hit the leaders horn, making him lose track of his spell.

And the spear thrust went straight trough its stomach, part of the armour was penetrated, the leader had no time to defend as he had exposed a weak point.

But the purpose of the spell was far more than met the eye, instead of being cancelled out, the spell seemed to malfunction, the dark magic being so unstable to a point where the entire room started to change its laws of physics in some regards.

Any normal pony would have died from such a wound, but the Enclave leader showed unnatural properties.

His body started to emerge tentacles that wrapped all around the form of Maple completely, a dark force straight contact her mind.

"You have battled rather well, I commend you on your bravery. But your biggest mistake was assuming that I was just an ordinary unicorn, had you been a thousand years earlier, you would have been right."

The malfunction spell from earlier started to claw into the bodies of every single pony in the room, putting everyone in an unconscious state. The dark aura that has filled the atmosphere there seemed to have an unnatural state.

The enclave leader floated into the air, his wound was still there, but it instead of dripping blood, it showed a dark red energy flowing from it, showing signs of odd similarities to Sombra himself.

The leader teleported straight to the surface, above the Crystal Empire.

When his soldiers saw him floating there with a red glow, they started shouting out loud war cries, and some started saying weird chants.

"A new age of Equestria will dawn in our wake! We will surpass Nightmare Moon, Discord, Tirek and even Sombra himself with our new found knowledge." His voice echoed over the battlefield, but the most sinister thing that instead of 1 entity that could be felt into someone, there was a presence of 2 entities felt into his body.

[Maple Bat 3,568]

Maple wasn't sure what to do being held there by what ever was surrounding her body she just kept trying to escape whatever it was. She could tell however she wasn't going to survive much longer if that unicorn decided to finish her off. She could tell she was in the air She must have teleported with the leader somewhere since whatever was surrounding her was still attached to him.

Discord saw the pony before Luna or woody did He teleport ed in front of the unicorn "We'll see about that." He said covering the whole crystal empire in a strange mist it didn't seem to do anything at first but it blocked all magic even earth ponies strength and Pegasi's flight the only thing that could happen is chaos magic. When Luna went into the fog she fell not being able to fly she left the fog before hitting the ground Woody, however didn't fall he after all was the son of the king of chaos so his flight was technically chaos magic. He kept flying trying to find here Maple was meeting up with Flurry who lost access to any of her abilities "Where's Maple." He asked her

"She's fighting the leader down there."  Flurry said

Woody ran down trying to save her only to get knocked unconscious by some sort of dark magic

[MickeyAdaptus 2,211]

"Ah, the spirit of disharmony himself decides to face me, it is too bad you let all of your powers go to waste." he taunted.

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In the deep grounds of the Crystal Empire, Jack suddenly awoke, his exposure to Dark Magic was having an alternate effect on him.

"Where... Where am I?" he said with a confused voice.

But unfortunately for him, one of the Enclave Unicorns also had that similar effect and drew his blade.

"You won't be leaving here alive." the unicorn said with an evil smile.

Jack crept back to the wall, he tried to fire a spell, but all his magic was drained, not to mention it had been nullified by Discord's mist.