Ah yes, another blank page to fill with words. I love this part.

TheSonicGamer99: Hah, oh definitely.

Zacharythehedgehog: Oh stop it, you're making me blush. But in all seriousness, thanks, and I don't mind at all if you take some pointers.

BLTSweg: Exciting is what I was aiming for.

Christian Ape99: Oh, another name change. Great. Just what we need. By the way, you mentioned your fan characters, so I'm deleting your comment. Sorry for the inconvenience.

Inkwell Lynx: I intend to raise a lot of questions. I'm taking pointers from classical literature, and that's what it does best. Gawain is boss.

Cobalt's dreams were disturbed, as usual. He almost had to sleep with one eye open these days, just to prevent himself from seeing the awful visions on repeat once again. Apparently there was a set amount of ways for his friends to die.

Sadly, that made him feel better.

He wandered through Ponyville at night. Everything seemed normal, but when he looked up… that wasn't the night sky as he remembered it. Luna's moon was nowhere to be seen, and the stars were shut out. With a shock, he realized that the entire planet was enveloped with darkness.

Sickly, he enjoyed it.

He wandered around some more, and noticed several dead bodies of ponies that he knew lying slumped up against the sides of buildings. He smiled coldly. In his dream self's mind, they deserved it for never noticing the private Tartarus he'd been living in.

He tried to turn around and go back the way he came, but his legs wouldn't move. He felt as if there were strings attached to his hooves, holding him in place.

I'm a puppet. He realized with horrible certainty. That's all I am.

And indeed, in his mind at least, he was nothing. He had no value. The only thing he was there to be was the marionette of that… thing… in his head.

And the worst part of it was: he could see no way out of it. No matter what resistance he put forth, he could never eradicate the thing. It would just sit there and cause him mental and physical torture. He had no way of combating it. It wasn't something that lived inside his head; it was the one in control.

Then something inside of him snapped. He bared his teeth like a feral animal and let out a shout. "NO!" he snarled, shaking loose the invisible strings that bound him to the will of the thing. "THIS IS MY DREAM! I AM IN CONTROL!"

He stood there for a moment in an aggressive stance, seething with rage, until he became aware of a soft chuckle. It came from everywhere and nowhere at all, which gave him vertigo. "Hah, little fool." It said coldly. "If you wish to think that way, then so be it."

Cobalt gasped as the air was sucked out of him, he felt like he'd been punched in the gut. He bent over and started to breathe hard. A drop of blood spilled out of his mouth. Then he felt a dagger being run slowly down his side. He cried out in pain, trying to find the source of whatever was doing this so he could hit it, but he could see nothing except the cut growing larger and larger.

The voice spoke again, but this time in Percival's voice. "Warrior! Warrior?!"

"I'm fine." Cobalt said the first two words he could think of as he was jerked back into consciousness. It was almost sad, the frequency with which he said those words. He often said them when the thing caused him pain, even if nopony had asked him about it, just to prevent them asking in the first place. It made him look at himself bitterly, every time he told that lie. He just had to reassure himself that he was doing this for everypony's good.

"Warrior! Wakest thou up!"

Cobalt looked up and saw Percival looking down at him concernedly. He sat up and looked around. He was in a rocky enclosure with high, jutting sides, but a clear view back to the castle in the distance. He took one look at the new appearance of the castle and shook his head to clear it, as if he couldn't believe his eyes.

"Bad, is it not?" Lancelot remarked. She was leaning against a nearby rock, her eyes half-closed as if in thought. "The entire castle hath been destroyed."

"Man." Cobalt remarked, looking over at the castle as he slowly got back into the swing of reality, stuffing all his internal thoughts to the side in order not to break down into a crying mess. He had to appear normal. He couldn't afford to feel bad for himself. "Merluna's got no remodeling sense." He drew Caliburn and let the sword hover. "Yo Caliburn, what do you figure?"

"I assume two things based on the current situation." Caliburn didn't waste time in conversation, having seen the blood-colored sky and new castle. "I believe that–if the legend is correct–Merluna will have withdrawn herself to Parallel Avalon."

"Cool, so we go and beat her." Cobalt shrugged. "How do we get there?"

"That is my second assumption." Caliburn went on. "In order to open the passage to there, the four sacred swords must be placed in the sacred stones surrounding Avalon."

"Oh… so that means…"

"That means that is where we give thee help." Galahad supplied gently. Seeing the confused look on Cobalt's face, she smiled. "Dids't thou think that thou might have to do this task entirely on thy own?"

