The two crystalli-No. That wouldn't fit their description now. The Celestia look-alike hopped joyfully her father with a humongous smile on her face, much similar to that of a certain pink pony. The Luna creation had a very evil look on her face, and the cloud, for some reason, adored her quite a lot, as she did it. Abstract did not understand what was going on. He just needed to walk through the castle a bit to think. Was he complaining about his first true children? The only ones to have ever been born? The first two to help the recreation of the crystallion race? No. He just could not understand how they became mares. Were his powers so immense that they could defy Mother Nature in all forms? Or was it the magic of the alicorns that had something to do with this? He couldn't put his hooves on it.
"So. Father. What names have you granted to us?" the Luna creation asked.
The Celestia look-alike stopped bouncing right in front of Abstract and stared at him with big joyful eyes, sickening and disturbing him even more.
"Yeah! What have gotten for us, Daddy?"
"I..."
"Yeah?!"
"...Let me thing."
The Luna nodded politely while the Celestia sat on the ground and began to pout. She had no patience.
"Hmm. Let us go into the garden. Seeing what your abilities are best centered around, I'll name you. How does that sound?"
"Oooo! It sounds great! Let's go!"
The two Crys...mares(?) rushed towards the garden in all speed, leaving Abstract's brain to malfunction.
"My lord." said a rather familiar voice behind him.
"Yes?"
"I noticed something about your two children."
"And that would be?"
"Well, there is the most obvious, but I can see that you have noticed. The second is, how are they so intelligent and knowledgeable when their are barely a few ours old?"
"The crystals know everything. When a crystallion grows properly within one, they are gifted the knowledge of our entire people upon birth."
"Ah. Shall I prepare some sort of festivity for their new birth into this world?"
"I have it covered. Tell a few of the guards to meet me in the garden. I have a few...tests to perform."
"Yes, my emperor."
Now in the garden, the Luna had her head slightly lowered and was looking at the guards, who were literally trembling at her will. The Celestia, however, was having fun climbing trees and whatnot. The personality of the Luna pleased Abstract, yet, he still couldn't understand that of his other...daughter.
"Okay. There are ten guards here. YOU!"
"Yes father?"
"Show me what your powers are based on, and you will be both evaluated and named."
"Okay."
"Five of you, step up and attack her."
"But-"
"Do not oppose me, worm."
"Y-y-yes sir."
The five guards hesitatingly stepped forward, and, gradually, built up enough courage to attack the little mare who just had the look of tired eyes and an maniacal smirk.
"Pfff. Fear and control." she said while expanding the glow of her eyes.
The guards stopped moving immediately. The Luna slowly stepped forward and impaled two of them with her horn, then walked back to her spot. The impaled guards began to go into an epileptic crisis, disturbing Abstract to the greatest point. However, they did not foam from their mouths, no, instead, they "shadowed" from their mouths. The black foamy mist surrounded them and mutated them outright! The once pony-esque guards were now some sort of giants with jagged sharp teeth, two tentacles on their backs that seemed to have a mouth, their legs were much more muscular, with a bone protruding like a blade where their knees should have been, and their eyes were blacker than the color.
"Attack those three."
The two ponies contorted, trying to break control of their minds and bodies, but it was pointless. Their new bodies bounced immediately on the bodies of the paralyzed guard, and performed untold horrors that are best not described, much to the amusement of the Luna and Abstract. The Celestia was too distracted by the tree she was in to notice. The mutated guards smiled evily as the Luna pet them on their heads.
"Excellent. In the echoes of crystallions, you shall be called Umbra Continentia."
"Excellent. The control of shadows and minds shall be my traits." Umbra said with her two new 'pets' at her side.
"Now then...uhh...where is she."
"Here I am!"
"..."
"Awww. You didn't get scared."
"Ugh. Just show me what you are capable of."
"Okay!"
She hopped towards the guards joyfully. They weren't afraid of her, thinking that she wasn't a threat compared to her sister. OH, were they ever wronger? The mare somehow continued to teleport to random areas and, before the guards knew it, one of their comrades screamed in dire agony as his body twisted and contorted, only to be torn to horrid pieces soon after. Another found his body literally smashed and flattened. The remaining guards stared up in panic at the Celestia who smiled joyfully atop her perch on the wall and waved her hoof with a smile. Soon after, she was near Abstract again, and the royal guards found themselves sliced into several horizontal pieces that flopped lazily upon the ground.