"What is the point?!" Gawain wailed, staring at the castle in dismay. "The castle is destroyed! The Queen is dead!"

"'Tis a point." Lancelot agreed, not looking up. "We all did agree that in the case of the situation being this bleak, we would disband and do everything we could to salvage the world. So therefore–"

"But this is a new situation!" Percival interrupted, her eyes wide with pleading. "All is not lost! The Queen may be dead, yet we have a new leader!" To Cobalt's utter surprise, she was pointing at him. "He hath been given the title of Warrior, a rank which far outstrips us all!" Percival went on. "Dost thou think that he, who hath just saved us from doom at the hooves of Merluna, is not capable of saving the world and the Round Table?"

"She has a point." Caliburn supported the hotheaded Knight.

"Ah see thy position." Gawain mused with a nod, now looking more thoughtful than anything else. "But–oh, Ah shall just say it–how shall we trust him?"

"Guys?" Cobalt spoke up. "I won't betray you. I know that sounds stupid, just saying it, but I mean it. Even if I didn't like you all, I'd be allied with you. I hate evil."

Lancelot frowned. "I shall aid thee." She said flatly, standing straight up and walking over to Cobalt. She leaned forward until their noses almost touched. "Warrior." She said quietly, so only he could hear. "Thy eyes are cold. They are gray. But I shall trust thee anyway."

Cobalt gulped as the purple mare backed away. Why had she done that… what had she meant? His eyes were cold… that was probably. But what did she mean when she told him his eyes were gray? Had they actually turned gray, or did that have double meaning?

"Then we are all in agreement." Galahad said, turning her teal eyes toward Gawain. "Except for thee, Gawain."

"Ah shall aid him." Gawain said quickly.

"Then explain to us our task." Galahad said to Cobalt.

Cobalt frowned, running a hoof through his mane to help him think. "Er–ah–let's see…" he glanced at Caliburn. "Caliburn, where're the stones?"

"One in the forest, one in the plains, one in the dragon's cave, and one in the mine." Caliburn listed.

"Okay…" Cobalt thought for a moment, assessing which of the Knights would be best suited for which area. Percival would be best for the mine, given her agility and ability to fly, and Gawain would do best in the plains, since she was an earth pony… but that left Galahad and Lancelot. Lancelot, he guessed, would be better in the shadows of the forest, where her coat would blend in more. Galahad would stick out like a daffodil on a dirt road. "So… Percival, you take the mine; Gawain, the plains; Galahad, you in the cave; and Lancelot, you have the forest. That good?"

The four nodded. Galahad looked uncertain for a moment, and then asked, "Warrior what wills't thou do while we are on the tasks?"

Cobalt set his jaw. "Save as many unconverted citizens as possible. I plan to be a big old thorn in the side of Merluna's plans until I can fight her directly."

"That is honorable." Caliburn said approvingly.

Percival, meanwhile, was having a severe inner argument with herself. Finally, she threw aside all doubt and strode forward. "Cobalt Spikes." She said respectfully to the dark blue pegasus. Then she leaned forward and kissed him passionately.

This was what she'd been debating in her mind. Half of her had said that this was a bad idea and to stay away at all costs, while the other half of her had said that she should go for it. Ever since he'd saved her at the mine, Percival had struggled about how she felt toward the mysterious dark blue warrior, and why he made her feel the way he did. Now she had settled on what feelings she had toward him, and in kissing him made them known.

To her surprise, he didn't pull away. After tensing in shock, he deepened the kiss. The other Knights probably reacted in some way, but the two didn't notice. They were in their own little bubble. A full ten seconds went by before Caliburn cleared his throat (do swords have throats?) and said, "If you two are quite done…"

Percival pulled away, her cheeks a deep red, and swallowed hard. "Good luck to thee, Warrior."

Then the four knights departed, leaving Cobalt sitting there with a blank look and a blush on his face, wondering why he'd just let that happen.

MUCH LATER

A good ten or so hours later, Cobalt fell to the ground, breathing hard, as a knight of the underworld slashed him across the chest, leaving a bloody gash. His vision went fuzzy and he struck out blindly forward, impaling the knight straight through the neck, so that it fell to the ground, dead.

Strangely, his mind was focused on other matters such as: why had he allowed Percival to kiss him like that? Could it have just been because he was longing for some sort of affection after so much mental torture? No, that was a stupid thought. He'd only been here two days.

That left another option that made him nervous just to think about. He knew that he'd let Rainbow Dash go… could he possibly be still harboring affection toward her? Had he let Percival kiss him because of her similarity to Rainbow Dash?

No. He told himself. No, that can't be it.

As he thought about it, though, it appeared to make the most sense. Even though Rainbow Dash was doing everything possible to push him away, he still looked at her with some sort of little glimmer of hope that they could get back together.

Gulping, he realized that he still did love Rainbow Dash.

He then realized that he had absolutely no idea how to tell Twilight.

BACK IN EQUESTRIA

Twilight felt like both stabbing and kissing Shadow, maybe both at the same time. She wanted to strangle him for being so enigmatic, and yet at the same time endearing. She didn't know how to figure her feelings for him, or how to handle the matter that Cobalt had now been missing for a total of 51 hours, 39 minutes, and 12… 13 seconds.

Twilight liked to be exact.

She wondered exactly how the dark blue pegasus was feeling at the moment, and if he was dealing with such conflicted feelings as he was.

No… impossible. She smiled and smoothed out a tuft of hair sticking up out of her mane. He's probably just out there having some sort of adventure.

She glanced out the library window and frowned as she noticed several dark gray clouds rolling in. She narrowed her eyes and checked the position of the sun in the sky. It was hanging around the middle of the sky, suggesting that it was around noon, but the pegasi weren't supposed to have another storm for days… and even then it wasn't supposed to be this big.

Rain began to splatter lightly against the window, and steadily gained force.

Twilight frowned, dismissing the occurrence. There was probably just some rescheduling going on with the Apple Farm. It had been dry lately. She turned back around and once more began to think about her own feelings… specifically toward Shadow.

Gulping, she allowed herself to for the first time wonder what she'd tried so hard to put off thinking about. She wondered whether she had some sort of serious affection toward Shadow, beyond the bounds of a simple crush.

While she pondered that, another idea came to mind, an idea so good she wondered why she hadn't thought of it before. She could ask Princess Celestia about this. The Princess didn't know about her relationship with Cobalt.

On that train of thought, she levitated over a sheet of parchment and a quill and quickly scribbled out a letter relating her feelings toward an 'anonymous stallion', and on an afterthought, added 'send reply by teleportation'. Then she tried a trick that she hadn't ever tried before, because she'd never had to send a letter in secret before. She couldn't risk Spike seeing this. She levitated the paper into the air and squeezed her eyes shut, concentrating hard on Princess Celestia, trying to imagine the letter appearing right at the side of her trusted mentor.

When she opened her eyes again, the paper had disappeared, and she sighed in relief. Hopefully the letter had gotten to the right place. Now all that was left to do was wait for a reply.

After a few minutes of anxious waiting and pacing, Twilight heard a paper drop to the floor behind her, and looked around to see an envelope with Princess Celestia's signature on it resting on the floor. The letter appeared to be staring up at her lazily, as if to say, 'well, you've got me, now are you going to read me?'

Twilight giggled somewhat insanely. Now she was personifying envelopes.

She levitated the letter up to reading level and opened the envelope. She brought out the letter itself and began to read (in her head this time, not aloud as she usually did. It would be embarrassing if Spike were to hear this.). As she read, her ears flattened and she got increasingly more nervous.

The Princess was all for her feelings toward the 'anonymous stallion'. She was at that age, after all. Her mentor also added that it was natural to want to strangle that pony as well, given that opposites have a tendency to attract. The Princess even remembered a stallion that she had taken a fancy to who was her opposite in nearly everything.

Twilight frowned, wondering whether, if Celestia knew exactly which stallion she liked, she might immediately revoke her approval.

But even so, Celestia had given her good will toward Twilight's feelings toward the stallion the purple unicorn had described as 'the single most confusing pony on the face of Equestria'.

The only thing she couldn't figure out was how to break this to Cobalt.

BACK WITH COBALT

Cobalt didn't think that an explosion of darkness could ever mean anything good, but apparently it could, for as a black mushroom cloud erupted in the distance, Caliburn exclaimed, "That is it! The door to Parallel Avalon has been opened!"

"Seriously? We're supposed to go toward the black cloud?" Cobalt asked, more tired than incredulous at this point. Nevertheless, he launched himself toward the cloud of darkness at top speed, smashing another dark hole through the sound barrier.