"Wow! Now THAT, I didn't expect. Let's see, you are joyful, and you seem to move too fast-"
"I can also go into somepony's body and control it."
Both Abstract and Umbra stared at her in confusion and disgust.
"Riiiiight. Let's see then... Iviesta Poravon sound good?"
"Cooool!"
"Great!"
"Dad, we're hungry," Iviesta said while putting a hoof to her stomach and frowning.
"Wait, what?"
"I have to agree with my sister. We are famished and require sustenance."
"But, Crystallions do not feed. We take our needed energies from the shadows."
"Strange. Then why do we hunger so?"
"I don't know. Go to the kitchen and ask the chefs for whatever you need. I shall continue looking over news of the conquering. Apparently, we have found a new stash of weapons that I will be able to duplicate and equip my shadow armies with."
"Ok dad! See you later!" Iviesta shouted joyfully as she grabbed her sister and rushed to the kitchen.
"How? How are they mares?! I am certain that alicorn magic does not have such an impact as to be able to alter the crystallion gene-pool. I wonder...can they give birth...or will they have to use the same reproduction means as any crystallion?" Abstract said aloud to himself.
"My emperor!"
"Yes?"
"News regarding the surrounding areas. It appears that the minotaurs and griffons had untied and are pushing us away."
Abstract"s eyes seethed with anger and glowed like white fire as the grounds around him began to tremble and eject mini-crystals and tendrils of shadow.
"Not this time! THEY WILL BE THE ONES TO PERISH! On what region do they stand?"
"T-t-t-to the w-west. They have b-b-barricaded themselves near the red canyons."
"Gather the entirety of the shadow beasts! We will crush them outright, then head out further and destroy all minotaurs and griffons remaining." Abstract's six wings cracked with delight so much as his horns formed some type of electrical net between them out of pure rage.
The sight of the thundering black beasts and the skies filling with a black shadow impressed all within the castle and at Canterlot. There was still quite a lot to do, and the portal that Abstract had created from dark rituals of shadow and crystal helped travel back-and-from any area of his choosing.
The two crystallion mares exited the door to the kitchen, the wooden entrance decorated with carvings of fruits and vegetables was about to fall from its hinges. The two mutated guards awaited their master eagerly, hoping to receive some appraisal for their patience.
"That was delicious! Who knew that it tasted so well," Iviesta expressed in laughter as she licked her hooves.
"Yes. I did appreciate this partaking very much. Now then, what shall we do next? Father is gone, and we have nothing to do. These ponies are barely worth anything. Hmmm. There is the matter of the princesses trying to destroy our father through some bizarre means."
"The crystals said they were nearing the Nyubet, right?"
"Yes. And knowing how our father has only been concentrating on his conquering and us, he hasn't seen the significant progress they have made. Perhaps it is best that we intercept them?"
"Yeah. I think that there is a small port very close to there. I guess there used to be a lake, but it dried up. Now they sell boats to the dare devils who try and survive it. Ohoho! This sounds like fun. But how will we get there? It's so far away." Iviesta sat on her hind legs and seemed to be dramatically crying.
"With the portal." Umbra told her sister with a hoof on her dark shoulder.
"Huh?"
"Yes. Only his genes can use it, and we still have them, despite their modifications. If we unite our powers, we can reach that port before those ponies do."
"Ooo! Let's do it!"
It had been two days since the mountain pass. The trip was relatively calm, although there came a shortage of foods and drinks on the trip.
"Hey Crimson, where're we going next?" Pinkie Pie asked while letting her back bend over the minotaur's head.
Crimson sighed in annoyance. "An old port nearby. There are no lakes left, but those foolish enough to do so will still buy skidders to travel across the Nyubet."
"Will it be long before we reach it?" Celestia asked.
"Yeah! I've gotta stretch my wings out." Rainbow complained.
"Can'tcha just follow us while ya fly?" AJ spoke sarcastically.
"You know quite well that we can't. We need to stay together. Besides, I think we're getting closer." Twilight pointed to the sight of a few buildings and boats rotting in the distance.
The place seemed abandoned. However, the sight of the Nyubet behind it actually gave everyone a great beauty of white to look at.
"Welp, it seems that our trip is nearing it's end. Once we get that crystallion, we'll just travel back and destroy Abstract. Easy as that." Crimson said with a smile.