His dark trail seemed to mesh with the converted world's natural shadow. As he got closer, he started to slow, and lowered his speed to sub supersonic so he could converse with Caliburn. "What do I do?!" he shouted.

"Fly into it!"

"WHAT?!"

"Fly into it to get to Parallel Avalon!"

Cobalt began to hyperventilate. He hadn't planned on going into the darkness. That was a step he wasn't ready to take. But he was going too fast to bank anyway, and he crashed straight into the wall of darkness.

IN PARALLEL AVALON

The darkness seemed to cling to him like some sort of mist, and he shook himself to try and get it off. It didn't budge.

He heard a feminine laugh, and pushed farther into the darkness to find himself in a dark courtyard, like that of a castle, but only the courtyard remained. Everything else seemed to fall out around him in decay. Merluna hovered in front of him, a serene smile on her face that didn't fit the atmosphere of the place.

Cobalt wanted to join her in smiling.

The darkness was overpowering here. Every step Cobalt took was wracked with pain, but it seemed to come from a distance, like he'd left his old self behind, and was a newer, better, darker version of himself.

Was this what it was like to be discorded?

He shook his head to dismiss the thoughts, and shouted instead to Merluna. "Merluna! Can't you see that this is wrong?!"

Merluna laughed again. "No, little hero." She said the word mockingly. "This is what is meant to happen. The kingdom must be consumed by darkness in order to live on."

"What?"

"This kingdom will die. The story is ending. But with the power of darkness, it will never die. Isn't that better?"

Merluna's words were like waves of energy, battering Cobalt with their persuasive power. He had to restrain himself from nodding in agreement, and instead thought up a counterpoint. "But all stories must end! That's what gives them value! What's the point of a story that never ends?!"

Merluna smiled. "You know you don't believe that. You're grasping at straws, little one. Even now the darkness is choking you." As she said this, Cobalt could feel the waves of darkness creeping up his legs like moss on a tree trunk. She went on, "You are weak. Why not join me? I can give you power."

"Join you?!" Cobalt exclaimed incredulously with a bitter laugh. "I'll never join you!" and with those words, he ripped himself free of the darkness at his hooves and launched himself at Merluna, who merely extended her hoof and knocked him back with a wave of energy.

As he tried to get up from the ground, he heard Merluna say something else.

"I think I'll kill the Knights. It's too risky to keep them alive."

There is a point which all living creatures have. This point is called the breaking point. This is the point at which the creature cannot take it anymore and simply snaps.

Cobalt's eye twitched. That was it. He'd had it. All it had taken was those seven words to push him over the edge. He lost the will to resist the darkness. He gave himself over to it. He summoned up all the anger, fear, bitterness, and despair he'd harbored over the last two days–

And let it explode in one, huge scream.

His eyes turned dark gray. His fur turned the same color. His mane turned pure black. He drew Caliburn, who had been knocked unconscious from the journey through the portal to Parallel Avalon.

The sword was lucky.

Cobalt seemed to radiate a dark energy. He hovered off the surface of the ground. He looked so terrifying that any ordinary bystander would've run screaming.

"You want to make this a dark battle?" he asked Merluna, his words as powerful as daggers. "WE'LL MAKE THIS A DARK BATTLE!"

Merluna's eyes widened as Caliburn extended into a black lance.

Cobalt–or, rather, the creature he had become–laughed maniacally, as if he was enjoying Merluna's fear. He advanced slowly, walking on the air. Merluna reared up and shot darkness at him. However, the beams that normally should've killed him… didn't. The instead seemed to reflect off him like he had some sort of shield.

As he advanced, Merluna backed away, throwing everything she had at him to no avail. Eventually she backed into an invisible wall, and her pupils shrunk as Cobalt advanced on her.

He smiled coldly as he came to a halt, standing over her cowering form. "This one couldn't resist." He gestured to himself as he said this. "You've already almost given yourself entirely over. You think you stand a chance? Let's see how well you can resist THIS!"

He raised his lance for the killing blow, but before he could, Merluna saw something that she almost wished she hadn't–something that made her pity him. As he stood, ready to murder her, his face distorted into something much different than the smiling, cold visage he wore. For just one moment –be it only that–his face twisted into one of absolute horror and sadness. The face said plainly, 'I'm sorry. I am so, so sorry I couldn't stop this.'

And then the dark expression returned, and the lance plunged down into her. It didn't hurt, as she thought it would, but she felt herself wrapped in darkness, and then she didn't feel anything else.

SOME AMOUNT OF TIME LATER

Cobalt wasn't sure how long he sat in the corner of his mind, sobbing. He–he'd failed. He hadn't been able to restrain the darkness. It had overpowered him, shoved him into the corner of his mind.

He had no knowledge of what the darkness was doing with his body, but he did know one, horrible, terrible thing: he'd been right. He was just a puppet. He couldn't stop the darkness. It was overpowering. His resistance was meaningless. The only thing that he could do… that is, if he ever got the chance… was to protect his friends from it.

His mental fortitude had cracked. His will had been crushed. He hadn't put up enough of a fight to keep the darkness inside. He needed–what did he need? He didn't even know anymore. Companionship? A sense of support?

"A way out?" the voice asked. Cobalt glanced up into the blank space with bleary eyes. "Yes, I'm offering you control of your physical form once more." The voice went on.

Cobalt didn't understand. Why would the thing do that? It had gotten what it wanted: complete and total control. Why would it suddenly give that up?

"I can sense your wondering." The voice said. "It seems that I overexerted myself."

Cobalt tried something that he hadn't for a while: he spoke. "O-overexerted?"

"Yes, you are far too weak for me let out my full power just yet. I am restricted until I gain more strength. You can't stop that, by the way." The thing added; it must've sensed Cobalt's spike in hopefulness. "But, if you wish, I can give you your physical form again, and I even offer a way back to your home."

Cobalt was too weak to even think about whether he should say yes or no. His throat was too dry to answer, so he simply gave a weak nod.

"Good…" The voice murmured.

Suddenly, color returned to the world. Cobalt found himself standing in the middle of the castle courtyard, somehow restored to its former glory. He had time to look at his coat, and see that it had returned to a gray-blue, still darker than it had been when he arrived in this world, but not dark gray, at least. Then his legs buckled and he collapsed on the ground.

He heard the sound of hooves running toward him, and looked up at where they were coming from. He managed to make out pony-shaped figures, and upon further observation, he noted that they were the four knights.

Once again suppressing his pain and emotion, he stood up and put on a fake smile. "Who's the stallion?" he asked rhetorically in a weak voice as they approached him.

"Is the traitor dead?" Lancelot asked, her eyes still narrowed as though there were a threat. There is. Cobalt thought. Me.

"I–" Cobalt stopped to think. The events after he'd let the darkness overwhelm him had gone fuzzy, as if he were viewing them through several layers of glass. "Yes." He answered, after quickly running the images through his head several times.

But–what was he sad about? As the images became fuzzier, his sense of depression lessened. Why was he feeling depressed? He'd just defeated Merluna and saved this world!

Now, as an outside observer, who can remember what he can not, we know that once again his memories were being blurred in order to lessen his resistance. But unfortunately for him, this knowledge evades him as of yet.

"Thou. Art. Amazing!" Percival exclaimed, a grin crossing her face. She hugged him, and Cobalt flinched at her touch. She drew back, looking concerned at his reaction. "Art thou okay?"

"I'm fine." Cobalt said. "I'm just… a little jumpy, I guess."

"We owe thee our thanks." Gawain nodded to him.

"But–who shall be our ruler?" Galahad voiced her concerns. "Thee?"

"No." Cobalt drew Caliburn, who had reverted to his normal state, and laid the still sleeping sword on the ground. "Let him decide. He is the wisest sword ever, after all."

"But what of thee?" Percival asked, seeming nervous.

"I have to return home." Cobalt answered, and upon seeing Percival's crestfallen expression at the news, he added, "Don't worry. There's gotta be a version of me somewhere in this world."

Percival gasped and nodded, understanding what he meant.

Cobalt's vision suddenly hazed, and he looked down. His body had gained a layer of transparency, and he panicked for a second before the voice in his head spoke up. Your transport.

"Sorry guys, but this is where I go back home." Cobalt said, feeling himself vanish even more.

"Cobalt Spikes, thy eyes are still gray." Lancelot told him, staring straight at his eyes, and Cobalt once more got the uncanny feeling that she was reading his soul and poring through his secrets.

But then he vanished fully, and his vision went black as he was hurtled back into his own world.

So… Cobalt won… and lost. Bet you all didn't expect that one!

Okay, for you guys who haven't caught onto the system yet (really my fault; I'm the one who hasn't explained it well): the next chapter of the All the Elements for Disaster story will appear in the actual story All the Elements for Disaster. Look for that around next week.

Radicool223 out!